Biden Administration, Ukraine Cluster Munition Deployment
The Biden administration announced the shipment of cluster munitions to Ukraine, citing a shortage of standard 155mm unitary artillery rounds. Officials claim the American weapons have a significantly lower dud rate—between 1% and 2.5%—compared to Russian munitions, which reportedly fail at rates of 30% to 40%. Critics highlight that these weapons are banned by over 100 countries due to the long-term risk unexploded bomblets pose to civilian populations.
joe biden· ukraine· cluster bombs· dud rate· jake sullivan· pentagon· 155mm rounds
00:00 Okay, Frenchie. I'm Adam Curry, and from Northern Silicon Valley where we're all wondering why are cluster bombs a good idea? I'm John C. Dvorak. This has got to be the funniest news story of the week because it's not just cluster bombs... It-it's cluster bombs with a very low dud rate!
00:46 Yes, that's right. I forgot the dud rate. They gotta go through the bomb cluster and make sure... How do you test? How do you test this, I'm asking! Well let's listen to Adam Smith. You'd have to blow them all up to see what the dud rate was This is Adam Smith a Democrat from, I believe Washington In March last year America's UN ambassador criticized Russia for its deployment of cluster munitions saying they had no place on the battlefield. Quite an about turn by the Biden administration this. The Russian cluster munitions have about 30 to 40 percent dud rate, they're spreading unexploded ordnance all over Ukraine. The weapons that we are sending have a dud rate of just over one percent which is a dramatic difference in the two weapons. Oh yeah foam finger number one baby! We got a dramatically lower dud rate
01:42 Except Washington has a very high dud rate. Washington DC, this is an unbelievable statistic And why? Oh, Adam Smith explains again on the BBC. Why do we have to send the oh-so loved cluster bombs with low dud rate to Ukraine? We would much rather not have introduced this weapon which is why we didn't do it until we got to the point where it was basically the only ammo that we had left to offer them. That's interesting you say that – the only ammo we have left I mean, could it just be that this is a bridging operation and at such time where the United States is able to supply more shells
02:28 to Ukraine, these cluster munitions will not be necessary. Yes thank you actually I put that poorly and you corrected me properly and I appreciate that we are in a gap they still have other ammunition but at the current pace of battle they will have to begin to severely restrict its use and eventually run out if these weapons aren't used then the other thing that we are doing All of our allies, the 53 nations that are working together on this are ramping up production of other ordinance. And yes, that would be the plan to get back to that and the bigger plan would be to force Russia into the peace table so we can end the war entirely. Bomb them! Bomb them and bomb them again! Yeah baby! Oh it's a way to force Russia into the peacetable? You gotta force Zelenskyy to the peacetable
03:22 I mean these things all we've ever heard is how horrible people are who use these things. There's somebody must have a clip of Jen Psaki when she was the press secretary saying that cluster bombs, according to the president, cluster bombs are war crime Oh wow! I wish... But i don't think we have it there was no reason to run that clip What? I have McCain here for some reason what's this McCain clip when is this from 2015. Let's have a little listen. Again this week we've seen the skies over Donetsk, it is suspected that it could be incendiary munitions which international conventions ban from use in civilian populated areas back in July they were reportedly dropped on cities controlled by anti-government forces
04:11 Well, international observers have previously caught the Ukrainian army using prohibited weapons. The use of cluster bombs in populated areas was confirmed by the Human Rights in October. The Watch Dogs report stressed this could amount to war crimes But for some US politicians Kiev's use of cluster bombs is justifiable I think that if we would've provided them with the weapons they need They wouldn't have had to use cluster bombs It's partially our fault It's the same thing. It's a repeat! It's our fault by the way. We wouldn't have to give him cluster bombs if we'd given more of everything else than what this guy from Washington said. Except that was 2015 and McCain was still alive. Yeah, okay let's listen to Jake Sullivan. What a bunch of douchebags running our country
05:01 Well, now there's an astute observation. First we base our security assistance decision on Ukraine's needs on the ground They got needs on the ground baby! And Ukraine needs artillery to sustain its offensive and defensive operations Artillery is at the core of this conflict Ukraine is firing thousands around a day To defend against Russian efforts to advance and also to support it own efforts to retake its sovereign territory We have provided Ukraine with a historic amount of unitary artillery rounds Unitary artillery rounds doesn't sound like anything good and we are ramping up, you know Unitary what he means is single single. Yeah not cluster but he has to use the word unity whatever it was Unitary artillery bombs and we are ramping optimistic production of these rounds. Ah, we've already seen substantial increases in production
05:57 But this process will continue to take time and it will be critical to provide Ukraine with a bridge of supplies While our domestic there is ramped up We will not leave Ukraine defenseless at any point in this conflict. Okay, so because And we shouldn't even have these things I guess because you know It's mean to kill people in different ways, you know unitary killing fine cluster killing Not good So they've got all these excuses and the main one is, well we're out of ammo. Sorry! I hope no one wants to attack us. Second Russia has been using cluster munitions since the start of this war to attack Ukraine. Oh... Russia's been using cluster munition with high dud or failure rates between 30-40%. High dud? Here we go again. High dud?! In this environment Ukraine has been requesting cluster munitions in order to defend its own sovereign territory
06:52 The cluster munitions that we would provide have dud rates far below what Russia is doing, is providing. Not higher than 2.5%. Wait a minute! It was 1%, now it's 2.5%? I think we have a dud rate issue here... What is our actual dud rate? I think this should be the topic of conversation for the entire week. And third, we are closely coordinating with Ukraine as it has requested these munitions. Ukraine is committed to post-conflict demining... This is pathetic! Say what?! I'm just saying... What? This whole discussion and the depth of it is pathetic. These things should be... We're like one of two or three countries in the world that refuse to sign a treaty that's never used these weapons because they're junk
07:38 And they're bad for civilian populations and the dud rate, no matter what it is there's a bunch of duds over there people step on like mines. Well this isn't... Go ahead. And? What? No you were saying AND! Oh I said it oh did I get cut off yeah I guess so ah good Ukraine is committed to post-conflict demining efforts to mitigate any potential harm to civilians and this will be necessary regardless of whether the United States provides these munitions or not because of Russia's widespread use of cluster munitions. They use cluster munitions so we can use cluster munitions there's a lot of information going on about these cluster munitions here CBS terrifying lethal and
08:25 highly effective. Ukraine is no stranger to cluster bombs. Both sides have been accused of deploying them since Russia launched its invasion, but they did it first with devastating effect! It's a weapon that breaks up midair as it approaches its target ejecting a number of smaller explosives or bomblets scattering indiscriminately across an area that can stretch to the size of several football fields Most of those explosives detonate, but not all. Posing a threat to the civilian population long after the war has ended especially children Here in Kharkiv investigators have built a mountain of Russian munitions and evidence of their use as civilian areas Evidence! These are just some of the Russian cluster bombs that have been recovered here in the Kharkiv region And this... Dude are we in middle school?
09:22 I mean that's what... Look, I have evidence that they used the bomblets so we can use the bomblets. As an example of a detonated bomblet which would have been packed with explosives Somehow bomblets just doesn't sound like it could take your leg off or anything does it? It's like yes its a bomblet! It's like an omelet with a meat. Each one of them is a hand grenade basically. Ukraine says it needs the help in a stalled counter-offensive against entrenched Russian troops backing the White House. Stop the clip! How come this isn't being discussed more? I didn't hear it was a stalled counter offensive, it was stalled... Because they were waiting for the bomblets. The dud rate was too high
10:08 Stalled this is bull because they told us it was well underway Part of the drones was part of the offensive Then the remember that crazy That crazy brigade that all sudden had a media event And all the journalists. Not Wagner? No, no that wasn't Wagner it was... There was some other brigade you're right Asimov! No, no, no it was yet another! Isaac Asimov. The Asimov guys are gone there's nothing left of them. Ukraine says it needs the help in a stalled counter-offensive against entrenched Russian troops, backing the White House's argument that the use of controversial weapons is on Ukraine's watch.
10:54 Ukraine would not be using these munitions in some foreign land. This is their country they're defending, these are their citizens they're protecting." The prosecutor's office told us tonight that Ukrainian military will have to do all it can to avoid their use in urban areas now this latest aid package 800 million dollars brings the US total to more than 41 billion dollars since the invasion began. Now bullcrap I'm sick and tired of these numbers I've counted over 140 billion. This is not true! Oh, now it's only 40? No! We've been giving them so much. It's 37 and it says 800 million a pop. It's bomblets that we got... Dudraider 1... What do we have? A bunch of stockpile these things what are we doing with them well NBC meet the press had a two-parter. Courtney explain to me what about these cluster bombs make them so controversial and how soon can you see them in Ukraine Well unlike other bombs these kill people
11:56 So it's the dud rate is really the problem here. That's why so many nations, more than a hundred have actually outlawed these munitions What that means is these are ammunition that when it explodes It releases a bunch of small little bombs or munitions they're often called bomblets They have two main missions. One is anti-armor... I'd like a truck stop bomblet, please? So it's a shape charge that essentially can pierce an up armored vehicle the other is anti-perm... Ooh! That's a new term and up armored vehicle not just armored vehicle an up armoured vehicle this is some this is some warfare talk we're getting here from NBC meet the press. Two main missions one is anti-armor so it's a shape charge that essentially can pierce an up armored vehicle, the other is anti personnel that is what we often hear military talking about frags or fragmentation those are the munitions that explode into even smaller pieces
12:51 Think about that when it impacts a body, Ryan. Of course it has the potential to injure or kill anyone in its path so these munitions when they release these bomblets depending on the type of cluster munitions some of them have a very high dud rate meaning that the bomblets don't immediately explode These have the potential to cause catastrophic destruction to someone, a civilian even a child who may stumble upon them Oh, hold on a second. NBC meet the press hold the press bomblets might be bad for children's health. Weeks months even years later that's one of the reasons that human rights groups and many nations have condemned the use of these sorts in the battlefield I should say The US says that the version they're going to send has very low dud rates somewhere in the neighborhood 1.5
13:44 to about two and a half percent. What is it? As opposed to some of the other ones that we've seen, according to the US, the ones that the Russians are using have somewhere in the neighborhood of 30-40%. Russian bomblets are crap! Alright? They're the dangerous... The Russians don't know what they're doing. They make... Yeah, crap. The bomblets are turning the frags gay. I mean this is an insane discussion they're having, they're just cavalierly discussing a weapons that are outlawed by 100 countries but you know It's for Ukraine! Yeah, and Courtney you mentioned that there are other countries who are opposed to the use of this type of weapon. Some of them are NATO countries and of course the president is going to be with some of these NATO countries next week will he get some pushback from these countries? No because he has a 100% dud rate it's no problem decision
14:34 And not just NATO countries, but I mean we're talking about the closest US allies who are part of NATO who are opposed to the use of these weapons. Now, the U.S., before they announced this today, they spoke to most of these countries many of them They reached out They gave them a heads up that this was coming The officials have been speaking to here say look the country These these allies have said there against the use But they don't expect any widespread public push back on it. There's a real recognition here of exactly what we heard from President Biden just moments ago, that Ukraine needs ammunition. These have the ability to essentially fill a bridge where the Ukraine right now has a real deficit in artillery rounds particularly 155 rounds this will be something that they can use in that place while the US and other nations really ramp up production of their artillery rounds so they can keep you in the fight
15:23 155 rounds. Now, can you shoot the bomblets? The cluster bombs from the same 155 millimeter cannon? Seems unlikely. What do you... Oh wow! These look bad these are the Howitzers. The 155 Yeah, the 155 that's the one that if you invested before the war you'd have made a lot of money And so cluster shells I wonder what the... Can you shoot those out Uh, doesn't really say. It's a bomb it's not a shell! Okay so you shoot it like a mortar? I don't... Well this is just disturbing this is disturbing we are the biggest A-holes in the universe right now do we not see that?! I mean we see it but man this is just bad! I have a series of clips Is this the gal stuff? No no oh okay
