230: cluster bombs disarmed?

Great news today from Dublin, Ireland, as progress was made in agreeing an international treaty to ban cluster bombs. These are widely considered a particularly horrific form of weapon, as they scatter tiny bomblets on impact that may not detonate until much later, often killing or maiming civilians as a result. As today's linked article from the UK's Guardian newspaper reports, more than 100 states met in Dublin and unanimously passed the new treaty. But there's more - the article also reports that the UK government will go even further in its efforts to phase out cluster bombs, requiring its own armed forces to immediately scrap such weapons and also banning US military bases in the UK from stocking them. (The US did not participate in the Dublin negotiations.) Welcome leadership from the UK, and others, for sure - and some hope that we may finally see the back of cluster bombs and other such indiscriminate weaponry.