Wednesday Weapons – Land mines

Politically appropriate and for Wednesday Weapons. There has been a great many land mines laid the last few days and tip-toeing through the minefield is tricky.

Perhaps ACT needs one of these trained rats to find the mines.

Landmines are particularly nasty weapons. Left behind. often long after hostilities cease, only for some innocent to come along and step on it.

A land mine (sometimes landmine) is usually a victim-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage its target via blast and/or fragments.

The name originates from the practice of mining, where tunnels were dug under enemy fortifications or forces. These tunnels (“mines”) were first collapsed to destroy fortifications above, and later filled with explosives and detonated. Land mines generally refer to devices specifically manufactured for this purpose, as distinguished from improvised explosive devices (“IEDs”).

The use of land mines is controversial because they are indiscriminate weapons, harming soldier and civilian alike. They remain dangerous after the conflict in which they were deployed has ended, killing and injuring civilians and rendering land impassable and unusable for decades. To make matters worse, many factions have not kept accurate records (or any at all) of the exact locations of their minefields, making removal efforts painstakingly slow. These facts pose serious difficulties in many developing nations where the presence of mines hampers resettlement, agriculture, and tourism.

However there are some surprising economic and environmental benefits from the odd lazy minefield lying around un-touched.

Ironically, the laying of land mines inadvertently proved a positive development in the Falkland Islands. This is because the mine fields laid by the sea during the Falklands War have become favorite places for penguins, which are too light to detonate the mines, and are therefore able to breed safely in areas where humans do not enter. These odd sanctuaries have proven so popular and lucrative for ecotourism that there has been some effort to prevent having the mines removed by offering to finance mine removal in regions with human populations where mines are a persistent danger, such as in Cambodia.

That’ll bend the peaceniks right out of shape. Next time some green wanker suggests protecting this or that suggest minefields as a positive environmental solution. Plenty of people will climb a fence but only the terminally stupid will cross a minefield.