NationStates Jolt Archive

Please provide feedback, comments, questions, complaints, and compromises if you have complaints.

Category: Global Disarmaments--Significant
Resolution Name: Ban on RT Equipment
Description:
Hereafter, all references to RT equipment are defined as radioactive, nuclear, chemical, and toxic weapons and armor used in military applications. RT is an acronym for Radioactive Toxic.

It is known that RT equipment poses a serious health risk to humans from all over the world and that they have a global environmental impact. The U.N. realizes this and wishes that such weapons and armor were never used. However, some nations do not acknowledge the impact of RT equipment on the rest of the world, and they use them freely instead. Realizing this, the Nation States United Nations hereby adopts the following policy concerning RT equipment.

RT equipment shall be defined as any weapon or armor that can cause negative long-term consequences on humans and/or the environment by releasing alpha particles, beta particles, gamma rays, and/or neutron particles used on the battlefield, or any weapons or armor that releases toxic chemicals into the environment and/or humans that can have negative long-term consequences.

Examples of such objects include atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs, dirty bombs, nerve gas, mustard gas, and depleted uranium weapons and armor.

1) Ban within the U.N.
a) Member nations of the U.N. cannot use RT equipment against other member nations of the U.N.
b) Member nations of the U.N. cannot use RT equipment against non-member nations if these non-member nations do not use, hold, or manufacture RT equipment.

2) The sale of RT equipment is prohibited to all non-member nations of the U.N.

3) A committee shall be developed to research more effective means of winning battles without the use of RT weapons. It shall be composed of scientists from member nations that decide to participate in this committee.

4) All humans involved in the manufacturing of RT equipment are to be informed of the health hazards that they are involved with. They are also to be provided with the necessary protection from the manufacturing dangers imposed by RT equipment at all times.

5) All military personnel that use RT equipment are to be informed of the hazards of the material they are using and are to be informed of methods to protect themselves. U.N. nations are required to provide protective gear to their military personnel, but their military personnel may decline the use of the gear. U.N. nations are to attempt to inform all civilians near a battlefield by all means possible of the potential hazards present once hostilities have ceased.

Therefore, be it resolved, that the Nation States United Nations does hereby adopt the preceding policy.

Just being pissy:

2) The sale of RT equipment is prohibited to all non-member nations of the U.N.

Since you can't control what happens in or to non-member nations, this is unenforceable and not especially clear. Try this:

2) UN members nations are prohibited from trading RT equipment with either UN members or non-members.


I'm still not behind this proposal in any way, but I'll help you with the language. ;)

" Same hermit crab, but having crawled into another shell " ...

No. I disagree once again. I do not wish for DU to be banned. As I am sure many others would not. I also consider non-unilateral diss-armanent policy with non-U.N. member nations to be in-effective and dangerous. Granted, such policy will of course be difficult to near impossible to formulate with current U.N. coded powers, but, until it can be so, I will stand against this.

Actually, I guess clause 2 isn't as clear as I thought.

Basically, U.N. members can sell to other U.N. members. They cannot sell to non-U.N. members.

So that would mean:
2) U.N. member nations are prohibited to sell RT equipment to non-member nations.

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I fail to understand why people would be against this proposal unless you're a ravenous murderer. War should be between soldiers and not include civilians. All of this RT equipment has long lasting environmental and health impacts, and they don't just hurt the enemy but your own soldiers as well. And if you do win and occupy the new land, you'll have the opportunity to become allies. What motivation is there to ally if you have already given them a long-term death sentence?

We are a bunch of nations that live in a globe, not a bunch of nations stuck in separate plastic containers that can be protected from outside harm. This proposal allows you to develop defenses against non-members and at the same time, not worry about fellow U.N. members from using the stuff against you.

The proposal, with the mentioned edit, will be submitted this week. I have not been given sufficient, clearly written information to do otherwise.
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Actually, I guess clause 2 isn't as clear as I thought.

Basically, U.N. members can sell to other U.N. members. They cannot sell to non-U.N. members.

So that would mean:
2) U.N. member nations are prohibited to sell RT equipment to non-member nations.
Now I'm the confused one. We can't use it ourselves, but we can sell it to each other ... and not to people not under the UN's jurisdiction? There is either a fundamental misunderstanding, or a flaw in the logic of this premise somewhere.

We can't use it ourselves
Correction...We can't use it ON ourselves.

We CAN use them against non-member nations. I did not want to explicitly state this in the proposal in case in the future the U.N. wanted to ban the RT equipment altogether. (Otherwise, such a ban would conflict with past resolutions.)

Remember, all the proposal states is that we cannot use the stuff on fellow member nations. Reread it if need be.

The proposal is a fair compromise for those that want the equipment banned and for those that want to use it to defend themselves and for those that want to attack with the stuff on non-members.