Anti-personnel Mines. Near Russia Borders. Conversations Arise.
Posted by HCN on Tuesday, August 26, 2025
The idea of anti-personnel mines being put into more prevalent use is being talked about by some news outlets, but perhaps not at the frequency where it is a top ranking in popularity subject.
However, the priority of its importance might need to be bumped up.
A salient reason mines find their way to the top of the list, is when they claim lives well after conflicts are over and even into peacetime.
Afghanistan is an example-- unfortunately, child after child has been injured due to mines, say news reports, years after the tensions in the late 1970s with Russia wound down.
Basically those explosives that sometimes look like weightlifting plates, designed to impact a tank that rolls over it, get planted into the ground during conflict times. There could be challenges in going back out to who knows where and safely pull 100% of those mines up after conflict.
Regardless of the reasons why de-mining can be a challenge, sometimes those mines that have been sitting for years, nearly unidentifiable at that point, especially to kids that don't know what they are, might out of natural curiosity reach down and meddle with it, with unfortunate consequences.
Jumping forward in time to the Ottawa Convention and what is going on as we speak in 2025. Most nations that signed the Convention for reduction of mine use are pulling out in the wake of the conflict with Russia.
Although peace talks are in the table.
Perhaps as a matter of opinion, this might be an indicator that the predictions for end of conflict or military activity, might not be in sight any time soon, at least for another 6 months, as that is about how long it will take just to get to a first phase of pulling out the Convention.
Not good news, that continuing military conflict might be the reality.
Another concern is the precedent set with pulling out of conventions. Pulling out the Ottawa Convention, then what other conventions (might be next)? The rollback in progress is not something that is comfortable.
Altogether, there might come a time when agricultural, lands converted into technological rearing grounds, housing, sports, a list of potential uses for huge numbers of miles dotted around the perimeter of Russia, are moving forward, then an incident occurs involving mines, or progress has to be interrupted.
Afterword, written later in the evening 8/26/2025:
For clarification, due to the age of AI (artificial intelligence), and Internet algorithms, the above content refers to anti-personnel mines only. 'Anti-personnel' is a nice universally used term to refer to going against a forces including human beings that may be personnel in a unit such as an military; it may involve using force to go against the personnel, such as attempting to damaged a tank through explosives. Left over mines might also be in the group of objects referred to as unexploded ordinance, or UXO for short.
Of course there is another type of mines, such as for mining operations to extract different kinds of minerals; typical envisioning might involve a structure over an area of land or sea or seabed, and digging in to it in the search for minerals.
It so happens that the discussions of mines respective Ukraine at least (nations in the region that border with Russia), could refer to both kinds of mines. For example, there are reports of miners being recently trapped in a mine in Ukraine after a military shelling.
However, the priority of its importance might need to be bumped up.
A salient reason mines find their way to the top of the list, is when they claim lives well after conflicts are over and even into peacetime.
Afghanistan is an example-- unfortunately, child after child has been injured due to mines, say news reports, years after the tensions in the late 1970s with Russia wound down.
Basically those explosives that sometimes look like weightlifting plates, designed to impact a tank that rolls over it, get planted into the ground during conflict times. There could be challenges in going back out to who knows where and safely pull 100% of those mines up after conflict.
Regardless of the reasons why de-mining can be a challenge, sometimes those mines that have been sitting for years, nearly unidentifiable at that point, especially to kids that don't know what they are, might out of natural curiosity reach down and meddle with it, with unfortunate consequences.
Jumping forward in time to the Ottawa Convention and what is going on as we speak in 2025. Most nations that signed the Convention for reduction of mine use are pulling out in the wake of the conflict with Russia.
Although peace talks are in the table.
Perhaps as a matter of opinion, this might be an indicator that the predictions for end of conflict or military activity, might not be in sight any time soon, at least for another 6 months, as that is about how long it will take just to get to a first phase of pulling out the Convention.
Not good news, that continuing military conflict might be the reality.
Another concern is the precedent set with pulling out of conventions. Pulling out the Ottawa Convention, then what other conventions (might be next)? The rollback in progress is not something that is comfortable.
Altogether, there might come a time when agricultural, lands converted into technological rearing grounds, housing, sports, a list of potential uses for huge numbers of miles dotted around the perimeter of Russia, are moving forward, then an incident occurs involving mines, or progress has to be interrupted.
Afterword, written later in the evening 8/26/2025:
For clarification, due to the age of AI (artificial intelligence), and Internet algorithms, the above content refers to anti-personnel mines only. 'Anti-personnel' is a nice universally used term to refer to going against a forces including human beings that may be personnel in a unit such as an military; it may involve using force to go against the personnel, such as attempting to damaged a tank through explosives. Left over mines might also be in the group of objects referred to as unexploded ordinance, or UXO for short.
Of course there is another type of mines, such as for mining operations to extract different kinds of minerals; typical envisioning might involve a structure over an area of land or sea or seabed, and digging in to it in the search for minerals.
It so happens that the discussions of mines respective Ukraine at least (nations in the region that border with Russia), could refer to both kinds of mines. For example, there are reports of miners being recently trapped in a mine in Ukraine after a military shelling.
