Top banks fund cluster bombs as ban nears -

[Ichingcarpenter]

LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Leading banks have funded cluster bomb-makers to the tune of $5 billion in the past two years despite an international accord to ban the weapons, a study said on Thursday.

The top five loan providers were Bank of America , Citigroup , JP Morgan , Barclays and Goldman Sachs , the study said on Thursday.
The researchers used publicly available information, such as that supplied by stock exchanges and financial databases, to produce their study.

Bank of America and JP Morgan declined to comment while Citigroup and Goldman Sachs also had no immediate comment.

Nations agreed to outlaw cluster bombs in May 2008. The resulting convention will come into force when 30 countries have ratified it -- 23 have already done so. Neither the United States nor Britain, where the top five loan providers are based, have yet ratified the treaty.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions includes a ban on assisting anyone to make the bombs.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LT447877.htm

[Ichingcarpenter]

1. Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and JP Morgan all received bailout money

Think about it.


Hospitals report that the hearts of bankers are in strong demand by transplant patients, because they’ve never been used.

[malaise]

2. War and the slaughter of innocents is

very profitable. One day we'll see details on who launders the real drug money. Any bets?

[sattahipdeep]

4. It is relevant to take note

The men behind Barack Obama part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-KJCMWcoms

Hillary Clinton speaks out about US links with Taliban

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2CE0fyz4ys

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. Clusterbomb manufacturers

The Convention on Cluster Munitions includes a ban on assisting anyone to make the bombs.

"We feel very strongly that assistance in production means investment. If you invest in a company, you're considered to assist the production of these (bombs)," Roos Boer, one of the report's authors, said at the launch of the study.

The report said: "Financial institutions should develop policies that exclude all financial links with companies involved in producing cluster munitions."

It added: "Policies should not be narrowed to refusing project financing for cluster munitions."