Showing posts with label Weapons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weapons. Show all posts

Thursday, May 8, 2014

* Drone Wars (2012)

Who bears responsibly for lethal action when weapons are fully automated? Can a machine have a code of ethics? While their accuracy might, in theory, minimize innocent deaths, drones also enable illegal political assassinations, and by keeping US troops out of harm's way they also make war easier. A serious debate on these topics is long overdue. The forerunners of drones that are currently targeting people on the ground were once themselves targets. They have since evolved into reconnaissance vehicles, and more recently as weapons platforms. Predator drones are manufactured in Poway, near San Diego, where over 4,000 people are employed at General Atomics at the taxpayers' expense. We examine the implications of this kind of warfare, and the loop of finance that rewards contractors and the politicians they support. Drone warfare has increased dramatically since 2008 and there are over 60 bases across the globe engaging in a US drone missions. US drones are currently deployed in the skies of over 14 different countries, some for surveillance and others for attacking ground targets. The area of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, known as Waziristan is the locus of much of the drone operations. But are these weapons keeping us safe, or do they just incite further terrorist attacks? And is their use a violation of the Geneva Conventions?

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

* After Newtown: Guns in America (2013)

Guns in America is an unprecedented exploration of America's enduring relationship with firearms. From the first European settlements in the New World to frontier justice; from 19th Century immigrant riots to gangland violence in the Roaring Twenties; from the Civil War to Civil Rights, guns have been at center of our national narrative for four hundred years. Americans have relied on guns to sustain communities, challenge authority, and keep the peace. Efforts to curtail their distribution and ownership have triggered epic political battles. On one side, the cry for gun control gets louder with each mass shooting. And on the other, Charlton Heston's 2000 rallying cry, "From my cold, dead hands," still resonates across the lan

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

* America's Gun Addiction (2013)

The Newtown massacre, in which 20 primary schoolchildren died, has been hailed as a turning point on gun control in America. President Obama wants to ban assault weapons, but his opponents say more guns are the answer, not fewer. At a gun range, Panorama meets the teachers who want to take guns into their classrooms to protect their pupils. With many of America's mass killers having both mental health issues and easy access to guns, Panorama reveals the national crisis in mental healthcare which has left 4.5 million severely mentally ill Americans untreated. And reporter Hilary Andersson goes undercover to show how easy it is in Texas to buy the type of assault weapon used at Newtown, even if you are mentally unstable. Will Newtown finally change things, or will the mass killings continue?

Saturday, March 15, 2014

* Black Rain: Fruitless Data on the A-Bomb Survivors (2012)

Soon after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a black rain containing radioactive materials fell from the sky. No detailed data has ever been released on where this contaminated rain fell, and the extent of this form of radiation. But at the end of 2011, enquiries by a doctor in Nagasaki led to the disclosure that investigators in the 1950s had collected data on some 13,000 people exposed to black rain. Why has this information yet to be released -- 67 years after the atomic bombings? And what might we learn from these cases today? Our investigation includes accounts from survivors. Full title: Black Rain - Fruitless Data on the A-Bomb Survivors.