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Thread: The Difficulty of Using Chemical Weapons

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    The Difficulty of Using Chemical Weapons

    The Difficulty of Using Chemical Weapons

    " The Difficulty of Using Chemical Weapons is republished with permission of Stratfor."

    Video at link

    Or watch it on Youtube

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3Oxu4VD6Z0&feature=youtu.be
    ΜOΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ


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    Exclamation

    Mebbe dey'll get `em from China...

    IS Seeks Biological, Nuclear Materials, Counterterror Officials Warn
    April 19, 2016 - European counterterror chiefs warned at a London conference Tuesday that Islamic State militants are seeking to secure biological and nuclear materials to build rudimentary weapons of mass destruction.
    They said IS might be splitting into two for operational purposes, with one wing focused on defending the terror group’s self-styled caliphate straddling Syria and Iraq, and the other dedicated to carrying out terror attacks in the West. Speaking at the Security and Counter Terror Expo in London, security officials said IS militants had shown interest in obtaining nuclear, biological and chemical material for terror attacks in the West. “We know terrorists are trying to acquire these substances,” said Jamie Shea, deputy assistant secretary general for emerging security threats at NATO. Jorge Berto Silva, deputy head of counterterrorism for the European Commission, added that there was a “justified concern."


    A police officer enters the building where a raid occurred in Saint-Denis, France, a few days after terrorist attacks in Paris, Nov. 19, 2015. France's prime minister warned at the time that terrorists might at some point use chemical or biological weapons.

    Summer attacks

    The warning came as German and Italian intelligence officials reported their fears that IS strategists are planning suicide summer attacks on Mediterranean resorts. The German newspaper Bild said the plans involved the use of automatic weapons on crowded beaches, similar to the shooting last June in the Tunisian beach resort of Sousse that left 38 vacationers, mostly Britons, dead. Disguised as a tourist, the gunman at Sousse, Seifeddine Rezgui Yacoubi, pulled out an AK-47 assault rifle concealed in a beach umbrella. An Italian security official told VOA the plans involve attacks on French, Spanish and Italian beaches. “We think they are planning to pretend they are vendors,” he said.


    A chlorine-tinged cloud of smoke rises into the air from an alleged Islamic State bomb that was detonated by Iraqi army and Shi'ite fighters, in the town of al-Alam in Salahuddin province

    On Tuesday, Spanish police announced they had arrested a Moroccan on the island resort of Palma de Mallorca on suspicion of recruiting fighters for IS. Many analysts argue the chances that IS will be able to secure nuclear material for even a rudimentary bomb are small — but not zero. Over the past five years, the FBI has assisted authorities in Moldova in disrupting four efforts by nuclear smugglers to sell radioactive material to Middle Eastern groups, including IS. The Associated Press reported last year that one IS-involved deal was focused on the attempted sale of a huge cache of deadly cesium.

    British, Belgian warnings
    See also:

    Pollution Scare Exposes China’s Oversight in Hazardous Chemicals
    April 19, 2016 - Anxiety is growing among parents in eastern China about contaminated soil and underground water after nearly 500 students from a middle school developed illnesses that are possibly linked to chemical pollution at a nearby site.
    The pollution scare is yet another reminder of the seriousness of China’s chemical pollution problem and exposes gaping holes in the country’s management of hazardous materials, analysts say. State-owned CCTV reports 493 students from Changzhou Foreign Language School in Jiangsu province have fallen ill, diagnosed with dermatitis, bronchitis and white blood cell deficiencies, as well as a few cases of cancer, including lymphoma and leukemia.


    Children play during a class break on a foggy day, located on the China border on Sept. 21, 2015. Parents grew anxious after nearly 500 students from a middle school developed illnesses that are possibly linked contaminated soil and underground water adjacent to three former pesticide plants.

    Parents suspected the symptoms were likely triggered by extremely high levels of groundwater and soil pollution because the school is adjacent to the sites of three former pesticide plants, including the local arm of Shenzhen Noposion Agrochemicals Company, one of China’s largest pesticide makers. The CCTV report quoted students and parents complaining about the water, tasting “a bit sour,” and a smell “like rotten duck eggs” in the air after students begun their studies here in December of last year.

    Wrong site

    The state media concluded the school shouldn’t have been built on the “toxic plot of land,” citing an environmental assessment report released prior to its construction last year. Earlier, investigative news reports suggested that, based on groundwater samples, the level of chlorobenzene, which is used to make pesticides and is harmful to human nervous systems, livers and kidneys, exceeded national standards by more than 94,000 times.


    A China Railway High-speed (CRH) Harmony bullet train travels above a river contaminated by leaked fuel, in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province

    Another report by Caixin Media further confirmed that one plant had buried toxic waste before it moved away in 2010, citing its former employees. “From this Changzhou case, it’s quite obvious that the factories were illegally dumping some hazardous wastes [be]cause those were very poisonous wastes,” said Ada Kong, Greenpeace East Asia toxics campaign manager.

    Kong added the tragedy shows how “dangerously lax” China’s management of hazardous materials is as the country’s chemical industry has been loosely regulated with its use and discharge of hazardous materials. That has long caused serious problems for many local governments, which have rezoned industrial sites without knowing how much chemical waste had been discharged on site, according to Kong.

    Worrying parents nationwide

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    Red face

    Granny once `rastled a man to the ground who was carryin' a chlorine tank - turned out to be a pool guy...

    Bioterrorism: HHS Seeks First Potential Antidote to Chlorine Gas
    October 3, 2016 - The Department of Health and Human Services is contracting with a Massachusetts company to develop the first potential treatment for chlorine inhalation, which it describes as a "potential terrorism threat."
    “The United States faces a wide variety of threats to health security -- from new infectious diseases like Zika to bioterrorism and accidents involving deadly gases like chlorine,” said Dr. Richard Hatchett, acting director of HHS's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). “Not being prepared for any of them could cost lives; we must be ready to protect health against the multitude of threats our country faces.” The two-year, $15.9-million contract awarded to Radikal Therapeutics, Inc. of Beverly, Massachusetts, could be extended to a total of $84.9 million over seven years.

    The company is developing an antidote known as R-107. If early studies are successful, R-107 could begin clinical studies to establish safety and efficacy in humans. Last Thursday's announcement from HHS notes that chlorine gas can have catastrophic consequences in industrial accidents, such as the derailment of a train carrying chlorine in South Carolina in 2005. Nine people died after inhaling the gaas and hundreds were injured. "In addition, chlorine gas has been used as a weapon, for the first time in World War I and repeatedly in the recent Syrian civil war," the announcement said.

    BARDA says it continues to seek proposals for the development of effective medical countermeasures and interventions for chemical threats, including new products and new indications for products already in clinical use. "The products must be easy to use in a mass casualty situation and safe and effective for all segments of the population," BARDA said. One day after announcing the contract for a chlorine gas antidote, HHS announced last Friday that the development of an nthrax vaccine is moving forward under a five-year, $198.7-million contract with Maryland-based Emergent BioSolutions.

    That contract will fund the remaining development activities required for the company to apply to the Food and Drug Administration for the vaccine to be licensed. “Fifteen years ago this month, anthrax was used as a weapon of domestic terrorism in the U.S., and its use remains a threat today,” said Dr. Hatchett. “BARDA is sponsoring the development of NuThrax to help better protect our nation from this threat. This vaccine could provide protection in fewer doses than the anthrax vaccine currently available, potentially producing better health outcomes if it was needed during a public health emergency.” Studies conducted to date with NuThrax indicate that two doses, administered 14 days apart, appear sufficient to stimulate a protective immune response against anthrax.

    http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/...-moves-forward

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    Angry

    Guess Obama didn't get all of Syria's chemical weapons...

    Syrian military used chemical weapons in Aleppo, Human Rights Watch alleges
    Tuesday 14th February, 2017 - International watchdog Human Rights Watch in its latest report published on Monday said the Syrian military pounded parts of eastern Aleppo with chemical weapons during its offensive to retake the city at the end of last year.
    According to the findings of the watchdog, the military's helicopters dumped canisters of chlorine gas, a banned weapon, on opposition controlled residential areas, playgrounds and clinics of the city at least eight times late last year. These attacks came during the final stages of the battle to retake the city from rebels. HRW based its assertions following interviews with several witnesses and an analysis of video footage, photographs and social media posts. Nine people were killed and some 200 injured in the attacks that took place between November 17 and December 13, 2016.

    One of the deadliest bombings took place in the neighborhood of Sakhur on November 20, killing six members of the same family including four children whose bodies were shown on a video taken by the Shabha press agency. "The pattern of the chlorine attacks shows that they were coordinated with the overall military strategy for retaking Aleppo, not the work of a few rogue elements,” Ole Solvang, deputy emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, said in the report.


    Louis Charbonneau, the UN director at HRW, told Al Jazeera that the senior military officials who would have been monitoring the Aleppo siege had to know chemical weapons were used. "This is industrial strength. People get a burning in their throats, their eyes tear up. Their lungs fill with fluid. Your body simply will not let you bring in air. You can actually see the yellow-green gas as it is moving through," he said. The use of chemical weapons is banned by the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention. Under a treaty, the Bashar al-Assad government signed in 2013 under pressure from Russia, the Syrian president promised not to use chemical weapons.

    However, a United Nations panel concluded last year that government forces had used them at least three times in 2014 and 2015. The international watchdog said there was no evidence of Russian involvement in the chemical weapon attacks. "We don't have any evidence that Russia was directly involved in any of these attacks or that it was aware", said Charbonneau. "What we do know is that Russia is a close military ally of the Syrian government. It is involved on the ground. It was involved in the battle for Aleppo." "At the very least, they needed to take measures to ensure that these weapons were not being used," Charbonneau told a news conference.

    http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/2...-watch-alleges

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    What we know so far about the suspected gas attack in Douma, Syria...

    What we know about the suspected gas attack in Douma, Syria
    Apr 9, 2018 - A suspected chemical attack in a rebel-held area of Syria over the weekend left at least 40 people dead, according to aid groups. The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting on Monday, and President Donald Trump said “major decisions” on Syria would come within 24 to 48 hours.
    What happened?

    The White Helmets, a volunteer relief organization that conducts searches and rescues and medical evacuations in Syria, said that 40 people died in a chemical attack in the southern city of Douma. The group blamed the Syrian regime. Symptoms of those seeking medical help included blueish skin, foaming at the mouth, burning sensation in the eyes and difficulty breathing.


    A child is treated in a hospital in Douma, eastern Ghouta in Syria, after what a Syria medical relief group claims was a suspected chemical attack on April 7.

    The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll was even higher totaling as many as 80 people, including 40 from suffocation. A statement from the Syrian government said “the army, which is advancing rapidly and with determination, does not need to use any kind of chemical agents.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that no evidence was found of a chemical attack. He also alleged a “provocation” had been prepared to blame the regime for an attack.

    World reaction

    Following the reports of the chemical’s release, Russia and the Syrian military said Israel fired missiles at a major air base — known as T4 — in central Syria, killing 14 people including three Iranians. The Pentagon denied in a statement that the U.S. military had launched the missile strikes and would continue to “closely watch the situation.” In terms of a U.S. response, Defense Secretary James Mattis said Monday, “I don’t rule out anything right now.” President Trump tweeted that “President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad,” referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and that there was a “big price to pay.”


    A year ago, President Trump ordered an airstrike of an air base in Syria following another chemical attack in the rebel held northwestern town of Khan Sheikhoun, where at least 58 people died. At the time, Russia said the poison gas was released when Syrian warplanes bombed a facility where rebels were making chemical weapons. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Sunday condemned the Syrian regime’s continued siege of Douma and the bombings over the past 24 hours, which are “in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”

    British Prime Minister Teresa May called the attack “barbaric,” saying during a visit to Denmark that “If they are found to be responsible, the regime and its backers, including Russia, must be held to account.” Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu expressed “grave concern” over the latest use of toxic gas and launched an investigation. “Children are dying before our eyes,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.

    Key moments on chemical weapons in Syria
    Last edited by waltky; 04-10-2018 at 04:29 PM.

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