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6
Feb
2022
Sunday January 22, 2022
Let’s set the scene, first.
A country long considered a satellite state, almost a colony, of a nuclear superpower changes its government. The new government rejects its former connections with the superpower, and tries to build an alliance with an opposing superpower.
The first superpower feels threatened. It masses its armed forces close to the offending nation. It threatens to restore the previous status quo by force.
Meanwhile, the other nuclear superpower ships heavy weapons to its new ally.
Nuclear war seems imminent.
You probably think I’m writing about the current situation in Ukraine. I'm not. I’m describing the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Categories: Sharp Edges
Tags: Russia, Cuba Missile Crisis, Ukraine
15
Apr
2018
There hasn’t been this much news about chemical weapons since Saddam Hussein didn’t have them after all.
First it was the Skripals, father and daughter, apparently poisoned by some kind of nerve agent in Britain. More recently, it has been Syrian civilians, hundreds of them, including children and elderly.
In both cases, the perpetrator hasn’t been conclusively proven. The U.K. holds Russia responsible for the attack on the Skripals, possibly as revenge for his having betrayed his own government by providing secret information to British Intelligence.
Similarly, the western nations blame Syria’s ruler, Bashar Al Assad, for the poison gas attacks on civilians in a suburb of Damascus, one of the last stands of Syrian rebels.
In all this finger-pointing, I see very few media commentators examining the nature of the weapons themselves.
So here’s a brief history -- Chemical Weapons 101, perhaps.
Tags: Skripal, Novichok, VX, nerve gas, chemical weapons, Bashar al Assad, Russia, Sarin, atropine