Attack (6)

 

The important thing about this article, to my mind, is that it is a great collection of very rational information – much of it new. ~J

By Washington’s Blog August 24, 2013

CBS News reports that the U.S. is finalizing plans for war against Syria – and positioning ships to launch cruise missiles against the Syrian government – based on the claim that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people.

The last time the U.S. blamed the Syrian government for a chemical weapons attack, that claim was was debunked.

But is the claim that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people true this time?

It’s not surprising that Syria’s close ally – Russia – is expressing doubt. Agence France-Presse (AFP) notes:

Russia, which has previously said it has proof of chemical weapons use by the rebels, expressed deep scepticism about the opposition’s claims.

The foreign ministry said the timing of the allegations as UN inspectors began their work “makes us think that we are once again dealing with a premeditated provocation.”

But Russia isn’t the only doubter.

AFP reports:

“At the moment, I am not totally convinced because the people that are helping them are without any protective clothing and without any respirators,” said Paula Vanninen, director of Verifin, the Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

“In a real case, they would also be contaminated and would also be having symptoms.”

John Hart, head of the Chemical and Biological Security Project at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said he had not seen the telltale evidence in the eyes of the victims that would be compelling evidence of chemical weapons use.

“Of the videos that I’ve seen for the last few hours, none of them show pinpoint pupils… this would indicate exposure to organophosphorus nerve agents,” he said.

Gwyn Winfield, editor of CBRNe World magazine, which specialises in chemical weapons issues, said the evidence did not suggest that the chemicals used were of the weapons-grade that the Syrian army possesses in its stockpiles.

“We’re not seeing reports that doctors and nurses… are becoming fatalities, so that would suggest that the toxicity of it isn’t what we would consider military sarin. It may well be that it is a lower-grade,” Winfield told AFP.

Haaretz reports:

Western experts on chemical warfare who have examined at least part of the footage are skeptical that weapons-grade chemical substances were used, although they all emphasize that serious conclusions cannot be reached without thorough on-site examination.

Dan Kaszeta, a former officer of the U.S. Army’s Chemical Corps and a leading private consultant, pointed out a number of details absent from the footage so far: “None of the people treating the casualties or photographing them are wearing any sort of chemical-warfare protective gear,” he says, “and despite that, none of them seem to be harmed.” This would seem to rule out most types of military-grade chemical weapons, including the vast majority of nerve gases, since these substances would not evaporate immediately, especially if they were used in sufficient quantities to kill hundreds of people, but rather leave a level of contamination on clothes and bodies which would harm anyone coming in unprotected contact with them in the hours after an attack. In addition, he says that “there are none of the other signs you would expect to see in the aftermath of a chemical attack, such as intermediate levels of casualties, severe visual problems, vomiting and loss of bowel control.”

Steve Johnson, a leading researcher on the effects of hazardous material exposure at England’s Cranfield University who has worked with Britain’s Ministry of Defense on chemical warfare issues, agrees that “from the details we have seen so far, a large number of casualties over a wide area would mean quite a pervasive dispersal. With that level of chemical agent, you would expect to see a lot of contamination on the casualties coming in, and it would affect those treating them who are not properly protected. We are not seeing that here.”

Additional questions also remain unanswered, especially regarding the timing of the attack, being that it occurred on the exact same day that a team of UN inspectors was in Damascus to investigate earlier claims of chemical weapons use. It is also unclear what tactical goal the Syrian army would have been trying to achieve, when over the last few weeks it has managed to push back the rebels who were encroaching on central areas of the capital. But if this was not a chemical weapons attack, what then caused the deaths of so many people without any external signs of trauma?

***

The Syrian rebels (and perhaps other players in the region) have a clear interest in presenting this as the largest chemical attack by the army loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad to date, even if the cause was otherwise, especially while the UN inspectors are in the country. It is also in their interest to do so whilst U.S. President Barack Obama remains reluctant to commit any military support to the rebels, when only the crossing of a “red line” could convince him to change his policy.

The rebels and the doctors on the scene may indeed believe that chemical weapons were used, since they fear such an attack, but they may not have the necessary knowledge and means to make such a diagnosis. The European Union demanded Wednesday that the UN inspectors be granted access to the new sites of alleged chemical attacks, but since this is not within the team’s mandate, it is unlikely that the Syrian government will do so.

Stephen Johnson, an expert in weapons and chemical explosives at Cranfield Forensic Institute, said that the video footage looked suspect:

There are, within some of the videos, examples which seem a little hyper-real, and almost as if they’ve been set up. Which is not to say that they are fake but it does cause some concern. Some of the people with foaming, the foam seems to be too white, too pure, and not consistent with the sort of internal injury you might expect to see, which you’d expect to be bloodier or yellower.

Chemical and biological weapons researcher Jean Pascal Zanders said that the footage appears to show victims of asphyxiation, which is not consistent with the use of mustard gas or the nerve agents VX or sarin:

I’m deliberately not using the term chemical weapons here,” he said, adding that the use of “industrial toxicants” was a more likely explanation.

Michael Rivero asks:

1. Why would Syria’s Assad invite United Nations chemical weapons inspectors to Syria, then launch a chemical weapons attack against women and children on the very day they arrive, just miles from where they are staying?

2. If Assad were going to use chemical weapons, wouldn’t he use them against the hired mercenary army trying to oust him? What does he gain attacking women and children? Nothing! The gain is all on the side of the US Government desperate to get the war agenda going again.

As I type these words, US trained and equipped forces are already across the border into Syria, and US naval forces are sailing into position to launch a massive cruise missile attack into Syria that will surely kill more Syrians than were claimed to have died in the chemical attack.

Last time there was a chemical weapon attack in Syria, Bush administration office Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson said that he thought Israel might have given chemical weapons to the Syrian rebels to frame the government.

British MP George Galloway just floated the same theory in regards to the new chemical weapon attack.

Of course, we don’t know who carried out the attack, or what weapon was used.

But given the well-documented fact that the U.S. has been planning regime change in Syria for 20 years straight – and planned to use false ploys for 50 years – it is worth being skeptical until all of the evidence is in.

Indeed, many are asking whether this is Iraq War 2.0. For example, the Independent writes:

Pictures showing that the Syrian army used chemical weapons against rebel-held Eastern Ghouta just east of Damascus are … likely to be viewed sceptically because the claims so much resemble those made about Saddam Hussein’s possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) before the US and British invasion of Iraq in 2003.

***

Like the Iraqi opposition to Saddam, who provided most of the evidence of WMDs, the Syrian opposition has every incentive to show the Syrian government deploying chemical weapons in order to trigger foreign intervention.

***

But the obvious fact that for the Syrian government to use chemical weapons would be much against their own interests does not prove it did not happen. Governments and armies do stupid things. But it is difficult to imagine any compelling reason why they should do so since they have plenty of other means of killing people in Eastern Ghouta, such as heavy artillery or small arms, which they regularly use.

***

The evidence so far for the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian army is second-hand and comes from a biased source.

Read more…

Syria: Cameron and Obama agree to military strike over chemical weapons      

  • Print The Alex Jones ChannelAlex Jones Show podcastPrison Planet TVInfowars.com TwitterAlex Jones' FacebookInfowars store
  •         

      

Michael Ravensthorpe UK Daily Mirror August 25, 2013

David Cameron and Barack Obama last night agreed to take military action against Syria, the Sunday People has reported.

The US president sealed the deal in a 40-minute phone call to the Prime Minister at his holiday retreat in Cornwall.

The two leaders agreed that Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad was responsible for using chemical weapons against children.

Mr Obama and Mr Cameron will discuss the military options in the next few days.

They include missile strikes, ­disabling the Syrian air force or ­enforcing a no-fly zone across the country. A No.10 source said: “The significant use of chemical weapons would merit a serious response.

Full article here

Read more…

A Reminder About Procedures...

First, if you didn't come from the other ning, this doesn't concern you so you don't need to read this blog.  Because we believe in free thought and expression and sometimes discuss and analyze Zetatalk, that ning has spies here which shows how much they respect free speech and free thought.  It's not a problem for you unless you speak out about their infamous personality or criticize their beliefs.  So, just skip this blog and focus on earth changes and preparing for them.

For the rest of us, obviously we are being effective.  We've had our first negative posting and the mods and spies are out in force, and I've already banned one of them.

So, just remember the procedure...do not respond to any negative posts.  Alert me and I'll handle it.  The pooper scooper is ready.

Read more…

http://www.executivegov.com/2010/11/ny-congresswoman-100-percent-chance-of-cyber-attack-against-power-grid/

Speaking before the SC World Congress Data Security Conference, Rep. Yvette Clark (D-N.Y.), who chairs the Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, Science, and Technology Subcommittee, said the United States faces chilling odds of an electrical-grid attack.

“Our networks are already being penetrated as we stand here,” Clarke said, according to a report on InfoSecurity.com. “We are already under attack. We must stop asking ourselves ‘could this happen to us’ and move to a default posture that acknowledges this fact and instead asks ‘what can we do to protect ourselves’?”

The power grid, which Clarke said distinguishes the United States as “an advanced, modern civil society,” is vulnerable, not only from possibly adversarial nations, such as Iran and North Korea, but also terrorist organizations.

Read more…
This article may be useful to some as a consequence of weather changes- it states that those on asprin were less susceptible to blood clotting in cold v hot weather swings. There are 2 herbal remedies that I know of which could be taken instead as these are safe to take 1) meadowsweet 2) white willow bark. Both contain the natural active ingredient salicylic acid of which a synthetic verstion is made in asprin. These herbs no not cause stomach upset. I suggest those sensitive to weather changes or the cold take at least 1 ml of these in tincture form a day during the cold, and when there is an upswing down swing event over a short time span increase to 2 ml. Decoction from the actual herb can be made if tinctures not possible.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10917611

Many more people will die of heart problems as global warming continues, experts are warning.

Climate extremes of hot and cold will become more common and this will puts strain on people's hearts, doctors say.

A study in the British Medical Journal found that each 1C temperature drop on a single day in the UK is linked to 200 extra heartattacks.

Heatwaves, meanwhile, increase heart deaths from other causes, as shown by the events in Paris during summer 2003.

Over 11,000 people died in France's heatwave in the first half of August of that year when temperatures rose to over 40C.

Many of these were sudden cardiac deaths related to heart conditions other than heart attack.

Related stories

That same summer, record-breaking temperatures led to 2,000 excess deaths in the UK.

And experts predict that by the 2080s events similar to these will happen every year.

The risks posed by extreme spells of hot and cold are largely within two weeks of exposure and are greatest for the most frail - theelderly and those with heart problems already, say experts.

In the BMJ study, researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicineanalysed data on over 84,000 patients admitted to hospital with a heartattack between 2003 and 2006 and compared this with daily temperaturesin England and Wales.

They found that a 1C reduction in average daily temperature was linked with a cumulative 2% increase in risk of heart attack for 28days, even in the summer.

Vulnerable to extremes

Although a 2% increase in risk may sound small for any given individual, for the population of the UK it equates to 200 extra heartattacks a day, say the researchers.

Most of the casualties were people in their 70s and 80s, but people who had been taking aspirin long-term appeared to be lessvulnerable for some reason.

Start Quote

Although the increased risk is small, if there is a nationwide drop in average temperature it could equate toa significant number of heart attacks each day”

End QuoteEllen MasonBritish Heart Foundation

The researchers speculate that the cold may make blood more prone to clotting, and that this raises heart attack risk.

It would also explain why the blood-thinning drug aspirin might offer some protection.

Lead researcher Krishnan Bhaskaran and his team say further studies need to be conducted to see what measures could be used to avoidthe increased risk, such as advising patients, particularly theelderly, to wear suitable clothing and to heat their homes sufficiently.

Last year's low temperatures saw the highest number of "excess deaths" - the number of those who perished over and above whatis normal for the time of year - for nearly a decade.

The 36,000 "excess deaths" in England and Wales during the winter of 2008/09 represented a rise of nearly 50% from the previousyear.

In an accompanying editorial in the BMJ, Dr Paola Michelozzi and Manuela De Sario, of the LazioRegion Department of Epidemiology in Rome, say although rising globaltemperatures will bring some health benefits, such as lower cold-relatedmortality, any benefits will be outweighed by the health risks linkedto heatwaves.

"Actions to reduce greenhouse gases based on lifestyle changes at the population and individual level may have substantialbenefits for health and climate protection.

"For example, lowering saturated fat intake by reducing consumption of animal products is a healthy food choice recommended inprevention guidelines for coronary heart disease and a recognisedstrategy to reduce greenhouse gas emission," they say.

Ellen Mason, of the British Heart Foundation, said: "Although the increased risk is small, if there is a nationwide drop in averagetemperature it could equate to a significant number of heart attackseach day.

"This timely piece of research reminds us that older peopleand anyone with heart disease should keep warm in their homes after thesummer draws to a close

Read more…

Blog Topics by Tags

Monthly Archives