Zelensky Says Ukraine Takes ‘as Seriously as Possible’ an Apparent Threat of Russian Chemical Weapon Use.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in his latest address seized on an apparent Russian threat to use chemical weapons against the remaining defenders of Mariupol, as they prepare for what he called a “new stage of terror against Ukraine.”

Mr. Zelensky’s comments came after Eduard Basurin, a spokesman for the Kremlin-backed, separatist Donetsk People’s Republic, said on Russian television that Russia should bring in “chemical forces” to use in Mariupol, the besieged southern city. He said the remaining Ukrainian forces in Mariupol were dug in at a steel plant and that Russia should encircle it and “smoke out the moles.”

Referring to those remarks, Mr. Zelensky said in his latest video address, “We take this as seriously as possible.” The video was posted online Monday in the United States, and shortly after midnight on Tuesday in Ukraine. » | Jesus Jiménez | Monday, April 11, 2022

Russia May Use Chemical and Biological Weapons in Ukraine, US President Biden Says - BBC News

Mar 22, 2022 • US President Biden believes Russia's Vladimir Putin's "back is against the wall", warning he may use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine.

Mr Biden also said that intelligence indicated a growing Russian cyber threat to the US. He said Russia was "exploring" cyber attack, but the US would use "every tool" to prevent and respond to such a move.

Mr Biden suggested Moscow could act in retaliation for sanctions imposed on it after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

War in Ukraine: 'Trump Dossier' Author Says Invasion Could Finish Putin

Mar 10, 2022 • Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence officer who authored the infamous report on Donald Trump's alleged connections to Russia, says the invasion of Ukraine could end Vladimir Putin's regime.

Mr Steele said the Russian leader had overstretched himself in Ukraine and pressure would mount on him, domestically and internationally.

ut he warned more violence would be inflicted on Ukraine in the short-term.

Britain Fears Russia Could Be Setting Stage to Use Chemical Weapons

THE GUARDIAN: Western officials say they have ‘good reason’ to be concerned about possible use of non-conventional weapons in Ukraine

Britain fears that Russia could be setting the stage to use a chemical weapon in Ukraine, after Kremlin officials alleged without firm evidence that the US had been supporting a bioweapons programme in the country.

Western officials said at a briefing on Wednesday “we’ve got good reason to be concerned about possible use of non-conventional weapons” by Russia, reflecting the experience of chemical weapon use during the Syrian civil war.

The concern arose partly because Russia’s foreign ministry had been engaged in “setting the scene” by making “false flag claims” about a biological weapons programme operating inside Ukraine.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia had documents showing evidence that the US had supported a bioweapons programme in Ukraine, involving plague, cholera and anthrax. Washington and Kyiv both denied the claims, which the US said were “absurd”. » | Dan Sabbagh, Defence and security editor | Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Children under rubble after Russian airstrike on maternity hospital, says Zelenskiy: Authorities say at least 17 wounded including women in labour as shelling again halts evacuations »

Will Strikes Deter Assad from Using Chemical Weapons? | Inside Story

The US, the UK and France launch air strikes on Syria, targeting suspected chemical weapons sites. In what is the biggest military action against President Bashar.

Al Assad since the start of Syria's war 7 years ago, the US, UK and France have bombed multiple government facilities. The air strikes targeted a research centre outside the capital Damascus and two suspected chemical weapons storage sites near the city of Homs. The action was in response to an alleged chemical attack by Syria on civilians in the town of Douma last week.

The Syrian government claims to have shot down many of the more than a hundred missiles launched – and in Damascus people celebrated on the streets, honking their car horns in a show of defiance. Russia says the strikes are an act of aggression and warns of consequences. But what does this mean for the war in Syria? And will the strikes stop chemical attacks against civilians?

Presenter: Folly Bah Thibault | Guests: Alexey Khlebnikov, Middle East specialist at Russian International Affairs Council

Calls Grow to Fire Sean Spicer After He Says Hitler Didn't Use Chemical Weapons During Holocaust

Lawmakers and Jewish organizations, including the Anne Frank Center, are continuing to call for White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer to be fired, after Spicer compared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Hitler and falsely claimed Hitler never used chemical weapons. In fact, the Nazis systematically used poison gas as part of its genocide of 6 million Jews. The Nazis began experimenting with gas with the specific purpose of carrying out mass murder in the late 1930s. We speak to Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect.

Ridge: Former Chemical Weapons Inspector, Jerry Smith

Jerry Smith, a former chemical weapons inspector in Syria, spoke to Sophy Ridge about the human impact of the suspected chemical weapons attack, which killed at least 87 people.

Assad Says Army 'Gave Up' All Chemical Weapons

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his government handed over all its chemical weapons stockpiles in 2013 and could not have been behind last week's suspected sarin attack.

Syria's Assad Denies Use of Chemical Weapons

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town was a "fabrication" to justify a US military strike, in an exclusive AFP interview.

Sean Spicer Under Fire as Backlash Grows

The White House Press Secretary's remarks about Hitler, Assad, and the Holocaust have caused many to call for his resignation.

Sean Spicer Raises Outcry With Talk of Hitler, Assad and Poison Gas

THE NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON — The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, set off an intense backlash on Tuesday when he suggested that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria was guilty of acts worse than Hitler and asserted that Hitler had not used chemical weapons, ignoring the use of gas chambers at concentration camps during the Holocaust. Mr. Spicer later apologized.

During his daily briefing for reporters, Mr. Spicer was defending President Trump’s decision to order a missile strike on Syria by trying to lend gravity to the actions of Mr. Assad. American officials accuse the Syrian president of using sarin gas, a lethal chemical weapon, in an attack on a rebel-held area of Idlib Province last week that killed dozens, many of them children.

But in misconstruing the facts of the Holocaust — Nazi Germany’s brutally efficient, carefully orchestrated extermination of six million Jews and others — Mr. Spicer instead drew a torrent of criticism and added to the perception that the Trump White House lacks sensitivity and has a tenuous grasp of history. Read on and comment » | Nicholas Fandos and Mark Landler | Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Putin: Syria Chemical Attack Was ‘False Flag,’ More ‘Provocations’ Coming

BREITBART.COM: At a Tuesday press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed last week’s chemical weapons attack in the Idlib province of Syria was a “false flag” – a phony operation staged by enemies of Russia and Syria to discredit them. He said more such false flag operations were on the way.

“We have reports from multiple sources that false flags like this one – and I cannot call it otherwise – are being prepared in other parts of Syria, including the southern suburbs of Damascus. They plan to plant some chemical there and accuse the Syrian government of an attack,” said Putin, as reported by Russia’s RT.com. » | John Hayward | Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Vladimir Putin Claims the US Plans to Plant Chemical Weapons in Syria, Attack and Blame Assad

Paris Attacks: Isis 'Chemical Weapons' Warning Issued by French PM Manuel Valls

THE INDEPENDENT: Valls urges French parliament to extend its state of emergency

The Isis militant group could arm itself with biological and chemical weapons in future terror attacks on Europe, the French prime minister has warned.

Manuel Valls said France faced a serious threat from associates linked to the gunmen and bombers who launched attacks across Paris last Friday, killing 129.

"We must not rule anything out," he said. "I say it with all the precautions needed. But we know and bear in mind that there is also a risk of chemical or bacteriological weapons."

Mr Valls presented a bill to the French parliament that would extend the country's state of emergency for another three months. It will then go to the upper house on Friday. » | Adam Withnall | Thursday, November 19, 2015

Verwandt »

Assad Using Chemical Weapons Again? US Eyes New Allegations, Consequences Unclear

FOX NEWS: Allegations are mounting that the Assad regime has returned to using chemical weapons against Syrian rebels and civilians, nearly two years after the government agreed to dismantle their stockpile.

The suspicions have the Obama administration calling for an immediate U.N. investigation into the "abhorrent acts" -- though it remains unclear what, if any, punishment Bashar Assad might face if formally blamed for the string of alleged chlorine gas attacks.

One western U.N. diplomat told Fox News the situation has become "unacceptable" in Syria.

"There is mounting evidence of repeated chlorine attacks," the diplomat said. » | FoxNews.com | Thursday, May 07, 2015

Germans Rediscover First World War Heroine in New TV Drama

Clara Immerwahr was the first German woman to be awarded
a doctorate in chemistry

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: New film has reawakened interest in Germany in a largely forgotten feminist heroine from the war

A new TV drama is leading Germans to rediscover a long-forgotten heroine of the women’s rights movement – and tragic victim of World War One.

Clara Immerwahr was the first German woman to be awarded a doctorate in chemistry, and with her husband, Fritz Haber, a pioneer of chemical fertilisers. Together, they devised the process by which ammonia is produced to this day.

But with the coming of the First World War, Haber turned his talents to darker uses, and became the father of chemical weapons, supervising the use of chlorine gas in Flanders, the first deployment of a weapon of mass destruction in history.

Horrified at what her husband had done, Immerwahr committed suicide, shooting herself in the chest with his military pistol. Her death was hushed up, and for decades she has been forgotten. » | Justin Huggle, Berlin | Thursday, May 29, 2014

The West Has Put Middle East At Risk by Failing to Intervene in Syria and Making Overtures to the New Iranian Regime, Says Senior Saudi Diplomat

THE INDEPENDENT: Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Britain says his country is left with no choice but to act by itself and seek peace and stability in the region

The West’s failure to intervene in Syria, coupled with its attempts at forging a nuclear deal with Iran, “risk the security of the region,” a senior Saudi diplomat has warned, saying the Arab kingdom was willing to go it alone and had no choice but to “become more assertive in international affairs.”

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia turned down a coveted seat on the United Nations Security Council in protest at the way the West was dealing with Syria and the American overtures to the new Iranian regime led by Hassan Rouhani. Now, its ambassador to the UK has again expressed Riyadh’s anger at the lack of intervention in Syria, arguing that while efforts are being made to remove chemical weapons from President Bashar al-Assad’s arsenal, “surely the West must see that the regime itself remains the greatest weapon of mass destruction of all?”

“Chemical weapons are but a small cog in Mr Assad’s killing machine,” Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Britain, wrote in a pointed New York Times op-ed this week. » | Nikhil Kumar | New York | Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Syrian Rebels Trained to Use Chemical Weapons in Afghanistan – Lavrov

There are reports that some third countries are training Syrian rebels to use chemical weapons in Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. The intention is to put the skill to use in new false flag actions in Syria, he explained

Syria: 'Bashar al-Assad Ordered Me to Gas People - But I Could Not Do It'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: General Zaher al-Sakat tells Richard Spencer that he was ordered three times to use chemical weapons against his own people in Syria - but he could not go through with it.

Few thought that the Syrian regime's promise to destroy its chemical weapons would be the end of the story. Brigadier-General Zaher al-Sakat, a former chemical weapons chief in President Bashar al-Assad's own army, certainly did not.

Gen Sakat says he was ordered three times to use chemical weapons against his own people, but could not go through with it and replaced chemical canisters with ones containing harmless bleach.

He also insists that all such orders had to come from the top – President Assad himself – despite insistent denials by the regime that it has never used chemical weapons.

Now he also claims to have his own intelligence that the Syrian president is evading the terms of a Russian-brokered deal to destroy his chemical weapons by transferring some of his stocks to his allies – Hizbollah, in Lebanon, and Iran.

Gen Sakat spoke to The Sunday Telegraph last week, his first interview with a western newspaper, as Mr Assad confirmed for the first time what he and much of the rest of the world already knew – that regime possessed a huge arsenal of chemical weapons, and the delivery systems to go along with them. » | Richard Spencer, Amman | Saturday, September 21, 2013

Russia Says UN Chemical Attack Report Biased

Findings called "one-sided" by minister who says Syria has provided new proof implicating rebels in August 21 attack.