wow.. never heard of that event back in 85… i guess i was busy focused on something else… sure sounds like a police state.. has that changed much?

Posted by: james | May 13 2018 19:07 utc | 4

Re: the MOVE atrocity
_____________________________________
I grew up in West Philly, close enough to Powelton Village and Osage Avenue to smell the smoke and hear the “rumor” of gunfire and mayhem on the night of May 13, 1985– followed by the sounds and smells of an adjacent neighborhood burning down as a consequence of the police bombing. That day, the police chopper could’ve been emblazoned with the Airborne slogan “Death From Above”.
MOVE occupied a typical Philadelphia row house, except that it was reinforced with plywood sheets and had a sort of crude wooden shack/observation post on the roof.
The local media invariably referred to it as the “MOVE compound”– as if it were the lair of a supervillain, or an outlaw refuge like Hole in the Wall, or even an evil Bizarro version of the Kennedy Compound in Hyannisport. One of its members, who was burned in the fire but survived, was a parochial-school classmate of mine.
Afterwards, a local “blue-ribbon commission” was convened to publicly review the debacle; it was locally televised in full.
I think I watched every minute of the “MOVE Commission” hearings conducted that summer, and “appalled” is too weak a word for my reaction. It became clearer and clearer that both the institutional and public “verdict” on the officials responsible for the debacle was more or less that they may have made some questionable judgment calls, but did the best they could under difficult circumstances.
As far as I recall, no one characterized those hearings as a “truth and reconciliation commission”. But that’s exactly how they functioned, which is why I have no use for such commissions.
While– again, as far as I remember– there were no explicit grants of immunity, the only persons who faced criminal charges resulting from the confrontation were MOVE members. They, of course, were prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and then some.
FWIW, I can’t remember any instance of ancillary legal action, i.e. a federal (DOJ) investigation to determine if there were civil rights violations. I’m sure that lawsuits were filed in the aftermath, but none of the officials responsible for the atrocity were subject to any “ruinous” litigation.
The mayor, police commissioner, and fire commissioner who’d jointly authorized the use of the bomb were allowed to retire honorably and without sanctions. The prevailing sentiment, expressed by civic leaders and local newspaper editorial boards, was that somehow, the persons in charge responsible for the homicidal devastation were more to be pitied than censured.
There was a collective implication that, in a way, dontcha know, the authories who were “put in an impossible position” were the real victims. The MOVE victims, on the other hand, didn’t inspire sympathy. The popular view was that these oddball, quasi-feral radical troublemakers and instigators had it coming.
A more “high-minded” consensus emerged that it was, at worst, a sort of tragic Merry Mixup all around. That way, we could put it behind us and– ironically enough– move on.
This attitude of “let’s agree that it was a horrible, mostly-accidental tragedy and leave it at that” is a convenient way of preempting calls for (social) justice. Many years later, Obama took this rhetorical tack with his infamous “look forwards, not backwards” excuse for not pursuing his predecessor’s high crimes and misdemeanors.

Posted by: Ort | May 13 2018 20:25 utc | 6

Both the MOVE 9 and Mumia Abu Jamal were convicted on theories in which bullets ricocheted in mid air, i.e. shape shifting space reptile conspiracy theories.

Posted by: Johan Meyer | May 13 2018 21:26 utc | 8

It’s like the noise of world has suddenly stopped for a minute. Like a drunk back from a tea-break Trump stuck a tyre lever into the creaking machinery of empire and it has come juddering to a halt. People look around to see the ghastly sight of the naked orange emperor all huge and pudgy.
Even Bibi in Moscow looked awkward, like he wasn’t wanted, like a man about to lose his mojo. For us in the cheap seats this is all good, isn’t it?
European leaders cannot transition from a crazy narrative to an utterly insane one and are standing there open-mouthed, lost for words. War with Iran? You have to be kidding. We cannot sell that one to the plebs, sorry. Could you please come back with a better idea… please.
And then the military machinery isn’t much cop either. And all those machinists and engineers and designers at the MIC who were trampled on by shareholder value and fucked around by creepy consultants with sick sigma black belts from Booz Allen and co will look up and say, “Told you so.”

Posted by: Lochearn | May 13 2018 21:36 utc | 10

Almand 12
I think this trait (or zeitgeist) is recognized and understood here. Although you have described it as it is.
These are the dupes that Trump and Republicans have been fooling for years. See Lee Atwater. I call them Trailer-park Republicans.
It is unfortunate to have discovered that the D Party is no better. While it offers slim hope among a few of its membership, it always tilts toward (votes with) the rich peoples’ warmonger party.
And probably it is worse than a genuine “screw the commons party”, b/c it presents itself as representative of the common ppl as it works against them.

Posted by: fast freddy | May 13 2018 22:06 utc | 12

There are so many brutal injustices like this one! The truth is almost unbearable to eny right thinking person ,it’s debilitating! And so the public close there mind to it,on mass! There we have it, we need to face the reality as hard as that is.look in the mirror and point the finger of blame. As long as we stay silent both home and abroad things will get much worse.

Posted by: Mark 2 | May 13 2018 22:16 utc | 14

@13
“It is unfortunate to have discovered that the D Party is no better. While it offers slim hope among a few of its membership, it always tilts toward (votes with) the rich peoples’ warmonger party.”
Thank you so much for enlightening me about the D Party. There was me voting for them all my life… and now you have given a most sophisticated analysis… You learn something every day…

Posted by: Lochearn | May 13 2018 22:58 utc | 16

Wiki has a pretty good summary of the Wilmington riot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmington_insurrection_
Here is a taste:
“The Wilmington insurrection of 1898, also known as the Wilmington massacre of 1898 or the Wilmington race riot of 1898, occurred in Wilmington, North Carolina on November 10, 1898. It is considered a turning point in post-Reconstruction North Carolina politics. The event marks an era of more severe racial segregation and effective disenfranchisement of African-Americans throughout the South, a shift already underway since passage by Mississippi of a new constitution in 1890 raising barriers to voter registration. Laura Edwards wrote in Democracy Betrayed (2000), “What happened in Wilmington became an affirmation of white supremacy not just in that one city, but in the South and in the nation as a whole,” as it affirmed that invoking “whiteness” eclipsed the legal citizenship, individual rights and equal protection under the law of blacks.[2][3][4]
“It was originally described by white Americans as a race riot caused by blacks. However, over time, with more facts discovered, the event has come to be classified as a coup d’etat, with complex causes that were social, political and economic.[5][6][1][7][8][9][10] It is the only successful coup d’état on record in the U.S.[11][12]
“The coup occurred after the state’s white conservative Democratic Party conspired and led a mob of 2,000 white men to overthrow the legitimately elected local Fusionist government, expelling black leaders from the city, destroying the property and businesses of black citizens built up since the Civil War, including the only black newspaper in the city, and killing an estimated 60 to more than 300 people…..”
An interesting aspect of this carefully planned attack, aimed by the Democratic Party and corporate interests against the ‘Fusion’ regime composed of (largely white) Populists and (black) Republicans, is that one of its leaders, the brain behind it was Josephus Damiels who later became Wilson’s Secretary of the Navy. His Under Secretary and protegee was one Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I believe that it was Daniels who nominated FDR at the 1932 Democratic Convention.
I mention these things, firstly because Wilmington was not about jealousy at Black economic success but was aimed at breaking up a successful and radical political movement uniting workers of both races. It is always useful to remember that US disdain for populism dates back to ruling class fears of a radical workers movement undivided by race.
And secondly that FDR, the idol of Bernie Sanders and liberals, came from a Democratic party which was thoroughly racist. Jim Crow thrived during the New Deal.

Posted by: bevin | May 13 2018 23:23 utc | 18

A word about the notions of “being realistic” and “pragmatic” also known as “practical politics.”
Let us assume that we wish to be “pragmatic” as defined by those who claim to be the realists as they support some version of “lesser-evil politics.”
OK, then, as realists they must agree to avoid magical thinking and illogical constructions when evaluating and reaching their conclusions.
Problem #1: An action either has merit or it does not. Buying a candy bar on the basis that other people do it is absurd. Avoiding the purchase of a candy bar because others are frightened of it is also absurd. Voting (or not voting) for a candidate in a representative democracy on the basis of other people’s fears is a refusal to cast your vote on the merits of the candidate.
Problem #2: “Practical politics” as defined by the constraints of the two-party system (in reality there is only One Party- the Party of Big Business) have defined only two alternatives, Dem/Repub, as reasonable, when in reality there are more than two alternatives. This exactly creates the conditions that the “pragmatists” state they do not want (“we may not like, but we have to …”). To continue to create circumstances that are the opposite of ones desires is not reasonable.
Problem #3: The challenge to “show viability” is, by the terms of the two-party Kabuki quite impossible. If the political landscape is a zero-sum game between Democrats and Republicans (who, incidentally, join hands to exclude other voices), then the “pragmatist” is asking that someone outside the two alternatives prevail despite the opposition and the opposition of those who they claim would agree, while supporting those with whom they do not agree. A candidate cannot be “viable” if all who agree with him or her are frightened into opposition.
Problem #4: The idea that throwing away support or a vote e.g. is constituted by supporting someone with whom you agree is simply false.
I invite anyone to reason through substitution. Pretend that the civil rights movement has not yet begun. Do you present your “realistic” argument to those who want change?
The argument of “practical politics in the end is the rationalization of fear and a blind eye to self-harm.
The comments about “being practical” echo the spirit of those “reasonable” people who thought slavery was clearly wrong, but recognized how essential it was to the economy of the time. Those “pragmatists” poo-pooed the Abolitionists as unrealistic radicals, favoring instead incremental changes in the Peculiar Institution- don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, right?
Our current system is at its heart differently (but still substantially) destructive to human dignity and is far more dangerous to our long term survival. It is a fundamentally unsustainable system that is putting our world in a position of being critically overstretched. We cannot sustain the year on year exponential growth required by the capitalist economic system, and when growth stops, contraction begins and the distribution of resources that billions depend on for survival will be profoundly disrupted. All politicians are servants of this system as are the vast majority of academics those in the media, and those in positions of economic power. Anarchists and Communists just don’t get to be CEO’s or Senators, or TV News Anchors- fealty to the system is kind of a job requirement. Those of us who would subvert and replace the system may seem crazy, but the insanity of the system is as clear as day and the bodies are piled a mile high for all to see but the blind and the bought off.
The “realism” that many purport to espouse is little more than a defense of suicidal madness on a mass scale, rooted in a failure to conceive of a better or different world. Those who support the status quo through their “practical politics” lack vision, understanding and wisdom. They are a collection of individuals who fall prey to the illusion that everything is as it should be (or close enough) because they may feel safe and comfortable. The American Myth has worked out all right for them- so how could things be as wrong as the radicals say?

Posted by: Allen | May 14 2018 0:36 utc | 20

@10, ff,
Her policies, her actions, her words, her unreliability are not just faint hints, but traits and marked events of Western Liberalism.
She’s no popular nationalist, nor a conservative.
She could be leader of any EU vassal. She just happens to be Germany’s leader.
Read.
http://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/66594

Posted by: Red Ryder | May 14 2018 0:56 utc | 22

Bevin @ 22: Excellent comment and one I agree with.
Over at New Kremlin Stooge I suggested that the Pantsir destroyed by Israel may have been allowed to sit as a decoy on the airstrip after expending all its missiles, to divert Israeli attention. The crew was standing outside the vehicle and ran off just before the Israel missile hit.
The general consensus there though is that the Syrians are not sufficiently well trained enough to operate the Pantsir systems, as they had allowed a lone Pantsir to be destroyed without covering it with other Pantsirs. This may be a reason why Russia is still delaying (if it is) the delivery of the S300 missile defence system.
Netanyahu obviously intended to gatecrash Victory Day celebrations by arranging his trip to coincide with the public event. My thinking is that all heads of state or their representatives are invited to attend, and any one of these people who happen to be Moscow during Victory Day is invited, whether friend or foe. The message is that Victory Day is a time to set aside prejudices and grudges and to remember the fallen and those who sacrificed their lives to stop fascism.
There are videos on Youtube of Putin, Netanyahu and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić placing a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and walking away from the memorial afterwards. Observe Putin’s body language closely as he walks with Netanyahu and Vučić and tell me which of them he has a “bromance” with.

Posted by: Jen | May 14 2018 2:16 utc | 24

Posted by: Red Ryder | May 13, 2018 3:02:08 PM | 4
Fact is Germany’s social structure was devastated by Gerhard Schröder who is a Social Democrat and friend of Putin. A better description would be he destroyed the principle of “social participation” for poor people. Poor being relative. He also cut the safety net for the middle class.
What he did though is not so much devastate Germany’s social structure or social participation but convert it into a labor camp where people have to work for subsistence. On the ideology that only work means social participation.
From an economic point of view he subsidized labor enabling a third world production in Germany that made the country competitive in world markets.
From a social point of view he created a foul mood and middle class angst that fuels the right wing.
All this is relative. For Eastern Europeans Germany is paradise.
Angela Merkel is a physicist of power. Much more reaction than action. You can trust her not to do anything stupid. Which is much more than you can say for Trump.

Posted by: somebody | May 14 2018 2:22 utc | 26

Unrelated note but Ayatollah khameinei just posted a picture of himself reading fire and fury in Farsi at the annaul Iranian book expo
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bio-EWqnIIv/

Posted by: Ikl | May 14 2018 3:00 utc | 28

For the edification of all, I feel obligated to post the definition of the word LIBERAL now and then because its meaning is often misused and seems to confuse many..
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/liberal

Posted by: ben | May 14 2018 4:42 utc | 30

Ben @ 31: The definition of Liberalism is much clearer and gives an indication of where people started to misuse the word “liberal”.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/liberalism
Definition of liberalism
1 : the quality or state of being liberal
2 a (often capitalized) : a movement in modern Protestantism emphasizing intellectual liberty and the spiritual and ethical content of Christianity
2 b : a theory in economics emphasizing individual freedom from restraint and usually based on free competition, the self-regulating market, and the gold standard …
2 c : a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy (see autonomy 2) of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties; specifically : such a philosophy that considers government as a crucial instrument for amelioration of social inequities (such as those involving race, gender, or class)
2 d capitalized : the principles and policies of a Liberal … party

Posted by: Jen | May 14 2018 6:11 utc | 32

Almost 20 palestinians killed by Israel,
EU and US looking from the side, approving the murderer…

Posted by: Zanon | May 14 2018 11:52 utc | 34

Roger Waters putting it mildly:

He is pig-ignorant and he always was and he always will be. He lives in the illusion that he’s admirable in some way. And obviously for somebody like me, he stands for everything that is not admirable in American society.

I would put it this way: He’s a slobbering corrupt pig that American, Israeli and Russian Zionists put in the White House. He’s a disgrace to humanity.

Posted by: Circe | May 14 2018 12:33 utc | 36

Iraq 2003 vs Iran today
I’ve been skeptical that the U.S. would be stupid enough to repeat history but the parallels are striking …
1. As B. has pointed out, Bolton threatening inspectors then and now and having an even bigger role today as he did back then.
2. The same people that knew Saddam had WMD back then know that Iran has a nuclear weapons today. Sean Hannity is one MSM puppet who really gets to me on a visceral level.
3. Iraq was the nexis of terrorism and instability in the M.E. and this Goebbels like accusations has been repeated against Iran thunderously.
4. The MSM is even less critical of the political establishment today then it was back then.
We in the U.S. just don’t care what carnage we inflict on others if we do not perceive danger to ourselves. This is human nature I suppose, I naively thought that perhaps we were better than that. The appeal to one’s ego is just too powerful a call. Just repeat, ‘we are great because we are good’, ‘we are indispensable, …, look, it’s time for the Sean Hannity show, ‘never have there been a people who have had more power and abused it less (than Genghis Khan? high bar)’.

Posted by: Christian Chuba | May 14 2018 12:37 utc | 38

This might have been covered by someone else, but it occurred to me that a major motivation in the most recent Middle East unrest is the the need to prop up oil prices by creating an embargo on Iran to maintain the KSA power structure.
According to the IMF in 2015, the Kingdom would go broke by 2020 at then low oil prices of $46/barrel oil in August of 2015. In October 2017 oil prices still languished at $54/barrel, in January 2018, $66/barrel, April 2018, $69, and currently $77/barrel.
https://www.rt.com/business/319465-saudi-bankrupt-projection-imf/
http://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price

Posted by: Michael | May 14 2018 14:31 utc | 40

Addendum to 41.
In a related note it’s interesting during the time period between April, 2017 and currently Venezuelan oil production has plummeted from 2194 BBL/D/1K to 1509 BBL/D/1K. It can be argued that I’m mixing the chicken and the egg, but it must be remembered that Mr.Obama started sanctions against Venezuela late in his term, and Mr. Trump has accelerated them.

Posted by: Michael | May 14 2018 14:45 utc | 42

@ Michael 43
Yes, Venezuela production is down thirty percent, but the price is up to the same degree.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 14 2018 15:00 utc | 44

@12 / 16 almand.. thanks for your comments.. the whole way us politics is framed is quite insane.. it almost seems like someone wants to breed hostility and insurrection among americans dividing them along rural verses urban – coastal verses inland – and etc. etc.. i really don’t think it is helpful.. neither do i think a party 2 system is helpful.. at this point i don’t think it matters.. the whole system is corrupt and beholden to corporations – financial and military corps in particular. i am not sure how the usa moves forward at this point… it may be the same in other countries, but not quite as bad as i see it, although those stereotypes on people do exist everywhere.. draining the swamp had a nice ring to it, but it is a pile of bs as i see it..
@22 bevin.. good comment.. thanks.

Posted by: james | May 14 2018 15:39 utc | 46

43 dead palestinians, will it stop there? How many lives must be murdered for the west to condemn this sickness violence going on by Israel?

Posted by: Zanon | May 14 2018 15:44 utc | 48

Palestinians are being murdered every day in Gaza in the past weeks and today 43 have been killed by IOF. Trump has blood on his hands for the tragedy in Gaza.
Trump and Yahoo invited the most radical lunatic pastors, Hagee and Jeffress to address the U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem. Adelson, Trump’s financier, was also there with his wife recording the ceremony on his cell phone.
All Trump supporters who pretended in the past to care about the suffering of Palestinians under the brutal Zionist occupation and have been zealously defending Trump’s ongoing bullshit were merely paying lip service to Palestinians and their cause for freedom and their land. Your hypocrisy reeks.
The next book on Trump should be called The art of social depravity. He’s normalizing and legitimizing every immoral flaw in our society; he’s normalizing depravity. No doubt Trump zealots are proud of their man god. Your ugly means to an end is backfiring in a spectacular fail.

Posted by: Circe | May 14 2018 16:27 utc | 50

I was bored at work and started reading an old CIA document Paper Mills and Fabrication from 1952 and had to share this gem about Soviet bloc émigré exile groups:

…Exile leaders neither understand nor respect the basic premise of
U.S. policy not to engage in war unless attacked. Their “intelligence’ production,
true, embroidered, or false, is inevitably used to influence U.S. policy in
the direction of hostility to the Soviet bloc and to satisfy the ambitions of political
pressure groups…

Was that ever really a premise of US foreign policy? This is the CIA seemingly writing this for consumption of its own leadership 65 years ago. Maybe they haven’t read it yet?

Posted by: PavewayIV | May 14 2018 22:22 utc | 52

“The best way of dealing with neoliberals”
The vehemence of the speaker is not typical and shows exactly how pissed off everyone is with the deceitful behaviour of neolib pols.
A hapu (a clan which extends beyond blood relations but isn’t a tribe or iwi which is comprised of multiple hapu)has been having a blue with politicians going back decades over a decision by the pols and bureaucrats to hand over title for all lands to the entire Iwi. This hasn’t gone down well with the traditional owners who regard themselves as an oppressed minority within their iwi who have been under represented on the tribal council and copped a lot of disadvantageous decisions.
The allegedly new government in Aotearoa has been up to the usual neoliberal act of ensuring that the edicts handed down from its conservative predecessor remain. If you haven’t noticed that is what neolibs do, they don’t repair any damage they merely undertake not to make things worse – a promise that always remains undelivered upon because things always get worse when neolibs demur on the required root and branch clean out of greedies and bullies.
Anyway a kaumata aka ‘Maori elder’ in whitefella speak, was part of a Hikoi which is a long journey by foot, usual spread out over several days and is most often a protest, which had reached its destination. The Minister of Maori Affairs came out of parliament house to meet the hikoi and fob them off with the usual nonsense or “Bullshit” as the kaumata puts it.
Things of note. Even though the minister had surrounded himself with Tangata Whenua MPs who would normally be treated with respect by other Tangata Whenua but as you can see the entire hikoi backed their kaumata.
At one stage the Tangata Whenua MPs send out a woman to sing a karakia traditional song which would also usually be treated with respectful silence, but not today, leaving one to surmise that when the kaumata tells the minister that he, the minister, is about to start a war most of those present agree with that statement.
Ordinary humans have simply had enough wimpily deceitful neolibs and the push back against it is manifesting all over this planet. Fortunately outside of amerika, the pushback is almost entirely instigated by humanists determined to make our paddock better.

Posted by: Debsisdead | May 15 2018 1:14 utc | 54

Today Putin delivered a big “Fuck You” to the EU and the United States and unlike the destructive shit we see from FUKUS it was non-violent and constructive. You just know that Crimea will never return to Ukraine until cockroaches rule the world.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | May 15 2018 17:36 utc | 56

@58 zanon… south korea has to make a choice… does it want to remain in bed with the usa and if so, what is the cost? not sure how much south korea gets for being in bed with the usa, but that seems to be the hitch up here..
if the south korean leader can get out of that usa relationship, it can make way for getting into a relationship with it’s true neighbour to the north.. if it can’t – i suspect the usa won’t want to let it either – then, north korea is not going to play ball here..
obviously it serves usa – military/financial complex – to keep the possibility of war and more war 24/7 ongoing..

Posted by: james | May 15 2018 21:15 utc | 58

@60 zanon.. i don’t know how big the payoff is for south korea.. i would like to know the $ figure that keeps s korea in the usa’s back pocket…
same deal with egypt and a number of other countries that are going against the wishes of their public.. they are generally bought off by annual grants from big daddy warbucks… one would think they would tire of this, but apparently not… south korean leader seems like an honourable man… he would be even more so if he cut the money ties to the usa.. until that happens – talk is cheap and worthless if not backed by action..

Posted by: james | May 15 2018 22:54 utc | 60

US-based Terrorist/Newspaper Writer calls for just completed Kerch Straight Bridge to be blown up. Under US domestic law, what this person’s calling for is a felonious incitement to perform a terrorist act. Imagine if he were Muslim what the reaction would be.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 16 2018 19:08 utc | 62

Novichok in western hands at least past 20+ years when German BND managed to get samples smugled from USSR , Germans circumvented WMD rules they signed by geting it to Sweden and analysing it there.BND shared data with allies so Novichok is at for at least past 20 years a known substance to most of NATO and most likely also manufactured it at least for testing
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/nervengift-nowitschok-bnd-beschaffte-probe-in-den-neunzigerjahren-a-1208117.html

Posted by: Mr.t | May 16 2018 20:17 utc | 64

62 The Guardian hints that chlorine might have been used.
Chlorine is

used to sterilize drinking water and to disinfect swimming pools, and it is used in the manufacturing of a number of commonly used products, such as paper, textiles, medicines, paints and plastic, particularly PVC, according to the Royal Society of Chemistry. Moreover, chlorine is used in the development and manufacturing of materials used in products that make vehicles lighter, from seat cushions and seat covers to tire cords and bumpers, according to the American Chemistry Council.
The element is also used in organic chemistry processes — for example, as an oxidizing agent and a substitution for hydrogen, according to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. An oxidizing agent has strong disinfecting and bleaching qualities. When used as a hydrogen substitute, chlorine can bring many desired properties in organic compounds, such as its disinfecting properties or its ability to form useful compounds and materials like PVC and synthetic rubber.
But chlorine also has a dark side: In its natural gas form, it is harmful to human health. Chlorine is a respiratory irritant, and inhaling it may cause pulmonary edema — an excessive buildup of fluid in the lungs that can lead to breathing difficulties. The gas can also cause eye and skin irritation, or even severe burns and ulcerations, according to the New York State Department of Health. Exposure to compressed liquid chlorine can result in frostbite of the skin and eyes, the agency reports.
Chlorine could be used as a chemical weapon but it is also used in everyday life. It is not on any chemical weapon ban.

Posted by: somebody | May 16 2018 20:53 utc | 66

Trump Presses Germany to Drop Russian Pipeline for Trade Deal
U.S. president is pushing Germany to pull the brakes on a major gas deal as the price for avoiding a trade war

Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 17 2018 15:10 utc | 68

Guardian Sparks Outrage
Glen Greenwald:
Ecuador’s Ex-President Rafael Correa Denounces Treatment of Julian Assange as “Torture”
Craig Murray:
The Guardian Rejoices in the Silencing of Assange

Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 17 2018 15:46 utc | 70

And now Sergei Skripal has been released. But of course, police can’t comment on the investigations because reasons, hospital can’t comment on the case because reasons, and Skripal is nowhere to be found or interviewed.

Posted by: Clueless Joe | May 18 2018 11:09 utc | 72

Conspiracy of Silence: Has Defense Minister Shoigu Been Dismissed by President Putin
http://johnhelmer.net/conspiracy-and-silence-has-defence-minister-shoigu-been-dismissed-by-president-putin/

Posted by: John Gilberts | May 18 2018 14:36 utc | 74

Jackrabbit – 74
That Wikipedia is manipulated by propagandists and ideologues and that Jim Wales is a horrible person isn’t news, it’s been obvious for some time, depending on which topics interested you.
I see that Murray came to the obvious conclusion that I came to after the first few lines: this is an operation from some agency.

Posted by: Clueless Joe | May 18 2018 15:31 utc | 76

Maybe fact-based journalists at organizations like off-guardian.org will create an off-wikipedia/alt-Wiki?

Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 18 2018 17:03 utc | 78