thegoodfellas/blogset-br huggingface dataset:
hundred French troops died in the attack a remarkably small number in a conflict that regularly saw the slaughter of thousands. In the following months, the Allies also developed methods of deploying chlorine gas and both sides went on to develop even more toxic and devastating chemical agents to unleash on their enemies. Habers hopes for shortening the war were hopelessly off the mark. After the first chlorine attack at Ypres, the war would continue to grind on for another three and a half years, and estimates of over a million people are thought to have died as a result of the use of poison gas.A decade later, the Geneva Protocol of 1925, the first constructive international laws banning the use of chemical weapons, was introduced.The horrific results of poison gas in warfare have spurred the drafting of various treaties signed since the end of the first world war. Progressive agreements in this area have resulted in the banning of the use of chemical weapons in warfare as well as the production, transportation and stockpiling of these compounds. Sadly this has not brought an end to their use in conflicts.The use of any chemical weapon is appalling. The indiscriminate nature of poison gas and the harrowing effects produced in the human body seems especially callous and inhumane. Chlorine can attack the body in a number of ways producing devastating chemical burns. A complex series of chemical reactions is involved as chlorine reacts with fats, proteins and other material of the body. Most of the damage is thought to be caused by the reaction with moisture in the body to produce acids. The human body contains a lot of water (we are all between two thirds and three quarters water). Breathing the gas in through the moist areas of the mouth and nose to reach the throat and lungs damages these areas in particular. The eyes can also be corroded. There is no antidote. Only supportive care and treatment of symptoms supporting breathing, clearing affected areas is possible. Death can be relatively quick or agonisingly slow, depending on the extent of the damage.But despite its deadly effects, chlorine isn't classified in the same league as sarin or mustard gas. It exists in somewhat of a grey zone under today's international laws and is only regarded as a chemical weapon when it's used maliciously. Chlorine's complicated status on the spectrum of chemical weapons raises tough questions about the definitions of chemical warfare.For instance, why are some lethal chemicals internationally prohibited, while others aren't?The difference between chlorine and sarin - commonly known as "nerve" gas - is that chlorine is readily available, as it used for many other beneficial ways. It is easily done and weaponised easily. Tens of millions of tonnes of chlorine are produced around the world each year. It's used to disinfect water supplies, in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, antiseptics, and drugs, in textile industries, the bleaching of paper, in the separation of metals such as gold, nickel, and copper from their ores, as well as such household chemicals like adhesives.Chlorine is
used on a daily basis in all countries and can be easily produced, in all of our countries.It creates panic and terror especially among civilians but the difficulty to eradicate it - it's not declarable - so the state parties are not bound to declare the chlorine stocks. That is why it can be easily used by any "rebel" and that is why it is more difficult to contain it than other chemical weapons.Not that it does even matter in dirty warfares.Another gas used in WWI and afterwards was Sulphur Mustard gas or Mustard gas, originally called LOST in reference to the last names of the German chemists that first engineered it Wilhelm Lommel and Wilhelm Steinkopf. It was also code named Yperite after the Belgian town where it was first used, Yellow Cross, Mustard T or simply H.This gas is classified as a "cytoxic" agent, meaning that it attacks all living cells it comes into contact with. Made of sulphur dichloride and ethylene, the thick, oily, brown liquid gives off a weak garlic, horseradish or mustard odour when released. Although introduced to the battlefield in 1917, the nasty effects of sulphur mustard were known as far back as the 1860s. A German chemist named Albert Niemann (the same individual who discovered cocaine in 1859), was among the first to document the poisons characteristics. In 1913, British and German civilian researchers studying sulphur mustard were accidentally exposed during lab work and had to be hospitalized. The German military obtained the notes about the incident and promptly explored weaponizing sulphur mustard. Germany eventually developed an array of delivery systems for mustard gas including artillery shells, mortar rounds, rockets, free fall bombs and even land mines. According to one estimate, the British army alone suffered 20,000 mustard gas casualties in the last year of the war.The first sign of mustard gas poisoning is a mild skin irritation that appears several hours after exposure. Affected areas gradually turn yellow and eventually agonizing blisters form on the skin. Eyes become red, sore and runny extreme pain and blindness follows. Other symptoms include nasal congestion, sinus pain, hoarseness, coughing and in extreme cases respiratory failure. Sustained exposure can produce nausea, diarrhea and abdominal pain. Fatalities typically occur within a few days, but it can take weeks, even months for survivors to fully recover. And some never do; permanent blindness, scars, long-term respiratory damage and heightened risk of cancer are just some of the long-term effects of mustard gas poisoning. To this day, there is no antidote for mustard gas. The CDC reports that treatment options are limited to supportive care.Despite the outrage that followed Germanys use of mustard gas in 1917, the Allies immediately engineered their own stockpiles of the stuff. By November, the British were dropping sulphur mustard onto German trenches at Cambrai. In fact, the breakout through the Hindenburg Line in 1918 was aided by a massive Allied mustard gas attack. Americas Dow Chemical manufactured the poison during the last year of the war. Although the use of mustard gas was universally condemned after the
war and later banned by the Geneva Protocol of 1925, Western armies continued to use it long after 1918. British forces participating in the intervention in Russia used sulfur mustard shells against the Bolsheviks. Both the Spanish and French air corps dropped the agent from planes onto Rif insurgents in Morocco during the 1920s. Italians used mustard gas against Abyssinian guerrillas while the Japanese gassed Chinese armies and civilians alike in Manchuria during the 1930s.During World War Two, the Allies stockpiled millions of tons of mustard gas and other chemical weapons just behind the frontlines in the event of an Axis gas attack. In December of 1943, an American supply ship laden with 2,000 mustard gas shells was damaged in an air raid off Bari, Italy. Much of the deadly cargo seeped into the waters. More than 600 American personnel were exposed to the gas and 60 died. An unknown number of Italian civilians also perished, as collateral damage. Allied commanders suppressed the whole story for fear the Germans might resort to chemical weapons in response. Mustard gas was used in anger during the 1960s in the Noeth Yemen civil war. Twenty years later, Saddam Hussein outraged the world by dropping it on both the Iranian army and Iraqs own Kurdish population. More than 5,000 civilians died in a mustard gas attack on the city of Halabja in 1988. Despite all the damages, mustard gas continues to do harm to this day. Abandoned stockpiles of the agent are frequently discovered and often injure those who stumble across it. In 2002, archeologists unearthed a lost consignment of mustard gas while performing an excavation at the Presidio in San Francisco. In 2010, a fishing trawler inadvertently dredged up some vintage gas shells from the bottom of the Atlantic off New York. Several of the crew were burned by the toxin and hospitalized.To end this chapter on a good note, I must say that albeit its fearsome reputation as a weapon, mustard gas has also saved lives. After World War Two, medical researchers who were aware of sulfur mustards cell-destroying properties fashioned the first cancer-fighting chemotherapy treatments from mustard gas.However, these benefits hardly outweigh the weapons legacy of horror.The third, nonetheless not the least evil of the three dirty gases of mass destruction, is Sarin, or Nerve gas.It's common name is due to the fact that it is a nerve agent that was also developed in Germany in 1938, but not for warfare but as a pesticide. It is a human-made substance that's similar to insecticides called organophosphates, yet is far more powerful.It is clear, colorless, tasteless, and odorless liquid in pure form, and dissolves easily in water. It rapidly evaporates into a dense gas that sinks to low-lying areas, and is the most volatile of all nerve agents.In a bomb, mixes as two chemicals to weaponize the nerve agent. It can affect people through their skin, eyes, and lungs, and through contaminated food and clothes.It was used in attacks on Japan in 1994 and in Syria in 2013. And it has been used by
Israel in Palestinian civilian population since 1983, in both Gaza and the West Bank. Without any punishment from the UN. Regardless of official pronouncements, the Israeli government has had a deep and abiding interest in the full range of chemical and biological warfare agents. It is well known that Israel has been developing chemical and biological weapons for decades at its Institute of Biological Research (IIBR) complex in Nes Ziona, near Tel Aviv. This facility has been involved in, among many other things, "an extensive effort to identify practical methods of synthesis for nerve gases (such as tabun, sarin, and VX) and other organophosphorus and fluorine compounds."One of the IIBR's specialties is inventing novel delivery systems for chemical weapons. One example is a revolver with a range of 150 feet. On impact, a bullet from this weapon injects a needle impregnated with a deadly toxin. The whole affair is designed to penetrate just enough to deliver a fatal dose, and leave little or no trace of the needle.IIBR's expertise is also highly scalable. In the aftermath of a tragic 1992 air crash in Amsterdam, the large scale production of nerve gases at IIBR became very difficult to deny. An El Al 747 jumbo cargo jet, flying from New York to Tel Aviv, plowed into a 12-story Amsterdam apartment building, killing the four people on the plane and at least 43 people on the ground in an instant inferno. Teams in white hazmat suits, never identified or acknowledged by officials, descended on the scene and hauled away certain debris. The Dutch and Israeli governments assured the public that the plane had been carrying "perfume and gift articles", and "no dangerous material" was onboard.In time, a syndrome of debilitating and chronic health disorders beset at least 850 local survivors. They and their doctors suspected a connection to the El Al crash. In 1998, a Dutch newspaper partially leaked the flight manifest; 20,000 pounds of chemicals had been on the plane, including large amounts of three of the four ingredients needed to make sarin, a deadly nerve gas - enough, when properly mixed, to annihilate a major world city. Finally, El Al admitted the presence of the three chemicals. But the identity of one-third of the chemicals on the plane remains a secret to this day. A Dutch citizens group, OVB, literally dug deeper to learn more. They found that soil at the crash site was tainted with uranium, zirconium and lanthanum. Tests also found depleted uranium in the stool samples of local survivors, which, doctors said, corresponded well with the symptoms suffered in the post-crash health syndrome. Reviewing Israel's weapons of mass destruction capabilities, the Center for Nonproliferation Studies describes its chemical warfare component as an "active weapons program" with "production capability for mustard and nerve agents."Israel is a world leader in acetylcholine research, and hosts international symposia in the field. Nerves use acetylcholine to interact with muscles, and it is this vital function that nerve gases attack. Scientists at IIBR continue to research the effects of nerve gas agents. Some of their results
are published. It appears that Israel has had the ability to produce and weaponize a variety of banned chemical agents, including the full array of nerve gases, for many years, in much larger quantities than would have been required for last year's sporadic attacks on Palestinian civilians. Noted for its innovations in weaponry, Israel could certainly have produced the dispensing canisters used in these attacks. It is also clear that Israel had access to the raw materials needed to make nerve gases - they have been shipped directly to the IIBR from the United States. According to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, moderate exposure to Nerve gas causes confusion, drowsiness, and headache. Then, watery eyes, eye, pain, blurry vision, small/pinpoint pupils, cough, drooling, runny nose, rapid breathing, chest tightness; victims have described breathing sarin gas as "a knife made of fire" tearing up their lungs. Excessive sweating, muscle twitching at the site of contact, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, increased urination, diarrhea; abnormal blood pressure and heart rate, weakness. Lethal exposure to this gas causes convulsions, loss of consciousness, paralysis and breathing failure.On this topic, allow me to tell you a real nasty story. In occupied Palestine, where neighborhoods can become high-tech, made-in-America shooting galleries in the blink of an eye, a fex years ago, in a given day that might have been just another day of occupation, the Israeli army chose that afternoon to introduce a new and mysterious gas weapon to a defenseless population. To ensure its delivery, the soldiers fired the gas canisters into the streets, courtyards, and houses of the Khan Younis and Gharbi refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.The people of Khan Younis are utterly familiar with teargas; their neighborhood has long been known as one of the most heavily teargassed areas in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). But no-one in Khan Younis had seen these strange canisters before, or their seemingly harmless multicolored smoke. The smoking gas had no immediate effect. There was none of the instant irritation to the eyes and breathing passages caused by all forms of teargas. And, at first, the gas had no odor. "It's harmless - this gas is nothing!", yelled a few teenagers, taunting Israeli soldiers. "Throw more!" The soldiers complied.After a few minutes, the gas started to smell. "Like mint," several people said. One resident later recalled that, "the smell was good. You want to breathe more. You feel good when you inhale it." A girl reported that "its taste was like sugar. The smell was sweet.""First..the smoke was white, then yellow, then black," a teenage victim recalled later. Another victim said that the smoke changed colors "like a rainbow." But mostly the smoke was black, and very sooty. When the gas canisters landed on homes, black smoke billowed so thickly that neighbors rushed to the scene, believing the houses had caught fire.Soon, however, people began to realize that the gas wasn't harmless after all. One man recalled: "..ten - fifteen minutes later I got severe stomach cramps. I felt that my stomach was being torn
apart. And a burning sensation in my chest. I couldn't breathe." People began to vomit, and go into seizures and spasms, then collapse and lose consciousness.Forty people were admitted to Al-Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis "in an odd state of hysteria and nervous breakdown", suffering from "fainting and spasms." Sixteen of them had to be transferred to the intensive care unit. Doctors "reported the Israeli use of gas that appeared to cause convulsions."Many other attacks like this one followed in both Gaza and the West Bank.The last one happened last week, when Israeli planes sprayed "herbicides" inside Gaza for the fourth time this year. One cannot predict the consequences yet.The fourth dirty weapon of mass destruction has been repeatedly used by the United States and Israel. The first, in Vietnam, Iraq and God knows where else; the latter, in Lebanon and Palestine. It is called White phosphorus, which the US used in Vietnam combined with Napalm, produced by the dreadful Monsanto. White phosphorus is not banned by any treaty to which the United States or Israel are signatory.The name of this element derives from the Greek "phosphoros" or light bearing, the ancient name for the planet Venus when appearing before sunrise. Brand discovered phosphorus in 1669 by preparing it from urine. Phosphorus exists in four or more allotropic forms: white (or yellow), red, and black (or violet). Ordinary phosphorus is a waxy white solid; when pure it is colorless and transparent. White phosphorus has two modifications: alpha and beta with a transition temperature at -3.8oC. It is insoluble in water, but soluble in carbon disulfide. Never found free in nature, Phosphorus is widely distributed in combination with minerals. Phosphate rock, which contains the mineral apatite, an impure tri-calcium phosphate, is an important source of the element. Large deposits are found in Russia, in Morocco, and in Florida, Tennessee, Utah, Idaho, and elsewhere. WP is a colorless to yellow translucent wax-like substance with a pungent, garlic-like smell. The form used by the military is highly energetic (active) and ignites once it is exposed to oxygen. White phosphorus is a pyrophoric material, that is, it is spontaneously flammable). When exposed to air, it spontaneously ignites and is oxidized rapidly to phosphorus pentoxide. Such heat is produced by this reaction that the element bursts into a yellow flame and produces a dense white smoke. Phosphorus also becomes luminous in the dark, and this property is conveyed to "tracer bullets." This chemical reaction continues until either all the material is consumed or the element is deprived of oxygen. Up to 15 percent of the WP remains within the charred wedge and can reignite if the felt is crushed and the unburned WP is exposed to the atmosphere. White phosphorus results in painful chemical burn injuries. The resultant burn typically appears as a necrotic area with a yellowish color and characteristic garliclike odor. It is highly lipid soluble and as such, it has rapid dermal penetration once particles are embedded under the skin and these injuries result in delayed wound healing. Incandescent particles of WP may produce
extensive burns. Phosphorus burns on the skin are deep and painful. The burns usually are multiple, deep, and variable in size. The solid in the eye produces severe injury. The particles continue to burn unless deprived of atmospheric oxygen. Contact with these particles can cause local burns. These weapons are particularly nasty because white phosphorus continues to burn until it disappears. Simple pieces of white phosphorus can burn right down to the bone. Burns usually are limited to areas of exposed skin (upper extremities, face). Burns frequently are second and third degree because of the rapid ignition and highly lipophilic properties of white phosphorus.Bottomline, it causes skin to melt away from the bone and can break down a victim's jawbone. White phosphorus - known in Vietnam as Willie Pete - is still used by sections of the world's military in shells and grenades, igniting spontaneously at around 30C to produce an intense heat and thick pillars of smoke.In Gaza, the Israeli military didn't just use white phosphorus in open areas as a screen for its troops," said Fred Abrahams, senior emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch, "it fired white phosphorus repeatedly over densely populated areas, even when its troops weren't in the area and safer smoke shells were available. As a result, civilians needlessly suffered and died." When used as an incendiary, as the US did in Iraq and Israel in Lebanon and in Gaza, it can result in painful chemical burns - injuries which can often prove fatal.Further problems are caused because the substance can stick to clothing or on the skin and continues to burn unchecked as particles are exposed to air.Witness accounts of combat in Fallujah, where a significant civilian population were living, claim the injured affected by phosphorus suffered horrendous burns.Skin injuries caused by the substance are often "deep and painful". The burns usually are multiple, deep, and variable in size. The solid in the eye produces severe injury. The particles continue to burn unless deprived of atmospheric oxygen.These weapons are particularly nasty because white phosphorus continues to burn until it disappears. If service members are hit by pieces of white phosphorus, it can burn right down to the bone.The amazing thing is that White Phosphorus is used in almost every product imaginable - from soft drinks to toothpaste. White phosphorus is used by industry to produce phosphoric acid and other chemicals for use in fertilizers, food additives, and cleaning compounds. Small amounts of white phosphorus were used in the past in pesticides and fireworks. But it is still very toxic.Al Jazeera interactive: From chlorine to sarin: Chemical weapons in war Democracy Now - Why Does U.S. Consider Iran the Greatest Threat to Peace, When Rest of World Agrees It's the U.S.? Over the first 75 days of the Trump administration, the White House has taken multiple steps to escalate the possibility of a U.S. war with Iran. Trump included Iran on both his first and second Muslim travel bans. As a candidate, Trump also threatened to dismantle the landmark Iran nuclear agreement. For more on U.S.-Iranian relations,