31 March 2018 — Moon of Alabama
While the last act of the ‘Novichok’ drama, the seasonally appropriate resurrection of the Skripals, proceeds, some additional details of the history of ‘Novichok’ nerve agents come to light.
Details on ‘Novichok’ nerve agents were published in a 2007 book by Vil Mirzayanaov, a Soviet scientist offered asylum in the United States.
After the publication the U.S. and the UK actively suppressed international discussions about the book and the ‘Novichok’ chemical weapon agents. Documents from the U.S. State Department published by Wikileaks show that then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton directed her diplomats to not talk about Novichok and to play down the matter should it arise in chemical weapon control talks. Continue reading
U.S. suggestions that the Syrian government could have used chemical weapons have been treated as fact by some media outlets, and are helping to fuel the case for greater U.S. military involvement. But subsequent reporting has called into question these early, credulous reports–and highlighted the continuing media failure to treat WMD claims with the skepticism they deserve.
The New Dark Age 