Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tracking the Illegal Shipment of Sarin Precursor from Belgium to Syria

bellingcat.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 78 posts

Re: Tracking the Illegal Shipment of Sarin Precursor from Belgium to Syria

#2

Post by scottie_m »

I want to be clear that I don’t know if chemical weapons are being used in Syria, although the evidence for the use of Chlorine in barrel bombs is strong. I’ll be honest and say that I haven’t seen good evidence of organophosphate poisonings, but I’m just some guy so who knows.

What I do know for sure however, is that this blog is utter bunk.

The Belgian customs found that without having requested the appropriate export licenses three Flemish companies have exported 96 tonnes of isopropanol in a concentration of 95% or higher to Syria since sanctions came into force in September 2013.

That’s rubbing alcohol! That’s not evidence of sarin manufacture, it’s not a “precursor” it’s rubbing alcohol in typical concentrations for goddamned Purell. Can you use it as part of a process to make sarin? Sure, but it’s not a critical ingredient, it’s not what any honest person would consider a precursor, it’s just a solvent. It also antimocrobial and antiseptic, and you know... rubbing alcohol.

Re: Tracking the Illegal Shipment of Sarin Precursor from Belgium to Syria

#4

Post by Tycho »

scottie_m wrote: post #2

I want to be clear that I don’t know if chemical weapons are being used in Syria, although the evidence for the use of Chlorine in barrel bombs is strong. I’ll be honest and say that I haven’t seen good evidence of organophosphate poisonings, but I’m just some guy so who knows. What I do know for sure however, is that this blog is utter bunk. The Belgian customs found that without having requested the appropriate exp…

^ this is why we should never trust news/current-affairs site that disables its comments section

Re: Tracking the Illegal Shipment of Sarin Precursor from Belgium to Syria

#5

Post by Theodores »

Although this story is absurd it does show how the sanctions have been set out to cripple civilian life in Syria.

Maybe they could ban shoe laces as they are used by the Assad regime, or maybe they could ban H2O since that could be used for making everything from sarin to nuclear weapons, hat would teach them.

It is also interesting how this internet is connecting people with lies rather than people.

Re: Tracking the Illegal Shipment of Sarin Precursor from Belgium to Syria

#6

Post by anoncoward111 »

scottie_m wrote: post #2

I want to be clear that I don’t know if chemical weapons are being used in Syria, although the evidence for the use of Chlorine in barrel bombs is strong. I’ll be honest and say that I haven’t seen good evidence of organophosphate poisonings, but I’m just some guy so who knows. What I do know for sure however, is that this blog is utter bunk. The Belgian customs found that without having requested the appropriate exp…

I agree with you in principle (that it's likely this is for use as rubbing alcohol, not as an industrial precursor), but in theory, there is still something going on here.

Number one, they are able to track the volume and destinations of the trade. It would be weird to see a large fluctuation in exports-- why would Syrian consumers suddenly begin demanding or abandoning their use of rubbing alcohol? Demand is most likely constant.

Number two, the Belgians have already arrested and are criminally prosecuting the company executives who did not obtain the proper export license. Is this "bureaucratic heavy-handedness" (certainly possible), or do they have evidence that the chemical in question was delivered in such a large quantity that it is "fishy"?

Re: Tracking the Illegal Shipment of Sarin Precursor from Belgium to Syria

#7

Post by reitanqild »

Theodores wrote: post #5

Although this story is absurd it does show how the sanctions have been set out to cripple civilian life in Syria. Maybe they could ban shoe laces as they are used by the Assad regime, or maybe they could ban H2O since that could be used for making everything from sarin to nuclear weapons, hat would teach them. It is also interesting how this internet is connecting people with lies rather than people.

dhmo.org still exists and I still use it as a teaching resource.

(If it isn't obvious, yes, I know. I use it to teach people to be critical to what they read.)

Re: Tracking the Illegal Shipment of Sarin Precursor from Belgium to Syria

#9

Post by jeromegv »

Tycho wrote: post #4
scottie_m wrote: post #2

I want to be clear that I don’t know if chemical weapons are being used in Syria, although the evidence for the use of Chlorine in barrel bombs is strong. I’ll be honest and say that I haven’t seen good evidence of organophosphate poisonings, but I’m just some guy so who knows. What I do know for sure however, is that this blog is utter bunk. The Belgian customs found that without having requested the appropriate exp…

^ this is why we should never trust news/current-affairs site that disables its comments section

There's more than enough forums to debunk weird/bad articles, starting with Twitter. Comments section tend to be filled with anonymous trolls fulls of conspiracy theories, I would prefer to see a rebunk from someone that has some kind of reputation within the field.
Post reply on HN