Toxic gas concerns linger after Ohio train derailment – National & International News – WED 8Feb2023

Toxic gas concerns linger after Ohio train derailment.

Chinese spy balloon: Diplomatic and political fallout continues.

Turkey-Syria quake: Death toll tops 12,000. Anger turns towards Erdogan.

NATIONAL NEWS

Toxic gas concerns linger after Ohio train derailment

Last Friday, a cargo train derailed in a fiery crash in East Palestine, OH, near the state border with Pennsylvania. The train was carrying a shipment of vinyl chloride, a highly toxic and unstable chemical used in making PVC pipes among other things. Fearing a potential explosion and an uncontrolled release of the toxin, authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders for a wide area around the derailed train cars.

On Monday, a crew of workers emptied five of the tankers carrying the vinyl chloride. They then released it into a ditch for a controlled burn. The burn created a dark plume of smoke visible from miles away. Even now on Wednesday, authorities haven’t allowed evacuees to return due to concerns about the immediate effects of burning off the chemicals.

Vinyl chloride has been linked with rare liver cancers in pipe workers with prolonged exposure. Burning the chemical also releases phosgene glass, a chemical once used as a weapon of war. Phosgene is a colorless but smelly gas that can cause vomiting and breathing problems. But Neil Donahue, a professor chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University, says the biggest potential long-term worry for residents could be dioxins that will be a biproduct of the burn. Dioxins are known carcinogens that can last in the ground and body for years.  

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Chinese spy balloon: Diplomatic and political fallout continues

Days ago, a US warplane shot down the Chinese balloon that had traversed the entire continental US in shallow water off South Carolina. A military recovery operation then got underway, collecting the debris using remote-controlled submarines in the frigid water. Military and intelligence agencies will analyze the debris in hopes of discovering the purpose and capabilities of the balloon’s apparatus. However, sources in both the military and intelligence communities have already come to the conclusion that the balloon’s purpose was espionage.

When the balloon’s presence in the US first came to national attention last week, Pentagon officials were quick to tell the public that they were certain it was Chinese in origin, and that it had been hovering over sensitive military installations. Nevertheless, officials said they believed it posed no military or intelligence threat and that there was no need to shoot it down. The balloon was taller than the Statue of Liberty and carried the size of two or three school buses. Shooting it down would have posed more of a danger than any intelligence it collected.

The reaction and the political and diplomatic consequences of the balloon were in many ways out of all proportion to any threat its presence posed to the US. We’ve since learned that similar balloons entered US airspace three times during Donald Trump’s administration and on one prior occasion during Biden’s presidency. In those instances, the balloons were too high to be seen from the ground with the naked eye or to pose any danger to aviation. The balloon’s spying capabilities were judged to pose no greater security threat than China’s sophisticated array of low-orbit spy satellites. Weighing all of these considerations, officials decided the most appropriate action was to take no action.

99 Luftballoons

This time, the reaction to a highly visible balloon apparently violating US airspace with impunity was decidedly different. Not only did it create a national uproar, with reactionary politicians of both parties calling for it be shot down (posing unknown dangers to people and structures on the ground), it also widened the rift between the US and China. Last weekend, Sec. of State Antony Blinken was due to travel to Beijing to meet with his Chinese counterpart. Once there, it was hoped we could find some common ground with the world’s other superpower and possibly find a path towards coexistence. Instead, Blinken’s trip was cancelled.

Chinese officials have also lashed out, likely out of embarrassment. Dubbing the balloon a “civilian airship”, Beijing officials slammed the US lack of “restraint” in shooting it down. They vowed to avenge the loss, saying China “retains the right to respond further”. This was a marked escalation in a years-long war of words between the two countries.

Because of this relatively minor incident, China and the US could now find themselves on the road from cold war to hot war unless cooler heads prevail. Regardless, this likely won’t be the last we hear about it, as Republican members of Congress are determined to use the incident to portray Biden as “weak” on national security, and Biden’s bellicose tone in his remarks on China during the State of the Union last night suggests he’s playing right into it.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Turkey-Syria quake: Death toll tops 12,000. Anger turns towards Erdogan.

Rescue efforts continue in Turkey and Syria after two powerful quakes hit Monday morning. Volunteer rescue teams from 65 countries have arrived or are en route. In Turkey, the sheer scale of the disaster, with at least 6000 multi-story buildings toppled in across 10 provinces, means there simply isn’t enough personnel or equipment to attend all the scenes. In desperation, family members are digging with shovels and sometimes with bare hands to reach loved ones trapped alive in the rubble. The situation is equally grim in war-torn Syria where bureaucratic red tape and the danger of live fire make it difficult or impossible to get aid in. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is touring the disaster-hit areas in the south of his country. Amid growing anger and frustration at the government’s inability to cope with the tragedy, Erdogan made a rare admission of “shortcomings” in the initial response. He made these remarks in the particularly hard hit Hatay province. Much of its ancient city of Antioch (or Antakya) was flattened, including its state-run hospital. Hatay has long been neglected by Ankara, even before Erdogan, in part because of its largely Arab population. It remains one of the country’s poorest regions and was already suffering more than most of Turkey in the country’s recent economic downturn

Despite this, Hatay has been a political stronghold for Erdogan, who has courted Islamic fundamentalism. Southern Turkey, and particularly Hatay, is less culturally secular than the rest of Turkey. With a tough re-election fight coming in May, Erdogan visited with promises of a 10,000 lira ($532) payout to each family affected by the quake. This is about 2 months’ wages for the average worker in Antakya.

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