Category talk:Weapons

North Korean gas masks?
Odd story published August 27.
 * N. Korea tried to export gas masks to Syria: media – AFP, 27 August 2013 – (AFP original)


 * North Korea tried to export gas masks to Syria but they were seized in Turkey along with arms and ammunition, a Japanese daily said Tuesday.


 * A Libyan-registered vessel, identified as Al En Ti Sar, left North Korea for Syria earlier this year with the consignment, the Sankei Shimbun said, quoting unnamed sources from the US military, Japanese and South Korean intelligence.


 * The vessel sailed through Dardanelles in Turkey on April 3 and was searched shortly after by Turkish authorities, who had been tipped off by the US.


 * Turkish officials seized 1,400 rifles and pistols and some 30,000 bullets as well as gas masks apparently for chemical protection.


 * US authorities believe that the ship was intending to unload its cargo in Turkey and send it overland to President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Spin:
 * North Korea 'Tried To Export Gas Masks And Weapons To Assad's Regime In Syria' – Charlotte Meredith, Huffington Post UK, 27/08/2013
 * U.S. intelligence alerted Turkey to ship carrying N. Korean gas masks – WorldTribune.com, September 10th, 2013 (with photo of rebel gas masks in Jobar)

Several details do not add up:
 * If the incident happened in April 2013, why is the story published now after the Ghouta chemical attack?
 * What right of piracy do the US an its lackeys have of intercepting, visiting, and searching ships on the high seas or in international waters? (which the Dardanelles is part of)
 * If the ship was coming from North Korea as claimed, why the need to sail through the Dardanelles? (More likely they picked up some North Korean cargo in some Black Sea port.)
 * Why would a (post-Gaddafi) Libyan ship be involved in this trade within the "Axis of Evil"?
 * If the cargo was intended for Syria, why did it not just dock in Syria?
 * Are there (or where in April) any open border crossings between Turkey and Syria that would allow allow any kind of "government" cargo to pass through? (I understand the one border crossing in Latakia is under nominally under government control, but even there road passes through rebel-infested areas.)
 * Is North Korea prohibited from trading in gas masks?

I find it far more likely that this was yet another shipment of old Croatian weapons with a topping of old North Korean gas masks heading for rebels via Turkey. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 05:30, 11 September 2013 (UTC)

Barrel bombs?
I wonder if the barrel bombs even exist. But off-topic, here are some real-life barrel bombs. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 16:26, 18 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train

Stinger missiles at Lugansk airport?

 * "STINGERS" WERE FOUND AT THE AIRPORT OF LUGANSK (VIDEO) - Alexandr Shapovalov, LNR Today, July 23, 2015
 * ''At the airport in Lugansk on the former positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, was found a large cache of weapons and ammunition. In the arsenal also present examples of foreign production, including heavy weapons. Currently were found American MANPADS, according to preliminary data it is a system of "Stinger". Samples of weapons were handed over for examination.


 * Original video: В аэропорту Луганска найдены "Стингеры" (оперативная съемка) / #ЛНРсегодня - lnr.today on YouTube, July 22, 2015
 * Rebels have found American Stingers in Lugansk airport

FIM-92 Stinger

 * FIM-92 Stinger - Battlefield Wiki
 * ''The FIM-92 Stinger is a man-portable infrared homing anti-aircraft missile system produced by Raytheon Missile Systems. It has a range of 4,800 meters (15,700 ft) and can hit aircraft at altitudes up to 3,800 m (12,500 ft). It has been in service since 1981 and remains in use with the United States Armed Forces and with 30 other countries.


 * STINGER HANDLING PROCEDURES - globalsecurity.org
 * ''Yellow squares, on two diagonally opposite corners on the case and yellow data markings, indicate it contains a live round.
 * ''Containers for trainers are marked with blue colored squares for the tracking head trainer (THT) and bronze for the field handling trainer (FHT). In addition, the data markings are white and these containers have the word "INERT" on the top of the case.


 * Got Your Stinger Missile Box Yet? - July 16th, 2010

Debunk

 * Ukraine: Pro-Russia separatists use fake Battlefield 3 Stinger missiles to accuse US of weapon supply - Gianluca Mezzofiore, IB Times, July 23, 2015
 * ''A video from Ukrainian pro-Russian separatists, claiming the discovery of US army Stinger missiles in a Ukrainian military airport in Lugansk, has been declared a fake as it contained spelling mistakes and a typo similar to the one from popular video game Battlefield 3.
 * ''The footage shows the rebels storming an underground compound and dusting off a wooden case with a "US army" inscription, where a the MANPADS Stinger 92 surface-to-air missile is stored.
 * ''However, bloggers were quick to notice a typo on the wooden box, which carries the word "Re usable", not hyphenated, unlike the real one which is hyphenated. There is also a misspelling of the word "loaded".
 * ''But the most significant mistake is found in the inscription on the Stinger weapon itself, which reads "tracking rainer" instead of "tracking trainer".
 * ''Video games blogger Anton Logvinov noted on his website that the same typo occurs in the EA first-person shooter game Battlefield 3, leading him to believe that the Stinger 'discovered' in Lugansk is likely fake.
 * ''Video games blogger Anton Logvinov noted on his website that the same typo occurs in the EA first-person shooter game Battlefield 3, leading him to believe that the Stinger 'discovered' in Lugansk is likely fake.


 * Pro-Tip: Don't Copy Battlefield 3 Stingers - Brian Ashcraft, 7/23/15

2017

 * '350 diplomatic flights carry weapons for terrorists' -by Gaytandzhieva, Trud (Bulgaria), 2 July, 2017--Resup (talk) 16:01, 23 August 2017 (UTC)
 * 25 Aug. 2017. It is said(quoting facebook post) that the author -Gaytandzhieva - was interrogated by Bulgarian National Security Agency about her sources, and fired from her job at 'Trud' newspaper.
 * Dilyana Gaytandzhieva gives an interview to News Front (Eng.), tells about lack of interest of security services in weapons shipments as such, only in how documents were obtained; describes lack of press freedom in (now part of the West) Bulgaria, vows to continue her investigation
 * The matter gets a bit complicated, as she was previously accused of participation in a PR type reporting advancing some Bulgarian MOI agenda. It is unclear what to make of it; that may be (1) an attack on her or overhyped; (2) actually business as usual among her colleagues (and that program was not hers alone). Whatever it was back then, she by now may have decided to be good and play it clean; or it may be some sort of yet another game, played by unknowns, for unclear reasons.