Prime minister of Greece Antonis Samaras: stop the unloading of Syria's chemical arsenal in the Cretan sea

The Greek government has made an agreement with the Americans to unload Syria's chemical weapons, through the method of hydrolysis into the Cretan sea. This will lead to the destruction of aquatic ecosystems in the Eastern Mediterranean. Pollution will transform the water around western Crete, Malta and Libya into a graveyard where there will be no aquatic life. People will not be able to swim due to high levels of toxic pollution, consumption of fish will be highly dangerous and the economy will suffer immensely due to a sudden decrease in tourism. Don't let them turn paradise into a toxic wasteland.

http://www.haniotika-nea.gr/anastatosi-gia-ta-chimika/

Δεκαέξι τόνους ζυγίζει το πρώτο φορτίο με τα χημικά όπλα που μεταφέρει το δανέζικο πλοίο “Ark Futura” από τη Συρία στην Ιταλία, απ’ όπου θα μεταφορτωθούν σε αμερικανικό σκάφος για να καταστραφούν σε διεθνή ύδατα μεταξύ Ιταλίας – Κρήτης.

Εντονες αντιδράσεις σε τοπικό επίπεδο μετά τους κινδύνους της επιχείρησης που ανέδειξαν τα δημοσιεύματα των “Χ.Ν.”, με το θέμα να έρχεται χθες και στη Βουλή, την ώρα που με δηλώσεις στα “Χανιώτικα νέα” η εκπρόσωπος Τύπου του αμερικανικού Υπουργείου Αμυνας δίνει διαβεβαιώσεις για την «τήρηση των διεθνών κανόνων ασφαλείας».
Το τοξικό φορτίο, με το άγνωστο ακόμα περιεχόμενο, συνέχιζε χθες το ταξίδι του, με το δανέζικο φορτηγό πλοίο να συνοδεύεται από πολεμικά σκάφη Ρώσων, Κινέζων, Δανών και Νορβηγών. Αγνοια δηλώνει η Περιφέρεια Κρήτης για τις εξελίξεις, αντιδρώντας έντονα στην επιχείρηση, για την οποία μέχρι χθες δεν είχε τοποθετηθεί επίσημα ούτε το Υπουργείο Περιβάλλοντος.

Read more: http://www.haniotika-nea.gr/anastatosi-gia-ta-chimika/#ixzz2q5gYBnhN

( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25664162

9.01.2014, 18:28)

Germany agrees to help destroy Syria's chemical weapons These ships are helping to transport the chemical weapons away from Syria Continue reading the main story Syria conflict War and peace Syria's foreign fighters Barrel bombs Rethinking a future with Assad? Germany is joining international efforts to destroy Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons, the foreign and defence ministries have announced. The decision is in response to a request for help from the UN and OPCW, co-ordinators of the destruction plan. Ministers said waste from the destroyed weapons would be burned at a government facility in the town of Munster in line with environmental regulations. Germany has until now refused to accept chemical weapons onto its soil. But Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Germany had "decided not to pull back from our responsibility". "The destruction of Syria's chemical weapons could be the first, decisive step towards defusing the Syria conflict... It is the duty of the international community to ensure their final disposal," he added.

Continue reading the main story Syria's chemical weapons Syria believed to possess 1,300 tons of chemical agents including sarin and more potent nerve agent VX US believes arsenal can be "delivered by aircraft, ballistic missile, and artillery rockets" Syria acceded to Chemical Weapons Convention on 14 September; it signed Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention in 1972 but never ratified it Chemical stockpile. He said Germany had the capacity and technology to undertake this task. Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Germany "has safe technology and a lot of experience with destroying remnants of chemical arms". "It is sensible for us to use this capability for the sake of the international community and with it, make a worthy contribution to the peace process." The announcement was welcomed by Russia.

According to the Interfax news agency, a foreign ministry official said it was "a good contribution made by Germany to a task set before the international community". The weapons will be destroyed by experts in Munster in full compliance with environmental regulations. The first consignment of toxic chemicals left Syria on a Danish ship early this week. It is travelling to Italy, where it will be loaded onto a US Navy ship and shipped to international waters for destruction in a specially created titanium tank on board. Britain has also offered to help get rid of the waste. Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons in a deal brokered by the US and Russia last year. It followed international outrage when rockets filled with the nerve agent sarin were fired at three towns in the Ghouta agricultural belt around the Syrian capital, Damascus, on 21 August. Hundreds of people were killed in the attacks. Western powers said only Syrian government forces could have carried out the assault, but President Bashar al-Assad blamed rebel fighters.