Russia’s Fleet is Wrecking Havoc on the Caspian Sea

By RFE/RL staff - Nov 13, 2024

Russia's use of the Caspian Sea for missile strikes against Ukraine and military exercises is raising concerns about environmental damage.

Local residents report increased pollution, dead fish, and a decline in the overall health of the Caspian Sea.

The long-term ecological consequences of Russia's military presence in the Caspian Sea remain uncertain.



Russian military forces in and around the Caspian Sea appear to be firing at Ukraine -- with as-yet-unmeasured impacts on the local environment, as well as untold death and destruction on hitting their targets.

Ukrainian officials reported Russian jets firing missiles from the sea in the first days of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and have done so repeatedly since.

People living by the Caspian have also reported missile launches, in one case this year posting a video apparently showing a Kalibr cruise-missile launch.

Some locals have said military activity is causing pollution, while some journalists have suggested a link between the launches and die-offs of Caspian seals.



Russia has not confirmed its use of the Caspian for attacks on Ukraine, but it was not always so coy. In October 2015, official media quoted then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying that the Caspian Sea Fleet had hit targets in Syria using Kalibr missiles. There was another such report the following year.

Reported attacks since 2022 have mostly come from the bombers cruising above the Caspian, firing X-55 cruise missiles.

It's possible the Caspian Fleet has fired Kalibr missiles, but the Ukrainian armed forces have said there's no clear evidence.

A video posted by local fishermen in June shows two missiles. The behavior of the tail unit is more like that of a Kalibr than an air-launched cruise missile.

But local concerns about the environmental impact of Russia’s Caspian Fleet predate the full-scale invasion. Moscow was already building a new base for the fleet at Kaspiisk, in Daghestan, and in June 2020 held a parade of ships there.

A local man told RFE/RL that the event, which has been held annually ever since, leaves the sea covered with oil and is followed by dead fish piling up on the shore.

"About 30 years ago, the sea was full of life. Not anymore. I swam out to the ships in the summer and saw what was going on. The Caspian Fleet is one of the factors," he said.

'A Terrible Atmosphere'

RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by Moscow, so the man’s name cannot be revealed. Doing so could land him in jail.

A local woman, who must also remain anonymous, said she moved to Kaspiisk from the regional capital, Makhachkala, nine years ago, hoping the water would be cleaner.

She said the situation had "changed a lot" in that time and described the impact of the annual naval parades.


“[The ships] are not in port, they’re moored offshore. They burn fuel around the clock, there’s a constant roar of engines, and of course all the emissions go into the sea," she said.

"Then the ships start firing. There's a terrible atmosphere. The smell of burning comes in, even through closed windows...it’s impossible to breathe."

The fleet also holds exercises every September. This year, more than 30 vessels were involved.

The drills take place further out to sea, but our sources told us that fuel deposits and dead fish accumulate on the shore.

Journalists have linked both drills and actual combat activity with pollution and possibly mass seal deaths.


Both Kalibr and X-55 cruise missiles use toxic rocket fuel that may spill into the sea.

But no independent scientific data has been gathered in the Caspian to assess the impact of Russia's military activities on the environment there.

By RFE/RL

Media Coverage of Amsterdam Soccer Riot Erases Zionist Hatred and Violence

By Elsie Carson-Holt

November 16, 2024

Source: FAIR

Image from Annet de Graaf’s video showing violence by Israeli soccer fans—widely misrepresented as an example of antisemitic violence.

The New York Times (11/8/24), like other corporate media, framed the Amsterdam violence in terms of antisemitism—treating anti-Arab violence as an ancillary detail at best.

When violence broke out in Amsterdam last week involving Israeli soccer fans, Western media headlines told the story as one of attacks that could only be explained by antisemitism. This is the story right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants them to tell: “On the streets of Amsterdam, antisemitic rioters attacked Jews, Israeli citizens, just because they were Jews” (Fox News, 11/10/24).

Yet buried deep within their reports, some of these outlets revealed a more complicated reality: that many fans of Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club had spent the previous night tearing down and burning Palestinian flags, attacking a taxi and shouting murderous anti-Arab chants, including “Death to the Arabs” and “Why is there no school in Gaza? There are no children left there” (Defector, 11/8/24).

As Marc Owen Jacobs of Zeteo (11/9/24) wrote, the media coverage revealed

troubling patterns in how racial violence is reported; not only is anti-Arab violence and racism marginalized and minimized, but violence against Israelis is amplified and reduced to antisemitism.

Buried context

James North (Mondoweiss, 11/10/24): “You had to jump to paragraph 7, buried on an inside page, to learn that the Israeli fans had, in fact, been violent and provocative the night before.”

“Israeli Soccer Fans Attacked in Amsterdam,” announced NBC News (11/8/24). That piece didn’t mention until the 25th paragraph the Maccabi fans’ Palestinian flag-burning and taxi destruction, as if these were minor details rather than precipitating events.

Similarly, the Washington Post (11/8/24)—“Israeli Soccer Fans Were Attacked in Amsterdam. The Violence Was Condemned as Antisemitic”—didn’t mention Maccabi anti-Arab chants until paragraph 22, and didn’t mention any Maccabi fan violence.

James North on Mondoweiss (11/10/24) summed up the New York Times article’s (11/8/24) similar one-sided framing:

The Times report, which started on page 1, used the word “antisemitic” six times, beginning in the headline. The first six paragraphs uniformly described the “Israeli soccer fans” as the victims, recounting their injuries, and dwelling on the Israeli government’s chartering of “at least three flights to bring Israeli citizens home,” insinuating that innocent people had to completely flee the country for their lives.

Also at Mondoweiss (11/9/24), Sana Saeed explained:

Emerging video evidence and testimonies from Amsterdam residents (here, here and here, for instance) indicate that the initial violence came from Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, who also disrupted a moment of silence for the Valencia flood victims.

But despite that footage and Amsterdammer testimonies, coverage—across international media, especially in the United States—has failed to contextualize the counter-attacks against the anti-Arab Israeli mob.

Misrepresented video

Image from Annet de Graaf’s video showing violence by Israeli soccer fans—widely misrepresented as an example of antisemitic violence.

Several news outlets outright misrepresented video from local Dutch photographer Annet de Graaf. De Graaf’s video depicts Maccabi fans attacking Amsterdam locals, yet CNN World News (11/9/24) and BBC (11/8/24) and other outlets initially labeled it as Maccabi fans getting attacked.

De Graaf has demanded apologies from the news outlets and acknowledgement that the video was used to push false information. CNN World News‘ video now notes that an earlier version was accompanied by details from Reuters that CNN could not independently verify. BBC’s caption of De Graaf’s footage reads “Footage of some of the violence in Amsterdam—the BBC has not been able to verify the identity of those involved.”

The New York Times (11/8/24) corrected its misuse of the footage in an article about the violence:

An earlier version of this article included a video distributed by Reuters with a script about Israeli fans being attacked. Reuters has since issued a correction saying it is unclear who is depicted in the footage. The video’s author told the New York Times it shows a group of Maccabi fans chasing a man on the street—a description the Times independently confirmed with other verified footage from the scene. The video has been removed.

‘Historically illiterate conflation’

Jacobin (11/12/24): “Far from acting like tsarist authorities during a pogrom, the police in Amsterdam seem to have cracked down far harder on those who attacked Maccabi fans than the overtly racist Maccabi hooligans who started the first phase of the riot.”

It is undoubtedly true that antisemitism was involved in Amsterdam alongside Israeli fans’ anti-Arab actions; the Wall Street Journal (11/10/24) verified reports of a group chat that called for a “Jew hunt.” But rather than acknowledging that there was ethnic animosity on both sides, some articles about the melee (Bret Stephens, New York Times, 11/12/24; Fox News, 11/10/24; Free Press, 10/11/24) elevated the violence to the level of a “pogrom.”

Jacobin (11/12/24) put the attacks in the context of European soccer riots:

There were assaults on Israeli fans, including hit-and-run attacks by perpetrators on bicycles. Some of the victims were Maccabi fans who hadn’t participated in the earlier hooliganism. In other words, this played out like a classical nationalistic football riot—the thuggish element of one group of fans engages in violence, and the ugly intercommunal dynamics lead to not just the perpetrators but the entire group of fans (or even random people wrongly assumed to share their background or nationality) being attacked.

But Jacobin pushed back against media using the word “pogrom” in reference to the soccer riots:

Pogroms were not isolated incidents of violence. They were calculated assaults to keep Jews locked firmly in their social place…. Pogroms cannot occur outside the framework of a society that systematically denies rights to a minority, ensuring that it remains vulnerable to the violence of the majority. What happened in Amsterdam, however, bears no resemblance to this structure. These were not attacks predicated on religious or racial oppression. They were incidents fueled by political discord between different groups of nationalists….

Furthermore, using that designation to opportunistically smear global dissent against Israel’s atrocities in Gaza as classically antisemitic only serves to trivialize genuine horrors. This historically illiterate conflation should be rejected by all who truly care about antisemitism.

Breaking with the Netanyahu government’s spin, former Israeli President Ehud Olmert said that the riots in Amsterdam were “not a continuation of the historic antisemitism that swept Europe in past centuries.” Olmert, unlike Western media coverage of the event, seemed to be able to connect the violence in Amsterdam to anti-Arab sentiment in his own country. In a more thoughtful piece than his paper’s news coverage of the event, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman (11/13/24) quoted Olmert extensively:

The fact is, many people in the world are unable to acquiesce with Israel turning Gaza, or residential neighborhoods of Beirut, into the Stone Age—as some of our leaders promised to do. And that is to say nothing of what Israel is doing in the West Bank—the killings and destruction of Palestinian property. Are we really surprised that these things create a wave of hostile reactions when we continue to show a lack of sensitivity to human beings living in the center of the battlefield who are not terrorists?

The events in Amsterdam called for nuanced media coverage that contextualized events and condemned both anti-Jewish and anti-Arab violence. Instead, per usual, world leaders and media alike painted Arabs and Pro-Palestine protesters as aggressors and Israelis as innocent victims.

Brazil authorities link Supreme Court bomb attack to extremist discourse


A Brazilian Supreme Court justice linked Wednesday's failed bomb attack on the court with far-right hate speech while the country’s police chief said it is being investigated as an act of terrorism. The police director also said the Supreme Court has received fresh threats since the blasts.


Issued on: 14/11/2024 -

01:52

Police cordon off the Supreme Court in Brasi­lia, Brazil following an explosion on Wednesday, November 13, 2024. © Eraldo Peres, AP


A Brazilian Supreme Court justice said Thursday that he believes the explosion outside the court in capital Brasilia was the consequence of frequent far-right attacks and hate speech targeting the country’s institutions.

“It grew under the guise of a criminal use of freedom of speech. To offend, threaten, coerce," Justice Alexandre de Moraes said at an event in Brasilia.

Federal Police are investigating the explosions on Wednesday as terrorism and a violent attack on the democratic rule of law, its director, Andrei Passos Rodrigues, said at a news conference later.

He said that the man had attempted to enter the Supreme Court and that it appeared that he acted alone, though the police official indicated he also was viewing the attack in the broader context of extremism.

“Even if the visible action is individual, behind that action there is never just one person. It's always a group, or ideas of a group, or extremism, radicalism, that lead to committing those crimes,” Passos Rodrigues said. “The action, in fact, was an individual action, but the investigation will tell if there are other connections, if there are other networks, what's behind it, what drove it.”

The police director also said the Supreme Court has received fresh threats via email, without specifying when.

Security camera footage provided by the Supreme Court shows the suspect approaching a statue outside the building. As a guard nears, the man throws an explosive and retreats a few steps, then throws a second device and an explosion follows. Finally, the suspect ignites a third device near to himself, causing his death.

Passos Rodrigues said that the man was a native of southern Santa Catarina state where he previously ran for city council, and had been in Brasilia several months. Police went to his Brasilia residence Thursday and used a robot to open a drawer that triggered “a very serious explosion,” he said.

Celina Leão, the lieutenant governor of Brazil’s federal district, said Wednesday night that the man first detonated explosives in a car in a Congress parking lot, which didn't cause injuries. Then he went to Three Powers Plaza, where the Supreme Court, Congress and presidential palace are located.

Local media identified the man as being a member of Brazil’s Liberal Party, the same as former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro has railed against the Supreme Court in the past and specifically focused his ire on de Moraes.

Bolsonaro supporters consider de Moraes their chief enemy. He has led a five-year investigation into fake news and threats against Supreme Court justices, which has led to the ban of some far-right allies and supporters from social media and even some imprisonments. He also presided over the nation’s top electoral court when it ruled Bolsonaro ineligible for office until 2030, finding that he had abused his power and cast unfounded doubts on the validity of the 2022 election result.

Bolsonaro condemned the attack on social media.

“It is high time for Brazil to once again cultivate an environment suitable for different ideas to confront each other peacefully, and for the strength of arguments to be worth more than the argument of force,” he wrote.

Some accuse de Moraes of overstepping in the name of protecting Brazilian democracy from political violence and disinformation. Others view his brash tactics as justified by extraordinary circumstances.

Months after Bolsonaro lost his 2022 election bid, his supporters stormed the main government buildings in Brasilia, seeking to oust his leftist successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from power. It was widely seen as an echo of the insurrection in the U.S. Capitol two years earlier.

The Supreme Court has since convicted hundreds of those involved in the uprising for crimes such as criminal association and attempted coup.

De Moraes said Thursday that the explosions outside the Supreme Court appeared to be the most serious attack on the institution since then.

“The country’s pacification is only possible with the accountability of all criminals. There is no possibility of pacification with amnesty for criminals,” de Moraes said.

Earlier this year, de Moraes ordered a nationwide ban of X after clashing with its billionaire owner, Elon Musk, over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation. Musk had disparaged de Moraes, calling him an authoritarian and a censor, even though his rulings, including X’s suspension, were repeatedly upheld by his peers. The platform was reinstated in October.

Brazil will host the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next week. Passos Rodrigues said that the bombing shouldn’t raise any concerns, given that authorities are already implementing the highest level security possible, including with support of the armed forces.

“I am going this afternoon, shortly, to Rio de Janeiro, where I will personally accompany all actions so we can have the absolute guarantee of security,” he added.

(AP)

Brazil looking for motive after attempted Supreme Court bombing


By AFP
November 14, 2024

Police block off the scene where a man died after an explosion in front of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court, in Brasilia, on November 13, 2024 - Copyright AFP EVARISTO SA

Ramon SAHMKOW

Authorities in Brazil on Thursday were searching for the motive of a man who apparently tried to bomb the Supreme Court, killing himself in the process.

The Wednesday night attack comes just days before a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro and Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit to Brasilia, the capital where the bombing took place.

The man attempted in vain to enter the court building before setting off an explosion outside its doors, authorities said. There were no other injuries.

While a motive has not yet been determined, the bombing immediately evoked memories of last year’s attack on Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace in the wake of then-president Jair Bolsonaro’s defeat at the polls.

There were two blasts on Wednesday, one from a vehicle, then “right after, the citizen approached the Supreme Court, where he tried to enter the building and was unable to,” said Federal District Vice Governor Celina Leao.

The second explosion “happened right there at the door.”

Leao called the death a “suicide,” based on preliminary information, and said it was possible the man acted as a “lone wolf.”

The GloboNews channel, citing police documents, reported that the man, named as Francisco Wanderley Luiz, was the owner of the car that exploded.

He was a candidate in local elections in 2020, running as a member of far-right Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party.

In a post on social media, Attorney General Jorge Messias “vehemently” condemned “the attacks against the Supreme Federal Court and the Chamber of Deputies.”

The court, Congress and presidential palace all sit on the same square, Praca dos Tres Poderes, in the Brazilian capital.

Police would investigate the incident “with rigor and speed,” Messias said, adding: “We need to know the motive for the attacks, as well as restore peace and security as quickly as possible.”

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was not at the palace at the time of the attack, according to the presidency.


– Bolsonaro calls for dialogue –


Bolsonaro on Thursday called for dialogue toward an “environment of unity,” writing on social media that “it is high time for Brazil to once again cultivate an environment suitable for different ideas to confront each other peacefully.”

Denouncing the violence, he called it an isolated incident, and made an “appeal to all political parties and the leaders of national institutions to take the necessary steps to advance national peace at this time of tragedy.”

On January 8, 2023, the seats of power in Brasilia were hit by an insurrection a week after Lula defeated Bolsonaro at the polls.

Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters angry over his defeat stormed the government buildings, causing major damage before authorities managed to reimpose control.

Alexandre de Moraes, a powerful Supreme Court justice who has drawn ire from the right, is leading the investigation into the apparent coup attempt, which resembled the storming of the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump on January 6, 2021.

Wednesday’s incident did not cause any injuries or deaths beyond the apparent attack — though police had to tread carefully in the aftermath as the body was fitted with explosives and a timer.

Officers on patrol spotted the burning vehicle, from the first explosion, and then saw a man rush out, authorities said.

The Supreme Court said that at the end of a session, two loud explosions were heard, and that judges and staff on site were evacuated.

The G20 summit is set to open on Monday in Rio de Janeiro, bringing together leaders from major world economies. On Wednesday, Lula is set to receive Xi in Brasilia.

Man with explosives dies trying to enter Brazil’s Supreme Court


By AFP
November 13, 2024


A damaged car is seen near Brazil's Supreme Court in Brasilia after two blasts occurred, killing a man who tried to force his way into the court - Copyright AFP Sergio Lima

Ramon SAHMKOW

A man with explosives died Wednesday trying to enter Brazil’s Supreme Court in what appeared to be a suicide, officials said, days before the country hosts the G20 summit.

“This citizen approached the Federal Supreme Court, tried to enter, failed, and the explosion happened at the entrance,” Brasilia governor Celina Leao told reporters, adding that no one else was hurt.

The man’s body was located outside the court after two explosions occurred, but suspicious objects around it prevented immediate efforts to carry out identification, she said.

The first blast came from a car in the square outside the court around 7:30 pm (2230 GMT). The second one happened a few seconds later when the man tried to enter the court, and this blast killed him, the governor said.

The incident came ahead of a G20 summit next Monday and Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro that will gather leaders from around the world. Among them will be US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

After that summit, Xi is scheduled to stay on, going to Brasilia for a state visit next Wednesday.

The convergence of the G20 leaders on Brazil has been accompanied by heightened security arrangements in the country, particularly in Rio.



– Judges evacuated –



The Supreme Court said in a statement that two loud explosions rang out at the end of Wednesday’s session and that the judges were safely evacuated.

The court is located in the Praca dos Tres Poderes, which also fronts onto the presidential palace and the Congress.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was not in the palace at the time of the explosions, a spokesman said.

The presidential palace was sealed off and a large police contingent deployed around the plaza.

An AFP photographer in the area said the zone was locked down as heavy rain fell.

Federal police said they had opened an investigation to determine the circumstances of the blasts and any possible motive.

Police who had been patrolling the area noticed the car on fire and saw the man leaving the vehicle, said Sergeant Rodrigo Santos of the capital’s military police.

A government employee in the capital, Laiana Costa, told local media said she saw the man go by and “then there was a noise, and I looked back and there was fire and smoke coming out,” and security guards from the court rushing up.

The same area was the scene of high drama last year.

On January 8, 2023, the seats of power in Brasilia were hit by an insurrection a week after President Lula defeated the right-wing incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro at the polls.

Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters angry over his defeat stormed the government buildings, causing major damage before authorities managed to reimpose control.

The head of Brazil’s Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, said that rioting prompted “a change in security rules” for the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court.

The man behind the mask

How a Newfoundland doctor invented a life-saving gas mask in WW I

Elizabeth Whitten | CBC NewsNov. 10, 2024

On a fine spring afternoon in 1915, a new weapon of war was unleashed near the town of Ypres, Belgium.

The First World War was well underway when — on April 22, 1915 — the German army released more than 136 tonnes of chlorine gas. A greenish-yellow toxic cloud blew toward the unsuspecting French lines.

It was the globe's first large-scale poison gas attack, and it stunned the world.

“The chemical gas was terrifying,” said Tim Cook, chief historian at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. “Soldiers had died on the battlefield. They were retching, their eyes were bulging out. They were vomiting up liquid. They were dying in horrendous ways.”

The response to this new type of warfare, which left unknown numbers of soldiers dead or incapacitated, was swift. In a moment, the terms of engagement had changed. New gear would be needed to counter the deadly gas attacks.

Among those who found a path first was Dr. Cluny Macpherson, a Newfoundland doctor who devised an early gas mask — known as the hypo helmet — that would go on to save hundreds of thousands of lives. Masks that built on his innovations would save millions.

The invention earned Macpherson considerable acclaim, and he was well known through his lifetime in military, medical and local circles. Gradually, though, since his death in 1966, his story has faded from view.

To find it, you need to dig into archives and history books, where a rich narrative is waiting to be told.

Kept safe in The Rooms vault, collections manager Wade Greeley revealed a hypo helmet that once belonged to Dr. Cluny Macpherson. (Elizabeth Whitten/CBC)


Deep inside The Rooms, a St. John’s cultural complex that includes Newfoundland and Labrador’s provincial archives, a piece of First World War history is safeguarded in an area the public doesn’t often get to see.

Collections manager Wade Greeley kneels low to pull open a drawer. With care and wearing white gloves, he lifts out a large white envelope and lays it on a nearby table. He opens it gently to reveal that inside, lying flat, is a hood made in a woolen-like grey-brown material with a cracked mica eyepiece.

At more than 100 years old, this is a surviving hypo helmet that was Macpherson once owned.

This item is special because it is the only one of its kind, Greeley said.

“More than anything, it's a prototype. So this is him deciding, ‘OK what? How? How can I make that helmet and what materials [am I] going to use?’” he said.

“And then figuring out, ‘Oh, this is not working and then going to another one. So we actually have three or four of these prototypes.”

Greeley said these gas masks kept changing throughout the war, as additional items in the vault’s drawer demonstrate. Also tucked away are two more advanced gas masks, known as PH helmets.

The race to protect soldiers


Cook said up to the point of the gas attack on April 22, during the Second Battle of Ypres, the war had largely been static, with armies digging into positions through a system of trenches that resulted in a stalemate.

Then the German army introduced a new weapon to break it: chlorine gas.

“And this enormous gas cloud, six kilometres long, green, yellow tendrils pushing forward over the Allied lines, comes into contact with two French divisions and the Canadian division also in the line. And it causes panic and terror as the soldiers feel the gas burning out their lungs,” said Cook.
On April 22, 1915 Germany launched the first large scale chemical weapon attack near Ypres, Belgium. (Canadian War Museum)


The French divisions fled. But the Canadians, who didn’t take the full brunt of the gas attack, were able to rally and hold the line, said Cook.

Immediately, the Allied high command knew it had to come up with some form of protection for soldiers, he said.

Initially, a cloth pad was distributed that needed to be soaked in a water-based solution, but it was mostly ineffective. Then what was called a black veil respirator was sent out to troops, followed by more effective masks, starting with the hypo helmet, said Cook.

On April 22, 1915, the first large-scale gas attack took place near Ypres, Belgium, which prompted a race to create a gas mask. (In Flanders Field Museum)


He has read through archived letters and diaries kept by soldiers and noticed they didn’t have much faith in the cloth respirators that were initially sent to the frontlines.

“But when the hypo helmet arrives — this large bag that is worn over the head with a mica viewer — it provides a greater sense of protection,” said Cook.

Newfoundland enters the war


But let's back up a bit, and explain how a St. John's doctor wound up playing a pivotal role overseas in developing a widely used gas mask.

When Britain declared war on Germany on Aug. 4, 1914, the Dominion of Newfoundland was automatically in the conflict as well. At the time, Newfoundland had a population of approximately 240,000. But while the country did not have an army, the government quickly set out to raise a regiment.

All would-be soldiers had to pass a physical evaluation conducted by Macpherson and other doctors before they were sent to nearby Pleasantville on the shores of Quidi Vidi Lake in St. John's for further training.

Maureen Peters, a curator at The Rooms, said the medical examination looked at a multitude of factors to determine if someone would be accepted into the regiment.

“Everybody who enlisted had to go through a physical and had to go through eye tests, physical tests, flat feet. If you didn't have arches, you couldn't join, and you had to have healthy teeth,” she said.

Doctors like Macpherson would have also checked for healthy lungs, Peters added.
Macpherson enlisted with the newly formed Newfoundland Regiment in September 1914 as a captain. He headed up efforts to evaluate recruits. (The Rooms)


When the Newfoundland Regiment’s first contingent went overseas in October 1914, Macpherson was not with them.

Gov. Walter Davidson had asked him to hang back in St. John’s in case a German U-boat appeared in the harbour and attacked.

But in March 1915, Macpherson was given permission for a brief two-month trip to Britain. That journey put him in Europe at a conspicuous moment when, it turned out, his insight and talent were needed.

But how exactly did Macpherson come about creating the hypo helmet? Fortunately, Macpherson's own words can tell us, as he gave a few interviews, including in a sit-down interview with the CBC in the early 1960s.

WATCH | Learn how a Newfoundland doctor became enmeshed in the race to protect soldiers in the First World War:



In late April 1915, Macpherson, 36, found himself in St. Omer, France for what was supposed to be a two-day visit. On his final day in the village, had breakfast with two professors from Imperial College London — William Watson and Herbert Brereton Baker. They were part of a cohort of scientists who were tapped by the British government to study the recent gas attack and devise effective means of protection.

“So getting up, they said, ‘Well, what are you doing today?’ I said, ‘I’m trying to keep out of sight because I'll be sent back to base,’" Macpherson recalled decades later. “'Well, would you like to come down to the lycée with us, to the chemical lab?'"

Macpherson agreed, offering himself as a guinea pig for testing prototypes and ended up volunteering to go to London to retrieve canisters of chlorine gas for tests. While there, he began to think about an improved gas mask design.

“I didn't think much of that German contraption and I thought I could do something better. And I bought a length of Viyella [a twill fabric made from wool and cotton] and some mica and put them in my pocket,” he said.
Through his work with the War Office, Dr. Cluny Macpherson spent time in Egypt and helped train officers in how to use their gas masks. (The Rooms)


When Macpherson returned to the lab, the scientists headed to a trench to test the respirator, but it was a disaster. William Watson was so badly gassed that he was hospitalized. While Baker and Macpherson went to visit, Macpherson decided to hang back in the hallway.

“I took this Viyella and mica out of my pocket and got a sheet of paper and cut out the design of the helmet and got the nurse to sew it up for me and put it back in my pocket,” he said.

The next day, Macpherson presented the hood to the scientists to test, this time in the lab’s stink chamber. The hood was doused with a chlorine gas-neutralizing chemical solution and an engineer put it on and entered the chamber, which was filled with chlorine gas.

“After he was in there, about five minutes, he came towards the door pulling it off and they all thought that he was smothering in it. But I knew better and fortunately. I had a sprayer of the solution and threw it right over him and grabbed him and pulled him out,” said Macpherson.

The engineer was confused, and wanted to know why they hadn’t flooded the chamber with chlorine gas.

“We had a job to convince him that we had him in chlorine 10 times stronger than the Germans could ever get it over. So when we convinced him of that — he hadn't smelled anything — and everybody was excited.”

After another successful demonstration for the top military men in the area, Macpherson was then given a new assignment as the head of the War Office in London, where he was put in charge of mass producing the hypo helmet.

Hypo helmets started being sent out to British and Canadian soldiers in late May and eventually 2.5 million gas masks would be produced.

images expandMacpherson was in charge of overseeing the mass production of the hypo helmet, the work was largely carried out by women at the John Bells, Hills & Lucas. Ltd. firm in London.


Cook said while the hypo helmet physically protected them, it also gave them a sense the army was looking out for their well-being.

“That this spectre of chemical agents could be protected against and that they would not die like rats in a trench," he said.

However, there were problems with Macpherson’s design.

Cook said it was horrible to wear and some soldiers nearly suffocated in it. They also had to worry whether it would hold up to higher concentrations of gas. In addition, gas masks cut down on a soldiers’ ability to see, breathe and move, all of which inhibits their fighting abilities, Cook said.

“There's always a tension between protecting yourself from gas and chemical agents and the effect on soldiers' fighting performance. The hypo helmet, while useful, will be superseded by other helmets until we get to the small box respirator in late 1916, which is really the best respirator and the type used for decades after that,” said Cook.

images expand

Big deal at home


Frank Gogos, chair of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment Museum, said the fact that a Newfoundlander developed a gas mask was a big deal at home at the time.

“We're still talking about it, you know, and there were some controversies whether he actually is the first to develop a gas mask as there are other versions prior to that, but not used in the military setting as such,” Gogos said during an interview, surrounded by Royal Newfoundland Regiment artifacts.

“We have to give him credit for the work that he did do — finding a quick and easy solution, reasonably easy solution, I should say. Because there was a bit of work in maintaining the early gas masks.”
Frank Gogos, chair of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment Museum, says Macpherson deserves credit for devising a form of protection against chlorine gas. (Elizabeth Whitten/CBC)


Gogos said prior to the hypo helmet, soldiers were being told to urinate on cotton gauze and press it to their faces.

“Of course, that’s not very comfortable,” he said.

A story not yet written


Across the street from Bannerman Park in downtown St. John’s, along a row of stately homes, one property has a plaque that declares it was once the residence of Dr. Cluny Macpherson, “gas mask inventor.” A few minutes away by car, Memorial University has named a new student residence in his honour.

Macpherson’s role as the creator of a life-saving device hasn’t been forgotten in his hometown, but Gogos said the story of how he became involved in the project hasn’t been told.

“So it would be nice to see this actually get into the public domain so more people can understand what actually took place and how it unfolded,” said Gogos.

He pointed out that Macpherson did write extensively about his experience in the First World War, primarily in letters now archived at the medical school. But, Gogos said, they were only recently digitized and made available online.

“Some of the more interesting things that happen in life, happen by chance. And so that's really how he gets involved. And I think a lot of soldiers owe them, you know, their lives for coming up with a solution.”

A ‘fertile mind’


During the war, Macpherson was twice mentioned in dispatches — an honour in which a superior officer told top miitary officials of an important contribution. After the war, Macpherson was made a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George for his invention.
After the war, Dr. Cluny Macpherson resumed his medical practice and was made a Companion of the Order of St. George and St. Michael for his hypo helmet invention. (Courtesy of the Estate of Yousuf Karsh)


While Macpherson deserves credit for his creation, Cook said, it doesn’t qualify him as the inventor of the gas mask, but rather an inventor of a gas mask.

“He's part of the struggle that happens in times of war, of technological evolution. When a weapon is introduced, often there is a subsequent weapon or device to combat it. So surely we see that with the gas mask and the evolution in design,” said Cook.

“I think what we can say about Dr. Macpherson is that he clearly understood the devastating effects of the gas clouds and that the soldiers needed to be protected with a device, and his clearly intelligent, fertile mind came up with this hood, which was an important step in this evolution of protecting soldiers.”

Legacy of a doctor


Sitting in a living room chair in his St. John’s home, Ian Macpherson says he only became aware of his grandfather’s role as inventor of the hypo helmet as a teenager and that in general, inventing it wasn’t something Macpherson spoke about.

“I don't know that he made an effort not to talk about it, it really wasn't something — certainly within the family — which was made a major issue of,” he said.

Since the 1990s, Ian Macpherson said, he’s seen more people interested in the role Dr. Macpherson played in the First World War, and a plaque hangs outside the family home where Macpherson lived most his life.
Ian Macpherson says there has been more interest in his grandfather’s role in inventing the gas mask in recent years. (Darryl Murphy/CBC)


As a child, Ian Macpherson said, he can remember accompanying his grandfather to visit homebound patients.

He said Macpherson put more emphasis on his role as a doctor in the community, rather than as a wartime inventor.

He pointed to Macpherson’s role of containing outbreaks of infectious diseases in Labrador and working with the Waterford Hospital in St. John's as points of pride.

“But, I think, he will be remembered for the gas mask, yeah.”

RIP
Firefighter dead, NYC faces wildfire threats caused by historic drought


A forest fire is pictured in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, in a photo shared online by the FDNY. Photo courtesy of FDNY/X

Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Dariel Vasquez, an 18-year-old volunteer firefighter from New Jersey, died Sunday in New York while helping battle a wildfire in Sterling Forest.

The Big Apple is cooking amid a historic drought and abnormally warm weather, raising the risk of wildfires in New York City's green spaces.

Vasquez was killed while battling a fire in a forest in Greenwood Lake, about 35 miles northwest of New York City, according to state police.

A large brush fire in Prospect Park in Brooklyn reached two alarms on Friday, the FDNY said on social media, with dramatic photographs showing flames burning through the park's dense trees.

This is the latest in a recent series of wildfires in the area due to dry conditions prompted by an ongoing drought.

Meanwhile, another New Jersey man has been hit with arson and firearms charges after a wildfire in Jackson Township, located about 75 miles south of New York, the New Jersey Forest Service announced on Facebook.

That fire, which burned 350 acres behind a berm in the area of the Central Jersey Rifle Range, was ignited by magnesium shards of a Dragons Breath 12 gauge shotgun round fired by Richard Shashaty, 37, of Brick Township.

"The firing of this type of incendiary or tracer ammunition is prohibited in the State of New Jersey," the Forest Service said.

The entire region has been affected by the drought, with one wildfire along the New Jersey border with New York able to be seen from space.

"We are able to see a wildfire along the NJ/NY border from space courtesy of @NOAASatellites," the National Weather Service in New York said in a statement Saturday.

"Some of this smoke/haze may be visible further south into NYC. Smaller fires are also faintly visible, one in central Passaic County, one in SE Orange County, one in SW Putnam County."

Another fire has burned through at least 39 acres of wooded areas off the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Englewood Cliffs, just across the Hudson River from New York, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said.

That fire has reached 75% containment.

But a wildfire off Cannonball Road in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, has burned through nearly 200 acres of land and threatened at least 55 structures.
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The NWS said New York faced "another dry day with an elevated risk of wildfire spread if ignition occurs" on Sunday. An air quality warning remains in effect for the city and the lower Hudson Valley region through midnight.

Back in New York, the FDNY said in a statement Saturday that it has since responded to "hundreds" of brush fires across the city's five boroughs.

"Some have been minor, and others have risen to multiple alarm fires that threaten life and property," the FDNY said.

"Brush fires can spread quickly, fueled by dry vegetation and windy conditions. October and November have been historically dry and warm."

New York Mayor Eric Adams banned grilling in city parks on Saturday. And the FDNY has encouraged New Yorkers to be mindful of smoking and where they dispose of their cigarette butts and urged people to remain on designated trails when visiting the city's parks.

"If you've been outside, you've likely smelled the smoke from wildfires in our region, including one that burned in Prospect Park," Adams said in a statement. "Stay indoors if you have respiratory issues and avoid burning outside while the risk of fires is high."