Anti-civilian weapons

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So-called “non-lethal weapons” (NLW) are often permanently debilitating or lethal or represent a variety of torture. They will increasingly be employed primarily against the world's working class.

War without blood? Hypocrisy of ‘non-lethal’ arms
By Steve Wright, Le Monde diplomatique, December 1999. A bad public image due to the mass carnage caused by Western armies had led to arms that paralyze rather than destroy. But so-called “non-lethal” arms have the potential to increase the level of violence, spawning ever more advanced techniques of repression.
Non-Lethal Weapons Research in the US: Calmatives and Malodorants
Backgrounder Series #8, Introduction, July 2001. US research on chemical and biological non-lethal weapons resulting from its disastrous mission in Somalia, where the U.S. lacked weapons appropriate for peacekeeping short of war. US program to develop new non-lethal weapons to control both armed enemies and civilians. Domestic law enforcement agencies are in some instances participating.
Non-Lethal Weapons Kept Secret
The New Scientist, 10 May 2002. Bugs that eat roads and buildings. Biocatalysts that break down fuel and plastics. Devices that stealthily corrode aluminium and other metals. US National Academy of Sciences hides research that violates both US law and international treaties on chemical and biological weapons. The pentagon seeks ways to control crowds. Research that violates the treaties has been under way since the 1990s.
US making stink bomb, says monthly
DAWN 5 July 2002. The Pentagon is developing a stink bomb to drive away enemy troops or hostile crowds. An offensive capability against large and unruly groups of people, if they are unwilling to move or are openly hostile. A bad smell can activate tissue deep within the brain.
U.S. Suspects Opiate in Gas Used in Theater
By Judith Miller and William J. Broad, The New York Times, 29 October 2002. The Russian security police who raided a Moscow theater early Saturday might have used an aerosol version of a powerful, fast-acting opiate called Fentanyl to knock out Chechen extremists. The gas killed all but one of the 117 hostages in the Russian assault to retake the theater. The agent probably similar to one that the US is studying for use by soldiers and police officers against supposed terrorists.
The Fuzzy ethics of nonlethal weapons
By Brad Knickerbocker, Christian Science Monitor, 14 Feburary 2003. The U.S. would like to use so-called, “nonlethal chemicals” to take the fight out of Iraqi soldiers and civilians. Rumsfeld acknowledges that the use of riot-control agents and other substances designed to incapacitate people without causing death or lasting injury violates international law—specifically, the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention.
Pentagon Panel Suggests Chemical Calmatives
By David Ruppe, Global Security Newswire, Wednesday 21 April 2004. Report says consider the applications and treaty issues of nonlethal weapons, and develop low-yield nuclear weapons, and weapons directed at the physiological or psychological functions of the populace, and application of biological, chemical, or electromagnetic radiation.
Doping up the rabble
By A.C. Thompson, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 28 October 2004. A decade from now, protesters who mass outside a global trade meeting may find themselves zapped by high-voltage land mines, pacified by wafting clouds of tranquilizing drugs, blasted by incapacitating microwaves, or burned by lasers. Increasing crossover between soldiering and policing. Are NLW really safer?
The military interest in new brain-scanning technology is beginning to show a sinister side
By Steven Rose, The Observer (London), Sunday 5 February 2006. Increasing state interest in what brain imaging as predictor of future behaviour, or indicate guilt or innocence. Pre-emptive detention for ‘psychopaths’. Military techniques to survey and possibly manipulate the mental processes of potential enemies, or enhance the potential of one's own troops.
DoD: Spend More on Non-Lethal Weapons
By Jason Sherman, InsideDefense.com NewsStand, 23 May 2006. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has directed the Defense Department to prepare a new investment plan that significantly increases spending on non-lethal weapons, laying the groundwork for their wider use.