Spain’s use of chemical weapons in the Rif is one of the darkest and least talked about parts of the Rif War. After suffering major defeats against Abd elKrim’s forces, Spain began using chemical agents in the 1920s, including mustard gas, which was dropped from aircraft across parts of northern Morocco and affected areas where civilians lived as well as Riffian fighters. Mustard gas can cause severe burns, blindness, lung damage and is known to be fatal. Even today, people in the Rif often connect the region’s cancer cases to prove that today’s cancer rates are directly caused by chemical weapons used a century ago. The chemical attacks themselves, however, are well documented and remain a largely forgotten part of Morocco’s colonial history.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_use_of_chemical_weapons_in_the_Rif_War?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://international-review.icrc.org/articles/the-rif-war-a-forgotten-war-923?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Source: IG @blackstarops

Released during the Gulf War to document coalition forces, military hardware, and key political figures.

In December 1986, large-scale student protests broke out in Shanghai. Shanghai mayor Jiang Zemin, went to his alma mater SJTU, to hold talks with students. Opposition leaders had originally planned to subject him to a Cultural Revolution–style denunciation and to incite demonstrations on the spot. Jiang engaged in a five-hour debate with three thousand students and managed to persuade most of them. He also offer a interesting idea: the Cultural Revolution was in fact an extremely democratic movement, and that the disaster resulted from democracy spiraling out of control. So the tragic of Cultural Revolution should never happen again.

Jiang Zemin had rich experience in student movements, having participated in them since 1943 at the Japanese-occupied Nanjing Central University. During the Chinese Civil War at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, his eloquence allowed him to dismantle anti-communist student activities and incite pro-communist ones. In 1986, Jiang's debate at Jiao Tong University and his thorough ideological groundwork enabled the university to navigate the 1989 student movement smoothly.

Thanks to Jiang Zemin's keen awareness of the situation and thorough preparation in 1986 and 1989, combined with his eloquence and the widespread support among Shanghai citizens, student opposition representatives in Shanghai were left isolated and helpless. As a result, Shanghai peacefully weathered both the 1986 student demonstrations and the 1989 political crisis. In 1989, as both the reformist and conservative factions in Beijing suffered mutual defeat in their struggle, Jiang Zemi and the "Red Engineers" took control of China's leadership.