(02-08-2018 05:57 PM)I45owl Wrote:  

(02-08-2018 02:28 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  What bright-light in marketing though it was a good idea to put the company name and where it was made on rocket? What was the thought? That someone just bombed would pick-up a casing and say "hey, this is a great product where can I get me some? Ah, Kremple in Germany!"

Dopes.

They manufacture plastics. Arguably, it's very unlikely they had any knowledge of how this material would be used, though it's possible that something more sinister is in play.

Home - KREMPEL GmbH

Quote:Just to be safe. The KREMPEL-GROUP is an independent producer of electrical insulation materials, solar materials, composite materials and electronic materials. With 67 agencies, 1,200 employees and 11 factories, we have an international presence which guarantees fast service on the spot.

Special Laminates - KREMPEL GmbH

Quote:Release liner Surface TEDLAR has excellent mechanical and anti-stick properties and is almost inert in the presence of acids, bases and the majority of solvents. All of which makes it the ideal release liner for epoxy and phenolic resins and for polyester and rubber compounds. Unlike other release agents, TEDLAR does not contain any plasticizers that could leach unintentionally into the substrate.

By way of comparison, there are probably dozens of American manufacturers of military ordinance that can be linked to attacks on civilians in Yemen using conventional arms. And the death toll is orders of magnitude larger than the death toll from chemical weapons in Syria, as abhorrent as the use of chemical weapons are. Both actions are genocidal in nature...

Is it morally worse for a company to unwittingly supply arms that are used to commit genocide, or for a company that knowingly does so?

Is it morally worse for a country to interact with another country that is complicit in prohibited arms than it is for one that kills civilians by other means?

"Genocide" has a very specific meaning; it's not a synonym for mass murder. Neither Syria or Yemen is a genocide. That doesn't make it ok.

In this specific case, Germany (the old West Germany, carried over to current law) laid on very strict export controls on anything that can be used to create chemical weapons (including casings, delivery systems etc.) in 1984 after the Iraqis used them on the Iranians, and tightened them even more in 1990 after the use on the Kurds. It covers cut-outs and pass-alongs, too.

The moral argument is strong, but Krempel likely broke German law as well.