by juni 26 Replies latest jw friends
Russian spy defected and was poisoned w/something radioactive. He has died after 2 weeks of horror. He had been gathering information about the Russian government and was meeting w/an Italian professor. Then he fell extremely ill.
They are holding 3 British Airway jets as they have detected radioactivity. So far 30,000+ people have been told to report to be checked out.
This is horrid. Does anyone have further information that is reliable?
Juni
I've been following it. Very intriguing. I'd like to know who wanted him dead in such a very public fashion. There are less dramatic ways to kill a person.
Nina
Google news is great as you can read articles from all over the world and get a wider perspective on any topic.
Here is the line-up of headlines for this story:
http://news.google.com/?ncl=1111251378&hl=en
I'm following it too - who would want him dead in such a public way and why? My first reaction was payback for something - so far 8 people have tested positive for traces of the poison. A TV interview with some expert, said that the poison could be adminstered up to 30 days before and quite possibly in a cup of tea or something. Symptoms take about 2 weeks to manifest and the person gets a cough, stomach upset and so on - much like maybe a flu..then rather quickly the hair starts to fall out. Apparently that is when this spy got worried but my understanding is that by that time, the damage has been done internally.
At first when I heard it, the expert on originally, said that a person would have to be physically in contact with the stuff in order to be infected from another person - by sweat or saliva for example. Thats scary stuff - sammieswife.
This author reported that it was Russian agents who blew up apartment buildings in order to blame Chechnens. He was killed with Radiation poisoning. I doubt the Muslims did it since he defended them. Therefore it should be noted at some point that non muslims were the first to use radiation in an act of terror. Just to be fair.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6180432.stm
theres a load of links on the right following the story.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2636459.stm this is the last russian spy that i can remember getting bumped off over here.
this current case seems pretty weird, and doesnt say much for airport security
they havent even done a post mortem on him yet, it seems daft that someone would have gone to all that trouble when a much simpler way of doing it would have got the job done without drawing so much attention,
Yes, it is odd. Do you think they (whoever they are) are sending a warning to other defectors, etc.?
This is something that you would find in a James Patterson novel or the like.
Juni
Juni,
I think there is too much fear (concern) being generated over Polonium-210. It is an alpha emitter, which means that it cannot penetrate the skin. So, casual exposure on public trtansportation is not all that serious. However, if it gets airborne in any significant concentration, and ingested in the lungs, it can get nasty as we have seen. The people being asked to report to be checked out are not in any real danger, but their cloths and skin need to be checked to be sure that they are not still contaminated. Likely, their homes and personal effects that they have handled recently will have to be checked with a Geiger counter.
There are a number of myths and misinformed stories being generated ... and unfortunately, some stories are confusing Polonium-210 with Plutonium. The difficulty will be the long and tedious task of decontaminating all the places where it was found, such as restaurants and aircraft, or other public places. The quantity discovered in discrete locations (or "hot spots") will determine whether decontamination procedures are required.
Jim Whitney
PS: I worked in the nuclear power industry for 17-years of my 25-year engineering career. I conducted and analyzed a lot of research and destructive testing of components exposed to radioactive environments. Polonium-210 is a by-product that can appear in nuclear reactors, but is not used to power nuclear reactors. It used to be used to power sattelites in the 1950s and 1960s, but was stopped because of its short half-life of 140 days.
Yes, I have...I find it so strange....like something from "Mission Impossible"
