I disapprove of assassination but I've got to admit this one scores 10/10 for sheer style.
What is it with these tinpot strongmen? Polonium, mortars, nerve gas... in my day when you wanted someone dead you just shot him.
Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say
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Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say
#22The Rock came out when I was 13 so needless to say, I'm a big fan.
I absolutely thought VX Nerve Agent was fictional until today.
Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say
#23I wonder if they used this binary combination: O-Ethyl O-2-diisopropylaminoethyl methylphosphonite and sulfur [0][1]. Not sure if that would be consistent with one being in a spray bottle. [0] http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/831901-overview [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QL_(chemical)
It will likely never be known what compound, but the "spray bottle" tells us that the agent was targeting respiratory system, not dermal. However the use of V-Series agent is a strong indicator of military assassination as almost all research on these chemicals is confined to secret military research. The Russians have admitted to the synthesis of more than 100 more novel V-series nerve agents.[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novichok_agent
While I'm not convinced a binary compound was needed in this case, it is an interesting theory!
Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say
#24Interesting tid-bit from Wikipedia [1] In fiscal year 2008, the US Department of Defense released a study finding that the U.S. had dumped at least 124 tons of VX into the Atlantic Ocean off the coasts of New York/New Jersey and Florida, between 1969 and 1970. This material consisted of nearly 22,000 M55 rockets, 19 bulk containers holding 1,400 pounds (640 kg) each, and one M23 chemical landmine. [25] [1] https://en…
Yep. And who knows what the affects of that were. But I do not agree with the claim that this is interesting in this context as it seems irrelevant to the discussion.
The article seems to suggest that became common practice in 1990, before when the parent is talking about. I'm not sure how you can claim it's inaccurate and that the parent should RTFA, it's a verbatim quote from the article isn't it?
Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep. And who knows what the affects of that were. But I do not agree with the claim that this is interesting in this context as it seems irrelevant to the discussion.
The article seems to suggest that became common practice in 1990, before when the parent is talking about. I'm not sure how you can claim it's inaccurate and that the parent should RTFA, it's a verbatim quote from the article isn't it?
I'm merely suggesting that the comment claims to be interesting and related but because it is not directly related to the subject it seems off-topic and irrelevant.
Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article seems to suggest that became common practice in 1990, before when the parent is talking about. I'm not sure how you can claim it's inaccurate and that the parent should RTFA, it's a verbatim quote from the article isn't it?
I'm merely suggesting that the comment claims to be interesting and related but because it is not directly related to the subject it seems off-topic and irrelevant.
Nor did he suggest it was. He said it was an interesting tid bit from the article.
It was indeed an interesting tid bit. I also found your comment about newer practices interesting, and neither comment rebuts the other.
Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say
#27I disapprove of assassination but I've got to admit this one scores 10/10 for sheer style.
Certainly the attempt to kill Castro, of all people, with an exploding cigar should rank higher. Just imagine how that CIA brain storming went: A: "We're tasked with killing Castro. Again. Any ideas? Anything? Nothing is stupid! Castro! Go! B: "Cigars" C: "Boom!" A: "I see we're in mind-melt here. No wonder the western world trusts us with their lives during these troubling times" If you insist on actually successful…
And for sheer elegance, I'll give it to the assassination of Georgi Markov by being poked with a ricin-tipped umbrella.
Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm merely suggesting that the comment claims to be interesting and related but because it is not directly related to the subject it seems off-topic and irrelevant.
Nor did he suggest it was. He said it was an interesting tid bit from the article. It was indeed an interesting tid bit. I also found your comment about newer practices interesting, and neither comment rebuts the other.
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Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say
#29Does VX explain how the two women survived despite using bare hands to administer an apparently skin-absorbable poison? It has binary agent formulations, so each women could have one half on her hand and avoid any contamination by swiping very fast.
I read somewhere that they wore gloves before applying the poison.
Wikipedia has something interesting about VX:
> VX can also be delivered in binary chemical weapons which mix in-flight to form the agent prior to release. Binary VX is referred to as VX2,[6] and is created by mixing O-(2-diisopropylaminoethyl) O′-ethyl methylphosphonite (Agent QL) with elemental sulfur (Agent NE) as is done in the Bigeye aerial chemical bomb.
So maybe two of them were holding different component and they only reacted after being sprayed on Kim's face. If this is true then this is a very intricate assassination plan.
Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say
#30I disapprove of assassination but I've got to admit this one scores 10/10 for sheer style.
What is it with these tinpot strongmen? Polonium, mortars, nerve gas... in my day when you wanted someone dead you just shot him.
Do you know about Georgi Markov? Bulgaria concerned about the propaganda fallout if they killed him and it was known, so they injected him with ricin instead.
Mossad attempted to use poison to assassinate the head of Hezbollah. It went comically wrong, with his driver chasing down the assassins with a rolled-up newspaper.