Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 187 posts

Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say

#121

Post by Lordarminius »

owenversteeg wrote: post #112
Lordarminius wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. Mossad successfully poisoned the head of Hezbollah by spraying a delayed action toxin into his ear. His driver (who did not comprehend what had happened, and whom he was dealing with) chased after the assassins who in turn fled fearing he was a bodyguar…

I believe you've conflated two assassination attempts, one on Hassan Nasrallah, one on Khaled Mashal. Mashal was the one in 1997 where the antidote was turned over by the Israeli government. Nasrallah was in 2008, and also survived after being treated by Iranian doctors.

> I believe you've conflated two assassination attempts ....

You are right. My mistake.

Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say

#122

Post by mercurysmessage »

ptaipale wrote: post #119
franciskim wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the number of Wikipedia links, it's not like tlow is the only person on earth that knows about this.

I guess there are people who haven't heard of VX nerve agents, but over here, most males have got a basic training in the army (we have conscription here). I was in service 30 years ago and VX was listed as one of the threats where you would use your gas mask, though it is not necessarily nearly enough, obviously. In addition to gas mask, the rain poncho (also known as "magic cloak") is for protecting against radioac…

CS gas is still in use for training. We didn't use ponchos, but full body suits and boots. Extremely hot and uncomfortable. I believe the suit was only good for 30 mins in harsh environments as well.

Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say

#123

Post by GunlogAlm »

NoPiece wrote: post #34
ehnto wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It isn't mentioned in the article though.

The Wikipedia article.

Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say

#124

Post by JshWright »

jorblumesea wrote: post #85
_wp3r wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He would have greatly increased his chances. Assuming that the agent used was run of the mill V/G agent and not a specialty delivery variety. In reality atropine and pralidoxime(antidote sorta) administration would have most likely saved him, but it would be very unlikely for a medical professional to deduce that the threat was cholinesterase inhibition(nerve agent poisoning).

I also doubt that airports have this on hand in many parts of the world. Maybe in the US where fears are stoked about a chemical attack.

Atropine is commonly used to treat other medical conditions. I would expect any modern emergency medical service to have it on hand (though perhaps not in the quantities necessary... we would need to use all the Atropine on multiple ambulances to treat one patient in this condition).

Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say

#125

Post by saiya-jin »

Lordarminius wrote: post #104
wbl wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> 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. Mossad successfully poisoned the head of Hezbollah by spraying a delayed action toxin into his ear. His driver (who did not comprehend what had happened, and whom he was dealing with) chased after the assassins who in turn fled fearing he was a bodyguar…

well there is for some of us since its pretty epic failure.

and the story goes deeper - why Israel bended over and more was direct threat from Jordanian kind that they would execute those Mossad spies publicly if antidote was not provided immediately... that would be a massive fail for Mossad/Israel since they try always to kill in silence and stay in shadows.

and upon release of those spies they stated they will try to kill him again :)

Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say

#126

Post by abe_duarte »

gwern wrote: post #2

Does 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 bet they administered themselves atropine soon after.

But your theory is really cool, each of them had half of the nerve gas, the second's hand would have been contaminated. This thing will go through your skin.

Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say

#127

Post by mtw »

gwern wrote: post #2

Does 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.

The women were expendable and I don't think they knew it was VX, or what VX was. It's most likely they trained with another substance, and were not even told who, where and when the final act would be done.

Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say

#128

Post by mtw »

Doesn't North Korea has ICBM missiles capable of reaching Italy or Washington DC?

A missile full of VX agent is scary to me. The most North KOrea can fit on a missile is a warhead as powerful as Hiroshima's but a missile full of VX could potentially kill everyone in Washington DC

Plus think of all the implications of transporting VX through international borders. Did China accept having North Korean agents transporting VX in China? Did they smuggle it through fish boats?

Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say

#129

Post by hudibras »

GigabyteCoin wrote: post #58
crdb wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> While addressing a spellbound audience of young officers, he would sometimes partially immerse one finger in a small beaker of pure VX for a few seconds. Without interrupting his lecture, he would then amble to a nearby sink and casually wash the deadly chemical from his finger. The teaching point was that VX could not enter the skin instantaneously, and that accidental exposure of a small area would not be harmful…

So all Kim Jong-Nam had to do to survive was walk into a washroom and wipe his face clean with soap and water?

The news in Japan is saying that they wiped it in his eyes, so washing may not have helped.

Wouldn't have hurt, though...

Re: Kim Jong-Nam Was Killed by VX Nerve Agent, Malaysians Say

#130

Post by Grangar »

sandworm101 wrote: post #79
M_Grey wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad to discover that I'm not alone in that, "Hmmm, I wonder if my internet history has put me on all of the lists yet?" reading pattern. On Wikipedia especially, the fun is opening an endlessly nesting series of related topics. Sometimes that can get... weird.

Researching chemcal weapons on wikipedia wont get you on any list. Asking people where you can buy the needed stuff, THAT is list worthy. Anything on wikipedia was put there by someone. That someone is far more suspect than the readers. Material that is actually dangerous is quickly edited away. Unless you live somewhere properly dangerous or are already on a list. Such people should probably stay away from the inter…

Would googling for sources suffice?
Post reply on HN