Vocal Voices

Today the news is reporting that Malaysia has identified the poison used to kill Kim Jong Nam.

VX Nerve agent. An extremely potent chemical weapon with pretty dire consequences. VX nerve was specifically designed to deny large areas of ground to an opposing army, forcing them to live in protective gear and become about 10% effective. Essentially any army hit with VX would suffer immediate casualties of around 80% then have to leave the area.

VX eventually evaporates and is equally lethal in gaseous form as it is in liquid form. Everything the assassins touched, the receptacle they kept the nerve agent in and anything that Kim Jong Nam touched on the way to hospital is now contaminated and a possible source of further injury.

This is one of the nastiest chemical weapons on the planet. So bad that Americans said "use it and we nuke you".

Using VX in an assassination is a very concerning thing. This kind of weapon is absolutely NOT discrete and should never have been released in a public area. The fact that it was used and released where it was, says a lot about the regime which authorised it.

I was a Shelter Marshall and it was the weapon we feared most - more so than nukes. Its means of deliver were many and varied and low-tech.

If it is confirmed as the weapon used to kill Kim Jong Nam I am surprised that the airport and other areas and equipment have not been decontaminated. Any residues from Kim are unlikely to be fatal, but they could cause serious illness.

An even bigger worry is where it came from. VX is not a kitchen lab product, it takes some very serious laboratory equipment to produce as well as protection for the workers and security of the buildings. These are usually the domain of States or very secure facilities of large chemical companies.

If Kim was assassinated using this method then it shows a total disregard for the safety of anyone, anywhere.

It is confirmed VX. I doubt they would have the resources or procedures we have. NATO trained extensively to deal with this. I trained to fight in it, let alone get out of it. Not that we really worried too much about procedures, we knew we'd almost all be dead anyway.

I hope this one has finally got the world to sit up and take notice. But perhaps not. I don't know if most people even realise how lethal the container (small plastic bag or whatever), the VX came in, is. Even now. Where did they put it? because they certainly didn't walk in with this on their hands, Atropine and NAPS or not, you don't walk around with VX on your hands as if nothing has happened.

There should be a very urgent and extensive search for that container, but, it appears, the threat is not being dealt with.

NATO has small sniffing devices which can detect VX, but it needs to be pretty close.

This should continue to evolve. But the proof comes first and, it seems, they let the NK team get away before it was properly identified. Now the proof is an issue.

I wonder, now, how they are going to deal with the potential of 100ml bottles of VX at airports??? Will they deal with this or will they determine it "not a threat"?