It's very strange isn't it, it makes your mind do little loop-the-loops. So originally an ex spy plus daughter is poisoned. Russia is blamed (not entirely unreasonably, it's obviously the sort of thing they might want to do to an ex spy) but denies involvement. Then much later on some people apparently unconnected to spying (and socially 'unimportant' because they've been a homeless drug addict) also come down with the same poisoning. Is that a way of Russia 'proving' it wasn't them in the first place? Because unconnected people can die too? Or then you can get double conspiracy-theorish and say it's the British government poisoning people to prove it was Russia because only they would try such a double bluff??
I can't believe this stuff was lying about left over from the previous incident, we've already been told it degrades rapidly when it's just lying about in the open air. (Besides, there's still a lack of information about where the original people were poisoned, is that right? Wasn't it supposed to be on the front door? And yet there are loads of photos of the police hanging around the completely unprotected front door. But anyway.) It seems very unlikely that people in Amesbury miles from Salisbury could touch some novichock in salisbury and make it back to Amesbury. And why would the original poison have been placed in Amesbury instead of where the Skripals lived, it makes no sense.
my head hurts
perhaps things are not as complicated as one thinks. Perhaps I should just stop questioning every last thing I hear. Believe what I'm told.
Who told you it degrades rapidly?
The inventor of Novichok says otherwise - he probably knows best.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...salisbury-russia-vladimir-uglev-a8432876.html
Novichok inventor on Amesbury poisoning: ‘I completely understand panic of those living in Salisbury’
'This was a state-level hit ... You really couldn’t think of a more serious act of terrorism'
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The Independent Online
Russian chemical expert Vladimir Uglev poses for a photograph in 2011 ( AP )
One of the inventors of
novichok has told
The Independent he “completely understands the panic” of those living in the Salisbury area.
Vladimir Uglev, who worked on the substances for 15 years, said the nerve agent would likely stick around in
Salisbury for many years to come. It was “near impossible” to detect, he added; it would be hard to know where it may be lurking.
What is Novichok, the powerful nerve agent found on UK streets?
“The substance can absorb itself into any soft surface, whether trees, leather, or park benches,” he said. “From there it can be absorbed onto people’s skin with all the consequences.”
Mr Uglov, now retired, said he agreed with UK intelligence assessments that novichok, the substance he helped create, was used in the poisoning of former double agent
Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, and it seemed safe to assume it was behind the latest incident.
"I am 99 per cent sure it was A-234 – I know it like a mother knows her child,” he said.
I am 99 per cent sure it was A-234 – I know it like a mother knows her child
Vladimir Uglev, inventor of novichok
“And you would assume this second incident is connected with the same substance.”
Invented in the 1980s, A-234 belongs to the novichok family of nerve agents. It is known to be a particularly resilient compound, but its precise stability depends on climatic factors.
In direct sunshine on an even metallic surface, the substance evaporates quickly, says Mr Uglev. In colder, drier conditions, absorbed onto uneven, softer surfaces, it can stick around for a long time. When stored in ampules – sealed glass capsules – its shelf life stretches to decades.
“I have never tested this exactly – whether it is 10 or 100 years that it remains lethal,” he said. “But it is a long, long time.”
The scientist also raised the possibility that the second confirmed novichok contamination came about from an unused batch of poison that had been prepared for the assassin.
“It may be secondary contamination from the first batch, or the assassin had several syringes prepared for him, left buried somewhere in the area,” he said. “Perhaps he only used one or two of those batches.”
Amesbury couple were exposed to nerve agent novichok
Mr Uglev dismissed theories that the two incidents might have been perpetrated by lone wolf terrorists, or non-state actors. Even he would be unable to reproduce the substances outside of a properly equipped specialist laboratory, he told
The Independent.
“This was a state-level hit,” he said. “You really couldn’t think of a more serious act of terrorism – and one committed against a permanent member of the UN.”
