Sergei Skripal and his daughter are recovering and “improving rapidly” after their exposure to the deadly chemical nerve agent Novichok, in what appears to be “a miracle”. Since Yulia’s improvement, whence she regained consciousness around two weeks ago, reports say she has since been discharged from the hospital.
The statement that the UK police released about the poisoning alleges that the nerve agent was applied to the front door of Sergei Skripal’s front door, which is supposedly how the Skripals were poisoned. From their home, the Skripals drove their car down to the Sainsbury car park, from where they walked to grab a few pints at The Mill Pub just before they went for a bite at Zizzi’s restaurant, before walking to the park bench where they were found unresponsive, and where emergency services were called to. According to the time frame that is provided, this entire train of events went down over a course of roughly three hours.
Essentially, this military grade nerve agent, which is ten times stronger than VX, took an exceptionally long time to do its work, if this story is legitimate, as a very small amount of the toxic substance, even a 1mm drop is lethal. Business Insider tells us that
The toxicity of Novichoks “may exceed that of VX” — the deadliest of five common nerve agents— according to documents released by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Reuters reported that Novichoks may even be “five to 10 times more lethal” than VX. Other powerful nerve agents include tabun, sarin, soman, and GF.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is accused of having his agents use VX in the 2017 assassination of his half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, and the chemical is reportedly strong enough to kill with a single drop.
In pure form, most nerve agents are colorless and mostly odorless liquids. Any of them can harm a person through the skin, breathing, ingestion, or all three routes, depending on how it’s dispersed.
This is why Dr. Vil Mirzayanov, a chemist who ran the technical counter-intelligence department in Russia’s chemical weapons institute, told Sky news this about its toxicity:
He said: “It’s the same as nerve gas but 10 times, at least 10 times, more powerful.”
The scientist emphasised that Novichok was designed to do “irreparable” damage to the human body.
He said it would leave those exposed to significant doses, like Mr Skripal and his daughter, as “invalids” who would need medical assistance for the rest of their lives.
He spoke of a colleague who died after accidental exposure to a small amount in his lab.
“That’s it,” he said. “No cure.”
In this case, we’re told that the substance was smeared on the front door, from which both victims came into contact with it. Additionally, the police sergeant who came to the scene at the park bench had become seriously ill due to his exposure to the substance, Sgt. Nick Bailey. The sergeant was treated for his condition, and was discharged from the hospital on 22 March. UK Prime Minister Theresa May encouraged the members of the House to keep him in their thoughts as he recovered:
Additionally, it was said that around 40 people were treated for exposure to the toxin, before police later on told the press that the number was actually 21, including the Skripals.
In addition to Sergeant Nick Bailey’s discharge, Yulia Skripal regained consciousness and the coherence to carry on a conversation about two weeks ago. Yulia apparently confirmed this by placing a phone call to her cousin Viktoria Skripal on the 5th of April, where she described hers and her father’s conditions saying “Everything is ok. He is resting now, having a nap. Everyone’s health is fine, there are no irreparable things. I will be discharged soon. Everything is ok.”
Alastair Hay, Professor of Environmental Toxicology at Leeds University, explained that the recovery is miraculous saying “the nerve agents are deadly. That’s why they were chosen as chemical weapons. If you are exposed to a number of lethal doses then invariably it is fatal,” he said, adding that they have an impact on the nervous system, leading to cardiac arrest and even asphyxiation. “In a way it is a miracle really,” he said.
Exposure to a very small sample of this toxin has killed, as Dr. Mirzayanov has told us, and a toxin only one tenth as powerful as Novichok has been successfully employed in assassinations, such as that of Kim Jong Un’s half brother. But in this case, the sample that the Skripals were exposed to was enough to send 19 other people into treatment, with a police sergeant being seriously ill from his exposure to the Skripals, who had been carrying this poison around on their person for three hours, and the Skripals were able to enjoy some beers and some lunch before they finally took ill with it.
Now, both the Skripals and the sergeant, Nick Bailey, have been treated and are improving quite well, apparently with no irreparable damage, after being poisoned with something that there is “no cure” for. Additionally, the Skripals were properly diagnosed with exactly what was making them ill by regular medical professionals who have now treated this condition with such skill that their patients are going to be just fine.
This sample of the “military grade” chemical weapon taken from the scene was tested by experts at Porton Down, who identified the substance as Novichok, but apparently couldn’t tell where it was from, after British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson testified that the scientists were “absolutely categorical” that it came from the Russians.
From this point, this assassination attempt looks like it was very ineptly conducted, as something that is supposed to be military grade was used and not only didn’t take effect for many hours, but from which the targets are impressively recovering from, and who will apparently survive without any harm done.
The British government, however, was sure that the Russians carried out this assassination attempt and that the substance was of a “military grade” just hours later and before an investigation was even conducted.
Given the facts about the lethality of the toxin, former director general of Pakistan’s Military Intelligence recently told RT in an interview that “If it was an operation to be launched by Russia, it could have been very effective. Killing people with that poison, or with this type of toxin is not very difficult, but they both survived,” he said.
“That means someone was clearly ensuring that ‘look, we must make it look like a toxic attack but we don’t want to lose these people’. So this is yet another question mark. In this particular case the credibility of the whole process, since it is lacking, I do not think they have been able to convince even their own allies for very long that this is a genuine operation launched by Moscow.”
Considering all of this, one might ask whether the Skripals were poisoned with a nerve agent at all, given its lethality and the lack of a cure, together with the toxin’s inability to produce results over such an extended period of time, especially given that it was “military grade” and was employed by guys who the British are telling us have been practicing this for some time. Then, one wonders here whether the illness was actually something else, like, maybe food poisoning from something they ate at Zizzi’s. If Victoria Skripal is correct in telling us that Yulia and her father ate fugu fish, a dish that can actually kill you if not properly prepared, then one wonders if they got food poisoning from it, and then the UK government decided that this was their chance to make a story that can be used to trump up some anti Russia hysteria to plaster all over the media and get everyone’s mind off of the Brexit issue as well as to justify some arms deals with their favourite humanitarian government, the Saudis.
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