State Sponsored Murder

[Zarjazz]

Reading the article...why would the Israelis bother? ...

I thought something similar when I read the news - they have plenty of success just shooting people. However Polonium 210 is incredibly hard to get a hold of, even for most nation states, so the number of suspects is pretty limited. The only one publicly known to have used it for murders is Russia.

 

[TdC]

tbh I would have thought the Israelis would be much more thrifty and in-yer-face than resorting to polonium, though ofc that said they would be the first to use it to make people think it wasn't them.

 

[rynnor]

tbh I would have thought the Israelis would be much more thrifty and in-yer-face than resorting to polonium, though ofc that said they would be the first to use it to make people think it wasn't them.

They could have been using it for years - in smaller (still lethal) doses it isnt partcularly obvious whats wrong and its difficult to spot without specialist equipment where you go looking for an alpha emitter.

 

[DaGaffer]

They could have been using it for years - in smaller (still lethal) doses it isnt partcularly obvious whats wrong and its difficult to spot without specialist equipment where you go looking for an alpha emitter.

Except, if lots of obvious "enemies of Israel" were dying suddenly for whatever reason, there would be a pattern that someone would notice; not the how of their deaths but certainly the why. If you look at that list of Israeli assassinations I linked in an earlier post; a lot of them are denied by Israel but they're attributed because of the person who's died. I don't think anyone's going to use polonium on nobodies, and if you're a somebody, your death will be scrutinised.

 

[rynnor]

and if you're a somebody, your death will be scrutinised.

And nothing would be found - noone checks with an alpha sensitive geiger counter in an autopsy or even a standard geiger.

The symptoms would be those Arafat had.

Vomiting diarrhoea abdominal pain and death from eventual complications - not primary radiation sickness.

 

[DaGaffer]

And nothing would be found - noone checks with an alpha sensitive geiger counter in an autopsy or even a standard geiger.

The symptoms would be those Arafat had.

Vomiting diarrhoea abdominal pain and death from eventual complications - not primary radiation sickness.

Yes, and if it was one individual you would dismiss it, but if a bunch of people die from those kind of symptoms (which aren't that common as a cause of death), you have a smoking gun. Like I say, the pool of people worth spending a small fortune assassinating isn't that big.

 

[rynnor]

Yes, and if it was one individual you would dismiss it, but if a bunch of people die from those kind of symptoms (which aren't that common as a cause of death), you have a smoking gun. Like I say, the pool of people worth spending a small fortune assassinating isn't that big.

Sure I'm not pushing it as a strong reality just that we cannot currently disprove it (and thanks to short half life subsequent analysis of historic deaths is probably useless).

Not sure about the small fortune though - you only need a tiny tiny tiny amount of it and if Israel have a nuclear program they could manufacture it themselves from bismuth - its main use other than assasinations is in nuclear power.

Edit - Nuclear power and the production of nuclear weapons <ahem> ...

 

[Chilly]

Sure I'm not pushing it as a strong reality just that we cannot currently disprove it (and thanks to short half life subsequent analysis of historic deaths is probably useless).

Not sure about the small fortune though - you only need a tiny tiny tiny amount of it and no idea what it costs - you could probably source it from old air conditioning units.

Nope, you cant get it from old kit for exactly the reason it's undetectable: short half life. That means anything you use thorium in commercially it needs replacing periodically (probably annually). There's approx 2.5 half thorium half lives in a year.

 

[rynnor]

Nope, you cant get it from old kit for exactly the reason it's undetectable: short half life. That means anything you use thorium in commercially it needs replacing periodically (probably annually). There's approx 2.5 half thorium half lives in a year.

Yeah - that was from memory but Israel have the capability to produce it and may well be using it in their civil and military nuclear program.

 

[rynnor]

He could have just been a heavy smoker of course - http://www.sciencemag.org/content/143/3603/247

Also interesting is that much of our background dose of radiation comes from polonium 210 that has broken down originally from Uranium 238 in the rocks beneath us.

 

[Embattle]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25518813

 

[Shagrat]

So 3 separate studies, 2 of which say natural causes. Can we ditch all the conspiracy theories now? the middle east is a big enough clusterfuck without made up cloak and dagger bullshit being added to the mix.

 

[SilverHood]

So 3 separate studies, 2 of which say natural causes. Can we ditch all the conspiracy theories now? the middle east is a big enough clusterfuck without made up cloak and dagger bullshit being added to the mix.

Never let fact, science or logic get in the way of a good conspiracy.

 

[Scouse]

So 3 separate studies, 2 of which say natural causes

Francois Bochud, the head of the Lausanne institute that carried out the parallel Swiss inquiry, told AFP news agency the Russian findings had no scientific foundation.
"The Russians are putting things forward without giving the slightest numerical value, without the slightest scientific argument. So for me it's empty - a political statement."

One study finds polonium. Fact. Two others, one from an israeli ally and another from the ruskies.

In 2 to 1 fight you want to ditch the possibility? It's not like there's been a hundred studies and with one dissenter ffs.

Could quite conceivably be that the polonium came from russia in the first place.