CBRNE-Terrorism Newsletter October 2014 1 www.cbrne-terrorism-newsletter.com CBRNE-Terrorism Newsletter October 2014 2 www.cbrne-terrorism-newsletter.com CBRNE-Terrorism Newsletter October 2014 3 www.cbrne-terrorism-newsletter.com CBRNE-Terrorism Newsletter October 2014 CBRNE-Terrorism Newsletter – 2014© October 2014 Website: www.cbrne-terrorism-newsletter.com 10 YEARS: 2005-2014 Editor-in-Chief BG (ret) Ioannis Galatas MD, MA, MC PhD cand Consultant in Allergy & Clinical Immunology Medical/Hospital CBRNE Planner Senior Asymmetric Threats Analyst CBRN Scientific Coordinator @ RIEAS Athens, Greece Contact e-mail: [email protected] Assistant Editor Panagiotis Stavrakakis MEng, PhD, MBA, MSc Hellenic Navy Capt (ret) Athens, Greece Co-Editors/Text Supervisors 1. Steve Photiou, MD, MSc (Italy) 2. Dr. Sarafis Pavlos, Captain RN(ret‘d), PhD, MSc (Greece) 3. Kiourktsoglou George, BSc, Dipl, MSc, MBA, PhD (cand) (UK) 4 Advertise with us! (New price list) CBRNE-Terrorism Newsletter is published on-line monthly and distributed free of charge. Starting from 2014 issue all advertisements will be charged as following: Full page (A4) 100€ Double pages (A4X2) 200€ EDITOR Mendor Editions S.A. 3 Selinountos Street 14231 Nea Ionia Athens, Greece Tel: +30 210 2723094/-5 Fax: +30 210 2723698 Contact e-mail: Valia Kalantzi [email protected] Cover: Nicotiana benthamiana, the plant from which ZMapp is derived. DISCLAIMER: The CBRNE-Terrorism Newsletter® is a free online publication for the fellow civilian/military First Responders worldwide. The Newsletter is a collection of papers related to the stated thematology, relevant sources are provided and all info provided herein is from open Internet sources. Opinions and comments from the Editorial group or the authors publishing in the Newsletter do not necessarily represent those of the Publisher. www.cbrne-terrorism-newsletter.com CBRNE-Terrorism Newsletter October 2014 CBRNE-Terrorism Newsletter is: 1. Read by First Responders in more than 80 countries around the globe (below right: top-20 countries); 2. Distributed to more than 700 institutions, organizations, state agencies, think tanks, defense companies, institutions and universities. 5 www.cbrne-terrorism-newsletter.com CBRNE-Terrorism Newsletter October 2014 Editorial Brig Gen (ret‘d) Ioannis Galatas, MD, MA, MC Editor-in-Chief CBRNE-Terrorism Newsletter Dear Colleagues, This month – October 2014 – was characterized by both sides of the terror coin: Ebola virus and Islamic State's acrocities. And while the human brutality potential is known we keep on surprised by the methodologies applied that raise the need for new taxonomy of the word "terror". Men, women, babies, crossings, decapitations, mass graves, skull football, all are there and exanding! Western world is sasmodic reacting with flame rhetory, occasional bombings, backstage negotiations, UN meetings, some ammunition drops and other childish actions. On top of all these, remote nations living in their own "green" bubbles experience the element of surprise and the consequences of the "why should anyone harm Canada? We are such nice people!" On the other hand, Ebola scare becomes viral and all out of Africa nations experience first hand what is Africa is facing on daily basis. Our preparedness proved a bad joke and mass media love to point this out the same way they did with the current financial turmoil many EU countries are experiencing (and others are expecting in silence). And when a abscess is broken then many pathologies come to the surface. Pathologies that grew up through years of relaxing policies faciliated by people in high places that think only of today and never of tomorrow or the day after. But even when the enemy is visible their reaction is restricted by financial excuses, micro working environment debates, union oppositions that suppose to protect their own (benefits) and alike that do not promote health defense and do not protect 6 societies and populace. Once more those who know do not sign and those who sign do not know! Easy solutions projectable through the demanding mass media and information opium for the masses. Only that the masses have now access to information and know a lot about the problems we face. And they can understand when something is done in a professional way or it is a visible hoax or the carpet that covers all our gaps and insufficiencies. So far medical planners proved unable to to provide an efficient health defense plan based on anthropocentric parameters. Recently I as visiting a country abroad. They had two airports in two different cities. But the Ebola isolation unit was in a third city. Why? Because it happened to be there and it was "difficult" to deploy two more at the main "entrances" [airports] to this (island) country. If this is not crazy, what is? Ebola defense is not a real medical problem. Since there is no vaccine (yet – but coming soon; perhaps by the end of 2014) the patient relys on supportive treatment and management in an isolated establishment. The real problem is the treatment environment and the protection of those involved. Isolation facility, personal protective equipment, doning and doffing (especially) procedures, negative pressure settings (yes virus is not airborne by the book but could become airborne instantly during the vomiting process…), quarantine protocols and contaminated waste management (surely not throwing gloves at the nearby public trash can out in the public as police officers recently did in New York). If we cannot effectively deal with these aspects then the battle will be lost. If continue to avoid following SOPs to the letter, if we do not restart relying on our common logic (you were in the treatment environment of an Ebola patient dear? NO www.cbrne-terrorism-newsletter.com CBRNE-Terrorism Newsletter October 2014 you cannot go to a cruise booked some time ago!) then more victims will evolve and their human micro- environments (relatives, friends, other professionals) would be submitted to troubles or put their lives at risk. Ah! There was another US school shooting today (October 25th) – this time at Marysville Pilchuck High School in Washington State by a 14 year old student (with a legal [?] gun). But writing about US school shootings is like writing there was a bombing incident in Iraq or Syria. Yes, it is not nice to write comments like this but reality is always hard unless we decide to do something about it. Life in Greece remains the same. Political debates for today and own survival but not for tomorrow affecting all of us! Magicians are trying to multiply rabbits coming out of the hat but the hat is empty and magics do not work any more infront of an angry boiling audience. October was not only full of unfortunate news. The Newsletter signed a MoU with University of Rome "Tor Vergata" to provide media sponsorship but also to provide experts from its Editorial Team to the ongoing two CBRNe Master Degrees provided by the Italian University (approved by both the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and NATO). Similar collaboration is in progress for a second Italian University providing a MA degree on CBRNE issues. The collaboration of the Newsletter with its readers is entering into a new phase and soon the Editor will translate into Greek a book written by a US colleague on "Ebola". Leah Robers is following Ebola for the last 10years and current epidemic/(pandemic) from the very first days of the outbreak. This e-book will be regularly updated at least until sufficient treatment would be available and the Ebola tsunami will calm down and be under control both in Africa and worldwide. Read more at the "Bio News" chapter of the Newsletter. 7 Let us all hope that November would be a better month! The Editor-in-Chief www.cbrne-terrorism-newsletter.com CBRNE-Terrorism Newsletter October 2014 Serbian Orthodox priest denied visa to enter UK Source (in Greek): http://www.agioritikovima.gr/ Great Britain refused to grant visa to al Serbian Orthodox priest and a group of Serbs who intented to travel to England. At the same time authorities granted visa to the Imam of Srebrenica and Bosnian Muslims who participated in the same joint mission to UK. "We filled the same documents and tabled the same financial requirements for obtaining a visa. But the Serbs were not accepted unlike the Bosniaks which indicates a discriminatory attitude of the UK towards the Serbian people "denounced Fr. Mladjenović. Even hodža (imam) Peštalić of Srebrenica was surprised by the flagrant different treatment of the two configurations of the group. As a result he canceled l the trip as well. The group led by the Imam and the Orthodox priest was about to visit London, Birmingham, Nottingham and Derby and come into contact with various religious communities. The program also included a visit to the British parliament and BBC's editorial board. This event followed two recent US diplomatic statements targeting Serbian Orthodox Church. The American ambassador expressed his discomfort for the construction of an Orthodox church in Srebrenica while he criticized Serbia's invitation to President Putin to attend the celebrations for the liberation of Belgrade. EDITOR'S COMMENT: I searched "religion in England" on the Internet. Wikipedia denotes that: "Christianity is the most widely practiced and professed religion in England [59.4%]. The Anglican Church of England is the established church of England, with a special constitutional position in the United Kingdom. Some other forms of English Christianity include Methodism, Roman Catholicism, Pentecostalism, and Orthodoxy." So most probably the whole story can be attributed to simple stupidity of a certain high official. Or NOT? Because in certain cities of England the overall environment very often resembles Muslim cities (personal experience – Luton). By the way, the US Ambassador is still in Serbia? If yes, perhas he should start learning how to play chess instead of checkers.