Remnants: The deadly legacy of the Soviet Union’s biological warfare program.

Biological warfare. It is a term that can cause widespread panic and fear at its mere intimation. However, during the Cold War both the United States and the Soviet Union produced and stockpiled huge quantities of lethal germs and toxins which were intended for use against the opposite side in the event of a full-blown war. Whilst President Nixon ended all aspects of the US biological weapons project designed exclusively for ‘offensive use’ in 1969, the Soviets continued to research, produce and subsequently genetically alter germs and toxins right up until the programme was officially dismantled in 1992. This was despite signing the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1972 – a international agreement designed to ban the production of biological agents.

Why did the Russians continue? Simple: they highly doubted that the US had any intention of upholding their end of the BWC bargain, and so continued to manufacture germ warfare in secret for decades. The results would be nothing short of catastrophic.

 

Soviet Biological Capability

The Soviet Bioweapons project – or ‘Biopreparat’ – was of a mammoth scale; capable of producing over 100 tonnes of weaponised bacterial agents per annum at its peak in the mid to late 1970s. Some of the diseases that were cultivated and converted into weapons include smallpox, anthrax, plague, typhus, tularaemia, Q Fever, botulism and the Marburg virus. As well as germs designed to target the human population of a country, the Soviets developed weaponised versions of bacteria that would kill ‘food animals’ (such as rinderpest, a disease that is fatal to cattle). In this way they could, if necessary, starve a country into submission during a war by decimating it’s livestock.

By all accounts there were over 50 clandestine weapons manufacturing facilities across the Soviet Union, employing around 50,000 military and civilian personnel. Safety and containment protocols were often critically inefficient, and thus it is no wonder that there were several serious containment breaches which resulted in deaths amongst the local population…and extensive government cover-ups. Whilst I will detail two of these incidents below, don’t for a second think that these are the only two such incidents. Due to the secretive nature of the Russian government it is likely that we will never know just how many times biological agents escaped from Soviet-era labs or polluted the environment due to deliberate release.

 

The Sverdlovsk Anthrax Incident

In 1979 inside a specially built bioweapons facility, a horrific chain of events were set in motion by a simple communication error. Inside the secret government anthrax lab, there was a drying room which was used to dehydrate anthrax spores into a fine white powder; this could then be aerosolised and used against the enemy – producing a mortality rate of 90% without treatment. On the last evening of March in 1979, a maintenance worker removed one of the filters from the exhaust chimney in order to clean it. He did so and then left a note to his superiors advising them of his actions and stating that the filter should be put back into place before the drying machines were turned back on.

His note was summarily ignored and the machines were restarted the following morning with nothing to separate the drying anthrax powder from the outside world. Highly deadly weaponised spores spilled unhindered into the atmosphere surrounding the laboratory and during the following days all of the workers at a ceramic factory fell ill with the disease. The leak was traced back to Sverdlovsk when it was found that the ceramic plant had been directly downwind of the anthrax drying facility at the time of the incident, and the only thing that all of the victims had in common was their place of work. Animals in the area also became sick and died within a week of being exposed to the spores.

At least 105 people died from inhalation anthrax as a result of this blunder, and the Communist party attempted to hush the incident up – falsifying medical records and having the KGB destroy relevent evidence from Sverdlovsk. It is thought that the death toll is higher that the official number, which was only released in 1992 at the fall of the Soviet Union. Whilst the laboratory at Sverdlovsk has ‘officially’ been closed down, armed men with attack dogs still patrol the closed compound and – some reports state – that work has moved to underground laboratories which are still working with dangerous pathogens.

 

The Aral Sea Incident

In 1971 the Soviet Union was secretly preparing to field test an aerosolised version of the smallpox virus which had been weaponised to emphasise its haemorrhagic properties – thus making it more lethal. From their extensive research complex on Vozrozhdeniya Island (now joint property of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) the Soviets exploded a canister of smallpox which had been placed in a remote area of the island, most of which was barren desert.

Approximately nine miles from the island, a research vessel was surveying plankton from the Aral Sea. Over the next few days one of the crew developed smallpox symptoms, despite having already been vaccinated against the virus. From there, small outbreaks of the disease occurred in two Uzbek cities and three people died from a haemorrhagic form of the smallpox virus.

The Soviet response to this outbreak was swift however, and the outbreak was quickly arrested through mass vaccination of the population of the Aral Sea region, quarantine of suspected cases and the disinfection of thousands of suspected ‘contaminated goods’. The fact that the disease had escaped from the research complex at Vozrozhdeniya however, did not become public knowledge until 2002.

However, twenty-six years after it was abandoned by the dissolving Soviet Union, Vozrozhdeniya is still a haunting place with unmitigated lethal potential…

 

Vozrozhdeniya Island Today

In 1991 the Soviets retreated from the Aral Sea region and abandoned their biological research lab on Vozrozhdeniya (codenamed ‘Aralsk-7’) virtually overnight. At its peak, the island held 1,500 inhabitants – all of whom either worked on the biological warfare program or were immediate family members of the workers – and also had shops, schools, an airfield and even a small football stadium. This small city came to be known as ‘Kantubek’, and it was as secretive as America’s Area 51 is deemed to be today.

Kantubek is still there. As a ghost town.

Nobody lives there as the ground is – probably quite rightly – seen as ‘polluted’. Occasionally groups of Uzbek or Kazakh nomads will visit the island in search of copper and other scrap metal that they can salvage from the decaying buildings, but other than that…the island is an unofficial ‘no-go zone’.

The real ‘nightmare fuel’ of this story is this: when Kantubek was abandoned and left to rot, so was the super-secret germ warfare facility at nearby Aralsk-7. In the apparent hurry to leave Vozrozhdeniya Island, many containers of lethal, genetically modified diseases were either smashed on the ground and abandoned, or were stored in inappropriate containers – which have now developed leaks. As a result, the island (which is dangerously close to becoming a peninsula due to the drop in water levels in the Aral Sea) is now seen as one of the most dangerous and polluted places on the face of the Earth. Don’t believe that the Soviets just smashed Petri dishes and test tubes full of lethal viruses? Don’t believe that anyone could be so soulcrushingly irresponsible? See below:

This is one of the many highly dangerous refuse areas on Vozrozhdeniya today. A team of photographers and journalists had to abandon their venture to the site after their ventilators became overloaded with chemical agents mere 15 minutes into the complex. It is thought that the toxins that remain at Vozrozhdeniya have been responsible for several bubonic plague outbreaks in the area as well as the mass death of Saiga antelope – 50,000 of which dropped dead one hour after grazing on the contaminated steppe land downwind.

Whilst the anthrax burial sites (inside which drums containing hundreds of tonnes of weaponised anthrax spores lay abandoned) on the island have now been officially decontaminated, the land is still considered to be highly dangerous. Nobody knows what else lurks beneath the soil, or may still linger in the air. We can but hope that all of the weaponised germs have been accounted for, as the consequences of a nihilist terrorist organisation such as ISIS obtaining these Soviet-era super-germs would be totally and utterly unthinkable.

 

“What’s the point in truth or beauty or knowledge when anthrax bombs are popping all around you?” – Aldous Huxley.

Losing DACA?: The possible implications for America’s ‘Dreamers’.

Today’s story comes from the United States and focuses on the acronym that’s blanketed the airwaves for the last few months – DACA. It also focuses on the heartbreaking tale of a man named Jorgé Garcia who, in January 2018, was separated from his family and forcibly deported to Mexico after nearly 30 years of living in America.

First things first, shall we?

What actually is DACA?

‘DACA’ stands for ‘Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals’ and is a federal government program in the US which was created in 2012 under Barack Obama. The act affords people who were brought to the country illegally as children (under 16) the right to temporarily live, study and work in America. To apply for consideration under DACA a person must have completed school, be a current student or have served in the armed forces; they must also have no criminal convictions of any kind and be deemed ‘not a threat to national security’. If successful in their application, legal action to deport the individual is suspended for two years – and possibly for longer if the application is successfully renewed. Oh, and they also become eligible for basic things like the right to hold a driving license or attend college (university). These people are known as The Dreamers.

Called ‘Dreamers’ after the failed Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (Dream) Act that Obama tried to pass through Congress. Whilst the Dreamer Act would have afforded these children permanent legal status as citizens of the United States….DACA only offers the deferred deportation process as described above. Most Dreamers are of Latino ethnicity and arrived in America from Central American countries, most notably Mexico.

Why all the fuss about DACA?

In September 2017, President Trump announced that he would be ending the DACA program as of March 2018 and any new applications would not be considered. This would mean that, in one month’s time, c. 800,000 young Dreamers would face deportation back to a country that many of them will have no memory of. They would find themselves homeless on the streets of – what is to all intents and purposes – a ‘foreign’ country, with little or no family in the area to support them. It is a bleak prospect indeed for those affected.

Luckily, President Trump has since been blocked from scrapping the program by a federal judge (much to the President’s infamous ire) and the DACA issue was one of the key agendas that prompted the recent shutdown of the US government as Democrats and Republicans failed to reach a DACA-related bargain. A final decision has still not been reached regarding the fate of c. 800,000 young Dreamers in America and the President’s stance towards DACA changes on a seemingly hourly basis. We can but hope that a deal is reached which protects America’s Dreamers. Soon. Lest we see more cases like the heart-rending story of Jorgé Garcia…

Jorgé Garcia

What does this man have to do with DACA and why do I keep mentioning him? Well his story is – I feel – a very powerful, emotional and important one which we should all be aware of. We should ruminate on the emotional and psychological impact that his story will have upon his family and friends. We should make it our mission to prevent similar things from ever occurring again.

Jorgé Garcia was brought to the United States of America from Mexico when he was ten years old. It is unknown who brought him across the border (most newspapers cite the person responsible only as an ‘unknown relative’), but what is certain is that he was brought across the border illegally.

That was almost thirty years ago.

In the years since arriving in the United States, Mr Garcia settled down in Lincoln Park, Michigan, married an American citizen, had two children (also American citizens) and worked as a landscaper. By all accounts he had no criminal record and he paid all of his taxes yearly. He was a normal, run-of-the-mill family man.

However, in 2009 a ‘Removal Order’ was issued for Mr Garcia as he had entered the country illegally…albeit not by his own choice and as a minor. The Garcia family fought hard for his right to remain in the United States and his deportation order was stayed by the Obama administration whilst the family looked for a way to make their husband/father a ‘legal citizen’.

Mr. Garcia did not qualify for DACA when it was introduced in 2012 as he was 33 years of age. Why is this important? The DACA bill stipulates that to qualify for consideration a person’s age on June 15th 2012 (the bill’s induction date) must not have exceeded 31 years. And so, despite coming into the country at age ten – well below the cut-off age of 16 – Jorgé Garcia did not qualify for the protection of DACA. His family continued to battle to make him a legal citizen, incurring legal fees of over $125,000.

That is, of course, until the Trump administration came to power. Legislation changed and Mr. Garcia found himself unable to delay the Removal Order any longer. On January 15th 2018 (Martin Luther King Day) immigration agents escorted Mr. Garcia to Detroit Metropolitan Airport, he pulled his family close in one final goodbye embrace…before being ushered through customs to board a plane ‘home’ to Mexico. Protesters stood silently nearby holding placards that read ‘Stop Separating Families’ as other travelers arriving at the airport looked on with sympathy and concern.

Below is a photograph of Jorgé Garica, his wife, his daughter (15) and his son (12) as they wept together before being separated. You can also find a video of this event on YouTube or Vimeo, but it’s content is – as one might expect – highly emotional and tear-jerking.

Mr. Garcia has now returned to a country he left when he was ten years old. He probably has very little memory of his ‘homeland’ and it is unknown whether he has any property or family remaining in Mexico. He now faces a potential ten-year ban preventing his re-entry to the USA, although his wife – Cindy Garcia – has stalwartly vowed to fight the government at every twist and turn to ensure that her husband is returned to her. At the very least it will be 18 months before a meeting can be arranged at the Mexican Consulate to discuss his ‘legal Green Card status’.

He is 39 years old and has spent almost 30 of those years in the United States. He married an American. His children are American. He worked for American customers. He paid tax to the American IRS…

…I ask you, HOW IS AMERICA NOT THIS MAN’S HOMELAND?! His wife is now without her husband; his children, without their father. The sheer psychological shock of an event like this on his family will be earthshakingly terrible. This should not be allowed to happen. Surely this is a breach of human rights?! However, if DACA is abolished this situation will be repeated all over the United States.

Immigration is something that must be controlled, yes, but the Obama administration’s DACA agreement should be honoured. The Dreamers should be afforded protection from a fate similar to that of Mr. Garcia. American families should not be torn apart in such an inhumane manner. The scene that played out at Detroit airport in January is one that – in my opinion – should never be repeated again.

 

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” – Emma Lazarus (an excerpt from the quote on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty).

The Journey Begins

Well this promises to be the start of either a very short and thankless journey…or a life-changing one with endless opportunities…

…enough philosophising!

I have taken a huge step in my life today. I have, somewhat madly, applied to return to university and study a field that I have always been fascinated by. Journalism.

Yes! Aha! I will transform into the hated and loathed face of the ugly, overbearing and over-opinionated media whose droning voice we cannot ever escape. It pervades our living rooms, emanating from the speakers of our televisions. It dogs our footsteps with constant newsflashes on our smartphones. It’s influence is heard in the voices of the burgeoning population who walk our streets….

…well actually, no. I won’t become anything so powerful or fanciful. My goal is to be quite the opposite of the above. I went equipped with ‘The Speech’ to my interview with the head of the Communications and Media faculty today; annoyingly I did not get the chance to make my ‘grand and insightful’ speech as I was offered a place without needing it. Huzzah! It hasn’t quite sunk in yet. I’ll probably re-read this later, shake my head and delete it for being ‘too weird and esoteric’.

However, since I spent a good while writing it (to the sound of smooth jazz music and my father banging around angrily above me in the loft), I’m going to post it here for your *ahem* reading pleasure. Oh, the latent sarcasm ends here by the way. 😋

“I have been an avid follower of world events since I was very young. Much too young to be concerned with the events of the US Presidential Election of 2000, in fact. However at the tender age of ten, I was arguing the case for the election of George W. Bush to the post of President. My best friend (also slightly mad) thought my politics were grossly wrong and so championed the case for the then Democratic candidate…Al Gore. What resulted was a prolonged battle of political campaigning by two ten-year-olds (the stories could last for pages) but in an effort to outwit my ‘opponent’ I began to really read and interpret news stories for the first time. This started me down the path that I now seek to walk to completion.

I feel that journalists have this unique – and undeniably dangerous – power that very few people could ever hope to possess. They can reach millions, if not billions, of people through the written or spoken word. The facts that are reported can have a tremendous effect upon the journalist’s audience which, thanks to social media platforms, is growing exponentially. This is the reason why it is so pivotally important that the facts are just that – facts. Not speculation. Not rumour. Facts.

As Uncle Ben once said to Peter Parker, “With great power comes great responsibility”. This is a message that is of the utmost importance in the field of journalism. Facts should be reported “as is” and with no ‘spin’ or insertion of the journalist’s own political or social opinions.

If the facts are reported incorrectly then the results can be disastrous. Take for example the 2010 reports of a mosque that was due to be built at the Ground Zero site in New York City. A total falsehood that, via a television commercial financed by the dubious Koch Brothers, exploded into the media and incited protests throughout the American populace. The reality was that an Islamic community centre had been approved for construction more that two blocks away from the Ground Zero site…however through insidious and deliberate dissemination of disinformation, the media had cast the die. Thus the ‘fake news’ story is what the general public remember, not the truth. Occurrences like the one outlined above are to be avoided by the media at all costs. If not for the preservation of one’s own reputation, then for the preservation of order.

The honesty and integrity of the media is also something that should be preserved. The brave ‘truth will out’ image of journalism that was coined by such greats as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who broke the Watergate scandal to America and spelled the death knell for President Nixon’s administration. This is what journalists should aspire to. To emulate the actions of these unforgettable men who worked so tirelessly to uncover the truth, in the face of possible reprisals from the very highest echelons of government.

I will close by stating this: I wish to study journalism so that I can have the honour of serving the people, as others have done so valiantly before me. I will tell the whole and unbiased truth. Opinions are for the listener/reader to develop – they are not for me to impose upon them. I hold dear the ideals of the past and I wish my journalism to reflect that ”Golden Age” of media, which is slipping through our fingers – like sand through an hourglass – as journalism becomes ever more personal, polarised and influenced by the opinions of whomsoever holds the most cash. Journalism should not be influenced by whoever owns the television network or newspaper; their money and politics should not be used to obfuscate the truth.

The phrase ‘money talks’ should not apply to the field of journalism. No amount of money should twist the facts and camouflage the truth.

I wish to study journalism because money does not ‘talk’ to me.

The truth talks to me.

“You can’t serve the public good without the truth as a bottom line.” – Carl Bernstein.