Biowarrior

Biowarrior PDF Author: Igor V. Domaradskij
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1615926259
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
This extraordinary memoir by a leading Russian scientist who worked for decades at the nerve center of the top-secret Biopreparat offers a chilling look into the biological weapons program of the former Soviet Union, vestiges of which still exist today in the Russian Federal Republic. Igor Domaradskij calls himself an inconvenient man: a dedicated scientist but a nonconformist who was often in conflict with government and military apparatchiks. In this book he reveals the deadly nature of the research he participated in for almost fifteen years.From 1950 till 1973, Domaradskij played an increasingly important role as a specialist in the area of epidemic bacterial infections. He was largely responsible for an effective system of plague control within the former USSR, which prevented mass outbreaks of rodent-born diseases. But after twenty-three years of making significant scientific contributions, his work was suddenly redirected.Under pressure from the Soviet military he helped design, create, and direct Biopreparat, the goal of which was to develop new types of biological weapons. From the inception of this highly secret venture Domaradskij openly expressed his skepticism and criticized it as a risky gamble and a serious error by the government. Eventually his critical attitude forced him out of the communist party, and finally cost him the opportunity of continuing his scientific work.Domaradskij goes into great detail about the secrecy, intrigue, and the bureaucratic maze that enveloped the Biopreparat scientists, making them feel like helpless pawns. What stands out in his account is the hasty, patchwork nature of the Soviet effort in bioweaponry. Far from being a smooth-running, terrifying monolith, this was an enterprise cobbled together out of the conflicts and contretemps of squabbling party bureaucrats, military know-nothings, and restless, ambitious scientists. In some ways the inefficiency and lack of accountability in this system make it all the more frightening as a worldwide threat. For today its dimensions are still not fully known, nor is it certain that any one group is completely in control of the proliferation of this lethal weaponry.Biowarrior is disturbing but necessary reading for anyone wishing to understand the nature and dimensions of the biological threat in an era of international terrorism.Igor V. Domaradskij (Moscow, Russia) is chief research fellow of the Moscow Gabrichevsky G. N. Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology; a member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Russia; and the author of fourteen books on microbiology, biochemistry, and immunology. Wendy Orent (Atlanta, GA) is a freelance writer and ethnologist.

Biowarrior

Biowarrior PDF Author: Igor V. Domaradskij
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1615926259
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 341

Get Book

Book Description
This extraordinary memoir by a leading Russian scientist who worked for decades at the nerve center of the top-secret Biopreparat offers a chilling look into the biological weapons program of the former Soviet Union, vestiges of which still exist today in the Russian Federal Republic. Igor Domaradskij calls himself an inconvenient man: a dedicated scientist but a nonconformist who was often in conflict with government and military apparatchiks. In this book he reveals the deadly nature of the research he participated in for almost fifteen years.From 1950 till 1973, Domaradskij played an increasingly important role as a specialist in the area of epidemic bacterial infections. He was largely responsible for an effective system of plague control within the former USSR, which prevented mass outbreaks of rodent-born diseases. But after twenty-three years of making significant scientific contributions, his work was suddenly redirected.Under pressure from the Soviet military he helped design, create, and direct Biopreparat, the goal of which was to develop new types of biological weapons. From the inception of this highly secret venture Domaradskij openly expressed his skepticism and criticized it as a risky gamble and a serious error by the government. Eventually his critical attitude forced him out of the communist party, and finally cost him the opportunity of continuing his scientific work.Domaradskij goes into great detail about the secrecy, intrigue, and the bureaucratic maze that enveloped the Biopreparat scientists, making them feel like helpless pawns. What stands out in his account is the hasty, patchwork nature of the Soviet effort in bioweaponry. Far from being a smooth-running, terrifying monolith, this was an enterprise cobbled together out of the conflicts and contretemps of squabbling party bureaucrats, military know-nothings, and restless, ambitious scientists. In some ways the inefficiency and lack of accountability in this system make it all the more frightening as a worldwide threat. For today its dimensions are still not fully known, nor is it certain that any one group is completely in control of the proliferation of this lethal weaponry.Biowarrior is disturbing but necessary reading for anyone wishing to understand the nature and dimensions of the biological threat in an era of international terrorism.Igor V. Domaradskij (Moscow, Russia) is chief research fellow of the Moscow Gabrichevsky G. N. Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology; a member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Russia; and the author of fourteen books on microbiology, biochemistry, and immunology. Wendy Orent (Atlanta, GA) is a freelance writer and ethnologist.

The Soviet Union’s Invisible Weapons of Mass Destruction

The Soviet Union’s Invisible Weapons of Mass Destruction PDF Author: Anthony Rimmington
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030828824
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
This book focuses on Biopreparat, the Soviet agency created in 1974, which spearheaded the largest and most sophisticated biological warfare programme the world has ever seen. At its height, Biopreparat employed more than 30,000 personnel and incorporated an enormous network embracing military-focused research institutes, design centres, biowarfare pilot facilities and dual-use production plants. The secret network pursued major offensive R&D programmes, which sought to use genetic engineering techniques to create microbial strains resistant to antibiotics and with wholly new and unexpected pathogenic properties. During the mid-1980s, Biopreparat increased in size and political importance and also emerged as a major civil biopharmaceutical player in the USSR. In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, an acute struggle for control of Biopreparat’s most valuable assets took place and the network was eventually broken-up and control of its facilities transferred to a myriad of state agencies and private companies.

Deadly Cultures

Deadly Cultures PDF Author: Mark Wheelis
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674045130
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 494

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Book Description
The threat of biological weapons has never attracted as much public attention as in the past five years. Yet there has been little historical analysis of such weapons over the past half-century. Deadly Cultures sets out to fill this gap by analyzing the historical developments since 1945 and addressing three central issues: why states have continued or begun programs for acquiring biological weapons, why states have terminated biological weapons programs, and how states have demonstrated that they have truly terminated their biological weapons programs.

Barriers to Bioweapons

Barriers to Bioweapons PDF Author: Sonia Ben Ouagrham-Gormley
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801471923
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
In both the popular imagination and among lawmakers and national security experts, there exists the belief that with sufficient motivation and material resources, states or terrorist groups can produce bioweapons easily, cheaply, and successfully. In Barriers to Bioweapons, Sonia Ben Ouagrham-Gormley challenges this perception by showing that bioweapons development is a difficult, protracted, and expensive endeavor, rarely achieving the expected results whatever the magnitude of investment. Her findings are based on extensive interviews she conducted with former U.S. and Soviet-era bioweapons scientists and on careful analysis of archival data and other historical documents related to various state and terrorist bioweapons programs.Bioweapons development relies on living organisms that are sensitive to their environment and handling conditions, and therefore behave unpredictably. These features place a greater premium on specialized knowledge. Ben Ouagrham-Gormley posits that lack of access to such intellectual capital constitutes the greatest barrier to the making of bioweapons. She integrates theories drawn from economics, the sociology of science, organization, and management with her empirical research. The resulting theoretical framework rests on the idea that the pace and success of a bioweapons development program can be measured by its ability to ensure the creation and transfer of scientific and technical knowledge. The specific organizational, managerial, social, political, and economic conditions necessary for success are difficult to achieve, particularly in covert programs where the need to prevent detection imposes managerial and organizational conditions that conflict with knowledge production.

The Sleeper Agent

The Sleeper Agent PDF Author: A. W. Finnegan
Publisher: TrineDay
ISBN: 163424382X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
This book details out the esoteric history of biological warfare in a way that no other book has done, based on only official records, documents, science and medical journals, former intelligence officers, and more. The history of this war goes much deeper than any other book on the subject has presented, based on understandings and studies of science that have been purposefully buried and obscured. The author collected and studied the work of one of history's most exceptional yet infamous pioneers in virology and immunology, a German scientist by the name of Dr. Erich Traub, for several years, in the process of writing this book, a process which perhaps no one else has managed to undertake, until now.

Biowarrior

Biowarrior PDF Author: Igor{softsign} Valerianovich Domaradski{breve}i
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biological warfare
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description


Living Weapons

Living Weapons PDF Author: Gregory D. Koblentz
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801457661
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
"Biological weapons are widely feared, yet rarely used. Biological weapons were the first weapon prohibited by an international treaty, yet the proliferation of these weapons increased after they were banned in 1972. Biological weapons are frequently called 'the poor man's atomic bomb,' yet they cannot provide the same deterrent capability as nuclear weapons. One of my goals in this book is to explain the underlying principles of these apparent paradoxes."—from Living Weapons Biological weapons are the least well understood of the so-called weapons of mass destruction. Unlike nuclear and chemical weapons, biological weapons are composed of, or derived from, living organisms. In Living Weapons, Gregory D. Koblentz provides a comprehensive analysis of the unique challenges that biological weapons pose for international security. At a time when the United States enjoys overwhelming conventional military superiority, biological weapons have emerged as an attractive means for less powerful states and terrorist groups to wage asymmetric warfare. Koblentz also warns that advances in the life sciences have the potential to heighten the lethality and variety of biological weapons. The considerable overlap between the equipment, materials and knowledge required to develop biological weapons, conduct civilian biomedical research, and develop biological defenses creates a multiuse dilemma that limits the effectiveness of verification, hinders civilian oversight, and complicates threat assessments. Living Weapons draws on the American, Soviet, Russian, South African, and Iraqi biological weapons programs to enhance our understanding of the special challenges posed by these weapons for arms control, deterrence, civilian-military relations, and intelligence. Koblentz also examines the aspirations of terrorist groups to develop these weapons and the obstacles they have faced. Biological weapons, Koblentz argues, will continue to threaten international security until defenses against such weapons are improved, governments can reliably detect biological weapon activities, the proliferation of materials and expertise is limited, and international norms against the possession and use of biological weapons are strengthened.

Wild Sargasso Space

Wild Sargasso Space PDF Author: John Triptych
Publisher: J Triptych Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
The Sargasso: a vast, unclaimed region of galactic space that somehow traps passing starships into its mysterious veil. Only the bravest and most foolhardy of crews would dare venture into such a hazardous stellar graveyard to solve its deepest, darkest mysteries. In order to fulfill a matter of honor, the Nepenthe ventures into this dangerous sector to transport a group of religious pilgrims in search of their promised land. As they attempt to unlock the enigma of this strange and deadly area, the intrepid crew stumbles upon an amazing discovery: a massive alien structure, hidden in an unknown world. But will this find turn out to be a wondrous opportunity, or will a destructive power be unleashed upon the universe?

Stalin's Secret Weapon

Stalin's Secret Weapon PDF Author: Anthony Rimmington
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190928859
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
Stalin's Secret Weapon is a gripping account of the early history of the globally significant Soviet biological weapons program, including its key scientists, its secret experimental bases and the role of intelligence specialists, establishing beyond doubt that the infrastructure created by Stalin continues to form the core of Russia's current biological defense network. Anthony Rimmington has enjoyed privileged access to an array of newly available sources and materials, including declassified British Secret Intelligence Service reports. The evidence contained therein has led him to conclude that the program, with its network of dedicated facilities and proving grounds, was far more extensive than previously considered, easily outstripping those of the major Western powers. As Rimmington reveals, many of the USSR's leading infectious disease scientists, including those focused on pneumonic plague, were recruited by the Soviet military and intelligence services. At the dark heart of this bacteriological archipelago lay Stalin, and his involvement is everywhere to be seen, from the promotion of favored researchers to the political repression and execution of the lead biological warfare specialist, Ivan Mikhailovich Velikanov.

The Soviet Union’s Agricultural Biowarfare Programme

The Soviet Union’s Agricultural Biowarfare Programme PDF Author: Anthony Rimmington
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030738434
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
This book focuses upon the secret agricultural biological warfare programme codenamed Ekologiya – which was pursued by the Soviet Union from 1958 through to the collapse of the USSR in 1991. It was the largest offensive agricultural biowarfare project the world has ever seen and Soviet anti-crop and anti-livestock weapons had the capability to inflict enormous damage on Western agriculture. Beginning in the early 1970s, there was a new focus within the Soviet agricultural biowarfare programme on molecular biology and the development of genetically modified agents. A key characteristic of the Ekologiya project was the creation of mobilization production facilities. These ostensibly civil manufacturing plants incorporated capacity for production of biowarfare agents in wartime emergency. During the 1990s-2000s, the counter-proliferation efforts undertaken by the US and UK played a major role in preventing the transfer of Ekologiya scientists, technologies and pathogens to Iran and other countries of potential proliferation concern. Anthony Rimmington is a former Senior Research Fellow at Birmingham University’s Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies, UK. He has published widely on the civil life sciences sector in the post-Soviet states and on the Soviet Union’s offensive biological warfare programme, including Stalin’s Secret Weapon: The Origins of Soviet Biological Warfare.