Factors and Motivations That Influence Biological Warfare

Many troops during the years of World War I met their demise in what is arguable the most terrifying and inhumane of all military tactics – biological warfare. Soldiers inhaled a deadly acidic gas that burned them from the inside out, suffocating them in an excruciating and unimaginable pain. Kurth Audrey, a professor of strategy at the U. S. National War College in Washington, stated: â€Å"Science is as neutral as a knife; it may maybe a blessing or a curse depending on the heart and the mind of the man who holds it. †[1] Terrorists organizations are motivated by many factors to use biological warfare. If a terrorist organization has the concepts of science down, as a neutral knife, then they can produce weapons that can fulfill their agenda, whether it is something that has to do with reputation, politics, or religion. Many factors contribute to terrorists using this type of warfare, which stimulates the motivations of terrorist organizations. These factors range from; access to information, cost, ease of dissemination, availability, access to technology, and difficulty of detection. Biological warfare is a dangerous type of warfare, than can cause severe damage to a population of people, crops, or animals. It can also cause harm to the one that is dispersing the biological agent, which causes one to think, why would someone use this type of warfare? Biological agents are often simpler to attain and produce than chemical weapons that can cause mass destruction in a population. The material for biological agents can easily be grown or purchased. There are some agents, such as Anthrax or Brucellosis, which occur naturally in animals in certain parts of the world , and individuals can acquire these agents just by traveling the globe to where these agents grow. For an example, the Aum Shinrikyo cult was reported to have gone to Zaire, a place in Africa, to seek the strains of Ebola for its use in its bio-weapons program. [2] Until recently, anyone could order agents from supple houses around the world. In 1995, American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), a mail order company that provides biological products, shipped the bacteria, Anthrax, to Saddam Hussein's biological warfare program in Iraq. [3] Just like the increase of technology throughout the decades, there is also an increase of availability of information related to chemical and biological weapons. Information on how to create biological weapons can be taken from articles within scientific literature on a variety of topics, which only requires a trained scientist to understand. The Internet has created forums on which terrorists groups can reach out, recruit members, and spread messages. It also makes a large library of information available to just about anyone who is interested on the production of biological agents. One resource that is found online is, Bacteriological Warfare: A Major Threat to North America, which is written by Larry Wayne Harris of the Aryan Nation. 4] This manual describes the reproduction and growth of biological agents, and can be purchased for only $30. [5] Another resource available is called, Silent Death, which instructs the reader in ways to kill using chemical and biological poisons. According to the publisher of this book, it sells thousands of copies each year. [6] Bio-engineers are now armed with knowledge on how to cease biological agents, as well as the effects of the agents upon a population. According to Ken Alibek, who supervised the Soviet bio warfare program, â€Å"Although the mos-sophisticated and effected versions [of biological weapons]require considerable equipments and scientific expertise, primitive versions can be produced in a small area with minimal equipment by someone with limited training†¦ They would be relativity inexpensive and easy to produce. †[7] To produce bio-weapons, a terrorist organization must have access to a scientist with some graduate training in the fields of microbiology or genetic engineering. The political and economic situation in Russia created a supply of bio warfare scientists who were not being paid and were unable to provide for themselves or their families. Regardless of the political, moral and ethical standards of these scientists, it is reasonable to expect that many of those scientists are now working for terrorist organizations around the world. Iraq scientists discovered which strains to order by reviews in American scientific journals, which are located at American Type Culture Collection in Rockville, Maryland. For thirty-five dollars, they also picked up strains of tularemia and Venezuelan equine encephalitis once targeted for weaponization at Fort Detrick. [8] The knowledge that is learned, and the availability of the biological agents, caused the relative ease of production of the agents, storage they can be contained in, dissemination factors, increased safety for the troops handling the binary agents, and the less complicated processes of demilitarization. The cost of producing and deploying biological weapons is less expensive than chemical weapons; the materials, equipment, and production space are all so inexpensive, any terrorist organization can afford them. According to an Office of Technical Assessment (OTA) Report, the cheapest overt production of one nuclear bomb costs $200 million, with larger programs costing up to 50 times more. In contrast, a large arsenal costs less than $10 million dollars. 9] Kathleen Bailey, found through interviews with professors, students, and scientists, that all that was needed to create a biological weapons program capable of producing large amounts of agents, would be several biologists with $10,000 worth of equipment – all of which who could fit into the same room. [10] This then causes many terrorists organizations to actually be capable of producing a biological agent. Dissemination of biological agents can be simple and inexpensive. There are a variety of different ways they can be de livered. The simplest methods of dissemination are through the contamination of food products or water. This method only requires direct access to any food product or water- preferably during the purification stages of that food product or of that water. Biological agents can also be dispersed through the contamination of agriculture, indirect transmission through animals, and direct contact, such as the assassination of Georgi Markov in 1978 through a ricin- containing pallet that was shot into his thigh. Dissemination through aerosol or vapor into an enclosed area or the open air is more complex than just through food products or water. Biological agents released into the air, such as through the release of vapors from a crop duster, are subject to biological decay, physical decay, atmospheric thermal stability, wind speed, and dimension of the land surface. The dissemination of agents is more predictable in rural areas than urban regions. The agents must be able to withstand the stress of the dissemination, environmental factors, and physical obstructions. Researchers have found, however, that dissemination of agents at night or enclosed dark areas, such as subways or tunnels, can be particularly effective. [12] Biological agents can be extremely lethal, some biological agents create more deadly affects than others, such as Anthrax. According to the Department of Defense, ten kilograms of Anthrax can cause more damage than a ten kiloton nuclear weapon. [13] This form of warfare can lead a military down by 90% through the intentions of militarization, by giving the military that dispensed the biological agents a form of character. Since most individuals are not vaccinated for different types of diseases, such as smallpox, it can lead to millions of people dying. Small pox is an example of a bacteria that can cause up to 2 million people, if being exposed to a society, to die because of the complete absence of prevention and control measures since 1970, because people do not believe that this disease will emerge again. It has such a high mortality rate (one in three people die) and infectiousness (on average, one person will infect three additional people). Politics seams to be the cause of many disasters from the corrupt French government in 1740 which led to the brutal French Revolution, to the rebellions of Aum Shinrikyo, which formed their own structure based on the Japanese government. Aum Shinrikyo attracted followers that opposed the Japanese government, in the late 1980's and 1990's, which caused their group to become larger. Their goal was to pursue terrorist violence in competition with rival groups that Shoko Asahara, the leader of this violent group, feared would attract support away from Aum Shinrikyo. Their next goal was to take over the Japanese government. On March 1194, Aum Shinrikyo tried to assassinate the leader of a rival religious sect, the Soka Gakkai, but failed because the spraying system mounted on a van malfunction and contaminated its operators. However, the second attempt occurred in Mastumoto on June 27th, 1994, the members working with the biological agents of Aum Shinrikyo, improved the spraying system, which targeted three judges who were expected to rule against the sect in a land dispute. This later resulted in the injuries of 500, including the three political judges they were after. In September 1984, Rajneeshee religious cult the Dalles, Orgeon grew Salmonella typhimurium to manipulate the results of the November 1984 election. They planned to buss homeless people into their commune and register them as voters, and make the opposing voters sick and unable to vote. They then poisoned to county commissioners by using the method of dissemination of contaminating water with salmonella typhiurium, which caused both the commissioners to become sick. The cult then contaminated ten Dallas restaurants, which opened up 751 cases of salmonella. 16] The uses of these pathogens by both these two different groups, had the attentions of manipulating whatever they deemed was politically corrupted. Biological agents can be small and easy to transport. William Patrick, who left the US biological Weapons Development Program around 1969, regularly carries a vial containing a stimulant for anthrax, just to test whether or not it will be detected. In 1999, he brought the vial with him into a hearing of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence without being detected and claimed to make the same move at the State Department, the Pentagon, and the CIA. 17] Many have traveled through airports, with high-tech security, around the world carrying equipment for deploying these biological agents through the air and never were stopped to explain the purpose for the equipment. The first signs of an attack may not even come until weeks after the agent has been deployed. Thus, by the time the authorities determine an attack has taken place, the perpetrators could be anywhere in the world, trying to escape what they have done. Biological attacks can be mistaken for naturally occurring disease outbreaks. Because of the difficulty in detecting a biological weapons attack, it is almost impossible to lay blame on a particular group or individual for the outbreak. As technology, and information on the biological fields of science increase, so do the potential threats of this type of warfare. It has been examined closely to how the factors help contribute to this type of warfare, as well as how motivation leads for this type of warfare to become some-what successful. The main major factor of groups to use this type of warfare would be religion. Religion plays a tremendous role in human misery, from wars, such as the crusades, to the use of biological weapons targeted at specific religious groups. When terrorism is involved in the name of religion, such as Al-Qaida, it is often motivated by violence that is regarded as â€Å"divine duty† which justifies bloodshed. One of the hallmarks of a religious terrorist is the unquestioned willingness to kill a large number of people without conscience behind their agendas. Since biological warfare is very effective in killing mass number of people, many religious extremist groups use this form of warfare to justify their actions, and views on religion. Terrorists groups have reputations that attract many people. Acquiring such massive biological weapons, or producing such complicated weapons, brings the terrorist group a high-rank reputation as well as to be seen as having no boundaries. It then makes it easier for the terrorist group to achieve their agendas. Aum Shinrikyo cult is an example that uses both of these motivations. Their attack in the subway system in 1995 not only caused the successful attack of fifty-five hundred people, according to their agenda, but had gotten people to realize their dangerous element; the involvement of highly intelligent and educated people, in which some are considered to be Japan's brightest scientists, computer technicians, and trained professionals. Even by the standards of cults, the Aum were a strange bunch. Among other things, members believed in the virtues of levitation and coffee enemas. They also wore elaborate radio sets on their heads so as to better hear the thoughts of their Leader. Despite their unusual ideas, the cult attracted a number of educated followers with scientific and technical abilities. It is a discouraging fact: religious cults may be strange and oblivious, but that doesn't prevent them from attracting capable intelligent followers – or to pursue their doomsday agendas. This type of warfare is an inhumane, dangerous type of warfare, that has killed dozens of people. If we actually take the factors into consideration, than we can lower the motivation and the prevent the further productions of these biological weapons. Bibliography http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_AUM01.htm

Strategic Marketing Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Strategic Marketing Management - Essay Example However, it should be noted that portfolio analysis tools should be applied with caution as each of the individual technique has limitations. These are further elaborated on the discussion of the different tools. The three main portfolio planning tools are The Boston Consulting Group Growth-share Matrix, General Electric Market Attractiveness Competitive Position Model, and Shell Directional Policy Matrix. The Product Life Cycle (PLC) as a portfolio analysis tool highlights four stages in a product's life cycle-introduction, growth, maturity and decline. This technique stresses that products life is limited and each stage in the life cycle offers different levels of potential gains. Thus, companies should employ the right strategies to maximize cash flow. PLC is valuable as a marketing tool because it emphasizes product termination, growth projections, different marketing objectives and strategies in each stage, product planning, and dangers of overpowering. However, it is also recognized that PLC is limited as each product follows a unique life cycle (e.g., fads and classics), PLC is the result of marketing efforts and not the cause, the time span of each stage is unpredictable, and misleading objectives and strategies. The PLC can always be a good tool choice for compani

Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Politics - Essay Example To be specific he labeled it as a ghost or counterfeit of a part of politics (Plato) Socrates found it shameful but nonetheless revealed that what Gorgias and Polus claims to be an art may be considered under flattery. It is a persuasion not done by organized logic but a form of flattery which reveals that it is not genuine (Plato). To elucidate on this concepts, Socrates used the concepts of medicine and gymnastics as masked by cookery and tiring respectively and as such are knavish, false, ignoble and illiberal (Plato). They are deceitfully overlaid with lines, colors, enamels, garments creating a spurious beauty to the neglect of the true beauty (Plato). Having said this, Socrates considers rhetoric lower than art, not a work of a scholarly person and is fake. Socrates also highlighted the point that rhetoricians can fall to injustice as opposed to Gorgias’ claim that it is to be of noble purpose such as the purpose of those in the field of medicine (Plato). In contrast Socrates refuted that rhetoric can be unjust as evidently given by Polus as an example. As fake, rhetoric cannot be used by men of justice but is associated with perverse men who desire not the good of the society but the pursuit of their own self-interest as seen with the tyrants, who are seen to kill, despoil or exile anyone whom they please (Plato). Men of the state can be rhetoricians who can persuade citizens but not do justly. In the end, Socrates considered them pitiful and definitely not to be envied as he considers the sufferers more blessed than those who bring suffering (Plato). In the end, he even cited that the man who does what he wills even though it is evil is not necessarily powerful because power is evidenced by what is good. A deep stab to the integrity of politics is Socrates’ assertion that rhetoric is under flattery and therefore not genuine. This is a painful truth that everyone

Case Study The global pharmaceutical industry Coursework

Case Study The global pharmaceutical industry - Coursework Example Consequently, the pharmaceutical market acquired some remarkable character. Management was in the hands of medical practitioners while patients and payers had little awareness or authority. Thus, medical practitioners were inconsiderate to the costs however receptive to the sales endeavors of individual agents. This made possible several 'me too' drugs to realize significant profits on investment. It resulted in imitating well-known medicines that cut R&D risk considerably, while the market- place was exposed to products offering slight advantages for example a more suitable dosage type or fewer side effects, although with much the same beneficial effect. There were two major developments in the 1970s in the pharmaceutical industry. Firstly, the Thalidomide tragedy in sickness caused birth defects, initiated much tighter regulatory rules on clinical trials. Secondly, laws were endorsed to establish a permanent period on patent protection - usually 20 years from first report as a research invention. This produced the emergence of 'generic' drugs. Generics however have precisely the same dynamic constituents as the original brand, and vie on price. The influence of generic application is exemplified by Bristol Myers Squibb's brand Glucophage, a cure for diabetes, which produced US sales of $2.1bn in 2001. After the termination of the patent in January 2002, brand sales fell to $69m for the first quarter. Generics legislation had a significant influence on the industry, providing motivation for improvement and for a competitive market. The time during which R&D costs could be recouped was drastically curtailed, putting upward pressure o n prices. The introduction of generics, however, was very beneficial for society: valuable medicines became extremely cheap. Indeed, health economists have estimated that the social returns from pharmaceutical R&D exceed that appropriated by firms by at least 50 to 100 per cent. By the end of the 1970s generic entrants and more stringent controls on clinical trials had led to substantial increases in R&D spending. Pharmaceutical Industry Environmental Forces: An Introduction The pharmaceutical industry is remarkable in that a number of countries of the world are dependent on a 'monopsony' - there is in fact only one dominant buyer i.e. the government. In the 1980s, governments all

Commnication and Decision Making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Commnication and Decision Making - Essay Example The reason why we have to lay off some of our employees is because the company has been experiencing some slow times over the last three months. This has been caused by the high prices of raw materials as well as high salaries. As a result, there is a need to cut costs since the company is not generating enough revenue as well as cash flow. The affected departments will be in a position to create sharp cost cutbacks for a brief episode of time. It is expected that the affected departments will be faced with more workload and the inventory turnover may be slow for a while. However, the company will suffer a one-time cost to gain subsequent annual recurring savings. Additionally, the affected areas overall output will less than the usual or poor productivity and the departments will need to readjust their work schedules and routines (Gandolf, 2008). The remaining employees are expected to display symptoms anxiety, inadequate commitment to the work, as well as lack of creativity. Staffs in the three departments namely; order processing department, the human resources department and the production department will be expected to be apprehensive of their jobs. It is also expected that people will start to view their colleagues as rivals. This will mostly likely affect the output. To ensure that there is no break of confidentiality, the departments’ managers will need to pay equivalentdevotion to the personnel who will be losing their jobs as well as those who will be remaining. For the employees who are being laid off, the departments’ managers will be required to afford fair severance, providechances for re?training, as well as outplacement resources. Again, for the employees who will be remaining, the departments’ managers will provide numerous two?way communication networks (particularly face?to?face) among leadership and personnel to provide them numerous chances to communicate their worries, ask queriesas well as deepen their comprehension o f the realities of business. The departments’ managers will need to makesure that those employees who will be remaining are conscious of the resources and support afforded by the firm to employees who will be out of work. This willmake a noteworthy difference to upcoming workforce productivity and mitigate the upsurge in the voluntary turnover, which follows each forced lay off (Gandolf, 2008). To aid in the ‘moving of forward’ as well as transition after the layoffs, the managers from theinvolved departments will be required to communicate efficaciously and often with the staff. It is expected that people will begin to reveal signs of fretfulness, lack of dedication, as well as a reduction in creativity and productivity. In the days and weeks to follow the layoff, the departments’ managers will need to come up with strong leadership stratagems to aid employees focus upon the primacies at hand as well as to re-devote themselves to the company. The managers will be required to hold frequent meetings with employees plus generate an agenda;enquire on how individuals are holding up, listen as well as respond empathetically; ask about the ‘rumors’ and either dispel or validate them; set well-defined, realistic, achievable short-term goals. The managers will need to be focused upon the department’s work; institute an open-door policy; as well as let staff be aware that they approach the manager with concern, information and questions. All these stratagems will aid the

Describe and analyze how African Americans responded to both the ideas Essay

Describe and analyze how African Americans responded to both the ideas and the actions that leading to the American Revolution - Essay Example The principle of freedom attracted the blacks to the cause of the American Revolution (Kaplan and Kaplan 3). Since both Britain and America offered â€Å"freedom,† the blacks chose the parties that made the best and fastest proposals, not knowing that they would renege on their promises. The African Americans responded to the ideas and actions that led to the American Revolution by publishing literature works, joining the protests against the additional taxes on Americans, demanding freedom and equality, negotiating terms of freedom, bringing their cases to courts, and soon, supporting either the British as loyalists, or the Americans as patriots, during the American Revolution. Literature helped African Americans express their sentiments regarding slavery, although as slave/writers, they hid their messages under religious terms. Jupiter Hammon is considered as the first Black writer to publish in America (Reuben par. 1). His works appeared religious only, but they also dealt with the themes of race, slavery, and the isolation of slaves from the whites (Reuben par. 1). During this time, slaveholders had the responsibility of approving and editing the works of their slaves, and so Hammon’s careful use of words with double meaning underscores his ability to exploit literature as a means of expressing his indignation against social injustice because of racial discrimination (Reuben par. 1). In Hammon’s poem, â€Å"An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ, With Penitential Cries,† he stresses that only Jesus Christ can save humanity. His religious exhortations most probably pleased his master so well without recognizing that Hammon also demands the salvation of his enslaved race. After establishing that Jesus is salvation, he says: â€Å"Dear Jesus, we would fly to Thee,/And leave off every Sin† (3.1-3.2). In other words, he is saying that blacks can receive salvation or freedom through religion too. Hammon compares the captive spi rits of Christians and slaves in discreet terms: â€Å"Salvation now comes from the Lord,/He being thy captive slave† (8.3-8.4). He believes that the Lord will grant salvation even unto slaves. When Hammon speaks of hunger for faith, he connotes the hunger for freedom too: â€Å"Ho! every one that hunger hath,/Or pineth after me,/Salvation be thy leading Staff,/To set the Sinner free† (16.1-16.4). He asserts that whites and blacks are all sinners and will equally be freed by God’s mercy. Before Hammon ends his poem, he underscores the equality of all, because Christ does not choose who to save among all His children: â€Å"Salvation high and low;/ And thus the Soul on Christ rely,/ To heaven surely go† (18.2-18.4). High and low means all races, and they will all go to the same paradise, if they cannot get this paradise in America. Another slave, Phillis Wheatley, takes literature as a means of expressing her thoughts on racism and freedom. In her poem, â €Å"An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of that Celebrated Divine, and Eminent Servant of Jesus Christ, the Late Reverend, and Pious George Whitefield,† she slowly shifts the pronouns used to transfer American citizenship to all, including slaves. At first, she says â€Å"When his AMERICANS were burden'd sore† (line 15). Later on, she states: â€Å"Great COUNTESS! we Americans revere/Thy name, and thus condole thy grief sincere† (45-46). By choosing the first plural person â€Å"we,†

My Role in Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

My Role in Leadership - Essay Example Few concepts are more crucial to the human organization than leadership. Efficient leadership helps organizations in times of peril, making the set up more successful and receptive to change. Doing things effectively while influencing others enables the fulfilling of the set down objectives. It is essentially the backbone of productivity. The absence of efficiency in leadership proves to have dramatic effects. Because of good leadership skills, it is not easy to lose track of what is important. Much of the challenges that are associated with leadership success lies with decision making and implies that complete and accurate decision making ensures prosperity. What are you going to do next? What issues, questions, and dilemmas are you going to explore further? Why and how? How will this influence who you are and how you relate to others? It will be important to influence the thoughts, attitudes, behavior and inspire others as a good leader. As a leader, I will set directions for my peers and help them focus on what lies ahead. Through this forecasting, a good visualization of what is achievable will be evident. Without this visualization of the benefits associated with the good leadership, it is likely that our way of organizing things will easily degenerate into conflict and argument. An effective execution of leadership will ensure that my personal perception by others is greatly influenced by the enormous benefits of respect.   This is a good way of staying relevant to my peers as encourage and instill positive values in them.