State Terrorism Masquerading as Psychogenic Illness

Abstract Background: Terrorist attacks are growing in complexity, increasing concerns around the use of chemical, biological, radiation, and nuclear (CBRN) agents. This has led to increasing interest in Counter-Terrorism Medicine (CTM) as a Disaster Medicine (DM) sub-specialty. This study aims to provide the epidemiology of CBRN use in terrorism, to detail specific agents used, and to develop training programs for responders. Methods: The open-source Global Terrorism Database (GTD) was searched for all CBRN attacks from January 1, 1970 through December 31, 2018. Attacks were included if they fulfilled the terrorism-related criteria as set by the GTD’s Codebook. Ambiguous events or those meeting only partial criteria were excluded. The database does not include acts of state terrorism. Results: There were 390 total CBRN incidents, causing 930 total fatal injuries (FI) and 14,167 total non-fatal injuries (NFI). A total of 347 chemical attacks (88.9% of total) caused 921 FI (99.0%) and 13,361 NFI (94.3%). Thirty-one biological attacks (8.0%) caused nine FI (1.0%) and 806 NFI (5.7%). Twelve radiation attacks (3.1%) caused zero FI and zero NFI. There were no nuclear attacks. The use of CBRN accounted for less than 0.3% of all terrorist attacks and is a high-risk, low-frequency attack methodology. The Taliban was implicated in 40 of the 347 chemical events, utilizing a mixture of agents including unconfirmed chemical gases (grey literature suggests white phosphorous and chlorine), contaminating water sources with pesticides, and the use of corrosive acid. The Sarin gas attack in Tokyo contributed to 5,500 NFI. Biological attacks accounted for 8.0% of CBRN attacks. Anthrax was used or suspected in 20 of the 31 events, followed by salmonella (5), ricin (3), fecal matter (1), botulinum toxin (1), and HIV (1). Radiation attacks accounted for 3.1% of CBRN attacks. Monazite was used in 10 of the 12 events, followed by iodine 131 (1) and undetermined irradiated plates (1). Conclusion: Currently, CBRN are low-frequency, high-impact attack modalities and remain a concern given the rising rate of terrorist events. Counter-Terrorism Medicine is a developing DM sub-specialty focusing on the mitigation of health care risks from such events. First responders and health care workers should be aware of historic use of CBRN weapons regionally and globally, and should train and prepare to respond appropriately.

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Mafalda: Middle Class, Everyday Life, and Politics in Argentina, 1964-1973

Hispanic American Historical Review ◽

10.1215/00182168-2390604 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 94 (1) ◽

pp. 35-75 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Isabella Cosse

Keyword(s):

Middle Class ◽

Social Identities ◽

Political Polarization ◽

The Political ◽

Comic Strip ◽

State Terrorism ◽

The Everyday ◽

History Of ◽

Social Modernization ◽

Methodological Approaches

Abstract In this article I reconstruct the history of Mafalda, the famous comic strip by the Argentine cartoonist Quino that was read, discussed, and viewed as an emblematic representation of Argentina’s middle class. With the aim of contributing to discussions on the interpretation of the middle class in Argentina and Latin America, I examine the emergence, circulation, and sociopolitical significance of the comic from its first strips in 1964 until Quino stopped producing new installments in 1973, making use of two conceptual and methodological approaches: a perspective situated at the intersection of the everyday and the political, as well as a consideration of humor as a way of exploring social identities. I argue first that Mafalda’s ironic and conceptual humor worked with the contradictions of the middle class as it faced social modernization, cultural and political radicalization, and a weakening democracy. Second, I suggest that the strip contributed to a representation of a heterogeneous middle class marked by ideological differences but nonetheless conceived as one. Third, I claim that such a representation lost its relevance with the political polarization and violence of the 1970s, as portraying a middle class—or a society—united despite differences was no longer feasible in that context. To illustrate this, the article closes by noting that, shortly after Mafalda was discontinued, state terrorism would brutally demonstrate just how little space there was in Argentina for the young, antiestablishment generation depicted in the strip.

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5 Sex, bugs & microwave attacks: how bad science, mating insects & psychogenic illness created an international incident with cuba

Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry ◽

10.1136/jnnp-2021-bnpa.5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 92 (8) ◽

pp. A2.1-A2

Author(s):

Robert E Bartholomew

Keyword(s):

Microwave Energy ◽

Health Complaints ◽

The Media ◽

Psychogenic Illness

The National Academic of Sciences recently concluded that the most likely explanation for a cluster of health complaints among American diplomats stationed in Cuba between 2016 and 2018, was microwave energy. A considerable amount of misinformation continues to circulate in the media about this episode. The author will refute the NAS report and make the case that the preponderance of evidence supports a psychogenic explanation.

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State Terrorism and Counter-terrorism

Terrorism ◽

10.1057/9780230204546_9 ◽

2004 ◽

pp. 113-127 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Igor Primoratz

Keyword(s):

Counter Terrorism ◽

State Terrorism

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State Terrorism, Clandestine Language: Notes on the Argentine Military Dictatorship

PMLA ◽

10.1632/pmla.2009.124.5.1794 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 124 (5) ◽

pp. 1794-1799

Author(s):

Mirta Alejandra Antonelli

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

State Policies ◽

Traumatic Memory ◽

Military Dictatorship ◽

Human Rights Organizations ◽

Successive State ◽

State Terrorism ◽

Governmental Intervention ◽

Historical Truth

Today the argentine judiciary dispenses ritual punishment as it condemns the oppressors of the last military dictatorship (1976–83) in the name of historical truth. Human rights organizations and movements have contributed immeasurably to this end. More than two decades have passed since the historic military-juntas trial (1985), and over the years successive state policies have proved that traumatic memory is a contested site, subject in this postdictatorial democracy to both debate and governmental intervention.

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Witnessing in the echo chamber: From counter-discourses in print media to counter-memories of Argentina’s state terrorism

Memory Studies ◽

10.1177/1750698018818222 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. 1036-1057

Author(s):

Muireann Prendergast

Keyword(s):

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Methodological Approach ◽

Memory Studies ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Mainstream Media ◽

Academic Scholarship ◽

State Terrorism ◽

Echo Chamber ◽

Media Discourses ◽

The Relationship

While the importance of journalism in memory studies has often been overlooked in academic scholarship, media discourses can be considered ‘memory’s precondition’ on both active and passive levels. First, journalists record events as they happen building on narratives and testimonies. Second, sometimes decades later, these can be invoked in legal and social post-dictatorship processes. Applying the theoretical framework of critical discourse analysis to memory studies, this research explores the relationship between counter-journalism and counter-memories as a response to and rejection of the ‘echo chamber’ of authoritarian discourse which dominated the mainstream media and promoted official memory during Argentina’s last dictatorship. The methodological approach of the study is mixed, combining qualitative synchronic-diachronic text analysis with a corpus analysis of concordance lines to trace strategies of counter-discourse in two newspapers which opposed the dictatorship. The motivations of their editor-journalists for challenging official discourse and institutional memory in the climate of state terrorism are framed in the context of Margalit’s ‘moral witnessing’.

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