RUSSIAN GAS KILLS 116
As the hostage standoff came to a close, Russian Special Forces released a
gas designed to disable the hostage-takers into the theatre. Incapacitators
are specifically banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, but the Russian
government claims the mystery gas was "more like an anaesthetic".
The intended result seems to be the same, and the result was the death of
well over one hundred of the hostages.
Russian officials reported that 116 of the 117 dead after the raid had been killed by the agent used to subdue the rebels. It has been reported by doctors that no one caring for the patients has been allowed to know what the chemical was or what the chemical makeup of the gas was, making it difficult if not impossible to treat or save many patients.
Speculation has only increased with continued secrecy about the chemical agent used in the raid, along with fears that the hostages may have been sacrificed either to zeal or to ignorance.
Various governments are now 'confirming' that a series of tests have shown the mystery gas to be a medical narcotic and not a weaponized chemical agent. The distinction is a matter of compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention. Nevertheless, according to doctors, official secrecy led to inappropriate treatment and death in many of the 116 cases. The question of official responsibility for the deaths remains open.
AFGHANISTAN: RUNNING IN PLACE?
Even as sweeping civil reforms are either planned or implemented, after the
lifting of unimaginable Taliban oppressions, the Kabul transitional government
has reconstituted the dreaded Vice & Virtue police. The government promises
women will not suffer as they did under the Taliban, and that the direction
in general is toward a civil society, but the new Islamic value police are
a concession to certain religious factions within Afghanistan's precarious
power structure.
MT. ETNA ERUPTS
Sicilian volcano erupts for first time in ten years. Island sees evacuations,
warnings, and spectacular plumes of fire. Etna is now erupting from 16 craters
near its summit. Destruction from lava flow and hot ash exacerbated by quakes
measuring 4.4 on Richter scale, followed by numerous aftershocks.
WILL EU EXPAND?
The European Union has been voting on referenda to decide whether
the organization will be expanded to include new nations across the continent.
14 of 15 EU member parliaments have approved an expansion including 10 new
nations, but Ireland's laws require a referendum for such approval. Expansion,
as put forth in the Nice plan, requires assent from all 15 member nations.
In 2001, Ireland voted to reject expansion. EU leaders, however, pledged to push ahead with the Nice treaty for admitting 12 new nations. The vote has been questioned for being a product mostly of apathy and not of informed decision. Less than one-third of Irish voters weighed in.
The determination of EU leaders and the apathy of Irish voters raised significant questions about democracy within the EU. Many across the continent, despite the hope engendered by integration, have feared high-level decisions being made without popular consent.
As of October 20, 2002, Ireland's voting population has approved the expansion, by a wide margin, opening the European Union to many ex-communist Eastern European nations, potentially reshaping not only the political makeup, but also the economy of the continent.
