From: Hermit (hidden@lucifer.com)
Date: Fri Sep 20 2002 - 16:48:15 MDT
"Red Mercury." Heh.
Most of the time, for "Red Mercury" read Tritium (used in night-sights, on
watches and as an accelerator to convert "atom bombs" into Hydrogen bombs).
In the mid 1980s, Israel was quite happy to provide Tritium to South Africa
in exchange for weapons grade nuclear materials. The Tritium was shipped by
Safair in containers labelled "Mercury Oxide" in order to avoid attention
from the many curious eyes watching transactions between the two countries.
By the late 80s, South Africa was working on various projects with the
Soviet Union, and a barter deal was established where Tritium was shipped to
the Soviet Union in payment for other things more useful (mainly aircraft
engines) to a currency strapped South Africa. For whatever reason (I suspect
because nobody could be bothered to change the labels), the "Red Mercury"
label was perpetuated, and possibly due to the propensity of peripherally
involved BOSS barflies to blab in barter for beer, the by now antiquated
cover story appears to have been picked up by the Russian Mafia. At which
point the more lunatic fringe confidence tricksters of the Russian
underground began attempting to sell Mercury Oxide, Mecuric Iodide and
Mercury with red colorants to anyone willing to listen - usually agents of
the MVD, FIB, Minatom or FIS. Naturally the materials they touted was hyped
in order to improve the market value, and by the time that they were done
(and the story reached the press sometime in the early 90s), "Red Mercury"
had become the weapon to end all weapons, Allegedly a substance that might
do anything from fusing Deutrium and Tritium directly, to causing explosive
outbreaks of pimples.
In fact, as with almost all of the stories of smuggled nuclear material, the
value was as imaginary as the Curie count - except to the media - who hyped
the possible dangers even more than the more honest confidence tricksters
had done. Which in a bizarre twist resulted in a vast increase in the value
of Mercury Oxide (commonly used on the backs of mirrors), largely instigated
by the outrageous prices which Western "intellegence" agencies were prepared
to pay for it...
Regards
Hermit
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