Red Mercury sale reported in SIPDIS cable???

Ok, so I was browsing the cablegate files, and I came across something interesting in a cable addressing the smuggling of nuclear material in Burundi. The following quote nearly made me fall off my chair:

(C/NF) Additionally, at some time in the past the Catholic mission in Bukavu bought 12 g of red mercury from the cache. There is no indication that any other materials, specifically the Uranium, have been sold.

Source

I note that the authour doesn't qualify the statement with what 'Red Mercury' is purported to be, but states it as a matter of fact. I also find it interesting that the report of Red Mercury does not seem to detract from the overall credibility of the source, and the post seems to take the informant seriously.

For those of you who haven't heard about the Red Mercury 'myth', here's an excerpt from wikipedia:

Red mercury is a theoretical substance of uncertain composition purportedly used in the creation of nuclear bombs, as well as a variety of unrelated weapons systems. Samples obtained from arrested would-be terrorists invariably consisted of nothing more than various red dyes or powders of little value, which some suspect was being sold as part of a campaign intended to flush out potential nuclear smugglers. The hoax was first reported in 1979 and was commonly discussed in the media in the 1990s, with prices for this substance as high as $500,000 per kilogram being reported.[

Red Mercury

So what do you think? Still 'theoretical', but classified and reported in SIPDIS posts? Hmmmmmm....

here, from the wiki:

In the Dark•Matter role-playing game, red mercury does exist, and the player characters may find themselves having to hunt down terrorists who may want to use it for weapons of mass destruction. In keeping with the conspiracy theory and unidentified flying object (UFO) themes of the game, while red mercury is indeed usable as a seemingly impossibly potent nuclear fuel, it's actually originally meant to be a foodstuff for a bizarre alien race. The red mercury on Earth arrived when that species visited, and humans have been trying to duplicate it (with very limited success) since.

it could be that as much as anything else on that page. I can see the vatican wanting some.

reply to post by Khaaaaaan!!


I dunno...I just find the wording interesting.

If i'm holding a diplomatic post reporting back to State on the possible sale/stockpile of purported nuclear materials, and hear the term 'Red Mercury' from my informant, I likely become instantly distructful of my source and reflect my misgivings in my report.

Unless, of course, there IS such a thing as Red Mercury...then I nonchalantly continue on...

reply to post by quietone77


S&F.

I don't know about the color, but Scientific American reported earlier this month that an isotope of Mercury derived from Thorium is in fact fissionable.

en.wikipedia.org...-0

reply to post by mydarkpassenger


Thanks for the link! I've always found the story fascinating,and it's interesting to know there's some truth to it.
I know next to nothing about metallurgy/atomics, but find it strange that mercury has a fissionable isotope. I always thought mercury was just mercury.

reply to post by quietone77


I do believe that Red Mercury exists, and that is why the Heldeberg was brought down.

en.wikipedia.org...

Now, I don't know if the Heldeberg was brought down because something happened on the plane with it, or if it was shot down because it had this substance on it? Let's not forget, SA and Israel helped each other with the A-Bomb. We (SA) Supplied the Uranium, they (Israel) supplied the tech know how.

Now - Think about this!

An extensive salvage operation was mounted in order to try to recover the flight data recorders, one of which was successfully recovered from a depth of 4,900 metres (16,100 ft)—the deepest successful salvage operation ever conducted.

This was 1987

Air France flight from Brazil:

The investigation into the accident is severely hampered by the lack of any eyewitness accounts and radar tracks, as well as the airplane's black boxes, which have not been recovered from the ocean floor.

This was 2009

22 years later, with better technology, and they can't find the recorders (BB's) from this flight??

However, in 1987 they recovered the BB's from the Heldeberg at record depths?

My question to my fellow ATS members is this: "WHY?" Makes no sense at all, does it

c'mon...it could be code for anything...what?... you think these people just come out and give actual words and actual meanings in every bit of communication?

Originally posted by mydarkpassenger
reply to post by quietone77

 

S&F.

I don't know about the color, but Scientific American reported earlier this month that an isotope of Mercury derived from Thorium is in fact fissionable.

en.wikipedia.org...-0

Star for you! Now this was supposedly only 'figured' out in 2010? It does give credence to the 'theory'. Or is it a theory?

reply to post by TortoiseKweek


Now THAT'S food for thought! Conjecture, at best...do you have any links for the theory that "The SADF was smuggling red mercury on the flight for its atomic bomb project".

This also brings to mind that ship that disappeared in the North Atlantic...what was it? The Ocean Star?

reply to post by jimmyx


Perhaps not, but I find it interesting that the author did not expicitly caveat that Red Mercury is a hypothetical substance.

I sure would of, unless I had knowledge to the contrary..but maybe thats just me.

reply to post by TortoiseKweek


Hopefully someone a little more knowledgeable in physics will pipe up and explain it.
On the face of it, 'fissionable' reads to me as capable of nuclear fission...the transmutation of matter into energy.
Whether or not this translates in to super-duper atomic weapon capability or not is beyond my meagre understanding of Physics..

Red Mercury has been used as a code word for stolen atomic materials.(weapons grade material)

One televised report indicated that the Soviet Union, which had a vested interest in nuclear non-proliferation, encouraged the KGB and GRU to arrange sting operations for the detection of those seeking to deal in nuclear materials. The Soviet intelligence services created a myth of the necessity of "red mercury" for the sorts of nuclear devices that terrorists and rogue governments might seek. This would provide a neat explanation for the sudden "appearance" of red mercury in the press, but it also seems difficult to understand why they would then publicly discount red mercury in what would appear to be a successful programme.
en.wikipedia.org...

The US seams to have gone along with the joke and now uses the term red mercury as a code word thus spreading the belief that there is a substance called red mercury and that its needed for atomic weapons.
This outs terrorist and others that try to buy it and subjects them to people selling red mercury costing them a lot of money.

www.reuters.com...

There was a Liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor, liquid metal fast reactor that used mercury as a coolant.
this mercury would be highly radioactive, very heavy and would fool people into thinking they had bomb material.
en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...

just heating a couple drops of this old reactor coolant and fuming the inside of a fake radioactive material container would let it appear to be real material when a geiger counter was run over the container.

Both Iraq and Iran tried to buy red mercury for years on the black market and this was a major clue that both were trying to build nuclear weapons

reply to post by ANNED

Red Mercury has been used as a code word for stolen atomic materials.(weapons grade material)

I've read that too. In the present instance, however, such code wording seems to be redundant as the subject matter of the SIPDIS post is about stolen nuclear materials.

One televised report indicated that the Soviet Union, which had a vested interest in nuclear non-proliferation, encouraged the KGB and GRU to arrange sting operations for the detection of those seeking to deal in nuclear materials. The Soviet intelligence services created a myth of the necessity of "red mercury" for the sorts of nuclear devices that terrorists and rogue governments might seek. This would provide a neat explanation for the sudden "appearance" of red mercury in the press, but it also seems difficult to understand why they would then publicly discount red mercury in what would appear to be a successful programme.

I've seen that one too. I've also read that 'Red' mercury is not due to any coloration of said mecury, but rather due to the origin in 'Red' Russia . If there is any truth to the myth, sounds like that would be an effective disinfo campaign, no?

The US seams to have gone along with the joke and now uses the term red mercury as a code word thus spreading the belief that there is a substance called red mercury and that its needed for atomic weapons. This outs terrorist and others that try to buy it and subjects them to people selling red mercury costing them a lot of money.

I call BS on this one, seems to me like fodder for public consumption. I expect 'terrorists' looking for nuclear materials know PRECISELY what they are looking for and exactly what to do with it...IMHO.

There was a Liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor, liquid metal fast reactor that used mercury as a coolant. this mercury would be highly radioactive, very heavy and would fool people into thinking they had bomb material. en.wikipedia.org... en.wikipedia.org... just heating a couple drops of this old reactor coolant and fuming the inside of a fake radioactive material container would let it appear to be real material when a geiger counter was run over the container.

Perhaps...I agree that faking nuclear material is achievable, even 'Red Mercury'. Once again, I think a serious 'end user' would not fall for the ruse...but this is all part of the myth, right?

Both Iraq and Iran tried to buy red mercury for years on the black market and this was a major clue that both were trying to build nuclear weapons

PURE bollocks. Please cite your authorities. Iraq had a domestic nuclear program, as does Iran. I would suggest that the 'major clue' you allude to was kicking out IAEA inspectors when confronted with evidence of diversion of nuclear materials for military purposes.

At ANY rate, you must admit there is a possibility of the existence of such a thing. I'm objective either way