Netanyahu: Deal with Iran a ‘historic mistake,’ Israel not bound by it
The most preposterous thing in this story is that it could mean a “suitcase nuke” going off in New York in 5 years. A 20% enriched u-235 weapon would weigh thousands of pounds and even then likely not be very effective without lots of experimental explosions to refine the triggering explosion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_mass
Iran has agreed to take the 20% U235 material and dilute it back to 5%. (U233 does not exist in nature – it is a byproduct from things only the US has done)
The “suitcase nuclear bomb” is a red herring and well beyond the capabilities of Iran far into the future.
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/News/DoSuitcaseNukesExist.html
You need plutonium or 90+ percent U235 and even so, it would weigh at least 100 pounds and be only in the range far less than 1 kiloton. Russia claimed to have such things, but there is little proof they exist. This article includes a “mockup” device of what the CIA thinks one would look like to scare Congress and the American Public. Uranium and plutonium are extremely heavy elements. If that device were real, you couldn’t hold it in the air with one hand.
I’ve long had this theory that Barack Obama and / or his handlers are working from a script to make him a martyr, reliving the basic narrative of the life of Jesus – and triggering a race war that destroys the US from the inside. Don’t be surprised in 2000 years if humans are rubbing prayer beads and praying to Ann Dunham.
Hard to pin anything on Iran. It is my belief that they would much rather supply materials to “clients”. This is the regime with the belief in the 12th Imam – ushering in the end of the “unclean” world. If they can further that cause by selling materials for bombs, I think they have no problem with it. Let’s remind ourselves that this is also meant to distract from the Obamacare train wreck.
BTW – U233, is that a typo? U-233 is pretty worthless for anything – you can produce it in a fission reactor, but good luck separating it. U-235 does exist in nature – about .711% naturally occurring. Regardless, Art is correct – a suitcase nuke is a figment of our imagination.
The remark about 233 was not really connected with any context – the significance is that the quantity of material you need for super criticality is less if you use 233 in your “suitcase nuke”.
I remember a discussion about this a long time ago – my guess is it was on Art Bell or maybe an interview with Tom Clancy. If the Russians actually did have such devices, they would require constant maintenance to keep them able to function as designed. I forget the specifics, but the kind of high power explosives you need to compress the core deteriorate over time, especially if in contact with the fissionable material.
A good read: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-25/ron-paul-asks-can-karzai-save-us
Amen. Where the hell are the 2008 Obamabots who thought Obama would have all the troops out of Afghanistan after we killed Osama Bin Ladin? (if he ever even existed)
Everyone knows the Republican party is about to fragment – the events of the past week really could create a huge fault line between the libertarians and the people who want war in the Middle East for whatever their various reasons. I wonder how far Obama and Kerry can push this issue until the pro-Israel money and voting block pushes back on him big time – but are they going to become Republicans? Seems unlikely.