Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

ISIS's Hunt For a Bogus Superweapon

Posted by samzenpus on from the free-energy-cannon dept.

schnell writes: The New York Times Magazine has a fascinating story about ISIS efforts to get their hands on a mysterious and powerful superweapon called Red Mercury. The problem is that by consensus among scientific authorities, Red Mercury doesn't exist. And yet that hasn't stopped the legend of Red Mercury, touted by sources from Nazi conspiracy theorists to former Manhattan Project scientists, as having magical properties. Middle East weapons traders have even spun elaborate stories for its properties (ranging from thermonuclear explosive properties to sexual enhancement) and origins and sources (from Soviet weapons labs to Roman graveyards). What can account for the enduring myth of Red Mercury — is it rampant scientific illiteracy, the power of urban legend and shared myth, or something else?

3 of 330 comments (clear)

  1. Whoa hold your horses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Are you telling me a group of religious fundamentalists are scientifically illiterate??

  2. Maybe... by sstern · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Maybe they're thinking of Ice-9?

    --
    --Steve
  3. Re: Islam's relationship to modern science by GCsoftware · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, because Shariah does not allow a valid Caliph (whom al-Baghdadi is, btw - he meets all the qualifications including being Qurayshi, the first real Caliph since like the Abbasids) to recognise any borders or accept any peace treaties longer than 10 years.

    It's the duty of the Caliph to wage Jihad and conquer as much as possible territory to be included in Dar al-Islam - should he not do so, he would no longer be worthy of bays'a [allegiance] of Muslims.

    It's not so much lebensraum but rather territory that hasn't yet been occupied by the Ummah (basically the nation that is Muslim).

    This is the hardcore Salafi doctrine by which people like Daeesh operate by and it's theologically valid, though batshit insane.

    HOWEVER, only about 70-80% of Muslims are Sunnis and of those maybe 10-15% are Salafis.

    So no, the "mohammedic brutalism" will not be carried with them - they've seen what life under a Caliphate is like and they want the hell out of there.

    I can say this with some certainty as during my last 3 years in Beirut (which BTW has more Syrian refugees than ANY Western city) say that the Daeesh are a bunch of psychopathic foreign assholes led by an eloquent sociopath from Baghdad.