About Moscow's lunar mines:

One really easy way to spot a scam is to look for "helium-3," "fusion," and "lunar" in the same sentence. Someday, just maybe, the technology might be available to make it a serious prospect, but that's many decades away at best.

So for the moment, remember that another term for "helium-3" is "snake oil."

Posted by: Zmeya at January 28, 2006 1:04 PM

WMDs in Syria? Spare me. My advice to any Iraqi looking for a free, all expenses paid trip to Washington, DC, is to head for the nearest U.S. emmbassy and tell them you know -- you really, really know this time -- where Saddam's WMDs are: Liechtenstein.

Doesn't matter how loopy your claims are, there'll be some halfwit GOP/neocon functionary to wine you and dine you at U.S. taxpayer expense while you're in town, and if youu're really good/out there you'll get to hang out with GWB at the WH (although, "The Preznit does not recall ever meeting Mr...").

Then the CIA'll put you on the payroll with a generous stipend and a cool secret agent name like "Oddball". It'll be great! Just tell 'em what they want to hear.

After the dust settles we'll leave behind six Marines and a goat to keep the peace (Rumsfeld says that's plenty, and if the Marines want more goats all they have to do is ask), and to show our gratitude we'll make sure you’re democratically elected Minister of Cheese -- or whatever it is they produce there.

No WMDs in Liechtenstein, either? No problem. Those sneaky little Liechtensteinies probably put them all in a Chevy conversion van just before we invaded and drove them to... to... ARUBA! Just say your cousin Ahmed (CIA codename Whifflebat) saw them do it.

Whatever.

Posted by: FirstCav at January 28, 2006 4:52 AM

The Helium-3 idea has been floating around for a while, but from what I remember, it's easier to acheive D-T fusion than He-3 fusion. Since they haven't harnessed the first, the second is pretty unlikely. 2020 is a pretty tight timeframe and the Russian space programs are always scrounging for cash. Bottom line: it's a trial balloon, looking for investors it will not find.

As for the NSA: I judge them on the facts when they give me some. For now, I'll suspect the worst about secret government, as the Founding Fathers strongly advised us to do.

Posted by: James at January 27, 2006 6:25 PM

NSA program falls to pieces?

Yeah. Yawn. A still-classified program is 'deconstructed' by alawyer during his lunch-break.

Spare us the Sophistry, focus on defense technology.

Posted by: Brad at January 27, 2006 5:34 PM

I had a problem with the cites in my post below. Here they are:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2003/030315-satellites01.htm

http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/a-list/2002w46/msg00021.htm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/11/wsadd11.xml

Posted by: Phila at January 27, 2006 1:03 PM