The strange case of Iraninan Uranium, with dire implications for the world, is taking more twists and turns.

While Iran has notified the AEIE it intends to mount 3,000 centrifuges to produce enriched uranium others claim it is not nearly capable of doing any such thing: “Nuclear plans in chaos as Iran leader flounders.” Inside Iran significant voices (i.e. clerical) have been raised against the President’s drive to rub his future nukes in the world’s face, worried that his following Sadam Hussein’s lead in boasting of what he has not in order to cow the neighbors may wind up with similar results: bombing and invasion.

Meanwhile, in Georgia, south of Russia, it is revealed a year after the fact that a Russian had been arrested in February, 2006 for having 100 grams of enriched uranium in his britches. While this is certainly possible, and scary as hell, none of the stories I have read specified how he was carrying the deadly stuff, and how it was discovered. One story even carried a picture of a plastic baggie –as though it were marijuana. I don’t think so: enriched uranium — and 100 grams is enough for 4 nuclear devices — would fry his testicles in a matter of minutes. Funny thing is that Russian authorities are calling the arrest a provocation and a big setup rather then being curious about the facts of the case — which, if true, should worry them as much as us. Much more likely than a nuclear bomb is the use of thimble fulls of the stuff in ordinary, say car, bombs to be disbursed whither the force of the blast takes it.

And what is the only significant nuclear power in the world, the US, doing to lessen the threat of a nuclear arms race? Why developing smaller, more powerful weapons itself, while planning to carry out open air tests, called Divine Strake of all things, to monitor fall out and blast patterns. Fortunately the good citizens of Utah are up in arms.