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Posts Tagged ‘Nuclear Weapons’

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The Country is in the Best of Hands II, Nuclear Edition

by Iron Fist ( 74 Comments › )
Filed under Military, North Korea, Nuclear Weapons at November 21st, 2010 - 3:30 pm

While the country whittle away the time deciding whether or not to put up with serial molestation as the price of avoiding profiling in Airport security, another grim event has occurred halfway around the world:

Scientist: N. Korea Secretly Builds New Nuclear Facility

Published November 21, 2010| Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has secretly and quickly built a new, highly sophisticated facility to enrich uranium, according to an American nuclear
scientist, raising fears that the North is ramping up its atomic program despite international pressure.

The scientist, Siegfried Hecker, said in a report posted Saturday that he was taken during a recent trip to the North’s main Yongbyon atomic complex to a facility with a small industrial-scale uranium enrichment facility. The facility had 2,000 recently completed centrifuges, he said, and the North told him it was producing low-enriched uranium meant for a new reactor.

Hecker, a former director of the U.S. Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory who is regularly given rare glimpses of the North’s secretive nuclear program, acknowledged that it was not clear what North Korea stood to gain by showing him the formerly secret area.

North Korea, the evil stepchild of China that Clinton, Albright, and (of course) Jimmy Carter fixed for us in the ’90s is back and badder (and madder) than ever. This is fresh off of the North sinking a South Korean warship (the classic casus belli that we simply politely ignored, projecting the weakness that Obama is coming to be known for) and at a time of potential unrest as Kim Jong Il’s son is being prepared to take the reigns of power in the “People’s Democratic Republic” hereditary fiefdom. There is really no way of knowing what the North Koreans think to gain by revealing this. They are like the wind, they blow hot or cold seemingly at random. Other than unremitting hostility towards the West, they have no apparently consistent policies, aims, or goals.

But their revealing this at this time is interesting. It shows just how terribly Obama’s “New Tone” policy is failing all over the world. As I said, Obama is projecting weakness like a limping wildebeest on the African plain, and the lions and jackals are gathering. Elections have consequences, and Obama is a multiple-failures kind of guy. While we are being sexually assaulted in the name of security from terrorists at home, it is comforting to know that that same level of competence is keeping watch on nuclear proliferation abroad.

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Posted in Military, North Korea, Nuclear Weapons | 74 Comments »

The Face of Nuclear Proliferation

by Iron Fist ( 106 Comments › )
Filed under Iran, Military, Nuclear Weapons, Politics, Russia, Venezuela at October 26th, 2010 - 9:08 am

Lest anyone missed it, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, long on life support, has become un-officially obsolete. Iran is taking the final steps to become a “peaceful” nuclear power under the treaty, but the enrichment centrifuges keep spinning and spinning.

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran has begun loading fuel into the core of its first nuclear power plant on Tuesday, one of the last steps to realizing its stated goal of becoming a peaceful nuclear power, state-run Press TV reported on Tuesday.

A government spokesman said the fuelling showed Iran’s nuclear program was on track despite international sanctions aimed at forcing it to curb uranium enrichment activities which many countries fear are aimed at developing atomic weapons.

“Iran has started injecting fuel into the core of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr,” the English-language Press TV said on its website.

Amid great media fanfare, fuel rods were transported into the reactor building in August, but they were not inserted into its core and the plant’s start-up was delayed due to what were described as minor technical problems.

Iran expects the Russian-built 1,000-MW plant finally to begin generating energy by early next year.

Reuters

This is really past the drop-dead date for any pre-emptive strike by America to stop this plant from going on-line. Any strike from here on out will have radiological consequences for the Iranian people that are beyond anything that America would be willing to cause. While we (Blogmocracy, not necessary the US Government) might breathe a sigh of relief over an Iranian Chernoybl, American bombs are not going to help bring that about.

This does not, in theory at least, bring Iran any closer to nuclear weapons. The Iranian uraniam enrichment facilities are located elsewhere, and have not paused (to my knowledge) in their operation. It is the enrichment facilities at Natanz (and perhaps elsewhere) that arre the biggest potential building blocks in an Iranian Manhatten Project. So why the fuss?

Simply put, this lets the nuclear proliferation genie out of the bottle. If the Islamic Republic of Iran has a nuclear program (the largest exporter of terrorism on the planet), and the world acquieses, who, therefore, may not? Other than America, of course, but that is a domestic issue and not a matter of proliferation as we are already a nuclear power. Venezuela is the next nation in the process to build nuclear energy facilities with Russian technology and assistance:

Russia first offered Venezuela nuclear power in 2008, during an intense spell of anti-Western sentiment in Moscow after the war with Georgia. The agreement on Friday fleshed out that offer.

It specified that the Russian state nuclear power company, Rosatom, would build one nuclear plant with two large pressurized water reactors to generate power, and one small research reactor to make medical isotopes and what was described as nuclear materials that could be useful as pesticides for agriculture.

Mr. Medvedev said Friday that Russia would help Venezuela build “an entire range of energy opportunities.” He added that “even such an oil- and gas-rich country as Venezuela needs new sources of energy.”

New York Times (requires login)

Nuclear pesticides? That is a new one for me, but that is what the article says.

With an active reactor in Iran and plans for one in Venezulea, it would seem that many rising American enemies are on their way to nuclear power. For peaceful purposes, of course. No one should be concerned. After all, the Russians are in charge. What could possible go wrong?

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Posted in Iran, Military, Nuclear Weapons, Politics, Russia, Venezuela | 106 Comments »

A lesson of the harms of ‘compassionate conservatism’

by Delectable ( 111 Comments › )
Filed under Hezballah, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, Palestinians at April 9th, 2010 - 12:00 pm

Certain leftist bloggers pretend that because George Shultz (former Secretary of State under Reagan) apparently is happy with Obama’s call for the USA to unilaterally disarm at a time when the Islamic Republic of Iran is seeking nukes, that Reagan would have agreed with Shultz. This is taken as ipso facto evidence that Reagan would have been seen as some wild-eyed liberal by today’s standards. I believe it is important to understand how fallacious that way of thinking really is, as it serves as a lesson of the harms of compassionate conservatism.

Shultz

Just because George Shultz says something does not mean Reagan would have agreed. And even if Reagan would have agreed (which we have no idea about), it doesn’t make it right. I don’t worship at the alter of Reagan. Moreover, in any case, Shultz was responsible for sending in the U.S. Marines into Lebanon during the 1980s, and it was not to help Israel finish the job, but rather to PREVENT Israel from finishing the job. He literally sent in the U.S. Marines to “protect” the armed ‘Palestinian’ terror camps in Lebanon. And it was also Shultz that opened up a “dialogue” (and legitimization) of the terror group, the PLO. Source. This is Shultz’s legacy and what he remains most famous for.

It is ultimately impossible to know what Reagan would have believed vis-a-vis unilateral disarmament, as practiced under Obama. And certainly there is no reason to think Shultz’s opinion in 2010 is reflective of what Reagan’s opinion would have been in 2010. After all, Frank Gaffney was responsible for Reagan’s nuclear policy, and he has an exactly opposite opinion than George Schultz.

In fact, the U.S. Marines’ presence in Lebanon helped to catapult Hizballah to the world stage. The ‘Palestinians’ were shooting at Shia Lebanese, and mass murdering them in the 1970s and 1980s. This is what brought about the rise of Amal, which was one of the predecessors of Hizballah – aka, ‘Palestinian’ violence against Shia Lebanese! The U.S. Marines came into Lebanon in order to protect the ‘Palestinians,’ and insodoing, ended up killing scores of Druze in the Schuf Mountains. Source. This was later used as justification for the Hizballah attack on the Marine barracks in 1983, which killed 241 U.S. Marines.

It is a travesty that the U.S. Marines were ever sent to Lebanon to begin with, which made them sitting ducks for jihadists. They were not sent in to protect the Maronite Christians, or to aid Israel in its fight against the PLO. At least that would be understandable, from an American interests perspective. The U.S. Marines were sent in to prevent Israel from finishing its war against Arafat and the PLO, who were harming not only Israel (lobbing rockets into the country), but also the Lebanese (mass murdering scores of Lebanese civilians), and Americans (American diplomats were killed by the PLO in Khartoum).

Lebanon is George Shultz’s primary legacy. The very State Department page on George Shultz literally goes into detail about Lebanon, more than anything else, as the legacy that he is known for.

George Shultz’s thinking is part of what is wrong with this country.

It is more critical than ever before to reject this “compassionate conservatism,” which Shultz represents so well, and to move towards a new policy which combines concern for human rights with a concern for what is in the best interests of America.

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Posted in Hezballah, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, Palestinians | 111 Comments »

Michael Ledeen article on Iranian timelines and counter-protest at the Waldorf-Astoria in NYC tomorrow

by Delectable ( 44 Comments › )
Filed under Iran, Islamists, Israel, Leftist-Islamic Alliance, Politics at March 8th, 2010 - 4:00 pm

This is a must-read by Michael Ledeen about Iranian clicks and the nuclear timeline.

Click here to read.

However, before you click there, please read this below about a counter-protest by the Waldorf Astoria tomorrow. I hope you can make it!

NCYI JOINS OTHERS IN URGENT CALL TO MOBILIZE IN MANHATTAN MARCH 9:

URGENT COUNTER-PROTEST ,
TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 5-7 P.M.
TO ALL THOSE WHO CARE ABOUT ISRAEL –
IT IS URGENT THAT YOU ATTEND THE COUNTER-PROTEST RALLY.

from Americans for a Safe Israel
Across from the WALDORF ASTORIA – PARK AVENUE, between 49th & 50th , NYC

On Tuesday, March 9, The Friends of the IDF is having their annual dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC. We have learned that there will be an Arab demonstration outside the hotel, defaming the IDF and Gabi Ashkenazi, the Chief of the IDF General Staff.

We will be handing out information, holding signs, Israeli and American flags, and alerting the public as to the true nature of Fatah, Hamas and the PA. The Hamas terrorist acts against Christians and Fatah, the use of women and children as human shields, the firing of rockets from mosques, homes, and schools in order to deter IDF retaliation, the misinformation and hatred being fed to Arab children in their classrooms and through PA media, will all be detailed.

We’ll be highlighting the IDF and Israeli assistance to the Arabs in the fields of medical care, education, and providing a standard of living for Arab Israelis that is the highest in the Middle East. In addition, in opposition to the recent “apartheid” claims against Israel, the Israeli Arabs enjoy full democratic rights in the Knesset , in their religious observances, and in the media.

A number of grass roots activist groups have come together to counter-protest on that evening. They include Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI, Get Out The Facts, Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam, National Council of Young Israel, Shalom International, Stand With Us, World Committee for the Land of Israel, Zionist Organization of America/ZOA . Individuals such as Assemblyman Dov Hikind, Lori Lowenthal Marcus, and Andy Upton are also working with us. Others continue to join. PLEASE BE THERE WITH US – MARCH 9, 5-7 P.M.

————————-

As far as the Ledeen goes, please click through and read his whole article, which is very well-written. But here is the choice “money quote”:

As for the other clock, the one ticking off the lifespan of the Islamic Republic, the mullahs continue their murderous and sadistic campaign against the citizens of Iran, and the citizens search for new ways to show their contempt.  The regime relentlessly arrests dissidents and accuses them of actions that only a fanatical regime in crisis could concoct.  For example, they went after Mohammed Maliki, 76 yrs old, the first chancellor of Tehran U after the Revolution, and arrested him during treatment for prostate cancer.  Maliki said to his captors [3], “I was afraid you would let me die in my bed,” and has refused to “repent” or confess.  He’s accused of being a Mohareb, one who fights against God.  They execute such men in Iran nowadays for criticizing the regime.  I honor them, and wish my leaders would do the same, instead of pretending to have a serious Iran policy.

While we’re at it, let’s honor Omid Montazeri [4].  His father was one of the victims of the mass murder of political prisoners in 1988.  Omid is a blogger, journalist and a final year law student at Allameh University.  His articles on cultural issues have been published by many official newspapers.  His mother was arrested shortly after Christmas, and Omid went to the Intelligence Ministry to inquire about her, whereupon he was thrown into the hellhole, “tried” without access to a lawyer, and condemned to six years.

And let’s honor the Kurds, victims of mass brutality [5] in which the Turks and the Syrians are surely complicit, and about which the usual Western accomplices to evil are typically silent.

Some of those pious people who bleed oceans of ink for the sweet “victims of Guantanamo” would be more convincing if they could spare a few harsh words for the monsters who govern Iran, and who seek our death and destruction.

Indeed. There are so many “outrage monkeys” out there, but where is the outrage at the real horrors going on around the world? Sadly, it is lacking. Why is it that ‘feminists’ and ‘gay activists’ have been so silent vis a vis Iran? Why, the ‘Columbia Queer Alliance’ [at Columbia University] even claimed that Ahmadinejad’s claim that there are ‘no gays in Iran’ was an excuse to ‘reelevaluate sexuality!’

We live in a topsy turvy world, where the good is demonized. Please come out tomorrow and support the good, outside the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.

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Posted in Iran, Islamists, Israel, Leftist-Islamic Alliance, Politics | 44 Comments »

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