by JWdaughter 318 Replies latest social current
If Iran really wanted a nuke - they could buy them on black market from the shattered Soviet Union.
Well, I think the reality of things is a bit more complicated than the plot of the television show of '24' this season.
Purchasing a black market nuke doesn't make one a 'Nuclear Power'. So, if a country really wants to be a nuclear power, they get into the production business (I guess).
As I have stated sanctions rigorously enforced will damage the Iranian regime, whether it changes them is another matter, the lessons of history are encouraging, look at Libya and South Africa. .
It is so not a surprise that Obama is putting bunker busting bombs in forward bases.
BTW it is my very limited understanding that that you can not buy nuclear weapons from the black market very readily, and that if you could they need sophisticated guidance systems to be used on rockets.
David
It is so not a surprise that Obama is putting bunker busting bombs in forward bases.
Indeed. It's a must if you're really keeping "all options" on the table. Plus it's one of the big sticks that one must carry when speaking softly.
The U.S. has backed away from pursuing a number of tough measures against Iran in order to win support from Russia and China for a new United Nations Security Council resolution on sanctions, according to people familiar with the matter.
Among provisions removed from the original draft resolution the U.S. sent to key allies last month were sanctions aimed at choking off Tehran’s access to international banking services and capital markets, and closing international airspace and waters to Iran’s national air cargo and shipping lines, according to the individuals.
. . .
The current resolution still would target major power centers in Iran, in particular the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country’s elite military force, according to a person familiar with the draft. It would also stiffen a broad range of existing sanctions, including the search and seizure of suspicious cargo bound for Iran through international waters and a ban on states offering financial assistance or credits for trade with Iran. If approved, they would be the most stringent measures Iran has faced.
Yet the original U.S. draft would have gone much further. The cargo sanctions initially named Iran Air and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and demand a blanket ban of their airplanes and ships from other countries’ airspace or territorial waters. The revised version calls for interdiction only of shipments that would evade already-existing sanctions.
The earlier resolution would have made it difficult for Iran to insure imports and exports of oil and other essential commodities, by barring foreign insurers from serving international transport contracts from Iran. The new draft calls only for unspecified “additional steps” to enforce current sanctions on insurance.
The previous draft would also have barred Iran’s access to international capital markets by prohibiting foreign investment in Iranian bonds. The country hasn’t traditionally relied on debt markets, but earlier this month a state-owned Iranian bank, Bank Mellat, announced an offer to sell bonds valued at €1 billion ($1.35 billion) to fund development of natural-gas field in South Pars. The new draft makes no mention of Iranian bonds.
. . .
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704266504575142073816248844.html
Six months after the revelation of a secret nuclear enrichment site in Iran , international inspectors and Western intelligence agencies say they suspect that Tehran is preparing to build more sites in defiance of United Nations demands.
The United Nations inspectors assigned to monitor Iran’s nuclear program are now searching for evidence of two such sites, prompted by recent comments by a top Iranian official that drew little attention in the West, and are looking into a mystery about the whereabouts of recently manufactured uranium enrichment equipment.
In an interview with the Iranian Student News Agency, the official, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had ordered work to begin soon on two new plants. The plants, he said, “will be built inside mountains,” presumably to protect them from attacks.
“God willing,” Mr. Salehi was quoted as saying, “we may start the construction of two new enrichment sites” in the Iranian new year, which began March 21.
The revelation that inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency , the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, now believe that there may be two new sites comes at a crucial moment in the White House’s attempts to impose tough new sanctions against Iran.
. . .
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/world/middleeast/28nuke.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
Further to this is Obama's reduction in nuclear warheads with Russia, this will put further pressure on Iran and North Korea. with Russia backing sanctions.
This is an interesting interview Robert Fisk had with Pakistan's most wanted man. Fisk resides in Beirut and very knowledgeable about The Middle East, his opinions and observations are interesting.
David
I can't wait to see all the Bush bashers defend Obama when America bombs the crap out of Iran and kill all the innocents when they do.
It is inevitable.
It will just be interesting to see the reaction from the Obama lovers.
P.S. Yeah, yeah, I'm going to hear the no WMD argument but the whole world thought they were in Iraq.
Yeah, yeah, I'm going to hear the no WMD argument but the whole world thought they were in Iraq.
I knew there were no WMDs, the whole thing stunk from day one.
Philip
PEC,
IF the U.S. decides to start another war, folks in both parties will stay on message.
5th Generation are you serious??
The Brits taught Saddam how to use his chemical weapons on his own dissidents and Iran. We sold him a very expensive ( to him) Air defense system.
The Iranian regime is odious and pernicious, of that there is no doubt, so are so many others, noticeably Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and many others.Will the US invade the House of Saud, from where all the 9/11 bombers originated?
The American right are by and large disingenuous from what I can see, they portray themselves as patriots and want the people to rally around the President unless he is a democratically elected president who is a Democrat, then they call him a socialist and many other inane epithets and try to undermine him, how patriotic is that?
The USA and The West has by the far the best answer to any monolithic regime such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, hard won freedom and a democracy that works
David
