[Al Ahram] Islamist gunnies are increasingly funding themselves through kidnapping, with al Qaeda's north African wing likely to have brought in tens of millions of dollars in ransoms in the past few years, a senior U.S. Treasury official said.
The United States estimates krazed killer organizations received $120 million in ransoms over the past decade, including to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in recent years, said David Cohen, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
Kidnapping for ransom was an "urgent threat", particularly in the Sahel, a belt of land spanning nearly a dozen of the world's poorest nations on the Sahara's southern rim, Cohen told news hounds in Berlin on Tuesday.
"It is what has become perhaps the most challenging and fastest growing technique that terrorist organizations, in particular the affiliates of al Qaeda in North Africa and in Yemen, have been using to fund themselves over the last couple of years."
Cohen said the average ransom had gone up consistently over the years and was in the range of $5 million per payment.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Seems like the whole stinking third world has figured out that kidnapping pays big rewards. It's gotta be one of the fastest growing cottage industries out there - or should we say "corrugated shack industries" :-)
[Bangla Daily Star] A motley group comprising local leaders of pro-Awami League organizations, BNP men, madrasa students and common people were allegedly behind the communal violence at Ramu on Saturday night.
Even some Rohingyas were among the attackers, who destroyed at least 12 temples and dozens of houses belonging to Buddhists in the overnight mayhem.
Shamim Ahsan Bulu, a social activist of Fatehkharpul at the upazila, tried to stop a violent procession in the area that night. He found a youth, who took part in an angry rally and later thrown a stone at him, to be a Rohingya.
Some other witnesses said they too had seen Rohingyas in processions around Saturday midnight.
There is a big Kawmi madrasa, Jama'aetul Ulum Al Islamia, with the central mosque of Ramu. Many say a procession had come out of it to join a rally of vandals.
Its principal denies any involvement of anybody from the madrasa in the anti-Buddhist campaign.
But Habib Ullah, a teacher of this madrasa, said they joined a procession around 9:00pm and came back at 11:00pm. They did not take part in vandalism, he claimed.
Nine teachers and 70 students of the madrasa had joined the demonstration, he added.
Habib said he did not see any derogatory picture of Koran, but joined the agitation just hearing about it. He later received the photo over his mobile phone.
Nazibul Islam, officer-in-charge of Ramu Police Station, also played a dubious role Saturday night.
Instead of taking instant step to ensure security of Buddhists, he was seen on the stage of a rally that night. The rally was organised to protest the Facebook posting of the anti-Islamic photo with which a Buddhist youth was tagged in.
The OC even made some provocative comments.
"I am a Mohammedan. I also should have joined the procession. But I am serving the law. I too am pained. Uttam [the Buddhist youth] will be placed in long-term storage Book 'im, Mahmoud! . Please have patience," a madrasa teacher, Ramjan Ali, quoted the OC as saying.
Ramjan's version was corroborated by many others.
Nazibul Islam was withdrawn from the cop shoppe yesterday, but until afternoon, other officers of the station knew nothing about it. They also did not know that Section 144 that bars gatherings has been called off.
Meanwhile, ...back at the revival hall, the SWAT team had finally arrived... four cases have been filed against 11 named and 300 to 400 unnamed persons for vandalism and sacrilege of destroying shrines.
These figures compare starkly against as many as 2,500 accused in another case filed for assaults on on-duty coppers during the violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2012 00:00 ||
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Abu Hamza should be spared extradition to the US on terrorism charges because his health has deteriorated so much in jail, the High Court has heard.
Lawyers for the Islamist cleric say he is suffering sleep deprivation and the effects of being confined in an "unrelentingly harsh environment" in HMP Belmarsh.
In a last-ditch appeal after European judges said he could be extradited, Hamza's legal team say the move should be put on hold until he can undergo an MRI scan.
If the medical tests go ahead and doctors then agree Hamza is unfit to plead, his lawyers say it would be "oppressive" and a breach of his human rights to send him for trial abroad.
The application for an injunction was made on Tuesday just days after the most senior judge in the country, The Lord Chief Justice, expressed "fury" at cases such as Hamza's that have dragged on for eight years.
It prompted claims by lawyers for the Home Secretary that Hamza, and four other suspects, were abusing the process of the courts by trying to store up appeal points in order to delay proceedings.
Pak Kil-yon, Pyongyang's vice-foreign minster, put the blame for the tense state of inter-Korean relations firmly on South Korea's conservative government and claimed the citizens of the North feel "shame" and "political terror."
Monday's speech was the first time a representative of North Korea has addressed the General Assembly since Fat Boy Kim Jong-un assumed power after the death of his father in December last year.
"Since taking office, the current South Korean government has caused the worst situation in North-South relations by making all inter-Korean agreements null and void," Pak said, referring to pacts with previous South Korean administrations that sought reconciliation between the two ideological enemies and an expansion of economic co-operation.
As opposed to anything Pudgy has done...
Describing relations between the two governments as in "total bankruptcy," Pak dismissed the South Korean government of Lee Myung-bak with the comment, "History will bring them to justice."
Neither the United States nor the UN escaped criticism, with Pak saying recent joint military manoeuvres between the US and South Korean troops were "reckless provocations."
"Today, due to the continued US hostile policy towards the DPRK, the vicious cycle of confrontation and aggravation of tensions is an ongoing phenomenon on the Korean Peninsula, which has become the world's most dangerous hot spot and where a spark of fire could set off a thermonuclear war," Pak said.
Responding to the UN Security Council's condemnation of a failed ballistic missile launch in April, Pak repeated the North's position that the launch was of a rocket to put a satellite into orbit and that it was "legitimate and peaceful." The UN criticism was "unjust," he added.
Pyongyang has recently stepped up its criticism of the South Korean government, a tactic analysts believe is designed to raise hostility against the present government ahead of a general election scheduled for December.
President Lee met with senior security advisers on Wednesday of last week and issued a request that North Korea refrain from attempts to influence the election.
North Korean state-run media have in recent days claimed that Seoul is attempting to provoke a war of aggression and that South Korean warships have entered the North's territorial waters and fired on fishing boats.
"The Lee regime is being driven into a tight corner in which it can no longer prolong its political life without committing any provocative act," KCNA reported. "Only miserable ruin and death await the Lee regime."
South Korean media are reporting that North Korean fighter jets have stepped up training flights since July, while artillery units in the west of the country are preparing for large-scale exercises and more submarines are putting to sea.
But this is when the Nork military traditionally trains up just prior to the harvest and winter.
Pyongyang's efforts to sow instability in the South may be having an effect, however, after a recent poll showed that nearly 66 per cent of people are unhappy with the Lee government's hard-line policies towards the North.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
"Only iff China wants it to happen" > AGREED.
Most Perts expect Japan + SDF to prevail in a solely Conventional war wid China over the Senkakus/Daoyus - OTOH, China will prevail iff it decides to use its Nukes, either Tactically in-theater, andor Strategically [read, US mil intervention vee Japan, Sino-US nuclear escalation].
China's aim is to force open permanent + unchallenged PLA access thru the Oki-Taiwan-PHIL corridor = "DRAGON TRIANGLE" from East China Sea into WESTPAC. BY DEFINITION, THIS MEANS OR INFERS A SINO-JAPANESE WAR OER THE SENKKAUS/DIAYUS WILL ALSO BE WAR FOR TAIWAN, OKINAWA ARCHIPELAGO, + THE DIAOYUS. Prolly also safe to say ditto as per Okinoroti
/Okinotorishima + other islets, shoals towards the Marianas.
IMO the Russians are well-aware of the PLA strategic threat vee a Sino-Japanese conflict to the Sea of Okhostk + Russian Far East in general.
------------
* See also WORLD NEWS > NORTH KOREA: HOSTILE US POLICIES MAKE KOREAS A HOTSPOT WHERE A SPARK COULD SET OFF NUCLEAR WAR | ... US WANTS TO OCCUPY ENTIRE KOREAN PENINUSLA AS STEPPINGSTONE TO DOMINATE ASIA.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > CHINA VOWS TO UPHOLD "ZERO TOLERANCE" OF TOKYO'S PROVOCATIONS.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > JAPANESE PM NODA DECLARES JAPAN WILL NEVER COMPROMISE WID CHINA ON DIAOYUDAI.
* SAME > TAIWAN TO DEPLOY CANNONS, MORTARS ON TAIPING ISLAND [aka ITU ABA] IN SOUTH CHINA SEA.
* CHINA DAILY FORUM > DIAOYUS ISLANDS IN THE HANDS OF JAPAN IS PRECURSOR TO RETURN OF NIPPONESE MILITARISM. SSSSSHHHH - Nukulaar, that is.
RELATED SAME > POSTER = asks WHAT WOULD TAIWAN DO AS PER ITS SOVEREIGN INTERESTS IFF JAPAN VOLUNTARILY OR FORCIBLY RETURNS THE DIAOYUS TO MAINLAND CHINA, NOT TO TAIWAN?
* SAME > POSTER COMMENTARY: WORDS ARE SUPERFLUOUS, WAR IS THE ONLY [real/realistic?] OPTION FOR CHINA.
* SAME > [Philippines] LOCAL REDS [Commies = New People'S Army] TO FIGHT WITH PHILIPPINE FORCES AGZ CHINESE AGRESSION.
Despite the PHIL's admittedly lack of naval or air power, Filipinos say China would be making a serious mistake by underestimating their willingness of Filipinos to defend their land or to fight any invading Chinese forces on land.
* SAME, TOPIX > US OPEN TO HAVING TROOPS IN NEW ZEALAND, iff Kiwi Govt. formally approves of such.
* More from TOPIX > CHINA LINES AROUND ISLANDS SUGGEST MORE CONFLICT [wid Japan] AHEAD.
UNCLOS = EEZ Map Wars.
* SAME, WORLD NEWS > CHINA SPEEDS UP CONSTRUCTION IN NEW SANSHA CITY.
PERTS, BLOGGERS = collectively agree for most part that China's new Sansha/Sashi City in South China Sea means that China has effec annexed the SPRATLYS [Nanshas], PARACELS [Xishas] + Dongsha Islands in same.
China + PLA is also in the pole position to block or deny the world trade-vital Straits of Malaccas to any enemy(s).
* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > US MILITARY CONFIRMS DEPLOYMENT OF TWO USN AIRCRAFT CARRIERS + ESCORT BATTLE GROUPS AND ONE US MARINE AIR-GROUND TASK FORCE TO EAST CHINA SEA.
US PCORRECTNESS = the USS STENNIS CVBG is ostensibly headed for the Persian Gulf - its just a weird-n-mysterious coincidence that its route take it by the East China Sea.
Looks like USS "HOLY GEORGE" USS "GW" CVBG may once again stare down the throat of the DPRK's = China's nuclear missle wrath???
On another note, the deployment of these naval assets should show Post-US, future World #1/Global El Supremo wannabe China why it needs similar capabilities to be what it wants to be.
* SAME > NUCLEAR WAR TO SAVE RUSSIA? SCHOLARS: SINO-JAPANESE CONVENTIONAL WAR OVER THE DAOYU ISLANDS MAY EXPAND TO THREATEN SAKHALIN + RUSSIAN FAR EAST. CHINESE GROUND INVASION OF JAPAN FROM SAKHALIN TO PACIFY STUBBORN JAPAN.
* WAFF > [StrategyPage] CHINA + JAPAN TALK WAR.
ARTIC = ...
- A MAJOR East Asian War, includ but not limited to China-vs-Japan War oer Diaoyus/Senkakus, could put the World in SUSTAINED ECON DEPRESSION.
- North Korea likely to exploit the situation and use it as a cover or excuse to attack SOuth Korea.
[Dawn] The administration of South Wazoo Agency has refused to allow the Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaaf to hold a rally in Kotkai area of the conflict-hit region.
"Neither the condition in Waziristan is favourable nor the political administration has the capacity to provide security to about 100,000 participants of the rally in Kotkai," an official said on Monday.
He said the administration had intelligence reports that beturbanned goons might attack the rally and the authorities could not take a risk because local people were also opposing the planned demonstration in their area.
"The administration has received applications from local people against the plan to hold the rally in Kotkai," he said.
People displaced by violence in the area have recently been repatriated from camps.
The PTI is reported to have sought permission from the administration to allow its chief Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... to hold the rally in Kotkai, near the Jandola Frontier Region.
Local PTI leader Dost Muhammad met Political Agent Shahidullah at his office in Tank on Monday and discussed the matter.
Initially, the party had proposed to hold the rally in Spinkai Raghzai near Kotkai.
"The administration informed the PTI leader that it was not possible to allow political parties to hold any public meeting or rally in any part of South Waziristan," the official said.
Imran Khan said at a presser in Islamabad that a 30-member delegation of foreigners had arrived in the country to take part in the 'peace rally' in South Waziristan.
He said the Mehsud, Burki and Bhittani ...a Pashtun tribe centered on Jandola, in Tank district. They are the hereditary enemies of the Mehsuds, unless there are furriners or infidels around, in which case they share ammunition and targeting data... tribes had welcomed the plan and pledged to provide security.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2012 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Around 200 people demonstrated in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday to demand the resignation of Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... Waving flags and shouting "Abu Mazen (Abbas) leave," they marched from the central Al-Manara Square towards the presidential headquarters. They were blocked by police and there were some scuffles before the marchers dispersed.
The march had been called to denounce the arrest in the West Bank, controlled by Abbas's Fatah party, of partisans of the Islamist movement Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, and arrests in the Hamas-controlled Gazoo Strip of Fatah sympathisers.
But there was also social unrest in the West Bank last month, with Abbas's Paleostinian Authority coming under criticism for high inflation, particularly of petrol.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2012 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
according to the Atlantic (nice graph at the link)
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How Does a Currency Drop 60% in 8 Days? Just Ask Iran
By Matthew O'Brien
Oct 2 2012, 6:21 PM ET
In case you were wondering, this is what an economy dying looks like. More specifically, it's what a currency dying looks like. It turns out the latter implies the former, as Iran is quickly finding out.
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/03/2012 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
Problem is, it probably won't change the regime's behavior one iota. What's North Korea's currency worth? We've had economic sanctions on them for 60 years. Iran will just tough it out. I'm not aware of a case yet where economic sanctions resulted in a change in behavior.
Sure, it will make the regime less popular with the people, but they rose up once and we did nothing to support them. Iran farts in Obama's general direction.
#2
Iran is not North Korea.
They know all about the outside world. Look for Iran to do something rash or daring in the next few weeks.
Desperate people do desperate things.
The Persian people might just get mad enough this time...
#4
Iran Import goods industrial raw materials and intermediate goods (46%), capital goods (35%), foodstuffs and other consumer goods (19%), technical services
Much of industry will grind to a halt and unemployment jump. Iran isn't a big food importer, so no bread riots in the short term.
The semiofficial Mehr news agency says the bazaar - the traditional commercial hub in Iran's capital - was closed for security reasons on Wednesday.
Iranian officials have faced increasing public anger over the plummeting rial and rising prices, blamed partly on Western sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program.
The Mehr report quoted Ahmad Karimi Isfahani, a bazaar official, as denying reports that merchants staged a protest.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2012 6:49 Comments ||
Top||
#6
fwiw, back in 1979, the Shah became unpopular among the merchants for various reasons (e.g., beating up bazaar owners, stealing produce).
So far, the anti regime protests in the Mullahcracy era have involved students and to some extent workers. However, the merchants have remained on the sideline and many of the merchants have cousins in the Iran Republican guard. If the merchants go anti regime, it is, as Joe Biden would say, a big f g deal
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/03/2012 9:15 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The midget from Iran was in america last week; he must of stopped by Ben Berniekies office for financial advice.
#10
Al-Jizz: Iranian riot police have clashed with protesters in the capital Tehran over the collapse of the rial, the country's currency, which has lost a third of its value against the dollar in a week.
Police on Wednesday reportedly fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators, including currency exchange dealers.
It was the first sign of public unrest over the plunging currency.
#12
@crosspatch - Supposedly sanctions helped South Africa drop apartheid. Dunno if that's true but that's the typical example given for the potential of sanctions to reform a regime..
Posted by: American Delight ||
10/03/2012 17:29 Comments ||
Top||
[Al Ahram] Syrian state-run television has bitterly criticised the leader of the Paleostinian bad boy group Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, for turning his back on Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... , his one-time protector.
Syria welcomed Hamas in 1999 after Jordanian authorities expelled its leader in exile, Khaled Meshaal, accusing him of using the country for illicit activities.
Meshaal and Assad's relationship, built on enmity to Israel, fractured as Assad cracked down on opposition protests that grew into an armed uprising. Meshaal shut down Hamas's offices in Damascus ...The capital of Iran's Syrian satrapy... in February and left the country.
"Syria embraced Meshaal like an orphan looking for shelter after other countries shut the door in his face," Syrian television said in a commentary broadcast on Monday evening.
"As long as you are in an emotional state regarding the suffering of the Syrian people, Meshaal, why did you not give the same due attention to the people of Paleostine ... in occupied territories?" TV said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2012 00:00 ||
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BEIRUT -- Syrian state-run television has bitterly criticized the leader of the Palestinian group Hamas for turning his back on President Bashar Assad, his one-time protector.
Syria welcomed Hamas in 1999 after Jordanian authorities expelled its leader in exile, Khaled Meshaal, accusing him of using the country for illicit activities. Meshaal and Assads relationship, built on enmity to Israel, fractured as Assad cracked down on opposition protests that grew into an armed uprising. Meshaal shut down Hamas offices in Damascus in February and left the country.
Syria embraced Meshaal like an orphan looking for shelter after other countries shut the door in his face, Syrian television said in a commentary. As long as you are in an emotional state regarding the suffering of the Syrian people, Meshaal, why did you not give the same due attention to the people of Palestine ... in occupied territories? TV said.
Syria and Iran formed an axis of resistance with Lebanons Hezbollah movement and Palestinian militant groups to oppose Israel.
But Hamas distanced itself from Assad last year as he cracked down on mainly Sunni protesters and rebels. Hamass political leadership fled moved to Egypt. Meshaal himself ran away moved to Qatar.
The verbal attack appears to be a reaction to Meshaals appearance at a conference of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogans ruling party on Sunday. Around half a million Palestinians live in Syria. Many have become disillusioned with Assad since fighting started in the Palestinian refugee districts of Yarmouk and Hajar Al-Aswad.
Paleos never miss an opportunity to make friends...
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2012 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Iran's President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad said a national dialogue leading to elections was the way towards a solution to Syria's crisis, in remarks broadcast on Tuesday. He told Al Jizz television that war was not the way forward, adding: "There is another way to find a solution, it is national, mutual understanding in order for there to be elections in the future."
The interview was translated from Persian into Arabic by Al Jizz.
Iran is a main ally of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... , who has been battling an uprising against his rule. Opposition activists say 30,000 people have been killed in the 18-month-old revolt, which has grown into a full-scale civil war.
"Syria's case is very complex and at the same time is a very important one," Ahmadinejad said. "Should I follow those demanding war? I don't think the language of war is a good language.
"There must be a different way to solve problems ... I have opposed war, but those who want things to be settled through dialogue are a minority and perhaps the majority are in favour of going ahead in the context of war."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2012 00:00 ||
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VIENNA - Iran already has enough low-enriched uranium for several atomic bombs if refined to a high degree but it may still be a few years away from being able to build a nuclear-armed missile if it decided to go down that path.
Israel's warning last week that Iran will be on the brink of developing a nuclear weapon by mid-2013 seemed to refer to when it could have a sufficient stock of higher-grade uranium to make a quick dash to produce a bomb's worth of weapon-grade material.
But, analysts say, Tehran would need time also for the technologically complicated task of fashioning highly refined uranium gas into a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on a missile - if it opts for such weapons of mass destruction.
It's an integrated plan -- one in which problems are solved in parallel, rather than in series. They're working on getting a fissible bang, and on a small enough warhead, and on a missile delivery system, and on command and control, and on a guidance system, and they're doing it all at the same time. They understand that they won't have all the pieces finished at the same time, as some parts of the final, integrated solution will lag. But they're big enough and have enough resources to solve multiple problems at once.
"If they haven't worked out all the steps with dummy materials beforehand they will have a lot to do," said a Vienna-based diplomat who is not from one of the six world powers involved in diplomacy over Iran's disputed nuclear activity.
And if they have, they'll be solving problems as they go along.
"Maybe they have all of the equipment ready. Maybe they have played with surrogate materials. I don't think anyone knows."
The diplomat certainly doesn't, though he gives Rooters a good enough quote...
Experts stress that timeline estimates are fraught with uncertainty as it is unclear how advanced the Islamic Republic may be in its suspected nuclear bomb research.
Thank you, oh obvious and clueless experts...
"I still think that we are talking about several years ... before Iran could develop a nuclear weapon and certainly before they could have a deliverable nuclear weapon," said Shannon Kile, head of the Nuclear Weapons Project of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a think-tank.
Guess what kind of 'think tank' just from the title. Think Shannon has any incentive to say that Iran could perhaps maybe solve its problems quickly?
A high-level group of U.S. security experts - including former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage - estimated that Iran would need between one and four months to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a single nuclear device.
"Additional time - up to two years, according to conservative estimates - would be required for Iran to build a nuclear warhead that would be reliably deliverable by a missile," they said in a report published last month.
Depends on what they've imported from Pakistan and North Korea...
Mark Fitzpatrick, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think-tank, also said Iran would need at least two years for assembling a nuclear-tipped missile.
Senior researcher Greg Jones of the U.S.-based Nonproliferation Policy Education Center put forward a much quicker breakout scenario for any bomb bid and suggested a truck rather than a missile could be used for delivery to target.
Or a rusty scow. Or an airplane. There's all sorts of ways to deliver a bomb. It depends on your strategic goals, your capabilities and the required degree of certainty.
Iran could refine uranium for a nuclear weapon in 10 weeks and produce the required non-nuclear components in six months or less, he said, adding this could be done simultaneously.
But the IISS argued in a report last year that the weaponisation time must be added to that required to produce the fissile material to calculate when a usable bomb could be made. Making the actual weapon entails converting uranium gas to metal, designing a nuclear triggering device and the production and fitting of spherical explosive lenses, it said.
Unless they're doing much of the work in parallel...
The United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last year published a report with a trove of intelligence indicating past, and some possibly continuing, research activities in Iran that could be relevant for nuclear weapons. They included suspected high explosive experiments and possible work on designing a device to produce a burst of neutrons for setting off a fission chain reaction.
"The information indicates that prior to the end of 2003 the activities took place under a structured program; that some continued after 2003; and that some may still be ongoing," the IAEA said in its latest report on Iran, issued in late August.
Washington still believes that Iran is not on the verge of having a nuclear bomb and that it has not made a decision to pursue one, U.S. officials said in August.
That's what Champ desperately wants to believe, and have the rest of us believe, because otherwise he'll be charged with having 'lost' Iran, and that's a potentially deadly charge in a close election.
Experts put that at the point when Iran has amassed enough uranium, purified to a fissile level of 20 percent, that could quickly be enriched further and be used to produce a bomb.
Iran has produced more than 6.8 tonnes of uranium refined up to 5 percent since 2007, an amount experts say could be used for about five nuclear weapons if processed much further. Worryingly for the West and Israel, some of that material has been refined to 20 percent, representing most of the effort involved in reaching potential bomb material.
According to the latest IAEA report, Iran has produced about 190 kg of this higher-grade uranium, about half of which has been earmarked for conversion into research reactor fuel, leaving a stockpile in August of just over 90 kg.
Traditionally, about 250 kg is estimated to be needed for a bomb, but some believe less would do.
"It is widely known that even a first device can be made with much less," the diplomat in Vienna said. But, "no one breaks out to make one warhead. Estimates vary but most think three to five warheads is a minimum to be a real nuclear power."
Provided they work.
An Israeli official briefed on the Netanyahu government's Iran strategy told Reuters: "Once Iran gets its first device, no matter how rudimentary, it's a nuclear power and a nuclear menace. With that said, we have always noted that, from this threshold, it would take Iran another two years or so to make a deployable warhead."
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Keep in mind... this is from Rooters [for terrorists].
The same organization caught photoshopping smoke.....
#4
really. what's to stop them loading it onto an airplane, or even a submarine? once they've got nuke weapons, headaches are going to start growing exponentially in the ME.
#5
Iran doesn't need a real workable nuke. All they need is some U235 and blow it up. Radioactive contamination over a size able area is a good propaganda ploy.
However, Iran will cease to exist, well, Mahdi and all.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/03/2012 17:13 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Tuesday described Tehran as a "strong ally of the people of Syria" and warned outside powers not to interfere in the conflict.
But in an interview with Australia's SBS television, Salehi also said the Syrian government needed to recognise the opposition that has been waging an 18-month-old rebellion against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... regime.
"When it comes to outside interference, and to the internal affairs of Syria, and when outside powers dictate upon the Syrian people that 'Look, your president should step down, and this should happen', this is not the right way to do things," he told the broadcaster's Dateline program.
"What we are saying is that both sides have to recognise the other side. In other words, the government has to recognise the opposition, and the opposition has to recognise the government."
The United States charges that Iran is arming the Syrian government in the brutal repression of its opponents but Salehi insisted his Islamic republic was working for peace.
"What we can do is to facilitate this, to facilitate sitting between the government and the opposition, so that they find a way out from this crisis," he added in the interview in New York, where he was attending the UN General Assembly.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2012 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
IMO Islamist Shia Iran = Rising Iran has been directly + indirectly claiming Arab-Muslim civilization has stalled or stopped thanks to the laziness + ineptitude of the Sunni Saudis as Defender of the Faith + Muslim Holy Places.
[GREAT SYNODS,PROTESTANT REFORMATION, VATICAN I, VATICAN II, etc. here].
Alleged "Neo-Persianism" + Shia-centric OWG Caliphate aside, Muslim Iran has taken upon itself to do + be what the Muslim Saudis didn't, + aren't, as per competition agz the predomin JudeoChristian US-West + other Non-Islam.
RISING IRAN = RISING CHINA = IN THE "MAHANIST" PHASE OF ITS PERCEIVED "MANIFEST DESTINY".
Syria to Iran = "First Island Chain" to China = represents the ability of same to project potent or decisive Power + Influence, etc. FAR beyond their shores ala non-traditional/non-historical "spheres of influence".
LOSS OF SYRIA TO IRAN = NON-REUNIFICATION WID TAIWAN BY MAINLAND CHINA = FAILURE TO ACHIEVE
"MANIFEST DESTINY" FOR A LONG TIME TO COME.
No "Caliphate" or "Post-US" Superpower, perhaps until next century = Year 2100-plus.
[An Nahar] Iran will not back down on its nuclear program despite the problems caused by Western sanctions, including a dramatic slide in the value of its currency, President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday.
"We are not a people to retreat on the nuclear issue," he told a news conference in Tehran.
"If somebody thinks they can pressure Iran, they are certainly wrong and they must correct their behavior," he said.
Ahmadinejad's comments came amid an accelerated slide in Iran's currency, which has now lost more than 80 percent of its value compared to a year ago -- with 17 percent of its value shed on Monday alone.
The currency, the rial, slipped another four percent on Tuesday to close at 36,100 to the dollar, according to exchange tracking websites.
Ahmadinejad said the plunge was part of an economic "war" waged by the West on the Islamic republic and "a psychological war on the exchange market."
Iran, he said, had sufficient foreign currency reserves.
Those reserves were estimated at around $100 billion at the end of last year, thanks to surging oil exports.
But the U.S. Treasury, which is monitoring the sanctions, believes Iran's foreign earnings have been cut by $5 billion a month under the Western economic measures.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2012 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#2
IIRC Iran time back had declared that any new UN Sanctions may be deemed a de facto act of war by the US, hence may justify a unilater Iranian counter-reponse in kind.
The question is what kind of response will Iran likely initiate once the right buttons are pushed vee the US-Allies, espec iff its Econ fails to stabilize despite its Forex reserves, + iff Iran fails to get one or more major inter-Muslim loans due its brouhaha wid the Sunni Saudis???
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