Article

2007-03-20 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Right on Cue: Iran stops inspectors visiting nuclear site: diplomats

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Posted by gorb 2007-03-20 04:05|| || Front Page|| [13 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 The first diplomat said Iran did not want the IAEA to see "that it now has more than 500 centrifuges functioning underground" and that was the reason for the delay.

Sounds worrying

Posted by Ebbolump Glomotle9608 2007-03-20 10:54|| 2007-03-20 10:54|| Front Page Top

#2 A diplomat said the IAEA was already considering what to do if Iran did not comply.

I'm going to guess "nothing," but maybe they'll send a sternly-worded letter.

Posted by WhitecollarRedneck 2007-03-20 12:06|| 2007-03-20 12:06|| Front Page Top

#3 A big enough nuke would destroy the bearings in that centrifuge, no matter how well shock-stabilized it is. Probably take something in the range of 1-2MT. Do it right, and the entire city would be uninhabitable for about 100 years. THAT would certainly slow down their attempt to make a bomb, especially if some or most of their nuke technicians and scientists were there at the time. Sometimes, brute force is the quickest and easiest way to solve a problem. Diplomacy only works when both sides want it to work.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2007-03-20 13:09|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2007-03-20 13:09|| Front Page Top

#4 OP, start with some MOABs, strategically deposited at the blast doors and ventilation outlets. Use their isobaric shifts to pump down the entire complex. Between crap flying around and people's lungs getting sucked out of their bodies, I doubt the centrifuges will make it out intact.

I especially agree with you about hitting them during prime time. Part of dismantling Iran's nuclear weapons project is nailing the maximum number of its scientists and support staff. Given what I've seen in my own technical field, Iranian documentation must be the pits. This means that their workers are a huge repository of methodology and expertise. Exterminating them will represent one of the greatest setbacks of all.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-03-20 16:49|| 2007-03-20 16:49|| Front Page Top

#5 Thought provoking point about documentation, Zenster.

Posted by trailing wife 2007-03-20 18:47|| 2007-03-20 18:47|| Front Page Top

#6 Thank you, tw. I've worked for some of the very biggest high tech companies in the entire world. Almost uniformly and with a very few exceptions, most of them had incredibly crappy documentation. I recently had the supremely disgusting experience of watching poor documentation cause reversed cooling connections and similar easy-to-avoid mistakes that, in less than two weeks' time, cost a company well over two years worth of my personal salary in damaged and ruined equipment as I struggled to correct and get accurate procedures and specifications in place.

Iran can only be orders of magnitude worse in this respect. Imagine how many crucial lab notebook entries go unwritten because the author had to race off multiple times a day for prayers. Beyond that, imagine how difficult it must be to convey scientific ideas in a concise fashion when the language is definitely not conducive to doing so.

I tried to find some data on comparative vocabulary by nation and could not locate anything of significance. I've heard that the average French adult has a daily vocabulary of about 10,000 words. The same source placed an American adult's vocabulary at about 40,000 words with a ten year-old child already having some 10,000 words at their command. Well educated American adults can have vocabularies exceeding 100,000 words. Now, consider how this must impact cultures which place a low priority upon scientific learning or technical expression.

What I was able to find is a comparison of adult IQs per a given nation. Here are some randomly selected results intended to highlight the disparity in adult IQ per given region and culture.

China - 100
Cuba - 85
Denmark - 98
Equitorial Guinea - 59 [lowest]
Hong Kong - 107 [highest]
Iran - 84
Iraq - 87
Israel - 94
Japan - 105
Russia - 96
Sweden - 101
USA - 98

The above rankings show that Iran occupies an unenviable percentile in this world's intelligence ratings. Considering that these same Iranians (albeit from their nation's cream), are attempting to operate some of the most sophisticated equipment on earth, it is fairly easy to imagine how likely it is that these complexities are not being completely documented.

It beggars the final point that much of Iran's expertise with nuclear technology almost exclusively dwells within the brains of those who work upon it. This simple fact places a huge priority on ensuring that Iran's nuclear science community is destroyed in place along with its loathsome apparatus.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-03-20 20:42|| 2007-03-20 20:42|| Front Page Top

18:19 the Prophet
23:47 Verlaine
23:45 Eric Jablow
23:44 Zenster
23:42 gromgoru
23:42 Eric Jablow
23:41 Verlaine
23:39 Shipman
23:39 anonymous2u
23:38 Zenster
23:37 Zenster
23:32 Zenster
23:29 the Prophet
23:26 USN, ret.
23:25 Verlaine
23:23 Uneamble Fillmore6406
23:23 newc
23:22 Verlaine
23:21 USN, ret.
23:20 Zenster
23:19 Verlaine
23:15 Verlaine
23:09 USN, ret.
23:08 Verlaine