One down... several more to go.

The Israeli Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, also known as the Mossad, is being accused by a U.S. intelligence company of assassinating a high level Iranian nuclear scientist.

Israel has made claim many times that it will not stand by and allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I think they mean it!

FoxNews Report:

A prize-winning Iranian nuclear scientist has died in mysterious circumstances, according to Radio Farda, which is funded by the U.S. State Department and broadcasts to Iran.

An intelligence source suggested that Ardeshire Hassanpour, 44, a nuclear physicist, had been assassinated by Mossad, the Israeli security service.

Hassanpour worked at a plant in Isfahan where uranium hexafluoride gas is produced. The gas is needed to enrich uranium in another plant at Natanz which has become the focus of concerns that Iran may be developing nuclear weapons.

According to Radio Farda, Iranian reports of Hassanpour’s death emerged on Jan. 21 after a delay of six days, giving the cause as “gas poisoning”. The Iranian reports did not say how or where Hassanpour was poisoned but his death was said to have been announced at a conference on nuclear safety.

Rheva Bhalla of Stratfor, the U.S. intelligence company, claimed on Friday that Hassanpour had been targeted by Mossad and that there was “very strong intelligence” to suggest that he had been assassinated by the Israelis, who have repeatedly threatened to prevent Iran acquiring the bomb.

Hassanpour won Iran’s leading military research prize in 2004 and was awarded top prize at the Kharazmi international science festival in Iran last year.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to announce next Sunday — the 28th anniversary of the Islamic revolution — that 3,000 centrifuges have been installed at Natanz, enabling Iran to move closer to industrial scale uranium enrichment.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency say that hundreds of technicians and laborers have been “working feverishly” to assemble equipment at the plant.

While the United States works to get approval from the Czech government to build a U.S. anti-missile system in the Czech Republic, Russian leaders are all up in arms, calling it a "a mistake which will bring about negative consequences for international security."

The U.S. system proposed to be built near the Russian border with the Czech Republic is intended to protect European countries from the threat of Russian made, long-range missiles currently being supplied by Russia to the Iranian government. Iran continues building it's arsenal of WMD.

The U.S. base would be manned by approximately 200 U.S. military personnel, and could be operational by 2011.

Russia to raise European anti-missile plan with U.S.

Russia said on Friday a U.S. plan to deploy an anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic was a "mistake" which would have negative consequences for international security.

The State Department announced on Sunday the two countries had agreed to start detailed talks on allowing their territory to be used for the system, designed to shoot down missiles with rockets.

U.S. officials say the system is intended to counter a long-range Iranian missile threat, not Russia.

"This issue will be a subject of our detailed analysis and dialogue with the United States and their partners."

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov rejected Washington's reassurances on Wednesday, saying Iranian missiles could not reach Europe.

The Russian military say they have modern missiles which can neutralize the planned U.S. missile defense system. But political leaders insist any NATO activity near Russian borders carries broader geopolitical threats for Moscow.

Russia, whose reviving self-confidence is backed by a windfall of oil and gas revenues, suspects Washington and NATO of trying to surround it and replace Moscow as a patron of ex-Soviet states.

"The creation of a U.S. anti-missile base in Europe can only be viewed as a considerable change in the configuration of the American military presence in Europe," the Foreign Ministry statement said.

"The presence of such a base near our borders will be a factor we will have to take into account when planning the next military and political steps, building national defense," it added.

We can't just sit back while Russia continues to supply our enemies with WMD.

In talks with Chinese officials about the UN sanctions recently placed on Iran, Iran's nuclear chief said, with regard to obtaining nuclear capabilities for peaceful means, "if we are threatened, the situation may change."

Threaten us and we will nuke your ass! That's what I hear.

Anyone who doesn't believe Iran's mission is to build several large nukes to threaten others, including the U.S., is being naive to say the least. (Hat tip: LGF)

Iranian official: If threatened, we will use nuclear weapons

Iran's chief nuclear envoy Ali Larijani said on Friday that Iran is committed to the peaceful use of nuclear technology but warned the situation could change if his country is threatened.

"We oppose obtaining nuclear weapons and we will peacefully use nuclear technology under the framework of the Nonproliferation Treaty, but if we are threatened, the situation may change," He told a news conference after two days of talks in Beijing.

Iran's nuclear chief said his country has produced and stored 250 tons of the gas used as the feedstock for uranium enrichment, state-run television reported Friday.

Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, who is also the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said Iran has kept the uranium hexaflouride gas, or UF-6, in underground tunnels at a nuclear facility in Isfahan to protect it from any possible attack.

"Today, we have produced more than 250 tons of UF-6. Should you visit Isfahan, you will see we have constructed tunnels that are almost unique in the world," State-run television quoted Aghazadeh as saying.

Regional crisis in the making while libs talk.

On the heels of the Iranian nuke statement, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, if Iran attains nukes, Egypt will also have to in order to defend itself.

Is Egypt declaring its intentions to develop nuclear weapons? Thus it appeared in a speech delivered by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Thursday on the occasion of meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Sharm e-Sheikh.

“We don’t want nuclear weapons,” Mubarak stated, “But since they appear highly present in the area, we must defend ourselves."

Nice!

"Thank you madam secretary... Thank you very much!

We never could have done it without you."



Secretary of State Albright: "I'm very glad to be here in your beautiful city."
Kim Dung Il: "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea will always be grateful."
Update:
Republican Sen. John McCain on Tuesday accused former President Clinton of failing to act in the 1990s to stop North Korea from developing nuclear weapons. A charge many have made in the past.

"I would remind Senator (Hillary) Clinton and other Democrats critical of the Bush administration's policies that the framework agreement her husband's administration negotiated was a failure, the Koreans received millions and millions in energy assistance. They've diverted millions of dollars of food assistance to their military."

Audio interview from Hot Air: Waybacking the North Korea nuclear crisis

Apparently Kim Dung-il feels that he and his people have a lot to gain by testing a nuclear weapon and continuing with it's nuclear program in general.

With the majority of the North Korean people starving and living an horrendous life style, Kim Jong-il continues to pump millions and millions of dollars into a program that, in the end, will at best, have a devastating effect on the people and the country, and may bring total destruction in the event of an all out war if the U.S. and/or others feel a need to destroy everything first. I just don't see a good ending here.

Today the U.S. state department put out a statement to North Korea that left nothing to interpretation.

'No future' for nuclear Nth Korea: US

WASHINGTON'S senior envoy dealing with Kim Jong-il's regime has warned the US would "not live with a nuclear North Korea" under any circumstances, amid fresh signs of an imminent atomic test.

"(North Korea) can have a future or it can have these weapons," Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told a Washington thinktank yesterday. "It cannot have both."

Mr Hill's words are likely to be taken in Pyongyang as a threat of military action.

He laid down the ultimatum, though without hint of what further measures the Americans might take against the regime, as unnamed US officials told several news outlets that new signs of activity had been detected at a potential explosion site.

Japan and others are urging the UN Security Council to come forth with a strong statement that would warn North Korea that any nuclear test would bring wide international condemnation and jeopardizes the stability and security in the region, not to mention other unspecified actions by the Council. But as usual the UN is dragging it's feet because Russia and China don't think any action is required.

Does this suprise anyone? Russia and China backing another nuclear madman.

I'm sure that Kim Dumb il thinks he can do the same thing he did to us several years back when he hosed the Clinton administration into believing that he would do what he said he would as long as the U.S. gave up the goods and money. He'll go to the brink than demand concessions from the U.S..

Well we did and look what it got us. From now on..."Just say NO!"

Update: Oct. 6, 2006

BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea is "more or less ready" to conduct a nuclear test deep inside an abandoned coal mine but might hold off it can win concesssions from the United States, a Chinese source briefed by Pyongyang said on Friday.

Well I'm shocked and appalled...

This sounds like something we should do... dah! So every time they want something all they have to do is go to the button.

This is a scary thought knowing the Democrats could take over the government in a couple of weeks. They'll fall apart like a cheap suit under the threat of violence or war. It will be concessions for everybody, first N.Korea then Iran and then who, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela?

If the Democrats get the house back...be scared...be very scared.

You might as well start leaning the Koran.

A senior Iranian official, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, the Iranian Parliament Vice Speaker warned that Iran may develop nuclear weapons and pull out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty if international pressure against its nuclear program continues.

At the same time the U.S. has said it may go it only if the UN Security Council does not vote for sanctions against Iran. And in response to that statement several anonymous experts warned that a win by proponents of immediate sanctions carried grave risks. "Doing so would put the U.S. on the slippery slope towards military action, because none of America's allies believe that U.N. sanctions will be effective."

***Scroll down for Updates***

Iran may pull out of NPT; U.S. weighing sanctions without UN

By Yossi Melman and Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondents and Agencies

Iran may develop nuclear weapons and pull out from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if international pressure against its nuclear program continues, a senior Iranian official warned yesterday.

The statements made by Iranian Parliament Vice Speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar mark the first time a senior Iranian official specifically mentioned the development of nuclear weapons as part of the country's nuclear program, which to date Tehran had insisted was for peaceful purposes.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday that his country poses no threat to Israel, and that no one can deprive Iran of its right to nuclear technology.

"No one can deprive a nation of its rights based on its capabilities," he said in a speech to inaugurate a new phase of a heavy-water reactor project southwest of Tehran.

"Iran is not a threat to anybody, not even to the Zionist regime," he said.

"They may impose some restrictions on us under pressure. But will they be able to prevent the thoughts of a nation? Will they be able to prevent the progress and technology of a nation? They have to accept the reality of a powerful, peace-loving and developed Iran. This is in the interest of all governments and all nations, whether they like it or not," he said.

Ahmadinejad inaugurated the project and toured the site at Khondab, near Arak, 190 kilometers southwest of the capital Tehran. The plant's plutonium by-product could be used to make atomic warheads.

The pressure Iran is concerned with includes plans by the U.S. administration to bypass the Security Council and impose economic sanctions on Iran because of Tehran's refusal to abide by the United Nations resolution ordering it to cease its uranium enrichment program, sources at UN headquarters in New York said on Friday.

According to the sources at the UN, American officials are convinced the chances of passing a Security Council resolution imposing economic sanctions on Iran are flimsy because Russia and China have decided not to support the proposal.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov said yesterday that it is too early to discuss economic sanctions against Iran and went as far as to say that Moscow opposed any form of sanctions.

Update:
Iran Test-Fires Sub-to-Surface Missile

Iran on Sunday test-fired a sub-to-surface missile in the Persian Gulf during large-scale military exercises, state-run television reported.

"The army successfully test-fired a top speed long-range sub-to-surface missile off the Persian Gulf," the Army's Navy commander, Gen. Sajjad Kouchaki, said on state television.

A brief video clip showed the missile, fired from a submarine, hitting a target on the surface of the water within less than a mile.

The test came as part of large-scale military exercises under way throughout the country. Iran has routinely held war games over the past two decades to improve its combat readiness and to test equipment including missiles, tanks and armored personnel carriers.

Sounds like it was a dud. I can't imagine the target was less than a mile away. That's just where it landed.

With only days left before the August 31 U.N. deadline which demands Iran stop it's uranium enrichment or face economic and political sanctions, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated a new heavy-water production plant in Khondab Iran.

Ahmadinejad said, after the inauguration of the plant, that Iran's controversial nuclear program poses no threat to any other country, not even the Zionist "which is a definite enemy."

Tehran called the U.N. Security Council resolution "illegal" and said it won't stop it's enrichment program.

Iran Opens Plant That Can Produce Plutonium

Just days before it is supposed to suspend enrichment of uranium or face the prospect of sanctions, Iran continues to project an image of defiance and confidence. Its position regarding the demand it suspend enrichment remains a determined "No."

On Saturday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, made a provocative, if symbolic, gesture by formally inaugurating a heavy-water plant. The plant, which Iranians say is intended for peaceful purposes, would also produce plutonium, which in turn could be used in the building of nuclear warheads.

"There are no talks of nuclear weapons in Iran," President Ahmadinejad said as he announced the opening of the plant. "And we are not a threat for any country, even the Zionist regime that is the enemy of the countries in the region."

But, he added: "We tell the Western countries not to cause trouble for themselves because Iranian people are determined to take big steps."

The action was the latest in a series of not-too-veiled threats against the West if Iran is saddled with sanctions.

But Iran's public posture has all but guaranteed that the members of the United Nation's Security Council will have to at least address Iran's violations of the resolution setting August 31 as the deadline for suspending enrichment.

Iranian's public confidence is based on three primary factors, political analysts here said: There is a strong belief that two of the council's permanent members, Russia and China, will support Iran's call for talks and oppose moving toward sanctions; that the United States is far too bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan to be willing to spark another conflict in the region; and the perceived victory of Hezbollah in its war with Israel has strengthened Iran's political capital in the region.

"After the defeat of Israel by Hezbollah forces, China and Russia should not want to leave the side that won the war, which is the Islamic world," said Hossein Shariatmadari, who is the editor of the conservative daily newspaper Kayhan.

Update: Bush: B-2 Flights Over Tehran for ‘Peaceful Purposes’

More @
Morning Coffee with: Iran takes next nuclear production step
Captain's Quarters with: Surprise!
Wizbang! with: Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Opens a Nuclear Power Plant

Japanese police arrested five men after evidence of advanced measuring devices which have the potential for use in making nuclear bombs, were found shipped to an unknown recipient in Malaysia.

Some in Japan suspect the shipments may have links to the Pakistani nuclear scientist, A.Q. Khan.

Five Executives Are Arrested in Japan

Five executives of the Mitutoyo Corporation, a precision instruments maker, were arrested today on suspicion of illegally exporting equipment to Malaysia that could be used in making nuclear weapons.

Japanese television broadcast video images of police raiding the company’s headquarters in the city of Kawasaki. A spokesman for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police said the president of the company, Kazusaku Tezuka, 67, and four other executives were taken into custody.

The case turns on what the police said were shipments of advanced measuring devices that were sent to an unspecified recipient in Malaysia in late 2001 without government permission. In Japan as in most advanced nations, exports of advanced technology with potential uses in nuclear bomb-making are tightly regulated and licenses are required.

While police provided few further details, reports by the Kyodo News Agency and many leading Japanese newspapers suggested that the devices may have been shipped to Scomi Precision Engineering, a company that has since been linked to Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani nuclear scientist who organized the sale of nuclear technology to Libya.

The newspaper and agency reports said that at least one of Mitutoyo’s devices later found its way to Libya by way of Dubai on an Iranian-flagged cargo ship.

The reports said police were also investigating whether other similar measuring devices may have been sent to Iran through a Tokyo-based trading company.

Five years later...

President Bush on Friday warned that North Korea would pose a serious threat to the world if it continued with a suspected underground test of a nuclear bomb, following reports that the North Korea government was considering such a move.

Quoting an unidentified State Department official, ABC News is reporting that U.S. intelligence observed suspicious vehicle movement at a suspected North Korean nuclear test site and that an underground nuclear test was a "real possibility."

North Korea warned on N-test

AUSTRALIA last night warned that any move by North Korea to test a nuclear bomb would be extremely dangerous and provocative and would pose a serious threat to regional stability.

US State Department officials were yesterday quoted as saying there were signs that North Korea may be preparing for a historic underground test of a nuclear bomb.

"It is the view of the intelligence community that a test is a real possibility," a senior official of the State Department told ABC News in the US.

One US intelligence agency was said to have recently observed "suspicious vehicle movement" at a suspected North Korean test site.

The activity included the unloading of large reels of cable outside an underground facility in northeast North Korea which could be used to connect an underground nuclear test site to outside observation equipment.

Although North Korea is believed to have enough nuclear material to build up to a dozen bombs, it has never tested one.

An Australian government official last night described the US media reports as "extremely concerning". "A nuclear test would be an extremely dangerous and provocative step and a direct threat to regional security and stability,' the official told The Weekend Australian.

"Australia would support very strong action by the international community in response to any tests."

The White House did not confirm or deny the reports, but said any nuclear test by the reclusive Stalinist state would be an "extremely provocative" act that would be denounced around the globe.

It appears that the tidal wave of nuclear proliferation is truly upon us and the one sole individual most responsible for it is Abdul Qadeer Khan. Aka, the “father of Pakistan's bomb.” It is a know fact that AQ Khan sold Pakistani nuclear secrets to North Korea, Iran and Libya and may have sold them to other countries we don't know about.

"Thanks to the Khan network, much of the equipment and knowledge for developing nuclear technology is no longer controlled by states - it is back in the marketplace," writes Gordon Corera. "Putting this genie back in the bottle may be impossible."

Gordon Corera is the author of "Shopping for Bombs: Nuclear Proliferation, Global Insecurity and the Rise and Fall of the A.Q. Khan Network."

With the ever growing threat to the U.S. and it's allies worldwide the U.S. is planning to build missile defense sites in Europe. These additional missile interceptor and radar bases would help defend Europe as well as the U.S. from rouge states and terrorist which may obtain a long range missile.

According to a Radio Prague report, Czech officials believe the United States plans to ask their country to host elements of a new U.S. missile defense system.

U.S. Team Finishes Survey of Potential Czech Republic Missile Defense Interceptor Sites

A 22-person team of U.S. military experts yesterday finished their survey of three sites in the Czech Republic that could house U.S. missile interceptors, the Xinhua News Agency reported July 13.

The experts confirmed that the three military locations were appropriate for such sites, Czech Defense Ministry spokesman Jan Pejsek said in a statement.

Several European nations have reportedly been considered as the site for the first U.S. strategic missile defense site outside U.S. territory.

The base would be intended to defend Europe against long-range missiles, particularly from launches from the Middle East, analysts say.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski, whose country is also believed to be under consideration, yesterday expressed reservations about the plan.

“I would not like to decide unambiguously here, at this moment. I approach the issue of extra-territoriality with reserve, I do not hide that. … We will see how the issue develops,” Kaczynski said, according to the Polish news agency PAP. “The missile defense shield is a problem that is to be the subject of deliberation by the National Security Council. It will be the subject of talks between the president, prime minister and government.”

The Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita, reported that Washington has offered several conditions for locating the base in Poland. The United States wants sole authority to decide when to fire the interceptors. Polish authorities would have no authority to inspect equipment at the site. U.S. personnel would be subject only to U.S. laws and courts even for crimes committed outside the base, the newspaper reported.

The terms of construction “are negotiable with the Americans,” said senior National Defense Ministry official Janusz Onyszkiewicz.

“Polish law must be in force on our territory, which can only be limited in situations where the interests of Poland or Poles are under threat. In this case, Polish jurisdiction must be maintained,” Onyszkiewicz said.

U.S. missile defense surveyors do not plan to visit Hungary as they look for interceptor sites, Xinhua reported today. Foreign Ministry spokesman Viktor Polgar said that U.S. experts are not expected to visit in August.

“The Ministry of the Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic believes that the likelihood that we will be asked by the U.S. government about the possibility of placement of the missile defense base on Czech territory is pretty high,” Richard Krpac, a spokesman for the Czech Foreign Ministry, said Sunday.

“According to our knowledge there are now only two countries being examined by the group of experts from the Pentagon: the Czech Republic and Poland,” Krpac said.

A large shipment of Uranium 238 bound for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas was intercepted by customs officials in Tanzania, on October 22, 2005. Iran has been trying to import uranium for its nuclear program for years in spite of it's denials that it is attempting to build a nuclear weapon.

The uranium was found hidden among barrels of coltan, a rare mineral used to make small electronic components, which was destined to Kazakhstan after being transported through Bander Abbas.

Iran's plot to mine uranium in Africa

IRAN is seeking to import large consignments of bomb-making uranium from the African mining area that produced the Hiroshima bomb, an investigation has revealed.

A United Nations report, dated July 18, said there was “no doubt” that a huge shipment of smuggled uranium 238, uncovered by customs officials in Tanzania, was transported from the Lubumbashi mines in the Congo.

Tanzanian customs officials told The Sunday Times it was destined for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, and was stopped on October 22 last year during a routine check.

The disclosure will heighten western fears about the extent of Iran’s presumed nuclear weapons programme and the strategic implications of Iran’s continuing support for Hezbollah during the war with Israel.

It has also emerged that terror cells backed by Iran may be prepared to mount attacks against nuclear power plants in Britain. Intelligence circulating in Whitehall suggests that sleeper cells linked to Tehran have been conducting reconnaissance at some nuclear sites in preparation for a possible attack.

The parliamentary intelligence and security committee has reported that Iran represented one of the three biggest security threats to Britain. The UN security council has given Iran until the end of this month to halt its uranium enrichment activities. The UN has threatened sanctions if Tehran fails to do so.

A senior Tanzanian customs official said the illicit uranium shipment was found hidden in a consignment of coltan, a rare mineral used to make chips in mobile telephones. The shipment was destined for smelting in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, delivered via Bandar Abbas, Iran’s biggest port.

“There were several containers due to be shipped and they were all routinely scanned with a Geiger counter,” the official said.

“This one was very radioactive. When we opened the container it was full of drums of coltan. Each drum contains about 50kg of ore. When the first and second rows were removed,the ones after that were found to be drums of uranium.”

In a nuclear reactor, uranium 238 can be used to breed plutonium used in nuclear weapons.

The customs officer, who spoke to The Sunday Times on condition he was not named, added: “The container was put in a secure part of the port and it was later taken away, by the Americans, I think, or at least with their help. We have all been told not to talk to anyone about this.”

The Tanzanian government left "no doubt" that this uranium was definitely transported from Lubumbashi by road through Zambia to the united republic of Tanzania.”

Is Iran really intent on building a Nuclear Weapon?
Here is a timeline of Iranian nuclear imports for the past five decades, by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

1987 - Iran receives a centrifuge design, starter kit for uranium enrichment program from Pakistan.

1988-1989 Iran receives large quantities of uranium concentrate from South Africa.

1989 - China supplies them with an unspecified number of calutrons, used in the uranium isotope separation process.

In 1991 Iran imports a 27kw research reactor and uranium enrichment equipment from China.

1991 - Iran imports from Kazakhstan at least two nuclear warheads.

In 1993 a claim is made by the British Broadcasting Cooperation that Iran imported Beryllium, a key component in nuclear weapons production, and 100 tons of Uranium from Kazakhstan.

In 1994 Iran imports Uranium hexafluoride, commonly known as UF6, from China.

In 1995 China installs a calutron system for enriching uranium at a nuclear research facility at Karaj, about 100 miles northwest of Tehran.

1998 - Russia increases the number of it's nuclear experts to Iran, for the Bushehr nuclear power plant to 1,100.

1999 - 38 Iranian nuclear specialists get trained at the Russian facility Atomtekhenergo.

In 2001 the National Council of Resistance of Iran claims Iran received Highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Pakistan.

2002 - According to Russian intelligence, Iranian scientists being trained at the NIKIET institute of Russia and acquiring knowledge that can be used for Iran's nuclear weapons program.

2003 - Iran was supplied with Uranium enrichment equipment, by the Western European company, Urenco.

In 2005 France supplied Iran with 300 units of Nickel 63 tritium targets, a dual use material that could be used to build a nuclear bomb.

Update: Iran plans to expand nuclear activities

Iran's top nuclear negotiator said Sunday that Iran will expand uranium enrichment, in defiance of a U.N. Security Council resolution giving the Islamic Republic until Aug. 31 to halt the activity or face the threat of political and economic sanctions.

Ali Larijani called the U.N. Security Council resolution issued last week illegal and said Iran won't respect the deadline. "We reject this resolution," he told reporters.

"We will expand nuclear activities where required. It includes all nuclear technology including the string of centrifuges," Larijani said, referring to the centrifuges Iran uses to enrich uranium.

Prairie Pundit says Send Joe Wilson to Tanzania

Bulgarian border guards stopped a British lorry carrying radioactive material en route to Iran at it's northern border with Romania, the country's Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NPA) said.

The lorry, registered in Turkey, had been hired by a British company to transport the material to Iran.

Turkish truck carrying radioactive material en route to Iran stopped at Bulgarian border

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - Bulgarian authorities on Thursday were checking the cargo of a Turkish truck en route to Iran after it was found to be carrying radioactive material without the necessary documentation, authorities said.

Bulgarian customs officers stopped the truck, which had come from Britain, on the border with Romania, customs officials said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Agency was alerted on Wednesday by customs officers that the radiation level around the truck exceeded normal levels.

According to Sergei Tsotchev, the agency's chief, the main source of radiation was identified as Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope widely used in industry and in medical therapy. The shipment also contained Americium, a radioactive metal.

Radioactive materials can only be transported through Bulgaria with the Nuclear Regulatory Agency's advance permission and that of authorities in other countries the shipment would pass through, Tsotchev said, adding that the driver did not provide the documents.

A U.N. official, who asked not to be named, said the material represented no known proliferation threat, even though it was headed to Iran, and did not pose an environmental exposure threat.

Radioactive material of this type can easily be used to build dirty bombs.

More with: Dirty Bomb Material Intercepted

Our friend and ally, Russia, continues to assist every rogue country in the world with Nuclear technology. This time it's their old friend and Soviet-era ally, North Korea they wish to support. While the rest of the world expresses deep concerns after North Korea test-fired seven missiles last week, Russia secretly offers them the technology to help hide and protect their Nuclear program from the rest of the world, like they did in Iran.

Russia secretly offered North Korea nuclear technology

Filed: 09/07/2006 - Russia is facing criticism after secretly offering to sell North Korea technology that could help the rogue state to protect its nuclear stockpiles and safeguard weapons secrets from international scrutiny.

Russian officials touted the equipment at an IT exhibition in Pyongyang a fortnight ago - just days before the Communist state caused international alarm by launching a salvo of short and long-range missiles into the Sea of Japan.

In what appear to have been unguarded comments, Aleksei Grigoriev, the deputy director of Russia's Federal Information Technologies Agency, told a reporter that North Korea planned to buy equipment for the safe storage and transportation of nuclear materials, developed by a Russian government-controlled defence company.

The company, Atlas, also received interest from the North Koreans in their security systems and encryption technology - which were kept from display at the exhibition for security reasons.

In remarks made to the Russian Itar-Tass news agency - hastily retracted after publication - Mr Grigoriev said that the main aim of the June 28 exhibition was "establishing contacts with the Korean side and discussing future co-operation". Last week Russia, along with China, opposed a draft UN Security Council resolution, proposed by Japan and backed by America, that would bar missile-related financial and technology transactions with North Korea because of the missile tests.

As tensions over the missile tests mounted, the US government yesterday deployed its USS Mustin, equipped with so-called Aegis missile-tracking technology that is geared towards tracking and shooting down enemy missiles, to Yokosuka, home port to the US Navy's 7th Fleet.

On Friday, George W Bush called for the issue of the missile tests to be put before the Security Council. He said he wanted to make clear to Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader, "with more than one voice" that the rest of the world condemned Wednesday's launches.

Sources close to the proposed sale of the equipment - which would have civil and military uses - said that it was evidence of Russia's secret support for its Soviet-era ally, which was once a bulwark against Chinese influence in the Far East. It was reported that the North Korean military interest in the exhibition stemmed from the dual purpose of many of the products and technologies on display.

After the show, which led to plans for further meetings between the Russian and North Korean delegations, Mr Grigoriev said Pyongyang's primary interest in buying the equipment was to combat the "threat posed by international terrorism". However, the Russian embassy in Pyongyang immediately denied the report, claiming that it was "disinformation". Mr Grigoriev subsequently denied ever having spoken to the journalist concerned.

Disclosures of a possible deal are at odds with official Russian policy towards North Korea's nuclear programme. On June 22, North Korea's ambassador to Russia, Park Yi Joon, was summoned to the foreign ministry in Moscow and informed that -Russia "strongly objects to any actions that can negatively influence regional stability and worsen nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula".

There was also some anger domestically at Russia's opposition to the UN sanctions resolution. Although the Russian foreign ministry expressed anger that Moscow had not been notified of the launches, it went no further than issuing an anodyne statement expressing concern that the tests endangered Pacific Ocean shipping and "violated the commonly accepted world practice of giving a warning".

Western experts were not surprised that the two countries might be discussing sensitive military deals.

Nicholas Eberstadt, a North Korea expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank in Washington, said that Russian policy towards North Korea had long been influenced by the desire to restore its Cold War-era influence.

"Russia often seems more ambitious to restore that influence than to play a positive role in international affairs," he said. "We've got no reason to doubt that Moscow is playing a double game with North Korea. It's not entirely surprising considering Vladimir Putin himself came up with the harebrained suggestion some years ago that Moscow, as a protector and provider for the North Korean regime, launch a North Korean satellite."

It appears the U.S. is the only country that Russia has no interest in helping.

Baker Spring of the Heritage Foundation has set out a "Comprehensive Set of Military Options for Countering North Korea’s Growing Missile Threat"

Four Military Capabilities for Countering North Korea

North Korea is pursuing an array of military capabilities for a number of specific purposes. Its large and aggressively deployed conventional military forces are designed to hold South Korea hostage by threatening it with widespread destruction. Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is particularly vulnerable to this threat. North Korea wants to undermine the U.S.-South Korea alliance, while reserving its long-sought goal of unifying all of Korea on its terms through intimidation or force.

North Korea’s medium-range missile force, whether armed with conventional warheads or weapons of mass destruction, is designed to intimidate and isolate Japan. While isolating Japan serves North Korea’s immediate purpose of complicating the ability of the U.S. to intervene militarily in East Asia, it also appears that North Korea is doing the bidding of its long-time friend China. China seeks to isolate Japan because it sees Japan as a barrier to achieving regional hegemony in East Asia.

The long-range missile system, particularly when armed with nuclear warheads, is designed to deter the U.S. from intervening militarily in East Asia. Specifically, North Korea wants to hold the U.S. homeland hostage to the nuclear threat.

The U.S., in partnership with its allies, can respond to the North Korean military threat by pursuing four different military capabilities of its own. The overall effort should be seen as parts of a larger damage limitation strategy. This strategy would lessen both the likelihood and potential impact of military aggression by North Korea on the U.S. and its allies. The successful execution of this strategy will leave North Korea in a position where its threat of military aggression provides little political leverage and ultimately loses credibility. The U.S. should pursue these four military capabilities:

Capability #1: A conventional defense of South Korea. North Korea’s aggressively deployed conventional forces are designed to impose widespread destruction on South Korea. Since the Korean War armistice, U.S. and South Korean policy has been to deter the resumption of the conventional conflict by convincing North Korea and particularly its Soviet patron that such a conflict could lead to escalation and a nuclear confrontation. With the Soviet Union gone and China apparently unwilling to assume a role in restraining North Korea, North Korea is becoming increasingly aggressive in threatening conventional attack.

The U.S. and South Korea should obtain capabilities that will allow them to prevail in a conventional conflict with North Korea in ways in which destruction to South Korea is kept to a tolerable level. A credible defense of Seoul must be a part of this plan. This defense will require developing systems, such as next generation laser weapons, for defending against and rapidly destroying artillery and rocket systems. U.S. and South Korean forces must be prepared to stop North Korean armored columns dead in their tracks at the border. Technologically superior ground forces and the achievement of air dominance to support precise air-based attacks on enemy armor must remain in place. The Army’s Future Combat System and the Air Force’s F-22 Raptor are logical steps forward in these areas.

Capability #2: A global, layered missile defense system. North Korea already has an arsenal of short- and medium-range missiles and is seeking to obtain a working long-range missile. The short- and medium-range missiles are for threatening Japan and the long-range missiles for threatening the U.S homeland. In early 1991, the Department of Defense proposed the Global Protection Against Limited Strikes (GPALS), a global, layered missile defense deployment plan or architecture. This architecture included ground- and sea-based interceptors, primarily for countering short- and medium-range missiles. It also included ground-based interceptors for countering long-range missiles. The architecture also expected that the sea-based interceptors could be refined to provide a defense against long-range missiles in the midcourse and ascent phase of flight. Most importantly, the architecture envisioned the deployment of individual space-based interceptors that could counter all but the shortest-range missiles, including in the boost-phase. Sensors would include surface-based radar and space-based sensors. All elements of the plan were to be tied together with a flexible command and control system.

The U.S. could have had this system in the field today, but the Clinton administration abandoned essential portions of it, and the Bush administration has not revived many of them. This architecture could undermine the confidence North Korea’s leadership has in its ability to impose widespread destruction in the U.S. and its allies by means of missile delivery systems. The U.S. should move quickly to revive all elements of GPALS and facilitate direct Japanese and South Korea participation in the effort.

Capability #3: A new nuclear deterrent. Nuclear deterrence remains essential to U.S. and allied security, but the U.S. nuclear arsenal has been carried over from the Cold War and is not well positioned to deter regimes such as North Korea’s. The Bush administration’s 2002 Nuclear Posture Review did put a policy in place for adapting the U.S. nuclear deterrent to the requirements of the post-Cold War world. Thus, the policy direction is in place to make the U.S. nuclear deterrent as effective as possible in addressing the kind of nuclear threats embodied by the North Korean nuclear weapons program. Now the task is to execute the policy.

A key element of the new policy is the recognition that the threat of widespread destruction in North Korea has little deterrence value to a leadership that has no concern for the well-being of its populace. The U.S. nuclear deterrent needs to be capable of holding targets at risk that are valued by the North Korea leadership as means for personal and regime survival. These targets include strategic weapons, personal security systems, the instruments for domestic repression and the intelligence apparatus, among others. Further, U.S. leaders need to learn how to manage and operate a new nuclear deterrent in balance with defensive forces, including missile defenses, and in a strategic environment defined by nuclear multipolarity. In the latter case, this means understanding the deterrence value of U.S. nuclear forces relative to aggressive nuclear partnerships. Such a partnership between China and North Korea is relevant to this requirement.

Capability #4: Preemption. Bush administration policy has been clear in stating that the U.S. will not wait to be attacked and the U.S. reserves the option of striking preemptively. Clearly, the U.S. needs to have this option, and it should have been used if U.S. intelligence believed that the Taepo Dong-2 missile in particular had been armed with a nuclear warhead. It is important, however, not to underestimate the risk of a preemptive attack leading to a resumption of armed assaults in a Korean War that is still not officially over. A preemptive capability must be paired with a capability to provide an effective conventional defense of South Korea, as described earlier.

Maintaining a preemptive capability requires systems for locating the relevant targets and directing weapons against them on a timely basis. The weapons should include attack aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. These weapons should be armed with conventional warheads when there is high confidence that they will destroy the targets in question, but should also include existing or new nuclear warheads when they are required.

Conclusion
North Korea’s salvo launch of ballistic missiles on the Fourth of July, serves to define the kinds of national security threats that can emerge in the post-Cold War world. These threats can arise with little notice and are likely to be complex when they do emerge. Further, the stakes involved for the American people are exceedingly high. Indeed, they are potentially much higher than those involved in the atrocity of September 11, 2001. The option of building the military capabilities to address these threats does not exist because the threats themselves cannot be fully assessed in advance. The best the Department of Defense can do is to assess the capabilities of those who may come to threaten the U.S. and its allies. Using these capabilities-based assessments, the Department then should seek to obtain countervailing military capabilities.

Baker Spring is F.M. Kirby Research Fellow in National Security Policy in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy, at The Heritage Foundation

Iran cancelled nuclear talks today with the EU over a terrorist threat.

EU security chief Javier Solana said he was surprised to hear that Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani had decided at the last minute to postpone his trip to Brussels where they were suppose to hold talks with the European Union over the international proposal sent to Iran last month.

Iran puts off EU nuclear talks over "terrorist threat"

TEHRAN, July 5 (RIA Novosti) - Iran's top negotiator on the country's nuclear program said talks with the EU foreign policy supremo scheduled for Wednesday in Brussels had been postponed over a threat to the Iranian delegation from anti-Iran terrorist groups based in Europe.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had said earlier that Ali Larijani and Javier Solana would not hold talks, but had not given a reason for the delay.

"Reports came from Brussels about the activity of certain groups in Europe, supported by the Zionist regime [Israel] and a number of European states. This provoked concern over the safety of members of the Iranian delegation, so Ali Larijani's trip was cancelled," Iranian news agencies quoted a well informed source as saying Wednesday.

But the source said that after the EU had guaranteed the security of the Iranian delegation, agreement had been reached to hold the meeting in Brussels on July 11.

This terrorism situation is really getting out of control.

North Korea today, test-fired another missile in spite of the worlds condemnation of yesterdays five six missile firings. Among the seven missiles tested is the long-range Taepodong-2, which may have the capacity to reach U.S. territories like California and Alaska.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters in Tokyo today that the situation is extremely volatile and that further missile tests could not be ruled out.

The Prime Minister went on to say, "The fact that North Korea launched these missiles despite warnings from the international community is a grave issue not only regarding Japan's security but peace and stability for the international community and non-proliferation, and we will make a stern protest and express our regret to North Korea."

World condemns North Korean missile tests

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea test-fired a seventh missile Wednesday, intensifying the furor that began when the reclusive regime defied international protests by launching a long-range missile and at least five shorter-range rockets earlier in the day.

An official at the South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that North Korea had tested a seventh missile that was either short- or medium-range. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing agency rules, had no additional details.

Japan's Kyodo News agency reported that the missile landed six minutes after launch, but did not say where. The chief of Russia's general staff said that Russian tracking systems showed that Pyongyang may have launched up to 10 missiles during the day, the Interfax news agency reported.

The missiles, all of which apparently fell harmlessly into the Sea of Japan, provoked international condemnation, the convening of an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council and calls in Tokyo for economic sanctions against the impoverished communist regime.

North Korea remained defiant, with one official arguing that the country had the right to such launches. The tests and the impenitent North Korean attitude raised fears that further firings could follow.

U.S. officials said North Korea fired a long-range Taepodong-2 early in the day, but that it failed shortly after takeoff, calling into question the technological capability of North Korea's feared ballistic missile program. Pyongyang last fired a long-range missile in 1998.

The bold firings came under close international scrutiny of the North's missile launch facilities. The North American Aerospace Defense Command monitored the launches as they progressed but soon determined they were not a threat to the United States, a spokesman said.

China and Iran continue supporting North Korea with it's missile program, specifically the development of the three-stage solid rocket motor for the Taepo-Dong-2C/3 ballistic missile.

North Korea took a large gamble yesterday and it lost. Had the test firing of the long-range Taepodong-2 missile gone well they would be in a better position to threaten the world with their Nuclear weapons program.

We know more today about North Korea's missile program than we did before the tests, and would have learn more had the Taepodong-2 missile stayed in the air longer so we could have shot it down.

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Is this Hama's new plan? Pull Israel into a war that Hama can use to validate their stance against the recognition of Israel. As innocent people fall, as comes with war, Hama will have the ammunition to claim retaliation for the atrocities inflicted on the Palestinian people. Allowing the cycle to continue to spin out of control in the middle east.