Iran and the Bomb

[barfle]

Oh, I certainly agree that he's certifiably nuts, and that he would have little or no hesitation in targeting the rest of Israel. But it's like having a Catholic President targeting Rome.

[Haggis@wk]

Oh, I certainly agree that he's certifiably nuts, and that he would have little or no hesitation in targeting the rest of Israel. But it's like having a Catholic President targeting Rome.

Well, then to make the above on par you have to ask if an insane, religious fundalmentalist christian leader (possibly Greek Orthodox) would nuke Rome if it was being occupied a group of people whom the destruction of which would benefit the world and who apparently, sincerely believes that destruction will result in the Second Coming?

And don't forget that all the Iranians and about a billion people worldwide would view said destruction favorably.

I believe in true evil and good and not because I'm profoundly religious. I just believe that based on my life experiences that there are truly evil people in power in this world who's beliefs are so fundementally evil that they would be willing to take any risk to destroy their enemies.

I'm not sure how the Sunni world would feel but I suspect the Shia world would consider the risk worthwhile.

As I said, I'm not as sanguine as you on that particular question.

[barfle]

It's sanguine to believe he wouldn't hesitate to destroy Israel except for the Al-Aqsa Mosque (and perhaps a way for Moslems to get to it)?

[Haggis@wk]

Still not on board with you Barfle. A quick googling shows that Sunni's and Shias been blowing up "Sacred shrines" for decades. Al-whatsit is already expendable as far as Iran is concerned.

[Haggis@wk]

Like I needed something else to keep me up nights.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad voiced Tehran's preparedness to transfer its nuclear achievements to peace-seeking countries in line with the articles of association of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

[Haggis@wk]

Ahmadinejad has thus declared, for the entire world to hear, that Iran intends to supply nuclear weapons to terrorists. The extent to which Iran continues to be brutally honest about its intentions is simply astonishing.

I wonder what all those people who have been arguing that a nuclear Iran is “containable” have to say about Ahmadinejad’s latest announcement?

[Trumpetmaster]

Ahmadinejad has thus declared, for the entire world to hear, that Iran intends to supply nuclear weapons to terrorists. The extent to which Iran continues to be brutally honest about its intentions is simply astonishing.

I wonder what all those people who have been arguing that a nuclear Iran is “containable” have to say about Ahmadinejad’s latest announcement?

This guy has to be stopped.....
What a fanatic...

[analog]

Then he tells the other side of the world this:

BEIJING: Iran's interior minister arrived in Beijing for nuclear consultations on Thursday, a day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned against U.N. Security Council intervention in his country's disputed nuclear activities.

Following his arrival, Mostafa Pour Mohammadi said Iran was "willing to enhance cooperation with relevant international organizations and we welcome full inspections on our nuclear activities," according to China's official Xinhua News Agency.

"We will conduct nuclear activities legally, abiding by a series of international laws and regulations," Xinhua quoted Pour Mohammadi as saying.

"We consider it is beneficial to us as well to cooperate with international community," he was quoted as saying.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/13/asia/AS-GEN-China-Iran-Nuclear.php

We'll have to watch what he does. To that end we need monitoring of his centrifuges.

[Shapley]

Israel Blows Up Syrian Nuke Cache

Syria Complains To U.N. About Israeli Airstrikes

U.S. Confirms Israel Struck Targets In Syria

[BigJon@Work]

Practice runs for Iran?

[Shapley]

Practice runs for Iran?

A reasonable question. I suspect that Israel has a reasonable idea of the true state of Iran's nuclear programme. They will not rely on the 'international community' to solve it. They may be sending Tehran a message, or it could be something else.

I think it is possible that Ahmadinejad may be blowing smoke. Perhaps he is trying to turn many Iranians into unwitting martyrs by goading Israel into attacking, thus providing all of Islam with a rallying cry to lead them into battle against Israel (and her allies). It may be that, like Saddam, he wants the world to think that he has, or is acquiring, WMDs. It may be that the perception of a nuclear Iran is more important to him than an actual nuclear Iran.

Israel usually has a better sense of the pulse of things there than anyone else. I think that Iran would have already been attacked if they felt that Israel posed a real threat. It could be that Ahmadinejad's words are a smoke-screen for the real action that was happening in Syria, and that Israel is able to see through the smoke.

We live in interesting times.

V/R
Shapley

[analog]

It could be that Ahmadinejad's words are a smoke-screen for the real action that was happening in Syria, and that Israel is able to see through the smoke.

Amen. That's where Saddam shipped his goodies.

I haven't heard where they struck. If it turns out Palmyra or Kattine, I'll have to pay this blogger more attention: http://ajacksonian.blogspot.com/2006/12/syrian-wmd-facilities-palymra-and-homs.html

Last year he used Google Earth to find what could be Syrian uranium mills there.

[piqaboo]

Goodness gracious thats a conjecture filled article. Must be fun for the journalists, trying to detect the story. Gives meaning to the term newshound.

Something I dont understand: wouldnt using conventional bombs on nucs result in local radioactive contamination? So if the israelis bombed the bombs, wont we be able to tell from monitoring for a widerspread source of emissions?

[Shapley]

Syria Accuses U.S. of Spreading 'False' Claims About Nuclear Activity

[analog]

Goodness gracious thats a conjecture filled article...........

Something I dont understand: wouldnt using conventional bombs on nucs result in local radioactive contamination? So if the israelis bombed the bombs, wont we be able to tell from monitoring for a widerspread source of emissions?

Yes, It's speculation sure 'nuff. When I stumbled across it I just thought it interesting - were I writing a Clancy novel I'd have a noisy decoy to draw attention away from the real operation. This could be such an operation. Yes it's tenuous but plausible, and should be kept in the realm of remotely possible. What lent credibility for me was his pictures of sizeable electric substations nearby. If you ever drive I40 through Kingston Tennessee (1/2 hour west of Knoxville) you'll see the stacks of the Kingston steam plant, built to power the Manhattan enrichment equipment at Oak Ridge. It was a huge electric plant at the time - in the middle of nowhere, in middle of a war????? Good thing the Japanese had no satellites.

Yes there should be uranium dust in the air after such an incident. Uranium's half life is in the hundreds of millions of years which means its atoms don't decay very often, so its activity is pretty low. Plus it emits mostly alpha particles (Helium) which only go a few centimeters in air. I'd think you'd need a local air or soil sample to detect it. OT can probably vouch - brand new reactor fuel isn't very radioactive. In our power plant we wore white cotton gloves around new fuel so as to not get fingerprints on it. It's after the fuel is used and the relatively stable uranium atoms have split into less stable lighter ones (fission fragments) with short half life, hence highly radioactive, that you get the famous blue glow.

If they really had a weapon there ought to be some Polonium or Americium too. But there's Americium in household smoke detectors..........

[jamiebk]

But there's Americium in household smoke detectors..........

Why do we need to have radioactive material in our smoke detectors?

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

But there's Americium in household smoke detectors..........

Why do we need to have radioactive material in our smoke detectors?

It's the source of the signal that the smoke interrupts. Interruption of the radiation by smoke particles triggers the sensor to enable the audio output and your nap gets interrupted.

[jamiebk]

But there's Americium in household smoke detectors..........

Why do we need to have radioactive material in our smoke detectors?

It's the source of the signal that the smoke interrupts. Interruption of the radiation by smoke particles triggers the sensor to enable the audio output and your nap gets interrupted.

It's usually my breakfast that get's interrupted, thanks to our toaster

[piqaboo]

I agree its plausible and I intended no disrespect of the journalists.
What is known is that Israel bombed Syria, and everyone is still trying to figure out why. Thats what journalists do.

Not all isotopes make that lovely glow, but aint it grand when it happens? Yttrium 90 does a nice job with it. I dont remember that U238 was primarily an alpha emitter. I guess I'm no longer qualified to work with radioactivity. Oh how sad (not!).

[Haggis@wk]

Columbia offered an invitation to Ahmadinejad to speak at Columbia and he accepted. That makes Columbia friendlier to the IED-planters of Iran than it is to the U.S. military, which is not permitted on campus.

Hopefully, Ahmadinejad’s people will brief him properly on topics he absolutely must not try to raise when addressing an American university audience,: illegal immigration, innate differences between men and women, stuff like that.

Stick with the topics the Columbia audience will agree with you about: The wickedness of the U.S.A., the evil nature of the Bush regime, the complete lack of evidence for any so-called “Holocaust,”, the need to wipe Israel off the map—all the non-controversial stuff.

Shameful