Talking will not stop them. One bomb will become five. Five, then fifty. Oil trumps paper and the paper will buy submarines and more missiles. Tactical theater weapons will soon be strategic and we know what their strategy is. We can bob and weave a defensive strategy or we can smoke them while we have them. Doing something or nothing will be costly. A half measure will be deadly. Time keeps on moving into the future. What is a man to do?Iran moves closer to making a nuclear bomb
By David Blair, Diplomatic Correspondent Telegraph
Last Updated: 11:58am BST 22/06/2007
Iran has moved significantly closer towards acquiring the ability to make a bomb as the regime claims to have stockpiled 100kg of enriched uranium.
So far, this uranium has only been enriched to the level needed for generating electricity in civilian nuclear power stations.
But if Iran chooses to enrich it to 84 per cent purity, it would reach weapons-grade level and become the essential material for building a bomb.
Iran would need 50kg of weapons-grade uranium in order to make one nuclear weapon of the kind that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.
By storing twice this quantity of low-enriched uranium, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime is widening its options.
It could choose to enrich the stockpiled uranium to weapons-grade level in a matter of months – perhaps after formally withdrawing from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and breaking out of all international safeguards.
Uranium is enriched using machines called centrifuges. These have now been installed in Iran's nuclear plant at Natanz. A snap inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency last month found that 1,312 centrifuges were operating.
Iran's official target is to bring 3,000 into action – enough to produce sufficient weapons-grade uranium for one bomb in about a year.
Mustapha Pourmohammedi, Iran's interior minister, told the official news agency that the moment of maximum international pressure on his country had passed and that Teheran would press ahead with the nuclear programme.
"When the world saw that the nation is pursuing this goal with unity, the world has surrendered. We have passed the dangerous moment," he said.
Iran claims that its nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful and designed to do nothing more than generate electricity for its growing population of 70 million. But western governments disbelieve this assertion.
The Iranian situation moves forward slowly, another example of actions not matching the rhetoric.
ReplyDelete"All options are on the table"
Kind of...
The US has yet to start a full court press, economicly against Iran. Why even think of preemtive military action, when reactionary peaceful means of cultural modification of Iranian behaviour have not been attempted.
US pension funds still invest in companies doing business in Iran.
Not one drop of US military sweat, let alone blood, should be risked, not while US pension funds maximize their returns on the political threats funded by their investments in Iran.
"... This essay is a preliminary attempt to supply that missing piece. It moves the human family from the periphery to the center of this debate over secularization -- and not as a theoretical exercise, but rather because compelling empirical evidence suggests an alternative account of what Nietzsche's madman really saw in the "tombs" (read, the churches and cathedrals) of Europe.
ReplyDeleteIn brief, it is not only possible but highly plausible that many Western European Christians did not just stop having children and families because they became secular. At least some of the time, the record suggests, they also became secular because they stopped having children and families. If this way of augmenting the conventional explanation for the collapse of faith in Europe is correct, then certain things, including some radical things, follow from it. ..."
It is a rather long piece of work. But to those interested in the subject of secularization, as part of cultural modification, it could hold interest.
"How the West Really Lost God"
By Mary Eberstadt
As cultural modification, utilizing as little violence as possible is now, as before, the real way forward.
Coalition Forces kill 17 al-Qaeda gunmen near Khalis
ReplyDeleteThat puts US at about three score, since Monday, of enemy KIA.
Maybe, Ms T, the jihadi will have their Tet, then we'd get to kill more than another score, or two.
Couple of gross, out of the 25,000 insurgents or 2,500 aQ operatives.
By September, there will be "progress" made, militarily.
But that still won't be enough to stop the tide. It will still be on the Iraqi. Mr al-Sadr or his replacements will still represent.
dRat,
ReplyDeleteIsrael has the missiles with which to bring down the Ayatollahs' oil economy and regime. Israel doesn't even need to risk its pilots or sailors to achieve this aim. And the Sauds have more than enough US and British advanced weaponry with which to defend themselves. In my judgement, a new Israeli government would be the only reason for a delay.
It'd be something to see, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteWe've discussed it often enough, I don't see the Israeli firing missiles, preemptively, at Iran, over US airspace.
But we'll see what we'll see, as always.
US airspace?
ReplyDelete:D
Btw dRat,
ReplyDeleteThere is no Fatah-Hamas war, just staged Paliwood theatre. Fatah took a dive so more funds will be sent in, that's all.
No doubt of that probability in my mind, mat.
ReplyDeleteCash seeks it's own level, a lot like water. Stormy seas are the norm. Mr Bush and Ms Rice must know as well as we.
Part of the "birth pangs" I assume.
Interesting choice of words, from a woman without children, while in Arabia. To draw notice to it.
On CNN, Glenn Beck said, approvingly, he thought it one of the "code word" references to the End Times prophesies of Revelations.
I had always referenced her remarks to the "birth of democracy"
ReplyDeleteand pain associated with birth.
Mr Glenn, a Christian believer, thought she referenced prophesy.
I sure cannot read Ms Rice's mind, let alone Mr Bush's.
We must judge their statements, based upon our own perspective, while making allowances for the perceptions of others.
He looks Jooish to me.
ReplyDeleteHow does he look from your perspective, dRat?
ReplyDeleteTo tell the truth, mat, I do not know what makes folk "look" a Jew.
ReplyDeleteWhat clue should I look for, other than that little black beanie?
Shekels?
ReplyDeleteThen all those Pension Fund managers, they're Jews?
ReplyDeleteJPOST:
ReplyDeleteOpposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu is urging that Jordanian troops help secure the West Bank.
"We have to shore up the Abbas government," he told reporters. "But we have to do that with regional participation, that is with Jordanian support." He called for Jordan to provide "some security presence."
Seems 70,000 armed Fatah men paid with US dollars are not enough of a challenge for Israel. Any bets on what currency Mr Netanyahu carries in his pocket, dRat?
USD, would be my guess, mat.
ReplyDeleteThrough a variety of false fronts and blind or one eyed trusts.
I'd suppose.
Arabfat, I'd bet his money was in Euros, or Swiss francs.
ReplyDeleteWell, I can tell you that Intel's CEO Paul Otellini is certainly Jooish. And I'm damn proud he's a Heb.
ReplyDelete"The House last week passed a $37.4 billion DHS funding bill that provides $1 billion for the project, but President Bush has said he will veto the overall measure since it exceeds the administration's request by $2.1 billion."
ReplyDelete---
Worthless, traitorous fucking son of a BITCH!
(from my perspective, of course)
Arabfat:
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere yesterday we've spent as much per capita on Arabfat as we did for the Eurabs during the Monroe Doctrine.
Indexed, I assume.
Are Intel chips in Iranian computers?
ReplyDeleteDoes Intel invest in Iran?
Or have European proxies that do?
Does Intel not sell to manufacturers that sell computers in the mussulmen markets?
How culpable is Intel for the musselmen's high-tech capability?
The mussulmen cannot make micro-chips, themselves, just use them.
dRat,
ReplyDeletePersonal computing is now considered high-tech?
Call me a Crazy Marzouq, but if everyone in our Mussulmen thiefdoms (White House included) had a MacBook and an internet connection, we be a much better world, no?
DR: On CNN, Glenn Beck said, approvingly, he thought it one of the "code word" references to the End Times prophesies of Revelations.
ReplyDeleteNot Revelation but the gospels, when Jesus talks about "wars and rumors of wars" being a sign, but only the beginning of the birth pangs associated with the end of history. Of course, wars have occured for 2000 years after that, and they are actually declining lately.
Newt also wrote a lengthy solutions-approach to immigration in his weekly Winning the Future Newsletter .
ReplyDeleteAs Newt often points out, more time has passed since the Sept. 11 attack than all the time it took the United States to defeat the Nazis, the fascists and the imperialists during World War II, yet today we are no closer to protecting our borders.
As long as there is an Intel, inside.
ReplyDeleteCompare the computer processing capacity to the computers used to develop nuclear weapons in the 1950 & 60s, 70s even.
The machine under my desk could take you to the moon, if you knew how.
We've been subsidizing mussulman education for decades.
dRat,
ReplyDeleteSo, you're saying that an internet connection is not enough to get me there? :)
No, that once the genie is out of the bottle, does not always make sense to break the bottle.
ReplyDeleteSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Associated Press) -- An Army officer with a key role in the U.S. military hearings at Guantanamo Bay says they relied on vague and incomplete intelligence and were pressured to declare detainees "enemy combatants," often without any specific evidence.
ReplyDeleteHis affidavit, released Friday, is the first criticism by a member of the military panels that determine whether detainees will continue to be held.
Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, a 26-year veteran of military intelligence who is an Army reserve officer and a California lawyer, said military prosecutors were provided with only "generic" material that didn't hold up to the most basic legal challenges.
Despite repeated requests, intelligence agencies arbitrarily refused to provide specific information that could have helped either side in the tribunals, according to Abraham, who said he served as a main liaison between the Combat Status Review Tribunals and those intelligence agencies.
"What were purported to be specific statements of fact lacked even the most fundamental earmarks of objectively credible evidence," Abraham said in the affidavit, filed in a Washington appeals court on behalf of a Kuwaiti detainee, Fawzi al-Odah, who is challenging his classification as an "enemy combatant."
VIENNA, Austria (Associated Press) -- Key U.S. allies have begun debating whether to tolerate Iran's only partially freezing its uranium enrichment program _ a stance that could put them at odds with Washington, officials said Friday.
ReplyDeleteThe officials _ U.S. and European diplomats and government employees _ told The Associated Press that the deliberations, involving senior British, French and German decision-makers, were preliminary, and that no conclusions had been drawn. Germany was supportive, France opposed and Britain noncommittal, they said.
"Nothing is on paper," a European diplomat said, describing the tentative plan as a "freeze for peace."
Still, with the United States still insisting that any enrichment freeze be total, such consideration could put major strains on U.S.-led attempts to show unity on the issue. And it could potentially lead Washington to settle for less than it has been insisting on in attempts to ban the prospects of Iran having nuclear arms.
A U.S. official said "there is some truth" to the reports of the discussions among the British, French and Germans, adding "We're still very skittish on that."
America has been counting on Britain, France and Germany in its four-year campaign to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions, specifically by getting it to abandon uranium enrichment, a program that can create the fissile material for the core of nuclear warheads.
There goes the REST of the Gas!
ReplyDeleteIndia's $2500 Car/
How did your relationship with Mahindra & Mahindra come about?
Historically — it’s interesting — I think in 1947, the company bought the rights, and possibly the tooling, to a jeep that was called M38A1 — it was a Korean War jeep — and started making those. In fact, they still make them; it’s what they call a rural utility vehicle, an R.U.V., but since then they’ve done more modern products
What they want me to do is show them the process whereby quality becomes part of the design, rather than something you struggle with after you’ve made it.
Can you elaborate on that?
---
Yeah, that’s where us guys in Europe or in America, there’s so much invested in current and past tools and machinery and stuff that the thought of starting again is just hideous really. If you didn’t have that stuff installed, you would get the best.
You don’t hear about that, but I imagine that the equipment has improved drastically even over the past five years.
Yeah, absolutely.
The five-axis milling machine they have for milling full-size prototypes is the most spectacular modern version I’ve ever seen. It’s a proper scary bit of equipment.
AUTOSAVANT
The subcontinent’s largest tractor manufacturer has ambitious plans to break into the world market for SUVs
ReplyDeleteDeal is close as Brown uses his veto
ReplyDeleteGordon Brown intervened directly to prevent a French attempt to weaken EU competition laws as leaders moved towards a deal
Sarkozy secretly tried to rewrite rules on Europe
Brown acts to avert Blair ‘cave-in’
Polish voters support leaders’ call
Just so you know I'm still Here
ReplyDeleteWe're Screwed and BBQed!
ReplyDeleteThat MoFo is gonna Superheat the Atmospheric Ecosystem 'til we're done to a Crisp!
Bulgaria homes
ReplyDelete"Not one drop of US military sweat, let alone blood, should be risked, not while US pension funds maximize their returns on the political threats funded by their investments in Iran. "
ReplyDelete---
Ledeen's been screaming faster please for so many years, his throat is raw.
...all to no avail:
Shop on!
Greater profits await Haliburton principals and investors.
The long war.
The longer open border.
Worse than Carter yet?
If he gets his way, the long term damage will far exceed Jimmah's efforts.
ReplyDeleteCompassionate George, so very generous with all our ancestors fought, bled, and died for.
Sure would be a shame if some Fatah member figured out a way to make it across the border to Waco.
Great would be the grieving in the Doug Household.
(make those dancing Muzzies look like Rockefeller Repubs!)
ReplyDelete"Send Money, Guns and Lawyers..."
ReplyDeleteIsrael Transfers 400 More Tons of Food for Gaza
(IsraelNN.com) Israel provided for the transfer of another 400 tons of food on Thursday in order to prevent an humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In addition, 160,000 liters of diesel fuel, 40,000 liters of gasoline and 40 tons of gas were transferred via the Nahal Oz terminal.
Israel also continued to provide medical treatment for eight more Gaza Arabs, including several who were injured by Hamas militia terrorists.
Gov't Considering Approving More Weapons for PA
What can one say in the face of such stupid leaders.
At the rate these leaders are going they should get down on their knees and beg America to give every Israeli a Green Card and the last Jew leaving can turn off the lights.
Permalink
Bibi = Left Wing
ReplyDeleteWhere is the vision for a future that includes a strong Israel an Israel where the word victory if part of our vocabulary and part of the plan and how to move the nation ahead?
---
Good to know the Joos and George and Candy are on the same page!
mat wrote, and DR concured:
ReplyDelete"There is no Fatah-Hamas war, just staged Paliwood theatre. Fatah took a dive so more funds will be sent in, that's all. "
youze guys look just smashing in those lovely tin foil hats: 'The Palis and the grand conspiracy to defraud US all' - man these some smart musselmen!
Girl, even in our shiny hats, I bet we'd still look positively hideous when compared to you in a bikini.
ReplyDeleteAnd what this means is that, regardless of what some in Hamas may or may not see as their primary goal in Gaza and the Palestinian Territories, their local ambitions are supported and enabled by Iran and Syria because their violent pursuit serves a greater regional strategy. Just another example of why the argument that Shi’a terrorist groups and states (Iran, Syria, Hizballah) would never cooperate significantly with Sunni terrorist groups (Hamas, al-Qaeda, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades) is a dangerous myth furthered by profound misunderstanding.
ReplyDeleteThreatsWatch seems to agree with "Palywood". Ash, you underestimate.
Mr Burns needs a Rubber Stamp to cut down Keyboard wear writing these headlines.
ReplyDeleteHell, I'd even settle for a Keyboard Macro:
Top Targets, blah, blah, blah...
Top Targets Fled Before U.S. Push, Commander Says
By JOHN F. BURNS
The second-ranking American commander in Iraq said that Qaeda leaders had been alerted to an offensive in Baquba.
Go to Complete Coverage »
Evil old Winston and Ike used to lie and not play fair.
ReplyDeleteGlad we've come so far:
---
"“Frankly, I think they knew an operation was coming in Baquba,” General Odierno said in a teleconference briefing with Pentagon reporters from the American military headquarters in Baghdad. “They watched the news. They understood we had a surge. They understood Baquba was designated as a problem area. So they knew we were going to come sooner or later.”
Still, he implied American commanders may have played a part by flagging the offensive in advance. “I think they were tipped off by us talking about the surge, the fact that we have a problem in Diyala Province,” he said."
Arrowhead Ripper: Surrender or Die
ReplyDeleteYon - Jun 22,
Our guys are winning. Al Qaeda is about to be strangled and pummeled to death in this town, but the local Iraqi leadership is severely wanting. This was most obviously noted in one area in particular, where there were some slight indicators of a possible humanitarian need. “Crisis” certainly is not the correct word, but there are displaced persons numbering at least in the hundreds. LTC Fred Johnson actually took me out there.
ReplyDelete---
This is where the inept local Iraqi commanders come in. I’ve seen them in meeting after meeting, over the past few days, finding ways to be underachievers. The Iraqi commanders have dozens of large trucks and have only to drive to our base to collect the supplies and distribute those supplies to the people displaced in the battle. Our troops are fully engaged in combat, yet the Iraqi leaders were not able to carry that load without LTC Johnson supplying the initiative. The Kurds would have had this fixed yesterday. The Iraqi commanders in Mosul would have fixed this. The local Iraqi command climate is disappointing by comparison.
Obama does something I agree with!
ReplyDelete---
"Obama’s earmark requests range from the general, such as $65 million for service improvements to his state’s Metra commuter rail, to the quirky, such as $8.5 million for an Army Corps of Engineers barrier intended to keep Asian carp fish from entering the Great Lakes."
---
Saw a video of those bastards yesterday:
They're taking over and taking out our fish!
(as well as smashing people in boats as they fly through the air)
How 'bout tearing yourself away from UFOville for a minute, Bobal, and update us on what you think the future holds for fish in the face of these monsters?
U.S. Group Says Pakistan Is Building New Reactor
ReplyDeletePakistan, June 22 — Pakistan is building a third plutonium production reactor at a major nuclear weapons center, a sign of plans to increase the nation’s nuclear arsenal significantly, a Washington group specializing in nuclear issues said Friday.
Based on satellite imagery of a reactor under construction at Khushab, about 100 miles south of the capital, Islamabad, it appeared that Pakistan would be able to build a new generation of lighter, more powerful weapons that could be more easily launched on missiles, said David Albright, the president of the Institute for Science and International Security.
Where Will We Fight al-Qaeda?
ReplyDeleteAl-Qaeda is in Pakistan, Lebanon, Gaza, Somalia, Algeria and in other places America seems unwilling to send her troops to fight the enemy that has killed thousands of our civilians and soldiers. And within the context of the relentless calls...
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
ReplyDeleteAre full of passionate intensity"
WBY.