Ehud Barak Pisses on Netanyahu’s Parade.

This is interesting. There must be confusion on Capital Hill. Our Rulers and Masters in the Potomac Politburo must be wondering if they missed an email or perhaps got the wrong playbook. OMG, the horror! What are they to do when they hear an honest evaluation from a politician?  Hannity will be double checking to see if he missed some nuance on the meaning of “existential”. Poor Bibi must have had to pop an additional Toprol. Hell man, if he can’t control his defense minister, at least he can control his blood pressure.

No one in their right mind wants Iran to be a nuclear power, except the Iranians. Barak stated the case as to why Iran would want to have nuclear weapons. Netanyahu does not want Iran to have nuclear weapons. The US executed Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for giving nuclear secrets to the Russians but the Russians got them anyway as did the Chinese, the Indians and worst of all the Pakistanis and North Koreans. The argument rests on what Israel and the US can do about it and what they should do about it.

Anyone care for a slam-dunk? They go down rather nicely but the hangover can be dreadful.

Obama golfs 32 times since taking office. Gates Tells Him to Wake Up Over Iran.

Gates warns Obama US lacks Iran policy in secret 'wake-up call' memo

Robert Gates, the Pentagon chief, has warned President Barack Obama in a secret "wake-up call" memo that the White House has no effective policy for dealing with a nuclear Iran.

By Toby Harnden in Washington Telegraph
Published: 12:00AM BST 19 Apr 2010

In the memo, Mr Gates outlined a scenario - viewed in Washington as increasingly likely - in which Iran would gather all the major parts required to build a nuclear weapon but stop just short of actually assembling them to make a fully operational bomb.

This would mean that Iran could remain a signatory of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty [NPT] while becoming what is sometimes referred to as a "virtual" nuclear weapons state.

Since the three-page memo, written in January, a series of new options have been developed for Mr Obama, including military means for dealing with Tehran if it should acquire a nuclear weapon, the New York Times reported.

According to the newspaper, one senior official described the memo as "a wake-up call" and urged the White House to ponder about how the US could contain Iran if it decided to produce a weapon and how to deal with the possibility that nuclear fuel or weapons could be obtained by a terrorist group supported by Tehran.

Mr Gates, a Republican who was appointed by President George W. Bush but kept on by Mr Obama, is viewed as one of the more hawkish members of the Obama administration.

Senator John McCain, the defeated 2008 Republican presidential candidate and a senator from Arizona, said tough and meaningful sanctions against Iran were needed immediately.

"We have to be willing to pull the trigger on significant sanctions," he told Fox News on Sunday. "And then we have to make plans for whatever contingencies follow if those sanctions are not effective."

The White House vigorously denied that the memo had forced a change in the administration's thinking. "It is absolutely false that any memo touched off a reassessment of our options," said Ben Rhodes, a National Security Council spokesman.

"This administration has been planning for all contingencies regarding Iran for many months."

Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said that Mr Gates believed "the president and his national security team have spent an extraordinary amount of time and effort considering and preparing for the full range of contingencies with respect to Iran".

Mr Gates's memo followed the expiration of a deadline of the end of 2009 set by Mr Obama for Iran to respond to an offer of dialogue to resolve concerns about Iran's accelerated nuclear programme.

Tehran spurned the offer and since then the Obama administration has pursued what it calls the "pressure track" - stepped-up military activity close to Iran and a fresh push for a more international sanctions to squeeze Iran economically.

Four senior Obama administration officials told Congress last week that Iran could be a year away from being able to build a nuclear bomb, but that it would take two to five more years to turn it into an effective weapon that could be launched against an enemy.

Iran has maintained that its nuclear programme is intended for energy production and not weapon-building.
"All we really know is that Iran is widening and deepening its nuclear weapons capabilities," said David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security.

"We don't have any insight into what they're thinking about doing - whether they'll just live with a nuclear weapons capability which will probably include learning more about nuclear weapons themselves, or they'll actually build them."

Is a successful Israeli strike against Iran even possible? Doubtful.

Hugh Hewitt and others who are foolishly calling for a strike against Iran, have no concept of what is involved in doing so. How would they? Almost all of them never served in the military, let alone saw combat. I would like to hear from one military strategist that can define how it is even possible, puting aside the blow back. Wishing something can happen is not the same as making it happen. Any thoughts?

Dutch Ban Iranian Nuclear Students

Background:

The Netherlands played a pivotal role in one of the 20th century’s biggest nuclear spying operations. Pakistani nuclear physicist Abdul Qadeer Khan obtained his doctors degree at the Delft technical university in 1967, and worked at the Physical Dynamic Research laboratory from 1972 until 1975. It was there that Mr Khan acquired knowledge of enriching uranium via the ultra centrifuge process, a method that is still in use today. He suddenly disappeared in 1975, only to reappear in 1976 as the leader of the Pakistani nuclear weapons research programme. In 2004, Pakistan announced that Mr Khan had sold nuclear information to Libya, Iran and North Korea. In doing so, Mr Khan was assisted by his Dutch business partner Henk Sleebos, who, years later, was handed a prison sentence for his illegal activities.

Former Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers says the then Dutch government was aware of Abdul Qadeer Khan's clandestine activities. Reportedly, he was not arrested at the request of the US intelligence service, the CIA, which wanted to gain insight in the network that the Pakistani scientist was a member of.

Dutch university bans Iranian students
BY RUBEN TEMMING* Radio Netherlands
03-01-2008

Iranian students are not welcome at the Technical University Twente in the town of Enschede. At the request of the Education Ministry and the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the university has agreed not to admit any Iranian students. The government fears that Iranian students and workers would steal sensitive nuclear information to help their government develop nuclear weapons. The university's decision is the direct result of a 2006 UN resolution calling on member states to prevent Iran from gaining access to nuclear knowledge.

The UN has been concerned about the Iranian nuclear research programme for some time. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, says there is no evidence that Iran is developing its own nuclear weapon. However, at the same time Iran is accused of not providing sufficient information on its uranium enrichment programme.

The most recent US intelligence report on Iran also concludes that there is no evidence of an Iranian nuclear arms programme, but it does accuse Iran of withholding information. Tehran insists that its enrichment programme is intended exclusively for domestic production of the fuel rods needed for a nuclear power plant currently under construction.

Psychology

Twente University is allowed to admit Iranian students on condition it guarantees they will not have access to nuclear information, a guarantee the university says it is unable to give. So far, three Iranian students have been refused. Iranians who want to study psychology would also be rejected. A spokesperson says students are free to wander around the campus, and 24/7 surveillance would be impossible. Iranian students already studying at Twente will be allowed to complete their studies.

Twente is the first technical university in the Netherlands to introduce such strict measures. The Delft Technical University says it first considers the subject that the applicant wants to study. In other words, Delft does not reject Iranian students on principle. The Eindhoven Technical University refuses to comment and refers all inquiries to the foreign affairs ministry.

Smart Iranian Nuclear Politics

In 1955, GE was ready for the nuclear age.

Just count the countries and companies that will be lining up to bid on nineteen nuclear power plants. Should General Electric and Westinghouse be there? Iran is going to be a nation that runs on nuclear power.

President Bush, in a 13 September 2006 interview with the Washington Post, when asked what he would say to the Iranian people, said,... "In terms of the nuclear issue," he continued, "I understand that you believe it is in your interest -- your sovereign interest, and your sovereign right -- to have nuclear power. I understand that. But I would also say to the Iranian people, there are deep concerns about the intentions of some in your government who would use knowledge gained from a civilian nuclear power industry to develop a weapon that can then fulfill the stated objectives of some of the leadership [to attack Israel and threaten the United States]. And I would say to the Iranian people that I would want to work for a solution to meeting your rightful desires to have civilian nuclear power."

That being the case, would it not be better to have American involvement in the technology and commerce?

Iran to seek bids for 19 atomic power plants
Mon Dec 24, 2007

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday it rejected any preconditions for talks with the United States, which suspects it wants an atomic bomb, and a member of parliament was quoted as saying Tehran planned 19 nuclear power plants.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki made clear Iran's position on talks three days after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington was open to better ties and talks with Iran if it suspended sensitive nuclear work.

"After the publication of a report by America's intelligence organizations, U.S. officials have talked of negotiations with preconditions with Iran," Mottaki was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

"But we do not accept any preconditions for talks," he said in comments to an Iranian satellite television station, reported on the state television Web site and by Iranian news agencies.

He was referring to a U.S. intelligence estimate published this month which said Iran had ended its nuclear weapons program in 2003, leading to calls by some Iran experts for Washington to drop its precondition that Tehran give up uranium enrichment before broader talks could begin.

At a news conference on Dec 21. in Washington, however, Rice dismissed such suggestions, saying the new intelligence estimate reinforced the need for sustained pressure on Iran.

Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, is embroiled in a dispute with Western powers who fear its nuclear program could be used to build an atomic bomb. Tehran says it is aimed at generating electricity.

Easing a diplomatic freeze that lasted almost three decades, Iranian and U.S. officials have held three rounds of talks in Baghdad this year, but those discussions have been limited to ways to quell the violence in Iraq.

The U.N. Security Council is discussing a possible third round of sanctions against Iran over its refusal to suspend its sensitive atomic work.

INTERNATIONAL TENDER

Mottaki's remarks came as Kazem Jalali, a spokesman for parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, gave details of a planned international tender for atomic plants a week after Russia said it had begun fuel deliveries to the Islamic state's first such facility.

Jalali said each power plant would have a capacity of 1,000 megawatts of electricity, the Iran News daily reported on Monday, without giving further details.

Russia said on December 17 it had delivered the first shipment of nuclear fuel to the Bushehr power plant in southern Iran, a step Moscow and Washington said should convince Tehran to shut down its own disputed uranium enrichment activities.

Iran, however, said it would not halt its efforts to enrich uranium, a process to make fuel for power plants that can also provide material for atomic weapons, if refined much further.

Iranian officials say domestically-produced fuel is needed for other power plants it wants to build as part of a planned network with a capacity for 20,000 MW by 2020.

Jalali, whose comments were initially carried by the official IRNA news agency on Sunday, suggested the tenders were in line with these plans. "The contract for building 19 power plants ... will in the near future be put on an international tender," IRNA quoted him as saying.

(Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian; Editing by Charles Dick)