Article

2006-03-08 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran Has Enough Uranium For Ten Atomic Bombs, U.S. Official Says

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Posted by Steve 2006-03-08 08:25|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Things are warming up. I expect that gas will either be liberated or entombed sometime in the next couple of months.

Posted by Darrell 2006-03-08 09:30|| 2006-03-08 09:30|| Front Page Top

#2 I'm no expert, but it seems to be that the current weak link in Iran's scheme is 1) the location of the yellowcake and 2) the centrifuges to purify the yellowcake. If something really unfortunate happened to those, they'd be set back for a few years at least. We don't need a MOAB or cruise missiles to do that, some sort of major work accident is all that's required. Just need to scale up the 'red-wire/green-wire' scenario to the appropriate size.

Posted by Steve White">Steve White 2006-03-08 10:58|| 2006-03-08 10:58|| Front Page Top

#3 I'm hoping someone here has a link to the mention I saw of how Iran's UF₆ supply has proven to be tainted by impurities resulting from poor refining and gasification processes. Considering that Iran has limited experience in operating the high speed centrifuges as well, this could point to a substantial bottleneck in their ability to enrich the supplies of UF₆ that they have.

Regardless, this is just one more button on the coat of why ~~intervention~~ breaking things over there is so important. Whatever time there once was has been squandered by the IAEA and Europe's insistence upon utilizing diplomacy where it is simply was not called for.

Negotiating with Iran brings to mind the old Mark Twain quote:

Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and it annoys the pig.

Posted by Zenster 2006-03-08 11:29|| 2006-03-08 11:29|| Front Page Top

#4 The time has come for the Security Council to take action...

Why am I reminded of this poem?

'The time has come,' the UNWalrus said,
'To talk of many things:
Of shoes -- and ships -- and sealing wax --
Of cabbages -- and kings --
And why the sea is boiling hot --
And whether pigs have wings.'

Posted by Xbalanke 2006-03-08 11:43|| 2006-03-08 11:43|| Front Page Top

#5 Apparently the IAEA today officially referred Iran to the UNSC. (Id be very curious as to the vote at the IAEA)

The next step is for the UNSC to ask nicely for the Iranians to stop enrichment. When they dont, the next step is to order them. The next step after that is to vote sanctions. IIUC Bolton is hoping to get the first resolution passed within a week.

Posted by liberalhawk 2006-03-08 15:11|| 2006-03-08 15:11|| Front Page Top

#6 On occasion, I monitor Iran's official "Islamic Republic" news agency for content of Teheran University's Friday Prayers. As far as I know, the "Death to ____" list includes: America; Israel; Denmark; France; Germany; England. Except for Denmark and Germany (which are NATO allies), the other States are nuclear powers. Someone has a problem with fact absorption.

Posted by Listen To Dogs 2006-03-08 16:04|| 2006-03-08 16:04|| Front Page Top

#7 Xbalanke:
And we all remember the UN performance in Rwanda.

Posted by Listen To Dogs 2006-03-08 16:07|| 2006-03-08 16:07|| Front Page Top

#8 Liberalhawk

No, not quite. I believe that the first step would be a UNSC resolution condemning Israel for, oh, any number of things.

Posted by kelly 2006-03-08 17:30|| 2006-03-08 17:30|| Front Page Top

#9 Apparently the IAEA today officially referred Iran to the UNSC.

Did they actually refer the issue to the UNSC or did they merely vote to report their findings and the current state of affairs? Big difference (not in reality but in diplo-speak) as the former formally dumps the entire problem on the UNSC who is then obligated to formally wring their hands about it while the latter allows the UNSC to merely listen intently and nod with no formal hand-wringing required.

Posted by AzCat 2006-03-08 21:08|| 2006-03-08 21:08|| Front Page Top

#10 ... while the latter allows the UNSC to merely listen intently and nod with no formal hand-wringing required.

Yeah, all that heavy ~~lifting~~ wringing must really get to them.

Posted by Zenster 2006-03-08 21:24|| 2006-03-08 21:24|| Front Page Top

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