Japans Ambassador to India Yasukuni Enoki on Tokyos desire for deeper defence ties, and its interest in investing in India. Excerpts from an interview:
Yasukuni Enoki returned home today after a total of six years in India as Ambassador, in two spells. He has relinquished charge at a time when both countries are seeking to upgrade their ties to the strategic level.
Is there a move towards a security grouping involving India and Japan?
Japan has some constraints in engaging in group security. Only Japan-U.S. defence cooperation is an exception. But there are many other things to do before we do that. Japanese energy security is dependent on the Indian Navy. The Indian Ocean has very important sea lanes. We have only the Indian Navy which can be trusted. Other navies are not as reliable. For Japanese energy security, closer relations with India are very much required. The Indian Navy can always take care of the Indian Ocean. In the past, Japan was the only major oil importer. Now, there is China and the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean). The Indian Ocean is very busy and many countries have an interest in its security.
Are you planning to hold the next meeting of the Quadrilateral grouping [comprising India, Australia, Japan and the U.S.] in the near future?
It is not a concrete arrangement. The Japanese Government has a strong will for another round. There is no consensus yet on what level it will take place whether it will be at high officials or ministerial level. Perhaps it is a little bit risky to go too fast. But a senior official level meeting should be held soon.
What is the Japanese stand on the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal?
The INFCIRC 153 [safeguard] format is for members of the NPT. I understand that at present the Indian Government is considering to negotiate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the basis of INFCIRC 66 [which is there for the Tarapur plant]. It is premature for the Japanese Government to comment. We wish to be very well informed of the process and it should be transparent. After watching closely, the Japanese Government will state its stand.
What do you mean by transparency?
That we wish to be well informed.
Is Japan moving towards an institutionalised security arrangement with India?
Not yet. But before Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs visit to Japan we hope to complete some work in this direction. The essential point is military-to-military exchanges are very much advanced but the problem is [that] cooperation is fragmented. It is not under a comprehensive framework. It is time to prepare some framework to cover all the ingredients. That is the intention of both governments. Maybe it could be in the form of a joint declaration or a memorandum of understanding. But the mode doesnt matter. What is essential is the substance.
There has been talk of cooperation in space and other cutting-edge technologies but things do not seem to be moving. What are the prospects of future collaboration?
We have cooperation in the political and economic areas but some areas are untapped such as science and university-to-university academic exchanges. You will be happy to note that even in science and technology, close collaboration has started. This could be accelerated in future if the Indo-U.S. civil cooperation agreement is approved by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and if the international community accepts the new regime. That will help both Japan and India to further promote hi-tech cooperation.
Under the current regime, India is outside the NPT regime and since hi-tech technology has several dual-use aspects, both areas are not inseparable. Therefore, the international community should be very cautious in extending hi-tech to India. If the NSG accommodates India, that will promote hi-tech cooperation.
Is there any move to change the nature of the Official Development Assistance to India?
Infrastructure development requires huge finances so India needs intake of loan, preferably concessional loan. Although Japan has good intention to cover three areas, in light of the Indian Governments policy, a major part goes for infrastructure development. It covers vast areas including urban development and forestry and not just infrastructure.
Is Japan ready to finance the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project? What are its prospects?
Japan has stated very clearly its willingness to work together with India. The implication is that Japan is ready to finance the DMIC. This DMIC plan should go with the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC). This DMIC requires large amount of investment over one decade. It cant be done overnight. Already both Governments have shown interest in promoting this idea. We are going step by step and proceeding to the next step.
The DMIC is a necessary passage for Indias development because till now there is no economic development for inter-State or broad areas. Every economic development plan is within the framework of the state. This idea covering six States is the first attempt to promote development in a broader area. This project is much needed for the Indian economy and Japanese investment and will enable very smooth export of goods manufactured inland. Till now there was no well prepared export policy. Indian economy was too much domestic market structured.
In manufacturing, India is about to enter a new stage. Maruti has announced plans to export two lakh cars to Europe. You never had such a long sustaining export plan. Others may follow suit. For this a smooth transport system is required.
What is the major constraint faced by Japanese companies?
This time, we are on the eve of a new Indo-Japan business cooperation era. But the problem is we cannot find the land to construct factories in the greater Delhi area. The U.S. and Europe largely have service industries here so the requirement for land is not large. Japanese investment is centred around the manufacturing area. So Japanese investments are overflowing from the greater Delhi [area] to other regions like Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, and Mumbai. We need some destination between Delhi and Mumbai to accommodate Japanese FDI.
Is there any move to replicate the DMIC project in the south, considering that the investment environment is extremely conducive?
Bangalore today is the second largest home for Japanese in India after Delhi. In the past it was Mumbai. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are much preferred destinations for Japanese FDI. But we cannot cooperate at different places at the same time. India is nine times bigger than Japan. But in future if the Indian Government has another inter-State plan for the south, we can perhaps consider the possibility.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/01/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
ION, MVARIETY > FIVE EARTHQUAKES struck Guam + Marianas. Sub-ION, [future] PROMISED LAND seen in the sky.
#2
ION, FREEREPUBLIC > Canadians > Powerful Volcanic eruption in Red Sea off Yemen. *Yet another Oliver Stone production of NOT a Gwen "Look at my B*** rack" Stefani film, not starring Lindsay Lohan [Darth Vader breathing here].
#3
An important corollary to this is that the Japanese can no longer rely on the United States - let alone the poor old Royal Navy - to guarantee the security of the high seas.
#5
There are a couple reasons for the US navy to encourage Indian patrol of the oceans there. One is that we can't be everywhere and anti-piracy is better within Indian capabilities than, say, blockading the Iranians.
The second is that our presence in places like the straits off Indonesia, which are critical to shipping, is pretty provocative and is resisted by the local governments. For the moment, India is more welcome. And since those straits are pretty narrow, it's better if we don't take large US ships into them, thereby avoiding an incident in which we strayed a couple yards from the main channels into national waters.
Of course, part of what's going on is that Japan wants in on the tech industry capabilities growing in India.
#1
Not a bad article. The real point here is not whether he predicts it - but that he's promising it. DenimJacket sees it as his duty to produce the necessary conditions that will make it possible for coco-the-imam to pop out his well...and those conditions are based on world war.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/01/2007 14:24 Comments ||
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#2
Now I would like to address those who have shown hostility towards the Iranian nation for about five years; offended and accused my people who have contributed to the history and civilization of the world, and I advise them to learn from history and their recent actions.
They badly mistreated the Iranian nation but they should be careful not to inflict the same on other members of international organizations, and not to sacrifice the dignity of international organizations for the sake of their unlawful wishes. Today the nations of the world are wide awake and resistant. If you reform yourselves, the whole world will be reformed.
Nations are inherently good and can co-exist peacefully.
They should endeavor to serve their own people; others that do not need them. Is it not high time for these powers to return from the path of arrogance and obedience to Satan to the path of faith in God?
Would they not like to be cleansed of their impurities, submit to the will of God and believe in Him?
Faith in God means believing in honesty, purity, justice and compassion for others!
They can be certain that they will benefit from purity, honesty, justice, and loving and respecting the human dignity. They can also be certain that such values are more and more considered appropriate, valuable and beautiful by the nations of the world.
This is the invitation of all the divine prophets from Adam to Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Chris, and Mohammed (PBUH).
If they accept this invitation, they will be saved and if they don't, the same calamities that befell the people of the distant past will befall them as well. According to the holy Quran:
"One who does not answer the divine call should not think that he has weakened God on earth; he has no companion but God and he is clearly engulfed by darkness".
They have nothing of their own and cannot escape from the dominion of the rule of God and His will.
In this important gathering, I have to remind them of the following words of the Almighty which have been mentioned in the Holy Quran:
"Do they not look at the powers and governments which came before them? If the people of the past had actually possessed something, they would have kept it and would not have let you possess it now.
God destroyed them because of their sins and nobody could protect them against the will of God".
They have to know that thoughts and methods based on oppression and injustice are doomed to failure. Do they not see the signs of vigilance and resistance based on monotheism, philanthropy and the justice-seeking spirit of the nations of the world? Do they not notice that we are nearing the sunset of the time of empires? I hope that this invitation will have a practical answer.
Excellencies,
Peoples and governments are not obliged to obey the injustice of certain powers. These powers, because of the reasons already mentioned, have lost the competence to lead the world.
I officially declare that the age of relations arising from the Second World War as well as materialistic thoughts based on arrogance and domination is well over now. Humanity has passed a perilous precipice and the age of monotheism, purity, affinity, respecting others, justice and true peace-loving has commenced.
It is the divine promise that the truth will be victorious and the earth will be inherited by the righteous. You, who are free, believers, and the people of the world, put your trust in God.
You, who crave high values, wherever you are, try to prepare the grounds for the fulfillment of this great divine promise by serving the people and seeking justice.
The era of darkness will end, prisoners will return home, the occupied lands will be freed, Palestine and Iraq will be liberated from the domination of the occupiers, and the people of America and Europe will be free of the pressures exerted by the Zionists.
The tender-hearted and humanity-loving governments will replace the aggressive and domineering ones. Human dignity will be regained.
The pleasing aroma of justice will permeate the world, and people will live together in a brotherly and affectionate manner.
Striving in this way to surrender rule to the righteous and Perfect Human, the Promised One, is indeed the final cure for the wounds of humanity, the solution of all problems, and the establishment of love, beauty, justice and a dignified life all over the world.
This belief and endeavor is the key to unity and the constructive interaction among nations, countries, the people of the world and all the true justice-seekers.
Without any doubt, the Promised One who is the ultimate Savior, together with Jesus Christ and other holy Saviors, will come. In the company of all believers, justice-seekers and benefactors, he will establish a bright future and fill the world with justice and beauty.
This is the promise of God; therefore it will be fulfilled.
Let's play a part in the fulfillment of all this glory and beauty.
I wish for a bright future for all human beings and the dawn of the liberation of and freedom for all humans, and the rule of love and affection all around the world, as well as the elimination of oppression, hatred and violence. A wish which I expect will be realized in the near future.
#3
Don't forget that A'jad already fulfilled his Islamic obligation to send an ultimatum to the leaders of the infidel nations to convert to Islam or die. He sent personal letters to President Bush and German Chancellor Merkel saying exactly that. In his version of Islamic law, he has fulfilled the requirements for starting his holy war against the West.
Ignore this at your own peril. Both Ahmadinejad and bin Laden have followed Islam's forms so that they are now religiously sanctioned to commit whatever atrocities they wish against the West.
"Everyone in the government and military can only talk of one thing," he reports. "No matter who I talked to, all they could do was ask me, over and over again, Do you think the Americans will attack us?' When will the Americans attack us?' Will the Americans attack us in a joint operation with the Israelis?' How massive will the attack be?' on and on, endlessly. The Iranians are in a state of total panic."
Short of phisically attacking Iran, this is the best possible alternative. Iran will fritter away massive amounts of resources to bolster itself against attack. This will distract them from more pressing economic problems and issues of internal security. Sadly, none of it will expedite regime change in the needed time frame. An attack upon Iran is still our top priority.
#4
WOT > among other thingys, is WAR FOR GLOBAL SECULARISM including but not limited to GLOBAL ATHEISM. IOW, a WAR AGZ GOD-FAITH = SPIRITUALITY and the latter's important role in life, Society, Belief/Values and Governance. Amers must be careful not to go too far in its desire to win the WOT.
Sounds like a Sherlock Holmes Mystery.
U.S. forces killed in combat (not accidents or health reasons) stand at forty-two for the month of September, as of this writing on September, 30th. By comparison, the DoD suffers an average of 250 accidental deaths a year in peace time, or just under twenty-one a month. Monthly fatalities caused by hostile action may soon barely exceed peace-time on duty deaths.
Yet Speaker Pelosi has been asserting just the opposite. Only a few weeks ago the Speaker referred to Iraq in terms of a "staggeringly high level of violence." And just days before General Petraeus testified, the Speaker released a statement in which, under the headline "U.S. TROOP CASUALTIES RISING," referenced "June, July and August 2007."
In fact, this was a period of time in which losses due to hostile action dropped by over 50% from May. US forces' overall fatalities in Iraq dropped by 33% in that same time period. But inaccuracies like that are not isolated. On June 13th, 2007 the Speaker sent the President a letter that read: "In fact, the last two months of the war were the deadliest to date for U.S. troops."
According to icasualties.org, which is often referenced in the Speaker's own press releases, in no month in this year did US forces in Iraq experience more fatalities than the two highest months of 2004.
So who is the one "cooking the books"?
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/01/2007 16:46 ||
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#1
Pelosi's just trying to repeat a lie many many times and see if anyone notices or whether it sticks. Every dhimmicrat does that, so she sees no issue with the appoach.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/01/2007 21:03 Comments ||
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#6
I dunno. Don't get me wrong, Murtha's a pile of steaming shit, no doubt about it. But he was a Marine. Sure he's crapped all over them recently, but to my mind, putting him in the same boat as that bitch Pelosi isn't an accurate comparison. That woman is anti-American, from the soles of her designer patent leather shoes to the crown of her salon dyed hair.
The fact that Pelosi can commit her treason, as Zenster so aptly put it, "under the radar", only further demonstrates her danger to America.
#7
mcsegeek1, it really is not "under the radar". She is not alone. The same crap became a standard fare from the neocoms. In your face. Pelosi and many others can do it because there is no accountability for ones' deeds if the partei ID is the "proper" one and because people got desnsitized by the sheer volume ot this crap.
For the moment... i believe that the payback will be byatch, in due time.
"They are immature shooters and have very quick trigger fingers," says an anonymous lieutenant colonel. "Why are we creating new vulnerabilities by relying on what are essentially mercenary forces?" asks a nameless intelligence officer. "They often act like cowboys over here," says an unidentified commander.
Ever since a recent shootout in downtown Baghdad, newspapers have been ablaze with charges that private security contractors in Iraq are trigger-happy. This rush to pass judgment is hardly surprising. Frequently derided as "mercenaries" and "rent-a-cops," security contractors make an easy target for war opponents. As a former employee of a major Blackwater competitor, I find this categorical smearing of contractors to be starkly at odds with my experience. I served as an officer in the Navy SEALs for six years. After I left, I joined a private security firm and was promptly sent to Iraq.
Contrary to the popular belief that Blackwater contractors are "thugs for hire," most are highly professional and well trained. Blackwater operates the world's largest private military training facility. Its 1,000 contractors working in Iraq are drawn from the ranks of former military and law enforcement officials. Many of its workers are former SEALs or veterans of other special-operations units.
The risks these workers assume are underscored by the infamous 2004 ambush in Fallujah, in which four Blackwater contractors were murdered and mutilated. To date, Blackwater has lost 30 contractors. For all anyone knows, last month's incident could have turned into another Fallujah had Blackwater's contractors reacted differently. The details are still terribly unclear.
The contractors--and the U.S. diplomats they were escorting--claim they were ambushed. Yet Iraq's Ministry of Interior almost immediately issued a report declaring that the contractors were "100% guilty." Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has charged that the operators killed "in cold blood." With conflicting reports, condemnations should not be made until the joint Iraqi-U.S. investigation is completed. The media, however, has accepted the Ministry of Interior's version of events, all but writing off the accounts of both Blackwater and the State Department.
This follows a long-established pattern of unfounded claims in the press about security contractors. For instance, numerous reports reference contractors making over $1,000 a day--far more than active-duty soldiers. Some point to the more than $700 million Blackwater has received in State Department contracts in order to denounce security firms as war profiteers.
The truth, however, is that contractors are cost-effective. Blackwater contractors, for example, are generally paid $450-$650 a day. More important, unlike U.S. servicemen, they usually receive no benefits and are paid only for the days they work. Security contractors at the better firms have typically retired from active duty or left the military on their own accord after extended service. They are honorable veterans who have chosen to risk their lives to protect American diplomats in a war zone.
Instead of depleting our armed forces, security contractors allow the government to recapture its investment in these men during wartime and avoid the extraordinary expense of training new recruits. In short, they're already trained and experienced--and cost money only when they're needed.
Another common myth is that contractors are above the law. True, the June 2004 Coalition Provisional Authority Order 17 exempts contractors (and other diplomatic personnel) from local prosecution. But that doesn't mean that contractors have been granted blanket immunity from prosecution. In fact, the order clearly states that this immunity is limited only to acts necessary to fulfill contracts. Indiscriminate attacks on civilians--as alleged in last month's incident--are not covered.
Contractors are also subject to numerous U.S. statutes and regulations, as well as international treaties. Just last year, Congress amended the Uniform Code of Military Justice to include contractors. Contractors can also be prosecuted under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000, which permits charges to be brought in federal court for crimes abroad.
Like soldiers, security contractors are sometimes forced to make split-second decisions with enormous consequences. They must be--and are--accountable to our government for their actions. But the people I worked with in Iraq, including veterans working for Blackwater, were hardly rogue cowboys. I did, however, meet some trigger-happy journalists over there.
Mr. Ryan is a former U.S. Navy SEAL officer who spent time in Iraq as an employee of Triple Canopy, a private security firm.
Thank you to all who really do the jobs no one else wants to do and then, too often, get treated poorly by the beneficiaries of their hard work.
We can't necessarily remove every dictatorial regime on the planet, but there were many reasons to remove the one in Iraq. Critics of that decision often claim that it was up to the Iraqi people to stand up to Saddam and remove him if that's what they wanted. Some of them (particularly the pacifists among them) even cite Mahatma Gandhi as an example, and advocate the use of non-violent resistance techniques.
What they ignore in doing so is that Gandhi faced an almost unique situation--imperialists who were not monsters, and were unwilling to put down the rebellion with the brutality necessary to do so. To think that Gandhi's tactics would have been effective against a Hitler, or a Stalin, or a Saddam, is foolish.
And here we have a textbook example, that demonstrates the fatuity of such thinking. Who, after all, is more pacifist, and (according to their theory, should be more successful with such tactics) than Buddhist monks?
Liselotte Agerlid, who is now in Thailand, said that the Burmese people now face possibly decades of repression. "The Burma revolt is over," she added.
"The military regime won and a new generation has been violently repressed and violently denied democracy. The people in the street were young people, monks and civilians who were not participating during the 1988 revolt.
"Now the military has cracked down the revolt, and the result may very well be that the regime will enjoy another 20 years of silence, ruling by fear." . . .
"People are scared and the general assessment is that the fight is over. We were informed from one of the largest embassies in Burma that 40 monks in the Insein prison were beaten to death today and subsequently burned."
The diplomat also said that three monasteries were raided yesterday afternoon and are now totally abandoned.
At his border hideout last night, 42-year-old Mr Win said he hopes to cross into Thailand and seek asylum at the Norwegian Embassy.
The 42-year-old chief of military intelligence in Rangoon's northern region, added: "I decided to desert when I was ordered to raid two monasteries and force several hundred monks onto trucks. They were to be killed and their bodies dumped deep inside the jungle. I refused to participate in this."
But such regimes can always find people who will not refuse (and some who will even take pleasure). If there is a solution to tyranny and dictatorship, it does not lie in passivity and non-violence. Or "dialogue."
Posted by: Mike ||
10/01/2007 15:24 ||
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Frontpage Interviews guest today is Michael A. Ledeen, Excerpt:
FP: Why was the U.S. so unprepared for 9/11?
Ledeen: Lousy intelligence, driven by many years of policy makers who didn't want to know what was really going on, because they were not prepared to act against the terror masters.
FP: Can you talk about some of the ways that the Clinton administration left us vulnerable to 9/11?
Ledeen: Two main ways. The first is the empowerment of Iran, a story I had forgotten until I was forced to review the Clinton years while writing "The Iranian Time Bomb." Clinton carried out three secret policies: first, he arranged to have Iran arm the Bosnians via secret arms deliveries. This violated UN Resolutions and public American policy. Second, he permitted Russia to arm Iran. And third, he permitted Russia to provide Iran with nuclear technology. Ironically, the latter two deals were negotiated by Vice President Al Gore, and both contravened a law known as the McCain-Gore Act.
The second is the well-known failure to know enough about al Qaeda, and to act against it. By now, there are several extensive treatments of these monumental failures, of which the two most famous are the reports by the 9/11 Commission and the Silberman-Robb Commission.
FP: Can you talk a bit about the Shiite regimes collaboration with al-Qaeda and other terror groups?
Ledeen: Iran is the leading sponsor of jihad, and has worked closely with al-Qaeda since the mid-nineties, starting from contacts in Sudan. When al-Qaeda was smashed in Afghanistan, the top leaders went to Iran, and some of them stayed there. This includes Saif al Adel, the military commander, Saad bin Laden, and probably the top two as well: Osama and Zawahiri. Already in 2000, Zarqawi created a European terror network from his headquarters in Tehran. So we have decades of close working relations between Shi'ite Iran and Sunni terrorists. But the link goes all the way back to the early seventies, when Arafat's (Sunni) al Fatah trained the (Iranian Shi'ite) Revolutionary Guards Corps in the (Syrian controlled) Bekka Valley in Lebanon.
Posted by: ed ||
10/01/2007 15:51 ||
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#1
Something here doesn't make sense to me.
"Permitted Iran to arm Bosnia,"
"Permitted Russia to arm Iran."
But Russia was on the side of the Serbs, so why would they have been indirectly arming the Bosnians? (And don't tell me they don't have good enough intel to be able to figure out that the stuff they were sending Iran was winding up in Bosnia.}
#2
"Permitted Iran to arm Bosnia," Senator Craig January 16, 1997: Clinton-Approved Iranian Arms Transfers Help Turn Bosnia into Militant Islamic Base 1. The Clinton Green Light to Iranian Arms Shipments (page 3): In April 1994, President Clinton gave the government of Croatia what has been described by Congressional committees as a "green light" for shipments of weapons from Iran and other Muslim countries to the Muslim-led government of Bosnia. The policy was approved at the urging of NSC chief Anthony Lake and the U.S. ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith. The CIA and the Departments of State and Defense were kept in the dark until after the decision was made.1. The Clinton Green Light to Iranian Arms Shipments (page 3): In April 1994, President Clinton gave the government of Croatia what has been described by Congressional committees as a "green light" for shipments of weapons from Iran and other Muslim countries to the Muslim-led government of Bosnia. The policy was approved at the urging of NSC chief Anthony Lake and the U.S. ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith. The CIA and the Departments of State and Defense were kept in the dark until after the decision was made.
"Permitted Russia to arm Iran." Russia-Iran Arms Trade Between 1995 and 2000, Russia suspended its advanced weapons trade with Iran as part of a voluntary agreement with the United States. The value of arms transfer agreements between the Iran and Russia ballooned from $300 million between 1998 and 2001 to $1.7 billion between 2002 and 2005.
Congressional Record: October 26, 2000, Senator Bond
First, let me call attention to a Wall Street Journal editorial page article, "Gore's Hidden Weakness: Foreign Policy" from Monday, October 23. There Robert Zoellick expresses concern over the supposed foreign policy experience that Vice President Gore would bring to the White House.
In the article he said that in the Chernomyrdin agreement:
. . . he blessed Russian exports to Iran of weapons that could only be targeted against the U.S. Navy, which protects the world's energy lifeline.
He went on to say:
. . . Russian technicians continued to help Iran develop "laser isotope separation technology" used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.
...
This secret Gore-Chernomyrdin agreement, and the Clinton-Gore administration's promise not to implement U.S. laws requiring sanctions for Russian weapons proliferation to Iran, was first reported in the New York Times on October 13 of this year. It said there that:
In exchange for the Russian promises, the United States pledged not to seek penalties against Russia under a 1992 law that requires sanctions against countries that sell advanced weaponry to countries the State Department classifies as state sponsors of terrorism. Iran is on that list.
The law they are referring to, of course, is the 1992 Iran-Iraq Non-Proliferation Act. That was sponsored by the Senator from Tennessee, Mr. Al Gore, along with Senator McCain.
Posted by: ed ||
10/01/2007 19:29 Comments ||
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#3
Russian technicians continued to help Iran develop "laser isotope separation technology" used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.
...
Okay, we are talking centrifuges in Iran now. What happened to the laser separation tech?
#4
Focusing on Irans Laser Enrichment Program (PDF)
Estimate of current Iranian LIS capabilities:
It is difficult to determine Irans LIS capability for a number of reasons. First, although the reported level of success milligram quantities - to enrich uranium at LSL and CSL at the LRC is far below the kilogram amounts needed for nuclear fuel or weapons, there still is a question as to the success of the experiments that were conducted at the pilot plant at Lashkar Abad between October 2002 and January 2003.
Second, Iranian officials do not appear to have provided a full history of Irans LIS programme. According to Irans 2003 declarations, it appears that all the lasers that were used in experiments have been dismantled and placed in storage. Still unknown are the number of lasers that were produced from the various phases of operation of the LRC and their exact locations. It is worth noting that having the proper lasers is not sufficient for a functioning LIS programme. For instance, Iranian scientists and engineers would have to master other technologies, such as electronic-beam guns, vacuum vessels, and control systems. The extent of this activity is also unknown.
However, raising suspicions about continuing laser research, the IAEAs June report states that Iran is continuing research and development on CVLs, and as previously mentioned, the Agency discovered in May 2004 that the LRC is working on Nd:YAG lasers. Both technologies could be useful for AVLIS.
Concerning Irans current LIS capability, three possible scenarios should be considered. Scenario number one would be that the Iranians, as they declared to the IAEA, have disassembled all lasers that have been used in or are readily capable of LIS operations and packed them away to be verified by the IAEA. In this case, there is a latent but not a current LIS capability in Iran. However, this scenario appears unlikely in light of the continuing work on copper vapour and Nd: YAG lasers, which might be adapted to LIS.
The second scenario would involve deception. In that case, Iranian officials may have presented to the IAEA a portion or sample of those lasers and equipment, which they knew would be of interest to the international community. This hypothetical partial revelation may satisfy the IAEAs curiosity regarding Irans LIS programme. The other portion of the programme may have been hidden away with a quantity of uranium metal to be used at a later date to continue LIS experiments.
The third scenario is a variant of the second. It involves continued LIS operations even as we write which means that the Iranians could be enriching uranium using LIS even today. As noted in the box, LIS facilities take up very little room and tend to be significantly smaller than centrifuge enrichment plants. However, this scenario only suggests a continued capability but does not provide a quantitative assessment of how much enriched uranium Iran can produce using LIS methods.
In addition to laser technology and equipment, Iran has developed and maintained a scientific intellectual base that understands LIS technologies. Training in this field may have begun in the 1970s when Eerkens first visited and discussed the transfer of LIS technologies and equipment. Since then, the LRC has trained numerous scientists in the technology. In a 1993 interview, LRC deputy head Fereydun Soltan-Moradi said the centre had undertaken to expand this technology to a national level. So far it has been able to train a large number of experts.
Posted by: ed ||
10/01/2007 20:38 Comments ||
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If you haven't been reading W. Thomas Smith Jr. reports from Lebanon for the past week, you need to be doing so. He's doing some in-depth interviews with top folks, going on recons to scout out Hezbollah and is a former Marine who has a pretty good knowledge of what he is seeing Go here and scroll down to Sept 25th and read back up. He says Hezbollah is planning something, and soon.
JUBAL LUBNAN (east of Beirut) I write this with some acceptance of risk (everything is a risk here). But it's something that must be published.
I know for a fact that Hezbollah is building defenses and fortifications from which they can launch attacks in the south (where I was two days ago), in the Bekaa Valley, and in Al Dahiyeh (the Hezbollah security square in Beirut, which we covertly entered and moved through twice during our photo-reconnaissance a few days ago). This is not hearsay: This is reality.
The construction (some of which I have seen with my own eyes) is being contracted through the Lebanese government with Wa'ad, a Hezbollah-owned company created as both a front and a company based in Lebanon from Jihad Al-Bina, an Iranian-based company on the U.S. terrorist-watchlist.
Wa'ad ("the promise") is 100-percent owned and operated by Hezbollah. And the company is reconstructing houses and commercial buildings, which were destroyed during the war in 2006. But the houses are being rebuilt as they were with secret interconnecting corridors linking the houses together in a link-by-link network of fighting positions. There are tunnels running beneath the houses linking them with other buildings and adjacent neighborhoods, as well as to huge underground command posts. And there are walls being constructed with concealed weapons-storage spaces.
Families living and working in those buildings are renting apartments away from the ongoing construction, and they are doing so on Hezbollah's dime.
Other tunnels (basically arms smuggling corridors), which were constructed before the war, run between Palestinian and Hezbollah-controlled areas in Lebanon to Syria.
Why is the Lebanese government permitting this? It's far too complicated to address here.
#1
Fascinating reporting and I wonder if we're there's an opportunity here most are overlooking. I recall the Maginot line and Patton's views of fixed fortifications. Could the Israelis and Leb. govt. be acquiesing in a smaller local version of this?
Would Hezb really think they can move from the randomly ideological attacks to more traditional tactics? Are they preparing to fight not only the last war but several before that?
#1
Oh, good Lord - another moron who doesn't understand one of the most basic concepts of physics.
Gravitational acceleration acts on all objects and masses equally in all respects. Discounting air resistance, if you drop a feather and a bowling ball, they are both accelerated downwards by gravity in exactly the same manner and at exactly the same speed. This was proven in the 1500's and still idiots try to deny basic physics.
You can do the experiment yourself using 2 or 3 inclined planes, a bowling ball, a golf ball, and a tennis ball. Set them up with a gated release so they all start at the same moment then watch what happens. They will all arrive at the bottom of their ramps at the same time.
#2
Go through the pages, it's actually an ongoing spoof of the Truthers & Loosers by the regular of a skeptics, using do-it-yourself flash based comics, with dylan avery, steven jones, the NWO MIB, the Bohemian Grove owl,... as recurrign characters. Oh, and the NWO kitty too.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
