Beware of "Unintended Consequences": Iran Announces Plans For 10 New Enrichment Sites, Makes Veiled Threats To Leave NPT
By Nicole Belle Sunday Nov 29, 2009 6:00pm
In 2008, Peter W. Galbraith wrote a book entitled, Unintended Consequences: How the War in Iraq Has Strengthened America's Enemies, in which he argued--much as we have here--that Bush's Doctrine has actually made us less safe against terrorism by taking the fight to the wrong people and by posturing ourselves with this ridiculously cowboy diplomacy of "yer either with us or agin us".
Well, don't look now, but we're doing it again. If we keep on ignoring our own intelligence and the IAEA to keep insisting that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program, pretty soon, they have absolutely no motivation to behave, do they?
A conservative Iranian legislator warned Saturday that his country may pull out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty after a U.N. resolution censuring Tehran – a move that could seriously undermine world attempts to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons.
Iran's official news agency quoted a hardline political analyst who made the same point, another indication the idea could be gaining steam.
If Iran withdraws from the treaty, its nuclear program would no longer be subject to oversight by the U.N. nuclear agency. That in turn would be a significant blow to efforts to ensure that no enriched uranium is diverted from use as fuel to warhead development.The lawmaker's threat came a day after the board of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency passed a resolution demanding Tehran immediately stop building its newly revealed nuclear facility near the holy city of Qom and freeze uranium enrichment.
Speaking of that facility, if Iran pulls out of the NPT, it would be impossible to monitor the ten other sites now being planned:
Iran's government has approved plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants, according to state media.
The government told the Iranian nuclear agency to begin work on five sites, with five more to be located over the next two months.
It comes days after the UN nuclear watchdog rebuked Iran for covering up a uranium enrichment plant.
Western powers say Iran is trying to develop nuclear arms. Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful.
BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne says Sunday's announcement is a massive act of defiance likely to bring forward direct confrontation over Iran's nuclear programme.
Iran says the new plants would be of a similar size to its main existing one at Natanz.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told his cabinet that parliament had ordered that Iran should produce 20,000 megawatts of nuclear energy by 2020.
It therefore needed to make 250-300 tonnes of nuclear fuel a year, he said, which would require 500,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium.
Natanz has nearly 5,000 working centrifuges, with plans to build 54,000 in all.
Okay, when you're in a hole, you are supposed to stop digging. Clearly, the cowboy diplomacy has put us in a hole with Iran. Isn't it time we stop digging and try a different diplomatic approach?
UPDATE: And if there isn't enough instability in the region, the NY Times is reporting that Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has ceded his position in Pakistan’s nuclear command structure to his prime minister, in a sudden political maneuver widely seen as a fresh sign of turmoil on the eve of President Obama’s strategy announcement for the Middle East.
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Any nation that has nuke program and doesn't belong to the NPT must be attacked forthwith!
So lock those missiles on Tel Aviv and fire away!
The trouble with such double standards is sooner or later the chickens come home to roost.
What would happen if any other country in the middle east tried to do what Israel does?
(wait a minute - that's exactly what Iran wants)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC5O9NFWZCs
do not run.
we are your friends.
Then we must attack ourselves because the US is just as out of compliance with the NPT as Iran, in fact Iran is closer to compliance than the US!
the U.S. should open all of it's idol factories, tax the shit out of American companies that have operations outside U.S. borders and start to once again produce it's own durable goods and stop buying all that cheap crap from China.
We get the exact opposite of what we wanted with regard to Iraq, Afghanistan and even Pakistan
"Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has ceded his position in Pakistan’s nuclear command structure to his prime minister"
That is a concession on the part of the president to return to civilian control. It might be a good first step as opposed to "widely seen as a fresh sign of turmoil"
And this from the LA Times:
Now, I know it doesn't sound as negative or ominus as saying it is the result of tumoil but are you really telling a story, constructing a narrative or just offering opinion?
Foreign policy academics I consulted were not so sanguine about this move.
The fact is that Pakistan is very, very unstable. Their relationship with India (another nuclear power) is very poor. There are many non-state actors who could use this action as a way to oust Zardari entirely (rather than buy him time) and then who knows who might have their hands on the nuclear keys.
We've been pouring money and weapons and technology into Pakistan for decades to further destabilize the region. Worked like a charm ...
Who are we to tell them they can't have nukes.
Their a sovereign country. They can decide for themselves what they want.
But, They should know. If they use nukes. They will be annihilated.
That's the deal.
Now, we're going to have a middle east cold war. Only it won't be cold. There will be a Nuclear Arms race in the middle east.
That, has been everyone's nightmare. Well, it's here.
So, if they want them, have at it. Use them. It's over.
Mutually assured distruction!
And you're right. As if Iran wants to be hit with return nulear fire? They might be crazy but they aren't THAT crazy.
http://economicsociology.files.wordpress.com/...
Not even I'madinnerjacket is that crazy.
I think the issue is security. And who has access to these nukes.
None of this will matter. Israel will take care of this in the very near future.
They did it to Jordan and Syria .
The whole world knows Israel will not tolerate a Nuclear Iran.
That's what's happening now. The ayatollahs don't like Ahamadinejad nor the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who backs him. The former they see as a secularist, and the latter they see as an upstart. But Ahmadinejad has the support, up until the last election of course, of the young in Iran, where 50% of the population are too young to remember the take-over of the American Embassy. Khamenei has the support of the army, so provides that support to Ahamdinejad.
However, the country is getting worse in giving core material needs to the population, and the country is growing isolated from the rest of the world, not just the US, hence the attempt to vote Ahmadinejad out, but not the power of the ayatollahs over spiritual matters, although the younger voters want some cultural freedoms. Ahmadinejad and the military may be spending the nations wealth not on bread and butter but nuclear programs.
Observers think Iran is moving closer to a military dictatorship, rather than the theocracy they've been, which I suppose means they worshiped:
http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/morningnews/b...
Unfortunately, the innocents will suffer again when the shit hits the fan.
It's bound to happen.
I'm actually surprised Israel hasn't done it already.
You say:
"Israel will take care of this in the very near future.
They did it to Jordan and Syria .
The whole world knows Israel will not tolerate a Nuclear Iran"
That's a lie. There is no proof IRAN is building NUKES so far!
And Why Does ISRAEL a non signer of the NPT with at least 200 NUKES have the right to Bomb anyone.
You want to repeat the same LIES than with IRAQ Infamous WMDS!
I never said Israel has the right to do it. I never said Israel would be right in doing it.
I never said Israel was right to bomb both Jordan and Syria.
I merely said Israel will be the one to do it.
I know you don't like it. No one does.
And please don't lump me into the same category with the WMD's crowd.
Historically Israel has proven it's self to be an aggressor. That's why I said that. Yes, it is speculation on my part. And, if you've been observing any of my comments regarding Israel, you'd know my position on the Israeli govt.
Do you doubt that Israel will do something?
Do you doubt that Israel will do something?
1-No they won't if IRAN get the S300 from Russia
2-No if US says no.
However, The EXTREMIST ZIONISTS in power now can provoke an "incident" (Flase Flag) to fool the Western powers That IRAN is an "INMINET THREAT"
Western's big powers are crazy for put a hand on IRAN'S OIL same as they did on IRAQ.
Sadly the Mainstream media is not doing its job.
Israel will perceive that as an even greater threat.
I do some what agree with you that if the US says no. That they may not do anything. Yet.
But again, Israel has a history of being an aggressor.
Let's put it this way.
I won't be surprised. Not in the least.
man that's so fresh and mature.
I mean, really man. GFY
Israel is the real threat!
But, what other option is there now?
Gotta sign treaty's.
The threat of Mutual annihilation, worked before.
But , we're talkin some pretty radical fellows.
Yes, the chickens have come home to roost.
for 70 years. how long are they supposed to tolerate that?
only if they attacked a country that had a counterstrike capability. Nuclear weapons are about intimidation. As a weapon of war they aren't all that useful.
like saudi arabia does.
that's the whole point, see. Iran hasn't behaved the way the warmongers wanted, so they'll just keep pushing until, as you say, the Iranians will have no reason to behave. Iran will just end up going ahead and start making nukes (because why the hell not since we keep insisting they're doing it anyway), and then the hawks will have the excuse they need to go drop bombs and start another slaughter. Which will bring everybody down on our heads, bombs will fly everywhere, and the fundie lunatics will get the armageddon they've been wanting all along. It'll be exactly the clusterfuck they want.
See? No mistake at all. Quite deliberate.
And fallout will wrap around the planet.
Hmmmm, Iran is parallel to where? Hmmm? Lessee.
It's just above the Tropic of Cancer. Which runs through the southern Baja.
So, The fallout will completely engulf the atmosphere above the whole US. Maybe the northern states will get by ok. But from the middle of the country all the way down to Cabo the atmosphere will be contaminated with fallout.
The jet stream dips that low.
They'll get that Armageddon they wanted except for that rapture and second coming garbage.
Oh goodie! The end of religion.
this will be blamed on Obama while it is clearly a result from Bush's foreign policy
AS WELL AS ANYONE.
chomsky has been sayin this for years
anyone ever paid any attention whatsoever to U.N resolutions but I've always believed they had a certain cachet with the left. I doubt if this particular resolution meant anything to Iran other than providing an excuse for doing what they'd be doing anyway.
Obama's resolve. Sooner or later, somethings gotta give.
set off a nuclear device and nothing happened to them. Iran is another story because they have oil and Israel wants to obliterate them. So Obama will capitulate and oblige, end of story.
Oil is the reason
...there is another reason why we never took a swipe at North Korea despite the evident signs that they were working on a nuclear weapons program. That reason is a certain country to the north by name of China -- as in, the country we borrowed money from to pay for the War In Iraq? China and North Korea have, after all, been allies in the past -- as an example, China sent soldiers to the aid of North Korea to fight UN forces during the Korean War. China along with the United States also supplied North Korea with a considerable amount of food aid during the famine of the 1990's and continues to do so (which is one of the reasons why Kim Il-Jong's aggressive stance with the United States is a little hard to comprehend, since it doesn't make sense to bite the hand which literally helps feed them). I very much doubt that China would have been at all happy having US troops that close to their back door had we decided to move against North Korea -- which is probably one of the reasons why China has been making an effort to reign North Korea in. If we had moved against them, it's hard to know for certain how China would have responded...but it's a safe bet that they wouldn't have taken it lying down. It seems likely that at the very least, they would've decided not to lend us any more money -- they might even have threatened to call in some of their loans in an attempt to make us back off.
enemy son. Complex is cheering over this prospect, let the looting begin.
Good reason to keep troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
No need for the draft, the broken economy insures that millions will be ready to sign up for the only paying job available.
We overthrew their government and installed a dictator. We siphoned off their oil at bargain basement prices. We funded and armed their primary enemy to the teeth. We've got them surrounded with carrier battle groups, military bases and hundred of thousands of troops.
And people are surprised when their government wants the only effective deterrent weapon?
:<(]
Iran offered to help in Afghanistan, Team Bush told them to fuck off. Later, Iran also offered to help in Iraq, and got the same response. No wonder they do the things they do.
Then we must attack ourselves because the US is just as out of compliance with the NPT as Iran, in fact Iran is closer to compliance than the US!
Iran Air Flight 655....290 passengers...
shot down by the USS Vincennes.
Supposing Iran was patrolling the Gulf of Mexico and shot down an American airliner.....now that's a shoe for the other foot.
who has been responsible for more deaths of the others citizens.
Iran or the US?
Pretend higher ground is in a different location to the actual....
then they can make hundreds of nuclear weapons perfectly legally just like Israel.
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