What really is Israel’s purpose in killing Iran’s nuclear scientists?
Mossad training terrorists to kill Iran’s nuclear scientists, U.S. officials claim… but is Israel’s real target Obama? Israel funding dissident People’s Mujahedin of Iran, say officials in Tehran DAILY MAIL 10th February 2012 U.S. officials confirmed today that Israel has been funding and training Iranian dissidents to assassinate nuclear scientists involved in Iran’s nuclear program.
The claim has already been levelled by the Iranian government who believed that Mossad, Israel’s secret service, have been arming
dissidents with the terrorist organisation the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK). Last month Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, 32, a chemistry expert, was killed in a brazen daylight assassination when two assailants on a motorcycle
attached a magnetic bomb to his car in Tehran.
Washington insiders confirmed there is a close relationship between Mossad and MEK, according to NBC, but said the U.S. was not involved. Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior aide to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told NBC: ‘Israel does not have direct access to our society. Mujahedin, being Iranian and being part of Iranian society, they have… places to get into the touch with people…..
Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan’s death was the latest in a string of attacks on Iranian scientists. : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099142/Mossad-training-terrorists-kill-Irans-nuclear-scientists-U-S-officials-claim–Israels-real-target-Obama.html#ixzz1m76bXdno
Secret build of renewable energy by Palestinians
Palestinians living in the Masafer Yatta village have been secretly pursuing wind and solar energy projects in order to mitigate a serious shortfall of energy in the village.
But the 150,000 residents that live in Area C, which has been under Israeli control since 1993, live in constant fear that Israeli authorities will demolish their projects. Read more »
Why is Iran singled out on the nuclear issue?
What exactly is Iran’s crime? Guardian UK, Anna Romano, 7 Feb 12, (EU risks oil embargo, 27 January)? Its burgeoning nuclear activities are not in contravention of international law.
There are several countries that have nuclear weapons and are not subject to scrutiny and inspection from the IAEA, most notably Israel. It remains a source of contention that this institution is prepared to tolerate Israel’s policy of deliberate ambiguity.
Additionally, countries such as India and Pakistan could never have obtained their nuclear capability without the consent of the US. Neither of these nations is a signed up member of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, while Iran is.
Iran has little reason to trust the west. Its first more or less democratically elected leader, Mossadegh was toppled from power in a CIA coup in 1953, with Britain’s blessing and support.
Iran’s real offence is to strongly criticise the west’s double standards regarding foreign policy in the region and to remain in control of its resources. The crux of the matter lies within this power structure, and so the west must support wars in the Middle East every two or three years to preserve’s Israel’s position as the only viable, militarised nuclear state in the region. Indeed, the aim of recently imposed sanctions may well be to go even further and covertly instigate regime change, illegal under international law.
Reference to Iran’s’ repressive government has little leverage in light of Saudi Arabia’s record and its repression of democracy in Bahrain. David Cameron’s recent visit to the region to sell more weapons to Saudis reflects this amorality. http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2012/feb/07/letters?newsfeed=true
Close to Iran’s nuclear reactor – an earthquake strikes
Earthquake strikes near Iranian nuclear power plant, February 5, 2012. PennEnergy, By Brien Southward An earthquake, measured at 5 on the Richter scale by the US Geological Survey, was felt only 70km from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, which is expected to go online on March 20. As of 9:46am CST on February 5, 2012, there has been no report yet of casualties or damage at the reactor facility. If damage did occur, it could have consequences for the future of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The quake strikes as Iran is mired in a diplomatic crisis with the West overthe ambitions of its nuclear energy program. Iran claims that their research is only for the sake of producing nuclear power to meet the growing energy needs of the developing country of some 74 million people, but numerous world leaders and global organizations such as theUN-affiliated International Atomic Energy Agency are concerned that they could be secretly using nuclear enrichment technology to develop nuclear weapons….. The most recent earthquake, measured at 5.5 on the Richter scale, was felt on January 19 near the city of Neyshabour in northeast Iran, injuring 100 people and causing some structural damage. Iran’s deadliest earthquake struck the northern provinces of Gilan and Zanjan, killing around 37,000 people and injuring more than 100,000. http://www.pennenergy.com/index/power/display/8633237470/articles/pennenergy/power/nuclear/2012/february/quake-strikes_near.html
Iran says enriching uranium under IAEA supervision
Iran Starts Uranium Enrichment at Underground Complex, VOA, January 9th, 2012 Iran on Monday confirmed it has started uranium enrichment at a second facility where the material can be upgraded quickly for potential use in a nuclear bomb.
Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Tehran is refining uranium at the newly-launched Fordo complex and an older facility in the city of Natanz. He told Iran’s Arabic language al Alam TV network the work was taking place under thesupervision of the United Nations atomic agency.
Diplomats with ties to the IAEA confirmed that Iranian centrifuges have begun refining uranium to a purity of 20 percent at Fordo, an underground complex near the Shi’ite holy city of Qom.
The United States and France condemned the move…… Most of the work at the Natanz facility has involved refining uranium to a relatively low purity of 3.5 percent. Enrichment to the 20 percent level at the Fordo complex could reduce the time needed for Iran to further refine the material to the 90 percent purity required for nuclear weapons.
Iran says its nuclear program is designed only to generate electricity and material for medical research.
The United States and its ally Israel have not ruled out military action to stop the program. Israel sees a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to its existence.
http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2012/01/09/iran-starts-uranium-enrichment-at-underground-complex-3/
Middle East- a nuclear weapon-free zone or allout nuclear arms race?
AP Interview: Saudi warns of Mideast nuclear race, Google News, By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press 26 Jan 12, DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — An influential member of the Saudi royal family warned Wednesday that unless the Middle East becomes a nuclear weapon-free zone, a nuclear arms race is inevitable and could include his own country, Iraq, Egypt and even Turkey.
Prince Turki Al Faisal said the five permanent U.N. Security Council members should guarantee a nuclear security umbrella for Mideast countries that join a nuclear-free zone — and impose “military sanctions” against countries seen to be developing nuclear weapons. ”I think that’s a better way of going at this issue of nuclear enrichment of uranium, or preventing Iran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction,” the former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador Read more »
There is a diplomatic avenue that would prevent war with Iran
Now, the West is all but isolated. Most non-Westerners would prefer to see Iran treated like other treaty parties – allowed to enrich uranium in return for intrusive monitoring by IAEA inspectors.
this gathering crisis could be avoided by a deal along the following lines – Iran would accept top-notch IAEA safeguards in return for being allowed to continue enriching uranium. In addition, Iran would volunteer some confidence-building measures to show it has no intention of making nuclear weapons.
Iran deal would allow West to make U-turn on highway to war, The Age, January 25, 2012 There is little realism behind the demand that Tehran give up its capacity to enrich uranium, writes Peter Jenkins.
The Iranian nuclear controversy is reaching a critical juncture. On Monday, the European Union agreed on an oil embargo as part of sanctions against the country. On Sunday, Britain, the US and France sent warships through the Strait of Hormuz. Recent months have seen a big rise in the twin risks of military action and grave damage to the world economy. This is the consequence of what I believe to be a great diplomatic overbid – the West’s demand that Iran surrender its capacity to enrich uranium.
Read more »
Double standards of the West in sanctions against Iran
Like sanctions, war will not work either. A war could not deter Iran from pursuing its nuclear program and seeking nuclear weapons.
The flaw in the arguments used by the United States, Israel and the European Union against Iran’s nuclear program is the apparent double standard. How can the US expect to persuade Iran to relinquish its nuclear program when America has acquiesced to India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea acquiring nuclear weapons? The US has even signed a nuclear partnership pact with India…….
Accepting the inevitable: A nuclear Iran, DAILY NEWS EGYPT, By Mamdouh G. Salameh January 22, 2012, The only sanctions able to hurt Iran are those that ban its crude oil exports, but getting the international community to agree on such sanctions is virtually impossible.
The international political and economic repercussions of these sanctions would be so huge that they are not worth pondering. Even if, by the very unlikely chance, such sanctions were agreed upon by the United Nations Security Council, Iran’s retaliation would be immediate and destructive.
Iran could easily mine the Strait of Hormuz in the face of the 17 million barrels of oil a day (mbd) exported by the Arab Gulf oil producers. This would push the price of oil to more than $150-$200 a barrel (it is currently about $100 a barrel). The biggest loser, of course, would be the biggest oil consumer — namely the United States, which imports 12-14 million barrels of oil every day. This would spell an economic catastrophe for the United States in particular and the world-at-large. Read more »
Kuwait would be first victim of Iranian nuclear disaster
Kuwait, GCC not ready to face nuclear crisis’ – Government playing politics, Kuwait Times, By Ben Garcia, 23 Jan 12 KUWAIT: Neither Kuwait nor the Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] countries are prepared for any incident of nuclear disaster in the Middle East, says environment activist Dr Khaled Al-Hajery. Speaking with the Kuwait Times, Al-Hajery, Greenline chairman, said his group had advised and urged the Kuwaiti authorities and other GCC countries many years ago to act and be ready for any nuclear disaster but still
no one seems to listen. “The nuclear problem has started way back from the beginning of the Bushehr nuclear operation in September 2011.
Since then, there had been nuclear waste coming out from the nuclear facility but do we really care? We are dealing and have been talking about nuclear issue since the operation of the Bushehr Plant, but the government didn’t do anything,” he said. Yesterday reports from
several Arabic dailies mentioned the GCC’s ‘rapid deployment team’ to face repercussions of a possible accident at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant which is located just across the Gulf water, or around 236 km from Ras Al Zour in Kuwait.
Aleqtisadia Arabic language daily said, quoting Tariq Al-Obaid, secretary general of the Geneva-based Euro-Arab Environment Organization (EAEO), GCC countries could be the
first victims of any nuclear radiation from the Iranian plant….. Read more »
Violence, gunshots, and radioactive material stolen from Egyptian nuclear facility site
Radioactive material stolen from Egyptian 
power station: report Reuters Jan 19, 2012 CAIRO – Radioactive material has been stolen from a nuclear power station on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast that was the scene of violent protests last week, the state-run al-Ahram newspaper reported on Thursday.
A safe containing radioactive material at the Dabaa nuclear power plant, which is still under construction, was seized while another also containing radioactive material was broken open and part of its contents taken, the newspaper said.
In Vienna, an official of the U.N. nuclear agency described the items missing as “low-level radioactive sources” which had been taken from a laboratory at the construction site. He could not give any details on the nature of the stolen items…
.. More than a dozen people were wounded last week when military police tried to disperse hundreds of Egyptian protesters demanding the relocation of the Dabaa plant.
Plant staff have refused to go to the site because of the deterioration in the security situation there, al-Ahram said. About 500 Egyptians rallied in front of the plant last week to demand that the project be terminated, with some saying they had lost their land on the site.
Soldiers and the demonstrators threw stones at each other and exchanged gunfire after the protesters demolished a wall surrounding the site, a security source and witnesses said…
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/19/radioactive-material-stolen-from-egyptian-power-station-report/
Violence as protestors oppose Egypt’s new nuclear power plant
Protests at nuclear power station construction site escalate, Egypt Independent, Al-Masry Al-Youm Staff, 19/01/2012 Protesters at the nuclear power station site in Dabaa, located in the Matrouh Governorate on the North Coast, said on Thursday they would continue their sit-in and asserted that the government would not be able to force them out.
Egypt’s first nuclear power station is planned to be built in Dabaa, but the residents stormed the site last week, destroying many buildings and staging a sit-in.
They have already built 50 houses on the site, changed its name to New Dabaa and decided to move the cattle market there.
They also said they would give 1,000 square meters for free to young people who cannot afford a place to live. Dabaa residents say the government did not compensate them for the land it allocated to the project.
The protesters rejected Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri’s assurances that the government will go ahead with plans to build the plant on this site…. The plant’s construction site was looted and vandalized earlier this
week, resulting in LE500 million in losses.
There have been conflicting reports regarding the Nuclear Stations Authority committee that went to inspect the site on Thursday in order to assess the damages. It was rumored that committee members refused to enter the site upon hearing that safes containing radioactive elements were missing…… http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/609946
Israeli govt out of step with citizens on nuclear policy
Israelis Willing To Renounce Nuclear Weapons For Mideast Nuclear Free Zone – The Eurasia Review, by: Richard Silverstein January 17, 2012 Shibley Telhami recently released th eextraordinary results of a recent poll (seefull results) of Israeli public opinion about its country’s nuclear program and Iran’s. The answers to the poll’s questions showed rather amazing level of pragmatism regarding Israeli attitudes on the subject:
1. Israelis were almost equally divided on the issue of whether Israel should attack Iran, 43% favored a strike and 41% opposed.
2. 68% believe Iran will eventually develop nuclear weapons. This statistic isn’t surprising. But given this number the results of the following questions are.
3. 65% believe it is better for neither Israel NOR Iran to have nuclear weapons.
4. 60% favor inspections of all nuclear facilities in the region (including Israel’s) in preparation for a nuclear free zone.
5. 63% would favor all nations in the region (including their own) renouncing nuclear weapons in the context of creating a nuclear free zone.
6. 64% favor the creation of a Mideast nuclear free zone.
A separate poll released by Haaretz indicates that nearly 60% of Israelis believe that an attack on Iran will lead to a regional war involving Hezbollah and Hamas…….
Telhami’s poll also indicates just how out of sync the Israeli political leadership is with the body politic on this issue. Even before Israel attacks Iran, almost half the population thinks it would be a bad idea. In my experience, the leadership of a country that goes into a war with the citizens already divided on its efficacy is potentially in big trouble…….
Israel’s nuclear program is a huge irritant in the overall scheme of Israeli-Arab relations. It is one of the reasons (though not the only one) Iran is pursuing a nuclear program (whether or not its pursuing a nuclear weapon is undetermined). It is one of the greatest hypocrisies of Israel’s own claim of “existential threat” post by that country for having the chutzpah to want what Israel has in such great numbers. http://www.eurasiareview.com/17012012-israelis-willing-to-renounce-nuclear-weapons-for-mideast-nuclear-free-zone-oped/
Murder of nuclear scientist has enraged Iranians and their religious leaders
Anti-US Chants as Slain Iran Nuclear Expert Buried, abc News, By ALI AKBAR DAREINI TEHRAN, Iran January 13, 2012 (AP) Thousands of mourners chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” on Friday during the funeral of a slain nuclear expert whom Iranian
officials accuse the two nations of killing in a bomb blast this week as part of a secret operation to stop Iran’s nuclear program. Read more »
Covert war – Israel, USA versus Iran
No one has claimed responsibility for the killing. But on Tuesday, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, Israel’s military chief of staff, told a special parliamentary committee Iran should expect more “unnatural” events in 2012
There has been obvious push-back from Iran in the form of repeated claims its secretive Al Quds Force has attacked U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan using Iranian-designed improvised explosive devices.
“Waging a covert, low-level war is not without risks, including the risk of undesirable escalation,” “No matter how carefully we try to control the level of force, there’s always the danger that matters spiral out of control.”
Iranian nuclear scientists’ deaths no mystery, National Post, Peter Goodspeed 13 Jan 12, A covert war between Iran and the West burst to the surface Wednesday on the fashionable streets of northern Tehran when two men on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to the car of a 32-year-old nuclear scientist, killing him and his bodyguard…….
Mr. Roshan’s killing is the latest in a long line of suspicious setbacks to Iran’s nuclear program. These have included assassinations, kidnappings, sabotaged equipment, computer viruses that destroyed information networks and mysterious
explosions at nuclear sites, missile-testing grounds, refineries and pipelines.
“Iranian nuclear engineers have to worry about being killed on their way to work, about their colleagues leaking information to the West, about their computers not working, about their equipment malfunctioning, about lacking necessary materials, about unavailability of training and advice and about the possibility of strikes from UAVs [drones]. That list of problems is daunting,” said Patrick Clawson, director of research for the Washington Institute for
Near East Policy…..
No one has claimed responsibility for the killing. But on Tuesday, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, Israel’s military chief of staff, told a special parliamentary committee Iran should expect more “unnatural” events in 2012 Read more »
Unethical and unwise killing of Iranian nuclear scientist
The bomb blast that killed chemist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan this week seemed to be designed to limit the scope of the damage, unlike most terrorist attacks. But it did nonetheless kill his driver and wound a third person, which shows how easily an overly flexible definition of “civilian” can stretch to reprehensible lengths.
A utilitarian calculation that suggests killing a few individuals now might save more lives later is not only ethically dubious; it’s also wrong. ..also counter-productive
Killing civilians, Ottawa Citizen JANUARY 12, 2012 If the definition of “terrorism” is violence targeting civilians to spread fear in furtherance of a political motive, then the assassination of Iranian scientists certainly qualifies as terrorism. It should be condemned as such. It’s also an unwise strategy.
Although no one can say for sure who’s behind the attacks, the main motivation behind this string of assassinations seems clear: to slow down Iran’s efforts to become a nuclear power, not only by eliminating some skilled experts, but also by intimidating their peers. Read more »
1 THIS MONTH
Uranium mining in Namibia http://namibian.me/group/canwin2?commentId=4103091%3AComment%3A47391&xg_source=msg_com_group
Nuclear industry is moribund, despite 2 new reactors licensed in USA http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3428147.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3413882.htm Is the world facing a groundwater crisis?
of the week http://climaterealityproject.org/thin-ice/
and another WEBSITE : - New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution http://www.necnp.org/
EVENT
February 18 Hindsdale, Chicago American Association of University Women - nuclear disaster preparedness H.OB.aauw.reservations@gmail.com.
March 2012 is “March Against Nuclear Madness” and Beyond Nuclear has created a new March Against Nuclear Madness Facebook page.
March 8th & 9th – Cape Town, South Africa - The Global Conference: Nuclear Power For Africa? http://koebergalert.org/npfree/
May 31 USA - Portland, Maine, Bonnie Raitt benefit concert for New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution
Nuclear power and water – theme for February 2012
FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR PLANT and WATER – present state
That nuclear core is in direct contact with tons of water. And that containment, while not leaking down, is leaking out the sides. That contaminated water is going into every other building on site. And there is literally thousands and thousands of tons of water in other buildings. That water contains radioactive cesium, radioactive strontium, and it also contains nuclear fuel. There will be uranium in that water and plutonium in that water as well. We know for sure that that water is leaking into the ground water and into the Pacific Ocean. So while it is important to know that we are not going to release the nuclear core directly into the center of the earth, the problem is not over. And as a matter of fact, the problem will last for tens, perhaps even as long as 30 years because this contaminated water is in the basements of all the buildings on site. And not only does it contain cesium (that hangs around for 300 years), strontium (hangs around for 300 years), but it also contains plutonium and uranium and they have half lives of tens of thousands of years.
So the problem is, what do we do with all that water that is contaminated? It is already leaking into the groundwater. It is already leaking into the ocean. TEPCO is frantically catching it and putting it into tanks. But just today, TEPCO announced that they are running out of tank space on site, and eventually they are going to have to release those tanks into the Pacific Ocean. Now they will try to clean up some of the isotopes like cesium. But they have been unable to capture all the strontium. Strontium is a bone seeker that causes leukemia… http://fairewinds.com/content/fukushima-could-it-have-china-syndrome
NUCLEAR REACTORS - WATER USE : Per megawatt existing nuclear power stations use and consume more water than power stations using other fuel sources. Depending on the cooling technology utilised, the water requirements for a nuclear power station can vary between 20 to 83 per cent more than for other power stations.”- Dep of Parliamentary Services research note, 4 December 2006, no. 12, 2006–07, ISSN 1449-8456 Water consumption figures:
Nuclear: 2.3 L/ kWh
Solar (PV): 0.110 L/ kWh
Wind: 0.004 L/ kWh
(American Wind Energy Association estimate & US DOE)
A typical 1000-megawatt pressurized-water reactor (with a cooling tower) takes in 20,000 gallons of river, lake or ocean water per minute for cooling, circulates it through a 50-mile maze of pipes, returns 5,000 gallons per minute to the same body of water, and releases the remainder to the atmosphere as vapor. A 1000-megawatt reactor without a cooling tower takes in even more water–as much as one-half million gallons per minute. The discharge water is contaminated with radioactive elements in amounts that are not precisely known or knowable, but are biologically active.
Some radioactive fission gases, stripped from the reactor cooling water, are contained in decay tanks for days before being released into the atmosphere through filtered rooftop vents. Some gases leak into the power plant buildings’ interiors and are released during periodic “purges” and “ventings.” These airborne gases contaminate not only the air, but also soil and water. http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/routineradioactivereleases.htm
NUCLEAR REACTORS -IONISING RADIATION to GROUNDWATER In USA the nuclear industry has contaminated groundwater with radioactive tritium at nuclear power plant sites all across the country. Nuclear plants that have admitted leaking tritium into the groundwater include:
- Braidwood, Byron, Dresden and Quad Cities in Illinois;
- Indian Point and Fitzpatrick in New York;
- Yankee Rowe and Pilgrim in Massachusetts;
- Three Mile Island and Peach Bottom in Pennsylvania;
- Callaway in Missouri
- Catawba in South Carolina
- Oyster Creek in New Jersey
- Hatch in Georgia
- Palo Verde In Arizona
- Perry in Ohio
- Palisades in Michigan
- Point Beach in Wisconsin
- Salem in Delaware
- San Onofre in California
- Seabrook in New Hampshire
- Shearon Harris in North Carolina
- Watts Bar in Tennessee
- Wolf Creek in Kansas
- Connecticut Yankee in Connecticut
- Vermont Yankee in Vermont
URANIUM MINING – OPEN CUT or UNDERGROUND It is very difficult to find figures on the amounts of water used. All mining is water intensive, but uranium mining is the greatest guzzler Water is extensively used to suppress airborne dust levels, to try to reduce the radioactive clouds that would otherwise emanate constantly from the uranium tailings.IN SITU LEACHING – Uranium Mining Process in-situ leaching uses a hydrogen peroxide mixture to strip the uranium from the rock, which kills tissue and destroys cells in human and animal life. The addition of oxygen and sodium bicarbonate called oxygenates causes uranium and other radioactive substances and trace metals to be liberated from the rock into the groundwater.
.. judges have too often taken the stance that they are judges who know nothing of the mining industry and accept the data of corporations, claiming the corporations are in the know.
..the water taken from the extremely pristine Westwater Canyon Aquifer near Crownpoint for uranium mining and used for flushing out chemicals would not be replaced in our lifetimes.
It takes hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, to transform aquifer water back into a drinkable condition. Virginia Against Uranium Mining: Scientists Back Navajos’ Uranium Mining Fight: Tribe fears contamination of drinking water
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