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Russia’s Putin is put out about India’s Nuclear Liability Law

Kudankulam sparks ‘nuclear winter’, Putin defers visit , TNN | Oct 23, 201  NEW DELHI: In a sudden and unexpected move, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to postpone his much-awaited summit meet with PM Manmohan Singh by close to two months. The meet, which was scheduled to take place on November 1 and for which groundwork had been completed during deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin’s visit to India last week, will now take place on December 24. .. TOI had learnt on Friday that since Moscow was not pleased with the outcome of Rogozin’s visit, Putin may decide to delay his India visit.

………Rogozin had openly expressed displeasure with Indian policies on both the contentious issues ofKudankulam and Sistema after his talks with foreign minister S M Krishna, saying that rules of the game should not be changed before the game is over. As TOI had reported last week, the talks also saw India for the first time officially communicating to the Russians that any techno-commercial agreement for the third and fourth units at Kudankulam will have to take into account that these reactors are going to be covered by the nuclear liability law.

While the Russians had been maintaining that the cost of the reactors will go up substantially if suppliers are made accountable for compensation, they were still hoping that the two sides would be able to circumvent, if not override, the liability provisions through some arrangement that will acknowledge Moscow’s contribution to India’s nuclear power industry even during times of adversity.  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Kudankulam-sparks-nuclear-winter-Putin-defers-visit/articleshow/16920253.cms

October 23, 2012 Posted by | India, politics international, Russia | Leave a comment

Australia jumps to obey USA, on India, uranium, and militarism

Gillard is helping to destabilise the sub-continent by fuelling a dangerous arms race involving India’s rivals, China and Pakistan.

The Labor government’s about face on uranium sales to India under Gillard was carried out on Washington’s orders. In November 2011, the US ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich, publicly called on Canberra to “sort out” its issues with India, as the US had done when it resolved the “thorny point” of uranium sales through the 2008 nuclear deal that exempted India from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

Australian PM visit to India bolsters new “strategic partnership” WSWS, By Patrick O’Connor 20 October2012 Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s three-day trip to India this week was aimed at deepening military, diplomatic, and economic ties between the two countries.

Washington has encouraged the closer relations as part of its aggressive drive to undermine the influence of China in the Indo-Pacific region. Gillard met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday. High on the agenda was progress towards Australian uranium sales to India, Continue reading →

October 22, 2012 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, politics international | Leave a comment

Australia’s hypocrisy in planning uranium exports to India

If we really want to assist Indian communities who currently lack access to electricity – and we should – it would be far more effective to prioritise exporting Australian expertise in regional renewable energy systems.

the admission this week from India’s own auditor that the country’s nuclear industry is “dangerously unsafe, disorganised and, in many cases, completely unregulated” – only compounds   concerns.

When Australian uranium leaves our waters it effectively disappears from the radar. This is a profound concern for a fuel that can power either nuclear reactors or nuclear weapons. High-level Indian officials have stated that they need to source uranium from overseas in order to free up their own uranium for military purposes

No smooth passage to India for Australian uranium http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2012/10/18/3612800.htm DAVE SWEENEY, ABC 18 OCT 2012 PRIME MINISTER JULIA GILLARD is in India this week and amid the staged handshakes and solemn exchanges of signed papers.  The uranium sales plan is being heavily promoted. But there is growing concern both here and in India about the implications of the move and the fast-tracking of nuclear-armed India into the global atomic club.
No doubt Julia Gillard will be employing the age-old tactic of highlighting a problem that no reasonable person could ignore and then seeking to ‘own’ the solution. Proponents of the sales deal point to the estimated 200 million Indians who do not have reliable access to electricity as a rationale for the sales deal. But to link Australian yellowcake with lights and cookers in remote Indian villages is to draw a very long bow. Continue reading →

October 19, 2012 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, India, politics international | Leave a comment

Australian exports of uranium to India not likely to happen for years

India’s much trumpeted nuclear reactor construction binge has fizzled out… in the next five years we should not expect any shipments from Australia.

The India-US nuclear deal had one aspect of tacit proliferation built into its structure – the horizontal proliferation of knowledge from the civilian to the military

As a result while all kinds of water-tight restrictions were placed on the transfer of materials and power, none was placed on the movement of scientists. This of course was well known, the point was to acquire French reprocessing technology – ostensibly for civilian purposes but then to duplicate the same to improve India’s reportedly dismal weapons material reprocessing.

The scary state of Indian reactors, their safety and security has long been whispered about – but was blown apart by the CAG’s indictment a few months back.

Julia’s Nuclear Tango – Analysis http://www.eurasiareview.com/18102012-julias-nuclear-tango-analysis/
 IPCS October 18, 2012 By Abhijit Iyer‐Mitra As expected, nuclear negotiations took centre stage during Australian
Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s visit to Delhi. Much talk of cultural links owing to the English language, cricket, a Westminster style parliament was bandied about. While Australia insists on a multifaceted engagement to build deep interdependencies, India sees only its one point agenda in all of this and has held ties hostage to the supply of Uranium. While opinions in Delhi seem optimistic many factors point to need for a hard reality check. Continue reading →

October 19, 2012 Posted by | India, politics international, Uranium | Leave a comment

Farce of Australia’s uranium deal, and award to Indian cricketer

Cricketism has brought India closer to Australia and nuclear grey deals brought them still closer and the announcement by a silly Australian PM to offer the nation’s prestigious awards to foreigners, especially in cricketism exercises. India needs Australian uranium for nuclear terror purposes

Mutual exchange of honorary degrees and awards are very common, like street robberies, in international politics for the promotion of trade in arms and nukes stuff.

Russians supply India nuclear stuff and Australians offer awards.

Why should the Indian regime of corporates and mafias kill people in Kudankulam? 

India’s Archons bribes Australia for awards — Cricketism, The Canadian 18 OCTOBER 2012 BY DR. ABDUL RUFF ” …….Madam Gillard arrived in India after a surprise trip to Afghanistan had meetings with business leaders and their protector Singh in Delhi. Indian nuclear mafia abroad is doing well.

Australia’s ruling centre-left Labor party voted to overturn its ban on uranium sales to India last year after a long debate about nuclear weapons and reactor safety following Japan’s atomic crisis.  Continue reading →

October 19, 2012 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, India, politics international | Leave a comment

North Korea claims it can strike USA with nuclear missiles

North Korea says missiles can strike US Radio Australia 9 October 2012,   North Korea says it possesses “strategic rocket forces” capable of striking the US mainland. The statement comes in response to a new US-South Korean deal to extend the range of the South’s missile systems. Continue reading →

October 10, 2012 Posted by | North Korea, politics international | Leave a comment

Thailand’s anxiety over Cambodia’s nuclear power plans

Army chief expresses worry over Cambodia nuclear plan http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/316243/army-chief-expresses-worry-over-cambodia-nuclear-plan  10/10/2012   Army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha has expressed concern over Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s plan to build a nuclear power plant in Cambodia’s Koh Kong province adjacent to Thailand’s Trat province. Continue reading →

October 10, 2012 Posted by | ASIA, politics international | Leave a comment

Drone may have been heading for Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor

Route of Drone Hints It May Have Been Aimed at Nuclear Reactor The strange route of the enemy drone downed by the IAF indicates Israel may have diverted it from flying over the Dimona nuclear reactor. Arutz Sheva By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu  10/7/2012,  
The enemy drone downed by the Air Force, Saturday, took a strange route that did not cover strategic sites, indicating Israel may have diverted it from a route over the nuclear reactor in Dimona, located due east of Gaza.

The UAV entered Israeli air space from the Mediterranean Sea along the Gaza Coast and then made a U-turn, flying over the southern Hevron Hills before an F-16 plane destroyed it over a non-populated area.

The route raises questions because there are no army or air force bases or any other strategic sites along the route.

Officials estimate that it was guided by a pre-programmed GPS inside the drone and not from a control center at its origin, apparently Hizbullah-dominated southern Lebanon, DEBKA File reported. Israel may have carried out a cyber attack to scramble the GPS and change its route….. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/160604#.UHMZH5jA9dM

October 8, 2012 Posted by | Israel, politics international | 1 Comment

Iran’s plan for defusing the nuclear crisis

Iran Offers Plan, Dismissed by U.S., on Nuclear Crisis NYT, By   October 4, 2012 WASHINGTON — With harsh economic sanctions contributing to the first major protests in Iran in three years, Iranian officials have begun to describe what they call a “nine-step plan” to defuse the nuclear crisis with the West by gradually suspending the production of the uranium that would be easiest for them to convert into a nuclear weapon  Continue reading →

October 5, 2012 Posted by | Iran, politics international, USA | Leave a comment

Courage of Margaret Chan WHO Director General, on ionising radiation

HISTORY WAS MADE. Marion Odell, 29 Sept 2012 On May 12, 2011 history was quietly made when courageous WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said “There is no safe low level of radiation.”

Until May 12, 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) always followed the lead of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on nuclear health effects issues as there is a 1959 agreement that WHO would accept the findings of that organization. This agreement is still in effect and hopefully will be rescinded soon.

However this most likely will need some considerable political pressure from the
public. It is imperative that we support this tremendously important pronouncement and spread the message far and wide. This is a breakthrough that will impress the public because of the prestige of the World Health Organization and the integrity of the
Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan.

The letter to Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan from the International Institute of Concern for Public appears below. It can also be seen at iicph.org/330. Continue reading →

September 29, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, politics international | 6 Comments

India’s government upset that Sri Lanka worries about nuclear radiation

India to discuss Kudankulam safety with Sri Lanka Sachin Parashar, TNN | Sep 29, 2012, NEW DELHI: Taken aback by what it describes as “propaganda” in Sri Lanka against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, India has offered to discuss the safety aspect of the pressurized water reactors with Lankan authorities.

The dialogue mechanism between the two nations for cooperation on nuclear issues
will include talks on Kudankulam safety when a Sri Lankan committee visits India later this year.

“The safety aspect will be a part of the broader agenda for talks over cooperation in nuclear energy but we are already telling them that India will abide by all international conventions over nuclear safety at Kudankulam,” said an official dealing with Sri Lanka. Although the
government in Sri Lanka has not raised any objection to the reactors, the Indian establishment in Colombo has been stunned by a spate of reports in the local media — in the run-up to loading of fuel in the first unit at Kudankulam – about how these reactors were going to adversely impact the island nation….. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-to-discuss-Kudankulam-safety-with-Sri-Lanka/articleshow/16596952.cms

September 29, 2012 Posted by | India, politics international | Leave a comment

Australia’s former conservatve Prime Minister warns on danger of USA militarism

An Australian General, Major General Richard Burr, has become a deputy commander of United States Army Pacific. He will be responsible for planning and advising on the further expansion of American armed forces throughout the Western Pacific.

Australia hostage to the politics of the US in the Asian Century, The Drum, MALCOLM FRASER, 27 Sept 12,  This week Malcolm Fraser delivered a speech on Australia-US relations in the Asian Century. In this edited extract, the former prime minister says our Government has made us hostage to the politics of the United States. Australia has, under this Labor Government and with apparent consent of the Coalition, become the southern bastion of America’s re-arming in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia. This is an extraordinary consequence of Australian Government ineptitude and of military planning, which might recognise America’s interest, but pays little account of our own.

It makes us complicit in any military activity that the Americans might undertake. Continue reading →

September 28, 2012 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

New Zealand still will not allow USA’s nuclear ships in its ports

No backdown on nuclear-free NZ: Key Herald Sun AAP   September 24, 2012 NEW Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key is promising there will be no backdown on the country’s nuclear-free status as part of renewedco-operation with the United States.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta visited New Zealand last week, and raised the possibility of having US troops based here…… During his visit, Mr Panetta announced New Zealand navy vessels will be able visit Defence Department and Coastguard facilities in the US and around the world.

Mr Key has also invited a US Coastguard vessel to visit New Zealand – as long as it’s not nuclear-powered.
“There’ll be no change to New Zealand’s anti-nuclear legislation, no change to the provisions about boats that would come to New Zealand,” he told TVNZ’s Breakfast…… http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/no-backdown-on-nuclear-free-nz-key/story-e6frf7k6-1226479988638

September 25, 2012 Posted by | New Zealand, politics international | 1 Comment

Doubts about China, France involved in UK’s new nuclear programme

Should China be involved in the UK’s nuclear energy infrastructure? Guardian UK, Paul Dorfman, 21 Sept 12 A more responsible way forward to this ethically questionable strategy can be found with Germany’s energy policy Government officials have been in Beijing this week with their Chinese counterparts for an “unprecedented” collaboration on energy . On the table was new nuclear power, and its role in moving the UK to a low-carbon economy.

So far, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) has been relentlessly optimistic about new nuclear, and hopes that its electricity market reform plans for a draft energy bill will do the trick, despite strong and sustained criticism from a parliamentary select committee on energy, and more recently a House of Lords working group who conclude  that the reforms are “unworkable”. But Decc is still loyal to the nuclear project and hopes the financial support implied in these market reforms will attract foreign investment.

France’s state nuclear corporation EDF and their UK junior partner, Centrica, have been centre stage in this nuclear fiscal drama. Centrica appears increasingly lukewarm, and City insiders doubt whether it will maintain a 20% stake in the nuclear consortium. Centrica’s potential departure could have something to do with the economics of nuclear power, with construction costs more than doubling from €3bn to over €6bn – and rising for each of the French-designed European pressurised reactors being built in Finland at Olkiluoto, and Flamanville in France.

Separately, since Germany’s RWE and E.ON in March pulled out of the UK’s second nuclear consortium, Horizon Nuclear Power, two Chinese nuclear state corporations, China Guangdong Nuclear Power and State Nuclear Power Technology, are considering taking on the consortium. Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear energy corporation, has also expressed an interest in the UK nuclear market.

At this point, it’s worth looking at the underlying business ethics of the Russian and Chinese nuclear industries, and questioning the wisdom of their strategic involvement in key UK energy infrastructure……http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/sep/21/nuclearpower-energy?newsfeed=true

September 22, 2012 Posted by | politics international, UK | 1 Comment

Attack on Iran the “stupidest idea” says former Mossad chief

Meir Dagan, Former Mossad Chief, Says Attack On Iran ‘Stupidest Idea’ He’s Ever Heard (VIDEO) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/16/meir-dagan-mossad-iran-attack-stupid_n_1888840.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000032  The Huffington Post  |  By Mark Hanrahan, 17 Sept 12,  Meir Dagan, a former head of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, says that an attack on Iran would be the “stupidest idea [I’ve] ever heard.”

Speaking to ’60 Minutes’ Dagan said: “An attack on Iran now before exploring all other approaches is not the right way how to do it [sic].”

Dagan, a man who Iranian authorities reportedly claim has dispatched assassins, computer viruses and faulty equipment in a bid to delay the country’s nuclear program, appears to have developed a surprising appreciation for the Islamic Republic’s regime – which is a sworn enemy of Israel.

“The regime in Iran is a very rational regime,” according to Dagan. Asked if he felt the regime in Iran was capable of backing down from an escalating crisis over the country’s nuclear program, he replied: “No doubt that the Iranian regime is not exactly rational based on what I would call ‘Western Thinking,’ but no doubt they are considering all the implications of their actions.”

Dagan’s interview is in stark contrast to the opinions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who appeared on ‘Meet The Press’ earlier. Netanyahu said that supporters of the policy of ‘containing’ Iran and its nuclear ambitions “set a new standard for human stupidity.”

September 20, 2012 Posted by | Israel, politics international | Leave a comment

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