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Israel prepares missile defence systems and BOMB SHELTERS as US leaves Iran nuclear deal

ISRAEL has deployed multiple iron dome defence systems across the northern parts of the country as Israeli authorities fear an Iranian attack is imminent following the US’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. Express UK, By NICOLE STINSON, May 8, 2018 

Israel has instructed local authorities in the Israeli-held Golan Heights to “unlock and ready bomb shelters” after identifying what the military described as “irregular activity of Iranian forces in Syria”.

The military statement further said that its defence systems had been deployed “and IDF (Israel Defence Force) troops are on high alert for an attack”.

Reports have emerged of explosions being heard south of the Syrian capital of Damascus towards the Israeli border……https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/956884/iran-nuclear-threat-israel-iron-dome-defence-systems-iran-attack-donald-trump-ww3

May 9, 2018 Posted by | Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Australia’s nuclear bomb test site – touted as tourist site, but it’s still radioactive

‘Yes, there is still radiation here’, Gulf News 4 May 18 , Australia’s least likely tourist spot: a test site for atom bombs  “……..

“Yes, there is still radiation here,” Robin Matthews (  Australia’s only nuclear tour guide) said as he drove a minibus to the sites where the Australian and British governments dropped seven bombs between 1956 and 1963, which dotted the earth with huge craters and poisoned scores of indigenous people and their descendants.

Back then, the government placed hundreds of human guinea pigs — wearing only shorts and long socks — in the front areas of the test zones. The effects of large doses of radiation were devastating…….

Today, just four people live full time in Maralinga village, a veritable ghost town. Amid the old buildings are new lodgings built for tourists, complete with hot water and Wi-Fi.

In the 1950s and ‘60s, at the height of the Cold War, 35,000 military personnel lived here.

The first nuclear test was conducted in September 1956, two months before the Melbourne Olympics.

That blast — as powerful as the bomb that the US dropped on Hiroshima — was the first of seven atom bombs set off here.  But it was the so-called minor tests that were the most harrowing. Carried out in secret, the tests examined how toxic substances, including uranium and plutonium 239, would react when burnt or blown up.

….. Around one area tourists can visit are 22 major pits, each at least 15 metres deep and cased in reinforced concrete to prevent dangerous radiation from seeping out.

The site looks like a recently tilled garden bed, stretching out for hundreds of yards, in a near perfect circle. Dotting the red desert earth are shards of twisted metal. Aside from a few feral camels loping nearby, it is still and silent.

But on October 4 1956, a “nuclear landmine” was detonated here, tearing a crater 40 metres wide and 21 metres deep into the earth.

‘This is their land’

The resulting atomic reaction took only a fraction of a second, but its effects on one indigenous family would last decades. Survivors of the blasts, their children and grandchildren suffered from cataracts, blood diseases, arthritic conditions, stomach cancers and birth defects…….https://gulfnews.com/news/asia/australia/yes-there-is-still-radiation-here-1.2216400

 

May 7, 2018 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, environment, weapons and war | Leave a comment

USA’s emergency plans for a nuclear attack

US readies emergency plan ‘SCENARIO ONE’ amid fears of nuclear attack https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/700561/us-nuclear-attack-plan-bomb-donald-trump-homeland-security-scenario-one-bomb-fallout

THE US already has a has a plan ready for a nuclear attack, Daily Star Online can reveal.  By Henry Holloway 

Washington, New York and Los Angeles were all proposed as prime targets for a strike.

US military forces would be deployed to the city to conduct major search and rescue operations.

At least 3,000 square miles would have to be quarantined, mass evacuations deployed and predictions of recession.

Daily Star Online can reveal the US’s chilling “National Response Scenario Number One” designed to combat a nuke strike. 

US officials have drawn up their nuke plans based on a nuclear bomb with the power of 10,000 tons of TNT.

Predictions were sketched out based on a device being detonated within Washington by terrorists rather than a nuclear strike in World War 3.

The possible scenario for a nuclear attack was deemed to be an improvised bomb driving into the city centre in a delivery van.

Exploding and levelling part of central DC, the bomb would kill “hundreds of thousands” – according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents seen by Daily Star Online.

And a plume of fallout would blossom out from the city – potentially being felt as far away as 150 miles. 

Detonation of the nuclear bomb would also trigger an electromagnetic pulse that could knock out communications and further hamper rescuers.

The “high voltage spike” would trigger problems from around three miles around the blast, with power grids, mobile phone towers and switching stations “vulnerable”.

Emergency first responders are predicted to receive “lethal doses of radiation”.

And first responders “value” will have to considered on whether they will be sent into the danger zone – potentially leaving people abandoned near the nuke’s ground zero. 

US officials also produced a handy table precisely detailing the numbers and types of injuries expected during the blast.

Radiation poisoning, flash blindness, burns to eyes and blunt trauma are all predicted for survivors in the thousands.

Even the size of the crater has been calculated – potentially being 64ft deep with a diameter of 150ft.

Warnings are also made the plans about the “significant psychological impact on survivors” that may impact rescuers.

Damage to building and infrastructure is deemed to cost “billions of dollars”. 

It is predicted clean-up from the bomb would take “years” with “staggering costs and the incident would “forever change the American psyche”.

The document reads: “There will certainly be economic, political, law enforcement, civil liberty and military consequences that will likely change the very nature of the country.”

Decontamination is deemed to the priority of the US Government response – rather than the “lifesaving efforts that assist the victims directly injured by the detonation”. 

Scenario One read: “The costs of the decontamination and rebuilding would be staggering. But these losses do not begin to address the true implications of this type of an incident

“The detonation of an IND in a US city would forever change the American psyche, as well as its politics and worldview.

“The real implications may only be addressable by historians many years after the incident.” 

These plans for nuclear attack were drawn up by US President George W. Bush’s administration following terrorist attacks on 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.

It said: “These scenarios are designed to be the foundational structure for the development of national preparedness standards from which homeland security capabilities can be measured.

“They represent threats or hazards of national significance with high consequence. While these scenarios reflect a rigorous analytical effort by Federal homeland security experts.”

 

May 7, 2018 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

The nuclear weapons that USA lost in the 1950s and 60s

The US Has Lost Six Nuclear Weapons. So Where The Hell Are They? http://www.iflscience.com/technology/the-us-has-lost-six-nuclear-weapons-so-where-the-hell-are-they/ Tom Hale, 4 May 18  Keys, phones, headphones, socks, thermonuclear weapons – some things just always seem to go missing. Believe it or not,

the US has lost at least six atomic bombs or weapons-grade nuclear material since the Cold War.

Not only that, but the US is responsible for at least 32 documented instances of a nuclear weapons accident, known as a “Broken Arrow” in military lingo. These atomic-grade mishaps can involve an accidental launching or detonation, theft, or loss – yep loss – of a nuclear weapon.

February 13, 1950

The first of these unlikely instances occurred in 1950, less than five years after the first atomic bomb was detonated. In a mock nuclear strike against the Soviet Union, a US B-36 bomber en route from Alaska to Texas began to experience engine trouble. An icy landing and stuttering engine  meant the landing was going to be near-impossible, so the crew jettisoned the plane’s Mark 4 nuclear bomb over the Pacific. The crew witnessed a flash, a bang, and a sound wave.

The military claim the mock-up bomb was filled with “just” uranium and TNT but no plutonium, so it wasn’t capable of a nuclear explosion. Nevertheless, the uranium has never been recovered.

March 10, 1956

On March 10, a Boeing B-47 Stratojet set off from MacDill Air Force Base Florida for a non-stop flight to Morocco with “two nuclear capsules” onboard. The jet was scheduled for its second mid-flight refueling over the Mediterranean Sea, but it never made contact. No trace of the jet or the nuclear material was ever found again.

February 5, 1958

In the early hours of February 5, 1958, a B-47 bomber with a 3,400-kilogram (7,500-pound) Mark 15 nuclear bomb on board accidentally collided with an F-86 aircraft during a simulated combat mission. The battered and bruised bomber attempted to land numerous times, but to no avail. Eventually, they made the decision to jettison the bomb into the mouth of the Savannah River near Savannah, Georgia, to make the landing possible. Luckily for them, the plane successfully landed and the bomb did not detonate. However, it has remained “irretrievably lost” to this day.

January 24, 1961

On January 24, 1961, the wing of a B-52 bomber split apart while on an alert mission above Goldsboro, North Carolina. Onboard were two 24-megaton nuclear bombs. One of these successfully deployed its emergency parachute, while the other fell and crashed to the ground. It’s believed the unexploded bomb smashed into farmland around the town, but it has never been recovered. In 2012, North Carolina put up a sign near the supposed crash site to commemorate the incident.

December 5, 1965

An A-4E Skyhawk aircraft loaded with a nuclear weapon rolled off the back off an aircraft carrier, USS Ticonderoga, stationed in the Philippine Sea near Japan. The plane, pilot, and nuclear bomb have never been found.

In 1989, the US eventually admitted their bomb was still laying in the seabed around 128 kilometers (80 miles) from a small Japanese island. Needless to say, the Japanese government and environmental groups were pretty pissed about it.

?, 1968

At some point during the Spring of 1968, the US military lost some kind of nuclear weapon. The Pentagon still keeps information about the incident tightly under wraps. However, some have speculated that the incident refers to the nuclear-powered Scorpion submarine. In May 1968, the attack submarine went missing along with its 99-strong crew in the Atlantic Ocean after being sent on a secret mission to spy on the Soviet navy. This, however, remains conjecture.

May 5, 2018 Posted by | history, Reference, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

The strategies for secrecy in America’s Manhattan nuclear bomb project

How the Manhattan Project’s Nuclear Suburb Stayed Secret, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, once home to 75,000, went up fast and under the radar. But it was built to last, too. Atlas Obscura ,  , MAY 03, 2018  “…… Oak Ridge isn’t like most of the country’s other suburbs. The town was conceived and built by the United States government in the early 1940s as base for uranium and plutonium work, as part of the Manhattan Project. As the nuclear effort marched along, the town grew, too. By 1945, a dense suburb had taken shape, home to roughly 75,000 people. At war’s end, Oak Ridge was the fifth-largest city in the state—and all along, it was supposed to be a secret.

May 5, 2018 Posted by | history, Reference, secrets,lies and civil liberties, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear Israel points at non-nuclear Iran as danger!

Reality turned upside down: Nuclear Israel points at non-nuclear Iran as danger, By Nathalie Hrizi  Liberation News, 4 May 18     In a not unusual display of utter hypocrisy in a televised appearance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued on April 30 that Iran is a “danger” and is violating the nuclear deal formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Iran has no nuclear weapons.

Immediately following Netanyahu theatrical performance the International Atomic Energy Agency released a statement saying “that the Agency had no credible indications of activities in Iran relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device after 2009.”

Because of the JCPOA, Iran is a highly inspected country. The IAEA has a presence in that country at 18 nuclear sites and nine other locations.  From 2013 to 2017 they increased surveillance activities by 152 percent and inspectors spend 3, 000 days in the field each year.

In fact, Israel is the real nuclear danger.

In 2017, it was estimated that Israel possessed 80 nuclear warheads. It has never signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and has indicated that it has no intention of doing so.

Not only is Israel armed with nuclear weapons and an entire military primarily funded by U.S. tax dollars, but it has consistently attacked its neighbors in the Middle East. Israel maintains a blockade and constant aggression against the Palestinians. It has bombed or invaded Iraq, Jordan  Lebanon and Syria and Egypt without provocation. It consistently threatens Iran today. ……https://www.liberationnews.org/reality-turned-upside-nuclear-israel-points-non-nuclear-iran-danger/

May 5, 2018 Posted by | Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Israel Dragging the United States Into World War III ?

Retired US Colonel: Israel Is Dragging the United States Into World War III, Lawrence Wilkerson, a retired army colonel who now teaches at Washington-area universities, didn’t hold back in his critique of where the status quo is leading the United States via its client state, Israel.  Mintpress News, 12 March 2018 by Darius Shahtahmasebi  

May 5, 2018 Posted by | Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Southern Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia permanently polluted with Depleted Uranium

Transcend 30th April 2018 , Iraq was the fertile crescent of antiquity, the vast area that fed the
entire Middle East and Mediterranean, and introduced grains to the world.
It was Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization, which propelled us forward
with its invention of writing, domestication of animals and settled life.

Now its groundwater and soil store the radioactivity of 630 tons of
depleted uranium weapons. The waste that has been thrown onto civilian
targets has permanent consequences. It pollutes southern Iraq, Kuwait and
Saudi Arabia with uranium oxide dust that spreads as far as 26 miles,
blowing with sand, weathering into water.

Uranium 238, with a half life 4 ½ billion years, lies on the region in the scattered tons of wreckage.
Contamination is permanent. Its radiological and chemical toxicity exposes
the population to continuous alpha radiation that is breathed into lungs,
absorbed through the skin, touched by the unwashed hands of kids who roam
the scrap metal yards for parts to sell to help their families.

https://www.transcend.org/tms/2018/04/unnecess

May 2, 2018 Posted by | depleted uranium, MIDDLE EAST | 2 Comments

North Korea’s nuclear test site in fact fully operational?

North Korea nuclear test site ‘operational’  https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/north-korea-nuclear-test-site-operational-20180501-p4zcqp.html

Seoul: North Korea’s nuclear test site is fully operational, a specialised website reports, corroborating a similar announcement by the North Korean leader earlier.

Pyongyang offered to permanently close down the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in May in the presence of international observers and journalists after the two Koreas agreed on a complete denuclearisation of the Peninsula during a historical summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Friday.

“The two mountainous areas accessible by the South and West Portals remain viable, and could support future underground nuclear testing,” the website 38North said after analysing new radar data about the site.

The report also confirmed that the two central tunnels of the site were in good condition, contrary to earlier reports by Chinese experts who said they could have been irreversibly damaged after the sixth and most powerful underground nuclear test carried out by Pyongyang in September.

The report also confirmed Kim’s earlier assertion that Pyongyang was shutting down not defunct but rather operational nuclear facilities, including the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, the centre where it carried out all of its six nuclear tests.

During the historical summit, Kim had proposed that the site should be shut down publicly to highlight Pyongyang’s commitment to denuclearisation.

38North said that although the north portal – used by Pyongyang for five of the six tests – seems to have been abandoned, they had detected construction of new tunnels in another section of the site.

38North – a website linked to the John Hopkins University in the United States – said that the new tunnels could allow the use of underground installations, dismissing analysis by other experts who said North Korea had announced the closure because the facility had become completely unusable.

May 2, 2018 Posted by | North Korea, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Trump administration’s plan for 2 new types of nuclear weapons: will this increase chances of a nuclear war with Russia?

Washington Examiner 28th April 2018 ,The Trump administration’s plan to add two new varieties of nuclear
weapons into the U.S. arsenal will face one of its first legislative tests
this month. The House Armed Services Committee is teeing up a debate on the
proposed sea-based cruise missiles and lower-yield ballistic missiles
launched from submarines on May 9. The focus: whether these weapons will
make nuclear war with Russia more or less likely.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/lawmakers-get-ready-to-fight-over-mini-nuclear-weapons

April 30, 2018 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

U.S. President Trump to cancel Iran nuclear deal – in the interests of Saudi Arabia?

President Donald Trump is once again indicating he may withdraw from an international agreement designed to curb Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions.

“My view is… that he will get rid of this deal on his own, for domestic reasons,” said French President Emmanuel Macron at the end of a three-day state visit to the U.S.

France is a party to the agreement between Iran, the United States and four other nations. Macron has tried to convince Trump to stay in. But the president has continued to criticize the deal and has to decide by May 12 whether or not the U.S. will withdraw and reimpose sanctions. That action could lead to the deal’s collapse.

Return of Sanctions Encouraged

Saudi Arabia, Iran’s neighbor and regional rival, would likely applaud such an outcome.

As historian Madawi al-Rasheed says, in an April 23 opinion piece in the New York Times:

“Any rapprochement between the United States and Iran — such as the nuclear agreement under President Obama — is viewed with intense suspicion and fear as it threatens the Saudi position as the leading American client in the region.”

Al-Rasheed is a visiting professor at the London School of Economics and is the editor of “Salman’s Legacy: The Dilemmas of a New Era in Saudi Arabia.

She says the reimposition of sanctions would, in the Saudi view, constrain Iran’s influence across the Middle East. “The Kingdom seeks the shrinking, even the collapse, of the Iranian economy under sanctions,” she says.

Domestic Politics Drive Hostility

The hostility toward Iran by the Saudi government, under its powerful crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, is being driven primarily by domestic politics. “Prince Mohammed knows that a fearful enemy is a key to his own strength,” al-Rasheed says. “The crown prince has used the rivalry with Tehran to deflect attention from the complexity of his own domestic uncertainties.”

Saudi Arabia is facing numerous internal challenges, from political grievances over the methods used by Prince Mohammed to consolidate power, to inequality and unemployment among the country’s youth.

“He rubs out the criticism of his domestic policies by reminding the marginalized royals and the commoners that he is fighting an existential threat from expansionist Iran,” according to al-Rasheed.

Kingdom Seeks Economic Advantage

Saudi Arabia also seeks to maintain its economic superiority over its neighbors, she notes. The reimposition of sanctions by the United States, and possibly the United Nations, limit economic competition from Iran.

“For domestic reasons, Saudi Arabia is fundamentally trying to mitigate the possibility of the reintegration of Iran in the global community,” al-Rasheed says. “The conflict between the two countries will dissipate only if the domestic uncertainties subside or fade away.”

April 28, 2018 Posted by | Saudi Arabia, weapons and war | 1 Comment

North Korea still able to test nuclear weapons – test site was not destroyed

No, North Korea’s Nuclear Test Site Wasn’t Destroyed in an Earthquake, National Interest, David Axe, 27 Apr 18, 

While it’s hard to know for sure what’s really going on in North Korea, one of the most secretive countries in the world, Pyongyang’s underground nuclear test facilities are probably intact, and the regime is likely still capable of testing its rudimentary atomic warhead designs.

Major media outlets reported on April 25, 2018 that large portions of North Korea’s underground nuclear test facility had collapsed and were unusable.

 The stories in The Wall Street Journal and other newspapers and websites, all citing a Chinese study first obtained by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, are potentially misleading. News reports aggregating The Wall Street Journal’s own, more balanced reporting draw a line between the apparent collapse and upcoming talks between the United States and North and South Korea, but some experts are doubtful.

While it’s hard to know for sure what’s really going on in North Korea, one of the most secretive countries in the world, Pyongyang’s underground nuclear test facilities are probably intact, and the regime is likely still capable of testing its rudimentary atomic warhead designs. “The reporting has been mostly hot garbage,” Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, tweeted after reviewing satellite imagery of the 7,200-foot Mount Mantap, where North Korea’s Punggye-ri test site is located. …….

Mount Mantap didn’t collapse. Yes, seismologists registered a 6.3-magnitude earthquake under the mountain on September 3, the result of North Korea’s sixth and most recent underground atomic test. And yes, it’s possible that the quake collapsed the subterranean cavity that the buried bomb blast produced. ……


“Nuclear explosions make cavities,” Lewis explained in a tweet. “One of those cavities collapsed, which seismologists detected. Science is cool. But a cavity collapse does not mean the tunnel complex collapsed, let alone the whole mountain.”

Even if a cavity or part of the adjacent facility was destroyed, there’s no reason North Korean leader Kim Jong Un can’t simply build a new site. “Kim can dig new tunnels quickly to replace the collapsed sites if he chooses to do so,” Bruce Blair, a Princeton University nuclear expert, told me. “He could even test above ground if deemed warranted. There is really nothing technical standing in the way.”

……… Experts agree that North Korea hopes to leverage its newfound nuclear-power status for political or economic gain.  Suspending testing is a good-faith gesture and bargaining ploy that yields what Kim wants out of his testing program politically,” Blair said.   

    “Kim has agreed to stop nuclear testing because of the summit(s), not because his nuclear test mountain collapsed,” Lewis added. http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/no-north-koreas-nuclear-test-site-wasnt-destroyed-earthquake-25587

 

April 27, 2018 Posted by | North Korea, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Hiroshima hibakusha in Geneva, calling for nations to join Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Hiroshima hibakusha call for nuclear abolition   https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180426_04/  Atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima have appealed for speeding up the effort to eliminate nuclear weapons.  They gave a speech to state representatives at a preparatory meeting in Geneva on Wednesday for the 2020 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.

80-year-old Michiko Kodama told the audience about her war-time experience. Then she said when the United Nations adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons last year, survivors were elated that the door to abolishing nuclear arms has opened at long last.

But she noted that a long and winding road lies ahead as nuclear powers and their allies have not joined the treaty.

Kodama said mankind has come to a fork in the road: Will we protect this blue planet Earth, or choose the path of destruction?

She called on nations that have signed the NPT to swiftly and completely destroy their nuclear weapons.

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui also took the podium. He said promoting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will be an important guidepost for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue stressed that the nuclear weapons ban treaty and the NPT go hand in hand. He said cities that have endured an atomic bombing are fully convinced that the nuclear ban treaty is a global norm.

April 27, 2018 Posted by | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear Power Military Links

Scientists for Global Responsibility 12th April 2018 , SGR patron Prof Keith Barnham reflects on his work with Scientists Against Nuclear Arms investigating the military diversion of civilian nuclear materials – and considers the relevance for academics and activists today.   http://www.sgr.org.uk/resources/being-radical-scientist-lessons-1980s

April 27, 2018 Posted by | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Satellite photos indicate unusual activity at North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site

North Korea’s Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site: Unusual Activity Observed , BY: 38 NORTH, APRIL 24, 2018  , analysis by Frank V. Pabian, Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. and Jack Liu  (EXCELLENT SATELLITE PHOTOS) 

On April 21, 2018 the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as saying, “under the proven condition of complete nuclear weapons, we no longer need any nuclear tests, mid-range and intercontinental ballistic rocket tests, and that the nuclear test site in northern area has also completed its mission.” Commercial satellite imagery of the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site from April 20, the day before the site’s closure was announced, shows some unusual activity. Most notably, approximately one dozen mining carts—at least eight connected in a long train—could be observed in an unusual arrangement on the spoil pile in the area closest to the West Portal. It is too early to conclude whether this display is related to Kim Jong Un’s announcement………

Conclusion

The appearance of a significant number of mining carts parked out on the West Portal’s spoil pile is unusual and its purpose remains unknown. Given Kim Jong Un’s announcement, it may be the first visible indication that North Korea intends to cease further tunneling at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site. Such an assessment is purely speculative at this point, requiring additional imagery and analysis over the coming days and weeks to determine if this is indeed the case, and whether or not the Punggye-ri nuclear site is actually being closed down. https://www.38north.org/2018/04/punggye042418/

April 25, 2018 Posted by | North Korea, weapons and war | Leave a comment