Cruel, intolerant, culturally backward, violent Saudi Arabia to get nuclear weapons?
Religious pilgrimage turns into nightmare The Age Maris Beck and Daniel Flitton December 8, 2011 ” ….. Mansor Almaribe, a father of five, who was last month charged with blasphemy while on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, has been sentenced to a year in prison and 500 lashes. The Shepparton family said it was a death sentence. Mr Almaribe has diabetes, heart disease and was almost crippled in a 2004 car accident that broke his back in five places. “He won’t make 50 lashes,” son Mohammad, 16, told The Age….
..Mr Almaribe, a Shiite Muslim who was travelling in the majority Sunni kingdom, was found guilty of cursing two companions of the prophet Mohammed aloud in a public place…. a radical had reported Mr Almaribe to police after recognising him as Shiite from the green turban he wore. “He was just praying and reading the Koran to himself in an area known to be frequented by Shiites.”… http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/religious-pilgrimage-turns-into-nightmare-20111207-1ojbc.html#ixzz1g0DiYVsM
Prince Hints Saudi Arabia May Join Nuclear Arms Race, NYT, December 6, 2011 DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Saudi prince, in a remark designed to send chills through the Obama administration and its allies, suggested that the kingdom might consider producing nuclear weapons if it found itself between atomic arsenals in Iran and Israel. The prince, Turki al-Faisal, who has served as the Saudi intelligence chief and as ambassador to the United States, made the comment on Monday at a Persian Gulf security forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The remark confirmed Western fears about the potential for an arms race in the Middle East if Iran moves to produce a nuclear weapon…..
Prince Turki said at the forum on Monday that an Iranian quest for nuclear weapons and Israel’s presumed nuclear arsenal might force Saudi Arabia to follow suit. Most defense analysts believe that Israel has nuclear weapons, but it has refused to confirm or deny their existence.
“It is our duty toward our nation and people to consider all possible options, including the possession of these weapons,” Prince Turki was quoted as saying…http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/07/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-may-seek-nuclear-weapons-prince-says.html
Cancers in workers at Israeli nuclear facility
Nuke plant workers exposed to high radiation levels Expert tells court former employees of Dimona nuclear facility who were diagnosed with cancer were exposed to year’s-worth of radiation on a daily basis YNet News, Naama Cohen Friedman 12.07.11, Workers at the Negev Nuclear Research Center were exposed to extremely high radiation levels – some as high as the annual limit – an expert on radiation safety told the court Wednesday.
Dr. Thelma Byrne’s statement was made during a court hearing in a case meant to determine whether former employees of the institute should be recognized as the victims of work-related accidents after they were diagnosed with cancer. The damages suit was submitted by 44 employees of the Dimona-based reactor and the Soreq Nuclear Research Center in
the mid 1990s. Some members of the plaintiff have since died. Continue reading
Israel stole weapons grade uranium from USA reprocessing plant
Israel stole uranium from U.S., report will show December 05, By Kristin Dailey The Daily Star WASHINGTON: A U.S.-based research institute will soon publish what it says is “indisputable” evidence that Israel stole weapons-grade uranium for its still-undeclared atomic weapons program from a nuclear reprocessing plant in western Pennsylvania.
The Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) will release this month a 300-page report detailing the initial findings of a multi-year research project investigating the disappearance of highly enriched uranium from the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (Numec) in Apollo, Pennsylvania in the 1950s and 1960s.
Grant Smith, the director of IRmep, told The Daily Star that the report would include a broad range of newly declassified and un-redacted government documents from various agencies – including the Department of Energy, Atomic Energy Commission, FBI and CIA – that prove that nuclear material was diverted from Numec to Israel.
“The story at this point is that there is no one smoking gun; there are many smoking pistols lying all over the place that we’ve painstakingly collected,” Smith told The Daily Star……
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Dec-05/155997-israel-stole-uranium-from-us-report-will-show.ashx#ixzz1fhiXPlLm
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
In Jordan, push against vested nuclear interests, call for renewable energy
Activists claim that the studies, currently being conducted by Worley Parsons and Tractebel Engineering in cooperation with the Jordan Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the JAEC, will lack credibility due to the firms’ “vested interests” in sustaining the nuclear programme.
Participants also called for the dissolution of the JAEC and the Jordan-French Uranium Company, urging the government to replace the entities with a Renewable Energy Commission to boost the Kingdom’s efforts to pursue solar and wind energy, which industry experts and officials alike admit have suffered several setbacks in the last two years.
Activists call for open Nuclear Debate in Jordan, The Jordan Times December 4th, 2011 Activists and environmentalists on Saturday called for an open debate on the country’s atomic energy programme, voicing concern over the feasibility of Amman’s nuclear drive. Continue reading
USA drone downed by Iran?
Iranians claim to down US drone, BBC News, 4 Dec 11 Iran’s armed forces have shot down an unmanned US spy plane that violated its eastern borders, military sources say.
Iranian media reports said the drone – identified as a type RQ170 – suffered minimal damage and was now in the hands of the armed forces.
The Nato-led Isaf force in neighbouring Afghanistan says the US drone could be one that was lost over western Afghanistan last week…. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16024605
Deliberate explosion damaged Iran’s uranium enrichment facility
‘Blast in Iran struck uranium enrichment facility’, By JPOST.COM STAFF AND YAAKOV KATZ, 11/30/2011 Satellite imagery confirms Isfahan facility rocked by blast was a
nuclear facility, ‘The Times’ reports, citing Israeli intel officials. Satellite imagery “clearly showing billowing smoke and destruction” has proven that an explosion Monday damaged a nuclear facility in the Iranian city of Ifsahan, according to aWednesday Times of London
report .
The report quoted Israeli intelligence officials as saying that there was “no doubt” that the blast damaged a uranium enrichment site, and asserted that it was “no accident.”
Officials from Isfahan have been denying that the city had been hit by an explosion. …http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=247560
Sabotage, assassinations, cyber attacks on Iran’s nuclear program
Iran Nuclear Sabotage Suspected After Reports of Blasts at Atomic Centers, Bloomberg, By Ladane Nasseri – Nov 28, 2011 Reports of a blast in the province of Isfahan, home to one of Iran’s atomic facilities, adds to a series of unexplained incidents that have raised suspicions of sabotage against the country’s nuclear program. Continue reading Masdar home if International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)
Renewable energy to power growth Masdar symbolises the UAE leadership’s vision of sustainable economic progress and development of human capital By Sultan Ahmad Al Jaber, Gulf News November 30, 2011 “…….Masdar is a growing global hub for clean technology companies and works across the renewable energy value chain; covering education, research and development, investment in clean technology, implementation of renewable energy projects, and reducing carbonemissions.
In just five years, Masdar has achieved a great deal and hosts the permanent headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) at Masdar City. Irena is the first international organisation to be headquartered in the Middle East. … Continue reading
Explosion near Isfahan, in Iran, possibly near nuclear centre
| Blast near Iran nuclear facility Gulf Daily News, , November 29, 2011 |
 TEHRAN: The sound of an apparent explosion was heard from Iran’s Isfahan city yesterday, Gholamreza Ansari, the head of the judiciary in the province said. An important Iranian nuclear facility involved in processing uranium is located near the city, although Iranian media reports did not say whether the explosion was near the nuclear centre. International Atomic Energy Agency spokeswoman Gill Tudor said the UN watchdog was aware of the reports but had no further information.
Iranian media provided contradictory information about the incident, which came less that three weeks after a massive explosion at a military base near Tehran that killed more than a dozen members of the Revolutionary Guard including the head of its missile forces…. http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=318693 |
Iran warns it will retaliate on NATO bases if attacked by U.S. or Israel
Iran threatens to bomb Turkey if U.S. or Israel attacks its nuclear installations, By DAILY MAIL REPORTER, 28th November 2011 Iran will bomb Turkey if the U.S. or Israel tries to destroy its nuclear installations, a senior military commander warned today. Continue reading
A nuclear Iran is likely and acceptable to the world
World will accept Nuclear Iran, says Israeli economist Times of India Nov 25, 2011, JERUSALEM: A leading Israeli investment firm today said the world is likely to grudgingly accept a nuclear Iran given the high price any military strike on its nuclear facilities is going to exact.
“A sharp rise in the price of oil, the costs of war and the damage to global trade would be too great and deter world powers from taking any serious action,” Amir Kahanovich, chief economist at Clal Finance, one of Israel’s largest brokerage houses, said.
This assessment is in sharp contrast to Israel’s stated official position that Tehran’s nuclear aspirations are unacceptable and that all options are on the table to foil the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions.
Even for Israel the economic cost of a military confrontation that could include retaliatory missile attacks by Tehran and proxies in Gaza and Lebanon would be too high, he predicted.
“Unfortunately, it appears that a nuclear Iran is the most reasonable scenario,” the economist inferred. His remarks came after President Shimon Peres said earlier this month that an attack on Iran was becoming increasingly more likely.
Iran and Kuwait – the double standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
It would be hard to find a more volatile place [than Kuwait] to build a nuclear installation. Oh, and the land is low lying and subject to silting and shifting.
Nuclear Madness: Iran, Kuwait or the IAEA?, Morning Star, 25 November 2011, by Felicity Arbuthnot As the sabre-rattling against Iran becomes more deafening – with threats of potentially creating a few Chenobyls or a Fukushima by bombing working nuclear power plants – another potential nuclear madness is planned.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) appears to be behaving in a partisan and shameless way regarding Iran, much as it did with Iraq.
With Iraq, accusations abounded that the inspection teams were more about spying than neutral observation. “The way back to the UN was via Tel Aviv,” one former inspector memorably remarked.
Gareth Porter has meticulously and comprehensively trashed the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) latest report on Iran, showing disturbing parallels with the tragic Iraq fiasco. Continue reading
Iran is ‘the most threatened country in the world’
few observers believe Iran would dare attack Israel, a suicidal move if ever there was one. And it’s why Israel grasps at excuses to preemptively attack Iran, a far more plausible scenario than an Iranian attack on Israel.
…Iran is the most threatened country in the world….
Why everybody except Iran can have nuclear weapons, GERALD CAPLAN, Globe and Mail , Nov. 25, 2011 It is deeply regrettable that Iran may one day join the not-so-exclusive club of nations that possess nuclear weapons. It is a potential danger the world doesn’t need. If you’ll forgive an outburst of preposterous idealism, it would be kind of neat to have a world with no nuclear arms whatsoever.
But for the life of me I don’t see how the world convinces Iran it’s not entitled to such weapons when Pakistan, North Korea, Russia, India, China, the United States, France, Britain and Israel all have them. Continue reading
Agents of USA and Israel targeting Iran’s military and nuclear programs
Although the US Embassy in Beirut initially said there was no substance to the accusations, the Associated Press reports that American officials later conceded that Nasrallah had been telling the truth.
Iran arrests 12 ‘CIA spies’ for targeting nuclear plans BBC News, 24 November 2011 Iran has arrested 12 spies of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the official IRNA news agency reports. Parviz Sorouri, an influential lawmaker, said the agents were targeting Iran’s military and its nuclear programme.He said they were operating in co-ordination with Israel’s Mossad and other regional agencies…… Mr Sorouri, a member of the powerful National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, did not give the nationality of the alleged agents, nor when they were arrested. Continue reading
United Arab Emirates’ $30 billion nuclear- power program,
U.A.E.’s Nuclear Power Program Said to Cost $30 Billion, November 24, 2011, By Ayesha Daya and Stefania Bianchi (Bloomberg) — The United Arab Emirates’ nuclear- power program, a joint venture between state-owned Emirates Nuclear Energy
Corp. and Korea Electric Power Corp., will cost about $30 billion,
according to two people with knowledge of the project. Continue reading
1 This Month
PLEASE OPPOSE HR 8255 AND S.3639 – bills would accelerate satellite deployment, with no environmental review or safeguards – https://ncstd5li.quorum.us/campaign/169331/
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
-
Archives
- September 2026 (339)
- August 2026 (330)
- July 2026 (355)
- June 2026 (287)
- May 2026 (306)
- April 2026 (356)
- March 2026 (251)
- February 2026 (267)
- January 2026 (308)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (375)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
