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The Journal of South Asian Non-Proliferation July, 2008 Editorial Staff
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The Journal of
South Asian Non-Proliferation is an online compendium of non-proliferation
related publications.
It is a periodic compilation of news, official statements, and expert analyses
related to South Asian non-proliferation issues.
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Supporting worldwide understanding of South Asian non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament issues. The Journal of South Asian Non-Proliferation CONTENTSNUCLEAR RELATED ISSUES U.S Envoy Upbeat on N. Korea Talks Syria wants N-energy under Arab umbrella Syria to Let In IAEA Inspectors Kudrin Wants Fewer Strategic Sectors EU urges Iran to provide nuclear
information R E G I O N: Khamenei denies Iran seeking
nuclear bomb US nuclear deterrent likely to grow: Gates Plutonium Reactor
Is Closed Parsing the
Schumer Plan US, EU warn Iran
of more sanctions Bush, allies
embrace possible Iran sanctions Inclusion of
Pakistan, India, Israel and N Korea needed for N-disarmament European Leaders Back Bush on Iran Bush Says Iran Spurns New Offer on Uranium US concerned over N-design distribution report Iran insists enrichment to continue Iran weighing nuclear offer World can deal with Iran if it redefines itself In Defense Policy, France Turns to U.S. and Europe Brown Says Europe Will Tighten Iran Sanctions Demand to halt enrichment illegitimate, says Iran Crucial meeting on India-US nuclear deal postponed Pakistan committed to non-proliferation MISSILE RELATED ISSUES N Korea fires short-range missile PROLIFERATION & SECURITY A.Q. Khan denies
selling N-weapon blueprints Dr Khan says European
businesses provided N-technology to Iran, Libya US warns
Pakistan over release of Dr Khan OPINION / EDITORIAL Threatening Iran How safe are our
nukes 1? How safe are our
nukes 2? India doctrine
& regional crises A Q Khan -- the
other side U-turns on Iran SUMMARIES
N Korea almost ready on nuclear statement: Seoul—North Korea is almost ready to
deliver a full accounting of its nuclear activities under a major disarmament
deal but wants to link the timing to US concessions, Seoul’s top negotiator
said Sunday. Kim Sook, who spoke with his North Korean counterpart in Beijing
last week, said Pyongyang was waiting for the green light that Washington
would take the communist nation off a list of states that sponsor terrorism.
“North Korea was preparing to submit a nuclear declaration, and I could
confirm it was almost completed,” Kim Sook told reporters of his first formal
talks with Pyongyang’s top nuclear envoy Kim Kye-Gwan two days ago. The North
was supposed to have handed over a full declaration of all its nuclear
activities by December 31 last year under a deal with its negotiating
partners China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. But disputes
over the declaration have blocked the start of the final phase of the
disarmament process—the permanent dismantling of its nuclear plants and
surrender of all atomic material. Iran Gets a
Nuclear Vote of Confidence:02 June 2008PARIS — Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin reaffirmed that he does not believe Iran is seeking nuclear
arms, a French newspaper said Saturday. "Nothing indicates" that
Tehran is trying to use its nuclear program to develop weapons, he told Le
Monde. Russia has been a key ally to Iran in its nuclear standoff with the
West, including building the country's nuclear reactor at Bushehr, but has
also voted in favor of three rounds of UN Security Council sanctions against
Iran for its failure to halt uranium enrichment. Putin said his country did
not want Iran to acquire nuclear arms and that he has counseled Iran to
"prove" to the international community that it does not have hidden
weapons plans. But Putin said that "for the moment" Iran has broken
no laws — while stressing that Russia is against Tehran's obtaining nuclear
arms, Le Monde said. "We will, by all means, stop proliferation." U.S. Envoy Upbeat
on N. Korea Talks:02 June 2008The
top U.S. envoy to talks with North Korea said Friday in Moscow that he was
optimistic that negotiations on the Communist nation's nuclear disarmament
would be successful but refused to say when it could be achieved. "It's
a very difficult and ... a slow-moving process, but we feel very
positive," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said
during talks with Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin. "We hope
that we can work together in the future as we get on to what we hope will be
the final phase," he said. Hill praised close cooperation with Moscow on
the issue. Russia is part of the six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear
program which began in 2003.The nuclear talks have been fraught with repeated
setbacks and delays. North Korea has stopped making plutonium and began
disabling its nuclear facilities so they cannot be quickly restarted but
still has a stockpile of radioactive material. Syria
wants N-energy under Arab umbrella: DUBAI, June 3: Syria is not seeking nuclear weapons
but wants to have access to atomic energy for peaceful purposes through a
collective Arab project, President Bashar al-Assad said in remarks published
on Tuesday. The Dubai-based Gulf
News also quoted Assad as saying that the United States should have sought an
investigation of a Syrian facility suspected of housing a secret nuclear
plant before it was destroyed in an Israeli air raid last September.
“Acquiring nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is an international trend
that all countries are rightfully pursuing. In Syria, we want this to be done
within an Arab context, which was discussed and agreed during the Arab Summit
in Riyadh,” he said during a visit to the United Arab Emirates. Gulf Arabs
have announced their own plans to develop nuclear energy for civilian
purposes following a 2007 Arab summit that called on Arabs to develop atomic
power. US intelligence officials in April said they believed Syria had built
the suspected reactor with the assistance of North Korea, which later also
helped in cleaning up the site after the Israeli strike. Syria to Let
In IAEA Inspectors:03 June 2008VIENNA
— Syria has invited UN inspectors to visit in a probe of allegations that a
remote building destroyed by Israeli combat jets was a nuclear reactor built
secretly with North Korean help, the International Atomic Energy Agency said
Monday. Announcing the planned June 22-24 visit, IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei
also criticized Iran for stonewalling his investigations into allegations
that the country worked on a secret nuclear weapons program. His comments to
the agency’s 35-nation board reflected the focus of a board meeting that
opened Monday — Iran’s nuclear defiance and suspicions that Syria tried to
build a plutonium-producing reactor and cover up after the building was
flattened in September by Israel. Neither the United States nor Israel told
the International Atomic Energy Agency about the Syrian site until late
April, about a year after they obtained what they considered to be decisive
intelligence: dozens of photographs from a handheld camera that showed the
compound in Syria’s eastern desert Kudrin Wants
Fewer Strategic Sectors:03 June 2008By Anna Smolchenko / Staff Writer Prime Minister Vladimir Putin praised a new
law restricting foreign investment in strategic sectors at a government
meeting on Monday, but a senior Cabinet member said the legislation was too
strict and might ultimately be relaxed. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance
Minister Alexei Kudrin described the law after the meeting as the result of a
“political consensus,” but said he had hoped the list of sectors designated
as strategic would contain fewer industries. The new law covers investment in 42 sectors, including
space, aviation, nuclear energy, telecoms, media and natural monopolies.
Private foreign companies looking to purchase a 50 percent stake or greater
in a company in one of the sectors would be required to receive government
approval first. State-owned foreign companies are required to receive
permission for any stake 25 percent or greater. EU
urges Iran to provide nuclear information: VIENNA, June 4: European
countries urged Iran on Wednesday to furnish all outstanding information on
its disputed nuclear program to the UN atomic watchdog to end a long-running impasse.
“We call on Iran to supply all the necessary information, as well as the
access to people, documents and sites requested by the IAEA,” or
International Atomic Energy Agency, French ambassador Francois-Xavier Deniau
told the agency’s 35-member board at its meeting here. He was speaking on
behalf of the so-called EU-3 comprising Britain, France and Germany. “That is
the only way for the agency to determine the true nature of the Iranian
nuclear program,” he said in a speech. The Slovenian representative to the
IAEA, Bojan Bertoncelj, whose country currently holds the rotating EU
presidency, echoed the French envoy. The EU “remains seriously concerned that
despite more than five years of intense efforts by the IAEA, the agency is
still not in a position to determine the full nature of Iran’s nuclear
program,” Bertoncelj said in a speech. R
E G I O N: Khamenei denies Iran
seeking nuclear bomb : TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei on Tuesday vehemently rejected charges Tehran was seeking a nuclear
weapon, amid mounting concern from the UN atomic agency about the Iranian
atomic drive. “The Iranian nation is not seeking a nuclear weapon,” Khamenei
said in a speech broadcast live on state television to mark the anniversary
of the death in 1989 of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. “We
are seeking nuclear energy for peaceful purposes for daily use and we will
continue this path to the envy of our enemies. We will mightily achieve this
aim,” he added. Khamenei’s comments come a day after UN atomic watchdog chief
Mohamed ElBaradei urged “full disclosure” over allegations that Tehran hid
key information about weaponization in its contested nuclear program. The
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has in the past months been
investigating intelligence given by Western countries that Iran has studied
how to make an atomic weapon, much to Tehran’s fury. US nuclear deterrent likely to grow:
Gates: LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE: United States Defense Secretary Robert
Gates said on Monday that the importance of the US nuclear arsenal was likely
to grow in importance in coming years as Russia moves to strengthen its
nuclear forces. Gates made the comment in a closed-door question-and-answer
session with rank-and-file airmen in explaining his decision to replace the
air force leadership over two major nuclear blunders. In a speech earlier,
Gates told airmen he regretted having to remove General T Michael Moseley as
chief of staff and Michael Wynne as air force secretary. “But there is no
room for error in this mission. Nor is there, unfortunately, any room for
second chances - especially when serious questions about the safety and
security of our nuclear arsenal have been raised in the minds of the American
people and international partners,” he said, adding, “When systemic problems
are found, I believe that accountability must reached beyond NCOs and even
colonels.” Reporters were made to leave the room when Gates opened the floor
to questions from the airmen at this headquarters for US air combat forces. Plutonium
Reactor Is Closed:06 June 2008Russia
closed down the second of its three remaining plutonium-producing reactors
Thursday, part of a years-long effort by Moscow and Washington to shutter the
Cold War-era facilities that produced material for nuclear weapons. The
atomic energy agency, Rosatom, said in a statement that the ADE-5 reactor at
the Siberian Chemical Plant in Seversk stopped operation and workers will
begin removing remaining uranium fuel. It will take several years to
dismantle the reactor's technical equipment. The plant's first reactor was
shut down on April 20. The last plutonium-producing reactor, in the city of
Zheleznogorsk, is expected to be shuttered by 2010.Located in secret cities,
the plants were part of the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons complex and
produced weapons-grade plutonium over the course of 50 years. But in the
early years after the Soviet breakup, the Defense Ministry stopped buying the
plutonium. The United States pushed for years to close down the plants, but
they produced electricity and heat for nearby cities as a byproduct of their
operations and the Russians did not want to leave Siberian cities without
power before coal-fired replacement plants were built. Parsing the
Schumer Plan:09 June 2008,It's
not only supply and demand that drives markets, it's fear itself. After the
Israeli transportation minister threatened last week to attack Iran's nuclear
facilities if Tehran continues with its program for developing nuclear
weapons, the price of oil jumped more than $10 a barrel, sending the U.S.
stock market down by 400 points. In a recent Wall Street Journal commentary,
U.S. Senator Charles Schumer proposed pressuring Iran to the bargaining table
by imposing severe economic sanctions that could even "topple the
theocracy." Germany and France are now ready to join with the United States
and Britain in imposing sanctions -- though they will not be effective
without Russia. China, the last key player, "may go along if everyone
else will." This is the weakest link in his argument, which Schumer
passes over with no further comment. US,
EU warn Iran of more sanctions: BRDO (Slovenia), June 10: The United States and the
European Union sought on Tuesday to turn up the pressure on Iran to drop its
nuclear enrichment program, saying they were ready to go beyond a latest
round of UN sanctions. But President George W. Bush acknowledged the limits
of US influence over Tehran and, in the twilight of his presidency, appeared
resigned to leaving the standoff to his successor. “I leave behind a multilateral framework to work on this
issue,” Bush told a news conference after a US-European Union summit at a
Slovenian castle. “A group of countries can send a clear message to the
Iranians, and that is: We’re going to continue to isolate you ... we’ll find
new sanctions if need be, if you continue to deny the ‘just demands’ of the
free world, which is to give up your enrichment program,” he said. He stopped
short of repeating the US position that all options, including military action,
remain open, suggesting that no drastic steps were likely before he leaves
office. “Now is the time for there to be strong diplomacy,” Bush said. He met
Slovenian leaders, who hold the EU’s rotating presidency, as well as European
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU foreign policy chief Javier
Solana, who has led efforts to get Iran to drop its enrichment program.
Solana is expected to travel to Iran soon to present a new offer by major
powers of incentives for it to suspend uranium enrichment, but he has played
down prospects of a breakthrough. “Iran with a nuclear weapon would be
incredibly dangerous for world peace,” Bush said before setting off for
Germany. Bush, allies embrace possible Iran sanctions:
Wednesday, June 11, 2008, Jamadi-ul-sani 6, 1429 Kranj
(Slovenia)—President Bush and European allies on Tuesday threatened tougher
sanctions to squeeze Iran’s finances and derail its potential pursuit of a
nuclear weapon. Bush said the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran would endanger
world peace. “They can either face isolation, or they can have better
relations with all of us,” Bush said of Iran’s leaders while capping his
final European Union-U.S. summit. The president and EU leaders embraced new
financial sanctions against Iran unless it verifiably suspends its nuclear
enrichment. They said Iran must fully disclose any nuclear weapons work and
allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to verify that work. Iran is
also under fire for defying three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions and
continuing to enrich uranium — which can generate both nuclear fuel and the
fissile material for the core of nuclear warheads. Iran insists that it has
only civilian uses in mind for its nuclear program. The president flatly said
Iran “can’t be trusted with enrichment.” “A group of countries can send a
clear message to the Iranians,” Bush said. “And that is: we’re going to
continue to isolate you, we’ll continue to work on sanctions, and we’ll find
new sanctions if need be if you continue to deny the just demands of a free
world.” Speaking to reporters on the lush, sun-splashed lawn near Brdo
Castle, Bush also fielded questions on economic woes at home and climate
change. Bush essentially rejected the idea of possible government
intervention to prop up the value of the U.S. dollar. Inclusion
of Pakistan, India, Israel and N Korea needed for N-disarmament: * Nuclear official says new body hopes
to recruit ‘like-minded states’ to cement NPT SYDNEY: The world may need
a new nuclear weapons treaty that includes India, Pakistan, Israel and North
Korea, an Australian official said on Tuesday. Former Foreign minister Gareth
Evans, who was appointed chairman of a new international body for nuclear
disarmament, said nuclear powers that currently refuse to join the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) had to be included in a new process if the
world were to abandon nuclear weapons.
“We’ve got to bring in India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea - all
those that are presently with weapons but outside that framework,” Evans told
Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio from Romania. “What you’re trying
to do is create a framework in which rather than being outsiders, these guys
once again become insiders. That may mean thinking about a whole new nuclear
weapons treaty,” he added. Like
minded: Evans’ appointment as head of the Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament
Commission was announced by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Monday.
Rudd said the new body hoped to recruit “like-minded countries” to strengthen
the NPT. European
Leaders Back Bush on Iran:(11 June 2008) While in a tour to Europe, President Bush
won European support to consider additional punitive sanctions against Iran,
including restrictions on its banks, if Iran rejects a package of incentives
to suspend its uranium enrichment program. A joint statement issued after the
meeting urged Iran to “comply with its international obligations concerning
its nuclear activities” and reaffirmed Western commitments to a “dual-track
strategy,” employing the threat of punitive sanctions along with incentives
to Iran. Bush
Says Iran Spurns New Offer on Uranium: (15 June 2008)President Bush accused Iran rejecting a new set
of incentives to stop enriching uranium; only hours after the proposal
received a cold shoulder when it was delivered by Western diplomats in
Tehran. But before Mr. Bush spoke, an Iranian government spokesman,
Gholamhossein Elham, made it clear in Tehran that stopping enrichment was
unacceptable. “If the package includes suspension it is not debatable at
all.” US
concerned over N-design distribution reports: WASHINGTON, June 16: The White
House has said it is concerned that the Khan network may have distributed
designs of nuclear warheads and uranium enrichment technology among the
so-called rogue nations. “We are very concerned about the A.Q. Khan network,
both in terms of what they were doing by purveying enrichment technology and
also the possibility that there would be weapons-related technology
associated with it,” said National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. He was
commenting on US media reports that members of a network of nuclear
proliferators, allegedly headed by Dr A.Q. Khan, had on their computers a
design for an advanced nuclear weapon. Mr. Hadley said it was this concern
that caused the US to roll up the network “fairly successfully” four years
ago. “And part of that rolling up was to roll up the network and part of it
was to pursue what kind of relationship the A.Q. Khan network had to
individual countries with which they are dealing.” Asked if he had seen
evidence to suggest that the Khan network had passed on weapons technology to
countries like Iran, Libya and North Korea, Mr. Hadley said this was also a
concern. “We’ve had some concerns about it. Iran
insists enrichment to continue: DUBAI, June 17: Iran said on Tuesday that it respond
at the “appropriate” time to an international incentive package aimed at
reining in its nuclear program. But it underlined that uranium enrichment
would continue despite warnings of new European sanctions if it rejects the
offer. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana pressed Iran to respond to the
package, which offers economic incentives if Iran agrees to halt enrichment,
a process the US and its allies fear Tehran, will use to build a nuclear
weapon. Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful. Solana said on Tuesday
he cannot wait “years” for a response but hasn’t given a deadline. Foreign
Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran will study the proposals and will
respond “at an appropriate time,” the official IRNA news agency reported. His
deputy Ali Reza Sheikh Attar said Iran will respond “as soon as possible.”
But Sheikh Attar added: “We have repeatedly said that uranium enrichment is
Iran’s red line and that we must enjoy this technology,” according to IRNA.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday that EU nations have
agreed on the need for a new round of sanctions to discourage Iran from
developing nuclear weapons. Iran weighing nuclear offer: * Parliament to study package with
‘alertness’, says speaker TEHRAN: Iran was on Sunday considering an offer
from world powers aimed at resolving the six-year nuclear crisis but hopes of
a breakthrough were dim after Tehran appeared to bluntly reject a key
condition. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana delivered over the offer on
behalf of world powers to top Iranian officials on Saturday, saying it was
“full of opportunities” for the Islamic republic. The deal offers talks on a
package of technological and economic incentives, so long as Tehran suspends
uranium enrichment activities, which the West fears could be used to make an
atomic bomb. But barely hours into Solana’s visit, had Iranian government
spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham announced that Tehran would reject any package
that does not allow it to enrich uranium, the key sticking point in the
crisis. The hard-line Kayhan newspaper, the mouthpiece of Iran’s authorities,
scoffed at the package and said Solana “was not here to negotiate but on a
mission to threaten Iran”. World can deal with Iran if it redefines
itself: Khalilzad:
LONDON: Countries around the world can have normal relations with Iran
if the Islamic Republic redefines itself and stops meddling in the affairs of
its neighbors, Zalmay Khalilzad said in an interview Monday. Speaking to the
Financial Times, the American ambassador to the United Nations added that he
did not think there was a “silver bullet” to solving the Middle East’s
problems, in particular regarding the Israel-Palestinian conflict and said
major players in the Middle East use the Israel-Palestinian conflict “as a
stick with which to beat each other.” Khalilzad said it was “possible to come
to terms with an Iran that defines its objectives in a regional way and acts
as a nation state, not as a revolution.” “Iran is a significant challenge and
will remain so for some time. How do you have an Iran that has an appropriate
role and defines that role in a way that it can live with the world and the
world can live with it?” “I don’t believe that for the Iranians this is the
most important issue.” Nuclear offer: Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief
Javier Solana said on Monday that the quicker Iran responds to an offer from
world powers aimed at resolving the nuclear standoff the better. Solana, who
made the cooperation offer to Iranian leaders on Saturday, said that so far
there had been no response from Tehran to the initiative from the group of
six - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. In
Defense Policy, France Turns to U.S. and Europe: (17
June 2008)France has decided that
its security lies within Europe and NATO,
establishing a significant shift from the country’s longstanding notions of
moral and military self-sufficiency. The new military and security strategy,
which Mr. Sarkozy presented, calls for a smaller, more mobile French Army,
with savings spent on better intelligence and modern equipment. The new
defense doctrine seeks to prepare France and Europe for a post-Soviet world
in which conventional military threats are downgraded compared with a
multitude of complex, global risks, from epidemics to terrorism and cyber
warfare. Brown
Says Europe Will Tighten Iran Sanctions (18
June 2008)Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced
that Britain
and the European Union would
freeze the overseas assets of Iran’s largest
commercial bank, joining the United States in intensifying financial pressure
against Iran over its refusal to address international concern over its
nuclear activities. Mr. Brown also said that if Iran continued to defy
existing United Nations
resolutions calling for it to halt uranium enrichment, European leaders would
begin considering sanctions on investments in Iran’s oil and natural gas
industries. Demand
to halt enrichment illegitimate, says Iran: * Tehran’s IAEA envoy rejects
West’s ‘illegal’ pressure to stop enrichment TEHRAN: Iran will never
surrender to an “illegitimate” demand by major world powers that it halt
uranium enrichment, Iran’s state radio on Wednesday quoted the country’s
envoy to the UN atomic watchdog as saying. “Iran will never give in to the illegitimate and illegal
pressure of the West (to freeze its uranium enrichment),” said Ali Asghar
Soltanieh in a speech in London about the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The EU’s top diplomat, Javier Solana, presented Tehran on Saturday with a new
package of economic incentives designed to persuade it to curb its nuclear
work, which the West fears is aimed a building a nuclear weapon. Solana said
Iran should stop enrichment during negotiations to implement the offer. The
package agreed by the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and
Germany last month and delivered by Solana is a revised version of one
rejected by Iran in 2006. The UN Security Council has hit Iran with three
rounds of sanctions for refusing to halt its enrichment work, as demanded by
the council. Crucial
meeting on India-US nuclear deal postponed : * Indian government, communist
allies to meet on June 25 NEW DELHI: A meeting between India’s government
and its communist allies to break a deadlock over a nuclear deal with the
United States was postponed on Wednesday, clouding the fate of a pact that is
badly running out of time. “Obviously, behind-the-scene talks are going on
between the left and the government,” political analyst Kuldip Nayar said.
“It means the government is still trying to persuade the Left to let them go
ahead, and there seems to be some hope because the meeting has only been
postponed.” A communist leader said the next meeting was scheduled for June
25, but the Congress-led coalition has yet to confirm this. The communists oppose the deal,
saying it compromises India’s sovereignty and security and have threatened to
withdraw vital support from the ruling coalition if the government moves
ahead with it. The deal, which promises India access to American nuclear fuel
and technology, is also viewed as vital to the huge energy needs of Asia’s
third-largest economy, whose growth is being threatened by soaring
international crude prices and high inflation. Pakistan
committed to non-proliferation: US:
WASHINGTON: The United States has expressed trust in the Pakistan
government’s commitment to nuclear non-proliferation, while dismissing AQ
Khan network’s relevance to the issue. State Department spokesman Tom Casey
said on Tuesday that he had no new assessment to offer when asked to comment
on recent media reports about activities of the network. “The most important
thing is that the AQ Khan network has been out of business and it is not in a
position to engage in proliferation activities,” Casey told reporters.
However, the spokesman said, the US position has been that no member of the
AQ Khan network should be free to carry out proliferation activities. The US
continues to work with Pakistan and other members of the international
community against nuclear proliferation, he added. “Here is the bottom line,
the United States has confidence that the Government of Pakistan is not
engaging in proliferation activities.”
N Korea fires short-range missiles: Tuesday, June 10,
2008, Jamadi-ul-sani 5, 1429 Seoul — North Korea has fired three short-range
missiles off its west coast, Yonhap news agency reported Saturday. The South
Korean agency, quoting a government source, said the missiles were fired on
Friday into the Yellow Sea off Jeungsan County, some 40 kilometers (25 miles)
west of Pyongyang. The testing was part of a military training exercise
involving Russian-designed Styx ship-to-ship missiles with a range of 46 kilometers,
the report said. “The missile launch, like the test-firing conducted on March
28, is part of normal military training aimed at testing the performance of
the missiles and improving operational readiness,” the source was quoted in
the report saying. A South Korean defense ministry spokesman refused to
comment. “We don’t comment on any matter of intelligence,” he said. The
report came after South and North Korean nuclear envoys met in Beijing on
Friday for about an hour over attempts to end the North’s nuclear program. North
Korea fired three or four missiles of the same type on March 28 in what was
then described by the South Korean government as “part of a regular military
exercise.” But the move raised
the stakes in North Korea’s nuclear dispute with South Korea and the United
States, which are attempting to secure a full declaration of North Korea’s
atomic activities.
A.Q.
Khan denies selling N-weapon blueprints: ISLAMABAD, June 17: Top
nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan on Tuesday denied selling blueprints for
an advanced nuclear weapon to Iran or North Korea, telling AFP that western
countries were to blame. Mr. Khan’s comments came a day after a former arms
inspector said in a report that the United States and the UN atomic watchdog
International Atomic Energy Agency must be allowed to question Mr. Khan to
learn if he sold the plans. “This is all a lie there is no truth in this. It
is total bullshit,” Khan told AFP by telephone from his Islamabad villa.
“It’s pure lies and nonsense. It’s part of America’s campaign to pressure
Pakistan,” Khan told Reuters by telephone. “The Western countries are
suppliers of the technology, they sold it and they are the proliferators....
Why don’t they publish juicy stories about Israel? There is not a single word
about Israel on the nuclear is sue,” he added. Former UN arms inspector David Albright said on Monday,
after details of his draft report appeared in US newspapers, that there was a
danger that Mr. Khan might be released without having to answer questions
about the sensitive blueprints. Dr
Khan says European businesses provided N-technology to Iran, Libya: WASHINGTON, June 4: Nuclear
scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan told US media on Tuesday that he was not
responsible for passing nuclear secrets to Iran and Libya. In an interview
with the McClatchy news organization, Dr Khan said that he introduced Tripoli
and Tehran to Western businesses that provided the know-how on building a
nuclear weapons program. Mr. Khan, regarded as the father of Pakistan’s
nuclear weapons program, said in a televised confession in February 2004 that
he had run a network that passed atomic secrets and smuggled equipment and
technological advice to Iran, North Korea and Libya over a period of 15
years. But he recanted that admission in his interview with McClatchy,
telling the news agency that he had merely given Iran and Libya “very small
advice” on where to acquire the technology. “When Iran and Libya wanted to do
their program, they asked our advice. We said: ‘OK, these are the suppliers,
who provide all’.” Dr Khan said that the companies who provided the technology
to the two countries were European. “The Germans have those drawings. The
South Africans have those drawings. The French have those drawings. They were
the suppliers. You can’t blame me for it. They were selling. They were making
money. Why put blame on me?” Dr Khan said during the interview from his villa
in Islamabad, where he remains under house arrest. Dr Khan said that nuclear
secrets obtained by North Korea came from Russia. US
warns Pakistan over release of Dr Khan: Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Threatening
Iran (10 June 2008)The United States and the other major powers need to address Tehran’s
nuclear ambitions, but with more assertive diplomacy — including greater
financial pressures — not more threats or war planning. If sanctions and
incentives cannot be made to work, the voices arguing for military action
will only get louder. No matter what aides may be telling Mr. Bush and Mr.
Olmert — or what they may be telling each other — an attack on Iran would be
a disaster? How safe are our nukes?
Wednesday, June 04, 2008 By Lt-Gen (r)
Hamid Nawaz Khan How safe are our nukes? Tuesday, June 10, 2008 By Lt-Gen
(r) Hamid Nawaz Khan Secondly, the nuclear threshold is directly proportional
to the conventional weapons capability. The weaker of the two adversaries
will be constrained first to use nuclear weapons. In any future war with
India, in all probability, Pakistan will be forced to first use of nuclear
weapons if its nuclear threshold is crossed due to major territorial losses,
forces attrition or economic degradation. Credibility of deterrence wholly
rests in the perceived ability of the decision-makers to take this
next-to-impossible decision at the most critical moment, to demonstrate the
will and determination of the nation to safeguard her national interests.
This really is the backbone of nuclear deterrence. Israeli Intelligence experts, once debating the failure of
their deterrence in the Arab-Israel war of 1973, concluded that "there
is no deterrence against an irrational enemy." In the popular world
perception a Muslim leader, while fighting for the cause of Islam, could be
irrational and if required, could order a nuclear strike, unmindful of the
consequences. Such fears are considered well founded in dictatorial or
theocratic forms of government as opposed to democratic rule. India doctrine & regional crises:
Wednesday, June 11, 2008, Jamadi-ul-sani 6, 142 Dr Abdul
Ruff. Indian ambitions for a world power status are too great to actualize
them, but, nevertheless, India does not want to give up its efforts, by
effectively making use of emerging opportunities. India’s greed for regional supremacy
has caused enough problems and confusion in its neighborhoods. Today the
entire South Asian region is undergoing serious turmoils and Indian role in
these is a known fact. Double-standards being meticulously employed by New
Delhi to project itself as the most important democracy with a lot of secular
credentials escape the attention of the world and its next neighbors and, as
a result, India even claims to be a “suffer and victim” of so-called Islamic
“fundamentalism and terrorism”. Discovery of secret grave-yards in Kashmir
have at long last have woken up the Kashmiri patriots, who have already
sacrifices thousands and thousands of their kith and kin for the sacred cause
of regaining sovereignty from an arrogant occupier India, to search of a common
platform to face the Indian brutality. Indian tricky journey towards an
“innocent” country, being “troubled” by its “terrorist” neighbors, including
Kashmiri “terrorists”, is indeed interesting. A Q Khan -- the other
side: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 By Ali Abbas
Rizvi Recently there has been a change in the status of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan,
the father of the Pakistani nuclear bomb. He is giving interviews to the
media and enjoying greater freedom with respect to his movements. Certainly,
there has been a change in the condition of the eminent scientist, who was
restricted to his home since 2004 when he confessed to supplying technology
to "rogue states." The question arises: what is happening on the A
Q Khan front and what is the possibility of his release and its possible
consequences. Apparently, three aspects have helped to bring about the
present state of affairs. First of all, there has been a change in the
government, which is following a policy of openness, or the Pakistani version
of glasnost. It wants to be perceived as different from its predecessor,
democratic and liberal in all respects. U-turns on Iran: Finally,
Europe is ready to step up sanctions.
June 18, 2008 Stonewalling. Obfuscation. Threats. Two years of Iranian
intransigence have removed any doubt that the leadership in Tehran is
determined to develop the technology for a nuclear bomb -- if not the weapons
themselves -- as quickly as possible. And after more than two years of giving
Iran the benefit of every doubt, and last weekend sweetening
their offer of incentives if it agreed to suspend nuclear
enrichment, the European Union and Britain announced Monday that they will at
last impose tougher financial sanctions. Of course, the sanctions are mainly
symbolic, and Iran will find ways to circumvent them. But that does not make
them any less important politically. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been
able to capitalize on the global unpopularity of President Bush, dismissing
legitimate international concerns about Iran's nuclear intentions as an attempt
by a warmongering, intelligence-cooking enemy to subjugate and humiliate
another Muslim nation. But Ahmadinejad will have a harder time making the
case that Britain's Labor prime minister, Gordon Brown, and the European
Union are the lap dogs of the lame-duck U.S. president.
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