Nuclear Tech Race Is On In Middle East 352
CaroKann writes "The TimesOnline is reporting that six Middle Eastern nations have announced interest in developing nuclear technology. The nations involved are Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Middle East Economic Digest states that most of these nations are interested in developing nuclear technology for the purpose of powering desalination plants. However, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, suggests that the sudden interest in nuclear technology is driven by the desire of the six nations to create a 'security hedge' in response to Iran's recent nuclear development program."
Ho hum (Score:2, Insightful)
Plan ahead (Score:3, Informative)
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while you are spending billons on lasers (Score:3, Informative)
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Well, the mutually assured destruction doctrine is not really the most reassuring philosophy either
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The real likelihood is that a terrorist might obtain a nuclear device and detonate it in the middle of a major city, or from a container ship floated into New York harbor.
Probably the main thing protect
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Various terrorists, including Bin Laden, have threatened to kill millions of Americans.
The threat isn't that North Korea or anyone else will nuke the U.S. They're probably smarter than that.
The real threat is that they'll sell components to terrorists who will smuggle them into the U.S. across our porous southern borders, then detonate them in a big city ala Jericho [cbs.com].
This threat is a lot more real than any other we face, IMHO.
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Re:Ho hum (Score:5, Informative)
However, I disagree strongly that the terrorists or their movement would ever just "go about their everyday lives".
You need to see "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West [youtube.com]", a 2 hour or so documentary about the radical islam.
Their hatred for us is taught to them from a very young age and is religious in nature. It will not change or go away without decades of effort. No one change will even come close. Ever. Period.
It is simply beyond our comprehension without seeing that documentary or understanding what it demonstrates. I thought I already understood radical islam but was blown away by some of the stuff in it. And it is their words, their TV, their music, their teachings.
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Catholic school is not the same as being raised in an environment where you are fed this stuff 24 / 7 / 365 in every way and from every source. Not even close to the same.
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This is a common misconception about suicide bombers that just isn't true. Namely that the actors are disparate, tortured souls personally affected by the conflict. I suggest you read Dying to Win [amazon.com]
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I didn't address it because it wasn't relevant. He (and you) are conflating two different things: namely, the selfless acts of military personnel against military personnel in the context of battle and suicide terrorism perpetrated against civilians as a form of coercion against democratic states.
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When you look at the data, a surprising picture of suicide bombers emerges:
Seeking the Roots of Terrorism [chronicle.com]
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automatically, or by placing chapter markers.
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Google Video doesn't have that limit, though that video isn't already there so you probably couldn't put it there.
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Was it Nostradamus who said? (Score:2)
But that was good
Because we love peace and motherhood
Then Russia got the bomb
But that's okay
The balance of power
Is preserved that way.
We'll try to stay serene and calm (Score:2)
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One for the black and one for the white!
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South Africa already had nuclear weapons [fas.org] and gave them up.
You forgot the rest of the poem (Score:2)
Then Iran and N.K. get the bomb and we're all screwed
Because martyrs get 72 virgins in the nude
ahmadinejad says he's not insane
what about when they bombed spain?
Kim jong il says "I want a nuclear power plant"
Good ol GW says "No you can't"
He says it's so we won't have to live in fear
Don't we have a double standard here?
We all know there were weapons in Iraq
Blix just couldn't find them because he was wack
He was probably over there smokin crack
While drinking whiskey and playing blackjack
Killing our freedoms
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Good ol GW says "No you can't"
Umm they have a nuclear power plant, we gave them one, and have offered them more in the past.
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But that's okay
The Zigs for justice
are on their way.
Fear my google-fu! (Score:2, Informative)
Saudi Arabia needs nuclear power... (Score:3, Funny)
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So the OPEC countries will start reprocessing fuel and using breeder reactors to make more fuel.
-b.
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using oil is bad for the environment.
These countries need nuclear weapons in order to counter a threat from the US and israel. US has made it clear it claims ownership all oil supplies er I mean strategic resources anywhere in the world.
Personally I think they should get nuclear weapons before they get power plants, it's cheaper and quicker to go that route.
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I wish I were on Mars right now.
World war's a-coming...
...Oh wait.
What's the point in manned space exploration?
Sarcasm is the lowest form of Humour. Heavy metal is the lowest form of music. We're all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars.
I am the lowest form of life.
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Middle Eastern nations ? (Score:5, Informative)
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The Maghreb states comprise western North Africa, that is, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, and Mauritania.
Re:Middle Eastern nations ? (Score:4, Informative)
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroccan-American_Tre aty_of_Friendship [wikipedia.org]
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Oh really (Score:2)
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Well, let's see. Iran has not attacked any other nation, except in direct response to being attacked (by Iraq in 1980), for about the last thousand years. Doesn't seem like much of a threat to me.
On the other hand, there's a country much bigger than Iran which seems to bomb or invade a different country every 3 or 4 years ... Panama, Grenada, Libya, Sudan, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq just since 1980, and I've probably missed a couple. I think it might be a good idea to have a deterrent to being attacked
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Why not just buy from U.S.? (Score:2)
This would afford them the ability to develop their nuclear expertise to a certain degree, while also providing them cheap power. While it would be more expensive than oil power, it's not really a relevant comparison since the value of oil is in the market val
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There was a time the U.S. was the big man on campus for nuclear technology. I think that time has passed.
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Maybe you missed the memo.. but Saudi Arabia is NOT considered an ally anymore! 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were Saudi Arabian- the operation was financed by Saudi Arabians, and members of the Saudi Arabian government knew about 9/11 and were very uncooperative in helping the United States investigate 9/11 in the aftermath (mostly to cover up their involvement). Further
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Oh wait a minute. I think I have that mixed up..
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Thirty years ago Australia was considering buying one for exactly that reason but I think the US administration of the time talked the govenment out of starting a weapons program.
Bookie (Score:2)
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They're focusing on growing their economy and ensuring that their colleges produce lots of scientists and engineers to ensure that they catch up technologically. Their military is huge and is becoming better equipped by the month, and, more importantly, its not bogged down in a faraway land. They've suppressed political dissent, allowing their leaders to ignore dom
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Do they really want to invade Taiwan or do they just want to get concessions by threats every few years?
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I never said that suppressing dissent was a good thing. In fact, if you read till the end of my post you'll see that I forecast that the autocratic nature of China's government will only give the power in the short-to-medium term, at the expense of power over the long term.
Unless China opens up its political decision-making system, we'll never see a "Chinese century" like we saw an "American century".
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Here's data backing up my claims in case you try and make another trolling, uninformed, jackassed comment.
http://taiwansecurity.org/News/IHT-The-Balance-of- Power-Remains-in-Taiwan's-Favor.htm [taiwansecurity.org]
"On July 19, the Pentagon released its annual report to the U.S. Congress on "The Military Power of the People's Republic of China," which it was required to do according to the provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2000...The report is clear that, until the end of the prese
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Give it to them. (Score:2)
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Why should they, for a second, accept that?
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We (the USA) have the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. We also have the tendency to invade countries and meddle in their internal affairs. So far, we haven't used
High Energy from Small Powers: Inevitable (Score:2)
As technology improves and new discoveries are made, it seems inevitable that high energy technology will be available to small powers. I'm not nearly as concerned about a country having nukes as I am about irresponsable companies having them, or insane neighbors using some sort of device that, say... accumulates easily fusile material in a small package, and cheaply. No, such technology doesn't exist now; but it seems inevitable that the cost of nuclear tech will go down.
Right now, it's pretty cheap fo
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But not as easy as you would think - AnFO is used a lot in mining operations because it is very hard to set off unless you really want to.
Strictly controlling knowlege as you suggest is a civilisation destroying idea and needs totalitarian regimes to carry it out.
Non-proliferation is failing (Score:2)
The European lead [washingtonpost.com] negotiations with Iran are failing to produce meaningful results. That is bad enough given the threatening language [cnn.com] from the Iranian leadership, and their President's state of mind [rferl.org].
Now it looks like the Sunni vs Shia / Arab vs Persian rivalries, are about to take a much more dangerous form, not to mention the Arab/Muslim conflict with Israel. What is even more disturbing is that the restraints that contained the cold war [opinionjournal.com] don't seem to apply. We might end up with a nuclear Jihad.
Bang a Gong, we are on! (Score:2)
Guest 1: Oh! That'll be really good! I can't wait to see how this turns out!
Guest 2: I love the smell of napalm in the morning!
All: *Laughs*
I can't say that I'm surprised (Score:2)
I'm not worried (Score:2)
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Holland?
Hahh...The US is in trouble! (Score:2)
When it comes to non peaceful purposes like the nuclear bomb, the US does not have an answer! So our government will try to deny nuclear know how to countries it perceives as a threat.
Remember our president refers to "Nuclear" as "Nucilar"! W
Good thing the administration is responding ... (Score:2)
http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11
Not a new development (Score:2)
To be quite honest (Score:5, Insightful)
Any non-proliferation efforts are doomed to fail in the middle east unless Israel owns up to what they have. To turn a blind eye to their nuclear capability while preaching to other countries about what they can and cannot do is rank hypocrisy.
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Israel has them, without a doubt, but they know that they wouldn't use them simply because I don't think that they would nuke the land that Abraham promised them. However, the Islamic point of view may fe
Saudi Arabia, eh? (Score:2)
(prop 87 is a California proposition that would fund alternate energy sources research; supported by such names as Bill Clinton and Al Gore)
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I still don't think the US has the capacity to invade Iran. Or rather, we have the capacity to invade, but we don't have the capacity to hold the country afterwards.
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Obviously, because we all know that things in the Middle East are all sweetness and light [memritv.org] when the United States isn't around, and that no Arab, Persian, or Muslim would ever kill a fellow, let alone a Jew.
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Ignoratio elenchi. (Score:2)
Fishing for herring [fallacyfiles.org] much these days?
I made no mention of who Arabs are or are not off killing. What I was alluding to was the fact that the US has invaded Iraq, one of our allies has invaded Lebanon, and we are currently threatening military action against Iran. In addition to that, some reputable sources [wikipedia.org] seem to think these are but three countries on a laundry list of targets. If you were the government of a country in the Middle East, you would feel threatened. When governments feel threatened, the [wikipedia.org]
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We are Israel [ifamericansknew.org]. It is no secret that, in addition to direct involvement in Middle East conflicts, we provide rich funding the Israeli military. To the average Arab that either fears or is hell-bent on destroying the west, the two forces are indistinguishable.
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Um... what, because when UK journalists [timesonline.co.uk] report the story, it's Americans getting all excited? Or would you be trying to pretend that an actually disturbing development, field by Iran's posture, is somehow the US's fault, rather than being the regional scariness that it is?
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wow - you so don't understand the mindset of jihadists.