Australian Rare Earths

Australian Alternative Energy Forum


Not Really a Forum, more of my memory aid.


Comments on this forum should never be taken as investment advice.


Go Back   Alternative Energy Forums > Alternative Energy Discussion > Nuclear

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 02-10-2010, 12:48 PM
Sparty Sparty is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 1,765
Default Iran to step up enrichment

While the US and other OECD nations try to get their act together over how they will impede Iran's push towards the bomb I wonder what the Israeli's and the rest of the region are going to do. I doubt whether the Saudi's, Iraqis or anyone else in the region is cheering Iran on.

Israel probably has the most to lose being a one bomb state..... in that one mid sized atomic weapon could easily annihilate most of Israel. However the political ramifications of Iran being the middle east's super power would also not be a pleasing thought to the current middle east regimes. But what can Israel and its neighbors do? The US is hamstrung by it dependence on oil that is transported through the easily blocked Straits of Hormuz as is Europe so more sanctions instead of direct action will most likely be their choice. But sanctions are in-effective in the short term and will take time to precipitate regime change.

That leaves direct military action by the Israeli's the most likely outcome... but striking Iran will not be an easy task. Iran's massive well equipped army and its heavily fortified weaponry that includes very sophisticated surface to ship and air missiles protecting the narrow channel through which 35% or so of the world's oil passes through dictates that any strike would have to be a huge and overwhelming effort. Does this mean that Israel will be the second country to resort to nuclear weapons to attack another country. The US set the precedent but that was a long time ago..... but will they have any other choice?



ELEANOR HALL: Iran appears to be back on a collision course with much of the rest of the world, over its nuclear ambitions.

Overnight Tehran claimed to be beginning the production of higher grade enriched uranium. Western governments have reacted by renewing calls for UN action.

North America correspondent Craig McMurtrie reports.

CRAIG MCMURTRIE: Iran's refusal to accept a deal on a uranium fuel swap for a medical research reactor along with a claim overnight that it's about to make higher grade enriched uranium set alarm bells ringing in Moscow, London, Paris and Washington.

Barack Obama spoke to reporters in the White House briefing room.

BARACK OBAMA: That indicates to us that despite their posturing that their nuclear power is only for, for civilian use that they in fact continue to pursue a course that would lead to weaponisation, and that is not acceptable.

CRAIG MCMURTRIE: The US President says one of the problems in dealing with Tehran is knowing who's speaking for the Government. And while he was equivocal about whether China's ready to get tougher, he said the international community is unified around Iran's misbehaviour.

BARACK OBAMA: The next step is sanctions. They have made their choice so far although the door is still open and what we are going to be working on over the next several weeks is developing a significant regime of sanctions that will indicate to them how isolated they are from the international community as a whole.

(Inaudible question by reporter)

Meaning that there's going to be, we are going to be looking at a variety of ways in which countries indicate to Iran that their approach is unacceptable and it will, the UN will be one aspect of that broader effort.

CRAIG MCMURTRIE: But Middle East watcher Michael Rubin, from the American Enterprise Institute, is far from convinced that the major powers are ready to come together on Iran.

MICHAEL RUBIN: I would take today's development with a grain of salt. On one hand there's no doubt that President Obama is quite serious with regard to sanctioning Iran and making sure that Iran complies with its international obligations.

On the other hand rhetoric is easy. What we still need to do is see whether there is consensus at the United Nations and the track record really over the last seven or eight years is that when there is unanimity at the United Nations often times the sanctions which come out of that are weak.

CRAIG MCMURTRIE: What are the implications of that and what do you think would be a more effective course of action at this point?

MICHAEL RUBIN: A more effective course of action? Look, that's the million dollar question and the fact of the matter is that neither Democratic or Republican administrations in Washington have been able to come up with a particularly effective course of action.

Ultimately I'm a big believer in what military strategists call the DIME paradigm where every strategy has to have a diplomatic, informational, military and economic component done side by side. Indeed it seems that Obama is starting down this path because while he's talking diplomacy and while he's talking sanctions there also has been a great deal of arms sales to the Persian Gulf region which is simply putting in place what needs to be done for a containment regime as well.

Ultimately I don't think we're at the tipping point right now on any break through strategy but certainly this month tensions are going to be quite high, especially remember after February 11th when Iran celebrates revolution day and both the Supreme Leader in Iran and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have promised to say something quite significant on that day.

ELEANOR HALL: That's academic Michael Rubin from the Washington based American Enterprise Institute. He was speaking to our North America correspondent Craig McMurtrie.

 

Disclaimer: The author of this post, may or may not be a shareholder of any of the companies mentioned in this column. No company mentioned has sponsored or paid for this content. Comments on this forum should never be taken as investment advice.

Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 02-19-2011, 11:32 PM
Haryer
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default Iran to step up enrichment

How about nuclear Israel with almost 300 nukes being a threat to peaceful Iran?

 

Disclaimer: The author of this post, may or may not be a shareholder of any of the companies mentioned in this column. No company mentioned has sponsored or paid for this content. Comments on this forum should never be taken as investment advice.

Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 10:17 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.