Editorial: The hysteria of nuclear salads

Unclear nuclear similarities

One is somewhat forced to watch in amusement the hysteria that is taking the place of common-sense and logic in lands where better should be known and done with requisite proof to support decisions being made.

There is no doubt that nuclear power poses threats most especially in terms of the management of spent fuel. However, with Chernobyl and now Fukushima we are met with grave issues of a man-made set of cascading events and a natural disaster that could really have not be planned for except with hindsight.

It is understandable that Japan needs to reconsider the use of nuclear energy and the siting of nuclear power stations because it for all its technological prowess is prone to earthquakes on the one hand and whilst it appears the nuclear power stations can survive earthquakes, on the other hand tsunamis are literally unpredictable.

Parallels in disagreement

All consideration should be on board for other nations too that rely on nuclear power and France is one such country.

The decision to phase out nuclear power stations in Germany by 2022 just does not find any logical, scientific or sensible feet to stand on - their systems literally run like clockwork, German efficiency would prevent a Chernobyl style failure and if there is any earth movement of any significance, it is probably a building site than a natural occurrence. Germany is just not Japan.

Now, the matter of handling spent fuel remains an issue regardless, better ways need to be found to manage nuclear waste but in terms of usefulness, pollution and cost, nuclear generated power represents the best value for money compared to alternatives.

Opportunity to think missed

It really begs that question where Germany intends to make up for the shortfall caused by the loss of nuclear generated power; I think we have heard enough about clean coal, there is nothing clean about coal; the northern hemisphere does not present the abundance of solar energy and you might have to lease large tranches of the continent to get the equivalent from wind power, relying on gas or oil just takes us back to energy dependence from states that are hardly picture-book examples of our systems, values and processes.

Allowing political expediency for the purposes of appeasement that simply raises the economic cost of development will on reflection turn out to be a grave error of judgement - this is a time for thinking heads to work together and discard of the unnecessary hysteria of opportunity to push through views that have no credence or scientific basis in fact.

Half-truths exacerbating hysteria

The Escherichia coli or commonly known as e. coli bug outbreak in Germany is one event that leaves one reeling in disbelief as the news and the analysis seem to have left the facts so far behind you begin to wonder who should be garrotted for the half-truths that have fuelled the hysteria no end.

We now know that this e. coli strain (enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli [EHEC]) is quite unusual, virulent, difficult to treat and turning out to have a rather scary high mortality rate.

It might well have been caught from contaminated cucumbers as first speculated but as one digs for the fundamentals of the story, there is no conclusive proof that the so-called cucumbers were Spanish in origin. As one expert averred, the contamination might have been due to poorly handled food - the original outbreak was in restaurant in Luebeck near Hamburg, it coincided with a yearly celebration for the port of Hamburg.

This outbreak, even though it has spread to other countries, the affected are from Germany and from that region of the far North of Germany and so far, only women have been affected.

Jumping to bad conclusions and decisions

It then leaves one quite bemused as to how Spain got besmirched with the xenophobia of exporting contaminated cucumbers when there was no evidence to maintain that claim; meanwhile, a humongous harvest has been destroyed in Spain because of the ban on its exports and whilst the German authorities are still working for determining the real origins of this outbreak, Russia has place a blanket ban on vegetables from mainland Europe.

It is the job of governments to protect its citizenry from health hazards both proactively and pre-emptively but all that should be done with useful information rather than knee-jerk reactions even if the government could be damned if they ban foods or damned if they allow imports in the midst of scares - it does not absolve the authorities from being measured, sensible and intelligent in decision making.

Russia relies on vegetable imports from Europe in the late spring and early summer because its harvest is much later in the year than in Mainland Europe and suddenly a scarcity of these food essentials might help local growers but they have nothing to sell.

A sorry affair

You find yourself asking whether there is a thinking head in any government establishment, its figureheads and supposedly responsible and knowledgeable experts nowadays.

Furthermore, you worry that the tendency to surf the waves of irrational fear and hysteria would leave many really suspect of leadership at a time when the credibility of our elected officials or the apparatchiks that man the ministry is hardly worth commending.

Planet Earth joins the Star Wars

More acronyms than nuclear weapons

When President Ronald Reagan launched the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) popularly known as Star Wars, many wondered about the militarisation of space and the consequences for peace.

We were still in the Cold War and though Russia and America were beginning to point less weapons at each other under the SALT treaties SALT I and SALT II which became START and then the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), one did wonder if the limitations in the use of nuclear weapons had not become a proliferation of multi-letter acronyms of the same agreements rehashed every few years to maintain the similitude of relevance to the world at large whilst others did their thing.

My gun is bigger

At least the impression people have had is that except in times of war, when any belligerent sovereignty wanted to flex their well-oiled Schwarzenegger muscles in some sophisticated arms, they had the common courtesy of informing their colleagues in this facile beauty contest of their intentions to test.

Greenpeace goes into overdrive, all the leftwing anti-nuclear groups excite their proxies in all political and news forums, some governments pronounce caution no condemnation, the UN does a bit of sabre-rattling coupled with an African rain dance and when enough publicity has been gained for the event, the test goes ahead as planned; condemnation follows displeasure, probably a boycott and sanctions in tow but nothing seriously binding.

The country proves its mettle and a tick goes into the acknowledgement register of all other countries that they are no more to be trifled with; such is the power of gun-boat diplomacy.

Get your gun, Xian

Little did we know that Star Wars did not have to cost that much and follow all that rigmarole of unnecessary protocols; simply find an ageing weather satellite and shoot it down, as China did.

China sent up an anti-satellite ballistic system to destroy the satellite; America, Australia and Canada have already criticised China for taking out the ageing man-made object which was put into orbit in 1999, others are supposed to follow suit very soon as news breaks across the globe.

As it transpired, “The US believes China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of co-operation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area”, if I read that right, it would appear someone forgot to put the agreement on paper, hence nothing about the letter of co-operation regarding conduct in the civil space area.

Next time you see a shooting star, just remember, the earth has now joined the Star Wars and it is China that did it first.

The year of Armageddon upon us

The gambler makes his bid

I think by now we can come to the conclusion that Mr. George W. Bush is taking orders from higher authority which transcends the logic and thinking of mere mortals like you and I.

This Iraqi plan (Full Text of the address) to feed more cannon fodder to the meat-mangler of sectarian violence in Baghdad and other volatile regions of Iraqi seems to have the support nobody but Bush and the mortals elevated to the status of Cabinet or advisor with the occasional legislator and commentator to boot.

Like the cover of this week’s Economist – Baghdad or Bust – Mr, Bush might be unto something, a conviction that goes beyond nominal reason that the confidence that exudes beyond every contrary advice leaves us almost saying, this might work and maybe it would.

Read report do opposite

After the report of those eminent persons in the Iraq Study Group (ISG) which gave us a feeling that some reason has come into this Iraqi debacle, Mr. Bush has taken a completely opposite view of that report.

Basically, by redeploying everyone of importance in the Iraq venture before the ISG report be they military commanders, ambassadors, intelligence chiefs or personal advisors and in the process created a new “Team Iraq”. One thing is clear; many of these newbies have been long in their careers and are hardly driven by ideology.

One might however wonder if this quality allows the primacy of the Commander-in-Chief to hold sway over objective analysis and hence lead to less opposition the President’s resolution on these matters.

Still giving the cold-shoulder to Iran and Syria

We have been told that Iran and Syria are contributors by ways and means to the instability in Iraq, the ISG was quite particular in emphasising the need to engage Iran and Syria diplomatically by milking their relevance to Middle-East stability and clearly highlighting their compromised interests if they are uncooperative.

It would appear, this is not a path that the President would adopt, his Secretary of State is now in the Middle-East speaking to the wrong people in the hope that ignoring and isolating Iran and Syria would bring the necessary peace dividends to Iraq, well, and she must also know something we do not.

Rather than engage with Iran, a raid was conducted on the Iranian Consulate in Irbil, Northern Iraq by American troops; this escalation in reckless militancy cannot have been done without the knowledge of the president, considering the possible consequences of this action.

The nuke of Armageddon is primed

And as we are still being fed the view that Iran is busy developing military nuclear capability, we must not forget that Seymour Hersh reported in November 2006 that a secret CIA report indicated that there was “no proof” – their qualification - that Iran is developing nuclear arms in tandem with the civilian developments that have been declared to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

It could be that Israel might decide to launch a nuclear raid on Iranian nuclear infrastructure though denial might as well have an element of surprise to it.

This leaves us in a bit of a quandary, the possibility of a “U-See 3 EyeS” (US, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria) eye sore of the carnage of war that involves the United States, Iraq, Iran, Israel and Syria – maybe, 2007 is really the year of Armageddon – again – Mr. Bush probably knows more about this than we could every phantom.

Is Rice on bootlegged rice alcohol from North Korea?

If you are wondering what they are on, make sure it does not come near you, it is pathogenically lethal.

So, Condoleezza Rice says, “We will not accept a nuclear North Korea” – where has she been all this time?

We already have a nuclear North Korea and they have been testing the stuff – Wake up!, M’dear, denial is no substitute for urgently needed diplomatic and bilateral engagement of a fellow nuclear power, that, I am afraid is today's reality. Smell the coffee ...

Ahmedinejad-Bush coming to your television

Looking at a rather smart Iran

I can only wonder who is making brisk business selling seats for the debate of the Century, two presidents of states that are arch-enemies squaring up against each other to discuss world affairs.

Having now proved to all that precision weapons are not that smart enough to disarm a guerrilla movement through their proxy in Lebanon and commissioned a heavy water reactor plant for Uranium enrichment, Iran is playing a rather deft diplomatic hand that is leaving the United States rather flat-footed.

I can pointedly note that Condoleezza Rice has not been able to set foot in the Middle East having brought forth through the serious birth pangs of a New Middle East a baby that would spit out milk that comes from America.

In fact, it is now left to Kofi Annan and the UN to clean up the debacle of that inconclusive 34-day war.

Let us talk to the world together

So, as we await Iran’s response to proposals of hypocrisy that aim to preclude Iran from the enrichment of Uranium on suspicion of dual-use intentions that could lead to a nuclear bomb; Dr Ahmedinejad who only the day before in a released statement about a letter to Angela Merkel sent in July about the Holocaust being a debilitating hoax to hamstring Germany, has now challenged Mr George Bush to a live television debate.

This challenge would obviously be dismissed as expected by the White House as a diversion from global concerns about Iran’s nuclear weapons.

But then I ask whose concerns exactly? Apart from those of the privileged nuclear world whose main actors surround Iran on all sides with wars and unrest whilst sponsoring opportunities for insurrection within Iran.

I think both presidents do have something to say and it is time that those presidents met and thrashed things out rather that employing megaphone diplomacy and railroading the UN into precarious resolutions that bring more trouble into an already troubled world.

It is also poignant to note that Laura Bush took the podium in New Orleans at the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina; Mr Bush’s ratings do not put him in any reckoning apart from accepting more faults and responsibility for the poor management of the Katrina aftermath.

New ideas needed

North Korea however is probably busy planning another sabre-rattling missile fly-past over Japan as they beat their chests over having nuclear weapons and getting away with it all, the whole concept of nuclear deterrence has failed and new ideas with safeguards that even-handedly address global issues for security, energy and military might need to be debated on an equality and partnership forum.

It is now not enough for some countries to hijack the debate to meet ulterior ends whilst purporting to act on behalf of the world, those arguments which have been played back a broken vinyl record no more excite the resonance of ground-breaking, inspired or worthwhile points – rather they all look like ways of getting at that axis-of-evil.

A high wooden horse

It is now time for America to climb down from their high horse and begin to do the anathema, address the causes of terrorism, address the problems in the Middle East from the occupied lands to the support of tyrannical regimes and worst of all, maybe it is time to talk to Osama bin Laden, because this mad war on terror is doing nothing for peace on earth and goodwill to all men.

On a final note, would this war on our liberties, freedoms and privacy masquerading as the war on terror have any bite if we all knew that Osama bin Laden were dead?

M'aider! M'aider! Mayday! Regime Change coming to you!

Talking to each other must help

I sometimes wonder what the world would be like if leaders of the world in areas of dispute, disagreement and discord; beyond their mediators and negotiators decided to have a direct heart-to-heart talk about the issues and tried that last diplomatic effort to seek resolution.

For example, if Mr George W. Bush had ever chatted to Saddam Hussein, would Iraq have been a better place?

It is utterly unconscionable that there is a feeling that if problem regimes meet with world leaders, they give those problem leaders legitimacy.

Well, I beg to differ, if that area of dispute would lead to sending young men and women to their deaths in the defence of the realm, then mediation is not complete till that area of human interaction is exhausted.

Bully-boy Yankie rhetoric

Just before the Iraqi war, the United States adopted a megaphone diplomacy stance of proxy brickbats. They did so much to undermine and denigrate legitimate negotiating organisations and reticent countries with the bully pulpit of a “them and us” rhetoric.

The IAEA, NATO, the UN and Old Europe got such a tongue lashing, but I recall no time when any attempt was made to see reason between the opposing parties.

Now, with the Iranian Nuclear Crisis, we see all the clamour and anxiety of the United States and its spokespeople in contrast to less frantic moves of the United Nations, Europe and the IAEA who seem to be pushed aside when their conclusions are not aligning with that of United States.

I do appreciate the fact that we in the world might not want a Nuclear Iran and we could a lot to stop the enrichment of Uranium to the extent that it might be used in weapons, however, it is impossible to suggest that they must not have that knowledge as Mr Bush says.

Iran really has not broken any laws or treaties rather, they have been remiss in engaging in activities that they have failed to reveal to the IAEA; as if, the US would reveal the extent of their developments to the selfsame IAEA.

Scientists do not stagnate, once they are on to something they are relentless in the pursuit of a breakthrough – that insatiable quest cannot be contained by barking from afar.

I would rather they had the knowledge we all know about than for them to find other novel ways that put them out of reach of our science. For, example, no one seems to have cottoned on how they powered the fastest under-water missile a few months ago.

Assumptions are just not good enough

To base the attacks on Iran on the assumption that they might rather than the reality that they have would take us down the same lane that ended up with Iraq having no weapons of mass destruction.

This War on Terror has done more to turn the world upside-down at the behest of belligerent Americans than the disconcerting views of the Iranian leadership or the lack of cooperation from the North Koreans.

The diatribes against Israel by the president of Iran should be seen in an additional context which Israel should do well to take good note of.

A thorn in the sides of the Israelis

How is it that the West in assuaging themselves of the guilt of the Holocaust, help create the land of Israel and left the big thorn of the Palestinian issue in their sides?

In 2 years, this classic misappropriation of land would clock 60 years and we are still nowhere near a final resolution.

Rather, Israel has usurped more land from 1967 and with impunity built more settlements and like the Communists in Berlin, built a wall to even take away more Palestinian land without the slightest rebuke.

The person who exposed the fact that Israel had nuclear weapons still languishes in jail in an extra-judicial process that belittles the context of democracy.

Cool heads required – Now!

I am not looking for a black and white world; however, no one seems to have the moral high-ground to demand anything of any other country, not the least the United States.

More so, it is not the world asking Iran to stop the development of nuclear weapons, but Americans speaking as though they are speaking for the world at large.

They are preparing for war, amazingly

The greater fear according the NewYorker and this is a worrisome read is how Iran has been infiltrated by American agents to discover sites that might have to be bombed including the use of Tactical Nuclear Weapons.

Scarier is the fact that they want to destabilise Iran such that people would rise for a regime change and ploy that failed woefully in Iraq only a few years before.

Iran does not need to attack Afghanistan or Iraq to retaliate, like retired four-star general did say, “the Iranians could take Basra with ten mullahs and one sound truck.”

That, I would say, would be the beginning of the Armageddon with the destination of Megiddo just a few hundred miles away.

A country surrounded as depicted in the graphic below would be remiss to do nothing about maintaining its sovereignty, their quest for nuclear technology begins to gather support as that truth becomes self evident.

Surrounded by at least 22 US bases and almost 150 thousand soldiers - it is more than an "Annie get your gun" setting, this is serious business.

Map of the oil corridor

References

M’aider

Eureka! is Farsi for Enrichment

Eureka! is Farsi for Enrichment

The science and the conscience

Now, I am beginning to wonder what the reaction of the United States would have been if Iran had announced that they had made a breakthrough in some other cutting-edge science like finding a cure for cancer, stem-cell research or cure for HIV. [1]

I could almost wager that the self-same Donald Rumsfeld would have appeared on the news-wires condemning Iran for trying to destabilise thriving American enterprise in drug research.

This would have create havoc in the markets because Big-Pharma suddenly finds that investors are no more interested in their block-buster drugs which burst the wallet and bring not respite, even so none for the mind.

The Nuclear Pandora box

My drift here is; Iran has unlocked for itself the science some countries in the world think is their exclusive right to know and practice.

Suddenly, I am beginning to appreciate the patriotism of the Pakistanis and Indians for allowing their scientists to complete all their research and test their nuclear bombs before America was alerted to that earth-shaking discovery.

The type of dissidents that dissembled in terms of Iraqi weapons are the sort that for self-interest and probably an iota of patriotism revealed to us the fact that Iran was going nuclear.

Mordecai Vanunu still vanquishes in jail in Israel for revealing in a thriving democracy that Israel had developed nuclear weapons.

Makes you wonder if democracy is really about freedoms or some other supposed greater good of the majority – we are learning.

The nuclear Pandora box was opened in the 1940s, it is fallacy to think that knowledge can be caged like battery hen – knowledge is a leviathan, arresting it is hard enough, talk less of taming it.

Impugning all fairness

In America, the issue of spying on Americans has another voice protesting – that of the government – that it was the most classified activity in National Security; agreed, but it also appears to be illegal.

A new slant of declassification is also emerging as we are informed that the president probably approved the process of uncovering a CIA operative – it reads thus – if the president decides to reveal classified information, as president, he has duly fulfilled the terms of declassification regardless of the consequences.

This impugns everything we would regard as fairness. We have to remember that everything about Iran developing nuclear weapons is circumstantial – They have not developed nuclear weapons, they have no nuclear weapons, they want nuclear energy to meet their energy means.

In some cases, diversifying energy profiles from complete dependence on oil is not only smart, it is strategic and adroit, and sometimes Americans would have wished they had that kind of leeway.

Nuclear or new dare

I am being am being an apologist for the Iranian political class, but seeing how besieged they are from Iraq, Afghanistan, the Security Council, American vituperation and the sponsorship of dissident voices within the country; an leadership would be in dereliction of duty if they have not charted the Iranian course of action.

Indeed, this development is dual-purpose, within the New World Order it might as well be better for Iran to veer to the right than to the left as the diagram shows.

From the BBC

The fixated American mindset about Iran even though Iran protests to the contrary.

A smoke-screen for supercavitation?

Only last week, Iran tested an under-water missile which seems to have the makings of another break-through insupercavitation which some commentators believe was being tested when the Kursk submarine went under almost 6 years ago.

If this under-water high-speed torpedo is not nuclear powered, then I would say Iran is a long way ahead in securing its territory than we have imagined. Bully! To them.

Now, the markets are going wild with speculation about possible attacks on Iranian infrastructure, oil and gold are reaching new highs and American once again is about to turn the world upside-down with briefings, rhetoric, threats and more.

Sometimes, this dominant power is like some elephant sent into a china shop to do the window dressing – go figure!

Meanwhile – Eureka is Iranian for enrichment.

References

US condemns Iran nuclear advance