India’s Manhattan heroes

May 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Rumours that a committee comprising Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar, Home Secretary G K Pillai and National Security Advisor Shivshanker Menon had been set up to coordinate on all matters relating to security and intelligence may not be fully accurate, but it has not stopped the three from becoming a subject of babu jokes. With all hailing from Kerala, these three powerful officers are now being compared to the trio of Hungarian scientists — Leo Szilard, John van Neumann and Edward Teller — who had collaborated on the famous Manhattan Project, the name given to the secret project that produced the atomic bomb during the World War II. It is said that whenever those three scientists had to discuss anything secret regarding the bomb, they decided the best way was to speak in their native language, Hungarian.

Now Chandrasekhar, Pillai and Menon can use the same ploy — speak in Malayalam on top secret matters of national security.

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FACTBOX – Why is the West sceptical about Iran’s fuel offer?

May 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Iran has outlined a plan to the U.N. atomic watchdog under which it would give up some of its nuclear material but diplomats say the gesture would have no effect on a push to widen sanctions against Tehran.

Under the plan agreed with Brazil and Turkey last week, Iran would transfer 1,200 kg (2,646 lb) of its low-enriched uranium — enough for an atomic bomb if enriched to higher levels — to Turkey within a month.

A year later the Islamic Republic would get special nuclear fuel rods for a medical research reactor which makes isotopes to help treat cancer patients.

Why is the West cautious about this proposal?

TIME LAPSE

Western officials say the landscape has changed in the seven months since they brokered a similar plan with Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a way to ease tensions over Tehran’s atomic work.

Iran has continued enriching uranium and taking away 1,200 kg now would still leave Iran with enough for a bomb if it wanted to build one. Tehran says it has no intention of doing this and says its work is for peaceful purposes only.

Some observers say the swap is still worth it because it would remove half the material. Others say the deal has now lost its value because the bomb risk would remain and it fails to build confidence.

HIGHER ENRICHMENT

Iran also started enriching uranium to higher levels in February, saying it wanted to make fuel for the reactor itself, but the move unsettled Western powers because it takes the material closer to the grade needed for atomic weapons.

Tehran said it took the step because it said it was tired of waiting for the original deal to be agreed. Western officials say it was Iran which stalled progress, with a series of new conditions for the swap which it knew would not be accepted.

Iran has vowed that it will not stop its higher enrichment, even if the fuel supply agreement goes through and has started setting up more equipment for it.

Western diplomats have described this refusal to halt higher enrichment as a likely deal-breaker. They also question why Iran would still need to continue this process — which like its lower-grade enrichment violates U.N. sanctions — when countries are prepared to give it the fuel rods it says it needs.

They say Iran lacks the capability to make the specialized fuel assemblies in the short-term, so it makes no sense to produce more highly enriched uranium for a reactor that Tehran says will run out of fuel by the end of the year.

LACK OF DETAILS

Unlike the IAEA plan, brokered by former IAEA-chief Mohamed ElBaradei, the new proposal does not included detail on who would make the fuel rods, who will pay for the process and what will happen to the low-enriched uranium stored in Turkey after the swap has been completed, Western officials say.

Without this sort of information, they say they cannot begin serious negotiations on Iran’s offer, which many of them see as an attempt to stall sanctions negotiations.

Some Western officials say the Iranian move fits into a familiar pattern of Tehran offering concessions when punitive measures loom.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Diplomats also say that with its promotion of the new proposal, Iran is trying to give the impression that it was the fuel deal which was at the centre of problems with the West, rather than its nuclear ambitions as a whole.

They acknowledge that the original IAEA-plan was always intended as a first step towards resolving the nuclear issue, not a solution.

But they say Iran’s lack of cooperation with the agency on questions about its atomic programme and its delay in engaging on the fuel deal, have left negotiators feeling wary.

They also fear that Iran may go back on its word.

Talks over the original deal suffered from internal Iranian disputes. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad first appeared to favour the U.N. deal as a way to shore up his own power.

But he faced stiff opposition from rivals who did not want to see him reap credit for a breakthrough. Some voiced misgivings about parting with the nuclear material, which is seen as a strategic asset.

But analysts in Iran believe Ahmadinejad wouldn’t have agreed on this deal without the blessing of the supreme leader.

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Jindal declares emergency as Louisiana oil slick set to be ‘worse than Exxon Valdez’

April 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New York, Apr 30(ANI): Louisiana’s Indian American Governor Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency after oil spilling from America’s Deepwater Horizon rig is threatening to dwarf the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska.

A leaking pipeline is spewing out 210,000 gallons a day into the Gulf of Mexico – five times more than first thought.

Experts fear the spillage will eventually be worse than the Exxon Valdez disaster, as the slick off the coast near New Orleans is already 100 miles long and 45 miles across.

According to reports, it has also started washing ashore at the mouth of the Mississippi River.

U.S. President Barack Obama has vowed to use “every single resource at our disposal” to help, including the military.

The White House has even assembled top officials from Homeland Security, the Coast Guard, the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency and announced an aggressive effort to fight the spill.

It is believed that the damage to Louisiana’s bayous, marshes and inlets and its three billion dollar seafood industry is expected to be profound.

“This is worse than an atomic bomb,” The New York Daily News quoted Ricky Robin, a ninth-generation fisherman, as having told WWL-TV.

The disaster began on April 20 when the rig operated by British Petroleum blew up and finally sank 50 miles from the fishing port of Venice. (ANI)

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Ahmadinejad attacks Obama on nuclear ‘threat’

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Iran’s president made a scathing and personal attack on US president Barack Obama as an “inexperienced amateur” who was too quick to threaten to use nuclear weapons against enemies of the United States.

Commenting on new US policy restrictions on the use of atomic weapons which sent a stern message to nuclear-defiant Iran that it remained a potential target, hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Mr Obama that Iran would not yield to threats.

“Obama made these latest remarks because he is inexperienced and an amateur politician,” Mr Ahmadinejad said on Iranian television.

“American politicians are like cowboys. Whenever they have legal shortcomings, their hands go to their guns.”

Mr Obama had made a diplomatic overture to Tehran soon after he took power in 2009, urging it to “unclench its fist”.

But since then a confrontation has intensified over Iran’s nuclear activities which the West suspects aims to develop an atomic bomb and which Tehran says is for civilian use.

Mr Obama has recently urged UN Security Council members to back new sanctions against Iran.

His changes to US weapons policy were announced before a nuclear summit in Washington next week. He renounced the development of new atomic weapons and ruled out the use of nuclear arms against non-nuclear armed states.

But this came with a condition. Countries would be spared a US nuclear response only if they are in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Iran and North Korea would thus not be protected and be potential targets.

“Yesterday some news was published saying that he [Mr Obama] has threatened to use nuclear and biochemical weapons against countries that don’t comply with America and which do not yield to America’s pressure,” Mr Ahmadinejad said.

“We hope these reports are false.”

Iran will host its own Nuclear Disarmament Conference on April 17-18 which China, courted by Mr Obama to support sanctions against Iran, has said it might attend.

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Iran’s president attacks Obama on nuclear “threat”

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Iran’s president issued a scathing personal attack on U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday, calling him an “inexperienced amateur” who was quick to threaten to use nuclear weapons against U.S. enemies.

Commenting on new U.S. policy restrictions on the use of atomic weapons which sent a stern message to nuclear-defiant Iran that it remained a potential target, hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Obama that Iran would not yield to threats.

“Obama made these latest remarks because he is inexperienced and an amateur politician,” Ahmadinejad said on Iranian television. “American politicians are like cowboys. Whenever they have legal shortcomings, their hands go to their guns.”

Obama made a diplomatic overture to Tehran soon after taking office in 2009, urging it to “unclench its fist”.

But since then a confrontation has intensified over Iran’s nuclear activities which the West suspects are aimed at developing an atomic bomb and Tehran says are for civilian use.

Obama is urging U.N. Security Council members to back new sanctions against Iran.

His changes to U.S. weapons policy were announced before a nuclear summit in Washington next week. He renounced the development of new atomic weapons and ruled out the use of nuclear arms against non-nuclear armed states.

But this came with a condition. Countries would be spared a U.S. nuclear response only if they are in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran and North Korea would thus not be protected and be potential targets.

“Yesterday some news was published saying that he (Obama) has threatened to use nuclear and biochemical weapons against countries that don’t comply with America and which do not yield to America’s pressure,” Ahmadinejad said in the speech from the northwestern city of Urmia. “We hope these reports are false.”

Iran will host its own Nuclear Disarmament Conference on April 17-18. China, which has been courted by Obama to support sanctions against Iran, has said it might attend.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Wednesday that China would join talks with the United States, Britain, Russia, France and Germany in New York on Thursday to discuss possible sanctions against Iran

But he indicated this was not necessarily a sign that China was dropping its resistance to sanctions.

“Negotiations will be long, will they be over by the end of April? I hope so,” Kouchner said.

IRAN WARNS ISRAEL

Iran repeated warnings to Israel not to attack.

“If they (Israel) attack Iran, possibly no trace will be left from the Zionist regime (Israel),” Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi was quoted as saying by semi-official Mehr news agency.

Israel has hinted it could strike Iran in an effort to halt the nuclear activities. Iran has threatened to retaliate for any attack by firing missiles at Israel, which is believed to have the Middle East’s only atomic arsenal.

A deputy of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the elite Revolutionary Guards made similar threats on Tuesday.

The United States and its allies hope to get new sanctions imposed in the coming weeks over Iran’s nuclear enrichment work, after failing to reach a fuel-swap agreement with Tehran.

Iran, which says it needs nuclear technology to generate power and for medical reasons, says it would hand over its low-grade enriched uranium in return for higher-grade uranium, but the swap must be carried out inside the country under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“We have a positive attitude towards the fuel swapping idea … provided it is done within Iran,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference on Wednesday.

Russia, which, like China, is under intense Western pressure to support tougher U.N. sanctions has so far failed to deliver a S-300 anti-aircraft system Iran has ordered, a move which has irritated Iranian officials.

But Defence Minister Vahidi said Russia had no intention of breaking the agreement to sell the missile system. “Russia is committed to our agreements over the S-300 system. They have told us that the system will be delivered to Iran on time.”

Analysts say the S-300 could help Iran to thwart any attempt by Israel or the United States — which have refused to rule out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the atomic row — to bomb its nuclear facilities.

The truck-mounted S-300PMU1, known in the West as the SA-20, can shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft. It has a range of 150 km (90 miles) and travels at more than 2 km per second.

(Additional reporting by Ramin Mostafavi and Hossein Jaseb, Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Editing by Noah Barkin)

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Asteroid killed off the dinos, concludes international scientific panel

March 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, March 5 (ANI): A panel of 41 international experts has determined that the Cretaceous–Tertiary mass extinction, which wiped out the dinosaurs and more than half of species on Earth 65 million years ago, was caused by an asteroid colliding with Earth and not massive volcanic activity.

The panel reviewed 20 years’ worth of research to determine the cause of the Cretaceous–Tertiary (KT) extinction.

The extinction wiped out more than half of all species on the planet, including the dinosaurs, bird-like pterosaurs and large marine reptiles, clearing the way for mammals to become the dominant species on Earth.

The review of the evidence shows that the extinction was caused by a massive asteroid slamming into Earth at Chicxulub in Mexico.

The asteroid, which was around 15 kilometres wide, is believed to have hit Earth with a force one billion times more powerful than the atomic bomb at Hiroshima.

It would have blasted material at high velocity into the atmosphere, triggering a chain of events that caused a global winter, wiping out much of life on Earth in a matter of days.

Scientists have previously argued about whether the extinction was caused by the asteroid or by volcanic activity in the Deccan Traps in India, where there were a series of super volcanic eruptions that lasted approximately 1.5 million years.

These eruptions spewed 1,100,000 km of basalt lava across the Deccan Traps, which would have been enough to fill the Black Sea twice, and were thought to have caused a cooling of the atmosphere and acid rain on a global scale.

In the new study, scientists analyzed the work of palaeontologists, geochemists, climate modellers, geophysicists and sedimentologists who have been collecting evidence about the KT extinction over the last 20 years.

Geological records show that the event that triggered the extinction destroyed marine and land ecosystems rapidly, according to the researchers, who conclude that the Chicxulub asteroid impact is the only plausible explanation for this.

According to Dr Joanna Morgan, co-author of the review from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, “We now have great confidence that an asteroid was the cause of the KT extinction. This triggered large-scale fires, earthquakes measuring more than 10 on the Richter scale, and continental landslides, which created tsunamis.”

“However, the final nail in the coffin for the dinosaurs happened when blasted material was ejected at high velocity into the atmosphere. This shrouded the planet in darkness and caused a global winter, killing off many species that couldn’t adapt to this hellish environment,” she said. (ANI)

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Despite IAEA findings, Iran sings its old nuke-for-peaceful-purposes tune

September 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Tehran, Sep. 18 (ANI): Even as a secret IAEA report revealed that Iran is capable of making a nuclear bomb and is developing a missile system to carry an atomic warhead, Iranian officials have reiterated claims that the Islamic nation’s nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes.

Fox News quoted Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, as saying that Iran is sincere in wanting to negotiate with the West.

He added that Western countries should “read between the lines” about Iran’s intentions.

Although the prospects of finding anything between the lines were almost nil after the surfacing of the IAEA report, but Soltanieh insisted that discussions with the West would be a “real, new window of opportunity.”

The secret U.N. watchdog report, titled “Possible Military Dimension of Iran’s Nuclear Program,” concludes:

*Iran worked on developing a chamber inside a ballistic missile capable of housing a warhead payload “that is quite likely to be nuclear.”

*Iran engaged in “probable testing” of explosives commonly used to detonate a nuclear warhead – a method known as a “full-scale hemispherical explosively driven shock system.”

*Iran worked on developing a system “for initiating a hemispherical high explosive charge” of the kind used to help spark a nuclear blast.

“Iran has sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable implosion nuclear device (an atomic bomb) based on HEU (highly enriched uranium) as the fission fuel,” The agency assessed.

On October 1, Iran is scheduled to meet with the U.S. and five other world powers seeking curbs on its atomic activities for the first time in more than a year.

However, Tehran says it is not prepared to discuss its nuclear activities. (ANI)

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Spy who triggered the Cold War

June 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

LONDON: Secret files have at last revealed the identity of the top spy who transferred Britain’s atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union and paved the way for the nuclear standoff with the west, triggering the Cold War for nearly five decades.

Though the MI5 suspected him, trailed him and monitored his every move, they were never able to get the man, codenamed “Eric” by the KGB, whose espionage campaign to steal the Allies nuclear bomb plans was codenamed Enormous.

Declassified MI5 files have confirmed that the master spy, described as the “main source”, was a Soviet mole at the Cavendish Laboratories at the University of Cambridge, the heart of the wartime nuclear research programme.

Today, 70 years later, with the opening of MI5 and KGB files, “Eric” can finally be identified as Engelbert (Bertie) Broda, whose story is a tale of espionage and counter-espionage, elaborate spycraft, love and deception.

Broda was the KGBs prize spy, who fed Britain’s nuclear secrets to Moscow for a decade, including the blueprint for the early nuclear reactor used in the US Manhattan Project, Times online reported on Thursday.

“Erics” secrets enabled the communist state to catch up in the race to build the nuclear bomb and set the stage for nearly five decades of nuclear standoff with the West.

Though the KGB archives of the period are now sealed, a brief window in the mid-1990s provided a KGB officer named Alexander Vassiliev access to the files.

Vassilievs notes form the basis of a new book, published in the US this month, revealing Brodas pivotal role in Soviet atomic espionage.

“Soviet sources in England were the first to provide Moscow with atomic intelligence,” wrote Pavel Fitin, Moscow’s head of Foreign Intelligence (1939 to 1946), in a memo quoted in Spies by Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes and Alexander Vassiliev.

According to Fitin, intelligence from Broda and others laid the groundwork for Soviet nuclear scientists, paving the way for the nuclear confrontation of the Cold War.

“The material included valuable and top-secret documents [that] served as a starting point for laying down the groundwork and organising work on the problem of atomic energy in our country,” the memo stated.

Among Brodas information included the blueprint for one of the American Manhattan Projects early nuclear reactors.

Broda, who was being heavily trailed by the security service (MI5), went back to Austria to teach at the University of Vienna in 1948.

Brodas son Paul, who remained with his mother in Britain, is writing a book about his father and stepfather, the British report said.

The most remarkable thing about the scientist-spy was his ability to evade detection.

In 1983, at the age of 73, the celebrated professor was buried in a “grave of honour”. Alongside that epitaph might stand another: “Eric”, the spy who got away.

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Obama updates military plans for Iran

May 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Obama updates military plans for Iran Washington – The Pentagon has updated its plans for using military force against Iran at the request of President Barack Obama, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Friday.

The United States has not ruled out the possibility of a military strike if diplomacy fails to resolve the international dispute over Iran’s nuclear activities, Gates said.

“Presidents always ask their military to have a range of contingency plans available to them,” Gates told NBC television. “And all I would say is that, as a result of our dialogue with the president, we’ve refreshed our plans and all options are on the table.”

Obama has strongly backed the diplomatic effort to rein in Iran’s nuclear programme and is exploring ways to break with past American policies and open up one-on-one discussions with Tehran.

Obama said 30 years of trying to isolate Iran have failed to prevent the country from pursuing nuclear technology the West suspects is intended to develop an atomic bomb. Iran says its uranium enrichment programme is solely for meeting energy needs.

During a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Obama said that he would expect a positive response to his diplomatic overtures by the end of the year. Obama also said he will pursue tougher international sanctions if Iran does not comply with UN demands regarding its nuclear ambitions. (dpa)

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Iran stages low-key military parade

April 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Iran marked Army Day on Saturday with a low-key military parade and a speech by hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that contrasted with his confrontational addresses of previous years.

Ahmadinejad hailed the Islamic republic’s armed forces as the “guarantor” of regional security but refrained from the frequent tub-thumping boasts about the nation’s military might in the face of enemy threats.

His more moderate comments came as the administration of US President Barack Obama calls for dialogue with Tehran over its controversial nuclear drive, which Western powers fear could be a cover for efforts to build an atomic bomb.

“Iran’s armed forces are the guarantor of security in the region,” Ahmadinejad said in an unusually short televised speech during the parade.

“Today the Iranian nation, with its religious armed forces, is ready to have a wide role in world management and to establish security based on justice across the world.”

Local media had said that 140 fighter jets and other aircraft would stage a display during the parade but the air show was cancelled due to what the media said was “bad weather and poor visibility.” However, Tehran was basking in warm and sunny weather.

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Iran has crossed technological threshold to make a nuclear bomb: Israel intelligence chief

March 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Jerusalem, Mar 9 (ANI): Israel has acknowledged for the first time that Iran had mastered the technology to make a nuclear bomb, on the same day that the Iranians announced they had successfully tested a new air-to-surface missile.

Iran has “crossed the technological threshold,” and its attainment of nuclear military capability is now a matter of “incorporating the goal of producing an atomic bomb into its strategy,” OC Military Intelligence Major-General Amos Yadlin told the cabinet on Sunday.

“Iran is continuing to amass hundreds of kilograms of low-enriched uranium, and it hopes to exploit the dialogue with the West and Washington to advance toward the production of an atomic bomb,” the Jerusalem Post quoted him, as saying.

Yadlin said the Islamic republic hoped to use the expected dialogue with the Obama Administration to buy time to procure the amount of high-enriched uranium needed to build a bomb.

“Iran’s plan for the continuation of its nuclear program while simultaneously holding talks with the new administration in Washington is being received with caution in the Middle East,” the intelligence chief said.

“The moderates are worried that this approach will come at their expense and will be used by the radical axis to continue to carry out terror activities and rearm. In contrast, those in the radical axis are saying that despite the change in the Americans’ stance, they will continue to act against them.”

Yadlin’s assessment brought him into line with a similar assessment made last week by Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said Teheran had enough fissile material to build a bomb now.

The International Atomic Energy Agency also said last week that it had been mistaken in earlier reports and now had evidence that Iran had enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon. (ANI)

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Iran backs nuclear energy for peaceful means

February 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Feb 10 (ANI): Iran has said it retains the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful power generation.

Talking to reporters here on Monday, Iran’s Ambassador to India, Seyed Mehdi Nabizadeh, said any country had the right to develop energy sources.
“We have been trying our best for the development and progressive of the knowledge and technology. It has come from figure at time that we have been able to show Nano technology, bio technology as well esteem stem cell and technology of the neo energy wind as well as solar system and nuclear energy that we have been just going ahead,” Nabizadeh said.
Western powers said on Saturday that Iran risked isolation and more sanctions if it did not comply with demands to rein in its nuclear programme.

The U.N. Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. Western powers suspect the work is aimed at building an atomic bomb. Tehran says it is for peaceful power generation only.

Referring to attacks in Mumbai late last year in which nearly 200 people were killed, Nabizadeh said countries nurturing terrorist had a responsibility to rein them. (ANI)

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Canada seeks lucrative reactor, uranium business in India in return for nuclear trade nod

January 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Ottawa, Jan 17 (ANI): Canada is hoping that its support for allowing India to rejoin the world’s nuclear trade will help open the door to a lucrative business in reactors and uranium.

Canada inadvertently helped India develop an atomic bomb by giving it reactor technology in the 1950s and helped India win an exemption from nuclear non-proliferation rules that had banned it for decades from trading in nuclear technology and uranium.

Canadian Trade Minister Stockwell Day is heading to India with three of Canada’s largest nuclear-industry companies, hoping to smooth the way for business opportunities in meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Globeandmail.com reported.

Day is to be accompanied in India by top executives from Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., the crown corporation that designs nuclear reactors; nuclear engineering firm SNC-Lavalin Nuclear; and Cameco Corp., the Saskatoon-based uranium supplier.

“They’re anticipating the building, over the next several years, of anywhere from 30 to 40 nuclear plants to produce clean energy. That’s a huge opportunity for Canada,” Day said from Prague, where he was meeting European trade officials before travelling to India.

“India recognizes that Canada was one of the significant voices in terms of seeing some of the past restrictions which have been placed on India lifted when it comes to civilian nuclear production. And we think we’re going to be in a good position to make the pitch on the benefits of going with Canadian technology and supply.”

India lobbied hard for Canada to support its re-entry into the civilian nuclear trade because Canada is a member of two key organizations, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which had to adopt rule changes. (ANI)

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