Pakistan's Khan May Have Created More Danger Than Thought

[Annie]

From LGF, http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=14606_The_Armageddon_Conspiracy&only=yes

The Armageddon Conspiracy

TIME Magazine’s new issue (not yet online) contains an alarming report that the nuclear black market run by Pakistan’s Abdul Qadeer Khan was able to spread its tentacles much further than previously believed:

New York, NY - U.S. officials are investigating whether Khan’s network might have sold nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, according to a source in Pakistan’s Defense Ministry. At a moment when the international community is focused on a potential showdown with Iran, an extensive TIME investigation has revealed that Khan’s network played a bigger role in helping Tehran and Pyongyang than had been previously disclosed. TIME’s exclusive report on how A.Q.Khan became the world’s most dangerous nuclear trafficker hits newsstands Monday, Feb. 7.

The list of suspected nuclear clients is dizzying. Investigators believe that as head of Pakistan’s nuclear research laboratory, Khan traveled the world for more than a decade, visiting countries in Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East, TIME’s Bill Powell and Tim McGirk report. U.S. and IAEA investigators believe that Khan also traveled to Saudi Arabia and Egypt and to such African countries as Sudan, Ivory Coast and Niger. The purpose of those trips remains unclear, but intelligence officials have hunches: Saudi Arabia and Egypt are believed to be in the market for nuclear technology, and many African countries are rich in raw uranium ore, TIME reports.

Another article from the new issue says that Iran has completed the design of a nuclear detonator:

New York - The International Atomic Energy Agency has discovered that, despite its agreement to temporarily suspend all activities related to uranium enrichment, Iran was continuing to do maintenance work on a uranium-enrichment plant in southern Iran, TIME’s Daniel Eisenberg reports.

At the same time, the Iranians have allegedly finished designing a prototype of a detonator for a nuclear bomb, according to an opposition group based in Paris. Taking their cue from North Korea, the Iranians have seen “that you can extend a negotiating process and still build nukes,” says Bruno Tertrais, senior research fellow at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris.

Despite repeated entreaties from European government officials, the U.S. has so far refused to join the multilateral talks, which center on persuading Iran to shut down its uranium-enrichment work in exchange for a package of economic and political goodies. “You have to have a good cop and a bad cop [on every issue],” Mohamed el-Baradei, director of the IAEA, told TIME. “But they should share the same objective.”


So let us not talk falsely now,
The hour’s getting late.
— Bob Dylan, All Along the Watchtower

 

[onedomino]

There is no way that Khan was spreading nuke technology all over the planet without the knowledge of the Pakistani Government. Where was the CIA during the Khan matastasis? Some DC doughnut shop? There is a lot of missing information regarding the Khan story.

 

[NATO AIR]

There is no way that Khan was spreading nuke technology all over the planet without the knowledge of the Pakistani Government. Where was the CIA during the Khan matastasis? Some DC doughnut shop? There is a lot of missing information regarding the Khan story.

Asleep at the wheel, just like when they were caught unawares by India and Pakistan's nuclear tests.

Khan is a criminal trafficker of the highest order, and the damage he has done is severe, perhaps more than we can even bring ourselves to imagine at this point.

How we deal with the aftermath of his crimes will be the challenge of this administration. War with Iran is not an inevitability, though with N. Korea, it seems we do not have this option. We may be, in the end, stuck with multiple states with nukes because of Khan. How we deal with these states and coax and cojole back into the fold is a response we must think up rather quickly.

 

[wolvie20m]

Well as pointed out with N. Korea you can say one thing and do another. I know for a fact Iran is up to the same thing. The US joining in on talks isn't going to help anything look at what happened in N. Korea. We gave them support and helped and they just said thanks and mooned us.

 

[Annie]

It may well be that some European states want Iran to have nukes, to help balance US hegemony. Too few in the US understand what has always been behind the notion of nation states. Pretty frightening that the US has always had a problem teaching and learning this stuff. I think it's sort of a denial of reality myself. :cof:

 

[onedomino]

It may well be that some European states want Iran to have nukes, to help balance US hegemony. Too few in the US understand what has always been behind the notion of nation states. Pretty frightening that the US has always had a problem teaching and learning this stuff. I think it's sort of a denial of reality myself. :cof:

Interesting conjecture. Care to guess at names? I don't know...is even France that crazy?

 

[wolvie20m]

Gettin' a little buzz of that coffe? :teeth: ....Well this is gonna be one hell of a show if the decide their being threatend..glad I'll be on a military base they would never hurt us, they like the inocents.

 

[Annie]

Interesting conjecture. Care to guess at names? I don't know...is even France that crazy?

France of course leads the pack, has since Machiavelli and Rousseau. They actually think about these things, in a way the US never has. They are philosophers, we are pragmatists. They also are very twisted, yea I know a technical term.

The Russians too may have a stake. I really think this is a dark road they may go down. The Germans are a bit more like us, in the sense they are ultimately practical, with a few diversions of 'past glory', but haven't seen that in a few decades.

 

[wolvie20m]

Jezzz...Russia thats a joke I'm waiting for Putin to announce it's now a dictatorship (basiclly is already). I think they would like to see someone challenge us since they lack the finacial base. I can see us on a road to a stand off with Russia, China (don't forget they get thier oil from Iran), and Iran. It's all going to be a big shit storm when it hits the fan.

 

[Annie]

Jezzz...Russia thats a joke I'm waiting for Putin to announce it's now a dictatorship (basiclly is already). I think they would like to see someone challenge us since they lack the finacial base. I can see us on a road to a stand off with Russia, China (don't forget they get thier oil from Iran), and Iran. It's all going to be a big shit storm when it hits the fan.

Yea, China is a near future quandry. Which way will they go? Really no history there to tell. First they isolated themselves, now they are racing. But to where?

I don't think China would be involved in a conspiracy, against their culture. No other people or place would be equal to China/Chinese.

Russia is a different kettle of fish altogether. I had hope when the wall came down, but it is evaporating. We may have made a mistake in not investing, but perhaps that was a lesson learned by businesses a long time ago.

 

[onedomino]

France of course leads the pack, has since Machiavelli and Rousseau. They actually think about these things, in a way the US never has. They are philosophers, we are pragmatists. They also are very twisted, yea I know a technical term.

The Russians too may have a stake. I really think this is a dark road they may go down. The Germans are a bit more like us, in the sense they are ultimately practical, with a few diversions of 'past glory', but haven't seen that in a few decades.

As you point out, they are "Romantic" philosophers, like Rousseau. If they understand "Empiricism," it is only in theory. They call us impractical! They dream of former glory. (was there any?) Oh well, I love their gardens in Giverny.

 

[NATO AIR]

I think two factors are important here

- Iran's rulers are increasingly pragmatic, increasingly fearful of losing their power (as they should be with their restless population)

- People believe Bush is a man of his word in regards to military action and defending American interests.

How do you take both of these factors and get something useful out of them?

Dr. Rice goes to Tehran and says, "as Israel is already a nuclear power, you becoming one doesn't really change the balance of power in the Middle East. Instead, it becomes a MAD scenario. Where do you go from here?
Well, we can bomb, destroy and invade you to get rid of your WMD's and maybe start regime change in Iran. or....
You cease all support of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations. You stop interfering in Iraq. You lean on Syria to let the Lebanese vote freely and fairly at the end of the year, likely leading the Lebanese to vote the Syrian presence out. You come to the table with Israel and the Palestinians and help the Palestinians get their act together. You keep the nukes, because let's face it, unless we topple you through regime change (which we can and would do if neccessary), you're going to get them eventually, somehow, someway."

I believe the Iranians would go for something like that. With Saddam gone, they really don't have any Arab enemies. And increasingly, they're becoming more pragmatic in regards to Israel and Turkey. I truly believe they're getting the bomb not to use against Israel but to defend against an American attempt at regime change. They are not N. Korea, ruled by callous madmen. They are theocratic dictators, wary of losing power and influence, and seeking whatever means neccessary to halt the flood of freedom in their nation. Eventually, that flood will burst through, no matter what. By getting them to stop their terrorist support, as well as coming to terms with Israel, we're only helping the people on the ground who one day want a real democracy.

Just my two cents, as I've think through who's the lesser worry, N. Korea or Iran? Which one is containable? Which one can be brought back from the brink?

Iran fits all these descriptions.

And as far as Khan goes, along with N. Korea, he's let the nuclear genie out of the bottle. There may not be a way for us to push that sucker back in. Now its damage control time. Smother the fires we can, fight the fires we must.

 

[Annie]

As you point out, they are "Romantic" philosophers, like Rousseau. If they understand "Empiricism," it is only in theory. They call us impractical! They dream of former glory. (was there any?) Oh well, I love their gardens in Giverny.

They would rather secretly ally and other machinations, rather than deal with a problem head on. Now that definately clashes with Americans and to a lesser degree even with the Brits, but they have been dealing with the frogs longer.

Well France had Napoleon and all those Louis, but Germany, afraid they just made their Glory Days up. I mean how does one assess glory by being the barbarians that sacked Rome and such? :huh:

 

[wolvie20m]

As you point out, they are "Romantic" philosophers, like Rousseau. If they understand "Empiricism," it is only in theory. They call us impractical! They dream of former glory. (was there any?) Oh well, I love their gardens in Giverny.

France is like the dork who got beat real bad, now they got a chip on thier shoulder.

I don't know why would china need to be stocking up their forces like they've been doing, and planing war games with Russia....Their up to something only time will tell though.

 

[onedomino]

They would rather secretly ally and other machinations, rather than deal with a problem head on. Now that definately clashes with Americans and to a lesser degree even with the Brits, but they have been dealing with the frogs longer.

Well France had Napoleon and all those Louis, but Germany, afraid they just made their Glory Days up. I mean how does one assess glory by being the barbarians that sacked Rome and such? :huh:

I wonder how many people of French descent live in the US? I am Irish and I recently read that there are more people of Irish descent living in America, than live in Ireland. Maybe more the 6 million. I bet there are at least 20 million people in the US who had French ancestors. But I am just guessing.

 

[wolvie20m]

I wonder how many people of French descent live in the US? I am Irish and I recently read that there are more people of Irish descent living in America, than live in Ireland. Maybe more the 6 million. I bet there are at least 20 million people in the US who had French ancestors. But I am just guessing.

Yet I'll bet you 20$ less the a quarter of those descendents agree and support Frace and it's views.

Glad to be 1/2 Irish 1/2 German.