US and Israel quietly announce plans to reconstitute their nuclear stockpiles
Anthony DiMaggio | 13.07.2010 13:16 | Anti-militarism | Globalisation | Other Press | World
The Obama administration makes Orwellian claims that it is moving toward disarmament - when in fact it's doing the opposite by reconstituting its aging arsenal. At the same time, Obama demonizes foreign nations such as Iran, which international inspectors and US intelligence agencies concede is not developing nuclear weapons (at least according to all available intelligence).
Obama’s meeting Netanyahu in the White House, Washington D.C. 6 July 2010
The world looks like it's about to become a more dangerous place. A recent report from Israel's newspaper Haaretz finds that the United States is moving forward with plans to strengthen Israel's nuclear weapons stockpile. The report, exposed within the last few days, originated from Israel's Army Radio, which sent along a secret document chronicling the nuclear cooperation between US and Israeli leaders.(1) Israel has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), meaning that it is not technically violating international rules under the NPT regarding the development and reconstitution of nuclear weapons, despite longstanding efforts of the international community to establish a "nuclear weapons free zone" in the Middle East.
Part of the fear of those advocating nuclear abolition in the Middle East is that the United States will agree to send nuclear materials - extracted from its own civilian nuclear power plants - to Israel, much as it did for India, another country that refuses to sign the NPT.
The Obama and Netanyahu governments are seeking to obscure their contempt for nuclear abolition by calling for "nonproliferation" in the Middle East, while Israel simultaneously boycotts New-York-based discussions (at the 2010 NPT conference) of the need for a "nuclear free" Middle East.(2) "Nonproliferation," within this context, can be understood to apply only to other countries such as Iran, which has long been a target for US and Israeli military planners.
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The Obama and Netanyahu governments recently announced that they will oppose efforts at singling Israel out in any "nuclear weapons free" Middle East discussion. The problem with this announcement is that Israel is the only country in the Middle East to currently have nuclear weapons. In light of this fact, any attempts to shield Israel from being "singled out" will inevitably prevent progress in moving toward nuclear disarmament in the region.
Much is made of Iran's alleged efforts to develop nuclear weapons by Israel and the United States. This propaganda campaign appears to be paying off in light of Iran's recent announcement of its planned opening this September of a nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.(3) US and Israeli officials maintain that Iran is enriching uranium under the auspices of a civilian nuclear program, while secretly using its uranium stockpile to develop nuclear weapons. Those who make such claims are at a loss to explain why the International Atomic Energy Agency - in addition to the US National Intelligence Estimate - found no evidence of nuclear weapons development in Iran, despite countless inspections by international observers.(4) Those claiming that Iran is a threat are also unable to explain why inspectors are unable to uncover any evidence that Iran is producing highly-enriched uranium (of a quality suitable to develop a nuclear weapon), but instead only produces low-enriched uranium suitable for use in nuclear power plants.(5)
Despite the critical evidence above, the US-Israeli propaganda campaign is succeeding in obscuring Israel's and the United States' own open contempt for nuclear disarmament. It should be remembered that the US openly violated the NPT late last year when it announced it would extract plutonium from its own nuclear reactors in order to create a new generation of nuclear weapons (for more see the original news report here).
According to Fox News polling, as recently as April 2010, 65 percent of Americans support "the United States taking military action to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons."(6) This represents a four percent increase since September 2009. As of late 2009, CNN polling found that an astounding 88 percent of Americans believed that Iran is developing nuclear weapons - a 27 percent increase since December 2007.(7) Similarly, a poll from the Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University found that 81 percent of Iranians believed Iran will develop a nuclear bomb, according to polling done in mid 2009.(8)
Recent revelations that Israel is moving forward with US help in reconstituting its nuclear weapons program are ignored in the US press. At the same time, the United States' own efforts to redevelop its nuclear stockpile are completely suppressed, despite the obsession of both the United States and Israel with Iran's fictitious nuclear weapons. The Obama administration and the mass media are now promoting a false narrative depicting the US as committed to nuclear transparency and disarmament, and its enemies as opposed to such practices. Nowhere is this strategy more evident than in the Obama administration's continuous attacks on Iran's "nuclear threat," pursued alongside Obama's announcement of a new commitment to "nuclear transparency." More specifically, the Obama administration publicly disclosed the (previously classified) total number of operational US nuclear warheads in existence today - which stands at just over 5,000.(9) While this step was a move in the right direction in terms of drawing attention to the United States' massive stockpile, it was cynically pursued alongside a quiet announcement by the Department of Energy (originally made in September 2009) that the US is moving forward with developing a new generation of nuclear weapons, rather than working toward nuclear disarmament as legally required under the NPT.(10)
The Obama administration makes Orwellian claims that it is moving toward disarmament - when in fact it's doing the opposite by reconstituting its aging arsenal. At the same time, Obama demonizes foreign nations such as Iran, which international inspectors and US intelligence agencies concede is not developing nuclear weapons (at least according to all available intelligence).
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced, following the administration's report on the US nuclear stockpile, "We think it is in our national security interest to be transparent as we can be about the nuclear program of the United States ... the important part is that the US is no longer going to keep other countries in the dark."(11) Such statements are disingenuous at best when the US decides to redevelop its aging weapons, while any discussion of this is omitted in media and political discourse. Instead, readers are subject to reporting from The Associated Press that frames the Obama administration as "serious about stopping the spread of atomic weapons and reducing their numbers."(12)
US attention to Iran's nonexistent nuclear weapons program is all the rage in the US media. According to a comprehensive search of the Lexis Nexis database, the words "Iran" and "nuclear weapons" appeared in nearly 1,000 stories across The New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox and MSNBC from January through June 2010. In contrast, the United States' own openly declared "Complex Modernization" program - in which the US allocated $55 billion to extracting plutonium pits and enriched uranium from existing nuclear power plants to place in new nuclear warheads(13) - received not a single mention in any of the above media outlets from September 2009 when the plan was first announced, through June 2010, shortly following Obama's announcement of his renewed commitment to nuclear "transparency" and "disarmament."
It is disturbing that the US plan for nuclear weapons production is completely censored from public discourse. Obama promised to "seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons." The Department of Energy's plans clearly violate this promise, and run counter to US obligations under the NPT to pursue US nuclear disarmament, rather than rearmament. It is no surprise that the US media establishment is ignoring this story, considering that American journalists are heavily reliant on official sources to write their stories and since journalists see US foreign policy as benevolent and humanitarian in intent. By ignoring the United States' contempt for nonproliferation, the mass media is guaranteeing that Americans will remain ignorant of the United States' brazen commitment to power politics at the expense of global security and stability.
* Anthony DiMaggio taught US and global politics at Illinois State University prior to becoming a casualty of this year's Illinois budget cuts. He is now the editor of the online journal, www.media-ocracy.com, which is devoted to studying issues of public opinion, mass media and current events. He is the author of "Mass Media, Mass Propaganda" (2008) and the forthcoming "When Media Goes to War" (2010).
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Notes:
1. Barak Ravid and Reuters, "Report: Secret Document Affirms US Israeli Nuclear Partnership," Haaretz, 8 July 2010.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-secret-document-affirms-u-s-israel-nuclear-partnership-1.300554 2. Mark Weiss, "Israel to Boycott Nuclear Free Middle East Plan," Irish Times, 31 May 2010,
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-secret-document-affirms-u-s-israel-nuclear-partnership-1.300554 3. DPA, "Iran Says Bushehr Nuclear Plant to be Ready by September," Haaretz, 7 July 2010.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/iran-says-bushehr-nuclear-plant-to-be-ready-by-september-1.300555 4. Sylvia Westall, "No Sign Iran Seeks Nuclear Arms: New IAEA Head," Reuters, 3 July 2009.;
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL312024420090703 Mark Mazzetti, "US Says Iran Ended Atomic Arms Work," New York Times, 3 December 2007.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/world/middleeast/03cnd-iran.html?_r=2 5. BBC, "Iran Claims Higher Enriched Uranium Production," BBC, 24 June 2010.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10403527.stm 6. For the figures provided on public opinion of Iran, see the poll aggregator, Polling Report.
http://www.pollingreport.com/iran.htm 7. Ibid.
8. Djallal Malti, "Israel Keeps Anxious Eye on Iran Turmoil," Agence France Presse, 24 June 2009.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5juH_zTtuxifuZg_O31ZLVbx6lTLg 9. Associated Press, "US Releases Details of Nuclear Weapons Inventory," Foxnews.com, 3 May 2010.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/03/release-details-nuclear-weapons-inventory/ 10. Matthew Cardinale, "US Nukes Agency Pushes New Bomb Production," Truthout/Inter Press Service, 30 September 2009.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/03/release-details-nuclear-weapons-inventory/ 11. Associated Press, "US Releases Details of Nuclear Weapons Inventory," Foxnews.com, 3 May 2010.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/03/release-details-nuclear-weapons-inventory/ 12. Ibid.
13. Matthew Cardinale, "US Nukes Agency Pushes New Bomb Production," Truthout/Inter Press Service, 30 September 2009.
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Anthony DiMaggio
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mediaocracy@gmail.com
Homepage:
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Most perilous nuclear arsenal in the world: Israel invites the world to revolt
13.07.2010 14:16
Israel's weapons of mass destruction
Over the past 60 years, the racist regime of Israel has been continually scoffing the international community under the cover of "deliberate ambiguity" to develop one of the most perilous nuclear arsenals in the world. According to the Federation of American Scientists, Israel possesses more than 200 nuclear warheads which are simply adequate to evaporate the whole world in a matter of moments.
Israel which is the only possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East and one of the three non-signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has blatantly rejected the appeal of the 189 signatories of the NPT, including its key ally the United States, to sign up to the treaty and put its nuclear facilities under the comprehensive safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The 2010 NPT review conference which wrapped up on May 28 in New York and was attended by the representatives from the NPT member states called on the five United Nations Security Council permanent members to move towards eliminating their nuclear arsenals and affirmed the necessity of Israel's joining the treaty and abiding by its international obligations with regards to nuclear non-proliferation.
Zionist officials, however, rejected the appeal and resorted to the excuse that Israel is not signatory to the NPT, so they're not legally obliged to reveal the information related to their nuclear arsenal, nor are they responsible for reducing their atomic weapons, let alone eliminating them whatsoever.
Israel which has been recurrently given impunity from international laws by the United States and enjoyed imperviousness to any kind of legal and judicial responsibility before the international community with regards to its criminal acts of mass murder, ethnic cleansing and collective punishment is now reminding the public opinions of the chauvinistic and mischievous apartheid regime of South Africa which was ruled by the National Party government between 1948 and 1994.
Israeli regime which has killed more than 6,300 Palestinians since the September 2000 and demolished more than 24,000 Palestinian homes since 1967 as a part of its expansionistic policy of extending its borders from the Nile to the Euphrates has been subject to 65 UN resolutions since its establishment which include resolutions that legally obligate Israel to annihilate its nuclear arsenal. The UNSC resolution 487 which was adopted on June 19, 1981 explicitly called "upon Israel urgently to place its nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards".
On September 23, 1987, 12 IAEA members including Iran submitted a draft resolution to the IAEA General Conference titled "Israeli Nuclear Capabilities and Threat" which demanded that Israel place all its nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards in compliance with the Security Council Resolution 487 of 1981. It also requested the IAEA director general to consider the implementation of provisions in the UN General Assembly resolutions 41/12 and 41/93 in which Israel was officially asked to legalize its illegal nuclear activities.
In an October 29, 1986 resolution, the UN General Assembly had called upon Israel to urgently place all of its nuclear facilities under the IAEA supervision and commit itself to avoid attacking the nuclear facilities of other countries. This resolution was adopted in support of the UNSC 487 resolution after a squadron of Israeli F-16A jetfighter aircraft bombed and destructed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor on June 7, 1981.
Since then, Israel has been recurrently under the pressure of independent nations who couldn't tolerate the double standards of the U.S. and Israel with regards to nuclear non-proliferation. Israel has been asked and demanded a number of times, by various international organizations and IAEA member states, to move towards nuclear disarmament; however, the irrational leaders of the Israeli regime adamantly stuck to their excuse that Israel is not an IAEA signatory and hence would not be necessarily responsible to heed the calls.
Israel's explicit violation of UNSC resolution 487 and its inattentiveness to the final resolution of the NPT 2010 review conference however, has been supported by the United States which has discriminatorily disregarded the demand of the NPT signatories who want a nuclear-free Middle East.
In a statement released last Friday, the U.S. National Security Advisor Gen. James L. Jones unambiguously supported Israel's possession of nuclear weapons: "The United States will not permit a conference or actions that could jeopardize Israel's national security. We will not accept any approach that singles out Israel or sets unrealistic expectations."
The message transmitted by General Jones was clear and unequivocal. Israel's national security is hinged on its ownership of nuclear weapons. Should Israel annihilate its nuclear arsenal, its frail security will be threatened seriously. Expecting that Israel abides by its international obligations is unrealistic, because Israel has never been a realistic regime. Its very foundation was based on imaginary pedestals and its flimsy existence continues to be imaginary. Singling out Israel is not accepted, because a nuclear-free Middle East means the overthrow of Israel's apartheid regime.
The Government of Israel published a statement on Saturday night that transparently exhibited Israel's impunity from any kind of international law: "As a non-signatory state of the NPT, Israel is not obligated by the decisions of this Conference, which has no authority over Israel. Given the distorted nature of this resolution, Israel will not be able to take part in its implementation."
This statement was clearly an invitation to global revolt by the regime of Israel. If a country is not a signatory to the NPT, then it would be exempted from nuclear obligations, so it can possess nuclear weapons; therefore, "O! You countries who want to hold nuclear weapons; pull out of the NPT and exempt yourself from its compulsions. You can freely possess nuclear weapons, should you be a non-signatory to NPT. That makes you free. Become liberated!"
However, the interesting section of the story is that not only will Israel move towards nuclear disarmament, but it has plans to expand its nuclear capability. A 2002 book published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace titled "Deadly Arsenals" revealed that Israel is attempting to arm its diesel submarines with nuclear cruise missiles: "Published reports going back to 1998 describe Israel's acquisition of diesel submarines and testing of cruise missiles. Israel "is believed to have deployed" 100 Jericho short-range and medium range missiles that are nuclear capable."
In a September 24, 2009 blog post, the renowned British writer and human rights activists alludes to his country's negligence with regards to Israel's growing nuclear arsenal. He explains that one of his friends working in MI6 has told him that the Israeli nuclear capacity is greater than that of Britain by 2009. Murray then goes on to criticize the British ex-Premier Gordon Brown who never told a single word about Israel's nuclear weapons, but ironically stated that his country would move towards nuclear disarmament: "I am very pleased that Brown has put the UK's nuclear weapons into disarmament talks and has endorsed the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons. But with Israel not a party to any of the treaties, and with Brown and Obama refusing to admit even that the World's fourth largest nuclear arsenal exists, I can only presume they believe that nobody should possess nuclear weapons - except Israel."
Kourosh Ziabari
Homepage:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19571
Israeli defense minister: Israel to keep nuclear 'ambiguity' with US backing
13.07.2010 14:20
Israel's weapons of mass destruction
Barak: Israel to keep nuclear 'ambiguity' with US backing
Al-Manar TV, 11 May 2010
Israel will keep up its longstanding policy of deliberate ambiguity over its nuclear program, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Tuesday, adding that US support for the position remains unchanged.
"This is a good policy and there is no reason to change it. There is complete agreement with the United States on this question," Barak told army radio.
He also said "there is no risk" that inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would get authorization to inspect Israel's Dimona nuclear reactor. "There is no threat over the traditional agreements between Israel and the United States on this issue," said Barak.
"I met President Barack Obama and other US officials two weeks ago. All of them told me denuclearization efforts target Iran and North Korea."
Israel has maintained its so-called policy of deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear program since the Zionist entity inaugurated the Dimona reactor in the southern Negev desert in 1965.
Media reports have said the United States agreed in 1969 that as long as Israel did not test a nuclear weapon or publicly confirm that it had one, Washington would not press it on the issue.
Foreign military experts believe Israel has an arsenal of several hundred nuclear weapons.
Israel, unlike Iran, is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which means that the Dimona nuclear reactor is not subject to IAEA supervision, which Iranian facilities are.
But an Israeli scientist on Monday said Israel should end its decades-long silence over its reported nuclear weapons capability and open its nuclear reactor to inspection.
Uzi Even, a Tel Aviv University chemistry professor and former worker at the Dimona reactor, said Obama's campaign for global nuclear arms reduction is a sign of changing times and Israel must get in step.
Also on Monday, however, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Dan Meridor dismissed as unimportant reports that Egypt had tabled a motion on Israel's nuclear weapons status for a June meeting of the IAEA.
"From time to time this issue is raised at the IAEA and other places," he said. It's not the first time it's mentioned and it's not the first time we'll find a way, with the rest of the world, to deal with it."
“IAEA WON’T TIE ISRAELI NUCLEAR PROGRAM WITH IRAN”
Meanwhile, Israeli diplomatic sources told Haaretz Monday that the International Atomic Energy Agency does not intend to compare Israel's nuclear program with that of Iran.
On Saturday, a leaked copy of a restricted provisional agenda of the IAEA's June 7 board meeting lists Israeli nuclear capabilities as the eighth item, in what appeared to be the first time that the agency's decision-making body is being asked to deal with the issue in its 52 years of existence.
However, according to sources in Vienna, home to the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the IAEA had not targeted Israel and did not intend to parallel Israel's nuclear program and that of any other nations, including Iran.
The sources added that the June meeting did not represent a change in IAEA policy toward Israel, saying that the Associated Press reports only gave the impression that such a link between Israel's and Iran's nuclear programs had indeed existed.
On Monday the Associated Press released a retraction of its report, saying that it, "relying on a diplomat and a former official, erroneously reported that the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time put the topic on the proposed agenda of the IAEA board meeting next month."
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from the archives:
IAEA Presses Israel to disclose its unacknowledged nuclear arsenal
by George Jahn, Associated Press, 5 May 2010
Obama agrees to keep Israel’s nukes secret
by Eli Lake, Washington Times, 2 October 2009
Israeli nuclear capabilities”: Resolution adopted on 18 September 2009 during the tenth plenary meeting
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) website, 18 September 2009
President Peres: The best way to deter Iran from continuing its nuclear program is to threaten it with a ‘nuclear response’
by Dan Williams, Reuters, 29 April 2009
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dandelion salad
The Peoples' Republic of China is for Complete Nuclear Weapons Disarmament.
14.07.2010 19:13
Soviet Social Imperialism, U.S. Imperilism, Canadian Imperialism, Israeli Imperialism, British, French and Nato Imperialism all refused China's offer. This shows that the Western Imperialist powers, including Canada are the pushers of Aggressive Imperial war globally and that the Peoples' Republic of China is pursuing the cause of the anti-war movement and is upholding the policy of peaceful co-existence throughout the world. China's policy is to form a new economic global society based on 'mutual benefit' and not Private Imperialist policy of gouging the resources of the world with pollution and aggressive war which is impoverishing the planets eclogical balances and endangering the entire planets livability. The need now is for global nuclear weapons disarmament and to re-tool the entire industrial revolution to wind, tidal, and solar power and get out of coal, gas, oil, and atomic energy which is an aggressive war against natures' laws and forms a war crime of a new sort, which does indeed threaten the entire planet. That also includes the PRC.
john