***************************************************************** 02/01/06 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 14.27 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 [NYTr] Nuclear Hypocrisy over Iran 2 [NYTr] Iranian Prez Slams Bush, Int'l Pressures 3 IRNA: FM says peaceful nuclear research Iran's legal right 4 IRNA: Iran will never renounce its legal right to nuclear energy - V 5 IRNA: Oil price to reach all-time high on continuing standoff on Ira 6 IRNA: UN chief frustrated at failure to strengthen NPT 7 Guardian Unlimited: Q Involving Iran and Nuclear Activities 8 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Vows to Complete Its Nuclear Program 9 Guardian Unlimited: Nations Ask Agency to Report Iran to U.N. 10 Guardian Unlimited: Bush Denounces Iran in Annual Speech 11 Guardian Unlimited: State Dept. Confident U.N. to Take on Iran 12 Guardian Unlimited: Iran's President Lashes Out at Bush 13 Guardian Unlimited: The slow road to sanctions 14 Guardian Unlimited: Straw: Iran has last chance to comply 15 Guardian Unlimited: Iran's message to the west: back off or we retal 16 Guardian Unlimited: On Iran, the French are from Mars and the 17 IRNA: NPT may be constrained on updating nuclear arms, UK admits - 18 IRNA: Larijani: National will decides fate of nuclear case - 19 IRNA: Iran has made several proposals to European states, Russia, Ch 20 AFP: Iran poised to retaliate against UN referral 21 IRNA: Civilian use of nuclear energy has become a national resolve - 22 IRNA: Draft resolution on the implementation of the NPT safeguards 23 AFP: Indian PM hopes Iran nuclear issue can be solved by diplomacy - 24 IRNA: Iran says threats will never weaken Iranian nation's will 25 IRNA: Greens say Iran has right to nuclear energy - Irna 26 Guardian Unlimited: Bush Said Toning Down N. Korea Criticism 27 DYO: Missiles, abductees, money / Bilateral talks with North Korea t 28 People's Daily: Indonesia to send envoy to DPRK for nuclear dispute 29 US: Las Vegas SUN: Tax break for Nevada energy 30 UN: ANNAN WARNS AGAINST LURCHING 'FROM CRISIS TO CRISIS' ON NUCLEAR 31 Hindu News: India will maintain credible minimum nuclear deterrent - NUCLEAR REACTORS 32 Moscow Times: Kiriyenko Says Russia Needs Another 40 Nuclear Reactor 33 Sydney Morning Herald: ALP won't pursue nuclear power - Beazley - 34 US: JS Online: Plant worker indicted 35 Bellona: President Putin suggests building Global Nuclear Centre in 36 RIA Novosti: Russia must launch large-scale NPP unit production - Ki 37 RIA Novosti: Russian nuclear generating body to be corporatized - of 38 NewsFromRussia.Com: Czech workers at nuclear power plant restarted 39 NewsFromRussia.Com: Russia to build 40 nuclear reactors by 2030, 40 US: Clarion-Ledger: Nuclear power clearly not 'answer' to U.S. energ 41 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Revised Meeting N 42 US: NRC: Atomic Safety and Licensing Board; Before Administrative Ju 43 Mos News: Russia to Build 40 Nuclear Reactors — Nuclear Chief - NEWS 44 US: Cape Cod Online: Pilgrim owners apply for license renewal 45 UPI: Turkey considers nuclear power plants 46 Sofia Morning News: Bulgaria Opens 2nd N-Plan Initial Bids NUCLEAR SECURITY NUCLEAR SAFETY 47 US: Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Aims for Nuclear Workers' Safety 48 u.tv: Government denies depleted uranium ammunition claims 49 bymnews.com: At Sea. Chemical tanker sinks, Greenpeace questions saf NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 50 US: NIRS: Statement of Mary Olson, NIRS Campaign to Stop Reprocessin 51 US: Bradenton Herald: State demands access to Tallevast property 52 US: Deseretnews.com: Huntsman-opposed N-waste bill advances 53 Bellona: Bush budget earmarks $250M for nuclear fuel-reprocessing in 54 RIA Novosti: Prices for spent nuclear fuel storage should go up - of 55 US: LA Daily News: Feinstein says action too slow on claims from ill 56 US: Daily Herald: Controversial waste bill gets first Senate approva 57 US: KSTP.COM: Nuclear waste plan stirs Monticello residents 58 US: KVIA.com: State extends deadline for WIPP waste permit comments 59 US: Corvallis Gazette-Times: Expert: Reuse nuclear waste 60 US: hendersondispatch.com: Don't let N.C. become a Yankee dump PEACE US DEPT. OF ENERGY 61 Santa Fe New Mexican: Fire destroys LANL bid papers 62 The Enquirer: End near, Fernald workforce cut 63 lamonitor.com: NNSA to hold benefits meetings 64 PhysOrg.com: Georgia Tech, Oak Ridge and UTBattelle collaborate on h 65 PhysOrg.com: US ITER Project Office Is Relocating to ORNL 66 TimesUnion.com: Knolls lab trims work force -- ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 [NYTr] Nuclear Hypocrisy over Iran Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 09:54:20 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit The Irish Times - Feb 1, 2006 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2006/0201/2825995114OP01VB.html Nuclear hypocrisy over Iran Iran is entitled to develop nuclear energy ..and breaks no agreements or commitments in so doing by Vincent Browne. If Iran wants to acquire nuclear weapons capacity, it has been encouraged to acquire it by those very countries that now threaten it. In challenging the legitimacy of the state of Israel, Iran is not just voicing the opinion of millions in the Middle East and beyond but is advancing a reasoned opinion supported by historical fact. Before I go further on the issue of Israel, I am conscious that any suggestion that the state of Israel may be illegitimate is seen as anti-Semitic. But how is it that although one regards the Holocaust as the greatest crime against humanity in history, the serial pogroms against the Jews throughout Europe and beyond also as crimes against humanity and our own treatment of Jews in Ireland as an abomination, one is regarded as anti-Semitic because one thinks the illegal and violent removal of Palestinians from their homes in Palestine in 1948 - the acts which founded the state of Israel - was another historic outrage? But back to the nuclear issue. Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, promising, among other things, not to acquire nuclear weapons capacity. Countries that now threaten Iran - the US, France and Britain - never made any promise not to acquire nuclear weapons capacity because they already had them. They now have tens of thousands of nuclear weapons between them. A section of that Non-Proliferation Treaty specifically provided for Iran, and the other signatories, to develop nuclear power and that is precisely what Iran is now proposing to do. Nobody objected to Iran having this freedom under the treaty. It has since emerged that while America and Britain were assisting Israel to acquire nuclear power capacity, as provided for under the treaty, these same powers, along with France, were acting in breach of that same treaty in assisting Israel to acquire nuclear weapons. Israel now has between 75 and 125 warheads. In assisting Israel to acquire nuclear arms, America, Britain and France were encouraging neighbouring states to acquire nuclear weapons capacity, lest their security be threatened by their hostile neighbour having that capacity. Therefore, even if it was the case that Iran was then or is now trying to acquire nuclear weapons capacity, the blame for that would lie with those states that conspired to create those circumstances in which Iran feels it necessary to acquire such capacity. It recently emerged that the Clinton administration in the late 1990s collaborated with the Israelis in deploying US-supplied Harpoon cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads in Israel's fleet of Dolphin-class submarines. The submarines were supplied by the Germans, another of the states currently threatening Iran. Israel's seaborne nuclear doctrine is designed to place one submarine in the Persian Gulf, the other in the Mediterranean, with a third on standby. Secret test launches of the cruise missile systems were understood to have been undertaken in May 2000 when Israel carried out tests in the Indian Ocean. All this was published in the Observer on October 12th, 2003. So what do we expect? If Israel, a declared enemy of Iran has nuclear weapons, the only effective deterrent against Israel using such weapons against Iran and its allies is to acquire nuclear weapons itself. On June 7th, 1981, Israel bombed a nuclear power plant in Baghdad. Twelve days later the UN Security Council issued a resolution condemning the Israeli action. That resolution acknowledged Iraq's right under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to develop nuclear power and noted that Iraq had complied with all the safeguards stipulated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It noted that Israel had not adhered to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and "(Called) upon Israel urgently to place its nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards". As it did under a 1967 resolution calling on it to withdraw to its pre-1967 boundaries, Israel simply ignored the UN resolution. Now, when Iran proposes to develop nuclear energy, as it is quite entitled to do under the treaty, the countries that gave Israel its nuclear weapons capacity - America, Britain, France and Germany - threaten to invoke economic sanctions against Iran. How is it that double standards in the conduct of foreign affairs is the accepted norm? How is it that the questioning of the legitimacy of a state that was born by the despoliation of a vulnerable Palestinian community is regarded as tantamount to incitement to genocide? It clearly is not now possible to undo the Israeli state but a solution to the current impasse in the Middle East has to begin at least with an awareness of the historic injustice that lies behind that state and at least an insistence that Israel is forced to withdraw to the pre-1967 borders, that the Palestinian capital be based in east Jerusalem and that the refugees driven from the land in 1948 have a right to return. Meanwhile, hands off Iran. ) The Irish Times * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================ ***************************************************************** 2 [NYTr] Iranian Prez Slams Bush, Int'l Pressures Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 13:23:04 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Prensa Latina, Havana http://www.plenglish.com Iranian Prez Slams Bush and Int'l Pressures Tehran, Feb 1 (PL)--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned George W Bush' remarks on the Iranian nuke issue and pledged to strongly resist pressures by "bully countries" to restrain the program of Iran, "whose nuclear plants will be only used to generate electricity, not to make bombs." "Nuclear energy is our right, and we will resist until this right is fully realized," Ahmadinejad stated before a crowd in the southern city of Bushehr, site of the only nuclear power plant Iran will operate, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported Wednesday. Responding to Bush' statements in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Ahmadinejad branded the US as a hollow superpower that is tainted with the blood of nations and made it clear that Tehran would continue developing its nuclear program. "Our nation cannot give in to the coercion of some bully countries that think they are the whole world and see themselves equal to the entire globe," he pointed out. The Iranian leader lashed out the Washington-spearheaded war of Iran by saying his nation hopes those whose hands are tainted with blood of nations and are involved in wars and oppression in any part of the world would be put on trial by courts created by world countries. Supporting Ahmadinejad and making reference to a possible attack on Iran's nuclear installations, Defense Minister, General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar made it clear that any attack against his nation's peaceful nuclear facilities would face a swift and crushing response from the armed forces, according to the IRNA. His comments follow Bush increased strains on Iran over its nuclear program, saying in his address Tuesday night that "nations of the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons." Despite repeated US denunciations of the alleged Iranian use of nukes with a military purpose, a three-year The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) probe has not found evidence to back assertions by the US that Iranian nuclear activities are a cover for an arms program Today, deputy foreign ministers from Russia and China headed to Iran to inform it of concerns about its nuclear program and to explain the results of the London meeting between China, US, France, Great Britain and Russia, plus Germany. Russian officials stated the visit was not a strong-arm tactic because they cannot put pressures on a sovereign country, media outlets from that European country reported. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is slated to decide at a meeting in Vienna on Thursday whether to report Iran to the Security Council. Ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries believe that reporting Iran to the Security Council could heat up already sizzling oil prices, although Iran, the fourth largest oil producer of the world, has assured it will not use oil exports as a weapon to get out of the nuke row. mh/ecq * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================ ***************************************************************** 3 IRNA: FM says peaceful nuclear research Iran's legal right London, Feb 1, IRNA Iran-UN-Meet Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki here Tuesday said that in accordance with international law, rules and regulations Iran has the legal and indisputable right to resume nuclear research in the national interest. Mottaki made the remarks during a meeting with UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan on the sidelines of donors' conference held here on Afghanistan sponsored by the UK. "If the Europeans come up with hasty decisions during the next meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran will immediately implement a law passed by Majlis (parliament) mandating the executive branch to implement Iran's nuclear programs," Mottaki said. He stressed the importance of reaching a compromise that would serve the interests of both sides in the nuclear negotiations, saying, "Any prejudgments or disregard of the views of the other side will complicate efforts to find a solution." The Iranian minister expressed hope the "current difficult situation will somewhat ease through the exercise of wisdom and reason on the part of the parties. Annan, for his part, stressed Iran's legal rights under international law, rules and regulations but urged Iran to take more steps to build confidence. He hoped the sides would reach an agreement to diffuse the current situation. The UN secretary-general expressed his willingness to visit Iran in the near future. ***************************************************************** 4 IRNA: Iran will never renounce its legal right to nuclear energy - VP - Tehran, Feb 1, IRNA Iran-VP-Nuclear The Iranian nation and government will never relinquish their legal right to obtain peaceful nuclear technology, the vice-president for legal and parliamentary affairs said here Wednesday. Ahmad Moussavi made the remark at a meeting with ambassadors of six Islamic states of North Africa. "Peaceful use of nuclear energy within the framework of rules and regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is a right of all countries including Iran," he declared. "Global arrogance and the West do not wish to see Third World countries, particularly Islamic states, progress in the field of nuclear technology. "They intend to make us continually dependent on them. They treat Islamic states any way they wish. "This is irrational and a way of bullying. Islam does not countenance bullying by or against us," he added. He praised the support of friendly countries, particularly the Islamic states of North Africa, for Iran in the current row on its nuclear programs, and said consolidation of solidarity and unity among Islamic states would be one way of strengthening power. The vice-president also called for unity among Islamic states to confront the hegemonic policies of foreign powers. Noting the importance of North African countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Sudan and Algiers in affairs of the Islamic world, he said, "We should make the best use of our situation in the Islamic world and the Middle East region to serve the interests of Islamic nations." "Islamic states enjoy a special position in Iranian foreign policy. Based on this reality, we ought to exchange views and consult with each other on many issues," Moussavi went on to say. Expressing delight over the similarity of stances between Iran and the Islamic states of North Africa on several regional and international issues, he noted that during a recent visit to North Africa the two sides called for further promotion of relations and cooperation to promote their common interests in the economic, political and cultural fields. The Tunisian ambassador, on behalf of the ambassadors of Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan and Algeria, congratulated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and the Iranian nation and government on the 27th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. He called for further boosting of ties with Iran, and said North African states regard progress and development of Iran in all areas as their honor. He said the scientific and economic progress of Iran redounds to the benefit of Islamic and developing countries and of all Islamic nations. The Tunisian ambassador praised Iran's firm stand on the nuclear issue and said the country's resistance against the unreasonable demands of the West and global arrogance was admirable. ***************************************************************** 5 IRNA: Oil price to reach all-time high on continuing standoff on Iran nuclear case - Feb 1, IRNA -- The chairman of Majlis' Energy Commission, Kamal Daneshyar, said on Wednesday that the continuing standoff on Iran's nuclear case could raise global oil pricec to USD 100/barrel. Speaking to reporters, Daneshyar assured US officials that Iran's nuclear case "will never end up in the United Nations Security Council. "Referring the case to the UNSC has its own mechanism," the MP said, adding that "a decision to refer Iran's nuclear case to the UNSC is a new issue being considered as a result of US pressures on Russia, Britain, France and China." "Americans are trying to intimidate Iran by saying they will refer its nuclear case to the UNSC, but deep inside they know that they have no evidence to prove any Iranian violation (of international laws and regulations). "The US is influencing world public opinion with its insistence that Iran's (nuclear) case be sent to the SC," Daneshyar argued. He added that what the US desires is to have Tehran receive "sufficient guarantees from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in order to build a nuclear power plant, launch atomic research or produce nuclear fuel for its atomic power plants." The MP stressed that the issue of producing nuclear energy is currently even "more important than that of having fresh air to breath." Daneshyar said that the trend of increasing exploitation of fossil fuels could lead to an unprecedented increase in global oil prices to as much as USD 250/barrel in the next decade. Reiterating that there is no sufficient evidence to refer Iran's nuclear case to the UNSC, the MP suggested that instead of Iran "America should be referred to the Security Council for refusing to be disarmed." ***************************************************************** 6 IRNA: UN chief frustrated at failure to strengthen NPT London, Feb 1, IRNA UN-Annan-NPT UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Tuesday voiced his frustration at the failure to reform the 35-year old nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The United Nations chief also criticized the "very narrow power- base" of the Security Council, dominated by the five permanent members. In a wide-ranging speech to the UN Association in London, he rhetorically asked whether there was any threat more alarming in today's world than that of a nuclear or biological weapon falling into the hands of terrorists, or being used by a state as a result of some terrible misunderstanding or miscalculation. "The more states have such weapons, the greater the risk. And the more those states that already have them increase their arsenals, or insist that such weapons are essential to their national security, the more other states feel that they too must have them for their security," Annan said. He said that twice last year governments had the chance to strengthen the foundations of the NPT regime by agreeing on more robust IAEA inspections, incentives and guarantees for countries to forego the enrichment and reprocessing of fissile materials, and energetic steps to meet disarmament commitments. "Both times, they failed. We cannot afford any more such squandered chances, Annan said about the failure at the NPT review conference and the UN summit, marking the 60th anniversary of the world forum. He told his hosts that he greatly appreciated the efforts of the UK to rebuild the non-proliferation consensus that was made last year, when Foreign Secretary Jack Straw sought to work with six of his counterparts. "This is one of the few serious multilateral efforts that have been made recently to strengthen a key pillar of collective security. I urge you to continue it," the UN chief told Straw, who also delivered a speech at the same forum. He said that the UN Summit's other great failure was the inability to agree on enlargement of the Security Council, but suggested that in London, as in other capitals of existing permanent members, "not many tears are shed over this failure." "But do not underestimate the slow erosion of the UN's authority and legitimacy that stems from the perception that it has a very narrow powerbase, with just five countries calling the shots," Annan warned. He said it was a feeling of frustration and exclusion that prompts many states to exercise the only power they do have "to block other reforms, such as better management." "Some see even this as an attempt by the big boys to grab yet more power for themselves," said the secretary-general, whose second and final term ends at the end of this year. "So the base must be broadened. Sooner or later, the Security Council will have to be enlarged," he warned. Annan proposed in the meantime that the permanent Security Council members pay more attention to the elected members, and that that the General Assembly take more care to elect members who are up to the responsibility. "The Council as a whole should be more willing to share power with other organs of the United Nations, including the new Human Rights Council and Peacebuilding Commission, a reformed Economic and Social Council, and the General Assembly itself," he said. The UN chief proposed that if these institutions win more respect and greater powers, there will be "opportunities for more member states to exercise those powers." ***************************************************************** 7 Guardian Unlimited: Q Involving Iran and Nuclear Activities From the Associated Press [UP] Wednesday February 1, 2006 8:01 PM By SALLY BUZBEE Associated Press Writer CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - At a decisive moment in the struggle over Iran's nuclear program, Tehran's true intentions - and the West's real options - remain murky. Even such basic questions as ``Who calls the shots?'' are open to debate. One thing is known: Iran has vast amounts of oil and plenty of ways to retaliate, whatever the world decides to do. A look at some questions surrounding the crisis: Q: How close is Iran to making a nuclear bomb? A: Iran says its nuclear program is purely for generating electricity and that it has no intention of developing nuclear weapons. The United States disputes that, saying it believes Iran aims for atomic weapons. And Iran's Jan. 10 decision to restart small-scale uranium enrichment - and its president's call for Israel to be wiped off the map - have clearly jolted the world. The International Atomic Energy Agency says a three-year investigation produced no evidence Iran is trying to build atomic arms, but didn't rule that out either. And, U.S. intelligence made public last year suggested Tehran's scientists do have engineering drafts of a nuclear warhead. If Iran kicked into high gear on uranium enrichment - something it threatens to do if it is taken before the U.N. Security Council - it could produce nuclear weapons from three to 10 years later, experts estimate. Q: What will happen Thursday and Friday? A: The board of the IAEA is expected to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council, essentially asking it to take on international oversight of Tehran's nuclear program. Russia and China agreed last week on the need for that - a victory for the United States. Q: What happens after that? A: Reporting Iran to the Security Council would be just the start of a long process that could end in sanctions against Tehran. But nothing is likely to happen fast. For starters, the most powerful members of the U.N. have agreed that the Security Council should wait until March to take up Iran's case. The delay could give Iran time to moderate its position, or agree to let Russia perform nuclear enrichment work on its behalf. Or, it could just mean continued stalemate. Q: If Iran doesn't back down, will Security Council sanctions be the end result? A: It seems unlikely. China and Russia generally oppose using the council to impose sanctions, and both are trading partners with Iran. They would probably try to block such a move. U.S. officials have also said they want to take a gradual approach - possibly starting with a council statement of concern or reprimand, and only seeking a legally binding resolution that could include sanctions as a last resort. If sanctions are imposed, they could be tough to enforce, could cripple Iran's economy and damage its standard of living - and almost certainly would force up world oil prices. Q: If the West is so worried, why not just use airstrikes to disable Iran's program? A: That could be much harder, militarily, than it seems. Any strikes - to be effective - would have to take out several sites, some underground. Other sites may be unknown. And with the United States occupied with Iraq, any larger effort, such as an invasion, seems unlikely. The Bush administration says such a military operation is not an option now. In addition, even a limited strike would be highly unpopular with U.S. allies, and could rally Iranians - known for their strong nationalism. Iran has plenty of ways to retaliate, from stirring up trouble in southern Iraq to using an oil boycott as an economic weapon against Europe, China or India. Oil supplies are tight worldwide and prices are already high. Q: This crisis seems to have blown up so fast: Weren't Iran and Europe negotiating just a few months ago? A: Yes. And the Bush administration had tacitly agreed that negotiations were the way to proceed. But after the election of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran became more insistent on its right to pursue a nuclear program, and European negotiators say it became less cooperative. Its decision to restart small-scale uranium enrichment - and its swipes at Israel - apparently rattled China and Russia enough that they agreed to push its case to the Security Council. Q: Why is Iran's president taking such a confrontational stance? What does he really want, and is he really in control? A: The United States and much of the West have struggled for years - decades even - to discern whether Iran's hard-line clerics or the president are really calling the shots. It's clear that many hard-liner aims are unpopular among young Iranians, who previously had voted for reformers until those reformers failed. But the goal of Iran being a world nuclear technology leader is widely popular - almost a national point of pride. It may be that Ahmadinejad, trying to solidify his political support, has found an issue that plays well among the public. Or, perhaps the clerics are trying to rally people, thus finding a way to revive support for their Islamic Republic. Criticism of the United States also still plays well in a country that has always blamed America for first overthrowing a democratically elected Iranian government in the 1950s, and then supporting a hated shah. Ahmadinejad's weak spot is Iran's dire economy. Like any leader anywhere, he may just be trying to distract attention from what he can't fix. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 8 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Vows to Complete Its Nuclear Program the Associated Press [UP] Wednesday February 1, 2006 7:46 AM AP Photo VAH103 By ALI AKBAR DAREINI Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Wednesday that his country will resist Western pressures to constrain its nuclear program, a day before a key vote by the U.N. nuclear watchdog likely to put Iran before the Security Council. ``In nuclear energy, our nation will continue its path until full realization of its rights,'' Ahmadinejad told thousands of people in Bushehr, southern Iran, the site of Iran's only nuclear power plant. ``Nuclear energy is our right, and we will resist until this right is fully realized,'' he said. Ahmadinejad's speech, broadcast live on state-run television, came hours after President Bush increased the pressure on Iran, saying in his State of the Union address Tuesday night that Iran ``is defying the world with its nuclear ambitions, and the nations of the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons.'' The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors will meet in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday, where Iran's nuclear program may be reported to the Security Council. The five permanent members of the Security Council reached surprising agreement Tuesday that Iran should be hauled before the powerful body over its disputed nuclear program. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said late Tuesday that Iran would end surprise inspections of its facilities by U.N. monitors and resume frozen nuclear activities if Tehran is reported to the Security Council. ``If it happens, the government will be required under the law to end the suspension of all nuclear activities it has voluntarily halted,'' Mottaki said. Ahmadinejad also said Wednesday that Iran won't give in to ``bully countries.'' ``Our nation can't give in to the coercion of some bully countries who imagine they are the whole world and see themselves equal to the entire globe,'' he said. His speech drew chants of ``Nuclear energy is our right'' from the crowd. Iran insists its nuclear program is civilian only and has no other purpose than to generate power. Enrichment can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the material needed to build a warhead. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 9 Guardian Unlimited: Nations Ask Agency to Report Iran to U.N. From the Associated Press [UP] Wednesday February 1, 2006 12:46 PM AP Photo XHS108 By GEORGE JAHN Associated Press Writer VIENNA, Austria (AP) - European nations are formally calling on the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council in a confidential document made available Wednesday to The Associated Press. The draft resolution ``requests the director general to report to the Security Council'' on steps Iran needs to take to dispel fears that it might want to make nuclear arms. It was being circulated among the 35-member IAEA board for their comments Wednesday before being formally submitted for approval at a board meeting starting Thursday. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 10 Guardian Unlimited: Bush Denounces Iran in Annual Speech From the Associated Press [UP] Wednesday February 1, 2006 10:01 AM AP Photo CAP231 By WILLIAM C. MANN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush denounced Iran in his State of the Union speech as a country ``held hostage by a small clerical elite that is isolating and repressing its people.'' Addressing Iranians directly, the president said, ``Our nation hopes one day to be the closest of friends with a free and democratic Iran.'' He said Iran must stop sponsoring terrorists in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon and ``defying the world with its nuclear ambitions,'' which ``the world must not permit.'' Bush announced no new foreign policy initiatives Tuesday night in his annual speech to Congress, but he spoke in sweeping terms of the need to end tyranny and encourage economic progress abroad and combat isolationism and protectionism at home. ``Ultimately, the only way to defeat the terrorists is to defeat their dark vision of hatred and fear by offering the hopeful alternative of political freedom and peaceful change,'' Bush said. His speech came less than a week after the militant Palestinian group Hamas, which the United States considers a terrorist organization, won parliamentary elections. Bush noted the election in his speech: ``Now the leaders of Hamas must recognize Israel, disarm, reject terrorism and work for lasting peace.'' While praising the Palestinians, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia for recent elections, Bush said more is needed. ``Elections are vital, but they are only the beginning,'' he said. ``Raising up a democracy requires the rule of law, protection of minorities, and strong, accountable institutions that last longer than a single vote.'' While saying half the world lives in democratic nations, ``We do not forget the other half - in places like Syria, Burma, Zimbabwe, North Korea and Iran - because the demands of justice, and the peace of this world, require their freedom as well.'' In speaking of his commitment to spreading democracy, Bush conceded that ``some dismiss that goal as misguided idealism.'' But he said U.S. global leadership is ``the only way to secure the peace, the only way to control our destiny.'' He rejected any domestic pressure toward isolationism. ``We are the nation that saved liberty in Europe, and liberated death camps, and helped raise up democracies, and faced down an evil empire. Once again, we accept the call of history to deliver the oppressed and move this world toward peace.'' Bush also rejected protectionism and said the United States needs to be more competitive in the global economy. ``The American economy is pre-eminent but we cannot afford to be complacent,'' he said. ``In a dynamic world economy, we are seeing new competitors like China and India. This creates uncertainty, which makes it easier to feed people's fears.'' Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 11 Guardian Unlimited: State Dept. Confident U.N. to Take on Iran From the Associated Press [UP] Wednesday February 1, 2006 11:16 PM By BARRY SCHWEID AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Denouncing Iran's nuclear activities, the Bush administration expressed confidence Wednesday that the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency would report the controversial program to the Security Council. ``The message that is going to be sent very clearly to Iran is that they have crossed the line,'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said as the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors completed its findings. ``We expect that measure to pass and so Iran will find itself before the Security Council,'' McCormack said. He said the report, drafts of which were circulating at the State Department, raised ``troubling questions'' about linkages between Iran's enrichment activities and a military program. ``You do that because you want to create a nuclear weapon,'' McCormack said. While U.N. inspectors have been unable to go to all suspected Iranian facilities, McCormack said, ``we are seeing more and more indications'' that Iran's enrichment activities have the intended purpose of building a nuclear weapon. The spokesman rejected threats by Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, to halt U.N. inspections and resume large-scale enrichment of uranium. ``If followed through (they) would take Iran in just the opposite direction that this world is calling on them to go,'' McCormack said. He also denounced Iran as ``the central banker for terrorism in the Middle East.'' Under an agreement reached this week with Russia and China, the IAEA will send the dispute to the Security Council but will defer for at least five weeks any action against Iran, such as diplomatic or economic punishment, if Iran refuses to resume negotiations or reverse course. President Bush discussed Iran in a telephone call Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and thanked him for Russia's offer to divert enrichment activities to Russia in an effort to keep an eye on the process and make sure they are designed for civilian use. ``They both agreed that it was important to stay in close contact as we move forward to address this issue,'' White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. ``I think both leaders have a shared concern about Iran developing a nuclear weapon under the guise of a civilian program.'' The administration wants Russia to take a tough line on Iran at the United Nations, and officials have suggested Russia, for geographic reasons, has at least as much cause for concern as the United States. But Russia is conflicted, wanting also to preserve its commercial and military ties to Iran. Bush's conversation was one of many approaches the administration has made to Russia. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 12 Guardian Unlimited: Iran's President Lashes Out at Bush From the Associated Press [UP] Wednesday February 1, 2006 10:31 AM AP Photo VAH104 By ALI AKBAR DAREINI Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - In a speech to thousands of supporters Wednesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at the United States and vowed to resist the pressures of ``bully countries'' to constrain Tehran's nuclear program, a day before the U.N. nuclear agency is likely to vote to haul the country before the Security Council. Speaking hours after President Bush's State of the Union address, the Iranian leader derided the United States as a ``hollow superpower'' that is ``tainted with the blood of nations'' and said Tehran would continue its nuclear program. ``Nuclear energy is our right, and we will resist until this right is fully realized,'' Ahmadinejad told the crowd in the southern Iran city of Bushehr, the site of Iran's only nuclear power plant. ``Our nation can't give in to the coercion of some bully countries who imagine they are the whole world and see themselves equal to the entire globe,'' he added. The crowd responded with chants of ``Nuclear energy is our right!'' Referring to Bush directly and the U.S.-led Iraq war, Ahmadinejad said: ``Those whose hands are tainted with blood of nations and are involved in wars and oppression in any part of the world ... we, hopefully, in the near future will put you on trial in courts that will be set up by nations.'' Iran's defense minister also warned all countries Wednesday against considering an attack on Iran's nuclear installations. ``Any attack against Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities will meet a swift and crushing response from the armed forces,'' Gen. Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency. The comments came after Bush increased the pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, saying in his address Tuesday night that ``the nations of the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons.'' He said the United States ``will continue to rally the world to confront these threats.'' The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors is to meet in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday, and is expected to report Iran's nuclear program to the U.N. Security Council. The five permanent members of the Security Council agreed Tuesday that Iran should be hauled before the powerful body. The top U.N body has the power to impose economic and political sanctions, but none of those measures is immediately likely. Under the deal agreed to by Moscow and Beijing - previous opponents of referral - the Security Council will likely await a new IAEA report at the next board meeting in March before deciding on substantive action, leaving more time for talks with Iran. Iran's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that the permanent members' decision to recommend that Iran's nuclear file go to the Security Council violated the Nuclear Nonprolifeation Treaty. Two mass circulation newspapers, Kayhan and Jomhuri-e-Eslami, urged the government Wednesday to withdraw from the treaty if Iran is referred to the council. ``Iran's withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty would be a protest against America and its allies' blackmail,'' wrote Hossein Shariatmadari in an editorial in the hard-line Kayhan. Shariatmadari is an influential conservative who is close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran insists its nuclear program is civilian only and has no other purpose than to generate power. Enrichment can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the material needed to build a warhead. On Tuesday, the IAEA said in a report that Iran obtained documents and drawings on the black market that serve no other purpose than to make an atomic warhead. The report also confirmed information recently provided by diplomats familiar with the Iran probe that Tehran has not started small-scale uranium enrichment since announcing it would earlier this month. The findings about the design obtained by Iran on the black market were contained in a confidential report for presentation to the IAEA board and provided in full to The Associated Press. A three-year IAEA probe has not found firm evidence to back assertions by the United States and others that Iran's nuclear activities are a cover for an arms program but has not been able to dismiss such suspicions either. First mention of the documents linked to constructing a nuclear warhead was made late last year in a longer IAEA report. At that time, the agency said only that they showed how to cast ``enriched, natural and depleted uranium metal into hemispherical forms.'' In the brief report obtained Tuesday, however, the agency said bluntly that the 15 pages of text and drawings showing how to cast fissile uranium into metal were ``related to the fabrication of nuclear weapon components.'' The report said the documents were under agency seal, meaning that IAEA experts should be able to re-examine them, but ``Iran has declined a request to provide the agency with a copy.'' The documents in question were given to Iran by members of the nuclear black market network, the IAEA said. Iran has claimed it did not ask for the documents but received them anyway as part of other black market purchases. --- Associated Press Writer George Jahn contributed to this report from Vienna, Austria. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 13 Guardian Unlimited: The slow road to sanctions The next moves Ian Traynor Wednesday February 1, 2006 The Guardian The agreement by the US, Russia, China, Britain and France - the security council Big Five - to move the Iranian dispute to the security council is a blow to Iranian pride and prestige. It is not clear what else it represents. The agreement, deferring to Russian wording, "reports" rather than "refers" Iran to the security council. The latter is stronger, effectively empowering the security council to deal with the crisis. The agreement also stipulates that the security council will undertake no action for at least a month, until after the next International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board meeting, on March 6. While the council can issue resolutions authorising measures from sanctions to the use of force, no quick action is expected. The council could censure Iran, isolate it, use sanctions selectively to target the ruling Iranian elite or decree international travel bans against selected members of the regime. First the security council, if it acts at all, will try to restore the status quo ante - authorising the IAEA to continue policing Iran's nuclear programme, demanding a freeze on uranium activities, and encouraging a resumption of negotiations. Russia and China will probably still balk at economic sanctions because they have too much business at stake with Iran. The EU, too, supplying more than a third of Iran's imports, has much to lose. Germany sells around 4bn (£2.7bn) of goods to Iran annually. [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 14 Guardian Unlimited: Straw: Iran has last chance to comply Staff and agencies Wednesday February 1, 2006 The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, today urged Iran to step back from its defiance of the international community over its controversial nuclear programme. Mr Straw said an agreement between Britain and the other five permanent members of the United Nations security council that any action against Iran should be delayed until March gave Tehran the opportunity to come back into compliance with western demands. Mr Straw said he would be pressing home the message when he met the Iranian foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, who is in London for an international conference on Iran, later today. "He really needs to see this agreed position by the leaders of the international community not as a threat but as an opportunity, a final opportunity, for Iran to put itself back on track for being able to produce electricity by nuclear power but also meeting its obligations not to do anything that could lead to the development of nuclear weapons capability," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. His comments followed a late-night meeting on Monday between Mr Straw and the foreign ministers from the other permanent security council members - the United States, Russia, China and France - to discuss how to deal with the growing crisis. It was agreed they would ask this week's emergency board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - the UN nuclear watchdog - to report Iran to the security council. However any action by the security council would wait until after the head of the IAEA, Mohammed ElBaradei, had reported to the next scheduled IAEA board meeting next month. Iran responded by warning it would pull out of an agreement allowing the IAEA to mount snap inspections at its nuclear facilities if it was formally referred to the security council. In a defiant speech delivered earlier today at the Bushehr nuclear power plant, the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, warned that Iran would press on with its nuclear programme, which it insists is purely for civil purposes. "In nuclear energy, our nation will continue its path until full realisation of its rights," he said. "Nuclear energy is our right, and we will resist until this right is fully realised." He added that Iran would not give in to "bullying countries". "I'm telling the hollow superpower, and the few countries that imagine they can deny our national rights, that the Iranian nation will not be influenced by your false propaganda, and through its solidarity, faith and effort will, hopefully, walk down the long path of pride and victory." The crowd responded with chants of "Nuclear energy is our right!" He was speaking just hours after the US president, George Bush, used his annual state of the union address to urge Iran to end its defiance over its nuclear programme. "The nations of the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons," he said. Meanwhile, Iran's defence minister, General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, warned all countries today against considering an attack on Iran's nuclear installations. "Any attack against Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities will meet a swift and crushing response from the armed forces," he said, according to the official Islamic Republic news agency. Iran's defence priority was to "strengthen the operational might of the air force against any possible threat", Gen Najjar said. Russia is putting the finishing touches to Iran's only nuclear plant, sited in Bushehr. A Russian foreign ministry spokesman said today that a trip by Russian and Chinese diplomats to Tehran should not be seen as an attempt to pressure Iran over its nuclear programme. Mikhail Kamynin said the diplomats would inform the Iranians of the results of this week's talks and "explain international concerns about the Iranian nuclear programme". [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 15 Guardian Unlimited: Iran's message to the west: back off or we retaliate Ewen MacAskill and Simon Tisdall Thursday February 2, 2006 The Guardian Iran's foreign minister yesterday threatened immediate retaliation over a move to refer its nuclear weapons activities to the United Nations security council in comments which deepen his country's confrontation with the international community. In an interview with the Guardian - his first with western media - Manouchehr Mottaki accused the US of manufacturing the crisis and insisted there was still time to avoid a collision. But he warned that any military action by the US or Israel against Iran would have "severe consequences" and would be countered "by all means" at Iran's disposal. Reflecting a hardening Iranian position, he threatened to end snap UN inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities and all other voluntary cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, if Iran is referred to the UN today or tomorrow. He also vowed that Iran will match any sanctions with measures of its own and warned that the west would quickly regret any resort to military action. The escalating crisis could further destabilise the Middle East by intensifying US and British difficulties in Iraq and Afghanistan, and could spell an end to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which seeks to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. Mr Mottaki, who was appointed by Iran's hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in September, said Iranian retaliation would come "simultaneously" with any decision on referral by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, which meets in emergency session in Vienna today. Iran had not ruled out further steps, including withdrawal from the NPT and the permanent ejection of UN inspectors. "If the Iran dossier is reported to the security council, the additional protocol [which allows UN inspectors to conduct snap inspections] will be the first victim," he said. Asked whether Iran was prepared to use its leverage in Iraq, where Iran has been accused of aiding attacks on British troops, and elsewhere in the region, Mr Mottaki said Tehran's actions would "correspond" to western political, military and economic pressure. Israel, along with the US, has not ruled out air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities if diplomacy fails. "Iran does not think that the Zionist regime is in a condition to engage in such a dangerous venture and they know how severe the possible Iranian response will be to its possible audacity," Mr Mottaki said. "Suffice to say that the Zionist regime, if they attack, will regret it." That message was underscored yesterday by Iran's defence minister who said that any attack on Iran would bring "a crushing response". Mr Mottaki said the US, even with 200,000 troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, was unable to impose its will on the region. "It would be better for President Bush to spend the second half of his presidency governing his country in a calmer manner." He urged Britain and other European countries to postpone a decision on UN referral until a scheduled meeting of the IAEA on March 6. "There's still time for our European friends to take a wise decision not to take wrong steps." The foreign minister said Mr Bush had lied to the American people about Iran in his state of the union speech on Tuesday night and he rejected any chance of direct contacts with the US. The Guardian interview in London was held before Mr Mottaki had talks with Jack Straw, the foreign secretary. A Foreign Office spokesman said later: "Mottaki was warned not to walk away from the IAEA additional protocol or to make threats." Today's showdown at the IAEA follows Iran's decision to resume uranium enrichment research last month, a move condemned by Britain, France and Germany as a breach of earlier undertakings. Western countries suspect Iran's civil nuclear programme will be used to manufacture nuclear weapons. But Iran says it has an inalienable right to civil nuclear power and denies seeking the bomb. Mr Bush, in his Tuesday speech, called Iran "a nation now held hostage by a small clerical elite that is isolating and repressing its people". But Mr Mottaki said the president's attempt to appeal to the Iranian people was doomed to failure. "Six days from now in the Ashura ceremony [a Shia Muslim festival] in Tehran, the Iranian people will respond to Mr Bush's comments." Mr Ahmadinejad, who also rejected the US president's comments yesterday, described the US as a "hollow superpower" that is "tainted with the blood of nations". Mr Mottaki came to London for a two-day conference on the future of Afghanistan. In a further indication of hostility towards Israel, he urged Hamas, winner of last week's Palestinian elections, to continue its policy of armed struggle. "The victory is the victory of the resistance," he said. "Our impression is they will insist on the continuation of resistance until the rights of the Palestinian people are secure." [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 16 Guardian Unlimited: On Iran, the French are from Mars and the Americans are from Venus We need a new international regime to supervise our nuclear capacities and everyone should submit to it Timothy Garton Ash Thursday February 2, 2006 So who are the cheese-eating surrender monkeys now? President Jacques Chirac of France says rogue states fit the French doctrine for a response using its nuclear arsenal. Meanwhile, the Bush administration goes softly-softly on an Iranian revolutionary regime that is setting out to go nuclear. So now it seems that it's the French who are from Mars and the Americans who are from Venus. What a difference four years make. Four years and a bloody nose in Iraq. Yes, President Bush had some stern words for Iran in his state of the union address this week. But the tone was very different from his state of the union in 2002, soon after the September 11 terrorist attacks, when he arbitrarily hitched together Iraq, Iran and North Korea in an "axis of evil". Now he says "the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons". The world, note, not the United States. But how will the world prevent it? At the moment the only serious answer coming from Washington is multilateral diplomacy, preferably through the UN. Welcome to the Euroweenies club, Mr President! To be sure, the White House insists that the president can never take the military option off the table. But senior administration officials make it entirely clear that Iran is not another Iraq, and military analysts agree that there are no good options for strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, only bad or worse ones. I had the chance last weekend, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, to talk through those options with one of the leading American experts on the military side of the relationship with Iran, Kenneth Pollack. Many people suggest that the US might leave it to Israel to do the dirty work of setting back Iran's nuclear programme with bombing raids. Pollack argues convincingly that this would be extraordinarily difficult for Israel to do, even if it was ready to. Israel has few planes capable of operating effectively at that distance. There are so many possible sites where the mullahs might be hiding their nuclear kit. After the first few strikes you would have lost any element of surprise. Thereafter you would have to take out Iranian air defences before continuing the bombing - a major undertaking. And Iran could retaliate, not least by encouraging Hizbullah to carry out terrorist reprisals against Israel. Since Israeli commanders say what they really fear most from Iran is not the Tehran government possessing a nuclear bomb (they have their own to deter it with) but the unleashing of Hizbullah, these strikes could produce precisely the effect they were intended to avoid. None of this is to say that Israel wouldn't, in the end, do the deed if it felt its own vital security was threatened. But militarily, only the US could do it with any probability of a technical success (by which I mean setting back the programme to produce nuclear weapons for a number of years). However, that technical success would come at a huge price. Given the wide distribution of potential nuclear sites, far beyond the well-known ones at Isfahan and Natanz, it's almost certain there would be collateral damage: in plain English, the killing of innocent civilians. This would produce a wave of patriotic solidarity with the theocratic regime in Iran, even among those young Iranians who are fiercely critical of the mullahs, and another tidal wave of reaction around the world, especially among Muslims. Small wonder that Washington is not keen on it. Four years ago the run-up to Iraq was like a game of American football - swift and explosive. Over Iran we shall see a long, drawn-out game of chess. The board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that begins today will be followed by another in early March, which will almost certainly agree to report Iran to the UN security council. That is what was agreed in a useful meeting between Britain, France, Germany, the US, Russia and China in London earlier this week. Russian and Chinese officials have gone to Tehran to bring home the message to the Iranian government. Jack Straw did the same in a meeting with the Iranian foreign minister yesterday. Even if it goes to the UN, there will probably be more elaborate moves before sanctions are imposed. It's very unclear what sanctions China and Russia would agree to. This Persian chess game is multidimensional and exemplifies the reality of a multipolar world. The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, denounces the assaults of "false superpowers", but the real point is that they are multiple great powers, with diverse interests. Even if they agree sanctions, those may not stop the Iranian regime going ahead, overtly or covertly, with its nuclear programme. Fortunately, nuclear experts reckon that it will take from three to eight years for Iran to reach the point at which it can decide whether to go hell for leather towards the weaponisation of its nuclear capacity. That timetable has a particular significance for US politics. If you wonder why the Bush administration is being so mild and moderate, so more-European-than-the-French, on this issue, a cynic would observe that they know the crunch won't come on their watch. If you ask why both John McCain and Hillary Clinton, two frontrunners to become the next president of the United States, are being so hawkish on this issue, a cynic would observe that they know the crunch probably will come on their watch, after 2009. Meanwhile, we should avoid seeing Iran only through the prism of our attitudes to the United States, as so many Europeans did with Iraq. The truth is that, whatever Washington does or does not do, the world faces a serious problem of nuclear proliferation, and Iran has become a leading test case. The head of the IAEA, the Nobel peace-prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei, said in Davos: "The present system for preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons is at an end, is bankrupt." The nuclear non-proliferation treaty is not adequate to the task and is often honoured only in the breach. The most telling charge against established nuclear powers such as the US and Britain is that of double standards: why is there one rule for you and another for the rest? More acutely still: why is there one rule for Iran but quite another for Israel and India? To say "Oh, that's because they are responsible democracies" raises the question, "Who decides which states are responsible democracies?" And anyway, Pakistan isn't. So whatever we do about Iran, what we need is a new international system for the supervision and inspection of nuclear capacities in every country in the world. It should be explicit, consistent and administered by the nearest thing we have to a world arbiter, the United Nations. In order for it to be credible, established nuclear powers such as Britain and the US will have to submit themselves to the same regime of supervision and inspection as everyone else. "The US will never agree to that!" you exclaim. Well, not under the present leadership and in its current mood. But the American approach to Iran and this week's state of the union address show how much even the Bush administration has changed. In 2009 Washington could change some more. If you want a message of hope in this dark scene, remember Churchill's remark that you can usually rely on the United States to do the right thing - once it has exhausted all the alternatives. [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 17 IRNA: NPT may be constrained on updating nuclear arms, UK admits - Feb. 1, IRNA Britain's Defence Ministry has admitted that the government may face possible constraints to a future decision to be made on whether to replace its submarine-based Trident nuclear weapons due to its international obligations. In a statement newly released by the parliamentary Defence Committee, the ministry said that the most relevant obligation included the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and specifically articles one and four. According to Article One, Britain as one of the five officially declared nuclear-weapon states has undertaken "not to transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly." It is also prohibited "in any way to assist, encourage, or induce any non-nuclear-weapon State to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, or control over such weapons or explosive devices." More specifically under Article Four, the UK is obliged to "pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to the cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament." Its commitment, yet to be kept, also includes pursing "a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control." In its submission to the committee, the first since launching an inquiry into the future of Britain's strategic nuclear deterrent, the Defence Ministry insisted a "number of significant steps" had already been taken in meeting its NPT disarmament obligations. "For example, we have reduced our nuclear capability to a minimum deterrent, represented by a single nuclear- weapons system," it said. Since the end of the Cold War, Britain has claimed to have cut the total explosive power of its nuclear forces by over 70 per cent. "We have also reduced the readiness of our nuclear forces: only a single Trident submarine is now on deterrent patrol, carrying 48 warheads which are de-targeted and are at several days "notice to fire," the ministry said. But its statement made no mention of the implications if the British government, as expected, decides to upgrade its ageing Trident nuclear warheads. The committee's inquiry aimed to inform public debate on the government's forthcoming decision by looking at the "strategic context and the timetable" on a possible replacement for Trident. The Defence Ministry referred to other possible constraints coming from obligations under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, the Hague Code of Conduct, the Missile Technology Control Regime and Nuclear Weapons Free Zones treaties. The UK's current position was that the Trident system would remain in service until 2020 "with some relatively minor upgrading and refurbishment during the first half of the next decade." Prime Minister Tony Blair's government is widely expected to make a formal decision on any replacement during the current parliament because of the lengthy lead-time required. ***************************************************************** 18 IRNA: Larijani: National will decides fate of nuclear case - , Feb 1, IRNA That's national will in Iran that decides fate of the nuclear case, said Secretary of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Larijani here on Wednesday. Addressing a press conference, Larijani said, "The nuclear case does not concern a person, rather the whole officials of the Islamic Republic. Either during tenure of Mr. Khatami (former president) or that of President Ahmadinejad, that's not a person that makes a decision; that's the collective will of all the officials of the Islamic Republic." "You should be confident that in the face of certain mishaps, the officials and nation will not be disheartened. "I consider such ups and downs in politics something natural; we have tolerated yet more difficult conditions but insisted on the demand of the nation." Responding to a reporter who asked if Iran might transfer all its nuclear research to an island in the Persian Gulf to be done under full inspection of IAEA, Larijani said "The problem with peaceful nuclear activities is not island and territory; what's of importance is that all of us should accept that a system and a legal regime would dominate the nuclear activities of all countries. "If we wish to devise a special legal regime for certain countries and provide freedom of action for certain other countries, we will in that case witness anarchy in the international law. "The problem is not principally the soil. It is having a legal regime in the field of peaceful nuclear activities but not applying them to countries which have nuclear weapons but being tough with a country which is only doing nuclear research. The problem is double-standards. "Today, the discussions we had with the Russian and Chinese friends did not concern enrichment in the Russian soil. Today, we had consultations on a solution to Iran's nuclear problem. "You should let the course of diplomacy reach to the extent that would have the potential to emerge in the general diplomatic scene. "I think you guess some components of the second scenario.I believe on some scenarios, actions should be taken and one should not speak a lot on them. "Perhaps sharp eyes can guess what a condition will happen in the second scenario; I do not wish to unveil all the dimensions." Asked about Russian project, Larijani said, "The Russian project is an idea which has the potential to be completed; This means the spacio-temporal conditions and the technical facilities; and principally, such a project can not alone solve Iran's nuclear problem, rather it should be inside a collection of actions and a part of it." Larijani said if Iran's case is referred to the UN Security Council, it is not something with no solution. Russian project can be investigated under ordinary conditions and its timing, place and quality should be negotiated, concluded Larijani. ***************************************************************** 19 IRNA: Iran has made several proposals to European states, Russia, China - Tehran, Feb 1, IRNA Iran-Nuclear Program-Larijani Iran has made several proposals to European states, China and Russia taking into account the considerations of the two parties, Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani said on Wednesday. "If wisdom prevails in the current situation, we will follow them up with our partners. We have considered concerns of the other party," he said. "There is not just one solution in the world of politics. Many solutions we offered so far, but, they did not accept. There are other ways too. "The Europeans should know that they get nowhere with threat. They had better wait until next meeting of IAEA Board of Governors (in March) and see report of IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei and give time to the other ways to be examined," Larijani said. "It is not in the interest of the Western states to escalate the situation," he said. Asked about the Russian proposal, he said, "Iran does not heed propaganda and has only focused on diplomatic efforts. As for the Russian offer, we should see how long the offer can survive. In case of escalation of tension, there is no chance for the Russian offer to survive. "It can survive in a calm situation and can be considered in such a condition." He said that a proposal without giving time for it to survive stands for nothing, every proposal should have a timetable to carry it out. "I acknowledge this matter to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan calling for a timetable for a proposal. However, the doors are open for negotiations and the Europeans would use the open doors." Larijani accused the European diplomats of telling lies and said they multiplied by 10 the 1.5 page report for building bomb and "I ask them how is it possible to build bomb with 1.5 page guidelines." Larijani deplored that European foreign ministers have placed such a lie in a statement of their London meeting. ***************************************************************** 20 AFP: Iran poised to retaliate against UN referral Wed Feb 1, 3:37 PM ET TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran" /> Iranthreatened to retaliate if it is hauled before the UN Security Council over its disputed nuclear program, by kick-starting sensitive fuel cycle work and blocking international inspections. In a barrage of threats on the eve of a key meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also vowed Iran would "continue on the road to victory" and labelled US President George W. Bush" /> President George W. Busha warmonger. Ahead of the meeting, world powers including Russia agreed on a draft resolution asking the International Atomic Energy Agency" /> International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) to report Iran to the Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions. "If Iran's case is referred or reported to the Security Council ... Iran's cooperation will decrease," Iran's top national security official Ali Larijani told a news conference. "The government will be obliged to remove suspensions, which includes industrial-scale enrichment, and it will do so," he said, adding that a massive enrichment plant at Natanz in central Iran was "ready for operation". "Inspections will be restricted," Larijani said of the now three-year-old IAEA investigation into Iran's nuclear activities. Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali-Aghar Soltanieh, said his country would go to full full industrial-level enrichment "and use 50,000 machines" if the referral went ahead. Energy-rich Iran says it only wants to enrich uranium to make reactor fuel to generate electricity, but the process can be extended to make weapons-grade material. Tehran prompted the latest crisis in the long-running standoff with the West by resuming enrichment research on January 10. Its warnings came as world powers including Russia agreed on a draft IAEA resolution to be considered by the Vienna-based agency's 35-nation board on Thursday. The five permanent Security Council members plus Germany agreed in London on Tuesday to bring Iran before the Council, but, in a compromise with Russia, put off UN action until at least the next IAEA meeting in March. The draft resolution was edited Tuesday and Wednesday, with Russia insisting on deleting any reference to specific IAEA statutes that would authorize punitive measures by the United Nations" /> United Nations, a diplomat in Vienna said. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Iran should "see this agreed position by the leaders of the international community not as a threat but as ... a final opportunity for Iran to put itself back on track." The IAEA draft says it is "necessary" for Iran to "re-establish full and sustained suspension of all enrichment-related activities and reprocessing activities, including research and development." Bush, in a telephone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin" /> Vladimir Putinon Wednesday, renewed his support for a compromise proposal from Moscow, the White House said. Under the plan, Russia would safeguard spent nuclear fuel in an effort to ensure that Iran does not develop atomic weapons. Iran has blown hot and cold over the Russia proposal and insists it has the right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Larijani said Iran "does not see any rationale to stop nuclear fuel research, even for one day". "Those who possess stocks of nuclear arms meet together and take decisions and think that the Iranian people will submit to their decisions," Ahmadinejad fumed earlier in a speech in the south of the country. He also lashed out at Bush, who in his State of the Union address Tuesday branded the Islamic republic "a nation now held hostage by a small clerical elite that is isolating and repressing its people." "You who support the Zionist puppet regime, you who support the destruction of Palestinian homes, you have no right to talk about liberty or human rights," shouted Ahmadinejad. "God willing, in the near future we will judge you in a people's tribunal," he said of Bush. Larijani also appeared to be bracing for an escalation of the crisis, saying Iran was no longer even insisting on having more time for negotiation "because we have prepared ourselves for another scenario." He said his talks Wednesday with Russian and Chinese deputy foreign ministers also failed to bear fruit: "They had a point of view on solving the issue, but we had a different point of view." Russia told Iran it must cooperate with the IAEA in order to alleviate international suspicions about its nuclear program, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported. "Our friendly advice to our Iranian colleagues remains the same -- cooperation with the IAEA on the basis of the board of directors' resolution," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said after meeting Larijani. Iran claims it is cooperating fully with an IAEA investigation, although the latest IAEA report shows Tehran refusing to give agency inspectors all the information or interviews they want. Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 21 IRNA: Civilian use of nuclear energy has become a national resolve - Tehran, Feb 1, IRNA Iran-Nuclear Program-Larijani Producing nuclear energy for civilian purpose has become a national resolve and the Europeans had better stand by Iran in development projects and not stand against national resolve, Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani said on Wednesday. He told reporters that Iran will never opt out of Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) since it both calls for disarmament of nuclear arms and obliges International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to help the developing nations acquire nuclear technology for welfare and economic development. Asked about the visit of Russian and Chinese diplomats to Iran, he said, "The Chinese and Russians friends came to Iran. We held talks with them. They put forward their views to remove the deadlock. We also offered our views and asked them to convey our views to their leaders. We thanked them for looking for a way-out of the current situation and that's all." Responding to a question whether or not Iran may stop research studies for a single day, he said that there is no wisdom in halting research studies when the UN nuclear agency boosted inspections on Iranian nuclear sites and Iran is currently enforcing the Safeguards Agreement of IAEA. "If they could convince us, we will stop research studies for 10 days, but, there is no wisdom for such a demand from a member state to stop research studies." A reporter asked whether IAEA Board of Governors will follow the lead of the six European states calling for reporting Iran nuclear program to UN Security Council, Larijani said that the six states have damaged the prestige of IAEA Board of Governors with their statement ahead of the Board meeting. "It is not right from a legal point of view to assign IAEA Board of Governors to report Iran case to Security Council. The member states have the right to put forward their views to Board of Governors not to order them to do this or that," Larijani said. He said that reporting Iran to Security or referring it to the body are the same and Iranian parliament has required the government to suspend all voluntary actions that Iran has taken for confidence building. Reporting Iranian case to UN Security Council will force Iran to suspend implementation of Additional Protocol to NPT, said Larijani. "Reporting Iranian case to UN Security Council will also force Iran to repeal its commitment to Safeguards Agreement of IAEA according to which cameras of UN nuclear agency have been installed on all nuclear sites monitoring them," he added. ***************************************************************** 22 IRNA: Draft resolution on the implementation of the NPT safeguards agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran Vienna, Feb 1, IRNA Iran-Nuclear-IAEA A draft resolution of the IAEA Board of Governors was prepared in a London meeting by diplomats of the 5+1 on the implementation of the NPT safeguards agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The full text is as follows: a) Recalling all the resolutions adopted by the Board on Iran's nuclear program. b) Also recalling the Director General's report of 6 June 2003 (GOV/2003/04), 26 August 2003 (GOV/2003,63), 10 November 2003 (GOV/2003/75), 24 February 2004 (GOV/2004/11), 1 June 2004 (GOV/2004/34) and Corr. I dated 18 June 2004, I September 2004 (GOV/2004/60), 15 November 2004 (GOV/2004/83), I August 2005 (INFCIRC/648), 8 August 2005 (GOV/2005/61), 10 August 2005 (GOV/2005/62), 2 September 2005 (GOV/2005/67) and 18 November 2005 (GOV/2005/87). c) Recalling that article IV of the treaty on the Non- Proliferation of nuclear weapons stipulated that nothing in the treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable rights of all the parties to the treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with Articles I and II of the treaty. d) Commending the Director General and the Secretariat for their professional and impartial efforts to implement the Safeguards Agreement in Iran, to resolve outstanding safeguards issues in Iran and to verify the implementation by Iran of the suspension. e) Recalling that in its resolution of 24 September 2005 the Board found that: Iran's many failures and breaches of its obligations to comply with its NPT Safeguards Agreement, as detailed in GOV/2003/75, constitute non-compliance in the context of Article XII.C of the Agency Status; The history of concealment of Iran's nuclear activities, the nature of those activities, issues brought to light in the course of the Agency's verification of declarations made by Iran since September 2002 and the resulting absence of confidence that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes have given rise to questions that are within the competence of the Security Council, as the organ bearing the main responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security; and decided to address the timing and content of the report required under Article XII.C and the notification required under Article iii.B.4 of the Agency's Statute at a later date. f) Noting that, as reported by the Director General, after nearly three years of intensive verification activity, the Agency is not yet in a position to clarify some important issues relating to Iran's nuclear program or to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran. g) Recalling that the Director General has stated that Iran's full transparency is indispensable and overdue for the Agency to be able to clarify outstanding issues (GOV/2005/67). h) Recalling the requests of the Agency for Iran's cooperation in following up on reports relating to equipment, materials and activities which have applications in the conventional military area and in the civilian sphere as well as in the nuclear military area (as indicated by the Director General in GOV/2005/67), i) Recalling that in November 2005 the Director General reported (GOV/2005/87) that Iran possesses a document related to the procedural requirements for the reduction of UF6 to metal in small quantities, and on the casting and machining of enriched, natural and depleted uranium metal into hemispherical forms. j) Expressing serious concerns about Iran's nuclear program, and agreeing that an extensive period of confidence-building is required from Iran. k) Reaffirming the Board's resolve to continue to work for a diplomatic solution to the issues raised in this and previous resolutions. 1. Underlines that outstanding questions can best be resolved and confidence built in the exclusive peaceful nature of Iran's program by Iran responding positively to the calls for confidence building measures which the Board has made on Iran, and in this context deems it necessary for Iran to: - Re-establish full and sustained suspension of all enrichment-related activities, including research and development, to be verified by the Agency; - Reconsider the construction of a research reactor moderated by heavy water; - Ratify promptly and implement in full the additional protocol; - Pending ratification, continue to act in accordance with the provisions of the additional protocol which Iran signed on 18 December 2003, - Implement transparency measures, as requested by the Director General, including in GOV/2005/67, which extend beyond the formal requirements of the safeguards agreement and additional protocol, and include such access to individuals; Documentation relating to procurement, dual-use equipment, certain military-owned workshops and research and development as the agency may request in support of its ongoing investigations. 2. Requests the Director General to report to the Security Council of the United Nations that these parts are required of Iran by the Board and to transmit to the Security Council copies of this and all previous resolutions as adopted on the implementation of Iran's NPT Safeguards Agreement, as well as copies of all relevant reports to the Board; 3. Express serious concern that the Agency is not yet in a position to clarify some important issues relating to Iran's nuclear program, including the fact that Iran has in its possession a document on the production of uranium metal hemispheres, since this process is related to the fabrication of nuclear weapon components; and request Iran to maintain this document under Agency seal and to provide a full copy to the Agency; 4. Deeply regrets that, despite repeated calls from the Board for the maintaining of the suspension of all enrichment related and reprocessing activities which the Board has declared essential to addressing outstanding issues, Iran resumed uranium conversion activities at its Isfahan facility on 8 August 2005 and took steps to resume enrichment activities on 10 January 2006; 5. Calls on Iran to understand that the Board lacks confidence in its intentions in seeking to develop a fissile material production capability against the background of Iran's record on safeguards as recorded in previous resolutions, and unresolved question that, inter alia, make the Agency unable to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran; and to reconsider its position both in relation to confidence-building measures and in relation to negotiations that can result in increased confidence; 6. Requests Iran to extend full and prompt cooperation to the Agency, which the Director General deems indispensable and overdue, and in particular to help the Agency clarify possible activities which could have a military nuclear dimension; 7. Requests the Director General to continue with his efforts to implement the Agency's Safeguards Agreement with Iran, to implement the Additional Protocol to the Agreement pending its entry into force, with a view to providing credible assurances regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and to pursue additional transparency measures required for the Agency to be able to resolve outstanding issues and reconstruct the history and nature of all aspects of Iran's past nuclear activities; 8. Requests the Director General to report to the next regular session of the Board on the implementation of this and previous resolutions and convey to the Security Council that report together with any resolution from the March Board. 9. Decides to remain seized of the matter. ***************************************************************** 23 AFP: Indian PM hopes Iran nuclear issue can be solved by diplomacy - Thursday February 2, 02:02 AM NEW DELHI (AFP) - India hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough over Iran's nuclear program instead of referral to the United Nations Security Council, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. "I still believe that this is a matter that should be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue," Singh told a press conference on Wednesday. The foreign ministers of the five permanent Security Council members agreed in London Monday to haul Iran's case to New York after the country resumed sensitive nuclear fuel research and deepened fears it could acquire the atom bomb. A referral is likely to come during an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board of governors beginning Thursday. Singh declined to specify India's stand on a possible Security Council referral, saying it would review the issue in the "national interest." Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Wednesday Iran would resume industrial-scale uranium enrichment if the dispute over its nuclear programme was referred to the Security Council. India and Pakistan have been in long-running negotiations with Iran for a 2,600-kilometre (1,600-mile) pipeline costing more than seven billion dollars. Iran, which has the world's second-biggest natural gas reserves, has said it hopes to conclude a deal by June 2006. India has said construction of the pipeline should start in 2007 and be operational by 2011, but the United States has said a gas pipeline deal with Iran could further strain relations. US ambassador to India David Mulford created a storm last week by saying in an interview that India could lose out on a historic nuclear deal with the United States if did not vote against Iran at the IAEA meeting. Mulford said the US Congress could scuttle the deal, which allows New Delhi access to civilian nuclear technology, if India fails to back the United States on Iran. The deal with Washington requires India to separate its civilian and nuclear facilities and place the former under international inspection. "I do not wish to comment on the comments of the ambassador," Singh said. "The basic objective of our foreign policy as well as our domestic policy is to promote our enlightened national interest. We will not, we have not worked under any type of pressures. And therefore these pressures cannot detract us from following the path that is in our national interest," he said. However, he added, he would brief the nation on which nuclear facilities India will declare civilian and which military. Analysts fear that placing too many facilities under civilian control could effectively cap India's atomic weapons program. US President George Bush is slated to visit India in early March. "President Bush will be our honoured guest and his visit will give us an opportunity to review the state of our relations," Singh said. Copyright © 2006 AFP. All rights reserved. All information ***************************************************************** 24 IRNA: Iran says threats will never weaken Iranian nation's will Feb 1, IRNA -- Iran on Wednesday said threats will never weaken the will of the Iranian nation and government to follow up their legal rights within the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Iran's Foreign Ministry issued a statement in reaction to a Tuesday decision by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to the effect that the Thursday meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should report Iran to the UNSC over its nuclear program. "Iran believes it is possible to patch up differences of views and give response to questions on the country's peaceful nuclear plan in a peaceful manner with no pressures and threats through negotiations and that the sides can still continue their confidence-building measures through logic and understanding. "It is a regret that countries possessing the biggest arsenals of nuclear weapons are developing and producing new and more complicated weapons instead of building confidence and sticking to the NPT rules. This is while they use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states. "These states intend to maintain their monopoly on nuclear technology. They intend to deprive other nations of their legal right to use peaceful nuclear energy by misusing international organizations," the statement said. It added, "These moves have caused the international community to mistrust non-nuclear governments." "While the Islamic Republic of Iran did its utmost to have extensive cooperation with the IAEA during the past two and a half years, five nuclear member states of the UNSC issued a completely political statement which run counter to international regulations." The statement said, "It is regrettable the governments which claim to have a civilization, threaten a nation with reporting it to the Security Council because of its research and progress. "It is very surprising that while all nuclear activities of Iran are being carried out under the IAEA supervision and under conditions that the agency has been given the highest opportunity to inspect nuclear sites, certain governments intend to stop such a trend by reporting the country to the UNSC and cause serious problems for continuation of Iran's voluntary measures. "In that case, based on a ratification passed by Majlis (parliament), the Iranian government will be obliged to suspend all its voluntary cooperation." The ministry also stressed, "The statement by Group 5+1 had no legal base and ran counter to the NPT and the IAEA articles of association. "These measures will bear no fruit other than discrediting the IAEA and weakening the role of international accords. "The imperative tone of the 5+1 statement violated technical and legal independence of the agency and will harm the rights of member states of the IAEA's Board of Governors and even other members of the Security Council. "It showed that a small group of big powers intend to rule the world against the will and determination of nations, governments and the international community." ***************************************************************** 25 IRNA: Greens say Iran has right to nuclear energy - Irna , Feb 1, IRNA The leader of the fourth-largest political group in the European Parliament Wednesday criticized the European Union's policy towards Iran's nuclear programme as "immoral." "Iran has a right to security of energy supply. I am not in favour of nuclear energy as a Green, but we cant' depend on nuclear energy ourselves and then turn around and tell Iranians you cannot have it. Its immoral,'' Daniel Cohn-Bendit, leader of the Greens European Free Alliance told the European Parliament in Brussels this afternoon during a debate on the Middle East. "Yes, we have to say no to nuclear weapons, but at the same time we have to ensure that Iran has the security because it is one of the big issues since Iraq attacked Iran,'' he added. Meanwhile, Angelika Beer MEP (Greens/EFA) member of the EP's Foreign Affairs Committee and Chairperson of its delegation to Iran, commenting on the decision of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to refer the dispute about Iran's nuclear program to the UN Security Council said "threats of sanctions would only have led to a further escalation. " "It is now time to take advantage of the period running up to 6 March and the IAEA report to pursue further negotiations. All parties concerned should now focus on reaching a compromise that is acceptable to all concerned,'' she said in a statement. "Any further threat of sanctions or even military strikes would represent a further unnecessary stumbling block on the road to a peaceful solution," added Beer who represents the German Greens. With 42 members the Greens/EFA is the fourth largest political group in the 732-member EP. ***************************************************************** 26 Guardian Unlimited: Bush Said Toning Down N. Korea Criticism From the Associated Press [UP] Wednesday February 1, 2006 10:01 AM AP Photo CAP231 By ERIC TALMADGE Associated Press Writer TOKYO (AP) - President Bush appeared to tone down his criticism of North Korea and his concerns over the growing competitiveness of China and India in his State of the Union address, experts in Asia said Wednesday. But the speech, in which Bush had harsh words for Iran and the militant Palestinian group Hamas, raised concerns in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, over U.S. plans for Iraq. Bush singled out Iran and North Korea as examples of countries with repressive governments - along with Syria, Myanmar and Zimbabwe - and said that while much of the world now lives under democracy, ``we do not forget the other half.'' He further chided Iran, saying it was ``held hostage by a small clerical elite that is isolating and repressing its people.'' But while Bush vowed the United States would continue to lead the fight to spread democracy, experts said his comments on foreign issues were relatively broad and were not expected to generate many waves, at least not in Asia. Bush made a single mention of North Korea in his speech among a list of countries lacking democracy. He didn't go into any detail on the stalemate in the dispute over the North's nuclear ambitions. ``I believe that the U.S. position on North Korea will remain unchanged,'' Paik Hak-soon, a research fellow at South Korea's Sejong Institute, said after the speech. Peter Beck, director for Northeast Asia at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said that Bush appeared to be more restrained about North Korea than he has in the past. Four years ago, Bush branded North Korea as part of an ``axis of evil'' including Iran and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Bush's remarks on China were also relatively soft, urging Americans to boost their competitiveness in response to a rising China instead of criticizing Beijing for unfair trade practices as his administration frequently does. ``The American economy is pre-eminent but we cannot afford to be complacent,'' he said. ``In a dynamic world economy, we are seeing new competitors like China and India.'' China has sought to portray its rapid economic rise as a benefit to world markets and a cooperative member of the global trading community. Washington, meanwhile, complains about China's rampant product piracy and the cheap Chinese textiles that flooded the United States after global textile quotas expired at the beginning of last year. Beijing is also under pressure from Washington and other trading partners to let its currency rise. They complain that the government-controlled exchange rate is too low, giving Chinese exporters an unfair price advantage and hurting foreign competitors. Bush did not delve into that issue in his speech. In Jakarta, however, Indonesia's foreign minister said the speech raised doubts about Washington's policy in Iraq. ``We do not see an exit strategy about when and how the U.S. will withdraw from Iraq,'' Hassan Wirajuda said when asked to comment on the address. ``Before a total victory, America will not withdraw. We see this as a dilemma for them.'' In the speech, Bush rejected calls for an early troop withdrawal from Iraq, saying he had a ``clear plan for victory.'' Indonesia opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Bush's comments were expected to raise more of a response in the Middle East. Bush said Iran must stop sponsoring terrorists in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon and ``defying the world with its nuclear ambitions,'' which ``the world must not permit.'' His speech came less than a week after Hamas, which the United States considers a terrorist organization, won parliamentary elections. Bush noted the election in his speech: ``Now the leaders of Hamas must recognize Israel, disarm, reject terrorism, and work for lasting peace.'' Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 27 DYO: Missiles, abductees, money / Bilateral talks with North Korea to confront major issues DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE The Yomiuri Shimbun The government is set to urge North Korea to disclose information on the country's ballistic missile development and deployment and to continue its moratorium on missile launch experiments at bilateral talks next week, sources said. At the talks, scheduled to start Saturday in Beijing, Japan also will insist on North Korea returning to the six-party talks over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons development and to uncover the truth concerning its abduction of Japanese as well as addressing the nation's alleged abduction of a Thai woman. Japan is set to negotiate with North Korea about possible diplomatic normalization and economic cooperation, which the government considers possible only when the abduction and security issues are properly addressed by North Korea. The upcoming talks will be the first time the two countries will discuss the abduction issue, the normalization of diplomatic ties--which includes ways to settle issues pending between the two countries--and security matters, such as North Korea's nuclear development and missile experiments at the same talks. It also will be the first normalization talks between the two nations since October 2002. The government aims to make sure North Korea will continue its moratorium on missile tests, which North Korea promised in the 2002 Japan-North Korean Pyongyang Declaration, under which North Korea promised to maintain its moratorium beyond 2003. Japan will urge North Korea to attend the six-party talks, which have been suspended since November 2005, as North Korea refused to join the talks after the United States imposed financial sanctions on a Macau bank that allegedly laundered money for a North Korean company. The government also will demand that North Korea return Japanese abductees and hand over Sin Guang Su and other North Korean agents suspected of having abducted Japanese nationals. The government also will urge North Korea to present information on Japanese who are suspected of having been kidnapped by Pyongyang. Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe on Tuesday told Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak that Japan would bring up the issue of a Thai woman whom former abductee Hitomi Soga's husband Charles Jenkins said was abducted by North Korea. "It's important for Japan and Thailand to cooperate in the abduction issue to solve the problem," Abe reportedly told Somkid. Somkid reportedly thanked Japan for the cooperation and information given to Thailand on the abduction issue. Japan will maintain the policy that there will be no normalization of ties with North Korea without solving the abduction issue. The government will negotiate with North Korea regarding economic cooperation while watching how North Korea handles the abduction, nuclear and missile issues. North Korea is expected to put priority on normalization of relations at the upcoming bilateral talks, but Japan is determined to promote talks on all three issues at the same time. (Feb. 2, 2006) © The Yomiuri Shimbun. ***************************************************************** 28 People's Daily: Indonesia to send envoy to DPRK for nuclear dispute settlement UPDATED: 18:46, February 01, 2006 Indonesiawould send a special envoy to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), in an effort to ask the country to hold bilaterally discussions with South Korea about the nuclear crisis on the Korea Peninsular in Indonesia this year, the Indonesian foreign minister said Wednesday. Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said that Indonesia would send senior diplomat, Nana Sutresna, former Indonesian ambassador to the United Kingdom, to the DPRK in the near future. "We will send a special envoy, We still look for the time, hopefully in the next few days," he told Xinhua at the State Palace here. Last month, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesia had met the request of South Korea to facilitate the meeting of the defense ministers of South Korea and the DPRK. According ot Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono, Indonesia will host the meeting of the two countries later this year. Indonesia supported the efforts to realize peace on the Korea Peninsula, he added. Juwono said that the planned-meeting would be the third channel for the settlement of the nuclear crisis on the Korea Peninsula. The six parties talks involving China, South Korea, DPRK, Japan, the United Stated and Russia, have been an official channel to dissolve the problem, and the meeting of members of separated families of the two countries between 1953 to 1954 has been another informal channel. South Korean Defense Minister Yoon Kwang Ung said earlier that Indonesia is of strategic importance in playing a role to bring the two countries to peace talks. Indonesia has played important roles in efforts to mitigate tension on the peninsula, and has sent its special envoys to encouraage the two parties to settle the conflict by peace talks. Source: Xinhua Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 29 Las Vegas SUN: Tax break for Nevada energy Today: February 01, 2006 at 8:37:22 PST Bush's power initiative leaves some big questions for state By Benjamin Grove Sun Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Tuesday offered tidbits of good news for renewable energy advocates, but he left unanswered the central question for those who want Nevada to become a hotbed of solar, wind and geothermal power. As in past years, Bush's State of the Union address included a call for less dependence on foreign oil. "The best way to break this addiction is through technology," Bush said. The president announced the creation of a new program, the Advanced Energy Initiative, as well as a 22 percent increase in clean-energy research at the Energy Department. Bush urged the nation to continue development of hydrogen fuel cells for cars, and he promised more federal research into alternative fuels, such as ethanol made from weeds or wood chips. And Bush is expected to ask Congress for $44 million a $5 million increase for wind energy research as part of the 2007 fiscal year budget proposal he will send Congress next week. Bush also is expected to ask Congress to increase spending for solar power research and development by $65 million to $148 million, primarily to accelerate development of solar photovoltaic cells that can be used in building "zero energy" homes. "We're thrilled," said Rhone Resch, Solar Energy Industries Association president. He said it was the first State of the Union address in 25 years to urge development of solar power. "This reverses a trend of decreases in (research and development). It shows that solar plays an important role in our energy mix." But Bush did not answer a question vital to the renewable energy industry: Will the White House push Congress to renew a production tax credit for new alternative energy plants? Congress extended the tax credits last year through Jan. 1, 2008. But many projects are stalled because investors are not certain that the plants can be completed and operating before that date. Those include about a dozen, mostly geothermal or wind powered, in Nevada, said Rebecca Wagner, Gov. Kenny Guinn's energy adviser. "That can make or break a project just that uncertainty," Wagner said. "It's frustrating because it feels like Nevada is on the cusp of an explosion of resources, particularly wind and geothermal." The credits are vital because renewable projects cost more to develop than natural gas plants as much as three to four times more for geothermal, said Karl Gawell, Geothermal Energy Association executive director. "The big question everyone has is: What is the long-term policy?" Gawell said. Developers are pursuing projects on 11 of 63 potential Nevada sites for geothermal plants, which mine heat from deep underground to produce electricity. Nevada's 14 existing geothermal plants produce roughly 240 megawatts, which amounts to 9 percent of North-ern Nevada's electricity, accord-ing to the Energy Department. Nevada is considered an ideal state for solar, wind and geothermal power development. Law-makers have said the projects could bring much-needed jobs to rural areas. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has called Nevada "the Saudi Arabia of geothermal energy." But the state is not on target to meet a goal the Nevada Leg-islature set last year: 20 percent of energy produced by renew-able sources by 2015. Solar and wind projects have been stalled by financial and technical problems. Some analysts have said the electric utility's low bond rating made developers wary. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said he was open to extending renewable production tax cred-its. "I think we're going to take a look at all the options. Everything is on the table." Reps Jim Gibbons and Jon Porter, both R-Nev., said they supported extending the tax credit. "Nevada is the flagship for renewable energy in the country, if not the world," Porter said. Gibbons suggested a five-year extension. "That's the way we get companies to invest in this technology and make it competitive with others sources of energy," Gibbons said. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said she favored extending the tax credit and finding other ways to spur renewable development. But she chided Bush for pursuing renewable initiatives now, after Congress last year approved an energy bill that was full of tax breaks for oil, gas and nuclear companies. Benjamin Grove can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or at grove@lasvegassun.com. All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 30 UN: ANNAN WARNS AGAINST LURCHING 'FROM CRISIS TO CRISIS' ON NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION New York, Feb 1 2006 1:00AM With the international spotlight shining on Tehran's atomic ambitions, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appealed for a long-term and visionary approach to the problem of nuclear arms proliferation. "Today's headlines concern Iran -- rightly so, for basic treaty obligations and commitments are at stake," he said in London on Tuesday evening, stressing that for signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the right to develop nuclear energy is conditional on the obligation not to build or acquire nuclear weapons, and to comply with standards set and monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). "But when we step back from the headlines, it should be clear that we cannot continue to lurch from crisis to crisis, until the regime is buried beneath a cascade of nuclear proliferation," he told an audience at the United Nations Association of the United Kingdom at Central Hall in Westminster. He lamented missed opportunities to strengthen the foundations of the NPT regime, by agreeing on more robust IAEA inspections, saying: "We cannot afford any more such squandered chances." In a question and answer session that followed, Mr. Annan was asked to reflect on his term as Secretary-General. "You cannot do this kind of job for as long as I have done in the world we live in and not have regrets," he replied bluntly. "I do have regrets. I regret that I was unable to breach the divisions amongst member States over the Iraq war. The divisions are still there. They are healing, but I was really deeply disappointed that I could not help bridge the differences," he added. The Secretary-General also brought up the Iraq Oil-for-Food Programme, voicing regret that he had not paid attention to problems it faced sooner. "Whether I would have been able to deal with it or not, given the way it was set up and the responsibility centres were distributed," remains an open question, "bu attention to the difficulties in that." The UN has also been hurt by "politically-motivated campaigns against the UN" in which "instances of corruption by staff members (are) blown completely out of proportion." He pointed out that after a $36 million investigation, "and the kind of scrubbing the UN was given," only one staff member was found to maybe have taken some $150,000 out of a $64 billion programme. "If there was a scandal, it was with the companies and not so much with UN individuals," he said. "There may have been instances of mismanagement, yes, maybe we didn't manage it effectively, but not corruption." The Secretary-General said these accusations have been harmful. "We have very serious dedicated staff members who give their all, who go to places around the world to serve the needy, they serve in places that governments do not dare send their soldiers and I think they deserve a little bit of thanks and a bit more respect than the badgering" they get, he said. Among his proudest accomplishments, Mr. Annan cited broadening the constituency of the UN, "reminding the public and the members that they should not be only an organization of governments talking to each other, that we needed to bring in the peoples, we needed to work with NGOs (non-governmental organizations), with the private sector, foundations." He also hailed the broader definition of security now prevailing. "Today we consider poverty, infectious diseases and environmental degradation a threat, along with terrorism, along with weapons of mass destruction." This is critical in a world where concerns vary. "Depending on where you live and where you stand, your perception of threat is quite different. I live in America and if you were to ask me because of the way the press plays it and the speeches you hear, I would probably tell you terrorism is the most important threat. But if I go to South Africa, they would probably tell me HIV/AIDS. Someone else will tell me hunger. And if I lived on a small island, which could be washed away th warming, I would tell you it is environmental degradation and climate. "So, we have really opened up a debate and I think intellectually it was quite an achievement to get the Member States to walk away with that understanding." 2006-02-01 00:00:00.000 ________________ For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news To change your profile or unsubscribe go to: http://www.un.org/news/dh/latest/subscribe.shtml ***************************************************************** 31 Hindu News: India will maintain credible minimum nuclear deterrent - PM Wednesday, February 1, 2006 : 1830 Hrs New Delhi, Feb. 1 (PTI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, today said India would maintain a credible minimum nuclear deterrent and would not yield to any pressure. "There is no question of bending ... We have clear objectives .. we will maintain a critical minimum deterrent and there is no question about that", he told a press conference here. He said the government was very keen to have international cooperation to "promote trade in nuclear materials so that nuclear security gets an added cutting edge". Singh referred to the ongoing negotiations with the Nuclear Suppliers Group but did not furnish any details on the talks. He, however, made an assurance that the country would be "fully involved through Parliament" on the matter. "There will be complete transparency ... I will take the first opportunity" to make a statement in Parliament on India's negotiations with the United States on the issue. Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. ***************************************************************** 32 Moscow Times: Kiriyenko Says Russia Needs Another 40 Nuclear Reactors Thursday, February 2, 2006. Issue 3344. Page 5. Vladimir Isachenkov The Associated Press Mike Solovyanov / MT Atomic energy chief Sergei Kiriyenko Russia's atomic energy chief said Wednesday that the nation needs to build dozens of nuclear reactors in a massive effort that would require restoring production links with related facilities in other ex-Soviet nations. Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency, said Russia needed to build about 40 new nuclear reactors in order to bring the share of nuclear energy in the nation's energy balance to 25 percent, news agencies reported. Nuclear power now accounts for 16 to 17 percent of the country's electricity generation. "We need to build two nuclear reactors per year beginning in 2011 or 2012," to achieve the goal, Kiriyenko said in the Siberian city of Zheleznogorsk, site of a major nuclear waste storage facility. Russia has 31 nuclear reactors and plans to open three new commercial nuclear reactors over the next five years and to upgrade existing ones. In recent years, Russia has overcome a public backlash against nuclear power that followed the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and the government has supported an ambitious program to develop its nuclear industry. Kiriyenko also said Russia would need to restore production ties with nuclear-related industries in other ex-Soviet states, which once were run by the obliquely named Soviet Medium Machine-Building Ministry. "We need to use the resources of the Medium Machine-Building Ministry left in other ex-Soviet nations to the maximum extent possible," he said. While major nuclear-related industrial facilities are located in Russia, Kazakhstan is home to key uranium mining facilities and Ukraine manufactures turbines for nuclear power plants. Kiriyenko also said Wednesday that the state-controlled Rosenergoatom, the agency in charge of nuclear power plants, will be transformed into a joint-stock company within a year, but will remain fully state-owned. "There will be no private owners," he said. Kiriyenko also said Russia would charge a higher price for importing nuclear waste from foreign nations. "We need a clear and transparent price policy on imports and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel," he said. "I can't say how much the prices will increase, but they will rise." Zheleznogorsk now has storage for 6,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel from Soviet-built reactor in Russia and abroad. It is set to be expanded to hold another 38,000 tons of waste by 2009. Kiriyenko said that the Zheleznogorsk facility could become an international center for storage and reprocessing of nuclear waste. © Copyright 2006 The Moscow Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 33 Sydney Morning Herald: ALP won't pursue nuclear power - Beazley - - smh.com.au February 1, 2006 - 3:20PM Australia does not need nuclear power and a Labor government would not go down that path, Opposition Leader Kim Beazley has said. The Labor Party has been split on the issue of whether to pursue nuclear power as a response to finite coal resources and global warming brought about by the burning of fossil fuels. Last year, former NSW premier Bob Carr called for a national debate on the issue and Labor's resources spokesman Martin Ferguson has backed the idea. But Mr Beazley ruled out the need to go nuclear. "Australia does not need nuclear power and I would not advocate it in government," he said in an address to the National Press Club in Canberra. He said Australia's neighbours would view such a move with suspicion, which could ultimately be dangerous for the country. "We have alternatives, it's very expensive, and quite frankly when any nations ... look at the possibility of developing nuclear power, they raise immediately a suspicion in the minds of their neighbours that they intend to utilise it for non-civil purposes, they intend to utilise it for military purposes," Mr Beazley said. "Were Australia to become a nuclear power, many nations in our region would think that, irrespective of anything we said about it, and act accordingly and, in acting accordingly, impose dangers on us." Mr Beazley said Australia should develop an emissions trading scheme and sign up to the multinational Kyoto Protocol, which imposes greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. He supported the government's Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate which aims to reduce emissions through technological changes, but said it could not act as a substitute for Kyoto. "I don't sneer at the Asia-Pacific climate change council or group. "If they can come up with some decent technologies that's good, but they're not an alternative to Kyoto, not by any means." Mr Beazley said he would release Labor's blueprint for tackling climate change in the next two months. © 2006 AAP | Copyright © 2006. The Sydney Morning Herald. All content © Copyright 2002 - 2006 WorldNow and KVIA. ***************************************************************** 59 Corvallis Gazette-Times: Expert: Reuse nuclear waste [gazettetimes.com] Last modified Tuesday, January 31, 2006 10:29 PM PST By Mary Ann Albright Gazette-Times reporter OSU professor would like to see the states adopt an open cycle When Oregon State Universitys Qiao Wu visited France last summer, he was impressed by the nations nuclear energy recycling processes. The United States runs its nuclear reactors on a closed cycle, storing the nuclear waste in contained repositories. The French use an open cycle, processing and recycling the spent fuel. Wu, an associate professor in OSUs department of nuclear engineering and radiation health physics, would like to see the United States adopt policies similar to the French. To learn more about nuclear energy in France, Wu and others attended guest speaker Regis Babinets presentation Tuesday afternoon on campus. Babinet serves as the counselor for nuclear energy in the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. He has spent most of his career with the French Atomic Energy Commission, where he began as a nuclear physicist in 1968. In France, 58 nuclear reactors produce 78 percent of the nations electricity, Babinet said. The nation began its big push toward nuclear energy in 1975, looking for an alternative to its diminishing coal supply. We have a joke in France, ‘No coal, no oil, no gas, no choice. But I dont like that joke. I think we have a very good choice — nuclear, Babinet said. Nuclear plants dont emit carbon dioxide, so they dont contribute to the greenhouse effect and global warming. They also provide energy independence, because they dont rely on imported fossil fuels. Concerned about energy security and nuclear weapons, the United States doesnt reprocess spent fuel from its 104 nuclear plants, which produce 20 percent of the nations electricity. France takes a green approach and recycles most of its nuclear byproduct, he said. Only 4 percent of spent nuclear fuel is unusable waste. The remaining 96 percent (mostly uranium, with a small percentage of plutonium) can be reprocessed and recycled, significantly reducing the amount and decomposition time of toxic waste stored in nuclear repositories. Wu said he believes this environmentally friendly effort is an affordable option for the United States. His French colleagues said reprocessing spent fuel adds only 6 percent to the total cost of nuclear energy production. With the high prices of fossil fuels, and concerns about global warming, Wu said nuclear fuel reprocessing is worth the time and expense. Like Wu and Babinet, Jose Reyes too would like to see the United States follow Frances lead in reusing spent nuclear fuel. Reyes, head of OSUs department of nuclear engineering and radiation health physics, said the closed-cycle process has some definite long-term advantages. In addition to reducing the ultimate amount of radioactive waste stored, separating the reusable fuels would allow scientists to remove medical isotopes to use in radiation therapy, he said. Reyes also appreciated how France has nuclear research centers, rather than waste facilities, a testament to the countrys creative approach to sustainable energy. Mary Ann Albright covers higher education. She can be reached at maryann.albright@lee.netor 758-9518. ***************************************************************** 60 hendersondispatch.com: Don't let N.C. become a Yankee dump 2006/02/01 To the editor: The Oct. 23rd News & Observer article titled "N.C. set to become Yankee dump" stated that "five giant landfills proposed in rural eastern and Piedmont counties could make North Carolina a new destination for out-of-state trash and one of the nation's top dumping grounds." The verb "set" in the headline suggests th e decision concerning the establish ment of a waste management infrastructure via a proliferation of landfills may be a fait accompli, implicitly raising the question concerning the significance of public sentiment in the decision-making process. Although the significance of public sentiment, the expression of the will of the people, is the very cornerstone of democracy, the Hunt administration's Waste Management Act of 1981 authorized state government to determine the location of toxic, hazardous, and nuc lear waste facilities bef ore public hearings, to preempt local sovereignty rights of the targeted communities, and to therefore preempt the significance of their public sentiments along with their civil rights, and to site by force if necessary. The Hunt administration's statement in the Warren Record, December 1978, that public sentiment would not deter the state from building a PCB landfill in Warren County put the county on alert and led eventually to the environmental jus tice movement of the 1980s. EPA has stated pu blicly that all landfills will eventually leak (the consensus of the scientific community). The conceptual engineering design promised for Warren County was to be a "dry-tomb" landfill: zero percent discharge, nothing entering or leaving the landfill. The PCB landfill failed from day one when it was capped with a million gallons of water in it, and according to the state's own data, water entered and exited the landfill for years. The stat e would not, however, admit that the "dry-tomb" landfill was leaking, and so the state justified the eventual alleged detoxification not on the leaking PCB landfill, but on Hunt's promise to detoxify the landfill given suitable technology. The state therefore defended the failed "dry-tomb" landfill design for future use. The five giant landfills proposed for North Carolina are based on this same design. Although intended for solid waste, these landfills will most certainly contain toxic and hazardous waste and will most certainly l eak. Siting toxic, hazardous, and nuclear waste facilities raises the most profound and soul-searching constitutional issues. The argument of the targeted communities goes something like this: Whenever you site a toxic, hazardous, or nuclear waste facility, you discriminate against the targeted community (regardless of its racial makeup) because you pose a direct threat to its persons and properties, isolating it within dense pockets of exterminating waste materials, reducing it to a condition of inv oluntary servitude to waste management industries destructive to persons and properties, preempting, respectively, its 14th and 13th Amendment rights. We cannot responsibly go on producing without safely managing the toxic, hazardous and nuclear waste generated during production, but waste cannot be treated unless it can be stored, and it cannot be stored unless landfills can be sited, and landfills cannot be sited without violating the constitutional rights of targeted communities . Concerni ng targeted communities, an article in the Warren Record, July 6, 1983, published a Department of Energy list of possible sites for the disposal of high level nuclear waste in North Carolina. It was appropriate for the Warren Record in 1983 to list the North Carolina sites considered. It is appropriate in 2006 to list them again because of the intention to site new nuclear reactors/waste storage sites in North Carolina and the attempt to continue to establish a waste m anagement infrastructure to solicit was te from other states and from overseas perhaps via the proposed 600-acre expansion of Southport and other N.C. ports. The list of sites mentioned is as follows: Wise in Warren County, Rocky Mount, Rolesville, Hendersonville, Butterwood Creek in Halifax County, Castalia in Nash County, and areas in Transylvania, Davidson, Iredell, Rowan, Gaston, and Henderson, Buncombe, and McDowell counties. An article in The News & Observer, January 15, titled "N-plant p lans revive spent-fuel concern" rightly fo cused on the potentially pervasive and deadly reality of nuclear waste. Toxic, hazardous and nuclear waste facilities cause multimillion dollar cleanup problems and irreversible damage to the environment and to the public health. These facilities cannot meet the kind of criteria targeted communities have a right to expect, criteria needed to protect their right to life, liberty, their pursuit of happiness criteria needed to protect their right to be secure in persons and properties rights fundamental to their very existence. Now North Carolina is the targeted community. Its transformation into a regional and possibly national and global waste management infrastructure is informed by a rationale for selective human sacrifice. It is therefore incumbent upon the good people of North Carolina to reaffirm the significance of public sentiment and to pose an absolute and unyielding resistance to a plan to transform North Carol ina into a sacrifice zone for toxic, hazardous, and nuclear was te. This transformation would render the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence insignificant for the people of North Carolina. It is not too soon for the targeted community of North Carolina to affirm its right to pose the most serious forms of resistance to this despotic and nihilistic intention, a right clearly, unambiguously, and eloquently articulated in the Declaration of Independence. Ken Ferruccio, Warren County Editor's note: The writer is a sp okes man for Warren County Citizens Concerned about PCBs. ***************************************************************** 61 Santa Fe New Mexican: Fire destroys LANL bid papers Wed Feb 1, 2006 6:11 pm Staff and wire reports ALBUQUERQUE An arson fire destroyed documents related to Lockheed Martins unsuccessful bid to manage Los Alamos National Laboratory. Fire officials wouldnt release many details, but fire-department spokesman Capt. Mike Paiz said investigators found evidence an accelerant was used. It was definitely an arson fire, Paiz said Tuesday. Right now, this is an open investigation. There are a bunch of leads the investigators are examining. The only comment we can make is that we know it was arson. No suspect has been identified, he said. Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Wendy Owen said a trailer in Albuquerque that contained paper files, computers and other equipment burned either late Jan. 21 or early Jan. 22. The research materials related to the bid had been moved from an office to the trailer to be sent to a Lockheed Martin office on the East Coast, she said. Last month, the Department of Energy awarded the Los Alamos contract to a team headed by Bechtel Corp. and the University of California. Wilson backs larger cemetery Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N .M., said Tuesday she supports a recently revealed proposal to expand Santa Fe National Cemetery . In a letter to the U.S. Veterans Administration, the Albuquerque Republican said the agency recently received a proposal from the new owners of property adjacent to the existing cemetery a reference to an Albuquerque cemetery contractors October purchase of the former St. Catherine Indian School site. Wilson said the 18-acre campus, which M.R. Tafoya Construction bought from the Philadelphia-based Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, could be combined with a smaller parcel donated by the city of Santa Fe to prolong the cemeterys use by providing a resting place for an additional 34,000 New Mexico veterans. I would ask the Veterans Administration to review the proposal and to assess the costs and benefits of this approach compared to establishing a new veterans cemetery in north-central New Mexico when Santa Fe is closed to such interments, Wilson wrote. 3-story buildings in church plans The Archdiocese of Santa Fe will get to propose plans for three-story buildings in its redevelopment of its downtown property to the Historic Design Review Board on Feb. 21. The board Tuesday agreed to hear the archdioceses proposal for height exceptions at its regular meeting after architect Beverley Spears said she did not have the actual heights of the proposed buildings. City architectural code calls for most buildings in the downtown area to be one story, although some two-story buildings have been allowed. Spears said she would have a model of the proposed redevelopment ready for the Feb. 21 meeting so the board members could see how the taller buildings would be arranged. The board starts its meetings at 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers of City Hall, 200 Lincoln Ave. ©2006, Santa Fe New Mexican, all rights reserved. Opinions ***************************************************************** 62 The Enquirer: End near, Fernald workforce cut Updated: 5:38 am | Wednesday, February 1, 2006 End near, Fernald workforce cut BY MIKE BOYER | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER As the cleanup of the former Fernald uranium foundry nears its end, employment is being reduced at the Crosby Township site. Fluor Fernald Inc., the contractor hired by the government for the $4.4 billion environmental cleanup of the former nuclear weapons plant, has notified state officials it expects to terminate the jobs of 190 hourly and salaried employees by the end of March. In its notice to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, the company said, "the pace of downsizing will continue to accelerate with layoffs becoming an almost-weekly occurrence." Employment at the 1,050-acre facility, where more than 3,000 people once worked, is now under 1,000. Final steps in the cleanup are expected this summer. "We've known for years we're working ourselves out of a job," said Jeff Wagner, Fernald spokesman. Only one of four 750,000-gallon steel storage tanks, holding the most dangerous waste, remains, and it is only partially filled, he said. Once the last of that waste is transported to a site in Texas, that tank will be demolished, and contaminated soil and building rubble will be removed. The government contract calls for the cleanup to be finished by year-end, but built-in financial incentives are speeding up the work, he said. The company is providing severance benefits for the workers who are losing their jobs. About 140 hourly workers are included in the latest job cuts. Those workers are mainly represented by the Atomic Trades and Labor Council. E-mail mboyer@enquirer.com [E-mail this] E-mail this | [Printer-Friendly] Copyright © 1995-2006: Use of this site signifies ***************************************************************** 63 lamonitor.com: NNSA to hold benefits meetings The Online News Source for Los Alamos SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will host a series of poster board meetings at which Los Alamos National Laboratory's new contractor, Los Alamos National Security, LLC (LANS), will present laboratory employees with the pension/benefits plan it is proposing. NNSA will take comments on whether the proposed plan meets the "substantially equivalent" requirement of the LANS contract. The meetings will be held as follows: + 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. Feb. 16 at LANL Auditorium + 6 - 8 p.m. Feb. 16 at Los Alamos High School + 6 - 8 p.m. Feb. 21 in Santa Fe, exact location to be determined + 6 - 8 p.m. Feb. 22 in Espanola, exact location TBD The LANS contract requires the company to hire all current lab employees except for certain senior managers. It also requires LANS to provide "a total compensation package for transferring employees that is substantially equivalent" to that provided by the current contractor. Representatives from LANS will explain to employees, retirees and the community how their plan compares to the existing UC pension/benefits plan. Attendees can submit comments to the NNSA. Comments will be accepted on index cards during the briefings and by e-mail at: inputonlansbenefits@ doeal.gov. NNSA will collect and consolidate the comments received and determine if changes to the LANS pension/benefit plan are necessary. The proposed new pension/benefits plan will be posted on the LANL, LANS and NNSA transition websites on Feb. 14. The comment period will run from Feb. 14-24. Once the comment period is over and comments have been received and considered the NNSA will make a determination whether the LANS pension/benefit package is substantially equivalent to the existing UC pension/benefits plan by March 7. The schedule for the meetings and comment period ensures that employees have a full 60 days to consider their options once the pension/benefit plan has been approved. The LANL employees' meeting will be rebroadcast on LabNet and those employees who are unable to view LabNet can contact LANL Public Affairs to receive a videotape. © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 64 PhysOrg.com: Georgia Tech, Oak Ridge and UTBattelle collaborate on highperformance computing February 01, 2006 The College of Computing at Georgia Tech, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and UT-Battelle today announced a wide-ranging collaborative agreement to share facilities, staff and scientific resources aimed at significantly increasing the United States' capability to carry out large-scale research efforts reliant on advanced supercomputing technology. This unique, public-private collaboration will position the Southeastern United States as a national destination for high-performance computing research and development. "The College of Computing at Georgia Tech was created to make it easier to partner with leading research centers and academic institutions and to elevate computer science research and education on a national and global scale," said Richard A. DeMillo, dean of the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. "We firmly believe that this partnership with ORNL and UT-Battelle will create a one-of-a-kind environment for high-performance computing research and help reinvigorate U.S. capabilities in supercomputing." As part of the agreement, Dr. Thomas Zacharia, associate laboratory director for ORNL's Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate, will be appointed as a professor in Georgia Tech's College of Computing, a national leader in education and research that creates real-world computing breakthroughs to drive social and scientific progress. Subsequent joint appointments of faculty and staff, as well as an ongoing distribution of research students and computing resources, will follow in the coming months. In addition, with support from UT-Battelle, the non-profit partnership between the University of Tennessee and Battelle charged with managing ORNL operations, CoC's Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) Division will open a campus at ORNL dedicated to advanced computational science and engineering research and graduate education. "This agreement represents a milestone for Oak Ridge National Laboratory," said Director Jeff Wadsworth. "This creative partnership will bring closer together the extraordinary computational capabilities of both Georgia Tech and ORNL. Together, the partnership will represent one of the world's greatest resources for high-performance computing." The CoC-ORNL-UT-Battelle partnership will further the development of various scientific breakthroughs that are heavily-dependant on access to the highest levels of computational resources in the nation. For example, Georgia Tech researchers in the field of systems biology are integrating mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology with advanced, high-performance computing and engineering in order to harness the vast information growing out of the sequencing of the human genome and apply it to the detection and prevention of diseases through accelerated drug design and medicine. Additionally, researchers in the School of Physics at Georgia Tech are employing high-level, computer-based, nanoscale simulations to discover new technologies that can be used to store massive amounts of information in a compact space. These two projects, among others, highlight the partnership's ability to leverage advanced supercomputing resources to foster the development of new technologies with broad impacts on daily life. Source: Georgia Institute of Technology ***************************************************************** 65 PhysOrg.com: US ITER Project Office Is Relocating to ORNL February 01, 2006 The U.S. project office for ITER, a major international fusion experiment, is relocating from Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory to Oak Ridge National Laboratory to optimize the roles of the two Department of Energy national laboratories, PPPL and ORNL announced today. Ned Sauthoff of PPPL remains the U.S. ITER Project Manager, and PPPL will continue to have a major role in the ITER project. The U.S. ITER Project Office is responsible for project management of U.S. activities to support construction of the international research facility. In recent months, the multi-national ITER parties have made significant progress toward a final agreement on the project, including selection of the ITER site, appointment of a Director General Nominee, the resolution of most issues, and the addition of a seventh ITER partner. ITER is an international fusion experiment which holds the promise of leading to an abundant, environmentally benign, and economical energy source. A fusion power plant would produce no greenhouse gas emissions, use abundant and widely distributed sources of fuel, shut down easily, require no fissionable materials, operate in a continuous mode to meet demand, and produce manageable radioactive waste. Fusion is the process that powers the sun and the stars. In the interior of stars, matter is converted into energy by the fusion, or joining, of the nuclei of light atoms to form heavier elements. The centralized U.S. ITER Project Office, a partnership between PPPL and ORNL since July 2004, is moving to ORNL so that the U.S. ITER program can take better advantage of the project management experience developed by ORNL during the construction there of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). The $1.4 billion SNS, a neutron scattering facility that will make the U.S. the leader in the next generation of materials research, is the largest civilian science project in the country and is on schedule and on budget to be completed in June 2006. In June 2005, the ministers representing the six ITER parties (China, the European Union, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States) announced that the international fusion experiment would be located at the European Union site in Cadarache, France. In November, the ITER parties agreed to appoint the Japanese Ambassador to Croatia, Kaname Ikeda, as Director General Nominee of the ITER Organization. In December, India joined the original six ITER parties as a full partner in the ITER Project. As a result, countries representing more than half of the world's population are participating in ITER. PPPL, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and managed by Princeton University, is a collaborative national center for science and innovation leading to an attractive fusion energy source. Source: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory ***************************************************************** 66 TimesUnion.com: Knolls lab trims work force -- Company expects 210 job cuts by March 31 as space program ends By ERIC ANDERSON, Deputy business editor First published: Wednesday, February 1, 2006 NISKAYUNA -- Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory expects to shed 210 positions by March 31 following the previously announced end of a program to develop nuclear power and propulsion technologies for use in space. KAPL spokeswoman Anne LaRoche said Tuesday that efforts have been under way to find other positions for the affected workers at its facilities in Niskayuna and West Milton, or to transfer them to other openings within Lockheed Martin, which operates the laboratory under a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy. A recent job fair drew managers from 14 other Lockheed Martin facilities, who met with 200 KAPL employees. The 210 positions are less than 8 percent of KAPL's total employment of 2,800. LaRoche said the number of people taking advantage of the various options wasn't yet available. A voluntary separation program also is being offered, with employees eligible to receive one week's base salary for each year of service. The minimum payment is $15,000 and the maximum is $75,000, LaRoche said. "By encouraging employees to leave voluntarily, the laboratory can adjust its work force and reduce the number of involuntary separations," she said. KAPL's primary role has been researching and developing advanced nuclear-propulsion technology for the U.S. Navy. It also provides training and technical support, and operates facilities in Niskayuna and in West Milton. All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2006, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y. ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************