Tuesday, May 19, 2009
http://chinaconfidential.blogspot.com/
If Al Qaeda Acquires Atomic Arms ...
Sheldon Filger, author of King of Bombs, a novel about nuclear terrorism, has written a chilling reminder of what is at stake in the real-world struggle to prevent Al Qaeda from acquiring atomic arms. Should a nuclear bomb ever be detonated in an American city, the carnage would defy our imagination. It is estimated that a ten-kiloton device, less powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, detonated in mid-town Manhattan during the workday, would immediately kill approximately 500,000 people. A similar number would be fated to die in the following days and weeks from the effects of radiation poisoning. Beyond the immensity of the carnage and destruction, America would be irreversibly transformed. Fear would dominate the country, with tens of millions of Americans contemplating the evacuation of their cities, uncertain if other bombs exist and would be detonated. Economic paralysis would ensue as the borders closed, while the financial markets, already weakened by the current Global Economic Crisis, would completely collapse. Civil liberties would be largely suspended, as the nation entered a new Dark Age, in which survival would take precedence over liberty. Likely, America's relationship with the world would be radically transformed in manner that suited Al-Qaeda's ultimate agenda.
In an interview conducted with the journalist Robert Fisk in 1997, Osama bin-Laden made his ultimate objective regarding the United States unambiguously clear. "I pray to God that He permits us to turn America into a shadow of itself," the Al-Qaeda leader told Fisk.
While knowledgeable national security specialists take seriously the threat of weapons of mass destruction being employed in any future Al-Qaeda atrocity on American soil, outside their small circle this vital issue of national survival has barely seeped into the public consciousness Yet, should Al-Qaeda actually detonate a nuclear weapon in an American city, the entire world as we know it would cease to exist.
Click here to read the entire essay.Monday, May 18, 2009
CIA Chief: Location of All Pakistan Nukes Not Known
Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta said Monday that the U.S. does not know the location of all of Pakistan's nuclear weapons but is confident there are "pretty secure" measures to keep them out of terrorists' hands.
Panetta's comments come just days after the top U.S. military officer told Congress that there is evidence that Pakistan is adding to its nuclear weapons systems and warheads.
Continue here.Bibi Bitterly Disappointed by Meeting with Obama
The truth is leaking out: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ("Bibi") Netanyahu was bitterly disappointed by his first official meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama.
As if to confirm the worst fears and suspicions of his conservative critics, Obama made it clear in various ways during three hours of discussions that the military option to end Islamist Iran's nuclear arms program is for all intents and purposes practically dead--Iran would have to attack America to trigger American military action--that he does not regard Israel as a strategic asset--maybe not even as an important ally--and that he is positively obsessed with pressuring Israel to withdraw to indefensible borders--the pre-June 1967 armistice lines that the late Israeli foreign minister, Abba Eban, described as the "Auschwitz borders"--and creating a second Palestinian Arab state (the first one being Jordan) in the disputed lands of the western bank of the Jordan River, within easy striking distance of Tel Aviv, even if the state is ruled by Iran's Islamist, Palestinian proxy, Hamas.
Click here for the Jerusalem Post report, which merely scratches the surface of what transpired today.
And click here to read a story about an Arab-financed survey that shows that a large majority of Obama's Democratic supporters have turned against Israel.
In a related development, China Confidential has learned that Roger Cohen, the pro-Iran columnist for The New York Times, is one of several journalists that the Obama administration is using to push the envelope of public opinion on Israel, especially with respect to such sensitive issues as the Jewish State's presumed nuclear deterrent (which Obama wants to dismantle) and reason for being. Influenced over the years by New York-born Rashid Khalidi and other Palestinian intellectuals and his Islamist sympathizing, Nation of Islam-Aligned, Black Liberation Theology pastor, Jeremiah Wright, Obama actually agrees with his foreign policy advisers who argue that the basic concept of the Jewish State--a solution for the problem of Jewish political homelessness--is fundamentally wrong.Obama Backs Palestinian State on West Bank Land, Will Give Islamist Iran Time to Acquire Atomic Arms
Regardless of what the White House says, it seems to be willing to live with a nuclear-armed Iran.
Haaretz reports:U.S. President Barack Obama voiced support for creation of a Palestinian state in talks on Monday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who held back from endorsing the main cornerstone of Washington's Mideast policy.
With Israeli leaders mostly skeptical of Obama's efforts to engage Iran diplomatically, Netanyahu had planned to stress Israel's growing concerns about Tehran's nuclear ambitions, Israeli officials said before the talks.
Obama, speaking along with Netanyahu to reporters in the Oval Office, said after the two-hour meeting that he saw no reason to set an artificial deadline for diplomacy with Iran, but the U.S. would like to see progress with Tehran by the end of the year.
Continue here.
Fox News reports:The two men took questions from reporters after more than 3 hours of talks, their first official summit, and after opening statements in which they offered effusive praise to one another. Netanyahu called Obama a "great friend of Israel," and Mr. Obama said Netanyahu, who has served as Prime Minister before possessed "youth and wisdom," and had an "historic opportunity to get serious movement" during his tenure. They stressed areas of agreement, though there was no sign they bridged differences over support for the Palestinian state called for in current US Mideast policy.
Prime Minister Netanyahu said he's ready to resume peace talks with the Palestinians immediately, but that any agreement is contingent on their recognizing Israel "as a Jewish State." The latter language seemed to preclude the Palestinians' demand for the right to return to homes they occupied before Israel was created, which is recognized as the subject of negotiations even though it's understood no Israeli government would agree to it.
President Obama noted peace talks have stalled and he said "all the parties involved have to take seriously obligations that they have previously agreed to," a reference to Netanyahu's refusal to publicly endorse the creation of a Palestinian state, even though previous Israeli governments have done so. The Prime Minister said results are what matter and suggested the peace process would not be productive "if we end up with another Gaza," where members of the terrorist group Hamas seized control from moderate Palestinians in 2007. Israeli troops invaded the area in late 2008 to stop months of rocket attacks.
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
AP reports:
The discussions were tense and lasted an hour longer than scheduled.
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