USAF Counterproliferation Center CPC Outreach Journal #964
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Issue No. 964, 13 December 2011 Articles & Other Documents: Featured Article: West Has No Evidence of Iran Atomic Bomb Program, Senior Turkish Diplomat Says 1. Israel Calls for ‘Paralyzing’ Sanctions on Iran to Contain Nuclear Weapons Strength 2. Bolton: Iranian Jamming Technology Could Be Worse News than Downed Drone 3. Analyst: Iran-Russia Ties to Further Consolidate after Putin's Return to Power 4. West Has No Evidence of Iran Atomic Bomb Program, Senior Turkish Diplomat Says 5. Iranian Official in Russia to Discuss U.S. Drone, Nuclear Issues 6. Iran to Invest in Namibia Uranium Project 7. Iran's Intelligence Chief Held Talks with Saudis 8. Foreign Minister: Resumption of Six-Party Talks Helpful for Nuclear Security Summit 9. US Envoy Says North Korea 'Must Change Behaviour' 10. N. Korea, U.S. Likely to Hold Nuclear Talks this Month: Sources 11. Black Sea Region Facing Chemical Threat 12. Swiss Nuclear Engineers Admit Involvement in Global Nuclear Weapons Trade 13. Pentagon Analyzing Chem, Bio Defense Programs 14. A Few Hacker Teams Do Most China-Based Data Theft 15. The Venezuelan Connection 16. Chávez Rejects Report Involving Venezuela In Plot Against the US 17. Why Iran Remains Defiant on the Nuclear Bomb 18. Nuclear Checkmate Threatening World 19. The Tehran, Havana, Caracas Axis in Latin America 20. A First Line of Defense 21. Peter Goodspeed: ‘Too late’ to Halt Iran from Getting Nuclear Weapon 22. Beyond Bonn II 23. Pakistan’s Nuclear Artillery? 24. Unfinished Business 25. North Korea’s Nukes Welcome to the CPC Outreach Journal. As part of USAF Counterproliferation Center’s mission to counter weapons of mass destruction through education and research, we’re providing our government and civilian community a source for timely counterproliferation information. This information includes articles, papers and other documents addressing issues pertinent to US military response options for dealing with chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats and countermeasures. It’s our hope this information resource will help enhance your counterproliferation issue awareness. Established in 1998, the USAF/CPC provides education and research to present and future leaders of the Air Force, as well as to members of other branches of the armed services and Department of Defense. Our purpose is to help those agencies better prepare to counter the threat from weapons of mass destruction. Please feel free to visit our web site at http://cpc.au.af.mil/ for in-depth information and specific points of contact. The following articles, papers or documents do not necessarily reflect official endorsement of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or other US government agencies. Reproduction for private use or commercial gain is subject to original copyright restrictions. All rights are reserved. Issue No. 964, 13 December 2011 The following articles, papers or documents do not necessarily reflect official endorsement of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or other US government agencies. Reproduction for private use or commercial gain is subject to original copyright restrictions. All rights are reserved. United States Air Force Counterproliferation Research & Education | Maxwell AFB, Montgomery AL Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7530 Al Arabiya – U.A.E. Israel Calls for ‘Paralyzing’ Sanctions on Iran to Contain Nuclear Weapons Strength Sunday, December 11, 2011 By Fredrik Dahl and Michael Shields VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran’s ruling clerics could use nuclear weapons to strengthen their grip on power and the world must urgently impose crippling sanctions to prevent them from building such arms, Israel’s defense minister Ehud Barak said on Sunday. Asked about prospects for an Israeli attack on its arch foe Iran’s nuclear sites, Barak said he still believed that it was “time for urgent, coherent, paralyzing” punitive steps targeting Iranian oil trade and its central bank. “Nothing short of this kind of sanctions will work,” Barak said, adding there was a need for a “direct attack, isolation, by the whole world” of the Iranian central bank. Speculation that Israel, which sees Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat, could launch preemptive strikes against Iran was fuelled by a U.N. report last month which said Tehran appeared to have worked on designing a nuclear weapon. The Islamic Republic, which often lashes out at Israel over its assumed atomic arsenal, says allegations that it is seeking nuclear arms are based on forged evidence. Barak said he would “love to see the Arab Spring jumping over” the Gulf into Iran, referring to political upheaval in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and elsewhere over the last year. “This regime in Iran, the ayatollahs, they will be not be there I believe in 10 or 15 years. It is against the nature of the Iranian people and what happens all around the world. “But if they turn nuclear they might assure another layer of immunity, political immunity for the regime in the same way that Kim Jong-il assured his,” Barak said, referring to the North Korean leader and that country’s development of nuclear weapons. He suggested that the Libyan conflict could have taken a different course if Muammar Gaddafi had declared at the outset that “he has three or four nuclear devices”. Earlier this month, Barak said that an Israeli attack on Iran was not imminent. He has also said there were several months left in which to decide on such action. Turning to events in Palestine, he said Israel might at some stage have to “take more assertive action” in Gaza, where Palestinian fighters responded with rocket attacks on Israel after an Israeli air strike killed two Palestinians last Thursday. http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/12/11/182060.html (Return to Articles and Documents List) FoxNews.com Bolton: Iranian Jamming Technology Could Be Worse News than Downed Drone December 11, 2011 By FoxNews.com Issue No. 964, 13 December 2011 United States Air Force Counterproliferation Research & Education | Maxwell AFB, Montgomery AL Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7530 American officials insist that neither weaponry nor technology brought down a U.S. drone that was flying over Iranian territory earlier this month, but a former U.S. ambassador says if reports are true that Russia provided jamming equipment, the situation becomes all that much worse. "Some reports have said Russia sold (Iran) a very sophisticated jamming system a short time ago," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton told Fox News on Sunday. "Now, our military says that is not true, it came down because of a malfunction. I certainly hope that's right because if the Russians have provided Iran with sophisticated jamming equipment it means a lot else is at risk too." Bolton said Congress ought to be concerned if the Iranians are in possession of jamming technology that can bring down missiles, planes and communications and guidance systems "for a whole range of our weapon systems." On Sunday, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps senior commander said the regime will not return the drone, and in fact, considered the spy mission of the unmanned vehicle to be an act of war itself. "We are not the kind of country to allow our enemy to operate freely within our national security and to continue without any response, but regarding the kind of reaction we will show, our enemies will see its effects," said. Gen. Hossein Salami. The drone itself was shown on Iranian television and appears to be mainly intact, though a U.S. official told Fox News that it looks like one wing had been removed and put back on. President Obama was given different options by the Pentagon to go into Iran and either retrieve the RQ-170 or destroy it, but he declined because, sources say, he didn't want such a mission to be seen as an act of war. Bolton said that's not an adequate excuse. "The Iranians, in saying they would not give it back, said the very act of sending it over Iran was an act of war, which undercuts the Obama administration's assertion that we didn't go into try and destroy the drone after it was captured for fear of the Iranians saying exactly that. ... So while there may be a lot of good reasons not to go in that is not one." Bolton added there may be several reasons not to destroy the drone, but it's important to find out whether "the classified information and other intellectual property inside the drone was erased" before the Iranians got hold of it. "If they still got the electrons in there, that can reveal what was programmed into the drone it would be very bad news indeed," he said. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/11/bolton-iranian-jamming-technology-could-be-worse-news-than- downed-drone/ (Return to Articles and Documents List) FARS News Agency – Iran Monday, December 12, 2011 Analyst: Iran-Russia Ties to Further Consolidate after Putin's Return to Power TEHRAN (FNA) - Cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran will top the agenda of the Russian foreign ministry after Vladimir Putin's likely return to presidency, a prominent Russian academic figure stressed. Speaking to FNA, Vladimir Plaston, a lecturer at the Novosibirsk State University, said that Putin's reelection in the upcoming presidential polls will further strengthen Russia's will to expand ties with the Central Asia and the Islamic Republic Iran as this policy serves the interests of Russia and the other sides. Issue No. 964, 13 December 2011 United States Air Force Counterproliferation Research & Education | Maxwell AFB, Montgomery AL Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7530 He added that Putin's return to power will also "provide a previous opportunity for finding more grounds for Russia's long-term strategic cooperation with these countries.