Here is that runaway freight train.

[Shammu]

Study wants nuclear weapons outlawed

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 1, 5:41 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS - A study led by former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix called Thursday for outlawing nuclear weapons and reviving global cooperation on disarmament including security guarantees to curb the nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.

As long as any nuclear, chemical and biological arms remain in any country's arsenal, "there is a high risk that they will one day be used by design or accident," the two-year probe by the independent Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission concluded.

Despite the end of the Cold War the stocks of such weapons remain "extraordinarily high" including 27,000 nuclear weapons, about 12,000 of them still actively deployed, the commission said, making 60 recommendations to free the world from nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

At a news conference launching the 227-page report entitled "Weapons of Terror," Blix stressed that "the first line of defense against the spread of nuclear weapons is indeed to make states feel that they don't need them" — which must be rooted in foreign policy not military action.

Blix said all countries in the Middle East support a zone free of weapons of mass destruction, including
Israel. He estimated Israel has 200 nuclear weapons, though it has never acknowledged it is a nuclear power.

But he said "we are going to have to come much further in the area of a settlement of the Middle East before this can be a possibility."

As an interim measure, he urged states in the Middle East to follow the example of North Korea and
South Korea, which don't have either enrichment or reprocessing.

"We are seeking a commitment from Iran that they should not do any enrichment, but what about widening it, as you do in the Korean peninsula — have a zone, an area, in which all the countries commit themselves not to ... enrich uranium and not to produce plutonium?" Blix asked.

This would mean that both Iran and Israel would make a commitment not to enrich uranium or produce plutonium, the key ingredient for nuclear weapons, for a prolonged period, he said.

Blix said countries that make a commitment to nonproliferation should be given assurances "that if they do away with these weapons they will not be attacked by nuclear weapons by anyone — and we think that is important."

As a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the report said, Iran has a right "to participate in all stages of fuel-cycle activity" in a peaceful civilian nuclear energy program. "Trying to reinterpret the NPT and assert a new division of the world into `nuclear fuel-cycle-haves' and `have-nots' would hardly get broad support," it said.

"Nevertheless," the commission said, "a right to do something does not necessarily mean that this right must be exercised."

He also urged those negotiating with Iran to look at the issue through their eyes.

"They see 130,000 American soldiers in Iraq, and they see American bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan," Blix said. "They remember that (Mohammed) Mossadeq, who was elected premier, was ousted with subversive methods from the outside" in the 1950s.

In the broader effort to free the world of weapons of mass destruction, the commission said the single most important thing that countries can do is to ratify the nuclear test ban treaty, which the U.S. Senate has rejected.

"We don't see any sign of that here in the current administration, and the U.S. is opposed to a ratification but the reality is probably that if the U.S. were to ratify then China would, if China did then India would, if India did Pakistan would, if Pakistan did then Iran would. So it would set in motion a good domino effect," Blix said.

Study wants nuclear weapons outlawed

[Shammu]

Iran to build two more nuclear plants
Wed May 31, 2006 6:55am ET166

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran plans to build two 1,000 megawatt nuclear reactors and will solicit bids within the next two months, a senior official told Reuters on Wednesday.

The tender will be open to domestic and international firms.

The decision to build two more nuclear plants comes amid mounting Western pressure on the Islamic state to suspend its uranium enrichment work.

"We want to build two nuclear power plants through an international tender," said Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization.

"Iranian and international companies can participate in the tender, which will be within the next two months," he added.

He did not say where the reactors would be located.

In recent years, Iran has built plants generating 12,500 megawatts of electricity, and its first 1,000 MW nuclear power plant, being built with Russian help in the southern port of Bushehr, will come on stream in late 2007.

Washington and its allies fear Iran could use even limited enrichment facilities to master the technology to produce bomb-grade fuel. But Tehran insists its nuclear program is only to generate electricity to satisfy booming demand.

Russia has said it is interested in bidding for more nuclear work in Iran. Tehran has repeatedly said that Russia would have an advantage over other countries for the construction of Iran's new nuclear reactors.

The five permanent U.N. Security Council powers and Germany are planning to meet in Vienna on Thursday to try to finalize a package of incentives for Iran to halt uranium enrichment along with penalties if it keeps defying international pressure.

Iran insists it has the right to process the uranium it mines in its central deserts for use in these power and Tehran has so far dismissed the initiative, saying no incentives will convince it to give up what it calls its national right.

Iran to build two more nuclear plants

[Shammu]

OFFICIAL SWEDEN SAYS MUSLIM RAPES, ETC. = OK
By J. Grant Swank, Jr.
MichNews.com
Jun 1, 2006

   

The Swedish elite don’t come out and say that rape by foreigners is all right. They just ignore the rapes by foreigners and in that they are saying all is well in Sweden. However, that is not fact.

Further, the police have sided in with the Swedish elite in acting as if there is normalcy in Sweden when in truth Muslim hoodlums are taking over the country.

"The official explanation given by Swedish authorities to this increase is that much of it is a ‘technical’ increase due to the fact that more victims of rape now report this crime to the police. There is not a hint of evidence for this explanation. On the contrary, intimidation of people reporting any kind of crime to the police has rapidly worsened in Sweden during the same time period.

"Threats against witnesses in Swedish court cases quadrupled between 2000 and 2003 alone. Besides, there is a lack of trust among the general public in the efficiency of their police force. Street violence of all kinds is soaring on a national level.

"Private security companies are in great demand in major Swedish cities, as a serious lack of police to combat rising crime has made many citizens tired of being robbed. The number of reported cases of physical abuse/assault in Stockholm has tripled in three decades. The number of people under the age of 18 who are serving sentences in juvenile detention centers has risen sharply over the last five years. Gangs of 14- and 15-year-olds raping and robbing is now common in many Stockholm suburbs.

"Mafia networks demanding protecting money from private businesses are increasingly common. Organized crime is no longer just a problem in the major cities. It has now spread throughout most of Sweden. At the same time, the underfunded and undermanned Swedish police officers feel "unmotivated" to fight crime, according to a study made by police researcher Stefan Holgersson, who interviewed 2000 Swedish police officers," according to Baron Bodissey via http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2006/05/new-york-times-and-sweden-dark-side-of.html

In other words, for Muslims to take over a country, all one has to do is silence the reporters, police, political authorities and news feeds. With that, each neighborhood will have to discover for itself that the Islamic intrusion is encapsulating the politic.

It is easier now to fight the enemy by saying there is no enemy. But in time, the enemy will attack the silent protectors and then there will be no one left but the enemy. Sweden in present tense is the perfect frightening example of this mode.

"Two Swedish girls were sent home from school for wearing sweaters showing a tiny Swedish flag. The headmaster was concerned that this might be deemed offensive by some immigrants."

As Muslims take over turf, it is then cowardice that looms for the authorities weave into the culture the Muslim potential for trouble by negating the country’s distinction, even in the case of small Swedish flags worn on sweaters. In other words, we must make room for the new persons — immigrant Muslims — so that they don’t upset our culture. All the while however they are taking over the culture so that what was heretofore becomes nonexistent.

One wonders then why President Bush and the US Congress welcomed with US citizenship papers 7000 Russian Muslims settling outside Philadelphia. They were all granted houses, furniture and pensions for the elderly. What is that going to do when that is duplicated throughout the nation? Already Detroit has become a Muslim province of its own with locals bowing to their demands rather than take the chance of a Muslim attack.

In some countries, local police look the other way when a crime such as rape is committed. Why? They fear Muslims attacking their own persons, their families, their homes, so they look the other way. With that, Muslim gangs are all the more encouraged to rape the local females such as is happening now in Sweden.

"Actress Ylva Törnlund has visited several schools in Tensta, and was alarmed by the harsh atmosphere she discovered there. ‘The attitudes we meet in the schools are frightening. One boy talked about how girls should be f**ked to pieces until they bleed,’ Törnlund said. She decided to visit the area after a rape that took place in a public bath nearby in broad daylight. A 17-year-old girl was raped, and none of the other guests did anything to stop this. The girl was first approached by a 16-year-old boy. He and his friends followed her as she walked away into a grotto, and inside the grotto he got her blocked in the corner, ripped off her bikini and raped her, while his friend held her firm."

These occurrences are happening daily. Yet they are taking place in the midst of a worldwide media nonchalance. If it is in fact reported through a conservative web site on the Internet, Google, for instance, attacks the web site by deleting it from its reportage, its publicizing the existence of the conservative web site.

Right now there is a Google "cleansing of conservative web sites" throughout the Internet.

Three of my articles related to Islam prompted Michnews.com to be deleted by Google News. I wonder what Google will do when Muslims take over America so as to force Google to kiss the Koran and become slaves to the Islamic world rule. What then will Google conclude in presently stifling freedom of speech via America’s conservative web sites?

Concerning Sweden: ‘It is not as wrong raping a Swedish girl as raping an Arab girl,’ says Hamid, in an interview about another gang rape involving a Swedish girl and immigrant perps. ‘The Swedish girl gets a lot of help afterwards, and she had probably f**ked before, anyway. But the Arab girl will get problems with her family. For her, being raped is a source of shame. It is important that she retains her virginity until she marries.’

‘It is far too easy to get a Swedish whore…… girl, I mean;’ says Hamid, and laughs over his own choice of words. "Many immigrant boys have Swedish girlfriends when they are teenagers. But when they get married, they get a proper woman from their own culture who has never been with a boy. That’s what I am going to do. I don’t have too much respect for Swedish girls. I guess you can say they get f**ked to pieces.’

"The number of rape charges in Sweden has quadrupled in just above twenty years. Rape cases involving children under the age of 15 are six times as common today as they were a generation ago. Resident aliens from Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia dominate the group of rape suspects. Lawyer Ann Christine Hjelm, who has investigated violent crimes in one court, found that 85 per cent of the convicted rapists were born on foreign soil or by foreign parents.

"Swedish politicians and media need to put the well-being of their sons and daughters above that of Political Correctness and their own Multicultural, ideological vanity, and it is shocking that they actually need to be reminded of this. It is an international embarrassment to Sweden as a nation that Swedes travel around the world to lecture about women’s rights, and at the same time their own young women are finding that their most basic rights, such as being able to go outside wearing normal clothes without being harassed, are slipping away.

"Unless Swedish authorities are able to provide basic security to a population that pays some of the highest tax rates in the world, the cabinet of Prime Minister Göran Persson should publicly admit its inadequacy and resign from office. At the very least, it should be honest enough to tell Swedish citizens that they must provide security for themselves, and stop making it difficult for people to do this."

OFFICIAL SWEDEN SAYS MUSLIM RAPES, ETC. = OK

[Soldier4Christ]

Rice Warns Iran It Doesn't Have Much Time

The United States warned Iran it will not have much time to respond once it is offered an international package of rewards to encourage it to suspend uranium enrichment, suggesting that the window could soon close and be replaced by penalties.

"It really needs to be within weeks," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told NBC's "Today" show, referring to the six-power package of perks or penalties aimed at halting Iran's enrichment activities.

In separate comments on National Public Radio, Rice suggested she was ready to meet her Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, if Tehran agreed to suspend the activity that can be used to make nuclear arms and negotiate the details of the deal.

The package agreed on Thursday carries the threat of U.N. sanctions if Tehran remains defiant over what the West calls a rogue nuclear program that could produce a bomb. The United States, in a major policy shift, conditionally agreed this week to join those talks. It would be the first major public negotiations between the two countries in more than 25 years.

Rice met with the foreign ministers from the European nations that led talks with Iran, which stalled last year. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Russia's foreign minister and a deputy Chinese foreign minister also attended.

Russia and China might join in any future talks with Iran. Both hold vetoes in the U.N. Security Council, and the United States needs their cooperation to seek sanctions or other harsh measures.

The formal offer of talks are expected to be made by France, Britain and Germany - the three nations that previously negotiatiated with Tehran. A senior U.S. state department official said he expected Tehran would be invited to begin new negotiations "within a matter of days."

A short statement issued by foreign ministers from the six powers and the European Union did not mention economic sanctions, which the U.S. wants and Iran has tried hard to avoid.

The powers agreed privately, however, that Iran could face tough Security Council sanctions if it failed to give up unranium enrichment and other disputed nuclear activities, U.S. officials said.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns called the meeting's outcome "a step forward in our quest to deny Iran nuclear weapons capability."

The U.S. intelligence director, meanwhile said Tehran could reach that status in as little as four years.

"This is a matter of assessment, we don't have a clear-cut knowledge," National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told British Broadcasting Corp. "But the estimate we have made is that some time between beginning of the next decade and the middle of the next decade they might be in a position to have a nuclear weapon."

Diplomats feared Iran would reject any offer of talks if the threat of sanctions was explicit, officials involved in the discussions said on condition of anonymity because the seven-party negotiations were private.

The foreign ministers' statement threatens unspecified "further steps" in the Security Council.

The group's statement contained no details of incentives Iran could be offered. Diplomats previously have said the package includes help to develop legitimate nuclear power plants and various economic benefits.

"We are prepared to resume negotiations should Iran resume suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities," as previously required by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, said British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett.

If Iran returns to the talks, "we would also suspend action in the Security Council," Beckett said.

The Security Council, which can levy mandatory global sanctions and support its mandates with military force, has been reviewing Iran's case for two months. Its permanent, veto-holding members have been at odds over the possibility of sanctions, with Russia and China opposed.

"At this crucial stage, it is very important that none of the sides involved in the situation makes any sharp movements that would create a threat to the real prospect of using the chance to reach agreement," ITAR-Tass quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying before talks began in Vienna.

Iran insists its nuclear work is peaceful and aimed at developing a new energy source.

Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, welcomed the idea of direct talks but rebuffed the U.S. condition that Tehran must suspend uranium enrichment before talks can begin.

At the White House, President George W. Bush warned that the confrontation would go to the Security Council should Iran continue to enrich uranium.

"If they continue their obstinance, if they continue to say to the world, 'We really don't care what your opinion is,' then the world is going to act in concert," Bush said.

Bush said he got a "positive response" in a telephone conversation Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding, "We expect Russia to participate in the United Nations Security Council. We'll see whether or not they agree to do that."

Bush also spoke about Iran on Thursday with Chinese President Hu Jintao. He revealed little about that conversation, saying, "They understood our strategy."

The shift in U.S. tactics was meant to offer the Iranians a last chance to avoid punishing sanctions and to let the United States assert that it was willing to exhaust every opportunity to resolve the Iranian impasse without force.

[Shammu]

Russia plans to spend $186 billion on arms by 2015
Fri Jun 2, 2006 7:52 AM ET

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will spend $186 billion on buying arms between next year and 2015, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov was quoted as saying on Friday.

"Over nine years almost 5 trillion roubles ($186 billion) will be apportioned," Interfax news agency quoted him as telling a meeting of the government military-industrial commission, which he heads.

"What matters is what the money is spent on, that it is spent effectively," Ivanov, also a deputy prime minister, added.

He gave no further details. Domestic orders would be a boost to an arms industry that is fighting to recover from a post-Soviet decline.

General Yuri Baluyevsky, head of Russia's General Staff, said last year he feared the domestic arms industry might not be large enough to supply the armed forces by 2011.

The arms export trade, however, is lucrative for Russia, earning it some $6 billion last year. Almost half of the sales went to China. India, Syria, Iran, Venezuela and Myanmar are also buyers.

Russia plans to spend $186 billion on arms by 2015

[Shammu]

Russia to Establish Naval Base in Syrian Port of Tartus — Paper

Created: 02.06.2006 11:55 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 18:53 MSK, 2 hours 17 minutes ago

MosNews

Russia has begun works in the Syrian port of Tartus seeking to built a full-scale naval base for the ships of the Black Sea Fleet, currently based in Ukraine’s Sevastopol, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources in the Defense Ministry and the General Staff of the Russian Navy.

The paper noted that this is the first time Russia is setting up a military base outside the CIS since the fall of the USSR and that the base will allow Moscow to pursue its own line in the Middle East.

Russia has also started work in the port of Latakia in Syria, the newspaper said. The base in Tartus and the new mooring in Latakia will be able to serve the needs of the Black Sea Fleet and possibly the North Sea Fleet as well.

The newspaper quoted its sources as saying that in the nearest future the Russian Navy will form a squadron headed by the Moskva missile cruiser which will permanently operate in the Mediterranean, taking part in joint exercises with NATO forces.

The sources said that the new base would allow Russia to strengthen its positions in the Middle East and also enhance Syrian security.

However, the Russian Defense Ministry has refuted the report. Russia is not building a military base in Syria, spokesman for the Ministry Colonel Vyacheslav Sedov was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying.

Russia to Establish Naval Base in Syrian Port of Tartus — Paper

[Shammu]

Arab Media Rush to Cover Al-Zarqawi

By DONNA ABU-NASR
Associated Press Writer


BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- Red banners with urgent tags appeared on many Arab TV stations Thursday as the region's major stations broke into regular programming to announce some of the biggest news in months - the death of terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Islamic extremist Web sites were also quick to carry the news - and in their case, lament it.

A note posted on one Web site - known as a clearinghouse for al-Qaida in Iraq statements - shortly after the news of al-Zarqawi's death broke on TV said: "We hope this news is not true."

"If Sheik al-Zarqawi has died, he will go to heaven, God willing, and there will be 200 million al-Zarqawis after him," said another note posted on the site.
   
The Islamic sites generally carried news from other Arab media, such as the bulletins that appeared on Al-Arabiya television.

And while the news broke into most major Arab station's programming, some state TV stations largely ignored it: Government-run TV stations in Syria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen continued with regular programming even as al-Arabiya and al-Jazeera were flashing alerts.

Those countries' stations normally are slow to report breaking news because it first needs to be cleared by officials.

In Yemen, the official TV showed an archaeological program, followed by scenic views of Yemen and then an Egyptian soap opera 90 minutes after the news emerged.

In Saudi Arabia, a program on the importance of women remaining connected to their environment was playing on the official station one hour after the news broke elsewhere.

And in Syria, a government-run station showed a call-in program that deals with citizens' concerns. News of al-Zarqawi's death appeared only in a news bar running at the bottom of the screen.

Other TV stations were faster - flashing banners like "News of al-Zarqawi's killing," shortly before Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made the announcement on TV.

After al-Maliki's news conference, the stations showed clips from al-Zarqawi's last appearance in a videotape aimed at rallying supporters. They also hosted analysts and experts to discuss the implications of al-Zarqawi's death.

"This is the most important news not only in the past few weeks but also for the next few weeks," said Nabil al-Khatib, executive editor of the Dubai-based satellite Al-Arabiya TV.

"Al-Zarqawi has been a key player not only in Iraq but also in the whole region. Therefore, his absence will have an impact on the course of political developments," he told The Associated Press.

Arab Media Rush to Cover Al-Zarqawi

[Shammu]

Central Asian bloc considering Iran for membership
By Michael Mainville
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published June 5, 2006
Advertisement
MOSCOW -- An obscure regional security group will consider admitting Iran as a member at a summit this month, accelerating its transformation into a political and military bloc with the potential to challenge U.S. interests.
    U.S. analysts think Russia and China already are using the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) -- which links the two with four Central Asian neighbors -- to try to squeeze the United States out of the region.
    SCO foreign ministers said at an earlier meeting that consideration is being given to extending membership to four countries with observer status -- Iran, Pakistan, India and Mongolia. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to attend the summit on June 15 in Shanghai.
    Expansion of the organization into Iran and other countries could make it "an enormous power," said David Wall, a professor at the University of Cambridge's East Asia Institute.
    "An expanded SCO would control a large part of the world's oil and gas reserves and nuclear arsenal. It would essentially be an OPEC with bombs," he said, referring to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
    Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld alluded to the coming summit on his way to a weekend security conference in Singapore. Comparing the openness of the Singapore meeting to other unnamed gatherings, he said: "There are some efforts and systems that leave us out, and we obviously favor institutions that are inclusive, rather than exclusive."
    A warning shot was fired at last year's SCO summit, where the group issued a declaration calling for the United States to set a timeline for withdrawing from air bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, established to support the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. Delegates from Kazakhstan, Washington's closest friend in the SCO, argued at that meeting to head off an even stronger resolution.
    Uzbekistan subsequently evicted the United States from its base in that country, and Kyrgyzstan demanded a 100-fold increase in the rent on its base when the lease expired May 31. Negotiations are continuing, but Kyrgyz visitors to Washington say the government could find another tenant for the base, possibly China.
    Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan founded the group as the "Shanghai Five" in 1996. It was expanded to include Uzbekistan, renamed the SCO and given a written charter in 2001.
    The organization's members insist its main goal is to foster cooperation by working to resolve cross-border disputes, promote economic links and support joint efforts to combat regional problems, such as drug trafficking.
    But the SCO has increasingly provided the basis for military cooperation among its member states. A military exercise last year involved more than 10,000 troops from SCO member countries, and another set of war games is planned for next year.
    "They say they don't want to form a NATO of the East, but the question remains: Why conduct these military exercises under the auspices of the SCO if it's not meant as a counterbalance to NATO," Mr. Wall said.
    Peter Rodman, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, complained in March that the United States had been denied permission to observe the SCO exercise.
    "There was a Sino-Russian military exercise last year which we wanted to be observers at, and the Chinese declined to invite us," Mr. Rodman told a congressional China commission hearing.
    Mr. Rodman said Russia is "very tight" with the Chinese on a number of issues and the two nations have been "trying to push us out" of Central Asia through the SCO.
    Chinese President Hu Jintao confirmed the closeness last month, when he praised Russia as China's most important strategic partner and described the SCO as "an important force for promoting peace and stability in the region and throughout the world."
    "Relations between the two countries have reached unprecedented levels," Mr. Hu said in comments posted on the Foreign Ministry's Web site.

Central Asian bloc considering Iran for membership