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Dignitary
 
Posts: 8486
Joined: 01 Mar 2002, 9:37 am

Post 22 Jan 2011, 7:42 am

This is the title of a thread I started at least three and maybe four or five years ago at the former site. The first post there was the parsing of a UN letter of protest to Iran which contained one weasel word after another. The thread grew to many pages, with examples of p-ussyfooting (is that a universal idiom or USA only?), empty threats, and some suggestions that greed among the six powers often trumped global responsibility. It also included more than a few predictions that Iran would have a weapon by such-and-such a date, some of which are now behind us.

I reopen the thread with THIS report from the Assoc. Press. The lede reads:
Talks meant to nudge Iran toward meeting U.N. Security Council demands to stop uranium enrichment collapsed Saturday, with Tehran shrugging off calls by six world powers to cease the activity that could be harnessed to make nuclear weapons.

Farther along we learn that Iran hardly needs to employ brilliant or original tactics to worm out of these confrontations:
Iranian officials came to the table with an agenda that covered just about everything except its nuclear program: global disarmament, Israel's suspected nuclear arsenal, and Tehran's concerns about U.S. military bases in Iraq and elsewhere.

It used to be that they'd pretend to agree but raise one very small technical point, or promise an answer in a few days then delay and delay with a variety of imaginative excuses. Now they barely have to show any respect at all to The Six, who imposed no official penalty on Iran for this latest example of nose-thumbing. An unattributable unofficial official said the current sanctions would be enforced more strictly. I read that as an empty promise regarding the future and a craven admission that imposing sanctions on paper is one thing, enforcing them quite another, and The Six have been more interested in appearances than substance.

When it comes to substance, the real news since the last posting at the old site is this:
[An Israeli newspaper] has revealed the means utilised to impede the Iranian nuclear programme. The Israeli newspaper mentioned that a particular virus, "Staksnt," was used to disrupt computers in Iran's uranium-enrichment facility in Natanz. The newspaper said that Staksnt accelerated the centrifuges' activity to unnecessary levels and then suddenly slowed them down causing severe damage. A thousand centrifuges broke down; the newspaper indicated that the virus could completely destroy them. Statements made by former Mossad chief Meir Dagan in which he affirmed that Iran will not be able to build nuclear weapons before 2015 primarily due to the virus led several media reports to suggest Mossad was responsible. The electronic warfare launched against the Iranian project slowed it down and inflicted huge costs on the country, Israel Today said. The newspaper asserted the importance of the operation which was conducted in 2009 and 2010 lies in the fact that it managed to inflict harm on the Iranian project and Iran's inability to hold anyone responsible for it, therefore revenge would not be justifiable.

:smile:
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Statesman
 
Posts: 11324
Joined: 15 Aug 2000, 8:59 am

Post 22 Jan 2011, 4:13 pm

I think its interesting that the publication Israel Today is given credit for revealing the virus, when in the lead of the original Israel Today story they quote "A story Saturday in the NY Times..."
I wonder what that says about the Egyptian press? Or perhaps everything nefarious has more credibility if the Israel press is involved.