Tick Tick Tick

[candypreet]

Graham Allison - Pakistan is a nuclear time bomb—perhaps the greatest threat to American security today. Here's how to defuse it.
N ot since the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 have I been as frightened by a single news story as I was by the revelation late last year that Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of Pakistan's nuclear-weapons program, had been selling nuclear technology and services on the black market. The story began to break last summer, after U.S. and British intelligence operatives intercepted a shipment of parts for centrifuges (which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear bombs as well as fuel) on its way from Dubai to Libya. The centrifuges turned out to have been designed by Khan, and before long investigators had uncovered what the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has called a "Wal-Mart of private-sector proliferation"—a decades-old illicit market in nuclear materials, designs, technologies, and consulting services, all run out of Pakistan.

The Pakistani government's response to the scandal was not reassuring. Khan made a four-minute televised speech on February 4 asserting that "there was never any kind of authorization for these activities by the government." He took full responsibility for his actions and asked for a pardon, which was immediately granted by President Pervez Musharraf, who essentially buried the affair. Today Pakistan's official position remains that no member of Mu-sharraf's government had any concrete knowledge of the illicit transfer—an assertion that U.S. intelligence officials in Pakistan and elsewhere dismiss as absurd. Meanwhile, Pakistani investigators have reportedly questioned a grand total of eleven people from among the country's 6,000 nuclear scientists and 45,000 nuclear workers, and have refused to allow either the United States or the IAEA access to Khan for questioning.


http://www.itshappening.com/showthread.php?t=59793

[OldGit]

Maybe you should recognise the new detent between your nation and theirs Candypreet... I mean, 'twould be better for all concerned if you could come to some accomodation think'st thou not?

[candypreet]

I agree/ but dont you think that the cross border terrorism which kills thousands of Indians every year should stop first. you can talk about peace only if the killings stop.
Personally I feel it would be great, India is moving fast economically and once we dont have to fight terrorists, it might really help

[Pghredneck]

I agree/ but dont you think that the cross border terrorism which kills thousands of Indians every year should stop first. you can talk about peace only if the killings stop.
Personally I feel it would be great, India is moving fast economically and once we dont have to fight terrorists, it might really helpPlease keep sending Indians to the US. One of my Indian friends just gained his US citizenship yesterday. Our country is better for it...

[OldGit]

I agree/ but dont you think that the cross border terrorism which kills thousands of Indians every year should stop first. you can talk about peace only if the killings stop.
Personally I feel it would be great, India is moving fast economically and once we dont have to fight terrorists, it might really help

Oh - I quite agree about that. Terrorism is a curse and has to be fought. Hopefully, if relations are better between you and the Paks - they'll stamp on those people and the problem will stop. How will we solve the conflict over Kashmir though? That's the problem, a Muslim state, whose population want to be in Pakistan, but who are ruled by India.... Don't know how that get's solved...

[OldGit]

Please keep sending Indians to the US. One of my Indian friends just gained his US citizenship yesterday. Our country is better for it...

Yes - I like the Indians I know. Hard working people. I also have great respect for the Sikhs (who are also Indians of course). They will do a good turn for anybody if they can. It's a part of their religion that they have to help anybody who needs a hand.

[candypreet]

Yes - I like the Indians I know. Hard working people. I also have great respect for the Sikhs (who are also Indians of course). They will do a good turn for anybody if they can. It's a part of their religion that they have to help anybody who needs a hand.

Thank you. that means quite a lot. I am both. But then doesnt evry religion teach the same

[candypreet]

Please keep sending Indians to the US. One of my Indian friends just gained his US citizenship yesterday. Our country is better for it...
It benefits both countries. And America ic a lovely country too.

[candypreet]

Oh - I quite agree about that. Terrorism is a curse and has to be fought. Hopefully, if relations are better between you and the Paks - they'll stamp on those people and the problem will stop. How will we solve the conflict over Kashmir though? That's the problem, a Muslim state, whose population want to be in Pakistan, but who are ruled by India.... Don't know how that get's solved...

The state of Jammu & Kashmir had a large number oh hindus, sikhs, christians and Buddhists a mere ten- 15 years ago. Most of them have been killed and the rest of them ( in millions) have had to flee.

http://www.itshappening.com/showthread.php?t=60295

[candypreet]

so I suppose all the refugees of J&K will also have to be considered along with the people remaining in that state. People generally believed that Jammu and kashmiir had a muslim majotiry in 1947, but it was not exactly so. The other religions were not counted, religions like Sikhism and buddhism ( all who wanted to stay with India) plus not all the kashmiri muslims wanted to be part of pakistan. I know quite a number of them who want to remain in India, where democracy is alive and their freedom is as important as that of a hindu.
plus the fact that Kashmir also contains a number of shias, who I dont think would want to go to pakistan.

[candypreet]

Nuclear components acquired
U.S. investigators uncover Pakistan's link to black market
Josh Meyer, Los Angeles Times

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Washington -- A federal criminal investigation has uncovered evidence that the government of Pakistan has made clandestine purchases of U.S. high-tech components for use in its nuclear weapons program, in defiance of American law.

Federal authorities also say the highly specialized equipment at one point passed through the hands of an arms dealer in Islamabad, Pakistan, named Humayun Khan, who they say has ties to Islamic militants.

Even though President Bush has been pushing for an international crackdown on such trafficking, efforts by two U.S. agencies to send investigators to Pakistan to gather more evidence have been stymied for more than a year by other American officials, according to U.S. officials knowledgeable about the case.

"This is the age-old problem with Pakistan and the U.S.," said David Albright, director of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington. "Other priorities always trump the United States from coming down hard on Pakistan's nuclear proliferation." A former U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq and elsewhere, Albright favors getting tougher with Pakistan.

U.S. and European officials involved in nonproliferation issues say they recently have discovered evidence that Pakistan has begun a push to acquire advanced nuclear components in the black market as it tries to upgrade its 30- year-old nuclear program.

The scheme U.S. investigators are trying to unravel involves Humayun Khan and a South African electronics salesman named Asher Karni, a former Israeli army major.

Aided by Karni, who pleaded guilty to violating export control laws and began cooperating with U.S. authorities shortly after his arrest 15 months ago, investigators have traced at least one shipment of oscilloscopes from Oregon to South Africa and on to Khan.

But the trail did not end there. According to Commerce Department documents, agents followed the shipment to Al-Technique Corp. of Pakistan, which had not been specified on any of the shipping or purchasing documents.

Al-Technique describes itself as a manufacturer of precision lasers and other military-related products. But for federal investigators, "it was a big red flag," said one U.S. official.

"It's definitely a front for nuclear weapons," the U.S. official said. The company is on a U.S. list of companies prohibited from buying equipment that can be used in nuclear weapons programs.

U.S. officials suspect that the Pakistani government was the ultimate buyer behind another purchase Khan made from Karni, that of 200 U.S.-made precision electronic switches that can be used in detonating nuclear weapons.

U.S. law prohibits the sale of equipment that can be used in nuclear weapons programs to Pakistan and some other countries as part of the American effort to curb nuclear proliferation. Officials accuse Khan and Karni of conspiring to break those laws by concealing the true nature of the transactions.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/03/26/MNGIJBV7KQ1.DTL

[candypreet]

:) :) :) :)

[candypreet]

Maybe you should recognise the new detent between your nation and theirs Candypreet... I mean, 'twould be better for all concerned if you could come to some accomodation think'st thou not?

I agree. But terrorism must stop .

[undertaker]

Sounds chillingly like Israel/Pal scenario, doesn't it?

Orson

Will Hindus and others driven out of Kashmir be given right of return, compensation and autonomy? Where have we heard this?

[candypreet]

Sounds chillingly like Israel/Pal scenario, doesn't it?

Orson

Will Hindus and others driven out of Kashmir be given right of return, compensation and autonomy? Where have we heard this?


//////

[candypreet]

Mystery shrouds top terrorist's death


As more and more disclosures emerge and as more and more inconvenient questions are asked, most analyses are coming back to the question: Could Dr Khan and a small group of scientists close to him have done this as a rogue operation without the approval and involvement of the political and military leadership of the country? Should the outside world be satisfied with Musharraf's contention that Khan had been thoroughly interrogated and that all the information given by him has been shared with others and that no further interrogation is needed? Definitely not by outsiders, Musharraf says.

Should the world be satisfied with Musharraf's assurance that it was a rogue operation by a small group of greedy scientists and that there is nothing more to be learnt?

One thing stands out clearly from the recent developments -- the entire truth has not come out. Only part of the story, as given out by Musharraf, has come out.

Is it not necessary for the safety of the lives of billions of innocent civilians, who face the threat of a possible use of weapons of mass destruction by jihadi terrorists, to find out the truth?

There is only one man in Pakistan who has the entire picture right from the day the late Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto launched a clandestine project for acquiring military nuclear capability in the 1970s, and made Khan -- then a young scientist working in Holland -- in charge of it.

Since then, scientists have come and scientists have gone, but Khan remained a constant, shining star in Pakistan's nuclear firmament. Leaders have come and leaders have gone, but Khan continued undisturbed as Pakistan's nuclear czar and became the blue-eyed boy of all leaders -- political or military, to whichever side of the political spectrum they belonged.

Without having him interrogated by an independent outside panel, the truth will never be known.

In a report from Washington carried on March 3, the Dawn of Karachi quoted a report of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security as saying as follows: 'In addition to money, Qadeer [A Q Khan] was also motivated by pan-Islamism and hostility to Western controls on nuclear technology.'

Till now, the focus of the investigation by the US and the IAEA has been on Khan's role in creating and running a Nuclear Wal-Mart for state aspirants to military nuclear power such as Libya, Iran and North Korea. How about non-State aspirants such as bin Laden's al Qaeda whose pan-Islamic ideology he shares?

In my past articles, I had referred to the suspected penetration of Islamic fundamentalist and jihadi terrorist elements into Pakistan's nuclear and missile communities. I had also drawn attention to reports carried by the Pakistani media on the annual conventions of the Lashkar-e-Taiba at Muridke near Lahore. These reports had referred to the presence of unnamed Pakistani scientists at these conventions. The LET is a member of bin Laden's International Islamic Front.

There is a greater danger of al Qaeda and other jihadi terrorists getting hold of nuclear and radiological weapons/materials from the supporters of their pan-Islamic ideologies in Pakistan's scientific community -- such as A Q Khan -- than from any other quarter.

Unless A Q Khan is interrogated outside Pakistani territory by a group of international experts not connected with Pakistan, the international community will never be able to establish the progress made by the terrorists in their efforts to acquire WMD weapons/materials.

If the international community is to prevent or pre-empt the use of nuclear or radiological weapons by the terrorists, it is of the utmost importance for the UN Security Council to force Pakistan to hand over A Q Khan to an outside agency for a thorough interrogation.

[candypreet]

The road to nuclear jihad

December 08, 2005


If there is one country in the world which has been systematically violating with impunity all nuclear and missile proliferation regulations and from which there is a real danger of leakage of weapons of mass destruction and related technologies to al Qaeda and other pan-Islamic terrorist organisations belonging to Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front for jihad against the Crusaders and the Jewish people, that country is Pakistan.

The United States' double standards in this matter are evident from the alacrity and vigour with which it acted against Iraq despite the lack of any credible evidence against it and the care with which it protects the regime in Pakistan, despite all the evidence available against it.

Before October 2003, no other leader of a nuclear power had made stronger statements than Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf about the safety and security of its nuclear and missile assets.

How many statements he had made since he seized power in October 1999 that Pakistan's nuclear and missile assets were under the effective control of the army and that not even a fly could sit on them without the army knowing about it!

B Raman: No time to make overtures to Pakistan

How many statements he has made since October 2003, when Pakistan's proliferation activities in Iran, Libya and North Korea were exposed, absolving himself and the army of any responsibility in this regard and putting the blame totally on a group of about a dozen scientists headed by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the so-called father of Pakistan's atomic bomb!

This group brought in suitcases with millions of dollars in cash; bought real estate and invested millions of dollars in companies in Pakistan and abroad; travelled dozens of times every year all over Europe, Africa and Asia; carried sensitive drawings and designs abroad; invited foreign dignitaries from Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia and North Korea to visit Pakistan's nuclear and missile establishments into which even Pakistan's elected political leaders were barred access by the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence; received foreign scientists and engineers for training in the nuclear and missile establishments; invited North Korean scientists to witness its nuclear tests of 1998; invited North Korean and Iranian scientists to witness the Ghauri (nothing but North Korea's Nodong re-baptised) missile test of 1998; and sent to Libya, Iran and North Korea uranium hexafluoride and other sensitive material by special aircraft into which they were loaded in Pakistani airports.

And, yet, Musharraf tells us that all these were rogue operations by this small group of which the Pakistan Army and the ISI had no inkling till the US and the International Atomic Energy Agency brought them to his notice.

He has even had the audacity to find fault with the US for not detecting the rogue activities of his scientists even earlier and alerting him about them.

B Raman: Jihad's new anti-US front

One is told that these scientists did it for greed. Even if one accepts for argument's sake his explanation of greed as the motive, one could understand how the scientists must have been tempted by offers of millions of dollars by oil-rich Iran and Libya. But where is the question of greed as the motive in the case of North Korea, a bankrupt State, which did not even have a few thousand dollars in its coffers with which it could bribe the scientists?

One has lost count of the number of times Musharraf has changed his prevaricating statements.

Initially, he was saying that none of the Pakistani leaders, political or military, had any knowledge of these transgressions and hence they could not be held responsible. As the international concern and furore refused to die down, he changed his stand and started hinting that the controls over the scientists weakened while the elected political leadership was in power and hence such transgressions became possible.

His repeatedly asserted contention has been that after the interception by the intelligence agencies of the US and the UK of a ship in October 2003 -- which was carrying to Libya a clandestine consignment of centrifuges for uranium enrichment manufactured at A Q Khan's instance, by a company in Malaysia, with the assistance of a Sri Lankan Muslim -- he became aware of the extensive non-proliferation activities of the A Q Khan group and immediately acted against them.

According to Musharraf, details of the clandestine travels and the proliferation network of A Q Khan came to notice during the subsequent investigation.

Who's running nuclear Wal-Mart, asks Saran

Not many experts and analysts of the world have been convinced of the innocence of Pakistan's military in this affair.

Many of us have been pointing out that this proliferation started and continued at the instance and with the blessing of Pakistan's military leadership. I have also been pointing out in many articles that while the Pakistan's late military dictator Zia-ul-Haq, who ruled the country from 1977 to 1988, authorised the proliferation to Iran, Musharraf himself had authorised that to Libya and North Korea and was totally in the picture.

But, unfortunately, for reasons of realpolitik, the US administration chose to accept Musharraf's denials of military responsibility. It not only gave him a clean chit, but even rewarded him and his country by conferring on it the status of a Major Non-NATO Ally.

Despite Musharraf's efforts -- with the benediction of the US -- to keep his cupboard tightly shut, nuclear skeletons keep popping up here, there and everywhere much to his consternation.

The skeletons are everywhere -- if only the US wants to look at them.

The nuclear ghost of Pakistan's past doings continues to pop up from different and often unexpected quarters. On November 23,2004, the Central Intelligence Agency put on its web site edited extracts from a report on nuclear proliferation worldwide during the second half of 2003 submitted by it to the Congress. It had another bombshell for Pakistan.

The CIA report said: 'Before the reporting period, the A Q Khan network provided Iran with designs for Pakistan's older centrifuges as well as designs for more advanced and efficient models and components.'

What did the CIA mean by 'designs for more advanced and efficient models and components'? Pakistani analysts maintained it meant more advanced centrifuges.

Pak denies IAEA access to interrogate AQ Khan

But in an analytical article, The New York Times, as quoted in the Daily Times of November 27, 2004, interpreted it otherwise.

It said: 'A new report from the CIA says the arms trafficking network led by Pakistani scientist A Q Khan provided Iran's nuclear programme with significant assistance, including the designs for advanced and efficient weapons components.'

The Daily Times wrote: 'The [NYT] story is aimed at alleging that Pakistan gave a warhead design to Iran and wants to create exactly this impression. This is obvious from the reference to a closed-door speech to a private group by former CIA Director George Tenet and references to unnamed CIA officials. According to the NYT, Tenet described Mr Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapon's programme, as being at least as dangerous as Osama bin Laden because of his role in providing nuclear technology to other countries.'

[candypreet]

bumpity bump or is it boompty boompty boom

[exitwound]

bumpity bump or is it boompty boompty boom

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Tpotapple2a.jpg

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Tpotapple2b.jpg

[candypreet]

Cartoon Rage and Nuclear Intimidation

The longer the farcical Cartoon Jihad goes on, the more it seems to be guided by an overall strategic purpose. Not since Nikita Khrushchev banged his shoe on the table at the UN General Assembly in 1960 have we seen a combination of psychological intimidation with a nuclear threat. Khrushchev’s goal was to scare the West into submission. The Cartoon Jihad has the same goal.

Consider these facts:

1. The original Danish cartoons never intended to insult Islam. They were, in fact, too mild for the radicals, and were therefore “spiced up” by two imams in Denmark – by adding a web printout of a bearded man in a pig mask (from an AP news story); a photoshopped picture of a dog mounting a praying Muslim; and a badly drawn picture of a man in Arab dress with the Danish word “pedofil.”

These fraudulent and deliberately insulting pictures are utterly different from the whimsical Danish drawings. They were clearly designed inflame Muslim hypersensitivities, such as bestiality in a place of prayer, Mohammed portrayed as a pig; and Mohammed’s known marriage to a young girl. They are Islamofascist provocations that have nothing to do with the gentle Danish drawings.

2. The cartoon rage was therefore deliberately provoked. It is established that the “dossier” (republished here) was then shopped to the grand mufti and Arab League head in Egypt. It was then passed out at an Organization of Islamic Conference summit meeting in Mecca in December. Iran’s president Ahmadinejad and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia were there, representing Shiite and Sunni radicalism. The Cartoon Jihad may have been planned at that time.

3. The cartoon rage is still going on, five months after the cartoons were published, and long beyond the trivial provocation. Why? As Condoleezza Rice has pointed out, mobs do not spontaneously burn embassies in Iran and Syria. In places like Pakistan and Indonesia a struggle is taking place between pragmatic and Islamofascist factions. If the fascists win in Pakistan, they will control nuclear weapons: An Al Qaida Bomb.

4. Timing. A window of opportunity will soon close for Western efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear development. Within a month or two, according to Israeli intelligence, Iran will have uranium enrichment up and running. It already has missiles; indeed, it could transport a suicide nuke by ship or plane. Iran may not have a nuclear capacity comparable to France’s, but where the French may lack the desire to use weapons of mass destruction, Iran does not. Ahmadinejad’s slogan is “with martyrdom everything is possible.”

5. This is therefore a crucial time for Iran to help whip up Muslim rage around the world to intimidate the West. No Western alliance against Iranian nuclear weapons facilities is likely in the present circumstances.

6. Likewise, Syria has come under severe pressure in connection with its proven complicity in the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri. Syrian mobs burned the Danish and Norwegian Embassies in Damascus two weeks ago. Syria’s Assad can only gain when the West loses.

7. Although the Saudis fiercely disagree with Iran on Shiite doctrine, they share a veneration for Mohammed. The cartoons therefore present a perfect opportunity for both wings of Islamic radicalism to make common cause against the West. Only last month Shiite mosques were being blown up by “Al Qaida in Iraq.” Now the Saudi regime is allowing its Wahhabis followers in Pakistan and Indonesia to join the cartoon jihad.

8. Meanwhile, Muqtada El Sadr, Iran’s puppet in Iraq, has just thrown a roadblock in the way of Iraqi negotiations toward its first legitimate government. This sabotage move coincides exactly with Iran’s final rush to nukes.

Radical Islamists have a lot of reasons to believe they can win by intimidation. They only need to read the New York Times every day. As the Democrats and the media keep pushing for American retreat from Iraq, that country becomes more and more strategically vital. Both wings of Islamic fascism need to undermine democracy in Iraq, and intimidation is the cheapest way to win their objectives.

The made-up cartoon rage is a pure test of will. With Bill Clinton calling for prosecution of the cartoonists, and Al Gore in Saud Arabia (!) accusing the US Government of abusive behavior against Arabs, we have failed the test already. Their will is prevailing over ours.

But if the West crumbles so easily against cartoon rage, what will it do when it is faced with Iranian nukes? Ahmadinejad and the mullahs are watching and learning.

James Lewis is a frequent contributor.

[candypreet]

the original article has very good links too, which I feel is a must read


http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5269

[candypreet]

a small gentle bump

[candypreet]

Saudia Arabia working on secret nuclear program with Pakistan help - report
03.28.2006, 08:47 PM
http://www.forbes.com/finance/feeds/afx/2006/03/28/afx2629000.html


BERLIN (AFX) - Saudi Arabia is working secretly on a nuclear program, with help from Pakistani experts, the German magazine Cicero reported in its latest edition, citing Western security sources.

It says that during the Haj pilgrimages to Mecca in 2003 through 2005, Pakistani scientists posed as pilgrims to come to Saudi Arabia.

Between October 2004 and January 2005, some of them slipped off from pilgrimages, sometimes for up to three weeks, the report quoted German security expert Udo Ulfkotte as saying.

According to Western security services, the magazine added, Saudi scientists have been working since the mid-1990s in Pakistan, a nuclear power since 1998.

Cicero, which will appear on newstands tomorrow, also quoted a US military analyst, John Pike, as saying that Saudi bar codes can be found on half of Pakistan's nuclear weapons 'because it is Saudi Arabia which ultimately co-financed the Pakistani atomic nuclear program.'

The magazine also said satellite images indicate that Saudi Arabia has set up a program in Al-Sulaiyil, south of Riyadh, a secret underground city and dozens of underground silos for missiles.

According to some Western security services, long-range Ghauri-type missiles of Pakistani-origin are housed inside the silos.

[shadow_wolf]

Ok....so sanctions against Saudi Arabia or something else....

I'll bet we turn a blind eye to it....

[candypreet]

Ok....so sanctions against Saudi Arabia or something else....

I'll bet we turn a blind eye to it....
you bet:add09:

[Coda]

Oh - I quite agree about that. Terrorism is a curse and has to be fought. Hopefully, if relations are better between you and the Paks - they'll stamp on those people and the problem will stop. How will we solve the conflict over Kashmir though? That's the problem, a Muslim state, whose population want to be in Pakistan, but who are ruled by India.... Don't know how that get's solved...

"those people" run that fuckin' country no matter what the 'gubbiment' of Pak says. Mushy tries to shut them down and he has a whole bees nest of turbanators from several countries after him. Just ask Iraq or Afghanistan.

[candypreet]

"those people" run that fuckin' country no matter what the 'gubbiment' of Pak says. Mushy tries to shut them down and he has a whole bees nest of turbanators from several countries after him. Just ask Iraq or Afghanistan.
but does he want to shut them down, because if he wants to he sure can

[candypreet]

China’s Hu set to offer Pakistan nuclear plants
Reuters
BEIJING - Chinese President Hu Jintao is poised to unveil an ambitious expansion of nuclear power cooperation with Pakistan when he visits next week, testing China’s balance between Pakistan and its wary neighbour, India.

On the first trip to Pakistan by a Chinese president in a decade, Hu is likely to announce that China will help the South Asian nation construct several nuclear plants in coming decades, said analysts and diplomatic sources.

“The political intent is quite certain. The specifics are less certain, but this will be a political gesture above all,” said one diplomatic observer in Beijing. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the official secrecy around discussions.

There has been no official word of any nuclear deal during Hu’s visit and Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said no new deal was imminent.

“Pakistan and China have long-standing cooperation in the civilian nuclear field and this is continuing. There are no specific agreements at the moment to be signed,” she said.

Islamabad has asked China to build it up to six reactors of 600 or more megawatts, at least twice the size of the 300 megawatt reactor China built at Chashma in Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab, according to the Beijing-based observer.

The broad agreement appears likely, however, to leave the scale and specifics of cooperation for future talks — and also leave open whether China, with its own bold plans for expanding nuclear power, can spare the expertise to back Pakistan’s expansion.

But even a vague agreement will remind the world that China values its “all-weather friend” Pakistan, even while Beijing courts India, a sometimes bitter rival of both countries. Hu will visit India before Pakistan.

“Pakistan has been eager for a nuclear deal and raised it a number of times,” said Zhang Li of the Institute of South Asian Studies at Sichuan University in southwest China.

“I think there are signs that Hu will make an announcement during this visit to show relations are developing in a healthy direction.” India and Pakistan both staged nuclear explosions in 1998 and have refused to joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that would oblige them to give up atomic weapons.

An announcement during Hu’s visit would cap intense lobbying from Islamabad, eager to expand nuclear ties with Beijing and offset India’s influence and US-backed nuclear energy plan.

Last year, India signed an atomic energy pact with the United States that Congress is now studying, but Washington rebuffed Islamabad’s efforts to reach a similar agreement.

Pakistan has been keen to show that it does not lack other sources of support.

When Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf visited Beijing in February, both sides announced they would “continue strengthening cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy”.

China’s Foreign Ministry would not directly say whether Hu would announce a deal during his visit, but said Beijing wanted to build on the two countries’ current pact on nuclear energy cooperation.

“This visit will play a major milestone role,” spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters. “We’re willing to expand cooperation with Pakistan within the framework of this agreement.”

The Beijing-based China Business Times reported in August that China was likely to announce in November it would sell Pakistan six 300-megawatt plants.

China has said any nuclear cooperation would be for peaceful purposes only and would accept international safeguards.

But a nuclear agreement may rankle Washington, worried about China’s atomic exports, especially after Pakistan’s chief nuclear scientist, A.Q. Khan, admitted in 2004 that he sold nuclear know-how to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Before China joined the NPT in 1992, it helped Pakistan develop nuclear weapons, the United States has said.

A Washington official said on Monday that President George W. Bush may raise worries about Pakistan’s nuclear programme when he meets Hu at the APEC meeting in Hanoi this week.

“We have any many occasions spoken very clearly about our concerns about proliferation and proliferation by Chinese entities to Pakistan,” the official said in Washington, according to a state department website.
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/world.aspx?ID=BD4A320035

[candypreet]

wishing everybody here a happy and peacefull new year...............:add09:

[candypreet]

and the bomb still ticks...........

[candypreet]

Pakistan is US’s second worst ally

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=4d5a5132-bd00-4e2c-8c4a-748e7836a7c8&ParentID=7cd65e11-753f-42b2-8f1f-2ffb350e4d62&&Headline=Pakistan+is+US%e2%80%99s+second+worst+all y%2c+says+survey

[candypreet]

$100m spent on secret programme to secure N-weapons

http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/19/top9.htm

[candypreet]

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-30,GGLG:en&ie=UTF-8&resnum=1&ct=title&ncl=1123659219

[pilobolus]

$100m spent on secret programme to secure N-weapons

http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/19/top9.htm

I tried to call a good friend who works in nookyoolar security and he won't answer his phone...I assumed he was in Pak:)

[candypreet]

I tried to call a good friend who works in nookyoolar security and he won't answer his phone...I assumed he was in Pak:)

nice play to holiday in...

[Cali/Yank]

Candypreet, which major city in India do you in, or near?

[candypreet]

Candypreet, which major city in India do you in, or near?

DElhi:):)