Hamid Dabashi: President-elect Hassan Rohani will not change Iran’s Neo-liberal
capitalism but may be inspired by popular support for more political rights and nuclear
transparency … Read More
Iran’s New President a Regime Insider – Wide Mandate for More Civil Liberties
No Substantial Iran Negotiations Possible Without Offer of a Suspension of Sanctions
Lawrence Wilkerson: If the US is serious about negotiating with Iran it must offer a suspension of
sanctions and a permanent end to sanctions once safeguards are in place – Iran has to come
forward and tell the IAEA everything about the past and present of their nuclear program … Read More
France launches probe into ‘vulnerable’ nuclear base after media disclosure
The country’s defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, took the publication by Le Telegramme de Brest daily very seriously, calling for an immediate check at the base on the Ile Longue island, AFP reports. The paper has called the base “a fortress on paper,” revealing huge security flaws at the facility, which hosts France’s four nuclear attack submarines. According to the publication, access controls to the base were very weak as they didn’t use biometric identification systems, which are common for most modern airports. The badges of the servicemen had no traceability on entering or exiting the facility as well as logging of previous visits, with the primitive magnetic strip being quite easy to duplicate. Le Telegramme added that the civilian workers making repairs at the base needed just a piece of paper with a few basic details, which “a child of 12 could reproduce”, to enter the territory of the military installation. With no scanners or detection systems in place, nobody even bothered to inspect the content of their trucks, which could’ve well been carrying large amounts of explosives, the paper stressed. The journalists noted that the 115 military police deployed to protect the facility were part-time volunteers, many of whom were young, inexperienced and poorly paid. The paper also found problems in the field of information security as the base was easily accessible to internet enquiries, with too much data on the site being available to the general public. Despite being a top secret object, it can be without problems found on the Google Maps web mapping service. The submarines at the Ile Longue island constitute the bulk of France’s nuclear deterrent after the country closed its land-based, long-range nuclear system at the Albion Plateau back in 1999. The four nuclear subs, which are commonly known as ‘Boomers’, are each equipped with 16 inter-continental ballistic missiles. Le Telegramme warned that there’ll be serious trouble if they fall into the wrong hands as firepower of just one submarine is equal to 960 times the nuclear explosion in Hiroshima in 1945. Independent defense consultant, Jean-Marie Collin, told Francetv Info that the investigation into the Ile Longue base is an “an admission of weakness” by the French defense ministry, which indicates problems in the country’s national security. The expert stressed that the facility is “extremely well protected” from a possible military assault, but added that the real “danger rather comes from inside than from outside of the base”. According to Collin, there’s risk of a base employee making a fatal mistake or an Al-Qaeda suicide bomber making his way into the base, which may lead to very serious consequences for the French state. … Read More
Must See Commentary: “I Don’t Know What We’re Going To Wake Up To Tomorrow…”
With seemingly endless scandals rocking the country, economic malaise spreading across the world, and super powers positioning their military assets on the grand chessboard, one can’t help but notice that the entire planet is devolving into completely insanity. … Read More
Fire hits Swedish nuke plant near Gothenburg
A small fire broke out at the Ringhals nuclear power plant in western Sweden on Wednesday morning, less than a day after the reactor had been removed from special observation stemming from a series of safety lapses in 2009. … Read More
Aref drops out of Iran presidential race in favour of ‘dark horse’ candidate
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With just a few days to go, Mohammad Reza Aref has dropped out of the presidential race in Iran.
On his website he explains that the head of the reformist movement Mohammad Khatami had asked him to withdraw.
It follows recent calls for Aref to quit in favour of moderate candidate Hassan Rohani.
Of the six remaining hopefuls, most are conservatives with close ties with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. One conservative, Gholam Ali Haddad Adel also quit the race on Monday.
Though not a declared reformist Rohani’s rhetoric appears to be aimed at their voters.
Political analysts believe the former nuclear negotiator and Muslim cleric could be the dark horse, appealing to moderates in the country. He has called for an end to political suppression and the release of all political prisoners.
Reformists have felt sidelined since the 2009 election, which led to Ahmadinejad’s reelection. Rohani blamed the president’s hardline policies for international sanctions which have crippled the economy.
More about: Iran elections 2013, Iranian politics, Nuclear weapons
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US discloses Israel’s top-secret military base outraging Tel-Aviv
Israel has turned to the US government with its plans to build a state-of-the-art facility to host the new ballistic-missile defense system, the Arrow 3, McClatchy’s Washington Bureau reports. In accordance with its usual procedure, the US Defense Department has published the details of the $25 million project on a federal business opportunities website so that contractors could bid on it. Over 1,000 pages of specifications included a thorough description of the future base from the depth of the underground complex to building materials to be used in construction. The information on the facility at Tel Shahar is classified in Israel, with the local military even refusing to officially confirm its location between the cities of Jerusalem and Ashdod. “If an enemy of Israel wanted to launch an attack against a facility, this would give him an easy how-to guide. This type of information is closely guarded and its release can jeopardize the entire facility,” an unnamed Israeli military official commented, refusing to say if the plans for the base will be altered as a result of the disclosure. “This is more than worrying, it’s shocking,” he added. According to the bid requests, the Arrow 3 system will include six interceptor missiles in vertical launch positions to be placed at the base, with a gantry crane to be erected for further missiles. High-grade concrete reinforced with steel mesh grids will be used to build the structures encasing the interceptor system, which will have steel blast doors and a system to protect electrical wiring from the pressure during the launch. The Arrow 3 is a defense system designed to intercept ballistic missiles outside the Earth’s atmosphere. It’s expected to become operational in 2015-16 to tackle possible threats from the nuclear weapon program developed by neighboring Iran. “We’re thinking mostly about the nuclear threat,” Col. Aviram Hasson, who heads the Arrow 3 project, is cited as saying by UPI.com. “We want to reach a situation in which Israel has a ready defense for any threat, present or future.” Earlier, the head of the bidding process at Israel’s Defense Ministry, Lt. Col. Peleg Zeevi, told Reuters that the project was given to the Americans as the IDF needed “a player that has the knowledge, ability and experience” in the field. Since 1998, the US had built military facilities worth $500 million for the Israeli army, which, according to Zeevi, was “aware of the security issues that arise in deals with foreign firms.” But it seems that the scale of the disclosure of a top-secret facility was too much to handle for the Israeli officials. … Read More
