THE TENSION: Tue Open Thread

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Here are some of today's headlines surrounding events in the Middle East:

The Washington Post opens with the headline: Iran Reportedly Rejects Demands to Halt Nuclear Efforts
On the other hand, Iran says it is ready for serious nuclear talks, reports Reuters and AP.
Aljazeera reports that Iran offered a formal but ambiguous response.
The Bush Administration is reclassifying Cold War information in order to conceal the U.S. arsenal, reports Arab News, implying that the U.S. is building up stockpiles of strategic weapons. There is no mention of Iran.
The Middle East Online reports that a leading Islamist cleric says that peace in the Mideast is capitulation and calls for jihad against Israel.
Iran's Navy attacks and boards Romanian oil rig in Gulf, reports Bloomberg.
Reuters reports that an Israeli a cabinet minister said country must be ready for any Iranian attack.

Anonymous said...: Given the stakes, it is in everyone's interest to limit the spread of nuclear material and weapon-making technology. However, this is ultimately impossible in our current world of deepening globalization of everything from communications, travel, and computer technology to energy infrastructure development. For example, recently Pakistan is expanding its nuclear power capabilities with the construction of a 1000 megawatt capacity plutonium power plant. As noted in a previous post on my blog, this further increases the chances that this fissile material can be transferred to non-state actors, including terrorist organizations.

This is another example of how the process of globalization affects weapon technology, including the proliferation of a nuclear weapon production infrastructure, and so is another example of the expansion of violence capacity around the globe. It is only a matter of time before either a mistake is made with nuclear material or a nuclear weapon is simply used outright, and chances of these things occurring only go up as access to this material increases.; 2:37 PM EDT