Nuclear Proliferation: Do cyber attacks make Iran strike more likely?

Hotair: "Time for a new leak: U.S. and Israel developed “Flame” computer virus, say “western officials”"

Unlike the last few mega-leaks, this one’s not aimed at glorifying Obama’s James Bond-ian counterterrorist kung fu. In fact, Obama’s name doesn’t appear in the piece; it’s Bush who’s given credit for developing the Flame/Stuxnet program to sabotage Iranian nukes. Ace blames the leakers for revealing all the nifty things that Flame can do but I think we already knew all the details in WaPo’s piece from that Russian cybersecurity firm that went public about the virus a few weeks ago. The point here isn’t to spill the beans about Flame’s capabilities, it’s — as Ace says — to blame Israel for the virus’s discovery. And it’s not the first time that that’s happened. (...) >>>

June 20, 2012
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The Iran-Syria-Pakistan axis -

Update: "UK military steps up plans for Iran attack amid fresh nuclear fears - British officials consider contingency options to back up a possible US action as fears mount over Tehran's capability". More here. Too bad Cameroon and the Obama are like boys playing war games in a china shop -

In Israel rumor has it an attack on Iran is imminent. Even The Guardian is running the latest UN report: "Iran's nuclear activity under scrutiny as evidence of weapons threat emerges - Atomic agency report uncovers Iranian nuclear experiments experts claim could only be used for development of warhead" -

Breitbart: "AP Exclusive: New signs of Syria-Pakistan nuke tie"

U.N. investigators have identified a previously unknown complex in Syria that bolsters suspicions that the Syrian government worked with A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, to acquire technology that could make nuclear arms. The buildings in northwest Syria closely match the design of a uranium enrichment plant provided to Libya when Moammar Gadhafi was trying to build nuclear weapons under Khan's guidance, officials told The Associated Press. The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency also has obtained correspondence between Khan and a Syrian government official, Muhidin Issa, who proposed scientific cooperation and a visit to Khan's laboratories following Pakistan's successful nuclear test in 1998. (...) >>>

Nov. 2, 2011
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Stuxnet, a great, little worm -

YidWithLid: "Stuxnet as Effective As Military Strike on Iran" Says Top German Computer Guru"

According to a top Computer expert from Germany the Stuxnet virus which as been wreaking havoc on the Iranian nuclear program is just as effective as a military strike. Actually it is more effective, it has set back Iran's quest for nuclear capability by at least two years which is the best that can be hoped for with a military strike, without all the "mess" and human suffering due to war.

Little by little scientists are beginning to understand Stuxnet a computer worm developed with the sole purpose of doing what sanctions were not able to do, slow down the Iranian march to nuclear weapons. During the past year, Stuxnet the computer worm with a biblical calling card, not only crippled Iran's nuclear program but has caused a major rethinking of computer security around the globe (if you want to know how Stuxnet works click here) (...) >>>

Dec. 15, 2010
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Israel's fingerprint on Stuxnet -

Yid With Lid: "Proof That Israel is Probably Behind Cyber-Attack on Iranian Nuke Program"

For the first time, Iran's president Ahmadinejad confirmed that Stuxnet a cyberbug that has infected the computers running the Iranian centrifuges causing them to be damaged. Before today Iran has repeatedly denied that the complex computer worm had affected its nuclear program. The UN said last week that Iran had temporarily halted most of its uranium enrichment work earlier this month. But on the other hand, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the problems had been created by enemies of Iran, but had had only a limited effect. He also blamed the cyber attack on Israel and the West. (...) >>>

Nov. 29, 2010
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Read also about the appeaser-in-chief, "Jimmy Carter’s Consistent Message to North Korea", by Claudia Rosett -

PJM: "America’s Grim Options on North Korea", by John Parker

For the past week, the stunning report of nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker regarding North Korea’s uranium enrichment program has been sending shock waves throughout the world. This is indeed an extremely grave development, although the most serious aspect of it is not what most people think, i.e., the mere fact that North Korea has the bomb — that particular horse left the barn several years ago. (...)

North Korea is perhaps the ultimate rogue state. It has never paid any attention to the normal rules of international conduct: it sells narcotics; it forges currency; it blows up passenger airplanes; it murders the entire families of defectors; it kidnaps children from neighboring countries; it assassinates diplomats; it digs invasion tunnels; and, as we saw yet again with the Yeonpyeong island attacks, it lashes out militarily whenever it feels the need. (...)

There are, however, some meaningful countermoves available to the United States and its allies in East Asia, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Two of these measures, in the author’s opinion, are mandatory as the minimum necessary response to the current crisis. In addition, if we are serious about dealing with the North Korean nuclear problem once and for all, there are several more serious steps we urgently need to consider. Necessary Step 1: Nuclear Terrorism Means War With North Korea (...) >>>

Nov. 28, 2010
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Appeasing evil -

While an Editiorial on WT has the moral uptake, Stratfor provide a minute analysis -

WT: "Rogue-state vogue - Iran will follow North Korea's lead as a nuclear nemesis"

North Korea reminded the international community why it is one of the world's premier rogue states by launching an unprovoked artillery barrage on a South Korean town. The main difference between this attack and previous inexplicable acts of violence from Pyongyang is that this time the world faces a nuclear power.

North Korea lobbed about 50 shells on the island of Yeonpyeong, killing at least two South Korean marines and wounding more than a dozen troops and civilians. This comes eight months after the sinking of the South Korean patrol ship Cheonan, which an international investigation found was the result of a North Korean torpedo attack and the United States denounced as an act of aggression. (...) >>>

Nov. 24, 2010
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Iran's happy cyber worm -

WaPo: "Iran's nuclear program reportedly struggling", by By Glenn Kessler

Iran's nuclear program has experienced serious problems, including unexplained fluctuations in the performance of the thousands of centrifuges enriching uranium, leading to a rare but temporary shutdown, international inspectors are expected to reveal Tuesday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. unit that monitors nuclear programs, will provide no explanation of the problems. But speculation immediately centered on the Stuxnet worm, a computer virus that some researchers say appears to have been designed specifically to target Iran's centrifuge machines so that they spin out of control.

Iran denies the worm caused any problems. No country has claimed responsibility for developing the virus, although suspicion has focused primarily on Israel and the United States. James L. Jones, who until recently was President Obama's national security adviser, declined to comment (...) >>>

Nov. 23, 2010
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State Dept agnostic on Bolivar nukes -

Examiner: "Russia and Venezuela plan nuclear, defense deals"

Russia is planning to help Venezuela build its first nuclear power station as part of several deals being mentioned in the European news media.

President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to the deal following the visit to Moscow by Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, according to former U.S. Department of Defense official K.T. McFarland, now Fox News Channel's national security analyst.

State department spokesman PJ Crowley is quoted as saying "that there [are] no specific concerns about Venezuela’s nuclear ambitions." (...) >>>

16 Oct. 2010
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bama agnostic on rogue nukes -

WSJ: "Beyond the Obama Nuke Policy", by John R. Bolton

After considerable behind-the-scenes squabbling, late last week the U.N. Security Council finally condemned the unprovoked March 26 attack on a South Korean ship that killed 46 sailors. Unfortunately, Chinese and Russian pressure produced a statement so weak that it didn't actually finger North Korea as the perpetrator, nor did it mandate any concrete response. Pyongyang declared victory.

Just days before, Congress passed more sanctions against Iran. But neither these, nor the recent Security Council sanctions, nor further EU measures will prevent Iran's progress toward becoming a nuclear state. CIA Director Leon Panetta admitted as much during ABC's "This Week" on June 27 when asked about U.N. sanctions.

As Tehran and Pyongyang can plainly see, President Obama's nonproliferation strategy is intellectually and politically exhausted. But U.S. exhaustion will not lead to stasis. North Korea and Iran will continue their nuclear and ballistic missile programs in the face of our feeble policy. So are we consigned to two more years of growing danger? Not if Congress and opinion leaders take steps without White House leadership, beginning with these three initiatives: (...) >>>

Jul 13, 2010
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Here's a novel idea, the no-fly zone -

PJM: "Would a Tehran ‘No Fly’ Zone Work?", by James Lewis

It would be relatively harmless to Iranian citizens, we have the resources to do it, and it worked exceptionally well in Iraq. (...) >>>

Jun 29, 2010
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The Islamofascist Rumpelstiltskin says he's not impressed with the sanction, ponders exiting IAEA, going to postpone nuke talks -

Breitbart: "Iran to review relations with UN nuke watchdog"

Iran said Thursday it will review relations with the U.N. nuclear watchdog a day after the U.N. Security Council approved a fourth round of sanctions against Tehran over its disputed nuclear program.
Iran's president dismissed the sanctions as "annoying flies" as useless as "used tissues."

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of parliament's powerful National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, described the sanctions as "political, illegal and illogical" and said lawmakers would quickly "begin a revision of Iran's relations" with the International Atomic Energy Agency. He did not say what options were to be discussed but a revision could result in restricting International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors' access to Iran's nuclear facilities.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said imposing new sanctions "is not constructive, and will destroy the grounds for solving the current crisis" with the West. (...) >>>

Jun 10, 2010
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As thousands of dhimmis, Islamic supremacists, stealth jihadists, antisemites, fools and useful idiots protest Israeli self-defense, the morally bankrupt UN - amidst calls for denuking Israel - announces that while it was cowtowing about sanctions, Iran nuked up -

NYT: "U.N. Says Iran Has Fuel for 2 Nuclear Weapons"

In their last report before the United Nations Security Council votes on sanctions against Iran, international nuclear inspectors declared Monday that Iran has now produced a stockpile of nuclear fuel that experts say would be enough, with further enrichment, to make two nuclear weapons.

The report, by the International Atomic Energy Agency, a branch of the United Nations, appears likely to bolster the Obama administration’s case for a fourth round of economic sanctions against Iran and further diminish its interest in a deal, recently revived by Turkey and Brazil, in which Iran would send a portion of its nuclear stockpile out of the country. (...) >>>

Jun 1, 2010
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Surprise! pomo diplomacy brings war step closer -

WSJ: "Iran's Nuclear Coup - Ahmadinejad and Lula expose Obama's hapless diplomacy"

What a fiasco. That's the first word that comes to mind watching Mahmoud Ahmadinejad raise his arms yesterday with the leaders of Turkey and Brazil to celebrate a new atomic pact that instantly made irrelevant 16 months of President Obama's "diplomacy." The deal is a political coup for Tehran and possibly delivers the coup de grace to the West's half-hearted efforts to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb. (...) The deal will, however, make it nearly impossible to disrupt Iran's nuclear program short of military action. The U.N. is certainly a dead end. After 16 months of his extended hand and after downplaying support for Iran's democratic opposition, Mr. Obama now faces an Iran much closer to a bomb and less diplomatically isolated than when President Bush left office. (...) >>>

May 18, 2010
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Outsourcing the nukes -

Memri: "The Iran-Turkey-Brazil Nuclear Agreement: In the Iranian Perception, a New World Order Led By Iran", by A. Savyon

As the Obama administration strives for achievements at the NPT review conference currently taking place in New York, Tehran launched a countermove in the nuclear issue vis-à-vis the U.S. and the West. Tehran, which at the time of this writing is hosting the G-15 conference of developing countries, presented today, May 17, an agreement together with Turkey and Brazil on a uranium exchange deal – after rejecting an identical agreement proposed by the West in late 2009 in the Vienna outline. According to Tehran, it appears that under this agreement Iran is willing to transfer 1,200 kg of 3.5%-enriched uranium that it has in its possession (out of the stock of 1,600 kg that the West knows about) to Turkey for safekeeping, in order to receive in return 120 kg of 20%-enriched uranium that it needs for the Tehran research reactor (...) >>>

May 17, 2010
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Former CIA agent sounds the alarm on Iran - FEATURE -

PJM: "West’s Complacency Will Bring About Its Demise (PJM Exclusive)", by 'Reza Kahlili'

A former CIA agent in Iran has a dire warning regarding Iranian intentions and their progress with nuclear weapons. Don't miss Roger L. Simon's interview with Reza Kahlili on PJTV's Sharia & Jihad Watch. >>>

May 8, 2010
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Another axis of evil -

Haaretz: "Report: Iran to buy uranium from Zimbabwe in secret deal"

Iran has signed a secret deal with Zimbabwe to mine its untapped uranium reserves, according to a Saturday report in The Sunday Telegraph. The agreement was secured last month, when a close aide to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe visited Tehran.

According to the deal, Iran will supply Zimbabwe oil in exchange for access to potentially huge deposits of uranium ore - which can be converted into basic fuel for nuclear power, or could also be enriched to make nuclear arms. (...) >>>

Apr 25, 2010
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Iran, upping the ante - As the Obama nuclear summit is under way in Washington, where Georgia's President Saakashvili has told fellow leaders that his government has thwarted an attempt to sell highly-enriched uranium on the black market last month, Iran crancked up the rhetoric in a statement that ... "If the US strikes Iran with nuclear weapons, there are elements which will respond with nuclear blasts in the centers of America's main cities."

Counter MSM News: "Tehran: If Iran is attacked, nuclear devices will go off in American cities"

This warning, along with an announcement that Iran would join the world's nuclear club within a month, raised the pitch of Iranian anti-US rhetoric to a new high Tuesday, April 13, as 47 world leaders gathered in Washington for President Barack Obama's Nuclear Security Summit. (...) >>>

Apr 13, 2010
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