WikiLeaks XXIV: Security for Radioactive Materials in Yemen Goes From Bad to Nonexistent
Yemen as careless about security for nuclear materials as Libya.
Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire - Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry. Nuclear Activities
Showing posts with label Arab World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arab World. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Why are Arabs Racing to Go Nuclear? By Andres Cala
That follows Jordan’s ongoing march to enrich uranium and to build a power plant and the United Arab Emirates’ years-old program aimed at completing its first nuclear power plant by 2017. Syria is believed to have been working on setting up its own nuclear plant before it was destroyed by Israelis.
Each country is in a different stage and not all will be successful, but few doubt that Arab countries will inevitably join the nuclear power frenzy sooner or later. It’s a question of economics, all countries say pointing to their insufficient power capacity and lack of options. But a driving force is unquestionably Iran’s nuclear program.
“There’s no doubt that there is rising interest in nuclear power in the Middle East,” said Charles K. Ebinger, senior fellow and director of the Energy Security Initiative in the Brookings Institute. “I think the reality is that all these countries will pursue this for energy security reasons. There’s an interest to address power demand and water desalination efforts.”
“But in light of Iranian situation we would be fooling ourselves if we deny there’s not a prospect of another motivation, which is to train their nationals to build weapons of their own if they feel threatened,” Ebinger said.
Most Arab countries have signed cooperation agreements with nuclear powers, including the US, France, Russia, China, South Korea, and Japan. Qatar is also mulling developing a nuclear program, as is Bahrain, and there is ongoing talk to share a regional program in the Gulf Cooperation Council, the six-country alliance in the Persian Gulf.
The need to rapidly boost power capacity is real and there are no alternative sources, other than oil, which is significantly more valuable, sold in international markets, as long as crude prices remain about $80 a barrel, Kuwait estimated. Only Qatar has enough indigenous gas resources.
The UAE and Oman already import gas supplies. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are burning millions of barrels of oil a day to meet demand, and Kuwait already suffers from blackouts. Egypt, which generates three quarters of its power with gas, will deplete its fields in 20 years. Jordan already imports 95 percent of its gas.
The question is whether Arab countries will follow the UAE in signing the so-called 1-2-3 agreements with Washington to access US nuclear technology on the condition that they forego enrichment and reprocessing, the two technologies that could be diverted for military purposes, as many believe Iran is doing.
Under International Atomic Energy Agency treaties, countries have the right to develop uranium enrichment, as long as they sign on to non-proliferation treaties. Egypt, for example, has said it intends to pursue enrichment. Jordan, with huge uranium deposits, said it will do the same in an effort to eventually become a regional supplier.
The more concerning case is Saudi Arabia, the regional powerhouse that rivals Iran. Riyadh recently agreed to buy up to $60 billion worth of American advanced weaponry to counter its enemy’s might. The Wikileaks documents exposed Arab concern over Iran’s nuclear program and support for a military campaign to derail Tehran, contradicting official Arab policy.
Earlier this week U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce Francisco Sanchez said Saudis “seem to be very committed to having civil nuclear as part of what generates energy for them and to do it relatively quickly, like within the next 10 years.” Sanchez said he saw “wonderful opportunities” for American companies, which implies Riyadh would forego enrichment.
But while Saudi Arabia has said they won’t pursue enrichment, they “included enrichment in terms of reference” of a contract signed with the French company helping the country map its nuclear future, said Ebinger.
For the time being, it appears only the UAE and Egypt nuclear power programs are set in stone. Analysts say there is a lot of politics directed at Iran in the Arab march toward nuclear power. “I think there’s that message implied that they will not fall behind. They are saying they will not fall behind technologically and they will keep their weapons issue open,” Ebinger said.
Monday, November 8, 2010
U.S. arms deal raises concerns in Mideast
 The wholesale upgrading of the armed forces of Saudi Arabia and its partners in the Persian Gulf is seen in some quarters as a risky enterprise that will only convince the Iranians they need nuclear weapons to counter such a buildup of conventional forces ranged against them. |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UPI) Nov 8, 2010 The U.S. administration's plan to sell advanced weaponry worth at least $122 billion to its allies in the Persian Gulf to counter Iran is causing unease in the Middle East. There are fears that the mega-deal, the biggest arms sale in U.S. history if Congress approves, carries serious risks it will inflame regional rivalries while it provides huge profits for the U.S. defense industry.
The potential for conflict in an inherently unstable region prone to war and insurgency is immense. Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and the Levant are all powder kegs. Israel feels increasingly squeezed by missile-armed forces that ring it and may resort to pre-emptive strikes.
The massive U.S. deal doesn't cover Iraq, where the Americans are still rebuilding the country's postwar military and security forces.
But that, too, causes concern. Saddam Hussein launched two wars against his neighbors. He invaded Iran in September 1980, triggering a grueling war of attrition that ended in August 1988. Two years later he invaded Kuwait, which ended in a crushing defeat for Iraq by a U.S.-led coalition.
Iraq's neighbors, particularly Iran and Saudi Arabia, have no wish to see the new Iraq become a military power.
Right now, that prospect is less threatening than the reality of the present, with Iraq once again sliding into chaos and anarchy that could spill over into the Persian Gulf as the Saudis and other Sunni states seek to prevent the Iranians gaining a foothold in the heart of the Arab world.
The Americans have armed the gulf states for decades but this time they're providing them with offensive systems.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Gulf states in $123bn US arms spree
Gulf states in $123bn US arms spree
A package of US arms worth more than $67bn for Saudi Arabia accounts for the largest single component of this military build-up, providing a huge boost to the American defence industry.
The first phase of this agreement – soon to go before the US Congress for approval – is estimated at about $30bn.
Anthony Cordesman, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that the US was aiming to achieve a “new post-Iraq war security structure that can secure the flow of energy exports to the global economy”.
The arms sales would “reinforce the level of regional deterrence and help reduce the size of forces the US must deploy in the region”.
The purchase of new weaponry comes at a time when many countries in the Middle East, home to two-thirds of the world’s proven oil reserves, are alarmed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions. 
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Arab Nations Warned Against Pressuring Israel on Nukes
White House Coordinator for WMD Counterterrorism and Arms Control Gary Samore, shown in 2009, yesterday cautioned Arab governments against promoting an International Atomic Energy Agency measure that would call on Israel to increase its nuclear transparency (Evaristo Sa/Getty Images). However, those states today indicated they would not be deterred from increasing the pressure on Jerusalem.
The resolution, slated for consideration at next week's International Atomic Energy Agency General Assembly meeting, was floated by Arab states and adopted narrowly by the nuclear body in 2009. Israel is widely presumed to be the only nuclear-armed nation in the Middle East, although Jerusalem has neither confirmed nor denied possessing nuclear weapons.
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