Fantastic job from the witless EU, as per usual. Capitulating to extortion is such a great idea... --- Iran has breached the limit on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium set under a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, a watchdog has confirmed. The International Atomic Energy Agency said its inspectors had verified the 300kg (660lb) cap had been exceeded. Iran stepped up production of enriched uranium, used to make reactor fuel but also potentially nuclear bombs, in May. - The Iranian foreign ministry's spokesman said enrichment beyond 3.67% would start in 10 days unless European powers took "practical and tangible steps" to implement their new mechanism for facilitating trade and shield the Iranian economy from the effects of the US sanctions. The mechanism, known as Instex, essentially allows goods to be bartered between Iranian and foreign companies without direct financial transactions. It became operational on Saturday, but Mr Zarif said it did not meet Iran's needs. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-48784786
Arctic Foxes are pretty darn amazing creatures... incredibly resilient (and cute as). https://www.npr.org/2019/07/02/737993673/arctic-fox-sets-record-in-walking-from-norway-to-canada
TomDispatch 14 hrs · Juan Cole offers a sensible look at the dangerous "game" that is now the Iran situation. Tom "The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Monday that Iran has exceeded 300 grams of Low Enriched Uranium. The 300-gram limit was part of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Iran nuclear deal, negotiated between Tehran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany. "The 2015 deal was an exchange. The UN Security Council would drop international sanctions on Iran, the US would drop its unilateral sanctions on Iran, and in return Iran would limit its Low Enriched Uranium stockpile. That stockpile is of fuel to run Iran’s 3 nuclear reactors at Bushehr, built by Russia. To serve as reactor fuel, uranium needs to be enriched to 3.5%. It needs to be enriched to 95% to make an atomic bomb. So the fact that Iran has a little extra Low Enriched Uranium is irrelevant to bomb-making. The limit was more symbolic than anything else, since it is just marginally easier to enrich from 3.5% to 95% than from zero. "Some headlines in the US and Europe are saying “Iran breaches nuclear accord.” "It was Trump who breached the nuclear accord. He not only reimposed severe sanctions but went further, going around the world threatening other countries, like an organized crime mob boss, that they had a nice little country there and it would be too bad if something happened to it because they bought Iranian petroleum. "In the physical world, if you lined up ships and stopped Iran from exporting its petroleum with a naval blockade, that would be an act of war in international law. I can’t see how Trump’s financial blockade is any different, since it has the same effect– preventing Iran from exporting its main resource, which is perfectly legal. "There is no warrant in international law for the US to just declare that a country can’t trade in some legal commodity. Moreover, Trump blockaded Iran despite Iran’s adherence to the JCPOA. That is, Iran lived up to its part of the bargain faithfully, and was so certified, repeatedly by the UN IAEA. And all the other signatories to the agreement were happy with Iran’s adherence to it. "Now, two years after Trump’s breach and the imposition of the most severe sanctions in modern history, Iran is acting out. You, Tehran is saying to the world, did not honor your agreement. Why should we honor ours? "Europe, Russia and China had wanted to try to keep Iran in the agreement, but they could not protect Iranian trade from US Treasury Department sanctions, which are third party sanctions. That is, if the Dutch oil company Shell invests in Iran or does business with Iran then the US Office of Foreign Asset Control will levy billions of dollars in fines on Shell, attaching its substantial US assets. "So however much the Netherlands, or France, or Germany may want to trade with Iran and to keep Iran in the agreement, they are helpless to resist the vast economic and political might of Washington D.C. "As I noted yesterday, the Europeans did set up the Instex currency exchange so that European concerns could conduct non-dollar transactions with Iran in areas of humanitarian need beyond the US sanctions. But it is only capitalized at a billion dollars and is a relatively minor affair, at the moment offering Iran no significant relief from US sanctions. US government officials are afraid that in the long term, mechanisms such as Instex could undermine US global financial hegemony. But that prospect is in the long term, and Iran’s economy is hurting today. "So Iran is up the creek? "Iran is up the creek. "If Iran is going to be economically strangled whether it observes the JCPOA or not, why should it observe the treaty? "The big danger here is that the US and European publics don’t understand the difference between a civilian program to produce low enriched uranium and a military program to produce 95% enriched uranium. Dick Cheney and his warmonger shop used to play on this ignorance, into which a lot of journalists and editors are happy to buy. I can’t tell you how often US newspapers and cable news channels have spoken of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, something it hasn’t had since at least 2003. "Iran isn’t even known to be able to produce high enriched uranium. "But the more Iran tests the boundaries of the JCPOA, the more ammunition it gives Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu (who has several hundred nuclear bombs) and his massive propaganda machine, and the more ammunition it gives warmongers like John Bolton (backed by Netanyahu’s prime donor, Sheldon Adelson), and the more ammunition it gives the inside-the-beltway think tank rats over at the so-called Foundation for Defense of Democracy (actually a prime engine of dictatorship) and its many counterparts. "It was this sort of miscalculation that helped do in Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and allowed W. Bush to invade and destroy Iraq. But the desire for a soft nuclear deterrent that comes from people knowing you could make a bomb if you really try hard is a strong temptation; the problem is that it can also be used as a pretext for preemptive war. "Both Trump’s warmongers and Iran’s hard liners are playing an increasingly dangerous game." https://www.juancole.com/…/…/breached-nuclear-destroyed.html https://www.facebook.com/tomdispatch/posts/2242986739120269?__tn__=K-R
I'm more concerned the US has nuclear weapons. History shows they're the only country to ever use them against civilians, killing 226,000.
There's no need for them to enrich beyond to the use in their civilian reactor. Anything above 20% is highly enriched uranium, weapons useable grade. There's no winning in caving in to blackmail by leaders of a fundamentalist dictatorship. USA is a democracy, Iran most assuredly is not. That's all the difference that matters. Suggested reading: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1946/12/if-the-atomic-bomb-had-not-been-used/376238/ "...I believe, with complete conviction, that the use of the atomic bomb saved hundreds of thousands—perhaps several millions—of lives, both American and Japanese; that without its use the war would have continued for many months; that no one of good conscience knowing, as Secretary Stimson and the Chiefs of Staff did, what was probably ahead and what the atomic bomb might accomplish could have made any different decision. Let some of the facts speak for themselves. Was the use of the atomic bomb inhuman? All war is inhuman. Here are some comparisons of the atomic bombing with conventional bombing. At Hiroshima the atomic bomb killed about 80,000 people, pulverized about five square miles, and wrecked an additional ten square miles of the city, with decreasing damage out to seven or eight miles from the center. At Nagasaki the fatal casualties were 45,000 and the area wrecked was considerably smaller than at Hiroshima because of the configuration of the city. Compare this with the results of two B-29 incendiary raids over Tokyo. One of these raids killed about 125,000 people, the other nearly 100,000."
This will be interesting to watch and see who uses it. If EU / other countries use INSTEX to trade with Iran, then given US sanctions against Iran, if that EU / other countries company has operations in the USA, then the US Govt can / could take actions against that local US operation for sanctions violations. From my own experience in the Aust financial services sector, a database is held that lists and and all sanctions (and internal policies) for each country on the planet and if under sanction and by whom : ie UN sanctions, USA sanctions, other governments / government bodies etc. There was no way in hell that any corporate I worked for was going to breach a US sanction via dealing with ie Iran for instance, for the implications that would bring to our US based operations.
I'm not on either side. But why does being a "democracy" matter so much? Democracy simply means mob rule, and if you can convince the majority, you can do whatever you want. And the fact still remains that US killed ~225,000 using nukes. No other country has done that. Pakistan, China, North Korea and Russia have nukes and I'm not concerned about that. Why is Iran so different?
Because Israel, that's why. Mullahs in Iran strive to annihilate Israel (the only democracy in Middle East). If Iran gets uppity too much, Israel can and will strike first - it is a matter of survival to them. Communists killed a hundred million. I'd be more worried about that, logically thinking.
we can still live without Israel, the god chosen people can follow their god we on earth people can continue our earthlings affairs it is fair for all it is a good show when we have a nuclear NK, it can be even a better show when we have a nuclear IRAN
I'd be more worried that Australia isn't far from becoming a communist state. Not in name, but in actions.
You say "mob rules" implying that is bad If you don't like living in a democracy which clearly has given you everything including the right to complain why don't you move to China or Iran were dissent is not tolerated,I am sure that you will fit in just fine,I'll even buy your plane ticket,one way of course The Book of James Chapter 1 verse 16 to 18 Do not be deceived,my beloved brethren.Every good gift and every perfect gift (Australian Citizenship e.g.) is from above,and comes down from the Father of lights,with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning
There's nothing wrong with a bit of totalitarian rule but there's a trade off. One party nations such as China and quasi one party western nations (Japan, Singapore, HK - both pre and post PRC rule) all plan and act for the long term and get things done re civil infrastructure and development etc which benefits the population, trade, national good. No way China could have done what they did in 30 years if they had been a fully fledged democracy. Same for Singapore to an extent post end of British rule and separation from Malaysia in the mid 1960's. Sure, these countries do not offer the same level of freedoms / rights we take for granted but they are countries who's population has greatly benefited from a political system that wasn't held back by the democracy cycle. Those countries with commonly accepted rules of democracy (ie Australia etc) all eventually fall into the election cycle / minority interest group driven policy syndrome and only look 3-4 years ahead so they can claim "look at us" at the next election. We can't even build new dams or coal fired power stations in Australia or talk nuclear power due to upsetting special interest groups and even if the Govt/s took on these groups, the timeline for design and construction is usually 2-3 or 4 terms of Govt...so no political gains to those now in Govt....but we enjoy the right and freedom to vote our dissent against the Govt, protest on the streets, then vote them out in a few years and put the other mob in for a "ie Rinse and Repeat". Gone are the days when an elected Commonwealth or State Govt planned and built the dams, the Snowy Hydro system, our power generation supply. We are damn lucky that the current NSW Govt got on with building the new rail lines and motorways / tunnels but those appear exceptions to the rule of modern western politics. So until we can find a "benevolent dictator" who won't enslave the masses and at the same time can generate prosperity for all with fear or favour, then I think we are stuck with "mob rule", special interest groups and short term national planning "western democracy".
I'm confused about your post. You said that a benefit of living here is that you are free to have an opinion/voice, but then suggested he should leave because of his opinion? Also i don't think he ever said he didn't like living here. Anywho if you're giving away free flight tickets can i please get one to China? I always wanted to see what it's like to live in a sardine can.
"I'm confused about your post" I never really thought you were very bright and I don't know if I could trust you in China on your own,I would worry too much maybe Tehran instead The Book of Proverbs Chapter 17 verse 22 A merry heart does good,like medicine.But a broken spirit dries the bones
So you are saying poor little Leo25 cannot speak or defend himself you are so full of yourself that you cannot see when two adults are having a laugh now I am sadly laughing at you I think he could offended by you treating him like a child,and what this forum needs is another hero,and a shame but it won't be you Were do you live,just being friendly The pile on continues The Book of Psalm Chapter 118 verse 6 The Lord is on my side,I will not fear.What can man do to me (nothing)
