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Getbig Main Boards => General Topics => Topic started by: 240 is Back on November 04, 2006, 10:32:27 AM
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Six Arab states join rush to go nuclear
By Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor
Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, UAE and Saudi Arabia seek atom technology
THE SPECTRE of a nuclear race in the Middle East was raised yesterday when six Arab states announced that they were embarking on programmes to master atomic technology.
The move, which follows the failure by the West to curb Iran’s controversial nuclear programme, could see a rapid spread of nuclear reactors in one of the world’s most unstable regions, stretching from the Gulf to the Levant and into North Africa.
The countries involved were named by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Tunisia and the UAE have also shown interest.
All want to build civilian nuclear energy programmes, as they are permitted to under international law. But the sudden rush to nuclear power has raised suspicions that the real intention is to acquire nuclear technology which could be used for the first Arab atomic bomb.
“Some Middle East states, including Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Saudi Arabia, have shown initial interest [in using] nuclear power primarily for desalination purposes,” Tomihiro Taniguch, the deputy director-general of the IAEA, told the business weekly Middle East Economic Digest. He said that they had held preliminary discussions with the governments and that the IAEA’s technical advisory programme would be offered to them to help with studies into creating power plants.
Mark Fitzpatrick, an expert on nuclear proliferation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that it was clear that the sudden drive for nuclear expertise was to provide the Arabs with a “security hedge”.
“If Iran was not on the path to a nuclear weapons capability you would probably not see this sudden rush [in the Arab world],” he said.
The announcement by the six nations is a stunning reversal of policy in the Arab world, which had until recently been pressing for a nuclear free Middle East, where only Israel has nuclear weapons.
Egypt and other North African states can argue with some justification that they need cheap, safe energy for their expanding economies and growing populations at a time of high oil prices.
The case will be much harder for Saudi Arabia, which sits on the world’s largest oil reserves. Earlier this year Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister, told The Times that his country opposed the spread of nuclear power and weapons in the Arab world.
Since then, however, the Iranians have accelerated their nuclear power and enrichment programmes.
TIMES ONLINE UK
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They want Israel off the map
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Should we invade Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, UAE and Saudi Arabia?
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Should we invade Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, UAE and Saudi Arabia?
How about we just give them the "nukes" they desire? ;D
We can say it was a mis-understaning afterwards :-*
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Wow, I wonder if this is what happens when we side with one country's right in the region to have nukes while invading 2 others in the neighborhood and identifying a third as being part of the axis of evil... (looks like a crusade from every perspective) At the same time kissing asses or being soft with nuclear powers who aren't friendly to us... Pakistan and NK... Yup... Sends a message, get them nukes asap...
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As been stated, America doesn't attack those who have nuclear weapons.
Kinda of a Bully Mentality to me. We used to "walk softly and carry a big stick". Now we just run up on ya and hit you with the stick, for the hell of it.