News Alert: Gates Says U.S. Lacks Strategy to Curb Iran's Nuclear Drive

By GottaLaff

Via an e-mail alert from the N.Y. Times:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has warned in a secret
three-page memorandum to top White House officials that the
United States does not have an effective long-range policy
for dealing with Iran's steady progress toward nuclear
capability, according to government officials familiar with
the document.

Several officials said the memo touched off an intense effort
inside the Pentagon, the White House and the intelligence
agencies to develop new options for President Obama. They
include a revised set of military alternatives, still under
development, to be considered should diplomacy and sanctions
fail to force Iran to change course.

One official called this a "wake up call," but the White House denied that, saying they've been planning for all kinds of outcomes for some time now.

The Sunday talk shows should be a real hoot, don't you think? Buckle up, we're in for yet another bumpy ride in the GOP gasbag gas-guzzling machine. Tune in early and you'll be treated to bellowing about our complete lack of national security, a foreign policy, and Obama's ineptness.

Oh, and no doubt we'll hear another refrain of this:



Please read the whole article here.

Attention ClusterFox: Is South Carolina a Muslim state?!

By GottaLaff

Earlier, Paddy posted a ClusterFox video in which there was much fretting and finger-pointing about our obviously Muslim president trying to sneak some ultra super duper secret brainwashing propaganda into the Nuclear Security Summit logo.

But oops, our pal Joeyess stumbled upon some extra special wholesome newsy goodness: the State Flag of South Carolina:



There goes the neighborhood....

White House: Ukraine Will Get Rid of Its Highly Enriched Uranium

By GottaLaff

Jake Tapper reports some very good news. So good, in fact, that the GOP will turn it into something horribly negative, unpatriotic, and dangerous.

In fact, if we're not careful, President Obama will not only destroy America, he'll destroy... the whole... wide... world:

President Viktor Yanukovich of Ukraine agreed to give up all of his country’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium (HEU), White House press secretary Robert Gibbs announced Monday after President Obama's first ever meeting with Yanukovich at the Nuclear Security Summit.‬‪

Ukraine will also convert its nuclear reactors that use HEU to ones that will use low-enriched uranium.‬‪

Oh no! Why... why... it's a plot! Yes. That's what it is. And it's been in the works for over a ::dun-dun-dun-n-n:: decade. Hide the kids! Our Muslim Kenyan Commie Gay Abortionist French Marxist president is out to get us:

The US "has been trying to make this happen for more than 10 years," Gibbs said.

The right wing will call this weak.

I call it an accomplishment.

And I'd like to call the panicky, crazed conservatives a whole lot of things, but I'm too busy trying to keep my cool and remain reasonable... Like our, you know, president.

VIDEO: Jon Stewart nukes Fox

By GottaLaff

Jon Stewart, thank you for never disappointing. Ever:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Big Bang Treaty
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

E. Vis. Ceration.

Let's start a countdown to the next GOP "Daisy ad"... attacking Stewart.

Breaking: Obama Limits When U.S. Can Use Nuclear Weapons

By GottaLaff

Via an e-mail alert:

WASHINGTON -- President Obama said Monday that he was
revamping American nuclear strategy to substantially narrow
the conditions under which the United States would use
nuclear weapons, even in self defense.

The strategy eliminates much of the ambiguity that has
deliberately existed in American nuclear policy since the
opening days of the Cold War. For the first time, the United
States is explicitly committing not to use nuclear weapons
against non-nuclear states that are in compliance with the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, even if they attacked the
United States with biological or chemical weapons, or
launched a crippling cyberattack.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com

Iran Nuclear Scientist Defects to U.S. In CIA 'Intelligence Coup'

By GottaLaff

ABC has this exclusive report about what the CIA is calling a big intel coup:

An award-winning Iranian nuclear scientist, who disappeared last year under mysterious circumstances, has defected to the CIA and been resettled in the United States, according to people briefed on the operation by intelligence officials.

The officials were said to have termed the defection of the scientist, Shahram Amiri, "an intelligence coup" in the continuing CIA operation to spy on and undermine Iran's nuclear program. [...]

"The significance of the coup will depend on how much the scientist knew in the compartmentalized Iranian nuclear program," said former White House counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke, an ABC News consultant. "Just taking one scientist out of the program will not really disrupt it."

No, but we do have someone who is helping us to sort things out, from the inside. The insights must be invaluable, and any information is more than we have now.

Does anyone else feel a sense of enormity about what this administration is accomplishing? It's beginning to become more obvious as times goes on.

Kind of a rush.

US media omission: Iran calls for global nuclear disarmament

By GottaLaff

That I'mADinnerJacket, he such a tease:

The American public has not been informed by the US news media about highly newsworthy statements made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday February 12.

He said the era of nuclear weapons is over, suggesting Iran has no plans to build "inhumane" A-bombs. Ahmadinejad called for a world free of nuclear arms in an interview with Russia's NTV channel.

Why, that's not the Mahmoud we know and laugh at! What a kidder.

Considering Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's calls for sanctions over Iran's nuclear program, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's position that new sanctions should be "crippling," one might think the US media would pay attention to Ahmadinejad's statements.

Instead, the media's Sarah Palin obsession means that more Americans heard repeated calls to start a new war with Iran in the past week.

Picky, picky... Besides, Mouthy McLookaMe is much more newsworthy than a guy who incites hate and condemns his fellow citizens.

Oh. Wait. Mouthy does that too.

Anyway, reporting such remarks would veer away from the crescendoing drumbeat of increased sanctions and possible war. Plus Mahmoud's not the most reliable source of information.

Even so, since the media reports all the negative babble from this nutball, they should also let us in on his more positive remarks.

Instead, they report all the babble from that other nutball... and then some.

3 charged in alleged plot to ship possible nuclear-weapons items to Iran

By GottaLaff

I live about 45 minutes away from Glendale. That's too close to home. Usually when I read about this kind of thing, it feels so much farther away. Distance creates an artificial sense of safety, somehow.

The men were educated, knew what they were doing, per the report. I'm beginning to feel crawly and shivery:

Three men, including an Iranian-born chemical engineer living in Glendale, have been charged in a scheme to smuggle sophisticated industrial components into Iran that could be used in the development of a nuclear weapon, authorities said Wednesday.

The case has drawn interest at the highest levels of government, an official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement told The Times.

More here.

Obama: New nuclear treaty is near

By GottaLaff

From a breaking news alert email via WaPo:

The United States and Russia have reached agreement on most major issues in a new treaty that would cut their deployed strategic nuclear warheads by one-fourth and allow each side to continue to verify the other's stockpiles, officials said Friday.

Negotiators have been racing to conclude a replacement for the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, the nuclear giants' most extensive nuclear treaty. It expired on Dec. 5.

President Obama said Friday that the two sides are "quite close" to concluding a new version of the pact.

Much more here.

Update: There is some disagreement about this.

Iran responds to not being ignored

By GottaLaff

Reza Aslan on CNN just now:

We got Iran to reduce enriched uranium stockpile by 75%. During Bush's 8 years of ignoring Iran, they had 8 years in which to stock up.... It's always better to talk than not.

Iran is now saying it will cooperate with inspectors.

ElBaradei calls Iranian threat 'hyped'

By GottaLaff



Had Cheney gotten his wish and bombed Iran... Okay ::shiver:: not going there. Let's go here instead:

Mohamed ElBaradei, outgoing chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has called the Iranian threat "hyped," saying there is no proof the Islamic republic will soon have nuclear weapons.

"In many ways, I think the threat has been hyped," ElBaradei told the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in an interview released Tuesday.

"Yes, there's concern about Iran's future intentions and Iran needs to be more transparent with the IAEA and international community," he told the Chicago-based magazine. "But the idea that we'll wake up tomorrow and Iran will have a nuclear weapon is an idea that isn't supported by the facts as we have seen them so far."[...]

Although the report said that Iran was stonewalling about "possible military dimensions" to its nuclear program, the report was far less critical of Teheran than Israel would have liked.

According to government officials, the IAEA has another document which is a summary of everything the agency knows about Iran's nuclear program, which has remained classified. Israel is keen on getting that document released, but has limited leverage since it is not a member of the IAEA.

ElBaradei did not agree to release the document, and the decision to do so will now go to his successor, Japan's Yukiya Amano, due to take office on December 1.

No sign Iran seeks nuclear arms: new IAEA head

By GottaLaff

Some positive news from IAEA Guy:

The incoming head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog said Friday he did not see any hard evidence that Iran was trying to gain the ability to develop nuclear weapons.

"I don't see any evidence in IAEA official documents about this," Yukiya Amano told Reuters in his first direct comment on Iran's nuclear program since his election, when asked whether he believed Iran was seeking a nuclear weapons capability.

Now back to my vacation already in progress. I'm just popping in, trying to give Paddy a break. She's been amazing!

Thank you, Padlock!

H/t: Gr8RDH

VIDEO-- Fox News panel lies: Obama has "given up" on stopping Iran's getting nukes

By GottaLaff

Sunday Lie Fest:



From the June 7 edition of FOX Broadcasting Company's Fox News Sunday

There Faux Noise goes, lying again. As George Costanza famously said on Seinfeld, "Jerry, just remember: It's not a lie if you believe it."

Hillary Clinton Says N. Korea May Go Back Onto Terrorist List

By GottaLaff

The Axis of Evil... again?

The United States is looking at restoring North Korea to the list of state sponsors of terrorism, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Sunday.

“We’re going to look at it,” Ms. Clinton said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” “There’s a process for it. Obviously, we would want to see recent evidence of their support for international terrorism.”

Ms. Clinton, speaking in a taped interview, was asked to respond to a letter from several senators asking the Obama administration to immediately return North Korea to the list after its recent weapons tests. The letter, which was signed by eight Republican senators and made public on Tuesday, insisted that North Korea “never ended the activities for which it was listed as a state sponsor of terrorism.” Restoring North Korea to the list would prevent access to loans and other financing that could be used to pursue “their destabilizing activities,” the letter said. [...]

Ms. Clinton said that the Obama administration was taking the senators’ letter seriously.

Li'l Kim is stirring up quite a ruckus.

When asked about what the consequences might be if North Korea were to attempt to ship nuclear weapons elsewhere, Ms. Clinton said the United States would try to prevent it and work to cut off the impoverished nation’s flow of money.

“If we do not take significant and effective action against the North Koreans now, we’ll spark an arms race in northeast Asia. I don’t think anybody wants to see that,” she said.

Cartoon of the Day

Click to enlarge, via.

Obama: Nix Nukes Now

By GottaLaff

How many times can I thank President Obama?

Dear Prez, thank you... again. Redundantly yours, Laffy

President Obama is preparing to move ahead with the most ambitious arms-control agenda in decades, calling for dramatic cuts in US and Russian arsenals, a halt to the Bush administration's plan for a more advanced nuclear warhead, and the ratification of a global treaty banning underground nuclear tests.

Obama's agenda, posted on the White House website shortly after his inauguration and outlined by several top officials, also includes a worldwide ban on the production of nuclear weapons material - leading to what the administration calls "a world without nuclear weapons."

The new administration's goal of starting down what it calls the "long road" toward total elimination of nuclear weapons represents perhaps its most striking foreign-policy departure from the Bush administration, which expressed widespread skepticism about arms-control treaties and pulled out of the anti-ballistic missile pact with Russia. [...]

Their vision for a nuclear-free world is predicated on the view that the United States - the only country to ever use a nuclear weapon, to help bring an end to war with Japan in 1945 - must lead by example in reducing nuclear arms.

Without America taking the first step, they say, other nuclear powers will be too slow to reduce their arsenals, increasing the likelihood that terrorists will obtain a nuclear bomb.

Many arms control advocates and top government officials believe there is a historic opportunity to implement the first steps on the vision laid out by the four former officials. [...]

Backers of the president's agenda warned it won't be easy to convince Congress, the international community, and the national security apparatus.

"It is going to require a herculean effort," said Joseph Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to halting the spread of nuclear weapons. "It is completely doable, but it will require the sustained attention of the president himself."

If there's one thing Prez O is good at, it's sustained attention. He focuses better than Rich Lowry at a Sarah Palin speech.

There is much more to this article. Here's the link.

Congress nukes billions for nukes/nuclear power in recovery bill

By GottaLaff

This is the second time today I can say I'm proud of Congressional Democrats:

The U.S. Congress eliminated billions of dollars for nuclear weapons and nuclear energy from the economic stimulus bill Wednesday.

Of the billions struck from the plan, $1 billion had been set aside for nuclear weapons and $50 billion was reserved for loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants, said the arms control group Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF).

In addition to posing a serious threat to humanity, nuclear weapons constitute a significant drain on the United States' financial and scientific resources, writes NAPF in its 10 Reasons to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. [...]

The $50 billion of loan guarantees for nuclear power plants could have led to the construction of a new generation of nuclear power plants at a time when other sources of energy are growing much faster, said environmental groups. [...]

Congress' decision to cut the stimulus money for the nuclear industry translates into a huge success for anti-nuclear groups like NAPF, which has long campaigned "to encourage elected officials to establish policies that will reduce and eliminate the nuclear threat."

It's issues like those that explain numbers like these:

[I]f you look at the numbers, congressional Democrats are pretty popular. And congressional Republicans are extremely unpopular. [...] Dems are at about 50% or higher in most recent polls, while the GOP is down in the 30s.

Pakistan Lifts Restrictions on Nuclear Proliferator

By GottaLaff

Um...

A Pakistani court freed one of the most successful nuclear proliferators in history, Abdul Qadeer Khan, from house arrest on Friday, lifting the restrictions imposed on him since 2004 when he publicly confessed to running an illicit nuclear network.

Mr. Khan, 73, considered in the West as a rogue scientist and a pariah who sold technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran, is revered as a national hero in Pakistan for his role in transforming the country into a nuclear power.

The ruling to set him free seemed as much a political decision as a legal one, intended to shore up support for the government of President Asif Ali Zardari, which has been derided in the Pakistani press as being too close to the United States. The government has been under intense domestic pressure to free Mr. Khan, and that outweighed the backlash that Mr. Zardari knew the action would trigger in Washington.

Issued by a court of limited jurisdiction set up under the previous government, the decision came just days before the Obama administration’s special enjoy to the region, Richard C. Holbrooke, was scheduled to visit Islamabad. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said “the so called A. Q. Khan affair is a closed chapter.”

Khan, always the diplomat, said “I don’t damn care” about the international reaction to his release. Sleep well, everyone.

North Korea Says It Has ‘Weaponized’ Plutonium

By GottaLaff

Bush's foreign policies sure have made America safer. He's been such an effective president, always willing to compromise, someone every world leader wants to please. Now President Obama has this to contend with on top of everything else:

The North Korean military declared an “all-out confrontational posture” against South Korea on Saturday as an American scholar said he had been told by North Korean officials that the North had “weaponized” 30.8 kilograms of plutonium, enough for four to six nuclear bombs.

That claim would confirm American intelligence estimates, which suggest that the North has harvested the fuel for six or more bombs.

South Korea ordered its military to heighten vigilance along the heavily fortified border with North Korea, said a spokesman of the South Korean military joint chiefs of staff.

Feeling safer yet, everybody?

With President-elect Barack Obama about to take office in the United States and negotiations over the North’s nuclear program expected to resume, it is possible that the North is merely setting up its negotiating position. But analysts said it could also be an indication that North Korea was intending to hold on to its arms despite an agreement it signed with five countries, including the United States, in 2005, in which it committed to eventually giving up those weapons. The exact conditions under which it would do so were unclear.

L'il Kim is such a pain in the 아귀찜.

Mr. Harrison acknowledged that North Korea could be bluffing in order to use the claim of having nuclear weapons as a negotiating tactic.

He added that all the officials he met with seemed eager to open discussions with the incoming Obama administration. “All the statements about Obama were very helpful, very respectful,” he said. [...]

Earlier Saturday, North Korea also toughened its stance toward Washington, saying that reopening diplomatic ties would not be enough to persuade it to give up its nuclear weapons. It said it would maintain its “status as a nuclear weapons state” as long as there was a nuclear threat from the United States. [...]

Its stance posed the hard question to the new Obama administration of what it would take to remove North Korea’s nuclear weapons assets.

In its Tuesday statement, North Korea indicated that the removal of an American nuclear threat meant the removal of South Korea from the American nuclear umbrella, the introduction of a verification mechanism to ensure that no American atomic weapons are deployed in or pass through South Korea, and even simultaneous nuclear disarmament talks among “all nuclear states,” including itself.

Six-nation talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear programs, which include the United States, stalled in the last months of the Bush administration as the United States and North Korea bickered over how much nuclear inspection the North should accept.

Just what already-over-burdened-President Obama needs.

Obama will nuke Iran if Israel nuked, official says

By GottaLaff

This article makes me extremely uncomfortable:

President-elect Barack Obama intends to offer Israel a "nuclear umbrella" in the event of a nuclear strike by Iran, according to a defense source close to the administration quoted by an Israeli newspaper.

Under such an agreement, the United States would promise to use nuclear weapons against Iran should Israel be atomically attacked. Obama's secretary of State, Sen. Hillary Clinton, promised a similar "massive response" should Israel come under attack during the Democratic presidential debates.

"The source, who is close to the new administration, said the US will declare that an attack on Israel by Tehran would result in a devastating U.S. nuclear response against Iran," the paper Ha'aretz said Thursday.

The source quoted also said that the nuclear guarantee would be backed by a new and improved Israeli anti-ballistic missile defense system, which comes in addition to one the Bush administration helped deploy in the Negev.

Both the ballistic defense system and the comments may suggest that the incoming Administration believes that a nuclear Iran is inevitable. [...]

Even so, Israel may no longer be able to expect "blank cheques" from Washington once president-elect Obama's administration takes over in January, according to a former US ambassador to the Jewish state.

"The era of the blank cheque is over," Martin Indyk, director of the Centre for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute, who is considered close to incoming secretary of state Hillary Clinton, said Sunday.

Where's my old school desk to hide under when I need it?