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2010年7月15日星期四

威脅世界秩序:美國和以色列悄悄地宣布計劃重組它們的核存量

威脅世界秩序:美國和以色列悄悄地宣布計劃重組它們的核存量
Threatening World Order: US and Israel Quietly Announce Plans to Reconstitute Their Nuclear Stockpiles
12. Jul, 2010 2 Co
by: Anthony DiMaggio

The world looks like it’s about to become a more dangerous place. A recent report from Israel’s newspaper Haaretz finds that the United States is moving forward with plans to strengthen Israel’s nuclear weapons stockpile. The report, exposed within the last few days, originated from Israel’s Army Radio, which sent along a secret document chronicling the nuclear cooperation between US and Israeli leaders.(1) Israel has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), meaning that it is not technically violating international rules under the NPT regarding the development and reconstitution of nuclear weapons, despite longstanding efforts of the international community to establish a “nuclear weapons free zone” in the Middle East.
世界看起來像它即將要成為一個更加危險的地方。從以色列國土報最近的一篇報導,發現美國正在推進計劃,以加強以色列的核武器儲備。在過去幾天裡揭露的該報導源於以色列軍方電台,它發送一份秘密文件記載美國和以色列的領導人的核合作。(1)以色列並沒有簽署核不擴散條約(NPT),意味著技術上它並不違反在核不擴散條約下的國際規則,有關發展和重組核武器,儘管國際社會的長期努力,去在中東地區建立一個“無核武器區”。
Part of the fear of those advocating nuclear abolition in the Middle East is that the United States will agree to send nuclear materials – extracted from its own civilian nuclear power plants – to Israel, much as it did for India, another country that refuses to sign the NPT.
那些主張在中東廢除核武器的部分擔心是,美國將同意派送核材料 - 提取自它自己的民用核電廠 - 到以色列,正如它為印度所做那麼多,另一個國家拒絕簽署核不擴散條約的。
The Obama and Netanyahu governments are seeking to obscure their contempt for nuclear abolition by calling for “nonproliferation” in the Middle East, while Israel simultaneously boycotts New-York-based discussions (at the 2010 NPT conference) of the need for a “nuclear free” Middle East.(2) “Nonproliferation,” within this context, can be understood to apply only to other countries such as Iran, which has long been a target for US and Israeli military planners.

The Obama and Netanyahu governments recently announced that they will oppose efforts at singling Israel out in any “nuclear weapons free” Middle East discussion. The problem with this announcement is that Israel is the only country in the Middle East to currently have nuclear weapons. In light of this fact, any attempts to shield Israel from being “singled out” will inevitably prevent progress in moving toward nuclear disarmament in the region.

Much is made of Iran’s alleged efforts to develop nuclear weapons by Israel and the United States. This propaganda campaign appears to be paying off in light of Iran’s recent announcement of its planned opening this September of a nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.(3) US and Israeli officials maintain that Iran is enriching uranium under the auspices of a civilian nuclear program, while secretly using its uranium stockpile to develop nuclear weapons. Those who make such claims are at a loss to explain why the International Atomic Energy Agency – in addition to the US National Intelligence Estimate – found no evidence of nuclear weapons development in Iran, despite countless inspections by international observers.(4) Those claiming that Iran is a threat are also unable to explain why inspectors are unable to uncover any evidence that Iran is producing highly-enriched uranium (of a quality suitable to develop a nuclear weapon), but instead only produces low-enriched uranium suitable for use in nuclear power plants.(5)

Despite the critical evidence above, the US-Israeli propaganda campaign is succeeding in obscuring Israel’s and the United States’ own open contempt for nuclear disarmament. It should be remembered that the US openly violated the NPT late last year when it announced it would extract plutonium from its own nuclear reactors in order to create a new generation of nuclear weapons (for more see the original news report here).

According to Fox News polling, as recently as April 2010, 65 percent of Americans support “the United States taking military action to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons.”(6) This represents a four percent increase since September 2009. As of late 2009, CNN polling found that an astounding 88 percent of Americans believed that Iran is developing nuclear weapons – a 27 percent increase since December 2007.(7) Similarly, a poll from the Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University found that 81 percent of Iranians believed Iran will develop a nuclear bomb, according to polling done in mid 2009.(8)

Recent revelations that Israel is moving forward with US help in reconstituting its nuclear weapons program are ignored in the US press. At the same time, the United States’ own efforts to redevelop its nuclear stockpile are completely suppressed, despite the obsession of both the United States and Israel with Iran’s fictitious nuclear weapons. The Obama administration and the mass media are now promoting a false narrative depicting the US as committed to nuclear transparency and disarmament, and its enemies as opposed to such practices. Nowhere is this strategy more evident than in the Obama administration’s continuous attacks on Iran’s “nuclear threat,” pursued alongside Obama’s announcement of a new commitment to “nuclear transparency.” More specifically, the Obama administration publicly disclosed the (previously classified) total number of operational US nuclear warheads in existence today – which stands at just over 5,000.(9) While this step was a move in the right direction in terms of drawing attention to the United States’ massive stockpile, it was cynically pursued alongside a quiet announcement by the Department of Energy (originally made in September 2009) that the US is moving forward with developing a new generation of nuclear weapons, rather than working toward nuclear disarmament as legally required under the NPT.(10)

The Obama administration makes Orwellian claims that it is moving toward disarmament – when in fact it’s doing the opposite by reconstituting its aging arsenal. At the same time, Obama demonizes foreign nations such as Iran, which international inspectors and US intelligence agencies concede is not developing nuclear weapons (at least according to all available intelligence).

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced, following the administration’s report on the US nuclear stockpile, “We think it is in our national security interest to be transparent as we can be about the nuclear program of the United States … the important part is that the US is no longer going to keep other countries in the dark.”(11) Such statements are disingenuous at best when the US decides to redevelop its aging weapons, while any discussion of this is omitted in media and political discourse. Instead, readers are subject to reporting from The Associated Press that frames the Obama administration as “serious about stopping the spread of atomic weapons and reducing their numbers.”(12)

US attention to Iran’s nonexistent nuclear weapons program is all the rage in the US media. According to a comprehensive search of the Lexis Nexis database, the words “Iran” and “nuclear weapons” appeared in nearly 1,000 stories across The New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox and MSNBC from January through June 2010. In contrast, the United States’ own openly declared “Complex Modernization” program – in which the US allocated $55 billion to extracting plutonium pits and enriched uranium from existing nuclear power plants to place in new nuclear warheads(13) – received not a single mention in any of the above media outlets from September 2009 when the plan was first announced, through June 2010, shortly following Obama’s announcement of his renewed commitment to nuclear “transparency” and “disarmament.”

It is disturbing that the US plan for nuclear weapons production is completely censored from public discourse. Obama promised to “seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.” The Department of Energy’s plans clearly violate this promise, and run counter to US obligations under the NPT to pursue US nuclear disarmament, rather than rearmament. It is no surprise that the US media establishment is ignoring this story, considering that American journalists are heavily reliant on official sources to write their stories and since journalists see US foreign policy as benevolent and humanitarian in intent. By ignoring the United States’ contempt for nonproliferation, the mass media is guaranteeing that Americans will remain ignorant of the United States’ brazen commitment to power politics at the expense of global security and stability.

http://intifada-palestine.com/2010/07/threatening-world-order-us-and-israel-quietly-announce-plans-to-reconstitute-their-nuclear-stockpiles/

英國以色列排名第六核子大國 有達300枚核武

以色列就它的 '核軍火庫' 違抗

美首次披露核彈頭數量為5113枚 半世紀來最高機密

以色列拒絕參加中東無核區計劃

奧威爾場景:“完全控制社會”在這裡了:虹膜掃描儀

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