Iran: If The Uranium Were From Somalia....

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November16, 2006: Iran's "victory" in Lebanon (when Hizbollah rockets killed over a 40 Israeli civilians), has caused Shia communities throughout the Middle East to become more outspoken. This, in turn, has caused Sunni dominated governments to take a closer look at their Shia minorities. The net result is more persecution of Shia throughout the region. Not exactly what Iran was looking forward to.

November 15, 2006: IAEA inspectors have found traces of weapons grade plutonium at an Iranian nuclear waste site. Iran insists it is not developing nuclear weapons, while insisting it has the right to possess such weapons.

Iran arranged for some 700 Somali Islamic radicals to travel to Lebanon last Summer, to serve Hizbollah in its 34 day war with Israel. Some of the Somalis have since returned to Somalia with new weapons and Hizbollah trainers to assist them. Iran is trying to get access to uranium deposits in Somalia. This is curious, because Iran has uranium mines of its own. But if Iranian uranium were used in a terrorist bomb, chemical analysis would reveal the origins of the uranium. But if the uranium were from Somalia....

November 14, 2006: In Germany, a German of Iranian ancestry was arrested for illegally exporting to Iran, industrial equipment for building ballistic missiles. Iran has, for over two decades, run an extensive illegal export operation from Europe and North America. Occasionally, its agents are caught, and prosecuted. But there are always others ready to replace the imprisoned agents. The Iranians pay well.

November 13, 2006: Two months of American restrictions on Iranian access to U.S. banks has forced Iran to shift most of its foreign transactions to currencies other than the dollar. This is an inconvenience, and costs the Iranians some money. If other major currencies, like the Euro and Yen, also have restrictions placed on them, Iran would have some major economic problems.

November 12, 2006: The universities are no longer a source of unrest. In the last two years, the Islamic conservatives have forced reform minded professors to retire, and ejected students seen as leaders of reform protests. That has taken the fight out of the student body. But resentment against the Islamic conservatives has intensified, and gone further underground. The next stage is more violent protest, and the Islamic conservatives have not been able to do anything to avoid that, except attempt to stir up nationalistic feelings behind efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

 

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