Israel keeping mum on Syrian 'attacks'
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At first there was a wall of secrecy about a supposed Israeli attack on Syria 10 days ago. Now, the leaks have started and there are suggestions the air assault by Israel was in response to Syria's nuclear ambitions.
In Israel itself there is an official blackout on any information related to the attack, with the Israeli military censor banning any reporting from Israeli sources.
However the British and American press, quoting unnamed US sources, have been putting together an alarming picture.
What happened in Syria 10 days ago has been at the centre of one the biggest guessing games in Israel. Whatever it was, it was very serious.
Yossi Melman is one of Israel's most respected military correspondents. He might or might not know exactly what happened and you can forgive his hesitation because he cannot by law report it.
"I would like to believe that what happened in Syria was that serious, that immediate, that it was worth the risk of all-out war with Syria," he said.
"We [in Israel] cannot say anything which is based on Israeli sources. Nothing. We can speculate or we can base our assumptions and analysis on foreign reports."
Mr Melman says if he published anything based on Israeli sources, he could be charged.
"I would violate the censorship instructions and they can theoretically charge me with [offences] from espionage to treason," he said.
6 comments:
Iran is enriching uranium using centrifuges. It aims to install 3,000 at the underground nuclear plant in Natanz.
Why is all the worlds press constantly mentioning Natanz?
Is it a disinformation game?
Arak, where a 40-megawatt nuclear reactor is under construction, lies about 450 miles from the Kish Island tourist resort in the Gulf.
Of all of the known facilities in Iran’s expansive nuclear program, the heavy water reactor under construction at Arak is by far the most dangerous. A heavy water reactor’s main purpose is to convert natural uranium directly into plutonium, the preferred fissionable material for nuclear warheads. In fact, if Iran is to have miniaturized nuclear warheads for placement on ballistic missiles, it must get the Arak project up and running. Yes, the Natanz uranium enrichment plant can make bomb-grade uranium. But for compactness, flexibility, ease of delivery, and cost of production, all nuclear weapon states have chosen the heavy water reactor/plutonium method as their primary route. The U.S. had its heavy water reactor/plutonium production facilities at Hanford and later Savannah River. The Israelis have Dimona. The North Koreans have (had) Yongbyon. Arak is this site for the Iranians.
UNLESS>
A dirty bomb is intended for clandestine placement..........
Arak's result is temporally more distant.
Centrifuges can yield a U235 device in months
Plutonium weapons require precise timing (like klystron tube fired explosive lenses).
Every single power started with a U235 'shotgun' type weapon. That means Natanz (or elsewhere hidden)
U235 spheres both just short of critical mass is unfortunately more reliable at lower tech.
Plutonium comes later
And Germany?
Nothing you say precludes simultaneous development.
Engineering problems have been solved by states using Iran as a proxy.
herewith
and
here
Rather adds credibility to the "Sunken NoKo ships", don't you think?
Just that the authors of the raid are different.
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