Free Republic

Not long after the Ayatollah Khomeini announced his fatwa against Salman Rushdie, the British novelist suddenly turned up on a Muslim radio station in West London late one night and told his interviewer he'd converted to Islam. Marvelous religion, couldn't be happier, Allahu Akbar and all that. And the Ayatollah said hey, that's terrific news, glad to hear it. But we're still gonna kill you.

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama said Friday that the U.S. and its allies are taking steps to help Iran benefit from a landmark nuclear agreement reached last year, including moves to facilitate trade and banking transactions for the Islamic Republic.

President Obama boasted Friday about his administration's exemplary record on transparency related to nuclear materials, and cited as an example his decision to share U.S. security protocols with the world, along with information about the size of the U.S.'s highly enriched uranium stockpile. As of Sept. 30, 2013 the nation had 585.6 metric tons of highly enriched uranium, a fact that hasn't been declassified in 15 years, Obama noted during the summit's opening session. The last public figure was 740.7 metric tons, and the difference shows the U.S. has reduced its stockpile by more than 20 percent. "This type of...

— President Obama on Friday questioned Donald J. Trump’s fitness for office after statements from the Republican front-runner that the United States and its allies should move away from decades of constraints on the use of nuclear weapons. “We don’t want somebody in the Oval Office who doesn’t recognize how important that is,” Mr. Obama said. Speaking to reporters at the end of a summit meeting devoted to nuclear security, the president said the comments by Mr. Trump reflected a person who “doesn’t know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world in general.”

President Barack Obama said Friday that the world faces a persistent and evolving threat from terrorists who are eager to unleash a devastating nuclear attack. “It would change our world,” he said. Hosting his last nuclear security summit, said the world has measurably reduced the risk of nuclear terrorism by taking “concrete, tangible steps.” He said no terrorists have thus far obtained nuclear material, and he praised recent moves by Argentina, Switzerland and Uzbekistan for getting rid of their stockpiles of highly enriched uranium. Still, Obama said, the prospect of the Islamic State group or other extremists getting a weapon...

The United Nations' recently implemented sanctions against North Korea are already driving a wedge between longtime allies North Korea and China, a document from the Workers' Party of North Korea reveals. In the document, the Workers' Party condemns Beijing for partaking in the sanctions aimed at curbing North Korea's nuclear program and urges its people to confront China with a "nuclear storm" for its alleged "betrayal of socialism," Daily NK reports.

The operator of Japan's destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant switched on a giant refrigeration system on Thursday to create an unprecedented underground ice wall around its damaged reactors. Radioactive water has been flowing from the reactors, and other methods have failed to fully control it. The decontamination and decommissioning of the plant, damaged by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011, hinge of the success of the wall.

The annual Nuclear Security Summit, aimed at reducing the world's nuclear weapons, gets underway Thursday in Washington with President Obama hosting a series of meetings with the leaders of several Asian nations to talk about efforts to prevent North Korea from becoming a bigger threat. But the gathering of more than 50 world leaders will focus primarily on keeping terrorists from obtaining the ingredients for a dirty bomb, a concern heightened by last week's terror attacks in Belgium. "Given the continued threat posed by organizations such as the terrorist group we call ISIL, or ISIS, we'll also join allies and...

Temperament matters...The world owes an enormous debt to a quiet, steady Russian naval officer... It’s October 1962, the height of the Cuban missile crisis, and there’s a Soviet submarine in the Caribbean that’s been spotted by the American Navy.. The sub is hiding in the ocean, and the Americans are dropping depth charges left and right of the hull. Inside, the sub is rocking, shaking with each new explosion. What the Americans don’t know is that this sub has a tactical nuclear torpedo on board, available to launch,... The Russian in question, an exhausted, nervous submarine commander named Valentin Savitsky,...

In a March 21 interview with Al-Mayadeen TV, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said that if Israel attacked Lebanon's cities and infrastructure, Hizbullah would wage an "all-out war that will know no boundaries or red lines," including the bombing of "petrochemical plants,biological research institutes, centers, and plants, nuclear plants - not just one - installations for the disposal of nuclear waste, and storage facilities for nuclear warheads," most of which were "located either within cities or in their vicinity."

Last year, Kulanu MK and former Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren received heavy criticism in some circles for his book Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide. With the release of the book’s Hebrew edition, Oren spoke to Arutz Sheva, discussing in depth the tensions between Israel and the Obama administration and the push back he received for the English edition. The book, which created controversy for what some considered an unfair portrayal of President Barack Obama, elicited rare public condemnations from senior officials, including former US special envoy to the Middle Easy Martin Indyk. “When I wrote...

BRUSSELS — As a dragnet aimed at Islamic State operatives spiraled across Brussels and into at least five European countries on Friday, the authorities were also focusing on a narrower but increasingly alarming threat: the vulnerability of Belgium’s nuclear installations. The investigation into this week’s deadly attacks in Brussels has prompted worries that the Islamic State is seeking to attack, infiltrate or sabotage nuclear installations or obtain nuclear or radioactive material. This is especially worrying in a country with a history of security lapses at its nuclear facilities, a weak intelligence apparatus and a deeply rooted terrorist network. On Friday,...

Sebastien Berg, a spokesman for Belgium’s federal agency, told the Times that their fears lie on several fronts, including “exploding a bomb inside the plant” or “flying something into the plant from the outside.” That could potentially stop the cooling process of used fuel and shut down the plant, Berg said. According to the New York Times, Belgium has already had its issues with security at its plants. The nuclear agency’s computer network was hacked this year and was shut down briefly. Three years ago, two people were able to jump a fence surrounding a reactor in Mol, break into...

Terrorists have the “means, knowledge and information” to create a nuclear bomb, the head of the UN atomic watchdog has warned in the wake of the Brussels attacks. The warnings of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano come just days before world leaders meet for an important summit against “nuclear terrorism”. “Terrorism is spreading and the possibility of using nuclear material cannot be excluded,” Mr. Amano told AFP. “Member states need to have sustained interest in strengthening nuclear security.” […] “Dirty bombs will be enough to [drive] any big city in the world into panic,” Mr. Amano...

Brussels suicide bombers Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui were planning attacks on Belgian nuclear power stations, Dernier Heure newspaper has reported. The newspaper exclusively reported that the arrest of Paris attacker Salah Abdeslam accelerated the plans of the terrorists. The brothers planted a hidden camera in front of the home of the director of the Belgian nuclear research program, the paper said. Evidence obtained by the authorities shows that the same terrorist cell was behind the Paris attacks in November that killed more than 130 people and this week’s Brussels bombings, which claimed the lives of 31 people and injured...

Psychiatrist Dr. Robert Lifton studied Nazi Doctors, cults and especially relevant to the fact that ISIS is going nuclear, Aum Shinryko. A nuclear event was detected in the Australian Outback years afterwards, only by researchers looking at legacy-historical seismographs--such a remote area, nobody noticed an apparent nuclear test, except on paper and by accident. Dr. Lifton's book is Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism.

The Tihange power plant, an hour's drive from the Belgian capital in the province of Liege, and the Doel power plant in Antwerp have been cleared amid heightened fears of another attack. Security has been stepped up at both Doel, which houses four reactors, and Tihange, which houses three. Armed police and the Belgian military have been on site since the weekend following growing calls from the energy industry to beef up security at the potentially vulnerable plants. . . .

Vice President Joe Biden reassured a leading pro-Israel group the Obama administration stands firmly by its Mideast ally and said the Iran nuclear agreement will make the region more safe. He told a meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Sunday night that: “Iran is much, much further away from obtaining a nuclear weapon than they were a year ago.” He said the U.S. is watching and “if Iran violates the deal, the United States will act.” …

President Barack Obama says the benefits of the Iranian nuclear deal are “undeniable” although it may still take time for people to begin enjoying them. Obama says the deal makes it possible for Iran to rejoin the global economy through increased trade and investment, creating jobs and opportunities for Iranians to sell their goods around the world. …

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Saturday its military is ready to pre-emptively attack and "liberate" the South in its latest outburst against the annual joint military drills by the United States and South Korea. In a statement carried through state media, the General Staff of the North's Korean People's Army said its frontline units are prepared to strike first if they see signs that American and South Korean troops involved in the drills were attempting to invade the North. The KPA said it will counter the drills by the United States and South Korea it says are...