Posted on 06/15/2005 11:04:16 AM PDT by Dubya
VIENNA, AUSTRIA - Saudi Arabia is defying the United States, the European Union and Australia by resisting U.N. efforts to verify that it has no nuclear assets worth inspecting, according to a confidential EU document obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday.
There is little concern the Saudis are trying to make nuclear arms, but Riyadhs resistance to inspections adds another worry for a top-level meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency this week that is focusing on North Korea and Iran.
Those two countries are the worlds major concerns about the spread of atomic weapons. On Tuesday, the IAEA chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, urged North Korea to back away from its nuclear program and asked Iran to cooperate better with the U.N. investigation of its nuclear activities.
The Saudis insist they have no plans to develop nuclear arms. But they have been under pressure to allow a U.N. inspection before a deal comes into force that would effectively curtail the IAEAs monitoring there.
Called the small quantities protocol, the deal has been implemented in more than 70 nations. It allows countries whose nuclear equipment or activities are below a minimum threshold to submit a declaration instead of undergoing inspection.
ping
Wasn't it yesterday that they were promoting making the Middle East a "nuclear-free zone"?
*snckr*
We should make the Saudis "an offer they can't refuse". They have yet to answer for their complicity with the 9/11 attack on America.
they're gonna end up just like Saddam.
15 out 18.
Peaceful Muslims. Rich oil men.
they probably keep their nuclear assets in Iran
;p
Ping
They are both oleogenous and sccrofulous.
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