We came so close to World War Three that day (More Info)

The Spectator ^ | October 3, 2007 | James Forsyth and Douglas Davis

[Dog]

According to a Jerusalem Post story, Ofek 7 was launched in June 2007

You think maybe Ofek 7 spotted something... and here is something curious.. Barak became Defense Minister in June of 2007....and it was in this time frame that the strike was ordered and planning began.

I wonder if it is all connected.....hmmmmm.

[r9etb]

Why haven't there been repercussions beyond some low key rhetoric ?

What makes you say there have been none? The raid itself is a pretty good repercussion ... and I suspect that a few non-public repercussions have already been delivered.

[Spktyr]

Well, compared to our KH-11s (and -12s, if they really exist and aren’t a KH-11 variant), the Ofek 7 doesn’t have to have quite so large a propellant reserve, as it is unlikely to be tasked to massively change its orbit. Israel’s area of interest is relatively small - KH-11’s have to have the ability to change their orbits when they’re retasked. That happens on a regular basis as our interests (and enemies) move and change.

[Southack]

Though I doubt that it happened this way...IF Israel captured a North Korean nuke in Syria, the way to play the haul would be to give the NK’ers an Asian way to “save face” while dismantling their nuclear program (which they are doing, complete with unfettered U.S. inspections on the ground).

To that end, part of the deal would be that the Syrian embarassment per se remains an Official secret.

[null and void]

It could go either way.

Were I the attacker I’d do all I could to light it. Thermite cluster munitions maybe?

[txhurl]

That facility was posted in one of the first threads about 9/6. We all just kinda went with it.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

But the floodgates were opened wide by the renegade Pakistan nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who is revered in Pakistan as the Father of the Islamic Bomb. Khan established a virtual supermarket of nuclear technologies, parts and plans which operated for more than a decade on a global stage. After his operation was shut down in 2004, Khan admitted transferring technology and parts to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Proliferation experts are convinced they know the identities of at least three of his many other clients: Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria.

Can we drop the charade about AQ Khan being a "renegade" scientist who singlehandedly distributed nuclear secrets to every rogue state on the planet? The idea that Pakistani nuclear technology, controlled completely and solely by the Pakistani military, could somehow be given away by a single man for over a decade without the support of the Pakistani military at the highest levels is ridiculous. Pakistan's gross irresponsibility seems to be one of the primary reasons behind the nuclear threat we and the rest of the world now face from North Korea and Iran.

[Uncle Miltie]

Supposing you’re right about warheads, did you see the other bit elsewhere that says Israeli commandoes entered the compound and stole stuff before the bombing?

One wonders if our friends are dismantling a NK Nuke right now.

[bert]

.....Plutonium is just a metal. It also burns....

I will give you the benefir of FReeper doubt, but did a google search on plutonium burn and plutonium oxide. If it burns, it makes plutonium oxide.

Turns out, the most common form of plutonium seems to be plutonium oxids, not the pure metal.

If it is already oxide, it won’t burn .....

[cynwoody]

During the Sino-Soviet border wars (WW2-1993) had two events recorded on seismographs in the West that could only have been large tactical nukes or small strategic ones.

Nobody’s talking about that.

If that really happened, I find it difficult to believe that, in the years since the fall of the Evil Empire, no memoirs have been written to brag about it.

[Uncle Miltie]

"I know exactly what happened. The North Koreans waited until the check cleared (using that slow boat) and then offered to sell the info to the Israelis."

Mr. Kim. Mr. Kim Jong Il. Please pick up the white courtesy telephone. A Mr. Assad is holding for you.

[Spktyr]

Addendum: EMP will fry any non-hardened (specially built/prepared) or unshielded piece of electronics in the vicinity that relies on semiconductors or transistors - in other words, most anything made in the last 40 years. (Note that car fuel injection and ignition systems will probably be unaffected because it turns out that a car is a decent Faraday cage or shield against EMP, and the computers inside are also shielded by their own metal casings.)

Most US military equipment and satellites are still hardened against EMP. Most commercial gear is not. Most commercial satellites are not - and if it was a big enough nuke, the resulting EMP blast could knock out an unprotected satellite in orbit over or near the point of detonation.

[ScaniaBoy]

And whether it burns or not it is still radioactive....

[Calvin Locke]

One of my *new* theories is that NK told the US about the shipment, since NK has to keep face, and wanted to get paid by Syria/Iran, and since they did tell, Bush is now rewarding them for the heads-up.

That's about the only way I can explain the Bush-Rice lunacy in dealing with NK.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

So, that’s the new bomb I’ve heard about that can be launched from 200 miles out at sea that could fry all our technology. Would they have used that type of weapon on a nuclear weapons target? I didn’t think it would destroy buildings or leave a hole. Surely, they would have used the MOAB or whatever the bunker buster is called.

(I’m so not a military type. I have only taken an interest because of my bible studies and my conscience bothers me tremendously that I’m so fascinated with all this military stuff. I’ve discovered that I’m complicated. ;-) )

[calex59]

you can’t destroy matter but you can change it’s character(such as changing wood into energy), blowing up fissionable material would make it unsuitable for making bombs. Instead of big pieces needed to cause a nuke reaction, you would have little pieces with some of it turned to energy, or do you think bomb grade material will withstand a conventional explosion?

[Spktyr]

Most of the people involved are dead - and we’ve actually done this topic on FR before. Someone posted the seismograph record from one event - nuclear detonations are unmistakable.

For that matter, neither the Russians nor the Chinese are talking about the regular conventional aspects of their border wars, either.

[CougarGA7]

I found that facility. It’s even further west than the area highlighted by global security. It’s a scud/cw base just south of As Safirah

[Uncle Miltie]

What if we had just called the North Koreans bluff and bombed their nuke facilities when they did their little "test" in July.

Conservative estimates of KIAs in Seoul are 1M before the NK's underground artillery tubes can be silenced.

[bert]

I think the event horizon needs to be widened. The starting date is when the cargo left the source in North Korea or perhaps was loaded on a vessel. It has been under surveillance since day one.

At some point, that surveillance was handed over to or became visible to the Israelis.

Remember the NOKO vessels stopped on the High-seas by NATO. Everything that leaves is probably surveiled.