Posted on 02/21/2009 9:34:19 AM PST by appleseed
When Iran successfully launched its first domestically made satellite into orbit on Feb. 1, U.S. State Department official Robert Wood said Iran's activities could "possibly lead to the development of ballistic missiles" and were of "great concern."
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said France was "very concerned" about the launch.
UK Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell said the launch underlined the UK's "serious concerns about Iran's intentions." Then they resumed their focus on their various economic implosions where "concerned" had been elevated to "alarmed."
What continues to astonish me is how little Western nations seem to grasp the tremendous danger that Iran is signaling in plain view. I have produced at least two television shows and as many articles in which I sought to warn of Iran's intention to use its rapidly developing nuclear warheads in an EMP attack against Israel, the EU and the U.S.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
Netanyahu after his acceptance speech said:
"Iran is seeking to obtain a nuclear weapon and constitutes the gravest threat to our existence since the war of independence,"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5772433.ece
Since 0bama wants to sit down and have coffee and tea with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it'll be up to Bibi and Isreal to eliminate the threat.
The answer is also in plain view. We are only at the stage where we have “great concerns,” are “very concerned” or express “serious concerns” about the problem. Everybody knows that the UN will never act until we get to Stage “Grave Concern.”
All will be well when we reach the stage appropriate for serious action. Only then will we issue the sternly worded letter.
*sigh*
seems to me that they’d only need to launch a few intentional junkers that explode into a million pieces of strategically located killers to wipe out the eyes of the western world.....
It would be suicide, and while the regime is loony, they are not going to forfeit all the power gains of the last years.
They want the capability of WMDs to blackmail the world and extract concessions such as regional great power status, oil prices and oil control, economic power/lifting of sanctions and making regime change impossible. Ultimately it will serve the regime's ideological aim of spreading the islamic revolution throughout the Muslim world. Yes this is a direct challenge to Israels security and to the West's power.
That's the danger, that's their motive.
Therefore we have to prevent them gaining nuclear power status and need a missile defense shield, lest they can blackmail us.
I am however not concerned about an nuke being sent on a Western city from Iran. It would make absolutely no sense for the islamic regime. As I said while they are evil and twisted, they are cunning power politicians as well.
The danger of a nuke in a Western city stems much more from Al-Qaeda type terrorists who could get the needed materials and knowledge through a destabilized Pakistan.
You mean in space to destroy satellites?
I brought this up on one of the first threads about the Iranian satellite launch. All the more reason for their nuclear facilities to have nuclear “accidents” before they can deploy such weapons.
Except for the Y2K “crazies” with years of supplies, fuel and generators (and weapons to keep them), most of our population will last no more than a few months, tops. No refrigeration or heat for homes, very little trasportation, almost no communication...
Yes.
An EMP attack against Israel would lead to them adapting. An EMP attack on America would lead to the majority of people not knowing how to survive.
Self-sufficient conservatives do.
We are not the majority any more.
“Ultimately it will serve the regime’s ideological aim of spreading the islamic revolution throughout the Muslim world. Yes this is a direct challenge to Israels security and to the West’s power.”
Just my opinion but I think it would make Iran a martyr in the eyes of the radical Muslim world and it would take the 0bama admin. several days to send Clinton on a listening tour to seek the anger behind such an action which would only encourage Al-Qaeda type terrorists to carry out their jihad to the west. I honestly believe Bibi will be the one to eliminate this threat
Excellent point. Until we develop an orbiting “space vacuum cleaner”, an intentional act of creating debris could bring an abrupt end to the space program and all related modern conveniences - like satellite communications.
Iran a martyr in the eyes of the radical Muslim world
I have my doubts about this. The Arabs don't want an powerful Iran, and the radical Sunnis (Al-Qaeda and fellow Wahhabis) wouldn't mind the Shias fall. Vice versa with the attitude of Iran. They clearly want to impose their "islamic repulican" system upon other muslim states, while the Al-Qaeda/Wahhabis want to impose their "islamic sunni monarchical" Caliphate system. Therefore we see wherever Al-Qaeda types set up bases, pseudo-state structures of "emirates".
The situation is like a competition between the radical Shia (who also have Sunni allies like Hamas) and radical Sunnis (who also have Arab socialist allies) about who is the better challenger to the West and who can conquer the secular regimes in the Muslim world. This leads to odd situations like Al-Qaeda accusing Hezbullah of being a pawn of Israel and similar absurdities.
In any case any profound upheaval of the equilibrium in the Middle East needs to be foiled. We mustn't allow Pakistan and Afghanistan to fall to the radicals, we mustn't allow Iran to gain nuclear capability, we need to maintain the regimes in Egypt and Jordan, and we need ultimately to get rid of our dependence on Arabian oil.
This spokesman is an idiot.
Iran has ballistic missiles. That satellite launch vehicle? That's a ballistic missile buddy. You put a heavier payload on it, alter the trajectory, and it is a sub-orbital delivery system for warheads. Granted, they still have to engineer and build a viable re-entry vehicle. But just what do you think all those shorter ranged test shots are for? They've already wrung-out the designs for the short range systems, my guess is their are working on the business end of the missile...
The time for political niceties is long past. Iran has an active and very capable missile technology development program. They are doing it by the numbers, following a smart engineering development program. (with students educated in the west no-doubt) They are similarly pursuing nuclear technology. There is no vague "possibly lead to" they are, and they will, period. We had better be ready to defend ourselves or else.
sigh...”their” should have been “they”...and I’m married to an English major...
1. The GPS capability of the satellite was believed to be a prototype for a future network of GPS positional satellites that would allow Iran to provide GPS locating on the ground, independent of other international systems. Currently we track terrorists by their use of satellite phone’s GPS signals that we have instant access to. An independent Iranian GPS network, that was encrypted, would be much harder to intercept, in real time, to provide actionable data. The Iranians are hard at work on state of the art encryption.
2. The satellite is broadcasting it’s own GPS signal. Why? The Iranians can easily access tracking data online if they want to know where their satellite is. It is now believed that the satellite is intended to return and be recovered in 2-3 months. For what reason? Heat shielding and retro-rockets add a lot of weight to the payload, and an accurate re-entry to allow recovery in Iran would be very technically challenging. Likely they want to see the effect of the launch and space environment on the payload’s data processor in order to harden it.
3. Using a two-stage rocket to boost any payload into orbit would be a significant advance beyond the N Korean Nodong/Taepodong launchers previously used by the Iranians, with N Korean help. As the N Koreans have yet to accomplish that, it indicates that the Iranians had Chinese help, unknown until now, and not N Korean. Additionally, if a third “kicker” stage was added, payloads could be considerably larger, possibly a nuclear weapon/ICBM capability. That the Iranians have achieved far more than the N Koreans is significant and also consider that the Chinese “Long March” two stage missiles were considerably larger in order to deliver the same payload.
4. Looking at pictures of the Iranian Safir boosters, something new: It does not have an open interstage between the first and second stages. Both Chinese and N Korean boosters let the second stage ignite while the first stage is still accelerating, that is needed for starting liquid-fuel engines. The Safir second stage engine must use a different ignition, or a fuel that is unknown, possibly a solid fuel, that is significant.
All in all, this Iranian launch was a game changer. It will be fascinating to see if N Koreans can better their game and achieve what their former students, the Iranians, have done.
Norad estimated the payload at 27 kg./40 cm. cube.
Given the current quality of economic thought in the white house, they’d probably look at an EMP weapon as economic stimulus. Everyone would have to go our and spend more on electronics.
From what I read, nuking the West is the best way to assure the return of the 12th imam and usher in eternal peace, i.e. dar el Islam. We are not dealing with rationale, sane people which your thesis depends upon.
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