Free Republic

Mohammad Iranmanesh, a member of Crew 151 currently participating in a two-week field rotation at the Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah, unfurled the flag of Iran, alongside the American flag, to help mark a "Happy Nowruz" (Iranian-Persian New Year). Stressing the importance of international cooperation on space exploration, MDRS crew member Iranmanesh said "Mars has no borders, right?" The crew also made a bit of Internet history over the weekend when they tweeted the picture of the Iranian flag at MDRS to wish Anousheh Ansari, the first female space tourist to fly to the International Space...

The Obama administration is turning on the charm, as it aims to secure the framework of a nuclear deal with Iran before a negotiating deadline later this month. In the last week, both President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have taken time to recognize Nowruz, the Persian New Year, as has Secretary of State John Kerry, who on Friday morning sent condolences to the Iranian president over his mother's death. Obama used his annual Nowruz message, which was released Thursday evening, to implore the Iranian people to “speak up for the future we seek.” “A nuclear deal now can...

America, we have a problem. In the blood-soaked chaotic Middle East, with few exceptions like the Kurds, our friends either can't or won't fight. The Free Syrian Army folded. The U.S.-armed Hazm force in Syria has just collapsed after being routed by the al-Nusra Front. The Iraqi army we trained and equipped fled Mosul and ran all the way to Baghdad. The Turks could annihilate ISIS in Syria, but they won't fight. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arabs have sent zero troops to fight ISIS. A handful of air strikes is it. Now consider what our old enemies have done...

How ironic.The only evidence to survive the great Obama pre-presidential document purge of 2006-2008 was an article in the March,1983 Columbia student newspaper on the benefits of a nuclear free world.  How it slipped past the purginators is a mystery, but given the New York Times did an article on it in 2009 titled Obama’s Youth Shaped His Nuclear-Free Vision, I can only conclude it was not a slipup. He was clearly trying to sort out his thoughts. In the conclusion, he denounced “the twisted logic of which we are a part today” and praised student efforts to realize “the...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A disgruntled, former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist promised to build 40 nuclear weapons for Venezuela in 10 years and design a bomb targeted for New York City in exchange for "money and power," according to secret FBI recordings released Wednesday. In the recordings, Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni tells an agent posing as a Venezuelan official that the bombs would prevent the United States from invading the oil-rich nation and brags to his wife that the passing of secrets would make him wealthy. "I'm going to be the boss with money and power," the naturalized U.S. citizen...

A disgruntled, former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist promised to build 40 nuclear weapons for Venezuela in 10 years and design a bomb targeted for New York City in exchange for "money and power," according to secret FBI recordings released Wednesday. In the recordings, Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni tells an agent posing as a Venezuelan official that the bombs would prevent the United States from invading the oil-rich nation and brags to his wife that the passing of secrets would make him wealthy.

Should you be in the unfortunate position of being in the area when a nuclear bomb explodes, new research suggests rather than 'sheltering in place' as many emergency programs insist, your best bet for survival might be to run away from the blast. Sheltering in place is not always the best survival strategy after a nuclear detonation. If you can reach higher quality shelter in less than 30 minutes, you should go for it. If out in the open, you need to find any shelter at all as quickly as possible.

President Obama said Saturday that the chances of a permanent nuclear deal with Iran are at best no more than even odds, but that diplomacy still must be pursued. “I wouldn't say that it is more than 50-50 but we have to try,” Obama said at a Brookings Institution event. While some in Congress are trying to move tougher unilateral sanctions now, Obama urged restraint. He said that if Iran fails to meet its commitments under the temporary deal, the U.S. will be in a stronger position to seek more effective international sanctions after six months. The president explained at...

Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday defended the Obama administration's approach to nuclear negotiations with Iran, saying that it would not rush into a half-measure interim deal. "No deal is better than a bad deal, and we are certainly adhering to that concept," Kerry said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Kerry and foreign ministers from the United Kingdom, France, China, Russia and Germany left Geneva without securing a deal to freeze Iran's nuclear program, efforts which drew criticism from some GOP lawmakers. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the Obama administration...

Iran could build a nuclear bomb within as little as a month, a new report issued by the U.S. Institute for Science and International Security says. According to the assessment, Iran’s weapons-grade uranium production capabilities are developed to a degree that its “breakout time”—the time needed to convert enough uranium to weapon-grade so as to build a bomb—stands at between one and 1.6 months, and is shortening further. …

'One of the last two survivors of the legendary Second World War 'Heroes of the Telemark' raid, which helped thwart Hitler's plans to build a Nazi nuclear bomb, has died aged 101. Just 31 at the time, Norwegian Birger Stromsheim was the oldest member of the team who successfully destroyed the hard water production facility at the Norsk Hydoelectric plant in Telemark, southern Norway. The raid, which is regarded as one of the most successful acts of sabotage in World War II, was also remarkable for the fact all the team managed to escape by cross country skiing 250 miles...

Iran's Armageddon cult now has Obama at its mercy. After appeasing the sadistic regime in Tehran for almost four years Obama only has to make it through the next two months without the MiddleEast blowing up, and he's set for life. This is the last electoral test of his career, and maybe also the first real election he's ever had to endure. Obama's political bind puts the mullahs in charge for the next two months, rushing to an irreversible grab for nuclear weapons.Obama will not do anything to stop them, because that would mean taking a career risk. He has...

In 1958, America accidentally dropped a nuclear weapon on two little girls’ playhouse For certain rural residents of the Carolinas during the Cold War, apocalyptic anxiety hit disturbingly close to home. In 1958 and 1961, the American Air Force lost nuclear weapons over the skies of South and North Carolina, respectively, raining potential apocalypse on the folks below. In both incidents, complete catastrophe was avoided thanks to that ever-potent combination of foresight and unmitigated dumb luck. And in the former incident, the bomb fell square on some unsuspecting children's playhouse. The first accident occurred over Florence, South Carolina on March...

AMARILLO, Texas (AP) — The last of the nation's most powerful nuclear bombs — a weapon hundreds of times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima — is being disassembled nearly half a century after it was put into service at the height of the Cold War. The final components of the B53 bomb will be broken down Tuesday at the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, the nation's only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility. The completion of the dismantling program is a year ahead of schedule, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, and aligns...

Japan should conduct computer simulations on nuclear weapons: Ishihara TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara said Friday that Japan should carry out computer simulations on nuclear weapons as such experiments can be conducted within a short period of time. Ishihara said during a press conference that the United States has conducted new computer simulations to check the effectiveness of its nuclear warheads, even after the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to U.S. President Barack Obama, and added, "Japan should be able to do that much." "A simulation can be completed within three months. We also have lots of...

Despite the end of the Cold War, and the dismantling of over 25,000 nuclear weapons, NATO still maintains a stock of nuclear bombs in Europe. These are American weapons, to be used by NATO allies with U.S. permission. They are not covered by START (the strategic nuclear disarmament treaty) because they are not strategic, they are local, or "theater" weapons. NATO would like to negotiate a disarmament treaty to cover such non-strategic nukes, but to get the Russians to do that, it helps if there are some nukes under NATO control. Like with START, a treaty covering non-strategic weapons would...

While the plan would admittedly only be executed if a worst case scenario seemed imminent, some geo-chemists have expressed concerns that detonating a nuke in the Gulf might ignite the methane. Nuclear bomb (CHICAGO) - In a desperate attempt to stop a huge area of the Gulf ocean floor from possibly rupturing due to subterranean methane gas (leading to a calamity no human has ever seen) BP has ripped a page from science fiction books. The giant oil company is now quietly preparing to test a small nuclear device in a frenzied rush against time to quell a cascading catastrophe....

Using a nuclear explosion to try to plug the gushing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico might sound like overkill, but a Russian newspaper has suggested just that based on past Soviet successes. Even so, there are crucial differences between the lessons of the past and the current disaster unfolding. .The Russians previously used nukes at least five times to seal off gas well fires. A targeted nuclear explosion might similarly help seal off the oil well channel that has leaked oil unchecked since the sinking of a BP oil rig on April 22, according to a translation of...

In his May 28th interview with Bloomberg's Mark Crumpton and Lori Rothman, Matt Simmons of energy investment bank Simmons & Company, provides some stunning revelations on what is really occurring in the Gulf of Mexico, and proposes that the only effective way to contain the leak is to relieve BP, bring in the military, and do what the Russians have done on comparable occasions, namely explode nuclear weapons within the wellbore. [....] In addition to his radical solution, Simmons also points out that "Top Kill" is a sideshow and the real problem is 5 to 7 miles away, where a...