New York Quake Overdue (The Sixth Seal) (Rev 6:12)

New York City Is Overdue For Large Earthquake: Seismologist

New York City could start shaking any minute now.

Won-Young Kim, who runs the seismographic network for the Northeast at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said the city is well overdue for a big earthquake.

From Metro New York:

The last big quake to hit New York City was a 5.3-magnitude tremor in 1884 that happened at sea in between Brooklyn and Sandy Hook. While no one was killed, buildings were damaged.

Kim said the city is likely to experience a big earthquake every 100 years or so.

“It can happen anytime soon,” Kim said. “We can expect it any minute, we just don’t know when and where.”

New York has never experienced a magnitude 6 or 7 earthquake, which are the most dangerous. But magnitude 5 quakes could topple brick buildings and chimneys.

Seismologist John Armbruster said a magnitude 5 quake that happened now would be more devastating than the one that happened in 1884.

“Today, with so many more buildings and people … we’d see billions in damage,” Armbruster said. “People would probably be killed.”

The True Nuclear Strength of India (Revelation 8 )

India is allegedly misreporting nuclear weapon stockpile – Global Village Space

June 29, 2020

Concerns have been raised over the actual and reported strength of the nuclear stockpile in India. To complete nuclear triad, India is rapidly expanding its nuclear weapons program under many covert projects removed from international oversight.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has recently launched its annual yearbook 2020 and assessed the current state of armament, disarmament and international security. Concerns have been raised, however, over the actual and reported strength of the nuclear stockpile in India.

While maintaining its years-long tradition of adding 10 more nuclear weapons in Pakistan’s stockpile, SIPRI estimated that India possesses the smallest numbers of nuclear warheads in the South Asian strategic context. The yearbook appeared to be misleading and politically motivated because it did not incorporate other independent sources with higher estimates of Indian nuclear stockpile.

SIPRI did not even bother to take notes from a recent report by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). The report has deliberated the annual nuclear spending of the nine nuclear-armed states. The most interesting case discussed was that Pakistan’s expenditure on its nuclear forces is about $1 billion, as compared to India which spends twice the amount, i.e. $2.3 billion to maintain almost the same number of nuclear weapons.

Reports show India’s nuclear programme is picking up pace

Today, India is operating the world’s fastest expanding nuclear weapons programme outside safeguards among any other non-NPT nuclear states. India is pursuing a nuclear triad that encompasses nuclear powered ballistic missile submarines, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), dual-use cruise/ballistic missiles and an enormous naval modernization intended to nuclearize the Indian ocean region.

Various Indian experts and politicians claim India needs more than 300-400 nuclear weapons for its strategic forces. Dr. Anil Kakodkar, the former Chairman of India’s Atomic Energy Commission, has said in this regards that, “both, from the point of view of maintaining long-term energy security and for maintaining the ‘minimum credible deterrent,’ the fast breeder programme just cannot be put on the civilian list. This would amount to getting shackled and India certainly cannot compromise one [security] for the other.”

#India is becoming the third nuclear power in the world, #SIPRI said #asia #europe #defense #news #military https://t.co/2gY4m3aB8T

— Bulgarian Military (@BGMilitary) June 28, 2020

So, India has intentionally reserved its fast breeder reactors and most of its so-called civil nuclear programme out of the safeguards and surveillance of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In order to acquire the full nuclear triad capability, India will strive to produce many more nuclear warheads without IAEA monitoring.

IHS Jane’s Intelligence Review by Robert Kelley has examined that how several avenues enabled India to achieve the quantity and purity of uranium that are needed in a closed nuclear fuel cycle and New Delhi appears to be interested in atomic vapour laser isotope separation (AVLIS).

It further added that reactor-grade plutonium from the unsafe-guarded Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) provides a further strategic military stockpile to India. The IHS Jane also mentioned that India imports Jordanian phosphate in large quantities for fertiliser production.

A large stream of phosphoric acid will be processed at the Rare Material Recovery (RMR) Plant at the Pradeep Phosphates Ltd plant near Odisha in the east of the country. The extraction of uranium from imported phosphate fertilisers gives India a source of uranium that is not subject to international monitoring and uranium from phosphate can be used for military activities.

An in depth analysis has shown that India has enough resources and fissile materials to develop between 356 and 492 nuclear warheads. The study titled ‘Indian Unsafeguarded Nuclear Program’ which was published by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) revealed a recent and detailed evaluation of the capability of India’s nuclear weapons programme.

Whereas, a Belfer Center’s study has indicated that India is already installing more than five fast breeder reactors, which will proliferate its production capacities of weapons-grade plutonium 20-fold to 700 kg annually. The analysis of this production capacity demonstrates that New Delhi has the capacity to produce roughly 80 to 90 plutonium-based and 7 to 8 uranium-based nuclear weapons every year.

According to the study, if all of the weapons and the reactor-grade Plutonium and the Highly Enriched Uranium stocks are taken into account, India could produce between 2,261 and 2,686 weapons.

Matthew Clements, editor of IHS Jane’s Intelligence Review, in an interview, uncovered the expansion of an Indian clandestine uranium enrichment plant that could potentially support the development of thermonuclear weapons. The facility, located near Mysore in southern India, would yield nearly twice as much weapons-grade uranium as New Delhi would need in its fastest-growing nuclear weapons programme.

Whereas, unabated growth in its centrifuge enrichment programme will allow it to intensify the production of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium to 160kg annually. Matthew Clements said that “taking into account all the enriched uranium likely to be needed by the Indian nuclear submarine fleet, there is likely to be a significant excess.”

India attempts to complete the nuclear triad

To complete nuclear triad, India is rapidly expanding its nuclear weapons program under many covert projects. Such as, it is operating a plutonium production reactor, Dhruva, and a uranium enrichment facility, which are not subject to IAEA safeguards.

India is building South Asia largest military complex of nuclear centrifuges, atomic-research laboratories. This facility will give India the ability to make many large-yield nuclear arms & hydrogen bombs.

In the back drop of Indo-U.S. nuclear cooperation agreement, undisclosed plutonium reserves were not inspected and were left with Indian weapons development facilities. Al Jazeera and Foreign Policy investigation reports also specified that India is secretly building a nuclear enrichment complex in Challakere to escalate arms race. It will covertly triple the number of nuclear warheads in the coming years from what India possess today.

India is hiding its stockpile using technical loopholes

India has introduced an ambiguous nuclear separation plan with the IAEA in which it encompassed only those facilities on the civilian list and offered them for safeguards that are not involved in activities of strategic implication. The civilian Plutonium reserves that are outside the safeguards of the IAEA and designated for strategic purposes are the main cause of concern.

In a three-stage plan, India is continuing to expand its unsafeguarded nuclear power program. The installation of several nuclear reactors has also been announced by New Delhi. This capability will generate excessive fissile material, other than the fuel necessary for breeder and naval reactors.

Over the next few years, India will be capable to replace China, France and the United Kingdom in terms of its abilities to produce nuclear weapons to become the third behind the U.S. and Russia.

India has intensified development and strategic procurement to stockpile weapons-grade material for future usage in military modernization programmes. The increasing stocks of weapons-grade fissile material by New Delhi would have unbearable effects from the South Asian viewpoint of strategic stability.

A number of nuclear suppliers, on the assumption of non-factual estimates of Indian stockpile, concluded nuclear cooperation with New Delhi. Although the material from these countries appears to be being reused in arms for the policy of Indian military expansion with respect to aggressive nuclear weapon modernization.

The mere simple facts that the Indian Nuclear programme started well before Pakistan’s, has a bigger capacity than Pakistan with bulk of it outside IAEA safeguards, has 14 nuclear deals under exceptional trade waiver in 2008 by NSG and is actively pursuing a triad of nuclear and space forces being sponsored by leading Western states, are sufficient to prove that Pakistan’s nuclear programme is no match to India’s dangerous and expansionist nuclear quest.

It then becomes hard to understand as to why respectable institutions like the SIPRI try to downplay the emerging dangers of massive vertical proliferation carried out by India in the last two decades?

The author is a student of Current Affairs and Political Science with a Masters degree from NUST, Islamabad. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.

The Merchant Tops Iran’s List of U.S. Officials Wanted For Killing Top General

Trump Tops Iran’s List of U.S. Officials Wanted For Killing Top General In January

Brakkton BookerJune 29, 20204:19 PM ET

President Trump is among the three dozen U.S. officials Iran is seeking arrests warrants for the Jan. 3 killing of Iran’s Maj. General Qassem Soleimani. He died in an U.S. airstrike in Baghdad. Trump seen here at a briefing on a coronavirus relief program in May.

Bloomberg via Getty Images

The government of Iran has issued an arrest warrant and has also requested assistance from Interpol in detaining President Trump as well as other United States military and political leaders for the killing of a prominent Iranian military commander earlier this year.

Though Trump faces no real threat of arrest, the new charges offer fresh evidence that the tension between the U.S. and Iran shows no signs of subsiding.

Gen. Qassem Soleimani was the Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander who was revered in Iran and known for being the mastermind behind many conflicts in the region and against the U.S. He did not become widely known to most Americans until his assassination by a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad on Jan. 3.

Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA reports the officials wanted in connection with Soleimani’s killing “have been charged with murder and terrorism acts.” It also adds, “At the top of the list is US President Donald Trump, and his prosecution will continue even after the end of his term.”

Along with Trump, NPR’s Peter Kenyon reports, “Iranian media quote Tehran’s prosecutor general as saying 36 people are being sought in connection with Soleimani’s killing.”

He also notes the arrest warrant had been forwarded to Interpol, along with a so-called “red notice,” which would disseminate the alert to law enforcement agencies around the world.

The France-based Interpol has not commented on the matter.

It is unlikely however that agency will act on the request given that Interpol’s constitution prohibits it from taking on “any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.”

The U.S. airstrike that killed Soleimani was championed by Defense Secretary Mark Esper as a “decisive defensive action.” He said at the time Soleimani was plotting attacks on U.S. diplomats and service members.

A retaliatory attack by Iran came on Jan 8, just days after the U.S. airstrike. Iran fired missiles on the al Asad air base in Iraq where U.S. troops were stationed. As NPR reported dozens of American personnel were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries in the attack.

The acrimonious relationship between the U.S. and Iran had deteriorated even further when the U.S. withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly referred to as the “Iran nuclear deal” more than two years ago.

It was a deal reached in 2015, under the Obama administration, that included China, France, Germany, Russia, the European Union and U.S., that said in exchange for reduced sanctions, Iran would agree to limit its production of nuclear weapons materials.

“The fact is this was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever have been made,” Trump said during a May 2018 announcement that the U.S. was withdrawing from the deal.

The Problematic Chinese Nuclear Horn

0, 2020 5 Minutes

New Challenges are Emerging in China

Long before prominent European realist thinkers such as Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli emerged, Kautiliya in his famous work Arashastra, argued that a conqueror shall always seek to add to his own power and increase his own happiness. For modern realist scholars, too, power is a means to survive in the brutal arena of international politics.

The end of the Cold War, and the ascendency of liberal hegemony meant to bring the “end of history,” and an end to the “cynical calculus of power” as former President Bill Clinton observed. However, evidence suggests that the United States, under President Donald Trump, is increasingly acting like an old-fashioned realist, primarily concerned with the balance of power calculations, acting unilaterally to preserve and enhance its own national interests.

The rise of China has been a looming threat to the U.S. primacy on the world stage, as Beijing increasingly seeks to push the United States out of its immediate periphery and ultimately Asia. Facing an increasingly powerful China, Obama initiated the strategic rebalancing of U.S. interests from the Middle East to East Asia. The “pivot to Asia” aimed to slow down the rise of China as a great power, and also to free the United States from the shackles of the Middle East wars. In this context, Obama’s successor, Trump, in his 2019 State of the Union address noted that “great nations do not fight endless wars.” For that matter, the Trump administration has followed its predecessor’s overall strategy to pull the United States out of the Middle East and refocus on its attention on the looming threat of rising China.

Trump, for his turn, has upped the ante by waging a trade war against China and has increased the U.S. military presence in its vicinity. In April and May 2020, the U.S. Navy deployed several warships to the South China Sea, including Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Montgomery to counter Beijing’s “bullying.” Meanwhile, three of the eleven U.S. Navy aircraft carriers are currently patrolling the Pacific, sending a powerful signal to China. Washington has also resorted to economic sanctions to counter Beijing and is considering the deployment of ballistic missiles to Asia pacific; a move that could shift the balance of power in favor of the United States.

The recent outbreak of the deadly coronavirus has also enabled the U.S. administration to increase its diplomatic attacks against China, blaming Beijing for hiding the truth about the spread of the deadly virus. It is interesting to note that U.S. officials in reference to China are increasingly using the word “communist,” a reminiscent of the Cold War great-power rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. Washington’s efforts to slow down and hinder China’s rise, as a potential peer-competitor are in line with the realist predictions that great powers seek to ensure that no other power can challenge them.

Over the years, the United States has also increased its defense spending, which is projected to reach a historic record of $740.5 billion for the year 2021. Meanwhile, some analysts have even argued that the U.S. defense budget exceeds $1 trillion. Furthermore, the United States is investing in new military technologies, including missile defense systems to counter China’s “[development of] missile capabilities intended to deny the United States the capability and freedom of action to protect U.S. allies and partners in Asia.” In the same context, as China unveiled its own “game-changer” DF-17 hypersonic missile, the United States is pressing for its own “super-duper” missiles—as Trump calls them—to take the lead in the emerging arms race for hypersonic missiles. Russia, for its part, has also deployed Avangard hypersonic missiles, claiming that it can reach twenty times the speed of sound.

With respect to nuclear weapons, the Trump administration has also called for the expansion of the role, and capabilities of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) observes the “need” for replacement, sustainment and modernization of the U.S. nuclear triad. Following the NPR, the United States has deployed low-yield nuclear warheads, which in turn could lower the threshold of the use of nuclear weapons. Furthermore, some reports suggest that the United States, after decades of a moratorium, may conduct its first nuclear test.

The new changes in the U.S. nuclear policies are reflective of the recent developments in great power rivalry with Russia and China and are in line with realist predictions that great powers go into a great length to maintain a credible nuclear deterrence against other nuclear states. In this vein, Russian president Vladimir Putin recently signed Russia’s nuclear deterrent policy, announcing that Russia, in response to conventional attacks, would use nuclear weapons. Ironically, Putin’s move echoes President Dwight Eisenhower’s “massive retaliation” policy,  which implicitly threatened nuclear strikes against the Soviet Union in response to any conventional aggression against America’s allies.

Although much smaller in size compared to the United States and Russia, China for its own part, has embarked on modernizing its nuclear arsenal, fielding a greater number of warheads. A report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies indicates that the number of Chinese nuclear warheads between 2012 and 2019 grew from 240 to 290, suggesting a 21 percent increase. From Beijing’s perspective, however, “rising strategic threats” emerging from Washington, mandates the country to increase the number of its warheads, and complete its nuclear triad.

The Trump administration has also set on the path of abandoning international arms control agreements, unshackling the U.S. military from previous limitations. In the latest case, the Trump administration, citing Russia’s violation of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), withdrew from the four-decade arms control agreement in August 2019, allowing the U.S. military to develop and test previously banned intermediate-range ballistic missiles. Notwithstanding the official reasoning however, the decision to abandon the INF treaty has more to do with concerns over China’s growing intermediate-range ballistic missiles, which is not bound to any restrictions.

As the expiration date for another arms control treaty, the New START is approaching, the Trump administration is pressing China to join any future agreement between Washington and Moscow; a demand that seems to be unlikely given China’s own insecurities, and small nuclear arsenal. In the case of INF for example, reports indicate that China could lose up to 95 percent of its ballistic missiles capability, should it join an agreement similar to INF. These developments are consistent with Realist dictums that states are concerned with their relative gains when joining international regimes, such as arms control agreements.

After more than three decades of primacy on the world stage, the United States is facing serious challenges emerging from Asia. To counter them, the United States has sought to increase its relative power and simultaneously contain its closest competitor, Beijing, which after two centuries of absence from the world stage, is bent on upending the current ordering of the international system. In any case, the current U.S. approach to increasing military spending, nuclear modernization and unilaterally abrogating multilateral agreements are consistent with realist predictions of great-power rivalry. In this context, under the likely scenario of a second Trump term, one should expect the United States to continue abrogating international regimes, and to further increase military expenditure, which in turn could trigger another arms race, reminiscent of the Cold War era.

Sina Azodi is a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council and a foreign policy advisor at Gulf State Analytics. He is also a PhD candidate in international relations at the University of South Florida. Follow him on Twitter @Azodiac83.

Image: Reuters

Babylon the Great Prepares for Nuclear Testing

FILE – In this file photo dated Monday, Dec. 4, 1989, a Trident II missile launched by the U.S. Navy during a performance evaluation from the submerged submarine USS Tennessee in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cape Canaveral …

U.S. eyes nuclear tests in show of force reaction to latest Russia, China moves

Tom Cotton amendment would prepare for first test in decades

By Ben Wolfgang – The Washington Times – Sunday, June 28, 2020

It has been nearly 30 years since the U.S. last tested a nuclear bomb, but the Trump administration and its allies on Capitol Hill are teasing a return while Russia conducts its own secretive underground experiments and China gives deep concerns to the national security community.

The Senate’s version of the massive annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) being debated in Congress this month includes $10 million to speed up nuclear weapons tests on American soil if the administration determines they are needed. Such language has met stiff resistance from Senate Democrats and is a nonstarter in the House, where lawmakers instead are seeking an outright ban and warn that any resumption of testing could spark the first post-Cold War nuclear arms race.

Top administration officials last week insisted there are no immediate plans to resume nuclear testing but pointedly would not close the door on the issue. They cited intelligence assessments that Russia had violated the terms of a multinational treaty banning such experiments and argued that the U.S. may need to respond in kind at some point.

Some arms control experts say the provision could serve as a useful bargaining chip as the Trump administration seeks to keep tabs on the nuclear arsenals of Russia and, more particularly, China.

Sen. Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican, echoed the concerns of a number of private China hawks that Beijing was expanding, upgrading and testing its nuclear weaponry without constraint.

“It’s foolish to trust anything the Chinese Communist Party says, especially when it comes to grave matters like nuclear testing,” Mr. Cotton said in a statement as a Senate panel agreed to his amendment on a 14-13 vote this month. “Beijing is modernizing its nuclear arsenal while the United States handcuffs itself with one-sided arms-control restrictions.”

By simply raising the prospect, the White House has made a dramatic break with tradition and conventional geopolitical wisdom that views nuclear testing as a provocative act that by its very nature stokes fear and increases the likelihood of military conflict.

The last U.S. nuclear test was in September 1992, in the final year of the George H.W. Bush administration.

Military analysts say the administration can and should develop new delivery systems for the nation’s nearly 6,200 nuclear warheads, but they caution that there is no scientific justification for restarting tests. They also argue that it’s unlikely such tests would have any major sway over the behavior of Moscow, Beijing or any other likely nuclear adversary.

“I think often people have this kind of arms race in mind: If we do something, then they’ll do something and we’ll be worse off,” said Matthew Kroenig, deputy director of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council. “I think we’ve seen that at times during the Cold War, but I think recently that hasn’t been the case. Russia and China are pushing ahead despite what we do.”

Indeed, skeptics of renewed testing say that fact underscores the U.S. need for funding and development of specific technology, particularly systems able to counter Russian nuclear submarines and China’s rising arsenal of intermediate nuclear-range missiles. Still, they say the U.S. should steer clear of testing new nuclear weapons.

The U.S. and Russia remain by far the world’s top nuclear powers, each with more than 6,000 warheads. China’s quickly modernizing military is estimated to have about 300 nuclear warheads.

Treaty restraints

Treaties that established some boundaries around the countries’ nuclear stockpiles have ended, leading to fears that nuclear competition could return to Cold War-era levels. The U.S. last year exited the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty after accusing Russia of violating the deal. The White House also argued that the pact was flawed because it didn’t include China’s smaller but growing arsenal.

The U.S. and Russia also are barreling toward the February expiration of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Negotiators met last week in Vienna for the first serious bargaining session.

Arms control advocates mobilized against the idea of renewed nuclear testing after reports of it broke last month. But as the NDAA and its nuclear test provision began to move through Congress, Trump administration officials made clear that the option would remain on the table.

“We maintain and will maintain the ability to conduct nuclear tests if we see any reason to do so, whatever that reason may be,” Marshall Billingslea, the U.S. special presidential envoy for arms control, told reporters in Vienna last week. “But that said, I am unaware of any particular reason to test at this stage. I won’t shut the door on it because why would we? That said, we made clear to the Russians that we were deeply concerned about what they’re doing at their test site.”

Under terms of the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, Russia agreed “not to carry out any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion.” The U.S. signed the agreement but did not ratify it, though successive administrations have abided by its ban on nuclear testing.

China has not formally ratified the treaty but claims to be abiding by its terms.

This century, North Korea is the only country to have conducted a verified nuclear weapons test, and it has drawn global condemnation for doing so.

But U.S. officials fear that nuclear rivals have found a way to test the reliability of their nuclear weapons while hiding the evidence. Specialists say Russia likely has been conducting tests in huge underground spaces capable of concealing the seismic disturbances of a nuclear blast.

In its annual summary of countries’ compliance with arms treaties, the State Department this year declared that “Russia has conducted nuclear weapons experiments that have created nuclear yield and are not consistent with the U.S. ‘zero-yield’ standard.”

The State Department raised “concerns” that China could be pursuing similar efforts but stopped short of making similar accusations as those lodged against Moscow.

Administration allies seem eager to put the pieces into place to resume nuclear testing. The NDAA amendment offered by Mr. Cotton aims to reduce the amount of time it would take to get nuclear tests up and running.

Administration officials say the time frame already is short and that tests could resume within months if necessary.

House Democrats warn that even considering such a move is too risky.

“It is unfathomable that the administration is considering something so short-sighted and dangerous,” five House Democrats, led by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith of Washington, wrote in a letter this month to military leaders. “The notion that resuming testing would somehow pressure Russia or China into arms control negotiations is baseless and uninformed. Resuming testing would open the door for widespread global testing, which would only serve to benefit our adversaries and make Americans less safe.”

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC

The Russian Horn Continues to Lie

Russia denies nuclear incident after international body detects isotopes

By Anastasia Teterevleva and Anna Ringstrom Reuters

MOSCOW/STOCKHOLM, June 29 (Reuters) – Russia said on Monday it had detected no sign of a radiation emergency, after an international body reported last week that sensors in Stockholm had picked up tiny amounts of unusual radioactive isotopes produced by nuclear fission.

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), which monitors the world for evidence of nuclear weapons tests, said last week one of its stations scanning the air for radioactive particles had found unusual, although harmless, levels of caesium-134, caesium-137 and ruthenium-103.

The isotopes were “certainly nuclear fission products, most likely from a civil source,” it said. It tweeted a map showing where the material was likely to have originated, which included parts of several Baltic and Scandinavian countries as well as a swathe of western Russia.

Asked on Monday about reports that Russia could have been the source of a leak, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We have an absolutely advanced radiation levels safety monitoring system and there are no any emergency alarms.“

“We do not know the source of this information.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency has asked countries whether they have detected the isotopes, and “if any event may have been associated with this.”

Finnish nuclear safety authority STUK said on Monday it had also found tiny amounts of nuclear particles in samples collected on its southern coast. But the concentrations were small enough that they could have been “derived from the normal operation or maintenance of nuclear reactors,” it said.

Radiation protection expert Jan Johansson at the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority said the variations were extremely low – far below levels seen in Sweden after the 2011 Fukushima accident far away in Japan – and had no impact on radiation protection.

“What stands out here is the combination of these substances. That’s not something we usually see,” he told Reuters.

The TASS news agency, citing Rosenergoatom, a unit of the state nuclear company Rosatom, said over the weekend that Russia’s two northwest nuclear power plants, in Leningrad and Kola, were working normally and radiation levels were unchanged.  

Errors at Indian Point Before the Sixth Seal (Revelation 6:12)

Inspector General report: Impacts of Indian Point gas pipeline wasn’t properly examined

Posted: Feb 29, 2020 7:29 PM MST Updated: Feb 29, 2020 7:29 PM MST

The Office of the Inspector General says the safety impacts of a natural gas pipeline near Indian Point was not properly examined, causing some concerns in the Buchanan community.

Kelly Ingraham-Friedman is among the residents worried about living so close to the pipeline, which was built in 2015.

“It’s definitely, definitely concerning,” Ingraham-Friedman said. “We worry about our kids who are in the school district.”

The Inspector General report showed that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission failed to properly analyze safety concerns before the pipeline’s approval and installation. Many are calling on the commission to address the findings and to create a plan to keep residents safe.

According to Westchester County Executive George Latimer, the long-term environmental and health impacts are unknown.

“I think right now the burden is on the [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] to defend the decisions they made and how they implemented it and to do that in a public fashion,” Latimer said.

The Village of Buchanan Mayor Theresa Knickerbocker is also requesting that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission immediately hold a public meeting to address the findings.

The Power of the Chinese Nuclear Horn (Daniel 7)

China’s secret space weapons could kill 90% of people on US mainland in ‘first strike’ EMP attack, report warns

CHINA has allegedly stolen US technology to develop space based weapons that can neutralize aircraft carrier groups and kill 90 percent of Americans on US soil. 

The extraordinary claims are made in a report warning Beijing has secretly developed a network of satellites, missiles and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons that could imminently unleash a “Pearl Harbor” style attack.

The report by the EMP Task Force on Homeland and National Security, a coalition of industry, security and government officials, lays bare a doomsday scenario of a preemptive attack.

EMPs use low-yield nuclear weapons detonated in the atmosphere to create a wave of energy that fries electronic equipment and may knock out the power grid.

A cyber attack would then be used to cripple the internet. 

With no power, the nation would be plunged into chaos which could lead to rioting and famine. 

The task force claims an EMP would result in a meltdown in the economy and society which could kill between 70 and 90 percent — or 295million people.

Its report was published as relations between the two powers collapse amid the coronavirus pandemic, which President Donald Trump continues to blame on China.

It directly quotes an article in the newspaper of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) discussing using EMP weapons combined with cyber attacks and computer viruses. 

It reads: “Some people might think that things similar to the ‘Pearl Harbor Incident’ are unlikely to take place during the information age. 

“In their own words, a highly computerized open society like the United States is extremely vulnerable to electronic attacks from all sides. 

“This is because the US economy, from banks to telephone systems and from power plants to iron and steel works, relies entirely on computer networks.

“When a country grows increasingly powerful economically and technologically…it will become increasingly dependent on modern information systems.”

It also highlighted how in 2020, a panel of China’s military experts threatened to punish the US Navy for challenging China’s illegal annexation of the South China Sea by making an EMP attack.

They allegedly considered it one of the options least provocative “because the crew would be unharmed, but most effective, because the ship would be disabled”.

The report also states that Taiwan military intelligence in open sources credits China with having a Super-EMP nuclear weapon which is based on design information stolen from the US nuclear weapon labs. 

The island nation, which China claims as its own, fears an EMP attack scenario would be the first, paralyzing strike of a war, paving the way for the other troops to attack them.

Nations Resume Trampling Outside the Temple Walls (Revelation 11)

Rockets launched from the Gaza Strip flying over the southern city of Ashkelon, Israel, November 13, 2019 Eliyahu Hershkovitz

Israeli army strikes Hamas targets after two rockets launched from Gaza – Israel News – Haaretz.com

27.06.2020 | 00:52

Israeli authorities say rockets fell in open areas, with no casualties or damage caused ■ Incident comes as tensions rise over Israel’s plan to annex part of the West Bank

The Israeli army struck Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday after two rockets were launched from the coastal enclave at southern Israel.

The launch triggered rocket alert sirens in several Israeli communities along the border.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit released a statement saying that “Israeli fighter jets struck targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the southern Gaza strip. “

The statement added that among the targets hit were “a workshop to produce rockets as well as infrastructure used to manufacture weapons for Hamas. Striking those targets harms Hamas’ capabilities.”

“The IDF gravely views any hostile activity carried out against Israel, and will continue to operate as long as it takes against attempts to harm Israel’s citizens,” the statement read.

“The IDF considers this incident with severity and holds the terrorist organization Hamas responsible for everything that takes place within the Strip and emanates from it,” the statement added.

The Shaar Hanegev regional council later said that the rockets fell in an open area, with no casualties or damage caused.

Earlier, Palestinian media outlets reported that the IDF struck a Hamas outpost in the central Gaza Strip, and that the Israeli navy fired flares near Khan Younis.

About two weeks ago, Israel struck targets in the Strip after a rocket was launched from it at southern communities, in a first since early May.

The Israeli army reported the launch, which it said triggered no rocket alert in border communities, providing no further details.

The IDF spokesperson said in a statement that in response, Israeli aircraft targeted “infrastructure used for underground activity” by Hamas in southern Gaza and tanks struck several of the organization’s military outposts.

According to Palestinian media reports, the military targets that were struck are located east of Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage caused by the rocket launch.

The incident came amid increased tensions in the region as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to push through with the controversial decision to annex parts of the West Bank as early as July 1.

The Pakistani Nuclear Horn (Daniel 8:8)

Pakistan’s nuclear journey – PART-I

Twenty-two years ago, Muhammad Arshad chanted Allahu Akbar and pushed the button. It took a nerve-racking 30 seconds before the mountain turned white. Pakistan’s nuclear tests were successful. This was the culmination of a long arduous Pakistani quest for a nuclear weapon.

Scott Sagan in his magnum opus ‘Why Do States Build Nuclear Weapons? Three Models in Search of a Bomb’ has identified different factors that lead a state to build nuclear weapons: national security concern is one of these reasons: Pakistan is a classic case for this model. Pakistan’s nuclear history can be divided into two phases: 1947-1972 when Pakistan had a peaceful nuclear programme, whereas in the post 1972 due to national security concerns in the wake of the east Pakistan debacle, Pakistan started exploring options for building a bomb that got intensified after India’s nuclear test in 1974.

In the first phase, four personalities played the most significant role and established the programme on firm footing: Dr Rafi Mohammad Chaudhry of Government College Lahore, (now Government College University – GCU), Pakistan’s only Nobel laureate Professor Abdus Salam and Dr Nazir Ahmed who was the first chairman of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). These three laid a solid foundation by training the manpower, and setting institutional priorities. Pakistan also benefited from the American Atom for Peace program. During this phase, the programme was focused on peaceful use of atomic energy.

The fourth was Dr Ishrat Hussain Usmani who was appointed Chairman of PAEC by President Ayub Khan on the recommendation of Dr Abdus Salam. According to Feroz Hasan Khan: “PAEC chairman Usmani laid down three objectives: to construct nuclear power plants and so alleviate the shortage of conventional energy sources; to apply nuclear knowledge (radioisotopes) to agriculture, medicine, and industry; and to conduct research and development on problems of national importance.” (Eating Grass, Stanford University Press, p50) Dr Usamani is credited to have laid down the foundation of the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH), a world renowned education and training centre.

During this phase, the focus was on the peaceful use of nuclear energy and even if there was a voice in favour of building one, it lacked any major support and was mostly muffled. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Munir Ahmed Khan were among the bigger supporters of going for this option.

The second phase of Pakistan’s nuclear programme began with Bhutto taking over the helm of affairs in Islamabad. In 1972, Bhutto held a meeting with key officials in Multan and ordered them to build a nuclear bomb. He appointed his friend and fellow member of the so-called bomb lobby, Munir Ahmed Khan the new chairman of PAEC. This meeting set the future direction of Pakistan’s nuclear programme. After the Indian nuclear explosion in 1974, Pakistan’s own quest for nuclear weapons began in earnest. Despite this, Pakistan offered several arms control measures to India but India rejected all of them on the pretext that they have to take their security concerns about China into account as well.

PAEC under Munir Ahmed Khan’s leadership worked hard towards achieving their goal. This effort was further intensified when Dr. A. Q. Khan joined the effort. Despite the political change in the country, the nuclear quest continued and General Zia continued it despite tremendous pressure from the international community especially when he was fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan as a frontline state. According to media reports, in 1987, he signalled that Pakistan had achieved the capability to make a nuclear weapon. Despite achieving the capability, Pakistan neither expressed nor demonstrated its capability as Pakistan built the bomb only to ensure its national security. Had the situation remained ambiguous and India not conducted another series of tests, the likelihood of Pakistan conducting overt tests was extremely remote.

To fulfil its electoral promise, the BJP government tested its nuclear devices Shakti I, II and III on May 11, 1998 followed by two more on May 13. This rang alarm bells in Islamabad. Then Prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif cut short his state visit to Uzbekistan and rushed back to Islamabad. Immediately after his return, he summoned a meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC). In this meeting, Dr Samar Mubarakmand assured the Prime Minister that PAEC needs only ten days to prepare and conduct the tests. Once again, the Indians caught the global power centres napping as neither of them were able to stop the Indian tests. Once again, the international community, instead of addressing the root cause, started pressuring Pakistan not to conduct its tests. Despite Islamabad’s declaring the Indian tests a “death blow to the global efforts at nuclear non-proliferation” the Americans were more focused on convincing Islamabad to abstain from responding. The Talbot mission delivered a sermon to the Pakistani leadership about what is best for Pakistan and the Pakistani people, but were not willing to pay any heed to Pakistan’s security concerns.

After intense and extensive debate, and also due to the inability of the international power centres especially USA to objectively engage and address Pakistan’s concerns and the statements emanating from India, the Defence Committee of the Cabinet decided to conduct the nuclear test. Once given the go ahead, the PAEC team, under the leadership of Dr Samar Mubarakmand, prepared the testing site and conducted the test. In total six successful tests were conducted by Pakistan on 28 and 30 May 1998.

The Rising Chinese Nuclear Horn (Daniel 7)

China is just getting started

Should China conquer Taiwan, that would free up about 50% of total PLA strength for potential deployment to the current Western Theater Command, facing India. So armed, a blitz to conquer Arunachal Pradesh could be a prelude to second punitive invasion blitz to Kolkata or even Delhi.

China’s savage 15 June 2020 attack against unarmed Indian troops was a classic example of Chinese style warfare: using the terrain to gain tactical advantage; exploiting longstanding diplomacy and agreements to disarm the Indian side; deliberately shock through use of brutal weapons not excluded from the same agreements; claiming the now blood-soaked Indian territory to sustain tension and fear; and then a propaganda barrage blaming India for causing the attack.

Understandably from the Indian perspective, there would be a desire to prevent this incident from sparking a larger, far more damaging, conflict. The inclination would be to treat the Chinese attack as another border incident, relying on diplomacy and better local deterrence to prevent future Chinese aggression. Unfortunately, there is a profound reality to China’s behaviour: to satisfy its hegemonic ambitions, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will require continuous concessions from India, diminishing its security, sovereignty and prosperity.

There is another hard reality. No matter what level of autonomy and non-alignment India pursues, for the CCP, India is but another on a list of democracies to be destroyed, and neighbours and enemies to be subordinated, in the CCP’s pursuit of global hegemony. A hint of the potential brazenness of CCP ambitions was revealed in a 2013 unauthored article widely circulated on the Chinese internet titled, “Six Wars China Must Fight in the Next 50 Years” . It was not removed by China’s internet censors and has held up well after seven years.

* “The First War: Unification of Taiwan (2020 to 2015)” states that by 2020 “an ultimatum” must be given to Taiwan, peaceful or non-peaceful unification, but as Taiwan is expected to be “defiant…military action will be the only solution.” Without United States’ “intervention,” Taiwan can be “under control” in three months.

Assessment: after 30 years of preparations, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could invade Taiwan successfully today if the United States was deterred, distracted, or defeated. The PLA has access to thousands of large river barges and 3,000 Western-built airliners that could carry the invasion forces. Following its conquest Taiwan will become a major base for PLA nuclear submarines, nuclear missiles, and global power projection forces.

* The Second War: “Reconquest” of the Spratly Islands (2025 to 2030) will be greatly assisted by China’s victory in the first, says the article. But South China Sea claimants who do not negotiate their access to resources with China will be attacked, starting with Vietnam. Consolidating control will ensure “Chinese aircraft carrier[s] can have free access into the Pacific Ocean”.

Assessment: This war is more than half won. China could easily double reclaimed areas in the Spratly and Paracel Island groups and thus double forward deployed missile, naval, air and Marine forces. If Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia do not fold to CCP diktat, they could face punitive PLA Marine invasions. Control of South China Sea opens the Indian Ocean to PLA power projection.

* The Third War: “Reconquest” of Southern Tibet (2035 to 2040) cautions, “If China uses military force to conquer Southern Tibet, it has to bear some losses…the best strategy for China is to incite the disintegration of India…[that] will have no power to cope with China.” But failing that, “at least try its best to incite Assam province, and once conquered Sikkim, to gain independence.” It goes on, “The second best plan is to export advanced weapons to Pakistan, helping Pakistan to conquer Southern Kashmir region in 2035…while India and Pakistan are busy fighting each other, China should take a Blitz to conquer Southern Tibet…India will not be able to fight a two front war, and is deemed to lose both.”

Assessment: Should China conquer Taiwan, that would free up about 50% of total PLA strength for potential deployment to the current Western Theater Command, facing India. So armed, a blitz to conquer Arunachal Pradesh could be a prelude to second punitive invasion blitz to Kolkata or even Delhi. Provided they are not destroyed preemptively, India would have little choice but to use nuclear weapons on its territory to halt such an invasion. The “disintegrate India” option was mentioned again on 17 June 2020 on another popular Chinese web portal, Guancha.com.

Before having done so more recently for North Korea, China long ago enabled Pakistan to become a nuclear missile state, complete with intermediate range, medium range, short range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will help ensure the survival of the unstable and hostile military-dominated regime in Islamabad, as it will also ensure a future PLA naval and air base at Gwadar. So, if China is not able to dismember India, by the 2030s Beijing could have it strategically surrounded.

* The Fourth War: “Reconquest” of the Diaoyu Islands and Ryukyu Islands (2040 to 2045) notes, “The Japanese has robbed our wealth and resources in the East China Sea and unlawfully occupied Diaoyu and Ryukyu Islands for many years…At that time, we can expect that the U.S. will be willing to intervene but has weakened; Europe will keep silent; Russia will sit and watch the fight…The war can end within half a year…”

Assessment: It is interesting that the authors assume the US-Japan alliance survives the first three Chinese wars, but there is no indication whether Japan has obtained nuclear weapons. But China’s ambitions to control the East China Sea are well established, and this would require control of the Ryukyu Island Chain and the departure of US forces from Okinawa. It is likely that China has long helped to stoke anti-Japanese government and anti-US military sentiments in Okinawa.

* Skipping the Fifth War: Unification of Outer Mongolia, let’s get to the real battle, The Sixth War: Taking back the lands lost to Russia (2055 to 2060). The article states, “The current Sino-Russian relationship seems to be a good one…China never forgets the lands lost to Russia. When the chance comes, China will take back the lands lost…Russia has occupied…equivalent to one-sixth of the current domain of China. Russia is therefore the bitter enemy of China.” It calls for “nuclear power to strike Russia from the front stage to the end” of the war, meaning Russia will be devastated by a full-out Chinese nuclear offensive.

Assessment: Informal sources indicate that Russia understands it is on China’s martial menu, but Vladimir Putin remains committed to an economic and military entente with China. Today Russia is signalling that it will contribute to China’s wars against Taiwan and Japan. Russian accommodation of China may even extend to a war against India, all to lengthen the period in which Russia can prepare for its China war. Of course, this would be a cynical miscalculation that could cost Russia most of Siberia. China will match Russian military technology, vastly outproduce it, and is already on its way to building a nuclear arsenal that could soon exceed that of Russia or the United States.

The Chinese article does not mention how China will conquer the United States, but that project is also underway. In 2019, China’s Defence Minister made clear that CCP leader Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative of global infrastructure and influence building is directly linked to China’s global military influence building. For most of the last 20 years, China has been building economic and political power in Latin America that could lead to military access. While President Donald Trump has made the most concerted attempt to mount a broad strategic and economic pushback against China, it is not clear whether his objectives will be shared by his successors and required strategic investments sustained.

However, there is a silver lining: India still has the time to make new strategic choices that can help prevent any of these wars from coming to pass. Short of a formal alliance with anyone, India can make common cause with all democracies that, like itself, are threatened by China.

For example, India can build sensor and intelligence sharing with Taiwan to help warn either of Chinese military movements that would threaten the other. Sensor sharing, military training and coordination with Japan, Australia, and the United States could go far to contain China’s threats to the First Island Chain and into the Indian Ocean. Joining the US and Western efforts to build a new government-private sector presence on the Moon can help thwart Chinese designs to control the Earth-Moon System. Finally, India can join other states in lobbying Russia to end its entente with China.

Richard D. Fisher, Jr. is a senior fellow with the International Assessment and Strategy Center.

India’s Growing Nuclear Arsenal (Revelation 8 )

India is Operating World’s Fastest Expanding Nuclear Weapons Programme

By Zain MoeedJune 28, 2020

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has recently launched its annual year book 2020 and assessed the current state of armaments, disarmament and international security. While maintaining its years-long tradition of adding 10 more nuclear weapons in Pakistan’s stockpile, SIPRI estimated that India possesses the smallest numbers of nuclear warheads in the South Asian strategic context. The year book is appeared to be misleading and politically motivated because it did not incorporate other independent sources with higher estimates of Indian nuclear stockpile. SIPRI did not even bother to take notes from a recent report by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). The report has deliberated the annual nuclear spending of the nine nuclear-armed states. The most interesting case discussed was that Pakistan’s expenditure on its nuclear forces is about $1 billion, as compared to India which spends twice the amount, i.e. $2.3 billion to maintain almost the same number of nuclear weapons.

Today, India is operating world’s fastest expanding nuclear weapons programme outside safeguards among any other non-NPT nuclear states. India is pursuing a nuclear triad which encompasses nuclear powered ballistic missile submarines, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), dual-use cruise/ballistic missiles and an enormous naval modernization intended to nuclearize the Indian ocean region. Various Indian experts and politicians claim India needs more than 300-400 nuclear weapons for its strategic forces.Dr. Anil Kakodkar, the former Chairman of India’s Atomic Energy Commission, has said in this regards that, “both, from the point of view of maintaining long-term energy security and for maintaining the ‘minimum credible deterrent,’ the fast breeder programme just cannot be put on the civilian list. This would amount to getting shackled and India certainly cannot compromise one [security] for the other.”So, India has intentionally reserved its fast breeder reactors and most of its so-called civil nuclear programme out of the safeguards and surveillance of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).In order to acquire the full nuclear triad capability, India will strive to produce many more nuclear warheads without IAEA monitoring.

IHS Jane’s Intelligence Review by Robert Kelley has examined that how several avenues enabled India to achieve the quantity and purity of uranium that are needed in a closed nuclear fuel cycle and New Delhi appears to be interested in atomic vapour laser isotope separation (AVLIS). It further added that reactor-grade plutonium from the unsafe-guarded Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) provides a further strategic military stockpile to India. The IHS Jane also mentioned that India imports Jordanian phosphate in large quantities for fertiliser production. A large stream of phosphoric acid will be processed at the Rare Material Recovery (RMR) Plant at the Pradeep Phosphates Ltd plant near Odisha in the east of the country. Extraction of uranium from imported phosphate fertilisers gives India a source of uranium that is not subject to international monitoring and uranium from phosphate can be used for military activities.

An in depth analysis has shown that India has enough resources and fissile materials to develop between 356 and 492 nuclear warheads. The study titled ‘Indian Unsafeguarded Nuclear Program’ which was published by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) revealed a recent and detailed evaluation of the capability of India’s nuclear weapons programme. Whereas, a Belfer Center’s study has indicated that India is already installing more than five fast breeder reactors, which will proliferate its production capacities of weapons-grade plutonium 20-fold to 700 kg annually. The analysis of this production capacity demonstrates that New Delhi has the capacity to produce roughly 80 to 90 plutonium-based and 7 to 8 uranium-based nuclear weapons every year. According to the study, if all of the weapons and the reactor-grade Plutonium and the Highly Enriched Uranium stocks are taken into account, India could produce between 2,261 and 2,686 weapons.

Matthew Clements, editor of IHS Jane’s Intelligence Review, in an interview, uncovered the expansion of an Indian clandestine uranium enrichment plant that could potentially support the development of thermonuclear weapons. The facility, located near Mysore in southern India, would yield nearly twice as much weapons-grade uranium as New Delhi would need in its fastest-growing nuclear weapons programme. Whereas, unabated growth in its centrifuge enrichment programme will allow it to intensify the production of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium to 160kg annually. Matthew Clements said that “taking into account all the enriched uranium likely to be needed by the Indian nuclear submarine fleet, there is likely to be a significant excess.”

To complete nuclear triad, India is rapidly expanding its nuclear weapons program under many covert projects. Such as, it is operating a plutonium production reactor, Dhruva, and a uranium enrichment facility, which are not subject to IAEA safeguards. India is building South Asia largest military complex of nuclear centrifuges, atomic-research laboratories. This facility will give India the ability to make many large-yield nuclear arms & hydrogen bombs. In the back drop of Indo-U.S. nuclear cooperation agreement, undisclosed plutonium reserves were not inspected and were left with Indian weapons development facilities. Al Jazeera and Foreign Policy investigation reports also specified that India is secretly building a nuclear enrichment complex in Challakere to escalate arms race. It will covertly triple the number of nuclear warheads in the coming years from what India possess today.

India has introduced an ambiguous nuclear separation plan with the IAEA in which it encompassed only those facilities on the civilian list and offered them for safeguards that are not involved in activities of strategic implication. The civilian Plutonium reserves that are outside the safeguards of the IAEA and designated for strategic purposes are the main cause of concern. In a three-stage plan, India is continuing to expand its unsafeguarded nuclear power program. The installation of several nuclear reactors has also been announced by New Delhi. This capability will generate excessive fissile material, other than the fuel necessary for breeder and naval reactors. Over the next few years, India will be capable to replace China, France and the United Kingdom in terms of its abilities to produce nuclear weapons to become the third behind the U.S. and Russia.

India has intensified development and strategic procurement to stockpile weapons-grade material for future usage in military modernization programmes. The increasing stocks of weapons-grade fissile material by New Delhi would have unbearable effects from the South Asian viewpoint of strategic stability.A number of nuclear suppliers, on the assumption of non-factual estimates of Indian stockpile, concluded nuclear cooperation with New Delhi. Although the material from these countries appears to be being reused in arms for the policy of Indian military expansion with respect to aggressive nuclear weapon modernization.

The mere simple facts that the Indian Nuclear programme started well before Pakistan’s, has a bigger capacity than Pakistan with bulk of it outside IAEA safeguards, has 14 nuclear deals under exceptional trade waiver in 2008 by NSG and is actively pursuing a triad of nuclear and space forces being sponsored by leading Western states, are sufficient to prove that Pakistan’s nuclear programme is no match to India’s dangerous and expansionist nuclear quest. It then becomes hard to understand as to why respectable institutions like the SIPRI try to downplay the emerging dangers of massive vertical proliferation carried out by India in the last two decades?