Third Horn Launches Missile

Pakistan successfully test fires Missile Hatf IX (NASR)

Tuesday, 05 November 2013 11:36

Posted by Parvez Jabri

287

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan on Tuesday conducted a successful test fire of Short Range Surface to Surface Missile Hatf IX (NASR).
The test fire was conducted with successive launches of 4 x missiles (Salvo) from a state of the art multi tube launcher.
According to ISPR here, NASR, with a range of 60 Kilometer and in-flight maneuver capability is a quick response system, with shoot and scoot attributes.
It contributes to the full spectrum deterrence against threats in view of evolving scenarios.
The test was witnessed by Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Director General Strategic Plans Division, Lieutenant General (Retd) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, Chairman NESCOM, Muhammad Irfan Burney, Commander Army Strategic Forces Command, and Lieutenant General Tariq Nadeem Gilani, senior officers from the strategic forces and scientists and engineers of strategic organizations.
The Chief of Army Staff congratulated the scientists and engineers on this outstanding achievement which consolidates Pakistan's deterrence capability.

Even Russia Worried About Fourth Horn's Uranium

Russia implores UN to take control of Libya’s ‘unguarded’ yellowcake uranium

Published time: November 04, 2013 23:40

andrewtheprophet.com

Vitaly Churkin.(AFP Photo / Stan Honda)

Russia has asked the UN Security Council to look into the dangers posed by a badly-guarded stockpile of yellowcake uranium in the Libyan Desert. Recent reports have said that Al-Qaeda is interested in the supply as a potential nuclear weapon component.
“I have spoken with UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon about the issue, and asked him to take it up with the United Nations mission in Libya,” Russia’s UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, told ITAR-TASS news agency from New York.

“I also said we would mention the problem at Security Council consultations, and we have done so.”

Churkin also said that the head of United Nations Support Mission in Libya, Tarek Mitri, spoke with Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, who promised to focus on the issue. The Russian diplomat also said that a special inter-ministerial committee was set up in Tripoli to deal with the matter.

The UN envoy also stressed that Libya remains an issue of “concern” as it acts as a source of proliferation of weapons and materials related to the production of weapons of mass destruction throughout the region.

During the consultation, Churkin said that Russia made two specific proposals. First of all, to send the matter to the expert panel committee of the UN Security Council (UNSC) that monitors the implementation of sanctions against Libya with the possibility to ban arms exports from the country.

Secondly, Russia asked the Security Council relay the organization’s concern to the Libyan authorities so that they will treat the issue in a “serious” way and “will try to take practical steps to remedy the situation," said the permanent representative of the Russian Federation.

An estimated 6,400 barrels of yellowcake uranium were discovered near the Muammar Gaddafi stronghold of Sabha towards the end of the uprising that resulted in the ruler’s death in October 2011. 

Yellowcake is a powder obtained through the milling, chemical processing, drying, and filtering of uranium ore. Yellowcake is generally used to produce commercial nuclear materials, such as fuel elements in nuclear reactors that use un-enriched uranium. Known for its yellow color during early mining operations, yellowcake can be further processed into enriched uranium. It can yield weapons-grade uranium if enriched to 90 percent after a series of complex operations.

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has performed an inventory of the stock – which is kept in an ordinary warehouse, next to an estimated 4,000 surface-to-air missiles previously procured from Russia – and technically maintains control over it.

Yet a report from a visiting journalist in the UK’s Times newspaper last month alleged that the stockpile was in the control of a local weapons dealer, and his men did not even guard the warehouse for fear of suffering radiation poisoning.

"We have no use for the yellow uranium ourselves and are frightened of it," said Bharuddin Midhoun Arifi, a commander of 2000 fighters in Sabha. "My men don't like guarding the site as they believe it will make their skin fall off. So we guard it from a nearby checkpoint. Maybe someone could steal one or two drums if they wanted, but not more."

According to the militia commander, the security vacuum left following the death of Colonel Gaddafi is now attracting Al-Qaeda, which is seeking weapons.

"Qa'ida come to visit me, asking to buy weapons, asking for heat-seeking missiles, asking for uranium," Arifi said. "It started this year when the French sent troops to chase them out of Mali. Qa'ida came to Sabha asking for medical supplies. They received some. Next they came back asking for weapons" including surface-to-air missiles capable of shooting down a passenger liner.

Despite The Times report, Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdelaziz in September claimed the stockpile in Sabha has been secured with the help of IAEA inspectors.

"Libya is trying to determine if the concentrated uranium can be used for peaceful nuclear energy purposes or sold to countries which use the product for peaceful purposes," said the minister.

Yet the Centre for Strategic Studies in Tripoli had previously asked the Libyan authorities to use the uranium for "industrial and agricultural development and in the production of clean energy.”

Barrels filled with yellowcake,"Caution. Radiation".(Reuters / Shamil Zhumatov)

Under Muammar Gaddafi, Libya possessed chemical weapons and ballistic missiles while pursuing a nuclear weapons program. But in 2003, Gaddafi announced that Libya would voluntarily eliminate all materials, equipment, and programs - including weapons of mass destruction and long-range ballistic missiles.

In 2004, Libya declared 25 tons of mustard gas and 1400 tons of chemical precursors when it joined the Chemical Weapons Convention. It also identified some 3500 chemical weapon munitions.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) supervised the destruction of Libya's chemical weapons stockpiles up until the uprising began in February 2011. The work resumed in 2012, and, according to authorities, is gaining momentum.

"The process of elimination is being conducted step-by-step, with the latest stage of the destruction of chemicals taking place between December, 2012 and May, 2013," Colonel Ali Chikhi, spokesman for the Libyan Army staff, told AFP in September. "Libya has destroyed 95 percent of its mustard gas stocks and is on course to eliminate the remainder by 2016 at the latest."

The First Horn "Death To America"

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard chants “Death to America”  

As the country’s new president moves towards diplomacy with the West, protests are planned for the 34th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy Monday.

By Joel Landau / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Saturday, November 2, 2013, 6:50 PM

ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images

Members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards march past President Hassan Rowhani and military officials (unseen) during an annual military parade on Sept. 22 in Tehran.

With the 34th anniversary approaching of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Iran, soldiers with the country's Revolutionary Guards regime army have reignited an old slogan.
"Death to America."

Anonymous/AP Photo/ASSOCIATED PRESS

One of the hostages from the U.S. Embassy, blindfolded and with his hands bound, is being displayed to the crowd outside the building in Tehran by Iranian hostage takers on Nov. 9, 1979.

The soldiers, upset with their president's attempts to strengthen his country's relationship with the United States unveiled two new "Death to America" songs Saturday. There are also anti-U.S. protests planned on Monday - the 34th anniversary of when Iranian revolutionaries sieged the U.S. Embassy.
"The slogan Death to America is the symbol of strength and determination of the Iranian nation against the dominance of the United States, which is an oppressive and untrustworthy nation," said the Revolutionary Guards on their official website.

AP Photo/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Thousands of demonstrators march on the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, on Nov. 16, 1979. An estimated 80,000 person joined the march, reportedly the biggest since hostage were seized in the embassy on Nov. 4, 1979.

The country is having an ideological debate since the election in June of moderate President Hassan Rouhani who is reaching out to Western countries to develop better relationships as the international community continues to monitor its nuclear activity, ynetnews.com reported.
Authorities pulled down dozens of anti-U.S. banners and posters around Tehran, the nation's capital, last week, the outlet reported.

Office of the Supreme Leader/AP Photo

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leads the Revolutionary Guard.

"Death to America" was one of the main slogans of the 1979 revolution, reports Al Jazeera.
Fifty-two Americans were held hostage for 444 days, between Nov. 4, 1979 to Jan. 20, 1981, after a group of Iranian students supporting the Iranian Revolution took over the embassy.
The Revolutionary Guards is a military organization that was founded after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. It has roughly 200,000 soldiers and its top priority is to protect Iran's Islamic system.
With News Wire services

Uranium Enrichment Continues In Iran

Iran Continues 20%Uranium Enrichment, Zarif Says

By Franz Wild - Oct 31, 2013 6:31 AM MT

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said his government hasn’t stopped enriching uranium to 20 percent purity as a parliamentary committee spokesman was quoted as saying.
“Iran continues to enrich at the level of both 3.5 percent and at 20 percent,” Zarif told reporters today in the South African capital, Pretoria. “This is under International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring.”
The U.S. and other world powers want Iran to stop enriching uranium to the 20 percent level. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov suggested a 5 percent limit in an Oct. 21 phone interview. Iranian officials say the material is needed for a research reactor in the capital, which produces medical isotopes for cancer treatment.
Hossein Naghavi Hosseini, spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, was quoted as saying by parliament’s website, ICANA, on Oct. 24 that Iran stopped purifying uranium to 20 percent after producing enough fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor. Zarif said that he believed Hosseini was misquoted and the statement was withdrawn.
Iran’s uranium enrichment has been at the center of a conflict with world powers, including the U.S. Enriched uranium can be used as fuel or if further purified to 90 percent can be used to build nuclear weapons.
Iran is holding talks with the IAEA to give the Vienna-based body wider access to monitor Iran’s nuclear program more closely. While several years of mistrust between Iran and world powers has to be overcome, Iran is participating in concurrent discussions with the U.S., Russia, China, U.K., France and Germany in “good faith,” Zarif said. The next round of talks takes place in Geneva on Nov. 7-8.
“We are not seeking nuclear weapons,” Zarif said. “We believe even the perception that we are seeking nuclear weapons is detrimental to our security.”

What Will The Fourth Horn Do With All That Uranium?

Libyan Uranium Guarded by Terrified Ex-Human Trafficker

October 29, 2013 By Daniel Greenfield 1 Comment

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The Democrats repeatedly blasted Bush for not planning the aftermath of Saddam’s defeat better. This is how well Obama planned out the overthrow of Gaddafi.

And it’s an open question whether Obama’s Libyan War will lead to countless American deaths, beyond the Benghazi four.

An unstable country on the brink of civil war is not all former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi left behind after his death last year. A vast collection of weapons remains in an abandoned desert warehouse in southern Libya, The Times reported on Tuesday.
The arsenal reportedly includes 4,000 surface-to-air missiles, each capable of downing a passenger jet, and thousands of barrels of uranium yellowcake. An inventory collected by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) accounted for 6,400 yellowcake barrels.
Bharuddin Midhoun Arifi, a former human trafficker and now commander of 2,000 fighters in the city of Sabha, was one of the main inheritors of the regime’s abandoned weapon reserves.
“Sometimes I’m afraid that al-Qaeda will get me. Other times I fear that the Americans or French or British will fire missiles from the sea to destroy all I control.” Arifi told the Times. He claims that al-Qaeda had most recently offered 1 million dollars for some of the weapons, an offer which Arifi says he turned down. “I told them…this belonged to my government.”
Rows of the mortars and rockets stacked in crates, however, suggest some of the weapons have been shipped to Syria, along with hundreds of Libyans who have joined the rebel forces fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
No actions were taken to remove the uranium, which after intensive processing could become weapons grade, despite the U.N. mission in Libya suggesting its removal. Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammad Abdul Aziz echoed similar sentiments but with no avail.

Say what you will about Bush, but I doubt the uranium would still have been sitting there after all this time. But Bush had national security priorities. Obama has a bizarre melange of Green Energy, Islam outreach and gay rights priorities.

Uranium, like Benghazi security, isn’t his problem.

Iran Ready For The Bowls of Wrath

Report: Iran may be month from a bomb

Oren Dorell, USA TODAY 11:21 a.m. EDT October 25, 2013

Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build a nuclear bomb in as little as a month, according to a new estimate by one of the USA's top nuclear experts.

Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build a nuclear bomb in as little as a month, according to a new estimate by one of the USA's top nuclear experts.
The new assessment comes as the White House invited Senate staffers to a briefing on negotiations with Iran as it is trying to persuade Congress not to go ahead with a bill to stiffen sanctions against Iran.

"Shortening breakout times have implications for any negotiation with Iran," stated the report by the
Institute for Science and International Security. "An essential finding is that they are currently too short and shortening further."
David Albright, president of the institute and a former inspector for the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, said the estimate means that Iran would have to eliminate more than half of its 19,000 centrifuges to extend the time it would take to build a bomb to six months.
The Obama administration has said Iran is probably a year away from having enough enriched uranium to make a bomb.
Bernadette Meehan, an NSC spokeswoman for President Obama's National Security Council, said the intelligence community maintains "a number of assessments" regarding potential time frames for Iran to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for one weapon or a testable nuclear device.hi
"We continue to closely monitor the Iranian nuclear program and its stockpile of enriched uranium," Meehan said.
World powers are seeking an agreement "that ultimately resolves all of the international community's concerns about Iran's nuclear program," she said. "The ultimate goal is a comprehensive agreement that is credible, transparent, and verifiable."
In the report, Albright said negotiations with Iran should focus on so-called "breakout" times, or the time required to convert low-enriched uranium to weapons-grade.
Albright, who has testified before Congress, said the negotiators should try to find ways to lengthen the breakout times and shorten the time that inspectors could detect breakout. ISIS' analysis is based on the latest Iranian and United Nations reports on Iran's centrifuge equipment for producing nuclear fuel and its nuclear fuel stockpiles.
Iran's stockpile of medium-enriched uranium has nearly doubled in a year's time and its number of centrifuges has expanded from 12,000 in 2012 to 19,000 today.
Sen. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican whose Senate Banking Committee is considering legislation to tighten Iran sanctions, said the report shows that Iran is expanding its nuclear capabilities under the cover of negotiations.
"The Senate should move forward immediately with a new round of sanctions to prevent Iran from acquiring an undetectable breakout capability," he said.
The White House has said new sanctions legislation should wait while current negotiations — scheduled to resume officially in Geneva next month — are moving forward.
The White House said Thursday it will continue consulting with Congress "so that any congressional action is aligned with our negotiating strategy as we move forward," said Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for President Obama's National Security Council.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said his country has no interest in nuclear weapons but that producing nuclear fuel is Iran's right. His foreign minister, Javad Zarif, has said Iran will not ship its nuclear stockpile to a third country.
However, Iran has blocked international inspectors from some suspected nuclear facilities to verify they are being used for peaceful purposes, access required under international agreements it has signed.
United Nations inspectors have found evidence of a weapons program in violation of Iran's commitment under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The USA and the U.N. Security Council have implemented crippling economic sanctions on Iran to sway it to take steps to assure the world it is not developing a bomb.
Israel, which sees an Iranian nuclear bomb as a threat to its very existence, has said it will take military action to prevent Iran from getting a bomb.
ISIS estimated in October 2012 that Iran could produce enough highly-enriched uranium for a bomb within two to four months. The new estimate is based on an analysis of the latest reports by Iran and the the IAEA.
ISIS considered various scenarios, including if Iran decided to build a covert enrichment plant like it has under a mountain in Fordow, near the city of Qom, that was designed for optimal efficiency and minimal time to enrich enough uranium for bomb making. Such a facility built with current Iranian technology could produce enough material for a bomb in a week, according to the ISIS report.
"If they did that and they were caught it would be a smoking gun of a nuclear weapons program," Albright said.
If Iran moves ahead with installation of its more efficient, second generation centrifuges, it would be able to produce enough nuclear fuel for a bomb with so few of them, between 2,000 and 3,300 centrifuges, that they could fit in a small warehouse, Albright said.

The Fourth Horn of Libya

Al-Qaeda eyes Gaddafi’s uranium and missiles

Thousands of barrels of yellowcake lie corroding in the warehouses Anthony Loyd 

 

Anthony Loyd Sabha

Last updated at 12:01AM, October 22 2013

The barefoot rebel in the pork pie hat is a troubled man. A former human trafficker, today he presides over a vast arsenal in southern Libya that includes an estimated 4,000 surface-to-air missiles, each capable of downing a passenger jet, and has access to thousands of barrels of uranium yellowcake (ore sometimes used to produce nuclear weapons) in an abandoned desert warehouse.
Between receiving al-Qaeda emissaries seeking to buy his stocks, and Western intelligence agents who want to secure them, he wonders who may kill him first.
“Sometimes I’m afraid that al-Qaeda will get me,” said Bharuddin Midhoun Arifi.