"90 Percent" is Deterrence
Oct. 7th, 2008 03:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
webfarmerWhy are all the Freedonias out there looking to get nuclear power? Here's what Mohammed El-Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, thinks along with some new concerns about Japan.
Spread of Nuclear Capability is Feared - Washington Post - 12 May 08
"Mohammed ElBaradei, the director general of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency and a winner with the IAEA of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize for his work preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, has likened the pursuit of 'latent' nuclear capability to buying an insurance policy.
'You don't really even need to have a nuclear weapon,' ElBaradei said at a recent international conference of security officials in Munich. 'It's enough to buy yourself an insurance policy by developing the capability, and then sit on it. Let's not kid ourselves: Ninety percent of it is insurance, a deterrence.'"
No More American Umbrella?: Nuclear Temptation in Japan - IHT - 15 Apr 08
"A leading Japanese opposition politician, Ozawa Ichiro, said recently that Beijing's bullying could provoke Japan into producing thousands of nuclear warheads at short notice."
"Few doubt that Japan, given its technological prowess, could produce nuclear weapons and the means of delivery them in a relatively short time. It cooperates fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency, but its large-scale plutonium recycling program creates suspicions that it might have enough fissile material to produce many nuclear weapons."
Spread of Nuclear Capability is Feared - Washington Post - 12 May 08
"Mohammed ElBaradei, the director general of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency and a winner with the IAEA of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize for his work preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, has likened the pursuit of 'latent' nuclear capability to buying an insurance policy.
'You don't really even need to have a nuclear weapon,' ElBaradei said at a recent international conference of security officials in Munich. 'It's enough to buy yourself an insurance policy by developing the capability, and then sit on it. Let's not kid ourselves: Ninety percent of it is insurance, a deterrence.'"
No More American Umbrella?: Nuclear Temptation in Japan - IHT - 15 Apr 08
"A leading Japanese opposition politician, Ozawa Ichiro, said recently that Beijing's bullying could provoke Japan into producing thousands of nuclear warheads at short notice."
"Few doubt that Japan, given its technological prowess, could produce nuclear weapons and the means of delivery them in a relatively short time. It cooperates fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency, but its large-scale plutonium recycling program creates suspicions that it might have enough fissile material to produce many nuclear weapons."
