N Korea helping Iran with nuclear testing
A senior European defence official told The Daily Telegraph that North Korea had invited a team of Iranian nuclear scientists to study the results of last October’s underground test to assist Teheran’s preparations to conduct its own — possibly by the end of this year.There were unconfirmed reports at the time of the Korean firing that an Iranian team was present. Iranian military advisers regularly visit North Korea to participate in missile tests.
Now the long-standing military co-operation between the countries has been extended to nuclear issues.
Via Belmont Club, who also adds this gem:
One of the most valuable skills in diplomacy is never to let the facts get in the way of a good policy. Maliki is our man in Baghdad. America should seek engagement with Iran and Syria because they only want stability in Iraq. Pakistan is our friend. Yasser Arafat was our partner for peace and he never ordered the murder of an American ambassador. Teheran’s nuclear program is entirely peaceful. In each case reality is subordinated to the overarching and luminous vision. And oh, this skill at diplomatic doublethink is called realism.
I would be surprised, although not shocked, if Iran is able to produce a nuclear weapon within the next two years. However, I think those who believe they are more then five years away are living in a fantasyland.
I remain absolutely convinced that Iran having nuclear weapons would be a disaster, and our choices in how to deal with that disaster will be orders of magnitude worse then our choices in how to prevent it from happening, bad though those options are.
Certainly, the situation sucks. I wish we could just ignore this reality and play diplomatic games confident that everything will be all right, that we can have peace in our time. That isn’t a choice though. We will either act or be acted upon.
