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Burma is trying to build nuclear weapons and missiles, says US senator
The Times ^ | 6/4/2010 | Richard Lloyd Parry

Posted on 06/04/2010 8:34:47 AM PDT by markomalley

The Burmese Government is attempting to build nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, according to a military defector who smuggled photographs and documents of secret nuclear equipment out of the isolated dictatorship.

Evidence presented by the former Burmese officer and weapons engineer suggests that the country is still a long way from creating usable nuclear weapons. But the fact that it has even a nascent nuclear programme will cause international alarm at a time when the West is struggling to contain the ambitions of Iran and North Korea.

Jim Webb, the US senator, who in recent months has become an unofficial US envoy to Burma, yesterday cancelled a planned trip to Naypyidaw, the capital, because of concern about the reports of the defector’s testimony on the Norway-based news website, Democratic Voice of Burma. It comes after Kurt Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state, accused the Burmese junta of violating a UN resolution by allegedly buying arms from North Korea.

“It is unclear whether these allegations have substantive merit,” Mr Webb said in a statement. “However … there are now two unresolved matters related to activities of serious concern between these two countries. Until there is further clarification on these matters, I believe it would be unwise and potentially counterproductive for me to visit Burma.”

The information comes from Sai Thein Win, a former major in the Burmese Army, who is compared in the DVB report to Mordechai Vanunu, the whistleblower who was abducted and imprisoned by Israel after leaking secrets of its nuclear programme to The Sunday Times. The materials he provided have been scrutinised by Robert Kelley, a former director of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency.

(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: burma
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To: markomalley

I guess since they heard global warming got debunked and are no longer worried their country is sinking into the ocean, now they’ll turn their attention to - ya know - just building some nukes. All the cool countries have nukes.


21 posted on 06/04/2010 9:56:33 AM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: markomalley

Meh, just give every nation a nuke and be done with it....the UN and the IAEA are worthless in preventing nuclear proliferation and will be moreso once an NPT member...IRAN...acquires/builds their nukes.


22 posted on 06/04/2010 9:59:12 AM PDT by cranked
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To: markomalley
Through the sky...


lickety split...


nice city...


wasn't it?


Burma Shave Bomb
23 posted on 06/04/2010 10:02:27 AM PDT by domeika
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To: markomalley

WTF? Really? I dont think so. Who would they use them against? Their biggest borders are with China and India, both of which could reduce Burma to cinders with 1/10th of their military power.

The only other options are Bangaldesh, and Thailand. The former, well, if somebody nuked them, itd be better for the World, considering its a cesspool of poverty and Islam (A bad combo), and the latter, well, why would they want to nuke thailand? Did some junta leader discover that his last Suki Suki in thailand was done by a boytoy?


24 posted on 06/04/2010 10:22:40 AM PDT by ketelone
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To: RetroSexual
We're cutting back on ours though.

I mean it makes sense. If we need one we could just borrow it from one of our friends, right?

Wait, I'm confused...are you talking about our monetary policy?

25 posted on 06/04/2010 10:41:32 AM PDT by Zeppelin (Keep on FReepin' on...)
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To: dfwgator

A peach is pretty
With lots of fuzz.
But man’s no peach
And never wuz.

BURMA SHAVE


26 posted on 06/04/2010 10:47:57 AM PDT by Lazamataz ("We beat the Soviet Union. Then we became them." -- Lazamataz, 2005)
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To: markomalley

A paranoid dictator wants nukes? Whowouldathunkit?


27 posted on 06/04/2010 11:03:43 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (The US will not die with a whimper. It will die with thundering applause from the left.)
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To: markomalley

Burma wants to build nukes? Did they kidnap Professor Roy Hinkley from Gilligan’s Island to do the development? I mean, the guy could build a nuclear reactor from palm fronds, coconuts and a few sea shells, so why not?

But Burmese beware: Hinkley is a fraud! That’s right, a fraud! He couldn’t even patch a hole in a motorboat!


28 posted on 06/04/2010 11:09:53 AM PDT by henkster (A broken government does not merit full faith and credit.)
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To: markomalley
The Chinese are creating nuclear buffer states to shield them from Western political and commercial influence while allowing them to threaten their neighbors India, S Korea and Japan.
29 posted on 06/04/2010 2:10:40 PM PDT by plenipotentiary (Obama was a BRITISH SUBJECT at birth, passed to him via Pops, can't be NBC)
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To: dfwgator

"Penguins don't come from next door, they come from the Antarctic!"

"Burma!!"

".......Why'd you say Burma?

"I panicked."

30 posted on 06/05/2010 1:30:31 AM PDT by oprahstheantichrist (The MSM is a demonic stronghold, PLEASE pray accordingly - 2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
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To: RicocheT
Jim Webb believes in “engagement” with these genocidal thugs. He only cancelled his trip because his new friends got caught once again with their hand in the cookie jar. They recently received an illegal shipment of missle parts from North Korea. The nuclear ambitions of the Burmese Junta have been widely known since they were reported by Dictator Watch in 2006.

The Orwellian named State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is one of the worst regimes on the planet. They have destroyed their once beautiful country. They are engaged in the world’s longest running civil war, fighting against the Karen since 1948. They have destroyed over 3500 villages since 1995. Relocation camps, free fire zones, forced labor, use of human minesweepers, religeous persecution against Christians, and massive exports of meth and opium make this one of the worst regimes on earth.

They want nukes so they can be untouchable like North Korea.

31 posted on 06/05/2010 1:33:05 PM PDT by FBRhawk (Pray with faith, act with courage, never surrender!)
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To: markomalley

Burma is one weird place. You might hear their leader say something like, “Myanmar must have the finest high tech weapons in Asia. An astrologer told me so!”


32 posted on 06/05/2010 2:11:53 PM PDT by ko_kyi
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To: Red6
Next they know they can do whatever they want and NO ONE will really do anything. They'll just give extra double dare speeches that sound really good!

Yosemite Sam Pictures, Images and Photos

"I DOUBLE dares ya!"

33 posted on 06/05/2010 11:50:22 PM PDT by ARepublicanForAllReasons (BORDERS, LAWS and LANGUAGE)
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To: AdmSmith; Berosus; bigheadfred; blueyon; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...
"Burma!" "Why did you say Burma?" "I panicked."
Evidence presented by the former Burmese officer and weapons engineer suggests that the country is still a long way from creating usable nuclear weapons. But the fact that it has even a nascent nuclear programme will cause international alarm at a time when the West is struggling to contain the ambitions of Iran and North Korea... "It is unclear whether these allegations have substantive merit," Mr Webb said in a statement.
...meanwhile, North Korea and Iran continue nuclear weapons and ICBM development, while simultaneously supporting worldwide terrorism, and Zero does nothing.
34 posted on 06/06/2010 2:41:06 PM PDT by SunkenCiv ("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
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