Free Republic

When Yasser Arafat first addressed the U.N. General Assembly in November 1974, he told the world body he came bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun. "Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand," stated the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, at that time still considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel. Today, the odds have increased. The gun has been replaced by nuclear warheads. Despite a mysterious air raid by the Israeli air force last Sept. 6 on what it said was a nuclear processing facility in the Syrian desert, Damascus...

MOSCOW AND BOSTON – At a Moscow conference in 2000 on stopping the global migration of nuclear-weapons know-how, a Russian security official revealed that Taliban envoys had tried to recruit a Russian nuclear expert. That expert didn't go to work for the Afghan regime. But three of his colleagues did leave their institute for other nations - and Russian officials had no idea which ones, US experts say. With the threat of nuclear terrorism looming large in a post-9/11 world, the brain drain of Russian nuclear expertise is an even more critical concern than it was six years ago, many...

Iran seeks to enrich uranium at home Russia confirms nuclear talks took place: Tass TEHRAN: Iran’s agreement to discuss Moscow’s plan to enrich uranium in Russia does not mean that Tehran has abandoned its drive to enrich uranium on its own soil, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying on Friday. The remarks by Javad Vaeedi, deputy of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, appeared to dash faint hopes that Russia’s proposal could resolve the Islamic state’s nuclear standoff with the West. The proposal, which is backed by Washington and the European Union, involves the creation of a joint Iranian-Russian...

NEW DELHI: After the storm comes the deluge of questions. What if the government is understating the scale of the tragedy? How is India going about the woeful task of counting the dead? In turn, how will this affect relief mobilisation and disbursal of financial aid? Already there are indications that the number of dead projected by authorities is way below the reality. Senior officials in Delhi are already admitting that the task before them is very complicated. Red Cross is estimating the toll could shoot up to 1,00,000 dead (from the present 80,000) in Asia once more information comes...