| THE HANDSTAND | DECEMBER2010 |
nuclear information
B61 nuclear gravity bombs of the sort stored at NATO bases in Europe
Obama Pledged :Israel Has Right to Nuclear Capability for Deterrence Purposes.
Haaretz (Israel)
By Barak Ravid
NEW YORK - The Obama administration has revealed to the public, during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington, a series of understandings between the two countries on Israel's policy of "nuclear ambiguity" - which to date had been kept under wraps. At the center of these understandings lies an Israeli veto on the holding of an international conference for a nuclear-free Middle East, as well as an unprecedented American willingness to cooperate with Israel in the field of nuclear power for civil use. ... Following their meeting at the White House Tuesday, a special announcement was made an hour later concerning assurances given to Netanyahu by U.S. President Barack Obama.
According to the announcement, "The president told the prime minister he recognizes that Israel must always have the ability to defend itself, by itself, against any threat or possible combination of threats, and that only Israel can determine its security needs. The president pledged to continue U.S. efforts to combat all international attempts to challenge the legitimacy of the State of Israel." "The president emphasized that the United States will continue its long standing practice to work closely with Israel to ensure that arms control initiatives and policies do not detract from Israel's security, and support our common efforts to strengthen international peace and stability," the statement continued.
************************************************************************************************8
Four European states host US nuclear bombs, WikiLeaks reveals
Soviet nuclear warheads under inspection. The US bombs in Europe are thought to date back to Cold War times (Photo: jenspie3)
29.11.2010 @ 19:33 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Turkey have US nuclear weapons situated on their soil, the WikiLeaks whistleblower files have revealed.
The four countries, along with Italy, had long been suspected of being home to a collection of American nuclear armaments, but neither the states nor Nato had ever officially confirmed or denied their presence.
For the first time, the confidential files released on Sunday evening (28 November) have acknowledged what was until now only conjecture, upending decades of careful diplomatic ambiguity.
In a confidential memo from US ambassador to Germany Philip Murphy, he casually mentions the possible withdrawal of the weapons from Germany and perhaps from the Netherlands and Belgium as well.
The memo also confirms the presence of US nuclear weapons in Turkey.
Italy is also believed to be a silent custodian of American weapons of mass destruction.
Asked by EUobserver whether the country will now reassess its ambivalent public position on the matter in the wake of the leaks, the Dutch foreign ministry continued to stick by its long-standing stance, saying that there would likely be no comment forthcoming on the issue of US nuclear weapons.
According to estimates found in a 2007 report using a variety of different sources to catalogue deployment of US nuclear weapons in Europe from the Natural Resources Defence Council, an American environmental protection NGO, the continent is home to 480 such weapons.
The report estimated that the Kleine Brogel weapons base in northeastern Belgium near the city of Meeuwen housed 20 nuclear weapons.
The same document reckoned that another 20 are housed at Volkel Air Base near the town of Uden in southeast of the Netherlands. Nuclear weapons are thought to have been stored there since the 1960s and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Some 20 nuclear weapons are believed to be stored in an underground vault at the German Luftwaffe's Buchel Air Base near the Luxembourg border. Last October, the country's foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, came close to admitting their existence when he called "for a country free of nuclear weapons."
However, he would not say where the weapons were located, or if they did indeed exist.
Italy is also thought to host a total of 90 such arms, with 50 at Aviane Air Base near Udine in the north of the country, and 40 at Ghedi Torre Air Base near Brescia on the Adriatic coast
Incirlik Air Base, east of Adana in Turkey on the northern Mediterranean coast, is believed to store 90 such weapons.
Beyond the undeclared European nuclear states, the UK, an admitted member of the nuclear club, is home to 110 US nuclear weapons, at RAF Lakenheath, about 30 kilometres northeast of the university town of Cambridge.
Dutch foreign minister Uri Rosenthal described the leaks in general as "not conducive to communication," but also warned: "We mustn't get spastic over them."
sinister new development in iaea and the un.
IAEA votes against Arab motion calling on Israel to join Non-Proliferation treaty
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/09/2010924132627742782.html
UN watchdog rejects resolution calling on Israel to join Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The US said the resolution risked souring newly restarted peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis [EPA]
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, has rejected an Arab-proposed resolution calling on Israel to join a global anti-atomic arms treaty.
The general assembly of the 151-member IAEA blocked the resolution at its meeting in Vienna on Friday. Fifty-one member states voted against the resolution while 46 voted in favour and 23 abstained.
Israel had warned the UN nuclear watchdog that an Arab-led push to target the Jewish state in a resolution could deal a "fatal blow" to future co-operation on boosting Middle East security.
"Adopting this resolution will be a fatal blow to any hope for future co-operative efforts towards better regional security in the Middle East," Ehud Azoulay, Israel's IAEA envoy said, shortly before the vote.
The delegate made the statement during a tense debate on the draft resolution, which called on Israel to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). ...
The Jewish state is the region's only country outside the NPT.
The United States had urged Arab states to withdraw the non-binding resolution, saying it could derail broader efforts to ban such arms in the Middle East and also send a negative signal to the relaunched Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
"It is...unfortunate that this resolution is being pursued at a time when peace talks in the Middle East are being restarted after a long delay," Glyn Davies, the US ambassador, said. "The divisiveness and confrontation caused by this resolution threatens these talks just as they are being rekindled," he told the assembly.
Israel says it will not consider joining the NPT until there is comprehensive Middle East peace. It would have been forced to renounce nuclear weaponry if it had agreed to sign the pact. ...
Israel and the United States regard Iran as the Middle East's main proliferation threat, accusing it of seeking to develop atomic weapons in secret, a charge rejected by Tehran.
Mossad Agents Can Trade Sex for National Security
From: Iskandar Masih <iskandar38@hotmail.com> Date: 19.10.2010
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/israeli-rabbi-blesses-honeytrap-sex-female-spies/story?id=11834845
By RICHARD ESPOSITO
Oct. 11, 2010
An Israeli rabbi has blessed the use of female spies in "honeytrap" or "honeypot" stings against terrorists, according to a study called "Illicit Sex for the Sake of National Security."
The ruling by Rabbi Ari Schvat, contained in a study published by the Zomet Institute, was first reported by the news agency DPA and published by Haaretz.com.
Israeli officials confirmed the rabbinical ruling and the gist of the study for ABC News.
The Zomet Institute studies the intersection of religion and modernity. It examined whether it was acceptable for female agents of Israel's foreign secret service, Mossad, to have sex with the enemy in so-called "honeypot" or "honeytrap" sting missions.
Israeli intelligence has made repeated use of honeytraps. In 1966, a female Israeli spy convinced an Iraqi pilot to defect to Israel with his MIG. Twenty years later, a female Mossad agent lured Mordechai Vanunu, a nuclear technician who had revealed details of Israel's nuclear program, from England to Italy, where he was abducted and brought back to Israel.
But according to Haaretz.com, Rabbi Schvat wrote that honeypot missions are "not just a thing of modern-day espionage."In fact, honeypot missions are rooted in Biblical lore, according to the report. "Queen Esther, who was Jewish, slept with the Persian king [Ahasuerus] around 500 BC to save her people," Schvat noted. And, the report noted, Yael, wife of Hever, slept with the enemy chief of staff Sisra to tire him and cut off his head.
However there is a catch for married honeypots. "If it is necessary to use a married woman, it would be best [for] her husband to divorce her. ... After the [sex] act, he would be entitled to bring her back," Schvat wrote.
"Naturally, a job of that sort could be given to a woman who in any event is licentious in her ways."
Rules for male Mossad agents were not mentioned in the writings.
***************************************************************************
Mossad in America
Israeli intelligence steps up its activity in the U.S. — and gets away with it.
by Philip Giraldi
Global Research, August 26, 2010
American Conservative
Israeli government claims that it does not spy on the United States are intended for the media and popular consumption. The reality is that Israel’s intelligence agencies target the United States intensively, particularly in pursuit of military and dual-use civilian technology. Among nations considered to be friendly to Washington, Israel leads all others in its active espionage directed against American companies and the Defense Department. It also dominates two commercial sectors that enable it to extend its reach inside America’s domestic infrastructure: airline and telecommunications security. Israel is believed to have the ability to monitor nearly all phone records originating in the United States, while numerous Israeli air-travel security companies are known to act as the local Mossad stations.
As tensions with Iran increase, sources in the counterintelligence community report that Israeli agents have become more aggressive in targeting Muslims living in the United States as well as in operating against critics. There have been a number of cases reported to the FBI about Mossad officers who have approached leaders in Arab-American communities and have falsely represented themselves as “U.S. intelligence.” Because few Muslims would assist an Israeli, this is done to increase the likelihood that the target will cooperate. It’s referred to as a “false flag” operation.
Mossad officers sought to recruit Arab-Americans as sources willing to inform on their associates and neighbors. The approaches, which took place in New York and New Jersey, were reportedly handled clumsily, making the targets of the operation suspicious. These Arab-Americans turned down the requests for cooperation, and some of the contacts were eventually reported to the FBI, which has determined that at least two of the Mossad officers are, ironically, Israeli Arabs operating out of Israel’s mission to the United Nations in New York under cover as consular assistants.
In another bizarre case, U.S.S. Liberty survivor Phil Tourney was recently accosted in Southern California by a foreigner who eventually identified himself as an Israeli government representative. Tourney was taunted, and the Israeli threatened both him and journalist Mark Glenn, who has been reporting on the Liberty story. Tourney was approached in a hotel lounge, and it is not completely clear how the Israeli was able to identify him. But he knew exactly who Tourney was, as the official referred to the Liberty, saying that the people who had been killed on board had gotten what they deserved. There were a number of witnesses to the incident, including Tourney’s wife. The threat has been reported to the FBI, which is investigating, but Tourney and Glenn believe that the incident is not being taken seriously by the bureau.
FBI sources indicate that the increase in Mossad activity is a major problem, particularly when Israelis are posing as U.S. government officials, but they also note that there is little they can do to stop it as the Justice Department refuses to initiate any punitive action or prosecutions of the Mossad officers who have been identified as involved in the illegal activity.
In another ongoing Israeli spy case, Stewart Nozette appears to be headed towards eventual freedom as his case drags on through the District of Columbia courts. Nozette, an aerospace scientist with a top secret clearance and access to highly sensitive information, offered to sell classified material to a man he believed to be a Mossad officer, but who instead turned out to be with the FBI. Nozette has been in jail since October, but he has now been granted an additional 90-day delay so his lawyers can review the documents in the government’s case, many of which are classified. If Nozette demands that sensitive information be used in his defense, his case will likely follow the pattern set in the nine-times-postponed trial of AIPAC spies Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, who were ultimately acquitted in April 2009 when prosecutors determined that they could not make their case without doing significant damage to national security. A month after Rosen and Weissman were freed, Ben-Ami Kadish, who admitted to providing defense secrets to Israel while working as an engineer at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, walked out of a Manhattan court after paying a fine. He did no jail time and continues to receive his substantial Defense Department pension.
The mainstream media reported the Rosen and Weissman trial intermittently, but there was virtually no coverage of Ben-Ami Kadish, and there has been even less of Nozette. Compare that with the recent reporting on the Russian spies who, by all accounts, did almost nothing and never obtained any classified information. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that spying for Israel is consequence free.
Philip Giraldi, a former CIA Officer, is the Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest. His “Deep Background” column appears every month exclusively in The American Conservative.