{"id":492,"date":"2004-01-17T18:30:06","date_gmt":"2004-01-17T23:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wordpress\/2004\/01\/centrifuges_to_the_highest_bid\/"},"modified":"2004-01-17T18:30:06","modified_gmt":"2004-01-17T23:30:06","slug":"centrifuges_to_the_highest_bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/2004\/01\/centrifuges_to_the_highest_bid\/","title":{"rendered":"Centrifuges to the Highest Bidder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is disturbing.  According to the <i>Guardian<\/i>, Libya obtained extensive nuclear weapon-making capability <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/libya\/story\/0,14139,1125310,00.html\">through the black market<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Colonel Muammar Gadafy of Libya has been buying complete sets of uranium enrichment centrifuges on the international black market as the central element in his secret nuclear bomb programme, according to United Nations nuclear inspectors.<br \/>\nThe ease with which the complex bomb-making equipment was acquired has stunned experienced international inspectors. The scale and the sophistication of the networks supplying so-called rogue states seeking nuclear weapons are considerably more extensive than previously believed.<br \/>\nThe purchase of full centrifuges, either assembled or in parts, marks a radical departure in what is on offer on the black market, sources said. While it is not yet clear where Col Gadafy obtained the centrifuge systems, at least 1,000 machines, believed to have been made in Malaysia, were seized last October by the Italian authorities on a German ship bound for Libya.<br \/>\n. . .<br \/>\n&#8220;What was found in Libya marks a new stage in proliferation,&#8221; said one knowledgeable source. &#8220;Libya was buying what was available. And what is available, the centrifuges, are close to turnkey facilities. That&#8217;s a new challenge. Libya was buying something that&#8217;s ready to wear.&#8221;<br \/>\n. . .<br \/>\nAnother well-placed source said: &#8220;We all now realise there is this extraordinarily developed and sophisticated market out there enabling anyone to get this centrifuge equipment.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Let me get this straight.  We recently went to war with Iraq because our government claimed it had non-existent nuclear facilities.  This story suggests that a market exists for <i>anyone<\/i>&#8211;not just the famed &#8220;Axis of Evil&#8211;to purchase nuclear capability.  Moreover, it doesn&#8217;t appear our intelligence is doing a good job keeping tabs on the black market.  If Libya could build up an inventory we weren&#8217;t aware of, who&#8217;s to say that other rogue players aren&#8217;t doing so as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/2004\/01\/centrifuges_to_the_highest_bid\/\" rel=\"bookmark\" title=\"Permalink to Centrifuges to the Highest Bidder\"><p>This is disturbing. According to the Guardian, Libya obtained extensive nuclear weapon-making capability through the black market: Colonel Muammar Gadafy of Libya has been buying complete sets of uranium enrichment centrifuges on the international black market as the central element in his secret nuclear bomb programme, according to United Nations nuclear inspectors. The ease with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"h-entry","8":"hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}