mikewot

More than a little concerning!


Saudi Arabia has invested in Pakistani nuclear weapons projects, and believes it could obtain atomic bombs at will, a variety of sources have told BBC Newsnight.

While the kingdom's quest has often been set in the context of countering Iran's atomic programme, it is now possible that the Saudis might be able to deploy such devices more quickly than the Islamic republic.

Earlier this year, a senior Nato decision maker told me that he had seen intelligence reporting that nuclear weapons made in Pakistan on behalf of Saudi Arabia are now sitting ready for delivery.

Last month Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israeli military intelligence, told a conference in Sweden that if Iran got the bomb, "the Saudis will not wait one month. They already paid for the bomb, they will go to Pakistan and bring what they need to bring."

Since 2009, when King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia warned visiting US special envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross that if Iran crossed the threshold, "we will get nuclear weapons", the kingdom has sent the Americans numerous signals of its intentions.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24823846

shiva

Oh shit

Millhouse

I saw this story - One site is pointed at Israel and the other at Iran.

Probably good - bring some balance to the region.

Boomhauer

Saudis with nukes take a really S^&tty situation and turns it up several notches. A nation with a totalitarian imperialist ideology such as Saudi should never be allowed to have nukes. I'd much rather have Iran with nukes than Saudi.

weasel decentral

Knowing KSA installation and maintenance 'standards', plus the idea of nukes built by Pakistanis using Chinese rockets, I wouldn't like to be anywhere close to Riyadh the day they try to launch one.

Millhouse

Cairo would be at risk

weasel decentral

Nuclear bomb hits Cairo- Billions of dollars of improvements caused.

I'd imagine the first firing to being something similar to the North Korean space program first rocket launch.

Millhouse

Exactly, if the big-bomb leads to the improvements that were seen in Hiroshima then most of the region could do with a blast.

scrubbedexpat141

This is as laughable as Indians putting something on Mars.

Boomhauer

India's MARS mission should be seen as a colossal black eye on India's elite because they rather spend 75million on a vanity/ego trip than use the money to provide clean water , medical serivices and countless other basic needs to poor Indians. $75 million would go a long way towards helping atleast a few villages .

What the hell was the point of this MARS mission, from a scientific perspective?

weasel decentral

Satellite applications, used to monitor the country especially in disaster situations such as floods.
No country can limit spending based on an idea that while one person is poor or homeless etc the money should go to them ahead of any other considerations.

Millhouse

While I agree with the principle, when it's a net donor recipient I'm not sure that argument applies.

(I'm also pretty sure they are not monitoring flood situations from Mars)

nottmbantam

Exactly my thoughts. Time to exit Riyadh, and probably the ME.

weasel decentral

It's not such a leap that the technology used to launch for Mars can be used to launch satellites now is it?

Not sure about the donations they receive but surely (not speaking about this rocket specifically) the most efficient solution to a problem is always the general one.
For example they could provide malaria tablets for free or research an inoculation or vaccine.

scrubbedexpat141

**** knows. Arrogance? To join the international pissing contest that is blasting money into space?

If this were true and one of many socially positive applications to save lives / create a better response to emergencies etc then it's potentially money reasonably spent...although I think it's going to be more useful in other manners.

Still, at the end of the day, Saudi's have nukes and when one country starts chucking them about, we'll all be done for.

Makes comparing apartment prices and demanding the extra 1,500 AED a month look kinda trivial eh.