The recent war games in the Gulf with France, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are connected to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's nuclear diplomacy. Sarkozy has been leveraging France's leading civilian nuclear technology to gain diplomatic, commercial and military advantages with countries in the Middle East, as well parts of Africa and Asia.
Proliferation
France's nuclear diplomacy
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
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France and the Middle East: Nicolas Sarkozy's Nuclear Option
Tuesday, February 19, 2008Judah Grunstein | 13 Feb 2008
PARIS -- When Nicolas Sarkozy took office last May, everyone expected him to be an active president. Known for his relentless pace and tireless work ethic, Sarkozy had promised to reinvigorate France's foreign policy, which had suffered from an accumulation of failure and fatigue under his predecessor, Jacques Chirac. To that end, Sarkozy has not disappointed. In a little over eight months as president, he has visited 25 countries on four continents, strengthening historic bonds (America), nurturing new ones (China, India), and above all raising France's profile around the world.
Nuclear security undervalued
Friday, February 15, 2008Nature 451, 745 (14 February) The world's only agency for assuring global standards and security in nuclear installations needs an upgrade. This cannot be done on the cheap.
Russia foils atomic smugglers
Friday, January 4, 2008By Will Stewart in Moscow
Last Updated: 2:24am GMT 04/01/2008
Russia has admitted that customs officials thwarted more than 120 attempts to smuggle "highly radioactive" material out of the country last year.
The disclosure is likely to fuel concern about how many illegal exports were not halted. It will also lead to new fears that Moscow has failed to stop material becoming available on the black market that could be used by terrorists to make radioactive "dirty" bombs.
Dutch university bans Iranian students
Thursday, January 3, 2008By Ruben Temming*
03-01-2008
Iranian students are not welcome at the Technical University Twente in the town of Enschede. At the request of the Education Ministry and the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the university has agreed not to admit any Iranian students. The government fears that Iranian students and workers would steal sensitive nuclear information to help their government develop nuclear weapons. The university's decision is the direct result of a 2006 UN resolution calling on member states to prevent Iran from gaining access to nuclear knowledge.
Gadaffi’s visit to France sparks protests
Tuesday, December 11, 2007By Ben Hall in Paris
Muammer Gadaffi, the Libyan leader, on Monday began a five-day visit to Paris to buy arms, nuclear power and civil airliners, triggering a storm of criticism from campaigners and an outburst from a government minister who said France should not accept his “kiss of death”.
Colonel Gadaffi was last night expected to sign a clutch of contracts valued at about €10bn ($14.7bn, £7bn) with French companies at the Elysée palace following talks with Nicolas Sarkozy. The Libyan leader is looking to buy 26 Airbus aircraft, a nuclear power station, French Rafale fighters and missiles, spare parts for his fleet of Mirage fighters and military helicopters.
An expanding EU confronts nuclear proliferation
Friday, December 7, 2007The capture of nuclear materials in Slovakia last week raises security questions about borderless travel.
By Michael J. Jordan | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor, Bratislava, Slovakia
The {{post id="uranium-could-have-made-dirty-bomb" text="capture of over a pound of powderized uranium" target="_self"}} in Slovakia last week has served as a sharp reminder to Europe, though nuclear experts have cast doubt on the assertion by local law-enforcement officials that terrorists could have used it for a "dirty bomb."
Uranium Could Have Made Dirty Bomb
Friday, December 7, 2007BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Two Hungarians and a Ukrainian arrested in an attempted sale of uranium were peddling material believed to be from the former Soviet Union, and it was enriched enough to be used in a radiological "dirty bomb," police said Thursday.
The three, who were arrested Wednesday in eastern Slovakia and Hungary, were trying to sell about a pound of uranium in powder form, said First Police Vice President Michal Kopcik.
Iranians study nuclear physics in Britain
Wednesday, November 7, 2007Jack Grimston, The Times - THE Foreign Office has cleared dozens of Iranians to enter British universities to study advanced nuclear physics and other subjects with the potential to be applied to weapons of mass destruction. In the past nine months about 60 Iranians have been admitted to study postgraduate courses deemed “proliferation-sensitive” by the security services. The disciplines range from nuclear physics to some areas of electrical and chemical engineering and microbiology.
Neutral Sweden Quietly Keeps Nuclear Option Open
Thursday, November 24, 1994In the Stockholm suburb of Agesta, a small rock hillock rises amid pine forests and horse farms. It might be just another playground for Scandinavian climbers but for one startling feature: Protruding from the top of the mound, like a missile peeking from a silo, is the conical tip of a nuclear reactor cooling tower.
Thirty years ago, this 65-megawatt reactor buried 50 yards deep and capable of sizable plutonium production was a key component of a vigorous Swedish program to develop a nuclear bomb option, a project that at its Cold War height secretly employed 350 scientists and technicians at the Defense Ministry.
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