Iranian nuke warhead design

The IAEA thinks that Iran has tested advanced nuclear warhead designs:

Iran has rejected most of the IAEA material on weaponisation as forgeries, but has admitted carrying out tests on multiple high-explosive detonations synchronised to within a microsecond. Tehran has told the agency that there is a civilian application for such tests, but has so far not provided any evidence for them.
LOL. You gotta love the understated British commentary:

Western weapons experts say there are no such civilian applications…

A politer way of saying “liar, liar, pants on fire.”

POSTED BY Wiggins ON 11.06.09 @ 11:31 am | 5 Comments

PLAN looking for better ways to counter the pirates.

China starts trying to figure out how to manage piracy off Somalia:

The prospect of each country being given responsibility for a certain area of ocean, instead of having navies take part in extensive joint patrols or follow their own ships, is being welcomed by the shipping industry.

A chief captain with China Shipping Group surnamed Zhang said more extensive coverage of the waters off Africa would be especially welcome now, at a time when pirates are starting to venture far beyond the 60th meridian line, which had once seemed to be the limit of the pirates’ range.

The Chinese vessel De Xin Hai was hijacked on Oct 19 east of the Seychelles, far from Chinese navy vessels that were escorting ships. It was carrying 76,000 tons of coal, from South Africa to India.

A small step for China towards being a more responsible member of the international community. Why do they care?
“…because Chinese vessels account for about 40 percent of the vessels crossing the Indian Ocean, China is keen to secure these vital water routes,” Yin said.

POSTED BY Wiggins ON @ 10:30 am | 0 Comments