The Nuclear Axis of Evil Advances

by Ryan Mauro

The United Kingdom is accusing Iran of testing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. Resolution 1929. At the same time, North Korea is moving full speed ahead with its weapons programs. It is well-known that the two collaborate on their WMD efforts, and it must be assumed that any progress will be shared. Recent advances by the two members of the Axis of Evil show that the West’s strategy against them is failing to stop their pursuit of the world’s deadliest weapons.

Iran launched its second satellite into orbit this month, which “demonstrated Iranian engineers’ growing skill and contrasted with the repeated failures endured by North Korea in trying to place payloads into orbit.” The New York Times said the rocket did not resemble an intercontinental ballistic missile, but the technology is still related enough to raise concern that the space program has a hidden purpose. Iran has also announced that it is installing new, more advanced centrifuges to triple its production of enriched uranium.

The Iranians have made “dramatic progress” in their ballistic missile programs in the past year, carrying out three tests of nuclear-capable missiles in defiance of the United Nations. The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that it possesses evidence that Iran has worked on developing a miniaturized nuclear warhead. It has also tested advanced short-range missiles that have been called a “game-changer” because of the threat they pose to aircraft carriers. Reza Kahlili, a former member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, reports that two nuclear-capable warheads with a range of 2,000 miles are now in the hands of the Revolutionary Guards. He said eight more are to be delivered within the next nine months.

Kahlili’s report does not necessarily mean that Iran has manufactured the actual nuclear warhead. However, the South Korean defense minister says North Korea may have successfully made a miniaturized nuclear warhead. The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency likewise says that North Korea may have several plutonium-based warheads. To make matters worse, Larry Niksch of the Center for Strategic and International Studies says that North Korea could have ICBMs capable of reaching the U.S. in 2012. If North Korea has overcome the obstacles to warhead creation, then that means it is in a position to help Iran do the same for a price.

Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, president of EMPact America, says that Western analysts erred in describing North Korea’s last nuclear test in May 2009 as a failure. He says that the U.S. expected North Korea to detonate an implosion device with the power of 10 to 20 kilotons. The explosion was only three kilotons strong, giving the impression that the device was defective. In reality, Dr. Pry says, North Korea was likely testing a “super-EMP” weapon, referring to an Electro-Magnetic Pulse that destroys electronic components for potentially hundreds of miles.

Pry says that when he served on the congressional EMP Commission, which concluded that such an attack could collapse the infrastructure of the U.S., he was told that a group of Russian scientists had gone to North Korea to work on a “super-EMP” weapon. Notably, the Iranian regime has conducted exercises consistent with an EMP attack. If Pry’s analysis is right, then the Iranians and North Koreans could be sharing the technology necessary to carry out an attack more horrific than a traditional nuclear explosion.

The Iranians and North Koreans cannot be expected to keep their technologies to themselves. Ayatollah Khamenei spoke of sharing nuclear technology with Islamic countries during a stop in Khartoum, Sudan in 2006. More recently, the speaker of the Iranian parliament said that Iran would use its missiles to protect Muslim allies. “Israel and the U.S. should know that if they want to act violently towards Muslims, we will stand in their way,” Ali Larijani said.

The IAEA believes that a site in Syria bombed by Israel in 2007 was a secret nuclear reactor, believed to have been built by the North Koreans. A high-level defector says the construction was financed by Iran. In May 2004, a train in North Korea delivering missiles to Syria crashed, killing about a dozen Syrians. In July 2007, an accidental explosion happened in Syria that reportedly killed dozens of Syrians and Iranians. It is believed that technicians were trying to mount a warhead filled with mustard gas onto a missile. In August 2009, three short-range Scud missiles developed with help from Iran and North Korea were tested in Syria, with one falling into Turkey. It is certain that Syria will benefit from Iran and North Korea’s latest advances.

The U.S. recently intercepted a shipment of North Korean missile components to Burma, where North Korea is intimately involved in the junta’s secret nuclear weapons program. The Iranians are now very active in Venezuela, adding another partner to their nuclear schemes.

An advance by North Korea must also be considered an advance by Iran, and vice versa. In order to stop one, the West must stop the other. And the West is failing.

Ryan Mauro

Source: http://frontpagemag.com/2011/07/05/the-nuclear-axis-of-evil-advances/

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