Archives of “Politics” category

rss

CNN report 5 Iranian boats tried to seize a British oil tanker in Persian Gulf

  
Analysis, Politics
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

Five armed Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps boats in the Persian Gulf tried to seize a British oil tanker

  • CNN citing two unnamed US officials “with direct knowledge of the incident”
  • tanker was transiting out of the Gulf, was crossing into the Strait of Hormuz area
  • A US aircraft was overhead and recorded video of the incident.
OK, more:
  • The British Heritage, owned by BP Shipping and registered to the Isle of Man, was due to dock in the Iraqi city of Basra at the weekend but made an unexpected U-turn.
Link (this to a UK Telegraph report, not the CNN one)
Five armed Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps boats in the Persian Gulf tried to seize a British oil tanker 

Senior Chinese diplomat warns of ‘disastrous consequences’ if US treats China as ‘enemy’

  
Analysis, Politics

An overnight piece in the South China Morning Post

Remarks reported from China’s Foreign Vice-Minister Le Yucheng related to the US visa restrictions on academics from China
  • the problems faced by the US were not “China’s fault”
  • “There are some reports saying that some Chinese-American scientists in the US, just because they are Chinese scientists, they have been treated unfairly,” he said. “They have been put under scrutiny, harassed, and some of them even lost their jobs.”
Link is here
—
This is hardly new or surprising news. Plenty of US-China tensions still simmering.
An overnight piece in the South China Morning Post  

Iran has enriched uranium beyond security limit set by nuclear deal

  
Analysis, Politics
#  #  #  #  #  #

UN nuclear watchdog reports

The UN nuclear watchdog is out say that he ran has enriched uranium beyond purity limit set by nuclear deal.
Earlier, VP Pence in a speech did a little sabre rattling saying :
  • Iran should not confuse American restraint with the lack of American resolve
  • US does not seek a war with Iran and is willing to talk but America will not back down
  • US hopes for the best but US military is prepared to protect US interests, personnel in region

Tensions are getting a little higher as Iran presses US.

US President Trump says Iran had better be careful (re nuclear enrichment)

  
Analysis, Politics

Comments from the US President, speaking to media

  • Says Iran better be careful
(this in response to news Iran is increasing its levels of nuclear material enrichment)
  • Also says he has not seen the remarks from UK Ambassador to the US
  • That the ambassador has not served the UK well
(this in response to the  Sir Kim Darroch, UK ambassador to Washington, saying Trump’s  administration is “inept” and “incompetent”)
—
Welcome to the new week …. nothing has changed 😀
Comments from the US President, speaking to media

Iran to boost uranium enrichment to over 3.67% on Sunday – FARS

  
Analysis, Politics
#  #  #  #  #  #

Report from the Iranian news agency

There is always talk about Iran and nuclear weapons and the market doesn’t usually react. Why? Because it’s all scare tactics.
Uranium needs to enriched to around 90%.
From Wikipedia:
“Uranium as it is taken directly from the Earth is not suitable as fuel for most nuclear reactors and requires additional processes to make it usable. Uranium is mined either underground or in an open pit depending on the depth at which it is found. After the uranium ore is mined, it must go through a milling process to extract the uranium from the ore. This is accomplished by a combination of chemical processes with the end product being concentrated uranium oxide, which is known as “yellowcake”, contains roughly 60% uranium whereas the ore typically contains less than 1% uranium and as little as 0.1% uranium. After the milling process is complete, the uranium must next undergo a process of conversion, “to either uranium dioxide, which can be used as the fuel for those types of reactors that do not require enriched uranium, or into uranium hexafluoride, which can be enriched to produce fuel for the majority of types of reactors”[3]. Naturally-occurring uranium is made of a mixture of U-235 and U-238. The U-235 is fissile meaning it is easily split with neutrons while the remainder is U-238, but in nature, more than 99% of the extracted ore is U-238. Most nuclear reactors require enriched uranium, which is uranium with higher concentrations of U-235 ranging between 3.5% and 4.5%.”

Russia says submersible that caught fire was nuclear powered

  
Analysis, Politics
#  #  #

Russia has admitted a submersible involved in the country’s worst naval accident in more than a decade was nuclear powered, nearly three days after it caught fire during a top secret mission off the northern coast.

Defence minister Sergei Shoigu told president Vladimir Putin that the submersible’s nuclear reactor was “completely isolated and unmanned” and in full working condition, according to a transcript published on the Kremlin’s website on Thursday.

Mr Shoigu said the fire began in the submersible’s battery compartment, which then spread, killing 14 sailors from smoke inhalation and injuring an unspecified number of others. The sailors evacuated some of the people on board, then isolated the fire at the cost of their own lives, Mr Shoigu said.

The Kremlin has said it will not name the ship or clarify its mission. Russian media have reported that the fire broke out on an AS-31 submarine complex known as the Losharik, which normally travels under a larger submarine to avoid detection and can itself release another, smaller submersible.

One of the Russian navy’s most secret vessels, the Losharik is built to dive much deeper than an ordinary submarine and can survey the ocean floor.

The accident was Russia’s most fatal submarine tragedy since a fire killed 20 and injured 21 during sea trials of a nuclear-powered submarine in the Sea of Japan in 2008.

Go to top