Rangoon Kaboom

**Subotan** · 06-05-2010, 18:11

Burma wants Nukes, and is getting them.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...uclear-weapons

Kelley and Fowle compare their source, Sai Thein Win, to Mordechai Vanunu, the technician who blew the whistle on Israel's nuclear weapons reactor at Dimona. Referring to hundreds of photographs they say he has smuggled out of Burma, they say: "Photographs could be faked but there are so many and they are so consistent with other information and within themselves that they lead to a high degree of confidence that Burma is pursuing nuclear technology".

Despite their view that Burmese scientists are far from acquiring the technology or building anything dangerous, they say their analysis "leads to only one conclusion; this technology is only for nuclear weapons and not civilian use or nuclear power".

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...060304859.html

Among the images provided by the major are technical drawings of a device known as a bomb-reduction vessel, which is chiefly used in the making of uranium metal for fuel rods and nuclear-weapons components. The defector also released a document purporting to show a Burmese government official ordering production of the device, as well as photos of the finished vessel.

Other photographs show Burmese military officials and civilians posing beside a device known as a vacuum glove box, which also is used in the production of uranium metal. The defector describes ongoing efforts on various phases of a nuclear-weapons program, from uranium mining to work on advanced lasers used in uranium enrichment. Some of the machinery used in the Burmese program appears to have been of Western origin.

The report notes that the Burmese scientists appear to be struggling to master the technology and that some processes, such as laser enrichment, likely far exceed the capabilities of the impoverished, isolated country.

http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.or...00604_5280.php

Burmese scholar Aung Naing Oo speculated that the junta could seek to copy the tactics used by North Korea, which attempts to use its nuclear weapons program to increase its bargaining power with other nations. "It serves a purpose. The military knows that nuclear weapons are a shortcut to getting on the international radar and earning respect geopolitically," Aung said (Martin Petty, Reuters, June 4).
In late May, U.N. officials charged with overseeing sanctions levied against Pyongyang for its nuclear weapons program said it appeared that the North was collaborating with Myanmar as well as Syria and Iran on illegal nuclear and missile operations, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, May 28).
Documents acquired previously indicated that the North was aiding Myanmar in excavation work to build several underground structures and to develop missiles that could travel as far as 1,860 miles.

Yikes. Now we've got a Pyongyang in South East Asia. Hopefully ASEAN will now get their fingers out of their bums and start applying pressure to the Junta. India's reaction will be interesting as well, although we all know what China's reaction will be.