Recently in United Nations Category

UN inspectors suspect that a Syrian complex, destroyed in the air raid conducted by Israel in September last year, was actually a nuclear reactor. They base their assumptions on the significantly high traces of uranium that they found at the site.
The International Atomic Energy Agency on the other hand reported that these finding were not enough to conclude that a reactor was there. They stated that further investigations needed to be conducted in the area and that for this greater transparency from the Syrian administration was needed.
Syria has dismissed as fabricated the satellite imagery and other intelligence that establishes the presence of a nuclear reactor in that region. Damascus has stuck to its stance that the site was a disused military building and that the uranium traces almost certainly came with the weapons used to bomb the buildings.
The IAEA has requested the Syrian government to cooperate with the investigation process. The Syrian government has not produced the required documentation to support its claims.

At the G-8 summit in Russia, President Bush and Prseident Putin announced that they would cooperate in the rapid expansion of nuclear energy worldwide. The Bush government feels that the future energy security of the US depends on increasing reliance on nuclear energy and the agreement with Russia was the latest in a long line of initiatives to promote nuclear power.

A technology that brought about the horrific Chernobyl meltdown and the Three Mile island accident and that lay for years in scientific purgatory has been resurrected in today's high oil prices age by a well planned public relations campaign touting it as the energy of choice.
While PM Tony Blair, famed scientist Sir James Lovelock and even some environmentalists have jumped on the nuclear power bandwagon, a sober look at the consequences of re-nuclearizing the world needs to be taken.

The first consideration is the high cost of setting up nuclear power plants. With a minimum price tag of $2 billion each, the plants are 50 percent more expensive than coal-fired power plants up and far more expensive than new gas-fired power plants. The cost of doubling nuclear power's current 20 percent share of US electricity generation could well exceed half a trillion dollars.
With the country facing record consumer and government debt, the idea of nuclear power generation is well nigh unaffordable.

Secondly, the safe transport, disposal or storage of nuclear waste is still an unsolved matter for our scientists. A vault that cost the government $8 billion and 20 years to build is supposed to be an airtight, underground burial tomb dug deep to hold radioactive materials. It's supposed to be leak free for 10,000 years but the Environmental Protection Agency already suspects that the storage facility will leak.

Thirdly, an International Atomic Energy Agency study shows that uranium resources could fail to meet demand as early as 2026. Discovery of new deposits or technological breakthroughs that reduce uranium requirements are possibilities but as of now they are speculative.

Fourthly, nuclear power plants are the ultimate soft target for terrorist attacks. On the one hand, the US is worried that Iran might use enriched uranium from its nuclear power plants for a bomb. On the other hand it is advocating nuclear power all over the world. This would mean uranium and spent nuclear waste in transit everywhere and piling up in makeshift facilities, often close to populated urban areas.

In 2005, the Australian government foiled a terrorist attack on its single nuclear power plant. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission found that more than half of the nuclear power plants in this country failed to prevent a simulated attack on their facilities!

Finally, nuclear power seems old fashioned and obsolete in today's age when distributed technologies are undermining hierarchies, decentralizing power and giving rise to networks and open-source economic models. These technologies are also giving people the chance to become active participants while nuclear power will be controlled by a few.

An aggressive effort to bring the full range of decentralized renewable technologies online: solar, wind, geothermal, hydro and biomass needs to be brought online. Hydrogen storage infrastructure is required to ensure a steady supply for electricity and transportation.

The future lies with the sun and not with uranium.

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A day after Venezuelan President Chavez called President Bush "the devil" in a speech to the UN General Assembly, he visited a Harlem church and pledged to double the amount of discounted heating oil his country ships to poor Americans.
Chavez announced that Citgo, the US-based refining arm of Venezuela's state-run oil company, plans to increase the amount of heating oil it is making available under the relief program from 40 million gallons to 100 million.
He said the oil will reach people in 18 states, including American Indians in Alaska.

Chavez started the heating oil program last winter, accusing Bush of neglecting the poor.
He called Bush "an alcoholic and a sick man" to applause from the crowd which included activists and supporters at the Mount Baptist Olive Church.
Chavez said that the American people are friends of Venezuela and he hoped that they would awaken before long and elect a better president. He called Bush's policies in Iraq criminal.

The South American country receives billions of dollars from the US as its top buyer of Venezuelan oil, which fund many of Chavez's popular social programs.
Chavez repeated warnings that if the US government tries to oust him, Venezuela would halt oil sales to the US.

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Expectations of rising fuel stockpiles and long drawn out negotiations with Iran caused crude oil to trade near a 6 month low of $61.66 a barrel in New York.

A statement by President Bush that he will give European diplomacy a chance to resolve the dispute with Iran and reports that

US fuel stockpiles have extended their gains from the past month caused the biggest oil price fall in 4 months.

Crude oil fell by $2.14 to $61.66 a barrel, the lowest close since March 21 and the biggest one-day decline since May 15. In after-hours electronic trading on the Nymex, crude oil for October delivery went up by 13 cents.

Hedge funds may also be selling futures after seeing others lose money in the energy market and as the pace of the decline in oil has accelerated, analysts and traders said.

Gasoline for October delivery was at $1.5090 a gallon in after-hours trading, after falling 4.8 percent to $1.5038 yesterday, the lowest close since Feb. 22.
October heating oil was at $1.6980 a gallon, after falling 2 percent to $1.6916 yesterday, the lowest close since March 10.

The UN-Iran dispute looks like it will be a long drawn out affair.
The US seems to have moved over to the European position with French President Chirac proposing the suspension of plans for sanctions if Iran also suspends its enrichment during negotiations.
Bush said that the US would "come to the table" once Iran suspended enrichment and that there was "no objection" to Iran pursuing a truly peaceful nuclear program.

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If Iran worries about sanctions at all, it should be concerned over those that the US is drawing up and not those than the UN is still deliberating over.

There have been hints that the US may enforce its current sanction laws against foreign companies dealing with Iran and the Congress may further tighten the noose.

Now that the EU has dropped its insistence that Iran stop the controversial nuclear work before talks, US and Eu are not on the same negotiating page. The permanent members of the UN Security Council are expected to meet to thrash out methods to put pressure on Iran but hopes for a resolution aren't high.
Maybe some coherent sanctions will come out of the contrary opinions, most likely the travel bans on the political elite, but it will be seen as the empty diplomatic gesture it is with hardly any actual effect.

US efforts on the other hand are looking tougher. Henry Paulson, the Treasury Secretary called for help in choking off funds to Iranian companies that the US suspects of trading in weapons or nuclear components.
He said that there are reports suggesting that more than 30 front companies are part of a suspected network and have duped Western banks into helping them.

For ten years the US has enforced the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, which bars non-US oil and gas companies from investing more than $20 million a year in Iran. US companies are banned separately from any dealing with Iran by presidential directive.
With Libya's decision to give up its nuclear program, the Act has been redrafted to excise the part about Libya and will expire on September 29. But a new version, dealing with just Iran is sure to be passed.
There are signs that the US may enforce this version more aggressively, and interpret its provisions more widely than in the past. Under the US’s separate Iran Non-Proliferation Act 2000, there has been much action targeting companies from Russia, North Korea, India and Cuba for allegedly supplying banned equipment.

While some energy companies have been deterred by ILSA from investing in Iran, many have flouted it. But if the US takes a tougher approach, with the Congress producing a much more stringent piece of legislation then these companies will have to be more wary.

A much tougher sanctions package on energy companies investing in Iran, The Iran Freedom Support Act, was passed by the House of Representatives early this year. The White House objected on the grounds that the Bill could harm diplomatic relations.
The Bill languishes so far with the Senate not having passed this version. But the bitter elections could revive it, as well as collapse in diplomatic efforts or the furor created in Iran by the Pope's supposed slur on Islam.

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Iran said that it is ready to consider a temporary freeze in uranium enrichment on the assurance that it would not be attacked by the United States during negotiations with the 6 world powers on enrichment and other nuclear issues.

The progress was welcomed by top US envoys but the UN Security Council is expected to go ahead with sanctions if Tehran does not halt enrichment.
IAEA Chief, El Baradei, said that "the window of oppurtinity is not very long" - an implicit warning that the standoff was on the brink of escalating.

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Key European nations warned that Iran is trying to split up the international community over its contentious nuclear program by stalling and giving unclear responses to the terms set by world powers for negotiations.

A closed meeting was held in Berlin of the 5 UN Security Council nations plus Germany to coordinate strategy over Iran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment.

Javier Solona, the EU's foreign policy chief, is expected to hold nuclear talks with Iranian envoy Ali Larijani on Saturday in a final effort to find common ground for negotiations between Iran and the 6 powers.
Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, said that the Saturday meeting is not likely to resolve the disagreement over the scope and agenda of the broader negotiations.
Britain's UN ambassador said that "unless Solana is able to get Iranian movement on suspension of enrichment quickly, then the prospect of sanctions against Iran will be on the (Security) Council agenda soon.”
He also said that the 6 powers agree on the ultimate goal of denying Iran nuclear weapons and the strategy.

The assessment of Iran's response to incentives from the Western powers was a one and a half page document labeled "In Confidence". It summarized the technical, economic and political rewards offered to Iran and warned of punishments including UN sanctions if Tehran doesn't halt uranium enrichment.
Though Iran's response has been kept confidential, US and its allies have described it as inadequate and a document drawn up by Britain, France and Germany highlights that the Iranian response is along previous lines in that it neither accepts nor rejects outright.

Iran's goal is thought to be to involve the international community in talks about talks while continuing on its enrichment program. Its unyielding stance appears to be powered by the belief that China and Russia, both veto-wielding Security Council members will oppose the sanctions.
Besides Iran's no suspension before negotiation stance, it has also demanded the "termination" of Security Council involvement in its nuclear file.
While Iran continues to insist that its enrichment program is for generation of nuclear power, the Western powers are focused on imposing sanctions following the deadline.

Russia averred that any sanctions must exclude military force giving rise to the opinion that Moscow was contemplating the possibility of sanctions. The US and European diplomats have said that initially they will use low-level punishments such as travel bans and bans on the sale of dual-use technology to get backing from Russia and China.

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Tehran ignored its second deadline for halting uranium enrichment and the foreign ministers of the European Union have agreed to give Tehran 2 more weeks to clarify its stance on the country's nuclear program.
At a meeting in Finland, Philippe Douste-Blazy spelt out the position held by the EU - if Iran suspends enrichment, the Eu will suspend the sanctions process in the UN. Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief will meet up with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator in a week to clarify the Iranian stance on its enrichment program as well as its offer of cooperation on nuclear energy.
On the other hand, Iran's stance has remained defiant with President Ahmadinejad reiterating that Tehran will not abandon its nuclear program since it is for a peaceful purpose.

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Iran responded to the incentive package given by the Western powers on Tuesday and said that it had offered positive signals in its proposal to resolve the standoff over its nuclear program.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said that if the Europeans paid proper attention to the positive and clear signals in Iran's response, then the nuclear standoff can be solved through negotiation and without tension.
But key UN Security Council members differed in their responses.

The US State Department agreed that Iran was sincere in its proposal but it fell short of the conditions set by the UN - the mainone being that Iran halt nuclear enrichment.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said that only if Iran suspends enrichment can negotiation continue.
German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said that the UN demand for suspension of enrichment indicated that Iran has lost the confidence of the international community that its nuclear program is civilian.
On the other hand Russia's Foreign Ministry said that talk of sanctions was premature before the Aug. 31 deadline was met and that they would continue to seek a negotiated solution.

China urged United States and its allies to be patient and Iran towards "constructive measures".

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