Pakistan Prime Minister Fears Ouster
By Agence France-Presse
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Pakistans Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday said conspirators were plotting to bring down his government, giving his most public indication yet that he fears being ousted from power.
He spoke as the Supreme Court met again to decide whether to order a formal inquiry into a secret memo, allegedly written with approval from the president, on seeking American help in curbing the powerful military.
Rampant speculation that President Asif Ali Zardari could be forced to step down over illness and the scandal has refused to die, despite his return this week from treatment in a Dubai hospital.
I want to make it clear today that conspiracies are being hatched here to pack up the elected government, Gilani told a gathering at the National Arts Gallery, without naming any names.
MORE...
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/22/pakistan-prime-minister-fears-ouster/
Laelth
(32,017 posts)Pakistan has nukes (because we gave them to the Pakistanis). We should pay close attention to civil unrest there.
-Laelth
cstanleytech
(26,893 posts)Laelth
(32,017 posts)Pakistan's first nuclear reactor was built through Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" program: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atoms_for_Peace
All quotes that follow are from Wiki, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan%27s_nuclear_weapons
It's also true that we built a research reactor for them in 1965. "The PARR-I reactor was, under the agreement signed by PAEC and ANL, provided by the United States Government in 1965, and scientists from PAEC and ANL had led the construction."
Otherwise, China probably helped them the most to acquire the bomb. "Historically, China is alleged to have played a major role in the establishment of Pakistan's nuclear weapons development infrastructure, especially, when increasingly stringent export controls in the western countries made it difficult for Pakistan to acquire nuclear materials and technology from elsewhere. Additionally, Pakistani officials have supposedly been present to observe at least one Chinese nuclear test. In a recent revelation by a high-ranking former U.S. official, it was disclosed that China had allegedly transferred nuclear technology to Pakistan and conducting Proxy Test for it in 1980.[62] According to a 2001 Department of Defense report, China has supplied Pakistan with nuclear materials and has provided critical technical assistance in the construction of Pakistan's nuclear weapons development facilities, in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which China is a signatory."
But my principal point was that we need to pay attention to them. We're certainly helping to guard them. "From the end of 2001 the United States has provided material assistance to aid Pakistan in guarding its nuclear material, warheads and laboratories. The cost of the program has been almost $100 million. Specifically the USA has provided helicopters, night-vision goggles and nuclear detection equipment."
And there's a good reason for that. "A study by Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University titled 'Securing the Bomb 2010', found that Pakistan's stockpile "faces a greater threat from Islamic extremists seeking nuclear weapons than any other nuclear stockpile on earth".
-Laelth
cstanleytech
(26,893 posts)themselves but that aside I agree we do need to keep an eye on them just like we should on other nations who have them and or are trying to develop them and we need to keep those kinds of weapons out of the hands of nuts like bin ladens people because they probably would use them without hesitation if they could get ahold of them.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)EVDebs
(11,578 posts)The Obama Adminstration is Helping to Upgrade Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons
How the U.S. Has Secretly Backed Pakistans Nuclear Program From Day One
http://www.counterpunch.org/2009/06/24/how-the-u-s-has-secretly-backed-pakistan-s-nuclear-program-from-day-one/
and hopefully we have the ability to defuse them.
cstanleytech
(26,893 posts)I checked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction#Security_concerns_of_the_United_States
but all that I really can see there is that we provided them some aid in beefing up their security and nothing about upgrading the weapons themselves, very odd that wiki would not reflect a weapons upgrade.