From Homeland Security NewsWire;
UN body approves measure advancing Iran's nuke program
Published 17 June 2011
The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), over a strenuous U.S. opposition, approved a measure committing the UN to supporting what the Iranians call a "disaster information management center"; the United States managed to defeat the Iranian proposal for the center several times in the past, but this time Iran, exploiting concerns about climate change, repackaged its proposal and tied it to a broader UN effort to help Asian countries prepare for climate change-induced natural disasters; the technologies with which the center will be provided -- technologies which are otherwise unavailable to Iran because of the UN sanctions imposed on the country -- will give Iran much-improved satellite-imagery and missile-control capabilities; these technologies will dramatically bolster Iran's target selection, target-destruction, and bomb-damage-assessment capabilities; as is the case with any other new nuclear weapon state, Iran will initially have very few nuclear bombs in its arsenal; the technologies approved by ESCAP for delivery to Iran will allow the ayatollahs to make a much more efficient -- and effective -- use of their small arsenal -- and make their threats to use this arsenal more credible
A little-known but influential UN body has given Iran a major diplomatic victory the other day. This victory will not only undermine the economic, technological, and diplomatic sanctions the UN has imposed on Iran in order to pressure it to give up its nuclear weapons program – it will actually help Iran nuclear weapons program by materially strengthening its satellite-imagery and missile-control capabilities.
Fox News, which broke the story, reports that on 25 May, without a vote, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), which describes itself as the “regional development arm of the United Nations for the Asia-Pacific region,” approved Iran’s plan to build what Iran calls a “disaster information management center.” Officially, the center is supposed to help the Iranian government prepare for and cope with natural disaster such as earthquakes and rock slides. As is the case with many other things in Iran, the capabilities the center will acquire will also help Iran better to coordinate missile attacks on its neighbors, including Israel, and countries in Europe.
ESCAP, aware that the decision to support Iran’s plans would be controversial, did not mention its decision in the press release which followed the 25 May meeting.
Elliott Abrams, a former deputy national security advisor in the George W. Bush administration and currently a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. told Fox News:
This is a very clever move by Iran. It’s outrageous that a country that has been denounced repeatedly by the U.N. Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency should be rewarded in this fashion…. We are trying to make them into a pariah state, and this sends the opposite message… It will require lots of visits to Iran by other governments. And there are always concerns that some aspect of this will help their military or intelligence agencies.
John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the UN, told Fox News that the decision was “unbelievable”:
This puts Iran in a very high profile. What technology Iran will get as a result I don’t know, but it would give their people more experience with satellite imagery. It’s like being involved with peaceful nuclear power: just having your people involved gives you more experience that can be turned to non-peaceful uses.
The Iranian argued that their country has relatively low capability in sending and receiving satellite observation data, especially in disaster recovery situations, and that this
justified asking the UN to support the institution, in order to fill “gaps” in regional coverage.
The approval of Iran’s plans is a major defeat for the United States, which has successfully fought such approval on numerous occasions in the past. The Iranians, however, out-maneuvered the United States this time by presenting the center as part of a broader effort by the UN and its various agencies better to prepare for natural disasters in Asia. This repackaging of the proposal by the Iranian persuaded enough states to change their position and support a proposal they opposed in the past.
The U.S. delegation, at the last minute, chose not to oppose the motion but rather to “disassociate” itself from it. The State Department explained that ESCAP has a long tradition of making decision by consensus rather than a vote, and the U.S. delegation felt there would be benefits to the United States from continuing this tradition.
In fact, a State Department spokesperson said that a close reading of the motion show that the U.S. position had not been completely defeated. Fox News quotes the spokesperson to say that the Iranian proposal “did not clearly articulate a vision for the center, define existing gaps the center would fill, identify the geographic focus of the center, explain how the center would work with existing bodies to avoid overlap and duplication of effort, or set out the human and technological resources needed to operate the center to fulfill its mission.”
With the UN fully committed to address what it sees as the adverse effects of climate change in Asia, the United States was reluctant publicly to point out that the same technologies with which the center will be provided can also be used for target selection for nuclear missiles and for missile guidance. Instead, at least publicly, the United States said the U.S. opposition was based on “legitimate management concerns.
The spokesman agreed, though, that there were “other concerns” about the center, then added, “a lot of those, we can’t get into.”
When Fox News asked the spokesperson about such issues as technology that might also be useful in Iran’s missile programs, or the possibility that the center could be used as a “cover” for other ballistic missile work that has been banned by the UN Security Council, the spokesman said, “Those are all legitimate questions. But we can’t talk about them.”
There is also a sharp disagreement between the United States and Iran about the time table for the center’s establishment. The United States, while admitting that the approved proposal would allow Iran to initiate the process which would lead to the establishment of the center, points out that the measure calls for a 2013 evaluation by ESCAP of whether or not there is a need for the center. The United States says this means the center cannot be built until after the evaluation.
Iran does not agree. The Iranians submitted a 28-page detailed timetable to ESCAP, showing that they intend for all the preliminary technical, administrative, and regulatory work to be out of the way by February 2012 – and for construction, equipping, hiring staff, and everything else to be out of the way in time for the opening of the center in November, 2012. They argue that the 2013 ESCAP evaluation should take place after the center is already in operation.
UN body approves measure advancing Iran's nuke program
Published 17 June 2011
The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), over a strenuous U.S. opposition, approved a measure committing the UN to supporting what the Iranians call a "disaster information management center"; the United States managed to defeat the Iranian proposal for the center several times in the past, but this time Iran, exploiting concerns about climate change, repackaged its proposal and tied it to a broader UN effort to help Asian countries prepare for climate change-induced natural disasters; the technologies with which the center will be provided -- technologies which are otherwise unavailable to Iran because of the UN sanctions imposed on the country -- will give Iran much-improved satellite-imagery and missile-control capabilities; these technologies will dramatically bolster Iran's target selection, target-destruction, and bomb-damage-assessment capabilities; as is the case with any other new nuclear weapon state, Iran will initially have very few nuclear bombs in its arsenal; the technologies approved by ESCAP for delivery to Iran will allow the ayatollahs to make a much more efficient -- and effective -- use of their small arsenal -- and make their threats to use this arsenal more credible
A little-known but influential UN body has given Iran a major diplomatic victory the other day. This victory will not only undermine the economic, technological, and diplomatic sanctions the UN has imposed on Iran in order to pressure it to give up its nuclear weapons program – it will actually help Iran nuclear weapons program by materially strengthening its satellite-imagery and missile-control capabilities.
Fox News, which broke the story, reports that on 25 May, without a vote, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), which describes itself as the “regional development arm of the United Nations for the Asia-Pacific region,” approved Iran’s plan to build what Iran calls a “disaster information management center.” Officially, the center is supposed to help the Iranian government prepare for and cope with natural disaster such as earthquakes and rock slides. As is the case with many other things in Iran, the capabilities the center will acquire will also help Iran better to coordinate missile attacks on its neighbors, including Israel, and countries in Europe.
ESCAP, aware that the decision to support Iran’s plans would be controversial, did not mention its decision in the press release which followed the 25 May meeting.
Elliott Abrams, a former deputy national security advisor in the George W. Bush administration and currently a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. told Fox News:
This is a very clever move by Iran. It’s outrageous that a country that has been denounced repeatedly by the U.N. Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency should be rewarded in this fashion…. We are trying to make them into a pariah state, and this sends the opposite message… It will require lots of visits to Iran by other governments. And there are always concerns that some aspect of this will help their military or intelligence agencies.
John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the UN, told Fox News that the decision was “unbelievable”:
This puts Iran in a very high profile. What technology Iran will get as a result I don’t know, but it would give their people more experience with satellite imagery. It’s like being involved with peaceful nuclear power: just having your people involved gives you more experience that can be turned to non-peaceful uses.
The Iranian argued that their country has relatively low capability in sending and receiving satellite observation data, especially in disaster recovery situations, and that this
justified asking the UN to support the institution, in order to fill “gaps” in regional coverage.
The approval of Iran’s plans is a major defeat for the United States, which has successfully fought such approval on numerous occasions in the past. The Iranians, however, out-maneuvered the United States this time by presenting the center as part of a broader effort by the UN and its various agencies better to prepare for natural disasters in Asia. This repackaging of the proposal by the Iranian persuaded enough states to change their position and support a proposal they opposed in the past.
The U.S. delegation, at the last minute, chose not to oppose the motion but rather to “disassociate” itself from it. The State Department explained that ESCAP has a long tradition of making decision by consensus rather than a vote, and the U.S. delegation felt there would be benefits to the United States from continuing this tradition.
In fact, a State Department spokesperson said that a close reading of the motion show that the U.S. position had not been completely defeated. Fox News quotes the spokesperson to say that the Iranian proposal “did not clearly articulate a vision for the center, define existing gaps the center would fill, identify the geographic focus of the center, explain how the center would work with existing bodies to avoid overlap and duplication of effort, or set out the human and technological resources needed to operate the center to fulfill its mission.”
With the UN fully committed to address what it sees as the adverse effects of climate change in Asia, the United States was reluctant publicly to point out that the same technologies with which the center will be provided can also be used for target selection for nuclear missiles and for missile guidance. Instead, at least publicly, the United States said the U.S. opposition was based on “legitimate management concerns.
The spokesman agreed, though, that there were “other concerns” about the center, then added, “a lot of those, we can’t get into.”
When Fox News asked the spokesperson about such issues as technology that might also be useful in Iran’s missile programs, or the possibility that the center could be used as a “cover” for other ballistic missile work that has been banned by the UN Security Council, the spokesman said, “Those are all legitimate questions. But we can’t talk about them.”
There is also a sharp disagreement between the United States and Iran about the time table for the center’s establishment. The United States, while admitting that the approved proposal would allow Iran to initiate the process which would lead to the establishment of the center, points out that the measure calls for a 2013 evaluation by ESCAP of whether or not there is a need for the center. The United States says this means the center cannot be built until after the evaluation.
Iran does not agree. The Iranians submitted a 28-page detailed timetable to ESCAP, showing that they intend for all the preliminary technical, administrative, and regulatory work to be out of the way by February 2012 – and for construction, equipping, hiring staff, and everything else to be out of the way in time for the opening of the center in November, 2012. They argue that the 2013 ESCAP evaluation should take place after the center is already in operation.
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