President Obama complimented Ukraine on the complete removal of highly enriched uranium from its territory. At the recent Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea, Obama stated that Ukraine’s full removal of the highly enriched uranium indicated the country’s “continuing courageous leadership on nuclear security”, according to the White House Press Secretary.

The two leaders agreed that Ukraine made an important contribution for securing all vulnerable nuclear materials. On March 27 the United States announced the removal of remaining 128 kilograms (over 280 pounds) of highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Ukraine. The shipments were completed as part of a joint effort of the two countries.

At the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit the Presidents Obama and Yanukovych made commitments to remove all of HEU from Ukraine by the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit. Suffice it to say that back in 2010 both Chile and Mexico decided to follow Ukraine’s initiative to get rid of its stock of enriched nuclear materials.

In order to implement the Joint Statement by Presidents Obama and Yanukovych of April 2010 a total of six secure operations had to be conducted. The operations were made possible through cooperation between the U.S., Ukraine, Russia and the IAEA. The joint efforts resulted in the successful removal of a total of 234 kilograms over a two-year period.

Originally, there were three sites in Ukraine bearing different quantities and types of HEU. The first batch (56 kilograms of spent HEU fuel) was shipped from the Kyiv Institute of Nuclear Research in May 2010, according to the fact sheet released by the White House Press Secretary.

This was followed by three shipments in late December 2010: 16 kilograms of fresh HEU from the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, 25 kilograms of fresh HEU from Sevastopol University, and 10 kilograms of fresh HEU from the Kyiv Institute of Nuclear Research. The HEU was transported to Russia, the country of its origin, where it will be converted into low enriched uranium, which cannot be used to make a nuclear weapon.

In December 1994 Ukraine joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and proclaimed its non-nuclear status. Ukraine reaffirmed its non-nuclear status in its Constitution and the declaration “On the State Sovereignty of Ukraine”.

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Israeli president Shimon Peres recently claimed an attack on Iran is closer than ever, and poses the ”biggest threat” to the world right now. A leak alleges Israeli PM Netanyahu will be carrying out an airstrike upon Iranian nuclear facilities’ suspected of developing weapons of war. Netanyahu’s advisors have not denied these allegations, and members of his administration have undergone polygraphs to help determine the source of the leak.

This would not be the first Israeli preemptive strike of this sort. The bombing of Osirak, Iraq in 1981, (condemned by Reagan) and North-Korean influenced Syrian reactors in 2007 (Operation Orchard) were made against countries accused of developing nuclear arms, and without American approval per the memoirs of George W. Bush.

As further forewarning of imminent conflict, Israel has test-launched their Jericho 3 missiles west over the Mediterranean during training exercises. The weapon has been unseen since the only known test in 2008, and capable of traveling 4,000-10,000km with the ability to carry nuclear warheads. Joint exercises with the Italian air force at the Sardinian NATO base and evacuation practices in Tel Aviv may give further credence to a strike, or a simple flaunting of Israeli military might to rogue Iran.

Israel, the US, and the UK allege Iran of satellite images harboring steel containers related to nuclear arms, and computer models simulating nuclear weaponry. The UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have inspected Iran’s radioactive material in the past, accusing Iran of enriching uranium in centrifuges. IAEA is expected to provide a report November 8 detailing what programs are being studied.

In Iranian defense, President Ahmadinejad claims its nuclear engineering is only intended for peaceful practice to better the lives of citizens, alleging the West of disabling their nuclear reactors with a computer virus and assassinations of their scientists. He blames Washington for creating conspiracies to discredit Iran and cause strife with the Saudis complicit with the West.

“The U.S. fears Iran’s capability,” he told Egyptian daily al-Akhbar, “Iran will not permit (anyone from making) a move against it.” He further makes the allegation that Israel owns over 300 nuclear weapons and admits imposed US financial sanctions have affected the Iranian banking sector.

It is unclear what reaction the US would take on an Israeli attack. An American strike on Iran was planned in 2004; the House passed resolution 398, “to use all appropriate means to deter, dissuade, and prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.” The plan fell apart in the Senate, and nearly created a campaign simultaneous of Bush’s invasion of Iraq.

Zbiegnew Brezinski claims an Israeli airstrike would lead the US into the war regardless, as they would be an accessory in allowing Israel to fly over restricted airspace above Iraq, and controlled by US air force.

“This would ignite war in Iraq, make Afghanistan even more impossible, and quadruple oil prices. Europe would become even more dependent on Russia for energy, and even conflict with Russia and China, who deals with Iran over oil,” said the former advisor to Jimmy Carter.

Eldad Pardo of the Hebrew University claims Europe, the USA, the Arab world and China would all respond to nuclear threat. Meanwhile, the French foreign minister thinks an attack would destabilize the region.

Israel has been accused by the UN of producing illegal white phosphorous, and failing to declare chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Israel is not recognized as a Nuclear Weapons State by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, although is known to own them. The 16 clerics presiding over Ahmadinejad claim Israel does not have the right to exist on a political map.

This may be the most dangerous conflict in the world right now.

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In Sardinia,an Italian island in the Mediterranean sea,there is a drilling experimental firing range called “Salto di Quirra”, located in Perdasdefogu, a small village. Since the 1st of July 1956, along a natural area of 120 square kilometers in the south-east coast of the island, various types of rockets and missiles are tested under the authority of the Italian Air Force.

This is the only firing range of Italy used for space activities, arms and means testing and military drilling for wars around the world.

It’s a small place in a small island but it hides a big and important truth. Many lambs and other animals which were born in this land have six legs or no eyes, a high rate of fetal malformations and of tumors and leukemia affect the population that lives in the villages around the firing range.

The medical research of the last ten years shows that the number of people affected by tumor disease is constantly increasing in this area, and researchers are analyzing the possible causes and the links between these cases and the arms used in the firing range of Quirra. A syndrome that seems to have much in common with the pathologies contracted by the soldiers who came back from missions in Afghanistan, Iraq or the Balkans regions. The reason of these similarities seems to be related to the usage of depleted uranium munitions, or to the presence of heavy metals nanoparticles.

Many charges for suspect deaths and for tumors cases have been filed by the inhabitants of the villages around the Salto di Quirra and by the soldiers who had worked there but, especially by the farmers that graze their flocks in the surroundings.

This area is one of the less populated of the island therefore the high incidence of diseases and malformations in the population has attracted the attention of various researchers that are trying to investigate about this “strange” situation.

Until now indifference have been the way followed by the institutions and the politicians. In many years of unofficial research nothing certain has been declared and nowadays there are very conflicting opinions about this case. Fortunately now the solicitor’s office of the area has blocked the activities of the firing range to start an official investigation. Also the Italian Government has approved the necessity of the investigation to make clear the situation.

A special team of researchers led by Antonietta Morena Gatti, a nanoparticles expert and a consultant of the national parliamentary commission of depleted uranium inquiry, have been charged with monitoring and analyzing all the finds and the reports about the subjects living or working in that area which have been affected by tumor disease in the last years, with the aim to verify the relations between the substances present in the firing range and those found in the human tissues.

During the last weeks some arms have been seized to make precise checks. The latest news say that some of them present traces of enriched uranium, the radioactivity rate recorded is five times higher than the normal. But as always there is no certainty.

The investigations should carry on until June 2011. The hope is that finally there will be real and clear explanations. Besides for the inhabitants’ health, the range is also damaging to the environment. The sea floor in front of the Salto di Quirra is an actual bombs and rockets cemetery devastated by the explosions. The arms underlie the sea over the years.

Real proof but not even one certainty yet in this small and unknown angle of Europe in the heart of the Mediterranean sea. Meanwhile different interests interlace and clash, the truth has yet to come to light.

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