Sunday November 19, 2006

I've Been Thinking:

A little background: Iran got its first nuclear reactor in 1967, it has been up and running in Teheran ever since.
It is a light water 5 mega-watt system that has reached the end of its safe life and must be shut down and replaced.
Most people didn't know that.

So, Iran is building several other replacements.
The biggest will be a 40 mega-watt heavy water installation at Arak, about 100 miles south of Teheran.

Iran sees this whole entire international uproar as an exaggeration.
We would call it a tempest in a tea pot.
They call it an anti-Muslim campaign orchestrated by the United States which is in Israel's proverbial pocket.

For the International community, especially the U.S., the problem with the Iranian nuclear program is not about moving from one system to another - it is about Iran's lack of transparency and compliance. Iran just doesn't get that.

For Iran it is all about honor and independence. They argue that if they have had a reactor since '67, and if they are allowed by treaty to produce and experiment with nuclear technology, why are they a pariah now for simply doing what they should be entitled to do it?

Is the teapot half empty, or is it half full?