--- Bryan Atinsky <bryan at alt-info.org> wrote:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2827787.ece
>
> A claim by President Ahmadinejad that Iran has 3,000
> working
> uranium-enriching centrifuges sent a tremor across
> the world yesterday
> amid fears that Israel would respond by bombing the
> country’s nuclear
> facilities.
>
[WS:] Something does not add up here. Nukes, especially in small numbers, work only as a deterrent rather than a tactical weapon. A "pissant little country" (to use a memorable quote by a foremer POTUS) that has them can effectively use a threat to use them if attacked to make a potential aggressor think twice, but once its nukes are in the air it faces a ceratin retaliation and destruction.
Pakistan and India are a case in point. Paki nukes are only good against India when they sit in their silos. If they are lauched, their deterrent effect is gone. India may sustain considerable damage, but she will not only be able to wipe Pakistan off the face of the Earth, but have a really strong incentive to do so.
It makes therefore sense for such a country to advertise that it has nukes only when it actually has them ready. Only the actual possession of such weapons can reduce a chance of being attacked. Advertising a desire to acquire them makes no sense whatsoever - it only increases a chance of an attack rather than decresing it.
With that in mind I am quite nonplussed by Ahmadinejad's broadcasting that he is about to produce nukes. If what he is saying is true, a rational thing to do is to keep his mouth shut until he actually has a nuke ready for action and then say to the US and its allies "By the way, I will use it if you fuck with me." Otherwise, his babbling about his nuclear program is akin to a poker player revealing his hand before the betting is over. It does not make sense.
Wojtek
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