Pakistan may make Nigeria a nuclear power

[bicentennial_baby]

Pakistan yesterday offered to share military assistance, including "nuclear power" with Nigeria, in defiance of President George Bush's new counter-proliferation initiative.

The offer was announced by the Nigerian defence ministry in a statement saying that General Muhammad Aziz Khan, chairman of Pakistan's joint chiefs of staff, had made the offer to the Nigerian defence minister, Rabiu Kwankwaso, during a visit to the west African state's capital, Abuja.

"Speaking at the opening of the discussions, the Pakistani chairman of joint chiefs of staff ... said that his country is working out the dynamics of how they can assist Nigeria's armed forces to strengthen its military capability and to acquire nuclear power," the Nigerian press release said. Neither the Pakistani nor the Nigerian governments clarified what Gen Khan had in mind.

The announcement is likely to provoke consternation in Washington, coming just a month after the mastermind behind Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme, Abdul Qadeer Khan, admitted publicly that he had run a black market in nuclear weapons materials.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,2763,1161774,00.html

[proud patriot]

1. Oh Fuck !

Is this a "check" move?"

[burrowowl]

2. LOLROFLMAO!

Love it!
What will India say? Who is India making a Nuke Power?
And in the U $ of A, I live in NM, when is all this shit gong to be cleaned up?
Nevermore quoth the Raven.

[Turley]

14. LOL?

I don't see anything to be amused about. This is not good news for anyone.

[JaySherman]

3. Who are they going to get the yellow cake from?

Saddam?

[Ediacara]

4. from Niger

They just have to ship it over the border, not on ships where they could get caught.

[ewagner]

5. The other part of the article

discusses Nigeria's purchase of ballistic missle technology from North Korea.....

....are we being "played" by Pakistan or what?

[Sufi Marmot]

6. Sounds like we're being played...

....are we being "played" by Pakistan or what?

Is this Pakistan's subtle way of discouraging us from going after Bin Laden on the Pakistan side of the border? I.e. "Back off, or we'll start handing out nuclear technology like candy at Halloween..."

A detailed report in the New Yorker this week suggested Washington had turned a blind eye to the Pakistani government's connivance in sales of nuclear materials and technology to countries like Iran and Libya, in exchange for permission to send American commandos to hunt down Osama bin Laden in Pakistan's Hindu Kush.

Or, do they have certain knowledge that we've already captured Bin Laden, and that that lever no longer works for them, so they're using the threat of nuclear proliferation as a bargaining chip.


What on earth does Nigeria need nuclear capability for? Can they even feed themselves? Nigeria, with it's ethnic and religious violence, is one of the last countries on this planet that should gain access to nuclear weapons.

-SM

[htuttle]

7. It is usually the last countries on earth that should gain access to nukes

..that eventually DO gain access to nukes. Look at who has them now.

[Sufi Marmot]

8. Point taken...

A few months ago Nigeria launched its first satellite, and even then I felt that they had their priorities misplaced, given the other problems in the country. I'm not saying they shouldn't ever be launching satellites, but space program development seems a wasteful luxury for a troubled, impoverished country.

And Nigeria, being the largest, most powerful country in West Africa, has no need whatsoever to develop nuclear weapons.

-SM

[_Jumper_]

9. I disagree

Nigeria has oil and is probably seeking it as a deterrance, thanks to PNAC's doctrine of "preventive" war.

[Sufi Marmot]

10. But they already sell oil to the West...

There's considerable oil production in the Niger River Delta (along with environmental destruction and local unrest in that region). Isn't it their main source of income?

-SM

[maggrwaggr]

11. yeah, they're a major OPEC nation and a few folks have a ton of $$

because of it.

The rich in Nigeria are pretty damned rich.

[Valkyrie55]

12. They sell oil to the west now....

...but maybe they fear that the day is coming when the option to sell it voluntarily may be taken away, by an invading American army perhaps.

[pinniped]

13. How dare they!

in defiance of President George Bush's new counter-proliferation initiative.
-----------

What's AWOL AHOLE chimpy gonna do about it?

[FlashHarry]

15. I lived there as a kid. The armpit of Africa.

Man, Nigeria has to be one of the most corrupt governments on the planet--including our own, if you can believe that. I fear for the day when Nigeria gets the bomb.