Iran Warns Of Possible Faceoff With U.S.

I keep telling myself,
current events have nothing to do with Nostradamus, et al.

Iran Warns Of Possible Faceoff With U.S.
TEHRAN, Iran, Jan. 22, 2007
(CBS/AP) Iran conducted missile tests Monday as its leadership stepped up warnings of possible military confrontation with the United States. Hard-liners said an American attack would spark "hell" for the United States and Israel, with some threatening suicide attacks against U.S. forces. The drum-beating suggests Iran does not intend to back down as tensions mount on both fronts of its confrontation with the United States and the West — the nuclear issue and the turmoil in neighboring Iraq. In another defiant move, Iranian officials on Monday said Tehran had rejected 38 U.N. nuclear inspectors from a list of potential inspectors — apparently in retaliation for a Security Council resolution last month imposing limited sanctions on the country. Others on the list would be allowed to enter the country, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, without giving the reasons for the bans. Iran's leaders have increasingly touted the possibility of a U.S. attack since President George W. Bush announced on Jan. 9 the deployment of a second aircraft carrier in the Gulf region, a move U.S. officials have said is a show of strength directed at Iran. The leadership's warnings could aim to rally the public behind the government and silence increasingly bold criticism ...full text

U.S. Selecting Hybrid Design for Warheads

After WWII, recognition that primitive modes of behavior between nations and nuclear tools does not mix, was understood to be globally terminal. How diseased is our Science of Understanding in Energy and Survival Fundamentals (Five Foundational Problems of Theoretical Physics) - see Evolution Blog

NYT January 7, 2007
U.S. Selecting Hybrid Design for Warheads
By WILLIAM J. BROAD, DAVID E. SANGER and THOM SHANKER
This article is by William J. Broad, David E. Sanger and Thom Shanker.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 — The Bush administration is expected to announce next week a major step forward in the building of the country’s first new nuclear warhead in nearly two decades. It will propose elements of competing designs from two weapons laboratories in an approach that some experts argue is untested and risky.
The announcement, to be made by the interagency Nuclear Weapons Council, avoids making a choice between two competing designs for a new weapon, called the Reliable Replacement Warhead, which at first would be mounted on submarine-launched missiles. The effort, if approved by President Bush and financed by Congress, would require a huge refurbishment of the nation’s complex for nuclear design and manufacturing, with the overall bill estimated at more than $100 billion.
But the council’s decision to seek a hybrid design, combining well-tested elements from an older design with new safety and security elements from a more novel approach, could delay the production of the weapon. It also raises the question of whether the United States will ultimately be forced to end its moratorium on underground nuclear testing ...full text

A Missile Defense System Is Taking Shape in Alaska

We are ready!

December 10, 2006
A Missile Defense System Is Taking Shape in Alaska
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
FORT GREELY, Alaska, Dec. 4 — Snow fences help keep drifts from piling up on the missile silos. Heat-sensing security devices that monitor the edges of this 800-acre installation are sometimes set off by wayward moose.
And the soldiers here, members of the 3-year-old 49th Missile Defense Battalion ....full text