Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston |
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Australia's uranium to India - here we go again!
The origins of the imminent request for Australia to provide uranium to India are attributable to totally unrelated nuclear campaigns by U.S. President Bush and former Australian Prime Minister Howard. Cheney, Rice, and Alexander Downer had nothing to do with it. In 2006 I made a few guesses, and even a bet that certain things would happen because of the remarkable coincidences in advertising timing. Back then I didn't realise the length of time such understandings can take to be put into practice.
"There's been some talk about certain proposals I'll be interested to learn a little more about it. I have an interest in it, Australia has an interest it but we're not concern about anything, we haven't been asked to do anything."- Prime Minister John Howard, speaking during his sleep-over with U.S. President Bush in May 2006
Yesterday the world's nuclear suppliers began to debate whether or not to allow the U.S. to give India assistance in peaceful nuclear technologies. I'm thinking of round about 20 G.E. nuclears, as was proposed to help the country reach its expected 2020 energy requirements without needing a pipeline from Iran.
In May 2006, according to The Australian, Bush was campaigning for uranium to be supplied to India, with the country of the ore's origin being returned the spent rods. Around the time that P.M. Howard was trying on the White House guest room slippers in a Canadian hotel, and wondering if another towel would fit in his suitcase, back at home the budding novelist Peter Costello was being reported in The Age as saying that whether Australia would develop "to such a stage that it could get into the leasing business for nuclear energy" was something that was as yet undetermined.
As an aside, you know I can't resist adding that the transport method of getting the ore from South Australia to Darwin was already and waiting, Cheney's railway slowly going broke as (and defaulting on loans because of, according to a KBR annual report) precious cargo lay unmonetised in the Outback.
What I loved at the time was how Howard was given a couple of days' grace to appear distant from Bush's plans. He was in Canada when Bush announced his advance on India, and was bouncing around the globe as he launched an internal Australian debate of the country's nuclear future.
While ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern was chasing Rumsfeld in a vain attempt to extract a confession regarding his lies about Weapons of Mass Destruction, the Victorian coastal town of Portland moved closer to being able to export live sheep that glow in the dark (easier for the sharks to find the carcasses at night?), as the lands near the port were deemed one of the best places in Australia to build a nuclear power plant. Across the SA border, Rumsfeld's local WMD-parrot Alexander Downer was protecting his electorally sensitive seaside resort of Victor Harbor from a similar fate. Other people were much happier to brag about their involvement in a nuclear future. Prominent nuclear scientist Leslie Kemeny even rang the Adelaide Advertiser to explain how he had been commissioned by international interests to look into a reactor for the Woomera Spaceport.
The Australian nuclear debate ran for a while, then ran out of oxygen. Meanwhile, it seems, the Bush Administration has managed to get everyone to a table for a sales pitch.
In 2006 I predicted incorrectly that Howard would accept a US invitation to partner in the Indian reactor scheme as a method of combatting Climate Change. As events warm up over the next few days, let's see what Rudd says when Australia is asked to "courageously answer the call," or some such other rubbishy rhetoric.
I'll take all-comers this time, but give it a couple of months to unfold... if the Nuclear Suppliers Group, in its current meeting, votes to accept the departing Bush Administration's agenda, the odds would be pretty good.
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Chinese and Indian economies doomed - Greens. Not kidding.
Weird one this.
As business groups and economists point out the obvious likely effect unilateral Carbon Emissions Trading will have on Australian industry - industries will go immediately offshore to India and China and other developing countries where such constraints don't exist and where emissions will be worse - the Greens spin has found it necessary to deny that India and China can sustain economic growth into the future anyway:
There. Listen to the "community" instead of those silly old economists.
May as well listen to the RSPCA and National Parks Wildlife Officers talking about whales...
Indian permission to receive uranium to be granted this week
It looks like Cheney has lobbied everybody to get this through in time for the elections. India's declared an intent of a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing, and the Bushes are validating this as being an acceptable alternative to signing the Non Proliferation Treaty.
And in spite of all the recent denials of intent, will Labor step in line with other uranium sellers and accept ths horse-swindle of a deal? Yep.
45 suppliers approve India deal
The meeting was held today. Reuters says that the deal now needs to be ratified in Congress by the end of September.
Australia agrees to nuclear waiver, Smith flies to India
From today's SMH:
[extract]
Sigh.
US Congress agrees to technology sales ... now for the uranium
Now that the U.S. Senate has ratified US nuclear technology going to India, it can't be long before some bright spark proposes a circumvention of Australia's NPT issues in the form of leasing the ore to US technology suppliers. GE could installl that conversion reactor at Woomera, and it could leave the country under their "ownership."
Let's see how closely Labor follows the Liberal/Bush plan.
This is one thing Bush has managed to successfully pull off for an election sales pitch ... as the preventer of Indian pollution, he'll now be calling himself a climate change hero.
Rudd's plan to sell uranium to India
Richard Tonkin: "In 2006 I predicted incorrectly that Howard would accept a US invitation to partner in the Indian reactor scheme as a method of combatting Climate Change"
Yeah. Look:
And look:
Martin Ferguson is, as I understand it, Rudd's Minister for Resources, no?
Terrific!
So now we have our very own Cold War between Pakistan and India. That's in addition to the new one just beginning with the US/Poland madness with the dangerous Gerogian puppet president doing the bidding of his US and Israeli "advisers".
And I nearly forgot - Israel's determination to bomb the beJesus out of Iran.
Just when you thought it was safe to go outside again.
Armageddon looks increasingly possible.
Webdiary and Kemeny
It does me heart good to see that Webdiary lives again!
How I did enjoy Margo Kingston's mad, wild and wonderfully independent writing!
But - hey - congratulations Richard Tonkin - writing with a sense of history - how rarely we find this now!
On history - I am reminded of Leslie Kemeny's public debate with Women's Electoral Lobby - back in 1980. Debating against Joe Camilleri (the politics lecturer, not the musician), and against WEL's Noel Wauchope, Kemeny got quite flustered, and turned around angily toward Noel - pointed directly and said - "Look, the great manipulator". Everyone looked to see if someone was behind her. But no - Kemeny had sunk to the old style - (if you can't answer their argument, then just attack them personally )
I predict a lot more of this sort of stuff now - as the strangely sleeping nuclear debate in Australia starts to re-awaken.
Fiona: Hello Christina - great to see you back here.