Monthly Archives: July 2009

Nazarbayev on K’Stan, the NPT, and Iran

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Receiving Israeli President Shimon Peres in Astana today, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev “gave an assurance”:http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246296535221&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull that “no nuclear material will reach Iran from our territory.” That’s good to know, since Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been “courting Kazakhstan”:http://www.totalwonkerr.net/2007/iran-and-kazakhstan-bff recently, visiting Astana in early April.

The President of K’stan also took a moment to reflect on the legacy of his own country’s “nuclear disarmament”:http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246296535221&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull:

bq. “After independence 18 years ago, Kazakhstan voluntarily gave up the fourth-largest nuclear stockpile in the world. We set an example for the world, but unfortunately that example wasn’t followed,” he said.

According to the “version of his remarks”:http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3739226,00.html in _Yediot Ahronot,_ he added that “The Non-Proliferation Treaty lacks teeth.”

_Kazakhstan Today_ quoted Nazarbayev describing his country as a “victim of nuclear weapons”:http://kt.kz/index.php?uin=1133435176&chapter=1153490828:

bq. “Kazakhstan itself suffered from the consequences of the nuclear tests – for 49 years. More than one million Kazakhstan citizens suffered from radiation due to the explosions on the Semipalatinsk range, therefore, the issue of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons – for us very important,” the President of Kazakhstan said.

Meanwhile, the _Jerusalem Post_ shared this “worthwhile anecdote”:http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246296535221&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull:

bq. “When (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad was here for a state visit, I told him that even if he had enough material for 10 nuclear bombs, it wouldn’t bring him security. We improved our security by giving up nukes.”

Here’s hoping that Iran’s President isn’t a “Spinal Tap”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbVKWCpNFhY fan.

Synchronized Sanctions

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Today, the Department of State sanctioned North Korea’s “Namchongang Trading Corporation”:http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/06a/125505.htm — an importer of aluminum tubes, it seems — while the Department of Treasury sanctioned a North Korean front company, “Hong Kong Electronics”:http://www.treasury.gov/press/releases/tg191.htm. Reading not very deeply between the lines of the Treasury press release, HKE funnels cash for Iranian missile purchases back to North Korea:

bq. Since 2007, Hong Kong Electronics has transferred millions of dollars of proliferation-related funds on behalf of Tanchon and KOMID. Hong Kong Electronics has also facilitated the movement of money from Iran to North Korea on behalf of KOMID. Tanchon, a commercial bank based in Pyongyang, North Korea, is the financial arm for KOMID – North Korea’s premier arms dealer and main exporter of goods and equipment related to ballistic missiles and conventional weapons.

What’s interesting about HKE is where it’s located: Kish Island, Iran. What, “Dubai wasn’t available”:http://www.jafza.ae/en/?

Kish Island also happens to be where American private investigator “Bob Levinson”:http://helpboblevinson.spaces.live.com/ was disappeared in 2007.

Institutional Memory

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According to David Sanger in the NYT, some folks in the Administration are thinking very carefully about the “intelligence problem in interdiction”:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/world/asia/01sanger.html:

bq. Pentagon officials are clearly not eager to confront the Kang Nam 1. The intelligence about what is on board is typically murky. Some say they suspect small arms, which are banned by the United Nations resolution but hardly a major threat. Members of Mr. Obama’s team who served in the Clinton administration remember past embarrassments, including the interception of a Chinese ship suspected of carrying chemical precursors in the early 1990s. When the ship was finally cornered, the cargo turned out to be benign.

That’s the “Yinhe incident”:http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/2067/the-yinhe-incident, for those of you keeping score at home.

“X-posted to ACW”:http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/2367/institutional-memory.