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Russia uranium deal makes good sense: Downer
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says the nuclear safeguards agreement signed today with Russia paves the way for the export of at least $1 billion worth of uranium a year.
The agreement has yet to be ratified by federal Parliament and by Russia's Duma.
It stipulates that Australian uranium cannot be sold on to any other nations or used for weapons.
Mr Downer says Russia is planning to massively increase its nuclear power station capacity over the next 20 years.
"So there's no doubt there will be a very big demand from Russia for uranium and Australia has around 40 per cent of the world's uranium reserves," he said.
"If we can negotiate a satisfactory safeguards agreement with Russia to export that uranium then that makes good sense."
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Gus: 30 years ago there was enough uranium and plutonium in the world in bomb form to blow up the planet five times over... now there is enough of the stuff to blow up the planet a hundred times over... Sure a lot of it for "peaceful purposes" but it does not take very long to do the switch to bombs...
And hypocritically we're prepared to sell uranium to India contrary to the rules of non- proliferation treaty - not signed by that country...
- By Gus Leonisky at 8 Sep 2007 - 8:19am
- Gus Leonisky's blog
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As seen by the Moscow Times...
Howard Will Talk Tough with Putin
Reuters
SYDNEY, Australia -- Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Thursday that he would tell President Vladimir Putin that he would not approve the sale of uranium to Moscow if there was any possibility it could be resold to Iran or Syria.
Howard said he would put Putin "through the ropes" when he meets him Friday in Sydney on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific leaders' forum.
"The condition on our selling uranium is that we obtain the guarantees necessary to satisfy us that it won't go to Iran and Syria," Howard told local radio.
"We will be taking the Russians through the ropes in relation to any arrangement we have, and we will be wanting to satisfy ourselves completely that won't occur," Howard said.
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Gus: Poot is still "laughting with laughter" at the speed this agreement was approved and at which the ink dried... Two minutes... Of course the discussion through the rope — like a wrestling match — was rigged since the script had been finalised about 3 month ago...
the salesmen cometh
David Marr
....
Why? Because both nuclear triggers were in Sydney. Close at hand as George Bush slept at the Intercontinental was the "football" that contains the nuclear codes of the US. And only blocks away at the harbourside Marriott, President Vladimir Putin had his own suitcase capable of setting off nuclear destruction.
But not if it's going to wipe out both men and this city. For one night in Australia mutually assured destruction (MAD) meant what it said. And it's in that spirit, I suppose, that we're shipping uranium to both sides.