WarSclerotic

Iran’s nuclear plan: Arak’s air defences revealedOf all Iran’s nuclear plants, none is more heavily defended against air attack than Arak.Air defence positions highlighted around the Arak heavy water production plantAir defence positions highlighted around the Arak heavy water production plant Photo: Image ©2013 DigitalGlobe Inc. / Analysis by McKenzie Intelligence LtdDavid BlairBy David Blair9:55PM GMT 26 Feb 2013Satellite imagery shows that three surface-to-air missile sites and at least 50 batteries of anti-aircraft guns protect this research reactor and heavy water production plant. Only one missile battery guards the uranium enrichment facility at Fordow, by contrast.Arak’s defences are carefully arrayed on the high ground surrounding the facility, with an outer ring of anti-aircraft guns deployed along possible attack routes and an inner circle placed around the installation’s perimeter.The missile batteries are found on three sides of Arak, with one crowning the highest mountain above the facility.Arak’s defences have to be strong because this plant is the most vulnerable of Iran’s sensitive nuclear sites. Unlike Fordow, which is buried inside a mountain, and Natanz, the other uranium enrichment plant which is largely underground, the entire complex at Arak appears to be above the surface.Whether these defences would trouble the air forces of Iran’s most likely adversaries, Israel and the US, is another matter. the anti-aircraft missiles at Arak are obsolete models known as the Shahin.Related Articles Iran agrees to hold new nuclear talks 27 Feb 2013 Iran’s ‘Plan B’ for a nuclear bomb 26 Feb 2013 Spies, bombs, and a virus: heading off nuclear Iran 26 Feb 2013 West offers underground complex sanctions deal 26 Feb 2013 Analysis: two paths to making a nuclear weapon 26 Feb 2013 Iran’s nuclear developments: the satellite images 26 Feb 2013Under the Shah, America sold Iran Hawk surface-to-air missiles, a 1960s design. Iran’s current rulers inherited this system after the Revolution of 1979. They upgraded the Hawk, modernising its radar guidance system and renaming it the Shahin. But this weapon is decades out of date.As for the guns, they would be capable of filling the sky above the plant with a hail of lead, making a close range attack extremely perilous. But the Israeli and US air forces would not launch that kind of strike. Both have long range “stand-off” missiles, which would be fired hundreds of miles away from Arak and well beyond the reach of its defences.

via Iran’s nuclear plan: Arak’s air defences revealed – Telegraph.

Netanyahu blasts Erdogan for ‘dark and slanderous’ remarks on Zionism | The Times of Israel.

The Turkish prime minister on Wednesday described Zionism as a ‘crime against humanity’ on par with anti-Semitism and fascism

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (photo credit: AP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comparison of Zionism to Nazism, calling it a “dark and slanderous remark, the likes of which we thought had passed from the world.”

The Foreign Ministry issued a statement regarding Erdogan’s “hollow” remarks as well, charging that they “stem from ignorance.”

Erdogan on Wednesday described Zionism as a “crime against humanity” on par with anti-Semitism and fascism.

Speaking in Vienna at a United Nations event devoted to dialogue between the West and Islam, Erdogan decried rising racism in Europe and the fact that many Muslims “who live in countries other than their own” often face harsh discrimination.

“We should be striving to better understand the culture and beliefs of others, but instead we see that people act based on prejudice and exclude others and despise them,” Erdogan said, according to a simultaneous translation provided by the UN. “And that is why it is necessary that we must consider — just like Zionism or anti-Semitism or fascism — Islamophobia as a crime against humanity.”

The Turkish leader’s comments, made at the official opening of the fifth UN Alliance of Civilizations Global Forum, drew harsh criticism from UN Watch, a Geneva-based watchdog group monitoring anti-Israel bias and human rights abuses at the organization.

“Erdogan’s misuse of this global podium to incite hatred, and his resort to Ahmadinejad-style pronouncements appealing to the lowest common denominator in the Muslim world, will only strengthen the belief that his government is hewing to a confrontational stance, and fundamentally unwilling to end its four-year-old feud with Israel,” UN Watch said in a statement.

Erdogan was also criticized by the Anti-Defamation League and B’nai B’rith International.

“We are appalled and horrified by Mr. Erdogan’s linkage of Zionism and anti-Semitism at a conference devoted, ironically enough, to improving understanding of other cultures,” said the ADL’s national director Abraham Foxman. B’nai B’rith strongly condemned “Erdogan’s effort to revive inflammatory language, by equating Zionism with racism.”