If they build a nuclear power plant, it will automatically be assumed that they want nuclear weapons, and they will, to protect themselves from the crazies who think they are crazy.
Israel is going to be the key for the real crazies in Iran getting around the fatwa against nuclear weapons. The constant threats are going to be the excuse used to undermine the current religious prohibition by the Supreme Leader. Attacking Iran will guarantee they build nuclear weapons for defense.
]]>Besides, Syria already has their deterrent, and a much cheaper one it is. They have tons of organophosphate nerve agents and the missile warheads to fire them off at the Israelis if the Israelis decide to mount another tank attack upon Damascus. So why would they want nukes in the first place?
]]>I think Syria would love to have nuclear power plants and weapons, but it doesn’t have the cash, and no one is going to give them a loan, even if the credit markets weren’t in total meltdown. With Lebanon coming apart on the West, and Iraq on the East, I can’t see them ready to start something with Israel. The government of Syria is evil, not stupid.
]]>I’ll also point out that there doesn’t seem to be any electric lines scattered around. This implies on-site electrical generation. That’s not a big deal, that’s normal in the desert — it’s easier to haul diesel out there once a week than pop for the PITA of running electrical wires across rock faces.
Regarding cooling towers: There appears to be some construction to the right of the building that could hypothetically be the start of a cooling tower. The problem is that the U.S. said that the reactor was just about *finished*. And that can’t be so if the cooling tower has barely passed the groundbreaking stage.
In short. Right now, I’m at “pull the other flipper, why doncha?” stage. Too much just isn’t adding up.
-Badtux the Nuclear Penguin
]]>As for the windows, I’ve poured some concrete, and all of those windows make the job more expensive. If you don’t need them, you don’t put openings in a concrete wall.
If they don’t cool that water they lose a lot of food production down stream. Even the North Koreans have solid concrete buildings and cooling towers.
As you have said before, Badtux, this was a training run to test the Russian antiaircraft systems and to set up a run at Iran through Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan.
Of course with all of the junk the Hedgemony has released, it shouldn’t be too difficult for Syrian security forces to pick up a few Israeli agents if there is any truth in any of this.
]]>Yeah… it realy stinks! So… questions is… WTF were Israel & the USA *REALLY* after? And you can bet your last cent the USA (Bushmoron & co) were in this up to their sloping brows!
I will watch this develop with interest. And do some research of my own with some contacts I have. We’ll see.
Cheers!
]]>That said, there’s some answers. There’s no need for a cooling tower if you’re just going to eject the hot water back into the river. Yeah, that’s not environmentally sound, but so it goes. And the containment building? Commies don’t need no steenkin’ containment, comrade! The North Korean graphite plants don’t have containment buildings either.
That said, the chances of there really being a nuclear plant out there are pretty much non-existent because, well, the Syrians are friggin’ flat broke and the North Koreans ain’t a charity outfit. This setup looks more to me like a house and a generating station for the pumping station down at the river, for pumping water somewhere uphill. I bet if we look at this area real closely on Google Earth we’ll see a water tower further uphill, and a town somewhere nearby that the water tower serves.
Hmm, just found it on Google Earth, and uphill from this is…
Well. Wouldn’t be the first time that U.S.-built bombs smashed a water treatment plant, eh?
As for the building itself, Google Maps shows it as being 150 feet by 150 feet square (move the building over the scale to see what I mean). Or roughly 22,500 square feet. Not small, but not large enough for the purpose indicated. Crap, your typical Safeway grocery store is twice the size (the average Safeway is 44,000 square feet, and the new ones average 55,000 square feet). Unless the Syrians have mastered Dr. Who’s interdimensional Tardis technology, you simply can’t fit what the U.S. is saying was in there into the building that was there…
I am SOOO tired of these lying liars and their continued lies… sigh.
– Badtux the Fact-checking Penguin
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