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The geopolitics of nuclear proliferation
It is not easy for Iran and the US to end mutual hostility
G. Parthasarathy
Will the handshake happen? The Obama Administration will not find it easy to secure Congressional approval for easing sanctions against Iran, given the Israeli and Saudi opposition
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Just
after the foreign ministers of the self-styled “international community” (comprising the EU members and the US) together with their Russian and Chinese counterparts met the Iranian Foreign Minister in Geneva, the Foreign Ministers of India, China and Russia issued a statement which recognised “the right of Iran to peaceful uses of nuclear energy, including for uranium enrichment, under strict IAEA safeguards and consistent with its international obligations". This was an important declaration as the Republican right wing in the US, egged on by a predictable alliance of Israel and Saudi Arabia, would like to scuttle any possibility of an agreement that ends sanctions against Iran in return for Iran accepting safeguards mandated by the IAEA on all its nuclear facilities. Israel wants a termination of uranium enrichment and plutonium production in Iran, together with an end to Iran’s implacable hostility to its very existence.American policies on clandestine nuclear enrichment have been remarkably inconsistent. The country responsible for triggering the proliferation of centrifuge-based uranium enrichment technology was the Netherlands. It was the Dutch who carelessly granted A.Q. Khan access to sensitive design documents on centrifuge enrichment technology when he worked at the Holland-based Physical Dynamic Research Laboratory, a sub-contractor of the "Ultra Centrifuge Nederland". Former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers has revealed that after Khan's activities came to light, he was prepared to arrest Khan in Holland, but was prevented from doing so in 1975 and 1986 by the CIA. It is well known that the Reagan Administration had tacitly assured Pakistan that it would look the other way at Pakistani efforts to build the bomb. If President Reagan looked the other way at Pakistani proliferation, President Clinton winked at Chinese proliferation involving the transfer of more modern centrifuges, nuclear weapon designs and ring magnets apart from unsafeguarded plutonium facilities to Pakistan. The A.Q. Khan-Iranian nexus goes back to the days of Gen Zia-ul-Haq when the Iranians received the knowhow for uranium enrichment from Khan. Iran is now known to possess an estimated 19,000 centrifuges, predominantly at its enrichment facilities in Natanz. It has an old plutonium reactor used for medical isotopes which, it says, is to be replaced by a larger reactor together with reprocessing facilities being built at Arak. Given the clandestine nature of its nuclear programme, its activist role in the Islamic world and its virulent anti-Semitism, Iran's nuclear programme has invited international attention. This has resulted in seven UN Security Council Resolutions since 2006, which called on Iran to halt enrichment and even led to the freezing of assets of persons linked to its nuclear and missile programmes. There have also been cyber attacks (Stuxnet) by the Americans and the killing of some of Iran's key scientists, believed by the Iranians to have been engineered by the Israelis. While Iran's nuclear programme enjoys widespread domestic support, what have really hurt the Iranians are the crippling economic sanctions by the US and its European allies. These sanctions have led to the shrinking of its oil exports and spiralling of inflation. They have been crucial factors compelling Iran to seek a negotiated end to sanctions, without giving up its inherent right to enrich uranium that it enjoys under the NPT. Crucially, the US can now afford to review its policies in the Middle East. Its dependence on oil imports from the Persian Gulf has ended, its oil production will exceed that of Saudi Arabia in the next five years and it is set to become a significant exporter of natural gas. The emergence of Saudi backing for al Qaida-linked Salafi extremists in Iraq and Syria is not exactly comforting as the Americans prepare to pull out of Afghanistan. While the Obama Administration may make soothing noises to placate the ruffled feathers in Riyadh and Jerusalem, rapprochement with Iran does widen its options in the Muslim world at a time when Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Sharif proclaims that Shia-Sunni tensions are "the most serious threat not only to the region but to the world at large". But it would be unrealistic to expect that negotiations between the P 5 and Germany on the one hand and the Iranians on the other will produce any immediate end to the Iranian nuclear impasse. The Israelis and the Saudis, who wield immense clout in the Republican right wing, the US Congress and in many European capitals will spare no effort to secure support for conditions that the Iranians would not agree to. Iran already has one nuclear power plant built by the Russians at Bushehr, with another 360 MW plant under construction at Darkhovin. It currently has stockpiles of uranium enriched to either 3.5%, which can be used in power reactors, or to 20%, which can be relatively easily further enriched and made weapons grade. The Iranians are reported to have agreed that the highly enriched uranium will be converted into fuel rods or plates. Iran has an old plutonium reactor for medical isotopes, which it requires to shut down. It is constructing a larger plutonium research reactor at the city of Arak. The Iranians claim that the reactor at Arak is set to replace the existing plutonium reactor, which is being shut down. This is not an explanation that sceptics readily buy. In the negotiations at Geneva, France reportedly took a hard-line position, demanding that the construction of the Arak plutonium reactor should stop and that there should be no reference to Iran's "right" to enrich uranium. This is not surprising. France has recently concluded a $1.8 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia and is the recipient of large Saudi investments in its sagging agricultural sector. The Iranians are hard bargainers and will not unilaterally give any concessions unless these are matched by a corresponding and simultaneous lifting of economic sanctions. Having already concluded an agreement with the IAEA, granting the IAEA access to its uranium mine and heavy water plant, Iran is unlikely to agree to yield to demands to stop the construction of its new putonium reactor. More importantly, given the continuing gridlock in Washington between the Obama Administration and the Republican-dominated Senate, the Obama Administration will not find it easy to secure Congressional approval for easing sanctions against Iran, especially in the face of Israeli and Saudi opposition. It is not going to be easy for Iran and the US to end over three decades of mutual hostility and suspicion.
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MIDDLE |
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Dreaming of treasure and finding it
Rajbir Deswal
 No, unlike the ‘seer’ Shoban Sarkar, I will not recommend the digging even of a small pit of the diameter of an inch, even if I dreamt that some ten grams of gold lay buried there. I like the quote “Nanak neevan jo chalai lage na tatti wahoo” (If you walk looking towards the ground in a bowed stature, you will keep off the hot winds above). I relate it also to another situation, and endorse the sagacious counsel with some value addition as in that you might find coins and other costly things, and hit the treasure if you walk the way it is prescribed, without involving the Archeological Survey of India. Although what I am going to tell you now, does make me a dishonest person since I could have reported to the “Lost & Found” department my finds, but certainly not a thief, for I neither stole nor engineered a heist. Well, I was in my fourth standard when we went to watch the movie ‘Do Badan’ with two of my aunts and cousins. Bharat cinema in Jind then had no balcony but only a box. It had two sofas placed one after the other. I always had a nasty habit of putting my hands at my back while at the same time searching for things that might have been collected in the two folds of the back support and the main seat. Largely what I gathered were dried peanut peels or, if I were lucky, some coins. But this time I hit an earring. I thought it was of no use to me so I passed it on to my aunt. Finding the earring a genuine one the next day, this aunt of mine smiled at me while the other one, my Buaji, nearly frowned, lamenting why I could not hand over my ‘find’ to her. Once in Delhi, we stayed close to the Ashoka Police Lines. In the evening police officials invariably gathered to play kabbadi. They removed their shirts and trousers and put them on a tree-guard. The pockets naturally got turned down making some coins slide. I with my cousin kept backing up the raiders and the catchers while sitting close to the tree-guard at the same time guarding our soon-to-find treasure. Yes, sometime it yielded. Once I found a purse containing some currency notes near a mortuary at the back of the Civil Hospital. I picked it up but being a little superstitious, I dropped it there and then. Another treasure I stumbled on was a state-of-the-art purse found on the stairs of our house when some client might have come to look up my uncle who was an advocate. It had one tenner, a fiver and some change. Since the owner was not known to me, I preferred keeping it to myself. I got them all exchanged into one-rupee denomination notes and had a good time during the recess for about a fortnight. Later as a grown-up, I found a wad of tenners amounting to sixty rupees, neatly folded by their unfortunate owner, at the Holy Family Hospital Parking in Okhla. Nowadays I don’t find any treasures, except in dreams. Or perhaps I don’t walk keeping my head bowed.
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OPED
— SCIENCE |
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Breakthrough in quantum computing
Scientists stored information in a quantum computing system for 39 minutes, a massive increase from the previous record of 25 seconds
James Vincent
 Scientists
have achieved an “exciting breakthrough” in quantum computing, creating a solid-state memory system made from silicon that was operational at room temperature for 39 minutes.This achievement breaks one of the major barriers to building quantum computers: the need to run the systems at incredibly cold temperatures. The previous record for storing information at room temperature in a quantum computer was just 25 seconds. “This opens up the possibility of truly long-term coherent information storage at room temperature,” said Mike Thewalt of Simon Fraser University in Canada, head of the international team that conducted the research. The results of the experiment were detailed in the journal Science. Whereas current computers store information as "bits" of data - strings of individuals 1s or 0s - quantum computers uses "qubits" which can be both 1s and 0s simultaneously. This is thanks to a property of quantum mechanics known "superposition" which means that quantum computers will be able to use a single piece of hardware to perform different calculations at the same time. The difficulty with these systems is their instability, with scientists using cold temperatures (around -269C, just a few degrees above absolute zero, the coldest temperature possible) to combat the qubits' natural tendency to decay. Even for this most recent breakthrough, scientists still to begin by lowering the temperature of around 10 billion phosphorous ions (the nuclei of which were embedded in pure silicon to provide the medium for the qubits) to just above absolute zero. The temperature of this system was then raised to room temperature (25°C) where the data remained intact for 39 minutes. This may not sound like a long time, but as a single operation on a quantum computer takes just one hundred thousandth of a second, this means that theoretically over 20 million operations could be performed before the qubits data decayed by one per cent. “Having such robust, as well as long-lived, qubits could prove very helpful for anyone trying to build a quantum computer,” said of Oxford University’s Stephanie Simmons, a member of the Department of Materials and an author of the paper.
Many barriers remainHowever, the scientists involved in the study also stressed the many difficulties ahead for quantum computing. For example, although the scientists in this experiment managed to retrieve the data stored on the system, they still had to return the system to freezing temperatures to do so -- and the original process that encoded the information wasn't perfect, destroying 63 per cent of the data. Another major hurdle is the ability to encode different types of data. For this experiment the qubits involved all stored just 1s or 0s. For quantum computers to work like conventional computers they will have to store a diverse mixture of 1s and 0s and switch between states. The difference is like that between a flat surface painted with a single colour, and a 3D hologram showing a high definition movie. Despite this, scientists are still celebrating this experiment as an “exciting breakthrough”. “This result represents an important step towards realising quantum devices,” David Awschalom, a professor in Spintronics and Quantum Information, at the University of Chicago told the BBC.
Fundamentals of quantum computing
- Quantum computing focuses on developing computer technology based on the principles of quantum theory which explains the nature and behaviour of energy and matter on the quantum (atomic and subatomic) level.
- A traditional computer uses long strings of “bits” which encode either a zero or a one. A quantum computer, on the other hand, uses quantum bits or qubits.
- A qubit is a quantum system that encodes the zero and the one into two distinguishable quantum states. But, because qubits behave quantumly, scientists capitalise on the phenomena of “superposition” and “entanglement”.
- Superposition is essentially the ability of a quantum system to be in multiple
states at the same time.
- Entanglement is an extremely strong correlation that exists between quantum particles — so strong, in fact, that two or more quantum particles can be inextricably linked in unison, even if separated by great distances.
- Whereas a classical computer works with ones and zeros, a quantum computer will have the advantage of using ones, zeros and “superpositions” of ones and zeros.
- Calculating the factors of a very large (say, 500-digit) number, is considered impossible for any classical computer. However, a quantum computer will be able to process a vast number of calculations simultaneously.
- A D-Wave Two™ quantum computer has been installed in the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility at NASA’s Ames Research Center. When it becomes operational, the system will be the most powerful in the world, with approximately 512 superconducting flux qubits.
- Researchers will use it to investigate quantum approaches to optimisation problems in air traffic control, autonomy, robotics, navigation and communication, system diagnostics, pattern recognition, anomaly detection, and mission planning and
scheduling.
— The Independent
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