http://singaporenewsalternative.blogspot.com/2010/06/two-singapore-companies-sold-machinery.html
Reuters
A five-year investigation by the Norway-based Democratic Voice
of Burma (DVB) concluded that Myanmar, formerly Burma, was a long
way from producing a nuclear weapon but had gone to great lengths
to acquire the technology and expertise to do so.
If true, it would mark the first Southeast Asian country with
nuclear ambitions and alter the strategic landscape of a
fast-growing region whose big countries -- from Indonesia to the
Philippines and Thailand -- are closely allied with Washington.
A report by DVB, made public this week, cited a U.S. nuclear
scientist assessing evidence provided by Sai Thein Win, a Burmese
defence engineer trained in Russia in missile technology. He said
he had defected after working in factories built to develop weapons
of mass destruction.
"Burma is trying to build pieces of a nuclear programme,
specifically a nuclear reactor to make plutonium and a uranium
enrichment programme," said co-author Robert Kelley, a former
director of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Kelley told Reuters that Myanmar's machinery and equipment
appeared to be of a poor quality and that it was a long way from
developing a ready-to-use atomic weapon. "They have 1,000 things
left to do and are doing them one at a time," he said.
U.S. SENATOR STAYS AWAY
Nevertheless the report prompted a U.S. Senator, Jim Webb, to
cancel a trip to Myanmar on Thursday, which he said would be
"unwise and inappropriate" in light of the claim.
Accounts of suspected nuclear plans surfaced last year, but
Myanmar has never confirmed or denied any nuclear ambitions.
"This new information is the glue that fixes the pieces
together," Kelley told Reuters. "Sai provided hundreds of colour
photos, dozens of technical drawings and a document which helps us
see the programme's organisational structure."
Previous claims by defectors suggest Myanmar had enlisted the
help of nuclear-armed North Korea, with which it reportedly agreed
a memorandum of understanding on military cooperation during a
visit by a top junta general to Pyongyang last year.
Admiral Robert Willard, head of the U.S. Pacific command, said
he was unaware of nuclear cooperation between the two states, but
was "certainly concerned about the relationship between North Korea
and Burma given our lack of visibility in both regimes".
Sai Thein Win came to neighbouring Thailand and provided
photographs and documents of two factories where he used European
machining tools to make prototypes for missile and nuclear
facilities, the DVB said in its 30-page report.
According to
the report, the European machinery was sold to the Myanmar
government through two companies in Singapore. The
equipment did not include all necessary components and precision
parts for missiles and nuclear applications.
Aung Naing Oo, a Harvard-educated Burmese academic, said the
military might try to emulate the tactics of North Korea and try to
arm itself to gain leverage with the international community.
"It serves a purpose. The military knows that nuclear weapons
are a short-cut to getting on the international radar and earning
respect geopolitically," he said.
(Additional reporting by Sylvia Westall in Vienna)
http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-49046620100604
Myanmar's nuclear bombshell
By Bertil
Lintner
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LF05Ae01.html