Some may not like what MEMRI reports but over the course of thousands of translations I think two were shown to be in error.
From the Middle East Media Research Institute, January 3 (also on blogroll at right):
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA, i.e., the Afghan Taliban) is caught in an international controversy after it has come to light that an eight-member official Taliban delegation secretly visited North Korea to discuss cooperation on nuclear weapons technology.
Unnoticed by the world, Afghanistan has a long-standing nuclear energy program that was taken over by the Taliban mujahideen when they took control of Afghanistan in August 2021.[1] Afghanistan is a founding member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which was founded in 1957, and a nuclear laboratory was later established at the Kabul University.[2]
"I have reports indicating that a group of the Taliban is looking into how to access tactical nuclear weapons. Whether they can get them from Pakistan or pay engineers to get them. That is going to be a disaster," Rahmatullah Nabil, the former chief of the Afghanistan's intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), said at the Herat Security Dialogue, the annual conference on the situation in Afghanistan that was held on November 27-28, 2023, in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.[3]
Since Nabil belongs to the camp of the Taliban's political opponents, his comments were not taken seriously by many. However, on December 26, 2023, Sami Yousafzai, a senior Afghan journalist known for authoritative reports on Afghanistan and Pakistan, tweeted that the Taliban rulers are attempting to acquire nuclear weapons, and several Western intelligence agencies, alerted by Nabil's comment, have launched investigations into the Taliban's connections to North Korea.[4]
It is important that in his tweet, Yousafzai identified that Maulvi Abdul Rasheed Munib, the security chief of Kandahar and head of foreign relations for the Afghan Taliban intelligence, was on the eight-member delegation, which included six leaders from the Taliban's Ministry of Defense, on the secret visit to Pyongyang.[5]
The Taliban officials are known for making extensive use of social media networks such as Twitter and YouTube. However, since the allegations about the secret visit by the official Taliban delegation, all Taliban officials have maintained total silence, not denying the reports. A pro-Afghan Taliban account on Twitter even taunted the international community: "We are recognized by North Korea. We do not care about others."[6]
Sometime in February or March of 2023, the nuclear issue in Afghanistan attracted news headlines after the assassination of the head of the Bamyan Nuclear Energy Department, while one employee was injured.[7] At the time it was dismissed as part of a rivalry among Taliban officials, but due to a gag order from the Taliban governor of Bamyan province, all civil and military employees were barred from disclosing the incident to anyone, especially to media, and the name of the assassinated official was also not revealed.[8]
Afghanistan is surrounded by four states, all of whom are friendly with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, that have nuclear weapons: Iran, Russia, Pakistan, and China. The region is known for nuclear proliferation involving Pakistan, with Pakistan's rogue nuclear scientist Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan admitting in February 2004 that he shared Pakistan's nuclear technology with Iran, Libya, and North Korea for more than a decade.[9]
....MUCH MORE
Just to make the whole Sunni-Shia thing more interesting, January 10, 2016:Pakistan Threatens To Wipe Iran Off the Face of The Earth If Saudi Arabia Threatened
In other news...
Just kidding with the 'in other news' schtick, a bit of whistling-past-the-graveyard humor while perusing Debka's:
« Breaking News »
Pakistan threatens to wipe Iran off the map if Saudi harmed
DEBKAfile January 10, 2016, 7:36 PM (IDT)
In Pakistan’s first transparent nuclear threat to Iran, its chief of army staff, Gen. Raheel Sharif, vowed Sunday to wipe Iran off the face of the earth if any harm came to Saudi Arabia. He gave this pledge to Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman, who was on a visit to a military base in Rawalpindi.As we often caveat [usage/grammar?], Debka has been known to spin a story to make a propaganda point but as we also emphasize, they have sources that intelligence agencies would literally kill for.
Daily Pakistan is using a more genteel headline:
Pakistan will strongly respond if Saudi Arabia attacked: COAS Raheel Sharif
ISLAMABAD (Staff Report) – Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif has said Pakistan will strongly respond to any attack on Saudi Arabia, Inter-Service Public Relations said on Sunday.
During a one-and-half hour meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince and Minister for Defence Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud who called on him at General Headquarters, the COAS said Pakistan has good relations with every country in the region.
Pakistan has special relation with Saudi Arabia and values the relation between two countries, said the ISPR statement, adding that any attack on Saudi Arabia will be strongly countered.
The Saudi prince appreciated the efforts of Pakistan and its armed forces in war against terrorism, and also for keeping peace and stability in the region.ArabNews, Jan. 11 is going with "Deepening Saudi-Pakistan ties".
The Saudi prince was received by Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and PM’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz besides senior military and civil officers at Nur Khan Airbase. He went straight to General Headquarters after landing in the country.
This is the second high-profile visitor from Riyadh in three days. Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir visited Islamabad on Thursday for discussing Riyadh’s tensions with Tehran and the counter-terrorism coalition that Saudi Arabia has announced....MORE
"Riyadh to Beijing: We’ll Pay for Nuclear-Capable Ballistic Missiles with All the Oil You Need "
Nov. 2013
Saudi Arabia Has Nuclear Weapons ‘on order,’ Ready to Deliver from Pakistan: Report
Isn't that just special.
This crossed the wire earlier today (yesterday BST) but now there are a dozen other sources carrying the story.
The Saudis hate the Iranians and want to overthrow Assad in Syria.
They don't much like the Jews either.
April 2014
"The risks of a nuclear Saudi Arabia"
May 2015
"Saudi Arabia to buy nuclear bombs from Pakistan: report"
August 2015
"The Long-Term Oil Play"
Some of the easily identifiable considerations to plug into your model are the depressive effects of slowing population growth and international agreements to use force to further the stranded assets argument, the inflationary effects of a reduction in the total resource and more particularly in the lower cost plays and the could-go-either-way interplay of price and regulation in the development of alternative transportation and whether Saudi Arabia asks Pakistan to lend them 60-70 nukes until their domestic nuclear development program gets going.
Then there are the unknown unknowns....
