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The Road to Nuclear Armament: The Third-World Threat
The Road to Nuclear Armament The ThirdWorld Threat Author:Al J. Venter According to Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general emeritus of the International Atomic Energy Agency, there are currently more than thirty countries worldwide experimenting with one form or another of nuclear weapons research, the majority of them doing so clandestinely. In the Middle East, countries that are known to have been involved i... more »n such research include Iran, Syria, Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. To this list may be added, outside the region, Pakistan, India, Burma (Myanmar), and North Korea. And since the early 1980s, al Qaeda has been making concerted efforts to acquire nuclear prowess, to the extent that it has launched a succession of instructional Web sites on building nuclear weapons.Clearly, the prospect of various unstable nations with conflicting political and ideological agendas or radical terrorist groups acquiring nuclear weapons is a potential crisis like none other in history. What is the extent of the threat and what can be done to stop nuclear proliferation?Veteran journalist Al J. Venter, a former military correspondent for Jane's Information Group in Britain, provides a thorough overview of the state of nuclear armament in this revealing and disturbing investigation. His in-depth research uncovers little-known facts about the following troubling developments:Al Qaeda's nuclear aspirations--based on intercepted transcripts the terrorist group is determined to detonate a "dirty bomb" in an American city.How and why Israel, India, and Pakistan secretly built the bomb.How South Africa once built six atomic bombs, but then voluntarily disarmed.Illegal proliferation of fissile materials out of the former Soviet Union.Pakistan's A.Q. Khan's nuclear smuggling empire.Iran's resolute path to nuclear self-sufficiency.Libya's former efforts to develop nuclear weapons.Besides providing a great deal of new information, Venter illustrates his points with photographs, diagrams, and sketches never published before in the West. With the intrigue of a Tom Clancy novel, yet completely factual, this sobering glimpse into a dangerous underworld will keep readers fascinated and on the edge of their seats.« less