• humanspiral
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    3 days ago

    Biden promised to give nuclear weapons program to KSA. Trump now likely to follow through/accelerate the transfer.

    • مهما طال الليل@lemm.eeOPM
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago

      What Saudi Arabia wanted is the ability to mine and enrich its own uranium for civilian purposes. Biden wanted instead a deal like what the UAE got where it buys the fuel ready.

      Saudi Arabia has stressed that it wants its program to be civilian-only and is more than willing to have UN inspectors inspect it. The US Congress wouldn’t allow such a thing because Saudi Arabia hasn’t normalized with Israel and even if it does who to say that the monarchy will never be replaced a la Iran? UAE despite normalization, Israel won’t even permit it to acquire the F-35.

      • humanspiral
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 days ago

        There is zero economic value to nuclear energy even in areas without abundant sunshine or oil and gas. There is only weapons value for uranium enrichment operations out of “face value” nuclear energy sites. KSA would not do favours for energy technology access.

        • مهما طال الليل@lemm.eeOPM
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          2 days ago

          I disagree with you on nuclear energy, it is viable, reliable and affordable.

          Saudi Arabia can get the technology from elsewhere, China is probably further ahead now than the US. The problem is who is going to stop the US or Israel from targeting them?

          Anyways we are going off topic and I don’t share your suspicions of Saudi Arabia not when worse global actors (Israel) already have civilian and military nuclear capabilities.

          • humanspiral
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            2 days ago

            The reason to give KSA nuclear weapons is appeasement for their tolerance of Israel behaviour. This was a recent Biden offer. I’m not suggesting that KSA will be any more abusive than other nuclear powers. US offer is partially to compete with China’s offer, but more about Israel tolerance.

            • مهما طال الليل@lemm.eeOPM
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              2 days ago

              Even if Saudi Arabia normalized and became super friendly to Israel, it is law that no one should be allowed to match it in the region as far as the US is concerned. Saudi Arabia is never getting nuclear weapons with US blessing, it can’t even civilian nuclear energy without the US insisting that it buys the fuel from it.

              Though this is a non-issue, if the program is purely civilian which the Saudi government is committed to.

          • Bronzebeard@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            2 days ago

            Renewables are far cheaper, easier and faster to roll out than any fission reactor design out there today.