Charlie Rose

doodahdaze  04/24/2010 08:33 AM Report

It says in the 10 Commandments, that Senator Sam Nunn says, "YOU will have NONE" and so it is DONE.

Walda Lavroff  06/19/2007 07:47 PM Report

Senator Nunn,

The world could become a safer place if you were president of the US.

Jeff Eerkens  06/19/2007 06:10 PM Report

While I am in agreement with Senator Nunn that nuclear weapons proliferation must be suppressed to the max, he must be careful not to broad-brush cessation of nuclear fuel enrichment and reprocessing, or the lowering of research reactor enrichments. Some very important medical radio-isotopes can only be

produced with high neutron fluxes that require research reactors with highly enriched uranium. If the US unilaterally prohibits such reactors, you can be sure that someone else in the world will make these valuable isotopes; we will loose another important nuclear-related business again due to a short-sighted policy.

I am baffled why our (nuclear) science policies are made by politicians, lobbyists, and newspaper writers instead of qualified nuclear engineers and scientists. Politicians and reporters seem unable to distinguish between a hands-on nuclear reactor expert and an anti-nuclear self-proclaimed (pseudo-)scientist; it seems that in their estimation a urologist and a surgeon are medical experts both equally qualified to perform a heart transplant.

We must greatly expand nuclear power if we want to survive the out-of-oil crisis of 2050(see "The Nuclear Imperative", Springer(2006); ISBN 1-4020-4930-7). Reprocessing and enrichment are essential parts of the nuclear fuel cycle and must not be curtailed by overly restrictive laws. These steps can be (and have been) done safely and virtually terrorist-proof. We don't stop driving cars because of the possibility of incurring a fatal accident, or stop building airplanes because they can be used in warfare.

A strong global NPT is absolutely necessary in a future uranium-powered world. I also agree with Senator Nunn that it is hypocritical of us to demand that other countries not extend their nuclear activities into making nuclear weapons, while we keep thousands of them and did not reduce our stockpile to reasonable levels as we promised decades ago.

The alarmist claims that terrorists could make a supercritical uranium bomb by stealing enriched uranium is as simple-minded as saying that by stealing hydrogen rocket-fuel, they could fly a rocket to the moon. It took several years and a team of top high-explosives experts to design and build the nuclear bombs that destroyed the city-centers of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In September 1999, three workers at a nuclear fuel assembly plant in Tokaimura, Japan, accidentally mixed a super-critical amount of enriched uranium in a solvent processing tank. A pulsating flashing nuclear fission excursion resulted that caused the solution to boil for several hours. While the workers later died due to excessive radiation, the city of Tokaimura was not leveled. Only a 1000x1000 foot area of the plant was contaminated. It is much more likely (and easier) that terrorists will use a chemical or biological weapon to affect mass murder than to try to detonate a nuclear weapon.

Jeff Eerkens

Iran  06/19/2007 05:12 PM Report

Sanctions should be directed at the Regime

not Iranians. The son of ex-chief of Revolutionary gaurds enters US, nothing happens! He returns Iran, nothing happens! The Regime's students are studying in US with Regime's backing!! while ordinary Iranians struggle to make ends meet. Millitary attackes hurt only people. Iran/majority of Iranians not only been friends, but admirer of US, for a very long time. It has been only the Islamic Regime, and a fraction of its loyals, that has always been, and , will remain suspicious of US. One of Larijanis brothers, the director of IPM, Tehran, made it clear about regime,not long ago, in one of his interviews with a local Iranian Newspaper.

While the regime and its establishment, at home and abroad, swim in Petro-dollar,the

ordinary Iranians struggle to survive. See it for yoursef in the following Video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2ZvMKcR5C4

Dennis Foy  06/19/2007 02:47 PM Report

Former Senator Sam Nunn, stated that the greatest threat to America is the uncontrolled nuclear material throughout the world. He also stated; that this issue, combined with al Qaeda determination too procure such material was a recipe for disaster.

With respect towards Iran, he stated that the present administrationâ??s disicion to invade Iraq was a catastrophic mistake on the highest order. Inferring, that it would an equally ruinous idea, to conduct a preemptive strike on Irans nuclear enrichment project.

What he did not say, and what no one has said, is why have we not engage the Iranianâ??s directly.

Bilateral discussions are not on the table. The national hubris is a stake? I donâ??t think so, Not after the failed attempt at nation building !!! So, what are we to lose by inviting the Iranians to the table,

Nothing!!! We have everything to gain.

If we do strike, and we are capable of doing so, the expanded chaos will engulf the entire region. There is no benefit in that equation to anyone. The math is quite simple, as is the leadership necessary to extract us from the quagmire of blood for oil.

1. A national agenda, with the 1960's style and commitment, of the Putting a man on the Moon..., to fund and create a agency very much like NASA. Charge, to develop alterative fuels, Carburetors that get 200 miles to the gallon, or what ever it takes, to eradicate the dependence on oil. If necessity is the mother of invention, nothing is more important. Remember, before the space project, power tools were not existent. They are one example, of the watershed, in that ongoing project. Whole industries would arise, stimulating a new economy. The possibility are endless!

2. Engage, engage, stay engaged. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer, diplomacy, and a honest accountability for our actions over the last fifty years.

3. Address the issues, that can be addressed, concerning radical Islam. In the end, all wars end at the negotiation table. Or, if we continue down this path, at the collective grave of humanity.

Nan Snyder  06/19/2007 11:42 AM Report

Re: Sam Nunn - someone who actually gets it - keep up the good work!

RICK DAVIS  06/19/2007 10:58 AM Report

Charlie, have you ever considered interviewing the author John Perkins? He wrote the book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.

AJ Stevens  06/19/2007 01:31 AM Report

Hi Charlie, both yourself and Senator Nunn gave the impression

that you are unaware of the intriguing possibility that

the actual use of nuclear weapons is really impossible due

to the certain intervention of God or the CEMCO. Since this idea

is clearly not verifiable even though rather likely, I would support

Nunn's proposals to control such weapons because they are

sensible precaution. To take seriously my conjecture of the final

obsolescence of nuclear weapons could have many policy implications.

It would mean, for instance, that North Korea is a paper tiger -

no worries - and that the Iraq WMD scare was merely a cover story

for the neo-Colonial Adventurist policy of the Bush administration

(Wolfey please consult your Pravda Archive). It might mean that

nuclear weapons programs by rogue states might actually be a good

idea that should be encouraged, because they would be under a stricter

discipline, and unable to use nuclear weapons under nearly all

contingencies.

Bob Kirsch  06/18/2007 09:12 PM Report

Use of words such as "lazy" and "uneducated" often reflect more on the person using them than on those this person wishes to criticize.

dan korman  06/18/2007 04:51 PM Report

This was another great show. Congratulations on asking good questions.

One side thought on the Middle East is that the current Hamas violence in Gaza against Fatah (who are other Palestinians) prove liberal apologists like former President Carter and Author Thomas Friedman wrong. Israel has pulled out of Gaza and Lebonan, given and re given land for peace and even given Palestinians self rule. And also allowed them to have elections. This shows the world should not continue to blame Israel.

Note:

Palestinians chose Hamas terrorists and prefer to continue violence even against each other than to work together for their common good.

Question: Are arabs collectively too lazy and uneducated to manage their own infrastructure

and self rule, preferring instead violence to compromise?