The wingnuts are all in a tizzy about some German news article alleging that North Korea carried out a nuclear test for Iran.
As with the Niger uranium story that helped underpin the Iraq war, it is all hype and there is nothing to it.
Adam Cathcart has carefully traced the story to its origins.
The speculation was indulged in, in an opinion piece by a former German defense ministry official, Hans Rühle. He was active in the 1980s.
But, you say, maybe his information comes from German Defense Ministry sources?
No. It is speculation based on speculation in a journal article in the February issue of Nature magazine.
And to where do the footnotes go?
An unpublished paper by Swedish researchers, which will come out in April, and the exact text of which is unavailable.
So, to conclude:
The entire story is based on speculation and innuendo.
It is third hand.
We can’t even see the exact source.
There is no particular reason to think that the Swedish researchers know more about this subject than the 16 US intelligence agencies who have assessed with confidence that Iran has no nuclear weapons program, or than the International Atomic Energy Agency. We don’t even know exactly what the Swedes said.
Beware wingnuts citing articles in languages they do not know.
I’m not alleging that Ruhle or his sources are engaging in fraud, just that it is fraudulent to misrepresent their speculations as fact. However, Ruehle has a history of making wild accusations on Iran that have not been borne out.
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