THE GUN IS STARTING TO SMOKE – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  The Scotsman, obviously published in Scotland, is a spirited newspaper that often breaks major stories, or at least identifies them.  It has picked up the story of an Iranian defector who confirms what we have suspected for years:

A FORMER Iranian diplomat who defected to the West this year has described how he saw North Korean technicians repeatedly travel to Iran, which western officials fear is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Mohammad Reza Heydari, who resigned in January as the Iranian consul in Norway, said he was "certain" the co-operation was continuing between his country and North Korea.

His comments, at a Paris think-tank conference, come amid rising international concerns that North Korea, which has already staged atomic tests, is helping Iran with its nuclear programme.

Mr Heydari said that from 2002 to 2007, when he headed the Iranian foreign ministry's office with responsibility for airports, he saw many technicians from North Korea travel to Iran.

"I witnessed repeated round-trips of North Korean specialists and technicians - given that I was right there at the border - who came to collaborate on the Iranian nuclear programme," he said through a translator.

COMMENT:  And yet, nothing really has been done.  We continue to "engage" with North Korea, year after year, as that rogue nation develops nuclear weapons and shares technology with delights such as Iran. 

Nuclear proliferation is the single greatest problem facing civilization in the foreseeable future.  We can handle just about everything else.  But two nuclear weapons set off in, say, New York and Washington, would kill a ghastly number of Americans and probably wreck the American economy, as well as cutting off the head of the U.S. government.

Nuclear weapons do exactly what they're designed to do.  They do not require careful aim.  And nonsense about "crude nuclear devices" is simply an illusion.  A "crude" device explodes with the same force as a sophisticated one. 

We always look at defector reports with some skepticism.  Defectors often tell us what they think we want to hear, the better to get an enhanced deal.  But this defector is confirming what others have reported, and his report appears genuine and well documented.

We have gotten nowhere with Iran.  New "talks" are scheduled with Tehran for January.  They will also get nowhere.

Condi Rice, as secretary of state, was ridiculed for warning of a "mushroom cloud over Atlanta."  She was right.  Those who laughed were wrong.

December 8, 2010