Tony Cartalucci
Land Destroyer Report
Wednesday, February 1, 2012

“…it would be far more preferable if the United States could cite an Iranian provocation as justification for the airstrikes before launching them. Clearly, the more outrageous, the more deadly, and the more unprovoked the Iranian action, the better off the United States would be. Of course, it would be very difficult for the United States to goad Iran into such a provocation without the rest of the world recognizing this game, which would then undermine it. (One method that would have some possibility of success would be to ratchet up covert regime change efforts in the hope that Tehran would retaliate overtly, or even semi-overtly, which could then be portrayed as an unprovoked act of Iranian aggression.) ” Read more »

U.S. finds new human infection with swine H3N2 flu 

The Canadian Press

U.S. public health officials have found another case of human infection with a swine-origin H3N2 virus, this time in a child from West Virginia. And they also reported finding a human infection with a new swine influenza virus never before seen in humans, in a person in Wisconsin who had contact with pigs.

The Wisconsin case seems to be a one-off infection, with no signs of further spread. But the investigation into West Virginia case suggests the child was infected by another person, not a pig and that some amount of human-to-human spread of the virus took place in the unnamed community where the child lives, according to details released Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

The H3N2 case is the 12th — in five states — reported in the U.S. since this new virus was first spotted in July. And the CDC acknowledges there are probably more cases that haven’t been picked up by the country’s flu surveillance systems. Read more »

Iranians need maraging steel to produce new uranium enrichment centrifuges and exhaust systems for missile engines. Was explosion at steel factory connected to nuclear program?

Ron Ben-Yishai

Does the mysterious blast in Iran‘s steel factory have any connection to attempts to sabotage the Iranian nuclear program? Foreign reports suggesting Iran received North Korean steel used for uranium enrichment and the production of exhaust systems of missile engines may indicate that there is such a connection.

Initially, the Iranians claimed that the cause for Sunday’s blast was the penetration of water into the steel’s melting pot but later said that ammunition brought to the factory had exploded.

Related stories:

• Iranian throws shoes at Ahmadinejad
• Iran: 7 killed in steel factory blast
• Israeli officials: Obama too soft on Iran
  

Less than a month ago, Germany’s Die Welt newspaper reported that North Korea had provided Iran and Syria with special maraging steel which serves for the production of facilities required to withstand high speed and heavy heat. The paper claimed that both the Iranians and the Syrians are in need of such steel for the production of new centrifuges for uranium enrichment and the manufacturing of exhaust systems for missile engines. Read more »