Friday, November 27, 2020

     PHYSICISTS  DON'T SHOOT  OTHER PHYSICISTS,  BUT
          LAME DUCKS MAY SHOOT WHOM THEY PLEASE 

IN 1943,  DUTCH PHYSICIST  SAM GOUDSMIT DECLINED TO KILL GERMAN NUCLEAR RESEARCHER WERNER HEISENBERG BECAUSE "PHYSICISTS DON'T SHOOT OTHER PHYSICISTS." 

THE OSS STATION CHIEF IN ZURICH, ALLAN DULLES, THEN OFFERED SCIENCY BASEBALL PRO MOE BERG A PISTOL TO TAKE TO A SEMINAR THE NAZI NOBELIST WAS TO DELIVER IN NEUTRAL SWITZERLAND.   BERG TOOK THE GUN, WENT, AND HAVING LISTENED, DECIDED NOT TO SHOOT HIM ANYWAY. THE GUARDIAN  REPORTS  ON HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED:

Iran scientist's assassination appears intended to undermine nuclear deal

The entrance of the nuclear power plant of Natanz, south of Tehran.
The entrance of the nuclear power plant in Natanz, south of Tehran. Photograph: Atomic Energy Organization of Ir/AFP/Getty Images
 in Washington

The assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh may not much have impact on the Iranian nuclear programme he helped build, but it will certainly make it harder to salvage the deal intended to restrict that programme, and that is – so far - the most plausible motive.

Israel is widely agreed to be the most likely perpetrator. Mossad is reported to have been behind a string of assassinations of other Iranian nuclear scientists – reports Israeli officials have occasionally hinted were true.

According to former officials, the Obama administration leaned on Israel to discontinue those assassinations in 2013, as it started talks with Tehran that led two years later to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), by which Iran accepted constraints on its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief...