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SYDNEY-Russia signed a controversial, multibillion-dollar deal to buy Australian uranium Friday, after vowing none will be on-sold to Iran or Syria.The signing was announced by Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a joint press conference.The two leaders met on the sidelines of this weekend's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit.Howard told reporters the uranium will only be sold to Russia with "very strict safeguards" attached.Putin denied the uranium will be used for military purposes and said it will be used to dramatically expand its civilian nuclear energy plants.None of the uranium will be sold by Russia to Iran or Syria,Putin added."If we needed to sell uranium to other countries then our uranium is sufficient,"he said."We need this Australian uranium...given our plans for peaceful nuclear energy."Uranium mine production is expanding rapidly in Australia, which is currently negotiating safeguards for export to China, and last month ended its ban on supplying uranium to India.Australia is also Japan's largest source of uranium and the developments have prompted Tokyo to seek an agreement with Australia that will secure its supply.Howard and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are expected to sign a document on climate change and energy when they meet Saturday on the sidelines of the APEC summit, according to Japanese government sources.When questioned on Russia's deal with Indonesia to supply $1.2 billion worth of military weapons,struck in Jakarta on Thursday,Putin denied the agreement posed a threat to security in the region.Japanese officials have expressed concern about the deal and called on Indonesia to explain why it needs the weapons."Indonesia is a fully fledged member of the international community, the country is under no sanction," Putin said. "The selling of weapons on international markets cannot be restricted. These are legal and open transactions and they will lead to no negative consequences in the world."Putin flew to Sydney early Friday morning, becoming the first Russian leader to visit Australia and signaling the beginning of closer ties between the Cold War foes.http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8RGDOT80&show_article=1&catnum=0
As in the days of Noah...
