Munich: Germany rallies NATO allies, partners to send more tanks to Ukraine
Breaking DefenseFebruary 17, 2023 First German Leopard 2 tank deploying to Ukraine ‘very soon,’ but who will be next?The breakthrough on heavy weaponry marked a pivotal moment in strategic thinking by Western decisionmakers, previously concerned that more modern main battle tanks than the Soviet-era T-72, operated by Ukraine, could lead to an escalation of the […]
Munich: Germany rallies NATO allies, partners to send more tanks to Ukraine — Anti-bellum
American Architect of the Ukraine War Gives Go Ahead to Attack Crimea.
American Architect of the Ukraine War Gives Go Ahead to Attack Crimea Andy Corbley VARESE, Italy. February 17th, 2023. In a video conference press briefing, Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland reiterated the US would support Ukraine militarily in as far as it wanted to take Crimea. FULL ARTICLE
American Architect of the Ukraine War Gives Go Ahead to Attack Crimea — Anti-bellum
U.S. compensates Czech Republic for arms shipments to Ukraine — Anti-bellum
Defense PostFebruary 17, 2023 US Compensates Czech Republic for $200M Aid to Ukraine The US has given $200 million to the Czech Republic as compensation for sending military weapons and equipment to Ukraine. The donation is on top of the $106 million that Washington pledged last year under Foreign Military Financing. [It will also] be […]
U.S. compensates Czech Republic for arms shipments to Ukraine — Anti-bellum
Judge commends Just Stop Oil activists
A judge has thanked anti-fossil fuel campaigners for opening his eyes as
he praised them as good people with admirable aims. In comments supporting
their motivation, Judge Graham Wilkinson told Just Stop Oil activists who
had blocked the distribution of oil that they were “a pleasure to deal
with”. He also said he had been moved by their evidence.
Independent 18th Feb 2023
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/just-stop-oil-judge-court-trial-b2284512.html
Ukraine ‘peace petition’ backed by nearly half a million Germans
“Are we then inexorably sliding down a chute leading to a world war and nuclear war?” the petition asks
https://www.rt.com/news/571648-half-million-germans-peace-ukraine-petition/ 18 Feb 23
The document co-authored by prominent left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht suggests weapons deliveries should stop
Almost 500,000 Germans have supported a petition urging Chancellor Olaf Scholz to spearhead efforts for peace negotiations in Ukraine. The appeal is authored by journalist Alice Schwarzer and Sahra Wagenknecht, a prominent member of Germany’s Left Party (Die Linke), and implores officials in Berlin not to provide Kiev with more weapons.
The document, which was published last Friday and has since gathered an increasing number of supporters, claims that the conflict in Ukraine has already cost the lives of more than 200,000 military personnel and 50,000 civilians.
“If the fighting goes on like this, Ukraine will soon be a depopulated, destroyed country,” the authors warn. Wagenknecht and Schwarzer also argue that “a lot of people in Europe fear an expansion of the war.”
The petition asserts that Ukrainians need solidarity from Germany, but questions whether Berlin’s current policies truly reflect the support they require.
“What is now, one year on, the actual goal of this war?” the authors ask, citing German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s recent comment about Europe being at war with Russia.
The petition expresses skepticism over whether Scholz’s government will keep its word and not provide Ukraine with fighter jets. According to Wagenknecht and Schwarzer, the German chancellor has already crossed multiple “red lines” in recent months.
The pair also warn that Russian President Vladimir Putin could unleash a “maximum counterstrike,” should Ukraine retake Crimea – which is among the goals set by senior officials in Kiev.
“Are we then inexorably sliding down a chute leading to a world war and nuclear war?” the petition asks, adding that numerous major conflicts have begun this way, and that another could end up being the last for mankind.
The petition stresses that “to negotiate doesn’t mean to capitulate,” but rather to “make compromises on both sides.” The authors claim that half of the German population wants immediate peace talks, and suggest that the government should heed their calls.
“We demand that the federal chancellor stop the escalation of weapons deliveries,” the document states, urging officials in Berlin to focus on peace efforts and form an international alliance to this end.
The petition had received 496,008 signatures at the time of writing.
Moscow has repeatedly signaled it is open to talks with Kiev, provided that Ukrainian leaders accept Russia’s conditions and recognize what the Kremlin calls the “reality on the ground.”
In early October 2022, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky ruled out negotiations with his Russian counterpart. Kiev is insisting on a military victory over Russia, and refuses to make any territorial concessions to its neighbor.
Iran denies enriching uranium to 84 percent purity amid IAEA row
The IAEA says it is talking to Iran over enrichment, as Tehran says the agency is being used as a ‘political tool’.
Aljazeera, By Maziar Motamedi, 20 Feb 202320 Feb 2023
Tehran, Iran – Iran has denied that it has intentionally enriched uranium to a purity of 84 percent amid ongoing issues with the global nuclear watchdog and disagreements over its 2015 nuclear deal.
US-based financial news agency Bloomberg reported on Sunday that inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had found uranium enriched to a purity of 84 percent — just below the 90 percent required for a bomb — and are trying to determine if it was produced intentionally.
This is the highest purity uranium ever found in Iran, which has gradually boosted its enrichment since 2019, one year after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from its nuclear deal with world powers, and has declared enrichment up to 60 percent. Iranian officials have said that they are not seeking a nuclear weapon.
“The IAEA is aware of recent media reports relating to uranium enrichment levels in Iran,” the agency wrote on Twitter early on Monday. “Director General @rafaelmgrossi is discussing with Iran the results of recent Agency verification activities and will inform the IAEA Board of Governors as appropriate.”
Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, told the state-linked Fars news website late on Sunday that particles with a purity of higher than 60 percent had been found by inspectors, but that had happened before and was nothing out of the ordinary.
“The existence of a uranium particle or particles with a purity of over 60 percent in the enrichment process does not mean that there has been enrichment over 60 percent,” he said.
“This is something very natural which can even occur as a result of a decrease in the feed of centrifuge cascades at a moment. What matters is the final product, and the Islamic Republic of Iran has so far not tried to enrich over 60 percent.”
According to Kamalvandi, an issue like this was not something the agency would even report to its member states, so the fact that it has been leaked to Western media showed it was an effort towards “smearing and warping facts”.
The spokesperson also repeated Iranian accusations that the agency was being used as a “political tool” to pressure Iran with confidential reports previously leaked to media in Western countries……………………………………………
There has been no significant progress on efforts to restore the nuclear deal since September, when the Western parties accused Iran of derailing the talks.
Since then, they have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Iranian officials and entities for allegedly selling drones to Russia for the war in Ukraine, and for cracking down on antigovernment protests.
Tehran, for its part, has maintained that it wants a deal and has accused the West of lacking political will.
Russia and China are also part of the JCPOA. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/20/iran-denies-enriching-uranium-to-84-percent-purity-amid-iaea-row
Ukraine Presses US Congress Members for F-16 Jetfighters
Sunday, 19 February, 2023 -Asharq Al-Awsat
Ukrainian officials have urged US Congress members to press President Joe Biden’s administration to send F-16 jetfighters to Kyiv, saying the aircraft would boost Ukraine’s ability to hit Russian missile units with US-made rockets, lawmakers said.
The lobbying came over the weekend on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in talks between Ukrainian officials, including Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, and Democrats and Republicans from the Senate and House of Representatives.
“They told us that they want (F-16s) to suppress enemy air defenses so they could get their drones” beyond Russian front lines, Senator Mark Kelly, a former astronaut who flew US Navy fighters in combat, told Reuters on Saturday evening.
Biden last month said “no” when asked if he would approve Ukraine’s request for Lockheed-Martin-made F-16s.
Four delegations from the Senate and House combined in what members called the largest number of US lawmakers to attend Europe’s premier security gathering since it started in 1963, demonstrating clear bipartisan support for Ukraine…………………………
Calls to supply Ukraine with advanced jetfighters follow agreements last month by France, Britain, the United States and Germany to supply Kyiv with modern battle tanks…….. https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4167481/ukraine-presses-us-congress-members-f-16-jetfighters
Quake revives debate over Turkey’s nuclear plant
In a statement to the AP, the Cyprus Anti-Nuclear platform, a coalition of over 50 Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot environmentalist groups, trade unions and political parties, said it “calls on all political parties, scientific and environmental organizations and the civil society to join efforts and put pressure on the Turkish government to terminate its plans for the Akkuyu nuclear power plant.”
Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, by MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS and JENNIFER McDERMOTT The Associated Press
NICOSIA, Cyprus — A devastating earthquake that toppled buildings across parts of Turkey and neighboring Syria has revived a longstanding debate locally and in neighboring Cyprus about a large nuclear power station being built on Turkey’s southern Mediterranean coastline.
The plant’s site in Akkuyu, located about 210 miles west of the epicenter of the Feb. 6 quake, is being designed to endure powerful tremors and did not sustain any damage or experience powerful ground shaking from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and aftershocks.
Cypriot European Parliament member Demetris Papadakis asked the European Commission what immediate actions it intends to take to halt the plant because of the dangers posed by building a nuclear power station in a seismic zone so close to Cyprus……..
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But the size of the quake, the deadliest in Turkey’s modern history, sharpened existing concerns about the facility being built on the edge of a major fault line…………………………………………..
An official with Turkey’s Energy Ministry, when contacted by the AP, said there were no immediate plans to reassess the project. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol. Some activists, however, still say the project — the first nuclear power plant in Turkey — poses a threat.
Nuclear facilities are constructed of heavily reinforced concrete, sized for significant earthquake shaking and far more robust than commercial buildings, said Andrew Whittaker, a professor of civil engineering at the University at Buffalo who is an expert in earthquake engineering and nuclear structures.
The fact that it’s being built off the western end of the East Anatolian Fault, which was linked to the powerful tremor, suggests that the design would have been checked for significant shaking, Whittaker added.
Still, Whittaker said, it would be prudent to reassess seismic hazard calculations in the region for all infrastructure, including the plant.
“There’s no reason to be concerned, but there’s always a reason to be cautious,” he said.
That’s little comfort to activists in Turkey and on both sides of ethnically divided Cyprus. They’ve renewed their calls for the project to be scrapped, saying that the devastating earthquake is clear proof of the great risk posed by a nuclear power plant near seismic fault lines.
In a statement to the AP, the Cyprus Anti-Nuclear platform, a coalition of over 50 Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot environmentalist groups, trade unions and political parties, said it “calls on all political parties, scientific and environmental organizations and the civil society to join efforts and put pressure on the Turkish government to terminate its plans for the Akkuyu nuclear power plant.”…………………….. https://nwaonline.com/news/2023/feb/19/quake-revives-debate-over-turkeys-nuclear-plant/?news-wor1
Saudi Arabia says nuclear arms race in the Middle East ‘cannot be ruled out’
Kingdom wants to be involved in global negotiations with Iran
N UK, 19 Feb 23,
Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, has said he “cannot rule out” a nuclear arms race in the region.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, he said the kingdom was concerned about Iran’s nuclear programme and wanted negotiations between Tehran and world powers to resume.
At a session titled Middle Men: The Geostrategic Role of Middle Eastern Countries, Prince Faisal said: “If one state gets nuclear weapons, especially one that has expressed aggression towards its neighbours, I think everyone will start thinking about how to protect themselves.
“I hope that never happens. If it is a genie that gets out, it will be very hard to put back into the bottle…………………………………………………….. more https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2023/02/18/saudi-arabia-says-nuclear-arms-race-in-the-middle-east-cannot-be-ruled-out/
Iranians Caught Between Optimism, Pessimism Over Nuclear Talks
Iran International News.19 Feb 23
Iranian media sounded optimistic this week following news on Wednesday that Tehran and Washington seemed to be negotiating over a prisoner exchange deal.
But gradually the optimism dissipated as no follow-up news was heard and the foreign ministry spokesman on Saturday told a local news website that the talks have stopped.
Moderate conservative Khabar Online in Tehran was quick to pick up the news about “Progress in the Iran-US negotiations.” The website’s editors were upbeat that finally, US officials have spoken positively about the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which is another name for the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
Khabar Online observed that “Although some analysts maintain that pressures by Israel and disputes with the Congress as well as some domestic political issues give reasons to the Biden Administration to be reluctant about resuming the nuclear talks, yet the bigger picture indicates a more positive outlook compared to past weeks and months.”
Indirect nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington reached a deadlock in September 2022, when at the same time antigovernment protests broke out in Iran. The US in early October signaled that it is not focused on the negotiations any more and is determined to support the rights of protesters………………………….
Apart from statements by President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iranian nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami also told the press that Iran is prepared to continue the nuclear negotiations based on previous agreements.
Regardless of any real or imagined progress, Iran’s former ambassador to London, Mohsen Baharvand warned in a commentary he wrote for Etemad Newspaper that the possible death of the JCPOA will have unforeseeable repercussions. Baharvand said: “After the death of the JCPOA is announced any of the two parties might resort to actions that would endanger regional and international peace.”…………………………..more https://www.iranintl.com/en/202302197995
Extending more than two nuclear reactors is dangerous, says deputy prime minister Gilkinet
He challenged the MR bill to extend three reactors: “We are talking about nuclear reactors with single-walled tanks, honeycombed tanks, with hydrogen bubbles. We are talking about power stations that do not meet the conditions of resistance to seismic shocks, to the fall of an aeroplane… I remind you that Tihange is on the axis of the Bierset airport. The international safety standards are essential.”
19 February 2023, By The Brussels Times with Belga
Extending more than two nuclear reactors would be dangerous, warned Ecolo deputy prime minister Georges Gilkinet in an interview with Le Soir published Saturday. The minister opposes the MR’s proposal to extend the life of the three other units still in operation.
As the energy uncertainty brought on by the Ukraine crisis continues, De Croo’s Vivaldi government has reconsidered the question of Beligum’s nuclear power, which it had long been due to phase out.
for Georges Gilkinet, whose party has historically opposed any prolongation of Belgium’s reactors, “we will continue to push for the closure of the plants. The current plans to close five reactors have not been changed.” To prevent the real possibility of blackouts, the deputy prime minister speaks of “modulation” of three reactors rather than “extension”.
He challenged the MR bill to extend three reactors: “We are talking about nuclear reactors with single-walled tanks, honeycombed tanks, with hydrogen bubbles. We are talking about power stations that do not meet the conditions of resistance to seismic shocks, to the fall of an aeroplane… I remind you that Tihange is on the axis of the Bierset airport. The international safety standards are essential.” https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/374759/extending-more-than-two-nuclear-reactors-is-dangerous-says-gilkinet—
Cumbrian Campaigner Invited to Speak at International Webinar on Nuclear Waste Burial Schemes. — RADIATION FREE LAKELAND
Register here – February 22nd 5 pm (UK time) PRESS NOTICE Cumbrian Campaigner Invited to Speak at International Webinar on Nuclear Waste Burial Schemes. Radiation Free Lakeland’s founder, Marianne Birkby has been invited to speak at an International Webinar. Speakers from the US, Sweden and the UK will provide updates from other countries exploring or pursuing deep […]
Cumbrian Campaigner Invited to Speak at International Webinar on Nuclear Waste Burial Schemes. — RADIATION FREE LAKELAND
February 19 Energy News — geoharvey
Science and Technology: ¶ “DOE Just Can’t Quit Concentrating Solar Power (And That’s A Good Thing)” • Fans of concentrating solar power have a dream of a 100-MW facility that can deliver electricity 24/7, just like a nuclear power plant but without the risk and the fancy price tag. Now the US DOE has a […]
February 19 Energy News — geoharvey
1 This Month.
5 January -Webinar-What is Trump’s Golden Dome?
REGISTER AT Massachusetts Peace Action Education
New book – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1923372157?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Now until to February 10, 2026 Radioactive waste storage in France: the debate is finally open! How to participate?
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