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Making Britain a target for nuclear retaliation

The new bomb will also be located in five other European countries and assigned to Nato. The presence of these US nuclear weapons in Europe has already been used by Putin to justify his recent movement of Russian nukes to Belarus. Their return to Britain has led to promises of Russian countermeasures.

It’s beyond irresponsible that the UK government is allowing the deployment of the US new B61-12 guided nuclear bomb, writes KATE HUDSON

16 Sept 23  https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/making-britain-a-target-for-nuclear-retaliation—

ABOUT £9 billion of this year’s massive expansion in military spending is earmarked for nuclear weapons — that’s on top of over £205bn already being shelled out on replacing Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons system.

The deployment of the new B61-12 to Europe undermines prospects for global peace and ensures Britain will be a target in a nuclear conflict between the US/Nato and Russia.

Everyone needs to know that this is not a local or regional problem confined to East Anglia. In the event of a war, certainly Lakenheath will be targeted. But so will Britain’s other nuclear facilities, as well as major cities. The fact is, we are all at greater risk than ever if these weapons come back to Britain.

And no doubt there’ll be plenty extra spent on increasing the nuclear arsenal, announced in 2021, in spite of it being a breach of international law.

So you’d think there was already enough nuclear weaponry in Britain. But no. We’re having US nuclear weapons foisted on us too, without any public or parliamentary discussion.

As Diane Abbott wrote in these pages last weekend, the United States Congress has been informed of this development, but no such information has been provided to the British Parliament.

Repeated questions put in the House of Commons usually result in the non-information that “the Ministry of Defence is unable to comment on US spending decisions and capabilities, which are a matter for the US government. It remains long-standing UK and Nato policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons at a given location.”

Is this obfuscation, or can the US really put nuclear weapons here without our government’s say-so? Is this the much-vaunted “special relationship” — that the US can make us a nuclear target without our government even being allowed to comment?

One thing’s for certain: next year when the US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement comes up for renewal in Parliament, we can’t allow it to be the same old rubber stamp. It’s time to put paid to UK subordination to US nuclear, military and foreign policy.

But Lakenheath is our most immediate challenge. There’s been clear evidence for over a year that the US is planning to return its nuclear weapons to the base in Suffolk — a base often dubbed USAF Lakenheath because it is, in fact, wholly run and controlled by the US.

It’s time for our government to rethink its supine position, because even if it thinks that’s OK, the majority of the population doesn’t: 59 per cent of respondents to a recent Yougov poll opposed US nukes coming back to Britain, with only 23 per cent supporting.

CND has been active in protesting to stop the weapons coming here since the news first emerged last year. Despite the huge risks that are now facing all of us as a result of these weapons, getting widespread coverage of this issue has not been easy. The honourable exception has, of course, been the Morning Star.

But the tide has now turned. With the latest news from the Federation of American Scientists, we have managed to break through into the mainstream, with coverage on major national broadcasting and most national newspapers, not to mention a good range of local coverage.

The next step in our protests is coming up next weekend, with a “Stop US nukes coming to Britain” national day of action on Saturday September 23.

Events are happening across the country, and at Lakenheath itself, CND will visit to conduct a citizens’ weapons Inspection.

If the government refuses to confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons at the base, then citizens need to take matters into their own hands to ensure we have the information we need. And if we are going to be on the nuclear front line, then we certainly need to know that!

So far, the information we have is that US Air Force documents dated March this year strongly indicate that Washington is in the process of re-establishing its nuclear weapons presence in Britain, with the new B61-12 guided nuclear bomb.

Massive building works are under way at Lakenheath, including construction work on new facilities to house the anticipated influx of air crew. The work is expected to last from June 2024 to February 2026.

The new bomb will also be located in five other European countries and assigned to Nato. The presence of these US nuclear weapons in Europe has already been used by Putin to justify his recent movement of Russian nukes to Belarus. Their return to Britain has led to promises of Russian countermeasures.

It’s clear that Lakenheath is once again a vital cog in Washington’s overseas nuclear machine — despite refusals from the British government to acknowledge this reality.

It’s beyond irresponsible that the UK government is allowing this deployment. It’s time for us to step up our mobilisation. Over the decades, from Lakenheath to Greenham Common, persistent popular protest has been vital in getting US nuclear weapons removed from Britain. Now we must stop them coming back.

Kate Hudson is general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

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September 17, 2023 Posted by | UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

The UK Government Knows How Extreme the Online Safety Bill Is

SCHEERPOST, By Joe Mullin / Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

The U.K.’s Online Safety Bill (OSB) has passed a critical final stage in the House of Lords, and envisions a potentially vast scheme to surveil internet users. 

The bill would empower the U.K. government, in certain situations, to demand that online platforms use government-approved software to search through all users’ photos, files, and messages, scanning for illegal content. Online services that don’t comply can be subject to extreme penalties, including criminal penalties. 

Such a backdoor scanning system can and will be exploited by bad actors. It will also produce false positives, leading to false accusations of child abuse that will have to be resolved. That’s why the OSB is incompatible with end-to-end encryption—and human rights. EFF has strongly opposed this bill from the start. 

Now, with the bill on the verge of becoming U.K. law, the U.K. government has sheepishly acknowledged that it may not be able to make use of some aspects of this law. During a final debate over the bill, a representative of the government said that orders to scan user files “can be issued only where technically feasible,” as determined by Ofcom, the U.K.’s telecom regulatory agency. He also said any such order must be compatible with U.K. and European human rights law. ……………………………………………………………………………

People Need Privacy, Not Weak Promises

Let’s be clear: weak statements by government ministers, such as the hedging from Lord Parkinson during this week’s debate, are no substitute for real privacy rights. 

Nothing in the law’s text has changed. The OSB gives the U.K. government the right to order message and photo-scanning, and that will harm the privacy and security of internet users worldwide. These powers, enshrined in Clause 122 of the OSB, are now set to become law. After that, the regulator in charge of enforcing the law, Ofcom, will have to devise and publish a set of regulations regarding how the law will be enforced. 

Several companies that provide end-to-end encrypted services have said they will withdraw from the U.K. if Ofcom actually takes the extreme choice of requiring examination of currently encrypted messages. Those companies include Meta-owned WhatsApp, Signal, and U.K.-based Element, among others. ……………………….

Finally, lawmakers in other jurisdictions, including the United States, should take heed of the embarrassing result of passing a law that is not just deceptive, but unhinged from computational reality. The U.K. government has insisted that through software “magic,” a system in which they can examine or scan everything will also somehow be a privacy-protecting system. Faced with the reality of this contradiction, the government has turned to an 11th hour campaign to assure people that the powers it has demanded simply won’t be used.  https://scheerpost.com/2023/09/15/the-uk-government-knows-how-extreme-the-online-safety-bill-is/

September 17, 2023 Posted by | politics, secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

JULIAN ASSANGE AND THE END OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

https://youtube.com/watch?v=i4N_P-Xd15E%3Fsi%3DhtjIruuPLvHuRSMW

The revival of the Espionage Act in the persecution of Assange is destroying the very foundation of democracy

The US government has hounded Julian Assange since WikiLeaks first revealed the extent of US war crimes in 2010. In the process of persecuting Assange, the federal government has used every tool at its disposal and even pushed beyond the boundaries that supposedly restrict state power in defense of civil liberties. One of the most insidious tactics is the use of the Espionage Act, which had not been used for against whistleblowers and journalists for almost a century before Assange’s case. In the first part of a two-part conversation, lawyer and human rights defender Stella Assange, spouse of Julian Assange, joins Chris Hedges for a look at the vast and vicious campaign by the US to silence Julian Assange, and what it all portends for our democracy.

…..one of the things that’s disturbed me from the start is how all of the international bodies and the legal entities that have gone after Julian, have broken their own rules and it’s so blatant. That’s what I find kind of incomprehensible because it’s public. It’s not a secret. I mean, there is many secret stuff they’ve done, too, of course. But, you know, revoking political asylum, allowing British police to go in on sovereign territory, charging him under the Espionage Act when he’s not an American citizen, recording his meeting with his attorneys. I mean, any one of these things in a normal legal procedure, would have seen the case dismissed and yet they keep doing it and doing it.

…………. if they eviscerate the rule of law, it’s not just going to be for Julian. They set those kinds of precedents and if they’re allowed to get away with it with anyone, it’s dangerous. That’s what, for me, is just so frustrating.

STELLA
But don’t you think they’re deliberately dismantling the system? They want to show that they are dismantling it.

CHRIS
Yes, of course, they are. But they’re dismantling it right in front of us and we’re just watching. I’m talking about the broader public and not reacting.
Yes, of course, that is the goal.

And so in a way, that passivity makes us complicit in what is ultimately our own enslavement. I mean, this is all, of course, even beyond Julian as a person and as a journalist. And that’s what, you know, having followed this case for several years and as you know, I was very close friends with Michael Ratner, which is how I met Julian, because I would come to London with Michael. I’m just kind of mystified at how people can’t see where this is going to lead………………………………………………………….

CHRIS
……… I think reading the CIA, which is a state within a state, it’s not even accountable within the Congress. And there was a few years ago, Feinstein, after the torture was exposed, tried to do a congressional report and there was this really revealing moment. I’m no fan of Feinstein, but she was, at that moment, trying to do the right thing.And she came out and she was just ashen. And I can’t remember the exact words, but it’s something like, “we can’t take on these people…”, because they had bugged all the computers in the congressional office, they destroyed information.

And I think it was that moment where she personally realised that we can’t control, there’s no regulation, there’s no oversight, there’s no control. And unlike the Church and the Pike committees that in the middle 70s, had exposed the crimes. That was it. That moment is gone. And I think that Vault 7, because of this kind of imperial attitude on the part of the CIA where they can do anything, because the CIA, we have 17 intelligence communities in the United States. I mean, the CIA as an intelligence organization is kind of redundant.

And what it has done is transformed itself into a paramilitary, especially after 9/11. And it’s completely in the dark. It has its own drones and special forces units. Having had friends who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, these people create more problems than they solve because they’ll go on extraction and night raids and anger an entire village and then the next day the Rangers will go through the village and they open fire on…I mean, they’re counterproductive. And I think that what happened with Vault 7 is that you now have an incredibly powerful organisation that is, in essence, a paramilitary organisation with huge resources and that exposure of Vault 7, they’re not used to being monitored, exposed in any way. I think the anger, I think it was more visceral. I think the anger within the CIA was ran really deep. And, you know, again, I haven’t spoken to anyone in the CIA, but my guess is that at that point, they laid down the law. We’re getting Julian. That’s my my guess.

I think it’s all being, because Biden, no matter who’s in the office, Obama, you can’t, at this point they talk about the Dark State. I mean, these are the, you know, figures like Biden are the puppets. In the military, you know, the US military has not been audited for a decade. I read somewhere we spend more on military bands than we do on the State Department. I mean, again, it’s like ancient Rome. I mean, it’s its own entity, almost severed from the government.
But that’s how I read what happened after Vault 7.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. there is no investigative journalism now within the government, with the inner workings of government, because everyone’s too frightened to talk, because they they’re they can immediately be traced.

So the last readout of any kind of exposure of the the the crimes, the criminal activity of power comes through people who are like Chelsea manning or Snowden, who have access to documents and will leak them,……………………………………………………………….

It means there is no power is in no way accountable. There’s no transparency, and we know history has taught us that when that kind of secrecy is imposed on autocratic power, it just in abuse grows upon abuse grows upon abuse. And that is why they’re just determined to crucify Julian.
That’s the crisis that we’re in.
We’ve lost the ability to know what power is doing.

STELLA
I have this feeling that in order to establish the baseline, you would have to give a history lesson.

Because, for example, the use of the Espionage Act, you have to understand that it wasn’t used for almost 100 years against whistleblowers and journalists. There was a shift with Obama that opened the doors to maybe one day the Espionage Act being used against publishers in the same way now being used against whistleblowers. And the way it was being used against whistleblowers was as if they were spies to begin with. So, there was a progressive shift. And that’s why Julian was surprised when Michael Ratner told him that he tought the US would try him under the Espionage Act after he had published. Because it was unprecedented, because the First Amendment is clear. And the First Amendment is really a revolutionary instrument, and it is the gold standard in the world…………………………………………………………..

And then, with what’s been done to Julian, because it’s been so protracted, we’re in a completely different information and security environment, as in the powers of the security state are far greater and have eroded all these other rights that came. 

…………………………………since the surveillance state has become so powerful, there’s been an ability to control communication in such an aggressive and invisible manner.
In the 12 or 13 years since WikiLeaks published this, we’re in a completely different environment……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. more https://therealnews.com/julian-assange-and-the-end-of-american-democracy

September 17, 2023 Posted by | civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Kings Bay nuclear submarine hub dodged a bullet named Hurricane Idalia

By Jamie​ Kwong | September 15, 2023

Last month, Hurricane Idalia slammed parts of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. It also threatened to devastate one of only two US bases that host nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.

Located in Camden County, Georgia—just north of the Florida border—Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay is the Atlantic hub of the US nuclear submarine fleet. It’s tasked with maintaining and servicing these billion dollar systems and their nuclear missiles, which the United States relies on to assure its capacity to launch a nuclear strike “anywhere, anytime.”

Hurricane Idalia put this key nuclear mission at risk………………………………………………………………………………………

Kings Bay seems to have dodged the worst. Reports indicate the installation experienced minimal damage and resumed normal operations the morning after the storm passed.

But the base may not be so lucky next time. Hurricanes are only expected to get worse as global temperatures rise. A warmer ocean and atmosphere fuel the evaporation-condensation cycle that powers hurricanes, causing more rain, stronger winds, and so, more powerful storms. Idalia’s rapid intensification amid unseasonably warm ocean temperatures in the Gulf suggest this phenomenon may well already be underway………………………………….more https://thebulletin.org/2023/09/kings-bay-nuclear-submarine-hub-dodged-a-bullet-named-hurricane-idalia/

September 17, 2023 Posted by | climate change, USA | Leave a comment

Radioactive discharge from Fukushima nuclear plant raising concerns on California coast.

CBS News, BY ANNE MAKOVEC, MOLLY MCCREA, SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

A controversial plan to release more than one million tons of treated radioactive water into the sea is now underway in Japan, giving scientists here in the Bay Area pause as well as those who seek escape on the open water. 

Near Fort Cronkhite in the Marin Headlands recently, surfer Jason Gittens contemplated what is means to be able to enjoy the open oceans. For him, the Pacific Ocean is a treasure………………..

……………………………………………………………….. Recently, protestors have gathered in Tokyo and in parts of South Korea. They oppose Japan’s release of more than a million tons of treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean which started on August 24.

Soon after, China announced a ban on all imported Japanese fish because of the release.

That prompted the U.S. ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, to go shopping for Fukushima fish in a supermarket and to chow down sushi to show support for Japan in front of the news media……………………………………………

The damaged reactors are still hot. There is a massive amount of melted nuclear fuel and fuel debris inside them and they require constant cooling.

‘Water was used to cool the reactors and it is still needed to cool the reactors,” explained UC Berkeley nuclear engineering professor Dr. Kal Vetter. The water used for cooling turns radioactive. …………………

The water is cooling the molten cores of the Fukushima reactors from the time of the accident,” said Dr. Arjun Makhijani. “It’s coming into direct contact with highly radioactive fission products and plutonium. So that’s why the water gets extremely radioactive.”

Makhijani is a nuclear fusion expert and president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER).

In addition to the cooling water that is pumped inside, groundwater has seeped into the site, and rainwater has fallen on the damaged reactors and turbines. All this water is now contaminated with radioactivity. The tainted water is collected, filtered, and stored on-site in specially prepared tanks.

……………………………….The discharging of the radioactive waters will take at least 30 years and will be controlled and monitored not just by Japanese officials, but by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). “The monitoring remains critical,” advised Vetter,…………………………………

 Makhijani and Dalnoki-Veress remain concerned. Both belong to a panel of experts representing the Pacific Islands Forum. The panel consulted with Japan over its intentions to release treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean and found the decision to release “regrettable.”

“There’s a lot of things that can go wrong,” said Dalnoki-Veress.

Tritiated water remains a concern for the panel. Makhijani recently wrote the book “Exploring Tritium’s Danger,” which challenges many long-held beliefs about the radioactive substance. He maintains that the impacts of tritium on human health, especially when taken into the body, warrant much more attention. 

Makhijani told CBS News Bay Area that in addition to the discharges, we all must pay more attention to what else we’re putting into the oceans.

“Because it’s not just this dumping,’ he said. “The oceans are under extreme stress. They’re under heat stress. They’re under acid stress, they’re under plastic stress.”

The oceans cover 72% of the earth and supplies half its oxygen. They also absorb 50 times more carbon dioxide than the atmosphere.

A recent poll conducted by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and Consortium on the Ocean’s Role in Climate found Americans care deeply about the ocean and that the majority worry about how climate change is impacting the ocean’s health.

………………………………”We used to think in the old days, “Out of sight, out of mind.” And they just dump stuff in the ocean,” said Gittens. “Well, now it’s not so out-of-sight, and going forward, I worry about my kids. Are they going to enjoy the ocean as much as I do?”  https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/radioactive-discharge-from-fukushima-nuclear-plant-raising-concerns-on-california-coast/

September 17, 2023 Posted by | oceans, USA | Leave a comment

Two years after AUKUS announcement, American politicians are divided on delivery of submarines to Australia

ABC By North America bureau chief Jade Macmillan in Washington DC, 16 Sept 23

A Republican senator has renewed calls for the US to step up its production of nuclear-powered submarines before selling them as part of AUKUS, arguing America is as “unprepared” as it was ahead of the Pearl Harbor attack. 

The US is set to transfer at least three Virginia-class submarines to Australia from the early 2030s under the AUKUS agreement.

However, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services committee, Roger Wicker, told a hearing in Washington this week that the US was failing to meet its own shipbuilding targets.

“We should be producing somewhere between 2.3 and 2.5 attack submarines a year to fulfil our own requirements as we implement AUKUS,” he said………….

Senator Wicker insists he supports the AUKUS agreement but has refused to back legislation in congress authorising the transfer of the submarines, arguing substantial new investments are needed in America’s shipbuilding capacity first.

In a letter to the president last month, he and 24 other Republicans argued selling submarines to Australia without a clear plan to replace them would “unacceptably weaken” the US fleet at the same time that China expands its military power.

Push for speed amid prospect of another Trump term

The AUKUS agreement will see Australia obtain up to five Virginia-class submarines from the US before eventually building its own nuclear-powered boats.

But two years after the deal was first announced, the US Congress still needs to sign off on several legislative proposals to progress it.

They include legislation to approve the sale of the subs, to allow Australia to make a promised $3 billion contribution to US shipyards, and to facilitate the sharing of sensitive technology………………………………………………………………………………………………

The political debate in the United States comes amid ongoing questions in Australia about the merits and the cost of AUKUS, which could have a price tag of up to $386 billion…………………………

Tensions within the Labor Party were exposed at its recent national conference, while former prime minister Paul Keating has described the agreement as the “worst deal in all history”.

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles also previously expressed confidence in the level of bipartisan support for the agreement in the US………………………………

more https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-16/aukus-submarine-deal-two-years-on-republicans-warning/102860868

September 17, 2023 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Fossil fuel industries have captured global UN negotiations on climate change

 Former US vice-president and climate campaigner Al Gore has hit out at the
fossil fuel industry’s “capture” of global UN negotiations on climate
change “to a disturbing degree”.

It was “time to abandon the mistaken
assumption” that oil and gas companies and petrostates were “good faith
participants” during the UN process that culminates in a summit to be
held in the United Arab Emirates this year.

Most in the sector wanted to
“block and delay and prevent anything that would reduce the sale and
burning of fossil fuels”, Gore added. “It’s simply not realistic to
believe that they are going to take the lead in solving this crisis,” he
said, ahead of a new report on sustainable investing by Generation
Investment Management, where he is co-founder and chair.

 FT 14th Sept 2023

https://www.ft.com/content/65423811-7c7e-4ae5-876d-ffbed29cefcf

September 17, 2023 Posted by | climate change | Leave a comment

Solar energy boost for France

CNR is leading a consortium in the development of “Ombrières
PHotovoltaïquE grand LIneAire”, a solar shading project along the
ViaRhôna cycling route in southern France’s Caderousse department,
alongside the Rhône River.

The pilot project aims to evaluate the
integration of a PV facility into the landscape and assess its energy
performance. The project partners include French cable supplier Nexans,
Schneider Electric, railway operator SNCF, and the SuperGrid Institute.

The PV system will span 900 meters in length and have an installed capacity of
900 kW. It will consist of 30 shaded structures with west-east oriented
solar panels. The consortium will conduct tests on the system’s overall
architecture and the equipment needed for transporting medium voltage
direct current (MVDC) electricity to the delivery point. Construction and
testing are scheduled for the 2025-28 period, following a three-year phase
of engineering studies, research and development (R&D), and prototyping.

 PV Magazine 13th Sept 2023
 https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/09/13/french-consortium-plans-900-kw-solar-cycling-path/

French consortium plans 900 kW solar cycling path

September 17, 2023 Posted by | France, renewable | Leave a comment

In Australia, big batteries and solar push new boundaries on the grid

 The rapid evolution of Australia’s energy system continues apace as the
mild weather of spring and new production benchmarks give voice to the new
capacity that has been added over the past 12 months. As noted earlier this
week, spring is the season for new records because of the good conditions
and moderate demand.

In South Australia on Sunday, solar set a new record
of 120 per cent of local demand in the state (the excess was exported to
Victoria) and on Wednesday and Thursday it was the turn of wind and battery
storage. Wind hit a peak of 141.4 per cent of local demand at 4.35am on
Thursday morning. That wasn’t a record in itself, but the big share of
wind and later solar during the daytime was accompanied by a record amount
of activity from the state’s growing fleet of big batteries.

 Renew Economy 14th Sept 2023

Big batteries and solar push new boundaries on the grid

September 17, 2023 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, renewable | Leave a comment

Cracks at V.C. Summer nuclear plant raise concern from federal regulators

A pattern of cracks and leaks, some dating back two decades, has recently come to light, prompting concerns over the safety of the 40-year-old facility.

News 19 Becky Budds, September 15, 2023

JENKINSVILLE, S.C. — Federal regulators have raised alarms about the integrity of the emergency backup systems at the V.C. Summer nuclear plant. 

A pattern of cracks and leaks, some dating back two decades, has recently come to light, prompting concerns over the safety of the 40-year-old facility.

During a routine equipment test last year, plant workers discovered a minor oil leak in a critical section of the piping connected to the diesel generator system. 

Subsequently, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspected the plant, uncovering a disconcerting series of cracks and leaks in the emergency generator system dating back twenty years.

Emergency diesel generators are an essential safety component at nuclear power plants, serving as a backup power source for the nuclear reactor. The NRC cautions that these cracks could potentially hinder the generator’s functionality………………………………………………..more https://www.wltx.com/article/news/local/nuclear-regulatory-comission-concerns-cracks-vc-summer-nuclear-plant/101-1e4f01d0-c8a0-4386-886e-24fc13f5877a

September 17, 2023 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

G20 Announces Plan To Impose Digital Currencies And IDs Worldwide

Zero Hedge, BY TYLER DURDEN, Authored by Bryan Jung via The Epoch Times 14 Sept 23

The Group of 20 leaders have agreed to a plan to eventually impose digital currencies and digital IDs on their respective populations, despite fears that governments will use them to monitor their peoples’ spending and crush dissent.

The G20, which is currently under India’s presidency, adopted a final declaration on the subject over the weekend in New Delhi.

The meeting, which included the world’s leading economies, announced last week that they had agreed to build the necessary infrastructure to implement digital currencies and IDs.

The group said that discussions were already underway to create international regulations for cryptocurrencies, but claimed that there was “no talk of banning cryptocurrency” at the summit.

Many critics are concerned that governments and central banks will eventually regulate cryptocurrencies and then immediately replace them with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), which lack similar privacy and security………………………………..

The top items discussed at the New Delhi summit included “building Digital Public Infrastructure, Digital Economy, Cryptoassets, [Central Bank Digital Currencies].”……………………………….

The European Union is currently trying to introduce a bloc-wide “digital identity” app that would consolidate various personal information, including passports, driver’s licenses, and medical history……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….  https://www.zerohedge.com/political/g20-announces-plan-impose-digital-currencies-and-ids-worldwide

September 17, 2023 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Pakistan has 170 nuclear warheads, and may increase it to 200 by 2025, say American atomic scientists

LiveMint.  15 Sep 2023

Top American nuclear scientists have estimated that Pakistan currently possesses roughly 170 nuclear warheads, and this number could potentially increase to approximately 200 by the year 2025, based on the current rate of expansion.

As reported by PTI citing the Nuclear Notebook column published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on September 11, “We estimate that Pakistan now has a nuclear weapons stockpile of approximately 170 warheads. The US Defense Intelligence Agency projected in 1999 that Pakistan would have 60 to 80 warheads by 2020, but several new weapon systems have been fielded and developed since then, which leads us to a higher estimate.”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Even when the document listed fissile materials production and inventory from available sources in the public domain, the scientists put out a disclaimer: “Calculating stockpile size based solely on fissile material inventory is an incomplete methodology that tends to overestimate the likely number of nuclear warheads.”

“We estimate that Pakistan currently is producing sufficient fissile material to build 14 to 27 new warheads per year, although we estimate that the actual warhead increase in the stockpile probably averages around 5 to 10 warheads per year,” they further said………………………………………………………………………

Commenting on the 2017’s medium-range ballistic missile called Ababeel that Pakistan said is “capable of carrying multiple warheads, using multiple independent reentry vehicle (MIRV) technology,” the Nuclear Notebook observed, “Development of multiple-warhead capability appears to be intended as a countermeasure against India’s planned ballistic missile defense system. Its status remains unclear as of July 2023.”

Pointing out that the total number and location of Pakistan’s nuclear-capable missile bases and facilities remains unknown, the document said, “Analysis of commercial satellite imagery suggests that Pakistan maintains at least five missile bases that could serve a role in Pakistan’s nuclear forces.”………………………………….

Admitting that little is publicly known about warhead production, the scientists said: “But experts have suspected for many years that the Pakistan Ordnance Factories near Wah, northwest of Islamabad, serve a role. One of the Wah factories is located near a unique facility with six earth-covered bunkers (igloos) inside a multi-layered safety perimeter with armed guards.”  https://www.livemint.com/news/world/pakistan-has-170-nuclear-warheads-and-may-increase-it-to-200-by-2025-says-american-atomic-scientists-11694753125105.html

September 17, 2023 Posted by | Pakistan, weapons and war | Leave a comment