Another reason to oppose expanding nuclear power
Another reason to resist the expansion of nuclear power; the Price Anderson Act (PAA) was passed originally in 1957 to promote the nuclear industry by providing a shield from liability in the event of an accident or unforeseen disaster.
Without any public hearings, the renewal of the PAA was inappropriately buried in the National Defense Authorization Act before Congress. Nuclear power plants are so risky private insurance companies will not insure them. Corporations involved with nuclear power self-insure by contributing to a fund now estimated at $13 billion. If there is a Fukushima-like event, with damages in the hundreds of billions of dollars, either those who lose their homes and businesses would have no redress, or Congress would have to come up with a huge source of funding. The PAA provides immunization from liability for any damages above $13 billion. Taxpayers will likely foot the bill.
Contact your Congressmember to find out if they are aware of this and urge them to oppose continuation of nuclear power! There is too much at risk.
Antony Blinken wary on Iran, doesn’t criticise Saudi Arabia
Blinken Says Iran’s Nuclear Program ‘Profoundly Destabilizing’, Saturday, 09/23/2023 Author: Iran International Newsroom
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has refrained from criticizing the Saudi Crown Prince for suggesting his country will get nuclear weapons if Iran does so first.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salam speaking to Fox News this week referred to the danger of Iran producing nuclear weapons and said, “If they get one, we have to get one, for security reasons and the balance of power in the Middle East. But we don’t want to see that.”
Asked during the press conference if this kind of Saudi desire is not destabilizing, Blinken replied, “I think the comments that you alluded to point to the fact that Iran’s own activities in pursuing a nuclear program are a profoundly destabilizing element and one that risks the security of countries not only in the region but well beyond it…” He went on to say, “And so the problem is very clear, and the problem is Iran. That is the destabilizing element.”
Tory MP inexplicably asks for nuclear powered frigates
By George Allison, September 24, 2023 https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/tory-mp-inexplicably-asks-for-nuclear-powered-frigates/
In a recent parliamentary query, Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell raised eyebrows with a question about converting Royal Navy warships from diesel power… to nuclear power.
For smaller surface vessels like frigates, the benefits of nuclear power do not outweigh the significant costs and potential environmental concerns. Furthermore, integrating such systems into existing fleet designs would pose significant engineering and logistical challenges.
Rosindell asked the Secretary of State for Defence, “what his Department’s projected spending on nuclear powered surface vessels for the Royal Navy is in the (a) 2023-24, (b) 2024-25 and (c) 2025-26 financial year; and if he will make a statement.”
Not stopping there, he further inquired about the Defence Department’s plans, asking “what his Department’s timeline is for converting the remaining diesel-powered Royal Navy surface fleet to nuclear power.”
In a straightforward response, James Cartlidge, the Minister of State for the Ministry of Defence, clarified, “The Royal Navy has never had any surface vessels that are nuclear powered and there is no programme or intention to convert the current fleet to be nuclear powered in future.”
Thus, the notion of the Royal Navy converting its frigates into nuclear-powered surface vessels remains firmly off the table for the foreseeable future, there are no plans to add warp cores or hyperdrive engines either..
Cannon Fodder: Number of Ukrainian Amputee Soldiers Going Through the Roof
Ekaterina Blinova, 21 Sept 23
Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have become amputees, while many more sustained other injuries or died on the battlefield. The scale of amputations in Ukraine has reached that of the First World War, according to Western media.
Between 20,000 and 50,000 Ukrainian soldiers have lost one or more limbs since the beginning of the conflict, Western press has reported.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense recently announced that 40% of wounded Ukrainian soldiers have serious limb injuries that appear to be incurable.
However, it is difficult to know for sure how many Ukrainian soldiers have disabilities, because this information is top secret, according to a Norwegian media outlet.
A commonly cited ratio for dead and injured in wars is 2-4 people wounded for each person killed. Sometimes, the number of those wounded may be 13 times as high depending on what weapons systems are used on the battlefield. One could easily calculate what price Ukrainians paid for the counteroffensive encouraged and sponsored by the West.
As per the Russian Defense Ministry, over 71,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed during the three months of the Kiev regime’s counteroffensive.
Given that Ukraine and Russia have been involved in high-scale counter-battery duels since the outset of the conflict, most of the wounds at the front have been caused by shrapnel and artillery fire, military personnel and war correspondents have said. Meanwhile, Ukrainians also sustained heavy losses while trying to storm Russia’s sophisticated defense lines and minefields, which have been largely blamed by the Western press for the failure of the Kiev regime’s offensive operations.
Ukrainian Amputees Evoke Scale of WWI
Western journalists assume that during 18 months of the special military operation in Ukraine, there have been at least 10 times the number of Ukrainian amputees than Americans with the same sort of injuries over 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
For their part, US medical experts say that injuries of this magnitude had not been seen by Western military surgeons since World War II. The First World War saw at least 67,000 Germans and 41,000 British amputees, according to some estimates.
Several clinics in Ukraine cite 20,000 amputee cases, but the actual figure may be higher as it takes time to register patients after undergoing the amputation procedure, per the media. Some patients have to wait for weeks or even months for the surgery as the Ukrainian healthcare system is overwhelmed.
During the unfolding conflict, the Ukrainian Armed Forces suffered a scale of losses for which the army’s medical service was unprepared, Tetiana Ostashchenko, commander of the Medical Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, told a Ukrainian broadcaster on August 26.
“Neither the legislative framework nor the system itself was designed for such volumes of medical care,” Ostashchenko stressed.
She said that new problems emerge every day and despite the nation’s healthcare system trying to solve them, it is not working as quickly as required.
To complicate matters further, the battlefield first aid straps used by Ukrainian during combat to stem bleeding, are often fitted too high to the injured limb and left on for too long. As a result, the cells in the limb die and a whole arm or leg will need to be removed instead of just part of it. What’s worse, sometimes these surgeries are done in horrific conditions, according to the British press.
Prosthetics is yet another problem faced by Ukrainian military amputees. One arm could cost $100,000 while a hook in place of a hand is an additional $8,000. A number of Western charities help some Ukrainian soldiers to get new artificial limbs but there are too many amputees returning from the battlefield.
Kiev Throws Ukrainians Into ‘Meat Grinder’
Previously, former Prime Minister of Ukraine Nikolai Azarov stated that Kiev is deliberately hiding the figures of real losses in order to avoid payments to the families of fallen soldiers, attributing them to the number of missing people instead.
There have also been cases when wounded Ukrainian soldiers were left to die by their fellows on the battlefield. On September 12, captured Ukrainian serviceman Yevgeny Zinovik told Sputnik that he had been abandoned by the Ukrainian military and laid on the ground suffering from wounds for four days, until Russian reconnaissance officers found him. Zinovik confessed that he was glad to be captured after all this suffering. He said that he had undergone treatment in a Donetsk hospital.
………………………………………………………………………….. Ukrainians Hide Abroad or Surrender
A glaring indicator of Kiev running out of military personnel is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s order to conduct a full review of all mobilization exemptions granted by Military Medical Commissions (MMCs) starting from February 24, 2022.
In addition to bringing young and elderly to the front, the Kiev regime has requested European states extradite Ukrainian draft-age adults. However, EU states are resisting those requests, citing European laws that prevent them from deporting refugees or altogether refusing to send Ukrainians back home. One should bear in mind that Ukrainians are a source of cheap labor in Europe…………………..
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230921/cannon-fodder-number-of-ukrainian-amputee-soldiers-going-through-the-roof-1113563445.html
US government and media lying about Ukrainian counteroffensive – Seymour Hersh
https://www.rt.com/russia/583351-ukraine-counteroffensive-failed-hersh/ 21 Sept 23
A source has told the veteran reporter that Kiev and Washington are deceiving the public about the situation on the ground
US intelligence analysts believe that Ukraine has given up on its counteroffensive against Russia and the only thing prolonging the conflict is the unwillingness of Washington and Kiev to acknowledge its failure, a source has told investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.
Writing on Substack on Thursday, the veteran reporter cited an unnamed source, who “spent the early years of his career working against Soviet aggression and spying” as rejecting the Ukrainian narrative about slow but steady progress in its counteroffensive.
“‘It’s all lies,’” the source said, according to Hersh. “‘The war is over. Russia has won. There is no Ukrainian offensive anymore, but the White House and the American media have to keep the lie going.’”
This sentiment is shared by many figures in the US intelligence community, and the CIA in particular has been skeptical of Kiev’s claims of a continued push forward, unlike the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), he explained.
Trent Maul, the director of analysis for the DIA, touted Ukraine’s success to The Economist earlier this month and claimed Kiev’s forces had a “realistic” chance to break through Russian defense lines this year. The British outlet contrasted the assessment with that of an unnamed senior US intelligence official, who said the battlefield “could look broadly similar” in five years.
The source cited by Hersh blasted the leadership in both Moscow and Washington for acting “stupid” during the crisis. Russian President Vladimir Putin got “provoked [into] violating the UN charter” with a poorly-prepared military campaign, he argued. US President Joe Biden retaliated with a proxy war and has had to rely on the vilification of Putin by the media “in order to justify our mistake.”
“The truth is if the Ukrainian army is ordered to continue the offensive, the army would mutiny. The soldiers aren’t willing to die any more, but this doesn’t fit the B.S. that is being authored by the Biden White House,” the source concluded.
Moscow has denied the US claim that the operation against Ukraine was an act of “unprovoked aggression,” insisting that the people of Donbass had the right of self-determination under the UN Charter and acted accordingly when they broke away from Ukraine after the 2014 armed coup in Kiev.
The Russian government has maintained that it acted lawfully when it recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Luganks People’s Republics in February 2022. Days later, after Kiev refused to stop attacks on Donbass and pull out its troops, Moscow launched its offensive.
If Fukushima water is safe, store it in Japan, says Prime Minister of Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands acknowledges ‘inconclusive,’ IAEA report on Japan nuclear waste
If Fukushima water is safe, store it in Japan, says Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare
Riyaz ul Khaliq |23.09.2023 ISTANBUL https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/solomon-islands-acknowledges-inconclusive-iaea-report-on-japan-nuclear-waste/2999123
The Solomon Islands acknowledged a Friday that a report released by the UN nuclear watchdog on Fukushima radioactive water was “inconclusive,” but launched into a scathing criticism about Japan for the release of nuclear waste into the sea.
“We note IAEA’s (International Atomic Energy Agency) assessment report is inconclusive and that the scientific data shared remains inadequate, incomplete and biased,” Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare told the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“Solomon Islands stands with like-minded Pacific islanders and is appalled by Japan’s decision to discharge over a million tons of treated nuclear wastewater into the ocean,” he said.
Tokyo began releasing nuclear waste from the crippled Fukushima power plant last month, triggering severe reaction from China, which banned seafood imports from Japan.
Ahead of Japan’s release of nuclear waste, the IAEA released a report that claimed Tokyo’s move would have no effect on human and marine life.
But it neither recommended nor backed Japan’s decision.
Sogavare said “concerns were ignored.”
“If this nuclear waste water is safe, it should be stored in Japan. The fact that is dumped into the ocean shows that it is not safe,” he told the UN.
He urged Japan to stop the release of the radioactive water and said: “The effect of this act is transboundary and intergenerational and is
an attack on global trust and solidarity.”
“The increased warming and acidification of the ocean against the discharge of treated nuclear water over a period of 30 plus years poses worrying risks for our people’s wellbeing and future,
“If we are to rebuild trust and reignite global solidarity, we must be honest and frank in protecting our oceans which is the lifeblood of our people,” said Sogavare.
Possibly contaminated iron scraps from near Fukushima plant sold
Workers at a demolition site near the meltdown-stricken Fukushima No. 1
nuclear power plant took and sold iron scraps from waste possibly
contaminated with radioactive materials, Environment Ministry officials
said Tuesday. Workers at a subcontractor of Kajima, tasked with the
demolition, took the scraps without permission, violating the process of
dealing with contaminated waste as stipulated by law.
Japan Times 20th Sept 2023
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/09/20/japan/fukushima-iron-scraps-radioactive-material/
‘Biden’s phase’ of Ukraine war is beginning
This Week, Blinken explicitly stated for the first time that the US would not oppose Ukraine using US-supplied longer-range missiles to attack deep inside Russian territory, a move that Moscow has previously called a “red line,” which would make Washington a direct party to the conflict.
BY M. K. BHADRAKUMAR Indian Punchline
The ground war in Ukraine has run its course, a new phase is beginning. Even diehard supporters of Ukraine in the western media and think tanks are admitting that a military victory over Russia is impossible and a vacation of the territory under Russian control is way beyond Kiev’s capability.
Hence the ingenuity of the Biden Administration to explore Plan B counselling Kiev to be realistic about loss of territory and pragmatically seek dialogue with Moscow. This was the bitter message that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken transmitted to Kiev recently in person.
But President Zelensky’s caustic reaction in a subsequent interview with the Economist magazine is revealing. He hit back that the western leaders still talk the good talk, pledging they will stand with Ukraine “as long as it takes” (Biden mantra), but he, Zelensky, has detected a change of mood among some of his partners: “I have this intuition, reading, hearing and seeing their eyes [when they say] ‘we’ll be always with you.’ But I see that he or she is not here, not with us.” Certainly, Zelensky is reading the body language right, as in the absence of an overwhelming military success shortly, western support for Ukraine is time-limited.
Zelensky knows that sustaining the western support will be difficult. Yet he hopes that if not Americans, European Union will at least keep supplying aid, and but may open negotiations over the accession process for Ukraine possibly even at its summit in December. But he also held out a veiled threat of terrorist threat to Europe — warning that it would not be a “good story” for Europe if it were to “drive these people [of Ukraine] into a corner”. So far such ominous threats were muted, originating from low ranking activists of the fascist Bandera fringe.
But Europe has its limits, too. The western stockpiles of weapons are exhausted and Ukraine is a bottomless pit. Importantly, conviction is lacking whether continued supplies would make any difference to the proxy war that is unwinnable. Besides, European economies are in doldrum,’ the recession in Germany may slide into depression, with profound consequences of “deindustrialisation.”
Suffice to say, Zelensky’s visit to the White House in the coming days becomes a defining moment. The Biden Administration is in a sombre mood that the proxy war is hindering a full-throttle Indo-Pacific strategy against China. Yet, during an appearance on ABC’s This Week, Blinken explicitly stated for the first time that the US would not oppose Ukraine using US-supplied longer-range missiles to attack deep inside Russian territory, a move that Moscow has previously called a “red line,” which would make Washington a direct party to the conflict.
The well-known American military historian, strategic thinker and combat veteran Colonel (Retd.) Douglas MacGregor (who served as advisor to the Pentagon during the Trump administration), is prescient when he says that a new “Biden’s phase of the war” is about to begin. That is to say, having run out of ground forces, the locus will now shift to long-range strike weapons like the Storm Shadow, Taurus, ATACMS long-range missiles, etc.
The US is considering sending ATACMS long-range missiles that Ukraine has been asking for a long time with the capability to strike deep inside Russian territory. The most provocative part is that NATO reconnaissance platforms, both manned and unmanned, will be used in such operations, making the US a virtual co-belligerent.
Russia has been exercising restraint in attacking the source of such enemy capabilities but how long such restraint will continue is anybody’s guess………………………………………………………… more https://www.indianpunchline.com/bidens-phase-of-ukraine-war-is-beginning/
Okinawa Disproves The US Narrative About Overseas Bases
Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix, CAITLIN JOHNSTONE, SEP 22, 2023
Okinawa governor Denny Tamaki has implored the UN for international backing in his opposition to the prefecture being overrun with US military bases.
The Japan Times reports:
“I am here today to ask the world to witness the situation in Okinawa,” Tamaki told a session of the world body’s Human Rights Council, arguing that the concentration of the military bases there threatens peace.
Tamaki, the first Okinawa governor in eight years to address the council, said, “The reclamation work proceeds despite the fact that it was clearly opposed by Okinawan voters in a democratically held referendum.”
Whenever I talk about the rapidly increasing number of US military bases and operations surrounding China I get empire simps telling me “But the people in those countries WANT us there!” Okinawa shows it’s always been a nonconsensual relationship disguised as a consensual one.
And it should here be noted that Japan’s national government was itself the product of extensive US manipulation after World War II. A 1994 New York Times article titled “C.I.A. Spent Millions to Support Japanese Right in 50’s and 60’s” details the massive amount of energy the US intelligence cartel poured into stomping down the Japan Socialist Party and ensuring that the Japanese right wing “maintained their one-party rule, forged close ties with Washington and fought off public opposition to the United States’ maintaining military bases throughout Japan.” https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/okinawa-disproves-the-us-narrative?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=137283613&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&utm_medium=email
Our nuclear legacy and the weight of history
Sep. 22, 2023, Nancy Dickeman, https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/our-nuclear-legacy-and-the-weight-of-history/
The bus plowed through dust on the road winding through the Hanford Site, the horizon dotted with specters of reactors that had been dismantled or “cocooned.” All seats full, the bus was a mishmash of Richland natives like my sisters and me, returning home for the experience; locals; other nuclear tourists; and visitors from Japan.
The route through the nuclear production complex took me on what I imagined my father’s trip to work at the area had been, through a desolation that held its own beauty. It was also through ancestral tribal lands that had been confiscated in 1943 from Native American tribes — the Wanapum Tribe, Nez Perce, the Confederated Tribes of the Yakama Nation, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation — to create the nuclear complex. The guide pointed out hills, like Mooli Mooli, meaning “little stacked hills,” that rolled beyond us, a sacred tribal site. Tribal members have battled the government for access per their treaty rights, and have been crucial in the cleanup process.
Outside a tank storage facility, we briefly exited the bus. Over 56 million gallons of radioactive waste is held in 177 underground containers; approximately two-thirds of the tanks have leaked, and at least 1 million gallons of highly radioactive waste have seeped into the ground. Over 40 years, Hanford produced the plutonium for nearly two-thirds of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
We passed the burial site of the core of a nuclear submarine. It might seem an unusual burial object, except that such submarines represent another nuclear legacy for Washington, with eight Trident submarines stationed at the Bangor Base, each carrying multiple nuclear weapons with many times the destructive power of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
At the B Reactor — its huge block building and companion spire visible from a distance — we saw where plutonium for the Trinity test (depicted in the film “Oppenheimer”) and Fat Man, the world’s second atomic bomb, was produced. Entering the vast chamber, we were carefully guided to the displays: Control panels. An office where toilet paper was distributed for workers to take home. A giant wall of graphite and tubes.
The Fat Man bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, three days after Hiroshima was devastated by Little Boy. Both bombs created instant death: Children turned to shadows and birds burned in the air. Over 200,000 people were killed. Thousands more suffered for years after, including infants born with birth defects.
In Washington, that history is remembered. Richland holds a remembrance ceremony each Aug. 9 along the Columbia River for the bombing’s victims. In Seattle, From Hiroshima to Hope, one of the largest commemorations outside Japan, is held each Aug. 6, with candlelit lanterns on Green Lake carrying messages of peace and hope.
We were coming to the end of our drive through lands where we’d never been, and where we’d never been allowed. Past vast horizons and sagebrush, past a building that changed the world.
When we rolled to our final stop at the visitors’ center outside of Richland, the bus deposited us back on solid ground. To the heat. To a single bright sun. To a film of dust rising from dust devils coating our arms, our newly knowledgeable faces.
Reflecting on the tour, I was left with a sense of urgency. The government must prioritize funding, timelines and worker safety for cleanup.
Carrying the weight of history, we can strive for a future where diplomacy and treaties take precedence. We can stop funding development and production of new nuclear weapons. We can take steps to ensure that nuclear weapons are never again used — that nuclear explosions remain in the past.
Nearly 10 million Ukrainians have fled to EU – commissioner
https://www.rt.com/news/583216-eu-number-ukraine-refugees/ 21 Sep 23
The collective bloc is the biggest host of those leaving the country, according to Thierry Breton’s numbers
The EU migration crisis is a challenge that should be handled not by a single European country or region, but by the entire bloc as it deals with millions of asylum seekers, particularly from Ukraine, Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner for Internal Market, has said.
Speaking to Sud Radio on Monday, the official suggested that migration – which has recently been on the rise, especially in Italy – “affects us all,” including southern and eastern countries. “We have welcomed … almost 10 million Ukrainian refugees,” he said, adding that the Czech Republic stands out in terms of the number of people it has hosted.
……… In early March 2022, shortly after the start of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, the EU for the first time in its history invoked the Temporary Protection Directive, which can be used only in exceptional circumstances to deal with a “mass influx of refugees.”
The legislation guarantees Ukrainians access to accommodation, welfare, and healthcare and gives them the right to enter the labor market, and enroll children in educational institutions.
In terms of absolute numbers, Russia accommodates the most Ukrainian refugees (1.27 million), followed by Germany (1.09 million), and Poland (968,000), according to Statista.
Breton’s comments come as some 7,000 migrants swarmed the small Italian island of Lampedusa last week, which itself has a population of less than 7,000 people. Local mayor Filippo Mannino said that the crisis had reached a “point of no return,” while the UN Refugee Agency described the situation as “critical,” adding that moving people off the island was “an absolute priority.”
According to official data, more than 127,000 refugees have arrived in Italy as of September this year, double the number for the same period in 2022.
The harrowing truth about the war in Ukraine.
Russian press reports the high proportion of amputees among injured Ukrainian soldiers – perhaps up to 50,000. (Of course they don’t mention the Russian casualties, – that figure could be the same, – or likely more.)
The thing is – the media is so full of reports about who’s winning, and what lovely new weapons that Ukraine needs in order to win, and how the war will go on “as long as it takes“.
That seems to mean “as long as there are any fit-enough Ukrainian soldiers left”. Russia has four to five times as many soldiers as Ukraine has. So, the brutal reality is, Russia can afford to lose more casualties. On both sides, the leaders apparently don’t care . So, logically – it’s sort of unlikely that Ukraine can win, isn’t it?
That consideration doesn’t seem to matter to the West. No attention is given to what sort of state Ukraine’s people, and its environment will be in, as this forever war goes on.
As I pointed out, Russian media is not stressing their numbers of amputees. And Western media publicises the medical care that USA is giving to a few of the Ukrainian amputees, while not mentioning the total horrible picture.
The real human toll is ignored. Isn’t it time that the slaughter in Ukraine is ended?
This is one reason why I might appear to be giving constantly a pro-Russian point of view.
It’s not really pro-Russian. It’s pro-truth. The Western media continually vomits forth the lie that Ukraine will win. This lie suits the USA purpose of weakening Russia, which has nothing to do with the well-being of the people of Crimea, or the Donbass, or Ukraine in general.
We’re Being Prepared For The Ukraine War To Last Into The 2030s
So western empire managers and their agenda-setters in the mass media are making it as clear as could be that the US-centralized empire has found itself in yet another endless war, another “grinding war of attrition” featuring unfathomable destruction and suffering with no exit strategy, which once again pours vast fortunes into the coffers of the military industrial complex. The only difference is that this time it comes with the added bonus of the threat of nuclear annihilation.
CAITLIN JOHNSTONE, SEP 23, 2023 https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/were-being-prepared-for-the-ukraine?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=137313925&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&utm_medium=email
Western officials and media pundits are now directly acknowledging that Ukraine’s much-touted “spring counteroffensive” has been a catastrophic failure, but rather than seeing this as a reason to reconsider the mainstream political consensus on this war, they are instead telling everyone that the counteroffensive’s failure means we must commit to the status quo of bloodshed and nuclear brinkmanship for years to come.
In a recent article titled “US and G-7 Allies Expect War in Ukraine to Drag On for Years,” Bloomberg reports that the US-centralized power structure expects to be backing its proxy conflict against Russia for a very long time, potentially into the 2030s.
Bloomberg reports:
“The US and its allies in the Group of Seven now expect the war in Ukraine may drag on for years to come and are building that possibility into their military and financial planning.
“A senior official from one European G-7 country said the war may last as much as six or seven more years and that allies need to plan financially to continue support for Kyiv for such a long conflict.“
“That’s much longer than many officials had expected earlier this year, but slow progress in Ukraine’s counteroffensive in recent months has tempered expectations.”
In a recent interview with CNN, outgoing Joint Chiefs chair Mark Milley said that achieving Kyiv’s official goal of fully recapturing all Ukrainian territory is going to require “very significant effort over a considerable amount of time.”
“I can tell you that it’ll take a considerable length of time to militarily eject all 200,000 or plus Russian troops out of Russian-occupied Ukraine,” Milley added. “That’s a very high bar. It’s going to take a long time to do it.”
In a recent interview with German newspaper Berliner Morgenpost, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also pounded home the point that this war will drag on for a very long time.
“Most wars last longer than is expected when they first start. Therefore, we must prepare ourselves for a long war in Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said.
“We are all wishing for a quick peace,” Stoltenberg added. “But at the same time, we must recognize: If President Zelensky and the Ukrainians give up the fight, their country would not exist anymore. If President Putin and Russia laid down their weapons, we would have peace. The easiest way to end this war would be if Putin withdrew his troops.”
You see this claim from empire managers and their apologists all the time: that the only obstacle to peace in Ukraine is Russia refusing to leave. This of course ignores the many extensively-documented western aggressions which are known to have provoked Russia’s invasion, a fact that Stoltenberg himself admitted to earlier this month.
Demanding that Russia end its aggressions without the west agreeing to end its own aggressions which led to this conflict is just demanding that Russia lie down and submit to being ruled and dominated by the western empire. It’s not a call for peace, it’s a call for the total victory of Washington and its cohorts.
Stoltenberg reinforced his point that this war will drag on for years by affirming that Ukraine will gain NATO membership when this war is over, which is effectively a message to Moscow that if it still finds NATO membership for Ukraine unacceptable it must either annex Ukraine into the Russian Federation entirely or keep this war going on forever.
“Ukraine will become a member of NATO — all allies have made that clear,” Stoltenberg said, adding that Ukraine will need NATO protection when the war ends, otherwise “history could repeat itself.”
The western media are conveying the same message. Notorious empire propaganda rag The Economist has a new article out titled “Ukraine faces a long war. A change of course is needed,” featuring a Ukrainian flag with the words “TIME FOR A RETHINK” scrawled across it. If you didn’t know anything about The Economist you might assume at first glance that this was an article about rethinking the approach of backing an endless proxy conflict — especially after its opening paragraphs acknowledge that “The plan is not working” and “Ukraine has liberated less than 0.25% of the territory that Russia occupied in June.”
You would be wrong though. What The Economist means is that we should switch from thinking of this as a war that can be won in a timely fashion to one which will continue for the foreseeable future:
“Both Ukraine and its Western supporters are coming to realise that this will be a grinding war of attrition. President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Washington this week for talks. ‘I have to be ready for the long war,’ he told The Economist. But unfortunately, Ukraine is not yet ready; nor are its Western partners. Both are still fixated on the counter-offensive. They need to rethink Ukraine’s military strategy and how its economy is run. Instead of aiming to “win” and then rebuild, the goal should be to ensure that Ukraine has the staying power to wage a long war — and can thrive despite it.”
So western empire managers and their agenda-setters in the mass media are making it as clear as could be that the US-centralized empire has found itself in yet another endless war, another “grinding war of attrition” featuring unfathomable destruction and suffering with no exit strategy, which once again pours vast fortunes into the coffers of the military industrial complex. The only difference is that this time it comes with the added bonus of the threat of nuclear annihilation.
All for what? To advance the US empire’s goal of total planetary domination, a status quo that it can only maintain by brandishing armageddon weapons at its enemies with increasing hostility year after year.
When it comes to the war in Ukraine it is definitely time for a rethink, but not by the same monsters who thought us into this horror in the first place.
Sizewell nuclear investment may prove radioactive
Alistair Osborne, Tuesday September 19 2023
Don’t all rush at once. The government is giving private punters
“their first chance to come forward and qualify to invest in Sizewell
C” — the £30 billion-plus nuke, offering guaranteed cost overruns,
prettily located on a Suffolk flood plain. How’s it their first chance? The government’s adviser, Barclays, has been trying to drum up support
for this project for more than a year.
And what’s all this stuff about
qualifying? Ministers really aren’t that fussed where the money comes
from, as long as it’s not from the likes of China, Russia, Iran or the
home of Kim Jong-un’s exploding ballistic missiles.
That the government is desperate for someone to stick a few quid into Sizewell has been clear for yonks. So it’s a bit odd to find new energy secretary Claire Coutinho
making such a hoo-ha about “opening applications for partners to register
their interest” or demanding that they have “experience in delivering
major infrastructure projects”.
Indeed, as pointless announcements go, it
looks up there with the endless relaunches by her predecessor Grant Shapps
of Great British Nuclear: an organisation so far as useful as his Great
British Railways, which still seems to be stuck in a siding.
The key question? What sort of return would investors require and for what risk?
There’s talk that the government its trying to thrash out a price with
potential funders including Brookfield, Stonepeak and Abu Dhabi’s
Mubadala and that Coutinho’s formal process will enable her to harden
things up.
But getting a decision looks tricky when campaigners have just
won leave to appeal the decision to build Sizewell. And, unless it comes up
with giveaway terms, it’s hard to see how the government won’t end up
having to fund most of the equity itself. Investors know how easy it is to
get burnt with nuclear fuel.
Times 19th Sept 2023
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/investment-that-may-prove-radioactive-qrwz35cst
Top nuclear experts urge Biden to not allow Saudi uranium enrichment in mega-deal
“even if the enrichment facility in Saudi Arabia is operated by Americans, it will pose “an unacceptable proliferation risk, particularly given Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s public comments on nuclear weapons”.
Barak Ravid 22 Sept 23 https://www.axios.com/2023/09/21/saudi-nuclear-power-uranium-mbs-biden-megadeal-israel
A bipartisan group of more than two dozen nuclear and Middle East experts sent a letter to President Biden on Thursday urging him not to allow Saudi Arabia to have a uranium enrichment program on its soil, according to the letter first shared with Axios.
Why it matters: The Saudi demand for a civilian nuclear program that includes uranium enrichment is the most complicated and sensitive part of the mega-deal the White House is negotiating with the kingdom and Israel.
- It is one of Saudi Arabia’s main demands in the Biden administration’s efforts to secure a peace deal between the kingdom and Israel.
- But it not only faces opposition from the experts who sent Thursday’s letter but also from Israel’s opposition, as well as many members of Congress who are critical of the Saudi government over its human rights record.
What they’re saying: The 27 experts who signed the letter say they support normalization but think the kingdom doesn’t need uranium enrichment to produce peaceful nuclear energy.
- “We urge you to reject the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s request for uranium enrichment as part of or separate from a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel,” they wrote.
- The experts stressed that uranium enrichment on Saudi soil could bring Saudi Arabia to the brink of acquiring nuclear arms — a reality U.S. policy should keep from happening.
Signatories to the letter include several former U.S. officials who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations and worked on nuclear or Middle East issues.
- They also include David Albright, one of the leading nuclear experts in the world, Olli Heinonen and Pierre Goldschmidt, both former deputy director generals of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s former national security adviser, Jacob Nagel.
- The letter was co-organized by the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington think tank that holds pro-Israeli views.
State of play: The Biden administration is still negotiating with the Saudi officials the conditions for a possible civilian nuclear program.
Separate negotiations on the issue are being held between the Biden administration and the Israeli government.- Unlike the signatories of the letter, Netanyahu doesn’t object to Saudi Arabia having a civilian nuclear program and his government is negotiating with the U.S. the red lines and the guardrails for a program that would include uranium enrichment.
- A senior U.S. official told reporters on Wednesday that there is total alignment between the Israeli government and the Biden administration when it comes to the red lines.
- The White House did not immediately respond to Axios’ request for comment.
The big picture: In the letter, the experts also said that even if the enrichment facility in Saudi Arabia is operated by Americans, it will pose “an unacceptable proliferation risk, particularly given Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s public comments on nuclear weapons”.
- MBS told Fox News in an interview that was aired on Wednesday that if Iran obtains a nuclear weapon, Saudi Arabia would “have to get one, for security reasons, for balancing power.”
- The experts also wrote that Saudi threats to go to China for nuclear technology are not a reason for the U.S. to change its policy on nuclear enrichment, a step that will be “a sign of weakness” and could encourage similar efforts by other countries.
The experts added that allowing Saudi Arabia to have uranium enrichment capability like Iran could trigger a regional nuclear arms race.- “Any nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia must meet the highest non-proliferation standards and enhanced inspection and transparency measures through a strong Additional Protocol with the International Atomic Energy Agency,” they wrote.
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