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US Official Says Gaza Death Toll Likely Higher Than Being Reported

President Biden previously cast doubt on the numbers coming from Gaza’s Health Ministry.

By Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com,  https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/11/us-official-says-gaza-death-toll-likely-higher-than-being-reported/

A senior US official said that the death toll caused by Israel’s assault on Gaza is likely far higher than the over 10,000 number being reported by Gaza’s Health Ministry, The Hill reported on Thursday.

The comments were made by Barbara Leaf, assistant secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and break from President Biden’s claim that the numbers from Gaza’s Health Ministry can’t be trusted.

“In this period of conflict and conditions of war, it is very difficult for any of us to assess what the rate of casualties are,” Leaf told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “We think they’re very high, frankly, and it could be that they’re even higher than are being cited.”

“We’ll know only after the guns fall silent. We take in sourcing from a variety of folks who are on the ground,” she added. “I can’t stipulate to one figure or another, it’s very possible they’re even higher than is being reported.”

Gaza’s Health Ministry reported on Thursday that at least 10,569 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7. The total includes 4,324 children. Thousands of Palestinians are also missing and presumed to be under the rubble.

After Biden accused the Palestinians of lying about the death toll, the UN and aid groups that have experience in Gaza backed the numbers coming from Gaza’s Health Ministry, saying they’re reliable. An Israeli security source told the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot that Israel has killed around 20,000 Palestinians, but the number has not been backed up by another source.

While casting doubt on the death toll, the White House has also acknowledged there is a massive civilian casualty rate in the US-backed onslaught. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby acknowledged on Monday that the Israeli bombardment has killed “many, many thousands of innocent people.” The US is still providing Israel with unconditional military support, including near-daily weapons shipments.

November 23, 2023 Posted by | Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Tories, Labour clash over Milton Keynes nuclear waste claims

Claims that Milton Keynes is being considered as a site to store nuclear
waste have sparked a war of words between the Labour and Conservative
parties. The Labour Leader of Milton Keynes City Council Peter Marland
claimed that a site in the north of the city had been identified as a
potential dumping ground for nuclear waste.

He said that Nuclear Waste
Services, the body responsible for managing the nuclear waste generated
from UK power stations, has contacted the council about an “interested
party” looking for a site. Nuclear Waste Services has been approached for
comment. In an email seen by the BBC Local Democracy Reporting Service
(LDRS) a council official said they had been contacted by a member of the
government body who “confirmed that they will ‘close out’ with the
interested party, meaning the initial assessment of a site in MK will go no
further”.

Milton Keynes Labour said it had launched a petition to oppose
the “plans” that will be sent to the Secretary of State for Energy
Security and Net Zero, Claire Coutinho.

Bucks Free Press 21st Nov 2023

https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/23939063.tories-labour-clash-milton-keynes-nuclear-waste-claims/

November 23, 2023 Posted by | UK, wastes | Leave a comment

IAEA urges Countries in Mideast, Israel to join nuclear ban treaty, open facilities for inspection

International Atomic Energy Agency chief says Israeli minister’s nuking Gaza remark ‘unacceptable’

Askin Kiyagan  |22.11.2023 –https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/countries-in-mideast-israel-urged-to-join-nuclear-ban-treaty-open-facilities-for-inspection/3061983

VIENNA

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Wednesday reiterated the call on all countries in the Middle East, including Israel, to join the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Speaking to reporters in the Austrian capital Vienna, Rafael Mariano Grossi urged all countries to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology.

In response to a question by Anadolu on the Israeli minister’s nuking Gaza remark, the IAEA chief said it is “unacceptable.”

There is a widely accepted approach around the world that a nuclear war cannot be won, therefore such a war should not happen, said Grossi, adding that irresponsible remarks about the use of nuclear weapons are “completely unacceptable.”

Grossi also reminded that the IAEA General Assembly, the Board of Directors and he have made repeated calls to all countries in the Middle East, including Israel, to join the NPT and open all their nuclear facilities to a comprehensive nuclear inspection.

In an interview in early November, Israel’s Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said: “One of Israel’s options in the war in Gaza is to drop a nuclear bomb on the Strip.”

Later, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki filed a formal complaint with the IAEA against Israel over its minister’s threat to drop a nuclear bomb on Gaza.

November 23, 2023 Posted by | MIDDLE EAST, politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Portland nuclear power startup NuScale hit with investor lawsuit

OPB 23 Nov 23

Investors have hauled a Portland-based nuclear power company into federal court claiming the company misled them about a major project promised to usher in a new age of nuclear power.

NuScale Power canceled a partnership earlier this month with Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems that would have seen the first small modular nuclear reactors built in the United States. The project called for six NuScale reactors to be built at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory. The deal collapsed earlier this month under the weight of rising interest rates and inflation, according to NuScale. The project could have delivered nuclear power to 16 states.

In a class-action lawsuit filed Nov. 15, investors say NuScale “made materially false and/or misleading statements and failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects.” They are seeking unspecified monetary damages to recoup their losses plus interest……………………………………..

The lawsuit claims NuScale withheld from investors that the proposed Idaho project wasn’t financially viable after it failed to attract enough customers. Over the course of several investor calls in 2023, NuScale executives told investors progress acquiring the needed customer base was “looking pretty good” and that “we continue to make progress.”

But research published in October by Iceberg Research, a short-selling firm specializing in revealing “substantial earnings misrepresentation and accounting irregularities,” contradicted that narrative, claiming no new customers had agreed to buy the nuclear power since March.

The same report suggested a second planned NuScale project supplying nuclear power to two Standard Power data centers in Ohio and Pennsylvania stood little chance of success. NuScale claimed the project would consist of 24 reactors producing 1,848 megawatts of power…………………………..

NuScale’s stock has fallen 60% since August.  https://www.opb.org/article/2023/11/22/nuscale-nuclear-power-lawsuit/

November 23, 2023 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Energy and Climate Scenarios Paradoxically Assume Considerable Nuclear Energy Growth

DIW Weekly Report 45-49 / 2023, S. 293-301

Christian von Hirschhausen, Björn Steigerwald, Franziska Hoffart, Claudia Kemfert, Jens Weibezahn, Alexander Wimmers

get_app Download (PDF  0.52 MB)

get_app Gesamtausgabe/ Whole Issue (PDF  2.63 MB – barrierefrei / universal access)

Abstract

Most climate and energy scenarios created by international organizations and researchers include a considerable expansion of nuclear energy. In the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, for example, nuclear energy increases from a current 3,000 terawatt hours on average to over 6,000 terawatt hours in 2050 and to over 12,000 terawatt hours in 2100.

This doubling and quadrupling of nuclear energy production by 2050 and 2100 is contradictory to the technical and economic realities: At no point have newly built nuclear energy plants ever been competitive, nor will they become so in the foreseeable future. 

This contradiction, referred to here as the nuclear energy scenario paradox, can be explained by a series of politico- economic, institutional, and geopolitical factors.

 In particular, the close relationship between the military and commercial uses of nuclear energy as well as the interest of the nuclear industry and its organizations in self-preservation play a role. 

 The assumptions and model logic of the scenarios must be critically scrutinized. There is the risk that considerable public and private funds will be invested in developing technologies for the commercial use of nuclear energy despite the fact that other technologies are expected to offer a significantly better cost-performance ratio with fewer economic, technical, and military risks. In light of the urgency of climate change mitigation, continuing to channel personnel and financial resources into nuclear energy is problematic.

 https://www.diw.de/de/diw_01.c.885216.de/publikationen/weekly_reports/2023_45_1/energy_and_climate_scenarios_paradoxically_assume_considerable_nuclear_energy_growth.html

November 23, 2023 Posted by | climate change, EUROPE | Leave a comment

White House Fears Pause In Fighting Will Let Journalists See What’s Been Happening In Gaza

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE, NOV 22 https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/white-house-fears-pause-in-fighting?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=139072453&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&utm_medium=email

Israel and Hamas have reportedly agreed to a four-day ceasefire which will entail the release of 50 hostages held by Hamas in exchange for 150 hostages held by Israeli forces. 

In an article titled “Biden admin officials see proof their strategy is working in hostage deal,” Politico describes the deal as “the administration’s biggest diplomatic victory of the conflict” and reports that White House officials are calling it a “vindication” of Biden’s decision making. Which is an entirely inappropriate level of verbal fellatio for an achievement as minimal as not murdering children for a few days.

Tucked away many paragraphs into this report is a sentence which is getting a lot of attention on social media today saying that according to Politico’s sources there has been some resistance to the pause in fighting within the administration due to fears that it will allow journalists into Gaza to report on the devastation Israel has inflicted upon the enclave.

“And there was some concern in the administration about an unintended consequence of the pause: that it would allow journalists broader access to Gaza and the opportunity to further illuminate the devastation there and turn public opinion on Israel,” Politico reports.

In other words, the White House is worried that a brief pause in the Israeli massacre of civilians in Gaza will allow journalists to report the truth about the Israeli massacre of civilians in Gaza, because it will hurt the information interests of the US and Israel. They are worried that the public will become more aware of facts and truth.

Needless to say, if you’re standing on the right side of history you’re not typically worried about journalists reporting true facts about current events and thereby damaging public support for your agendas. But that is the side that the US and Israel have always stood on, which is why the US empire is currently imprisoning Julian Assange for doing good journalism on US war crimes and why Israel has a decades-long history of threatening and targeting journalists.

During Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza in 2021 the IDF reportedly targeted more than 20 Palestinian press institutions in the enclave, as well as the tower hosting the international outlets AP and Al Jazeera. During this current onslaught Israel has been killing dozens of Palestinian journalists, sometimes by actively bombing their homes where they live with their families. The IDF’s campaign to wipe out inconvenient news reporters has resulted in the Committee to Protect Journalists calling this the deadliest conflict on record for journalists anywhere, ever.

Both the US and Israel have been attacking the press in this way because their governments understand that whoever controls the narrative controls the world. They understand that while power is controlling what happens, ultimate power is controlling what people think about what happens. Human consciousness is dominated by mental narratives, so if you can control society’s dominant narratives, you can control the humans. 

This is why the powerful have been able to remain in power in our civilization — because they understand this, while we the public generally do not. That’s why they bombard us with nonstop mass media propaganda, that’s why they work to censor the internet, that’s why Julian Assange languishes in prison, that’s why Israel routinely murders journalists, and that’s why the White House is afraid of what will happen if worldwide news reporters are able to get their cameras into Gaza.

November 23, 2023 Posted by | Israel, media | Leave a comment

Lawsuit Against Alleged CIA Spying on Assange Visitors: A Rare Court Hearing

A federal judge pushed back when a government attorney refused to confirm or deny whether the CIA had engaged in warrantless surveillance.

SCHEERPOST, By Kevin Gosztola / The Dissenter, November 21, 2023

A United States court held an extraordinary hearing on November 16, where a judge carefully considered a lawsuit against the CIA and former CIA director Mike Pompeo for their alleged role in spying on American attorneys and journalists who visited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Judge John Koeltl of the Southern District of New York pushed back when Assistant U.S. Attorney Jean-David Barnea refused to confirm or deny that the CIA had targeted Americans without obtaining a warrant. He also invited attorneys for the Americans to update the lawsuit so that claims of privacy violations explicitly dealt with the government’s lack of a warrant.

In August 2022, four Americans sued the CIA and Pompeo: Margaret Ratner Kunstler, a civil rights activist and human rights attorney; Deborah Hrbek, a media lawyer who represented Assange or WikiLeaks; journalist John Goetz, who worked for Der Spiegel when the German media organization first partnered with WikiLeaks; and journalist Charles Glass, who wrote articles on Assange for The Intercept.

The lawsuit alleged that as visitors Glass, Goetz, Hrbek, and Kunstler were required to “surrender” their electronic devices to employees of a Spanish company called UC Global, which was contracted to provide security for the Ecuador embassy.

UC Global and the company’s director David Morales “copied the information stored on the devices” and shared the information with the CIA. The agency even had access to live video and audio feeds from cameras in the embassy………………………………………………………………………………………………

Though the court was open to reviewing arguments against the CIA, Koeltl seemed highly skeptical that the claim against Pompeo in his individual capacity would survive against the government.

In 1971, a U.S. Supreme Court case known as Bivens created a process for bringing cases against federal government officials for violating a person’s constitutional rights. Pompeo was sued under that doctrine. However, courts have been extremely reluctant to allow plaintiffs to pursue damages when a case may set a precedent or lead to a court intruding upon national security and foreign policy matters…………………………………………………………….

The CIA knew from their passports whether they were American citizens or not, and the agency still went ahead with targeted surveillance against them.  https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/21/lawsuit-against-alleged-cia-spying-on-assange-visitors-a-rare-court-hearing/

November 23, 2023 Posted by | USA | Leave a comment

Etopia Report: the nuclear problem – economic realities

Selected quotes for from the eTopia report 2023 (translated from the French)

“4.5. The pharaonic cost of accidents and uninsurability of Nuclear

For their part, the potential costs of nuclear incidents and accidents are difficult to take into account in the cost of the mWh, even if they are very real. Thus, the sabotage (still not clarified) in 2014 of one of the reactors at Doel cost Engie nearly 100 million euros. And in case largest accident, no insurance company in the world will agree to cover nuclear power plants.

The maximum amount of damage up to which liability of the operator is incurred, amounts to €1.2 billion for each accident nuclear ! The additional costs would therefore be borne by the taxpayers (see on this subject the Price Anderson Act, American legal framework of irresponsibility of operators on which the legislation is based today (European).

As an example – and scale – the cost of the disaster of Chernobyl is estimated, at a minimum, at more than 200 billion euros, that of Fukushima today exceeds 170 billion, while the counter still running… The Institute of Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) studied the economic cost of a nuclear accident, if it occurred in France. A serious accident would cost on average 120 billion euros, a major accident, 430 billion euros… or the GDP of Belgium.

In a recent interview, Patrick Pouyanné, boss of Total Energies, explains why the company will not go into nuclear power. Acknowledging that they had studied the issue very seriously, he concluded: “it’s very capital intensive and the risk cocktail is too important to a private company”. Too expensive and too dangerous, therefore. In Germany, a study commissioned by the Versicherungsforen Leipzig, a service provider for insurance companies, calculated in 2011 that if an insurance wanted to constitute sufficient premiums to a nuclear power plant within 50 years, for example, it should ask for 72 billion euros per year for civil liability!

In practical, the reactors cannot therefore be insured, unless that the price of electricity is multiplied by… twenty. The study explains years of market distortion in favor of nuclear energy and to the detriment of competition. Uwe Leprich from the University of Sciences applied sciences of Saarbrücken, demonstrates that “nuclear energy is not competitive when considered from an economic point of view appropriate in terms of regulatory policy. »

ETOPIA is a Center for animation and research in political ecology. Founded in 2004, based in Namur, our think tank brings together environmental activists, associate researchers, trainers and change agents.

Link eTopia Nuclear 2023 Report: https://rep.etopia.be/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/LIVRE_PROBLEME_NUCLEAIRE_WEB.pdf

November 23, 2023 Posted by | business and costs, EUROPE | Leave a comment

The Russian nuclear industry during wartime, 2022 and early 2023

Bellona has published a new report that analyze the new footing on which
Rosatom, Russia’s power state nuclear corporation, has found itself as the
the war in Ukraine grinds on. It’s clear that the putatively civilian
corporation is now a direct participant in and beneficiary of Russia’s
seizure of Ukrainian nuclear infrastructure.

In the early days of the war,
Moscow’s troops marched into Chernobyl, site of the world’s worst nuclear
accident and now the host of numerous industrial scale activities aimed at
cleaning it up. Days later, it then overran the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power
plant — Europe’s largest such facility — making it the world’s first
nuclear power station to be taken as prize as the result of an armed
attack. Click here to download the report: The Russian nuclear industry during wartime, 2022 and early 2023

Bellona 21st Nov 2023

The Russian nuclear industry during wartime, 2022 and early 2023

November 23, 2023 Posted by | business and costs, Russia | Leave a comment

The great carbon divide: On the trail of the super-polluters.

With the Cop28 climate conference due to open next week in Dubai, a major
Oxfam report has exposed how the world’s richest 1% cause more carbon
emissions than the poorest 66% combined – a good moment, it would seem, to
reflect on who exactly is responsible for the lion’s share of carbon
pollution.

Global environment editor Jonathan Watts explains why uncovering
the disparity is key to solving the crisis, while environment correspondent
Sandra Laville reveals how just 12 super-rich individuals outpollute 2.1m
homes annually (and more from the great carbon divide series can be found
here).

Guardian 22nd Nov 2023

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2023/nov/22/the-great-carbon-divide-inside-the-24-november-edition

November 23, 2023 Posted by | climate change | Leave a comment