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TODAY. If you care about safety, you don’t get a job on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission!

Yes, the nuclear lobby ‘killed’ the job of Jeff Baran, because his prime concern is safety, rather than promoting the nuclear industry !

What really got me about this – is that Jeff Baran is actually a very pro nuclear person! He wants the new nuclear renaissance to thrive. wants the new advanced reactors to go ahead.

It’s just unfortunate that Jeff Baran shows a bit of concern for environmental justice, for indigenous communities impacted by nuclear matters, and, biggest mistake of all “he prioritises safety”.

Ya can’t have a nuclear regular with that attitude!

Now in the past, the nuclear industry was held back by dreadful people, now thoroughly discredited, of course.

Greg Jaczko, the former Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, published an explosive new book: Confessions of a Rogue Nuclear Regulator.  In it, he gets honest with the American people about the dangers of nuclear technology, which he labels “failed,” “dangerous,” “not reliable.”  He particularly comes down against nuclear as having any part in mitigating the problems of climate change/global warming.

Allison Macfarlane, former chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). “I encourage countries that are just embarking on nuclear power to make sure that they have a plan for disposal, before they turn on the reactor.”

‘Earthquakes are just one of many natural hazards nuclear plants must
be prepared for’, she said. ‘Others include tornadoes, flooding, drought
and tsunamis.’

she says ‘one of the reasons SMRs will cost more has to do with fuel costs’ with some designs requiring ‘high-assay low enriched uranium fuel (HALEU), in other words, fuel enriched in the isotope uranium-235 between 10-19.99%, just below the level of what is termed “highly enriched uranium,” suitable for nuclear bombs.  …………  an enrichment company wants assurance from reactor vendors to invest in developing HALEU production. But since commercial-scale SMRs are likely decades away, if they are at all viable, there is risk to doing so.’

At least we know where we are, people! If you had any idea that the USA government was in charge of nuclear safety, well you can put that idea to bed.

When Ted Norhaus and the Breakthrough Institute can finish off the job of a pro- nuclear regulator, because he has the temerity to prioritise safety, well, you really know that the nuclear lobby controls the USA government.

January 23, 2024 Posted by | Christina's notes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Nuclear lobby “kills” nomination of regulator who cares too much about safety

“We killed this nomination,” said Ted Nordhaus, executive director of the Breakthrough Institute, a California-based climate think tank that advocates for more nuclear energy.

Biden Drops Nuclear Regulator Nominee After Senate Backlash

Alexander C. Kaufman, Tue, 23 January 2024  https://au.news.yahoo.com/biden-drops-nuclear-regulator-nominee-190521226.html

President Joe Biden is dropping his pick to fill the open seat on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after a handful of Democrats joined Senate Republicans to block the nomination last year, HuffPost has learned. 

Jeff Baran had held a seat on the five-person federal panel overseeing atomic energy and radiation safety since former President Barack Obama first named to the position in 2014. The Democratic commissioner easily won Senate approval when former President Donald Trump renominated him in 2018. 

But pro-nuclear advocates angry over what they saw as Baran’s unwillingness to overhaul the regulatory process in favor of building new types of reactor technologies launched a campaign against the commissioner last year. With Republicans opposed to the nomination, the Biden administration needed almost every Democrat in the Senate to vote for Baran ― or leave the NRC without a tie-breaker for party-line votes between the four current commissioners. 

The White House had wanted the Senate’s narrow Democratic majority to reconfirm Baran before his term ended last July. But as many as four senators on the Democratic side, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), either planned to come out against Baran or refused to pledge their votes, according to a source with knowledge of the process. Neither senator’s office immediately responded to emails requesting comment on Monday.

When the Senate ended 2023 last month without a vote, the nomination automatically went back to the White House. 

The NRC directed HuffPost’s questions about when the administration would name its nominee for the open commission seat to the White House, which did not respond to a request for comment.

But three sources with knowledge of the plans confirmed to HuffPost that the Biden administration does not plan to nominate Baran again. Two spoke to HuffPost on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. The third claimed Baran’s loss as a victory. 

“We killed this nomination,” said Ted Nordhaus, executive director of the Breakthrough Institute, a California-based climate think tank that advocates for more nuclear energy.

He was among the most vocal opponents of Baran’s nomination, and helped drum up votes against the Democratic commissioner. Nordhaus had cast Baran as a holdover from an earlier era of liberal regulators who saw their job primarily as safeguarding the public against the atomic energy industry. 

“It is my job to focus on nuclear safety and security,” Baran said in 2017 at his reconfirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works committee. “It is not my job to weigh in on the pros and cons of the merits of nuclear power.”

That view, Nordhaus said, was common among Democrats for decades. But a modern outlook on nuclear safety has to consider not only the threats of using atomic energy, but the risks that not doing so increases pollution from fossil fuels that damages lungs and traps heat in the planet’s atmosphere.

“Everyone went into this just assuming everybody would line up behind Baran, that this is just the kind of guy Democrats put on the commission,” Nordhaus said. 

“The fact that enough Democratic senators were willing to say we’re not going to vote for this guy,” he added, “it’s pretty clear that for the first time in maybe ever a bunch of Democrats now recognize that we need reform at the NRC, that something has to change, that the technology can’t succeed if the NRC continues to approach this in the way it historically has.” 

But Baran had defenders. The progressive pro-nuclear group Good Energy Collective previously told HuffPost Baran had a strong record of fighting for environmental justice and building relationships with communities saddled with radioactive pollution from the past. 

January 23, 2024 Posted by | politics, safety, USA | Leave a comment

Top Nuclear Regulator Faces Tough Reconfirmation Battle In The Senate

Biden wants to keep Jeff Baran on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but the GOP and pro-nuclear activists say he’s holding back an atomic renaissance.

Huff Post, By Alexander C. Kaufman, Jun 27, 2023

When President Barack Obama first named Jeff Baran to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2014, the Democratic majority in the Senate confirmed the former congressional staffer in a 52-40 vote. When President Donald Trump renominated the Democrat for another five-year term in 2018, the GOP-led Senate approved Baran by a simple voice tally.

But President Joe Biden’s plan to give Baran a third stint on the federal body responsible for the world’s largest fleet of commercial reactors has already hit the rocks, as Republicans move to block a commissioner critics paint as an “obstructionist” with a record of voting for policies nuclear advocates say make it harder to keep existing plants open and more expensive, if not impossible, to deploy advanced next-generation atomic technologies.

Last Friday, the Senate went on break for the next two weeks, all but guaranteeing that Baran’s current term ends on June 30 without a decision on whether he will rejoin the five-member board, creating a vacancy that could cause gridlock on some decisions and mark a return to the partisan feuds of a decade ago…………

The White House and the Democrats who control the Senate hope to reinstate Baran in a vote next month, casting the regulator as a sober-minded professional with an ear to the woes of those living in polluted or impoverished communities. The battle highlights growing tensions over nuclear energy in the United States, the country that built the world’s first full-scale fission power plant nearly seven decades ago but all but ceased expanding atomic energy in the 30 years since the Cold War ended…………………………………………………………….

“His voting record shows he’s been a consistent obstructionist, a defender of a regulatory system that has basically presided over the long-term decline of the nuclear sector in the U.S.,” said Ted Nordhaus, executive director of the Breakthrough Institute, a California-based environmental think tank that advocates for nuclear energy. “There’s a broad view at a pretty bipartisan level that we need nuclear energy. If Democrats are serious about it, they have to stop putting a guy like Jeff Baran at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”

The Breakthrough Institute was among five pro-nuclear groups that signed on to a June 12 letter urging the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works to reject the White House’s nomination of Baran for a third term.

The NRC declined HuffPost’s request to interview Baran…………………………………………………

The Case Against Baran

Baran came to power right as the last attempt at a “nuclear renaissance” fizzled…………………

As governments scrambled to keep operating reactors from going out of business, Baran voted last July to increase the frequency of federal safety inspections on existing nuclear plants, arguing that it would allow for “more focused inspections” that would “provide the staff flexibility to take a deeper dive into different areas of high safety importance” as the reactor fleet ages.

Baran also came out against measures that supporters of new reactor designs say would have helped tailor the regulatory process to the specific needs of novel technologies…………………

Baran issued the NRC’s sole vote against three recent proposals to make it easier to build an SMR at a former coal- or gas-fired plant, to tailor the size of the emergency preparedness zone to the size of the reactor, and to update the environmental permitting requirements for new reactors to account for the dramatic difference in water use between traditional and new designs…………..

While outnumbered by the other four commissioners, Baran’s hard-line view against easing regulations mirrors the Fukushima era in which he came to power, when Democrats Gregory Jaczko and Allison Macfarlane chaired the NRC and delivered on Reid’s efforts to block key nuclear projects. Nordhaus described Baran as a holdover from that period…………………..

The Case For Baran

Baran is not without his defenders among atomic energy advocates.

“It’s not as though he’s anti-nuclear,” said Jackie Toth, the Washington-based deputy director of the Good Energy Collective, a progressive pro-nuclear group headquartered in California. She noted that Baran’s critics often paint him as having the same views as Jaczko and Macfarlane. “To pool them together without looking at the full breadth of his record and what he’s done is unfair.”

“He prioritizes safety and not simply taking industry at its word,” Toth said. “It’s critical to have on the commission someone who understands both the need for increased nuclear capacity on our grid for climate, communities and energy security, but still wants to make sure the industry is putting its best foot forward.”

In particular, she said, Baran has been a crucial supporter of efforts to make it easier for poor and polluted communities — which, thanks to the U.S. history of racist legal and cultural norms, tend to be populated by Black, Latino or Native Americans — to participate in the public regulatory process. While she said she “did not have concerns regarding” the other commissioners’ dedication to environmental justice, Baran’s focus on the issue served to “complement” the other four regulators.

“We feel it’s an asset to have someone like him at the NRC who gets the climate imperative for new reactors but also upholds the agency’s mission to be a trusted regulator that prioritizes public health and safety,” Toth said.

‘Rolling The Dice’

But as Congress presses ahead with legislation to boost nuclear power, Baran’s opponents see him as a potential hurdle to implementing the laws.

In 2018, Congress passed the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act, which directed the NRC to establish a novel regulatory framework for new technologies that takes into account the differences between advanced reactors and traditional ones. Baran consistently voted against adjusting the size of a new nuclear plant’s emergency planning zone to align with the size of the reactor, or insisted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency should decide even though the NRC is the regulator with the technical expertise to make the final call.

Over the past two years, Congress earmarked billions of dollars for new reactors in the landmark infrastructure laws Biden signed. And the same Senate committee that narrowly voted along party lines to confirm Baran’s renomination for another term overwhelmingly passed a new bill known as the ADVANCE Act to speed up deployment of new reactor technologies earlier this month………………………..

January 23, 2024 Posted by | politics, safety | Leave a comment

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 108: Israel is systematically obliterating Gaza, section by section 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=8_9oUFqPs-4%3Fsi%3DW_6AsUjc47PH8dSv

As Israeli forces surround yet another hospital in Gaza, Hamas releases a letter clarifying its motives behind the October 7 attack, reiterating the Palestinian demand for the right to self-determination.

Mondoweiss, BY LEILA WARAH  ,

Casualties

  • 25,295+ killed* and at least 63,000 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
  • 387+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
  • Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
  • 532 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.**

*This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on January 22. Some rights groups put the death toll number higher than 32,000 when accounting for those presumed dead.

Key Developments

  • UNOCHA: Only 15 bakeries still operational across Gaza, none in north.
  • UNOCHA: Approximately 1.7 million internally displaced people in Gaza.
  • Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor: Israel killed 94 professors in Gaza since October 7.
  • Palestine Red Crescent Society: Israeli tanks near al-Amal City Hospital in Khan Younis, all contact with PRCS team in area lost.
  • Palestine Red Crescent Society: Israel besieges ambulance center in Khan Younis, prevents lifesaving movement.
  • Israeli forces destroy entire neighborhood in Khan Younis via demolition, after soldier takes selfie with explosives.
  • Two Hezbollah fighters killed in Lebanon by Israeli drone strike.
  • Palestinian Ministry of Health: 190 Palestinians killed and 34 injured in the last 48 hours.
  • Hamas publishes 16-page report to “clarify” background and dynamics of October 7 surprise attack.
  • Israelis protest outside Netanyahu home, demand return of Israeli captives.

Hospitals under attack in southern Gaza

The Israeli army is systematically destroying Gaza as its genocidal war on the beleaguered strip enters its 108th day. The Israeli army, after having almost completely decimated northern Gaza, continues to move further south, setting its sights on Khan Younis, the second-largest district in the besieged enclave.

The area was initially designated a safe zone by Israel, leading hundreds of thousands of residents from the north to seek refugee in the city. Yet Khan Younis has now already become a shadow of itself after extensive damage and destruction wrought by the relentless Israeli airstrikes.

The ground invasion continues the campaign of obliteration, as Israeli soldiers filmed themselves blowing up 40 residential buildings at once with the use of explosives. Earlier, soldier Itamar Bello shared a selfie of himself posing with the mines used for the demolition.

Meanwhile, Israeli tanks and military vehicles are approaching al-Amal Hospital in the center of Khan Younis, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported on Monday morning.

As a result, PRCS has lost all contact with its crews in the area.

PRCS later added that the Israeli military was preventing first responders from reaching the wounded in Khan Younis as it intensified the ground assault and attacked the PRCS ambulance center.

Meanwhile, about 1 kilometer away, the Nasser Medical Complex was surrounded on three sides by the military in conjunction with the ongoing Israeli artillery bombardment in the vicinity of Nasser Hospital, Wafa reported……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..more https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-108-israel-is-systematically-obliterating-gaza-section-by-section/

January 23, 2024 Posted by | weapons and war | Leave a comment

Biden Has Started Another US War

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE, Jan 22 2024,  https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/biden-has-started-another-us-war?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=140915473&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&utm_medium=email

The Washington Post has an article out titled “As Houthis vow to fight on, U.S. prepares for sustained campaign,” with “sustained campaign” being empire-speak for a new American war. 

“The Biden administration is crafting plans for a sustained military campaign targeting the Houthis in Yemen after 10 days of strikes failed to halt the group’s attacks on maritime commerce, stoking concern among some officials that an open-ended operation could derail the war-ravaged country’s fragile peace and pull Washington into another unpredictable Middle Eastern conflict,” the Post reports.

The Post acknowledges that “sustained military campaign” means “war” in the ninth paragraph of the article, saying the anonymous US officials cited in the report “don’t expect that the operation will stretch on for years like previous U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan or Syria.” Which is about as reassuring as a pyromaniac saying he doesn’t expect he’ll be burning down any more houses like all those other houses he’s burned down.

This bizarre refusal to just call a war a war also appeared in a recent press conference with Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh, who acted shocked and aghast that reporters would even ask if repeatedly bombing a country would qualify as being at war with them.

“Is it now fair to say that the U.S. is at war in Yemen?” Singh was asked by a Reuters reporter on Thursday.

“No, we don’t seek war,” Singh replied. “We don’t think that we are at war. We don’t want to see a regional war. The Houthis are the ones that continue to launch cruise missiles, antiship missiles at innocent mariners, at commercial vessels that are just transiting an area that sees, you know, 10 to 15 percent of world’s commerce.”

In a follow-up several questions later, Singh was asked by a reporter from Politico, “You said that we are not at war with the Houthis, but if — you know, this tit-for-tat bombing — we’ve bombed them five times now. So if this isn’t war, can you just explain this a little — a little bit more to us? If this isn’t war, what is war?”

“Sure, Lara, sure, great question, I just wasn’t expecting it phrased exactly that way,” Singh replied with a laugh and a smirk. “Look, we are — we do not seek war. We are — we do not — we are not at war with the Houthis. In terms of a definition, I think that would be more of a clear declaration from the United States. But again, what we are doing and the actions that we are taking are defensive in nature.”

https://youtube.com/watch?v=TvlHlqo3WuA%3Fsi%3D9tKJK7bdXebV-rzG

It is worth noting that since that Thursday press conference the number of US strikes on Yemen has increased from five to seven as of this writing.

It is also worth noting here that, per Singh’s absurd definition, the US has not been at war since the end of WWII, as there has not been a “clear declaration of war” since June 5, 1942. The only wars the US has officially declared through congress in accordance with its own constitution have been the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Spanish-American War, and the two world wars. 

If you go by this definition the US is among the more peaceful nations in the world, since it hasn’t been at war in eight decades. In reality the US is the single most warlike and murderous nation of modern times with wars of aggression that have killed millions and displaced tens of millions just in the 21st century alone, and plays some role in most of the world’s major international conflicts.

Singh’s claim that the US attacks on Yemen are “defensive in nature” is also self-evidently absurd; Yemeni forces weren’t even attacking American commercial vessels until the US began attacking them. Only the US could launch unprovoked attacks on a foreign nation on the other side of the planet and call it self-defense. 

Antiwar’s Dave DeCamp explains:

Indeed, the only reason Houthi forces began attacking ships in the Red Sea was to pressure Israel and its allies into ceasing the ongoing massacre that has been taking place in Gaza since October 7. As usual the world’s most murderous and powerful government is framing its horrifying acts of extreme aggression as innocent defensive responses to unprovoked attacks, when in reality the US empire is bombing Yemen in order to facilitate the genocide of Palestinians.

And while we’re on the subject of Gaza and Yemen it’s probably worth pointing out that according to US empire managers the stated goals of both campaigns have been completely unsuccessful. A new report by The Wall Street Journal says that according to US intelligence Israel is nowhere remotely close to eliminating Hamas, with only 20 to 30 percent of the group having been killed since October. Asked by the press on Thursday if the strikes against the Houthis are working, Biden replied “Well, when you say ‘working’ — are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue? Yes.” 

“Before the US began bombing the Houthis, Ansar Allah officials made clear they would only stop attacking Israeli-linked commercial shipping if the onslaught on Gaza ended. Instead of pressuring Israel to end the slaughter in Gaza, President Biden chose escalation, and now the Houthis are targeting US commercial shipping, and several US merchant vessels have been hit with missiles.”

So they’re raining military explosives on impoverished middle easterners to maintain their status quo domination, under the pretense of goals which they themselves admit are not being achieved. Just another day in the empire, I guess.

January 23, 2024 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | 2 Comments

Nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula set to worsen in 2024

 https://www.icanw.org/nuclear_tensions_on_the_korean_peninsula_set_to_worsen_in_2024—

2024 looks set to be an even more perilous year than 2023 on the Korean Peninsula as nuclear threat and counter threat have escalated even further since the beginning of January. On New Year’s Day, South Korea’s defence ministry repeated previous threats to destroy the North Korean “regime” if it uses nuclear weapons. This was a response to North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un’s speech the day before in which he told his military to prepare for possible war.

Since then, Kim has said he has given up on the idea of peaceful reunification with South Korea designating it a hostile state and again warned of possible war. In the past week alone, Kim has called for a change in the constitution to designate Seoul as Pyongyang’s “primary foe” and a confidence building military agreement with the South agreed in 2018 has started to fall apart as the South Korean armed forces resumed frontline aerial surveillance in the wake of North Korean artillery exercises near a South Korean island on the maritime border between the two states.

The expected change in the constitution of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea’s official name) follows an amendment last year that enshrined nuclear weapons in it.

This week has also seen the North testing what it says is a solid-fueled hypersonic missile and an underwater nuclear drone in response to what some observers say is the largest ever joint naval exercise between South Korea, the United States and Japan.

Analysts believe Pyongyang is developing both so-called strategic and tactical nuclear weapons in order to deter the US which is committed to use nuclear weapons in South Korea’s defence.

North Korea has been testing more and more advanced ballistic missiles and warheads, some with the range to reach the US and has also said it is developing ship-launched cruise missiles, while the Americans have been mounting repeated shows of force including military exercises using nuclear-capable aircraft and the visit of a nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea.

Last year, the US and South Korea agreed to increase their cooperation on the planning for the use of nuclear weapons following earlier statements by South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol, that suggested Seoul might develop its own nuclear weapons. Yoon has since cooled talk of acquiring nuclear weapons,but the debate continues in policy circles.

Another escalatory move has been increasing military cooperation between the US, South Korea and Japan, which also endorses the use of American nuclear weapons in its defence.

In the light of this, some analysts see the Korean Peninsula as the most dangerous nuclear flashpoint in a world that currently has no shortage of conflict involving nuclear-armed states in Ukraine and Gaza.

Alicia Sanders-Zakre, ICAN’s Policy and Research Coordinator, called for restraint on all sides: “Inflammatory nuclear rhetoric and threats, accompanied by military exercises and weapons tests,  ramp up tensions and bring us closer to the brink of catastrophe. All nuclear-armed states, including North Korea and the US, as well as those allied on nuclear policies, such as  Japan and South Korea, need to take urgent steps to de-escalate tensions and to break free from the dangerous doctrine of nuclear deterrence. Joining the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is a crucial step to delegitimise nuclear deterrence and eliminate nuclear weapons.”

North Korea uses the same justification for its actions as the US, and the other declared nuclear-armed states. Just like Washington, Pyongyang says it is committed to disarmament, but argues the security threats it faces mean it needs nuclear weapons to deter its enemies.

The doctrine of deterrence is based on the threat to use nuclear weapons with all the catastrophic consequences that would entail for the whole world. As the states parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) declared at their recent meeting in New York: “the renewed advocacy, insistence on and attempts to justify nuclear deterrence as a legitimate security doctrine gives false credence to the value of nuclear weapons for national

security and dangerously increases the risk of horizontal and vertical nuclear proliferation.”

The TPNW (Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons) is growing in strength and has just welcomed its 70th state party while a further 27 countries are signatories. These states recognise that the total elimination of nuclear weapons is a global imperative and they are showing responsible leadership by championing the treaty as the best way to end the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons.

January 23, 2024 Posted by | politics international | Leave a comment

German defense chief against going ‘all in’ on Ukraine

23 Jan 24,  https://www.rt.com/news/590954-germany-defense-minister-pistorius-no-ukraine-all-in/

Boris Pistorius says donating too many weapons to Kiev would weaken Berlin’s own forces

Germany should exercise some caution in its support for Ukraine, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has told the newspaper Der Tagesspiegel. He also revealed that Berlin is considering reverting to a compulsory military service system.

The defense chief warned last month that European nations have less than a decade to ramp up their military capabilities in anticipation of a potential armed confrontation with Russia, and predicted that the US would shift its focus to the Asia-Pacific region.

In an interview published on Friday, Pistorius dismissed criticisms that Germany is not sending enough weaponry to Ukraine, pointing out that Berlin is the second largest contributor to Kiev after the US. However, he stressed that shipping German-made long-range Taurus cruise missiles, which Kiev has been requesting for months, is currently out of the question.

“We have so far delivered everything that is possible,” he said, adding that Germany carefully weighs up the potential impact of each new shipment to Ukraine.

Pistorius cautioned that Berlin must also “keep an eye on its own defense capabilities” meaning that it can’t go “all in” for Ukraine as some are demanding.

“Otherwise we would be defenseless ourselves,” he warned, while calling on other European nations to ramp up their defense production, to become more independent of the US.

The German minister suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin could eventually “attack a NATO country,” while acknowledging that such a scenario was unlikely at present. Germany must thoroughly upgrade its armed forces and civil defense, he concluded.

As part of these efforts, the Bundeswehr will simplify its recruitment policies and loosen its enlistment criteria, he noted, while mentioning the current debate on reintroducing compulsory military service.

A survey last month revealed that only 17% of German adults would be prepared to defend their country without question in case of a military conflict.

Earlier this week, Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed that Berlin would shell out more than €7 billion ($7.6 billion) on military aid for Ukraine this year.

Berlin provided Kiev with nearly $23 billion in aid between February 2022 and November 2023, according to the Kiel Institute for World Economy (IfW).

Since Kiev’s summer counteroffensive fizzled out with no major gains and heavy losses, top Ukrainian officials have increasingly been pressuring their Western backers for more weaponry.

January 23, 2024 Posted by | Germany, Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Shock Horror! They’re letting some WOMEN into the Cop29 climate summit committee

Women added to Cop29 climate summit committee after backlash. Panel was
originally composed of 28 men, a move condemned as ‘regressive’ and
‘shocking’. The president of Azerbaijan has added 12 women to the
previously all-male organising committee for the Cop29 global climate
summit, which the country will host in December.

 Guardian 19th Jan 2024

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/19/women-cop29-climate-summit-committee-backlash

January 23, 2024 Posted by | climate change, Women | Leave a comment

Mexico and Chile Call on International Criminal Court to Investigate Crimes in Gaza

byEDITORJanuary 21, 2024

Mexico and Chile have joined South Africa, Bolivia, Djibouti, Bangladesh, and the Comoros in calling on the ICC to investigate Israel for its crimes in Gaza, including war crimes and genocide.

By Tanupriya Singh / Peoples Dispatch

Chile and Mexico have called upon the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the crimes being committed amid Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza. In the past 105 days, Israel has killed over 24,600 Palestinians in Gaza, with more than 7,000 people missing and presumed dead under the rubble.

In a statement released on January 18, Mexico and Chile stated that their referral to the ICC was “due to growing concern about the latest escalation of violence, particularly against civilian targets, and the alleged continued commission of crimes under the jurisdiction of the Court, specifically since the attack on October 7, 2023, carried out by Hamas militants and the subsequent hostilities in Gaza.”……………………………………………………………………………………………… more https://scheerpost.com/2024/01/21/mexico-and-chile-call-on-international-criminal-court-to-investigate-crimes-in-gaza/

January 23, 2024 Posted by | Israel, weapons and war | , , , , | Leave a comment