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TODAY A voice of sanity in the UK- Jeremy Corbyn is back!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Kup3KTqA9W0%3Fsi%3DDhNlRQbGPSSoqFAV

Just when we thought that the total lavatory of UK politics was beyond any vestige of salvation, a little glimmer of light.

The terminally incompetent Tory Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in his expensive Saville Row suit stood at the lectern in Drowning Street – without umbrella, as the clouds bucketed down on him … and announced a general election for Thursday 4th July. So much for all the wonderful things that the Tories were going to achieve in this term of government. Those would of course include the ramping up of the nuclear industry, and of course its major focus nuclear weapons. And also, support for Israel

Enter the tough and imposing Sir Keir Starmer – with a Labour opposition very much along the same lines as the Conservatives – pushing along the nuclear industry, UK’s nuclear “deterrent”, with UK in a leadership role of a confrontational NATO, and supporting Israel.

Well, we know that the sainted Starmer will get in – because the UK at large has ceased to find the Conservative government funny, and started to really worry about their incompetence.

It’s not that I expect that Jeremy Corbyn is going to transform UK politics. But isn’t it a bit of a comfort to know that there are still some old politicians there – like Bernie Sanders in USA, and Jeremy Corbyn, who stand for humanitarian values? To know that there’s something decent left in the Left.

June 7, 2024 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Report: Vast Majority of Children Under 5 in Gaza Going Full Days Without Food

Since Israel began its Rafah invasion, the amount of aid entering the region has dropped by two-thirds.

By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT, June 4, 2024, https://truthout.org/articles/report-vast-majority-of-children-under-5-in-gaza-going-full-days-without-food/
The vast majority of children under the age of 5 in Gaza are regularly forced to go at least one full day without eating as Israel’s manufactured famine has intensified in recent weeks, aid groups have reported.

According to a food survey conducted by humanitarian aid groups in May, 85 percent of children under 5 were deprived of food at least one day over a three day period. Official death counts reported by Gaza’s government do not include deaths by starvation; at least 30 children have been recorded starving to death in Gaza so far.

Israel’s starvation campaign has resulted in the rapid spread of famine across the region, which aid groups are warning is worsening by the day as Israel continues its near-total humanitarian aid blockade. According to an Oxfam report released Monday, the risk of famine in Gaza is higher than ever as Israel’s relentless assault and obstruction of aid has made it “virtually impossible” for groups to carry out an aid response.

The UN has reported that, since Israel began its Rafah invasion, the amount of aid entering the region has dropped by two-thirds from the already famine-inducing levels prior to May.

Since May 6, when Israel seized and closed the main humanitarian aid crossing into Gaza, only about eight trucks of aid have entered on average each day — or about 1 percent of the 500 to 600 trucks that the UN has said need to enter each day in order to meet Palestinians’ needs.

On top of the blockade, Israeli forces recently lifted a ban on commercial food deliveries entering Gaza, meaning that commercial deliveries from Israel and the West Bank are now squeezing out aid trucks attempting to enter border crossings.

The food and other supplies, like tents, entering from commercial trucks are then sold for extremely high prices, putting them out of reach for Palestinians already struggling to keep their families alive after months of price gouging and destruction. The Guardian reports that far more commercial trucks are entering because they can pay more to Israeli security guards to enter than groups operating aid trucks.

Two weeks ago, the UN reported that its food and tent storage warehouses in Gaza are empty because of Israel’s blockade; now, families are reporting having to pay $700 just for a basic tent that they would then have to pitch in cemeteries due to overcrowding.

“By the time a famine is declared, it will be too late. When hunger claims many more lives, nobody will be able to deny the horrifying impact of Israel’s deliberate, illegal and cruel obstruction of aid,” said Sally Abi Khalil, Middle East and North Africa director for Oxfam, in a statement. “Obstructing tonnes of food for a malnourished population while waving through caffeine-laced drinks and chocolate is sickening.”

Over a million people have fled Rafah as Israel carries out its invasion, fleeing to nearby Khan Younis, Al-Mawasi and Deir al-Balah, Oxfam reports. As a result, two-thirds of Gaza’s population, or 1.7 million people, have now been forced into an area that’s less than one-fifth of the area of the Gaza strip — an area that Israeli forces have been bombing anyway, despite declaring it to be a safe zone.

Israel’s ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza is leading to extremely unsanitary and dangerous conditions. In Al-Mawasi, there are only 121 toilets for over 500,000 people, Oxfam says, meaning that there are roughly 4,130 people to each toilet.

Israel is carrying out its blockade and Rafah assault despite the International Court of Justice ordering an end to Israel’s siege of Rafah and an immediate influx of humanitarian aid to Gaza in May in order to stave off the spread of famine and save countless Palestinian lives.

June 7, 2024 Posted by | Atrocities, Gaza, Israel | Leave a comment

Global warming happening at fastest speed in history

Worldwide study finds that the planet is warming at the fastest rates since records began – bringing the planet to the brink of runaway climate change

By Tom Bawden, Science & Environment Correspondent, 5 June 24  https://inews.co.uk/news/science/global-warming-happening-at-fastest-speed-in-history-3091325

Humans are warming the planet at record speed even as the world hurtles towards runaway climate change, a major study has found.

A UK-led report involving 50 scientists from 26 institutions around the world finds that the average temperature of the planet increased by 0.26°C over the past decade as a result of human-induced climate change from rising carbon dioxide emissions.

This is the highest rate of global warming since records began in the 19th century and compares to a 0.20°C rise in the previous decade, from 2004 to 2013.

“Global temperatures are still heading in the wrong direction and faster than ever before. Sadly, this was entirely predictable,” said Professor Piers Foster, of Leeds University, who led the study.

“Our analysis shows that the level of global warming caused by human action has continued to increase over the past year, even though climate action has slowed the rise in greenhouse gas emissions.”

The Global Climate Change report reveals that human-induced warming increased the temperature by an average of 1.19°C between 2014 and 2023 – with warming caused by human activity reaching 1.3°C in 2023 in isolation.

The report comes as the world battles to limit global warming to no more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels and and, if at all possible, 1.5°C.

Beyond this level, every fraction of a degree of temperature increase causes ever greater numbers of storms, droughts and other extreme weather events that can kill people, cause health problems and damage infrastructure.

The report also found that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at current rates then by 2030 there will be enough of them in the atmosphere to push human-induced warming to 1.5°C.

The analysis showed that the remaining “carbon budget” – how much carbon dioxide can be emitted before committing us to 1.5°C of global warming – is only around 200 billion tonnes, around five years’ worth of current emissions.

Yet, despite warnings that the carbon budget is fast running out, global emissions have continued to rise.

Last year, they rose by 1.1 per cent to a new record, according to a report by the world’s main monitoring group, the Global Carbon Project.

While most of the human-induced temperature increases came from burning more fossil fuels, a small portion was the result of countries cleaning up air pollution, the report found.

This adds to global warming by reducing the cooling of aerosol particle pollutants, which would have reflected some sunlight back into the atmosphere.

Professor Pierre Friedlingstein, of Exeter University, who led the Global Carbon Project study and worked on this new report, said: “The situation on greenhouse gas emissions is urgent.”

He said that global carbon emissions are “more or less stable now” – rising at around 0.5 to 1 per cent a year compared to about 3 per cent at the turn of the century.

“But it’s not enough. We don’t need emissions to be stable, we need emissions to be net zero,” he said.

Meanwhile, Professor Foster, while highly concerned about the level of CO2 emissions, thinks they are close to peaking and will start to fall as countries step up their actions to reduce them.

“I don’t expect the rate of warming to go much higher as greenhouse gas emissions are hopefully near the peak,” he told i.


“But of course temperatures rising faster than ever is not a good look, so emissions need to drop fast.”

The study is published in the journal Earth System Science Data.

June 7, 2024 Posted by | climate change | Leave a comment

Samsung workers treated for exposure to radiation in South Korea

Workplace safety org identifies 26 hazards in the chipmaking process

Simon Sharwood, Thu 30 May 2024  https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/30/samsung_giheung_radiation_exposure/

Two workers at a Samsung Electronics chip plant in South Korea have been treated for exposure to radiation.

A notice posted on Wednesday by South Korea’s Nuclear Safety and Security Commission revealed that it is investigating an incident that occurred May 27 at Samsung’s Giheung campus.

The notice states that two workers’ fingers were exposed to radiation, leading to their hospitalization. Abnormal symptoms have been detected in the pair, but the Commission revealed their blood tests have delivered normal results and no chromosomal abnormalities have been detected.

The Nuclear Commission points out that Samsung holds a license to employ X-ray fluorescence, a non-destructive technique used to analyze semiconductor wafers.

Local media report the workers reported swollen fingers and red spots on their hands, and that Samsung immediately offered appropriate assistance and reported the situation to the Commission.

Just what went wrong has not been revealed. The regulator also plans further investigation of Samsung’s Giheung campus.

The campus is a sprawling affair, located around 40km south of South Korea’s capital, Seoul. In 2022, Samsung announced it would host a new semiconductor research and development facility, alongside the existing manufacturing center.

Samsung operates at least three foundries in its home country, and fifteen R&D centers.

Even if this incident disrupts the Giheung facility it may not, therefore, have wide supply chain implications. Indeed, at the time of writing Samsung appears not to have made any public statements about disruptions to its operations as a result of this incident.

It does, however, highlight the complex and risky processes involved in production of advanced semiconductors. According to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the industry presents at least 26 classes of known hazards.

OSHA’s guidance suggests X-ray exposure is a risk during mask alignment and photo exposure – a part of the semiconductor manufacturing process during which patterns are etched onto a silicon substrate. ®

June 7, 2024 Posted by | radiation, South Korea | Leave a comment

Speaker Johnson, hear the prayers of nuclear weapons testing victims. It’s time to act.

2 B1 Radiation Exposure Compensation for impacted downwind communities is expiring Friday. Speaker Johnson, bring it to a vote.

James Moylan and Leslie Begay,  https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2024/06/04/congress-radiation-exposure-compensation-act-extension/73910553007/
The 20th century saw no shortage of patriotic Americans stepping up to serve our nation. We both know this well: As young men, we served in the U.S. military – Mr. Leslie Begay as a combat Marine in Vietnam, and Rep. James Moylan as a veteran of the Army. As a country, it is our solemn responsibility to support those who have made sacrifices on our behalf. 

We should also honor many thousands of Americans who did not enlist yet also sacrificed for our national security.

These patriots of the Manhattan Project and Cold War were unknowingly poisoned by their own government in the creation of our nuclear arsenal, and they deserve our support. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), which aims to address those harms, will expire Friday unless Congress acts immediately.

This is urgent: Congress has only a few working days left to act before RECA expires.

As we mined uranium and built and tested nuclear weapons that defended our country, we exposed countless service members and communities across the country to dangerous, often deadly levels of radiation without their knowledge or consent. In some cases, we’re only just learning the full extent of that harm, with impacted Americans succumbing to new cancers every day.

RECA was created in 1990 to provide an apology and a small reimbursement for critical medical care for some victims. It is a valuable program, but it has excluded far too many Americans who were harmed, and nearly 35 years later, it is still woefully inadequate despite years of studies and reports proving the need for improvement.

In Guam, for example, a 2005 report determined that residents during nuclear testing in the Pacific received substantial unwarranted radiation and should be eligible for RECA. Yet nearly 20 years later, they are still awaiting recognition and support.

Additionally, uranium workers are only eligible for RECA if they were employed through 1971, despite a flood of studies showing that they faced just as grave health impacts after that year. This means that patriotic Americans like Mr. Begay have been suffering for decades with no avenues for support.  

Uranium miner lost both lungs due to radiation exposure

Mr. Begay was born and raised in the Navajo Nation. After serving in Vietnam, he came home and spent eight years mining the uranium that built our nuclear weapons. He was given a hard hat and no mask, was never told he was being poisoned, and he ended up losing both lungs due to radiation exposure. Given just a month to live, he received a double lung transplant. As he recovered, he decided to dedicate his remaining years to helping his people and improving RECA. 

As lucky as he feels to have a new set of lungs, his health issues are far from over. With no cancer center or veterans’ hospital on the Navajo Nation, he had to move away from his wife and grandkids to live near a hospital in Mesa, Arizona, so that he could attend almost weekly medical appointments. He is on 22 medications that he’ll take for the rest of his life – and they don’t come cheap.

He has had to sell all his cattle to pay for these expenses, and sometimes he and his wife don’t know where the money will come from to cover his next medical bill. Even worse – he’s just had a biopsy because of a possible new cancer diagnosis.  

Oppenheimer nuclear fallout still kills:Time is running out for American victims of nuclear tests. Congress must do what’s right.

The people of Guam and miners like Mr. Begay are far from alone.

Across the West, communities living downwind of nuclear testing – including those downwind of the very first nuclear test in New Mexico – were excluded from RECA seemingly arbitrarily.

Victims of illegally stored nuclear waste in Missouri have also suffered from devastating illnesses, with nowhere to turn.  

US creation of nuclear arsenal sacrificed our own people

The United States asked its people for a great deal of sacrifice to win the Cold War – some willingly as part of their service and many thousands unknowingly.

We have a duty now to take care of everyone sickened by their own government in the creation of our nuclear arsenal. It’s long past time that Congress does its job and improves RECA so these patriotic Americans can get the recognition and help they so richly deserve.

Oscar honors ‘Oppenheimer,’but what about Americans still suffering from nuke tests?

Some have called for a plain extension of RECA as is, but we know that would only be an extension of injustice. We must not blindly extend such an obviously flawed program, knowing that it would leave so many Americans behind. 

On May 16, we stood together with dozens of advocates who had traveled to Washington, D.C., from across America to fight for RECA. They traveled on behalf of their loved ones – many of whom are sick and dying – and pleaded with Congress: Don’t let us go home without good news; don’t keep letting our people die.  

In March, armed with new information about the true scope of Americans harmed by our Cold War nuclear program, the Senate passed a bill with overwhelming bipartisan support to hugely improve RECA.

Now, that bill is sitting on House Speaker Mike Johnson’s desk waiting to be brought to a vote.

Speaker Johnson: Please hear our prayers. It’s time to finally support these patriots, harmed by their own government, and get them the justice they deserve.  

Rep. James Moylan, Guam’s delegate in the 118th Congress, is a lead sponsor of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2023. He is an Army Veteran and a native of Guam from the village of Tumon. 

Mr. Leslie Begay is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and a resident of Coyote Canyon, New Mexico. He is a post-1971 uranium miner, Vietnam War veteran and volunteer member of the Navajo Uranium Radiation Victims Committee. He previously worked at Fort Wingate Army Depot. 

June 7, 2024 Posted by | health, politics, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear watchdog votes to censure Iran for non-cooperation with inspectors

Clash between Iran and west over nuclear programme looms as US drops objections and joins European states condemning Tehran

Patrick Wintour, 6 June 24, https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/05/iaea-un-nuclear-watchdog-iran-vote

A fresh confrontation between Tehran and the west is looming over Iran’s nuclear programme after the board of the UN nuclear watchdog voted heavily to censure the country for its repeated failure to cooperate with UN nuclear inspectors.

The vote by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) members was passed with 20 represented countries in favour, two against, and 12 abstentions. The two countries to vote against were Russia and China.

It came after the US dropped its objections to the censure and joined the European countries condemning Iran’s failure to cooperate for years. The Biden administration had been reluctant to take the step, wishing not to open up another conflict with Iran in the Middle East, but the Europeans insisted the integrity of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty was at stake.

In backing the motion, the US called for a longer-term strategy to be developed towards Iran’s nuclear programme, especially since many of the restrictions placed on Iran in the original 2015 nuclear deal will be lifted next year. The last censure motion against Iran 19 months ago led to Iran announcing that it was going to enrich uranium to 60% purity – close to weapons grade – at its Fordow fuel enrichment plant.

Iran signed a nuclear deal in 2015, the joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPoA) that saw western economic sanctions lifted in return for strong controls over its civil nuclear programme. But the country has gradually reduced inspectors’ access to its nuclear sites and also vastly increased its stock of highly enriched uranium in breach of the limits set. It says it did so in response to Donald Trump unilaterally pulling the US out of the agreement in 2018, a move that is widely seen to have undercut advocates of western engagement inside Iran.

Iran says a fatwa (Islamic edict or legal decree) forbids possession of nuclear weapons, and in recent days it has disowned remarks made by some senior politicians arguing Iran should develop a bomb.

In a joint statement to the IAEA board, the UK, France and Germany – the three European signatories to the agreement – said: “Iran now possesses 30 times the JCPoA limit of enriched uranium and its stockpile of high enriched uranium up to 60% has continued to grow significantly. Iran now has the approximate amount of nuclear material from which the possibility of manufacturing a nuclear explosive device cannot be excluded.”

It added that the IAEA had “lost continuity of knowledge in relation to the production and inventory of centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water and uranium ore concentrate”.

The IAEA director general, Rafael Grossi, had visited Iran before the quarterly board meeting in a bid to negotiate improved access, but the death of the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, led to the discussions freezing.

In a joint statement issued before the vote, China, Iran and Russia called for fresh talks to revive the nuclear deal, saying it “was time for the western countries to show their political will, to refrain from the endless cycle of escalation that has been going on for almost the last two years. Passing of the resolution was a mistake that will only lead to confrontation.”

The Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, hailed the IAEA decision, saying: “This is the first resolution in 19 months on Iranian violations, paving the way for further actions against Iran’s nuclear activities … The free world must stop Iran now – before it’s too late.”

Iran’s specific countermeasures may be delayed by the country’s presidential election on 28 June, since candidates have different views on the wisdom of signing the deal in the first place.

In a joint statement after the passage of the resolution, France, Germany and the UK said: “The IAEA board will not sit idly by when Iran challenges the foundations of the non-proliferation system and undermines the credibility of the international safeguards regime.

“Iran must cooperate with the agency and provide technically credible explanations which satisfy the agency’s questions.

“This resolution supports the agency to pursue its dialogue with Iran to clarify all outstanding safeguards issues, while setting the stage for further steps to hold Iran to account if it fails to make concrete progress.”

They added it was still open to Iran to cooperate.

June 7, 2024 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

U.S. Micro Nuclear Reactors happy to join with NATO military

Last Energy and NATO enter micro-nuclear energy partnership

The Engineer, Jason Ford, 04 Jun 2024

The NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence (ENSEC COE) and Washington, DC-based Last Energy are jointly investigating military applications for micro-nuclear power technologies

The partnership also intends to explore opportunities for future deployment on NATO military installations. 
The research and development partnership, signed by Last Energy CEO Bret Kugelmass and NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence director Colonel Darius Uzkuraitis, marks the first agreement between the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence and a nuclear energy company……………….  https://www.theengineer.co.uk/content/news/last-energy-and-nato-enter-micro-nuclear-energy-partnership

June 7, 2024 Posted by | Small Modular Nuclear Reactors | Leave a comment

Israel ordered secret campaign to influence US lawmakers – NYT

At its peak, Israel’s influence campaign used hundreds of fake accounts that posed as US students, concerned citizens and local constituents on various social media platforms, including X, Facebook and Instagram, the New York Times reports.

The country allegedly paid $2 million to target American legislators in order to foster support for its war in Gaza

Israel allegedly organized and funded an influence campaign last year targeting the US to drum up support for its ongoing Gaza offensive, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed Israeli officials and documents related to the operation.

The outlet claims that the country’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, which is responsible for connecting Jews across the world with the State of Israel, commissioned the covert campaign and allocated some $2 million for the operation, hiring the Tel Aviv political marketing firm Stoic.

The campaign was apparently launched sometime in October, when the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) launched its war in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and another 250 were taken hostage. 

Israel’s subsequent war on Hamas and relentless siege of Gaza has drawn international criticism, including threats of sanctions, as the IDF is estimated to have caused the death of over 36,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health authorities.

At its peak, Israel’s influence campaign used hundreds of fake accounts that posed as US students, concerned citizens and local constituents on various social media platforms, including X, Facebook and Instagram, the New York Times reports.

These accounts were allegedly used to post pro-Israel comments and articles backing West Jerusalem’s position on the war, and were mainly focused on attracting the attention of US lawmakers, primarily Black Democrats, urging them to continue funding the country’s military.

Many of the posts were reportedly generated using the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot ChatGPT. Stoic, which was in charge of the campaign, also reportedly created three fake English-language news sites that predominantly featured pro-Israel articles, often stolen from outlets such as CNN and the Wall Street Journal.

In March, the Israeli government’s campaign was noted by FakeReporter – an Israeli misinformation watchdog. Last week, it was also reported on by Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, as well as ChatGPT’s owner OpenAI; both said they had found and disrupted the influence operation.

“Israel’s role in this is reckless and probably ineffective,” Achiya Schatz, the executive director of FakeReporter, was quoted as saying by NYT, noting that the fact that Israel “ran an operation that interferes in US politics is extremely irresponsible.”

In a statement to the New York Times, Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs has denied any involvement in the operation and insisted it has no connection to Stoic.

Meanwhile, FakeReporter has estimated that the fake accounts created through the campaign have accumulated just over 40,000 followers across X, Facebook and Instagram. Meta and OpenAI concluded that Israel’s influence operation ultimately failed to have a widespread impact, noting that most of the followers of these fake accounts were likely bots.

June 7, 2024 Posted by | Israel, secrets,lies and civil liberties | 1 Comment

42 House Democrats Help GOP Pass Bill Targeting ICC Officials Over Israel

The ACLU warned the legislation would “harm free speech protections” and “undermine the rule of law and the independence of the ICC.”

Common Dreams BRETT WILKINS, Jun 04, 2024

Human rights defenders on Tuesday decried the U.S. House of Representatives’ passage of a bill that would sanction International Criminal Court officials over the Hague tribunal’s pursuit of arrest warrants for Israeli leaders—legislation critics warned would undermine the court’s independence and could be weaponized to silence Americans’ free speech.

House lawmakers voted 247-155 in favor of H.R. 8282, the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act. Forty-two pro-Israel Democrats joined all but two Republicans who voted “present” in approving the bill, which was sponsored by far-right Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas).

“The idea that they would issue an arrest warrant for the prime minister of Israel, defense minister of Israel, at the time where they’re fighting for their nation’s very existence against the evil of Hamas as a proxy of Iran is unconscionable to us,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), according toThe Hill. “And as I said a couple of weeks ago, the ICC has to be punished for this action.”

However, Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) said on the House floor ahead of Tuesday’s vote that “we need the ICC” because “in the last 241 days, thousands, thousands have been victims of unimaginable atrocities, and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s violations of international law have threatened the peace of the world.”

Since October 7, when a massive attack by Hamas-led militants left more than 1,100 Israelis and foreign nationals dead and over 240 others hostages, Israeli forces have killed or injured upward of 130,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including at least 11,000 people who are missing and believed dead and buried beneath the rubble of hundreds of thousands of bombed-out buildings. Israel’s forced displacement of around 2 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and its famine-inducing siege have also been cited as evidence in a genocide case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Congressman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said passing H.R. 8282 would fuel international allegations of U.S. hypocrisy.

“I am already being challenged to explain U.S. double standards every time I meet with representatives of foreign governments,” McGovern said on the House floor ahead of the vote. “What better gift to China and Russia than for us to undermine the international rule of law.”

The ACLU warned Tuesday in a letter to members of Congress that the bill “would harm free speech protections and the rule of law.”

“This legislation raises serious First Amendment concerns, as it would chill U.S. persons from engaging in constitutionally protected speech under the threat of civil and criminal penalties” and “undermine the rule of law and the independence of the ICC,” the group added.

Pillar 2 arrangements build on those of Pillar 1 which are solely concerned with Australia’s acquisition of the hugely expensive nuclear-powered submarines.

At a cost averaged out at $A33 million a day over 35 years, we are promised a fleet of 8 submarines with the apparent advantages of extended range and endurance, higher speed, increased payload capacity, and reduced refuelling needs.

But given our own use of sonar buoys and knowing that our own all-but-at-war with “enemy”, China, has the same or superior detection technologies, it is the claim that SSNs (nuclear-powered submarines) have greater stealth and reduced detectability that is the major sales pitch justifying our $368 billion spend.

“The first highly noticeable issue with the Virginia class is a problem that has surfaced with the submarine’s acoustic coating that’s designed to reduce the ‘target strength’ of the submarine (how much sound energy from an enemy active sonar bounces off the submarine, back to the enemy),” he said.

“The coating is prone to peeling off at high-speed leaving loose cladding that slaps against the hull, making dangerous noise, and causes turbulent water flow, which also causes dangerous hull resonance (where the hull sings at its resonant frequency, like a tuning fork) and extra propulsion noise. I know a bit about this as a former underwater acoustics specialist.”

Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) is another method of detection. MAD detects disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field caused by the metal hull of a submarine. MAD sensors are typically deployed on aircraft and can detect submarines at relatively close ranges. The signals weaken with distance.

However, the Chinese are developing the ability to detect extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic signal produced by speeding subs.

Detection by ELF turns the advantage of an SSNs higher speed into its opposite, namely the disadvantage of higher detectability.

This ability of science to increase the detection of SSNs led even the pro-US Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) to publish a warning that “the oceans of tomorrow may become ‘transparent’. The submarine era could follow the battleship era and fade into history.”

It titled its article on a study of submarine detection by Australian scientists and academics “Advances in detection technology could render AUKUS submarines useless by 2050.”

According to the authors:

“The results should ring alarm bells for the AUKUS program to equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. Our assessment suggests that there will only be a brief window of time between the deployment of the first SSN AUKUS boats and the onset of transparent oceans.”

That’s the good news story.

The bad news is that China has already funded its multi-billion-dollar National Quantum Laboratories to develop quantum-based technology applications for “immediate use to the Chinese armed forces”, possibly including targeting stealthy submarines.

According to Zhu Jin in The Conversation:

“New quantum sensing systems offer more sensitive detection and measurement of the physical environment. Existing stealth systems, including the latest generation of warplanes and ultra-quiet nuclear submarines, may no longer be so hard to spot.”

June 7, 2024 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

As Ukraine Disintegrates – Hedging Bets Begins in Italy

New Eastern Outlook, 05.06.2024 Author: Phil Butler

The remarkable news that Italy’s Defence Minister is calling for the West to make a concerted effort to end the conflict in Ukraine may give some people hope. Guido Crosetto recently told the daily Il Messaggero that negotiation with Vladimir Putin is the only way to end the bloodshed. However, doublespeak statements from Italian politicians and business people mirror the EU’s and NATO’s rudderless single mindedness. Indecision is spelling the end of Ukraine as a nation.

Crosetto, a staunch supporter of Ukraine, has also criticized Western sanctions against Russia as ineffective. As one of the founders of the national-conservative Brothers of Italy (FdI), he has also pointed out the overestimation of the Western order’s economic influence by American and European leadership. He believes that arming Ukraine could expedite the conditions for a truce and ultimately peace. In other words, the solution lies in a strategic approach that leads to peace, not in a perpetual state of conflict.

Conflicts of Interest and Financial Motivations

It is worth mentioning here that Italy’s Defense Minister is also involved in the arms industry, building corvettes, frigates and aircraft carriers via Orizzonte Sistemi Navali, a joint venture between Fincantieri and Leonardo S.p.A. In true deadly sidewinder fashion, Crosetto now says he advised Ukraine’s Zelensky against the counter-offensive aimed at the Russian lines, but that Zelensky did not take his advice seriously. So, an Italian politician and tycoon who changes parties as often as he does his underwear seek to ride the fence on Ukraine no

If the Russian military continues its slow offensive moves westward, no degree of arms or monetary support will prevent the inevitable. The Ukraine side will soon have too few soldiers to use new tranches of weapons, and money laundering schemes will dry up as fast as Zelensky’s cabal exits the country. However, the recent Crosetto fence riding has more to do with making billions off of arms sales to NATO and non-Nato countries. A multi-billion euro deal between Abu Dhabi-based defense contractors EDGE Group and Shipbuilding Giant Fincantieri. At the time of the agreement, Crosetto was quoted thus:………………………………………………………………………….. more https://journal-neo.su/2024/06/05/as-ukraine-disintegrates-hedging-bets-begins-in-italy/

June 7, 2024 Posted by | Italy, Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment