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Democrats want nothing to do with making peace in Ukraine and possibly preventing nuclear war.

Democrats demonizing Trump for ending Ukraine war is shameful.

Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL 21 Feb 25.

On October 24, 2022, 8 months after the US proxy war against Russia in Ukraine began, 30 Democratic congresspersons wrote President Biden, “We urge you to make vigorous diplomatic efforts in support of a negotiated settlement and ceasefire, engage in direct talks with Russia, explore prospects for a new European security arrangement acceptable to all parties that will allow for a sovereign and independent Ukraine, and, in coordination with our Ukrainian partners, seek a rapid end to the conflict and reiterate this goal as America’s chief priority.”

Biden and the Democratic establishment went ballistic, forcing the 30 Democratic peacemakers to rescind their letter within 24 hours ‘Just shut up about ending the war’ was the message of Biden and the war Democrats.

For the remaining 28 months of Biden’s term the entire Democratic administration, Congress and their sycophantic pundits remained in lockstep with Biden’ refusal to use diplomacy to end a horrendous war destroying Ukraine and putting the world at risk of nuclear war.

That was a disgraceful betrayal of very decent, peaceful, life affirming tenant of the Democratic Party.

While Biden never wavered in his lust to weaken, even destroy Russia using Ukrainian proxies to do all the dying, his predecessor Trump ditched that murderous, failed policy on Day One of his second term.

He announced he’d end 3 years of silence and begin negotiations with Russia to end the war. That alone could prevent this war from spiraling into a nuclear confrontation, something possible every one of the 1,095 days of this war.

Trump wasted no time both talking to Putin, and having his diplomatic team led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio engage in substantive talks with their Russian counterparts.

The outline of the peace settlement is astonishing. No NATO for Ukraine. No return of the roughly fifth of Ukraine territory Russia acquired on their border with Ukraine.  That includes the Donbas where the Kyiv government had spent 8 years destroying the Russian culture of the Donbas Ukrainians there. Upwards of 10,000 Donbas Ukrainians were killed.  Russia will pledge peace for the remaining 80% of Western Ukraine as long as Ukraine refrains from being a US/NATO Trojan Horse to block Russia from the Western European political economy.

In addition the US will not provide troops to enforce any settlement. Trump is proposing it’s time for Europe to take care of its own security, especially that of Ukraine. With a GDP ten times that of piddly Russia, that should be a snap.

The flummoxed Democrats want nothing to do with making peace in Ukraine and possibly preventing nuclear war. Oblivious to the waste of $175 billion that hasn’t prevented Ukraine’s destruction, they’re aghast Trump seeks peace. They charge he’s a Putin like dictator giving Putin everything he wants when Trump simply recognizes that America’s proxy war against Russia has failed and must be ended. Trump also knows that 80 years after WWII ended, it’s time to consider drawing down America’s 64,000 soldiers standing around doing nothing in Europe except squandering taxpayer treasure.

Trump seeks more than just an end to the calamitous Ukraine war. He seeks rapprochement with Russia, a pipsqueak nation with one twelfth America’s economy that poses no threat to Western Europe or America whatsoever. Tho not mentioned yet, such détente could lead to denuclearization, something both Trump and predecessor Biden failed to achieve in the previous 8 years. Trump has much to atone for in his reckless nuclear policy that saw him leave two critical nuclear agreements with Russia. 

Consider how much easier all these developments might unfold if Democrats would jettison their embrace of Biden warmongering and support Trump peace initiatives with Russia. That embrace may have cost Democrats the election as over 6 million of Biden’s 2020 voters deserted candidate Harris last November. Polling showed the biggest reason was Biden’s crazed war policies in Ukraine and Gaza.

Demonizing Trump for seeking peace in Ukraine and détente with Russia keeps the Democratic Party weakened and demoralized. It’s not only disastrous for Democratic electoral success, it’s disastrous for Ukraine, America, indeed the world.

February 23, 2025 Posted by | politics | 1 Comment

Trump just assaulted the independence of the nuclear regulator. What could go wrong?

By Allison Macfarlane | February 21, 2025

President Trump, through his recent Executive Order, has attacked independent regulatory agencies in the US government. This order gives the Office of Management and Budget power over the regulatory process of until-now independent agencies. These regulatory agencies include the Federal Elections Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission—and my former agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which I chaired between July 2012 and December 2014.

An independent regulator is free from industry and political influence. Trump’s executive order flies in the face of this basic principle by requiring the Office of Management and Budget to “review” these independent regulatory agencies’ obligations “for consistency with the President’s policies and priorities.” This essentially means subordinating regulators to the president.

In the past, the president and Congress, which has oversight capacity on the regulators, stayed at arm’s length from the regulators’ decisions. This was meant to keep them isolated, ensuring their necessary independence from any outside interference. Trump’s executive order implies there are no longer independent regulators in the United States.

Independent regulators should not only be free from government and industry meddling; they also need to be adequately staffed with competent experts and have the budget to operate efficiently. They also need to be able to shut down facilities such as nuclear power plants that are not operating safely, according to regulations. To do this, they need government to support their independent decisions and rulemaking.

Independence matters. When I was chairman, I traveled the world talking about the importance of an independent regulator to countries where nuclear regulators exhibited a lack of independence and were subject to excessive industry and political influence. It is ironic that the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission—often called the “Gold Standard” in nuclear regulation—has now been captured by the Trump administration and lost its independence. So much for the Gold Standard; the Canadian, the French, or the Finnish nuclear regulator will have to take on that mantle now.

To understand what is at stake, one needs to look no further than the Fukushima accident in March 2011, which showed the world how a country’s economic security is vulnerable to a captured regulator………………………………………………………..

An independent investigation by the Diet (Japan’s house of parliament) into the cause of the Fukushima accident concluded unequivocally that: “The TEPCO Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident was the result of collusion between the government, the regulators and TEPCO, and the lack of governance by said parties. They effectively betrayed the nation’s right to be safe from nuclear accidents.” Japan’s government and nuclear industry continue to struggle with the clean-up of the Fukushima site, and it purposely began in 2023 to release still-contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean. Nearby countries responded by banning fishing products from the region.

As the industry often says, a nuclear accident anywhere is a nuclear accident everywhere. …………………… more https://thebulletin.org/2025/02/trump-just-assaulted-the-independence-of-the-nuclear-regulator-what-could-go-wrong/?fbclid=IwY2xjawImRopleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHXcsEIvbsR7x3_k1wSvr8EHSizxiqUnLBb42mZ2YJGeOYLxrftrY4-5HVg_aem_Q1k1WJJnpyqw6WEHOuvZ2Q

February 23, 2025 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Small Nuclear Reactor developer groups raise $1.5bn amid race to power AI boom

Developers of small modular nuclear reactors have raised at least $1.5bn in
funding over the past year, tapping into a surge of investor interest
linked to power supply deals agreed with Big Tech.

They have also secured pledges of billions of dollars of support from governments, amid a global race to launch new technologies considered critical to powering the
artificial intelligence revolution.

The largest fundraising of $700mn was closed this month by X-energy, a US developer that added Jane Street and other institutional investors to a register that included technology giantAmazon,

Ken Griffin, founder and chief executive of Citadel and chemical
company Dow. Paris-based developer Newcleo raised $151mn in September and
US-based developers Blue Energy and Last Energy raised $45mn and $40mn
respectively last year.

Nano Nuclear Energy, a developer of microreactors
which listed in May, raised $134mn capital in 2024. Three SMR developers
listed in New York, Oklo, NuScale and Nano Nuclear, raised more than $700mn
through share sales and other financing mechanisms over the past 12 months,
according to a Financial Times analysis of public records and data from
PitchBook and BloombergNEF.

Westinghouse, Rolls-Royce, Holtec
International, GE Hitachi and Bill Gates’ TerraPower are also among a host
of companies investing in about 60 SMR projects globally, according to
World Nuclear Association data. Amazon’s purchase of a stake in X-energy
and Google’s power supply deal with SMR developer Kairos Power, which both
occurred in October, have shaken up a funding market that soured in 2023
because of high interest rates and inflation.

But analysts warn developers
still face technical, regulatory and funding risks despite the improved
sentiment.

FT 19th Feb 2025, https://www.ft.com/content/2d84198e-7eeb-4154-bbf2-9a469b0cc700

February 23, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, Small Modular Nuclear Reactors | Leave a comment

Heartbreaking tale of American deformed by nuclear radiation who was abandoned and viewed as a ‘monster’

By ELLYN LAPOINTE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM, 21 Feb 25

Tim Mason, 27, was abandoned by his soviet mother when he was just an
infant. He was born in Moscow, Russia in April 1997, 11 years after the
Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine. This nuclear meltdown began on April
26, 1986 and led to the largest release of radioactive material into the
environment in human history.

As a result of this tragic disaster, Mason’s
biological mother was exposed to high amounts of radiation while pregnant,
causing him to be born with only one limb. Mason’s left arm is fully formed
and functional, but his right arm and legs never finished growing, making
it very difficult for him to walk and perform other basic tasks without
assistance.

On the day he was born, his mother left him outside of an
orphanage with a note saying she did not want to raise ‘a monster.’ But
Mason’s life changed at age three, when he was adopted by Virginia Mason
from Arlington, Illinois. She said she knew she wanted to be his mother as
soon as she saw him.

Daily Mail 20th Feb 2025, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14417853/born-deformity-exposed-chernobyl-nuclear-radiation-purpose.html

February 23, 2025 Posted by | PERSONAL STORIES, Russia | Leave a comment

Solar a beacon of hope as Ukrainians yearn for peace

Solar a beacon of hope as Ukrainians yearn for peace. Solar energy has been
essential for survival in Ukraine during nearly three years of war since
the Russian invasion in 2022. As citizens hope for peace, PV will be
instrumental in supporting post-war recovery, whenever it comes.

PV Magazine 19th Feb 2025,
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/02/19/solar-a-beacon-of-hope-as-ukrainians-yearn-for-peace/

February 23, 2025 Posted by | renewable, Ukraine | Leave a comment

World’s glaciers melting faster than ever recorded

The world’s glaciers are melting faster than ever recorded under the impact
of climate change, according to the most comprehensive scientific analysis
to date. Mountain glaciers – frozen rivers of ice – act as a freshwater
resource for millions of people worldwide and lock up enough water to raise
global sea-levels by 32cm (13in) if they melted entirely.

But since the turn of the century, they have lost more than 6,500 billion tonnes – or 5%
– of their ice. And the pace of melting is increasing. Over the past decade
or so, glacier losses were more than a third higher than during the period
2000-2011. The study combined more than 230 regional estimates from 35
research teams around the world, making scientists even more confident
about exactly how fast glaciers are melting, and how they will evolve in
the future. Glaciers are excellent indicators of climate change.

BBC 19th Feb 2025,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4ly8vde85o

February 23, 2025 Posted by | climate change | Leave a comment

Algonquin community wins part of court challenge over nuclear waste dump near Ottawa River

Federal judge orders nuclear regulator to renew consultation with Kebaowek First Nation on contentious project

Brett Forester · CBC News ·Feb 21, 2025 

An Algonquin community in Quebec is declaring victory after a judge upheld part of its court challenge to a proposed radioactive waste dump to be built about a kilometre away from the Ottawa River.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission approved the project in January 2024, greenlighting Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) to build the “near-surface disposal facility” at the Chalk River research campus near Deep River, Ont., 150 kilometres northwest of Ottawa.

But according to Federal Court Justice Julie Blackhawk, the regulatory body failed to consider internationally recognized Indigenous rights and how they apply in Canadian law when consulting with Kebaowek, rendering the approval decision both unreasonable and incorrect.

“The consultation process in this matter was not adequate,” Blackhawk wrote in a decision released Wednesday.

The judge ordered the commission and CNL to resume consultations with Kebaowek “in a robust manner,” while properly considering the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and its standard of free, prior and informed consent.

The consultation must be adapted to address Indigenous laws, knowledge and be aimed at reaching an agreement, to be completed by Sept. 30, 2026, Blackhawk ruled.

Kebaowek had asked the court to quash the commission’s approval entirely, requiring CNL to restart the process altogether. But Blackhawk declined, calling that impractical, sending the matter back to the commission to correct the process instead.

Nevertheless, community leaders are ecstatic, said Chief Lance Haymond.

“It’s clear that when Canada adopted UNDRIP, the provisions of UNDRIP had to be applied in Canadian law from the beginning, not in some time in the future,” said Haymond, whose community is 300 kilometres northwest of Ottawa.

“I think that’s a win for Kebaowek, and that’s a win for First Nations across this country.”

Haymond hailed the decision as one with far-reaching implications for industry and project proponents, meaning he expects it will be appealed. …………………………………….

The facility would contain up to one million cubic metres, or about 400 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth, of low-level radioactive waste from the Second World War-era Chalk River site in a specially designed mound.

Kebaowek has raised concerns about the project’s potential impact on drinking water, wildlife and Indigenous rights.

In the judicial review, the community raised novel legal arguments, centring on the commission’s obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act,federal legislation passed in 2021.

The law requires Canada to harmonize federal laws with UNDRIP, an international instrument outlining minimum standards for the protection of Indigenous peoples’ rights around the world. …………………………..more https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/kebaowek-judicial-review-win-1.7464036#:~:text=An%20Algonquin%20First%20Nation%20in,away%20from%20the%20Ottawa%20River.

February 23, 2025 Posted by | Canada, indigenous issues | Leave a comment

UK government in “poor negotiating position” as Centrica vague about investing in the new Sizewell C nuclear power station.

Energy supplier Centrica has announced plans to invest in the new Sizewell
C nuclear power station – but campaigners say the move demonstrates the
government’s “poor negotiating position”.

Stop Sizewell C, which is opposed
to the power station, said any investors in the project could demand higher
rates of return, piling further costs on consumer bills. The government has
announced that the power station will be part-funded by adding costs to
people’s energy bills.

A spokesperson for the group said: “Chris O’Shea’s
comments show what a poor negotiating position the government is in, having
committed so much taxpayers’ money to Sizewell C without any guarantees
that private investors will take a stake. “Any investors still interested
in this risky project can demand high rates of return, but the higher the
return, the greater the burden on consumer bills during Sizewell C’s
lengthy and uncertain construction. It’s a lose lose situation for
households.”

 East Anglian Daily Times 20th Feb 2025, https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/24951657.size-sizewell-stake-1-50/

February 23, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment