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Vladimir Putin and a world without Russia

7 Oct Noel Wauchope, https://theaimn.net/vladimir-putin-and-a-world-without-russia/

He’s supposed to have said it as a joke.

In a 2018 comment, Mr Putin talked about destroying the world in a nuclear holocaust because “what is a world without Russia good for?”

OK. perhaps it was a joke. But –many a true word is spoken in jest.

And here is where I run into trouble, because I am known to have a very sympathetic attitude towards Russia.

I think that Volodymyr Zelensky should have kept to the pledge on which he was elected as Ukrainian President in April 2019. Zelensky promised to honour the Minsk agreements of 2014-15 – to accept the Donbass having a limited autonomy within Ukraine, and to end the years of war between the Ukrainian government and the Donbass. But In an interview with the German daily Der Spiegel, published on February 9, 2023, Zelensky made it clear that he intentionally chose to sabotage Minsk.

Even in subsequent negotiations with Russia, in April 2022, Zelensky’s government came close to a peace agreement with Russia, acknowledging the Donbass autonomy, and rejecting Ukraine membership of NATO. Zelensky quickly scuttled that deal.

That is the background to Putin’s decision to start a Special Military Operation in support of the Donbass – ending the 8 years of civil war in Ukraine, but starting what soon became a full scale war against Ukraine. Some commentators see this as Putin having been provoked into war by the Russia-hating West. Others say that it is Putin’s first step to invading Europe.

Anyway, the Western politics and media have indeed swallowed wholesale the story that Putin wants to take over Europe into a grand Russian empire.

I don’t think that the facts on Russia’s economic and military power actually stack up on that interpretation. And I don’t think that Putin is stupid enough to bring the whole might of the USA and Europe down on Russia. It is more reasonable to consider that many NATO states are uncomfortably close to Russia, – indeed on Russia’s border. Ukraine is the largest European state on that border, and for Ukraine to join NATO would mean that Russia would be almost surrounded by hostile states. If the USA had Canada as a hostile state, that would make USA politicians anxious. So Putin’s resistance to Ukraine being a NATO state is understandable. It comes from fear, rather than part of a grand desire to take over Europe.

In a brief, but telling article, Walt Zlotow has argued that now, 80 years after Russia was our major ally, defeating Nazism in 1945, it is time to stop hating Russia. Zlotow also pointed out that “Russia had neither the desire nor the capability to attack America without suffering its utter destruction from an overwhelming American nuclear capability”.

That last point is an important one. Individual persons matter. Why we haven’t had nuclear war for all these decades, is partly because we haven’t had leaders who were willing to press the button for humanity’s annihilation. Not even the bravado of Kim Yong Un, the pomposity of a Macron, the dogged war-making of successive American presidents – has led to that fatal decision.

Vladimir Putin is intelligent, and he has, in my opinion anyway, some reason and logic in his initial attack on Ukraine, and in his conditions for peace, especially regarding NATO membership for Ukraine. Putin has consistently spoken clearly and reasonably about the possible terms for a peace settlement. Meanwhile Zelensky and the West seem implacably bound to the position of demanding unconditional surrender by Russia as their term for a peace agreement.

So the West is all go for “Whatever It Takes”. The problem that I see, is that despite Putin’s quite admirable diplomatic restraint, and clear argument, he is still the one leader who actually is prepared to launch Armageddon – “what is a world without Russia good for?”

I do put up pro-Russian arguments, mainly because somebody has to counter the prevailing Russiaphobia which swamps us all the time in the media. That does not mean that I think that Putin is a nice guy. I think he’s a ruthless tyrant. But he should be taken seriously, and treated reasonably- not just seen as an excuse to continue this mindless hatred of Russia. Putin is an exceptionally dangerous leader, and we may all pay the ultimate price for our stupidity.

October 8, 2025 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Putin’s UnPeaceful Atom

atomic reactors provide “weapons for the enemy,” serving as pre-deployed weapons of mass destruction.

No atomic reactor anywhere can credibly claim to be immune

The fragility of instrumentation, operational, cooling, spent fuel storage and other vital systems have been amply demonstrated

Karl Grossman – Harvey Wasserman, October 6, 2025, https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/10/06/putins-unpeaceful-atom/

Russian Dictator Vladimir Putin last week eagerly confirmed that all “Peaceful Atom” nuclear power plants are fair game for military destruction and that the ensuing apocalyptic fall-out is not really his concern.

As Reuters reported, “Putin on Thursday warned Ukraine that it was playing a dangerous game by striking the area near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and suggested that Moscow could retaliate against nuclear plants controlled by Ukraine.”

The six-reactor Zaporizhzhia complex is, noted Reuters “Europe’s largest [and] has been cut off from external power for more than a week and is being cooled by emergency diesel generators.”

Zaporizhzhia was captured by Russian forces in the early days of the 2022 invasion.

The global crisis it now embodies was foreseen 45 years ago by Bennett Ramberg, in his book “Nuclear Power Plants as Weapons for the Enemy: An Unrecognized Military Peril.”

Ramberg holds a Ph.D. in international relations and a law degree. He’s been an analyst or consultant to the Nuclear Control Institute, Global Green, Committee to Bridge the Gap and the U.S. Senate and U.S. State Department. He now directs the Global Security Seminar. Published by the University of California Press, his book and a new edition out last year are beyond chilling.

And its grave warnings are playing out in recent years and today.

According to the U.S. government’s 9/11 Commission, the Indian Point nuclear reactors, 25 miles north of New York City, were potential targets considered for the September 11 attacks. Between 1984 and 1987, Iraq bombed Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant six times. In 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, the U.S. Air Force bombed three nuclear reactors in Iraq. It gets worse.

As an article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists put it last year, “small modular reactors, floating nuclear plants, and microreactors….these emerging technologies elevate concerns that wartime attacks could expose warfighters and civilians to nuclear fallout….Russia’s occupation of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has already set a dangerous precedent that could sway the course of future wars.”

William Alberque, former director of strategy, technology and arms control of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, wrote in a piece on the website of the London-headquartered organization in 2023 that amidst “The wartime weaponization of nuclear power stations,” the “risks of a nuclear disaster remain high at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant as Russia continues to threaten the health and safety of the entire region through its reckless behaviour.”

In the war on Ukraine, he adds, “a nuclear weapon state has decided that nuclear power reactors are legitimate targets and tools of coercion in war.”

Thus, atomic reactors provide “weapons for the enemy,” serving as pre-deployed weapons of mass destruction.

Amidst yet another billionaire-hyped push for a “Nuclear Renaissance,” atomic power—including large, small, and fusion reactors—has again faltered due to runaway costs and devastating construction delays. All reactors heat the planet at 300 degrees Centigrade, emit radioactive carbon 14, and can’t match flexible demand.

Most importantly, huge breakthroughs in renewables and battery efficiency have made them cheaper, safer, cleaner, faster-to-build, and more flexible, job-producing and reliable than both fossil fuels and atomic energy. In short, they have priced out fossil/nukes. More than 90% of the world’s new energy capacity is now Solartopian, comprised of carbon/heat and waste-free renewables, battery backup-up units and increased efficiency.

But the Ukraine war has now underscored yet another “Peaceful Atom” pitfall known for decades—the threat of a rogue nation turning atomic reactors into weapons of apocalyptic mass terror and destruction.

More than 400 commercial nuclear power plants are now licensed worldwide. There are 94 in the US. The destruction of just one, at Diablo Canyon, California, could send lethal fallout pouring across the entire continental United States, while first turning Los Angeles into a radioactive wasteland.

Putin has not estimated precisely how much radioactive fallout might result from blowing up an atomic reactor. But the war in Ukraine has made it clear that it could be done with a single drone costing less than $1,000.

Putin has asked just one question about such an attack: who will stop me?

The answer could be apocalyptic: no reactor, large or small, is anywhere immune.

When Putin sent troops pouring through Belarus into northern Ukraine in 2022, they quickly assaulted the smoldering remains at Chernobyl, which infamously exploded in 1986. The seething core of Unit Four has been covered with a $2 billion sarcophagus funded by downwind European nations.

The original explosion irradiated much of Europe. Airborne clouds were detected twice passing over the U.S., killing birds in California and irradiating milk in New England.

In “Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment,” published in 2009 by the New York Academy of Sciences,” lead author Dr. Alexey Yablokov, (environmental advisor to Russian Presidents Gorbachev and Yeltsin) drew from 5,000 documents. These included health data, radiological surveys, scientific reports, and more. The conclusion was that as of 2004, as a result of Chernobyl’s fall-out, some 985,000 people had died, mainly of cancer. In the two decades since yet more thousands have been stricken.

In 2022, Putin’s invading troops seemed bound to repeat history. They terrorized and tortured Ukrainian technicians tasked to safeguard Chernobyl’s melted core against another explosion.

Tragically, the Russian soldiers camped in nearby woods, exposing themselves to heavily contaminated dust and soil.

On February 14, 2025, a Russian drone severely damaged Chernobyl’s sarcophagus. Had it hit the melted core, another global-scale radiation release could have again contaminated much of the Earth.

Putin has denied responsibility for that attack. However, he has seized the six reactors at Zaporizhzhia. As at Chernobyl, his troops terrorized, tortured and terminated vital Ukrainian staffers, seriously endangering on-going plant safety.

Zaporizhzhia’s reactors are allegedly shut. But cooling water and backup/off-site power vital to keeping the cores and fuel pools from exploding are tenuous at best. Random munitions and at least one drone have hit the plant.

By cutting transmission lines into Ukraine while running one toward Russia, Putin may soon become Earth’s first autocrat to “steal” an atomic power plant.

He’s further threatened to turn any reactor he wants into a de facto weapon of mass radioactive destruction, saving himself the trouble and expense of a Bombs and missiles.

No atomic reactor anywhere can credibly claim to be immune. The fragility of instrumentation, operational, cooling, spent fuel storage and other vital systems have been amply demonstrated at Chernobyl, Fukushima, Chalk River, Fermi, Three Mile Island, Windscale, INEL, Santa Susanna, Khyshtym, and countless other stricken atomic facilities.

Chernobyl has shown the range and killing power of resultant fallout. Japan’s Fukushima, which exploded on March 11, 2011, has since spewed 100 times more radioactive cesium than did the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Its heavily irradiated liquid wastes are still pouring into the Pacific.

Though vehemently denied by the nuclear industry, the death toll from radiation releases at the 1979 Three Mile Island meltdown continues to rise.

Meanwhile Ukraine deploys drones to decimate Putin’s oil and gas infrastructure, utterly ravaging Russia’s refineries, storage tanks, pipelines and more.

With his own drones, Putin has made clear he can target any reactor anywhere.

Safe, clean, green renewable energy technology now accounts for more than 90% of the world’s new energy production. No war monger can destroy a city by blowing up a solar panel or tearing down a wind turbine.

Yet Ukraine itself has four reactors on order, offering Putin still more pre-deployed weapons of radioactive mass destruction.

Likewise, California’s “anti-Trump” Governor Gavin Newsom keeps running uninsured, hyper-expensive nukes at Diablo Canyon that Putin could drone-hit tomorrow, forever bankrupting California, turning Los Angeles and the downwind nation into a permanent radioactive wasteland.

Deep in the bowels of the Kremlin, the nuclear Stalin is laughing.

Karl Grossman is the author of “Cover Up: What You Are Not Supposed to Know About Nuclear Power.” He is the host of the nationally broadcast TV program “Enviro Close-Up with Karl Grossman” (www.envirovideo.com)

Harvey “Sluggo” Wasserman wrote “Solartopia! Our Green-Powered Earth,” and co-wrote (with Norman Solomon, Bob Alvarez & Eleanor Waters) “Killing Our Own: The Disaster of America’s Experience with Atomic Radiation. His Green Grassroots Election Protection is aired via Zoom (www.grassrootsep.org) on most Mondays at 5 p.m. ET.

Harvey Wasserman wrote the books Solartopia! Our Green-Powered Earth and The Peoples Spiral of US History. He helped coin the phrase “No Nukes.” He co-convenes the Grassroots Emergency Election Protection Coalition at www.electionprotection2024.org  Karl Grossman is the author of Cover Up: What You Are Not Supposed to Know About Nuclear Power and Power Crazy. He the host of the nationally-aired TV program Enviro Close-Up with Karl Grossman (www.envirovideo.com)

October 8, 2025 Posted by | Russia, safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Trump dreams of nuclear as he axes grid projects

By FRANCISCO “A.J.” CAMACHO , 10/06/2025, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/power-switch/2025/10/06/trump-dreams-of-nuclear-as-he-axes-grid-projects-00594623

The Trump administration is wiping out projects meant to ensure the reliability of the electric grid — while pinning many of its promises of energy affordability on a nuclear moonshot.

The moonshot includes a goal to make three advanced reactors go critical by July 4, 2026. A prime player is the nuclear startup Oklo, which the White House is promoting as central to its aims of powering artificial intelligence and energy-sucking data centers, as I wrote in a recent deep dive.

Meanwhile, the administration is rolling back funding for power transmission projects that energy planners call essential to grid reliability as electricity demand rises. The Department of Energy’s latest plans to cancel $8 billion in clean energy funding include more than two dozen grid improvement projects, including a $464 million grant for Minnesota to build a transmission line that would deliver 28 gigawatts of power to the Midwest, write Josh Siegel, Kelsey Tamborrino, Jessie Blaeser and James Bikales.

In short, the Trump administration is cutting support for projects based on existing technology that would get more low-cost renewables on the grid, while doubling down on expensive — even speculative — nuclear power. Nuclear is a rare exception to the Trump administration’s fealty to fossil fuels.

As Zack Colman and Catherine Allen write today, states that rely heavily on wind and solar power typically have lower power costs than the national average. Nuclear remains expensive, with small modular reactors such as the one Oklo is pursuing still unproven commercially in the U.S. Oklo’s reactor doesn’t even exist yet — federal regulators rejected its first application.

Oklo maintains that its “fast reactor” technology can be cheaper, faster and safer to deploy than existing nuclear reactors. (The technology’s fundamentals have been tested with mixed results in labs across the globe and are commercially used in Russia.) CEO Jacob DeWitte said he has not been in touch with Energy Secretary Chris Wright — who once sat on Oklo’s board — since Wright joined the Cabinet.

Nuclear ‘meme stock’?

Former Obama-era Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Allison Macfarlane has called Oklo’s regulatory record “extremely frustrating,” adding that regulators “asked [Oklo] questions over and over. They never got answers.”

Even so, Oklo executives have secured federal pilot project awards, stood beside President Donald Trump in the Oval Office and broken ground on a would-be reactor on DOE land in Idaho. (They may even get access to plutonium fuel reprocessed from the nation’s weapons stockpile, as Zack wrote last week.) That’s a level of White House backing that other companies with plentiful regulatory approvals and proven commercial deliverables aren’t getting. Democrats have pointed to Oklo’s ties to Wright as one potential explanation.

Some financial analysts and industry observers compare Oklo’s $138 share price to meme stock, saying it has gone viral regardless of its fundamental value.

The grid’s nuts and bolts

All of this is happening as grid operators warn of a widening gap between available power and surging electricity demand from AI.

Trump agencies have eliminated tens of billions of dollars in clean energy and climate funding in total, write Zack and Catherine, echoing investor and industry anxieties from the 2024 election cycle. In July, DOE canceled a nearly $5 billion loan guarantee for a transmission line that would bring 5,000 megawatts of renewable energy in the Midwest to dense population centers in the East.

The clawbacks could add up to higher utility bills, said Rob Gramlich, president of the consulting firm Grid Strategies.

“Whether one loves or hates wind and solar, they are what most utilities are relying on to provide large amounts of low-cost power and some amount of firm capacity for the next few years,” Gramlich said.

October 8, 2025 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Support of Trump’s Gaza peace plan ignores major flaw

7 October 2025 AIMN Editorial, By Walt Zlotow, https://theaimn.net/support-of-trumps-gaza-peace-plan-ignores-major-flaw/  

Chicago Tribune’s (my local paper) support of Trump’s Gaza peace plan ignores major flaw… no call for a Palestinian state.

Everyone should join the Chicago Tribune’s hope for an end to the 2 year Israeli genocidal ethnic cleansing of 2,300,000 Palestinians in Gaza. In its editorial, ‘Why we support Trump’s proposal for peace in Gaza between Israel and Hamas’, the Trib called Trump’s 20 point plan “substantive”, not “Trump’s prior musings about U.S. control of Gaza or fanciful talk of Trump-branded resorts.”

The Trib’s substantive claim does not include creation of a Palestinian state, an entity recognized by 157 of the UN’s 193 countries (81%), but not the US. Israel’s 2 yearlong destruction of Gaza and gobbling up their West Bank land with hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers, makes Palestinian statehood impossible.

Creation of a Palestinian state should be recognized by the US and made Point 1 of Trump’s 20 point plan. But one must scroll down to point 19 before gleaning even a hint of a Palestinian state far in the future:

19. While Gaza re-development advances and when the PA reform programme is faithfully carried out, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognise as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.

If there was any doubt this precludes a Palestinian state, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed after release of the plan that it did not call for a Palestinian state. To show his disdain for the plan, Netanyahu ignored Trump’s demand Friday to immediately cease bombing the now obliterated Gaza by killing over 190 Palestinians over the 3-day weekend.

The US should cease being an outlier by becoming country 158 to recognize the state of Palestine. It should further cut off all military aid to Israel until it enters into serious negotiations with both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (the rulers of Gaza and West Bank respectively) to create a Palestinian state that will live in peace with neighboring Israel. That is precisely what Trump’s proposed International Stabilization Force (ISF) should be tasked with.

That, and not the Trump peace plan that likely precludes there ever being a Palestinian state, would truly be substantive.

October 8, 2025 Posted by | politics international, USA | Leave a comment

Is Russia’s Putin gambling with the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear stations?

Russia and Ukraine have traded blame, accusing one another of imperilling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Aljazeera, By Mansur Mirovalev, 6 Oct 2025

Kyiv, Ukraine – On October 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin alleged that Ukrainian attacks had destroyed a high-voltage transmission line between the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine and Kyiv-controlled areas.

Days earlier, Ukraine’s leader, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Russian shelling had cut the plant off from the electricity network.

The mammoth, six-reactor plant – Europe’s largest and known in Ukraine as the ZAES – sits less than 10km (6.2 miles) south of the front line. It has been shut since 2022, generating none of the electricity that once provided up to a fifth of Ukraine’s needs.

But dozens of Moscow-deployed engineers have frantically tried to restart it – so far unsuccessfully. Ukraine has long feared that Russia is trying to connect the power grid and quench a thirst for energy in Crimea and other occupied areas.

Putin purported that the alleged Ukrainian strikes caused a blackout at the plant and that it had to be fuelled by diesel generators.

The latest blackout at the plant is the longest wartime outage of power.

“On the [Ukrainian] side, people should understand that if they play so dangerously, they have an operating nuclear power station on their side,” Putin told a forum in St Petersburg.

‘The radioactivity is so powerful’

In fact, apart from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Ukraine has three operating power stations – as well as the shutdown Chornobyl facility, the site of one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters.

“And what prevents us from mirroring [Ukraine’s alleged actions] in response? Let them think about it,” Putin said.

His threat had apparently already been fulfilled a day earlier. Ukraine accused Russia of shelling that damaged the power supply to the colossal protective “sarcophagus” over the Chornobyl station’s Reactor Four that exploded in 1986.

Both the Chornobyl station and the plant in Zaporizhzhia need electricity for their safety systems and, most importantly, for the uninterrupted circulation of water that cools nuclear fuel.

The fuel, thousands of uranium rods that keep emitting heat, are too radioactive to be taken anywhere else.

In Chornobyl, the fuel is spent and submerged in cooling ponds or “dry-stored” in ventilated, secured facilities.

But at the Zaporizhzhia site, the rods are still inside the reactors – and are newer, hotter, and made in the United States…………………………………………………………………………………

The biggest problem is Russia’s failure to hook the plant to the energy grid of occupied regions as Ukrainian forces pin-pointedly destroy the transmission lines Russia is building – along with fuel depots and thermal power stations, he said.

“The Russians are restoring them any way they can, but Ukrainian forces very much prevent the restoration,” the engineer quipped.

Bellona, a Norway-based nuclear monitor, said on October 2 that a “greater danger lies in Moscow’s potential use of the crisis to justify reconnecting the plant to its own grid – portraying itself as the saviour preventing a nuclear disaster”.

Should Moscow do that, the step would only “worsen [the] strategic situation, give Moscow additional leverage, and bring a potential restart closer – a move that, amid ongoing fighting, would itself sharply increase the risk of a nuclear accident,” it said.

Analysts pointed to a deal proposed by US President Donald Trump in March to transfer the plant to US management as a possible solution.

Ukrainian strikes “will go on until Russia makes a peace deal that also includes US control over the ZAES and its operation”, Nikolay Mitrokhin, a researcher with Germany’s University of Bremen, told Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, in recent weeks, blackouts in Crimea have become unpredictable and distressing, a Crimea local told Al Jazeera…………..

Russia understands that improved power supply is a prerequisite for its efforts to restore occupied Ukrainian regions and conquer more Ukrainian land, said an observer.

Moscow needs the plant to “cover the growing [energy] consumption in the region, considering not just occupied Crimea, but also the occupied areas [above the Sea of] Azov. And also within the context of Russia’s plan to occupy part of the Zaporizhia region,” Kyiv-based analyst Aleksey Kushch told Al Jazeera.

Greenpeace said that its detailed analysis of high-resolution satellite images taken after what Putin alleged were Ukrainian strikes showed that he was bluffing.

“There is no evidence of any military strikes in the area surrounding the pylons and network of power lines in this part of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,” the international environmentalist group said on October 1.

The images showed that the power towers remained in position and there were no craters left by explosions around the lines, it said.

Greenpeace concluded that the blackout at the plant is “a deliberate act of sabotage by Russia” whose aim is to “permanently disconnect the plant from the Ukraine grid and connect the nuclear plant to the grid occupied by Russia”. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/6/is-russias-putin-gambling-with-the-safety-of-ukraines-nuclear-stations

October 8, 2025 Posted by | Russia, safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Nuclear victims hold global forum in Hiroshima


Oct 7, 2025, HIROSHIMA – https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/10/07/japan/nuclear-victims-forum-hiroshima/

Victims of atomic bombings and nuclear tests gathered in Hiroshima to discuss eliminating nuclear damage, 80 years after the atomic bombings of the city of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

The global forum, hosted by two antinuclear organizations over two days through Monday, adopted a declaration stating that nuclear weapons and human beings cannot coexist and demanding that no further nuclear damage be caused on Earth. The event was held for the first time in 10 years.

On Sunday, hibakusha atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and South Korea shared their experiences, and participants debated on the issue of uranium mining. A social activist from Jaduguda in eastern India, where the country’s first uranium mine is located, explained regional divisions and health problems among residents, arguing that the chain of nuclear violence starts from uranium mining and that it is always the socially vulnerable who pay the price.

On Monday, participants discussed the U.S. hydrogen bomb tests at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands and the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The forum also adopted a declaration calling for giving compensation and rights to nuclear victims, including access to accurate information and participation in policy decision-making processes.

October 8, 2025 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Report: Netanyahu Ordered Drone Attack on Gaza Aid Flotilla Boats in Tunisia

US intelligence officials told CBS News that Israeli forces launched drones from a submarine and dropped incendiary devices on two aid boats

by Dave DeCamp | October 5, 2025 , https://news.antiwar.com/2025/10/05/report-netanyahu-ordered-drone-attack-on-gaza-aid-flotilla-boats-in-tunisia/

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly ordered attacks on the Global Sumud Flotilla that were carried out in early September while the boats were moored in Tunisia, CBS News reported on Friday.

A total of two boats were hit in two attacks that were conducted on September 8 and September 9. Two US intelligence officials told CBS News that Israel forces fired drones from a submarine that dropped incendiary devices and caused fires.

The report noted that under international law, the use of incendiary devices against civilian populations or civilian targets is prohibited. The attacks targeted the Family, a Portuguese-flagged vessel, and the Alma, a British-flagged vessel. In both cases, the crews were able to extinguish the fire, and the attacks caused no casualties.

In a September 22 interview, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack acknowledged that Israel was behind the operation by saying Israel had attacked Tunisia. “So Israel is attacking Syria. Israel is attacking Lebanon. Israel is attacking Tunisia,” Barrack told The National.

In a statement to CBS, the Global Sumud Flotilla said, “Confirmation of Israeli involvement would not surprise us; it would simply lay bare a pattern of arrogance and impunity so grotesque that it cannot escape eventual reckoning.”

The group added, “Whether the purpose of these attacks was to kill us, scare us away, or disable our boats, they recklessly endangered civilians and humanitarian volunteers. The world must take note: attempts to silence, intimidate, or obstruct our commitment to the Palestinian cause and people will not succeed. We call for urgent, independent investigations into these attacks and full accountability for those responsible.”

Despite the attack in Tunisia, the flotilla continued on its mission to attempt to bring food to starving Palestinians living under the Israeli blockade in Gaza. The boats came under attack from multiple drones while sailing in the Mediterranean Sea south of Greece, and they were all eventually captured by Israeli forces while in international waters and approaching Gaza.

Hundreds of activists, including at least 24 US citizens, were thrown into prison when the IDF brought them to Israel. Some have since been deported and are alleging they were severely mistreated by Israeli forces.

October 8, 2025 Posted by | Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Israel Says No Gaza Ceasefire in Place Despite Trump’s Call for a Stop to the Bombing

Israeli forces have killed more than 100 Palestinians in Gaza over the past two days

by Dave DeCamp | October 5, 2025, https://news.antiwar.com/2025/10/05/israel-says-no-gaza-ceasefire-in-place-despite-trumps-call-for-an-immediate-halt-to-the-bombing/

The Israeli government said on Sunday that there is no ceasefire in place in Gaza despite President Trump’s calls for Israel to “immediately stop the bombing of Gaza” as the IDF continues to slaughter Palestinians across the Strip.

“While certain bombings have actually stopped inside of the Gaza Strip, there’s no ceasefire in place at this point in time,” said Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Badrosian, according to The Associated Press.

Badrosian added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in “regular contact” with Trump and that the upcoming negotiations in Egypt aimed at securing the release of Israelis held by Hamas and implementing a ceasefire will “be confined to a few days maximum, with no tolerance for maneuvers that will delay talks by Hamas.”

Trump first made the call for Israel to stop bombing Gaza on Friday after Hamas issued its response to the US-Israeli ceasefire proposal. On Saturday, Trump said that he appreciated that “Israel has temporarily stopped the bombing,’ but on the same day, the IDF killed at least 70 Palestinians in Gaza, according to medical sources speaking to Al Jazeera.

The IDF killed at least 129 Palestinians in Gaza over the past two days, according to daily updates released by Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Health Ministry said in its latest release on Sunday that it recorded the deaths of 63 Palestinians and the injury of 153 over the previous 24-hour period.

Medical sources have told Al Jazeera that Israeli attacks on Sunday killed at least 24 Palestinians, including at least 12 who were killed in Gaza City. According to Israeli media, the IDF was ordered to halt its operation to conquer Gaza City, but it has continued to bomb the area.

One Israeli strike in Gaza City on Saturday killed 18 people, including seven children between the ages of two months and eight years, according to a statement from Gaza’s Civil Defense.

The IDF also continues to kill desperate Palestinians attempting to get food. According to the AP, at least four Palestinians were killed near an aid site in southern Gaza on Sunday.

On top of the violent deaths, Palestinians continue to starve to death amid the famine caused by the Israeli siege. According to releases from the Health Ministry, at least three Palestinians, including two children, died of starvation over the past two days.

The ministry said on Sunday that its violent death toll since October 7, 2023, has reached 67,139, and the number of wounded has climbed to 169,583. Studies have found that the ministry’s numbers are likely a significant undercount.

October 8, 2025 Posted by | Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

US and investors gambling on unproven nuclear technology, warn experts

 The US government and investors have made a $9bn gamble on small nuclear
reactors to power the AI boom and lower emissions — but experts warn the
technology could prove too costly to be viable.

Data compiled by the FT
shows that since 2019, government agencies including the energy and defence
departments have committed over $6bn to developers of small modular
reactors (SMRs) through awards, loans and cost sharing agreements. Private
investment has also soared, with over $3bn raised in the same timeframe.

The technology promises a one-stop solution to data centres’ power needs
by providing clean, reliable and cheap electricity for companies to train
and run their AI models. Investor enthusiasm has lifted the share prices
and valuations of companies with little or no revenues or operating
projects.

“There’s a lot of cheerleading happening, but the amount of
capital that you need to cross the finish line is huge,” said Chris
Gadomski, head of nuclear research at BloombergNEF, which estimates data
centre power needs will more than double by 2035. “What I see happening
with SMRs and data centres reminds me of the internet boom and bust of the
early 2000s.”

 FT 5th Oct 2025, https://www.ft.com/content/8a18e722-3efa-404e-9f2a-709eed877f18

October 8, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, Small Modular Nuclear Reactors | Leave a comment

Patrick Lawrence: Power and Justice 

You just know Trump’s name is written into this document, and at his insistence, in the cause of his vulgar pursuit of the Nobel Peace Prize he will never get. But never mind this. The Gaza Peace Plan released Monday reads as if Netanyahu dictated it.

Trump. – If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas.

 By Patrick Lawrence , ScheerPost, October 5, 2025 

Those were an eventful few days as the General Assembly convened at the United Nations Secretariat in New York Sept. 22.  France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco and Andorra formally recognized the state of Palestine on the first day of the General Debate, Sept. 23. Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal had done so two days earlier. With Spain, New Zealand, Finland, Ireland, Norway and other nations also recognizing, virtually the whole of the Western bloc except the United States now accepts Palestine as a sovereign state.

The imperium fades further into its corner. Always good.

And eventful days have followed all the new endorsements of the sovereignty of the Palestinian people. President Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, presented a grandly titled Gaza Peace Plan at the White House on Monday, Sept. 29. After several days of suspense and speculation, Hamas responded to this document on Friday. This was not the wholesale acceptance of the 20–point plan Trump seemed to think it was (or wish it was): No, this was skilled statecraft on Hamas’s part — “a responsible position in dealing with the plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump,” as the Hamas statement describes itself. “Responsible,” as I read the text, means responsible to the long-suffering Palestinians in Gaza and responsible to the principles of the Palestinian cause.   

What do we have here? How shall we understand these apparently disparate events? In my view, we witness a running confrontation between power and justice. This seems to me the defining struggle of our time, and it sharpens as we speak. 

You hear a lot of different things about those recognitions at the U.N. in support of a Palestinian state. “What a mockery,” Ali Abunimah, the principled director of The Electronic Intifada, wrote on “X” as heads of state stood at the podium and made these announcements. “Now they just need an actual state.” The Nation called the West’s declarations of support for an independent Palestine “a despicable sham.”

OK, there is a case here. These countries, one and all, call for a two-state solution, and a deader letter I cannot think of. Britain and France pile so many conditions atop their declarations — political candidates in the not-yet-realized Palestine will be vetted, Hamas (never mind its popularity) will be barred from any role in government, textbooks will be censored etc. — that you have to wonder what they mean by “sovereignty” and “self-determination.” Britain and France continue to arm Israel as it terrorizes the people we know as Palestinians.

But those many blurting these out-of-hand dismissals have it wrong, in my view. I am not in the habit of approving of anything Keir Starmer or Emmanuel Macron does, but in this case the British prime minister and the French president, odious “centrists” that they are, deserve what we used to call — alas, for the days when there was a serious left — critical support. The West ex-the United States has finally joined the global majority: Four-fifths of the U.N.’s 193 members now support a Palestinian nation.

No, I am with what many West Bank Palestinians have said since the General Debate convened. A woman named Raya, as quoted in the above-linked document: “Recognition is considered a good and unexpected step, but it will have no real value unless it is followed by serious and practical measures.…” From Alia: “It’s not about if they recognize us or not. It’s about if there is even something left to recognize.” And from Samia: “Recognition of Palestinian statehood is great but will be futile if the genocide on Gaza and occupation do not come to an end.”

See what I mean by critical support?

Flawed as all the statements of recognition are, they seem to have uncorked the bottle wherein the justice genie reposed. This is not to be missed. The walkout when Bibi Netanyahu spoke was even more fun to watch than last year’s. So was the straight-no-chaser language with which heads of state denounced the Israelis’ genocidal barbarities. Gustavo Petro, the Colombian president, described Zionist Israelis as Nazis and called for the U.N. to organize an international force to break the Israeli blockade and stop the savagery.

Petro is right: The Israeli–American peace plan notwithstanding, it is ultimately going to take armed intervention to stop the Zionists’ terror spree. A head of state has finally put this thought on the table. 

While the General Assembly proceeded with its business, the Spanish and Italians dispatched naval vessels to sail with the aid flotilla of 50–odd ships then making its way to the waters off Gaza. The Israelis intercepted these vessels late last week — illegally, in international waters — and their crews were deported. But a new flotilla of 11 vessels instantly set sail across the Mediterranean. Also last week, Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish premier, announced that U.S. ships and planes transporting arms and matériel to Israel will be barred from transiting through Spanish ports and air bases. These moves cannot be seen as unrelated to developments on the diplomatic side.   

You didn’t have to be at the U.N. last month (and I wasn’t) to understand the gravity of these events — to feel the explosive energy in the air inside and outside the Secretariat. You could see it in the real-time videos posted on social media. The world, the non–West naturally in the lead, was at last declaring, “Enough!” Taking the occasion to its essence, this was a full-frontal confrontation with power in the cause of global justice. One dramatic scene stays with me even now: When Gustavo Petro resumed his seat after speaking, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was videoed standing above him and holding his head in a fraternal embrace.

“This historic moment,” the Brazilian president exclaimed when it was his turn at the podium. So it was.

And then what?

Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly had a difficult time settling on a flight plan when he flew from Tel Aviv to New York, given he is wanted under international law for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Norway, Belgium, Spain, Canada, Ireland and the Netherlands are among the nations that indicated they would honor the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant were he to enter their territory. How was it he was allowed into the Secretariat at all, it was logical to wonder.

We can surmise that part of the Israeli prime minister’s purpose in attending this year’s General Assembly — where he called those who walked out when he spoke “an antisemitic mob” — was openly to flout international law and, per usual, everything the U.N. stands for. The subtext from the moment Bibi arrived in Manhattan was clear: There is no question of the global majority bringing the Israeli terror machine to justice, he wanted to demonstrate, and power, not law, will remain what makes the world go around.

And this is how I read Netanyahu’s summit with President Trump on Monday —  their fourth since Trump reassumed office in January. The 20–point plan they released has all kinds of things going on in it, but, taking a step back, it is fairly understood as a reply to the global majority’s just-stated desire for a humane and moral order. Read for its larger meaning, this is a declaration that we — we, all of us — live in a lawless world now and that legitimacy, international institutions, and (certainly not) common notions of justice count for nothing. Force alone counts in the world Trump and Bibi propose to stand astride like the co-emperors who ruled the ancient world after Constantine established an eastern capital in 330 AD.

The text of this document can be read here, courtesy of the BBC. In broad outline — and a broad outline is all there is to it at this point — it calls for an immediate ceasefire, after which — within 72 hours — Hamas is to release all remaining captives still alive and the bodies of the dead. In exchange, Israel will release 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 Palestinians taken prisoner since the events of Oct. 7, 2023. Then Hamas is to disarm, and the Israelis are to begin a phased withdrawal of their troops, but these will continue to occupy “for the foreseeable future” an expanding buffer inside the Gaza Strip’s eastern border.

Then come the longer-term provisions. “Gaza will be a deradicalized terror-free zone” in which Hamas will have no presence or role. “Gaza will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza.” And then the question of government and administration.

Gaza will be governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee… made up of qualified Palestinians and international experts, with oversight and supervision by a new international transitional body headed and chaired by Donald J. Trump, with other members and heads of State to be announced, including former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

You just know Trump’s name is written into this document, and at his insistence, in the cause of his vulgar pursuit of the Nobel Peace Prize he will never get. But never mind this. The Gaza Peace Plan released Monday reads as if Netanyahu dictated it, and I will offer odds he did. This thing is written loosely such that it gives Bibi all the room he needs to betray it now that he endorses it. This would, of course, be in keeping with every other agreement with Hamas and/or the United States that Netanyahu has accepted to date.

Hamas, as widely reported, did not formally receive the peace plan until after it was made public and, of course, had no role in its composition. This was intended as a take-it-or-leave-it offer such that, as Bibi and Trump made clear as they stood at opposing podiums Monday afternoon, Hamas’s leaders may as well have guns pointed to their temples. 

Bibi:

If Hamas rejects your plan, Mr. President, or if they supposedly accepted and then basically do everything to counter it, then Israel will finish the job by itself.

Trump, following this remark:

Israel would have my full backing to finish the job of destroying the threat of Hamas.

And for good measure, Trump again Friday on Truth Social, his digital bullhorn, warned Hamas that it had until Sunday to accept the plan:

If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas.

Tell me, is this statecraft, or is this power using the threat of genocide as blackmail? Corollary question: Is the overarching proposal here that a regime guilty of the most savage acts of barbarity at least since the Reich shall now proceed on with impunity — no responsibility for its crimes, no answerability to the institutions of global justice?  

As to the question of statehood, Hamas’s longstanding demand and the vital preoccupation of the 100–plus nations attending the General Assembly just days earlier, there is no provision at all in this plan unless we count this (and I cannot):

While Gaza re-development advances and when the PA [the Palestinian Authority] reform program is faithfully carried out, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognize as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.

It is simply unbelievable to me that these two grotesquely irresponsible people would expect anyone to take this kind of language at all seriously. Try to count the escape hatches in this provision, which is No. 19 of the 20 comprising the plan. I identify at least three, maybe four……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

I cannot honestly read this moment with any certainty. On Thursday, bang in the middle of these proceedings, Israel Katz, the Zionist state’s defense minister and another of the fanatics in the Netanyahu government, announced that if the half-million residents remaining in Gaza City do not evacuate they will be considered terrorists; the implications of this status will be evident. What is our question: Will the Netanyahu regime hold to the “peace plan,” or how long will it take for Bibi to abrogate it? In the day since Hamas announced its openness to negotiation based on the plan, let me remind you, Israel has not stopped the bombing. …………………………………………………………………….

There is absolutely zero interest in the wishes of Palestinians in this plan. No mention at all of the West Bank or the escalating cruelties of diabolic settlers as they steal ever more Palestinian land. And not to be missed, indifference to what the majority of humanity just made clear at the General Assembly. 

This is power announcing its utter contempt for anything other than raw force —  forms of force that see no need any longer to disguise themselves.

There is no discounting the significance of events last week at the U.N. and outside its gates. The world has broken its silence. At the highest levels of government in the non–Western majority, it is learning — I can no longer bear this co-opted phrase, but here goes—to speak truth to power. Power and justice are, so to say, now on the record as in open conflict. This is not nothing. There is more to come. I have no trouble anticipating which will finally, however far in the future, win out over the other. https://scheerpost.com/2025/10/05/patrick-lawrence-power-and-justice/

October 8, 2025 Posted by | Gaza, Israel, politics international, USA | Leave a comment

Kremlin welcomes Trump’s comments to extend nuclear arms pact

The Kremlin has welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments about Russia’s offer to extend the last remaining nuclear arms treaty with the United States, saying it raises hope for keeping the pact alive after it expires in February

ByVLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press, October 7, 2025, https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/kremlin-welcomes-trumps-comments-putins-offer-extend-new-126253222

MOSCOW — MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin on Monday welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments about Russia’s offer to extend the last remaining nuclear arms treaty with the United States, saying it raises hope for keeping the pact alive after it expires in February.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared his readiness to adhere to nuclear arms limits under the 2010 New START arms reduction treaty for one more year, and he urged Washington to follow suit. When asked about the proposal, Trump said Sunday it “sounds like a good idea to me.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov welcomed Trump’s statement, noting that “it gives grounds for optimism that the United States will support President Putin’s initiative.”

While offering to extend the New START agreement, Putin said its expiration would be destabilizing and could fuel proliferation of nuclear weapons. He also argued that maintaining limits on nuclear weapons could also be an important step in “creating an atmosphere conducive to substantive strategic dialogue with the U.S.”

The Russian leader reaffirmed the offer Thursday, noting that Russia and the U.S. could use the one-year extension to work on a possible successor pact.

Such an agreement will involve complex talks that could deal with battlefield nuclear weapons and prospective strategic weapons systems that Russia has developed, Putin said.

“We haven’t forgotten about anything that we have planned, the work is ongoing and it will produce results,” he declared at a forum of international foreign policy experts.

He mentioned the longtime U.S. push for including China in any prospective nuclear arms control pact but emphasized that it’s up to Washington to try to persuade Beijing to do so. China has rejected the idea, arguing that its nuclear arsenals are far smaller than those of the U.S. and Russia.

Putin also argued that the nuclear arsenals of NATO members Britain and France should be included in a prospective agreement.

He noted at the forum that some in the U.S. oppose New START’s extension, and “if they don’t need it, we don’t need it either. We feel confident about our nuclear shield.”

Putin’s offer came at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and the West, with concerns rising that fighting in Ukraine could spread beyond its borders.

The New START, signed by then-U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers. The pact also stipulates the need for on-site inspections to verify compliance, although inspections were halted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and never resumed.

The treaty was originally supposed to expire in 2021 but was extended for five years.

Arms control advocates long have voiced concern about the treaty’s looming expiration and the lack of dialogue to secure a successor deal, warning of the possibility of a new nuclear arms race and the increased risk of a nuclear conflict. 

October 8, 2025 Posted by | politics international, Russia, USA | Leave a comment

Trump Swears At Netanyahu As Israel’s Standing in the U.S. Continues to Decline

Dimitri Lascaris. Oct 07, 2025, https://reason2resist.substack.com/p/trump-swears-at-netanyahu-as-israels?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2811845&post_id=175468550&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

After Trump and Netanyahu presented an ultimatum to the Palestinian resistance on September 30, Hamas issued a statement in which it accepted key parts of the ultimatum but diplomatically rejected other parts.

Hamas also signalled its strong willingness to negotiate the points of contention.

Hamas’s response prompted Trump to demand an end to Israel’s bombing of Gaza, but Netanyahu refused to comply. Israeli forces continue to this day to murder Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu reportedly told Trump that Hamas has rejected the Trump ‘peace plan’. Relying on an anonymous source, Axios claims that this prompted a fiery response from Trump.

Despite the theatrics, Hamas and Israeli negotiators have convened in Egypt. New negotiations are said to have begun.

Against this backdrop, the Washington Post just issued a poll showing that Israel’s standing among American Jews continues to plummet.

In the latest episode of Reason2Resist, I argue that, whatever happens in the negotiations in Cairo, Israel has lost the propaganda war, and it is only a matter of time before the U.S. government is forced to rein in its rabid Israeli attack dog.

I also discuss a new, $10 million lawsuit that he and four other Canadian lawyers have filed against Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). The lawsuit has been filed on behalf of 10 current and former students of the Lincoln Alexander School of Law. They allege that TMU’s administration falsely accused them of antisemitism.

October 8, 2025 Posted by | Israel, politics international, USA | Leave a comment

UK Parliament blocks Declassified, citing our Gaza ‘standpoint’

MPs condemn ‘sinister move’ to deny access to Declassified reporters.

Martin Williams, Declassified UK, 23 September 2025

Parliament has been accused of an “outrageous abuse” that is “worthy of the Trump White House”, after blocking Declassified from holding a media pass.

Internal emails reveal that officials cited our “in-depth investigations… from a particular standpoint”, when rejecting our application.

They also flagged a recent investigation we published that raised concerns over pro-Israel bias in Westminster.

This is despite parliamentary authorities having a duty to remain politically impartial. Guidelines say that passes should be granted with “fair access across a range of outlets”.

The decision to deny Declassified access has been criticised by politicians across the political spectrum, including Labour, the Green Party, Plaid Cymru, and the Independent Alliance.

Almost 500 journalists currently hold a pass, which provides unfettered access to Westminster and daily government briefings. They include many from right-wing outlets like Guido Fawkes and GB News.

When Declassified’s application for a pass was first rejected, officials blamed space and capacity “due to limitations within the Parliamentary estate”.

But documents released under the Freedom of Information Act now reveal there is no limit to the number of press passes that can be issued – and capacity was not even discussed as a consideration.

In fact, at least three other journalists have been granted parliamentary passes since Declassified’s application was rejected.

In a bizarre attempt to justify the ban, documents also reveal that officials claimed Declassified’s focus on UK foreign policy does not count as “politics”. 

An internal email said: “They are not specifically a politics organisation, as their main focus is around foreign affairs.”

‘Outrageous abuse’

Several politicians condemned the decision by parliament – and warned against “selectively silencing journalists”.

Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, said: “Declassified have done outstanding, vital work exposing the scale of British complicity in Israeli war crimes. 

“A healthy democracy rests on transparency and accountability. What does Britain have to hide?”

Liz Saville-Roberts, the leader of Plaid Cymru, said that parliament “should be proud to make itself open to investigative journalists”……………………………………………………………………………………………………..


Threats

The decision to reject Declassified‘s media pass application was finalised by the Sergeant At Arms, Ugbana Oyet. But records suggest it was based on advice from the House of Commons press office, who highlighted the “standpoint” of Declassified’s coverage.

When we sent a “right of reply”, with advance notice of this article, the press office flatly denied the evidence contained in the internal emails. This is despite the fact they were disclosed by parliament itself, under the Freedom of Information Act.

Officials even threatened regulatory action against Declassified if we failed to publish a lengthy and misleading statement from a parliamentary spokesperson.

The statement claimed that decisions around press passes “are not based on an outlet’s editorial stance or coverage of any one issue, and any suggestion to the contrary is wholly untrue”.

And when Declassified said we were not prepared to quote from a misleading statement, parliament’s head of media responded: “We’d expect any outlet to use the full response we provide them – and would strongly dispute any suggestion that the statement provided is untrue.”

He added: “We would be happy to follow up with Impress [the media regulator] if our response is not reflected in your coverage.”

He also claimed that our article was based on “incomplete material [which] does not reflect the full picture”. However, if this is true, it suggests that parliament failed to fully comply with Declassified’s Freedom of Information request.

The press office proceeded to ignore further questions and provided no further information.

The spokesperson had said: “The House of Commons supports the work of a free and independent press – providing access and facilities to the Parliamentary Press Gallery. Demand far exceeds capacity here, hence numbers are required to be strictly controlled, whilst ensuring fair access across a range of outlets.  

“For applications from an outlet that does not already have a pass, or for a request to increase the allocation given to an outlet, we require a business case to be submitted, details of which are available on our website. Unsuccessful applicants may reapply for a pass one year after their original application, and as Parliament is a public building, journalists are still able to visit, attend and report on proceedings and meet Members without a media pass. Decisions around accreditation are applied consistently across all applications.” 

They added: “The range of media outlets currently granted access — spanning the full spectrum of political opinion and including a wide variety of independent and critical journalism — clearly demonstrates that the accreditation process is impartial and rooted solely in operational considerations and editorial relevance to parliamentary proceedings.” 

The emails obtained by Declassified strongly suggest this claim is misleading.

We’ve written an open letter calling on parliamentary authorities to urgently review this decision and issue Declassified with a press pass. We also urge parliamentary authorities to review the way that future applications are processed, to avoid any partisan interference with future applications. Please add your name below – [Petition on original] https://www.declassifieduk.org/parliament-blocks-declassified-citing-our-gaza-standpoint/

October 8, 2025 Posted by | media, UK | Leave a comment

UK aerospace firm supplying Israel’s defence ministry

Moog in Wolverhampton was targeted by pro-Palestine activists in August. We can now reveal the company has been exporting aircraft components to Israel’s ministry of defence.

JOHN McEVOY, 22 September 2025, https://www.declassifieduk.org/uk-aerospace-firm-supplying-israels-defence-ministry/

Published in partnership with Irish investigative news site The Ditch

On 26 August, four activists from the group ‘Palestinian Martyrs for Justice’ crashed through the gates of a factory in Wolverhampton and climbed onto its rooftop.

The target was Moog, a US-owned engineering company which designs and manufactures components for military aircraft worldwide.

Wearing t-shirts with the faces of Palestinians killed by Israel, the activists proceeded to cut through Moog’s roof covering and peer into the factory floor below.

They accused the company of supplying Israel’s largest arms firm Elbit Systems with aircraft parts “used to train Israeli pilots to fly F-16 and F-35 fighter jets”.

Declassified and The Ditch had previously reported how Moog sent at least ten shipments of trainer aircraft parts to an Elbit Systems site in Israel between December 2024 and July 2025.

But it can now be revealed that Moog has also been directly supplying Israel’s ministry of defence with components used to train Israeli pilots to fly advanced fighter jets.

Cargo documents expose how the aerospace firm sent two shipments for the M-346 Lavi programme in July 2025, with the address corresponding to Israel’s defence ministry in Tel Aviv.

The M-346 Lavi is a high-performance aircraft designed to train Israeli pilots to fly jets including the F-16 and F-35.

It is estimated that the value of the two shipments could be over £200,000. The total value of Moog exports to Israel since December 2024 is likely in excess of £1m.

2,000lb bombs

The revelation details how the UK government, through its arms export regime, is facilitating the training of Israeli pilots to fly the aircraft dropping 2,000lb bombs on civilians.

This is despite the government having claimed it suspended export licences for equipment that could be used by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Last week, trade minister Chris Bryant attempted to justify this approach, saying: “The assessment is that the training of an aircraft pilot on such equipment would take so long that they wouldn’t be the people that would be engaged in fighter combat in Gaza”.

Bryant did not clarify how the government reached this conclusion, but it appears to be  misleading.

A US air force report recently estimated that it could take four to six months to train Ukrainian fighter pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets. These same aircraft have been used by Israeli forces in Gaza, including in an attack on British doctors in January 2024.

Moreover, Bryant’s argument falsely suggests a known end date of the Gaza genocide, and appears to assume that Israeli pilots will only be using UK-made equipment at the beginning of their training.

Declassified approached the Department for Business and Trade as well as the Foreign Office for clarification on Bryant’s comments.

We specifically asked whether Bryant’s comments accurately reflected the government’s position, and on what basis it is estimated that Israeli pilots training on UK-made components will not go on to use fighter aircraft in Gaza.

The trade department failed to provide any meaningful answers, while the Foreign Office did not respond at all.

M-346 Lavi

Israel received its first M-346 Lavi in 2014, with an additional 29 arriving over the following two years. They are hosted at Hatzerim airbase near Be’er Sheva.

Promotional content shows how the jet not only trains pilots to fly, but also helps them master combat techniques. It is equipped with a “digital avionics system” which is modelled on advanced military aircraft such as the F-16, F-22 and F-35.

Its cockpit includes a head-up display which is common in fighter jets, and the aircraft can be armed with practice air-to-ground bombs and a gun pod for live fire training.

One of the first instructors to use the jet, Brigadier General Avi Maor, has said: “It’s very easy to make the transition from the M-346 to a real jet fighter because it’s very similar to the fighters.

“You learn how to fight and then do the transition to the real fighter. You don’t need to learn how to fight again with the real fighter, so you save a lot of hours”.

By 2022, the Israeli air force had racked up 50,000 flight hours with the M-346 Lavi, making it the largest user of the jet in the world.

In addition to supplying parts for the M-346, Moog has contributed to the global F-35 programme.

Previous company annual reports note how Moog “provides actuators, power drive electronics, control electronics and software” for the F-35 fighter jet.

Moog was approached for comment.

October 8, 2025 Posted by | UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment