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The Ukraine war: Propaganda and the death of truth

By William Briggs | 5 October 2026,  https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/the-ukraine-war-propaganda-and-the-death-of-truth,21642

As propaganda clouds the Ukraine war, inconvenient truths are being buried and voices opposing the conflict silenced, writes Dr William Briggs.

IN EARLY SEPTEMBER, Independent Australia published an article highlighting the case of a young Ukrainian anti-war activist and socialist who faces 15 years in prison for arguing against the war.

His call was to unite people on both sides of the border. The mainstream media in this country and in all countries have completely ignored the case of Bogdan Syrotiuk. Is this blanket censorship acceptable? No. Is it surprising? No.

Maintaining objectivity and political clarity in a time of war is an almost impossible task. The Ukraine war is one of horror and brutality. As the days, months and years have passed, objectivity and clarity of vision have become casualties.

Our mass media play an increasingly partisan role. There is no room for independent thought. It is made grotesquely simple. There are white hats and black hats. Good fights evil. Democracy confronts authoritarianism. The coverage of the war, like all wars before it, has been clouded in an increasingly impenetrable fog of propaganda.

It is a story that is replayed time and again when the world goes to war. This war, undeclared as it might be, is no less real. The forces behind Ukraine represent the bulk of the Western world and, so, the Ukrainians are presented as almost blameless. The Russians, on the other hand, must be demonised. It is a vulgar and artificial view of what is happening and inevitably ignores the real motivations of those involved.

NATO, the EU, the USA and countries like Australia are not playing any progressive role. For them, the motives for war are to shore up failing economies, gain access to resources and markets. The crisis of the capitalist economies is so deep that entire industrial processes are being turned into war industries.

This, tragically, is how capitalism, when confronted with an existential crisis, responds. To use the example of Germany, we can see the German state preparing to spend almost €152 billion (AU$245.3 billion) in military and war-related spending for 2027.

This is a 57 per cent increase in just one year. Job losses are at an all-time high. Social spending is being slashed. War-based industries are booming. In the USA, President Trump is demanding a $1.5 trillion military budget while food stamps are being cut for 5 million people.

The truth no longer matters. The media do not seek the truth and it seems that the public is to be “shielded” from any disturbing realities. The war drags on. Ukraine receives more and more materiel, more money, more training for its dwindling army and more assistance in targeting Russian infrastructure.

This is presented through our media as being defensive and a noble cause to save Europe. We see fewer images, read fewer reports of the catastrophe that is daily life in so many Russian towns and cities. But the Russians are, of course, the enemy.

In the fog of propaganda, there are tales of atrocities. Crimes are committed, but on both sides. When voices on either side of the border are raised against the war, then they are silenced.

The biggest crime, among a sea of crimes, is the fact that ordinary working-class men and women are fighting and dying to preserve criminal regimes. That has always been the way. The workers who are driven to the trenches have nothing in common with their masters. They have everything in common with their fellow workers that they now must kill. It was ever thus.

The propagandists do their work well. Every crime, real or imagined, that has been perpetrated by the Kremlin is illuminated. The Kyiv regime has a sorry record, but that is never broadcast. The truth is there, but never quite in sight.

A few examples are worth noting.

Only weeks ago, there was a shootout in Kyiv between officers of the domestic security service and the military intelligence directorate. Several officers were wounded.

The Ukrainian regime has resorted to seizing fighting-age men from the streets to be used as cannon fodder. The dragooning of thousands of men known locally as busification is increasingly being met with resistance as local citizens fight pitched battles with the Ukrainian security forces.

Corruption within the government and judiciary is rampant. Recently, the chief prosecutor fled the country after a money-laundering scheme based on scams from bogus call centres that was run from his office was discovered.

While billions of dollars are pouring into the country, the people’s lives are increasingly becoming more difficult. The once popular war is now hated. A recent opinion poll saw 66 per cent of the population calling for an immediate end to the war.

The desertion rate among Ukrainian troops is massive. Latest figures show a conservative figure of 150,000 troops who have left their posts.

These stories are on public record, but somehow do not make the cut when television news shows go to air or newspapers hit the streets.

What is important for a propaganda campaign to be truly successful is that a positive spin must always be in place. The record of near veneration of WWII fascist collaborators and Nazi war criminals is airbrushed, as much as possible, from the public gaze outside Ukraine.

We are told and expected to believe that the war in Ukraine is all about preserving freedom and democracy. The problem is that the war, now being actively engaged in by almost all of the “democratic” West, is making a mockery of the concept of democracy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rules by martial law. There are no elections and none on the horizon. Perhaps elections might get in the way of preserving democracy. Perhaps elections might allow the people a voice against the war.

But to have an election, Zelenskyy would possibly have to lift the bans on the left-wing political parties that have been banned. That is highly unlikely. The famously pro-democratic governments of Europe, North America, Australia and throughout the Indo-Pacific don’t seem to notice, or simply don’t care. After all, it’s really all about saving a failing set of capitalist economies. Democracy is a useful word to be used as a propaganda weapon.

The case of Bogdan Syrotiuk starkly shows the power of propaganda in a time of war. For the mainstream media in all “democracies”, his name must not be mentioned. The campaign for his freedom, perhaps unsurprisingly, continues but receives no support from the global media. It is a subterranean campaign, but not without success.

Thousands of people in more than 90 countries have now signed a petition calling for Syrotiuk’s release. Dozens of letters have been sent to the Ukrainian courts. The Ukrainian authorities responded by declaring that only letters in the Ukrainian language will be read. The letters have come from academics, public intellectuals, writers, artists, peace organisations, trade union groups, students and workers.

Truth matters, but national interest, in the estimation of those who tell us what truth is, seems to matter more. In a time of war, objectivity and political clarity suffer. People need to strive for the truth and to question the doctored, propagandised version of truth.

In 1984 the slogan was ‘war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength’.

We need to remember another line from that same book:

‘Freedom is the freedom to say two plus two equals four.’

October 8, 2026 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

‘Most pathetic false flag ever’: Questions raised over RAF base security scare


By Daily Telegraph NZ. September 29, 2026, https://dailytelegraph.co.nz/world/most-pathetic-false-flag-ever-questions-raised-over-raf-base-security-scare/

Activist and journalist Vanessa Beeley has questioned the official and media narrative surrounding a security incident near RAF Fairford, describing it in commentary by Council Estate Media as the “most pathetic false flag ever.”

Beeley’s remarks centred on reports that 85 homes were evacuated following the discovery of three white vans near the Gloucestershire airbase. A local farmer encountered the vehicles blocking a road in the early hours and subsequently reported seeing several masked individuals running towards nearby woodland.

Police reportedly attended the scene and arrests were made under the Explosives Act. Beeley highlighted inconsistencies in the emerging account, including claims about how long the vans had been near the base, the apparent absence of occupants when they were discovered, the response time of security personnel and police, and the delay before nearby residents were evacuated.

Critics questioned reports that the suspects remained in the vicinity long enough to be arrested despite allegedly having been involved in a potentially serious security operation. The circumstances did not resemble a sophisticated attempt to attack a strategically important military installation.

The Council Estate Media analysis was particularly sceptical of suggestions that Iran could have been behind the incident, arguing that anyone seriously intending to strike RAF Fairford would be unlikely to spend hours driving conspicuously around a highly alerted military installation before abandoning vehicles and remaining nearby.

Television coverage from above the base following the incident showing military assets appeared difficult to reconcile with claims that authorities believed an immediate and serious threat remained.

The report suggested the incident may have been a “performance” capable of being used to build public support for deeper British involvement in the conflict with Iran. The US, Israel and the British government could each potentially benefit politically or strategically from portraying Iran as a direct threat to Britain, justifying further UK military involvement.

October 8, 2026 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

Uranium Prices Just Broke a 19-Year Record, but Nuclear Stocks Are Collapsing Anyway

Yaho/Finance, Rich DupreySat, October 3, 2026

Quick Read

  • Despite uranium hitting a 19-year record of $96/lb, CCJ is down 7% and UEC is down 20% in 2026 as utilities balk at signing new contracts.
  • OKLO and SMR have collapsed 50% and 45% year to date as hyperscalers prioritize near-term megawatts over long-term gigawatt nuclear capacity.
  • Cameco’s realized price of $65/lb lags spot near $88, and term contracting volumes fell 15%, so the record means little until utilities actually sign.

The long-term uranium price reached $96 per pound, an all-time record that passes the $95/lb high from mid-2007, according to ZeroHedge’s report on uranium term prices. The term price sets the multiyear contracts utilities sign to fuel their reactors, and it is up roughly 12% year to date. That should be good news for Cameco (NYSE:CCJ), a leading uranium producer. Instead, Cameco shares closed at $85.18 on October 2, down 6.9% for 2026.

Cameco and Nuclear Stocks Slid as Uranium Hit a Record

Cameco fell 11.62% over the past month, from $96.38 to $85.18. It also fell Friday and underperformed the market. Its 52-week high is $135.24.

The rest of the sector has done worse:

  • Uranium Energy (NYSEAMERICAN:UEC) is down 20.38% year to date, even after selling uranium at a weighted average of $93.13/lb. The stock reversed course after an earnings spike.
  • Denison Mines (NYSEAMERICAN:DNN) is down 20.19% over the past month.
  • Oklo (NYSE:OKLO) is down 50.01% year to date.
  • NuScale Power (NYSE:SMR) is down 45.31% year to date.
  • Leading uranium and nuclear ETF VanEck Uranium Nuclear Energy ETF (NYSEARCA:NLR) is down 16.4% year to date. Cameco was its second-largest holding as of Oct. 1.

………………………………………………………….. https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/cameco-stock-down-below-90-122800554.html

October 8, 2026 Posted by | business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Green party drops longstanding opposition to nuclear power

Prof Andrew Stirling, who has advised government on nuclear power and energy policy, said the motion was “completely irrational”. “Why would a party that pioneered concerns about nuclear power that have been so broadly vindicated by history, choose now to shift its position?” he said

Party in England and Wales ditches commitment to phase out nuclear in major shift in its energy policy

Matthew Pearce, Tue 6 Oct 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/oct/05/green-party-nuclear-power-policy

Green party members have voted to end the party’s opposition to nuclear power, dropping a commitment to phase out the technology in a major shift in its energy policy.

The motion, adopted at conference, removes a “blanket opposition to nuclear fission” and instead commits the Green party of England and Wales to assessing nuclear projects alongside other low-carbon technologies.


Its electricity generation policy still prioritises offshore wind, onshore wind and rooftop solar as the primary sources of electricity, but allows elected representatives to support new nuclear reactors on a case-by-case basis.

The Green MP Carla Denyer said the decision recognised there was a role for nuclear while the country moved towards an electricity system based primarily on renewables. “This evolution of our policy does not commit the party to backing new nuclear, but accepts this power source is here to stay for now, while we transition to electricity generation based primarily on renewable sources,” she said.

Denyer said keeping existing nuclear stations running could be a low-carbon option because a significant proportion of their carbon footprint came from construction. “So if I were energy secretary, my evidence-based approach would be to keep existing nuclear plants in operation, but to consider proposals for new nuclear power very carefully, bearing in mind the cost, speed and environmental impacts.”

Her comments strike a different tone from her assessment in 2023, when she described nuclear energy as “incredibly slow and incredibly expensive”. She said at the time: “Renewables is simply the way forward. Nuclear is not going to help us out in this climate emergency.”

Other senior Greens have previously criticised the technology. The party’s leader, Zack Polanski, has described it as outdated and compared investment in new nuclear reactors to “creating a fax machine”.

Last year, Adrian Ramsay, then a Green co-leader, criticised government support for Sizewell C. “The money being spent on this nuclear gamble would be far better spent on insulating and retrofitting millions of homes, bringing down energy bills and keeping people warmer and more comfortable,” he said.

The Green’s previous opposition to nuclear fission was rooted in its staunch opposition of nuclear weapons, one of the party’s founding principles.

Eugene McCarthy, a co-founder of Greens for Nuclear and a supporter of the motion, said the urgency of the climate crisis demanded a willingness to consider all available options. “We are at the throw-the-kitchen-sink-at-it phase of the climate crisis where you cannot be ruling anything out for things like Chernobyl happening in the 1980s,” he said.

The motion allows elected representatives to assess individual proposals on their merits, McCarthy said. “We will not say we support or don’t support any particular technology. This motion basically lets our elected members of parliament take it on a case-by-case basis and go: ‘This makes sense, we will extend the lifetime of Sizewell B,’ and on a different case say: ‘Actually the numbers don’t add up here.’”

Asked about Polanski’s previous criticism of nuclear, McCarthy said the leader remained entitled to his views. “He’s still fully entitled to say that, and a lot of the nuclear technology that we are using is quite outdated, to be frank. What this means is that he can now take a nuanced position.”

Prof Andrew Stirling, who has advised government on nuclear power and energy policy, said the motion was “completely irrational”. “Why would a party that pioneered concerns about nuclear power that have been so broadly vindicated by history, choose now to shift its position?” he said

“All authoritative sources agree that climate action is much faster, affordable and impactful with combined renewables and storage,” he added. “Why spend scarce resources on less effective actions?”

McCarthy said: “Renewables are cheaper and have much more capacity, and you can roll them out much quicker. [But] there are issues with baseload, which nuclear can help with.”

October 8, 2026 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Details emerge on Valar’s Utah plans

with litigation slowly continuing and regulatory pathways still being formed, the future is unclear

Whether Valar aims to leverage its Ward 250 authorization into further DOE-approved deployments on Department of Interior land is unknown. However, the DOE has continually characterized its reactor authorizations as purpose-built to expedite the research and development of test reactors—a definition that would hardly fit a 456-unit data center campus.

Nuclear Newswire, Oct 6, 2026, 

Last week, NPR reported that reactor start-up Valar Atomics is planning to construct a new facility in Utah that would feature 456 of its reactors. This campus, called Project Beehive, would sit on more than 9,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land and would feature co-located data centers and a fuel production facility.

More on the land: On September 24, the Salt Lake Tribune first reported that Valar had applied to lease 480 acres of land owned by the state of Utah. This land (near the towns of Price and Wellington) is entirely surrounded by BLM land, but first reports indicated that the Valar project would be sited only on state-owned land.

The much larger application for the use of more than 9,000 federal acres was not revealed until NPR’s report on September 30. The state and federal applications should almost certainly be considered parts of the same project, as the land involved in each is in roughly the same area, east of Price and north of Wellington.

The BLM’s Utah office confirmed to NPR that it is “currently reviewing the application for completeness” and that the public will have “meaningful opportunities to provide input” on the project. For its part, Valar told NPR that “no construction begins before permits and approvals, and the public process leads along our internal targets set the pace.”

The regulatory angle: Mention of permits calls to mind another currently unclear facet of Valar’s plan: its regulatory pathway. The company progressed through Department of Energy authorization for the permitting of Ward 250, its first demonstration reactor. The question of how DOE authorization will be leveraged into Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing for follow-on commercial deployments has yet to be fully settled by the DOE, NRC, and private industry. Whether Valar would pursue the new 10 CFR Part 53, the soon-to-come Part 57, or the established Part 50 or Part 52 is currently unknown.

Nor has the company formally engaged publicly in preapplication activities of any kind with the regulator. In fact, its closest association with the NRC at this writing is through a complex and ongoing lawsuit: State of Texas et al v. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Not to be confused with the unrelated NRC v. Texas—another federal court challenge between the state and the regulator—the State of Texas v. NRC challenges the NRC’s authority to license small reactors, arguing that their inherent safety and minimal use of nuclear material exempt them from the NRC’s strict requirements. The plaintiffs in this lawsuit, first filed in December 2024, included the states of Texas, Utah, and Louisiana; the Arizona State Legislature; and reactor start-ups Last Energy, Deep Fission, and Valar.

Almost two years on, the states involved have submitted a notice of voluntary dismissal ahead of any ruling, essentially dropping out of the lawsuit. The reactor developers (Valar included) are now currently conferring on what their next steps will be, according to a September 2 status report filed with the court.

So, with litigation slowly continuing and regulatory pathways still being formed, the future is unclear. It is also unclear whether the project’s siting on federal land will confer on it any special regulatory benefits. The Department of Interior (the agency that encompasses the BLM) does not have Other Transactional Authority like the DOE or Department of Defense. The OTA framework has been used by both the DOE and DOD for the authorization of its recent reactor projects. Whether Valar aims to leverage its Ward 250 authorization into further DOE-approved deployments on Department of Interior land is unknown. However, the DOE has continually characterized its reactor authorizations as purpose-built to expedite the research and development of test reactors—a definition that would hardly fit a 456-unit data center campus.

At any rate, whatever path Valar intends to pursue, the clock is ticking. NPR reports that Valar aims to begin nonnuclear construction by the end of this year and to have first reactors on line in 2028.

The background: Utah is a natural fit for Valar’s next project. While the company is headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., it was already closely partnered with the Beehive State through the Reactor Pilot Program. Through the RPP, Valar achieved criticality with its Ward 250 test reactor at the Utah San Rafael Energy Lab—it was one of the four companies to reach this milestone by the July 4 deadline set by Executive Order 14301.

Ward 250 is a 100-kWt TRISO-fueled, high-temperature gas reactor. Valar has not definitively revealed the planned capacity for follow-on deployments of its reactor technology. However, CEO Isaiah Taylor previously has said that Ward 250 is “sized to 15 MW thermal.”

This tentative number is at odds with NPR’s story, which reports that the 456 reactors involved in Project Beehive will “produce around 9.6 gigawatts of power for the data centers and even more thermal heat for other industrial applications,” meaning each Valar reactor would be rated at a minimum of 21 MWe—a figure that is significantly higher than any capacity previously ascribed to the design. NPR identified Valar’s design as being rated at 25 MWe.

In one more notable wrinkle, this is also not Valar’s first plan to bring a nuclear-powered data center to Utah. Shortly after achieving criticality with Ward 250 in late June, the company announced a partnership with Nvidia to jointly develop a much smaller data center in the state. However, Nvidia has not been publicly named, at this time, as an involved party in Project Beehive. https://www.ans.org/news/article-8462/details-emerge-on-valars-utah-plans/

October 8, 2026 Posted by | Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, USA | Leave a comment

Israeli occupation forces near completion of ‘massive trench’ to partition Gaza: Report

Israeli forces are occupying around 70 percent of Gaza while intensifying the siege and continuing the genocide that is entering its third year

News Desk, OCT 5, 2026, https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-occupation-forces-near-completion-of-massive-trench-to-partition-gaza-report

The Israeli military is expanding its blockade, occupation, and partitioning of Gaza by nearly “completing” the formation of a massive “earthen embankment” or trench across the strip, the Ynet news site reported on 5 October. 

“Israeli forces are completing an anti-vehicle barrier consisting of a wide trench and an earthen embankment, while drilling into the ground at regular intervals to ensure no cross-border tunnels into Israel have been missed,” the Israeli outlet wrote. 

“The work is taking place east of the Yellow Line, which divides areas under [Israeli occupation] from those controlled by Hamas,” it added. 

Ynet went on to say that Tel Aviv continues “targeted strikes” against “terrorists,” referring to the ongoing genocide which has killed over 1,000 Palestinians since the US-brokered October 2025 ceasefire agreement. 

“We will act against operatives and kill them one by one. We wait patiently for the right moment to strike with very low collateral damage. There were opportunities when we did not strike immediately because of those considerations,” the report cites Israeli officials as saying.

The report also writes that Hamas remains intact and in control of parts of the strip despite three years of genocidal war aimed at defeating the resistance.

“Three years after 7 October, Hamas still rules Gaza,” the headline reads.

The construction of a massive barrier aimed at splitting the besieged strip in half was initially reported in July this year.

Satellite imagery at the time showed that occupation forces were building a ground barrier extending hundreds of meters beyond the so-called “Yellow Line.”

The barrier is mainly a trench that has allowed Israel to expand its control and occupation of Gaza. 

In one part of southern Gaza, the barrier extends beyond the Yellow Line by more than a kilometer, according to Haaretz reporting from earlier this year. 

In Khan Yunis, part of the new Israeli barrier extends about 400 meters beyond the line – stretching along the Salah al-Din Road that connects the northern and southern parts of the strip.

Haaretz said that in one area in Rafah, the barrier pushes beyond the line by approximately 1,300 meters. Tel Aviv has been steadily expanding the trench for several months. 

The Yellow Line was meant to act as an initial perimeter to which troops would withdraw as part of the agreement last year.

Israeli occupation forces have been pushing beyond it and erecting permanent outposts along the line since the launch of the US October 2025 ‘peace plan’ and so-called ceasefire.

Further withdrawals are contingent on “progress” regarding the disarmament of Hamas, which the Palestinian resistance, as a whole, rejects until the formation of an independent Palestinian state.

Meanwhile, in violation of the US ceasefire plan, the siege of Gaza has intensified. The flow of aid into the strip remains critically low as Israeli forces continue to bar the entry of much-needed medical equipment and supplies – including wheelchairs and other items. 

Haaretz said that in one area in Rafah, the barrier pushes beyond the line by approximately 1,300 meters. Tel Aviv has been steadily expanding the trench for several months. 

The Yellow Line was meant to act as an initial perimeter to which troops would withdraw as part of the agreement last year.

Israeli occupation forces have been pushing beyond it and erecting permanent outposts along the line since the launch of the US October 2025 ‘peace plan’ and so-called ceasefire.

Further withdrawals are contingent on “progress” regarding the disarmament of Hamas, which the Palestinian resistance, as a whole, rejects until the formation of an independent Palestinian state.

Meanwhile, in violation of the US ceasefire plan, the siege of Gaza has intensified. The flow of aid into the strip remains critically low as Israeli forces continue to bar the entry of much-needed medical equipment and supplies – including wheelchairs and other items. 

On 4 October, Israel killed the Palestinian head of a Turkish aid group in a strike on the vehicle he was riding in while in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah. 

Over 1,450 Palestinians have been killed since the US ceasefire plan took effect, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

October 8, 2026 Posted by | Gaza, Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Our nuclear future? The ‘Manhattan Project’ for European energy

A Polish-led alliance backed by Washington is betting on smaller reactors to overcome the cost and delays that have dogged Europe’s nuclear revival

Overseen by Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, the coalition of
American, Japanese and Korean companies aims to jump-start the mass
production of small modular reactors (SMRs), miniature power plants that
are theoretically much cheaper and quicker to build than conventional
atomic power stations. The UK has also expressed an interest: Lord Sarwar,
the trade minister, met representatives of the Polish SMR company at the
centre of the alliance this week.

 Times 4th Oct 2026, https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/poland-britain-alliance-nuclear-future-manhattan-project-qts63dbcs

October 8, 2026 Posted by | Small Modular Nuclear Reactors | Leave a comment