2026 November 12 « nuclear-news

They Have Your Data and Attention. Now They Want Your Government, Too.

Major corporations are working overtime to undermine global democracy.

by Todd Brogan. November 10, 2026 , https://inequality.org/article/now-they-want-your-government-too/

Picture this: You wake up and roll over to check your phone.

You have an unread WhatsApp message. It’s a link to an Instagram reel from CNews showing a burning town hall in France. You swipe up to a New York Times video about drones falling from the sky in Ukraine because of a Starlink problem. You swipe again. An Iranian missile hit an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, and there are talks of new strikes by the US and Israel.

With just three swipes, a mere 20 seconds before your feet hit the ground that day, you interacted with all of the fourteen companies that the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has named as Corporate Underminers of Democracy in the last three years:

The apps you used? Owned by Meta, named a Corporate Underminer in 2024 and 2025.
The link? It opened instantly because the site is hosted on Amazon’s (2024, 2025, 2026) AWS cloud servers.
The phone? It has components mined by Glencore (2024).
That reel? Produced by CNews, owned by The Bollore Group (2026).
Starlink in Ukraine? Owned by SpaceX (2025), whose CEO Elon Musk also owns Tesla (2024, 2026).
The oil in that tanker? Pumped by ExxonMobil (2024).
The war in the Gulf? Powered with technologies produced by Northrop Grumman (2025), Palantir (2025, 2026), and Anduril (2025).
Financing many of these companies, or benefiting from their surging stock prices? Blackstone (2024), Apollo Global Management (2026), and The Vanguard Group (2024, 2025).

According to the ITUC, these fourteen companies are emblematic of a growing threat posed by multinational corporations that use the runaway profit they amass to invest in and platform anti-democratic political projects.

Last month, the ITUC – the largest trade union organization in the world – released its 2026 list, and, with it, a warning. Amazon, Apollo, Bollore, OpenAI, Palantir, and Tesla, it said, “no longer seem content to unduly influence or hollow out democratic institutions from the outside. Now, they seem to be seeking to seize political and, in some cases, governmental power directly for themselves.”

AMERICA ON WATCH

As a major violator of labor rights

The ITUC is not prone to histrionics, nor does it chase media cycles. It is a big tent trade union confederation, with 346 diverse affiliate organisations in more than 170 countries and territories representing some 200 million workers. Inside of its structures, it prioritises consensus, democracy, and solidarity, and outside of them the rule of law, respect for human and trade union rights, and multilateralism.

It transcends national political affiliations, operating at the level of the United Nations, International Labour Organisation, and the international financial institutions. When an institution with this profile sounds the alarm, it does so with considerable gravity.

Since launching its Corporate Underminers of Democracy list in 2024, the ITUC has described the normalisation of a vicious cycle.

Companies violate trade union and human rights with virtual impunity, weakening the ability of workers to organise and negotiate their fair share of the fruits of their labour.

Rather than being used to pay workers proportionate wages or benefits, or to support public services and social protections through tax, those gains are extracted as profit and turned into big paydays for shareholders or executives and used to consolidate or monopolise industries. That immense power is then wielded through intensive lobbying to weaken what restraints may exist and invested in political projects that ensure the cycle’s continuation through deregulation, privatization, reduced taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and even repression of democratic rights when necessary.

The result is a downward spiral of democratic degradation, in which corporate power dominates and working people cannot get a foothold in the economy or political system.

In a 2025 letter to world leaders marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, ITUC General Secretary Luc Triangle observed that, “Decades of deregulation and neoliberalism have fuelled distrust, enabling a dangerous rise of new forms of fascism and authoritarianism. Today, a loose alliance of billionaires, tech elites, and far-right forces is exploiting economic despair and institutional weakness to dismantle democracy.”

With the publication of its 2026 list nearly complete, as the companies it names step into roles that are in many ways indistinguishable from and as consequential as those played by governments.

Amazon the only company to make the list all three years, has embedded itself in nearly every aspect of society. Any service that uses the internet potentially puts you in contact with its services. It repays this public trust with alleged tax avoidance, price fixing, union-busting and mass layoffs driven by automation. In a letter, its own employees warned that its “all-costs-justified, warp-speed approach to AI development will do staggering damage to democracy, to our jobs, and to the earth.”

Apple Global Management, led by far-right billionaire Marc Rowan, is a prime example of how executives use corporate power to pursue political agendas. A Trump donor, Rowan collaborated with Blackstone CEO Steve Schwartzman to design the administration’s right-wing assault on American universities.

The Bolloré Group shapes French public discourse through its media dominance, amplifying far-right voices and anti-migrant sentiment. Its expansion was financed through its operations in West Africa, where palm oil workers are exploited and the company faces allegations of corruption with Togo’s authoritarian dynasty.

OpenAI postures as a champion of democracy and regulation, while lobbying against regulatory safeguards. It publishes industrial, military, and governance policy like a global political party, while single-day donations by its executives to far-right political projects exceed some countries’ entire election campaign budgets.

In its own political manifesto, Palantir promotes a technofascist anti-democratic vision of the future, urging tech workers to defend the nation and the “West’s dominant place in the geopolitical order.” With a revolving door between it and defence ministries, it has secured rapid revenue growth largely from military work, as well as contracts for health services and immigration enforcement, while avoiding taxes on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Tesla embodies trillionaire Elon Musk’s political vision. It races to replace its workers with automation and employs aggressive union-busting in Germany and Sweden. In the US, Musk used his US government role to lay off hundreds of thousands of federal workers and cut millions of dollars of life-saving foreign aid. In the midterm elections, he spent more than US$400 million backing far-right, anti-democratic, anti-regulation candidates.

Unlike their predecessors who brought colonial-era corporate states under public control a century ago, many governments today appear unwilling or unable to resist forfeiting public power, data, and wealth to these undemocratic corporate behemoths.

But there are breaks in these dark clouds, as the people are increasingly taking the struggle into their own hands. The ITUC’s list is filled with stories of resistance and success by workers, trade unions, and social movements, all showing how this vicious cycle can be broken by fighting for democracy work and in society.

As youth protests shake Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, as popular forces defy electoral expectations in Brazil and Serbia, and as unions notch victories large and small in the roots of corporate power, a new, pluralist, workers’ vision for democracy is coming into view.

A billionaire coup against democracy may be underway, but a working-class democratic renewal is rising to meet it.

Todd Brogan is an American trade unionist who serves as the Campaigns and Organising Director of the International Trade Union Confederation, based in Brussels.

November 12, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, technology | Leave a comment

Romania Shuts Down Cernavoda Nuclear Reactor Days After Restart Amid Danube Drought

The operator of Romania’s sole nuclear power plant has dismisse0d its technical director after Reactor 1 was forced offline again, highlighting the growing problemof severe, climate-induced water shortages

Streamline Newsroom, Nov 10, 2026, Chief editor: Ken Kariuki, https://streamlinefeed.co.ke/news/romania-shuts-down-cernavoda-nuclear-reactor-days-after-restart-amid-danube-drought

Romania’s sole nuclear power plant has been forced to shut down its first reactor just days after reconnecting it to the national grid, underscoring the acute vulnerability of critical energy infrastructure to severe, climate-induced water shortages.

The Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant, operated by the state-owned enterprise Nuclearelectrica, halted operations at Reactor 1 following a brief restart sequence in early November. The facility’s management subsequently announced the dismissal of the plant’s technical director pending an internal investigation into the operational failures that necessitated the abrupt shutdown.

While the immediate technical cause of the latest trip has not been fully detailed, the underlying constraint remains the critically low water levels of the Danube River, which the plant relies upon entirely for its essential cooling systems.

The Vulnerability Of Thermal Generation

Nuclear reactors require vast quantities of water to condense steam and maintain safe operating temperatures within the primary and secondary cooling loops.

When river flows drop below minimum thresholds, or when water temperatures rise too high to effectively absorb waste heat, regulators mandate that plants reduce output or shut down completely to prevent ecological damage to the waterway and ensure mechanical safety.

The Danube, Europe’s second-longest river, has suffered from a prolonged and severe drought this year, drastically reducing its discharge rates and threatening the operational viability of multiple energy facilities across the Balkans.

Reactor 1, a 700-megawatt CANDU-style pressurized heavy water reactor, had been offline since August due to these exact environmental constraints. Its restart was initially heralded as a crucial step toward stabilizing Romania’s domestic energy supply ahead of the winter heating season.

The Vulnerability Of Thermal Generation

Nuclear reactors require vast quantities of water to condense steam and maintain safe operating temperatures within the primary and secondary cooling loops.

The sudden reversal not only disrupts national grid planning but also exposes the systemic risks inherent in siting massive thermal and nuclear generation assets along waterways increasingly stressed by shifting climate patterns.

Cooling Requirement: Massive continuous water flow for steam condensation.
Environmental Limit: Discharge water temperature must not exceed ecological thresholds.
Baseload Role: Provides approximately 20 percent of Romania’s total electricity demand.

Ecological Toll On The Danube Basin

The ecological and logistical toll on the Danube has been severe. Record-low flows have exposed vast stretches of riverbed, crippling commercial navigation and stranding barges carrying vital agricultural and industrial exports.

Environmental agencies have also documented significant stress on aquatic ecosystems, as diminished water volume concentrates pollutants and reduces oxygen levels, compounding the thermal stress caused by industrial cooling discharges. The military was even deployed in certain sectors to detonate submerged sediment banks in a desperate attempt to redirect scarce water flow toward critical intake channels.

The incident at Cernavoda mirrors a broader trend of climate-related energy disruptions across Europe. In recent summers, utilities in France and Germany have been forced to curtail output at both nuclear and coal-fired power plants because the rivers they draw from became too warm or too shallow to provide adequate cooling or transport fuel.

These environmental bottlenecks have complicated the continent’s energy transition, forcing grid operators to rely more heavily on fossil fuel reserves or imported electricity during periods when renewable generation is also constrained by weather patterns.

Future Strategies And SMR Deployment

Looking beyond the immediate crisis, Romania is aggressively pursuing the deployment of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) in partnership with US-based NuScale Power, aiming to diversify its nuclear footprint and enhance energy independence.

Proponents of SMR technology argue that smaller, more flexible reactor designs could be sited in locations with different cooling requirements or integrated with advanced dry-cooling systems.

However, the Cernavoda shutdown demonstrates that until the fundamental constraints of thermodynamics and hydrology are resolved through massive infrastructure adaptation, all thermal generation remains hostage to the availability of water.

Following the announcement of the shutdown and the management reshuffle, shares in Nuclearelectrica, which are traded on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, experienced notable volatility. Investors remain highly sensitive to operational interruptions at the state-controlled utility, given its outsized role in national energy economics and its ongoing capital-intensive refurbishment programs.

The recurring nature of these climate-induced outages raises fundamental questions about the long-term asset valuation of legacy nuclear infrastructure in a warming world.

As extreme weather events become more frequent, the Cernavoda incident serves as a stark case study for energy planners globally.

The transition to low-carbon energy systems must account not only for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions but also for the physical resilience of the generation assets themselves against the very climate impacts they seek to mitigate. Without significant adaptation, baseline power reliability will remain perpetually at the mercy of the weather.

November 12, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change | Leave a comment

72.8 billion euros according to EDF, 680 billion according to Greenpeace: what is the true cost of the next six nuclear reactors?

Le Figaro, By Elsa Bembaron, 08/11/2026

Subject to negotiations between France and Europe, at the heart of tensions between presidential candidates, the cost of new nuclear power is exacerbating the debate.

It was almost a year ago. Bernard Fontana, the
CEO of EDF, unveiled the estimate for the construction of six EPR 2 reactors in France: a
maximum of €72.8 billion . A figure that has been constantly challenged ever since. The 2027 draft budget (PLF) proposes a sum between €114 and €161.8 billion. .

Greenpeace estimates that the cost of reviving nuclear power is between €380 and €650 billion, a figure widely adopted by La France Insoumise (LFI) and the Greens. As the presidential election approaches, anti- and pro-nuclear groups are clashing with a barrage of figures. Which ones should we consider?

They’re not all talking about the same thing. EDF expresses its estimate in 2020 euros. This is a technical choice, intended to allow comparison with initial estimates, excluding the effects of inflation. A look back is necessary to understand this choice. In May 2021, an initial estimate, described as “incomplete,” put the cost of 6 new reactors at €51.7 billion. This was………………………………………………………………………………………….. (Subscribers only – https://www.lefigaro.fr/societes/72-8-milliards-d-euros-selon-edf-680-milliards-selon-greenpeace-quel-est-le-veritable-cout-des-six-prochains-reacteurs-nucleaires-20261108

November 12, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, France | Leave a comment

They Want To Use AI To Re-Centralize Control Of Information

Undetectable mass social influence powered by artificial intelligence is an existential threat to humanity.

Caitlin Johnstone, Nov 10, 2026, https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/they-want-to-use-ai-to-re-centralize?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=224238550&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

I keep thinking about a talk I listened to by Julian Assange back in 2017 where he warned that one day AI could be used to facilitate the propaganda interests of the powerful by manipulating news media and information in ways that are too subtle for the human mind to notice.

Assange described a future where AI-powered algorithms serve us a customized feed of information based on data collected about our search queries and interests, calculated to appeal to our biases and construct a worldview for us which advances the agendas of those who control the machines.

He explained that sufficiently advanced artificial intelligence systems could arrange this information with more subtlety and complexity than human perception can pick up on, in much the same way a computer can outperform any human brain at a game of chess.

Here’s an excerpt from Assange’s remarks, delivered via video chat at the Meltdown Festival in June 2017:

“What I think is probably the most important development that is happening as far as the fate of human beings is concerned is that we are getting close to the threshold where the traditional propaganda function that is employed by, you know, the BBC, the Daily Mail, etc… can be encapsulated by AI processes.

“Now, if you think about when you’re playing chess, already we’re in a situation where AI can do better than any human chess player. So you can see a certain number of moves ahead. And someone moves a piece onto the board and you go ‘Why did they put that knight there?’ And you start to think what is the intentionality behind it, and you try and look several steps ahead to work out what the intentionality was and then counter it: Okay, they want to manipulate me into moving here so this will happen and so I will lose.

“We take these considerations already when we’re — well, some of us — when we’re reading stories in the press. What is the intentionality of this story? Why is this particular information being pushed to the public and not some other form of information? Who’s the name of the author? What publication is it appearing in? What language? Etc. Well, possibly the reason is because someone wanted to promote a particular agenda, therefore we should read it in a different light.

“But when you have artificial intelligence programs harvesting all the search queries that people have on their phones, all the YouTube videos that human beings have uploaded etc, and it starts to lay out perceptual influence campaigns 20 to 30 moves ahead, this starts to become totally beneath the levels of human perception. And once a computer-augmented organization such as Google is able to engage in influencing human beings 20 to 30 moves ahead, keeping each move beneath the level of human perception, there’s nothing we can do about it, because we can’t see it.”

I keep thinking about these remarks nearly a decade later because this does seem to be the goal. It’s becoming clearer and clearer to everyone that these new technologies are not intended to improve the lives of ordinary people, but to serve the interests of the oligarchs and empire managers who rule our world. That’s why they’re being rammed into existence at breakneck pace despite the obvious fact that they’re making life worse for most people without advancing human quality of life in any meaningful way.

A big part of the agenda seems to be to re-centralize the control of information that was temporarily lost with the advent of the internet. Revolutionary sentiments are rumbling around the world as our species becomes increasingly discontented with the abuses of capitalism and the US-led world order, assisted by humanity’s unprecedented ability to network and share information around the world in real time.

Artificial intelligence’s usefulness in re-centralizing information in ways that can be easily manipulated has already been noted by the Israel lobby.

At an American Jewish Committee event this past June, Santa Clara University’s Maya Ackerman argued that generative AI presents an exciting new opportunity for imposing pro-Israel narratives on public consciousness, because AI companies can be lobbied directly to push pro-Israel narratives since their leaders can control what information people see.

Here’s a transcript of what she said:

“The really cool thing about AI is that while it can become a great ally for our enemies, if we act early it could be exactly the opportunity that we need after missing the boat with social media. AI is now becoming the dominant source of information — the main source of information. People trust AI more than anything else. They trust AI more than social media. They turn to chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini instead of using Google. And young people use these bots instead of Google in very, very very large numbers. So this is becoming the main source of information.

“And so when I say this, I still find Jewish people being discouraged, they say ‘Oh, but Wikipedia is already so antisemitic and social media is so antisemitic — why bother? The AI just learns from all of this data.’ So, you know, whatever, not much we can do.

“But that’s not true, because over the past two years the AI companies have been moving towards alignment. So instead of algorithms sort of honestly representing what’s in the data, we’re finding that these chatbots and the text to image models are increasingly showing us exactly what the companies want us to see.

“Okay, so it’s becoming intentional. Which means that instead of trying to control the whole world and trying to somehow manage what’s happening in this big blob called Wikipedia and social media, we can go directly to the companies with clear technical and advocacy solutions. For the first time, there is a path to correcting the digital world.”

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt recently confirmed that this was the Israel lobby’s new MO, saying the ADL has been “working with” all the top AI companies and pushing them to into alignment with the pro-Israel agenda.

Speaking at a Jerusalem Post conference last month, Greenblatt said the following:

“So we’ve been working with the Frontier Labs — OpenAI, Anthropic, Alphabet the company that runs Gemini, Google, Meta who runs Muse, and others, X, who run Grok — testing their models and using the results to push them to do better.”

“Look, we’ve had excellent collaboration with Silicon Valley. These companies want to improve ChatGPT and Claude. We’ve got to help them. So we’ve run the tests and seen where antisemitism shows up and helped them develop strategies to tackle it right in the source code.”

If the Israel lobby manipulators are doing this, then we can assume that all the high-level imperial narrative managers are doing it as well.

In January 2018, Assange tweeted the following:

“The future of humanity is the struggle between humans that control machines and machines that control humans.

“While the internet has brought about a revolution in our ability to educate each other, the consequent democratic explosion has shaken existing establishments to their core. Burgeoning digital super states such as Google, Facebook and their Chinese equivalents, who are integrated with the existing order, have moved to re-establish discourse control. This is not simply a corrective action. Undetectable mass social influence powered by artificial intelligence is an existential threat to humanity.

“While still in its infancy, the geometric nature of this trend is clear. The phenomenon differs from traditional attempts to shape culture and politics by operating at a scale, speed, and increasingly at a subtlety, that appears highly likely to eclipse human counter-measures.

“Nuclear war, climate change or global pandemics are existential threats that we can work through with discussion and thought. Discourse is humanity’s immune system for existential threats. Diseases that infect the immune system are usually fatal. In this case, at a planetary scale.”

Anyway, just some things we should keep in mind as we make our way into this strange new future.

November 12, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology | Leave a comment

U.S. Bases Damage by Iran: $19.94 Billion

By World BEYOND War, November 10, 2026, https://worldbeyondwar.org/u-s-bases-damage-by-iran-19-94-billion/

World BEYOND War has just published a new report by Mohammed M.A. Abunahel and David Swanson called The Damage Done to U.S. Bases in the War on Iran: Documenting Attacks, Assessing Damage, and Estimating Financial Losses (full report here).

The estimated cost of replacing U.S. military property either completely destroyed or severely damaged by Iranian attacks, according to the calculations in the report, is $19.94 billion. When we read cost estimates for the U.S. role in the war of $43.6 billion, we can therefore correct that to an estimated $63.5 billion — not counting economic impacts or lost opportunity costs.

This report documents the damage done by Iranian attacks on both U.S. bases and on non-U.S. buildings and people in Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, Cyprus, and Israel.

According to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio the United States attacked Iran because Israel was planning to attack Iran, which was understood as likely to produce Iranian attacks on U.S. bases. Through the course of the war, the U.S. government has used the bases it has maintained thousands of miles away from the United States to describe its attacks on Iran as “defensive.” Prior to the build-up to war, over 50,000 U.S. troops occupied dozens of bases in some of the world’s most brutal dictatorships — dictatorships propped up in part by these bases.

When the U.S. Congress takes up legislation to authorize more military spending, the question must be carefully addressed: how much funding will go to rebuilding bases that make wars more likely and which have a high probability of being destroyed again, and is it fair to the host nations to impose bases that not only support unpopular rulers but also turn the surrounding areas into targets?

This report should have long since been produced by the U.S. government. Independent researchers should not have to make estimates based on news reports and what scraps of information the U.S. government sees fit to make public. Secrecy, like an archipelago of foreign bases, is one factor contributing to the initiation of wars. This report is offered in hopes of shining what light it can into the darkness of U.S. war policy.

Piecing together the costs to U.S. government property is not meant to distract from the massive human and property costs that this war has inflicted on the people of Iran. Rather, it is intended to help inform the U.S. public of one small part of what its government does with its money.

November 12, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

“Everybody Hates Merz”: Why Germany’s Ukraine Obsession Is Making Germans Poorer

A conversation with Dr Tarik Cyril Amar

Ian Proud, Nov 10, 20261 https://thepeacemonger.substack.com/p/everybody-hates-merz-why-germanys?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=3221990&post_id=224275043&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

In a wide-ranging conversation on The Peacemonger, historian and political commentator Tarik Cyril Amar offered a stark assessment of Germany under Chancellor Friedrich Merz. According to Amar, Merz has managed to unite the country in one respect: near-universal dislike. The discussion explored how Merz’s leadership, the German elite’s deep commitment to the war in Ukraine, and the resulting economic pressures are reshaping German politics.

The Most Unpopular Chancellor in Years

Amar argued that Merz has become unusually unpopular, even by the standards of recent German leaders. He described Merz as a mediocrity who once benefited from a reputation for intelligence that has since collapsed in office. Unlike figures who polarise opinion, Merz appears to be disliked across large parts of the political spectrum. Amar compared the situation to the later stages of Keir Starmer’s premiership in Britain and Emmanuel Macron’s in France — leaders who clung to power long after their political capital had evaporated.

One reason Merz remains in office, Amar suggested, is institutional dysfunction. He pointed to widespread claims of significant miscounts in the last federal election that prevented the BSW (Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht) from entering parliament. Had the BSW crossed the threshold, the current coalition would have lost its majority. Amar argued that the Constitutional Court’s reluctance to order a recount has allowed a government based on a contested result to continue. At the same time, internal rebellion within the CDU has been held back by the absence of anyone willing to take over in the current political climate.

The Ukraine Obsession and Its Domestic Cost

A central theme of the conversation was Germany’s substantial financial commitment to Ukraine. Amar noted that Germany has transferred well over €100 billion, a figure that continues to rise. He criticised the claim — made by Merz himself — that money spent on Ukraine is not lost to domestic priorities, arguing that money is fungible and that the economic consequences are already visible in higher energy costs, industrial strain, and declining living standards. Amar described the German establishment (across the CDU, SPD, and Greens) as psychologically invested in the Ukraine policy, making a strategic reversal difficult even as the costs mount.

Nuclear Risks and Strategic Blindness

The discussion also touched on nuclear dangers. Amar warned against proposals for “European” nuclear weapons, suggesting that in German political tradition such ideas have often served as a way to regain greater strategic agency under a European label. He referenced comments by Russian analyst Sergey Karaganov about potential nuclear strikes on German cities, while emphasising that Russian leadership has so far shown notable restraint. Amar argued that the refusal in much of Western Europe to engage seriously with Russian security concerns has increased the risk of miscalculation.

Gaza, Historical Guilt, and Elite Detachment

Turning to the Middle East, Amar examined Germany’s strong support for Israel. While acknowledging the historical weight of the Holocaust, he argued that current policy is driven less by genuine atonement than by a combination of alliance politics, arms industry interests, and institutional inertia. He noted that public opinion in Germany is somewhat more critical than elite opinion, but that dissent is often marginalised or suppressed. The broader picture, he concluded, is one of growing distance between the German establishment and large sections of the population.

A Bleak Outlook

Amar’s overall assessment was sombre. He sees the current trajectory as unsustainable and expects further political realignment, including the possibility of the AfD becoming the dominant force on the right. Whether that produces better policy remains an open question. What is clear, in his view, is that the combination of elite detachment, economic pressure, and strategic overcommitment is eroding public trust.

The full conversation covers these issues in greater depth, along with Amar’s views on specific German ministers, the role of the media, and the prospects for political change.

November 12, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Germany, politics | Leave a comment

Trump says more US attacks on Iran ‘highly unlikely’

BBC, 9 Nov. 26 Harry Sekulich

Donald Trump has said “Iran militarily is effectively over”, and said that there is “positive momentum” behind negotiations to end the Middle East conflict.

“We’re just keeping it the status quo,” the US president said on Monday. “And we’re doing that really at the behest of countries that are their neighbours.”

Trump’s comments came after he met the Qatari prime minister. Qatar is a US ally in the Gulf region, and one of Iran’s neighbours, which has been a key mediator in efforts to end the war.

Addressing reporters in the White House press briefing room, Trump said that renewed US attacks on Iran were “highly unlikely” but that the US was “locked and loaded” should the circumstances change.

Iranian officials have repeatedly expressed doubts about Trump’s prior comments about resolving the conflict.

This is not the first time that Trump has said the Iran war is “militarily” over, but the circumstances for him are different now.

The president has hinted at de-escalation in Iran after a bruising set of midterm election results for the Republicans last week, which senior figures including Vice-Preside

nt JD Vance blamed on the Iran war.

Ahead of the midterms, Trump had said US forces conducted what he described as “minor strikes” on an Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz. However, in an interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, the president said that he did not currently see “any reason” to escalate the conflict.

Responding to a question over why he would not officially declare an end to the war, Trump said that some of the Gulf allies could still face Iranian aggression…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Post-election recriminations over the US war in Iran are already placing pressure on members of the Trump administration.

Republican congressman Thomas Massie launched a strong attack against Trump’s Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday over the war in Iran, requesting a vote in the House of Representatives to impeach him.

Trump has backed Hegseth, who says he is “not worried” about the looming impeachment threats, calling Massie’s effort a “sham”.

While the move is unlikely to succeed with Republicans still in control of Congress until January, Democrats have expressed willingness to impeach Hegseth once the new session begins and they have control of both the House and the Senate.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq5yny4nl2d3o

November 12, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Preparing for war on China – US Air Force eyes reviving WWII air bases in the Pacific

While some welcome the investment that the construction and military operations will bring, others have doubts that the increased activity will really benefit the islands’ populations and that the Pentagon will be transparent about its activity and responsive to local concerns.

Military Times, By Christopher Woody, Nov 6, 2026

The U.S. Air Force hopes to conduct more than 6,000 aircraft operations annually at four airfields on three American islands in the northwest Pacific Ocean, including a major WWII-era airfield that is being refurbished, according to an announcement from the Department of the Air Force.

The department published a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement that will assess “potential social, economic, and environmental effects” of training and operations at Saipan International Airport, Tinian International Airport, Tinian North Field and Rota International Airport. The islands are part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, an unincorporated U.S. territory.

The proposed training and exercises will support the Air Force’s Agile Combat Operations concept, which emphasizes dispersal of forces across airfields and the ability to maneuver between them while sustaining operations under a range of conditions, with the goal of thwarting an adversary’s ability to shut down those operations by targeting a single base. ACE, as it’s known, has developed largely in response to the Chinese military’s growing reach and expanding missile arsenal.

The notice said the four airfields provide “a unique opportunity” to support ACE, with infrastructure that varies from “fully developed commercial airfields to expeditionary operating locations.” The three islands are within a few dozen nautical miles of each other, which would allow for training that reflects the complexity of distributed operations while reducing transit time between them. They are less than 100 nautical miles north of the major military bases on Guam, another U.S. territory, which would support the staging and deployment of forces for those exercises…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The proposed activity comes after several years of work to upgrade the airfields in question, especially the airfields on Tinian, which were built and heavily used during WWII. North Field was inactive after the war and was largely covered with vegetation when the rehabilitation effort began in late 2023. The Air Force also upgraded port and roadway infrastructure, fuel pipelines and airfield surfaces, and utilities to facilitate expanded operations on Tinian.

The airfield rehabilitation efforts have created some questions among Air Force leaders about resourcing and funding, particularly as the war with Iran has placed new demands on the force. Island residents also have misgivings about the projects. While some welcome the investment that the construction and military operations will bring, others have doubts that the increased activity will really benefit the islands’ populations and that the Pentagon will be transparent about its activity and responsive to local concerns.

The Department of the Air Force will hold public meetings this month on Saipan, Tinian and Rota to get feedback on the proposal, with written comments due by Nov. 29. The department plans to produce a draft environmental impact statement for public comment in fall 2027 and a final version in mid-2028. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/2026/11/06/us-air-force-eyes-reviving-wwii-air-bases-in-the-pacific/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=c4-overmatch

November 12, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | OCEANIA, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Estonia narrows search for nuclear power plant location

WNN, 9 November 2026

The search for a site for Estonia’s first nuclear power plant will now focus on three locations, all in the municipality of Viru-Nigula, about 120 kilometres east of Tallin, after three locations in Lüganuse municipality were ruled out for security reasons.

The Estonian Government initiated the state spatial planning process for the nuclear power plant at the request of Fermi Energia in May 2025. The planning area included the rural municipalities of Viru-Nigula, Haljala, Rakvere and Vinni and the Rakvere city rural municipality in Lääne-Viru county; the Lüganuse and Toila rural municipalities and Kohtla-Järve city in Ida-Viru county; and the sea area from Kunda Bay to Narva Bay, covering some 1,285 square kilometres in total. This is significantly larger than the actual area where the nuclear power plant and the necessary facilities will be built, but ensures that the best location for the nuclear power plant can be thoroughly considered and assessed, the government said.

The first part of the phased planning process – site pre-selection – is taking place up to 2027,………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications has now announced. “Accordingly, instead of the previous six locations, three possible sites in Viru-Nigula rural municipality will be considered in the future: Madala, Malla and Letipea.”…………………………………………………………

In February 2023, Fermi Energia selected GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s BWRX-300 SMR for potential deployment by the early 2030s. The BWRX-300 design is a 300 MWe water-cooled, natural circulation SMR with passive safety systems that leverages the design and licensing basis of the company’s ESBWR boiling water reactor. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/estonia-narrows-search-for-nuclear-power-plant-location

November 12, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, Small Modular Nuclear Reactors | Leave a comment

Coulport workers begin overtime ban over pay dispute

Greenock Telegraph, 9th November, By Tempany Grace

Industrial action is set to begin at the Royal Naval Armaments Depot (RNAD) Coulport, threatening to disrupt the UK’s nuclear response capabilities after union members voted to stop working overtime in a dispute over pay.

Staff employed by companies which form the ABL Alliance, which manages and maintains the UK’s Trident nuclear weapons system, started action on Monday, November 9.

Around 70 Unite the union members employed by companies which form the ABL Alliance – AWE plc, Babcock Marine, and Lockheed Martin – have started a continuous overtime ban and work only their contracted hours.

Unite says that the specialist nature of the services means that even action short of a strike could bring Coulport operations to a standstill.

The industrial action is due to escalate to three days of strikes on November 16, 17 and 19 unless an enhanced pay offer is tabled.

Industrial action was backed by 98.2 per cent of Unite members………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The UK Navy operates four Vanguard-class submarines, which were planned to be decommissioned in 2022 as part of the strategic defence and security review (SDSR) but this was extended until 2028. https://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/26710599.coulport-workers-begin-overtime-ban-pay-dispute/

November 12, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | employment, UK | Leave a comment

1 This Month

Read the Public Inquiry Report, the Commissioners’ report, Surrendering Australia: The AUKUS Deception is available to download for free at aukuspublicinquiry.com. Or just watch the replay of the National Press Club Luncheon.