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US Says It’s Powerless To Stop The Genocide That It Is Directly Funding And Supplying

Of course the US can stop this. Of course it can. The US is currently pouring weapons into Israel on an almost daily basis, is pouring billions of dollars into Israel and is preparing to pour in billions more, and is currently physically assisting Israeli operations in Gaza with drones and special operations forces while US warships swarm the eastern Mediterranean. All of this can easily be pulled away if Israel refuses to stop murdering children by the thousands in an indiscriminate bombing campaign that reportedly isn’t even doing any meaningful damage to Hamas.

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE. NOV 6, 2023

In a bizarre new article titled “White House frustrated by Israel’s onslaught but sees few options,” The Washington Post reports that the Biden administration believes Israel has gone too far and is killing too many civilians in its assault on Gaza, but are powerless to do anything about it.

The Post’s Yasmeen Abutaleb writes the following, citing anonymous US officials:

“As Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza escalates, the Biden administration finds itself in a precarious position: Administration officials say Israel’s counterattack against Hamas has been too severe, too costly in civilian casualties, and lacking a coherent endgame, but they are unable to exert significant influence on America’s closest ally in the Middle East to change its course.

“U.S. efforts to get Israel to scale back its counterattack in response to the Oct. 7 killings by Hamas that left at least 1,400 Israelis dead have failed or fallen short. The Biden administration urged Israel against a ground invasion, privately asked it to consider proportionality in its attacks, advocated a higher priority on avoiding civilian deaths, and called for a humanitarian pause — only for Israeli officials to dismiss or reject all those suggestions.

“In recent days, they said, the administration has become deeply uncomfortable with some of Israel’s tactics. Last week, Israel bombed the densely packed Jabalya refugee camp two days in a row, an attack that Israel said killed a Hamas leader but that also killed dozens of civilians. On Friday, an Israeli airstrike hit near the entrance of Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, a strike the Israeli military said was aimed at an ambulance ‘being used by a Hamas terrorist cell.’ And Israeli authorities recently expelled thousands of Palestinians who had been in Israel for work, sending them back into Gaza even as it continues to bomb the enclave.”

All this helpless hand-wringing is exposed for the load of ridiculous bullshit that it plainly is a few paragraphs down in the very same article:

“Washington is Israel’s largest military backer, and the White House has asked Congress for an additional $14 billion in aid for Israel in the wake of the Hamas attacks. But administration officials and advisers say the levers the United States theoretically has over Israel, such as conditioning military aid on making the military campaign more targeted, are nonstarters, partly because they would be so politically unpopular in any administration and partly because, aides say, Biden himself has a personal attachment to Israel.”

So the Biden administration does in fact have tons of leverage it can use to stop the genocidal massacre in Gaza, it just doesn’t want to because it would be “politically unpopular” and because “Biden himself has a personal attachment to Israel.” 

The US president does indeed have a personal attachment to Israel. Biden has proudly described himself as a Zionist, and has gone on record to say that if Israel didn’t exist the United States would have to invent an Israel to advance its interests in the middle east.

We’ve been asked to believe a lot of very stupid things since this onslaught began last month, but the idea that the Biden administration is powerless to stop a genocide that it is directly arming and supplying has got to be the absolute stupidest.

Of course the US can stop this. Of course it can. The US is currently pouring weapons into Israel on an almost daily basis, is pouring billions of dollars into Israel and is preparing to pour in billions more, and is currently physically assisting Israeli operations in Gaza with drones and special operations forces while US warships swarm the eastern Mediterranean. All of this can easily be pulled away if Israel refuses to stop murdering children by the thousands in an indiscriminate bombing campaign that reportedly isn’t even doing any meaningful damage to Hamas.

What’s that? You didn’t know this murderous bombing campaign is doing no meaningful damage to Hamas? Well let’s clear that up then.

A new report by The New York Times cites an anonymous US military official saying that Israel “has not come close” to destroying Hamas leadership or even its mid-level command.

“One senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details, said the operations so far have not come close to destroying Hamas’s senior and middle leadership ranks,” The New York Times reports………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

I have said it before and I’ll say it again: the US is every bit as culpable for the murder of all these civilians as Israel. Don’t let the empire’s narrative managers try to tell you different.  https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/us-says-its-powerless-to-stop-the?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=138626181&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&utm_medium=email

November 8, 2023 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

‘We’re a War Machine as a Nation’: The Truth About American Politics

“We prefer war over healthcare. We prefer war over housing. We prefer war over education. We prefer war over the economic  welfare of our own citizens”

SCHEERPOST, By Chris Hedges / The Real News Network November 6, 2023

Israel’s ongoing massacre in Gaza has stirred worldwide calls for a ceasefire to stop the genocide unfolding. The United States has been no exception, which countless demonstrators taking to the streets in recent weeks. That hasn’t stopped the US government from backing Israel’s horrific campaign in Gaza to the hilt. The White House has refused to heed calls for a ceasefire and even deployed two aircraft carriers to the Mediterranean—not to defend Palestinians, but to dissuade regional powers from joining the fray to defend Palestine. As the possibility of a regional war looms with the entry of Yemen into the conflict, many wonder how the US might respond to such a scenario. Former US Congressperson Dennis Kucinich joins The Chris Hedges Report for a discussion on the US war machine—what it is, how it works, and how it might respond should the war in Palestine spiral into a wider conflagration.

TRANSCRIPT

Chris Hedges:  As a member of the US Congress for 16 years, Dennis Kucinich gave over 500 speeches warning about the consequences of US wars against Afghanistan, the Balkans, Iraq, Iran, Libya, and Syria. He also spoke out for the imperative of peace in the Middle East on behalf of Israelis and Palestinians. He met with leaders of many countries who were grappling to keep their nations out of conflicts and came to understand the role some in the US government have played to intentionally catalyze war, fueling arms sales globally without regard for the consequences. Dennis warns that we, in his words, are “cartwheeling towards a massive East versus West war with religious and ethnic overtones. This seemingly inexorable march of nuclear folly may,” he writes, “pit the US militarily against China, Russia, and their allies.”

Joining me to discuss how, as he writes, the polarization of US politics, the cognitively impaired and failing executive branch, the instability of the congressional leadership, the pure blind partisanship, and the ideologically click-bait driven media has produced, a mad bloodlust for war against Iran and perhaps China and Russia, is Dennis Kucinich. You have fought the war industry with probably more consistency and courage than any US. politician. You’ve paid the price for it. But let’s lay out globally the reach of the war industry, how it functions, and why it seems to be beyond the control of either political party.

Dennis Kucinich:  ………….. We are in a moment of peril and the subtext of it, or maybe the context of it, begins with the fact that the US has over 800 bases around the globe. This has been part and parcel of an attempt by America to use its military power to be able to control not only the politics of a country but the economics of a country and to stop the rise of any counterforce in the world. Of course, we know that was vainglorious. The efforts have failed, and notwithstanding the fact that we have this archipelago of bases around the world, we have slipped from a position of unipolar leadership moving to a multipolar world in which the US has less and less influence, with the exception of certain economic moves that can be made to try to hamstring the economies of various countries through sanctions.

Now, where this all begins is in the appropriations process. The military-industrial complex that Eisenhower so famously warned us about in January of 1961 has… Every district of the US, every congressional district has programs and projects in it that require funding and are put into an appropriations bill. Lobbyists confront members of Congress from their own community, saying we need this for the jobs in our community. Together you have a defense production establishment that is nationwide and it has enormous influence on individual members. Beyond that, you have when members of Congress come in and they take an oath to defend the Constitution, unfortunately, for many members of Congress, that means signing on to any military action that the administration recommends. So there’s very little deep thinking that goes on, especially where the money’s going to come from. Because the 31 trillion-plus national debt, which the US has a substantial part of, comes from the country putting wars on a credit card.

Ingrained into our system is the funding of wars and a perpetuation of conflict because if you’re making all these arms materiel, you’ve got to use them. The more that you use, the more you make. There’s a continuous loop here of money that pours in. Right now we’re close to $1 trillion in this particular fiscal year of 2023 for the Pentagon plus the various intelligence services. That then is a substantial part of discretionary spending of the US. Depending on who you’re talking to and what math, it’s anywhere from about 40%-45%. We’re spending our national treasure on war. We’re a war machine as a nation. We prefer war over healthcare. We prefer war over housing. We prefer war over education. We prefer war over the economic welfare of our own citizens. This is something that more and more people are catching onto. Unfortunately, the last ones to catch on appear to be members of the US Congress.

………………………………. Dennis Kucinich:  The decisions to go to war ostensibly would be made at the administration level. However, there is a broad network of public policy groups masquerading as independent voices, think tanks, academic organizations, and people in the media who feed into any narrative that would prompt the country to start to rattle the sabers or determine, well, we need to go here in order to defend our national interest. Once that appropriation process starts, let’s keep in mind, that they have close to $1 trillion in all accounts. They’re on their own. That money’s fungible. That money’s there, which enables the US at this very moment to send two aircraft carrier units out into the area near Israel. Now you have to wonder, what’s that all about? What it’s all about is that the US right now has the money to be able to send troops anywhere they want in the world or to pay for the ones that are already stationed, and they put the country at the threshold of a war the minute they do that.

When I say “of a war,” I mean of actual combat interactions. The people who are pushing for this and we have to keep in mind that one of the things that drags us into war is an ideological mindset. Today in the US, it’s sponsored by a group famously known as neoconservatives, who see America as a force fighting against evil all over the world. 

 The Manichaen struggle that they invite is one that is generally of their own making, the desire to be able to create wars and to cash in. There are earnings reports coming out lately where some of the war contractors or those who hold them in a portfolio, are citing what a great thing it is for the profits that are going to come as a result of what’s happening in the Middle East right now. It’s unconscionable but we’re in this cycle where we have a war-dependent economy and the more that we spend on war materiel, the more likely we are to go to war. The more people we have at forward bases around the world, the more likely we are to go to war.

When an international crisis develops, such as has developed after, most famously signed on October 7, 2023, we then see things go into motion that will support and justify the reason why we are there, to begin with. Then from there, you go on to additional appropriations. One of the things that I want to point out, is the over $14 billion which Congress will vote on perhaps at the beginning of November, once Congress votes on that, forget declarations of war, Article One, Section Eight, the role of Congress in balancing off the executive’s desire to go to war. Forget all that. Once the money is there, we’re there. We’re stuck. It’s like gamblers, in for a dime, in for a dollar. Once we put that money down, we are at war, whether it’s declared or not.

This is the danger of the moment that we’re in right now, because the American people, unless they can convince their members of Congress, for whatever reason – Whether it’s as one member of Congress, Tom Massey from Kentucky says, we can’t afford it. That’s one way. Another way is to say don’t fuel the fire. Another way is to say, stop killing the Gazans – There are so many different reasons to avoid it but the American people have to be heard from. Immediately call their members of Congress to say don’t fund the war. If they’re so intent on spending money, spend it for diplomacy, spend it for humanitarian purposes, spend it for food, shelter, clothing, electricity, water; anything to try to relieve people from the veil of tears they’re in right now and the fears for their life.

But  right now, our country, we are ready for war. It’s not about funding an effort against the people of Gaza but it’s about getting ready for war against Iran which would be catastrophic for the US and for Israel. . We’re really at a crossroads right here, Chris and the piece that I wrote in Substack outlines the contours of it because this war has both. It’s not just geographical; it is ethnic and it is religious.

Chris Hedges:  You have a situation where once the money comes in, it’s not a congressional decision, it’s a unilateral decision by the White House, for instance, to send these carriers. No, Biden didn’t consult anybody except maybe Jake Sullivan who probably made the decision for Biden. But all that power, that potential to essentially trigger a war is in the hands of the presidency. Congress isn’t even part of the decision.

Dennis Kucinich:  Once the money is there… This is what I’d like your viewers to understand. You have the Constitution, Article One, Section Eight, in which the Founders clearly put the power to make war in the hands of the House because they didn’t want an executive roaming the world, looking for enemies to slay, as Adams was famously warned about. But if Congress approves an appropriation that the president then wants to take to create a war, courts have held pretty consistently that Congress’s ultimate power is the power of the purse. If Congress wants to stop a war, don’t fund it. If Congress wants to start a war, fund it, but Congress cannot go back after it funds a war and say, oh, we didn’t mean that. We didn’t mean for him to escalate. Hey, once they have the money, the administration, the president as commander-in-chief under the Constitution, is able to use that war material in any way that he or in the future she would please.

Chris Hedges:  And yet we see no pushback. The last budget Congress gave the Pentagon $40 billion more than they even requested. In many ways, the Democratic Party is worse.

Dennis Kucinich:  Yeah, it’s become reflexive. The inability to ask questions about why. Only after the fact will you see the Inspector General’s reports come back and say, well, you misspent billions or billions there. After a while, it adds up. You go back to Major General Smedley Butler who won two medals of honor for his service to the country at the beginning of the 20th century. He concluded famously, “War is a racket.” And this is a racket. The members of Congress go along. Let’s face it, once Citizens United became the law of the land, and money equaled free speech from the corporate standpoint, this entire defense establishment was emboldened to pour money into congressional races. And they do. They do it openly through $5,000 contributions or whatever they’re allowed right now and in addition to that, Super PACs, which can make a difference in a congressional or Senate race.

We have almost a closed-loop system that guarantees that we will continue to go to war. There is no counterbalance for diplomacy or peace. That doesn’t exist. The Department of State is there to rattle the saber, as the current Secretary of State Blinken has proven. The National Security Advisor Sullivan, is there to keep fulminating. Of course, we know about the gentle lady who is a deputy secretary who has famously kept her neoconservative credentials alive since the beginning of her service to the US as somebody who promotes war. We have an entire phalanx of people at the administrative level who are promoting it every day. They’re supported by the think tanks, academics, and the media. People don’t question and so we get pulled into this maw of war. Then people wonder why.

Watch American troops, when their lives are put on the line – They’re already being out there as bait, as far as I’m concerned. Our troops are in that region as bait – If and when the troops start to die and you get reports, maybe some have already, but if and when that starts to happen in large numbers, the American people are going to be horrified. The money could go out this week unless people call and object strongly. That’s the way you stop a war. Stop funding it.

Chris Hedges:  What they’re playing with, as you’ve written, is a very dangerous global conflagration. It’s like throwing and tossing lit matches toward pools of gasoline, not only in Ukraine and not only in the Middle East, but also in China. The consequences are potentially catastrophic. In the case of China and Russia, we’re dealing of course with nuclear powers. Then of course Israel has nuclear weapons. There’s nothing to stop Israel from using a tactical nuclear weapon on Iran. Talk a little bit about how this could all go bad.

Dennis Kucinich:  When we have these discussions about the danger that we can sense lies ahead, we have to look at things not out of fear, but out of a cold strategic analysis. The US and Israel are seen as simultaneous in the actions in Gaza right now. That has created a furor, particularly in the Arab and the Muslim world. The head of Turkey, Erdogan, yesterday gave a speech to about a million people whom he warned about, he invoked the image of the Crescent versus the Cross. We’re talking Crusades here, folks. The idea that if the US and Israel are aimed at trying to wipe out people who are Arabs and most of whom are Muslims, what does that say to the rest of the Muslim world? Nine million people in Israel, maybe a million and a half of them Palestinians, in the larger Arab world surrounding Israel, hundreds of millions of Muslims and Arabs are watching people in Gaza being slaughtered.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. There’s a game being played here that is so dangerous that could pull us all into not only a regional war but a world war. So those are some of the antecedents that we have to consider when we’re looking at an analysis of what we could be facing………………………………………………………..

Dennis Kucinich:  Well, first of all, you have to look at President Biden himself. He has never really been anyone who has said, whoa, wait a minute. Let’s not do this. He’s generally been congenial to voting for the war as a senator and voting for certain defense or Pentagon appropriations. That’s where it’s at. Then who surrounds him? The neocons are his closest advisors. They’re spoiling for a war against Iran. This has been going on since Bush was president. There’s no question. I gave about 150 speeches on Iran alone, where I saw the Bush Administration was actually talking about a strike on a nuclear research lab at Bashir. …………………………………………………………………

more https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/06/were-a-war-machine-as-a-nation-the-truth-about-american-politics/

November 8, 2023 Posted by | politics, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

“Doomsday weapon” Israel’s worst kept secret

‘That’s one way’: Israeli cabinet minister says nuking Gaza is an option

Fears that the war against Hamas could spiral into a wider regional conflict have again raised the spectre of Israel’s “worst-kept secret”.

Frank Chung, news.com.au 6 Nov 23

A far-right minister in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has sparked fury after suggesting Israel could nuke Gaza.

The comments, which made headlines in Arab and Israeli media, were quickly disavowed by Mr Netanyahu, who immediately suspended Mr Eliyahu from cabinet meetings……………………………………………………………………….

Israel’s nukes

Fears that the war between Israel and Hamas could spiral into a wider regional conflict have again raised the spectre of nuclear weapons — and Israel’s own “worst kept secret”.

Israel is widely believed to have around 80 to 90 plutonium-based nuclear warheads, and enough material for more than 200, making it one of only nine nuclear-armed countries alongside Russia, the US, China, France, the UK, Pakistan, India and North Korea.

The arsenal consists of an estimated 30 gravity bombs for delivery by aircraft, with the remainder of the warheads for delivery by missiles.

The Jericho II medium-range ballistic missile and Jericho III intermediate-range ballistic missile “are believed to be based with their mobile launchers in caves at a military base east of Jerusalem”, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says.

According to Professor Clive Williams from the ANU’s Centre for Military and Security Law and Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, the Jericho II has an estimated range of 1500 to 1800 kilometres, while the Jericho III can reach more than 4000 kilometres.

Israel also operates a fleet of around half a dozen Dolphin-class diesel-electric submarines out of the northern port city of Haifa.

A number of the German-built submarines are commonly thought to have been adapted to carry cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads to maintain a second-strike option.

“An estimated 30-40 nuclear weapons have been allocated to the submarines, with a possible missile delivery range of up to 1500 kilometres,” Prof Williams writes.

While never openly acknowledging its capability, Israel has issued veiled threats in the past.

“Our submarine fleet is used first and foremost to deter our enemies who strive to extinguish us,” Mr Netanyahu said in 2016. “They must know that Israel is capable of hitting back hard against anyone who seeks to hurt us.”

‘Nuclear ambiguity’

Officially, Israel refuses to confirm or deny its secret nuclear weapons program, and is not party to the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The policy, known as “nuclear ambiguity” or “nuclear opacity”, dates back more than five decades to a 1969 Oval Office meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and US President Richard Nixon, after nearly a decade of tension between the two countries over the issue.

The two leaders reached an unwritten agreement that effectively amounted to “don’t ask, don’t tell” — Israel would agree not to declare, test or threaten to use nuclear weapons, and the US would not pressure Israel to sign the NPT, which had been co-sponsored and signed by the US the previous year.

Despite this, Israel is suspected to have carried out an illegal nuclear test in 1979, roughly halfway between South Africa and Antarctica — an incident quickly swept under the rug by the Carter White House.

Israel began developing its nuclear program in the 1950s and is believed to have produced its first nuclear weapon in the late ‘60s.

The US government had first caught wind of Israel’s secret nuclear reactor — located in the Negev desert near the city of Dimona and built with the assistance of the French — in 1960.

The Americans, fearful of a Middle East arms race, for several years put pressure on the Israelis to inspect Dimona, with Israel going so far as to build a fake control centre at the plant to mask its true purpose.

“The Israelis, who are one of the few peoples whose survival is genuinely threatened, are probably more likely than almost any other country to actually use their nuclear weapons,” national security adviser Henry Kissinger told President Nixon in a declassified 1969 memo.

“This is one program on which the Israelis have persistently deceived us and may even have stolen from us.”……………………………………………………………….

Successive US presidents honoured this unwritten agreement until it was formalised into a secret letter during the Clinton administration.

According to a 2018 report in The New Yorker, the letter — first signed by President Bill Clinton and known only to a handful of senior officials — amounted to an American pledge not to pressure Israel to give up its nuclear weapons as long as it continued to face existential threats in the region.

“In the letter, according to former officials, President Bill Clinton assured the Jewish state that no future American arms-control initiative would ‘detract’ from Israel’s ‘deterrent’ capabilities, an oblique but clear reference to its nuclear arsenal,” investigative journalist Adam Entous wrote…………..

Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump each signed updated versions of the letter.

Vanunu scandal

The existence of Israel’s nuclear program was only revealed to the general public in 1986 when UK newspaper The Sunday Times published a bombshell story featuring whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, a former Dimona technician.

Vanunu provided the paper with details and photos of the inner workings of the nuclear plant.

“Based on his revelations, some experts estimated that Israel had built between 100 and 200 nuclear weapons of varying yields and complexity,” writes the Nuclear Threat Initiative……………………………………………………………………………..

‘Doomsday weapon’

In the wake of the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas, which left 1400 Israelis dead and more than 240 taken hostage, fears have grown that any widening of the conflict could involve nuclear weapons……………………

Mr Eliyahu is not the first Israeli politician to suggest using “doomsday” weapons against the Palestinian terror group.

“Jericho missile! Jericho missile! A strategic alert, before we consider introducing our forces. A doomsday weapon!” Revital Gotliv wrote in a post on X two days after the attacks. “This is my opinion. May God preserve all our strength.”

Ms Gotliv, a member of Mr Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party with a history of making inflammatory comments, wrote in a follow-up post that Israel should show no mercy in battling Hamas.

“Only an explosion that shakes the Middle East will restore this country’s dignity, strength, and security! It’s time to kiss doomsday,” she said.

“Shooting powerful missiles without limit. Not flattening a neighbourhood. Crushing and flattening Gaza. Otherwise, we would have done nothing. Not with passwords, with penetrating bombs. Without mercy! Without mercy!”

The post was tagged with a disclaimer by the social media platform that its visibility had been limited as it “may violate X’s rules against Violent Speech”, Insider reported.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), warned last month that “Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons significantly increases the risks associated with the conflict and contributes to regional tensions”.

“Escalation is a real danger,” a spokeswoman told The South China Morning Post frank.chung@news.com.au https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/thats-one-way-israeli-cabinet-minister-says-nuking-gaza-is-an-option/news-story/7822218dceeb4c77e2204d30e1da292b #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes #Israel #Palestine

November 8, 2023 Posted by | Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

300,000 March in Washington, D.C. for Palestine

Hundreds of thousands of people in the US marched on Saturday for the liberation of Palestine from Israeli occupation and to decry the support of their government for Israel.

By Peoples Dispatch 6 Nov 23,  https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/06/300000-march-in-washington-d-c-for-palestine/—

Over 300,000 people poured into Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC, on November 4, in the largest Palestine solidarity demonstration in US history. The unprecedented demonstration comes in the wake of Israel’s ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Organized by a wide range of Palestinian, Arab, and anti-imperialist groups including the Palestinian Youth Movement, the ANSWER Coalition, the Peoples Forum, Al-Adwa: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, and National Students for Justice in Palestine, hundreds of thousands rallied and then marched to the White House, demanding an end to US funding for Israel, and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Protesters yelled chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” and “Ceasefire now!” Some brought long lists of names of those killed in Gaza in this past month by Israel.

This 300,000 strong march occurred in the heart of Israel’s most significant backer, the United States, despite the fact that people in the country have been faced with various forms of persecution for supporting Palestine. The Virginia Attorney General just opened an investigation into American Muslims for Palestine looking into allegations against the group for “benefiting or providing support to terrorist organizations”. Students who organize in solidarity for Palestine, especially those in local Students for Justice in Palestine chapters, have been doxxed and have had job offers rescinded.

“We’re all afraid, but this fear does not compare,” said Palestinian poet Mohammed El-Kurd, speaking from the podium at Freedom Plaza. “They want us to think that we are paying personal prices, but we have our community. They want us to think that we are alone, but we have our people supporting us. If they come for you, if they take your job, if they fire you from school, if they expel you, do not think of yourself as a casualty. You are not a casualty, you are fuel for the movement, you are part of the struggle.”

“Empire does not reward silence. It will crush us anyway, it will swallow us anyway, we will not sit in the corner quietly as they kill our people.”

The US has contributed around USD 130 billion in military aid to Israeli occupation since the creation of the state in 1948. In the wake of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, the House of Representatives passed a massive USD 14.5 billion military aid package to further support the occupation. The bombs that Israel drops are largely US-made. “It is not lost on us that the US government sends its military advisors and soldiers, it’s aircraft carriers and rockets, its weapons of mass destruction to support the genocide of our people,” said Mohammed Nabulsi of the Palestinian Youth Movement. “It is not lost on us that this same government mobilizes its repressive vehicles in the US to surveil, suppress, and criminalize our communities in the movement for Palestinian freedom.”

Brian Becker, executive director of the ANSWER Coalition, brought up how similar numbers showed up many decades ago in solidarity with the struggle against South African apartheid. Despite the US government’s support for the South African government at the time “forty years ago this month… thousands of people came together in Washington DC to say that the racist fascist apartheid regime in South Africa must fall, and we will help it fall, and within a few years, it did fall.”

“We make the change, the change comes from us, and right now sisters and brothers—we are sending a message, a very strong message to Joe Biden: if you stand with genocide we hold you guilty of genocide.”

November 8, 2023 Posted by | weapons and war | 1 Comment

U.S., European officials broach topic of peace negotiations with Ukraine, sources say

The conversations have included very broad outlines of what Ukraine might need to give up to reach a deal with Russia.

nbc news, Nov. 4, 2023, By Courtney Kube, Carol E. Lee and Kristen Welker

WASHINGTON — U.S. and European officials have begun quietly talking to the Ukrainian government about what possible peace negotiations with Russia might entail to end the war, according to one current senior U.S. official and one former senior U.S. official familiar with the discussions.

The conversations have included very broad outlines of what Ukraine might need to give up to reach a deal, the officials said. Some of the talks, which officials described as delicate, took place last month during a meeting of representatives from more than 50 nations supporting Ukraine, including NATO members, known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, the officials said.

The discussions are an acknowledgment of the dynamics militarily on the ground in Ukraine and politically in the U.S. and Europe, officials said.

They began amid concerns among U.S. and European officials that the war has reached a stalemate and about the ability to continue providing aid to Ukraine, officials said. Biden administration officials also are worried that Ukraine is running out of forces, while Russia has a seemingly endless supply, officials said. Ukraine is also struggling with recruiting and has recently seen public protests about some of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s open-ended conscription requirements.

And there is unease in the U.S. government with how much less public attention the war in Ukraine has garnered since the Israel-Hamas war began nearly a month ago, the officials said. Officials fear that shift could make securing additional aid for Kyiv more difficult. 

Some U.S. military officials have privately begun using the term “stalemate” to describe the current battle in Ukraine, with some saying it may come down to which side can maintain a military force the longest. Neither side is making large strides on the battlefield, which some U.S. officials now describe as a war of inches. Officials also have privately said Ukraine likely only has until the end of the year or shortly thereafter before more urgent discussions about peace negotiations should begin. U.S. officials have shared their views on such a timeline with European allies, officials said…………………………………………………………………………………..

The Biden administration has spent $43.9 billion on security assistance for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, according to the Pentagon. A U.S. official says the administration has about $5 billion left to send to Ukraine before money runs out. There would be no aid left for Ukraine if the administration hadn’t said it found a $6.2 billion accounting error from months of over-valuing equipment sent to Kyiv.

Public support slipping

Progress in Ukraine’s counteroffensive has been very slow, and hope that Ukraine will make significant advances, including reaching the coast near Russia’s frontlines, is fading. A lack of significant progress on the battlefield in Ukraine does not help with trying to reverse the downward trend in public support for sending more aid, officials said.  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/us-european-officials-broach-topic-peace-negotiations-ukraine-sources-rcna123628 #Ukraine #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNuke

November 8, 2023 Posted by | politics international, Ukraine, USA | Leave a comment

1,500+ Israelis Urge International Criminal Court Action on ‘War Crimes and Genocide’ in Gaza

“Persistent impunity has created the conditions for the consolidation of the Israeli apartheid regime, which is intent on committing ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Indigenous Palestinian population,” says the open letter.

By Jessica Corbett / Common Dreams, 5 Nov 23,  https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/05/1500-israelis-urge-icc-action-on-war-crimes-and-genocide-in-gaza/

Israelis Against Apartheid, a group representing more than 1,500 citizens, this week urged the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor “to take accelerated action against the escalating Israeli war crimes and genocide of the Palestinian people” in Gaza.

“For the safety and future in the region, all elements of international law must be enforced and war crimes should be investigated,” declares the letter to the ICC’s Karim A. A. Khan, noting his ongoing Palestine investigation and recent remarks on the war.

The letter, dated Thursday, explains that “as Israeli anti-colonial activists, we have joined our voices to the voices of Palestinians for decades warning on the dangerous course of action pursued by the Israeli state and repeatedly called for international intervention.”

“Persistent impunity has created the conditions for the consolidation of the Israeli apartheid regime, which is intent on committing ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Indigenous Palestinian population,” the letter continues. “The acute deterioration in basic conditions of life that we are now witnessing could have been avoided if Israel had not been continuously granted impunity for its ongoing crimes.”

Officials believe Palestinian militants took around 240 hostages in a Hamas-led surprise attack on Israel October 7, which sparked Israeli forces’ retaliatory air and ground assault of Gaza. Since the war began, more than 1,500 Israelis and 9,400 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, along with at least 133 Palestinians in the West Bank, which has seen a surge in Israeli settler violence.

Over the past four weeks, as Israeli forces have killed thousands of civilians and bombed residential, medical, educational, and religious buildings, allegations of war crimes have mounted. Critics worldwide have accused Israel of committing “a textbook case of genocide,” citing not only the bloodshed but also comments from Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We are extremely concerned by the Israeli institutional calls for genocide that are being loudly and clearly voiced in Hebrew and believe that they should be seriously taken into consideration as thousands, if not millions, of lives are at stake,” says the letter to the ICC prosecutor.

“Israeli military personnel and journalists are now openly calling for ethnic cleansing and genocide,” the letter adds. “It is evident that Israel is disregarding the lives of civilians in Gaza, ordering them to evacuate vast areas even as there is no safe place in Gaza to which people can flee.”

The letter to Khan details the remarks from Netanyahu and others calling for or justifying genocide, and urges him to:

  • Issue immediate arrest warrants against Israeli political and military-security leaders who are committing war crimes and crimes against humanity;
  • Accelerate your investigation into the ongoing crimes being perpetrated at this very moment by the state of Israel, its military forces, and armed Israeli citizens under military protection; and
  • Be a validated and balanced platform for alleged crimes arising from the current situation, rather than making reference to unvalidated and unverified claims.

While applauding some of Khan’s statements in Egypt after his trip to the Rafah border crossing with Gaza last weekend, the letter also says that “we deeply regret that, despite the opening of an investigation, followed by the Pre-Trial Chamber I’s 2021 decision that the court may exercise its criminal jurisdiction over the situation in Palestine, you have so far failed to take concrete action to stop the tragic trajectory of events in our region by holding Israel accountable.”

Khan said that “we need the law more than ever. Not the law in abstract terms, not the law as a theory for academicians, lawyers and judges. But we need to see justice in action. People need to see that the law has an impact on their lives. And this law, this justice, must be focused on the most vulnerable. It should be almost tangible. It is something they should be able to cling on to. It is something that they should be able to embrace when they are faced with so much loss, pain, and suffering.”

The prosecutor spoke about both the Hamas-led attack on Israel, including hostage-taking, and the Israeli war on Gaza, where civilians have been cut off from essentials like food, water, electricity, and medicine. He also highlighted an online portal to which anyone can submit information on alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and crimes of aggression.

Khan asked civil society organizations “to send us any and all evidence that underpins their reports or their communiques or their notices that they issue,” stressing that “reports by themselves are, of course, not evidence and I cannot and will not act pursuant to my oath of office without reliable evidence that we can validate that can stand up in a court of law.”

“I also want to be clear that my office is in the business of conducting credible, relevant, professional, and independent criminal investigations,” he said. “And so I don’t, I haven’t, and I won’t be giving a running commentary on social media, or anywhere else for that matter, regarding the state of investigations in this or any other situation. But the absence of commentary does not mean the absence of investigations.” #Israel #Palestine

November 8, 2023 Posted by | Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Ukraine’s counteroffensive is finished – governor

 https://www.rt.com/russia/586687-ukraine-counteroffensive-halted-zaporozhye/ 6 Nov 23

The attempt to cut Russia’s land corridor to Crimea in Zaporozhye Region has failed, Evgeny Balitsky has said

Moscow’s forces have stopped the Ukrainian counteroffensive dead in its tracks, Evgeny Balitsky, the governor of Zaporozhye Region, has said. 

He further described what he called Kiev’s last-ditch attempts to breach Russian defenses as not particularly impressive. In recent months, Zaporozhye has emerged as a scene of some of the fiercest fighting.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Balitsky stated that “the enemy has been halted, as has been its much-hyped counteroffensive.” He said that the ongoing fighting near the settlements of Rabotino and Shcherbaki and on the Vremievsky Ridge was “almost an agony for the Ukrainian regime.”

The official declared that Ukrainian forces, which have been trying to storm Russian positions for months, have “completely run out of steam.” 

“Now, when the enemy launches an attack, they deploy only small forces because their companies are understrength,” he added.

According to Balitsky, the plan to reach the Sea of Azov and cut Russia’s land bridge to Crimea – widely seen as the main objective of Kiev’s summer campaign – has been thwarted. He also claimed that Ukrainian attacks are now largely unsupported by armor, as Russian forces have knocked out many vehicles.

The governor stated that the current “meat onslaught” had been organized by Kiev’s Western backers, suggesting that the latter would prefer to lose Ukrainian soldiers rather than their own expensive military equipment.

Ukraine began a large-scale offensive in early June, but has failed to make substantial progress. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said last week that “the Kiev regime is losing.” He has previously estimated Ukraine’s losses at more than 90,000 troops, nearly 600 tanks, and 2,000 armored vehicles since the start of the push.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials have admitted difficulties with the campaign, blaming a lack of progress on delays in Western support, strong Russian defenses, and extensive minefields as well as Moscow’s air superiority. 

Last week, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Valery Zaluzhny, characterized the frontline situation as a “stalemate” due to the level of technological prowess of both sides. That assessment, however, was rejected by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who insisted that while his country found itself in a “difficult” situation, it still had the initiative. #Ukraine

November 8, 2023 Posted by | Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Is Nuclear Energy Really the Solution for a Greener Future?

Misconceptions about nuclear power

by Jade-Allegra Galli, November 6, 2023, https://www.mcgilldaily.com/2023/11/is-nuclear-energy-really-the-solution-for-a-greener-future/

In a world grappling with the urgent need to combat climate change, the debate surrounding nuclear power remains a disputable and often misunderstood topic. Nuclear power has been praised as an alternative to fuels and a potential solution to global warming as it does not emit greenhouse gasses unlike the commonly used energies. However, like any energy source, nuclear power has its drawbacks that significantly impact safety and the environment.

One of the concerns around nuclear power is the handling of radioactive waste. This waste needs to be segregated or diluted in order to render it safe and prevent radionuclides from leaking into the atmosphere. Repositories are one of the current arrangements – a subterranean, excavated facility created, built, and run for the long-term, safe and secure disposal of high-level waste. In Canada, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) plans to “contain and isolate all the country’s used nuclear fuel – including that created by new and emerging technologies – in a deep geological repository, using multiple-barrier systems.” This will translate into the building of 500 meters (1,640 feet) deep area, called geological repository, which will rely on a multiple-bar- rier system where each barrier is part of the system but provides a higher level of security since each next barrier will come into play if some where to deteriorate. Regretfully, there are hazards associated with them. There is a chance that these repositories will experience breaches and spills that could contaminate the environment and pose long-term health problems since the decay rate for radio- active material is very slow, remaining extremely dangerous for thousands of years, accumulating very rapidly. As Gerald S. Frankel stated: “It’s a societal problem that has been handed down to us from our parent’s generation, And we are – more or less – handing it to our children.” Some age-old containers have begun leaking their toxic contents and, with more than a quarter million metric tons of radioactive waste, it is now time to truly investigate a long term solution to store these harmful chemicals before it is too late and before this becomes a bigger problem than it already is.

Another danger of nuclear power is the risk of major accidents and mishaps. The specter of accidents and meltdowns haunt the legacy of nuclear energy with two notable disasters serving as stark reminders of the possible catastrophic results of using nuclear energy. The shadows of the nuclear meltdowns, such as the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and the Fukushima Daiichi accident in 2011, haunt the nuclear power industry. These events not only endangered the lives of the workers at the affected power plants but also released large amounts of radiation into the environment, leading to long-lasting damage to the environment and severe health issues for nearby populations. The prospect of future accidents leading to similar magnitudes of disasters continues to cast a dark shadow over the nuclear industry, demanding unwavering diligence and stringent safety when handling such powers if there continues to be a pursuit of nuclear energy to achieve a “greener” world. The high costs of nuclear power plants that are fully safe are difficult to justify. Nuclear power is more expensive than renewables, around $112-189 per megawatt hour (MWh) compared to $26-56 MWh for onshore wind and $36-44 MWh for solar power, while being exponentially more unsafe. Additionally, the slow development of power plants delays the progress to fight climate change as in the meantime we rely on polluting fossil fuels to generate the needed energy for daily activities. All of these factors, in addition to its dangerous nature, form an unjustifiable case to use this energy form to address the issue of greenhouse gasses.

With nuclear energy being so destructive, it has to be considered that some people or terrorist organizations might want to use it as a catalyst for mass destruction. As Zambia’s speaker stated at the UN thematic debate on nuclear weapons: “Nuclear weapons have no place in the modern world and there is no justification for their proliferation, testing and stock- piling. Their destructive power has fuelled international tensions and created an uncertain, unsafe world. Relying on deterrence for security only perpetuates a cycle of fear, where mutually assured destruction looms over the world community.” Terrorist attacks might target nuclear power facilities and the materials they employ, resulting in potential theft of radioactive materials and seriously jeopardizing national security.

Nuclear power facilities have sturdy engineering facilities built to survive catastrophic natural calamities like hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes. But because they aren’t built to resist strikes from missiles and airstrikes, they are the golden target for war crimes. Only a little over a year ago, Russia attacked Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure with a series of airstrikes. Of the forty-three cruise missiles used in the strike, thirty-six were shot down by Ukrainian air defense troops and the remaining missiles struck western and central Ukrainian energy infrastructures. This shows how the use of hybrid warfare tactics, more specifically on energy infra- structures, is a growing concern in the modern world. While the Russian attack on Ukraine was largely contained, it serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities in our energy systems, particularly highlighting the need for diversified energy sources and a strong focus on its security. Nuclear energy, while capable of providing a significant power output, is also susceptible to similar attacks and poses a far greater set of risks. Such large-scale attacks would have resulted in catastrophic consequences if the attacked infrastructures were nuclear, resulting in flying debris and radiation. In the face of such threats, it is crucial to prioritize the development and implementation of alternative and renewable energy sources that are less vulnerable to geopolitical conflicts and sabotage, ensuring a more stable and resilient energy future as we can- not afford for these accidents to happen.

In the next few years, as we search for more sustainable energy sources, we must carefully weigh the trade-offs related to nuclear power. Developing a comprehensive strategy to tackle climate change without sacrificing environmental responsibility, safety, or security requires finding a balance between the benefits and drawbacks that come with it. Amidst all the information and confusion, it is also important to acknowledge that even if nuclear energy isn’t an ideal solution for a perfectly green future, the current widely used methods like fossil fuels, coal, and oil still represent a threat and silently kill millions of people every year worldwide. #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes #climate

November 8, 2023 Posted by | climate change | Leave a comment

Accident proves Japan’s toxic water plan dubious

By LI YANG 2023-11-06 https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202311/06/WS65483427a31090682a5ec88b.html

Despite the strong opposition at home and abroad, Tokyo Electric Power Company, the owner of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant which was damaged in the 2011 earthquake-generated tsunami, started the third release of the radioactive water from the plant into the sea on Nov 2.

The release will continue until Nov 20, with TEPCO planning to dump about 7,800 tons of the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea this time. The company claims the wastewater to be discharged has limited concentration of radioactive tritium. But the radioactive waste sputtering accident that happened last week raises doubts on the credibility of TEPCO’s claim.

As TEPCO itself said, five workers “accidentally” came in contact with the radioactive “fluid” while cleaning the pipelines used to “detoxify “the nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima plant on Oct 25, and two of them, after being “decontaminated” for treatment, will be kept under medical observation.

Although, according to the company, a doctor said the possibility of both men sustaining burns due to radiation exposure was low, the radiation levels in the bodies of the two men did not fall below the standard threshold of 4 becquerels per square centimeter despite the initial treatment at the plant.

The accident exposes the ineffectiveness of the so-called Advanced Liquid Processing System the company uses to treat the radioactive water accumulated at the plant. Also, TEPCO has not explained why and how “the hose used to drain waste liquid containing radioactive substances into a tank became detached” while the workers “were washing (the processing facilities) by pouring nitric acid into the piping”.

The Japanese government claims the ALPS is reliable, and the water obtained after being treated using the ALPS is safe enough to “drink”.So it should explain how only about 100 milliliters of the “fluid” was enough to cause such a serious accident.

It also needs to answer the public’s query that since four of the five workers “were wearing protective gear and full-face masks, which prevented ingestion of the fluid”, how could the “fluid” splash and burn the “lower body and both arms” of one of them, and why the other worker whose “entire body was found to be exposed”, was allowed to do the dangerous work without wearing any protective gear?

The accident shows Japan’s claim of the radioactive water being “safe” to be released into the sea is questionable, and the risks associated with the disposal process of the radioactive water should not be underestimated. #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes

November 8, 2023 Posted by | Japan, oceans | Leave a comment

Why France’s Emmanuel Macron is courting Central Asia

 French President Emmanuel Macron is in Central Asia, on a visit that
highlights the region’s increasing importance to Europe’s supply of nuclear
and fossil fuels. The trip is partly an attempt to drum up business and
foster links with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, but the key to understanding
the presidential visit dates back to July.

A military coup in the West
African country of Niger raised the prospect that supplies to France’s
vital nuclear industry might be in jeopardy. In reality, the fears were
overblown. Last year, Niger was only the second supplier of uranium to
France. The first was the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan.

 BBC 2nd Nov 2023

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67283849

November 8, 2023 Posted by | France, politics international | Leave a comment

China calls for a long-term international monitoring mechanism for Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater

Minister Huang urges Japan on nuclear-contaminated water

By JIANG XUEQING in NAGOYA, JAPAN | chinadaily.com.cn 2023-11-05 https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202311/05/WS65476d92a31090682a5ec7c3.html

Chinese Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu urged Japan to engage in full consultations with stakeholders in handling the release of nuclear-contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in a responsible manner.

“We also called for the prompt establishment of a long-term international monitoring mechanism with the participation of Japan, neighboring countries, and other relevant stakeholders to effectively protect the global marine environment,” Huang said at the 24th Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting among Japan, South Korea, and China. The two-day meeting closed on Saturday in Nagoya, Japan. #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes

November 8, 2023 Posted by | Fukushima continuing | Leave a comment

Nuclear (and other) news this week

Some bits of good news:  Abandoned Ohio Golf Course Being Rewilded into Public Land with Native Fish and Wildlife Returning.  There was an ‘outbreak of common sense’ in England.    A teen started an ambitious coral reef restoration project that’s planted more than 50,000 corals in French Polynesia and Fiji.   The world has made substantial progress in increasing basic levels of education.

TOP STORIES. The Invisible Slaughter of Palestinian Children. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBmM5fvQWE8     Leaked: Israeli plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza. Israel in Search of Its Hiroshima: Massive Bomb Wipes Out 20 Apt. Buildings, Kills, Wounds 400 Civilians. 

Book review of “Too Hot to Touch: The Problem of High-Level Nuclear Waste”.

Climate. Deep divisions could hamper progress at the UN’s crucial COP28 climate summit. Future of fossil fuels leaves nations at odds ahead of UN climate summit. We can now stay under 1.5°C target only if we achieve net zero by 2034

Nuclear -sort of off the radar at the moment, though the Middle East could soon be on the brink.  But -nuclear power – no connection with weapons?   As the media hypes up small nuclear reactors.

Christina Notes. Let’s just bust all those comfortable Panglossian lies and stupidities.  The Atlas Network and its toxic messages to the Stink Tanks.   (Wow – at last my site is now labelled “suspicious”)

**************************************

ARTS and CULTURE. As The Lights Go Out In Gaza.

CLIMATE. Storm Ciarán: Hinkley Point C workers transported off site.Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament : Nuclear war, conventional war and climate change are linked.

CIVIL LIBERTIES. UK poised to brand dissent as ‘extremism’ .

ECONOMICS. 

ENERGY. Nuclear plays minor role in IEA World Energy Outlook 2023.          Environmental Advocates fear New Hampshire “clean” nuclear energy proposal would pit nuclear against solar, wind.        Solar panel advances will see millions go off grid, scientists predict.

ENVIRONMENT. Ocean. China calls for a long-term international monitoring mechanism for Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater . Dounreay: New two radioactive particles found at Sandside beach.

ETHICS and RELIGION. The Moral Complexities Of Bombing A Concentration Camp Full Of Children.

LEGAL. 1,500+ Israelis Urge International Criminal Court Action on ‘War Crimes and Genocide’ in Gaza. Together Against Sizewell C wait on outcome of battle with government over new nuclear power plant. Sizewell C campaigners wait for ruling on latest court fight over nuclear plant. Court of Appeal hearing into Sizewell C set to begin. Sizewell C nuclear plant project disputed at Court of Appeal.

MEDIA. Media Manufactures Consent for Gaza Genocide. When the Journalists are Gone, the Stories Will Disappear.

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. Bad guys and bombs: The nuclear risks of small modular reactors.

OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR . Nuclear Ban Treaty Members to Meet in November.

PERSONAL STORIES ‘Nobody Believes in Our Victory Like I Do.’ Inside Volodymyr Zelensky’s Struggle to Keep Ukraine in the Fight. The cost of America’s nuclear arsenal: Taking care of our atomic veterans.

POLITICS. 

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. U.S., European officials broach topic of peace negotiations with Ukraine. EU may become complicit in ‘genocide’ – Spanish official. China agrees to nuclear arms-control talks with US -WSJ. Macron pursues nuclear deals in Russia’s back yard. A small victory for nuclear justice. And international cooperation.

PROTESTS. Worldwide protests against Israel’s ethnic cleansing in Palestine.

SAFETY. Nuclear plant problems have happened across the planet, and aging facilities across USA still pose a major threat. How well protected are Ukraine’s nuclear power plants? 3-day evacuation drill at Niigata nuclear plant called ‘useless’. Two more Japanese nuclear reactors granted 20-year extensions. Switzerland continues its nuclear safety awareness with iodine pills distributed to the population .

SECRETS and LIES. Biden Wants Arms Deals With Israel to Be Done in Complete Secrecy. Chris Hedges: Israel’s Final Solution for the Palestinians.

SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS. Number of planned low-orbit satellites NOW EXCEEDS ONE MILLION.

SPINBUSTER. There’s Only So Much Propaganda Spin You Can Put On The Murder Of Thousands Of Children.

WASTES. Nuclear Waste Management market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 1.4% by 2034: Visiongain. Deb Katz: There’s no end in sight to the crisis in nuclear waste. Decommissioning: Magnox rebrands to Nuclear Restoration Services as its decommissioning portfolio expands. 300 scientists call for finding safe site to store nuclear waste.

WAR and CONFLICT. Israel Rejects US-Proposed Temporary Halt to Fighting.  Netanyahu Rejects Calls for Ceasefire as Gaza Death Toll Surpasses 8,300.       A Dangerous Conflation -an open letter from Jewish writers. Rights group: Israel dropped equivalent to 2 nuclear bombs on Gaza.       Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 29: Israel Hits Hospitals, Ambulances, and Schools Across Gaza.      Israeli minister Amichai Eliyahu says nuclear attack on Gaza is ‘an option‘.      NewsReal: Ukraine War Ends, Mid-East War Begins? Why America is Shifting Gears.  Targeting Gaza From US Spy Hub in Australia. 

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. 

November 7, 2023 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Biden Wants Arms Deals With Israel to Be Done in Complete Secrecy

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Josh Paul, a former top State Department official.

By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT November 2, 2023, https://truthout.org/articles/biden-wants-arms-deals-with-israel-to-be-done-in-complete-secrecy/

In a highly unusual move, the White House has requested for it to be able to conduct arms deals with Israel in complete secrecy, without oversight from Congress or the public — in a time when the U.S. is supporting a military that experts say has been committing war crimes in Gaza and beyond.

The White House made the request within a $106 billion supplemental defense funding request sent on October 20. As reported by Women for Weapons Trade Transparency for In These Times, the White House is asking for up to $3.5 billion in military funding for Israel to be able to purchase weapons and other equipment, from sources like the U.S. military or U.S. defense contractors, without the spending having to be approved by or even disclosed to Congress.

Crucially, such notifications to Congress are also logged in the Federal Register, where they are viewable to the public — but the White House is trying to get rid of that transparency for Israel for funding through September 2025 and potentially beyond if Israel chooses to set aside funding before then.

Experts have said that the move is alarming and rare. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Josh Paul, the former director of congressional and public affairs for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs in the State Department, told In These Times. Within the State Department, where he worked for 11 years, Paul helped the bureau in its work on arms deals and resigned in protest of a push to increase arms sales to Israel amid its genocidal siege on Gaza.

​“A proposal in a legislative request to Congress to waive Congressional notification entirely for [Foreign Military Financing ]-funded Foreign Military Sales or Direct Commercial Contracts is unprecedented in my experience,” Paul said. “Frankly, [it’s] an insult to Congressional oversight prerogatives.”

Paul added that the White House is already allowed to unilaterally approve foreign military transactions in “emergency” situations but still has to notify Congress. The move, then, seems calculated to specifically create opacity around Israel sales. “This doesn’t actually reduce the time, it just reduces the oversight,” he said.

John Ramming Chappell, advocacy and legal fellow on U.S. issues for the Center for Civilians in Conflict, told In These Times that Congress should reject the White House’s request. “The waiver would further undermine meaningful scrutiny of weapons sales on Capitol Hill at a time when U.S. support is enabling bombings that have killed thousands of civilians,” Chappell said.

The request comes as the Biden administration has sought to crush dissent on its support of Israel, even within its own ranks. A new report by HuffPost published Thursday found that Biden officials are sidelining work within the State Department on the atrocities that Israel is committing in Gaza, seeking to seemingly cover up the issue and disallow employees from speaking up against the genocide.

Citing Paul and five workers within the agency, the outlet reports that State Department staff have been told by higher ups that they are not going to be able to move the needle on the executive branch’s approach to Israel, no matter their credentials or the horrific things they report coming out of Gaza.

The workers say work from staff on conditions in Gaza is being ignored — perhaps like a recent internal State Department report finding that over 80,000 babies under six months and pregnant people in Gaza are being forced to drink contaminated or brackish water due to Israel’s blockade.

Rather, State Department staff told HuffPost, the administration seems to be sweeping aside evidence of the humanitarian crisis and genocide, even from its own staff, in favor of fealty to Israel’s fascistic military and leaders. At listening sessions within the agency, discussion about the genocide is redirected to fears of antisemitism, while some staff, particularly Muslim workers, say that they feel like they have to censor themselves.

This culture of silence is happening even as senior agency officials may acknowledge in private that Israel is committing war crimes, according to the report. “Over the past weeks, as I have heard from numerous officials across both the executive and legislative branches, it has become clear to me that many senior leaders not only fully understand how Israel is currently using U.S.-provided arms in Gaza, but are even, behind closed doors, willing to acknowledge that these actions include ‘war crimes,’” Paul told HuffPost. “The fact that none are willing to do so publicly … points to a deep moral rot in our system.” #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes #Israel #Palestine

November 7, 2023 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 29: Israel Hits Hospitals, Ambulances, and Schools Across Gaza

Israel targeted an ambulance convoy at al-Shifa hospital, while other schools and hospitals were targeted as Israel doubles down on lifesaving civilian infrastructure. Meanwhile, Palestinian workers from Gaza return, recounting torture.

SCHEERPOST, By Mondoweiss Palestine Bureau / Mondoweiss 5 Nov 23

CASUALTIES

  • 9,448 Palestinians killed, including 3,900 children, and 24,158 wounded in Gaza
  • 145 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

  • Israel claims attack on ambulance convoy at al-Shifa hospital, killing at least 15 people.
  • Israeli forces bomb at least one other hospital and an UNRWA school where thousands had taken shelter, as UNRWA warns that UN flag “cannot even provide [Palestinians] safety.”
  • Thousands of Palestinian workers who were arbitrarily detained after October 7 are deported back to Gaza, and recount violent beatings, interrogation, and imprisonment.
  • ‘Alarming’ Israeli army and settler violence continues in the occupied West Bank, as at least one Palestinian teenager is killed.
  • Several Arab states hold a meeting in Jordan on Saturday, set to meet with U.S. envoy.
  • Honduras recalls its ambassador to Israel over its “genocide” in Gaza.
  • Pro-Palestine activists prevent U.S. military ship believed to be headed to Israel from leaving Oakland, California port.
  • National March on Washington, D.C. scheduled for Saturday to call for a ceasefire in Gaza

GAZA HOSPITALS, SCHOOLS, MOSQUES, AND WATER TANKS — NOWHERE IS SAFE

Israel’s brutal bombardment of Gaza somehow reached further lows nearly a month on, as the army attacked an ambulance convoy outside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Friday, killing 15 people and injuring 60, the Gaza Ministry of Health said. One of those killed has been identified as journalist Haitham Hararah.

The ambulances were due to transfer a number of injured people through to the Rafah crossing to receive medical treatment in Egypt. While 28 people were due to enter Egypt on Friday, 11 of them were blocked from leaving Gaza because of the attack on al-Shifa.

Unlike some other attacks on medical facilities, the Israeli army promptly claimed responsibility for the airstrike, claiming that the ambulances were used by Hamas — an allegation that the Gaza Ministry of Health forcefully rejected, noting that at least 27 ambulances, and 105 health institutions have been targeted by Israel in the past four weeks. Some 150 health personnel have been killed, while 16 hospitals and 32 primary care centers have been put out of service by airstrikes and dire fuel shortages, it added………………………………………….

Meanwhile U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “horrified”. “Now, for nearly one month, civilians in Gaza, including children and women, have been besieged, denied aid, killed, and bombed out of their homes,” Guterres said. “This must stop.”

The airstrike at al-Shifa was far from the only Israeli attack on spaces defined as “protected civilian objects” under international law in the span of 24 hours.

On Saturday, the Gaza Ministry of Health reported that another strike had hit Al-Nasr children’s hospital in Gaza City, killing at least two people……………………………………………………………………………………….. more https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/05/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-29-israel-hits-hospitals-ambulances-and-schools-across-gaza/ #Israel #Palestine

November 7, 2023 Posted by | weapons and war | Leave a comment

Israel’s Netanyahu suspends minister for suggesting a nuclear weapons option in Gaza

Bulletin, By John Mecklin | November 5, 2023

A junior, far-right minister in the Israeli government was suspended indefinitely on Sunday after he suggested that it would be “an option” for Israel to use a nuclear weapon in Gaza. In a statement posted to the X social media site (formerly Twitter), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu’s comments were “not based in reality” and that Israel’s defense forces would continue to follow international law in their Gaza operations. Although the minister later contended that his radio comments were “metaphorical,” Netanyahu quickly suspended Eliyahu from cabinet meetings “until further notice.”………………………………………

Eliyahu’s radio interview was denounced across the Arab world, the Reuters news service reported, with the League of Arab States saying: “The racist statements of Israeli Minister Eliyahu are revealing. Not only does he admit that they possess a nuclear weapon, but he also confirms the reality of the Israelis’ abhorrent racist view towards the Palestinian people.” The Arab News reported that Saudi Arabia condemned Eliyahu’s remarks “in the strongest terms.” According to the Saudi newspaper, the kingdom’s foreign ministry said such remarks show the penetration of “extremism and brutality among members of the Israeli government” and only suspending, rather than dismissing Eliyahu “constitutes the utmost disregard for all human standards and values.”

Israel maintains a policy of neither confirming nor denying it has a nuclear arsenal. In their long-running Nuclear Notebook column, Federation of American Scientists experts Hans Kristensen and Matt Korda estimated in 2022 that Israel had a nuclear stockpile of approximately 90 warheads.  https://thebulletin.org/2023/11/israels-netanyahu-suspends-minister-for-suggesting-a-nuclear-weapons-option-in-gaza/ #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes #Israel #Palestine

November 7, 2023 Posted by | politics | Leave a comment

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