SECOND BATCH of Classified Documents Detailing US Ukraine War Secrets Is Leaked Online –
By Jim Hoft Apr. 8, 2023 https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/second-batch-of-classified-documents-detailing-us-ukraine-war-secrets-is-leaked-online/
Secret details of US analysis of Ukraine War, China, terrorism and the Middle East.
The documents contain information on Ukrainian losses in the war and an alleged upcoming assault by Ukraine and its allies into Russian controlled eastern Ukraine.
The Western mainstream media called the leaks a “suspected Russian plot.”
The first documents appeared on 4Chan and Discord.
The Daily Mail reported:
A second batch of classified documents detailing the United States’ analyses of global hotspots has been leaked online in a suspected Russian plot.
More than 100 documents are feared to have been obtained in what a senior intelligence called ‘a nightmare for the Five Eyes,’ – a reference to the intelligence sharing agreement between the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
The documents cover the war in Ukraine, China, terrorism and the Middle East.
The Pentagon confirmed the leak, but said that some of the documents – as with the earlier reported leak – had been doctored to downplay the strength of U.S. allies.
The first tranche of documents appeared to have been posted in early March on the social media platform Discord, according to Aric Toler, an analyst at Bellingcat, the Dutch investigative site.
Friday’s documents were published on the controversial message board 4Chan, and subsequently spread on Twitter.
Russia Today reported on the leaked documents.
The state-run media outlet says the “secret plan” does not add up.
Which information is most suspect?
The probable locations of Russian units, indicated on the combat map in red, appear to have been collected from open sources. Several pro-Kiev resources that track military operations contain almost identical information.
Also, the ratios of killed and wounded for the Ukrainian and Russian Armed Forces which initially appeared in these ‘secret plans’ have since been changed. When first posted, the losses for the Ukrainian side were underestimated at about 16,500 –17,000 people. Then (probably to be more realistic), they increased almost fivefold, up to 65,000 – 75,000. At the same time, the numbers given for Russia’s purported losses of vehicles and equipment coincide with data published by Kiev’s Ministry of Defense.
What else is wrong with the published AFU offensive plans?
The blatant falsification of data on the readiness of Ukrainian military formations catches the eye. The document states that, of the nine supposedly to be trained up to US and NATO standards by March 31 and April 30, five of Kiev’s brigades have had zero training: these are the 82nd Airborne, the 32nd, 117th, and 118th Territorial Defense, as well as the 21st separate mechanized.
Even if only two or three companies in these brigades were trained, and self-preparation wasn’t completed, their level of training couldn’t be zero. At the same time, the highest percentage of readiness was recorded only in the 47th mechanized(40%) and the 46th airborne assault (60%).
US deploys nuclear submarine to West Asia as influence plummets
As China and Russia expand their influence in West Asia, and Arab nations move to reconcile with Iran and Syria, Washington has seen its grip on the region weaken significantly
The Cradle – April 08 2023
The Pentagon announced on 8 April that it deployed the USS Florida — a nuclear-powered, guided-missile submarine — to the Red Sea in support of the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet…………………………….
“It is capable of carrying up to 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles and is deployed to US 5th Fleet to help ensure regional maritime security and stability,” US Commander Timothy Hawkins said in a statement.
In a rare move, the Pentagon released a picture of the Ohio-class submarine as it transited the Suez Canal to the Persian Gulf. Washington usually keeps the locations of its submarines private while they are at sea.
Experts see the public show of force by the Pentagon as an attempt to beef up its forces in the region and deter resistance groups from targeting the US occupation army and its allies………………………………. more https://thecradle.co/article-view/23448/us-deploys-nuclear-submarine-to-west-asia-as-influence-plummets
‘Everything Russian’ must be eradicated in Crimea – Zelensky aide
https://www.rt.com/russia/574300-ukraine-crimea-russian-culture-eradication-plans/ 9 Apr 23
Mikhail Podoliak has claimed that Ukraine will retake the peninsula within seven months
Russian culture will be off-limits in Crimea if Ukraine regains control of the peninsula, Mikhail Podoliak, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, has claimed. Podoliak added Kiev is planning on meting out legal punishments to Russian passport holders and other “traitors” living in the region.
“As soon as we enter, we must eradicate everything Russian in Crimea,” Podoliak stated in an interview with US government-controlled RFE/RL published on Wednesday. He argued that the predominantly Russian-speaking region should instead become part of the “Ukrainian cultural space.”
Acknowledging that his views are among the most radical within the leadership in Kiev, Podoliak insisted that Crimean residents would not be able to read Russian literature or watch Russian movies, let alone speak Russian in public. Instead, the language would only be permitted in private, the official added.
According to Podoliak, those who refused to comply would have to leave.
Locals would also face mass investigations and “legal punishments” for anyone who has switched from Ukrainian to Russian citizenship, as well as those deemed to be “collaborators and traitors” by the Ukrainian authorities.
Podoliak argued that the process, which he described as “very powerful stabilization measures,” would be difficult.
“We’re going to have to break it all down,” he said with respect to Crimea’s Russian identity.
The presidential aide expressed confidence that Ukrainian forces would retake the peninsula within seven months, claiming that his outlook is “mathematically verified” and that Russia lacked the necessary resources to retain the region.
However, Podoliak did not rule out negotiations between Kiev and Moscow on Crimea, provided that the Kremlin first withdrew its troops from territory Ukraine claims as its own.
Crimea has been part of Russia since 2014, when residents voted overwhelmingly to reunify with Moscow soon after the Maidan coup in Kiev. There were fears among the ethnically Russian majority of the peninsula that Ukrainian nationalists who had come to power in Kiev would try to forcefully impose their language and culture on them.
The peninsula was historically part of Russia since 1783, and was only transferred to Kiev’s administrative control by the Soviet authorities in 1954.
Northampton nuclear weapons activist Ira Helfand wins peace award
Helfand said the two biggest threats to the planet are climate change and nuclear weapons, which has a much simpler solution.
“I think we can absolutely do it in 10 years,” he said. “It will take two to three years of talks and six to seven years to dismantle the weapons.”
Apr. 09, 2023,
By Jeanette DeForge | jdeforge@repub.com
NORTHAMPTON — After 45 years of fighting for the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons, a local physician believes the solution could be no more than 10 years away.
Dr. Ira Helfand, a retired doctor who most recently worked at the Family Care Medical Center in Springfield, is the recipient of Morehouse College’s Gandhi-King-Ikeda Community Builder’s Award for his creation and activist work with the Back from the Brink.
While honored by the award, which is designed to recognize someone who promotes peace and social transformation in a positive and non-violent way, Helfand said he is hoping the prize will help call attention to the effort to end nuclear weapons. He will be the keynote speaker at the April 13 awards ceremony at the college in Atlanta.
“Nuclear weapons don’t make us safe. They are the greatest threat to security and we have to get rid of them,” he said. “Our message is the problem never went away after the Cold War.”
The issue has returned to the forefront this year with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A week ago, President Vladimir Putin announced he would move nuclear weapons close to the border of Belarus and in February he delivered a warning to the West over Ukraine by suspending a landmark nuclear arms control treaty.
“The Russian invasion of Ukraine has made it clear that we can no longer afford to deny the danger of nuclear war,” Helfand said. “We have a very short window of opportunity to eliminate these weapons—before they eliminate us. But we can do that. We made these weapons with our own hands. We know how to take them apart. We just need to create the political will to do that.”
A precedent has already been set. Negotiations over nuclear weapon disarmament, even among hostile countries, have had successes in the past, he said.
The threat of nuclear war in the 1980s initiated Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev to propose talks with U.S. President Ronald Regan. More than two years of negotiations and ups and downs led to the historic 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that had both countries reduce nuclear arms.
The 2017 International Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was signed, bringing the world another step toward eliminating nuclear weapons.
The world has about 13,000 warheads across nine countries. Leaders have already destroyed 50,000 over different treaties, he said.
But that simply isn’t enough. There have been at least six different real threats to nuclear war in the past that are known and the consequences of one will be horrific and felt worldwide, he said.
Helfand said the two biggest threats to the planet are climate change and nuclear weapons, which has a much simpler solution.
“I think we can absolutely do it in 10 years,” he said. “It will take two to three years of talks and six to seven years to dismantle the weapons.”……………………………………………… https://www.masslive.com/news/2023/04/northampton-nuclear-weapons-activist-ira-helfand-wins-peace-award.html
White House: U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan to wage war with Russia, China
Russia, China
April 8, 2023, Rick Rozoff, https://antibellum679354512.wordpress.com/2023/04/08/white-house-u-s-withdrew-from-afghanistan-to-wage-war-with-russia-china/—
The administration of US President Joseph Biden believes that the decision to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan was correct. This has created more opportunities for Washington to provide assistance to Ukraine.
…John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator of the White House’s National Security Council, said this at a briefing. According to him, the strategic position of the United States is now stronger, it has more opportunities to support Ukraine, as well as to compete with China, because it is no longer fighting a ground war in Afghanistan.
Blinken demands NATO allies cough up more wealth, weapons for Ukraine war — Anti-bellum
AzertagApril 7, 2023 Anthony Blinken called on NATO countries to increase their military spending US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called on NATO countries to increase military spending and allocate more than two percent of gross domestic product to defense. *** “We have been providing military support to Ukraine since the beginning of the war. […]
Blinken demands NATO allies cough up more wealth, weapons for Ukraine war — Anti-bellum
TODAY. Oh dear – French President Macron has stepped out of line – no war against China? Heresy!
Yes, I’m afraid it’s true. That French froggie has betrayed us all. I always did know, at the bottom of my not very intelligent mind, that only anglophones can be trusted.
Macron has had the temerity to suggest that it’s not a good idea to go to war with China, over Taiwan.
Now we can expect USA, UK Canada, Australia – to lead the global wave of righteous indignation against France – or rather, against Macron in particular. I expect that the European Union will dutifully follow.
We can’t have unpatriotic ideas like peace interfere with our noble militaristic global rules-based order.
The week’s nuclear news – to 10 April
Some bits of good news – Community rewilding in UK. Reintroducing elephants, sharks and other big beasts could help keep the Paris agreement alive.
Pandemic. Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Weekly Epidemiological Update. Countries set out way forward for negotiations on global agreement to protect world from future pandemic emergencies.
Climate. Three consecutive years of rapidly increasing carbon dioxide emissions
Antarctica’s melting ice sheet could retreat much faster than previously thought.
The temperature of the world’s ocean surface has hit an all-time high. Ocean Heat, An El Nino on the Way, Potential New Global Temperature Record by 2024 — robertscribbler.
Nuclear. It’s all about nuclear weapons and the risk of nuclear war, again this week. I’m wondering if the world has got “nuclear-war-fatigue”. So little awareness in the general public and media compared to previous times of urgent danger of nuclear war. Some sort of complacent acceptance that we’ve all got to keep the wonderful nuclear weapons industries going –it means jobs jobs jobs and ever-rising value of those shares. We’ll give the boys the shiny new toys – fingers crossed that they don’t actually play with them.
Christina notes. Nuclear war – it’s a manly thing. The China-bogey-man distraction from the real threat of GLOBAL HEATING
CLIMATE. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report fails to mention military or conflict emissions. France’s riverside reactor build plans “irresponsible” – expert. Rethinking Paris: France braces for 4°C warming in “turning point” strategy — (wonder how France’s nuclear reactors will cope?)
CIVIL LIBERTIES. Washington Says “Journalism Is Not A Crime” While Working To Criminalize Journalism.
CULTURE. Americans now fear cyberattack more than nuclear attack. ‘Everything Russian’ must be eradicated in Crimea – Zelensky aide.
ECONOMICS. Classic Megaproject Early Mistakes Will Create A Fiscal Disaster For Netherlands Nuclear.
ENERGY. IPCC report shows the winners in energy transition – wind and solar, and the losers – nuclear power and carbon capture. China on track to triple its terawatt-scale wind and solar target. Renewable energy overtakes nuclear power as the EU’s largest source of primary energy production. European nuclear power generation to continue at historically low levels.
HEALTH. Mental illness plagues Japan’s nuclear disaster survivors. Childhood thyroid cancer cases confirmed in the Fukushima Health Management Survey and others.
MEDIA. Japan – Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center news roundup April/May 2023.
NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. Nuclear life extension plans tested by obsolete components. Saudi quest to become a nuclear player is coming up short. Current State of Post-Accident Operations at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (Jun. to Dec. 2022). Nuclear fusion is a never-ending dream,
OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR. Crowd turns out for town hall on plutonium pits, nuclear waste storage. Campaigners continue to take a stand against the plan for new nuclear power at Bradwell. Saskatchewan must remember opposition to nuclear waste.
PERSONAL STORIES. Northampton nuclear weapons activist Ira Helfand wins peace award.
POLITICS. SCOTT RITTER: The Future of US Nuclear Strategy. US Department of Energy is once again promoting large nuclear reactors, despite lack of supply chain and absurdly unaffordable costs. More warheads, more nuclear waste to New Mexico. Santa Fe fearful, as Carlsbad leaders support efforts.
. AUKUS, NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY AND AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE – (this article says it all!) Bigger threat than China’: Defence leaders urge release of ‘scary’ climate report. Absolutely disingenuous – DARC – the Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability – Australia to join USA’s plan for Space as a War-fighting Domain– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KhkdjqSNic
POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. G7 countries are likely to back nuclear power. The West Has Been Planning To Crush China For A Very Long Time. India and Pakistan Must Negotiate Nuclear Responsibilities. Many Speakers Voice Concern over Increase in Dangerous Nuclear Weapons Rhetoric amidst Ongoing War against Ukraine, as Disarmament Commission Opens Session. Convincing major powers to abide by ASEAN’s nuclear treaty is challenging. AUKUS nuclear submarine cooperation seriously jeopardizes peace, stability in Asia-Pacific: embassy.
PROTESTS. 8 peaceful protestors arrested at the Nevada National “Security” Site. Four arrested after blockade of two gates at Trident nuclear base in Scotland.
PUBLIC OPINION. The British government doesn’t want to talk about its nuclear weapons. The British public does.
SAFETY. Fukushima. New images from inside Fukushima reactor spark safety worry. New Images From Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant Are Causing Big Worries. Foundation in Fukushima nuclear plant reactor likely badly damaged. Disturbing Clues at Fukushima Nuclear Plant May Be an Omen for Another Disaster. Fukushima Now Part 1: Railroading the Contaminated Water Release is Unacceptable! Current State of Post-Accident Operations at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (Jun. to Dec. 2022).
Japan’s nuclear regulators find errors in Japan Atomic Power’s safety documents for the Tsuruga plant. Navy’s nuclear-powered super submarine ‘Trident’ fixed with super glue. The Other Atomic Concern in Taiwan—Nuclear Reactors .
SECRETS and LIES. Second batch of Classified Documents Detailing US Ukraine War Secrets Is Leaked Online. ‘A nightmare for the Five Eyes’: New batch of classified documents leaked to social media.
SPINBUSTER. Busting the spin about nuclear wastes – a Letter to the editor of the Hill Times.
WASTES. NMED’s Permit Allows LANL Loopholes for Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility.
WAR and CONFLICT.
- Ukrainian forces mount highly dangerous attack on Zaporizhzhia site. Failed Ukrainian nuclear plant attack revealed – The Times.
- ‘Brink of nuclear war’: North Korea warning on military drills.
- White House: U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan to wage war with Russia, China.
- DID THE UK DEPLOY A NUCLEAR-ARMED SUBMARINE TO THE FALKLANDS CONFLICT?
- Researchers simulate damage from nuclear weapons use in Northeast Asia.
- European war games: 9,000 U.S. troops, 17,000 from 26 NATO allies, partners in 10 nations.
WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES.
- Worst-kept secret? In tweet, ex-PM Barak seems to confirm Israel has nuclear weapons. Ex-PM Ehud Barak Confirms Israel Has Nuclear Weapons: Why it Matters.
- B61-12 nuclear sharing: Finnish flag raised at NATO Air Command HQ .
- Blinken demands NATO allies cough up more wealth, weapons for Ukraine war.
- NATO’s biggest infrastructure investment in 30 years: U.S. Army expands base in Poland.
- NATO orders Poland to deliver 200 APC to Ukraine as “mortars, missiles and MiGs are arriving”.
- US Navy sends nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine to Middle East.
- US deploys nuclear submarine to West Asia.
April 9 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “Will Washington Halt The Global Renaissance Of Nuclear Power?” • New rules mandated by US Congress were supposed to provide a streamlined licensing process for small reactors, which are in advanced stages of development. Instead, the NRC staff simply cut and pasted the existing rules for conventional reactors into a 1,200-page regulation. [Foreign […]
April 9 Energy News — geoharvey
Absolutely disingenuous – DARC – the Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability – Australia to join USA’s plan for Space as a War-fighting Domain.
“So, what worries me most is China’s use of space to complete the kill chain necessary to generate long-range precision strikes against the maritime and air components scheme of maneuver. That’s what concerns me the most,” Brig. Gen. Anthony Mastalir, commander of Space Forces Indo-Pacific, said.
By COLIN CLARKon April 07, 2023
SYDNEY — The vast landmass of Australia, possessed of clear skies free of city lights or pollution, is the perfect spot to place the most acute space situational awareness systems. Which is why Brig. Gen. Anthony Mastalir, the head of Space Forces Indo-Pacific says it’s “absolutely critical” to get a new radar system there as quickly as can be.
“When you look at a place like Australia as a landmass, you have a lot of opportunity to contribute to that space picture,” Mastalir told Breaking Defense during an interview during the Sydney Dialogue, put on by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. “The Australians, the defense Space Command folks and the acquisition arms, they absolutely understand that, so they’re moving aggressively to embrace some of these opportunities and bring systems like DARC — deep space radar capability — here on the continent.”
DARC, officially the Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability, was designed by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory to provide global monitoring of geosynchronous orbits in all kinds of weather and during daylight. According to the APL, it relies heavily on commercial technology. The Space Force received DARC technology from APL last year, with demonstrations taking place at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
Ultimately, the operational DARC program calls for three transmit/receive sites, spaced at mid-latitudes around the world, to detect and track satellites. Northrop Grumman won a $341 million contract from US Space Force’s Space Systems Command last February to begin building the global system, with the first location in Australia targeted for calendar year 2025. That will be followed by one in Europe and a third in the US, with those locations yet to be announced.
FY24 budget justification documents show $174M requested for DARC in the next fiscal year. It further states that “The total cost of the DARC Rapid Prototype Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA) effort is 844.6M. DARC Site 1 is not fully funded across the Future Years Defense Program.” $40 million is set aside for early work on sites 2 and 3.
“The DARC program will field a resilient ground-based radar providing our nation with significantly enhanced space domain awareness for geostationary orbit,” Pablo Pezzimenti, vice president for integrated national systems at Northrop Grumman said in a statement announcing the first contract award. “While current ground-based systems operate at night and can be impacted by weather conditions, DARC will provide an all-weather, 24/7 capability to monitor the highly dynamic and rapidly evolving geosynchronous orbital environment critical to national and global security.”
Discussions are underway about where to locate the system in Australia once it’s ready. Before anything can be released officially, negotiations must conclude on a treaty level document known as the Technology Safeguards Agreement. Negotiations began in mid-2021. Mastalir declined to discuss the talks, noting they are led by the Department of Commerce.
Russia And China Remain Top Concerns
During the panel Mastalir appeared on at the Sydney Dialogue, the general said that Russia had clearly possessed space superiority at the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine but had lost it. After the panel, Breaking Defense asked him to explain his remarks.
“Russia clearly is a dominant space power, relative to Ukraine. So they entered that conflict in that position,” he said. “Now you see no less than seven or eight different commercial entities, everything from GPS jammer detection, communications to tactical ISR that are bringing products to bear to support the Ukrainians. And has Russia been able to deny the adversary, in this case, Ukraine, from benefiting from space? And the answer, I think, is no — not really.”
His assessment is that the two countries have reached perhaps the most dangerous state for two militaries slugging it out on the battlefield: parity.
“Now parity, parity is dangerous, right? Because when you have parity — and I think this is what we’re kind of seeing play out — you have these prolonged conflicts, and a lot of destruction and death. And that’s not a situation that we ever want to be in as the United States.”
Asked if there are lessons for the United States military and intelligence community in light of what he called “a potential paradigm shift.” the general said it raises many difficult policy and operational questions.
That includes the question of how commercial operators are protected, or not, by the government if they are being used for military operations.
“Number one, who’s going to defend those assets? Is there a responsibility for the United States to protect and defend commercial on-orbit capability that’s assisting the US military?” The related issue is, “to what extent should we integrate commercial across all of our space capabilities?”
Given these complexities, what keeps the general up at night in this region?
So, what worries me most is China’s use of space to complete the kill chain necessary to generate long-range precision strikes against the maritime and air components scheme of maneuver. That’s what concerns me the most,” Mastalir said. “I have to have the ability to deny China in this situation, as a potential adversary, the ability to do that. And so those are the kinds of things that that you know, worry me the most now.”
He stressed that the simple possession of such capabilities “doesn’t mean it’s wrong. But if you look at our efforts to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific, you quickly run into a situation where our ends, and what we see in terms of behavior coming from China, their ends don’t necessarily align.”
Theresa Hitchens in Washington contributed to this report.
Ukrainian forces mount highly dangerous attack on Zaporizhzhia site
In the dead of night last October a Ukrainian special forces team boarded a
40ft armoured patrol boat, taking up positions at its three heavy
machineguns and Mk19 automatic grenade launcher. They were among nearly 600
elite troops scattered along the north bank of the Dnipro River, which
carves through Zaporizhzhia region.
The teams boarded more than 30 vessels
bristling with weapons, formidable gifts from friends in the West. Their
orders: to launch an assault to recapture the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power
plant from the Russians on the opposite bank.
Kyiv has never acknowledged
attacking Europe’s largest nuclear power station but Ukrainian special
forces, military intelligence and navy personnel involved have revealed to
The Times details of the highly dangerous operation to recover the site.
Times 7th April 2023
G7 countries are likely to back nuclear power
Climate, energy and environment ministers from the Group of Seven advanced
economies are considering stressing the importance of nuclear power for
energy security in a joint statement to be issued after a meeting later
this month, according to a draft of the statement. The statement, seen
Friday, is likely to note that G7 countries welcome Japan’s plan to release
treated water from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into
the ocean in a transparent way and in close coordination with the
International Atomic Energy Agency, according to the draft. The G7 climate,
energy and environment ministers are scheduled to meet in Sapporo on April
15-16. Parliament is currently deliberating legislation that would extend
the life of nuclear plants beyond 60 years as the government aims to ensure
stable electricity supply and promote decarbonization at the same time.
Japan Times 8th April 2023
‘A nightmare for the Five Eyes’: New batch of classified documents leaked to social media
Helene Cooper, Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt and Thomas Gibbons-Neff, SMH, April 8, 2023
Washington: A new batch of classified documents that appear to detail US national security secrets from Ukraine to the Middle East to China has surfaced on social media sites, alarming the Pentagon and adding turmoil to a situation that seemed to have caught the Biden administration off guard.
The scale of the leak – analysts say more than 100 documents may have been obtained – along with the sensitivity of the documents themselves, could be hugely damaging, US officials said. A senior intelligence official called the leak “a nightmare for the Five Eyes”, in a reference to the US, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the so-called Five Eyes nations that broadly share intelligence.
The latest documents were found on Twitter and other sites on Friday (US time), a day after senior Biden administration officials said they were investigating a potential leak of classified Ukrainian war plans, include an alarming assessment of Ukraine’s faltering air defence capabilities. One slide, dated February 23, is labelled “Secret/NoForn”, meaning it was not meant to be shared with foreign countries………………….
One analyst described what has emerged so far as the “tip of the iceberg”.
Earlier, senior national security officials dealing with the initial leak, which was first reported by The New York Times, said a new worry had arisen: Was that information the only intelligence that was leaked?
By Friday afternoon, they had their answer. Even as officials at the Defence Department and national security agencies were investigating the source of documents that had appeared on Twitter and on Telegram, another surfaced on 4chan, an anonymous, fringe message board. The 4chan document is a map that purports to show the status of the war in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the scene of a fierce, months-long battle.
But the leaked documents appear to go well beyond highly classified material on Ukraine war plans. Security analysts who have reviewed the documents tumbling onto social media sites say the increasing trove also includes sensitive briefing slides on China, the Indo-Pacific military theatre, the Middle East and terrorism………………………………………………………………………… more https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/a-nightmare-for-the-five-eyes-new-batch-of-classified-documents-leaked-to-social-media-20230408-p5cz07.html
DID THE UK DEPLOY A NUCLEAR-ARMED SUBMARINE TO THE FALKLANDS CONFLICT?
Evidence suggests Britain sent one of its Polaris submarines, which carried 16 ballistic missiles with thermonuclear warheads, to the Falklands during the 1982 war.
RICHARD NORTON-TAYLOR, 6 APRIL 2023 Declassified UK
The war in Ukraine has provoked concern about the use of nuclear weapons, heightened by Russia’s plan to base tactical nuclear arms in Belarus.
While the US and Russia have kmade no secret of their development of these dangerous, indeed potentially devastating, additions to traditional nuclear arsenals, British military planners have also been in on the act – rather more quietly.
The British government, far from taking measures to reduce nuclear tensions in recent years, itself announced, in 2021, that it planned to increase the cap on Britain’s nuclear stockpile to 260 warheads, a 40 per cent increase on previous commitments.
More recently, Britain has refused to comment on reports of a planned new deployment of US tactical nuclear weapons to the American air force base in Lakenheath in Suffolk.
With the exception of the Scottish National Party and Green Party, all British political parties are backing, with growing enthusiasm, the policy of maintaining a Trident missile submarine “continuously at sea”, at an initial estimated cost – not disputed by the Ministry of Defence – of more than £200bn.
The deployment of British nuclear weapons was belatedly highlighted during the 1982 Falklands conflict after the government failed to cover up their presence on ships in the naval task forces. Declassified revealed last year that British warships deployed to the South Atlantic were secretly carrying 31 nuclear depth charges.
But there have been repeated suggestions, never convincingly denied, that even more devastating weapons were deployed during the conflict.
A number of sources have indicated that a submarine equipped with Polaris strategic nuclear missiles – then Britain’s major nuclear weapons system and the forerunner to the current Trident – was diverted to the South Atlantic within range of Argentina.
Polaris
The claims were originally spelled out in a paper on “Sub Strategic Trident” by the widely respected academic, Paul Rogers, emeritus professor of peace studies at Bradford University………………………………………………………..
….the implications of the analysis – that the Thatcher government was prepared to threaten nuclear use against a non-nuclear state………………………………………………….
First use
This was all more than 40 years ago, but is still relevant today, given that the UK has maintained a nuclear posture that includes first-use of nuclear weapons since at least the 1960s. ……………………………….
Confusion, uncertainty
Successive British governments have deliberately used confusion – they call it uncertainty – over the circumstances in which nuclear weapons would be used to boost their argument that they are a “credible” deterrent. …………………………………………
Putin’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus has been condemned by NATO. But as Daniel Hogsta, executive director of ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, has pointed out, the US stations nuclear weapons in five European countries – Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Turkey, and now in Britain as well, it seems – and is currently modernising its arsenal.
……………………………………… Putin’s earlier implied threats to use nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine is rightly viewed as a dangerous and destabilising position to take. It is also uncomfortably close to the UK’s position during the Falklands War over 40 years ago. https://declassifieduk.org/did-uk-deploy-nuclear-armed-submarine-to-falklands-conflict/
More warheads, more nuclear waste to New Mexico. Santa Fe fearful, as Carlsbad leaders support efforts
“legacy waste” from past programs still waiting for disposal at Los Alamos was being disregarded in favor of the new streams the NNSA intended to generate.
“It’s heart-wrenching when you hear the young people concerned with manufacturing bombs.”
Adrian Hedden, Carlsbad Current-Argus 6 Apr 23,
Two meetings on nuclear waste were held in New Mexico this week, on different sides of the state with very different reactions from attendees.
On Tuesday, a townhall-style meeting was held in Santa Fe which more than 300 persons attended and about 200 participated online.
Most expressed fears and concerns that a federal plan to transport surplus plutonium to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad would endanger local communities along the transportation routes.
The next night at a meeting at the city golf course in Carlsbad, about 30 business leaders, elected officials and invited guests took a much warmer tone with the federal government and its plans for New Mexico and the nearby WIPP site.
Under the federally proposed plan, surplus plutonium would move via truck from the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in northern New Mexico for processing, then to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina for additional preparation before finally heading to WIPP for disposal.
By then, the 34 metric tons of plutonium set for disposal would meet characterization standards for transuranic (TRU) nuclear waste, meaning the program would not result in any waste of a higher radioactivity than that which the repository was intended to store.
But the program would see waste traveling through New Mexico, and especially the northern portion of the state, multiple times.
That’s a problem for Santa Fe County Commissioner Anna Hansen, who moderated the Tuesday meeting at the Santa Fe Convention Center with the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) – the agency devising the plan – and argued it could burden her community with the risk of exposure.
At the same time, the NNSA also was planning to ramp up the production of plutonium pits, the triggers for nuclear warheads, at Los Alamos and Savannah River site, hoping to produce up to 80 pits a year by 2030.
Some of the waste from that program would also be destined for WIPP as it’s the only deep geological repository in the U.S. for nuclear waste.
“People feel betrayed,” Hansen said in an interview with the Carlsbad Current-Argus, arguing the two NNSA programs marked an “expansion” of WIPP’s operations beyond what New Mexico originally agreed to when the facility was developed.
She said “legacy waste” from past programs still waiting for disposal at Los Alamos was being disregarded in favor of the new streams the NNSA intended to generate.
“They still feel frustrated that the legacy waste at LANL has not been cleaned up and new waste is being generated and also going to WIPP,” Hansen said of attendees at the Santa Fe meeting. “It’s heart-wrenching when you hear the young people concerned with manufacturing bombs.”
Jack Volpato, chair of the Carlsbad Mayor’s Nuclear Task Force, commended the NNSA and the WIPP project at the Wednesday meeting in Carlsbad for supporting the local community, its workforce and economy in the decades since the site was opened……………………………………………………………………………
Hansen, the Santa Fe County commissioner, said the NNSA’s plans were extraneous to WIPP’s original mission and what should be its primary purpose: to get nuclear waste “off the hill” in Los Alamos.
That’s the only true benefit to the people of New Mexico who host the WIPP site, she said.
“It’s a complete expansion of WIPP’s mission to be putting new and generated waste,” Hansen said. “It’s insanity to move surplus plutonium around the country. We don’t want to continue being left behind. Waste from all over the country has been coming here.”………………………………………………… https://www.currentargus.com/story/news/2023/04/06/nuclear-waste-new-mexico-santa-fe-carlsbad-nuke-plutonium-department-energy-bombs-nuke-warhead/70080266007/
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.
19 November – Webinar – The Reality of Reprocessing
Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) / 2:00 PM Eastern / 7:00 PM UK / 8:00 PM CET
Register for the Zoom Event Here
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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