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US congresswoman labels Zelensky ‘dictator’

23 Jul, 2025 , https://www.rt.com/news/621871-us-congresswoman-zelensky-dictator/

Marjorie Taylor Greene has urged Washington to stop backing the Ukrainian leader, accusing him of refusing peace and clinging to power

US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has labeled Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky “a dictator” and called for his removal, citing mass anti-corruption protests across Ukraine and accusing him of blocking peace efforts.

Her comments came after Zelensky signed a controversial bill into law that places the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) under the authority of the prosecutor general. 

Critics argue that the legislation effectively strips the bodies of their independence. The law has sparked protests across Ukraine, with around 2,000 people rallying in Kiev and additional demonstrations reported in Lviv, Odessa, and Poltava.

“Good for the Ukrainian people! Throw him out of office!” Greene wrote Wednesday on X, sharing footage from the protests. “And America must STOP funding and sending weapons!!!”

Greene, a longtime critic of US aid to Kiev, made similar comments last week while introducing an amendment to block further assistance. “Zelensky is a dictator, who, by the way, stopped elections in his country because of this war,” she told the House. 

“He’s jailed journalists, he’s canceled his election, controlled state media, and persecuted Christians. The American people should not be forced to continue to pay for another foreign war.”

Her statements come amid mounting speculation over Zelensky’s political future. Journalist Seymour Hersh has reported that US officials are considering replacing him, possibly with former top general Valery Zaluzhny.

Senator Tommy Tuberville also called Zelensky a “dictator” last month, accusing him of trying to drag NATO into the conflict with Russia. Tuberville claimed that Zelensky refuses to hold elections because “he knew if he had an election, he’d get voted out.”

Zelensky’s five-year presidential term expired in 2024, but he has refused to hold a new election, citing martial law, which has been extended every 90 days since 2022.

US President Donald Trump has also questioned Zelensky’s legitimacy, calling him “a dictator without elections” in February.

Russian officials have repeatedly brought up the issue of Zelensky’s legitimacy, arguing that any agreements signed by him or his administration could be legally challenged by future leaders of Ukraine.

July 27, 2025 Posted by | politics international, Ukraine, USA | Leave a comment

UK Government drops plans to include smaller nuclear fusion energy plants in NSIP regime

The government has announced it will incorporate all nuclear fusion energy facilities generating at least 50 megawatts (MW) in England into the streamlined nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP) planning regime, but will drop its proposal to include such developments that fall under this threshold.

by Natasha Norris, Planning 24th July 2025,
https://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1926726/government-drops-plans-include-smaller-nuclear-fusion-energy-plants-nsip-regime

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July 27, 2025 Posted by | technology, UK | Leave a comment

Why Nuclear Power in Scotland is not Needed, Economic, Wanted or Safe

John Drummond in conversation with Energy Scotland’s John Proctor and Leah Gunn Barrett

Leah Gunn Barrett, Dear Scotland, Jul 24, 2025

Last evening, John Proctor of Energy Scotland and I were guests on The Nation Talks podcast with John Drummond. We discussed why more nuclear power in Scotland should be a non-starter. It’s notNeeded, Economic, Wanted or Safe. And yet English Labour – from Kid Starver to Viceroy Murray to Anus Sarwar – are rabidly pro-nuclear, pushing this costly and dangerous energy source onto Scotland without our consent.

The video link to the programme is below. I’ve also provided notes below that I used to prepare, many taken from my previous posts.

Why Nuclear power is being pushed onto Scotland

The Corporate Nuclear Lobby has conducted one of the most aggressive lobbying and public relations campaigns of all energy sources. It pushes politicians and the public to support nuclear based on sketchy information and outright lies which aren’t challenged in the Scottish media.

The nuclear industry is funding lobby group Britain Remade, which launched a campaign to lift the ban on new Scottish nuclear power at a May 1 meeting in Dunbar, near the Torness power plant. English Labour’s Scotland manager Anus Sarwar accused the SNP of depriving Scotland of billions in investment and thousands of jobs, which is a lie. This is the same dude who wouldn’t save Grangemouth and its 500 jobs, after vowing he would.

And Viceroy Murray is pushing nuclear, even removing his name from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) pledge.

English Labour is bankrolled by the nuclear lobby. Tony Blair is one of its biggest beneficiaries and cheerleaders. The Nuclear Energy Association loved his Institute’s 2024 pro-nuclear power report.

Nuclear power subsidises nuclear weapons production

Here’s the dirty little secret – the UK Government needs nuclear power. Without it, there’d be no nuclear weapons programme, the flaccid UK’s national virility symbol.

All the processes of the nuclear fuel cycle – uranium mining, refining and U-235 enrichment – are used for both civilian and military purposes; the UK Capenhurst facility makes nuclear fuel for both reactors and Trident submarines; and nuclear reactors create tritium (the radioactive isotope of hydrogen), which is necessary for nuclear weapons.

A 2017 University of Sussex study found that the costs of the Trident programme would be “unsupportable” without “an effective subsidy, from electricity consumers to military nuclear infrastructure”. Consumers, bearing the costs of uneconomic nuclear power, are also subsidising nuclear weapons that don’t even work! The Trident delivery system has failed two tests in a row, in 2016, and 2024. Despite these fiascos, the UK government insists that Trident “remains the most reliable weapons system in the world.”

Westminster won’t allow the southeast of England to be polluted by these nuclear rustbuckets so has confined them to “north Britain.” Nor will it tell its northern colony how badly they’re polluting the land and water. In 2017, the MoD stopped publishing annual reports from its internal watchdog, after the reports for 2005-2015 flagged “regulatory risks” 86 times. It has also blocked Scotland’s environment agency from releasing information about radioactive pollution from the Clyde nuclear bases at Faslane and Coulport for the last ten years.

Scots are getting the mushroom treatment – kept in the dark and fed a load of shite.

I. Nuclear is Not Needed – Renewables are far cheaper and safer………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

So, English Labour is trying to force onto Scotland plants that aren’t even commercially viable. It’s regurgitating the marketing hot air from a desperate industry that’s frantically funding pathetic careerists like Sarwar, Starmer and the Viceroy who are pushing this crap.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. • With no solution to nuclear waste, the UK is starting a new nuclear building program which will worsen the waste problem and result in vastly increased radioactivity from spent fuel and other highly radioactive wastes which will have to be stored indefinitely at vulnerable sites scattered around the UK coast.

The UK won’t give up on its never-ending quest to screw Scotland. It has stolen our oil and gas and now our renewables, and now is trying to force us to accept not needed, not economic, not wanted and not safe nuclear power.

Please sign the petition calling on the Scottish Administration to implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to give Scots the tools to exercise their sovereignty and the ability to say NO to nuclear. https://dearscotland.substack.com/p/why-nuclear-power-in-scotland-is

July 26, 2025 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

EDF shifts nuclear strategy to focus on domestic projects

The company will
reduce its international sales team by 60, including ten managerial roles.
France’s state-run utility EDF is planning to reduce its overseas workforce
and withdraw from certain international nuclear projects to concentrate on
a domestic construction programme under its new CEO Bernard Fontana, as
reported by Reuters. Once a global leader in nuclear power, France is
retreating amid rising global demand, allowing new competitors to emerge as
high costs and design challenges hinder its international competitiveness.

Power Technology 23rd July 2025, https://www.power-technology.com/news/edf-nuclear-strategy-focus-domestic/

July 26, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, France | Leave a comment

Time to Step Up – Campaigner calls on MP to challenge decision to give fusion indemnity over accident liabilities

Renowned nuclear campaigner, and friend to the Nuclear Free Local
Authorities, Dr David Lowry has just written to his local Member of
Parliament calling on her to challenge ministers over their pledge to
provide an absolute indemnity over costs incurred by a nuclear fusion pilot
plant being built in the Midlands should there be ‘incidents involving
nuclear matter or emissions of ionising radiation arising from fusion
activities relating to the STEP programme.’

In a written statement issued
to Parliament just prior to MPs leaving for the summer recess, Minister for
Climate – and seemingly defacto Nuclear Minister – Kerry McCarthy –
announced that this latest financial ‘get out of jail free’ card for the
nuclear industry would be ‘remote and uncapped’. The assumption by the
Treasury – and therefore by taxpayers – of any liability is Ms McCarthy
insists necessary to ‘address the gap in the insurance market’ which
rather suggests that no-one in the commercial insurance market is prepared
to take on the risks associated with this nascent technology.

NFLA 22nd July 2025, https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/time-to-step-up-campaigner-calls-on-mp-to-challenge-decision-to-give-fusion-indemnity-over-accident-liabilities/

July 26, 2025 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

Belgian court bans military shipments to Israel in activist victory

Anti-armament activists in Belgium celebrated a major victory as a judge ordered the Flemish government to halt military shipments to Israel.

July 23, 2025 by Ana Vračar, https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/07/23/belgian-court-bans-military-shipments-to-israel-in-activist-victory/

In what could become a landmark ruling, a Belgian judge recently ordered the Flemish government to halt the transit of goods that could be used to continue or expand the genocide in Gaza. The decision follows a joint campaign by four organizations – Intal, Vredesactie (Peace Action), 11.11.11, and the Human Rights League – which was triggered by the discovery of containers in the port of Antwerp addressed to Israeli company Ashot Ashkelon Industries. The containers included materials used for the assembly of Merkava tanks, the same model implicated in the attack that killed six-year-old Hind Rajab.

The presence of these containers was brought to the attention of the organizations through links with investigative media outlets, Isabelle Vanbrabant, national coordinator of Intal, told Peoples Dispatch. Based on these alerts, Vredesactie initiated a formal inspection request and succeeded in detaining one container, though another was allowed to proceed. “We were doubtful about the effectiveness of a single inspection,” Vanbrabant says, noting activists feared the shipment might go unnoticed or that the inspection would impact only one case – despite knowing that Antwerp had previously been used to transport ammunition, and that similar cargo was en route aboard new vessels.

“We formed a coalition and contacted a lawyer. We had a solid case, so we decided to push further,” Vanbrabant explains. What followed was a swift but well-prepared legal campaign, which moved beyond a single shipment to challenge the broader conduct of Flemish authorities regarding military and dual-use exports to Israel. “We chose to argue that this wasn’t about one container, but about a wider pattern of the government allowing such cargo to pass through,” she said.

In a separate statement, Intal emphasized that facilitating the transit of military equipment to a country committing war crimes makes a government complicit. In this case, legal accountability involves both local and international law. Pledges made in 2009 explicitly state the region would not “issue arms export licenses that would strengthen the military capabilities of the warring parties” in occupied Palestine. Yet, as Vanbrabant describes, Flemish authorities have been, put mildly, pretty lax about implementing this line of policy towards Israel. “One of the key things this case proves is that having good-sounding legislation on paper isn’t enough,” she says. “You need to ensure it’s applied in practice, with proper oversight of the agencies involved.”

Implications for ongoing and future campaigns

While the judge criticized the government’s failure to follow domestic law, the ruling also leaned heavily on international legal standards. “That’s something new – and a very good development,” Vanbrabant stresses. “The government made no reference to international law. We did. This could set a real precedent for future arms transfer cases.”

Activists praised the court’s ruling as both thorough and principled. In addition to requiring the Flemish government to comply with its own regulations, the judge imposed financial penalties for possible violations: if similar cargo bound for Israel is discovered, the government will be fined €50,000 per container. Vanbrabant points out that, in the context of Europe’s push for rearmament and renewed austerity, the ruling might force the government to allocate additional resources to inspection agencies, currently underfunded and thus undercapacitated.

The ruling is also expected to influence ongoing and future campaigns in Belgium. There are already efforts underway challenging the country’s stance on arms shipments via its maritime and airspace. The organizations behind the Flemish case are also mobilizing against domestic and EU-level plans to weaken export controls under the ReArm Europe agenda. “What we achieved locally can be expanded,” Vanbrabant says. “This isn’t only about Palestine, it’s also about the broader arms export system.”

A tool that extends beyond the courts

The implications of the case are wide-ranging. “Legal action is becoming a growing tool [in the Palestine solidarity and anti-armament movements],” Vanbrabant notes. “But it goes beyond that.”

This is particularly relevant in the context of intensifying anti-militarization efforts across Europe and Intal’s wider work. “As a strong BDS partner and an organization that works on militarization more broadly, the issue of arms embargoes is central to us,” Vanbrabant adds. “In a way, it’s part of our DNA as an anti-imperialist group, the BDS campaign and the knowledge that genocide is only possible because of our governments’ complicity.”

The case is also expected to give a boost to the Palestine solidarity movement, which has faced constant repression in much of Europe. While the role of Antwerp port workers wasn’t as visible as that of logistics workers in Greece or France, who have repeatedly refused to load military cargo, this campaign provided an important opportunity for labor collectives to raise awareness and consult their members. Ultimately, as Vanbrabant emphasizes, the ruling proves that even without major resources, it’s possible to take on authorities – and win. The entire case was funded through small donations, showing widespread public support for the cause.

“There’s this belief that you have to be big and powerful to win,” she says. “But this proves it doesn’t have to be that way.”

July 26, 2025 Posted by | EUROPE, Legal | Leave a comment

Anti-Genocide Protesters Block Hundreds of Israeli Tourists From Disembarking in Greek Port

A group of residents on the island of Syros organized the protest and said it was ‘unacceptable’ that Israeli tourists be welcomed as Palestinians suffer from starvation and war in Gaza

News Desk, JUL 22, 2025, https://thecradle.co/articles/anti-genocide-protesters-block-hundreds-of-israeli-tourists-from-disembarking-in-greek-port

Israeli passengers on a cruise ship arriving in Greece on 22 July were unable to disembark the vessel due to a large crowd of pro-Palestine protesters demonstrating against the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. 

The MS Crown Iris, owned by Israeli cruise line Mano Maritime, arrived on Tuesday at the Greek island of Syros in the Aegean Sea. The passengers were supposed to disembark for six hours.

However, they were forced to remain on board due to the protests in support of Palestine. 

“The demonstrators posed no danger to us,” an Israeli on board the ship told Hebrew news site Walla. 

Between 120 and 300 protesters waved Palestinian flags and held banners reading “stop the genocide” as the ship arrived. 

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar spoke with his Greek counterpart, Giorgos Gerapetritis, to request intervention to resolve the issue. 

Yet the cruise ship ended up being redirected to Limassol, Cyprus. Around 1,600 Israelis were traveling on the MS Crown Iris, according to Israel’s Channel 12.

A group of the Greek island’s residents organized the protest and posted on social media that they “raise their fists in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza,” adding that “it is unacceptable that tourists from Israel continue to be welcomed here while the Palestinians are suffering in the Strip.”

Israel’s genocidal war has resulted in a significant decline in Tel Aviv’s popularity worldwide. 

Israeli soldiers responsible for war crimes, including the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza, are regularly pursued and targeted with criminal complaints issued by pro-Palestine organizations in courts around the world.

Two Israeli soldiers were detained at the Tomorrowland festival in Belgium last week. Belgian police released them after conducting an interview. 

The legal complaint was filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), which has been leading a global campaign against Israeli soldiers involved in war crimes. 

In January, the Israeli army issued restrictions against media coverage of active-duty soldiers due to legal risks they face over war crimes in Gaza while traveling abroad. 

This came after an Israeli army reservist’s vacation in Brazil ended abruptly after HRF convinced a federal judge in Brazil to open a war crimes investigation into his participation in the demolition of civilian homes in Gaza.

July 26, 2025 Posted by | EUROPE, weapons and war | Leave a comment

The inside story of how America sent nuclear weapons to Britain

Nukewatch UK explains how it tracked the bombs being flown across the Atlantic.
American nuclear weapons with three times the power of the Hiroshima bomb
were transported to England last week, new evidence suggests. The arsenal
is under the control of president Donald Trump and could be used without
British approval.

Our team at Nukewatch UK observed a special flight
carrying the bombs as it landed at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk on 17 July,
having tracked its journey and monitored radio messages. The transport
plane, a giant C-17 Globemaster (flight number RCH4574 or Reach 4574) had
taken off from Lewis–McChord base in Washington state two days earlier.

 Declassified UK 22nd July 2025, https://www.declassifieduk.org/the-inside-story-of-how-america-sent-nuclear-weapons-to-britain/

July 25, 2025 Posted by | UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

EDF not repeating its costly Hinkley nuclear blunder – for Sizewell C, the UK tax-payers will cop the costs.

 In response to the Government’s announced funding plan to build new EPR
reactors at Sizewell, Dr Douglas Parr, Policy Director for Greenpeace UK,
said: “The UK’s unswerving loyalty to the one energy source that
consistently increases in price remains undimmed by our cost of living
crisis.

At a time when much cheaper renewables and storage, grid
improvements and a decoupling from gas would do so much more to reduce
energy costs, this announcement is testament to both the lobbying skills of
the nuclear industry, and a blind optimism from the government when it
comes to building atomic infrastructure that actual experience seems
incapable of shifting.

The only significant difference between the slowly
unfolding economic blunder of Hinkley C and the forthcoming economic
disaster of Sizewell C is that Hinkley’s predictable construction
problems, delays and cost overruns were borne by EDF. EDF know they can’t
afford to make that mistake again, and so this time those costs will be
borne by you, the British public.”

 Greenpeace 22nd July 2025, https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/press-centre/

July 25, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

East Suffolk Council Statement following Sizewell C Final Investment Decision announcement

East Suffolk Council 22nd July 2025, https://www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/news/sizewell-c-final-investment-east-suffolk-council-statement/

A statement from Cllr Tom Daly, East Suffolk Council’s Cabinet Member for Energy Projects, following confirmation by the government of Final Investment Decision for the construction of the Sizewell C Nuclear Power Station:

“East Suffolk Council acknowledges today’s decision by government on the Final Investment Decision for the Sizewell C new nuclear power station promoted by Sizewell C Co at Sizewell, Suffolk. Final Investment Decision is a key financial milestone for the project and follows on from the announcement of a further £14.2bn funding announced as part of the government’s Spending Review in June. The project will now proceed with certainty. 

“The project was granted development consent by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy in 2022 and formally commenced in January 2024. Construction is expected to take approximately nine to 12 years. At this time, the technological development of renewables and the market situation will be such that the case for a massive inflexible nuclear provision will be, at best, unclear.

“East Suffolk Council recognises the continued challenges this will bring to East Suffolk’s communities as a result of the scale of construction works associated with the development, alongside other planned energy infrastructure development in East Suffolk. The Council will continue to work with the project promoter and all key stakeholders, seeking a coordinated and strategic approach to the delivery of energy infrastructure projects in East Suffolk. 

“East Suffolk Council believes that renewable energy, like offshore wind and solar, provides a better long-term answer to the energy security and carbon reduction future of the UK. ESC requests that alongside this significant investment in large scale nuclear, similar investment will come forward for community energy initiatives and domestic insulation, to help meet our climate commitments in the climate crisis, and to support our communities with unaffordable energy prices.”

July 25, 2025 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

 Sizewell C’s Final Investment Decision has only crawled over the line (- with the public purse)

 “This much-delayed Final Investment Decision has only crawled over the
line thanks to guarantees that the public purse, not private investors,
will carry the can for the inevitable cost overruns. Even so, UK households
will soon be hit with a new Sizewell C construction tax on their energy
bills. It is astounding that it is only now, as contracts are being signed,
that the government has confessed that Sizewell C’s cost has almost
doubled to an eye watering £38 billion – a figure that will only go up.
Given that Ministers claimed not to recognise the cost was close to £40
billion is there any wonder there is so little trust in this project?”

 Stop Sizewell C 22nd July 2025,
https://mailchi.mp/stopsizewellc/finalinvestmentdecision?e=326ee81c22

July 25, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Pushing Military Spending and Neoliberal Austerity, French PM Emulates Trump

Both the left and the far right in France see the government budget plan as something of a class war budget.

By C.J. Polychroniou , Truthout, July 17, 2025

On July 4, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill“ Act into law, implementing his reactionary policy agenda. This megabill is the most sweeping legislation in modern U.S. history and elevates neoliberalism to a new stage with huge tax cuts for the rich and equally huge cuts to the social safety net, including food programs and Medicaid coverage. Indeed, those who somehow interpreted Trump’s policies as representing an end to the neoliberal order in the U.S. could hardly have been more wrong.

Now, it is the turn of the French government to show the world that neoliberalism remains the dominant organizing principle for advanced capitalist societies. Confronted with a faltering economy, big budget deficits, and record-high debt levels, the government of Prime Minister François Bayrou has unveiled a budget plan that shares some uncanny similarities with Trump’s megabill, although it is surely not as brutal as the “Big Ugly Bill” will be for most U.S. citizens.

with proposals that include slashing thousands of civil service jobs, shutting down so-called “unproductive” national agencies, cutting prescription drug subsidies, reducing health care expenditure by €5 billion, and freezing pensions and virtually all other benefits paid out by the government to 2025 levels. The controversial budget plan proposed by the French prime minister also includes abolishing two statutory holidays from the country’s annual calendar — Easter Monday and May 8. The latter, known as Victory Day, is a pivotal holiday that commemorates the victory of the Allies over Nazi Germany. The government claims that abolishing those two public holidays would generate several billion euros in additional state revenues through increased economic activity. The French prime minister has also left open the possibility of additional statutory holidays receiving the axe…………………………………………………..

………………………………………………there is more obscenity included in the French government budget plan than already mentioned. Just like Trump’s megabill, Bayrou’s budget plan slashes the social safety net but expands the defense budget. …………………………………..

……………………Bayrou’s budget plan will add €3.5 billion to the 2026 defense budget and €3 billion to the 2027 budget.  Bayrou himself declared the defense budget to be “sacrosanct” and exempt from budget cuts.

Neoliberal economics is of course tightly linked to militarism and warmongering. Most NATO countries are boosting their military spending to 5 percent of GDP, largely because the alliance remains subservient to the United States and European leaders want to appease Donald Trump, who has threatened to disengage from NATO over the U.S. paying an “unfair share” as member. But in so doing, the European governments become full and willing partners in the militaristic adventures of the United States, which now views China, not Russia, as the biggest threat to its supremacy. In any case, the idea that Russia somehow has strategic aims to militarily attack Europe is as ludicrous as it is nonsensical. To what end? A question never asked by European leaders and therefore never answered………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… https://truthout.org/articles/pushing-military-spending-and-neoliberal-austerity-french-pm-emulates-trump/

July 25, 2025 Posted by | France, politics | Leave a comment

Why Starmer’s nuclear power push raises cancer fears

The UK is investing £14.2bn in a new Sizewell plant and £2.5bn in small nuclear reactors. In 1942, the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works in Missouri, US, was
processing uranium for the first atomic bomb. It ran out of space for its
radioactive waste and moved it to an open air storage site near Coldwater
Creek, north of St Louis.

More than 80 years later, Harvard University has
found that communities living near the creek, a tributary of the Missouri
River, have an elevated risk of cancer. The findings, released this week,
showed a dose-response effect, with those nearest the water having a far
higher chance of developing most cancers than those living farther away.

Researchers say it highlights the dangers of exposure to even small amounts
of radiation over time. They say governments must be cautious when building
new nuclear sites near towns and villages. The public was first alerted to
the possibility that nuclear plants could be causing cancer when an ITV
documentary in 1983 revealed a high number of childhood leukaemia cases
between 1955 and 1983 in the village of Seascale, near Sellafield. While
less than one case should have been expected in such a small community,
researchers found seven youngsters suffering from the condition. Residents
feared that radioactive discharges may be to blame and the Committee on
Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (Comare) was set up to
investigate.

Investigations by Comare did show that rates of two types of
childhood leukaemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, were significantly higher
than expected, and researchers found a similar cluster at Thurso near
Dounreay. However, researchers did not find raised rates in other villages
near Sellafield and Dounreay, leading them to think that something else was
causing the rise, potentially local infections which are known to trigger
cancer in some cases. The investigators theorised that an influx of workers
moving to Seascale and Thurso to work in the nuclear industry might have
exposed local residents to new infections, sparking a rise in childhood
cancer rates. Viruses such as Epstein-Barr are thought to be linked to
cancers such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

 Telegraph 19th July 2025, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/19/why-starmers-nuclear-power-push-raises-cancer-fears/

July 25, 2025 Posted by | health, UK | Leave a comment

Ed Miliband admits Sizewell C cost has almost doubled to £38bn

 New power station approved despite costs almost doubling from an estimate made five
years ago. Ed Miliband has admitted Sizewell C will cost at least £38bn to
build as he gave final approval for the construction of the nuclear power
station. The Energy Secretary took the final investment decision on the
controversial power station on Tuesday.

The site will take at least a decade to build. The Government confirmed the project will cost £38bn in 2024 prices, or £39.3bn once inflation since then is factored in. The
total is almost double the £20bn estimate given by the government and
developers EDF in 2020.

Sizewell C will be part-funded by a new levy on
household electricity bills called the Regulated Asset Base. The aim is to
pay the construction costs as they are incurred rather than borrow and then
pay decades of interest. Mr Miliband has claimed this levy will add only
£12 a year to the average household bill, but his claim is being treated
with scepticism by critics who point out that almost all major nuclear
projects suffer massive delays and cost overruns.

 Telegraph 22nd July 2025 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/22/miliband-gives-sizewell-c-nuclear-plant-the-green-light/

July 25, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Trump has backed himself into a corner on Ukraine

The chances of President Putin backing down without any concessions from Ukraine or from their European sponsors are so low as to be almost non-existent.

the additional military support that the US is now offering to Ukraine, paid for by European NATO allies, won’t be sufficient to tip the military balance in Ukraine’s favour…………….. the military facts on the ground are that Russia continues to gain ground…………………. fifty days favours Russia more than Ukraine, militarily.

He now has fifty days to reach agreement on Ukrainian neutrality

Ian Proud, Jul 17, 2025, https://thepeacemonger.substack.com/p/trump-has-backed-himself-into-a-corner?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=3221990&post_id=168542067&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

One year after he undertook to end the Ukraine war in one day, and just past six months into his Presidency, Donald Trump has kicked the peace can down the road by fifty days. The ultimatum to President Putin to make peace or face sanctions has practically no chance to changing Russian aims in Ukraine. Backed into a corner, Trump may finally be forced to address Russia’s underlying concerns.

In televised remarks on 14 July during his meeting with NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, President Trump said, ‘if we don’t have a [peace] deal in fifty days, we’re going to be doing very severe tariffs, tariffs at about a hundred percent, you’d call them secondary tariffs.’

As he was in 2017, Trump also now finds himself hemmed in by beltway politics and unable to deliver a reset in US-Russia relations that he instinctively seems to want.

The Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025 would put in place so-called secondary sanctions on Russia by imposing stiff tariffs of up to 500% against countries such as China and India that inter alia import Russian energy. US lawmakers want to strong arm Trump into forcing President Putin to back down in Ukraine via the back door. But there is a yawn-inducing sense of déjà vu here.

The 2017 Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, signed into law on 2 August 2017, had no impact on Russian policy towards Ukraine, but led to a huge collapse in US-Russia relations. This was illustrated most clearly by the decision to cut US diplomatic staffing in Russia by 755 personnel, meaning among other things, that today it is practically impossible for a Russian citizen to apply for a US visa inside of Russia itself; the US Embassy simply doesn’t have enough staff.

To avoid a repeat of 2017, Trump now appears to be buying himself fifty days in DC to reach peace in Ukraine before he is forced by the Senate to impose secondary sanctions on Russia. The 14 July announcement was therefore about domestic US politics more than about foreign policy.

But what Trump has in fact done is to set a clear ultimatum on Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine, with no clear commitment to meeting Russia’s specific demands, the key demand being Ukraine’s neutrality and revocation of its NATO aspiration.

As an ultimatum, this won’t work, because the additional military support that the US is now offering to Ukraine, paid for by European NATO allies, won’t be sufficient to tip the military balance in Ukraine’s favour.

Additional Patriot missiles and interceptors may well reduce the overall impact of Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian cities. But the military facts on the ground are that Russia continues to gain ground. At several points along the front line, around Pokrovsk, and Kupiansk, towards Konstiantynivka and Siversk, there have been significant recent Russian gains, by the slow attritional standards of this war.

As reported by the Guardian in the UK, even some Ukrainian politicians and bloggers have come out to say that fifty days will simply allow Russia to occupy further Ukrainian land. The most interesting point about that report is the revelation that a British mainstream media outlet is reporting oppositionist views from Ukraine, rather than the narrative from Zelensky’s propaganda machine.

So, fifty days favours Russia more than Ukraine, militarily.

And the so-called secondary tariffs are only secondary to Russia. To countries like China they would be actual tariffs, taxing Chinese goods and those from other affected countries at an additional 100% on top of exist rates.

Yet, when the US last hiked tariffs on China at a rate of 145%, Trump was quickly forced to back down as China simply increased their tariffs against US goods by a proportionate rate. If Trump believes that China would not do so again, then I’m afraid he is deluded.

Even in the (frankly) unlikely event that China did not respond to ‘secondary’ tariffs in kind, it is far from clear how President Xi Jinping would force President Putin to change his war aims in Ukraine, without himself appearing to lose face in China, which would be politically damaging to him.

Which brings us back to Trump’s ultimatum. One commentator remarked that he has managed to ‘back himself into a corner in the Oval Office’, which is not an easy thing to do. The chances of President Putin backing down without any concessions from Ukraine or from their European sponsors are so low as to be almost non-existent.

Donald Trump, who appears largely to have sub-contracted resolving the Ukraine war to Marco Rubio and Keith Kellogg (where has Steve Witkoff disappeared to?), may now be forced to invest more personal time to bringing the war to an end.

Yes, he has engaged directly with President Putin in talks which is to be welcomed, in a diplomacy-starved war. But his real problem is his inability to encourage Ukraine and its European sponsors to address Russia’s underlying concerns about the war.

The most significant concern is, and has always been, about the need for Ukraine to adopt neutrality and revoke its aspiration to NATO membership. There has been absolutely no sign of compromise on this key underlying concern in Kyiv, Brussels, Berlin or London.

Offering Ukraine more weapons, however well-intended, will simply encourage Zelensky, Mark Rutte, Ursula von der Leyen, Friedrich Merz and Keir Starmer, in their view that Ukraine’s NATO aspirations remain alive and well. And, unfortunately, Russia will not silence its guns until, at the very least, a deal on Ukrainian neutrality is reached.

That leaves Trump with only one place to go. He must now invest personal time into urging Ukraine and Europe to accept neutrality for Ukraine as part of a ceasefire deal and longer-term peace process. If he doesn’t, the politics of Washington DC may force him to impose tariffs on China in a way which will, more than anyone else, hurt American people, and hurt his reputation.

July 24, 2025 Posted by | politics international, Ukraine, USA | Leave a comment

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