nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

America Is Losing the World—and It Doesn’t Know How to Stop

April 10, 2026, Joshua Scheer

The so-called ceasefire is already cracking—and anyone paying attention knows why.

In this wide-ranging and unsettling conversation, retired U.S. Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson pulls back the curtain on a geopolitical order that is not stabilizing, but unraveling. The war with Iran isn’t ending—it’s mutating. NATO isn’t adapting—it’s collapsing. And the United States, rather than recalibrating to a changing world, is doubling down on the very policies accelerating its decline. With Wilkerson saying of NATO: “I think NATO’s dead. I’ve said that before, I’ll say it again. It may take a few months, even a couple of years, for everyone to finally pronounce it dead and say a prayer over its grave—but it’s dead.

Trump may never formally declare the United States is leaving NATO. He’s not that kind of leader—he’s mercurial, inconsistent. You’re not going to get a clear, cogent statement out of him. But it’ll happen all the same.

This is already a fatal situation. Ukraine put the dagger in NATO’s heart—but the wound was there long before that. It began when we broke our promises to Russia after George H.W. Bush, when we failed to integrate them into Europe.

Every president since—starting with Clinton—drove that knife in deeper.”

Wilkerson, a former insider at the highest levels of American power, doesn’t speak in euphemisms. He describes a system running on inertia, denial, and violence—where ceasefires serve as cover, diplomacy is treated as theater, and entire regions are sacrificed to maintain a crumbling illusion of control. The result is not just endless war abroad, but growing instability at home, with the specter of internal fracture no longer unthinkable but increasingly probable.

This is not analysis meant to reassure. It is a warning—from someone who has seen how these decisions are made, and where they lead.

The ceasefire is a lie—and the system selling it knows it.

In this blistering conversation, retired U.S. Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson doesn’t hedge, sanitize, or play along. He calls it what it is: a collapsing global order held together by deception, violence, and delusion. The so-called ceasefire with Iran, he warns, may be nothing more than a tactical pause—a familiar pattern where diplomacy becomes cover for the next round of escalation.

And the implications go far beyond one war.

Wilkerson flatly declares that NATO is “dead”—not weakened, not strained, but functionally finished, a relic already gutted by decades of broken promises and strategic arrogance. He points to a United States that has “created an enemy out of the whole planet,” pursuing confrontation over adaptation as global power shifts away from Western dominance.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the brutality continues. Civilians are being killed at scale, entire cities reduced to rubble, while political leaders posture and stall. There is, in Wilkerson’s assessment, “no inclination whatsoever” from Israeli leadership to stop the slaughter in Lebanon—making any broader ceasefire structurally impossible from the start.

But perhaps most alarming is what comes next.

Wilkerson warns that the United States is not just losing its grip abroad—it is fracturing internally. He describes a political system corrupted across branches, a military being reshaped along ideological lines, and a society saturated with weapons and polarization. The result? A credible path—not hypothetical, but emerging—toward internal conflict.

An empire in denial. A war without an endpoint. And a leadership class, in Wilkerson’s words, willing to “bomb the hell out of everything” rather than confront reality.

But the deeper story isn’t just about Iran or Israel. It’s about a global system breaking apart in real time—and leaders who would rather burn it down than adapt. Wilkerson describes a United States clinging to dominance it no longer has, fighting the rise of a multipolar world with sanctions, bombs, and denial. The result, he warns, is not stability—but escalation on multiple fronts at once.

He points to something even more destabilizing: a fundamental transformation in how power operates. Warfare is changing. Economics are shifting from sea to land. Alliances are dissolving. And yet Washington continues to act as if nothing has changed—doubling down on outdated strategies while the rest of the world moves on without it.

Some of the most important things for all Americans to understand—especially those who may not already—are truths like this from Wilkerson about the United States’ global position: “We’ve created an enemy out of the whole planet—and now we’re shocked the world is pushing back.”

The United States is confronting a reality it refuses to face: the world is changing, and where that change is acknowledged, it is met not with adaptation but with resistance—fought “tooth and nail.” At home, the decay is just as severe. The country, as Wilkerson puts it, has been “damned for a generation,” with dysfunction now entrenched across its core institutions—from Congress to the Supreme Court. That internal fracture is no longer abstract; it carries the real potential for conflict, with multiple factions poised in a nation that has “more guns than people.” And all of this is unfolding at the worst possible moment—during a period of imperial decline—where, in his blunt assessment, this is precisely when you do not want incompetent leadership steering a nation losing ground to rising powers.

As Wilkerson mentioned, there is is the distinct possibility of a civil war, with Wilkerson saying, “You have the potential for a lot of different people out there on the streets—and we have more guns than people.”

I would add this: when some states seem determined to drag us back into the dark ages—stripping away rights, narrowing the horizon of what it means to be free—and when our national leadership speaks of little beyond funding the machinery of war, it forces a reckoning. It makes one confront the unthinkable as something increasingly possible.

A nation cannot endure when its parts move in opposite directions—when some push toward repression while others struggle toward dignity and survival. At a certain point, unity becomes a fiction we tell ourselves to avoid the harder truth: that what we call a country may already be fractured beyond repair.

And if that is the case, then the question is no longer whether we hold together, but whether breaking apart might be the only way to prevent something far worse from tearing us apart first.

On that not at home, the consequences are just as severe. Wilkerson outlines a country hollowed out by corruption, gripped by polarization, and increasingly incapable of governing itself. Institutions are eroding. Trust is collapsing. And in that vacuum, more extreme forces are organizing, arming, and preparing for confrontation.

This is not just a warning about war abroad.

It’s a warning about what happens when a declining power refuses to recognize its own decline—and drags the world down with it.

April 14, 2026 Posted by | politics international, USA | Leave a comment

U.S. Media finally acknowledging Israel’s central role in Trump’s criminal war on Iran

11 April 2026 AIMN Editorial, By Walt Zlotow  , https://theaimn.net/u-s-media-finally-acknowledging-israels-central-role-in-trumps-criminal-war-on-iran/

For the first 5 weeks of President Trump’s criminal war on Iran, mainstream media pretended this was totally a US war to defend the Homeland by destroying Iran’s nuclear bomb capability and neutering its missile arsenal. Israel was barely mentioned tho they started the war by assassinating Iranian leader Ali Khamenei. Israel’s relentless bombing of Iran was largely ignored to focus on the devastating US bombing. Also ignored was Iran’s robust retaliation causing the greatest damage to Israel in its 78 year history.

The reality is that on February 28th Israel realized its three decade dream of getting a US President to serve as their proxy to destroy Iran as Israel’s last hegemonic rival in the Middle East. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent the entire 21st century lobbying George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump in term one and Joe Biden to take out Iran. Netanyahu finally hit pay dirt with Donald Trump in term two. On February 11 Netanyahu met with Trump, assuring him that once Israel assassinated Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, the regime would collapse within a few days with Iran’s populous rallying around their US liberators.

Gigantic mistake. The Iranian populous coalesced around the regime which retaliated with devastating effectiveness, not only inflicting massive damage on US, Israeli resources but shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, inflicting worldwide economic decline.

Knowing he’s lost, Trump is seeking an off ramp to save his presidency. Netanyahu, the lead actor in this lost war, will have none of it. He’s sabotaging the ceasefire Trump agreed to which would have allowed Iran to survive, retain control of the Strait and keep its nuclear enrichment and its defensive missile arsenal. Netanyahu’s massive bombing of Lebanon, forbidden by Iran’s 10 Point peace plan, puts the ceasefire hanging by a thread.

Mainstream media has taken note, beginning to allow analysts to publicly state this was largely Netanyahu’s war, not Trump’s. MS NOW’s Jen Psaki gave former Secretary of State John Kerry, who negotiated the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, extensive time to review Netanyahu’s endless demands that US presidents destroy Iran on their behalf. Kerry noted how Netanyahu hyped the imminent Iranian nuclear threat to each president which was swallowed whole only by President Trump. A nuclear agreement meant nothing to Netanyahu. Regime change in a failed state Iran was the sole goal.

The more mainstream media tells the truth about Israel’s central role in Trump’s lost war upending the world economy, the more Trump will be pressured to break with Israel. Whatever Netanyahu has on Trump, whether the hundreds of millions in campaign cash or scandalous Epstein secrets, must be disregarded if Trump has any chance of salvaging his presidency, and more importantly, the world economy.

Keep it up, mainstream news. Expose the dirty secret of Trump’s dirty war launched on orders of Benjamin Netanyahu. If Trump does cut off the weapons train, Israel’s rampage against Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen may be over. Time to force Israel to make peace with their neighbours, not endless war.

Mainstream news can assist that noble goal.

April 14, 2026 Posted by | media, USA | Leave a comment

War has given Iran new leverage for nuclear programme, say US former envoys

Negotiators of 2015 deal say Tehran has seen how cutting off Hormuz strait can help it counter asymmetry of power

Andrew Roth in Washington. 10 Apr 26, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/10/middle-east-crisis-has-given-iran-new-way-to-resist-nuclear-limits-say-former-us-iran-envoys

Former US envoys who dealt with Iran have said that the US-Israeli attack on Iran and Tehran’s subsequent closure of the strait of Hormuz have given Iran new tools and resolve to resist pressure to shutter its nuclear programme.

Two senior negotiators for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Obama-era agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief, said the Trump administration’s war had handed Iran a coveted weapon by demonstrating its ability to cut off the strait of Hormuz, an economic chokehold that one negotiator said would help Iran “balance the asymmetry of power” with the US.

“This administration, to say it more politely, cannot unsoil the bed,” said Alan Eyre, a former diplomat who helped negotiate the JCPOA.  “There’s no way to get back to the status quo ante before this war started.”

In 2018, Donald Trump withdrew the US from the JCPOA, which barred Tehran from enriching its uranium to weapons-grade. Trump called the deal, which lifted some sanctions on Iran, “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions” the US had ever entered into.

But after a strategy of high pressure – first through returning sanctions and then, after Trump’s return to power in 2025, a war that was meant to destroy Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities – the current US administration has found itself in more complex negotiations than before its campaign of economic and military strikes.

“The strait of Hormuz is such a good strategic deterrent [and] to an extent it makes the nuclear programme less crucial,” said Eyre. “It would have taken a lot of time and a lot of risk for them to weaponise [nuclear arms] … But they’ve got a really cool threat now, which is incredibly easy to turn on and off.”

Diplomatic sources have indicated that the Iranian delegation believes this is an unprecedented set of circumstances to negotiate on favourable terms, as the Trump administration appears keen to exit the conflict quickly.

A US delegation led by JD Vance will meet Iranian negotiators in Islamabad, Pakistan this weekend. The vice-president has been a less vocal booster of the war than other members of the administration such as the secretary of defence, Pete Hegseth, and the secretary of state, Marco Rubio.

But while the US could withdraw its air power from the conflict, it has not presented a clear plan for reopening the strait of Hormuz – either through force or a negotiated settlement.

Robert Malley, a Yale lecturer who was former special envoy to Iran under Joe Biden and a lead negotiator on the JCPOA, said: “The strait of Hormuz wasn’t an issue before the US decided to strike. You have all the issues inherited from the past, but you just added a few, because the US has handed Iran a tool that it always had, but it never thought of using, or never felt it could.”

The chances for a comprehensive agreement addressing all of the US and Iran’s grievances appear slim. While the Obama administration sought to negotiate exclusively on Iran’s nuclear programme in the lead-up to the 2015 agreement, the Trump administration has sought a broader deal limiting Iran’s ballistic missiles programme and its support for regional proxies, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.

But a catch-all deal appears to be fraying at the edges. Israel’s continued strikes on Lebanon, a country which Iran believed was part of the deal but the US has said was not, have already threatened its full collapse, with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps maintaining its blockade on shipping and top officials publicly questioning the ceasefire.

As Malley noted, the Obama administration had chosen to seek a more limited deal with Iran because “for every element that the US and others will put on the table, Iran will put a reciprocal element on the table. This is not a one-way street.”

“I think Trump has been driven by two objectives that were in clear tension,” said Malley. “One was he wanted to be able to declare outright victory, and the other one is he wanted a quick exit.”

“Even though he may claim victory … It’s being contradicted every hour by what’s happening on the ground.”

April 14, 2026 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

John Gibbons: I’ve changed my mind on nuclear power — we don’t need it any more

Becoming energy independent is simpler than it’s ever been — wind and solar have the potential to free us from endless energy shocks

Sat, 11 Apr, 2026 , John Gibbons, https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-41825069.html

Nuclear power would, in the future, be “too cheap to meter”. This bold prediction was made by the chair of the US Atomic Energy Commission, Lewis Strauss, in September 1954. This was at the very dawn of the age of nuclear energy and it reflected the Utopian mood of the post-war era.

Fast forward to 2026, and while nuclear is no energy silver bullet, nor has it been an abject failure. Today, just under one tenth of total world electricity production is from nuclear reactors, which have the key environmental advantage of being virtually zero carbon.

Responding to the oil shocks of the early 1970s, France invested heavily in nuclear energy. Its 56 reactors account for about two thirds of total national electrical production, and it regularly exports surplus clean electricity to its European neighbours. 

None of these plants are household names, for the good reason that France has managed its fleet of nuclear reactors well and avoided any major incidents over the last half century.

Ireland also looked seriously at the nuclear option, with proposals as far back as 1968 to build four nuclear power stations. These were revived some years later following the oil shocks and in late November 1973, the Irish government approved in principle the construction of a nuclear power  station, with an initial budget of £100m. Carnsore Point in Co Wexford was selected as its location.

Growing public opposition to the Carnsore project, including two well-attended protest concerts at the site in 1978 and 1979, saw the government tiptoe away from plans to build a nuclear plant, and the idea was quietly shelved. 

The disastrous nuclear accident at the Chernobyl power plant in April 1986 hardened public and political opinion decisively against nuclear energy.

In Ireland, this took the form of the Electricity Regulation Act, 1999, which set out in law a national prohibition on “the use of nuclear fission for the generation of electricity”. That, it seemed, was that.

Opposition to nuclear energy has long been an article of faith among environmentalists. The anti-war movement and the green movement largely coalesced around the idea that nuclear power was both intrinsically dangerous and associated with the proliferation of nuclear weapons. These fears are not totally unfounded. Many countries have indeed developed their civilian and military nuclear programmes in tandem.

In an ideal world, we would have neither nuclear power plants nor nuclear weapons, but that’s not the world we live in. As an environmental commentator, I took the view two decades ago that the unfolding climate emergency was by far the greatest threat we collectively face, and anything that could help in the fight to decarbonise the global economy had to be taken seriously. And yes, that absolutely included nuclear energy.

This was, to put it mildly, not a popular position to adopt. Many people who strongly support climate action are also fervently anti-nuclear. In late 2012, I took part in a green event at Carnsore Point and found myself the odd man out, facing a sceptical audience and an openly hostile fellow panellist, German Green MEP Rebecca Harms.

In 2006, German chancellor Angela Merkel stated: “I will always consider it absurd to shut down technologically safe nuclear power plants that don’t emit CO2.” 

Five years later, under pressure from the German Greens in the aftermath of the 2011 nuclear accident at Fukushima, Japan, the government decided to shut down its 17 nuclear power plants, and the absurd became real, as lignite, an ultra-dirty fuel, largely replaced zero carbon nuclear.

Now, the wheel has turned again. In response to the disastrous Iran war, Ireland is now looking to rethink its position on nuclear, with Taoiseach Micheál Martin expressing an open mind on nuclear energy, while noting costs and timescales make it very much a long term option — and this assumes the Irish public would ever tolerate the construction of a nuclear power plant.

Having long supported nuclear power when it was widely opposed in Ireland, I now find myself in the opposite camp. I no longer believe nuclear power can or will play any part in Ireland’s energy future, and here’s why.

First, the cost. In late 2022, Finland’s Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor went online, 12 years behind schedule and three times over budget. The final cost exceeded €11bn. This was the first new nuclear power plant built in Europe in over 15 years. At full production, the Olkiluoto plant will supply around 1.6GW of power.

Last year, more than 10 times that amount of wind power was installed across Europe, while 65GW of new solar was deployed in Europe in 2025. In total, some 80GW of new clean renewable energy was added to the European grid last year — the peak equivalent of 50 Olkiluoto nuclear plants.

What changed my mind is that the facts have changed, and changed decisively, over the last decade and more as renewable energy technologies have rapidly matured. 

Wind and solar, supported by battery arrays and e-fuels, are now the cheapest, cleanest sources of energy in history. Last year, Ireland alone added 1GW of new solar capacity, meaning we now have at peak a total of 8GW of green electricity, or the equivalent of five Olkiluoto plants.

To grasp the exponential nature of renewable energy roll-out, consider that in 2004, a total of 1GW of solar was deployed globally. Last year, the same amount was added every 12 hours.

Battery storage costs have fallen by an astonishing 90% over the last decade, with no sign as yet of this downward cost curve flattening out. According to the International Energy Agency, renewable power capacity is projected to increase by 4,600GW between 2025-2030.

You would need to build literally thousands of nuclear power plants to keep pace with renewable energy, yet barely 100 have even been commissioned worldwide in the last quarter century, while others, such as in Germany, and Japan, have been shut down.

Ireland has made huge strides in renewable electricity over the last decade in particular, and we need to double down on offshore wind and solar farms to power the electrification of our entire economy and society in the turbulent years ahead. Our continued reliance on fossil fuel imports places us at the mercy of an increasingly volatile global energy marketplace.

While the world’s existing nuclear plants should be maintained, I believe new nuclear power plants have no useful role in decarbonising and achieving energy independence quickly and at scale. 

Worse, Irish politicians now dallying with nuclear may only serve to undermine our critical imperative to press ahead with the rapid roll-out of renewable energy.

John Gibbons is an environmental journalist and author of The Lie of the Land: A Game Plan for Ireland in the Climate Crisis

April 14, 2026 Posted by | climate change, Ireland | Leave a comment

Ceasefire with Iran: Don’t hold your breath – Israel and US lie all the time

Donald Trump deceived millions of American voters with false promises of ending the wars, stopping globalization and industrial revival, and now he has proven himself to be one of the biggest puppets of Israel.

Trump: The United States will work closely with Iran, which we have determined has undergone what will be a very productive regime change! There will be no uranium enrichment, and the United States, in cooperation with Iran, will extract and remove all the deeply buried nuclear “dust”. (It is more than obvious that this ‘ceasefire’ is just a public relations gimmick and a plan to reset US and Israeli offensive operations.)

 Bruce K. Gagnon , 9 Apr 2026, https://space4peace.blogspot.com/2026/04/ceasefire-with-iran-dont-hold-your.html

  • Iran says the United States has agreed to the following:

   1. A non-aggression commitment
   2. Continued Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz
   3. Acceptance of uranium enrichment
   4. Lifting of all primary sanctions
   5. Lifting of all secondary sanctions
   6. Termination of all UN Security Council resolutions
   7. Termination of all Board of Governors resolutions
   8. Payment of reparations to Iran
   9. Withdrawal of US combat forces from the region
  10. Cessation of hostilities on all fronts, including against Hezbollah in Lebanon

  • Axios, citing a White House official: The ceasefire will take effect as soon as Iran opens the Strait of Hormuz.
  • Iran’s National Security Council: The agreement stipulates the lifting of all sanctions and the release of frozen Iranian assets abroad.  It is emphasized that this does not mean the end of the war, and Iran will only accept the end of the war when, considering the acceptance of Iran’s principles in the 10-article plan, its details are also finalized in negotiations.
  • These negotiations will begin with complete distrust on Friday, April 10, in Islamabad, and Iran will allocate two weeks for these negotiations. 
  • Greater Iran and the Origin of Civilizations: We did not abandon our allies in Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq; this was a condition for a ceasefire in all these countries.
  • Kan Hebrew Channel: If the agreement includes Hezbollah, we must burn the [Israeli] state down.
  • During this two-week period, Israel will bolster its defenses, the United States will reinforce its forces, and the global economy will be revitalized. However, the negotiations could very well be a charade, as has happened before, with America launching a new offensive accompanied by assassinations. 
  • There’s a saying in Farsi which says: “My eyes aren’t watering.” ‎من چشمم آب نمی‌خوره Which means: “I don’t think anything will come out of this.” But….if this truly does get implemented, this might be the biggest victory (for Iran) of all modern time.
  • Donald Trump deceived millions of American voters with false promises of ending the wars, stopping globalization and industrial revival, and now he has proven himself to be one of the biggest puppets of Israel, the World Economic Forum and the Bilderberg Group. 
  • Over 55 US lawmakers called for invoking the 25th Amendment after Trump threatened to destroy Iranian civilization. Former Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene called it “evil and madness.” Tucker Carlson urged military personnel to refuse orders; the Pope and UN Human Rights chief condemned threats against civilians as violations of international law. 
  • Moscow and Beijing blocked a Bahrain-drafted Security Council resolution on Hormuz, with Russia’s envoy calling it a “greenlit aggression” that ignored the conflict’s root causes. The two powers submitted an alternative text calling for negotiated settlement. China’s representative said the vetoed draft would have “added fuel to the fire.”
  • Around 10 AM today, Iran’s Lavan oil refinery facilities on Lavan Island were attack by the enemies. In response, Iran struck targets inside UAE & Kuwait. 
  • Iran’s UN representative: Israel must adhere to the ceasefire in Lebanon; continued attacks will further complicate the situation and have dire consequences. 
  • Lebanese Health Minister: Hospitals are overflowing with the injured and victims, and we have hundreds of martyrs and wounded throughout Lebanon as a result of the Israeli strikes. The raid that targeted Shamshtar occurred during a funeral procession, when the enemy bombed the place, resulting in the martyrdom of all those present. “Eternal Darkness” is the name given by Israel to the new aggression against Lebanon.
  • Lebanese hospitals are appealing for blood donations due to the large number of injuries and deaths in the major zionist offensive.
  • US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Let’s be clear, a ceasefire is a temporary pause. The US Secretary of Defense told US forces involved in the war against Iran: Stay prepared.
  • Iran’s IRGC Navy warned ships near the Strait of Hormuz that they must obtain permission from the IRGC naval forces to pass, stating over radio that any vessel attempting to transit without authorization “will be destroyed,” according to a recording shared with The Wall Street Journal. 
  • Trump: The United States will work closely with Iran, which we have determined has undergone what will be a very productive regime change! There will be no uranium enrichment, and the United States, in cooperation with Iran, will extract and remove all the deeply buried nuclear “dust”. (It is more than obvious that this ‘ceasefire’ is just a public relations gimmick and a plan to reset US and Israeli offensive operations.)
  • Iranian media, quoting a high-ranking Iranian military source: We have begun a wave of attacks on US-allied countries in the region as a warning message to implement a ceasefire throughout the region, including Lebanon.
  • Spain has called Israel’s continued attacks in Lebanon “unacceptable,” despite the recent U.S.–Iran two-week ceasefire. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said all fronts, including Lebanon, must stop.
  • Israeli main opposition leader Yair Lapid: There has never been such a political disaster in all of our history. Israel wasn’t even at the table when decisions were made about the core of our national security. Netanyahu failed politically, failed strategically, and did not meet a single goal he set himself. It will take years to repair the political and strategic damage caused by arrogance, negligence, and a lack of planning. Israeli Channel 12 reports from a source: Washington will ask Tehran to cancel the ballistic missile program.
  • U.S. Vice President JD Vance: Trump “lacks patience” to make progress on everything related to Iran. If the Iranians do not act in good faith, they will discover that President Trump is not to be trifled with. 
  • (Update): Iran has halted the passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz after Israel’s ceasefire violations against Lebanon — Fars.

April 14, 2026 Posted by | politics international, USA | Leave a comment

All Wars Are Bankers’ Wars: Iran and the Bankers’ Endgame

As for Iran, it is not only the largest and strongest of the Islamic countries but operates the world’s only fully interest-free (riba-free) banking regime. This stands in direct contrast to the conventional Western model, which relies on interest as its primary revenue mechanism. “Money making money out of itself” underpins the global derivatives complex, which is built on rehypothecated, collateralized debt-at-interest.

 April 10, 2026 Ellen Brown ScheerPost


“The powers of financial capitalism had another far reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole.”  —Prof. Caroll Quigley, Georgetown University, Tragedy and Hope (1966)

In February 2026, the United States and Israel launched surprise airstrikes on Iran. The officially proffered reasons — preventing Iran’s acquisition of a nuclear weapon and forestalling its aggression — have not held up under scrutiny. As James Corbett documented in recent Corbett Report episodes, the nuclear pretext appears to be recycled propaganda, and the scale and timing of the strikes raise deeper questions about motive. 

The thesis that “All Wars Are Bankers’ Wars” was popularized by Michael Rivero in a 2013 documentary by that name. His accompanying article begins with a quote from Aristotle (384-322 BCE):

The most hated sort [of moneymaking], and with the greatest reason, is usury, which makes a gain out of money itself, and not from the natural use of it. For money was intended to be used in exchange, but not to increase at interest. 

Rivero then traces how private banking interests have financed and profited from conflicts on both sides for centuries — from the founding of the Bank of England in 1694 to fund William III’s wars to modern regime-change wars. 

Full-Spectrum Financial Dominance

Other commentators point to the report of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) titled “Rebuilding America’s Defenses” (September 2000), which called for “full-spectrum” U.S. military forces to achieve global preeminence. It postulated the need for a “catastrophic and catalyzing event — like a new Pearl Harbor” to accelerate the military transformation the authors envisioned. 

This was followed by a 2007 Democracy Now interview in which Gen. Wesley Clark revealed that weeks after 9/11, he had been shown a classified Pentagon memo outlining plans to “take out seven countries in five years”: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and finishing off with Iran. The first six have since been destabilized or regime-changed. Iran, considered the ultimate prize for Middle East dominance and oil control, remains the last one standing. 

Why those seven, and why was Iran the ultimate prize? Greg Palast’s 2013 article titled “Larry Summers and the Secret ‘End-Game’ Memo” supplied the missing financial logic. In 1999, the world was opened to unregulated derivatives trading, so that sovereign bonds, oil flows, shipping routes, and war-risk policies could all be collateralized, rehypothecated (pledged multiple times over), and gambled upon. The lynchpin was the 1997 WTO Financial Services Agreement (the Fifth Protocol to GATS), which became operational in 1999. 

None of the seven targeted countries joined the WTO, and they were also not members of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). That left them outside the long regulatory arm of the central bankers’ central bank in Switzerland. Other countries that were later identified as “rogue states” were also not members of the BIS, including North Korea, Cuba, and Afghanistan. 

As for Iran, it is not only the largest and strongest of the Islamic countries but operates the world’s only fully interest-free (riba-free) banking regime. This stands in direct contrast to the conventional Western model, which relies on interest as its primary revenue mechanism. “Money making money out of itself” underpins the global derivatives complex, which is built on rehypothecated, collateralized debt-at-interest.

The last piece in the financial control grid was detailed in David Rogers Webb’s 2024 book The Great Taking. The Everything Bubble, including what some commentators estimate to be more than a quadrillion dollars in derivative bets, is just waiting for a pin. When it bursts, it will trigger large institutional bankruptcies; and under the legal machinery Webb documents, the derivative players will take all. 

The 2026 Hormuz insurance crisis triggered by Lloyd’s of London could be that pin. More on all that below.

The City of London and Lloyd’s Weaponize Chaos

For more than three centuries, the City of London – the “Square Mile” that is London’s financial center — has financed both sides of wars and sold insurance against the destruction that would follow. Lloyd’s of London is the insurance pillar of the City’s financial control grid. It is not actually an insurance company but is a corporate body that “operates as a partially-mutualized marketplace within which multiple financial backers, grouped in syndicates, come together to pool and spread risk.” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Iran’s system was designed to eliminate usury and align finance with real economic activity and risk-sharing rather than speculative debt. It has long been viewed as structurally incompatible with the interest-based, collateral-heavy architecture of City of London and Wall Street finance — an architecture that requires perpetual debt servicing and easily rehypothecated assets to feed the derivatives machine. 

By rejecting interest at the national level, Iran has thus insulated itself and its financial partners from the control grid that has made the global “Great Taking” possible……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

But the immediate need in the current context is to settle the conflict with Iran, and settle it fast, before another black-swan shock ignites the derivatives daisy chain and activates the final Great Taking on a global scale. https://scheerpost.com/2026/04/10/all-wars-are-bankers-wars-iran-and-the-bankers-endgame/

Ellen Brown is an American author, attorney, and activist known for her work on financial reform and public banking. She is the founder of the Public Banking Institute and the author of books like Web of Debt and The Public Bank Solution, advocating for publicly owned banking systems.

April 14, 2026 Posted by | business and costs, Iran | Leave a comment

The World Can Have Peace Or Israel, But Not Both

And Other Notes

Caitlin Johnstone, Apr 09, 2026, https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-world-can-have-peace-or-israel?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=193682839&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

Israel is already aggressively sabotaging the Trump administration’s two-week ceasefire with Iran by slaughtering huge numbers of civilians in Lebanon, a nation which is explicitly off-limits for any attack under the ceasefire conditions agreed to by Tehran.

The US and Israel are trying to claim that Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire agreement, but Pakistan, whom the US appointed to mediate the agreement, says this is false. The New York Times reports that the White House took part in Pakistan’s public messaging which explicitly included Lebanon in the ceasefire conditions, before changing its tune after Israel attacked.

Iran has reportedly responded to these violations by again halting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

This serves as yet another reminder that the world can have peace or it can have Israel — but it cannot have both. Israel is a genocidal apartheid state whose entire existence is premised upon a strategy of unceasing violence and abuse in the middle east. As long as that state continues to exist in its present iteration, peace will never be attainable.

❖

If your job hired a guy who kept getting into fights with your coworkers and saying it’s because they are racist against him, for a week you might believe him.

After a month, you’d have doubts.

After two months, you’d realize he’s probably just an asshole.

Israel has been doing this for eighty years.

Democrats in the House and Senate are finally moving on a War Powers Act to stop the US president from going to war with Iran, and I’d say better late than never but at this point that would barely even be true.

Democrats like Chuck Schumer and Chris Murphy are currently slamming the president not for his horrifying mass atrocities in Iran but for losing the Strait of Hormuz and failing to achieve objectives like completely disarming their conventional missile program.

As I have said here previously, it’s clear that the reason the Democratic Party failed to oppose Trump’s warmongering with Iran was because they supported it too.

The actual, official 2024 Democratic Party platform accused Trump of “fecklessness and weakness” for failing to go to war with Iran during his first term. Kamala Harris labeled Iran the #1 enemy of the United States. In their 2024 debate, Harris repeatedly slammed Trump for being too soft on America’s enemies and announced that she “will always give Israel the ability to defend itself, in particular as it relates to Iran and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel.”

I’ve seen a lot of people trying to argue that Trump’s depravity in Iran proves everyone should support Democrats, but it’s clear the Democratic Party is just the more polite-looking face on the same evil power structure.

The Grayzone’s Wyatt Reed has an article out about a freakish BBC article which cited an anonymous Iranian who allegedly told them he supports the US and Israel “hitting energy infrastructure, using an atomic bomb, or leveling Iran.” Following public outcry, the quote was removed and replaced with completely different words — initially without any editor’s note of any kind.

Reed documents how the BBC reporter behind the story, Ghoncheh Habibiazad, is a London-based Iranian monarchist with an extensive history of agitating for regime change war against her home country, including with the US government propaganda operation Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Last month The Times ran an article titled “Some Iranians say one thing’s worse than bombs: no bombs”. Western powers are always aggressively pushing this self-evidently false claim that people in empire-targeted countries want bombs dropped on them, in much the same way slavery proponents argued that Africans were happiest as slaves because God made it their nature to serve.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it’s impossible to have enough disdain for the western press.

April 14, 2026 Posted by | Israel, politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Israel Carpet Bombs Lebanon After Announcement of Iran Ceasefire

Israeli forces announced on Wednesday that it struck 100 sites in Lebanon over 10 minutes.

By Sharon Zhang , Truthout, April 8, 2026

Israeli forces launched some of the most intense bombardments of Lebanon in recent years on Wednesday, striking Beirut and towns and cities across the country just hours after a ceasefire deal that reportedly includes Lebanon was announced.

The Israeli military announced on Wednesday that it targeted over 100 sites with strikes over just the course of 10 minutes in Lebanon. The UN also reported that it has recorded over 60 locations struck. The intensity of the strikes was unprecedented in recent times, one Al Jazeera reporter said, reminiscent of the scale of Israel’s invasion of Beirut in 1982 or Israel’s beeper attack in 2024.

Video of the strikes circulated online. One showed a massive fire in the wreckage of destroyed buildings in Beirut, sending plumes of dark smoke into the air. Another video purportedly taken in Beirut showed the top floors of a building completely destroyed and smoking, while the streets below were covered in flaming debris…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Since the latest escalation in Lebanon on March 2, Israeli strikes have killed over 1,450 people, including 126 children, Lebanese officials have said. Israel’s bombardments and expanded ground invasion have displaced 1.2 million people, or over a fifth of the population, in just weeks. https://truthout.org/articles/israel-carpet-bombs-lebanon-after-announcement-of-iran-ceasefire/

April 14, 2026 Posted by | Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

100 Strikes in 10 Minutes: Lebanon Bombed as Gaza Burns and Journalists Are Killed

April 8, 2026 , Joshua Scheer, https://scheerpost.com/2026/04/08/100-strikes-in-10-minutes-lebanon-bombed-as-gaza-burns-and-journalists-are-killed/

Al Jazeera English reports that Israel has carried out one of its most intense assaults on Lebanon since March 2, unleashing a rapid and coordinated wave of airstrikes that hit roughly 100 locations in just 10 minutes on April 8. The scale and سرعة of the bombardment underscore a sharp escalation in the conflict, raising urgent concerns about civilian safety, infrastructure destruction, and the potential for a wider regional crisis. The strikes reflect not only a show of overwhelming military force but also a deepening instability that threatens to push the situation beyond containment, with devastating humanitarian consequences to follow.

With more from Eye on Palestine reports extensive destruction following an intense and unprecedented wave of Israeli bombardment, with more than 100 airstrikes striking the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and multiple مناطق across the country. The масштаб and ferocity of the attacks have left widespread devastation in their wake, raising alarm over civilian casualties and the deepening humanitarian crisis as entire neighborhoods are reduced to rubble.

The killing of journalists is not collateral damage—it is the silencing of truth in real time.

While Israeli forces were busy carrying out attacks on Lebanon today, they also found time to kill yet another journalist. In 2025 alone, more than 120 journalists were killed worldwide, with the Committee to Protect Journalists reporting that Israel was directly responsible for two-thirds of those deaths. This is an unspeakable record—one that must not be ignored, but exposed and condemned.

Today on April 8, 2026, in Gaza City, Mohammed Washah, a correspondent for Al Jazeera, was killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted his vehicle along Al-Rashid Street in western Gaza. He was not on a battlefield carrying a weapon—he was documenting one, doing the work of bearing witness as the world watched from afar.

His killing comes amid a day of overwhelming devastation across Gaza, where relentless bombardment has reduced neighborhoods to rubble, overwhelmed hospitals, and pushed civilians deeper into crisis. The scale and intensity of today’s attacks reflect a pattern of destruction that extends beyond military targets, raising urgent questions about the protection of civilians, journalists, and the very possibility of reporting from within the strip.

When journalists are killed, it is not only a life lost—it is a lens shattered. It is fewer images, fewer stories, fewer truths reaching the outside world. And in that silence, destruction becomes easier to carry out, and harder to challenge.

What is unfolding in Gaza and Lebanon cannot be viewed as separate crises—they are chapters of the same expanding catastrophe. From the shattered streets of Gaza City to the bombed neighborhoods of Beirut, the pattern is unmistakable: overwhelming force, collapsing civilian infrastructure, and entire populations pushed deeper into fear and displacement. The scale of destruction across both غزة and لبنان signals not just parallel conflicts, but a widening regional trauma where the lines between battlefield and المدني life are erased. As the violence stretches across borders, so too does the human cost—binding these tragedies together in a single, escalating reality that the world can no longer afford to treat in isolation. Even as the opposition party in the United States—the Democratic Party—refuses to even say the words

April 14, 2026 Posted by | Gaza, Israel, media, weapons and war | Leave a comment

A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks.

8 April 2026,
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560

A good documentary on Chernobyl was on SBS tonight, available On Demand for the next 4 weeks.

A lot of original footage and interviews.

So many lies and coverups by the Soviet Union. Doctors were forbidden from diagnosing health issues caused by radiation and said people instead had “radiophobia”.

I remember originally seeing the scenes of the “bio-robot liquidators” – young army men who shoveled radioactive debris off the roof after the German robot failed. 80% of them died. It was heartbreaking.

8.4 million Soviet people were exposed to radiation. It’s unknown how many died, but it’s estimated at 200,000. though the official death toll is 31, which pro-nukers like to shout about.

April 14, 2026 Posted by | media, Russia | Leave a comment

27 April –  Bangor University UK  Dr David Toke talks on Chernobyl & Fukushima

Come to Neuadd Rathbone, College Road, Bangor University, Monday evening
27 April at 6:00 pm to a special meeting organised by CADNO/PAWB to note
that 15 years have passed since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and 40
years since the nuclear explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in
Ukraine which led to many European countries being polluted, including
Cymru. Photographs taken by the photographer Lis Fields of the effects of
the Fukushima disaster will be on display and we hope to have her company
online. The evening’s main speaker will be the campaigning academic, Dr
David Toke from Aberdeen University. David has written extensively about
the dangers of nuclear power and its extortionate cost. He also has strong
warnings for us about modular nuclear reactors such as the one Rolls Royce
wants to build at Wylfa

 PAWB 10th April 2026, https://www.stop-wylfa.org/

April 14, 2026 Posted by | Events, UK | Leave a comment

Xi–Zheng Meeting Sends Clear Signal: Peaceful Reunification Framed as Strategic Imperative for Chia’s Future

Author: Xu Jijun, founder of Han Tang Zhi Ku Analytical Centre, Apr 10, 2026

On the morning of 10 April 2026, inside the East Hall of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, met Zheng Liwen, Chair of the Kuomintang. The encounter marked the first meeting between leaders of the two parties in a decade. It unfolded at a moment of mounting global instability and heightened tensions across the Taiwan Strait, giving it both historical weight and immediate political relevance.

The meeting was not merely ceremonial. It articulated a shared position that people on both sides of the Strait seek peace and oppose division. It also set out a political direction aimed at returning cross-Strait relations to a path of peaceful development, with the stated goal of eventual peaceful reunification.

A venue heavy with history

For mainland observers, the deeper meaning of the Xi–Zheng meeting is tied closely to its setting. The East Hall has hosted landmark moments in China’s modern history, including events linked to the return of Hong Kong and Macau. Its reuse for high-level dialogue between representatives of the two sides of the Strait carries unmistakable symbolism.

The message conveyed is straightforward. Both sides belong to one China, and Taiwan is regarded as an inseparable part of it. External complexities do not alter this premise. Questions concerning the Chinese nation are framed as matters to be resolved internally, with peaceful dialogue presented as the appropriate course.

A world defined by conflict

The significance of the meeting becomes clearer when placed against the current global backdrop. Armed conflicts in recent years have illustrated the scale of destruction associated with modern warfare.

The Russia–Ukraine conflict continues to impose heavy losses. According to the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE Institute), in its March 2026 assessment, Ukraine has suffered cumulative income losses of approximately 1.7 trillion US dollars since the escalation of hostilities in 2022, including projected losses through the end of 2026. Urban areas have been devastated, energy infrastructure repeatedly targeted, millions displaced, and environmental damage described as long-lasting.

Since February 2026, military action by the United States and Israel against Iran has produced similarly severe consequences. Around 80 per cent of Iran’s air defence systems have been destroyed, along with more than 450 missile installations. Its capacity for ballistic missile retaliation has reportedly fallen by 90 per cent. Production lines for “Shahed” unmanned aerial vehicles have been eliminated, reducing output by 85 per cent. The Iranian navy has seen approximately 160 vessels sunk or disabled, its naval headquarters destroyed, and its control over the Persian Gulf lost. Up to 90 per cent of the defence industrial base, including key shipyards, has been destroyed.

After just 38 days of conflict, Iran’s military capability, built over four decades, has been largely dismantled. Regional shipping has been disrupted, energy markets have experienced sharp volatility, tens of thousands have been killed, and millions displaced. Regional stability has effectively collapsed.

These developments illustrate the destructive potential of modern high-technology warfare. Precision-guided munitions, drone swarms, and long-range strike systems can disable power supplies, destroy transport infrastructure, contaminate land, and set back economic and social development by decades in a matter of weeks.

Taiwan and the global economy

Against this background, the text argues that any attempt to pursue “Taiwan independence” carries serious risks. A conflict in the Taiwan Strait would likely exceed the scale and impact of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Taiwan occupies a central position in the global semiconductor industry. Firms such as TSMC hold a dominant share of advanced manufacturing capacity. In the event of war, supply chains would be disrupted immediately.

Simulations by international institutions suggest that, in a worst-case scenario, global GDP could fall by nearly 10 per cent in the first year of a Taiwan Strait conflict. Economic losses could reach 10.6 trillion US dollars, equivalent to around 333 trillion New Taiwan dollars. Taiwan’s own economy could contract by as much as 40 per cent. The shock would be felt across mainland China, the United States, Japan, South Korea, and the European Union.

The military consequences would be severe. High-density missile strikes, electronic warfare, and naval and air blockades could lead to large-scale destruction of infrastructure on the island. Casualties would be significant, while environmental and humanitarian damage could prove irreversible. Given the close social and cultural ties between people on both sides of the Strait, any armed confrontation would result in profound human cost. Regional tensions would escalate rapidly, posing risks to stability in East Asia and beyond.

Political signalling and red lines

Within this framework, the position presented is that “Taiwan independence” represents a path with no viable outcome. It is described as running counter to shared interests and broader historical trends.

The alternative, as outlined, lies in adherence to the 1992 Consensus and opposition to separatism. Zheng Liwen’s visit, described as a “journey for peace”, emphasised the notion of cross-Strait kinship and was framed as aligning with public sentiment and prevailing conditions.

The meeting between the leaderships of the Communist Party and the Kuomintang reaffirmed a shared political foundation. It also conveyed a clear warning that any attempt at secession would meet firm opposition from the Chinese population as a whole and would carry significant costs.

Peaceful reunification and national strategy

eaceful reunification is presented as both a collective aspiration and a structural requirement for what is described as the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”. It is framed as a pathway to shared economic benefits and improved living standards for people in Taiwan within a broader national framework.

The argument also stresses its role in preventing war, preserving stability, and enabling joint prosperity. At a regional and global level, it is depicted as contributing to stability in the Asia-Pacific and demonstrating China’s role as a responsible major power.

Historical experience is cited to support this position. Periods characterised by adherence to the One China principle and the promotion of peaceful cross-Strait relations have coincided with stability and active exchanges. By contrast, deviations from this approach have led to tension and economic disruption.

A milestone with wider implications

The Xi–Zheng meeting is thus framed as another milestone in the trajectory of cross-Strait relations. It highlights what is described as the mainland’s consistent commitment to the principle that both sides form one family, alongside a stated willingness to pursue peaceful reunification with sincerity.

For the international community, the meeting is presented as an example of the principle that China’s internal affairs should be resolved domestically. It offers a contrast to conflict-driven approaches that have produced severe consequences in other regions.

The conclusion drawn is one of confidence. With sustained efforts on both sides of the Strait, the prospect of peaceful reunification is portrayed as increasingly attainable. The broader objective, the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, is framed as a long-term historical trajectory.

No external force, the argument suggests, will ultimately be able to obstruct this course.

Conclusion

Peaceful reunification is presented as beneficial in the present and significant for generations to come. The current moment is described as a critical historical opportunity. By deepening economic integration, expanding cultural exchange, and strengthening cooperation in social development, both sides of the Strait are encouraged to move towards closer family ties, more integrated industries, broader opportunities for younger generations, and greater shared prosperity.

The overarching message is clear. The opportunity should be seized in the interests of people on both sides of the Strait and in pursuit of a more stable and prosperous future linked to the wider project of national rejuvenation.

April 14, 2026 Posted by | China, politics international, Taiwan | Leave a comment

Finland’s plan to bury spent nuclear waste carries risk to future generations.

Overall, the risks associated with nuclear waste repositories will mainly affect “future generations,”

“…………………After decades of construction, the world’s first facility for permanently disposing spent nuclear fuel is set to begin operations in Finland, becoming a final resting place for tons of dangerous radioactive waste.

Construction of Onkalo – which means “cave” in Finnish – began on the west coast in 2004. It sits on the secluded island of Olkiluoto, in a dense wooded area. The closest town is Eurajoki, about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) inland, which is home to about 9,000 people. Many work at the nuclear power plant or storage facility.

The 1 billion euro ($1.2 billion) project could soon become operational, with authorities expected to grant a license within months.

The Associated Press took a tour of the facilities where humans soon will not be allowed to tread.

Pere said the site – near three of Finland´s five nuclear reactors – was chosen for its migmatite-gneiss bedrock, which is known for its high stability and low risk of earthquakes.

“It´s the isolation from civilization and mankind on the surface that´s important,” he said, standing in a darkened disposal tunnel, soon to be sealed from humanity. “We can dispose of the waste more safely than by storing it in facilities located on the ground.”

Using unmanned machinery at a nearby encapsulation plant, radioactive rods will be sealed in copper canisters and then buried deep in tunnels over 400 meters underground, then packed in with “buffer” layers of water-absorbing bentonite clay.

Posiva, the company responsible for the long-term management of Finland’s spent nuclear fuels, says Onkalo can store 6,500 tons of spent nuclear fuel.

The final disposal canisters are designed to remain sealed “long enough for the radioactivity of spent fuel to decrease to a level not harmful to the environment,” it said………………………………….

Posiva estimate it will take hundreds of thousands of years before the radioactivity falls to normal, background levels.

According to a 2022 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, almost 400,000 tons of spent fuel have been produced globally since the 1950s, with two-thirds remaining in temporary storage and one third being recycled in a complex process.

The world´s spent nuclear fuel is currently temporarily stored inside spent nuclear fuel pools at individual reactors and at dry cask storage sites above ground.

There is currently no permanent underground disposal facility for commercial nuclear waste operational anywhere in the world. Sweden began building a repository in Forsmark – about 150 kilometers north of Stockholm – last year, but it´s not expected to open until the late 2030s. France´s Cigéo project is yet to begin construction and has seen opposition.

The Onkalo facility is expected to operate until the 2120s, when it will be permanently sealed.

But Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, an American nonprofit organization, warned that geologic disposal of nuclear waste is still fraught with “uncertainties.”

“My view of nuclear waste disposal is that there´s no good option, but it´s important to find the least bad option, and geologic disposal in general is going to be the least bad option among a range of, you know, bad options,” he said.

Lyman said that the copper canisters that contain the spent nuclear fuel will eventually corrode, adding that there are different scientific opinions about how fast that could happen.

“The hope is that is such a slow process that most of the radioactive material will have decayed away by then. But again, there are uncertainties,” he said.

Still, Lyman said that permanently storing spent nuclear fuel deep underground is better than “leaving it on the surface of the Earth forever,” because nuclear material kept above ground “is vulnerable to sabotage.”

“For many decades after spent fuel is discharged from a reactor, it´s so radioactive that it makes transporting and reprocessing very difficult,” Lyman said. But eventually the main radioactive component will decay, he added, making it less risky to handle.

“So over time the plutonium becomes more accessible either to terrorists or to a country that may want to use it,” he said, adding that the only way a terrorist — or a state — could theoretically use the material for a nuclear bomb would be if they had “an off-site reprocessing capability.”

During reprocessing, spent nuclear fuel is separated to recover uranium and plutonium to recycle it for use in new fuel. The process also carries proliferation risks because the separated plutonium could potentially be diverted to build a nuclear weapon.

Overall, the risks associated with nuclear waste repositories will mainly affect “future generations,” Lyman concluded.

To deal with this challenge, an interdisciplinary field of study called nuclear semiotics has been established that looks into developing warning signs about nuclear waste repositories that can be understood by humans 10,000 years from now – or much longer given that it takes hundreds of thousands of years before nuclear waste is no longer dangerous.

For reference: the first humans lived around 300,000 years ago. The earliest writing system was developed in Mesopotamia roughly 5,200 to 5,400 years ago. Stonehenge in Britain is around 5,000 years old, while the Giza pyramids in Egypt are approximately 4,500 years old……………………………………………………….. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-15717853/Finlands-plan-bury-spent-nuclear-waste-carries-risk-future-generations.html

April 13, 2026 Posted by | Finland, wastes | Leave a comment

Trump pivots from “destroying Iranian civilization” to complete surrender in one day


Walt Zlotow  West Suburban Peace Coalition  Glen Ellyn IL , Apr 8, 2026, https://theaimn.net/trump-pivots-from-destroying-iranian-civilization-to-complete-surrender-in-one-day/

Even a mentally degraded Donald Trump had to face reality. The US lost the war intended to destroy Iran as a hegemonic rival to Israel in the region.

He cancelled his announced war crimes to “destroy Iranian civilization” and agreed to a two week ceasefire as a prelude for negotiating permanent peace based on Iran’s 10 point peace plan. Note that is not Trump’s 15 point peace plan which would have given Trump complete victory.

Here’s some of what Trump’s ceasefire acknowledges.

A guarantee that Iran will not be attacked again.

A permanent end to the war, not just a ceasefire.

An end to Israeli strikes in Lebanon and against Iranian allies.

The lifting of all US sanctions on Iran.

Iran agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz

US to leave the Middle East

End to US sanctions on Iran and release of frozen Iranian assets

In his delusional state, Trump announced the cease fire due to his astonishing claim his “war has already met and all Military objectives, and we are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning long term PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East.”


Iran announced the ceasefire “does not signify the termination of the war. Our hands remain upon the trigger, and should the slightest error be committed by the enemy, it shall be met with full force,”

Major hurtles must be overcome before the ceasefire holds and genuine peace can be negotiated. Israel is horrified by this development upending their 4 decade lust to destroy its Iranian hegemonic rival. It’s reported they are still bombing Iran and Iran is retaliating. No keen observer is optimistic the ceasefire will hold.

But it is not likely the US, clearly defeated in every make up war aim they floated to justify criminal war that killed thousands, damaged every US base in the region, brought the worst damage to Israel in its 78 years, and is crushing the world economy, can ever restart this deranged madness.

But with Trump in charge…you can never say never.

April 13, 2026 Posted by | Iran, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Tony Blair’s latest deceit-riddled column vilifies the UK left to justify genocide

Britain former PM shows there’s no price to be paid for engineering mass slaughter in the service of western empire. Which is why those crimes not only continue, but grow in scale

Jonathan Cook, Apr 08, 2026

Tony Blair, the man who led Britain into a disastrous and illegal war on Iraq more than 20 years ago based on false information, is still very much a sought-after commentator in the UK media.

His regular political pronouncements are treated as pearls of wisdom; his columns as consequential insights from a globe-striding elder statesman.

Even his leading role on Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, the US president’s panel of autocrats seeking to elbow the United Nations – and international law – off the world stage, appears to have done little to dent his claim to moral authority.

Blair, more than anybody, illustrates the capacity of western leaders – with the help of a complicit establishment media – to rewrite their criminal past and escape accountability in perpetuity.

The former British prime minister’s latest political intervention is a lengthy, and typically repugnant, article published by the Sunday Times newspaper. It effectively blames “the left” for an arson attack last month on four ambulances owned by a Jewish charity in London.

No, Blair hasn’t unearthed any startling new information tying leftwingers to the attack. His article is a pure disinformation – propaganda designed to malign those critical of Israel.

More on that in a moment.

But as a prelude, let us note that there are many terrible things going on in the world right now that might be considered more pressing for Blair to write about than the torching of a handful of ambulances: whether it be a genocide in Gaza – where Israel destroyed not just four ambulances but the enclave’s entire health sector – or an illegal, joint US-Israeli war on Iran that has similarly targeted medical centres and other civilian infrastructure.

Twisted logic

Blair once served as a Middle East envoy to an international body known as the Quartet. In that role, he spent several years shuttling futilely between his eponymous institute in London and Israel and the Palestinian territories.

There are, however, two self-evident reasons why Blair may have been averse to dedicating his latest column to the catastrophes unfolding in the Middle East.

First, because his close allies – the leaders of the US and Israel – are indisputably the ones committing the crimes of genocide and aggression respectively in Gaza and Iran.

And second, because Blair was himself responsible for launching, alongside the US, a war of aggression on Iraq in 2003.

But it is not just that Blair is in no position to moralise on matters of the utmost global importance.

He has made it his primary duty in public life to excuse the West’s supreme crimes – crimes that, were there meaningful accountability for western leaders, would necessitate that he stand trial at the international war crimes court in the Hague.

That is the context for understanding both why Blair penned his column on the arson attack in London and the twisted logic that underpins his argument in that article.

Dirty war

Anyone who has studied Blair’s back-catalogue of opinion pieces will hardly be surprised by the Sunday Times headline: “We must end left’s unholy alliance with the Islamists.”

Or its subhead: “Parts of the left cast Jewish communities as supporters of Israel and Jews become ‘fair game’.”

Although the article ostensibly concerns an arson attack on a Jewish community ambulance service in London, Blair has much larger – carefully veiled – ambitions.

This is his latest manoeuvre in a dirty war to silence and crush Britain’s progressive left – waged by those, like Blair, who duplicitiously claim both to belong to that left and to serve as its natural leaders.

Blair is central to a cabal of so-called Atlanticists who view the world in Manichean terms, as “a clash of civilisations” between a supposedly superior, enlightened Judeo-Christian West, led by the US, and a backward, primitive Islamic East, now, it seems, led de facto by Iran.

Israel is presented as a first line of defence against this dangerous “Muslim” enemy.

Everything for Blair is seen through this racist prism.

He would sound more obviously like some Victorian, pith-helmeted empire-builder were it not for the fact that his fundamental, and fundamentalist, worldview continues to be shared by the entire UK ruling class, including the billionaire-owned media and the main political parties.

And for good reason. A Britain belonging to a “superior” West can openly aid Israel’s genocidal campaign of carpet-bombing and starvation in Gaza, and loan air bases to assist the US in its illegal war of aggression on Iran, and still pretend to itself that this is all being done “defensively”.

Christendom is still, apparently, “defending” itself against the rampaging barbarian hordes.

Achilles’ heel

In fact, Blair’s column in the Sunday Times should be seen as another front in a continuing war being waged by British prime minister Keir Starmer – a disciple of Blair – on the Corbynite left.

Their joint aim is to shepherd back into the Atlanticist fold a Labour party that supposedly lost its way under Starmer’s predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.

Corbyn’s crime was to have taken Labour towards internationalism – and the prioritising of human rights for all, not just westerners. That project necessarily entailed treating British Muslims as an integral part of British society, no less than British Jews.

Corbyn’s politics were an ideological assault on – and continue to pose a threat to – the Blair-Starmer worldview.

In other words, Blair’s article is part of a running battle – as the British establishment’s claim to moral authority is steadily eroded by its collusion in Israeli and US crimes – to prevent the progressive left ever reviving its political fortunes.

With the help of the Israel lobby, Blair and his ilk believe they have identified the achilles’ heel of a British left determined to highlight a brutal US-led western imperialism and its inherent hypocrisies.

The goal is to crop out the left’s increasingly persuasive critique of US imperialism and zoom in instead on the left’s parallel criticisms of Israel: its apartheid rule over Palestinians, its ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, and its genocidal campaign of destruction in Gaza.

Blair wishes to wave all this away, as if wielding a magic wand, by labelling it as “antisemitism”.

After that move worked so successfully in fatally wounding Corbyn as Labour leader, Blair and Starmer assume the same smear can be repurposed more generally – in this case, to implicate an undefined “left” over the torching of a handful of ambulances.

It goes without saying, that in prioritising the suppression of the left’s critiques of western imperialism, Blair and Starmer are leaving the door wide open to a resurgence by the far-right – which indeed is antisemitic.

That should serve as a reminder that Blair, Starmer and the rest of the British establishment have no real concern for the welfare of the Jewish community they profess to be protecting.

If the Jewish community turns out to be collateral damage in their war on the left, then so be it.

‘New antisemitism’

In the article itself, Blair argues that a so-called left-wing antisemitism “is a pernicious and novel development in progressive politics: the alliance with Islamists”.

First, notice the sleight of hand. British Muslims who, quite reasonably, are deeply critical of Israel because its army has been committing for decades war crimes with impunity against their extended families are reduced here simply to “Islamists”.

Blair is doing to Muslims precisely what he accuses – falsely – the left of doing to Jews. He is conflating Muslims, a religious group, with Islamists, champions of an extreme political ideology…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Blair appears to be excusing Israel’s starvation of the 2.3 million people of Gaza, half of them children.

According to Blair, no one, not even the progressive left, should be allowed to criticise an Israeli siege that has blocked food, water, fuel and medicines to Gaza – unless they first justify that blockade as essential to Israel’s “security”.

Again, maybe he needs to have a word with the judges of the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Because they are seeking Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, on charges of crimes against humanity over his efforts to starve Gaza’s population……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

What Blair wants is for the left to be utterly silenced so that its protests do not rouse uncomfortable twinges of guilt forcibly reminding him that long ago he became a soulless creature of the West’s war machine.

It is not just that Blair has faced no consequences for his criminal undertaking in Iraq. He has instead become fabulously wealthy, venerated by western establishments, and an oracle for an equally complicit, billionaire-owned media…………………………… https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/blairs-latest-deceit-riddled-column

April 13, 2026 Posted by | media, UK | Leave a comment

« Previous Entries