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

UK’s Nuclear Waste Service has said that a willing community could trump unsuitable geology.

 NWS is on record as saying that a willing community could trump unsuitable
geology. Nuclear Waste Services have taken this decision to withdraw
Allerdale without carrying out seismic blasting in the Solway area to
‘investigate the geology.’

We believe that this is because of the
vigorous campaign we have led against the invasive and damaging seismic
testing by Nuclear Waste Services and the bad publicity this has generated
for the nuclear dump plans.

For more analysis and opportunities to resist
the ongoing nightmare of a massive, deep and very hot nuclear dump (or more
than one what with all the even hotter new nuclear waste this government is
planning) please visit our new campaign site Lakes Against Nuclear Dump

 Radiation Free Lakeland 4th Oct 2023

October 7, 2023 Posted by | UK, wastes | Leave a comment

Jeffrey Sachs: Beyond the Neocon Debacle in #Ukraine

October 4, 2023  https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/04/jeffrey-sachs-beyond-the-neocon-debacle-in-ukraine/

Four events have shattered NATO’s drive for enlargement eastward. Now, decisions by the U.S. and Russia will matter enormously for the entire world’s peace, security and wellbeing.

By Jeffrey D. Sachs, Common Dreams

We are entering the end stage of the 30-year U.S. neoconservative debacle in Ukraine. The neocon plan to surround Russia in the Black Sea region by NATO has failed. Decisions now by the U.S. and Russia will matter enormously for peace, security, and wellbeing for the entire world.

Four events have shattered the neocon hopes for NATO enlargement eastward, to Ukraine, Georgia, and onward. 

The first is straightforward. Ukraine has been devastated on the battlefield, with tragic and appalling losses. Russia is winning the war of attrition, an outcome that was predictable from the start but which the neocons and mainstream media continue to deny. 

The second is the collapsing support in Europe for the U.S. neocon strategy. Poland no longer speaks with Ukraine. Hungary has long opposed the neocons. Slovakia has elected an anti-neocon government. E.U. leaders — including French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Spain’s Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and others — have disapproval ratings far higher than approvals. 

The third is the cut in U.S. financial support for Ukraine. The grassroots of the Republican Party, several GOP presidential candidates and a growing number of Republican members of Congress oppose more spending on Ukraine. In the stop-gap bill to keep the government running, Republicans stripped away new financial support for Ukraine. The White House has called for new aid legislation, but this will be an uphill fight. 

The fourth, and most urgent from Ukraine’s point of view, is the likelihood of a Russian offensive. Ukraine’s casualties are in the hundreds of thousands, and Ukraine has burned through its artillery, air defenses, tanks and other heavy weapons. Russia is likely to follow with a massive offensive.

The neocons have created utter disasters in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and now Ukraine. The U.S. political system has not yet held the neocons to account, since foreign policy is carried out with little public or congressional scrutiny to date. Mainstream media have sided with the slogans of the neocons. 

Ukraine is at risk of economic, demographic and military collapse. What should the U.S. government do to face this potential disaster? 

Urgently, it should change course. Britain advises the U.S. to escalate, as Britain is stuck with 19th-century imperial reveries. U.S. neocons are stuck with imperial bravado. Cooler heads urgently need to prevail. 

President Joe Biden should immediately inform President Vladimir Putin that the U.S. will end NATO enlargement eastward if the U.S. and Russia reach a new agreement on security arrangements. By ending NATO expansion, the U.S. can still save Ukraine from the policy debacles of the past 30 years. 

Biden should agree to negotiate a security arrangement of the kind, though not precise details, of Putin’s proposals of Dec. 17, 2021. Biden foolishly refused to negotiate with Putin in December 2021. It’s time to negotiate now. 

There are four keys to an agreement. First, as part of an overall deal, Biden should agree that NATO will not enlarge eastward, but not reverse the past NATO enlargement. NATO would of course not tolerate Russian encroachments in existing NATO states. Both Russia and the U.S. would pledge to avoid provocations near Russia’s borders, including provocative missile placement, military exercises and the like. 

Second, the new U.S.-Russia security agreement should cover nuclear weapons. The U.S. unilateral withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, followed by the placement of Aegis missiles in Poland and Romania, gravely inflamed tensions, which were further exacerbated by the U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate Nuclear Force Agreement in 2019 and Russia’s suspension of the New Start Treaty in 2023.

Russian leaders have repeatedly pointed to U.S. missiles near Russia, unconstrained by the abandoned ABM Treaty, as a dire threat to Russia’s national security. 

Third, Russia and Ukraine would agree on new borders, in which the overwhelmingly ethnic Russian Crimea and heavily ethnic Russian districts of eastern Ukraine would remain part of Russia. The border changes would be accompanied by security guarantees for Ukraine backed unanimously by the U.N. Security Council and other states such as Germany, Turkey and India. 

Fourth, as part of a settlement, the U.S., Russia, and the E.U. would re-establish trade, finance, cultural exchange and tourist relations. It’s certainly time once again to hear Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky in U.S. and European concert halls. 

Border changes are a last resort and should be made under the auspices of the U.N. Security Council. They must never be an invitation to further territorial demands, such as by Russia regarding ethnic Russians in other countries. Yet borders change, and the U.S. has recently backed two border changes.

NATO bombed Serbia for 47 days until it relinquished the Albanian-majority region of Kosovo. In 2008, the U.S. recognized Kosovo as a sovereign nation. The U.S. government similarly backed South Sudan’s insurgency to break away from Sudan. 


If Russia, Ukraine, or the U.S. subsequently violated the new agreement, they would be challenging the rest of the world. As President John F. Kennedy once observed, “even the most hostile nations can be relied upon to accept and keep those treaty obligations, and only those treaty obligations, which are in their own interest.” 

The U.S. neocons carry much blame for undermining Ukraine’s 1991 borders. Russia did not claim Crimea until after the U.S.-backed overthrow of Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. Nor did Russia annex the Donbass after 2014, instead calling on Ukraine to honor the U.N.-backed Minsk II agreement, based on autonomy for the Donbass. The neocons preferred to arm Ukraine to retake the Donbass by force rather than grant the Donbass autonomy. 


The long-term key to peace in Europe is collective security as called for by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). 

According to OSCE agreements, OSCE member states “will not strengthen their security at the expense of the security of other States.” 

Neocon unilateralism undermined Europe’s collective security by pushing NATO enlargement without regard to third parties, notably Russia. Europe — including the E.U., Russia and Ukraine — needs more OSCE and less neocon unilateralism as key to lasting peace in Europe.


Jeffrey D. Sachs
 is a university professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he directed The Earth Institute from 2002 until 2016. He is also president of the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a commissioner of the U.N. Broadband Commission for Development. He has been adviser to three United Nations secretaries-general, and currently serves as an SDG Advocate under Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Sachs is the author, most recently, of A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism (2020). Other books include: Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair, and Sustainable (2017) and The Age of Sustainable Development, (2015) with Ban Ki-moon.

October 6, 2023 Posted by | politics international, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Britain Has Run Out of Military Equipment to Give #Ukraine

A British military source told The Telegraph: ‘We’ve given away just about as much as we can afford.’

By Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/04/britain-has-run-out-of-military-equipment-to-give-ukraine/

The UK has run out of military equipment that it can give to Ukraine, according to a senior British military source speaking to The Telegraph.

“We’ve given away just about as much as we can afford,” the unnamed source told the paper, adding that the UK had a role to play in encouraging other nations to continue arming Ukraine.

“We will continue to source equipment to provide for Ukraine, but what they need now is things like air defense assets and artillery ammunition, and we’ve run dry on all that,” the source said.

The UK has been a staunch supporter of the proxy war in Ukraine and has led many escalations in NATO support, including the provision of Storm Shadow cruise missiles, which have a range of 155 miles, and toxic depleted uranium ammunition for use with British-made Challenger 2 tanks.

The Telegraph report came after Ben Wallace, who resigned as defense secretary last month, said he urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to spend billions more so Britain could overtake Germany as Ukraine’s top supporter in Europe. The source speaking to The Telegraph said the onus should not be on London to provide the “billions” Wallace has called for. “Giving billions more doesn’t mean giving billions of British kit,” the source said.

The UK’s lack of arms for Ukraine is the latest sign that NATO support for the proxy war is fracturing. Poland recently declared it would no longer provide Ukraine with weapons over a grain spat, Slovakia elected a candidate who campaigned on ending military support for Ukraine, and Congress still has yet to authorize the additional $24 billion in spending on the war that President Biden is seeking.

October 6, 2023 Posted by | UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

NATO member calls for ‘security umbrella’ to cover #Ukraine

RT Wed, 04 Oct 2023  https://www.rt.com/russia/583994-lithuania-ukraine-nato-umbrella/

Lithuania’s foreign minister has said that Kiev must not fall into “the gray zone” of world politics

Ukraine must be covered by NATO’s security guarantees, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis insisted on Tuesday. He further urged the West, which has ploughed hundreds of billions of dollars into Ukraine, to take a firmer stance on helping Kiev achieve victory over Russia.

“Ukraine must become a NATO member. NATO’s transatlantic security umbrella must also protect those countries that were left in the gray zone of geopolitics,” Landsbergis said at a security conference in Warsaw, according to the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry.

Kiev’s backers in its conflict with Russia “must do everything to keep Ukraine within its 1991 borders on this side,” He demanded, while lauding Germany for agreeing to permanently station 4,000 troops in Lithuania. “Efforts to strengthen the eastern flank depend on our will to defend ourselves,” he said.

“When we are saying that we will help Ukraine for as long as necessary, why can’t we clearly state that we are seeking the victory of Ukraine? The victory of Ukraine must be a strategic goal for us all,” Landsbergis argued.

According to Article 5 of the NATO Charter, an armed attack on one member is automatically considered an attack against all other members.

Although NATO countries repeatedly pledged to continue providing heavy weapons and other military aid to Kiev, they fell short of granting Ukraine a clear roadmap to full membership in the US-led bloc. Ukraine formally applied to join NATO more than a year ago, but still has not received a concrete timetable for accession.

In July, President Vladimir Zelensky slammed the decision not to provide a path to membership as “unprecedented and absurd.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, however, said at the time that Kiev cannot join the alliance “in the midst of a war” with Moscow.

Russia has insisted that NATO’s continuing expansion eastward and the bloc’s military cooperation with Kiev were among the root causes of the conflict. Moscow also warned that military aid to Ukraine makes NATO members de facto participants in the conflict.

October 6, 2023 Posted by | EUROPE, politics | Leave a comment

Zelensky names battalion after 1930s fascist sympathizer

the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN)…….. Konovalets served as its first leader….. The OUN allied itself with Nazi Germany during World War II in the hope of creating a Berlin-backed Ukrainian state.

https://www.rt.com/russia/583894-konovalets-battalion-ukraine-army/ 4 Oct 23

A Ukrainian unit was bestowed with the title ‘Evgeny Konovalets’ to mark a national military holiday.

Kiev has renamed a military unit in honor of Evgeny Konovalets, the fascist sympathizer who led the Ukrainian nationalist insurgency in Poland during the 1920s. The ‘honorary title’ was bestowed by President Vladimir Zelensky last week.

According to a presidential decree published by Zelensky’s office, the 131st reconnaissance battalion of the army was given its new name as part of events connected with the Day of Defenders of Ukraine, which was marked on Sunday.

Konovalets is one of numerous historical figures who have been lionized in modern Ukraine for their roles in fighting for an independent nation state. A Galician-born veteran on the Austro-Hungarian side in World War I, he was peripherally involved in the short-lived secessionist Ukrainian People’s Republic in the late 1910s.

In 1920, Konovalets moved to Czechoslovakia, where he and other Ukrainian nationalists with combat experience founded the Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO), a paramilitary organization that was involved in the armed fight in what is now Western Ukraine.

The insurgency conducted assassination attacks against Polish officials, as well as supposed Ukrainian collaborators who supported Warsaw’s sovereignty over Galicia. The UVO existed until 1929, when it merged with other radical nationalist and fascist groups into the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). Then based in Switzerland, Konovalets served as its first leader.

The UVO’s terrorist activities against Poland were partially financed by Germany’s Abwehr military intelligence. Konovalets maintained contact with various fascist organizations in Europe and personally met Adolf Hitler in the early 1930s. According to papers published later, Konovalets expressed skepticism about the German Nazi leader in private communications with fellow nationalists.

Konovalets was assassinated in Rotterdam in 1938 by a Soviet intelligence agent. The OUN allied itself with Nazi Germany during World War II in the hope of creating a Berlin-backed Ukrainian state.

Kiev’s elevation of controversial figures was further highlighted last month, when Zelensky joined the Canadian parliament in giving a standing ovation to Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old veteran of a Nazi Waffen-SS unit. Parliament Speaker Anthony Rota, who had invited the Ukrainian-Canadian Hunka to the chamber, stepped down from his position last week after taking full responsibility for the incident.

October 5, 2023 Posted by | history, Ukraine | Leave a comment

No weapons left for Ukraine in Europe – Politico

 https://www.rt.com/russia/583947-ukraine-arms-production-politico/ 4 Oct 23

Kiev wants “self-sufficiency” as arms supplies dwindle, but will need billions in Western aid to fund it, the news outlet has said

EU countries have given Ukraine all the arms they can without compromising their own defense, Politico has reported, citing a European official. Kiev is facing cuts to both arms supplies and cash injections as “cracks appear” in Western support, according to the outlet.

“We cannot keep on giving from our own stockpiles,” the European source said as quoted on Monday. There may still be robust political support, but “we’ve given everything that will not endanger our own security.”

The comment was made to Politico as part of its coverage of last week’s International Industries Defense Forum in Kiev, during which the hosts went on a “charm offensive directed at weapons-makers,” as explained in the report.

In a separate story on Tuesday, the outlet said that support for funding the Ukrainian government was “showing more cracks than ever.”

The failure of the US Congress last week to allocate aid money in its stopgap budget, the election victory of former Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who vowed to stop assistance to Ukraine on the campaign trail, and Kiev’s ongoing diplomatic row with Poland all send “a chilling message.”

The Ukrainian government expects to receive at least $42.8 billion from international donors next year, as outlined in its projected budget.

An expected fight over the EU’s joint budget means that “no one dares to predict anything” at this point, a diplomatic source told the news outlet. Another diplomat said the “big elephant in the room” in Europe is the concern that Washington could abandon Ukraine.

The event in Kiev was part of its effort to ramp up domestic military production. Germany’s Rheinmetall and the UK-based BAE have made some commitments to open production facilities in Ukraine. Kiev’s goal is to become “an Israel in Europe – self-sufficient but with help from other countries,” Daniel Vajdich, a Washington-based advocate for Ukraine, told Politico.

President Vladimir Zelensky floated the idea of paying for the proposed build-up with “confiscated Russian assets” when he spoke at the forum. Prime Minister Denis Shmygal indicated that the proposed plants would not be safe. He said 37 of Ukraine’s own facilities have been damaged by Russian strikes.

Russian officials have stressed that foreign-funded arms manufacturing sites in Ukraine would be treated as legitimate military targets. Denis Pushilin, the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, reiterated the policy during an interview on Monday.

October 5, 2023 Posted by | EUROPE, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Protesters call on Scottish Government to withdraw spaceport support

By Ross Hunter@_Ross_Hunter, Multimedia Journalist, 4 Oct 23 #nuclear #NoNukes #anti-nuclear #nuclear-free

CAMPAIGNERS are calling on the Scottish Government to withdraw support for new spaceports in Scotland.

Protesters from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Drone Wars UK appeared outside Holyrood on Tuesday to highlight concerns about the environmental impact of the facilities and their role in bolstering militarism.

There are currently plans for at least five new spaceports in Scotland.

However, campaigners drew particular attention to three: the Saxa Vord spaceport in Unst, Shetland; the Orbex spaceport on the A’Mhoine peninsula in Sutherland; and a spaceport in North Uist being proposed by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar in conjunction with private military contractor QinetiQ.

Lynn Jamieson, the chair of the Scottish CND, said all the projects posed a threat to biodiversity.

She told The National: “The places where these rockets are set to be launched are very fragile ecosystems………………………..

“It is still carbon-based and putting it into the upper atmosphere will contribute to climate change, too.

“Taken over by militarism”


The Scottish Government has previously said that spaceports represent a “great opportunity”.

Indeed, ministers say that the country is well-placed to become “a leading European space nation”.

But Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman said that the industry in Scotland must not be permitted to prop up an increasingly militarised view of space……………………………………

A code of space ethics 

Last year, the UK Government published its Defence Space Strategy and described space as the fifth operational domain of the military alongside cyber, maritime, air and land.

The report vowed to increase military spending – which has already increased by more than £8 billion since 2020 – in order to “protect and defend our national interests in and through space”.

The UK Space Agency has also said that spaceport facilities are vital for the launch of satellites to collect data on climate change.

But Peter Burt from the campaign group Drone Wars UK told The National that a code of space ethics must be drawn up before the spaceports begin accepting contracts from the Ministry of Defence.

“The fact is that a lot of spaceport investment is military investment,” he said.

“We already know we are in real trouble with climate change; we don’t need more data to tell us that – we need action to stop it.

“The UK Space Agency, instead of greenwashing its projects, needs to come up with a code of space ethics and use that to govern the kinds of projects it invests in.”

The campaigners have appealed to the Scottish Parliament’s cross-party group on nuclear disarmament to support their calls for the Scottish Government to oppose rather than support spaceports……………………………….  https://www.thenational.scot/news/23831188.protesters-call-scottish-government-withdraw-spaceport-support/

October 5, 2023 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, UK | Leave a comment

Green Party candidate for Waverley Valley pledged to challenge UK Government over Sizewell C #nuclear

#anti-nuclear #nuclear-free #NoNukes The prospective Green Party candidate for the new Waveney Valley
constituency has pledged to challenge the Government over the new Sizewell
C nuclear power station if he is elected to the seat.

Adrian Ramsay, the
party’s co-leader, said the twin reactor, which is set to cost £25 billion,
was “not yet a done deal” and said the Government was already reviewing
“other expensive projects”. He said: “Although the consent has been given,
Sizewell C is not yet a done deal. It is an extremely expensive project and
we have seen the Government thinking twice about other expensive projects
so there is an economic environment about where the money’s best spent.”

East Anglian Daily Times 3rd Oct 2023

https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/23824502.waveney-mp-hopefuls-challenge-government-sizewell-c/

October 5, 2023 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Russia says Japan did not inform it fully about radioactive Fukushima water

#nuclear #anti-nuclear #nuclear-free #NoNukes

MOSCOW, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Russia said on Wednesday that Japan had failed to provide full information on the radioactive water being discharged from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant, despite repeated requests from both Moscow and Beijing.

Japan started releasing treated radioactive water from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean in August, and was heavily criticised by China, which immediately banned all seafood imports from Japan.

“We and China have repeatedly urged the Japanese side to show transparency and provide all interested states with full access to all information about the discharge of water from the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

“Japan has not done this,” Zakharova said. “Japan has failed to properly respond to these issues and to guarantee the absence of a threat, including a long-term one.”………………….. https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-says-japan-failed-provide-full-information-about-water-fukushima-nuclear-2023-10-04/

October 5, 2023 Posted by | politics international, Russia | Leave a comment

French tax-payers up for €20bn or more per year, in mountain of costs to keep nuclear fleet going.

Investments in France’s EDF could top €20bn per year, minister says. #nuclear #nuclear-free #anti-nuclear #No#nukes

EURACTIV.com with Reuters Sep 29, 2023

 French power giant EDF’s future investments could exceed €20 billion
per year, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the country’s energy transition
minister, said on Thursday (28 September), adding that the exact level was
the subject of discussion.

The state-owned utility is facing a mountain of
investment needs to maintain its nuclear fleet as well as build new
reactors and renewable power production. EDF CEO Luc Rémont had previously
put the investments at €25 billion. “What we are talking about … for
EDF is investments which could reach … more than €20 billion per
year,” Pannier-Runacher said at a nuclear conference organised by the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

“There is a discussion about whether it is 20 (billion) or whether it is more,” she
added. The French government has previously announced a plan to build at
least six new model nuclear reactors, which Pannier-Runacher said would
cost about €3 billion per year in investments.

 Euractiv 29th Sept 2023  https://www.euractiv.com/section/electricity/news/investments-in-frances-edf-could-top-e20bn-per-year-minister-says/

October 4, 2023 Posted by | business and costs, France, politics | Leave a comment

France attempts to pressure Australia to stop engaging with UN nuclear weapons ban treaty

 https://www.icanw.org/france_pressures_australia_to_stop_engaging_with_un_nuclear_weapons_ban_treaty 2 Oct 23 #nuclear #anti-nuclear #Nuclear-Free #NoNukes

Recent statements by a French diplomat to “the Australian” newspaper criticizing Australia’s decision to observe the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) reveal the panicked efforts by nuclear-armed states to undermine the treaty as support for the ban continues to grow.  It also shows a European state with a dark colonial legacy continuing to exert pressure on the Pacific – an area heavily impacted by French nuclear testing – instead of respecting national sovereignty. 

On 2 October an article in “the Australian” newspaper cited an unnamed French diplomat claiming that Australia’s support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons “undermines the primacy of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)” and “is contradictory with Australia’s ambition to reinforce its partnership with NATO.” 

Both of these statements are not only hamfisted attempts at pressuring the Australian government away from the TPNW, they are also factually incorrect:  The TPNW was carefully crafted to reinforce, complement, and build on the NPT, which obligates its parties – including France – to negotiate further legal measures to achieve nuclear disarmament under Article VI, and NATO members face no legal barrier to joining the treaty, so long as they commit not to engage in or support any nuclear-weapon-related activities. Moreover, several NATO partners are already TPNW parties (Austria, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Malta, Mongolia, New Zealand) or signatories (Algeria, Colombia).

These declarations show France’s mounting concern over the growing support for the TPNW. The statements themselves are no surprise, as France has stridently protested the TPNW ever since it was adopted at the UN in 2017 with the backing of 122 states. France insists it has a legitimate right under the NPT to possess nuclear weapons, while ignoring its commitments to pursue negotiations in good faith for nuclear disarmament under the same treaty. What is new is the fact that this pressure is being exerted publicly, and on a state that is largely seen as an ally on security issues. Previously, France has limited this kind of pressure for formerly colonised states, particularly in Africa.

Australia’s growing support for the TPNW

The Australian Labor Party, which has been in power since May 2022, adopted a resolution in 2018 committing it to sign and ratify the TPNW in government. This was moved by Anthony Albanese, who now serves as prime minister and has been a vocal supporter of the TPNW. He said at the time: “Our commitment to sign and ratify the nuclear weapon ban treaty in government is Labor at its best.” Labor reaffirmed this position in 2021 and most recently on 18 August 2023. The government also has confirmed its intention to observe the treaty’s upcoming meeting of states parties in New York (2MSP) and is evaluating whether to sign and ratify the treaty. 

This is an encouraging step, but ICAN’s Executive Director, former Labor MP Melissa Parke, has criticised the government’s delay in ratifying the treaty: “It’s not enough to keep promising to sign the treaty without acting. We want to see the Prime Minister put pen to paper, without delay. Labor’s commitment on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation will be hollow if Australia fails to do so.”

Speaking to the revelation that French diplomats are exerting pressure on Australia to consider, she said: “Our two countries have never seen eye to eye on nuclear weapons. France shouldn’t be lecturing Australia on nuclear policy. We can make our own decisions, in our own interests – and for the global common good.” 

France’s unresolved nuclear legacy in the Pacific

From 1966 to 1996, France tested 193 nuclear weapons in Maohi Nui/French Polynesia, a Self Governing Territory of France in the Pacific. In 1974, Australia famously took France to the International Court of Justice in a bid to force an end to its atmospheric nuclear testing in the Pacific, as the impacts of nuclear weapons are not contained by national borders.  Yet France only ended its Pacific nuclear test explosions once it was confident it had developed non-explosive testing methods sufficiently for new weapons development, and it refuses to acknowledge and address the catastrophic legacy of its nuclear tests to this day.This legacy is also a subject of hot debate at the national level in France. On 28 September, only days before France’s criticisms of Australia, the assembly of French Polynesia unanimously adopted a resolution supporting the TPNW, highlighting the region’s history as the site of numerous French nuclear tests. The resolution underscores the TPNW as a humanitarian disarmament treaty and emphasises the deep concerns of the French Polynesian population regarding this issue. While French Polynesia cannot currently access the assistance and rehabilitation outlined in Articles 6 and 7 of the TPNW due to France’s non-ratification, it sends a resounding message in favour of the treaty to Paris. 

October 4, 2023 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, France, politics international | Leave a comment

Nuclear renaissance in Europe? Really?

#nuclear #antinuclear #nuclear-free #NoNukes

 As countries including France, the UK and Sweden look to pivot back to
nuclear power to help them meet net-zero targets, questions remain over
safety, radioactive waste and where they’ll find the vast amounts of
money and expertise needed to build and manage new reactors.

 FT 2nd Oct 2023

October 4, 2023 Posted by | EUROPE, politics international | Leave a comment

UK small #nuclear competition: Rolls Royce in, Bill Gates snubbed

CITY,AM NICHOLAS EARL 3 Oct 23  #antinuclear #nuclear-free #NoNukes

Bill Gates’ nuclear reactor design company Terrapower has not been shortlisted for the next round of the government’s competition for scaled-down power plants.

Industry vehicle GB Nuclear has selected six companies to advance to the latest stage, including rumoured front-runner Rolls-Royce which has already secured over £200m in government funding.

The remaining contenders also include EDF, GE-Hitachi, Holtec Britain, Nuscale and Westinghouse Electric.

These companies will be invited to bid for government contracts later this year, with successful companies announced next spring and contracts awarded in the summer.

Gates, the world’s fifth richest man and the co-creator of Microsoft, founded Terrapower in 2006.

He is currently the company’s chairman and is still their biggest investor, leading a £588.3m funding round last year.

The company has been pitching bespoke ‘Natrium’ reactors powered by high-assay low-enriched uranium and announced its intentions earlier this year to enter the UK race for projects.

However, Whitehall officials have reportedly been concerned over insufficient supplies to import at scale to meet demand for Terrapower reactors, as most of the uranium it needs is produced in Russia – which is under sanctions following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

City A.M. understands GB Nuclear wanted to prioritise the most ready-made technologies which could guarantee a final investment decision by the end of the decade.

Instead, Terrapower could feature in an upcoming consultation on advanced technology.

Small modular reactors are a cornerstone of the government’s plan to revive domestic nuclear energy and replace the country’s ageing fleet – with 85 per cent of the country’s current capacity set to go offline over the next 12 years.

……………………..Downing Street is targeting operational SMRs in the UK by the mid-2030s, with a £20bn cap being placed on the competitive process.

………………Downing Street is targeting operational SMRs in the UK by the mid-2030s, with a £20bn cap being placed on the competitive process.  https://www.cityam.com/uk-small-nuclear-competition-rolls-royce-in-bill-gates-snubbed/

October 4, 2023 Posted by | Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, UK | Leave a comment

The Zelensky lie is coming to an end

Voltaire Network, by Thierry Meyssan, Translation by Roger Lagassé 1 Oct 23

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s trip to the United States cleared up any remaining ambiguities. Everyone wondered about his strategy. He doesn’t seem to be trying to defend his own people, as he mobilizes all his men and sends them to die on the front line with no hope of victory. From now on, he appears to have no qualms about lying and cheating, and uses every means at his disposal to expel certain states from intergovernmental organizations.
How can we not draw a parallel with Stepan Bandera, who massacred thousands of his own compatriots in the final days of the Second World War, when the defeat of the Reich was in no doubt?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attended the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations to deliver his customary speech on Russian terrorism. It was his first speech from this rostrum.

This year, four of the five permanent members of the Security Council did not send their heads of state or government: China, France, the UK and Russia. Clearly, despite the rhetoric, something has gone wrong in this institution.

Let’s summarize President Zelensky’s speech:
“Russia uses food as a weapon against the rest of the world and the “game”, in its favor, of certain European countries. It also uses civilian nuclear reactors as weapons, as it is doing at Zaporijha. It has abducted “hundreds of thousands” of Ukrainian children, who are being re-educated at home in hatred of Ukraine, which constitutes “genocide”. Russia provokes a war every decade. Today, it threatens Kazakhstan and the Baltic states. Many seats in this hemicycle would be empty if Russia were to achieve its objectives through its acts of treachery. Thank God nobody has yet imagined how to use the climate as a weapon. Natural disasters kill. They happen while Moscow has decided to kill tens of thousands of people. We must unite against these challenges. We can breathe new life into the “Rules-Based World Order” by building on the Ukrainian peace formula that I will be presenting to the Security Council shortly. I invite you all to the Peace Summit we are organizing. We can’t rely on Russia’s word: ask Prigozhin if he keeps his promises! Slava Ukraini!”

All the delegations allied with the United States applauded the speech loud and clear, while the others kept a low profile.

This speech calls for several comments:


– The argument of using food as a weapon refers to sieges to starve populations, as in North Korea yesterday or Yemen today. This is not at all what the Russians are doing in Ukraine, where they are attacking the profits of the major US corporations (Cargill, Dupont and Monsanto) which own a third of Ukrainian crops. The use of civilian nuclear power plants as a weapon of war must be understood as having an effect only at close range. The Russians occupy the Zaporijha plant and would lose their soldiers in the event of radiation. On the contrary, it is the Ukrainian forces who are threatening them with radiation in order to expel them. Finally, Russia has never abducted Ukrainian children, but has protected them from the combat zones by moving them within its territory. The International Criminal Court’s condemnation is based exclusively on the refusal to consider the accession of Crimea, Donbass and part of Novorossia to the Russian Federation as legal.

– The argument of Russian expansionism may frighten the Kazakhs and Balts, but it’s nothing more than a trial of intent. Returning to the possible use of climate as a weapon shows an ignorance of history. The USA already used it in their war against Viet Nam, making rain for months on the Ho Chi Min trail, the Vietcong’s supply route through the Laotian jungle (Operation “Popeye”). Eventually, they signed the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques

– To claim, without naming them, that Poland, Hungary and Slovakia are playing into the Russians’ hands by banning the import of Ukrainian grain at knock-down prices is an insult to these countries. Poland, which, forgetting the massacre of over 100,000 Poles by Ukrainian integral nationalists during the Second World War, has nevertheless welcomed 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees since the start of the current war, will appreciate this.

– The call to defend the “rules-based World Order” can only be taken as a challenge to the majority of UN members who are fighting, on the contrary, for a return to International Law. The Ukrainian peace plan therefore concerns only the Western camp and aims to extend the war.


– President Zelenski’s conclusion refers to a poem by Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861). The expression “Slava Ukraini!” had become the cry of recognition of the Ukrainian integral nationalists of Dmitry Dontsov and Simon Petlioura during the war against the Soviet revolution, when they massacred the Jews and anarchists of Novorussia. Then it became the victory cry of the Ukrainian integral nationalists of Dmitry Dontsov and Stepan Bandera when they massacred Jews, Gypsies and Resistance fighters. Finally, in 1941, it became the equivalent of “Heil Hitler! Its use today, especially at the United Nations, refers back to the post-war resolutions against Nazi propaganda, which Ukraine now opposes……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..


The debate continued with a speech by Secretary General António Guterres. He began by pointing out that some multilateral meetings, such as the one on the plan to safeguard the Sustainable Development Goals, are held efficiently. He then described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a flagrant violation of the UN Charter and international law. On the judicial front, he reported that investigative teams were continuing to gather evidence of shocking and widespread human rights violations “mainly perpetrated by the Russian Federation”, including the forced transfer of children. Finally, he welcomed the agreement on cereals and regretted that Russia had not renewed it.

The Secretary General’s position expresses only his personal opinion. In this case, it is not based on any judicial decision and does not take into account the Russian position. The trial currently underway before the International Court of Justice, i.e. the UN’s internal tribunal, will hear both sides. It will be for the Court alone to judge whether there has been a violation of the Charter, as Russia claims to have launched a special military operation to comply with Security Council Resolution 2202 (“Minsk agreements”). In any case, the Court will only rule on one question: whether or not Ukraine was massacring its own citizens before the Russian special military operation. We are talking about 20,000 citizens.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky then intervened. He began his speech by asking how a state that violates the UN Charter can sit on the Security Council? He noted that the General Assembly had recognized that Russia, not Ukraine, was responsible for the war. He then presented his 10-point peace plan. This plan, which had already been presented to the G20 in Bali, does not take Russia’s demands into account. So, strictly speaking, it’s not a peace plan, but rather Ukraine’s demands. In passing, he asked the General Assembly to adopt, by a two-thirds majority, a modification of its statutes and deprive Russia of its right of veto. Finally, he called on all States present to participate in the “peace” conference that his country was organizing.

The session chairman, Edi Rama, wondered about the current situation: a member of the Security Council is violating the UN Charter! Fortunately, despite the abusive use of its veto power, the majority of Council members ensure that its values are respected. He then gave the floor to Council members in the order of their registration.

Their speeches added nothing new. None of them dared to take up Ukraine’s call for Russia to be stripped of its veto power.

A little backtracking is in order here: when the United Nations was created, Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States and Winston Churchill of Great Britain were at odds with Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. The USA and the UK wanted to create an organization that would govern the world according to their own conceptions, while the USSR wanted it to uphold international law and prevent war. It was the Soviet conception that triumphed. The right of veto takes into account the military reality of the time. There is no such thing as a legitimate or abusive veto. Quite simply, international law cannot be respected by all if it runs counter to the interests of one of its most powerful members.
The idea of depriving Russia of its veto power had never been expressed in public. Last year, however, the US State Department tested the matter with all UN member states, and it proved impossible to achieve a two-thirds majority.

After his speech, President Zelensky left the room, having no time to waste listening to the other delegations. He rushed off to Washington to address Congress, as he had already done in December 2022. However, when he arrived on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told him straight out that it was out of the question. Parliamentarians have too busy an agenda,” he said. Dejected, the Ukrainian president had to content himself with a meeting with the presidents of the two chambers and a few Democratic senators.

The time for unconditional support is over. Like all their Western counterparts, US parliamentarians have realized that: – ammunition is in short supply, and the Western arms industry cannot compete with Russia’s in either the short or medium term; – the rebellion of Wagner Group owner Yevgeny Prigozhin against the Kremlin has failed; – the Ukrainian counter-offensive has been extremely deadly, with over a thousand people killed every day for the past two weeks, without achieving any significant successes.

Many would therefore like to negotiate a way out of the crisis or, at the very least, stop spending astronomical sums of money for nothing. Some Republicans have written to the Biden administration asking for a precise account of how the funds already disbursed have been used. Pending a response, they will not vote for another dollar. The Pentagon is therefore devising ways to divert equipment and continue the US commitment to Ukraine. It is hiding behind the possibility of blocking the federal budget in the event of a substantive disagreement between Capitol Hill and the White House.  

To make up for the parliamentary affront, both the Secretary of Defense and President Joe Biden granted the Ukrainian president an interview. He also visited a university, the Clinton Foundation and the Atlantic Council, and chatted with the heads of financial companies. But the fact remains: everyone has observed President Zelensky’s outrages and his inability to win this war. Everyone has now been able to verify that Volodomyr Zelensky is not trying to defend his country. On the contrary, he is sending his men to die for nothing in front of the Russian defense line. He’s acting just as hard-line nationalists and Nazis always did: he doesn’t hesitate to lie to his own people, to cheat, and to use every means at his disposal to provoke a general confrontation at the cost of sacrificing his own people. https://www.voltairenet.org/article219739.html?fbclid=IwAR1_Hi_V0hQJPPSffJRKWhlqmnLKJYYprcKu1qeNRoRlUfGpX4-IVSD3nsQ

October 3, 2023 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, Ukraine | Leave a comment

American Meddling Failed To Prevent Robert Fico’s Victory In The Latest Slovak Elections

ANDREW KORYBKO, OCT 2, 2023,  https://korybko.substack.com/p/american-meddling-failed-to-prevent?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=835783&post_id=137585191&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=ln98x&utm_medium=email

The reason why America meddled in this election is because it fears both the substance and symbolism of a hitherto stalwart NATO vassal defecting from the bloc’s anti-Russian proxy war coalition.

The “Direction-Social Democracy” (SMER) party of former Prime Minister Robert Fico emerged victorious after Slovakia’s latest elections on Saturday in spite of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) warning before the vote that the US will go to any lengths to prevent that outcome. Nobody should have been surprised by that since CNN’s reporting made it obvious that Washington wanted him to lose. Here are three of their articles fearmongering about his democratically driven return to office:

* “A NATO country could soon have a pro-Russian leader

* “With Kremlin apologist leading the polls, Slovakia vote threatens country’s support for Ukraine

* “Pro-Russian politician wins Slovakia’s parliamentary election

The reason why America meddled in this election is because it fears both the substance and symbolism of a hitherto stalwart NATO vassal defecting from the bloc’s anti-Russian proxy war coalition. Fico previously condemned the West’s role in provoking and perpetuating this conflict exactly as neighboring Hungarian leader Viktor Orban has done since the get-go. Just like him, Fico is also against arming Ukraine and could prevent others’ weapons from transiting across his country as well.


He’ll still need to form a governing coalition in order to make good on his promises, but few doubt that he’ll be able to. Assuming that’ll happen, then Slovakia will join Hungary in creating a center of anti-war gravity in the heart of both the EU and NATO, which complements Poland’s newly cautious stance towards this proxy conflict brought about by its dispute with Ukraine. These three could then form an influential force if the latter’s ruling “Law & Justice” (PiS) party wins re-election on 15 October.

Poland remains much more committed to this conflict than Hungary and post-election Slovakia, but there’s also no denying that the Polish people are incredibly offended at Ukraine’s ungratefulness. A critical mass of them might therefore vote for the anti-establishment Confederation party to protest PiS’ prior appeasement of Kiev up until recently despite that regime’s glorification of those who genocided Poles. If enough do so, then PiS might be compelled to form a coalition government with Confederation.

In that case, Poland might move closer towards Hungary and Slovakia’s position, which could inspire average Europeans to follow these countries’ lead during their own upcoming elections. The demonstration effect that was set into motion by Slovakia and which might soon manifest itself in Poland is therefore regarded by the US as a strategic challenge for good reason. That doesn’t justify its failed meddling in the latest Slovak elections, but simply places its motives into the appropriate context.

The fact that the CIA still failed to prevent Fico’s re-election dispels three popular myths, first and foremost that agency’s omnipotence. The second is foreign voters’ alleged inability to defy the American government’s will, the false perception of which has been exploited to suppress anti-establishment turnout. And finally, the Ukrainian Conflict is truly unpopular in some countries despite the media’s claims to the contrary and its crazed efforts to artificially manufacture support for this proxy war there.


With these symbolic outcomes in mind as well as the substantive changes to Slovak policy that are likely to follow its latest election, not to mention their possible impact on Poland in the coming future and the rest of Europe after that, the failure of America’s meddling campaign is a major development. It’s premature to describe it as a game-changer, but it still suggests a potentially impending inflection point in the Ukrainian Conflict, provided of course that the CIA doesn’t successfully sabotage related trends

October 3, 2023 Posted by | EUROPE, politics international | Leave a comment