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Zelensky – Embroiled in war and embattled at home

    by beyondnuclearinternational, https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2025/11/13/embroiled-in-war-and-embattled-at-home/

Can president Zelensky survive a kickback scheme involving the state nuclear company that enriched associates and possibly even ministers in his own government, asks Linda Pentz Gunter

If you live in Ohio, and possibly even in Illinois and South Carolina, you might be getting a bit of a déjà vu feeling reading the news coming out of Ukraine about a corruption scandal involving Energoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear energy company. That’s because two independent Ukrainian anti-corruption bodies have just uncovered a massive graft scandal involving kickbacks from nuclear power projects.

In July 2020, then Speaker of the Ohio House, Republican Larry Householder, was arrested along with four others for involvement in what was described as “the largest bribery money-laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio.”

In a year-long covert investigation by the US Attorney’s office and the FBI, a plot was uncovered that involved $61 million in dark money that flowed from FirstEnergy into the pockets of Householder and others to ensure a favorable vote in the House that would guarantee a $1.5 billion bailout of the company’s Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear reactors to keep them running. Once uncovered, indictments followed. Householder is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Similar scandals rocked Illinois and South Carolina, also connected to nuclear power plant schemes and also leading to indictments and prison sentences.

In Ukraine, the two investigating agencies — the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) — have just named at least eight individuals who have reportedly been charged with bribery, embezzlement, and illicit enrichment, netting around $100 million off contracts with Energoatom.

Details about precisely how the scheme operated and which contracts were involved have not fully emerged. However, some sources have suggested it involved a wide range of Energoatom’s private subcontractors who were allegedly forced to pay kickbacks of 10-15% to secure or maintain their supplier status and ensure timely payments. 

These reportedly included work on constructing protective structures at the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant to defend against Russian air attacks, with Ukraine still struggling to defeat an invasion by Russia that began on February 24, 2022.

Both the Khmelnytskyi  and Rivne nuclear power plants were hit with a major strike by the Russians on November 8, raising new fears of a catastrophic nuclear disaster. To date, most of the concern has centered around the six-reactor site at Zaporizhzhia, which is located in the region of heaviest fighting and has been occupied by Russian forces since March 4, 2022. Zaporizhzhia has undergone many close calls and was recently without offsite power for a month, provoking widespread anxiety since power is essential to cool reactors and their fuel pools even if they are shut down as the Zaporizhzia reactors presently are.

“Nuclear safety and security in Ukraine remains extremely precarious during the military conflict,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a social media posting. “Two operating NPPs – Khmelnitskyy and Rivne – had to reduce electricity output after overnight attack on electrical substation critical for nuclear safety.”

The participants in the Energoatom corruption scheme, who used code names, were heard in conversations recorded by the investigators evaluating the Khmelnytsky fortifications as a business opportunity. 

Meanwhile the IAEA is at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil frantically peddling nuclear power as the answer to the climate crisis under its Atoms4Climate propaganda campaign while ignoring all the obvious safety and security risks so frighteningly on display in Ukraine, never mind the industry’s complete inability to deliver reactors in time or on budget.

Since the anti-corruption groups delivered their reports, two key ministers have resigned at President Volodymyr Zelensky’s request. They are Ukrainian Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk and Justice Minister German Galushenko. Galushenko, who preceded Grynchuk as energy minister, had already been suspended before he stepped down. Galushenko is reportedly implicated in the kickback scandal but has proclaimed his innocence.

The two agencies spent more than 15 months collecting evidence, including 1,000 hours of audio recordings and at least 70 searches. Zelensky had acted to curb the reach of NABU and SAPO several months earlier, prompting suspicions that he could have been aware that personal associates and his own ministers were about to be caught in their nets. Zelensky backed down then after being warned by the European Union that Ukraine’s bid to become a member would be in jeopardy if the corruption problem was not resolved.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen reportedly conveyed her strong concerns about Zelensky’s attempts to weaken the agencies’ powers. In a statement, a spokesperson for von der Leyen said: “The respect for the rule of law and the fight against corruption are core elements of the European Union. As a candidate country, Ukraine is expected to uphold these standards fully. There cannot be a compromise.”

The EU has spoken out again in light of the present revelations, urging Zelensky to clamp down on corruption, but has not withdrawn its support for the country’s war efforts against Russia’s invasion, now entering its 45th month.

According to an analysis in Kyiv Independent by Oleg Sukhov, the eight implicated also include Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, Rustem Umerov, former defense minister and current secretary of the National Security and Defense Council and Ihor Myroniuk, a former advisor to then Energy Minister Halushchenko.

Chernyshov allegedly financed the construction of high-end houses near Kyiv, echoing the way Householder used his bribery bonanzas to refurbish his second home in Florida.

The alleged ringleader, according to Sukhov and other news reports, is Zelensky’s close associate and former business partner, Timur Mindich, who has since fled the country, likely to Israel where he is a citizen and lending further credence to the charges. Mindich is a co-owner of the president’s Kvartal 95 production company. Zelensky transferred his stake to partners once he became president. 

Chernyshov allegedly financed the construction of high-end houses near Kyiv, echoing the way Householder used his bribery bonanzas to refurbish his second home in Florida.

The alleged ringleader, according to Sukhov and other news reports, is Zelensky’s close associate and former business partner, Timur Mindich, who has since fled the country, likely to Israel where he is a citizen and lending further credence to the charges. Mindich is a co-owner of the president’s Kvartal 95 production company. Zelensky transferred his stake to partners once he became president. 

Linda Pentz Gunter is the founder of Beyond Nuclear and serves as its international specialist. Her book, No To Nuclear. Why Nuclear Power Destroys Lives, Derails Climate Progress and Provokes War, can be pre-ordered now from Pluto Press.

November 15, 2025 Posted by | politics, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Why my work is clearly biased

Today, I found myself posting on my website – an article which is vehemently anti -Western, and possibly just an angry version of pro Russian propaganda. I dithered about this. Is my pro-Russian slant just too much – a bridge too far?

After all, there is so much to deplore about Russia – the secret, brutal and murderous regime of Vladimir Putin, and the genocidal history of Stalin’s actions in Ukraine. And there’s plenty more to deplore, including more recent atrocities done to Ukrainians in the course of the current war.

So – why on earth should I, or anyone, stick up for Russia, which is anyway, the invader in this conflict?

I come back to just one answer. It is that rather vague concept of culture. It is that someone must address that “Western culture” in which we are immersed and perhaps drowning.

Western culture, supposedly based on “Christian values” – like equality, compassion, peace-making, is nevertheless now manifesting as fear and hatred of Russia and China.

The media laps this up, because really, diplomacy, compromise, quiet discussion between world leaders, is boring stuff, and anger, shock and conflict – that’s entertaining.

In the coverage of the war in Ukraine, so many important aspects are ignored. We don’t hear about , for example, the effect of Zelensky banning the Russian language in public life, when for so many Ukrainians Russian is their first language. We don’t hear about atrocities done by Ukrainian troops.

We don’t hear any details about negotiations in which the war could end, with concessions made by both sides. Consideration is never given to how NATO membership for Ukraine might affect Russia.  I mean, how would  Americans  feel, if a hostile Canada could allow Russian military bases set up on the border of USA? 

Instead, there is this narrative about Russia’s intention to attack European states, and then take over the world, crushing democracy. But where’s the evidence for this? And at the same time, we’re being assured that Russia is economically and militarily weakened, so of course, Ukraine can beat them

And, talking of economics – well – “follow the money” has always been a very important aspect in world affairs. I think that we could all agree that from the point of view of Trump’s USA – the simple goal is to enrich American businesses. So, for the USA now, the main thing is to sell weapons to Europe.

For Europe, this is expensive. It’s not as if all the member States are wealthy and united in their resolve to buy the weapons and make Ukraine win. They need the money. The plan suggests raising a total of nearly €300 billion.

One way is to expropriate frozen Russian sovereign assets. Sovereign assets have immunity from seizure under international law and bilateral treaties – the United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property (2004) This method could have legal repercussions, and destabilise confidence in economic systems and investment, with political ill-effects for Europe. 

Another way is to raise a Eurobond. This is problematic because the EU would be acting as if it were a sovereign state rather than an administrative body of a treaty-based union. Some States might object, and as Ukraine is not a member of the EU – that fact strengthens their objection. The Eurobond would result, for member States, in higher taxes, constrained public services, and renewed austerity.

  The EU’s options for paying for continuing Ukraine’s fight are highly problematic. They are based on the belief that after Ukraine’s victory, European nations will get back the money from Russian reparations, and from returns from reconstruction of Russian-liberated territories. A dubious outcome.  

  These financial considerations might possibly bring the Western media, politicians, and public to take a more pragmatic view of the war in Ukraine, and calm down from the hysteria about Russia destroying democracy.  (Indeed, to digress for a moment – the USA is now giving a good example of democracy destroying itself)  

The culture is so imbued with those emotions of fear and hatred, and historic hostilities, that I doubt that we will come down to earth and look at the Ukraine situation more realistically. And our leaders seem obsessed with showing how tough they are, rather than how wise.

Democracy ‘s all about individual liberties, freedom, -we are told. But there are also other considerations – the need for food, water and shelter. A more collective view of society includes those considerations. In some ways, Russia and China are doing a better job in this.

So, after this long meandering, I conclude that I am OK with continuing with my biased stance. Yes, some of the stuff I put up IS Russian propaganda. I try to be sure that the facts are correct, even if the interpretation is biased. We are so constantly tsunamied with anti-Russia, anti-China stuff, it is necessary to try to bring in some balance.

November 14, 2025 Posted by | Christina's notes, Ukraine | Leave a comment

3 drones reportedly spotted flying over Belgian nuclear power plant

Kyiv Independent, November 10, 2025 

Three drones were spotted flying over the Doel Nuclear Power Plant in northern Belgium on the evening of Nov. 9, according to Deutsche Welle.

Operations at the power plant near Antwerp were not impacted by the drone sighting, a spokesperson for local energy company Engie said.

Several unidentified drone sightings have occurred in recent days near Belgian infrastructure. On Nov. 3, the Belgian army issued orders to shoot down unknown drones spotted over the country’s military bases in response to the sightings.

On Nov. 4, Belgium suspended air traffic at Brussels Airport due to a reported drone sighting in the area, according to the Belga News Agency. Some flights were diverted to the country’s Liege Airport, which was later temporarily closed because of another drone sighting.

Meanwhile, suspicious drones were spotted over Belgium’s Kleine Brogel Air Base for three nights in a row between Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, local media reported.

Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken said that the sightings near military bases appear to be part of an espionage operation, not naming the culprit but linking the incidents to recent Russian airspace violations in Europe.

The drone sightings have caused disruptions in several European countries, including Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands. As investigations continue, authorities have not ruled out that the drones may be Russian…………………………. https://kyivindependent.com/3-drones-reportedly-spotted-flying-over-belgian-nuclear-power-plant/

November 14, 2025 Posted by | EUROPE, safety | Leave a comment

Belgium flounders as 5 drones buzz nuclear power plant.

U.K., France and Germany send assistance.

Politico, November 10, 2025 , By Elena Giordano

Five drones were spotted flying over Belgium’s Doel nuclear power plant near the Port of Antwerp on Sunday evening, energy company Engie said.

“Initially we had detected three drones, but then we saw five drones. They were up in the air for about an hour,” Engie spokesperson Hellen Smeets told POLITICO Monday morning.

The first report of the three drones came shortly before 10 p.m. on Sunday, Smeet said, adding that the sightings had no impact on the plant operations. Belgium’s national Crisis Center, which is currently monitoring the situation, confirmed the incident……………

The latest incidents comes amid a surge of drone activity disrupting key infrastructure across Belgium. Airports in Brussels and Liège faced repeated interruptions last week, while drones were also spotted over military bases and the Port of Antwerp…….

While the government has avoided attributing blame, Belgium’s intelligence services suspect foreign hands, with Moscow seen as the most likely source, according to local media. Defense Minister Theo Francken said Saturday that “Russia is clearly a plausible suspect.”

On Sunday, the U.K. announced it will join France and Germany in sending personnel and equipment to help Belgium counter drone incursions around sensitive sites. https://www.politico.eu/article/drones-spotted-belgium-nuclear-plant-doel-airspace-incursions/

November 14, 2025 Posted by | EUROPE, safety | Leave a comment

NFLAs welcome Remembrance Day award of medal to nuke test ‘Sniffers’, but fight not over as groundcrews exposed to radiation remain forgotten.


11th November 2025, https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/nflas-welcome-remembrance-day-award-of-medal-to-nuke-test-sniffers-but-fight-not-over-as-groundcrews-exposed-to-radiation-remain-forgotten/

 The NFLAs have welcomed the Remembrance Day announcement that the Government has agreed to award the Nuclear Test Medal to gallant RAF aircrew of 27 and 543 Squadrons and sailors aboard the Royal Fleet
Auxiliary vessel Sir Percivale who passed through French and Chinese atmospheric nuclear tests in the Far East to carry out air sampling.

British personnel were ordered to fly or sail through the radioactive clouds of over 40 atomic and nuclear atmospheric tests carried out by China and France.

11th November 2025

NFLAs welcome Remembrance Day award of medal to nuke test ‘Sniffers’, but fight not over as groundcrews exposed to radiation remain forgotten

The NFLAs have welcomed the Remembrance Day announcement that the Government has agreed to award the Nuclear Test Medal to gallant RAF aircrew of 27 and 543 Squadrons and sailors aboard the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel Sir Percivale who passed through French and Chinese atmospheric nuclear tests in the Far East to carry out air sampling.

British personnel were ordered to fly or sail through the radioactive clouds of over 40 atomic and nuclear atmospheric tests carried out by China and France.

The NFLAs have been strong advocates for recognition, justice and compensation for Britain’s nuclear test veterans and their families, and the latest announcement comes just a month after NFLA Chair, Councillor Lawrence O’Neill, wrote to the new Veterans Minister, Louise Sandher-Jones, calling for the eligibility criteria for the medal to be extended to include these forgotten ‘sniffers’.

Unfortunately, the revised award criteria still wrongly exclude the RAF ground crew involved in decontaminating the aircraft on their return to the UK. The aircraft involved in sniffing operations were contaminated with radioactivity, and they were decontaminated by washing by groundcrew. Many of these groundcrew were unaware of the levels of radioactivity on the aircraft.

Consequently, many of these ground crew also developed cancers and other health conditions related to exposure to ionising radiation, some repeatedly. Some personnel died and others were able to access a War Pension as a result.

The latest decision by Ministers therefore only represents a part-victory. Councillor O’Neill believes that excluding the ground crew seems ‘not only unjust, but also bizarre and perverse’ given these veterans faced the same dangers as their colleagues who engaged in ‘sniffing’ duties on British tests and who will now qualify for the medal.

The fight therefore continues.

November 14, 2025 Posted by | health, UK | Leave a comment

Poseidon: The Ultimate Weapon of Vengeance [i]

“To wipe out the enemy coast…”

Very long article, with excellent illustrations.

Black Mountain Analysis Mike Mihajlovic, Nov 10, 2025

A weapon system on its own

The Poseidon, designated 2M39 in Russian service and known to NATO as Kanyon, is among the most enigmatic and controversial strategic systems developed in recent years. It resists conventional classification: neither a conventional torpedo nor a crewed submarine, it represents a novel class of autonomous, nuclear-powered underwater vehicle designed to carry a nuclear warhead.

This autonomous, nuclear-powered underwater vehicle, formerly designated Status-6, has been described in open sources as capable of carrying a very large thermonuclear warhead (some reports even cite yields as high as 100 megatons)1 and of transiting intercontinental distances at depths that would place it beyond the reach of most conventional antisubmarine weapons, arguably leaving only exceptionally large-yield nuclear depth charges as a theoretical counter. Open reporting also suggests it can adopt multiple mission modes: a high-speed transit phase at depth, which offers rapid repositioning but is more readily detectable by advanced acoustic sensors, and a prolonged low-speed, low-observability cruise that exploits nuclear endurance to remain submerged for effectively indefinite periods before conducting a final approach to a target.

As with many novel Russian weapons, most technical details remain classified; nevertheless, a synthesis of open-source analysis and official Russian statements permits a broad—albeit uncertain—reconstruction of Poseidon’s design philosophy, capabilities, and potential strategic effects.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... Summary

In summary, the Poseidon system represents a technically feasible but strategically extreme extension of known nuclear and naval technologies. It most likely uses a compact liquid-metal-cooled fast reactor to achieve long-range, high-speed operation at great depths, carries a warhead of 2-100 Mt, and could inflict catastrophic local damage and contamination on any coastal target. Yet the notion that it could raise ocean-wide radioactive tsunamis is unsupported by physical science. Its true significance may lie less in its physics than in its symbolism: a weapon designed to project the image of ultimate deterrence by threatening entire coastal societies, even if the practical mechanics of such annihilation are more limited than popular imagination suggests.

Politically, the deployment of Poseidon adds a new dimension to strategic deterrence. Its autonomous nature and perceived “doomsday” capability suggest a weapon intended more for psychological and geopolitical signaling than for practical battlefield use. Its mere existence challenges traditional arms control frameworks and complicates stability calculations by introducing a new underwater axis of nuclear deterrence.

Despite the growing public literature, many details remain unknowable. The reactor’s design, actual performance, warhead configuration, and even deployment status are tightly held secrets. Modeling the hydrodynamics of a multi-megaton underwater detonation is inherently uncertain, as no full-scale tests have ever been conducted at such yields or depths. Extrapolations from smaller historical tests provide useful guidance but cannot capture all nonlinear effects of deep-water bubble dynamics or coastal interactions. Moreover, the strategic intent behind Poseidon, whether as a second-strike deterrent, a terror weapon, or an anti-access denial system, remains speculative and politically sensitive. https://bmanalysis.substack.com/p/poseidon-the-ultimate-weapon-of-vengeance?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1105422&post_id=177880124&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

November 13, 2025 Posted by | Russia, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Russia deliberately ‘endangering nuclear safety in Europe’ says Kyiv

Ukraine says drones are targeting substations that power the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear plants. What we know on day 1,355

Guardian staff and agencies, 9 Nov 25

  • Russia is again targeting substations that power the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear power plants in Ukraine, the country’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said on X on Saturday. Sybiha said drone attacks on the weekend were not accidental but well-planned strikes. “Russia is deliberately endangering nuclear safety in Europe,” he said.
  • Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles at Ukraine over the weekend, killing at least seven people and damaging energy infrastructure in three regions, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Russia had launched more than 450 drones and 45 missiles, most of which were shot down. Three people were killed and 12 wounded when a drone hit an apartment building in Dnipro, and another person was killed in the Kharkiv region. Three were killed in the south-eastern Zaporizhzhia region, regional officials said. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/09/ukraine-war-briefing-russia-deliberately-endangering-nuclear-safety-in-europe-says-kyiv

November 13, 2025 Posted by | Russia, safety, Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Labour’s ‘national security threat’ attacks on Scottish National Party are hypocrisy 101

 TO no one’s surprise, Anas Sarwar has lined up behind his UK bosses and doubled-down on claims that the Scottish Government is a “national security threat”. The Scottish Labour leader has meekly joined Defence Secretary John Healey, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, and Scottish
Secretary Douglas Alexander in deploying the inflammatory rhetoric against the SNP Government.

National security expert Professor Nick Ritchie pointed
out last week, Labour’s pro-nuclear rhetoric also undermines the international law that they are supposedly signed up to. The UK is a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which obliges Britain to “pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures” relating to nuclear disarmament.

But instead of uphold their obligations – which many top experts believe they are breaching – Labour ministers
are on the airwaves accusing the SNP of being a security threat for opposing nuclear weaponry.

 The National 10th Nov 2025, https://www.thenational.scot/news/25611206.labours-national-security-threat-attacks-snp-hypocrisy-101/

November 13, 2025 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Does Britain really need nuclear power? – Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

, https://labouroutlook.org/2025/11/10/does-britain-really-need-nuclear-power-campaign-for-nuclear-disarmament/

With  funding confirmed for a new nuclear power station in Suffolk, Dr Ian Fairlie, CND Vice-President and science adviser, and a leading consultant on radioactivity in the environment, questions whether we actually need this development and the technology in general.


In recent months, the government has continued to promote nuclear reactors. For example, the Energy Secretary is now asking GB Energy to assess sites to be used to host new nuclear reactors. And the Prime Minister continues to push for so-called Small Modular Reactors and has backed the US President’s wishful thinking of ‘a golden age of nuclear’.

But these announcements and proposals are mostly pie-in-the-sky statements and should be treated with a pinch (or more) of salt, as the reality is otherwise.

Let’s look at what is happening in the rest of the world. Last year, a record 582 GW of renewable energy generation capacity was added to the world’s supplies: almost no new nuclear was added.

Indeed, each year, new renewables add about 200 times more global electricity than new nuclear does.

Of course, there are powerful economic arguments for this. The main one is that the marginal (i.e. fuel) costs of renewable energy are close to zero, whereas nuclear fuel is extremely expensive. Nuclear costs – for both construction and generation – are very high and rising, and long delays are the norm. For example, the proposed Sizewell C nuclear station is now predicted to cost £47 billion, with the government and independent experts acknowledging even this estimate may rise significantly. The upshot is that new nuclear power means massive costs, a poisoned legacy to future generations, and whopping radioactive pollution.

iven these manifest disadvantages, independent commentators have questioned the government’s seeming obsession with nuclear power. It is not that nuclear provides a good solution to global warming: it doesn’t. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that renewables are now 10 times more efficient than new nuclear at CO2 mitigation. It’s not that AI centres will need nuclear: the International Energy Agency expects data centres will cause a mere 10% of global electricity demand growth to 2030. And it forecasts that the renewables will supply 10 to 20 times the electricity required for data-centre growth, with Bloomberg NEF predicting a 100-fold renewables expansion.

As for so-called Small Modular Reactors, the inconvenient truth is that these designs are all just paper designs and are a long way off. They would also be more expensive to run than large reactors per kWh – the key parameter. And as the former Chair of the US government’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) says, SMRs will produce more chemical and radioactive waste per KW produced than large reactors.

Given a UK Treasury strapped for cash, the unsolved problem of radioactive nuclear waste, the spectre of nuclear proliferation, and it’s being a target in future wars, many wonder why the government is so fixated with nuclear power.

Well, the answer was supplied in 2023 by the Rishi Sunak administration which admitted that the main reason for its continued eye-watering financial support for civil reactors was that they provided needed technical support and expertise for the government’s nuclear weapons programme.

November 13, 2025 Posted by | politics, UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Zelensky blames ex-energy chief for failure to protect power grid.

Volodymyr Kudrytsky has been charged with large-scale fraud and abuse of office but anti-corruption campaigners say he is being targeted for speaking out

 President Zelensky has blamed the former head of the Ukrainian state energy company for the extraordinary damage being done to the country’s power grid. Although Russia is responsible for attacks on the grid, there is growing anger among Ukrainians that the authorities in Kyiv have failed
to properly protect national infrastructure.

Large sections of Kyiv, Kharkiv and other big cities lost power on Saturday after one of the heaviest missile and drone assaults of the war, which killed 11 civilians and injured more than 40. In a single night, President Putin’s forces
launched 458 long-range drones and 45 missiles, battering critical infrastructure across the country.

Kyiv was without power again on Sunday
night. Centrenergo, one of the biggest energy suppliers, said that four of its main power stations were unable to produce electricity as they had all been struck by Russian ballistic missiles and drones. The power stations had only recently been repaired after strikes in 2024. Volodymyr Kudrytsky
has been charged with large-scale fraud and abuse of office but anti-corruption campaigners say he is being targeted for speaking out.

 Times 9th Nov 2025, https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/zelensky-blames-ex-energy-chief-for-failure-to-protect-power-grid-db3g335l9

November 13, 2025 Posted by | ENERGY, Ukraine | Leave a comment

EDF boss vows to speed up nuclear projects and narrow gap to Asian peers 

EDF’s new boss has vowed to speed up the delivery of new nuclear reactors in an increasingly competitive market, after costly overshoots in the past weighed on the French energy group.

The company wants to use the
development of the UK’s Sizewell C nuclear power station to show that huge reactors capable of powering millions of homes can be delivered at speed, in the hope that this will help it attract private funding and compete with more efficient rivals, including those from Asia.

Bernard Fontana, chief executive, said the state-owned group remained “open to international markets” and hoped to export more of its designs beyond the projects it is undertaking in the UK and France. EDF has been tasked with
delivering at least six new French reactors from 2038 onwards and is due to deliver two for the £38bn Sizewell C project in the middle to late 2030s.

Fontana’s push for efficiency comes as EDF, weighed down by a net debt of €50bn, needs to finance €30bn of investments annually over the next five years, including on maintaining current sites, according to estimates by France’s budget watchdog. EDF operates 57 French reactors.

 FT 9th Nov 2025, https://www.ft.com/content/cc39da49-6ebf-40e2-bfbe-296ee2596ce9

November 13, 2025 Posted by | France, marketing | Leave a comment

Rosyth councillor doesn’t want Trident submarines at yard

10th November, By Ally McRoberts, Herald Scotland

Iodine tablets to counteract the effects of radiation would need to be given to “half the population of Rosyth” if proposals to bring more nuclear subs to the dockyard go ahead.

That’s the fear of local SNP councillor Brian Goodall who said the emergency planning measures that would be needed was an issue of “great public concern”.

The next generation of Trident submarines is the Dreadnought class and, in September, Babcock bosses said that a £340 million investment from the UK Government would help pay for a contingent dock for the boats to come into Rosyth.

There are already seven decommissioned nuclear subs being cut up at Rosyth and the defence firm are due to give an update on the dismantling project to councillors at next month’s South and West Fife area committee meeting.

At this week’s meeting Cllr Goodall said: “I am hopeful that we can make a request to Babcock and the Ministry of Defence that they include in that update some more information about the proposal to use Rosyth as a contingent docking base for the Trident submarines.

“Apparently the MoD has decided it is the only suitable venue other than Faslane.”

He said he first heard of the proposal at a recent Rosyth Dockyard Local Liaison Committee meeting and added: “They did say that one of the issues, if it was to go ahead, the emergency planning would have to involve issues like arrangements to distribute iodine tablets to half the population of Rosyth, which to me means this is an issue of great public concern.

“Certainly something that should be subject to wider public consultation rather than just a decision being taken by the MoD that this is the only suitable site to do it.”

Committee convener, Cllr David Barratt, said he had attended the recent Rosyth Community Council meeting and added: “They were clear as well that there is significant community interest on this and consultation and community engagement is essential if significant changes are proposed for the use of the dockyard.

“I hope we can write to the MoD and ask that that is addressed or that they are prepared to answer questions when they attend in December.”

Iodine tablets, taken at the right time, can block the absorption of radioactive iodine by flooding the thyroid gland.

The UK Government have detailed plans for providing the tablets – potassium iodate or potassium iodide – in the event of a radiation emergency involving a release of radioactive iodine.

The possibility of bringing more subs to Rosyth was raised after the UK Government’s £340m investment in the dockyard was confirmed in September………………………………………………………….. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25607814.rosyth-councillor-doesnt-want-trident-submarines-yard/

November 13, 2025 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, UK | Leave a comment

Destroying Europe in order to save it: Extortion, theft, and the EU’s two disastrous choices

Strategic Culture Foundation, Joaquin Flores, November 5, 2025

Europe can postpone recognition of failure, but it cannot postpone the bill.

Europe now faces a stark choice forced by its disastrous war policy against Russia: either allow the EU to successfully move toward a centralized state over the heads of its member states, risking a mass Eurexit that may or may not succeed in reaction to that gamble, or delay the larger crisis through member states quietly accepting one of several schemes that will cripple the economy and create social strife regardless.

The Union must decide whether to use frozen Russian sovereign assets to finance a €140 billion “reparation” loan for Ukraine, or to issue joint debt through Eurobonds. 

Both paths carry severe legal risks and impose heavy costs on citizens: one through contingent liabilities, the other through immediate taxes, austerity, and political instability. Pushing through the Eurobond option would amount to a structural coup, a radical re-engineering of the EU against its current form. A recent Politico piece framed these in terms of Option A and B, which helps to contrast these two potential ways forward.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s scheme from the European Commission reveals the depths of EU tyranny in its failed gambit to defeat Russia and guarantee investment outcomes in Ukraine.

SAFE, (Security Action for Europe), a €150 billion defense loan program, was initially proposed in March by von der Leyen with the goal of stimulating rapid defense investment. By May, EU ministers had given their final approval to the program, without consulting the European Parliament, provoking a suit from the Parliament.

Whether or not the Eurobond or Russian asset-seizure (theft) scheme is being proposed in light of (perhaps) likely-to-succeed challenges to the SAFE loan program, or if the Commission is trying to actually raise a total of nearly €300 billion, remains to be seen. What is certain is the push for SAFE comes chronologically after there was significant push-back from EU member states and ministers themselves on the feasibility of spending seized/frozen Russian assets (including interest on the moneys, for war against Russia, or anything else). And the Commission push for this Eurobond scheme comes after the EU Parliament presented a suit against SAFE.

What the Eurobond scheme and SAFE both have in common, nevertheless, is the mechanism for implementation, recklessly assuming authority to do so under a radically broadened interpretation of its powers re Article 122 TFEU.

The Commission is using threats to force member states to spend the frozen Russian assets. Refuse and each government faces a political crisis. Eurobonds are deeply unpopular because the mutualized debt falls on the population, leading to the overturning of governments at the ballot-box, and imposing them unilaterally would break EU treaties, leading to an emboldened Eurexit movement. Member states are being pushed to approve the use of unlawfully seized assets, completing the illegal expropriation through their own consent.

The stakes are far higher than money. This is a coup against the EU as it was conceived, a total re-envisioning of the Union itself. Ursula von der Leyen is not merely leveraging bonds to secure Ukraine funding. She is playing a game of chicken that risks the Union’s structure………………………………

Option A: Frozen Russian assets – huge legal risk, long-term cost to citizens

Legally, tapping frozen Russian assets is precarious………………………………….

….sovereign assets normally enjoy immunity from seizure under international law and bilateral treaties, reflected in the United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property (2004) and the 1989 Belgium–Russia bilateral investment treaty.…………………………………………………………………………………..

Option B: Eurobonds – unconstitutional overreach and overt social burden

Unilateral Eurobonds generally collide with the EU’s treaty architecture: the Commission cannot force the issuing of mutualized debt; joint borrowing requires unanimous backing and national ratification.

To do otherwise requires violating the EU’s treaty itself. Brussels is signaling it might act first and fight legal challenges later. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

If forced, citizens face higher taxes, constrained public services, and renewed austerity. Debt obligations do not disappear with elections; social unrest could deepen inequality, provoke Euroscepticism, and trigger exit pressures. Constitutionally, this makes the Commission behave as a sovereign treasury without legitimacy.

€140 bn in debt spread across 200 million workers equals €700 per worker. At 3 % annual interest, servicing costs €21 bn/year, or €105 per worker annually over ten years. Principal plus €42 bn interest totals €182 bn, or €910 per worker. This translates into grandmothers skipping groceries, students delaying college, and curtailed public services. Trade unions, left-wing groups, and small-business forces could trigger a pan-European ‘Yellow Vests’-style crisis.

Conclusion: Evergreening, sunk costs, and Who pays

Both options are evergreening: keeping failing policies alive to avoid losses. Option A buries legal risk and hands latent liabilities to future citizens; Option B openly burdens taxpayers and risks constitutional rupture. And even worse, both scenarios ignore the chronic economic hazard to Europe if it continues its course of sanctions on Russian energy, which could make it the least competitive economy in the developed world.

In both options, the EU is pouring billions either directly into Ukraine or into arms to supply it yet the war is almost certainly lost and the billions spent on expected returns from reconstruction of Russian-liberated territories will never be recovered, turning these investments into sunk costs that serve only to prolong the illusion of economic coherence.

Europe suffers a paradigm problem and an existential crisis at the level of its ‘Eurocracy.’ Paradoxically, the policies that are politically hardest to enact at this bureaucratic level are also the most necessary and potentially fruitful. Since the EU proposes to embark upon a radical reconstruction of the Union itself, perhaps it is appropriate to presume something as radical, but in the direction of stability, growth, and peace: 1) reversing its war-footing; 2) rapprochement with Russia along the U.S.-Russia model; 3) restoring energy pipelines like Nord Stream 2; 4) recognizing Ukraine as Russia’s legitimate sphere of influence; 5) joint investment with Russia in the post-Warsaw Pact sphere; 6) building on the OSCE and 1975 Helsinki Final Act framework; 7) developing a joint Eurasian economic and security architecture. This ensures stability, development, and prosperity for generations.

For Europe, this requires overcoming chronic Russophobia and eschewing Atlanticist paranoia. Europe can postpone recognition of failure, but it cannot postpone the bill. Who will be left holding it, and will there even be an EU that can pull this off? https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/11/05/destroying-europe-in-order-to-save-it-extortion-theft-and-the-eus-two-disastrous-choices/

November 12, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, EUROPE, politics international | Leave a comment

THE ELITE EURO SUICIDERS.

Tragically, some intent on suicide carry through with no one able to convince them not to. Currently most European leaders have such a mindset, risking the total economic destruction of their nations.

Aearnur, Nov 11, 2025

Idealism in its purest form is a noble and selfless endeavor when put into action. It can move mountains and radically shift perceptions when it is used to appeal to the masses……………..

True idealism in these days of relentless disinformation campaigns and all-pervasive western propaganda, is as rare as hens’ teeth. Nonetheless, most of the leadership we find across Europe appear driven by a certain fixed concept of ultimate rightness and ultimate wrongness. This distorted, heavily blinkered form of idealism permits no opposing thought to disrupt its 100% crusader mentality. 

The idea of moderating their “idealistic”, totally fixed viewpoints or any of their set in stone foreign policies is anathema to them. To view the geopolitical realities holistically to them is totally unthinkable and unacceptable. Their aggressive drive toward mindless war with Russia, and now also with China, has no reverse gear. For them it is a matter of do… or die. And now we see that their economies are indeed dying.

Naturally it is not be the political leadership of Europe who are doing the dying. Those continuing to die by thousands per week are Ukrainians. These Ukrainians have a leadership equally locked into the same faux idealism driving their European sponsors.

Thus, from the two most influential spheres of power who preside over them the hapless Ukrainians are being driven to personal and national suicide along with the European tax payers footing the bill. No retreat from this reality is contemplated by Zelemsky or the EU elite for a moment. It clearly makes no difference to the fixed position of Zelensky or the majority of European leaders that their misbegotten cause is long lost.

Ukraine’s economy will never fully recover. With the conflict kept endlessly going by Zelensky and his sponsors refusing to confront reality and come to terms with the Russians the damage to it can only increase. At whatever distant point the conflict ends we can only image the cost to Ukraine’s sponsors (and taxpayers) to begin its reconstruction. Will it ever be a sovereign nation again one might ask? How many in-house industries will remain and how many large European and U.S. corporations and major business concerns will replace almost all of them while taking control of any Ukrainian entity at boardroom level? Ukraine, on this reading, is clearly doomed, at least by comparison with how she stood before this all began by the western coup of 2014.

And Europe, what of it? Doomed also? Perhaps not doomed, but we can already see the clear economic decline all across it, de-industrialization in Germany, constant turmoil in France and rising prices everywhere. Soon will come reduced investment and rising unemployment. With rival companies across the global south fueled by inexpensive Russian oil and gas while European nations buy expensive U.S. energy products instead things can only move in one inexorable direction. That direction can only be down through being constantly and increasingly out-priced and outproduced. Jobs will inevitably be shed as U.S. and European companies seek to cut labor costs in a frantic bid to somehow stay competitive.

The vast majority of European political elites, bound as slaves to the unelected bureaucracy in Brussels are, to all intents and purposes held tightly within an economic suicide pact. Only here and there, in Hungary and Slovakia do we see leaders determined not to go down with a ship holed below the water line by its own captain. Viktor Orbán and Robert Fico refuse to join the hate-blinded, faux idealistic warmongers of the Brussels elite.

Will the citizens of Germany and France and those of all others within the European Union continue to sit on their hands awaiting the signs of full economic collapse? Or will they now release themselves from the effects of at least two decades of misinformation, propaganda and barefaced lies that have been till now conditioning their reflexes to inaction? Will they at last derail the European juggernaut heading ever faster toward the blank wall of economic death and vote these faux idealistic elite European suiciders out?

Only time will tell. https://aearnur.substack.com/p/the-elite-euro-suiciders?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=312403&post_id=178504456&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=ln98x&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

November 12, 2025 Posted by | EUROPE, politics international | Leave a comment

Proposed solar farm could help make Island ‘centre of excellence’ – minister.

FARMERS should be able to “grow” solar power in their fields in the
same way as other crops, the Environment Minister has said during a speech
in which he highlighted the growing use of technology in agriculture.
Deputy Steve Luce, who was one of two members of the Council of Ministers
to address the 2025 Jersey Farming Conference, said that a proposed solar
farm in St Martin presented a “wonderful opportunity” for the Island to
play its part in combatting climate change. “The site could become a
European centre of excellence, showing how we could be helping farmers, and
producing sustainable energy, by enabling research and education to happen
at the same time,” he said. “In combining the latest agrivoltaics,
solar technologies, and innovations, Jersey could well end up leading on
this type of agricultural initiative.”

Jersey Evening Post 8th Nov 2025, https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2025/11/08/proposed-solar-farm-could-help-make-island-centre-of-excellence-minister/

November 12, 2025 Posted by | renewable, UK | Leave a comment

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