Trump Pauses All Military Aid to Ukraine
The pause applies to weapons that are already in transit
by Dave DeCamp March 3, 2025, https://news.antiwar.com/2025/03/03/trump-pauses-all-military-aid-to-ukraine/
President Trump has paused all military aid to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing a senior Pentagon official.
The pause applies to all US military equipment bound for Ukraine that’s not currently in the country, including weapons that are in transit on aircraft and ships or waiting in Poland to be delivered.
The Pentagon official said the US was pausing all military to Ukraine until the country’s leadership demonstrates a good faith commitment to peace. A senior Trump administration official told Fox News, “This is not permanent termination of aid, it’s a pause.”
The move comes a few days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky clashed with President Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office, an argument that started after Zelensky questioned the administration’s push for diplomacy with Russia.
News of the pause comes after reports said the Trump administration was holding a meeting on Monday afternoon on the possibility of pausing military aid to Ukraine. Before the meeting, the US had already frozen weapons sales to Ukraine under the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing program, which only accounted for a small portion of the US weapons supply to Ukraine.
While the Trump administration hasn’t approved any new military aid for Ukraine, President Biden signed off on a massive number of arms packages during his final months in office that would take years to deliver.
The aid approved by Biden came in two forms: the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which ships weapons straight from US military stockpiles, and the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which allows the Pentagon to purchase arms for Ukraine.
US poised to house nuclear weapons in Britain for first time in two decades
Mothballed bunkers in Suffolk undergo extensive upgrade as America eyes ‘special weapons’ sites
US nuclear weapons could be set to return to British soil almost two decades after Washington removed its last warheads, satellite images have revealed.
The images, published in a report from the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), indicate that 22 previously mothballed nuclear bunkers at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk have
undergone extensive upgrade work. A decision to reactivate Lakenheath’s
nuclear capability for US aircraft was made as long ago as 2021, the report
suggests, with the proposals gathering force following Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine three years ago.
Telegraph 4th March 2025, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/04/us-readies-british-air-base-house-nuclear-weapons/
Keir Starmer faces backbench rebellion over ‘shortsighted’ cuts to aid budget
Keir Starmer is facing a backbench revolt by Labour MPs this week as anger
mounts over the government’s decision to cut the international
development budget by almost half in order to pay for an increase in
defence spending.
The Labour chair of the all-party select committee on
international development, Sarah Champion, who has already called on the
government to rethink the decision, has secured a debate in the Commons on
Wednesday at which dozens of Labour backbenchers are considering
intervening to express their dismay. One of those who may speak out,
according to colleagues, is Anneliese Dodds, who resigned as international
development minister on Friday.
Guardian 2nd March 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/mar/02/keir-starmer-faces-backbench-rebellion-over-shortsighted-cuts-to-aid-budget
Conservatives’ push to identify ‘suitable sites’ for nuclear reactors in Telford and Wrekin is defeated.
A Conservative move to get Telford and
Wrekin’s local plan to ‘identify suitable sites’ for small nuclear
reactors was defeated as the borough’s all important development
blueprint moved to the next stage.
Shropshire Star 3rd March 2025 https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2025/03/03/conservatives-push-to-identify-suitable-sites-for-nuclear-reactors-in-telford-and-wrekin-is-defeated/
Zelensky needs to go …been risking nuclear war far too long
Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL, 2 Mar 25
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is a spectacularly failed leader. He’s failed on every indicator of good governance.
He failed the largely Russian cultured Ukrainians in the Donbas who overwhelmingly voted him for president in 2019. He promised he’d end the war on them by their own government after the 2014 coup toppled elected pro Russian President Victor Yanukovych. Once in office Zelensky caved to the ultra-nationalists who wielded the real power in Kyiv. The war on the Donbas separatist movement escalated under Zelensky. He massed 60,000 elite troops on the Donbas border to complete destruction of the separatist movement. Guess what that provoked February 24, 2022?
He failed by continuing his predecessors’ desire to join NATO, knowing full well Ukraine in NATO crossed a red line Russia viewed as an existential security threat. That made the February 22, 2022 Russian invasion even more inevitable.
Two months into the war he failed to conclude a peace treaty with Russia in April, 2022 that was about to be signed. He allowed US and UK war hawks bully him into rejecting the settlement which would have cost Ukraine nary a square mile of territory. He swallowed whole their delusion he could win the war with US weapons but not US cannon fodder Now he’s lost about 45,000 square miles for caving to his US/UK masters of war..
Worst of all, Zelensky failed the most important responsibility of any leader: do nothing that could risk nuclear annihilation. He’s spent the entire 3 years of war asking, begging, demanding the US give him the weaponry to attack deep inside Russia. He appears oblivious how easily such attacks could trigger nuclear war between the US and Russ
Astoundingly, when an errant Ukrainian missile killed a couple of Poles in Poland, Zelensky claimed that represented a Russian attack on NATO requiring an immediate NATO military response. Hello WWIII. That alone made Zelensky unfit to serve another day as Ukraine leader.
With the US proxy war on Russia lost and Ukraine in ruins, Zelensky’s failed days in power are dwindling. His exit cannot come soon enough.
The National goes to the UN: The fight for nuclear disarmament
1st March, By Xander Elliards
Next week will see the third Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on
the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (3MSP TPNW, for short). In practice,
that means that delegates from across the globe will attend a meeting at
the UN in New York to discuss how to push for wider acceptance of a
worldwide ban on nuclear weapons. The TPNW is backed by 73 states parties,
including Austria, Ireland, New Zealand, Mexico, and South Africa, and 21
others are signatories, including Colombia, Brazil, and Barbados.
The SNP has committed an independent Scotland to signing the TPNW – but the UK,
as a nuclear power, has declined to sign it. Thanks to a partnership with
the philanthropic fund Lex International, The National will be on the
ground in New York and at the UN building as thousands of delegates from
across the globe meet to discuss how to push nuclear states like the UK
into action.
The National 1st March 2025,
https://www.thenational.scot/news/24969230.national-goes-un-fight-nuclear-disarmament/
The Guardian view on PM’s gamble: exploiting crisis to remake Labour was a step too far for an ally
Guardian 28th Feb 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/28/the-guardian-view-on-pms-gamble-exploiting-crisis-to-remake-labour-was-a-step-too-far-for-an-ally
The exit of a soft-left intellectual politician from government highlights a growing unease about the reordering of the party’s priorities.
The resignation of Anneliese Dodds, the international development minister, from Labour’s cabinet may not have been entirely unexpected. Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to cut the aid budget to “pay” for increased defence spending was wrong. Making the world’s poorest foot the bill for Britain’s security is reckless and self-defeating. Slashing aid fuels instability – it won’t buy safety. From her perch in government Ms Dodds, who was Sir Keir’s first shadow chancellor, knew this better than most.
The former cabinet minister’s letter is right to warn that the cuts will mean the UK withdrawing from many developing countries and having a diminished role in global institutions like the World Bank, the G7 and climate negotiations. She pointedly argued Britain will find it “impossible” to deliver on its commitment to maintain development spending in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine with the shrunken budget. Sir Keir rebuffed this charge, but Ms Dodds is right to say his move is being seen as following the Trumpian lead in cutting USAid – a framing that implies the UK is losing its independent foreign policy direction.
Like many others, including this column, she understood that in an increasingly volatile world, defence spending must rise. But rather than a collective discussion on whether the government’s fiscal rules and tax policies remain fit for purpose, the prime minister chose to gut aid budgets to fund defence spending with little debate, as if stability abroad weren’t essential to security at home. Such high-handed treatment left Ms Dodds, a soft-left intellectual politician, with no choice but to resign.
Her departure had been in the air since Sir Keir made his announcement – but she held off until he returned from Washington. Sir Keir now owns the decision, and its consequences will define his leadership. That he was shaped by events rather than shaping them will not be lost on his MPs.
Clive Lewis, a leftwing Labour MP and former soldier, has called for a wealth tax to fund defence. This is a sensible idea that merits wider discussion, as does relaxing borrowing rules – a debate already under way in Europe. The party’s right wing wants to frame Sir Keir’s move as more than fiscal, briefing that Sir Keir has made a deliberate break from the party’s pro-aid stance. It is reported that the Treasury didn’t push this – it was the prime minister’s personal call. Ms Dodds’ rise and fall mirrors his hardening leadership style.
Sir Keir is seizing this crisis to remake his party. His government has embraced militarisation, welfare cuts, climate backtracking and nationalist asylum policies. The political rationale is to ward off attacks from the extreme right and particularly Reform, which has seen its support rise. Why amplify rightwing narratives instead of challenging them? If this is just tactical positioning, fine. If not, he risks losing Labour’s soul – a perilous path as concerns over the lack of good jobs, equality, child poverty and pensioner support are likely to keep growing. Labour voters may turn away if “hard-headed” geopolitics trumps fairness. The reaction from MPs and the electorate will determine whether this gamble pays off – or exposes rifts within Labour’s coalition.
‘The climate crisis is the biggest security threat of them all’: Anneliese Dodds quits government over aid budget cuts
Michael Holder, 28 February 2025
Anneliese Dodds has today quit the Cabinet over plans to raid the
international aid budget to boost defence spending, warning in her
resignation letter the decision risks damaging the UK’s interests and
undermining efforts to tackle a climate crisis that “is the biggest
security threat of them all”.
Dodds, who resigned as Minister of State for
both International Development and Women and Equalities, said while she
fully supported the government’s decision to increase defence spending, she
disagreed that the UK overseas development budget should “absorb the entire
burden”.
Business Green 28th Feb 2025,
https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4410216/climate-crisis-biggest-security-threat-anneliese-dodds-quits-government-aid-budget-cuts
Donald Trump was rude to Zelensky, but he did tell him the hard truths.
Much of what President Trump told Ukraine President Zelensky in their contentious public meeting Friday was valid…and needed to be said to achieve peace. A sampling of the truths Trump told Zelensky:
1. Ukraine must seek immediate ceasefire not more war
2. Why? The war is lost with Zelensky having “no more cards to play” to achieve his unrealistic, indeed delusional war objectives.
3. Only the US can achieve war’s end thru a negotiated peace with Russia. What Trump omitted is that this has always been America’s war simply using Ukraine proxies to fight it.
4. Ukraine is running out of soldiers, relying on old men and conscripts snatched off the street to fight a lost cause.
5. Zelensky could start WWIII with his efforts to keep war going by attacking deep into Russia.
Trump’s comments signaled a near complete break with predecessor Biden’s embrace of the weak, compliant Zelensky to fight the war to weaken Russia and keep it out of the European political economy.
Trump knows the war has nothing to do with Europe or America’s national security interests and must be ended.
If the Oval Office dustup offends people who want this war to continue indefinitely, possibly going nuclear, then by all means be outraged. But if you want to end this lost war utterly destroying Ukraine so US can weaken Russia, then join the peace community in supporting Trump’s peace initiative.
This war has put peoplekind at risk of nuclear annihilation for all 1,100 days since it began. That must end.
Small modular reactor plans edge closer, amid claims that the technology makes no economic sense
By Simon Hacker, Punchline Gloucester 28th Feb 2025
…………………………………….Dale Vince, the owner of Stroud-based green energy group Ecotricity, has
roundly condemned the technology for “defying the economic laws of
gravity”.
Speaking on his weekly Zerocarbonista podcast, Mr Vince said:
“When you come to small nukes, the government and the nuclear industry have
consistently said that we will get lower bills, but they don’t put a number
on it. They are ecomonists without numbers!
Energy minister Ed Miliband: keen to move ahead on SMR plans. Big nuclear is the most expensive electricity we have ever made, it’s off the charts compared to renewable
energy and one of the fundamental laws of physics is that the economies of
scale come by making something bigger, not by making something smaller –
it always costs money to miniaturise.
So here they are, saying we can
miniatarise nuclear reactors that famously went decades late and billions
over budget… and they’ll be cheap. I don’t believe that for a second and
what we are of course doing is proliferating the risk.”
He added: “It’s always worth imagining what it would be like if the Romans had nuclear
power. If they did, Bath would be a toxic no-go zone. It’s only 2,000 years
ago and sounds like a long time, but not in the context of toxic nuclear
waste.” Whether Berkeley and neighbouring site Oldbury-on-Severn progress
with Rolls Royce’s SMR bid, the technology’s pathway to viable commercial
models for energy production remains challenging: as of today, only China
and Russia have operational SMRs, with China’s HTR-PM pebble-bed reactor
connected to the grid and Russia’s floating Akademik Lomonosov plant
utilizing two 35MW SMRs. https://www.punchline-gloucester.com/articles/aanews/smr-plans-edge-closer-amid-claims-the-technology-makes-no-economic-sense
Rachel Reeves eyes cuts to nuclear in spending review
Energy industry insiders fear the Chancellor could target Britain’s mini-nuke programme
Matt Oliver, Industry Editor, Telegraph 28th Feb 2025
Rachel Reeves is eyeing cuts to Britain’s £20bn mini-nuclear reactor programme amid a scramble to slash government expenditure, insiders fear.
Sources believe the Chancellor is considering approving a smaller number of reactors than previously expected in an attempt to reduce the costs of the programme, which is part of wider efforts to transform Britain’s power grid.
The competition to design and build the first small modular reactors (SMRs) entered its last phase on Friday, with four finalists – Rolls-Royce, GE-Hitachi, Westinghouse and Holtec – told to submit final bids by mid-April.
It was previously suggested that up to three winners would be chosen by Great British Nuclear (GBN), the quango in charge of running the contest.
But sources said there was concern this has quietly been scaled back to a “maximum” of two – raising the possibility that only one winner will be chosen. Fewer reactors would be built overall as a result………………………………………
The Chancellor is struggling to balance the books as weak economic growth makes it harder to meet her self-imposed “fiscal rules” for borrowing.
Everything is on the table’
Industry sources said there had as yet been no suggestion that ministers had decided to scale back the SMR programme.
But the final outcome has been linked to the spending review and there remains uncertainty about how many vendors will be chosen.
One person briefed on the discussions warned: “It all comes down to the spending review. Everything is on the table.”……………………..
the nascent technology remains commercially unproven, with a string of European countries and the US all currently pursuing their own individual competitions to fund the first examples of the technology.
Scaling back Britain’s SMR programme would represent a significant retreat for Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, who this month announced plans to speed up the development of the mini reactors and vowed to “build, baby, build”.
………there are fears that Mr Miliband, the Energy Secretary, is under pressure to choose which energy schemes he will prioritise as he scrambles to deliver Labour’s promise…
………….The competition has suffered repeated delays, with ministers in the previous Conservative government originally suggesting it would be concluded last spring.
This week it emerged there had been yet another delay, with the deadline for final bid submissions moved back from the end of March to mid-April.
……………………….The Treasury was contacted for comment.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/02/28/reeves-eyes-cuts-to-nuclear-in-spending-review/
UK Energy Secretary Signals China Pivot
By Irina Slav – Feb 28, 2025,
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/UK-Energy-Secretary-Signals-China-Pivot.html
UK’s energy secretary is reportedly scheduled to travel to China next month in a bid to forge a closer relationship with the country, despite it being seen by previous governments in London as a threat to national security.
The report comes from Reuters, which spoke to unnamed sources close to Ed Miliband, who said the top energy member of the UK cabinet will discuss alternative energy sources in China. What he will not discuss, per the sources, is nuclear energy.
The UK’s Labour government is looking to mend fences with China after the last series of Conservative cabinets all demonstrated mistrust and suspicion to Beijing, in sync with the EU and the United States. However, the Starmer government has signaled it was willing to change this, diverging from the EU/U.S. course of import tariffs and accusations of national security attacks on the part of the Chinese.
In the energy sector, Chinese equipment and components are crucial for the Starmer government’s transition efforts as the country is the largest producer of things such as solar panels, wind turbines, and inverters. It is also the lowest-cost producer, ironically thanks to the amount of coal-powered generation Chinese manufacturers use to make the transition components.
The UK has some of the most ambitious transition goals in the world, aiming to generate as much as 95% of its electricity from non-hydrocarbon sources. As part of efforts to achieve this, the government has committed to doubling onshore wind energy by 2030, quadrupling offshore wind, and trebling solar power by the end of the decade.
To do this, the Starmer government would need to speed up the pace of growth in wind and solar capacity considerably. In offshore wind alone, the government would need to approve more offshore capacity in the next two annual renewable energy auctions, than it has approved in the last six auctions, the country’s grid operator warned last year.
IAEA mission arrives at nuclear plant in Ukraine through Russia
By Reuters, March 2, 2025, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/new-iaea-mission-arrives-russian-held-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-russia-says-2025-03-01/
March 1 (Reuters) – A new monitoring mission from the U.N. nuclear watchdog arrived on Saturday at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine for the first time through Russian territory, a Russia-installed head of the plant said.
The IAEA rotation came after weeks of delay caused by military activity around the site with each side blaming the other for violating rules to ensure the team’s safe passage to the plant.
“It is fundamentally important that the route passed through the territory of the Russian Federation for the first time,” Yuri Chernichuk, the Russia-installed head of the Zaporizhzhia plant in southeastern Ukraine, said in a video on Telegram.
The arrival of three inspectors, he added, was ensured by Russia’s defence ministry and national guard and followed “intense” consultations between the heads of Russia’s state nuclear power company Rosatom and IAEA.
Reuters could not independently verify the report. The IAEA could not be reached outside business hours to comment on the Russian statement. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Stop government handouts to EDF for Hinkley Point C
Roy Pumfrey, 27th February, https://www.bridgwatermercury.co.uk/your_say/postbag/24966410.letter-stop-government-handouts-edf-hinkley-point-c/
It’s been reported that EDF, under pressure from French national auditors, is still desperately looking for investors in Hinkley Point C (HPC) to replace lost top-up funding from its Chinese partner, CGN.
Despite having talks with lots of potential investors, EDF has been unable to proceed with any of them.
HPC was initially expected to cost £18 billion and to be completed in 2025, but the estimated cost has increased to roughly £46 billion in 2024 terms and the start date has been pushed back to 2029 at the earliest, possibly as late as 2031, because of construction delays.
The UK government is also trying to drum up investors for the Sizewell C (SZC) project in Suffolk.
EDF only wants to invest up to 20 per cent of the estimated cost in the project.
The government is hoping to make a final investment decision on SZC in June.
In January, France’s state auditor said EDF should not proceed with SZC until it had cut its exposure to HPC.
It seems quite likely that EDF is threatening to withdraw from SZC unless the government bails them out on HPC.
EDF has already been given an overly generous index-linked contract to supply electricity from HPC to British consumers at around £130/MWh (at today’s prices) compared to today’s cost of electricity from wind at £44MWh.
There should be no more government handouts to French government-owned EDF.
If they can’t afford to build it on such generous terms, they should stop now.
SZC would be funded in a different way to HPC, which could cost British consumers as much as £100 billion – official cost estimates do not include the cost of the finance needed to build Sizewell.
The obvious thing to do is to cancel SZC now before any more taxpayers’ money is wasted and resist pressure from EDF for us to bail them out on HPC.
Reawakening a Nuclear Legacy: The Potential Return of the US Nuclear Mission to RAF Lakenheath
Federation of American Scientists 26th Feb 2025, by Eliana Johns & Hans Kristensen, https://fas.org/publication/potential-return-of-the-us-nuclear-mission-to-raf-lakenheath/
In the spring of 2022, researchers at the Federation of American Scientists began reading newly released U.S. Defense Department budget documents to look for updates concerning the Pentagon’s priorities for the next fiscal year. As the researchers poured over hundreds of pages, two words suddenly captured their attention: the Biden administration’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget request had added “the UK” to a list of countries receiving upgrades to their “special weapons” storage sites under a 13-year NATO investment program. The term “special weapons” is often used by the U.S. government when referring to nuclear weapons. However, the United States has not deployed nuclear weapons in the United Kingdom for nearly two decades. Those two words sparked dozens of questions, years of continued research, and a new local movement of protests against the return of a potential nuclear mission to RAF Lakenheath.
This new report provides an account of the nuclear history of RAF Lakenheath and the role it played in the US nuclear mission until nuclear weapons were withdrawn in 2008. The report then explains the mounting evidence from three years of collection of documentation and observations that show the United States Air Force is re-establishing its nuclear mission on UK soil for the first time in nearly two decades.
As of February 2025, there are no known public indications that nuclear weapons have been deployed to RAF Lakenheath – we assess that the return of the nuclear mission is intended primarily as a backup rather than to deploy weapons now. However, if this were to happen, it would break with decades of policy and planning and reverse the southern focus of the European nuclear deployment that emerged after the end of the Cold War. Even without weapons present, the addition of a large nuclear air base in northern Europe is a significant new development that would have been inconceivable just a decade-and-a-half ago.
1 This Month
23 April – WEBINAR – Why new nuclear reactors are the wrong tools for decarbonization Thursday, April 23 • 1 AM – 2 AM AEST
World Nuclear Power. Reactors 1951-2026, 75 Years of Nuclear Power.
Interactive Map– https://dv.worldnuclearreport.org/
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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