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UK to test new ‘Astraea’ nuclear warheads without detonation

The testing will be conducted in collaboration the French at a facility in Dijon, France.

IE, Christopher McFadden, 26 Mar 24

The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) has just announced its intention to test its next-generation nuclear warhead without actually detonating it.

This test will be the first of its kind since international agreements limit new nuclear testing and countries will have to use some highly sophisticated scientific apparatus.

The new warhead, the A21 “Astraea,” will replace the existing British-made warheads on the nation’s stockpile of Trident-II submarine-launched missiles. These missiles are currently carried aboard the UK’s four Vanguard-class nuclear submarines.

Like the nuclear warheads, the UK has pledged to replace its aging Vanguard class with new Dreadnought-class submarines by the mid-2030s. “UK is committed to replacing our sovereign warhead in parliament in February 2021,” the UK’s MoD shared in a white paper……………………………………………………………..  https://interestingengineering.com/military/uk-to-test-new-astraea-nuclear-warheads-without-detonation

March 28, 2024 Posted by | UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

The Decision That Wasn’t A Decision

Extradition has been delayed as UK High Court of Justice urges US government to submit “assurances” or face an appeal

STELLA ASSANGE, MAR 27. 2024

Yesterday, the UK High Court ruled on Julian’s request to appeal extradition to the United States. The result? The decision has effectively been put on hold until the U.S. submits assurances – previously deemed by Amnesty as “inherently unreliable” – including that he will not be prejudiced at trial by reason of his nationality and not receive the death penalty.

In a statement outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Stella said: “The UK High Court recognise that Julian is exposed to a flagrant denial of his freedom of expression rights, that he is being discriminated against on the basis of his nationality and that he remains exposed to the death penalty. And yet, what they have done is to invite a political intervention from the United States to send a letter saying ‘it’s all okay’…”  https://stellaassangeofficial.substack.com/p/the-decision-that-wasnt-a-decision?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=800783&post_id=142999556&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=ln98x&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

March 28, 2024 Posted by | Legal, UK | Leave a comment

Decades of Dissent: Anti-Nuclear movement explored in LSE Library exhibition

ianVisits, London, 27 Mar 24

A “tube map” in the shape of a fighter jet is on display at the moment, as part of an exhibition looking at the two conflicting sides in the protests about the arms trade.

n the late 1950s, hundreds of thousands of people took part in demonstrations against Britain’s role in the nuclear arms race, sparking a movement that would continue until the present day. Over the decades, individuals from all backgrounds would be united in their support or rejection of nuclear disarmament. At times of great political division, these alliances evolved to incorporate debates over industrial relations, social policy and British identity as a whole.

The exhibition approaches this network primarily from the point of view of peace and anti-nuclear groups such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). However, it invites you to consider how the interests and goals of any group can interact and intersect with one or more others.

Most of the exhibition looks at the different groups campaigning on various aspects of the arms trade, and some of the key people involved, with a lot of archive documents and newspapers on display.

Even setting aside the political message, the display also reminds us of the often grassroots style of printing in use at the time, with basic printed flyers contrasting with today’s online content………………………………………………


The exhibition is open every day until 15th September 2024 and is free to visit.

The exhibition is located next to the entrance at the LSE Library, just off Portugal Street, near Holborn.  https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/decades-of-dissent-anti-nuclear-movement-explored-in-lse-library-exhibition-71146/

March 28, 2024 Posted by | culture and arts, UK | Leave a comment

Antarctic sea ice ‘behaving strangely’ as Arctic reaches ‘below-average’ winter peak

Carbon Brief, AYESHA TANDON, 26 Mar 24,

Antarctic sea ice is “behaving strangely” and might have entered a “new regime”, the director of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) tells Carbon Brief.

Following an all-time low maximum in September 2023, Antarctic sea ice has been tracking at near-record-low extent for the past six months. Last month, it hit its 2024 minimum extent, tying with 2022 for the second-lowest Antarctic minimum in the 46-year satellite record.

Dr Mark Serreze, director of the NSIDC tells Carbon Brief that more warm ocean water is reaching the surface to melt ice and keep it from forming. He says that we “must wait and see” whether this is a “temporary effect” or whether the Antarctic has entered a “new regime”.

Meanwhile, Arctic sea ice has reached its maximum extent for the year, peaking at 15.01m square kilometres (km2) on 14 March. The provisional data from the NSIDC shows that this year’s Arctic winter peak, despite favourable winds that encouraged sea ice formation, was 640,000km2 smaller than the 1981-2010 average maximum.

This year’s maximum was the 14th lowest in the satellite record…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Record-breaking Antarctic extent

Antarctic sea ice has been tracking at or near record-low levels for months.

The Antarctic set a record-low maximum on 10 September 2023, with an extent of 16.96m km2. This was “the lowest sea ice maximum in the 1979 to 2023 sea ice record by a wide margin”, and one of the earliest, the NSIDC says.

Antarctic conditions over 2023 were “truly exceptional” and “completely outside the bounds of normality”, one expert told Carbon Brief.

As 2023 progressed, Antarctic sea ice melt was “slower than average”, the NSIDC says. The total decline in Antarctic sea ice extent through October was 903,000km2, while the October average was 985,000km2.

Nevertheless, Antarctic sea ice extent continued to track at a record low. On 31 October 2023, Antarctic sea ice extent was still tracking at a record-low of 15.79m km2. This is 750,000km2 below the previous 31 October record low………….. more https://www.carbonbrief.org/antarctic-sea-ice-behaving-strangely-as-arctic-reaches-below-average-winter-peak/

March 28, 2024 Posted by | ANTARCTICA, climate change | Leave a comment

Atomic blackmail – Russia-Ukraine war and Ramberg’s theory of vulnerability

Simon Bennett, School of Business, University of Leicester, 6 Mar 24

ABSTRACT

The Russia-Ukraine War is being fought between states committed to nuclear power. This paper references Ramberg’s nuclear powerplant (NPP) vulnerability treatise, the IAEA’s Seven Pillars of Safety metric and Pidgeon and O’Leary’s safety imagination approach to assess the safety of Ukrainian and Russian NPPs. It suggests governments should reflect on events in Ukraine, and, with reference to the above-mentioned approaches, decide whether the upside of nuclear power – the largely carbon-neutral production of electricity – outweighs the downside – giving a blackmail opportunity to hostile states. Although a cost-benefit analysis to inform decision-making is effortful, the paper suggests that failure to consider every advantage and disadvantage of nuclear power could prove costly in human and environmental terms. Drawing on Ukraine’s experience, the paper suggests the national interest is best served in time of war by generating electricity in multiple small plants rather than a few large plants.

Introduction

In 1985, at the height of the Cold War, foreign policy and nuclear expert Bennett Ramberg published his paperback Nuclear Power Plants: An Unrecognised Military Peril, whose subject is the targeting of NPPs by a protagonist to secure tactical or strategic advantage. The Russia-Ukraine War……..has made this subject relevant…………………………………………more https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00207233.2024.2317089

COMMENT.

a wonderful article.  It contains so many insights that never seem to get mentioned —

 – aggressor nation would risk poisoning its own soldiers, civilians and land. 

– could target facilities with a larger footprint, such as waste storage ponds or fuel reprocessing plants.

–  the ideological-doctrinal domain of propaganda and messaging.

–  the blackmail potential of NPPs – it would seem wise to invest intellectual resources in imagining and active learning…….. a dearth of safety imagination in decision-making can be costly.

– – a large number of municipally-operated solar farms, wind farms, tidal barrages, waste-to-power and hydroelectric powerplants generating power for municipalities locally would have provided a more resilient system for Ukraine. In the matter of power generation, in time of crisis or conflict scaling-down secures.

March 28, 2024 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Now there are three court challenges against Ontario nuclear waste disposal facility

National Observer, By Matteo Cimellaro | News, Urban Indigenous Communities in Ottawa | March 27th 2024

Legal challenges against a nuclear waste facility slated for construction near the Ottawa River continue to rise.

On Wednesday, a coalition made up of a First Nation and environmental groups launched a legal challenge against the federal government and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) over the issuing of Species at Risk Act (SARA) permits to the company.

The court application argues that Ottawa’s granting of the SARA permits is unreasonable. It disputes CNL’s assertion that it chose the facility location to have the least impact on species at risk and has adopted the best mitigation measures.

The court documents also state the federal government did not adequately address Kebaowek First Nation’s submissions and evidence on the project and failed to include other species at risk, like the monarch butterfly, songbirds and the eastern wolf.

This most recent court challenge follows two others filed since the waste facility was approved by the Canadian nuclear regulator on Jan. 8.

The SARA permits allow for the deforestation and pre-construction work to begin on the facility with some mitigation measures for endangered Blanding’s turtles and two bat species named in the permits. The near-surface disposal facility is designed as a large earthen mound and will have a lifespan of at least 550 years. It will primarily house low-level nuclear waste, such as contaminated mops and protective equipment.

Approval for the preliminary work at the site was granted by the Canadian Wildlife Service, which said CNL successfully demonstrated feasible measures will be taken to minimize the impact of construction on the three species and that construction will not jeopardize their recovery.

Some measures will include identifying turtle and bat hot spots, “creation of turtle-crossing systems,” installation of temporary fencing around construction areas and permanent fencing along roadways, the decision stated.

After the SARA permits were awarded on March 18, Kebaowek Chief Lance Haymond told Canada’s National Observer in an interview the permits amounted to a “kill order.” Kebaowek launched the most recent legal challenge alongside Sierra Club, the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility and a local citizens’ group.

Previously, Haymond sent a letter to Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault asking him to withhold the permits……………………………………………………………………

Kebaowek will likely seek an injunction against CNL, Haymond said.

Other legal battles include Kebaowek’s challenge over the United Nations Declaration Act (UNDA), which enshrined the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) into Canadian law. In the judicial review, Kebaowek argues that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) did not secure the First Nation’s free, prior and informed consent during the licensing process, as mandated under UNDA.

Around the same time, a separate legal challenge launched by three citizens’ groups on Wednesday challenged the recent decision by the CNSC to approve the nuclear waste facility. The groups asked the Federal Court to review the commission’s failure to consider evidence around radiation dose limits, the types of waste entering the facility and other regulatory exemptions that were granted by the commission.

— With files from Natasha Bulowski  https://www.nationalobserver.com/2024/03/27/news/three-court-challenges-against-ontario-nuclear-waste-disposal-site

March 28, 2024 Posted by | Canada, Legal | Leave a comment

US to Palestinians: ‘Tighten your belts, our food pier still 2 months away’

Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL, 27 Mar 24

US ships heading toward Gaza to build American’s food delivering pier are sputtering along at 10 to 15 knots. The USVA Gen. Frank Besson Jr has been refueling in the Azores since Friday. Once underway it still has 5,000 miles to traverse before reaching destination. All other ships are behind the Besson, with 2 not having left the US yet.

With starvation rampant in Gaza, thanks to US enabling the Israeli genocide there, Uncle Sam sure is taking his sweet time creating infrastructure to deliver food aid. It won’t do much good even if completed since Israel blocks most aid in entering Gaza. Might be that our benevolent Uncle is giving Israel time to complete their genocidal ethnic cleansing so we can just pack up and go home.

If the US treated the Berliners being starved by the Russians in 1948 like they’re treating the Palestinians being starved in Gaza, Berlin would have fallen to the Russkies pretty damn quick.

March 28, 2024 Posted by | Atrocities, Gaza, USA | Leave a comment

Cancer “epidemic” in the Young as Radioactive Wastes are Increasingly Dispersed to the Environment meanwhile Nuclear given “green” status in Brussels.

  BY MARIANNEWILDART  https://mariannewildart.wordpress.com/2024/03/24/cancer-epidemic-in-the-young-as-radioactive-wastes-are-increasingly-dispersed-to-the-environment-meanwhile-nuclear-given-green-status-in-brussels/

“Decommissioning” old and redundant nuclear plants sounds great and is greenwashed by the nuclear industry and Government as “Nuclear Restoration Services” . But in reality “decommissioning” means dispersal of nuclear wastes to the air, sea and land. Laws have been changed (despite opposition by Radiation Free Lakeland and others) to facilitate this by “moving waste up the heirarchy” ie what once was banned as too dangerous in landfill, incinerators and radioactive scrap metal is now routinely dispersed to the public realm. This also means that far higher level wastes are proposed for Geological Disposal than was the case in the 1990s when the NIREX inquiry stopped plans for intermediate and low level wastes in a deep nuclear dump.

In the same week the “Princess of Wales reveals diagnosis, doctors warn of mysterious cancer ‘epidemic” but the finger of suspicion never falls on the increase in radioactive wastes now being chucked into the public realm – nope the public are asked to fill in polls on whether they think processed food, lack of exercise, smoking is to blame for increase in cancers. In other words folks – “its your fault” despite the increased burden on your body from radiation and chemicals in the public realm.

Also in the same week EU ‘leaders’ in Brussels met to  sign a Declaration pushing new nuclear “as part of the transition to a net-zero-emissions society”. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Nuclear Energy Summit in Brussels on March 21 was protested by more than 40 organisations and we support that protest. But our support was tempered with the knowledge that rather than shouting about the radioactive and chemical toxic burden on the planet and people NGOs have for too long focussed on the narrative that nuclear is not a “climate solution.” NGOs “aim is to highlight that nuclear energy is a dangerous distraction from real climate solutions.” It is good to see opposition but by not pushing hard against the full consequences of nuclear (this is especially true of NGOs in the UK with few exceptions ) , the industry has been given a free ride to push its ‘climate solution’ agenda in the knowledge that it will not be overly tarnished by NGOs’ in the public ’s perception as Poison Power.

Of course it is a climate solution in the sense that the nuclear mafia agenda for the planet and its human and non-human inhabitants mean that we will not be in the least bit concerned about the climate.

Beyond Nuclear reported from Brussels and produced an excellent leaflet “The Lying Piper of Nukeland” :

The IAEA and 30 countries that met in Brussels on March 21, spun false nuclear fairy tales, then issued a suitably “solemn pledge” to expand nuclear power, effectively announcing their own funeral. Many European groups protested in Brussels at the expo center where the summit was held .

March 27, 2024 Posted by | EUROPE, spinbuster | 2 Comments

Man blames nuclear meltdown for deformities in city more radioactive than Chernobyl

Ozersk – code named City 40 – was the birthplace of the Soviet nuclear weapons programme, now it’s one of the most contaminated places on the planet with residents exposed to high radiation levels.

By Kelly Williams, Assistant News Editor (Live)  https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/man-blames-nuclear-meltdown-deformities-32405120

A man living in a secret city five times more radioactive than Chernobyl has been left with facial deformities he blames on huge nuclear meltdowns.

Vakil Batirshin has massively swollen lymph nodes said to be caused by radiation-related illness. He lives in Ozersk – code named City 40 in Russia – which was built in total secrecy around the huge Mayak nuclear power plant by the Soviets in 1946.

For the first eight years after City 40 was built, Ozersk residents were forbidden from communicating with the outside world. Like Chernobyl, it was designed as a place to house the scientists working at the plant who – unbeknownst to the world – were leading the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons programme during the Cold War era.

Locals were told they were “the nuclear shield and saviours of the world,” and everyone on the outside was an enemy.

They also kept it a secret that the extreme exposure to radiation was affecting the health of the city’s inhabitants. They started to get sick and die and the authorities were clandestine about the mortality rate.

However, the city’s graveyard with all its young victims tells the story.

Ozersk, nicknamed “The graveyard of the Earth,” was surrounded by guarded gates and barbed wire fences and did not appear on any maps.

Its inhabitants’ identities were also erased from the Soviet census to guard their secret.

The Mayak nuclear plant went through Russia’s biggest nuclear disaster when the facility allegedly dumped 200million curies worth of radioactive material into the environment around Ozersk.

The residents also suffered the Kyshtym disaster in 1957, the worst nuclear disaster the world had seen before Chernobyl.

Radiation bathed the city when a cooling system exploded at Mayak with the force of 100 tons of dynamite.

One of the nearby lakes has been so heavily contaminated by plutonium that locals have renamed it the “Lake of Death” or “Plutonium Lake”.

In an interview which resurfaced earlier this week on X (formerly Twitter), Vakil Batirshin struggles to speak, his neck is painfully swollen from lymph nodes that have grown to triple their normal size.

His exact diagnosis remains steeped in mystery as doctors say it can be hard to trace any one condition to radiation.

But asked if he has any doubt his symptoms are related to radioactivity, he said: “Well, when I lived in my home village, I didn’t have anything. Everything was great.

“When I came here, it all started.”

Another resident, Gilani Dambaev is riddled with diseases doctors think are linked to a lifetime’s exposure to excessive radiation. He and his family have government-issued cards identifying them as residents of radiation-tainted territory.

He said: “Sometimes they would put up signs warning us not to swim in the river, but they never said why. After work, we would go swimming in the river. The kids would too.”

Although the secret is now out and Ozyorsk resembles “a suburban 1950s American town” according to The Guardian, residents know their water is contaminated, their crops are poisoned, and their children may be sick.

Half a million people in Ozersk and its surrounding area are said to have been exposed to five times as much radiation as those living in the areas of Ukraine affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

But most refused to leave, because while the Soviet population were suffering from famine and living in extreme poverty, the city was regarded as a paradise as authorities gave them private apartments, plenty of food, good schools and healthcare, and a plethora of entertainment and cultural activities.

Even still, residents opt against leaving. The Guardian reported that “it is prestigious to live in Ozersk.”

Residents describe it as a town of “intellectuals”, where they are used to getting “the best of everything for free”.

Living in Mayak’s nuclear shadow and resigned to her fate, one said: “I don’t hope for anything anymore. If we get sick, we get sick.”

Some locals, however, claim that long term dumping by the nuclear plant’s management continues today.

The government has started resettling residents to new homes away from the river, but the process only began in 2008.

March 27, 2024 Posted by | environment, Reference, Russia, wastes | Leave a comment

‘The graveyard of the Earth’: inside City 40, Russia’s deadly nuclear secret

The city’s residents know the truth, however: that their water is contaminated, their mushrooms and berries are poisoned, and their children may be sick. Ozersk and the surrounding region is one of the most contaminated places on the planet, referred to by some as the “graveyard of the Earth”.

City 40’s inhabitants were told they were “the nuclear shield and saviours of the world”

 From the late 1940s, people here started to get sick and die: the victims of long-term exposure to radiation.

‘The graveyard of the Earth’: inside City 40, Russia’s deadly nuclear secret,    https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jul/20/graveyard-earth-inside-city-40-ozersk-russia-deadly-secret-nuclear Samira Goetschel, Wed 20 Jul 2016   Ozersk, codenamed City 40, was the birthplace of the Soviet nuclear weapons programme. Now it is one of the most contaminated places on the planet – so why do so many residents still view it as a fenced-in paradise?

“Those in paradise were given a choice: happiness without freedom, or freedom without happiness. There was no third alternative.” (From the dystopian novel We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin, 1924)

Deep in the vast forests of Russia’s Ural mountains lies the forbidden city of Ozersk. Behind guarded gates and barbed wire fences stands a beautiful enigma – a hypnotic place that seems to exist in a different dimension.

Codenamed City 40, Ozersk was the birthplace of the Soviet nuclear weapons programme after the second world war. For decades, this city of 100,000 people did not appear on any maps, and its inhabitants’ identities were erased from the Soviet census.

Today, with its beautiful lakes, perfumed flowers and picturesque tree-lined streets, Ozersk resembles a suburban 1950s American town – like one of those too-perfect places depicted in The Twilight Zone.

Continue reading →

March 27, 2024 Posted by | psychology and culture, Reference archives, Russia, secrets,lies and civil liberties, wastes | Leave a comment

Whaat! Romania’s state-owned Nuclearelectrica to partner with NuScale to build small nuclear reactors.

Romania expects to make a preliminary final investment decision next year
on whether to build a small modular reactor plant (SMR), which could become
Europe’s first project using the technology, Energy Minister Sebastian
Burduja said on Monday. State-owned nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica
opens new tab said in 2021 it will partner with U.S. utility firm NuScale
Power (SMR.N), opens new tab to build reactors as part of its efforts to
boost low-emission power sources.

Reuters 18th March 2024

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/romanias-nuclearelectrica-sees-preliminary-decision-smr-plant-2025-2024-03-18

March 27, 2024 Posted by | EUROPE, politics | Leave a comment

House Democrats Tell Biden To Enforce US Law and Suspend Military Aid to Israel

Israel’s undeclared nuclear weapons stockpile also violates US foreign assistance laws that prohibit US aid to nuclear-armed states that don’t sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The US gets around this law by not officially acknowledging that Israel has nukes

Foreign assistance laws prohibit military aid to countries that are blocking humanitarian aid

by Dave DeCamp March 24, 2024 https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/24/house-democrats-tell-biden-to-enforce-us-law-and-suspend-military-aid-to-israel/

Six senior House Democrats sent a letter to President Biden on Saturday urging him to invoke US foreign assistance laws to suspend military aid to Israel due to the country’s starvation blockade on Gaza

“Given the catastrophic and devolving humanitarian situation in Gaza, we urge you to enforce the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act (Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act) and, as required by that law, make clear to the Israeli government that so long as Israel continues to restrict the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the continued provision of US security assistance to Israel would constitute a violation of existing US law and must be restricted,” the letter reads.

Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act says that no assistance shall be given “to any country when it is made known to the President that the government of such country prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.”

Israel’s blockade and restrictions on aid have put Gaza’s population on the brink of famine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently acknowledged that 100% of Gaza’s population is “experiencing severe levels of acute food insecurity,” but the Biden administration continues to provide unconditional military support for the Israeli campaign.

The letter to Biden comes as Blinken is supposed to certify whether Israel has made credible and reliable written commitments to use US weapons according to US and international law. Israel submitted a letter this month claiming it will comply with the law, and the deadline for the US certification is Monday.

Subsection (b) of Section 620I says that the president can waive the restriction if he believes providing military aid is in the US’s “national security interest.” US support for the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza provoked an uptick in attacks on US forces in the region and Houthi attacks on Israel-linked commercial shipping, which the US has responded to by launching a new bombing campaign in Yemen. The risk of a major regional war continues to rise, but American politicians still claim that supporting Israel’s genocidal campaign is in the US national interest.

The letter sent to Biden was signed by Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), James P. McGovern (D-MA), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Chellie Pingree (D-ME). Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and seven Democratic senators sent a similar letter to Biden earlier this month.

Israel’s undeclared nuclear weapons stockpile also violates US foreign assistance laws that prohibit US aid to nuclear-armed states that don’t sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The US gets around this law by not officially acknowledging that Israel has nukes.

March 27, 2024 Posted by | Israel, politics, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Air attacks on Ukraine have again put the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant(ZNPP), under Russian control, in danger

Air attacks on Ukraine have again put the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
(ZNPP), under Russian control, in danger. The vital power supply to keep
the reactors cool is off; potential meltdown and a catastrophic nuclear
“accident” is only being prevented by ancient power generators.

Nobody needs reminding of the devastation to Ukraine and vast swathes of Europe
when the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl melted down and exploded in 1986.


Though ZNPP is newer than Chernobyl with more safety features, it is very
much larger and simply is not safe without power.

Meanwhile, Rafael Grossi,
head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has been cosying up
to President Assad in Damascus, offering to help Syria with nuclear power!
It is well known that Assad has been trying to make the “bomb” for
years.

I humbly suggest Mr Grossi should be in Ukraine or perhaps Moscow to
ensure the safety of ZNPP, rather than waving nuclear power under the nose
of another tyrant who will probably use it as a horrific weapon rather than
a valuable source of power for his people.

Times 25th March 2024

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nuclear-plant-may-be-putins-new-weapon-prgdqxj0p

March 27, 2024 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Day 171: ‘Horrific’ Eyewitness Accounts Continue to Emerge From Israel’s Siege on Gaza’s Hospitals

Eyewitness accounts continue to emerge from Gaza’s hospitals, including rape, torture, mass executions, and soldiers crushing Palestinian bodies with tanks. Hamas says Israel’s systematic attack on hospitals is central to its “war of extermination.”

Mondoweiss, BY LEILA WARAH  ,  

Casualties 

  • 32,333 + killed* and at least 74,694 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
  • 435+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.**
  • Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
  • 594 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.***

*Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on its Telegram channel. Some rights groups estimate the death toll to be much higher when accounting for those presumed dead.

** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to the PA’s Ministry of Health on March 17, this is the latest figure.

*** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.”

Key Developments 

  • UNRWA: Israel says no more UNRWA food convoys to north Gaza.
  • UNRWA chief: Israeli decision to deny all UNRWA food convoys to northern Gaza is “obstruct[ing] lifesaving assistance during a man-made famine.”
  • Doctors Without Borders “deeply concerned” after medical staff arrested at al-Shifa Hospital amid “heavy air strikes by Israeli forces and fierce fighting” nearby.
  • Tanks crushed bodies, ambulances at al-Shifa Hospital, reports AP News, citing witnesses. 
  • Footage emerges of Israeli soldiers assaulting Palestinian boy
  • Casualties in Israeli attack on aid distributors at Kuwaiti roundabout in Gaza City, reports Al Jazeera. 
  • Israeli forces raid Al Aqsa mosque during nightly prayers, assault and expel worshipers, reports Al Jazeera journalist. 
  • WHO Chief: Israel must reverse decision on blocking north Gaza aid.
  • Israeli war cabinet minister threatens to quit if bill exempting ultra-Orthodox Jews from conscription passes
  • UNRWA: U.S. funding cut will ‘compromise access to food’ in Gaza.
  • UN special rapporteurs decry underreporting of sexual violence against Palestinians.
  • Israel blocks access to Jerusalem for West Bank Christians on Palm Sunday, reports Wafa. 
  • PRCS says it has lost radio contact with staff at al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis.
  • Euro-Med: Israel’s attacks on academics in line with Gaza ‘genocide’
  • WAFA correspondent killed along with son Israeli airstrike on Gaza
  • MAP report: Doctor says conditions inside European Gaza Hospital ‘unimaginable’

Gaza: Three Hospitals under military siege

The Israeli military has imposed ongoing sieges on at least three medical facilities in the besieged enclave, terrorizing, injuring, and killing thousands of civilians in the process. 

Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza has entered its seventh day under siege, and the civilians able to flee are reporting ruthless massacres in and around the medical complex. 

A teenage Palestinian boy, Farouk Mohammed Hamd, told Al Jazeera he witnessed Israeli soldiers executing a group of eight people, including his father and brother, inside al-Shifa Hospital.

He said he and the others were stripped of their clothing and moved several times inside the al-Shifa Hospital building in central Gaza over the course of hours before being taken to the top floor of the facility.

“They left us for about three hours, then said, ‘You are safe. You can go south.” 

“We stood up, but then they opened fire. We all laid down on the floor again. Then, the snipers entertained themselves by shooting us one after the other.”

Hamad said his father told him before being killed to run away if he could, and he managed to run, but not before seeing the unresponsive bodies of the executed group. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Underreporting of sexual violence against Palestinians

Witnesses at al-Shifa hospital have reported that “Palestinian women have been subjected to rape, torture, and execution by Israeli forces.”

Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said in a post on X that it is “abhorrent” that reports of rape by Israeli forces keep coming out without any consequences.

“Rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide! It must stop!”

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, similarly said, “I lost count of how many renowned journalists interviewed me on the alleged mistreatment of/sexual abuse against Palestinian women by Israeli forces, and never published any article on this.”

“What we can see on the ground is a systematic creation of a corrosive environment in which Israel, with its destruction of neighborhoods and hospitals, is making Gaza unliveable for the majority of Palestinians,” said Al Jazeera co-respondent, Tareq Abu Azzoum from Gaza while reporting on the besieged hospitals.

“Horrific scenes” at European Hospital 

Meanwhile, at Gaza’s European Hospital near Khan Younis, one of the last functioning medical facilities, medical staff report “horrific scenes” at the hospital with patients “dying from infections with evidence of serious malnutrition,” reported Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).

Husam Basheer, an orthopedic surgeon working at the hospital, says he and his staff are “managing with the bare minimum of resources” at the medical facility due to Israeli restrictions on medical aid entering the besieged enclave……………………………………………………………………………………………

Israel bars UNRWA from northern Gaza

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced on Sunday that Israel has officially barred it from making aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest.

“This is outrageous [and] makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man-made famine. These restrictions must be lifted,” the head of the UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, wrote in an X post.……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Israel is using famine as a “weapon of war” in Gaza to put pressure on the Palestinian people to leave the besieged enclave, Adel Abdel Ghafar, an analyst at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, told Al Jazeera.

The “dream” of many far-right politicians in Israel is to make Gaza “uninhabitable” for Palestinians, with the goal of re-establishing settlements for the Israelis, Ghafar continued. 

“The destruction of schools, hospitals, infrastructure [is making Gaza] almost unlivable and it will force the international community to take further refugees and thin out the population of Gaza,” he said.

“I think Israel wants to have a big chunk of the population leave and become refugees elsewhere.” 

UN Resolution for ceasefire

On Monday, the UN Security Council is expected to vote on yet another resolution regarding Israel’s war on Gaza. Since October seven, only two of eight resolutions have been accepted, with both mainly dealing with humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave. 

Guterres says the most recent UN Security Council resolution does not link a ceasefire in Gaza to the release of Israeli captives, reported Al Jazeera. 

In the resolution, “a ceasefire is required together with, but not in a linkage with, the unconditional release of all hostages,” he said. “And we have also claimed the need for that release.” 

Diplomats told the AFP news agency that the resolution had been worked on with the U.S. to avoid a veto, reported France 24. The U.S. has vetoed three resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“We expect, barring a last-minute twist, that the resolution will be adopted and that the US will not vote against it,” one diplomat told AFP.

Last Friday, the Security Council voted on a draft submitted by the U.S. that called for an “immediate” ceasefire linked to the release of captives. China and Russia vetoed the resolution, criticizing it for stopping short of explicitly demanding Israel halt its campaign.

No progress on negotiations. 

Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas have continued negotiations mediated by Qatar with little progress. ………………………………………………..

more https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-171-horrific-eyewitness-accounts-continue-to-emerge-from-israels-siege-on-gazas-hospitals/
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March 27, 2024 Posted by | Gaza, Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

IAEA Unaware Of Secret Iranian Nuclear Site Targeted By Israel

Iran International Newsroom, https://www.iranintl.com/en/202403252483—26 Mar 24

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says it has no information about a purported Iranian nuclear site that was set on fire in Tehran’s Shadabad neighborhood in 2020.

This after Iran International’s investigative report revealed Tehran concealed an Israeli sabotage operation that targeted a covert nuclear facility owned by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.

Iran International’s in-depth investigative report relied on authenticated documents obtained from both the judiciary and the Ministry of Intelligence. These resources were made available through Ali’s Justice – a network of hacktivists known for their ongoing disclosure of Iranian government documents.

In late July 2020, the destruction of the nuclear site swiftly escalated into a critical national security concern for Iran, prompting reports to reach Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic.

Of particular note, mere weeks after the incident, the IAEA’s Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi, made a visit to Iran – seemingly oblivious to the events.

Following months of tension between Iran and the agency, Grossi had arrived in Tehran to negotiate access for inspectors to two suspected former atomic sites.

Though the IAEA did not identify the sites, Israeli intelligence officials pinpointed one as the Abadeh Nuclear Weapons Development Site.

Iran’s then-nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, lauded the talks with Grossi as “constructive,” heralding a supposed “new chapter of cooperation” between Iran and the agency.

Fast forward about four years: This month, Grossi informed the IAEA Board that his agency has lost crucial “continuity of knowledge” regarding Tehran’s activities.

The IAEA concluded a meeting earlier this month without passing a resolution against the Islamic Republic for advanced work on its atomic program and its refusal to cooperate with the IAEA.

While the US called on the IAEA Board to be ready for further action if Iran’s cooperation does not significantly improve, it remains to be seen whether this latest report could lead to Iran’s censure over its non-compliance.

The facility, undisclosed to the IAEA, raises serious concerns about Iran’s nuclear program and its compliance with safeguards obligations – and it prompts concerns about the existence of other undisclosed facilities and the extent to which Iran may be concealing other nuclear activities.

Israel And Iran’s Nuclear Program

According to judicial documents, the Islamic Republic considers the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, as the main perpetrator of this sabotage operation.

Despite its belief that Israel was responsible, Tehran tried to conceal the sabotage.

Following Iran International’s reporting, a spokesman from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office simply stated, “No comment: “We have no comment.”

Sabotage operations targeting Iranian nuclear facilities are not unprecedented.

From 2009 to 2011, five individuals associated with Iran’s nuclear industry, whom the Islamic Republic regarded as scientists, were assassinated.

Tehran has consistently accused Israel of these assassinations.

Arguably the most prominent instance of sabotage within Iran’s nuclear program was the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the former head of the Ministry of Defense’s Research and Innovation Organization, which occurred on November 27, 2020.

Israel had labeled Fakhrizadeh as a key figure within Iran’s “nuclear weapons program” two years prior to his assassination.

The 2020 sabotage at the nuclear warehouse in Shadabad in Tehran occurred approximately five months before Fakhrizadeh’s assassination.

In contrast, Israel did officially claim responsibility for the theft of Iran’s nuclear documents from a warehouse in Tehran’s Shourabad area in 2018 – with Benjamin Netanyahu revealing that Israel had obtained 55,000 pages and 55,000 digital files through an intelligence operation.

March 27, 2024 Posted by | Iran, Israel, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

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