Ending a War That Never Should Have Started.
09/02/2025•Mises Wire•Kevin Rosenhoff
Six months after Zelenskyy’s historic humiliation in the Oval Office, Trump’s meeting with Putin hopefully signals an end of the Russia-Ukraine war. From a moral point of view, this is to be welcomed, as the war—from both sides—has been morally illegitimate from the outset.
A Morally Justified War Must Be Proportionate
The central framework for evaluating the morality of war is the so-called just war theory—an ancient tradition shaped by various philosophers. Within it, a fundamental requirement for starting and continuing a war is proportionality. Generally, this means the evils caused must stand in due proportion to the evils prevented. American philosopher Jeff McMahan differentiated this idea with his distinction between narrow and wide proportionality. Simply put, while narrow proportionality concerns the appropriate harms inflicted on aggressors (e.g., Russian soldiers), wide proportionality deals with harms inflicted on innocents (e.g., Ukrainian and Russian civilians)……………………………………………………………………………
“To the Last Man”—Why Ukraine’s War is Disproportionate
The reasons for Russia’s invasion are contested. Some point to Putin’s imperial ambitions and fear of Ukrainian democracy, others to NATO’s expansion. Still, there is broad agreement: Russia’s invasion is not only a violation of international law but also of morality. Waging war in the absence of a prior or imminent attack is reprehensible from every perspective. Participating Russian soldiers who threaten innocent lives can neither complain about being harmed nor demand compensation or an apology. Since they are therefore not wronged, their killing is proportionate in the narrow sense and, in principle, also morally legitimate as a means of warding off the threat……………………………………………………………………..
The problem of Ukraine’s war is not the harming of Russian invaders, but the harming of innocents by the Ukrainian state—that is, wide proportionality. These innocents include, not only the over 7,000 civilians in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine presumably injured or killed by Ukrainian bombing attacks, but especially the many men forcibly recruited and held trapped. Since the war’s beginning, men between the ages of 18 and 60 have not only been prevented from fleeing the country but have increasingly been seized from their families and sent to the front—where they are highly likely to be killed or wounded. “A woman screamed for the army to spare her husband from conscription. A soldier slapped her and took her husband,” reported US journalist Manny Marotta, describing one of the forced mobilizations at the war’s outbreak. His account stands pars pro toto for the broader problem of the widespread unwillingness to fight and die for the Ukrainian state. According to former presidential adviser, Oleksiy Arestovych, half of Ukrainian men have refused to submit their data to recruitment centers. Over half a million men of military age have fled to the EU—and thousands more have been caught while trying to escape.
While initially there were still volunteers, their numbers have dwindled to zero. “There are no more volunteers,” complained military police officer Roman Boguslavskyi to Der Spiegel in November 2023. To avoid running into people like Roman, Ukrainians use Telegram channels to warn each other. The Kyiv-based group—Kyiv Povestka—alone now has close to 250,000 members. However, dodging the recruiters does not always work: the internet is flooded with videos showing military officers grabbing men off the street and trying to force them into minibuses like cattle. Accordingly, the term coined for this practice—“busification”—was named Ukraine’s Word of the Year in 2024. The cutesy term, however, should not obscure the repressive reality. In her 2024 essay Mobilisation, Ukrainian writer Yevgenia Belorusets reveals the world behind the videos—a world in which women hide their husbands and a brutal state no longer spares even those suffering from cancer or HIV. Ukrainians are thus not only victims of Russia, but also of their own state. Or, to quote the Ukrainian doctor Semyon from Belorusets’s essay: “We are in a situation we never imagined. We are devouring ourselves. Shelled by Russia, at war with Russia, and now at war with those who have decided we must question nothing.”
How should the actions of the Ukrainian state be judged morally? Unless the civilians harmed by Ukrainian bombing have consented, the state is wronging them—no differently than someone who injures or kills bystanders while fending off a mugger in the street. The same applies to the forcibly conscripted men: anyone who sees and hears how they are hunted down and torn from their loved ones should intuitively judge the state’s actions as a violation of their moral rights—and those of their families. After all, such conduct would be regarded in virtually any other context as an injustice requiring justification.
If I were attacked in my home and abducted you to defend me at risk to your life, I would be committing a moral wrong, both against you and your loved ones. Consistently, the actions of the Ukrainian state should be judged in the same way. It treats human beings as material to be used and consumed—a clear violation of their dignity and rights. The possible counterargument of a “duty to fight” seems unconvincing given the risk involved. According to reports by the Financial Times, Ukrainian commanders estimate that between 50 and 70 percent of new frontline soldiers are killed or wounded within just a few days. Yet we are normally not required to take significant personal risks to save others. If you could save my life by playing Russian roulette, doing so would be noble—but not your duty. To compel you anyway would still be a rights violation.
the Ukrainian war suffers from a more fundamental problem. Zelenskyy declared—both before and during the war—his intention to fight “to the last man” and “whatever the cost,” thereby rejecting proportionality itself. The Ukrainian state acts like someone who deliberately diverts a runaway train onto a track without caring how many people are on it. On this premise, all Ukrainians—and potentially humanity—become fair game to be sacrificed for Ukraine’s cause. Such conduct, which explicitly denies proportionality, can hardly be considered proportionate and morally justified. Under Zelenskyy, Ukraine has waged a war that has been morally unbounded from the start, with no regard for any losses.
It would therefore be right to end this war. Two morally illegitimate wars should be brought to a close—Russia’s war under Putin and Ukraine’s war under Zelenskyy. https://mises.org/mises-wire/ending-war-never-should-have-started
Israeli Forces Bomb, Loot, Vandalize Our Homes in Gaza. We Long for Normal Life.
When a home is destroyed, entire worlds of safety, love, and identity crumble with it.
By Taqwa Ahmed Al-Wawi , Truthout, September 8, 2025
Your home is not just a building. It is a space carefully crafted by your family — a place that witnessed your first steps, heard your whispers, and held your laughter and tears. It is the place where your childhood lives.
Every room tells a tale. A nook holds old toys. There’s a window where the morning sun kissed your face, and the threshold you crossed thousands of times.
Imagine a peaceful neighborhood around your home — a narrow, quiet street shaded by olive trees whose branches stretch to cover the sidewalks. You have neighbors who are like family, exchanging greetings and stories. Children play and laugh in the alleys. Every evening, the scent of taboon bread fills the air, and the call to prayer echoes gently, giving the neighborhood a feeling of peace and timelessness.
This home, in the heart of this neighborhood, is more than just a shelter — it is a part of you.
Now imagine that in a single moment, it all turns to dust.
A Home in Nuseirat
Aya Adnan Ibrahim Al-Derawi is a 20-year-old medical laboratory student at the Islamic University of Gaza. Aya is my dear friend, and she shared with me this story of her family’s home.
Their house in Nuseirat had a small courtyard with a lemon tree, a rooftop where laundry swayed in the wind, and windows that caught the first light of morning. But on December 12, 2023, an Israeli airstrike reduced it to rubble and ashes………………………………………………………………….
A Home in Khan Younis
Islam Abu Mohsen, a 24-year-old civil engineering student from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, told me about his life before everything changed. He works as a digital content creator and is a professional trainer in barista skills — a young man trying to build a future amid the ruins.
He described his home in one of the most upscale neighborhoods in Khan Younis — a modern, beautifully designed house, with large windows that filled every room with sunlight. “The area was very lively,” he told me, “close to malls, restaurants, and schools. It was safe — relatively safe — and we lived surrounded by a warm family atmosphere, despite all the harsh conditions in Gaza.”
Islam shared how everyday life inside that home was stable and peaceful. “Each of us had our own daily routine. I was focused on my engineering studies, working on digital content, and training others in barista arts. Every day, we gathered around the dinner table — laughing, sharing stories, trying to hold on to a sense of normalcy. The house had a soul; it was a place of safety, comfort, and beautiful memories.”
Then came the devastating night of October 14, 2023. Islam described it vividly: “At 7:00 pm, suddenly the whole area was engulfed in a ring of fire. The smoke was suffocating; we literally felt like we were choking. We couldn’t understand what was happening. Ambulances couldn’t reach us — it was as if our neighborhood had vanished from the map.”
He described his family’s final moments in the house. “We were sitting at the dining table, cooking pasta, ready to eat — and then the bombing started. We never finished our meal,” he told me. “The pasta tray remained untouched for more than five months. When we finally returned, it was rotten.”
The losses went far beyond food. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. https://truthout.org/articles/israeli-forces-bomb-loot-vandalize-our-homes-in-gaza-we-long-for-normal-life/?utm_source=Truthout&utm_campaign=26b80ce814-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_09_08_09_36&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bbb541a1db-26b80ce814-650192793
UK Labour must not award Elbit a £2 billion military deal
Why are Israel’s largest arms firm and a company mired in a corruption scandal even being considered for training British troops?
DECLASSIFIED UK, ANDREW FEINSTEIN, PAUL HOLDEN and JACK CINAMON, 28 August 2025
Britain’s Ministry of Defence might imminently award a 15 year contract, worth £2.5bn, to a consortium headed by the British subsidiary of the Israeli arms firm Elbit Systems and including the US management consultancy firm, Bain and Company.
If successful, Elbit’s consortium would be responsible for training as many as 60,000 members of the UK military.
The consortium seems well-placed to win the contract; it is, in fact, one of only two shortlisted and preferred bidders.
The Ministry of Defence has already given the consortium a £2m contract so that it can develop its proposals further.
This is unacceptable. And it is frankly unbelievable that this consortium is even in the running considering its track record.
Elbit Systems UK is the fully-owned subsidiary of Elbit Systems Limited. Elbit Systems Limited is headquartered in Tel Aviv and is listed on both the Israeli and US stock exchanges.
Elbit is one of the two largest Israeli weapons manufacturers and is central to the IDF’s operations, providing 85% of its drones. Elbit International is also a major contributor to the F-35 fighter jet program, bragging that it plays a ‘critical role’ in the ‘success of the world’s most advanced fighter jet.’
In July 2025, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestine Territories, published an excoriating report setting out corporate complicity in Israel’s “plausibly” genocidal conduct in Gaza – for which she was subsequently sanctioned by Donald Trump.
Her report is clear that Elbit forms a central part of Israel’s military-industrial complex, which has become “the economic backbone of [Israel].”
“Elbit has cooperated closely on Israeli military operations, embedding key staff in the Ministry of Defence,” Albanese points out, further noting that Elbit provides “a critical domestic supply of weaponry.”
Bain
But we’re also deeply concerned about Elbit’s partner, Bain and Company.
Bain and Company (not to be confused with the mega hedge fund Bain Capital, which confirmed to us that it is not involved in the Elbit consortium) is a US-based management consultancy firm.
Bain’s inclusion in the consortium’s bid was first reported in 2023 by the UK military magazine, Shephard News, based on unpublished behind-the-scenes documents.
Bain has a sordid and shocking history. In August 2022, the Cabinet Office placed Bain and Company on a ‘blacklist’, preventing it from getting any Cabinet Office contracts. ………………………………………………………………………………………………
In July this year it was confirmed that Bain had shut down its South African consultancy operations, with the Financial Times reporting insiders saying that the company’s local reputation had been destroyed by the scandal.
The carcass of Bain’s South African business would be repurposed as a ‘hub’ to support Bain’s other international work.
These are the types of companies that the UK is poised to mainline into the very DNA of the British military and the British state: Elbit, its parent company one of the most important partners to the IDF in Gaza; and Bain and Company, only recently blacklisted for serious professional misconduct for its role in undermining the fabric of South Africa’s democracy.
The idea that the UK would award this consortium, and these companies, any sort of contract, never mind a 15 year contract of such importance, is an outrage. It must be stopped. https://www.declassifieduk.org/labour-must-not-award-elbit-a-2-billion-military-deal/
Pakistan nuclear weapons, 2025
Bulletin, By Hans M. Kristensen, Matt Korda, Eliana Johns, Mackenzie Knight-Boyle | September 4, 2025
Pakistan continues to slowly modernize its nuclear arsenal with improved and new delivery systems, and a growing fissile material production industry. Analysis of commercial satellite images of construction at Pakistani army garrisons and air force bases shows what appear to be newer launchers and facilities that might be related to Pakistan’s nuclear forces, although authoritative information about Pakistan’s nuclear units is scarce.
We estimate that Pakistan has produced a nuclear weapons stockpile of approximately 170 warheads, which is unchanged since our last estimate in 2023 (see Table 1). The US Defense Intelligence Agency projected in 1999 that Pakistan would have 60 to 80 warheads by 2020 (US Defense Intelligence Agency (1999, 38), but several new weapon systems have been fielded and developed since then, which leads us to a higher estimate. Our estimate comes with considerable uncertainty because neither Pakistan nor other countries publish much information about the Pakistani nuclear arsenal.
With several new delivery systems in development, four plutonium production reactors, and an expanding uranium enrichment infrastructure, Pakistan’s stockpile has the potential to increase further over the next several years. The size of this increase will depend on several factors, including how many nuclear-capable launchers Pakistan plans to deploy, how its nuclear strategy evolves, and how much the Indian nuclear arsenal grows. We estimate that the country’s stockpile could potentially grow to around 200 warheads by the late 2020s. But unless India significantly expands its arsenal or further builds up its conventional forces, it seems reasonable to expect that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal will not grow significantly, but might level off as its current weapons programs are completed.
………………………………….. Analyzing Pakistan’s nuclear forces is particularly fraught with uncertainty, given the lack of official state-originating data. The Pakistani government has never publicly disclosed the size of its arsenal and does not typically comment on its nuclear doctrine. Unlike some other nuclear-armed states, Pakistan does not regularly publish any official documentation explaining the contours of its nuclear posture or doctrine. Whenever such details emerge in the public discourse, they usually originate from retired officials commenting in their personal capacities. The most regular official source on Pakistani nuclear weapons is the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces, which publishes regular press releases for missile launches and occasionally couples them with launch videos.
Occasionally, other countries offer official statements or analysis about Pakistan’s nuclear forces. ……………………………………………………………………
Pakistan’s nuclear doctrine
Pakistan has historically maintained a deliberately ambiguous nuclear doctrine, including through refusal to endorse or reject a no-first-use policy.
…………………………..Within its broader philosophy of “credible minimum deterrence,” which seeks to emphasize a defensive and limited but flexible nuclear posture, Pakistan operates under a nuclear doctrine that it calls “full spectrum deterrence.” This posture is aimed mainly at deterring India, which Pakistan identifies as its primary adversary.
…………………………..Pakistan’s nuclear posture—particularly its development and deployment of tactical nuclear weapons—has created considerable concern in other countries, including the United States, which fears that it increases the risk of escalation and lowers the threshold for nuclear use in a military conflict with India.
…………………………..Nuclear security, command-and-control, and crisis management
Over the past decade-and-a-half, the US assessment of nuclear weapons security in Pakistan appears to have changed considerably from confidence to concern, particularly because of the introduction of tactical nuclear weapons in the Pakistani arsenal. ……………………………………………………………………..
2025 India-Pakistan conflict
In May 2025, India and Pakistan engaged in a brief conflict, during which India launched conventional missile strikes against several Pakistani military facilities. The conflict, which lasted days, included an escalatory exchange of fire from both sides following the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir.
In the aftermath of the conflict, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and the Military Engineer Services—which conducts construction and maintenance operations for all branches of the Pakistani military—issued a series of public procurement contracts for post-strike repairs at a variety of military bases, indicating which facilities suffered damage due to the conflict (Mishra 2025). ……………………
……………………….One study concluded that although the “mutual possession of nuclear weapons heavily conditioned the response of both sides” and “overt nuclear signaling was lower than in many prior India-Pakistan crises, … the crisis underscores that South Asia is one of the most likely theaters for nuclear war, even if that prospect was not imminent in this instance” (Clary 2025).
Fissile materials, warheads, and missile production
Pakistan has a well-established and diverse fissile material production complex that is expanding. This includes four heavy-water plutonium production reactors at the Khushab Complex, three of which were completed in the past 15 years. ………………………………………….
We estimate that Pakistan currently is producing sufficient fissile material to build 14 to 27 new warheads per year, although we estimate that the actual warhead increase in the stockpile probably averages around 5 to 10 warheads per year.[2]…………………………………………..
Nuclear-capable aircraft and air-delivered weapons…………………………………………………………………………………..
Land-based ballistic missiles…………………………………………………………………………….
Land-based missile garrisons…………………………………………………………………………..
Ground- and sea-launched cruise missiles…………………………………………………………………….. https://thebulletin.org/premium/2025-09/pakistan-nuclear-weapons-2025/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Pakistan%20s%20nuclear%20arsenal&utm_campaign=20250904%20Thursday%20Newsletter%20%28Copy%29
Europe has discombobulated Trump’s Ukraine war peace plan.
they’re still floating Ukraine NATO membership, the promise of which triggered the February 2022 invasion.
Big problem. Russia is gobbling up more Ukrainian territory every day NATO keeps the war going.
Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL , 8 Sept 25.
President Trump’s pledge to end the war in one day has been extended now for 230 days. A big reason is America’s European NATO partners are determined to keep degrading their economies to further destroy Ukraine by keeping the war going in perpetuity.
They agree with Ukraine President Zelensky that Ukraine must never concede lost territory gone forever. Indeed, they’re still floating Ukraine NATO membership, the promise of which triggered the February 2022 invasion.
Alas, NATO is still ingesting stupid pills, declaring a ‘coalition of the willing’ at a meeting with Zelensky hosted by French President Macron. He announced 26 coalition members are willing to send troops to Ukraine as a “reassurance force” after a peace deal is reached to prevent any further Russian aggression.
Big problem. Russia is gobbling up more Ukrainian territory every day NATO keeps the war going. It says there will be no peace deal that does not include Russian input into security both for what remains of Ukraine, and Russia from renewed NATO encroachment. Such a coalition without Russian involvement is simply NATO membership for Ukraine by other means. It’s DOA.
Trump has 1,230 days left in his term. If he can’t turn Europe away from their crazed lust to win a lost war, it will still be raging when Trump packs up again for Mar a Lago in January 2029. He’s not dealing with a coalition of the willing. It’s a coalition of the delusional.
South Carolina’s dormant nuclear volcanoes
by beyondnuclearinternational, https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2025/09/07/south-carolinas-dormant-nuclear-volcanos/
Resuming construction of the abandoned V.C. Summer reactors is rife with challenges, says a new report from Savannah River Site Watch
The proposal to restart the failed nuclear reactor construction project in South Carolina faces a host of unexamined challenges, according to a just-released report. The report, prepared by the nuclear policy expert who led the intervention against the project since its inception in 2008 through its collapse and termination in the face of ratepayer outrage 2017, outlines major stumbling blocks to the revival of the nation’s most shocking failure of a nuclear reactor construction project in the United States in the 21stcentury.
The V.C. Summer project involved the botched attempt by now-defunct South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) to construct two large Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors 2 – units 2 & 3 – 25 miles north of Columbia, South Carolina. Over $10 billion was wasted on the construction of project.
Its abrupt termination was one of the most impactful and costly nuclear construction-project collapses in U.S. history, which was the death knell for the so-called “nuclear renaissance” in the U.S. Customers were hit hard and are still left holding the bag with nothing in return for a reported $2 billion payment so far, for financing costs, an amount that grows daily. Though far-fetched, project restart is now being discussed.
The report – presenting 14 unanalyzed challenges to the restart idea and prepared by the Columbia-based public-interest, non-profit group Savannah River Site Watch – is titled Economic, Technical and Regulatory Challenges Confound Restart of the Terminated V.C. Summer Nuclear Reactor Construction Project in South Carolina.
The 24-page report was written by Tom Clements, director of SRS Watch, who led interventions before the PSC by the environmental group Friends of The Earth beginning in 2008 and running through the bankruptcy of SCE&G and its takeover by Dominion Energy South Carolina in January 2019.
“As the public was so abused during the V.C Summer construction project, they now deserve a voice in raising concerns about proposals concerning rebirth of the project in which they still have financial ownership and that’s for whom this report speaks” said Clements. “We reveal in the report that Dominion ratepayers are right now paying 5.22% of the bill for the terminated project and are paying, since 2019, an additional $2.8 billion over 20 years. The restart effort could once again saddle customers with additional massive costs if VCSummer 2.0 proceeds.”
The 5.22% monthly rate hidden in the Dominion monthly bill was revealed in a Freedom of Information Act document provided by the S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff to SRS Watch on August 7, 2025. In January 2019, the S.C. Public Service Commission ordered Dominion customers to pay an additional $2.8 billion over the next 20 years for the cost of the bungled project. That monthly fee should be eliminated and consumer investment rebated, especially if restart is pursued, according to SRS Watch.
Themes covered in the “restart challenges” report include:
Nuclear Advisory Council restart report not a reliable guidepost;- Nuclear Regulatory Commission license terminated in 2019, hard to regain a new license;
- Reestablishing NRC certification for equipment will be difficult;
- Environmental permits must be secured anew or renewed;
- Unclear how much equipment remains and if it’s to be resold for reuse or just scrap;
- Dominion and Santee Cooper not interested in involvement in restart;
- Westinghouse plans for new AP1000s unclear, rhetoric might not be accurate;
- Cost and schedule of new Westinghouse AP1000s unclear; Last-of-a-Kind (LOAK) reactor?
- Ratepayers in South Carolina could be put on the hook again;
- S.C. Public Service Commission and Dominion ratepayers will be involved, can’t be sidelined;
- Federal rhetoric supporting nuclear power won’t carry the day or overcome big obstacles;
- Reactor restart fails to secure funds or protection from South Carolina legislature;
- Highly radioactive spent fuel at new units a challenge;
- When will the community near V.C. Summer be consulted?
Project 2025 agenda revives Nevada’s Yucca Mountain fears
By Judy Treichel, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, https://lasvegassun.com/news/2025/aug/21/project-2025-agenda-revives-nevadas-yucca-mountain/ Judy Treichel is the executive director of the Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force.
A meeting was held in Las Vegas last month, paid for by a Department of Energy grant and hosted by Mothers for Nuclear and Native Nuclear .
The host groups tried to put a friendlier slant on the DOE message, but it was clear that the government and commercial nuclear industry have never gotten out of the rut they have been in from the start: advertise the glory of nuclear power and never get very far into the problem of what to do with the waste.
The purpose of the invitation-only event was to “elicit public feedback on consent-based siting and management of spent nuclear fuel…”
But my takeaway was that they hoped to get the audience to love new nuclear power more than we hate its waste.
The presenters sang the praises of nuclear power and shared frustration with many audience members about how the public was frightened of or opposed to nuclear power after watching “The Simpsons” on TV! There was a brief mention of the disastrous events at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima, but the impression left was that those were now over and that current public fears arose from “The Simpsons”!
Thirty years ago, the DOE was a huge presence in Nevada, studying Yucca Mountain 80 miles northwest of downtown Las Vegas, as the site for underground disposal of the nation’s high-level nuclear waste. Public meetings at that time brought out many longtime residents who related stories about the damage older family members or friends had suffered from widespread exposure to radiation from nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site. They described how they had been lied to about safety and how there was a lack of accountability for human and property damage. They wanted no part of any future nuclear experiments, be it nuclear power plants or a disposal site for the nation’s high-level nuclear waste.
The Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal program was determined to be “unworkable” by the Energy secretary in 2010. It has remained unfunded by Congress since then, but it has not been terminated by law.
When the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 became public, my colleagues and I were dismayed when we saw the recommendation to resume licensing the “unworkable” Yucca Mountain project. It was as if a switch could be flipped and the site’s safety flaws and the long-enduring opposition of Nevadans could be ignored.
Independent scientists determined that Yucca Mountain could not isolate the dangerous radiation for the long time period necessary. Those findings are reflected in the more than 200 contentions filed by Nevada that would have to be adjudicated during any future licensing proceeding.
Project 2025 would give us two unwanted nuclear-related gifts: a nuclear waste repository and a restart to nuclear weapons testing, side by side! The assurances we heard from the DOE at those long-ago meetings were that it had learned lessons during weapons testing. The DOE claimed that safety comes first now. But I’m not so sure.
Were Project 2025’s nuclear goals to be realized, there would be an operating repository at Yucca Mountain. It would have above-ground facilities and a decadeslong national nuclear waste transportation campaign flowing into Nevada on a currently nonexistent 200-plus-milelong rail access corridor to the repository site. Next door would be ground-blasting nuclear weapons testing. and flying over both of those operations would be the training and testing of military planes and drones from Creech Air Force Base. This would surely be a dangerous and untenable combination.
Project 2025 was not friendly to Southern Nevada. In addition to its calls for increased use of nuclear power, it also calls for — and President Donald Trump has largely followed through on — removing federal government support and incentives for solar power. This is shortsighted, as rooftop solar shades the underlying buildings while generating power and drastically reduces the power bills of consumers. Perhaps most importantly, solar power generation does not leave a legacy of lethal waste.
The Department of Energy was right 16 years ago when it announced that a national high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain was unworkable. It still is. Convention attendees and visitors come to our great hotels and meeting venues. Nuclear waste shipments on the railroad tracks behind the hotels and through our downtown area may make some of that business choose other locations. If there was any sort of accident or incident on the tracks within Clark County, the national news services would blast out the images far and wide, and economic damage would occur whether there was radiation released or not.
Las Vegas has a fragile economy, and it is highly dependent on fun and enjoyment. We are becoming a major sports destination, continuing to be home to important conventions and putting on the best shows in the world. We must find ways to make our precious resources available for the worthwhile activities we have, with no backdrop of dreaded nuclear contamination and waste. We need to apply a compatibility test that honors our past and preserves our future.
Is fishmeal from Fukushima-affected fish the source of Indonesian shrimp’s radioactive contamination?
J. P. Unger, 8 Sept 25
It just hit me earlier, while thinking about the recently exposed case of radioactive shrimp being recalled in the US, and in particular why one Indonesian shrimp farming business’s harvests would be contaminated with radioactive Cesium and not those from other Indonesian shrimp farms: it’s probably the feed they used!
Cheap, radioactive fishmeal, perhaps made from fish impacted by contamination from Fukushima, I suspect could well be the source. This is why:
Shrimp farming has traditionally used fishmeal as a high-protein source to feed the shrimp -with fishmeal normally consisting of smaller fish, fishing “by-catch” and fish-processing byproducts, all shredded and ground to a texture like coarse sand or pellets to feed farm animals and aquaculture operations.
As ocean fish populations become increasingly strained and global demand for fish keeps increasing, fishmeal has become increasingly expensive and in shorter supply
Therefore, it’s quite likely that fishmeal from contaminated fisheries -for example, with high levels of radioactive pollution- would be offered at a comparatively low price. That would be quite attractive for a business that’s more concerned with profit margins than with what happens to consumers down the line.
If this was the case, and given that many businesses around the world likely prioritize profit margins over long-term effects in far-removed consumers (or might not even be aware of the contamination of the feed), this case could be the tip of a very worrisome iceberg and open up a big can of worms….
It certainly demands a careful inspection of food imports AND of food “precursors”, in particular imported fishmeal and food from animals raised on it. Also, international cooperation and vigilance, to know who might be selling contaminated fishmeal and where, who has been buying and using it, and what land- or water-farmed meat production it might be affecting.
Unless I hear concerns or suggestions to the contrary, I’ll prepare and send a slightly different articulation of these thoughts to a handful of government officials and media here and in the US who might be interested in investigating, as precautions should probably be ramped up for a variety of food products…
This would not be the first time radioactively contaminated foodstuff circulates at bargain prices… When I was starting as a science and environment journalist in Peru in the 1980’s I wrote about the post-Chernobyl arrival of radioactive powdered milk from Europe (a “generous” 12,000 ton donation from the European Community…), and radioactive meat from Germany (sold at a bargain price!). I received brush-offs, threats and warnings from corrupt government officials profiting from it, as well as ignorance and disinterest among other journalists and the general population, all with other “more immediate concerns” at the time, as the country faced five-digit inflation and the expansion of a brutally violent Maoist insurgency -nobody wanted to hear about yet more dangers then, and everywhere I was met by a frustrating fatalistic denial or avoidance mantra along the lines of “one has to die from something anyway.” Anyways… JPU
The Nuclear Waste Problem Haunting UK Energy Expansion
Oil Price, By Felicity Bradstock – Sep 07, 2025
Effective nuclear waste management is a critical global challenge, particularly for countries like the UK looking to expand their nuclear power sectors.- The UK has a substantial amount of existing radioactive waste and is struggling to implement a long-term disposal solution, with the proposed underground geological disposal facility facing significant hurdles and cost concerns.
- Public and local community pushback against potential nuclear waste sites further complicates the development of new disposal facilities, making finding a solution an ongoing and difficult process.
One of the biggest hurdles to expanding the global nuclear power sector is the concern over how best to manage nuclear waste. While some believe they have found sustainable solutions to dispose of nuclear waste, there is still widespread debate around how safe these methods are and the potential long-term impact of waste disposal and storage. In the United Kingdom, the government has put nuclear power back on the agenda, after decades with no new nuclear developments; however, managing nuclear waste continues to be a major barrier to development.
There are three types of nuclear waste: low-, intermediate-, and high-level radioactive waste. Most of the waste produced at nuclear facilities is lightly contaminated, including items such as tools and work clothing, with a level of around 1 percent radioactivity. Meanwhile, spent fuel is an example of high-level waste, which contributes around 3 percent of the total volume of waste from nuclear energy production. However, this contains around 95 percent of the radioactivity, making adequate waste management of these products extremely important.
In the U.K., the government continues to battle with how best to dispose of its nuclear waste,……………………………………………..
the U.K. Treasury believes the government’s plan for the waste dump is “unachievable”, rating the project as “red”, or not possible, in a recent assessment. ……………………………….. https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/The-Nuclear-Waste-Problem-Haunting-UK-Energy-Expansion.html
Pentagon Document: U.S. Wants to “Suppress Dissenting Arguments” Using AI Propaganda.
August 25, 2025, The Intercept
https://theintercept.com/2025/08/25/pentagon-military-ai-propaganda-influence/
The United States hopes to use machine learning to create and distribute propaganda overseas in a bid to “influence foreign target audiences” and “suppress dissenting arguments,” according to a U.S. Special Operations Command document.
SOCOM is looking for a contractor that can “Provide a capability leveraging agentic Al or multi LLM agent systems with specialized roles to increase the scale of influence operations.” So-called “agentic” systems … can be used in conjunction with large language models, or LLMs, like ChatGPT, which generate text based on user prompts.
While much marketing hype orbits around these agentic systems and LLMs for their potential to execute mundane tasks like online shopping and booking tickets, SOCOM believes the techniques could be well suited for running an autonomous propaganda outfit. Whether AI-generated propaganda works remains an open question, but the practice has already been amply documented in the wild.
In May 2024, OpenAI issued a report revealing efforts by Iranian, Chinese, and Russian actors to use the company’s tools to engage in covert influence campaigns, but found none had been particularly successful. The military has a history of manipulating civilian populations for political or ideological purposes. A troubling example was uncovered in 2024, when Reuters reported the Defense Department had operated a clandestine anti-vax social media campaign.
IAEA chief notes progress in Iran talks over nuclear site inspections
Head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, says he hopes for a ‘successful conclusion’ in the coming days.
Aljazeera, 8 Sept 25
Talks on resuming International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections of Iran’s nuclear sites have made progress, but its chief warned that there was “not much” time remaining.
On Monday, the director general of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, told the 35-nation IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria, that “Progress has been made”…….
He did not elaborate on what the timeframe meant exactly.
While Tehran allowed inspectors from the IAEA into Iran at the end of August, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said no agreement had been reached on the resumption of full cooperation with the watchdog…….. ………………………….. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/8/iaea-chief-notes-progress-in-iran-talks-over-nuclear-site-inspections
Is Israel quietly expanding its nuclear arsenal? Satellite images raise suspicion.
Given the secrecy of Israel’s programme, it remains difficult to estimate just how many nuclear weapons it possesses. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in 2022 put the number at around 90 warheads.
Israel is among nine countries confirmed or believed to have atomic weapons and among just four that have never joined the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
Construction work has intensified on a major new structure at a facility linked to Israel’s long-suspected atomic weapons programme, according to satellite images analysed by experts.
They say it could be a new reactor or a facility to assemble nuclear arms — but secrecy shrouding the programme makes it difficult to know for sure.
The work at the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center near the city of Dimona will renew questions about Israel’s widely believed status as the Mideast’s only nuclear-armed state.
It could also draw international criticism, especially since it comes after Israel and the United States bombed nuclear sites across Iran in June over their fears that Tehran could use its enrichment facilities to pursue an atomic weapon.
Among the sites attacked was Iran’s heavy water reactor at Arak. Tehran has all along maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian use only.
Long hidden secret
Reports on Israeli excavations at the facility, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of West Jerusalem, first emerged in 2021.
Then, satellite images only showed workers digging a hole some 150 metres (165 yards) long and 60 metres (65 yards) wide near the site’s original heavy water reactor.
Images taken on July 5 by Planet Labs PBC show intensified construction at the site of the dig. Thick concrete retaining walls seem to be laid at the site, which appears to have multiple floors underground. Cranes loom overhead.
Seven experts who examined the fresh images all said they believed the construction was related to Israel’s long-suspected nuclear weapons programme, given its proximity to the reactor at Dimona, where no civilian power plant exists.
However, they split on what the new construction could be.
Three said the location and size of the area under construction and the fact that it appeared to have multiple floors meant the most likely explanation for the work was the construction of a new heavy water reactor.
Such reactors can produce plutonium and another material key to nuclear weapons.
The other four acknowledged it could be a heavy water reactor but also suggested the work could be related to a new facility for assembling nuclear weapons. They declined to be definitive, given the construction was still in an early stage.
“It’s probably a reactor — that judgement is circumstantial but that’s the nature of these things,” said Jeffrey Lewis, an expert at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, who based his assessment on the images and Dimona’s history.
“It’s very hard to imagine it is anything else.”
Israel does not confirm or deny having atomic weapons, and its government did not respond to requests for comment. The White House, which is Israel’s staunchest ally, also did not respond to requests for comment.
An open secret
There’s no containment dome or other features typically associated with a heavy water reactor now visible at the site. However, one could be added later or a reactor could be designed without one.
Dimona’s current heavy water reactor, which came online in the 1960s, has been operating far longer than most reactors of the same era. That suggests it will need to be replaced or retrofitted soon.
“It’s tall, which you would expect, because the reactor core is going to be pretty tall,” Lewis said. “Based on the location, size and general lack of construction there, it’s more likely a reactor than anything.”
Edwin Lyman, a nuclear expert at the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Union of Concerned Scientists, also said the new construction could be a box-shaped reactor that doesn’t have a visible containment dome, though he acknowledged the lack of transparency made it difficult to be certain.
Israel “doesn’t allow any international inspections or verification of what it’s doing, which forces the public to speculate”, said Lyman.
While details about Dimona remain closely held secrets in Israel, a whistleblower in the 1980s released details and photos of the facility that led experts to conclude that Israel had produced dozens of nuclear warheads.
“If it’s a heavy water reactor, they’re seeking to maintain the capability to produce spent fuel that they then can process to separate plutonium for more nuclear weapons,” said Daryl G. Kimball, the executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association.
“Or they are building a facility to maintain their arsenal or build additional warheads.”
Policy of nuclear ambiguity
Israel’s programme is thought to rely on byproducts of a heavy water reactor. Israel, like India and Pakistan, is believed to rely on a heavy water reactor to make its nuclear weapons.
The reactors can be used for scientific purposes, but plutonium — which causes the nuclear chain reaction needed in an atomic bomb — is a byproduct of the process. Tritium is another byproduct and can be used to boost the explosive yield of warheads.
Given the secrecy of Israel’s programme, it remains difficult to estimate just how many nuclear weapons it possesses. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in 2022 put the number at around 90 warheads.
Obtaining more tritium to replace decaying material may be the reason for the construction at Dimona, as Lyman noted it decays 5 percent each year.
“If they’re building a new production reactor,” he said, “it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re looking to expand the plutonium they have, but to manufacture tritium”.
Israel is believed to have begun building the nuclear site in the desert in the late 1950s.
Its policy of nuclear ambiguity is thought to have helped deter its enemies.
It is among nine countries confirmed or believed to have atomic weapons and among just four that have never joined the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, a landmark international accord meant to stop the spread of nuclear arms.
That means the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, has no right to conduct inspections of Dimona.
Asked about the construction, the Vienna-based IAEA reiterated that Israel “is not obligated to provide information about other nuclear facilities in the country” outside of its Soreq research reactor.
Japan shocks the world — Solar panels as strong as 20 nuclear reactors unveiled.
by Beatriz T., September 6, 2025.EcoNews,
Imagine a country with limited space, a large population, and an urgent need for clean energy. That’s Japan, a nation that, since the Fukushima disaster in 2011, has been burdened with rethinking its entire energy system. This is because the catastrophe not only shook confidence in nuclear energy but also accelerated the race for sustainable and safe alternatives. More than a decade later, Japan surprises the world again with revolutionary perovskite solar cells, a light, thin, and flexible material that can be installed in places unimaginable until recently, like windows, walls, and even car roofs.
There are several important advantages
of these cells, and some of these are: Superior efficiency; application
flexibility; strategic security; export potential. Japanese companies like
Sekisui Chemical are already investing heavily in research (and other
companies are investing in the first typhoon turbine).
Internationally, Swedish company Exeger has successfully applied flexible panels to consumer products like headphones and keyboards, demonstrating that the future may be closer than we imagine. The dilemma lies in Japan seeking not only clean energy but also economic security. Essentially, the question remains: invest billions in a still-immature technology or risk losing its global leadership once again?
For a country dependent on energy imports and
vulnerable to international crises, investing in perovskites is both a
necessity and a strategic move. The country’s plan is clear: by 2040,
Japan aims to generate 20 gigawatts of power with perovskites, the
equivalent of 20 nuclear power plants.
Achieving this goal will not only be
a technological victory but a historic milestone in the global energy
transition. Essentially, this advancement could transform Japan into an
exporter of energy technology, offering the world a more efficient
alternative that’s less dependent on large areas. For densely populated
countries like South Korea, Singapore, or even parts of Europe, the
Japanese experience could serve as a model.
Eco News 6th Sept 2025,
https://www.ecoticias.com/en/japan-shocks-the-world-solar-panels/19817/
Ukraine drones hit training centre at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Russian management says
By Reuters, September 7, 2025 https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-drones-hit-training-centre-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-russian-management-2025-09-06/
Sept 7 (Reuters) – Ukrainian drones hit the roof of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant training centre, causing no major damage and no increase in radiation levels, the Russian-installed administration of the Russia-held plant in Ukraine said on Saturday.
The strike occurred about 300 meters (984 ft) from a reactor unit, the administration said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
“This centre is unique — it houses the world’s only full-scale simulator of a reactor hall, which is critically important for staff training,” the statement said.
The station, Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant with six reactors, is not operating but still requires power to keep its nuclear fuel cool.
The attack caused no disruptions to the plant’s operation, the administration said.
“Operational safety limits were not violated and radiation levels remain normal,” the administration said.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Reuters could not independently verify the Russian report.
Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia plant in the first weeks of Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Each side regularly accuses the other of firing or taking other actions that could trigger a nuclear accident.
Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne
Donald Trump orders ‘take down’ of 44-year-old peace vigil opposite White House.
The White House Peace Vigil has stood near the White House since 1981, calling for global disarmament. After a reporter asked about the “eyesore” tent, Donald Trump said he will look into taking it down.
One of the world’s longest-running peace vigils could be under threat after Donald Trump ordered to “take it down”.
The White House Peace Vigil, which has stood near the president’s residence since 1981, is a tent manned around the clock in a call for peace and global disarmament.
Flanked by various anti-war placards, the small blue tent was described as an “eyesore” by a reporter from conservative outlet Real America’s Voice, who asked Mr Trump about it.
“Take it down, today, right now,” he said, after asking where the tent is and claiming he hadn’t heard of it.
“We’re going to look into it right now.”
On Friday night, police were seen talking to what appeared to be demonstrators near the vigil, in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House.
The vigil-keeper Philipos Melaku-Bello was seen hugging another protester, who feared the 44-year-old site could be torn down.
It follows another threat against the vigil earlier this year, when Representative Jeff Van Drew wrote a letter to the Interior Department describing the site as a “24-7 eyesore”.
In the letter, shared by the Washington Post, he said people have “every right to protest their government”, but not to “hijack a national park and turn it into a 24/7 eyesore”.
The site of the vigil is in a park run by the National Park Service (NPS), which stipulates this tent must be manned at all times to remain standing.
In 2013, the vigil was briefly taken down by park police when it was found abandoned.
Organisers said the man responsible for staying at the tent overnight that day was a veteran who had an episode of post-traumatic stress disorder.
1 This Month
19 February – VIRTUAL EVENT-Decision Time: AI and Our Nuclear Arsenal
12:45 p.m. Central / 1:45 p.m. Eastern
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
-
Archives
- February 2026 (161)
- January 2026 (308)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (376)
- September 2025 (258)
- August 2025 (319)
- July 2025 (230)
- June 2025 (348)
- May 2025 (261)
- April 2025 (305)
- March 2025 (319)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
nuclear-news 