TODAY. Turning Point, The Cold War and the Bomb. Episode 3- Institutional Insanity
This begins with Volodymyr Zelensky in 2022 and Russian attacks on Ukraine, and Ukraine’s strong resistance. Author Garret Graff calls this first successful resistance “probably the turning point of the entire war.” So – it became a full scale war.
Now back to the 1950s. In the early years of the cold war, the USA treated nuclear war as something that could be survived. Public education programs. The message was that the Soviet Union was an existential threat, but that you could survive, with school training, with fallout shelters.
Fear of communism led to developing bigger bombs against the communists.
The movement to the hydrogen bomb, the thermonuclear device. Scary film of testing this on Elugelab Island in 1952, horrifying many, including Robert Oppenheimer. Albert Einstein wrote “General annihilation beckons“. Eisenhower shocked and shaken – “the power to erase human life from this planet“. The Soviets feel that they must equal this – their first hydrogen bomb test August 1953. So the USA responds in 1954 with the super-large Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb test on Bikini Atoll – making a 4-mile wide fireball. The island populations were affected by the radiation – horrifying personal stories. A Japanese ship affected by the “death ash“. The fisherman’s dying message – “let me be the last person killed by this awful weapon”.
A series of nuclear tests in the USA and across the world. Daniel Ellsberg recalls how he worked with the very clever test designers – “It turns out that intelligence is not a very good guarantee of wisdom“. The movie Dr Strangelove has words directly taken from them, and Ellsberg describes that film as a documentary. “Everything in that film could have happened“. People other than the President could launch an attack. Ellsberg saw the war plans – “they were strange and horrible“. The plan was to hit every city in Russia and China with thermonuclear weapons- with 600 million deaths – one fifth of the world population then. The Soviets then followed with a similar policy. It opened up the world as the playground of the two powers.
Covert operations all around the world. The CIA was created in 1947 modelled on Britain’s MI6. The Soviets had the KGB, very repressive under Stalin. In the USA intelligence and operational planning, and action, were combined in the CIA. By 1949 the CIA were doing paramilitary operations against the nations of Central Europe that were Soviet satellites. They started with Ukraine, training Ukrainian exiles (graphic film here), creating and funding “Ukrainian resistance cells” from 1949 – 1953 . These were suicide missions, because the British counter-spy Kim Philby was informing the Soviets. Subsequent operations to Poland, Romania – were also disasters.
From 1953, U.S. foreign policy , as run by the Allen Dulles and John Foster Dulles, brothers, saw communism behind every nationalist movement, happy to spread American democracy via any government, however vicious brutal and corrupt. The Dulles brothers also were dedicated to furthering the interests of multinational corporations, which meant controlling the countries that supplied resources.
They started with Iran and Guatemala, overthrowing the elected governments. The CIA used money and propaganda, controlling the Iranian media, flooding it with “fake news”, and created “communist thuggery”. They succeeded in reinstalling the Shah. Western oil companies now ran the oil business. Guatemala followed the same pattern, a highly repressive regime was set up.
The cold war was a battle for minds and hearts. The CIA from the late 40s to the early 60s had hundreds of “influence operations”, co-opting overseas and some American media.
The Soviet Union’s KGB used “Active measures” – set up to use disinformation, planting major stories in overseas news media to cause disruption and confusion, forging documents slipped to journalists. These were often accepted especially in developing countries as genuine proof of American conspiracies. In the Soviet Union, Stalin had complete control of the media.
Stalin’s death in 1953. Nikita Kruschev ushered in a new period – the Thaw. His story here told by his great-granddaughter. Kruschev released many innocent victims of Stalin’s gulags, revealed Stalin’s crimes, set the Soviet Union on a different course, opened up the possibility of liberal reform, lessened censorship. But Kruschev also believed that the Soviet Union must show its strength to the USA, boasted of its military strength, with a disinformation campaign to scare Americans about a 100 megaton bomb, and the number and reach of its missiles.
USA’s military thinking moved to plans to evacuate high-ranking officials, expecting that in a coming nuclear war most of America will die, but the government will survive in a mountain bunker.
Daniel Ellsberg reported on the secret doomsday machines, in the Pentagon Papers, and copied all his nuclear reports, published “Confessions of a nuclear war planner”. Now in 2022 we see him urging for cutting the defense budget, getting rid of ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) – to avoid armageddon.
The episode ends with the warning of how suddenly a crisis can arise, with the greatest danger to the world, as happened in 1962 – when the Russians placed intermediate range nuclear missiles on the island of Cuba.
TODAY. The insanity of DEFENSE: with climate change, Defense becomes our real enemy.
Up until now, a few publications have warned about the dangers of climate change to nuclear facilities, and how they need protection from wildfires, floods etc.
But now, at last, a bit of attention is being paid to the danger of nuclear facilities, to all of us, in this rapidly heating world.
I shudder to think of the risks that hang over Russians – because of the perpetual super-secrecy and censorship that pervades Russia, regarding nuclear and associated serious issues. We know that there is huge cover-up in the USA and other Western nuclear nations, but covering-up is probably a hundred times worse in Russia.
The global nuclear industry is geared to weaponry. That is the sole real reason for its existence. Armaments are, of course, an extremely lucrative industry – so greed adds to the motivation. And of course, that holy cow of Western culture – JOBS JOBS JOBS. (never mind if those jobs are or are not of any real value to society)
2024 looks like producing a sizzling summer in the North of this planet.:
- AccuWeather Summer 2024 U.S. Forecast: Sizzling Summer Temperatures.
- Periods of abnormally high temperatures will become more common and intense in Russia.
- Canada risks more ‘catastrophic’ wildfires with hot weather forecast
The thing is: people are at risk from radioactive releases as nuclear facilities – as nuclear waste pools, nuclear weapons sites producing plutonium – can be impacted by wildfires, floods.
With global heating – these places pose an increasing danger to humanity (and other species) -Texas’ Pantex Plant and its plutonium pits, New Mexico’s Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory, Washinton’s plutonium-contaminated Hanford nuclear site.
While Russia has dumped much of its nuclear waste into the sea. On land the Mayak, and Lake Karachay in the Southern Urals is the most plutonium polluted (open-air) place on Earth from a radiological point of view, and is predicted to have extreme heat waves in 2024.
Canada’s nuclear wastes are at Manitoba and Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario, and at nuclear reactors at Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick – Ontario 66 wildfires in 2023.
So – while the world’s national macho men – and their military-industrial-nuclear-media complex are drumming up fear of attack from each other – the real danger is their foolish but lucrative “defense” industries.
This is insanity.
Sanity would be getting together, talking about our mutual danger problem, and working out ways to co-operate on making these sites safe, and on not producing any more radioactive trash.
The nuclear lobby’s education invasion – masters of the weasel word.
Look it’s just one little word – or sort of two-bit word – “DE-RISK”.
I came across it today, and puzzled over it. T’was in a rapturous article about Sheffield University, launching a major new manufacturing and testing facility in South Yorkshire, in partnership with Rolls Royce.
“SMRs are advanced nuclear reactors that are designed to be factory-built and transported to operational sites for installation. The technology is seen as a clean energy solution that is easier to deliver, scale and is more affordable than building new larger nuclear power stations. Each Rolls-Royce SMR could provide enough low-carbon electricity to power a million homes for more than 60 years.“
There were other words to ponder about – for example “The technology is seen as a clean energy solution” – seen by whom?
But I will stay with “de-risk”, because it’s a lovely word – chosen to impress, – and also to confuse and obfuscate the financial realities of the situation.
These are the meanings that I found
- To de-risk to take steps to make (something) less risky or less likely to involve a financial loss.
- De-Risking is a strategy that companies apply when they cannot manage the money laundering risks that they have obligations to.
- De–risking. means mitigating the risks of doing business in high-risk environments through concessionary finance or investment guar- antees.
- The de-risking process involves a strategic assessment by companies to reduce exposure to high-risk activities in order to minimize compliance- and operations-related risks
Well, to cut to the chase.
ECONOMICS. There is a wealth of information about the costs of small nuclear reactors (SMRs). Those in submarines are not suitable for electricity production. The only operating SMRs are in China (The HTR-PM) and Russia (The KLT-40S), and they’re not doing too well.
Meanwhile we have the fiasco of the NuScale SMR venture in the USA – . And with dozens of SMR designs on paper – none are even licensed let alone operative.
And here’s what that radical industrial journal Utility Dive has to say:
“Small modular reactors are at an economic disadvantage. The lower power output of these reactors, less than 300 MW per unit by definition as compared to the roughly 1,000 MW for the typical reactors that have been constructed for over four decades, means less revenue for the owning utility. But the cost of construction is not proportionately smaller. Engineers call this economies of scale. In terms of cost per unit (megawatt) of generation capacity, SMRs and the electricity they produce will be more expensive than power from large nuclear plants currently under construction. As the Lazard estimates show, these large plants are themselves not competitive with renewables.“
In Mirage News’ glowing regurgitation of nuclear hype for small nuclear reactors – not a word about their relatively more toxic radioactive wastes, not a word about their military and weapons, connection not a word about the long time scale, that makes them irrelevant to action on climate change.
But the military-industrial-nuclear-media-complex juggernaut rolls on – conning us with their weasel words – like “de-risk”.
Counteracting the spin of the military-industrial-nuclear-complex this week
Some bits of good news.
Instead of Taking Millions for Their Land, Texas Family Makes a Park Instead
Beavers Are Back in London — and They’re Thriving. Moroccan Farmers Are Banking Traditional Seeds for a Hotter, Drier Future
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TOP STORIES Julian Assange faces judgment day over US extradition. ‘Bring Julian home’: the Australian campaign to free Assange. https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/instead-of-taking-millions-for-their-land-texas-family-makes-a-park-instead/
Noel’s notes. A DISAPPOINTING NETFLIX SERIES – Turning Point -the bomb and the cold war. Netflix’s “Turning point. The bomb and the cold war”- Episode 2 – Poisoning the Soil. Dominic Cummings the “evil gnome” who makes us think.
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NUCLEAR ISSUES
| CLIMATE. Mycle Schneider: Nuclear power is not an option. | CULTURE. Amidst genocide and war, anti-Zionism protesters are demonised as ‘extremists‘. War Culture Hates the Ethical Passion of the Young. | ECONOMICS. Nuclear Weapons at Any Price? Congress Should Say No. Nuclear power station risks hitting taxpayers with £20bn bill. Pension funds need ‘compelling’ returns from UK nuclear projects to invest. |
| EDUCATION. UK nuclear lobby further infiltrates universities with government grants for nuclear fusion. | EMPLOYMENT Warning that Dounreay could be facing ‘prolonged’ industrial action over pay dispute. | ENERGY. Tech firms claim nuclear will solve AI’s power needs – they’re wrong. Think before you click – and three other ways to reduce your digital carbon footprint. |
| HEALTH. Radiation. New Brunswick’s nuclear reactor emits high levels of radioactivity, increasing cancer risk. | MEDIA. Nuclear War Will Only Kill People Already Impacted By Nuclear Weapons. That’s Everyone.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeMZcgD8PmA | OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR . Protest. RAF Lakenheath protest to make airbase nuclear-free zone. Together Against Sizewell C vows to continue fight after legal challenge rejected by Supreme Court – as the nuclear plant welcomes the news. Indonesia civil society groups raise concerns over proposed Borneo nuclear reactor. |
PERSONAL STORY. The plutonium connection: Why I no longer conduct my research at the University of New Brunswick.
| POLITICS. Ontario’s nuclear option is the wrong path to meet green energy targets. Sen. Lindsey Graham suggests nuking Gaza, says nuking Hiroshima was ‘the right decision’. UK plans new nuclear plant in Scotland despite Scottish government opposition. UK government about to overrule Scotland and impose nuclear stations? UK government planning nuclear site in Scotland – Jack. Scotland’s First Minister Swinney condemns Jack’s menacing idea for nuclear plant in Scotland . We’re all right Jack: No need for nuclear in Scotland. The last thing that Scotland needs is new nuclear power, small or otherwise. LABOUR MUST RULE OUT NEW NUCLEAR REACTOR FOR SCOTLAND. Top Labour donor joins campaign to stop Hinkley nuclear plant. Nuclear Free Local Authorities welcome commitment to recruit new Theddlethorpe GDF Community Partnership Chair at less cost who is local. Welsh Nuclear Free Local Authorities welcome Traws abandonment from New Nuclear plans. The 13 leading sites for a nuclear reactor in Australia – including a dam that supplies drinking water for a major city. | POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. US Says It Won’t Let Iran Build Nuclear Bomb. Dominic Cummings: Zelensky’s no Churchill and Ukraine’s corrupt. Xi outlines solution to Ukraine conflict. US bans China crypto-miner from nuclear base area. China urges US, UK and Australia to stop AUKUS nuclear submarine deal: FM spokesperson. China and Russia Disagree on North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons. |
| PLUTONIUM ALL reactor-produced plutonium is usable in nuclear weapons. | SAFETY. Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) condemn Russian government plans to restart nuclear reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Military activities near Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). MISTAKES THAT CAUSED THE CHERNOBYL DISASTER. https://nuclear-news.net/2024/05/20/1-b-all-reactor-produced-plutonium-is-usable-in-nuclear-weapons/). | SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS. New report to Congress shows US determined to militarize space |
| SPINBUSTER. “Bouncing-back” and other resilience neologisms championed by the state are inherently at odds with the irreversibility of nuclear waste. Promising the Impossible: Blinken’s Out of Tune Performance in Kyiv. | TECHNOLOGY. EU rebuffs UK attempt to continue collaborating on nuclear fusion experiment -ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/05/16/1-b1-eu-rebuffs-uk-attempt-to-continue-collaborating-on-nuclear-fusion-experiment/ Renewable Energy company Neoen to build its biggest battery to shift energy to evening peak in nuclear-dominated Ontario. Small Modular Nuclear Five Times The Price (letter). Canada’s plutonium mishap in India was 50 years ago this week – is history repeating itself now? | URANIUM. Russian uranium ban reopens threat of uranium mining escalation in US. Congress must stop Biden from fueling a Saudi nuclear bomb . |
| WASTES. Australia and the AUKUS nuclear waste-dump clause. Australia risks being ‘world’s nuclear waste dump’ unless Aukus laws changed, critics say. Nuclear waste to be buried 650ft under the English countryside. ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/05/19/2-a-nuclear-waste-to-be-buried-650ft-under-the-english-countryside/ Japan starts 6th discharge of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater. | WAR and CONFLICT. 450,000 Palestinians flee Rafah as Israeli tanks move in. Israel ‘Has Gone to War Against the Entire Palestinian People‘: Sanders. The US a Direct Partner in the Israeli War. Only ‘two countries’ would survive nuclear war after ‘5 billion die in 72 hours‘, says expert. U.S. rejects China’s proposal to ban first use of nuclear weapons. This is what nuclear war in 2024 would look like. Christmas Island veterans receive nuclear testing medals | WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. The Arsenal of Genocide: the U.S. Weapons That Are Destroying Gaza. Biden Moves Forward Over $1 Billion in Weapons for Israel as Tanks Push Deeper Into Rafah. Blinken to Zelensky: ‘Here’s another $2 billion to get thousands more Ukraine troops killed for nothing. U.S. conducted first subcritical nuclear test since September 2021. Fifty years after Canada’s plutonium mishap in India, is history repeating itself?. G7 goal of nuclear-free world increasingly challenged. |
Netflix’s “Turning point. The bomb and the cold war”. Episode 2 – Poisoning the Soil.
This episode mainly covers the period in Russia 1930s through, 1950s, and then the USA, with remarkable pictures and interviews, sometimes very moving ones, with people involved in the events. It shows how the Soviet Union developed into a cruel totalitarian regime, and how in the West, ideas of defence morphed into paranoia about the “red menace”, and the further development of nuclear weapons.
Soviet Union.
Stalin. Russia failed to come to terms with the past Stalin still revered “his glorious accomplishments” “His crimes not well known, not understood“ The most evil person in Russia’s history“
Deep and irreconcilable conflicts between the great powers – for 50 years – out to destroy each other’s way of life – existential struggle between the capitalist world and the communist world
1848 – capitalist industrial society – child labour. Marx and Engels came up with a utopian solution – communism. Lenin in Russia, inspired by Marx and Engels, took power and proclaimed Russia a state run by workers and peasants. Bolsheviks felt besieged, and this brought on the red terror, and a bloody civil war. Stalin, basically a gangster, rises. In 1922 the Soviet Union is established and Stalin takes over.
The promise of equality was not kept. The 1929 collectivisation of agriculture is told in apersonal and dramatic way. It resulted in famine across the Soviet Union. Stalin fixed on Ukraine – a special program of food collection. 1932, Ukrainians were controlled, with borders closed, some 4 million died of starvation – the holodomor
The Soviet Union becomes truly totalitarian – 1937-38 – the Great Terror – great purge trials. Stalin paranoid about secret enemies – many colleagues exterminated. Huge system of concentration camps all across the Soviet Union – the gulags – to punish. to frighten – and also to provide slave labour, 15-20 million people – several million died. .
Stalin was genocidal to his own people – poured toxic materials into the soil. Very personal and heart-breaking testimonials and visuals of this period
1945 – the Soviet army stole everything they could from the conquered lands. Soviet Union had lost 20 million soldiers, and was now occupying lands of Eastern Europe. George Kennan tells Truman that Stalin wants more power, defines Soviet as an adversary, that understands only force and the threat of force. He says that the two world powers would one day fight for dominion over the world. This was the beginning of the Cold War.
The USA and “the West”
In the USA this mood of necessity to defend against the Soviet Union – led to the creation in 1947 of the Pentagon. Air force, Army, Navy all together under the Secretary for Defense, The National Security Council, the CIA. USA transitions into a vast military and intelligence apparatus.
March 1946 Winston Churchill gives his “Iron Curtain” speech. Berlin becomes the centre for the growing divide between the Eastern and the Western blocs. the Soviets trying to take over the whole of Berlin, with a sort of siege, the Berlin blockade, countered successfully by western countries flying in supplies.
1949 NATO established. Moscow formed the Warsaw Pact. Meanwhile in China Mao Zedong takes over with a communist government – furthering the cold war and the feeling that communism was expanding around the globe – kicking off the red hysteria. Then the news that Moscow has the atomic bomb – huge project for Russia. Helped by spies – Klaus Fuchs, who saw Russia as an ally against Nazism, (he got 14 years gaol).
The son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg tells their tragic story. The crimes of Stalin’s Russia were not at that time understood, while capitalism’s injustices and antisemitism were rife in USA and Europe. Ethel was almost certainly innocent. Julius and Ethel refused to give up the names of communists, and therefore were executed, (botched in Ethel’s case) – one of the prosecutors was the zealous young Roy Cohn.
The House Un-American Activities Committee – focussed on the Red Menace in the media, and Senator Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn expanded this persecution to other areas, even the army. This fear of communist spies stoked the cold war – but McCarthy never found a single spy. McCarthy was finally discredited. Roy Cohn went on to later teach “hardball politics” to the young Donald Trump.
Meanwhile Edward Teller comes on the scene in the early 1950s – with his plans for the thermonuclear bomb, and the fear that Russia too is developing this even more monstrous weapon. Daniel Ellsberg copied the papers on the nuclear war plans – strange and horrible” – recognises this project as “institutional insanity”
A DISAPPOINTING NETFLIX SERIES – Turning Point -the bomb and the cold war.
I’ve just watched the final episode of this overall excellent documentary. I have previously written about how unbiased it is.
Not any more.
The final episode of the 9 part series deals with Russia and Ukraine
It sure tells us what a harsh and nasty piece of work Putin is. And does give some explanation of his point of view. Well, we knew that anyway.
The episode largely covers the history of Ukraine from 2000 to now. Yes, we knew that Ukrainians valued their culture and sovereignty. Yes, we knew that they have been fighting valiantly against the Russian invasion.
And yes, we knew that Russia wanted Ukraine to be in its “sphere of influence” , and that Russia’s wholesale invasion of Ukraine is illegal, and was a mistake.
BUT. The whole episode is pretty much a glorification of Ukraine and its saintly leader Zelensky. The speakers involved come mainly from USA Republican political heavies, and Ukrainian media. We see how barbaric are the Russian soldiers.
WHAT WE DON’t SEE:
Any mention of the 8 years’ war Ukraine government against the Donbass region up until 2022. Any mention of the Minsk agreement of 2015 that would give that area autonomy within Ukraine. Any mention of genuine separatists there.
Any mention of repression and of barbaric actions by Ukrainians against the Russian-only-speaking population.
Any mention (other than a brief denial) of CIA involvement in Ukrainian politics. Any mention of Nazi sections in Ukraine, and Nazi involvement in the military. The Russian takeover of Crimea is depicted as a military invasion, though it was done by a referendum with a resounding pro-Russia result.
It’s as though historical events in Ukraine just did not exist – except where events happen that can be blamed on Putin.
There’s no mention of the the U.S. military bases almost surrounding Russia, and with nuclear weapons ready to aim at Russian cities. No wonder Russia is nervous about NATO. Any Russian leader would not want Ukraine to complete the arc of NATO military bases to the South of Russia.
Early in this Netflix series, we were told that the USA was preoccupied with threatening Russia. Now we’re expected to believe that the whole Ukraine thing is Russia’s fault – that the USA had no part at all in provoking this invasion.
In fact there is a legal case for a “Special Military Intervention” on behalf of autonomy for the beleaguered territory of the Donbass. Putin’s mistake in the onslaught on Ukraine can be seen as his falling into a trap set by the USA, for a proxy war – aimed at weakening Russia and enriching USA’s military-nuclear-industrial- media-complex at the expense of Ukrainian lives.
“Turning Point – the bomb and the cold war” ends with a lot of pious statements about how bad nuclear bombs are, and they should never be used.
But it’s a pity that they had to falsify history to get this message safely across. It was permissible to criticise America in the early episodes – apparently that was OK. But to be acceptable – the old anti-Russia bias must prevail in 2024.
I’ll be reviewing the entire series later.
TODAY. Dominic Cummings the “evil gnome” who makes us think.
I am NOT a fan of Dominic Cummings, (described as the evil gnome on the shoulder of former British prime minister Boris Johnson)
He’s the one who scandalised Britain with bizarre ideas on Covid vaccination. He has harsh anti-immigration views, has promoted small nuclear reactors, and was largely responsible for Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.
And now, Dominic Cummings is starting a new political party – with a mixture of what seem to me to be some good ideas and some terrible ideas.
AND YET, AND YET ……. Cummings has something to give us.
He is an independent thinker. At a time when we desperately need independent thinking. We are stuck with world leaders rigidly sticking to their doctrines, no matter what. With political party leaders who have no aim except to fight the other side, no matter what. The media love this conflict-obsessed culture, the military-industrial-nuclear-complex is orgiastic about it.
Cummings has a great interest and knowledge of ancient and modern history, has lived in Russia, and speaks Russian, -he does bring to politics a different view from that of the usual business-oriented politicians . He certainly has had a chequered career, (to put it kindly!) in British politics, and has made lots of enemies on both the Right and the Left.
Who knows whether Dominic Cummings’ new “start-up” political party will become a reality?
I’m certainly not advocating for that party. But many of Cumming’s ideas and policies are developed from a deep understanding of European history. And that is refreshing. In the current Ukraine mess, very few leaders and journalists show any grasp of history.
Even if you hate Dominic Cummings, you would have to concede that he has brought a highly individual and independent view on politics and world affairs.
And that is a valuable gift and example for us – as against slavishly following political parties, and dogmas like the “rules based international order”.
This week’s Climate Military-Industrial-nuclear-media -complex news
Some bits of good news. Opposing The War Machine Is Cool Again – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us1r9Wsvjts Hake Fisheries’ Remarkable Recovery Is a Sign of Hope for Our Oceans.
TOP STORIES. `
We’ve barely scratched the surface of how energy efficiency can help the energy transition.
The End of the World as We Know It. United States nuclear weapons, 2024 – (long) extracts at- https://nuclear-news.net/2024/05/10/2-a-united-states-nuclear-weapons-2024/ Don’t Believe the Washington War Machine: Putin Is Not Going to Invade Another NATO Ally.
China and the U.S. Are Numb to the Real Risk of War – ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/05/12/1a-china-and-the-u-s-are-numb-to-the-real-risk-of-war/ Fusion reactor could create ingredients for a nuclear weapon in weeks.
Climate. ‘The stakes could not be higher’: world is on edge of climate abyss, UN warns. Floods in Brazil, Kenya, and Texas USA. Venezuela loses its last glacier as it shrinks down to an ice field. World’s oceans suffer from record-breaking year of heat. Afghanistan flash floods kill more than 300 as torrents of water and mud crash through villages.
Ghent students occupy university building in climate and Gaza protest.
Noel’s notes. Time to rise above the tit-for-tat mentality – “Turning Point: the Bomb and the Cold War” (and this is not an ad) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHuuLo-CSRo&t=4s. What is special about “Turning Point -The Bomb and Cold War”?. “The empire” – an exaggerated, emotive, term?
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NUCLEAR ISSUES.
CLIMATE. Fixation on UK nuclear power may not help to solve climate crisis.
ECONOMICS
How long does it take to build a nuclear reactor? We ask France. NuScale, maker of small nuclear reactors, reported revenue of $1.4 million and net loss of $48.1 million for the three-month period ended March 31, 2024. Sizewell C nuclear station ‘absolutely not inevitable‘ says campaigner – Can investors be found?
Sam Altman’s nuclear energy company Oklo plunges 54% in New York Stock Exchange debut. Sam Altman-backed nuclear start-up crashes after Wall Street debut. NuScale Power Corporation (SMR) Reports Q1 Loss, Misses Revenue Estimates.
| EDUCATION. Nuclear lobby infiltrates West Lakes Academy and the Energy Coast University Technical College . | ENERGY. Energy Revolutions – time for a change. Constellation Energy looks to small nuclear reactors for the gross, ever-increasing, energy needs of great steel data containers. | ENVIRONMENT. Hinkley Point C: New public inquiry planned over environmental impact. UK Environment Agency ponders on its concerns over Hinkley Point C nuclear effects on fish and the marine habitat.Inside abandoned ghost town at Fukushima after nuclear power plant meltdown. |
| ETHICS and RELIGION. Let Israel’s Leaders Get Arrested for War Crimes. | LEGAL. The mad waste of public money by UK’s leading nuclear giants to pursue costs against a whistleblower at your expense. Forces of Impunity: The US Threatens the International Criminal Court. | MEDIA. Biden’s war on Gaza is now a war on truth and the right to protest. Israel Bans Al Jazeera Journalists, Network, Joining Syria and Iran as Repressive Regime.New Lines: How Washington is Weaponizing Media. |
| POLITICS.USA politicians threaten to invade International Criminal Court if Israel faces war crimes charges. The Summer of Student Activist Protests.UK’s Nuclear roadmap is a massive detour. UK Taxpayers to fund fast-tracked nuclear fusion reactors.Kremlin says nuclear weapon drills are Russia’s response to West’s statements.Polish industry minister announces massive delay in nuclear power plant project. Canada: Nuclear Waste Petition Tabled in Parliament. | POLITICS INTERNATIONAL AND DIPLOMACYIran warns it will change nuclear doctrine if ‘existence threatened’.France’s mini nuclear reactor plan – Nuward, gets another financial handout from the European Commission.Nuclear Energy: The New Geopolitical Battleground.South Korean state energy monopoly in talks to build new UK nuclear plant– ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/05/12/1-b1-south-korean-state-energy-monopoly-in-talks-to-build-new-uk-nuclear-plant/Biden’s Shifting ‘Red Line’ Lets Israel Get Away With Murder. |
| RADIATION. Canada’s federal budget -calls nuclear energy “clean” – the height of absurdity! | SAFETY. Sizewell C in Suffolk granted nuclear site licence. |
| SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS. The detonation of even a single nuclear weapon in space could destroy a significant proportion of satellites in orbit around Earth: UK statement at the UN General Assembly.Astronomers in court against Federal Communications Commission and SpaceX. Russia, China plan nuclear power plant on Moon. | TECHNOLOGY. Warren Buffett compares AI to nuclear weapons in stark warning. The UK makes licensing for nuclear fusion easier: developers can lead site selection. Nano Nuclear wants to reinvent the nuclear power business—but it could take a while. Microsoft reportedly planning “Stargate”, a $100billion supercomputer to be powered by several nuclear plants |
| URANIUM. US Congress Restricts Russian Uranium Imports, Unlocks $2.7 Billion for Domestic Fuel.US nuclear industry clamors for waiver process details as Russian uranium ban looms. | WASTES. Nuclear waste at center of testy Nevada Senate race. Japan’s government asks Genkai mayor to accept site survey to host nuclear waste. |
| WAR and CONFLICT. Israeli Invasion of Rafah Appears Imminent After Evacuation Order. Ending the Logic of War. Rafah residents call on the world to act. NATO escalation in Ukraine threatens nuclear war with Russia. Moscow threatens to strike British military facilities following Cameron’s remarks. Medvedev says aim of nuclear exercises is to work out response to attacks on Russian soil. Exactly what happens in the seconds after a nuclear bomb is launched – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–dDjjOkY9A | WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES.France wants to extend its nuclear umbrella to Europe.US Defenseless Against Russian Hypersonic Missiles and Iranian Drones – Explosive Defence Department Testimony.Military interests are pushing new nuclear power.Students Demanding Divestment: You’re on the Right Side of History.Token gesture: Biden puts hold on approved shipments of ammo to Israel. Hamas will not be defeated for another two to three years: Israeli military sources.Putin orders tactical nuclear weapons drills. Pentagon sees no change in Russia’s strategic nuclear force posture.The Great Ukraine Robbery Is Not Over Yet. The United States Is Expected to Announce a New $400 Million Package of Weapons for Ukraine. |
TODAY. “The empire” – an exaggerated, emotive, term?
Well, I always thought that “Empire” was a dramatic, over-stated, term. And it annoyed me that writers kept using it, in relation to the USA. I thought that criticism of America was warranted – but don’t weaken your case by using such an emotive word.
“Empire” brings up thoughts of the murderous regimes of history – the murderous Mongol Empire, the quite punishing Roman Empire, the cruel Empire of Japan, the rapacious British Empire
Oh no – America’s not like that!
Yes, it is.
And in today’s world, the USA government has access to weapons undreamt of in earlier regimes. Not just its smorgasbord of every possible kind of killing tool, but also its economic weaponry, and its media weaponry.
Not that I think that Americans are bad people. They are good, kind people, who value their families highly. So highly that hanging on to their income – their lucrative weapons-company shares, or their jobs, in deceptive and even killer industries is their top priority. And if they have any doubts – well – the magic term “our national security” justifies all government action.
Americans have bought the idea of American exceptionalism. America is good and always right, and can justly interfere in any country, because they know best. So – they’ve got military bases worldwide:
If you didn’t notice America’s interference – South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia – in Chile, Nicaragua, – Libya, wars in Afghanstan, Iraq, – you’d have to be noticing what’s going on now in Ukraine, and in Israel’s massacres in Gaza.
The military bases in increase, the belligerent propaganda increases, and the ‘Western world steels itself to faithfully be the patsies for USA’s next big intervention – Taiwan.
Ukraine, Taiwan , Gaza – all wonderful laboratories for testing the bestest American weapons, enriching American corporations, and no risks to American lives.
When you see articles by Caitlin Johnstone , Chris Hedges, Ralph Nader, Robert Kennedy Jr, Patterson Deppen, and more – talking about “The Empire” – don’t be too hasty to brush them off as way-out radicals.
TODAY. What is special about “Turning Point -The Bomb and Cold War”?
“This is the most important turning point of the human race.“
EPISODE 1 – The Sun Came Up Tremendous
This Netflix series is well researched, and visually brilliant. What makes it so different, and remarkable, is its study of the psychological aspect, especially the powerful effect of mass psychology.
Like all historical documentaries, it’s all about the men. However, Ironically, Lisa Meitner, discoverer of nuclear fission, does get a mention. But still they don’t mention that this illustrious nuclear physicist was invited to join the Manhatton Project, but refused – “would have nothing to do with a bomb”
By the way – this documentary uses authentic film and dialogue. I was impressed to see how accurately the ‘”fictionalised” version – the film “Oppenheimer”, had portrayed the people and the events – uncanny likenesses in several cases.
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Cold war – it’s a state of conflict with a nuclear-armed opponent, functionally hostile to each other where you can’t get at each other. We’re in a new cold war with the Russians.
The Ukraine war brings the return of the cold war.
*************************************
Cold war at its peak, touched every country. The Cold War set off an arms race, for the first war that could destroy civilisation. The Bomb disrupted international relationships. It brought new scale of awfulness. There have been close shaves – we were lucky.
“once humans stop seeing each other as humans, the most horrific acts are possible”
This episode covers the history of the bomb, from the discovery of nuclear fission by Lisa Meitner and Otto Hahn 1938. That lead to Oppenheimer forming the idea of the bomb
With the rise of Hitler came the fear of a 1000 year Reich armed with atomic bombs? Einstein was alarmed and encouraged Roosevelt to develop the atomic bomb. Germany and Russia formed a non aggression pact. Then the Japan dictatorship joined them.
The 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour hastened the Manhattan Project in USA to build the bomb Russia joins Britain, France and USA – as Germany invades Russia. The USA sends weapons to Russia.
In 1942 control of Manhattan Project was turned over from the scientists to the military . General Groves picks Oppenheimer. Secrecy ++. Aim was to beat Hitler
Roosevelt dies April 1945. Truman knows nothing about the Manhattan Project. Henfy Stimson, Secretary of war warns President Truman in a ‘memo – “What is the world going to look like, after an atomic bomb is used?”
This is the most important turning point of the human race.
Truman’s next task :- the war against Japan could last for months, years, How to galvanise public opinion – the enormous task of making the Americans hate the Japanese enough. to fight them in a war. Germans were depicted as sinister enemies – but they were still seen as icy human beings- but the Japanese were portrayed as a sub-species.
Leading up to the bomb- USA fire-bombed Tokyo – 87000 killed -people burned like matchsticks. Then Battle of Okinawaa – 12000 US soldiers killed
Truman needed to find a way to end a war without an invasion – at the lowest cost to American lives. Already there’d been 65 million deaths in WW2. People thought of a quick ending as a deliverance. The hastily tested the atomic bomb in the Mexican desert -Trinity test. New Mexicans werecnot evacuated, At a girls’ dance camp 40 mikes away- white ash – “hot snow” – their health seriously affected;
There was general relief that the bomb worked.
Oppenheimer reacted – “We knew the world would never be the same – I am become death – the destroyer of worlds”.
The Potsdam conference brought up the idea of the arrangements for the end of the war in Japan. Following the division of Berlin., Truman didn’t want division of Japan, was keen to get the war over. Churchill said, on hearing of the atomic bomb – “Now we can tell the Russians where to get off”
Truman sought unconditional surrender from Japan. There was a prevailing hatred between the US and Japan.
We see and hear the tragic personal stories of Japanese-Americans – in concentration camps – the racial factor against Japan
Atomic bomb was aimed to convince the Japanese to surrender. Hiroshima was not a military site – 90% civilians.
Here again -compelling Personal stories. Excellent film footage of the bombing and its results. The fireball had a core temperature of several million degrees – ferocious heat unleashed on the city – survivors burnt – severe burns. Rivers littered with corpses. horrendous injuries due to black rain.
Nagasaki Fat Man was a plutonium bomb. Again – Fearful shots of injuries.
Truman initially was thrilled – but learning of reports from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, changed – ordered no further bombs without president’s authorisation.
The dispute over Truman’s choice to use the atomic bomb. Truman’s advisor Stimson wrote that Japan was effectively beaten. No need to use the atomic bomb.
It was dropped in non-military cities The atom bomb was the first strike in the cold war? When the Russians came in, that would end the war. It was not a question of ending the war. It’s a brutal question of ending the war without the Russians The USA desperately wanted to end the war before the Russians got to Japan.
That is certainly not the dominant point of view. There was overwhelming support, especially in the USA for the use of the bomb. A strong feeling of vengeance,
But then – from 1946, there were voices, including senior military voices, that the use of the bomb was not necessary
The wartime alliance with the Soviet Union broke down quickly
The Soviet Union now controlled half of Europe. In a strong position? The bomb introduces a whole new element of uncertainty into the balance of power. Stalin’s decree: 2 weeks after the Hiroshima bombing Stalin signs a decree “Build the bomb as soon as possible”
USA, Europe Russia lurch towards the cold war – A cold war, not a hot one, because these weapons could never be used
Now instead of direct war – there would be economic rivalry, and proxy wars across the world. The driving force became fear.
TODAY. Time to rise above the tit-for-tat mentality – “Turning Point: the Bomb and the Cold War” (and this is not an ad)
This is a Netflix series. And I’m sorry to be looking as if I am advertising. But the thing is – life is too serious, too important – to worry about this.
To me, the important thing about this series is that it rises above political and national loyalties. Produced by Luminant Media and director Brian Knappenberger, this really is the definitive documentary on the Cold War and the Atomic Bomb.
I didn’t know that Americans were capable of creating an unbiased factual history of nuclear weapons – that didn’t justify all American actions, and demonise all Russian’s. But this is it.
I find this lengthy detailed comprehensive study quite gripping, and also believable – authentic. I’m actually now only halfway through it, but I feel so reassured – that there exists such a visual media – that sees all sides as made up of human beings, that respects our common humanity, – while it still sets out the stupidities and atrocities done , and makes no excuses for them.
In this era of short, snappy, unreliable media of all types, there is a desperate need for longer, thoughtful, thorough, properly researched studies on our troubled world situation. We need to be getting past those lofty myths of “honour” “patriotism” “loyalty” – to try to see clearly what is actually happening now, and how we got to the crises of today.
This week’s news about the military-industrial-nuclear-communications ecosystem
Some bits of good news – The positive impact of conservation action. The ‘Green Nobel Prize’ announced its winners. Solar Balconies Are Booming in Germany and You Can Plug in and Install Them Yourself
TOP STORIES.
72 Minutes Until the End of the World? Is There Life Beyond Nuclear Armageddon?
Five Things the “Nuclear Bros” Don’t Want You to Know About Small Modular Reactors.
University Investments: Divesting from the Military-Industrial Complex.
Bill before Australian Parliament would allow UK and USA to dump decades of high-level nuclear waste in Australia.
Climate. ‘Inside an oven’: sweltering heat ravages crops and takes lives in south-east Asia. Brutal 48C heatwave takes its toll on east Asia. – ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/05/06/1-b1-inside-an-oven-sweltering-heat-ravages-crops-and-takes-lives-in-south-east-asia/
Noel’s notes. The global nuclear industry – rotten to the core. Small modular reactors – yes -the nuclear lobby will keep hyping them – no matter what!
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NUCLEAR ISSUES
| ARTS. UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities to join new “Rock Solid2” art exhibition. | CIVIL LIBERTIES. Academic arrested for “statements against Zionism” as Israel intensifies anti-genocide crackdown.Enforcing Silence on Genocide. | CULTURE.Israel’s Defenders Talk So Much About Feelings Because They Can’t Talk About Facts |
| ECONOMICS.Industrial action by nuclear submarine workforce hits Rolls Royce.UK government pushing institutional investors to support Sizewell C nuclear project. A new nuclear energy law will likely mean higher utility bills. Georgia’s Vogtle 2 nuclear reactors cost over $30Billion, – but were meant to cost $14Billion | ENERGY.G7 Countries Task IRENA to Monitor Group’s Renewable Energy Progress.Germany records 50 hours of negative electricity prices for April, largely due to renewables.California hits stunning new solar and battery records in postcard from energy future. Huge success of renewable energy in California – over 100% of demand for many days |
| ETHICS and RELIGION. Israel ‘undoubtedly’ committing genocide says Holocaust scholar Amos Goldberg. | HEALTH. Dounreay & Scottish Nuclear Policy.. ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/05/01/2-b1-dounreay-scottish-nuclear-policy/ | INDIGENOUS ISSUES. First Nations leaders voice opposition to nuclear power plants.Land Defence Alliance stands united against the burial of nuclear waste.Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) responds to Land Defence Alliance protest. | HUMAN RIGHTS. New US Antisemitism Law Turns Critics Against Israeli Genocide Into Criminals. |
| LEGAL. INTERNATIONAL DARK SKY ASSOCIATION vs. FCC AND SPACEX. How Israel violates International Law in Gaza: expert report. | MEDIA. The Vow from Hiroshima film is coming on PBS, this month. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RcSCgUBrUc New Book – The Scientists Who Alerted Us to the Dangers of Radiation. Gaza Journalists Killed by Israel Honored on World Press Freedom Day. As Peace Protests Are Violently Suppressed, CNN Paints Them as Hate Rallies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOBEHXtWMRI |
| POLITICS. Inside story: Will Iran’s supreme leader revise his ‘nuclear fatwa’? US Presidential candidate arrested at anti-Israel protest. France’s Macron wants to build 14 new Nuclear reactors by 2050. 6 is more realistic. France Increases State Funding for Advanced Nuclear R&D Project. UK / Parliamentary Committee Chair Criticises Lack Of Clarity On SMR Plans. Why UK Government nuclear quango has ruled out Trawsfynydd from initial mini-nuke rollout. The breadth and depth of the nuclear lobby in Canada. Nuclear power makes no sense for Australia – but it’s a useful diversion from real climate action. | POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. Why Iran may accelerate its nuclear program, and Israel may be tempted to attack it. US vs China, Israel vs Iran, India vs Pakistan: Asia plays with fire as nuclear war safety net frays. |
| SAFETY. Alarm over nuclear safety lapses on the Clyde. Fears raised over Wales accident risk involving aircraft carrying nuclear materials. IAEA’s top nuclear salesman-cum-watchdog, Rafael Grossi, to visit Iran | SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS.Dead satellites are filling space with trash. That could affect Earth’s magnetic field. Nukes in space: Why a very very stupid idea just became more likely. |
| TECHNOLOGY. A Closer Look at Two Operational Small Modular Reactor Designs. Can floating nuclear power plants help solve Northern Canada’s energy woes?. (ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/05/05/2-b1-can-floating-nuclear-power-plants-help-solve-northern-canadas-energy-woes/) Small reactors don’t add up as a viable energy source. Small modular reactors aren’t the energy answer for remote communities and mines. ARC might need to redesign its SMR technology: former president + US bans import of enriched uranium + more to the story | URANIUM. US cutoff of Russian uranium imports viable but costly to replace. | WASTES. The undersea nuclear graveyard now more costly than HS2. Barrels Of Radioactive Waste Turn Up Off The Coast Of California. To find a place to store spent nuclear fuel, Congress needs to stop trying to revive Yucca Mountain. Toxic sewage discharged at Chalk River nuclear lab. Nuclear-waste compensation (?bribery) numbers raise eyebrows. |
| WAR and CONFLICT. The Israel-US game plan for Gaza is staring us in the face. Israel’s Finance Minister Smotrich calls for ‘total annihilation’ of Gaza. CodePink – Tell President Biden: WE WANT COOPERATION, NOT CONFLICT! NATO using war games to ‘prepare for conflict’ – Moscow. | WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES.Zelensky wants ten more years of US funding. NATO state rejects €100 billion Ukraine war chest ‘madness’. US Air Force pays $13 billion for new ‘doomsday’ planes that protect president during a nuclear attack . The Fight Over THAAD in Korea. |
TODAY. Small modular reactors – yes -the nuclear lobby will keep hyping them – no matter what!
Well, we all do know why. The small nuclear reactor (SMR)power industry – moribund though it is, is essential for the nuclear weapons industry – for a number of reasons, but importantly – to put a sweet gloss on that murderous industry.
Never mind that USA’s NuScale’s SMRs were a resounding flop – NuScale is still being touted, along with all the other little nuclear unicorns manouvreing to get tax-payer funding.
The facts remain, and apparently just need to be hammered again and again:
SMRs are not cheap, not safe, do not reduce wastes, are not reliable for off-grid power, are not more efficient fuel users than are large reactors.
The latest hyped -up push for SMRs is in Canada – with the boast that they will benefit indigenous communities . Successful bribery of indigenous people would give a huge boost to the global nuclear lobby, – as indigenous people have historically been the most distrustful of uranium mining and of the whole nuclear fuel chain.
The gimmicks this time are floating nuclear power plants – barges carrying Westinghouse’s eVinci microreactors. These would take over from the current deisal power plants serving remote communities. There are already some solar, wind and battery projects – frowned upon by the nuclear lobby, of course.
These projects are being strongly promoted, but poorly explained to indigenous communities, would bring radiological hazards along Canada’s Northern shoreline
And what really are the chances that these little nuclear power sources would be effective anyway? Recent reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reveal that while 83 small nuclear reactors are “in development”, but there are only 2 in operation.
In both cases, the development of the reactors was a very lengthy and expensive process.
The Chinese SMR HTR-PM- “Between January and December 2022, the reactors operated for only 27 hours out of a possible maximum of 8,760 hours. In the subsequent three months, they seem to have operated at a load factor of around 10 percent.”
For the Russian SMR – “The operating records of the two KLT-40S reactors have been quite poor. According to the IAEA’s PRIS [Power Reactor Information System] database, the two reactors had load factors of just 26.4 and 30.5 percent respectively in 2022, and lifetime load factors of just 34 and 22.4 percent.”
Will Canada’s remote indigenous communitites buy the duplicitous nuclear lobby’s propaganda on SMRs ? And then, subsequently, will the rest of us buy it, despite the facts. I guess that the corporate media will help, – if lies are repeated often enough, people come to believe them.
Nuclear and associated news this week
Some bits of good news – High Seas Treaty: EU votes to ratify landmark international law to protect oceans. ‘I want to tackle it in a big way’: Meet the Nigerian women spearheading solar projects
TOP STORIES.
Gen Z Just Might Save The World – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXs9LMrwDpA
Bankers upgrade Lockheed stock after Iran strikes at Israel.
New civil nuclear programmes crossing over into military nuclear programmes.
Nuclear-waste dams threaten Central Asia heartland– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExuDrRYHmDE
How much will the UK’s new nuclear submarines really cost? -ALSO AT more https://nuclear-news.net/2024/04/28/2-a-how-much-will-the-uks-new-nuclear-submarines-really-cost/
Climate. Tens of thousands evacuated from massive China floods. Europe baked in ‘extreme heat stress’ pushing temperatures to record highs. Heatwave in India: TV host faints during live broadcast as swaths of country reel from sweltering temperatures.
Noel’s notes. Japan – the return of the “Nuclear Village“? Ukraine war – the changing face of weaponry. The failed social species – Homo-not-sapiens-at-all. Oh it’s a great time to be an American – with shares in “Defense” companies!
NUCLEAR ISSUES
| CIVIL LIBERTIES. The McCarthyist Attack on Gaza Protests Threatens Free Thought for All. | ECONOMICS. Price tag for Poland’s first nuclear plant may reach $37bn. Nuclear Power’s Lethal, Larcenous End Game. Rolls Royce scales back plans to build nuclear factories in UK. |
ENERGY. The astonishing growth of renewable energy.
ENVIRONMENT. Unstable nuclear-waste dams threaten fertile Central Asia heartland. Indian Nuclear Sites Impact South Tibetan Plateau Radioactivity. Chernobyl – the Cloud Lingers On.
ETHICS and RELIGION. Zionism Is In Its Flop Era. Acknowledging the Horrors of Gaza—Without Wanting to End Them.
EVENTS. National Not-the-Nuclear-Lobby Returns to Parliament Hill, Ottawa. www.uraniumfilmfestival.org / https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/usacanada-2024-program / https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/…/2024_las_vegas…
| HEALTH. Nuclear test campaigner demands access to medical files. | MEDIA. Cruelty of Language — The New York Times’ Leaked Gaza Memo. Inside Fukushima’s red zone: Eerie pictures show abandoned schools, hospitals and shopping malls frozen in time 13 years after .nuclear disaster in Japan | OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR . Nuclear-Free Future Awards unite unsung heroes. No Drones Over Gaza Or Anywhere! |
PLUTONIUM. NNSA Delays Urgent Research on Plutonium “Pit” Aging But Spends Billions on Nuclear Weapons Bomb Core
POLITICS. Biden signs $95bn aid bill to be sent ‘right away’ – for wars in Ukraine, Israel, and provocations in Taiwan.
Now is the Time for All Good Men and Women to Come to the Aid of Our Country USA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTP-W9VoFKA
War Parties, the Peace Candidate, and the November Election. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxDYqMTjA9U
Iran says nuclear weapons have no place in its nuclear doctrine.
Where are France’s nuclear reactors and what is planned for more?
Scottish National Party and UK Government in row over cost of nuclear dumping grounds. Popular UK holiday park to close, as Sizewell C nuclear project takes over
Japan city assembly OKs request for nuclear waste site survey.
Saudi Arabia is set to witness major developments in nuclear sector: IAEA chief Rafael Grossi.
Dutton’s plan to save Australia with nuclear comes undone when you look between the brushstrokes. US bases including Pine Gap saw Australia put on nuclear alert, but no-one told Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.
| POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. Patrick Lawrence: The Impotence of Antony Blinken. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MHtQ9CF_-s&t=218s | PROTESTS. Protesters in Taiwan demand closure of nuclear power plants. | SAFETY. Paul Dorfman: “In Ukraine or the Middle East, the risk of a nuclear accident is real” –ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/04/24/2-b1-paul-dorfman-in-ukraine-or-the-middle-east-the-risk-of-a-nuclear-accident-is-real/ Nuclear: In Flamanville, the EPR farce continues.Chernobyl campaigner Adi Roche warns of global nuclear threat as power plant attacked in Ukraine. Thirty-eight years on, lessons from Chernobyl. Grim nuclear anniversary: Zaporizhzhia must not repeat Chornobyl. IAEA clears Japanese reactor for 60-year lifetime. |
TECHNOLOGY. Problems delay Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor restart.
The former rail chief now minding the (construction) gap at Sizewell. ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/04/29/2-b1-the-former-rail-chief-now-minding-the-construction-gap-at-sizewell/
WASTES. Scotland could be hit ‘with £22bn nuclear clean-up bill’ ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/04/26/2-b1-scotland-could-be-hit-with-22bn-nuclear-clean-up-bill/
Nuclear waste storage facility told to take action after breach. Plutonium.
The long path of plutonium: A new map charts contamination at thousands of sites, miles from Los Alamos National Laboratory
| WAR and CONFLICT. Israeli Strikes in Rafah Kill 22, Including 18 Children. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OdABlkwi6M&t=67s Russia: West military support for Ukraine could lead to confrontation between world’s nuclear powers. North Korea’s Kim Jong Un Oversees Simulated ‘Nuclear Counterattack’. Why Iran may accelerate its nuclear program, and Israel may be tempted to attack it. | WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. U.S. Senate Passes $95 Billion Foreign Military Aid Bill. The US secretly sent long-range ATACMS to Ukraine — and Kyiv used them. Three Cheers for Our Red, White, and Blue War Profiteers. Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Applaud $95 Billion Supplemental Arms Package. US nuclear weapons in Poland would be priority military target – Moscow. Russia-Ukraine war: EU ministers fail to pledge Patriot systems to Ukraine at key meeting – as it happened. Macron ready to ‘open debate’ on nuclear European defence. Polish president: Poland ready to deploy allied nuclear weapons on its territory. “Fiscally conservative” Congressman Sean Casten votes to squander $95 billion to further destroy Ukraine, enable genocide in Gaza, provoke military confrontation with China, |
Ukraine war – the changing face of weaponry
I mused today on the lovely words of the lovely war-mongering Australian Minister for Defence – Richard Marles. He’s nearly as good as that USA smarm master Antony Blinken – in choosing the nicest words to cover nasty stuff.
Today he was talking about Australia sending $millions to Ukraine – for:
uncrewed aerial systems air-to-ground precision munitions spurring on competition among Western nations to harness technology and drive down the equipment’s production cost.
All these weasel words sort of obscure the reality that one big goal is to support the American, Australian, and even Israeli weapons companies. Yes – Israel. In February, the Israeli company Elbit Systems received a A$917 million contract from the Australian Defence Department.
The other goal is to be part of American militarism and its experimental work in Ukraine.
You see – the beauty of the Ukraine war, for America, is that there should be no American lives at risk. Tough about the Ukrainian lives, (and of course the thousands more Russian soldiers’ lives don’t count).
But this is a sort of experimental interim-type war – between having troops of soldiers getting killed and just having heaps of civilians getting killed, (and seeing if America can win by having no persons at risk in it).
World War 1 was the classic – the ultimate war for killing soldiers. – estimated 9.7 million and also 10 million civilians
World War 2 an even bigger killer of soldiers – 20 million, but also 40 million civilians – an “improvement” in killing civilians.
The “in-between” wars – Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan – have still been a mixture of killing soldiers and civilians – but especially with the Afghanistan war – the emphasis shifted towards drone killings, with the officer directing the killing from the distant comfort of an office in USA.
So – getting back to the lovely Marles – he avoided words like “drones” and “missiles” – thus sort of obscuring the fact that Australian weapons are headed right into Russian territory as part of an American long distance attack. Of course, it is called defence – though it is not at all clear that Australia is under military threat from Russia.
Anyway, Ukraine is a good practise ground for deploying weapons that can kill civilians of another country. The weapons-makers are getting better and better at this. The Biden administration last month secretly shipped long-range missiles to Ukraine. The newest 1$billion package will include additional long-range ATACMS. Nuclear weapons might be deployed in Poland. Biden administration’s $850 billion defense budget request for fiscal year 2025 includes $69 billion for nuclear weapons.
It’s all great fun. USA will be able to more or less comfortably fight another country (? China) without putting any “boots on the ground”, (except perhaps a few Taiwanese boots – but after all, they’re not even being worn by white feet, so – no matter, really)
The only fly in the ointment is that American militarism is causing a reaction in other countries. They have populations and leaders who feel that they will have to reciprocate. And they too have gee-whiz clever men with little-boy minds who devise killing machines.
It is truly a vicious circle. There’s a lack of leaders with wisdom. But no shortage of the mealy-mouthed Marles and Blinkens who make it sound as if everything is OK.
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