Australian nuclear and climate news – this week
Future Fund invests in nuclear weapons, confirmed by Finance Minister Mathias Cormann
Coal Seam gas drilling by US company Halliburton is using radioactive CS-137, but this is not disclosed in the CSG projects’ Review of Environment Factors (REF) and Environmental Impact Statements, nor does it appear by name in Materials Safety Data Sheets.
Uranium industry – lots of hype about Japan deciding to restart nuclear reactors, BUT analysts warn that a small recovery in uranium price is a “dead cat bounce” Australian uranium miner Paladin continues its downward plunge. Sales to India are not imminent. Indeed Tony Abbott suggests that the trade deal with India might be ready “by the end of next year’
Aboriginal Jeffrey Lee, who donated all his land to Kakadu National Park, knocking back $millions, in order to stop uranium mining on his land at Koongarra, has still not received the house promised to him by the Australian government
Victorian election. Lacklustre politics from the major parties, but especially by the reigning Coalition, as Victoria is found to have, of all the States, the worst renewable energy policy environment. ACT and South Australia are way ahead.
Australian Government embarrasses us all, with a chorus of criticism for President Obama. Latest from Trade Minister Andrew Robb -who announced that President Obama’s statement about climate change and coral reefs was “misinformed and unnecessary”. Meanwhile Prime Minister Tony Abbott cheerfully reassured Australians about the coming hot summer (nothing to do with climate change)
Prime Minister Tony Abbott recently paid lip service to climate change. (Ironically, he was lecturing French President Hollande whose climate and renewable policies are the complete opposite of Abbott’s) Still, we should pay attention, as Tony Abbott is sure to very slowly come around to being a believer in climate change action. Abbott, being in the pocket of the polluting industries, has to keep suppressing ( through uncertainty) renewable energy ,and supporting coal – until (a) the coal industry eventually collapses, and (b) Australia has lost all opportunity to have a renewable energy technology export market. THEN, Abbott will suddenly discover the climate change problem, and its “low carbon” solution – nuclear energy. (Look out for those tell-tale weasel words – “low carbon”) Treasurer Joe Hockey is already touting this, despite his disbelief in climate change)
The Dynamics of Possible Nuclear Extinction – Symposium 2015
Dr Helen Caldicott, 25 Nov 14 As a physician I am trained to assess a patient, taking a detailed medical history then conducting a careful physical examination. This is followed by a series of laboratory tests which guide me to a diagnosis. Appropriate treatment follows after the illness is diagnosed and the cause is defined. It is imperative that the main disease is attended to and the assessor not be distracted by peripheral issues or unrelated complaints.
I look at the world and its ongoing pathology from a similar perspective. There are many serious issues facing the world at the moment but it is necessary to triage the most serious threats, those to our very survival. It is easy to be diverted or distracted by lesser threats. This must be avoided. As a physician, I see the ever-present threat of nuclear war as an ongoing existential risk that threatens almost all planetary life with extinction. The situation is even more acute because most people and politicians have become inured to, or are unaware of, the existential nature of this threat. This is a dangerous form of psychic numbing.
The truth is that Russia and the U.S. possess 94% of the 16,400 nuclear weapons in the global nuclear arsenal. The U.S. maintains its first strike winnable nuclear war policy, and both countries have raised their nuclear arsenals to a higher state of alert because of the trouble in the Ukraine.
Furthermore it has just been announced that the administration has plans to replace every nuclear warhead and their delivery systems via ship, submarine, missile and plane, at a cost of one trillion dollars over the next thirty years. And recently Stephen Hawking and his collaegues have been postulating that there is a real possibility that computers could launch a nuclear war with no human input
This symposium to be held by The Helen Caldicott Foundation – a 501C3 charitable organization – at the NY Academy of Medicine on February 28th-March 1st, 2015 will be structured to address the following issues:
- What are the human and technological factors that could precipitate a nuclear war between Russia and the U.S., how many times have we come close to nuclear war and how long will our luck hold?
- What are the ongoing technological and financial developments relevant to the nuclear weapons arsenals of the US and Russia?
- What problems are associated with lateral proliferation of nuclear weapons via strenuous corporate marketing of nuclear technology?
- What are the medical and environmental consequences of either a small or large nuclear war?
- What are the underlying philosophical, political, and ideological dynamics that have brought life on earth to the brink of extinction?
- How can we assess this situation from an anthropological perspective?
- What is the pathology within the present political situation that could lead us to extinction?
- How can this nuclear pathology be cured?
Speakers for each issue Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 