TODAY. Why did Solomon Island’s Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare not attend the war memorial ceremony?
Well, the USA and Australian political leaders hypocritically bemoaned his non attendance. The Guadalcanal ceremony memorial service was organised by USA, and attended by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and ministers and officials from Japan, Australia and New Zealand
China didn’t get a guernsey.
It’s because Solomon Islands have made a security deal with China (not a military-base deal) that USA has deigned to celebrate this World War 2 anniversary, a thing that they never bothered with before. Another occasion to rev up Australis and Pacific Islanders against China.
The breathless hypocrisy of all this! Does no-one think of the history of World War 2? This was an embarrassing situation for the Solomon Island’s leader.
Japan was invited to the ceremony. That’s fine, now. But Japan WAS the enemy in WW2, and invaded the Solomon Islands.
And it was Japan that invaded China in 1931. China was the first country to enter what would become the Second World War, and it was the ally of the United States and the British empire from just after Pearl Harbor in 1941, to the Japanese surrender in 1945.
So – the WW2 aggressor – Japan – was invited, and the WW2 ally, China was spurned.
The whole ceremony thing was just another swipe in the current – let’s all hate China meme.
Bob Carr puts Peter Dutton on the spot -calls for detail on Dutton’s plans for nuclear power in Australia
Bob Carr on the Opposition flagging nuclear, https://www.2gb.com/podcast/bob-carr-on-the-opposition-flagging-nuclear/ 9 August 22,
Michael speaks with Bob Carr, Former Premier of NSW & Former Australian Foreign Minister, who over the years has been a proponent of nuclear power, though becoming more circumspect with time.
Mr Carr writes, “Any opposition leader is under pressure to espouse fresh ideas and launch out in new directions. In this spirit Peter Dutton says the Coalition is open to nuclear power. He signalled an internal party review but took the opportunity to rehearse the somewhat dusty arguments about nuclear being cheap and reliable.”
“But Dutton in the next three months has the chance to prove this time Australian conservatives are serious. He can pitch it direct to 4.5 million voters in the November 26 Victorian elections. He can show this is more than a lazy “thought experiment” and invest it with hard-edge credibility.”
Taiwan not worth a mushroom cloud
Many talk about “national interest”; the need for security; and standing up for principles. But with Taiwan the choice may be more stark: allow the Chinese Communist Party to take it over or engage in a nuclear war.
Principles are meaningless amid nuclear devastation, and so is national interest and security.
http://www.crispinhull.com.au/2022/08/08/taiwan-not-worth-a-mushroom-cloud/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=crispin-hull-column Crispin Hull 8 Aug 22,
The odd thing about the visit by the Speaker of the US House of Representatives to Taiwan was that it was done by a woman, Nancy Pelosi. Usually, women in government tend to be the negotiators and compromisers, not the aggressors and agitators.
Why not just leave well alone?
Why create for future schoolchildren (if there are any survivors) one of the “Ten Causes of the Third World War”: Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Just as we learned that the 10 causes of World War I and World War II included equally trivial misjudgments.
And, take note, as far as the Chinese leadership is concerned, Pelosi is not a legislator, separate from the executive government, making a visit off her own bat, because they could not conceive of such a thing. For them, she is part of the US Government. So, to them, the trip was a deliberate provocation.
The other puzzling thing about Taiwan is the way the US, on the one hand, talks the talk of defending democratic Taiwan against the bully China, but on the other hand officially accepts that Taiwan is part of China.
The US did that on January 1, 1979, when it recognised the People’s Republic of China and established diplomatic relations with it as “the sole legitimate government of China”. On the same day, the United States withdrew its recognition of, and terminated diplomatic relations with, the Republic of China (Taiwan) as the government of China.
In 1979, of course, Taiwan was not a democracy so it did not really matter in principle which of the two autocracies was the “sole legitimate government of China”. At the time, the US “national interest” suggested that the trade opportunities with mainland China were too good and democracy was not being undermined by the de-recognition of semi-autocratic Taiwan.
After Taiwan evolved into a democracy in 1996 with the first free, open, and fair election for the presidency, the US had a “whoops” moment, followed by nearly three decades of juggling three balls in the air: the principle of supporting democracy; supporting US national trade interests; and opposing ever-growing Chinese influence.
The three are hopelessly incompatible, even as the first and the third become ever more urgent. The solution for the US could have been dreamt up by the Chinese communists themselves: “deliberate ambiguity”.
The US should go back to that. More importantly, Australia should go back there, irrespective of what the US does. The west should play the long game with China and wait for it to go the way of the Soviet Union caused as the economic cost of not playing by the rules results in unsustainable pressure on the regime.
Already China is paying a penalty for its trade trashing of Australia. Australia has now found other markets. China has come back cap in hand for some of those goods and Australia has said, “No thanks, you are too unreliable because you do not follow the rules and legal principle.”
In any event, we should not, in the perspicacious words of defence expert Hugh White, “sleepwalk into war”.
If democratic Taiwan is so important to defend, why doesn’t the US officially recognise it as a nation? And if it does not recognise Taiwan as an independent democratic nation, why threaten military action if the central government of the nation that the US does recognise as exercising sovereignty over Taiwan sends in its army and police forces to physically exercise that sovereignty?
Not being a democracy is not a cause for war, nor is the overthrow of democracy in one part of a country a cause for war. If they were, the world would be in a constant state of war.
Pelosi’s visit coincided with the Rim of the Pacific naval exercise (RIMPAC), but to Chinese Communist Party chiefs it was not a coincidence.
Twenty-six nations, 38 surface ships, four submarines, nine national land forces, 170 aircraft and 25,000 military personnel took part.
From a Chinese perspective this is a tad threatening. To us it is benign. To Taiwan and Australia firing rockets over Taiwan and the seas around it is a tad threatening, To the Chinese it is a benign military exercise in its own back yard
Of course, China is jealous as well as threatened by RIMPAC. China has no friends, just nations it bribes or debt-burdens into military co-operation.
But the danger point comes when the US goes beyond seeking voluntary co-operation with allies and friends and aims for full military integration and interoperability.
The trouble here is that the US military exerts influence verging on control over the US Government. Its top military officer has a seat on the National Security Council (not just an advisory role). Both General Douglas MacArthur (Korea) and General Curtis Le May (Cuba) urged the use of nuclear weapons.
Mercifully, Presidents Truman and Kennedy stood up to them, but Biden is no Truman or Kennedy. Moreover, a change in Administration usually means little change in the military-industrial complex’s way of doing things.
In Australia, a change of Government has also meant very little change to the lock-step American Alliance – until now.
The new Defence Minister, Richard Marles, has ordered a Defence Forces Review. Maybe it will start questioning the pattern of blindly joining every major US military folly (Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, for example), irrespective of whether it has anything to do with us.
Many talk about “national interest”; the need for security; and standing up for principles. But with Taiwan the choice may be more stark: allow the Chinese Communist Party to take it over or engage in a nuclear war.
Principles are meaningless amid nuclear devastation, and so is national interest and security.
It is unfortunate that 23 million people would go under the Chinese Communist jackboot, but that is better than going under a nuclear mushroom.
We allowed them to imprison, murder, and torture the Uyghurs and Tibetans and did nothing. What is the difference with Taiwan? Maybe it is just a good case to bolster a profitable arms race.
Regional security threat haunts nuclear power debate
we cannot ignore when weighing up these arguments that recent events at Zaporizhzhia help bolster the case against nuclear power. We would not want any future nuclear facilities to become hostage to the vagaries of war.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/regional-security-threat-haunts-nuclear-power-debate-20220808-p5b82t.html Editorial, August 8, 2022, The alarm sounded by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, that fighting between Russian invaders and Ukrainian forces near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant carried “the very real risk of a nuclear disaster” is one with relevance far beyond the war raging within Ukraine’s borders.
The conflict has already served as a grim warning for powers such as Germany and the United States of the costs of relying on fossil fuel-producing nations with despotic leaders for energy supply. But Russia’s seizures of Zaporizhzhia and the defunct power plant at Chernobyl in the early days of the war – though Chernobyl later returned to Ukrainian control – have highlighted that a decision to increase reliance on nuclear power would carry risks even beyond the familiar ones.
As Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic pointed out during Grossi’s recent visit to this country, Australia has an exemplary record on nuclear safety. But one of the most important reasons for this is that we have a ban on using nuclear fission for power generation and have committed not to develop a nuclear arsenal under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
In recent times both these bans have returned to the spotlight, as the Coalition in opposition has raised the possibility of domestic nuclear power plants to address our energy needs. This followed the Morrison government’s signing of the AUKUS deal with London and Washington last year. The deal envisions Royal Australian Navy submarines being fuelled with weapons-grade uranium.
Peter Hartcher reported for The Agethat the first question US President Joe Biden raised when the AUKUS proposal was put to him was whether it breached non-proliferation commitments. The key to addressing this question has been paragraph 14 of the IAEA’s safeguards agreement with Australia, which creates a loophole allowing weapons-grade material to be used without the usual safeguards in “non-proscribed military activity”. Concerns were raised earlier this month, at the latest meeting to review the treaty, that regardless of Australia’s good intentions, this would set a precedent for further transfers of highly enriched nuclear material to other nations.
Grossi has pointed out that Iran, which first informed the IAEA of its interest in naval nuclear propulsion in 2018, cited the AUKUS deal to argue for its own plans at meetings in 2021.
Some argue that this is a form of proliferation, and even our allies and neighbours, from New Zealand to Indonesia, have expressed strong reservations about the AUKUS arrangement. Australia has said that the nuclear material in its submarines will be handled only by existing nuclear states. Nevertheless, the deal could lead to a perception that nuclear “haves” will simply ignore “have-nots”.
The case for nuclear power more broadly – replacing coal and gas with another non-renewable resource in uranium – faces its own hurdles, from the cost, to the emissions involved in mining and waste management to the question of where highly radioactive waste might be stored.
As The Age has pointed out, nuclear power generation globally is declining. One major reason is the expense. A recent CSIRO report underlines that renewables are far cheaper, even after transmission and storage are taken into account.
All sides of politics agree that Australia faces an increasingly complex and challenging security environment, from talk of Chinese bases in Cambodia and Solomon Islands to cyberattacks by rogue international actors targeting key infrastructure, while general-turned-Coalition senator Jim Molan has outlined an even more apocalyptic scenario, a “second Pearl Harbour” aimed at establishing Chinese supremacy in the western Pacific.
The Age has agreed in the past that Australia should be prepared to have another look at the arguments for nuclear power. That remains our position. But we cannot ignore when weighing up these arguments that recent events at Zaporizhzhia help bolster the case against it. We would not want any future nuclear facilities to become hostage to the vagaries of war.
Nagasaki urges the elimination of nuclear weapons as city marks 77th A-bomb anniversary
August 9, 2022 (Mainichi Japan) NAGASAKI (Kyodo) — Nagasaki marked the 77th anniversary Tuesday of the U.S. atomic bombing of the southwestern Japan city during World War II, with Mayor Tomihisa Taue calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons amid mounting concern over their potential use following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The atomic bombing of Nagasaki, three days after a similar bomb was dropped on Hiroshima around 300 kilometers to the northeast, had taken the lives of an estimated 74,000 people by the end of 1945, with many others suffering from the effects of burns and radiation-related illnesses long after the attack.
A moment of silence was observed at 11:02 a.m., the exact time on Aug. 9, 1945, when a plutonium bomb codenamed “Fat Man” dropped by a U.S. bomber exploded over the port city, only the second time a nuclear weapon has been used in war.
In a Peace Declaration delivered during a memorial ceremony at the city’s Peace Park, the mayor called on nuclear weapons states to present a concrete way forward to achieve nuclear disarmament at the ongoing review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Taue also demanded that the Japanese government lead discussions on a possible nuclear weapons free-zone in Northeast Asia, as well as sign and ratify a U.N. treaty banning nuclear weapons………………………………………………….
In the Peace Park, atomic bomb survivors and relatives of the victims gathered to offer prayers, some with flowers in their hands, from the early morning as cicadas sang in the trees.
“I heard a loud boom and saw a bright spark on that day even though I had escaped to an air raid shelter after seeing a plane approach,” said Michiko Kaida, 89. She said she was around 8 kilometers from the hypocenter with her friends.
“It is difficult for me to recall that day and the aftermath. It was so devastating,” she said………………
Over a one-year period through the end of July, the city confirmed the deaths of 3,160 atomic bomb survivors. Its list of those officially recognized as victims of the atomic bombing now bears the names of 192,310 people.
The combined number of officially recognized survivors of the two nuclear attacks, known as hibakusha, stood at 118,935 as of March, down 8,820 from a year earlier, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said. Their average age was 84.53. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220809/p2g/00m/0na/010000c
Nagasaki A-bomb survivor told German foreign minister to spurn ‘nuclear umbrella’
August 9, 2022 (Mainichi Japan) NAGASAKI — Nagasaki A-bomb survivor Shigemitsu Tanaka, 81, used German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s July visit to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum to share his experience of the bombing and ask her to abandon the U.S. “nuclear umbrella.”
Germany, a NATO member, participated as an observer in the first meeting of parties to the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons held in Vienna in June, despite being covered by the U.S.’s nuclear arsenal. Although Germany has not signed the treaty, the European nation stressed that it will participate in constructive dialogue with the countries and regions that have ratified the treaty.
The 41-year-old foreign minister, who came to Japan for talks with her Japanese counterpart, visited the A-bomb museum on July 10. Tanaka is the chairman of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors Council and was invited to the museum for the visit.
Baerbock looked Tanaka in the eye, and as if in reply, Tanaka shared his experience of the atomic bombing and his subsequent suffering. He hoped that his wish that there should never be another “hibakusha,” or person exposed to the atomic bombings, reached the foreign minister.
On Aug. 9, 1945, a flash of light engulfed 4-year-old Tanaka in his yard in the Nagasaki Prefecture village (now town) of Togitsu, about 6 kilometers north of the hypocenter. He rushed into an air-raid shelter to escape the noise and the blast. When he went outside again, he found his home’s tatami mats and shoji sliding doors blown away and the windowpanes shattered.
The next day his father, an Imperial Japanese Navy unit member stationed in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, was sent to the bombed city to do rescue work. When he returned home, he complained of physical discomfort and other symptoms. His mother also treated the injured at a national elementary school in the village, and a few days after the bombing, she went to an acquaintance’s home about 1 km from the hypocenter to check if they were all right.
His mother developed diarrhea and rashes on her legs, and later liver and thyroid problems. His father became frustrated with his mother’s many hospital visits, and he turned into a violent alcoholic. Twelve years later, he died of liver cancer…………………………..
When the foreign minister left the museum, she left a comment in the visitors’ book that read, “This is a place that conveys the madness of nuclear war and the terrible suffering caused by the atomic bombs. As long as nuclear weapons exist, there is a danger that such a horrific reality will occur again. That is why our commitment to achieving a world without nuclear weapons will never weaken.”…………………………………
Tanaka had strong words for the Japanese government: “If we say that we are ‘the only country to have experienced atomic bombings’ but do nothing, we will lose the world’s trust. Since Japan claims to serve as a bridge between the nuclear and non-nuclear weapon states, now is the time for Japan to take a stance like that of Germany, which participated in the meeting (of parties to the U.N. nuclear weapons ban treaty) even though it did not sign or ratify the treaty.”
(Japanese original by Hiroyuki Takahashi, Nagasaki Bureau) https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220808/p2a/00m/0na/014000c
New Mexico’s ’s nuclear waste dump could be open ‘forever’ despite 2024 closure date.
WIPP leaders also want approval for plan to increase waste storage
Source NM, BY: PATRICK LOHMANN – AUGUST 8, 2022
Shipments of nuclear waste to the nation’s only deep geological repository for the hazardous material show no signs of slowing in the coming years, despite the current permit calling for the plant to begin closing in 2024.
The future of shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant east of Carlsbad was the subject of debate and scrutiny during a meeting among a state legislative committee Friday in Clovis. The site stores waste like clothing, rags, soils and tools contaminated with radioactive elements due to nuclear weapons research and assembly in places like Los Alamos National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory.
WIPP leaders are seeking renewal of the 10-year permit that allows the site to continue receiving shipments, plus the state’s approval of an expansion of the plant to store more waste.
But advocates closely watching the plant for decades say such approval could open the door to an unending stream of radioactive waste transported across the country into New Mexico.
So far this fiscal year, WIPP has received 190 shipments. The material arrives from about 10 sites across the country, shipped in large drums on semi-trailers along state roads and interstates. The site has received more than 13,000 such shipments since 1999. When the waste arrives, and if it meets meets WIPP’s safety standards, the material is “emplaced” for permanent disposal in one of eight large panels a half-mile below ground that are sealed when full.
The 1990 federal law that allowed WIPP to be created and an agreement between the state of New Mexico and United States Department of Energy permits the site to permanently hold up to 175,000 cubic meters of the waste.
But WIPP needs more space to fulfill that mission, said Reinhard Knerr, manager of the DOE Carlsbad Field Office. Six of the eight panels are sealed, despite the facility having only disposed of 40% of the 175,000 cubic meters it can receive. …………………………………..
But Don Hancock, who runs the nuclear waste program at the Southwest Research and Information Center, said WIPP leaders are seeking to abandon the principles set out when WIPP began. He also fears the DOE is trying to prime the site to become the nation’s only recipient of this kind of radioactive waste for years to come.
Hancock testified Friday that WIPP was meant to be a site that would permanently dispose of waste only until new repositories would be opened up across the country. The legislation creating WIPP says it would store “up to” 175,000 cubic meters, he noted, and he said lawmakers at the time fully expected that the site could be decommissioned without being filled completely.
But instead, other potential sites across America have been identified but not opened in the intervening years, Hancock said, and an official told him recently at a public meeting that the DOE currently had “no plan” for a waste repository elsewhere.
“WIPP is the only repository. It was supposed to be the first, but not only. Other repositories are necessary for legal reasons, agreements with the state of New Mexico, technical reasons,” Hancock told lawmakers. “But now the Department of Energy is saying they have no plan for any other… waste repository.”
Hancock said the state should use its role to push the Department of Energy to open up other sites elsewhere and should push for specific closure dates when the permit comes up for renewal. He also is asking the state Legislature to push for more transparency from the DOE and more public involvement.
The state is hoping to have a revised permit for WIPP by May of 2023, a state official told the panel.
Hancock said the DOE has no longer even offered a potential closure date for WIPP in any of its recent permit applications. That’s another tell, he said, that shows the DOE no longer has any interest in finding an alternative to WIPP.
The New Mexico Environment Department recently asked the feds to provide a potential closure date. The DOE said it could take as long as 2083 for WIPP to dispose of all current and projected waste being produced across the country.
Hancock, speaking to Source New Mexico after the meeting, said the fact that DOE is being coy about the eventual closure of WIPP should concern generations of New Mexicans.
“When you’re supposed to be from 1999 to 2024 and are now say 1999 to 2083, that looks like forever,” he said. “Because if you go 60 years more, why are you not going to say again, ‘Oh, well, we don’t have any other place. So guess what?’”………………….
A 2020 analysis by the National Academies of Sciences found that all waste that has been generated or is planned to be, will exceed WIPP’s legal capacity by at least 10%. That’s another issue the DOE has not responded to publicly, Hancock said.
The bi-partisan legislative committee, made up of state senators and representatives, ultimately voted to send a letter to the Department of Energy asking questions about shipments and seeking more transparency. https://sourcenm.com/2022/08/08/nms-nuclear-waste-site-could-be-open-forever-despite-2024-closure-date-advocate-warns/
70% of Western weapons sent to Ukraine don’t reach troops – CBS
Rt.com 8 Aug 22, Report suggests US appears to be repeating the mistakes of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.
With the US and its allies pledging unprecedented levels of military support to Ukraine, a recent CBS News report suggested that only around 30% of the weapons sent by the West actually make it to the front lines. The report adds to ongoing rumors of waste, corruption, and black market profiteering.
The US has approved more than $54 billion of economic and military aid to Ukraine since February, while the UK has committed nearly $3 billion in military aid alone, and the EU has spent another $2.5 billion on arms for Kiev. An entire spectrum of equipment, from rifles and grenades to anti-tank missiles and multiple launch rocket systems have left the West’s armories for Ukraine, with most entering the country through Poland.
However, this rarely goes smoothly, CBS News revealed this week.
“All of this stuff goes across the border, and then something happens, kind of like 30% of it reaches its final destination,” Jonas Ohman, the founder of a Lithuania-based organization supplying the Ukrainian military, told the American network. Ohman said that getting the weapons to the troops involves navigating a complex network of “power lords, oligarchs [and] political players.”
The new CBS Reports documentary, “Arming Ukraine,” explores why much of the billions of dollars of military aid that the U.S. is sending to Ukraine doesn’t make it to the front lines: “Like 30% of it reaches its final destination.” Stream now: https://t.co/Ob7Y3EsWknpic.twitter.com/YgVbpYZkHn
— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 5, 2022
“There is really no information as to where they’re going at all,” Donatella Rovera, a senior crisis adviser with Amnesty International, told CBS. “What is really worrying is that some countries that are sending weapons do not seem to think that it is their responsibility to put in place a very robust oversight mechanism.”
Ukraine insists that it tracks each and every weapon that crosses its borders, with Yuri Sak, an adviser to Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov, telling the Financial Times last month that reports to the contrary “could be part of Russia’s information war to discourage international partners from providing Ukraine with weaponry.”
However, some officials in the West have sounded alarm bells. A US intelligence source told CNN in April that Washington has “almost zero” idea what happens to these arms, describing the shipments as dropping “into a big black hole” once they enter Ukraine. Canadian sources said last month that they have “no idea” where their weapons deliveries actually end up.
Europol has claimed that some of these weapons have ended up in the hands of organized crime groups in the EU, while the Russian government has warned that they are showing up in the Middle East. An investigation by RT in June found online marketplaces where sophisticated Western hardware – such as Javelin and NLAW anti-tank systems or Phoenix Ghost and Switchblade explosive drones – was apparently being sold for pennies on the dollar.
Ukraine is consistently ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, scoring 122/180 on Transparency International’s 2021 ‘Corruption Perceptions Index’, where 180 represents the most corrupt and 0 the least.
In Washington, drawing attention to this corruption is frowned upon by both parties in Congress. Representative Victoria Spartz, a Ukrainian-born lawmaker, has reportedly been cautioned by her colleagues and the White House for suggesting that Congress should establish “proper oversight” of its weapons shipments due to the alleged corruption within Vladimir Zelensky’s government. ………………………. more https://www.rt.com/russia/560419-ukraine-weapons-lost-cbs/
Nuclear reactors at Bugey, Blayais, Saint-Alban-Sanit-Maurice, Golfech and Tricastin allowed to release hotter water into rivers
New thermal discharge limits applicable to the reactors of the Bugey,
Blayais, Saint-Alban-Saint-Maurice, Golfech and Tricastin power plants have
been set and will be valid until 11 September. The nuclear power plants of
Blayais, Saint-Alban-Saint-Maurice, Golfech, Bugey and Tricastin will
benefit until September 11 from environmental exemptions concerning water
discharge temperatures due to high temperatures, despite impacts possible
negative effects on the environment.
A decree published on Saturday in the
Official Journal sets ” new thermal discharge limits applicable to the
reactors of the nuclear power plant of Bugey, Blayais,
Saint-Alban-Saint-Maurice, Golfech and Tricastin “. It is specified that
the implementation of these measures will be “associated with a
reinforced environmental monitoring program”.
Le Figaro 6th Aug 2022
Risk of death rises as climate change causes nighttime temperatures to climb
Excessively hot nights caused by climate change are predicted to increase the mortality rate around the world by up to 60% by the end of the century, according to a new international study.
Risk of death rises as climate change causes nighttime temperatures to climb
Excessively hot nights caused by climate change are predicted to increase the mortality rate around the world by up to 60% by the end of the century, according to a new international study.
Graph of the Day: Australia’s best performing wind farms in July — RenewEconomy
Small but perfectly positioned: The Kiata wind farm again tops the rankings of wind farm performance in July. The post Graph of the Day: Australia’s best performing wind farms in July appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Graph of the Day: Australia’s best performing wind farms in July — RenewEconomy
What Happens If the World Gets Too Hot for Animals to Survive? — Mother Jones — Barbara Crane Navarro
Dead cow in California This story was originally published by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Last month, during a slow-moving heat wave that smothered much of the United States, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment 1,504 more words What Happens If the World Gets Too Hot for […]
What Happens If the World Gets Too Hot for Animals to Survive? — Mother Jones — Barbara Crane Navarro
August 8 Energy News — geoharvey
World: ¶ “The Plans For Giant Seaweed Farms In European Waters” • At a testing site 12 km (7.5 miles) off the Dutch coast there was a breakthrough this summer. A converted fishing boat harvested a batch of farmed seaweed mechanically. North Sea Farmers, the consortium behind the test, says it was the first mechanical […]
August 8 Energy News — geoharvey
The week’s nuclear news
Some bits of good news Needles of Hope in the Ukraine War Haystack. Renewables are booming – REN21 Global Review.
The pro Trump forces are going allout to blame and damage Joe Biden and his administration. I keep getting stuff from the non-corporate media. And some of it is in colourful and extreme language. And I know that some of it is from the Trumpians. My problem is that in some of the Trumpian propaganda – the facts have a disturbing habit of sounding like they’re true. No – I do not want to support Trump’s ambitions. But yes, I do want the truth to come out. Especially about Ukraine and Taiwan. And the West is hiding it.
AUSTRALIA.
Australian Prime Minister Albanese refuses to meet with Assange’s family .
Hard-Wired for Corruption -The arms trade and Australia’s lax monitoring regimes.
Does Australia actually need nuclear submarines?
US and Australia to launch second joint spy satellite from site in New Zealand.
Photos: Hiroshima Day protests call on Albanese government to scrap AUKUS, nuclear subs
Indonesia’s nuclear subs protest shows Australian relations will be no easy ride.
Peter Dutton has reached into the weeds of the climate wars and pulled out nuclear energy. It’s beyond ludicrous. The National Party’s false claim about nuclear power. France’s troubled nuclear fleet a bigger problem for Europe than Russia gas.
Australian War Memorial needs to own Australian frontier wars.
INTERNATIONAL
Why Is There More Media Talk About Using Nuclear Weapons Than About Banning Them?
The lost nuclear bombs that no one can find.
Poland rewrites or obscures the history of the Russians’ liberation of Auschwitz.
Anti-Nuclear Protest at U.S. Mission to United Nations.
Is nuclear disarmament possible? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gsz5fQm00Qs World one misstep from ‘nuclear annihilation’: UN chief. Biden, Putin strike conciliatory tones as nuclear arms talks start at U.N. If we are to survive…we must change course.
Nuclear weapons will not bring peace or security, only dangers.
The Anti-China Brainwashing Is Working: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix. Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan Visit Stoked Tensions With China. What Comes Next?
Washington Is Making the Same Blunder Regarding Taiwan That It Did in Ukraine.
Russia’s very profitable nuclear industry – NO SANCTIONS on that!
Small nuclear reactors produce more radioactive trash than large ones do – American Academy of Sciences
Nuclear energy vs renewables: which is the best solution for the climate crisis? It’s all about public perception. Can the crooked nuclear industry convince the world?
‘Climate endgame’ warning: Scientists warn global warming could trigger nuclear war, financial crisis or an extinction-level pandemic. Climate Endgame: Risk of Human Extinction ‘Dangerously Underexplored’ .Climate breakdown is super-charging extreme weather.
UKRAINE.
- Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station “completely out of control” – IAEA Parts of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant damaged when struck by shelling. Evacuation would be almost impossible in the event of an accident at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. IAEA alarmed at danger to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as shelling continues in Ukraine war. Russia and Ukraine accused each other of shelling Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant in the Zaporizhzhia region.
- Only 30% of the Weapons Are Even Making it to the Frontlines.
- Ukraine wants to export nuclear-generated electricity to European states – but is that safe?
- A French volunteer described how he witnessed the dramatizations in Bucha Amnesty has stuck by its report that Ukrainian forces endangered civilians.Door-to-door searches are being conducted to find pro-Russian “collaborators” in Nikolaev, a local official has said. Ukraine turns Donetsk into a minefield using banned ‘butterfly’ mines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6wJbPJv0kk
- Russia the most popular national destination for refugees from Ukraine.
- Whitewashing Ukraine’s Corruption and Authoritarianism.
POLAND. Poland’s double standard on how it treats refugees, and the prospect of exhaustion by those housing Ukrainians.
TAIWAN. Is Taiwan’s Independence Worth War?
JAPAN. Hiroshima marks 77th anniversary of atomic bombing amid nuclear threat.
Fukushima Prefecture seeks government help in preventing reputational damage to its marine products. Construction begins at Fukushima plant for water release. Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant “Treated Water” Discharged TEPCO Announces Undersea Tunnel Construction to Begin in 4 Days “Already Started? Citizens were in a state of exasperation. Ironic for Tokyo to caution others on nuclear issue despite Fukushima plan.
USA.
- Chinese expert from Peace Centre points out America’s hypocrisy, double standards, on Nuclear Non Proliferation. USA hostility to China on yet another front – India. Joe Biden offers to negotiate a new arms control framework with Russia to replace New START.
- Senator Manchin Democrats Bill to give $30 billion lifeline to save America’s moribund nuclear industry. Why investors should be wary of NuScale’s small nuclear reactors. Nuclear energy for Colorado? The cost is one very big obstacle. US regulators approve small nuclear reactors – BUT – costs, delays, too late for climate help.
- Beatty Nevada Nuclear waste explosions, in the desert. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VHylGDOvwU Prairie Island Indian Community planning to set up large renewable energy project, keen to be rid of nuclear power plant and nuclear wastes. Nuclear waste isn’t an isolated problem with nuclear power.
- “Unprecedented:” US Senate passes landmark bill to tax billionaires to fund clean energy.
CANADA. Lantern ceremony in Winnipeg calls attention to threat of nuclear weapons.
UK.
- A worsening situation of cracks in Britain’s ageing nuclear reactors.
- Hinkley Point B leaves radioactive waste to be expensively managed for many generations to come.
- Over 50,000 petition against seismic testing to find ocean nuclear dump site. Damage to marine life from seismic testing, and from dumping of radioactive waste. A fake ‘community partnership’ on ocean nuclear waste dumping. To join UK’s Nuclear Waste ‘Community Partnership’ one is required to have a ‘commitment to exploring development‘ of an ocean nuclear waste dump.
- Danger of nuclear weapons convoys on the UK’s M6.
- Peace campaigners gather in Aberdeen on anniversary of Hiroshima nuclear bombing.
FRANCE. Reduced electricity output from France’s nuclear reactors due to high temperatures. EDF cuts output at nuclear power plants as French rivers get too warm. Bad luck for the river environment – nuclear reactors allowed to release hotter water. France importing power, as nuclear stations cut output because of global heating, Drought may force nuclear power production cut. France’s problems with nuclear corporation EDF.
RUSSIA. No one can win a nuclear war: Putin.
ISRAEL. Israel, secretly having nuclear weapons, will not join the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty.
IRAN. Iran says ‘optimistic’ after EU proposal for nuclear deal. Eu, Iran Russia optmistic.
Hiroshima Day protests call on Albanese government to scrap AUKUS, nuclear subs
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/photos-hiroshima-day-protests-call-albanese-government-scrap-aukus-nuclear-subs Kerry Smith, August 8, 2022,
The 77th anniversary of the United States’ atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan on August 6 was marked by gatherings around the country calling on the federal Labor government to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, to scrap AUKUS and the nuclear submarines and to bring Julian Assange home.
The Sydney rally was organised by the Hiroshima Day Committee.
Several speakers said the enduring and horrific damage of nuclear weapons should be enough to prevent their proliferation. But the integration of nuclear arsenals into militaries has raised the threat of conventional conflicts turning nuclear.
Gem Romuld from International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons said the growing number of countries signing on to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons represented a “new benchmark”.
Greens Senator David Shoebridge said if Labor did not sign on by the end of the year, the Greens will move a motion that it does.
Nick Dean, representing the Sydney Anti-AUKUS Coalition, said the nuclear submarine deal must be axed and the billions reallocated to environment and social needs.
AUKUS is a threat to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty because for Australia to operate nuclear-powered submarines, it will have to become the first non-nuclear weapons state to exercise a loophole that would allow it to remove nuclear material from the inspection system of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
This will set a dangerous precedent allowing would-be proliferators to use naval reactor programs as cover for the development of nuclear weapons — with the expectation that, because of the Australia precedent, they would not face repercussions for doing so.
The Maritime Union of Australia, NSW Teachers Federation, the Red Rebels and campaigners for Julian Assange’s release lent their support.
Reverend Ray Minniecon acknowledged country, after several anti-war songs by singer-songwriters Patrick Harte, Margaret Walker, Jude, Chris Maltby and Antoinette.
At a gathering in Armidale protesters also called for freedom for Julian Assange who is being persecuted and tortured because he helped expose recent US war crimes. “What these acts of the US Empire have in common is that they were or are intended as a warning to others. It’s time to ban nuclear weapons, reject nuclear-powered submarines, jail the war criminals and free Julian Assange,” Bea Bleile said.
Antinuclear 