“We cannot afford to have a bad COP” – Mary Robinson

Mary Robinson: This year will go down in history as the one when global
temperature records were not merely surpassed but shattered. There is also
a risk that 2023 becomes the year that multilateral co-operation on climate
fractures, if leaders do not respond at the scale and with the urgency the
science demands.

As COP28 starts in Dubai against a backdrop of divisive
geopolitics, governments need to demonstrate that working together on our
shared challenges is not only necessary but possible. The need for
collective action is urgent, and the cost of inaction catastrophic. Yet
leaders have not done enough. We are well off-track in curbing global
warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, the limit set out in the Paris
Agreement.

The latest UN assessment shows current climate policies would
mean a predicted 9 per cent rise in global emissions from 2010 to 2030,
despite scientific consensus demanding a 45 per cent reduction in the same
timeframe. Meanwhile, despite projections of global clean energy
investments reaching $1.7tn in 2023, oil and gas industry profits soared to
an estimated $4tn last year while fossil fuel subsidies hit a record $7tn.

 FT 26th Nov 2023

https://www.ft.com/content/824664ec-4b20-48cc-8fc2-44ab4c31b75d

November 28, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

COP28: UAE planned to use climate talks to make oil deals

By Justin Rowlatt, Climate editor, BBC News 27 Nov 23

The United Arab Emirates planned to use its role as the host of UN climate talks as an opportunity to strike oil and gas deals, the BBC has learned.

Leaked briefing documents reveal plans to discuss fossil fuel deals with 15 nations.

The UN body responsible for the COP28 summit told the BBC hosts were expected to act without bias or self-interest.

The UAE team did not deny using COP28 meetings for business talks, and said “private meetings are private”.

It declined to comment on what was discussed in the meetings and said its work has been focused on “meaningful climate action”.

The documents – obtained by independent journalists at the Centre for Climate Reporting working alongside the BBC – were prepared by the UAE’s COP28 team for meetings with at least 27 foreign governments ahead of the COP28 summit, which starts on 30 November.

They included proposed “talking points”, such as one for China which says Adnoc, the UAE’s state oil company, is “willing to jointly evaluate international LNG [liquefied natural gas] opportunities” in Mozambique, Canada and Australia.

The documents suggest telling a Colombian minister that Adnoc “stands ready” to support Colombia to develop its fossil fuel resources.

There are talking points for 13 other countries, including Germany and Egypt, which suggest telling them Adnoc wants to work with their governments to develop fossil fuel projects………………………………………………….

COP28 is the UN’s latest round of global climate talks. This year it is being hosted by the UAE in Dubai and is due to be attended by 167 world leaders, including the Pope and King Charles III.

These summits are the world’s most important meetings to discuss how to tackle climate change.

The hope is COP28 will help limit the long-term global temperature rise to 1.5C, which the UN’s climate science body says is crucial to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. But that will require drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, it says – a 43% reduction by 2030 from 2019 levels.

As part of the preparations for the conference, the UAE’s COP28 team arranged a series of ministerial meetings with governments from around the world.

The meetings were to be hosted by the president of COP28, Dr Sultan al-Jaber. Each year the host nation appoints a representative to be the COP president.

Meeting representatives of foreign governments is one of the core responsibilities of COP presidents. It is the president’s job to encourage countries to be as ambitious as possible in their efforts to cut emissions.

The leaked briefing documents seen by the BBC were prepared for Dr Jaber – who is also CEO of the UAE’s giant state oil company, Adnoc, and of the state renewables business, Masdar.

 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-67508331

November 28, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Israel’s Genocidal Antisemitism Against the Arab Civilians of Gaza

Netanyahu has unleashed a “unifying” genocidal war against every child, woman and man that comprise the 2.3 million population of Gaza.

By Ralph Nader / CounterPunch,  https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/27/israels-genocidal-antisemitism-against-the-arab-civilians-of-gaza-2/

“It should never have happened,” an elderly Holocaust survivor of a Nazi death camp told the New York Times. He was referring to the colossal failure on October 7th, of Israel’s touted high-tech military and intelligence operations that opened the door to Hamas’ attack on Israeli soldiers and civilians. In many parliamentary countries, the government ministers who are responsible for this kind of failure would have immediately been forced to resign. Not so with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ministers.

Instead, Netanyahu’s coalition of extremists, who know that the Israeli people are enraged about their government’s failure to defend the border, has unleashed a “unifying” genocidal war against every child, woman and man that comprise the 2.3 million population of Gaza. “No electricity, no food, no fuel, no water. … We are fighting human animals and will act accordingly” was the opening genocidal war cry from defense minister Yoav Gallant to defend the onslaught that massive military forces are implementing against the long-illegally blockaded Gazan population.

Israeli leaders declare that there are Hamas fighters possibly in and under every building in Gaza. Israel has long made computer models using their unprecedented surveillance technology (see Antony Loewenstein’s interview in the November/December 2023 issue of the Capitol Hill Citizen). Nothing and no one is off limits for the Israeli bombing.

Keep in mind that Israel is an ultra-modern military superpower, with hundreds of thousands of fighters on land, air and sea, going after the few thousand Hamas fighters who have limited supplies of rifles, grenade launchers and anti-tank weapons. Moreover, all of Israel’s supplies are being replenished daily from the U.S. stockpiles in Israel and new shipments arriving by sea, compliments of President Biden. The invasion is a “piece of cake” an experienced U.S. government official told reporter Sy Hersh.

Contradictions abound. First, Netanyahu has always referred to Hamas as a “terrorist organization.” Yet he told his own Likud party for years that his “strategy” to block a two-state solution was to “support and fund Hamas.” (See, the October 22, 2023 article by prominent journalist Roger Cohen in the New York Times).

If Netanyahu believes dropping over 20,000 bombs and missiles on the civilian infrastructure of this tiny crowded enclave and its people, nearly half of whom are children, is so restrained, why has he kept Western and Israeli journalists out of Gaza, other than a few recently embedded reporters restricted to their seats in Israeli armored vehicles? Why has he ordered four nightmarish total telecommunications and electricity blackouts, with excruciating consequences, over the whole Gaza Strip for as long as 30 hours at a time?

None of this or international laws matter to the prime minister whose top priority is to keep his job, with his coalition parties, as long as the invasion continues. And before an outraged majority in Israel ousts him from power for not defending their country on October 7th from some two thousand urban guerrilla fighters on a homicide/suicide mission.

As the slaughter of defenseless babies, children, mothers, fathers and grandparents in Gaza continues to drive the death, injury and disease toll to higher numbers each day, the observant world wonders what the Israeli government, which regularly blocks humanitarian aid, intends to do with Gaza and its destitute, homeless, starving, wounded, sick, dying and abandoned civilian Palestinians.

After all, Gaza has only so many hospitals, clinics, schools, apartment buildings, homes, water mains, ambulances, bakeries, markets, electricity networks, solar panels, shelters, refugee camps, mosques, churches, and the clearly marked remaining United Nations’ facilities left, to bomb to smithereens. Endless American tax dollars are funding the carnage. Israel has also killed over 50 journalists, including some of their families, in the past seven weeks – a record.

Why will it take months to clear out the tunnels? Not so, say military experts in urban warfare. Flooding the tunnels with water, gas, napalm and robotic explosives are quick and lethal and would be deployed were it not for the Israeli hostages.

In addition to the reality that all Gazans are now hostages, over 7,000 Palestinians are languishing in Israeli jails without charges. Many are youngsters and women who were abducted over the years to extort information and to control their extended families in Gaza and the West Bank. What’s holding up an exchange, as Israel did twice before in 2004 and 2011? Again, the Netanyahu coalition stays in power by postponing the pending official inquiries into their October 7th collapse, that Israelis are awaiting.

Meanwhile, the hapless Joe Biden dittoheaded the previously hapless presidential pleas for a two-state solution. The dominant politicians in Israel have always sought “a Greater Israel” using the phrase “from the river to the sea,” meaning all of Palestine. Year after year Israel has stolen more and more land and water from the twenty-two percent left of original Palestine, inhabited by five million Palestinians under oppressive military occupation.

With Congress overwhelmingly in Israel’s pocket, Israeli politicians laugh at proposals for a two-state solution by U.S. presidents. Recall when Obama was president, Netanyahu went around him and addressed a joint session of Congress whose members exhausted themselves with standing ovations – a brazen insult to a U.S. president, unheard of in U.S. diplomatic history!

Day after day, the surviving Palestinian families are trapped in what is widely called “an open-air prison” being pulverized by Israel and its aggressive co-belligerent, the Biden regime. A regime in Washington that urges Netanyahu to comply with “the laws of war,” while enabling Israel with more weapons and UN vetoes to violate daily “the laws of war” and the Genocide Convention. (See our October 24, 2023 Letter to President Joe Biden and the Declarations from genocide scholars William Schabas and other expert historians).

Consider the plight of these innocent civilians, caught in the deadly crossfire of F-16s, helicopter gunships, and thousands of precision 155mm artillery shells. Whether huddled in their homes and schools or fleeing to nowhere under Israeli orders, the IDF is still bombing them.

Palestinians cannot escape their blockaded prison. They cannot surrender because the Israeli army does not want to be responsible for prisoners of war. They cannot bury their dead, so their families’ corpses pile up, rotting in the sun being eaten by stray dogs.

They cannot even find water to drink, since Israel has destroyed the water infrastructure – another of its many war crimes.

For years under Israel’s occupation law, collection of rainwater with rainwater harvesting cisterns has not been permitted. Rain is considered the property of the Israeli authorities and Palestinians have been forbidden to gather rainwater!

The Israeli armed forces will soon control the entire Gaza Strip. Under international law, Israel would become responsible for the protection of the civilian population as well as the essential conditions for Palestinian safety and survival. Will they at last abide by just one international law? Or will they establish obstructive checkpoints to restrict humanitarian charities trying to save lives while Israel continues to push the Gazans into the desert or neighboring countries?

The Israeli operation precisely fits the Genocide Convention’s definition by “intentionally creating conditions of life calculated to physically destroy a racial, religious, ethnic, or national group in whole or in part.” Netanyahu’s regime further incriminates itself by defining the targets for annihilation as being between 21st-century progress and “the barbaric fanaticism of the Middle Ages” and a “struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness.”

November 28, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

What do we know about Israel’s nuclear weapons?

The New Arab Staff, 23 November, 2023

Israel is believed to possess between 80 and 400 nuclear weapons but has never faced serious international scrutiny over this.

Despite widespread speculation, Israel has neither confirmed nor denied having nuclear weapons, adhering to a policy of deliberate ambiguity. 

Israel is believed to have between 80 to 400 nuclear warheads, with the first completed around late 1966 or early 1967. 

This estimate would position Israel as the sixth nation globally to develop nuclear weapons. Delivery methods for these weapons are believed to include aircraft, submarine-launched cruise missiles, and the Jericho series ballistic missiles.

Israel consistently reiterates the cryptic refrain that it will “not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East”. The nation has not signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) despite international calls to join.

Recently, the issue gained renewed attention when Israel’s Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, of the extremist Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, suggested that using nuclear weapons against Gaza would be an option. He was suspended soon afterwards.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also recently said that the issue of Israel’s nuclear arsenal should remain a focus on the global agenda. 

He accused Western nations of aiding and overlooking alleged crimes against humanity by Israel in Gaza, where over 14,000 people have been killed in indiscriminate bombardment.

History and implications

Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, was committed to acquiring nuclear weapons, justifying this by saying it was to prevent a recurrence of the Nazi Holocaust. …………………………..

By 1952, Israel Atomic Energy Commission chief Ernst David Bergmann sought nuclear collaboration with France, and laid the foundation for future French-Israeli cooperation. This partnership included Israeli scientists’ involvement in France’s nuclear facilities and knowledge sharing, particularly with those with experience on the Manhattan Project.

The relationship culminated in 1957, with France agreeing to build a nuclear reactor and reprocessing plant in Israel, a decision influenced by geopolitical factors and mutual scientific benefits.

This partnership was solidified through secret agreements, ostensibly concentrating on peaceful use of atomic technology but with implications for weapons development………………………………….

The Dimona reactor achieved criticality in 1962, and by 1966 Israel had reportedly developed its first operational nuclear weapon, marking the beginning of its full-scale nuclear weapons production.

The exact costs of Israel’s nuclear program are unknown, but substantial foreign aid and Mossad’s covert operations played crucial roles.

Israeli defector Mordechai Vanunu dramatically revealed the extent of the nuclear programme in 1986, and he was kidnapped by Mossad agents and brought back to Israel, serving long years in prison.

By the mid-2000s, estimates of Israel’s nuclear arsenal varied widely, with speculation about uranium enrichment capabilities adding to these uncertainties.

Despite occasional statements by other countries expressing concern about Israel’s nuclear capabilities, there has been little pressure on Israel to declare its nuclear activities or open up its facilities for inspection, let alone to destroy its weapons.

Double standards

The international community’s approach to nuclear proliferation exhibits notable disparities, especially when comparing the cases of Israel, Iran, and Pakistan. 

Israel, despite widespread belief in its possession of nuclear weapons, has never publicly confirmed this and enjoys a unique position of strategic ambiguity. It does not face the same level of scrutiny or sanctions imposed on other nations. 

In contrast, Iran, whose nuclear program has raised global concerns about potential weaponisation, has been subject to rigorous inspections, strict sanctions, and intense diplomatic negotiations under frameworks like the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). 

Pakistan, having openly conducted nuclear tests in 1998, is often viewed through the lens of regional security dynamics, particularly its rivalry with India, and faces a distinct set of international concerns and regulatory measures.  https://www.newarab.com/news/what-do-we-know-about-israels-nuclear-weapons

November 28, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

France goes for its own costly small nuclear reactor, following the USA NuScale flop, and UK’s lagging Rolls Royce one.

   https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/french-nuclear-startup-seeks-150-million-for-reactor-prototype-1.2003704 27 Nov 23

Naarea, a three-year-old French nuclear startup, is looking to raise €150 million ($164 million) as it seeks to develop a small reactor that would meet growing industrial decarbonization needs from the start of the next decade.

The company, which already raised €50 million from a handful of French family offices such as Eren Groupe SA and €10 million from the government, is reaching out to venture capital, industrial and institutional investors, and sovereign wealth funds for a Series A funding round with the help of Rothschild & Co., co-founder Jean-Luc Alexandre said in an interview in Paris Friday. He hopes to close the fundraising in the first quarter next year.

Naarea, which stands for Nuclear Abundant Affordable Resourceful Energy for All, is part of a growing wave of companies from Europe to North America promoting smaller, cheaper (?) and safer(?) designs for reactors. The burgeoning(?) sector of small modular and advanced nuclear reactors — which have a wide array of sizes and technologies — suffered a setback this month when NuScale Power Corp. canceled a plan to build a plant in the US amid mounting costs.

“NuScale isn’t dead, and still has projects,” the Naarea CEO said, while pointing out that the French startup, which employs 175 people, has a different business model and is developing another technology. Naarea aims “to produce power and heat, as close as possible to industrial companies, to relieve the grid.”

The startup, which is working with the French nuclear industry and foreign laboratories, is seeking to build a reactor that would produce 40 megawatts of electricity — enough to power a car factory or some of the biggest desalination plants — as well as heat, according to Alexandre.

Naarea is working on so-called molten salt fast neutron reactors that would be the size of a bus. It would burn plutonium and highly toxic radioactive waste that’s currently stored in France. It has found a ceramic that would prevent corrosion from the liquid fuel, something that has hampered the development of such reactors in the past, the company’s boss said.

The nuclear startup and Automotive Cells Co. — the electric-car battery venture of Stellantis NV, Mercedes-Benz Group AG and TotalEnergies SE — signed a memorandum of understanding to study whether Naarea’s mini-reactors might meet the future needs of ACC’s factories, Naarea said in a statement Monday.

If all goes according to plan, there would be a full-scale prototype in 2028. By 2030, a total of €2 billion would be required to complete the reactor development, build a fuel plant at or near Orano SA’s nuclear-waste recycling facility in La Hague, and a separate reactor factory elsewhere in France. The startup also needs to convince nuclear safety and regulatory authorities about the project.

These reactors “are competitive because they are small,” and safe by design, Alexandre said.

November 28, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

South Korea does not need nuclear submarines (very like Australia!)

The waters around the Korean peninsula are relatively shallow, which favors the employment of quiet conventional subs. South Korea now operates seven Son–Won II–class diesel-electric submarines, powered by a hybrid diesel‐electric/fuel cell with air-independent propulsion technology. These subs are extremely quiet; they can travel up to 20 knots when submerged and remain under water for seven weeks. They are perfectly suited for operations around the Korean Peninsula.

the country could acquire three state-of-the-art conventional submarines for less than the cost of one nuclear-powered sub.

The Hill BY DOV S. ZAKHEIM, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR – 11/24/23 

South Korea is again debating whether to develop and build a nuclear-powered submarine.

During a National Assembly confirmation hearing that took place last week, Admiral Kim Myung-Soo, the nominee for chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded positively to a question about the utility of nuclear-powered submarines, stating that “those capabilities are needed.” He noted, however, that the current U.S.-Korean nuclear agreement restricts the use of nuclear materials for military purposes.

Nevertheless, there appears to be a growing sentiment on the part of both of South Korea’s leading parties and the general public in favor of Seoul acquiring nuclear-powered boats. The government should resist the temptation to do so.

In theory, South Korea could avoid America’s restrictions by turning to France to help it develop or acquire a nuclear-powered submarine. France could help South Korea develop its own nuclear-powered sub, much as Paris has assisted Brazil with its own nuclear-powered submarine program.

However, there are many reasons why Seoul should not imitate the Brazilians and forge ahead with its own program. To begin with, it was only in April of this year that President Biden and South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol reached an agreement that not only calls for greater consultation on nuclear matters between the two countries, in the form of a newly created nuclear consultative group, but also provides for an enhanced American nuclear presence around the peninsula to deter North Korean aggression…………………………………………………..

In any event, it is not clear how Seoul could afford to undertake a nuclear-submarine program unless it were to dramatically increase its defense spending beyond current levels…………………………………

…………………… Lastly, there are good operational reasons why South Korea should continue to acquire conventionally powered submarines rather than nuclear powered boats. The waters around the Korean peninsula are relatively shallow, which favors the employment of quiet conventional subs. South Korea now operates seven Son–Won II–class diesel-electric submarines, powered by a hybrid diesel‐electric/fuel cell with air-independent propulsion technology. These subs are extremely quiet; they can travel up to 20 knots when submerged and remain under water for seven weeks. They are perfectly suited for operations around the Korean Peninsula.

The South is currently planning both to upgrade the Son-Won II for about $100 million per boat and is proceeding with a new Son-Won III class at about $900 million per submarine. In other words, the country could acquire three state-of-the-art conventional submarines for less than the cost of one nuclear-powered sub.

The costs, the technologies, and operational realities all weigh against South Korea acquiring nuclear-powered submarines. If that were not enough, America’s recent commitment to bolster the nuclear umbrella that it has long provided to South Korea and that is so critical to its deterrent should settle the argument once and for all.

Dov S. Zakheim is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and vice chairman of the board for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He was undersecretary of Defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2004 and a deputy undersecretary of Defense from 1985 to 1987.  https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4324038-south-korea-does-not-need-nuclear-subs/

November 27, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Soaring death rates raise concerns about Portsmouth nuclear plant

A low-cancer county has now become a high-cancer county.

Joseph Mangano, 26 Nov 23, https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/contributors/2023/11/26/reports-raise-concerns-about-radiation-exposure-from-portsmouth-plant/71664443007/

Death rates in southern Ohio, especially in Pike County, are rising sharply and are among the highest in the U.S., according to two recent reports, which raises concerns about past, present and future exposures to toxic radiation from the Portsmouth nuclear plant in Piketon.

Beginning in 1954, the Portsmouth plant enriched uranium for fuel, first for nuclear weapons and later for nuclear power reactors. The enrichment process involves the creation of various radioactive chemicals, including americium, neptunium, plutonium, technetium, and several forms of uranium.

Each of these toxins, which are among the most dangerous on the planet, have been detected in the local environment, raising questions about exposures to workers and residents, and whether their health has been affected. And while uranium enrichment at Portsmouth ceased in 2001, various operations proposed for the site by federal officials would create additional radioactive products, and pose new health threats.

Health studies have never been a priority in Portsmouth’s long history. A federal analysis of plant workers only looked at deaths before 1991. Another federal study near U.S. nuclear plants, including Portsmouth, only used data from 1950 to 1984. Both are outdated.

Last year, the Ohio Nuclear Free Network supported a current, updated and detailed evaluation of trends in cancer and other health measures in and around Pike County. Two reports have been issued, using statistics made public by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Ohio Cancer Registry.

The first report found the Pike County cancer death rate was below the U.S. rate for decades, but has exceeded the U.S. since the early 1990s, with the greatest excess (33% higher) occurring in the most recent period. Pike County also has the highest rate of cancer incidence (newly-diagnosed cases) of all 88 Ohio counties. A low-cancer county has now become a high-cancer county.

The report also reviewed death rates for all causes combined. Until the mid-1990s, the Pike County rate was slightly higher than the U.S. rate. But ever since the gap has grown, especially for premature deaths (persons dying before age 75); the current rate is a staggering 85% above the U.S. − among the highest of all U.S. counties.

A second report addressed several questions. One question was whether the unexpectedly high disease and death rates stopped at the Pike County border. The answer was a clear “no” − as similar trends occurred in six counties bordering Pike (although none quite as dramatic as Pike). Local death rates for persons are especially high for those in their mid-20s to mid-50s − the prime of life − more than double the U.S. rate.

Another question was whether socioeconomic needs could explain the decline in health, as Pike has high poverty rates, relatively low access to medical care, and higher unemployment rates. But increases in death rates in six equally-needy Ohio counties were much lower; thus, “it’s just Appalachia” could not explain most of the increases.

Pike County and surrounding areas consist of small towns and rural areas. Few large industries which pollute the environment exist locally. The exception is the Portsmouth nuclear plant, which creates the most hazardous chemicals known on earth. Other factors can increase risk of disease and death, but decades-long environmental radioactivity exposures must be regarded as a factor, even a major factor, in the sharp increase in local disease and death rates.

Currently, the U.S. Energy Department has proposed or is considering additional nuclear-related operations at the Portsmouth site. These include reprocessing, modular reactors, molten salt reactors, uranium enrichment and uranium purification.

Knowing a large decline in local health for decades means extra caution should be taken to protect residents from any health hazards. Expanding an industry that may have already harmed many who live near Portsmouth is not the answer. Public officials entrusted with reducing harm to the public should act accordingly, and oppose these new initiatives.

Joseph Mangano is executive director of the Radiation and Public Health Project and serves as a consultant to the Ohio Nuclear Free Network.

November 27, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

K-219: Russia’s Worst Submarine Ever (And a Nuclear Disaster)?

This article is all about the sinking of a ballistic missile submarine, carrying 6 nuclear missiles.

But – not a word about the radioactive pollution that must still be emanating from the undersea wreck nearly 30 years later.

The K-219 was clearly faulty and the crew did not react well to the emergency. It should be considered one of the worst submarines of all time because it carried nuclear missiles and there was a fire on board.

National Interest, Brent M. Eastwood 26 Nov 23

-219: The Worst or Most Dangerous Submarine of All Time? When it comes to figuring out what is the worst submarine of all time, it is difficult to blame the sub itself or the bad actions of the crew. Such is the case with the sinking of the Soviet submarine K-219. K-219 was a Yankee-class boomer, or ballistic missile submarine, that carried nuclear weapons.

On October 3, 1986, the K-219, with 16 R-27 nuclear missiles, sunk within 700 miles off the coast of Bermuda.

One of the missile tubes sprung a leak and seawater rushed in and blended with the missile fuel. This volatile combination made for a deadly mix that created dangerous levels of heat and gas. This is where the crew reacted slowly without the sailors exhibiting teamwork and conducting damage control.

Only one crew member moved to do something by venting the tube. A short circuit cropped up in the main power line that created a spark. Then a blast in the silo occurred that sent the missile and the warheads into the water. That’s when the sailors finally sprang into action. They battled the fire on board, eventually putting it out.

They had to shut down the nuclear reactors by hand because the control mechanisms were damaged. Three sailors died.

A Soviet ship tried to rescue the sub by pulling it to safety. But that did not work because the tow cord broke. The captain of the sub, Igor Britanov, decided to abandon ship. The sub sunk to the bottom of the ocean and the missiles were lost. The whole encounter lasted three days.

The Reagan administration even offered to help the Soviets and American officials appreciated that the Soviets informed them of the tragedy the day it happened. Fortunately, no radioactivity or nuclear explosion happened. The surviving sailors made it out and Captain Britanov was the last to leave the sub alive, in accordance with naval customs………………………………………………………………………………….

The K-219 was clearly faulty and the crew did not react well to the emergency. It should be considered one of the worst submarines of all time because it carried nuclear missiles and there was a fire on board. This made it one of the most dangerous submarines to ever float. Gorbachev feared the worst and he was correct to blame the crew. They reacted slowly to the original leak and did not check the power system before engaging the water pump.

They should have known that gas was present and that employing electrical power would be dangerous. This was one of the most hazardous maritime situations in the Cold War. The Soviets and the Americans were lucky it was not worse.  https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/k-219-why-russias-worst-submarine-ever-and-nuclear-disaster-207495

November 27, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

COP28 must stick to 1.5°C target to save ice sheets, urge scientists

A report warns that 2°C of global warming would mean losing most of the world’s ice sheets and glaciers, leading to catastrophic sea level rise

By Alec Luhn, 16 November 2023

The world must stick to its target to limit climate warming to 1.5°C to avoid catastrophic melting of ice sheets and glaciers, according to a report.

The International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI), a group of scientists who study ice-covered parts of the world, warns that a rise of 2°C would liquidate most tropical and mid-latitude glaciers and set off long-term melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, leading to 12 to 20 metres of sea level rise.

In the 2015 Paris Agreement, all countries committed to holding global average temperature to “well below 2°C” over pre-industrial levels and “pursuing efforts” to limit it to 1.5°C. Our still-rising greenhouse gas emissions have already caused almost 1.2°C of warming and put us on track to exceed 3°C.

More than 350 cryosphere scientists have signed an open letter calling on countries to commit to the 1.5°C limit at the upcoming COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

“From the cryosphere point of view, 1.5°C is not simply preferable to 2°C or higher. It is the only option,” Iceland’s prime minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir said in a statement.

Earth’s regions of snow and ice are melting faster than we expected and already approaching tipping points, says Jonathan Bamber at the University of Bristol, UK, who reviewed the ICCI report, while otherspoint to the rapid uptake of solar and wind energy as reason for continued hope.  https://www.newscientist.com/article/2403404-cop28-must-stick-to-1-5c-target-to-save-ice-sheets-urge-scientists/

November 27, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

No Ceasefire in the Propaganda War 

November 24, 2023  https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2023/11/no-ceasefire-in-the-propaganda-war/

I have had BBC News on in the background for the last two hours. In that time there have been three lengthy interviews with different relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. There has not been a single interview with a Palestinian relative of a Palestinian prisoner held by Israel.

Today 13 Israeli prisoners and 39 Palestinian prisoners are due to be released. 90% of the BBC mentions of prisoner releases do not include the Palestinians at all. Just finished is a ten minute interview of a Professor in Kent on the psychological effects on Israeli hostages. Earlier there was an expert from Tel Aviv on the psychological impact on Israeli hostages’ families. There has been no report whatsoever of the impact on Palestinian prisoners and their families.

The BBC simply does not treat the Palestinians as human, whereas the emphasis on Israeli personal victimhood is incessant and unrelenting.

Of the 300 Palestinian women and children prisoners on the list possibly to be released during the ceasefire, 252 have never been charged with any crime. 23 were charged with stone throwing.

Since October 8 over 200 Palestinian children have been taken prisoner, none of whom had anything to do with the October 7 attacks. That rather puts the possible release of 33 children and six women today into perspective. But it is not a perspective the BBC would ever give you.

Over 2,000 Palestinians are held by Israel in “administrative detention”, without charge or trial. Some for over twenty years.

Since 1967 Israel has made over 1 million arrests of Palestinians. This “justice” system is an essential part of the imposition of apartheid and the slow genocide, which did not just start this autumn. The BBC won’t tell you that either, and appears to have no problem with permanently showcasing its Israel based correspondents churning out the Israeli propaganda narrative, with no attempt at either perspective or balance.

November 27, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

TODAY. The international political system of nuclear bullying must change, or it will kill us all

The normalisation of mass killing of civilians really got underway in February 1945, with the fire-bombing of Dresden. This normalisation was re-authorised in August 1945 with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Mass killing can be done in other ways – “normal” bombing, starvation, … and behind all that, the threat that nuclear weapons can be used if the victims resist.

Ray Acheson has beautifully explained this. So – we all live under that threat – at any time a so-called political leader might decide to use nuclear weapons.

So we live under the “international rules-based order” – which is backed up by this nuclear threat.

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It all doesn’t make sense.

Not only do we have to accept that it’s OK for our side to massacre civilians of the other side. We’re also agreeing to the massacre of our own civilians, because the USA has set up numerous missile bases as targets ,so that some of them will attract the nuclear bombing by the enemy. That’s supposed to “dilute” the power of the enemy’s nuclear attack across the nation.

That’s just one bit of the craziness of an international relationship system that is based on nuclear bullying.

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Further insanity, illogic of the system – Ray Acheson quotes Martin Amis:

What is the only provocation that could bring about the use of nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons. What is the priority target for nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons. What is the only established defence against nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons. How do we prevent the use of nuclear weapons? By threatening to use nuclear weapons. And we can’t get rid of nuclear weapons, because of nuclear weapons.

They call it “deterrence”, but as Acheson points out – the possession of nuclear weapons does not deter war and violence. In fact it enables war. The nation possessing nuclear weapons (and there are more of such nations now) can intimidate others – cower them into not standing up to aggression and war crimes.

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Not to be forgotten in our consumer society, with its gospel of eternal growth, and profit as the most virtuous goal – the success of the nuclear business. Financial investments in nuclear weapons provide profits for weapons manufacturers that also build conventional bombs, missiles, guns, fighter jets, and other technologies of war.

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Can the world change from this madness?

Surely so. Let’s remember the conclusion of Anne Frank, 13 year old victim of the Nazi death chambers- “I still believe that people are really good at heart “

The Second Meeting of States Parties (2MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will take place from 27 November to 1 December 2023 at UN Headquarters in New York City.

November 25, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Shape of Nuclear Abolition

Nuclear Ban Daily, Vol. 4, No. 1  https://reachingcriticalwill.org/disarmament-fora/nuclear-weapon-ban/2msp/reports/17072-nuclear-ban-daily-vol-4-no-1

Editorial: The Shape of Nuclear Abolition
24 November 2023, By Ray Acheson

Writer Martin Amis describes nuclear weapons as instruments of blood and rubble. These days, blood and rubble seems to be everywhere, most of all, for the moment, in Gaza. Thousands of bombs dropped on apartment buildings, hospitals, bakeries. And still, this is apparently not enough blood or rubble. The genocidal bombing continues, as do the shipments of weapons to continue the genocidal bombing. And in the midst of all this bombing, an Israeli minister found it appropriate to muse about dropping a nuclear weapon on Gaza. His remarks have been condemned by many governments, but are they surprising, when the practice of nuclear-armed states is to commit massive amounts of violence wherever and whenever they desire?

Nuclear weapons are part of the spectrum of violence—at the possibly-world-ending end of the spectrum. Daniel Ellsberg recognised this, describing how the firebombing of Dresden, London, and Tokyo in World War II led to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, normalizing the concept of cities on fire, of civilians as targets. In this world of blood and rubble, every day that nuclear weapons exist is a day that they might be detonated, dropped on a city or a missile silo, tested on an island or in a desert, unleashing terrible forces of blast, heat, fire, and radiation on people’s bodies, into the land, water, and air. Every day that nuclear weapons exist is a day that a so-called political leader might decide to use them.

Blood and rubble are policy choices. Blood and rubble are planned for by all of those who shape and propagate the dangerous doctrine of nuclear deterrence. In his introduction to Einstein’s Monsters, Amis writes:

What is the only provocation that could bring about the use of nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons. What is the priority target for nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons. What is the only established defence against nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons. How do we prevent the use of nuclear weapons? By threatening to use nuclear weapons. And we can’t get rid of nuclear weapons, because of nuclear weapons.

This is the relentless circular (il)logic of deterrence, the principal tenant of which is that the possession of nuclear weapons makes their use impossible and thus prevents war. But whether it is the United States attacking Iraq, Russia invading Ukraine, or Israel committing genocide in Palestine, it should be clear to all that nuclear weapons do not prevent war. They enable it.

Whether nuclear weapons are used or not, they facilitate other forms of violence. They are the backbone of a mentality that security can best be achieved through building up the capacity to commit mass destruction, and by committing mass destruction. Nuclear weapons are used as shields to prevent others from standing up to their possessors’ acts of aggression, to their war crimes. Financial investments in nuclear weapons provide profits for weapons manufacturers that also build conventional bombs, missiles, guns, fighter jets, and other technologies of war. Nuclear weapons provide sustenance to the war machine, and exist as the overarching, final threat of that machine.

The possession of nuclear weapons drives the development of self-destructive plans masquerading as national security. Governments willfully put people and the planet in harm’s way, arrogantly asserting that this is the best way to protect them. One example is the land-based missile silos in the United States, which are intended to serve as targets for enemy nuclear weapons with no concern for the communities or land upon which they are based. As part of his new ground-breaking project examining the US government’s plan to modernise its nuclear forces, Sébastien Philippe of Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security writes in Scientific American, “a key argument for the continued existence—and now the replenishment—of the land-based missiles is to provide a large number of fixed targets meant to exhaust the enemy’s resources.” Yet the most recent, 3000-page report from US government on these silos does not mention what happens if the missiles are attacked. But as Philippe’s modelling of these “sacrifice zones” shows:

A concerted nuclear attack on the existing U.S. silo fields—in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana and North Dakota—would annihilate all life in the surrounding regions and contaminate fertile agricultural land for years. Minnesota, Iowa and Kansas would also probably face high levels of radioactive fallout. Acute radiation exposure alone would cause several million fatalities across the U.S.—if people get advance warning and can shelter in place for at least four days. Without appropriate shelter, that number could be twice as high. Because of great variability in wind directions, the entire population of the contiguous U.S. and the most populated areas of Canada, as well as the northern states of Mexico, would be at risk of lethal fallout—more than 300 million people in total. The inhabitants of the U.S. Midwest and of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario in Canada could receive outdoor whole-body doses of radiation several times higher than the minimum known to result in certain death.

“Higher than the minimum known to result in certain death.” How can anyone read these words and think, “No, this is not relevant for a study on the impacts of our weapon systems.” Or, more broadly, that “No, this is not relevant for our consideration of the possession and deployment of these weapons at all. In fact, we will base our security strategy on the possibility of mass death and unspeakable suffering, and this is normal and fine for us and a few select others—this is how we will dominate. This is how we ‘win’.”

The irrationality of basing national security on the ability to execute or absorb catastrophic events like genocide is not lost on states parties and signatories to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). These governments understand that security must be provided for through other means. That it is both immoral and illogical to threaten to melt people, to turn them into shadows, or to subject them to a protracted, painful death from radiation poisoning, in order to—what, exactly? Exercise dominance within the so-called world order? Be able to wage wars of aggression against whomever one wants, whenever one wants?

The governments that join the TPNW are not just pledging against acquiring nuclear weapons themselves—they are also committed to achieving the abolition of all nuclear weapons, and to building a world that does not rely on massive nuclear violence for security. When these governments gathered with activists and others in 2017 to prohibit nuclear weapons, they changed the world. Not just rhetorically, but materially. The creation of a legally binding treaty outlawing the possession, use, and threat of use of atomic bombs has enabled unprecedented financial divestment and political stigmatisation of these weapons. It has changed discourse, even if it has not yet changed doctrines. But one follows the other.

Six years after the adoption of the TPNW, the nuclear-armed states and nuclear-supportive allies are still clinging to their arsenals of mass destruction. But the horrors these governments have collectively wrought upon the world are clearer—and more condemned—than ever. The masks are off, the wizards are no longer behind the curtain. Political leaders that condone mass death are being denounced; global inequalities are being exposed and opposed. The tide may not yet have fully turned, but the wave of opposition to permanent war and violent aggression is growing every single day. People are organising and getting organised. There is no time to waste, not when it comes to genocide and not when it comes to nuclear weapons.

This meeting of TPNW states parties is an opportunity to advance collective action against the bomb. The governments that have signed and ratified this treaty must adopt a strong declaration condemning nuclear deterrence and the continued possession and modernisation of nuclear arsenals. They must continue to implement last year’s action plan and work to get more countries onboard the treaty, especially those still trying to hide behind the false security promised by nuclear-armed states in exchange for sharing the economic and political burdens of nuclearism. The governments that aid and abet nuclear-armed states must relinquish this immoral space and join the rest of the world in renouncing the policies and practices of mass death.

But this meeting of states parties is not just about governments, it’s about people. It’s about the Indigenous Peoples upon whose bodies and lands nuclear weapons have been detonated, again and again and again. It’s about the communities who have been forced, without their consent or knowledge, to host uranium mines, nuclear laboratories, missile silos or bomber and submarine fleets, radioactive waste dumps. It is about all of us living with radiation from nuclear testing in our bodies, contaminated for generations by the hubris of political and corporate leaders who put their profits and sense of power above everything else. This meeting will be filled with people from affected communities, activist organisations, scientific groups, academic institutions, and more. Nuclear weapons have never just been about states. Nuclear weapons, fundamentally, are about human life, about all life. The nuclear-armed states have refused to acknowledge, let alone include, most people in conversations or policy making about their bombs. But the TPNW is a space for everyone to have a voice, to participate, and to determine how we fight for nuclear abolition, together.

“Nuclear weapons are mirrors in which we see all the versions of the human shape,” writes Amis. What shape do we want to reflect?

November 25, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment