Newsletter XX 2024
May 12th to...
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| Current news+ | Background knowledge |
The PDF file "Nuclear Power Accidents" contains a number of other incidents from various areas of the nuclear industry. Some of the events were never published through official channels, so this information could only be made available to the public in a roundabout way. The list of incidents in the PDF file is therefore not 100 % identical with "INES and the disturbances in nuclear facilities", but represents an addition.
1 May 1968 (INES 4 | NAMS 4,6) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR
1 May 1962 (french Nuclear test "Beryl") In Ekker, Algeria, FRA
2 May 1967 (INES 4) NPP Chapelcross, UK
May 4-5, 1986 (INES 0 Class.?) NPP THTR 300, GER
7 May 2007 (INES 1) NPP Philippsburg, GER
7 May 1966 (INES 4) RIAR Research Institute, Melekess, USSR
11. to 13. May 1998 (6 atomic bomb tests) Pokhran, IND
11 May 1969 (INES 5 | NAMS 2,3) Nuclear factory Rocky Flats, United States
12 May 1988 (INES 2) NPP Civaux, FRA
13 May 1978 (INES ? Class.?) NPP AVR Jülich, GER
18 May 1974 (India's 1st atomic bomb test) Pokhran, IND
21 May 1946 (INES 4) T Undlicher Unfall in Los Alamos, NM, USA
22 May 1968 (Broken Arrow) USS Scorpion sunk SW. of the Azores, USA
24 May 1958 (INES ? Class.?) NRU reactor Chalk River, CAN
25 May 2009 (North Korea's 2nd nuclear bomb test) Punggye-ri, PRK
26 May 1971 (INES 4 | Class.?) Kurchatov Institute, Moscow, USSR
27 May 1956 (US atomic bomb tests) Eniwetok and Bikini, USA
28. to 30. May 1998 (6 Pakistani nuclear bomb tests) Ras Koh, PAK
We are always looking for up-to-date information. Anyone who can help, please send a message to:
nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de
14. May
United States | Climate change | cause
Vermont has an idea:
Who pays for the damage caused by climate change?
Climate damage or adaptation to climate change costs governments and taxpayers a lot of money. In the US state of Vermont, gas and oil giants are supposed to pay for this. Can that work?
Flooding in Vermont in 2023 caused over $XNUMX billion in property damage. Governor Phil Scott described the scale last summer as “historic” and “catastrophic”. A study by the University of Vermont calculates that climate change could cost billions in the next century - in this small state alone.
Who should pay for that? When it comes to Vermont lawmakers, it's oil and gas giants that have made profits from fossil fuels for decades and contributed to climate change. A corresponding law is on the way.
What exactly is planned?
With a large majority, the so-called “supermajority,” the Vermont House of Representatives and Senate passed the “Climate Superfund Act.” It's like the lesson we all learned as children, explains Elena Mihaly, vice president of the environmental organization Conservation Law Foundation:
If you make the mess, you have to clean it up.
Elena Mihaly, Vice President Conservation Law Foundation
The draft stipulates that the major players in the industry, such as Exxon or Shell, pay money into a fund for their share of climate impacts in the US state.
A similar law failed at the federal level in 2021, but the state of Vermont could now move forward. Now the Republican Governor Phil Scott has to sign it, then it would be the first law of its kind in the USA...
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Journalism | Non-profit status | Volksverpetzer.de | Petition
Blog against disinformation loses its non-profit status
In Germany, non-commercial media projects oriented towards the common good always have to worry about their non-profit status, as the case of the “Volksverpetzer” shows. A petition is now calling on the traffic light to finally keep its promise from the coalition agreement.
At the end of April, the tax office revoked the public-benefit status of the rabble-rouser. The established blog against disinformation writes tirelessly against right-wing conspiracy myths and uses fact-checking to try to refute anti-democratic statements and narratives.
The multi-award-winning medium has been non-profit since 2019 and this status was confirmed by the tax office in 2021 - until now. For the organization, this step means that donations to it are no longer tax deductible and the organization says it will probably have to pay back tens of thousands of euros to the tax office. The blog is financed almost exclusively through donations; the content is free and available without a paywall.
In Germany, journalism that serves the common good is not yet recognized as a separate charitable purpose...
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EDF | Low-level radiation | Fessenheim
Doctors and conservationists criticize the application to decommission the Fessenheim nuclear power plant
French state-owned company EDF embezzles large group of radioactive diseases
Citizens were able to obtain the documents for the approval process for the decommissioning and dismantling of the French Fessenheim nuclear power plant from March 25.03th. View and comment until April 30.04.2024, XNUMX as part of cross-border public participation.
Radioactive emissions also occur during the dismantling process itself. According to EDF's plans, the dismantling work will cause both radioactive exhaust air and radioactive wastewater. However, the EDF sees “no significant impact” on the environment and the health of the population. The medical organization IPPNW and the nature conservation organization BUND (Southern Upper Rhine Regional Association) contradict this view and point out the current state of knowledge in science (IPPNW, 2013).
Part of the dismantling strategy is also a planned but not yet approved recycling center for weakly radioactive metals. In this “Technocentre” the metals will be melted down over decades and marketed like conventional steel scrap.
IPPNW and BUND wrote a statement to the commission on the implementation of public participation in the dismantling of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant and explicitly referred to current studies on the dangers of low-level radioactive radiation. In particular, so-called stochastic radiation effects (malignant tumors, blood cancers, congenital malformations) play a role...
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Australia | War Crimes | Whistleblower
War crimes in Afghanistan: whistleblower David McBride convicted
David McBride, a lawyer, exposed war crimes committed by the Australian army. A court has now sentenced him to more than five years.
Australian whistleblower David McBride was sentenced to more than five years on Tuesday. The former lawyer for the Australian army had made public war crimes committed by Australian special forces in Afghanistan.
McBride's attorney called the sentence "extraordinary." The judges in the Australian capital Canberra wanted to send a signal with the verdict to deter potential imitators who wanted to expose misconduct by authorities.
“Anyone who watched what happened to McBride would be wise to keep their mouths shut, put their heads down and return to work. That was broadly the tone of today's verdict," attorney Mark Davies said, according to CNN, adding that his client was "completely shocked" by the verdict and would appeal.
[...] The ABC's reporting was later confirmed by the findings of an Australian Defense Force (ADF) investigation which found credible evidence that members of the Australian Special Air Service (SAS) committed war crimes in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2013 had committed.
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Greenhouse gas | harmful to the climate | laughing gas
Nitrous oxide – drug, anesthetic and climate hammer
The time-honored laughing gas is 270 times more harmful to the climate than carbon dioxide. Yet you don't hear much about it.
Nitrous oxide or nitrous oxide (N2O) is known as an anesthetic, food propellant and party drug. The gas is also a climate hammer that you rarely hear about.
The colorless, sweet-smelling gas has recently made its way into the media mainly because of accidents caused by nitrous oxide intoxication. What was completely overlooked: its harmfulness to the climate.
Party drugs are one of the most dangerous greenhouse gases
According to the Helmholtz Center, nitrous oxide currently contributes around six percent to global warming. The greenhouse gas has around 100 times as much climate impact as carbon dioxide over 270 years, but breaks down more quickly. According to the WWF, N2O has a lifespan of around 120 years in the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide also damages the ozone layer.
Sparse information about nitrous oxide
There is little information about how harmful nitrous oxide is to the environment. On information sites such as those of the German Federal Environment Agency and the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), nitrous oxide is usually discussed in short paragraphs or grouped together with methane, which is also harmful to the climate...
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Temperatures | Forest | Dryness
Forest condition: Only every fifth tree is healthy
Forest condition survey 2023 shows poor condition
The forest in Germany is in poor condition. Of the most common species, spruce, pine, beech and oak, four out of five trees are diseased. This is the result published by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). Forest condition survey 2023. Despite better initial conditions, the trees are still suffering from the ongoing drought and high temperatures since 2018. The condition of the forest has therefore hardly changed since the previous year.
[...] Since the surveys began in 1984, the proportions of damage levels 2 to 4 and the average crown thinning, i.e. the visible loss of leaves and needles, of all tree species have increased. The most significant changes were observed in 2019. Overall, the damage remains at a very high level and, depending on the tree species, has not changed at all or only changed very slightly compared to the previous year. There have been no significant improvements in the condition of the forest, but also no significant deterioration compared to 2022.
In spruce, the proportion of significant crown thinning has increased from 40 percent to 43 percent. The warning level accounted for 40 percent (cf. 2022: 36 percent). 17 percent were without expositions (cf. 2022: 24 percent). The average crown thinning fell slightly from 29,6 percent to 28,6 percent. Compared to the other main tree species, the spruce tree has the highest mortality rate.
Compared to the previous year, the proportion of significant crown thinning in pine fell from 28 percent to 24 percent. The warning level accounted for 2023 percent in 53 (cf. 2022: 59 percent). The proportion without publications rose from 13 percent to 23 percent. The average crown loss fell from 2023 percent to 23,9 percent in 22,3.
In the case of beech, the proportion of significant crown thinning increased by one percentage point to 46 percent. The warning level accounted for 39 percent (cf. 2022: 34 percent). The proportion without excretions has deteriorated to 15 percent (cf. 2022: 21 percent). The average crown thinning has worsened slightly to 28,5 percent.
In the case of oak, the proportion of significant crown thinning increased from 40 percent to 44 percent. The proportion of warning levels, however, fell slightly from 41 percent to 39 percent. The proportion without publications also fell slightly from 19 percent to 17 percent. The average crown loss increased slightly from 26,1 percent to 27,6 percent...
13. May
Judgment makes calls grow louder
CDU MP wants to initiate AfD ban proceedings
What happens next for the AfD after the recent ruling that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution can observe them? Calls for a ban are increasing, and a CDU politician is already announcing concrete steps. However, Justice Minister Buschmann is dampening hopes.
After the Münster Higher Administrative Court's ruling on the legality of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution's observation of the AfD, the Saxon CDU member of the Bundestag Marco Wanderwitz has announced that he will initiate an application for a ban in the Bundestag. “My wish is that we submit the ban proposal before the parliamentary summer break,” he told Zeit Online. The AfD is “a big threat, you don’t have to have any illusions,” emphasized Wanderwitz. "Especially in the East, the party can no longer be reduced politically."
In order to introduce the motion into the Bundestag, Wanderwitz needs five percent of all MPs, a total of 37 votes. He already has commitments from the ranks of the Union, SPD, Greens and Left, Wanderwitz told the portal. Only with the FDP it is still a bit difficult.
The CDU politician accused the leaders of the Bundestag factions of being too reserved on the issue. “I would like to see more love for the issue from the parliamentary group leadership,” he emphasized. If necessary, he would like to submit an independent group proposal to the Bundestag.
Greens for review of ban procedures
The Saxon Justice Minister Katja Meier from the Greens also called for a ban on the AfD to be examined. Meier spoke in the "Tagesspiegel" in favor of the Interior Ministers' Conference - as with the NPD ban process - commissioning a working group to collect material for a possible ban application. This task force should then examine the chances of success of a ban procedure in a report...
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Lingen fuel element factory | Rosatom | Framatome
Lingen: Activists are calling on nuclear regulators to intervene
A deadline set by activists from Lower Saxony's nuclear regulator expires today. The background is the fear of sabotage and espionage by Russian specialists in the Lingen fuel element factory.
Starting next year, Russian-designed fuel elements will be produced in Emsland. Russian specialists are already being used for this. “If employees reporting to the Kremlin are already setting up machines in Lingen and are happily making contact with the employees of the fuel element factory there, then all alarm bells must be ringing,” said Bettina Ackermann from the anti-nuclear organization “broadcast”. "The nuclear factory and its employees have specialist knowledge of numerous nuclear power plants across Europe. All the dangers of sabotage, espionage and disinformation that we have warned about are already threatening to occur."
Activists are calling for the operating license to be revoked
According to a legal assessment commissioned by "ausradiert", the activities of the Russian state-owned company Rosatom and the factory operator Framatome ANF "are to be assessed as an unauthorized early expansion" and therefore illegal, as the organization announced. The group has therefore submitted an application for immediate supervisory intervention to the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Environment, which is responsible for nuclear supervision in Lingen. “The nuclear regulator must intervene immediately and end the illegal, unlicensed situation before the licensing process completely degenerates into a farce,” the statement said. And further: "The nuclear regulator must therefore immediately revoke the operating license of the operator of the fuel element factory."
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Attacks | Attitudes | Brutalization
Brutalization in Germany
Cause: passive politics
The attacks on politicians during the election campaign are an anticipation of a larger problem - democratic values are losing their binding power, says Udo Knapp in his taz FUTURZWEI commentary.
taz FUTURZWEI | The EU politician Matthias Ecke (SPD) was beaten to the point of hospital while sticking up posters in Dresden. A Green party was harassed in Leipzig and SPD Senator Franziska Giffey was hit on the head in Berlin. Similar incidents are now reported almost every day. Brutalization in everyday political life – will this be normal in the republic?
The dutiful moralizing indignation follows immediately. Hendrik Wüst (CDU), the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, takes off his jacket at the demonstration against right-wing violence in front of the Brandenburg Gate and invokes democracy and the fight against Nazis. He calls the AfD a Nazi party. The federal states of Saxony and Brandenburg have submitted proposals to tighten criminal law in the Federal Council, which could also provide better protection for local politicians. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wants to ensure that the judiciary calls for faster proceedings against violent criminals and makes full use of the criminal legal framework. Omid Nouripour, MP and federal chairman of the Greens, demands “that more police be put on the streets and that concrete protection concepts be implemented.”
[...] Passive attitude to central questions of democratic substance
The brutalization in the election campaign and in other areas of life is caused by this exemplary passive attitude towards central questions of democratic substance. Because politics is reduced to dealing with problems as quietly as possible, half or not at all, at some point it is no longer taken seriously.
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Solar Panels | Recycling | Start-up
Start-up of the month: Recovering silver and silicon through photovoltaic module recycling
The start-up Solar Materials has been operating a certified initial treatment facility for discarded photovoltaic modules since the end of 2023 and plans to scale up in 2025. Then 500.000 solar modules will be recycled every year and a large amount of silver and silicon will be returned to the material cycle. That is new.
Who are you?
Fridolin Franke: Solar Materials is a pioneer for sustainable recycling in the solar industry. Since our founding in 2021, we have been pursuing our mission to revolutionize recycling in the solar industry and make photovoltaics the most sustainable, renewable form of energy.
Who are your customers?
We have a two-sided business model and therefore two large customer groups: On the one hand, we offer solar park operators, collection systems and solar module manufacturers the recycling of their defective or old solar modules. On the other hand, we sell our recovered raw materials glass, aluminum, copper, silicon and silver back to the industry so that new products can be created...
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Attacks | Violence | Homeless people
Violence against homeless people:
Victims of the neoliberal cold flow
The number of attacks on homeless people is increasing. Violence against women in particular is increasing. The question of motive often remains unanswered.
BERLIN taz | A cerebral hemorrhage was the cause of death. Just last Tuesday, a seriously injured homeless man was found in Immenstadt im Allgäu, in an anteroom of a bank branch. The 53-year-old was able to describe the perpetrator to police officers, but intensive medical treatment no longer helped - the man died. The perpetrator, a 17-year-old, whom the police list as an intensive offender, was arrested based on the description.
It's not an isolated case. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior's current response to a request from the left-wing Bundestag member Martina Renner Violent crime against homeless and homeless people increased from 2018 to 2023 by 36,8 percent. Last year alone, 885 acts of violence were registered. Crimes against homeless people in general rose from 1.560 offenses in 2018 to 2.122 in 2023.
The response from the Ministry of the Interior also shows that violence against women who are homeless or homeless has increased by 46,2 percent in the past five years and by 34,8 percent among men. Whether gender was also a trigger for the crime will be discussed in the Police crime statistics (PKS), which is the basis for the numbers, is not recorded...
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Greenhouse gas emissions | Transport transition
According to the study, a delayed transport transition would be significantly more expensive
A study by the analysis agency Agora Verkehrswende comes to the conclusion: The longer the government refrains from taking strict measures, the more the transport transition costs.
According to a study, the longer politicians hesitate to take measures for climate-neutral transport, the more expensive the transport transition will be. “Political hesitation has a price,” says the analysis by Agora Verkehrswende, a non-profit organization for scientific policy advice. This is measured either in money or in greenhouse gases, with all the associated risks. However, with a timely, ambitious climate policy for the transport sector, the federal government could even save something compared to a “business as usual” transport policy.
According to the study, current measures are missing their targets
In the study, the organization examined three different scenarios with different levels of climate protection measures in the transport sector. The current policy, including planned but not yet decided measures, served as a reference scenario. “In this reference scenario, greenhouse gas emissions from transport will fall to 2030 million tons by 111 and to around 2045 million tons by 15,” the authors write. This means that both the climate target for the transport sector for 2030 and the zero emissions target for 2045 will be missed...
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13 May 1978 (INES Class.?) NPP AVR Jülich, GER
Wikipedia de
Pebble bed reactor AVR (Jülich)
A water intrusion accident in the Jülich experimental reactor, which was only assigned to the then lowest category C, led to high levels of contamination of the cooling circuit and the soil and groundwater under the reactor with strontium-90 and tritium. Critics of the pebble bed reactor concept assume that the classification of this event, which from today's perspective is far too favorable as being insignificant in terms of safety, served to preserve the development chances of pebble bed reactors...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Jülich (North Rhine-Westphalia)
On May 13, 1978, a serious incident occurred. Due to a leak in a heat exchanger, there was an influx of water into the reactor. This had an impact on the demolition of the reactor, as it still contained "197 destroyed or atomized fuel elements" which were then encased in concrete. During the incident, large amounts of strontium-90 and tritium are said to have escaped and entered the groundwater. The reactor continued to operate at excessive temperatures...
12. May
Violence | Attitudes | Radicalization
Warning from Thuringia's Office for the Protection of the Constitution
“Not just from the right, but also from the left”
The head of the Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Kramer, warns against the radicalization of larger population groups. There is disinhibition on the left and right spectrum. Chancellor Scholz called for social cohesion.
In recent weeks, attacks on politicians have made headlines several times. In view of this violence, the Thuringian President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Stephan Kramer, warned against the radicalization of various groups.
"It's not just from the right, but also from the left when we look at how left-wing extremists act violently against actors from the right-wing spectrum," he said in the report from Berlin. Even if you look at the demonstrations about Israel and the violent riots at universities, you see that "both camps basically give each other nothing."
Kramer rejects AfD representation
Kramer defended himself against allegations by the AfD that attacks on them were being ignored. Both in Thuringia and in other countries, reports on the protection of the constitution point out that there are a particularly high number of bodily harm crimes against AfD politicians. The police also do this.
Radicalization and disinhibition exist in the left and right spectrum and the constitutional state must contain this. "It not only affects elected officials, but also people who are involved in civil society in singing clubs and sports clubs. Anyone who takes a stand suddenly has to deal with corresponding attacks and threats and intimidation."...
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Russia | Ecodefense | Climate lawsuit
Risky climate lawsuit in Russia:
Environmentalists are going to court
For the first time, the Russian Constitutional Court has accepted a lawsuit against Russia's lack of climate policy. How does environmental activism work in Russia?
MÖNCHENGLADBACH taz | Russia is far from achieving its climate goals. On the contrary, the current policy is leading to a further increase in CO2 emissions, say the Russian environmental protection organization Ecodefense and 18 Russian citizens. That's why they are suing the Russian Constitutional Court. The court accepted and registered this lawsuit at the beginning of May - a first-of-its-kind process.
By signing the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, Russia committed to reducing CO2 emissions from approximately 2,2 billion tons in 2024 to 968 million tons of CO2 by 2030 and to 157 million tons by 2050. But Russia is doing the opposite of what it promised in Paris, says Vladimir Slivjak, co-chair of Ecodefense.
Instead of specifically minimizing the country's CO2 emissions, the country is not even attempting to reduce the production of CO2. And in doing so, the Russian state is violating the constitutionally guaranteed right to health, life and an intact environment.
The signatories are asking the Constitutional Court to record the violation of these rights and are calling for a reorientation of the state's climate policy. They are also encouraged by the successful cases brought by Portuguese and Swiss climate activists before the European Court of Human Rights...
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Neo-Nazis | arson attack | Antifa
Attack on the left center in Bavaria:
Shattered windows
The left-wing meeting point Stern in Aschaffenburg is in the crosshairs of neo-Nazis and lateral thinkers. Now an attempt was made to set it on fire.
ASCHAFFENBURG taz | The attack on the star happens before dawn and lasts perhaps three minutes. The neighbor above the left-hand bar on Platanenallee in Aschaffenburg, where the Antifa Café also meets, hears windows clinking. Startled by a screaming witness, at least two attackers presumably scurried away undetected into the adjacent Schöntal, a nearby park. It's the night of May 6th around four o'clock.
The registered association Stern has existed since 2013, promotes alternative culture and political education and positions itself clearly against the right. Concerts, readings and lectures take place in its rooms. Political groups can meet there, such as the Aschaffenburg Climate Alliance, the Last Generation and also the Antifa Café.
The Stern Center has been since its founding always been attacked with hostility, because it is a left-wing, alternative project. Be it through paint bombs, graffiti - or Facebook comments, like in May 2018: "I'm coming so that you fascists can finally get a Molotov in the window." A leading lateral thinker smugly announced that he would come over "for a coffee". And neo-Nazis stuck stickers on the windows during anti-corona rallies...
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Energy policy by Trumpl: Make Oil companies bigger again and again
Trump and energy policy
The last gasp of the oil giants
Donald Trump wants a billion dollars from the oil industry, and renewable energy is growing faster than any form of electricity generation before. This has a lot to do with each other – and it shows where the real front is.
If you deal with the topics of climate, energy and politics for a long time, you will always come across moments in which the bitter reality is briefly illuminated.
There was such a moment, for example, seven and a half years ago, on December 13, 2016. At that time, Donald Trump, newly elected US President, explained who would be his future Secretary of State: Rex Tillerson, at the time acting boss of ExxonMobil, the largest listed company Oil company in the USA and for decades also the most valuable in the world.
Shameless and unscrupulous
At the time, the news caused less international astonishment than was appropriate. After all, this shameless and unscrupulous move was just one of many.
[...] Destroy the environmental agency from within
At the same time, Trump made a man head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who had previously sued the same environmental agency 14 times in order to weaken it: the then Attorney General of the oil state Oklahoma, Scott Pruitt. Pruitt's appointment as EPA chief was supported by the network of oil billionaire Charles Koch, arguably the largest individual financier of climate disinformation in history. Pruitt did what he was asked to do: he did everything he could to disempower the agency he now led and destroy it from within.
[...] not only solar and wind power are growing exponentially, i.e. faster and faster - the same applies to the global market for electric cars, even if we are constantly hearing the opposite in Germany. Fossil propaganda also exists in this country.
There is currently growing fear among world combustion engines about this ever stronger, ever faster growing competition. The defensive battle is now being carried out completely unabashedly. At the last climate conference in Dubai, the OPEC oil cartel, led by Saudi Arabia, tried to keep the planned tripling of renewable electricity generation out of the final document. In vain, not least thanks to Joe Biden's negotiator John Kerry.
Forecast: The oil companies will not be afraid to ally themselves again with the would-be dictator Trump, who is also known to continue to be happy with the oil and gas baron Vladimir Putin.
Europe should move quickly and decisively to the other side, with e-mobility, energy efficiency, renewables. This is in our own interest.
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Anti-Semitism | Racism | Anti-Zionism
Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism: A Dangerous Equality
Anti-Semitism is in the headlines. The Israeli prime minister calls the accusation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza anti-Semitic, and even American students are calling for a ceasefire. What Israel is doing is in fact provoking anti-Semitic acts against synagogues, Jewish schools and even individual Jews. Therefore, it is important to understand what anti-Semitism is, what it is not, and how it can be distinguished from anti-Zionism.
Although anti-Jewish acts in Europe date back more than a thousand years, the term "anti-Semitism" has been used since the 19th century to describe hatred of Jews as a race, a concept that was crucial to the spread of colonialism. At the time, racism was seen as legitimate and even scientific. He asserted the inferiority of all Jews, Africans, Asians and others. This racism led to the massacres of millions of people in the Belgian Congo at the beginning of the 20th century, to the genocides committed by Germany at the same time in South West Africa (now Namibia), and then, barely thirty years later, in Europe Extermination of millions of Jews, Slavs, Roma and other “subhumans”. Anti-Semitism is therefore a form of racism.
Anti-Zionism, on the other hand, is a rejection of Zionism, a political movement that emerged in Europe at the end of the 19th century. Its founder, Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), was concerned about anti-Semitism and sought “Der Judenstaat,” the creation of a Jewish state. Zionism, which arose at a time when ethnic nationalism and the right of self-determination of peoples was in full swing (Greece, Germany, Italy, etc.), held the view that Jews constituted a separate people or race, could not integrate into European society and therefore needed their own state.
The movement promoted the colonization of Palestine and founded institutions such as the Jewish Colonial Trust (1899) and the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association (1924). This settlement campaign, which created its own economy and society under the British mandate, marginalized the native population and even attempted to replace them. It provoked a resistance that would have arisen in the same way if the Palestinians had been colonized and mistreated by the French or Chinese. The rejection of Israel and Zionism, its founding ideology, is therefore politically justified...
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Hate | Agitation | Anti-Semitism | Star of David
Charlotte Knobloch on demos in the USA
“Universities are no match for hatred of Jews”
Is Germany still safe for Jews? Charlotte Knobloch says she wouldn't advise anyone to stand out with a "decorative Star of David." The President of the Jewish Community in Munich also describes the situation in the USA as dramatic.
In Charlotte Knobloch's opinion, Jews should keep a low profile in the current situation in Germany. »I wouldn't advise anyone to attract attention through clothing, jewelry or a decorative Star of David. “It doesn’t end well,” said the President of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria in the Munich “Abendzeitung”.
“People who were born here are already asking themselves in these times: Is this still my country, can I raise my children here?”
“Where do you want to go instead?”
This is also being discussed within her community. She responded to these considerations with a counter question: “Where do you want to go instead?” said the 91-year-old. »Then there is calm because there is no good answer to it in these times. Even in New York things have become difficult, and the situation in America is also becoming increasingly hopeless. The universities there are no longer able to cope with the hatred of Jews.«...
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12 May 1988 (INES 2) NPP Civaux, FRA
The Civaux-1 pressurized water reactor was shut down for five days when, during start-up tests, a 25 cm diameter pipe of the main residual heat removal system ruptured and a large leak (30.000 liters per hour) occurred in the primary cooling circuit. The reactor core must be continuously cooled, even when shut down, to dissipate the significant amount of residual heat from the fuel. It took nine hours to isolate the leak and achieve a stable situation. An 18 cm long crack was found at a weld and 300 m³ of primary coolant had leaked into the reactor building. The operator EDF suggested classifying the event as level 1 on the INES scale, but the safety authorities opted for level 2.
(Costs ?)
Nuclear Power Accidents
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Civaux (France)
On May 12, 1998, a serious accident occurred in Civaux-1. Due to a fatal design flaw, a pipe broke under the influence of extreme temperature changes. The main cooling circuit lost 300 cubic meters of contaminated water, almost three quarters of a full charge. It was only after 10 hours that a raiding party wearing protective suits that penetrated the containment interior was able to bring the reactor back under control and prevent a catastrophe. Fortunately, the reactor was still in test operation at the time of the accident and the fuel elements generated little heat. After the accident, the entire construction series was stopped: "The reactor core of Civaux-1 was unloaded, as were the cores of the two N1996 units started in 1997 and 4 at the Chooz site in the Ardennes." The after-cooling system was redesigned and redesigned.
Wikipedia de
Civaux nuclear power plant
On May 12, 1998, a nuclear incident occurred in which a crack 18 centimeters long and 2,5 centimeters wide appeared in a cooling circuit of the first reactor. According to authorities, 30 m³ of water per hour escaped through this crack. The leak could only be located after almost 10 hours and the leaking water circuit was shut off. Cooling until the leak was repaired was ensured with the second water circuit. The incident was classified by the French nuclear regulator ASN as level 2 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES)...
| Current news+ | Background knowledge | Top |
Current news+
Top author: Israel in existential crisis due to war, army starts evacuation in Rafah
Top author warns of devastating consequences for Israel's future. The government relies on isolation and violence. In Rafah, however, there are signs of further escalation.
Israel faces historic political decisions that could affect the fate of the country and the entire region for generations. But according to historian and author Yuval Noah Harari, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political partners have repeatedly proven that they are incapable of making such decisions. He recently made a dramatic appeal in the liberal Israeli daily Haaretz.
In the coming days, Israel will have to make historic political decisions that could shape its fate and the fate of the entire region for generations. Unfortunately, Benjamin Netanyahu and his political partners have repeatedly proven that they are unfit to make such decisions. The policies they have pursued over many years have brought Israel to the brink of destruction.
So far they have shown no remorse for their past mistakes or willingness to change direction. If they continue to dictate policy, they will lead us and the entire Middle East to ruin. Instead of rushing into a new war with Iran, we should first learn the lessons of Israel's mistakes in the past six months of war.
Harari
The effects of war
Harari states that war is a military means to achieve political goals and the success of a war is measured by whether the political goals were achieved. After the devastating massacre on October 7th, Israel should have freed the hostages and disarmed Hamas.
But these goals should not have been the only ones. Given the existential threat to Israel from Iran and its agents of chaos, Israel should also have deepened its alliance with Western democracies, strengthened cooperation with moderate Arab forces and worked to establish a stable regional order.
Harari on the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza
The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the deteriorating situation in the West Bank are inflaming regional chaos, weakening Israel's alliances with Western democracies and making it difficult for countries such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to cooperate with Israel.
Harari warns that if Israel does not change its behavior towards the Palestinians, the country's pride and vindictiveness could cause a historic catastrophe.
The consequences of six months of war
After six months of war, many of the hostages are still in captivity and Hamas is still able to take action. Meanwhile, the Gaza Strip was devastated and many thousands of people living there were killed. "Most of the residents there are now starving refugees," said Harari.
Along with Gaza, Israel's international reputation is in tatters and the country is hated and ostracized even by many of its former friends.
The Samson syndrome
Harari argues that the Netanyahu government's failures during the war are not accidental. It is the bitter fruit of many years of disastrous politics. The decision to cause a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza results from a combination of three long-term factors:
- lack of sensitivity to the value of Palestinian lives;
- lack of sensitivity to Israel's international reputation;
- distorted priorities that ignored Israel's real security needs.
The way out of the echo chamber
Harari warns that large parts of the Israeli public are blind to what is going on. Many Israelis are trapped in an echo chamber that promises them victory even though they are on the verge of defeat. He calls on the Netanyahu government to accept responsibility and resign immediately so that someone else can turn a new leaf.
Harari calls for the establishment of a new government guided by a different moral compass, ending the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and beginning to rebuild Israel's international reputation. If Israel does not change its policy toward the Palestinians, he warns, it will stand alone against Iran and its end could resemble that of the biblical Samson, who in impotent rage brought the house down on everyone's heads.
Like the Japanese in 1945, many Israelis in 2024 are trapped in an echo chamber that promises them victory even as we teeter on the brink of defeat. How to break through this echo chamber? It would be unwise to wait for the atomic bomb or for God to speak on the radio.
The Netanyahu government, which has failed in so many things, must finally take responsibility. It is the Netanyahu government that adopted the disastrous agenda that got us here, and it is the government that is pursuing a Samson-like policy of revenge and suicide. Woe to us if these same Samsons are now allowed to make the most important strategic and political decisions in Israel's history.
This government has reached a point where it must endure the unbearable, admit its failure and resign immediately so that someone else can turn over a new leaf.
Harari
Evacuation of Rafah has begun
The Israeli military has begun the forced relocation of Palestinian civilians from the crowded border town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli Army Radio said. The campaign is concentrated on some outskirts of the city. The affected people are to be taken to tent cities in the nearby Mediterranean towns of Chan Yunis and Al Mawasi.
Evacuation affects around 100.000 people
"We began a limited-scale operation this morning to temporarily evacuate residents in the eastern part of Rafah," a military spokesman said in an online news conference. According to the army, around 100.000 people are affected by the coercive measures.
Rafah is known as the last stronghold of the militant Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israel plans to destroy the Hamas battalions remaining in the city.
Hostages suspected in Rafah
Hostages are also believed to be held in the town on the border with Egypt. However, previous indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Cairo over a new ceasefire and the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners remained inconclusive.
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December 20, 2023 - Netanyahu deliberately let the Hamas terrorists have their way
November 21, 2023 - Israel's ultra-right at war From the atomic bomb to the death penalty
October 24, 2023 - Tens of thousands demonstrate in EU countries for a “just” Palestine solution
October 7, 2023 - Escalation in the Middle East conflict: “That changes everything”
July 22, 2023 - Israel's ex-ambassador worries about democracy in his own country
May 15, 2022 - Research into the death of a journalist in the West Bank weighs on Israel
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Israel
Israel (Hebrew ישראל Yisra'el; Arabic إِسْرَائِيل ʾIsrāʾīl), officially the State of Israel (Hebrew מדינת ישראל Medinat Yisra'el), is a state in the Middle East on the east coast of the Mediterranean. Israel is the only country in the world with a majority Jewish population and sees itself as the nation state of the Jewish people. Israel is geographically part of the Mashreq and borders Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt as well as the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The capital and most populous city of Israel is Jerusalem; however, the United Nations and the majority of its member states do not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The largest metropolitan area is Gush Dan around the metropolis Tel Aviv-Jaffa on the Mediterranean.
The area that is today Israel is considered the cradle of Judaism as well as the two younger Abrahamic religions. It had stood since 63 BC. BC successively under Roman, Byzantine, Sassanid, Arab, Ottoman and British rule. The Jews (biblical: Israelites, Hebrews) who have lived there for around 3000 years have been expelled or forced to emigrate several times throughout history (Jewish diaspora). From the end of the 19th century onwards, there were efforts among European Jews, not least because of the increasing persecution of Jews in Europe, to re-establish a Jewish state in what was then Ottoman Palestine (Zionism, named after Zion, the Temple Mount). The first foundation stone for this was laid at the first Zionist Congress (1897 in Basel) under the leadership of Theodor Herzl; The plan to found a state took more concrete form with the British Balfour Declaration of 1917. From 1920 to 1948, the League of Nations mandate for Palestine existed, which was transferred to Great Britain after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. During this time, increased Jewish immigration and the establishment of proto-state structures led to the first conflicts with the Arab population. The UN partition plan for Palestine of 1947 aimed to resolve these issues, but it was rejected by the Arab side. Nevertheless, Israel's declaration of independence took place on May 14, 1948, and immediately afterwards the first Palestine war began with the military attack on the young state by neighboring Arab states. The following decades of Israel's history were decisively shaped by the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict...
Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip West Bank). It is a densely populated coastal area on the eastern Mediterranean between Israel and Egypt with Gaza City as its center. It received the name “Gaza Strip” and its geographical shape through a ceasefire agreement after the Palestine War (1948/49). More than half of Gaza's residents are Palestinian refugees from this period or their descendants. The majority of the population (Palestinians) are Muslim Arabs. You are stateless...
West Bank
The West Bank (Arabic الضفة الغربية, DMG aḍ-Ḍaffa al-Ġarbiyya, aḍ-Ḍiffa al-Ġarbiyya, Hebrew הגדה המערבית haGada haMa'arawit), also less commonly called the West Bank referred to as Cisjordan and officially called “Judea and Samaria” by Israel “ (Hebrew יהודה ושומרון Yehuda we-Shomron) is a territory in the Near East that is under Israeli military jurisdiction and occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War (1967), 40 percent of which consists of enclaves of the Palestinian Autonomous Territory...
Anti-Semitism
Today, all general forms of hatred of Jews, anti-Semitism or anti-Semitism are referred to as anti-Semitism. The expression was created in 1879 as a self-name used by German anti-Semites around the journalist Wilhelm Marr. After the Holocaust, it became a collective term for all attitudes and behaviors that assign individuals or groups to “the Jews” and assume negative characteristics about them in order to promote the devaluation, exclusion, discrimination, oppression, persecution, expulsion and even the annihilation of Jewish minorities (genocide). to justify...
Anti-Zionism
Anti-Zionism is a collective term for political ideologies directed against (Greek anti) Zionism. Since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, these have been directed against the Jewish state. Anti-Zionism has both secular and religious foundations and can be found across the entire political spectrum. According to a number of scholars, links to anti-Semitism often exist, but the exact nature of the relationship between the two concepts is hotly debated in the scholarly community...
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