Newsletter LI 2022 |
December 20-25
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Nuclear Power Accidents
This PDF file contains a list of known incidents from the various areas of the civil and military nuclear industry. Some of this information only came to the public in a roundabout way...
Excerpt for this month:
02 December 1949 (INES 4 NAMS 3,8) Nuclear factory Hanford, USA
05 December 1965 (Broken Arrow) Douglas A-4E Skyhawk, USA
06 December 1972 (INES 3 NAMS 1,6) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR
07 December 1975 (INES 3) Greifswald, GDR
10 December 1994 (INES 2) Pickering, ON, CAN
21 December 1972 (INES ? Class.?) Pawling, USA
31 December 1978 (INES 4) Beloyarsk, USSR
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We are looking for current information. If you can help, please send a message to: nukleare-welt@reaktorpleite.de
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25. December
Peace is not our job
The alive and thriving madness of nuclear warfare in America
Hey, cheer up because it really is a beauty! I'm talking about this country's newest "stealth bomber," the B-21 Raider, which has just been unveiled in all its glory by Northrop Grumman, the company that makes it. With its distinctive bat wing shape and ability to unleash a very large bang (like nuclear weapons), it's our very own 'Bomber of the Future'. As Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in his explosive debut, he will "bolster America's ability to deter aggression, now and in the future." Makes me really proud to be an American...
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The hunt for Julian Assange makes a mockery of all human rights
In order to deter critics of their inhumane power politics, the USA want to make an example of the Wikileaks founder.
On December 10th, International Human Rights Day, demonstrations and vigils were held in many places around the world for the release of Julian Assange. But in the big media of the western world, this did not find any significant response. "Public opinion" is currently overflowing almost daily with reports of human rights violations in the Gulf state of Qatar or in Iran. On the other hand, silence is spreading about the Assange case ...
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Climate protection | Greenhouse gas | Agriculture
Cattle farming for climate protection? Attention greenwashing!
Various climate and environmental arguments are used today in defense of cattle farming. What they all have in common is that they refer to special forms of husbandry that have little to do with today's meat and dairy industry.
It has been known for years that the production of meat, milk and eggs is associated with immense greenhouse gas emissions. According to relevant reports, cattle farming is particularly harmful to the climate: on average, a kilogram of beef causes eight times as many emissions as a kilogram of pork and even 60 times as much as a kilogram of peas...
Part 1 | Part 2
international law | Propaganda | failed state
"International law no longer a reference system for state action"
Daniela Dahn on the worst conceivable variant of Scholz's turning point. On the historical question of whether the Russians want war. And a problem of historiography. (Part 1)
Ms. Dahn, the title of your new book, "In war, the victors also lose. Only peace can be won" already testifies to your rejection of all fantasies of victory. What does Scholz's turning point mean for you?
Daniela Dahn: The real turning point was the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the early 1990s. And with it the bipolar security system, the end of the détente policy. Russia was so weak that you could do anything with it. Even openly manipulating elections with US specialists so that Yeltsin, who is compliant with the West, wins again against all predictions...
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24. December
Little Christmas music
I hadn't mentioned it in the court hearing for recognition of my conscientious objection, but an important factor in my decision to refuse “armed service” had been a song that I had heard a few years earlier for the first time and then over and over again had heard: “Universal Solider” by Donovan. Combined with the horrifying images from the Vietnam War, where rice farmers were being bombed to defend “our freedom”, the message of this song made me realize that when it comes to war, there really is only one solution: don't participate...
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Weather 2022: A year of extremes
Heat records, droughts, rapidly falling temperatures: The year that was shows how uncertain our lives are in the climate catastrophe. The extremes are also increasing in Germany.
Pakistan and India reported record temperatures of up to 2022 degrees in the shade in March and April 50: Such temperatures are life-threatening. In the summer, the monsoon in Pakistan was so raging that a quarter of the country was under water and 1.500 people lost their lives.
In December, the temperature in Australia – that is, in the summer there – dropped by 24 degrees Celsius in less than 50 hours: something like this has only happened in disaster films like “The Day after Tomorrow” …
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Helena Steinhaus: "With three babies, the dryer runs through and the electricity is priceless!"
Interview In the past few weeks, hundreds of people on Hartz IV and those affected by poverty who are no longer able to pay their back electricity payments have contacted the “Sanktionsfrei” association. The founder Helena Steinhaus warns: Bitter cold threatens here
Beginning in January, those receiving citizen's income will receive just under 43 euros a month for electricity. Will that really be enough for instantaneous water heaters, washing machines, dryers and stoves in 2023? The sanctions-free association has offered Hartz IV recipients to take on the additional electricity payments if they have payment problems - 500 families contacted us. Helena Steinhaus raises the alarm.
Der Freitag: Ms. Steinhaus, excuse me if I say it like that, but you look a little battered.
Helen Steinhaus: The last few weeks have been really tough. We have called on those affected by Hartz IV to contact us if they are unable to pay an additional electricity payment. Over 500 families registered in three weeks! 136.000 euros have already been paid out.
Do you have enough donations for this?
Helen Steinhaus: We received a large donation and many people also donated their energy allowance to us. But this pot is now empty, even though we capped the takeover at 500 euros. People continue to report that they cannot pay their electricity bills. As well as: The standard rate is only 38,07 euros for electricity ...
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Lützerath | Greenhouse gas | Brown coal
Bauer Eckardt and the 1,5 degrees
Year in review 2022. Today: climate protection. Emission of greenhouse gases hardly slowed down, fight for Paris goals in Lützerath
The end of the year can undoubtedly be regarded as lost for German climate protection policy. LNG terminals were built, coal-fired power plants were pulled from the reserve and finally the green light was given to clear the protest camp in Lützerath in the Rhineland in order to get more lignite out of the ground. Of all things. Lignite is the worst and therefore most climate-damaging of all fossil fuels. Little has remained of the high hopes that many had attached to the participation of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen in the government.
More electricity than in the previous year was generated from coal, that was already the case in 2021 - after years of decline. In the first nine months of this year, the consumption of lignite rose by eight percent year-on-year, that of hard coal by as much as twelve percent and that of mineral oil by 5,2 percent (data from the Working Group on Energy Balances). Only gas consumption fell, so overall greenhouse gas emissions are likely to have increased significantly in 2022. Because of the fuels mentioned, gas is the one with the lowest emissions per kilowatt hour generated...
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23. December
the European Commission | Expansion of renewable energies
European Commission approves amendments to the EEG and WindSeeG
Berlin - Shortly before Christmas, the European Commission gave the green light for the changes to the EEG 2023 and WindSeeG 2023 decided by the Bundestag in the summer as part of the so-called Easter package. This provides an important basis for the further expansion of renewable energies in Germany.
On Wednesday (December 21.12.2022, 2023), the European Commission approved the amendments to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG 2023) and the Offshore Wind Energy Act (WindSeeG 1) from a state aid perspective. This means that all the measures planned there, which are intended to accelerate the expansion of renewable energies in Germany, can be applied as planned on January 2023, XNUMX ...
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Facts | Wind energy | Photovoltaics
Wind energy and photovoltaics: stubborn myths in a fact check
There are numerous myths and legends floating around in the discussion about wind and solar energy. But what is really behind it? We checked the facts.
The energy transition from fossil energy production to renewable energies is being hotly debated. Again and again, claims, half-truths and urban legends about renewable energy sources are floating around the internet. Our background article examines such claims on the topics of wind power and photovoltaics for their plausibility.
We examine a total of nine myths that keep popping up in discussions for their truth content and compare them with facts. This is how you gain the tools to be able to make fact-based counterarguments in the next discussion...
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22. December
citizen dialogue | Asse nuclear waste storage facility
Support process for the Asse nuclear waste storage facility ended
After a long crisis, the critical accompanying process for the Asse nuclear waste storage facility in Lower Saxony has ended for the time being. "It has been shown that this format of support was not effective in safeguarding the legitimate interests of the population in the region," Wolfenbüttel's District Administrator Christiana Steinbrügge was quoted as saying in a statement from the Federal Ministry for the Environment on Thursday. She is chair of the Asse 2 Advisory Group
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"In our view, the loss of trust that has occurred in recent years makes this step inevitable," said Steinbrügge. However, there is a fundamental skeptical willingness to develop a new, well thought-out participation process...
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Taiwan | leak | cooling system
Fixed leak in nuclear power plant reactor
In a reactor at one of Taiwan's nuclear power plants, a leak in the cooling tubes was discovered yesterday during a routine test. Taiwan's state-owned power company, Taiwan Power Company (Taipower), announced today that the leak has already been repaired.
Plant workers were conducting a signal test for the backup diesel generator set yesterday when they discovered a leak in the cooling system. Technicians manually stopped the test, causing the country's power supply to temporarily decrease...
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Grafenrheinfeld | Nuclear waste
Nuclear waste, no thanks!: United protest against planned transports to Grafenrheinfeld
The nuclear waste transports from the decommissioned Würgassen nuclear power plant to Grafenrheinfeld announced by the power plant operator Preussen Elektra have led to a hitherto unique solidarity of all organizations and parties in the Schweinfurt region, some of which have been opposed to nuclear power for decades.
Because of the first transports from North Rhine-Westphalia to Lower Franconia, which are expected at the beginning of 2023, 30 representatives from the Schweinfurt action alliance against nuclear power, from the BA-BI, the citizens' action on waste and the environment, from People 4 Future, from the Bund Naturschutz, from the SPD and the Greens revealed from the city and district of Schweinfurt at the junction to the KKG on the district road from Grafenrheinfeld to Röthlein the first banner. The two core messages: "Nuclear waste, no thanks" and "Grafenrheinfeld is not a nuclear waste dump" ...
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Greece | Natural gas | Climate targets
Gas deposits in the Mediterranean Sea
The Greeks are looking for gas
Large natural gas deposits are suspected off the coasts of Greece. Not only could they provide the country with energy for decades, they could also help Europe replace Russian gas. That is why the Greek government is now pushing ahead with exploration. But she wants to stick to her ambitious climate goals.
... Now Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wants to press ahead with gas exploration. "While we remain focused on a rapid transition to green energy, at the same time we have a duty to explore opportunities for natural gas production that could contribute to our own energy security and Europe's supply," said the Prime Minister. Rikard Skoufias, CEO of the state-owned company for the management of hydrocarbons and energy resources (EDEY), also believes that Greek natural gas “can play an important role not only for our country, but also for supplying Europe, which is looking for domestic energy resources at this time. "...
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Eleven years after the Fukushima disaster, Japan is back to nuclear power
Nuclear power Lost horror: Despite the Fukushima disaster, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announces his plans for the construction of next-generation reactors. After all, we don't want to produce any more CO2050 emissions here from 2 onwards
... Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announces plans to build next-generation reactors. In addition, aggregates that were shut down after the Fukushima accident in 2011 are to be put back into operation. It wants to end dependence on imported fossil fuels and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Kishida's "green transformation" envisages extended lifespans for reactors beyond the current maximum of 60 years. It's about an affordable energy supply and the experience that power outages were expected in Tokyo during this summer's heat wave...
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21. December
Coal | CO2 | Climate balance | Call for tender
Greenhouse gas emissions:
Coal boom ruins carbon footprint
The energy crisis is making itself felt in Germany's energy industry. For the first time in a long time, emissions are rising again.
BERLIN taz | The energy crisis is making itself felt in Germany's climate balance – and as expected, negatively. The energy industry has spoken out and warned that it has exceeded its CO2 limits from the Climate Protection Act 2022 ...
The industry caused the emission of 260 million tons of carbon dioxide - 3 million tons more than allowed under the Climate Protection Act.
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There was again little interest in the fourth and last tender by the Federal Network Agency for renewable energies.
Wind industry criticizes maximum price in tender
Energy companies have to take part in the tenders if they want to receive state subsidies for their wind turbines and solar systems. The idea: The cheapest gets the contract. This has been the case for a good five years. Previously there were legally guaranteed subsidy rates.
The support for onshore wind turbines with a total capacity of 604 megawatts was advertised in December. However, the 16 commandments are only sufficient for around 204 megawatts. So there would have been money for about three times the amount. At the same time, a tender for solar systems on buildings was running, which was also clearly signed ...
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Decommissioned nuclear power plant
Radioactive waste water leaked from the decommissioned Philippsburg nuclear power plant
Reportable incident in the decommissioned Philippsburg nuclear power plant: 400 liters of radioactive water leaked from a tank.
At the decommissioned Philippsburg nuclear power plant, weakly radioactive wastewater leaked from a buffer tank. (Standard message) 400 liters of liquid remained in the space for the tank and could be collected because the space is designed for leaks...
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NRW | wind expansion | distance rule
Wind Energy Christmas Package
NRW distance regulation of 1.000 meters for repowering falls
Düsseldorf - The NRW state parliamentary groups of the CDU and the Greens have presented a draft law and an accompanying application. The aim is to accelerate the expansion of wind energy in NRW.
With the wind energy package from the CDU and the Greens, the general minimum distance of 1.000 meters to residential buildings is to be abolished nationwide for all communities with legally binding wind energy concentration zones and for the repowering of wind turbines in NRW. This means that when older wind turbines are replaced with more modern, more efficient ones, the general minimum distance that has prevented many repowering projects to date would fall in the future.
With an accompanying application, the parliamentary groups also instruct the state government to allow wind turbines on coniferous forest areas and forest areas damaged - caused by drought, storms and bark beetles. In addition, it should be ensured that municipalities are given the best possible support in the expansion of wind energy, that the respective potential is used and that the expansion of wind energy on state-owned land is also progressing vigorously. At the same time, local residents should share in the profits...
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Cracks in lines:
Operator EdF takes block three of the Cattenom nuclear power plant off the grid longer
Cattenom Wear and tear at the Cattenom nuclear power plant made it necessary to replace lines. Now operator EdF wants to take a block off the grid longer than originally planned. What's behind it?
Just a few days ago, operator Electricité de France (EdF) restarted one of four blocks in the Cattenom nuclear power plant. But another reactor in the plant on the Saarland border is now to remain switched off longer than originally planned.
This raises concerns that the problems with the facility are greater than they are publicly admitting...
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21 December 1972 (INES Class.?!) Nuclear factory Pawling, USA
In December 1972, a fire and two explosions occurred at the Gulf United Nuclear Corporation fabrication facility near Pawling, New York, where Pu fuel for fast breeders was being manufactured. An undetermined quantity of plutonium was scattered outside of the factory premises, so the event can hardly be less than INES level 4. A magnitude 4,0 NAMS event would be triggered by the release of only 10 g of 239Pu and 240Pu into the atmosphere; since the fire and explosions were so severe that the plant had to be shut down, it is likely that the release could have been an order of magnitude or two larger than this weight of Pu. In addition, the incidence of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in Pawling appears to be 3 in a city of 5000 inhabitants, while the expected value is 1 - 2 per 100 000 inhabitants. According to the CML Wikipedia webpage, "The only well-described risk factor for CML is exposure to ionizing radiation." So the cluster of CML cases at Pawling indicates that at least one serious release has occurred at the facility.
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.4.0367/full/
Translated with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
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20. December
Japan | Ancient Reactor | Mihama
Court rejects shutdown Japanese ancient reactor may remain online
Local residents complained about the operation of reactor three at the Mihama nuclear power plant: it would not withstand an earthquake. A court now sees things differently – the nuclear power plant could remain connected to the grid for decades.
Japan is sticking to its ancient reactor, opponents of nuclear power have suffered a defeat in court: the country's oldest operating nuclear reactor, more than 40 years old, is allowed to remain online.
The Osaka District Court dismissed residents' demands that the aging reactor 3 at the Mihama nuclear power plant in central Japan be shut down over safety concerns. Unit 3 in Fukui Prefecture began operating in 1976. After the nuclear disaster in Fukushima in 2011, it was taken off the grid for ten years. After an interim maintenance, it has been producing electricity again since September.
Nine residents in Fukui, Shiga and Kyoto prefectures, who live within 80 to XNUMX kilometers of the plant, had argued that the reactor would not withstand a massive earthquake. The operator Kansai Electric, on the other hand, had argued that the safety requirements were met. It was the first court decision on the safety of an aging reactor...
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Solar cell | Tandem | perovskite
New world record for tandem solar cell
Combined module made of silicon and perovskite achieves 32,5 percent efficiency
More efficiency for photovoltaics: A German research team has set a new world record for the efficiency of tandem solar cells. Their combination of a silicon bottom cell and a perovskite top cell converts 32,5 percent of the incident solar energy into electricity. This progress was achieved through special nanotextures and adjustments to the interfaces. According to the team, the record underlines the great potential of such tandem solar cells.
Photovoltaics is considered an important pillar of the energy transition. However, how efficient the conversion of solar energy into electricity is depends on the efficiency of the solar cells used – and on their design. With conventional silicon solar modules, the efficiency is well below 30 percent, organic thin-film solar cells achieve a maximum of 22 percent. But the efficiency can be increased by combining cells made of different semiconductors and with different absorption spectra...
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112 years ago today
Ernest Rutherford discovers the atomic nucleus
Through the famous gold foil experiment, the physicist came to an amazing conclusion: Almost the entire mass of the atom is in one point at its center - the atomic nucleus.
Ernest Rutherford, born in New Zealand in 1871 and raised as one of twelve siblings, was a pioneer at a young age. In 1908 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of radioactive decay. His most famous experiment, however, only succeeded after the award. On December 20, 12, after many preliminary tests, he and two employees bombarded a thin gold foil with high-energy alpha particles. Many of the particles flew unhindered through the gold foil, but some bounced off...
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Current news+
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United Nations | UN | Security Council
One UN for all
How can the abuse of international organizations be prevented? What does it take to democratize the UN? Reform proposals by former UN diplomat Hans-Christoph von Sponeck.
"It's about much more than just 'reforms'," said former German UN diplomat Hans-Christoph Graf von Sponeck at the nationwide peace council in Kassel on December 11.12.2022, XNUMX. The meeting of peace policy groups focused on the war in Ukraine and the question of how a global peace order can be created.
Hans-Christof Graf von Sponeck (born 1939 in Bremen) is a former German UN diplomat, non-fiction author and university lecturer. From 1968 to 2000 he worked for the United Nations, most recently in Iraq. He is the son of Lieutenant General Hans von Sponeck, who was murdered by the Nazis on July 20.
This isn't just about "reforms", a weak word anyway given the catastrophic geopolitical chaos facing citizens around the world today. It's about much more, a lot more.
Humans and nature are affected by diseases. We have the "medicines," the global commons, for a cure, but we don't use them. Many important human rights have been created over the years.
The obligation to exercise these rights therefore exists to enable peace, human security and sustainable development for all. Application would mean that our world could heal.
This will not work without multilateralism, as stipulated in the UN Charter. Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill, a communist from the East and two capitalists from the West, had agreed in Crimea in 1945 to create the United Nations and promised the world a community.
This couldn't go well. The ideological gap and the different national geopolitical expectations were too great. Then came the Cold War, which has become even colder today.
There is a lot to explain here. However, I have to use the short time I have to take stock of the multilateral reality in the 21st century and, of course, to give appropriate advice on its renewal.
Founding states and current member states
The 51 founding states of the UN in 1945 have now become 193 member states. In terms of power politics, however, the UN has remained a Western-centric organization, just as the two capitalists Churchill and Roosevelt wanted it to be 77 years ago:
Of the five permanent members of the Security Council, three are from the West; Africa and Latin America have no seats, Asia with China only one. The UN's political headquarters are in New York; the UN agencies, funds and programs have their headquarters, without exception, in the West; the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, two Washington-based UN bodies, are clearly subject to Western interests.
You will question the weight of such a representation. So did I, until I spent many months examining the annual voting results of the UN General Assembly. What I found was a staggering testimony of the powerlessness of the majority of states.
Mainly Western countries, most notably the United States with its enforced neoliberal unilateralism, have, year after year, systematically repressed any attempt to protect human rights and human security for all, wherever they live.
From the nuclear ban treaty and nuclear-free zones to the decolonization of territories in Asia, Africa and Latin America and the introduction of a new world economic order with equal competitive conditions for industrialized and developing countries, these were largely prevented, almost boycotted, by the West or, more correctly, by the USA.
Incidentally, the USA and Somalia are the only countries that have not yet ratified the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; The same applies to the UN Women's Rights Convention of 1979, which the USA has also rejected to this day.
The role of the UN Security Council
All legal obligations of the UN Charter with its 111 articles are repeatedly ignored or broken by the permanent members of the Security Council without scruples and with impunity. So exactly from the five states to which the UN General Assembly has entrusted the main responsibility for world peace and world well-being. So international law only applies to others. There is no lack of evidence of the powerlessness of the UN.
The wars in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya and of course in Ukraine are the horrific witnesses of this double standard. The International Criminal Court in The Hague has so far only been responsible for these "other" 188 UN member states. Saddam Hussein was rightly convicted, George Bush and Tony Blair wrongly went unpunished.
It continues to prevail the law of might and not the might of law. It is therefore not surprising that the promise made in Paris in 1990 for a European peace project – truly a great moment in international relations – quickly withered away into an inhuman ongoing war project.
NATO's current attempts to persuade the public of Western Ukraine policy completely overlooks the fact that it is helping to shake up civil society and empower our resistance.
But the prerequisite for the real, lasting success of the peace movements, in Germany and everywhere, remains: we have to move closer together, we have to pool our strengths and do this with courage, inner conviction and honest humanity.
The fatal and inappropriate Western claim to leadership - the West accounts for eight percent of the world's population! - in the world organization and the associated heavy yoke for the peace work of the UN is the main reason for the miserable state of the UN Security Council and remains the main challenge for dangerously overdue reforms of the UN.
My 32 years of service in the politically so ununited nations and the time to reflect afterwards give me the confidence to make this grave and accusatory statement.
The dream of the possible for a more peaceful and just world has become a tragic nightmare of the seemingly impossible in the 77 years of the UN.
What must happen to take the fatal yoke off the UN?
More concrete about that as soon as I have briefly touched on the second topic, the ongoing abuse of international organizations, with an acute example.
Political abuse using the example of the OPCW
The world has not forgotten how, in the spring of 2003, the USA in the UN Security Council played their dangerous game with the untruth about alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq - which had long since ceased to exist! - displayed in preparation for the illegal Anglo-American war against the country.
Less well known, but just as dangerous, are false reports from the OPCW, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, about the alleged use of chemical weapons on April 7, 2018 in the Syrian Duma. A team of experts then dispatched by the OPCW concluded that the 43 people who died in the attack were not killed by chemical weapons.
Instead of their scientific findings, a report was published by the OPCW management that wanted to prove the opposite, namely that chemical weapons had been used after all. This was intended to legitimize the April 18, 2018 attack in Syria by the US, British and French air forces.
Since then, two OPCW scientists who were jointly responsible for the on-site investigation have resigned in protest, 28 internationally known people, including four other OPCW scientists and the first OPCW Director General, José Bustani, have issued a public statement expressed concern about this security incident, which is so serious in terms of security policy, and the apparent abuse of an international organization. This very serious incident has been more or less ignored by the media here and in western countries.
In 2021, a small group of four people, to which I belong, formed a 130-page expertise with the help of experts and parliamentarians, which provides evidence that not only the question of the use of chemical weapons, but also the Toxicology and ballistics have been politicized and misrepresented by the OPCW in Duma.
This report will soon be presented to a parliament in Europe and to the public with the support of a group of MEPs, demanding that all OPCW scientists who worked on this organization's Duma investigation conduct a new investigation and hold misrepresenters accountable to be pulled.
This is not about ideology or defending the Syrian government, which has indeed used chemical weapons elsewhere in the country. It is about defending the truth, security and integrity of the OPCW, an important international body.
Two further remarks on this: The UN has not reacted at both the political and the operational level, despite repeated requests for statements on the Duma - an extremely serious misappropriation of its obligations under international law.
Worse still: As a partner organization in association with the OPCW, both the monthly debates in the UN Security Council on chemical weapons in Syria and the statements of the UN Secretary General and his senior staff have shown that there is no willingness in the UN to address the concerns of the civil society to re-examine the issue of OPCW, Duma and chemical weapons. The Security Council has become a geopolitical theater at the expense of the people of Syria.
Any attempt on our part to responsibly discuss this important issue has met with nothing but silence, malice or vulgar rejection. This is not only discouraging - on the contrary, it is a challenge, because this conflict is representative of the global struggle between a geopolitical and bellicose world of immense wealth with simultaneous disadvantage and poverty on the one hand - and a multipolar world on the other hand, in which justice, freedom and security rule our lives and the UN can provide the catalyst we need.
Long list of requirements
The list of legal, structural and substantive adjustments made by the UN to the vital needs of our world in the 21st century is long.
I would like to remind you of the conference of all member states of the UN proposed in the UN Charter (Article 109), which should have taken place in 1955 to decide on necessary reforms. What is required here is the political will of the General Assembly, after many years of negligence, to conclude such an important meeting.
The UN climate conferences are a foretaste of how difficult it will be to agree on effective reforms. There are such important issues as the integration of non-governmental organizations and young people into the work of the UN; or the introduction of accountability of individuals and entities; ensuring the international character and independence of the UN; the future role of the UN Secretary-General and the selection of officials for the UN service and much more.
Global crises: the most important main demands
What follows is a narrow selection of renewals that strike me as particularly urgent:
1. The UN's main body, the General Assembly, has no executive authority. Only the Security Council can decide, with one exception: when international tensions are of threatening proportions and there is a lack of unanimity among the permanent members of the Security Council, then, and only then, can the General Assembly overrule the Security Council (A/Res 377, November 3, 1950 ). This right of the general assembly must be expanded considerably.
2. The five permanent members of the UN Security Council continue to insist on the primacy of geopolitics, great power nationalism and the anachronistic composition of this group. The composition of the permanent members of the Security Council has not changed in 77 years and urgently needs to be adjusted to ensure that Africa, Latin America and Asia are adequately represented.
The existing right of veto has repeatedly prevented peace-building measures and requires a fundamental reform to enable majority decisions in order to finally prevent individual members from going it alone out of geopolitical interests. There is no shortage of constructive suggestions.
3. The International Court of Justice in The Hague, like the General Assembly, has no executive authority, only advisory functions and is therefore largely insignificant in terms of realpolitik. This UN court can only become effective if it is given the mandate for binding jurisdiction and can therefore make enforceable decisions.
4. The gap between what is required and the funds available to the UN Secretary-General is widening. This year, the already pathetic budget of 3,2 billion US dollars for its worldwide initiatives is far less than the budget of the police force in the US metropolis of New York.
The small state of Bhutan in the Himalayas pays more per capita for the UN budget than the US and our country. Qatar's annual UN contribution is US$7,8 million. According to the Reuters news agency, the government in Doha is paying 500 million US dollars a week for the infrastructure for the World Cup.
The old theme: the world has more than enough money. The reallocation of this money should be undertaken as a non-negotiable requirement for human security, sustainable development and a UN as a global executive agency.
Outlook
In conclusion, I would like to assure you that I am fully aware that in the current world of state centrism and geopolitical "law of exception" there is neither the political will nor the ethical ambition to implement the UN reform proposals made here make possible.
Defeatism? This would truly be an irresponsible reaction.
I believe in the potential of the power of active civil society - here and worldwide. The urgency, mega-crises such as climate change or the inequality of life chances and the fear of the possible use of nuclear weapons in crisis situations will bring us, civil society, and many governments together to have the courage for our own reason in the best Kantian sense unfold in order to also build a UNO which, with political honesty and accountability, can become a community to which all belong.
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Background knowledge
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reaktorpleite.de
Map of the nuclear world:
The five veto powers in the UN Security Council decide everything ...
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brought the following results, among others:
October 02, 2022 - Chomsky: "Will Putin just pack up and sneak away?"
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August 07, 2022 - Real politicians not doing what is necessary
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YouTube
Keyword Search: Security Council reform proposals
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2022 - ARD: daily news - 2:12
Security Council on annexations: Russia vetoes UN resolution
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2022 - arte - With open cards - 2:30
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Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...
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Keyword search: reform of the UN Security Council
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Wikipedia
United Nations
The United Nations (short VN; English United Nations, short UN; also Organization of the United Nations (OVN) or UNO (from English United Nations Organization); French Organization des Nations unies (short ONU)) is an intergovernmental association of 193 states and as a global international organization, a fully recognized subject of international law.
According to its charter, the most important tasks of the organization are to ensure world peace, comply with international law, protect human rights and promote international cooperation. The focus is also on support in the economic, social, humanitarian and ecological areas (see also the Millennium Development Goals of the UNO).
The United Nations itself and many of its sub-organizations have received the Nobel Peace Prize for their services; taken together they are the most frequently so awarded. In 2020 it celebrated its 75th anniversary...
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United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council, often referred to as the World Security Council, is an organ of the United Nations. It consists of five permanent members (also known as P5) and ten non-permanent members (elected members) or states. The five permanent members (France, Russia, the United States, the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom) have an extended power of veto when passing resolutions and are therefore also referred to as veto powers...
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Reform of the UN Security Council
A reform of the UN Security Council has been discussed in politics and political science since the early 1990s. Ever since then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched a process to reform the United Nations in 2003, reform of the UN Security Council has been part of this debate.
A reform of the UN Security Council according to Article 108 of the UN Charter requires a two-thirds majority of the member states of the United Nations in the UN General Assembly. In addition, for such a reform to come into force, it must then be ratified by two-thirds of the UN member states and the five permanent members of the Security Council (P5). The possibility of blocking the permanent members of the Security Council makes the reform of the Security Council particularly difficult.
The changes discussed essentially cover five subject areas: categories of membership in the UN Security Council, the question of the right of veto of the five permanent members of the Security Council, the balance of regional representation, the size and functioning of the reformed Security Council and the relationship of the Security Council to the UN General Assembly ...
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Newsletter L 2022 - December 15th to 19th
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