Newsletter VI 2023

5 until 11. February

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Nuclear Power Accidents

This PDF file contains a list of accidents and releases of radioactivity. Some of this information was only made public under the most difficult of circumstances. As new information emerges, this list will be expanded and updated...

Excerpt for this month:

5. February 1958 (Broken Arrow) Tybee Island, USA

6. February 1974 (INES 5) NPP Sosnovy Bor, USSR

13. February 1950 (Broken Arrow) Princess Royal Island, CAN

16. February 2011 (INES 2) NPP Tricastin, FRA

22. February 1977 (INES 4) NPP Jaslovke Bohunice, SVK

February 2010 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Vermont Yankee, USA

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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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11. February

CO2 | Warming | geoengineering

Scientist on Geoengineering:

“We give nature a tailwind”

The geologist Maria-Elena Lieferh is developing techniques with which CO2 can be extracted from the atmosphere. She says: It doesn't work without geoengineering.

taz: Ms. Lieferh, you say it's your job to cool down the earth. How do you do that?

Maria-Elena Lieferh: The Earth pretty much knows how to cool itself. For as long as it has existed, it has itself transported carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases from the atmosphere back to the ground or water. It does this, for example, through photosynthesis, in which CO2 is converted into biomass, which eventually lies underground after the plants die. The other process is rock weathering. My working group and I have been researching this for many years - and specifically how to speed up the process.

taz: What does it mean exactly?

Rock weathering works like this: When water and CO2 meet, a weak acid is formed, namely carbonic acid. When this in turn gets to rock, it dissolves. In this reaction, CO2 turns into bicarbonate. This is a substance that can remain in water for a very long time or even become a solid mineral. Due to the mineralization, the carbon that previously heated the earth as CO2 is harmless, so to speak. We are researching how different rock types contribute to this and how we can give nature a tailwind to make this very slow process happen a little faster...

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Earthquake | Turkey | Syria

IPPNW calls for a halt to Turkish bombing and lifting of sanctions

Turkey bombs northern Syria in earthquake zone

The medical peace organization IPPNW is calling on the federal government to work with Turkey to stop Turkish artillery operations in northern Syria immediately. In addition to calling for the borders between Turkey and Syria to be opened, the German government should also work for the lifting of western sanctions against Syria. The US and EU embargo on Syria is affecting civilians across the country. The head of the Syrian Crescent, Khaled Habubati, has also called on the EU to lift its sanctions and to send aid.



"We are shocked by the devastating consequences of the earthquake for the people in Turkey and Syria. It would be a humanitarian imperative that Turkey, at least in this situation, interrupt the war and open the border crossings to Syria for aid deliveries," explains Dr. medical Angelika Claussen, Chairwoman of the IPPNW ...

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Runtime | Nuclear lobby | Blackout

Blackout Tales

The fairy tale of the supposedly impending blackout has been used for decades – whenever the nuclear lobby wants to influence political decisions. Today's "reasoning" for another lifetime extension is amazingly similar to the pro-nuclear campaigns of the past.

"There is a risk that the power grid will be completely overloaded in autumn and winter and that there will be an insufficient supply of electricity." This is how the self-proclaimed energy expert and CDU leader Friedrich Merz wrote in the Bild am Sonntag in early September 2022. The government is to blame for sticking to the nuclear phase-out.

"Habeck and the traffic lights are deliberately risking a blackout," said Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), calling for the nuclear power plants to be extended until at least 2024.

The FDP, part of the traffic light government, is also demanding that the nuclear power plants continue to run because of an alleged power shortage. Many people are unsettled, power generators and crank radios sell like hotcakes...

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Korea nuclear weapons | Armor Lobby

Debate in South Korea

Give Kim nuclear counters?

A sentence by South Korea's President Yoon has sparked a debate about whether the country should adopt nuclear weapons because of North Korea's armament. Yoon rowed back again. But the advocates of nuclear weapons smell dawn.

Since taking office in May 2022, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has repeatedly made a faux pas, making a thoughtless statement here and there that his staff then had to catch up on. This was also the case in mid-January, when Yoon went so far as to say: "If the problem (with North Korea) gets worse, we might have to have our own nuclear weapons."

He left open whether he meant own production or a renewed stationing of US weapons, as they had been up to 1991, and spoke of a future scenario. But still the topic was in the world.

Daehan Lee from the South Korean Forum for Nuclear Strategy, a lobby group for nuclear armament that was founded at the end of 2022, is of course pleased: "Our request ended up with the president faster than we thought." ...

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10. February

Ukraine war | Wagenknecht | negotiation peace | delivery of weapons

"Manifesto for Peace"

Telepolis documents: Call by Alice Schwarzer and Sahra Wagenknecht against further military escalation. For solidarity with the population and against "escalation of arms deliveries".

Today is the 352nd day of the war in Ukraine. Over 200.000 soldiers and 50.000 civilians have been killed so far. Women were raped, children frightened, an entire people traumatized. If the fighting continues like this, Ukraine will soon be a depopulated, devastated country. And many people across Europe are also afraid of an escalation of the war. They fear for their and their children's future...

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Asse II nuclear waste storage facility | Repository | Interim storage

Nuclear waste dump drowns:

Problems in the Asse are piling up

The nuclear waste in the Asse should be taken out. And then come to an interim storage facility. Where should that be and how long until the repository?

GOETTINGEN taz | The number of participants - in person and online - was manageable when the Federal Agency for Disposal (BGE) informed on Thursday evening under the unadorned title "Betreff: Asse" what they believe has happened in 2022 around the nuclear waste storage facility in the Wolfenbüttel district . And what she, as the operator of the plant, is planning this year to stabilize the dilapidated pit and to prepare for the retrieval of the radioactive waste stored deep below.

[...]

Last year, around 5.000 cubic meters of salt water flowed into the mine through cracks in the salt and in the subterranean mountains. Most of it is captured before it comes into contact with the stored radioactive waste. After all, according to the BGE, the amount of saline solution seeping into the Asse at the main collection point decreased last year – from around 12,5 cubic meters a day to around 11,5 cubic meters a day. The cause of the decline is currently unclear. However, around 15 liters per day also seep through the emplacement chambers and are contaminated by radioactive substances, mainly by tritium and cesium-137...

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Nuclear waste | Interim storage | Search for a repository

Repository search: How long can nuclear waste remain in the interim storage facility?

The search for a repository will be delayed by several decades. The nuclear waste will therefore remain in the interim storage facilities for much longer. But their safety certificates are not designed for this.

There are currently 237 casks with high-level radioactive waste in the interim storage facilities in Lower Saxony. Half of it is located on the premises of the shut down Unterweser and Grohnde nuclear power plants and the still operating nuclear power plant in Lingen. The other more than hundred nuclear waste containers are in the central interim storage facility in Gorleben. These interim storage facilities are actually only intended as an interim solution until there is a final storage facility. But if this is not finished until around four decades later, this will also have consequences for the interim storage facilities, says Wolfram König, President of the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) on NDR ...

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Media | climate issues | TV

Broadcasting time for the climate:

The television sets climate issues

According to a study by the University of Hamburg, the climate is now a frequent topic on public television. Does that do justice to the climate crisis?

[...]

A team of four communication scientists from the University of Hamburg has investigated how often the public television stations in particular have taken this huge task into account and addressed the climate. The result: In the overall program of the first, ZDF and WDR television, climate reporting has increased in the last two years. The “Tagesschau” has been talking about the climate crisis more and more frequently since 2018. Until then, however, it was hardly an issue, and even now there is still "a lot of room for improvement", as the study says ...

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Bundesrat | Whistleblower

Federal Council overturns whistleblower law

The Bundesrat overturns the whistleblower law passed by the Bundestag in December. It provided for extended protection and more contact points for such whistleblowers. For some, however, the regulations went too far.

The Federal Council has stopped the so-called whistleblower law. In December, the Bundestag had already passed the law. In the state chamber, however, it did not receive the necessary majority. It is intended to provide better protection against reprisals for people who report abuses in authorities or companies. Germany is thus complying with an EU directive that should have been implemented since December 2021.

The Bavarian Minister of Justice Georg Eisenreich (CSU) said that there was agreement that there should be protection for whistleblowers and that the corresponding EU directive had to be implemented. But one cannot agree to the law in the present form ...

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Nord Stream 2 | fact check

balloons and bombs

Major US media ignores the Hersh report. With us, they subject him to a fact check without checked facts.

[...]

The fact that Russia was supplying Germany with cheap gas has always been a thorn in the side of the US government, especially now with the war in Ukraine. Since the bang, we've been buying gas in America, which is expensive. In return, German companies are still not allowed to deliver to American companies that have government contracts, because, America First! The United States has always been rumored to be behind the attack, but Hersh is the first journalist to openly claim it.

Hersh is America's most famous investigative journalist, unlike Bob Woodward, who is only a stenographer, or Ronan Farrow, who is more likely to work off his Oedipus complex. He exposed the massacre at My Lai - for which he received the Pulitzer Prize - torture at Abu Ghraib, the secret Israeli nuclear weapons program and the neocon intrigues at the Pentagon.

[...]

Of course, for political or pragmatic reasons, it's a good thing that Nord Stream was forcibly shut down because of Putin and stuff, especially as an American — although then you really shouldn't be giving oil money to the sheikhs in Saudi Arabia. Whether or not Hersh's story is true is an entirely different question. Otherwise, with Palmstrom, you end up saying that what shouldn't be can't be.

We can be glad that the balloon from China didn't appear over Hamburg, otherwise the rabbit-footed press would probably speculate whether they didn't just imagine the sighting. Don't look up! And that our phones have spy technology built into them is just another conspiracy theory.

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LNG liquefied gas | Methane | gas price

LNG: How much liquid gas is currently arriving in Germany?

Also because of the Ukraine war, Germany is now increasingly relying on liquid gas for its energy supply. The first LNG terminals in the north are in operation - the import volume is steadily increasing.

Floating terminals are to supply Germany with liquefied natural gas (LNG): Two are already in operation and others are under construction or in the planning stage. Regular operation has already begun in Wilhelmshaven, and natural gas from Lubmin is also flowing into the German grid from so-called Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRU) on a test basis. On January 20th, the floating LNG terminal "Höegh Gannet" in Brunsbüttel was officially received. Regular operations are scheduled to start in February.

[...]

The LNG share of all natural gas imports to Germany is still small. However, it should rise as more liquid gas terminals are connected. If all six decided floating terminals are operational towards the end of 2023, they would have a total capacity of around 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas. This corresponds to about a third of the amount that was imported in 2021 according to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection...

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Photovoltaics | Electricity grid Bavaria | Bureaucracy

Too much photovoltaics: Bavarian power grid at the limit

The regional power grid in Bavaria is at the limit of its capacity in many places. The reason: the large expansion of photovoltaic systems. In the Nördlinger Ries, even medium-sized photovoltaic systems can no longer be connected to the grid.

"I think it's going to blow my mind!" That was his first reaction, says Axel Güthner. The boss of an iron and plumbing wholesaler wanted to install a photovoltaic system on the roof of his company in Oettingen in the district of Donau-Ries - with an output of 300 kW. A medium sized property, nothing unusual these days. But from Netze ODR, the network operator in the Nördlinger Ries, there was a refusal.

The planned photovoltaic system cannot be connected to the power grid. The reason: the power grid in the region is busy. The small systems on the roofs of private houses could still be connected to the grid, but the larger systems can no longer, according to the network operator...

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9. February

Earthquake | Turkey | Akkuyu

Turkey is building a nuclear power plant in the earthquake area

Turkey's only nuclear power plant under construction was also affected by the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria on Monday. Critics are now calling for a thorough review.

A nuclear power plant in an earthquake zone inevitably brings back memories of the Fukushima disaster. The Akkuyu nuclear power plant is being built just 600 kilometers from the epicenter of the quake on Monday and will eventually have four reactors. According to the Russian manufacturer Rosatom, the power plant should be able to withstand vibrations up to a magnitude of 6,5 on the Richter scale.

The Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant is located near a geological fault zone, the East Anatolian Fault. The region is considered endangered because the small Anatolian plate is wedged almost like a wedge between the Arabian plate, which is pushing from the south, and the Eurasian plate, which is to the north...

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Federation of Nature Conservation | Greenwashing | traffic streets

New roads harm the climate more than expected

The climate damage caused by road construction projects is much higher than previously assumed. This is the result of a study commissioned by the Bund Naturschutz (BN), which examined four road construction projects in Franconia and Swabia in more detail.

The result of the report is clear: The Federal Transport Routes Plan calculates the consequences of road construction projects for the climate nicely. The consulting firm Regioconsult prepared the short study on behalf of the Bund Naturschutz. "We assume that the plan with its road construction projects is illegal because it does not calculate the climate impact correctly," said Werner Reh, spokesman for the BUND traffic working group.

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Greenpeace | Lawsuit EU taxonomy | the European Commission

Greenpeace announces lawsuit against classification of nuclear and gas as green

The objection is followed by a lawsuit: Greenpeace wants to appeal the new EU taxonomy rules before the ECJ in April. They classify gas and nuclear power as climate-friendly.

The environmental organization Greenpeace has announced a lawsuit against the classification of gas and nuclear power in the EU as sustainable. In April, Greenpeace will file a lawsuit with the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg in connection with the so-called taxonomy regulation, the environmental organization announced ...

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Climate protection | Climate dirt lobby | Lobbying

How climate protection is slowed down

In order to mitigate climate change, CO2 must be reduced. But the phase-out of coal in particular shows that we could have made much more progress if influential interest groups from business, society and politics did not step on the brakes.

With every revolution, the mighty rotors of the wind turbine generate electricity. Wind turbines now cover almost a quarter of Germany's electricity needs. The proportion could be significantly higher - if renewable energies had continued to be promoted as at the beginning. According to the Federal Environment Agency, we don't have an energy crisis despite the Russian war.

But there was and still is an interest in climate protection not progressing too quickly. The journalist Annika Joeres calls them "the brakemen" and describes them in her book 'The Climate Dirt Lobby': "This is the group made up of managers in business, but also politicians who have always advocated, for example, that the Coal plants running as long as possible, or that have prevented renewable energy from expanding. That's the very influential group that has prevented a lot of progressive things in the past few years." ...

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Nord Stream 2 | Sabotage

Seymour Hersh: US behind Nord Stream sabotage

The renowned US journalist Hersh accuses the Biden administration of having blown up the Baltic Sea pipelines. According to a source familiar with the plan. The White House speaks of "invention". About an explosive story.

The reporting by Pulitzer Prize winner and investigative US journalist Seymour Hersh on the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea is increasing the pressure on the US government. In an article published on the Substack platform in the US yesterday, Hersh accuses the Biden administration of being behind the blast...

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climate economy | energy crisis | Save energy

The energy crisis could have a doubly favorable outcome for the climate and the economy

Study retrospectively calculates outages of Russian gas and oil for 2022

Since the Russian attack on Ukraine almost a year ago, there has been no shortage of pessimistic climate and economic forecasts: geopolitical tensions could overshadow the fight against global warming, and oil and gas price shocks could ruin our prosperity . But a new study based on a respected economic equilibrium model thinks the opposite is conceivable: a win-win situation for the climate and the economy. The study was created with a view to CO2 emissions and gross domestic product and the ambitious EU-wide savings and published on February 06.02.2023th, XNUMX Nature Climate Change. The Berlin climate research institute MCC (Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change) was involved ...

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8. February

Wind energy | traffic light coalition | expedite lawsuits

New law for more wind power:

Are traffic lights slowing down the energy transition?

The traffic light actually wants to build more wind turbines. But residents often complain. Justice Minister Buschmann wants to change that - with a law that has been criticized.

... The traffic light actually wants to get rid of this problem. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) is responsible for the delivery. He has introduced legislation to speed up lawsuits against wind turbines.

[...]

If you believe the verdict of the experts, the FDP minister Buschmann, of all people, has given the "Germany speed" a speed limit. The traffic light coalition has now tabled an amendment. Whether this can eliminate the shortcomings of the draft law will be seen on Friday at the earliest. Then the law is to be passed in the Bundestag.

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Africa | Russia | China | United States

diplomacy

Africa: Russia, China and the USA compete for influence

Cape Town/Moscow (dpa) - Russia, China, USA - all want to expand their influence in Africa. The more relations between the great powers deteriorate, the more they vie for the continent, which is rich in mineral resources and growth potential. "Africa has become an arena for competition between world powers," says Jakkie Cilliers, political analyst at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in South Africa. "It's a huge diplomatic game."

Actually, every great power is concerned with something different. As Africa's largest investor and trading partner, China is primarily interested in importing raw materials. The US wants to prevent Africa from becoming too closely allied with China. And Moscow?

Russia sees Africa as an instrument in the fight against the West, especially since the start of the aggressive war against Ukraine. To this end, Moscow is trying to put itself at the forefront of the anti-colonial movement ...

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Hydrogen | CO2 emission | climate-neutral industry

decarbonization of the economy

From gray to green steel

The Scientific Advisory Board of the Economics Ministry advises that a climate-neutral industry in Germany should be established primarily via green lead markets. The committee is quite skeptical about climate protection agreements between the state and companies – for example for green steel.

In order to become climate-neutral, it is not enough to power cars with green electricity or heat buildings with green heat. The car or the house itself must also "green".

Car manufacturers are currently grazing the steel industry in search of green sheet metal. The steel required for this is no longer to be produced with coke and coal, but primarily with green hydrogen, if available.

From 2025, such vehicles with green steel under the paint should come onto the market and, according to current estimates, be 300 to 700 euros more expensive than today. In view of the price increases in the car industry, this is a rather negligible factor.

In terms of climate policy, there is no real alternative to switching to green steel. Steel currently causes 30 percent of German CO2 emissions in industry. If you add other raw materials from the cement or chemical industry, this adds up to almost two-thirds of the industrial emissions of currently around 180 million tons of CO2 annually ...

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Nuclear waste | Repository | Konrad shaft

Schacht Konrad: Alliance calls for the end of repository construction

The Konrad shaft in Salzgitter has long been approved as a repository for low-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste - and is currently under construction. The resistance to this is great. A broad alliance is calling for the building to be halted.

District administrators, mayors and mayors from the Salzgitter area want to present an appeal to the red-green state government in Hanover today. According to the initiative, this should act on the federal government and help prevent the Konrad mine from becoming a nuclear waste repository. The representatives of the municipalities are convinced that the Konrad mine would no longer be approved as a repository site by today's standards...

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Global Warming | Climate conference | CO2 concentration

An oil sheik will be president of the next UN climate change conference

So far, the world community has completely failed to create climate protection. As late as the 90s, warnings were given that exceeding 400 ppm CO2 concentration in the atmosphere was life-threatening for human civilization. At this point the CO2 concentration was already around 360 ppm. Today we are at 420 ppm and in fact the weather catastrophes have already taken on catastrophic proportions with many deaths in several parts of the world.

We are approaching the crossing of the planet into an uncontrollable hot period of the earth with over 2°C global warming above the pre-industrial level and the associated end of all human civilization ...

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Climate policy | Coal exit | PIK | Climate research

Global phase-out of coal not possible without a change in strategy

According to climate researchers at PIK, a worldwide phase-out of coal is only possible with much stronger climate policy measures and only in cooperation with China. Carbon pricing and phasing out coal mining would be effective measures.

In a recent study on the global energy future, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the University of Potsdam found that current climate policies, including efforts such as the Powering Past Coal Alliance, are insufficient to bring about a global coal phase-out...

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7. February

Lobbying | European Union | Secret Laws

lobbying in the EU

Secret EU legislation: we file a complaint!

Important negotiation documents must be made available in good time

Far too often, the European Union refuses or delays the release of important documents about the negotiations between the EU Commission, the EU Parliament and the member states (trialogue). This is a gateway for lobbying. This happened to us most recently with the Digital Markets Act, which is intended to limit the power of large digital corporations. Our request for documents, with which we wanted to understand the progress of the largely secret negotiations, was initially rejected, then delayed and only answered after the negotiations had been concluded.

breach of disclosure requirements

The European Parliament has thus breached its obligation to disclose the requested documents. We therefore ask the EU Ombudsman to investigate this abuse...

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Nuclear waste | Würgassen | Grafenrheinfeld | Ahaus

The first nuclear waste transport rolls to Grafenrheinfeld in February

The announcement to bring nuclear waste from Würgassen to Grafenrheinfeld caused discussions in the Schweinfurt region. Exactly what the critics are saying.

Now it's official: Parts of the nuclear waste from the dismantled Würgassen nuclear power plant in North Rhine-Westphalia are going to the interim storage facility in Grafenrheinfeld (district of Schweinfurt). The first of the controversial transports rolls to Lower Franconia in mid-February, as reported by the nuclear power plant operator Preussen-Elektra. The company does not want to give the exact date ...

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Italy | Enel | solar panel production

Enel expands Sicilian solar module factory to become the largest in Europe

The Italian energy group Enel wants to expand its plant for the production of 3Sun solar modules in Sicily, which will become the largest factory in Europe.

The 3Sun factory in the Sicilian city of Catania is already one of the largest solar panel manufacturing facilities in Europe and the first of its kind in Europe to mass-produce panels that capture solar energy from both sides.

According to Enel, the factory, which currently has a production capacity of around 200 megawatts per year, is to expand its production of photovoltaic modules to 2024 gigawatts by July 3.

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Nuclear storage facility Würgassen | Transportation

Nuclear storage facility Würgassen: Report criticizes transport connections

On Tuesday, the "nuclear-free 3-country triangle" initiative presented a new report on the planned nuclear waste logistics center in Würgassen. Therein the transport connection is criticized.

The experts from a consulting firm for traffic and environmental management came to the conclusion that neither the road nor the rail connection in the Weserbergland are suitable for the transport of nuclear waste. Streets are sometimes too narrow, the railway line is only one track, although two tracks are required for the transport of nuclear waste. There are also dilapidated bridges. These points of criticism are not new, but they have been examined in detail by an expert for the first time. The Federal Agency for Interim Storage (BGZ) ignored these shortcomings in its Würgassen plans, the experts criticize ...

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Siemens Energy | Rosatom | nukem | Framatome

Consequences of the attack on Ukraine:

Associations criticism of Siemens Energy

The Urgewald organization demands that the energy company should no longer do business with the Russian company Rosatom.

Kyiv taz | Can a company like Siemens Energy work with a partner in the Russian defense industry that is also involved in the war of aggression against Ukraine? ask environmental groups like Urgewald, Ecodefense, Friends of the Earth and the Critical Shareholders. And answer your question with a resounding no. In a joint statement, they protested against the energy company's business relations with the Russian nuclear agency Rosatom in view of the Siemens Energy shareholders' meeting on Tuesday.

Together with its French partner Framatome, Siemens Energy is supplying "Instrumentation & Control (I&C) systems" for Russian reactors, according to the environmental groups. These highly complex systems form the control center of a reactor. In the newer generation of reactors from Rosatom, WWER-1200, the Teleperm XS process control system from Siemens Energy has already been used in the Russian reactors Novovoronezh II and Leningrad II. According to the environmentalists, there are also indications that Siemens Energy technology was used for the third VVER 1200 reactor that has already been completed in Ostrovets I in Belarus. The Russian pressurized water reactor VVER-1200 with a nominal electrical output of 1.200 megawatts went into operation for the first time in 2017 and is a further development of the Soviet reactor VVER-1000.

Environmentalists not only criticize the cooperation between Siemens Energy and Rosatom, but also in Lingen, Lower Saxony. The fuel element factory located there belongs to the French company Framatome. And according to the Russian environmentalist and winner of the alternative Nobel Prize, Vladimir Slivjak, it receives uranium from Russia. Slivjak also criticizes the fact that the company Nukem is a Rosatom company operating in Germany...

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North Korea nuclear program | cyber attack

Money for nuclear program

North Korea's hackers capture more than a billion dollars

According to the United Nations, North Korea finances its own nuclear program through organized cybercrime. $1,2 billion is said to have been stolen in the past six years.

Nuclear weapons are said to be North Korea's deterrent against the West. Weapon systems are tested again and again, the past year was marked by various rocket launches under the leadership of Kim Jong Un. An internal report by the United Nations now shows how the venture is financed - namely through hacker raids and cyber attacks ...

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Battery | nuclear power plant site | Power storage

Creative nuclear power plant "continue" use

Bayern-SPD wants large power storage at previous nuclear power plant locations

The Bavarian SPD state chairman Florian von Brunn calls for the construction of large electricity storage systems at old nuclear power plant sites - and accuses the state government of inactivity in this area as well. Because even if the nuclear reactors Grafenrheinfeld (photo), Gundremmingen and Isar near Landshut were shut down, the power lines leading there would remain in place for the time being. Therefore, according to the Bavarian SPD leader Florian von Brunn, the power plant locations would be particularly good locations for large electricity storage ...

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6. February

United States | explosion hazard | train wreck

Danger of explosion after train accident in USA

A freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in Ohio, US, at risk of explosion. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine urged everyone within a mile (1,6 km) of the scene of the accident to evacuate their homes.

One of the tank wagons on the derailed train was about to explode after an extreme rise in temperature, sources said. Splinters could fly up to a mile as a result. In addition, there is a high probability that toxic gases could be released ...

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Earthquake | Turkey | Syria

Disaster in Turkey and Syria:

The monster quake

Heavy earthquakes in the Turkish-Syrian border area kill more than 2.000 people. The tremors are among the worst ever measured.

Most people who woke up at XNUMX a.m. in Turkey and Syria to the ominously shaking ground beneath their feet looked to Twitter first. Even before there were official announcements, the full extent of the horror showed up here every second. "Adana, it's shaking", then "Ankara, earthquake", then "Diyarbakır, here too". Mersin, Iskenderun, Malatya, Kahramanmaras, Gaziantep Kahta and Urfa followed. Within an hour it was clear that there had been deaths in a total of ten cities in Turkey...

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Denmark | North Sea | CCS | Storage of CO₂

250 kilometers off the coast

Denmark allows CO₂ storage under the North Sea

The Danish government has given several companies the green light to store CO₂ under the seabed. It's about millions of tons of carbon dioxide a year.

Denmark has issued initial permits to allow companies to store CO₂ under the seabed of the North Sea on a larger scale. The Danish Ministry of Climate announced on Monday that the approvals went to the TotalEnergies group and a consortium of the companies Ineos and Wintershall Dea. So the work could start immediately...

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investment expansion | renewable energy

Electricity generation in particular costs money

Germany needs 600 billion euros for a speedy energy transition

In Germany, the pace of expansion of renewable energies is lacking considerably, that's a well-known fact. The Progress Monitor Energiewende reveals that there is also a significant lack of investment. Around 55 billion euros would be needed annually, and a fraction of that will be spent in 2021. The goals seem far away.

According to a study, an estimated 2030 billion euros will be needed by 602 for a rapid energy transition. That would be 54 to 57 billion euros annually, according to the new “Energy Transition Progress Monitor”, which the energy industry and the management consultancy EY presented. In 2021, however, only 14,5 billion euros were invested. The industry therefore called on politicians to remove obstacles ...

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Armor Lobby | FDP Strack-Zimmermann

Tamedia covers up Strack-Zimmermann's conflicts of interest

Tages-Anzeiger, Bund etc. portrayed the FDP politician without naming her military-political commitments.

She was "Scholz's most powerful opponent", headlined the Tamedia newspapers on February 3rd. The FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann criticized "the Chancellor's hesitancy more severely than any opposition". The Berlin correspondent Dominique Eigenmann described the 64-year-old as "quick witted and argumentative, factual and competent". Critics believe that Strack-Zimmermann speaks less factually than emotionally.

The Tamedia newspapers continued to write that anyone who expressed an opinion would "talk Germany into a military conflict", as did the "confessed pacifist Rolf Münzenich", who does not criticize the FDP woman, but he "etches ».

The Tamedia newspapers ignore their involvement in military-political organizations. In just one sentence did Eigenmann mention that "others" would try to "defame her as a defense industry lobbyist"...

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Siemens | ROSATOM | nuclear weapons company

The nuclear pact with the devil - Siemens Energy must end its business relationship with ROSATOM immediately

At tomorrow's Annual General Meeting of Siemens Energy, urgewald, Friends of the Earth Europe, the umbrella organization of critical shareholders and the Russian environmental NGO Ecodefense criticized the company for its continued business relationship with the Russian state-owned nuclear energy company ROSATOM. These have apparently remained unaffected by Siemens Energy's Russia exit, although ROSATOM is even directly involved in the war against Ukraine. Siemens Energy must terminate these transactions immediately.

ROSATOM reports directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin and comprises a good 350 subsidiaries. According to its own statements, the company is currently planning and building 34 reactors worldwide and is supplying 75 with fuel. In addition, ROSATOM is responsible for the development and production of Russian nuclear weapons. All of this makes ROSATOM one of the Kremlin's most powerful tools for its geopolitical endeavours. Since there have been no sanctions against the Russian nuclear sector so far, ROSATOM can operate largely unmolested...

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Climate change | water supply | Drought flood

New measurement data shows that climate change is having devastating effects on water supply

Climate change affects the water cycle and thus leads to changes in the discharge of rivers and streams. However, the aquatic ecosystems react far more sensitively to progressive global warming than previously thought - this is now shown by new data analyzes by the Vienna University of Technology.

The impacts of climate change are far-reaching: rising temperatures, the increase and intensification of natural disasters, rising sea levels and profound changes in ecosystems. Above all, aquatic ecosystems are affected by the effects of global warming. The consequences include different precipitation patterns and evaporation processes, which in turn change the flow of rivers and streams.

Now, however, new data analyzes by the Technical University (TU) Vienna show that the water ecosystems react more sensitively than expected to the changing climate parameters. In addition, the risk of local water crises such as floods or droughts is higher than previous forecasts suggested...

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06. February 1974 (INES 4-5) NPP Sosnovy Bor, USSR

Wikipedia

Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant

The first accident occurred on February 6, 1974, in the first year of operation. In Unit 1, the heat exchanger broke due to boiling water. Radioactive water from the primary circuit was released into the environment along with highly radioactive filter sludge. Three people died as a result of burns from boiling water. (INES: 4-5)

Soon after, in October 1975, the next accident happened in Block 1 of the power plant. Several fuel elements melted and the reactor core was partially destroyed ...

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernkraftwerk_Leningrad

- - 

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Shortly after commissioning, two serious accidents occurred at the reactor, both of which were classified as INES levels 4-5 (accident/serious accident).

After a gas container that was supposed to hold back radioactive gases was destroyed on January 7, 1974, a serious accident occurred shortly thereafter. On February 6, 1974, the reactor's intermediate circuit broke because it accidentally contained boiling water. Three employees lost their lives, and high-level radioactive water and radioactive sludge from filter powder were released into the environment. In the second serious accident in October 1975, the core of the reactor was partially destroyed, after which 1,5 million curies of radioactive substances were released into the environment ...

https://atomkraftwerkeplag.fandom.com/de/wiki/Leningrad_(Russland)

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5. February

FDP | progress technology | Climate protection

The garbage of the FDP

"Advanced technologies" should be able to assert themselves in free competition. When it comes to climate protection, nuclear energy, nuclear fusion, e-fuels and CCS are particularly important to them. The “Eco-Logical” column.

The FDP Presidium has called for a "principle of freedom of technology" to be enshrined in law. "Advanced technologies" should therefore be able to assert themselves in free competition. For climate protection, they highlight four loser technologies of all things: nuclear energy, nuclear fusion, e-fuels and CCS.

While the search for a repository for 60 years of nuclear waste has just been pushed back by decades, the FDP is banking on the development of new nuclear power plants. But they would have the old safety problems, would come far too late for climate protection and could only be built with many billions of government subsidies.

Even after 50 years of technological development, nuclear fusion's billion-dollar grave only works in the laboratory, in a millimeter-small chamber under extreme conditions and for a fraction of a second. The FDP calls for the development of a German nuclear fusion reactor. The walls and materials would have to withstand extremely high loads. An amount of energy would be released per second that corresponds to a medium-sized bomb or 250 kg of TNT. Maybe someone in 1000 years will have an idea how this is supposed to work

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Energy transition | Wind turbines | Scholz Renewable

Chancellor Scholz wants four to five new wind turbines a day

Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to step on the gas in the expansion of wind power in Germany. In the future, the federal states should report monthly on the progress, the head of government announced.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced a nationwide plan to expand wind power. "We're tackling the expansion with military precision: we're currently drawing up a timetable of what new plants have to be built by when so that we can achieve our goals for 2030," he told the "Bild am Sonntag". "Every month there will be a discussion with the countries about how far they have progressed. Anything that is not done on time must be made up for. By 2030, there will be an average of four to five wind turbines a day on land."

Output is to be doubled by 2030

According to industry information, there are currently more than 28.000 wind turbines on land in Germany with a total output of around 58 gigawatts. The federal government's goal is an installed capacity of 115 gigawatts by 2030. Onshore wind power plays a key role in the energy transition, the replacement of fossil energies such as coal with renewable energies from wind and sun ...

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Nuclear power plant Emsland | Cracks | aired

Last restart of the nuclear power plant Emsland - superfluous and risky

All three nuclear power plants have been running all winter only for export and do not contribute to security of supply in the country. Again, crack checks are no longer carried out.

After a 15-day break during which the fuel elements in the reactor core were rearranged, the Emsland nuclear power plant is scheduled to go back on the grid for the last time this Sunday evening (February 5.2), according to information broadcast by . Armin Simon from the anti-nuclear organization explains: “The restart of the Emsland nuclear power plant is an absolutely unnecessary risk for the entire region and superfluous in terms of energy. The Federal Network Agency recently confirmed that security of supply was and is guaranteed even without any nuclear power plants. A look at the electricity statistics shows that the nuclear power plants in Germany have been running all winter long for export...

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Climate change | Sea level | Atlantic coast

French Atlantic coast

Climate change: block of flats must give way

The end of a holiday dream: the first holiday apartment block on the French Atlantic coast has to be demolished due to erosion.

The direct view of the Atlantic and the short distance to the water have brought holiday joy to the residents of the "Le Signal" apartment complex in French Soulac-sur-Mer for decades. Starting Monday, excavators will level the building, which was built in 1967. It is also climate change that ends the dream of summer and sun for the 78 apartment owners ...

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CO2 | raw material | carbon

Air becomes carbon - research for climate protection

In order to contain the climate crisis, a lot of CO2 has to be removed from the atmosphere. One approach comes from Karlsruhe, where high-tech raw materials are made from air - which are also...

Karlsruhe (dpa) - . Even a light breeze is enough to blow away the black powder.

It is the high-tech raw material carbon black that researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) literally made from air. They use an apparatus to extract climate-damaging CO2 from the ambient air and use it to produce carbon. Carbon black is not everything, as Benjamin Dietrich from the KIT Institute for Thermal Process Engineering says. Depending on the temperature and pressure, graphite and graphene could also be produced - materials coveted in the industry.

[...]

According to Dietrich, it is also conceivable to clean up emissions from the chemical industry, for example, using a scrubbing system that is standard there and to lead the CO2 filtered out in this way directly into the second step of the NECOC process, i.e. methanation. But that's not really the solution for the future, because then work should be done without fossil carbon sources as far as possible - keyword decarbonization. "There must be fewer chimneys if we want to achieve climate change," emphasizes Purr ...

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05. February 1958 (Broken Arrow) Tybee Island, GA, USA

Wikipedia

Tybee bomb

The Tybee Bomb is a 3,5 ton Mark 15 hydrogen bomb that was lost on February 5, 1958 near Tybee Island off Savannah, Georgia. After a US Air Force Strategic Air Command Boeing B-47 bomber collided with an F-86 during a mid-air training flight, the commander had to drop the bomb to land the plane safely...

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tybee-Bombe

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Accidents

Between 1950 and 1980, 32 accidents involving American nuclear weapons alone were reported. According to research by Eric Schlosser, between 1950 and 1968 the US government recorded at least 700 "significant" accidents and incidents involving around 1250 nuclear weapons. In the 1950s and 1960s in particular, many weapons had to be dropped from bombers during forced landings. Some of the weapons were never recovered because they were dropped (but not detonated) in the oceans. Greenpeace estimates that around 50 nuclear bombs were lost. The US officially misses eleven bombs. Radioactive contamination was detected in several cases...

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernwaffe#Unfälle

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Current news+

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war peace | Armor madness | Warmonger

War is peace, peace is war

Europe, the USA, but above all Germany are hopelessly underequipped for the steel storm that is apparently looming. What's going on? Could it be that some kind of collective madness has brushed reason aside?

I open the newspapers, read: "Habeck is pushing Scholz in the tank debate", read: "Europe needs more armaments factories", read: "Europe is preparing for the event of war", read: "We have to switch to a war economy", read: "100 Billions will not be enough!”, read: “You need 300 billion special assets for the Bundeswehr”.

This is what Eva Högl, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, demands, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg apodictically demands that arms production be “raised”. He recalls that the United States went into World War II with fewer than 2000 aircraft and then built 300 by the end: something like this has to be done, says the social democrat. Ammunition is needed, no matter what the cost – namely: subito!

Like 1914

And the Greens, who for many years wanted to create peace without weapons, let Sara Nanni, ombudswoman for this militant ex-peace party on the Defense Committee, say that if you want peace, you have to “invest in security. In the next few years we have to ramp up production”. At NATO it says in a nutshell: "We need new armaments factories!"

Because, as Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in front of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, "we are waging a war against Russia," and she stated in Orwellian fashion: "Weapons save lives!"

These thoughts of this minister for the extreme, thought through to the end: war is peace. peace is war

Berlin, Sportpalast, 1943: "Total war - shortest war!"

Katrin Göring-Eckhardt, 2023: "Leopard's freed!"

Such a naïve, childlike enthusiasm for war has existed before - most recently in 1914.

And what Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), chairwoman of the Defense Committee, demands: I don't want to mention that, it would throw me into depression.

A break in the epoch! exclaims the Federal President. A turning point! exclaims the Federal Chancellor. We can't help it. We, Europe, the USA, but above all Germany are hopelessly underequipped for the steel storm that is apparently looming.

What's going on? Could it be that some kind of collective madness has brushed reason aside?

342 billion is not enough?

Beyond the emotions, the murmuring, a cool look at the current numbers, I know it's no use, nevertheless: in 2021 the states spent over two trillion US dollars on the military, more than ever before.

A number of impressive length: $2.113.000.000.000.

The United States has the largest share of these expenditures (these are figures from the renowned Stockholm research institute SIPRI) with over 800 billion US dollars, which is 38 percent of all arms expenditure worldwide.

In other words, the US spent about as much on its war armaments as the following ten countries in the armaments rankings: China squandered 293 billion US dollars, India 76,6 billion; UK $68,4 billion; Russia is 5th with $65,9 billion; France 56,6 billion, Germany 56 billion dollars.

The European NATO countries alone invested more than 2021 billion US dollars in their armed forces in 342 - more than five times the Russian defense budget.

And then HofreiterScholzHabeckHöglStrack-ZimmermannNouripourMerzvonderLeyenSöderBaerbockPistorius tell me nonstop: We have to put more money into the armaments!

Asked polemically, no, full of desperation: is it still possible?

Yes it does, and how. I just heard the press reviews on DLF. All, without exception, all commentators quoted are drumming for: leopards, Leos off to the Ukraine, good, right, even heavier weapons are needed, maybe, why not: fighter jets. rockets. submarines. warships.

All lessons from the Second World War – ruthlessly disposed of. The suffering and horror – forgotten.

Emigrate? To where?

It is (almost) only war propaganda that comes my way from the radio and the print media around the clock, a staccato of orders, demands, requests: more weapons. More money for armor. Strong army.

The Frankfurt "Institute for Social Research" was founded almost exactly 100 years ago - also as a reaction to the devastation of the First World War. Its representatives, such as Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse, Erich Fromm, Theodor W. Adorno believed that a better, even more social and peaceful world was possible.

That's what they wrote for. And they were read, discussed, even worshiped - especially by those, such as the Green Alternatives aD, who today worship something else with almost religious zeal: weapons. Weapons of all kinds. And trampling on the dreams of your youth - is there anything sadder?

If you look at the reality today, the many words and clever thoughts, the thoughtful essays and analytical writings of the critical theorists have brought nothing at all. They would probably despair of this history-forgotten enthusiasm for weapons that is now so offensive - and emigrate again. Only: where to?

The new "position paper" of the SPD, which this party recently presented, also fits in with this desperation. It gets rid of all remnants of a desire for peace, and in terms of foreign policy takes up many of the ideas that once cost Federal President Horst Köhler the office (the times were probably very different back then): that Germany should appear and act more aggressively abroad, in line with its economic size. Farewell to restraint. We are who again.

Wait, the SPD has not yet fully surrendered to the ominous spirit of the turn of the century.

Fighter jets will come, missiles will be supplied, warships, everything

The SPD-Left, which has effectively ceased to exist for many years, has won a significant victory in this paper. The brave left-wing comrades (who have actually not existed for many years) were allowed to replace the word "leadership power" desired by chairman Lars Klingbeil with the word: "Fühlingslolle". I mean, of course, “leadership”.

step away.

stood still.

Listen.

Deutschlandfunk: "Information at noon." Today, once again, 25 minutes non-stop, how should I call it, agitation for Leo tanks and other war equipment deliveries to the Ukraine. In addition, suggestive questions of this kind: "Did we hesitate too long?" "The chancellor announced the turning point, but did he also carry it out?" "Did the chancellor isolate Germany with his long hesitation on the tank question?" supposed to deliver heavier weapons months ago?" "Aren't we unnecessarily afraid of being drawn into the war?"

Always this national community “We”.

These friendly questions to the always the same tank export-friendly experts who belong to all think tanks or foundations whose financing interests always remain anonymous are opinion-driven, mood-enhancing, for me: almost unbearable (even purely technical).

Just a side note: the Ukraine reporting has the same morally exaggerated and exaggerated tone of urgency as the corona pandemic. Objection? contradictions? nuances? Undesirable.

Instead: constant escalation. Verbal upgrade. With no thought as to where this may lead.

It is foreseeable: China will not want to let Russia “lose”. China will, sooner or later, support Russia with arms. China also has to test its war equipment under real conditions: before it comes to a showdown with the USA.

Suddenly the question in your head: How does it feel when a war is announced?

Maybe like this?

A small company of Knobelbecher journalists, Sabine Adler (DLF), a colleague from Die Zeit, a gentleman from Spiegel, a representative of the Berliner Zeitung, is sitting in the ARD press club on the topic: “Today tanks, tomorrow fighter jets? How far will the West go?”

After this show I know: fighter jets will come, missiles will be delivered, warships, everything. The whole program.

For the big Kladderadatsch.

"God with us!"

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Background knowledge

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Map of the nuclear world:

Atoms for Peace? Earned from the war MIC more!

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The internal search for

weapons war peace

brought the following results, among others:

May 04, 2022 - Debate about arms deliveries: Steel thunderstorms in people's heads

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April 06, 2022 - Great Power Tensions: How the Arctic is being militarized

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December 14, 2021 - Nobel Prize winners call for two percent disarmament for the climate

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November 13, 2021 - The "great statesmen" of this world are puppets of the military

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YouTube

Keyword search: weapons war peace

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Waffen Krieg Frieden

Videos:

Markus Lanz - ZDF - 15:29

Weapons for Ukraine: are Baerbock and Scholz behaving correctly?

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climate:neutral - 11:24

War: Fatal for people and the climate!

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arte - 59:48

The True Story of the 1st Gulf War

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Raw data dump - arte documentation - 01:38:43

Documentary: Why We Fight - America's Wars - The Military-Industrial Complex

Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...

This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic

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Ecosia

This search engine is planting trees!

Keyword search: weapons war peace

https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Waffen Krieg Frieden

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Wikipedia

Russo-Ukrainian War

The Russo-Ukrainian War (principally known as the Ukraine Conflict, commonly referred to as the Ukraine Crisis, Ukraine War, War Against Ukraine, or Russo-Ukrainian Conflict until February 2022) began in late February 2014 in the form of a regional armed conflict in the Ukrainian peninsula Crimea. Following the illegal annexation of Crimea, further escalations by Russia followed, in particular with the establishment of pro-Russian armed militias in the eastern Ukrainian Donbass, which fought there together with regular Russian troops against the Ukrainian armed forces and volunteer militias. The Minsk agreements of September 2014 and February 2015, which came about with international help, provided for a permanent ceasefire for the war in eastern Ukraine and the adoption of a Ukrainian law "On the temporary order of local self-government in certain regions of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions"; what was actually achieved was, at best, a stabilization of the local conflict with ongoing provocations by the Russian separatist side.

[...]

Ukrainian Army and its equipment from January 2014 to March 2022

At the beginning of 2014, Ukraine's "non-operational and broken-corrupted" army was in a desolate state that had been lamented for years; it was underfinanced and poorly trained and equipped; the latest generation of weapons was completely absent. Russia had already been mentioned as a possible opponent in previous years...

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Newsletter V 2023 - January 29th to February 4th

Newspaper article 2023

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