Newsletter XXVI 2023

SPD 18, AfD 18: When the percentages of the latest ARD Germany trend became public at the beginning of June, the outcry was huge. And indeed, it must make one sit up and take notice when the Chancellor's Party, which has just celebrated its 160th birthday, is on par with a right-wing force that was founded just ten years ago and has since become more and more radical, even extremist in parts. Since then, a remarkable spectacle has been observed in political Berlin: the government and opposition alternately pass the buck to one another – and in doing so are doing virtually everything to help the AfD achieve new heights.

[...] What helps against the AfD?

Ultimately, with the adoption of the AfD rhetoric, an important firewall against the right falls. It is obvious that only the AfD can win in this competition of bourgeois competition. She plays cat and mouse with the other parties, or more precisely: rabbit and hedgehog. If the CDU, CSU and Co. attack the Greens, the AfD is always one step ahead. The latest example: while the CDU/CSU and Free Voters are still working on the heating law, the AfD is already calling for withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.

Here, in the example of climate change, the soft side of the AfD also becomes apparent: In fact, it eludes any present-day demands by radically repressing them. Second example of migration: The AfD does not give any answer to the question of how we want to solve the labor market crisis. Where will the 400 people we need each year to fill the demographic gap created by the departure of the baby boomers come from? In short: The AfD answers all the big questions simply by fleeing or from reality. In doing so, she serves an immense longing for a return to the supposedly "good old days" when the world was still safe and manageable and people were spared the impositions of globalization. In this respect, the only meaningful discussion can only consist of measuring them against the concrete challenges and unmasking the emptiness of their answers ...

Media | Journalists | Enlightenment

Do we have to report constructively about war or the climate crisis?

An enlightening journalism that sometimes provocatively names profiteers would be necessary. How instead a fashionable term is adopted unquestioningly.

[...] Enlightened and truly constructive journalism might give a voice to the few people on all sides who are fighting for an end to the war. It can be a pacifist in Ukraine, as well as workers from Belarus, Italy and Greece who blocked arms shipments in their countries last year.

That would be constructive journalism in the best sense. One would have wished that such critical approaches were the focus of a trade union journalism day. Enlightenment in times of war would also mean naming those who profited from the wars, such as Rheinmetall and Co., whose shares rise when people fall. Such an enlightened journalism would have to be confrontational instead of constructive.

Building Energy Act | heat transition with Hydrogen?

Building Energy Act: Bumpy heat transition with too long a start

Important law ends standstill in the building sector, but is not enough to achieve the 2030 climate target / exceptions for gas and hydrogen threaten to turn out to be a "Trojan horse".

Christoph Bals, Political Director of the environmental and development organization Germanwatch, explains the changes to the draft of the Building Energy Act (GEG) published yesterday by the federal government: "It is gratifying that after many years of standstill, the hot potato of the building stock is finally being tackled. But the law will not succeed in this form in getting the building sector on course to achieve the climate goals of 2030, 2040 and 2045. The start-up phase for the heat transition is too long: there will only be major emission reductions at the end of the current decade. These are exactly the delays at the expense of the younger generation that the Federal Constitutional Court warned about in 2021.”

At the instigation of the FDP, the legal text that is now to be adopted also contains options for initially allowing the installation of gas heating systems in order to later switch to biogas or hydrogen. Just at the beginning of this week, a network of eight large municipal utilities such as Munich or Mannheim warned that these quantities of biogas and hydrogen will not be available ...

taxpayer pays Privatization, dividends and dept?

consequence of privatized water management

England's largest water supplier is threatened with bankruptcy

The largest water supplier in England is threatened with bankruptcy due to a debt of around 14 billion pounds. Now the state may have to step in and take over "Thames Water" at least temporarily.

Thames Water supplies water to 15 million consumers in London and other parts of south-east England - and it's on the brink of bankruptcy. The reason for this is a debt of around 14 billion pounds. The water utility is owned by an investor group made up of private equity companies and pension funds. The largest shareholder with almost 32 percent is a Canadian pension fund from Ontario.

The CEO of Thames Water resigned on Tuesday evening with immediate effect. That came unexpectedly and was a bang. Since then, the consequences of the privatization of water management have been discussed once again ...

drought | Dryness | Power requirement solar

Germany is suffering from drought and is experiencing new solar records

The weather service continues to report far too dry conditions for June. At the same time, renewables have at times covered all of Germany's electricity needs. About records and their meaning.

The end of June was too warm on a nationwide average measured against the long-term mean, and was the 14th too warm June in a row, reports the German Weather Service (DWD). So there is a clear trend that this first summer month is getting warmer in this country, but that is not at all surprising in view of global warming.

At the same time, June was far too dry compared to the national average. Compared to the average for the years 1961 to 1990, it was only 51 percent of the target value at 60 liters per square meter. If you take the years 1991 to 2020 as a reference, it was only 70 percent of the usual ...

30. June

Friedrich Merz leads the CDU with the "Agenda for Germany" in a junior partnership with the AfD

Friedrich Merz in the Kulturkampf: For cheap success

The CDU boss describes the Greens as the “main opponent”. But that is only the culmination of a misguided culture war that ultimately only benefits the AfD.

In response to the election of the nation's first AfD district administrator in Thuringia, CDU leader Friedrich Merz proclaimed the Greens the main opponent of the CDU. Ironically, in Kiel, where his party governs quite successfully with the Greens. Merz' statement is unlikely to go down well in the other five countries in which the CDU and the Greens work together. The Hessian Prime Minister Boris Rhein, for example, probably wants to continue the alliance with the Greens after the election in October. Merz doesn't make it any easier.

Even with a view to the federal government, its admission does not make sense. The CDU wants to return to power, and an alliance with the Greens is an important option. Otherwise only a grand coalition remains. The fact that the CDU has to declare a main opponent at all does not exactly show self-confidence. But the fact that the party is not benefiting from the poor performance of traffic lights and that the AfD could become the strongest force in many East German countries, according to polls, is not good for self-esteem.

One could see all of this as an internal Christian Democratic problem, as well as the looming power struggles over the chancellor candidacy and the “Agenda for Germany”, the latest paper that tempts people to abbreviate it to “AfD”. But Merz's admission points to a deeper problem. And that's dangerous. Not only for the CDU, but also for democracy...

France | EDF EPR | construction time | NPP Penly

EDF begins permitting process for two new reactors at Penly

EDF has announced that it will obtain the necessary permits to construct two EPR2 reactors at the Penly nuclear power plant site in Normandy (Northern France).

[...] The EDF said it is now "in the permitting procedures necessary to commence construction of the first EPR2 reactor pair at Penly, as well as the administrative procedures for its completion and grid connection".

The Company intends to begin preparatory work for the new reactors at Penly in mid-2024.

"Specifically, EDF has launched several administrative procedures, in particular the establishment permit decree (DAC), the review of which will take about three years, and the environmental permit, which should be processed in a year," said the French nuclear energy company.

She added that after receiving the environmental permit, EDF can begin preparatory work for the site in the summer of 2024, including earthworks and the remodeling of part of the cliff, "which means about three and a half years of work". Once the decree is in place, around 2027, the company can pour the first concrete for the first reactor building. Construction will then take about seven years, with commissioning scheduled for 2035...

Translated with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Photovoltaics boom | Solar cells and module production

Quaschning explains: solar boom

Global solar power production doubles every two to three years. By 2040 at the latest, photovoltaics will supply half of the electricity. Why did we make solar energy big and then hand it over to China? Let's get her back!

How do the eco-terrorists actually imagine saving the world? Surely a few ridiculous solar panels won't stop global warming!

Yes, yes, for sure! Solar power used to be expensive, but that was a long time ago. Almost everywhere in the world, solar power is now cheaper than power from new nuclear and coal-fired power plants. Even oil-producing countries now rely on photovoltaics.

[...] Let's assume conservatively that the market will only grow by 25 percent over the next eight years. Even then, solar energy will provide half of the world's electricity needs by 2040. In 2050, all global electricity generation would then be climate-neutral ...

Mexico | climate crisis catastrophe | Heat

Almost 50 degrees Celsius in Mexico

At least 100 people have died in Mexico in the past two weeks due to extreme heat. Temperatures are now dropping due to the rainy season. In the north, however, temperatures of 49 degrees Celsius continue to prevail.

At least 100 people have died in Mexico in the past two weeks from extreme heat, authorities said. Temperatures have climbed to nearly 50 degrees Celsius in parts of the country, the health ministry said in a report.

Almost all deaths were attributed to heat stroke, a handful to dehydration...

Right-wing extremist used vehicle as a weapon, the Police press release suggests otherwise...

Trial begins on Monday in Kiel:

Attempted homicide with the pickup truck

The attack on AfD opponents in Henstedt-Ulzburg was three years ago. The victims are still suffering from the consequences of the attack.

HAMBURG taz | The proceedings against Melvin S. begin in the Kiel district court on Monday: The public prosecutor accuses the accused of having targeted counter-demonstrators in Henstedt-Ulzburg with a pick-up on the sidelines of an AfD event. Therefore he has to answer for the allegation of attempted manslaughter in combination with dangerous bodily harm and dangerous intervention in road traffic.

Immediately after the crime on a Saturday in October 2020, the situation seemed to have changed, according to the police press release: "Demonstrators from the right-wing and left-wing scenes clashed outside the event site. A person from the left-wing scene was seriously injured in a traffic accident." It was only when those affected by the attack contacted the taz shortly afterwards that the investigative authorities changed their classification ...

June 30, 1983 (INES Class.?) Embalse, ARG

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Embalse (Argentina)

Prevented GAU 1983 and other incidents

On June 30, 1983, an incident occurred that those responsible kept secret from the public: According to "Spiegel", the secondary circuit collapsed after several pumps failed and due to operating errors, the water continued to heat up, radioactive steam and hot water shot out a defective auxiliary valve. After more than three hours, all valves could be closed with improvised measures, a GAU was just prevented ...

Spiegel 17/1987

»A cold shiver runs down my spine«

SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world

Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...

Wikipedia

Embalse Nuclear Power Plant

On June 30, 1983, a serious incident occurred in the nuclear power plant (overheating of the cooling circuit), which, however, could be brought under control by employees. In 1986 there was another incident when heavy water came out of the power plant. Both incidents were kept secret by those responsible for a long time, only the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was informed. The operators were obviously able to prevent an INES classification. It was only through research that the media managed to bring the incident to the public.

Up to 2007 there had been a total of ten incidents at Akw Embalse ...

29. June

Austria | Privatization and its consequences | FPÖ

Electricity price: In 2001, Haider sold a large part of Kelag. Today the Carinthians pay extra

The Kelag price increases show that selling off state shares in companies to private individuals is probably not the best idea after all. Between 2001 and 2012, first Jörg Haider and then Gerhard Dörfler sold almost two thirds of the state's then Kelag shares. That is why the state government can no longer do anything against the price increases today. And the Carinthians now have to pay for the higher electricity costs.

[...] The Kelag privatization went like most privatizations: in the short term it brought money. But sooner or later the population will foot the bill.

Kaiser warned against selling Kelag

The state of Carinthia can exercise full control over Kelag with less than 50 percent of the shares. This is possible thanks to a supposedly clever construction, the Kärntner Energie Holding GmbH. In 2001, Jörg Haider boasted about squaring the circle. Even then, not everyone wanted to believe that. But Haider needed money and sold almost half of the country's Kelag shares to the German nuclear power company RWE. In 2012, his successor Gerhard Dörfler then sold a further 12,6 percent of Kelag.

Irony of fate: Even then, SPÖ chairman Peter Kaiser warned of the consequences of the sale. “Who pays higher electricity prices? The customers are the ones who suffer,” he criticized. Kaiser was right. However, that does him little good. Because 11 years later, as governor, he gets the anger of the Carinthians for the consequences of the FPK deal, which he desperately wanted to prevent ...

Switzerland | axpo | EDF

Axpo and partners: Extend nuclear power supply contract with EDF

The energy company Axpo has extended a supply contract with the French electricity company EDF. With this kind of long-term agreement, Switzerland supplies itself with nuclear power from the neighboring country.

The contract is about 65.7 megawatts of nuclear power for the largest Swiss energy company from 2025 to 2039. Energiefinanzions AG (ENAG), in which Axpo is involved with other Swiss companies, has extended the corresponding contract with the French, shared the Axpo with.

Together with the other ENAG partners, the contract is for a total of 180 megawatts of power from France. Around 1500 gigawatt hours of electricity flow into Switzerland every year...

Media | Truth | One-sided reporting

So I lost faith in the mainstream media

If news later turns out to be false, it is often already burned into the memory as "historical truth".

During and after the 1991 Gulf War, the US media was banned from showing images of the coffins of dead US soldiers. The measure was not lifted until February 2009.

[...] In his book "Liberty and the News" in 1920, the American journalist and media theorist Walter Lippmann stated:

The newspaper columns are public information carriers. When those who control them assert the right to determine what is reported and for what purpose, the democratic process grinds to a halt.
(Lippmann p.24)

A few years ago I could not have imagined that my morning trip to the mailbox to get the newspapers would be accompanied by a quiet counterpoint of disgust and boredom. I like to have paper in my hand with my morning coffee instead of looking at a screen. The reading, however, takes less time from year to year. On the one hand, this is because many topics no longer interest me, for example the never-ending soap opera of British royals, the obligatory daily LGBTQ problems, the me-too mental state of groupies at rock concerts or parliamentary investigations intended to find out why in the financial casino Drive banks to the wall.

The real problems of most people, the war in Ukraine, the escalating conflict between the USA and China, i.e. events that are currently changing the lives of millions of taxpayers and will burden future generations (armament, inflation, energy policy, sanctions policy, asylum system, etc.). but presented in our leading media with such a reduced perspective that it stuns me...

June 29, 2005 (INES Class.?) Forsmark, SWE

Radioactive water leaked into the Baltic Sea from an interim storage facility. (Cost approx. US$12 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Wikipedia

Forsmark, 29. Juni 2005

On June 29, 2005, radioactive water leaked into the Baltic Sea from the interim storage facility for low- and medium-level radioactive waste at the Swedish Forsmark nuclear power plant. Ten times the normal level of radioactive cesium was measured in the waters near the power plant. (Standard message) However, according to the Swedish Radiation Protection Institute SSI, this is still within the permissible limits. Corroded metal containers containing radioactive waste were probably to blame for the leak.

Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Forsmark

According to a Greenpeace statement from 2012, the Swedish nuclear power plants in Forsmark, Oskarshamn and Ringhals pose a great danger to the population in Sweden and its neighboring countries due to "technical defects and a poor culture of safety control" ...

28. June

Denmark | offshore | energy island

offshore wind farms

Denmark postpones decision on controversial energy island

A huge artificial island in the North Sea is supposed to deliver green electricity and hydrogen - also to Germany. But the project is considered too expensive and too risky. However, the Danish government does not want to give it up just yet.

A prestige project in the North Sea is in danger: The Danish government has doubts about the profitability of the planned energy island, which is supposed to bundle the electricity from numerous offshore wind farms and transport it to Europe.

Therefore, the decision on the tender for the project has now been postponed, as announced by the Ministry of Climate and Energy in Copenhagen. It is true that the goal of exploiting the offshore wind potential of the North Sea with energy islands is still being maintained. However, options for a better and more cost-effective concept should now first be analyzed ...

Radon | Uranium mining | Erzgebirge

carcinogenic gas

Radon in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia

The occurrence of radon cannot be prevented in some regions. But you can protect yourself against the carcinogenic gas. And there is a new hands-on study at workplaces.

As early as the 16th century, young miners in the Ore Mountains had a conspicuously frequent incidence of lung disease. This "Schneeberger disease", as it was then called, was fatal. Today we know that it was lung cancer caused by inhaling radon and its derivatives.

Today's knowledge is based on epidemiological studies on miners that have been carried out since the 1960s, for example the so-called "Bismut Study" by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, which includes around 60.000 former Wismut employees who worked in uranium ore mining in the GDR between 1946 and 1990 were active. All such studies showed that radon in underground uranium mining increases the risk of lung cancer.

Radon in homes

Unfortunately, the risk of developing lung cancer from radon is not limited to mining. Since the 1980s, the miner studies have been supplemented by case-control studies of lung cancer risk from residential radon in Europe, North America and China.
A joint evaluation of 13 European studies with 7.148 lung cancer patients and 14.208 controls showed that radon also increases the risk of developing lung cancer in homes...

Greens | Justice

The development of the Greens:

Confined thinking

A global ethic of justice no longer has a home with the Greens. What is needed is a political-philosophical counterculture.

What is violence - and for whom? What is security - and from whom? Answers to this are essential for emancipatory thinking. And the answers diverge world designs.

There are reasons to write about it these days. Because I feel like I'm in a constantly shrinking space. The walls are closing in on me. I know I'm wrong in this room, it's a wrong place, but I seem to belong there, so the script says. I am inescapably part of a narrowing, hardening, rearming Europe, and my helplessness does not protect me from becoming an accomplice. Because to the kid in a frontier jail, my resentment is meaningless...

Sustainability | building and transport sectors

Sustainability Council proposes package of measures for sustainable construction and transport policy

In a current statement, the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) calls on the federal government to curb the high consumption of land and resources as well as climate-damaging emissions in the construction and transport sectors.

In the paper "Sustainable paths in urban development, construction and transport policy" (PDF), the Council proposes a large number of concrete measures for an ecological and social turnaround in construction and transport.

“The building and transport sectors are the problem children when it comes to climate protection and have so far regularly exceeded their climate targets. The area and resource consumption of both areas is also far too high,” says Reiner Hoffmann, RNE Chairman.

"At the same time, there is currently a lack of almost two million affordable apartments, which is socially explosive. Here the answer cannot and must not only lie in the new building. The federal government must now set the course for conversion, renovation and better use of the existing living space. Funding programs must be consistently geared towards sustainability. In the transport sector, the RNE believes that public transport must be expanded and improved in order to make it easier for people to switch to sustainable forms of mobility - at the same time, environmentally harmful and expensive subsidies such as the commuter allowance or the company car privilege must be abolished." ...

June 28, 2007 (INES 0 Class.?) Brunsbuettel, DEU

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Brunsbuettel_(Schleswig-Holstein)

On June 28, 2007, the nuclear power plant was shut down automatically due to a power grid failure that caused a smoldering fire at the turbine. Because of this breakdown and faulty dowels and anchorages, the reactor was provisionally shut down in the same month and finally shut down on August 6, 2011 because of the federal government's nuclear phase-out decision ...

June 28, 2007 (INES 0 Class.?) Krümmel, DEU

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Krümmel

With the accident that occurred on June 28, 2007, the "safety culture" of the operators Vattenfall and E.ON reached a new low. A fire broke out in a transformer plant, which enveloped the nuclear power plant in large black clouds. The operator and the Ministry of the Environment said in unison that there was no danger. However, Vattenfall's claim that there was no connection between the fire and the nuclear area of the reactor was described as misleading and disinformation by the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of Social Affairs, which is responsible for nuclear supervision.

The incident, which initially looked like a harmless industrial accident, increasingly gave the impression of a "near-disaster" that kept the public busy for weeks...

MSGF - Ministry for Social Affairs, Health, Family, Youth and Senior Citizens of the State of Schleswig-Holstein

Interim report on the events at the Brunsbüttel and Krümmel nuclear power plants on June 28, 2007

Spiegel

dated July 12, 2007

The breakdown series of the nuclear power plant operator Vattenfall

dated July 17, 2007

Vattenfall's dark secret

June 28, 1992 (INES 2) Barsebäck-2, SWE

A leaking valve in the Barsebäck boiling water reactor automatically triggered safety functions such as reactor shutdown, high-pressure safety injection, core spray and containment spray systems. The jet of steam from an open safety valve hit thermally insulated equipment. The insulation material was swept into the suppression pool, affecting the core's emergency cooling system, which is essential for heat removal in the event of a reactor coolant leak. (Costs ?)

Nuclear Power Accidents

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Barsebäck (Sweden)

risks and incidents

On July 28, 1992, hot steam shot out of a defective valve into the reactor hall at Barsebäck-2, taking with it large quantities of rock wool that had been used as insulation. The rockwool clogged all the filters in the emergency cooling system within 20 minutes, a time that nobody expected. Fortunately, Sweden avoided a serious accident because the normal cooling worked. The incident resulted in the temporary closure of Barsebäck I and II, Oskarsham I and II and Ringhals as well as expensive conversion work...

Wikipedia

Barsebäck nuclear power plant

Because it's only 20 kilometers from the Danish capital Copenhagen, the Danish government pushed for the nuclear power plant to be the first to be shut down in the wake of Sweden's nuclear phase-out...

27. June

European Parliament | EPP Group | Renaturation Act

No agreement on renaturation:

Showdown in Europe's climate protection

One of the key EU laws to cut greenhouse gas emissions is in jeopardy. The Court of Auditors points out a deficiency.

BERLIN/BRUSSELS taz | Is the European Union's ambitious environmental and climate protection policy failing? Four years after the starting signal for the "European Green Deal", according to which Europe wants to become climate-neutral by 2050, the problems are piling up. There is a mood of crisis in the European Parliament in Brussels – the controversial renaturation law has failed there.

In a contested vote in Parliament's Environment Committee on Tuesday, there was no majority for the EU Commission's draft. German Christian Democrats, conservatives and far-right voted against; the draft failed by a vote of 44 to 44.

EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) is being pressured by her own party friends, among other things, to withdraw the draft. Von der Leyen and the lead climate commissioner, Frans Timmermans, want to re-wet moors that have been drained by the Renaturation Act, reforest forests and bring more greenery to cities. They encounter fierce resistance...

Nuclear transport from Jülich to Ahaus

Demonstration against planned nuclear transports in Ahaus

In Ahaus, demonstrations were held against nuclear transports to the interim storage facility there. The reason: This week there will be test drives with the transport vehicle. Next year things should get serious with the trip from Jülich.

It is a transport where everything has to be right. And that's why a lot is on the test bench for the disposal company for nuclear plants (JEN) in Jülich. She is responsible for the nuclear waste and wants to know after the test drives whether the planned transport routes can be used without any problems.

[...] The Ahauser citizens' initiative "No nuclear waste in Ahaus" is against the transports from the former research reactor in Jülich to the interim storage facility for fuel elements in Ahaus, they demand further storage in Jülich. At noon, opponents protested for an hour at a roundabout and paralyzed it ...

Heating | Building Energy Act | heat plan

First details after agreement of the traffic light

State subsidies climate-friendly heating systems with up to 70 percent

The federal government has settled the months-long dispute over the heating law. According to SPIEGEL information, the first details are available: what funding should be available now – and what schedule applies to whom.

The traffic light coalition has finally agreed on the amendment to the Building Energy Act. The core of the regulations is the principle of installing heating systems from January 1, 2024 that are operated with 65 percent renewable energies. According to SPIEGEL information, this results in corresponding obligations for both existing buildings and new buildings from this date.

A climate-friendly heating system must be installed in new development areas as early as next year. Owners of existing apartments and houses still have time to make a final decision until the corresponding heating plans are available in the municipalities. These must be fixed in larger cities by 2026 at the latest and in smaller communities by 2028, as SPIEGEL learned from negotiating circles.

If a heating system in an existing building breaks down by then, or if the owner decides to install a new heating system, an energy consultation is mandatory. Anyone who then decides to install a gas heating system - which is possible - must ensure that they comply with the 65 percent obligation once the heating plan has been submitted...

CORRECTIV | Climate change | Pension fund

Dirty pensions: climate protectors know nothing about their investments in gas and oil

Anyone who puts their money in pension funds runs the risk of benefiting from climate-damaging corporations in Germany - unconsciously. An international research led by CORRECTIV reveals the connections for the first time.

Benjamin Roth and Alix Otten are two people who don't know each other, don't speak the same language and live almost 700 kilometers apart. But they are linked by a deal that involves unimaginable sums of money - and of which neither of them knew until recently. One because the chemical company Currenta stinks in his garden in Leverkusen. The other because she partly owes her pension to this chemical park. The research makes the connection between the two people - and many others - visible. It's about the constantly growing pension funds that invest millions and billions all over the world - very often in corporations that earn their money with fossil fuels.

In order to be able to pay out large amounts, pension funds are increasingly investing in shares, real estate and funds. At the federal level, Finance Minister Christian Lindner proposed this model in early 2023 under the keyword "generational capital" ...

Renewables | Energy transition | power consumption

Renewable energies cover more than half of electricity consumption

Wind, sun, biomass: The share of renewable energies in electricity consumption is increasing. In May, photovoltaic systems generated more electricity than ever before.

Renewable energies from wind and sun are producing more and more electricity. The share of electricity consumption in Germany was around 52 percent in the first half of the year. That is three percentage points more than in the first half of 2022, as preliminary calculations by the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the Federal Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW) show.

In May, the share of renewable energies in electricity consumption was unusually high at 57 percent due to the sunny weather, it said. Photovoltaic systems would have generated more electricity this month than ever before ...

26. June

NRW rehearsing nuclear waste shipments between Jülich and Ahaus

Dear people,

Apparently things are getting serious again in Ahaus: Tomorrow (Tuesday) and Thursday, test castors are to be driven by truck from the Jülich research center via the autobahn across the Ruhr area to Ahaus, although there is still no permit for the transport of the 300 highly radioactive fuel element balls from Jülich to Ahaus gives. Officially, the announcement by the NRW state government that it wants to prevent such nuclear waste transports is still valid - but in fact concrete preparations are already underway and from the beginning of 000 the 2024 highly radioactive Westcastors could actually roll.

That's why the BI "No nuclear waste in Ahaus" is spontaneously calling for a protest action tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11 a.m. at the intersection of Schumacher-Ring and Legdener Straße (pronounced: Tobit-Kreisel). Breaking news:

https://www.bi-ahaus.de/

PS: If you want to/can watch the route on the way - please contact the BI in Ahaus directly.

Today in Lingen on the market square the two-day protest action of the alliance AgiEL - opponents of nuclear power in Emsland - started on the occasion of the visit of the BASE info mobile. The BASE wants to talk about final storage options, the AgiEL shows where more and more nuclear waste is still being produced in Germany today, namely in Lingen and Gronau.

Meanwhile, the Mikhail Dudin has reached the east coast of Sweden and is taking to St. Petersburg the Lingen uranium oxide or fuel rods that were taken on board in Rotterdam - probably for Kazakhstan and ultimately for nuclear power plants in China. As always, the BASE has not yet given any official confirmation, which often only follows weeks later. So much for transparency.

And all this at a time when mysterious armed conflicts have erupted in Russia for the first time and the Ukrainian government is warning of a catastrophic act of sabotage at the Zaporizhia NPP, which Rosatom manages for the Kremlin.

To classify this as explosive is an understatement in view of the enormous dangers - we are finally demanding a crystal-clear end to all nuclear deals with Rosatom from the federal government - something must finally be done in Lingen!

Last but not least: In view of the new wiretapping allegations against government agencies in connection with the last generation, we once again show our solidarity with the climate group. The harsh means of repression that are now being used can quickly be used against other climate groups - for completely peaceful forms of civil society protest. One thing must be clear to all of us: the goal of the repressive measures is not just the last generation, but the entire climate movement by criminalizing and suppressing legitimate protest. The problem is the drastically worsening climate crisis, not the protest against it!

Nuclear-free climate greetings
Sofa (immediate phase-out of nuclear power) Münster, action alliance Münsterland against nuclear plants
www.sofa-ms.de, www.urantransport.de

offshore hydrogen production is a billion project

For green hydrogen

Germany gets its first energy islands

They should each be around 50 hectares in size and cost around 2 to 2,5 billion euros: According to media reports, two energy islands are being built off the German coast. The North Sea countries are to receive electricity for green hydrogen production.

The Danish financial investor Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and the insurance group Allianz want to build two artificial energy islands for green electricity and green hydrogen in the North Sea off Germany. The companies have submitted corresponding applications for the two projects "Nordsee-Energieland" and "Dogger-Energieinsel" to the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, as the authority confirmed to "Spiegel".

First major projects in German territorial waters

The two islands would be the first such major projects in German territorial waters. They are to be piled up in water depths of 30 to 40 meters, each about 50 hectares in size and each costing about 2 to 2,5 billion euros. The electricity from the surrounding offshore wind farms will initially be bundled on them. This should then either be routed to various countries bordering the North Sea or used directly on the islands to generate green hydrogen with the help of electrolysis...

Solar industry | Power generation | Bureaucracy

Simplifications for private solar systems:

Rebuild solar industry!

More and more people want a solar system, which shows the demand. Too bad that the well-functioning domestic solar industry was destroyed.

Photovoltaic systems on the roof or on the balcony railing are a fine thing: They contribute to climate protection, save money in the long run and ensure a certain level of self-sufficiency. If you produce your own electricity, you will probably value it and not waste it. More and more people want a solar system, which shows the high demand. And although many want it in principle, they shy away from the amount of paperwork involved.

It is therefore good that Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck wants to reduce the bureaucracy in domestic power generation. Every application that does not have to be filled out, every permit that is no longer required, every tax form that is superfluous, advances the energy transition a little further.

However, reducing bureaucracy alone is not enough.

[...] The demand is higher than the capacities of manufacturers and suppliers. During the government of Angela Merkel, the well-functioning domestic solar industry was destroyed. Correcting this error will be very expensive - but it would be money well spent. In view of the enormous amounts of electricity that will be needed in the future, it is fatal to continue to leave the production and further development of this technology to non-European players and to rely on imports.

photovoltaic production | subsidies for industry | Meyer Burger

PV manufacturer in Germany

Meyer Burger is interested in Habeck's solar plan

Meyer Burger manufactures solar panels in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. The Swiss company recently threatened to relocate to the USA - where the conditions for green industry are better. Habeck may be able to keep the company in Germany after all.

Manufacturer Meyer Burger is interested in the federal government's announced support for the domestic solar industry. Managing Director Gunter Erfurt spoke of an important step "to reduce Germany's massive dependence on the energy supply of the future". The company is now examining the expression of interest procedure and its conditions. The expectation is that this will enable the local solar industry to have sustainable, fair and reliable competitive conditions in the manufacture of solar cells and solar modules, said Erfurt when asked ...

Renewables versus fossil energies

Although renewables are booming:

82 percent of energy is fossil

The CO₂ emissions of global energy consumption continue to rise. Renewables are only slowly replacing oil, gas and coal, a report shows.

BERLIN taz | Despite the renewables boom, fossil fuels continued to provide about 2022 percent of global energy consumption in 82. Global energy consumption increased by a total of one percent, so that emissions in the area also increased. This emerges from the new annual report of the London Energy Institute. "We continue to move in the wrong direction on what is needed for the Paris Agreement," said Juliet Davenport, head of the institute.

The figures come from the “Statistical Review of World Energy”, which has been published since 1952 and is now considered the standard overview. Until last year, it was published by the oil company BP. Now the Energy Institute, a professional association for people in energy professions, has taken over. The reason for the change: The annually published data illustrate how fossil-dependent the world is and, according to the BP CEOs, apparently undermined their own PR of being a renewables company...

Media, right-wing extremist agitation and super rich donors

Give the AfD scapegoats! let them win!

The far-right party has been consistently successful since 2016. Now she is her first district administrator in Germany. A major reason for this is a dangerous game played by politics and the media. (part 2, end)

With Robert Stuhlmann, who won the run-off election in Sonneberg, Thuringia, on Sunday, the AfD is providing a district administrator for the first time in Germany. The party focused the election campaign primarily on the heating law, inflation and refugees. Stuhlmann now sees the AfD on the way to becoming a people's party.

As already pointed out in the first part of the analysis "Two tips on how we can further strengthen the right-wing extremist AfD", the underlying drivers of the success of the right-wing extremist party should be taken into account.

[...] The second central recipe for success of right-wing extremist parties is by no means to offer solutions to the frustration fed by the neoliberal attacks on the welfare state and democracy. Trump, as US President, gave the super-rich, the top one percent, a whopping $1,5 trillion in taxes, while the counter-funding has since been brought in through social cuts.

The AfD is also on the side of the rich and super-rich, while its program is neoliberal. In France, the Rassemblement National (Front National until 2018) propagates a policy for the family and medium-sized companies. However, it is questionable whether it is more than tactical rhetoric to win over the population.

What Trump, AfD & Co. has actually made great are strategies with which the unsettled population, the anger and dissatisfaction of the citizens, are offered lightning rods. The defamation of scapegoats is a core element of right-wing victories. And a lightning rod for frustration works especially well...

25. June

Netherlands | Natural gas production | Earthquake

decision of the Netherlands

Largest European gas field shut down due to earthquake

The largest natural gas field in Europe will soon be completely closed because production has already caused thousands of earthquakes.

Groningen (Netherlands). The Groningen natural gas field, located in the north-east of the Netherlands, represents the largest natural gas deposit in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It hosted an estimated 2.740 billion cubic meters of recoverable natural gas.

[...] Natural gas production in Groningen was around 20 billion cubic meters per year. This caused the ground above the natural gas field to sink sharply. Earthquakes have been a regular occurrence since 1991, severely damaging tens of thousands of buildings. According to official data, around 100.000 people were affected by the 1.600 earthquakes.

[...] At the beginning of 2023, due to the numerous earthquakes, the parliamentary commission of inquiry came to the conclusion that the oil companies Shell and ExxonMobil and the state had long been systematically disregarding the safety of the people ...

Climate protection | FDP | billionaire | Koch Industries

The secret whisperers of the FDP

The FDP tries to torpedo every relevant climate protection law in the traffic light, with frightening success. Why? Radical ideologues play a central role – and a libertarian US billionaire.

There is simply no other choice than this: either refrain from isolated interventions in the game of the market or transfer the entire management of production and distribution to the authorities. Either capitalism or socialism; there is no middle ground.

Ludwig von Mises (1929): »Critique of Interventionism. Studies on contemporary economic policy and economic ideology«

The more politically influential Koch Industries became, the more it emphasized that its lobbyists were pursuing an exclusively ideological mission. Koch's lobbyists and public relations teams said their goal was not to increase Koch Industries' profits, but only to promote the idea of liberty and prosperity.

Christopher Leonard, »Kochland« (2019)

The above-quoted Ludwig von Mises, an Austrian economist, was a radical. Von Mises, who did not become quite as famous as his later pupil Friedrich von Hayek, was convinced that any form of state regulation was to be equated with "socialism". Not only did he detest the idea of a minimum wage, but even the concept of antitrust law: regulations designed to prevent monopolies would only have a "productivity-reducing effect."

The richest and most powerful living fan of Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich von Hayek is the US multi-billionaire Charles Koch, who is still little known in Germany (according to »Forbes« currently worth 57 billion dollars). Unfortunately, the book "Kochland", a kind of combined company and personal biography by the US investigative journalist Christopher Leonard, was never published in German. It's very helpful if you want to understand what's happening in German politics right now...


Current news+	Background knowledge

Current news+

neoliberal unsecured society thanks to the pocket filler in Politics and Media

Two tips on how we can further strengthen the far-right AfD

The party, with neo-fascists in its midst, has been flying high for weeks. Numerous explanations are given for this. But what really drives success is mostly kept secret. (Part 1)

The AfD is still in high spirits. In the ARD Germany trend at the weekend, it gained 19 percent and pushed the SPD into third place with 17 percent. The CDU made it to 29 percent. The Greens only get 15 percent.

The right-wing extremist party has been on the upswing for a year. In the Sunday survey by Infratest Dimap, it was still eleven percent in June 2022. Since then it has been steadily uphill.

Now everyone is asking about the reasons for the gains. Many of the answers certainly hit a point. As a protest and populist fundamental opposition party with a lust for provocation, the AfD is of course a winner of the crisis. She draws her main strength from insecurity and the weakness of others.

The fossil energy crisis in the wake of the Ukraine war and runaway inflation are grist to the mill of those who have turned political frustration into their business model. That the AfD would benefit from this is not very surprising, although the extent may surprise some.

Added to this is the self-blocking policy of the traffic light government. The FDP in particular seems intent on using infantile disruptive maneuvers to evoke even more anger at the establishment and "Die in Berlin", with the active support of high-circulation media, which are running campaigns such as "heating hammer", "heating ban" or "climate waiver policy". stoke the mood and rock up the waves on which the right-wing extremists are then allowed to surf.

The liberal blockade policy is an act of martyrdom by a party on a course of political self-destruction, as can be seen from the polls since the federal elections in September 2021.

However, behind the current sources for the rise of the AfD, the underlying drivers that have been in effect for some time should not be lost sight of. Because since the end of 2015, the alternative for Germany has been firmly established at over ten percent in polls and elections - regardless of the respective government constellations and the change from crises to quieter political phases - accompanied by significant upward swings.

Two of these drivers deserve special attention:

One of the main factors why right-wing movements and parties have grown in recent years, not only in Germany but in almost all industrialized countries and western democracies, are the consequences of neoliberal politics.

In 2003, the red-green government intensified the "social de-security policy" that had already been introduced under Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (SPD) and then under his successor Helmut Kohl (CDU). It operated under the title Agenda 2010 and included the so-called Hartz reforms.

They propagated: "Promote and challenge". But only the employees were challenged, while the owners of capital, entrepreneurs and the rich were pampered.

Pensions were partially privatized, the banks were effectively converted into casinos, the welfare state was hollowed out, and the tax burden was lifted from the "distressed" corporations and capital, so that more and more wealth could be transferred from bottom to top.

Something similar has been observed in other industrialized countries, some with even more severe anti-social measures. All of this was taking place against the background of a progressive decline in democracy, which can be observed not only in the US but also in Europe.

Important decisions were delegated to the bureaucracy in Brussels, which in turn largely represents the financial industry. At the same time, the Chancellery in Berlin, in cooperation with German central bankers and financial institutions, took de facto control of the euro. The Greeks in particular felt this in the form of austerity dictates in the course of the 2014/2015 euro crisis.

Meanwhile, trade unions and social democracy were losing members, as well as organizational and cohesive power, as Marco Bülow, a long-time SPD member of the Bundestag, vividly describes. This was accompanied by a loss of a political home for the workers, but also of rational exchange and participation in politics.

"Image and telly" (as Chancellor Schröder once summed up their power) did the rest. They distracted, simplified, incited and turned their audience into passive objects of a "sonication from above" ...


Current news+	Background knowledge

Background knowledge

The map of the nuclear world

Democracy is under pressure worldwide...

The internal search for

neoliberal unsecured society thanks to the pocket filler in Politics and Media

brought the following results, among others:

November 13, 2022 - We are eight billion

October 16, 2022 - The "Friends of MIK" in AFD, CDU/CSU and FDP are ready to fight for the nuclear industry until democracy is over.

July 21, 2022 - Chomsky Exclusive: "We Can Break Free From Cruel State Capitalism!"

April 1, 2022 - Media: The truth and all the other victims

March 6, 2022 - Putin the Great - leader of all lemings

YouTube

Keyword search: neoliberalism

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Neoliberalismus

Videos:

phoenix of August 26, 2020 - 2:11

Politics in two minutes: neoliberalism

DW from August 4, 2020 - 6:38

Wealth distribution in Germany even more unequal than expected

3 Sat of February 17, 2022 - 15:44 p.m

Why neoliberalism is destroying us | Gert Scobel

Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...

This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic

Ecosia

This search engine is planting trees!

Keyword search: neoliberalism

https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Neoliberalismus

Wikipedia

Neoliberalism

Neoliberalism (ancient Greek νέος neos, German 'new' and Latin liberalis 'liberal') describes a new version of economically liberal ideas in the 20th century. Like classic liberalism, neoliberalism strives for a liberal, market-based economic order with recognition of private property, freedom of contract and free trade. In contrast to classic liberalism, however, it gives the state an active regulatory role in competition policy as the creator and guardian of the competitive order. The term neoliberalism was coined at a conference in Paris in 1938 (Walter Lippmann Colloque) and is now associated with two variants: (1) German neoliberalism, which also advocates certain state interventions in social and economic policy (ordoliberalism); (2) Anglo-Saxon variant that rejects such interventions (Chicago School, Austrian School).

In the 1990s, however, the term neoliberalism also developed into a political catchphrase that describes an economic policy with the following characteristics: intensifying competition through deregulation, enforcing free trade and financial globalization, limiting deficit spending and reducing the role of the state through privatization and Reduction of bureaucracy. Critics see this as a weakening of social justice and democratic policy-making as a result of the dominance of an understanding of economic rationality ...

Noam Chomsky

In 1998, linguist Noam Chomsky published Profit over People - Neoliberalism and Global Order. In it he argues that neoliberalism has achieved global hegemony since Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. This has led to a privileged few at the expense of the vast majority. Large corporations and cartels dominated political events in the USA. The free market does not bring about a competitive order in the slightest. The political influence of large corporations on US parties permanently undermines democracy. The US governments contributed to this with subsidies and import tariffs. A case in point of government support for large corporations is the World Trade Organization. Chomsky sees a libertarian socialism as an alternative...

Back to:

Newsletter XXV 2023 - June 18st to 24th

Newspaper article 2023

For work on 'THTR circular', 'reaktorpleite.de' and 'Map of the nuclear world' we need up-to-date information, energetic, fresh comrades-in-arms under 100 (;-) and donations. If you can help, please send a message to: info@reaktorpleite.de

Donation appeal

- The THTR circular is published by the 'BI Environmental Protection Hamm' and is financed by donations.

- The THTR circular has meanwhile become a much-noticed information medium. However, there are ongoing costs due to the expansion of the website and the printing of additional information sheets.

- The THTR circular researches and reports in detail. In order for us to be able to do that, we depend on donations. We are happy about every donation!

Donations account: BI Umweltschutz Hamm

Usage: THTR Rundbrief

IBAN: DE31 4105 0095 0000 0394 79

BIC: WELADED1HAM

Current news+

Background knowledge

Top

***