Newsletter XXXVIII 2023
17 until 23. September
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Nuclear Power Accidents
This PDF file contains a list of known incidents from the various areas of the civil and military nuclear industry. Some of this information only came to the public in a roundabout way...
Excerpt for this month:
September 1, 1982 (INES 5) Chernobyl, USSR
September 3, 2017 (6. Atomic Bomb Test) Punggye-ri, PRK
September 5, 2008 (INES ? Class.?) Ascó, ESP
September 9, 2016 (5. Atomic Bomb Test) Punggye-ri, PRK
September 11, 1979 (INES 4 NAMS 3,4) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR
September 11, 1957 (INES 5 NAMS 2,3) nuclear factory Rocky Flats, USA
September 13, 1987 (INES 5) Goiânia, BRA
September 18, 1980 (Rocket fuel explosion) Damascus, USA
September 22, 1980 (INES 3 NAMS 1,6) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR
September 23, 1983 (INES 4) nuclear center Constituentes, ARG
September 24, 1977 (INES 3) Davis Besse, USA
September 26, 2013 (INES 2) Institute of Energy Caps, NLD
September 26, 1973 (INES 4 NAMS 2) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR
September 29, 1957 (INES 6 NAMS 7,3) nuclear factory Mayak, USSR
September 30, 1999 (INES 4) nuclear factory Tokaimura, JPN
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We are looking for current information. If you can help, please send a message to: nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de
23 September
Berlin | Climate change | Last Generation | Counterproductive
Last generation in Berlin:
Even more wrong than car blockades
First the Brandenburg Gate, now the blockade of the Berlin Marathon? The Last Generation is only making more enemies with the locations of its protests.
The graffitiing of the Brandenburg Gate last weekend was, as the Last Generation tried to explain, part of the “turning point”. Hundreds of people came to Berlin to initiate this. Attacking the symbol of freedom in this way seemed almost unimaginable - just like attacks on unique works of art.
On Friday the group announced: “Yes, we are interrupting the Berlin Marathon. We can't run away from the climate catastrophe.” In fact, this Sunday's marathon is ideal when it comes to attracting attention.
[...] So what?, one could reply. What is a best time anyway? It's not the end of the world if you miss it? That's right, when a dream like that shatters, it's not something existential, but rather something highly emotional. And emotionality is the decisive factor. Anyone who gambles away this will ultimately also gamble away the opportunity to convince more people to take more climate protection. If the Last Generation really blocks the Berlin Marathon, the group will make tens of thousands of new enemies in one fell swoop.
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Italy requires migrants to pay bail
Italy continues to tighten its refugee policy. In the future, rejected migrants will have to pay a deposit of 5.000 euros in order to avoid detention pending deportation. Germany's help for refugees is also causing anger in Rome.
Italy has decided that rejected asylum seekers should pay a kind of deposit of 4.938 euros in the future. In this way, they could avoid being detained pending deportation while their appeal is being examined. If the asylum seeker then disappears unjustified, the deposit will be withheld.
The money is intended to cover the costs of accommodation and living expenses for one month as well as the costs of repatriation in the event of a final rejection of the application. This is provided for by a decree published in the Official Gazette of Italy...
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Migration | Asylum | EU external border
Dispute over migration
Habeck open to “morally difficult decisions” in asylum policy
The number of asylum seekers is increasing and the Union is putting pressure on the federal government. Now Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck is preparing his Greens for a tougher course in migration policy. His appeal: “accept reality.”
Many of the Greens in particular have difficulty with tightening migration laws. But Vice Chancellor and Economics Minister Robert Habeck has now emphasized that his party is ready to find pragmatic solutions to reduce the influx at the EU's external borders.
At a conference with mayors and district administrators, he was told about overload and excessive demands, the Green politician told the Germany editorial network. "They say that in many places they no longer know how to solve the problems." There is "a certain drama," he said - and was open to taking action against it. "If we don't want right-wing populism to exploit this issue, then all democratic parties are obliged to help find solutions."
[...] "But one should not suggest that no more asylum seekers will come as soon as there are stationary border controls." If a person asks for asylum at the border, then the asylum application must be examined in Germany. The protection of the EU’s external borders remains crucial.
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Denmark | asylum seeker | Refugee
Europe's strictest asylum policy
How Denmark has reduced its refugee numbers
Refugees and migrants are increasingly dominating the debate in Germany. The focus is on Denmark. Compared to the rules here, the country treats immigrants very strictly. However, plans to carry out asylum procedures in Rwanda are now off the table.
While Germany is thinking about ways to limit immigration, Denmark has long since taken action. Ironically, a social democratic government is pursuing what is probably the strictest immigration policy in Europe: When the social democrat Mette Frederiksen became party leader in 2015, she prescribed a new course for her party. Instead of welcoming immigrants and refugees, she relied on deterrence...
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Liquid natural gas from Rügen remains unnecessary
Protests have been going on for days against the controversial LNG project on Rügen. Now a new DIW report shows that the planned floating terminals are not necessary to secure gas supplies in the short and long term.
[...] The study emphasizes that there was no gas shortage last winter and that the natural gas markets have stabilized this year. A shortage is not foreseeable for the coming winter either.
The authors emphasize that the gas storage facilities in Germany and Europe are now 95 percent full at the beginning of the heating season. In addition, there is “significant flexibilities” in the use of import capacities for liquefied natural gas.
“The Mukran fossil LNG project is not necessary from an energy perspective and is still not urgently needed to avoid a gas shortage in the winter of 2023/24,” says co-author Claudia Kemfert from DIW. The gas project is also counterproductive in terms of climate policy because it causes additional emissions and hinders sustainable regional economic development on Rügen...
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Reform of the UN | Security Council
The UN needs to be reformed
UN Secretary General Guterres, Ukrainian President Zelensky and Chancellor Scholz have recently called for fundamental reforms of the UN.
Most world politicians deplore the helplessness and powerlessness of the UN Security Council when it comes to war or peace. As long as the five permanent members of the Security Council can only make unanimous decisions and the USA, China, Russia, France or England have veto rights, this so-called Security Council remains ineffective. The US vetoed the Iraq war, Russia ignored the UN over the war in Ukraine, and China did the same with its threat of war against Taiwan.
There is still no global authority to ensure order between the numerous states and governments. The United Nations has so far only rarely managed to unite the eight billion people as a global community or as a global family. A welcome exception is the Paris Climate Agreement, which all 196 governments have agreed to. Only the USA under Trump had left, but they rejoined under President Biden on his first day in office...
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September 23, 1983 (INES 4) nuclear center Constituentes, ARG
On September 23, 1983, a nuclear meltdown occurred in the Constituyentes nuclear center due to an operating error during the reconfiguration of the RA-2 research reactor, in which a total of 18 people were irradiated; one of the reactor technicians died two days later from the radiation damage he had suffered. (Cost approx. US$76 million)
Wikipedia
The RA-2 nuclear accident that occurred in Argentina on Friday, September 23, 1983 stems from serious human operator error that triggered a power excursion at the RA-2 research reactor. The reactor was located in the Centro Atómico Constituyentes, a department of the Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica (CNEA). This is the deadliest accident in the history of Argentine nuclear development, and the technician in charge of the tests died. In addition, 17 other people were exposed to varying degrees of radiation, depending on their distance from the scene of the accident...
Translated with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
22 September
Climate change | Olaf Scholz | Climate Protection Act
Climate Chancellor a. D
Ironically, after the UN's "ambition summit", the traffic light gutted its most important law for saving CO2. The FDP prevails, the SPD ducks away - and the Greens support everything.
This week Olaf Scholz became climate chancellor. At the "Climate Ambition Summit" convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in New York, he said that 2023 could be a "turning point for climate protection."
Scholz called on the global community to make more efforts to reach a “decisive moment” in the fight against climate change. Because: “Man-made climate change is undoubtedly the greatest global challenge of our time.”
[...] Scholz's "climate" government is now gutting the climate protection law, which was passed by the previous Groko, among other things, after heavy pressure from the Fridays for Future movement and is also considered exemplary. The fact that the traffic light introduced the amendment to the law in the Bundestag in the week of the “Ambitions Summit” can only be described as cynical...
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protected areas in the Deep Sea | Raw materials
It's all about practice
Germany signed a historic high seas agreement in New York. But you need the capacity to implement it.
[...] After all, protected areas are possible for the first time in the previously legal-free area of the deep sea.
However, and this became painfully clear on Thursday, all agreements are not worth their paper if they are not implemented on site. On-site means, for example, the nature conservation authorities of the federal states, municipalities and districts. Because they don't do their homework well, Germany has now been convicted by the ECJ of violating EU law.
Conservation legislation is not the problem, it is its implementation. There are far too few employees in the authorities to determine why this forest and meadow area should be protected, what measures are necessary and exactly how it can be managed...
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Brazil | Indigenous people | Agricultural lobby
Historic success for indigenous people:
Supreme Court in Brazil strikes down controversial land law
Brazil's Supreme Court has strengthened the rights of indigenous peoples to their traditional land with a clear majority - a defeat for the agricultural lobby.
The Supreme Court in Brazil has struck down a land law that goes against the interests of indigenous communities. The court in the capital Brasilia declared the regulation, which was intended to limit the designation of protected areas for indigenous people, to be unconstitutional on Thursday.
The agricultural industry thus failed in a legal battle lasting years to restrict the constitutional right of indigenous peoples to land allocations. Only the two judges appointed by former right-wing extremist President Jair Bolsonaro voted in favor and nine against. Experts see the protected areas as a bulwark against deforestation in the Amazon rainforest - and thus as an important contribution to the fight against climate change...
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Poland | Russia | Belarus | Migration | Escape
The new Balkan route leads via Poland
Poland has become a hub for irregular migration to Germany: the Balkan route runs along a new route - and Russia is still sending migrants towards the EU.
[...] The reason for this development: Poland has become the hub for a large part of asylum migration to Germany. On the one hand, the Balkan route now runs through Poland. In addition, there is Russia, which, together with Belarus, continues to send migrants towards the European Union. However, it is still unclear whether the currently discussed visa trade in Poland could drive the numbers up even further.
According to security circles, hardly any of the countries along the new Balkan route are interested in registering the migrants and thus being responsible for their asylum applications. Smuggling gangs are said to have established themselves in various cities in northern Serbia, and organized crime is now said to dominate large sections of the Balkan route. Migration is also a business. Smugglers try to make the best deals possible - and find routes...
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September 22, 1980 (INES 3 NAMS 1,6) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR
Corrosion in the B38 building Magnox storage silo resulted in the release of 2 Tbq of plutonium. (Cost approx. US$55 million)
Slowly but surely, all the relevant information on disruptions in the nuclear industry from Wikipedia away!
Wikipedia
The complex was made famous by a catastrophic fire in 1957 and by frequent nuclear incidents, which is one of the reasons why it was renamed Sellafield. Up until the mid-1980s, large quantities of the nuclear waste generated in day-to-day operations were discharged in liquid form via a pipeline into the Irish Sea.
Radiological releases
Between 1950 and 2000 there were 21 serious off-site incidents or accidents involving radiological releases that warranted classification on the International Nuclear Event Scale, one at Level 5, five at Level 4 and fifteen at Level 3. In addition, there were in intentional releases of plutonium and irradiated uranium oxide particles into the atmosphere known for extended periods in the 1950s and 1960s...
Translated with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Sellafield (formerly_Windscale), United Kingdom
There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:
Uranium enrichment and reprocessing - facilities and sites
During reprocessing, the inventory of spent fuel elements can be separated from one another in a complex chemical process (PUREX). Separated uranium and plutonium can then be reused. As far as the theory...
21 September
Arms industry | Kartell | Fines (€)
Weapons maker from Nuremberg
EU punishes Diehl for hand grenade cartel
For years, the defense companies Diehl and RUAG have divided the European market for hand grenades between themselves. Because of this illegal agreement, the EU is imposing a fine worth millions. But only the German manufacturer has to pay.
The Nuremberg-based arms manufacturer Diehl has to pay a fine of 1,2 million euros for an unlawful market agreement with a competitor. The EU Commission imposed the fine after a settlement procedure, as the EU authority announced. "Today we are fining Diehl because the company formed a cartel with its Swiss competitor RUAG over the sale of hand grenades," said EU Competition Commissioner Didier Reynders.
[...] RUAG does not have to pay a fine because the company informed the EU Commission as part of a leniency program. The fine for Diehl was reduced by 50 percent because the company cooperated with the commission. A further reduction was made because Diehl admitted the allegations...
1,2 million euros fine! I wonder how much the investigation and trial cost the taxpayer? So the poor Nuremberg gunsmiths actually have to plunder one of their petty cash boxes, what a shame. These oh-so-serious gentlemen of death in their gray suits also have to endure the terrible stomach pains from ROFLing "Rolling On the Floor Laughing" and will certainly suffer from their guilty conscience for a long time.😡
MiK, the military-industrial complex has once again shown how things work, and the EU has outed itself as a toothless little tiger with a decorative fig leaf.
I should get an AI image machine, the image of the tiger kitten with a fig leaf alone would be worth it.
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Peace Movement | Armaments | Stasi
GDR peace movement
40 years of “Swords into Plowshares”: A forging campaign with consequences
When the Wittenberg blacksmith Stefan Nau forged a plowshare from a sword on the evening of September 24, 1983, the blows resonated further than expected. Even Western television broadcast the images. But the Stasi and the SED leadership were equally surprised by the action. Although the peace movement was given impetus, nothing changed in the arms race. The anniversary of the blacksmith campaign will be celebrated on Thursday in Wittenberg.
The church congress in Wittenberg in 1983 was a major operation for the Stasi, also because West German politicians were there, including Richard von Weizsäcker, then the mayor of West Berlin and later Federal President. As a result, there were also some Stasi IMs among the more than 1.000 people in the Lutherhof in Wittenberg. What happened there seemed to be so important to the secret service people present that they wrote a report that same evening. At 22:30 p.m., two Stasi eyewitnesses made an immediate report: "To much applause with shouts of hey and hey, the forge fire was used to symbolically forge a sword into a plowshare."...
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Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty | ICAN | Action week
ICAN Germany presents: “Now more than ever!”
Political action week
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Germany (ICAN Germany) and its cooperation partners, including the medical peace organization IPPNW, announce that the week of action "Especially now!" from the 21. to 26. September 2023 will take place throughout Germany. The aim of the initiative is to strengthen efforts to abolish nuclear weapons worldwide and to encourage political decision-makers to actively support Germany's accession to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
More than 650 German representatives in the European Parliament, the Bundestag and the state parliaments have already signed the ICAN parliamentary declaration for the ban on nuclear weapons...
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Wissing must finally adapt the federal transport infrastructure plan to be compatible with nature and the climate
BUND evaluation: Mobility transition can only be achieved with a redesign of the BVWP 2030
- Bundestag must adapt requirements plans for the BVWP 2030
- Transport route planning must implement the mobility transition in a climate- and nature-friendly way
- Minister Wissing should work across departments and abandon the climate protection blockade
The current practice of federal transport infrastructure planning is outdated and therefore not sustainable. In a brochure published today, the German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) explains what mistakes are being made in the current plans to expand motorways and federal highways and shows how sustainable mobility could be achieved. A change of direction is necessary in order to finally actively shape the future of mobility in Germany. As part of the ongoing needs plan review of the current Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan (BVWP), reforms must be implemented...
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Warming and CO2 increase to let seawater become angry
How severe is ocean acidification?
Strip graphic illustrates decrease in pH value and aragonite content over the last 40 years
Invisible danger to the marine world: New global comparative measurements show how far ocean acidification has progressed over the last 40 years. According to this, the pH value of the world's oceans has decreased by 1982 points since 0,07, and the content of the carbonate aragonite, which is important for marine animals, has decreased by ten percent. The drivers of this development are, above all, the increasing CO2 levels in the atmosphere, but also the warming of the oceans, as the researchers report. They now make these trends clear in interactive strip graphics.
The physical basis for this has long been known: When the carbon dioxide content of the air increases, more CO2 dissolves in the water of the oceans. As a result, carbonic acid is formed and makes the seawater more acidic. At the same time, some of the CO2 reacts with the carbonate compounds dissolved in the water, such as aragonite, causing their content in the water to decrease. However, marine animals such as corals, mussels and snails require these carbonates to form their shells and supporting structures.
In recent years, studies in the laboratory and in some marine areas have already shown that the shells of mussels and sea snails are becoming increasingly thinner and corals are growing more poorly. However, it was previously unclear how much ocean acidification has increased and how quickly it is progressing...
20 September
Poland | Corruption | bribery
Poland: Illegal trade in work visas endangers government
A lucrative trade in work visas was being carried out in the Polish Foreign Ministry, and the government is now trying to downplay the case and is launching a large-scale attack on the opposition.
The affair could cost the ruling party “Law and Justice” (PiS) the election on October 15th. After days of silence, Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau finally stepped in front of the microphones on Monday. He decided to take the arrogant route. The reports about the visa affair are “a cascade of fake news,” he told the media on Monday, seemingly confidently. There were only 200 such cases.
Michal Szerba and Dariusz Jonski, two opposition politicians from the “Citizens Coalition” (KO) party alliance, who have access to documents, claim that Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau was informed about the practices. They published a corresponding document.
They assume there are 350.000 such cases. Up to $5000 per person was said to have been paid, according to research by the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, which uncovered the practices...
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European Parliament | Greenwashing | Consumer protection | Advertising
Fight against empty advertising promises
EU agrees to ban greenwashing
The EU wants to provide consumers with better information about sustainability. Advertising messages such as “environmentally friendly”, “climate neutral” or “biodegradable” should be banned – unless there is evidence for this.
“Environmentally friendly” shampoos or “climate-neutral” milk – such terms confuse many consumers. But vague product information should be banned in the EU in the future if there is no evidence of this. Representatives of the European Parliament and EU states have agreed on this.
Consumers should also receive significantly more information about how long a product lasts – and whether it can be repaired. This significantly expands the EU's list of prohibited business practices...
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the European Commission | Glyphosate | Pesticides
Controversial glyphosate is to be used in the EU for another 10 years
The European Commission will recommend reauthorizing the use of glyphosate in the EU for 10 years, senior EU officials said on Wednesday.
Glyphosate, a chemical used in herbicides such as weed killers, has been a source of controversy since the World Health Organization's cancer agency concluded in 2015 that it is probably carcinogenic to humans.
However, EU officials confirmed on Wednesday that the EU Food Safety Agency (EFSA) had found no critical areas of concern in an assessment in July and that it was extending the substance's approval in the EU by ten years would recommend.
However, officials acknowledged that the EFSA analysis had data gaps and failed to draw conclusions on certain aspects, including consumer diet.
The EU approval for glyphosate expired in December 2022, but was temporarily extended pending assessments by EFSA and ECA, the EU chemicals agency.
The chairman of the European Parliament's Environment Committee, Pascal Canfin, reacted to the decision on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, denouncing that the decision violated scientific recommendations.
[...] The non-governmental organization Pesticides Action Network Europe said the decision was "in stark contrast to the will of Europeans" and pointed to a recent IPSOS survey in six EU countries that only 14 percent of citizens supported the extension of use of glyphosate.
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France | Fossil | LNG terminal
“Gas kills”: Greenpeace against corporations that abuse the Ukraine shock
Protest against the new LNG terminal in Le Havre. Gas entrepreneurs are shamelessly exploiting the Ukraine war, environmentalists say. How a fossil fuel emergency is manufactured.
While protests continue against LNG terminals in Germany, especially off the island of Rügen, activists from Greenpeace France tried on Monday to block a new liquid gas terminal belonging to the oil and gas company TotalEnergies in the port of Le Havre.
The activists rode kayaks back and forth between the harbor entrance around the tanker that was transporting the terminal. At the same time, they wrote the words “Gas kills” in white paint on the ship’s wall.
Hélène Bourges, campaign manager for oil, transport and oceans at Greenpeace France, writes in a press release:
This LNG terminal is another glaring example of the "shock doctrine" whereby gas operators have shifted their public messaging and lobbying from "energy transition" to "energy security" and cynically seized the opportunity to follow the sanctions imposed by the Russian government The energy supply problems caused by the invasion of Ukraine lead governments to make massive, unnecessary investments in the expansion of fossil gas imports and infrastructure.
The floating LNG terminal with a length of 280 meters finally reached the port. It was supposed to be put into operation as early as September 15 to ensure "France's energy security" during the war triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to the French government.
However, Greenpeace questions whether LNG expansion is necessary to meet the energy needs of France and the rest of Europe after the Russian invasion. This also applies in the event of a cold winter, contrary to what the French Energy Transition Ministry claims...
19 September
Transport policy | Infrastructure
Greenpeace analysis
Germany is the leader in Europe when it comes to shutting down train routes
The transport transition is unlikely to succeed without a strong railway. But according to a Greenpeace analysis, Germany has put significantly more money into roads than into rail infrastructure in recent years.
Over the past 30 years, Germany has invested around twice as much in roads as in its rail infrastructure. This is the result of a study by the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy and the T3 Transportation Think Tank on behalf of Greenpeace. In addition, Germany has closed more kilometers of routes for rail passengers than other European countries.
According to Greenpeace, investments in road and rail in the 27 EU states as well as in Great Britain, Norway and Switzerland were examined for the analysis. Comparable data for these 30 countries was available for the years 1995 to 2018. During this period, an average of 66 percent more was invested in roads than in rail.
Germany actually spent twice as much money (110 percent) on road transport. 278,4 billion euros went into roads, only 132 billion euros into rail...
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Denmark | Heat pump | District heating
A heat pump for an entire city
The world's largest heat pump of its kind is currently being built in Esbjerg, Denmark, designed and built by an Augsburg company. Why is the technology not yet used in Germany?
[...] The project manager and the entire MAN company are proud of the product. Just years ago, the continued existence of the Augsburg subsidiary was in jeopardy. Then came a new boss and a new strategy: less diesel, more technology to cope with the energy transition. And a new name to go with it: MAN Energy Solutions.
The technology from Augsburg will soon provide district heating for up to 25.000 households or 100.000 people. Esbjerg should be CO2-neutral in seven years, says Mayor Jesper Frost Rasmussen: "The people of Esbjerg expect us to find green solutions. They have recognized that we have to live our lives differently than before," said the politician the conservative-liberal Venstre party.
Germany is lagging behind
The coal-fired power plant in the port, which has previously provided district heating for Denmark's seventh largest city, will soon be shut down. District heating for the city is then primarily provided by the pump. The large heat pumps from the Augsburg company MAN are in demand all over the world, including New Zealand and the USA. But so far no project has materialized in Germany. You might need them right now...
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Human rights | freedom of assembly | preventive detention
According to the report, Germany restricts freedom of assembly
In a digital world map, Amnesty International for the first time includes the Federal Republic of Germany among the countries that make the right to protest more difficult. Among other things, the preventive detention of climate activists in Bavaria is criticized.
Amnesty International is observing an increase in state repression of protest around the world. Authorities increasingly used unlawful force and enacted repressive laws to crush protests, the human rights organization said. On their global map "Protest Map" Germany is also listed for the first time as a country in which freedom of assembly is restricted.
In at least 86 of the 156 countries examined, state authorities used unlawful force against peaceful demonstrators last year, Amnesty said. In 37 countries, security forces even used lethal weapons. The research also showed that protesters were arbitrarily detained in 79 of the countries examined. Some demonstrators are subjected to severe repression, are tortured, mistreated, simply disappear or are killed.
Germany listed, among other things, for preventive detention
For the first time, Germany is listed as a country in which the right to freedom of assembly is increasingly restricted, it said. Examples of preventive detention, painkillers, repressive legislation and bans on gatherings are given. Climate activists in particular are currently facing increasing repression...
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Hydrogen | Ammonia | Schiffsverkehr
Maritime shipping
Ship with hydrogen instead of heavy oil
More than 20 large companies from Amazon to Ikea to Tchibo are tendering for CO2-free shipping. This should be an incentive for shipowners and manufacturers of hydrogen and “green” fuels.
Around 90 percent of world trade is carried out by sea. The fleet - whether freighters, container ships or tankers - is powered by heavy oil, a fuel that is extremely harmful to the environment and the climate. Around 100.000 ships sail the world's oceans every day.
Shipping traffic as a whole is responsible for over 2,5 percent of global CO2 emissions, and the trend is rising. Over 20 well-known large corporations have now started an initiative to make ship transport more climate-friendly.
The companies, including Amazon, Ikea, Levi's, Nike and Tchibo, launched a tender to transport 600.000 standard containers on ships powered by zero-emission fuels. According to the initiators, this corresponds to a saving of around one million tonnes of CO2 emissions over three years, roughly the amount emitted by 215.000 combustion cars...
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Climate change | Species extinction | mass extinction
Species loss cuts off entire branches of family trees
Current mass extinctions also affect entire genera, families and orders
Rapid loss: The extinction of species is not only robbing the tree of life of its smallest branches - the impoverishment also extends to thicker branches in the form of entire genera and families, as a study reveals. According to this, 1500 genera, ten families and two orders of land vertebrates alone have become extinct since the year 73. Without human influence, the extinction of so many higher levels of the family tree would have taken around 18.000 years. The life tree therefore has larger gaps than previously assumed.
Throughout its history, our planet has repeatedly experienced major mass extinctions, in which up to 75 percent of the entire living environment died out. The triggers were often climate changes caused by extreme volcanism or continents breaking up, but also asteroid impacts like those 66 million years ago at the end of the dinosaur era. We are currently in the middle of the sixth mass extinction, but this time the cause is humans. Since our species existed, hundreds of species have already become extinct. A million more are currently about to...
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Pakistan | Arms | Ukraine | Credit
Bombs for emergency loans: How the US tricked Pakistan into supplying weapons to Ukraine
What does the fall of Imran Kahn and IMF loans have to do with the Ukraine war? The Intercept reveals a secret US deal. It's about blackmail and contempt for democracy.
In April 2022, the US supported the Pakistani military in organizing a no-confidence vote to remove Prime Minister Imran Khan. Ahead of the removal, US State Department diplomats expressed anger to their Pakistani counterparts over what they called Pakistan's "aggressively neutral" stance on the Ukraine war under Khan.
When the conflict began, Khan, then prime minister, was on his way to Moscow for a long-planned bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The visit outraged Washington.
The US warned of serious consequences if Khan remained in power. At the same time, it was promised that if he were to be deposed, “everything would be forgiven.”
After overthrowing Khan, the military began to eliminate his party through a wave of killings and mass arrests...
18 September
PFAS | cancer risk | Women
Study from the USA
Study shows connection between PFAS in the body and cancer risk in women
Once in the environment, “perpetual chemicals” are hardly broken down – and can endanger health. A study now shows that women are at particular risk.
They are in shampoos, the coating on pans or rainwear and in packaging: PFAS, so-called eternal chemicals, are found in many everyday things. They have long been suspected of being harmful to health, such as impairing the function of the liver or thyroid or causing cancer. A study in the journal »Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology« now shows that the chemicals can lead to an increased risk of cancer in women.
According to the researchers, people suffering from breast, ovarian, skin and uterine cancer had higher levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in their bodies, which under certain conditions can influence the hormonal system. This does not prove that exposure to chemicals such as PFAS and phenols led to the cancer diagnoses, according to a statement about the study. But it is a clear sign that it could play a role and should be further investigated...
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A majority of Europeans do not believe they live in a democracy
The results of a new study are alarming. Authoritarian attitudes have become entrenched. About democratic mistrust and undemocratic politics.
In Germany, but also in many other European countries, there is currently a heated debate about the growing political alienation of large parts of the population from the established parties. The AfD has gained a lot of support in recent surveys; in Brandenburg the party is even at the top of the state with 32 percent.
At the same time, more or less authoritarian political systems have developed in some EU states over the last two decades, especially in Poland and Hungary. Right-wing extremist parties are on the rise in almost all countries on the continent. The governments and parliamentarians are criticized as corrupt, while they do not have the interests and needs of ordinary people in mind.
A new study shows how wide the gap has now grown between the political elite and their democracy rhetoric on the one hand and the assessment of the populations in the EU states on the other.
The alarming result: Only a third of Europeans believe that their country is governed democratically, and only 20 percent are satisfied with the way the political system works. This points to a serious crisis of representation...
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Photovoltaics | Power storage | Taxes
Sales tax advantage for photovoltaics remains permanent
The reduced tax rate or zero tax rate when purchasing photovoltaic systems and electricity storage systems will be valid permanently, as the Federal Solar Industry Association (BSW) emphasizes based on information from the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF).
The reduced tax rate or zero tax rate when purchasing photovoltaic systems and electricity storage systems will be valid permanently, as the Federal Solar Industry Association (BSW) emphasizes based on information from the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF). The tax exemption, which has been in effect since the beginning of the year, recently contributed to the fact that more solar power systems and solar power storage systems were installed in the home segment in the first half of the year than in the entire year of 2022. At the same time, however, many consumers became uncertain about the period for which the tax relief is intended.
Previously, many operators of solar power systems were able to recoup some of the sales tax through laborious bureaucratic tax tricks. This has no longer been necessary since the beginning of 2023, as the VAT rate that is charged to the system operator upon purchase and installation is zero percent...
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Libya | Dam breaks | Disaster
Floods in Libya:
UN warns of further possible dam breaches
While the search for victims of the floods continues in the rubble of Derna, the United Nations is concerned about the situation at two other dams. A fatal car accident involving Greek emergency workers overshadows the operation.
In Libya, a week after the devastating storm and dam collapse disaster, two more dams may be in danger. The UN emergency relief office OCHA expressed concern on Sunday evening about the Jasa Dam between the partially destroyed city of Derna and Benghazi and the Kattara Dam near Benghazi. Reports about the situation are contradictory. Authorities said both dams were in good condition and functioning. According to the authorities, pumps are being installed at the Jaza Dam to relieve the pressure on the dam, according to OCHA.
Two dam bursts caused the worst destruction in the port city of Derna on the night of last Monday. Thousands of people have died and thousands are still missing. The authorities do not yet have exact figures. The city had around 100 inhabitants before the disaster...
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Humanitarian interventions, Peace instead of war and Armament
war and peace
“BRD delivers more tanks than ambulances”
Nationwide week of action against war and rearmament. Mobilize Nazi opponents, environmental and peace groups. Conversation with Michael Schulze from Glaßer
Under the motto “Stop the killing in Ukraine – for a ceasefire and negotiations!” you are organizing a nationwide week of action with protests starting this Monday. Who do you want to address with this?
Our addressees are the Russian and Ukrainian governments, the federal government and the EU. So all governments involved in the war. But of course also our own population.
[...]
What path to peace do you want to show with your protest instead?
There are many alternatives. For example, a significant expansion of humanitarian aid. It cannot be the case that Germany has now delivered more tanks to Ukraine than ambulances. Secondly, we call for negotiations between all parties involved in the conflict. This war will end with a negotiation, even if some people don't believe it or don't want to see it. There have already been initiatives – from Brazil, China and others. All parties to the conflict must agree to this, and we are pushing for this with our actions...
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September 18, 1980 (Rocket fuel explosion) Damascus, USA
Wikipedia
September 18, 1980 - Complex 374-7, Little Rock AFB, Arkansas
During maintenance work on the Titan II missile in silo 374-7, a soldier dropped a wrench socket. This crashed into the silo and leaked the fuel tank of the first rocket stage, which was filled with Aerozin-50. Subsequently, the silo and later the launch control center of the complex were evacuated. In the early hours of September 19, two two-man teams were scheduled to enter the complex and take stock. At 3 a.m. the fuel ignited and the rocket exploded in the silo. The explosion injured 22 people, and one of the soldiers later died in hospital. The 740 t silo cover landed about 200 m from the silo. The Mk.6 reentry vehicle was destroyed, but the W-53 (9 megatons explosive power) warhead it contained was found largely intact about 100 m from the silo. Silo 374-7 was completely destroyed, but the launch control center remained completely intact.
The documentary Damascus, USA. The GAU (English: Command and Control, German premiere on arte on July 21, 2020) is about these events. SAC decided not to restore the silo because of the high costs. The accident exposed many deficiencies in SAC's management of the Titan II program and contributed to the decision to retire the missiles...
YouTube
arte documentary - 01:27:29
Contemporary historical thriller about an accident in a US nuclear weapons silo that almost destroyed several major American cities: based on the memories of Air Force soldiers, defense engineers and first responders, the chain of events in the US town of Damascus is traced, which almost led to a nuclear catastrophe would have led...
17 September
European refugee policy:
Construction instead of isolation
There are not 8.000 people in need, but 8 million looking for safe places. Their labor is needed in Europe as well as in Africa.
Africa is collapsing. In Libya, floods wash half a city into the sea and tens of thousands drown. In Morocco, the High Atlas collapses in a severe earthquake, burying villages with thousands of people. Further south, military coups are causing regional tensions and instability, and the economy is lying idle. Sudan's new war has created the largest refugee crisis in the world, with the victims unable to find permanent protection in any neighboring country.
The new refugee crisis in Lampedusa is causing hectic reactions in Europe. But what are 8.000 boat people compared to 8 million refugees and displaced people across the region from Sudan to Mali? You cannot declare a state of emergency in Europe and ignore the thousand times greater emergency in Africa, which neither EU warships off Libya nor EU financial aid to Tunisia will change in any way. The people who are now fleeing Africa have no other choice...
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California | fossil fuels | Fossil Lobby
Power change: California calls for a ban on the distribution of coal, gas and oil
California calls for a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty. This also makes economic sense. Here are the reasons why.
California, one of the world's largest economies, has voted in parliament to call for a treaty on the non-proliferation of fossil fuels. The proposal faced major opposition from oil and gas lobbyists as well as 40 industry groups who banded together to block it. Nevertheless, it received the approval of the Californian Parliament by a large majority.
The resolution calls on US President Biden to support Pacific countries in seeking a negotiating mandate for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty.
Solidifying its commitment to combating continued global warming, the State of California joins over a hundred other governments around the world in making the proposal for a Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Fossil Fuels a reality.
The successful initiator is the “Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty” initiative, which has achieved another major success on the way to phasing out crude oil, natural gas and coal...
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“The tip of the iceberg” – Argentina takes action against Nazi printing press
The discovery of hundreds of Nazi memorabilia in a printing press in Argentina triggers a shock wave in the country. Authorities expect further finds.
Buenos Aires - When Argentine federal police raided a house on the outskirts of Buenos Aires this week, they found hundreds of books decorated with swastikas and imperial eagles. Some of the works glorified Adolf Hitler, while others denied the Holocaust and provided a revisionist history of World War II...
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New whistleblower law
The Federal Reporting Office receives 100 anonymous tips
Two and a half months ago, the federal government created a position for whistleblowers, which is already being used extensively: According to the Ministry of Justice, more than 100 reports have been received. Companies have until the end of the year to set up a secure portal for whistleblowers.
Since the so-called whistleblower law came into force, the federal government's newly created external reporting office has received more than 100 reports. As a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice announced upon request, the reporting office at the Federal Office of Justice received a total of 12 reports from the beginning of July to September 113th. According to the information, most of these were received via an online form. The reporting office's advisory services are also being heavily used, said the spokeswoman...
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Current news+
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History versus Stories or the future of our Democracy
Aiwanger and the consequences:
A future that I dread
Historical revisionism has the country firmly in its grip. From Aiwanger and Söder to the AfD, the Nazi past is dismissed as not being that bad.
Autumn is slowly coming, at least in Bavaria, where I was last week. There were gray skies and gray faces on posters for the state elections at the beginning of October. There was an AfD poster hanging on a lantern in front of the hotel where I was staying, not far from it the Free Voters were advertising themselves and Markus Söder was grinning his Grinch smile somewhere. Just normal. Still, something tightened up inside me. Well, I was sick. Feverish, sore throat. But the tightness was further down, in the chest.
I've always had an ambivalent relationship with Bavaria. Since the Hubert Aiwanger affair However, I need some distance from this federal state, that became clear to me after my last visit. The self-confidence with which Bayern's deputy brushed off the allegations against him, the conviction with which he was able to sell all of this as a campaign against him, the way in which he continues to carry this narrative forward and, as recently, critical questions all in one Interview with the Augsburger Allgemeine I would like to have it subsequently deleted, which deeply alienates me.
Since Prime Minister Söder announced “Don’t worry about it,” Aiwanger has been presenting new survey results on X every hour, which confirm his arrogance and lack of insight. If there were an election this Sunday, the Free Voters would come out loud BayernTrend to 17 percent! This puts them ahead of the Greens, a high for the FW. In Germany you can get away with accusations of Nazi salutes and leaflets trivializing Nazism - and the voters will still cheer you on.
Aiwanger left behind a battlefield in terms of memory politics. One that comes in handy for the AfD, whose politicians regularly question the basic historical-political consensus, quite consciously.
Grandma and grandpa
Alexander Gauland, who described the Nazi era as “just a piece of bird shit” in 1.000 years of German history; also Gauland, who argued in 2017 that the Nazi era no longer had to be “held against us”; Björn Höcke’s “Monument of Shame” speech in January 2017; Maximilian Krah, the AfD's top candidate for the European elections, who in a TikTok video absolved "our ancestors" of crimes and asked young viewers to find out "what grandma and grandpa, great-grandma and great-grandpa did, what they fought and suffered" . And AfD leader Alice Weidel, who recently stated in the ARD summer interview that – unlike her co-chair Tino Chrupalla – she did not attend a reception at the Russian embassy in Berlin in May on the anniversary of the end of the Second World War, Since they did not want to celebrate the “defeat of their own country” “with a former occupying power,” a new high point has been reached.
In 2017, the new right ideologue and editor-in-chief of his magazine published Secession, Götz Kubitschek, the text “Self-trivialization”. In it he makes recommendations for the AfD in order to remove the “emotional barrier” of the masses of voters. And he also advocates “creating new habits.” AfD politicians repeatedly try to push boundaries, “to push provocatively into the border areas of what is just sayable and feasible,” as Kubitschek puts it in his text. Party representatives are reversing guilt, openly showing that they are not prepared to deal with the crimes of the Nazi regime, to even recognize them and to distance themselves from them.
So is a new era dawning? A time of “new habits”? I don't want to overdramatize anything. But historical revisionism takes the form of parliamentary representation in state parliaments and the Bundestag. You usually get used to new habits quicker than you think. That's what I fear.
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Background knowledge
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The map of the nuclear world
History becomes “fake news” and the truth is replaced by entertaining stories: Radioactive tea tastes better! Everyone has fun and slaps their thighs with joy.
The internal search for
brought the following results, among others:
July 1, 2023 - The Angry Citizen Republic or: Everyone plays for the AfD
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June 4, 2023 - Politics with poison, agitation and propaganda
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YouTube
Historical revisionism
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Geschichtsrevisionismus
MrWissen2go - June 10, 2023 - 10:59
That's why the AfD is so successful right now
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JDFA - February 13, 2021 - 2:19
Right-wing extremist victim myth and historical revisionism
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ZDF Magazine Royale - October 8, 2021 - 23:31 p.m
Is the AfD-affiliated Desiderius Erasmus Foundation unconstitutional?
Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...
This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic
The search engine Ecosia is planting trees!
Historical revisionism
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Geschichtsrevisionismus
Federal Agency for Civic Education
Revisionism (more precisely: historical revisionism) is an essential component Link has preview popupInternal link: right-wing extremist ideologies. His aim is to reinterpret the historiography of, for example, National Socialism for political reasons and thus to put the crimes of the Nazi regime into perspective.
Contrary to what its representatives often claim, revisionism is not about a scientific and objective examination of history. Instead, revisionists often manipulate facts to trivialize National Socialism. For this purpose, for example, historical documents and traditions are deliberately misinterpreted, research results that contradict one's own view are ignored, or certain events are completely denied...
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Educational center Anne Frank
Historical revisionism and anti-Semitism
How the right-wing reinterprets history
The New Right is fighting its battle for cultural hegemony - and the sovereignty of interpretation over recent history is one of its most important arenas. Historical revisionism is not a new phenomenon, but with the rise of right-wing populist forces in recent years, the AfD's entry into the Bundestag and all state parliaments, and the founding of the AfD-affiliated Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, historical revisionist positions are becoming increasingly prominent in the public eye expressed.
The reinterpretation of history is intended to create a positive connection to the “own nation”, to the “national community” - which in the New Right's imagination is of course white and Christian: Jews, Muslims, people of color and homosexuals are not included. .
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Wikipedia
Historical revisionism or revisionism refers to attempts to revise a scientifically, politically and socially recognized view of history by presenting, explaining or interpreting certain historical events in a significantly different way than in current historical science. The term revisionism originally comes from the history of German social democracy and the criticism of state socialism and is not limited to historical interpretation. In the English-speaking world, historical revisionism usually means a value-free new interpretation of historical events based on new empirical data.
In contrast to the source-based “revision” (correction) of a historical account of events, actors of right-wing extremist historical revisionism reinterpret the content of the past for ideological reasons. They particularly reinterpret the National Socialist era by denying, relativizing or trivializing the Nazi crimes. To do this, right-wing extremist historical revisionists use certain manipulation methods of falsifying and distorting history. They label these attempts “revisionism” in order to pass them off as research. However, historians classify their publications as pseudo-scientific propaganda...
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Newsletter XXXVII 2023 - September 10th to 16rd
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