Newsletter III 2024

January 14th to 20th

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The PDF file "Nuclear Power Accidents" contains a number of other incidents from various areas of the nuclear industry. Some of the incidents were never published through official channels, so this information could only be made available to the public in a roundabout way. The list of incidents in the PDF file is therefore not 100 % identical with "INES and the disturbances in nuclear facilities", but represents an addition.

1 January 1977 (INES 5) NPP Beloyarsk, USSR

2 January 1958 (INES 4) Nuclear factory Mayak, USSR

3 January 1961 (INES 4 | NAMS 2,9) SL-1, NRTS Idaho Falls, USA

4 January 1986 (INES 4) Nuclear factory Sequoyah, USA

5 January 1976 (INES 3) NPP Jaslovské Bohunice, SVK

6 January 2016 (North Korea's 4th nuclear weapons test) Punggye-ri, PRK

6 January 1981 (INES 3) Nuclear factory La Hague, FRA

13 January 1977 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Gundremmingen, GER

17 January 1966 (Broken Arrow) B-52 Palomares, E.S.P

18 January 2012 (INES 2) NPP Cattenom, FRA

20 January 1965 (INES 4 | NAMS 3,7) Nuclear factory LLNL, Livermore, USA

21 January 2002 (INES 2) NPP Flamanville, FRA

21 January 1969 (INES 5 | NAMS 1,6) VAKL Lucens, CHE

21 January 1968 (Broken Arrow) B-52 Thule Airport, Greenland, DNK

24 January 1961 (Broken Arrow) B-52 Goldsboro, NC, USA

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We are looking for current information. If you can help, please send a message to: nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de

20. January

Israel | Two-state solution | Palestine

Call for a ceasefire

Guterres: Israel must recognize the right to a Palestinian state

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu rejects an independent Palestinian state. UN Secretary-General Guterres considers this “unacceptable”.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has once again spoken out in favor of a two-state solution. "The right of the Palestinian people to create their own state must be recognized by all," said Guterres at the meeting of the Non-Aligned States in Uganda's capital Kampala. The denial of the right to statehood to the Palestinian people is unacceptable.

Guterres went on to say that denying a two-state solution prolongs a conflict that has become a global threat to peace and security, contributes to polarization and strengthens extremists everywhere. He also renewed calls for an immediate ceasefire in the fight between Israel and Hamas...

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The countries of Global South and the hypocrisy of West in Davos

The Global South is increasingly taking a stand against Western hypocrisy – rightly so

China gives Zelensky the cold shoulder in Davos. South Africa files genocide lawsuit against Israel. When morality and power become multipolar. Comment.

[...] Zelensky knows that he doesn't just need the support of Western states for his plan. Because the “rest of the world” has become more and more geopolitically relevant, especially because the countries of the so-called Global South have gained economic influence.

The economic power of the Brics states

The Brics countries now account for 30 percent of global economic output, while the G7's is lower - and the trend is against the USA, Germany, Japan and Co.

[...] The "war on terror" that the United States launched under President Bush in 2001 and continues to this day in the Arab and African regions was not, as proclaimed by the White House, carried out by the "collective will of the world", to restore the global peace order.

Rather, the Western alliance acted on its own account, trampling on values ​​and indifferent to the interests and needs of the “rest of the world,” if not directed against them.

But it is also true that many states in the South complied with orders and orders from Washington or stood on the sidelines because they did not want to attract the disfavor of the United States.

That has changed. Not only when it comes to the Ukraine war, in which many countries, including China and India, continue and even increasingly trade with Russia despite the US and EU sanctions regime, while Brazil under President Lula confidently announces that it will invite Putin to global meetings (Brics and G20) to invite this year...

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United States | Arms industry | Military spending

The arms industry, not the economy, benefits from aid to Ukraine

In the USA, funds are being sold to Kiev as a job engine. But that's not true. Why it serves the rich rather than the poorer classes. Guest post.

Will the United States extend its funding for Ukraine's defensive war against Russia? The US Congress is having a hard time answering this question.

The Republicans want to withhold their consent until US President Joe Biden agrees to strengthen security on the US-Mexico border. As political support for Ukraine appears to be shaky, the White House is nervous - and rightly so.

The narrative of general advantage

To convince lawmakers of the need to arm Ukraine, US President Biden last year emphasized economic benefits in the United States. The idea behind this strategy was that many voters might mistakenly assume that "helping Ukraine" means transferring huge sums of money to bank accounts in Kiev.

In fact, much of American military aid comes in the form of in-kind supplies such as weapons and ammunition from existing US stockpiles. If Congress votes to continue supporting Ukraine, the lion's share of these funds will go to domestic companies tasked with replenishing the Pentagon's weapons stockpiles...

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Persecution | Extermination | Mass murder

Remembering the Wannsee Conference

“What do people do to each other?”

On January 20, 1942, the Nazis made plans to exterminate Europe's Jewish population. The deputy memorial director explains in an interview how important the memory of the Wannsee Conference is, especially today.

tagesschau.de: On January 20, 1942, 15 administrative officials met at the Wannsee Conference House for a meeting followed by breakfast, as it was said, to plan mass murder. How do you bring this historic event closer to children and young people?

Matthias Haß: This is indeed a complex story to convey the involvement of the state administration in the organization, planning and execution of the mass murder. We have to focus on the participants and do this based on concrete history, on the basis of concrete biographies: What makes the perpetrators take part in such crimes, even at their desks? What ideology is in the background of national community and anti-Semitism?

But of course we also have to tell the story of the victims. We have to tell what happened to the people who have not only been confronted with persecution since January 1942, but who experienced exclusion, discrimination and persecution immediately after January 30, 1933? And how do they deal with it? We have to tell this specific story.

And by the way, it's not just interesting for children and young people, but for all of us. This is a disturbing and irritating story that we need to tell. Normal state administration: people work from 9 to 5 and the goal of the work is the deportation and murder of millions of people. This is a challenge that we have to face again and again.

[...] Meeting in Potsdam “shocking for us too”

tagesschau.de: Last week it became known that a meeting of right-wing and right-wing extremist circles took place in a villa in Potsdam, which is only a few kilometers away as the crow flies from the House of the Wannsee Conference memorial. Among other things, the expulsion of people with a migration background was discussed there. What challenges arise from the resurgence of right-wing populist and right-wing extremist movements? 

Matthias Haß: This is actually shocking for us too. And the references that were made, especially to the location of the Wannsee Conference, are diverse. I think we have all been surprised over the last ten years that at many points we have to carry out discussions, debates and educational work that we thought we had already left behind at some points. That's not the case. That is a challenge.

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Demonstrations for Democracy

Tens of thousands of people expected at demonstrations against the right

More than 90 demonstrations against right-wing extremism have been announced across Germany this weekend. Tens of thousands of people are expected. Where there are demonstrations everywhere

At the weekend, tens of thousands of people across Germany will attend Demonstrations against the right and for democracy expected.

[...] A demonstration against the right-wing and the AfD in Hamburg even had to be canceled on Friday evening because of the large number of people. One of the organizers cited safety concerns. People collapsed in the crowd and the fire department couldn't get through. The police spoke of 50.000 participants, the organizers of 80.000. According to police information, more than 10.000 people took to the streets in Münster, 13.000 in Bochum, around 4.000 in Kiel and 3.000 in Jena...

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Photovoltaic systems | Network operator | charging stations

Solar roofs and charging stations

Retailers complain about long waiting times

Retailers in Germany complain about long waiting times when connecting photovoltaic systems and charging stations and are demanding faster processing by distribution network operators. According to information from the German Press Agency, the retail giants Aldi Nord, Edeka, Lidl and Rewe, the wholesale group Metro and the furniture retailer Ikea are among those affected by the delays.

“Dealers have great difficulty getting solar systems and e-charging points connected to the grid. That cannot be in the spirit of the energy transition,” said Stefan Genth, managing director of the German Trade Association (HDE). Companies therefore wait up to 18 months until a connection is established.

[...] According to its own information, the Federal Network Agency is in contact with the network operators. According to the authority, the number of new buildings quadrupled between 2021 and 2023. It is noteworthy that the network operators surveyed managed to keep processing times approximately constant, said a spokesman. The solar package launched by the Federal Ministry of Economics will bring further relief. “We are optimistic that processing times will not remain a long-term problem.”

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Israel | War Crimes | Gaza

Middle East Conflict

Blackout as a weapon

Gaza war: Israel hides attacks behind communication barriers. New lawsuits filed

Telephone and internet connections in Gaza were down for the seventh day in a row on Friday. The blackout is caused by Israel. Since the war began on October 7, 2023, Israel has been cutting off the Palestinian coastal strip from all communications before particularly serious attacks so as not to be disrupted during its military actions. But without telephones and the Internet, people cannot warn each other. Those affected cannot reach paramedics and civil defense forces. Conversely, rescue teams cannot track where the bombs and rockets have hit in order to rush there and help. The intended blackouts are intended not least to prevent journalists from broadcasting their reports from the war zone. Without telephone and internet connections, international organizations such as the UN are also unable to transport their medical and humanitarian supplies, food and warm clothing or blankets to people.

[...] Mexico on Friday joined a lawsuit filed by Chile on January 9 at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Like South Africa, the two Latin American states accuse Israel of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza. The move by Mexico and Chile is a response to increasing violence in Gaza, especially against the civilian population, said a statement from the Mexican Foreign Ministry.

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20 January 1965 (INES 4 | NAMS 3,7) LLNL, Livermore, USA

About 259 TBq were released from the chimney of the tritium plant in 1965. This accident was kept secret for years, during which time the population grew and built houses on contaminated soil. (Cost approx. US$6,1 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents
 

Watching out for the ecology of Livermore

Livermore Eco Watchdogs (This domain will no longer be available in 2023.)

Historical Doses To The Public from Routine and Accidental Releases of Tritium

During its fifty-three years of operation, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Livermore site was home to an estimated 29.300 TBq tritium released into the atmosphere; about 75% of it was accidentally released as gaseous tritium in 1965 and 1970. Routine emissions contributed just over 3.700 TBq gaseous tritium and approximately 2.800 TBq tritiated water vapor to the total dose at...

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

The second highest dose resulted from the Released 222 TBq in 1970.

USE OF TRITIUM AT LIVERMORE LABORATORY:

Tritium and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Two of the three largest tritium accidents I have ever seen documented occurred here at the Livermore Lab headquarters. In 1965 and 1970, the Livermore Lab released approximately 650.000 Curies (23.700 TBq) Tritium released into the air from the chimneys of the tritium plant (Building 331).

Note: One curie corresponds to 37 billion radioactive decay processes per second, in becquerels 37 GBq.

After the 1965 accident, not much data is available on wind patterns, precipitation, etc., but after the 1970 accident, Livermore Lab scientists found elevated tritium levels that they linked to the 1970 accident, as far south as Fresno, in southeast about 200 miles away.

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

Wikipedia de

Unfortunately can be found in the German Wikipedia no information about the accidents from 1965 and 1970.

Lawrence_Livermore_National_Laboratory

Wikipedia en

Also in the English Wikipedia there is only the usual court reporting.

Lawrence_Livermore_National_Laboratory#Public_protests

Public protests

The Livermore Action Group organized numerous mass protests against the production of nuclear weapons by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1981 to 1984. On June 22, 1982, more than 1.300 anti-nuclear weapons activists were arrested during a non-violent demonstration. More recently, there have been annual protests against nuclear weapons research in Lawrence Livermore. In August 2003, 1.000 people protested against "new generation nuclear warheads" at Livermore Labs. 2007 people were arrested during the 64 protests. In March 2008, more than 80 people were arrested while protesting outside the gates.

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

19. January

Great Britain | United States | Assange

Assange solidarity in London:

A Tory tells it like it is

At the end of February, a decision will be made in Great Britain on the extradition of Julian Assange to the USA. About a meeting at Conway Hall.

[...] In a month's time, on February 20th and 21st, Wikileaks founder Assange's legal team will appear before the Supreme Court in what is likely to be their last possible attempt to take legal action in Britain against his expulsion to the United States.

Assange had won and lost previous court cases. The latest status is that the British government will deport him via an extradition agreement between the US and UK. If he fails in February, an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights is still possible.

[...] Of all those present, it is David Davis who, as a Tory, is most likely to be heard in government circles. “Everyone, regardless of color, politics, origin or religion, deserves a fair trial, fair justice, not arbitrary deprivation of liberty,” he begins with a remark about his former work for prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.

[...] Davis ended his speech with a quote from the well-known British High Court Judge Lord Sumption: “Freedom of expression includes the right to publish information, even if it is controversial, disturbing or embarrassing to authorities or other people.” Anyone who believes in a free Society that believes in a free press and a fair justice system must be convinced that Assange should have been free for a long time...

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CSU and other Pawn catcher

How the CSU came to forget its cycle paths in Peru

CSU General Secretary Huber accuses the government of distributing German money worldwide instead of supporting local farmers. The AfD had previously argued similarly. The traffic light defends development aid that it never started.

Joana Cotar started with the bike paths in Peru. On December 1, 2023, she accused the traffic light coalition in the Bundestag of setting the wrong priorities in their budget. Cotar was formerly a member of the AfD parliamentary group, but now sits in parliament as a non-attached member.

[...] CSU General Secretary Martin Huber also takes it up. On January 16th he wrote on

In his post, Huber lists a number of projects that Germany is co-financing: green refrigerators in Colombia, for example, and gender-sensitive village development in Bangladesh.

What Huber doesn't mention: The projects he mentions are only being continued by the traffic light. The commitments for grants and loans for cycle paths and buses in Peru, for example, date from 2020. They were given by Schulze's predecessor: Gerd Müller - like Huber from the CSU....

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Bundeswehr | NATO | Military exercise

War games in Europe: How the Bundeswehr is preparing for a possible Russian attack

The Quadriga maneuver is about quickly moving troops to the Russian border. Scenarios are played out in a “secret paper”. What's behind it?

A “secret paper” from the Bundeswehr is currently making the rounds in the media, which is based on a scenario in which massive troop relocations are used to respond to a potentially imminent Russian attack - from NATO's perspective. In general, great importance is now being attached to the rapid transfer of soldiers and material to Russia's borders.

Playing war for several months

Already at the NATO summit in June 2022, NATO decided to massively increase the relevant targets, which now also form the basis for the Bundeswehr paper currently under discussion. This represents an enormous challenge, especially logistically, with Germany and the Bundeswehr playing a central role.

[...] In fact, it is anything but normal when all resources are being invested in rearmament and preparation for a possible war with Russia, while hardly any effort is made to get out of the current spiral of escalation... 

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France | Switzerland | Mobiltelefon | SAR value

Device radiation: Federal Council opposes control

Over 40 mobile phones have failed French security tests so far. Switzerland continues to deliberately look the other way.

A few months ago, it also made headlines in Switzerland that Apple's iPhone 12 failed the French tests. The ANFR also responded to this with a recall. Apple has since offered a software update, which means the device is approved again in France.

However, Belgium, Germany and Italy, which also requested the update, did not receive it. And Swiss users didn’t receive one either. An Apple spokesman confirmed this to Infosperber. This means that the device would actually not be market compliant in this country.

A spokesman for the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) wrote to Infosperber: “Switzerland has not requested an update from Apple.” Like other EU states, they are waiting for a decision from the EU Commission to adopt the French conformity assessment. Apple said the result was due to the special French testing protocol.

Insiders are not convinced by this argument. France is the only European country that systematically tests (Infosperber reported). ETH professor emeritus Niels Kuster, who develops and sells the measuring systems with the company SPEAG, told Infosperber: “The fact that Apple only had to install the update on devices registered in France surprised many in Europe.” ...

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Last Generation | accused | criminal organization

Flensburg public prosecutor's office is investigating Last Generation

It is controversial among lawyers whether the Last Generation could be a criminal organization. Now investigators in the north are taking a hard line.

The Flensburg public prosecutor's office is investigating several members of the Last Generation on suspicion of being part of a criminal organization. The authority said this in a statement.

The basis is “findings about the organizational structure and attacks on secure transport and supply infrastructure in several federal states”. No details were given in the announcement. The investigation is still ongoing, it said.

[...] On Sylt last June they sprayed paint on, among other things, a hotel bar and an airplane, and they also damaged the grass of a golf course. The Flensburg public prosecutor's office has now charged several members on suspicion of damage to property, trespassing and disruption of public operations.

Millions in damage on Sylt

The material damage is therefore significant. The cost of the smeared private plane alone is “at least one million euros.” The hotel is worth around 46.000 euros. In total it is probably around 1,4 million euros. The public prosecutor's office emphasized that the accused members were not suspected of having participated in a criminal organization...

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AfD ban and Höcke petition:

Get out of the faint

Right-wingers are threatening to take power and anti-fascist resistance is finally growing. Courts could support him. Not pessimism.

What a glimmer of hope in these dark days: Something is moving on German streets - and it's not right-wing! Around ten years after Antifa began organizing against the AfD, more and more average Germans are now recognizing that the AfD is a danger that something must be done against. Thousands flock to demonstrations, argue about strategies and sign petitions. That's just good.

But instead of being happy, others complain: It is not legal to ban a party like the AfD or to deprive the fascist Björn Höcke of a few basic rights, as the petition demands. Are these people more afraid of discriminating against neo-Nazis than of being ruled by neo-Nazis? Or do you assume that you yourself would be among the last to be deported? ...

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United States pay $1,1 billion for term extension of Diabolo Canyon

US Administration signs off on federal funding for Diablo Canyon

The US Administration has signed the credit award and payment agreement finalising the USD1,1 billion in credit payments awarded under the Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) programme to help keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in operation.

The payments are through the Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) programme, a USD6 billion strategic investment under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help keep the USA's existing reactor fleet in operation. The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) plant was conditionally awarded the credit in November 2022.

"Preserving the nation's nuclear fleet is critical not only to reaching America's clean energy goals, but also to ensuring that homes and businesses across the country have reliable energy," said Maria Robinson, director of the US Department of Energy's Grid Deployment Office. The announcement "demonstrates the Administration's commitment to domestic nuclear energy by preserving existing generation, while we continue to support a stronger nuclear power industry", she added.

The payments will be made in instalments over four years of operation from 2023, with the amounts adjusted to reflect factors including the actual costs of keeping the two-unit plant in operation. The first payment, to be made in 2025, will be based on the operation of the plant in 2023 and 2024...

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

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Subsidies | Farmers | agricultural industry

Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)

Fake farmers cash in

EU agricultural subsidies: farmers and farms not among top recipients. Beneficiaries include municipalities, financial investors, corporations and environmental associations

It sounds like a cliché: EU agricultural subsidies are for farmers and farm operators. Who else, right? Not even close! There is no agricultural business, no beet farmer, no livestock farmer among the top ten recipients in this country. Who collects? Ministries, state companies, agricultural giants. And companies outside the industry, such as RWE and Aldi Nord. One thing is striking when you look at the list of beneficiaries: environmental associations, the Nature Conservation Association of Germany (Nabu) and the Association for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND) also receive millions in funding from the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). According to the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE), a total of seven billion euros went from Brussels to 2022 beneficiaries in Germany in 315.000.

[...] How do environmental associations justify their subsidized commitment? Nabu receives a lot of money from EU agricultural policy, confirmed Laura Henningson, consultant for agricultural biodiversity, when asked by jW. This funding would pay for the provision of conservation services. She also says: "We are clearly positioning ourselves against flat-rate area bonuses, but not against performance-related payments that support nature-friendly agriculture." Patrick Müller from BUND argues similarly. Individual divisions of his association would receive agricultural subsidies. In doing so, they maintained areas in a particularly high-quality manner, which is why the funding “is very justified in this case,” said the agricultural policy advisor. However, the sums for the association are rather less significant. The specialist portal top agrar estimated the EU subsidies for the BUND in 2022 at more than 1,45 million euros.

But how can “land grabbing” be prevented, at least on a large scale? Van Aken from Greenpeace has a suggestion - the simple solution: cut subsidies to large companies at 300.000 euros per year. An option that the CAP allows. The problem: "The federal government has renounced this." The result: excesses remain, financial investors and corporations continue to lavishly subsidize their "green" image.

18. January

Norway | North Sea | Oil drilling

Climate activists in Norway successfully sue against oil approval

In the years-long dispute between climate protectors and the oil nation Norway, the environmental protection organizations were able to claim a victory. According to the ruling, the permits for three oil and gas fields in the North Sea are invalid.

Climate activists have successfully sued in Norway against the approval of three oil and gas fields in the North Sea. The Oslo District Court declared the permits for the Breidablikk, Yggdrasil and Tyrving fields invalid. According to the verdict, the state violated conditions when it came to permits. The plaintiff environmental organizations Greenpeace and Nature and Youth were right in their argument that the state had violated the conditions of the country's highest court because the climate impacts had not been examined when the fields were approved...

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In 2024, offshore-wind farms with the capacity of 2 to 3 large nuclear power plants were built in Europe

Record for new wind turbines at sea

Last year, more new offshore wind turbines came online in Europe than ever before. According to industry information, the output of wind farms off the coast increased by more than a third. 

Last year, according to preliminary figures from the wind power association WindEurope, a total of 4,2 gigawatts of installed capacity in offshore wind farms were connected to the grid in Europe. That is 40 percent more capacity at sea than in 2022. Most of the capacity has been installed in the maritime areas of the Netherlands, France and Great Britain.

According to the Onshore Wind Energy Foundation, more than 1.500 offshore wind turbines with a total output of 8,4 gigawatts were in operation in Germany by the middle of last year.

[...] Last year, the European Union adopted an action plan with 15 immediate measures to support the wind sector. The EU plans to achieve a share of renewable energy of at least 42,5 percent by 2030.

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Greenland | Climate change | Gulf Stream

Greenland is losing 30 million tons of ice per hour

The world's largest island is sweating: According to a new study, Greenland has lost 40 percent more ice in the past 20 years than expected. This could have consequences for the Gulf Stream.

The Greenland ice sheet lost an area of ​​1985 square kilometers between 2022 and 5091, an area roughly twice the size of Saarland. This emerges from a study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. That is around 20 percent more than previously assumed.

The work primarily examined the retreat of Greenland's glaciers. Accordingly, in the period examined, they lost 1034 gigatons more of ice through breaking off into the sea than was able to be added to the island, for example through snowfall - so when you calculate it down, the island loses the enormous number of 30 million tons of ice per hour...

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AfD | well-fortified democracy | Party ban

Hundreds of thousands on the streets: This is the “people”, AfD!

The Germans stand up. Against the AfD. Against fascism. This, dear AfD, is the “people” that you always claim you speak for. That is the majority of Germans! And they don't want you!

In response to the Correctiv research, the AfD is dropping its masks - and is now at the latest acknowledging the key code words of the extreme right. AfD politicians openly admit that the plans for mass deportations are true. The official account admits that they want to strip Germans of their citizenship in order to deport them. And thousands of AfD fans are calling for ethnic and political cleansing in the comments. The Brandenburg AfD faction openly admits that it stands by the plans from the secret meeting.

[...] This party is fundamentally built on hatred, lies and division! Your plans are either openly unconstitutional or they only serve the purpose of trivializing them and deceiving the population long enough to seize power!

[...] We can turn back NOW! We can now educate people and democratically save ourselves from this party! Before it is too late! The momentum is there. We are seriously debating whether the Federal Constitutional Court should decide to ban the AfD. Our Petition has almost 700.000 signatures.

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Mobiltelefon | SAR value

Cell phones radiated far too much radiation for decades - until today?

Cell phone manufacturers deliberately conducted unrealistic radiation tests. Even today there are hardly any independent controls.

Just a few years ago, the so-called Phonegate revelations showed that the radiation emitted by mobile devices is inadequately controlled. With the exception of the Beobachter (Paywall), no media in this country has reported on it in depth so far.

How strong the radiation from mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets has on the human body is measured by the so-called SAR value. This determines the energy absorbed at a specific part of the body by measuring the temperature on the skin.

But the limits are controversial. Firstly, because the manufacturers have a say in how measurements are taken. Secondly, because scientists assume that a mere temperature measurement does not rule out the possibility that the radiation affects the body in other ways - and even at a lower intensity. And thirdly, because, as in Switzerland, there is hardly any independent control of whether the devices comply with the specified limit values.

[...] In 2020, France applied to the EU for the limit values ​​to now be adhered to without any distance. Niels Kuster expects the change to come into effect this summer. “Although the industry is not happy about it because it is becoming more difficult to produce compliant devices.”

However, it is likely to be uncertain whether the devices will be able to comply with the new standards in the long term without testing in the relevant countries. Because so far only France is testing systematically.

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Portugal | drought | water supply

Portugal's government restricts water supplies in the Algarve

The south of Portugal has been suffering from persistent drought for months. Households and agricultural businesses will have to significantly limit their water consumption in the future.

In view of persistent drought in the Algarve region in southern Portugal, which is very popular with tourists, the government has ordered water consumption to be reduced. The water supply for households in the region will be reduced by 15 percent, Environment Minister Duarte Cordeiro announced on Wednesday evening after a crisis meeting. For the time being, agricultural operations would even have to get by with around 25 percent less water...

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18 January 2012 (INES 2) NPP Cattenom, FRA

Wikipedia

Cattenom

A missing component did not prevent backflow in the cooling lines of the storage pool for the fuel assemblies of Units 2 and 3. The storage basin could have become empty in an uncontrolled manner. Due to a malfunction, the cooling water injection line of the spent fuel pool could - instead of feeding water regularly - suck water from the pool, which would slowly empty it and lead to larger releases of radioactivity. There is usually a device to interrupt this suction process. In Cattenom it was found in January that this had never been attached to Blocks 2 and 3. If the basin had emptied there, the last countermeasure could have been to pump in external water, for example from the river, using tank fire-fighting vehicles and hose connections...

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Cattenom

In July 2012, the French Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ASN) required the operator Électricité de France (EDF) to replace motor pumps for supplying water to the decay tanks because they were not robust enough in the event of fuel overheating. This affects nuclear power plants Cattenom, Belleville, Flamanville, Paluel and St. Alban ...

17. January

Rosatom | Framatome | Lingen fuel element factory

Fuel element factory without Russians:

Rosatom should not go to Lingen

The Russian company wants to get involved in fuel rod production in Lower Saxony. Environmentalists are calling for the approval process to be aborted.

BERLIN taz | The ongoing approval process for the expansion of the fuel element factory in Lingen, Lower Saxony, must be canceled. This is what anti-nuclear initiatives demanded on Wednesday in Hanover. The Lingen “Advanced Nuclear Fuels” (ANF) factory, like the uranium enrichment plant in Gronau, Westphalia, is excluded from Germany’s nuclear phase-out.

The operator of the Lingen plant, the French nuclear company Framatome, also wants to produce fuel elements for Russian-designed reactors there in the future under license and with the cooperation of the Russian state-owned company Rosatom. To this end, Framatome has founded a joint venture in France with the Rosatom subsidiary TVEL. However, according to critics, the application documents for the expansion, which have been laid out by the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Environment since the beginning of January, conceal the explosive role of the Russian company in the project.

[...] In order to make their demands heard, environmental and anti-nuclear initiatives have announced another demonstration in Lingen. It is scheduled to begin this Saturday in front of the gate of the fuel element factory.

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France | Wind energy | EPR

Wind energy all-time record: France will produce over 2023 percent more wind power in 30

Paris - France produced more wind power and fed it into the grid in 2023 than ever before. In addition to the expansion of onshore wind energy, offshore wind energy is also gaining momentum.

In the public perception, France's energy policy is still mainly associated with discussions about nuclear energy. Nevertheless, the French expansion of renewable energies is taking place in the background, but the pace of expansion and the impact is significantly higher than with nuclear energy.

Wind power production in France will rise to a new record level in 2023

Wind turbines in France generated a total of 2023 billion kWh of electricity in 48 (2022: 36,6 billion kWh) and fed it into the grid. According to data from the European network operators (Entso-e), this is an increase of 31,1 percent compared to the previous year and a new annual record.

[...] Offshore wind power output could therefore increase to around 2035 MW (18.000 GW) by 18.

Expansion of nuclear energy too slow – a maximum of one new nuclear power plant in operation by 2035

While the expansion of renewable energies in France can be carried out at a rapid pace, the expansion of nuclear energy in France is hardly getting anywhere. With the Flamanville nuclear power plant (1.650 MW), only one new nuclear power plant is under construction - and has been since 2007. The latest date given by EDF for the commissioning of Flamanville is the first quarter of 2024. That would be a record construction time of 17 years...

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Democracy | Basic Law | Party ban

Debate about AfD ban

The time is here

In the discussion about a ban on the AfD, skepticism predominates in politics. There are good arguments for this. But in times of constant breaking of taboos, civil society cannot solve the problem alone.

Former Constitutional Court President Hans-Jürgen Papier is against it, as are Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner and CDU leader Friedrich Merz. Against a ban on the AfD.

The arguments of the opponents of the ban are reminiscent of their school days. Even back then, in history and politics lessons, there were arguments against party bans, which now recur in various variations. And that doesn't mean to sound derogatory at all. The political arguments against party bans are also very constitutionally worth considering.

[...] TikTok, X and YouTube set the pace. And these media are not places for thoughtful debate and listening. The algorithms of social media rely on the quick stimulus, the loud mobs, the constant breaking of taboos.

The AfD moves in this new online public sphere like a fish in water. Prejudice and spite, childlike defiance, dividing the world into friends and enemies, into real Germans and dangerous migrants - this pattern meets a social media public in which thoughtfulness, differentiation, patience and empathy are becoming less and less the tone.

[...] The Basic Law is not blind to this situation. For good reason, it has instruments of defensive democracy such as a ban on parties or the forfeiture of fundamental rights in the case of right-wing extremist agitators like Björn Höcke. But politics must create a protective shield for democracy. The time is here, right now.

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Russia | Eco-activist | Baimak

Protests after verdict against eco-activists in Russia

Anyone who protests publicly in Russia runs the risk of ending up in prison. This did not stop many people in Bashkortostan from showing solidarity with the convicted Fail Alsynov.

The small town of Baimak is located in the extreme southeastern tip of Europe. There, in Russia's republic of Bashkortostan on the Volga, several thousand people demonstrated against the condemnation of local eco-activist Fail Alsynov. According to media reports, Alsynov was sentenced to four years in prison this Wednesday for allegedly making racist statements.

In a speech against gold mining to a village council last year, Alsynov used two words in Bashkir that were translated into Russian as "black people." The court said his speech was intended to "incite hatred and demean the dignity of a group of persons based on race, nationality, language or origin." Alsynov testified that he was referring to "poor" people.

Largest protest since the attack on Ukraine

According to estimates by the independent Internet portal Vyorstka, more than 3000 people gathered in front of the courthouse in the small town of Baimak to support Alsynov. Observers speak of one of the largest protests in Russia since the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine.

The demonstrators chanted "Freedom for Alsynov" and demanded the resignation of the regional leader Radii Khabirov, on whose demand the trial against the eco-activist had been initiated. A video shared by the media "Ostorozhno Novosti" is said to show security forces using force to push away the crowd. According to eyewitnesses, tear gas was also used. 15 people are said to have been injured. Several people were arrested...

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Climate policy | CO2 price | Climate money

Open letter from associations to the Minister of Finance

“Mr Lindner, pay out the climate money during this legislative period!”

Environmental aid, consumer advice centers, Diakonie – more than a dozen associations have come together to make an urgent appeal to Finance Minister Lindner. It's about socially just climate policy.

16 associations have jointly written an open letter to Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP). They are demanding that the climate money be paid out during this legislative period. The letter is available exclusively to SPIEGEL.

At the weekend, the minister said in an interview that the technical possibilities to pay out the climate money would not be created until 2025. Whether the money will actually come will have to be decided by the next federal government. This was a clear rejection of actually paying off this promise from the coalition agreement before the next federal election.

He has already been criticized for this from many quarters. The climate money is intended to distribute the income from CO₂ pricing, for example from gas and oil, evenly to all citizens. The idea behind it is to steer consumers towards low-CO₂ alternatives, but ultimately not to take any money away from them: those who emit particularly little CO₂ spend less on it than they receive in climate money...

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Corruption | European Parliament | immunity

Lawsuit dismissed:

EU politician Kaili fails in EU court

Former Vice President of the European Parliament Eva Kaili is suspected of fraud and corruption. Now she is threatened with losing her immunity.

Greek MEP Eva Kaili, who is suspected of fraud and corruption, has suffered defeat in her fight against the lifting of her parliamentary immunity.

According to information on Tuesday evening, the EU court rejected Kaili's lawsuit against the planned procedure as inadmissible. The former parliamentary vice-president had attempted to challenge European Attorney General Laura Kövesi's request for immunity to be lifted...

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CO2 and water chemically converted to carbon and Hydrogen

How to convert air CO2 into carbon fiber

Combination catalysis produces solid carbon nanofibers from carbon dioxide

Innovative carbon storage: Using a new approach, chemists have succeeded in converting the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into a useful material – carbon nanofibers. This is made possible by a tandem reaction in which carbon fibers are created from CO2 and water in two catalytic steps, as the researchers report in “Nature Catalysis”. The process could therefore effectively compensate for emissions and also produces valuable hydrogen.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by human activities is largely responsible for global warming. Researchers have therefore long been looking for an elegant and effective way to reduce the CO2 concentration in the air and to permanently store the carbon. Without these efforts, the global community's climate goals would likely be missed and our planet would continue to heat up.

However, previous processes for this so-called CO2 capture often require high temperatures, high pressure and a lot of energy overall. They are also usually not very efficient and cannot yet be used on a large scale. The binding and storage of carbon using CCS technologies is not yet fully developed.

New tandem process circumvents previous hurdles

A research group led by Zhenhua Xie from the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and Columbia University in New York has now successfully tested a different approach...

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17 January 1966 (Broken Arrow) Palomares, USA

The nuclear chain

Palomares, Spain

Nuclear aircraft crash

In January 1966, four hydrogen bombs exploded near the Spanish city of Palomares after a U.S. Air Force B-52 collided with another aircraft in mid-air. The non-nuclear explosives of two bombs detonated and spread radioactive fallout over a large area. Even 40 years after the accident, radioactively contaminated soil can be found near the crash site...

Wikipedia

Palomares nuclear accident

During an aerial refueling over the Spanish Mediterranean coast, a B-28G bomber carrying B52RI hydrogen bombs from the 68th Bomb Wing, which was flying from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina, USA, as part of Operation Chrome Dome, collided with a KC -135 tanker aircraft of the US Air Force at 9000 meters altitude. An explosion occurred, causing the 150.000 liters of fuel on board the refueling aircraft to burst into flames and both aircraft to crash. All four crew members of the refueling plane died. Five members of the seven-person bomber crew were able to get out of the plane using the ejector seat, but one of them's parachute did not open, so a total of seven of the eleven soldiers died.

[...] The safety precautions prevented a thermonuclear explosion, but the high-explosive conventional explosive charges in two of the bombs detonated and contaminated approximately 170 hectares of agricultural land due to the radioactive components of the warheads.

The chemical composition of the weapons plutonium was kept strictly secret by Franco's government apparatus on behalf of the USA. It has never been known how much weapons plutonium was seized. It is estimated that around 3.000 grams of plutonium-239 was released as fine dust. The Andalusian village of Palomares was not evacuated and no attempt was made to clean it. On February 2, 1966, representatives of the American and Spanish nuclear authorities agreed only on a limited decontamination program.

In one operation, approximately 1400 tons of soil from radioactively contaminated tomato plantations were removed and transported on the ship USNS Boyce to Aiken, South Carolina, on the Savannah River Site for disposal...

16. January

Weapons technology | Dual Use | Export control

Western technology in weapons

Russian cruise missiles with TÜV seal

Russia attacks Ukraine with missiles and drones almost every day. It also contains electronics from the West. How can this be - despite the sanctions in force?

These are explosive finds that Andrii Rudyk from the Ukrainian General Staff brought with him. His unit analyzes the remains of Russian weapons and, above all, their foreign components. He presents parts of the on-board computer of a Russian KH101 cruise missile, which has often caused death and destruction in Ukraine. Inside there are several box-shaped, white voltage converters. “Made in the USA,” it says, and a TÜV logo can also be seen. “This onboard computer controls the flight of the cruise missile,” explains Rudyk. "This makes it a high-precision weapon."

According to Rudyk, Russia relies heavily on foreign high-tech components because the country is unable to produce them itself. According to him, more than 70 percent of the components examined come from abroad: for example microchips, processors, cameras, antennas or modern navigation technology. "Everything related to high-precision technology is fully imported," says the employee of the Ukrainian General Staff ...

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Agriculture | Farm death

Structural change in agriculture:

Fewer but larger farms

Thousands of farmers give up every year. Agriculture Minister Özdemir receives support from his conservative predecessor in office for the animal welfare tax.

BERLIN taz | The change in agriculture towards fewer and larger farms continues, but has slowed down. This emerges from the 2023 agricultural structure survey by the Federal Statistical Office. According to this, the number of agricultural businesses has fallen by 7.800 in the past three years to 255.000. This corresponds to 2.600 farms per year.

At the same time, the area used by companies increased by an average of 2 hectares to 63 hectares, the Federal Office announced on Tuesday. From 2013 to 2020, 3.200 businesses closed each year; from 2010 to 2013 there were 4.700 per year. The area used for agriculture has remained almost the same since 16,6 at 2010 million hectares. More and more of this is being farmed organically. Compared to 2020, the proportion of organically farmed area increased by 16 percent to around 1,85 million hectares. The number of farms with organic farming has increased by 2020 percent to 10 since 28.700, their share is 11 percent...

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Climate change | Temperature | Health

Depressing forecast until 2050

Davos report predicts millions of deaths from climate change

Floods, droughts, heat waves, tropical storms, wildfires and rising sea levels: How do these consequences of climate change affect the health of people worldwide? The World Economic Forum in Davos ventures a scenario based on a report that is now being presented.

According to a report, climate change threatens to cause several million deaths in the coming decades, as well as serious illnesses and high costs for health systems. The greatest risk comes from flooding. This is the conclusion of the report “Consequences of climate change for global health” by the World Economic Forum and the consulting firm Oliver Wyman, which will be presented this Tuesday in Davos.

The study authors look at six key impacts of climate change: floods, droughts, heat waves, tropical storms, wildfires and rising sea levels. It is based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) medium scenario for temperature increase by the year 2100. Among other things, it is assumed that the average temperature will rise by 2,7 degrees Celsius...

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Great Britain | EDF | Torness NPP 

Torness nuclear power plant failure

In Great Britain, six out of nine nuclear power stations do not produce electricity

London - In Great Britain, more and more nuclear power plants will fail in January 2024 and will not provide any electricity. Now another nuclear power plant has been taken offline with the shutdown of Torness 1 with a gross output of 682 MW. Of the nine British nuclear power plants still in operation (gross output 6.500 MW), only three nuclear power plants with a gross output of around 2.500 MW are still in operation. The nuclear power plant failure adds up to six nuclear power plants with an output of around 4.000 MW (4 GW), which are currently not producing any electricity.

After a series of nuclear power plant closures in recent years, the British nuclear fleet has shrunk from a peak of around 13.000 MW (in the mid-1990s) to currently only 6.500 MW (9 nuclear power plants at four locations).

[...] According to current plans, the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant with block C1 should be online on June 01st, 2027 and block C2 on June 01st, 2028. But there are many indications that this already postponed schedule cannot be adhered to and that completion may take until the end of the decade or beyond... 

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Venezuela | Oil | ExxonMobil | Guyana 

The US fossil “tentacles”: ExxonMobil wants to start a war in Latin America

Oil giant tries to drive wedge between Venezuela and Guyana. It's about huge oil discoveries in disputed waters. And a vendetta. Guest post.

On December 3, 2023, a large number of registered voters in Venezuela voted in a referendum on the Essequibo region, which is disputed with neighboring Guyana. Almost all voters answered yes to the five questions.

These questions asked the Venezuelan people to reaffirm their country's sovereignty over Essequibo. “Today,” said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, “there are no winners or losers.” The only winner is Venezuela's sovereignty. The main loser, according to Maduro, is ExxonMobil.

In 2022, ExxonMobil made a profit of $55,7 billion, making it one of the richest and most powerful oil companies in the world. Companies like ExxonMobil exercise excessive power over the global economy and over countries with oil reserves...

15. January

Incitement of the people | well-fortified democracy | Criminal complaint

Secret meeting in Potsdam

Left MP reports Martin Sellner for sedition

At a secret meeting of right-wing networkers, the Austrian extremist Martin Sellner is said to have talked about deporting groups of people from Germany. A left-wing politician sees this as a crime.

The left-wing MP Pascal Meiser has filed a criminal complaint against the Austrian right-wing extremist Martin Sellner for incitement to hatred. The background is a secret meeting of right-wing networkers in Potsdam in 2023. The advertisement is available to SPIEGEL.

In front of AfD politicians and other guests, Sellner is said to have presented a plan for large-scale “remigration” – the mass deportation or displacement of immigrants and people with a migration background from Germany. These are supposed to be asylum seekers, foreign nationals with the right to remain and “unassimilated citizens”.

[...] Meiser has also filed a criminal complaint against Gernot Mörig on suspicion of aiding and abetting incitement. Mörig is said to have been the organizer of the event. “Martin Sellner’s speech was announced by Gernot Mörig in his invitation letter as an “overall concept, in the sense of a master plan,” writes Meiser. At the event, Möring is said to have moderated Sellner's speech with the words that the question of "remigration" was about the question "whether we as a people still survive in the West or not." "It can therefore be assumed that Mörig was already familiar with Sellner's theses before the event," writes Meiser in his advertisement...

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Guatemala | Democracy

Change of power in Guatemala:

Against the old forces of the country

Guatemala's new President Bernardo Arévalo took his oath of office significantly late that night. The opposition in parliament was to blame.

GUATEMALA CITY taz | Significantly late, Guatemala's new President Bernardo Arévalo took his oath of office as Guatemala's new president shortly after midnight on Monday night. The opposition stubbornly wanted to pull the plug on the Party for the Renewal of Democracy - in vain.

Arévalo made no secret of how close it was in his inaugural speech. The country has narrowly missed a new authoritarianism, and thanks to unity, the 65-year-old praised in front of around 1.000 invited guests in the capital's National Theater.

The thanks of the new president, whose inaugural speech in the capital's central square was cheered by thousands despite the late hour, also went to the friendly nations and the indigenous authorities. The latter had defended the remnants of democracy in Guatemala with massive protests over 105 days, just as the international community had vehemently pushed for the swearing in of the elected president. This was greeted with vehement cheers by thousands in “Constitution Square”, the central location in Guatemala’s capital...

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United States | Capital | Income

Class struggle from above in the USA

The 700 richest Americans have accumulated $8,5 trillion in capital gains. These should now be taxed.

According to current estimates, billionaires in the USA only pay 4,8 percent in income taxes. Actually, this rate should be very close to the maximum tax rate of 37 percent. There are two reasons why this is not the case. On the one hand, billionaires have enough money to buy senators and representatives. The Republicans in particular have created many tax loopholes for the super-rich in recent years. Not least because of this, the total untaxed capital gains of around 700 US billionaires rose from 3200 to 8500 billion dollars.

This brings us to the second reason: In this asset category, most of the income comes not from wages or interest and dividends, but from capital gains. And they are tax-free in almost all other countries too...

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farmers | Subsidies | Agricultural lobby

Agricultural subsidies

The farmers' tricks for climate protection

In the context of the protests, farmers are also cultivating their image as environmental and climate protectors and are demanding support for this. In fact, through accounting and other tricks, the agricultural sector already has its legal climate protection requirements for 2030 almost in its pocket.

[...] Farmers, whether young or old, no longer have to become climate compliant in order for agriculture to meet its legal climate target for 2030. The agricultural lobby has long since ensured the latter.

This underlines the latest estimate of agricultural emissions by Agora Energiewende. According to the preliminary annual balance presented at the beginning of January, agriculture emitted almost 2023 million tons of CO61 equivalents in 2, one million tons less than in the previous year.

The think tank determined that the reduction resulted primarily from declines in the number of farm animals and nitrogen fertilization.

[...] If a tractor burns diesel, this is not an energy-related emission, but an agricultural-related emission. Through this special regulation, the agricultural sector received an additional allocation of up to seven million tonnes of emissions in the climate law...

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Trust | Market economy | Davos

Without trust the world goes to hell

This year's World Economic Forum in Davos starts today. Its motto is “Rebuilding Trust”. Sounds good. Let's talk about trust. And about how it was lost.

Nobody can control everything and everyone. Without trust the world goes to hell. The global elites who meet again at the WEF in Davos in mid-January also know this.

What do these elites stand for, whose reputation has suffered greatly among large parts of the population after numerous crises? The WEF elites see themselves as guardians of the liberal social and world order. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, people in the West have agreed that there is no alternative to liberalism. The historical events of the late 20th century certainly suggested this conclusion. Obviously, the communist planned economy was unable to assert itself in the decades-long competition with the capitalist market economy. The free market economy is far from perfect, but its survival proved the West right.

[…] Liberalism was actually a good thing…

The double perversion

... but then two catastrophes occurred:

• Catastrophe 1: Liberalism was replaced by Anglo-Saxon neoliberalism (Reagan, Thatcher). While the free market economy used to be embedded in the welfare state, today the welfare state is embedded in the free market economy. This means that states adapt to the needs of globalized capital.
• Catastrophe 2: After 9/11, the liberal world order was replaced by the neoconservative world order of the USA (George W. Bush). This means: Anyone who does not cooperate with the USA must expect sanctions and worse. The EU represents Washington's interests in the European internal market, which is hungry for more and more territory.

[...] According to rumors, elites are also capable of learning...

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China | Solar energy | Wind energy

China's solar explosion: How the country is outpacing the West in renewables

The People's Republic leads the global expansion of solar energy by a wide margin. There is also a leap forward in wind energy. The increase is astonishing.

Last year, the expansion of wind and especially solar energy systems worldwide made a huge leap. The increase rose by 50 percent compared to the previous year, as reported by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris. This is a greater increase than at any time in the last three decades.

A huge 374,9 gigawatts additional

Accordingly, solar systems with an output of 2023 gigawatts (GW) were installed in 374,9. That is around two and a half times the entire German population. Incidentally, this also grew more strongly last year than ever before, by 13,1 GW to 80,7 GW, as the figures from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems show...

14. January

Castor transports from Jülich in the nuclear waste interim storage facility Ahaus are not welcome

Demo against nuclear waste transport in Ahaus

It's a foretaste of the protests that took place during the "Go!" would be expected for the planned Castor transports from Jülich to the Ahaus interim nuclear waste storage facility. An alliance of nuclear opponents mobilized in Münsterland on Sunday.

Around 50 tractors drive through Ahaus on Sunday, honking loudly. But today it's not about agricultural decisions. The aim of the farmers is the anti-nuclear rally. “We fear that approval for Castor transports will be granted this year,” says Felix Ruwe, co-organizer of the demo.

Farmers, anti-nuclear initiatives, environmental associations and representatives of churches and the city of Ahaus stand side by side. Around 300 people came. They all want to prevent more than 150 Castor containers containing nuclear waste from Jülich from being transported by truck to the Ahaus interim storage facility.

Mayor of Ahaus: Transports “expensive and dangerous”

The city's mayor, Karola Voß, says: "I think it is now time to decide that such nuclear waste will remain at the sites until a final solution is found." ...

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Europe | Military | Armaments

Explosive growth: Europe's military spending on the rise

EU military budgets under scrutiny: Find out more about the controversial decisions in European arms policy. 

The military spending of European countries is currently going from record to record. According to NATO data, the budgets of European NATO countries rose sharply from $236 billion in 2015 to $375 billion in 2023.

EU arms fund: New paths in defense policy 

In recent years, more and more relevant amounts have also been generated through the European Union - EFF, EVF, ASAP, EDIRPA, these are the most important components of the alphabet soup, which stands for various funding pots that have recently been put on track.

The EU Commission and its defense strategy 

On February 27th, the EU Commission wants to add another component with a defense investment strategy. One element of this could be an EU arms pot worth three-digit billions, as has now been called for by Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton...

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well-fortified democracy | AfD ban | Enemy of the Constitution | Höckler

Discussion about the AfD ban procedure

Prantl: “Time to unpack the instruments of defensive democracy”

After the revelations about a right-wing extremist meeting in Potsdam, controversial discussions continue about banning the AfD. The journalist and lawyer Heribert Prantl said on Deutschlandfunk that the government must act now. Instead of banning parties, Prantl suggests the application of Article 18 of the Basic Law.

The Basic Law makes it possible to punish militant anti-constitutional behavior by particularly extreme AfD members by depriving them of their eligibility to vote. Prantl emphasized that this step could be implemented more quickly than a party ban and was still a clear sign of democracy. He suggested, among other things, to put the Thuringian AfD state leader Höcke in his place legally using Article 18...

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Funding | CO2 price | Climate money

Despite demands from economists

Lindner: Climate money will no longer come in this election period

In their coalition agreement, the traffic light parties announced climate money. But the technical implementation for a payout will take several years and should not be possible until 2025. Now Lindner makes it clear: Climate money must be decided in the next federal election.

Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner does not want to decide on the payment of climate money planned by the traffic light coalition until the next legislative period. “From 2025 we can technically make a per capita payment,” said the FDP leader of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” with a view to the technical requirements. "We are on schedule. Whether we politically restructure the funding landscape in this direction will have to be decided after the next election."

The idea of ​​climate money is to transfer the income from the per capita CO2 price back to people, said Lindner. "Currently, the income is used to promote heating, building renovations, green steel production, charging stations for electric cars and so on." The FDP leader added: "In short, because one household receives funding for a heat pump, several hundred others cannot receive climate money that year."

"You can't spend the money twice," emphasized the finance minister. “The climate money would replace the subsidies we have now.” In his view, a decision on such a system change could only be made after the next federal election...

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China | Taiwan

Reactions to the election

China outraged by Japan's congratulations for Taiwan's elected president

For China, the election of William Lai is a setback. Beijing rejects “foreign interference” in the Taiwan question. Meanwhile, the Foreign Office is highlighting the strength of Taiwan's democracy - without directly alienating China.

After William Lai's election victory in Taiwan, the Chinese Embassy in Japan expressed outrage on Sunday at Japan's congratulations to Taiwan's new president. The embassy said it strongly opposed the statement by Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, who previously congratulated William Lai in a statement and said: "We expect the Taiwan issue to be resolved peacefully through dialogue, leading to peace and stability in Japan contributes to the region." The Chinese embassy described the minister's statement as "serious interference in China's internal affairs," as the authority announced via its official account on the Chinese chat service "WeChat."

[...] Beijing broke off contact with Taipei in 2016. The Communist Party has historically argued that Taiwan is part of China, even though it has never ruled the island and has had an independent, democratically elected government there for decades. China wants to achieve “reunification” and bring it about militarily if necessary. However, a war in the Taiwan Strait, which is important for international shipping, would hit world trade very hard and could involve the USA. Accordingly, the CP reacted less enthusiastically to the election. "No matter how the situation on the island of Taiwan changes, the fundamental fact that there is only one China in the world and that Taiwan is part of China cannot change," the government in Beijing announced on Sunday night .

In Taiwan, the local authority for affairs with China countered that Beijing should respect the election results and "face the new situation in the Taiwan Strait sensibly." China should communicate with Taiwan without preconditions to create stability in the region...

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Fascist | Fundamental Rights | The Petition

Almost 500.000 signatures

Petition calls for the withdrawal of Björn Höcke's basic rights

According to the opinion of almost 500.000 signatories of a petition, Björn Höcke should be deprived of his basic rights. At the center of the idea is his candidacy in the state elections in Thuringia.

The Thuringian AfD politician Björn Höcke is to be deprived of his basic rights. This is what a petition demands that has already been signed by almost 500.000 people. “Stop the fascist Björn Höcke: Have the federal government submit an application to the Federal Constitutional Court for the forfeiture of fundamental rights in accordance with Article 18 of the Basic Law.” This is what a petition that the physicist Indra Ghosh published two months ago on the petition platform of the campaign network Campact demands...

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Lingen fuel element factory | Signatures | Rosatom

On Saturday January 20th, is it about 13 pm continue with a rally in front of the Lingen fuel element factory! A cycling demo and a shuttle bus for train travelers start from Lingen train station at 12:30 p.m.
For the shuttle bus, please send a quick email to the AgiEL alliance in advance: buendnis.agiel@posteo.de

Together we want to prevent the expansion of the fuel element factory and the entry of the Kremlin group Rosatom.

Collective objections to Rosatom's entry

We are therefore once again calling on people to take part in the current objection procedure and to collect signatures for our collective objections by February 26th:

https://atomstadt-lingen.de/files/Sammeleinwendung-Brennelementfabrik-Lingen.pdf

Further information about the demo and the fuel element factory: https://atomstadt-lingen.de/aktuelles, www.ausgestrahlt.de

Travelling from Münster: Train RE5 at 11:05 a.m. from MS main station

Current news+

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Climate Crisis | Consequences | Norms | Psycho

Thwarted by conflicts of norms

Psychological explanations for doing nothing: Why many seem unconcerned by the climate crisis

Despite alarming headlines and a growing climate awareness among the population, we react to the climate crisis only slowly or not at all: This is not least due to psychological barriers: what inhibits us and how we get excited.

Record levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, depressing forecasts of global warming and ever new reports of heat waves, droughts and extreme weather events: climate change has been expressed primarily in horror reports for some time. Nevertheless, both politicians and each individual seem to find it difficult to take action. In fact, psychological processes also play a role in our inaction.

In spring 2023 one showed Study commissioned by German Environmental AidThe fact that the transport sector in Germany continues to miss its climate targets was confirmed for the building sector Expert advice on climate issues The federal government has too little ambition, and the Federal Environment Agency called for the utmost urgency in expanding renewable energies in order to achieve the climate goals of the coming years. At the same time, the aviation tracking company Flightradar24 reported that there were more commercial aircraft in the air on July 6, 2023 than ever since the service was launched in 2006, while the Federal Statistical Office reported one in September last year Record number of cars per inhabitant in Germany reported for 2022.

Feeling of helplessness

Politically and individually, our response to the climate crisis appears cumbersome at best - even though climate change scares many people and protecting the climate is important to them, as surveys regularly show. Gerhard Reese, Professor of Environmental Psychology at the Rhineland-Palatinate Technical University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, also says: “In the past few decades, climate awareness has risen to a very high level.” There is a small group of people who both take their own responsibility as well as denying climate change itself. However, this is probably not the majority, but an often very loud minority.

“Many people are aware of what is happening, and yet we find it difficult to connect it with our own actions,” explains Reese. The fact that it is a global crisis creates a feeling of helplessness: “I, with my own self-efficacy as an individual, cannot stop the climate crisis.”

In addition, climate change and its consequences are still difficult to grasp for many people, explains Isabella Uhl-Hädicke, environmental psychologist at the University of Salzburg: “We are talking about 1,5 or two degrees: that is nothing that affects us emotionally. Of course, it's about global temperature differences, but to put it bluntly, I don't feel a half-degree difference in the room." In addition, people talk about it in a very theoretical, cognitive and rational way: "But things have to touch us emotionally so that we can take action."

Say goodbye to positive habits

An aspect that Reese also takes up: “Climate crisis or climate change are very abstract for us.” Events such as droughts are noticed and many people also associate them with the climate crisis. “Scientifically, we cannot say that this one event is 100 percent due to climate change. Such attributions are also associated with uncertainty, and this uncertainty is one of the aspects that makes it difficult for us as citizens, but also for politicians,” explains Reese.

As Uhl-Hädicke explains, our behavior is controlled by consequences that we ideally experience immediately: “The problem with climate-friendly behavior is that we should perhaps give up behaviors that we like to do, are important to us and bring us positive emotions.” As As an example, she describes an everyday situation in the canteen where you have to choose between a meat and a vegetarian dish: “The point is that when I decide on a vegetarian dish, I don't feel the immediate consequences for the climate, for example the temperatures are falling again or the glaciers are growing.”

Climate-friendly actions today would only have consequences in the distant future: “That’s what makes it so difficult: the immediately positive experience that can accompany climate-damaging behavior – such as reaching for a meat dish that I like and enjoy – is in conflict to what is rationally good, but perhaps doesn’t give me the positive reinforcement.”

Climate-friendly behavior is often more inconvenient

However, our climate-damaging behavior is not only determined by psychological or individual factors, but also by systemic standards, notes Reese: “If there are roads everywhere, people will of course drive cars. And when flying is cheaper than taking the train, people choose to fly. It is simply the case that climate-friendly behavior is much more difficult, time-consuming and, for many, even more uncomfortable in most places.”

We're talking about 1,5 or two degrees: it's not something that affects us emotionally. Of course it's about global temperature differences, but to put it bluntly, I don't feel half a degree difference in the room.

Isabella Uhl-Hädicke, environmental psychologist at the University of Salzburg

Uhl-Hädicke points to the importance of social norms and behaviors that we observe in our environment. To make it clear how powerful these can be, the climate psychologist recalls the so-called smoke study, an experiment from 1968: people were placed in a room into which white smoke was piped. It was clear to some of the participants that the smoke does not indicate fire; these initiates were instructed to remain seated. But even the uninitiated remained in the room - even though the smoke could have been a signal of a life-threatening situation.

For Uhl-Hädicke, a good analogy to what is currently happening in the climate crisis: “On the one hand, we see the lack of consequences, but on the other hand, we also take our cue from others. Of course, we regularly read the headlines in the media about the catastrophic consequences of the climate crisis, but if you look around, no one is really panicking. The lack of panic in one's own environment leads to the fallacy that everything couldn't be that bad.

The problem with the norm conflict

In addition, there are so-called norm conflicts: On the one hand, there is the moral norm that we have agreed on in society and that tells us which behavior is considered desirable and which is viewed as negative. In contrast, there is the descriptive norm, “i.e. the norm that I observe – the behavior that the majority shows,” says the climate psychologist. “And in a norm conflict between desired and demonstrated behavior - as research shows - the descriptive norm has a stronger effect: on the one hand, because it is often easier to follow it, but on the other hand, above all, because we want to orientate ourselves towards the majority. “

For Uhl-Hädicke, the importance of social norms has consequences for communication on the climate crisis. Headlines like “70 percent of men would rather die than give up meat” show how the majority behaves – “and that’s what we base ourselves on, even when such behavior is pilloried.” Therefore, it would make sense to use trend forecasts or address dynamic norms. “When it comes to meat consumption, it could be reported that the majority still eat meat, but more and more are finding a taste for meat-free alternatives. Corresponding studies have shown that such an approach works because we also want to be part of innovations or trends,” explains Uhl-Hädicke.

Other studies make it clear that most people would consider it fair if those who caused the polluters also took responsibility, adds Reese. “This probably needs to be communicated more strongly, because people are aware that their behavior is responsible for something.” In concrete terms, this could mean putting more price on climate-damaging behavior.

In addition to pricing, bans could also be used, says Reese: “Bans are actually something very fair. If I ban something, I can't spend a lot of money buying my way in or out." However, bans would trigger a spontaneous defense in many people: "Nevertheless, bans can be helpful, namely if they are fair and bring a lot of profit to the majority , as shown, for example, by the Non-Smoking Protection Act or the ban on driving without a seatbelt.” The requirement to wear a seatbelt in particular also makes it clear that political measures are the quickest lever to change social norms, says Uhl-Hädicke.

Establish a sense of collective efficacy

Reese also believes that political measures have the quickest effect. But that doesn't mean that you as an individual can absolve yourself of responsibility, says Uhl-Hädicke: "From a psychological point of view, if only because, with a view to social norms, our behavior can serve as a role model and motivate others."

She also sees the media as responsible for communicating about the climate crisis: “A large number of horror reports about its consequences lead people to develop defense mechanisms: information about an existential threat then triggers a kind of paralysis or at least unpleasant feelings.” It would therefore be important , to report positive examples: “We know that horror scenarios inhibit us and trigger mechanisms with which we detach ourselves from the threatening feelings without addressing the causes of the scenarios. “On the other hand, positive examples motivate us,” explains Uhl-Hädicke.

In addition, the climate crisis is taking place at the same time as many other crises: “We humans can only withstand a certain amount of crises, so a certain degree of news fatigue is understandable. But you can get out of it by addressing the threat and trying to contribute something to solving it, in other words: adopting a climate-friendly lifestyle.”

If such a change in behavior takes place in a group, a feeling of collective effectiveness can arise, emphasizes Reese: “We as a neighborhood, we as a community, we as a nation or perhaps we as the whole of humanity - even if that may sound utopian - but we as a group , we as a movement, we can change something.”

Background knowledge

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The map of the nuclear world

Only when we feel, see, hear, smell or taste the danger...

The “Internal Search”

with the search terms

Climate Crisis | Consequences | Norms | Psycho

brought the following results, among others:
 

November 12, 2023 - Violence as a consequence of climate change: No cool heads

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November 4, 2023 - Health experts call for an exit from fossil fuels

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September 28, 2023 - Illegal: The truth about the Federal Republic's CO2 budget

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May 30, 2023 - This is how you discuss with people who don't care about the climate crisis

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October 30, 2022 - What power does to people

The search engine Ecosia is planting trees!

Search word = climate crisis - avoidance behavior - civil courage

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

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

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

Psychology-current

Power of habits: Avoidance behavior is easier to change than approach behavior

Every year on New Year's Eve, many people think about good resolutions for the new year. They decide to break their habits, for example to finally stop using their smartphone in the bedroom or to stop putting off their routine dental check-up from month to month. But how easy can such old habits be changed? Will it be easier for us to do things that we have previously avoided or is it the other way around? A study recently published in the journal "Journal of Experimental Psychology: General" shows that avoidance habits are easier to change than approach habits!

Habits are difficult to change. Automatically reaching for your smartphone on the bedside table and automatically postponing your dentist appointment from month to month are such everyday habits. However, there is an important difference between the examples: using the smartphone is a form of approach behavior, because by reaching for the smartphone, a positive state is actively sought out. Avoiding a dentist appointment, on the other hand, is a form of avoidance behavior: by not making an appointment month after month, you avoid a condition that you imagine to be unpleasant...

Wikipedia

Avoidance behavior

Avoidance behavior is the fundamental avoidance of certain situations or actions that are expected to cause discomfort or threats to the body, soul or social position. While flight, freezing (immobility), confrontation (fighting) or other coping strategies are possible reactions to an immediate threat, avoidance is a reaction to internal or external cues that can herald danger. Some authors distinguish avoidance behavior from safety behavior. Safety behavior is intended to avert or reduce feared consequences and thus reduce the threat of a situation when one is already in the situation that one normally avoids. The anticipatory or imaginary component of avoidance behavior is on the one hand protective, but on the other hand it prevents new experiences and can significantly restrict life. Because avoidance prevents the experience of being able to cope with the situation, avoidance behavior is extremely stable. Avoidance behavior is important in various psychological disorders, for example self-insecure-avoidant personality disorder, passive-aggressive personality disorder and social phobia...

Civil courage

Civil courage, literally civil courage (from civil (Latin civilis, 1. civil - not military, 2. decent, acceptable) and courage (French "courage")), is an "everyday courage" that occurs almost every day in... is required of every person in different forms and situations. Civil courage includes the willingness and ability to put one's own safety and comfort aside in an unpleasant or threatening situation in order to stand up for a cause that is considered just and to take action accordingly...

YouTube

Keyword = Avoidance behavior - Adaptive behavior

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

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Angepasstes Verhalten
 

Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...

This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic of atoms*

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