Newsletter VII 2024
February 11 to 17
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| 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 |
| Current news+ | Background knowledge |
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.
February 2008 (INES Class.?) NPP Paluel, FRA
February 2008 (INES 0 Class.?) Nuclear factory La Hague, FRA
1. February 2010 (INES Class.?) NPP Vermont Yankee, USA
4. February 2008 (INES 0) NPP Krümmel, GER
5. February 1958 (Broken Arrow) B-47 Tybee Island, USA
6. February 1974 (INES 4-5) Akw Sosnovy Bor, USSR
8. February 2004 (INES 0) NPP Biblis, GER
February 12, 2013 (North Korea's 3th nuclear test) P'unggye-ri, PRK
13. February 1960 (France's 1st atomic bomb test) Reggane, FRA
14. February 1950 (Broken Arrow) Convair B-36 British Columbia, CAN
16. February 2011 (INES 2) NPP Tricastin, FRA
22. February 1977 (INES 4) NPP Jaslovské Bohunice, SVK
28. February 1954 (6 hydrogen bomb tests) Bikini Atoll, USA
We are always looking for up-to-date information. Anyone who can help, please send a message to: nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de
17. February
France | disposal site | toxic waste
Underground landfill on the border with Baden-Württemberg
Final storage of French toxic waste in Alsace is becoming more likely
France's top administrative court has overturned a court ruling that work on a landfill should have been stopped. Further legal proceedings are ongoing.
The French State Council has cleared the way for the controversial final storage of toxic waste on the border with Baden-Württemberg: The judges lifted a stop imposed by the Strasbourg administrative court in an emergency decision.
There is no urgency for this, the State Council ruled on Friday, as the newspaper "Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Asace" reported on Saturday.
Storage of toxic waste such as cyanide, arsenic and mercury
Toxic waste such as cyanide, arsenic and mercury has been stored in the landfill since 1999, despite protests from environmentalists and citizens' groups. In 2002, a fire broke out at a depth of 535 meters and took days to extinguish. The facility has been closed since then...
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Russia | Lingen fuel element factory | Uranium imports
Europe's nuclear power plants continue to be customers
Habeck wants to end Russian uranium imports
Russia continues to supply Europe with both gas and uranium and fuel for nuclear power plants. After the death of Alexei Navalny, the German Economics Minister is questioning this again. France is not the only customer.
In light of the death of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck has reopened the debate about an EU import ban on uranium and fuel elements from Russia. While Germany has stopped Russian energy deliveries, there are "still uranium deliveries from Russia or from Rosatom to European nuclear power plants," Habeck told broadcaster Welt TV on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. "Basically, it doesn't work."
[...] The numerous EU sanctions packages against Russia since its attack on Ukraine have so far neither included uranium nor fuel elements...
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Navalny's message about a possible assassination: "In the event that I am killed..."
Russia's best-known opposition figure was acutely aware of the constant danger in which he lived. Alexei Navalny already sent an urgent message in the Oscar-winning documentary “Nawalny” in the event that he did not survive.
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny (47), who is dead according to the Russian prison administration, was Russia's best-known opposition figure and lived in constant danger. He narrowly survived a poison attack in 2020, then recovered in Germany and was imprisoned in 2021 after returning to Russia. Many observers now blame Russian President Vladimir Putin for his death in a Russian prison camp.
[...] The Putin opponent is asked in the film, which has now won an Oscar: “Alexei, if you are arrested and put in prison or if the unthinkable happens and they kill you: What message will you leave to the Russian people? Navalny then replies: “In the event that I am killed, my message is very simple: Don’t give up!”
Navalny: “Don’t be passive”
He also says in Russian: “If they have decided to kill me, it means that we are incredibly strong.” And he combines the whole thing with an appeal: “Remember that we have a great power that is oppressed by these bad guys. All that is required for evil to triumph is for the good to remain idle. So don’t be passive.”...
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Navalny's death and the hypocrisy of the West
Assange's similar fate is not remembered. A big question still is why Navalny returned to Russia in a predictable kamikaze move.
The top news in the West is that Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny collapsed and died today in a Siberian penal colony after a walk, according to Russian information. The cause of death is still unknown. However, Putin was quickly blamed and there was even talk of murder, as was the case with Ukrainian President Zelensky and Navalny's associates. From Russia it is unofficially said that he died of a blood clot. It is doubtful whether the cause of death will ever be known beyond doubt. He was last seen in a video during a hearing on February 15th.
The dismay over Navalny's death in the West is hypocritical and politically exploited. Chancellor Scholz announced via X: “The death of Alexei Navalny depresses me deeply. He campaigned for democracy and freedom in Russia and apparently paid for his courage with his life. The terrible news shows once again how Russia has changed and what kind of regime governs in Moscow." Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock made a similar statement: "Like no other, Alexei Navalny was a symbol of a free and democratic Russia. That’s exactly why he had to die.”
Of course, there is no reference anywhere to Julian Assange, who also stood up for democracy and freedom - just the wrong one - and paid for his courage with solitary confinement in a British high-security prison and possibly life imprisonment in the USA for espionage...
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Democracy | Demonstration | Blockade
Attacks on the Greens:
Protect democracy better
The lesson from the cancellation of the Green Ash Wednesday in Biberach must be: protect the party's events better!
The fact that the Greens canceled their political Ash Wednesday in Biberach due to riots by protesters is a defeat for democracy. An aggressive mob managed to prevent a public event with a prime minister, a federal minister and a party leader; The AfD celebrates the cancellation “as a result of democracy in action”. Something like this must not happen again.
The police must better protect Green Party events in the future. There should be enough police officers on site earlier than in Biberach; they must consistently keep the entrances to the venue clear of demonstrators. The assembly authorities should – as requested by the police union – ban tractors or trucks from demonstrations. Blockades are too easy with such vehicles
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Israel | Palästinians | Peace
“This war will lead to nothing”
Düsseldorf · If Israel is increasingly perceived as a perpetrator, this could pose an even greater threat to the state's existence. These are the fears of a conversation in the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus.
And Germany? While the war against Hamas in Gaza continues, claiming many victims on all sides and the so-called global community, concerned and increasingly alarmed, looks for an end to the violence, Germany is occupying a position on the sidelines. But that's normal, says Navid Kermani. Because our relationship to Jews and Judaism is of course “neurotic”. And because it would be anything but normal if, after the murder of six million Jews, we had some kind of normal relationship with Israel around 80 years after the Shoah, said the 56-year-old. This is also why all German reactions in conflict situations are always a little “over the top”, i.e. often exaggerated: in its solidarity with Israel as well as in its criticism of Israel.
[...] In Kermani's opinion - as cynical as it sounds - everything is currently going according to Hamas' plan. Because victim identification changes as the conflict lasts and Israel is increasingly seen as the perpetrator. In addition, the dwindling solidarity with an Israel that is endangering its humanitarian image as the war continues is endangering the existence of this state. It has always been under threat since it was founded in 1948 and has therefore always tried to assert itself with strength and toughness. “Military protection for the State of Israel can only ever be a temporary protection,” said Mendel. A long-term solution can therefore only be peace with the Palestinians...
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Majority supports Climate protection
Global survey on climate protection
Politicians can be braver
A survey in 125 countries shows great support for climate protection and also the willingness to spend money on it. What is noteworthy, however, is the mistaken belief that this puts you in the minority.
How much would it cost to achieve a climate-neutral economy worldwide? According to a 2021 study by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the share of annual global gross domestic product (GDP) spent on energy should be only two percentage points higher than it is now.
[...] In this respect, the results of a current, worldwide representative survey are extremely interesting to determine the extent to which citizens support climate protection measures and are also prepared to accept the costs for them.
“Hugely encouraging”
The results are extremely positive: an overwhelming majority of 89 percent call for increased political action and 86 percent support “climate-friendly social norms.” In addition, 69 percent of people are prepared to contribute at least one percent of their personal income to climate protection.
[...] Graz sociology professor Ilona Otto, who researches the social effects of climate change, says:
"Overall, the survey results give hope that world leaders and decision-makers could listen to the majority of the population and have more courage to implement strong policies and regulations to phase out fossil fuels and promote renewable energy."
16. February
“Tortured to death”: Navalny supporters suspect Putin’s perfidious murder plot
Isolation and hardly any medication: Putin opponent Alexei Navalny died under harsh prison conditions. Was there a deliberate Kremlin strategy behind this?
Moscow – In the end, any help came too late: Alexei Navalny is probably dead. This report from Russia spread rapidly around the world on Friday (February 16). According to the Russian judiciary, emergency paramedics from the Labytnangi hospital arrived at the prison within seven minutes and fought for the life of the Kremlin opponent for half an hour - but in vain.
But can that be true? According to the official information, the emergency services would have had to travel around 35 kilometers between the hospital and the prison in the seven minutes, writes the independent Russian media platform Novaya Gazeta - and therefore doubts the information about the background to the death. And doubts actually seem more than appropriate.
[...] The death of the opposition politician, who returned to Russia in 2021 after a poison attack despite the threat of imprisonment, caused consternation in many countries. Politicians accused Putin and the Russian justice system of political murder - especially US President Joe Biden. Although we don't know exactly what happened, there is no doubt that Navalny's death was a result of Putin's actions and those of his criminals, Biden said on Friday in the White House. “Putin is responsible.”...
I wish that Joe Biden would take an equally clear stance on the Julian Assange case.
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Resistance against the horror clown im Kremlin
Alexei Navalny was brave enough to mock Putin's absurd tyranny
Opinion For many years, Alexei Navalny has mocked the President of Russia. But in the end, Vladimir Putin's enemies will simply be silenced
Tyrants and dictators are used to being criticized, condemned and reviled. They are indifferent to the screams of their victims. The curses and tears of families and friends whose loved ones have been kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured and killed are accepted as a kind of sick, affirming tribute to their power, cruelty and inhumanity.
What the average bully cannot endure is ridicule. And Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, is no exception to this rule. Putin takes himself very seriously. He seems to have no sense of humor at all. He knows no more about self-irony than the wolf knows about pity. And yet, at his core, he is, above all else, ridiculous - a small man with too big a task.
Was ridicule the reason Alexei Navalny, Putin's most vocal and best-known critic, was ultimately killed?
[...] Laugh at the tyrant. Mocks the fool. Putin is a clown. He is ridiculous, absurd. This joke is on him.
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Commentary on Navalny's legacy
Putin must be stopped if Europe's democracy is to survive
The West should understand the shocking news differently than Putin would like: the murder of an opposition figure in prison must not deter NATO and the EU from providing more intensive aid to Ukraine, but rather have the opposite effect.
If the message is not a perfidious ploy by Russia, but corresponds to Vladimir Putin's perfidious dealings with opponents, then Alexei Navalny has now died in his fight for freedom in his country. The Russian opposition figure knew he was risking his future under Putin's dictatorship when he returned to his homeland of his own free will in 2021. He could have stayed in Germany, where he struggled to get back on his feet after the poison attack in Russia. He could have strengthened the opposition from here. But that seemed to him to be too little support for his own people who are fighting for democracy, human rights and civil liberties. Now he is apparently dead.
You can trust Putin with anything, really anything. It can be assumed that Navalny, who embodied the hope for a free Russian society, did not die in the penal colony on Friday by chance - after a "walk", as Russian authorities almost cynically want to believe. At a moment when Germany is the first of probably several EU states to conclude an immensely important security agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the international political elite - except from Russia - are meeting in Munich for a security conference. There they are talking about further help for Ukraine so that Putin cannot destroy it.
[...] If Trump wins the presidential election against Joe Biden and then - as announced - fails to defend defaulting NATO partners against a possible attack by Russia, the world will completely fall apart. This is not scaremongering, this is a sober look at Trump. Because he can also be trusted to do anything...
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Rosatom | Framatome | Lingen fuel element factory
Report warns of Rosatom deal
Russian entry into nuclear factory alarms experts
In order to make Eastern European nuclear power plants independent of deliveries from Russia, a factory in Lower Saxony is to step in for production. Franco-Russian cooperation is planned for this purpose. But that is exactly what could open the door to influence from Moscow, warns an expert.
The planned production of fuel elements for Eastern European nuclear power plants in Germany is causing safety concerns: a report warns against cooperation with a Russian state-owned company. It cannot be ruled out that this cooperation could endanger the internal or external security of the Federal Republic of Germany, according to the report by nuclear law expert Gerhard Roller for the Federal Environment Ministry. Fuel elements for nuclear power plants in Europe have been manufactured in Lingen for more than four decades.
[...] "All dangers caused by Russia's participation in production must be ruled out," explained Minister Christian Meyer from the Greens. "The report confirms our opinion that questions of internal and external security are the subject of the approval process - and not just questions of fire protection and building safety."
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Israel | weapons shipments | hypocrisy | Exodus
Weapons for the Israel offensive: Who is supplying what, which states have withdrawn?
Israeli Rafah invasion threatens despite ICJ order on “plausible” genocide. Egypt is preparing for expulsion. Who supplies the weapons and who no longer supplies them?
Many governments around the world have increased pressure on Israel to abandon plans for a ground offensive in Rafah. It would result in an exodus from the southern Gaza city.
The area is the last remaining "safe zone." More than half of the enclave's population now lives there.
Empty reminders from Germany
As Israel increased airstrikes and artillery shelling, Australia, Canada and New Zealand issued a joint statement calling for an "immediate" humanitarian ceasefire. They warn of the "devastating" effects of the operation.
Spain and Ireland call on the European Commission to urgently examine whether Israel is complying with its human rights obligations in the Gaza Strip. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) was in Jerusalem yesterday.
There she once again emphasized Israel's right to self-defense, but warned that international law should be respected. The people in Rafah must be adequately protected. (The German government continues to supply weapons to Israel, see below, and supports Israel in the International Court of Justice against South Africa's genocide lawsuit.)...
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Fridays for Future | Union Verdi | Local transport
New strategy of the climate movement
Whoever protects the climate also protects democracy
Fridays for Future and the Verdi union want to strike and demonstrate together on March 1st - for a doubling of local public transport by 2030. For the climate movement, this is about a change of strategy.
Fridays for Future is undergoing a change of strategy. There should still be demonstrations. But there's something else going on. "After five years, we no longer have to stand on the streets with 100.000 people every Friday so that the federal government quietly whispers climate protection in its sleep," explains Luisa Neubauer from Fridays for Future Germany to the press in Berlin on Thursday.
[...] The concrete demand for politicians: an end to austerity and instead large-scale investments in climate protection and for social cohesion. As a first step, Fridays for Future is calling for a special fund of 100 billion euros - for the expansion of local transport and the introduction of climate money, but also for an ecological agricultural transition and for natural climate protection...
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Israel | Egypt | Palästinians | Sinai
Israel's planned military offensive
Concern about mass exodus from Gaza – Egypt is apparently building camps in the desert
Israel's prime minister has announced a "powerful" offensive in Rafah. The government in Egypt fears an influx of Palestinians and, according to a media report, is building a reception camp for 100.000 people.
According to a media report, Egypt is building a massive reception camp in the desert surrounded by high concrete walls due to fears of a mass exodus from the Gaza Strip in the event of an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah.
More than 100.000 people could be accommodated in tents in the camp, located near the border with the Gaza Strip in Egypt's Sinai Desert, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing Egyptian officials and security analysts...
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16. February 2011 (INES 2) NPP Tricastin, FRA
The failure of the emergency diesel generator was discovered during one of the regular tests. (Costs ?)
Wikipedia
On February 16, 2011, it was found that in more than half of the emergency diesel generators in units 3 and 4, some individual parts that were replaced two years previously could fail prematurely if the diesel ran for a slightly longer period of time. During a test in another nuclear power plant, these quality defects proved to be the cause of total diesel failure. If the external power grid and the reserve grid failed (emergency power situation), the power supply for Tricastin 3/4 to dissipate the decay heat in the reactor core would not have been secured; in the worst case, it could have led to a core meltdown in both blocks...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Old reactors on the Rhône from 1980/81
The Tricastin site has made headlines time and time again for a long list of mishaps and incidents, most notably in 2008.
The facility is located in the southern French department of Drôme on the Canal de Donzère-Mondragon next to the Rhône, south of Montélimar and north of Orange and Avignon. In Tricastin, four pressurized water reactors with an output of 955 MW each, which went into operation in 1980 and 1981, generate electricity. The facility is owned and operated by the French company Électricité de France (EDF). Manufacturer was Framatome (today AREVA).
In 2011, the French Institute for Nuclear Safety (IRSN) criticized the operators for not having given enough consideration to the fact that there are dangerous factories in the vicinity of the French nuclear power plants Gravelines, Saint-Alban and Tricastin, in which chemicals are produced, for example.
On February 11, 2015, the French nuclear regulator ASN approved an extension of the operating time for the Tricastin-2 reactor by another ten years, as well as on June 9, 2015 for Tricastin-3...
15. February
Clueless im Ministry of Transport! Corruption or nepotism?
Federal Ministry of Transport:
Wissing fires department heads over allegations of nepotism
Klaus Bonhoff is said to have given friends funding for hydrogen projects. An internal audit revealed otherwise - the ministry sees itself as having been deceived.
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) has replaced his hydrogen department head after allegations of nepotism. Wissing has decided to relieve Klaus Bonhoff of his duties with immediate effect, said State Secretary Stefan Schnorr. “The necessary relationship of trust between the minister and the head of department no longer exists,” he added. In addition, a head of department will be transferred within the ministry.
The affair was triggered by media reports that Bonhoff is said to have funded hydrogen projects worth millions in 2021, although close personal connections to the beneficiaries may have played a role...
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Subsidies | Innovations | Solar Panels | mass production
Is the industry burning ablaze?
Economist: Anyone who wants state aid can go
BASF flees to China. Miele to Poland. Auto supplier ZF Friedrichshafen and solar module manufacturer Meyer Burger are toying with the USA. The message from German industry is clear: without state aid we are gone. Reint Gropp would hold the door open for her. In ntv's "Climate Laboratory", the President of the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research in Halle advocates an end to the new subsidy economy. "Before Corona, that wasn't even possible under EU state aid law. Now Pandora is out of the box and companies are saying: 'I'd like something too!'" The economist doesn't accept geopolitical aspects: Intel receives ten for production in Magdeburg billion euros and produce semiconductors that Germany will not need later. Gropp's suggestion? Don't be afraid of the migration of production: Other industries are "desperately looking for skilled workers," Gropp tries to show new possibilities. But anyone who wants to produce dirty products for Germany abroad needs to be warned: the economist is calling for a climate tariff.
ntv.de: Do you shrug your shoulders when you read about layoffs at Miele or ZF Friedrichshafen?
Reint Gropp: No. This is part of a larger, very long-lasting process that is being accelerated by the climate goals. Especially in Europe and Germany. We are undergoing a structural change in which there cannot only be winners. We will lose jobs in industry and gain jobs in other sectors.
[...] Should Meyer Burger receive state aid?
No. Nobody has ever been able to explain to me why we need solar cell production in Germany.
Because we need solar panels.
But this is a mass product. We might as well subsidize warm sweaters if you don't want to be dependent on China in the winter. That would make just as much sense.
Are you not worried that China will stop deliveries to Europe, for example to exert political pressure over Taiwan?
Yes, but that doesn't mean that we have to produce solar modules in Germany. Yes, we shouldn't import 100 percent of our solar cells from China, but diversify - with the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and India...
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Press freedom | Assange | Greens | Principles
In the Assange case, the Greens are conspicuously silent
Instead of campaigning for the immediate release of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the Greens are holding back.
During the election campaign, things were still simple. The Green candidate for chancellor Annalena Baerbock called for the “immediate release” of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in September 2021. Then Baerbock became Foreign Minister and was very reluctant to comment on the matter. There is now “no doubt that the British judiciary applies constitutional principles and respects human rights.”
However, anyone who has followed the Assange case a little must have considerable doubts as to whether the British judiciary is really acting in accordance with the rule of law. The now 52-year-old has been in British custody since 2019, under difficult conditions. Next week there will likely be a final hearing on whether he will be extradited to the US, where he faces up to 175 years in prison for publishing secret government documents that, among other things, provide evidence of war crimes. So it's also about freedom of the press, which the Greens have always and vehemently campaigned for. But in the Assange case they have largely fallen silent...
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Japan | Gross domestic product | Economy
World's largest economies
Japan is falling behind Germany
Japan is also in recession. Because the yen is so weak, the country is falling down in the ranking of the largest economies - which means Germany is now in third place. But the domestic economic crisis also continues.
Japan loses third place among the world's largest economies, falling behind Germany. In the fourth and final quarter of last year, Japan slipped into recession due to weak domestic demand. It is the second quarter in a row with a negative sign for gross domestic product (GDP).
[...] A comparison of the two economies of Germany and Japan makes sense. Most recently, the German gross domestic product shrank by 2023 percent in the fourth quarter of 0,3, due, among other things, to falling investments in buildings and equipment such as machinery...
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France | Great Britain | NATO
Nuclear deterrent soon with EU seal of approval?
Politicians from the traffic light coalition are engaging in an absurd debate about nuclear weapons. Trump, who was not even nominated as a candidate for the presidential election, and the run-down French President Macron are already rubbing their hands. They both care about one thing: money! Trump wants NATO members to participate more in military spending and Macron expects money for the ailing French military-civilian nuclear park.
[...] But Lindner, who otherwise wants to save and cut money almost everywhere, jumps on Trump's central demand in a guest article for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). He is now demanding that European NATO members take greater responsibility for alliance defense in order to relieve the burden on the USA. Of course, that means spending a lot more money on armaments, which of course will then be missing in many other areas.
He also calls for the strategic nuclear forces of France and Great Britain to be “further rethought as an element of European security under the umbrella of NATO.” The question that arises for him is under what conditions London and Paris would be willing to do this and what contribution Germany would like to make.
[...] Of course, greenwashing continues in Paris and nuclear power is increasingly being sold as sustainable energy production. Nuclear power is supposed to be used to combat climate change. Reactors that may come online in 15 years will hardly be able to do anything to prevent the tipping point of 1,5 degrees of global warming. In view of the extreme and exploding costs, it is clear that the aim is to obtain EU funding for expensive nuclear power and for the cross-financing of military nuclear power. This is also why this debate is now being held and promoted.
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Great Britain | Brexit | Recession
Weak financial statements
British economy is slipping into recession
The statistics office reports two months in a row with a minus, meaning Great Britain is in recession. Only one sector of the economy surprises positively.
The British economy slipped into recession at the end of last year. In the fourth quarter, gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0,3 percent compared to the previous quarter, according to the ONS statistics office.
Analysts were surprised by the magnitude of the decline. On average, they had only expected economic output to decline by 0,1 percent for the months October to December.
[...] However, the country's industrial production was surprisingly strong. Manufacturing rose by 0,6 percent month-on-month in December, the statistics office said. Analysts had expected a slight decline. Additionally, output growth was revised upwards in November.
14. February
Nuclear forces France and UK:
Own interests
Europe's two nuclear powers have been modernizing their nuclear arsenals for a long time. Nuclear power should remain national.
BERLIN taz | In addition to the USA, NATO has two other nuclear powers: France with an estimated 290 nuclear warheads and Great Britain with an estimated 225. This is small compared to the figures of 5.224 nuclear warheads in the USA and 5.889 in Russia determined by the arms research institute SIPRI. However, in the context of increasing threats from Russia and doubts about future US loyalty to the alliance, they are certainly significant for Europe.
Britain's Nuclear Deterrent is entirely sea-based, with nuclear missiles on nuclear submarines sometimes based in Scotland and sometimes at sea. France's "Force de frappe" is 80 percent sea-based, otherwise operational on long-range bombers. France abolished its land-based short-range missiles that targeted Germany in the 1990s.
As with all nuclear powers, Britain and France's nuclear doctrine is nationally defined. A decision to use a nuclear weapon rests, in accordance with normal procedures, with the Prime Minister in London and with the President alone in Paris. Great Britain developed its nuclear arsenal together with the USA and defined its nuclear capabilities from the outset as part of the common NATO deterrent.
[...] Both governments are struggling with chronically high budget deficits and can only afford this at the expense of other government spending.
France, which devotes an eighth of its annual military budget to its nuclear weapons, is investing 37 billion euros in the period 2020-25. Great Britain has budgeted the equivalent of 2022 billion euros for the period 32-70 and wants to increase the number of its nuclear warheads again - from 225 to 260.
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Armament | deterrence | nuclear sharing
EU nuclear weapons: Is the SPD learning to love the bomb?
Fuss over atomic bomb statement by top candidate Barley. Union demands clarity from Scholz. What was on the topic in the election manifestos.
Katarina Barley, SPD's top candidate for the European elections and former Federal Minister of Justice, was not the first to bring up EU nuclear weapons. Before her, the Green ex-Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer had already done this with much clearer words. “The EU needs its own nuclear deterrent,” Fischer told Zeit Online at the beginning of December 2023.
As an active politician, Barley at least didn't want to rule this out on Tuesday: "On the way to a European army," the EU atomic bomb could also "become an issue," said Barley in a conversation with the Tagesspiegel published on Tuesday. In view of the recent statements made by ex-US President and presidential candidate Donald Trump about NATO, the US's nuclear protection "can no longer be relied upon," said Barley.
[...] Ex-spokeswoman for the Green Youth, Sarah-Lee Heinrich, reacted with gallows humor when she wrote on Platform The threat in Europe is much more acute than from an attack from outside"...
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1,5 degrees | Climate Crisis | Global Warming
Climate researcher Schellnhuber: “We will also exceed the two-degree target”
The globally respected climate expert talks about red lines, the most threatening tipping elements and his best idea against climate change
Hans Joachim Schellnhuber has had a significant influence on international climate research in recent decades. The qualified physicist anchored the concept of tilting elements in climate research a good 20 years ago and was founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, one of the world's leading institutions in this field, from 1992 to 2018. The 1-year-old has been General Director of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg near Vienna since December 73st.
[...] STANDARD: 2023 was the hottest year in the history of measurements, last January was the hottest January, with us already reaching the 1,5 degree limit. What will happen next with the global climate?
Schellnhuber: What happened in terms of climate last year is shocking. Public attention is primarily focused on the extreme events that are increasing due to global warming, which is well known. There is less media interest in the signs that the climate system as a whole could be in a state of upheaval. The mean ocean temperature, for example, has recently made a huge jump. We scientists hope that this is just a short-term blip and that the system will “calm down” again. But there is also the possibility that the giant is now awakening for reasons that are not yet fully understood and that we are currently moving into a different climate regime...
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Elections | Climate policy | shift to the right
Series: Super election year 2024
Shift to the right endangers EU climate policy
Right-wing parties sit in governments in Europe and jump from poll high to poll high. One hope against the shift to the right in the coming EU parliamentary elections could be a pragmatic decision by non-voters.
2024 is the biggest election year in history. Elections will be held in over 70 countries and the course for international climate policy in the coming years will be charted.
In addition to various national elections in European countries - presidential elections in Slovakia and Finland, parliamentary elections in Portugal, Belgium, Austria and most likely Great Britain - 350 million people in the EU will also be able to cast their votes at the beginning of June.
[...] Unlike the AfD or the FPÖ in Austria, not all right-wing parties deny man-made climate change. Italian Prime Minister Meloni called climate change the “biggest challenge of our generation.”
Voices denying science are repeatedly heard from her cabinet, but so far Italy's right-wing government is sticking to the EU goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
Conservatives and right-wingers are moving together
Despite these differences in Europe's right-wing camp, it is undisputed among experts that a shift to the right in the EU Parliament would be a catastrophe for climate policy...
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Sea level | tipping point | melting ice
Climate expert on tipping points:
“The risk is unacceptably high”
The climate crisis is driving ice melt. Sweet dew water flows into the salty sea and disrupts the current, says researcher Stefan Rahmstorf.
taz: Mr. Rahmstorf, the Atlantic Overturning Circulation (AMOC) may be facing a tipping point due to the climate crisis, shows a study by a Dutch research team. In Europe, temperatures could drop by up to 30 degrees in some cases. Many people know this scenario from the doomsday film “The Day after Tomorrow”. Will it be colder in this country instead of warmer in the future?
Stefan Rahmstorf: No, you can't say that. The collapse of the AMOC is a risk. A risk that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently classified as less than 10 percent. In light of four new studies, I would say that the risk is significantly greater. However, there are certain consequences of global warming. For example, that it will continue as long as we emit greenhouse gases, that there will be more extreme weather events or that sea levels will rise. This is all secured. When it comes to the tipping point of the North Atlantic circulation, however, we are talking about a risk and not a certain consequence of climate change. But the main point is: given the catastrophic consequences that such an event would have, I consider this risk to be unacceptably high...
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Authorization for herbicide developed by Monsanto revoked
Dicamba
US court bans three herbicides from Bayer, BASF and Syngenta
A US court has ruled that it was a mistake to grant further approval to three dicamba-based herbicides. This has now been revoked.
A US court in Tucson, Arizona has banned three dicamba-based herbicides. The products affected are XtendiMax from Bayer, Engenia from BASF and Tavium from Syngenta.
With their ruling, the judges overturned the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) re-approval of the funds in 2020. They also criticized the EPA for its decision at the time to re-authorize the funds for five years...
13. February
Military industrial complex | Lobby | Armaments
Rheinmetall shares are soaring: This war winner has already been decided
At least one industry is booming as a result of the war in Ukraine – and through the indirect participation of Western states. What role does lobbying play?
When people complain that the Ukraine war is damaging the German economy, at least one industry is not being referred to: the German company Rheinmetall and other arms giants are already among the winners of this war.
[...] The German association LobbyControl - Initiative for Transparency and Democracy eV regularly researches how weapons producers, among other things, influence politics - and criticizes, for example, that the Rheinmetall Group rewards politicians it likes with positions after the end of their term of office, in order to use their good networks with active politicians to their own advantage.
When former development aid minister Dirk Niebel (FDP) was hired by Rheinmetall as chief lobbyist in 2014, renowned bourgeois media also reported critically.
Three years later, ex-Defense Minister and Bundestag member Franz-Josef Jung (CDU) was not deterred by this: in 2017 he was elected to the supervisory board of Rheinmetall AG...
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Berlin | Last Generation | Lawsuit
Color attack on the Brandenburg Gate: State of Berlin is suing “Last Generation” for 142.000 euros
In September, climate activists sprayed the Brandenburg Gate, and the orange paint was only gone three months later. The cleaning cost a six-figure sum - the state of Berlin is now demanding this back from the authors.
Around five months after the paint attack on the Brandenburg Gate, the state of Berlin is demanding around 142.000 euros from the climate activists. A corresponding civil lawsuit had been filed by the law firm commissioned with the Berlin Regional Court, a spokeswoman for the Senate Department of Finance said on Tuesday upon request.
The lawsuit is therefore directed against 13 members of the Last Generation climate group. It is requested that they be sentenced as joint and several debtors. Specifically, they should pay 141.575,58 euros plus interest to the country...
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The border at Rafah:
Expansion of the Egyptian fortress
The border between Gaza and Egypt is being strengthened. Cairo is apparently preparing for a mass onslaught in the event of a ground offensive in Rafah.
With the threatened Israeli ground offensive in Rafah, the politically highly sensitive border between Gaza and Egypt is coming into focus. Well over a million people have been rounded up on the Palestinian side in and around the small town of Rafah.
Meanwhile, Egypt continues to expand its border fences and walls on the other side and is only allowing a few wounded people through for treatment in hospitals. But it is unclear whether the border would be able to withstand a mass rush.
[...] The regime in Cairo rules out opening the border to those seeking protection on a large scale. The main reason is probably that Palestinian refugees have been a significant political force in countries like Jordan or Lebanon for decades.
[...] A mass rush and possibly a breach of the highly secured border with Egypt cannot be ruled out - a scenario that Cairo wants to prevent at all costs. According to reports over the weekend, Cairo even threatened behind the scenes to suspend its peace treaty with Israel if Israel's military invaded Rafah...
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Flooding due to severe weather in Dubai
Storm in Dubai
Desert metropolis sinks into the water
The desert metropolis of Dubai has been hit by violent storms. This resulted in numerous damages. Pictures from the internet show a city under water.
Heavy thunderstorms have flooded the metropolis of Dubai, capital of the Emirate of Dubai and the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the Persian Gulf.
Many roads could no longer be used at times. In lower parts of the city, cars sank up to their roofs in the water. The airport was also flooded, as footage from social networks shows.
[...] rain and thunderstorms are rare in this region. But when they do occur, they can be very severe. Even in winter, which brings the most rainfall on average, it is hardly humid.
In October 2023, heavy rain, thunderstorms and a sandstorm had already led to similar weather chaos in Dubai.
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Radon | lung cancer | Stroke
Radon also increases the risk of stroke
Even moderate amounts of radon can be harmful to health
Double risk: Radioactive radon can not only cause cancer - anyone exposed to this gas also has an increased risk of suffering a stroke. This applies not only to high, but even to moderate concentrations of the gas, as a study shows. The findings suggest that the limit value for acceptable radon exposure in residential buildings needs to be reconsidered - especially in Germany.
Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that is formed when radioactive metals such as uranium or radium decay in rocks and soil. The invisible, odorless gas can enter homes through cracks in basement walls and floors, building joints and gaps around pipes. There it can harm the health of residents, trigger tumors and is proven to be the second most common cause of lung cancer.
[...] Specifically, women with radon exposure between two and four pCi/L of radon had a six percent higher risk of stroke and women who were exposed to more than four pCi/L of radon even had a 14 percent higher risk of stroke than lower contaminated people, as the team determined...
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13. February 1960 - (France's 1st atomic bomb test) Reggane, FRA
FAZ - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
France deliberately had soldiers irradiated
The emerging nuclear power France sent soldiers to radioactive areas in Algeria for a series of nuclear tests in the early XNUMXs and cared little about their health. The reveal excerpts from a secret report.
Around 50 km southwest of Reggane or 20 km south of Hamoudia there was a French nuclear weapons test site (CSEM - Center Sahara des Expérimentations Militaires) until 1965. There, on February 13, 1960, France carried out its first nuclear test with a 70 kT atomic bomb, which was about 4 times as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb. On April 1, 1960, December 27, 1960 and April 25, 1961, three further above-ground atomic bomb tests with less than 5 kT each were carried out on this site ...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Algeria and French Polynesia
Up until 2001, the French government still denied that there were any radiation victims as a result of its 210 nuclear tests in Algeria and Polynesia.
In the Algerian Sahara, shortly after one of the tests, French recruits were deliberately led to the site of the explosion in order to "explore the physical and mental effects of the nuclear weapon on people." Many of the nuclear test veterans now suffer from cancer and other radiation sicknesses...
Around 150.000 people worked for the test program, many of whom were exposed to unprotected radiation, developed cancer and died ...
Atomwaffen A-Z
Overview of nuclear arsenals worldwide...
Wikipedia
On February 13, 1960, France tested its first atomic bomb (with a yield of 70 kt TNT equivalent) near Reggane. It was the most powerful bomb ever detonated in a first test. For comparison: the first US test (Trinity) had a power of 20 kt, the first USSR test (RDS-1) was 22 kt, the first British test (Hurricane) was 25 kt. The Hiroshima bomb (Little Boy) was 13 kt, the Nagasaki bomb (Fat Man) was 22 kt. The other three surface bombs at Reggane were less than 5 kt each...
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13. February 1950 (Broken Arrow) British Columbia, CAN
Wikipedia
B-36 crash in British Columbia 1950
On February 13, 1950, the US Air Force Convair B-36 long-range bomber took off on a training flight from Eielson Air Force Base. The destination was the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Wort. Three of the six engines caught fire. The crew released the Mark 4 non-core nuclear bomb on board; it detonated conventionally in the air. The crew jumped out of the plane; Of the 17 crew members, 12 survived. The B36 itself crashed into Mount Kologet in British Columbia...
Wikipedia en
The U.S. Department of Defense has officially recognized at least 32 Broken Arrow incidents between 1950 and 1980.
Examples of these events are:
1950 British Columbia B-36 crash
1956 B-47 disappearance
1958 Mars Bluff B-47 nuclear weapon loss incident
1958 Tybee Island mid-air collision
1961 Yuba City B-52 crash
1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash
1964 Savage Mountain B-52 crash
1964 Bunker Hill AFB runway accident
1965 Philippine Sea A-4 incident
1966 Palomares B-52 crash
1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash
1980 Damascus Titan missile explosion, Arkansas
Unofficially, the Defense Atomic Support Agency (now known as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)) has detailed hundreds of "Broken Arrow" incidents.
Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
A 1973 Sandia Laboratories report, citing a then-classified army compilation, stated that between 1950 and 1968, a total of 1.250 U.S. nuclear weapons were involved in accidents or incidents of varying severity, including 272 (22 percent) in circumstances involving impacts which, in several instances, caused the detonation of the weapon's conventional high explosives...
12. February
PFAS lawsuit near Katterbach barracks could set a precedent
Jürgen Wolf's property near the US Army in Katterbach is contaminated with PFAS. Because he is not responsible for this, he is suing for damages for the expenses incurred and loss of rent. If he succeeds, it could set a precedent.
PFAS (per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances) have been used worldwide without knowing the toxic consequences. PFAS was also in the firefighting foam that the US Army used to carry out exercises in Ansbach-Katterbach. The result is widespread contamination on the barracks grounds - and beyond in the city of Ansbach. Jürgen Wolf's property is a few hundred meters away and is therefore contaminated with PFAS. He has had financial disadvantages as a result of this for years and is suing because of it...
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Climate protection | 1,5 degree | Solar energy | Subsidies
Global climate change: Is the 1,5 degree target still achievable?
2023: 1,5 degrees broken compared to pre-industrial times. Do international climate protection agreements still apply? A comment.
In 2023, the global average temperature was above 1,5 degrees all year round for the first time compared to pre-industrial times. We have all experienced the consequences: forest fires, droughts, floods, tornadoes, billions of dollars in damage. Has the Paris climate protection goal failed?
[...] No, because the Paris target refers to a long-term period and not to a single year. This means: In the long term, greenhouse gases must be significantly reduced (climate neutrality) and removed from the atmosphere again in the longer term (climate positivity). Technically both are possible. We just have to do it.
[...] The German solar industry is doing badly. The most important players such as Meyer-Burger, Heckler and Solarwatt are on the verge of bankruptcy due to cheap competition from China. China has supported its solar industry with $80 billion in recent years, and Germany now wants to provide $45 million.
In addition, there are gigantic eco-subsidies in the USA (380 billion US dollars) shortly before bankruptcy or before migration. The entrepreneurial sun lovers in this country need better government framework conditions...
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France | EDF | Chinon NPP
Fire at the Chinon nuclear power plant
Nuclear disaster in France continues
Various media reports indicate that a fire broke out in the main transformer of reactor block 10.2.2024 in the Chinon nuclear power plant in the early morning hours of Saturday, February 3, 3. An emergency shutdown then occurred in reactor block XNUMX.
“The nuclear disaster in France continues. The Chinon nuclear power plant is one of the oldest power plants in France and, as can be seen continuously, the reliability of this old fleet is decreasing more and more. In Chinon, after the emergency shutdown of Unit 3, Unit 4 also had to be shut down, meaning that only one of the four reactor blocks is currently online because another one had already been shut down for inspection. It is becoming increasingly clear that nuclear power is a sinking ship...
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Energy policy in the Czech Republic:
Prague is building new reactors
New reactor blocks are to be built in the Czech Republic around 100 kilometers from Vienna. There is already resistance in Austria.
PRAGUE taz | The enthusiasm with which the Czech government is pushing ahead with its nuclear plans came as a surprise: four new reactor blocks, each with an output of 1.200 megawatts, are to be built in the Czech Republic by 2050. Two each will then expand the two nuclear power plants, which rise like two castles in the south of the republic near the Austrian border.
The older one, Dukovany, is only 100 kilometers from Vienna and has been producing nuclear power in four Russian-designed hot water reactors since 1985. The better-known one, Temelín, is 60 kilometers behind Bavaria; its two hot water reactors have been in operation since 2000.
[...] Nobody can yet say exactly how much the construction of the new reactors will cost. The main developer of the nuclear power plant expansions, the parastatal group CEZ, expects a price of 160 billion crowns (6,3 billion euros) per reactor. At least, the CEZ admits, at 2020 prices...
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Italy | farmers | Pesticides
Researchers show large-scale pesticide contamination in Vinschgau
A research team from Germany, Austria and Italy set out to trace the whereabouts of the pesticides used in Europe's largest contiguous apple-growing region - the South Tyrolean Vinschgau. In the specialist magazine "Nature Communications Earth & Environment" they now report on discoveries in unexpected places, such as on mountain peaks at 2.300 meters above sea level. This shows that the funds are also being used far away from the apple orchards.
In Vinschgau, more than 7.000 apple farmers produce a total of ten percent of the fruit in Europe, according to a release from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (Boku) Vienna. In conventional cultivation, a variety of synthetic pesticides are usually used against pests such as the codling moth or fungal diseases. These are often distributed in the gardens using a fan. Around 40 applications are quite common over the course of a season.
[...] Due to the thermals and strong winds, the substances in Vinschgau spread further, to the surprise of scientists, than one would assume based on their chemical and physical properties, it is said.
Pesticide application in apple cultivation needs to be greatly improved
Using new analysis methods, 27 different pesticides were identified, but little is known about their joint effects in different concentrations. These included the insecticide methoxyfenozide, which is now banned in Germany...
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nuclear test | Core weapon | proving ground
Nuclear weapons testing now less secret
New method increases detection rate of underground nuclear weapons tests to 99 percent
Surveillance improved: A new method makes it easier to identify nuclear weapons tests - and increases the detection rate of underground nuclear bomb explosions from 82 to 99 percent. This is made possible thanks to improved mathematical-statistical analyzes that reveal in near real time whether a seismic event comes from an earthquake or an atomic bomb explosion. The nuclear weapons tests in North Korea would also have been detected immediately - this was not the case with the current system.
The consequences of the atomic bomb tests in the 1950s and 1960s can still be seen today - radioactive fallout can even be found in the Mariana Trench. However, such tests have been officially banned since 1996, and a global measuring network of seismological stations monitors compliance. However, not all states have ratified the nuclear weapons test ban (CTBT) and in recent years several countries have been arming themselves with nuclear weapons, including the superpowers as well as Pakistan, India and North Korea...
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12. February 2013 (North Korea's 3th nuclear test) P'unggye-ri, PRK
Wikipedia
North Korean nuclear weapons program
On February 12, 2013, at around 12 p.m. local time (4 a.m. CET), earthquake monitoring stations in several countries registered an artificially caused earthquake of magnitude 4,9 to 5,2 in North Korea. The hypocenter was about a kilometer below the earth's surface in the Kilchu region in the northeast of the country, where the Punggye-ri nuclear weapons test site is located. The state news agency KCNA had previously announced a “high-intensity operation”. After the earthquake, KCNA announced an underground test of a lightweight, miniaturized nuclear weapon - but of greater power than before. The explosive power was estimated by South Korea to be 6 to 7 kilotons of TNT equivalent, which is about half the explosive power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. German experts from the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) estimated the explosive force at 40 kilotons...
UN sanctions and consequences
As a consequence of this nuclear weapons test, the UN Security Council unanimously decided on March 7, 2013 to tighten sanctions against North Korea...
Atomwaffen A - Z
“De facto” nuclear weapons state | “De Facto” Nuclear Weapon State
North Korea signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1985 after US intelligence discovered a classified reactor capable of producing plutonium. The North Korean government refused until 1992 to allow full control by the Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). During subsequent inspections, the IAEA found that there was a discrepancy between North Korea's reported amount of reprocessed plutonium and its own measurements. The IAEA suspected more plutonium was being reprocessed for a nuclear weapons program, totaling over 20 kilograms - enough for three small warheads. Tensions between the US and North Korea over nuclear weapons led to a crisis in the spring of 1994 that nearly culminated in war...
Nuclear test site, North Korea
All of North Korea's six previous nuclear tests (2006-2017) were conducted at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site (also known as Hwaderi). The facility is located in the mountains north of Hamgyeong Province in the northeast of the country under Mount Mantap. At the end of April 2018, North Korea decommissioned the nuclear test site and detonated significant parts in front of gathered press on May 24, 2018, following a summit agreement with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to promote peace between the two parts of Korea...
11. February
Possible offensive in Rafah:
Egypt threatens Israel
Despite warnings, Israel's government is sticking to its plan to launch an offensive in Rafah. In this case, Cairo is considering suspending the Camp David Agreement.
JERUSALEM taz | Whether from allies, aid organizations or members of the hostage families: Any warnings to the Israeli government about a military offensive in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip are currently having no effect. “Anyone who tells us not to go to Rafah is basically telling us: Lose the war,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US broadcaster ABC News over the weekend. “We will get the remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah.”
In the city on the border with Egypt, it is estimated that around one and a half million people are crowded into a small space in catastrophic conditions. An offensive could not be implemented without serious consequences for the humanitarian situation in the coastal strip.
[...] According to a report by the AP news agency, neighboring Egypt is considering suspending the peace treaty between the two countries in the event of an offensive by Israeli troops in Rafah. With the Camp David Accords, Egypt was the first Arab state to recognize Israel and made peace in 1979. Its suspension would be a serious blow to Israel's security. The Egyptian army reportedly moved 40 tanks and troop carriers to the Gaza border. Cairo had repeatedly emphasized that a mass exodus of Palestinians to Sinai was out of the question...
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Propaganda for PutIn and his Trumpl
Decades of operations Putin's seeds are germinating
The danger that US Republicans will hand Ukraine over to Russia is – also – a result of decades of Russian efforts. The West appears powerless against Putin's network of influence.
For people who have been watching Tucker Carlson for a long time, his affectionate visit to Russia's autocratic ruler Vladimir Putin didn't come as much of a surprise. Long before the Russian march on Kiev, Carlson began raving about Putin, defending him and protecting him. Now the former Fox News presenter and current freelance propagandist was involved in a Russian propaganda coup in the middle of the election campaign, in which Putin praised his "personal relationship" with Donald Trump. A boring 2-hour election commercial for the Russian dictator and the would-be dictator Trump.
When Russian troops gathered in Donets and Luhansk on February 22, 2022, and US President Joe Biden declared these were the first steps of an invasion, Carlson was already there. Back then at Fox News, he gave a bizarre TV monologue that consisted of nothing but rhetorical questions. A large number of Americans were obediently following a "directive," Carlson claimed, that they were "obliged" to "hate Vladimir Putin."
From pandemic conspiracy narratives to “Deep State”
Americans should ask themselves, "Why do I hate Putin so much?" Has Putin ever called me 'racist'? Did he threaten to fire me because I disagreed with him?" The questions all pointed in the same direction: In reality, the "woke" left in the US is the problem, not the nice warlord in Moscow...
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China | solar power | Economic growth | solar production
Solar energy in China: The revolution supplies its children
In 2023, fundamental industrial and climate policy decisions will have been made in China. The biggest achievement was in the energy sector. Here are the numbers.
Many analysts in the West have dismissed China's reported 2023 percent economic growth for 5,2. These are the same people who are worried about China's rapidly increasing car exports.
But it's not about cars. More importantly, China will have built over 2023 GW of solar power generation capacity and 200 GW of solar production capacity in 300.
According to a detailed study by Carbonbrief.org, these clean energy investments accounted for 40 percent of China's GDP growth in 2023.
[...] It could be that China once again refutes the oft-repeated accusation from Western economists of investing uneconomically. Because just like with housing construction, high-speed trains, roads and bridges, solar infrastructure, batteries and electric vehicles will benefit the people of China and increase their prosperity.
Despite all such "uneconomic" investments, the per capita income of household members in China has grown by over 2008 percent since the 200 financial crisis...
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Pakistan | Parliamentary election
Final result of the parliamentary election Opposition in Pakistan becomes the strongest force
Pakistan is facing a difficult time forming a government: the opposition party PTI became the strongest force in the election. The Muslim League PML-N also claims election victory for itself - and is already holding talks about possible coalitions.
In Pakistan, the final results of the parliamentary elections were published after a long delay. More than two days after the vote, 99 percent of the constituencies have been counted, according to statistics from the Electoral Commission. Independent candidates, most of whom are close to the imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his opposition party PTI, became the strongest force with 101 of 266 parliamentary seats.
The Muslim League PML-N led by election favorite Nawaz Sharif won 75 seats, while Pakistan's People's Party PPP led by former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari came in third with 54 seats. Eleven other parties are moving into the National Assembly with a total of 34 mandates...
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Temperatures | Atlantik | Gulf Stream | I LOVE C
30 degrees temperature loss in Europe
According to the study, currents in the Atlantic are approaching a “devastating” tipping point
“Bad news for the climate system and for humanity,” is how researchers described their study results. Accordingly, the climate crisis could lead to the collapse of a system of ocean currents in the Atlantic. That would have serious consequences.
According to Dutch researchers, the currents in the Atlantic are facing a “devastating tipping point” with drastic consequences for the Earth. The climate crisis could therefore lead to the collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current (AMOC) system, as they report in the study published in the journal “Science Advances”. AMOC is considered a crucial system for regulating the Earth's climate. If the tipping point is reached, there is a risk of a serious drop in temperature in Europe and a sharp rise in sea levels.
AMOC transports warm salt water from the tropics to the Arctic Circle. There the water cools and sinks due to its greater density. Below it flows south. The currents send nutrients and heat to different regions of the world. AMOC is a key component of the climate in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere and ensures that it remains mild there...
| Current news+ | Background knowledge | Top |
Current news+
Elections | Climate policy | prosperity
Series: Super election year 2024
Super election year in the crucial climate decade
2024 is the biggest election year in history - over four billion people will be asked to vote. There is a lot at stake in terms of climate policy, as we are in the middle of a crucial decade. Klimareporter° is starting a series on the most important elections.
In over 70 countries, a total of more than four billion people are allowed to cast their ballots this year. That's about half the world's population, making 2024 the biggest election year in history.
2024 is in the middle of the “decisive decade,” as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in its latest status report emphasized. This means that the climate-friendly transformation must be put on track this decade in order to keep the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement alive.
Last year was a blast with an average temperature of 1,48 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is already sensitive at the 1,5 degree mark, and Weather extremes are increasing in frequency and intensity across the globe. Nevertheless, climate policy is still a marginal topic in many election campaigns.
The two remaining Republican presidential candidates in the USA, Donald Trump and Nikki Haley, keep quiet both about the climate crisis. In India and Indonesia - both countries that are suffering the most from the consequences of global warming - analysts assume that the climate crisis will not have a major impact on the elections.
The focus of the election campaigns is therefore on other issues - above all the hoped-for economic recovery. Parties that are ambitious in terms of climate policy are accused – just as in Europe – of standing against prosperity and growth.
A long time ago studies provethat the climate crisis represents a significantly greater threat to prosperity in the medium and long term. But in a politics of sight, that doesn't matter.
A basic one Question The growth logic does not win votes among voters in the rich industrialized nations - and even less in countries of the global south. For example, there are still people living in India many people below the poverty line, some estimates put the figure at over 370 million.
Climate crisis is low on the priority list
A surprisingly large proportion of humanity believes that climate change represents a serious crisis for our planet. According to the current Trust Barometer the PR agency Edelman it is 93 percent.
However, significantly fewer people are in favor of concrete climate protection measures. This is how over 70 percent of Americans are according to surveys convinced that climate change is already having a negative impact on them today. But not even a third of those surveyed think moving away from fossil fuels makes sense.
This discrepancy is due not least to populist and anti-science campaigns by the fossil fuel lobby and right-wing conservative parties.
According to the opinion research institute, climate change proves this Pew Research Center Tour Locations 17 of 21 topics, which, according to respondents, US policy should focus on - well behind economic growth, lower health care costs and protection against terrorism.
Climate change is perceived as a threat, but other issues are seen as more pressing and are likely to play a larger role in voting decisions. This is also evident in Europe.
Experts expect a shift to the right in the upcoming EU parliamentary elections. According to an analysis of the think tank European Council of Foreign Relations (ECFR extension), voting behavior in European countries is determined by various crises and their subjective weighting.
| Current news+ | Background knowledge | Top |
Background knowledge
The map of the nuclear world
In 2024, approximately half of humanity will have the choice...
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The “Internal Search”
Elections | Climate policy | prosperity
February 8, 2024 - The AfD has long been planning for the “day after”
January 17, 2024 - "Mr. Lindner, pay out the climate money during this legislative period!"
December 29, 2023 - "The business model of fossil companies is built on killing people"
December 18, 2023 - Study: When Nazi terrorists kill, the AfD becomes stronger
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The search engine Ecosia is planting trees!
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Wahlen
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Klimapolitik
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Wohlstand
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Wikipedia
The elections listed here are scheduled for 2024...
Climate policy includes, on the one hand, all political measures aimed at limiting global warming and, on the other hand, measures to adapt to the consequences of global warming. Climate policy is part of environmental policy, but it can only be successful if it is pursued with global strategies. Their success depends on the willingness of individual states to cooperate internationally as well as on national and local action.
The most important areas of responsibility are currently mentioned
- Reducing CO2 emissions – primarily through taxation and appropriate emissions trading
- Adapting cities and agriculture to climate change
- Away from the throwaway society towards a circular economy.
The aim of climate protection is to reduce or stop the speed and effects of global warming. The main means of achieving this is reduced emissions of greenhouse gases, which are responsible for climate change. Important measures for this include the expansion of renewable energies, increasing energy efficiency and energy savings, pricing greenhouse gas emissions through emissions trading or taxation, reducing environmentally harmful subsidies, the core elements of the energy transition and other political measures...
Prosperity (also well-being, well-being) is a positive state that is perceived differently from person to person. Prosperity is made up of immaterial and material wealth (see also standard of living). Living standards are easier to measure. In colloquial terms, wealth means that someone has more money than “normal” at their disposal or that they lack nothing materially...
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Bpb - Federal Agency for Civic Education
By signing the "Paris Agreement", 195 countries committed themselves to curbing climate change and, if possible, limiting the global temperature increase to 1,5 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era. In order to achieve its targets now and other ambitious goals in the future, various strategies and instruments are being developed at international and national levels, from emissions trading to improving energy efficiency.
Which actors contribute to the design and implementation of climate policy in Germany? The following explains how this cross-sectional task is anchored in the political system and the various institutions.
When people talk about climate policy, they often use the word “cross-sectional task”. This word refers to the recognition that climate change as a political task and social challenge cannot be overcome by one actor, not at a political decision-making level, nor in one social or economic sector alone. That is why political scientists often speak of governance in the context of climate policy and mean that climate policy must always include different processes of vertical and horizontal policy integration and, as a result, the integration of different actors...
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YouTube
Keyword = elections + climate policy + prosperity
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Wahlen
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Klimapolitik
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Wohlstand
Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...
This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic of atoms*
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Newsletter VI 2024 - February 4nd to 10th
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