Newsletter X 2024
March 3th to 9st
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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.
March 1, 2006 (INES 2) NPP Kozloduy, BGR
March 5, 1969 (INES 3) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR
March 6, 2006 (INES ? Class.?) Nuclear factory NFS, Erwin, TN, USA
March 8, 2002 (INES 3) NPP Davis Besse, USA
March 10, 1970 (INES 3 | NAMS 2,6) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR
March 11, 2011 (INES 7 | NAMS 7,5) NPP Fukushima I Daiichi, JPN
March 11, 1958 (Broken Arrow) B-47 Mars Bluff, USA
March 12, 2011 (INES 3) NPP Fukushima II Daini, JPN
March 13, 1980 (INES 4) NPP Saint Laurent, FRA
March 14, 2011 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Pickering, ON, CAN
March 14, 1961 (Broken Arrow) B-52 Yuba City, CA, USA
March 18, 2011 (INES 2) NPP Doel, BEL
March 19, 1971 (INES 3 | NAMS 2) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR
March 22, 1975 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Brown's Ferry, USA
March 25, 1955 (INES 4 | NAMS 4,3) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR
March 28, 1979 (INES 5 | NAMS 7,9) NPP Three Mile Island, USA
We are always looking for up-to-date information. Anyone who can help, please send a message to:
nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de
9. March
Ukraine | Peace negotiations | Papst
Pope Francis: Ukraine should have the courage to raise the white flag
Pope calls on Ukraine to dare to hold peace talks. Francis advocates the courage to use the “white flag”. Negotiations as a sign of strength.
In an interview, Pope Francis called on Ukraine to show the “courage of the white flag” and to hold negotiations with Russia. This is reported by Reuters, citing the Swiss broadcaster RSI.
Pope calls for negotiations
Ukraine is currently unable to stop the Russian army. In the interview, recorded last month, Francis was asked for his opinion on the ongoing debate. Should Ukraine give up or would this legitimize the attackers' actions? The interviewer used the term "white flag" in the question.
[...] "Don't be ashamed to negotiate before things get worse," said Francis, who has written hundreds of appeals for what he called "martyred Ukraine." Asked whether he was ready to mediate, Francis replied: "I am here."
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Glyphosate | Monsanto | Weedkiller
Controversial weed killer
Bayer announces glyphosate alternative
The Bayer Group's weed killer glyphosate has been criticized for being harmful to health for years - and there are many lawsuits, especially in the USA. The company is now working on an alternative.
The controversial weed killer glyphosate has become a long-term and, above all, expensive problem for the pharmaceutical company Bayer, especially in the USA. US courts still have tens of thousands of cases before them regarding the drug, which has been criticized as carcinogenic.
Bayer says it is now working on an alternative to glyphosate, but at the same time emphasizes the safety of the currently available agent. CEO Bill Anderson told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” that a new substance was already being tested on real plants. He didn't give the product a name yet, but emphasized that it was the first groundbreaking innovation in this field in 30 years.
But it will still be a while before the alternative comes onto the market. Bayer is aiming for market launch in 2028.
[...] The weed killer glyphosate was developed by the US company Monsanto, which Bayer took over in 2018 - and with it the legal disputes surrounding the drug, which is sold in the USA under the name "Roundup"....
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Energy transition | Federal Audit Office | BDEW
The marmots from the Court of Auditors
The Federal Audit Office's new report on the energy transition shows once again: The authority has a fundamental problem understanding a 100 percent renewable energy system.
Every few years the marmot greets you from the Federal Audit Office's energy transition reports. We remember:
Conclusion of the 2018 report: The Federal Ministry of Economics is insufficiently and inadequately coordinating the energy transition. The burden on the economy and households is enormous. Nevertheless, Germany will miss almost all of its energy transition goals by 2020.
Conclusion 2021: The federal government is inadequately controlling the energy transition. A reliable and inexpensive supply of electricity is questionable. The result remains “sobering”.
In 2024, the test results will be “sobering” again, the authorities say. The government is behind schedule in expanding renewables and the electricity grid, as well as in building up so-called backup capacities. In addition, there is a lack of a concept against high electricity prices.
No matter who is in government, whether a Groko is blocking the energy transition or whether parts of a traffic light government, minus especially the FDP, are finally trying to make up for decades-old arrears - the Federal Audit Office always comes to almost the same conclusion.
[...] The head of the energy industry association BDEW also draws a different assessment of the energy transition: the conditions for the expansion of renewables in the electricity sector have improved significantly. There is also “noticeable progress” in the power grid. The BDEW does not see a “supply gap” in the electricity system, as the Federal Audit Office fears...
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Israel | repression | Anti-Semitism
Solidarity with which Israel?
Israeli security policy as a cure for German neuralgia or what do German anti-Semitism and philosemitism have in common?
This essay was written in 2018. He still addresses current German issues today.
It sometimes seems as if in recent years the prevailing discourse on anti-Semitism in Germany has become so detached from its subject matter, the real anti-Semitism that exists, that one could get the impression that it is more than just about the alleged fight against real anti-Semitism it is about perpetuating the intrinsic value that his ideological distortion has acquired.
The German political culture of the post-war era was largely concerned with overcoming what the German Sonderweg had brought about with two world wars, the Nazi dictatorship and the genocide committed against European Jewry, and therefore with the tireless exposure of the “relapse into barbarism “ subcutaneously conditioned social, economic, political and cultural structures, but above all about the rigorous fight against persistent anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia, this originally emancipatory politicization of the social has now become so reified that its practice has become a thoroughly ideological series of as “public debates” have degenerated into empty phrases.
In the past, people still fought persistently around the concept of the monstrous in world history because people tried to respect the unspeakable as such; If for Adorno, after Auschwitz, poetry was forbidden as a cultural memorial service because culture had committed treason, then “anti-Semitism”, i.e. “Auschwitz”, has now been subjected to such inflationary use that the postulated uniqueness of the Shoah has degenerated into the fungible, the unspeakable into the always accessible, and the fight against what had been identified as preliminary stages of barbarism has slipped into the emotional arena of the discursive struggle for normal German or normalizing anti-German identities...
8. March
Chemical industry | plasticizers | PCB
PCB in the USA
According to the study, banned chemicals continue to be produced on a large scale
PCBs have been banned in the United States for over 40 years. But the amount produced in 2019 alone could exceed the maximum values from back then, researchers report. The substances accumulate in the food chain.
PCB chemicals have actually been banned for decades, including in Germany. But according to a study, the industry continues to produce them on a large scale - as a common by-product.
[...] Polychlorinated biphenyls - PCBs - were used as plasticizers in paints, sealants or insulating agents. PCBs have been banned in Germany since 1989, and in the USA for a decade longer. PCBs can still be released as a byproduct. The chemicals accumulate in the environment over many years and are considered harmful to health. Among other things, they are suspected of being carcinogenic.
Often not recorded in studies
The research team led by David Megson from Manchester Metropolitan University estimates that significantly more PCBs are currently being produced in the USA than during the peak of commercial production in the 39.000s. While around 45.000 tons of PCBs were said to have been produced in the USA alone at the time, it is now around XNUMX tons per year. However, these PCBs are not detected in most studies, the group writes.
[...] The assumption made in the study that around 2019 tons of PCBs were legally produced in the USA in 45.000 "could be true despite all the uncertainties," said Lee Bell from the NGO International Pollutants Elimination Network to the "Guardian"...
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Israel | West Bank | Settlements
Violation of international law
UN Commissioner Türk calls expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank a “war crime”
Geneva · In the period from the beginning of November 2022 to the end of October 2023, around 24.300 additional residential units were added. This is the largest number since records began in 2017.
The expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories constitutes a “war crime,” according to UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk. The construction and constant expansion of settlements amount to an Israeli “transfer of its own civilian population to the territories it occupies,” explained Türk on Friday in a report for the UN Human Rights Council. Such transfers “constitute a war crime.”
According to the report, Israeli government policy "appears to be consistent to an unprecedented extent with the goals of the Israeli settlement movement to expand long-term control over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and to continually integrate this occupied territory into the State of Israel."
At the same time, Palestinians are being driven from their homes by Israeli settlers and state violence, the report said...
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United States | Arms | Gaza | Bread
The US is throwing bread and bombs on Gaza
The US government delivers aid and publicly criticizes Israel. But in the background it sells weapons to Israel's regime.
Dramatic images of US airdrops of food supplies into the Gaza Strip have made headlines in recent days. The U.S. Air Force and the Royal Jordan Air Force dropped a combined total of over 70 meals along the Gaza Strip coast and northern Gaza Strip. This is only a fraction of what is currently needed there.
While the US has dropped food, it has also delivered bombs to Israel, which were also dropped on the Gaza Strip. The Washington Post revealed this week that the Biden administration has carried out more than 100 separate arms transfers to Israel in the past five months, involving thousands of so-called precision-guided munitions, bombs and more - bypassing legally required reports to Congress...
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Netherlands | Runtime | Borssele NPP
A radiant future for Zeeland
Nuclear power without end
Dutch parliament decides to build four new nuclear power plants. 50-year-old reactor could continue to operate until 2050
Gas production in Groningen, the Netherlands, is scheduled to end this year. After all, the residents have suffered long enough from the constant tremors that accompanied the extraction. The Dutch parliament is now fully committed to nuclear energy. On Tuesday, a majority of MPs decided to build four new reactors - twice as many as the government wanted. The Greens, Social Democrats, the socialist SP and the Animal Welfare Party voted against it.
Two of the new reactors will probably be built next to the only Dutch nuclear power plant in Borssele in the province of Zeeland. They should go online by 2035 at the latest. Borssele is operated by EPZ (Elektriciteits Produktiemaatschappij Zuid-Nederland), in which the German energy giant RWE holds a 30 percent stake. The reactor has 50 years of service life under its belt and was supposed to stop operating in 2004, but a court decided otherwise...
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March 8, 2002 (INES 3) NPP Davis Besse, USA
Severe corrosion of reactor head control rod drives forces 24-month shutdown of Davis-Besse reactor. (Cost approx. US$167 million)
Wikipedia
Davis Besse Nuclear Power Plant#Incidents
In March 2002, during a long-delayed inspection, it was discovered that boric acid had leaked from the reactor near a control rod bushing on the lid of the reactor pressure vessel. The boric acid is used to control the reactor and is added to the coolant. However, the acid reacts very aggressively to heavy metals. As a result, there was severe corrosion on the reactor lid, so that only a few millimeters thin layer of the inner lining of the lid remained. Experts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory then calculated that, in the worst case scenario, it would have taken another five months for a large leak to form in the reactor lid...
Nuclear power accidents by country#United_States
Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Davis Besse (USA)#Corrosion on the reactor pressure vessel (serious accident)
A serious level 1 incident occurred in Davis-Besse-2002 in 3, which exemplifies the interaction of material weaknesses, poor safety culture and negligently carried out controls. A serious nuclear accident only happened due to chance...
7. March
Scholz, Macron and Biden: Why their approval ratings are constantly falling
Young people in particular don't think much of their heads of government. They are incompetent. On one issue, the Western leadership is drifting into the sidelines. Guest post.
A group of young people enjoy a drink in a Parisian cafe on a warm evening.
[...] When I ask them what they think of the most important European heads of state and government - Olaf Scholz (Germany) and Emmanuel Macron (France) - they shrug their shoulders and the words "idiotic" and are mentioned "insignificant".
[...] What is particularly confusing is that large parts of the population in the countries of the north want an immediate ceasefire, but their heads of government ignore their opinions. A poll shows that two-thirds of voters in the United States - including majorities of Democrats (77 percent), independents (69 percent) and Republicans (56 percent) - support a ceasefire in Gaza.
Interestingly, 59 percent of U.S. voters believe Palestinians must be guaranteed the right to return to their homes in Gaza, while 52 percent say peace talks must be held for a two-state solution.
[...] Clear thinking is not to be found in the White House, 10 Downing Street or the Elysée Palace. It is found in the words of ordinary people in these countries affected by the violence.
Protests appear to be increasing as the death toll rises. What is the reaction to these protests? In the United Kingdom, MPs complained that these protests were putting police under "continued pressure." Maybe that's the point of the protests.
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Renewables | Power generation | Wind energy
Wind power was the most important source of electricity generation in 2023
Almost a third of the electricity generated in Germany came from wind power in 2023. According to the Federal Statistical Office, this is due to more capacity – and less electricity generation.
Last year, wind power replaced coal energy as the most important electricity generator in Germany. Almost a third (31 percent) of the electricity generated in Germany was generated from wind power in 2023, the Federal Statistical Office said. This means that electricity feed-in from wind power has reached a new high of 139,3 billion kilowatt hours. Coal remained the second most important source of electricity generation, but its share fell by almost a third to 2022 percent compared to 26,1.
[...] Renewable energies provided more than half of Germany's electricity in 2023
Overall, renewable energies accounted for 56 percent of electricity in Germany, with a peak value of 251,8 billion kilowatt hours, the Federal Statistical Office said...
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Digital Markets Act
“I hope that many will switch on March 7th”
Christian Kroll, founder of the green Internet search engine Ecosia, about his project and the chances of saving the world with clicks - and why he sometimes googles.
Klimareporter°: Mr. Kroll, 15 years ago you founded the green Internet search engine Ecosia, which is intended to have a positive effect on the climate. How do you come up with such an idea?
Christian Kroll: The Internet was my thing from an early age. I started trading stocks as a teenager. I wanted to make a lot of money. I spent hours in front of the computer trying to find undervalued companies, which was pretty unscrupulous.
[...] The EU is trying to slow down the dominance of Google and Co, for example by implementing the Digital Markets Act on March 7th. What chances does that have?
I very much welcome the fact that the EU is tackling the problem. Most users will have a window pop up on their cell phone, tablet or PC that day in which around twelve different search engines can be selected, with Ecosia being the largest non-profit company.
Of course, I hope that as many people as possible will then switch. Most people never selected Google themselves, but rather it was preset. We did a survey and it showed that around 20 percent of users can imagine switching search engines. If that happens, it would be a big step towards a more open market...
But?
The idea is good, but it also has to be implemented well. And I have my doubts about that. The problem is: The six big "gatekeepers" that enable access to the Internet, such as Apple, Alphabet and Meta, are themselves in charge of this. And they use tricks to restrict the free choice of search engines again...
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Hydrogen | mass production | Fuel cell
Fuel cell assembly every second
Robot cell allows precise mass production of fuel cell stacks
Drive of the future: A newly developed robot cell enables the automated and rapid mass production of fuel cell stacks - for example for trucks and other heavy goods vehicles. In this system, a robot duo puts together the basic units of the cells in a matter of seconds and with the necessary precision. The robot cell therefore fulfills an essential requirement for fuel cell systems to become more affordable.
Hydrogen is considered one of the energy sources of the future. It could not only be used for stationary generation of electricity and heat, but also power aircraft and vehicles in the form of fuel cells. Fuel cells have advantages over battery-powered electromobility, especially in freight transport. But in order to achieve the necessary performance, fuel cells must be combined into stacks. For example, a truck requires a stack of approximately 400 layers of bipolar plates and membrane electrode units.
Robot duo instead of hand assembly
So far, these fuel cell stacks have been manufactured in a factory-like manner, meaning they involve a lot of manual work and are therefore time-consuming. “If fuel cells are to replace combustion engines in heavy-duty transport, they must be manufactured in industrial mass production, largely automated and correspondingly cost-effective,” says Erwin Groß from the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Engineering and Automation IPA.
This is exactly what the researchers have now achieved in the “H2FastCell” project. They have developed a robot cell that inserts fuel cells in a matter of seconds and is completely automated...
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Fukushima | Pacific | Radiation exposure | GRS
13th anniversary of Fukushima: an overview of the current work at the site
On March 11, 2011, the worst reactor disaster since Chernobyl occurred in Japan as a result of the Tohoku earthquake and the resulting tsunami: Units 1 to 4 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) were destroyed by explosions or core meltdowns, and more had to be released due to the releases as 146.000 people were evacuated.
13 years later, thousands of skilled workers are still working on the plant site every month to prepare for the dismantling of the reactors. Last year, the public focus was primarily on how to deal with the large amounts of radioactively contaminated water stored on the plant site.
Dealing with contaminated water on the plant premises
On August 24, 2023, the operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant Daiichi TEPCO discharged water, which has been collected in tanks on the plant site since the accident, into the Pacific for the first time. The introduction was justified, on the one hand, by the fact that the options for setting up water tanks on the plant site had reached their limits - as of February 1, 2024, the water tanks on the plant site were 97 percent full; On the other hand, this is intended to minimize the radiation exposure for the experts working on the site...
6. March
Macron is promoting the Czech Republic's own nuclear industry
French President Emmanuel Macron attended a Franco-Czech energy forum in Prague on Tuesday (March 5). There he promoted the French state energy giant EDF's bid to build new nuclear reactors in the Czech Republic.
The Czech Republic plans to build four new nuclear reactors in addition to the six existing ones. Two companies are still in the running to build the first of the four reactors: the French Électricité de France (EDF), Europe's leading energy company, and the South Korean company KHNP.
The two companies are awaiting the decision of the Czech authorities, which is expected in June, according to information available to Euractiv. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2029, with the first tests scheduled for 2036 at the earliest.
[...] EDF is currently building three EPR reactors in Europe: two in England (at the Hinkley Point C plant in the southwest of the country) and one in France (at the Flamanville plant in Normandy). In all three cases there are significant delays.
[...] The "Nuclear Alliance", a group of pro-nuclear EU countries including France and the Czech Republic, announced on Monday (March 4) the impending creation of a "working group" on European nuclear power financing level.
On this occasion, the French multinational Orano also signed an agreement with the Czech nuclear company ČEZ for the supply of enriched uranium for the reactors of the Dukovany power plant. With this second agreement in a few months, the Czech Republic will be able to rid itself of Russian-enriched fuel.
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France | EPR | Additional costs
Nuclear power: New French reactors will probably be 30 percent more expensive than planned
Six new nuclear reactors are initially to be built in France. According to a newspaper report, they will probably be more expensive than originally planned.
The nuclear projects of the French energy company EDF and thus the government are expected to be more expensive than originally estimated. For the planned six new reactors in Penly, Gravelines and Bugey, EDF is now assuming a total cost of 67,5 billion euros instead of the previous figure of 51,7 billion. This is reported by the French newspaper Les Echos, citing people in the know. EDF itself has not yet taken a position on this.
[...] EDF plans to build new reactors of the new EPR series. One such project is currently being built at the Flamanville nuclear power plant for an estimated cost of 13 billion euros. This is expected to go into operation this year - twelve years late and almost 10 billion euros more expensive than originally planned. The EPR in Olkiluoto, Finland, cost 10 billion euros and the two EPR that EDF is building in Hinkley Point, UK, are expected to be significantly more expensive than planned.
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Emsland nuclear power plant | nuclear waste interim storage facility | BGZ
Lingen nuclear waste interim storage facility: Endless duration?
The interim storage facility in Lingen is approved until 2042. But then there will still be no final storage facility for the highly radioactive nuclear waste. The location will continue to operate. How long is unclear.
The nuclear waste interim storage facility in Lingen is located right next to the decommissioned Emsland nuclear power plant. The heart of the interim storage facility is a multi-secure hall made of reinforced concrete. There are currently 47 blue Castor containers with a total of around 900 burnt but still highly radioactive fuel rods. The six meter high cylinders are electronically monitored and have double caps. "The container itself is the central building block for security," says David Knollmann from the Gesellschaft für Zwischenlager - BGZ for short.
[...] For the Lingen nuclear power opponent Alexander Vent, the term interim storage facility has long been no longer correct, because operations will not end in the foreseeable future. “We cannot expect that this interim storage facility in Lingen will be cleared before 2100,” criticizes Vent. The people of Lingen should know that the highly radioactive waste will keep the residents busy for generations to come. In total, around 2027 highly radioactive fuel rods will be stored in Lingen from 1.600. The BGZ will apply for a new operating license in around 10 years - it is not yet clear how long it will be valid for.
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Russia and China planning Mini-NPP or on the Moon
Roscosmos space agency
Russia is considering a nuclear power plant on the moon
China and Russia want to put people on the moon in the coming years. Roscosmos boss Borissov now explains that a transportable nuclear power plant could provide the crew with electricity. The USA has similar plans.
The moon is a place of extremes. At the equator the temperature can rise to 120 degrees Celsius in sunshine. On moonlit nights, however, the thermometer sometimes drops to minus 130 degrees in the same place. In some areas of the polar regions, temperatures as low as minus 250 degrees are reached - water ice may have persisted there to this day, which is interesting for astronauts.
The USA and its partners are currently interested in building a research station on the moon. China and Russia also want to jointly establish a permanent presence on the moon. How these outposts can be supplied with energy during the long moonlit night is one of the important questions in the preparation. It would be difficult with solar cells alone because the energy would have to be stored in large, heavy batteries for up to 14 days.
The head of the Roscosmos space agency, Yuri Borisov, has now explained during a round of discussions with young people that his country, together with the Chinese, is also considering building a nuclear reactor to supply the station. This could happen sometime between 2030 and 2035. The mini nuclear power plant should work automatically. The technical requirements are almost met...
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March 6, 2006 (INES ? Class.?) Nuclear factory NFS, USA
At a Nuclear Fuel Services facility in Erwin, 35 liters of highly enriched uranium spilled, necessitating a seven-month shutdown. (Cost approx. US$115 million)
Wikipedia
Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS)
is an American nuclear company. Along with BWX Technologies, the company is the main supplier of nuclear fuel for the US Navy. In addition, the company deals with the conversion of plutonium and uranium from nuclear weapons into fuel rods for nuclear power plants. Browns Ferry nuclear power station is one of the main customers. In addition, one deals with the decontamination of old nuclear power plants. Headquarters Erwin is a small town in Tennessee, Unicoi County.
On August 20, 2007, it was announced that a criticality accident had almost occurred in Erwin...
Nuclear power accidents by country#United_States
March 6, 2006 Erwin, Tennessee, USA. The NFS facility leaks 35 liters of highly enriched uranium, necessitating a seven-month shutdown.
Nuclear_Fuel_Services#NRC_events
On May 11, 2008, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission released information on emergency reports related to two incidents that occurred in 2006 at the Erwin facility. The first incident was a liquid spill of highly enriched uranium that could have resulted in a criticality incident.
The second incident involved an uncontrolled "point of accumulation" where a critical mass of uranium could have accumulated and was discovered in the course of responding to the first incident. In other words, no protection systems were in place to prevent solution leakage from occurring at the bottom of an elevator shaft in the facility. The result of material accumulation in a confined space could be a criticality incident.
Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
5. March
tax money | Stock market | Stock pension
Investing tax money on the stock exchange:
Expensive nonsense stock pension
The federal government has announced that it wants to invest at least 12 billion euros annually in a “stock pension”. The plan has several weaknesses.
What expensive nonsense: From 2024, the federal government will invest at least 12 billion euros annually in a “stock pension”. It has always been the favorite project of FDP Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who wants to use it to build “generational capital”.
The basic idea sounds obvious at first: As is well known, there are more and more old people, but fewer young people, who pay into social security funds. So the federal government now wants to supplement the statutory pension with a state equity fund.
Unfortunately, the plan has several weaknesses. First: If the state pushes into the stock markets, the securities automatically become more expensive. The rich who own these stocks benefit from this. So it's a subsidy program for the wealthy, which explains why the FDP campaigned so vehemently for this plan.
Secondly: Pensioners, on the other hand, benefit almost nothing from this stock fund. Because the money should flow into stocks, not into pensions. Only the profits of the fund would be distributed to the old people, which would be a measly percentage of the total...
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Subsidies | Solar Panels | Solar industry
Someone doesn't want money from the state
Domestic producers fear for their existence because of cheap competition from China. Now subsidies should help. Strangely, not everyone likes this.
Subsidies are usually a reason for companies to be happy. Whenever there is government money to be distributed, it usually doesn't take long for an association to calculate the need for financial aid, while the industry leaders nod unanimously.
What is currently happening in the solar industry is all the more astonishing: The federal government is on the verge of distributing billions to the industry - but some companies don't want the money at all. And some have even left the German Solar Industry Association (BSW) in protest. Just why?
At its core, the dispute is about a fundamental question: Is the energy transition in danger because Germany is dependent on the Chinese market? Thanks to low prices, manufacturers from China dominate 90 percent of the market in this country. First of all, that's not a bad thing, because the expansion of green energy depends on the fact that it is cheaper than the climate-damaging alternatives...
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Why Egypt cannot and does not want to open the flood gates to Gaza
Possible Israeli Rafah invasion strains relations with Cairo and the USA. Egypt finds itself in a quandary. Why it is like that. Guest post.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced an invasion of Rafah, a city on the Gaza Strip-Egypt border where more than 1,5 million Palestinians are currently seeking shelter.
There is a lot at stake for Egypt. A spillover of fighting from Gaza to the Sinai Peninsula could be destabilizing. Cairo understandably wants this war to end immediately.
Nightmare scenario for Cairo
A massive influx of refugees from the Gaza Strip into Sinai could lead to Palestinians mounting armed resistance against Israel from Egyptian soil - a nightmare scenario from Cairo's perspective...
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Propaganda | Cruise missile | TAURUS
Super-GAU for Super-TAURUS
The Bundeswehr is taking politics and the entire country hostage with its war games. In this case, the Chancellor is not the security risk.
“Russian propaganda channels have published a recording of an internal meeting of Air Force officers. The recording is probably authentic, the military secret service has initiated an investigation.” The former news magazine reported this on Saturday, but does not believe it is necessary to report on the contents. Only in passing is it reported that there was “also” talk about an attack with Taurus missiles on the Kerch Bridge (Crimea) and ammunition depots, in fact it is almost a twist the whole conversation about how quickly Ukrainians can be trained for such attacks and what tricks can be used to prevent them from being interpreted as German participation in the war.
In the conversation between Air Force Chief Gerhartz and his colleagues – General Gräfe and officers Florstedt and Fenske – it is said that destroying the bridge plays no role in the outcome of the war, but “they (the Ukrainians) want it”. But because the size of the bridge is “like an airfield,” you need 10 to 20 Taurus and, to keep the precision below three meters, very precise radar and satellite data and, if no Germans can be there, “the English ”, who look over the shoulders of the untrained Ukrainians while they fire. The fact that Brits and “lots of people with American accents in civilian clothes” are on site to manage the operation of their “Storm Shadows” and HIMARS was already an open secret before this leak - as was the fact that TAURUS is a system that has not been tested in wartime operations and if used improperly by poorly trained staff, it could also hit “a kindergarten”. However, such information is unreasonable for the German audience, none of our “quality media” provides a link or a copy of the leak, everyone downplays the content as rather harmless...
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Food | Lobby | Advertising ban
Unhealthy food
No advertising on hold
A year ago, Food Minister Özdemir presented his plan to ban advertising for unhealthy foods. This is how he wants to protect children. But the project is stuck in the traffic light dispute. What's next?
Two million children and young people in Germany are overweight. Too many, says Federal Food Minister Cem Özdemir. As a countermeasure, he wants to limit the advertising of unhealthy foods. He presented a draft law a year ago.
Now Özdemir says: “You need patience in this work, I have that, and at the same time you need persistence.” The Green Party politician emphasizes that the federal government has once again committed itself to the fact that this law should exist. But opinions differ widely between the traffic light parties in the coalition about the content of the law.
Özdemir wants to completely ban advertising for products with too much sugar, fat and salt on television and online at certain times. Among other things, Monday to Friday from 17 p.m. to 22 p.m. - and therefore also in prime time with the most viewers and highest advertising revenue. There should also be a ban zone for poster advertising around daycare centers and schools
Criticism of the FDP: “Not even capable of giving advice”
For the FDP member of the Bundestag Gero Hocker, the proposals submitted so far are "anything but capable of approval, and for me they are not even capable of being discussed." The FDP politician only wants to ban advertising if it is aimed directly at children, for example in the context of children's programs.
The food association and the advertising industry are also resisting the proposals. They fear overregulation. And I doubt that advertising bans have a positive effect
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March 5, 1969 (INES 3) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR
Release of 370 MBq plutonium in the laboratory of building B229. (Cost approx. US$84,5 million)
This incident as well as several other releases of radioactivity are in Wikipedia unfortunately can no longer be found.
Wikipedia
The complex was made famous by a catastrophic fire in 1957 and by frequent nuclear incidents, which is one of the reasons why it was renamed Sellafield. Up until the mid-1980s, large quantities of the nuclear waste generated in day-to-day operations were discharged in liquid form via a pipeline into the Irish Sea.
Radiological releases
Between 1950 and 2000 there were 21 serious off-site incidents or accidents involving radiological releases that warranted classification on the International Nuclear Event Scale, one at Level 5, five at Level 4 and fifteen at Level 3. In addition, there were in intentional releases of plutonium and irradiated uranium oxide particles into the atmosphere known for extended periods in the 1950s and 1960s...
Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Sellafield (formerly_Windscale), United Kingdom
There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:
https://atomkraftwerkeplag.fandom.com/de/wiki/Wiederaufarbeitung#Standorte_für_Wiederaufarbeitung
Uranium enrichment and reprocessing - facilities and sites
During reprocessing, the inventory of spent fuel elements can be separated from one another in a complex chemical process (PUREX). Separated uranium and plutonium can then be reused. As far as the theory...
4. March
Right-wing extremists | agitation | intimidation
right of assembly
Right-wing extremist Monday demonstrations in Gera: Why doesn't the public order office intervene?
Incidents such as vandalism or attempts at intimidation occur again and again in Gera during demonstrations and rallies registered by right-wing extremists. Why isn't the public order office taking action?
[...] Both groups stood directly opposite each other for half an hour last Monday in front of Gera's Salvatorkirche - with riot police in between. Some prayed and held candles in their hands. The others shouted vulgar insults at them.
The approximately 250 people gathered in front of the Protestant church, like every Monday, under the motto “Heart instead of agitation”. The other demonstration (approx. 400 participants) was controlled directly in front of the church by its registrant, the Gera right-wing extremist Christian Klar...
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FDP and lobbyists against reusables
EU Packaging Regulation:
189 kilos of plastic waste
The EU wants to set quotas for recycled plastic and requirements for reusable products. It is unclear whether the FDP will torpedo this.
BERLIN taz | Let's see whether the FDP in Brussels blocks another important law this week. This Monday, the packaging regulation is on the agenda in Brussels. With this, the EU wants to reduce the amount of packaging waste. On average, every European threw away 189 kilograms of foil, cans and cardboard in 2021 - 34 kilograms more than ten years before.
In a final round of negotiations, the EU Parliament, Council and Commission want to agree on a regulation that, among other things, sets out use quotas for recycled plastic and requirements for reusable products. But in Berlin there are rumors that the federal government is torpedoing regulation at the instigation of FDP ministers Christian Lindner (finance) and Volker Wissing (transport).
According to undisputed reports, this is based on a deal with the Italian government, which rejects the packaging regulation - and in turn has supported the federal government to stop the supply chain law. It is still unclear whether the Belgian government – which holds the Council Presidency – will continue to push for the law. In any case, it is still on the agenda for a vote in Parliament...
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Atomic power vs. Renewables - Sun and wind make more sense
Chancellor Scholz doesn't think new nuclear power plants make sense
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected calls for a return to nuclear power in Germany, citing high costs and long construction times. "If someone decides now to build a nuclear power plant, it will be finished in 15 to 20 years based on the current construction times. We must have solved all of our problems long ago," said Scholz in response to a student's question during a question and answer session at a vocational school center in Sindelfingen, Baden-Württemberg.
The electricity that comes from such power plants costs many times what electricity from wind power, solar energy or other production sources costs, said Scholz. In addition, uranium reserves are finite. "If you look back twenty years from now and see who made the cheaper and more efficient decision to produce electricity, then it will be our country," predicted the Chancellor...
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Migrants | Defense contractors
Who benefits from the militarized “Fortress Europe” against refugees?
Walls and weapons for border guards. The EU border regime is being pushed by defense companies. About winners and losers in defense.
The European Union's migration and border regime is becoming increasingly militarized. The latest development in an attempt to further seal off the world's richest continent is that a network of reception centers for refugees and migrants is being envisaged. The aim is to work more closely with African countries to take action against asylum seekers.
[...] The trend towards militarization of European migration control has been pushed by defense and security companies in recent decades. As defense budgets shrank across European countries after the end of the Cold War, migration emerged as a major new threat to national security.
[...] The winners are defense companies, security service providers and the extreme right in the EU states.
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Lingen fuel element factory | Rosatom | Framatome
Lingen fuel element factory: No entry from Russia
BUND statement with 40 reasons against expanding production - No money from Germany for Russian war chest
Berlin - The German Association for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) is strictly against the production of Russian-designed fuel elements in Lingen, Lower Saxony. In a statement submitted on Wednesday, the association explains why the application should not be approved. A total of 40 reasons are listed. This is particularly about Russia's lack of credibility as a partner and nuclear safety. The plant in Lingen is operated by Advanced Nuclear Fuels GmbH (ANF). It is a 100 percent subsidiary of the French Framatome GmbH. Production is to be expanded through a corporate cooperation with the Russian state-owned company Rosatom.
[...] Susanne Gerstner, Chairwoman of BUND Lower Saxony: “We welcome the fact that the authorities are taking the procedure very seriously. From our point of view, this can only end in rejection. The documents submitted by ANF are not even ready for interpretation. A lot of important information and considerations are missing, which the French company is only releasing little by little. The documents do not show that Rosatom personnel will be in Lingen, and the involvement of the Russian state-owned company is not even clear. That alone shows how unreliable and trustworthy this cooperation is. Rather, the 45-year-old facility, which has numerous reportable events and defects, must finally be closed.”
3. March
Solar Panels | Photovoltaics | Solar Thermal
Start-ups are planning solar production in Germany – if necessary with partners from China
Large solar manufacturers like Meyer Burger may be withdrawing from Germany. Now start-ups like Enpal and 1Komma5° want to step into the breach. They get expertise from abroad.
The German solar industry is currently splitting into two camps: some are waiting for the resilience bonus, others are railing against it. The federal government must decide on this. But they won't agree. The result: Many large manufacturers of solar modules have announced in the media that they want to leave Germany if Solar Package 1 with the resilience bonus it contains does not come into force as quickly as possible.
[...] The billion-dollar start-up Enpal also went on the offensive. At the end of February it was said that CEO Mario Kohl wanted to set up a joint venture and open a plant in Europe with partners. We have been in concrete discussions with manufacturers for about a year. The idea of this joint venture can be compared with the foundry principle in the semiconductor industry, a spokesman explained. All companies become shareholders and at the same time commit to purchasing the solar modules.
[...] While some start-ups primarily make noise, others really ramp up their production. One start-up that is taking advantage of corporations' mass withdrawal is Sunmaxx from Ottendorf-Okrilla. In the suburb of Dresden, the company builds modules that are equally focused on photovoltaics and solar thermal energy. This means that the cells produce electricity and heat at the same time with a much better efficiency than pure PV systems...
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Labor union | Vocational Training | Skilled workers
IG Metall complains that companies are not willing to provide training
IG Metall has accused the companies of a lack of willingness to provide training. Union executive Urban called the employers’ behavior a “training boycott.” The employers' association Gesamtmetall, on the other hand, complains about the inadequate education system in Germany and calls on schools to produce students who are ready for training and study.
According to IG Metall, around 4,8 million people are employed in the industry, but there are only 209.000 trainees. With a training rate of 4,3 percent, the metal companies are below average. Urban explained that at the same time thousands of training positions remain unfilled. The number of young people who are looking for a training place but cannot get one is increasing. The number of people who do not have a professional qualification is also high.
[...] union executive Urban called for a broader range of attractive training positions and the expansion of youth employment agencies. Statutory pay-as-you-go financing is also necessary: companies that do not provide training must support companies that provide training. According to the information, just under every fifth metal processing company (19,1 percent) in Germany provides training.
Urban asked companies not to complain about a problem with skilled workers if they did not provide any or very little training. You should finally switch from complaining mode to action mode...
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Greens | Democracy | Press freedom
Attacks on the Greens:
Show solidarity!
The Greens have become the enemy of many people. The violence is not only directed against them, but against democracy itself.
If you listen to the Greens at the moment, you can hear a lot of reassuring things. They say that the attacks don't just affect their own party. There is talk of new entries, solidarity and demos against right-wing extremism. Party leader Ricarda Lang laughs the problem down and tells how, after a party event in Magdeburg, she worked through the to-do list for her wedding while waiting in the police car for a safe departure. So it's not all that bad? Not at all.
In Biberach and Schorndorf, in Magdeburg and at the harbor in Schlüttsiel, it was not about a somewhat more robust protest. It was about the right to freedom of assembly and physical integrity. And if, as recently happened in Thuringia, a minibus with journalists is prevented from accompanying the Green Economics Minister on a factory visit, freedom of the press is restricted. These are fundamental pillars of democracy that are under attack. This could get even worse in this important election year.
[...] But what's even worse is that they either don't understand how serious the situation is - or are prepared to sacrifice it for party political calculations. The attacks are not just directed against the Greens, but against democracy. So that it can also be used against them. Only this short-sightedness can explain why Merz suddenly put the talks with the traffic light about how the Federal Constitutional Court can be secured democratically...
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Russia | Armaments | Rheinmetall
Rheinmetall and Russia
Burst billion dollar dreams
Ten years ago, the federal government stopped the delivery of a state-of-the-art combat training center from Rheinmetall to Russia. Research by WDR Investigative shows: Rheinmetall and the Russian army had even bigger plans.
[...] Rheinmetall and its new Russian partner, the state-owned arms company "Oboronservice AG", were apparently in a hurry. The then black-yellow federal government issued the necessary export permits. The training center should be fully operational in 2014.
Rheinmetall lawsuit
The euphoria was followed by disillusionment: After the annexation of Crimea in February 2014, the new Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) stopped the delivery of components for Mulino.
Rheinmetall therefore demanded compensation of 130 million euros from the federal government. One of the company's main arguments is that the arms deal with Russia was not only wanted by the federal government, but was also massively supported. This results in a “special protection of trust”.
However, the arms company initially failed in an urgent procedure before both the Frankfurt Administrative Court and the Hesse Administrative Court. Since then, the proceedings have been suspended, as Rheinmetall confirmed upon request.
Previously kept secret trial documents from 2014, which are available to WDR Investigativ, not only prove how close the interaction between the federal government, the Bundeswehr and Rheinmetall was...
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Migration | medical professionals
Shortage of doctors: More than 60.000 foreign doctors in Germany
Most foreign doctors come from Syria, Turkey and several European countries. Due to the shortage of doctors, experts expect further influx.
According to a media report, the number of foreign doctors has doubled in the past decade and stood at 63.763 at the end of last year. Ten years earlier there were around 30.000, and in 1993 it was around 10.000, as the newspapers of the Funke media group report, citing the medical statistics from the German Medical Association.
Most doctors without a German passport come from EU countries or other European countries as well as from countries in the Middle East. The most important countries of origin are Syria (6.120), Romania (4.668), Austria (2.993), Greece (2.943), Russia (2.941) and Turkey (2.628). The total number of doctors in Germany was 2022 at the end of 557.528...
| Current news+ | Background knowledge | Top |
Current news+
Courageously against the fear-mongers - apply for a party ban
More courage would be good...
Fascists and horror clowns gain power when they succeed in scaring people, and when they feel like it's working, their frightening lies and distortions of the truth become more and more bold.
These hypocritical demagogues like to dictate the rules to others, and their followers are just as happy to agree. The supporters of the Führer principle need, even beg, for clear statements; A joint proposal from the Bundestag and Bundesrat to ban the AfD would be such a clear announcement. Determined and consistent action is the method of choice, especially when it comes to countering agitators. These would-be leaders behave wildly and shout loudly because they are the ones who are most afraid.
"Don't be afraid of big animals..."
The only thing that helps against fear is courage, to contradict the fearmongers and to resist non-violently, to demonstrate courageously against all manifestations of fascism, oppression and inhumanity.
Please don't get me wrong: I don't want anyone to make their head a target for crazy thugs, go happily to prison like Gandhi in South Africa or even go voluntarily and death-defyingly to Putin's gulag like Navalny. I have the greatest respect for people like Gandhi and Navalny, but my thoughts and wishes are with the mourners at Navalny's grave, the living who carry on, and I keep my fingers crossed for them. It wouldn't be the first time that selfless people changed the course of history. Small people often have more courage and impact than great statesmen give them credit for.
Millions of people in Germany have done their part since the beginning of the year, taking to the streets and demonstrating against right-wing radicalism, if our politicians are now also courageously doing their part...
"If you have courage, you can't lose anything..."
Olaf Scholz does not want to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, even though he is criticized and insulted from all sides. That takes courage.
With a clear statement, Joe Biden can stop the prosecution of Julian Assange and end the war in Gaza. This could even win him some important points.
Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, has put himself in an almost hopeless situation with his macho political style, in which he has to fear more than just loss of power and billions if he loosens his grip. It is therefore doubtful whether Putin can muster the courage of humanity to end the war against the Ukrainian people under these circumstances, but I am happy to be surprised, Go, Vladimir, Go home...
Presumably the panicked fear of Mic is preventing both presidents from doing the right thing. It takes a lot of courageto stand up to the military-industrial complex. Don't you think so? Ask the Kennedys! (The little devil on my shoulder hisses in my ear. “You bad, bad conspiracy believer, you.”) Now, seriously again.
Who today still knows the names Wassili Alexandrowitsch Archipow and Stanislaw Jewgrafowitsch Petrow? These were two Soviet officers without whom perhaps none of us would be alive today. On October 27, 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, V. A. Arkhipov defied two other officers on the Soviet submarine B-59 and voted against the use of nuclear torpedoes. On September 26, 1983, S. J. Petrov correctly interpreted the alarm of a cosmos satellite blinded by the sun as a false alarm and blocked the launch of continental surface-to-surface missiles. Both soldiers prevented the outbreak of a nuclear war with self-confidence and the courage to contradict themselves.
Nowadays, 1 to 3 questions arise in this context: How would an artificial intelligence (AI) react in such a situation? Should AI even be brave or even human? Who actually really benefits from AI?
Courage to Security Council reform of United Nations
In the long term, it is unacceptable for the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council and 4 other nuclear states to impose their will on the other states of the world. "The fish stinks from the head" and the undemocratic structure of the United Nations is the cause of many seemingly insoluble problems of humanity.
| Current news+ | Background knowledge | Top |
Background knowledge
The map of the nuclear world
Soon the bare rocks of Greenland and Antarctica will be visible...
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The “Internal Search”
Courageously engineer fear mongers and for one Party ban
February 17, 2024 - Politicians can be braver17. February 2024 - Politicians can be bolder
February 16, 2024 - Alexei Navalny was brave enough to mock Putin's absurd tyranny
January 5, 2024 - AfD ban: brilliant sham debate
April 25, 2023 - AfD, CDU and FDP continue to fight for nuclear power plants
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The search engine Ecosia is planting trees!
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Angstmacher
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Parteiverbot
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Wikipedia
A party ban is the ban on a political party, its political activities and its subsidiary and successor organizations. The consequences of this are the dissolution of all structures, the confiscation of party assets and the loss of mandates. The ban on parties is a tool of a defensive democracy and, according to the Federal Constitutional Court in 2017, represents the “sharpest and double-edged weapon of the democratic constitutional state”...
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Deutschlandfunk Culture
Manipulation of people
Recognize the motives of the fear mongers
People can easily become insecure and fear mongers use these feelings for their own purposes. Neuroscientist Gerald Hüther advocates constantly reassessing whether our fears are justified or whether they are being exploited.
Every person who is told that something threatening is coming their way first tries to check whether the warning is justified. If this is too difficult or takes too long, his reaction depends on whether he trusts the bearer of this message. That's why all scaremongers try to create the most trustworthy impression possible.
Anyone who takes the announced threat seriously begins to quickly consider whether they are able to avert this danger. Fear mongers know this, which is why they exaggerate the threat they announce until their "victim" no longer sees the slightest chance of escaping it on their own.
Then it is trapped and is ready to willingly accept the suggestions, offers and measures of the supposed savior from the emergency and to follow them without objection...
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Federal Agency for Civic Education
Party ban - high hurdles for bans
Political parties have a special importance for our democracy. That's what our constitution says. A party may only be banned under very specific conditions. It must be proven that the party is violating our constitution. It must also be likely that the party will be successful with its actions and that democracy is actually threatened. This can only be assessed in proceedings before the Federal Constitutional Court. So banning parties is very difficult. This is to ensure that a party is not arbitrarily banned. In Germany, due to the experience with National Socialism and the GDR, people are very careful when it comes to banning parties. In both dictatorships, free parties were banned and power rested with a single party...
The fear mongers: Stasi – what was that?
These are “Stasi methods,” it is often said when neighbors eavesdrop on neighbors, companies undermine data protection or illegal actions by secret services become public. But what was the “Stasi” anyway? An instrument of power.
"The GDR was not a theme park, as some people think today. It was a very decisive, long-lasting dictatorship."
Former Federal President Joachim Gauck visiting the Stasi archives on January 13.1.2017, XNUMX.
“These are Stasi methods!” - the saying is common, but what was the “Stasi” anyway? The declaration leads back to the GDR, which existed as an independent state in eastern Germany from October 7, 1949 to October 2, 1990 - as the "German Democratic Republic". However, this was not a democracy according to Western understanding, but a dictatorial system under strong Soviet influence.
An all-powerful party, the “Socialist Unity Party of Germany” (SED), ruled there in an authoritarian manner. Her tool for securing power was a secret service subordinate to her, the Stasi. This is the colloquial abbreviation for the “Ministry for State Security”, abbreviated “MfS”, which was founded in the GDR in early 1950 during the Cold War. At that time, mutual enemy images shaped politics in East and West. The fear of a loss of power frightened the SED, opposition members defamed them as "counter-revolutionaries", "class enemies" and "pests of the people", and the Stasi also adopted a highly derogatory Internal Link: Enemy vocabulary and spoke of "anti-socialist" and "hostile-negative" People or “elements”.
To prevent a “counter-revolution,” the state security was given two central tasks. It developed into an omnipresent secret service and an intimidating secret police without legal and media control. The client was solely the Internal Link: leadership of the SED, including in the Internal Link: GDR districts. At the same time, the Stasi functioned as an auxiliary organ of the Soviet secret service Internal link: KGB, with whose help and based on its model it was created...
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YouTube
Keywords: fear mongers, Party ban
Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...
This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic of atoms*
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