radiofree.asia

Category: Nuclear

  • ‘No need for own nuclear weapon’ against North Korea: South Korean president

    South Korea has already established a system that can effectively deter and respond to the North Korean nuclear threat without the need for its own nuclear arsenal, said South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, a week after the North unveiled details of its uranium enrichment facility for the first time.

    Yoon set out his thoughts on Friday, while on a visit to the Czech Republic, when asked by a reporter if South Korea was seriously considering nuclear weapons.

    “Seoul sees beefing up its own defense capabilities as well as strengthening the enforceability of the U.S.-South Korean extended deterrent as the best defense against the North Korean nuclear threat,” he said.

    “We established the NCG through the ‘Washington Declaration’ in April last year, and the United States and South Korea are currently promoting nuclear strategic planning as well as joint implementation through the Conventional-Nuclear Integration,” said Yoon, referring to a Nuclear Consultative Group and the strategy of being prepared to survive and respond to a nuclear attack.

    The U.S. and South Korea held their inaugural  NCG meeting in July last year, when they discussed information sharing, consultation mechanisms, and joint planning and execution to enhance nuclear deterrence against North Korea.

    The NCG framework was announced during the bilateral summit in Washington last April against the backdrop of growing demands in South Korea for its own nuclear weapons in light of North Korea’s escalating nuclear threats.

    Yoon also highlighted the importance of cooperation between the U.S., South Korea and fellow U.S. ally, Japan.

    “Since the Camp David Summit in August last year, the three countries have established a trilateral cooperation system to enhance efforts to promote security and peace in the Indo-Pacific region,” he said.

    2023-08-18T193834Z_1980865832_RC2JQ2A7VVP9_RTRMADP_3_USA-SUMMIT.JPG
    U.S. President Joe Biden holds a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during the trilateral summit at Camp David near Thurmont, Maryland, U.S., Aug. 18, 2023. (Jim Bourg/Reuters)

    At their Camp David meeting, the leaders of Japan, the U.S. and South Korea, agreed on several key initiatives aimed at strengthening trilateral cooperation. 

    These included commitments to enhance joint military exercises, increase intelligence sharing and deepen economic ties. Additionally, the summit produced a joint statement that emphasized the importance of a free and open Indo-Pacific, underscoring the trilateral alliance’s role in maintaining regional stability and countering China’s growing influence.

    “As challenges to the international order based on freedom, human rights, and the rule of law grow, especially if they are pursued through force and coercive diplomacy, the need for cooperation between the three countries as partners of values and interests will only increase,” the South Korean president said.

    Yoon’s remarks came about a week after the North unveiled details of its uranium enrichment facility for the first time, with its leader Kim Jong Un calling for increasing the number of centrifuges for uranium enrichment so it can increase its nuclear arsenal for self-defense. 

    RELATED STORIES

    Satellite photos show expansion of suspected North Korean uranium enrichment site

    North Korea unveils uranium enrichment facility for the first time

    Kim Jong Un says North Korea to increase its arsenal of nuclear weapons

    Radio Free Asia reported on Thursday, based on analysis of satellite imagery, evidence that a suspected North Korean uranium enrichment facility that may have been toured by leader Kim Jong Un recently has grown significantly since construction was first spotted there in February.

    Impact of Russian sanctions

    When questioned on whether sanctions against Russia have had any impact on the South Korean economy, Yoon said that since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the volume of trade between South Korea and Russia has dropped significantly, and South Korean companies had suffered as a result.

    “Nevertheless, as a responsible member of the international community, my government will continue to work in international co-operation to safeguard peace,” he added.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin warned South Korea in June that sending  weapons to Ukraine would be a “very big mistake” after South Korea said it would consider doing so in response to a pact between Russia and North Korea to come to each other’s aid if attacked.

    At that time, South Korea announced it would reconsider its policy of not sending arms to Ukraine in response to North Korea and Russia signing a treaty that included a mutual pledge to provide immediate military assistance if either was attacked.

    Edited by Mike Firn.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Taejun Kang for RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kim Jong Un says North Korea to increase its arsenal of nuclear weapons

    North Korea is building up its nuclear force through “geometrical progression,” leader Kim Jong Un said, citing the “military security environment” as a reason. 

    Kim, in a speech on Monday, said the U.S.-led expansion of a military bloc in the region posed a grave security threat to North Korea and raised the need for it to bolster its nuclear arsenal.

    “The obvious conclusion is that the nuclear force of the DPRK and the posture capable of properly using it for ensuring the state’s right to security in any time should be more thoroughly perfected,” Kim said, as cited by the Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, on Tuesday. 

    The DPRK, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is North Korea’s official name. 

    Calling North Korea a “responsible nuclear weapons state,” Kim said its  nuclear weapons did not pose a threat to anyone, adding that those who called his country’s nuclear force threatening only revealed their acknowledgement that they have the hostile intention to attack the North with their own nuclear arms.

    “The DPRK will steadily strengthen its nuclear force capable of fully coping with any threatening acts imposed by its nuclear-armed rival states and redouble its measures and efforts to make all the armed forces of the state including the nuclear force fully ready for combat,” Kim added. 

    RELATED STORIES

    South Korea, Japan ‘ready to stop North Korea hiding behind Russia’

    Sullivan to China: US committed to ‘complete’ Korean peninsula denuclearization

    North Korea test-fires multiple rocket launcher with new guidance system

    Kim’s remarks came after KCNA released a photo showing him inspecting a new missile vehicle during his visit to a defense industrial enterprise, marking the first time that North Korea unveiled a 12-axle transporter erector launcher, or TEL, an upgrade to its previously most-wheeled version that has 11 axles and 22 wheels. That vehicle is used to mount the  Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile.

    The new 12-axle TEL can carry missiles longer than any North Korea has,  indicating it could be developing a bigger missile.

    In response, a Pentagon spokesperson on Monday reiterated the U.S. commitment to close cooperation with its allies to ensure regional security.

    “It’s not unusual for North Korea to use media reports and imagery to try to telegraph to the world,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told a press briefing.

    “From a U.S. standpoint, our focus is on working with our regional allies and partners to include the ROK and Japan on preserving regional security and stability and deterring a potential attack,” he added, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.

    Edited by Mike Firn.

    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Taejun Kang for RFA.

  • Trump, Egypt, and Russia: A Nuclear Power Horror Story [TEASER]

    Remember when Trump was impeached for holding up Ukraine aid to pressure Zelensky into fabricating a scandal about Biden? That’s how Trump famously operates—pushing for a quid pro quo. That brings us to Egypt, a dictatorship with a track record of bribing Americans, including disgraced Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, who was found guilty on all counts of being a paid foreign agent of Egypt.

    In 2016, Trump met with Egyptian dictator Abdel Fattah el-Sisi behind closed doors at the U.N. General Assembly weeks before the election, likely breaking the Logan Act at a time when President Obama’s foreign policy shunned el-Sisi for his human rights abuses and overthrowing Egypt’s first democratically elected leader.  

    But it gets worse. Trump’s relationship with Egypt isn’t just about money; it’s about power—nuclear power. El-Sisi’s regime is closely aligned with the Kremlin. Experts raised alarms about Russia’s nuclear ambitions in the Middle East, where earlier this year Russia began building a nuclear power station in Egypt. Trump’s ties to these dangerous players demands that the Biden administration, or potentially a Harris/Walz administration, appoint a special prosecutor to continue the investigation into Trump and Egypt, killed by Trump’s attorney general William Barr, the GOP cover-up king. 

    Listen to a free excerpt of our bonus show on Egypt, Trump, and Russia wherever you get your podcasts! Subscribe at Patreon.com/Gaslit to join our community, get bonus shows, ad-free episodes, invites to exclusive events, and more!

    Join us at a Gaslit Nation event! Gaslit Nation Patreon supporters at the Truth-teller level and higher, join the conversation at our live-tapings! Meet these incredible authors! You can also drop your questions in the chat or send them ahead of time through Patreon! Subscribe at Patreon.com/Gaslit to join the fun!

    • September 16 at 7:00 PM ET: In-person live taping with Andrea and Terrel Starr at the Ukrainian Institute of America in NYC. Celebrate the release of In the Shadow of Stalin, the graphic novel adaptation of Andrea’s film Mr. Jones, directed by Agnieszka Holland. Gaslit Nation Patreon supporters get in free – so message us on Patreon to be added to the guest list. Everyone else can RSVP here: https://ukrainianinstitute.org/event/books-at-the-institute-chalupa/

    • September 17 at 12:00 PM ET: Virtual live taping with investigative journalist Stephanie Baker, author of Punishing Putin: Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia. Her book has been highly praised by Bill Browder, the advocate behind the Magnitsky Act to combat Russian corruption. 

    • September 18 at 4:00 PM ET: Virtual live taping with the one and only Politics Girl, Leigh McGowan, author of A Return to Common Sense: How to Fix America Before We Really Blow It.

    • September 24 at 12:00 PM ET: Virtual live taping with David Pepper, author of Saving Democracy. Join us as David discusses his new art project based on Project 2025.

    Show Notes:

    Washington Post: $10M cash withdrawal drove secret probe into whether Trump took money from Egypt Political appointees rejected efforts to search for additional evidence investigators believed might provide answers, then closed the case. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/08/02/trump-campaign-egypt-investigation/

    Video: Trump meets with Egypt’s president at White House https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_WRgSZEgqc

    Trump’s Conflicts of Interest in Egypt https://www.americanprogress.org/article/trumps-conflicts-interest-egypt/

     

    Kushner, Bannon, Flynn Pushed Huge Nuclear Power Deal in Middle East for Profit, In Secret https://billmoyers.com/story/kushner-bannon-flynn-pushed-huge-nuclear-power-deal-middle-east-profit-secret/

     

    What does the Sisi-Putin latest nuclear plant deal mean for Egypt, Russia? Egypt is hoping nuclear energy will help meet its substantial power needs as Russia eyes a greater nuclear foothold in the region. https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2024/01/what-does-sisi-putin-latest-nuclear-plant-deal-mean-egypt-russia

     

    Trump welcomes Egypt’s Sissi to White House in reversal of U.S. policy https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-welcomes-egypts-sissi-to-white-house-in-reversal-of-us-policy/2017/04/03/36b5e312-188b-11e7-bcc2-7d1a0973e7b2_story.html

     

    Sen. Bob Menendez guilty of taking bribes in cash and gold and acting as Egypt’s foreign agent https://apnews.com/article/menendez-bribery-trial-jury-deliberations-bab89b99a77fc6ce95531c88ab26cc4d

     


    This content originally appeared on Gaslit Nation and was authored by Andrea Chalupa.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Warnings of Nuclear Catastrophe as Power Plants in Russia and Ukraine at Risk Amid Escalating War


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The End of the World

    I remember the day World War II ended. I was five. Our tiny apartment was filled with adults in various stages of euphoria, and inebriation. My one-month-old brother slept through it all in a basket on the kitchen sink.

    My Uncle Jack was there on leave from the Coast Guard, which, during the war, escorted Navy ships carrying our troops, munitions, and supplies to Europe, protecting them from U-boat attacks. Jack was my hero. Each time he came back, there were gifts for my mother and for me. I still have the Turkish leather trinket box with the harem girl figure on the top.

    The room was so small that we kids were sent outside. We felt the excitement and played as hard as our parents partied, long into the night, eventually finding our way back to our beds when we had nothing left. Several times we would hear one of the adults shout, “Never again!”

    My memory of the Korean conflict relies mainly on my prayers for Nickie, my schoolgirl crush, the son of the butcher who owned the neighborhood grocery store. He came back a different person. As did my neighbor, Tony, who I did not recognize at first because his face had been completely transformed by plastic surgery.

    During this conflict, schools held drives to help the war effort, although because of the post-war industrial boom, they were not as necessary as they had been for WWII. But we kids collected wire coat hangers and aluminum foil peeled from gum wrappers for the cause.

    My understanding of war came from these men and women who had served and the images captured by Pathé News that were shown between the feature film and cartoons at the Saturday matinee. I wonder if today’s kids even think about war, or they too distracted by the trivia created to keep them from serious thought.

    I remember the 60s, from moving back to the States from Puerto Rico just before the Cuban Missile Crisis, through the war protests and Chicago convention riots. Actual journalists covered it all. We were outraged. But where is the outrage now?

    And now the book report. I recently read Nuclear War: A Scenario, by Annie Jacobsen. Jacobsen draws on interviews with various military leaders and scientists to describe a scenario in which we come to the brink and beyond. Mistakes are made, leaders misspeak, communications are misinterpreted. The insanity of power and testosterone are in full force. Buttons are pushed, and Jacobsen fully lays out the steps that would occur as this doomsday action is set in motion. She documents the failures of our defenses, from ineffective warning systems to outdated equipment. So many things can go wrong, and would.

    One of the most startling themes of the book is how if the United States were to retaliate in kind by an attack from another, in her example North Korea, another country, in her example Russia, could detect missiles over the Arctic Circle as being directed at them, leading to exchanges between the United States and both countries.

    Nearly seventy times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Jacobsen lays out a picture of the destruction a one megaton bomb would cause, including how many would die instantly, and the effects at various distances from the bomb site. She writes of the nuclear winter that would destroy the ozone layer and life on earth itself, of the almost nil chance of survival anywhere on the planet, and the pain and suffering of those few who managed to hang on for a short time. As Nikita Khrushchev once noted, following nuclear war, “the living would envy the dead.” Nuclear War is a well-researched and frightening read.

    We need new goals similar to the anthems of the 60s, of Peace and Love. All the petty bickering of the day over issues that in the end make no real difference in our lives must be kicked to the curb. We need to get off our phones and stand in the town square, gathering our communities together to force real change that will make the future better for all children and families, across the globe, and to ensure that there is a future.

    This book should be required reading for politicians, policymakers and media who control and report on the fate of our planet and the human race. We may only have one chance to get this right.

    The post The End of the World first appeared on Dissident Voice.


    This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Sheila Velazquez.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • How US Nuclear Testing Continues to Haunt the Marshall Islands


    This content originally appeared on VICE News and was authored by VICE News.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Small modular reactors unlikely to help Australia hit net zero by 2050

    Australia’s clean energy transition is already underway, driven by solar, wind, batteries and new transmission lines. But what about nuclear? Opposition leader Peter Dutton last month committed to building nuclear reactors on the site of retired coal plants – triggering intense debate over whether this older low-carbon power source is viable in Australia due to…

    The post Small modular reactors unlikely to help Australia hit net zero by 2050 appeared first on InnovationAus.com.

    This post was originally published on InnovationAus.com.

  • An election referendum on energy goes nuclear

    Who are we? Where are we going? And can we keep the lights on and the carbon emissions down as we kick and scream all the way there? These are the big questions for our nation in a world trying to come to terms with the costs, complexities, facts and counter-facts of the green energy…

    The post An election referendum on energy goes nuclear appeared first on InnovationAus.com.

    This post was originally published on InnovationAus.com.

  • North Korea estimated to possess ‘up to 50 nuclear weapons’: think tank

    North Korea may have assembled up to 50 nuclear weapons, a significant increase over the past year, and could produce more, says a Swedish think tank.

    “North Korea’s military nuclear programme remains central to its national security strategy,” said the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, in its Yearbook 2024 Armaments, Disarmament and International Security.

    “North Korea has produced plutonium for use in nuclear weapons but is believed to be producing HEU [highly enriched uranium] for nuclear weapons as well,” it added.

    Last year, the institute estimated that North Korea had up to 30 nuclear weapons. 

    North Korea has tested a nuclear device six times since 2006 and says its missiles are capable of striking anywhere in the world. 

    The think tank said the number of nuclear warheads in the world stood at 12,121 as of January, down from 12,512 a year earlier.

    The SIPRI classifies nine countries as nuclear powers: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel.

    Of these, the United States and Russia possess about 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons.

    Globally during 2023, 14 United Nations arms embargoes and 22 European Union arms embargoes aimed at limiting the spread of weapons were in force.

    But the efficacy of U.N. arms embargoes has been under strain in 2023 amid widespread allegations that Russia procured weapons from North Korea and the continued ineffectiveness of an embargo on Libya, according to the think tank.

    Outside armed conflict, there was a shift towards greater use of cyber capabilities for longer-term intelligence gathering and away from large-scale or one-off operations, said SIPRI.

    Some middle-power states, including Iran and North Korea, increased the sophistication of their cyber-espionage techniques and operations in 2023, it added. 

    Edited by RFA Staff.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • US and China spar over nuclear weapons build-up

    Beijing and Washington have accused each other of propelling a new nuclear arms build-up, with an American official on Friday suggesting a possible increase in the U.S. stockpile may be needed in response to the rapidly growing arsenal of China, Russia and North Korea.

    Speaking to a meeting of the Arms Control Association in Washington on Friday, Pranay Vaddi, the top arms control official on the White House National Security Council, said the U.S. rivals were “expanding and diversifying their nuclear arsenals at a breakneck pace.”

    “We may reach a point in the coming years where an increase from current deployed numbers is required,” Vaddi said, adding that efforts to engage in arms-control talks had been repeatedly rebuffed.

    ENG_CHN_NUCLEAR_06102024.2.jpg
    A video screenshot shows Pranay Vaddi speaking at the 2024 Annual Meeting of Arms Control Association June 7, 2024 in Washington. (Arms Control Association via Youtube)

    In a response in Russian state media on Saturday, an unnamed Chinese diplomat accused the United States of hypocrisy, noting that Washington “sits on the largest and most advanced nuclear arsenal in the world” and has refused to put conditions on the use of its arms.

    “The U.S. should stop undermining the international nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation regime, reduce the role of nuclear weapons in national and collective security policies and act responsibly for the welfare of the world,” the official said.

    Treaty failure

    The war of words comes amid the deterioration in a system of treaties aimed at non-proliferation that began at the height of the Cold War.

    In February 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin withdrew from the 2010 New START treaty, which had restricted the two countries to only 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads. Since then, Moscow has repeatedly threatened nuclear war with the West over Ukraine.

    ENG_CHN_NUCLEAR_06102024.3.jpg
    Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman and the head of the United Russia party Dmitry Medvedev, right, looks at drones during a visit to the Pesochnensky training ground in the Leningrad Region near Sertolovo, Russia, Monday, May 27, 2024. (Ekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik Pool Photo via AP)

    China, meanwhile, has been busily stockpiling its own nuclear arsenal, even though it has publicly disavowed the use of its weapons in a “first use” capacity. Not subjected to any non-proliferation treaties, Beijing has reportedly doubled the supply of its warheads in recent years.

    A 2022 report from the Pentagon said China’s People’s Liberation Army is on track to have 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035.

    In the background, though, Beijing has been pushing the world’s nuclear states to sign-on to a multilateral treaty codifying its pledge never to use a nuclear weapon without being attacked by one first.

    Edited by Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Alex Willemyns for RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Does GenCost match-fix Australia’s energy transition?

    What are we to make of the increasing volume and intensity of competing ‘facts’ about Australia’s green energy transition, how to achieve it and at what cost?

    I mean, other than the reality that political narrative and ideology too easily trumps engineering and economic rigour in the age of Net Zero targets and mandates.

    Take for instance, the brouhaha and many troubling questions surrounding the latest GenCost report, a piece of work jointly authored by the national science agency, the CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

    Produced annually since 2018, GenCost is the ‘go to’ modelling and analysis of the scope and costs of building future electricity generation, storage and hydrogen production in Australia. It compares the cost to build new coal, gas, solar, onshore wind, offshore wind and batteries.

    The post Does GenCost match-fix Australia’s energy transition? appeared first on InnovationAus.com.

    This post was originally published on InnovationAus.com.

  • Nuclear power: Realistic policy option or distraction?

    One of the certainties about politics is that the government should ‘control the narrative’. After all, it is the government that can make decisions of consequence; it can legislate, it can tax, and it can subsidise. Successful oppositions are those that can seize control of the narrative. Tony Abbott was the absolute master of it,…

    The post Nuclear power: Realistic policy option or distraction? appeared first on InnovationAus.com.

    This post was originally published on InnovationAus.com.

  • [Sarah Scoles] The Future of Nuclear Weapons

    The award-winning Oppenheimer film has brought attention to the origins of the atomic bomb and the anguish of its inventor. Almost 80 years after that first explosion in New Mexico, the threat of global Armageddon not only remains but has increased. Until and unless nuclear weapons are abolished, humankind will always be in danger of massive death and destruction. Yet instead of moving toward abolition, the U. S. is upgrading its arsenal. The Doomsday Clock is ticking. Sooner or later, intentionally or unintentionally, terminal war will destroy the planet. The only way to prevent that from happening is to eliminate all nuclear weapons. As long as they exist, humanity hangs by a thread.


    This content originally appeared on AlternativeRadio and was authored by info@alternativeradio.org.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • ‘The time for fairytales is over’: Net Zero’s nuclear option

    Ask anyone what drives civilisational progress and typically the answer that comes back is science and technology. It’s generally true. But technology is a second order effect of energy. Technological invention, commercialisation, industrialisation, and consumer use are the processes that puts energy to work for societies. Since the industrial revolution, it is the abundant and…

    The post ‘The time for fairytales is over’: Net Zero’s nuclear option appeared first on InnovationAus.com.

    This post was originally published on InnovationAus.com.

  • Ukraine Denies Involvement In Attack On Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • US committed to Australia nuclear subs deal, diplomat says

    The United States will find a way to provide the nuclear-powered submarines promised to Australia as part of the AUKUS security pact despite the massive backlogs plaguing American shipbuilding yards, Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said Wednesday.

    Campbell, who recently departed a role as President Joe Biden’s “Asia czar” to become the second-most senior U.S. diplomat, said it was “fair to say” American submarine production is hampered, but added that there was already a “substantial focus” on the issue at the Pentagon.

    Supply-chain issues have hamstrung production at American shipyards, but the billions of dollars of investments made by Canberra in the shipbuilding industry was helping fix that, he explained.

    “As is always the case, more money helps,” Campbell said at an event at the Center for a New American Security held to mark a year since the AUKUS submarine deal was unveiled. “AUKUS, in many respects, is a game changer. It is basically finding the way forward.” 

    ENG_CHN_AUKUS_04032024.2.JPG
    National Security Council Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell listens during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to examine his nomination to be Deputy Secretary of State on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, in Washington. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP)

    Campbell acknowledged the injection of Australian funds – though “very generous” – would not be enough on its own, and that “new investments” and “new capabilities” would be needed “to increase our ability both to service and also produce submarines.”

    “Backlogs and bottlenecks have plagued a number of programs,” he said. “There is a very serious endeavor underway to see what steps can be taken to not only to assist a program like AUKUS but, frankly, certain munitions which are central to American military purpose.”

    Australia has earmarked a total of AU$368 billion, or about US$245 billion, over the next 30 years as part of the AUKUS pact, which is aimed at countering China’s expansionism in the Indo-Pacific.

    AUKUS pact

    Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States unveiled the deal in March last year for the latter two nations to arm Australia with nuclear submarines over the coming decades under AUKUS.

    As part of that, the United States committed to selling between three and five Virginia-class nuclear submarines, which use conventional weapons, to Canberra over the next decade in exchange for some US$3 billion of Australian investment in American shipyards.

    But concerns have emerged in Australia that the United States may not be able to provide the submarines due to backlogs. Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers, such as Sen. Bill Hagerty, a Republican from Tennessee, have pondered if the United States has submarines to spare.

    ENG_CHN_AUKUS_04032024.3.JPG
    Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, right, meets with US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese, left, at Point Loma naval base in San Diego, March 13, 2023, as part of Aukus, a trilateral security pact between Australia, the UK, and the US. (Stefan Rousseau/AP)

    A U.S. defense spending bill signed last month also cut funding for production of a Virginia-class sub, with Rep. Joe Courtney, a Democrat from Connecticut who co-chairs the AUKUS Working Group, saying the move could undercut plans to provide submarines to Australia.

    “One of the big questions with AUKUS was: Will it provide enough submarines to keep the US fleet at an adequate level and will it produce enough submarines to satisfy the three boats that we agreed to sell?” the lawmaker told Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald.

    Australian and U.S. officials, though, have maintained the submarines will be provided by the early 2030s, by which time Australia expects to begin producing its own submarines with British help.

    Multilateralism

    During Wednesday’s event, Campbell also flagged the possibility of Japan and the Philippines joining AUKUS in some capacity, with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. visiting the White House on April 11.

    “It is true that there are other countries that have expressed an interest to participate, under the right circumstances,” he said. “I think you’ll hear that we have something to say about that next week.”

    The No. 2 American diplomat said it was all part of a push by the United States to shift its Indo-Pacific alliances in a more multilateral direction, and away from a series of bilateral relationships.

    “It used to be that we had this ‘hub and spoke’ set of relationships between the United States and allies and partners,” Campbell said. “Now we’re creating … a ‘lattice-fence’ arrangement, with lots of intertwined overlapping interlocking engagements.”

    Edited by Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Alex Willemyns for RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The World’s First Cyber Weapon Attack on a Nuclear Plant


    This content originally appeared on VICE News and was authored by VICE News.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • America, Stop Trying to Make Nuclear Power Happen. It’s Not Going to Happen.

    Ralph is joined by Tim Judson from the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (N.I.R.S.) to discuss the growing support for nuclear power in Congress, and the persistent myths that fuel nuclear advocates’ false hopes for a nuclear future. Then, Ralph pays tribute to Boeing whistleblower John Barnett, who died unexpectedly this week in the middle of giving his deposition for a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit against Boeing. Plus, Ralph answers some of your audience feedback from last week’s interview with Barbara McQuade. 

    Tim Judson is Executive Director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (N.I.R.S.). Mr. Judson leads N.I.R.S.’ work on nuclear reactor and climate change issues, and has written a series of reports on nuclear bailouts and sustainable energy. He is Chair of the Board of Citizens Awareness Network, one of the lead organizations in the successful campaign to close the Vermont Yankee reactor, and co-founder of Alliance for a Green Economy in New York.

    Listeners should know that this very complex system called the nuclear fuel cycle—that starts with uranium mines out west piling up radioactive tailings, which have exposed people downwind to radioactive hazards…And then they have to enrich the uranium—and that is often done by burning coal, which pollutes the air and contributes to climate disruption. And then they have to fabricate the fuel rods and build the nuclear plants. And then they have to make sure that these nuclear plants are secure against sabotage. And then you have the problem of transporting—by trucks or rail—radioactive waste to some depositories that don’t exist. And they have to go through towns, cities, and villages. And what is all this for? It’s to boil water. 

    Ralph Nader

    In 2021 and 2022, when the big infrastructure bills— the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act—were being passed by Congress, the utility industry spent $192 million on federal lobbying in those two years. That’s more than the oil industry spent in those two years on lobbying. These are the utility companies that are present in every community around the country. And their business is actually less in selling electricity and natural gas, and more in lobbying state and federal governments to get their rates approved…The utility industry (and the nuclear industry as a subset of that) have been lobbying Congress relentlessly for years to protect what they’ve got.

    Tim Judson

    Fusion is one of these technologies that’s always been 30 years away. Whenever there’s an announcement about an advancement in fusion research, it’s still “going to be 30 years before we get a reactor going.” Now there’s a lot more hype, and these tech investors are putting money into fusion with the promise that they’re going to have a reactor online in a few years. But there’s no track record to suggest that that’s going to happen. It keeps the dream of nuclear alive— “We could have infinite amounts of clean energy for the future.” It sounds too good to be true. It’s always proven to be too good to be true.

    Tim Judson

    One of the lines that they’re using to promote theAtomic Energy Advancement Act and all of these investments in nuclear… is that we can’t let Russia and China be the ones that are expanding nuclear energy worldwide. It’s got to be the US that does it.

    Tim Judson

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 3/12/24

    1. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, has released a report claiming that “employees released into Gaza from Israeli detention [were] pressured by Israeli authorities into falsely stating that the agency has Hamas links and that staff took part in the October 7 attacks,” per the Times of Israel. These supposed admissions of guilt led to the United States and many European countries cutting off or delaying aid to the agency. The unpublished report alleges that UNRWA staffers were “detained by the Israeli army, and…experienced…severe physical beatings, waterboarding, and threats of harm to family members.” The report goes on to say “In addition to the alleged abuse endured by UNRWA staff members, Palestinian detainees more broadly described allegations of abuse, including beatings, humiliation, threats, dog attacks, sexual violence, and deaths of detainees denied medical treatment.”

    2. Continuing the genocidal assault on Gaza, Israel has been bombing the densely populated city of Rafah in the South. Domestically, this seems to be too far for even Biden’s closest allies, with the AP reporting just before the assault that “[Senator Chris] Coons…of Delaware, called for the U.S. to cut military aid to Israel if Netanyahu goes ahead with a threatened offensive on the southern city of Rafah without significant provisions to protect the more than 1 million civilians sheltering there. [And Senator] Jack Reed, head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, appealed to Biden to deploy the U.S. Navy to get humanitarian aid to Gaza. Biden ally Sen. Tim Kaine challenged the U.S. strikes on the Houthis as unlikely to stop the Red Sea attacks. And the most senior Democrat in the Senate [Patty Murray of Washington] called for Israel to ‘change course.’” Hewing to these voices within his party, President Biden declared that an invasion of Rafah would be a “red line.” Yet POLTICO reports that Israeli PM Netanyahu “says he intends to press ahead with an invasion.” POLTICO now reports that Biden is threatening to condition military aid to Israel in response to Netanyahu’s defiance, but it remains to be seen whether the president will follow through on this threat.

    3. POLITICO also reports that CIA Director Bill Burns is calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying “The reality is that there are children who are starving…They’re malnourished as a result of the fact that humanitarian assistance can’t get to them. It’s very difficult to distribute humanitarian assistance effectively unless you have a ceasefire.” This is obviously correct, and illustrates how out of touch the Democratic Party is that they are getting outflanked on peace issues by the literal director of the CIA.

    4. Whether unwilling – or unable – to change course on Gaza, President Biden is paying the electoral price. In last week’s Super Tuesday primaries, the Nation reports “Uncommitted” won 19 percent of the vote and 11 delegates in Minnesota, 29 percent and seven delegates in Hawaii, and 12.7 percent in North Carolina. This week, the New York Times reports Uncommitted took 7.5% – nearly 50,000 votes – in Washington State. Biden also lost the caucus in American Samoa, making him the first incumbent president since Carter to lose a nominating contest, per Newsweek.

    5. In yet another manifestation of opposition to the genocide in Gaza, Jewish director Jonathan Glazer used his Oscar acceptance speech to “[denounce] the bloodshed in the Middle East and [ask] the audience to consider how it could ‘resist…dehumanization,’” per NBC. Glazer’s award winning film “The Zone of Interest” examines how “[a] Nazi commandant…and his family…attempt to build an idyllic life right outside the walls of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland during the Holocaust.” Glazer said “All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present — not to say, ‘Look what we did then,’ rather, ‘Look what we do now.’ Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst…Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation, which has led to conflict for so many people.” Glazer was the most forthright in his criticism of the Israeli campaign, but NBC notes “Billie Eilish, Mark Ruffalo and Ramy Youssef wore red pins on the Oscars red carpet symbolizing calls for a cease-fire.”

    6. Aware that they are losing the public relations battle, pro-Israel lobbying groups like the UJA-Federation and the Jewish Community Relations Council have enlisted Right-wing messaging guru Frank Luntz to help with their Hasbara PR, the Grayzone reports. Leaked talking points from his presentation run the gamut from playing up unsubstantiated claims of systematic sexual violence committed by Hamas to acknowledging that “’The most potent’ tactic in mobilizing opposition to Israel’s assault…‘is the visual destruction of Gaza and the human toll’… [because] ‘It ‘looks like a genocide’.”

    7. Turning from Palestine to East Palestine, Ohio Cleveland.com reports that during a recent Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing, National Transportation Safety Board  Chair Jennifer L. Homendy told Ohio’s junior Senator JD Vance that “The deliberate burn of rail cars carrying hazardous chemicals after last year’s crash…wasn’t needed to avoid an explosion because the rail cars were cooling off before they were set on fire.” In a statement, Ohio’s senior Senator, progressive Democrat Sherrod Brown, called the testimony “outrageous,” and said “This explosion – which devastated so many – was unnecessary…The people of East Palestine are still living with the consequences of this toxic burn. This is more proof that Norfolk Southern put profits over safety & cannot be trusted.”

    8. In positive labor news, Bloomberg reports that “About 600 video game testers at Microsoft…’s Activision Blizzard studios have unionized, more than doubling the size of labor’s foothold at the software giant, according to the Communications Workers of America.” This brings the unionized workforce at Microsoft to approximately 1,000. To the company’s credit, Microsoft has been friendly towards unionization, a marked difference from other technology companies – namely Amazon and Tesla – which have gone to extreme lengths to prevent worker organizing.

    9. In not so positive labor news, Matt Bruenig’s NLRB Edge reports “The ACLU Is Trying to Destroy the Biden NLRB.” In a narrow sense, this story is about the ACLU fighting its workers to preserve its internal mandatory arbitration process. More broadly however, Bruenig illustrates how the ACLU is seeking to oust Biden’s NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo – arguing her appointment was unconstitutional – which “could potentially invalidate everything the Biden Board has done.” This is yet another example of the non-profit industrial complex run amok, doing damage to progressive values and opting to possibly inflict economic harm on workers nationwide rather than treat their own workers fairly.

    10. Finally, according to the Corporate Crime Reporter, “Boeing whistleblower John Barnett was found dead in his truck at a hotel in Charleston, South Carolina after a break in depositions in a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit.” Barnett’s lawyer Brian Knowles told the paper “They found him in his truck dead from an ‘alleged’ self-inflicted gunshot.” Barnett had gone on record saying “[Boeing] started pressuring us to not document defects, to work outside the procedures, to allow defective material to be installed without being corrected. They started bypassing procedures and not maintaining configurement control of airplanes, not maintaining control of non conforming parts –  they just wanted to get the planes pushed out the door and make the cash register ring.” The timing and circumstances of Barnett’s death raise disturbing questions; we hope an exhaustive investigation turns up some answers.

    This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard.



    Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Pacific wants open discussion on AUKUS to keep region ‘nuclear free’

    By Eleisha Foon, RNZ Pacific journalist

    Keeping the Pacific nuclear-free, in line with the Rarotonga Treaty, was a recurring theme from the leaders of Tonga, Cook Islands and Samoa to New Zealand last week.

    The New Zealand government’s Pacific mission wrapped up on Saturday with the final leg in Samoa.

    Over the course of the trip, defence and security in the region was discussed with the leaders of the three Polynesian nations.

    In Apia, Samoan Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa addressed regional concerns about AUKUS.

    New Zealand is considering joining pillar two of the agreement, a non-nuclear option, but critics have said this could be seen as Aotearoa rubber stamping Australia acquiring nuclear-powered submarines.

    “We would hope that both administrations will ensure that the provisions under the maritime treaty are taken into consideration with these new arrangements,” Fiamē said.

    New Zealand’s previous Labour government was more cautious in its approach to joining AUKUS because it said pillar two had not been clearly defined, but the coalition government is looking to take action.

    Nuclear weapons opposed
    Prime Minister Fiamē said she did not want the Pacific to become a region affected by more nuclear weapons.

    She said the impact of nuclear weapons in the Pacific was still ongoing, especially in the North Pacific with the Marshall Islands, and a semblance of it still in the south with Tahiti.

    She said it was crucial to “present that voice in these international arrangements”.

    “We don’t want the Pacific to be seen as an area that people will take licence of nuclear arrangements.”

    The Treaty of Rarotonga prohibits signatories — which include Australia and New Zealand — from placing nuclear weapons within the South Pacific.

    Mark Brown, left, and Winston Peters in Rarotonga. 8 February 2024
    Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown (left) and Winston Peters in Rarotonga last week. Image: RNZ Pacific/Eleisha Foon

    Cook Island’s Prime Minister Mark Brown said Pacific leaders were in agreement over security.

    “I think our stance mirrors that of all the Pacific Island countries. We want to keep the Pacific region nuclear weapons free, nuclear free and that hasn’t changed.”

    Timely move
    Reflecting on discussions during the Pacific Islands Forum in 2023, he said: “A review and revisit of the Rarotonga Treaty should take place with our partners such as New Zealand, Australia and others on these matters.”

    “It’s timely that we have them now moving forward,” he said.

    Last year, Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka proposed a Pacific peace zone which was discussed during the Forum leaders’ meeting in Rarotonga.

    This year, Tonga will be hosting the forum and matters of security and defence involving AUKUS are expected to be a key part of the agenda.

    Tongan Acting Prime Minister Samiu Vaipulu acknowledged New Zealand’s sovereignty and said dialogue was the way forward.

    “We do not interfere with what other countries do as it is their sovereignty. A talanoa process is best,” Vaipulu said.

    New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Health and Pacific People Minister Dr Shane Reti reiterated that they cared and had listened to the needs outlined by the Pacific leaders.

    They said New Zealand would deliver on funding promises to support improvements in the areas of health, education and security of the region.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    Winston Peters and Tonga's Acting PM Samiuela Vaipulu. 7 February 2024
    Winston Peters and Tongan Acting Prime Minister Samiuela Vaipulu in Nuku’alofa last week. Image: RNZ Pacific/Eleisha Foon


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kim Jong Un boosts underwater nuclear threat, urges fast submarine build

    North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has overseen the test-firing of submarine-launched cruise missiles and ordered officials to expedite the North’s nuclear submarine development, state media reported on Monday.  

    “In the morning of January 28, Kim Jong Un guided the test-fire of the newly-developed submarine-launched strategic cruise missile ‘Pulhwasal-3-31’,” said the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.

    South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff announced Sunday that it detected North Korea launching several cruise missiles around 8 a.m., near Sinpo, where the North’s submarine facilities are located.

    Submarine-launched weapons can be deployed covertly, often evading detection systems, potentially offering Pyongyang a more elusive means of deploying its nuclear weapons.

    “Nuclear weaponization of the navy is an urgent task of the times and a core requirement for building the state nuclear strategic force,” said Kim Jong Un, cited by KCNA.

    Kim “set forth the important tasks arising in realizing the nuclear weaponization of the navy and expanding the sphere of operation of the state nuclear deterrence in a diversified way,” KCNA added.

    The North Korean leader also defended the country’s ongoing nuclear development, claiming: “The prevailing situation and future threats urge the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] to put more spurs to the efforts for defending maritime sovereignty.” 

    Kim then called for “immediate tasks” and “state measures” to be executed by relevant sectors and officials to accelerate his country’s nuclear submarine manufacturing.

    Although North Korea has yet to possess submarines capable of operating in the blue sea, or deep ocean, recent efforts may dramatically increase the level of nuclear threat to South Korea and Japan due to their geographical proximity.

    North Korea has recently put a particular emphasis on boosting its naval capabilities. Earlier this month, North Korea claimed that it had carried out a test of the “Haeil-5-23,” its underwater nuclear system involving drones to face “threats” posed by allies.

    South Korea, however, had dismissed Pyongyang’s claim.

    “There is a possibility that North Korea’s claims may have been exaggerated and fabricated, based on our comprehensive analysis up until today,” South Korea’s Presidential Office said in a statement last week.

    Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Lee Jeong-Ho for RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Microsoft has not ruled out the nuclear option for data centres

    Microsoft is considering using small nuclear reactors and microreactors to power its data centres as the company looks to shore up clean energy supply in response to growing demand for AI services, an Australia-based spokesperson has explained. At the end of September, Microsoft published a job ad on its corporate careers web page for a…

    The post Microsoft has not ruled out the nuclear option for data centres appeared first on InnovationAus.com.

    This post was originally published on InnovationAus.com.

  • Koreas trade barbs at UN as the North threatens nuclear war

    The two Koreas traded barbs at the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, with the North threatening a potential nuclear catastrophe in the Korean Peninsula and the South asserting that its military exercises with the U.S. will continue to take place.   

    North Korea’s ambassador to the U.N., Kim Song, initiated the verbal attack as he declared that the Korean Peninsula is at an imminent risk of nuclear war. The ambassador vowed to further amplify his country’s self-defense capabilities in light of what he described as an escalation of reckless military adventurism of “hostile forces.” 

    “The DPRK is urgently required to further speed up the advancing of its self-defense capabilities to defend itself impregnably,” the North Korean diplomat said, referring to the North’s formal name. “The more the reckless military moves and provocations of the hostile forces are intensified threatening the sovereignty and security interests of our state, the more our endeavors to enhance national defense capabilities would increase in direct proportion.” 

    Kim Song described the Korean Peninsula as being in “a state of imminent danger of nuclear war at any moment,” arguing that the U.S. and its “colony” South Korea were solely responsible for the escalation of the regional tension. The ambassador also lambasted the U.S.- South Korea-Japan security cooperation, which he equated  with an Asian version of NATO that has ushered in a “new Cold War” in Northeast Asia. 

    Kim Song’s attack incited a strong and immediate rebuttal from the South Korean Deputy Permanent Representative to the U.N., Kim Sang-jin, who dismissed the North’s assertions as “illogical.” 

    “North Korea is the only country to conduct a nuclear test in the 21st century, and it has been also escalating tensions by testing an intercontinental ballistic missile [ICBM] this year,” the South Korean representative said. “Does anyone find credibility in North Korea’s accusations that South Korea, a fully democratized, economically prosperous nation adhering to the rule of law, is attempting to start a nuclear war in collusion with the United States?”

    AP23236003228480.jpg
    U.S. soldiers from 2nd Infantry Division, participate in a UFS/TIGER Combined Urban Operations plan as part of Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, Aug. 23, 2023 on Paju in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Credit: EPA via AP, Pool

    The South Korean diplomat also defended his country’s military exercises with the U.S., suggesting that they will continue to take place, regardless of Pyongyang’s protest. “The joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea are long-standing and are conducted with defensive intentions.” 

    The U.S. and South Korea initiated their three-day joint naval exercises in the waters that divide the Koreas and Japan on Monday, encompassing anti-submarine warfare and naval firing drills.

    The exercise is to bolster joint operational capabilities and interoperability amid the rising nuclear and missile threats emanating from North Korea, according to a South Korea Navy statement. The threats have been accentuated by North Korea’s recent launch of a purported space launch vehicle and the introduction of a new submarine.

    North Korea labels such joint drills as “invasion practices,” viewing it as a significant threat to its regime’s security.

    Edited by Elaine Chan and Mike Firn.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Lee Jeong-Ho for RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Koreas trade barbs at UN as the North threatens nuclear war

    The two Koreas traded barbs at the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, with the North threatening a potential nuclear catastrophe in the Korean Peninsula and the South asserting that its military exercises with the U.S. will continue to take place.   

    North Korea’s ambassador to the U.N., Kim Song, initiated the verbal attack as he declared that the Korean Peninsula is at an imminent risk of nuclear war. The ambassador vowed to further amplify his country’s self-defense capabilities in light of what he described as an escalation of reckless military adventurism of “hostile forces.” 

    “The DPRK is urgently required to further speed up the advancing of its self-defense capabilities to defend itself impregnably,” the North Korean diplomat said, referring to the North’s formal name. “The more the reckless military moves and provocations of the hostile forces are intensified threatening the sovereignty and security interests of our state, the more our endeavors to enhance national defense capabilities would increase in direct proportion.” 

    Kim Song described the Korean Peninsula as being in “a state of imminent danger of nuclear war at any moment,” arguing that the U.S. and its “colony” South Korea were solely responsible for the escalation of the regional tension. The ambassador also lambasted the U.S.- South Korea-Japan security cooperation, which he equated  with an Asian version of NATO that has ushered in a “new Cold War” in Northeast Asia. 

    Kim Song’s attack incited a strong and immediate rebuttal from the South Korean Deputy Permanent Representative to the U.N., Kim Sang-jin, who dismissed the North’s assertions as “illogical.” 

    “North Korea is the only country to conduct a nuclear test in the 21st century, and it has been also escalating tensions by testing an intercontinental ballistic missile [ICBM] this year,” the South Korean representative said. “Does anyone find credibility in North Korea’s accusations that South Korea, a fully democratized, economically prosperous nation adhering to the rule of law, is attempting to start a nuclear war in collusion with the United States?”

    AP23236003228480.jpg
    U.S. soldiers from 2nd Infantry Division, participate in a UFS/TIGER Combined Urban Operations plan as part of Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, Aug. 23, 2023 on Paju in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Credit: EPA via AP, Pool

    The South Korean diplomat also defended his country’s military exercises with the U.S., suggesting that they will continue to take place, regardless of Pyongyang’s protest. “The joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea are long-standing and are conducted with defensive intentions.” 

    The U.S. and South Korea initiated their three-day joint naval exercises in the waters that divide the Koreas and Japan on Monday, encompassing anti-submarine warfare and naval firing drills.

    The exercise is to bolster joint operational capabilities and interoperability amid the rising nuclear and missile threats emanating from North Korea, according to a South Korea Navy statement. The threats have been accentuated by North Korea’s recent launch of a purported space launch vehicle and the introduction of a new submarine.

    North Korea labels such joint drills as “invasion practices,” viewing it as a significant threat to its regime’s security.

    Edited by Elaine Chan and Mike Firn.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Lee Jeong-Ho for RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Abolition and the Nuclear Age

    September 6, 2023

    by Ray Acheson – Joshua Frank – Janene Yazzie

    Speakers
    Ray Acheson, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, author of Abolishing State Violence: A World Beyond Bombs, Borders, and Cages (Haymarket Books).

    Joshua Frank is an editor at CounterPunch, and author of Atomic Days: The Untold Story of the Most Toxic Place in America (Haymarket Books).

    Janene Yazzie (Diné), is the SW Regional Director for the NDN Collective, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation.

    This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ray Acheson – Joshua Frank – Janene Yazzie.

  • The False Promise of Small Nuclear Reactors

    Ralph is joined by M.V. Ramana, professor at the “School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia,” to lay out the false promise of small nuclear reactors, which still carry the risk of accidents, still produce waste, still produce plutonium for the weapons industry and are still economically noncompetitive with wind and solar. Plus, in an interview recorded before the tragic wildfires in Maui we welcome back citizen activist and organizer, Paul Deslauriers, to break down how his progressive group was able to take over the governance of Maui County and how with a little “Common Sense” you can do the same.

    M.V. Ramana is the Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security and a professor at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia. Professor Ramana is the author of The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India, and is a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials, the International Nuclear Risk Assessment Group, and the team that produces the annual World Nuclear Industry Status Report.

    It seems inconceivable to me that anybody who has any sense of history would think about nuclear power— either the fission version or the hypothetical future nuclear fusion version— as an environmentally sustainable source of electricity.

    Professor MV Ramana

    What we are lacking in climate change today—simply because we’ve been so late in trying to act on it—is the urgency. The IPCC puts out report after report saying how high emissions are, how rapidly it has to be decreased if we have even a fighting chance of meeting a 1.5℃ target. And by putting off this kind of action, those calls are becoming more and more desperate. And I think that desperation is probably what’s driving some of these groups to say, “Well, you know, let’s make friends with everybody, and so on, and so forth.” But the challenge there is that every dollar we spend on nuclear power is a dollar that’s not spent on renewables, on energy efficiency, on other ways of trying to deal with [the climate crisis.]

    Professor MV Ramana

    As I’ve said on prior programs— nuclear power today is unneeded, unsafe, uninsurable, uncompetitive, irresponsible, very secretive, and not willing to suffer the verdicts of the marketplace.

    Ralph Nader

    Paul Deslauriers is a grassroots organizer, who has consulted over two hundred organizations involving mergers, restructuring, work process flows, teamwork, management coaching, and asset management. The work involved diverse groups such as the Alaskan Inuit, Icelandic communities. In 2002 Mr. Deslauriers became a full-time activist, coordinating nearly three hundred grassroots groups focused on government system change. He has written a number of guidebooks on organizing including Seven Steps to Reclaim Democracy: An Empowering Guide For Systemic Change, Reclaim Paradise: RESET for the Common Good, and Common Sense: How we are Reclaiming Democracy and Resetting for the Common Good.

    When you have a core team that is really dedicated in trying to bring about systemic change, and you have the foundation that you need, then you can really develop and grow this without a lot of divisiveness.

    Paul Deslauriers

    When you have volunteers, you have to have the right motivation, the right structure, the right training so that you can work cohesively and collaboratively together. And that’s so crucial for anyone who wants to start a similar group.

    Paul Deslauriers



    Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Oppenheimer’s warning lives on: global laws, treaties fail to stop new arms race

    ANALYSIS: By Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato

    J. Robert Oppenheimer — the great nuclear physicist, “father of the atomic bomb”, and now subject of a blockbuster biopic — always despaired about the nuclear arms race triggered by his creation.

    So the approaching 78th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing invites us to ask how far we’ve come — or haven’t come — since his death in 1967.

    The Cold War represented all that Oppenheimer had feared. But at its end, then-US President George H.W. Bush spoke of a “peace dividend” that would see money saved from reduced defence budgets transferred into more socially productive enterprises.

    Long-term benefits and rises in gross domestic product could have been substantial, according to modelling by the International Monetary Fund, especially for developing nations.

    Given the cost of global sustainable development — currently estimated at US$5 trillion to $7 trillion annually — this made perfect sense.

    Unfortunately, that peace dividend is disappearing. The world is now spending at least $2.2 trillion annually on weapons and defence. Estimates are far from perfectly accurate, but it appears overall defence spending increased by 3.7 percent in real terms in 2022.

    J. Robert Oppenheimer
    J. Robert Oppenheimer . . . the approaching 78th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing invites us to ask how far we have come since his death in 1967. Image: Getty Images

    The US alone spent $877 billion on defence in 2022 — 39 percent of the world total. With Russia ($86.4 billion) and China ($292 billion), the top three spenders account for 56 percent of global defence spending.

    Military expenditure in Europe saw its steepest annual increase in at least 30 years. NATO countries and partners are all accelerating towards, or are already past, the 2 percent of GDP military spending target. The global arms bazaar is busier than ever.

    Aside from the opportunity cost represented by these alarming figures, weak international law in crucial areas means current military spending is largely immune to effective regulation.

    The new nuclear arms race
    Although the world’s nuclear powers agree “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”, there are still about 12,500 nuclear warheads on the planet. This number is growing, and the power of those bombs is infinitely greater than the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

    According to the United Nations’ disarmament chief, the risk of nuclear war is greater than at any time since the end of the Cold War. The nine nuclear-armed states (Britain, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel — as well as the big three) all appear to be modernising their arsenals.

    Several deployed new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapons systems in 2022.

    The US is upgrading its “triad” of ground, air and submarine launched nukes, while Russia is reportedly working on submarine delivery of “doomsday” nuclear torpedoes capable of causing destructive tidal waves.

    While Russia and the US possess about 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons, other countries are expanding quickly. China’s arsenal is projected to grow from 410 warheads in 2023 to maybe 1000 by the end of this decade.

    Only Russia and the US were subject to bilateral controls over the buildup of such weapons, but Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended the arrangement. Beyond the promise of non-proliferation, the other nuclear-armed countries are not subject to any other international controls, including relatively simple measures to prevent accidental nuclear war.

    Other nations — those with hostile, belligerent and nuclear-armed neighbours showing no signs of disarming — must increasingly wonder why they should continue to show restraint and not develop their own nuclear deterrent capacities.

    The threat of autonomous weaponry
    Meanwhile, other potential military threats are also emerging — arguably with even less scrutiny or regulation than the world’s nuclear arsenals. In particular, artificial intelligence (AI) is sounding alarm bells.

    AI is not without its benefits, but it also presents many risks when applied to weapons systems. There have been numerous warnings from developers about the unforeseeable consequences and potential existential threat posed by true digital intelligence. As the Centre for AI Safety put it:

    Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.

    More than 90 countries have called for a legally binding instrument to regulate AI technology, a position supported by the UN Secretary-General, the International Committee of the Red Cross and many non-governmental organisations.

    But despite at least a decade of negotiation and expert input, a treaty governing the development of “lethal autonomous weapons systems” remains elusive.

    Plagues and pathogens
    Similarly, there is a fundamental lack of regulation governing the growing number of laboratories capable of holding or making (accidentally or intentionally) harmful or fatal biological materials.

    There are 51 known biosafety level-4 (BSL-4) labs in 27 countries — double the number that existed a decade ago. Another 18 BSL-4 labs are due to open in the next few years.

    While these labs, and those at the next level down, generally maintain high safety standards, there is no mandatory obligation that they meet international standards or allow routine compliance inspections.

    Finally, there are fears the World Health Organisation’s new pandemic preparedness treaty, based on lessons from the COVID-19 disaster, is being watered down.

    As with every potential future threat, it seems, international law and regulation are left scrambling to catch up with the march of technology — to govern what Oppenheimer called “the relations between science and common sense”.The Conversation

    Dr Alexander Gillespie is professor of law, University of Waikato. . This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The Forever Dangers of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors

    If you didn’t know better, you’d think Lloyd Marbet was a dairy farmer or maybe a retired shop teacher. His beard is thick, soft, and gray, his hair pulled back in a small ponytail. In his mid-seventies, he still towers over nearly everyone. His handshake is firm, but there’s nothing menacing about him. He lumbers More

    The post The Forever Dangers of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors appeared first on CounterPunch.org.


    This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Joshua Frank.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The Forever Dangers of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors

    If you didn’t know better, you’d think Lloyd Marbet was a dairy farmer or maybe a retired shop teacher. His beard is thick, soft, and gray, his hair pulled back in a small ponytail. In his mid-seventies, he still towers over nearly everyone. His handshake is firm, but there’s nothing menacing about him. He lumbers More

    The post The Forever Dangers of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors appeared first on CounterPunch.org.


    This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Joshua Frank.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Renewables still cheapest option as all energy tech costs jump

    Renewables remain the cheapest new source of electricity while nuclear power is forecast among the most expensive, as all energy sources face rising costs because of supply chain pressures. That is according to the CSIRO and Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) latest GenCost report, a document which drives policy decisions around the country. For years…

    The post Renewables still cheapest option as all energy tech costs jump appeared first on InnovationAus.com.

    This post was originally published on InnovationAus.com.

  • World ‘one miscalculation away’ from nuclear apocalypse, Indonesia warns

    The risk of nuclear arms being used is higher now than at “any time in recent history” with the world only “one miscalculation away from apocalypse,” Indonesia’s top diplomat warned Tuesday, calling on foreign powers to keep Southeast Asia safe from such weapons.

    At a meeting in Jakarta, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi urged nuclear-armed powers to sign a 30-year-old treaty that seeks to keep the region free of nukes. She issued her warning ahead of four days of ministerial-level meetings in Jakarta between member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

    The crisis in Myanmar meanwhile is expected to be among the main topics at the summit, which will also include talks with China, Russia and the United States later this week.

    “The risk of nuclear weapons use is higher today than at any time in recent history,” Retno said at Tuesday’s meeting of the Commission of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ). 

    “We keep hearing warnings about the possible use of nuclear weapons. We also see nuclear power remains part of some countries’ military doctrine, including in our region. We know fully well we cannot be truly safe with nuclear weapons in our region.”

    She added: “No weapon is more powerful and destructive than nuclear weapons. And with nuclear weapons we are only one miscalculation away from apocalypse and global catastrophe.”

    In 1995, all of ASEAN’s members signed the SEANWFZ Treaty, also known as the Bangkok Treaty, that committed to keeping the region free from nuclear weapons. The treaty prohibits its signatories from developing, manufacturing, possessing, testing or using them.

    But none of the world’s nuclear powers have signed the protocol, citing various objections over the scope and verification of the treaty. Some of them have also argued it infringes on their rights to transit and navigate in international waters due to its inclusion of continental shelves and exclusive economic zones.

    Combined, the nine nuclear-armed nations Russia, the U.S., Great Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea possess an estimated total of 13,000 nuclear weapons, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

    Earlier this year, the United States, Britain and Australia unveiled AUKUS, a trilateral defense agreement to enable Indonesia’s next-door neighbor, Australia, to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, as part of a U.S. doctrine that aims to contain China’s military expansionism, particularly in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

    The deal has stoked concerns among leaders in Southeast Asia about whether it could provoke a nuclear-arms race, but U.S. President Joe Biden has issued assurance that the submarines won’t be armed with nuclear missiles. 

    However, despite the warnings raised by Foreign Minister Retno, AUKUS was not officially part of Tuesday’s talks in Jakarta. 

    “There is no agenda on the submarines at the SEANWFZ meeting, and in the context of the latest developments in the region, the nuclear-powered submarines are not a nuclear weapon,” Sidharto Suryodipuro, director for ASEAN cooperation at Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, according to local media reports.

    B-52s in Indonesian skies

    Retno’s warning about nuclear weapons came weeks after U.S. Air Force B-52s took part with Indonesian fighter jets in joint exercises in Indonesia. The exercises were the first ever in Indonesian skies involving the strategic, eight-engine bombers that are capable of carrying nuclear weapons.   

    Under another military pact with Australia, Canberra has allowed the U.S. to deploy some of these giant planes at the Tindal Base in northern Australia.

    When asked this week whether Indonesia would consider a similar deal, a spokesman for the Indonesian military said Jakarta, because  of its traditional policy of non-alignment to any superpowers, would not permit the U.S. to station B-52s on its soil. 

    “As long as we are nonaligned, it is impossible [this will] happen,” military spokesman Rear Adm. Julius Widjojono told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

    “They were only here for the exercise, unlike their permanent position in Australia,” he said, referring to recent joint exercises with the B-52 bombers that were staged from the U.S. military base in Darwin, northern Australia.

    A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress assigned to the 23rd Bomb Squadron at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, takes off in support of a bilateral military training exercise at the Kualanamu International Airport in Medan, Indonesia, June 21, 2023. Credit:U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Zade Vadnais

    Radityo Dharmaputra, a lecturer in international relations at Airlangga University in Surabaya, said nuclear powers do not want to give up their ability to deter or intimidate their rivals in a strategically important and contested part of the world.

    “Nuclear weapons are a deterrence tool, which can make other countries refrain from doing something,” he told BenarNews.

    He said that each nuclear power has its own interests and stakes in Southeast Asia, especially amid the current rivalry over issues such as trade, human rights and territorial disputes.

    Human rights 

    Speaking separately at a meeting of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, Retno said the bloc must not waver in addressing human rights issues in the region, despite complexities on the ground and differences among its members.

    “ASEAN Human Rights Dialogue is a testament of ASEAN’s maturity to engage in frank and open dialogue without naming and shaming,” she said.

    “It is therefore important for it to be conducted regularly. We are therefore aiming for a Leaders’ Declaration on the ASEAN Human Rights Dialogue,” she said.

    ASEAN must unite in rejecting politicization of human rights and double standards while proving its ability to tackle issues within its own backyard, she said, without elaborating.

    One of the region’s most pressing human rights issues is the crisis in Myanmar, where a military coup in February 2021 has plunged the country into chaos.

    More than 3,000 civilians have been killed by Myanmar security forces and nearly 24,000 arrested since the coup, according to rights groups.

    ASEAN has attempted to resolve the conflict with a five-point plan that includes an immediate end to violence and dialogue among all contending parties.

    Delegates pose for a photo at a plenary session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers Meeting at Shangri-La Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, July 11, 2023. Credit: Reuters

    But Myanmar’s military government has largely ignored the plan, prompting ASEAN to bar its military leaders from top-level gatherings.

    The Myanmar crisis is expected to dominate discussions later this week when U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other top diplomats join the ASEAN foreign ministers as dialogue partners.

    The U.S. and its allies have imposed sanctions on Myanmar’s military and called for the restoration of democracy, while China and Russia have been more cautious and urged respect for Myanmar’s sovereignty.

    ASEAN has been trying to bridge the gap between the rival powers and persuade them to support its peace plan.

    Indonesia, as this year’s ASEAN chair, has quietly engaged with various stakeholders in Myanmar, including the military, the opposition National Unity Government, ethnic armed groups and civil society groups.

    Retno said last week that Indonesia had conducted 110 engagements “in the form of in-person meetings, virtual meetings, and phone calls” with representatives of Myanmar. She said Indonesia hoped to see progress in the implementation of the ASEAN plan before the end of the year.

    BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.

    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tria Dianti and Pizaro Gozali Idrus for Benar News.