MAHA SIDDIQUI and M.V. RAMANA – Investments in nuclear power in Eastern Europe hide geopolitical and military motivations behind a smoke screen of fighting climate change. When these motivations result in the massive acquisition of military equipment, manufacturing and operating them will increase carbon dioxide emissions. Worse, military buildups will also increase the risk of conflict, potentially leading to a catastrophic war that could involve nuclear weapons.
Tag: Europe
The West’s Fanaticism Over Blaming ‘Evil’ Putin Misses the Point—and an Opportunity for a Lasting Peace
ERIKA SHELBY – Pointing fingers won’t help—an attitude shift is what the world needs now.
Why Don’t We Treat All Refugees as Though They Were Ukrainian?
SOMALI KOLHATKAR – Masses of refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, and elsewhere have faced racially motivated hostility in Europe. Now, Ukraine’s refugee crisis is revealing Western double standards.
Independent American and Russian Women Call for Peace
WOMENCALL4PEACE – We are women from the United States and Russia who are deeply concerned about the risk of possible war between our two countries, who together possess over 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons. We are mothers, daughters, grandmothers, and we are sisters, one to another. We stand together and we call for peace. Stand with us.
Yes, It’s Time to Come Home—Now
ANDREW BACEVICH – As Americans learned in Vietnam, the only way to end a war gone wrong is to leave the field of battle. If that describes Trump’s intentions in Afghanistan, then we may finally have some reason to be grateful for his service to our nation. With time, Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell might even come to see the wisdom of doing so.
‘Hundreds of problems’ at EU nuclear plants
BBC NEWS – Hundreds of problems have been found at European nuclear plants that would cost 25bn euros (£20bn) to fix, says a leaked draft report. The report, commissioned after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, aimed to see how Europe’s nuclear power stations would cope during extreme emergencies. The final report was to be published last Thursday. The draft says nearly all the EU’s 143 nuclear plants need improving.
Are Banks Soft-Pedaling Clawbacks?
DAVID MCCANN – At a time when news of banking scandals is uncomfortably frequent, a new report says that last year only 17% of global banking organizations “clawed back†compensation payments previously made to employees. The survey of financial-services institutions by the consulting firm Mercer was not expansive, with only 42 banks participating (in addition to 18 insurance companies and three other types of firms). Still, the results may suggest that regulators are not achieving the objectives of their persistent calls for banks to implement clawback policies.
Climate Change is Already Damaging Global Economy, Report Finds
FIONA HARVEY – Climate change is already contributing to the deaths of nearly 400,000 people a year and costing the world more than $1.2 trillion, wiping 1.6% annually from global GDP, according to a new study. The impacts are being felt most keenly in developing countries, according to the research, where damage to agricultural production from extreme weather linked to climate change is contributing to deaths from malnutrition, poverty and their associated diseases.
The Post-Western World is Coming On Fast
KENNETH RAPOZA – The economic crisis in advanced economies is accelerating the timeline in which big emerging nations like China rule the global economy. Instead of the market focusing on American shopping habits, they’ll be focused on consumers in Shanghai and Mumbai. Unless the US can recover the 8.5 million jobs it lost in the recession, and unless incomes begin rising, the US will be knocked off its pedestal within a generation. The post-Western world is coming faster than we think.
Global Peace Index Shows Decline in World Peace for Third Year
THE INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMICS AND PEACE – The threat of terrorist attacks and the likelihood of violent demonstrations were the two leading factors (1) making the world less peaceful in 2011, according to the latest Global Peace Index (GPI), released May 25, 2011. This is the third consecutive year that the GPI, produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), has shown a decline in the levels of world peace. The economic cost of this to the global economy was $8.12 trillion in the past year.