Tag: perpetual war

The West Faces Uranium Shortage Amid Competition From China And Russia

American and European companies in the nuclear energy supply chain have become increasingly vulnerable to a possible supply shock in the uranium market amid fierce resource competition from China and Russia and the planned surge in nuclear power generation to meet electricity demand.

As many countries are now looking to nuclear power to cut emissions and reliance on imports of oil and gas, and meet the growing power demand from AI and data centers, they would need more uranium supply.

But China and Russia have moved to secure supply from African countries and are buying the key nuclear fuel from Kazakhstan, which is the biggest producer of uranium in the world and prefers to keep its sales diversified.

Not all in the nuclear power industry and the energy companies in the West have realized that competition for uranium supply is leading to a supply crunch, industry executives have told the Financial Times.

“We’re on a depletion curve that I don’t think many customers have realised,” Cory Kos, vice-president of investor relations at Cameco, the biggest western supplier based in Canada, told FT.

Amid plans for expansion of nuclear power generation in many countries, including in the United States, uranium demand is set to surge in the coming years and decades, while Western companies are seeing increased competition from China and Russia for supply.

“Russia and China are rapidly expanding their offtake of mined uranium from international partners, uranium enrichment capabilities, and nuclear infrastructure,” Gracelin Baskaran and Meredith Schwartz with the Washington D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) wrote in a report earlier this month.

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Trump and DOGE Want To Cut Waste? This Upcoming Test Launch of a Nuclear Missile Is All Waste – and Dangerous Folly

At a press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on last Thursday, President Trump once again reiterated his desire to cut military spending. He stated that the United States, Russia, and China should reduce their “defense” budgets in order to focus on more productive things.

“It doesn’t really make sense, does it? We’re spending the money against each other and we could spend that money for better purposes if we get along,” Trump said. “And I’ll tell you, I think that something like that will happen.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a town hall with troops at the Pentagon, also hinted at military program cuts. And Trump says DOGE will look at the Pentagon.

Trump was more specific when discussing nuclear weapons. “There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons. We already have so many you could destroy the world 50 times over or 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and [Russia] is building new nuclear weapons, and China is building new nuclear weapons.”

Trump is right about the danger of nuclear weapons. (However, during his first presidency, he withdrew the U.S. from the vital Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces and Open Skies treaties.) If he is serious at all about his supposed goal of cutting military spending, “getting along” with Russia and China, and not wanting to build new nuclear weapons, a very effective way to achieve all three would be to eliminate intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) right now.

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Israel Plans 1,000 New Settlement Homes as West Bank Raids Intensify

Israeli authorities are planning to expand a Jewish-only settlement in the West Bank by nearly 1,000 homes, a Tel Aviv-based peace group said Sunday as Israeli soldiers and settlers escalated attacks on Palestinians in the illegally occupied territory.

Peace Now said Israel’s Civil Administration has issued a new tender for the construction of 974 new housing units in Efrat, a Jewish-only colony located about 7.5 miles south of Jerusalem between Bethlehem and Hebron. The planned expansion will increase Efrat’s population of approximately 11,800 residents by 40% and geographically isolate Palestinian communities in the southern West Bank.

Emboldened by U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to power, far-right members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet have vowed to annex the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967 in violation of international law.

On Sunday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that “the goal for 2025 is to demolish more than the Palestinians build in the West Bank,” according to Al Jazeera. This, following the largest Israeli seizure of Palestinian land in the West Bank in decades last year.

“The Netanyahu government is operating on steroids to establish facts on the ground that will destroy the chance for peace and compromise,” said Peace Now, referring to the longtime Israeli practice of violating international law by colonizing and annexing Palestinian land to establish what one legal scholar has described as “de facto possession with the aim of attaining de jure possession.”

Peace Now continued: “It is now clear that military action alone will not bring a solution to the conflict or security to Israel, and that ultimately we will have to reach an agreement with the Palestinians. The Netanyahu government is harming Israeli interests and torpedoing the only solution that can bring us security and peace.”

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China Furious After State Dept Changes Line On ‘Taiwan Independence’

China is furious after a State Department fact sheet on Taiwan has been updated. The new updated version has dropped a line which previously stated “we do not support Taiwan independence.”

The State Department has downplayed it as a “routine” update to its online fact sheet on American relations with Taiwan. The change happened last week, but has now triggered a strong rebuke from Beijing, which fears Washington is changing its official long-running policy of not officially endorsing effots toward Taiwan political independence and sovereignty.

The fact sheet still displays a US commitment to ‘One China’ – but still the Chinese Foreign Ministry has on Monday called on the Trump administration to “immediately correct its mistakes” over the removal of the line.

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Netanyahu To Rubio: Let’s ‘Finish the Job’ Against Iran

Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Israel where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, after which they gave a joint address before reporters in Jerusalem.

This is Rubio’s first Middle East visit since becoming America’s top diplomat. He and Bibi called for the total elimination of Hamas and the return of all the remaining hostages, following three being released on Saturday, including an American dual citizen.

Importantly, Netanyahu declared that Israel and the US should “finish the job” against Iran, a week after Trump in a Fox interview said the choice is on Tehran – either they can do a new deal to monitor their nuclear energy program or possibly get bombed into submission.

Rubio called the Islamic Republic the greatest source of instability in the region, and as a longtime supporter of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“Hamas cannot continue as a military or a government force… they must be eliminated,” Rubio additionally stated alongside Netanyahu, warning that the “gates of hell” could once again be opened against Hamas.

As for Netanyahu, he affirmed: “We discussed Trump’s bold vision for Gaza’s future and will work to ensure that vision becomes a reality.” This vision has been roundly rejected by Arab states, especially Egypt and Jordan.

Trump earlier this month restored “maximum pressure” and fresh sanctions targeting Iranian oil exports, which reflects the policy of his first term, when he pulled the US out of the JCPOA nuclear deal with Tehran.

“Maybe they are trying to get new defense as we speak but their defense is largely gone… Iran is very nervous. I think they’re scared. I think Iran would love to make a deal and I would love to make a deal with them without bombing them,” Trump had said in the remarks just under a week ago.

“Everybody thinks Israel with our help or our approval will go in and bomb the hell out of them,” Trump had added. “I would prefer that not happen. I’d much rather see a deal with Iran where we can do a deal, supervise, check it, inspect it,” the president continued.

That’s when Trump made one of the more interesting and provocative comments of the interview…

There’s two ways to stopping them: With bombs or a written piece of paper.

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Trump Didn’t Invent the Gaza Ethnic Cleansing Plan. It’s Been US Policy Since 2007

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s intention from day one of his “revenge” attack on Gaza, launched 16 months ago, was either ethnic cleansing or genocide in Gaza.

His ally in genocide for the next 15 months was former US President Joe Biden. His ally in ethnic cleansing is current US President Donald Trump.

Biden provided the 2,000lb bombs for the genocide. Trump is reportedly providing an even larger munition – the 11-ton MOAB, or massive ordnance air blast bomb, with a mile-wide radius – to further incentivise the population’s exodus.

Biden claimed that Israel was helping the people of Gaza by “carpet bombing” the enclave – in his words – to “eradicate” Hamas. Trump claims he is helping the people of Gaza by “cleaning them out” – in his words – from the resulting “demolition site”.

Biden called the destruction of 70 percent of Gaza’s buildings “self defence”. Trump calls the imminent destruction of the remaining 30 percent “all hell breaking loose”.

Biden claimed to be “working tirelessly for a ceasefire” while encouraging Israel to continue the murder of children month after month.

Trump claims to have negotiated a ceasefire, even as he has turned a blind eye to Israel violating the terms of that ceasefire: by continuing to fire on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank; by refusing entry into Gaza of vital aid trucks; by allowing in almost none of the promised tents or mobile homes; by denying many hundreds of maimed Palestinians treatment abroad; by blocking the return of Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza; and by failing to engage with the second phase of the ceasefire negotiations.

Those Israeli violations, although widely reported by the media as Hamas “claims”, were confirmed to the New York Times by three Israeli officials and two mediators.

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Spoiler Alert: Ukrainian President Zelensky Says “I Will Never Accept Any Decisions Between the United States and Russia About Ukraine… Never”

Maybe this is why they did not invite him.

Ukrainian president Zelensky sat down with far-left ABC News reporter Kristen Welker on Sunday.

This comes after a Saturday when Zelensky could not stop ranting about the upcoming Trump-Putin talks in Saudi Arabia.

Zelensky on Saturday told reporters it would be more dangerous if President Trump speaks with Putin first before he speaks with Ukraine.

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky firmly rejected any negotiations between the U.S. and Russia that exclude Ukraine.

Kristen Welker:
Something that President Trump said this week—he did not say “yes” when he was asked if he sees Ukraine as an equal member in the peace process. He did say later that Ukraine would have a seat at the table. Have you been given any assurances that Ukraine will have an equal seat at the negotiating table?

Volodymyr Zelensky:
I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine. Never. Our people—never. Our adults and children, everybody—it can’t be so. This is a war in Ukraine against us, and it’s our human losses.

We are thankful for all the support, the unity between the USA and Ukraine, the bipartisan unity, and the bipartisan support. We are thankful for all of this. But there is no leader in the world who can really make a deal with Putin without us—about us.

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MAJOR UPDATE: President Trump Says He Is Working on a Plan for Ukraine to Pay Back the $350 Billion the US Sent to Ukraine

President Donald Trump spoke to reporters briefly before he flew to Daytona Beach for the Daytona 500.

During the questions and answers, President Trump made when he announced that Ukraine was going to pay back the estimated $350 billion the US generously sent to the Zelensky regime.

This was a major announcement by President Trump.

Here is the transcript.

Reporter: Would you support Zelinsky’s seeding territory or exchanging territory in any agreement to end the war?

President Trump: Well, he’s going to have to do what he has to do, but his poll numbers aren’t particularly great, to put it mildly. He’s got a country where it’s been savaged and attacked, and he’s got an army that’s been very, very brave, actually, despite the fact that we’ve given him, in my opinion, $350 billion. That’s what the number is. You don’t hear that number. And Europe has given, in my opinion, $100 billion. And they’ve done it in the form of a loan.

And I have a Secretary of Treasury right now who’s actually quite brave. He’s over in Ukraine on a train, and there’s a lot of things happening around that train that aren’t so good. And he’s going there to get a document done where we’re going to be assured that we’re going to, in some form, get this money back because we’re putting up far more money than Europe.

And Europe is in far more danger than we are. We have an ocean in between. Europe has nothing in between. You know what they have in between? They have Ukraine in between. So as you know, Europe is putting up money, and they’re getting it in the form of a loan.

And the United States, under Biden, didn’t do loans. They just handed money. Every time somebody walked in from Ukraine, they just handed them money foolishly. This should have never happened. It should have never started. And once it did, other things should have happened. Other things should have taken place. So we’re getting security on our money. We’re going to have it secured by… They have raw earth, and they have oil and gas, and they have a lot of other things. And we’re asking for security on our money. So does it mean you are not sending any more aid to Ukraine? They’ve agreed to it. Ukraine has agreed to it.

Reporter:  Does it mean you are not sending any more aid to Ukraine?

President Trump:  No, we are, but we want it secured, and the money is going to be secured..

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Military Spending: Trump’s Aim Is True, but He’ll Still Need Help To Make the Shot

“One of the first meetings I want to have is with President Xi of China, President Putin of Russia,” US president Donald Trump said on February 13. “And I want to say, ‘let’s cut our military budget in half.’ And we can do that. And I think we’ll be able to.”

Trump deserves our thanks and support in taking aim at US military spending in general, and at the insanely large, outrageously expensive, and mostly useless US nuclear arsenal in particular.

Making sure he feels lots of public love on the matter is a matter of major importance, because the only thing more rare than such talk from an American president since World War 2 has been real action on the idea.

Dwight Eisenhower made a strong rhetorical lunge against the “military-industrial complex,” but only on his way out of office in his 1960 farewell address.

Eisenhower’s successor, John F. Kennedy, seemed somewhat inclined to agree with Eisenhower on the subject, and likely paid the price for that agreement in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.

Since that time, American presidents have considered themselves on notice to tread lightly where the US war machine is concerned.

So, does he really mean it?

I suspect he does.

Even a man with Trump’s tendencies toward saying whatever pops into his head knows that this kind of talk is politically, maybe even personally, dangerous. There’s no upside to saying it if he doesn’t mean it.

And if he’s really interested, as he claims, in reducing the federal government’s drunken-sailor spending, some of the reduction will have to come out of the Pentagon’s hide.

“Defense” (a euphemism for military spending, most of which has little or nothing to do with actually defending the US) is the single biggest category of “discretionary” government spending.

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Is a Grand Bargain between US and Russia in the works?

Last month Donald Trump suggested that he would end the war in Ukraine as a gift to the Russian people. The terms of that peace, as far as we know from General Kellogg’s peace plan are unacceptable to Russia and will certainly be rejected. In a subsequent interview Vladimir Putin suggested that the US and Russia should have friendly relations but that they should discuss bigger issues than the war in Ukraine.

He did not elaborate, leaving us to try and guess what the big agenda could be. We know that the Kremlin and many other powers including China, India and Iran are keenly interested in redrawing the Eurasian continent’s security architecture and also improving global economic, financial and trade relations.

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