Free Republic

IRNA – Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has rejected the idea of holding direct negotiations with the United States as long as the “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran is in place, saying Washington has agreed to hold indirect negotiations. Speaking at a meeting with Algerian elites and media figures in Algiers on Tuesday, Araqchi said bilateral talks should be conducted on equal footing, not under maximum pressure and military threats. “As long as maximum pressure and threats exist, there is no ground for fair negotiations, and we will not hold direct negotiations,” he said. However, he hastened to add, the path...

What hope now for avoiding catastrophic climate change? As all of the data on emissions, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, and global warming point emphatically in the wrong direction, returning president Donald Trump has given the call to “drill, baby, drill”—a pledge to fast-track new fossil fuel projects and ramp up production. One presumes it’s an order that the world’s oil and gas giants, already backsliding from their previous commitments to transition to green energy, will be only too happy to heed. Against this backdrop, the dark premonitions that haunt the minds of those persuaded by the scientific consensus on climate...

North Korea’s communist dictator Kim Jong-un regaled his soldiers with a violent rant in which he questioned the mental abilities of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, state media reported on Friday, and asserted he would “without hesitation” use nuclear weapons if deemed necessary. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongyang’s flagship state propaganda outlet, reported that Kim supervised military training and delivered his remarks to commanding officers in his military on Tuesday, focusing on response to South Korea celebrating its Armed Forces Day with a parade on the same day. The South Korean parade featured the display of some of...

Shocking photos captured smoke billowing out of a Russia-controlled nuclear power plant in Ukraine — a “reckless” attack that risked a major “nuclear accident,” according to the head of the international nuclear watchdog. Thick, black smoke was seen Sunday exiting the top of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant that Russia captured shortly after launching its full-scale attack on Ukraine in 2022. The massive fire followed multiple explosions hitting the vast, six-reactor facility, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog, which has staff there. “These reckless attacks endanger nuclear safety at the plant and increase the risk of...

The Kremlin scrambled to evacuate residents from a border town Saturday, as Ukrainian troops quickly advanced toward a nuclear plant, four days after gaining a foothold in Russia’s southwestern Kursk region. On Friday, Ukraine knocked out an entire Russian reinforcement convoy, as fighters caught Russian troops off-guard. Video of the aftermath showing smoldering Russian trucks was shared online. Ukrainian soldiers continued to move further into Russia, reaching at least six miles into Russian territory, the deepest advance since Moscow invaded the neighboring nation in February 2022....

Palestine protesters used powerful lasers to write the words of an infamous antisemitic message on the Elizabeth Tower, best known worldwide as the Big Ben clock at Britain’s Parliament. Messages including “From the river to the sea, Palestina will be free” were projected onto the side of the Elizabeth Tower during a large Palestine protest in Westminster’s Parliament Square on Wednesday night. As the demonstration roared outside, Parliament faced problems of its own, as conflicting left-wing party attempts to vote on a resolution in favour of a Gaza ceasefire saw a major break with convention potentially permanently damaging the authority...

A high-altitude Nuclear-EMP (nuclearweaponsedproj.mit.edu/high-altitude-electromagnetic-pulse-emp-attack-scenario-against-usa) creates an electric free field incident (commonsensehome.com/electromagnetic-pulse-emp/) powerful enough to damage any microcircuitry onboard satellites (see: Starfish Prime Test (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime)), especially modern electronics due to increasingly thin structures (therefore electric breakthrough occurs already at relatively low voltages). We are hardening military systems against such EM incidents by shielding (www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/EM-shielding-electromagnetic-shielding), e.g. on a ship using its hull as a Faraday cage (containerauction.com/read-news/using-a-shipping-container-faraday-cage-to-survive-an-electromagnetic-pulse-emp-blast).

The U.S. believes Russia wants to put a nuclear weapon in space, according to reports sparked by a top Republican warning about a 'serious national security threat'. House Intel Chair Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio said members of Congress had been made aware of the threat which is reported to be related to Russia and its threat from space - but wouldn't go into details. It later emerged that it was related to Moscow's plan to put a nuclear weapon into space to target and destroy satellites the world depends on, ABC News reported. Turner asked the president to declassify...

Communist dictator of North Korea Kim Jong-un declared through state media on Wednesday that the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was necessary to “clearly show what action the DPRK [North Korea] has been prepared and what option the DPRK would take when Washington makes a wrong decision against it.”

Israel's Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said on Sunday that dropping a nuclear weapon on the Gaza Strip is "an option." Speaking in a radio interview, the far-right minister maintained that "there are no non-combatants in Gaza," adding that providing humanitarian aid to the Strip would constitute "a failure." Eliyahu was then asked if – since there are no non-combatants in his view – a nuclear attack on the Gaza Strip is an option. "That's one way," he responded. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying that Eliyahu's comments are "divorced from reality" and that Israel and the...

For the first time in decades, it's hard to ignore the threat of nuclear war. But as long as you're far from the blast, you're safe, right? Wrong. In this sobering talk, atmospheric scientist Brian Toon explains how even a small nuclear war could destroy all life on earth -- and what we can do to prevent it. A professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Brian Toon investigates the causes of the ozone hole, how volcanic eruptions alter the climate, how ancient Mars had flowing rivers, and the environmental impacts of nuclear...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), a prominent Senate Republican defense hawk, warned Monday that a Russian nuclear attack against Ukraine would be viewed as an attack on NATO, even though Ukraine is not a member of the alliance. Graham delivered his warning after former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia would “have to” use nuclear weapons if Ukrainian forces threaten Russian territory. (snip) Graham and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced a resolution in June stating that any use of tactical nuclear weapons by Russia, Belarus or their proxies that spreads radioactive contaminants into NATO territory would be viewed as an attack...

As Capt. Tom Davis stands at the tailgate of the military cargo plane, the night air sweeps through the hold. His eyes search the black terrain 1,200 feet below. He grips the canvas of his reserve parachute and takes a deep breath. Davis and the men who make up his Special Forces A-team are among the most highly trained soldiers in the U.S. Army. It's 1972, and Davis isn't far removed from a tour in Vietnam, where he operated along the Cambodian border. His communications sergeant served in Command and Control North, which was responsible for some of the most...

The United States is wiring Ukraine with sensors that can detect‌‌ bursts of radiation from a nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb and can confirm the identity of the attacker. In part, the goal is to make sure that if Russia detonates a radioactive weapon on Ukrainian soil, its atomic signature and Moscow’s culpability could be verified. Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine 14 months ago, experts have worried about whether President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would use nuclear arms in combat for the first time since the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The preparations, mentioned last...

The Czech Defense Minister has succeeded in raising the already sky-high threshold of gung ho attitudes towards the possibility of the escalation of the war in Ukraine even higher. In her view, Czech citizens have nothing to fear even if nuclear weapons were to be used in the battlefield. Reacting to the news about the Kremlin’s intention to place nuclear weapons on the territory of neighboring Belarus, during an interview on Czech television last week, Jana Černochová tried to reassure Czech citizens about the prospect of a nuclear escalation. However, instead of trying to dismiss such theories, or inform about...

On Monday, Georgia Power announced that the Vogtle nuclear reactor Unit 3 has started a nuclear reaction inside the nuclear reactor. Technically, this is called “initial criticality” and is when the nuclear fission process has started splitting atoms, generating heat. Vogtle’s Unit 3 reactor will be fully in service in May or June, Georgia Power said. The last time a nuclear reactor reached the same milestone was almost seven years ago when the Tennessee Valley Authority started splitting atoms at the Watts Bar Unit 2 reactor in Tennessee, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “This is a truly exciting time...

The US and Russian spy chiefs held a rare face-to-face meeting in Ankara Monday on Moscow's nuclear threats in Ukraine and Americans held prisoner by the Kremlin, the White House said. In what appeared to be the highest-level direct talks between officials of the two countries since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns met with Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence service. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman confirmed the meeting, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said it came as "an initiative of the American side," according to Russian media. Peskov declined to...

US companies specializing in the construction of next-generation smaller nuclear power plants aimed at improving the country's energy security find it difficult to obtain fuel for those power plants. There is only one company that sells such fuel, and unfortunately for them, the company is located in Russia, Reuters reports. The energy crisis that broke out as a result of Russia's special operation in Ukraine and ensuing Western sanctions pushed Washington to develop nuclear industry faster. The USA already has designs for new modern reactors known as Small Modular Reactors. They are more efficient, faster and cheaper to build. However,...

President Biden raised doubts this week about Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s claim that he never intended to use nuclear weapons. “If he has no intention, why does he keep talking about it?” Biden said during an interview with NewsNation Thursday. “Why does he talk about the ability to use a tactical nuclear weapon?” The president described Russia’s leader as “very dangerous” in his approach to nuclear weapons. “He can end this all, get out of Ukraine,” Biden added. The US president expressed skepticism about Putin’s intentions just hours after the Kremlin strongman said at a conference of international foreign policy...

The desperate tyrant, 70, is feared by Nato to have his finger inching closer to the trigger ready to launch a nuclear show of force. The mounting concerns prompted Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to cancel his plans and jet to Washington for crisis talks this week. Analysts feared Putin would detonate a warhead in the Black Sea, potentially unleashing tsunamis and a poisonous gas cloud. It was also claimed plans were under way to test fire a tactical nuke in the Arctic before launching one on the battlefield in Ukraine. Recent days have seen a number of Notam messages -...