Russia-Ukraine

[Scepticalscribe]

It is under a huge concrete shell (IIRC)… I am quite sure it could be cracked and the genie is out of the bottle.

And with a continent (globe) already panicked by Covid I'd say chances are high we'd be pretty spooked.

When I visited Chernobyl, in February 2013, it was explained to me that (over the coming year or two) that they intended to further secure - by way of extra layers of protection - the (notorious and ill-fated) concrete "sarcophagus" of what had been reactor No 4.

Reactor No 4 had been shut down in 1986 (it was totally destroyed), and the remainder of the station had been shut down by 2000; in other words, it wasn't - and isn't - a functioning nuclear power station.

However, the worry about, concern about, issue of (lingering and lasting) radioactive damage and contamination is an entirely different matter.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Has he gone completely senile?

Confused Trump believes US has invaded Ukraine in Fox call-in — The Independent

‘You told me about the amphibious attack by Americans’

apple.news

I like how he shoehorned in the US southern border, but he forgot to mention Russia’s invasion is because of Biden’s vaccine mandates. A real missed opportunity.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Really bizarre watching the Trump wing of the GOP parroting Russian propaganda and talking points. Its the usual suspects, but to hear it, see it on Fox and see the tweets that say essentially we shouldn't worry about Ukraine, but only the southern border....

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1496606277019090948/

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1496593117021147148/

And to top it off, the usual nimrod talking heads who make their money pushing BS are trying to equate what's happening in Ukraine to this so-called "crisis" at the southern border.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1496901035994013703/

I need a vacation from politics. It's too polarizing. Some of the debate I can get. Pro-life, pro-choice.. I'm clearly pro-choice, but I can at least understand why someone is pro-life. Tax debates, spending bills... all that stuff is negotiable and debatable. But stuff that has been going on the last decade or so, especially with Trump, has laid bare just how vast the differences are between many of us.

This used to be a moment where everyone would come together and condemn Putin. Same with covid - I'd imagine in most other times, the amount of anti-vaccine dumb-dumbs would have been much fewer.
US
If we face a real crisis, we're in deep shit.

Look: This is one of the (inevitable) consequences of what has been (broadly) accepted as Russian interference in the elections of 2016.

Profoundly unsettling.

 

[User.168]

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[Arkitect]

When I visited, in February 2013, it was explained to me that (over the coming year or two) that they intended to further secure - by way of extra layers of protection - the (notorious and ill-fated) concrete "sarcophagus" of what had been reactor No 4.

Reactor No 4 had been shut down in 1986 (it was totally destroyed), and the remainder of the station had been shut down by 2000; in other words, it wasn't - and isn't - a functioning nuclear power station.

However, the matter of (lingering and lasting) radioactive damage and contamination is an entirely different matter.

Correct.

It is not a fear of it "blowing up".

A slow leak and an easterly wind… An ill wind that might blow Putin good.

Apart from the obvious nukes, I wonder if Chernobyl is what Putin was referring to in his speech

""We are ready for any turn of events. All necessary decisions in this regard have been made. I hope that I will be heard."

Exactly what I am wondering.

 

[GermanSuplex]

Look: This is one of the (inevitable) consequences of what has been (broadly) accepted as Russian interference in the elections of 2016.

Profoundly unsettling.

At what point is it easier to just dump Trump and cast him aside like they did McCain and Romeny, than it is to keep going on these tangents that weaken America's standing? This fat oaf has convinced people Putin is great, Russia isn't so bad and elections should have do-overs.

Their arguments are all over the map. On one hand, they're saying Biden is weak and this wouldn't have happened with Trump (an amazing eye-popping statement in and of itself), but then also saying Ukraine is no big deal and we should be more worried about brown people coming over the southern border.

This is a cult mixed with long-standing racism coming to a head. People are ready to throw the baby out with the bath water to score a political win, which at this point I guess is to prove "Trump is great". It's bigger than Trump, but at the same time, he's the main catalyst for a lot of this stuff we're seeing.

 

[shadow puppet]

I'm reading Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, has declared martial law and promised to give weapons to any citizen willing to defend the country.

 

[MarkusL]

When I visited Chernobyl, in February 2013, it was explained to me that (over the coming year or two) that they intended to further secure - by way of extra layers of protection - the (notorious and ill-fated) concrete "sarcophagus" of what had been reactor No 4.

Reactor No 4 had been shut down in 1986 (it was totally destroyed), and the remainder of the station had been shut down by 2000; in other words, it wasn't - and isn't - a functioning nuclear power station.

However, the worry about, concern about, issue of (lingering and lasting) radioactive damage and contamination is an entirely different matter.

Correct, the original concrete sarcophagus did its job well in the emergency phase, but it was a quick and improvised construction and it started crumbling after only a decade. As it breaks down the structures inside would shift, potentially creating new leaks into the ground. In the worst case pieces of fuel that had been separated could move into clusters of greater concentration and speed up the reaction locally. A new confinement was built a few hundred meters away in order to not expose the workers to too much radiation. Then it was pushed onto the old sarcophagus, sliding on teflon rails since no bearings can take the weight so wheels would not work. It is the largest manmade object ever to have been moved in one piece over land.



The danger is that once the new confinement was put in place, the clock is ticking. The accident below it is still an active situation and the whole plan hinges on the successful dismantling of the mess before the end of the technical lifespan of the new confinement. There are no known engineering methods to put a new even bigger shell over the current one when it starts to break down. The plan is to finish the dismantling of the reactor some time around 2065, possibly within my lifetime if I eat right and excercise.

 

[User.168]

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[yaxomoxay]

Countries like Poland have been warning their new Western European friends about being friends with Russia for over a decade.

War on Ukraine Ends Europe’s Dream of Russia as a Friend — The Wall Street Journal

Invasion forces Berlin, Paris and other European capitals to end years of ambivalence over whether to accommodate or confront Vladimir Putin

apple.news

I mean, there is no doubt the Western European countries and the EU messed up for decades.

 

[yaxomoxay]

I'm reading Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, has declared martial law and promised to give weapons to any citizen willing to defend the country.

I understand him, but I am not sure it’s the best idea. It will be a slaughter of civilians.

Again, I do understand him.

 

[DT]

I like how he shoehorned in the US southern border, but he forgot to mention Russia’s invasion is because of Biden’s vaccine mandates. A real missed opportunity.

JFC, yes ...

“But you know what’s also very dangerous is you told me about the amphibious attack by Americans. You shouldn’t be saying that because you and everybody else shouldn’t know about it. They should do that secretly, not be doing that through the great Laura Ingraham. They should be doing that secretly. Nobody should know that, Laura,” he continued before the host interrupted him.

“No, those are the Russian amphibious landings,” she said.

Continuing, Mr Trump later added: “That’s all we need. That’ll be next, ok? Now, we want to protect our own borders. You know, we oughta get to the southern border and start protecting the southern border. But it’s a very terrible situation. It’s a situation that should’ve never happened.”

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Countries like Poland have been warning their new Western European friends about being friends with Russia for over a decade.

War on Ukraine Ends Europe’s Dream of Russia as a Friend — The Wall Street Journal

Invasion forces Berlin, Paris and other European capitals to end years of ambivalence over whether to accommodate or confront Vladimir Putin

apple.news

I was going to say doesn’t Russia have more to lose from this than whatever it thinks it is gaining? This is clearly a land grab and Putin vanity project, period. What’s his next move “Buy our gas or I’ll nuke you.”?

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

It will be interesting to see where the right is on welcoming Ukrainian refugees. They have the requisite skin color.

 

[Cmaier]

It will be interesting to see where the right is on welcoming Ukrainian refugees. They have the requisite skin color.

Yeah, but they interfered in the 2020 election and helped try and elect Hillary - don’t you remember that conspiracy theory?

 

[Huntn]

This is literally the worst case scenario and I concede, @yaxomoxay was right about this. This scenario is pure insanity and i have a difficult time seeing a geopolitical scenario where this doesn’t spiral into a 3rd world war. The only quesTion is whether that will emanate from this conflict directly, or the insane arms race of the coming years.

Insanity- there is conjecture that Putin maybe unhinged reworking the world order in his favor, and under such circumstances, sanctions are meaningless to him. However sanctions may effect those around him and there are reports of protest to the Ukraine invasion in Russia. Biden, based on input from our NATO Allies just said NATO will not be fighting in Ukraine, but forces are being shifted to defend eastern NATO member states.

I honestly think we’re at the brink of a new geopolitical order, one that has been brewing for 20 years.

We told Ukraine that we’d defend her if they got rid of their nukes, and they believed us. Another betrayal by the EU and the US if you ask me.

Ukraine not having nukes might be an excellent thing under this circumstance.

 

[Huntn]

Really bizarre watching the Trump wing of the GOP parroting Russian propaganda and talking points. Its the usual suspects, but to hear it, see it on Fox and see the tweets that say essentially we shouldn't worry about Ukraine, but only the southern border....

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1496606277019090948/

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1496593117021147148/

And to top it off, the usual nimrod talking heads who make their money pushing BS are trying to equate what's happening in Ukraine to this so-called "crisis" at the southern border.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1496901035994013703/

I need a vacation from politics. It's too polarizing. Some of the debate I can get. Pro-life, pro-choice.. I'm clearly pro-choice, but I can at least understand why someone is pro-life. Tax debates, spending bills... all that stuff is negotiable and debatable. But stuff that has been going on the last decade or so, especially with Trump, has laid bare just how vast the differences are between many of us.

This used to be a moment where everyone would come together and condemn Putin. Same with covid - I'd imagine in most other times, the amount of anti-vaccine dumb-dumbs would have been much fewer.

If we face a real crisis, we're in deep shit.

To be polarized by politics is to be aware of the reality the USA exists in. To be unaware may make you feel good until the revolution appears in your city, you neighborhood.

 

[Eric]

Biden: "direct sanctions on Putin still on the table", if a full on invasion isn't enough, what is? We look and are acting weak.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Biden: "direct sanctions on Putin still on the table", if a full on invasion isn't enough, what is? We look and are acting weak.

“I’ll count to three and then I’ll punish you. One… two… two and a half… two and three quarters….”

 

[User.45]

Biden: "direct sanctions on Putin still on the table", if a full on invasion isn't enough, what is? We look and are acting weak.

You can’t rule out that it’s Maybe because we are