End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw
Jan 20, 2025
The Make America Great Again slogan is at the core of the U.S. rhetorics of refusal. (See Credits in the Asian Times article)
LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS TODAY with THE RISKS & CONSEQUENCES OF TOMORROW
As Donald J. Trump and his agenda becomes reality today, this is the last of my consecutive articles questioning his personal as well as his forthcoming administration’s future ability to do the right thing for the U.S. and the world. It, of course, will also be the last post on this particular subject before we begin to see what I sadly think of as the beginning of the end. All you really have to do is read the final paragraph of the story and you will know how the world defines and despises America’s “colonial” policy that creates isolation, animosity, hatred and/or occupation of other human characteristics and other countries.
Better still, I will post that last paragraph for you right here and now. It says a lot about our world-view and our own political and military policies:
“The United States boasts the world’s strongest military establishment. The dominant rhetoric in the United States casts everything it does as self-defense necessitated by foreign enemies.”
But I recommend that you read the rest of this short but meaningful article. It clearly explains why Trump’s purpose is all about using America to conquer the world and make himself “The King”. ~llaw
Rhetorics of refusal deny America’s deep decline
Deliberate denial of societal ills and problems displaces navigating the contradictions that cause and perpetuate them
by Richard D Wolff January 20, 2025
Societies survive and grow when they successfully navigate their contradictions. Eventually, however, accumulating contradictions overwhelm existing means of navigating them.
Then social problems arise that persist or worsen inside such societies because they are unsuccessfully navigated or go unattended. Sometimes, the dominant conscious reaction to such social problems is denial, a refusal to see them.
Denial of internal social problems displaces navigating the contradictions that cause them. The resulting social decline, like the set of internal contradictions it reflects, is denied and ignored. Instead, narratives or rhetorics can arise that position such societies as victims of abuse by foreigners.
The United States in 2025 illustrates this process: its rhetorics of refusal aim to end its victimization.
In today’s United States, one such rhetoric refuses to allow continued abuse by foreigners “threatening our national security.” This rhetoric blames bad US political leadership for its failure to put America first and thereby make it great again.
Another rhetoric demands that “we” refuse to allow “our democracy” to be destroyed by foreign enemies (and their domestic equivalents): people who are said to hate, not understand, or undervalue “our democracy.”
Still another rhetoric of refusal sees foreigners “cheating” the United States in trade and migration processes. Most Americans embrace one or more of such rhetorics. Yet, as we propose to show here, such rhetorics are ever less effective.
One reactionary rhetoric, Trump’s, gestures toward former greatness by literally renewing American imperialism. He threatens to retake the Panama Canal, change Canada into the 51st of the United States, conquer Greenland from Denmark, and possibly invade Mexico.
All those foreigners are said to threaten national security or else “cheat” the United States. Trump’s typical bloviating aside, this is remarkable expansionism. Such repeated colonialist gestures feed broader notions of making America greater again.
Colonialism repeatedly helped European capitalism navigate its internal contradictions (temporarily escaping the social problems it caused). Eventually, however, it could no longer do so. After World War II, anti-colonialism limited that escape.
The subsequent European neo-colonialisms and the informal colonialism of the American empire had shorter life spans. China and the rest of the BRICS countries are now everywhere closing that escape. Hence the frustrated rage of Trump’s insistence on refusing that ending by deliberately reopening the idea of an escape hatch of colonial expansions.
It resembles Netanyahu’s idea (if not yet his violence) in trying to reopen that hatch for Israel by driving Palestinians out of Gaza. United States support for Netanyahu likewise associates the US with colonialist violence in a world overwhelmingly committed to end colonialism and its unwanted legacy.
The United States boasts the world’s strongest military establishment. The dominant rhetoric in the United States casts everything it does as self-defense necessitated by foreign enemies.
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(Please note that the Sunday and Saturday NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS are also added below by category, following Monday’s news posts in order to maintain continuity of nuclear news as well as for research for the overall information provided in “LLAW;s All Things Nuclear”.)
There are 7 categories, with the latest addition, (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:
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- Nuclear Power
- Nuclear Power Emergencies
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- Nuclear War
- Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There are three Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in today’s Post.)
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A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.
TODAY’s NUCLEAR WORLD’s NEWS, Monday, (01/20/2025)
All Things Nuclear
NEWS
IAEA Profile: Balancing Numbers and Dreams – A Career in Finance and Accounting
International Atomic Energy Agency
The IAEA profiles employees to provide insight into the variety of career paths that support the Agency’s mission of Atoms for Peace and …
Iran Seeks To Expand Nuclear Power Cooperation With Russia’s Rosatom
The Moscow Times
Iran has expressed interest in building a new nuclear power plant (NPP) in cooperation with Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, …
Nuclear Power Startup Wants to Harness India’s Untapped Deposits – Energy Connects
Energy Connects
US-based Clean Core Thorium Energy, or CCTE, is seeking approvals for its fuel technology, which pairs the radioactive metal with enriched uranium and …
Nuclear Power
NEWS
With nuclear power on the rise, reducing conspiracies and increasing public education is key
The Conversation
Public sentiment related to nuclear power remains highly contentious. As nuclear energy regains momentum, its path forward will require rebuilding …
The Nuclear Submarine NR-1; Life Is Actually Like – Marine Link
Marine Link
Nuclear energy, and, particularly for me, nuclear ship propulsion, continues to be a tantalizing solution to CO2 reduction.We…
The economic impacts of investing in nuclear energy infrastructure
Innovation News Network
Building a nuclear power plant is a long, challenging process, with common lead time delays and budget issues. In fact, reactors have the most …
Nuclear Power Emergencies
NEWS
Trump to Declare National Energy Emergency, Unlocking New Power – Bloomberg
Bloomberg
President-elect Donald Trump is poised to invoke emergency powers as he orders a series of steps intended to unleash domestic energy production …
Donald Trump to declare national energy emergency, unlocking new powers
The Economic Times
President-elect Trump plans to invoke emergency powers to boost domestic energy production, reversing Biden’s climate policies by enabling new oil …
Trump will declare ‘national energy emergency,’ incoming administration official says
ZAWYA
Trump, who vowed during his campaign to “drill, baby, drill,” will also sign an executive order focused on Alaska, the official said.
Nuclear War Threats
NEWS
Shouting at a mirror – EUvsDisinfo
EUvsDisinfo
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Putin and the Kremlin used nuclear threats as an intimidation tactic, with threats escalating sharply in ..
US-Russia nuclear war threat looms as US deploys deadly B61-12 gravity bomb in…, its capable of…
MSN
US-Russia nuclear war threat looms as US deploys deadly B61-12 gravity … threats to NATO countries which share borders with Russia. Late …
Rhetorics of refusal deny America’s deep decline – Asia Times
Asia Times
All those foreigners are said to threaten national security or else “cheat” the United States. Trump’s typical bloviating aside, this is remarkable …
Nuclear War
NEWS
Moscow’s mind games: Ambiguity around Russia’s nukes aims to rattle Europe | ECFR
European Council on Foreign Relations
Vladimir Putin’s rhetoric and missile strikes are part of a broader strategy of cognitive warfare, blending military power with psychological …
U.S. Needs to ‘Out-Think’ Russia, China in Nuclear Weapon Sphere, Says Outgoing Official
USNI News – U.S. Naval Institute
The U.S. “will have to out-think” Russia and China to prevent them from using nuclear weapons to resolve a future crisis, the outgoing head of the …
Arms Control and Nonproliferation – United States Department of State
State Department
The proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery systems, advanced conventional weapons …
Yellowstone Caldera
NEWS
Yellowstone’s volcanic activity is shifting to the northeast, geologists find – MSN
MSN
… Yellowstone’s caldera. The Yellowstone Caldera is a volcanic caldera and super-volcano in Yellowstone National Park, located in the Western United …
Yellowstone volcanic activity is on the move, experts say — but will it erupt anytime soon?
MSN
… caldera — a gigantic volcanic crater naturally created hundreds of thousands of years ago. … What Would Happen If Yellowstone’s Supervolcano Erupted?
3600-Foot-Tall Undersea Volcano Expected To Blow This Year, But Nobody’s Worried
Cowboy State Daily
“It’s not an explosive eruption, but calm effusions of lava flowing out of the caldera and across the seafloor.” For comparison, the Yellowstone “ …