Today Tech Giants turn to nuclear for AI’s hunger for power

Helen Caldicott interviews Michael Madsen on the building of the world’s first storage site for nuclear waste – Archive      This archival TUC Radio program comes to you in August of 2024 in the face of the so-called nuclear renaissance driven by Artificial Intelligence
This is the conclusion of a conversation between Helen Caldicott and Michael Madsen whose film, Into Eternity, premiered in the US in February 2011. Helen called Madsen “One of the more extraordinary people I’ve ever interviewed”. This is a thought provoking exchange between the veteran campaigner, Helen Caldicott, who dedicated her life to alerting us to the nuclear danger, and the young Danish artist. He introduces thoughts about civilization, language, danger and eternity.
Into Eternity is a documentary about [ . . . ]

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Onkalo – Into Eternity – TUC Radio Archives

Documentary on the first permanent storage for waste from nuclear power plants in the world       Blasted into bedrock of the island of Olkiluoto in Finland on the shores of the Baltic Sea, Onkalo has to remain secure for 100,000 years.
Danish filmmaker Michael Madsen’s documentary of the building in progress of Onkalo is a meditation on eternity, insanity and the impossibility of projecting anything 100,000 years into the future.
The film also proves eloquently and with expert statements the terrible danger that arises from so-called “spent” nuclear fuel from power plants and makes us see Fukushima with very different eyes.
This radio program presents excerpts from the film and its amazing sound design.
DATE: film released in 2010
CREDIT: Filmmaker Michael Madsen

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The military’s crushed morale is mirrored in Israel’s economy

Dr. Shir Hever with Nora Barrows Friedman and Ali Abunimah      On July first, 2024, the New York Times published an anonymous report from inside the leadership of the IDF, The Israeli Defense Forces. Top generals said they are convinced that an exhausted and depleted Israeli army cannot win and are demanding a cease fire.
In reaction to the NY-Times article, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the following day, that the war in Gaza will not end until Hamas is destroyed. And that the “IDF will continue fighting and improve our readiness for a war in the north with Lebanon.”  Dr. Shir Hever is an Israeli living in exile. His PhD is from the Free University Berlin. He is the military embargo [ . . . ]

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Europe’s Surge to the Right and the expansion of NATO

With Yanis Varoufakis, Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate   Ghida Fakhry interviews Yanis Varoufakis about the new wave of nationalism sweeping across Europe. Fakhry   Lebanese-British journalist. She was a lead anchor for the global news channel Al Jazeera English at its launch in Washington D.C. and now works with TRT World – a Turkish public broadcaster in English 24 hours a day.
The former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is an economist and acclaimed author. Since 2018, he has been Secretary-General of DIEM25, the Democracy in Europe Movement. That’s a left-wing pan-European political party that he co-founded in 2016. They spoke on Jul 12, 2024. The conversation was published on YouTube under the title: Tipping Point: Europe’s Surge to the Right
That’s [ . . . ]

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Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: How to Save Ukraine from the US

Which country is the worst enemy for Ukraine – Russia or the U.S.      When Judge Napolitano began his interview with Jeffrey Sachs, his opening question was: Which country is the worst enemy for Ukraine – Russia or the United States? And Sachs makes the case that the loss of life and infrastructure in Ukraine in the proxy war against Russia makes the US a candidate for worst enemy. He also quotes Henry Kissinger who said: “To be an enemy of the United States is dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal.”
Jeffrey Sachs also explores how promises of NATO membership to Ukraine may have fueled the ongoing conflict; and why the peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in March 2022 [ . . . ]

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Julian Assange IS FREE — What this means for the rest of us

Yanis Varoufakis and DiEM25     Immediately after it became known that the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, was set free from a prison in London, and had boarded a plane towards Guam, the DiEM25 channel launched a conversation between Yanis Varoufakis, Srećko Horvat, Karin De Rigo and others. Here are excerpts from that conversation.
Yanis Varoufakis is a Greek economist and politician. He is Secretary-General of DiEM25, a radical political movement in Europe that he co-founded in 2016.  Srecko Horvat is a Croatian philosopher, author, political activist and co-founder of DiEM25. And Karin De Rigo is coordinator of the local DiEM25 group in Berlin.
They spoke while the plane, carrying Julian Assange to freedom, was still in the air, heading to Guam. By [ . . . ]

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Leonard Peltier – Prayer Vigil for his Parole in San Francisco

With Tony Gonzales of the American Indian Movement West    For the first time in 15 years, Leonard Peltier had a full parole hearing on Monday, June 10, at the United States Penitentiary at Coleman, Fla.  The decision whether he will be free will be rendered by mid July 2024.
Peltier is Turtle Mountain Ojibwe. He has been incarcerated for 48 years for the alleged killing of two FBI agents at Oglala on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in June 1975. For five decades, Peltier has maintained his innocence and hoped for the chance to clear his name.
Peltier had a controversial trial marred by falsified testimony, and fabricated evidence. And criticism of the trial even came from judges involved in the case: [ . . . ]

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Ray McGovern: The Dangers of Misreading Putin on Ukraine

How close are we coming to nuclear war?    Ray McGovern is interviewed by Judge Andrew Napolitano on his Podcast Judging Freedom.
McGovern served as CIA analyst for 27 years, from the administration of John F. Kennedy to that of George H. W. Bush. His duties included chairing National Intelligence Estimates and preparing the President’s Daily Brief. After retiring from the CIA, McGovern became a commentator on intelligence-related issues and was one of the best informed critics of the war on Iraq.
Once a week Judge Andrew Napolitano interviews the same group of progressive commentators on war and current affairs. He spoke with Ray McGovern on June 17, 2024.
You can find the video of this interview on Youtube on the channel: Judging Freedom. [ . . . ]

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Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: Why the West Hates Russia – How close did we come to nuclear war?

The Biden Administration authorized Ukraine to use American Weapons to attack inside Russia    Once a week Judge Andrew Napolitano interviews the same group of progressive commentators on war and current affairs. On June 4, 2024 he spoke to Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs.
Sachs is an American economist, and public policy analyst. He is known for his work on Sustainable Economics and the fight to end climate change and poverty. He has worked as an economic adviser to governments in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. He works with the United Nations as President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Sachs has authored and edited numerous books, including three New York Times bestsellers: The End of Poverty (2005), Common Wealth: [ . . . ]

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Edward Said: Palestine and the Universality of Human Rights, Archive 2003

Edward Said’s last major speech on Palestine before his death in September 2003      Among the over twelve hundred programs in the TUC Radio archives this is one of my favorites. That’s based on the respect I have for the speaker, Edward Said, and the ongoing sadness that, to this day, so little is known about the history of Palestine.
This is Edward Said’s last major speech on Palestine, the war on Iraq and the Bush administration. On September 25, 2003, a message made its way around the world. Edward Said, Palestinian American, world famous professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, and fearless defender of the Palestinian cause had died of leukemia in New York City, far from the [ . . . ]

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Ilan Pappe: The US has NO LIMITS when it comes to ISRAEL

The historian Ilan Pappe comments on the missile launch towards Tel Aviv, the ICC ruling, and his own interrogation by the FBI     Ilan Pappe is an Israeli historian and political scientist. He is now a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.
His best known book is The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Based on declassified British and Israeli government documents, the book explains that the expulsions of Palestinians were executed based on a plan drawn up in 1947 by Israel’s future leaders. Ilan Pappe left Israel in 2008 after being condemned in the Knesset. A minister of education had called for him to be sacked.
Frank Barat, the French activist, [ . . . ]

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John Mearsheimer discusses Gaza – Interview on TRT, the Turkish public broadcast service

On May 18, 2024, Paul Salvatori, Presenter & Senior Producer at TRT World, invited Professor John Mearsheimer for a conversation     Professor Mearsheimer is an American political scientist and international relations scholar who belongs to the realist school of thought. He is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. Mearsheimer is best known for describing the interaction between great powers as being primarily driven by the desire to achieve regional hegemony.
Mearsheimer is also internationally known for the 2007 book he co-authored with Stephen Walt, entitled “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy”. The core argument is that the Israel Lobby wields disproportionate influence over U.S. policy – both domestic and international.
Mearsheimer has recently been in high [ . . . ]

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Professor Richard Wolff: Freedom of Speech, Gaza and students’ right to protest

and The conflation of antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli government         Within a week, in early May of 2024, the renowned professor of economics put out two commentaries on his Wolff Responds podcast that break the mainstream media taboo, or misinformation, on the responses by university administrators and police to campus opposition to the war on Gaza.
Richard Wolff is a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor in the graduate program in international affairs of the New School in New York City.
This is also a personal response by Prof. Wolff to the extraordinary harsh actions by the New School administrators to the pro-Palestinian encampments at the university. They called the New York City [ . . . ]

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This is an archival TUC Radio program on Mining in America with Larry Tuttle

With 2024 Updates of the 1872 Mining Law   Even though mines – from iron to copper to gold to minerals, such as lithium mines can be so huge that they can be seen from space – and are destructive to land and water and forests – recent proposed legislation in the US aims at expanding mining.
It turns out that, ironically, the transition to a green economy with wind turbines, solar arrays, electric vehicles and battery storage requires an unprecedented increase in mining for lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, tungsten, aluminum, graphite and more.
Here is an archival TUC Radio program on Mining in America. In 1995 I bought a beat up RV, put all my radio equipment in it and took off [ . . . ]

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Jonathan Haidt with Tristan Harris: Social Media and the Epidemic of Childhood Mental Illness

Excessive screen time on phones coincides with the sharp increase in depression, anxiety, and self-harm in young people     Jonathan Haidt is the author of The Anxious Generation and the Epidemic of Childhood Mental Illness, published in March 2024. He is in conversation with Tristan Harris, an ex-employee of Google. Harris had a key role in the Netflix documentary film The Social Dilemma and explained how the design of social media platforms manipulates people’s views, emotions, and behavior.
Thanks to the Commonwealth Club of California Jonathan Haidt and Tristan Harris appeared together on stage on April 1, 2024.
This is a 24 minute excerpt of their conversation. For the full hour recording, that also shows the images of the graphs that present the [ . . . ]

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