Proposing a "Radio Free Russia" for transmitting the work of exiled Russian journalists to Russia.

Hate-spreading right-wing fantasists are driving women out of New Zealand politics through intimidation.

A Russian official pointed out that depleted uranium munitions, and the depleted uranium armor in newer model Abrams tanks, will cause lasting danger in Ukraine.

I can't estimate whether depleted uranium munitions will injure as many Ukrainians as the Putin forces' weapons. But comparing the two is irrelevant, because they are independent problems.

I expect that the US government will use the fact that this comes from hypocritical Putin to pretend that the danger is just one of Putin's lies. He can't believe anything on his say-so lie, but this time what he said was accurate.

Putin does not care about Ukrainian lives. He might care about hypothetical Russians who might someday live on conquered Ukrainian territory. But what Putin thinks is a side issue. If future Ukrainian lives matter to us, we should push for the US to protect Ukraine from depleted uranium, regardless of what Putin thinks.

I saw a headline today that the US plans to give Ukraine the new Abrams tanks with depleted uranium in the armor.

Antinuclear activists warn that the release of tritium-containing water from the retired Indian Point nuclear reactors, and demolition of their structure, will release radioactive materials and they may be damaging. https://www.commondreams.org/news/indian-point-wastewater I can't say that is impossible, but the arguments presented in this article by Caldecott and other opponents are based on an error.

It is true that no amount of radiation exposure is so small as to be absolutely harmless. It does not follow that any increment in radiation or radioactive material, not matter how small, is cause for great alarm. Radiation is everywhere, and radionuclides are everywhere. Adding a tiny fraction of the amount already present has an effect which is nonzero, but the resulting increment in danger may be so small as to be insignificant as regards public health.

Will the tritium releases of the operations now planned cause a significant increment in danger? I don't know the answer; I don't know how to calculate it. But that is the proper basis for judging these issues.

The release of tritiated water is one issue, and dust from the demolition is another issue. It could be that one is dangerous and the other is not. Each one ought to be studied and calculated.

*In abandoning a commitment to create the post of a migrants’ commissioner to identify problems with the immigration system as well as a pledge to increase the powers of the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, [Minister] Braverman is making it very clear that the government does not care about immigrants — past, present, or future.*