Russia considers Ukraine redlines for NATO

Russia does not seem inclined to attack Ukraine. Imminent attack on the Russian-speaking breakaway provinces of Luhansk, Donetsk by Ukrainan neo-nazi regime prompted Russia to amass its troops along Ukraine border to warn rather than attack. But NATO is playing game...

Russia-NATO war over Ukraine is becoming increasingly unavoidable
RT, 20 Nov, 2021

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the West isn’t taking his country’s “red lines” seriously and the US and its allies could be about to sleepwalk into a dangerous conflict with the world’s largest nuclear power.

Red lines are about deterrence. The purpose of drawing them in the first place is to communicate crucial security interests and the severe consequences that would ensue if they were undermined. In essence, Moscow’s ultimatums are intended to stop the West from making a dangerous miscalculation.

Deterrence rests on the three Cs: capability, credibility, and communication. Russia has the military capability to act if its red lines are crossed, it’s demonstrated credibility in terms of its preparedness to act on threats, and it knows the specifics must be communicated clearly to avoid the West making any mis-steps that would necessitate a forceful response. However, the weakness in its red lines is the current lack of detail as to what would happen if another nation took a step too far.

Fighting NATO’s ‘salami tactics’

Red lines must be specific, as they are a countermove against the slow creep of Western foreign policy, which deploys ‘salami tactics.’ These, as the name suggests, entail conquest via the cutting off of thin slices. No one action is so outrageous it forms the pretext for war, but, one day, you turn around and realize how much ground you’ve lost.

Salami tactics are an appealing option for expansionist actors like NATO, which pursues limited and repetitive expansions to gradually create new realities on the ground. Such tactics avoid rapid escalation and mute opposition from adversaries and allies alike, as complaints can be ridiculed and the response from opponents denounced as disproportionate.

NATO is a master of salami tactics. Initially, the bloc promised it would not expand one inch to the east. Thereafter, its Partnership for Peace was established and sold to the Russians as an alternative to expansion, although it ultimately became a stepping stone to expansion by aligning the armed forces in Central and Eastern European states with NATO standards.

The bloc expanded in 1999 as Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic joined, although it was suggested that this alone would not drastically change the balance of power. Furthermore, the West attempted to mitigate Russia’s apprehensions by establishing the NATO-Russia Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation, and Security, which guaranteed there would be no “permanent stationing of substantial combat forces” in the new member states. Fast-forward a few years and 11 more countries had joined the bloc, there were no pretenses about honoring the Founding Act because military bases and missiles were being developed in Poland and Romania, and NATO had its eyes set on Ukraine.

NATO’s illegal invasion of Yugoslavia also followed the usual salami tactics. After the invasion, it gained some legal cover and implicit Russian consent by obtaining a UN mandate in June 1999 for the occupation of Kosovo under the specific condition of upholding Yugoslavia’s territorial integrity. The occupation was instead used to change realities on the ground, and, in 2008, the majority of member states recognized the independence of Kosovo in violation of international law.

NATO’s missile defense system was, similarly, a prime example of salami tactics. In 2007, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice mocked Russian concerns about the basing of 10 interceptive missiles in Eastern Europe as “purely ludicrous, and everybody knows it.” However, within a few years, the number of planned interceptive missiles had risen to several hundred. NATO proposals for cooperating with Russia to alleviate Moscow’s concerns were aimed at scaling back opposition while cutting another slice. Former US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates confirmed in his memoirs that the US was “just kicking the can down the road on missile defense, playing for time. The Russians recognized that they were being presented with a fait accompli.”

Red lines counter salami tactics by clearly communicating that even a minor step past a point will trigger a major response. Yet red lines often struggle to garner credibility precisely because they appear disproportionate – for example, would either NATO or Russia really risk nuclear war over Eastern Ukraine? However, as Putin stated in his Crimean re-unification speech in March 2014: “Russia found itself in a position it could not retreat from. If you compress the spring all the way to its limit, it will snap back hard. You must always remember this.”

Red lines in Ukraine

NATO and Russia certainly now appear to be heading towards war in Ukraine. Every meeting, phone call, and summit result in a commitment to the statement that there is “no alternative to the Minsk Agreement.” The Minsk Agreement identifies two conflicting parties, Kiev and Donbass, and the first action to be taken was identified as immediately establishing a dialogue between them to work out the constitutional changes that would grant autonomy to Donbass. Yet Kiev has stated in no uncertain terms that it will not talk to Donbass and thus not implement the agreement, and the NATO powers have demonstrated that they do not intend to push it into abiding by it. If the agreement is rejected and no alternative is established, then war becomes the only possible outcome.

With no real intention of implementing the agreement, NATO instead pushed to change realities on the ground. Over the past seven years, Western nations have imposed sanctions on Russia and provided aid and weapons to Ukraine. In March and April, Ukraine began to mobilize its troops on one side of Donbass in preparation for a military solution, which was deterred by a Russian military build-up on the other side of Donbass. War was avoided because Biden contacted Putin and called for a de-escalation, proclaiming Washington’s usual empty commitment to the agreement.

As always, the incremental expansion continues. NATO countries are not asking Kiev to establish dialogue with Donbass in accordance with the Minsk Agreement, but instead insist now that this is merely a conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Meanwhile, the US has announced that the door is open for Ukraine’s NATO membership. Member states are either ignoring or supporting Kiev’s drone strikes and other attacks on Donbass. Western warships and warplanes are patrolling ever closer along Russia’s Black Sea borders, and Western soldiers are sent to Ukraine on training missions that could be used as ‘trip wires’ that could drag the entire bloc into a war if Russia intervenes. At the center of all of this is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is becoming increasingly emboldened to attack Donbass with the expectation of NATO support.

Russia has laid down red lines against further NATO salami tactics. However, as these red lines continue not to be respected, it would appear that war is becoming increasingly unavoidable.- - -
By Glenn Diesen, Professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway and an editor at the Russia in Global Affairs journal. Follow him on Twitter @glenn_diesen

Problem with world’s first floating pool...

Furious residents are demanding the world’s first floating pool – that stretches between two towers 35 metres up in the air – be closed.

Glaring problem with famous sky pool which residents now want shut
Emilia Shovelin
The Sun, Dec 25, 2021

Furious residents want the world‘s first floating pool to be closed throughout winter because it costs over $270,000 to heat.

Yet it’s still cold to swim in, some have complained.

‘We’re just hitting the sky,” said one tenant, The Sun.

Others have complained that each swim effectively costs more than $150.

For those living in the swanky Embassy Gardens development in London’s Nine Elms district, on the south bank of the River Thames, the so-called “Sky Pool” is a drain on resources.

The swimming pool is the world’s first “floating” pool and stretches between two separate skyscrapers. It has a glass, transparent base, is 25 metres long and allows people to swim 35 metres up in the air.

Residents and social media users went crazy for the unique pool, with some people terrified by the idea, as others got excited for the luxury experience.

Now though residents are calling for the pool to be closed during winter, despite the apartment block advertising it as a round-the-year perk.

The showpiece swimming pool is said to be too cold to use in winter despite it costing $830 a day to heat.

The pool is also supposed to be enclosed at night to trap in heat but the cover is reportedly broken.

Now, those living in the complex, where flats cost up to $8.3 million, want it shut to save on the $304,000 annual heating costs.

One couple who live in the development told The Sun: “It is too cold to be used at the moment so it seems mad that we’re still having to pay to heat it.

“If it’s $830 a day and, at most, five people are using it, that’s $166 per swim. That hardly seems like value for money.”

While there is also a separate pool, residents foot the bill through service charges of up to $16,668 a year for a two-bed flat.

At its next meeting, the residents’ association will reportedly be pushing for the Sky Pool to be shut during winter.

One resident said: “We’re livid. The outside temperature has obviously dropped, but the Sky Pool is still open to residents and currently uncovered. We’re basically heating the sky.”

The swimmers were seen using the sky pool at the end of May this year where average temperatures were 18 degrees celsius.

Anyone brave enough to take the plunge would have had uninterrupted views to the ground from the 10th floor and it‘s got some of the best views in the capital.

The pool was shipped, triple-0 miles from Colorado in the US and holds 400 tons of water.

Unfortunately, the novelty swimming pool isn‘t everyone’s cup of tea, with some Twitter users remarking that just looking at it made them feel queasy.

“My hangover is starting to kick in and the thought of swimming in a sky pool does make my stomach drop,” said one.

Another wrote: “It’s not even 6am and I already have tonight’s nightmare all set up!”

And one tweeted: “This is absolutely just a scene from the opening of a disaster movie about earthquakes, right?”

Chinese terracotta warriors in secret tomb unearthed...

Archaeologists have made an astounding discovered around the secret tomb of China’s first emperor built more than 2000 years ago.

Researchers uncover ‘lost’ Terracotta warriors in secret tomb

Jona Jaupi

The US Sun, Feb 10, 2022

Researchers have unearthed more than 20 Terracotta warriors built to ‘protect’ China’s first Emperor, according to a new report.

China’s ancient Terracotta Army just grew larger by nearly two dozen sculpted warriors this past Friday, The US Sun reports.

Archaeologists excavated the new trove of soldiers about a mile northeast of the mausoleum of China’s first Emperor Qin Shi Huang, located in the Lintong District of Xi’an.

The latest soldiers were uncovered in “Pit One” of the Terracotta army, and are mostly considered to be in good condition, according to the China Global Television Network (CGTN).

The set of sculpted figures features a general statue with elaborate headgear and a middle-ranking army officer statue.

The painted pottery figures – some of which are in pieces – are currently undergoing a common restoration process, according to Live Science.

The newly uncovered trove in Pit One is thought to be of significance to researchers as it may help them gain insight into military arrangements and practices from that time.

Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 B.C. to 210 B.C.), who unified China in 221 B.C., is thought to have had an army of around 8000 Terracotta soldiers created.

Researchers believe the ancient Chinese emperor had the soldiers built to protect him in the afterlife.

To date, archaeologists have uncovered about 2000 life-size soldier statues.

Many of the warriors have also been uncovered with weapons such as crossbows, spears, and swords.

The Terracotta Army site was first unearthed by researchers in 1974 and has been frequently been dubbed the world’s eighth ancient wonder.

Super plastic stronger than steel invented!

Superb innovation!!

MIT scientists create a super plastic that’s 2 times stronger than steel
And yes, it should be recyclable, too.
By Mark Wilson
FAST Company, Feb 7, 2022

Plastic has a bad rap. Yes, society has handled it incorrectly, as corporations pump out one-time-use products that end up in our oceans. But as a material unto itself, plastic is wondrous: light, strong, moldable. Plastic enabled the development of airplanes and electronics. And it takes very little energy to produce, unlike glass or steel.

Which is why new research out of MIT, which was just published in the esteemed journal Nature (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04296-3), is so exciting. The team developed an entirely new form of plastic dubbed 2DPA-1. It’s two times stronger than steel under load tests, with just one-sixth the material bulk. It’s capable of conducting electricity and blocking gas. Ultimately, the material has implications for everything from how we build the gadgets we hold in our hands to the buildings we live in, because the patents behind 2DPA-1 are already being licensed by private companies.

To understand why 2DPA-1 is so advanced, I called up Michael Strano, an MIT chemical engineering professor and lead author on the paper, who offered a quick chemistry lesson.

When you look at polymers—aka plastics—at a molecular scale, you’ll see a mess of squiggly molecules that he likens to spaghetti. Unto themselves, these squiggles have strength. The gaps between them are what’s weak. Those gaps are a breaking point, but they also are porous, allowing gas through. They’re why you can smell a hint of last night’s dinner through a ziplock plastic bag.

“Think of a plate of spaghetti: The sauce goes deep inside,” Strano says.

2DPA-1, on the other hand, arranges its polymers as flat discs rather than 3D spaghetti. Laid out like a one-molecule-thick sheet of paper, these discs link to one another with the strongest molecule-to-molecule bond in nature: the hydrogen bond. But you don’t need to really understand the science to appreciate Strano’s air quotes comparison: It’s “2D Kevlar,” he says. Kevlar, 2DPA-1’s chemical cousin, is best known for its use in bulletproof vests.

However, 2DPA-1’s mechanical properties are only exciting because the material is also relatively practical to produce. To anyone who follows materials science closely, the ultra-strong 2DPA-1 might sound a lot like graphene, another headline-grabbing, two-dimensional material that showcases impossible-sounding traits. But graphene’s limitations are in scaling the material out of the lab. With few exceptions, it’s generated in high temperature ovens—we’re talking about temperatures that can run 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit—directly onto the surface of an object.

“It’s not a way to produce bulk materials,” Strano says. “[With 2DPA-1] you put it in a beaker at room temperature and we can make kilograms of this stuff.” In other words, the conditions you need to make 2DPA-1 is similar to making most other plastics. You just need to start with a monomer (in this case, Strano used melamine as found in dishes) and add some chemical solvents to make thin sheets of 2DPA-1.

You can theoretically stack these sheets over and over to make ultra-light and strong building materials that would put steel to shame. You can roll them up into tiny tubes, then mix them into other plastics to make composites like carbon fiber (which Strano’s team has already demonstrated). But the most immediate commercial implications for 2DPA-1 are as a barrier coating, according to Strano.

We paint everything from our cars to our homes to prevent oxidation, the rust and rot that happens when a material bonds with the oxygen in our air. But because 2DPA-1 can block gasses, “it turns out to be a very good barrier,” Strano says. Those barriers might be sold in the forms of paints or industrial coatings. They might also make their way into formulations for products like ziplock-style bags, which Strano notes could use far less material, more effectively, with 2DPA-1.

In other words, better plastic might allow us to use less plastic for some of the same products. Strano also notes that, since the molecularly similar Kevlar is recyclable, 2DPA-1 should be as well. Which is why, on the horizon, I could see two simultaneous futures for the plastic industry. In one lane, we have super strong plastics (like 2DPA-1) for permanent uses like buildings, that can outperform materials like steel while reducing their carbon footprint. In the other lane, we have other types of naturally sourced ultra-compostable plastics, which we can throw away without the guilt.

Fusion reactor generates clean power...

A MACHINE that generates clean power with temperatures hotter than the sun could solve the world’s energy crisis.

Machine that generates clean power by replicating our sun hailed as answer to energy crisis

Chris Pollard
The US SUN, Feb 9 2022

The Back To The Future-style fusion reactor runs purely on seawater and involves no harmful waste.

The latest trials resulted in the process producing 59 megajoules of sustained energy — enough to boil 60 kettles over five seconds.

That is more than double what was achieved in similar tests in 1997.

Experts believe the reactor will mean the end of the need to rely on oil and gas.

It is also being heralded as the answer to combating climate change.

Scientists at the Joint European Torus (JET) laboratory, based near Oxford, have been working since the 1980s on the process.

Unlike a nuclear power station, which splits atoms, this system squeezes together two forms of hydrogen — deuterium and tritium — until they fuse.

The process is similar to how the sun creates energy.

It mirrors the Mr Fusion generator that powers Marty McFly’s flying DeLorean time-machine in the Back To The Future movies, though that one was fueled by garbage.

Professor Ian Chapman, boss of UK Atomic Energy Authority which is leading the project, said: “Fusion is the root source of the power of the sun. We have been trying for a long time to recreate that power.

“This machine is an experiment but we are very close to proving it can work on a bigger scale. Fusion is a massive part of our battle against climate change and creates virtually carbon-free power.”

He explained a bath full of water contains enough energy to supply one person’s power needs for life.

The JET fusion reactor heats its fuel to about 150 million degrees — around ten times hotter than the sun. It is encased in 2½m thick concrete because of the neutrons it emits. Because it is so hot, the fuel cannot touch anything in the reactor, so it is levitated by magnets.

Prof Chapman added: “What we see in the reactor is a pink-ish ball of ethereal, sparkling energy floating in mid-air — quite magical.”

He claimed the reactor could help the world reach its Net Zero target by 2050 — if properly funded.

He said: “We’re aiming at 2040 for a prototype but things can be accelerated.”

Science minister George Freeman said: “We know how urgently we need sustainable energy. This is a part of the answer.

“These extraordinary scientists have demonstrated that fusion power is not just legitimate, it is within grasp.”