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How the U.S. betrayed the Marshall Islands, kindling the next nuclear disaster

latimes.com

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Re: How the U.S. betrayed the Marshall Islands, kindling the next nuclear disaster

#31

Post by LatteLazy »

julienfr112 wrote: post #13
LatteLazy wrote: post #12

Technically this waste became the problem of the Marshall Islands when they became independent in 1979. That was the time to negotiate with the US about the remaining waste. This is similar to how Chernobyl is a Ukrainian issue. That said, the islanders still have a lot of options. As a free and independent nation, they own the waste with all it's problems BUT also with all it's advantages. Call the Iranians, the Nor…

we had exactly the same idea ...

Lol, great minds!

It does amaze me when these things come up. It's like everyone wants to avoid paying the bill (I understand that). But if no one pays, the problem will be vastly more than the cost of the bill. So why don't people just sigh and say "we'll pay our share if the EU and China agree to contribute the same"!? Given the tininess of the sums compared to the budgets of the groups involved, its not rocket science.

I was amazed more countries were not willing to contribute to replacing the Chernobyl sarcophagus. If it starts leaking, everyone is will lost 100s of billions, but a few billion is too much to avoid that!?

Re: How the U.S. betrayed the Marshall Islands, kindling the next nuclear disaster

#32

Post by tonyarkles »

LatteLazy wrote: post #28
adventured wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Dig it up, and threaten to leave it / break it on a place where currents flow towards continental United States. Declaring war on the United States with a threat of intentional nuclear warfare against its population would be a particularly bad idea. That'll get your sovereignty revoked very quickly via military occupation. The response to what I said of course is: yeah but the US is doing a bad thing. That's correc…

Well that's fine too: the US will then need to deal with it's new colony's nuclear waste legacy! "Oh no, we lost and got everything we needed!" :) Isn't there an old film where a small island declares independence from the US, declares war on the US and then surrenders after 5 minutes to get aid? (Edited because I think it's actually colony's not colonies)

> Isn't there an old film where a small island declares independence from the US, declares war on the US and then surrenders after 5 minutes to get aid?

I feel like it was an episode/arc in The West Wing.

Re: How the U.S. betrayed the Marshall Islands, kindling the next nuclear disaster

#33

Post by vectorEQ »

mirimir wrote: post #18
svara wrote: post #9

This is terrifying and so sad. Here they're talking about plans to resettle the displaced local population back to the location of a nuclear bomb test: """ U.S. government documents from the time show that officials weighed the potential hazards of radiation exposure against “the current low morale of the natives” and a “risk of an onset of indolence.” Ultimately they decided to go forward with the resettlement so re…

Back in the 40s-60s, the AEC was also cool with radiation exposure testing on US troops, poor Black people, prisoners, etc. Edit: Plus Japanese, of course. And, arguably, the entire US population.

that makes it so much better... These scientists knew exactly what they were doing and what the fallout would be. They just chose to dump the large part on some foreign place and continue to this day to lie and deceive these peoples. not to say they were the only one. but it's sick, and that's it. nothing else to it. They should by now in 2019 know better and respond better.

Re: How the U.S. betrayed the Marshall Islands, kindling the next nuclear disaster

#34

Post by pjc50 »

gdy wrote: post #20
skrebbel wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It took me a long time to realize this, but now I recognize that which I think most of my fellow Europeans already know: yes, you're the baddies (I knew that already), but you're the best baddies of the baddies available. Our other options are to associate with eg China or Russia, and between those the US, even with people like Trump at the wheel, is splendid. Naturally, I think that the US should do a much bigger ef…

"Our other options are to associate with eg China or Russia, and between those the US, even with people like Trump at the wheel, is splendid." Russia has done nothing even remotely comparable to what the US has done in Middle East: after the second Iraq war the country still hasn't recovered, Libya is a mess, Syria is a mess, ISIS was a horror. After all that calling the US splendid compared to Russia is bizarre. May…

Russian treatment of Chechnya is comparable.

Re: How the U.S. betrayed the Marshall Islands, kindling the next nuclear disaster

#35

Post by cmrdporcupine »

elfexec wrote: post #10
cyberferret wrote: post #2

Why is it, when reading this article, all I can picture is that meme of the SS officer saying "Wait a minute... Are WE the baddies?". I am starting to interpret a lot of things I took for granted in my younger years with a different viewpoint, and I am increasingly horrified when I do, as the perceptions I've always had that most Western countries are the benevolent benefactors is tainted by stories such as this, whi…

> most Western countries are the benevolent benefactors Did you miss out on the world events of the past 500 years? It has been 500 years of war, genocide, rape and theft by the west on the rest of the world. I don't recall anyone using benevolence to describe what happened in the past 500 years. There isn't an ounce of benevolence in the west or east or south or north or wherever. Human beings are brutes. This isn't…

Not sure why you're getting downvoted. North America started with the deliberate genocide of its indigenous population -- who by recent estimates numbered in the millions -- continued to brutal enslavement of Africans and then proceeded to project imperial control over the rest of the hemisphere in the 19th century, then the world in the 20th century.

Re: How the U.S. betrayed the Marshall Islands, kindling the next nuclear disaster

#36

Post by dm3730 »

fiendlygenus wrote: post #3
cyberferret wrote: post #2

Why is it, when reading this article, all I can picture is that meme of the SS officer saying "Wait a minute... Are WE the baddies?". I am starting to interpret a lot of things I took for granted in my younger years with a different viewpoint, and I am increasingly horrified when I do, as the perceptions I've always had that most Western countries are the benevolent benefactors is tainted by stories such as this, whi…

Recall that as they say, "history is written by the victors." The victors tend to whitewash what they do.

[flagged]

Re: How the U.S. betrayed the Marshall Islands, kindling the next nuclear disaster

#37

Post by Spooky23 »

gdy wrote: post #20
skrebbel wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It took me a long time to realize this, but now I recognize that which I think most of my fellow Europeans already know: yes, you're the baddies (I knew that already), but you're the best baddies of the baddies available. Our other options are to associate with eg China or Russia, and between those the US, even with people like Trump at the wheel, is splendid. Naturally, I think that the US should do a much bigger ef…

"Our other options are to associate with eg China or Russia, and between those the US, even with people like Trump at the wheel, is splendid." Russia has done nothing even remotely comparable to what the US has done in Middle East: after the second Iraq war the country still hasn't recovered, Libya is a mess, Syria is a mess, ISIS was a horror. After all that calling the US splendid compared to Russia is bizarre. May…

I hear Grozny is lovely this time of year.

Re: How the U.S. betrayed the Marshall Islands, kindling the next nuclear disaster

#38

Post by dgoldstein0 »

gdy wrote: post #20
skrebbel wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It took me a long time to realize this, but now I recognize that which I think most of my fellow Europeans already know: yes, you're the baddies (I knew that already), but you're the best baddies of the baddies available. Our other options are to associate with eg China or Russia, and between those the US, even with people like Trump at the wheel, is splendid. Naturally, I think that the US should do a much bigger ef…

"Our other options are to associate with eg China or Russia, and between those the US, even with people like Trump at the wheel, is splendid." Russia has done nothing even remotely comparable to what the US has done in Middle East: after the second Iraq war the country still hasn't recovered, Libya is a mess, Syria is a mess, ISIS was a horror. After all that calling the US splendid compared to Russia is bizarre. May…

Russia backed Assad in Syria, who attacked his own citizens with chemical weapons. Their main strategy was to target the moderate anti government factions, so the longer the war went on, the less attractive options were available for backing anti government groups.

And let's not forget about Russian meddling in Ukraine, and annexing Crimea.

Probably not the only stuff they've done, but it's what comes to mind.

Re: How the U.S. betrayed the Marshall Islands, kindling the next nuclear disaster

#39

Post by cvshepherd »

elfexec wrote: post #10
cyberferret wrote: post #2

Why is it, when reading this article, all I can picture is that meme of the SS officer saying "Wait a minute... Are WE the baddies?". I am starting to interpret a lot of things I took for granted in my younger years with a different viewpoint, and I am increasingly horrified when I do, as the perceptions I've always had that most Western countries are the benevolent benefactors is tainted by stories such as this, whi…

> most Western countries are the benevolent benefactors Did you miss out on the world events of the past 500 years? It has been 500 years of war, genocide, rape and theft by the west on the rest of the world. I don't recall anyone using benevolence to describe what happened in the past 500 years. There isn't an ounce of benevolence in the west or east or south or north or wherever. Human beings are brutes. This isn't…

it's been really sad to see the trend of downvoting things that hurt people's feelings carry over to hacker news.
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