Bruce Gagnon interviewed by David Swanson on the Talk Nation Radio show

[bananas]

http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2012/06/talk-nation-radio.html

Wednesday, June 20, 2012
TALK NATION RADIO



(embedded audio player)

29 minute radio interview of me by David Swanson on his Talk Nation show. The show is syndicated by Pacifica Network.

On his web site David wrote: Bruce Gagnon describes U.S. and NATO plans in the works to militarily surround and threaten both Russia and China. Gagnon is co-founder and coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space at www.space4peace.org. He's the author of Come Together Right Now, and of a chapter in The Military Industrial Complex at 50.

posted by Bruce K. Gagnon

The audio file can be downloaded from archive.org in mp3 or ogg format: http://archive.org/details/TalkNationRadioBruceGagnonOnU.s.AggressionTowardRussiaAndChina

In the interview, Bruce Gagnon explains the energy issues involved in this military strategy.

He also discussed his arrest at Jeju Island and why it's an environmental issue as well as a peace issue.

For those unfamiliar with the situation at Jeju, here's an article about it:

http://www.alternet.org/environment/153045/trouble_in_paradise%3A_the_militarisation_of_jeju_island

IPS News / By John Feffer

Trouble in Paradise: The Militarisation of Jeju Island

Will South Korea's environmental jewel be transformed from a favorite honeymoon destination into a massive naval base?

November 11, 2011

The South Korean government has been campaigning to have its southern island of Jeju recognised as one of the seven new wonders of nature. A favourite honeymoon spot in Asia and an official "island of peace", Jeju already boasts several UNESCO World Natural Heritage sites.

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Activists have cited potential environmental damage and the destruction of priceless archaeological ruins as reasons to halt the construction. The South Korean government has said that 15-20 percent of the base construction has already been completed.

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The Federation of American Scientists is also opposed to using nuclear energy in earth orbit for environmental reasons:

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2011/06/space_nuclear_power.html

Fifty Years of Space Nuclear Power
June 28th, 2011 by Steven Aftergood

Fifty years ago this week, on June 29, 1961, an electrical generator driven by nuclear energy was launched into space for the first time.

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Unfortunately, the plutonium 238 power sources that are used to power these missions are not only expensive, they are dirty and dangerous to produce and to launch. The first launch accident (pdf) involving an RTG occurred as early as 1964 and distributed 17,000 curies of plutonium-238 around the globe, a 4% increase in the total environmental burden (measured in curies) from all plutonium isotopes (mostly fallout from atmospheric nuclear weapons testing).

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A good deal of effort has been invested to make today’s RTGs more or less impervious to the most likely launch accident scenarios. But they will be never be perfectly safe. In order to minimize the health and safety risks involved in space nuclear power while still taking advantage of the benefits it can offer for space exploration, the Federation of American Scientists years ago proposed (pdf) that nuclear power — both plutonium-fueled RTGs and uranium-fueled reactors — be used only for deep space missions and not in Earth orbit.

Although this proposal was never officially adopted, it represents the de facto policy of spacefaring nations today.

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