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The Oder disaster: Everything in flux

2022-08-17T15:35:35.120Z


Did German authorities also fail in the Oder disaster? How does Trump's fiercest Republican opponent take revenge on Trump? And what danger does Europe's largest nuclear power plant pose? This is the situation on Wednesday evening.


1.

Or later

Is the brackish water alga Prymnesium parvum the culprit?

Researchers discovered them in the Oder, they could have triggered the fish kill.

Apparently, the alga was able to proliferate due to the increased salt content in the river.

(More on this here.)

A water ecologist told the dpa news agency that it still has to be proven whether the algae really produced toxins.

However, the toxin of the algae is harmless to humans.

For the expert there is a clear connection between the introduction of salt and the development of algae.

He personally doesn't believe in an accident, he said.

[M|

THE MIRROR;

Photo: Frank Hammerschmidt / dpa

The Brandenburg state government also assumes that the great fish kill in the Oder is not only due to natural causes.

"We can safely rule that out, otherwise the high pH values ​​and the increased oxygen content and much more would not explain themselves," said Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke - and renewed his criticism of the Polish authorities.

He was "deeply disappointed" to have been informed so late.

The Brandenburg Environment Agency also registered at the beginning of August that the water of the Oder was changing, as my colleagues Philipp Kollenbroich and Hannes Schrader and my colleague Julia Merlot report.

But the authorities did nothing - although masses of dead fish were found in Poland.

"German politicians were quick to blame Poland," says Philipp.

»But apparently neither the early warning system nor the crisis management worked here.

Once again, Germany does not seem up to a major catastrophe.«

  • Read the whole story here: This reading should have alerted the Environment Agency 

2.

The Trump cult

“We must stand up and defend our democracy.

I will continue to do everything I can to prevent Donald Trump from ever coming near the Oval Office again.” Who said it?

No, not leftist US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

No, not even Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi.

The quote comes from Liz Cheney, once the third most important Republican in the US Congress, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, actually an arch-conservative politician, as they used to set the tone for Republicans.

(Here in the video.)

Enlarge image

Liz Cheney

Photo: Jae C Hong/AP

Now her own party is punishing her.

Cheney lost the congressional primary in her home constituency of Wyoming.

She will not be able to stand again in the upcoming elections to the US House of Representatives in November and will lose her mandate.

A candidate loyal to Trump is campaigning instead.

“Cheney's sin from Trump's point of view,” reports my colleague Roland Nelles from Washington: “She dared to break away from him and his cult;

Like few others in her party, she has denounced Trump's lie about the stolen presidential election.

In addition, in Washington, as co-chair of the committee investigating the January 6 storming of the Capitol, she is instrumental in proving Trump's various criminal offenses and breaches of his oath of office.

Again it shows that large parts of the Republicans have let themselves be hijacked by Trump, have left the field to his cronies and claqueurs - and are copying his methods.

They keep opening up new fronts in the Kulturkampf, for example against supposedly »woke« corporations.

Influential Republicans are now even agitating against big banks like Goldman Sachs because they want to invest less in coal and oil, as my colleague Alexander Demling from San Francisco reports.

West Virginia's Republican Treasury Secretary put five financial firms on a sanctions list so they would no longer receive government contracts.

(More on this here.)

Like a cult, many Republicans immunize themselves against reality.

The most important belief: the lie about the stolen 2020 election. Anyone who does not share it, or even publicly contradicts it, is quickly considered a traitor.

Like Liz Cheney now.

But she doesn't want to back down, on the contrary: she is considering a presidential candidacy.

  • Read the full story here: Their defeat is Trump's triumph 

3.

The contested nuclear power plant

The largest nuclear power plant in Europe under fire - such and similar reports have been read and heard again and again in the past few days.

Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the shelling.

One thing is clear: Russian troops are occupying the plant in Zaporizhia;

in the past few days projectiles have hit the substation, several transformers and radiation measuring stations have been destroyed.

The emergency generators of a block jumped on, it is said.

"The fear of an accident is growing," reports my colleague Julia Merlot from our science department.

Enlarge image

Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in March 2022

Photo: Konstantin Mihalchevskiy / IMAGO

Julia spoke to an expert about what such an accident could look like, how likely it is and what the consequences would be.

The least worrying result of their research: The worst-case scenario, namely damage to the reactor pressure vessel of a running plant, is also the most improbable.

In the process, “large amounts of radioactivity would be carried into the atmosphere under pressure and distributed widely,” writes Julia.

The shell made of concrete and steel, built according to the onion principle, should prevent that.

The rather worrying results of their research: Other scenarios are less improbable, such as a power failure in the nuclear power plant, which would result in the cooling of the fuel rods failing and core meltdown could occur.

"But even in this case there is still a safety device that could hopefully prevent a really big catastrophe," says Julia.

  • Read more here: Three options for the Gau

And here is more news and background information on the war in Ukraine:

  • Guterres, Selenskyj and Erdoğan talk – also about peace?

    Turkey was already able to mediate in matters of grain shipment.

    A meeting with the UN Secretary General in Lviv is now about trade, the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant - and possibly diplomatic ways out of the war.

  • If necessary, Wissing wants to give preference to coal wagons over passenger transport:

    In order to ensure the supply even when water levels are low, Transport Minister Wissing wants to give preference to coal transport by rail in cases of doubt.

    Passenger trains would then have to wait.

  • Why an offensive in the south is risky - but not without chance:

    Explosions in Crimea indicate that Ukrainian troops are increasingly attacking in the south.

    A large maneuver is hardly possible against the overwhelming Russian military - but a partisan fight is.

  • Find all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine here: The News Update

(Would you like to receive the "Situation in the evening" conveniently by e-mail in your inbox? Here you can order the daily briefing as a newsletter.)

What else is important today

  • The Office for the Protection of the Constitution expects more Russian propaganda and espionage:

    The Office for the Protection of the Constitution considers a “hot autumn” to be unlikely.

    But the authority warns against acts of sabotage by left-wing extremists and attempts to intimidate right-wingers - with support from Moscow.

  • EU rejects VAT exemption – but proposes alternatives:

    Finance Minister Christian Lindner wanted to exempt the controversial gas surcharge from VAT, but the EU Commission is against it.

    But now she is promising other relief.

  • Federal elections may have to be repeated in 440 Berlin electoral districts:

    In Berlin, the federal elections in September 2021 were chaotic.

    A new vote in around 440 voting districts in the capital is becoming more and more likely after a draft resolution from a commission.

What we recommend at SPIEGEL+ today

  • Why the Chancellor remained silent:

    A visit with consequences: The President of the Palestinians draws crude Holocaust comparisons in the Chancellery, Olaf Scholz misses his mission - and the government spokesman takes it upon himself.

    what happened there? 

  • The chancellor and the revealing protocol:

    New details prove: Olaf Scholz is spreading contradictory information about an important meeting with a banker in the cum-ex affair.

    And top officials hinder investigators' investigative work.

  • "The risk of a severe course of Covid is often underestimated":

    Why is the corona drug Paxlovid not used more often in Germany?

    The Düsseldorf infectiologist Torsten Feldt explains who the drug is suitable for - and why many doctors hesitate unnecessarily.

  • The comeback of the sky striker:

    Sprinter Gina Lückenkemper made little progress for four years.

    Now she dived in Munich for the European Championship title - regardless of losses.

Which is less important today

Enlarge image

Photo: Horst Galuschka / picture alliance / dpa

At the end of the talk

:

Frank Plasberg, 65,

is giving up the moderation of "Hart aber fair" at the end of November after more than 20 years, as the West German radio announced.

The actor and journalist Louis Klamroth, 32, who played in "The Miracle of Bern" as a child and last year at ProSieben through the "Bundestag Election Show" should take over.

Plasberg, who is still the host, can be quoted as follows: "When you've been traveling with a show for so long, you also want it to develop further."

Typo of the day

, now corrected: »press conference miz Abbas«

Cartoon of the day:

Small gestures

And tonight?

Could you follow my colleague Lars-Olav Beier's recommendation and watch one of Wolfgang Petersen's great films.

Either, of course, »Das Boot«: »The best submarine film ever made, gripping, rousing, not a second too long.« Or »In the Line of Fire«: »An almost perfect thriller and one of the best films with Clint Eastwood in this genre.«

It was announced yesterday that the “blockbuster captain” Petersen, as Lars-Olav calls him, died of cancer last Friday (you can find an obituary here ).

A colleague promptly asked for a “best of” with quotes for executives, right at the front: “Everything that’s in it” and “The boat has to be able to handle that.”

I'll show up here again tomorrow.

Have a nice evening, Yours


sincerely ,


Oliver Trenkamp

Here you can order the »Situation in the Evening« by e-mail.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-08-17

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