Originally published at: Ukraine: Russians destroyed dam, creating ecological and humanitarian disaster | Boing Boing
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The dam being sabotaged is also going to affect a nuclear plant that is in the area
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so sick of this shit.
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Heard someone saying the other day, “The only way Russia wins in Ukraine is if Trump is re-elected.”
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Unlikely. The plant has been all but shut down for quite a while now and the available water will be sufficient to cool for the foreseeable future.
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Fortunately, the immediate risk is low. Five of Zaporizhzhia’s nuclear reactors are in a cold shutdown and don’t need cooling; the sixth is in a ‘hot shutdown’ in that it is not generating useful amounts of power, but still requires some cooling. The big reservoir outside the plant is full and can supply water to the condensers for that reactor. If things go badly astray, the plant can also draw cooling water from boreholes.
In the long-term though, yes this is going to be a huge blow to restoring the plant to full operation (assuming it ever can, being dependent on Russian spares and nuclear fuel). Not forgetting of course all the work that will need to go into restoring flood defences, river margins and the natural environment along the Dnipro.
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Of what? The propagandist spin of the “get all my news from the headlines” title? It hasn’t been established yet who is responsible. Both sides have threatened this with Uke marginally more likely to benefit.
I’m sick of the bulk of humanity having to suffer for the egos of fucking dictators… I’m sick of fascists. I’m sick of people not giving a shit who fucking suffers. I’m sick of leaders who use their positions to line their fucking pockets at the expense of real human beings. I’m sick of environmental degradation and people having to flee their homes to keep themselves and their families safe. I’m sick of both-siderism that seeks to show how “both sides are bad” and how we need to sit and patiently listen to fascists. I’m sick people who are supposed to on the left dismissing the role Russia played in starting this fucking conflict.
Yes, I’m sure that the Ukrainian government engineered this to stick to old, kindly, misunderstood pooty-poot… A totally likely scenario… I mean, it’s possible, but given the facts we have on hand about this war, about how Putin has conducted it, about his generally aggressive stance and lack of care about civilian population in Ukraine (who he claims to be “saving”) what do YOU think is the most likely scenario? Why should we believe ANYTHING that Putin says, even if we have some skepticism of the Ukraine government? Do you REALLY think, that whatever failings the west might have, that Putin is worth giving the benefit of the doubt? 
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I’m guessing here, but I’d think the the “hot shutdown” is really to ensure that they can bring one reactor up to kickstart the others. Starting from a cold shutdown is hard if there’s insufficient power available. (Also why complete blackouts in power systems are nightmares that take weeks to fix)
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Logically, you see more value in Ukraine damaging its own infrastructure and risking the lives of their own civilians just so they can have a media headline to make Putin look bad? How is that at all a justifiable waste of important operational resources? They’re in the middle of a war, not an election. Media spin is vastly secondary to ground realities.
After a laundry list of atrocities, I doubt 1.) that it makes any difference in people’s perception of Russia, and 2.) that it’s any real departure from Russia’s standard operation.
It’s deeply weird to be able to jump to that conclusion.
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Well, clearly, they’ve been the real problem this whole time! I mean, it’s obvious that Putin had to invade for their own good! /s
It seems to me that, even with all the means of spinning shit available to the post-modern dictator, it’s still difficult to cover up the violence aimed at Ukraine and her people. It’s just not gonna work, when we can see the cost of the war on Ukraine, and it seems highly unlikely to me that anyone would actively choose to destroy their own country and people, just to “make Putin look bad” or whatever the hell reason the dirtbag left is gonna give for how this was REALLY Ukraine who did this… What is it, Occam’s razor?
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Oh come on. Every single thing Russia has said about this war has been a lie. Every. Single. Thing. You’re really gonna both-sides this one? 
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But what about Russia’s long history of truthful, fact-based reporting to its own citizens? Why would anyone doubt their narrative?
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But… but… America did an imperialism!!! /s
I think the thing people don’t get, is that yeah, there are lots of things we can lay at the feet of the US - but not a god damn one of them justifies what Putin has done here. None of them. America doesn’t have clean hands, and anyone claiming that we do is dense or is ignorant of history (most likely, intentionally) … but that doesn’t justify this kind of shit. We can hold two ideas in our heads at once. Both that the US isn’t always the good guy, and that opposing the US doesn’t make one the good guy… this is not difficult for people to wrap their heads around and I wonder about the leftists who keep claiming that any and all “resistance” to the US is “justified” whatever the costs to the lives of real people… or that because the US is an imperial power, no one else is… well, I call bullshit.
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That’s my understanding too.
Pointless wars.
The rise of fascism in society.
Humankind’s inhumanity to humans.
Miserable hatemongers who have no viable ideas, only complaints.
Tired as fuck of this shitty-ass, stupid timeline…
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When did Ukraine threaten to blow up the dam?
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So, the dam the Russians were KNOWN to have been mining and were called out for the potential catastrophe that would cause, and that the Russians also warned was in danger of failing due to flood… has now failed… and the Russians who mined the damn and warned of flooding… are blaming Ukraine?
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What rock have you been staying under in the last few years? Please stop watching FoxNews.
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