The Nuclear Plant Caught in the Middle of Ukraine and Russian Fighting

Good morning and welcome to the News Diet where I’ll give you daily news bites in under 10 minutes. Today I’m gonna talk about the nuclear power plant caught in middle of the Ukraine/Russia conflict, and also the whistleblower accusing Twitter of negligence and fraud. Let’s be informed so we can get on with our day.

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Europe’s largest nuclear plant is located in southern Ukraine, and so this means it’s close to the ongoing fighting, which understandably makes people and residents around the world nervous that the close shelling could cause a wider issue should any rockets strike the plant. The Zaporizhzhya plant is currently occupied by Russian forces, yet is still operated by and managed by Ukrainian workers now under their control, and the claim is is that they’re launching weapons from the site and then using the facilities as a shield from Ukrainian return fire. This claim is causing foreign officials, particularly in Europe, to call for a formal demilitarized zone, to be agreed upon by both sides. And leaders of the US, France, Germany, and Britain have called for the UN atomic energy agency to be allowed to visit the building. Russia is claiming that its strikes are in response to Ukrainian fire. In other words, both sides are placing the blame on the other. 

The possibility of a nuclear leak is of course concerning for any society, but especially Ukrainians, who dealt with the massive Chernobyl nuclear disaster 35 years ago in 1986. So of course they’re looking to prevent another incident. However, some experts have pointed out that there’s no incentive for either side to allow an accident to happen. A nuclear leak would negatively affect both Ukraine and Russia as nuclear pollution could extend way beyond just this region . So one theory is that while both sides likely genuinely want to prevent a leak, that the real strategy here could be to move the plants power grid from the Ukrainians to the Russians, which would allow them to move the energy away from Ukraine and Europe and give them full control of the supply.

Regardless, officials are hoping to create some kind of agreement between the two countries, to designate the area around the plant as a no-war zone to prevent a nuclear accident.

https://www.vox.com/2022/8/20/23314161/ukraines-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-plant-russia-united-nations

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/its-like-sitting-powder-keg-say-people-near-ukraine-nuclear-plant-2022-08-22/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/area-around-ukraine-zaporizhzhya-nuclear-plant-hit-again-despite-us-pleas/

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The former security lead of Twitter, is revealing what he says is major security weaknesses and possibly even fraud occurring within the company. The ex-employee is Peiter Zatko and he’s a renowned former hacker turned security expert who’s also worked for Google as well as the Department of Defense. He was hired by Twitter in 2020 after a massive hack rattled the company. And in his short time there, Pieter claims that he tried to warn the leadership about how little they were prepared for a potential data center failure. He also sent a complaint revealing that the Indian government had forced Twitter to hire government agents who then had access to internal data, as well as a US official warning about foreign intelligence operatives working as employees. In fact, just this month a former employee was convicted of spying on behalf of Saudi Arabia. Not long after starting the job and Zatko was fired, which was explained by a Twitter spokesperson as being because of poor performance.

So on July 6, Zatko filed a complaint with the SEC, FTC, and Justice Department where he revealed all this and also accused Twitter executives of lying to the agencies about combating bad actors as well as lying to Elon Musk when he was trying to buy Twitter. Musk has since been trying to back out of the deal, also claiming that the platform is being dishonest about it’s efforts to combat bot users. So these whistleblowers' claims could actually help back up Musk’s case. You see Twitter is currently trying to prevent Musk from backing out of the deal, claiming he’s only doing so because of the market downturn since his initial offer of $44 billion. Already, Musk’s lawyers have already subpoenaed Zatko.

Twitter has been under hot water in the past for similar privacy reasons. Back in 2019, the company was forced to pay $5 billion for violating a previous settlement. Zatko’s complaints are likely to ignite an investigation from the agencies that, should they determine merit, result in more fines or even regulation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/23/technology/twitter-whistleblower-security.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/09/technology/twitter-saudi-arabia-spying-ahmad-abouammo.html

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/23/tech/twitter-whistleblower-elon-musk-deal/index.html 

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You’ve just been informed so now it’s time to get on with your day. I’m Michele Carroll. Thanks so much for listening.

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#ukraine
#russia
#nuclear

Welcome to The News Diet.
Hosted by Michele Carroll.