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This Happened

This Happened - March 28: Three Mile Island Meltdown

On this day in 1979, a nuclear reactor at the Three Mile Island power plant in Pennsylvania experienced a partial meltdown due to a combination of equipment malfunctions, operator errors, and design flaws. As a result, radioactive gas was released into the environment, and the plant had to be shut down permanently.


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What was the reaction to the Three Mile Island accident?

The Three Mile Island accident was a significant event in the history of nuclear power, and it led to increased public concern about the safety of nuclear energy. Many people in the surrounding area were evacuated, and there were protests and public debates about nuclear power in the months and years that followed.

What were the consequences of Three Mile Island on the nuclear industry?

The Three Mile Island accident led to increased scrutiny of nuclear power plants and stricter regulations on safety procedures. Many people became more skeptical of the nuclear industry, and it became more difficult to build new nuclear power plants in the United States.

Has anything like the Three Mile Island accident happened since then?

There have been other nuclear accidents around the world, including the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in 2011. However, the Three Mile Island accident remains one of the most significant nuclear accidents in history, both in terms of its impact on public opinion and its long-term consequences for the nuclear industry.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

The Real Purpose Of The Moscow Drone Strike? A Decoy For Ukraine's Counterattack

Putin is hesitant to mobilize troops for political reasons. And the Ukrainian military command is well aware that the key to a successful offensive lies in creating new front lines, where Russia will have to relocate troops from Ukraine and thus weaken the existing front.

The Real Purpose Of The Moscow Drone Strike? A Decoy For Ukraine's Counterattack

Police officers stand in front of an apartment block hit by a drone in Moscow.

Anna Akage

-Analysis-

On the night of May 30, military drones attacked the Russian capital. There were no casualties – just broken windows and minor damage to homes. Ukraine claims it had nothing to do with the attack, and it is instead the frenzied artificial intelligence of military machines that do not understand why they are sent to Kyiv.

While the Ukrainian president’s office jokes that someone in Russia has again been smoking somewhere they shouldn’t, analysts are placing bets on the real reasons for the Moscow strikes. Many believe that Kyiv's real military target can by no means be the capital of Russia itself: it is too far from the front and too well defended – and strikes on Russia, at least with Western weapons, run counter to Ukraine’s agreements with allies, who have said that their weapons cannot be used to attack inside Russia.

If the goal is not directly military, maybe it is psychological: to scare the residents of the capital, who live in a parallel reality and have no idea how life feels for Ukrainian civilians. Forcing people to live with this reality could push the Kremlin to retreat, or at least make concessions and negotiate with Kyiv. If neither sanctions nor the elite could sober Vladimir Putin up, could angry Muscovites?

But neither Russia's military command nor its political leadership depends on the opinion of citizens. And there are enough special forces in Moscow to crush any mass protest.

Laying bare Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inability to guarantee his country's security, in front of Russia’s remaining international partners or among the country’s elites, is also an unlikely goal. The Russian army has already seen such embarrassing failures that a few drone strikes on the Kremlin can’t possibly change how Putin is seen as a leader, or Russia as a state. So why would Kyiv launch attacks on Moscow?

Let's go back to the date of the shelling: May 29 is Kyiv Day, a holiday in the Ukrainian capital. It was also the 16th attack on Kyiv in May alone, unprecedented in its scale, even compared to the winter months when Russia had still hoped to cut off Ukrainian electricity and leave Kyiv residents, or even the whole country, freezing in the dark.

The backdrop: the Ukrainian counter-offensive to liberate the occupied territories, which is in the works, if not already launched.

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