Word: nuclearization
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Europe used to be the good cop with Iran, engaging with the regime on tricky issues like its nuclear program while the bad cop, the U.S., rasped that Tehran was part of an "axis of evil." But the European Union's moderating stance has done it few favors in the wake of last month's disputed Iranian elections. On Wednesday, Iran's military chief of staff, Major General Hassan Firouz-Abadi, accused the E.U. of "interference in the postelection riots." He said that, as a result, the E.U. had "lost its qualification" to hold talks on Iran's controversial nuclear...
...History has taught groups that represent people who have been exposed to radiation during French nuclear tests to be wary of any movement on the topic - and that suspicion remained strong going into Tuesday's vote. Despite its passage, Morin's text is only the latest of 18 similar plans introduced since 2002 that have outlined compensation for people exposed to the blasts. All of those previous plans eventually petered out. This time, Morin has minimized the number of victims he says will be covered by his bill as "several hundred" - an optimistic estimation, experts say, given...
...That's one reason veterans' groups remain on their guard. While they call France's official acknowledgment of responsibility for the consequences of nuclear testing a major breakthrough, they warn that the number of victims will reach into the tens of thousands or more. Because of that, they say Morin's initial compensation fund of $14 million will probably have to be increased to nearly $100 million. Those groups also argue that the commission to hear radiation claims - which will be composed of a judge and eight doctors - should also include veteran representatives. "The past has shown us that experts...
...Exposure Compensation Act of 1990, which has approved over $1.38 billion in health-care or damages payments so far. That could have the unintended benefit of increasing the pressure on Britain to drop its long-standing refusal to compensate people who claim they were radiated during the U.K.'s nuclear testing from 1952 to 1991. The eventual passage of the French bill will leave London as the only Western nuclear power without an official body to hear such cases...
...British High Court ruling earlier this month has already given around 1,000 veterans of the country's nuclear testing program the go-ahead to sue the government for radiation-linked illnesses. However, any of those cases that may eventually triumph in court will take years to hear and presumably even longer to wind through the appeals process - a stall tactic that French veterans have long accused France of employing. But with French nuclear-testing victims finally having some success in getting their state to do the right thing, their British peers might just pick up some useful tactics...