Blast doors

I remember descending deep into the Kyiv subway, passing thick blast doors that were built to withstand a nuclear attack according to Lonely Planet. Deep down, many stations had impressive murals like the one above. It is sad to imagine how these stations have now become shelters for hundreds of thousands of people.

Yesterday, Russia heightened the alert level for its nuclear forces in an obvious attempt to scare the West. To me, it is already sufficiently frightening that Russian nuclear doctrine sees nuclear weapons as a possible way of “de-escalating” a conflict. Still, for all their recklessness, the Russian political elite should have some basic interest in their own survival that will keep them away from the abyss. Having lived next to North Korea, this MAD state of nuclear psychosis feels all too familiar.

Meanwhile, in Germany, even Robert Habeck and the Greens seem to have some second thoughts about shutting down nuclear, saying that “there are no taboos”, in response to the current crisis. Unfortunately, my instinct tells me that they are far more likely to prolong the use of coal and that they will simply continue to deepen their fossil dependency by building more and more intermittent renewable energy. Yesterday, Elin asked me if Russian hydrocarbon dependency would not make people more willing to consider nuclear energy. I guess that is true for some people in the political middle but, judging from the environmental politics mailing lists that I am on, tribal identity still trumps any rational considerations.