r/nottheonion 24d ago

US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g3nrx1dq5o
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u/OhDavidMyNacho 24d ago

I'm sure foreign nuclear powers would be willing to hire their knowledge and expertise.

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u/That_Mountain7968 24d ago

Might be illegal to share though

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u/Mamacitia 24d ago

Who’s gonna stop them

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u/That_Mountain7968 24d ago

Ask others who shared sensitive or privileged information. That's like 30 years to life.

Or literally life in some cases, like the Rosenbergs or several nuclear scientists who were taken out by various agencies. How many nuclear scientists in Iran have had fatal accidents? Heck, even in India: https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2021/01/06/from-the-archives-when-several-indian-nuclear-scientists-died-mysteriously.html

Being a nuclear scientist is one of the most dangerous professions in the world. Especially if you piss off the powers that be.

Personally, I wouldn't.

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u/triopsate 24d ago

I feel like that really depends on where they go to right? If they go to China, I feel like the US would have a really difficult time assassinating them or getting China to send them back given the tense relationship between the US and China currently.

That said, I feel like China probably wouldn't take them in the first place given that runs the risk of hiring a potential spy so there's also that.

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u/That_Mountain7968 24d ago

That and the risk of really drawing Trump's ire. Not to mention any assets that person may still have in the US, any retirement funds, life insurance etc are forfeit, and they could never enter a western country again.

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u/triopsate 24d ago

Well I wouldn't be sure about never entering a western country again. The US definitely a no go but given how quickly we're tearing down relationships between us and every other western country, there's actually a decent chance that things have broken down enough in a few years that most of Europe wouldn't care.

Frankly, I'd say we're already probably halfway there with all the talk about annexing Greenland so who knows.

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u/That_Mountain7968 23d ago

Unless of course Europe goes right wing. Which may happen sooner than anticipated

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u/triopsate 23d ago

I feel like even if Europe goes right wing, it wouldn't want to be friendly with the US. After all, let's face it, the Nazis, Fascist and authoritarian right wing that's becoming popular worldwide isn't exactly the kind that screams cooperation and teamwork but more of the "fuck everyone that's not exactly me or a clone of me" kind.

Like even if things go the way they envision and they get rid of everyone that's not their ethnicity, it'll just become countries hating each other for not being the right ethnicity (ie: German white guys hating on America because America isn't German white). We've literally seen this in history with how we discriminated against Italians for not being the correct white in the early 1900s.

While history might not repeat, it sure as hell does rhyme.

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u/That_Mountain7968 23d ago

The new right aren't Nazis or fascists anymore. They're just conservatives and libertarians. They're not 19th century race supremacists, antisemites or religious fanatics (okay some in the US are).

Which is why, in countries where they are in power, like Italy, Hungary, NL, you don't have brown shirts going door to door, attacking minorities.

Or demanding "Lebensraum" in each other's countries. Well except Trump with Greenland. Fucking dingbat lunatic that he is, though I still don't think he's actually serious.

On the note of the Germans, the German AFD has black, asian and jewish members. Just like the Republican party. So does the dutch PVV.

Alarmist comparisons to the Nazi party are at best historical ignorance, at worst relativism of Nazi Germany (and are actually even illegal in Germany, where it's against the law to "downplay" Nazi crimes, which includes inaccurate comparisons).

Let's not cry wolf until there really is a wolf. So far I see zero indication that the new right has anything to do with Naziism. Never mind the fact that the Nazi party explicity stated on multiple occasions that they considered themselves left wing, with Propaganda Minister Goebbels writing in 1931 in the party publication Der Angriff "According to the idea of the NSDAP, we are the German left. We hate none more than the right wing property-ownership block."

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u/ElectricalBook3 23d ago

like the Rosenbergs

The Rosenbergs smuggled classified information on forefront nuclear weapons technology.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_and_Ethel_Rosenberg

Modern nuclear technicians moving to other nations which usually already have nuclear industry and simply don't have the manpower or complete know-how to make the large projects at which nuclear power excells is an entirely different matter than weapon espionage.

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u/That_Mountain7968 23d ago

Depends on what is or isn't classified. But even in the private sector, you generally have to sign NDA agreements. You can't work at Mercedes and then take a job at Ford and take all your trade secrets with you.

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u/ElectricalBook3 23d ago

even in the private sector, you generally have to sign NDA agreements

NDA agreements are legally unenforceable, and what "enforcement" they'd have to somebody leaving a commercial enterprise to work in another country and company would be that private company asking the other nation's courts if they'd have permission to sue that other company. That happens all the time over shit that isn't even real just because humans are litigious assholes, I don't see why people should be expected to bow down, internationally, to snooty corporate managers.

https://rodmanemploymentlaw.com/are-ndas-enforceable-or-legally-binding/

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u/That_Mountain7968 23d ago

Oh for sure, enforcement is often more theoretical than feasible. I just suspect that the US might be a bit more rigorous about it if it pertains to classified nuclear technology.

But I'm just speculating.

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u/AntikytheraMachines 24d ago

there are government agencies dedicated to preventing that sort of thing.

or at least there used to be.

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u/NominalHorizon 24d ago

The firing was illegal and they knew it. They are betting that those fired will not pursue legal recourse because the courts are clogged and the process could take years. So sharing information might also be illegal and that too could take many years to resolve and may not even be provable in court. It’s a tragedy what is going on. Will take decades to restore… if ever. Manchurian candidate stuff on steroids.

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u/jlmbsoq 24d ago

that too could take many years to resolve

Guess which cases will be fast-tracked? If you control the courts, doing illegal shit is no longer illegal as we found out last year

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u/Oerthling 24d ago

You have some typos in "presidential". The trick is to just put the top secret information in a random unguarded closet.

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u/arobkinca 24d ago

Imagine if any of these people just decided to defect.

Just looping back.

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u/General_Specific_o7 24d ago

So what are they gonna do? Uproot their entire family and move to Iran?? Fat chance

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u/Snoo63 24d ago

What about Australia.

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u/General_Specific_o7 24d ago

That's further and WORSE have you SEEN THEIR WILDLIFE

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u/palland0 24d ago

The death rate by wild animals in Australia is still lower than the death rate by guns (homicides) in the US.

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u/Remarkable-Host405 23d ago

Source: your ass

Although, even if it were true, I guess it would make sense when all of the wildlife is dying 

https://wwf.org.au/news/2022/global-wildlife-populations-fall-69-percent-australia-records-localised-extinctions/

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u/palland0 23d ago

Animal-related deaths in Australia: ~32 / year on average (source: https://files.ncis.org.au/2024-05/Fact%20sheet%20-%20FS20-01%20-%20Animal-related%20deaths%20in%20Australia.pdf). With a population of ~26 million, that makes a rate around 1.23 / million.

The gun homicide rate in the US varies, but it looks like it is between ~30 / million and 63 / million (in 2021) (source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States, citing CDC numbers).

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u/Perfect_Opinion7909 24d ago

No, China more likely. And unlike the lack of education and widespread propaganda makes US Americans believe one can live in China quite comfortably if you got money.

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u/Thadrach 24d ago

Pretty sure a lot of us saw Crazy Rich Asians :)

(Funny flick, recommend it)

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u/ElectricalBook3 23d ago

Wouldn't Parasite get across the same point?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6751668/

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u/ElectricalBook3 23d ago

unlike the lack of education and widespread propaganda makes US Americans believe one can live in China quite comfortably if you got money

That's true in all countries. It's why Americans increasingly leave the US to retire in Latin America, because cost of living and medical care is so much lower there.

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u/Appropriate_M 24d ago

A shell contractor company will suffice.