From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) TAKE N-WEAPONS OFF ALERT FOR Y2K: FAX YELTSIN, CLINTON NOW Date: 01 Sep 1999 15:55:04 +1000 APPEAL: THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE IN THE WORLD BETWEEN NOW AND DECEMBER31 =46AX YELTSIN, CLINTON TO TAKE N-WEAPONS OFF ALERT OVER Y2K NOW. SIGN THE NUKE WEAPONS DE-ALERTING LETTER TO YELTSIN/CLINTON (TEXT at http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html to sign email nonukes@foesyd.org.au) PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, +7-095-205-4330, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, +1-202-456-2461, Dear All, You will be getting many messages of this kind because this is possibly the most important single issue that can ever come your way between now and the next year. =46ollowing this appeal there are two sample letters, one from FOE Australia and one from Bob Tiller of PSR USA. I urge you to act on them. The fax campaign starts Sept 1, TODAY! I am writing to urge you to fax Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton from today onwards to take strategic nuclear weapons off alert before December, and to ask that the de- alerting of strategic nuclear weapons be discussed at the coming September 21 meeting of the G8. Also if you are an organisation or a 'prominent' person, please sign the big sign - on letter to Yeltsin and Clinton. It's already been faxed a few times, and will be faxed again and again as it grows before December. The text is on the website at http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html To sign email THIS ADRESS. (nonukes@foesyd.org.au) This is of absolutely vital importance. Getting 5000 nuclear missiles off alert status before the Y2k bug plays havoc with their command and control systems is just about the most important thing anyone can possibly do. Arguably there is simply no other issue this important between now and December/January. It might be literally a matter of survival. Can you get this appeal and the two sample letters out to your networks as fast as you can and ask them to fax it immediately? If people wish to customise from the two letters that is best. It's important I think, to get it out as fast as possible. Please use the fax numbers I have provided. The numbers here work. I've just checked them. If they (especially Yeltsins one) seem not to work be patient. I tries it just now, got busy then weird type telecommunication noises, then a fax tone. Be patient. Keep trying. if they take these numbers out of operation I will supply others but not until I am sure.) Try and get everyone you know to do it. If you are a large organisation please try and get all your members to do it= =2E Many thanks and may the fax gremlins smile on you! John Hallam. DRAFT MODEL LETTER TO YELTSIN AND CLINTON FOR GLOBAL FAX CAMPAIGN STARTING SEPTEMBER 1 PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, +7-095-205-4330, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, +1-202-456-2461, Dear Presidents Yeltsin, and Clinton, I am writing to you to convey my extreme concern over the possibility that Y2K -related problems in the computerised command, control, and monitoring systems of nuclear forces and weapon systems, may give rise to an unacceptable risk of accidental nuclear war, as a result of incorrect data and miscalculation. I therefore urge you to solve the problem by taking your nuclear forces off alert, or by standing them down. I ask that standing down nuclear forces in view of the problems posed by the 'Millennium Bug', be a matter for urgent priority discussions at the G8 Summit in Berlin on Sept 21. As well asY2K considerations, taking nuclear weapons off alert will increase strategic stability and confidence, and eliminate the possibility of accidental nuclear war. I would remind you that your two countries have some 5000 strategic nuclear weapons that are able to be fired within a time span of 15-30 minutes. This must never happen. Should it do so, not only would your two countries cease to exist, but it is entirely possible that human life and maybe all life life on the planet, could be terminated. Any risk of this happening at any time, Y2K or otherwise, no matter how small, is unacceptable. However, the Y2K problem adds another layer of uncertainty to the risk that already exists. Taking nuclear forces off alert was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons in 1996, and a number of resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly have urged that it be done. Taking nuclear weapons off alert and placing them in a state in which hours to days rather than minutes or seconds would be required to make them launch ready, would effectively eliminate the risk of accidental nuclear war due to the Y2K computer problem. It would also make impossible the many non-Y2K related problems that have many times brought us to within minutes of a possible nuclear exchange. De-Alerting will cost you nothing, and can be done by a simple executive order to stand down nuclear forces. The UK has already altered its 'notice to fire' from minutes to days. We/I urge you to do likewise. The stakes involved far outweigh any considerations of national pride, national interest, or even national security. Indeed, the immediate stakes are so high, and the potential for global catastrophe so clear that mutually verified de- alerting must now take precedence over all other considerations. Signed... etc >------------------------------------------- >Dear Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton: > >The Cold War ended years ago, but the nuclear danger endures, menacing >us all. Thousands of nuclear weapons remain on high-alert in the United >States and Russia. Although both countries have announced their >"de-targeting" of the other, that step is virtually meaningless when >both countries keep their weapons on alert and maintain a >launch-on-warning posture. > >Keeping nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert does not add to the >security of either nation; indeed it makes all of us less secure. You >are well aware of the various occasions when Russia and the U.S. came >close to launching nuclear weapons because of misunderstanding or poor >data. Removing the weapons from hair-trigger alert would eliminate the >risk of hasty reaction. > >Therefore I urge you to lessen the nuclear danger by removing all >nuclear weapons from high-alert. This can be accomplished in a matter >of weeks without treaty negotiation or ratification. > >This approach has worked before. In 1991 President George Bush took the >bold step of removing hundreds of U.S. nuclear weapons from high-alert >status, and in response Mikhail Gorbachev did the same with hundreds of >Soviet weapons. Now we need similar courageous leadership to finish the >process that they started. > >De-alerting takes on added urgency this year. When January 1, 2000 >arrives, no one will know if all of the Y2K computer problems have been >fixed. Why court disaster by having nuclear warheads on hair-trigger >alert when we do not know how the computers in the nuclear system will >function? > >Last year the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a >resolution which calls on the nuclear weapons states to de-alert their >weapons. It is wise counsel. For the sake of our children and >grandchildren, please de-alert all nuclear weapons now. > >Sincerely, John Hallam =46riends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, =46ax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) GLOBAL FAX CAMPAIGN RE NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND Y2K Date: 01 Sep 1999 20:35:21 +1000 John Hallam =46riends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, =46ax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html EMBARGOED TO 2/SEPT. 1999 =46RIENDS OF THE EARTH/AUSTRALIAN PEACE COMMITTEE GLOBAL Y2K N-WEAPONS FAX CAMPAIGN The 'Go Codes' were today sent out to commence a global fax campaign aimed at persuading the presidents of the US and Russia to take strategic nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period. The campaign commences at the same time as there is mounting concern over the effect of Y2K glitches on nuclear reactors in the US, Japan and Russia, and as reports surfaced in New Zealand media that 14 of Australia's =46remantle class patrol boats had been unable to deal with the rollover of the Global Positioning System (GPS). According to campaign coordinator John Hallam, "There has been an astonishing global response both to the call for a campaign to fax presidents Yeltsin and Clinton asking them to take nuke weapons off hairtrigger alert over the y2K rollover period, and to the sign- on letter to the two presidents, which we will be faxing repeatedly before December." "It doesn't take great genius to understand that having 5500 nuclear weapons (3,500 in Russia and 2000 in the US) capable of being launched within roughly 15/30 minutes, and controlled to a large extent by the largest, oldest, and least Y2K compliant computer systems in the world is not safe." "Obviously, the US and Russia are taking some steps to remedy the situation, and the joint strategic stability centre in Colorado is helpful. However, it is less than reassuring that it is only scheduled to commence operation on 27December, and the Russians have threatened several times on account of Kossovo, to pull out of it. What if there is a four-day delay in the schedule?" According to Irene Gale(AM) of the Australian Peace Committee "There is one failsafe and sure way to ensure that planetary catastrophe simply cannot happen and that is to take all nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert. The UK has already made a start by changing the 'notice to fire' on its submarine force from seconds to days. The US and Russia should follow that example." "Unless they do, then even if we manage to get through the Y2K bump, there will still be the possibility hanging like a sword of damocles over the whole planet that one day in a time of crisis, someone, somewhere, will believe false warning signals produced by a malfunctioning piece of hardware or software in Siberia or North Dakota, and make a miscalculation that could, ultimately, set back the process of evolution by roughly two billion years. This is a game of Russian Roulette with the whole planet that just cannot be allowed." Meanwhile, a monster sign on letter to Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton has generated more than 350 organisational signatures, ranging from members of the European Parliament and Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand MPs, to development groups in Nicaragua, to Russian peace groups to US congresspeople Edward Markey and Cynthia mc Kinney, to Leichhardt, Waverley, Darebin, Salisbury, Uralla, Richmond Rivers and Mitcham local governments. Contact: John Hallam, (02)9517-3903, h9810-2598, Irene Gale, (APC) 08-8364-2291 - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) INSERTING THE GO-CODES FOR THE GLOBAL FAX CAMPAIGN Date: 01 Sep 1999 20:57:04 +1000 John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html Dear Rob, Katie, Marion, Vladimir, Alice, Bob Tiller, Bill Santlemann, Rennie Drielsma, Yukio, Paul Swann and all, It's an unmitigated pleasure to insert the 'go codes' sometimes!. At least, on a global fax campaign to ensure that if the go codes ever do get inserted, absolutely nothing happens! The 'fax now' as distinct from the 'fax on Sept 1' alert went out earlier today, for the global fax campaign. I don't anticipate huge media for this, but put it out anyway. In other developments: The total sign ons for the 'Bill and Boris' letter are now at more than 350 and still growing. However I have yet to crack the big celebrity barrier. I tried the Dalai Lama yesterday but his fax machine kept on cutting out. He does not have an email. (or i can't get it). I have also faxed Tutu to no avail. David Cortright signed on. A number of local governments have signed on. A further (much stronger) resolution is happening tomorrow in the Senate but I think that Dorling will torpedo it, in spite of getting faxed and phoned from all around the country (and not once from me). A whole heap of parliamentary questions are happening. (esp on the patrol boats, Rob!) WCP and CND UK are faxing as are IPPNW-Berlin, PSR, PGS, TVC, GRACE, Operation de-Alert, Global Response, Y2K-WASH, and other folk from Kamchatka to Nicaragua. Many thanks to all the wonderful people and organisations who are doing this. There is never enough of us. And one small detail which I hardly dare mention: I need $2000 to keep on doing this, to pay FOE's fax bill. Other folk are talking about up to $200,000 but I need just $2,000. But this is not an ambit claim. I really do need $2,000. There are some people I can only reach by fax, and I cannot run to a friendly politician every time I need to make an ISD fax. EMBARGOED TO 2/SEPT. 1999 FRIENDS OF THE EARTH/AUSTRALIAN PEACE COMMITTEE GLOBAL Y2K N-WEAPONS FAX CAMPAIGN The 'Go Codes' were today sent out to commence a global fax campaign aimed at persuading the presidents of the US and Russia to take strategic nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period. The campaign commences at the same time as there is mounting concern over the effect of Y2K glitches on nuclear reactors in the US, Japan and Russia, and as reports surfaced in New Zealand media that 14 of Australia's Fremantle class patrol boats had been unable to deal with the rollover of the Global Positioning System (GPS). According to campaign coordinator John Hallam, "There has been an astonishing global response both to the call for a campaign to fax presidents Yeltsin and Clinton asking them to take nuke weapons off hairtrigger alert over the y2K rollover period, and to the sign- on letter to the two presidents, which we will be faxing repeatedly before December." "It doesn't take great genius to understand that having 5500 nuclear weapons (3,500 in Russia and 2000 in the US) capable of being launched within roughly 15/30 minutes, and controlled to a large extent by the largest, oldest, and least Y2K compliant computer systems in the world is not safe." "Obviously, the US and Russia are taking some steps to remedy the situation, and the joint strategic stability centre in Colorado is helpful. However, it is less than reassuring that it is only scheduled to commence operation on 27December, and the Russians have threatened several times on account of Kossovo, to pull out of it. What if there is a four-day delay in the schedule?" According to Irene Gale(AM) of the Australian Peace Committee "There is one failsafe and sure way to ensure that planetary catastrophe simply cannot happen and that is to take all nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert. The UK has already made a start by changing the 'notice to fire' on its submarine force from seconds to days. The US and Russia should follow that example." "Unless they do, then even if we manage to get through the Y2K bump, there will still be the possibility hanging like a sword of damocles over the whole planet that one day in a time of crisis, someone, somewhere, will believe false warning signals produced by a malfunctioning piece of hardware or software in Siberia or North Dakota, and make a miscalculation that could, ultimately, set back the process of evolution by roughly two billion years. This is a game of Russian Roulette with the whole planet that just cannot be allowed." Meanwhile, a monster sign on letter to Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton has generated more than 350 organisational signatures, ranging from members of the European Parliament and Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand MPs, to development groups in Nicaragua, to Russian peace groups to US congresspeople Edward Markey and Cynthia mc Kinney, to Leichhardt, Waverley, Darebin, Salisbury, Uralla, Richmond Rivers and Mitcham local governments. Contact: John Hallam, (02)9517-3903, h9810-2598, Irene Gale, (APC) 08-8364-2291 - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ellen Thomas Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Invitation to the October Meeting of the Date: 01 Sep 1999 15:52:32 -0400 Happily, I plan to be at the October gathering in Ann Arbor. Alan and Odile Haber have my heartiest thanks for facilitating this. I look forward to discussion about current legislation -- what it is, what needs to be done, who will do it. Thanks for putting me on the registrant's list for any and all events. It will be great to see everyone again! Ellen Thomas PROPOSITION ONE COMMITTEE P.O. Box 27217, Washington, DC 20038 USA 202-462-0757 (phone) | 202-265-5389 (fax) http://prop1.org | prop1@prop1.org - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Timothy Bruening Subject: (abolition-usa) A Celebration Of Life Party Date: 02 Sep 1999 01:33:39 -0700 (PDT) In December, I am planning to invite some friends to my house for a Celebration Of Life party. How should I word the invitation? - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Timothy Bruening Subject: (abolition-usa) Nuclear War Contigency Plans Date: 02 Sep 1999 01:33:40 -0700 (PDT) If a small nuclear war erupts anywhere in the world as a result of the Y2K bug or just plain nationalism, what contingency plans does the Abolition 2000 movement have? Does it have press releases all ready to be released in case of a small nuclear war? I ask because I believe that a small nuclear war would create an unprecedented opportunity to mobilize public opinion against nuclear weapons, but I fear that the hawks would use a small nuclear war to argue that we need a Stars Wars system to defend against nuclear weapons, so I believe that the Abolition 2000 movement needs to be able to dominate the public debate before the hawks move in. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: marylia@earthlink.net (marylia) Subject: (abolition-usa) NIF: $300 Million Cost Overrun Date: 02 Sep 1999 09:10:40 -0700 (PDT) Hello peace and environmental advocates: This is a very important story on the National Ignition Facility's cost overrun and schedule slippage. It provides key information not yet reported in the major newspapers. Please note that Tri-Valley CAREs is calling for a Congressional investigation. Plus, I am still digging. There will be even more to come! In the meantime, enjoy... Lab Laser: $300 Million Cost Overrun? by Marylia Kelley from Tri-Valley CAREs' September 1999 newsletter, Citizen's Watch Last week, Mike Campbell resigned his position as Associate Director for Lasers at Livermore Laboratory. As A.D., Campbell had been head of the Laser Directorate, including the $1.2 billion National Ignition Facility. Lab Director Bruce Tarter issued a press statement on Friday claiming Campbell had stepped down for personal reasons. Along with that announcement, Lab management immediately began leaking information to the press that Campbell had not received a Ph.D. from Princeton, as he had claimed. That fact was widely reported in the media. End of story? Or, titillating red herring? Tri-Valley CAREs began conducting interviews last week with senior scientific staffers at the three major nuclear weapons laboratories, Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia. Knowledgeable, long-time employees at all three of the labs said the real reason for the "shake up" is that the nuclear fusion-based NIF, being built at Livermore Lab, is $300 million over budget and one year behind schedule. We were told NIF is mired in scientific and technical difficulties that Livermore Lab and its parent agency, the Dept. of Energy, are trying to hide from Congress and the public. There are three "show stopper" areas where NIF is rapidly falling behind schedule and incurring cost overruns-$300 million and rising, employees say. * Target fabrication - This refers to the design and manufacture of the cryogenic (frozen) balls containing the radioactive fuel that NIF's 192 laser beams are supposed to compress uniformly and instantly to achieve the temperatures and other phenomena found in the later stages of an exploding nuclear weapon. * Diagnostics - This is the sophisticated array of equipment that is required to provide a highly accurate record of what goes on in a NIF target "shot." These results are to be fed into the nuclear weapons codes, the software that is central to nuclear weapons design. * Glass development and delivery - This refers to the refinement and manufacture of exceedingly complex optics, special lenses and crystals that comprise the basis for NIF - which is a glass laser. No glass means no laser. In essence, Livermore Lab officials have been spending the money as fast as they get it, but have failed to accomplish the milestones those funds were supposed to achieve. Employees say the Lab has attempted to hide the overrun by pulling target fabrication, diagnostics and glass delivery out of NIF's "project" budget. That's how, say staffers, Mike Campbell justified standing on stage at the target chamber dedication in June boasting NIF was "on budget." Just missing a few key ingredients, that's all. Very Clintonesque. Since all those things will need to be purchased, Livermore Lab and the DOE management plan to rob money from other programs at Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia labs to make up for the overrun, say scientists. NIF is the 800 pound gorilla poised and ready to squash many smaller, more worthy projects. NIF's technical difficulties have also caused its completion date to slip by 12 months, say sources close to the program. While Lab and DOE officials are still saying publicly that NIF will be on line in 2003, several months ago the projected start date was secretly bumped backed to 2004, they say. NIF is, at best, half-built (according to the Lab's assessment). That it could be this far over budget and behind schedule is indicative of a program in deep trouble, and one whose management insisted on plunging full speed ahead before key scientific problems were resolved. A $300 million cost overrun is particularly astonishing when one considers that NIF's construction estimates have nearly doubled, from $677 million to $1.2 billion. How could NIF garner such huge budget increases and still incur an overrun on top of that? Tri-Valley CAREs is calling for a Congressional inquiry into NIF spending. Top Lab and DOE management should be forced to come clean now, before any new checks are cashed. NIF's overall budget for fiscal year 2000, which starts on October 1, contains nearly half a billion dollars. Congress should not risk throwing good money out after bad. Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 - is our web site, please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) THE MOST IMORTANT FAX YOU MIGHT EVER MAKE Date: 03 Sep 1999 15:57:03 +1000 APPEAL: THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE IN THE WORLD BETWEEN NOW AND DECEMBER31 =46AX YELTSIN, CLINTON TO TAKE N-WEAPONS OFF ALERT OVER Y2K NOW. SIGN THE NUKE WEAPONS DE-ALERTING LETTER TO YELTSIN/CLINTON (TEXT at http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html to sign email nonukes@foesyd.org.au) PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, +7-095-205-4330, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, +1-202-456-2461, Dear All, You will be getting many messages of this kind because this is possibly the most important single issue that can ever come your way between now and the next year. =46ollowing this appeal there are two sample letters, one from FOE Australia and one from Bob Tiller of PSR USA. I urge you to act on them. The fax campaign started Sept 1. IFyou or your organisation has not yet faxed Yeltsin and or Clinton, do it in the next few days. I am writing to urge you to fax Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton from now onwards to take strategic nuclear weapons off alert before December, and to ask that the de- alerting of strategic nuclear weapons be discussed at the coming September 21 meeting of the G8. Also if you are an organisation or a 'prominent' person, please sign the big sign - on letter to Yeltsin and Clinton. It's already been faxed a few times, and will be faxed again and again as it grows before December. The text is on the website at http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html To sign email THIS ADRESS. (nonukes@foesyd.org.au) This is of absolutely vital importance. Getting 5000 nuclear missiles off alert status before the Y2k bug plays havoc with their command and control systems is just about the most important thing anyone can possibly do. Arguably there is simply no other issue this important between now and December/January. It might be literally a matter of survival. Please use the fax numbers I have provided. The numbers here work. I've just checked them. If they (especially Yeltsins one) seem not to work be patient. Keep trying. If they take these numbers out of operation I will supply others but not until I am sure. Try and get everyone you know to do it. If you are a large organisation please try and get all your members to do it. Include it in your newsletters. Many thanks and may the fax gremlins smile on you! John Hallam. DRAFT MODEL LETTER TO YELTSIN AND CLINTON FOR GLOBAL FAX CAMPAIGN STARTING SEPTEMBER 1 PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, +7-095-205-4330, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, +1-202-456-2461, Dear Presidents Yeltsin, and Clinton, I am writing to you to convey my extreme concern over the possibility that Y2K -related problems in the computerised command, control, and monitoring systems of nuclear forces and weapon systems, may give rise to an unacceptable risk of accidental nuclear war, as a result of incorrect data and miscalculation. I therefore urge you to solve the problem by taking your nuclear forces off alert, or by standing them down. I ask that standing down nuclear forces in view of the problems posed by the 'Millennium Bug', be a matter for urgent priority discussions at the G8 Summit in Berlin on Sept 21. As well asY2K considerations, taking nuclear weapons off alert will increase strategic stability and confidence, and eliminate the possibility of accidental nuclear war. I would remind you that your two countries have some 5000 strategic nuclear weapons that are able to be fired within a time span of 15-30 minutes. This must never happen. Should it do so, not only would your two countries cease to exist, but it is entirely possible that human life and maybe all life life on the planet, could be terminated. Any risk of this happening at any time, Y2K or otherwise, no matter how small, is unacceptable. However, the Y2K problem adds another layer of uncertainty to the risk that already exists. Taking nuclear forces off alert was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons in 1996, and a number of resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly have urged that it be done. Taking nuclear weapons off alert and placing them in a state in which hours to days rather than minutes or seconds would be required to make them launch ready, would effectively eliminate the risk of accidental nuclear war due to the Y2K computer problem. It would also make impossible the many non-Y2K related problems that have many times brought us to within minutes of a possible nuclear exchange. De-Alerting will cost you nothing, and can be done by a simple executive order to stand down nuclear forces. The UK has already altered its 'notice to fire' from minutes to days. We/I urge you to do likewise. The stakes involved far outweigh any considerations of national pride, national interest, or even national security. Indeed, the immediate stakes are so high, and the potential for global catastrophe so clear that mutually verified de- alerting must now take precedence over all other considerations. Signed... etc >------------------------------------------- >Dear Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton: > >The Cold War ended years ago, but the nuclear danger endures, menacing >us all. Thousands of nuclear weapons remain on high-alert in the United >States and Russia. Although both countries have announced their >"de-targeting" of the other, that step is virtually meaningless when >both countries keep their weapons on alert and maintain a >launch-on-warning posture. > >Keeping nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert does not add to the >security of either nation; indeed it makes all of us less secure. You >are well aware of the various occasions when Russia and the U.S. came >close to launching nuclear weapons because of misunderstanding or poor >data. Removing the weapons from hair-trigger alert would eliminate the >risk of hasty reaction. > >Therefore I urge you to lessen the nuclear danger by removing all >nuclear weapons from high-alert. This can be accomplished in a matter >of weeks without treaty negotiation or ratification. > >This approach has worked before. In 1991 President George Bush took the >bold step of removing hundreds of U.S. nuclear weapons from high-alert >status, and in response Mikhail Gorbachev did the same with hundreds of >Soviet weapons. Now we need similar courageous leadership to finish the >process that they started. > >De-alerting takes on added urgency this year. When January 1, 2000 >arrives, no one will know if all of the Y2K computer problems have been >fixed. Why court disaster by having nuclear warheads on hair-trigger >alert when we do not know how the computers in the nuclear system will >function? > >Last year the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a >resolution which calls on the nuclear weapons states to de-alert their >weapons. It is wise counsel. For the sake of our children and >grandchildren, please de-alert all nuclear weapons now. > >Sincerely, John Hallam =46riends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, =46ax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bob Tiller Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Nuclear War Contigency Plans Date: 03 Sep 1999 16:55:56 -0400 There can be no such thing as "a small nuclear war." It is a mistaken idea, a false construct, and we should not be using it. Shalom, Bob Tiller Timothy Bruening wrote: > If a small nuclear war erupts anywhere in the world as a result of the Y2K > bug or just plain nationalism, what contingency plans does the Abolition > 2000 movement have? Does it have press releases all ready to be released in > case of a small nuclear war? > > I ask because I believe that a small nuclear war would create an > unprecedented opportunity to mobilize public opinion against nuclear > weapons, but I fear that the hawks would use a small nuclear war to argue > that we need a Stars Wars system to defend against nuclear weapons, so I > believe that the Abolition 2000 movement needs to be able to dominate the > public debate before the hawks move in. > > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Hisham Zerriffi Subject: (abolition-usa) BEIR VII letter and press release Date: 03 Sep 1999 17:09:55 -0400 Dear Friends: Here is the press release and final version of the letter delivered by IEER to the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR VII). IEER Letterhead FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For further information contact: Arjun Makhijani or Lisa Ledwidge: 301-270-5500 PRESS RELEASE 70+ Signers Urge National Academy Panel to Study Genetic and Birth Defects as Radiation Risks Washington, DC, Sept. 3, 1999. More than 70 organizations and individuals from around the world today called on a new National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel being set up to study the impacts of low-level radiation exposure to consider a wide range of potential health effects including birth defects and genetic damage in its deliberations. In a letter to the NAS Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR VII), the signers said =93It is important that the BEIR VII process address the full range of risks that have not been conclusively evaluated so far. This should include risks that have come to light since the BEIR V report (such as the combined effects of radiation and hormonally-active agents, also called endocrine disrupters) as well as issues that could have been addressed in BEIR V, but were not.=94 Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER), handed the letter to the Committee for consideration on behalf of the signatories. =93The issue of the health effects of radiation is far more complex than the range of effects evaluated in the last BEIR committee report,=94 said Dr. Arjun Makhijani. =93Moreover, some of the data, such as US worker dose data, used in radiatio= n studies is suspect or seriously flawed. It is crucial that the committee consider data integrity and quality questions and not accept results of studies only because they have been published in peer-reviewed journals.=94 =93We have compiled a list of some of the most crucial issues that we believ= e you should address, like radiation's effects on the development of ova, which are formed once per lifetime during females' fetal development,=94 sai= d Lisa Ledwidge, Outreach Coordinator of IEER. =93We also are requesting that the committee publish and update frequently a list of the publications that it is reviewing so that the public may be able to follow the review and add to that list as needed.=94 The letter makes some highly specific suggestions for research. David Close, a professor of physics at East Tennessee State University who specializes in the effects of radiation on DNA, noted that when radioactive atoms, such as those of carbon-14, become part of the DNA, they change the chemical composition of that piece of DNA when they decay. =93Carbon-14 becomes nitrogen-14 when it decays,=94 said Dr. Close. =93We need to know whether the genetic change that results from such a transmutation in the DNA can produce adverse health effects, and if so what these health effects are.=94 IEER requested that the committee treat the issues in the letter with the same seriousness had a member of the committee raised them. --30-- **************************************************************************** ************** IEER Letterhead September 3, 1999 Richard R. Monson M.D., Chair c/o Rick Jostes, Staff Officer Committee on the Health Risks from Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR VII) National Academy of Sciences 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20418 Dear Dr. Monson, We are writing in connection with your committee's work on assessing the effects of low-level radiation in the form of the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR) VII review.=20 We are pleased that the BEIR VII Committee has set out to "consider a large amount of published data =85 concerning the risks to humans of exposure to low levels of ionizing radiation" (BEIR VII Project Scope). We expect that, as part of this work, the Committee will examine conflicting evidence and interpretations in the process of identifying biological effects and risk factors. We look forward to following closely the Committee's deliberations throughout this important process and to participating in= them. The work of past BEIR Committees has been influential in setting the tone and terms of the scientific debate on the issue and in the radiation standard-setting process. Therefore, we believe it is crucial that the full range of information and issues regarding the health effects of ionizing radiation be considered. The BEIR V report considered only risks of cancer, some aspects of genetic damage (though it did not estimate risks of =93diseases of complex genetic origin, which are thought to comprise the largest category of genetically-related diseases,=94 p. 4) and mental retardation arising from in-utero exposure. It is important that the BEIR VII process address the full range of risks that have not been conclusively evaluated so far. This should include risks that have come to light since the BEIR V report (such as the combined effects of radiation and hormonally-active agents, also called endocrine disrupters) as well as issues that could have been addressed in BEIR V, but were not. We have compiled a list of some of the most crucial issues that we believe you should address. These issues are as follows: *Effects of radionuclides that cross the placenta: This should include consideration of the effects on the developing fetus itself (e.g. miscarriages, malformations, and developmental effects other than mental retardation) and the effects on relevant organs at critical periods of fetal development. This study of health effects on the developing fetus should specifically include effects on development of specific organs, and the indirect effects of harm to organs such as the thyroid. We are especially concerned about radionuclides such as iodine-131, carbon-14, and tritium that could become part of the fetus in ways that could profoundly affect its well being. For instance, tritium, being a form of hydrogen, combines with oxygen to form water. Tritiated water behaves chemically like ordinary water. If ingested, a fraction of it becomes incorporated into the cells of the body, including genetic material. Such radioactive water also crosses the placenta. The potential for the resultant in-utero exposure to cause miscarriages, birth defects, and other health problems needs to be examined. The BEIR VII committee's evaluation of the risks of low-level radiation should include all such radionuclides and effects. If there are gaps in present knowledge, these should be identified clearly and their implications should be spelled out. *Effects of radiation on female fetuses: Considering that ova are formed once per lifetime during females' fetal development, the Committee should evaluate the effects of radiation on the reproductive system of female fetuses and the possible effect of such radiation on the children of females irradiated in this way. *Effects of organically-bound radionuclides: Radionuclides such as tritium or carbon-14 can become part of the DNA. Upon radioactive decay, they transmute into other elements. (Tritium becomes helium-3 and carbon-14 becomes nitrogen-14.) Such transmutation events could adversely affect the DNA. The potential health effects of such transmutations need to be evaluated. =20 *Synergistic effects: Exposure to radiation is sometimes coupled with exposure to other hazardous substances. The Committee should consider health effects caused by combined exposure to radioactive and non-radioactive substances. Special attention should be given to substances such as hormonally active agents that affect the hormonal system and the possibility that such disruption might increase the risk of cancer and other diseases arising from radiation exposure. Conversely, radiation exposure might damage the endocrine system, thereby increasing vulnerability to other disease-producing agents in the environment. The possibility of variability of such risks depending on age of exposure (and whether exposure takes place in-utero) should also be considered. *Data integrity and quality: Worker dose records of the U.S. Department of Energy, and its predecessor agencies, are deeply flawed. The environmental contamination records are similarly deeply flawed. We know these things about the United States because much of the raw data record has become public through lawsuits, Freedom of Information Act requests, etc. Use of studies that accept official US worker or offsite dose estimates without evaluation of the raw data is highly questionable to say the least. Since the raw data in other countries are still largely secret, there is even less reason to accept them at face value. For instance, there is evidence that the health data in the former Soviet Union are questionable. The Committee should review these and related fundamental questions of data integrity and address whether any of this record is suitable at all for assessing the risks of low-level radiation, and if so how it should be used. The Committee should also address what criteria of data quality it will apply to the information contained in the studies it reviews. In this context, we do not believe that it will be enough to simply accept peer-reviewed studies as correct if they have not evaluated the soundness of the underlying official dose and health data. Finally the impact of misclassification of radiation exposures and health outcomes and health-related selection factors, should be considered in interpreting all epidemiological studies, including studies of A-bomb survivors. *Effects on various populations: The concept of "standard man" or "average" is often used to set radiation protection standards. Given the potential large variability of actual health effects of radiation in various populations, the Committee should assess the errors in risk estimates produced by the use of this concept. For instance, the age-dependence of the dose response relationship for various health effects should be explicitly spelled out, not only for children, but also for older age groups. Another example is the potential variation in sensitivity to low-level radiation among individuals who are otherwise of similar demographic make-up. In many of these areas, it may be that there is simply not enough knowledge to come to reliable scientific conclusions. In such cases, the Committee should clearly and frankly say so and recommend a research agenda. If possible, this should be accompanied by qualitative discussions of the mechanisms of potential health effects. It is of crucial importance to us that all areas where risk cannot be reliably calculated are clearly identified. If the types of risk can be qualitatively ascertained, the risks should be spelled out. If even the qualitative risks cannot be assessed, that conclusion would also be very material. We have not discussed cancer-related issues above because we are presuming that the Committee will address the full range of relevant literature in regard to carcinogenic effects. It would be helpful if the committee published and updated frequently a list of the publications that it is reviewing, so that we may be able to follow the review and add to that list, should we feel that to be necessary or desirable. We look forward to providing scientific input throughout the BEIR VII process and expect that the Committee will fully address the issues we have raised as seriously as it might were those same issues raised by a member of the Committee.=20 We appreciate the opportunity for public comment and ask that it be expanded as needed to fully accommodate the issues and evidence that we want to put forth. We look forward to your response. Do let us know if you have any questions or need more information. Please address your questions or responses to Lisa Ledwidge or Arjun Makhijani. Thank you very much. Sincerely, Lisa Ledwidge Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D. Outreach Coordinator President=09 ieer@ieer.org arjun@ieer.org Other signatories: David E. Adelman, Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, D.C., USA Glenn Alcalay, Co-chair, National Committee for Radiation Victims, New York, New York, USA Jennifer Aldrich, Executive Director, Physicians for Social Responsibility/Oregon, Portland, Oregon, USA Dave Andrews, Vice Chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Wales, UK Didier Anger, le CRILAN, Les Pieux, France Paulette Anger, le CRILAN, Les Pieux, France Caron Balkany, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety*, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA Dan Becker, Director, Global Warming and Energy Programs, Sierra Club, Washington, D.C., USA Rosalie Bertell, Ph.D., GNSH, President, International Institute of Concern for Public Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Patricia T. Birnie, Chair, GE Stockholders' Alliance, and Chair, Environment Committee, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Tucson, Arizona, USA Philippe Brousse, Secr=E9tariat du R=E9seau "Sortir du nucl=E9aire," Lyon,= France Elizabeth Brown, East Bay Peace Action, Albany, California, USA Kateri Caron, Spokane, Washington, USA Vina Colley, Portsmouth/Piketon Residents for Environmental Safety and Security, McDermott, Ohio, USA David Close, Professor, Department of Physics, East Tennessee State University, USA Mary Byrd Davis, Uranium Enrichment Project of Earth Island Institute, Georgetown, Kentucky, USA Cyndy deBruler Executive Director, Columbia River United, Hood River, Oregon, USA Greg deBruler, White Salmon, Washington, USA Anushka Drescher, Ph.D., Berkeley, California, USA Gordon Edwards, Ph.D., President, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Nader Entessar, Professor of Political Science & International Studies, Spring Hill College*, Mobile, Alabama, USA Cathey E. Falvo, M.D., M.P.H., Program Director, International & Public Health Graduate School of Health Sciences, New York Medical College*, Valhalla, New York, New York, USA Ansar Fayyazuddin, Assistant Professor of Physics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden Martin Forwood and Janine Allis-Smith, CORE (Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment), Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK Michel Fremont, le CRILAN, Courcy, France Surendra Gadekar, ANUMUKTI, Vedchhi, India Sanghamitra Gadekar, ANUMUKTI, Vedchhi, India Ann Harris, Director, We The People, Inc., of Tennessee, and Executive Director, Alliance for Public Health & Safety, Ten Mile, Tennessee, USA Ruth M. Heifetz, M.D., M.P.H., Senior Lecturer, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California-San Diego*, San Diego, California, USA Ira Helfand, M.D., Co-Founder and Past President, Physicians for Social Responsibility, USA Felicity Hill, Director, U.N. Office for Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, New York, USA Laura Hunter, Environmental Health Coalition, San Diego, California, USA Joe Jaffe, retired physicist, San Diego, California, USA Carol Jahnkow, Executive Director, Peace Resource Center of San Diego, San Diego, California, USA Chuck Johnson, Director, Center for Energy Research, Salem, Oregon, USA Judith Johnsrud, Director, Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power, State College, Pennsylvania, USA Deb Katz, Citizens Awareness Network, Shelbourne Falls, Massachusetts, USA Robin Klein, President, Hanford Action of Oregon, Portland, Oregon, USA Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Koehnlein, President, German Society for Radiation Protection, and Institut fuer Strahlenbiologie, Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet, Muenster, Germany Cathy Lemar, Military Toxics Project, Lewiston, Maine, USA Bernard Lindberg, Chairperson, Mankato Area Environmentalists, Mankato, Minnesota, USA John Loretz, Executive Editor, Medicine and Global Survival*, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Michael J. Manetas, Department of Environmental Resources Engineering, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California, USA Robert A. McFarlane, M.D., Clinical Professor Emeritus of Surgery, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Oregon, USA Janot Mendler, Director for Operations, GEF/UNDP International Waters:LEARN*, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Robin Mills, Director, Maryland Safe Energy Coalition, Baltimore, Maryland, USA Giorgio Nebbia, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Economics, University of Bari*, Italy Dale D. Nesbitt, Staff scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Retired, California, USA Andi Nidecker, Associate Professor, University of Basel, and Executive Council, Swiss Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Switzerland Baku Nishio and Hideyuki Ban, Co-directors, Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, Tokyo, Japan Rudi H. Nussbaum, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Portland State University, for Northwest Radiation Health Alliance, Portland, Oregon, USA=20 Sonya Ostrom, Metro New York Peace Action Council, Brooklyn Heights Peace Action, Eastside Peace Action, Flatbush Peace Action, Greenwich Village Coalition for Peaceful Priorities, NOBSAC (North Bronx Social Action Committee), Shorefront Peace Committee, SNAP (Stop Nuclear Arms Proliferation), and Westside Peace Action, New York, New York, USA David Ozonoff, M.D., M.P.H., Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Perline, Ph.D., engineer and physicist, Paris, France Carolyn Raffensperger, Science and Environmental Health Network, Windsor, North Dakota, USA Bruce Reznik, Executive Director, San Diego BayKeeper, San Diego, California, USA Norman Rubin, Director of Nuclear Research and Senior Policy Analyst, Energy Probe, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Gladys Schmitz, Vice-chairperson, Mankato Area Environmentalists, Mankato, Minnesota, USA Betty Schroeder, Co-Chair, Arizona Safe Energy Coalition, Tucson, Arizona, USA=20 Monique Sen=E9, GSIEN, Orsay, France Victor W. Sidel, M.D., Professor of Social Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA Pamela Sihvola, Co-chair, Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste, California, USA Norma Sullivan, retired college English professor, San Diego, California,= USA Dr. Jinzaburo Takagi, Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, Tokyo, Japan Tim Takaro, M.D., Chair, Hanford Task Force, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, Seattle, Washington, USA Alyn Ware, Consultant at Large, Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy, New York, New York, USA Harvey Wasserman, Citizens Protecting Ohio, Bexley, Ohio, USA Carroll Webber, Ph.D., Greenville, North Carolina, USA David Crockett Williams, Coordinator, Global Peace Walk Project, and Initiator, Global Emergency Alert Response, Tehachapi, California, USA Steve Wing, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina*, Chapel Hill, USA Alexei Yablokov, Center for Russian Environmental Policy and Program for Radioactive and Nuclear Safety by International Socio-Ecological Union, Moscow, Russia Alla Yaroshinskaya, Yaroshinskaya Ecological Charity Fund, Moscow, Russia *Affiliation provided for identification purposes only Cc: Members of BEIR VII Committee Dr. Evan B. Douple, Director, Board on Radiation Effects Research Dr. Stephen L. Simon, Board on Radiation Effects Research Dr. E. William Colglazier, Executive Officer, National Academy of Sciences Dr. Jerome Puskin, Radiation Studies Branch, Environmental Protection= Agency Dr. Richard B. Setlow, Chair, BEIR VII Phase I Committee Mr. Charles Meinhold, President, National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements Professor R.H. Clarke, Chairman, International Commission on Radiological Protection =20 ***************************************************************** Hisham Zerriffi =20 Project Scientist =20 Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) 6935 Laurel Ave. Suite 204, Takoma Park, MD 20912 =20 Phone: (301) 270-5500 Fax: (301) 270-3029 =20 E-mail: hisham@ieer.org Web: http://www.ieer.org=20 ***************************************************************** - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Robert J. Jackson" Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) events! DOE database/Nix MOX, more Date: 03 Sep 1999 19:26:23 -0700 Marylia: These are just some thoughts which occurred when reading your e-mail. Something to chew on. In the body of your e-mail you recommend contacting Gore to convince him to convert the plutonium to a ceramic instead of making MOX. I thought MOX is already a ceramic. I thought MOX reactor fuel it is made by mixing uranium oxide powder with plutonium oxide powder and sintering the material into a ceramic pellet. If this is correct the MOX material should be much less attractive for subversive uses than the pure plutonium in the plutonium pit. Also the ceramic form would be less apt to contaminate the environment it is is just stored as radioactive waste. If, instead it is burned up in a reactor the resulting spent fuel from mixed oxide would contain some new plutonium and other fission products which, without reprocessing, is considered nuclear waste. So without reprocessing, additional nuclear waste is created if MOX is used in reactors. With reprocessing the amount of nuclear waste from reactors is a small fraction of high level waste created without reprocessing. There is some trade-off here. Store humongous quantities of plutonium as a high level waste material or burn it in reactors and reprocess to reduce the material to a smaller amount of unusable high level waste. marylia wrote: > >MOX stands for "mixed oxide > fuel" and is made by mixing uranium (the common fuel source in nuclear > reactors) with plutonium. The U.S. and Russia are embarking on a dangerous > path: using surplus nuclear weapons plutonium in their reactors. Vice > President Al Gore has been the chief U.S. negotiator, and the resulting > agreement, in which U.S. money goes to support the Russian MOX program, is > causing problems in both countries. Call the White House comment line and > ask Al Gore to support a program for immobilizing plutonium (e.g., in a > ceramic matrix) and keeping it out of the environment instead of MOX. -- Robert J. Jackson Richland, WA 99352 Phone 509 946 7884, Fax 509 943 2324 e-mail bjack8@3-cities.com - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: URGENT : re: Raytheon Date: 05 Sep 1999 03:45:43 EDT Dear Stuart, I just got back from two weeks out of town and don't know anything about a location of Raytheon there in Ireland. I will send copies of this to a couple of contact lists, which might have someone who can help. Glad to have your note, only sorry I can be so little help. Fraternally, David McReynolds << Subj: URGENT : re: Raytheon Date: 8/24/99 10:24:01 AM Eastern Daylight Time From: pfc@www.serve.com (Pat Finucane Centre) To: DavidMcR@aol.com Dave -- I'm writing you from the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry, Ireland (North) -- we've just gotten word that a major defense company is setting up shop here and we need more background info on them. While this, of course, is problematic -- it is particularly so in this part of the world. Any info would be greatly appreciated. thanks -- stuart (for the PFC) ps -- I'm also w/ the US socialist group, Solidarity -- you may have gotten this request via the Solidarity list as well >> - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Timothy Bruening Subject: (abolition-usa) Nuclear War Terminology Questions Date: 05 Sep 1999 01:15:41 -0700 (PDT) At 04:55 PM 9/3/99 -0400, Bob Tiller wrote: >There can be no such thing as "a small nuclear war." It is a mistaken idea, a >false construct, and we should not be using it. What term should I use for a nuclear war in which only a few nuclear weapons are used, as opposed to an all out nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia? What term should I use for a "regional" nuclear war (like between India and Pakistan)? - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) A Message from East Timor (urgent) Date: 05 Sep 1999 14:44:59 EDT From John Miller, a WRL key person, who is now in East Timor. Please take note of this post. David McReynolds ----------------- Forwarded Message: Subj: A Message from East Timor Date: 9/5/99 9:37:45 AM Eastern Daylight Time From: JohnM85747 To: michael_ede@yahoo.com (Mike Ede) To: james_miller@mindspring.com, james_miller@zd.com To: JenLynnMac, JMahoneyP, wrl@igc.org (Judith) Mike please send to the ETAN/NY e-mail list. Jimmy send to relatives e-mail. Judith to WRL folk. John's Message from East Timor (Please redistribute widely) There are the makings of a bloodbath here. Many have fled. Many have died. I can see smoke of fires of homes set ablaze in the distance. I have heard gunfire in the distance. The Indonesian military and its creation the militias have refused to accept the democratically expressed wish of the East Timorese to move towards independence. I have seen East Timorese defy militia and military violence to go vote on August 30 and I have seen their fearful faces. Several days ago, the women hosting us in Becora (just outside Dili) received an early morning phone call and woke us at 4:30 am to tell us we had to move out of where were staying for our own safety. I have since heard reports of many houses burned and people killed in that neighborhood. Another Dili neighborhood I spent time in, Balide, next to the U.N.'s East Timor headquarters is ablaze. Timor Aid, the organization which provided assistance to the parliamentary delegation I worked with to monitor the ballot has been looted of its rice and ransacked. There have also been many reports of people being forced onto vehicles and taken to West Timor, perhaps to bolster an argument for East Timor's partition or worse. There have been many calls for U.N. or other peacekeepers. These may arrive too late. More guns aren't necessarily what East Timor needs. What is very clear is that the military could shut down the violence relatively quickly. The military is in control. It is they that can stop the killing. The U.S. and other governments still have tremendous leverage with Indonesia. They must use it all. Statements of serious "consequences." I saw President Clinton's mealy-mouthed statement and it doesn't go nearly far enough. The global community - governments, others, you - must be clear about what these consequences are to let the Indonesian military know that continued violence in East Timor is unacceptable. Please contact President Clinton and members of Congress now. Urge them to immediately a) suspend all military shipments to Indonesia, including spare parts and ammunition b) suspend all non-humanitarian bi-lateral aid and loans to Indonesia c) work to suspend all multi-lateral loans and aid, including form the IMF and World Bank. Call the White House comment line at 202-456-1414. Urge President Clinton to immediately suspend all further military and financial aid to Indonesia until the military and paramilitary violence is stopped. The U.S. must show strong support for East Timor's democratic decision to break away from Indonesia. Sept. 5, 1999 Dili, East Timor >> - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: marylia@earthlink.net (marylia) Subject: (abolition-usa) DOE moves, expands nuke complex Date: 05 Sep 1999 09:19:54 -0700 (PDT) Hi. Several people have sent me email notes asking if I have written a succinct article on DOE's "megastrategy" to move and expand key aspects of the nuclear weapons complex. Here is a piece I did for this month's Tri-Valley CAREs newsletter. Feel free to adapt it for your newsletter -- or any other public education-type use. Please credit our organization, if possible. Thanks. Peace, Marylia New Plan to Expand Nuclear Weapons Activities Revealed: Plutonium from Los Alamos Lab to be Moved to Livermore by Marylia Kelley from Tri-Valley CAREs' September 1999 newsletter, Citizen's Watch Note -- In last month's Citizen's Watch, we made public DOE's plan to ship some of Rocky Flat's plutonium to Livermore Lab. Now we have uncovered a proposal to bring plutonium from Los Alamos Lab in New Mexico to Livermore. Read on ... The U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) is poised to make major changes in its nuclear weapons program and move more plutonium work to the Livermore Lab, according to materials used by DOE to brief high-level Clinton administration officials on the plan. Tri-Valley CAREs obtained the briefing papers from the federal Office of Management and Budget and released them to the media and the public in August. The proposed changes will have far-reaching, negative consequences for Bay Area public health and safety, for national efforts to reign in the escalating nuclear weapons budget and for international nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament goals. DOE will give Livermore Lab plutonium pit work now performed at Los Alamos Lab in New Mexico. A "pit" refers to the plutonium core of a nuclear weapon. This plan will include moving nuclear weapons to Livermore for plutonium pit surveillance. Additionally, the workload for the W80 submarine and air launched cruise missiles is slated to move to Livermore Lab from Los Alamos. This, too, will mean more plutonium pits at Livermore Lab. Until now, this plan has gone forward in secret, and the public has been inappropriately excluded from any knowledge or decision-making role. Earlier this year, DOE and Livermore Lab hosted a public meeting at which officials testified that no major changes were contemplated to the Lab's operations over the next 5 years. On that basis, DOE and Livermore Lab decided, in March 1999, not to conduct a new site-wide environmental review. Put simply, they lied. Tri-Valley CAREs and its colleague organizations in the Bay Area are demanding full environmental review and public hearings before any money is allocated or any nuclear materials are moved. Moreover, the DOE plan extends beyond shifting "Stockpile Stewardship" functions between labs. It expands the so-called "Stewardship" program and further enhances U.S. nuclear capability -- demonstrating once again a "do as I say and not as I do" proliferation policy on the part of the U.S. That hypocrisy will not go unnoticed by other nations, some of whom will use it to justify their own pursuit of new nuclear weapons capabilities. The result will be an increase in environmental risks locally and proliferation dangers worldwide. Major Changes Proposed * DOE will "move promptly" the W80 nuclear warhead workload from Los Alamos Lab in Mew Mexico to Livermore Lab in California. This will increase the plutonium pit work at Livermore. The briefing papers also reveal what appear to be changes in the warhead that go far, far beyond mere maintenance procedures to preserve the existing weapon's "safety" or "reliability" while it remains in the arsenal. The W80 "upgrade" proposed here is sufficiently extensive to raise new questions about DOE plans to (re)design nuclear weapons in the 21st century. The W80 was originally designed by Los Alamos, and this plan marks the first time that responsibility for a nuclear weapon designed by one of the labs will be shifted to the other. * DOE will also "move promptly" the plutonium pit surveillance mission and workload from Los Alamos to Livermore. DOE expressly says one of the aims is to give Livermore Lab more plutonium work. This means pits from weapons besides those of the W80 discussed above will come to Livermore, where the Lab already has about 880 pounds of plutonium and is slated to get more from Rocky Flats. * Los Alamos Lab's Appaloosa program will be expanded. Appaloosa is the code name for a new hydrodynamic test program wherein, essentially, high-explosives and surrogate pits (including with plutonium 242) are set off inside above-ground tanks. * DOE will consolidate hydrodymamic testing at Los Alamos, although administration officials have been told by DOE that Livermore Lab will hang on to its hydrodynamic test program, including the new "Contained Firing Facility," now under construction at Livermore Lab. * DOE will build a huge, new 50 gigaelectron volt proton accelerator at Los Alamos Lab. The existing LANCE facility will become merely an injector beamline for the new mega-machine, according to DOE. * DOE will conduct additional underground subcritical nuclear tests for the W80 and W88 programs. The briefing papers specify that additional subcritical shots will involve "weapon relevant shapes." * DOE will move ATLAS and Pegasus from Los Alamos Lab to Nevada. ATLAS is a new fusion facility being constructed at Los Alamos. Pegasus is an older machine. These two programs will be used to develop technology that will allow for "explosively driven pulse power for future special nuclear material [i.e., plutonium] experiments in U1A." The U1A is the underground tunnel complex where subcritical nuclear experiments are detonated. These pulse power tests are of a new type. * DOE will build a new "infrastructure for weapons microsystem components ...MESA" at Sandia Lab in New Mexico. This capability will "support future AF&F (arming, firing and fusing) needs." Collectively, these plans substantially ratchet up U.S. nuclear weapons activities. We must act swiftly to counter this. The DOE briefing papers make it clear that one of plan's "drivers" is the desire to keep Livermore Lab operating as a full-service nuclear weapons design lab -- with a robust plutonium workload to match its weaponeers' fusion aspirations, fueled by the National Ignition Facility. Tri-Valley CAREs is preparing a letter outlining our objections. Call the office for details, or come to our meeting on September 23rd to discuss next steps. (For those groups receiving this article by email, just let me know if you can sign on. An electronic copy of the letter will be available by mid week. Let me know if you wish to see a copy. --Marylia) Don't just get mad -- get organized with us! Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 - is our web site, please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) Y2K Nuclear Items please read and digest Date: 06 Sep 1999 13:22:36 +1000 John Hallam =46riends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, =46ax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html Dear Y2K and antinuclear groups, I am sending you this material forwarded from Carol Moore in Washington. I urge you to read it. Of course, while US government officials are happy to say how much of a problem Y2K is going to be in Russia, tney will not admit to its having at least as much potential for catastrophe in the US. A recent internal report from the US navy revealed that at least 150 US cities might be without power and light as a result of y2K problems. And in Australia, all our navy patrol boats lost navigation capability over the GPS 'rollover' period. I think it makes it more important than ever to get nuclear weapons off aler= t. And it is all the more important to send your letters to Yeltsin and Clinton, asking them to take nukes off hairtrigger alert, at least for the Y2K rollover period. (especially in view of the doubts over the strategic stability facility in Colorado) The relevant fax numbers: PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, +7-095-205-4330, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, +1-202-456-2461, (From Carol Moore) =46ound this recently: British Memo Warns of Y2K Catastrophe July 4, 1999 British embassy in Moscow has warned diplomats about inviting friends and family to Russia during the upcoming New Year, Britain's Sunday Independent reports today. =46earing the implications of the Y2K millenium bug, an internal embassy mem= o leaked to the Independent underscored British concerns that Russia is "considered one of the countries most vulnerable to Y2K problems.".... An American Chamber of Commerce report issued by Terralink, an IT firm specializing in millennium bug issues, found that Russia could suffer catastrophic consequences because it was "very likely that major infratructure providers upon whom everybody depends, will experience Y2K failures". Notably, experts have pointed to concerns about Russia's nuclear power stations, fearing a meltdown similiar to Chernobyl, if the power grid fails. =2E... lg *** Russia mulls Y2K missile monitoring*** WASHINGTON (AP) - Russia has agreed to consider a U.S. proposal for placing Russian representatives at a monitoring center in Colorado designed to reassure Moscow the Year 2000 computer glitch won't trigger unintended U.S. missile launches, Pentagon officials said Thursday. Defense Secretary William Cohen is expected to discuss the proposal with his Russian counterpart during a trip to Moscow in mid-September. One official said it appeared likely the Russians would agree to participate in the monitoring project. The Pentagon had invited Moscow to send representatives to the Y2K Center for Strategic Stability in Colorado Springs, but the dialogue was interrupted when Moscow froze contacts during the NATO air war against Yugoslavia. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=3D2560984335-655 ++++++++++++ The sooner the Russians get over their righteous anger over the bombing of Yugoslavia, the better for all the world. It should be noted that at this time this cooperation is only supposed to last for a couple of months, while the possibility of Y2K-related false missile alerts may continue for years. I found one official Russian e-mail address and you might write to them and encourage cooperation. (And feel free to apologize for US/NATO aggression against Yugoslavia.) NYC Russian Consulate Also: Bill Clinton , CarolMoore@kreative.net http://www.kreative.net/carolmoore/C&C-News.html http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19990902/tc/russia_usa_1.html Thursday September 2 1:11 PM ET Russia, U.S. To Discuss Y2K Missile Fears By Jim Wolf WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia has agreed to resume talks on a proposed joint center in the United States aimed at dodging any missile miscues caused by the 2000 computer glitch, U.S. officials said Thursday. The talks on the temporary ``early warning'' center are to take place in Moscow on Sept. 13 during a visit to Russia by Defense Secretary William Cohen, the officials said. Don Meyer, spokesman for the special Senate panel on the 2000 technology problem, said they were expected ``to yield an agreement that will bring the Russians back into the fold'' on the center, already being set up in Colorado Springs, Colo. Moscow froze contacts on, among other things, Y2K -- coding glitches that could boggle computers at year-end -- in late March over U.S.-led NATO bombing of Serbia, a Russian ally. Cohen will meet his Russian counterpart Igor Sergeyev, to discuss Y2K, nuclear weapons treaties and U.S. wishes to modify the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, Russian officials said Monday. The Pentagon has not yet formally announced the trip and did not respond to a request for on-the-record comment. Cohen is to spend two days in Moscow, a U.S. military officer said. Air Force Major Perry Nouis, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in Colorado Springs, said, ``Sept. 13 is supposed to be decision day'' on Russian participation in the so-called Cent= er for Y2K Strategic Stability. U.S. officials are eager to get Moscow on board for fear that Y2K-related glitches could shut down or confuse Russia's own early warning system and somehow spark a preemptive Russian missile launch. Russia and the United States, each with about 2,500 nuclear-armed missiles poised for immediate firing, are alone among world powers able to trigger a nuclear holocaust on very short notice. John Koskinen, President Clinton's chief Y2K advisor, said Sunday that the United States was discussing with Russia ``the status of their early warning system.'' ``If it goes down and they 'blind' in effect, then the level of anxiety could increase, so we're trying to make sure that doesn't happen,'' he said in an interview on CNN. Russia's economic woes, Koskinen added, were a major obstacle to completing Y2K preparations, and ``we think they're going to have more difficulties'' than China. The joint center, at Peterson Air Force Base, would seat a handful of U.S. and Russian officers side-by-side for a few days during the date switch to monitor blips on screens fed by U.S. satellites and ground sensors. The officers would be in direct touch with their so-called national command authorities -- those with fingers on the nuclear button -- in both countries. The missile-launch data would flow to them directly from the NORAD combat operations center burrowed into nearby Cheyenne Mountain. Senators Robert Bennett, a Utah Republican who heads the Senate Y2K panel, and Vice Chairman Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, had joine= d the Pentagon in nudging Russia to sign on to the joint center. In a July 14 letter to then Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin, they urged Moscow to look at practical collaborative efforts necessary to prevent Y2K-related disruptions. Assuming the Russians eventually join, the original plan was to begin specialized training on Dec. 1 for the future staffers. The center would be fully operational for a week or so starting Dec. 27. Copyright =A9 1996-1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ### ***NOT FOR PROFIT*** Posted for Research and Discussion Purposes Only. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: MILLENIUM MOBILIZATION Date: 06 Sep 1999 01:48:30 EDT In a message dated 8/26/99 3:10:22 AM Eastern Daylight Time, jlonn@nywork2.undp.org writes: << Subj: MILLENIUM MOBILIZATION Date: 8/26/99 3:10:22 AM Eastern Daylight Time From: jlonn@nywork2.undp.org (Jan Lonn) Sender: owner-abolition-caucus@igc.org To: abolition-caucus@igc.apc.org The Millennium Forum at the UN 22-26 May 2000 will be an important opportunity for Abolition 2000 organizations to interact with the rest of the NGO community. The Millennium Mobilization is part of the preparations for the Millennium Forum and the Millennium Summit of the UN General Assembly. - >> Jan, can I get more information on this proposal, what groups are working on it, etc. Peace, David McReynolds War Resisters League - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: A Message from East Timor (urgent) Date: 06 Sep 1999 01:49:25 EDT In a message dated 9/6/99 1:23:46 AM Eastern Daylight Time, mims@ecn.net.au writes: << Subj: Re: A Message from East Timor (urgent) Date: 9/6/99 1:23:46 AM Eastern Daylight Time From: mims@ecn.net.au (Miriam Taylor) To: DavidMcR@aol.com it is getting worse by the minute now that bishop belo's house is under siege with 6000 refugees in his yard and militia in his house. the un is far too slow. australian airforce is bringing out up to 500 people today mostly un staff but some locals, leaving the rest to slaughter. only connection we have is with expats in darwin who are just in terror for their relatives. there is nothing at this point other than lobbying and protesting that we small folk can do, i reckon. miriam >> - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) ETAN Emergency Alert: Severe Violence Escalates in East Timor Date: 06 Sep 1999 03:43:58 EDT I am sending on the ETAN post that came in early this morning, just after I'd sent out the NYC suggestions. We should take our lead from this group which is surely organizing something for immediate action. Fraternally, David McReynolds << Subj: ETAN Emergency Alert: Severe Violence Escalates in East Timor Date: 9/6/99 1:07:33 AM Eastern Daylight Time From: altin@atlantic.net (Eric S. Piotrowski) East Timor Action Network/U.S. EMERGENCY ALERT SEVERE VIOLENCE ESCALATES IN EAST TIMOR AS MOST FOREIGN REPORTERS EVACUATE MAKE 3 CALLS . . . AND DEMONSTRATE! Less than 24 hours after the UN announced that more than 78% of registered voters in East Timor voted to reject Indonesia's autonomy package, Indonesian military and paramilitary forces sharply escalated their campaign of terror. Remaining International Federation for East Timor observers report widespread shooting by both paramilitary forces and TNI (Indonesian military forces), including the Kopassus Special Forces, known for its atrocious human rights abuses. The Becora neighborhood of Dili has been particularly targeted, with 77 bodies reported scattered throughout the streets. Many children are among the dead. Paramilitary forces roam the streets of Dili unimpeded, while joint militia/army roadblocks block entrance to and exit from the capitol. The paramilitaries and TNI are systematically targeting buildings which house refugees. With the evacuation of UN staff and media from outlying towns, foreign observers are unable to confirm the extent of violence outside Dili, but it is believed to be severe. But, we do know that hundreds of houses have been burned and dozens killed in Maliana alone. Thousands more East Timorese are now refugees. The presence of foreign media is critical to report this horror to the world's governments. They must be encouraged to stay. Time has run out! TNI must withdraw immediately from East Timor. The paramilitaries must be immediately disbanded. The U.S. must offer full support for increased UN personnel and an expanded UN mission mandate. The UN must be granted control of administration and security in East Timor. The U.S. should cut off all military and financial assistance immediately! + CALL your senators and representative. Urge them to call Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, President Clinton, and Secretary of Defense William Cohen directly. The Congressional switchboard number is 202-224-3121 or check www.congress.gov for contact information on individual offices. + CALL Assistant Secretary of State Stanley Roth at 202-647-9596. Don't let the staff transfer you to the Indonesia desk. You want this message to reach Roth himself. The Indonesia desk officers are already doing what they can. + CALL the press. Thank them for their coverage of East Timor so far, but explain your concern about journalists pulling out of East Timor. Without international reporting, we can expect even worse atrocities against East Timorese from the uncontrolled paramilitaries. Also refer them to ETAN and the International Federation for East Timor (IFET) for interviews with recent and current observers on the island. Reuters at 800-537-6865 Associated Press at 202-776-9400 Agence France Press (AFP) at 202-466-7890, 202-289-0700 Interpress (IPS) at 202-662-7160 CNN at 404-827-1500 BBC at 202-223-2050, 202-223-0110 New York Times at 212-556-1234 Washington Post at 202-334-7400 For more information, contact Karen at the New York ETAN office at 914-428-7299 or salama74@aol.com, or Brad Simpson at IFET at 773-255-7949. END - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) TIMOR HORRORS Date: 06 Sep 1999 17:06:29 +1000 - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space Subject: (abolition-usa) Space Command Practices War with China Date: 06 Sep 1999 16:50:00 -0400 (EDT) BILL GERTZ THE WASHINGTON TIMES September 05, 1999 SIMULATED ATTACK ON THE U.S. BY FIVE ICBMS SHOWS AMERICANS ARE DEFENSELESS Pentagon trackers hone in on China's nuke missile threat COLORADO SPRINGS - It was only a simulation, but tension filled the Pentagon's Cheyenne Mountain Complex here when soldiers watched China's long-range nuclear missiles streak northward, heading toward the United States. The oversized computer screen at the complex, known as the "Mountain," lit up as red lines showed the flight path of the Chinese missiles as they traveled over the globe to targets in the United States. Hit: areas near Seattle, Colorado Springs, Chicago, New York and Washington. "Sir, for the exercise, we have multiple missile launches," a voice announced through speakers inside the Mountain. "Stand by for target report." "Intel indicates the probable launch of five ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) from China," an officer says. "Intel assesses this to be combat against North America." That was the scenario played out Friday in the U.S. Space Command's dimly lit command bunker, located nearly a mile beneath the Rocky Mountains. If China had actually launched a nuclear missile attack on the United States, the soldiers inside this command center, who monitor missile launches around the world, 24 hours a day, would have been the first to know. The exercise highlights that Russia is not the only strategic nuclear threat to the United States. China has a small arsenal of about 24 CSS-4 long-range missiles capable of hitting all of the United States except parts of southern Florida. Last year the CIA reported secretly within the U.S. government that 13 of them were targeted at U.S. cities. China, however, is building three new ICBMs, including two road-mobile systems that the CIA believes will be the first to incorporate stolen U.S. missile technology and small warhead design information. U.S. relations with China have grown tense since NATO's accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade last spring. China cut off all military contacts with the United States in response and stepped up a propaganda campaign. Chinese President Jiang Zemin criticized the United States during a speech in Bangkok yesterday. He said Washington's "gunboat diplomacy" and "economic colonialism" are threats to world peace and international security. China's increased tensions with Taiwan also are a potential flash point. In 1995, Chinese Gen. Xiong Guongkai told a former Pentagon official that the United States would not intervene to defend Taiwan from a Chinese attack because it "cares more about Los Angeles than Taipei." The remark was reported to the White House at the time as a threat to use nuclear weapons against the United States. The Pentagon responded by saying China would be foolish to attack America with nuclear weapons because it would face retaliation from the much larger U.S. nuclear arsenal. Ten years ago, this exercise in the command center probably would have shown long red lines from Soviet missile fields heading toward the United States. Air Force Col. Allen Baker, director of operations for the North American Aerospace Command, said once the missile launches are confirmed with ground-based radar, he'd be "telling the president how many minutes until Washington, D.C., is gone." When asked if the military has anything that can knock the missiles down, Col. Baker said, "Absolutely nothing." So why track them? "We're tracking them so we can tell our commanders exactly what is happening so they can figure out what their response is going to be," he said. "If they take out Washington, D.C., do we want to take out Beijing? I don't know. That's their decision." If the United States deploys a limited national missile defense, "that system will be able to destroy incoming missiles," Col. Baker said. President Clinton signed legislation earlier this year stating that it is U.S. policy to deploy a missile defense as soon as technologically possible. But the president has said there is no decision yet on whether to build a limited defense against long-range missile attack. A deployment decision is expected next June. Earlier, in a briefing, Canadian Air Force Brig. Gen. William Calbfliesch, deputy commander of the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, said the Wyoming center could provide about 35 minutes advance notice before the Chinese missiles would impact. The space command is not involved in retaliation. That job is carried out by another military base, the U.S. Strategic Command, located at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. There have been two war scares at the mountain in the past. Col. Baker said in 1979 a simulation tape of a massive incoming Soviet strategic missile attack was mistaken for a real attack. The false warning data was sent out to other command centers and the response was "Oh my God, there's an attack," he said. National security officials in the Carter administration were informed that some 2,000 missiles were on their way. Under U.S. strategic doctrine, a retaliatory nuclear attack must be ordered before the first missile hits. Col. Baker said the mishap nearly led to the launch of U.S. nuclear missiles against Russia. "I was a captain in the Air Force in Grand Forks, North Dakota, sitting 60 feet underground in a silo when the first one happened," Col. Baker said. "And there was enough time that we actually prepared the nuclear warhead capsule for launch, we actually put in launch keys, we actually pulled out our authentication system and strapped our chairs down and strapped ourselves in and prepared for launch." "No launches occurred, however," he said. "We all wouldn't be sitting here if it did. But we were ready to go." Army Maj. Michael Birmingham said a second alarming incident took place several months later in June 1980 when a computer chip "went haywire," showing a missile launch. After radar ground stations showed no incoming missiles, "that's when they realized it was a multiplexer in the system," Maj. Birmingham said. A multiplexer is a computer chip. The computer systems were upgraded afterward to prevent any further mishaps, he said. About 1,200 troops work the Cheyenne Mountain, which has been operating nonstop since 1967. The complex uses space sensors and ground radar to monitor all aircraft flying over North America, to warn of incoming missiles - both long-range missiles targeted at the United States and short-range missiles fired abroad. The Mountain also has a center that tracks objects in space. An intelligence center also operates in the mountain. Officials said the center is closely watching North Korea in anticipation of a long-range missile test. "We are rarely surprised," Col. Baker said. In a separate center in the complex, the U.S. Space Command keeps around-the-clock tabs on the nearly 9,000 objects circling the globe in space. The objects include about 700 active satellites and the rest is orbiting material that ranges in size from metal pieces of defunct spacecraft to discarded rocket boosters up to 30 feet long. "We're mostly tracking space junk," said Air Force Lt. David Levy, the center's director. What about space aliens? The center's computer system can weed out fast moving objects, such as meteors, and other unidentified objects are analyzed. Most turn out to be manmade objects, Lt. Levy said. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: peter weiss Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Standardized Logo for Abolition 2000 Date: 04 Sep 1999 06:52:57 -0400 Dear Carah, As a trademark lawyer by profession, I feel obliged to caution that a sunflower logo has become identified with the Hague Appeal for Peace, so it would be nice if Aolition 2000 could come up with something that wouldn't cause confusion between the two organization. Regards, Peter Nuclear Age Peace Foundation wrote: > > Dear Friends and Activists, > > I am currently in the process of updating and revising letterhead and > brochures for Abolition 2000. To date, there is not a standardized logo > for Abolition 2000 and we would like to have one that incorporates the > sunflower. I would appreciate as many suggestions and submissions as > possible. I encourage you to be creative and use your imagination. I look > forward to receiving your submission and I thank you in advance for your > contribution to the Network. > > In Peace, > Carah > > Carah Lynn Ong > Coordinator, Abolition 2000 > Nuclear Age Peace Foundation > 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 > Santa Barbara CA 93108 > > Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 > Email: A2000@silcom.com > Website http://www.abolition2000.org > > Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly > receive updates about the Abolition movement. Both caucus' also provide a > forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used > to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition. > > To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no > subject) to: > abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com > In the body of the message, write: > "subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks) > > To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to: > abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com > > To subscribe to the International Abolition-caucus, send a message (with no > subject) to: majordomo@igc.org > In the body of the message, write: > "subscribe abolition-caucus" (do not include quotation marks) > > To post a message to the International Abolition list, mail your message to: > abolition-caucus@igc.apc.org > > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: marylia@earthlink.net (marylia) Subject: (abolition-usa) 3 ACTIONS/de-alert, BMD, subcriticals Date: 07 Sep 1999 00:08:34 -0700 (PDT) Hi peace and enviro advocates. Here are three easy actions you can take, two without leaving home. All three are cosponsored by Tri-Valley CAREs with many allies across the country and around the globe. Working together we are making a difference! And by participating in one or more actions -- you are helping! Peace, Marylia T H R E E E A S Y A C T I O N S by Marylia Kelley and Sally Light from Tri-Valley CAREs' September 1999 newsletter, Citizen's Watch Just the fax: Concerned that Year 2000-related computer failures in nuclear systems could lead to nuclear war by accident or miscalculation? So are many experts. But, what can you do? Tri-Valley CAREs joins with groups around the world to ask you to fax Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin this month urging them to take nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert. Your letter and both Presidents' fax numbers follow below. Please print, then sign the letter and fax it today. Phone-y defense: Think that abrogating the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty is a mistake? Dislike spending the national treasury on a faulty concept? Believe that Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) schemes won't work -- and should be relegated to the dust bin of history? Welcome to the club. Join your colleagues on Sept. 13, 14 and 15 in an international phone-in to protest BMD. Just call the White House comment line at (202) 456-1111 or your favorite Congressperson at (202) 224-3121. Rally 'round Bechtel: DOE says there will be another "subcritical" nuclear test detonated underground in Nevada this month (September 1999). The exact date, however, is still under wraps. Tri-Valley CAREs will sponsor a protest at Bechtel Headquarters at 50 Beale St., just off Market St., in San Francisco at noon on the day of the test. Bechtel manages the Nevada Test Site for DOE. Call our office to check for the test date and rally details. Here is the de-alerting letter mentioned in ACTION number one above. Please print it out, sign and send. Fax President Bill Clinton today: 1-202-456-2461 Fax President Boris Yeltsin today: 011-7-095-205-4330 Dear Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin: I am sending this letter to join with citizens around the world in conveying an urgent message: Take all nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert. Thousands of nuclear weapons are kept by the U.S. and Russia in a state of high-alert. This "launch on warning" posture does not add to the security of either nation. Indeed, it makes the whole world less secure. Last year, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on the nuclear-armed states to de-alert all nuclear weapons. The international Canberra Commission recommended de-alerting in 1996, as did subsequent international statements by scores of Generals, Admirals and civilian world leaders. The time has come to implement de-alerting. When January 1, 2000 arrives, we may find computer-related failures in the U.S. or Russian nuclear systems -- or in the systems of both nations. This raises the specter of nuclear war by accident or miscalculation. At the dawn of the new millennium, will the U.S. and Russia enter like two blind gunfighters, each with an itchy, nervous finger on the nuclear trigger? I ask you, instead, to remove all warheads from missiles and store them separately, or to employ other, similarly significant, measures to increase the time it would take to launch a nuclear attack from a matter of minutes to one or more days. This will provide a crucial margin of safety the world needs. De-alerting can be accomplished well before the year's end -- if you each exercise courageous leadership and begin now. Nuclear weapons can be removed from hair-trigger alert without treaty negotiation or ratification. This approach has worked before. In 1991 President George Bush removed hundreds of U.S. warheads from high-alert status, and, in response, Mikhail Gorbachev did the same with hundreds of Soviet weapons. I call upon you both to finish the job. Deactivate the 5,000 nuclear weapons still on hair-trigger alert. For the sake of all our children and grandchildren, please do it now! Sincerely, Name: Address & Country: Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 - is our web site, please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space Subject: (abolition-usa) Star Wars Call-In Days Reminder Date: 07 Sep 1999 09:58:39 -0400 (EDT) STAR WARS INTERNATIONAL CALL-IN DAYS SEPTEMBER 13-15, 1999 NO BMD! NO WEAPONS IN SPACE! Congress has voted to allow the Pentagon to move forward with the Ballistic= =20 Missile Defense (BMD) system as "soon as technically feasible". The Clinto= n=20 administration is now beginning negotiations with Russia in hopes of gettin= g=20 their "agreement" for the U.S. to circumvent the 1972 ABM Treaty that outla= ws=20 the development of weapons systems like the BMD. Clinton is scheduled to= =20 make a deployment decision on the BMD in June, 2000. U.S. military officia= ls=20 have been heard to remark that while the BMD is supposedly to be used for= =20 "defensive" purposes, it=92s "dual use for offensive purposes is clear." In order to immediately increase worldwide opposition to plans for the=20 weaponization of space the Global Network has called for the International= =20 Call-In Days on Star Wars. We picked the mid-September dates because the= =20 Pentagon is scheduled to perform a Star Wars test over the Pacific Ocean on September 29 from Vandenberg AFB. (The Global Network is organizing a protest at Vandenberg on September 25). =20 Please call the White House and Congress at the numbers listed below during= =20 our call-in days. For our friends outside the U.S. we ask you to contact t= he=20 U.S. Embassy in your country as well as send a message to President Clinton= =20 and V-P Al Gore. Demand an end to Star Wars and the waste of our tax=20 dollars! =20 White House Phone # (202) 456-1111 White House Fax # (202) 456-2461 President Clinton=92s E-Mail: president@whitehouse.gov V-P Al Gore=92s E-Mail: vice.president@whitehouse.gov Congressional Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space PO Box 90083 * Gainesville, Fl. 32607 * (352) 337-9274 * globenet@afn.org www.globenet.free-online.co.uk - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: ETAN Post-Vote Alert #2: U.S. Government Inaction Results in Date: 07 Sep 1999 17:21:58 EDT In a message dated 9/7/99 4:59:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time, altin@atlantic.net writes: << Subj: ETAN Post-Vote Alert #2: U.S. Government Inaction Results in MoreDeath as Wave After Wave of Violence Sweeps East Timor Date: 9/7/99 4:59:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time From: altin@atlantic.net (Eric S. Piotrowski) East Timor Action Network (ETAN) URGENT ACTION ALERT Post-Vote Alert #2: U.S. Government Inaction Results in More Death as Wave After Wave of Violence Sweeps East Timor Call Today to Demand an End to the Killing. Your action can save lives! Less than 24 hours after the UN announced that more than 78% of registered voters in East Timor voted to reject Indonesia's autonomy package, Indonesian military and paramilitary forces sharply escalated their campaign of terror. All observers from the International Federation for East Timor Observer Project (IFET-OP) have been forced to evacuate East Timor due to rampant violence by both paramilitary forces and TNI (Indonesian military forces), including the Kopassus Special Forces, known for its atrocious human rights abuses. Dili is burning; the streets are deserted and refugees are amassing in churches and other relief centers. Many children are among the dead. Paramilitary forces roam the streets of Dili unimpeded, while joint militia/army roadblocks block entrance to and exit from the capitol. The paramilitaries and TNI are systematically targeting buildings which house refugees. With the evacuation of UN staff and media from outlying towns, foreign observers are unable to confirm the extent of violence outside Dili, but it is believed to be severe. Hundreds of houses have been burned and dozens killed in Maliana alone. Reports have come in of mutilated bodies littering the road to West Timor. Thousands more East Timorese are now refugees, many of them forced onto trucks headed for unknown destinations. TNI must withdraw immediately from East Timor. The U.S. must offer full support for increased UN personnel and an expanded UN mission mandate. The UN must be granted control of administration and security in East Timor. The U.S. must cut off all military and financial assistance immediately! ** CALL Defense Secretary William Cohen at 703-692-7100 (fax: 703-697-9080). Demand that the United States cut off all remaining military aid to Indonesia until it removes its troops from East Timor and disbands the paramilitary groups roaming the streets. ** CALL World Bank President James Wolfensohn at 202-458-2907 (fax: 202-522-0355). Urge him to suspend financial assistance to Indonesia unless it complies immediately with UN demands to end the violence in East Timor. Also call the Executive Director for the United States to the World Bank, Ms. Jan Piercy at 202-458-0110 (fax: 202-477-2967). Demand that the U.S. support the suspension of assistance to Indonesia. ** CALL your senators and representative. Urge them to call Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, President Clinton, and Secretary of Defense William Cohen directly. The Congressional switchboard number is 202-224-3121 or check www.congress.gov for contact information on individual offices. ** CALL Assistant Secretary of State Stanley Roth at 202-647-9596. Don't let the staff transfer you to the Indonesia desk. You want this message to reach Roth himself. The Indonesia desk officers are already doing what they can. For more information, contact Karen at the New York ETAN office at 914-428-7299 or salama74@aol.com, or Brad Simpson at IFET at 773-255-7949. END ____________________________________________________________________________ | Eric S. Piotrowski ____________________| "The oppressed cannot remain | | IFET-OP U.S. Interim Coordinator ______| oppressed forever. The urge for | | altin@atlantic.net ____________________| freedom will eventually come." | | http://www.atlantic.net/~altin ________| - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. | |________________________________________|_________________________________| Support the International Federation for East Timor's Observer Project http://etan.org/ifet Phone: 831-728-4190 Fax: 831-761-1401 >> - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bob Tiller Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Nuclear War Terminology Questions Date: 07 Sep 1999 18:01:22 -0400 That's a fair question. I don't have a set of words to describe such a scenario. I doubt that there will ever be a nuclear war in which only a few nuclear weapons are used, unless it is an attack by a nuclear power on a non-nuclear power (e.g. if the U.S. uses a few nuclear weapons against Libya or Sudan). In the unlikely event that only a "few" nuclear weapons were used in a war between nuclear states (e.g. China and Russia, or China and U.S.), perhaps we could use terms like "less-than-all-out" or "unexcessive" -- though I think I would find myself reluctant to use such terms to describe a war in which millions of people were killed and millions more were injured. I guess that "regional" might work to describe a nuclear war that is limited to India and Pakistan, but it would not be very descriptive. Shalom, Bob Tiller Timothy Bruening wrote: > At 04:55 PM 9/3/99 -0400, Bob Tiller wrote: > >There can be no such thing as "a small nuclear war." It is a mistaken idea, a > >false construct, and we should not be using it. > > What term should I use for a nuclear war in which only a few nuclear weapons > are used, as opposed to an all out nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia? > What term should I use for a "regional" nuclear war (like between India and > Pakistan)? > > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) DE-ALERT RESOLUTION IN EUROPEAN PARLT - 24 HOURS TO LOBBY Date: 08 Sep 1999 13:23:31 +1000 Dear people, The Greens, Green-Left Coalition, and the Socialists are sponsoring a resolution on de-alerting nuke weapons over Y2K in the European Parliament. It comes up for the first debate on Thursday at roughly midday Brussells time. The Christian Democrats and other more righ- wing groups are likely to resists its being listed as an urgancy motion at that time. If it's not listed we will have to wait till october. Ernst Gulcher (as per these emails below) tells me there is roughly 24 hours left to lobby the EP. I suggest the way to do it is to email the EP list that I have, with SHORT messages, expressing support for the EP resolution. (list is below at the very end of this email) You could also FAX THE FOLLOWING NUMBERS: MAJ -BRITT THEORIN: 32 2 284 96 61 and in Strasbourg 33 3 88 17 96 61. ELIZABETH SCHROEDTER: BRUSSELLS 32-2-284-9234 STRASBOURG 33-3-881-79234 HEIDI HAUTALA BRUSSELLS 32-2-284-9446 STRASBOURG 33-3-881-79446. The suggested message is as follows. "Dear Member of the European Parliament, I have heard that a resolution on taking nuclear weapons off alert over the Y2K rollover period is being considered for submission as as urgency motion on Thursday. My group considers this motion to be of very highest importance. Considerable concern has recently been expressed by a number of respected analysts in the Brookings Institute, the British-American Security Information Council, and the Federation of American Scientists, over the possibility of accidental launches of nuclear missiles based on misinformation from malfunctioning computer systems over the Y2K rollover period. If nuclear weapons are taken off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K rollover period, it will ensure positively that accidental nuclear missile launches, whose consequences are at least potentially disastrous for the entire planet, are not possible. In any case, the taking of nuclear forces off alert, or standing down, was strongly reccommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996, and by subsequent resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, as essential steps toward the abolition of nuclear weapons. With or without the Y2K problem, taking nuclear forces off alert is a good idea. In the face of possible Y2K computer glitches, it is sheer commonsense, costs nothing, and makes the world a safer place. We urge you to support this essential and comonsense resolution being listed as an urgency motion on thursday, and to vote in favour of it. John Hallam, Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Sydney, Next comes a 'pruned' list of some 40% of the EP. it is largely the Socialist greenleft and green factions. If anyone has fax or email adresses for any other factions please use them and please send them to me! Dear Member of the European Parliament, I have heard that a resolution on taking nuclear weapons off alert over the Y2K rollover period is being considered for submission as as urgency motion on Thursday. My group considers this motion to be of very highest importance. Considerable concern has recently been expressed by a number of respected analysts in the Brookings Institute, the British-American Security Information Council, and the Federation of American Scientists, over the possibility of accidental launches of nuclear missiles based on misinformation from malfunctioning computer systems over the Y2K rollover period. If nuclear weapons are taken off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K rollover period, it will ensure positively that accidental nuclear missile launches, whose consequences are at least potentially disastrous for the entire planet, are not possible. In any case, the taking of nuclear forces off alert, or standing down, was strongly reccommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996, and by subsequent resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, as essential steps toward the abolition of nuclear weapons. With or without the Y2K problem, taking nuclear forces off alert is a good idea. In the face of possible Y2K computer glitches, it is sheer commonsense, costs nothing, and makes the world a safer place. We urge you to support this essential and comonsense resolution being listed as an urgency motion on thursday, and to vote in favour of it." (Signed etc...) wrothley@europarl.eu.int wpiecyk@europarl.eu.int fperezroyo@europarl.eu.int rmyller@europarl.eu.int smurphy@europarl.eu.int emorgan@europarl.eu.int e.morgan.mep@geo2.poptel.org.uk bmiller@europarl.eu.int mmedina@europarl.eu.int emcnally@europarl.eu.int dmartin@europarl.eu.int rlinkohr@europarl.eu.int B.Lange@link-h.comlink.apc.org Krehl@epri.org hkuhne@europarl.eu.int kjunker@europarl.eu.int jizquierdo@europarl.eu.int jhume@europarl.eu.int shughes@europarl.eu.int rhowitt@europarl.eu.int mhoff@europarl.eu.int L.Groener.mep@t-online.de nglante@europarl.eu.int norbert.glante@emails.de egebhardt@europarl.eu.int ggarot@europarl.eu.int hettl@spoe.or.at nettl@spoe.or.at hettl@europarl.eu.int pberes@europarl.eu.int ebaroncrespo@europarl.eu.int fblak@europarl.eu.int dbowe@europarl.eu.int mail@davidbowe.demon.co.uk fbertinotti@europarl.eu.int kcoates@europarl.eu.int sainardi@europarl.eu.int ccarnero@europarl.eu.int lcastellina@europarl.eu.int meriksson@europarl.eu.int fwurtz@europarl.eu.int lvinci@europarl.eu.int amohamedali@europarl.eu.int fbertinotti@europarl.eu.int melmalan@europarl.eu.int apuerta@europarl.eu.int lgonzalezalvarez@europarl.eu.int cripameana@europarl.eu.int gmoreau@europarl.eu.int apailler@europarl.eu.int mwatts@europarl.eu.int ralf.walter.mdep@t-online.de dtsatsos@europarl.eu.int gtitley@europarl.eu.int avalenti@psc.es stockmann@epri.org G.SCHMID@LINK-R.DE gruffolo@europarl.eu.int dcohnbendit@europarl.eu.int maglietta@europarl.eu.int nahern@europarl.eu.int 106114.173@compuserve.com ubloch@europarl.eu.int vonblottnitz@epri.org magda.aelvoet@agalev.be hbreyer@europarl.eu.int fgraefe@europarl.eu.int uholm@europarl.eu.int ulf.holm@mp.se hkerr@europarl.eu.int jlagendijk@europarl.eu.int europa@groenlinks.nl plannoye@europarl.eu.int mlindholm@europarl.eu.int malou.lindholm@mp.se pmckenna@europarl.eu.int emueller@europarl.eu.int lorlando@europarl.eu.int orla003@pn.itnet.it eschroedter@europarl.eu.int eschroedt@aol.com ischorling@europarl.eu.int inger.schorling@mp.se isoltwedel@europarl.eu.int gtamino@europarl.eu.int wtelkaemper@europarl.eu.int w.telkaemper@3landbox.comlink.apc.org jvoggenhuber@europarl.eu.int imitmasser@gruene.at fwolf@europarl.eu.int - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) Get This message to This list within 24 hours Date: 08 Sep 1999 19:54:19 +1000 John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html DEAR PEOPLE IF YOU POSSIBLY CAN, BY EMAIL AND FAX, GET THIS MESSAGE OUT (BELOW) TO THE LIST BELOW THAT. YOU HAVE 24 HOURS. (Noon Thursday Brussels time) (it should take about 20 minutes). NO problem if you want to improve on the message just do it. Dear Member of the European Parliament, I have heard that a resolution on taking nuclear weapons off alert over the Y2K rollover period is being considered for submission as as urgency motion on Thursday. My group considers this motion to be of the very highest importance. Considerable concern has recently been expressed by a number of respected analysts in the Brookings Institute, the British-American Security Information Council, and the Federation of American Scientists, over the possibility of accidental launches of nuclear missiles based on misinformation from malfunctioning computer systems over the Y2K rollover period. If nuclear weapons are taken off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K rollover period, it will ensure positively that accidental nuclear missile launches, whose consequences are at least potentially disastrous for the entire planet, are not possible. In any case, the taking of nuclear forces off alert, or standing down, was strongly reccommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996, and by subsequent resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, as essential steps toward the abolition of nuclear weapons. With or without the Y2K problem, taking nuclear forces off alert is a good idea. In the face of possible Y2K computer glitches, it is sheer commonsense, costs nothing, and makes the world a safer place. The UK has already altered its 'notice to fire' from seconds to days. This is undoubtedly a move in the right direction. A resolution on Y2k and nuclear weapons was passed unanimopusly in the Australian Senate recently, and I understand that one is being prepared for the US Congress. We urge you to support this essential and comonsense resolution being listed as an urgency motion on thursday, and to vote in favour of it. ....TO THIS LIST (EMAILS HERE FAX NUMBERS RIGHT AT THE BOTTOM) wrothley@europarl.eu.int wpiecyk@europarl.eu.int fperezroyo@europarl.eu.int rmyller@europarl.eu.int smurphy@europarl.eu.int emorgan@europarl.eu.int e.morgan.mep@geo2.poptel.org.uk bmiller@europarl.eu.int mmedina@europarl.eu.int emcnally@europarl.eu.int dmartin@europarl.eu.int rlinkohr@europarl.eu.int B.Lange@link-h.comlink.apc.org Krehl@epri.org hkuhne@europarl.eu.int kjunker@europarl.eu.int jizquierdo@europarl.eu.int jhume@europarl.eu.int shughes@europarl.eu.int rhowitt@europarl.eu.int mhoff@europarl.eu.int L.Groener.mep@t-online.de nglante@europarl.eu.int norbert.glante@emails.de egebhardt@europarl.eu.int ggarot@europarl.eu.int hettl@spoe.or.at nettl@spoe.or.at hettl@europarl.eu.int pberes@europarl.eu.int ebaroncrespo@europarl.eu.int fblak@europarl.eu.int dbowe@europarl.eu.int mail@davidbowe.demon.co.uk fbertinotti@europarl.eu.int kcoates@europarl.eu.int sainardi@europarl.eu.int ccarnero@europarl.eu.int lcastellina@europarl.eu.int meriksson@europarl.eu.int fwurtz@europarl.eu.int lvinci@europarl.eu.int amohamedali@europarl.eu.int fbertinotti@europarl.eu.int melmalan@europarl.eu.int apuerta@europarl.eu.int lgonzalezalvarez@europarl.eu.int cripameana@europarl.eu.int gmoreau@europarl.eu.int apailler@europarl.eu.int mwatts@europarl.eu.int ralf.walter.mdep@t-online.de dtsatsos@europarl.eu.int gtitley@europarl.eu.int avalenti@psc.es stockmann@epri.org G.SCHMID@LINK-R.DE gruffolo@europarl.eu.int dcohnbendit@europarl.eu.int maglietta@europarl.eu.int nahern@europarl.eu.int 106114.173@compuserve.com ubloch@europarl.eu.int vonblottnitz@epri.org magda.aelvoet@agalev.be hbreyer@europarl.eu.int fgraefe@europarl.eu.int uholm@europarl.eu.int ulf.holm@mp.se hkerr@europarl.eu.int jlagendijk@europarl.eu.int europa@groenlinks.nl plannoye@europarl.eu.int mlindholm@europarl.eu.int malou.lindholm@mp.se pmckenna@europarl.eu.int emueller@europarl.eu.int lorlando@europarl.eu.int orla003@pn.itnet.it eschroedter@europarl.eu.int eschroedt@aol.com ischorling@europarl.eu.int inger.schorling@mp.se isoltwedel@europarl.eu.int gtamino@europarl.eu.int wtelkaemper@europarl.eu.int w.telkaemper@3landbox.comlink.apc.org jvoggenhuber@europarl.eu.int imitmasser@gruene.at fwolf@europarl.eu.int You could also FAX THE FOLLOWING NUMBERS: MAJ -BRITT THEORIN: 32 2 284 96 61 and in Strasbourg 33 3 88 17 96 61. ELIZABETH SCHROEDTER: BRUSSELLS 32-2-284-9234 STRASBOURG 33-3-881-79234 HEIDI HAUTALA BRUSSELLS 32-2-284-9446 STRASBOURG 33-3-881-79446. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: East Timor information and action Date: 08 Sep 1999 21:54:09 EDT This is a discouraging post. I'm glad Alyn noted the sources for information and I hope people follow up on it. But this is a replay of what we had during the Kosova war. And it is a replay of the Hauge Appeal - "let's discuss any war but the one in front of us". My take may be desperately off base, but the exclusion of serious political discussion from the Abolition list (and the many very minor posts which do appear on it) makes it increasingly less useful. I sense my days on this list will soon end as too much of the material bears absolutely no relationship to the real world most of us live in. More later. Peace, David McReynolds NYC << Subj: East Timor information and action Date: 9/8/99 9:40:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time From: alynw@ibm.net (Alyn Ware) Sender: owner-abolition-caucus@igc.org To: abolition-caucus@igc.org (abolition caucus) Dear Abolitionists, Many of you are probably shocked about the horrific events in East Timor and want to know more information or what you can do about it. The Abolition 2000 Coordinating Committee today affirmed that the abolition caucus list-serve should be used as intended as a forum for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and not as a forum for other issues of peace or violence. For those of you who want information on East Timor and what you can do, contact: East Timor Action Network, 110 Maryland Avenue NE #30, Washington DC 20002. Phone (1) 202-544-6911, or (1) 914 428 7299 Email: etandc@igc.apc.org Website:http://www.etan.org International Federation for East Timor, Phone: (1) 831-728-4190 Fax: (1) 831-761-1401 Email: altin@atlantic.net. Website: http://www.etan.org/ifet Peace Brigades International East Timor Project, 76 Virginia Road, Wanganui, Aotearoa-New Zealand. Phone (64) 6 345 0634 Email: alynw@ibm.net, or michael.wilts@clear.net.nz, Website: http://www.igc.org/pbi - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) EMAIL THESE PEOPLE TO SUPPORT DE-ALERTING RESOLUTION Date: 09 Sep 1999 13:37:03 +1000 DEAR DE-ALERTERS, THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO MOST NEED TO BE EMAILED RE- THE DE-ALERTING RESOLUTION COMING UP TODAY. THERE'S ABOUT 8 HOURS TO DO IT IN. I'LL GET FAX NOS ASS SOON AS I CAN. JOHN H. Patrick COX Chairman of the Parliamentary Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party in the European Parliament. pcoxmep@tinet.ie Herrn Hans-Gert POETTERING Group of the European People's Party (Christian-Democratic Group), Chairman hpoettering@europarl.eu.int Dear Patrick Cox and Hans-Gert Poettering, I have heard that a resolution on taking nuclear weapons off alert over the Y2K rollover period is being considered for submission as as urgency motion on Thursday. My group considers this motion to be of the very highest importance. Considerable concern has recently been expressed by a number of respected analysts in the Brookings Institute, the British-American Security Information Council, and the Federation of American Scientists, over the possibility of accidental launches of nuclear missiles based on misinformation from malfunctioning computer systems over the Y2K rollover period. If nuclear weapons are taken off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K rollover period, it will ensure positively that accidental nuclear missile launches, whose consequences are at least potentially disastrous for the entire planet, are not possible. In any case, the taking of nuclear forces off alert, or standing down, was strongly reccommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996, and by subsequent resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, as essential steps toward the abolition of nuclear weapons. With or without the Y2K problem, taking nuclear forces off alert is a good idea. In the face of possible Y2K computer glitches, it is sheer commonsense, costs nothing, and makes the world a safer place. The UK has already altered its 'notice to fire' from seconds to days. This is undoubtedly a move in the right direction. A resolution on Y2k and nuclear weapons was passed unanimopusly in the Australian Senate recently, and I understand that one is being prepared for the US Congress. A similar resolution was introduced the day before yesterday in the Canadian Senate, by Senator Doug Roche. We urge you to support this essential and comonsense resolution being listed as an urgency motion on thursday, and to vote in favour of it. John Hallam Nuclear Campaigner Friends of the earth Sydney Australia. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) DE-ALERTING RESOLUTION TO BE DEBATED FOR EP AGENDA IN FOUR HOURS Date: 09 Sep 1999 18:13:51 +1000 DEAR DE-ALERTERS, DECISION TIME ON EP RESOLUTION IN FOUR HOURS At Noon Strasbourg time (ie four hours from now), the EP will decide whether to accept the resolution on de-alerting of nuclear weapons over Y2K as an 'urgency motion'. if it does it wil then be voted on today week. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO MOST NEED TO BE FAXED/EMAILED RE- THE DE-ALERTING RESOLUTION COMING UP TODAY. JOHN H. Patrick COX Chairman of the Parliamentary Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party in the European Parliament. pcoxmep@tinet.ie FAX 33-3-8817-9363 Herrn Hans-Gert POETTERING Group of the European People's Party (Christian-Democratic Group), Chairman hpoettering@europarl.eu.int FAX 33-3-8817-9311. Dear Patrick Cox and Hans-Gert Poettering, I have heard that a resolution on taking nuclear weapons off alert over the Y2K rollover period is being considered for submission as as urgency motion on Thursday. This motion is of the very highest importance. Considerable concern has recently been expressed by a number of respected analysts in the Brookings Institute, the British-American Security Information Council, and the Federation of American Scientists, over the possibility of accidental launches of nuclear missiles based on misinformation from malfunctioning computer systems over the Y2K rollover period. If nuclear weapons are taken off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K rollover period, it will ensure positively that accidental nuclear missile launches, whose consequences are at least potentially disastrous for the entire planet, are not possible. In any case, the taking of nuclear forces off alert, or standing down, was strongly reccommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996, and by subsequent resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, as essential steps toward the abolition of nuclear weapons. With or without the Y2K problem, taking nuclear forces off alert is a good idea. In the face of possible Y2K computer glitches, it is sheer commonsense, costs nothing, and makes the world a safer place. The UK has already altered its 'notice to fire' from seconds to days. This is undoubtedly a move in the right direction. A resolution on Y2k and nuclear weapons was passed unanimopusly in the Australian Senate recently, and I understand that one is being prepared for the US Congress. A similar resolution was introduced the day before yesterday in the Canadian Senate, by Senator Doug Roche. We urge you to support this essential and comonsense resolution being listed as an urgency motion on thursday, and to vote in favour of it. (signed) etc. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) FAXED TO DOUG ROCHE RE CANADIAN DE-ALERTING RESOLUTION Date: 09 Sep 1999 19:36:25 +1000 FRIENDS OF THE EARTH AUSTRALIA / AUSTRALIAN PEACE COMMITTEE ATTN SENATOR DOUG ROCHE 1-613 943-9561 Dear Senator Doug Roche, I am writing to you to congratuate you on your submitting of a de-alerting resolution to the Canadian Senate on 7 Sept. It is surely no coincidence that the European Parliament will debate whether to put a de-alerting resolution on the agenda for next week in roughly four hours. As you have signed the De-alerting sign on letter to Yeltsin and Clinton, it is also entirely appropriate that those in the European Parliament who have signed the same letter are also in the forefront of getting it on the agenda there. These initiatives are essential for the security of the whole world. Taking nuclear weapons off hairtriggger alert in the face of possible misinformation and miscalculation resulting from the Y2K problem is simple comonsense. Yet the fact is that some people continue to resist the idea and claim that we are saying that the sky is falling. Friends of the Earth Australia and the Australian Peace Committee completely supports you in this endeavour. Furthermore, it is clear that all those who have signed the De-Alerting letter to Yeltsin and Clinton, which now amounts to some 380 organisations worldwide, support the idea of taking nuclear forces off alert. I urge you to use the De-Alerting letter to demonstrate the global support that exists for your initiative. Parliamentarians, trade-unions, NGOs, Church groups, and Peace and Environment groups accross the planet have shown that they believe that nuclear forces should be stood down. The Canberra Commission and at least two resolutions of the UNGA have urged that this be done. Commonsense demands it be done. Sheer survival demands that it be done. Canada has a good record in this area, and a resolution to this effect would definitely be helpful in urging Yeltsin and Clinton to do as we suggest and stand down nuclear forces. I urge you to proceed with this excellent initiative and wish you complete success with it. John Hallam Nuclear Campaigner Friends of the Earth Sydney, Coordinator, De-Alerting Letter. Irene Gale A.M., Australian Peace Committee, Adelaide. >Roche, Douglas: SEN wrote: >Press Release > A Motion calling on the Government of Canada to urge all nuclear powers to de-alert their nuclear weapons as soon as possible was introduced in the Senate of Canada September 7, 1999 by Senator Douglas Roche. > There are currently 5,000 nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert, meaning they could be fired within minutes. Taking these weapons off alert status would be done by physically separating the warheads from the >delivery vehicles. > The motion is aimed at the five declared nuclear weapons States, the United States, Russia, the U.K., France and China and the three nuclear weapons capable States, India, Pakistan and Israel. > "These powerful States could make a great gift to humanity for the new Millennium by removing the possibility of nuclear accidents," Senator Roche said. > Senator Roche noted growing concern that the failure of computers to recognize the year 2000 date change could infect command, control, communication and intelligence systems of nuclear forces. However, he said, "the Motion is not directly dependent on the Y2K problem. The year 2000 date change highlights the existing danger to the world because of the ongoing alert status of nuclear forces." Several incidents of false signals of missile attacks have triggered a process in which national leaders had to decide in only a few minutes whether to fire nuclear weapons. Russia and the United States are now discussing a proposed joint center in the U.S. which would seat a handful of U.S. and Russian officers side-by-side for a few days during the 2000 date switch to monitor blips on nuclear screens. The officers would be in direct touch with their respective national command authorities to alleviate any concern about blips that may occur on the date change. "This shows that the U.S. and Russia are concerned about a possible problem," Senator Roche said, "but their response is inadequate. The world needs the safety that de-alerting would ensure -- not just on New Year's Eve but throughout every day of every year." Senator Roche noted that the U.K. government has relaxed the notice to fire its nuclear weapons from minutes to days. Also, the Government of Canada, following the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, supports the concept of de-alerting and other measures which contribute to the safety and security of nuclear arsenals and the stability of U.S.-Russian strategic nuclear relations. Senator Roche's Motion reads: "That the Senate recommends that the Government of Canada urge the nuclear weapons States plus India, Pakistan and Israel to take all of their nuclear forces off alert status as soon as possible." >-30- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason Subject: (abolition-usa) Today! 1 pm 9/9/99 Las Vegas NV, Nuclear Projects Commission Date: 09 Sep 1999 07:53:34 -0400 Company Press Release State of Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects Meeting CARSON CITY, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 8, 1999--Governor Kenny Guinn has been invited to attend the Thursday, September 9, 1999, meeting of the State of Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects. The Commission will meet at 1:00 p.m. at the Clark County Commission Chambers in Las Vegas. Additionally, Wendy R. Dixon, Assistant Manager, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environment, Safety & Health will present an update of DOE's draft Environmental Impact Statement. Staff from the State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects will furnish updates of the Agency's oversight program. Also, Local Government and Tribal Leaders may be present to provide program updates. The public is invited to attend and welcome to comment. Contact: State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects Robert R. Loux, 800/366-0990 (toll free in Nevada) or 775/687-3744 September 8, 11:03 am Eastern Time http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/990908/nv_commssn_1.html ____________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org -Convert the War Machines! * ____________________________________________________________ - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: WAND Capitol Hill Action Alert Date: 09 Sep 1999 13:25:51 -0400 Dear Friends, Below is an urgent request for you to make some phone calls demanding that the US take immediate action against the terrible slaughter in East Timor. Please take a few minutes to call Congress, Cohen, the White House and tell them to stop playing real politique with human lives!! Thanks. Alice Slater >Date: Thu, 09 Sep 1999 11:03:26 -0400 >Subject: WAND Capitol Hill Action Alert >From: wand@wand.org (wand@wand.org) > >Welcome to the WAND Capitol Hill e-mail action for the week beginning >September 13, 1999. > >East Timor Action Network (ETAN) >URGENT ACTION ALERT > >U.S. Government Inaction Results in More Death >as Wave After Wave of Violence Sweeps East Timor > >Call Today to Demand an End to the Killing. > >Your action can save lives! > >Less than 24 hours after the UN announced that more than >78% of registered voters in East Timor voted to reject >Indonesia's autonomy package, Indonesian military and >paramilitary forces sharply escalated their campaign of terror. > >All observers from the International Federation for East Timor >Observer Project (IFET-OP) have been forced to evacuate >East Timor due to rampant violence by both paramilitary >forces and TNI (Indonesian military forces), including the >Kopassus Special Forces, known for its atrocious human rights >abuses. > >Dili is burning; the streets are deserted and refugees are >amassing in churches and other relief centers. > >Many children are among the dead. Paramilitary forces roam >the streets of Dili unimpeded, while joint militia/army roadblocks >block entrance to and exit from the capitol. The paramilitaries >and TNI are systematically targeting buildings which house >refugees. > >With the evacuation of UN staff and media from outlying towns, >foreign observers are unable to confirm the extent of violence >outside Dili, but it is believed to be severe. > >Hundreds of houses have been burned and dozens killed in >Maliana alone. > >Reports have come in of mutilated bodies littering the road to >West Timor. Thousands more East Timorese are now >refugees, many of them forced onto trucks headed for >unknown destinations. > >TNI must withdraw immediately from East Timor. > >The U.S. must offer full support for increased UN personnel >and an expanded UN mission mandate. The UN must be >granted control of administration and security in East Timor. > >The U.S. must cut off all military and financial assistance >immediately! > >** CALL Defense Secretary William Cohen at 703-692-7100 >(fax: 703-697-9080). Demand that the United States cut off all >remaining military aid to Indonesia until it removes its troops >from East Timor and disbands the paramilitary groups roaming >the streets. > >** CALL World Bank President James Wolfensohn at >202-458-2907 (fax: 202-522-0355). Urge him to suspend >financial assistance to Indonesia unless it complies immediately >with UN demands to end the violence in East Timor. Also call >the Executive Director for the United States to the World >Bank, Ms. Jan Piercy at 202-458-0110 (fax: 202-477-2967). >Demand that the U.S. support the suspension of assistance to >Indonesia. > >** CALL your senators and representative. Urge them to call >Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, President Clinton, and >Secretary of Defense William Cohen directly. The >Congressional switchboard number is 202-224-3121 >or check http://www.congress.gov for contact information >on individual offices. > >** CALL Assistant Secretary of State Stanley Roth at >202-647-9596. Don't let the staff transfer you to the >Indonesia desk. You want this message to reach Roth himself. > The Indonesia desk officers are already doing what they can. > >For more information, contact Karen at the New York ETAN >office at 914-428-7299 or salama74@aol.com, or Brad Simpson >at IFET at 773-255-7949. > Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: marylia@earthlink.net (marylia) Subject: (abolition-usa) sign-on letter/DOE weapons "megastrategy" Date: 09 Sep 1999 10:58:58 -0700 (PDT) * IMPORTANT SIGN ON LETTER * Dear peace and enviro allies: Please take a minute to look at this sign on letter, and get your organization to sign on PLEASE. We are looking for sign ons from all public interest groups -- large and small -- across the country and around the globe. We need your name, your title (or an indication you are empowered to sign on your group's behalf) and your group's complete address (including state and/or country). The purpose of this letter is to oppose the DOE's "megastrategy," which is a plan to EXPAND U.S. nuclear weapons activities at the labs and the test site, including by building new facilities, enlarging several weapons programs and moving some of them around to new sites. The three original sponsors of this letter are Tri-Valley CAREs of Livermore, CA USA, Western States Legal Foundation of Oakland, CA USA and Physicians for Social Responsibility - Greater San Francisco Bay Area Chapter in Berkeley, CA. We WELCOME your sign-on. We are hoping to get many, many groups!!!! Yours can help!!!! Reply to my address on this message, or to Tri-Valley CAREs' nuclear program analyst Sally Light at Here is the letter... September 21, 1999 US Department of Energy 1000 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, D.C. 20585 Attn: Gilbert Weigand, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Weapons Research & Development Re: Department of Energy's Plans for Major Changes in Nuclear Weapons Complex Dear Mr. Weigand, We are writing on behalf of Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment), Western States Legal Foundation and Physicians for Social Responsibility - Greater San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. All three organizations have a long-time interest in public health and safety issues concerning Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and other facilities within the nuclear weapons complex. Tri-Valley CAREs is a 16-year-old environmental group that "watchdogs" LLNL. Among other things, it holds two US Environmental Protection Agency Technical Assistance Grants to monitor environmental cleanup at LLNL. Western States Legal Foundation has been deeply involved in monitoring nuclear weapons programs and environmental activities at LLNL since 1982. The San Francisco Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility has kept watch over LLNL worker and community issues for a number of years. Further, this letter represents the interests and concerns of the public interest organizations who have joined us in sending this letter, listed on signatory pages that follow. We have recently obtained information concerning the Department of Energy's (DOE) plans to reconfigure, expand, enhance and/or move certain aspects of the nuclear weapons program carried out by the various facilities within the nuclear weapons complex. This information is from briefing papers, obtained from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which we understand you used to brief high-level Clinton administration officials on the DOE plan. Changes proposed by DOE include the following: 1. DOE will "move promptly" the W80 nuclear warhead workload from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This would involve more plutonium pit work at LLNL. The briefing papers reveal what appear to be changes in the warhead that go far, far beyond any maintenance procedures that may be necessary to preserve the existing weapon's "safety" or "reliability" while it remains in the arsenal. 2. DOE will also "move promptly" the plutonium pit surveillance mission and workload from LANL to LLNL. DOE expressly says that one goal is to give Livermore Lab more plutonium workload, which means that pits from weapons, in addition to those of the W80 program discussed in #1 above, will come to Livermore. Further, the plan suggests that some or all of the surveillance work for each of the US weapon types will come to Livermore Lab, which means nuclear weapons components would be taken apart and "destructively tested" at Livermore. Concerning both # 1 and #2 above, Livermore Lab already has about 880 pounds of plutonium, and also has a history of accidents, spills, leaks and plutonium safety violations. In fact, its plutonium facility was recently shut down on the recommendation of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, and is only now "restarting." We are worried that the DOE's proposed changes will result in increased risks to worker and public health and safety. 3. LANL's Appaloosa program would be expanded. Appaloosa is the code-name for a hydrodynamic test program wherein high explosives and surrogate bomb cores, called pits, (including with plutonium 242) are detonated in above-ground tanks. 4. DOE will consolidate its hydrodynamic program at LANL, although the Clinton administration has been informed that LLNL will still keep its hydrodynamic program, including the new "Contained Firing Facility" now under construction at Livermore. 5. A huge proton accelerator is to be constructed at LANL. 6. DOE will conduct additional underground subcritical nuclear tests for the W80 and W88 programs. The briefing papers also indicate that additional subcritical tests will involve "weapon relevant shapes." 7. DOE will move the ATLAS and Pegasus programs from LANL to Nevada. (ATLAS is a new fusion facility under construction at LANL, and Pegasus an older machine.) These two programs would be used to develop the technology allowing for "explosively driven pulse power for future SNM [special nuclear material - i.e., plutonium] experiments in U1A." U1A is the underground complex of tunnels and rooms where subcritical nuclear experiments are now detonated at the Nevada Test Site. 8. DOE will build a new "infrastructure for weapons microsystems components ... MESA" at Sandia Lab in New Mexico, supporting "future AF&F (arming, firing and fusing) needs." This aspect of the plan is reported to cost $300 million. Although these are major moves and expansions of nuclear weapons activities, the DOE has failed to discuss technical or policy justifications for them. DOE also fails to discuss overall proliferation impacts, costs or environmental impacts. Nor does DOE indicate any intended public disclosure or process for public review and comment. This plan has gone forward in secret, and the public has been inappropriately excluded from any knowledge or decision-making role. Earlier this year, DOE and Livermore Lab held a public meeting at which officials testified that no major changes were contemplated to Livermore Lab's operations over the next 5 years. Based on this, DOE and Livermore Lab decided on March 10, 1999 not to conduct a new site-wide environmental review. In view the above proposed changes, it is difficult for us not to think that DOE and LLNL may have acted in bad faith at that public meeting. We are outraged by these decisions and demand that a new Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory with full public hearings and disclosure be part of the process to decide whether any funding should be requested/expended. Certainly, this EIS must be done before any of these changes occur, and before anything is moved. There should be no repeat of the situation at Paducah and Portsmouth, where both workers and the public were misled for years, and revelations about plutonium contamination are just now becoming public. Further, the DOE has completed a Stockpile Stewardship & Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (SSM PEIS) which is silent on this plan. In fact, some of the SSM PEIS' siting elements actually ran contrary to the latest DOE scheme described above. OMB is on record stating that DOE must undertake a revision of the SSM PEIS before moving forward. DOE, however, has already requested initial monies from Congress to begin, according to a Senate report. It appears to us that a Supplemental EIS, with public hearings held across the country, is necessary as well. We hope to have your response in the very near future. If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate in contacting us. Sincerely, Marylia Kelley Executive Director, Tri-Valley CAREs Robert Gould, M.D. President, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Greater San Francisco Bay Area Jacqueline Cabasso Executive Director, Western States Legal Foundation Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 - is our web site, please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) sign-on letter/DOE weapons "megastrategy" Date: 09 Sep 1999 15:26:41 -0400 Hi Marylia, Please sign me on. Hope it helps!! Alice Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bob Tiller Subject: (abolition-usa) Job announcement Date: 09 Sep 1999 18:34:38 -0400 We have a job opening at the national PSR office. Please circulate and repost the following job announcement as widely as you can. Thank you. Shalom, Bob Tiller ******************************************* JOB ANNOUNCEMENT Physicians for Social Responsibility, a national membership organization committed to the abolition of nuclear weapons, is seeking an Associate Director of Security Programs, who will have responsibilities in two broad areas: Research and Policy: *Provide research and expertise on a broad range of nuclear weapons issues, including: plutonium disposition, MOX fuel, cleanup of DOE's nuclear weapons complex, nuclear waste disposition, nuclear weapons-related public health matters, the Stockpile Stewardship program, tritium production, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and the ABM treaty. *Monitor and report on legislative matters and executive branch developments in issue areas. *Prepare fact sheets, articles and other materials for decision-makers and for activists. *Assist in developing action strategies and advocacy initiatives. *Conduct special projects. Organizing and Education: *Enlarge and strengthen PSR's activist network on nuclear issues. *Produce educational materials for activists and chapters, including voter education materials and a bimonthly newsletter. *Maintain regular communication with PSR chapters, activists and physician experts. *Mobilize activists for action. *Assist in coordinating national advocacy campaigns. *Maintain and update the nuclear portion of PSR's website. *Assist in drafting media statements. *Assist in planning and organizing conferences, training programs and other education events. Qualifications: -Commitment to abolition of nuclear weapons -Knowledge of nuclear weapons issues -Experience in working with grassroots activists -Strong writing and speaking skills -Ability to handle multiple tasks and to meet deadlines -Ability to work both independently and cooperatively -Minimum Bachelor's degree, Master's degree preferred -Minimum of three years of relevant experience To apply, send resume to Robert Tiller, Physicians for Social Responsibility, 1101 14th St. N.W., Washington D.C. 20005. E-mail Deadline is October 1, 1999. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space Subject: (abolition-usa) STAR WARS PROTEST AT VANDENBERG NEWS RELEASE Date: 09 Sep 1999 19:37:30 -0400 (EDT) PROTEST PLANNED AT VANDENBERG AGAINST STAR WARS TEST FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE = =20 SEPTEMBER 7, 1999 CONTACT: Bruce Gagnon (352) 337-9274 (Global Network) Andrew Page (510) 849-2272 (Northern Ca. Peace Action) Danielle Babineau (310) 652-6572 (Southern Ca. Peace=20 Action) The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space has announced a= =20 demonstration at Vandenberg AFB, California on Saturday, September 25 to=20 oppose the first-ever test of the National Missile Defense (NMD) system. T= he=20 non-violent demonstration will begin at 1:00 PM and be held at the Vandenbe= rg=20 main gate (Route 1). The missile test is scheduled to be launched from Vandenberg on September 2= 9=20 and is supposed to be impacted by a second missile launched from a Kwajalei= n=20 island in the Pacific Ocean. Data during the test will be gathered by=20 orbiting Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) and fed to the Battle Manageme= nt=20 Center, which will send steering commands via satellite. Congress has voted to allow the NMD system to move forward as "soon as=20 technically feasible". The Clinton administration is now beginning to=20 consider circumventing the 1972 ABM Treaty that outlaws the development of weapons systems like the NMD. = =20 Clinton is scheduled to make a final deployment decision on the NMD system = in=20 June, 2000. Over $120 billion has been spent to date on Star Wars planning= =20 by the Pentagon. Coming from Florida for the protest will be Global Network Coordinator Bruc= e=20 Gagnon who said, "We are holding this important action at Vandenberg becaus= e=20 Star Wars must be stopped. People all over the planet are now organizing= =20 against this launch. We cannot allow the U.S. to unilaterally decide to mo= ve=20 the arms race into space. U.S. Space Command documents say they intend to= =20 =91control and dominate space=92. We intend to organize to keep space for = peace." Among the California groups endorsing and participating in the September 25= =20 protest are: California Peace Action; Southern California Federation of=20 Scientists; Grandmothers for Peace International; American Friends=20 Service Committee (Pacific S.W. Office); Ventura County Green Party; and Abolition 2000. Check the Global Network website at: http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk # # = =20 # # =20 - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Subject: (abolition-usa) US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS-NATIONAL MEETING Date: 09 Sep 1999 17:34:42 -0700 (PDT) US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS - NATIONAL MEETING TO: All activists who are working for the abolition of nuclear weapons and a positive peace and justice policy in the United States FROM: The Facilitator's Group and Working Group Convenors of the US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS (partial list depleted by August vacations, including but not limited to): John Burroughs, Lawyer's Committee on Nuclear Policy, New York; Jackie Cabasso and Andy Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation, California; Alan Haber, Peace and Environment Coalition for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons and Megiddo Peace Project, Michigan; Odile Haber, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, US Section; Jan Harwood, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, US Section and Abolition 2000 Coalition, Santa Cruz, California; Sally Light, Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, California; Pamela Meidell, The Atomic Mirror, California; Bob Musil and Bob Tiller, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Washington, DC; Carah Ong, Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons; Esther Pank, Peace Links, Washington, DC; Richard Salvador, Pacific Island Association of NGOs, Hawaii; Susan Schaer, Women's Action for New Directions, Washington, DC; Alice Slater, Global Resource Action Center for the Environment, New York WE CORDIALLY INVITE YOU to participate in a national meeting of the US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS which will take place on October 9, 10 and 11, 1999, in Ann Arbor, Michigan in connection with a nuclear abolition teach-in and community forum at the University of Michigan. We also encourage you to come early and stay late for the teach-in and related community forum activities! (see below) We are continuing to develop plans for a coordinated US campaign in furtherance of the MISSION STATEMENT and DECLARATION adopted at the February 1999 meeting of some 60 organizations in Santa Barbara, California, (see enclosed), and in recognition of the linkages between democracy, power and nuclear weapons. The campaign will utilize the working groups identified in Santa Barbara and resources provided by the cooperating organizations. A brief outline of the working groups is included. We encourage you to contact the convenors if you are interested in getting involved. We hope that you and your organization will join us in this unified effort to eliminate nuclear weapons and build towards a more peaceful and just future. Please return the enclosed registration form right away! If you have questions or would like to offer proposals for the agenda or the campaign's structure or activities, or if you'd like to submit a working paper, please respond to Carah Ong by September 15, if possible. A follow-up mailing is planned, which will include a meeting agenda, proposals, and final teach-in schedule. (Carah's contact information can be found on the registration form.) US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS NATIONAL MEETING SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9: 9 a.m.: Meeting activities begin; meeting continues all day. Agenda will include introductions, updates and reports, including from the working groups, and reflections on the responses of the government to questions from the community. The goal of the meeting is to lay the foundation for and develop a national campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons. A full agenda will follow in a separate mailing. An informal reception is scheduled in the evening at an historic building in downtown Ann Arbor SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10: Meeting continues all day MONDAY, OCTOBER 11/INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S DAY: 2 p.m.: Meeting ends (afternoon activity may follow) TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN COMMUNITY FORUM/TEACH-IN FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1999 12:45 p.m. - Panel: Nuclear Proliferation Peace Science Society Panelists: Russell Leng, Middlebury College; Mike Simon, University of Iowa. Moderator: J. David Singer, University of Michigan. 2:45 p.m.- Presentation: Chances of Accidental Nuclear Launch Speaker: Bruce Blair, Brookings Institution 3:30 p.m. - Presentation: Environmental and Public Health Hazards of Nuclear Weapons Production Speaker: Arjun Makhijani, Institute for Energy & Environmental Research 4:15 p.m.- Presentation: Serpent River First Nation People (tentative) 7:15 p.m.- Presentation: The Case Against Nuclear Weapons Abolition Speaker: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Hoover Institution at Stanford University 8:15 p.m.- Presentation: The Need for International Agreements to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Speaker: Merav Datan, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War 9:00 p.m.- Panel Discussion Panelists: Blair, Makhijani, Bueno de Mesquita, and Datan For information on the October 8 Community Forum: www.nuclearabolition.research.umich.edu FORUM ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS - Monday evening October 11, 7-9 p.m. at the community college. This not part of our program but a separate event hosted by Representative Lynn Rivers. Questions about the Monday evening forum should be directed to Lynn Rivers office, (734) 485-3741; ynn.rivers@mail.house.gov The local Peace and Environmental Coalition for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons is working to organize other events and activities prior to and during the weekend of October 8-10. Beginning October 4, programs are projected to include the politics of abolition, the international abolition movement, nukes in space, stockpile stewardship, new weapons, weapons and energy, ethics, the environment, affected peoples, international law and terms of an abolition treaty, low level radiation, health questions, depleted uranium, Israel, the bomb and Mordechai Vanunu, India-Pakistan, Korea, Russia, NATO, new frontiers of peace research, the science of peace, and others. Many schools and departments of the University have been asked to host programs relevant to their areas of knowledge. A film and video program is also being planned. (Suggestions welcomed.) Opportunities will be sought for the various working groups of the US CAMPAIGN to 'report to the community' the state of thought and work on particular aspects of the nuclear question, such as direct action, civil society, and indigenous people's concerns. For further information and inquiries about participation, please contact Alan Haber, (734)761-7967, megiddo@umich.edu. A fuller schedule will be circulated in our follow up letter. LODGING IN ANN ARBOR HOTEL: A limited number of rooms have been reserved at the Hampton Inn at the rate of $65 + tax per night, either single or double occupancy, including continental breakfast. A shuttle will provide transportation to and from the conference. HOME STAYS: The local coalition is arranging home stays. Those who would like to stay as a guest in the home of an Ann Arbor peace activist should contact Shana Milkie by e-mail at smilkie@mich.com or by phone at 734-332-1106. E-mail is preferred. A $25 suggested minimum donation is requested to help cover material and location expenses, although no one will be turned away for inability to contribute to conference costs. Please include a check or money order with your registration form. Make your check payable to "Abolition USA", and write "conference donation" on the memo line. US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS OCTOBER 9, 10 AND 11, 1999 MEETING REGISTRATION FORM ___ Yes, I plan to attend the meeting in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I have enclosed a check or money order for $25 and my complete registration information is below. ___ Yes, I plan to attend the meeting in Ann Arbor and am enclosing an additional contribution of $___ to help expand diversity at the meeting and defray additional meeting expenses. ___ No, I cannot attend the meeting, but enclosed is my contribution of $___ for a successful meeting and campaign launch. Name ______________________________ Organization ______________________________ Address ______________________________ ______________________________ Phone ______________________________ Email ______________________________ __ Please reserve a room for me at the group rate of $65.00 s/d at the Hampton Inn. I understand that there is limited availability at the group rate so I have provided my credit card number to reserve my room. I understand that there will be no charges to my credit card until I check into my room but there is a 72 hour cancellation policy, so I must send Carah Ong my cancellation notice at least three days prior to my scheduled arrival. ___ I would like to share a room with: (name)____________________________________________. ___ Please help me find a room mate, if possible. I plan to arrive on (date) __________ and leave on (date)__________. Please reserve my room for (number)_____ nights. Credit Card (circle one): Visa Mastercard American Express Discover Diner's Card Number ____________________________________________________ Expiration Date ___________________ Authorized Signature __________________________________________ ___ I will contact Shana Milkie by E-mail atsmilkie@mich.com or by phone at (734)332 -1106 and let her know I am interested in a home stay arranged by the local coalition of Ann Arbor peace activists. ___ I will make my own arrangements for accommodations. PLEASE RETURN THIS COMPLETED FORM, WITH YOUR VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION, TO: Carah Ong Nuclear Age Peace Foundation PMB 121, 1187 Coast Village Rd., Suite 1 Santa Barbara, California 93108 Phone 805-965-3443 Fax 805-568-0466 E- mail: A2000@silcom.com US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS MISSION STATEMENT To ensure a just, secure, healthy and sustainable world for our children, grandchildren, all future generations and all living things, we aim to educate public opinion and mobilize persistent popular pressure to move the United States government to take prompt and unequivocal actions to eliminate nuclear weapons. These actions must include halting continued development of new and modified nuclear weapons, de-alerting nuclear forces, addressing the environmental degradation and human suffering arising from testing, production, deployment and use of nuclear weapons, and undertaking negotiations with other countries on a treaty for their elimination. Our objective is nothing less than the universal, complete, verifiable, and enduring abolition of nuclear weapons. SANTA BARBARA DECLARATION From all corners of this land, representing diverse constituencies and traditions, including indigenous nations, we have come together in common cause, determined to end the threat to all life posed by nuclear weapons. We recognize that nuclear weapons and the nuclear fuel cycle have caused widespread suffering, death and environmental devastation. We further recognize that resources used for nuclear arms need to be redirected to meeting human and environmental needs. The United States bears special responsibility as the only country to use nuclear weapons in war. It continues to spend vast sums on its massive nuclear weapons complex, and its current policies would upgrade and maintain a huge nuclear arsenal far into the future. The conference has initiated a campaign tailored to address the unique obstacles in the United States to achieving nuclear weapons abolition. Our campaign builds upon the foundations laid by Abolition 2000 and other efforts to abolish nuclear arms. We commit our hearts, our spirits, and our energy to achieving a world free of nuclear weapons and invite all people of goodwill to join us. -- Santa Barbara, February 14, 1999 WHY THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN? Statement by Alan Haber, US Campaign Liaison to the Michigan Peace and Environmental Coalition for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons Our purpose in initiating and hosting this community forum, teach-in and national action meeting is to assert the relevance and urgency of public education and policy change on the nuclear question. We seek to bring the full intellectual, and knowledge resources of the university and the community generally to the consideration of the nuclear question, especially the urgency to embrace a policy change, directed to the elimination of nuclear weapons, their removal from the world's arsenals, along with all other weapons of mass destruction, as well as adopting more affirmative peacemaking policies. Leading work has gone on at the university in the study of peace and war, conflict resolution, and transformation, general systems theory, social organization, etc. an opportunity should be made available, in and of itself to showcase this work, and especially so in the context of considering changes in America's current strategic defense policies. The weapons side of the nuclear question is our first focus. Ultimately all aspects of the nuclear question are related. The University of Michigan is eminent in nuclear engineering; our previous president is a nuclear engineer. The post war idea of "atoms for peace" virtually began at the University of Michigan and continues in the Phoenix laboratories on north campus. This is an appropriate, knowledgeable environment in which to consider and debate the nuclear question. Nuclear waste is a byproduct of nuclear weapons, a well as of nuclear energy. And how to deal with nuclear waste and clean it up is a matter of national debate and made especially urgent and relevant by the continuing concern about nuclear waste and leaky kegs by Lake Michigan, and the distressed, dangerous Fermi2 plant by Lake Erie, and also the citizen initiative for restoring the Great Lakes nuclear free zone embracing the whole great lakes area in which Michigan is central. The first "teach-in" occurred at the University of Michigan, March 24, 1965, and spread the debate about foreign policy, then concerned with the Vietnam war, across the country's campuses, and then to Washington, to debate the government. The high government officials we sought to reach subsequently acknowledged in their memoirs and tapes that the questions, the inter-university committee for debate on foreign policy, as it had come to be called, were asking were the right questions and they, the government, should have faced them more honestly, and directly then. We hope this occasion also will propel debate across the country, and a continuing interrogation of the government, on why it holds to a dangerous destabilizing deterrence policy of nuclear and space age high tech weapons in violation of treaty obligations , common sense and common humanity. We believe the end of the cold war gives us a gift of time to get rid of these weapons, before they somehow or other, bring catastrophe. Holocaust still haunts the horizon. The overwhelming leadership of the United States gives us opportunity here to turn the tide. America now is the main block to adopting a comprehensive convention for the elimination of nuclear weapons. We call on the United States government to take a leadership in the world campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons. US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS WORKING GROUPS STAR WARS/ABM: This group was formed initially to respond quickly to the legislation pending at the time of the Santa Barbara meeting authorizing further research and limited deployment of an anti-ballistic missile system by the United States. Ballistic missile defense continues to be a key issue of concern for advocates of nuclear weapons abolition, due to continuing development of the system, its potential to revive a multilateral nuclear arms race, and the controversy over its possible extension in the Western Pacific. *Convenor: Janet Michelle Cuevas (Promoting Enduring Peace, New York) enduringpeace@email.msn.com ===================================================================== CIVIL SOCIETY CAMPAIGN TO ENROLL ORGANIZATIONS IN A BRIEF ABOLITION STATEMENT AND CITY DIALOGUES ON NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT WITH PROMINENT MOVERS AND SHAKERS WORKING GROUP: This working group covers several related efforts aimed at mobilizing opinion via existing groups in civil society and campaigns aimed at elected officials in municipalities. It includes various efforts to get mayors and city and town governing bodies to endorse abolition statements, as well as similar efforts aimed at non-governmental civic groups. Campaigns represented within this working group include A campaign aimed at creating discussion forums among "opinion leaders" in major cities on nuclear weapons and their abolition; a campaign aimed at convincing a wide range of civic groups to endorse an abolition statement; and the campaign to obtain endorsement of the Abolition 2000 statement by municipalities. *Convenors: Pamela Meidell (The Atomic Mirror) pmeidell@igc.org; (805)985-5073; Ed Aguilar (Lawyers Alliance for World Security, Philadelphia)(610)668-5470 ===================================================================== CONGRESSIONAL FOCUS (Originally Congress and Administration, now split in two): This working group will focus on initiatives relevant to nuclear weapons abolition in the US Congress. Examples include the pending Markey and Woolsey resolutions, aimed respectively at scaling back US nuclear weapons research and production programs and at encouraging the Administration to engage in meaningful negotiations to achieve abolition. Its work encompasses grassroots efforts to mobilize widespread attention to particular measures and issues pending in Congress. *Convenors: to be determined. ===================================================================== ADMINISTRATION FOCUS: This group will work to focus attention on the nuclear weapons policies and activities of the Executive branch, trying in particular to create forums for discussion and criticism of nuclear weapons policies. Its current initiative is a teach-in at the University of Michigan on nuclear weapons issues, with the organizers hoping to get administration officials to participate and to publicly debate critics of existing nuclear weapons policies. If the teach-in model works the hope is to extend it to other campuses. *Convenor: Alan Haber (Michigan Coalition of Peace and Environmental Organizations) megiddo@umich.edu; (734)761-7967 ==================================================================== YOUTH/CAMPUSES: This working group aims to raise the level of awareness among young people about nuclear weapons and efforts to abolish them. It will work on the teach-ins discussed in the Administration focus working group above. It will also attempt to gather and broaden the distribution of existing nuclear weapons abolition materials aimed at a youth and campus audience. *Convenor: Odile Haber (Michigan Coalition of Peace and Environmental Organizations) od4life@aol.com; (734)761-7967 DIRECT ACTION: Nonviolent direct action long has been a central part of the movement to abolish nuclear weapons. Despite a lack of media coverage, direct action continues at weapons and government facilities around the country, from the Nevada Test Site, to the weapons laboratories in Livermore, California and Los Alamos, New Mexico, to Washington D.C. and the newly opened Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, also in New Mexico. This working group will be a place for people involved in particular direct action campaigns to raise national awareness of their activities and to exchange ideas and information. It also will try to provide resources which will be broadly useful, for example nonviolence training materials and lists of nonviolence trainers. *Convenor: Matteo Ferreira (Shundahai Network) shundahai@shundahai.org; (702)647-3095 ==================================================================== INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ORGANIZING AND CONCERNS: The cycle of nuclear materials mining and nuclear weapons testing and production always has had a disproportionate impact on indigenous people world-wide. Nuclear weapons testing has occurred for the most part on the lands of indigenous peoples, without regard for their sovereign rights, and with devastating effects on people and their lands. Indigenous people have taken the lead in many parts of the globe both in making the connections between nuclear weapons and the effects of the entire cycle of nuclear materials, nuclear power, and nuclear weapons production, and in advocating for nuclear weapons abolition. This working group will provide a focus for making these voices heard both inside and outside the movement. *Convenors: Michele Xenos (Shundahai Network), shundahai@shundahai.org; (702)647-3095; Richard Salvador (Pacific Islands Association of NGOs) salvador@hawaii.edu; (818)956-8537 ==================================================================== NATO: This working group initially focused on the NATO 50th anniversary meeting in Washington, D.C. in April, and the likelihood that NATO nuclear weapons policies would be debated there. There has been interest in continuing this as a working group, since the controversy over NATO nuclear weapons policies, including a refusal to renounce first use, a potential counter-proliferation role for nuclear weapons, and the expansion of NATO's military scope to include broad out-of-area combat roles is likely to continue for a long time. *Convenors: to be determined ===================================================================== INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS AND ISSUES: This working group aims at coordinating the abolition campaign in the United States with efforts world-wide, including Abolition 2000 and other efforts in particular nations and regions to eliminate nuclear weapons. With the emergence of a new nuclear weapons and ballistic missile race in South Asia, growing controversy over possible theater and domestic ballistic missile deployments, and the stagnation of arms control negotiations, this working group will help the abolition campaign in the US remain aware of the effects US nuclear weapons and military policies have on efforts to achieve abolition in other nuclear weapons states and globally. *Convenors: Alice Slater (Global Resource Action Center for the Environment) slater@gracelinks.org; (212)726-9161; Richard Salvador (Pacific Islands Association of NGOs) salvador@hawaii.edu; (818)956-8537or 3691; David Krieger (Nuclear Age Peace Foundation) wagingpeace@napf.org; (805)965-3443 AFFECTED COMMUNITIES: Communities across the country have been affected by half a century nuclear weapons research, testing, and production. They range from workers at DOE facilities to people who live downwind from those facilities to armed services veterans exposed to nuclear tests. Many of these groups already have organized to put pressure on the Federal government to clean up the environmental damage, to perform meaningful health and environmental studies, and to provide compensation. These groups share many of our concerns, and often already are committed to abolition of nuclear weapons. This working group will focus attention on the destructive legacy of nuclear weapons, and will work to integrate these communities and their concerns into the broader campaign. *Convenor: Joseph Gerson (American Friends Service Committee) Jgerson@afsc.org; (617)661-6130 ===================================================================== RESEARCH FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF THE NUCLEAR WEAPONS COMPLEX: This group will focus on the activities of the nuclear weapons and production complex, and will explore the impacts of continuing nuclear weapons research on the global test ban and nonproliferation regime and on efforts to achieve abolition. It will also examine the overlap between nuclear weapons research technologies and other emerging arms races which affect chances for abolition, including anti-ballistic missile technologies, space weaponry, and possible next-generation nuclear weapons. The group will be both a means to coordinate research efforts and to distribute relevant information within the campaign and to a wider public. *Convenors: Jackie Cabasso (Western States Legal Foundation), wslf@earthlink.net, (510)839-5877; Sally Light (Tri-Valley CAREs), sallight@earthlink.net, (925)443-7148 ===================================================================== MEDIA/CAMPAIGN LAUNCH: This working group will be a place to develop and share media strategies. An initial focus will be efforts to coordinate a campaign launch that is cohesive and nationally visible. *Convenor: Steve Kent (Kent Communications) kentcom@highlands.com; (914)424-8382 ==================================================================== BOTTOM UP ORGANIZING (local movement building and making the connection to other issues): Through discussing and organizing around the way nuclear weapons are connected to other social ills and injustices, from local ecological devastation, distorted government spending priorities, and a culture of violence which stretches from the state to the street to global inequality, we can deepen our own understanding of what must be done to achieve abolition of nuclear weapons, as well as the understanding of those we hope to persuade. We then open up the possibility that we will become part of a larger movement which can make the changes which could make abolition possible. This working group will explore ways to make connections on the local level with other organizing efforts which share some of our concerns, and by doing so to help create the social movement needed to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons. *Convenor: Andrew Lichterman (Western States Legal Foundation), alichterman@worldnet.att.net; (510)839-5877 ==================================================================== DEMOCRACY, POWER AND NUCLEAR WEAPONRY DRAFTING COMMITTEE: This working group has taken responsibility for following through on the commitment made in Santa Barbara to develop a carefully thought out statement on the relationships between democracy, power and nuclear weapons. A draft statement is currently being prepared, to be circulated for comment in the near future. *Temporary convenor: Carah Ong (Nuclear Age Peace Foundation), A2000@silcom.com; (805) 965-3443 Carah Lynn Ong Coordinator, Abolition 2000 Nuclear Age Peace Foundation 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 Santa Barbara CA 93108 Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 Email: A2000@silcom.com Website http://www.abolition2000.org Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly receive updates about the Abolition movement. Both caucus' also provide a forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition. To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no subject) to: abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com To subscribe to the International Abolition-caucus, send a message (with no subject) to: majordomo@igc.org In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-caucus" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the International Abolition list, mail your message to: abolition-caucus@igc.apc.org - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space Subject: (abolition-usa) Letter from Caldicott/Kaku/McReynolds Date: 09 Sep 1999 21:01:24 -0400 (EDT) September 7, 1999 Dear Friends: We write to you out of a great sense of urgency. Congress and the Clinton= =20 administration are moving rapidly toward an early, dangerous and colossally= =20 expensive deployment of the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system. In Jun= e,=20 2000 Clinton is expected to give permission to the Pentagon to deploy BMD. = =20 Star Wars is back! The Congressional vote just months ago gave the green light to deployment o= f=20 BMD "as soon as technically feasible". Many Democrats joined with=20 Republicans in pushing the legislation through. The prospects for an=20 immediate turn around of this decision look difficult. There remains one thing for us to do. We must rapidly re-ignite the moveme= nt=20 that shut down Reagan=92s Star Wars efforts in the 1980=92s. We are writin= g to=20 ask for your participation and support in such an effort.. What is needed now is a global grassroots mobilization to stop this new rou= nd=20 of creating an arms race in space. The U.S. plans to involve nations like= =20 Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Israel and even NATO in the weaponization of=20 space. For us to effectively block the deployment of space based weapons,= =20 our strategy must be international. In recent months members and staff of the Global Network have been travelin= g=20 across the U.S. and throughout Europe to promote this grassroots effort. We= =20 invite you to join us as endorsers of our call to action. The Global Netwo= rk=20 is now organizing a series of actions in 2000 that are intended to escalate= =20 the level of opposition to this new arms race. The centerpiece of our 2000 plan is a series of international activities in= =20 Washington DC on April 14-17, 2000. Because of Clinton=92s expected June, = 2000=20 deployment decision on BMD, we believe that it is important that we bring o= ur=20 grassroots outrage to the capitol. We hope that you will help us make the= =20 following events a success: =B7 FRIDAY, APRIL 14: We will hold a non-violent rally on the steps of the= =20 Treasury Department to illustrate the enormous waste of our tax-dollars on= =20 Star Wars. To date over $100 billion has been spent on space weapons=20 development while social spending is under relentless attack. Following th= e=20 rally we will move next door to the White House to deliver our "No BMD, No= =20 Star Wars" message to Clinton. =B7 SATURDAY, APRIL 15: "Star Wars Revisited: An International Conference = on=20 Preventing an Arms Race In Space". This day long event will focus on shari= ng=20 information about the latest developments in the U.S. plan to become the=20 "Master of Space". Leaders in the international movement to keep space for= =20 peace will be the featured speakers. =B7 SUNDAY, APRIL 16: In order to bring our message to Congress effectivel= y,=20 we will provide a lobby training in the morning. Following this training w= e=20 will hold a meeting of the Global Network to plan international strategies = to=20 Stop Star Wars. =B7 MONDAY, APRIL 17: This will be our opportunity to deliver to Congress = the=20 message about our growing international movement to prevent a new arms race= =20 in space. We will be joined by representatives of peace groups around the= =20 world and we will hold a day long vigil on the Capitol steps. It is important to acknowledge that we have no illusion that our April 14-1= 7=20 events will themselves solve the problem. We must all be clear that we now= =20 face a serious escalation in the arms race and that we must all act locally= ,=20 as well as internationally, to rebuild a strong peace movement. This will= =20 take time and patience but we must act with a sense of purpose and urgency. Between now and the April, 2000 events in Washington DC, the membership of= =20 the Global Network will be working hard to educate the public and to create= =20 pressure on the Congress and the White House. We know that there are many= =20 important issues to be worked on but we hope that your local organizations= =20 will connect the space issue into your on-going work. Please help us by=20 promoting the April 14-17, 2000 events in your newsletters. And please let us know if your local organization would like to be listed as an endorser o= n our promotional materials. The U.S. Space Command, in their publication called "Vision for 2020", call= s=20 for "domination" of the earth and space in order to protect U.S. interests= =20 and investments. The BMD system, while touted as a "defensive" system, wil= l=20 open the door to the research, development and deployment of space based=20 weapons that will be used to achieve global dominance. We hope that you wi= ll=20 join with us in building the international grassroots movement that will be= =20 necessary to prevent the U.S. from carrying the bad seed of war with us int= o=20 space. Let us hear from you soon. We look forward to being with you in Washington= =20 DC in April, 2000. For Peace in Space, Dr. Helen Caldicott Dr. Michio Kaku David McReynolds Pediatrician Professor Physics War Resisters League* Australia CUNY New York, N.Y. New York, N.Y. =20 * For identification purposes only - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jan Harwood Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) sign-on letter/DOE weapons "megastrategy" Date: 09 Sep 1999 19:16:29 -0700 Dear Marylia: Please sign us on. WILPF Santa Cruz Committee for Abolition 2000. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: hcaldic Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) sign-on letter/DOE weapons "megastrategy" Date: 09 Sep 1999 20:12:50 -0400 marylia wrote: > > * IMPORTANT SIGN ON LETTER * > Dear peace and enviro allies: Please take a minute to look at this sign on > letter, and get your organization to sign on PLEASE. We are looking for > sign ons from all public interest groups -- large and small -- across the > country and around the globe. We need your name, your title (or an > indication you are empowered to sign on your group's behalf) and your > group's complete address (including state and/or country). The purpose of > this letter is to oppose the DOE's "megastrategy," which is a plan to > EXPAND U.S. nuclear weapons activities at the labs and the test site, > including by building new facilities, enlarging several weapons programs > and moving some of them around to new sites. The three original sponsors of > this letter are Tri-Valley CAREs of Livermore, CA USA, Western States Legal > Foundation of Oakland, CA USA and Physicians for Social Responsibility - > Greater San Francisco Bay Area Chapter in Berkeley, CA. We WELCOME your > sign-on. We are hoping to get many, many groups!!!! Yours can help!!!! > Reply to my address on this message, or to Tri-Valley CAREs' nuclear > program analyst Sally Light at Here is the > letter... > > September 21, 1999 > > US Department of Energy > 1000 Independence Avenue, SW > Washington, D.C. 20585 > > Attn: Gilbert Weigand, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Weapons Research & > Development > > Re: Department of Energy's Plans for Major Changes in Nuclear Weapons Complex > > Dear Mr. Weigand, > > We are writing on behalf of Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a > Radioactive Environment), Western States Legal Foundation and Physicians > for Social Responsibility - Greater San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. All > three organizations have a long-time interest in public health and safety > issues concerning Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and other > facilities within the nuclear weapons complex. > > Tri-Valley CAREs is a 16-year-old environmental group that "watchdogs" > LLNL. Among other things, it holds two US Environmental Protection Agency > Technical Assistance Grants to monitor environmental cleanup at LLNL. > Western States Legal Foundation has been deeply involved in monitoring > nuclear weapons programs and environmental activities at LLNL since 1982. > The San Francisco Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility has kept > watch over LLNL worker and community issues for a number of years. > > Further, this letter represents the interests and concerns of the public > interest organizations who have joined us in sending this letter, listed on > signatory pages that follow. > > We have recently obtained information concerning the Department of Energy's > (DOE) plans to reconfigure, expand, enhance and/or move certain aspects of > the nuclear weapons program carried out by the various facilities within > the nuclear weapons complex. This information is from briefing papers, > obtained from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which we > understand you used to brief high-level Clinton administration officials on > the DOE plan. > > Changes proposed by DOE include the following: > > 1. DOE will "move promptly" the W80 nuclear warhead workload from Los > Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to Lawrence Livermore National > Laboratory. This would involve more plutonium pit work at LLNL. The > briefing papers reveal what appear to be changes in the warhead that go > far, far beyond any maintenance procedures that may be necessary to > preserve the existing weapon's "safety" or "reliability" while it remains > in the arsenal. > > 2. DOE will also "move promptly" the plutonium pit surveillance mission > and workload from LANL to LLNL. DOE expressly says that one goal is to > give Livermore Lab more plutonium workload, which means that pits from > weapons, in addition to those of the W80 program discussed in #1 above, > will come to Livermore. Further, the plan suggests that some or all of the > surveillance work for each of the US weapon types will come to Livermore > Lab, which means nuclear weapons components would be taken apart and > "destructively tested" at Livermore. > > Concerning both # 1 and #2 above, Livermore Lab already has about 880 > pounds of plutonium, and also has a history of accidents, spills, leaks and > plutonium safety violations. In fact, its plutonium facility was recently > shut down on the recommendation of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety > Board, and is only now "restarting." We are worried that the DOE's > proposed changes will result in increased risks to worker and public health > and safety. > > 3. LANL's Appaloosa program would be expanded. Appaloosa is the code-name > for a hydrodynamic test program wherein high explosives and surrogate bomb > cores, called pits, (including with plutonium 242) are detonated in > above-ground tanks. > > 4. DOE will consolidate its hydrodynamic program at LANL, although the > Clinton administration has been informed that LLNL will still keep its > hydrodynamic program, including the new "Contained Firing Facility" now > under construction at Livermore. > > 5. A huge proton accelerator is to be constructed at LANL. > > 6. DOE will conduct additional underground subcritical nuclear tests for > the W80 and W88 programs. The briefing papers also indicate that > additional subcritical tests will involve "weapon relevant shapes." > > 7. DOE will move the ATLAS and Pegasus programs from LANL to Nevada. > (ATLAS is a new fusion facility under construction at LANL, and Pegasus an > older machine.) These two programs would be used to develop the technology > allowing for "explosively driven pulse power for future SNM [special > nuclear material - i.e., plutonium] experiments in U1A." U1A is the > underground complex of tunnels and rooms where subcritical nuclear > experiments are now detonated at the Nevada Test Site. > > 8. DOE will build a new "infrastructure for weapons microsystems > components ... MESA" at Sandia Lab in New Mexico, supporting "future AF&F > (arming, firing and fusing) needs." This aspect of the plan is reported to > cost $300 million. > > Although these are major moves and expansions of nuclear weapons > activities, the DOE has failed to discuss technical or policy > justifications for them. DOE also fails to discuss overall proliferation > impacts, costs or environmental impacts. Nor does DOE indicate any > intended public disclosure or process for public review and comment. > > This plan has gone forward in secret, and the public has been > inappropriately excluded from any knowledge or decision-making role. > Earlier this year, DOE and Livermore Lab held a public meeting at which > officials testified that no major changes were contemplated to Livermore > Lab's operations over the next 5 years. Based on this, DOE and Livermore > Lab decided on March 10, 1999 not to conduct a new site-wide environmental > review. In view the above proposed changes, it is difficult for us not to > think that DOE and LLNL may have acted in bad faith at that public meeting. > > We are outraged by these decisions and demand that a new Environmental > Impact Statement (EIS) for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory with > full public hearings and disclosure be part of the process to decide > whether any funding should be requested/expended. Certainly, this EIS must > be done before any of these changes occur, and before anything is moved. > There should be no repeat of the situation at Paducah and Portsmouth, where > both workers and the public were misled for years, and revelations about > plutonium contamination are just now becoming public. > > Further, the DOE has completed a Stockpile Stewardship & Management > Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (SSM PEIS) which is silent on > this plan. In fact, some of the SSM PEIS' siting elements actually ran > contrary to the latest DOE scheme described above. OMB is on record > stating that DOE must undertake a revision of the SSM PEIS before moving > forward. DOE, however, has already requested initial monies from Congress > to begin, according to a Senate report. It appears to us that a > Supplemental EIS, with public hearings held across the country, is > necessary as well. > > We hope to have your response in the very near future. If you should have > any questions, please do not hesitate in contacting us. > > Sincerely, > > Marylia Kelley > Executive Director, > Tri-Valley CAREs > > Robert Gould, M.D. > President, > Physicians for Social Responsibility, Greater San Francisco Bay Area > > Jacqueline Cabasso > Executive Director, > Western States Legal Foundation > > Marylia Kelley > Tri-Valley CAREs > (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) > 2582 Old First Street > Livermore, CA USA 94550 > > - is our web site, please visit us there! > > (925) 443-7148 - is our phone > (925) 443-0177 - is our fax > > Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley > CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear > Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the > international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear > weapons. > > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. Marylia, please add my name and denote me as Founding President of Physicians for Social Responsibility, Helen Caldicott - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) EP DEALERTING RESOLUTION NEW DEADLINE 4PM MONDAY STRASBOURG TIME Date: 10 Sep 1999 17:08:47 +1000 Dear ALL, THE NEW DEADLINE FOR LOBBYING MEPS RE THE DELALERTING RESOLUTION APPEARS TO BE 4PM MONDAY, STRASBOURG TIME. THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS ARE THE MAIN GROUP THAT SHOULD BE LOBBIED AT THIS STAGE. You may know that a resolution on de-alerting nuclear weapons and shutting down nuclear reactors for Y2K is being submitted by the greens, social democrats and green/left coalition. Initially the de-alerting resolution was drafted by myself and Rob green, but it looks as if it is being modified to include the reactor- based concerns of Y2K WASH. You would have been getting emails both from me and from Mari takenouchi from Y2K WASH, on this matter. A decision was to have been made as to whether to list it as an urgency motion yesterday (Thursday), but it now looks like it will be made Monday 4pm. It seems as if the majority Christian Democrats are unlikely to support it. However, the liberal democrats, whose chairperson is Mr Pat Cox, may well do so. He needs to be lobbied. I think the best thing to do is to fax him with a request that he support the de-alerting/shutdown resolution, on the following numbers: CORK IRELAND (HE IS LIKELY TO BE THERE NOW) 353-21-278-350 BRUSSELLS 32-2-284-9363 STRASBOURG 33-3-8817-9363. You could also email him on: pcox@europarl.eu.int, pcoxmep@tinet.ie These fax numbers and email adresses have been tested and work. I'm appending a couple of sample letters, one from Rob Green and one from me. NO problem if you want to improve on the message just do it. Dear Pat Cox, I have heard that a resolution on taking nuclear weapons off alert over the Y2K rollover period is being considered for submission as as urgency motion on Thursday. My group considers this motion to be of the very highest importance. Considerable concern has recently been expressed by a number of respected analysts in the Brookings Institute, the British-American Security Information Council, and the Federation of American Scientists, over the possibility of accidental launches of nuclear missiles based on misinformation from malfunctioning computer systems over the Y2K rollover period. If nuclear weapons are taken off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K rollover period, it will ensure positively that accidental nuclear missile launches, whose consequences are at least potentially disastrous for the entire planet, are not possible. In any case, the taking of nuclear forces off alert, or standing down, was strongly reccommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996, and by subsequent resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, as essential steps toward the abolition of nuclear weapons. With or without the Y2K problem, taking nuclear forces off alert is a good idea. In the face of possible Y2K computer glitches, it is sheer commonsense, costs nothing, and makes the world a safer place. The UK has already altered its 'notice to fire' from seconds to days. This is undoubtedly a move in the right direction. A resolution on Y2k and nuclear weapons was passed unanimopusly in the Australian Senate recently, and I understand that one is being prepared for the US Congress. We urge you to support this essential and comonsense resolution being listed as an urgency motion on thursday, and to vote in favour of it. Dear Patrick Cox and Hans-Gert Poettering, Greetings from nuclear-free Aotearoa/New Zealand. We send this message as the leaders of the US, Russia and China plus US allies Japan, Australia and Canada assemble in Auckland for APEC this weekend. We strongly urge you to support the European Parliament resolution calling for all nuclear forces to be taken off hair-trigger alert before the year 2000 (Y2K) computer problem can cause the accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The world's media are gathering here for APEC, which is why we are sending an Open Letter to President Clinton, Prime Minister Putin and President Jiang drawing their attention to the urgent need for de-alerting. It would enormously strengthen the impact if we could announce that the European Parliament has adopted this resolution by an overwhelming majority. With or without the Y2K problem, taking nuclear forces off alert is a good idea. In the face of possible Y2K computer glitches, it is sheer commonsense, costs nothing, and makes the world a safer place. The UK has already relaxed the notice to launch its nuclear weapons from minutes to days. However, there is a desperate need to persuade the US and Russia to take their nuclear forces off "launch on warning", which is still recklessly maintained ten years after the end of the Cold War. A resolution on Y2K and nuclear weapons was passed unanimously in the Australian Senate recently, and one is being prepared for the US Congress. A similar resolution was introduced the day before yesterday in the Canadian Senate, by Senator Douglas Roche. We urge you to support this resolution being listed as an urgency motion, and to vote in favour of it. Best wishes, Kate Dewes and Commander Robert Green RN (Ret'd) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Commander Robert D Green, Royal Navy (Retired) Chair, World Court Project UK Disarmament & Security Centre PO Box 8390 Christchurch Aotearoa/New Zealand Tel/Fax: (+64) 3 348 1353 Email: robwcpuk@chch.planet.org.nz [The DSC is a specialist branch of the NZ Peace Foundation] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: News Subject: (abolition-usa) Today! 910/99 - Governors' Meetings in Denver CO, Columbia SC, Date: 10 Sep 1999 15:24:53 -0400 Nuclear Clean-Up Meeting Today - Colorado Briefs, Yahoo News, September 10, 1999 http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/local/state/colorado/story.html?s=v/rs/ 19990910/co/index_1.html#5 (DENVER) -- Governor Bill Owens will join several other governors in Denver today to discuss ways to clean-up nuclear weapons sites with U-S Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson. South Carolina Governor James Hodges, Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist and Washington Governor Gary Locke, whose states all contain major cleanup sites, will also be in Denver for the meeting. ----------- Waste Committee Meets - (COLUMBIA), SRS Site Cleaned Up - (AIKEN) South Carolina Briefs, Yahoo News, September 10, 1999 http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/local/state/south_carolina/story.html?s =v/rs/19990910/sc/index_1.html#6 The governor's Nuclear Waste Task Force is meeting this morning in Columbia. A number of issues are on the agenda including the possibility of rejoining the Southeast Compact Commission. That would keep waste from all over the country from being shipped to the Barnwell low-level nuclear waste dump. South Carolina withdrew from the Compact in 1995 when North Carolina failed to build an alternative dump. SRS Site Cleaned Up - (AIKEN) -- Savannah River Site workers are examining the site of last week's contamination. Seven workers were exposed to plutonium. It's still going to take several weeks to determine if the plutonium entered their bodies. S-R-S officials say none of the radioactive metal made it out of the plant. ----------- ____________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org -Convert the War Machines! * ____________________________________________________________ - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Olson, Inga" Subject: RE: (abolition-usa) Re: East Timor information and action Date: 10 Sep 1999 13:45:06 -0700 I agree with David on this. > ---------- > From: DavidMcR@aol.com[SMTP:DavidMcR@aol.com] > Reply To: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com > Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 1999 6:54 PM > To: alynw@ibm.net; warresisters@gn.apc.org; > abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com; abolition-caucus@igc.org; > wrl@igc.apc.org; aslater@gracelinks.org; petweiss@igc.org > Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: East Timor information and action > > This is a discouraging post. I'm glad Alyn noted the sources for > information > and I hope people follow up on it. But this is a replay of what we had > during > the Kosova war. And it is a replay of the Hauge Appeal - "let's discuss > any > war but the one in front of us". > > My take may be desperately off base, but the exclusion of serious > political > discussion from the Abolition list (and the many very minor posts which do > > appear on it) makes it increasingly less useful. I sense my days on this > list > will soon end as too much of the material bears absolutely no relationship > to > the real world most of us live in. > > More later. > > Peace, > David McReynolds > NYC > > << Subj: East Timor information and action > Date: 9/8/99 9:40:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time > From: alynw@ibm.net (Alyn Ware) > Sender: owner-abolition-caucus@igc.org > To: abolition-caucus@igc.org (abolition caucus) > > Dear Abolitionists, > > Many of you are probably shocked about the horrific events in East Timor > and > want to know more information or what you can do about it. > > The Abolition 2000 Coordinating Committee today affirmed that the > abolition > caucus list-serve should be used as intended as a forum for the abolition > of > nuclear weapons, and not as a forum for other issues of peace or violence. > > For those of you who want information on East Timor and what you can do, > contact: > > East Timor Action Network, 110 Maryland Avenue NE #30, Washington DC > 20002. > Phone (1) 202-544-6911, or (1) 914 428 7299 > Email: etandc@igc.apc.org Website:http://www.etan.org > > International Federation for East Timor, Phone: (1) 831-728-4190 Fax: > (1) > 831-761-1401 > Email: altin@atlantic.net. Website: http://www.etan.org/ifet > > Peace Brigades International East Timor Project, 76 Virginia Road, > Wanganui, > Aotearoa-New Zealand. Phone (64) 6 345 0634 > Email: alynw@ibm.net, or michael.wilts@clear.net.nz, Website: > http://www.igc.org/pbi > > > > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to > "majordomo@xmission.com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. > - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Subject: (abolition-usa) You Can Help Vieques Now! : Call for Action and Calendar of Events Date: 10 Sep 1999 14:10:45 -0700 (PDT) This e-mail includes the following texts: 1. CALL THE WHITE HOUSE ON VIEQUES 2. New York City Calendar of Events 3. LLAMA A LA CASA BLANCA SOBRE VIEQUES 1. CALL THE WHITE HOUSE ON VIEQUES This information comes from the Committe for the Rescue and Development of Vieques, PO Box 1424 Vieques, Puerto Rico 00765, (787) 741-8651, e-mail: bieke@coqui.net. PRESIDENT CLINTON WILL SOON MAKE A DECISION REGARDING WHETHER THE US NAVY STAYS IN OR LEAVES VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO. PLEASE CALL THE WHITE HOUSE TODAY, AND AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN DURING THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS, TO TELL PRESIDENT CLINTON TO "ORDER THAT THE US NAVY LEAVE VIEQUES NOW". BY FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW, YOUR COMMENTS WILL ACTUALLY BE RELAYED TO PRESIDENT CLINTON. THE WHITE HOUSE COMMENT LINE OPERATOR WILL ASK YOU FOR YOUR COMMENT AND WHAT STATE YOU ARE CALLING FROM. PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO OTHERS. THANK YOU. INSTRUCTIONS: 1) Dial (202) 456-1111 Monday to Friday between 9:00AM and 5:00PM EST. If you are using a touch tone phone, just press "0" as soon as the taped message comes on and you'll be connected to a White House Comment Line Operator (if you are using a rotary phone, just stay on the line after the taped message comes on). 2) Tell the White House Comment Line Operator that you are calling on behalf of millions of people in Puerto Rico, and millions more in the United States and elsewhere, to demand that President Clinton order that the US Navy leave Vieques now. The Operator will write down your comment and then ill ask you what state you are calling from. It' that simple. The time to call is now! Thank you. 2. New York City Calendar of Events FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1999 12:00 noon - Press Conference Steps of City Hall 10:00PM-4:00AM - Concert King Changó Por Vieques at Club Monaco 323 W. 44th Street b/w 8th & 9th Ave. $10 donation to support the Comité Pro Rescate y Desarrollo de Vieques SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1999 12:30-4:00PM Fact Finding Hearing Council Chambers, City Hall * Come here the people of Vieques as they testify to federal, state and local elected officials 5:30-7:00PM Victory March in El Barrio Meeting in front of Julia de Burgos, 106th St & Lexington Ave. Come celebrate the history-making release of some of the Puerto Rican Freedom Fighters! RAIN OR SHINE. Bring your flags, musical instruments & spirit!! 6:00-9:00PM Taller Boricua Gallery presents Dead Time = Tiempo Muerto work by Antonio Martorell, Elizam Escobar & Dread Scott. We will continue the celebration of the Victory March here and all over El Barrio. 6:00-8:00PM - Concert for Vieques Eugenio María de Hostos Community College 500 Grand Concourse, Main Theater, Room C140 Guests: Johnny Pacheco, Yomo Toro & Canario SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1999 4PM - Mass Ecumenical Prayer Service for Peace & Justice in Vieques at St. Cecilia's Church, 106th Street (bt. Park & Lexington Avenue) The Archbishop of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Roberto González Nieves, presiding. Reflections by Rev. Jesse Jackson. Hymns by Danny Rivera. All are welcomed to this historic event MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1999 10:00AM City Council Hearings Council Chambers, City Hall All above dates, times and events (except the Victory March) are subject to change so please call 212-631-4620 for confirmation. 3. LLAMA A LA CASA BLANCA SOBRE VIEQUES Esta información proviene del Comité Pro Rescate y Desarrollo de Vieques, Apartado 1424, Vieques, Puerto Rico 00765, (787) 741-8651, e-mail: bieke@coqui.net. EL PRESIDENT CLINTON TOMARÁ UNA DECISIÓN EN LOS PRÓXIMOS DÍAS EN TORNO A SI LA MARINA DE GUERRA DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS SE QUEDA O SE RETIRA DE LA ISLA DE VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO. FAVOR DE LLAMAR A LA CASA BLANCA HOY, Y CUANTAS VECES PUEDAS DURANTE LOS PRÓXIMOS DÍAS, Y DÍLE AL PRESIDENTE CLINTON QUE ORDENE QUE LA MARINA SE VAYA DE VIEQUES YA ("ORDER THAT THE US NAVY LEAVE VIEQUES NOW"). SIGUIENDO LAS SIGUIENTES INSTRUCCIONES, SUS COMENTARIOS LE SERÁN COMUNICADOS AL PRESIDENTE CLINTON. LA OPERADORA DE LA LÍNEA DE COMENTARIOS DE LA CASA BLANCA ("WHITE HOUSE COMMENT LINE OPERATOR"), TE PREGUNTARÁ CUÁL ES TU COMENTARIO, Y DE QUÉ ESTADO LLAMAS. FAVOR DE PASARLE ESTE MENSAJE A OTROS. GRACIAS. INSTRUCCIONES: 1) Marca (202) 456-1111 de lunes a viernes, de 9:00AM a 5:00PM EST. Si tienes un teléfono teleteclas, aprieta el "0" tan pronto oigas el mensaje grabado, y te conectarán directamente a la Operadora de la Línea de Comentarios de la Casa Blanca (si no tienes un teléfono teleteclas, manténte en línea después que oigas el mensaje grabado). 2) Díle a la Operadora de la Línea de Comentarios de la Casa Blanca que estás llamando a nombre de millones de personas en Puerto Rico y millones más en los Estados Unidos y el mundo entero, para exigir del Presidente Clinton que ordene que la Marina ("Navy") se vaya de Vieques ya. La Operadora copiará tu mensaje y te preguntará de qué estado llamas. Así de fácil es. ¡Llama ahora! Gracias. Carah Lynn Ong Coordinator, Abolition 2000 Nuclear Age Peace Foundation 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 Santa Barbara CA 93108 Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 Email: A2000@silcom.com Website http://www.abolition2000.org Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly receive updates about the Abolition movement. Both caucus' also provide a forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition. To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no subject) to: abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com To subscribe to the International Abolition-caucus, send a message (with no subject) to: majordomo@igc.org In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-caucus" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the International Abolition list, mail your message to: abolition-caucus@igc.apc.org - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Subject: (abolition-usa) US Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Date: 10 Sep 1999 14:58:00 -0700 (PDT) Dear Friends and Activists, If you plan on attending the meeting for US Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons in Ann Arbor, please note that the Detroit Metro Airport is the closest arrival destination and is aproximately one half hour outside of Ann Arbor. From Detroit Metro there are options to take a shuttle or taxi to Ann Arbor. If you are unable to schedule a flight into Detroit Metro, a second option would be the Lanzing, Michigan Airport, aproximately one hour from Ann Arbor. Please make flight arrangements as soon as possible to ensure the best rate. Best wishes! In Peace, Carah Carah Lynn Ong Coordinator, Abolition 2000 Nuclear Age Peace Foundation 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 Santa Barbara CA 93108 Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 Email: A2000@silcom.com Website http://www.abolition2000.org Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly receive updates about the Abolition movement. Both caucus' also provide a forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition. To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no subject) to: abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com To subscribe to the International Abolition-caucus, send a message (with no subject) to: majordomo@igc.org In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-caucus" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the International Abolition list, mail your message to: abolition-caucus@igc.apc.org - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JTLOWE@aol.com Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) US Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Date: 10 Sep 1999 20:26:07 EDT Hi, Re name and logo. Abolition 2000 has been around for while now and a great deal of good work has gone into it. Why do you think there are not millions in the streets demanding as end to deterrence and the nuclear weapons that back it up? could it be the name and the logo both of which need explaining? Why not choose the universally recognized circle with a bar across, the bar over a picture of a mushroom cloud? We are not about winning design prizes, we are about appealing to the widest area of the public as possible. With the review of the NPT coming up next spring we need to be fully mobilized and have an easily understood message. in peace, Colby Lowe - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Timothy Bruening Subject: (abolition-usa) Last Sunlight Of 1999, 1st Sunlight Of 2000 Date: 11 Sep 1999 01:17:03 -0700 (PDT) Which place on Earth will receive the last sunlight of 1999, and which place on Earth will receive the first sunlight of 2000? - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) HAVE YOU FAXED YELTSIN AND CLINTON YET? Date: 12 Sep 1999 19:21:01 +1000 HAVE YOU FAXED YELTSIN AND CLINTON TO TAKE NUKE WEAPONS OFF ALERT YET? APPEAL: THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE IN THE WORLD BETWEEN NOW AND DECEMBER31 FAX YELTSIN, CLINTON TO TAKE N-WEAPONS OFF ALERT OVER Y2K NOW. SIGN THE NUKE WEAPONS DE-ALERTING LETTER TO YELTSIN/CLINTON (TEXT at http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html to sign email nonukes@foesyd.org.au) PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, +7-095-205-4330, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, +1-202-456-2461, Dear All, Sorry for sending this so many times but it really is important. If you or your organisation hasn't made this important fax yet, please try to do it in the next few days. You will be getting many messages of this kind because this is possibly the most important single issue that can ever come your way between now and the next year. Following this appeal there are two sample letters, one from FOE Australia and one from Bob Tiller of PSR USA. I urge you to act on them. The fax campaign started Sept 1. IFyou or your organisation has not yet faxed Yeltsin and or Clinton, do it in the next few days. I am writing to urge you to fax Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton from now onwards to take strategic nuclear weapons off alert before December, and to ask that the de- alerting of strategic nuclear weapons be discussed at the coming September 21 meeting of the G8. Also if you are an organisation or a 'prominent' person, please sign the big sign - on letter to Yeltsin and Clinton. It's already been faxed a few times, and will be faxed again and again as it grows before December. The text is on the website at http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html To sign email THIS ADRESS. (nonukes@foesyd.org.au) This is of absolutely vital importance. Getting 5000 nuclear missiles off alert status before the Y2k bug plays havoc with their command and control systems is just about the most important thing anyone can possibly do. Arguably there is simply no other issue this important between now and December/January. It might be literally a matter of survival. Please use the fax numbers I have provided. The numbers here work. I've just checked them. If they (especially Yeltsins one) seem not to work be patient. Keep trying. If they take these numbers out of operation I will supply others but not until I am sure. Try and get everyone you know to do it. If you are a large organisation please try and get all your members to do it. Include it in your newsletters. Many thanks and may the fax gremlins smile on you! John Hallam. DRAFT MODEL LETTER TO YELTSIN AND CLINTON FOR GLOBAL FAX CAMPAIGN STARTING SEPTEMBER 1 PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, +7-095-205-4330, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, +1-202-456-2461, Dear Presidents Yeltsin, and Clinton, I am writing to you to convey my extreme concern over the possibility that Y2K -related problems in the computerised command, control, and monitoring systems of nuclear forces and weapon systems, may give rise to an unacceptable risk of accidental nuclear war, as a result of incorrect data and miscalculation. I therefore urge you to solve the problem by taking your nuclear forces off alert, or by standing them down. I ask that standing down nuclear forces in view of the problems posed by the 'Millennium Bug', be a matter for urgent priority discussions at the G8 Summit in Berlin on Sept 21. As well asY2K considerations, taking nuclear weapons off alert will increase strategic stability and confidence, and eliminate the possibility of accidental nuclear war. I would remind you that your two countries have some 5000 strategic nuclear weapons that are able to be fired within a time span of 15-30 minutes. This must never happen. Should it do so, not only would your two countries cease to exist, but it is entirely possible that human life and maybe all life life on the planet, could be terminated. Any risk of this happening at any time, Y2K or otherwise, no matter how small, is unacceptable. However, the Y2K problem adds another layer of uncertainty to the risk that already exists. Taking nuclear forces off alert was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons in 1996, and a number of resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly have urged that it be done. Taking nuclear weapons off alert and placing them in a state in which hours to days rather than minutes or seconds would be required to make them launch ready, would effectively eliminate the risk of accidental nuclear war due to the Y2K computer problem. It would also make impossible the many non-Y2K related problems that have many times brought us to within minutes of a possible nuclear exchange. De-Alerting will cost you nothing, and can be done by a simple executive order to stand down nuclear forces. The UK has already altered its 'notice to fire' from minutes to days. We/I urge you to do likewise. The stakes involved far outweigh any considerations of national pride, national interest, or even national security. Indeed, the immediate stakes are so high, and the potential for global catastrophe so clear that mutually verified de- alerting must now take precedence over all other considerations. Signed... etc >------------------------------------------- >Dear Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton: > >The Cold War ended years ago, but the nuclear danger endures, menacing >us all. Thousands of nuclear weapons remain on high-alert in the United >States and Russia. Although both countries have announced their >"de-targeting" of the other, that step is virtually meaningless when >both countries keep their weapons on alert and maintain a >launch-on-warning posture. > >Keeping nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert does not add to the >security of either nation; indeed it makes all of us less secure. You >are well aware of the various occasions when Russia and the U.S. came >close to launching nuclear weapons because of misunderstanding or poor >data. Removing the weapons from hair-trigger alert would eliminate the >risk of hasty reaction. > >Therefore I urge you to lessen the nuclear danger by removing all >nuclear weapons from high-alert. This can be accomplished in a matter >of weeks without treaty negotiation or ratification. > >This approach has worked before. In 1991 President George Bush took the >bold step of removing hundreds of U.S. nuclear weapons from high-alert >status, and in response Mikhail Gorbachev did the same with hundreds of >Soviet weapons. Now we need similar courageous leadership to finish the >process that they started. > >De-alerting takes on added urgency this year. When January 1, 2000 >arrives, no one will know if all of the Y2K computer problems have been >fixed. Why court disaster by having nuclear warheads on hair-trigger >alert when we do not know how the computers in the nuclear system will >function? > >Last year the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a >resolution which calls on the nuclear weapons states to de-alert their >weapons. It is wise counsel. For the sake of our children and >grandchildren, please de-alert all nuclear weapons now. > >Sincerely, John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) VARIOUS Y2K ITEMS Date: 13 Sep 1999 14:11:03 +1000 >=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D >http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-09/11/094l-091199-idx.h= tml > >U.S., Russia Agree to Establish Y2K Center >Team Will Watch For False Alarms > >By Stephen Barr >Washington Post Staff Writer >Saturday, September 11, 1999; Page A09 > >U.S. and Russian defense officials have agreed to set up a joint center >in >Colorado to watch for any false alarms of missile attacks caused by Year > >2000 computer problems, the Defense Department said yesterday. > >Defense Secretary William S. Cohen and his Russian counterpart, Defense >Minister Igor Sergeyev, will sign an agreement establishing the center >during Cohen's visit to Moscow next week, a senior defense official told > >reporters. > >For the last year, U.S. officials have said the Year 2000 computer >glitch, >known as Y2K, will not cause nuclear missiles to launch. They have >portrayed the joint center as a prudent step to avoid confusion in the >event >early-warning systems or launch detection equipment malfunctioned. > >Yesterday, the official, who spoke on condition that he not be >identified, >said the Pentagon wanted to be clear that neither side was "teetering on >the >edge of a potential false launch or anything of the sort. We just think >it is a >very useful thing to extend our cooperation in areas of this nature. . . >. > >"And at this time of Y2K transition, were there to be some sort of >problem, it would certainly be useful to have our people in direct >contact >and direct communications with one another," the official said. > >The official said up to 20 Russian military officers would be assigned >to the >Center for Strategic Stability and Y2K, at the U.S. Space Command >headquarters in Colorado Springs, during late December and early >January. > >Discussions to set up the center began last year but broke off after >NATO >bombed Serbia, a Russian ally. The Pentagon official said the talks >resumed last month. > >Cohen and Sergeyev also will discuss creating a permanent missile early >warning system center in Moscow--an idea supported by Presidents >Clinton and Boris Yeltsin. > >The Year 2000 problem stems from the use in many computer systems of >two-digit date fields, which may cause some software and microchip >systems to interpret "00" as 1900, not 2000. The confusion could cause >the computers to malfunction or stop. > >Shortly before the Pentagon announcement, members of Congress who >have studied the Y2K problem held a news conference urging the federal >government, states and localities to step up the pace of computer fixes >and >tests. > >They also suggested that international air travel could face disruptions > >because of Y2K problems. "I have no fear of flying on January 1 within >the >United States. But I think the safety of air travel abroad has yet to be > >determined," Rep. Jim Turner (D-Tex.) said. Rep. Constance A. Morella >(R-Md.) said she has "grave concerns about what's happening outside of >the United States." > >At the urging of Rep. Stephen Horn (R-Calif.), the Transportation >Department released a list of 35 nations who had not responded as of >Thursday to a survey by the International Civil Aviation Organization >(ICAO). The international aviation group had requested nations to submit > >Year 2000 computer assessments by July 1. > >The nations not responding to the ICAO survey were: Albania, Angola, >Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Burundi, Cambodia, Comoros, >Cook Islands, Democratic Republic of Congo, Fiji, Guinea, Iraq, >Kiribati, >Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Libya, Micronesia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nauru, >Nicaragua, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Russia, Samoa, San >Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Solomon >Islands, Tajikistan, Tonga and Vanuatu. > >Dave Smallen, the U.S. Transportation Department Y2K spokesman, said: >"This is simply a list of countries that did not respond to the ICAO >survey. >I don't think that you can read anything specific into the fact that any > >country didn't respond." > >Smallen said the Transportation Department and the Defense Department >were conducting a review of Y2K readiness and would post information >on Transportation's Web site (www.dot.-gov/fly2k) by the end of this >month. > >=A9 Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company Two items on 9/9/99 from Friday's Guardian, followed by a copy of my letter to the editor - unlikely to be published as there are much more pressing issues to cover such as (today) missing sparrows and plastic wine bottle corks. Paul http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,80980,00.html Germans fluff their date with destiny Jill Treanor and John Cassy The Guardian =46riday September 10, 1999 Technical problems at the German futures and options exchange yesterday fuelled fears in City dealing rooms that the markets could face crisis as a result of the millennium computer bug. The computer glitches, which prevented some firms from trading and running the risk of potential losses, took place yesterday - numerically written 9.9.99. Market regulators and computer experts had seen yesterday, while not quite a dry run for the turn of the year, as a test for systems ahead of the real millennium bug. Yesterday was significant because the date - 9.9.99 - was used in old computer conventions to indiciate to programs that they should stop performing certain tasks. Any hiccups which emerge after yesterday's trading will send severe warnings to the markets about the potential for meltdown in trading early in the new year if computers fail to recognise the last two digits of the year 2000. Dealers fear that if computers stop working they will not be able to trade, which might leave them exposed to enormous losses. The rumours of problems were not confined to the German exchange. The internal message board at one leading investment bank in London warned of problems with price information received from Simex, the Singapore futures exchange. The message, posted as a warning by the bank's traders in Singapore, said that the problems were caused by 9/9/99 glitches. The Eurex exchange in Frankfurt insisted that problems incurred by its clients first thing yesterday morning were not connected to the 9/9/99 computer problem. However, brokers claimed that in response to their initial inquiries, the exchange had blamed the date problem. Some users of the electronic German exchange had been forced to re-start their computers yesterday because they had stalled overnight. A spokesman for Eurex said: "The problems which occurred were not related to Y2K or the 9/9/99 problem." Eurex said the problem, quickly resolved, was caused by the failure of some computers to receive a signal, which could have happened on any day of the week. One source in London insisted yesterday: "Eurex admitted to members early on that it was having 9/9/99 problems." The City regulator, the Finanial Services Authority, had asked the firms it regulates to alert it to any problems encountered, but had not been told of any. Guardian Unlimited =A9 Guardian Newspapers Limited 1999 _____________________________________________________ http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,80967,00.html Maybe it's time to head for the hills Alex Brummer, Financial Editor The Guardian =46riday September 10, 1999 The ninth day of the ninth month of 1999 was another of those landmarks along the way to Y2K. If the old soothsayer Nostradamus had known about microcircuitry, he would almost certainly have labelled it an end of the world day. It was not quite like that on the financial markets yesterday but there were enough strange happening to put down some markers for the end of the year. London traders checking prices on the Simex, the Singapore futures exchange immortalised by Nick Leeson, arrived at their screens to find there was no prices feed as a result of the 9/9/99 problem. Unimportant, one might think, except in global markets where dealers trade in real time, being blindsided on a prices range could mean lost arbitrage options or even potential open positions with unknown counterparties. When one considers it was Singapore trades which brought down Barings Bank in 1995, one starts to realise how no systems glitch can be ignored. There was some satisfaction in the City that Eurex, the Frankfurt-based futures market which has been giving the UK's Liffe a run for its money, was also having trading difficulties. The claim in Germany was that systems problems were nothing to do with the date, which brought a sceptical response in London. The cost/opportunity cost of such systems glitches is almost impossible to quantify. But these problems, together with those seen in the euro switchover, do post a warning. We now know that the far simpler changeover to the euro resulted in large bank payments going astray and a serious liquidity problem in the Euroland money markets, which required large injections of cash. The tendency is to believe that Y2K is a great deal of hype, but one only has to look at UK computer glitches - from the Passport Office to the social security payments system - to realise the potential for difficulties in a global financial system driven by computer software. At a meeting this year of the White House economic committee set up by President Clinton to help smooth the transition to Y2K, each of the members was polled on where they would prefer to be as the clocks ticked towards 2000. Most opted to be in their survivalist cottages in the hills, as far away from computer-driven civilisation as possible. snip Guardian Unlimited =A9 Guardian Newspapers Limited 1999 _____________________________________________________ Paul Swann Y2K-Nuclear Citizens Action Network 14 Beacon Hill London N7 9LY Tel/fax: 0171-609 7764 Email: pswann@easynet.co.uk Sir, Commenting on the 9/9/99 computer glitches, Alex Brummer notes "the potential for difficulties in a global financial system driven by computer software" (Maybe its time to head for the hills, September 10). Nuclear reactors, reprocessing plants and weapons systems are also driven by computer software, as are the power and telecommunications systems on which their safety depends. In the interests of global security, public safety and environmental protection, the government must insist at the forthcoming G8 Special Conference on Y2K Contingency Planning in Berlin that (1) the nuclear states take their weapons systems off hair-trigger alert, and (2) extra back-up generators are installed with an adequate supply of fuel at all nuclear facilities. The public have been lulled into a false sense of security about the millennium bug. There is still time for the government to start telling the truth and to advise the public to make sensible preparations for the potentially serious consequences. In a nuclear world, heading for the hills is not much of an option. Sincerely, Paul Swann Y2K-Nuclear Citizens Action Network Hardly conducive to a positive outcome to the US-Russia Y2K discussions planned for Monday... http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,81205,00.html US bid to alter arms treaty alarms Russia's military Jonathan Steele in Moscow The Guardian Saturday September 11, 1999 As the US stepped up its attempts to get President Boris Yeltsin to agree to amendments to its anti-ballistic missile agreement with Moscow, the Russian military this week has been sending clear signs it considers the move unacceptable. While Strobe Talbott, the US deputy secretary of state, left Moscow on Thursday declaring he was "satisfied" with disarmament talks, it is clear that there is now a greater threat of nuclear escalation than at any time since the cold war ended a decade ago. The US wants Moscow to accept an American exemption from part of the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty of 1972, and to that end the Clinton administration has begun to pile pressure on Mr Yeltsin's beleaguered regime. Mr Clinton's hour-long phone call with Mr Yeltsin on Wednesday was part of the plan, saying in effect "We will support you in spite of the money-laundering scandal, if you give us what we want on ABM". Next week, William Cohen, the US defence secretary, visits the Russian capital in the hope of brow-beating the Russian military. Further pressure will be applied when Mr Clinton meets Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, at an Asia-Pacific summit next week. But the Russian military, along with politicians from a variety of parties, are not falling for the American blandishments, although there are fears that Mr Yeltsin may. "With the present weakness of the regime, there is a danger of unjustified concessions," Sergei Karaganov, director of the Council for Defence and Foreign Policy Studies, said. Colonel-General Vladimir Yakovlev, the commander of Russia's strategic rocket forces, was quoted in Thursday's newspaper Izvestiya as saying that if the Americans abandoned the ABM treaty "Russia has worked out asymmetric measures, including the option of giving the intercontinental Topol-M missiles independently targetable warheads". These warheads were expressly forbidden by the Start-2 treaty. It has never been ratified by the Russian parliament. Timed to coincide with General Yakovlev's warning was an interview in another Russian paper with Yuri Solomonov, the head of the rocket team which is making the Topol-M. "We have a number of technical options for breaking through the prospective American ABM system," he said. "These include making the missile manoeuvrable during the active part of its flight." Beyond mere words, the air force literally fired a shot across Mr Talbott's bows. Four days before he reached Moscow, it launched the latest Topol-M model, hitting its target in the Russian Far East "with a high degree of accuracy", General Yakovlev said. Mr Talbott, as had other American officials before him, was trying to convince Moscow that its aim in "modifying" the ABM treaty was to build a national missile defence only against "rogue' states such as North Korea, Iran or Iraq. The US says the system is not intended to be sophisticated enough to be able to shoot Russian missiles down. One proposal is to move the main battle-management radar system from North Dakota to Alaska. The ABM treaty forbids such radars from being sited on the edge of either signatory. Pavel Podvig, Russia's top civilian expert on ABM systems, said this week that the Russian military feared the new system "could be the basis for a more robust missile defence scheme later". "The US could link this Alaska-based radar with just a few interceptor rockets for use against North Korea, but then quickly add hundreds of interceptors." It takes five to 10 years to build a large phased-array radar installation, allowing time for the other side to build better missiles to counteract it, Mr Podvig explained. "If the US scheme goes ahead as though it is just a regional defence, then Russia loses the lead-time." The Russian military was not, however, seriously worried that its missiles would lose their deterrent power, Mr Podvig said, since no ABM system could ever give the US a guarantee of hitting Russia without having to worry about successful retaliation. "The worry is partly finanical. It will force Russia to keep upgrading its missile systems. "It is also conceptual. The ABM treaty helps to bring about a reduction in offensive weapons. As the Clinton administration used to say, it is the cornerstone of nuclear arms reduction." Guardian Unlimited =A9 Guardian Newspapers Limited 1999 Russia, U.S. confront Y2K nuclear risks September 11, 1999 BY LISA HOFFMAN SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON--U.S. and Russian nuclear-weapons officers will ring in the New Year together in Colorado Springs to make sure any Y2K computer glitches don't trigger Armageddon, the Pentagon said Friday. Between 10 and 20 Russians will set up shop at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs in late December. No one thinks "we're teetering on the edge of a potential false launch," a U.S. official said Friday, discussing plans for the Y2K Center for Strategic Stability. However, if there were some sort of problem, both sides feel it would be useful to have people in direct contact with each other, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Y2K problem involves computer programs that might fail Jan. 1 because they would misread the digits "00" as 1900 instead of 2000. Although applauding the U.S.-Russian accord, two senators who have been most vocal in their concerns about possible nuclear-related Y2K glitches--Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Robert Bennett (R-Utah)--are calling for China and other nuclear nations to be invited to participate as well. But Pentagon officials said none of the other countries with the bomb have an early-warning system and don't pose the same threat. The nightmare scenario is that if Russia's early-warning missile-launch computer systems crash or otherwise malfunction because of the "millennium bug," its nuclear-weapons command might think an American attack is under way and order a counterstrike. U.S., RUSSIA TO ASSIGN Y2K MISSILE MONITORS Reuters September 11, 1999 WASHINGTON The United States and Russia will sign an agreement next week for their military officers to jointly staff a center in Colorado as the new year dawns to watch for false warnings of missile attacks sparked by year 2000 computer bugs, the Pentagon said Friday. -------- Defense Secretary William Cohen and Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev will sign the agreement to set up the temporary center Monday during talks in Moscow to improve military cooperation, a senior Pentagon official told reporters. The official said up to 20 Russian officers would be assigned to the "Center for Strategic Stability and Y2K" between late December and early January at U.S. Space Command headquarters at Colorado Springs. The confidence-building operation will use U.S. early-warning satellites and advanced computers, and could reassure Moscow if Y2K computer problems in Russia mistakenly signaled a missile launch somewhere in the world. Both Russia and the United States have thousands of long-range nuclear missiles and officials on both sides are eager to avoid an unlikely but potentially disastrous mistake. The official, who briefed reporters on Cohen's two-day visit to Russia Monday and Tuesday, cautioned that neither side felt that "we are teetering on the edge of a potential false launch or anything of the sort," but that the step was a sign of cooperation. =46ormal agreement for the center was reached quietly in late August as U.S.-Russian relations improved following strains over Moscow's strong opposition to NATO bombing of Serbia, the official said. Y2K Concerns Continue to Bug Utilities, Nuclear Plants WASHINGTON, DC, September 9, 1999 (ENS) - U.S. utilities survived the date changeover to 9/9/99, seen as a test of computer readiness for the Year 2000 (Y2K) computer bug , but Energy Secretary Bill Richardson says there are still eight major electric utility providers that are not yet Y2K ready. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says all U.S. nuclear power plants are now Y2K ready, but critics say serious safety problems remain. After extensive testing, utilities nationwide had considered it unlikely that their computer systems would mistake the string of nines in today=D5s date with a stop program command, as some computer experts had feared. Utilities used the occasion for a nationwide drill, coordinated by the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC), to test backup systems for the January 1, 2000 rollover. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson (Photo [richardson] courtesy DOE) Utilities simulated electric outages to test communications under emergency circumstances, and iron out procedures for utilities and federal and state agencies to follow. Extra computer experts and safety staff were on hand at the 200 utilities participating in the drill, but no glitches occurred. But Richardson expressed concern yesterday about the number of electric utilities that are not Y2K ready, or have exceptions to their preparations. Eight major electric utility providers are not ready, or have limited exceptions, and an additional 16 municipal utilities and rural cooperatives have not reported their progress to the American Public Power Association and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. There are about 3,000 utilities in North America. "With just over 100 days until the year 2000, those suppliers that haven't yet stepped up to the plate need to be especially aggressive to prepare for the rollover," Richardson said. "All power providers, regardless of their level of preparedness, must continue to test all their systems to ensure consumers that their lights will stay on into the next millennium." Chairman Gregory Nesbitt and president David Eppler of the Central Louisiana Electric Company, one of eight utilities that says it is not Y2K ready (Photo courtesy CLECO) A full list of all utilities with continued Y2K problems can be found at: http://home.doe.gov/news/releases99/seppr/pr99235.htm Richardson has directed the DOE to conduct an additional 20 reviews of randomly selected electric utilities over the coming months to augment audits of 36 such utilities already undertaken by the department. The DOE says the audits completed to date generally confirm the information received through the industry survey process. On Tuesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced that it has confirmed through onsite reviews that there are no Y2K related problems which affect the performance of systems needed to safely shut down any of the 103 U.S. nuclear power plants. The results are outlined in a report, "Year 2000 Readiness in U.S. Nuclear Power Plants," that integrates the results of NRC's onsite reviews with utilities' July 1 reports of Y2K readiness. The report is available on NRC's Y2K website at: www.nrc.gov/NRC/NEWS/year2000.html. While all plants report Y2K readiness for safety systems used for shutdown, some plants are still completing Y2K readiness activities for systems not required to safely shut down the plants. The Comanche Peak Unit #1 nuclear plant in [comanche] Texas is scheduled to be Y2K ready by November 30, 1999 (Photo courtesy NRC) Among the systems that may not be ready are those that provide backup power in case primary systems fail. Diesel generators provide backup at many power plants, yet these systems are notoriously unreliable. In addition, some fear that the seven day fuel supply required for the generators might not be sufficient in cases of significant computer breakdowns. "Nuclear reactors depend on another source of electricity to insure that vital monitoring and cooling systems operate," says Paul Gunter, director of the Nuclear Information Resource Service (NIRS) Nuclear Reactor Watch Dog Project. "These systems are essential, even if the reactor is off line." "Our research shows that back up diesel generators are not as reliable as people have a right to expect, given that Y2K failures may cause local and regional power outages," Gunter continues. "Diesel generators have mechanical failures, fuel problems, are prone to overheating, and in some cases, vulnerable to the Y2K bug itself!" NIRS, a coalition of nuclear energy and environmental activists, petitioned the NRC last December asking the agency to require that nuclear facilities have a 60 day fuel supply to provide backup power during the Y2K transition, and have alternate renewable means of backup power available. The NRC denied this petition saying current regulations require sufficient redundant backup power sources of onsite emergency power. "The NRC considers the current seven day fuel supply on site at nuclear power plants to be sufficient to handle operation of diesel generators in the event that offsite power is lost," responded the NRC. "As part of Y2K preparations, licensees are putting arrangements in place to replenish the fuel supply, if needed. However, Y2K problems are not expected to prolong the duration of a loss of offsite power for longer than that assumed in the licensee's normal emergency plans." The Citizens Nuclear Summit, a coalition of environmental and nuclear activist groups, has launched a World Atomic Safety Holiday (WASH) campaign, calling for all nuclear reactors to be taken offline on December 1, 1999, as a safety precaution. Reactors should not be restarted until after January 1, 2000, and each facility must show it meets Y2K compliance criteria with testing and verification before restart, the campaign asserts. WASH warns that systems used to cool pools of water used to store used reactor fuel have no backup power generators at all. WARN says these pools contain, on average, five times as much radiation as the reactor core and have no containment systems. If the water in these pools is not cooled, the fuel rods could boil the water off, causing a radioactive steam plume. The rods could even, potentially, reach critical meltdown temperatures if left uncooled for long enough. The reactors were originally designed thinking that the used fuel rods would be removed from the site and reprocessed. Hazards associated with that procedure caused the nuclear industry to abandon reprocessing, so most of the used fuel rods remain in cooling pools awaiting the opening of a permanent high level nuclear waste repository. Such a repository has been proposed for Yucca Mountain in Nevada, but safety questions have delayed approval of the storage site. =A9 Environment News Service (ENS) 1999. All Rights Reserved. [ ] [E-Wire] Environmental Press Releases News Story Nuke Plants Need Y2K Fixes By: David McGuire, Newsbytes September 13, 1999 URL: http://www.currents.net/newstoday/99/09/13/news1.html All of the nation's 103 nuclear power plants are prepared to operate safely during the Jan. 1 date rollover, but a number of plants still require Y2K fixes to their administrative and operational support systems, according to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) latest Y2K report. Of the 28 plants reporting that they are not yet Y2K-compliant, all but three say that they will complete Y2K-remediation efforts before November. All of the plants will be 100 percent Y2K compliant before year's end, according to the NRC. Alabama's Farley 2 plant is the only nuclear power facility that has set a December date for completing its Y2K remediation efforts. Today's findings echo last month's comments by NRC Chair Greta Dicus. The date rollover, "will not adversely effect the continued safe operation, or if necessary, the safe shut down, of nuclear power (plants)," she said at an August press conference. As early as July, the NRC was reporting that all nuclear plant safety systems were fully Y2K-compliant. In recent public appearances, John Koskinen, chair of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, has expressed growing optimism that the nation's nuclear power facilities - and its electric power systems in general - will be more than ready to face the date rollover. The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) reported in August that if the year 2000 date rollover happened tomorrow, the nation's power companies would be ready for the change, and could provide uninterrupted service to substantially all of the nation's citizens. More than 99 percent of the nation's roughly 3,000 power companies are actively participating in the NERC's Y2K readiness efforts, and nearly all participating firms have completed Y2K remediation efforts on their mission critical systems, according to a recent NERC report. Starting at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Dec. 31, the NERC and the nation's power companies will be in a full state of alert. While no outages are anticipated by the NERC, power stations will be staffed with additional personnel and reserve generators will be up-and-running to guard against any unforeseen glitches. Power authorities will also observe heightened readiness on Jan. 3, 2000 - the first business day of the New Year, and Feb. 29, 2000 - the leap year day. As an added safeguard, some nuclear plants may ratchet down their energy outputs around the time of the rollover. A full list of Nuclear power plants and their expected Y2K-remediation dates is located on the NRC's Website at http://www.nrc.gov/OPA/gmo/nrarcv/99-191.htm . - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: [y2k-nuclear] US bid to alter arms treaty alarms Russia's Date: 13 Sep 1999 09:08:06 -0400 >Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 19:19:01 -0400 >Subject: [y2k-nuclear] US bid to alter arms treaty alarms Russia's military >To: y2k-nuclear@egroups.com >Cc: prop1@prop1.org >X-FC-Forwarded-From:=20 > y2k-nuclear-return-402-aslater=3Dgracelinks.org@returns.egroups.com >From: pswann@easynet.co.uk (pswann@easynet.co.uk) > >Hardly conducive to a positive outcome to the US-Russia Y2K discussions >planned for Monday... > > >http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,81205,00.html > >US bid to alter arms treaty alarms Russia's military > >Jonathan Steele in Moscow >The Guardian >Saturday September 11, 1999 > > >As the US stepped up its attempts to get President Boris Yeltsin to >agree to amendments to its anti-ballistic missile agreement with Moscow, >the Russian military this week has been sending clear signs it considers >the move unacceptable. > >While Strobe Talbott, the US deputy secretary of state, left Moscow on >Thursday declaring he was "satisfied" with disarmament talks, it is >clear that there is now a greater threat of nuclear escalation than at >any time since the cold war ended a decade ago. > >The US wants Moscow to accept an American exemption from part of the >anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty of 1972, and to that end the Clinton >administration has begun to pile pressure on Mr Yeltsin's beleaguered >regime. > >Mr Clinton's hour-long phone call with Mr Yeltsin on Wednesday was part >of the plan, saying in effect "We will support you in spite of the >money-laundering scandal, if you give us what we want on ABM". > >Next week, William Cohen, the US defence secretary, visits the Russian >capital in the hope of brow-beating the Russian military. Further >pressure will be applied when Mr Clinton meets Vladimir Putin, the >Russian prime minister, at an Asia-Pacific summit next week. > >But the Russian military, along with politicians from a variety of >parties, are not falling for the American blandishments, although there >are fears that Mr Yeltsin may. "With the present weakness of the regime, >there is a danger of unjustified concessions," Sergei Karaganov, >director of the Council for Defence and Foreign Policy Studies, said. > >Colonel-General Vladimir Yakovlev, the commander of Russia's strategic >rocket forces, was quoted in Thursday's newspaper Izvestiya as saying >that if the Americans abandoned the ABM treaty "Russia has worked out >asymmetric measures, including the option of giving the intercontinental >Topol-M missiles independently targetable warheads". These warheads were >expressly forbidden by the Start-2 treaty. It has never been ratified by >the Russian parliament. > >Timed to coincide with General Yakovlev's warning was an interview in >another Russian paper with Yuri Solomonov, the head of the rocket team >which is making the Topol-M. > >"We have a number of technical options for breaking through the >prospective American ABM system," he said. "These include making the >missile manoeuvrable during the active part of its flight." > >Beyond mere words, the air force literally fired a shot across Mr >Talbott's bows. Four days before he reached Moscow, it launched the >latest Topol-M model, hitting its target in the Russian Far East "with a >high degree of accuracy", General Yakovlev said. > >Mr Talbott, as had other American officials before him, was trying to >convince Moscow that its aim in "modifying" the ABM treaty was to build >a national missile defence only against "rogue' states such as North >Korea, Iran or Iraq. The US says the system is not intended to be >sophisticated enough to be able to shoot Russian missiles down. > >One proposal is to move the main battle-management radar system from >North Dakota to Alaska. The ABM treaty forbids such radars from being >sited on the edge of either signatory. > >Pavel Podvig, Russia's top civilian expert on ABM systems, said this >week that the Russian military feared the new system "could be the basis >for a more robust missile defence scheme later". "The US could link this >Alaska-based radar with just a few interceptor rockets for use against >North Korea, but then quickly add hundreds of interceptors." > >It takes five to 10 years to build a large phased-array radar >installation, allowing time for the other side to build better missiles >to counteract it, Mr Podvig explained. "If the US scheme goes ahead as >though it is just a regional defence, then Russia loses the lead-time." > >The Russian military was not, however, seriously worried that its >missiles would lose their deterrent power, Mr Podvig said, since no ABM >system could ever give the US a guarantee of hitting Russia without >having to worry about successful retaliation. "The worry is partly >finanical. It will force Russia to keep upgrading its missile systems. > >"It is also conceptual. The ABM treaty helps to bring about a reduction >in offensive weapons. As the Clinton administration used to say, it is >the cornerstone of nuclear arms reduction." >=20 > >Guardian Unlimited =A9 Guardian Newspapers Limited 1999 > > > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >MyPoints-Free Rewards When You're Online.=20 >Start with up to 150 Points for joining! >http://clickhere.egroups.com/click/805 > > >eGroups.com home: http://www.egroups.com/group/y2k-nuclear >http://www.egroups.com - Simplifying group communications > =20 Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) RUSSIAN NUKE CAMPAIGNER THREATENED WITH ARREST PLEASE SIGN Date: 14 Sep 1999 12:30:55 +1000 Dear People, VLADIMIR Sliviak, Russias most prominent antinuclear campaigner is being threatened with blackmail and arrest by the Moscow police, working for the FSB. He needs your support urgently. (See Vladimirs press release below). I would like to fax this within the next 48 hours. If you could all sign it for Vladimir that would be most helpful. TO: MINISTRY OF POLICE RUSSIA, 7-095-239-08-62 MINISTRY OF JUSTICE RUSSIA, 7-095-916-2903 MOSCOW CHIEF OF POLICE 7-095-200-93-05 F.S.B, MOSCOW, 7-095-975-24-70 cc Amnesty International Human Rights Watch Laurie Brereton, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer Minister for Foreign Affairs Joschka Fischer, German Minister for Foreign Affairs Maj-Britt Theorin, European Parliament Ernst Gulcher, European Parliament U.S. State Department, Russia Desk Dear Minister of Police, Minister for Justice, FSB, and Chief of Police Moscow, We are writing out of deep concern for a friend and colleague, Vladimir Sliviak, Director of the antinuclear campaign of Ecodefense, who we understand was temporarily arrested and released recently outside his Moscow home and who appears to be the object of police harassment. Mr. Sliviak's beliefs and actions concerning nuclear energy and other policies of the Russian government may not be to the liking of some elements in your government but his beliefs and commitment are widely shared around the world. We understand that he was stopped outside his home on September 6, by members of the Moscow police, (MUR) who said they were investigating an explosion of August 31, 1999. It seems that Vladimir was shown marijuana, and told that if he did not cooperate it would be placed in his bag and he would then be arrested and jailed for three years. He was released after 1.5 hours. We also understand another colleague of his, Mr. Kozlov, was similarly threatened. Vladimir Sliviak is well known to the environmental community worldwide, and respected. There is no way that he could be involved in activities of the type with which the police seem to wish to associate him. The right to protest and to question and oppose government policies, is enshrined in the democratic tradition and is an integral part of civil society. It is also enshrined in a number of United Nations conventions. It is not a luxury, to be dispensed with in times of difficulty. The environmental movement in the U.S., Australia, and Europe is held in high respect even by those it opposes. Green political parties have prominent representation in many European parliaments and in the European Parliament, and the German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer is from the Green Party. Other political parties have largely adopted parts of the environment movements agenda. You may be sure that the activities of the Moscow police and authorities with respect to Mr. Sliviak are being very well observed by a large and sympathetic worldwide community. We trust that these incidents were in error and will not be repeated, that the law will be respected and enforced above all by those whose duty it is to do so. John Hallam, Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Sydney. Michael Mariotte Executive Director Nuclear Information and Resource Service Washington, DC Reply-To: "Vladimir Slivyak" For immediate release Moscow EXPLOSION DETAILS While all newspapers and TV channels discuss "Chechen", "Dagestan" and "revolutionary writers" versions of the explosion at Manezh square, provided by intelligence services, these services themselves persecute ecologists and look for whom to blame among the witnesses of another notorious political process. People from Moscow Criminal Investigation Department (MUR) captured Vladimir Slivyak, Director of Antinuclear campaign of Socio-Ecological Union (SEU). The formal reason for the arrest was documents control, while the real reasons were investigation actions within Manezh square explosion suit. People in civilian stopped the activist of environmental movement when he was going out of his house; they refused to introduce themselves and to explain the reason of the arrest. After documents control and numerous questions about Slivyak's job, environmental organizations and environmental movement in general, senior lieutenant of MUR 6th department A.S. Kosterov (the only person whose documents were possible to look at) stated that he "deals with terrorists" including investigation of circumstances of the explosion at Manezh square. At the place of detention Kosterov took a package with marijuana and threatened to "find it in the bag" of the Director of Antinuclear campaign if he does not facilitate actively enough "the course of the investigation". It appeared that MUR staff is interested in Kochkarev Yakov Vladimirovich who must appear here in the nearest future according to intercepted phone call. REFERENCE: Y.V. Kochkarev is a witness for the defense in so called "Krasnodar suit", notorious political process in the beginning of which it was repeatedly stated about "prevention of murderous assault at Krasnodar kray governor Nikolay Kondratenko". In the course of investigation of this suit searches and interrogations of witnesses were performed with numerous violations of Criminal and Judicial Procedure Code of RF. However the suit broke up and the inquest failed to prove the accusation in political terrorism. Obviously intelligence services were not satisfied with the results achieved. In the "conversation" with the detained Director of Antinuclear campaign and then with other persons of this organization arrived to the place of the event, senior lieutenant Kosterov stated that he personally deals with "Krasnodar suit" from its very beginning and is absolutely confident in the relationship between this suit and recent explosion at Manezh, as well as that "all traces lead to environmental organizations". Kosterov also stated that he knows for sure who committed this act of terrorism. Obviously the scandal "Krasnodar suit" is early to consider finished. There is direct evidence of its transition to probably even more notorious "terrorist trial". Apparently its main canvas has not been "knitted" yet - that is why the method of shaking marijuana packages before one's face and "conversations" without proceedings are again applied: the information obtained in this way can be later filed there in the way the most suitable for the inquest. During "Krasnodar suit" "criminal group" was searched among informal groups with radical views, but nothing serious came out of it, except that someone lost laurels of the main fighter with terrorists. Probably bodies investigating explosion at Manezh believe that ecologists are more serious people and thus can be accused of more serious plot? Apparently working out of this scenario took place during "Krasnodar suit", already then they tried to have up many ecologists as witnesses. LATEST NEWS: September 7th FSB people contacted via phone A.Yu. Kozlov, representative of Voronezh division of SEU Antinuclear Campaign. They demanded him to come for "informal conversation" on the topic of antinuclear camp took place in September in vicinity of Novovoronezh nuclear power plant. As an argument for his coming they stated: "Your Moscow colleagues have problems, you do no want the same, do you?". Obviously the "problems" meant marijuana package in hands of MUR officer Kosterov, because official accusations to the Director of Antinuclear campaign have never been brought. Only at parting MUR officers said to him: "If we do not capture Kochkarev, consider yourself arrested". Information on activities of Antinuclear campaign and about the camp near Novovoronezh nuclear power plantcan be found in the Internet: www.ecoline.ru/antinuclear About "Krasnodar suit": www.ecoline.ru/actions/bomba www.ipclub.ru/identity/pres/ John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Crockett Williams" Subject: (abolition-usa) Nuclear Waste Remediation DOE Appeal Date: 13 Sep 1999 19:51:57 -0700 As most of you know, neutralizing radioactive waste fuel from nuclear reactors using the low-energy nuclear transmutation process has been repeatedly demonstrated in Salt Lake City by Hal Fox and others. The process would be far cheaper and safer than geologic storage in Nevada's Yucca Mountain. The Department of Energy continues to be stupid about not investigating the proven alternative of low-energy nuclear transmutation in an honest and straightforward manner. Furthermore, there continue to be hints and accusations of hidden protection of the profits to be earned by large corporations with current expensive waste handling, transportation, and storage methods. I have also been told by one cynical friend that the only way to catch the attention of the Nevada Congressional delegation is to provide at least one of them with a $1,000 political campaign contribution. A few days ago, I received a letter from Nevada Congressman Jim Gibson stating that he has sent a letter to Chairman Ron Packard of the Subcommittee on Eenrgy and Mineral Sources requesting $6 million to be spent on transmutation research over the next three years. A copy of the Packard letter was inadvertently left out of Gibson's letter. So I am currently retrieving the Packard letter from Gibson's office. To my knowledge, this is the first time any Nevada congressperson has done something meaningful to push for transmutation research as an alternative to Yucca Mountain. I will still have to see Gibson's letter to Packard. In the meantime, I h= ave been warned that what may happen is that the $6 million (a drop in the bucket compared to the billions being spent on Yucca Mountain) may go to the national laboratories to be spent on impractical, unproven transmutation methods, and nothing will essentially be accomplished. What is shameful about this is that the people like Hal Fox who HAVE developed the practical, proven method of low-energy nuclear transmutatio= n are receiving not one penny of federal funding of their research. Yesterday's Las Vegas Review-Journal Sunday newspaper had an article by one of my e-mail correspondents, reporter Keith Rogers, which gave me an idea. The first paragraph reads: "Governors from four states signed an unprecedented agreement Friday to clean up nuclear wastes after Energy Secretary Bill Richardson acknowledged that the federal government hasn't done a good job." Another paragraph states: "Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, South Carolina Gov. James Hodges, Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist, and Washington Gov. Gary Locke said the statement of principles sets the foundation for a cooperative working relationship." The next paragraph explains: "Previously, the Energy Department worked with eeach state individually on the cleanup." Elsewhere, Keith wrote that Nevada's Gov. Kenny Guinn refused to sign the agreement because the agreement didn't contain explicit language on Yucca Mountain. Keith also wrote: "Richardson said the states will be asking for nearly $7 billion through 2001. He said he's already obtained a commitment of $5.6 billion from the Office of Management and Budget through next year." While we should continue to educate the feds on proven practical and cheaper alternatives, I suggest we focus more on educating the four aforementioned state governors as they ought to be more accessible than the DOE. A few of you live in the State of Washington. I suggest you guys bother Governor Locke about using low-energy nuclear transmutation. LENT is particularly suited for cheaply and safely neutralizing the huge TEMPORARY tanks of highly radioactive liquid waste on the Hanford nuclear facility which WILL eventually seep into the Columbia River. Gary I just got this e-mail: Dear Mr. Vesperman, I apologize for not enclosing the letter from Congressman Gibbons to Congressman Packard in regards to transmuting radioactive waste. Enclosed= is a copy of this letter. If you have any problems retrieving this letter, please email me at david.omara@mail.house.gov. I will send you a copy or = fax it to you. Thank you, David O'Mara Legislative Correspondent Congressman Jim Gibbons (Letter to Packard follows:) September 13, 1999 Chairman Ron Packard Energy and Water Development Appropriations B2362 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Chairman Packard: Scientists from my state are part of a team of experienced scientific researchers from several universities and corporations carrying out a sco= pe of work which will directly impact a major international problem =97 the management of the nation=92s nuclear waste legacy. American Technologies= , Inc. (ATG), a California based company, has sponsored a research program = at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) for the past 3 years. T= he work accomplished at Caltech on high energy particle beam technology has demonstrated the significant potential for practical applications of cluster/laser interactions to produce neutrons. The particle beam, composed of deuterium droplets, has the capability of producing neutrons that can transmutate nuclear waste. The beam is at le= ast 100 times less costly than the currently proposed neutron source from Oak Ridge National Labs. ATG=92s beam is irradiated by a femtosecond laser, resulting in fusion of deuterons and the production of neutrons in a precisely controlled manner. ATG has at its disposal, a scientific team with the highest credential and track record in the field, to develop thi= s novel neutron source and clearly demonstrate its efficacy in the transmutation of nuclear wastes (See attachment for further details.). It is clear that upon the successful generation of neutrons as a result o= f the currently proposed research a number of end-user customers, both governmental and commercial, will be interested. The ATG team has select= ed as a goal for their research the important opportunity of the destruction= of nuclear waste, realizing the uncertainties related to the basic nuclear f= uel cycle, chemical separation processes, and waste repository design criteri= a all provide difficulty in finding the correct =93target=94 isotopes. How= ever, the benefits of another option to the current reactor technologies for th= e transmutation of nuclear waste are overwhelming whether the targets are fission products, transuranics or certain actinides. Other national and commercial interests may be served by the production of neutrons. Fusion energy, tritium and medical isotope production and the production of interaction product radiations such as extreme ultra-violet (EUV), soft x-rays and x-rays which potentially have unique medical diagnostic and treatment application, are all of great importance. An unsolicited proposal was submitted to the Department of Energy for =93Ultrafast Laser Irradiation of Deuterium Droplets for the Production o= f Neutrons=94 in June, 1998. This proposal was for a period of 3 years at = a total cost of just under $6 million. In February of 1999, the DOE responded to ATG=92s unsolicited proposal. = The following comments were received from DOE principals: =95 The ATG proposal was one of the best it has ever seen. =95 The technology proposal was innovative in its approach to producing neutrons. =95 The proposal team, personnel and associations were outstanding. In spite of the positive technical review, budget limitations and the nee= d to produce near-term clean up results prevented DOE from funding the unsolicited research proposal. Frankly, it is my view that the recent GAO criticism of the DOE could not= be more appropriate than in this case. Congress mandated the DOE to explore and find alternative technologies but the DOE continues to resist. A rec= ent publication (Journal of Science, March, 1999) by Dr. William D. Phillips, Nobel Laureate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, indicates the ATG researchers are on the right track but maybe in the wro= ng Agency. The team and technology I have identified in this letter are real and deserving of funding. I ask your assistance in including $6 million for this project in the DOE, Energy Research and Environmental Management, and/or Department of Commerce, Physics Research Division appropriations. = I have included some suggested bill language for your consideration. Thank you for your hard work and help in crafting the Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill. If I can be of any assistance to you regarding this or any other issue please let me know. Sincerely, JIM GIBBONS Member of Congress JG/jv - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Crockett Williams" Subject: (abolition-usa) Please circulate, Global Peace Walk Benefit in Berkeley 26SEP99 Date: 13 Sep 1999 22:03:08 -0700 Please help circulate this information about a gathering and concert, to benefit Global Peace Walk2000, which takes place at the Berkeley Communit= y Center, Sunday evening September 26, 1999. Below is initial flyer text a= nd press release for details. This will be a very important event to suppor= t this global peace and environment project, so please help pass the word = to those you know who can attend. http://www.globalpeacenow.org _ _ _________________________________________ initial flyer Living on the Globe with All Our Friends Global Peace Walk 2000 Benefit Concert San Francisco, CA - Washington DC - New York 1/15/2000 - 10/9/2000 - 10/24/2000 www.globalpeacenow.org GPZONE2000@aol.com PO Box 170245, San Francisco, CA 94117 415-267-1877 featuring Bernie Worrell & The WOO Warriors P-Funk Guest Star Extravaganza Dr. Loco=92s Rockin=92 Jalape=F1o Band Funky Latino Ritmos of SF and East LA with the gritty Tex-Mex Blues Chaksam-Pa Tibetan Dance & Opera Company All Nation=92s Singers & Dance Group Traditional Native American Singers & Dancers Will Scarlett Harmonica Player with the =93original=94 Hot Tuna Toured with Brownie McG= ee =93Global Peace Now=94 Human Resolve Ceremony Rev. Yusen Yamato, Global Peace Walk Initiator Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean Dennis Jennings - MC Native American Activist, Artist & Cultural Leader Navajo Rug Sale & Raffle Benefits Hopi & Navajo Resistance At Big Mountain, Arizona Berkeley Community Theater 1930 Allston Way / Martin Luther King Jr. Way Sunday, September 26th, 1999 7 - 11:00pm, Doors open: 6pm Bring Donations: Food, Survival Supplies, Cash/Checks, Support Vehicles, Cell Phones, Camp= ing Goods, Clothing & Shoes, Office Equipment, Lap Top Computers Kids Welcome (12 & under FREE) Tickets: $20 (balcony); $25 (lower floor) Ticket Locations & Info: 415-267-1877 ___________________________________________ PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Global Peace Walk - 415-863-2084 Living on the Globe with All Our Friends Global Peace Walk 2000 Benefit Concert Living on the Globe with All Our Friends, Global Peace Walk 2000 Benefit Concert will be at the Berkeley Community Theater on Sunday, September 26= th, 1999 from 6 - 11pm. Featured artists are: Bernie Worrell & The WOO Warriors, P-Funk Guest Star Extravaganza; Dr. Loco=92s Rockin=92 Jalape=F1o Band, R= ockin' musical cruise blending the funky Latino ritmos of San Francisco and East L.A. with the gritty Tex-Mex blues; Chaksam-Pa, Tibetan Dance & Opera Company; All Nation=92s Singers & Dance Group, Traditional Native America= n Singers & Dancers; and Will Scarlett, Harmonica Player, recorded with the =93original=94 Hot Tuna & toured with Brownie McGee. There will be a =93Global Peace Now=94 Human Resolve Ceremony by Rev. Yus= en Yamato, Global Peace Walk Initiator. Berkeley=92s Mayor Shirley Dean will= make an appearance. MC for the event will be Dennis Jennings, Native American activist, artist & cultural leader. There will also be a Navajo Rug Sale = & Raffle that benefits Hopi & Navajo Resistance at Big Mountain, Arizona. Tickets are $20 (balcony); $25 (lower floor). Kids are welcome (12 & unde= r FREE). Tickets will be available at BASS outlets as well as other locatio= ns. For ticket information as well as for other information, call 415-267-187= 7. The Public is encouraged to bring donations for Global Peace Walk 2000: Food, Survival Supplies, Cash/Checks, Support Vehicles, Cell Phones, Camp= ing Goods, Clothing & Shoes, Office Equipment, and Lap Top Computers. Those w= ho would like to be a part of Global Peace Walk 2000 in any way and voluntee= r, can contact us at: 415-267-1877, PO Box 170245, San Francisco, CA 94117; GPZONE2000@aol.com; www.globalpeacenow.org Global Peace Walk 2000 will take its first step from the War Memorial Building in San Francisco on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.=92s Birthday on January 15, 2000 bringing out the prayer of =93Global Peace Now!=94 as a universa= l human resolve to spread across the United States. Along the way, the Peace Walkers will be carrying petitions, messages & information to educate & network with people & groups on the following issues: Abolition 2000 - A Call to Ban Nuclear Weapons Worldwide; Protecting our Land & Life & other Environmental & Social issues; Native American issues (e.g., Leonard Peltier, Big Mountain AZ, Ward Valley CA); Sustainable Global Economy (e.g., Permaculture, Hemp); Creating a Culture of Peace an= d a Spiritual United Nations; the World Thirteen Moon Calendar Change Peace Movement; as well as other issues that people bring to us along the way. On October 9, 2000 (Columbus Day), the Global Peace Walk will arrive in Washington DC and bring the petitions and a =93Message of Peace=94 to our governmental leaders. The walk will arrive in New York City at the United Nations on October 24th, 2000 (United Nations Day) bringing the petitions= & a =93Message of Peace=94 to our world government leaders, and reaffirm the original principle of the United Nations Charter, to =93save succeeding generation= s from the scourge of war=94 and to =93reaffirm faith in the dignity of human ri= ghts=94 and to =93live together in peace.=94 Since the Global Peace Walk project was initiated in 1995 walking from Ne= w York City to San Francisco for the United Nations 50th anniversary, the Global Peace Walk has received hundreds of letters and proclamations of support from religious, political, community and cultural leaders towards the creation of a worldwide Global Peace Zone. Global Peace NOW! # # # - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Moving Gently on East Timor Date: 14 Sep 1999 08:48:48 -0400 >Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 22:09:31 -0400 >Subject: Moving Gently on East Timor >Priority: non-urgent >X-FC-MachineGenerated: true >To: corp-focus@essential.org >X-FC-Forwarded-From: corp-focus@essential.org >From: rob@essential.org (rob@essential.org) > >Moving Gently on East Timor >By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman > >The Clinton administration's shamefully slow response to the savagery >unleashed by the Indonesian military and militia on the people of East >Timor allowed a vicious slaughter to take place. East Timor's capital, >Dili, now lies in ruins, hundreds or quite likely thousands of Timorese >have been killed since they voted overwhelmingly for independence on >August 30, and tens or hundreds of thousands of Timorese are now hiding in >the mountains facing starvation and fearing possible attacks by Indonesian >armed forces. > >Under pressure from grassroots activists, Congress and foreign governments >and aroused by the sheer savagery of the Indonesian attack on the >Timorese, the administration has now ratcheted up its rhetoric of >condemnation, announced meaningful cuts in military aid, and watched >approvingly as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank suspended >new loans. And as a result of international pressure, Indonesia has agreed >to allow a peacekeeping force into East Timor. > >For all this slow progress, until the Australian-led peacekeeping >operation lands in East Timor, there remains the substantial possibility >of a new round of bloodletting. Even stronger pressure from the United >States, as well as other international powers, will be needed to assure >that calamity does not occur. > >Leaving aside the ghastly history of U.S. military and diplomatic support >for the brutal and illegal Indonesian occupation of East Timor -- a >24-year occupation in which an estimated 200,000 Timorese were killed -- >why has the U.S. response to the unfolding butchery in East Timor been so >laggardly? > >The New York Times went a long way to answering this crucial question in a >September 9 front-page story titled, "With Other Goals in Indonesia, U.S. >Moves Gently on East Timor." > >"We have myriad interests" in Indonesia, explained State Department >spokesperson Jaime Rubin in one of his daily briefings, "and what our job >is is to try to balance those various interests." > >Others in the government and chattering class, such as Eleanor Clift of >Newsweek, echoed this basic sentiment. The United States should be >"realistic" in setting its policy on East Timor, they urged, noting the >multiple U.S. "interests" in Indonesia and the importance of promoting >"stability." > >Since the prescription was to balance these "interests" in "stability" >against the lives of the Timorese, it is worth identifying what they are. > >"We have a business interest," said Rubin in identifying competing U.S. >interests in Indonesia. That is, the U.S. government wants to protect U.S. >investments in Indonesia -- Nike's subcontractor factories, the mines of >Freeport McMoRan, the oil drilling of Texaco, Chevron and Mobil. Strong >diplomatic pressure on Indonesia might conceivably have led to the >revocation of concessions and privileges for U.S. corporations, worried >the practitioners of realpolitik. > >Worse, from this point of view, was the possibility that support for the >Timorese will somehow flare up Indonesian separatist movements in Aceh >(where Mobil is heavily invested) and Irian Jaya (where Freeport McMoRan >runs the world's largest gold mine). > >A broader U.S. business interest was in maintaining the flow of IMF and >World Bank money to Indonesia, so the country maintains its commitment to >the "structural adjustment" policies which require it to remove >restrictions on foreign investment, further orient its economy to exports, >privatize government enterprises and cut subsidies to the poor. > >Additionally, given the precarious state of the Indonesian economy, and >the success of the IMF in deepening Indonesian dependence on foreign money >flows, a sudden cut off of IMF and Bank monies might in fact send a >harmful shock to the economy (whatever the long-run benefits of severing >ties with the international financial institutions). The announced cut off >of funds is actually a suspension of future monies not yet allocated, and >is only temporary, so the feared effect on the international markets has >been muted. > >Of course, it would be misleading to say the U.S. government was slow to >act in Indonesia/East Timor only because it wanted to protect Nike and >other U.S. multinationals. In addition to the commercial and broader >economic stability issues, the U.S. foreign policy and military >establishments attach great geopolitical importance to maintaining good >ties with the Indonesian government and especially the Indonesian military >(viewed as a counterweight to China and a dependable regional ally). > >Still, there is no doubt that the U.S. "business interest" played a >significant role in the decision to "move gently" on East Timor in the >early days of the post-election slaughter. Even the New York Times >acknowledged a U.S. government concern that a threatened IMF and aid cut >off "could also harm American corporations that have large investments in >Indonesia." > >In time, we'll know how many Timorese died in the weeks following their >vote for independence, in part because of U.S. government concern about >"our business interest" in Indonesia. > >Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime >Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based >Multinational Monitor. They are co-authors of Corporate Predators: The >Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy (Monroe, Maine: Common >Courage Press, 1999; http://www.corporatepredators.org) > >(c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman > >-------------------------------------------------------------- > >Focus on the Corporation is a weekly column written by Russell Mokhiber >and Robert Weissman. Please feel free to forward the column to friends or >repost the column on other lists. If you would like to post the column on >a web site or publish it in print format, we ask that you first contact us >(russell@essential.org or rob@essential.org). > >Focus on the Corporation is distributed to individuals on the listserve >corp-focus@essential.org. To subscribe to corp-focus, send an e-mail >message to listproc@essential.org with the following all in one line: > >subscribe corp-focus (no period). > >Focus on the Corporation columns are posted at >. > >Postings on corp-focus are limited to the columns. If you would like to >comment on the columns, send a message to russell@essential.org or >rob@essential.org. > Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) Reflections on East Timor Date: 14 Sep 1999 14:27:31 EDT So much of what needed to be said on East Timor was being said so well by others that I attended to catching up on back mail. A bit of what follows is new. Not widely known is the role played by two members of War Resisters League - John Miller and Charles Scheiner. Both have been working on East Timor for years, long before it was a "cause" known to the West. Many others have played a role, and I don't want to do what neither John nor Charlie would want - to single them out for special treatment when the real daily risks were taken by the East Timorese. But I know enough about this situation to know that John and Charles were central and key, along with others such as Amy Goodman and Alan Nairn. (Alan suffered a severe beating in an earlier effort to cover events there). Noam Chomsky merits mention as one who has, for years, pointed to East Timor as an example of a genocide ignored by the West (and by Australia and Japan as well). Not widely known, because it happened over a generation ago, was the extraordinary massacre in 1965 of Indonesian Communists by Suharto. (I am using the Microsoft Encarta version of the facts). At that time there was an allegation the Communists plotted a coup - in this case, pro-Chinese Communists. There was an attack by someone on the top Indonesian military leadership, though whether that was actually a Communist coup or an internal palace struggle isn't clear. What is clear is that between 300,000 and one million people were killed - one of the most terrible mass killings in recent times. The Communist Party was virtually erased from Indonesia. In addition hundreds of thousands were arrested - only 800 received a trial and there have been periodic executions with the last of the prisoners not yet released. The West was silent on this. No word that I know of from Washington. When you label people "Communists" or "Fascists" or "Jews" or "Niggers" it becomes remarkably easy to totally overlook the massacre of 300,000 to a million of them. To Washington, the importance of Indonesia as a non-Communist bastion in Asia (at a time of turmoil in Indochina) was so important that the killings were ignored. Or, not totally ignored, the Prime Minister of Australia put the death toll at 500,000 and said it was a good thing! (Fate had its way - he later drowned in a swimming accident). East Timor had been a Portugese colony until 1975 when Portugal withdrew. A group termed "leftist" by the Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia (Fretilin) which had led a long struggle for independence was left in control of East Timor and declared East Timor to be independent. Indonesia invaded - its occupation of East Timor has never been recognized by the international community but was tacitly accepted by the US, Japan, Great Britain, and Australia, all of whom have extensive trade with Indonesia and, particulary the US and Great Britain, have supplied Indonesia with virtually unlimited weapons. It is estimated that at least 100,000 and possibly 200,000 were killed by Indonesia when they took over East Timor. Again, silence from Washington DC. As most of you know, two of the leaders of East Timor, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo and Jose Ramos Horta, Timorese dissidents, received the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts at peace. Violence continued up to the UN-conducted vote on independence, which proved an almost unanimous victory for the independence forces. And which then led to the Indonesian army's involvement in the recent terrible slaughters. East Timor does not have a huge population. The capital, Dili, is not a massive city. The killings have wiped out a large percentage of the population and through all these years no one in the West except for the East Timor Action Network (ETAN) in which John and Charlie played so key a role, and Noam Chomsky, who has hammered at this issue, seemed to care. I cite this as one more example of reason to doubt Clinton's concern with human rights. East Timor was there when he entered office. It has been there the whole time. US political leaders had too many commercial and military ties to Indonesia to care. In Kosova Clinton saw issues "clearly" - in East Timor he was blind. An irony is that we were told (by Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, etc.) that the NATO action in Kosova would help prevent similar situations from occuring elsewhere. So what happened in East Timor? Was no one in Indonesia following the "lesson" just taught by NATO? (Perhaps a greater and more terrible irony is that while a relative handful of people in the West could champion the cause of East Timor and help pave the way for the UN-mandated election, they could not, once Indonesia attacked after the vote, defend the people of East Timor). The US has no interests in East Timor - but it does have substantial interests in Indonesia, which accounts for the close cooperation between the US and Indonesia military up to and after the UN vote. I have stayed away from the discussion of whether or not to intervene with a UN force because the chances were too good that everyone would be dead before that could be achieved (for one thing, without Indonesia's cooperation, China would almost certainly have vetoed any UN action). My own position has been and remains that a really powerful position by the US (and Britain, Japan and Australia) would force Indonesia to control the "militias" which have clearly been permitted to operate by the Indonesian military. And this seems to be happening. I wouldn't spend too much time trying to call Clinton but I would strongly urge continued pressure on members of Congress, both House and Senate. The matter of UN forces really needs a full and separate discussion because what will be sent in are not "peace keepers" trained in riot control, medical care, mediation, etc., but regular military who will land with guns in hand. However, legally the case for UN forces is enormously clearer here than in Kosova, where NATO acted illegally and unilaterally. In East Timor, the vote was conducted by the UN, the Indonesian annexation of East Timor had never been accepted by the UN. Following the vote there is a legal sense in which the Indonesian Army becomes the invader (it always had been - but after the vote their position as an illegal occupying force was abundantly clear). So any UN forces sent in will be acting to contain and repel an invasion of territory which is sovereign in its own right. I doubt there will be any enthusiasm by Clinton, Blair and company for potential war crimes trials of Indonesian leaders - unlike Serbia, where the US had no ties, the US has far too many with Indonesia to risk the exposure any such trials would produce. Moral in brief: never underestimate what a handful of individuals can do, as Charlie and John and a handful of people scattered across the US and the world have done with ETAN. Never underestimate the moral blindness of the State where it has economic or military interests it considers more urgent than human rights. And finally, don't underestimate the value of pressure on Congress - and pressure by demonstrations in the street to demand much stronger action by Clinton. Peace, David McReynolds - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Sally Light" Subject: (abolition-usa) Action proposals & ideas for US Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Date: 14 Sep 1999 21:00:06 +0100 Dear friends, The Facilitators Group of the US Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons invites you to submit your creative ideas and action proposals as part of the process of the October 8-11 conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The conference will culmanate in the Campaign's launch. All input is welcome, from formal proposals to specific ideas, even if you cannot attend the conference. Please e-mail your responses to either Alan Haber at od4life@aol.com or Sally Light at sallight@earthlink.net. We look forward to hearing from you in the very near future! In peace & solidarity, Sally Light - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Norm and Karen Cohen Subject: (abolition-usa) abolition program 9/26 atlantic city Date: 14 Sep 1999 23:50:19 -0400 ATLANTIC CITY AREA FRIENDS MEETING-QUAKERS > INVITES YOU TO ITS > MEDITERRANEAN MEAL FUNDRAISER FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS > ABOLITION WHEN: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1999 - 5:30 to 8:30 WHERE: > at Quaker Meetinghouse, W. side of Pitney Road 1/4 mile S. of Jim > Leeds Road traffic light in Galloway Twp. WHAT: Charles F. Peterson, > Clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting's volunteer group working on the > Abolition 2000 world-wide movement for total nuclear disarmament will > discuss its spiritual basis at 7:00 P. M. After sampling > dishes from the French Provence, Spain, Italy, Greece, Africa and the > Middleast, enjoy an inspirational message and open discussion on our > world's most pressing and dangerous issue. SUGGESTED CONTRIBUTION: $10 > ea (youngsters $5) Come for part of or the > entire program > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~FYI > Norm Cohen > COME HAVE A TASTY MEDITERRANEAN > MEAL Learn about the World-wide Movement to Abolish Nuclear > Weapons SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER > 26 5:30 to 8:30 P. M. Quaker > Meetinghouse, West side of Pitney Road, Galloway > Township 1/4 mile south of Jimmie Leeds Road > traffic light At 7 pm Charles F. Peterson* will speak on the > spiritual basis for nuclear disarmament and America's special > responsibility for achieving this goal. This is a fundraiser > for the peace and social concerns work of Atlantic City Area Friends > Meeting. There will be no appeal for funds made during or after the > dinner. Voluntary contributions will be accepted at the door > (suggested: $10 eaor $5 for youngsters), but all welcome for dinner > or speaker or both. *Member of Abington Friends Meeting, Clerk of > Abolition 2000 Working Group of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the > Religious Society of Friends (PYM) and formerly Clerk of PYM's Peace > Committee. LEARN ABOUT THE -- Coalition for Peace and Justice and the UNPLUG Salem Campaign; 321 Barr Ave, Linwood, NJ 08221; 609-601-8537 or 609-601-8583 (8583: fax, answer machine) UNPLUG SALEM WEBSITE: http://members.aol.com/robvfp/page4/index.htm COALITION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE WEBSITE: http://members.bellatlantic.net/~norco/ The Coalition for Peace and Justice is a chapter of Peace Action. =93We have two lives, the one we=92re given, and the other one we make=94 (Mary Chapin Carpenter) =93Where do we go from here - chaos or community?=94 (Martin Luther King) - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Timothy Bruening Subject: (abolition-usa) Panama Canal Treaty Date: 15 Sep 1999 01:49:13 -0700 (PDT) What is your position on the Panama Canal Treaty? Can it be abrogated as opponents want? I support that treaty. What are the arguments pro and con? - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) FRIENDS OF THE EARTH Y2K PRESS RELEASE RE MONITORING CENTRE / Y2K Date: 15 Sep 1999 18:03:09 +1000 John Hallam =46riends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, =46ax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html Dear friends, The following includes a press release on the Y2K Strategic Stability Centre, agreement for which was initialled on Sept 13, and a number of Y2K - nuclear related items, including the press covering the US/Russia Y2K agreement. The item by Rick T Vanelli on the US/Russian Y2K agreement not only mentions at length the letter coordinated by FOE Sydney, but gives the url, which is of course the one above. If your organisation has not yet signed that letter please do so by emailing me at nonukes@foesyd.org.au John Hallam Enjoy! AUSTRALIAN PEACE COMMITTEE/FRIENDS OF THE EARTH PRESS RELEASE 15/9/1999 US/RUSSIA MONITORING AGREEMENT SHOWS Y2K NUKE RISK SERIOUS The risk of Y2K-induced accidental nuclear war, that on Aug. 6th impelled nearly 300 (now nearly 400) environment, peace, disarmament, union, church, and other groups to write to presidents Yeltsin and Clinton, asking for nuclear forces to be taken off hairtrigger alert, has been shown to be serious by the US/Russian joint monitoring agreement initialed Sept. 13 in Moscow by Russian Defence minister Igor Sergeyev and US Secretary of defence William Cohen. According to FOE Sydney nuclear campaigner John Hallam, who coordinated the global letter to Yeltsin and Clinton, and the Australian peace Committee's Irene Gale, "The very fact that this agreement has been signed shows that deep down both the US and Russia know that there is a real risk that in the absence of such measures, that confusion created by Y2K related computer glitches could indeed lead to what Senator Bennett in the US calls 'unintended deadly consequences'. While it is perfectly true that missiles cannot launch themselves, it is entirely possible under the current 'launch on warning' doctrines held by both the US and Russia, for a commander who believes that his country is under nuclear attack, to initiate retaliation when the supposed 'attack' is nothing more than computer-generated false data. This has already occurred on a number of occasions, both in the US and in Russia." "The joint monitoring centre obviously does help reduce the risk of an accidental Armageddon. However it is certainly worrying that it will commence operation only on December 27, and will not operate through =46ebruary. It is simply better than nothing. And even without Y2K, there is always the risk of catastrophic accident as long as there are 5,500 silo-based ICBMs primed for instant launch." "The only measure that will ensure that every day is not a game of Russian roulette with the entire planet is to stand down or de-alert, nuclear forces. This was recommended strongly by the Canberra Commission in 1996, and by subsequent resolutions of the UN General Assembly. De-Alerting is a no risk, no cost measure that will immeasurably improve US/Russian relations and will make the planet a safer place as well as paving the way for the elimination of weapons of universal destruction." Meanwhile, the global letter to Yeltsin and Clinton has now 380 organizations signed on to it including Waverley, Leichhardt, Mitcham, Richmond Rivers, Uralla, Darebin, and Salisbury city councils, 14 federal parliamentarians, 10 major international NGOs, 10 members of the European Parliament, 12 Russian NGOs, 29 New Zealand groups, 85 US groups, 65 European groups, and 26Canadian groups. Contact: John Hallam, 9517-3903, h9810-2598. Irene GaleA.M., A.P.C., 08-8364-2291 US and Russia team up to combat Y2K in missile systems US and Russian defence ministers have agreed to jointly monitor missile launch data as a safeguard against Y2K-related mishaps in a modest step toward improving strained relations between the world's two nuclear heavyweights. US Defence Secretary William Cohen and Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev signed a joint statement establishing a centre in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where US and Russian officers will monitor missile launch data from late December to early January as a safeguard against Y2K-related computer failures. The Pentagon proposed the centre to prevent misunderstandings if Russia's early warning satellites are blinded by computer outtages with the advent of the year 2000, a date which some computer systems could misread. Mr Cohen said the head of the Russian strategic forces had accepted a US invitation to visit the US Strategic Command, which is responsible for the US nuclear missile force, in the fall. "That's another good step forward," he said. This Bulletin: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 2:58 AEST YEAR 2000 NEWS Russia Agrees to Joint Nuclear Monitoring Center By Rick T. Vannelli September 14, 1999 In March 1998, John Koskinen, Presidential Advisor and Chairman of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, was claiming that the concern with nuclear missiles was not that they would actually go off, but that a computer malfunction could trigger a false alarm of a missile attack. What he failed to specify was that such a false alarm, occurring as a result of incorrect data or miscalculations, could give rise to accidental nuclear war. The "launch on warning" policy utilized by the United States and Russia requires a commander who believes a nuclear attack has occurred to retaliate immediately. The risk of such a launch gave rise to the creation of a joint letter to U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin from almost 300 organizations around the world expressing their grave concerns about this possibility. (See letter at http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html). The bold letter warns that according to Alexandr Arbatov, of the Defense Committee of the Russian State Duma, "U.S.- Russian relations are at the worst, most acute and most dangerous juncture since the U.S.-Soviet Berlin and Cuban missile crises." Given (1) this current adversarial situation, (2) several past events evidencing that spurious data can falsely alert commanders of enemy missile launches, and (3) the fact that none of the nuclear nations can guarantee that their nuclear systems are Y2K compliant, the signatories strongly urged the two presidents "to remove all strategic and tactical nuclear weapons from 'hair trigger' alert, and place them in a status in which at least hours and preferable days would be required to launch them." The chance of the United States and Russia taking nuclear forces off alert before December 31, 1999 is slim, since the two countries have just formed an agreement about the joint warning center that was proposed in September 1998 as part of the post-Cold War plan to share early warning missile-launch data. The Center for Y2K Strategic Stability, located at the Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, would solve the problem of a combination of Y2K failures, inaccurate early warning data, and potentially compromised command centers, by putting the United States and Russia in direct communication with each other. The center would be staffed with both American and Russian teams that would watch for missile launches and Y2K problems by monitoring satellite data, ground sensors, and data flowing from the nearby North American Aerospace Defense Command (which can track missile launches worldwide). Discussions about the center were suspended when Russia froze all military-to-military cooperation during the U.S.-led NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Subsequent and repeated invitations to commence further talks went unanswered. Finally last month, the Russians agreed to post officers at the center, and a formal meeting to pound out the details was scheduled for September 13, 1999. U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen flew to Russia to meet with Russian Defense Minister General Igor Sergeyev, and according to Voice of America's Peter Heinlein, the September 13 meeting went well. The center will operate 24 hours a day starting late December 1999 and continuing through January 2000. Unfortunately, the United States and Russia are only two of the eight major nuclear weapon nations. The other six countries are the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and France. Moreover, there is widespread nuclear weapon proliferation in other areas. John D. Holum, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, recently stated that although Iraq's nuclear weapons program was dismantled six years ago, "Iraq continues to hide documentation and equipment relating to key aspects of its past nuclear activities. Moreover, the Iraqi government has yet to document that it no longer has nuclear weapon ambitions." Likewise, although North Korea agreed to work toward nonproliferation with its weapons program, delays and other concerns with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) make it unclear when this objective will be reached. Furthermore, the DPRK "is developing missiles of increasingly longer range -- missiles eventually capable of striking parts of the United States." Countries such as Egypt and Syria are importing missiles from North Korea. Finally, Iran "continues a procurement pattern for nuclear technologies=C9and is pursuing a nuclear weapon capability under the guise of a complete nuclear fuel cycle." Of the estimated 36,000 - 43,000 nuclear weapons existing in the world, about 5,000 are on "high alert" status (they can be fired within 15 minutes and reach their target city within 30 minutes). Although the U.S.-Russian Center for Y2K Strategic Stability greatly decreases the chance of an accidental hostile weapons launch, it does not completely eradicate the potential for global nuclear disaster. [Federal Computer Week] SEPTEMBER 13, 1999 . . . 13:10 EDT Russians agree to Y2K warning center BY DANIEL VERTON (dan_verton@fcw.com) More than six months after negotiations began, U.S. and Russian Federation officials today signed a statement supporting the creation of a joint warning center that would help avoid an accidental launch of nuclear weapons that could result from system malfunctions caused by Year 2000-related computer problems. Defense Secretary William Cohen and Russian Federation Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev signed the agreement today in Moscow, after extensive delays caused by increasing tensions over the war in Yugoslavia. The new Center for Year 2000 Strategic Stability will be located at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., and will be staffed by Russian and U.S. military representatives during the Year 2000 transition period from late December 1999 through mid-January 2000. Military officers from both countries will sit side by side and exchange information related to Year 2000 in an effort to avoid misperceptions surrounding the status of each other's nuclear forces. The center also will be linked via voice communications networks to other command centers in the United States and Russia. The creation of the joint warning center stems from concerns that Year 2000 failures could cause some nuclear command and control systems to crash, which could be interpreted as the sign of an impending first strike. However, Defense Department officials and officials from the U.S. Strategic Command have assessed the likelihood of an accidental launch as "extremely remote," adding that nuclear missiles cannot be launched by a computer alone. ----------------------------------------------------------- [deseretnews.com] Deseret News, Tuesday, September 14, 1999, 12:00 AM MDT Russians are coming =D1 to ensure missiles don't Bennett says Y2K center will guard against false alarms By Lee Davidson Deseret News Washington correspondent WASHINGTON =D1 Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, praised Russia Monday for agreeing to send officials to a Colorado Springs command center designed to detect false missile attack alarms caused by the year 2000 computer bug. "The greatest Y2K danger comes not from the threat of an accidental launch but from the threat of Y2K glitches being misinterpreted by personnel on either side of the Atlantic," said Bennett, chairman of a special Senate Y2K committee. So the military is establishing a command center where Russia and the United States can share information and monitoring before and after New Year's Day. Of course, the Y2K bug comes because older programs stored only two digits for a four-digit year. So the "00" when the year 2000 arrives would be interpreted as 1900 and could make systems crash. "To successfully weather Y2K, we must cooperate to avoid human errors that could have unintended deadly consequences, " Bennett said. "The establishment of the Colorado Springs center is a well-written insurance policy against Y2k-induced conflict among the preeminent nuclear powers." Bennett and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the ranking Democrat on the Y2K committee, said they support keeping the Colorado Springs center operational until March. It is now scheduled to close Jan. 15. They say that is too soon. Dodd said, "The effects of Y2K will be felt long after January." Defense Secretary William Cohen and his Russian counterpart, Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev, are expected to sign a formal agreement establishing the Colorado Springs Center in Moscow this week. Russia earlier threatened to withdraw participation in protest of U.S. policy in Kosovo. -------------------------------- The Real Nuclear Risk of Y2K By Chris Gilbey and Jan Wyllie September 9, 1999 [Chris Gilbey] Y2K nuclear issues that have been raised in = the press have substantially related to a potent= ial for accidental nuclear strike as a result of computer failu= re. However the Y2K czars have used the opportunity to deny the probability of this happening to derail debate about the broader issues of Y2K and nuclear energy. The critical issue is that supply chain failures in the ene= rgy sector will create a very real potential for there to be ri= sk to the power supply and grid stability. (See "The Millenniu= m Reckoning," September 1999 Update --http://www.trendmonitor.com -- for a full report). In the event that such a supply fail= ure should happen there will be no fail-safes in place in nucle= ar generation installations. This is a very real and all too possible scenario. If it should come to pass it would impac= t everyone in Europe and ultimately also in the rest of the world. Unfortunately they are not yet aware of the real issues. In brief here are some of the key facts that are dealt with= in The Millennium Reckoning report in detail: * According to Russian experts it is almost certain that the Russian natural gas pipeline that supplies both Easter= n and Western Europe will be interrupted. * Oil stops flowing at freezing temperatures. * It will be very difficult to start the gas flowing aga= in with sub-zero temperatures and an uncertain electricit= y supply. * This means that pipelines and refineries are at risk, even if there are relatively short power outages. (In the U.S., where the energy sector is far ahead of Russia in preparations, major oil companies are reportedly adopt= ing a fix on fail (FOF) policy on wells, pipelines and refineries). * The bottom line is that if electricity fails, some nuclear plants may have difficulty cooling their cores if they are to be shut down, creating a real danger of accidental meltdowns. The economic, environmental and social implications of the failure of the Russian gas and oil pipeline network are enormous -- for Europe and the rest of the world. Since Europe has a significant dependency on Russian oil an= d gas, at minimum, the countries and people of Europe are at risk of having to deal with the consequences of severe energy shortages and subsequent energy price increases. At the oth= er end of the scale is the unthinkable -- one or more nuclear accidents of the magnitude of Chernobyl. There is one difference though. Having had one Chernobyl, and knowing th= at Y2K is almost upon us, and taking an actuarial approach, ho= w can we conceive that a meltdown could be described as an accident? If we can predict it to any extent it can't be [Image]described as an accident. Although it is not certain that this scenario will come tru= e the seriousness of the multiple risks warrant immediate emergency action on a "just in case" basis. Regardless of t= he cost, an investment in sustainable energy systems is requir= ed both for deployment around nuclear sites and within communities. The task could be doable in the time remaining= if an international crash program were implemented in the next few weeks. What is critical is to communicate the facts to as m= any people as possible in order to leverage governments to rele= ase the money in order to secure the future. This needs to be accomplished very quickly. The breadth of this problem is well known, but there is a continuing tendency to ignore the issues of supply chain failure that have become visible as a result of Y2K. The problems are complex. No one would argue that. However the continuing denial of the possible magnitude of the risk to = key energy systems by governments and even the media is a clear and present danger. It stands in the way of people and companie= s making contingency preparations at a macro level. It stands= in the way of ordinary people making contingency plans at a mi= cro level. (It is truly amazing how many companies are making contingency plans for possible failure of critical supplies for business continuity but neglect to educate their employees that similar plans need to be made at a personal level.) It woul= d also seem totally reasonable that the same businesses that have already come to understand the potential for damage to thei= r industries and the economy as a whole should lobby governme= nts to try to enact changes at a global level. By acknowledging the challenge and acting, not only would a short-term problem be solved, but the implementation of an economical long-term solution could also be accomplished within a time that is reasonable. By not acting each individual, e= ach company and each government is putting at risk the global economy, the environment and every one on the planet. Jan Wyllie is a principal of Trend Monitor, one of the lead= ing trend analysis companies in Europe. -------------------------------------------------- News Story Avoid Y2K Complacency By: David McGuire, Newsbytes. September 13, 1999 URL: http://www.currents.net/newstoday/99/09/13/news15.html Sept. 9 has come and gone, and as another Y2K-related milestone passes without incident, Y2K experts are warning people not to get overly complacent about the upcoming millennial date roll over. "No one should think this success means the work on Y2K is done," Bruce McConnell, director of the International Y2K Cooperation Center told Newsbytes today. "It just underscores the importance of (making) comprehensive preparations before these rollover events happen." Like the most recent Y2K related milestone date - the fiscal Year 2000 rollover that occurred earlier this summer for many state governments - 9/9/99 caused few if any real problems, reports from around the world indicate. Sept. 9 was a "non-event," McConnell said. Y2K observers had expressed concern that because certain programmers had used sets of nines to trigger "end file" commands, the date 9/9/99 could cause a slew of computer failures. But FY 2000 and 9/9/99 are to Jan. 1, 2000 what a light breeze is to a full- fledged hurricane, experts say. =46Y 2000 threatens only easily fixed budgetary systems and 9/9/99 posed, at most, a localized problem that was readily spotted and remediated, President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion Chair John Koskinen said earlier this week. The Y2K bug, by contrast, has the potential to wreak havoc on all types of computer systems, including those governing power grids, financial transactions, nuclear fail-safe devices and a slew of other critical systems. While US and International Y2K authorities have lately begun expressing increasing optimism that mission critical systems and infrastructures - at least in developed countries - will survive the date roll-over, much work remains to be done, McConnell said. The primary danger in the uneventful passages of 9/9/99 and FY 2000 is that the governments and entities which have done the least work on Y2K remediation may begin to get complacent, he added. "Those who aren't ready will be sorry," McConnell said. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) FRIENDS OF THE EARTH Y2K PRESS RELEASE RE MONITORING CENTRE/Y2K Date: 15 Sep 1999 17:58:41 +1000 John Hallam =46riends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, =46ax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html Dear friends, The following includes a press release on the Y2K Strategic Stability Centre, agreement for which was initialled on Sept 13, and a number of Y2K - nuclear related items, including the press covering the US/Russia Y2K agreement. The item by Rick T Vanelli on the US/Russian Y2K agreement not only mentions at length the letter coordinated by FOE Sydney, but gives the url, which is of course the one above. If your organisation has not yet signed that letter please do so by emailing me at nonukes@foesyd.org.au John Hallam Enjoy! AUSTRALIAN PEACE COMMITTEE/FRIENDS OF THE EARTH PRESS RELEASE 15/9/1999 US/RUSSIA MONITORING AGREEMENT SHOWS Y2K NUKE RISK SERIOUS The risk of Y2K-induced accidental nuclear war, that on Aug. 6th impelled nearly 300 (now nearly 400) environment, peace, disarmament, union, church, and other groups to write to presidents Yeltsin and Clinton, asking for nuclear forces to be taken off hairtrigger alert, has been shown to be serious by the US/Russian joint monitoring agreement initialed Sept. 13 in Moscow by Russian Defence minister Igor Sergeyev and US Secretary of defence William Cohen. According to FOE Sydney nuclear campaigner John Hallam, who coordinated the global letter to Yeltsin and Clinton, and the Australian peace Committee's Irene Gale, "The very fact that this agreement has been signed shows that deep down both the US and Russia know that there is a real risk that in the absence of such measures, that confusion created by Y2K related computer glitches could indeed lead to what Senator Bennett in the US calls 'unintended deadly consequences'. While it is perfectly true that missiles cannot launch themselves, it is entirely possible under the current 'launch on warning' doctrines held by both the US and Russia, for a commander who believes that his country is under nuclear attack, to initiate retaliation when the supposed 'attack' is nothing more than computer-generated false data. This has already occurred on a number of occasions, both in the US and in Russia." "The joint monitoring centre obviously does help reduce the risk of an accidental Armageddon. However it is certainly worrying that it will commence operation only on December 27, and will not operate through =46ebruary. It is simply better than nothing. And even without Y2K, there is always the risk of catastrophic accident as long as there are 5,500 silo-based ICBMs primed for instant launch." "The only measure that will ensure that every day is not a game of Russian roulette with the entire planet is to stand down or de-alert, nuclear forces. This was recommended strongly by the Canberra Commission in 1996, and by subsequent resolutions of the UN General Assembly. De-Alerting is a no risk, no cost measure that will immeasurably improve US/Russian relations and will make the planet a safer place as well as paving the way for the elimination of weapons of universal destruction." Meanwhile, the global letter to Yeltsin and Clinton has now 380 organizations signed on to it including Waverley, Leichhardt, Mitcham, Richmond Rivers, Uralla, Darebin, and Salisbury city councils, 14 federal parliamentarians, 10 major international NGOs, 10 members of the European Parliament, 12 Russian NGOs, 29 New Zealand groups, 85 US groups, 65 European groups, and 26Canadian groups. Contact: John Hallam, 9517-3903, h9810-2598. Irene GaleA.M., A.P.C., 08-8364-2291 US and Russia team up to combat Y2K in missile systems US and Russian defence ministers have agreed to jointly monitor missile launch data as a safeguard against Y2K-related mishaps in a modest step toward improving strained relations between the world's two nuclear heavyweights. US Defence Secretary William Cohen and Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev signed a joint statement establishing a centre in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where US and Russian officers will monitor missile launch data from late December to early January as a safeguard against Y2K-related computer failures. The Pentagon proposed the centre to prevent misunderstandings if Russia's early warning satellites are blinded by computer outtages with the advent of the year 2000, a date which some computer systems could misread. Mr Cohen said the head of the Russian strategic forces had accepted a US invitation to visit the US Strategic Command, which is responsible for the US nuclear missile force, in the fall. "That's another good step forward," he said. This Bulletin: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 2:58 AEST YEAR 2000 NEWS Russia Agrees to Joint Nuclear Monitoring Center By Rick T. Vannelli September 14, 1999 In March 1998, John Koskinen, Presidential Advisor and Chairman of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, was claiming that the concern with nuclear missiles was not that they would actually go off, but that a computer malfunction could trigger a false alarm of a missile attack. What he failed to specify was that such a false alarm, occurring as a result of incorrect data or miscalculations, could give rise to accidental nuclear war. The "launch on warning" policy utilized by the United States and Russia requires a commander who believes a nuclear attack has occurred to retaliate immediately. The risk of such a launch gave rise to the creation of a joint letter to U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin from almost 300 organizations around the world expressing their grave concerns about this possibility. (See letter at http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html). The bold letter warns that according to Alexandr Arbatov, of the Defense Committee of the Russian State Duma, "U.S.- Russian relations are at the worst, most acute and most dangerous juncture since the U.S.-Soviet Berlin and Cuban missile crises." Given (1) this current adversarial situation, (2) several past events evidencing that spurious data can falsely alert commanders of enemy missile launches, and (3) the fact that none of the nuclear nations can guarantee that their nuclear systems are Y2K compliant, the signatories strongly urged the two presidents "to remove all strategic and tactical nuclear weapons from 'hair trigger' alert, and place them in a status in which at least hours and preferable days would be required to launch them." The chance of the United States and Russia taking nuclear forces off alert before December 31, 1999 is slim, since the two countries have just formed an agreement about the joint warning center that was proposed in September 1998 as part of the post-Cold War plan to share early warning missile-launch data. The Center for Y2K Strategic Stability, located at the Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, would solve the problem of a combination of Y2K failures, inaccurate early warning data, and potentially compromised command centers, by putting the United States and Russia in direct communication with each other. The center would be staffed with both American and Russian teams that would watch for missile launches and Y2K problems by monitoring satellite data, ground sensors, and data flowing from the nearby North American Aerospace Defense Command (which can track missile launches worldwide). Discussions about the center were suspended when Russia froze all military-to-military cooperation during the U.S.-led NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Subsequent and repeated invitations to commence further talks went unanswered. Finally last month, the Russians agreed to post officers at the center, and a formal meeting to pound out the details was scheduled for September 13, 1999. U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen flew to Russia to meet with Russian Defense Minister General Igor Sergeyev, and according to Voice of America's Peter Heinlein, the September 13 meeting went well. The center will operate 24 hours a day starting late December 1999 and continuing through January 2000. Unfortunately, the United States and Russia are only two of the eight major nuclear weapon nations. The other six countries are the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and France. Moreover, there is widespread nuclear weapon proliferation in other areas. John D. Holum, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, recently stated that although Iraq's nuclear weapons program was dismantled six years ago, "Iraq continues to hide documentation and equipment relating to key aspects of its past nuclear activities. Moreover, the Iraqi government has yet to document that it no longer has nuclear weapon ambitions." Likewise, although North Korea agreed to work toward nonproliferation with its weapons program, delays and other concerns with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) make it unclear when this objective will be reached. Furthermore, the DPRK "is developing missiles of increasingly longer range -- missiles eventually capable of striking parts of the United States." Countries such as Egypt and Syria are importing missiles from North Korea. Finally, Iran "continues a procurement pattern for nuclear technologies=C9and is pursuing a nuclear weapon capability under the guise of a complete nuclear fuel cycle." Of the estimated 36,000 - 43,000 nuclear weapons existing in the world, about 5,000 are on "high alert" status (they can be fired within 15 minutes and reach their target city within 30 minutes). Although the U.S.-Russian Center for Y2K Strategic Stability greatly decreases the chance of an accidental hostile weapons launch, it does not completely eradicate the potential for global nuclear disaster. [Federal Computer Week] SEPTEMBER 13, 1999 . . . 13:10 EDT Russians agree to Y2K warning center BY DANIEL VERTON (dan_verton@fcw.com) More than six months after negotiations began, U.S. and Russian Federation officials today signed a statement supporting the creation of a joint warning center that would help avoid an accidental launch of nuclear weapons that could result from system malfunctions caused by Year 2000-related computer problems. Defense Secretary William Cohen and Russian Federation Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev signed the agreement today in Moscow, after extensive delays caused by increasing tensions over the war in Yugoslavia. The new Center for Year 2000 Strategic Stability will be located at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., and will be staffed by Russian and U.S. military representatives during the Year 2000 transition period from late December 1999 through mid-January 2000. Military officers from both countries will sit side by side and exchange information related to Year 2000 in an effort to avoid misperceptions surrounding the status of each other's nuclear forces. The center also will be linked via voice communications networks to other command centers in the United States and Russia. The creation of the joint warning center stems from concerns that Year 2000 failures could cause some nuclear command and control systems to crash, which could be interpreted as the sign of an impending first strike. However, Defense Department officials and officials from the U.S. Strategic Command have assessed the likelihood of an accidental launch as "extremely remote," adding that nuclear missiles cannot be launched by a computer alone. ----------------------------------------------------------- [deseretnews.com] Deseret News, Tuesday, September 14, 1999, 12:00 AM MDT Russians are coming =D1 to ensure missiles don't Bennett says Y2K center will guard against false alarms By Lee Davidson Deseret News Washington correspondent WASHINGTON =D1 Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, praised Russia Monday for agreeing to send officials to a Colorado Springs command center designed to detect false missile attack alarms caused by the year 2000 computer bug. "The greatest Y2K danger comes not from the threat of an accidental launch but from the threat of Y2K glitches being misinterpreted by personnel on either side of the Atlantic," said Bennett, chairman of a special Senate Y2K committee. So the military is establishing a command center where Russia and the United States can share information and monitoring before and after New Year's Day. Of course, the Y2K bug comes because older programs stored only two digits for a four-digit year. So the "00" when the year 2000 arrives would be interpreted as 1900 and could make systems crash. "To successfully weather Y2K, we must cooperate to avoid human errors that could have unintended deadly consequences, " Bennett said. "The establishment of the Colorado Springs center is a well-written insurance policy against Y2k-induced conflict among the preeminent nuclear powers." Bennett and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the ranking Democrat on the Y2K committee, said they support keeping the Colorado Springs center operational until March. It is now scheduled to close Jan. 15. They say that is too soon. Dodd said, "The effects of Y2K will be felt long after January." Defense Secretary William Cohen and his Russian counterpart, Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev, are expected to sign a formal agreement establishing the Colorado Springs Center in Moscow this week. Russia earlier threatened to withdraw participation in protest of U.S. policy in Kosovo. -------------------------------- The Real Nuclear Risk of Y2K By Chris Gilbey and Jan Wyllie September 9, 1999 [Chris Gilbey] Y2K nuclear issues that have been raised in = the press have substantially related to a potent= ial for accidental nuclear strike as a result of computer failu= re. However the Y2K czars have used the opportunity to deny the probability of this happening to derail debate about the broader issues of Y2K and nuclear energy. The critical issue is that supply chain failures in the ene= rgy sector will create a very real potential for there to be ri= sk to the power supply and grid stability. (See "The Millenniu= m Reckoning," September 1999 Update --http://www.trendmonitor.com -- for a full report). In the event that such a supply fail= ure should happen there will be no fail-safes in place in nucle= ar generation installations. This is a very real and all too possible scenario. If it should come to pass it would impac= t everyone in Europe and ultimately also in the rest of the world. Unfortunately they are not yet aware of the real issues. In brief here are some of the key facts that are dealt with= in The Millennium Reckoning report in detail: * According to Russian experts it is almost certain that the Russian natural gas pipeline that supplies both Easter= n and Western Europe will be interrupted. * Oil stops flowing at freezing temperatures. * It will be very difficult to start the gas flowing aga= in with sub-zero temperatures and an uncertain electricit= y supply. * This means that pipelines and refineries are at risk, even if there are relatively short power outages. (In the U.S., where the energy sector is far ahead of Russia in preparations, major oil companies are reportedly adopt= ing a fix on fail (FOF) policy on wells, pipelines and refineries). * The bottom line is that if electricity fails, some nuclear plants may have difficulty cooling their cores if they are to be shut down, creating a real danger of accidental meltdowns. The economic, environmental and social implications of the failure of the Russian gas and oil pipeline network are enormous -- for Europe and the rest of the world. Since Europe has a significant dependency on Russian oil an= d gas, at minimum, the countries and people of Europe are at risk of having to deal with the consequences of severe energy shortages and subsequent energy price increases. At the oth= er end of the scale is the unthinkable -- one or more nuclear accidents of the magnitude of Chernobyl. There is one difference though. Having had one Chernobyl, and knowing th= at Y2K is almost upon us, and taking an actuarial approach, ho= w can we conceive that a meltdown could be described as an accident? If we can predict it to any extent it can't be [Image]described as an accident. Although it is not certain that this scenario will come tru= e the seriousness of the multiple risks warrant immediate emergency action on a "just in case" basis. Regardless of t= he cost, an investment in sustainable energy systems is requir= ed both for deployment around nuclear sites and within communities. The task could be doable in the time remaining= if an international crash program were implemented in the next few weeks. What is critical is to communicate the facts to as m= any people as possible in order to leverage governments to rele= ase the money in order to secure the future. This needs to be accomplished very quickly. The breadth of this problem is well known, but there is a continuing tendency to ignore the issues of supply chain failure that have become visible as a result of Y2K. The problems are complex. No one would argue that. However the continuing denial of the possible magnitude of the risk to = key energy systems by governments and even the media is a clear and present danger. It stands in the way of people and companie= s making contingency preparations at a macro level. It stands= in the way of ordinary people making contingency plans at a mi= cro level. (It is truly amazing how many companies are making contingency plans for possible failure of critical supplies for business continuity but neglect to educate their employees that similar plans need to be made at a personal level.) It woul= d also seem totally reasonable that the same businesses that have already come to understand the potential for damage to thei= r industries and the economy as a whole should lobby governme= nts to try to enact changes at a global level. By acknowledging the challenge and acting, not only would a short-term problem be solved, but the implementation of an economical long-term solution could also be accomplished within a time that is reasonable. By not acting each individual, e= ach company and each government is putting at risk the global economy, the environment and every one on the planet. Jan Wyllie is a principal of Trend Monitor, one of the lead= ing trend analysis companies in Europe. -------------------------------------------------- News Story Avoid Y2K Complacency By: David McGuire, Newsbytes. September 13, 1999 URL: http://www.currents.net/newstoday/99/09/13/news15.html Sept. 9 has come and gone, and as another Y2K-related milestone passes without incident, Y2K experts are warning people not to get overly complacent about the upcoming millennial date roll over. "No one should think this success means the work on Y2K is done," Bruce McConnell, director of the International Y2K Cooperation Center told Newsbytes today. "It just underscores the importance of (making) comprehensive preparations before these rollover events happen." Like the most recent Y2K related milestone date - the fiscal Year 2000 rollover that occurred earlier this summer for many state governments - 9/9/99 caused few if any real problems, reports from around the world indicate. Sept. 9 was a "non-event," McConnell said. Y2K observers had expressed concern that because certain programmers had used sets of nines to trigger "end file" commands, the date 9/9/99 could cause a slew of computer failures. But FY 2000 and 9/9/99 are to Jan. 1, 2000 what a light breeze is to a full- fledged hurricane, experts say. =46Y 2000 threatens only easily fixed budgetary systems and 9/9/99 posed, at most, a localized problem that was readily spotted and remediated, President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion Chair John Koskinen said earlier this week. The Y2K bug, by contrast, has the potential to wreak havoc on all types of computer systems, including those governing power grids, financial transactions, nuclear fail-safe devices and a slew of other critical systems. While US and International Y2K authorities have lately begun expressing increasing optimism that mission critical systems and infrastructures - at least in developed countries - will survive the date roll-over, much work remains to be done, McConnell said. The primary danger in the uneventful passages of 9/9/99 and FY 2000 is that the governments and entities which have done the least work on Y2K remediation may begin to get complacent, he added. "Those who aren't ready will be sorry," McConnell said. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Timothy Bruening Subject: (abolition-usa) Ted Turner's e-mail, and Y2K Date: 15 Sep 1999 02:52:04 -0700 (PDT) Does Ted Turner have an e-mail address? I would like to e-mail him about the y@K nuclear problem. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Timothy Bruening Subject: (abolition-usa) CTBT Letter Date: 15 Sep 1999 03:23:21 -0700 (PDT) Below is the start of a CTBT letter. How should I continue it? Re: Battle looms on nuke test ban (September 1, Sacramento Bee) I am overjoyed that the Clinton administration is finally pushing to get the three year old Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). I agree with Clinton that without the treaty, "Countries all around the world will feel more pressure to develop and test weapons in ever more destructive verities and sizes, threatening the security of everyone on Earth." I believe that the CTBT would reduce the danger of nuclear proliferation by banning all nuclear weapons tests, and that the intent is to pave the way for the abolition of nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) RUSSIAN POLICE HARRASS N-CAMPAIGNER PLEASE SIGN PROTEST LETTER Date: 15 Sep 1999 21:02:56 +1000 Dear People, VLADIMIR Sliviak, Russias most prominent antinuclear campaigner is being threatened with blackmail and arrest by the Moscow police, working for the FSB. He needs your support urgently. (See Vladimirs press release below). I would like to fax this by end thursday Australian time (US time is 15-21 hours behind Sydney time) If you could all sign it for Vladimir that would be most helpful. TO: MINISTRY OF POLICE RUSSIA, 7-095-239-08-62 MINISTRY OF JUSTICE RUSSIA, 7-095-916-2903 MOSCOW CHIEF OF POLICE 7-095-200-93-05 F.S.B, MOSCOW, 7-095-975-24-70 cc Amnesty International Human Rights Watch Laurie Brereton, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer Minister for Foreign Affairs Joschka Fischer, German Minister for Foreign Affairs Maj-Britt Theorin, European Parliament Ernst Gulcher, European Parliament U.S. State Department, Russia Desk Dear Minister of Police, Minister for Justice, FSB, and Chief of Police Moscow, We are writing out of deep concern for a friend and colleague, Vladimir Sliviak, Director of the antinuclear campaign of Ecodefense, who we understand was temporarily arrested and released recently outside his Moscow home and who appears to be the object of police harassment. Mr. Sliviak's beliefs and actions concerning nuclear energy and other policies of the Russian government may not be to the liking of some elements in your government but his beliefs and commitment are widely shared around the world. We understand that he was stopped outside his home on September 6, by members of the Moscow police, (MUR) who said they were investigating an explosion of August 31, 1999. It seems that Vladimir was shown marijuana, and told that if he did not cooperate it would be placed in his bag and he would then be arrested and jailed for three years. He was released after 1.5 hours. We also understand another colleague of his, Mr. Kozlov, was similarly threatened. Vladimir Sliviak is well known to the environmental community worldwide, and respected. There is no way that he could be involved in activities of the type with which the police seem to wish to associate him. The right to protest and to question and oppose government policies, is enshrined in the democratic tradition and is an integral part of civil society. It is also enshrined in a number of United Nations conventions. It is not a luxury, to be dispensed with in times of difficulty. The environmental movement in the U.S., Australia, and Europe is held in high respect even by those it opposes. Green political parties have prominent representation in many European parliaments and in the European Parliament, and the German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer is from the Green Party. Other political parties have largely adopted parts of the environment movements agenda. You may be sure that the activities of the Moscow police and authorities with respect to Mr. Sliviak are being very well observed by a large and sympathetic worldwide community. We trust that these incidents were in error and will not be repeated, that the law will be respected and enforced above all by those whose duty it is to do so. John Hallam, Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Sydney. Michael Mariotte Executive Director Nuclear Information and Resource Service Washington, DC Reply-To: "Vladimir Slivyak" For immediate release Moscow EXPLOSION DETAILS While all newspapers and TV channels discuss "Chechen", "Dagestan" and "revolutionary writers" versions of the explosion at Manezh square, provided by intelligence services, these services themselves persecute ecologists and look for whom to blame among the witnesses of another notorious political process. People from Moscow Criminal Investigation Department (MUR) captured Vladimir Slivyak, Director of Antinuclear campaign of Socio-Ecological Union (SEU). The formal reason for the arrest was documents control, while the real reasons were investigation actions within Manezh square explosion suit. People in civilian stopped the activist of environmental movement when he was going out of his house; they refused to introduce themselves and to explain the reason of the arrest. After documents control and numerous questions about Slivyak's job, environmental organizations and environmental movement in general, senior lieutenant of MUR 6th department A.S. Kosterov (the only person whose documents were possible to look at) stated that he "deals with terrorists" including investigation of circumstances of the explosion at Manezh square. At the place of detention Kosterov took a package with marijuana and threatened to "find it in the bag" of the Director of Antinuclear campaign if he does not facilitate actively enough "the course of the investigation". It appeared that MUR staff is interested in Kochkarev Yakov Vladimirovich who must appear here in the nearest future according to intercepted phone call. REFERENCE: Y.V. Kochkarev is a witness for the defense in so called "Krasnodar suit", notorious political process in the beginning of which it was repeatedly stated about "prevention of murderous assault at Krasnodar kray governor Nikolay Kondratenko". In the course of investigation of this suit searches and interrogations of witnesses were performed with numerous violations of Criminal and Judicial Procedure Code of RF. However the suit broke up and the inquest failed to prove the accusation in political terrorism. Obviously intelligence services were not satisfied with the results achieved. In the "conversation" with the detained Director of Antinuclear campaign and then with other persons of this organization arrived to the place of the event, senior lieutenant Kosterov stated that he personally deals with "Krasnodar suit" from its very beginning and is absolutely confident in the relationship between this suit and recent explosion at Manezh, as well as that "all traces lead to environmental organizations". Kosterov also stated that he knows for sure who committed this act of terrorism. Obviously the scandal "Krasnodar suit" is early to consider finished. There is direct evidence of its transition to probably even more notorious "terrorist trial". Apparently its main canvas has not been "knitted" yet - that is why the method of shaking marijuana packages before one's face and "conversations" without proceedings are again applied: the information obtained in this way can be later filed there in the way the most suitable for the inquest. During "Krasnodar suit" "criminal group" was searched among informal groups with radical views, but nothing serious came out of it, except that someone lost laurels of the main fighter with terrorists. Probably bodies investigating explosion at Manezh believe that ecologists are more serious people and thus can be accused of more serious plot? Apparently working out of this scenario took place during "Krasnodar suit", already then they tried to have up many ecologists as witnesses. LATEST NEWS: September 7th FSB people contacted via phone A.Yu. Kozlov, representative of Voronezh division of SEU Antinuclear Campaign. They demanded him to come for "informal conversation" on the topic of antinuclear camp took place in September in vicinity of Novovoronezh nuclear power plant. As an argument for his coming they stated: "Your Moscow colleagues have problems, you do no want the same, do you?". Obviously the "problems" meant marijuana package in hands of MUR officer Kosterov, because official accusations to the Director of Antinuclear campaign have never been brought. Only at parting MUR officers said to him: "If we do not capture Kochkarev, consider yourself arrested". Information on activities of Antinuclear campaign and about the camp near Novovoronezh nuclear power plantcan be found in the Internet: www.ecoline.ru/antinuclear About "Krasnodar suit": www.ecoline.ru/actions/bomba www.ipclub.ru/identity/pres/ John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: [y2k-nuclear] Re: FRIENDS OF THE EARTH Y2K PRESS RELEASE Date: 16 Sep 1999 13:32:42 +1000 At 2:44 AM +1000 16/9/1999, Robyn Wolf wrote: Dear Alan and dear Robyn I'm afraid that I still consider that what I put in the release is accurate and is the line that we should be pushing. In fact I think it is absolutely essential that we stress that de-alerting is cvost and risk-free, and politically highly counterproductive (and inaccurate) to do otherwise. It is not correct that there are risks involved in de- alerting. This is precisely the argument used by the other side and it is NOT accurate. It is also NOT the case that de- alerting or standing down nuclear forces necessareily involves separation of warheads at all. It may be no more than the removal of electrical leads and or the pinning open of switches. In fact, the removal of warheads at this stage is probably NOT what we should be asking for with only 108 days to Y2K, and I have very carefully not asked for it. I doubt that removal and separation of arheads can be done at all in 100 days. It is probably correct to say that at this point there is not the time to do it, and this particular option is indeed also involving significant cost. To repeat myself, that is why I have not asked for that option. I do NOT consider the issue of verifiability to be one that has the significance in practical terms that our opponents say it has. The change in the 'notice to fire' in the UK nuclear forces is NOT verifiable. It would certainly be better if it was, but the fact is that verifiable or not, the UKs initiative on this matter is the opposite of destabilising. Do we suggest that because the UK option is not verifiable that they should not have done it at all? That would be utterly perverse, and its precisely the kind of utterly dishonest argument that our opponents might use. No, we ask for such verification as is possible to take place, noting that even if it does not we are still much much better off! The same is true of Chinese forces. We understand that chinese rockets are kept without fuel, and that days would be required to change this status. This is NOT verifiable. But it really doesn't matter, or if it does its still better to have them (unverifiably) in this status, than on hairtrigger alert. (and in this status, LOW is impossible) Even vague rumours that one side or the other MIGHT have de-alerted without telling anyone would be quite the opposite of destabilising. They would in fact serve to lower rather than increase the alert status of the other side. Official statements that reductions in alert status had taken place even if not verifiable would in the real world have an immmense stabilising effect. Not as much maybe as the verifiable removal of warheads but still immense. Finally, I have to say that the position I am advocating is also not distunguishable in practical terms from 'no-low'. I fail completely to see -( indeed I declare that there is nothing at all to see)- what could be the practical real world difference between an 'quick n dirty' de-alert as per the UK, and No-LOW. All we are doing is placing nuclear forces in a position where it will take days rather than seconds to launch. That is certainly no- LOW. You say that you have written before on the 'difference' between NO-LOW and de-alerting. I think you are dead wrong about this. In practical terms, in the terms of the kind of measures that can be adopted between now and the end of the year there IS NO DIFFERENCE WORTH TALKING ABOUT BETWEEN NO-LOW AND DE-ALERTING! The sooner we realise that we are actually talking about the same thing the sooner this rather silly debate will cease. I reiterate that de- alerting is indistinguishable in practical terms from NO-LOW, and that not only is it cost and risk free but that it is our responsibility to keep saying so. Otherwise we are going to accept the arguments of those who want to see nuclear weapons systems kept on hairtrigger alert for the rest of all eternity. John Hallam >Dear Alan, I've read your comments twice and agree co-heartedly witht what >you say and encourage you to be persistent with your message. And mahalo >for your participation in this essential task to create a world where >nuclear weapons are a thing of the past. My heart sings when I even think >that thought. My message is for adults to create their lives as the heroic >adventure that we be heroes and sheroes for our youth and children. The >peace of the blue sky to you. Robyn Wolf >---------- >>From: Aphil1998@aol.com y2k-nukes@envirolink.org, Abolition-caucus@igc.org, abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com, abolition-europe@vlberlin.comlink.de, nukenet@envirolink.org >>Subject: [y2k-nuclear] Re: FRIENDS OF THE EARTH Y2K PRESS RELEASE >>Date: Wed, Sep 15, 1999, 6:43 AM >> > >>With great respect and admiration for John Hallam's work and Friends of the >>Earth, I have to make this comment. I have written before on the difference >>between "de-alerting" and "no launch on warning". >> >>I note that Friends of the Earth say in the body of their press release: >>"De-Alerting is a no risk, no cost measure...". >> >>This is not true. The costs and risks are small compared with the huge >>costs >>and risks of maintaining nuclear deterrence, but they are not near zero. >> >>The risk is that one of the former superpowers might see an opportunity >>for a >>"disarming first strike", banking on the unavoidable delay before launching >>for the non-cheating side, and the vulnerability of the process. Military >>men have worked the whole of their professional careers on the basis that >>any >>delay in the ability to retaliate would be an invitation to the enemy. >> >>The cost of arranging to remove war-heads or other components, and storing >>them safely at a distance with facilities for prompt return and >>re-installation, would not be small. >> >>The cost of setting up and maintaining verification would be very >>substantial >>in civilian terms, but I do not know whether it would be millions or >>billions >>of dollars. And until they take the next steps towards abolition, there >>would be little reduction in the current cost of maintaining "deterrence". >> >>On the other hand, I believe that "No Launch-on-Warning" is almost free of >>risk, and would have little or no cost - maybe even savings. So as an >>interim step (this year) we could say that No L-o-W "is a no risk, no cost >>measure...". >> >>We certainly should press for full de-alerting (with the verification >>that is >>the least the military will insist upon), and it will make the world a much >>safer place. But let us try to be accurate, and not over-state our position. >> >>Best wishes to all, >>Alan Phillips. >>Physicians for Global Survival, Canada. >> >>------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>MyPoints-Free Rewards When You're Online. >>Start with up to 150 Points for joining! >>http://clickhere.egroups.com/click/805 >> >> >>eGroups.com home: http://www.egroups.com/group/y2k-nuclear >>http://www.egroups.com - Simplifying group communications >> >> >> >> >> > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >MyPoints-Free Rewards When You're Online. >Start with up to 150 Points for joining! >http://clickhere.egroups.com/click/805 > > >eGroups.com home: http://www.egroups.com/group/y2k-nuclear >http://www.egroups.com - Simplifying group communications - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: marylia@earthlink.net (marylia) Subject: (abolition-usa) NIF problems corroborated/Laser Focus World Date: 16 Sep 1999 10:27:07 -0700 (PDT) Good morning peace and enviro advocates. Please note that the following article from "Laser Focus World," September 15, 1999, corroborates the evidence I have amassed from scientists and engineers at the Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia labs regarding the serious, unresolved technical difficulties at the National Ignition Facility. It is these problems that are the real cause of the $300 million (and growing) cost overrun. Laser Focus World's sources come from industry. -- Marylia Kelley, Executive Director, Tri-Valley CAREs, Livermore, CA. Laser Focus World Article Date: September 15, 1999 BREAKING NEWS: DOE takes aim as NIF stumbles LIVERMORE, CA - On September 3, US Department of Energy (DoE) Secretary Bill Richardson announced a six-point program to address the administrative causes of cost overruns and scheduling delays in the construction of its National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). At the same time, Richardson declared, "The underlying science at the NIF remains sound." Based on an investigative report by an antinuclear watchdog group and discussions with industry sources, however, the real science at NIF -- in terms of thorough and objective inquiry and observation -- may be just about to begin. And so far the most likely hypotheses seem to be coming from the rumor mill. At the time of this writing, the DoE had not given official figures for the scope of the problems at NIF, but newspapers were estimating cost overruns of up to $300 million and schedule delays of a year or more. Richardson blamed the problems on "project-management issues" and proposed addressing them "with aggressive and tighter management action from this department." Richardson's proposed reforms would contract out major assembly and integration at NIF instead of performing it in house and appoint an independent panel to analyze technical options and make recommendations. The reforms would also handle cost issues within budget funding guidelines for LLNL and DoE defense programs, withhold at least $2 million from a $5.6 million performance fee payable to the University of California for project management, and subject NIF to monthly review and compliance reporting. A complete management review is also intended. While Richardson's statement strongly criticized what appears to have been a poorly managed NIF construction effort, it also raised troubling questions as to what the real problems were and whether they will be effectively addressed. For instance, E. Michael Campbell, "the laboratory official responsible for NIF, has already resigned due to nonrelated personal issues," said Richardson. Campbell, the former associate director for laser programs at LLNL and a fellow of the American Physical Society had won a number of awards for his work in the laser-assisted inertial-confinement-fusion technology that NIF is based on. The "nonrelated personal issue" that removed him from the scrutiny of a management review just days before the scandal broke was the revelation -- which seems to have previously eluded security checking procedures for officials at his level -- that he didn't really have a Ph.D. At the same time, two other senior staff members at NIF were reassigned to other projects in the DoE national lab system. Ironically, the void in credibility created by the Campbell issue is being filled quite neatly at present by a highly critical report from an anti-NIF watchdog group based in Livermore. In a press release dated September 2, Tri-Valley CAREs (Citizens Against a Radioactive Environment) charged that the problems at NIF are due to technological as opposed to administrative problems. CAREs' executive director Marylia Kelley, who authored the report, listed three areas of significant technical difficulty "that Livermore Lab and its parent agency, the Department of Energy, are trying to hide from Congress and the public." These problem areas are target fabrication (the cryogenic balls containing radioactive fuel), diagnostics (monitoring equipment), and glass development and delivery (optics, lenses, and crystals). Kelley said her information was obtained through confidential interviews with scientists working on NIF and related inertial-confinement-fusion research at Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos, NM) and Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA), which implies that the problems may have been widely known and that alleged mismanagement may have originated from a level higher than LLNL. After being presented with the gist of Kelley's allegations, a DoE spokesperson replied, "At this point, I do not have anything to add to the statement issued by the Secretary last week." But confidential discussions conducted by this publication with industry sources seemed to corroborate the implication of a significant technological lag. While the NIF project is based on exciting science, a significant portion of it may still be too far out on the leading edge to produce reliable devices in accordance with the NIF construction schedule. Kelley said that scientists working on various aspects of inertial-confinement-fusion research expressed concern that major portions of their funding and effort were being diverted to tackle the problems at NIF. "NIF is the 800-pound gorilla poised and ready to squash many smaller, more worthy projects at the labs," she said. Kelley added that CAREs will push for Congress to make the NIF "come clean now, before it starts cashing its fiscal-year 2000 budget checks on October 1." This may be easier said than done, however. According to Richardson's statement on September 3, "seven scientific and four management reviews, including a congressionally mandated review completed this spring," had previously failed to note the budgetary and scheduling problems at NIF. Evidently NIF may still be in need of sound science, in the evaluation process. -HJ-B end Note: HJ-B is Laser Focus World's West Coast Editor, Hassaun Jones-Bey. This article can be found at --Marylia Marylia Kelley Executive Director, Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA 94550 Phone: 1-925-443-7148 Fax: 1-925-443-0177 Web site: http://www.igc.org/tvc - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Swackhamer Peace Essay Contest Date: 16 Sep 1999 10:45:23 -0700 (PDT) --============_-1274643540==_============ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear Friends and Activists, Each year the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation sponsors an essay contest for high school students which awards $3,000 in prizes. Topics for the Swackhamer Peace Essay Contest vary each year and encourage students to seek constructive approaches and solutions to issues of war and peace. The topic for the 1999 contest challenged international students to suggest actions that young people can take to help the Abolition 2000 Network achieve its goal of an international treaty by the year 2000 for the planned elimination of nuclear weapons by early in the next century. The winning essay, written by Catherine Chou, 14, of Northridge, California, is attached to this email. The essay, along with excerpts from the two (tied) second place winners, can also be accessed on the NAPF website at http://www.wagingpeace.org/swakrules.html Considering that the year 2000 has been proclaimed the International Year for the Culture of Peace by the United Nations General Assembly, the contest topic for the year 2000 challenges students to write an essay making recommendations for specific actions that young people can take to help build a culture of peace. The essay topic and guidelines for the year 2000 can be accessed at the NAPF website. It is our hope that you will share this information with as many high school students and teachers as possible in order to encourage students to become aware and proactively participate in urgent issues concerning war and peace. If you have any questions or comments about the essay contest, please feel free to email the Foundation at wagingpeace@napf.org. Thank you for your time and continued support in our common endeavor to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Yours In Peace, The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Staff ********************************************************* NUCLEAR AGE PEACE FOUNDATION International contact for Abolition 2000 a Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons ********************************************************** PMB 121, 1187 Coast Village Road, Suite 1 Santa Barbara, CA 93108-2794 Phone (805) 965-3443 * Fax (805) 568-0466 e- mailto:wagingpeace@napf.org URL http://www.wagingpeace.org URL http://www.napf.org/abolition2000/ ********************************************************** --============_-1274643540==_============ Content-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; name="swackhamer-99-chou.doc"; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="swackhamer-99-chou.doc" Achieving Peace Through Today's Youth by Catherine Chou, 14 First Place Winner of 1999 Swackhamer Peace Essay Contest Imagine, if you will, that you are the title character in the book "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes," a young Japanese girl suffering from the devastating "atom bomb sickness." Sadako was a vivacious eleven-year-old with dreams of becoming a track star. Sadly, that ended when doctors diagnosed her with leukemia, An atom bomb had been dropped over her hometown of Hiroshima during W.W. II, poisoning her with its radiation. Sadako's friend Chizuko tried to cheer her up by saying, "If a sick person folds 1000 paper cranes, the gods will grant her wish and make her well again." Each day, Sadako folded as many cranes as she could and hung them from the ceiling. They formed a colorful rainbow over her bed, watching over her while she slept at night. Nevertheless, as her condition worsened, Sadako bravely faced the truth: she was dying. She could hardly walk or even chew food because her gums were too swollen. Sadako spent her days in a wheelchair in the hospital, her body bloated from painful chemotherapy treatments. She tried to wish the hurt and her family's sorrow away by folding more cranes. Eventually, Sadako made 644 cranes. She died on October 25, 1955 with an unfinished crane clutched in her hands. Sadako's death haunts me because the very thing that killed her -- nuclear weaponry -- is still being manufactured in at least eight countries throughout the world. Her story convinced me that today's youth must take swift action against the dangerous nuclear proliferation. America has spent nearly $6 trillion on nuclear arms since the 1940s, money that should have gone towards medical research or ending hunger, not building weapons of destruction. The effect of nuclear weapons lingers long after the initial blast. Babies born to women affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident lack arms and legs. They suffer from blindness and retardation and will never know a normal life. Out of all this despair comes a ray of hope. Abolition 2000, a global network aiming to eliminate nuclear weapons, hopes for an international treaty halting proliferation by the new millennium. Already, more than 110 states of the Non-Aligned Movement have called for the elimination of nuclear weaponry by the next century. Several countries have given up their nuclear arms in hopes of promoting worldwide peace. Activist groups affiliated with Abolition 2000 are working to make a nuclear-free world. Their success or failure hinges on the involvement of today's youth. First, young people can aid Abolition 2000's cause by forming "peace clubs" on school campuses. Cynicism is so pervasive in our world today that we believe a few voices can never make a difference. I say to you that a few voices can make all the difference. A few people start the ball rolling. A few people's tongues can spread the word to millions. And a few hearts can relieve the suffering of many. A peace club's primary goals would be to educate the public about the dangers of nuclear weaponry and to support programs aimed at passing legislation against proliferation. An effective way to bring the message home is by visiting every classroom with a speech about the dangers of nuclear energy. Such a speech should include the history of nuclear devastation, its effects on people and the environment, a survivor's tale, and action items -- drives and campaigns already underway and in need of support. If a few people can make all the difference, think of the good an entire school can do. Second, young people can draft press releases and organize protests to capture the media's attention. A hard-hitting demonstration costs next to nothing. All you need are picket signs and a pair of strong lungs. Every Peace Day community youth can organize a demonstration in front of City Hall calling for nuclear disarmament. Spread the news by posting fliers, telling friends and family, and alerting news outlets. Send a press release stating what the event is about, where and when it will be held, why they should support it, and who to contact for more information, The media is the most influential institution in society. It controls what we are exposed to and the way we perceive events happening around the world. Why shouldn't youth use it to their advantage? Third, today's youth can employ grassroots movements to pressure lawmakers into passing legislation against proliferation. Just as potent as media recognition are petitions and a barrage of letters. Consider this: If representatives receive 25 letters from their constituencies on one topic, they maybe moved to introduce legislation on the subject. 25 letters! Youth have huge political resources available to them that they are not even aware of Petitions can force action if lawmakers fail to do so. The Feminist Majority, a group working against gender apartheid in Afghanistan, started a petition targeting Unocal 76 because of its proposition to build a pipeline through the country before women's rights were restored. Time Magazine recently reported that the company was halting its project due to the voluminous number of complaints it had received. Even something so simple as a signature has proven its powerful impact. Eventually, 2.4 million people will have died from cancers caused by nuclear testing. 9 2.4 million people will have suffered ordeals like Sadakoís, and still our government sits on its hands and refuses to abolish nuclear weaponry. America will spend some $30 billion on nuclear arms in 1999 while I in 7 people lives below the poverty line. This shameful statistic should make us question where we place our priorities. When the Baby Boomers are gone, who will be left to care for the world but Generation X? Youth must aid Abolition 2000 by forming organizations, putting together rallies, alerting the media to their activities. and using letters and petitions to get the public involved. Only when tomorrow's leaders start working for nuclear abolition today will we finally see peace not just as a dream, but as a reality. --============_-1274643540==_============-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Subject: (abolition-usa) Abolition 2000 at the Year 2000 Date: 16 Sep 1999 15:05:19 -0700 (PDT) ABOLITION 2000 AT THE YEAR 2000 by David Krieger * Abolition 2000 is rapidly approaching the year 2000, a moment of truth for the global Network. General Lee Butler, a powerful advocate of abolition, offered these observations: ìTurning specifically to the agenda, tactics and timetable of the abolition community, I see a widening gulf between its aspirations and their prospects, especially in the near term. That disparity is most immediately obvious in the disjunction between the name of the umbrella organization, ëAbolition 2000,í and the self-evident reality that its implied goal is not yet in sight, much less in hand. That is a real Y2K problem that must be addressed to ensure that the vitality of the ongoing work of the organization is not diminished by the intimations of a failed strategic objective.î When Abolition 2000 was initiated in 1995, it seemed reasonable to set as our primary goal a treaty by the year 2000 calling for the phased elimination of nuclear weapons. The goal was never to achieve the total elimination of nuclear weapons by the year 2000, but rather to achieve an international treaty leading to the total elimination of these weapons by early in the 21st Century. Abolition 2000 was born at the 1995 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review and Extension Conference. It came about as a result of disappointment by many NGOs with the apparent blank check given to the nuclear weapons states when the treaty was extended indefinitely. The extension was given without regard for the widely perceived failure of the nuclear weapons states to act on their Article VI obligations for good faith negotiations on nuclear disarmament. Abolition 2000 sought in some respects to be the conscience of the international community by demanding that Article VI obligations be upheld in the aftermath of the indefinite extension. Abolition 2000 began with the drafting of a common Statement by some 60 peace and disarmament NGOs at the 1995 NPT Conference. Supporters of the Statement quickly expanded to about 300 NGOs. Over the past nearly five years, the number of supporters has expanded to 1,358 organizations in 88 countries. As the year 2000 approaches, questions arise as to what will become of Abolition 2000 and its global Network. If an international treaty to ban nuclear weapons is not achieved by the end of the year 2000, will the Network have failed? Will it lose its credibility? Will the Network continue after the year 2000? The Network made a bold decision at the outset by adopting the name Abolition 2000. It was prepared to press the issue of moving forward with a nuclear weapons abolition agenda, setting a timeframe for tangible progress. It was not content to leave the timeframe open-ended. It refused to accept vague declarations by the nuclear weapons states that they were for the ìultimateî goal of eliminating their nuclear arsenals. While it may be perceived that it would have been safer for the Network to choose a name that did not force a timeframe for success, the choice of the name serves an important function by making clear that an agreement to abolish nuclear weapons is a matter of urgency. Abolition cannot be put off to some indefinite future time whenever the nuclear weapons states decide they are ready to act. Inherent in the name Abolition 2000 is the understanding that we should not cross the threshold into a new century and millennium without a clear commitment to the global elimination of nuclear weapons. Abolition 2000 has taken a stand on the side of morality, legality, and democracy, and has given a voice to the opinion of most of the worldís nations. Abolition 2000 has spoken truth to power. The problem is that power, in the form of the governments of the nuclear weapons states, have responded by stonewalling and a continuation of business as usual. These governments seem locked into a Cold War mentality based on the theory of deterrence, despite the fact they can no longer identify who it is they are deterring or from what they are deterring them. Since the initiation of Abolition 2000, the Network has opposed continued nuclear testing of all kinds, including sub-critical and laboratory testing. It has called for ending the nuclear threat by taking specific steps such as de-alerting nuclear forces and agreeing to policies of No First Use. It has not only called for a treaty to ban nuclear weapons, but has participated in drafting a Model Nuclear Weapons Convention which Costa Rica has introduced in the United Nations. Abolition 2000 has also mobilized citizen actions throughout the world in favor of abolishing nuclear arms, including the gathering of over 13 million signatures in Japan alone. The Network has also encouraged prominent individuals and municipalities to declare themselves committed to the abolition of nuclear weapons. After nearly five years, Abolition 2000 remains committed to the only outcome that can safeguard humanityís future. But it faces powerful opposing forces in the form of the governments of the nuclear weapons states, the wall of secrecy that surrounds their nuclear policies, and the wall of complacency that engulfs large segments of the public throughout the world. Abolition 2000 can help to remind the people of the world that they have choices. They donít need to leave the fate of humanity in the hands of a small number of leaders of nuclear weapons states. They do not need to sit by while countries such as India and Pakistan test and deploy nuclear weapons, repeating the mistakes made by the five declared nuclear weapons states. They do not need to continue to feed the defense contractors and politicians that remain eager to develop and deploy the Ballistic Missile Defenses ñ defenses that have little likelihood of working and will actually make the world far more dangerous as other nuclear armed countries respond with stronger offensive capabilities. With such dangers as the deployment of Ballistic Missile Defenses on the horizon in the United States, Abolition 2000 is needed more than ever. The year 2000 will be a year of focused actions for the Network throughout the world. The Network has set as goals for itself to grow to 2000 organizations; to identify 2000 prominent supporters of abolishing nuclear weapons; to engage in a week of education and advocacy from March 1-8, 2000; to have a strong and vocal presence at the 2000 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference; and to join in millennial events throughout the world. Abolition 2000 will not simply fade away. Its international symbol is the sunflower. Like the sunflower, it has given birth to a thousand seeds of peace, which will be carried by the wind, take root and grow in many places. These seeds will be borne by the winds of change. They will cross boundaries and will be carried over walls of indifference. Abolition 2000 may not fulfill its goal of a treaty to ban nuclear weapons in the year 2000. But it is critical that this grassroots movement stay the course and continue to grow until its goal is achieved. ________ * David Krieger is the president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. He can be reached at dkrieger@wagingpeace.org ABOLITION 2000 AT THE YEAR 2000 by David Krieger - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: AMA Letter to Clinton on accidental nuclear war/de-alerting Date: 17 Sep 1999 14:31:26 +1000 At 7:06 AM +1000 16/9/1999, Lachlan Forrow wrote: Dear Lachlan, This is a truly excellent letter, and having the AMA do it is also truly wonderful. I'm currently trying to get both the Australian Parliament and the European Parliament to aprove resolutions on de-alerting of nuclear weapons. I'm therefore emailing your letter, along with one of my own, to both the European Parliaments Christian-Democrat, Social-democrat, green, and green-Left factions, and to the whole of the Australian Parliament. I think it should have a salutary effect. By the way, I wonder if there is any possibility of the AMA signing on to the 'Bill and Boris' monster sign-on letter that now has nearly 400 organisations signed on to it? >The following letter was sent last week to President Clinton: > > > >September 7, 1999 > >The Honorable William J. Clinton >President of the United States >The White House >Washington, DC 20500 > >Dear Mr President, > >At our recent annual meeting in Chicago, the American Medical Association >House of Delegates, citing our conviction that "the threat that existent >nuclear weapons represent is truly an urgent public health issue," voted to >ask that you, "urgently develop policies with other countries to minimize >the accidental deployment of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass >destruction." > >As you know, nearly 10 years after the end of the Cold War, there remain in >the arsenals of the world some 35,000 nuclear weapons. 2500 of these, on >missiles in the Russian arsenal, are on hair-trigger alert. They can be >fired in 15 minutes, and reach their target cities in less than 30 minutes, >destroying the world as we know it. They are,arguably, the greatest threat >to the health and safety of the American people existing today. > >A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in April 1998 >estimated that an accidental launch from a single Russian Delta IV >submarine, even if it did not lead to a wider nuclear war, could kill >6,838,000 people from the direct effects of blast and firestorm, with >another six to twelve million people dying from radiation sickness over the >following two months. Such an accident would be a disaster without parallel >in human history. > >This is not simply a theoretical danger. As you are aware, on the morning >of January 25, 1995, a US weather rocket launched from Norway was initially >interpreted by the Russian military as a possible attack on the Russian >Federation. President Yeltsin and his advisors were given minutes to decide >whether to launch a retaliatory attack on the United States. We were >extemely lucky that morning. We can not rely on luck to prevent a future >catastrophe. > >At a similar moment of great nuclear danger, just before the break up of the >Soviet Union in 1989, your predecessor, President Bush, acted decisively to >lessen the peril of nuclear war. He unilateraly removed a small number of >tactical nuclear weapons from the US arsenal, and, when President Gorbachev >reciprocated, he quickly reached an agreement with the Soviets to withdraw >the vast majority of these weapons on both sides. > >The present danger demands similar visionary leadership today. Your former >commander of all strategic nuclear forces, General Georege Lee Butler, has >called for the US and Russia to remove all of their nuclear missiles from >hair-trigger alert as the single most important step to prevent an >accidental nuclear war. > >As physicians charged with the protection of public health, we call on you >to take the lead in developing such policies to minmimize the danger of a >nuclear catastrophe. Thank you for your consideration of this important >matter. > >Sincerely, > > >E Ratcliffe Anderson, Jr., MD >Exective Vice President, CEO >American Medical Association > > >**************** >Lachlan Forrow, MD >President >The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship >Promoting Reverence for Life in Action > since 1940 >www.schweitzerfellowship.org >617-667-5111; 617-667-7989 (fax) > >"Nuclear weapons are against international law and they have to be >abolished...All negotiations regarding the abolition of nuclear weapons >remain without success because no international public exists which demands >this abolition." > > --Dr. Albert Schweitzer - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) MOTION IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT - FAX/EMAIL MEPS FOR 27 SEPT Date: 17 Sep 1999 14:46:47 +1000 Dear De-Alerting/Y2K people, We are trying to get the EP resoution on the agenda of the European Parliament for 27 Sept/4Oct. If you are keen to get it on the agenda, you will need to fax and/or email your MEPs in the next few days. The below was faxed to the leader of the CDs in the EP, their foreign affairs committee chair, and the leader of the Lib/Dems, Pat Cox. It urges them to support a Y2K de-alerting resolution as a matter of the highest priority in october, when it seems, we may have our next chance at a resolution. Not getting it on the agenda this time was a considerable disappointment but not entirely unexpected. I understand that we have a better chance in october. The letters below or something like them, should ideally be faxed to Han-Gert Poettering, chair of the EPP/CD group in the EP, and to Pat Cox of the ELDR (Lib/Dem/Reform group), and emailed to the Christian Democrat group (emails below). You should also draw their attention to the letter sent by the American Medical Association to president Clinton, asking him to take nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert. (Last item in this email) There will be a meeting of 'urgency coordinators' on Sept 27th which will decide whether it will get on the agenda of the EP. The vote will probably be round 4 oct, but your faxes need to arrive before 27 Sept. (FAX SOMETHING LIKE THE BELOW TO THESE FAX NUMBERS HANS-GERT POETTERING MEP, 33-3-8817-9311, 32-2-284-9311 BROK M.ELMAR MEP, 33-3-8817-9323, 32-2-284-9323, PAT COX MEP, 33-3-8817-9363, 32-2-284-9363, AND EMAIL THESE ADRESSES (MEPS FROM THE EPP OR CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS)) ebrok@t-online.de, ebrok@europarl.eu.int, per-arne.arvidsson@moderat.se, parvidsson@europarl.eu.int, mbanotti@europarl.eu.int, johnbowis@aol.com, jbowis@europarl.eu.int, sbl@moderat.se, lburentsam@europarl.eu.int, bushillm@aol.com, buttiglione-r@camera.it, rboege@europarl.eu.int, martin@mcallanan.freeserve.co.uk, mcallanan@europarl.eu.int, gcarlsson@europarl.eu.int, gunilla.carlsson@moderat.se, charlotte.cederschiold@moderat.se, gchichester@europarl.eu.int, GilesChichester MEP@eclipse.co.uk, jcorrie@europarl.eu.int, ccostaneves@europarl.eu.int, acunha@europarl.eu.int, gdeprez@europarl.eu.int, nirjdevamep@hotmail.com, ddover@demon.co.uk, ddover@europarl.eu.int, adoyle@europarl.eu.int, mebner@europarl.eu.int, direktion@athesia.it, jelles@europarl.eu.int, jevans@europarl.eu.int, mferber@europarl.eu.int, ffiori@europarl.eu.int, ifriedrich@europarl.eu.int, awijkman@europarl.eu.int, anders.wijkman@kristdemokrat.se, wgvelzen@europarl.eu.int, wgvelzen@worldonline.nl, dvarela@europarl.eu.int, stillich@europarl.eu.int, sttpaku@t-online.de, mthyssen@europarl.eu.int, dtheato@europarl.eu.int, mgahler@europarl.eu.int, michael.gahler@t-online.de, cgo@fundacion-entoano.org, jgilrobles@europarl.eu.int, aglase@europarl.eu.int, agomolka@europarl.eu.int, rgoodwill@europarl.eu.int, vgm@mail.telepac.pt, eu.info@skynet.be, dan@hannan.co.uk, hansenne@skynet.be, , malcolm_harbour@compuserve.com, manor_cottage@compuserve.com, chris@hhhome.tory.org.uk, wfoster@clara.net, rhieronymi@europarl.eu.int, hieronymi@t-online.de, cjackson@europarl.eu.int, gjackson@europarl.eu.int, gjarzembowski@europarl.eu.int, gjarzembowski@compuserve.com, ejeggle@europarl.eu.int, kontakt@eurojeggle.de, piia-noora.kauppi@ouka.fi, piia-noora.kauppi@aristos.fi, cklass@europarl.eu.int, TO: HANS-GERT POETTERING MEP, 33-3-8817-9311, 32-2-284-9311 BROK M.ELMAR MEP, 33-3-8817-9323, 32-2-284-9323, PAT COX MEP, 33-3-8817-9363, 32-2-284-9363, CC MAJ-BRITT THEORIN 33-3-8817-9661, 32-2-284-9661. Dear Hans-Gert Poettering, Pat Cox, and Brok M. Elmar, I am writing in support of an urgency motion on Y2K, Nuclear weapons, nuclear reactors, and other risks which was to have been placed on the agenda of the EP on Monday 13 September. I understand that it is now possibly to be placed on the agenda in October. It is a pity that it was not possible for this motion, urgent and timebound as it is, to have been placed on the agenda at the earliest possible moment. The issues it addresses are both of the utmost gravity, and require action at the earliest possible stage. There are now only just over 100 days to the Y2K rollover. The motion sought to address the risks of nuclear reactor accidents, and possible accidental nuclear war as a result of Y2K- related computer errors. Specifically, it was to have addressed the problem of Y2K computer-error induced accidental nuclear launches by the simple, cost- free, and risk - free measure of standing down nuclear forces or De-Alerting. It is disturbing that a clear commitment to De-Alerting was in fact excised from the motion, presumably because it was felt that the PPE would not accept de- alerting. If that is indeed your position it is a gravely and dangerously mistaken one. We urge you to reverse it. De-Alerting has in fact, neither costs nor risks. Failure to de-alert or stand down nuclear forces on the other hand, risks potentially, the ultimate catastrophe. It is literally to play Russian roulette with the entire planet. De-Alerting, or standing down nuclear forces, was of course recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996, and was called for by subsequent resolutions of the UN general Assembly. It has been said that without verification, De-Alerting would cause more rather than less uncertainty over the Y2K rollover period. There are two responses to this. The first is that it is not in fact too difficult to ensure that De-Alerting is verifiable by mutual inspection. The second response is that this is in any case simply not the case. Verification is certainly highly desirable, but ANY move to a lower alert status by either or both sides of a nuclear 'pair' such as the US and Russia makes the likelihood of an accidental nuclear exchange much lower. In this context it is worth noting that the UK has already moved its 'notice to fire' for its submarine force from seconds to days. This measure is not easily verifiable but it is nonetheless of immense benefit in assuring strategic stability. De-Alerting, verifiable or not, creates a 'firebreak' that ensures that, faced with Y2K induced uncertainty, there is the opportunity to verify possibly or probably false warning data, and to take rational decisions. Under normal circumstances, without De-Alerting, and under the prevailing doctrine of ' launch on warning', the existence of roughly 5,500 US and Russian land-based ICBMs capable of being fired within 20 minutes, and with flight times of 20-40 minutes (and much shorter for submarine- launched missiles), gives decision-makers extremely short times in which to retaliate against an attack which may not be taking place at all. Finally, De-Alerting has been recommended as a measure that is desirable in and of itself quite apart from any Y2K - related considerations. It is as if, in driving an LPG tanker around a particularly sharp bend, we are reminded that we should obey the speed limit and ensure that our brakes and steering work. Obviously it is best to keep to the speed limit and have working brakes and steering at all times. That the risk of Y2K - related computer glitches in the systems that control and monitor nuclear weapons is taken very seriously indeed by the US and Russia is shown in their current negotiations aimed at exchanging personnel between command centres and setting up a joint 'strategic stability centre' in Colorado. We applaud the efforts to do this, but it is worrying that the Colorado centre is scheduled to become operational only on December27. A four - day delay will render it useless. The Y2K resolution also contains a variety of other measures, intended to minimise the probability of Y2K- induced reactor accidents and other major safety problems. These measures are especially relevant to eastern European and CIS reactors, but it should not be assumed that western European plants will be immune to Y2K induced problems, especially if electricity grids are affected as seems entirely possible. I strongly commend all of these reactor safety measures to the PPE and the Liberal Democrat/Reform groups. I urge both PPE/CD groups and Liberal Democrat groups to support this resolution as a very high and extremely urgent priority, and specifically to support De-Alerting or standing down nuclear forces in the light of Y2K. I trust that this responsible, risk- free, and cost -free measure will gain your partys support at the very earliest opportunity. John Hallam, Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth. >The following letter was sent last week to President Clinton: > > > >September 7, 1999 > >The Honorable William J. Clinton >President of the United States >The White House >Washington, DC 20500 > >Dear Mr President, > >At our recent annual meeting in Chicago, the American Medical Association >House of Delegates, citing our conviction that "the threat that existent >nuclear weapons represent is truly an urgent public health issue," voted to >ask that you, "urgently develop policies with other countries to minimize >the accidental deployment of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass >destruction." > >As you know, nearly 10 years after the end of the Cold War, there remain in >the arsenals of the world some 35,000 nuclear weapons. 2500 of these, on >missiles in the Russian arsenal, are on hair-trigger alert. They can be >fired in 15 minutes, and reach their target cities in less than 30 minutes, >destroying the world as we know it. They are,arguably, the greatest threat >to the health and safety of the American people existing today. > >A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in April 1998 >estimated that an accidental launch from a single Russian Delta IV >submarine, even if it did not lead to a wider nuclear war, could kill >6,838,000 people from the direct effects of blast and firestorm, with >another six to twelve million people dying from radiation sickness over the >following two months. Such an accident would be a disaster without parallel >in human history. > >This is not simply a theoretical danger. As you are aware, on the morning >of January 25, 1995, a US weather rocket launched from Norway was initially >interpreted by the Russian military as a possible attack on the Russian >Federation. President Yeltsin and his advisors were given minutes to decide >whether to launch a retaliatory attack on the United States. We were >extemely lucky that morning. We can not rely on luck to prevent a future >catastrophe. > >At a similar moment of great nuclear danger, just before the break up of the >Soviet Union in 1989, your predecessor, President Bush, acted decisively to >lessen the peril of nuclear war. He unilateraly removed a small number of >tactical nuclear weapons from the US arsenal, and, when President Gorbachev >reciprocated, he quickly reached an agreement with the Soviets to withdraw >the vast majority of these weapons on both sides. > >The present danger demands similar visionary leadership today. Your former >commander of all strategic nuclear forces, General Georege Lee Butler, has >called for the US and Russia to remove all of their nuclear missiles from >hair-trigger alert as the single most important step to prevent an >accidental nuclear war. > >As physicians charged with the protection of public health, we call on you >to take the lead in developing such policies to minmimize the danger of a >nuclear catastrophe. Thank you for your consideration of this important >matter. > >Sincerely, > > >E Ratcliffe Anderson, Jr., MD >Exective Vice President, CEO >American Medical Association > > >**************** >Lachlan Forrow, MD >President >The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship >Promoting Reverence for Life in Action > since 1940 >www.schweitzerfellowship.org >617-667-5111; 617-667-7989 (fax) > >"Nuclear weapons are against international law and they have to be >abolished...All negotiations regarding the abolition of nuclear weapons >remain without success because no international public exists which demands >this abolition." > > --Dr. Albert Schweitzer - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: marylia@earthlink.net (marylia) Subject: (abolition-usa) NEW! ON THE WEB! FROM TRI-VALLEY CAREs Date: 17 Sep 1999 17:59:48 -0700 (PDT) New! On the Web! From Tri-Valley CAREs! Make a bookmark -- http://www.igc.org/tvc * Test your knowledge of the Dept. of Energy's Livermore Lab (hint: things are worse than you think). Take our pop quiz and get the lowdown. Click on to access the underlying facts. * See our September Citizen's Watch newsletter and: * Learn about DOE plans to increase nuclear weapons activities at Livermore, Los Alamos, Sandia and the Nevada Test Site. * Read what Livermore Lab and DOE are trying to cover up. Serious, unresolved technical difficulties are the real reason the National Ignition Facility is $300 million over budget and at least one year behind schedule. * Join us. Participate in actions -- Protest the next "subcritical" nuclear test, support efforts to take all nuclear weapons off-hair trigger alert and more. It's all in the Sept. newsletter and up on on our web site. * Fact sheets, back issues of the newsletter, action alerts -- we have it! Plus, we will be upgrading our site and adding things over the next few weeks. Visit us in cyberspace soon. No shirt or shoes required. Peace, Marylia Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 - is our web site, please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) PLEASE STOP FORWARDING EMAILS TO THE BEASTIE BOYS Date: 18 Sep 1999 12:37:54 +1000 Somebody or something on this list is forwarding my emails about nukes to BEASTIEBOYS5@webtv.net It's the email for the beastie boys' whoever the hell they are (I really don't want to know). WHOEVER IS RELAYING STUFF ON TO THE BEASTIE BOYS FOR CHRISTS SAKE STOP DOING IT! Their responses are very limited, and they dont understand that emails ometimes get to places they are not supposed to. They are the last people I want to email and the last people I want to hear from. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) LETTER FAXED TO RUSSIAN POLICE, FSB, AMNESTY, MEPS, RE Date: 18 Sep 1999 20:16:31 +1000 John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html The following has been faxed just now (over the period 5.45-7.45pm Sydney time) to the numbers below. It failed to go to the Moscow chief of police, whose number didn't seem to have a fax machine attatched to it. I'll try again. I do not have a number for the Russia desk of the US State Department. I'LLalso email it to the European Parliament. There are about 130 signatures including two members of the European Parliament (Elizabeth Schroedter and Joost Lagendijk), and one Australian senator. Greenpeace International has signed via Tobias Muenchenmeyer and Ben Pearson, and Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland via Rachel Western. I've tried to get it out as soon as possible, it's been quite a job. A colleague is also taking it up with Amnesty in London. I hope it does the trick! Good luck Vlad and look after yourself. Very best wishes, John Hallam. TO: MINISTRY OF POLICE RUSSIA, 7-095-239-08-62 MINISTRY OF JUSTICE RUSSIA, 7-095-916-2903 MOSCOW CHIEF OF POLICE 7-095-200-93-05 F.S.B, MOSCOW, 7-095-975-24-70 cc Amnesty International Australia, 9217-7677 Amnesty International London, 44-171-956-1157 Human Rights Watch, Heinrich Boell Foundation, 49-30-285-34-309, Laurie Brereton, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, 61-2-6277-8502 Alexander Downer Minister for Foreign Affairs, 61-2-6273-4112, Joschka Fischer, German Minister for Foreign Affairs,-49-228-16-8-6662 Maj-Britt Theorin, European Parliament, 33-3-8817-9661, 32-2-284-9661. Heidi Hautala, European Parliament, 32-2-284-9446, 33-3-8817-9446 Elizabeth Schroedter,European Parliament, 33-3-8817-9234, 284-9234 Joost Lagendijk, 33-3-8817-9176, 32-2-284-9176 U.S. State Department, Russia Desk Dear Minister of Police, Minister for Justice, FSB, and Chief of Police Moscow, We are writing out of deep concern for a friend and colleague, Vladimir Sliviak, Director of the antinuclear campaign of Ecodefense, who we understand was temporarily arrested and released recently outside his Moscow home and who appears to be the object of police harassment. Mr. Sliviak's beliefs and actions concerning nuclear energy and other policies of the Russian government may not be to the liking of some elements in your government but his beliefs and commitment are widely shared around the world. We understand that he was stopped outside his home on September 6, by members of the Moscow police, (MUR) who said they were investigating an explosion of August 31, 1999. It seems that Vladimir was shown marijuana, and told that if he did not cooperate it would be placed in his bag and he would then be arrested and jailed for three years. He was released after 1.5 hours. We also understand another colleague of his, Mr. Kozlov, was similarly threatened. Vladimir Sliviak is well known to the environmental community worldwide, and respected. There is no way that he could be involved in activities of the type with which the police seem to wish to associate him. The right to protest and to question and oppose government policies, is enshrined in the democratic tradition and is an integral part of civil society. It is also enshrined in a number of United Nations conventions. It is not a luxury, to be dispensed with in times of difficulty. The environmental movement in the U.S., Australia, and Europe is held in high respect even by those it opposes. Green political parties have prominent representation in many European parliaments and in the European Parliament, and the German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer is from the Green Party. Other political parties have largely adopted parts of the environment movements agenda. You may be sure that the activities of the Moscow police and authorities with respect to Mr. Sliviak are being very well observed by a large and sympathetic worldwide community. We trust that these incidents were in error and will not be repeated, that the law will be respected and enforced, above all by those whose duty it is to do so. John Hallam, Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Australia. Michael Marriott Executive Director, NIRS, Washington DC, Katell Gelebart, ASEED-Europe, Amsterdam, Rosalie Bertell, President, International Institute of Concern for Public Health, Toronto, Canada, Tobias Muenchenmeyer/Ben Pearson, Greenpeace International, Amsterdam, Senator Lyn Alison, Australian Democrats, Canberra/Melbourne Australia, Elizabeth Schroedter, MEP, Green Group, Brussels/Strasbourg,(Germany) Joost Lagendijk, MEP, Green Group, Brussels/Strasbourg (Neth) Dr. Rachel Western, Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland, Ulla Lehtinen, First Peoples, Finland, Ann Vikkelso, OVE-Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark, Gunnar Boye Olesen, INFORSE- Europe, Hjortsoj, Denmark, Niels I. Meyer, Professor of Physics, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark, Viljalmer Neilsen, Research Assistant professor, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark, Miles Goldstick, Nordnet, Stockholm, Sweden, Dr. Alfred Koerblien, Umwelt Institut, Muenchen, eV, Germany, Albert Caspari, Chair, INFOBALT, Bremen, Germany, Heike Drillisch, World Ecology, Economy and Development, Bonn, Germany, Erdmuth Arnold, Journalist, Frankfurt-Am Main, Germany, Bernd Damish, Working Circle Indians Today, Germany, Patricia Lorenz, Global 2000, Vienna, Austria, Matthias Reichl, Centre for Encounter and Active Non-Violence, Bad Ischl, Austria, Mathilde Halla, 'Platform', Austria, Marcus Drake, European Youth For Action, Amsterdam, Neth, The Zhaba Collective, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Heather Banner, Plowshares Alliance, Steven Strange, Faslane Peace Camp, Rev. Stewart Denis, Milton Keynes, UK., Nick Drake, Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Southampton, UK., Donald Matheson, Joint Action Against the M-74, Glasgow, Scotland, Pascal Braud, Reseau Sortir Du Nucleaire, France, Agoston Nagy, Goncol Alliance, Vac, Hungary, Matus Bakyta, Slobodna Alternativa, Bratislava, Slovakia, Juraj Krivosik, Society for Sustainable Living in Slovakia, Bratislava, Slovakia, Za Zemiata, Sofia, Bulgaria (30 signatures) Aungiira Aurel Duta, For Mother Earth Rumania/Mama Terra, Bucharest, Valdis Felsbergs, Green Party of Latvia, Riga, Latvia, Ieva Zalete, Zielone Brygady, Latvia, Iloana Bobana, Ecological Movement of Moldova, Chishinau, Moldova, Olexi Pasyuk, TACIS Environmental Awareness, Kiev, Ukraine, Yury Urbansky, National Ecological Centre of Ukraine, Kiev, Oleg Bodrov, Sergey Kharitonov, Green World, Kiev, Ukraine, Sergey M. Fedorynchyk, Green World, Sosnovy Bor, St Petersburg, Russia, Dr Larisa Skuratovskaya, Md, PhD, IPPNW-Russia, Hakob Sanasaryan, Greens Union of Armenia, Yerevan, Ira Lobko, For Mother Earth Belarus, Minsk, Belarus, Yuko Yano, Writer, Toyama City, Japan, Mika Obayashi, Citizens Nuclear Information Centre, Tokyo, Japan, Dave Greenfield, New Green Alliance, Saskatoon, Sask, Canada, Robert Silvermann, Le Monde A Bicyclette, Montreal, Canada, Walter Robbins, Stop Trafficking Plutonium, Ontario, Canada, Michael J. Keegan, Coalition for a Nuclear-free Great Lakes, Susan Cutting, Northern Eurasia Environmental Assistance Project, Petersham, Mass, USA Alice Slater, Global Resource and Action Centre, New York, USA Mark Wakeham, Environment Centre of the Northern Territory, Darwin,Aust, Rowena, Environment Centre of W.A., Bill Smirnow, Nuclear-Free New York, NY, USA, Robin Kossef, BAN-Waste Coalition, San Francisco, Calif, USA., Shannon O'Leary, Assistant Professor of Geology, Illinois State University, Illinois, USA, Mary Byrd Davis, Uranium Enrichment Project, Earth Island Institute, Timothea Howard, At Home in the World, Washington DC., David N. Pyles, New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution, Vermont, USA, James P. Riccio, Staff Attorney, Critical Mass Project, Wash, USA, Alexander Kuzma, Director of Development, Children of Chernobyl Relief Fund, Short Hills, NJ, USA, Michael Welch, Redwood Alliance, Arcata, Calif, USA, Dave Rappaport, Vermont Public Interest Research Group, Francis U Macy, Director, Centre for Safe Energy, Berkeley, Calif, Molly Johnson, Save Ward Valley, Needles, California, Heather Ripley, People Against Power Abuse, Judith H. Johnsrud, Environmental Coalition Against Nuclear Power, Deb Katz, Citizens Awareness Network, Mass, USA, Harvey Wasserman, Citizens Protecting Ohio, Bexley Ohio, USA, Russell D. Hoffman, Stop Cassini Newsletter, Chuck Johnson, Director, Centre for Energy Research, Salem Oregon, USA, Ann P. Harris, Executive Director, Alliance for Public Health And Safety, Ten Mile, Tennessee, USA, Wendy Tanowitz, Y2K-WASH, San Anselmo, California, USA., The Hon. John Tuthill, New Hampshire State Rep, USA, Mayer Segal, HOPE Coalition, Arcata, Humboldt Co, Calif, USA., Mary Beth Branagan/James Heddle, Coordinators, San Francisco Y2K-WASH, Jack and Felice Cohen-Joppa, The Nuclear Resister, Tucson, Arizona, USA., Roger Herried, Abalone Alliance, San Francisco, California, USA., Maureen Eldridge, Program Director, Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, Judi Friedman, Peoples Action for Clean Energy, CT, USA., Leroy Moore, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Centre, Boulder, Colorado, USA., Roger Voelker, Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, Indianapolis, USA., Michele Boyd, Global Outreach Coordinator, IEER, Tacoma Park, Md, USA., George M. Lewis, Professor of Mathematics, California Polytechnic State University, USA., Bill Pfieffer, Sacred Earth Network, Petersham Mass, USA., Patricia Birnie, Chair, GE Stockholders Alliance, Tucson, Ariz., USA., Betty Schroeder, Chair, Arizona Safe Energy Coalition, Tucson, Ariz., Pat Birnie, Chair, Environment Committee WILPF, Tucson, Ariz., Jennifer Olaranna Viereck, Healing Global Wounds, USA., Susan Shaer, Executive Director, Womens Action for New Directions (WAND) USA., Pat Ortmeyer, WAND, Nuclear Waste Issues, Gawain Kripke, FOE-USA, Washington, USA., Scott D. Portzline, Three Mile Island Alert, Gordon Thompson, Institute for Energy and Security Studies, Cambridge Mass, USA., Tim Judson, Citizens Awareness Network NY, USA., Barbara Weidener, Grandmothers for Peace International, Judy Triechel, Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force, Nevada, USA., Mary Lampert, Massachusetts Citizens for Safe Energy, David Ellison, Green Party of Ohio, Cleveland Ohio, USA., Amy Wilson, Russia Program, Initiative for Social Action and Renewal in Eurasia, Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CARES, Livermore, Calif, USA., Erik Van Lenepp, Arctic to Amazonia Alliance, Alice Hirt, Don't Waste Michigan, Mich, USA., Buffalo Bruce, Western Nebraska Resources Council, Nebraska, USA., Barbara Hickernell, Alliance To Close Indian Point, Ossinning, NY., USA., David mc Reynolds, Former Chair, War Resisters International, Shundhai Network, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA., Jay M. Gould, Radiation and Public Health Project, Nicholas Lenssen, Worldwatch, Boulder Colorado, USA., David Roodman, Worldwatch Institute, Washington DC., USA., Greg Wingard, Executive Director, Waste Action Project, Seattle, USA., Action for Community and Ecology in the Rainforests of Central America, Vermont, USA., Native Forest Network, Vermont, USA., Blaine Metcalf/Shiela Baker, War Resisters League, San Luis Obispo,Calif, USA, Susan Gordon, Director, Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, Kaitlin Backlund, Executive Director, Citizen Alert, Reno, Nevada, USA., Joe Mirabile, Director, Eco-Bridge, San Francisco, USA., Bob Kinsey, Peace and Justice Task Force, Rocky Mountain Conference, United Church of Christ, Marion Pack, Alliance for Survival, Costa-Mesa, Calif, Dr. Thomas B.Cochran, National Resources Defence Council, (NRDC) Washington DC, USA., Michael J. Keegan, Don't Waste Michigan, Tom Seery/Julie Enslow, Peace Action, Wisconsin, USA., Judy Triechel, Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA., Andrew Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation, Calif, USA., Ernst Gotein, Californians for Radioactive Safeguards, Lisa Guido, Peace Council of Central New York, - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) FAXED AND EMAILED TO AUST PARLIAMENT, RE DE-ALERTING RESOLUTION Date: 18 Sep 1999 21:07:38 +1000 DEAR Parliamentarians, A supplementary Y2K motion, asking that the government adopt the reccommendations of the Canberra Commision on De-Alerting nuclear weapons will be before the Senate on on Monday. You are urged to vote for it. This email contains a letter from the Australian Peace Committee and Friends of the Earth to Laurie Brereton, Alexander Downer and the Prime Minster, concerning the de-alerting of nuclear weapons. Following that is a letter from the American medical Association to President Clinton, asking for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert. AUSTRALIAN PEACE COMMITTEE FRIENDS OF THE EARTH LAURIE BRERETON, 02-6277-8502 9349-8089, ALEXANDER DOWNER, 02-6273-4112 08-8370-8166 JOHN HOWARD, 02-6273-4100 9251-5454 KIM BEAZLEY, 02-6277-8495 SENATOR KATE LUNDY 02-6277-3884, cc SENATOR CHRIS SCHACHT 08-8344-9355 02-6277-3121 SENATOR GEORGE CAMPBELL 02-6277-3958 SENATOR BOB BROWN 02-6277-3185 SENATOR LYN ALLISON 02-6277-3087. 03-9417-1690 SENATOR STOTT-DESPOJA 02-6277-3235 SENATOR NICK BOLKUS 02-6277-3062 RE: SENATE RESOLUTION ON N-WEAPONS AND Y2K TABLED FOR MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20TH 1999 Dear Laurie Brereton, Alexander Downer, John Howard, Kim Beazley and Kate Lundy, We are writing to you because Senator Bob Brown has tabled a Senate resolution on nuclear weapons and Y2K, which supplements the resolution carried unanimously on Aug. 12th. We urge your strong support for that resolution, and hope that it is possible for that resolution also to achieve unanimous support. We note that resolutions are also under consideration in the US Congress, the Canadian Senate and the European Parliament. You will recall that the taking of nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert was a key recommendation of the Canberra Commission on the Abolition of nuclear weapons, which reported to the United Nations in 1996. It was also called for in a number of subsequent UNGA resolutions, notably the New Agenda resolution. The resolution welcomes the recent decision of the UK to move its 'notice to fire' on nuclear submarine-launched missiles from minutes to days, and asks that the government adopt as policy the recommendations of the Canberra Commission with respect to de-alerting. It asks that the Australian government make specific efforts to push the US and Russia to stand down nuclear forces over the Y2K rollover period. Australia has a special responsibility with respect to the effects of Y2K on nuclear forces in the US, as one of the most crucial parts of the US early warning and monitoring system is the large complex at Pine Gap. Pine Gap will experience the effects of Y2K some 15 hours before the continental US does. A number of respected nuclear strategic analysts have concluded that there is a significant and unacceptable even if small, risk of accidental nuclear war over the Y2K rollover period if nuclear weapons are not taken off hairtrigger alert. As things now stand, Russia has roughly 3,600 warheads on 750 missiles in land-based silos, and the US has roughly 2000 warheads on 500 missiles, which can be launched at a moment's notice. (This does not count bombers, submarines, or tactical weapons.) These weapons are controlled and monitored by the largest, oldest, and hence least Y2K-compliant computer complexes in the world. Massive efforts have been made to achieve Y2K compliance in the US, but there is no guarantee that this has been achieved and many Y2K fixes are scheduled for very close to the rollover. Some systems are not considered to be remediable. In Russia, very little attempt has been made until very recently to fix Y2K problems, whose very existence has been denied. Current warfighting strategies are now based on 'launch on warning', which means that commanders faced with data indicating an incoming attack have minutes in which to order retaliation - or to discover that they are the victims of a computer malfunction. A mild foretaste of what may be expected came when on 22 Aug., the global positioning systems aboard 14 of our Fremantle class patrol boats failed over the GPS 'rollover'. On 22 August, the global positioning systems aboard 14 of the Australian Navy's Fremantle class patrol boats failed when the internal clock controlling the 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System was reset. This was one of the preview kick-in dates for the Y2K problem, and a mild foretaste of what can be expected. A question has been asked to Senator Alston by Senator Natasha-Stott-Despoja on this matter. The recent agreement between the US and Russia to operate a Y2K 'strategic stability centre' in Colorado is a positive move, but will not by itself completely remove all risk. A worrying aspect of this is that the centre is not planned to become operational until December 27. A four-day delay would of course render it valueless. The very fact of this agreement also demonstrates that military experts within the two governments do take the issue of strategic stability over the Y2K rollover period very seriously. We understand that the governments position is that the risk is relatively low, and that without verification, De-Alerting would cause more rather than less uncertainty over the Y2K rollover period. It is frankly difficult to see how this could possibly be so. Rather, it would seem to be the case that even without positive verification, nuclear forces that have been taken off alert will be a security plus. With verification, De-Alerting will be even more of a plus. To suggest that because the current UK force posture or the force posture of the Chinese, is not verifiable that we'd all be better off if they were on high alert and able to fire at a moment's notice is nonsensical not do say downright perverse. In any case, given the US and Russia's willingness to operate a joint strategic stability centre, albeit after uncertainty due to Kossovo and other issues, it should not be impossible to arrange for mutual verification of De-Alerting. However, the failure or inability to do this should in no way count as an argument not to proceed with this essential and commonsense measure. We put it to you, that no arguments against taking nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert withstand serious scrutiny, that De-Alerting or standing down of nuclear forces is a measure that does not entail either costs or downside risks, or if there are risks, that they are insignificant as compared to the risk of global catastrophe that 5,500 nuclear warheads would certainly inflict if ever used. An accidental launch if it occurred, would in all probability, not be of a single missile, but would be a full- scale retaliation for an attack that existed only as the result of a Y2K induced computer fault. In other words it would be likely to involve all or a large proportion of the land-based ICBM arsenal of the country concerned. The use of all or a large proportion of 5,500 warheads would be to so damage the biosphere that the continuation of life itself could be in doubt. Even if the risks are not quite on this scale, it is a risk to which the planet as a whole should not be subject. Standing down nuclear forces would effectively eliminate this risk. Because of our role in hosting possibly the most important US strategic nuclear installation outside the US itself, at Pine Gap as well as the submarine communications system at North West Cape, Australia has a special responsibility to use its influence as host to those installations and as a valued ally to place the maximum of pressure on the US to adopt the Canberra Commission recommendations, and stand down nuclear forces. The issues posed by the interaction of Y2K and strategic nuclear weapons are so grave that no other considerations of national interest nor indeed of credibility weigh at all in the balance in comparison. On the other hand, should it be proven at some later stage that there had been no risk at all over the Y2K rollover period,(most unlikely) a standing down of nuclear forces would still be a measure that would considerably improve both strategic stability and mutual trust between the two nuclear powers. We urge you to support this resolution. John Hallam, Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth, Irene Gale, A. M., Australian Peace Committee SUPPLEMENTARY DRAFT SENATE RESOLUTION ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND Y2K (The resolution as on the notice paper may have been changed from this first draft) 1)That the Senate, recalling its motion of the 12 August on the same topic, and in particular recalling (a)(iii) of that resolution, further urges that the government, taking note of (a)(iii), adopt as official government policy the reccommendations of the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear weapons of 1996 and of various subsequent resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, that nuclear weapons be taken off hairtrigger alert. 2)That the Senate urges the government to press the United States and Russia to take their weapons off hairtrigger alert before the Y2K rollover period. 3)That the Senate welcomes the recent initiative of the UK government to move the 'notice to fire' for its submarine fleet from minutes to days. The following letter was sent last week to President Clinton: September 7, 1999 The Honorable William J. Clinton President of the United States The White House Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr President, At our recent annual meeting in Chicago, the American Medical Association House of Delegates, citing our conviction that "the threat that existent nuclear weapons represent is truly an urgent public health issue," voted to ask that you, "urgently develop policies with other countries to minimize the accidental deployment of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction." As you know, nearly 10 years after the end of the Cold War, there remain in the arsenals of the world some 35,000 nuclear weapons. 2500 of these, on missiles in the Russian arsenal, are on hair-trigger alert. They can be fired in 15 minutes, and reach their target cities in less than 30 minutes, destroying the world as we know it. They are,arguably, the greatest threat to the health and safety of the American people existing today. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in April 1998 estimated that an accidental launch from a single Russian Delta IV submarine, even if it did not lead to a wider nuclear war, could kill 6,838,000 people from the direct effects of blast and firestorm, with another six to twelve million people dying from radiation sickness over the following two months. Such an accident would be a disaster without parallel in human history. This is not simply a theoretical danger. As you are aware, on the morning of January 25, 1995, a US weather rocket launched from Norway was initially interpreted by the Russian military as a possible attack on the Russian Federation. President Yeltsin and his advisors were given minutes to decide whether to launch a retaliatory attack on the United States. We were extemely lucky that morning. We can not rely on luck to prevent a future catastrophe. At a similar moment of great nuclear danger, just before the break up of the Soviet Union in 1989, your predecessor, President Bush, acted decisively to lessen the peril of nuclear war. He unilateraly removed a small number of tactical nuclear weapons from the US arsenal, and, when President Gorbachev reciprocated, he quickly reached an agreement with the Soviets to withdraw the vast majority of these weapons on both sides. The present danger demands similar visionary leadership today. Your former commander of all strategic nuclear forces, General Georege Lee Butler, has called for the US and Russia to remove all of their nuclear missiles from hair-trigger alert as the single most important step to prevent an accidental nuclear war. As physicians charged with the protection of public health, we call on you to take the lead in developing such policies to minmimize the danger of a nuclear catastrophe. Thank you for your consideration of this important matter. Sincerely, E Ratcliffe Anderson, Jr., MD Exective Vice President, CEO American Medical Association **************** Lachlan Forrow, MD President The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Promoting Reverence for Life in Action since 1940 www.schweitzerfellowship.org 617-667-5111; 617-667-7989 (fax) "Nuclear weapons are against international law and they have to be abolished...All negotiations regarding the abolition of nuclear weapons remain without success because no international public exists which demands this abolition." --Dr. Albert Schweitzer John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) ADVISORY RE DE-ALERTING MOTION IN SENATE OF CANADA Date: 18 Sep 1999 21:19:45 +1000 X-From_: owner-abolition-caucus@igc.org Sat Sep 18 16:07:23 1999 MIME-Version: 1.0 Precedence: bulk Sender: owner-abolition-caucus@igc.org CNANW Listserver , "Int'l. Abolition List" X-Corel-MessageType: EMail X-Priority: 3 (Normal) ADVISORY RE DE-ALERTING MOTION IN SENATE OF CANADA On September 18th, the Parliament of Canada was prorogued to set the stage for a new Session of Parliament starting October 12, 1999. The effect of prorogation is to wipe the slate clean of all business currently before both the House of Commons and the Senate. In turn, this means that the De-Alerting Motion introduced in the Senate on September 7th has been suspended and will have to be re-introduced by Senator Roche in the new Session of Parliament. On September 14th, Senator Roche opened the debate on the Motion, and the debate was then adjourned. Senator Roche's speech follows: * * * Nuclear Arms Motion to Urge Nuclear Weapons States to Take Weapons Off Alert Status-Debate Adjourned Hon. Douglas Roche, pursuant to notice of September 7, 1999, moved: That the Senate recommends that the Government of Canada urge the nuclear weapons states plus India, Pakistan and Israel to take all of their nuclear forces off alert status as soon as possible. He said: Honourable senators, the prestigious journal Scientific American recently reported that on January 25, 1995 military technicians at a handful of radar stations across northern Russia saw a troubling blip suddenly appear on their screens. A rocket, launched from somewhere off the coast of Norway, was rising rapidly through the night sky. Well aware that a single missile from a U.S. submarine plying those waters could scatter eight nuclear bombs over Moscow within 15 minutes, the radar operators immediately alerted their superiors. The message passed swiftly from Russian military authorities to President Boris Yeltsin, who, holding the electronic case that could order the firing of nuclear missiles in response, hurriedly conferred by telephone with his top advisors. For the first time ever, that nuclear briefcase was activated for emergency use. For a few tense minutes, the trajectory of the mysterious rocket remained unknown to the worried Russian officials. Anxiety mounted when the separation of multiple rocket stages created an impression of a possible attack by several missiles. However, the radar crews continued to track their targets. After about eight minutes, senior military officers determined that the rocket was headed far out to sea and posed no threat to Russia. The unidentified rocket in this case turned out to be a U.S. scientific probe, sent up to investigate the northern lights. Weeks earlier, the Norwegians had duly informed Russian authorities of the planned launch from the offshore island of Andoya, but somehow word of the high altitude experiment had not reached the right ears. That frightening incident, according to Scientific American, aptly demonstrates the danger of maintaining nuclear arsenals in a state of hair-trigger alert. Doing so heightens the possibility that one day someone will mistakenly launch nuclear missiles, either because of a technical failure or a human error. A mistake made, perhaps, in the rush to respond to false indications of an attack. The Norway incident was not an isolated one. The U.S.-based Centre for Defense Information reported this month that in the years 1977 to 1984, a total of 20,784 false warning nuclear indications, most of them minor, were processed. Last March, appearing before a joint meeting of Senate and House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committees, General Lee Butler, former commander-in-chief of the U.S. strategic command, said that upon receiving confirmation of an impending attack, the U.S. president would have only 12 minutes to decide whether to retaliate. Both the U.S. and Russian military have long instituted procedures to prevent an accident from happening. However, their equipment is not foolproof. Russia's early-warning and nuclear command systems are deteriorating. The safety of all other nuclear weapons systems, in particular, those of India and Pakistan, is even less reliable. All told, there are 5,000 nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert status, meaning they could be fired within minutes. The fate of humanity must not hang by such a slender thread. Thus, a movement is building up around the world to de-alert all nuclear weapons. This would be done by the physical separation of the warheads from the delivery vehicles. That is the intent of the motion I respectfully submit to the Senate. It reads: That the Senate recommends that the Government of Canada urge the nuclear weapons states plus India, Pakistan and Israel to take all of their nuclear forces off alert status as soon as possible. Honourable senators will recognize that the motion is narrowly drawn. The subject of nuclear weapons is huge and complex. The abolition of nuclear weapons, for which I stand, entails a lengthy debate, but de-alerting is precise and sharply focused and can be done immediately under conditions of mutual verifiability. It must be done in order to prevent a calamity occurring through human error, system failure, irrational acts, or by the simple working of the laws of chance. Some may interpret this motion as connected to the famous Y2K problem, which deals with the ability of computers to properly interpret the correct date change when the year 2000 arrives. It is true that the failure of computers to recognize the year 2000 could infect the command, control, communication and intelligence systems of nuclear forces. There may or may not be a problem on New Year's Eve, at midnight. However, Russia and the U.S. are sufficiently concerned about this that they intend to establish a joint centre in the United States which would seat a handful of U.S. and Russian officers side-by-side for a few days during the 2000 date switch to monitor blips on nuclear screens. The officers would be in direct touch with their respective national command authorities to alleviate any concern about blips that may occur on the date change. Key United States senators have called for the inclusion of China, India and Pakistan in this early warning centre, so concerned are they that ill-prepared computers may malfunction. This response to a potential problem is clearly inadequate. The year 2000 date change merely highlights the existing danger to the world because of the alert status of nuclear forces. The world needs the safety that de-alerting would ensure, not just on New Year's Eve but throughout every day of every year. Honourable senators, in short, the argument as put forth by the Canberra commission of international experts is that the practice of maintaining nuclear-tipped missiles on alert must be ended because: It is a highly regrettable perpetuation of Cold War attitudes and assumptions; it needlessly sustains the risk of hair-trigger postures; it retards the critical process of normalizing U.S.-Russian relations; it sends the unmistakable and, from an arms control perspective, severely damaging message that nuclear weapons serve a vital security role; it is entirely inappropriate to the extraordinary transformation in the international security environment. Honourable senators, terminating nuclear alert would do the following: reduce dramatically the chance of an accidental or unauthorized nuclear weapons launch; have a positive influence on the political climate among the nuclear weapons states; and it would help set the stage for intensified cooperation. The Canberra commission concluded that taking nuclear forces off alert could be verified by national technical means and nuclear weapon state inspection arrangements. De-alerting has a wide basis of support. The Government of Canada is in favour, and has expressed its support in a formal response to the report on nuclear weapons of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Therefore, this motion falls within government policy. The U.K. government recently relaxed a notice to fire its nuclear weapons from minutes to days. Resolutions of the UN General Assembly have urged de-alerting. The chairman's report of the three-year preparatory process for the 2000 review of the non-proliferation treaty calls for de-alerting to prevent accidental or unauthorized launches. Friends of the Earth, in Sydney, Australia, have obtained the support of 380 organizations around the world for de-alerting. Honourable senators, a few years ago I went back to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the two cities in Japan that suffered atomic bomb attack. I have seen these sites several times. Each time, it is a profound experience in understanding the destructive power of nuclear weapons. Accidental nuclear war remains an immense treat to humanity today. We can help to lessen that threat. I commend this motion, honourable senators, for your consideration. Hon. John. B. Stewart: Honourable senators, I should like to ask Senator Roche a question. He has made a persuasive speech and my question is: Given the plausibility of the argument he advances, why is it that the nuclear weapons states plus India, Pakistan and Israel, have not already taken their nuclear forces off alert status? Is there some argument, or is it recalcitrance among one or more of the states? Senator Roche: I thank the Honourable Senator Stewart for that question. The main reason that the principal nuclear weapons states, led by the United States and Russia, along with the U.K., France and China, have not de-alerted is that nuclear weapons fit into the strategy of nuclear deterrence. It is argued by some that, by de-alerting, they are taking away or diminishing the constant status of nuclear deterrence. That argument has been rebutted. After all, in the case of an emergency or some crisis happening in international affairs, nuclear weapons could be reactivated. Therefore, it is for the safety of the major areas of the world that the de-alerting process, campaign or movement has grown. It is held by proponents of de-alerting that it is a more important consideration for the safety of humanity to take weapons off alert status than to preserve nuclear deterrence as we have known it through the Cold War years. On motion of Senator Carstairs, debate adjourned. Adjournment - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JTLOWE@aol.com Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) PLEASE STOP FORWARDING EMAILS TO THE BEASTIE Date: 18 Sep 1999 11:06:29 EDT In a message dated 9/17/99 11:12:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time, nonukes@foesyd.org.au writes: << They are the last people I want to email and the last people I want to hear from. >> I thought you didn't know who they were! I think you probably do very good work but them impact is spoiled by the number of duplications of your messages. WHY CAN'T YOU FIX IT/ - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: hcaldic Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) NEW! ON THE WEB! FROM TRI-VALLEY CAREs Date: 18 Sep 1999 00:57:52 -0400 marylia wrote: > > New! On the Web! From Tri-Valley CAREs! Make a bookmark -- > http://www.igc.org/tvc > > * Test your knowledge of the Dept. of Energy's Livermore Lab (hint: things > are worse than you think). > Take our pop quiz and get the lowdown. Click on to access the > underlying facts. > > * See our September Citizen's Watch newsletter and: > > * Learn about DOE plans to increase nuclear weapons > activities at Livermore, Los Alamos, Sandia > and the Nevada Test Site. > > * Read what Livermore Lab and DOE are trying to cover up. > Serious, unresolved technical difficulties are the real reason the National > Ignition Facility is $300 million over budget and at least one year behind > schedule. > > * Join us. Participate in actions -- Protest the next > "subcritical" nuclear test, support efforts to take all nuclear weapons > off-hair trigger alert and more. It's all in the Sept. newsletter and up on > on our web site. > > * Fact sheets, back issues of the newsletter, action alerts -- we have it! > Plus, we will be upgrading our site and adding things over the next few > weeks. Visit us in cyberspace soon. No shirt or shoes required. > > Peace, Marylia > > Marylia Kelley > Tri-Valley CAREs > (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) > 2582 Old First Street > Livermore, CA USA 94550 > > - is our web site, please visit us there! > > (925) 443-7148 - is our phone > (925) 443-0177 - is our fax > > Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley > CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear > Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the > international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear > weapons. > > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. You are doing great work Marylia, Helen Caldicott - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "bob kinsey" Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) LETTER FAXED TO RUSSIAN POLICE, FSB, AMNESTY, MEPS, REHARRASSMENT OF VLADIMIR SLIVIAK Date: 19 Sep 1999 12:11:48 -0600 John -- thanks for your work on this. I wish I could get compatible with my new computer so I could do work as quickly as you. I have followed through where I could with the European Parliament e-mails. I think I sent about 50. Your preparatory e-mail was very helpful in doing this. Sorry I don't cc to you but I haven't figured it all out as yet. **************************************************************************** ****************************************** Bob Kinsey, Peace and Justice Task Force, Rocky Mountain Conference, United Church of Christ bkinsey@peacemission.org 6555 Ward Road Arvada, Colorado 80004-2462 303-425-0348 Jesus was non-violent. Shouldn't all Christians be too? "Faith has need of the whole truth" Pierre Teilhard de Chardin "Two paths lie before us, one leads to death, the other to life." Jonathan Schell in "The Fate of the Earth" and the Book of Deuteronomy 30:15 - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Crockett Williams" Subject: (abolition-usa) Peaceful Reasoning Date: 19 Sep 1999 19:51:11 -0700 Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil (White House) We support the Global Peace Walk Project and thank Reverend Yusen Yamato and David Crockett Williams for their prayer walk from California to the White House and United Nations, seeking and teaching the global abolition of nuclear weapons -- testing, wastes, and other dangers. We agree that it adds strength to the nuclear abolition movement to unite all survival issues together under a prayer for "Global Peace Now!" We also support the idea of a Global Peace and Environment Platform for candidates in the Year 2000 U.S. National elections. The world we all live in is the product of ideas, individual and collective. For too long humanity's time, energy, "money," have been funneled into rotten ideas. This situation can be changed if we spend our energy and resources on PRACTICAL concepts, and transform the deadly "military-industrial complex" President Eisenhower warned about into self-sustaining, environment- and neighbor-friendly industries. (See http://prop1.org/convert/convpro.htm.) We are very encouraged that DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton has again introduced into Congress HR-2545, the Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion Act of 1999, which calls on the U.S. to commit to global nuclear disarmament, and to redirect weapons funding to peaceful purposes such as housing, health care, education, food, and environmental restoration. See http://prop1.org/prop1/hr2545.htm. This bill was first submitted, in 1994, as the result of a successful Washington, DC ballot initiative (#37, 1993), which asked the mayor to advise our Congresswoman that the majority of the voters wanted her to introduce it. We hope that Global Peace Walk2000 will help alert the people in America and around the world to this great opportunity, which only needs adequate public support to be made into law in the U.S. ... and thence around the world. (See suggestions, and text of bill, below.) Your efforts can be very helpful. Thank you for carrying and sharing the idea of eliminating nuclear weapons while walking to Washington DC. We'd certainly like to see the materialization of your vision of gathering over a million people around the Washington Monument on October 12, 2000; let us know what we can do to help. We'll be waiting to welcome you when you arrive on October 9, 2000. We'll forward your appeal to the Mayor and City Council for a proclamation that Washington DC should be a Global Peace Zone. Meanwhile, send us press clippings and commentary about your walk across the country, and we'll help by posting updates on our website (http://prop1.org), and to our extensive list of email subscribers. We'll also help you and other subscribers to keep up to date on what's happening, good and bad, on our mother, Earth. See http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm W.Thomas Ellen Thomas and other members of the Vigil (see http://prop1.org/parkcurr.htm) -------------------------------------- WHAT YOU CAN DO To Help Rid the World of Nuclear Weapons WORLD CITIZENS (this means EVERYBODY!): * Write the United Nations Ambassadors for all countries with nuclear weapons (Britain, China, France, Israel, India, Pakistan, Russia, United States) and those suspected of wanting nuclear weapons (such as North Korea, Iraq, Iran). Write c/o U.N. Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA, and say, "Please promise, and use your influence to convince all nuclear powers to publicly promise, 'YES, we will eliminate all our nuclear weapons, if everyone else does.' Don't quit until the job is done!" * Call (202-225-3121) AND write Members of the U.S. House of Representatives (Washington, DC 20015); ask them to release HR-2545, the "Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion Act," to the full House of Representatives for debate and vote. Please tell the U.S. House of Representatives "Armed Services" and "International Relations" Committees that it's undemocratic to withhold this important legislation from the rest of their colleagues. (You can write c/o U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515, USA -- or call via the Congressional switchboard: 202-225-3121 -- or e-mail via our Lobby Center (http://prop1.org/prop1/letter.htm).) * Call, write and email President Clinton; ask him to actively endorse HR-2545. The President's address: White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20500; Phone - 202-426-1111-0 (hotline operator); email: president@whitehouse.gov.) * Organize a meeting in your area. Print and circulate petitions (http://prop1.org/prop1/petition.htm); be sure to ask for e-mail addresses; mail them to us! * Educate yourself and others! (http://prop1.org/prop1/question.htm) * Subscribe to NucNews! (http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm) * Submit to your local press letters and articles about the need for HR-2545 to become international law. Call radio talk shows, etc. (http://prop1.org/2000/media98.htm). * Publicize Proposition One in your organization's publication. Spread the word to other activists who might be interested in helping with the idea and legislation. Please ask them to put us on their mail and e-mail lists. * Please send us copies of your letters to editors or congresspeople, and any articles or letters that result, for the Proposition One archives!. U.S. RESIDENTS: Ask your Representative to co-sponsor DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton's bill, and your Senators to sponsor similar legislation in the Senate. If your politicians and media are unresponsive to letters, phone calls, and visits, start your own voter initiative campaign. Sure, you can do it! We did! If your community has no voter initiative provisions, lobby your state legislators to establish that right. Then USE that right to make your world a safer, saner place. Please? Call, write or email us to brainstorm how. Peace Park Crew PO Box 27217, Washington DC 20038 202-462-0757 (fax 202-265-5389) - prop1@prop1.org - http://prop1.org --------------- http://prop1.org/prop1/prop1.htm H. R. 2545 - A BILL 106th CONGRESS, 1st Session, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 16, 1999 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the "Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion Act of 1999". SEC 2. REQUIREMENT FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT AND ECONOMIC CONVERSION. The United States Government shall-- (1) disable and dismantle all its nuclear weapons and refrain from replacing them at any time with any weapons of mass destruction; (2) redirect resources that are currently being used for nuclear weapons programs to use- (A) in converting all nuclear weapons industry employees, processes, plants, and programssmoothly to constructive, ecologically beneficial peacetime activities during the 3 years following the effective date of this Act, and (B) in addressing human and infrastructure needs such as housing, health care, education, agriculture, and enviromnental restoration; (3) undertake vigorous good faith efforts to eliminate war, armed conflict, and all military operations; and (4) actively promote policies to induce all other countries to join in these commitments for world peace and security. SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act shall take effect when the President certifies to the Congress that all foreign countries possessing nuclear weapons have established legal requirements comparable to those set forth in section 2 and those requirements have taken effect. ____________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org -Convert the War Machines! * ____________________________________________________________ - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Click a button and save a life Date: 20 Sep 1999 11:20:52 -0400 >Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 22:43:39 -0400 >Subject: Click a button and save a life >From: PegJacobs@aol.com (PegJacobs@aol.com) > >Dear Friends, >Have you heard about this website: >www.thehungersite.com. > Each time you go to the site click on "donate free food" the sponsors >will >donate 1 serving of rice, wheat or another staple food to the hungry. You >are permitted to do this once each day. Definitely worth bookmarking and >taking the time to do each day. > >"May the Pure Light within you guide your way Home" >Peg > Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Save Ward Valley" Subject: (abolition-usa) Fw: Hunger Site Date: 20 Sep 1999 10:58:20 -0700 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_001A_01BF0357.0D449620 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_001_001B_01BF0357.0D449620" ------=_NextPart_001_001B_01BF0357.0D449620 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hunger SiteThis will make going to The Hunger Site every day very easy. = Can a Click a Day Stop World Hunger? Each day you click on The Hunger Site, your click has their advertisers = pay for another meal through the United Nations World Food Program. Download one of these free desktop icons and click on it every day = to donate a meal. =20 =20 What if because you pass on this web page, thousands more people click a = meal every day? If you would like to read the Newsweek article on the HungerSite.com, = click here. ------=_NextPart_001_001B_01BF0357.0D449620 Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hunger Site
This will make going to The Hunger = Site every=20 day very easy. 

 

Can a Click a Day Stop World=20 Hunger?

Each day you click on The Hunger Site, your click = has their=20 advertisers pay for another meal through the United Nations = World Food=20 Program.

Download = one of these=20 free desktop icons and click on it every day to donate a=20 meal.

3D"globe.gif

What if because you pass on this web = page,=20 thousands more people click a meal every day?

If you would like to read the Newsweek=20 article on the HungerSite.com, click here.

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For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: marylia@earthlink.net (marylia) Subject: (abolition-usa) Urgent! Sign-on now! Stop DOE weapons plan! Date: 20 Sep 1999 18:13:28 -0700 (PDT) Hi. We NEED your sign-on to help stop the U.S. Dept. of Energy from INCREASING its nuclear weapons activities and moving nuclear material and programs around between the weapons labs and the test site. Please take a moment to read the LETTER and initiate whatever action is required to get your group's sign on. IT IS IMPORTANT. Then, email me your name, title, group name and full address before Sept. 28. Thank you, Marylia Kelley, executive director, Tri-Valley CAREs. PS -- If you are among the 35 groups that have already signed the letter -- thank you! If not, please sign on today! We need about 100 groups! Please help! Read on... September 28, 1999 [Prospective send date] US Department of Energy 1000 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, D.C. 20585 Attn: Gilbert Weigand, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Weapons Research & Development Re: Department of Energy's Plans for Major Changes in Nuclear Weapons Complex Dear Mr. Weigand, We are writing on behalf of Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment), Western States Legal Foundation and Physicians for Social Responsibility - Greater San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. All three organizations have a long-time interest in public health and safety issues concerning Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and other facilities within the nuclear weapons complex. Tri-Valley CAREs is a 16-year-old environmental group that "watchdogs" LLNL. Among other things, it holds two US Environmental Protection Agency Technical Assistance Grants to monitor environmental cleanup at LLNL. Western States Legal Foundation has been deeply involved in monitoring nuclear weapons programs and environmental activities at LLNL since 1982. The San Francisco Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility has kept watch over LLNL worker and community issues for a number of years. Further, this letter represents the interests and concerns of the public interest organizations who have joined us in sending this letter, listed on signatory pages that follow. We have recently obtained information concerning the Department of Energy's (DOE) plans to reconfigure, expand, enhance and/or move certain aspects of the nuclear weapons program carried out by the various facilities within the nuclear weapons complex. This information is from briefing papers, obtained from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which we understand you used to brief high-level Clinton administration officials on the DOE plan. Changes proposed by DOE include the following: 1. DOE will "move promptly" the W80 nuclear warhead workload from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This would involve more plutonium pit work at LLNL. The briefing papers reveal what appear to be changes in the warhead that go far, far beyond any maintenance procedures that may be necessary to preserve the existing weapon's "safety" or "reliability" while it remains in the arsenal. 2. DOE will also "move promptly" the plutonium pit surveillance mission and workload from LANL to LLNL. DOE expressly says that one goal is to give Livermore Lab more plutonium workload, which means that pits from weapons, in addition to those of the W80 program discussed in #1 above, will come to Livermore. Further, the plan suggests that some or all of the surveillance work for each of the US weapon types will come to Livermore Lab, which means nuclear weapons components would be taken apart and "destructively tested" at Livermore. Concerning both # 1 and #2 above, Livermore Lab already has about 880 pounds of plutonium, and also has a history of accidents, spills, leaks and plutonium safety violations. In fact, its plutonium facility was recently shut down on the recommendation of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, and is only now "restarting." We are worried that the DOE's proposed changes will result in increased risks to worker and public health and safety. 3. LANL's Appaloosa program would be expanded. Appaloosa is the code-name for a hydrodynamic test program wherein high explosives and surrogate bomb cores, called pits, (including with plutonium 242) are detonated in above-ground tanks. 4. DOE will consolidate its hydrodynamic program at LANL, although the Clinton administration has been informed that LLNL will still keep its hydrodynamic program, including the new "Contained Firing Facility" now under construction at Livermore. 5. A huge proton accelerator is to be constructed at LANL. 6. DOE will conduct additional underground subcritical nuclear tests for the W80 and W88 programs. The briefing papers also indicate that additional subcritical tests will involve "weapon relevant shapes." 7. DOE will move the ATLAS and Pegasus programs from LANL to Nevada. (ATLAS is a new fusion facility under construction at LANL, and Pegasus an older machine.) These two programs would be used to develop the technology allowing for "explosively driven pulse power for future SNM [special nuclear material - i.e., plutonium] experiments in U1A." U1A is the underground complex of tunnels and rooms where subcritical nuclear experiments are now detonated at the Nevada Test Site. 8. DOE will build a new "infrastructure for weapons microsystems components ... MESA" at Sandia Lab in New Mexico, supporting "future AF&F (arming, firing and fusing) needs." This aspect of the plan is reported to cost $300 million. Although these are major moves and expansions of nuclear weapons activities, the DOE has failed to discuss technical or policy justifications for them. DOE also fails to discuss overall proliferation impacts, costs or environmental impacts. Nor does DOE indicate any intended public disclosure or process for public review and comment. This plan has gone forward in secret, and the public has been inappropriately excluded from any knowledge or decision-making role. Earlier this year, DOE and Livermore Lab held a public meeting at which officials testified that no major changes were contemplated to Livermore Lab's operations over the next 5 years. Based on this, DOE and Livermore Lab decided on March 10, 1999 not to conduct a new site-wide environmental review. In view the above proposed changes, it is difficult for us not to think that DOE and LLNL may have acted in bad faith at that public meeting. We are outraged by these decisions and demand that a new Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory with full public hearings and disclosure be part of the process to decide whether any funding should be requested/expended. Certainly, this EIS must be done before any of these changes occur, and before anything is moved. There should be no repeat of the situation at Paducah and Portsmouth, where both workers and the public were misled for years, and revelations about plutonium contamination are just now becoming public. Further, the DOE has completed a Stockpile Stewardship & Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (SSM PEIS) which is silent on this plan. In fact, some of the SSM PEIS' siting elements actually ran contrary to the latest DOE scheme described above. OMB is on record stating that DOE must undertake a revision of the SSM PEIS before moving forward. DOE, however, has already requested initial monies from Congress to begin, according to a Senate report. It appears to us that a Supplemental EIS, with public hearings held across the country, is necessary as well. We hope to have your response in the very near future. If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate in contacting us. Sincerely, Marylia Kelley Executive Director, Tri-Valley CAREs Robert Gould, M.D. President, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Greater San Francisco Bay Area Jacqueline Cabasso Executive Director, Western States Legal Foundation Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 - is our web site, please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: hcaldic Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Urgent! Sign-on now! Stop DOE weapons plan! Date: 20 Sep 1999 22:46:53 -0400 marylia wrote: > > Hi. We NEED your sign-on to help stop the U.S. Dept. of Energy from > INCREASING its nuclear weapons activities and moving nuclear material and > programs around between the weapons labs and the test site. Please take a > moment to read the LETTER and initiate whatever action is required to get > your group's sign on. IT IS IMPORTANT. Then, email me your name, title, > group name and full address before Sept. 28. Thank you, Marylia Kelley, > executive director, Tri-Valley CAREs. > > PS -- If you are among the 35 groups that have already signed the letter -- > thank you! If not, please sign on today! We need about 100 groups! Please > help! Read on... > > September 28, 1999 [Prospective send date] > > US Department of Energy > 1000 Independence Avenue, SW > Washington, D.C. 20585 > > Attn: Gilbert Weigand, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Weapons Research & > Development > > Re: Department of Energy's Plans for Major Changes in Nuclear Weapons Complex > > Dear Mr. Weigand, > > We are writing on behalf of Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a > Radioactive Environment), Western States Legal Foundation and Physicians > for Social Responsibility - Greater San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. All > three organizations have a long-time interest in public health and safety > issues concerning Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and other > facilities within the nuclear weapons complex. > > Tri-Valley CAREs is a 16-year-old environmental group that "watchdogs" > LLNL. Among other things, it holds two US Environmental Protection Agency > Technical Assistance Grants to monitor environmental cleanup at LLNL. > Western States Legal Foundation has been deeply involved in monitoring > nuclear weapons programs and environmental activities at LLNL since 1982. > The San Francisco Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility has kept > watch over LLNL worker and community issues for a number of years. > > Further, this letter represents the interests and concerns of the public > interest organizations who have joined us in sending this letter, listed on > signatory pages that follow. > > We have recently obtained information concerning the Department of Energy's > (DOE) plans to reconfigure, expand, enhance and/or move certain aspects of > the nuclear weapons program carried out by the various facilities within > the nuclear weapons complex. This information is from briefing papers, > obtained from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which we > understand you used to brief high-level Clinton administration officials on > the DOE plan. > > Changes proposed by DOE include the following: > > 1. DOE will "move promptly" the W80 nuclear warhead workload from Los > Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to Lawrence Livermore National > Laboratory. This would involve more plutonium pit work at LLNL. The > briefing papers reveal what appear to be changes in the warhead that go > far, far beyond any maintenance procedures that may be necessary to > preserve the existing weapon's "safety" or "reliability" while it remains > in the arsenal. > > 2. DOE will also "move promptly" the plutonium pit surveillance mission > and workload from LANL to LLNL. DOE expressly says that one goal is to > give Livermore Lab more plutonium workload, which means that pits from > weapons, in addition to those of the W80 program discussed in #1 above, > will come to Livermore. Further, the plan suggests that some or all of the > surveillance work for each of the US weapon types will come to Livermore > Lab, which means nuclear weapons components would be taken apart and > "destructively tested" at Livermore. > > Concerning both # 1 and #2 above, Livermore Lab already has about 880 > pounds of plutonium, and also has a history of accidents, spills, leaks and > plutonium safety violations. In fact, its plutonium facility was recently > shut down on the recommendation of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety > Board, and is only now "restarting." We are worried that the DOE's > proposed changes will result in increased risks to worker and public health > and safety. > > 3. LANL's Appaloosa program would be expanded. Appaloosa is the code-name > for a hydrodynamic test program wherein high explosives and surrogate bomb > cores, called pits, (including with plutonium 242) are detonated in > above-ground tanks. > > 4. DOE will consolidate its hydrodynamic program at LANL, although the > Clinton administration has been informed that LLNL will still keep its > hydrodynamic program, including the new "Contained Firing Facility" now > under construction at Livermore. > > 5. A huge proton accelerator is to be constructed at LANL. > > 6. DOE will conduct additional underground subcritical nuclear tests for > the W80 and W88 programs. The briefing papers also indicate that > additional subcritical tests will involve "weapon relevant shapes." > > 7. DOE will move the ATLAS and Pegasus programs from LANL to Nevada. > (ATLAS is a new fusion facility under construction at LANL, and Pegasus an > older machine.) These two programs would be used to develop the technology > allowing for "explosively driven pulse power for future SNM [special > nuclear material - i.e., plutonium] experiments in U1A." U1A is the > underground complex of tunnels and rooms where subcritical nuclear > experiments are now detonated at the Nevada Test Site. > > 8. DOE will build a new "infrastructure for weapons microsystems > components ... MESA" at Sandia Lab in New Mexico, supporting "future AF&F > (arming, firing and fusing) needs." This aspect of the plan is reported to > cost $300 million. > > Although these are major moves and expansions of nuclear weapons > activities, the DOE has failed to discuss technical or policy > justifications for them. DOE also fails to discuss overall proliferation > impacts, costs or environmental impacts. Nor does DOE indicate any > intended public disclosure or process for public review and comment. > > This plan has gone forward in secret, and the public has been > inappropriately excluded from any knowledge or decision-making role. > Earlier this year, DOE and Livermore Lab held a public meeting at which > officials testified that no major changes were contemplated to Livermore > Lab's operations over the next 5 years. Based on this, DOE and Livermore > Lab decided on March 10, 1999 not to conduct a new site-wide environmental > review. In view the above proposed changes, it is difficult for us not to > think that DOE and LLNL may have acted in bad faith at that public meeting. > > We are outraged by these decisions and demand that a new Environmental > Impact Statement (EIS) for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory with > full public hearings and disclosure be part of the process to decide > whether any funding should be requested/expended. Certainly, this EIS must > be done before any of these changes occur, and before anything is moved. > There should be no repeat of the situation at Paducah and Portsmouth, where > both workers and the public were misled for years, and revelations about > plutonium contamination are just now becoming public. > > Further, the DOE has completed a Stockpile Stewardship & Management > Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (SSM PEIS) which is silent on > this plan. In fact, some of the SSM PEIS' siting elements actually ran > contrary to the latest DOE scheme described above. OMB is on record > stating that DOE must undertake a revision of the SSM PEIS before moving > forward. DOE, however, has already requested initial monies from Congress > to begin, according to a Senate report. It appears to us that a > Supplemental EIS, with public hearings held across the country, is > necessary as well. > > We hope to have your response in the very near future. If you should have > any questions, please do not hesitate in contacting us. > > Sincerely, > > Marylia Kelley > Executive Director, > Tri-Valley CAREs > > Robert Gould, M.D. > President, > Physicians for Social Responsibility, Greater San Francisco Bay Area > > Jacqueline Cabasso > Executive Director, > Western States Legal Foundation > > Marylia Kelley > Tri-Valley CAREs > (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) > 2582 Old First Street > Livermore, CA USA 94550 > > - is our web site, please visit us there! > > (925) 443-7148 - is our phone > (925) 443-0177 - is our fax > > Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley > CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear > Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the > international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear > weapons. > > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. Marylia, Add my name - Helen Caldicott Founding President Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Founder Womens Action for NUclear Disarmament - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) McReynolds' Press Conference Speech 9/7/99 Date: 21 Sep 1999 01:54:10 EDT Looking over this post from my campaign manager, I realized it was an item that did fit the guidelines of Abolition 2000 USA - if nominated by the Socialist Party this October, I would be one candidate helping to push others to take similar stands. Read down to the discussion of nuclear weapons. Peace, David McReynolds [David McReynolds formally declared his candidacy for the Socialist Party's nomination for President of the United States on September 7, 1999. The following is the text of his speech.] Let me keep these remarks brief, so that if there are questions there will be time to ask them. Let me note that while I think the media has every right to ask questions about the personal life of a candidate, as it might relate to job performance, and while I am prepared to respond fully to questions about any past or current drug use, legal or illegal, the media missed the key point about Governor Bush and the allegations he may once have used cocaine. Anyone seeking the nomination for President on the Democratic or Republican ticket must raise so much money that the real question is not the drugs used in the past, but, to put it bluntly, which corporate forces have bought and paid for the candidate. Neither Governor Bush nor Vice President Al Gore are free agents. They represent corporate America. If anyone wants to know what interests I represent I respond simply that if I'm nominated at the Socialist Party convention in October I will represent a group of concerned citizens with little in the way of financial resources. I will represent their hopes, and the platform and beliefs of a Party, which I joined in 1951, while a student at UCLA. And I will work to limit the kind of obscenity we see today when the corporations openly bid for the candidates. Campaign financing laws must be enacted that provide a level playing field, with no special favors to large donors. It is good that a range of views be offered to the electorate. There is very little to choose between Bush and Gore, very little real debate of substance on our domestic and foreign policy. The arena of debate must be broadened, the range of issues discussed extended. That would be my job as the candidate of the Socialist Party. Having seen our government engage in wars without Congressional approval, in open violation of the UN Charter, whether in Panama under George Bush, or in Kosova under Bill Clinton. I believe this nation must not go to war without the full consent of Congress, after debate. The theory of Executive Wars must end. Watching our military with its almost hallucinatory budget, I urge the Pentagon budget be cut immediately by 50%, with radical further cuts each year. We face no military threat from our immediate neighbors, Mexico and Canada, and are protected by vast oceans from invasion. The American military now extends into every area of our lives, and I pledge to resist the militarization of this nation, this obscene continuation of a Garrison State so sharply denounced by the late President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he left office and warned of the military/industrial complex. Given the ads taken out in the New York Times by concerned business leaders worried over the misuse of our tax funds for unneeded military spending, my position only seems radical because neither major party is prepared to speak to it. Nuclear weapons remain a grave danger and we must strive for an immediate end of all further nuclear testing and take immediate steps to scale down our own arsenals of nuclear weapons even as we engage with other nuclear powers to reduce theirs until we have zero nuclear weapons, and a sense of trust and verification which will give us assurance that no new weapons are tested and the list of nuclear states diminishes to zero rather than expanding to disaster. I call for the closing of all foreign U.S. bases, including the base in Guantanamo, Cuba. I call for the end of sanctions against Iraq, Cuba and Libya. Even as we meet today, people are being killed in East Timor by the government of Indonesia, armed and supported by the United States. And even as we appeal to President Clinton to take immediate action to pressure the Indonesian government to respect the accords on self-determination, we also know that from the time of Henry Kissinger until today, the United States has been a patron of Indonesia, and has close military and economic ties to it. We pledge to oppose with our full might any further trade in arms by this government. The manufacture and sale of land mines, military air craft, guns, etc., must end immediately. The war on drugs has resulted in an explosion of our prison population so that we now have the greatest number of prisoners of any nation in the world - something in which none of us should take pride. We have seen the creation of virtual prison industrial complex in which the ultimate victims are those men and women jailed, their families and friends, and the society which pays vast sums on incarceration rather than treatment and rehabilitation. In the city of New York it is easier to be arrested for the sale of heroin than it is to gain admittance to the drug rehabilitation programs. The war on drugs is a costly, inhumane failure which has caused vast human suffering here, and resulted in exporting American problems to Latin America. Most drugs should either, as with marijuana, be decriminalized, or as with heroin, be available to addicts from a medical doctor. There is talk of raising the minimum wage - I am more inclined to suggest a maximum wage in which the lowest wage paid in any industry would be not less than one fourth the highest wage paid to any CEO in that industry. There is a gross injustice when corporate leaders pull down wages in the millions of dollars while working American families often must work two jobs to keep food on the table. It is urgent that the benefits of working Americans not be cut. They have declined sharply. We demand that the benefits of American workers be defended against every effort by the corporate structure to slice them. We need a single payer system of medical care now. We are the only industrial nation which does not have such a program, so that ordinary people are often uncovered, or only partially covered, for the most basic health needs. We have seen a spread of violent extremism and racism as well as a disturbing level of violence on the campus. The Socialist Party will continue to defend the full range of civil liberties and the Bill of Rights, as we have done over the decades. But the right to own firearms is not protected by the Bill of Rights, which refers to the right of each state to maintain a militia - not to the right of any citizen to own a loaded automatic weapon. I will work for a system of lincensed gun ownership and an end in the sale of automatic weapons which cannot meet any reasonable standard for hunting. The National Rifle Association may control Congress but it does not control the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party will speak out against racism in any form, as we move toward a new century in which before the year 2050 non-whites will constitute a majority of our people. We will also speak out against police brutality and demand independent citizen's review boards. Events in this very city have indicated the dangers of a police force out of control, commanded by a Mayor who shows signs of mental instability. While I have listed some of the immediate demands, some of the urgent issues which I hope to address, let no one think the Socialist Party has abandoned the goal of social ownership of the commanding heights of industry, combined with democratic control, and decentralization and community involvement. The corporation is an artificial creation which has no inherent rights. If we won control of Congress we would place such vast corporate structures under social ownership. Capitalism as we know it is not a vision of the future in which we can take comfort, in which all things have a price, and all things are on the market place. For us, the unit of measurement is the human being, not the rate of profit. Just as we seek an economic system which draws on our best instincts. There is much in America which is good, much that we are proud of - including the long struggle for labor's rights, civil rights, women's rights, gay and lesbian rights, etc. Some of the proudest moments in our history, moments which helped to define us as a democracy, have been when the citizens opposed their own government when it was wrong, whether that was opposition in the South by African Americans fighting segregation, or the mass peace movement which helped end the Vietnam War. We honor that history of struggle which has made our democracy fuller and freer. We will continue to take part in that struggle, viewing our society as one in which there is a conflict between workers and owners. We speak for the working class. There are many problems still facing us, as our society seems overwhelmed by raw materialism, too often devoid of any values beyond consumerism. Let me say that there is a spiritual dimension to our common life, a dimension of respect for each person, a dimension of striving to fulfill our own lives and of helping others, not in terms of cash flow but of lives well and truly lived, lives engaged in a sense of justice and community. That is what the Socialist Party stands for and, if nominated, I will seek to represent it across the nation, in the tradition of Eugene Victor Debs, Norman Thomas, Michael Harrington and Frank Zeidler. We want an America in which working people can fully and responsibly share in democratic planning and control of their own economy. The words of Eugene Victor Debs are as revolutionary today as they were when spoken to a court in Ohio during World War I - they ring with biblical force calling us to tasks not yet done: "While there is a working class I am in it, while there is a criminal element I am of it, while there is a soul in prison I am not free." -- Shaun Richman Young People's Socialist League 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012 phone/fax: 1(212)982-4586 http://sp-usa.org/ypsl McReynolds 2000 Committee "Building a Movement for Jobs, Peace and Freedom" P.O. Box 91, Floral Park, NY 10012 phone/fax: 1(212)780-9405 http://votesocialist.org/ - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Norm and Karen Cohen Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Urgent! Sign-on now! Stop DOE weapons plan! Date: 21 Sep 1999 13:04:51 -0400 Hi, marylia, sign on the Coalition for Peace and Justice, 321 Barr Ave, L= inwood NJ 08221 609-601-8583, Norm Cohen Executive Director peace norm marylia wrote: > Hi. We NEED your sign-on to help stop the U.S. Dept. of Energy from > INCREASING its nuclear weapons activities and moving nuclear material a= nd > programs around between the weapons labs and the test site. Please take= a > moment to read the LETTER and initiate whatever action is required to g= et > your group's sign on. IT IS IMPORTANT. Then, email me your name, title, > group name and full address before Sept. 28. Thank you, Marylia Kelley= , > executive director, Tri-Valley CAREs. > > PS -- If you are among the 35 groups that have already signed the lette= r -- > thank you! If not, please sign on today! We need about 100 groups! Plea= se > help! Read on... > > September 28, 1999 [Prospective send date] > > US Department of Energy > 1000 Independence Avenue, SW > Washington, D.C. 20585 > > Attn: Gilbert Weigand, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Weapons Research = & > Development > > Re: Department of Energy's Plans for Major Changes in Nuclear Weapons C= omplex > > Dear Mr. Weigand, > > We are writing on behalf of Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a > Radioactive Environment), Western States Legal Foundation and Physician= s > for Social Responsibility - Greater San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. Al= l > three organizations have a long-time interest in public health and safe= ty > issues concerning Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and oth= er > facilities within the nuclear weapons complex. > > Tri-Valley CAREs is a 16-year-old environmental group that "watchdogs" > LLNL. Among other things, it holds two US Environmental Protection Age= ncy > Technical Assistance Grants to monitor environmental cleanup at LLNL. > Western States Legal Foundation has been deeply involved in monitoring > nuclear weapons programs and environmental activities at LLNL since 198= 2. > The San Francisco Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility has k= ept > watch over LLNL worker and community issues for a number of years. > > Further, this letter represents the interests and concerns of the publi= c > interest organizations who have joined us in sending this letter, liste= d on > signatory pages that follow. > > We have recently obtained information concerning the Department of Ener= gy's > (DOE) plans to reconfigure, expand, enhance and/or move certain aspects= of > the nuclear weapons program carried out by the various facilities withi= n > the nuclear weapons complex. This information is from briefing papers, > obtained from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which we > understand you used to brief high-level Clinton administration official= s on > the DOE plan. > > Changes proposed by DOE include the following: > > 1. DOE will "move promptly" the W80 nuclear warhead workload from Los > Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to Lawrence Livermore National > Laboratory. This would involve more plutonium pit work at LLNL. The > briefing papers reveal what appear to be changes in the warhead that go > far, far beyond any maintenance procedures that may be necessary to > preserve the existing weapon's "safety" or "reliability" while it remai= ns > in the arsenal. > > 2. DOE will also "move promptly" the plutonium pit surveillance missio= n > and workload from LANL to LLNL. DOE expressly says that one goal is t= o > give Livermore Lab more plutonium workload, which means that pits from > weapons, in addition to those of the W80 program discussed in #1 above, > will come to Livermore. Further, the plan suggests that some or all of= the > surveillance work for each of the US weapon types will come to Livermor= e > Lab, which means nuclear weapons components would be taken apart and > "destructively tested" at Livermore. > > Concerning both # 1 and #2 above, Livermore Lab already has about 880 > pounds of plutonium, and also has a history of accidents, spills, leaks= and > plutonium safety violations. In fact, its plutonium facility was recen= tly > shut down on the recommendation of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safet= y > Board, and is only now "restarting." We are worried that the DOE's > proposed changes will result in increased risks to worker and public he= alth > and safety. > > 3. LANL's Appaloosa program would be expanded. Appaloosa is the code-= name > for a hydrodynamic test program wherein high explosives and surrogate = bomb > cores, called pits, (including with plutonium 242) are detonated in > above-ground tanks. > > 4. DOE will consolidate its hydrodynamic program at LANL, although the > Clinton administration has been informed that LLNL will still keep its > hydrodynamic program, including the new "Contained Firing Facility" now > under construction at Livermore. > > 5. A huge proton accelerator is to be constructed at LANL. > > 6. DOE will conduct additional underground subcritical nuclear tests f= or > the W80 and W88 programs. The briefing papers also indicate that > additional subcritical tests will involve "weapon relevant shapes." > > 7. DOE will move the ATLAS and Pegasus programs from LANL to Nevada. > (ATLAS is a new fusion facility under construction at LANL, and Pegasus= an > older machine.) These two programs would be used to develop the techno= logy > allowing for "explosively driven pulse power for future SNM [special > nuclear material - i.e., plutonium] experiments in U1A." U1A is the > underground complex of tunnels and rooms where subcritical nuclear > experiments are now detonated at the Nevada Test Site. > > 8. DOE will build a new "infrastructure for weapons microsystems > components ... MESA" at Sandia Lab in New Mexico, supporting "future AF= &F > (arming, firing and fusing) needs." This aspect of the plan is reporte= d to > cost $300 million. > > Although these are major moves and expansions of nuclear weapons > activities, the DOE has failed to discuss technical or policy > justifications for them. DOE also fails to discuss overall proliferati= on > impacts, costs or environmental impacts. Nor does DOE indicate any > intended public disclosure or process for public review and comment. > > This plan has gone forward in secret, and the public has been > inappropriately excluded from any knowledge or decision-making role. > Earlier this year, DOE and Livermore Lab held a public meeting at which > officials testified that no major changes were contemplated to Livermor= e > Lab's operations over the next 5 years. Based on this, DOE and Livermo= re > Lab decided on March 10, 1999 not to conduct a new site-wide environmen= tal > review. In view the above proposed changes, it is difficult for us not= to > think that DOE and LLNL may have acted in bad faith at that public meet= ing. > > We are outraged by these decisions and demand that a new Environmental > Impact Statement (EIS) for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory w= ith > full public hearings and disclosure be part of the process to decide > whether any funding should be requested/expended. Certainly, this EIS = must > be done before any of these changes occur, and before anything is moved. > There should be no repeat of the situation at Paducah and Portsmouth, w= here > both workers and the public were misled for years, and revelations abou= t > plutonium contamination are just now becoming public. > > Further, the DOE has completed a Stockpile Stewardship & Management > Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (SSM PEIS) which is silent = on > this plan. In fact, some of the SSM PEIS' siting elements actually ran > contrary to the latest DOE scheme described above. OMB is on record > stating that DOE must undertake a revision of the SSM PEIS before movin= g > forward. DOE, however, has already requested initial monies from Congr= ess > to begin, according to a Senate report. It appears to us that a > Supplemental EIS, with public hearings held across the country, is > necessary as well. > > We hope to have your response in the very near future. If you should h= ave > any questions, please do not hesitate in contacting us. > > Sincerely, > > Marylia Kelley > Executive Director, > Tri-Valley CAREs > > Robert Gould, M.D. > President, > Physicians for Social Responsibility, Greater San Francisco Bay Area > > Jacqueline Cabasso > Executive Director, > Western States Legal Foundation > > Marylia Kelley > Tri-Valley CAREs > (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) > 2582 Old First Street > Livermore, CA USA 94550 > > - is our web site, please visit us there! > > (925) 443-7148 - is our phone > (925) 443-0177 - is our fax > > Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Va= lley > CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear > Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of t= he > international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear > weapons. > > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.= com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. -- Coalition for Peace and Justice and the UNPLUG Salem Campaign; 321 Barr A= ve., Linwood, NJ 08221; 609-601-8537 or 609-601-8583 (8583: fax, answer machin= e) UNPLUG SALEM WEBSITE: http://members.aol.com/robvfp/page4/index.htm COAL= ITION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE WEBSITE: http://members.bellatlantic.net/~norco/ = The Coalition for Peace and Justice is a chapter of Peace Action. NEXT COALITION MEETING: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13TH, 7:30 PM, AC FRIENDS MEETINGHOUSE. PITNEY RD, ABSECON. GUEST SPEAKER: REV. BOB MOORE, COALITIO= N FOR PEACE ACTION, TOPIC: PEACE AND JUSTICE IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM =93We have two lives, the one we=92re given, and the other one we make=94= (Mary Chapin Carpenter) =93Where do we go from here - chaos or community?=94 (Martin Luther King) - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: erippy@jps.net Subject: (abolition-usa) Micheal Moore Citizens' Weapons Inspection? Date: 21 Sep 1999 13:52:17 -0700 I ran across this on Micheal Moore's page on the Bravo TV page : MM WEAPONS INSPECTION TEAM Michael Moore enlists the help of an Iraqi cab driver from New York to inspect America's weapons of destruction. - FRIDAY, 9/10 @ 10:00pm ET & 11:00pm PT -- there is a page called 'clips' which purports to contain (Quicktime(r) ?) video clips including one titled 'MM WEAPONS INSPECTION TEAM' which has a film-frame icon with a caption to its right saying, '1. As usual, if you want to get something done, you have to do it yourself...' and clicking this downloads a file which I can't,run! But given Micheal Moore's satiric genius I'm glad to see it turned on our WMD. I hope he visited Los Alamos. Has anybody heard of this or seen the show? -- Ed Rippy Only human will and action can create history and open up new horizons. -- Daisaku Ikeda, in his peace proposal submitted to the UN in 1999 - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jan Harwood Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR Date: 21 Sep 1999 14:30:37 -0700 I haven't received my paper invitation yet, but consider me registered; I'm sending a check today for $50, registration and a small contribution. Thanks and peace, Jan - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Urgent! Sign-on now! Stop DOE weapons plan! Date: 21 Sep 1999 20:02:22 -0400 Hi Marylia, Please sign me on if I'm not on already. Thanks Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Sally Light" Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEARWEAPONS-NATIONAL MEETING Date: 21 Sep 1999 20:09:07 +0100 Looking forward to seeing you, Jan. Peace ... Sally ---------- > From: Jan Harwood > To: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com > Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEARWEAPONS-NATIONAL MEETING > Date: Tuesday, September 21, 1999 10:30 PM > > I haven't received my paper invitation yet, but consider me registered; I'm > sending a check today for $50, registration and a small contribution. > Thanks and peace, Jan > > > > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) BERLIN Y2K DECLARATION Date: 22 Sep 1999 11:44:45 +1000 This declaration was passed unanimously at a Y2K WASH-World Atomic Safety Holiday Citizens' Y2K-Nuclear Forum in Berlin, Germany, on 20 September 1999. The Forum was attended by representatives from NGOs in Japan, Germany, USA, Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France. It was presented to the delegates at the G8 special conference on Y2K contingency planning in Berlin today, Sept. 21st. _____________________________________________________ Berlin Declaration International Citizens' Y2K-Nuclear Forum Y2K WASH - World Atomic Safety Holiday Berlin, Germany - 20 September 1999 The Occasion: The G-8 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK, US), recognizing their responsibility to the world community, are holding the G-8 Seminar on Contingency Planning for Y2K in Berlin on September 21 and 22, 1999. The title of this meeting indicates that the G-8 nations have accepted that Y2K compliance cannot be accomplished in time for the Year 2000 rollover, and that contingency plans are essential. Citizens around the world are concerned that the potential effect of Y2K-related system failures on nuclear facilities poses serious threats to the world community and to the life of the planet. Therefore, we convened an International Citizens' Y2K-Nuclear Forum the day before the G-8 meeting to give voice to our concerns about this critical issue. We, the participants in this forum, recognizing that governments derive their authority from their citizens, require that the G-8 place on the meeting agenda the Y2K threats to the nuclear infrastructure. We forward the following conclusions to the G-8 representatives, and call upon them to be implemented immediately. The Context: The nuclear age is nearly as old as the computer age. Nuclear weapons and their delivery systems, as well as nuclear power plants and other nuclear installations, rely on computers. 4,400 of the world's nuclear weapons are still held on "hair trigger alert." Early warning and communication systems are liable to be severely affected by Y2K, thereby risking a misreading of nuclear weapons data, and increasing the danger of an unauthorized or accidental use of nuclear weapons. The world's 1000+ nuclear facilities (1) depend on electrical energy to operate. As reported by regulatory agencies and independent experts, a failure in computer or embedded microchip systems may cause a breakdown in energy transmission, with consequences that could result in a nuclear accident, or even a meltdown. (2) The generators that supply back-up power for nuclear installations depend on fuel supplies that may also be interrupted by the Y2K bug. The Risk: No one knows what will happen on or after January 1, 2000 or beyond that date because of the Y2K problem. The potential for humanitarian and ecological disasters is self-evident. We cannot afford to take risks that could prove catastrophic and irreversible. While some contingency plans have been initiated, the public needs documented evidence that they will be safe from such potential catastrophes. The Solution: We therefore call upon all governments, the international nuclear industry, and all citizens to support a World Atomic Safety Holiday, and to work together to implement the following steps: 1. Take all nuclear weapons off "hair trigger alert" from 1 December 1999 onwards, and remove all nuclear warheads from their delivery systems so that they cannot be launched immediately. 2. Shut down all nuclear installations by 1 December 1999, and not bring them back online after 1 January 2000, until they are tested, transparently verified for Y2K compliance, and the electrical grid stability is re-established. 3. Provide reliable and redundant back-up systems, with adequate fuel supplies for worst case scenarios, in every nuclear installation by 1 December 1999, to ensure that critical nuclear facilities are stable and under control. 4. Ensure that contingency plans are in place in every community where a nuclear facility is located. To prepare for "worst case scenarios", we call on local governments in communities with nuclear installations to set up emergency procedures that inform and protect the public, and to assess the companies operating the nuclear facilities for the costs of these precautions. These procedures should include but not be limited to: (a) producing and distributing leaflets educating the public about the danger to the community of nuclear accidents, the long-term dangers to health of radioactive material in the environment, and recommended actions in case of meltdown or accident to minimize the danger to health. (b) supplying iodine tablets and instructions for their use to every household, with storage in central areas for rapid distribution in emergencies. (c) conducting evacuation exercises on a regular basis, and regularly testing emergency services, such as hospital emergency rooms and fire department procedures. 5. Institute a worldwide moratorium on transport of all nuclear materials from 1 December 1999. 6. To monitor, assess, and make recommendations about the unfolding global situation, provide for ongoing expert discussion and evaluation between G-8- appointed and independent Y2K-Nuclear Forum experts, to be disseminated through the internet and printed media. The Opportunity: The challenge of meeting the Y2K problem offers the opportunity for all of us to face the reality of the nuclear dangers we live with every day. Y2K shows us that our control over technology is limited and accidents can happen; governments need to be mindful of the ever-present threat of nuclear accidents in the future, as long as nuclear weapons and nuclear energy continue to exist. Together in the next days and weeks, we can take steps to create a safer world, provide for our common security and minimize the risk of nuclear catastrophe. "Probably one out of five days I wake up in a cold sweat thinking [Y2K] is much bigger than we think, and then the other four days I think maybe we really are on top of it. Everything is so interconnected, it's hard to know with any precision whether we have got it fixed." --U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre (1) 433 commercial nuclear power plants, 591 research reactors, all nuclear fuel facilities containing significant quantities of nuclear material, and all nuclear-powered submarines. (2) The French Atomic Energy Commission reports that it will keep most of its nuclear facilities shut down through the Year 2000 rollover until 3 January 2000; in the U.S. the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported in July 1999 that 6 of the 8 major fuel cycle facilities in the U.S. will be offline at the rollover. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Timothy Bruening Subject: (abolition-usa) Paying UN Dues Date: 22 Sep 1999 01:33:32 -0700 (PDT) Since Clinton hasn't yet been able to persuade Congress to appropriate the funds needed to pay our back dues to the UN, I ask the following question: Is there anyway to pay the dues without Congress' specific approval? Could the Treasury Secretary divert the necessary funds via creative accounting? - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: nukeresister@igc.org (Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa) Subject: (abolition-usa) FREE VANUNU VIGILS WORLDWIDE Date: 22 Sep 1999 19:59:47 -0700 PLEASE POST On September 30, 1986, Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu was kidnapped from Rome and taken to Israel for a secret trial. He was convicted on charges of treason and espionage and has been in Ashkelon Prison ever since. There will be world-wide vigils on September 30 demanding the immediate and unconditional release of this prisoner of conscience in the following cities - Jerusalem, Toronto, Sydney, Wellington, Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, London, Leicester, Sheffield, Washington, D.C., Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Houston. If you live in or near one of the locations, please join in calling for Vanunu's freedom! For more information about Mordechai Vanunu and the international campaign for his release, please visit the following websites: www.nonviolence.org/vanunu www.vanunu.freeserve.co.uk - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space Subject: (abolition-usa) NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter believed to be lost (fwd) Date: 23 Sep 1999 22:55:57 -0400 (EDT) Bruce K. Gagnon Coordinator Global Network PO Box 90083, Gainesville, Fl 32607 Web site: http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk/ (352) 337-9274 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >>From news-owner@www.jpl.nasa.gov Thu Sep 23 15:24:33 1999 >Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 12:21:21 -0700 (PDT) >From: JPLNews@jpl.nasa.gov >Subject: NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter believed to be lost >Reply-To: news-owner@www.jpl.nasa.gov >To: undisclosed-recipients:; > >MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE >JET PROPULSION LABORATORY >CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY >NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION >PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011 >http://www.jpl.nasa.gov > > >FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 23, 1999 > >NASA'S MARS CLIMATE ORBITER BELIEVED TO BE LOST > > NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter is believed to be lost due to a >suspected navigation error. > > Early this morning at about 2 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time the >orbiter fired its main engine to go into orbit around the planet. >All the information coming from the spacecraft leading up to that >point looked normal. The engine burn began as planned five >minutes before the spacecraft passed behind the planet as seen >from Earth. Flight controllers did not detect a signal when the >spacecraft was expected to come out from behind the planet. > > "We had planned to approach the planet at an altitude of >about 150 kilometers (93 miles). We thought we were doing that, >but upon review of the last six to eight hours of data leading up >to arrival, we saw indications that the actual approach altitude >had been much lower. It appears that the actual altitude was >about 60 kilometers (37 miles). We are still trying to figure out >why that happened," said Richard Cook, project manager for the >Mars Surveyor Operations Project at NASA's Jet Propulsion >Laboratory. "We believe that the minimum survivable altitude for >the spacecraft would have been 85 kilometers (53 miles)." > > "If in fact we have lost the spacecraft it is very serious, >but it is not devastating to the Mars Surveyor Program as a >whole. The program is flexible enough to allow us to recover the >science return of Mars Climate Orbiter on a future mission. This >is not necessarily science lost; it is science delayed," said Dr. >Carl Pilcher, science director for Solar System Exploration at >NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. "We have a robust program to >explore Mars that involves launching on average one mission per >year for at least a decade. It began with the launch of Mars >Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor in 1996, continued with Mars >Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander and will be followed by >more missions in 2001, 2003 and 2005. In fact, Mars Polar Lander >will arrive in just over two months and its mission is completely >independent of the Mars Climate Orbiter. The science return of >that mission won't be affected." > > Flight controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in >Pasadena, CA and Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, CO will >continue their efforts to locate the spacecraft through the Deep >Space Network during the next several hours. A special >investigation team has been formed by JPL to further assess the >situation. > > Mars Climate Orbiter is one of a series of missions in a >long-term program of Mars exploration known as the Mars Surveyor >Program that is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for >NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is a >division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. > > ##### >MH 99-080 9/23/99 >--------------------------------------------------------------- >You are subscribed to JPL's news mailing list. To unsubscribe, >please send an e-mail to JPLNews@jpl.nasa.gov and in the body >of the message include the following line. > >unsubscribe news > >Please do not reply to this e-mail. >For help, send a message to listmaster@www.jpl.nasa.gov. > - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bob Tiller Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Paying UN Dues Date: 24 Sep 1999 16:58:25 -0400 There are major barriers to such a step, both legal and political. It's never going to happen. Bob Tiller Timothy Bruening wrote: > Since Clinton hasn't yet been able to persuade Congress to appropriate the > funds needed to pay our back dues to the UN, I ask the following question: > Is there anyway to pay the dues without Congress' specific approval? Could > the Treasury Secretary divert the necessary funds via creative accounting? > > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Timothy Bruening Subject: (abolition-usa) 33 Year-old Yellow-Green Date: 26 Sep 1999 20:54:01 -0700 (PDT) Dear Peaceniks: Today, I am a 33 Year Old Yellow-Green. I have a Yellow Belt in Taekwondo Karate, and I am a member of the Green Party. I am also 12,053 days old. Sincerely, Tim. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bob Tiller Subject: (abolition-usa) Job announcement Date: 27 Sep 1999 15:51:35 -0400 JOB ANNOUNCEMENT Physicians for Social Responsibility, a national membership organization committed to the abolition of nuclear weapons, is seeking an Associate Director of Security Programs, who will have responsibilities in two broad areas: 1. Research and Policy: *Provide research and expertise on a broad range of nuclear weapons issues, including: plutonium disposition, cleanup of DOE's nuclear weapons complex, nuclear waste disposition, nuclear weapons-related public health matters, the Stockpile Stewardship program, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, nonproliferation, de-alerting, and the ABM treaty. *Monitor and report on legislative matters and executive branch developments in issue areas. *Prepare fact sheets, articles and other materials for decision-makers and for activists. *Assist in developing action strategies and advocacy initiatives. *Conduct special projects. 2. Organizing and Education: *Enlarge and strengthen PSR's activist network on nuclear issues. *Produce educational materials for activists and chapters, including voter education materials and a bimonthly newsletter. *Maintain regular communication with PSR chapters, activists and physician experts. *Mobilize activists for action. *Assist in coordinating national advocacy campaigns. *Maintain and update the nuclear portion of PSR's website. *Assist in drafting media statements. *Assist in planning and organizing conferences, training programs and other education events. Qualifications: -Commitment to abolition of nuclear weapons -Knowledge of nuclear weapons issues -Experience in working with grassroots activists -Strong writing and speaking skills -Ability to handle multiple tasks and to meet deadlines -Ability to work both independently and cooperatively -Minimum Bachelor's degree, Master's degree preferred -Minimum of three years of relevant experience PSR encourages applications from women and minorities. Full benefits package. Salary negotiable depending on expereience. To apply, send resume to Robert Tiller, Physicians for Social Responsibility, 1101 14th St. N.W., Washington D.C. 20005. E-mail - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: erippy@jps.net Subject: (abolition-usa) Michael Moore's weapons inspection Date: 27 Sep 1999 12:56:47 -0700 As fate would have it, a friend of a friend recorded the 'Awful Truth' episode in question and it's heartening -- I think he has a pretty large following. On his show he got two Arab- Americans to go w/ him to various bases (he rented a helicopter & flew over a sumbarine base when they wouldn't let him in on the ground). He did get in to a chem wpn storehouse which the PR people admitted had enough of the same stuff we were looking for in Iraq to kill everyone in the Mideast 'if applied properly.' He also got some good shots of US officials when he tried to show them his findings. As his punchline goes, 'It's ok to inspect weapons of mass destruction as long as they're somebody else's.' I'll see if I can get copies of this if anyone interested or maybe someone can get the clips from www.bravotv.com & sucessfully use them. -- Ed Rippy By the end of the millenium 5 men controled the world's media. And the people rejoiced, because their TVs told them to. -- Michael Moore - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: hcaldic Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Job announcement Date: 27 Sep 1999 15:01:04 -0400 Bob Tiller wrote: > > JOB ANNOUNCEMENT > > Physicians for Social Responsibility, a national membership organization > committed to the abolition of nuclear weapons, is seeking an Associate > Director of Security Programs, who will have responsibilities in two > broad areas: > > 1. Research and Policy: > *Provide research and expertise on a broad range of nuclear weapons > issues, including: plutonium disposition, cleanup of DOE's nuclear > weapons complex, nuclear waste disposition, nuclear weapons-related > public health matters, the Stockpile Stewardship program, the > Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, nonproliferation, de-alerting, and the > ABM treaty. > *Monitor and report on legislative matters and executive branch > developments in issue areas. > *Prepare fact sheets, articles and other materials for > decision-makers and for activists. > *Assist in developing action strategies and advocacy initiatives. > *Conduct special projects. > > 2. Organizing and Education: > *Enlarge and strengthen PSR's activist network on nuclear issues. > *Produce educational materials for activists and chapters, > including voter education materials and a bimonthly newsletter. > *Maintain regular communication with PSR chapters, activists and > physician experts. > *Mobilize activists for action. > *Assist in coordinating national advocacy campaigns. > *Maintain and update the nuclear portion of PSR's website. > *Assist in drafting media statements. > *Assist in planning and organizing conferences, training programs > and other education events. > > Qualifications: > -Commitment to abolition of nuclear weapons > -Knowledge of nuclear weapons issues > -Experience in working with grassroots activists > -Strong writing and speaking skills > -Ability to handle multiple tasks and to meet deadlines > -Ability to work both independently and cooperatively > -Minimum Bachelor's degree, Master's degree preferred > -Minimum of three years of relevant experience > > PSR encourages applications from women and minorities. > Full benefits package. Salary negotiable depending on expereience. To > apply, send resume to Robert Tiller, Physicians for Social > Responsibility, 1101 14th St. N.W., Washington D.C. 20005. E-mail > > > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. Bob, Please call me at 2026385900 ext 818 either today Monday or tomorrow afternoon, Helen Caldicott - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: S1287 Date: 27 Sep 1999 17:23:28 -0400 >Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 12:41:00 -0400 >Subject: S1287 >Priority: non-urgent >X-FC-MachineGenerated: true >To: cmep-list@lists.citizen.org >X-FC-Forwarded-From: CMEP-LIST@lists.citizen.org >From: cmep@citizen.org (cmep@citizen.org) > >Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project > >"The Nuclear Waste Policy Act Amendments of 1999" (S1287) may be considered >by the Senate as early as the week of October 5th. This legislation would >amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (amended 1987), which set in >motion a study to determine whether Yucca Mountain, Nevada, was a suitable >repository for all of the nation's nuclear waste. So far, indications are >that Yucca Mountain is unsuitable for many reasons, including frequent >nearby earthquakes and the strong possibility of contaminating the >groundwater under Yucca Mountain. The nuclear industry has been pushing for >passage of S1287, and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has said that it is >on his "short list" of bills to be considered before the end of the fall >legislative session. S1287 would make the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1996 >even worse by: > > -authorizing the federal government to take title and assume liability for >all commercial nuclear waste in the United States, including all storage >costs. This provision places the burden of paying for nuclear waste >storage, disposal, and liability squarely on the shoulders of the >taxpayers- >and takes it off of the nuclear industry. > > -allowing "backup storage" at the Yucca Mountain once construction is >authorized, or at a private licensed site. Backup storage at Yucca Mountain >or another "temporary" site will mean the absolutely needless and terribly >risky transportation of radioactive waste from 77 sites through 43 states >before a definite decision has been made regarding the permanent storage >of >radioactive waste. This bailout of the nuclear industry is unacceptable, >and >it endangers more than 50 million Americans in their homes, schools, and >churches because the waste will be travelling directly through their home >towns. > > -violating U.S. nuclear non-proliferation policy by setting up an "Office >of Spent Nuclear Fuel Research" to conduct research and development on >plutonium and > reprocessing. Both reprocessing and transmutation allow for reuse of >nuclear material. > > -preventing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from setting >"radiation safety standards"-the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) would >be responsible for setting these standards instead. In addition, the NRC >would be forbidden by law to set release limits for deadly nuclear waste or >to specifically protect groundwater resources. > >ACT NOW! > > -Contact your senators and tell them why they should OPPOSE this bill. A >sample letter follows. You can also use the sample letter as talking >points >to call your senators. > > -Contact the White House and tell President Clinton that he should VETO S >1287. As him to officially announce a veto threat. Tell him the EPA should >set radiation standards, not the NRC. Also, tell him that "backup storage" >is too similar to "interim storage". > >SAMPLE LETTER TO SENATOR.. > > >DATE > >The Honorable _____________ >United States Senate >Washington, DC 20510 > > >Dear Senator ________: > >I am writing to urge you to OPPOSE the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act >of 1999 (S 1287). This bill compounds the shortsightedness that has plagued > >our country since the nuclear age began. > >S 1287 threatens the environment and public health and safety. The waste >would travel through 43 states, exposing 50 million people to >cancer-causing >radiation. This legislation takes the authority to set radiation release >standards at the nuclear waste disposal site away from the Environmental >Protection Agency and gives it to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This >action goes against current law, and it threatens public health and the >environment because the NRC is willing to set any standard necessary to >ensure the approval of a permanent repository site. > >S 1287 places the burden of paying for the mess made by nuclear waste >generators on American taxpayers. The bill's backup storage provision >would >allow for the absolutely needless and terribly risky transportation of >nuclear waste before final approval of a permanent repository. Further, >the >costs associated with transporting the waste and cleaning up the accidents >will be borne by taxpayers. > >Finally, S 1287 violates U.S. nuclear non-proliferation policy by >establishing an office specifically to research and develop nuclear fuel >reprocessing technologies and share this information with other countries. >Developing these technologies could make reprocessed plutonium-used to make >nuclear weapons-more available. > >Please OPPOSE S 1287. Do not compound the shortsightedness of the past 50 >years. Vote against this bill, and vote for a sustainable future. Thank you >for your consideration. > >Sincerely, >(signature) > > >====================================================== >Questions about the CMEP-list can be directed to cmep@citizen.org >======================================================== > Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) Day Without the Pentagon actions October 1st & 2nd Date: 27 Sep 1999 20:26:06 EDT In a message dated 9/27/99 5:17:09 PM Eastern Daylight Time, GloryHunt@aol.com writes: ************************************ *****DAY WITHOUT THE PENTAGON****** ************************************ Join the War Resisters' League, the Socialist Party USA and others in protest against the militarist priorities of our government in this year's local Day Without the Pentagon actions. On October 1st there will be a demonstration at Draper Labs at 4pm. Draper Labs is one of the hundred largest contractors of the Pentagon. They spend millions of our tax dollars on military research for things such as missile guidance systems. This same money could be going toward hirings more teachers and educating students for a more prosperous future, or toward providing universal health care for all. We will continue the following day, October 2nd, at 1pm outside the Park Street T station. We will join the CPHR (Committee for Peace and Human Rights) in their weekly vigil for the Iraqi people (and others) suffering from US sanctions and other beligerant foreign policies. Then at 2pm we will have a march to a nearby recruiting station where we will speak out about military recruitment in public schools (ROTC and JROTC) and the false promises of job training and tuition money that are often used to lure youth into joining. -- To unsubscribe, send email to redyouth-request@debs.pinko.net with "unsubscribe" in the Subject line. Send complaints that can't be resolved by unsubscribing to doumakes@novia.net. >> - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: erippy@jps.net Subject: (abolition-usa) Re-send: Michael Moore's weapons inspections Date: 28 Sep 1999 08:27:10 -0700 -- Sorry if this is a duplicate, I got a strange 'bounce' msg & am not sure if it was from an indiv. or the list server: As fate would have it, a friend of a friend recorded the 'Awful Truth' episode in question and it's heartening -- I think he has a pretty large following. On his show he got two Arab- Americans to go w/ him to various bases (he rented a helicopter & flew over a sumbarine base when they wouldn't let him in on the ground). He did get in to a chem wpn storehouse which the PR people admitted had enough of the same stuff we were looking for in Iraq to kill everyone in the Mideast 'if applied properly.' He also got some good shots of US officials when he tried to show them his findings. As his punchline goes, 'It's ok to inspect weapons of mass destruction as long as they're somebody else's.' I'll see if I can get copies of this if anyone interested or maybe someone can get the clips from www.bravotv.com & sucessfully use them. -- Ed Rippy By the end of the millenium 5 men controled the world's media. And the people rejoiced, because their TVs told them to. -- Michael Moore - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Subject: (abolition-usa) Reminder of upcoming conference Date: 28 Sep 1999 13:10:21 -0700 (PDT) Dear Friends and Activists, This is a final reminder to return your registration form for the upcoming meeting of the US Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Please fill out the registration form included below and return to Carah Ong as soon as possible. If you have any questions or need any assistance, please feel free to contact Carah at either by phone 805-965-3443 or by email A2000@silcom.com. Thank you for your continued support and participation in this important effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons. We look forward to meeting and discussing the future of the US effort. In Peace, The Facilitator's Group US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS - NATIONAL MEETING TO: All activists who are working for the abolition of nuclear weapons and a positive peace and justice policy in the United States FROM: The Facilitator's Group and Working Group Convenors of the US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS (partial list depleted by August vacations, including but not limited to): John Burroughs, Lawyer's Committee on Nuclear Policy, New York; Jackie Cabasso and Andy Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation, California; Alan Haber, Peace and Environment Coalition for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons and Megiddo Peace Project, Michigan; Odile Haber, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, US Section; Jan Harwood, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, US Section and Abolition 2000 Coalition, Santa Cruz, California; Sally Light, Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, California; Pamela Meidell, The Atomic Mirror, California; Bob Musil and Bob Tiller, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Washington, DC; Carah Ong, Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons; Esther Pank, Peace Links, Washington, DC; Richard Salvador, Pacific Island Association of NGOs, Hawaii; Susan Schaer, Women's Action for New Directions, Washington, DC; Alice Slater, Global Resource Action Center for the Environment, New York WE CORDIALLY INVITE YOU to participate in a national meeting of the US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS which will take place on October 9, 10 and 11, 1999, in Ann Arbor, Michigan in connection with a nuclear abolition teach-in and community forum at the University of Michigan. We also encourage you to come early and stay late for the teach-in and related community forum activities! (see below) We are continuing to develop plans for a coordinated US campaign in furtherance of the MISSION STATEMENT and DECLARATION adopted at the February 1999 meeting of some 60 organizations in Santa Barbara, California, (see enclosed), and in recognition of the linkages between democracy, power and nuclear weapons. The campaign will utilize the working groups identified in Santa Barbara and resources provided by the cooperating organizations. A brief outline of the working groups is included. We encourage you to contact the convenors if you are interested in getting involved. We hope that you and your organization will join us in this unified effort to eliminate nuclear weapons and build towards a more peaceful and just future. Please return the enclosed registration form right away! If you have questions or would like to offer proposals for the agenda or the campaign's structure or activities, or if you'd like to submit a working paper, please respond to Carah Ong by September 15, if possible. A follow-up mailing is planned, which will include a meeting agenda, proposals, and final teach-in schedule. (Carah's contact information can be found on the registration form.) US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS NATIONAL MEETING SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9: 9 a.m.: Meeting activities begin; meeting continues all day. Agenda will include introductions, updates and reports, including from the working groups, and reflections on the responses of the government to questions from the community. The goal of the meeting is to lay the foundation for and develop a national campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons. A full agenda will follow in a separate mailing. An informal reception is scheduled in the evening at an historic building in downtown Ann Arbor SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10: Meeting continues all day MONDAY, OCTOBER 11/INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S DAY: 2 p.m.: Meeting ends (afternoon activity may follow) TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN COMMUNITY FORUM/TEACH-IN FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1999 12:45 p.m. - Panel: Nuclear Proliferation Peace Science Society Panelists: Russell Leng, Middlebury College; Mike Simon, University of Iowa. Moderator: J. David Singer, University of Michigan. 2:45 p.m.- Presentation: Chances of Accidental Nuclear Launch Speaker: Bruce Blair, Brookings Institution 3:30 p.m. - Presentation: Environmental and Public Health Hazards of Nuclear Weapons Production Speaker: Arjun Makhijani, Institute for Energy & Environmental Research 4:15 p.m.- Presentation: Serpent River First Nation People (tentative) 7:15 p.m.- Presentation: The Case Against Nuclear Weapons Abolition Speaker: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Hoover Institution at Stanford University 8:15 p.m.- Presentation: The Need for International Agreements to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Speaker: Merav Datan, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War 9:00 p.m.- Panel Discussion Panelists: Blair, Makhijani, Bueno de Mesquita, and Datan For information on the October 8 Community Forum: www.nuclearabolition.research.umich.edu FORUM ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS - Monday evening October 11, 7-9 p.m. at the community college. This not part of our program but a separate event hosted by Representative Lynn Rivers. Questions about the Monday evening forum should be directed to Lynn Rivers office, (734) 485-3741; ynn.rivers@mail.house.gov The local Peace and Environmental Coalition for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons is working to organize other events and activities prior to and during the weekend of October 8-10. Beginning October 4, programs are projected to include the politics of abolition, the international abolition movement, nukes in space, stockpile stewardship, new weapons, weapons and energy, ethics, the environment, affected peoples, international law and terms of an abolition treaty, low level radiation, health questions, depleted uranium, Israel, the bomb and Mordechai Vanunu, India-Pakistan, Korea, Russia, NATO, new frontiers of peace research, the science of peace, and others. Many schools and departments of the University have been asked to host programs relevant to their areas of knowledge. A film and video program is also being planned. (Suggestions welcomed.) Opportunities will be sought for the various working groups of the US CAMPAIGN to 'report to the community' the state of thought and work on particular aspects of the nuclear question, such as direct action, civil society, and indigenous people's concerns. For further information and inquiries about participation, please contact Alan Haber, (734)761-7967, megiddo@umich.edu. A fuller schedule will be circulated in our follow up letter. LODGING IN ANN ARBOR HOTEL: A limited number of rooms have been reserved at the Hampton Inn at the rate of $65 + tax per night, either single or double occupancy, including continental breakfast. A shuttle will provide transportation to and from the conference. HOME STAYS: The local coalition is arranging home stays. Those who would like to stay as a guest in the home of an Ann Arbor peace activist should contact Shana Milkie by e-mail at smilkie@mich.com or by phone at 734-332-1106. E-mail is preferred. A $25 suggested minimum donation is requested to help cover material and location expenses, although no one will be turned away for inability to contribute to conference costs. Please include a check or money order with your registration form. Make your check payable to "Abolition USA", and write "conference donation" on the memo line. US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS OCTOBER 9, 10 AND 11, 1999 MEETING REGISTRATION FORM ___ Yes, I plan to attend the meeting in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I have enclosed a check or money order for $25 and my complete registration information is below. ___ Yes, I plan to attend the meeting in Ann Arbor and am enclosing an additional contribution of $___ to help expand diversity at the meeting and defray additional meeting expenses. ___ No, I cannot attend the meeting, but enclosed is my contribution of $___ for a successful meeting and campaign launch. Name ______________________________ Organization ______________________________ Address ______________________________ ______________________________ Phone ______________________________ Email ______________________________ __ Please reserve a room for me at the group rate of $65.00 s/d at the Hampton Inn. I understand that there is limited availability at the group rate so I have provided my credit card number to reserve my room. I understand that there will be no charges to my credit card until I check into my room but there is a 72 hour cancellation policy, so I must send Carah Ong my cancellation notice at least three days prior to my scheduled arrival. ___ I would like to share a room with: (name)____________________________________________. ___ Please help me find a room mate, if possible. I plan to arrive on (date) __________ and leave on (date)__________. Please reserve my room for (number)_____ nights. Credit Card (circle one): Visa Mastercard American Express Discover Diner's Card Number ____________________________________________________ Expiration Date ___________________ Authorized Signature __________________________________________ ___ I will contact Shana Milkie by E-mail atsmilkie@mich.com or by phone at (734)332 -1106 and let her know I am interested in a home stay arranged by the local coalition of Ann Arbor peace activists. ___ I will make my own arrangements for accommodations. PLEASE RETURN THIS COMPLETED FORM, WITH YOUR VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION, TO: Carah Ong Nuclear Age Peace Foundation PMB 121, 1187 Coast Village Rd., Suite 1 Santa Barbara, California 93108 Phone 805-965-3443 Fax 805-568-0466 E- mail: A2000@silcom.com US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS MISSION STATEMENT To ensure a just, secure, healthy and sustainable world for our children, grandchildren, all future generations and all living things, we aim to educate public opinion and mobilize persistent popular pressure to move the United States government to take prompt and unequivocal actions to eliminate nuclear weapons. These actions must include halting continued development of new and modified nuclear weapons, de-alerting nuclear forces, addressing the environmental degradation and human suffering arising from testing, production, deployment and use of nuclear weapons, and undertaking negotiations with other countries on a treaty for their elimination. Our objective is nothing less than the universal, complete, verifiable, and enduring abolition of nuclear weapons. SANTA BARBARA DECLARATION From all corners of this land, representing diverse constituencies and traditions, including indigenous nations, we have come together in common cause, determined to end the threat to all life posed by nuclear weapons. We recognize that nuclear weapons and the nuclear fuel cycle have caused widespread suffering, death and environmental devastation. We further recognize that resources used for nuclear arms need to be redirected to meeting human and environmental needs. The United States bears special responsibility as the only country to use nuclear weapons in war. It continues to spend vast sums on its massive nuclear weapons complex, and its current policies would upgrade and maintain a huge nuclear arsenal far into the future. The conference has initiated a campaign tailored to address the unique obstacles in the United States to achieving nuclear weapons abolition. Our campaign builds upon the foundations laid by Abolition 2000 and other efforts to abolish nuclear arms. We commit our hearts, our spirits, and our energy to achieving a world free of nuclear weapons and invite all people of goodwill to join us. -- Santa Barbara, February 14, 1999 WHY THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN? Statement by Alan Haber, US Campaign Liaison to the Michigan Peace and Environmental Coalition for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons Our purpose in initiating and hosting this community forum, teach-in and national action meeting is to assert the relevance and urgency of public education and policy change on the nuclear question. We seek to bring the full intellectual, and knowledge resources of the university and the community generally to the consideration of the nuclear question, especially the urgency to embrace a policy change, directed to the elimination of nuclear weapons, their removal from the world's arsenals, along with all other weapons of mass destruction, as well as adopting more affirmative peacemaking policies. Leading work has gone on at the university in the study of peace and war, conflict resolution, and transformation, general systems theory, social organization, etc. an opportunity should be made available, in and of itself to showcase this work, and especially so in the context of considering changes in America's current strategic defense policies. The weapons side of the nuclear question is our first focus. Ultimately all aspects of the nuclear question are related. The University of Michigan is eminent in nuclear engineering; our previous president is a nuclear engineer. The post war idea of "atoms for peace" virtually began at the University of Michigan and continues in the Phoenix laboratories on north campus. This is an appropriate, knowledgeable environment in which to consider and debate the nuclear question. Nuclear waste is a byproduct of nuclear weapons, a well as of nuclear energy. And how to deal with nuclear waste and clean it up is a matter of national debate and made especially urgent and relevant by the continuing concern about nuclear waste and leaky kegs by Lake Michigan, and the distressed, dangerous Fermi2 plant by Lake Erie, and also the citizen initiative for restoring the Great Lakes nuclear free zone embracing the whole great lakes area in which Michigan is central. The first "teach-in" occurred at the University of Michigan, March 24, 1965, and spread the debate about foreign policy, then concerned with the Vietnam war, across the country's campuses, and then to Washington, to debate the government. The high government officials we sought to reach subsequently acknowledged in their memoirs and tapes that the questions, the inter-university committee for debate on foreign policy, as it had come to be called, were asking were the right questions and they, the government, should have faced them more honestly, and directly then. We hope this occasion also will propel debate across the country, and a continuing interrogation of the government, on why it holds to a dangerous destabilizing deterrence policy of nuclear and space age high tech weapons in violation of treaty obligations , common sense and common humanity. We believe the end of the cold war gives us a gift of time to get rid of these weapons, before they somehow or other, bring catastrophe. Holocaust still haunts the horizon. The overwhelming leadership of the United States gives us opportunity here to turn the tide. America now is the main block to adopting a comprehensive convention for the elimination of nuclear weapons. We call on the United States government to take a leadership in the world campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons. US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS WORKING GROUPS STAR WARS/ABM: This group was formed initially to respond quickly to the legislation pending at the time of the Santa Barbara meeting authorizing further research and limited deployment of an anti-ballistic missile system by the United States. Ballistic missile defense continues to be a key issue of concern for advocates of nuclear weapons abolition, due to continuing development of the system, its potential to revive a multilateral nuclear arms race, and the controversy over its possible extension in the Western Pacific. *Convenor: Janet Michelle Cuevas (Promoting Enduring Peace, New York) enduringpeace@email.msn.com ===================================================================== CIVIL SOCIETY CAMPAIGN TO ENROLL ORGANIZATIONS IN A BRIEF ABOLITION STATEMENT AND CITY DIALOGUES ON NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT WITH PROMINENT MOVERS AND SHAKERS WORKING GROUP: This working group covers several related efforts aimed at mobilizing opinion via existing groups in civil society and campaigns aimed at elected officials in municipalities. It includes various efforts to get mayors and city and town governing bodies to endorse abolition statements, as well as similar efforts aimed at non-governmental civic groups. Campaigns represented within this working group include A campaign aimed at creating discussion forums among "opinion leaders" in major cities on nuclear weapons and their abolition; a campaign aimed at convincing a wide range of civic groups to endorse an abolition statement; and the campaign to obtain endorsement of the Abolition 2000 statement by municipalities. *Convenors: Pamela Meidell (The Atomic Mirror) pmeidell@igc.org; (805)985-5073; Ed Aguilar (Lawyers Alliance for World Security, Philadelphia)(610)668-5470 ===================================================================== CONGRESSIONAL FOCUS (Originally Congress and Administration, now split in two): This working group will focus on initiatives relevant to nuclear weapons abolition in the US Congress. Examples include the pending Markey and Woolsey resolutions, aimed respectively at scaling back US nuclear weapons research and production programs and at encouraging the Administration to engage in meaningful negotiations to achieve abolition. Its work encompasses grassroots efforts to mobilize widespread attention to particular measures and issues pending in Congress. *Convenors: to be determined. ===================================================================== ADMINISTRATION FOCUS: This group will work to focus attention on the nuclear weapons policies and activities of the Executive branch, trying in particular to create forums for discussion and criticism of nuclear weapons policies. Its current initiative is a teach-in at the University of Michigan on nuclear weapons issues, with the organizers hoping to get administration officials to participate and to publicly debate critics of existing nuclear weapons policies. If the teach-in model works the hope is to extend it to other campuses. *Convenor: Alan Haber (Michigan Coalition of Peace and Environmental Organizations) megiddo@umich.edu; (734)761-7967 ==================================================================== YOUTH/CAMPUSES: This working group aims to raise the level of awareness among young people about nuclear weapons and efforts to abolish them. It will work on the teach-ins discussed in the Administration focus working group above. It will also attempt to gather and broaden the distribution of existing nuclear weapons abolition materials aimed at a youth and campus audience. *Convenor: Odile Haber (Michigan Coalition of Peace and Environmental Organizations) od4life@aol.com; (734)761-7967 DIRECT ACTION: Nonviolent direct action long has been a central part of the movement to abolish nuclear weapons. Despite a lack of media coverage, direct action continues at weapons and government facilities around the country, from the Nevada Test Site, to the weapons laboratories in Livermore, California and Los Alamos, New Mexico, to Washington D.C. and the newly opened Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, also in New Mexico. This working group will be a place for people involved in particular direct action campaigns to raise national awareness of their activities and to exchange ideas and information. It also will try to provide resources which will be broadly useful, for example nonviolence training materials and lists of nonviolence trainers. *Convenor: Matteo Ferreira (Shundahai Network) shundahai@shundahai.org; (702)647-3095 ==================================================================== INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ORGANIZING AND CONCERNS: The cycle of nuclear materials mining and nuclear weapons testing and production always has had a disproportionate impact on indigenous people world-wide. Nuclear weapons testing has occurred for the most part on the lands of indigenous peoples, without regard for their sovereign rights, and with devastating effects on people and their lands. Indigenous people have taken the lead in many parts of the globe both in making the connections between nuclear weapons and the effects of the entire cycle of nuclear materials, nuclear power, and nuclear weapons production, and in advocating for nuclear weapons abolition. This working group will provide a focus for making these voices heard both inside and outside the movement. *Convenors: Michele Xenos (Shundahai Network), shundahai@shundahai.org; (702)647-3095; Richard Salvador (Pacific Islands Association of NGOs) salvador@hawaii.edu; (818)956-8537 ==================================================================== NATO: This working group initially focused on the NATO 50th anniversary meeting in Washington, D.C. in April, and the likelihood that NATO nuclear weapons policies would be debated there. There has been interest in continuing this as a working group, since the controversy over NATO nuclear weapons policies, including a refusal to renounce first use, a potential counter-proliferation role for nuclear weapons, and the expansion of NATO's military scope to include broad out-of-area combat roles is likely to continue for a long time. *Convenors: to be determined ===================================================================== INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS AND ISSUES: This working group aims at coordinating the abolition campaign in the United States with efforts world-wide, including Abolition 2000 and other efforts in particular nations and regions to eliminate nuclear weapons. With the emergence of a new nuclear weapons and ballistic missile race in South Asia, growing controversy over possible theater and domestic ballistic missile deployments, and the stagnation of arms control negotiations, this working group will help the abolition campaign in the US remain aware of the effects US nuclear weapons and military policies have on efforts to achieve abolition in other nuclear weapons states and globally. *Convenors: Alice Slater (Global Resource Action Center for the Environment) slater@gracelinks.org; (212)726-9161; Richard Salvador (Pacific Islands Association of NGOs) salvador@hawaii.edu; (818)956-8537or 3691; David Krieger (Nuclear Age Peace Foundation) wagingpeace@napf.org; (805)965-3443 AFFECTED COMMUNITIES: Communities across the country have been affected by half a century nuclear weapons research, testing, and production. They range from workers at DOE facilities to people who live downwind from those facilities to armed services veterans exposed to nuclear tests. Many of these groups already have organized to put pressure on the Federal government to clean up the environmental damage, to perform meaningful health and environmental studies, and to provide compensation. These groups share many of our concerns, and often already are committed to abolition of nuclear weapons. This working group will focus attention on the destructive legacy of nuclear weapons, and will work to integrate these communities and their concerns into the broader campaign. *Convenor: Joseph Gerson (American Friends Service Committee) Jgerson@afsc.org; (617)661-6130 ===================================================================== RESEARCH FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF THE NUCLEAR WEAPONS COMPLEX: This group will focus on the activities of the nuclear weapons and production complex, and will explore the impacts of continuing nuclear weapons research on the global test ban and nonproliferation regime and on efforts to achieve abolition. It will also examine the overlap between nuclear weapons research technologies and other emerging arms races which affect chances for abolition, including anti-ballistic missile technologies, space weaponry, and possible next-generation nuclear weapons. The group will be both a means to coordinate research efforts and to distribute relevant information within the campaign and to a wider public. *Convenors: Jackie Cabasso (Western States Legal Foundation), wslf@earthlink.net, (510)839-5877; Sally Light (Tri-Valley CAREs), sallight@earthlink.net, (925)443-7148 ===================================================================== MEDIA/CAMPAIGN LAUNCH: This working group will be a place to develop and share media strategies. An initial focus will be efforts to coordinate a campaign launch that is cohesive and nationally visible. *Convenor: Steve Kent (Kent Communications) kentcom@highlands.com; (914)424-8382 ==================================================================== BOTTOM UP ORGANIZING (local movement building and making the connection to other issues): Through discussing and organizing around the way nuclear weapons are connected to other social ills and injustices, from local ecological devastation, distorted government spending priorities, and a culture of violence which stretches from the state to the street to global inequality, we can deepen our own understanding of what must be done to achieve abolition of nuclear weapons, as well as the understanding of those we hope to persuade. We then open up the possibility that we will become part of a larger movement which can make the changes which could make abolition possible. This working group will explore ways to make connections on the local level with other organizing efforts which share some of our concerns, and by doing so to help create the social movement needed to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons. *Convenor: Andrew Lichterman (Western States Legal Foundation), alichterman@worldnet.att.net; (510)839-5877 ==================================================================== DEMOCRACY, POWER AND NUCLEAR WEAPONRY DRAFTING COMMITTEE: This working group has taken responsibility for following through on the commitment made in Santa Barbara to develop a carefully thought out statement on the relationships between democracy, power and nuclear weapons. A draft statement is currently being prepared, to be circulated for comment in the near future. *Temporary convenor: Carah Ong (Nuclear Age Peace Foundation), A2000@silcom.com; (805) 965-3443 Carah Lynn Ong Coordinator, Abolition 2000 Nuclear Age Peace Foundation 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 Santa Barbara CA 93108 Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 Email: A2000@silcom.com Website http://www.wagingpeace.org/abolition2000 Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly receive updates about the Abolition movement. Both caucus' also provide a forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition. To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no subject) to: abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com To subscribe to the International Abolition-caucus, send a message (with no subject) to: majordomo@igc.org In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-caucus" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the International Abolition list, mail your message to: abolition-caucus@igc.apc.org - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Crockett Williams" Subject: (abolition-usa) Fw: France for Nuclear Remediation Date: 28 Sep 1999 16:04:11 -0700 One of the best actions to deal with the radioactive wastes issues including the mobile chernobyl Yucca Mountain plan is to actively work towards fruition of new technologies to remediate nuclear wastes onsite via the Low Energy Nuclear Transmutation (LENT) and Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR) processes discovered as a "flip side" to the misnamed "cold fusion" technologies still widely under development. http://www.padrak.com/ine and http://www.infinite-energy.com -----Original Message----- Cc: David Crockett Williams >Date: 15 September 1999 >From: Hal Fox >To: >Cc: "David Crockett Williams" >Subject: France for Nuclear Remediation > >Dear Ira, > >I'm sorry I don't know your last name. Thanks to an email from David >Crockett Williams, I >have been put in touch with you. > >In our laboratory we have shown that radioactive thorium (and we assume >other dissolved >radioactive materials) can be effectively removed from the solution. We >have been working >with thorium because we do not have a license from the Atomic Energy >Commission as a >"hot lab". Our measurement show that we can remove over 90 percent of >the radioactive >material from the solution in about a one-hour processing time. There >may be some >radioactive materials in the precipitates that are formed. > >We have shown analytically that in a low-pressure gas environment, we >can provide a >positive-ion accelerator that can place "positive-ions on target" at >about one million times >higher density that with an current particle-accelerator technology. We >strongly believe that >this will lead to the complete reduction of radioactive spent fuel >pellets. > >We are seeking modest funding arrangements so that we can demonstrate >this new technology >for the handling of high-level radioactive wastes. We desire to be >affiliated with a private >funding source to avoid the possible loss of rights to our intellectual >property that can occur >when working with U.S. government funds. We would appreciate further >communication >with you. Please send us your mailing address and we can forward copies >of some of our >technical papers. > >Best personal regards, Hal Fox > - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Shundahai Network Subject: (abolition-usa) Nuclear Test Thursday Date: 28 Sep 1999 16:59:36 -0700 Nuclear Test Oboe set for Thursday DOE confirms Shundahai, Gregor ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< SHUNDAHAI NETWORK "Peace and Harmony with all Creation" out,out5007 Elmhurst St., Las Vegas, NV 89108-1304 Phone:(702)647-3095 (FAX)647-9385 Email: shundahai@shundahai.org 0000,0000,fefehttp://www.shundahai.org Shundahai Network is proud to be part of: US Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons & Healing Global Wounds Alliance ><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: VANDENBERG STAR WARS DEMO REPORT (fwd) Date: 28 Sep 1999 21:37:57 -0400 (EDT) This message is in MIME format. The first part should be readable text, while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools. Send mail to mime@docserver.cac.washington.edu for more info. ---2132565244-578777658-938569077=:59199 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=us-ascii Content-ID: Bruce K. Gagnon Coordinator Global Network PO Box 90083, Gainesville, Fl 32607 Web site: http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk/ (352) 337-9274 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- ---2132565244-578777658-938569077=:59199 Content-Type: MESSAGE/RFC822 Content-ID: Content-Description: Return-Path: Received: from rly-yb04.mx.aol.com (rly-yb04.mail.aol.com [172.18.146.4]) by air-yb01.mail.aol.com (v60.28) with ESMTP; Tue, 28 Sep 1999 15:09:58 -0400 Received: from mc-qout4.whowhere.com (mc-qout4.whowhere.com [209.185.123.18]) by rly-yb04.mx.aol.com (v61.9) with ESMTP; Tue, 28 Sep 1999 15:04:21 -0400 Received: from Unknown/Local ([?.?.?.?]) by hotbot.com; Tue Sep 28 12:04:08 1999 Message-ID: Mime-Version: 1.0 Cc: "Dave Webb" X-Sent-Mail: off Reply-To: X-Expiredinmiddle: true X-Mailer: MailCity Service X-Sender-Ip: 204.96.225.170 Organization: HotBot Mail (http://mail.hotbot.com:80) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit MB, Please send this out to our e-mail list ASAP. Bruce REPORT FROM VANDENBERG AFB, CA. BY GLOBAL NETWORK COORDINATOR BRUCE GAGNON Since I arrived in California I've been extremely busy and it has proven to be a good trip. I began in Oakland and met with Andy Lichterman from the Western States Legal Foundation that does work around DOE facilities and they are active in Abolition 2000. We spent several hours discussing the links between the technology development programs at DOE and he assures me that all the latest technologies developed for nuclear weapons are "dual" technologies that will be used in space weapons. I invited him to speak at our April, 2000 conference in DC on the subject. I drove south to Vandenberg from Oakland and spent the day before our protest doing alot of media calls and I visited the base with my local host Bud Boothe. At the base we discovered that the Air Force has created a caged area that they wanted our protest to be in on 9/25 so we had to explain to them that we were not stupid and knew that we had the right to protest in front of the main gate. We had the ACLU call them from Los Angeles and when we arrived for the demo on 9/25 the fenced area had been removed and we had no further problems from them. The day before the protest we had four articles in newspapers in the region and one of them in Lompoc (the town nearest the base) had printed my letter to the base commander which detailed our reason for being here and our call for base personnel to "lay down your missiles." We also discovered that the base paper had a front page warning to base personnel about the demo which was a help in creating discussion on the base. I really believe in this kind of activity because this is how I learned of the peace movement while being in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and seeing the impact of small demonstrations at the base I was stationed at in California during that period. On the day of the demo we had 60 folks come from as far away as Los Angeles north to San Luis Obispo. So we got great support from the whole region around the base and beyond. The demo went well (vigiling and speakers) and when it was over a delegation of us took my letter to the commander, which by now had been signed by all present, and asked to see the commander. They said he was not available but that we could give it to a Col. Lamb if we wished. So they called him on the phone and soon enough he arrived. I looked him in the eye and explained it all for him and asked him to tell his boss to send the letter to his bosses in Washington DC. He said that he would do so. We got extensive coverage of the demo on TV (first story on all three local stations) and good stories in the three pepers in the region the next day. I had brought along the Darth Vader costume which a local man wore for the entire demo holding a sign that read "No weapons in space" and that image was the primary visual that came across on TV and in the newspaper. Since then I've done another newspaper interview with a weekly in Santa Barbara and two radio shows. One of them invited me to write a 90-second editorial which they had me come into the studio and tape and they will broadcast it twice. While in their lobby I noticed that the station had been voted the best radio station in Santa Barbara by readers of the local newspaper in 1997. On 9/29 we will go back to the base for a early morning vigil from 7-9 am. Folks from the Catholic Worker House in Los Angeles who could not make the 9/25 demo will come and join with us. After that I'll head home. The test had originally been planned for 9/29 but was changed to 10/2. We feel quite certain that they postponed it due to our presence at the base. The best thing is that my expenses for the trip have only cost $500 (airfare and car rental). A local person gave me a check for the GN in the amount of $500 so this whole thing cost us very little. I can assure you that local activists are very grateful that we have done this and the cooperation has been wonderful. People from different cities who haven't met before have now and I hope that they will continue to protest the BMD system at Vandenberg in the near future. One thing I have been telling everyone is that I read in "Aviation Week & Space Technology" last week that the Air Force is moving quickly on space based lasers that they hope to deploy soon after they get the go-ahead to deploy the BMD system. It is my belief that the so-called "defensive" BMD system is really intended to get the foot in the door, and then they bring on-line the other technologies that will surely be "offensive" in nature. I've been handing out copies of the Space Command's "Vision for 2020" to all the media I meet and I'm sure to point out the picture in the back of a space based laser firing at a target on earth. I do hope that people worldwide will pick up the pace on resistance to Star Wars as we move closer to the June, 2000 date where Clinton is expected to give the go-head for early deployment. Please help us build the pressure. I conclude my suggesting that the GN consider holding one of our future meetings in this region. The level of space warfare work going on in southern California is staggering. In peace, Bruce Gagnon HotBot - Search smarter. http://www.hotbot.com ---2132565244-578777658-938569077=:59199-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: VANDENBERG STAR WARS DEMO REPORT (fwd) Date: 28 Sep 1999 22:06:13 -0400 (EDT) This message is in MIME format. The first part should be readable text, while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools. Send mail to mime@docserver.cac.washington.edu for more info. ---2132565244-60299742-938570773=:59199 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=us-ascii Content-ID: Bruce K. Gagnon Coordinator Global Network PO Box 90083, Gainesville, Fl 32607 Web site: http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk/ (352) 337-9274 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- ---2132565244-60299742-938570773=:59199 Content-Type: MESSAGE/RFC822 Content-ID: Content-Description: Return-Path: Received: from rly-yb04.mx.aol.com (rly-yb04.mail.aol.com [172.18.146.4]) by air-yb01.mail.aol.com (v60.28) with ESMTP; Tue, 28 Sep 1999 15:09:58 -0400 Received: from mc-qout4.whowhere.com (mc-qout4.whowhere.com [209.185.123.18]) by rly-yb04.mx.aol.com (v61.9) with ESMTP; Tue, 28 Sep 1999 15:04:21 -0400 Received: from Unknown/Local ([?.?.?.?]) by hotbot.com; Tue Sep 28 12:04:08 1999 Message-ID: Mime-Version: 1.0 Cc: "Dave Webb" X-Sent-Mail: off Reply-To: X-Expiredinmiddle: true X-Mailer: MailCity Service X-Sender-Ip: 204.96.225.170 Organization: HotBot Mail (http://mail.hotbot.com:80) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit MB, Please send this out to our e-mail list ASAP. Bruce REPORT FROM VANDENBERG AFB, CA. BY GLOBAL NETWORK COORDINATOR BRUCE GAGNON Since I arrived in California I've been extremely busy and it has proven to be a good trip. I began in Oakland and met with Andy Lichterman from the Western States Legal Foundation that does work around DOE facilities and they are active in Abolition 2000. We spent several hours discussing the links between the technology development programs at DOE and he assures me that all the latest technologies developed for nuclear weapons are "dual" technologies that will be used in space weapons. I invited him to speak at our April, 2000 conference in DC on the subject. I drove south to Vandenberg from Oakland and spent the day before our protest doing alot of media calls and I visited the base with my local host Bud Boothe. At the base we discovered that the Air Force has created a caged area that they wanted our protest to be in on 9/25 so we had to explain to them that we were not stupid and knew that we had the right to protest in front of the main gate. We had the ACLU call them from Los Angeles and when we arrived for the demo on 9/25 the fenced area had been removed and we had no further problems from them. The day before the protest we had four articles in newspapers in the region and one of them in Lompoc (the town nearest the base) had printed my letter to the base commander which detailed our reason for being here and our call for base personnel to "lay down your missiles." We also discovered that the base paper had a front page warning to base personnel about the demo which was a help in creating discussion on the base. I really believe in this kind of activity because this is how I learned of the peace movement while being in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and seeing the impact of small demonstrations at the base I was stationed at in California during that period. On the day of the demo we had 60 folks come from as far away as Los Angeles north to San Luis Obispo. So we got great support from the whole region around the base and beyond. The demo went well (vigiling and speakers) and when it was over a delegation of us took my letter to the commander, which by now had been signed by all present, and asked to see the commander. They said he was not available but that we could give it to a Col. Lamb if we wished. So they called him on the phone and soon enough he arrived. I looked him in the eye and explained it all for him and asked him to tell his boss to send the letter to his bosses in Washington DC. He said that he would do so. We got extensive coverage of the demo on TV (first story on all three local stations) and good stories in the three pepers in the region the next day. I had brought along the Darth Vader costume which a local man wore for the entire demo holding a sign that read "No weapons in space" and that image was the primary visual that came across on TV and in the newspaper. Since then I've done another newspaper interview with a weekly in Santa Barbara and two radio shows. One of them invited me to write a 90-second editorial which they had me come into the studio and tape and they will broadcast it twice. While in their lobby I noticed that the station had been voted the best radio station in Santa Barbara by readers of the local newspaper in 1997. On 9/29 we will go back to the base for a early morning vigil from 7-9 am. Folks from the Catholic Worker House in Los Angeles who could not make the 9/25 demo will come and join with us. After that I'll head home. The test had originally been planned for 9/29 but was changed to 10/2. We feel quite certain that they postponed it due to our presence at the base. The best thing is that my expenses for the trip have only cost $500 (airfare and car rental). A local person gave me a check for the GN in the amount of $500 so this whole thing cost us very little. I can assure you that local activists are very grateful that we have done this and the cooperation has been wonderful. People from different cities who haven't met before have now and I hope that they will continue to protest the BMD system at Vandenberg in the near future. One thing I have been telling everyone is that I read in "Aviation Week & Space Technology" last week that the Air Force is moving quickly on space based lasers that they hope to deploy soon after they get the go-ahead to deploy the BMD system. It is my belief that the so-called "defensive" BMD system is really intended to get the foot in the door, and then they bring on-line the other technologies that will surely be "offensive" in nature. I've been handing out copies of the Space Command's "Vision for 2020" to all the media I meet and I'm sure to point out the picture in the back of a space based laser firing at a target on earth. I do hope that people worldwide will pick up the pace on resistance to Star Wars as we move closer to the June, 2000 date where Clinton is expected to give the go-head for early deployment. Please help us build the pressure. I conclude my suggesting that the GN consider holding one of our future meetings in this region. The level of space warfare work going on in southern California is staggering. In peace, Bruce Gagnon HotBot - Search smarter. http://www.hotbot.com ---2132565244-60299742-938570773=:59199-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JGG786@aol.com Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Fwd: VANDENBERG STAR WARS DEMO REPORT (fwd) Date: 29 Sep 1999 01:02:47 EDT How can I obtain the Vision 2020 document that details the Air Force plan. Jonathan Granoff - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: hcaldic Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Fwd: VANDENBERG STAR WARS DEMO REPORT (fwd) Date: 29 Sep 1999 04:28:29 -0400 Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space wrote: > Bruce, I've been talking to Carol Rosin recently and she is also deeply concerned about weapons in space and feels that it is almost too late. Her number is 8056411999, Sincerely Helen > Bruce K. Gagnon > Coordinator > Global Network > PO Box 90083, Gainesville, Fl 32607 > Web site: http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk/ > (352) 337-9274 > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999 18:23:46 EDT > From: MBSULL@aol.com > To: globenet@afn.org > Subject: Fwd: VANDENBERG STAR WARS DEMO REPORT > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > > Subject: VANDENBERG STAR WARS DEMO REPORT > Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999 12:04:08 -0700 > From: "Bruce K. Gagnon" > Organization: HotBot Mail (http://mail.hotbot.com:80) > To: "Mary Beth Sullivan" > CC: "Dave Webb" > > MB, > > Please send this out to our e-mail list ASAP. Bruce > > REPORT FROM VANDENBERG AFB, CA. > > BY GLOBAL NETWORK COORDINATOR BRUCE GAGNON > > Since I arrived in California I've been extremely busy and it has proven to be a good trip. I began in Oakland and met with Andy Lichterman from the Western States Legal Foundation that does work around DOE facilities and they are active in Abolition 2000. We spent several hours discussing the links between the technology development programs at DOE and he assures me that all the latest technologies developed for nuclear weapons are "dual" technologies that will be used in space weapons. I in > > I drove south to Vandenberg from Oakland and spent the day before our protest doing alot of media calls and I visited the base with my local host Bud Boothe. At the base we discovered that the Air Force has created a caged area that they wanted our protest to be in on 9/25 so we had to explain to them that we were not stupid and knew that we had the right to protest in front of the main gate. We had the ACLU call them from Los Angeles and when we arrived for the demo on 9/25 the fenced area ha > > > > > > We got extensive coverage of the demo on TV (first story on all three local stations) and good stories in the three pepers in the region the next day. I had brought along the Darth Vader costume which a local man wore for the entire demo holding a sign that read "No weapons in space" and that image was the primary visual that came across on TV and in the newspaper. > > Since then I've done another newspaper interview with a weekly in Santa Barbara and two radio shows. One of them invited me to write a 90-second editorial which they had me come into the studio and tape and they will broadcast it twice. While in their lobby I noticed that the station had been voted the best radio station in Santa Barbara by readers of the local newspaper in 1997. > > On 9/29 we will go back to the base for a early morning vigil from 7-9 am. Folks from the Catholic Worker House in Los Angeles who could not make the 9/25 demo will come and join with us. After that I'll head home. > > The test had originally been planned for 9/29 but was changed to 10/2. We feel quite certain that they postponed it due to our presence at the base. > > The best thing is that my expenses for the trip have only cost $500 (airfare and car rental). A local person gave me a check for the GN in the amount of $500 so this whole thing cost us very little. I can assure you that local activists are very grateful that we have done this and the cooperation has been wonderful. People from different cities who haven't met before have now and I hope that they will continue to protest the BMD system at Vandenberg in the near future. > > One thing I have been telling everyone is that I read in "Aviation Week & Space Technology" last week that the Air Force is moving quickly on space based lasers that they hope to deploy soon after they get the go-ahead to deploy the BMD system. It is my belief that the so-called "defensive" BMD system is really intended to get the foot in the door, and then they bring on-line the other technologies that will surely be "offensive" in nature. > > I've been handing out copies of the Space Command's "Vision for 2020" to all the media I meet and I'm sure to point out the picture in the back of a space based laser firing at a target on earth. > > I do hope that people worldwide will pick up the pace on resistance to Star Wars as we move closer to the June, 2000 date where Clinton is expected to give the go-head for early deployment. Please help us build the pressure. > > I conclude my suggesting that the GN consider holding one of our future meetings in this region. The level of space warfare work going on in southern California is staggering. > > In peace, > > Bruce Gagnon > > HotBot - Search smarter. > http://www.hotbot.com - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Shundahai Network Subject: (abolition-usa) Action Alert: Nuclear Test Thursday Date: 29 Sep 1999 18:26:17 -0700 Shundahai Network 5007 Elmhurst Ln, Las Vegas NV 89108 Ph. 702-647-3095 fax 702-647-9384 Web: www.shundahai.org Email: shundahai@shundahai.org Hello friends. This action alert is about the sub-critical nuclear test scheduled for th= ursday. We have had great TV and press response. We hope that you can joi= n us to call attention to nuclear testing and Yucca Mountain. Shundahai N= etwork will be featured on channel 8 in Las Vegas in a five minute live = interview on the 9:30pm news. Tomorrow is Don't Waste Nevada Day. Jackson= Browne will be performing at a benefit dinner to support efforts to pres= erve Yucca Mountain at the Lake Las Vegas Resort. Don't forget your drum= s and constumes and we'll see some of you there. Shundahai, Michelle DEDICATED TO BREAKING THE NUCLEAR CHAIN Sept 29, 1999 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michelle Xenos 702 647 3095 =09 DRUMS VERSUS "OBOE" : PROTESTORS DENOUNCE THE LAST U.S. SUBCRITICAL PLUTONIUM EXPLOSION OF THE MILLENNIUM On Thursday, September 30th at the Foley Federal Building on Las Vegas B= oulevard at Bridger, drummers will demonstrate their opposition to nucle= ar testing and waste. From 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm the musical activists from = local anti-nuclear organizations will beat drums outside the Federal offi= ces against the day's Subcritical Nuclear Test, "Oboe" (the 7th of 40 sch= eduled nuclear tests).=20 Also, some of the same activists will hold a morning Sunrise Ceremony at= the Nevada Test Site on Thursday September 30th, as one final attempt to= stop this "last blast of the century." After the ceremony the prayerful = group will take nonviolent direct action at the Test Site entrance, visib= le from the Mercury Exit on U.S. Highway 95, 65 miles north of Las Vegas.= =20 =09 Every September 30th is Nevada is Not a Wasteland Day, as proclaimed by = Governor Miller in 1997. "It is outrageous that the D.O.E. continues to c= onduct nuclear tests. Nevadans are seriously opposed to nuclear waste in = this state. When are we going to realize that nuclear weapons testing cre= ates waste that is putting more lives at risk? The D.O.E. has admitted th= eir programs have serious health impacts on the public," says Michelle Xe= nos of the Shundahai Network. In the past week there have been hearings a= nd media coverage regarding the proposed Yucca Mountain waste repository,= adjacent to the Nevada Test Site (N.T.S.). Nevada is Not a Wasteland Day= was created for Nevadans to honor the commitment against nuclear waste u= ntil the Yucca Mountain Project has been terminated. Meanwhile the D.O.E.= daily dumps low-level nuclear waste at the N.T.S. that is from the nucl= ear weapons industry. Oboe is supposed to be detonated at the Nevada Te= st Site on September 30th.=20 "All these tests must be stopped now," according to Marcus P. Blaise Pag= e of the Nevada Desert Experience, "Our people--the people of the United = States--are making radioactive waste at every step in the process: from t= he uranium mining, throughh the processing into plutonium, through the su= bcritical explosion of the plutonium, humans create more of this =91poiso= n fire'." The Nevada Desert Experience has been sponsoring prayer, direct= action, retreats, and walks to the Test Site since 1982.=20 Tomorrow's afternoon action is Part Two of "Drum Down Babylon Daze," in = which peace and environmental activists visit governmental offices to req= uest the halting of all nuclear weapons tests."Don't be part of the Silen= t Majority--I'd rather hear a drum beat than a sour note!" says Gregor Ga= ble of the Shundahai Network. Free Radio Vegas will broadcast the event on 87.9 FM radio for passing m= otorists to tune in and learn about the day's activities. Gary Peck from = the ACLU will be on hand to protect the activists' civil rights.=20 ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< SHUNDAHAI NETWORK "Peace and Harmony with all Creation" out,out5007 Elmhurst St., Las Vegas, NV 89108-1304 =20 Phone:(702)647-3095 (FAX)647-9385 =20 Email: shundahai@shundahai.org 0000,0000,fefehttp://www.shundahai.org Shundahai Network is proud to be part of: US Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons=20 Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons & Healing Global Wounds Alliance ><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Sally Light" Subject: (abolition-usa) Tri-Valley CAREs' Press Release re: "Oboe 1" Subcritical Nuclear Test on 9/30/99 Date: 29 Sep 1999 20:09:19 +0100 For Immediate Release September 29, 1999 Contacts: Sally Light, Tri-Valley CAREs at (510) 527-2057 or (925) 443-71= 48 Sherry Larsen-Beville, Livermore Conversion Project at (510) 663-806= 5 =93OBOE=94 SUBCRITICAL NUCLEAR TEST BLASTS A SOUR NOTE.=20 OUTRAGED ACTIVISTS HOLD SAN FRANCISCO DEMONSTRATION.=20 OTHER PROTESTS WORLDWIDE. Local activists are holding a demonstration tomorrow, September 30, at no= on at the international headquarters of the Bechtel Group in San Francisco.=20 They are protesting the US Department of Energy=92s (DOE) detonation of a subcritical nuclear test, code named =93Oboe 1,=94 at the Nevada Test Sit= e.=20 The seventh such test in a series which began in 1997, =93Oboe 1=94 will = be detonated Thursday, Sept. 30). Bechtel, which operates the Nevada Test Site (NTS) for the DOE, is located at 50 Beale Street, San Francisco (1 block south of Market St., close to the Embarcadero BART station). =93It=92s an outrage that DOE continues with yet another test that flies = in the face of the US=92 international treaty obligations, including the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the Non-Proliferation Treaty,=94 stated Sally Light, Nuclear Program Analyst with Tri-Valley CAREs, the=20 Livermore-based =93watchdog=94 over the Lawrence Livermore National Labor= atory where nuclear weapons are designed. Livermore Lab was the primary prepar= er of the technical package for =93Oboe 1.=94 Subcritical nuclear tests involve blowing up high explosives along with fissile material such as plutonium 239. Performed underground in special= ly prepared rooms, subcritical tests are used as a to study what happens to the plutonium during the detonations. =93Oboe 1=94 is the first in a La= wrence Livermore National Laboratory series of subcritical experiments to be conducted over the next year, focusing on the plutonium ejecta caused by the detonation of high explosives. =93Oboe 1=94 is the first subcritical nuclear test at NTS to be placed in a steel vessel underground in the U1a tunnel complex before detonation. The DOE states that the purpose of these tests is to ensure the safety & reliability of the nuclear stockpile. However, activists and other criti= cs claim the tests are related to nuclear weapons research & development, an= d, therefore, are illegal pursuant to international treaties requiring nucle= ar powers to end the development of nuclear weapons and to achieve eventual nuclear disarmament. =20 DOE also claims that, since subcritical tests do not rise to the level of self-staining chain reactions, they are not true nuclear tests and thus comply with the CTBT. Critics, however, argue that they are nuclear test= s because fissile material is used and also because they are performed to further nuclear weapons R & D, only narrowly skirting the issue of whethe= r they legally violate the CTBT. =93Certainly, subcritical nuclear tests violate the spirit if not the letter of the CTBT,=94 stated Sherry Larsen-Beville of the Livermore Conversion Project located in Oakland. S= he went on to explain that subcritical nuclear tests undermine the CTBT=92s current international ratification, a process that must include 44 nation= s. Additionally, subcritical testing also promotes an international arms race. =93We had hoped that the =93cold war=94 was really over,=94 she sa= id.=20 =93Unfortunately, Russia has answered the US=92s subcritical tests with a series of their own, which raises the spectre of a renewed arms race. Th= is is a giant step in the wrong direction.=94 =93We=92re demonstrating to make DOE and Bechtel aware that subcritical t= ests must be stopped immediately,=94 said Ms Light. =93They are a serious ris= k to the health & safety of both the Western Shoshone tribe on whose land the tests take place, a serious danger to the environment, and a serious thre= at to the planet=92s security,=94 she summed up.=20 Added Ms. Larsen-Beville, =93We ask that the US, which created the nuclea= r era, now end it. Other nations look to the US to take up the mantle of being the post-cold war leader in nuclear disarmament. Complying with t= he Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the CTBT by ending subcritical tests would be an excellent first step in the process.=94 =20 In addition to the San Francisco demonstration, others will occur in Neva= da at both the Nevada Test Site and in Las Vegas, as well as in Japan, Australia and Europe. For further information, please contact Tri-Valley CAREs at (925) 443-714= 8 or (510) 527-2057. -30-=20 - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Andrew Lichterman Subject: (abolition-usa) Michigan Teach-in Web Site Date: 30 Sep 1999 11:19:57 -0700 The web addresses below provide information about the teach-in on nuclear weapons issues scheduled for October 4-11 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. A number of Abolition 2000 groups will have speakers on panels during the course of the week. An organizing meeting for a US abolition network and campaign will be held in Ann Arbor from October 9-11. If you are interested in attending the October 9-11 organizing meeting and have not yet registered, please note that the invitation and registration information has been posted previously to this list (most recently reposted 9-28 by Nuclear Age Peace Foundation). Please note that the schedule of panels and other events for the week continues on the sub-page "Additional programs on nuclear weapons abolition" some way down this web page. Main page: http://www.nuclearabolition.research.umich.edu/index.html sub page with more extensive listing of events: http://www.nuclearabolition.research.umich.edu/haber.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Subject: (abolition-usa) Request for information Date: 30 Sep 1999 10:16:06 -0700 (PDT) Dear Friends and Activists, If you are planning to attend the upcoming conference for the US Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons in Ann Arbor, Michigan, please send a brief statement concerning your biographical information to me via email to the following address: Reinacarah@aol.com Thank you for your support. I look forward to meeting you next week. In Peace, Carah Carah Lynn Ong Coordinator, Abolition 2000 Nuclear Age Peace Foundation 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 Santa Barbara CA 93108 Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 Email: A2000@silcom.com Website http://www.wagingpeace.org/abolition2000 Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly receive updates about the Abolition movement. Both caucus' also provide a forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition. To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no subject) to: abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com To subscribe to the International Abolition-caucus, send a message (with no subject) to: majordomo@igc.org In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-caucus" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the International Abolition list, mail your message to: abolition-caucus@igc.apc.org - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jackie Cabasso Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: NUKE-WASTE: Reuters Update on Japanes Nuclear Accident Date: 30 Sep 1999 13:04:14 -0700 >Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 15:54:46 -0400 >From: Bob Schaeffer >Sender: owner-nuke-waste@igc.apc.org >Subject: NUKE-WASTE: Reuters Update on Japanes Nuclear Accident >To: "ANA (all)" , nuke-waste@igc.org >X-Accept-Language: en >X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en]C-CCK-MCD (Win98; I) > > Here's the international wire service Reuter's status report at >3:30pm Eastern Daylight time on Friday. > > JAPAN N-PLANT HAS 15,000 TIMES NORMAL RADIATION > >Updated 3:27 PM ET September 30, 1999 > > TOKYO (Reuters) - Radiation levels were 15,000 times normal 1.2 miles >from the site of Thursday morning's nuclear accident, a > local government official said early Friday. > > "As of late Thursday night, 3.1 millisievert of neutrons per hour, or >about 15,000 times the normal level of radiation, was detected two > kilometers (1.2 miles) from the accident site," an Ibaraki Prefecture >official told Reuters. > > The official said radiation was too high to allow safety experts to >approach the uranium processing plant. > > "It's not a situation where you can get close to the actual site," the >Ibaraki official said. "What we are trying to do now is come up with > measures to contain or extract the radiation from around it." > > The country's worst nuclear accident is believed to have exposed at >least 19 people to radiation. Two are in serious condition. > > Local authorities have also instructed 313,000 people living within >the 6-mile radius of the site to stay indoors. The plant, 90 miles > northeast of Tokyo, turns liquid uranium into pellets for sale to >nuclear power plants. >************************************************************************** > To send a message to everyone on the list, address your message to: > NUKE-WASTE@igc.apc.org > To unsubscribe, send a message containing "unsubscribe NUKE-WASTE" to: > majordomo@igc.apc.org > Problems or Questions, contact James Quinn, Citizen Alert, Las Vegas NV: > jamesquinn@earthlink.net >************************************************************************** ****************************************************** Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION 1440 Broadway, Suite 500 Oakland, California USA 94612 Tel: +(510)839-5877 Fax: +(510)839-5397 E-mail: wslf@earthlink.net ****************************************************** Western States Legal Foundation is part of ABOLITION 2000 A GLOBAL NETWORK TO ELIMINATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Request for information Date: 30 Sep 1999 16:23:16 -0400 ALICE SLATER is President of the Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) working to form links between the research, policy, and grassroots communities in order to promote solutions to preserve the future of the planet and protect the quality of the environment. She is a founder of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons, a Co-Convenor of its Sustainable Energy Working Group, and Convenor of the Abolition 2000 New York Metro Working Group. Ms. Slater is a member of the Facilitators Group of the US Abolition Campaign and a Co-Convenor of the US Abolition Campaign’s Working Group for International Affairs. She serves on the Executive Committee of the Middle Powers Initiative, formed to influence the nuclear weapons states to move more swiftly to nuclear abolition, the NYC Bar Association’s Committee on Military Affairs, is a board member of the Lawyers Alliance for World Security (LAWS) and Vice Chair of its New York chapter, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Lawyers Committee for Nuclear Policy. She serves on the Executive Committee of STAR (Standing for Truth About Radiation) focussed on nuclear contamination at New York’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Millstone nuclear reactors in Connecticut. She is a UN NGO Representative and has organized numerous conferences, panels, and roundtables at the UN on nuclear and environmental issues and has spoken frequently at meetings and conferences in the US and internationally Prior to joining GRACE, Ms. Slater left her partnership in a New York City law firm to serve as Executive Director of Economists Allied for Arms Reduction where she organized its UN program and participated as an NGO at various UN conferences including the Non-Proliferation Treaty Extension and Renewal Conference where Abolition 2000 was founded. Ms. Slater organized the New York Coalition to amend the Limited Test Ban Treaty to a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and worked to revitalize that group in 1993 when it played a key role in the successful effort to extend the US nuclear testing moratorium.. She is the Associate Producer of a video program, After Hiroshima: Remembrance, Reflection, and the Future which was aired numerous times on WNET and other PBS stations, has had articles, interviews, op-eds, and letters published in numerous periodicals, and has appeared frequently on radio and television, most recently on Channel 27 on Long Island representing STAR at an East Hampton Town Board Meeting which agreed to hold a referendum on the closing of the Millstone nuclear reactor across Long Island Sound in Connecticut. Ms. Slater has two children; a son David, an attorney in New York and a daughter Helen, an actor in Los Angeles and the mother of her first grandchild, Hannah. Ms. Slater views her work as an extension of her original vocation of housework. We need to tell the boys to put away the toys of war and put our global house in order -- drastically curtailing military spending in order to meet the needs of our world family and preserve the health of our planet. Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Subject: (abolition-usa) Information for Upcoming Meeting Date: 30 Sep 1999 13:43:36 -0700 (PDT) Dear Friends and Activists, If you plan on attending the upcoming meeting of the US Campaign to abolish Nuclear Weapons in Ann Arbor, please forward your flight itinerary to me as soon as possible if you have not done so already. I appreciate your help and cooperation in this matter. Thank you very much. In Peace, Carah ONg Carah Lynn Ong Coordinator, Abolition 2000 Nuclear Age Peace Foundation 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 Santa Barbara CA 93108 Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 Email: A2000@silcom.com Website http://www.wagingpeace.org/abolition2000 Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly receive updates about the Abolition movement. Both caucus' also provide a forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition. To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no subject) to: abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com To subscribe to the International Abolition-caucus, send a message (with no subject) to: majordomo@igc.org In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-caucus" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the International Abolition list, mail your message to: abolition-caucus@igc.apc.org - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Joan Wade" Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Information for Upcoming Meeting Date: 30 Sep 1999 17:05:55 -0400 Hello Carah, My flight info is as follows: Sat. October 9th arrive in Detroit on Northwest flight 85 at 11:03 am. Sun. October 10th leave Detroit on Northwest flight 230 at 5:20 pm. -- Joan L. Wade Disarmament Clearinghouse Coordinator 1101 14th Street, NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC, 20010 Ph: (202) 898-0150 x232 Fax: (202) 898-0172 E-mail: disarmament@igc.org Web: http://www.disarmament.org - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Information for Upcoming Meeting Date: 30 Sep 1999 19:41:32 -0400 (EDT) Carsh, I arrive in Detroit at 11am on Oct 7. Bruce K. Gagnon Coordinator Global Network PO Box 90083, Gainesville, Fl 32607 Web site: http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk/ (352) 337-9274 - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Subject: (abolition-usa) Transportation Information Date: 30 Sep 1999 18:30:03 -0700 (PDT) Dear Friends and Activists, Below is information and suggestions for transportation from DTW to Ann Arbor. If you have difficulty arranging your transportation from DTW, please contact me as soon as possible. In Peace, Carah Ong Commuter Transportation Co.: DTW to Ann Arbor Phone: (800)458-9401 (from DTW) Phone: (800)351-5466 (from any United States location) Service provided to Westin, Omni, Cobo Hall, Leland, Ann Arbor, Pontchartrain, and Days Inn. Purchase ticket at Commuter Counter. Call for fare and schedule information. Taxi: DTW to Ann Arbor Fares: 1 person - $ 34.80; 2 people - 34.80; 3 people - 34.80 Detriot Metropolitan Airport Phone: (734)955-7677 (from any United States location) Taxis are available on the ground transportation level of all three terminals. Luxury cabs (full size sedans) are 15% higher. Check with dispatcher for additional passenger surcharge. Carah Lynn Ong Coordinator, Abolition 2000 Nuclear Age Peace Foundation 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 Santa Barbara CA 93108 Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 Email: A2000@silcom.com Website http://www.wagingpeace.org/abolition2000 Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly receive updates about the Abolition movement. Both caucus' also provide a forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition. To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no subject) to: abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com To subscribe to the International Abolition-caucus, send a message (with no subject) to: majordomo@igc.org In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-caucus" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the International Abolition list, mail your message to: abolition-caucus@igc.apc.org - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Sally Light" Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Information for Upcoming Meeting Date: 30 Sep 1999 23:17:52 +0100 Dear Carah, I arrive at Detroit Metro Airport on Friday, Oct. 8, at 9:18 pm on America West flight #354. I depart from Detroit Metro Airport on Monday, Oct. 11, at 4:35 pm on America West flight #2035. Thanks. Sally Light ---------- > From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation > To: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com > Subject: (abolition-usa) Information for Upcoming Meeting > Date: Thursday, September 30, 1999 9:43 PM > > Dear Friends and Activists, > > If you plan on attending the upcoming meeting of the US Campaign to abolish > Nuclear Weapons in Ann Arbor, please forward your flight itinerary to me as > soon as possible if you have not done so already. I appreciate your help > and cooperation in this matter. Thank you very much. > > In Peace, > Carah ONg > > > Carah Lynn Ong > Coordinator, Abolition 2000 > Nuclear Age Peace Foundation > 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 > Santa Barbara CA 93108 > > Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 > Email: A2000@silcom.com > Website http://www.wagingpeace.org/abolition2000 > > Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly > receive updates about the Abolition movement. Both caucus' also provide a > forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used > to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition. > > > To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no > subject) to: > abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com > In the body of the message, write: > "subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks) > > To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to: > abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com > > To subscribe to the International Abolition-caucus, send a message (with no > subject) to: majordomo@igc.org > In the body of the message, write: > "subscribe abolition-caucus" (do not include quotation marks) > > To post a message to the International Abolition list, mail your message to: > abolition-caucus@igc.apc.org > > > > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.