------------
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999
From: "Sally Light" <sallight@earthlink.net>
"OBOE" SUBCRITICAL NUCLEAR TEST BLASTS A SOUR NOTE.
OUTRAGED ACTIVISTS HOLD SAN FRANCISCO DEMONSTRATION.
OTHER PROTESTS WORLDWIDE.
For Immediate Release September 29, 1999
Contacts: Sally Light, Tri-Valley CAREs at (510) 527-2057 or (925) 443-7148 Sherry Larsen-Beville, Livermore Conversion Project at (510) 663-8065
Local activists are holding a demonstration tomorrow, September 30, at noon at the international headquarters of the Bechtel Group in San Francisco. They are protesting the US Department of Energy's (DOE) detonation of a subcritical nuclear test, code named "Oboe 1," at the Nevada Test Site. The seventh such test in a series which began in 1997, "Oboe 1" 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).
"It's an outrage that DOE continues with yet another test that flies in the face of the US' international treaty obligations, including the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the Non-Proliferation Treaty," stated Sally Light, Nuclear Program Analyst with Tri-Valley CAREs, the Livermore-based "watchdog" over the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where nuclear weapons are designed. Livermore Lab was the primary preparer of the technical package for "Oboe 1."
Subcritical nuclear tests involve blowing up high explosives along with fissile material such as plutonium 239. Performed underground in specially prepared rooms, subcritical tests are used as a to study what happens to the plutonium during the detonations. "Oboe 1" is the first in a Lawrence 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. "Oboe 1" 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 critics claim the tests are related to nuclear weapons research & development, and, therefore, are illegal pursuant to international treaties requiring nuclear powers to end the development of nuclear weapons and to achieve eventual nuclear disarmament.
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 tests because fissile material is used and also because they are performed to further nuclear weapons R & D, only narrowly skirting the issue of whether they legally violate the CTBT. "Certainly, subcritical nuclear tests violate the spirit if not the letter of the CTBT," stated Sherry Larsen-Beville of the Livermore Conversion Project located in Oakland. She went on to explain that subcritical nuclear tests undermine the CTBT's current international ratification, a process that must include 44 nations. Additionally, subcritical testing also promotes an international arms race. "We had hoped that the "cold war" was really over," she said. "Unfortunately, Russia has answered the US's subcritical tests with a series of their own, which raises the spectre of a renewed arms race. This is a giant step in the wrong direction."
"We're demonstrating to make DOE and Bechtel aware that subcritical tests must be stopped immediately," said Ms Light. "They are a serious risk 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 threat to the planet's security," she summed up.
Added Ms. Larsen-Beville, "We ask that the US, which created the nuclear 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 the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the CTBT by ending subcritical tests would be an excellent first step in the process."
In addition to the San Francisco demonstration, others will occur in Nevada 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) 443-7148 or (510) 527-2057.
---
To: Peace Action activists
Fr: Fran Teplitz, Peace Action Education Fund
Re: 7th subcritical test planned at Nevada Test Site
PRIORITY ONE NUCLEAR ALERT Urge House co-sponsorship of the Markey Resolution (H Con Res 74) Urge Senate to set date for ratification vote on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
The Department of Energy (DOE) issued a news release last night, September 28, announcing its seventh subcritical nuclear test, named Oboe 1, on September 30, 1999. The test will take place at the Nevada Test Site.
DOE says the upcoming series of "Oboe" tests in the year ahead will answer questions "about surface phenomena ejecta, such as spall, in weapons materials that is (sic) shocked by high explosives." DOE also states: "The experiments are fully consistent with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty."
This latest test provides additional impetus to our work toward nuclear abolition.
Representatives should still be urged to co-sponsor the Ed Markey Resolution (H Con Res 74) to diminish the stockpile stewardship program which includes subcritical nuclear testing. Genuine stockpile stewardship need only safeguard the nuclear arsenal as it awaits dismantlement, and not promote the design and development of new nuclear weapons.
Senators should still be urged to support ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Urge your Senators to speak out for a "date certain" on which to vote on the treaty's ratification.
Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121.
For an action alert on the Markey Resolution or the CTBT, please contact me at fteplitz@peace-action.org or at 202-862-9740 x. 3004.
---
From: "David Crockett Williams" <gear2000@lightspeed.net>
To: "Abolition 2000 USA" <abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com>, "Abolition Caucus" <abolition-caucus@igc.apc.org>
Subject: (abolition-usa)
Fw: France for Nuclear Remediation
Date: Tue, 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
--------
Big atomic rhubarb alarm small Canadian town
Reuters September 28,
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/990928/bcl.html
TORONTO, Sept. 28 (Reuters) - A small Ontario town is in an uproar over the big rhubarb stalks that grow near a plant that uses radioactive waste, but officials said on Tuesday the atomic vegetables are safe enough for pies or jam.
The atomic rhubarb, which is growing just southeast of a glow-in-the-dark sign factory in the town of Pembroke, near Ottawa, contains about 1,000 times the radioactive tritium ordinarily found in the area's rainwater.
That alarms residents living close to the plant, which is owned by SRB Technologies (Canada) Inc.
``We are against any involuntary exposure to radiation,'' said Lynn Jones, president of a 200-member citizens' group that collected samples for testing.
``We're concerned because high levels of radioactivity are very dangerous to humans.''
But the Atomic Energy Control Board -- Canada's nuclear safety agency -- has decided the patch of unusually large rhubarb is not hazardous and can still be used to bake a pie or make preserves, said Sunni Locatelli, a board spokesperson.
``We're naturally exposed to radioactivity everyday,'' said Locatelli. ``High doses of of radioactivity can cause genetic defects and cancer, but at these levels there are no dangers.''
The plant manufactures lights powered by the radioactive isotopes of hydrogen. Radiation is not being emitted because the plant is encapsulated, said company vice-president Stephane Levesque.
The company's assurances have yet to persuade Robert Drummie, the manager of a University of Waterloo, Ontario, laboratory that conducted tritium tests on the rhubarb this summer.
He found the rhubarb had 2,000 becquerels (a unit of radioactivity) per liter of tritium - which is about 100 times more than an average garden rhubarb.
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Women Activists Rally for Y2K, Other Nuclear Dangers
U.S. Newswire 28 Sep 11:56
To: National Desk
Contact: Sharon Pickett, 301-365-9307, for Women's Action for New Directions
http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/Current_Releases/0928-110.htm
WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 /U.S. Newswire/ -- At a press briefing today on Capitol Hill, speakers made an impassioned plea for our nation to "Disarm, De-alert and Destroy" nuclear weapons. The press briefing was the concluding event of a three-day conference sponsored by Women's Action for New Directions (WAND).
"Maintaining hair-trigger readiness for nuclear confrontation is unjustifiable in today's world," said Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). "The potential for a missile launch due to misinterpretation of warning systems may well be higher on Jan. 1, 2000, than at any moment since the start of the Cold War. The time is right for a mutual worldwide nuclear stand-down."
"The Cold War is over, but the threat of nuclear weapons still hangs over us like a mushroom cloud. The most fundamental thing we can do for our children is to make sure that they live in a safe and peaceful world," said Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), sponsor of the Resolution Calling for a Nuclear Weapons Convention. "Books and booster shots have to come before bombs. We have to get our priorities straight. Instead of preparing to wage war, we should be laying the groundwork for waging peace."
Dr. Helen Caldicott, founder of WAND and renowned nuclear disarmament leader, warned of nuclear threats related to Y2K. "In less than 100 days, computer systems around the world will inevitably fail," said Caldicott. "There are 4,400 nuclear weapons in Russia and America on hair trigger alert, ready to be launched by a combination of inaccurate computer data and human error. The Russians don't have the money or manpower to fix their Y2K problem. They look at America's actions...the expansion of NATO, the U.S. plans to violate the ABM treaty with a star wars missile defense system, the Senate's refusal to ratify the CTBT...and they are justifiably afraid. When you combine this kind of fear and distrust with the uncertainty of Y2K, you have a disaster waiting to happen."
According to Caldicott, there is still time to address the problem if Presidents Clinton and Yeltsen take immediate steps to de-alert nuclear weapons before Dec. 31.
Echoing Caldicott's passionate call for action was Dr. Patch Adams, the eccentric pediatrician portrayed by Robin Williams in the movie "Patch Adams" and currently executive director of the Gesundheit Institute in West Virginia. "Nothing in the past 30 years has caught my attention like the prospect of nuclear annihilation," said Adams. "The very extinction of the human race is at stake. But we can prevent it, and that's why I'm involved in this work."
The speakers called special attention to the need for reductions in military spending. "The U.S. spends $300 billion a year on weapons and the Pentagon," said Caldicott. "That's a third of a trillion dollars. If we spent a million dollars a minute since Jesus was born, we still would not be up to a trillion dollars. When 42 million Americans have no health insurance and one-third of American children live in poverty, this is an evil that cannot be tolerated."
Caldicott used a four-foot model of a Trident submarine, filled with 192 small balls, to illustrate the firepower of a nuclear submarine. The Pentagon has indicated its willingness to reduce its current arsenal of Trident subs, but Congress will not allow the reduction in force to proceed. Current policies prevent the U.S. from reducing its arsenals below the START I levels until the Russian Duma ratifies START II. Critics of the Pentagon budget point to the Trident as just one example of how money is wasted while human needs are neglected.
The press briefing concludes "Women 2000: Agenda for Action: Securing Our Future," a three-day conference that brought more than 200 elected women leaders and activists to Washington, D.C. from Sept. 25 to 28. Participants lobbied Congressional leaders on issues such as the need to reduce military spending, ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and defeat plans to transport nuclear waste through communities across the nation. The conference was sponsored by WAND, the only national peace organization linking women legislators across the country with local women activists as well as women in Congress in order to address issues of militarism, violence and human needs.
-0- /U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ 09/28 11:56
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CU-Boulder professor documents controversial history of Rocky Flats
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 28 SEPTEMBER 1999
Contact: Len Ackland Len.Ackland@colorado.edu 303-492-0459
Monteith Mitchell 303-492-5526
University of Colorado at Boulder
http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/ucol-cbp092899.html
For four decades the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant, located 16 miles northwest of downtown Denver, was a key facility in the United States nuclear weapons race.
It was viewed first as a subject of pride by Colorado citizens, who welcomed the booming commercial and residential growth that accompanied it. Gradually, however, many citizens protested its potential danger as a global hazard and a local threat.
After years of political debate and governmental and public scrutiny, plutonium production at Rocky Flats was ceased in 1989. Today the plant's mission is cleanup and closure.
The controversial history of Rocky Flats has been documented for the first time by University of Colorado at Boulder journalism professor Len Ackland in "Making a Real Killing: Rocky Flats and the Nuclear West."
Ackland's story is about the Church family, who came west seeking gold in 1861, settled near what would become the Rocky Flats site and began a lifetime journey of negotiations with the federal government. It is about the government and private corporations that were involved in questionable and even dangerous production practices; loyal plant managers and workers; and citizen activists who challenged the plant's very existence.
It is also about a community that profited from thousands of jobs and contracts but now faces long-term environmental and health risks.
"The story of Rocky Flats epitomizes mistakes made in the 20th century that rested on the myopic notion that a nation can preserve its security by building weapons of mass destruction that place incalculable numbers of men, women and children at risk," Ackland said.
"But the story also shows how citizens can become involved and help change bad government policy."
Ackland has been a member of the CU-Boulder faculty since 1991. He is a former Chicago Tribune reporter and former editor of the "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists." He began researching and documenting the history of the nuclear arms race in 1990 with a research and writing grant funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
He currently teaches graduate level courses in Investigative Reporting and Precision Journalism, a computer-assisted research and reporting class. He also teaches a Ted Scripps fellowship seminar in Environmental Journalism, funded by a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation.
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29 Sep 1999 14:13:49 -0400
From: Bill Robinson <plough@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: Chinese missiles de-mated
To: Abolition Caucus <abolition-caucus@igc.apc.org>
I *knew* I'd seen a speech by *somebody* in the US government stating that Chinese missiles are de-mated (it wasn't Berger though)...
In a speech (http://www.cia.gov/cia/public_affairs/speeches/archives/1998/walpole_speech_120898.html) delivered 8 December 1998, Robert D. Walpole, National Intelligence Officer for Strategic and Nuclear Programs, stated that "we judge that an unauthorized or accidental launch of a Russian or Chinese strategic missile is highly unlikely, as long as current security procedures and systems are in place. Russia employs an extensive array of technical and procedural safeguards and China keeps its missiles unfueled and without warheads mated."
Presumably only the Chinese know for sure, but this seems to be a pretty confident assertion of the current state of affairs.
Bill Robinson, Project Ploughshares,
Conrad Grebel College, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G6
Phone: 519 888-6541 x264 Fax: 519 885-0806
E-mail: brobinson@ploughshares.ca http://www.ploughshares.ca
----------------------
From: "Gary Vesperman" vman@skylink.net
Subject: Gibson's letter to Chairman Packard
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 08:22:54 -0700
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 scope of work which will directly impact a major international problem - the management of the nation's 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. The 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 least 100 times less costly than the currently proposed neutron source from Oak Ridge National Labs. ATG's 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 this 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 of the currently proposed research a number of end-user customers, both governmental and commercial, will be interested. The ATG team has selected as a goal for their research the important opportunity of the destruction of nuclear waste, realizing the uncertainties related to the basic nuclear fuel cycle, chemical separation processes, and waste repository design criteria all provide difficulty in finding the correct "target" isotopes. However, the benefits of another option to the current reactor technologies for the 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 "Ultrafast Laser Irradiation of Deuterium Droplets for the Production of Neutrons" 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's unsolicited proposal. The following comments were received from DOE principals:
o The ATG proposal was one of the best it has ever seen.
o The technology proposal was innovative in its approach to producing neutrons.
o The proposal team, personnel and associations were outstanding.
In spite of the positive technical review, budget limitations and the need 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 recent 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 wrong 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
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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)
cmep@citizen.org
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From y2k-nukes@envirolink.org
Subject: Senate 100 day report
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1999 18:25:11 -0400
Nuclear supplies 20% of the nation's electricity according to the Senate Y2K Committee
US Senate 100 day report
"....but also because peak demand during the winter months will only be about 55% of the electric generation capability. Simply stated, this means that even if 45% of the generation capability is lost-a highly unlikely scenario-there would still be enough electric power available to meet the demand."
http://www.senate.gov/~y2k/documents/100dayrpt/
Seems like shutting down nuclear plants is not too much to ask.
Scott - happen@pipeline.com
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Behind the massacre in East Timor:
The Indonesian military-a creation of the U.S.
Statement from the International Action Center
There can be no hiding the genocide taking place in East Timor. As of Sept. 8 the UN estimated that 200,000 people-one quarter of the population!-had been driven from their homes by the systematic rampages of the Indonesian military.
East Timor is a small country in the south Pacific that was invaded by Indonesia in 1975, shortly after it declared independence from Portugal. The present violence began after the people, in a UN- supervised referendum on Aug. 30, voted overwhelmingly for independence, from Indonesia.
The Indonesian troops' bloody attacks on UN facilities and personnel as well as on the East Timorese have evoked worldwide condemnation.
While Washington is talking weakly about respecting democracy and human rights, it is not putting any real pressure on the Indonesian generals, whom it supplies with military aid, nor on the bankers and businessmen--often generals themselves-- whose existence depends on credit from the IMF and World Bank.
The Indonesian fascist army is a monster that was created by Washington in the 1960s, when the U.S. was escalating the war in Vietnam. Washington tipped the balance toward the fascist right wing of the military by training, equipping and financing a coup. The massacres that followed "elated" the State Department and Pentagon.
This fascist terror in East Timor today is a chilling replay of how the U.S.- trained Indonesian military took power in 1965-66. Claiming to help "local militias" combat communists, the military went from island to island, massacring workers, peasants, students-anyone active in progressive organizations. They destroyed the huge left and anti- imperialist movement in Indonesia by killing at least one million people.
Then, as now, the tone of the U.S. corporate media was fatalistic, as though nothing could be done to stop the slaughter. But this was a cover-up for the U.S. role.
Independent U.S. journalist Allan Nairn has provided documentary evidence of collusion between the Indonesian military, the so-called "militias," and the United States. According to the East Timor Action Network the U.S.-trained elite unit Kopassus is taking part in the current destruction in East Timor.
U.S. SUPPORTED 1975 INVASION
Washington supported Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975. Pres. Gerald Ford and Sec. of State Henry Kissinger visited Jakarta immediately before the invasion.
A month later, a U.S. State Department official told the daily newspaper The Australian on Jan. 22, 1976, that "In terms of the bilateral relations between the U.S. and Indonesia, we are more or less condoning the incursion into East Timor. The United States wants to keep its relations with Indonesia close and friendly. We regard Indonesia as a friendly, non-aligned nation--a nation we do a lot of business with."
The U.S. government has a consistent record of propping up the fascist military against popular movements. The Indonesian military, in turn, has maintained a climate of repression welcomed by U.S. multinational corporations that have flocked to Indonesia to exploit the land and the people.
Critics of U.S. policy who mistakenly believed Washington's propaganda that it attacked Yugoslavia to stop "ethnic cleansing" in Kosovo are now appealing to the same imperialists to intervene in this situation. Any U.S. intervention, if it takes place, would be the Haitian type, protecting the interests of the corporations and repressing the people's movement.
WHAT'S AT STAKE?
The current reign of terror is directed in the most immediate sense against the 800,000 people of East Timor. But it is also aimed at terrorizing the 200 million Indonesian workers and farmers. After 35 years of brutal fascist rule they have finally begun to organize openly again for their rights. The same U.S.-backed generals are using arrests, killings and jail sentences. However, they have not succeeded in breaking this new workers' movement.
Last summer, huge demonstrations by students and workers led to the resignation of President Suharto, one of the generals who led the 1965 fascist coup. Suharto's close partner, B.J. Habibie, then took over as president. Behind Habibie is the same ferocious military leadership bent on protecting their enormous privileges through bloody terror, if necessary.
For corporate interests there's a lot at stake. There is $11 billion expected from offshore oil and natural gas in the Timor area, under development by Indonesia and Australia. (July 21, AP)
Demonstrations have been called by solidarity groups in countries around the world. This kind of direct solidarity with the Timorese people against the fascist Indonesian military must be stepped up, but it must also point the finger at U.S. imperialism-the power behind the fascist generals.
STOP U.S. FUNDING OF EAST TIMOR MASSACRE!
International Action Center 39 West 14th Street, Room 296 New York, NY 10011 email: iacenter@iacenter.org http://www.iacenter.org phone: 212 633-6646 fax: 212 633-2889
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USA TODAY Thursday, September 2, 1999
Letters to the Editor, p. A16
Turkey's chilling plan to have nuclear reactor
What would the loss of human life have been if there had been a nuclear accident during Turkey's devastating earthquake?
Ironically, the one person who could contribute to making this chilling scenario a reality was in Istanbul when the quake struck. U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson was in Turkey to advocate on behalf of an American consortium seeking to construct Turkey's first nuclear power plant just 13 miles from an active fault line ("Unstable region sits on many fault lines," News, Aug. 19).
Experts worldwide have warned of an enormous environmental risk being taken by Turkey if the plant is built. In a recent study, the consulting firm Earthquake Forecasts emphasized that a nuclear accident would be "horrific -- millions of people in Turkey and surrounding areas would be hit with disabling and lethal radiation." Thus, a U.S.-supplied nuclear power-pant in that region would amount to an environmental time bomb.
Concerns are also being raised about the likelihood of the use of this technology for a nuclear weapons program. The same technology that helped start the nuclear arms race on the Indian subcontinent is now being introduced to Turkey, an already highly militarized state. A nuclear Turkey will be the surest way to guarantee a comparable arms race in one of the world's most volatile regions.
Turkey's escalating military adventurism against virtually all of its neighbors should further underscore that placing nuclear power into the hands of governments that have not yet developed the political maturity to harness it can soon develop into the greatest global security threat of the coming century.
Phillip Spyropoulos, executive director American Hellenic Media Project New York, N.Y. _________________________
(2)
THE BOSTON GLOBE Sunday, September 5, 1999
Letters to the Editor, p. D6
Planned N-plant in Turkey would be a time bomb
Your initial reports on the earthquake in Turkey mentioned the alarming fact that US Energy Secretary Bill Richardson was in Istanbul at the time of the devastation but did not note that he was representing an American-led consortium that is seeking to build Turkey's first nuclear power plant just 13 miles from an active fault line.
Experts worldwide have warned of an enormous environmental risk if the plant is built. A study by Earthquake Forecasts said a nuclear accident in Turkey would be "horrific" - millions would be hit with lethal radiation.
While Tolga Yarman, a Turkish scientist, has warned that "Turkey is not ready for nuclear power," the United States is seeking to place an environmental time bomb there.
The proposed reactors have raised yet another fear. In 1981, Israeli jets bombed Iraq's Osirak reactor to avert an Iraqi nuclear weapons program. Now concerns are being raised about the likelihood that Turkey, already a highly militarized state, might use this technology for a nuclear weapons program.
A nuclear Turkey would guarantee an arms race in one of the world's most unstable regions.
P.D. SPYROPOULOS, director American Hellenic Media Project New York
_________________________
(3)
Earthquake A Nuclear Wake Up Call
by P. D. Spyropoulos
Your reports have ignored the alarming fact that U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson was in Istanbul during Turkey's devastating earthquake representing an American-led consortium seeking to build Turkey's first nuclear power plant just 13 miles from an active fault line.
Experts worldwide have warned of an enormous environmental risk being taken by Turkey if the plant is built. A recent study by Earthquake Forecasts emphasized that reactors posed an "unacceptable level of risk" and that a nuclear accident would be "horrific - millions of people in Turkey and surrounding areas [would be] hit with disabling and lethal radiation."
While prominent Turkish scientist Tolga Yarman has warned that "Turkey is not ready for nuclear power", the U.S. is pursuing its bid to place an environmental time-bomb in the eastern Mediterranean.
The proposed reactors have raised yet another fear. In 1981, Israeli jets bombed Iraq's Osirak reactor to avert an Iraqi nuclear weapons program. Now concerns are being raised about the likelihood of Turkey, already a highly militarized state, using the acquisition of this sensitive technology for a nuclear weapons program.
A nuclear Turkey will guarantee an arms race in one of the world's most unstable regions. Moreover, Turkey's escalating military adventurism against virtually all of its neighbors demonstrates that placing nuclear power into the hands of governments that have not yet developed the maturity to harness it will likely translate into the greatest global security threat of the coming century.
P. D. Spyropoulos is an attorney and the Executive Director of the American Hellenic Media Project, a non-profit think-tank created to address bias in the media and encourage independent, ethical and responsible journalism. Letters and commentaries by Mr. Spyropoulos have been published in The Baltimore Sun, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Daily Telegraph, The Economist, El Nuevo Herald (Miami), Forbes Global, The Irish Times, The New York Post, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Orlando Sentinel, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Plain Dealer, The St. Petersburg-Times (Fla.), The Tampa Tribune, The Toronto Sun, USA Today, The Village Voice, and The Washington Times.
American Hellenic Media Project
PO Box 1150 New York, NY 10028-0008
ahmp@hri.org www.ahmp.org
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Cities demand nuclear hearings
National Post (Canada) September 29, 1999
Adrian Humphreys
http://www.nationalpost.com/news.asp?f=990929/90093&s2=national&s3=news
Two city councils have made official the growing unease of Ontario communities that will be exposed to two shipments of plutonium -- one the remains of U.S. nuclear warheads and the other from Russian weapons.
The city councils of Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay have passed motions calling for "meaningful and thorough" public hearings before the nuclear material travels along the province's highways en route to Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.'s nuclear testing facility at Chalk River in the Ottawa valley.
"Plutonium is the most dangerous substance ... because it is a weapons-usable material," said Sarah Campbell, a North Bay councillor. The two shipments of weapons-grade plutonium are expected to arrive this fall or winter.
Assuming Transport Canada approves the routes, the U.S. plutonium will be trucked across the border at Sault Ste. Marie and will pass by Sudbury and North Bay on the way to Chalk River.
The Russian plutonium will be shipped along the St. Lawrence Seaway, passing Quebec City and Montreal, before landing at Cornwall, Ont., where it will be loaded on to a truck and driven past the outskirts of Ottawa before reaching the atomic facility.
Canada agreed to accept test samples of plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons to see if they can be processed by AECL for use in CANDU nuclear reactors.
The test is designed to use the plutonium from surplus nuclear weapons as nuclear fuel, which renders it useless for future weapons production, said Larry Shewchuk, spokesman for AECL.
Mr. Shewchuk dismisses the concerns as "fear of the unknown."
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CTBT sore point, but Indo-US lovefest on
India Express (Bombay) September 29, 1999
Chidanand Rajghatta
WASHINGTON, SEPT 28: There may not be a marriage of true minds yet, much less a honeymoon. But the engagement is certainly on and hotting up.
Presenting External Affairs Minister with a collection of foreign policy essays titled Engaging India, United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright last night reaffirmed President Clinton's ardent desire to visit the sub-continent, while urging New Delhi to ``create a positive environment for the trip,''-- a euphemism for signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Singh, in turn, reiterated New Delhi's desire to see a more conducive atmosphere being created for the new government to sign the treaty -- a fairly direct suggestion that the US ease up on issues like sanctions, export controls, entities list, and other punitive measures that Washington has used to reign in India.
Between reiteration of these broad sentiments, there appeared to be a closing of gap in perceptions during the 45-minute meeting which officials from both sides spoke about inpositive tones.
Singh told Albright that New Delhi was looking forward to Clinton's visit once the elections were over and a new government is in place. ``So is the President. That is a missing piece in his life, perhaps his presidential and personal life,'' US officials quoted Albright as responding.
The two met -- for the second time in recent months after an August pow-wow in Singapore -- for 45 minutes at Albright's hotel suite in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session.
(Albright also met later Pakistan's Foreign Minister Sartaz Aziz, amid a distinct expressions of concern and unhappiness in the administration over the state of affairs in that country and Islamabad's backsliding on its commitment to sign the CTBT.)
But it was the Albright-Singh meeting officials chimed about. The two have struck a famous equation despite the obvious and continuing differences between the two countries on nuclear issues. Shortly before they met in Singapore, Albright called Singh``my good friend whom I have known for long,'' despite having met him only last year.
Here in New York, she continued her charm offensive against the starchy Indian minister as she sought to further the US nuclear control agenda.
On the book Engaging India which she presented to Singh, she inscribed: ``I cannot attest to all the articles in this volume but I can endorse the title. Shall we?'' The book is a collection of essays on Indo-US relations and is edited by Indian scholars Seema Gahlaut and Anupam Srivastava among others.
India has baulked at making any formal commitment about signing the CTBT under the excuse that it is going through elections, but Washington has now extracted a promise that the new government -- which for all practical purposes everyone assumed will be a BJP-led dispensation -- will attend to the issue expeditiously the moment it takes office.
In fact, for starters, Singh invited Albright for a recce visit ahead of President Clinton's trip and she is said to haveaccepted the offer. Officials will work on the dates for this visit which could occur later this year. The two sides have zeroed in on a window between January and March 2000 for Clinton's visit but no firm date has been set.
Washington initially demanded that India and Pakistan sign the CTBT as a pre-condition to Clinton's visit, but that insistence has now been dropped, officials indicated.
But Washington is far from accepting India as a nuclear power or acknowledging its nuclear yearnings. In fact, Albright did raise questions about the New Delhi's nuclear doctrine although officials said it was not discussed in isolation. She told Singh that stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction is one of America's highest priorities for the next century. Singh reiterated India's own views on nuclear disarmament and said the so-called nuclear doctrine was only a draft discussion paper by an advisory body and was not an adopted document.
US officials said Albright also offered American support for Indiaand Pakistan to resume, ``as soon as possible,'' direct dialogue between their two prime ministers initiated last February in Lahore. The two also discussed the proposed new world trade talks as well as the importance of counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism efforts, including concerns about exiled Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.
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American warning to Pakistan Brigadier (R) Usman Khalid
JAMAADI-US-SANI 18, 1420
SEPTEMBER 29, 1999 WEDNESDAY
http://frontierpost.com.pk/art1sep-29.html
The American warning to Pakistan against change of government by "unconstitutional means" became public on 21 September. There have been a wide variety of reactions from politicians, academics and journalists. Some dislike it and consider it an "unwarranted interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan." And there are others who consider it a "timely warning" to preclude another martial law.
Actually it is neither. It constitutes recognition by the US that Nawaz Sharif is in trouble even with his own supporters because he surrendered to American diktat over Kargil and his readiness to sign the CTBT. The warning has reassured Nawaz Sharif that he need not fear the opposition because the PPP accepts the American diktat even more readily. However, the Americans have taken notice that the armed forces of Pakistan do not want the CTBT to be signed, and that they support the resistance in Kashmir and Taliban rule in Afghanistan. The warning has been taken to reflect American anxiety about the recurrence of martial law; actually they are worried about the Taliban. That explains why the US made its threats to Afghanistan in respect of Osama bin Laden on the very day (4 July) that Nawaz Sharif signed the document of surrender in Washington. The timing of Shahbaz Sharif's visit to the US, the warning to the Pakistan Army, and a UN Security Council resolution on terrorism give credence to the same conclusion.
The official stand of the US is that it wants Pakistan to sign the CTBT and to restrain forces of Jihad. But it also wants India to sign the CTBT and is worried about its aggressive conduct on the world scene claiming superpower status. This was starkly displayed by the speech of its foreign minister to the UN General Assembly and its draft nuclear doctrine. Jaswant Singh had an "objection in principle" to Pakistan's claim on Kashmir; it could not accept religion as the basis of polity. He, thus, challenged the basis of partition in 1947. India wants to fight the war it lost in 1947 once again. Those still keen on confidence-building measures need to read that speech again. The fact is that if Pakistan did agree to roll-back its nuclear programme under US pressure, it would be much more difficult to restrain Indian megalomania. The US must understand that. That is perhaps why the pressure on Pakistan, to sign the CTBT and to restrain Jihad in Kashmir, is not as severe as it could have been. But the Nawaz Sharif administration had quite different concerns.
Nawaz Sharif was worried that since he had lost the support of the public, he could be put under pressure by the army to resign. The Shahbaz Sharif mission to the US was a pathetic display of the ignorance, paranoia and ineptitude of Nawaz Sharif. And he got what he deserved, not what he wanted. He was told that the pressure to sign the CTBT was off provided he extended help and support to the US in removing the Taliban from power in Afghanistan. The proverb, out of the frying pan into the fire, was invented for such occasions. Nawaz Sharif is in no position to bargain. Shahbaz Sharif returned with a long face and a longer list of US demands.
In a democracy the leaders are expendable but national interests and objectives are not. Pakistan's democracy does not pass this test. The prime minister cannot be removed until the end of his five-year term. According to the constitutional amendment made by Nawaz Sharif, any MP who defies the whip even on an ordinary bill (let alone the motion of no-confidence) loses his seat in the assembly. The opposition may initiate a motion of no-confidence but it cannot succeed until some members from government benches support it. It is still possible that Muslim League MPs may elect a new leader outside the Parliament and then initiate a motion of no-confidence. But that is very unlikely. The US advice that changes of government should be by constitutional means is not much help.
The claim that parliamentary system is superior to the presidential form because it provides for a quick change in government by a motion of no-confidence, has proved to be hollow. The US does like democracy but only when it is led by ignorant, indecisive, weak, corrupt and unpopular politicians. America can twist their arm more easily. Nawaz Sharif has been declared "suitable" to lead a Third World third-rate democracy.
The US approves of our Constitution, which does not provide for a change in governments and allows time and opportunity for the country to be undermined by international instruments. It allows for more permanent change in the wake of atrophy of the society and collapse of the economy which make the country ungovernable.
Afghanistan has been selected as a country to be given full (G-8) treatment by international instruments of coercion and subversion. Pakistan has been put on notice. If it co-operates over Afghanistan, it would buy time. While it may get respite, it would be next on the list.
The mistake that third-rate leaders of Third World countries make is that they consider the mood of the moment in leading western countries as firm and unchangeable perception of their national interest. The fact is that their main concerns are with domestic politics and their leaders know little and care even less about the hopes and aspirations of peoples in far-off lands. When a people express its aspirations with violence, they often get to be noticed. When they continue to be ignored, they often resort to terrorism.
Sometimes terrorism is wanton and foreign-inspired. No government has any dispute or difficulty with the UN Security Council resolution in dealing with wanton or mercenary terrorism. But Osama is neither wanton nor mercenary. His role in the Afghan Jihad has been exemplary and he has inspired many a people in their effort to secure freedom. That he turned against the West in response to the severe and indiscriminate bombardment of Iraq was not entirely unreasonable.
In any case, we need to remind ourselves of the examples of Lebanon and Somalia. The West was looking at both those countries the way they are looking at Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indonesia today. The West pushed and pushed until neither had any government. That was the time terrorism reached new heights. If the US pushes Afghanistan the same way and puts pressure on Pakistan to get involved against the Taliban, the consequences would be too dire to imagine. It is hoped Nawaz Sharif and those aspiring to power in Pakistan realise what a heavy responsibility is placed on Pakistan to save the region from American madness.
A nation is not a proper nation until it is able to spell out its national interests and objectives clearly. The quality of national quests determines the quality of the nation. India is a big country but a third-rate nation because it harbours imperial ambitions in post-imperial world. It subverts its neighbours and their neighbours in increasingly arrogant and blatant efforts to extend its area of commanding influence.
America was a great country as long as it led the fight against the new imperialism __ Soviet imperialism. It helped nations struggling for freedom all over the world. It enjoyed world leadership, as it was in harmony with the anti-imperialist mood of the world. Now it is confused. While it played a crucial role in securing self-determination in South Africa, Eritrea, Bosnia and Kosovo, it supports imperialism of India denying support to national liberation movements of Kashmiris, Sikhs, Assamese in that country. Pakistan must carry much of the blame for it. We have never spelt out our national objectives and aspirations properly.
It is time we displayed pride in being a truly post-imperial Muslim nation-state having rejected our imperial past (of Moghul and Afghan Empires in India) as a model. We should be proud of our support to the right of all nations to be free and independent from imperial strangleholds __ political as well as economic. We should be forthright in saying that the support is not restricted to words and that we are prepared to play our role in consolidating the region to which we belong. We have bonds of history and religion with the Middle East and even more with Central Asia. We should say with confidence that we seek Muslim solidarity in preference to political unity. We should assist in dealing with problems of mutual interest by fraternal dialogue, refrain from public criticism of each other, and condemn foreign intervention in our fraternal affairs.
Our first and foremost national objective is the liberation of Jammu and Kashmir. We judge our friends and foes by the touchstone of support to this objective. India has one route into Jammu and none into Kashmir but it has 600,000 troops. We have twelve routes and 100,000 troops. We have a military edge over India. The UN Security Council resolved as far back as 1949 that the people of the state would decide the future of Kashmir in a UN-supervised plebiscite. India rejects the resolution, thus conceding that it would lose the plebiscite. Kashmiris are a part of our nation and the state is morally ours. We also have a moral edge. We have a right to fight for Kashmir in each and every part of it. We are not foreigners in Kashmir. The cause is just. It is the duty of each one of us to help our brothers and sisters in Islam when their life, honour and property are under threat. The resistance in Kashmir is Jihad. If that makes us terrorists, we need to tell the world that we are proud of being that.
Our second national objective is the security of our northern frontier. We have to tell the world that we would not permit Afghanistan to become a barrier between Central Asia and us now that it has become a bridge.
Pakistan is a great country because of the post-imperial philosophy of its foundation, the profoundness of its current objectives, and the spirit of sacrifice that its people have been able to marshal at every critical juncture in their history. Pakistan would not tolerate the rule of quislings. We have done great things together in the past but the Americans are now on a collision course with Pakistan. They are wrong in their perception as well as their objectives in Afghanistan. They are wrong even by the yardstick of their self-interest. If every political party in Pakistan were prepared to go along with the Americans over Afghanistan, they would still be wrong. The issue is of such vital importance that the people of this country would readily sacrifice the 'democracy of quislings' for it.
The armed forces of Pakistan have been steadfast in playing their role in safeguarding the security of the country. They have sought to safeguard the nuclear deterrent of Pakistan, resisted pressures to withdraw support from the Mujahideen in Kashmir, and have been steadfast in their support to the Taliban in Afghanistan. All of these are of vital importance to Pakistan's security and survival.
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U.S., Russia Working On Y2k Glitches
Reuters Sep 29, 1999
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=95402&html
WASHINGTON, The United States and Russia have found potential Year 2000 glitches in all but one of seven Cold War-era "hotlines" and are rushing to correct them, a top Pentagon official told Congress on Tuesday.
Assistant Secretary of Defense Edward Warner, together with colleagues from the Energy and State departments, outlined a U.S. drive to help Russia cope with Y2K-related disruptions.
In testimony to the Senate Special Committee on Y2K, Warner said the Clinton administration was giving Moscow Y2K-compliant software and computers to correct "program deficiencies in outage reporting, monitoring and channel reroute operations."
The Defense Department is seeking to meet about $15.5 million in Russian requests for things like emergency generators, fire trucks, warhead handling vehicles, radios and backup communications, Warner said.
Citing safety concerns about the 68 Soviet-designed nuclear power reactors in Russia and eight other former Soviet bloc states, Deputy Assistant Energy Secretary Ken Baker said: "The worst enemy is time right now."
He said Energy Department experts were working bilaterally and through groups like the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency to fix Y2K vulnerabilities in Russian and Eastern European nuclear reactors.
The Y2K glitch stems from the use of two digits to represent years, like 99 for 1999. Unless fixed, computers may read 00 as 1900 instead of 2000. That could trip critical systems, including power grids, and lead nuclear plants to shut down if they lose "off-site" backup power.
Among other things, U.S. experts were urging plant operators to start diesel generators a day or two before New Year's eve to ensure adequate backup power for reactors if power grids failed, Baker said.
PREVENTING ANOTHER CHERNOBYL
The ultimate goal, he said, was to prevent the highly remote danger of a meltdown like that at Ukraine's Chernobyl No. 4 reactor in 1986.
The U.S. government has deemed enhancing the safety of Soviet-era nuclear reactors "a vital national security interest," he testified.
State Department officer John Beyrle said Russia, pinched for cash, may experience Y2K-related problems for "months" into 2000.
"It will be prudent to view post-Y2K Russia ...as a country that may continue to rely on the U.S. and other countries for help in overcoming computer-related disruptions," he said.
Senator Richard Lugar, Republican of Indiana and a panel member, noted that despite current congressional probes of alleged official Russian corruption, the issue appeared to be not if the United States should help Russia but how quickly Y2K help could arrive.
Committee Chairman Robert Bennett, Republican of Utah, and Vice Chairman Chris Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, urged the administration to waste no time in crafting responses to possible Russian post-Y2K travails.
To avoid misunderstandings during the date change, the United States and Russia agreed on Sept. 13 to set up a joint "Center for Y2K Strategic Stability" at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
In addition to sharing missile launch information, Russian and U.S. officers staffing the post will be able to talk through any defense-related problems that emerge during the calendar rollover, Warner said.
"Assured communications between U.S. and Russian leaders is a priority at all times, and of particular concern over the millennium date change," said Warner, who is responsible for strategy and threat reduction.
NUCLEAR-TIPPED MISSILES
The United States and Russia each keep roughly 2,500 nuclear-tipped missiles pointed at one another on hair-trigger alert despite the collapse of the old Soviet Union in December 1991 and the end of the Cold War.
They began installing the seven direct communications links, popularly known as hotlines, in 1963 to guarantee immediate communication when needed.
Among them are direct links between the two presidents; between the secretary of state and the foreign minister; and a data link between nuclear risk reduction centers on both sides. A secure link also is key to operations of the temporary Center for Y2K Strategic Stability.
The precise nature of the other Moscow-Washington "hotlines" may be classified, Warner told Reuters.
He said a "critical" Y2K-related issue was the security of Russia's nuclear stockpiles, which the United States has spent millions to keep safe from guerrilla groups.
"Of special concern are the security systems in nuclear storage sites affecting access control ... fire detection and suppression and warhead inventory and accountability," he said.
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Defending America against Missiles
Center for Security Policy
September 29, 1999, NewsMax.com
http://216.46.238.34/articles/?a=1999/9/29/53846
In a campaign appearance yesterday in Charleston, South Carolina, former Secretary of Labor and presidential candidate Elizabeth Dole powerfully illuminated two serious vulnerabilities: 1) that of the American people to the growing threat of ballistic missile attack and 2) that of the Clinton-Gore administration to principled criticism of its incompetent, if not malfeasant, conduct of U.S. security policy. On the latter score, she declared:
"For the past seven years, under the Clinton-Gore administration, that leadership, strength, and resolve have been sadly lacking. With the end of the Cold War, many of our opportunities to create a safer world and increase our own security have been squandered....
"The result of this kind of policy-making is clear: The reliability and credibility of the United States as an ally and global power have been seriously eroded. Our ability to advance our interests with the world's major powers, and contain its rogue regimes, has waned. The world remains a very dangerous place, and we Americans are today even more vulnerable to missile attack than we were seven years ago."
A Call to Arms
In a speech marked by repeated commitments, if elected, to return to the successful foreign and defense policies of Ronald Reagan, Mrs. Dole made three especially noteworthy pledges:
"In the Dole Administration, this era of wishful thinking, vacillation, and equivocation will end. I will lead the United States firmly and resolutely....The United States will rebuild and restore its military. We will develop and implement national and theater missile defense systems. Once and for all, Americans will be defended from foreign attack. Indeed, there can be no higher priority for any president.
"Second, I will end the United States' adherence to the now invalid Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. There are only three options for this treaty: modify it, replace it, or ignore it as invalid. Common sense tells us that the authors of this treaty did not intend to bind us to a deal that reflects the technology and security environment of 27 years ago. But this is the precise effect of current policy.
"Third, I will strongly oppose making the United States a party to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. This treaty is neither effective nor verifiable. And there is no evidence that it would reduce proliferation. Rogue regimes can be expected to refuse to sign it - or sign it, and still violate it. If North Korea launches a missile at Hawaii, or even our mainland, neither this treaty nor good intentions can turn it back.
"At least until such time as our country and its forces and allies overseas are protected by robust missile defense, we must assure that the ultimate guarantor of our security - our nuclear arsenal - is as safe and effective as we can make it. Our nuclear deterrence can only be sustained if there is confidence in that deterrent. And this confidence can only be sustained through testing, which this treaty would prohibit."
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Report: EU mulls death penalty ban
UPI September 29, 1999
http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/u/990929/07/international-deathpenalty
BRUSSELS, Belgium, Sept. 29 (UPI) The International Herald Tribune reports today that the European Union is planning to introduce a motion in the U.N. General Assembly demanding a global moratorium on the death penalty.
The motion is expected to closely resemble one that was passed in April by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. That resolution has been accepted by 30 countries and rejected by 11, including the United States and China.
The Tribune said the political directors of EU foreign ministries will meet next week to discuss the text of the resolution.
The EU resolution is likely to call on states not to impose the death penalty on anyone suffering from a mental disorder.
In the United States, 38 states allow the death penalty.
No country is allowed to belong to the Council of Europe if it retains the death penalty. The European Convention on Human Rights calls for the abolition of the death penalty.
The measure to be sent to the General Assembly would not be binding, but could be used to exert moral pressure on about 70 countries committed to retaining the death penalty.
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US warns of possible terrorism
UPI September 28, 1999
http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/u/990928/14/international-terrorism
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Sept. 28 (UPI) The U.S. Office in Kosovo has urged Americans to take precautions against a potential terrorist threat.
The office, estimated at about 25 people and growing, is the official U.S. representation in the province, which technically is still part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
In the last week, the office has taken increased security measures here, including closing off the street where its three main buildings are based. American and ethnic Albanian security guards now carry batons.
No specifics were available as to the type of threat, although a press statement said the threat is without distinction between the American diplomatic corps in the province and others working here.
There are 6,400 U.S. troops in Kosovo acting as peacekeepers, who have been made aware of the threat, said Pentagon spokesman Rear. Adm. Craig Quigley.
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Iran aims to produce four new missiles
Reuters Sep 28, 1999
http://www.dogpile.com - search Infoseek
TEHRAN, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Iran, seeking to develop its arms industry to self-sufficiency, on Tuesday inaugurated 25 defence projects, including four new missiles, state television said.
It said the projects included two laser-guided heavy anti- armour missiles named ``Thunder'' and ``Tosan,'' a medium-weight anti-armour missile called ``Super-Dragon'' and an anti-aircraft missile ``Misaq.''
``These productions seek to boost the level of the Islamic republic's defensive and preventive capabilities,'' the television said.
The missiles are the latest of a series produced by Iran in recent years.
``Iran today is stronger than ever and it invites all countries to stability. A strong Iran is the best guarantor of peace and security in the region,'' President Mohammad Khatami, who inaugurated the projects, was quoted by the television as saying.
``The region's countries can jointly and without the presence of foreign forces ensure the region's security,'' the president added, in reference to Western naval and air forces based in the strategic Gulf waterway and neighbouring Gulf Arab states.
During a military parade last week commemorating the start of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, the army paraded its recently- manufactured long- and medium-range Shehab missiles. Revolutionary Guards showed off their own surface-to-surface ``Zelzal'' missile.
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American Ecology Chairman and CEO Jack Lemley
Assumes Chief Operating Officer Responsibilities
Sep 27, 1999
http://www.dogpile.com - search Infoseek
BOISE, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 27, 1999--Jack K. Lemley, chairman and chief executive officer of American Ecology Corporation (Nasdaq:ECOL), today announced he has accepted the additional responsibilities as chief operating officer following the resignation of Joe Nagel to pursue other opportunities.
Lemley said Nagel has agreed to work on a special projects consulting basis for American Ecology in the coming months.
"Joe Nagel helped re-engineer American Ecology and move the company into a position of operating strength, and we are pleased he will be available to us to keep a focus on key opportunities in the near term," Lemley said.
Additionally, Lemley said he has expanded the responsibilities of Zaki Naser, vice-president of the company and the general manager of operating subsidiary US Ecology's hazardous material disposal facility at Beatty, Nev. Naser was appointed executive vice-president and operations and marketing manager of American Ecology, Lemley said, and will be based in Las Vegas.
Boise, Idaho-based American Ecology provides processing, packaging, transportation, remediation and disposal services for generators of hazardous, non-hazardous and low-level radioactive waste at licensed facilities throughout the United States. The company has been delivering environmental solutions since 1952.
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System To Watch For Cuba Radiation Takes Shape 01:54 p.m Eastern
Reuters Sep 28, 1999
By Ben Iannotta
http://www.dogpile.com - search Infoseek
KEY WEST, Fla. (Reuters) - The steady hum coming from an inconspicuous white shack near the Florida tourist playground of Key West is the sound of emergency managers scouring the tropical trade winds for signs of more than just hurricanes.
The second of six regional stations in the U.S. Caribbean Radiation Early Warning System has just been put into operation. It is designed to monitor radiation from Cuba's yet-to-be-completed nuclear electricity generating station.
Four years ago, the U.S. Congress ordered an investigation into Cuba's plan to build two Soviet-style nuclear power reactors near Juragua, Cuba, just 200 miles from the tourist hot spot at Florida's southern tip.
The Pentagon was directed to set up a $2 million network of air sampling stations from Port Aransas, Texas, to Key West out of fear that lax Cuban construction standards and Soviet-era design could cause a nuclear calamity on the U.S. doorstep.
Though work on the Cuban reactors has since stalled, work on the U.S. Caribbean Radiation Early Warning System has not.
Pacific-Sierra Research, a Pentagon contractor in Arlington, Virginia, opened the second of six regional monitoring stations last week on Stock Island, adjacent to Key West. The station is nestled between a loading dock and a boatworks on the campus of the Florida Keys Community College.
The first station, in St. Petersburg, Florida, was put into operation earlier this year. Others will be opened in Miami and three other locations around the Gulf of Mexico.
``We want to be in a position to know if (Cuban) operations or maintenance practices need improvement. We don't want to wait until a catastrophic accident to find out they haven't been doing a good job,'' said nuclear engineer Bob Shipman, who directs the project for Pacific-Sierra.
CUBAN AND US PROJECTS CONTROVERSIAL
Construction of the Juragua reactors was suspended in 1992 following the collapse of the Soviet Union and its economic aid to Cuba. In May this year, Russia and Cuba announced they were forming a joint venture to complete the project.
U.S. officials say Cuban construction practices and the Soviet-era design of the reactors are not up to American or international nuclear standards. But Western companies have appeared reluctant to participate, partly because of opposition to it from the United States.
Shipman said the reactors containment vessels might not withstand the intense steam pressures that would build up in a nuclear mishap.
And Stuart Altman, a Defense Department nuclear physicist, said he was concerned that construction may resume with materials that have been sitting out in the tropical rain and sun for years.
If the reactors are ever finished, Shipman said Key Westers should worry most during the winter, when seasonal cold fronts are preceded by strong winds from the south.
In the summer, trade winds would probably carry the radiation northwest into the Gulf of Mexico. Temperate winds would then turn the radiation back east toward the Florida peninsula from St. Petersburg to Tallahassee, he said.
Inside the Key West station, a vacuum pump sucks 18,000 cubic feet of air an hour past a radiation detector, Shipman said. The detector is hooked up to a personal computer, which is electronically linked to the Pentagon's Center for Monitoring Research near Washington, D.C.
An alarm will be sent automatically to emergency managers from the unmanned station in the event of a radiation leak.
Construction of the detection network has been controversial in the United States because the hardware will scour the air for radiation from reactors that are not yet operating.
But Shipman defended the project, saying the monitoring stations need to be in place well before the reactors are up and running. He said it will take two years to set up the network and another year to profile existing radiation through the four seasons.
Radiation background is affected by hospitals and other facilities that use radioactive substances, Shipman said.
``You really want to understand the background. The last thing you'd want to do is storm into the U.N. pointing your finger at Cuba and find out it's coming from Turkey Point,'' he said, referring to a nuclear reactor near Miami.
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Slovakia Praised For Plans To Close Down Nuclear Plants
Radio Free Europe September 29, 1999
By Breffni O'Rourke
http://www.centraleurope.com/features.php3?id=95382
The European Union and three EU candidate countries -- Slovakia, Lithuania and Bulgaria -- have long been in a simmering dispute about the closure of atomic power plants that Brussels considers unsafe. RFE/RL correspondent Breffni O'Rourke reports that according to an EU announcement today, it looks as though Slovakia, at least, has listened to the EU's demands for action.
Slovakia has won praise from the European Union on a question with an important bearing on that country's application for EU membership, namely the issue of nuclear safety.
The EU Executive Commission in Brussels today said the Slovak government has officially set a date to close two nuclear reactors at the Bohunice power station. The two reactors will be closed down between 2006 and 2008. Commission spokesman Jean Christophe Filori welcomed Bratislava's decision to set clear closure dates for the reactors, which the EU has long considered unsafe. Slovak State Secretary Jan Figel announced the dates today in talks with EU officials.
Filori pointed clearly to the importance of the issue by saying that in making this commitment, the Slovak government has confirmed that joining the EU is an "overriding political priority." He said the commission had indicated it would help pay the cost of the closures.
Filori was saying, in effect, that the advancement of Slovakia's EU candidacy depends on action from Bratislava to close down the Bohunice reactors. His words echo the new tough line set early this month by the EU's new commissioner for enlargement, Guenter Verheugen. Verheugen gave Slovakia, Lithuania and Bulgaria until the end of this year to provide clear timetables for the closure of a total of eight unsafe reactors.
If they did not do so, he said, they could forget about receiving invitations to open concrete negotiations on membership at the EU's December summit in Helsinki. Two of the eight reactors are located at the Ignalina power plant in Lithuania and four at the Kozloduy plant in Bulgaria, as well as the two at Slovakia's Bohunice plant. Verheugen said all eight fail to meet European safety standards.
He said that apart from firm closure dates, he also wants by the end of the year clear word from the three countries on what they plan to do with their nuclear wastes, and also their energy strategies for the future.
Slovakia today took a step toward meeting Verheugen's demands. The closure timetable, however, appears relatively loose, with 9 years remaining before the reactors are fully closed. Whether this will satisfy Slovakia's neighbor Austria remains to be seen. EU member Austria, which is strongly anti-nuclear, has demanded closure of the Bohunice reactors "as soon as possible," although it has not set a deadline.
The Lithuanian government has already set a tentative date of 2005 for closure of the first of Ignalina's two reactors. A date for the decommissioning of the second is supposed to be determined in 2004. But any dates are subject to parliamentary approval, and this introduces an uncertainty into the matter.
Opposition politicians have already assailed the Lithuanian government for appearing overeager to bow to Brussels' demands. Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus has tried to smooth troubled waters by saying he considers the political debate healthy. He suggests that there is no point antagonizing the international community, especially in view of the fact that Lithuania enjoys an oversupply of energy production.
The Bulgarians have likewise set informal dates for closure of the four oldest reactors at Kozloduy, namely 2004 for the first pair, and 2008 to 2010 for the second pair. EU officials were in Bulgaria earlier this month for negotiations, but no definitive agreement was announced.
Radio FreeEurope/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
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Slovak nuclear closure plan unacceptable - Austria
Reuters Sep 28, 1999 Eastern
http://www.dogpile.com - search Infoseek
VIENNA, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Austrian Chancellor Viktor Klima on Tuesday rejected Slovakia's plan to begin shutting reactors at its Bohunice nuclear power station six years later than expected, adding that such a delay would hamper Bratislava's ambitions to join the European Union.
``This date is not acceptable for Austria. They have broken their word,'' Klima told reporters, referring to Slovakia's original agreement to close the outdated Soviet-designed plant in 2000.
The Slovak economy ministry said on Monday it planned to shut the two reactors at the V1 block of the controversial plant -- just 60 km (40 miles) from the Austrian border -- in 2006 and 2008.
The ministry's plan, which was submitted to the EU's executive, the European Commission, on Tuesday but has not yet been made public, is also expected to raise the question of EU compensation for losses incurred as a result of the shutdowns.
Klima said the Austrian government had not yet received a copy of the closure schedule but he had already written to EU Commission President Romano Prodi, current EU council president Finland and the Slovak government making clear its position.
``We have made our European partners and the Slovak government aware that this decision does not comply with the agreement and that immediate talks must be held immediately.''
Asked whether that meant anti-nuclear Austria would veto Slovakia's inclusion in EU accession talks, Klima said his government's position remained unchanged.
``We have always said there can be no EU entry with unsafe nuclear reactors. All EU states say definitely no entry with unsafe nuclear reactors -- that is clear.''
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Russian general gives nuclear arsenal eight years
Reuters Sep 28, 1999
http://www.dogpile.com - search Infoseek
MOSCOW, Sept 28 (Reuters) - A senior Defence Ministry official said on Tuesday Russia had at the most eight years to replace its ageing nuclear arsenal before it becomes obsolete, Interfax news agency reported.
Colonel-General Anatoly Sitnov was speaking to reporters as the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, opened debate on the draft 2000 budget, from which the military wants more cash.
``The resources of Russia's nuclear weapons are strictly limited and run out in 2007,'' Interfax quoted Colonel-General Anatoly Sitnov, who is in charge of procurement.
``By then, we will need a full replacement of ground and naval components of the strategic nuclear forces,'' he added. ``The air component (strategic bombers) can last until 2015.''
Most military analysts say that, because Russia's underfunded and badly trained conventional forces are declining, its nuclear arsenal is the key military factor for maintaining national security and at least semi-superpower status.
Russia has developed a new generation of ballistic missiles, Topol-M, which it hopes will replace old rockets. A handful of the missiles have been deployed.
Sitnov said Russia had to switch to new nuclear weapons by 2007 if it wanted to maintain its nuclear shield and meet the terms of the still unratified START-2 arms reduction pact signed with the United States in 1993.
Under START-2 accord Russia and the United States would slash their deployed nuclear warheads from about 6,000 each to no more than 3,500 each by 2007.
The U.S. Senate has ratified the treaty, but Russia's Communist-dominated Duma has held back, concerned in part by fears the United States is planning to break out of another disarmament pact, the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty.
A freeze in relations with NATO introduced by Russia during the alliance's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia earlier this year has further delayed the ratification of START-2.
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New Contractor Ready At INEEL
Yahoo Idaho Briefs, September 29, 1999
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/local/state/idaho/story.html?s=v/rs/19990929/id/index_1.html#5
(IDAHO FALLS) -- The times, they are a changing... at the INEEL. A third shipment of low-level radioactive waste left the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Lab yesterday, bound for permanent burial in New Mexico. The fourth shipment this year will leave tomorrow but thousands will follow in the years to come. On Friday, Bechtel B-and-W Idaho assumes responsibility for the management and operation of the Energy Department site in eastern Idaho. Bechtel replaces Lockheed Martin which did not bid on another five-year contract.
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Drought Nearly Shuts Down Vermont Yankee
Yahoo Vermont Briefs, September 29, 1999
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/local/state/vermont/story.html?s=v/rs/19990929/vt/index_1.html#3
(VERNON) -- Vermont Yankee, the nuclear power plant in Vernon, was nearly shut down this summer by the drought and heat. The plant is allowed under its license to use water from the Connecticut River to cool its reactors, as long as the water temperature stays below 85 degrees. The reactor's operations superintendent told the State Nuclear Advisory Panel this week that drought conditions during the summer created serious cooling problems for the plant. River temperatures came within two degrees of shutting the plant down.
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New System May Kill Germs With Light
Yahoo California Briefs, September 29, 1999
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/local/state/california/story.html?s=v/rs/19990929/ca/index_1.html#12
(KEARNEY MESA) -- A San Diego company is developing a system using bright light to kill germs, viruses and bacteria with flashes of light. Scientists at Maxwell Technologies are using lights 90-thousand times brighter than daylight. The light can reportedly sterilize liquids and boil dangerous forms of radiation. They discovered the process while studying why energy impulses from nuclear bombs knock out electronics and satellites.
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U.S. Energy Secretary To Tour Russian Nuclear Sites
Reuters Sep 28, 1999
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=95276
MOSCOW, U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson arrives in Russia on Tuesday to tour U.S.-Russian nuclear non-proliferation programs set up to deal with vast stockpiles of nuclear material built up during the Cold War.
Richardson was due to land in Moscow from Vienna on Tuesday afternoon and leave immediately for the port of Murmansk on the northern Barents Sea on the first leg of a five-day tour, the spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Moscow said.
The embassy said in a statement that the U.S. and Russia had both amassed huge stockpiles of plutonium and highly enriched uranium, the essential materials for nuclear weapons.
The U.S. Department of Energy, which maintains the nuclear weapons stockpile in the U.S., is now working with Russia to stop nuclear weapons materials and knowledge from falling into the hands of what it calls "rogue nations and terrorists."
Richardson, in Russia at the invitation of the Ministry of Atomic Energy and the Russian Navy, will visit Severomorsk near Murmansk, Dmitrovgrad near Samara on the river Volga, and the formerly closed nuclear city of Sarov, also on the Volga.
He will return to Moscow on Friday, and is expected to give a news briefing on Saturday to discuss the results of his trip.
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Energy Bill Avoids Deep Cuts at Labs
Albuquerque Journal September 29, 1999
By Ian Hoffman
http://www.abqjournal.com/news/7news09-29-99.htm
The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed a $21.3 billion spending bill Tuesday that staves off deep cuts at the U.S. Department of Energy and its weapons labs in New Mexico.
The 96-3 Senate vote sends the bill to the White House, where aides to President Clinton recently dropped an earlier veto threat. The Energy and Water Appropriations Bill traditionally serves as a grab-bag of popular water projects -- $44 million worth for next year in New Mexico alone -- and Energy Department money for everything from solar power research to the salaries of weapons scientists.
Executives at Sandia and Los Alamos weapons labs earlier expressed concern that Congress would slash their budgets in anger over allegations that Los Alamos lost U.S. nuclear warhead secrets to China.
The labs still stand to lose roughly $20 million apiece in basic science funds, but the new bill spared their bread-and-butter money for weapons research.
"I'm very pleased we're able to fund that at a very healthy level," said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. Domenici led successful opposition to a $1.1 billion shortfall in the House version of the bill.
"This bill provides a level of funding that I believe will allow the labs to continue to carry out the valuable work they do," said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.
The bill boosts overall security spending by $45 million. But Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, who sought a larger increase, criticized the bill as damaging to science and stronger security measures at 70 DOE sites.
The bill underscores a sharp divide between Congress and the Clinton administration over tightening security at the weapons labs.
Despite concern over possible Chinese nuclear espionage at the labs, Congress rejected the latest Clinton administration requests for money to strengthen security -- especially computer security -- inside the U.S. Department of Energy.
Instead, Congress addressed security lapses chiefly through a major overhaul of the Energy Department. Led by Domenici, lawmakers parceled DOE's nuclear-weapons work into a new semi-independent agency, the National Nuclear Security Administration. Its director will be a DOE undersecretary and report to Richardson and his successors, but the agency is otherwise largely free of the rest of the Energy Department.
This spring, Richardson ordered scores of new security measures at the weapons labs. And he regrouped DOE's scattered security apparatus under two new, high-ranking directors for security and counterintelligence. To fund those changes, Richardson requested an additional $65.2 million in the energy and water bill, including $35 million for computer security. Congress did not include the requests in the bill's final form.
DOE inspectors recently named computer security as the labs' greatest vulnerability for potential losses of nuclear secrets. It remains possible, for example, for a spy employed within the labs to copy classified weapons information onto a disk and walk out the door. Also, DOE inspections found, the labs' protected but unclassified systems remain vulnerable to attacks or data thefts by insiders.
With the $35 million, DOE proposed to equip its computer networks with devices to thwart hackers and insiders from stealing sensitive information. In future requests, DOE officials expect to seek as much as $450 million for a complete retool of its computer networks that would, for example, nearly eliminate disk and tape drives on computers holding top-secret weapons data.
In a prepared statement, Richardson said the bill "barely meets the country's national security needs and undercuts our international leadership in science."
He shied from threatening to recommend a presidential veto, however.
The White House dropped a threat to veto the bill over a provision giving developers a stronger stance in building on federally protected wetlands.
Domenici and colleagues felt the bill contained enough money for security for now.
"The question is, how much more can you spend on the current system when you're going to change it in the next two months?" Domenici said.
"We believe when they go to implement this, they will find they have enough money to do security," he argued on the Senate floor. "But I'm not going to be open to resolving this problem (now) just by putting huge amounts of new money in."
At Los Alamos, lab director John C. Browne warned employees that the new bill shows little growth in the lab's $1.3 billion annual budget. Los Alamos workers still will receive $47 million in raises as planned, Browne said. But "that comes at a price. It means we will have to tighten our belts across the lab. There is no other way to do it."
The new energy and water bill will take a significant bite out of homegrown research at Los Alamos and Sandia, where lab directors typically could devote 6 percent of their budgets as seed money for basic science. The new bill cuts those funds to 4 percent of a much smaller portion of the labs' budgets, resulting in cuts estimated at about $20 million apiece.
"This is a positive outcome for what Los Alamos was looking at for the coming year," said lab spokesman John Gustafson. "Yes, there are restrictions, and we will have to be very prudent fiscally. But things could have been a lot worse."
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Trustee Chosen to Clean Atlas Tailings
Salt Lake City Tribune - Wednesday, September 29, 1999
http://www.sltrib.com/1999/sep/09291999/utah/32428.htm
A Los Angeles firm has been picked as trustee to oversee capping of 10.5 million tons of uranium tailings on the banks of the Colorado River near Moab.
But Bill Hedden, chairman of the Grand Canyon Trust environmental group pushing to have the tailings moved, worries the money left behind by the bankrupt Atlas Corp. won't be enough to pay for the project, and taxpayers will have to cover the shortfall.
Dames & Moore, based in Los Angeles, was chosen Monday to oversee cleanup of the sprawling tailings pile after Denver-based Atlas, which operated the uranium mill from 1962 to 1984, filed for bankruptcy last fall.
A required cleanup bond left behind by Atlas contains between $7 million and $8 million, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Hedden contends the number is inflated by near-worthless water and land rights, and is actually closer to $5.25 million.
Either way it's not enough. Atlas estimated it would cost $20 million simply to put an earthen cap on the pile. The NRC estimated capping the pile and cleaning up groundwater would cost about $47 million. The state's estimate for groundwater cleanup alone is about $77 million.
Joe Holonich, deputy director of the NRC Division of Waste Management, said it's still unclear where the additional money will come from.
"We don't know," he said. "There is no other source of funds out there other than the Title X funds."
Title X funds are money from the Department of Energy to clean up tailings from mills that sold uranium to government weapons programs. In Atlas' case, 56 percent of the mine's uranium was sold to the government, meaning the DOE will pay for 56 percent of the cleanup. However, since Atlas has filed bankruptcy, there is nobody to pay the additional 44 percent.
"There's no other source of non-DOE payments we can identify at this point," said Holonich.
He said the $5 million will allow Dames & Moore to begin the first step of the cleanup -- draining 500 million gallons of contaminated water from the pile over the next 30 months.
"We're very concerned. We are concerned there wasn't sufficient bonding there when the NRC was working with Atlas prior to the bankruptcy filing and we've raised that issue with the NRC for a number of years," said Dianne Nielson, executive director of the Department of Environmental Quality.
Hedden criticized the NRC for plowing ahead despite the uncertainty.
"Somebody needs to do a mercy-killing on NRC and take this project away from them because they don't have the financial, regulatory or administrative wherewithal to deal with this site in the wake of Atlas' bankruptcy," Hedden said.
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Congress approves $63 million for Paducah cleanup
Akron Beacon-Journal September 28, 1999
http://www.ohio.com/bj/news/ohio/docs/022825.htm
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Congress has approved more than $63 million for cleaning up radioactive contamination at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and its sister plant in southern Ohio.
The money was contained in the Energy and Water Appropriations bill, which was sent to President Clinton on Tuesday for his consideration.
The amount for the Paducah plant was essentially what the Clinton administration and Kentucky officials asked for. It represents a considerable increase in spending to address recent public concerns over reports detailing decades of safety and health problems at the complex.
``We know the problem in Paducah will not go away overnight,'' Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who pushed for the spending on behalf of the Department of Energy, said in a statement. ``But this $63 million cleanup appropriation begins to move us towards a solution.''
The money was contained in the $22 billion fiscal 2000 budget for energy and water programs and projects; it passed the House on Monday on a vote of 327-87. The Senate approved the bill Tuesday.
``These are much-needed funds,'' said Anthony Hulen, spokesman for Republican Rep. Ed Whitfield, whose 1st District includes Paducah.
The House action came hours after the House and Senate conference committee on the budget completed work on the spending bill, agreeing to last-minute requests by McConnell for cleanup spending for Paducah.
By custom, lawmakers are discouraged from adding money for new items to a budget bill in conference.
But against the backdrop of two congressional hearings on Paducah's problems this month, the conference committee granted two McConnell requests for additional money. It also added a provision to the bill directing the department to expand medical testing of current and former plant workers.
In recent weeks, Paducah workers have learned that they were exposed to dangerous levels of plutonium but were never warned or given any special protection.
Some plutonium-laced uranium also was handled at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio, but the amounts and exposure levels have not been determined.
The first add-on was $10.7 million for analyzing and containing a variety of radioactive-waste problems at the Paducah site and at its sister plant in southern Ohio. The money is expected to be divided roughly equally.
The second add-on totaled $4 million, to be used to speed up the decontamination of inactive facilities. About half of that sum will go to Paducah.
The new provision essentially directs the Energy Department to do what it has already promised to do: expand medical testing to include current employees as well as former plant workers.
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Japanese unload nuclear shipment
The Age, Australia September 28, 1999
http://www.theage.com.au/daily/990928/news/news28.html
OKUMA, JAPAN Japanese authorities set up tight security to ward off protesters today as a British-flagged ship unloaded the first delivery of recycled plutonium-uranium fuel.
Surrounded by more than 30 Coast Guard ships, the 4648-tonne Pacific Teal docked at the Okuma port of Tokyo Electric Power Company's nuclear plant at 5.45am.
The ship began unloading 210 kilograms of mixed plutonium-uranium oxide (MOX) fuel.
It was the first shipment to Japan of the fuel, which authorities here had sent abroad for reprocessing.
The Pacific Teal spent two months sailing from France with its sister ship, the Pacific Pintail, which left a British port to unload MOX fuel at another Japanese nuclear plant.
As the Pacific Teal entered Okuma port, 240 kilometres north of Tokyo, the Maritime Safety Agency ships warded off about a dozen protesters on board the environmental group Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise ship and three inflatable boats.
The Pacific Teal lightly sprayed the Greenpeace protest vessels with water while the Coast Guards ships ``harassed us with their reckless driving'', Greenpeace's research director, Mr Shaun Burnie, said.
Five Coast Guard helicopters circled above the carrier.
About a dozen private security guards employed by Tokyo Electric lined up in front of the dock's gates, backed by more guards nearby.
A few hours after the docking, 20 people marched outside the nuclear plant to demand Tokyo Electric stop using MOX fuel.
Holding a banner that read ``Stop Plutonium Now'', Mitsuru Fukumoto, a 23-year-old law student from Tokyo, said the plutonium use ``will allow the Japanese Government to arm itself with nuclear weapons in the future''.
Ichiro Sugai, 67, described the shipment as a gross violation of Japan's pledges not to possess, make and bring nuclear weapons into Japan. ``The shipment does not reflect the will of Japanese people at all,'' he said.
After the Pacific Teal completes the MOX unloading today, it will sail with the Pacific Pintail to Takahama, 400 kilometres west of Tokyo, on the Sea of Japan. The 5087-tonne Pacific Pintail is loaded with 225 kilograms of the nuclear fuel for the Kansai Electric Power port there.
Tokyo Electric is expected to start MOX operation as early as February by burning MOX fuel pellets in light-water reactors to generate electricity. AFP
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More nuclear waste shipped out
Two shipments to New Mexico uphold 1995 DOE agreement
Associated Press - September 28, 1999 Spokane Review
http://www.spokane.net/news-story-body.asp?Date=092899&ID=s639884&cat=
Two more shipments of plutonium-contaminated waste will be sent to a New Mexico dump from the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory this week as the federal government continues its show of good faith in the state's 1995 nuclear waste deal.
"These shipments of waste out of Idaho are becoming a more frequent activity," Gov. Dirk Kempthorne's office said on Monday in a statement. "That's what the agreement between the state of Idaho and the Department of Energy spells out."
The third shipment of 28 barrels in two casks was scheduled to leave on the 900-mile trip today to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad and the other shipment of 27 or 28 barrels was scheduled to move on Thursday.
More than two dozen shipments from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Rocky Flats in Colorado and two from INEEL have already been processed at the $2 billion underground facility for waste generated during the Cold War production of atomic weapons.
Under the 1995 agreement, the Energy Department must ship about 15,000 drums of the relatively low-level-but-long-lasting waste out of Idaho by the end of 2002. All 315,000 barrels of waste must be removed by 2019.
Meanwhile, government scientists have proposed two different radiation limits for a high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
But independent scientists question whether either will protect public health.
Public hearings will be held next month by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Environmental Protection Agency on those and other issues surrounding permanent waste storage in Nevada where some in Congress, led by Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig, want to temporarily dump radioactive waste as well.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, charged with licensing projects like Yucca Mountain, has proposed an annual limit of 25 millirems of radiation exposure for a person living outside the gates of Yucca Mountain. It offers no limit on the amount of radiation that could escape through groundwater.
The Environmental Protection Agency, the federal organization with the legal authority to set the radiation standards for Yucca Mountain, settled on a limit of 15 millirems and would restrict the amount of radiation in groundwater at 4 millirems.
The nuclear industry opposes the EPA limits, saying that such a strict standard could kill the project.
The Energy Department has conceded that it cannot store 70,000 tons of commercial nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain with essentially no radioactive leakage for at least 10,000 years.
Its draft environmental analysis estimates that radiation will escape from buried containers by both water and air. Dump workers, drivers, transportation inspectors and people living within 50 miles of the site will be exposed but not to dangerous radiation levels, according to the draft.
One critic, nuclear physicist and physician John Gofman, argued that "there is no safe dose of radiation."
Gofman has studied nuclear weapons, nuclear waste and X-rays and how they have affected people for the past 50 years.
"Small doses of radiation over time add up to a lot of cancers," Gofman said.
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Pak. begins work on Shaheen-II
The Hindu, September 27, 1999
By Atul Aneja
http://www.indiaserver.com/thehindu/1999/09/27/stories/03270005.htm
NEW DELHI, SEPT. 26. Stung by the Kargil setback, Pakistan has started working on its 2,400 km range Shaheen-II missile to bridge key gaps in its nuclear arsenal, according to highly placed sources.
Pakistan is making special efforts to overcome a key shortfall in its nuclear deterrent. Islamabad, for instance, is yet to acquire the ``interfacing technology'' which is necessary to mount nuclear warheads on any of its existing missiles, it is reliably learnt. Without this capability, the Pakistani deterrent does not have enough teeth, notwithstanding the fact that it does possess some planes in its stables which can land nuclear bombs.
``It is clear that Pakistan has to overcome a few hiccups before it acquires sufficient and reliable nuclear delivery systems'', an analyst said.
Pakistan is attempting to overcome these deficiencies through the Shaheen-II. The first stage of the two stage missile is around 6.3 metres while the second stage will be 4.4 metres long.
Shaheen-II is being developed by the Pakistan National Development Complex (NDC) under the jurisdiction of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). The Pakistanis have set a one year target to produce this weapon.
As in the past, Islamabad has approached its strategic partner, China, for assistance. The Academy of China Aerospace Corporation is reportedly helping Islamabad in the development of Shaheen-II. Pakistan envisages assembling four of these weapon from ready made ``kits'' provided by China initially.
In case Shaheen-II project matures as planned, it will render a new dimension to Sino-Pak. cooperation in missiles. China, it is understood, has still not passed on some critical elements of its missile technology to Pakistan. For instance, China has transferred an unspecified number of Chinese origin M-9/ Hatf-III missiles. But it has not shared the crucial missile guidance technology, re-entry heat shield technology and the nuclear weapons interfacing know-how with Islamabad.
Shaheen-II is a two stage solid- propelled missile. This means that the missile, will be easy to handle. Solid fuel can be easily stored. This ensures that larger stockpiles of the weapon be maintained near the launch area. Besides, solid fuelled missile has a faster ``rate of fire'' as the propellant can be quickly packed in the weapon before launch.
Shaheen-II's first stage will boost the missile for a period of around 54 seconds. The second stage will then separate and travel towards the target zone.
Pakistan's focus on the Shaheen-II is part of a concerted effort by Islamabad to acquire nuclear missiles. It has already tested the Ghauri-I and Ghauri-II which are believed to be variants of the North Korean Nodong-1 and Nodong-2. In fact, the solid propelled Ghauri-II and the Shaheen-I with a range of 600 km were tested within days of test firing of the Agni-2 by India last April.
Pakistan also has around 84 Chinese M-11 missiles and the 80 km range Hatf-1 in its stocks. The solid fuelled M-11 missiles which have a range of around 300 km are said to be stored at a sub depot, near the Central Ammunition Depot, Sargodha.
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White House and I.M.F. Give Ecuador the Cold Shoulder
New York Times September 29, 1999
By DAVID E. SANGER
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/092999imf-meeting.html
WASHINGTON -- For five years now the Clinton Administration has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep countries from defaulting on loans to investors around the world, fearing that national bankruptcy can set off political upheaval and international economic chaos.
That is why the White House bailed out Mexico in 1995, and why Washington moved the financial heavens to rescue Thailand and South Korea (successfully) and Indonesia and Russia (not exactly victories for American-style capitalism).
So it was more than a little curious that when tiny Ecuador, hardly a strategic player in the post-cold-war world, finally drove off a financial cliff this week, there was no one extending a net to cushion the fall. Inside the United States Treasury, the central command post in this era of global economic diplomacy, the message was that Ecuador got its just deserts. For months it has been ignoring warnings that it could no longer delay some enormously tough political choices. Instead, it declared it could not -- and would not -- pay many of the investors who had bought the country's Brady bonds.
That was exactly the message the new Treasury Secretary, Lawrence H. Summers, wanted to send to those investors. Since the Asian economic crisis ebbed, Summers has warned over and over again about the dangers of complacency, and said the United States and the International Monetary Fund would not always step in to rescue countries or their lenders. Finally, he proved it.
"Sooner or later, investors are going to discover that the world isn't always going to step in to stop a default," one senior Administration official said. "And if they understand it sooner, it might prevent a bigger crisis."
Much has changed since the last time the world's finance ministers and central bankers clogged Washington with their limousines for the annual meetings of the I.M.F. and World Bank. Back then the world seemed on the precipice of economic disaster. Russia had just devalued its currency, Wall Street was swooning, hedge funds were going under and the Federal Reserve was cutting interest rates to breathe life back into the world economy.
This year, those finance ministers and central bankers, bellying up to the appetizers at receptions all over the city, are congratulating themselves for the wisdom of their world-saving chess moves last year. The Governor of the Bank of France talked this morning about handing out "coups de chapeau" -- tips of the hat -- to Asia and to the I.M.F. and World Bank. Several of his colleagues from other countries talked about last year in the giddy terms of survivors of a plane crash.
All this has Summers worried, and at every opportunity he warns against the dangers of complacency and says the biggest thing the world should fear is "the lack of fear itself." So Ecuador was a chance to create a little fear in the markets.
China Clams Up
As the ministers toasted each other, the Chinese dithered and danced. On Monday, China's negotiator over the country's entry into the World Trade Organization, Shi Guangsheng, arrived in Washington, met with Charlene Barshefsky, the United States trade representative, and offered -- well, absolutely nothing new. Then he flew back to Beijing, in time for the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic.
Ms. Barshefsky and her colleagues in the Administration are clearly mystified. For the last few months they have assumed that China's reluctance to negotiate on the terms of its entry to the group -- a deal nearly completed in April, until President Clinton walked away -- was part of some great tactical plan hatched in Beijing.
The theory was that the Chinese, by waiting, were hoping to translate the American guilt over the bombing of their embassy in Belgrade into easier terms for entering the W.T.O. They wanted Clinton to ask China publicly to come back to the table -- exactly what he did two weeks ago in New Zealand, at a meeting with President Jiang Zemin. The meeting here was supposed to make progress.
It didn't.
Now some in the Administration wonder if Ms. Barshefsky's decision to publish a list of China's concessions in April was what one senior White House official calls "a huge mistake." Clearly it made Prime Minister Zhu Rongji vulnerable to conservative forces who want to kill any effort to allow foreign competitors equal footing in China. The question is whether those conservatives have the upper hand now, and that China is no longer willing to open up.
"Anybody who tells you they understand the Chinese strategy here isn't telling you the truth," one official deeply involved in the negotiations said today. "In fact, we can't figure out whether the Chinese know themselves what they want to do."
Going to Bat for Russia
Neither Congress nor the White House is in any mood these days to give financial aid to the money-laundering Russians, or the corruption-ridden Indonesians, especially after the bloodshed of East Timor. Today the head of the I.M.F., Michel Camdessus, had a pretty clear response: Get over it. Some countries are too big to cut off.
Speaking about Russia at the opening session of the I.M.F. Tuesday, Camdessus said, "it would be the height of irresponsibility to turn our back on this great nation; we will not do that." He urged that all the allegations of misappropriation of funds should be weighed against seven years of "real progress," and added that no one should "ignore the fundamental decision, on which Russia has not wavered, to seek to develop a modern market economy and integrate itself into the international community."
He was somewhat less enthused about the progress of change in Indonesia, but clearly was anticipating that the election of a new president would free up the I.M.F.'s coffers once again. And he talked more about rebuilding East Timor than rebuilding Ecuador.
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Pentagon Will Expand Timor Mission
Associated Press September 29, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-US-East-Timor.html
DARWIN, Australia (AP) -- The Pentagon, deepening its involvement in the East Timor crisis, is dispatching the helicopter carrier USS Belleau Wood to the area and increasing its satellite communications support for the international peacekeepers there, Defense Secretary William Cohen announced today.
No U.S. combat troops will be sent.
At a news conference with Australian Defense Minister John Moore, Cohen said four heavy-lift Marine Corps helicopters will operate from the deck of the Belleau Wood to ferry equipment around East Timor for the peacekeepers. They also may fly to East Timor from Darwin on the north Australian coast, a few hundred miles from East Timor.
``We are very pleased indeed for that expansion'' of the U.S. contribution, Moore said. Australia ``could not want for more'' from the Americans, who are offering capabilities no other country could provide, he said.
The helicopter carrier, with an 820-foot flight deck and crew of about 900 Marines, is loading in Okinawa and will depart Thursday, Cohen spokesman Kenneth Bacon said. The ship is expected to be in the vicinity of East Timor on Oct. 6 and will remain in the area at least until the end of October. Its home port is Sasebo, Japan.
A senior defense official traveling with Cohen, meanwhile, told reporters there are indications that pro-Indonesian militias -- numbering between 2,000 and 4,000 -- may be preparing to launch guerrilla raids on the Australian-led peacekeeping troops in East Timor. The official, who spoke on condition he not be identified, said Cohen would stress in talks with Indonesian officials in Jakarta that its military must not give even tacit support to such attacks.
Asked about the potential for militia attacks, Marine Corps Brig. Gen. John G. Castellaw, commander of the U.S. forces supporting the East Timor operation, told reporters he would ``not speculate on that.'' He added that Australian officials had assured him they are well prepared to defend themselves and the rest of the peacekeeping operation.
Speaking at the Royal Australian Air Force headquarters in Darwin, Cohen said there was reason for concern about cross-border militia attacks.
``That's one of the apprehensions we have,'' Cohen said. He said he would stress in meetings Thursday with top Indonesian military and government officials in Jakarta that they must not allow any attacks on the peacekeepers. Cohen is scheduled to meet with Gen. Wiranto, the Indonesian military chief, as well as President B.J. Habibie and Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of Indonesia's founder and the expected next elected president.
Upon his arrival in Jakarta tonight, Cohen said that with the peacekeepers now in East Timor and ``with some stability returning there,'' he sees a chance that order can be restored and relations with Indonesia put back on track.
Bacon said the Belleau Woods' CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters will be needed as the rainy season hits East Timor and makes road transportation more difficult. The United States already is providing Air Force transport planes to move heavy equipment to Darwin, and it has been providing other logistical, communications and intelligence support.
Cohen also said a team of about 130 Army communications specialists from the 11th Signal Group at Fort Huachucha, Ariz., will arrive soon in both Darwin and Dili, the East Timorese capital, to set up a multichannel satellite-based voice and data communications system to link field units in East Timor with command centers there and in Darwin.
These additional forces will bring the total of U.S. troops involved in the East Timor operation to roughly 450. There are not about 275, including nine in East Timor. The rest are in Darwin.
During a three-hour stop in Darwin, Cohen and Moore also greeted a multinational group of forces supporting the East Timor effort, which Cohen called ``Operation Warden,'' including a small number of Americans.
On a shaded patio at Royal Australian Air Force headquarters, Cohen thanked the troops for a cooperative effort that he said shows the strength of American defense ties to this part of the world.
``This is a matter of great importance to stability in the region,'' Cohen said.
The U.N.-sanctioned peace effort also faces an enormous challenge in West Timor -- which also is part of Indonesia -- where tens of thousands of East Timorese fled to escape the violence.
Earlier today Cohen declined to say how the Clinton administration would respond if Australia were to tell Washington it needed U.S. combat troops as part of the peacekeeping mission in East Timor in order to ensure its success.
``That's a hypothetical I can't answer at this point,'' Cohen replied in an Australian TV interview in Cairns, the northeast coastal city where he spent Tuesday night.
Cohen said today that the U.S. military is stretched too thin elsewhere in the world to be able to contribute ground forces in East Timor. He mentioned no specific countries, but U.S. ground troops are performing peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Kosovo while also maintaining a normal peacetime presence elsewhere in Europe as well as South Korea and Japan.
``The United States is very much stretched across the globe trying to make sure we contribute to peace and stability, but we are not the global policeman,'' Cohen said in the TV interview.
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China Fetes Capitalists, but the Air Is Tense
New York Times September 29, 1999
By SETH FAISON
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/092999china-fortune-500.html
SHANGHAI, China -- China is celebrating 50 years of communist rule this week in part by hosting more than 300 of the world's leading capitalists at a conference in this city.
But the Fortune Global Forum is unintentionally highlighting the deeply troubled nature of China's business dealings with the West.
For instance, at the gala opening on Monday night, Time Warner chairman Gerald Levin , personally introduced President Jiang Zemin, a leader he has assiduously courted for nearly 15 years, repeatedly describing him as "my good friend." Time Warner, publisher of Fortune, is sponsoring the conference -- ambitiously entitled "China: The Next 50 Years" -- with the Shanghai municipal government.
But that did not stop China's authorities from banning newsstand sales of a special China edition of Time Warner's flagship magazine, Time, because it included essays by the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, and by the Chinese political exiles Wei Jingsheng and Fang Lizhi.
"It's very disappointing, at what is meant to celebrate China's opening to the outside world, when they still feel the need to censor anything they don't like," said Adi Ignatius, deputy editor of Time Asia, who edited the special edition.
Disappointment, born of misunderstanding, wishful thinking and crossed purposes, plagues other aspects of the relationship. Chinese leaders still seem to believe Western executives should want to help China modernize first, and make money second. Western businessmen, routinely blinded by the attraction of a seemingly limitless market, often suspend common business sense to spend millions before they can even project a potential profit.
Time Warner, like other media conglomerates, would like to enter China's movie and music markets, but has so far been blocked by Chinese officials who are generally mistrustful of foreign media companies. Executives like Levin are typically circumspect in discussing how aggressively they would like to come to China, for fear of alarming the authorities.
Instead, Levin spoke at the conference on Tuesday about how Time Warner can help people in China, arguing that his company should do a service to all humanity by trying to help new talent find a public voice.
"When you go into a market like China, you recognize talented artists and give them an opportunity for expression, that's an important public role," Levin said. "Companies like ours have a role to play in creating world harmony."
In a meeting with Jiang earlier in the day, Levin presented his host with a piece of Americana: a bust of Abraham Lincoln. Receiving the gift, according to an executive who was present, Jiang beamed as his praises were sung by the Time Warner chairman.
Jiang is apparently accustomed to being told by his colleagues how wise and insightful he is, so he may have been expecting something similar from Levin. Instead, the American guest worked up to an unexpected crescendo: praising Jiang as one of the few world leaders who can recite the Gettysburg Address from memory, a parlor trick that Jiang repeats for many American visitors.
Though approval from high officials can go a long way in China, Western businessmen with experience here point out that it is no guarantee for business success, since China is still a relatively poor country where legal guarantees are virtually worthless, corruption is rampant, and many basic services are unreliable.
Human Rights In China, a New York-based group, complained that the Fortune Global Forum had improperly left human rights concerns off the agenda, since an international conference offers a chance to raise issues that ordinary Chinese people can not touch in a public venue.
However, despite the conference's serious-sounding title, it seemed clear that many participants came here not to analyze or proscribe China's needs as much as to explore possible ways to make money.
Sumner Redstone, chairman of Viacom Inc., which owns MTV, seemed to take a relatively direct approach.
"There are 3 billion people in Asia and 2 billion of them are in the MTV generation," Redstone said at a session of the conference. "That's who we're after."
At a news conference later, Redstone, whose company recently announced its intention to acquire CBS, said that international news organizations should avoid being unnecessarily offensive to foreign governments.
"Journalistic integrity must prevail in the final analysis," Redstone said. "But that doesn't mean that journalistic integrity should be exercised in a way that is unnecessarily offensive to the countries in which you operate."
Other visiting executives did not hide their efforts to woo Chinese hosts by saying unabashedly nice things about the communist government.
Maurice Greenberg, chairman of American International Group, the insurance giant, has been courting Chinese leaders for 25 years. Despite this early entry into the local insurance market, his staffers here have little sense of when they might begin to make a profit.
At the conference on Tuesday, Greenberg went out of his way to praise the communist rulers, brushing aside a suggestion that more democracy was needed by arguing that the main job in China is simply feeding the population of 1.3 billion people.
In fact, as several Chinese economists here have pointed out, bumper harvests and overcapacity have created huge food surpluses this year, contributing to sagging farm incomes and the danger of excessive deflation. Polls show, meantime, that the overwhelming concerns of Chinese businessmen are corruption and official mismanagement.
Apart from all the big-name executives, and official wooing, the conference seemed to have another, perhaps unexpected feature. It gave many of the 200 Chinese participants a chance to question their own leaders in a public way that is ordinarily off-limits.
Zeng Peiyan, chairman of the State Development Planning Commission, appeared surprised Tuesday when he faced hard questions from the Chinese businessmen in the audience.
One Chinese executive asked Zeng why his commission could not put a time limit on applications for project approval, as happens in other countries. A manager of a state-run company complained that he was hemmed in by restrictions in China's labor markets. He said it was difficult to hire and fire people because the authorities have been slow to create a promised social security system to help laid-off workers.
Zeng defended his commission's work, but did not answer in detail.
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UN Peace Force Plan Welcomed In Sierra Leone
Reuters September 28, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-leone-u.html
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (Reuters) - A U.N. plan to deploy 6,000 peacekeeping troops in war-ravaged Sierra Leone received broad support in the West African country Tuesday, though rebel leader Foday Sankoh said he had not agreed to it.
``The government sees the move as a positive step in the right direction,'' said Septimus Kaikai, spokesman for President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
He said the government was particularly pleased with the planned use of the Nigerian-led ECOMOG regional intervention force already in Sierra Leone as the bulwark of the U.N. mission.
``The West African peacekeepers ar