* U.S. secrets aboard latest Chinese sub
* Chinese, U.S. Military To Meet
* American and Russian military officers as the millennium arrives...
* Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Reactivated
* Mars Missions: Nasa Lost In Space
* Space race to Mars between U.S., China?
* Mars missions to face greater scrutiny
* Mars is not an easy destination
* Still no word from Mars lander
* Europe Must Spend More on Defense
* New Details On Japan Nuclear Accident
* Y2K in Asia's nuclear neighbors -- where uncertainty and uncooperation reign
* Czech Says Nuclear Plants Y2K-Proof
* Y2K bug predicted to bite here, there
* Bradley's Most Important Vote [Someone should reply...]
* Missile defense system makes sense in post-Cold War era
* Theoretical Physicist Richard Latter Warned of Nuclear Treaty Cheating
* French Nuclear Cos. Merge By Clar Ni Chonghaile
* Hanford studies safety of nuclear waste tank
* TRENDS in RENEWABLE ENERGIES (the condensed version)
* COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN SEATTLE **** [GREAT report]
* Seattle fiasco raises some risks
* After Riots, Seattle Is Chagrined Yet Cheerful
* Seattle Protest Could Have Lasting Influence on Trade
* The Collapse in Seattle
* WTO Debacle Likely to Embolden Opposition
* Seattle WTO Failure Seen Bad for Asia
* The WTO, Yes . . . Barter for labor rights, the environment.
*. . . And No Labor rights and the environment first.
* U.S-China Pact Opposition to Intensify Labor, Environmental Groups Stepping Up Campaign Against Trade Agreement
-------- china
U.S. secrets aboard latest Chinese sub
By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Washington Times 5am -- December 6, 1999 www.washtimes.com
China is beginning work on a new strategic submarine that will be targeted against U.S. nuclear forces and carry missiles with small warheads similar to American weapons, The Washington Times has learned.
The People's Liberation Army Navy will start construction in the next several weeks on its first Type 094 missile submarine, according to Pentagon and other administration officials with access to intelligence reports.
Preparations for the construction were detected by U.S. spy agencies and reported to senior Pentagon officials late last month. The submarine will carry a smaller underwater variant of China's new DF-31 intercontinental ballistic missile, which was flight-tested in August.
The JL-2 submarine-launched missile to be deployed on the Type 094 and the DF-31 are the first strategic systems that will contain stolen U.S. warhead and missile secrets, the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Times.
That view contradicts claims of other administration officials who believe there is no evidence so far that Chinese strategic weapons will be copied from U.S. systems.
According to the intelligence officials, the new Type 094 is being built to provide "a strategic deterrent" to the United States.
Both the JL-2 and the first Type 094 are expected to be deployed around 2005 or 2006. The JL-2 also is known as the Julang-2 and will have a range of about 7,400 miles. Julang means Great Wave in Chinese.
"These missiles will be able to hit any place in the United States, not just the Western states," said one official. "That's a significant new capability."
The Type 094 will carry 12 or 16 JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missiles that were described in one intelligence report as a smaller version of the DF-31.
U.S. intelligence agencies in mid-November also spotted a Chinese Golf-class missile submarine that is being used as a test bed for the JL-2. The submarine sailed from Zhenjiang to Lushung. The transit was a sign the Chinese are preparing for the first sea-launch test of the JL-2.
The missile also is expected by Pentagon officials to carry China's newest small warhead that is believed to be copied from the U.S. W-88 warhead deployed on U.S. Trident D-5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
China obtained design information on the W-88 warhead in the 1980s and a Chinese official disclosed the loss to the CIA in 1995.
An investigation of the warhead compromise is focused on Wen Ho Lee, a computer scientist who was dismissed from his job at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and who is suspected of passing warhead secrets to China. He has denied the charge.
According to a congressional report on Chinese technology theft released earlier this year, the new Type 094 submarine will provide the People's Republic of China (PRC) with new strategic nuclear capabilities that will increase the threat to the United States.
The report by the special panel headed by Rep. Christopher Cox, California Republican, stated that the JL-2's 7,400-mile range allows it "to be launched from the PRC's territorial waters and to strike targets throughout the United States."
"This range will allow a significant change in the operation and tactics of the PRC's nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines," the report, based on classified intelligence reports, stated.
"Instead of venturing into the open ocean to attack the United States, the Type 094-class submarines could remain near PRC waters, protected by the PLA Navy and Air Force."
The Cox committee report also said the submarines are part of a new Chinese nuclear strategy of developing weapons that are more "survivable" against U.S. nuclear missiles. The submarines provide such survivability because they are hard to detect.
China has deployed one Xia-class nuclear missile submarine but defense officials said it rarely leaves ports and appears to be in disrepair.
The Type 094 will replace that Xia-class submarine and provide much more advanced capabilities than a second Xia submarine still under construction.
In addition to the new missile submarines, China also is building a new attack submarine known as the Type O93 that will be equipped with underwater-fired cruise missiles.
Defense officials said U.S. intelligence agencies based their assessment of the new submarine on sensitive intelligence gathered from U.S. spy satellites. The Pentagon is closely watching China's strategic nuclear force buildup, they said.
The trade publication Jane's Defense Weekly reported in August that China had begun construction of a new nuclear-powered submarine at the Huludao shipyard on the Bohai Gulf northeast of Beijing. The magazine said it is not known if it is the new missile submarine or the first of China's new class of attack submarines.
The intelligence report last week stated that China already is building the first of its new attack submarines -- Type 093 -- and is in the process of completing construction of the last Xia-class missile submarine. The new Xia submarine is being modified so it can launch the new longer-range JL-2s. Those submarines currently carry shorter-range missiles than the JL-2.
A senior U.S. intelligence official said in April that stolen U.S. nuclear warhead secrets will be built into new Chinese missiles in a "matter of years." The official said some W-88 warhead data obtained by the Chinese "could only have been obtained from espionage."
The senior intelligence official said that the stolen U.S. nuclear data means "future Chinese weapons will look more like ours." The official spoke to reporters on the outcome of a classified CIA damage assessment of Chinese nuclear spying.
However, retired Air Force Gen. Eugene Habiger, the new security chief at the Energy Department, told reporters Wednesday "the jury is still out" on whether China's new strategic weapons will contain stolen U.S. nuclear weapons secrets. The retired general was formerly the U.S. Strategic Command leader and has disagreed in the past with CIA estimates.
The Chinese submarine missile development highlights the need for deploying a national missile defense, said a congressional defense specialist.
"This is evidence that China is moving rapidly toward the deployment of a modern, survivable long-range missile force at a time when it faces no threat whatsoever," the aide said.
Pentagon and State Department spokesmen in the past have dismissed China's strategic nuclear weapons development as non-threatening and a normal process of military modernization.
In addition to stolen U.S. technology, the new missile submarine also is expected to contain technology provided by Russia, including advanced nuclear reactors and special propellers that will make the submarines harder to detect underwater.
---
Chinese, U.S. Military To Meet
By The Associated Press New York Times December 6, 1999 Filed at 9:14 a.m. EDT
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Hong-Kong-China-US.html
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=ASIA&STORYID=APIS715S9K80
HONG KONG (AP) -- Hong Kong-based Chinese military leaders will meet with their American counterparts aboard a U.S. Navy vessel for the first time since NATO's bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia, a U.S. consular spokeswoman said Monday.
Several officials from the Hong Kong garrison of the People's Liberation Army accepted an invitation to a reception Tuesday evening aboard the USS Blue Ridge, the command ship of the U.S. 7th Fleet, Barbara Zigli said.
The Chinese officials are expected to meet with fleet commander Vice Adm. Walter Doran, the highest ranking U.S. military official to visit Hong Kong since Beijing cut military ties following the May bombing in Belgrade, she said.
Zigli declined to name the Chinese officials. Two spokesmen at the Chinese Foreign Ministry office in Hong Kong said they had no information, while PLA spokesmen were not immediately reachable.
The USS Blue Ridge, a guided missile cruiser carrying 900 people, was due Monday for a routine port call, followed by a call by the USS Vincennes Dec. 10-14.
Beijing, in charge of Hong Kong's foreign affairs and defense matters, is withholding routine approval for U.S. port calls, but has given selective approval to U.S. military jets and vessels as the two countries rebuild ties after the bombing, which NATO said was accidental.
-------- russia
Washington: A small group of American and Russian military officers won't be doing much New Years Eve cork-popping as the millennium arrives at midnight on December 31.
Instead, they will be guarding against the end of the world.
Their concern is the ultimate Y2K catastrophe: computer glitches causing the launch of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles.
Sydney Morning Herald Date: 04/12/99
http://www.smh.com.au/news/9912/04/text/world6.html
The United States and Russian governments have been working to fix the potential Y2K glitches in their missile systems and early- warning defence equipment. And officials from both countries stress that the likelihood of a mistaken Y2K missile launch is extremely remote.
But to reassure a jittery world and further cut the risk of a Y2K accident, the two nuclear superpowers have set up a joint command centre at Peterson Air Force Base at Colorado Springs, Colorado, to help protect against such an accident.
For three weeks starting on December 22, about 33 Russian and US military officers will stage round-the-clock vigils over consoles and computer screens that would alert them to missile launches around most of the world.
The mission of the Y2K command post, dubbed the Centre for Year 2000 Strategic Stability, is designed to reassure Moscow that US missiles are not attacking Russia - if that is what aging Soviet-era military computers incorrectly indicate because of a Y2K computer glitch.
Even if Moscow's computers failed and incorrectly indicated a US attack was under way, Russians in the Y2K command centre eyeing the consoles could tell the Kremlin that US radar and satellite pictures showed no such attack.
-------- ukraine
Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Reactivated
Associated Press Monday, Dec. 6, 1999; 1:42 p.m. EST The Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991206/aponline134206_000.htm
KIEV, Ukraine -- Officials at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant have reactivated the plant's only working reactor, which was shut down last week because of a leak, officials said Monday.
Chernobyl operators found a tiny hole in the reactor's backup cooling system during an examination Dec. 1 and turned it off. No radiation leaks were reported. The reactor was restarted again Saturday and was working at 75 percent of capacity by Monday.
The reactor had been working for just five days before the leak was discovered. It had been off line before that for five months for repairs.
Plant officials insist the reactor is safe, even though Western governments and environmental groups have urged the former Soviet republic to shut it down for good.
Chernobyl's reactor No. 4 exploded in 1986, sending a radioactive cloud over much of Europe. That reactor is covered by a steel-and-concrete sarcophagus that is currently undergoing repairs.
A 1995 agreement between Ukraine and the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations said the plant should be closed by the year 2000.
But Ukraine has said it doesn't have the $1.2 billion needed to finish construction of two new reactors to replace the output that would be lost by closing Chernobyl.
-------- nukes in space
MARS MISSIONS: NASA LOST IN SPACE
For Immediate Release December 6, 1999
Contact: Bruce Gagnon (352) 337-9274 Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space globalnet@mindspring.com Date: Sun, 5 Dec 1999 22:42:07 -0500
The loss in recent days of NASA's $165 million Mars Polar Lander should make taxpayers begin to ask serious questions about the U.S. space program.
The Lander fiasco comes on the heels of the September 23 loss of the $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter -- because of one NASA team doing calculations in feet, the other in meters -- and billions of dollars lost from recent rocket launch failures at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base.
"Money seems no object to NASA and the aerospace industry," said Bruce Gagnon, Coordinator of the Florida-based Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. "They keep sending one failed mission up after the other. The time is long overdue for a vigorous public debate about the whole space program."
Costs are mounting as the space snafus continue. The International Space Station, once set to cost taxpayers $10 billion, is now up to $100 billion and still rising. Aerospace industry publication Space News, in an editorial that promoted NASA's overall Mars program, -- "Mars Missions are Affordable" (7-19-99) -- stated that, "Early estimates for Mars missions ...ran up to $400 billion." Could not these dollars be better spent on health care, education, child care programs and the environment back on Earth?
Meanwhile NASA claims it is looking for life on Mars but, in fact, like Christopher Columbus, it is looking for riches -- in the heavens. The Mars missions involve doing planetary mapping, soil identification, soil sampling and extraction, and sample returns to Earth to prepare for eventual manned -- for profit -- mining colonies on the Red planet.
NASA intends to power the mining colonies with nuclear power plants and use as a vehicle to get to Mars a nuclear rocket now being developed at the University of Florida and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. These schemes represent an enormous danger to life on Earth if there was to be an accident on launch.
Since the public is being asked to pay for these activities and to suffer the risks when nuclear materials are used, they should be allowed to be part of serious political deliberations about the direction of the costly and wasteful space program.
The Global Network is now working to create an international constituency to be a part of this historic and needed debate.
Check the Global Network website at: http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk
---
Space race to Mars between U.S., China?
12/03/99- Updated 12:23 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/columnists/neuharth/neu020.htm
If all goes well, at 3:01 p.m. ET today, our unmanned Mars Polar Lander will touch down on the Martian surface, 157 million miles away. [Of course, all didn't go well.]
All did go well last week, as China completed its first successful launch and recovery of an unmanned spacecraft after 14 orbits of Earth.
China is just now getting around to what the former Soviet Union and the U.S. did nearly a half-century ago. But the next half-century could be very different. Here's why:
We're betting most of our space chips on the International Space Station (ISS), now due for completion in 2004. We're paying more than 75% of that bill, but will share all of the secrets uncovered with 15 other countries.
Russia has all but abandoned its own space program. It's supposed to contribute about 10% to ISS, but lags badly.
China is not a partner in ISS. Its space program is solo and secret.
Shades of the 1950s. The Soviets shocked and scared us with Sputnik. They also woke us up. President John F. Kennedy committed us to winning the manned race to the moon. We did.
No president since JFK has recognized that space is our last great frontier. Most politicians and much of the public cry about costs, unaware of the immeasurable spinoff benefits from our space program, especially in medical and communications breakthroughs.
The Chinese could change all that. If they continue their steady, solo, secret, successful space work, a Sputnik-like shock could hit us in the next 25-50 years.
The Soviet goal then was not just to explore, but to conquer space - for commercial and especially for military use. Chinese leaders now are of a similar mind-set.
If we dedicate ourselves to more extensive, albeit expensive, peopled probes on Mars and across the universe between here and there, today's scheduled landing might be a milestone.
If we don't, our children and grandchildren might be playing much more costly catch-up with China in the next century.
FEEDBACK
Other views on the Mars Polar Lander
"A Sputnik-type shock is just what is needed to infuse life into our lethargic space activities. The path back to the moon and on to Mars goes through space tourism and the development of reusable, reliable and commercially operated two-stage vehicles." - Buzz Aldrin, astronaut and chairman, ShareSpace
"Mars exploration is now a global enterprise. This mission will lead to humans and robots from many countries and nationalities exploring Mars together in the next century." - Louis Friedman, executive director, The Planetary Society
"Space is the frontier of our lifetime. The Mars Polar Lander continues our enthralling robotic exploration of that frontier. When will humans follow? No technological breakthroughs are required, but we may very well need a Sputnik-like jolt to galvanize political will."
- Sally Ride, astronaut and president, Space.com
[I went to http://www.space.com, found http://www.space.com/space/facts.html quite interesting; especially curious why there was no mention of lasers, plutonium, rtg's, nuclear reactors, weapons, national or other security beliefs. Sally Ride is pretty-packaging for the public. Congress knows about the military research and applications. So should the rest of us.]
---
Mars missions to face greater scrutiny
12/05/99- Updated 11:30 PM ET
http://usatoday.com/news/ndssun02.htm
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - NASA's ambitious campaign of Mars exploration could face uncertainty after the embarrassing loss of an orbiter in September and the growing likelihood that the Polar Lander may never be contacted.
For a third day Sunday, the lander failed to signal Earth, although engineers believe it made a safe landing.
The space agency has been launching orbiters and landers every 26 months since 1996 to explore the Red Planet's climate history, geology and water, paving the way for samples to be returned to Earth and, eventually, humans to be rocketed to Mars.
In the rush to launch probes faster and more cheaply, components and systems from one mission are often duplicated in another. It usually is a reliable way to cut down on development costs.
The fear is that whatever might have caused the $165 million Mars Polar Lander to disappear could affect the Mars Surveyor 2001 mission, now nearing the end of its development.
Polar Lander and its 2001 cousin have similar structures, landing systems and protective heat shields. Both were designed and built by Lockheed Martin Astronautics, where the metrics mix-up that doomed the Mars Climate Orbiter originated.
''Whenever we have a problem of any type, we re-evaluate where that might be used in the future,'' said Sylvia Miller, a Mars program architect at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. ''We look at what might be needed to be changed.''
But until Mars Polar Lander is actually confirmed dead and investigators are able to determine a cause, it is impossible to know how such a loss would affect future missions, said Carl Pilcher, NASA's science director for solar system exploration.
''There's no question because of the similarity of designs ... if the lander were to be lost, surely it would have an impact on what we're doing in '01,'' he said. ''What that impact would be is impossible to say right now.''
The Sept. 23 loss of Climate Orbiter will be felt more in how future missions are run than how the spacecraft are made. Investigators were critical of JPL for failing to catch the error that caused the $125 million probe to burn up in the Martian atmosphere.
A report blamed the loss on a failure to convert navigation data from English units used by one group of technicians to the metric system used by a different team.
Investigators also found the orbiter program understaffed and navigators lacking knowledge about the spacecraft. Poor communication between JPL and Lockheed Martin also was cited.
NASA added more engineers to the Polar Lander flight team and reviewed every aspect of the mission. Another report will be issued Feb. 1 to address the issue of future missions.
The 2001 mission is near the end of development in a phase of integration and testing, Miller said. A lander is to be launched April 10 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., while an orbiter will take off March 30 from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Santa Barbara, Calif.
A small rover - an exact duplicate of the Mars Pathfinder's Sojourner - will accompany the lander, which will carry mineralogy experiments, a robotic arm and instruments to conduct the first assessments of radiation on Mars.
The orbiter will carry a gamma-ray spectrometer that will attempt to measure the abundance of frozen water immediately beneath the surface - something Polar Lander was supposed to do locally near Mars' south pole.
Missions still under review for 2003 and 2005 would collect soil and rock samples that would be returned to Earth in 2008.
One benefit of quick, inexpensive missions is that instruments lost on one probe could be duplicated and squeezed onto a future mission, Pilcher said. ''Because we have a continuing program, we have opportunities to recover the science,'' he said.
---
Mars is not an easy destination
By The Associated Press 12/03/99- Updated 12:23 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/columnists/neuharth/neu020.htm
Of 25 U.S. and Russian missions to Mars since 1962, 11 have failed and four did not have complete missions. Some recent failures:
Mars Climate Orbiter: The $125 million spacecraft was lost Sept. 23 as it was about to go into orbit to study weather and look for signs of water. Investigators later blamed the loss on English-style units of measurement - feet and inches - that were not converted to the metric system as well as a failure within NASA to catch the error.
Mars Observer: The $1 billion NASA spacecraft disappeared Aug. 21, 1993, just before going into Mars orbit. It is believed to have exploded during fuel line pressurization.
Mars 96: Russia's $300 million probe suffered rocket engine failure during the launch and crashed into the Pacific Ocean on Nov. 16, 1996.
Phobos 1: The first of a pair of Soviet probes received an inadvertent suicide command at launch in July 1988. Phobos 2 stopped transmitting in 1989 after collecting data about Mars and one of its moons.
---
Still no word from Mars lander
12/07/99- Updated 03:59 AM ET
http://usatoday.com/news/ndsmon01.htm
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - NASA again failed to detect a signal from the Mars Polar Lander early Tuesday during what engineers called the ''last best'' opportunity to hear from the spacecraft.
Any chance of ever contacting the $165 million probe is now remote at best, mission controllers conceded after eliminating all simple explanations for the lander's silence. It was last heard from Friday morning before starting its descent.
Engineers believed they would receive a signal from the spacecraft Tuesday night if it had slipped into protective safe mode after landing. Now, any scenarios that would explain the silence are much more complicated and less plausible, they said.
It is much more likely that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration will have to investigate the second loss of a Mars mission in less than three months. But unlike September's Climate Orbiter disaster, the cause will likely be much more difficult - if not impossible.
The space agency has only scant information on the final moments of the spacecraft's attempt to land on Mars, and no hope of recovering any wreckage more than 157 million miles from Earth.
''It may be that everything went right and it simply landed in a terrible spot,'' said physics professor Robert Park, a University of Maryland expert on the space program. ''Who knows if it landed on a big boulder and fell over?''
''We just don't know, and we never will, is my guess,'' he said.
It could be two weeks before the mission is declared a failure, said Richard Cook, the spacecraft's operations manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
If the mission did fail, one critical piece of information could be acquired by the powerful cameras of NASA's orbiting Mars Global Surveyor, a satellite that is mapping the surface of Mars. Cook said NASA will look for evidence of the lander's parachute.
The satellite's eyes are not strong enough to see the lander itself, he added.
As in the aftermath of the Mars Climate Orbiter, NASA would appoint a failure review board of internal and outside experts to study every aspect of the mission from its development to disappearance.
NASA quickly established why Mars Climate Orbiter vanished: Trajectory data showed that it hit the atmosphere at too low an altitude and burned up. By looking at navigation data, they discovered someone failed to convert measurements into metric units.
But Polar Lander's trajectory and condition were excellent up until communication was lost - as expected - as the spacecraft positioned itself for entry.
The scenario is similar to the 1993 loss of the $1 billion Mars Observer. In that case, a four-month investigation whittled down 60 possible causes and determined that ruptured fuel lines were the most likely cause of the spacecraft's sudden disappearance just three days before it was to begin circling the Red Planet.
Polar Lander investigators will probably scour photographs taken as the spacecraft was being built. They could reveal whether any critical parts were not to specification - a big worry in this era of faster and cheaper space exploration, said John Pike, a space analyst for the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists.
''Those photos are to spacecraft accident investigations what the flight data recorder is to aircraft accident investigations,'' he said.
If a smoking gun is found in pictures or spacecraft data, the investigation could last only a few weeks. Officials will probably want to have answers before the next Mars orbiter and lander are delivered to the launch pad in 2001.
NASA officials said it is too soon to determine the effect of the spacecraft's probable loss on future missions.
But Pat Dasch, executive director at the National Space Society, a private group in Washington that supports the space program, suggested the result of this ''very unhappy situation'' could be a ''top-to-bottom review of systems management here on planet Earth.''
''That will cause a slowdown and a shakeup, I predict,'' she said.
-------- nato
Europe Must Spend More on Defense
Washington Post Monday, December 6, 1999; Page A27 By William S. Cohen
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/06/013l-120699-idx.html
For 50 years, the political unity and military deterrence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has kept Western Europe secure, peaceful and prosperous. But this year's engagement with Yugoslavia revealed that NATO's military capability -- while powerful -- doesn't match its political solidarity.
NATO's successful air campaign against Yugoslavia and the subsequent deployment of 50,000 peacekeepers to Kosovo revealed some serious military shortcomings. The United States relied heavily on precision guided munitions to hit targets with high accuracy and low collateral damage and used unique electronic countermeasures to defeat enemy air defenses. But supplies of some of our all-weather munitions fell to uncomfortably low levels, and our jamming and reconnaissance assets were stretched. We are moving to correct these and other shortfalls.
For our allies, the lessons of Kosovo were much more sobering. Kosovo revealed a huge military disparity between the United States and our 18 NATO allies. During the air campaign, many allies found that they lacked the equipment necessary to gather detailed intelligence, to strike targets with precision and to sustain their forces during 78 days of high-tempo operations.
When it came time to deploy their peacekeeping troops to Kosovo, they found it more difficult than expected. George Robertson, NATO's secretary general, recently described this problem: "There are around 2 million people in Europe's armies today, and yet the European allies frankly had to struggle hard to get some 40,000 troops together to serve in Kosovo. That's about 2 percent of the armies on paper that we have in Europe, so clearly there is a problem with deployment."
Not only have the European allies failed to invest enough in capabilities, some of their investments have yielded inefficient results. Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema recently noted that "Europe spends over 60 percent of what the U.S. spends on defense but gets only 10 percent as much" either because Europeans aren't buying the latest technology or because they are duplicating one another's investments.
Critical self-examination, however, is not a prescription for despair, but rather the basis for repair and reconstitution.
I just returned from Europe, where I addressed the leadership of the German military in Hamburg and attended a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. Our European allies are in the middle of a spirited defense debate, one that may strike many Americans as contradictory. On the hand, European allies want to create a regional defense structure -- called the European Security and Defense Identity -- that would make it possible for them to operate in situations in which NATO itself is not engaged. On the other hand, Europeans recognize that they lack the military capability to sustain such a force.
This debate is encouraging because it is focusing attention on Europe's need to strengthen its defenses, and a stronger Europe means a stronger Atlantic alliance.
NATO's deployments to Bosnia and Kosovo suggest that future missions to protect European security may require countries to move forces rapidly, to sustain them outside their national territories without preexisting communications, logistics, headquarters or other infrastructure and to equip them with modern technology that will enable them to be highly effective and precise in combat.
Not every NATO member enjoys a dynamic economy and can secure large defense increases from its parliament. But some countries can unlock money for modernization by reforming their procurement practices, reducing the size of their forces and eliminating excess infrastructure. Other countries may be forced to pool resources and rationalize capabilities with their neighbors and partners. In fact, allied efforts are underway to establish a regional mobility command and a rapid-reaction force, called the Eurocorps.
But in the final analysis, allies will have to spend more on defense, if they are to measure up to NATO's military requirements and establish a European Security and Defense Identity that is separable but not separate from NATO.
NATO Secretary General Robertson was direct at last week's meeting of defense ministers. "The time for a peace dividend is over because there is no permanent peace in Europe or elsewhere, and if NATO is to do its job protecting future generations, it can no longer expect to do its job on the cheap," he said.
The challenge Europe faces today is to turn words into action.
The writer is secretary of defense.
-------- japan
New Details On Japan Nuclear Accident
Science Daily Date: Posted 12/6/99
Source: American Institute Of Physics (http://www.aip.org/)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/12/991206072234.htm
In September, a nuclear accident in Japan made international headlines, as workers at a fuel processing plant in the village of Tokai (also known as Tokaimura) inadvertently started a nuclear chain reaction when adding enriched uranium to a tank at the plant.
While it will be some time before the official report on the incident is available, Physics Today magazine reveals some newly uncovered details on the Tokai accident in the December issue.
The Physics Today account provides new information on why the workers added about 7 times as much uranium to a given container as was allowed. The article identifies three errors that were made, the first by the plant's operating company in modifying the government-approved procedure without authorization, the second and third by the workers themselves, possibly with concurrence of their immediate management.
Most accounts have provided the impression that the workers were adding fuel to a tank they were supposed to use but that they were doing so with buckets rather than through pipes or funnels. But as the Physics Today article reveals, they were actually using a container not intended for the purpose. Its shape was not right and it had a water jacket around it for cooling. Both the shape of the tank and the presence of the water jacket (which reflected neutrons back into the tank) contributed to the onset of a nuclear chain reaction.
The Physics Today report includes several estimates by nuclear experts on the magnitude of the accident, based on different methods. These estimates help put the Tokai accident into perspective vis a vis other nuclear accidents.
The Physics Today article is freely available online http://www.aip.org/pt/toka2.htm
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by American Institute Of Physics for journalists and other members of the public. If you wish to quote from any part of this story, please credit American Institute Of Physics as the original source. You may also wish to include the following link in any citation: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/12/991206072234.htm
---
Reports: Japan Urging N.Korea Talks
The Associated Press Sunday, Dec. 5, 1999; 7:54 a.m. EST
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991205/aponline075441_000.htm
TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said the government should begin negotiations on normalizing ties with North Korea as early as this week, local media reported Sunday.
Obuchi also said Japan could resume food aid before the end of this week, and that it could start negotiations on lifting all sanctions against North Korea, Kyodo News agency reported.
A delegation of Japanese lawmakers, led by former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, returned from Pyongyang on Dec. 3 with an agreement to resume normalization talks between the two countries after a seven-year hiatus.
Japan and North Korea have never had diplomatic relations, and talks to build ties broke off in 1992 over allegations the communist state abducted several Japanese citizens to train their spies. North Korea has denied the charge.
Relations between Japan and North Korea turned even icier after the reclusive Stalinist country fired a missile over Japan last year.
In September, the United States lifted trade sanctions against North Korea after the country said it would not test any more missiles. South Korea, meanwhile, began resuming cultural ties.
---
Japan Seeks Talks With North Korea
Monday, Dec. 6, 1999; 8:33 a.m. EST The Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991206/aponline083327_000.htm
TOKYO -- Japan will speed preparations for the resumption of talks with North Korea, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Monday.
Kono's statement followed a meeting with former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, who last week led a group of Japanese legislators on a visit to North Korea meant to improve relations with the reclusive Stalinist state.
Murayama secured an agreement to restart normalization talks after a seven-year hiatus. The two countries have never had diplomatic relations, and talks broke off in 1992 over allegations that North Korean agents kidnapped Japanese citizens.
It was not clear if a date or an agenda had been set for talks, ministry spokesman Tatsuya Machida said.
In an effort to defuse military tensions across the region, the United States has lifted trade sanctions against North Korea, and South Korea has increased cultural, sports and tourism exchanges with the North.
Japan, however, has been far more cautious, refusing to resume food aid halted after North Korea fired a missile over Japan last year.
-------- india
Y2K in Asia's nuclear neighbors -- where uncertainty and uncooperation reign
Miami Herald Posted at 9:13 a.m. EST Saturday, December 4, 1999
NEW DELHI, India -- (AP) -- Early this year, when relations were on an upswing, the leaders of India and Pakistan pledged to cooperate on sharing technology and reducing the risk of accidental nuclear war.
Three months later, the two countries were engaged in their worst fighting in almost three decades and were on the brink of their fourth full-scale war since both won independence from Britain in 1947.
Among the casualties of that episode was a plan for Indian experts to visit Pakistan to work on technical problems, possibly including cooperation on the unpredictable Y2K computer glitch.
``The visit didn't take place,'' said G. Parthasarthy, India's ambassador to Pakistan.
Nineteen months after both countries proved they were ready to produce nuclear arsenals, there is concern that still-developing controls on their nuclear devices could be disrupted come the New Year, when digital clocks on untreated computers turn from 99 to 00.
In India, no one seems overly concerned.
``I don't think that the two sides have reached such sophistication that Y2K should be a major problem,'' K. Subrahmanyam, a member of India's National Security Council, told The Associated Press.
In Pakistan, although scientists at the Atomic Energy Commission say their nuclear facilities are now Y2K compliant, there is uncertainty about India.
``We just don't know what our neighbor has done to handle this problem,'' one scientist told the AP, speaking on condition he not be identified.
An Indian nuclear expert, Brahama Chellany, said he believed the danger of the Y2K bug causing eithgr country to fire a missile accidentally is ``absolutely nonexistent'' because neither possesses a system in which a missile is automatically fired after detecting a launch by an adversary.
``The missiles are absolutely safe and secure,'' said Chellany, of the independent New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research. ``To fire them, you have to first load the fuel, activate various systems and then fire them.''
Pakistan's military, which seized power in an Oct. 12 coup, is not disclosing any information on its millennium bug readiness, says that country's Y2K coordinator, Ijaz Khawaja, beyond assuring him it is compliant.
In India, the government's Y2K Action Force says the defense sector has done ``impact analysis'' on most systems and that rectification and testing was done ``wherever necessary.''
The task force says 11 critical sectors in India -- including banking, telecommunications, railroads, the space program, petroleum and civil aviation -- have achieved complete readiness. However, sectors including water supply, sewage and health, continue to be of concern.
``The critical thing for water supply and sewage is power,'' said the task force's chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. ``And we are pretty assured that on the power side we won't have problems.''
Some foreign governments and independent analysts, however, are not so sure of India's readiness.
``The situation was quite bad six months ago, especially in the power sector,'' said Dewand Mehta, director of the National Association of Software and Service Companies. ``Things have considerably improved in most of the 11 core sectors.''
Mehta said, however, that ``because of the late start, the testing process is yet to be completed.''
International Y2K experts have expressed concerns about the level of preparation of India's air traffic control systems, and many airlines have decided to cancel flights over the region during the crucial New Year's rollover period.
H.L. Khola, director-general of civil aviation, said the International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. body, tested Y2K compliance at New Delhi airport and will submit a report on Dec. 15 after testing facilities at the three other major airports.
As a contingency measure during the rollover period, all international flights will fly above 27,000 feet, domestic flights below that height. The longitudinal separation between any two planes also will be increased from 10 to 15 minutes, and all planes will carry extra fuel.
Under normal circumstances, some 1,200 aircraft operate in Indian airspace daily, half of them landing or taking off from its airports.
--------
Czech Says Nuclear Plants Y2K-Proof
Associated Press Monday, Dec. 6, 1999; 9:37 a.m. EST The Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991206/aponline093705_000.htm
PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- The Czech Republic's nuclear plants will not be affected by the Y2K computer glitch, partly because they are not yet fully computerized, an official said Monday.
The controversial Soviet-designed Temelin plant, which will not start generating power before 2001, will be switched off at midnight Dec. 31, said Josef Capek, a spokesman for the State Center for Nuclear Safety.
The nation's other nuclear plant, Dukovany, faces no danger in connection with the millennium computer bug because it is controlled by an analog system, Capek said.
In its recent report, the Czech Republic's Y2K coordination center said all important state institutions such as ministries, banks and hospitals are well prepared. The country's 13 ministries and three major banks have finished their Y2K preparations, and 90 percent of the medical facilities have drafted a crisis plan for midnight Dec. 31, the report says.
The government has introduced a special Y2K phone line, pressed 300,000 free CD-ROMs with vital Y2K information and will distribute informational fliers to all households.
The country's chief airline carrier, CSA, said it has finished preparations for the Y2K problem and does not plan to cancel or interrupt any scheduled flights on Dec. 31 or Jan. 1, unlike many of the world's major airlines.
--------
Y2K bug predicted to bite here, there
USA Today 12/06/99 By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY
http://usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncsmon02.htm
WASHINGTON - In Thailand, computer users with homegrown software will almost certainly avoid the Y2K bug. That's because most Thai software is pegged to the Buddhist calendar, where it is already the year 2542.
The rest of the world might not be so lucky.
Lawrence Gershwin, the CIA's national intelligence officer for science and technology, told Congress recently that Russia, Ukraine, China and Indonesia ''are among the major countries most likely to experience significant Y2K-related failures.'' The problems might kick in if a computer erroneously reads the year 2000 as the year 1900.
Places least likely to be affected by the Y2K bug are Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, Gershwin said. In France, the nuclear industry set its clocks ahead 6 months ago and will set them back on Jan. 1.
The State Department's Y2K reports on 196 countries and territories are available on the Web at travel.state.gov/y2kca.html#specific.
State Department officials caution that the assessments are worst-case scenarios and that global chaos is unlikely. ''I don't think there will be huge, widespread global problems,'' said John O'Keefe, a former diplomat in Moscow who has spent a year heading a State Department task force that collates information from foreign governments, U.S. embassies and intelligence. ''(But) there will be some countries with some problems.''
Working in shifts
On New Year's Eve, 20 State Department officers will work in shifts at the department's seventh- floor operations center to monitor Y2K performance around the globe. A White House center will coordinate domestic and international reports for policymakers and give regular news briefings starting on Dec. 31 at 6 a.m. EST, when New Zealand becomes the first industrial nation to enter 2000.
In general, developing countries might face fewer disruptions than high-tech ones because they rely less on computers for key services. But some poorer countries are already feeling the negative effect of Y2K. Fearful of financial glitches, foreign investors are pulling out cash and forcing poor governments to offer higher interest rates to raise cash or refinance debt.
In Colombia, Marma Isabel Mejia, head of the country's Year 2000 Project, is more worried about public panic than a major Y2K problem. ''We can't say everything is going well and then tell people to go out and buy candles and batteries and cans of tuna just in case,'' she said.
Although the financial sector is believed to be the best prepared worldwide, many countries are taking precautions. The U.S. Treasury will have $80 billion in cash on hand, twice the usual amount. Hong Kong is increasing the supply of bank notes in circulation by more than 50% and declaring Dec. 31 a bank holiday. Indonesia, Thailand and Venezuela are also printing extra cash.
In China, the widespread government use of pirated software could come back to haunt those in no position to ask genuine suppliers for Y2K fixes.
Countries such as China, Russia and Ukraine are considered particularly vulnerable because they rely in part on computers but started late and lack sufficient resources to correct potential glitches.
For Russia, the CIA's Gershwin predicted ''widespread telecommunications failures'' and localized power blackouts for up to a week, though probably not in Moscow. Natural gas supplies also might be short.
Monitoring missiles
To make sure that Moscow doesn't get erroneous computer data and accidentally launch a nuclear strike, Russian officers will take part in a joint missile-monitoring center at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Another Western fear is a possible miscue at an aging Soviet civilian nuclear reactor. But U.S. experts say the likelihood of a Chernobyl-scale meltdown is considered low in part because the plants' safety systems do not rely on dates. The bigger worry is whether the reactors have enough backup power to run cooling systems if external sources of electricity fail. ''In the worse case, this could cause a meltdown and an accompanying release of radioactive fission gases causing localized contamination,'' Gershwin said.
The Department of Energy has sent technical experts to help out at the 65 Soviet-designed reactors at 21 nuclear power plants in nine countries. U.S. technical teams have observed Y2K drills at the Kursk nuclear power plant several hundred miles south of Moscow and in St. Petersburg.
''Just as drills have played an important part of our domestic Y2K readiness efforts, continual drills are essential to Russia's preparedness, and we can offer technical assistance,'' Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said. In September, he inaugurated a video link with the Russian Ministry for Atomic Energy that he said will allow U.S. officials ''instant communication when the clocks roll over.''
Diplomats pull out
Preferring to err on the side of caution, the State Department has authorized nonessential U.S. personnel in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus to come back to Washington for 30 days on or after Dec. 26. How many will take up the offer is not yet clear.
As for the other 5 million to 8 million U.S. citizens abroad on any given day, the State Department said they shouldn't expect room and board if the power goes out in the country they are visiting. Instead, U.S. embassies will try to evacuate those who want to leave as quickly as possible.
The looming Y2K cloud has had a silver lining for some embassies, O'Keefe said, in that the emergency measures prepared for Y2K could help in other crises. The roughly 250 U.S. embassies, consulates and missions are equipped with emergency generators and fuel that will allow them to go 15 days without external sources of electricity.
Sue Hanson, a Defense Department spokeswoman, said the 637 U.S. military installations abroad are similarly ''Y2K compliant and tested.''
White House spokesman Jim Fallin worried that terrorists or malicious hackers, known as crackers, might have implanted so-called trap doors to allow them re-entry into computer programs, or malicious codes that could go undetected for months. ''One tick after midnight is not necessarily the moment for disruptions,'' he said. ''They could be spread out for several weeks.''
Because the United States is so interconnected with the rest of the world, computer glitches overseas might well find their way into U.S. machines. Similarly, problems in one European country could rapidly infect the rest. ''We have every confidence that the American infrastructure will be fine,'' Fallin said, ''but not the same level of confidence across the globe.''"
-------- us politics
Bradley's Most Important Vote
Washington, December 5, 1999; Page B07 By George F. Will
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/05/179l-120599-idx.html
"Until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989," Bill Bradley said at Tufts University on Monday, "we were sure about one thing: We knew where we stood on foreign policy." As an assertion of American Cold War consensus, Bradley's statement is either vacuous or preposterous.
It is vacuous if it means only that there was a consensus about wanting to contain the Soviet Union without nuclear war. It is preposterous if it means there was consensus about matters other than that arid generality--matters about which policymakers had to make hard, high-stakes choices.
Early in the Cold War there were sharp and bitter differences about collective security ("entangling alliances"). Later there were sharp and bitter differences about the nature, aims and likely evolution of the Soviet Union. By the late 1960s many Democrats believed Soviet arms spending was primarily reactive to America's. President Carter's secretary of state, Cyrus Vance, said Leonid Brezhnev "shares our dreams and aspirations."
There were bitter differences about the use of conventional U.S. forces (in Korea, Vietnam and even Grenada), about nuclear deterrence (in the early 1980s much of Bradley's party, including Bradley, went on an ideological toot in favor of a "nuclear freeze"), about ballistic missile defense as an alternative to reliance on "mutual assured destruction," and about aid to anticommunist insurgencies (e.g., the Nicaraguan contras).
At Tufts, describing the dissolution of the Cold War policy consensus that he retroactively postulates, Bradley said there still are times and places where "the national interest is clear: Iraq, 1991." Clear? The Senate's Jan. 12, 1991, vote on the crucial question of going to war was 52-47.
Bradley's most important vote in his 18 years in the Senate was cast that day in opposition to authorizing the use of U.S. forces to expel Iraq from Kuwait. It is obvious today, and was not much less so then, that Bradley and 46 other senators, 44 of them Democrats, made a major misjudgment.
Bradley made his vote into an exercise in having his cake and eating it too: He preferred to "continue economic sanctions now while keeping open the possibility of war later." But he criticized the size of President Bush's deployment of U.S. forces because "it meant we could not rotate troops to continue a consistent threat over the long term." So Bradley's policy was to deploy a force sufficient to deter further aggression but insufficient to win a military victory, and wait for sanctions to do what sanctions have never done, reverse the conquest of one nation by another nation.
Bradley said a military deployment sufficient to deter further Iraqi aggression, combined with economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation, "sent the message to Saddam Hussein that we would be patient and steadfast in our insistence that he must leave Kuwait if he ever wished to rejoin the community of nations."
But nothing about Hussein suggested that he valued his membership card in that "community." Yet Bradley praised the economic sanctions as "unprecedented in their breadth and impact," even though there was no noticeable impact of the only sort that mattered--on Hussein.
January 1991 was, Bradley said, "far too early" to use force. He suggested a 10-month wait, until October, to "reopen the possibility" of force. By then, he said, force "may well prove . . . to be the only way" to liberate Kuwait. But wait. Bradley simultaneously said "I still believe" sanctions can work. Today Bradley's fustian about the sanctions as an "economic noose" that would "strangle" Saddam Hussein does not read well. Nine years later the sanctions are fraying and Hussein is unwavering in his willingness to accept economic punishment rather than compromise his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.
Bradley prophesied dire consequences of the use of force--civil chaos in Iraq, sweeping Arab hostility and terrorism toward America, soaring oil prices, thousands of American deaths leading to isolationist sentiment--and he concluded, characteristically, by suggesting that those who differed with him did so because of intellectual laziness or obtuseness: "President Bush and Secretary Baker apparently have not addressed these four most probable outcomes from using massive military force." Bradley said they had apparently not thought through the consequences.
Bradley's tone--a lofty regret that the people who differ with him do not think, as he does, deeply--was quickly refuted by events that proved that Bush and Baker had thought much more clearly than Bradley had.
The most important vote Al Gore cast in his 16-year congressional career was on Jan. 12, 1991, when he was one of only 10 Democrats to vote for the use of force.
---
Missile defense system makes sense in post-Cold War era
Florida Today 12/03/99By John Omicinski A Gannett News Service column
http://www.flatoday.com/space/explore/stories/1999b/120399e.htm
WASHINGTON - This year's successful test of a Star Wars-generation space-shooter that zaps incoming missiles with pinpoint accuracy at speeds up to 15,000 mph is another remarkable feat of American technology.
Called an exoatmospheric vehicle - EAV - the weapon makes construction of a national missile defense not only possible, but likely.
Not surprisingly, the space-shooter's accuracy rattled the Chinese and Russians. Sha Zakung, Beijing's chief of arms control, said a U.S. national missile defense will ''tip the global balance'' and ''trigger a new arms race.'' Col. Gen. Vladimir Yakovlev, Russia's strategic missile commander, said a national missile defense system - NMD - could upset the ''balanced system'' of arms control agreements.
But let's get real: The old arms control regime is as broken as Humpty Dumpty, despite an epidemic of wishful thinking about the good old days of the Cold War. All the king's horsemen cannot put it back together.
The world is a different place since India and Pakistan got the A-bomb, since Iran started building and selling three-stage missiles, and since Russia's armed forces were so shattered that Moscow's generals have abandoned their Cold War promise of never being the first to use nuclear weapons.
Moscow says its conventional forces are so weak that it considers its nukes a ''deterrent'' against possible attack. Face it: If either Moscow or Beijing could build a workable national missile defense, they would do so, despite their whining.
Indeed, let's hope neither Russian moles nor Chinese agents are allowed to climb in through the holes in our national security system and steal the EAV secrets. That would be a disaster worse than Moscow and Beijing's thefts of U.S. nuclear and missile technology over the years.
Make no mistake, the Chinese and Russians would love to get their hands on the super-modern EAV technology.
In this new and shaky post-Cold War atmosphere, nations will pursue their own best interests. That leaves the U.S. political system with the difficult question of whether to go ahead with a nuclear shield, probably in South Dakota and Alaska, that may cost $11 billion or more.
All candidates have various levels of enthusiasm for such a system - generally the Democrats the least and Republicans the most.
But the NMD is likely to become a major political question in the 2000 presidential race next year after the initial testing is over and the Pentagon sends a formal recommendation to President Clinton on whether to proceed.
Foreign policy and security matters completely escaped political press scrutiny in the past two elections. That's unlikely to occur again in the 2000 campaign. NMD is too big to ignore.
Clinton initially questioned or opposed the need for NMD, but switched sides when Congress sent him a resolution overwhelmingly supporting it. An NMD decision is likely to press upon him next summer or early fall, in the very heat of the campaigning. All the candidates will be pressed for their opinions.
China, the sharp-toothed rising power, and Russia, the old bear in diseased and dangerous decline, will growl. Questions of appeasement may arise. The national missile defense issue is likely to make next year's campaign an even longer and hotter political summer.
---
Theoretical Physicist Richard Latter Warned of Nuclear Treaty Cheating
Monday, December 6, 1999; Page B06 Washington Post By Adam Bernstein http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/06/138l-120699-idx.html
Richard Latter, 76, a theoretical physicist who warned of clandestine ways to cheat arms-reduction treaties during the Cold War, died of lung cancer Dec. 2 at the Hospice of Northern Virginia. He lived in McLean.
Dr. Latter, who once was termed "conservative cubed" politically, headed what became the physics department at Rand Corp. in the 1960s.
He later became a founder and vice president of the defense technology think tank R and D Associates (RDA) in 1971.
He led RDA's Washington office from 1974 to 1979. Logicon Inc., now a subsidiary of Northrup Grumman, bought RDA in the early 1980s.
In the 1960s, Dr. Latter warned of the ease of skirting nuclear-arms-testing regulations while a member of the U.S. delegation to the Geneva-based Conference for the Discontinuance of Nuclear Weapons Tests and a science adviser to the strategic arms limitation talks (SALT).
Underground tests, he said, could be conceived in a filled cavity, thereby minimizing the seismic waves of the explosion.
Not only could this happen in the event of a small blast, but also one larger than 10 kilotons, said Harold Brode, theoretical nuclear physicist who specialized in the effects of weapons blast radiation.
While a foe of a comprehensive treaty, Dr. Latter helped work with Soviet scientists at the Geneva conference to develop what would in 1964 become a treaty banning atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons.
Dr. Latter, a Chicago native, was a Navy veteran of World War II. He was a 1942 physics graduate of the California Institute of Technology, from which he also received a doctorate in theoretical physics.
He then joined California-based Rand as the think tank was broadening its relationship with the growing Lawrence Livermore weapons laboratory. Dr. Latter was acting head of Livermore's theoretical physics division in 1952 and 1953.
Dr. Latter had served on the Defense Science Board, the Atomic Energy Commission Plowshare Committee to determine peaceful uses of atomic energy and the President's Scientific Advisory Committee.
Dr. Latter received the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Memorial Award from the Atomic Energy Commission in 1968 and the Defense Intelligence Agency's Exceptional Civilian Service Medal in 1980.
-------- france
French Nuclear Cos. Merge By Clar Ni Chonghaile
Associated Press Monday, Dec. 6, 1999; 4:30 p.m. EST
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991206/aponline163052_000.htm
PARIS -- France's Framatome and Germany's Siemens said on Monday they had agreed to merge their nuclear operations, creating a world leader in nuclear power technology.
The deal had been widely-expected since Framatome restructured its finances in July. It is the latest example of growing cross-border corporate cooperation following the introduction in January of the European single currency, the euro.
The new joint venture, which could be operational as early as the third quarter of 2000, will boost Framatome at a time of increasingly fierce competition in the power market, French Finance Minister Christian Sautter told reporters.
"This deal should lead to the formation of the leading global company in its sector, anchored firmly in Europe," he said after the companies announced that they had signed an agreement in principle.
Framatome will have a 66 percent stake in the new joint venture and Siemens 34 percent. The French government will control 53 percent through various government bodies.
Framatome chairman Dominique Vignon said in an interview with French daily Le Monde on Monday that the deregulation of the electricity market in Europe made the deal even more necessary.
"We need to organize to be more efficient and to become global. That's what we are doing today in creating a Franco-German company under French control," he told the paper.
The deal revives Franco-German cooperation in the nuclear sector, bruised last year by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's announcement that his country would gradually wean itself off nuclear power.
Relations between Framatome and Siemens had also hit a rough patch in 1997 when the German company said it would seek closer ties with British Nuclear Fuels Ltd.
"The efforts of Framatome and the persuasive action of the government made it possible to 'fight our way back again,' " the finance ministry said in a statement Monday.
"The Franco-German relationship is essential to this deal," Pierret said.
Negotiations on the new deal, which still must be approved by antitrust authorities, are expected to be finalized in the next few months, according to a statement by the two companies.
The new joint venture will operate in France and Germany as well as internationally and is expected to have annual revenue of $3 billion.
-------- us nuc weapons facilities
Hanford studies safety of nuclear waste tank
Sludge in Tank Z-361 laced with radioactive plutonium
Associated Press Spokesman Review 12/05/99
http://www.spokane.net/news-story-body.asp?Date=120599&ID=s715940&cat=
Hanford nuclear reservation officials are taking a close look at safety issues posed by an underground waste tank that had largely been ignored for two decades.
Scientists are studying samples from the 20,000 gallons of radioactive sludge inside Tank Z-361 to figure out how dangerous the contents are and determine what to do with the waste.
"Some of the question marks have been taken away, but some remain," said Keith Hampton, tank project manager for Fluor Daniel Hanford, the prime contractor at the federal site.
Scientists hope to make a recommendation on a course of action by May 31.
Possible recommendations could involve removing the sludge, either immediately or waiting for a few years until removal becomes more cost-effective, Hampton said.
The sludge in the tank near Hanford's Plutonium Finishing Plant is laced with about 66 pounds of radioactive plutonium. The waste is left over from the Cold War, when the plant refined plutonium used in nuclear bombs.
The tank is about the size of two backyard swimming pools stacked atop one another, and is smaller than 177 other radioactive waste tanks at Hanford.
Tank Z-361 was largely ignored until the aftermath of a 1997 chemical explosion at the Plutonium Finishing Plant that focused more attention on the complex.
A 1997 study showed the likelihood of a "criticality" -- an uncontrolled nuclear reaction that emits bursts of radiation -- is low, Hampton said.
The sludge inside the tank appears to be at the same level it was 25 years ago, so current and past leaks appear unlikely, Hampton said. But the possibility of leaks cannot be ruled out, he added.
Hanford made plutonium for the U.S. nuclear arsenal for more than 40 years. Today, the 560-square-mile site is the most contaminated nuclear site in the country, and its mission is cleaning up the hazardous and radioactive waste there.
--------
TRENDS in RENEWABLE ENERGIES (the condensed version)
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 14:16:04 -0500 Issue #107 (week of November 22 - 26) From: Bill Eggertson <eggertson@renewables.ca>
Organization: Canadian Association for Renewable Energies
Archives are posted at http://www.renewables.ca
Replacing old wind turbines in California has increased generation of electricity by 30 percent for SeaWest WindPower. It changed 477 old turbines with 62 new ones, boosting output by 30 percent, lowering operating costs and enhancing the site's beauty.
--
A university study says California must do more to promote the use of wind energy. Wind can play "a crucial role" in reducing emissions from fossil fuel electricity, with 500 MW of wind capacity reducing pollution by 588,697 tons of CO2, 637 tons of SO2, 1,496 tons of NOx and 17 tons of particulates. The state's 13,000 wind turbines generate 3 billion kWh of electricity, displace millions of tons of pollutants, provides 10,000 jobs in the state, and provides other important economic benefits, says UCI.
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Pennsylvania wants to bring wind energy to the state before the end of this year, and is seeking sponsors for the first large wind project to go on line and tap the state's large wind resource. Two 65 kW turbines will be installed to generate 200,000 kWh, and additional turbines will be added in the new millennium.
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The Auditor General of the Canadian government is conducting a study to determine if the federal government favours non- renewable energy sources over renewables and energy efficiency. A report will be tabled next May and will focus on the barriers to investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency in Canada.
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A $20 million project to address a perennial shortage of water in the Philippines may use solar-powered water pumps. The island of Cebu will undertake a feasibility study of rural water development using PV pumps, as the first part of a $20 million USTDA project.
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A windmill has been developed that can clean up contaminated soil in remote locations where electrical power is unavailable. Conor has sold a 'Windsparge' windmill that can avoid the need for diesel generators for remote-site remediation.
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Canada will soon certify 'renewable low environmental impact power' under its national EcoLogo program. A consultation process that started in October 1998 has moved into the final stage of public comment during a 60-day review period, before the guidelines are sent to government for approval.
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A renewable energy program has been approved in Michigan for customers of Wisconsin Electric Power. The experimental program allows Michigan customers to purchase green power at a premium of $0.0051 per kWh.
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Residential energy consumption in the U.S. dropped by 27 percent between 1978 and 1997, according to EIA, while the number of households increased by 33 percent. Electricity accounted for 35 percent of all residential energy in 1997, compared to 23 percent in 1978. If the primary energy used to generate and transmit electricity is considered, the decline in per-household energy consumption is only 16 percent.
--
A California utility has become the most successful utility program in the U.S. to promote green energy. DWP says 20,000 customers have signed up for its 'Green Power for a Green L.A. program,' allowing the utility to execute contracts to purchase new electricity from renewable sources of energy. It wants to have 200,000 green power customers within the next three years.
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The founder of a Canadian company that is developing fuel cells has won the World Technology Award for energy. Geoffrey Ballard of Ballard Power Systems in Vancouver was honoured for his contribution to emerging technologies. Other finalists in the energy award were Amory Lovins of RMI, Nichia Chemical, Energy Conversion Devices, and the PV program at NREL.
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Renewable energy is one of the major technologies being used to provide access to electricity throughout Chile. A rural electrification program wants to provide electricity to 100 percent of the country by 2005, and an agreement with DoE encourages the use of renewable energy sources in stand-alone mini-grids. PV systems are being installed in northern Chile, while hydro and wind-hybrid systems are developed in other regions.
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A new centre for the certification of wind turbines has been established in Denmark. The DNV scheme was established in September to rate wind turbines in serial production, and can address specific national requirements in the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Greece and India.
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One of the smallest solar panels has been developed for use in a popular children's toy. Shell Renewables will supply LEGO with a PV panel that has an output of 0.75 watt. The mini-PV panel sells for £25 alone, or £115 in a classroom kit.
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Sudan has installed electricity generation capacity of 500 MW, of which hydro accounts for 45 percent, although hydro generated 72 percent of the country's electricity. The Roseires dam on the Blue Nile will be expanded by three facilities of 10 MW capacity each.
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Norway is a proponent of renewable energy, and Statoil is considering converting abandoned offshore oil platforms into ocean tidal facilities. Norway consumes 1,124 trillion Btu of renewable energy, while the U.K. consumes 92.6 trillion Btu.
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India's need for sustainable energy make hydro and wind the best options for electricity generation in that country. The government will introduce subsidies to support development of large-scale dams, with 12 projects to be completed by 2002. Hydro capacity will soon be 230 MW. India is ranked fourth in the world in wind generation, and the government is attempting to reverse a decline in use by offering tax credits for windfarms. A number of projects are under construction, including a 20 MW project in Puthlur.
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The government of Japan is dedicated to continued development of alternative energy sources, and MITI's 1998 long-term energy plan calls for a threefold increase in the use of solar and wind energy. Japan's consumption of renewables was 1,210 trillion Btu, which puts it behind China, the U.S., Russia and Indonesia in global renewable consumption. In 1996, renewables accounted for 1.1 percent of primary energy in Japan. Solar capacity is expected to increase ten-fold by 2010, but this will still account for less than 30 percent of renewable energies. Wind capacity is 14 MW and will double by 2010. An additional 23 MW of capacity is under construction, but wind is considered unreliable in Japan and its development is hindered by the fact that suitable sites are remote, making transmission more expensive.
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France is the second-largest electricity market in Europe after Germany, and is the world's largest per capita generator of nuclear power at 80 percent from 57 reactors. Renewable energy consumption is estimated at 1,160 trillion Btu.
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A supplier of green power has asked for a suppliers licence in New Jersey, although it has no plans to sign up customers until the Board of Public Utilities removes economic barriers to suppliers and limits on customer choice. GreenMountain.com wants additional customer sign-up options and objects to security provisions that utilities can impose on new service providers, including the posting of millions of dollars in bonds.
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UPVG has funded solar projects in Long Island, NY; at a shopping centre in Cambridge, MA; at the solar cube in California; at a solar village in Civano, AZ; at the Real Goods Solar Living Center in Hopland, CA; in portable classrooms in Lakeland, FL; and at the Pentagon in Washington.
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Construction has started on the $28 million China Solar Energy Products Research & Development Base project in Shenzhen. The project is funded by Chinese and French interests to promote the market share of solar energy products.
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Renewable energy in Pennsylvania will be hurt if the state increases a consumer utility tax to offset a $64 million shortfall in tax revenue from power companies. The tax increase would make green power more expensive and less competitive, and would hurt lower-income ratepayers, say local solar advocates.
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Bangor Hydro-Electric has sold 38 MW of hydro and biomass generating capacity to an investment company, to prepare for restructuring in Maine. The six facilities generate 218,000 MWh.
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A British court has rejected plans to build a windfarm in northern England. National Wind Power wanted to install 25 turbines, but the High Court said the local planning council could refuse consent and the rejection had taken into account the energy contribution from the windfarm as well as other issues.
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The DuPage Children's Museum is one of 19 educational groups to receive grants from the Japanese Chamber of Commerce. It will receive $5,000 for its 'Wind Energy in Action' learning lab which teaches students about wind as a source of energy.
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Mozambique is committed to preserving its environment through the use of clean energy technologies, including solar panels in rural areas and the development of wind energy.
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The 'Energy Smart' campaign by Australia's Sustainable Energy Development Authority has resulted in a return-on-investment of 45 percent for the 175 companies that participate, as well as cost savings of $3.7 million in energy costs each year.
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A solar park is being developed in Islamabad to promote solar energy in Pakistan, which has not been exploited due to high cost, lack of motivation and incentives, inadequate demonstration of effective use of solar technologies, non-availability of suitable appliances and lack of trained manpower.
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Arizona Public Service will remove two hydro dams on Fossil Creek and return the water to full flows by 2004.
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Australia is considering a proposal for a one percent tax on all power bills to help finance increased use of renewable energy.
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The U.S. government has issued rules requiring the assessment of environmental aspects of trade agreements, including the energy sources for foreign production. The use of coal and nuclear energy are expected to figure high on the list.
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Wisconsin Electric Power will expand its renewable energy program by developing another 7.5 MW landfill gas facility, above the 16.2 MW plant it already uses. The state wants utilities to generate 50 MW from renewable sources by the end of this year.
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Lebanon imports 98 percent of its energy and will face a serious energy shortage if steps are not taken now to prevent waste and to increase the use of solar power to heat water and light streets.
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Coal-burning power plants in Texas and Pennsylvania lead the U.S. in the release of toxic mercury pollution, which is more toxic than lead. Mercury emissions are not regulated, and 49 tons is spilled into the air each year by power plants.
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Solar-Panel Maker May Expand Plant A feature on possible corporate plans by BP Solarex.
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Tax Credit Seen Key Boost for Wind Power Industry A feature on the impact of the extended renewable energy credit.
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Schools Going Solar A feature on solar systems at schools in Jacksonville, Florida.
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Excerpts, TRENDS in RENEWABLE ENERGIES Canadian Association for Renewable Energies Bill Eggertson, Executive Director, Ottawa (613) 728-0822 (Fax) 728-2505 mailto:eggertson@renewables.ca Archives are posted at http://www.renewables.ca For a sample of details; mailto:sample@renewables.ca
-------- wto
[This is the best I've seen on the Seattle scene. Love, liz et al
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 06:43:15 -0500
From: Elizabeth McAlister <disarmnow@erols.com>
Subject: Fwd: Police brutality in the streets of Seattle]
COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN SEATTLE
by Portland student/reporter Jim Desyllas
Called-in from a pay phone outside Seattle. Wed., 7:30 pm Pacific time. (Posted at www.emperors-clothes.com 12-2-99. Feel free to distribute in full including this note.)
I just spent 4 days in Seattle. The "information" people are getting from the mass media is false. This was not, as Pres. Clinton claims, a peaceful protest marred by the actions of violent protesters. This was a massive, strong but peaceful demonstration which was attacked repeatedly by the police with the express purpose of provoking a violent response to dismiss the movement and to provide photo opportunities for the Western media. I know because I watched it happening. I'll tell you how they did it.
The government put a lot of effort into making sure the protesters in Seattle were a "loyal opposition" who wanted to reform the WTO, not get rid of it. But the people in Seattle - American steel workers, Canadian postal workers, college kids from all over, environmentalists from Australia - you name it - were not for reforming the WTO. They were for getting rid of it.
And this wasn't just true of the protesters. I interviewed delegates. None of them had anything favorable to say about the WTO. Two delegates from the Caribbean were angry about job loss. One delegate from Peru took a bullhorn and got up on a car and spoke to the protestors against the World Trade Organization. He said it hurts the workers and farmers. I interviewed a Norwegian guy from Greenpeace. Totally against it. Even a delegate from Holland said it had hurt the farmers there. He said though it is supposedly democratic, that's actually a lie: the US, England and Canada and a few others get together and decide what they want to do. Then they ask the rest of the countries to vote and if they vote wrong they threaten,"You won't get loans," or whatever. They get them to do what they want by blackmailing them. The Italians we interviewed were upset too. I couldn't find any delegates who were in favor.
So the government instigated a "riot" to discredit the movement against the WTO because they couldn't dilute it. I am not guessing about this. I was there. I saw it happening. And I will tell you I am frankly shocked to see, close up, just how little our leaders care what happens to ordinary people. Clinton can pose and speak a lot of flowery stuff but the truth is - we are nothing to them. I saw this with my own eyes.
Sunday and Monday, there was no violence. None. The people were aggressively non-violent; they were self-policing. Up until Tuesday at 4pm there was one window broken in the whole city - a McDonalds window. This compares favorably to the typical rock concert, let alone a demonstration of people who were non-violently barring entry to the World Trade Center!
At this point, a new group of police - tactical police - moved in and started gassing people and shooting rubber bullets. Is it any surprise that people got mad? Of course, the young kids hit back by breaking some windows in retaliation for being gassed, sprayed with very painful pepper gas, and shot with dangerous "rubber" bullets. The police instigated these kids, plain and simple.
Sunday and Monday they had young cops, using them to block the streets. These were trainees. But Tuesday they had the real cops; none of them were young. They were trained to attack people. A small group, maybe 100 people total, struck back. Then these cops herded that group around the city, making sure there were plenty of photo ops of "violent protesters."
A number of times they had these 100 or so protesters caught between buildings and walls of police. They could easily have arrested and detained this small number of people and gotten it over with. Instead they would gas them and let them go. Then trap them again, gas them again, and again let them go. The cops made no arrests that I know of until late Tuesday night though the skirmishing was going on from three till 9:30. The cops would blockade three or five blocks of an area, give the angry kids room to operate, keep gassing them - when you gas a person, let me tell you, it gets them fighting mad.
Tuesday night the police gassed all of downtown. This was going on from 3 PM, till 6 PM.. Gas everywhere. The kids broke a few windows - McD's, Starbucks - small stuff - burned a few garbage cans. The police were using these people as extras. It was staged. I believe also the police had their own people in there, encouraging people to break stuff - if people think I may be exaggerating, I saw supposed protesters - they were screaming and so on - and then later, when everything was over, the same people tackled other protestors and put handcuffs on them.
At 6pm they issued a State of Emergency. At that point they had pushed the 100 people outside the city limits, so the police went outside the limits too, and they started gassing that area too, gassing the neighborhoods where the regular people live. I am not exaggerating. The police were relentless. This was in an area from the city limits for about 10 blocks to the Seattle Central Community College. If you were alive, the police gassed you. People coming back from work, kids, women, everyone. People would go out of their houses to see what was happening because these tear gas guns sound like a cannon - and they would get gassed. A block away there was a Texaco gas station - they threw tear gas at gas pumps, believe it or not - they were like vandals. They gassed a bus. I saw it with my own eyes. A bus. The driver, the riders, the people just abandoned it . I was sitting in a little coffee shop called Rauhaus, [Jim did not spell this - the spelling may be wrong.] They were shooting "rubber" bullets at the glass. I picked up a dozen of the things in a few square feet. They were also shooting this paint that you can only see with a florescent light. They would paint anyone and everyone and then go hunting them.
Anyway, because they were gassing everybody, the local people got mad too and they joined the 100 who had been herded out of the city. So soon there were 500 including the neighborhood people and all very angry. Naturally. Because they had been gassed and hit with pepper spray, that stuff does a number on you. And shot with these damn bullets. Then people set up barricades at Seattle Central Community College. The cops organized themselves for about an hour and then moved in and gassed that area.
Today they started mass arrests. That was because Clinton - the Greeks call him the Planitarchis, Ruler of the World - was coming. Weeping crocodile tears about how he just LOVES peaceful protest, which of course you'd have to be two years old to believe he had nothing to do with the police action. This whole thing, this police attack, this was US foreign policy, not some action decided by some bureaucrat in Seattle. This was the State Department. They wanted to discredit the people.
When things started on Sunday, there was a protest rally of solidarity involving people from different walks of life. Monday it got even bigger. Tuesday there was a big sort of carnival where people were doing different things, a band was playing music and people were blocking the World Trade Center. And about 3 PM the cops started throwing tear gas.
The thing that drove Clinton crazy was that on Tuesday the protesters had succeeded in making nonviolent human chains and had therefore stopped everyone from going into the World Trade Center. Only maybe 27 delegates got through, mostly US and British. There were what seemed like tens of thousands of protesters involved. So the police did their gassing number against these nonviolent people to break up the human chains and make the protesters look violent.
Today (Wednesday) I followed the union protest put together by the Longshoremen's Union. They went down to the docks and had a rally then marched to Third Avenue. As soon as they got there the cops started gassing them. There was an old lady there. She had gone downtown by bus to buy something. This lady was in her 70's and I saw her trying to run, but she couldn't breathe. She was in shock. I carried her to a building entryway. She was gasping, terrified. She had been in Germany, and it was like she was having flashbacks. The tear gas sounds like gunfire and there were helicopters overhead, sirens, cops on horses, everything.
They had clearly made a decision to destroy this movement.
So anyway there I was with her in this building and she wanted to go to the hospital but there was tear gas everywhere and I was afraid if I tried to move her she'd be gassed again. I went to this line of cops and begged - I mean begged - these riot police to help her. They ignored me. A girl told me later that a one year old had been gassed. And I myself saw a girl no more than 18 - a cop had busted her lip wide open - she was bleeding - and then they gassed everyone including her. After that she was kneeling on the ground crying like a baby and praying for 15 minutes, Hail Mary, Hail Mary. Over and over. She was in a state of shock. They just gassed these people who were sitting down non-violently and doing nothing. Nothing.
At one point the Seattle Mayor said his boys were not using rubber bullets. Miraculously, by then I had ten in my pocket. I could open a little market, sell the things. They are everywhere. I and other people started giving them to delegates and stuff. "See what they're doing? They're shooting "rubber" bullets and lying about it." We showed them to the media. I guess enough people and the media got the information because the Mayor made a new statement then that they were using them. As if he hadn't known.
They shot rubber bullets from four feet away into the face of a guy next to me, broke all his front teeth. When that happened I lost it. I forgot I was supposed to be getting the news for all of you and I started yelling at the cops, "What the hell is wrong with you? Are you sick, man?" So this cop aimed his gun right at me. That was his answer. So I first put my hands in front of my face because I didn't want to lose my teeth. And then I thought, to hell with it. I was wearing my target shirt that said "Collateral Damage", you know? With a bullseye target, like they wore during the bombing in Yugoslavia. And I told this guy, "Go ahead, shoot! Here! Here's the target!"
He didn't shoot me.
I want to emphasize, these protesters were NOT violent people. They were the most non-violent people I have ever seen. Even when I was screaming at the cop, this girl came up to me and said, "Do not scream. This is non-violent." These people were too much to believe. They must meditate all the time, I don't know.
Clinton said he supports nonviolent protest. That is baloney. Today (Wed.) the protesters were causing absolutely no "trouble". In downtown the cops had people running who weren't even protesters - like that old lady or just people going to work or shopping - everyone was getting gassed. The busses weren't running because of the gas. I was lucky to catch one with a driver who could still see. I begged him to drive the old lady home - the driver changed his route especially for her. If you want to find human decency, stay away from the Planitarchis. Go to the to regular people. They have some. The Planitarchis lost all his years ago. Now he wouldn't know human decency if it came up and bit him.
So now I have made personal acquaintance with the people who run this country, and they are quite simply scum. There were people at work, people with babies, they were all getting gassed because the government would not allow an assembly of people speaking their minds. It is the same as what happened in Athens. Clinton's requirements on the Greek government created the riot and he did the same thing here. And then he says he supports nonviolent protest? How? By shooting rubber bullets? And today they outlawed gas masks. They want to make sure everyone gets his money's worth.
Today, just like yesterday night, the police were in the residential neighborhoods. People in cafés were getting gassed and shot at, you could hear it on the windows, bang, bang, bang. A guy trying to cross the street to go to his house got gassed. First a drunk guy outside a bar yelled at the cops "Get out of here!" so they gassed him. And then this other guys was just crossing the street to go home so the cops figured, might as well gas him too. People got gassed for coming out of restaruants and bars and coffeee shops. I'm amazed that nobody died who had asthma or something. Or maybe somebody did die and they didn't talk about it. I mean after all, it's just collateral damage.
~~~
Another account:
>>here's the part cnn left out. PLEASE READ THIS AND PASS IT ON!
Subject: seattle
Date: Thu, 02 Dec 1999 01:10:14 PST
okay everyone, i'll try to make this coherent, but it's been a really long two days and tomorrow promises to be pretty crazy as well. i'd like to write more about the entire experience but right now i'll give you the shortened "i need to sleep or i will die version, up-to-minute police state siege class war version." check out whatever news you can about seattle. british seems to be pretty good. there is tons of alternative documentation, live internet feeds, etc. the real deal:
as i write this riot squads and the national guard are shooting cs gas (tear gas), concussion grenades, rubber bullets, pepper spray (from cannons and directly into faces), using long batons, boots, etc. against peaceful protesters, shoppers, workers, and anyone else they come across. yesterday (november 30), what seems to be at least 100,000 people took to the streets of seattle for non-violent protest, civil disobedience, and direct action. riot cops (armor, carrying rifles, pepper spray, tear gas cannisters, helmets) gassed people sitting on the ground and dancing in front of them at 9:30 am. the next time i was gassed, again sitting non-violently. as we dispersed they shot the tear gas ahead of us up the block, in front of us, trapping people in alleys. a little later on, more people were out in the streets, checking things out, pissed at the cops. they fired gas, concussion grenades, rubber bullets constantly.
(during this whole time i was helping to keep the crowds from not panicking, moving slowly and not trampling one another, helping to treat injured people).
It was about this time that the rioting really broke loose, and i will stress that if it was mindless, it was still in response to cop brutality and aggression, curfew was declared, and the cops started to drive people out of downtown (which meant marching on us, firing tear gas constantly as we dispersed). they followed far beyond the perimeter they declared, at least two miles out of downtown into a neighborhood which then responded in kind as best they could. this fighting kept on until am hours.
is this readable at all? sorry. i've been gassed more times than i can count now, sprayed with pepper spray, seen children, old women, and anyone else you can imagine, brutalized. a girl shot between the eyes with a rubber bullet. people lying on the ground losing consciousness in clouds of gas, running blind and vomiting if they can. today has continued beyond that, with the declaring of martial law, police chief refusing to comment when asked if gas and bullets are being used, claiming that all explosions (the concussion grenades which are fired in rapid succession into crowds) are pipe bombs thrown by demonstrators. the police declared a NO Protest zone in the core of downtown (a clear violation of first amendment rights, as if that is the only violation occurring), a permiter which you would be arrested if crossing into and suspected of being a protester, not a business worker showing ID.
By this early afternoon, they went outside of that zone, way beyond it, firing gas and grenades and rubber bullets into crowds, protests, driving us into an outdoor market and gassing the market (all businesses were open, people on the streets shopping, lunch break, going home, etc.).
Then columns of riots squads began to occupy streets, beating people, etc. (assume that that is constant), herding people to the waterfront. There has not been a curfew imposed in seattle since WWII, and martial law was last declared in 1919. I got out of downtown after sundown, up to safe space, and then hours later the cops came and invaded, layed siege to the same neighborhood they had come to the night before and are still in as far as i know, right now.
okay, that's the horror stories, but only a fraction of it. The solidarity here has been amazing, steelworkers supporting ecology activists supporting anarchists, on and on. lots of citizens completely in aggreement and completely disgusted by the police state actions. There are over 500 people in jail, practicing disobediance and jail solidarity there, although their legal rights are being severly abused as well. Supposedly jails are full, which is why the cops have become so much more brutal, as they have no where to put us. But, yesterday they arrested almost no one at all, and when asked why not, the chief replied "you can't just arrest people for nothing." Oh, but you can brutalize them into submission. So, do not believe whatever mainstream media bullshit you see.
This has been by far and large completely non-violent, no-confrontation protest. there was some destruction, and what some would call deserving businesses were targeted for the main part (starbucks, nike, gap,etc.). in my experience, almost all destruction came in response to police attacks on non-violent protestors (not to mention the young black kids taking to the streets after years of police attacks).
This is an all-out war at this point, and it is amazing to me that in the face of body armor, batons, grenades, gas, pepperspray, rifles, and what is pretty much a tank, we are defending ourselves with only wetted bandanas, swim goggles (if you're lucky), baking soda and water solutions, and solidarity. I am writing to you from a militarized zone where they are laying siege to entire neighborhoods in the name of "restoring peace", a peace that exists save for the violence they bring. For every news segment showing "the anarchists in black" smashing windows, how about us anarchists giving medical aid and helping to keep order in the streets while under attack? again, the organizing is amazing, medical and communication teams, daily meals, jail solidarity.
It's amazing to see all the red/black flags and neckerchiefs flying everywhere. Please pass this on to everyone you know and get the word out. Spread the truth.
Love and Struggle, john
(For more info about the news from Seattle that you're not seeing on the evening news, go to: http://imc.indymedia.org/
(if that doesn't work try: http://216.173.206.96/imc/ )
This is the website of the Seattle Independent Media Center, a coalition of independent media groups that have gotten together to provide and spread coverage of the WTO protests from the viewpoint of those doing the protesting. Independent journalists, reporters and photographers use this site as a place to post their stories, photos and audio/video footage for everyone to check out. At the top of their page, click where it says "Blindspot", which is an excellent daily internet bulletin that is published daily. To view it, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free from the link that is provided.)
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Seattle fiasco raises some risks
USA Today 12/06/99- Updated 07:52 AM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/edtwof.htm
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After Riots, Seattle Is Chagrined Yet Cheerful
New York Times December 6, 1999 By SAM HOWE VERHOVEK
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/120699wto-seattle.html
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Seattle Protest Could Have Lasting Influence on Trade
New York Times December 6, 1999 By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/120699wto-trade.html
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The Collapse in Seattle
New York Times December 6, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/06mon1.html
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WTO Debacle Likely to Embolden Opposition By Reuters
New York Times December 6, 1999 Filed at 12:31 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-wto-impact.html
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Seattle WTO Failure Seen Bad for Asia
New York Times December 6, 1999 Filed at 3:09 a.m. ET By Reuter
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-wto-asi.html
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The WTO, Yes . . . Barter for labor rights, the environment.
Washington Post Monday, December 6, 1999; Page A27 By Peter M. Gerhart
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/06/012l-120699-idx.htm
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. . . And No Labor rights and the environment first.
Washington Post, December 6, 1999; Page A27 By Jerome I. Levinson
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/06/014l-120699-idx.html
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U.S-China Pact Opposition to Intensify Labor, Environmental Groups Stepping Up Campaign Against Trade Agreement
Washington Post, December 6, 1999; Page A16 By Donna Smith Reuters
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/06/058l-120699-idx.html