----------- activists
Judge refuses to allow experts to testify at protesters' trial
Mar 14 2000, By Dennis O'Brien, Baltimore Sun Staff
http://www.sunspot.net/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?section= news-maryland-sun&pagename=story&storyid=1150280207375
A Baltimore County Circuit Court judge denied yesterday a request by Philip F. Berrigan and three co-defendants to allow experts to testify at their trial on the legality of their arrests Dec. 19 at a Maryland Air National Guard base in Essex.
Judge James T. Smith Jr. ruled that Berrigan, 76, of Baltimore; Susan Crane, 56, also of Baltimore; the Rev. Stephen Kelly, 50, a Jesuit priest from New York City; and Elizabeth Walz, 33, a Dominican nun from Philadelphia, may not have experts testify on laws regarding the use of depleted uranium in military weapons.
The defendants are scheduled to go on trial next week. They are accused of cutting through a fence at the Middle River facility and causing $100,000 in damage to two A-10 Thunderbolt jet fighters by punching through their exteriors with hammers, pounding on the landing gear of one jet and on the engine parts of another.
The four have said the jets fire shells made with depleted uranium, a product they say is banned by international treaties because of its effect on the environment.
Smith dismissed charges of sabotage against the defendants in a brief hearing yesterday. But he refused to dismiss charges of malicious destruction of property, conspiracy to destroy government property and trespassing.
If convicted, the four could face maximum terms of six years and 90 days in prison. Crane, who also is charged with second-degree assault in the incident, faces an additional 10-year term.
Jonathan L. Katz, the lawyer for the four defendants at the hearing, said that experts would have testified about the dangers posed by depleted uranium and about international laws that prohibit its use.
-----
X-Sender: foesyd4@pop.ihug.com.au
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 13:48:41 +1000
There are three things you or your organisation can do between now and April 24-May19 when the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference takes place at the United Nations in New York, which will help to move the world toward the elimination of nuclear weapons.
1)If you are an ordinary person or an organisation, you can send a suitably customised version of one of the sample letters below to either your prime minister, your president, or most importantly, your foreign minister.
A shorter letter (very short) is available on:
Http://www.abolition2000.org. Fax numbers of heads of state, foreign ministers, and UN Missions are also available on that URL.
Another URL that has the fax numbers of heads of state, foreign ministers and UN missions and also has lots of information on the NPT Review is: Http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org
2)If you are an organisation and especially if you have already signed the 'Heads of State' letter that I posted some time ago, you may also want to sign the letter to be found on the following URL: http://www.clw.org/coalition/nptsign-on0300.htm
3) if you are an organisation please sign the Abolition Statement (which you have probably recieved in the previous email) by emailing A2000@silcom.com or by visiting Http://www.abolition2000.org.
Next comes the texts of a sample letter that can be sent by anyone to their heads of state, prime ministers and foreign ministers anywhere, and a sample letter that can be sent to the Russian government.
I reccommend sending the letter to the Russian government if you are in Eastern Europe or in Russia or in CIS countries as well as a letter to your own head of state/foreign minister. Note that it is copied to President Clinton.
The general letter is to be sent anywhere, but is largely designed for countries other than the US, Russia, or the UK. I strongly suggest that you make changes to adapt it to what you know of your particular country and its position.
For example, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, Brazil, Egypt, South Africa, and a large number of other countries have actually taken a very good position on this issue. If your country's position is a good one your letter will need to congratulate them for that, and urge them to maintain it.
If you don't know exactly what your countrys position is going to be then send the letter as it is but ask them what it will be.
TEXT OF (1)GENERAL SAMPLE LETTER FOR EVERYBODY TO SEND AND (2)SAMPLE LETTER TO PUTIN AND IVANOV
FOLLOWS
(1)GENERAL SAMPLE LETTER FOR EVERYBODY TO SEND
RE: NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION TREATY REVIEW CONFERENCE APRIL 24-MAY 19 2000 - GETTING RID OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
TO: PRESIDENT, PRIME MINISTER AND FOREIGN MINISTER,
Your Excellency, [0r] Dear President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister,
I am writing to urge [your/our] government to take a strong position at the upcoming Review Conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in New York April 24 to May 19, 2000, and to urge [your/our] head of state or of government or foreign minister to attend this meeting.
It is vital that the governments of all nations do their utmost to pressure the nuclear weapons states, especially the US and Russia, to do more to fulfill their obligations under Article VI of the NPT, and negotiate their nuclear weapons stockpiles down to zero.
The International Court of Justice reaffirmed in 1996, in a unanimous advisory opinion that this is indeed a legal obligation.
The nuclear weapons states are currently making very little movement toward fulfilling this obligation. Instead there have been many developments in the opposite direction.
The US Senate has failed to ratify the CTBT, (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty) and the US is contemplating the deployment of a Ballistic Missile Defence System in violation of the 1972 ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) treaty.
Talks between the US and Russia to make cuts in nuclear weapons are stalled, as is implementation of START II. Russia has changed its previous policy of 'no first use' of nuclear weapons to one that mirrors those of the western states, and its Duma has refused to ratify START-II.
Both the US and Russia continue to conduct 'subcritical' nuclear tests. China is modernizing its nuclear arsenal, and India and Pakistan have openly tested nuclear weapons. Israel, in spite of a recent debate in the Knessett, refuses to acknowledge its nuclear capabilities but may have as many as 400 weapons.
On the other hand, the non nuclear weapons states with a few notable exceptions, have adhered to their side of the bargain, while the NPT has become nearly universal.
A successful outcome at the coming NPT Review Conference, would explicitly commit parties under Article VI to the elimination of nuclear weapons at an early date, and a global regime banning nuclear weapons, and would outline the process for that to occur.
It is important that your government and every government, use its position to push the nuclear weapon states and particularly the US and Russia, to fulfill Article VI during the coming review conference.
A key preliminary step in this direction that would reduce the danger of purely accidental war, and improve the climate for further steps, would be the abandonment of 'launch on warning' postures. This should be followed by reduction of alert status of warheads, and the verifiable physical removal of warheads from delivery vehicles.
It is especially vital that [your/our] [head of government/head of state/foreign minister] be present at the proceedings of this review conference. The decisions taken at the coming NPT Review conference will literally determine the fate of the world. Only by the authority lent by the presence of heads of State or of Government can decisions be taken that will have the end result of ridding the world of nuclear weapons and fulfilling the mandate of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty over the last thirty years.
Signed...etc.
SAMPLE LETTER FOR EVERYONE TO SEND TO PRESIDENT PUTIN AND FOREIGN MINISTER IGOR IVANOV.
RE: NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION TREATY REVIEW CONFERENCE APRIL 24-MAY 19 2000 - GETTING RID OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
TO: PRESIDENT PUTIN +7-095-205-4330, FOREIGN MINISTER IVANOV +7-095-244-3276, +7-095-244-2203 RUSSIAS UNITED NATIONS AMBASSADOR + 1 212 628 0252 cc PRESIDENT CLINTON +1-202-456-2461
Dear President Putin and Foreign Minister Ivanov,
I am writing to urge Russia's government to fulfill its obligations under Article VI of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
It is vital that we negotiate their nuclear weapons stockpiles down to zero sooner rather than later.
The International Court of Justice reaffirmed in 1996, in a unanimous judgment, that this is indeed a legal obligation.
It is now vital that the Russia and the US fulfill their clear obligations under Article VI of the nonproliferation treaty. While arms reductions have occurred since the 1980s, this process of reduction has now stalled and may be going into reverse.
The US and Russia are both signed on to a treaty, article VI of which demands that you negotiate to eliminate your nuclear arsenals. The binding nature of Article VI was reaffirmed by the 1996 unanimous advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Russia and the US together, as well as China, the UK and France cannot forever refuse to fulfill their clear legal obligations under the NPT while expecting that other countries will continue to fulfill theirs. The credibility of the NPT will disappear if the nuclear weapon states - yourselves - do not fulfill your obligations. The eventual result of that is likely to be much wider acquisition of nuclear weapons, with a vastly increased likelihood of nuclear war.
While Russia may have been given reasons to distrust US and NATO intentions, the stakes in getting rid of nuclear weapons are literally ultimate. No political goal no matter how central it may seem to the interests of either Russia or the US can justify the possible destruction of human civilisation and life worldwide.
Public opinion in both your countries is strongly in favor of negotiating to eliminate nuclear weapons. Global public opinion is overwhelmingly in favor of this and indeed demands it, as do the overwhelming majority of governments.
A successful outcome at the coming NPT Review Conference, would explicitly commit parties under Article VI to the elimination of nuclear weapons at an early date, and a global regime banning nuclear weapons, and would outline the process for that to occur.
In this context, it is especially vital that the Russian and US Presidents be present at the proceedings of the NPT Review Conference, and be ready to negotiate to eliminate your nuclear arsenals as you are obliged to do under Article VI. The decisions taken at the coming NPT Review conference will literally determine the fate of the world. Only by the authority lent by the presence of heads of State or of Government can decisions be taken that will have the end result of ridding the world of nuclear weapons and fulfilling the mandate of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty over the last thirty years.
Signed...etc.
John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042 Fax (61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd
----
Protesters Denounce IMF Meetings
March 14, 2000
By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-IMF-World-Bank.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Opponents of globalization of the world economy threatened Tuesday to try to shut down meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank next month, but said they wanted to avoid the violence that paralyzed Seattle during last year's World Trade Organization session.
Both institutions said they were prepared to talk with the protesters but were drawing up contingency plans to prevent disruptions of their sessions here on April 16 and 17 that draw finance ministers, central bank governors and other officials from 182 nations.
The activists said they expected tens of thousands of people from around the United States and abroad to come to the capital for demonstrations that will include blocking streets or buildings in an effort to prevent officials from attending their meetings.
They will also hold teach-ins, parades with giant puppets ridiculing the IMF and World Bank from April 9-17 to build on the momentum they said they established in Seattle.
They will lobby members of Congress on their opposition to the globalization of the world economy, as well on issues such as debt forgiveness for the world's poorest nations.
The protest groups view the IMF and the World Bank, both based in Washington, as institutions whose programs have failed these countries while enriching corporations and degrading the environment.
Demonstrators, including U.S. labor unions, will use the occasion to fight the Clinton administration's efforts to secure congressional approval of normal trade relations with China.
One of the organizers, Nadine Block of the Mobilization for Global Justice, the umbrella group for more than 250 organizations involved, said, ``nonviolence and no property destruction are guidelines being emphasized in training sessions'' for those who will lead the protests.
Asked at a news conference if officials would be blocked in their hotels as they were in Seattle, Block replied, ``It's possible.''
Graylan Hagler, a minister at the Plymouth Congregation of the United Church of Christ in Washington, said he was concerned about reports District of Columbia police had received riot control equipment and training.
``We are committed to nonviolence but we hope the police are equally committed to protecting the rights of free speech,'' he said.
District police said they have put together a team to prepare for the demonstrators and will not allow the capital to be shut down. Police Chief Charles Ramsey has attended a recent FBI seminar on the lessons of the Seattle disorder.
In a speech at the National Press Club, World Bank President James Wolfensohn defended his organization's record, admitting some mistakes had been made but a lot of good had been done as well.
Replying to a question about the planned protests, he said ``Demonstrating is useful but I would prefer sorting things out in discussions.'' He has met several times in the past with nongovernment organizations critical of the bank.
IMF spokesman Thomas Dawson said, ``We are reaching out and look forward to talking to anyone who wants to talk to us. We have attempted to maintain a dialogue and some (groups) do respond.''
He said these efforts would continue but as a precaution the IMF, which organizes the spring meetings, had held talks with local authorities to develop contingency plans if protesters try to shut down the meetings.
Dawson and other IMF officials have declined to go into detail on security arrangements but said they have to be sensitive given what happened in Seattle.
----
On the Net:
Mobilization for Global Justice
Web site: www.a16.org;
International Monetary Fund
Web site: www.imf.org;
The World Bank Group
Web site: www.worldbank.org
-----------
Greenpeace Buys Shell Stock
MARCH 14, 15:16 EST
By JEROME SOCOLOVSKY
Associated Press Writer
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=EUROPE&STORYID=APIS7379S480 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Netherlands-Environmentalists.html
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Forget the rubber rafts, the wet suits, the handcuffs.
Greenpeace activists on Tuesday brandished a new weapon they hope will make one of the world's largest oil companies bend to their will: the stock market.
The Amsterdam-based environmentalist group announced the purchase of $240,000 worth of Royal Dutch/Shell Group equity to try to pressure the Anglo-Dutch energy conglomerate to build a huge solar panel production plant.
The investment was a milestone for the activists, who are better known for their headline-grabbing sabotage missions against underwater nuclear testing, toxic waste dumping and other ecological threats.
``We are trying to play their own game,'' said Greenpeace spokesman Sander van Egmond. ``The shareholders own the company. It's a very direct way of influencing the executives.''
The purchase of 4,400 shares gives Greenpeace only a tiny percentage of Shell's total stock and offers the group no real leverage over the company. But it meets the minimum required to allow Greenpeace to communicate via the stock exchange with other shareholders, whose identities are otherwise kept secret.
The group hopes to use the right to communicate to drum up support in advance of a May 9 shareholders' meeting that will discuss a proposal to have Shell build a factory producing 5 million solar panels a year.
Greenpeace power to persuade other owners of Shell stock to consider Greenpeace's proposals, rather than obtaining any real leverage over the company.
To woo backing from the owners of the remaining 2.14 billion Amsterdam-listed shares of the company, Greenpeace commissioned a study from consulting group KPMG estimating that Shell could get a 15 percent return on investment in solar energy.
``We think we have a good argument,'' said Van Egmond.
Shell spokesman Henk Bunder said the firm was ``very happy'' with Greenpeace's investment and welcomed its activists to speak at the shareholders' meeting.
``We also see solar as a business and we see growth in that business,'' he said. Shell, however, envisions a gradual expansion into solar energy after market demand grows, Bunder said.
According to Van Egmond, the investment was financed with a mix of options in a way ``so that we don't make any profit or losses on it.''
In a similar move, Greenpeace said it is working with a group of owners of more than 150,000 shares of British Petroleum-Amoco to oppose that firm's Northstar oil pipeline project at an April 13 general meeting.
The new strategy is worlds away from previous Greenpeace campaigns, when its members intercepted freighters on the high seas and shackled themselves to the gates of pollution-belching industrial plants.
Indeed, it was against Shell that Greenpeace scored one of its biggest coups five years ago, occupying a disused North Sea oil platform, the Brent Spar, and refusing to budge until company abandoned plans to ditch the hulking structure at sea.
However, the organization has suffered a slump in donations and membership as interest in its confrontational tactics has waned.
------- australia
URANIUM SHIPMENTS ON WAY TO ADELAIDE
By Chris Littlejohn
From: wagtail wagtail@picknowl.com.au
Date: Tuesday, 14 March 2000 13:33
Shipments of Uranium Oxide have and are arriving in Adelaide right now.
Two pairs of double B trucks each carrying two short red shipping containers have been sighted.. One pair yesterday Monday March 13, at Red Hill, 1.5 hours north of Adelaide, at 2pm.
A second set have been sighted today, Tuesday March 14, at 10am, in Pimba, 5-6 hours north of Adelaide.
The trucking company is Lin Fox Transport. The trucks are red.
It is believed that they use container terminal 6, at Outer Harbour. They get there via Grand Junction Road, Commercial Road and Victoria Road. At Outer Harbour the trucks turn right onto Coglin Road, then left onto O'Malley- to berth 6.
From past experience the trucks will continue for at least a week, although we do not know how long they have been going for so far.
Please pass this on. This is not a call to arms.
This is information.
More news as it arrives........
----------- belarus
U.S. Asks Belarus to Respect Demonstrations
March 14, 2000
By Reuters
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-belarus.html
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States urged Belarus not to repress a series of peaceful demonstrations planned for this month and next, or risk damaging relations with European and North American democracies.
``The United States strongly urges the Belarussian authorities to live up to their international commitments to respect the freedom of expression and assembly by not harassing or repressing these rallies,'' the State Department said.
The first of the rallies will be a Freedom March on Wednesday, to be followed by rallies to mark the anniversary of the Belarussian national republic on March 25, the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine on April 26 and the traditional European Labor Day on May 1, a statement said Monday.
``The response of the Belarussian authorities to these demonstrations will be an essential indication of their intentions toward meaningful dialogue with the opposition as well as toward elections,'' it added.
``A repetition of the regime's brutal and unnecessary crackdown on the October 17 Freedom March will only deepen the current political crisis in Belarus and have serious negative consequences for relations with the Euro-Atlantic community of democracies,'' it said.
The United States has repeatedly criticized the government of Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko for its authoritarian practices and treatment of political opponents.
``These demonstrations are intended by the organizers to be peaceful gatherings to signal the public's support for human rights and democracy and their opposition to Belarus' anti-democratic, self-isolating regime,'' White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said in a separate statement.
Earlier this month the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the European democracy and human rights body, expressed concern over a lack of political dialogue in Belarus and said it doubted parliamentary polls later this year would be free and fair.
The small but vocal opposition, which refuses to recognize a 1996 referendum that extended Lukashenko's term in office and dissolved parliament, has said that it will be barred from the state-controlled media in the run-up to the October poll.
---
http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/I2R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/2000/3/14/3.text.1
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary (Chicago, IL)
For Immediate Release
March 13, 2000
STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY
Belarus: Pro-Democracy Demonstrations
The Belarusian democratic opposition has announced it will stage a series of demonstrations beginning on March 15. These demonstrations are intended by the organizers to be peaceful gatherings to signal the public's support for human rights and democracy and their opposition to Belarus's anti-democratic, self-isolating regime.
We strongly urge the Belarusian authorities to live up to their international commitments to respect freedom of expression and freedom of assembly by not interfering with these rallies. The international community will be watching the Belarusian regime's actions closely, given its recent brutal crackdown on the October 17 Freedom March in which ninety-two demonstrators were injured during clashes with government forces.
The United States strongly supports freedom of assembly and freedom of citizens to change their government by peaceful and lawful means. Steps that contradict these fundamental human rights will only deepen Belarus's isolation from the international community.
----------- china
Taiwan, China Discuss Nuclear Waste
By MARCOS CALO MEDINA
Associated Press Writer
MARCH 14, 13:37 EST
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=ASIA&STORYID=APIS7378DR00 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Taiwan-China-Nuclear-Waste.html
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - A state-owned Taiwanese power company said Tuesday that it is talking with China about storing nuclear waste in the mainland, discussions that could produce a rare agreement between the two longtime rivals.
The Taiwan Power Company has agreed with China ``to exchange technical information and management expertise'' about the disposal of the nuclear waste, spokeswoman Huang Hui-yu said.
Huang said the ``expression of willingness'' is a step closer to a formal memorandum, which would be the first such agreement signed between the two sides.
Since China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, tensions have been high between the two sides of the 80-mile-wide Taiwan Strait.
But businesses from both sides have had much warmer relations, with the volume of annual China-Taiwan trade at $26.4 billion, according to the Taiwanese government. Most of the business flows through Hong Kong.
Taiwan's direct investment in China topped $4.3 billion in 1998, according to official statistics, but the government estimates the actual amount could be as high as $30 billion.
``We've been negotiating for the past seven to eight years, but no formal document has been signed yet,'' Huang said about the nuclear waste deal.
She did not specify concrete proposals under the agreement, which local media said was reportedly signed about two months ago.
``There was a willingness on both sides to cooperate,'' Huang said.
Taiwan has been hard-pressed to find storage for the waste produced by its three nuclear power plants. Taiwan has sought to store the low-radiation wastes overseas, but negotiations with North Korea and Russia have yielded no results.
Last year, the government faced strong domestic opposition when it indicated it may build an undersea storage site near an outlying island group.
Taiwan now stores more than 170,000 barrels of radioactive waste, including 97,000 at a facility on outlying Orchid Island, where residents have forced the power company to halt further shipments.
The rest is stored at the three nuclear power plants where facilities already are over capacity.
----
On the Net:
The American Nuclear Society: http://www.ans.org/
Nuclear Information and Resource Service: http://www.nirs.org/
-----
China and Taiwan Pursue Secret Nuclear Waste Deal
March 14, 2000
By ERIK ECKHOLM
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/031400china-taiwan-waste.html
BEIJING, March 13 -- While they traded verbal hostilities this winter over Taiwan's political status, Taiwan and mainland China secretly agreed to pursue a surprising multibillion dollar deal in which more than 200,000 drums of radioactive wastes from Taiwan's nuclear power plants would be disposed of on the mainland in return for money and technical aid to the mainland's nuclear power industry.
In Hong Kong in January, executives of the government-owned nuclear power companies of China and Taiwan signed a "letter of intent" to explore such a deal, Taiwan officials confirmed today.
No contract has been signed, the officials said, and the talks have been suspended in recent weeks of heightened tensions as the March 18 Taiwan presidential elections approach. But officials of the Taiwan Power Co., known as Taipower, which has searched in vain for a resting place for its accumulating mountains of nuclear waste, said they hope talks can resume this spring.
"We hope we can eventually arrive at some sort of commercial arrangement with the mainland," said Huang Hui-yu, a spokeswoman for Taipower, in a telephone interview today. "We have indicated our willingness to offer certain forms of technical assistance for their nuclear plants, and they indicated a possible willingness to help in handling our waste material."
The secret talks, details of which were leaked over the weekend in Taiwan, are surprising because China angrily broke off political dialogue last summer over President Lee Teng-hui's assertions of Taiwan's independent status. Today, officials in Taipei and Beijing refused to comment on the talks.
Such a deal would represent a major reversal in Taiwan's official policy of restraining commercial ties with the mainland. It suggests that officials are desperate to find a solution to the nuclear waste problem, and that the restrictive policy is likely to be eased in the coming year anyway because of pressure from Taiwan industries and China.
The discussions have not been announced in China, and a decision to allow the import of radioactive waste to the mainland for the first time is certain to be controversial. But if the quid quo pro ended Taiwan's curbs on direct trade and investment across the Taiwan Strait, Beijing leaders may feel that it is worth the heat. The deal could also be portrayed as a generous act to help Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway region of China rather than a foreign country.
In Beijing today, officials of the China Nuclear Energy Industry Corporation, the negotiating partner, were said to be unavailable for comment. Taiwan officials did not say where in China the nuclear waste might be buried.
The proposed deal involves low-level wastes, such as power-plant equipment that has become radioactive, and not spent nuclear fuel rods that could possibly be reprocessed into bomb-grade materials.
"Disposing of it is not an extremely high technical problem," said Ms. Huang of Taipower. Still, Taiwan has been unable to find anywhere in its own limited territory willing to store the waste for good.
Deepening its economic ties with the island has been a goal of the Beijing government, which believes that stronger ties would bind Taiwan more deeply to the motherland.
The secret discussions were first revealed in Taiwan over the weekend by Lee Ao, a minor presidential candidate from the New Party, who apparently hoped to embarrass President Lee's government.
Taiwan had first discussed such an exchange with Beijing as early as 1994, officials have since disclosed, but the talks stopped when political tensions rose and Mr. Lee tried to dampen the growing commerce.
Under Mr. Lee, Taiwanese companies must obtain special permission to make large investments on the mainland and are forbidden to invest in "strategic" projects like electric power plants. Direct shipment and communication are not permitted, though indirect trade through Hong Kong and other routes has surged.
Taiwan has some 170,000 barrels of radioactive waste, nearly 100,000 barrels on Orchid Island off Taiwan's southeastern coast, where protesting residents have forced a halt to shipments, and the rest piling up at the three operating nuclear power plants. Nuclear power provides one-fifth of Taiwan's electricity.
In 1997, Taipower announced an agreement to pay North Korea to take the waste, but after concerns were raised by South Korea, the United States and environmental groups and the North Koreans became uncooperative, Taiwan's government decided against it.
Another plan to build an undersea repository off the Wuchiu islands in the Taiwan Strait has set off local protests. China also reportedly objected to shipping facilities that could have military uses so close to its coast.
--------- denmark / greenland
Danish Opposition May Impede US National Missile Defense
By Joergen Dragsdahl for BASIC, March 2000
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 11:41:36 -0800
To: abolition-caucus@egroups.com From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation a2000@silcom.com
Future use of radar facilities at a US base in Thule, Greenland for national missile defense can be blocked by veto from a close ally, Denmark. That is the message coming out of recent debates in both the Danish Parliament and Greenland's home rule parliament. Parties representing a clear majority set Russian approval of amendments to the ABM-Treaty as a precondition for upgrading of existing early warning radar facilities and deployment of a planned new radar.
The Danish Foreign Minister Niels Helveg Petersen on February 25th repeatedly stressed his government's "desire" for use of the radar "not to be in violation of current international rules". He also called a 13 year-old resolution by Parliament, prohibiting use of the radar in connection with an ABM-system, "a firm component" of Danish policy.
Greenland held its debate on February 29th. The home rule government had already declared on 18th November 1999 that if the ABM-Treaty is violated or if the US unilaterally sticks to present plans, then Greenland "can,t support plans for an upgrade of the Thule radar". The local parliament supported this position and will work for a countrywide debate to create backing for the government.
Broad consensus on the need for a US-Russian negotiated outcome was illustrated in the Danish Parliament through three preconditions raised by Per Stig Moeller, a spokesman for the conservative opposition party: The ABM-Treaty "must be respected", "we want agreement between the USA and the USSR (sic)" and the home rule government of Greenland must be involved in any decisions.
Constitutionally Denmark is in charge of Greenland's foreign and defense policy. But a decision contrary to the stated policy of Greenland's home rule government is unlikely. Denmark,s old empire in the North Atlantic is under renewed stress with strong political forces in the Faeroe Islands demanding independence and similar trends clearly visible in Greenland. Moeller warned against a repeat of mistakes in Danish handling of Faeroe affairs where the home rule government was not heard or involved in significant decisions.
A coalition partner in Greenland's government is strongly opposed to "militarization" of the Arctic and often criticizes US use of the Thule area. Opposition is also voiced by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, an influential coalition of native peoples from Alaska, Canada, Russia and Greenland. Further complicating US plans is a law suit by former inhabitants of a village at Thule. They were removed illegally in 1953 to free land for expansion of the US base. Last year a Danish High Court granted them compensation but a trial now is pending in the Supreme Court on a demand for return of all their lands. Plans for use of the US base in violation of the ABM-Treaty will, according to their lawyer Christian Harlang, be part of the case. The suit has very strong popular support in Greenland.
During the Danish Parliament debate the government presentation was criticized for reflecting only US policy on the alleged threat from rogue states and the perceived need for a national missile defense. Also the need for amendments to the ABM-Treaty, as stated by the Foreign Minister, was said to be based on a somewhat misleading description of US policy. The Clinton Administration has, he said, assured that it is "legally" and "politically" committed to preserve the ABM-treaty as a cornerstone of strategic stability. And, the minister continued, the Treaty cannot be changed "without the concurrence of both parties". He never mentioned US threats to withdraw from the treaty if agreement with Russia could not be found.
Representatives of several parties stressed that NMD is not just an issue of importance for defense of the United States. Even Per Stig Moeller of the traditionally very pro-American conservative party saw serious risks of a destabilizing arms race if the US were to go ahead with NMD unilaterally. Two left wing parties indicated opposition to US plans even if a deal with Russia proves possible. A couple of right wing politicians saw signs of anti-American attitudes in opposition to NMD but they were broadly refuted through reference to arguments against US plans from American experts.
-------- imf/wto/world bank
Protesters Denounce IMF Meetings
March 14, 2000
By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-IMF-World-Bank.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-IMF-World-Bank.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Opponents of globalization of the world economy threatened Tuesday to try to shut down meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank next month, but said they wanted to avoid the violence that paralyzed Seattle during last year's World Trade Organization session.
Both institutions said they were prepared to talk with the protesters but were drawing up contingency plans to prevent disruptions of their sessions here on April 16 and 17 that draw finance ministers, central bank governors and other officials from 182 nations.
The activists said they expected tens of thousands of people from around the United States and abroad to come to the capital for demonstrations that will include blocking streets or buildings in an effort to prevent officials from attending their meetings.
They will also hold teach-ins, parades with giant puppets ridiculing the IMF and World Bank from April 9-17 to build on the momentum they said they established in Seattle.
They will lobby members of Congress on their opposition to the globalization of the world economy, as well on issues such as debt forgiveness for the world's poorest nations.
The protest groups view the IMF and the World Bank, both based in Washington, as institutions whose programs have failed these countries while enriching corporations and degrading the environment.
Demonstrators, including U.S. labor unions, will use the occasion to fight the Clinton administration's efforts to secure congressional approval of normal trade relations with China.
One of the organizers, Nadine Block of the Mobilization for Global Justice, the umbrella group for more than 250 organizations involved, said, ``nonviolence and no property destruction are guidelines being emphasized in training sessions'' for those who will lead the protests.
Asked at a news conference if officials would be blocked in their hotels as they were in Seattle, Block replied, ``It's possible.''
Graylan Hagler, a minister at the Plymouth Congregation of the United Church of Christ in Washington, said he was concerned about reports District of Columbia police had received riot control equipment and training.
``We are committed to nonviolence but we hope the police are equally committed to protecting the rights of free speech,'' he said.
District police said they have put together a team to prepare for the demonstrators and will not allow the capital to be shut down. Police Chief Charles Ramsey has attended a recent FBI seminar on the lessons of the Seattle disorder.
In a speech at the National Press Club, World Bank President James Wolfensohn defended his organization's record, admitting some mistakes had been made but a lot of good had been done as well.
Replying to a question about the planned protests, he said ``Demonstrating is useful but I would prefer sorting things out in discussions.'' He has met several times in the past with nongovernment organizations critical of the bank.
IMF spokesman Thomas Dawson said, ``We are reaching out and look forward to talking to anyone who wants to talk to us. We have attempted to maintain a dialogue and some (groups) do respond.''
He said these efforts would continue but as a precaution the IMF, which organizes the spring meetings, had held talks with local authorities to develop contingency plans if protesters try to shut down the meetings.
Dawson and other IMF officials have declined to go into detail on security arrangements but said they have to be sensitive given what happened in Seattle.
-------
Anti World Bank, IMF Activists Say Thousands Will Rally in DC Next Month
March 14, 2000
by Agence France-Presse
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/031400-06.htm
Thousands of demonstrators will pour into the streets of Washington next month to stage non-violent direct action protests against the World Bank and the IMF, organizers predicted here Tuesday.
The Mobilization for Global Justice, grouping organized labor, human rights and environmental activists, and faith-based movements, said its two days of protests April 16-17 will target the annual spring meetings of World Bank and International Monetary Fund policymakers.
The coalition said its actions would include teach-ins, marches and street theater.
"We're calling for a shut-down of the IMF and Bank meetings," organizer Nadine Bloch told a press conference here. "And it may be that some IMF and Bank officials may not be able to get to their meetings" and could find themselves stuck in their hotels.
But she stressed that the Mobilization is also committed to non-violence and does not condone property destruction.
"We cannot take responsibility for people who do things outside those guidelines," she said.
"That's the responsibility of the World Trade Organization, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. We lay that down at their doorstep because they're the ones that perpetuate violence against people every minute of every day."
Activists here hope to build on momentum generated in Seattle, Washington last December when a massive mobilization disrupted a ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization.
They are now taking aim at the World Bank and the IMF, whose policies and projects they charge have impoverished and exploited millions of people in developing countries and have devastated the environment.
"The record of the IMF and the World Bank is one of unmitigated failure," said Njoki Njoroge Njehu, director of the 50 Years Is Enough Network, one of the main sponsors of the demonstrations.
"Their harsh austerity programs and failed megaprojects have disqualified them from any future role in development. It is time to shrink these institutions."
The two lending bodies have been "complicit" with multinational corporations in promoting profit-driven projects at the expense of workers' rights and environmental safeguards, according to the coalition.
Pressed by the Fund and the Bank to institute economic reform, poor countries have been forced to slash spending on education and health care, it said in a statement.
Stung by criticism of their handling of the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, where the IMF in particular was faulted for having advocated higher interest rates to stabilize currencies, the Bank and the Fund have lately stressed the importance of poverty reduction and social spending in their programs.
In a study released here Tuesday, the Bank said its lending of three billion dollars to community-based development around the world has attracted an additional five billion dollars from donor governments and other agencies.
As a result, it added, more than 60 countries have established social development projects that have improved schools and health services and upgraded water supplies and local roads.
IMF officials have answered their critics by pointing to a turnaround in the economies of once-struggling Asian nations, insisting that restoring stability demanded harsh -- but ultimately effective -- measures.
But activists with Mobilization for Global Justice see the Bank and the Fund as underpinning a corporate-driven campaign for economic globalization.
"They say keep your country open," noted Kevin Danaher, an author with the group Global Exchange.
"Open to what? Open means open to the penetration of big transnational corporations that are interested in one thing and one thing only -- profit maximization. So they'll cut down the trees, over-fish your waters and rip out your minerals and leave poverty and environmental devastation behind."
-----
Washington, DC, still being done over by bankers,
03.14.00 --
Mike Flugennock, flugennock@sinkers.org
http://www.sinkers.org/a16/kickoff
http://www.sinkers.org
Apropos to the occasion, the A16 kickoff press conference was held in the Peter Zenger Room of the National Press Building. Not even that courageous champion of liberty, however, could've foreseen the overflow crowd of press -- including, interestingly enough, a number of reporters from outlets such as Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal -- that gathered to hear important and inspiring messages from Njoki Njoroge Njehu and Kevin Danaher, and to hear MGJ organizer Nadine Bloch all but crush reporters' obsession with violence with the most shit-kickin' rendition of the Riot Act this reporter has ever heard:
"...and just to be pretty clear...these questions about violence, I think, are coming out of the reports on Seattle, that there was violence in Seattle. I'd like to make it perfectly clear that there was no violence in Seattle save the violence done by police to people and protesters in the street." --Nadine Bloch, Washington Action Group & Mobilization for Global Justice
"Here in Washington, DC, as in Seattle, in the Direct Action Network, we have nonviolence guidelines which include a guideline of no property destruction.... And, we want to focus on the issues of structural violence against people by the World Bank, the International rather than get mired down in discussions about tactics, because we know that everybody who's going to be out on the street is going to be there because they're motivated by the same great feeling of anger and frustration about the ability to set their future direction in this world and stand up for environmental rights and human dignity." --Nadine Bloch, Washington Action Group & Mobilization for Global Justice
A video digest of this event is also available in RealVideo at http://flow.mediavac.com/ramgen/sinkers/2000/npcMar1400.rm "...you were caught with your hands in the till but you still got to swallow your pill as you slip and you slide down the hill on the blood of the people you killed!" --John Lennon.
----------- india
Albright Lectures India, Pakistan
MARCH 14, 15:12 EST
By BARRY SCHWEID AP Diplomatic Writer
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=ASIA&STORYID=APIS7379QAG0 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-US-India-Pakistan.html
WASHINGTON (AP) - In a tough speech, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told India it should curb its development of nuclear weapons and missiles and its exports of military technology if it wants to improve relations with the United States.
Speaking four days before President Clinton's departure for South Asia, Albright said ``significant progress in this area is necessary before India and the United States can realize fully the vast potential of our relationship.''
Turning to Pakistan, where Clinton is making an abbreviated stop, Albright insisted that Gen. Pervez Musharraf - who seized control of the country in a coup last October - must restore democracy, giving the Pakistani people ``the ability to choose their leaders sooner rather than later.''
Albright said Clinton was going to Pakistan because the United States has important and urgent interest there, especially controlling the spread of dangerous weapons technology.
``I want to leave no room for doubt,'' she told the Asia Society on Tuesday. ``In no way is this a decision to embrace the military coup or government led by Gen. Musharraf. And no one should interpret it as such.''
Clinton is to leave Saturday for the first presidential trip to South Asia since 1978, the longest ever and the first by an American president to Bangladesh, his first stop.
Albright stressed the America's good relations with India and, by contrast, U.S. displeasure with Musharraf's coup.
But she said India's nuclear tests in 1998 ``were a historic mistake.''
While India has the right to decide how to take care of its own security, Albright said, ``We do regard proliferation - anywhere - as our number one security concern.''
The problem has not been resolved despite talks between senior U.S. and Indian officials, she said.
``We will continue to discuss how to pursue security requirements without contributing to a costly and destabilizing arms race,'' she said.
India's already effective system to control exports of military technology should be strengthened, she said.
In contrast to Clinton's brief stop in Pakistan at the end of the trip, he intends to spend five days in India, where he'll visit five cities and several historic sites.
Recalling strains in U.S.-India relations during the Cold War, Albright said, ``This mindset of mutual distrust is beginning to change.''
``For all our imperfections, the United States and India are the world's most visible messengers of the truth that secular, pluralist democracy can work, it does work,'' she said.
Albright will join Clinton in India after attending a two-day conference on Europe in Venice, Italy, next weekend sponsored by the Aspen Institute, a private group. While in Italy, she will meet with Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini.
From India, Albright will fly separately to Geneva on March 23 for a U.N. human rights conference.
----------- iran
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
March 14, 2000
http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/I2R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/2000/3/15/6.text.1
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT
Today I have signed into law H.R. 1883, the "Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000."
I fully share the Congress's objective of promoting nonproliferation and combating Iran's efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and missile delivery systems. This issue remains at the top of the agenda with Russia as well as with other countries whose companies may be providing such assistance to Iran. In the case of Russian entities' cooperation with Iran, we have imposed penalties ten times in the past and stand ready to apply them again whenever necessary.
The expansive reporting requirements in this bill in many ways duplicate existing laws, and my Administration will work with the Congress to rationalize these overlapping reporting requirements. We will also seek to rationalize the reporting requirements relating to certain transfers in instances where those transfers are legal under the applicable foreign laws and consistent with the guidelines of the applicable multilateral export control regime.
This bill, as amended, is less problematic than the earlier version that passed the House and will not harm our efforts to halt international cooperation with Iran's WMD and missile programs. Therefore, I have signed H.R. 1883.
I want to make it clear that Russia continues to be a valued partner in the International Space Station (ISS). H.R. 1833 requires certain determinations for purchases from Russia related to the ISS, but does not affect Russia's important role as an ISS partner. My Administration will also continue to work closely with the General Director of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency in his role as Special Representative on nonproliferation.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
THE WHITE HOUSE, March 14, 2000.
----------- iraq
U.N. Chief Faults U.S., Britain for Iraqi Supply Delays
By Colum Lynch Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, March 14, 2000; Page A14
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-03/14/058l-031400-idx.html
UNITED NATIONS, March 13-In the draft of a report to be delivered to the U.N. Security Council this week, Secretary General Kofi Annan chides the United States and Britain for holding up more than $1.5 billion of humanitarian supplies for Iraq and calls for doubling the amount of money that Iraq is allowed to spend on its oil industry.
The U.N.'s effort to ease the suffering of Iraq's 20 million people "has suffered considerably" as result of "holds" placed by the United States and Britain on numerous contracts in the oil-for-food program, which allows Iraq to sell oil and use the proceeds to buy humanitarian supplies under strict U.N. supervision, Annan wrote.
The secretary general's 64-page assessment of Iraq's humanitarian needs also renews his previous request for the Security Council to allow Iraq to double the $300 million it spends every six months on repairs and spare parts in its oil sector, which he said would ensure that oil keeps flowing and providing revenue for food, medicine and the like.
"I am very much concerned with the deteriorating condition of the oil industry of Iraq," wrote Annan, who sent a team of experts in January to inspect Baghdad's petroleum fields, pipelines and refineries. The team concluded that "the ability of the Iraqi oil industry to sustain current reduced production levels will be seriously compromised unless effective action is taken immediately," according to Annan's report.
While the report directs its strongest criticism at the Security Council, where the United States frequently exercises its veto power, Annan also faulted President Saddam Hussein's government for spending too little of the money from oil sales on food for the population. He appealed to Baghdad to increase its daily food rations, improve the delivery of drugs for chronic illnesses, and establish supplementary feeding programs for those at high risk.
Since the oil-for-food deal was negotiated in 1996, the Security Council has approved $9.3 billion worth of humanitarian purchases by Iraq. All of those contracts are exemptions to the international trade sanctions imposed on Iraq after its troops invaded Kuwait in 1990, sparking the Persian Gulf War.
Annan's report comes less than a month after two senior U.N. humanitarian officials based in Baghdad resigned in protest over the devastating impact of the sanctions on ordinary Iraqis. It adds to the mounting pressure on the United States from some of its closest allies, including Britain and France, to demonstrate greater flexibility in approving contracts.
The Clinton administration recently began an internal review of its policy in an effort to accelerate the approval of equipment that is used for legitimate purposes. But U.S. officials say their goal has been to block items with potential military use, particularly in the development of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. They charged that Saddam Hussein has spent the earnings from smuggled oil on palaces, liquor and luxuries for himself and his cronies.
"About 85 to 90 percent of contracts get approved by the sanctions committee," a U.S. official said. "The only things that don't get through are the things that the Iraqis can use to make weapons."
Annan reported that Iraq's oil, electricity, sanitation, transport and telecommunications sectors have been most severely harmed by the Security Council's foot-dragging. But he added that the council's sluggish approval of "dual use" contracts for forklifts, harbor dredges and other equipment required to repair Iraqi port facilities has hampered the U.N.'s ability to deliver food.
"Poor port conditions continue to contribute to a slow and inefficient offloading of necessary food basket items," he said. "Outdated damaged equipment such as forklifts continues to jeopardize the safety and well-being of port personnel."
----- israel
BARAK WANTS CLINTON TO RENEW U.S. "NUCLEAR PLEDGE"
By Aluf Benn Ha'aretz Diplomatic Correspondent
Ha'aretz,
March 14, 2000
From: Rayna Moss - legalese@netvision.net.il
Prime Minister Ehud Barak wants United States President Bill Clinton to renew his "nuclear pledge" when the strategic relationship with Israel is reviewed after the signing of a peace agreement with Syria.
Clinton promised to preserve Israel's strategic deterrance capabilities, and to ensure that any U.S. initiative to limit arms would be coordinated with Israel so as not to infringe on its deterrance capabilities. Israeli sources say these promises were part of a letter sent by Clinton to then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Under a plan formulated by the prime minister's bureau, Clinton will sign a similar letter addressed to Barak rather than Netanyahu.
The Clinton-Netanyahu letter is defined as an appendix to the strategic agreement signed between the two, shortly after the finalization of the Wye Memorandum with the Palestinian Authority.
The letter reaffirms the U.S. commitment to the 1969 agreement between it and Israel whereby the United States promises to avoid putting pressure on Israel in the nuclear area, so long as Israel promises to continue with its ambiguous nuclear facade and not declare that it is a nuclear power.
The Netanyahu government was perturbed by perceived attempts by the Americans to force Israel into joining the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT), an international agreement, still in the stages of formulation.
This seeks to ban the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, such as plutonium, with an international team of supervisors enforcing it. Netanyahu had made it clear to Clinton that Israel would not sign such an agreement since it presents a serious threat to national security.
The FMCT fell to the sidelines somewhat following last year's elections. A member of the State Department, Robert Eidenhorn, recently tried to broach the subject at a meeting of the joint-strategic committee, but met with the absolute refusal of the head of the Israeli delegation, David Ivri, to discuss it.
- end first article -
A PRESIDENT'S PROMISE: ISRAEL CAN KEEP ITS NUKES
Ha'aretz,
Tuesday, March 14, 2000
Open Secrets By Aluf Benn
In an appendix to the Wye agreement, President Clinton promised in writing that Israel's nuclear capabilities would be preserved if it continues its policy of 'ambiguity'
The safe of Zvi Stauber, the prime minister's foreign policy adviser, contains a small strategic treasure inherited from the office's former occupants: a letter from Bill Clinton to Benjamin Netanyahu promising that the United States will preserve Israel's strategic deterrence capabilities and ensure that Middle East arms control initiatives will not damage it in the future.The Clinton letter provides written - if secret - backup to the long-standing agreement between Jerusalem and Washington over the preservation of Israel's nuclear capabilities if Israel maintains its policy of "ambiguity" and does not announce publicly that it has the bomb. The letter was an appendix to the memo of strategic understanding that the then-prime minister and Clinton signed after the Wye River Memorandum. Clinton agreed to sign it only a few months after America's global nuclear policy was shattered by the shock waves of nuclear tests in India and Pakistan.
It was Uzi Arad, Netanyahu's foreign policy adviser, who initiated the letter. At the Wye conference in the fall of 1998, he and Israel's ambassador to Washington, Zalman Shoval, hammered out the document with American officials Martin Indyk and Bruce Reidel. This second, sensitive document reached the Prime Minister's Bureau a few weeks after the Wye agreement was signed, and Netanyahu sent Clinton a letter that Israeli sources say contained no obligations but only expressions of thanks.
Netanyahu saw Clinton's letter as one of his most important achievements, but is unwilling to discuss its contents. His successor, Ehud Barak, wants an updated strategic commitment from Clinton, to be included in the "relations upgrade" package if and when a peace treaty is signed with Syria. The plan is for Clinton to sign a new letter, with the exact same wording, but addressed to Barak rather than Netanyahu.
The American obligation will be tested next month at a meeting in New York of the signatories to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Israel stands by its refusal to sign the treaty, which would eliminate its nuclear strength, and Jerusalem is readying for a diplomatic onslaught from Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, the sworn enemy of the Dimona nuclear reactor and its products.
The Egyptians are proposing a concluding statement that calls on Israel to sign the treaty and that establishes a nuclear disarmament monitoring committee for the Middle East. Both proposals worry Israel, which sought to exploit Egyptian President zqHosni Mubarak's visit to Washington next week in order to get the United States to use its powers of persuasion to soften Egypt's position and set "red lines" for its behavior at the conference. U.S. officials explained to Israel, however, that Clinton had already spoken with Mubarak.
Spring brings a thaw
Mubarak's journeys to Washington are traditionally a time for thawing relations with Israel. The photographs and the handshakes with Barak and Foreign Minister David Levy at Sharm el Sheikh and Moussa's relatively moderate speech at the meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Beirut fit this annual ritual perfectly. Israeli officials are more interested in the other side of the visit, which is intended to further bolster Egypt's military might.
The Egyptian chief of staff visited the United States recently, and Mubarak will raise his request for the prepayment of his country's military aid, which comes to an addition of tens of millions of dollars per year to its purchasing budget - a favor that only Israel has enjoyed in the past. The Americans, however, are unwilling to listen to Israeli warnings of the threat posed by Egypt's growing strength. To them, Egypt is a friendly country and strengthening it will only contribute to the desired stability in the region.
U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk continues to sing the glories of the defense pact. At a meeting last week with an American Jewish Committee delegation, Indyk spoke of the advantages for Israel of a defense pact, such as the one between the United States and NATO countries, as well as the ones between the U.S. and Japan and South Korea; Indyk also spoke of the rare opportunity afforded for peace with Syria. But Israel has already informed the United States that it does not want a defense pact. Rather, it seeks a slightly less binding strategic agreement consisting mainly of American promises to continue aid and to preserve the qualitative superiority of the Israel Defense Forces.
Clinton proposed the pact to Netanyahu during their nighttime meeting in early 1998, shortly before the Monica Lewinsky affair broke. In between breaks for tense talks with his advisers, the president asked Netanyahu whether he thought a defense pact would help the peace process. The former prime minister answered that he saw a problem with such a binding agreement, which would limit the IDF's freedom to initiate and respond, and promised to consider the proposal. Some of Netanyahu's advisers supported the idea, including Uzi Arad, who suggested that Israel should enjoy a status similar to that of Great Britain's strategic intimacy with Washington. But the idea was never explored fully during Netanyahu's term.
Shoring up the agreement Israel's political-defense establishment has been focused in recent weeks on preparing to make Barak's dream of peace with Syria come true. Four teams were charged with creating the foundation of the agreement - strengthening relations with America. The director-general of the Foreign Ministry, Eytan Bentsur, charged the deputy director-general for North America, Yoram Ben-Ze'ev, with the task of preparing an informational file and recruiting support for underwriting the enormous aid package that Israel is requesting in exchange for withdrawing from the Golan Heights. Defense Ministry Director-General Amos Yaron is putting together the $17 billion package. Political adviser Zvi Stauber heads the team working on upgrading relations and framing the new strategic agreement.
The director of Military Intelligence, Major General Amos Malcha, is talking with the Americans about freedom of access to advanced intelligence-gathering systems that would free Israel of its dependence on the Mount Hermon early-warning station. Malcha, a member of the "Syrian lobby" in the Israeli elite, was sent to the United States before Barak's first visit in July 1999 to speak about the Syrians' interest in peace. Last week he was in Washington again, this time to talk about the early warning systems. Officials in Jerusalem believe that this time there is a chance of getting the photographs from the American spy satellites in real time.
In their talks at the Pentagon, Defense Ministry director-general Amos Yaron and his deputy, Yekutiel Mor, presented their aid request. A few questions, mainly related to accounting, were raised by the Americans and are still on the table. The main sticking point for the Americans is the request for hundreds of Tomahawk cruise missiles that would enable the IDF to reach sites within Iraq and Iran with great accuracy.
We have a problem with that, the Pentagon officials told their Israeli colleagues; we are signatories to a pile of arms control treaties with Russia and members of international missile nonproliferation agreements. How can we give you Tomahawks while we are preaching the opposite to the whole world? What do you need such weapons for, anyway?
The Israelis responded that after the Tomahawk's persuasive performance in Baghdad and Belgrade, where the United States used them to punish the Iraqis and Serbs, the cruise missile has a considerable deterrent value. In an era of peace, Israel will face distant enemies, without a common border, and it will find it hard to respond to an Iranian or Iraqi missile launch with an attack by aircraft - which would entail penetrating the airspace of neighboring countries and violating peace treaties with them. The long-range missile also requires much less infrastructure and preparation than aircraft, and provides the political echelon with a long operational arm without endangering pilots. For all these reasons, Israel sees the Tomahawk as a central tool in its defense policy after peace is reached with Syria.
American officials denied yesterday a report in Defense News that the administration has already refused to give Tomahawks to Israel. The final decision will come in due time, between Clinton and Barak, and Israel will probably agree to certain restrictions or to American supervision of the cruise missiles, as long as it can take possession of them.
Six weeks to go Officials in the Prime Minister's Bureau look at the calendar and see that time is running out before May, when a decision must be made - an agreement with Syria or maintaining the state of war for years to come. The prime minister spoke at this week's Cabinet meeting about six weeks of waiting. The updated assessment of the situation explains that the schedule was cut back due to the outcome of the primaries in the United States, which shortened by one month the internal campaign and the outgoing president's political life. Congress is already looking at Clinton's potential successors, George W. Bush and Al Gore.
The pressure is causing the pace to pick up for the fifth team set up by Barak, which is preparing for the referendum. It unequivocally recommended a "double referendum," for the simultaneous approval of peace with Syria and the final status arrangement with the Palestinians. Internal polls have shown that voting in favor of the government would increase significantly if the Palestinian question were included in the Golan referendum. According to a source close to Barak, the polls show between 62 and 63 percent support for a double referendum, compared to 56 percent support for a referendum on the Syrian agreement only. The explanation for the jump in support is that the public would prefer an end to wars in one fell swoop over continued foot-dragging on the fragmentary peace process. But first of all, Barak is still waiting for a green light from Syrian President Hafez Assad.
- end second article -
------
Headlines US Administration Allows US company to Sell High-Performance Computers to Elta to Improve Radar Systems for China
Israel's Business Arena
Tuesday , Mar 14, 2000 Sun-Thu at 18:00 (GMT+2)
By Ran Dagoni, Washington
http://www.globes.co.il/cgi-bin/Serve_Archive_Arena/pages/English/1.2.1.10/20000313/1
Despite expressed US opposition to sale of Elta radar systems to China, the Clinton administration has allowed Sun Microsystems to sell two high performance computers to Elta. The supercomputers will aid Elta to outfit Chinese aircraft with its radar systems more cheaply, faster, and better. This was written by Gary Milhollin of the Wisconsin Project for nuclear weapons inspection in an article published yesterday in "The Washington Post".
The Wisconsin Project is an institution dealing in the battle against the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Milhollin, considered one of the leading US experts in this field, reports on Israeli efforts to obtains high-performance computers and various weapons systems, including systems he claims to be non-conventional. He was the first to reveal in 1995 that the US had employed sanctions against Nahum Manbar's companies (although he did not use his name), in retaliation for distributing chemical weapons.
Milhollin wrote, "Israel has begun to outfit Chinese planes with a powerful new radar, one reportedly able to see targets and help direct air battles as far as 250 miles away. The Clinton administration has been trying to stop this deal, but it is facing a formidable barrier: its own desire to promote US exports.
"This means that is the US ever has to defend Taiwan, US pilots could be targeted by radar built with US equipment.
Israeli ambassador to the US David Ivri told "Globes" at the beginning of the month that sale of Israeli weapons to China is not necessarily opposed to US interests.
Milhollin notes that sale of the computers to Elta is nothing but, "a drop in the ocean of computers that the administration is allowing to be exported". President Clinton's decision of January 23 to ease restrictions on high-performance computer exports to countries with nuclear capability, or countries suspected of having such capability, will allow US companies to export high-performance computers for missile development plans or nuclear weapons in countries like Russia, China, and India.
The writer claims that the Weizmann Institute, which "researches high-energy physics and was the birthplace of Israel's nuclear weapons effort", China's Harbin Institute of Technology makes rocket casings and other components for China's long range nuclear missiles, and the Nanjing Public Security Bureau, responsible for tracking political dissidents, will henceforth be able to purchase high-performance computers from Digital Equipment Corp. of the Compaq Computer group.
According to Milhollin, the Weizmann Institute and the two Chinese bodies are seeking to acquire computers capable of executing from 2 billion to 6.5 billion operations per second. Until January 23, Digital was required to request permission from the US administration to sell the equipment to Israel and China. According to the relaxed regulations, Digital can sell the computers to the Weizmann Institute and to Chinese bodies without notifying the administration.
The new regulations allow Sun Microsystems to export not only the two computers to Elta, but a high-performance computer to Rafael, "which played a major role in developing Israel's largest nuclear-tipped missile", Milhollin writes. Until regulations were relaxed, Sun Microsystems had not received permission to sell the computer to Rafael.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on March 13, 2000
---
Barak Names New Secret Service Head
New York Times
March 14, 2000
Filed at 4:12 p.m. EST By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Israel-Secret-Service.html
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Prime Minister Ehud Barak announced Tuesday that the new chief of Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency will be a man who served in the elite army commando unit Barak once headed.
Avraham Deichter, 47, served in the Sayeret Matkal commandos and in several key positions in the Shin Bet, Barak's office said in a statement. Barak headed Sayeret Matkal in the 1970s.
Deichter will continue serving as deputy chief of the Shin Bet until the current head of the Shin Bet, Ami Ayalon, steps down at the end of his four-year term. Israel television said Deichter would take the position in May.
Deichter's main challenge will be fighting terror. Several militant Islamic groups have sworn to torpedo the peace process.
Ayalon was named to head the Shin Bet in 1996 in the aftermath of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by an ultranationalist Jew, one of the service's worst blunders.
He came under fire initially for failing to prevent suicide bombings that killed scores of Israelis and effectively froze the process.
However, in recent years, Ayalon has been praised for the agency's role in stopping major attacks. He has also cultivated a successful working relationship with the Palestinian security services.
--------
U.S. Air Force, Israel Team Up
MARCH 14, 16:43 EST
By MARK LAVIE
Associated Press Writer
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=NATIONAL&STORYID=APIS737B54G0 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Israel-Arrow-Missile.html
PALMACHIM AIR FORCE BASE, Israel (AP) - Six khaki-colored Arrow missile tubes rose skyward Tuesday, part of a pricey American-Israeli project to shoot enemy missiles out of the stratosphere.
The Arrow, designed to intercept missiles at high altitude and far away from their targets, will cost more than $2 billion during its 10-year life span. More than half the funding is coming from the United States, according to U.S. officials.
Additional training and practice is needed before the system can be declared operational, although, if missiles were suddenly fired at Israel, ``we could improvise operations within a few days,'' said air force commander Maj. Gen. Eitan Ben-Eliahu, who took delivery of the first Arrow battery from its manufacturers in a ceremony at this seaside base.
Three Arrow batteries are needed to protect Israel's skies, said Ben-Eliahu. Production of the second battery is underway and approval has been given for the third one, he said.
Though the system has suffered some setbacks in testing, it is capable of countering threats against Israel, including Iran's top missile, the Shihab-3.
He said the system would be constantly upgraded as foes improve the relatively simple weapons like the unguided Scud now deployed against Israel.
The Arrow project dates back to 1988, three years before Iraq demonstrated the need for it by pounding Israel with 39 Scud missiles during the 1991 Gulf War. The U.S. rushed upgraded Patriot anti-aircraft missiles to Israel to try to bring down the Scuds, with limited success.
The Arrow was part of former President Reagan's ``Star Wars'' missile defense project. Most of the space-based system was never built.
Speaking at Tuesday's ceremony, U.S. Ambassador Martin Indyk said Israel's experiments with the Arrow will benefit similar United States theater missile defense systems now in development.
``The people of Israel will be able to sleep easier at night,'' he said.
In a khaki-colored trailer, a line of computer terminals showed detailed maps of the Middle East, including Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Incoming missiles would show up on the computer display along with the Arrow missiles heading out to meet them.
Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said the upgrade in Israel's defenses provided by the Arrow system is a part of Israel's technological edge that ``allows us to go to any peace negotiation table from (a position of) strength.''
On the Web:
Official Israeli military website: http://www.idf.il/
---
Israel's ticking time bomb
Frank J. Gaffney Jr
March 14, 2000
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/commentary-2000314212158.htm
Even by Mideast standards, last weekend's announcement by the Arab League that Israel risked war if it withdrew unilaterally from Lebanon was extraordinary. The Arab foreign ministers served notice that the Jewish State had to first address what they called a "time bomb": as many as 360,000 Palestinians who have lived for years in squalid refugee camps on Lebanese territory and who demand the right to return to live in what they call "Palestine" - an area that on their maps includes all of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Israel within the "green lines" (that is, territory it controlled prior to the Six-Day War in 1967.)
This being the Middle East, things are rarely what they seem. The Arab ministers were moved to issue their threats not solely, or even primarily, by sympathy for the Palestinians. After all, many of the participating nations have unnecessarily compounded and politically exploited these refugee's plight by confining them to just such camps elsewhere in the region and by refusing to assimilate a generally talented and hard-working people into their own societies.
Rather, the Arab League acted at the behest of Hafez Assad of Syria, a ruthless dictator who appears no more willing to allow Israel to live in peace today than at any other point in his murderous, decades-long reign. Mr. Assad, who has been as hostile to the Palestinians as any Arab leader, appreciates that if Israel ends its widely denounced occupation of a 9-mile-wide strip of Lebanon, his own, despotic occupation of the rest of Lebanon may become politically untenable.
The Israelis are in an unenviable position. They have, for the first time in their history, effectively conceded military defeat by an Arab army - albeit the rag-tag irregular one of Hezbollah, the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Islamic extremist group that insists on driving the Jews not only out of Lebanon but out of the rest of greater "Palestine" as well, and "into the sea." As a result, Israel's northern border will remain exposed, and surely subject, to continuing attack.
The relatively "low intensity" bloodletting served up by Hezbollah is likely to pale by comparison with the danger that would ensue should Israel accede to Arab demands to grant the "right of return" - presumably not only to Lebanon's Palestinians but to as many as 2 million refugees scattered around the world since 1948. Indeed, even before any new influx of Arabs into Israel occurs, the Jewish State is increasingly facing a "time bomb" of its own - an armed and dangerous Palestinian nation emerging in its midst and the prospect of a fifth column formed from Arab citizens of Israel. Here are a few of the ominous storm clouds gathering on the horizon:
• Last week, Israel's Supreme Court issued a ruling that calls into question the longstanding policy of locating Jewish communities in areas for strategic purposes. The decision was a defeat for the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency, established during the period of Britain's Mandate Palestine to promote Jewish immigration and settlement there. The New York Times reported on March 9 that, the agency's chairman, Salai Meridor, said "The main issue is not equality [between Israel's Jewish and Arab citizens.] We're all for equality. The question is how we ensure equality while also making sure that areas with a massive Arab majority near the territory of an emerging Palestinian entity will remain part of the state of Israel. Along with equality, Israel must safeguard its national and security interests."
• That these interests are at risk was underscored by a news item published a few days later in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz. On March 13, the paper revealed that Yasser Arafat's "Palestinian Authority [PA] has been implementing a policy of 'strategic construction' inside East Jerusalem and on the outskirts of the city, building thousands of new apartments there since 1997 although a substantial portion of the buildings remain vacant. Sources at the PA say that, during the final status negotiations, the Palestinians will demand the return of more than 100,000 refugees, some of whom will settle in the buildings currently being constructed in East Jerusalem. . . . Israeli intelligence agents . . . suggested that the Palestinian construction aims to cut through and isolate Jewish settlements around the city."
• On Feb. 2, an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset used his position to force a public, if brief and uninformative, discussion of one of the most delicate of Israel's national security matters: the Jewish State's suspected but unacknowledged nuclear arsenal. As Gerald Steinberg put it in an opinion article in the Jerusalem Post of Feb. 18, "Issam Makhul [of the Arabs' Hadash Party] insisted on raising the subject, but did not demonstrate any understanding of or interest in the substance and dilemmas of the Israeli policy. His main purpose was clearly to needle the government on a very sensitive issue, in order to gain popularity and publicity in the Israeli Arab sector. For the past decade, the Egyptian government has led an obsessive crusade to strip Israel of its deterrence capabilities, and to use this issue in order to isolate Israel."
• Incredibly, the Clinton-Gore administration appears to be exacerbating the dangers Arabs within Israel might pose to the United States' most important ally in the Middle East. On Feb. 14, one of the Knesset's most influential leaders on national security matters, the Likud Party's Uzi Landau, wrote President Clinton a stern letter. It said, in part: "The following headline appeared in Yediot Aharonot, Israel's most widely read newspaper, on Feb. 11: 'U.S Embassy tries to mobilize Arab support in the referendum.' According to the article, senior U.S. Embassy officials have of late conducted a series of meetings with Israeli Arab leaders. The express aim of these meetings, according to the report, is to pressure Arab leaders to produce a large turnout among their constituency in the event that a referendum is held regarding the future of the Golan Heights, as the Arab vote could prove decisive. In addition, the report states that the U.S. diplomats promised to arrange financial assistance to back information campaigns that will be undertaken by Israeli Arab groups for this purpose. In response, the U.S. Embassy spokesman did not deny this information.
Mr. Landau correctly concluded, "If the information in the article is accurate, this would constitute an unprecedented and intolerable act of gross interference in Israel's internal affairs. I cannot emphasize enough the severity of this act, which demonstrates blatant disregard for the most elementary norms of accepted international behavior between states and nations." It is unknown at this writing what, if any, response the Knesset's former Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman has received.
The converging demographic (the Arabs have a far higher birthrate than Israel's Jews), strategic and political trends constitute a true "time bomb" for Israel. Starting with the round of negotiations that will get under way in Washington this week, President Clinton must make clear to Mr. Arafat, Mr. Assad and other Arabs that the United States opposes measures that will jeopardize the security and integrity of the Jewish State. To do so, however, he must see to it that his administration is not actually a party to such measures.
Frank J. Gaffney Jr. is the president of the Center for Security Policy and a columnist for The Washington Times.
----------- japan
Japan town says no to nuclear waste facilities
JAPAN: March 14, 2000
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=5977&newsdate=14-Mar-2000
TOKYO - A small Japanese town passed a resolution yesterday banning the construction of nuclear waste storage facilities there, the latest sign of growing grass-roots opposition to nuclear power after a string of accidents.
The town council of Yaku in Kagoshima prefecture, 980 km (610 miles) southwest of Tokyo, unanimously adopted a resolution opposing any plans to build a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel.
Although there are no official plans to build a plant in the area, a local power plant had been rumoured to be interested in doing so. In the first ever move of its kind, the council also planned to adopt later this month an ordinance barring the entry of radioactive materials into the town, Kyodo news agency said.
The council's move comes amid growing public criticism of Japan's nuclear energy policy following a series of accidents in recent years. The country saw its worst-ever nuclear accident last September when a mishap at a uranium processing plant killed one worker and exposed more than 100 people to radiation.
Nuclear energy covers about one-third of the resource-poor nation's electricity demand.
Trade Minister Takashi Fukaya said on Friday that the central government would begin a sweeping review of its energy policy, a move that is likely to lead to cuts in plans to build as many as 20 new nuclear reactors by 2010.
Fukaya said it might be difficult to achieve the current nuclear expansion target given changing circumstances facing the energy industry.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
----------- poland
Polish Navy Gets a U.S. Warship
MARCH 14, 02:05 EST
By SONJA BARISIC
Associated Press Writer
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=EUROPE&STORYID=APIS736U9E80
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - Instead of heading for scrap, the guided-missile frigate USS Clark will embark on a second career after being decommissioned as a U.S. Navy warship.
The Clark will be turned over to Poland in a ceremony Wednesday at the Norfolk Naval Station, the world's largest naval base. It is the first of two U.S. Navy ships to be transferred to Poland as part of a NATO upgrade.
Poland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization a year ago as one of its first new members since the Cold War ended.
The 20-year-old Clark's U.S. sailors have been working with a crew of Polish sailors, including two U.S. Naval Academy graduates, since early January to prepare for the transfer.
The Polish sailors adjusted quickly because U.S. and Polish navy customs are similar, said Cmdr. Marian Ambroziak, the Clark's Polish commanding officer.
The ``ship is really big, new for us, but generally, navy is navy,'' Ambroziak said in an interview on the ship's bridge.
The Clark made two cruises to the Mediterranean before joining the U.S. naval reserve force in 1985 and fighting illegal drug trading in the Caribbean. Last year, the ship did a recruiting cruise in the Great Lakes, stopping at towns that seldom see Navy ships.
The Polish sailors first attended U.S. naval training centers around the country to learn how to run the ship, then moved on board for hands-on training. The American and Polish sailors sailed together three times.
At 445 feet long, the Clark will be the second-largest ship in the Polish navy, Ambroziak said. The Polish navy mostly is a Baltic fleet, but as a NATO member, Poland needs some bigger ships that can handle operations in the Atlantic.
Ambroziak said about half his crew speaks at least some English, so communication wasn't a big problem. Translators were available, and sailors used computer software to translate English into Polish.
This is only the second time the United States has given a ship to Poland, which received a U.S. submarine during World War II, Ambroziak said.
The Clark's American crew is proud the ship will live on to serve NATO, said the present commanding officer, Cmdr. Albert F. Lord Jr.
``She's kind of like a late-model car with not a whole lot of miles on it,'' Lord said. ``The Poles are getting a good ship.''
---
On the Net:
USS Clark site http://www.spear.navy.mil/ships/ffg11/
----------- russia
Putin Book Details His KGB Past
President Confirms Duties Included Spying on NATO
By David Hoffman
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, March 14, 2000; Page A14
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-03/14/061l-031400-idx.html
MOSCOW, March 13-Acting Russian President Vladimir Putin disclosed in a book-length interview published today that his main assignment as a Soviet KGB agent in East Germany during the late 1980s was spying on NATO.
Putin, the overwhelming favorite to succeed Boris Yeltsin as president in the March 26 elections, has kept his KGB past well hidden. But in interviews with two Russian journalists, he described for the first time in some detail his duties and impressions as an agent in East Germany from 1985 to 1990 at the end of the Cold War.
"We were interested in any information about the main enemy, as we said at that time, and the main enemy was considered to be NATO," he said, describing his interests as "political intelligence, getting information on political leaders and about the plans of the potential enemy." He said he had not been involved in such "technical intelligence" as trying to obtain documents about weapons.
Putin said he was engaged in "ordinary intelligence activity, getting information, processing it, sending it to the Center," or headquarters in Moscow.
"Of course, in order to get such information we needed sources," Putin said. "That is why we were working at recruiting people--sources, and getting information, processing and analyzing."
Much curiosity has been aroused in the West and inside Russia about Putin, who was plucked out of obscurity last year and named prime minister, then appointed acting president when Yeltsin abruptly resigned on Dec. 31. In the new book, "In the First Person," Putin fills in some missing pieces about his life and views. The book is made up of six lengthy interviews that took place over 24 hours with journalists Natalya Gevorkian and Andrei Kolesnikov.
Putin confirmed that he worked closely with the East German secret police, the Stasi, in recruiting agents to spy in the West, and he said he was using East German citizens "registered" with the Stasi to help carry out the missions.
Putin, who has often defended the KGB, also defended the Stasi, the notorious tool of the East German dictatorship headed by Erich Honecker. "There may have been [Stasi] officials who were engaged in repressions," he said, "but I didn't see it."
Putin said he made friends with many Stasi agents and kept in touch with them after he returned to the Soviet Union. He claimed, however, that the KGB destroyed its network of agents after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, burning so many papers that "the stove burst."
The book's publication stirred controversy today. Russian law prohibits the publication of anything that could be construed as campaign advertising before an election unless it is paid for by the candidate. The publisher, Vagrius, said it hoped to sell the book, but to comply with the law, the first 50,000 were issued at the expense of Putin's campaign fund.
--------
Dutch, Russians Sign Arms Pact
Tuesday March 14 11:23 AM ET
http://rd.yahoo.com/addtomy/*http://edit.yahoo.com/config/set_news?.add=aprw
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia and the Netherlands signed an agreement on nuclear disarmament Tuesday as the Dutch foreign minister held a series of talks with top officials on cooperation in various areas.
Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Jozias van Aartsen met with Nuclear Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov to sign the agreement on dismantling old nuclear warheads and nuclear submarines, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Van Aartsen also met with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. During talks, van Aartsen said Russia must reform its tangled tax code and ensure the rule of law if it wants to boost trade and economic cooperation.
Ivanov said he was happy with the way that Russian-Dutch ties were developing. Acting President Vladimir Putin was unable to attend the talks but said he wanted to expand ties further, the Interfax news agency said.
Van Aartsen was scheduled to leave Wednesday for St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, and return to the Netherlands later that day.
-------
Yahoo News
03/14/00
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news?p=nuclear&c=news_photos
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, left, welcomes his Dutch counterpart Jozias van Aartsen during their meeting in Moscow Tuesday, March 14, 2000. Russia and the Netherlands on Tuesday signed an agreement under which the Dutch government will provide funds to help Russia's dismantling of old nuclear warheads and nuclear submarines. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) - Mar 14 10:55 AM ET
---
Law Limits Space Station Funds
March 14, 2000
By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-US-Iran.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Clinton signed a bill Tuesday that would stop putting American money into the International Space Station if Russian firms are found to have helped Iran develop nuclear weapons.
Russia remains, he said, a ``valued partner'' in the space program.
Clinton said he signed the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 because it was ``less problematic'' than an earlier version that he felt would harm global efforts to block Iran's nuclear weapons programs. In 1998, he vetoed a stronger sanctions bill.
``I want to make it clear that Russia continues to be a valued partner in the International Space Station,'' Clinton said.
The legislation bars ``extraordinary payments'' to Russia's space agency for the space station unless the United States confirms that Russia has not transferred missile technology or nuclear, chemical or biological weapons to Iran during the previous year. The Clinton administration had proposed paying $650 million beyond the original amount pledged for Russia's space station.
The bill also demands biannual reports to Congress identifying those who transfer to Iran ``goods, services or technology'' for nuclear weapons and gave the president the authority to deny export licenses, government procurement and foreign assistance to those entities.
``This issue remains at the top of the agenda with Russia as well as with other countries whose companies may be providing such assistance to Iran,'' Clinton said.
He said the United States has taken administrative action against 10 Russian companies for transferring weapons materiel and technology to Iran ``and stand ready to apply them again whenever necessary.''
Although he signed the legislation, Clinton said it duplicates existing law in many ways. The administration will work with Congress to reconcile the duplications, he said.
The president signed the nonproliferation bill a day after he extended punitive sanctions against Iran for another year.
In a letter to Congress, Clinton said he extended the sanctions because Iran's support of terrorism, efforts to develop destructive weapons and attempts to undermine the Middle East peace process ``continue to threaten the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States.''
The administration, also trying to encourage reform in Iran, is said to be considering an easing of a U.S. ban on imports of carpets, caviar and pistachio nuts.
``Sanctions can be modified at any time,'' deputy State Department spokesman James Foley said Tuesday. ``We believe there are important changes in Iran, and we are considering ways to respond to those changes.''
An announcement is expected Friday, when a senior U.S. official, possibly Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, addresses a meeting in Washington sponsored by the American-Iranian Council, a private group based in Princeton, N.J.
At Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York, spokesman Hossein Nosrat said his government had heard from press reports that some sanctions would be lifted. ``We do not have any information on it,'' he said.
Similarly, Foley and other administration officials declined to confirm specifically the selective lifting of the ban on imports. He stressed that ``important changes are occurring in Iran, and we are considering ways to respond to those changes.''
The administration has offered a government-to-government dialogue with Iran, but the Islamic government has not responded.
-----------
Dutch, Russians Sign Arms Pact
MARCH 14, 11:23 EST
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=EUROPE&STORYID=APIS7376F100 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Russia-Netherlands.html
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia and the Netherlands signed an agreement on nuclear disarmament Tuesday as the Dutch foreign minister held a series of talks with top officials on cooperation in various areas.
Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Jozias van Aartsen met with Nuclear Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov to sign the agreement on dismantling old nuclear warheads and nuclear submarines, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Van Aartsen also met with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. During talks, van Aartsen said Russia must reform its tangled tax code and ensure the rule of law if it wants to boost trade and economic cooperation.
Ivanov said he was happy with the way that Russian-Dutch ties were developing. Acting President Vladimir Putin was unable to attend the talks but said he wanted to expand ties further, the Interfax news agency said.
Van Aartsen was scheduled to leave Wednesday for St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, and return to the Netherlands later that day.
----------- us nuc facilities
Hanford Plans to Begin Waste Removal
Salt Lake Tribune
Tuesday, March 14, 2000
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.sltrib.com/2000/mar/03142000/utah/33524.htm
RICHLAND, Wash. -- For the first time in nearly six decades of Cold-War nuclear weapons materials production and cleanup, Hanford nuclear reservation soon could begin shipping some of its radioactive wastes elsewhere.
In May, Hanford officials expect to begin sending plutonium-laced wastes -- called transuranics -- to a huge, manmade cavern in New Mexico.
Hanford's transuranic wastes include contaminated clothes, tools, paint cans, buckets, wires and sliced-up equipment of all sorts. Most of it has been stored in 55-gallon barrels, and some boxes, which have been buried in trenches.
The job is expected to last three decades. It will start at the rate of one or two truckloads a month.
"It's an incredibly complex program for throwing away garbage," said Mark French, the Department of Energy's transuranic waste program manager.
The term transuranic refers to radioactive elements, such as plutonium, that have a higher atomic weight than uranium. These elements are more radioactive and take much longer to decay than low-level radioactive wastes.
So far, French's program has kept a low profile, but that is about to change as Hanford joins other Energy Department sites in shipping transuranic wastes to the Waste Isolation Pilot Project -- or WIPP -- near Carlsbad, N.M.
Hanford is awaiting final approval from New Mexico to begin shipping its wastes.
Hanford now has about 38,000 barrels of transuranic wastes on site to ship to WIPP and expects eventually to send 80,000 drums when more transuranic wastes are dug up as cleanup proceeds.
Much of it can be moved by hand if workers wear appropriate protective gear and follow safety procedures. But some wastes are so radioactive that the material can be moved only with remote-controlled equipment, usually inside of shielded gloveboxes and other containers.
Another major problem is that most of the wastes are stored in steel barrels that corrode and deteriorate over time. Some may already be leaking.
The plan at Hanford and elsewhere is to dig up the barrels, check the contents, fix or replace the barrels -- and depending on the contents, either rebury them, store them in above-ground metal buildings or ship them to New Mexico.
WIPP is a federal compound about 30 miles southeast of Carlsbad in southern New Mexico. Beneath the surface, WIPP extends 2,150 feet deep into a manmade cavern of numerous chambers carved into the middle of a 2,000-foot-thick, moisture-free lay- er of Permian Age rock salt that is roughly 250 million years old.
The salt "does not like voids or cracks and openings. It's self-sealing. It creeps in (at a rate of 2 to 3 inches a year) and closes in naturally to fill in all the cracks and crevices," said Dennis Hurtt, Energy's WIPP spokesman.
After about 35 years, the Energy Department plans to seal up the entrances to the chambers, fill in the access tunnel and seal the shafts leading to the surface.
----------- us nuc politics
Few Satisfied With Nuclear Changes
March 14, 2000 Filed at 5:00 p.m. EST
By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Nuclear-Security.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Just two weeks after a new, semi-independent agency took over the government's nuclear weapons programs, congressional critics and federal officials say the move could damage efforts to improve safety and security.
Lawmakers and Energy Department officials said Tuesday they both feared the new National Nuclear Security Administration could only aggravate problems that it was created to correct -- primarily an unclear chain of command and a lack of accountability at the nuclear weapons program.
The new agency insulates program managers from Energy Department oversight, agency officials told a House Commerce subcommittee.
``This (NNSA) legislation was not ideal, in our opinion,'' Deputy Energy Secretary T.J. Glauthier told a House Commerce subcommittee. ``We want to make the best of what we have.''
Congress created the agency late last year in response to allegations that lax security at the Energy Department and nuclear weapons laboratories may led to the theft of nuclear secrets by China.
The controversy came to a head last year when Wen Ho Lee, a former scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, was fired after being investigated for possible espionage.
He was later indicted on charges he transferred top-secret computer files to portable data tapes. Although Lee had been named as a suspect in Chinese espionage, he has not been charged with giving secrets to China or any other foreign country.
Lee, a Taiwanese-born U.S. citizen, has pleaded innocent and sued the federal government over news leaks about his case.
The Energy Department resisted creating the semiautonomous agency and drew fire from critics by giving several of its security and safety managers the same jobs within the new agency.
Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., and several other Republicans said Tuesday that ``dual hatting'' violated the law creating the NNSA.
``The department appears to be violating the semi-autonomous intent of the law in order to comply with its implementation,'' said Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla. Stearns later asked Glauthier, ``You're not breaking the law, are you?''
``We believe this is well within the statute,'' Glauthier replied.
-----
Nuclear reaction
March 14, 2000
Inside the Beltway
John McCaslin
http://www.washtimes.com/national/inbeltway-2000314221925.htm
A memo distributed last week at one of the Energy Department's nuclear-weapon facilities suggests to some bureaucrats that Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, a vice presidential prospect, is eager to make amends with the Asian-American community in the wake of DOE's handling of the Wen Ho Lee case.
The former Los Alamos National Laboratory employee was indicted several months ago on 59 felony counts of illegally downloading more than 800,000 pages of top-secret computer codes.
Since his arrest, high-profile members of the Asian-American community have rallied behind the nuclear scientist, raising thousands of dollars for his defense while blasting his prosecutors.
"It seems that Asian Americans working for DOE have made known their feelings of hurt," says one source at Energy. "This is the third so-called stand-down, the first two being hastily called and ill-prepared stand-downs that were to be used to supposedly enhance the security consciousness of DOE laboratory personnel."
The memo from DOE headquarters doesn't mention Asian Americans by name, only that a two-part mandatory nationwide Diversity Stand-Down training program - featuring an appearance by Mr. Richardson - is scheduled for April 5.
Mr. Richardson will address bureaucrats through a variety of methods, according to the memo, including satellite downlink, PC-TV, teleconferencing and conference call.
"Each federal and contractor supervisor will be called upon to certify that all individuals in his/ her organization have received diversity training - including viewing the national program - by a certain date," the memo adds.
Gore sponsors
Who erected the oil derrick in front of Gore 2000 national campaign headquarters in Nashville? The Green Party of Tennessee, we're told, doing some exploratory drilling for scruples. Except the well came up dry.
Party members decry the influence of corporate money on public interests and want full public financing of federal elections. As for the derrick, it's to draw attention to Gore family ties to Occidental Petroleum and its late chairman, Armand Hammer.
Upon retiring from the Senate, the late Al Gore Sr. became a vice president of Occidental, a primary source of Gore family wealth. It's been estimated that Mr. Gore has received more than $300,000 in income from a land deal brokered years ago by his father and Mr. Hammer.
The vice president was behind a Clinton administration proposal to sell 47,000 acres of the federal Elk Hills, Calif., oil reserve, which also went to Occidental.
In January, police in Manchester, N.H., removed eight protesters from Mr. Gore's campaign headquarters, including several from Amazon Watch, who opposed Occidental's plans to drill in South America and turned to Mr. Gore for help.
Campaigning in Maryland last week, Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader also called Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee, a wholly owned subsidiary of the business community.
Party member Cathy Logan wants politicians to reveal their sponsors by wearing patches, like NASCAR drivers, so voters know what actually drives them.
----
Gore Defends Occidental Link
By The Associated Press
March 14, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/p/AP-Gore-Occidental.html
CARTHAGE, Tenn. (AP) -- Vice President Al Gore defended his family's ownership of stock in an oil company that plans to drill on land near a Colombian Indian reserve, saying Tuesday ``there certainly is not'' anything wrong with the arrangement.
During his campaign for the presidency, Gore has been dogged by protesters upset about his connection to Occidental Petroleum Corp. His father, the late former Sen. Albert Gore Sr., had served on the board, owned stock in the company and served as chief executive of a subsidiary.
Protesters with Amazon Watch and other groups have urged Gore to divest his family of the stock, worth as much as $500,000, which was among the elder Gore's assets when he died last December.
``According to his will, that was put into a trust fund to benefit my mother for the remainder of her life and I was named executor of his will,'' Gore told Tennessee reporters. He was asked about the subject after voting at an elementary school near his farm.
``I have legal obligations as executor that are very stringent. I have to comply with the provisions of the will,'' Gore said. ``If you can find anything wrong with that, please tell me.''
Gore also said he once leased mineral rights on his Smith County farm to Occidental but that they have been resold several times to other companies. He was asked whether it was true he received 10 times the normal reimbursement.
``No, it's not true,'' Gore said, adding that the original lease was signed four years before he ran for Congress and three years after his father was defeated in the Senate.
``It was a free market arrangement and it doesn't even involve Occidental Petroleum,'' Gore said.
He said his family's involvement with Occidental began after his father's 1970 defeat when Gore Sr. opened a law firm and Occidental became a client.
Colombia's government last September granted Occidental the right to conduct exploratory drilling a few miles outside the legal boundaries of the U'wa reserve.
The U'wa believe oil exploration would bring violence and destroy their culture. In 1997, the group threatened mass suicide to discourage drilling.
Last month, police used tear gas on U'wa members who were blocking a rural highway near the eastern border with Venezuela to protest Occidental's plans.
Gore was asked whether he thought there was anything wrong with his family's relationship with Los Angeles-based Occidental. ``There certainly is not,'' Gore said.
Occidental also is a major contributor to both political parties, giving $418,164 to the Democrats and $404,350 to the Republicans since 1993.
----------- us military
Audit Faults Pentagon On Contracting Oversight
WASHINGTON IN BRIEF
Compiled from reports by the Associated Press and Reuters
Tuesday, March 14, 2000; Page A05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-03/14/066l-031400-idx.html
An internal audit of $6.7 billion in military contracts for professional, administrative and management services uncovered what it called inadequate government oversight in 105 contracts examined.
The Pentagon spent $51.8 billion last year on all kinds of services contracts--from trash collection to engineering studies--up from $39.9 billion in 1992. While spending is rising, the amount of oversight isn't, the Pentagon's inspector general said in a report yesterday. The $6.7 billion is a representative sample of such deals in 1997 and 1998.
In 81 of the 105 contracts reviewed, "contracting officers either failed to prepare cost estimates or developed estimates that were inadequate or lacked detail," the report said. "Deficiencies in estimating clearly left the government vulnerable--and sometimes at the mercy of the contractor to define the cost."
NASA Review Criticizes Space Mission Approach
In the wake of two botched missions to Mars, reports on NASA's "faster, better, cheaper" approach to space exploration suggest the agency is trying to do too much with too little money and not enough oversight.
The reviews do not recommend a return to the large, expensive space missions of the 1970s and 1980s. Instead, management must be held accountable, goals clearly set and, if the money isn't available, programs downsized.
"We need to slow down some, not rush too quickly into important programs and projects, plan and implement them more carefully and move away from fixations on cost and near-term gain," said Tony Spear, who led one of the reviews and is a former manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Clinton Extends Ban On Oil Deals With Iran
President Clinton extended an executive order banning oil development contracts with Iran, accusing Tehran of continuing to support "international terrorism" and undermine the Middle East peace process.
Clinton said in a statement he was extending the ban he first signed in March 1995 "because the actions and policies of the government of Iran continue to threaten the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States."
The Los Angeles Times reported last week that the United States was considering scrapping trade sanctions on Iran's three main non-energy exports--caviar, carpets and pistachio nuts--in a bid to improve relations with Tehran.
In a letter to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, Clinton cited "the actions and policies of the government of Iran, including support for international terrorism, its efforts to undermine the Middle East peace process, and its acquisition of weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them".
------
Spreading anthrax hysteria
Michael Fumento
March 14, 2000
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/commentary-2000314211643.htm
Anthrax is one of the deadliest known diseases, and the "No. 1 agent we need to protect against," according to Dr. Phillip Russell, former commander of the Army's Medical Research and Development Command. It is nearly always fatal, depending on the amount of bacteria inhaled. Iraq and at least nine other nations have anthrax weapons.
But to hear some tell it, it's the anthrax vaccination soldiers need protection against.
Active duty, Reserve, and National Guard service personnel across the nation are refusing the Defense Department order that all members of the armed forces receive the series of six shots that vaccinate against anthrax.
In a single day last year, nine A-10 "Warthog" pilots with the Connecticut Air National Guard resigned rather than take the vaccine. According to the Pentagon, there have been about 350 vaccine refusers so far. It's hardly the "mutiny" some have labeled it, but it's 350 too many.
Why the refusals? Blame it on a mixture of old-fashioned mass paranoia, conspiracy theorists, media sensationalism, congressional demagogues, and a powerful new weapon of mass disinformation, the Internet.
Thus one web site provides "shocking information of health for those at Dover Air Force Base," claiming more than 100 airmen have been affected. Allegedly these people have an almost endless symptom list: ringing ears, photosensitivity, joint pains, seizures, vertigo, miscarriage, insomnia, migraines, diarrhea, constipation, fatigue, swollen testicles, cramps, memory loss, burning (no mention of where), blurry vision, coughing, wheezing, heart disease, stroke, "pressure in right ear," cold sweats, weight loss, vomiting, pain in toe of left foot and bleeding gums.
The stranger symptoms include "lesions that turned into moles all over the body," "dry ear canals," "grayouts," "tightness in hands and wrists" and "pain in both toes." Both?
It's true that more than 25 symptoms were recorded, says Dr. Tom Luna, who supervises the Dover vaccination program. But, he told me, the airmen - who had already heard horror stories - were instructed to report anything they felt might be related to the vaccine.
And the only common symptom, Dr. Luna says, was "local reactions such as sore arm, redness, swelling at injection site." As with Gulf war syndrome (GWS), to which more than 120 different symptoms have been ascribed, it is the lack of commonality that points to mass hysteria rather than organic illness.
The FDA approved the anthrax vaccine in 1970, and as of Feb. 29 of this year some 409,000 people had been vaccinated with a total of more than 1.5 million doses. Since late 1990 a government-sponsored panel has tracked adverse reactions to all U.S.-licensed vaccines, encouraging "all reporting of any clinically significant adverse event occurring after the administration of any vaccine" [emphasis in original].
Despite such a wide definition of "adverse event," only 620 were reported, with the vast majority coming after the negative publicity began. Of those, 26 people were hospitalized, and only six cases were attributed to the vaccine - all of which were allergic inflammations at the injection site. "We are confident that the anthrax vaccine is safe and effective," says FDA spokesman Kathryn Zoon.
One crucial bit of misinformation was a June 1999 San Diego Union-Tribune article that was nationally syndicated. It stated: "The vaccine, according to a memo signed by [Army Secretary Louis] Caldera, 'involves unusually hazardous risks associated with the potential for adverse reactions in some recipients.' "
In a CNBC interview, former CIA analyst and anti-vaccine activist Patrick Eddington spun Mr. Caldera's letter thus: "The secretary of the Army acknowledges in this memo that this vaccine does pose some very, very serious potential risks to anybody who's thinking about taking it."
In fact, the memo was merely a standard letter of indemnification. The sentence in question began, "The obligation assumed by [vaccine maker] MBPI under this contract involves unusually hazardous risks." The reference to risk applied not to vaccine recipients, but to the manufacturer. Pentagon spokesmen have taken great pains to point this out, yet the story lives on, in cyberspace and in print.
If the anthrax angst sounds awfully similar to that over GWS, it should. Certainly the cast of characters strongly overlaps. Mr. Eddington wrote a book about the alleged GWS coverup. Rep. Chris Shays. Connecticut Republican, held 14 hearings on the supposed syndrome, inviting only veterans with the wildest stories to testify. He's done likewise with five hearings on anthrax vaccinations and recently released a report calling for a moratorium on using the vaccine.
Lt. Col. Raymond Handy, who quit the Air Force Reserve rather than take the vaccine, claims the Pentagon's vaccine policy "has a cancerous influence on morale and readiness." In truth, it's the rumormongering and unsupportable accusations from the media, a few vociferous congressmen and "experts" who are anything but that are eroding morale and readiness.
The anthrax-vaccine hysteria is merely the latest manifestation of the quest for a "risk-free society" in which we expect our chance of illness, injury, and even death to be zero. If we do fall ill, somebody must be to blame. This mentality is all the more bizarre when it concerns people who volunteered to risk death in the defense of their country.
The real threat here to U.S. military preparedness is no vaccine; it's caving in to this mentality. We've already been far too craven in placating GWS activists. If we surrender to the anthrax-vaccine hysteria, the military may find itself unable to defend the nation at all.
Michael Fumento is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, where he specializes in health and science issues.
---
Quote on anthrax vaccinations no longer true
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
March 14, 2000
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/letters-20000314.htm
Allow me to clarify and correct the contextual circumstances of a quote attributed to me in Robert Maginnis' March 2 Commentary column, "Distrust corroding the military." This 1994 quote is often used by opponents of the Department of Defense anthrax vaccination program to imply that I still believe that the anthrax vaccine given to soldiers in the Persian Gulf war may be a cause of the unexplained symptoms many veterans experienced. That is not true.
In an effort to determine the cause or causes of the unexplained medical problems reported by some veterans of Operation Desert Storm, no potential causal factors were ruled out before fair and reasonable evaluation. My remarks to a 1994 Senate Appropriations Committee hearing reflected my sincere and responsible commitment to looking at all possible causes, including the vaccines that had been administered to some service members.
Since that time, however, numerous panels of distinguished civilian and military experts have looked at the likelihood of any vaccine, including anthrax, being the cause of the diverse symptoms. These panels have included the Presidential Advisory Commission, the Defense Science Board, the National Institutes of Health and the Institute of Medicine. They all have concluded that there is no evidence of a connection between the illnesses and any of the vaccines, either singly or in combination.
In light of that new information, I absolutely agree with the other medical and scientific experts: There is no scientific evidence to suggest that there is any connection between any of the vaccinations given to service members in Operations Desert Shield/Storm and the symptoms reported after the campaign. I have testified to this in subsequent congressional hearings, and I have repeated my opinion on numerous occasions.
More often than not, opponents of the program choose to ignore my current opinion because it does not suit their purposes. Let me repeat myself one more time to clear up any remaining doubt about my position: There is no rational evidence to lead any responsible person to conclude there is a connection between the anthrax vaccine and the medical problems reported by Desert Storm veterans.
--
Strange remarks from senator on NATO enlargement
LT. GEN. RONALD R. BLANCK
Surgeon general U.S. Army Falls Church
It does not often happen that a senator of the same party as the president takes it upon himself to inform foreign diplomats of his views when they do not conform in all points with the administration's foreign policy. As James Morrison reported in his March 2 Embassy Row column ("Straight talk breakfast"), Sen. Robert G. Torricelli, New Jersey Democrat, found it appropriate to point out that Russia is a "great power with an unstable political system and 2,000 nuclear weapons." Under these circumstances, the senator expressed his concern about Russia's opposition to NATO's enlargement and doubted that there would be any further NATO expansion unless, in the case of Lithuania, the newcomer nation could shoulder its own defenses and show its military capability.
Mr. Torricelli knows full well that no country is ever quite ready for a military confrontation, and a country's capability to defend itself can only be proved in real combat. Thus, reasoning that one or another applicant country is not militarily ready for NATO membership can be used effectively by politicians who lack the political will to back extending NATO as an excuse for perpetual postponement.
Further, Mr. Torricelli seems to have overlooked the fact that NATO was founded more than a half-century ago for the mutual defense of countries that alone would not have a chance to withstand a Soviet onslaught.
Leaving parts of Europe permanently to the so-called gray zone, which inevitably will become spheres of interest for great powers, will only foster further conflicts. In this respect, it is worth remembering George Santayana's immortal words about history repeating itself for those who refuse to learn from it.
Mr. Morrison seemed to have been highly impressed by Mr. Torricelli's straight talk to the foreign diplomats. This reader's reaction can be expressed best by Sir Francis Bacon's words: "Nothing doth more hurt in a state that cunning men pass for wise."
CAMILLA KUUS Washington
-----------
Pentagon Audit Finds Lax Contract Oversight
March 14, 2000
NATIONAL NEWS BRIEFS
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/brief-pentagon.html
WASHINGTON, March 13 -- An audit of 105 military contracts for professional, administrative and management services uncovered inadequate oversight in 81 of them, the Pentagon's inspector general said in a report released today. The Defense Department spent $51.8 billion last year on service contracts, from trash collection to engineering studies, up from $39.9 billion in 1992. The report had examined $6.7 billion in spending, a representative sample of such deals from 1997 to 1998, the inspector general's office said.
----------- us spying
CIA BACKSLIDES ON HUMAN RIGHTS REFORMS
March 14, 2000
From: Jennifer Harbury, 512-751-5852
GHRC/USA: 202-529-6599
Dear Friends,
As you have doubtless noticed, the CIA is giving its highest honors to Mr. Terry Ward on March 23. Mr. Ward was fired by the CIA in the wake of Senator Torricelli's 1995 disclosures about Everardo's murder at the hands of CIA paid Informants. Ward was the head of the Latin America division, and was fired for failing to properly handle US relations with the Guatemalan military, and for failing to properly inform Congress about human rights realities in Guatemala.
Mr. Ward has a telling history. He was in Laos in the early 1960's, Argentina from 1965 to 1968, the Dominican Republic from 1968 to 1970, Bolivia from 1970 to 1972, Peru from 1975 to 1977 and Honduras from 1987 to 1989. He was head of the Latin America division in the early 1990's. He was in this post when CIA files began to pour in regarding Everardo's capture, secret detention, torture, and eventual extrajudicial execution. Not a word was passed on to Congress, the Red Cross, the UN or the OAS. His life could have been saved, but he was instead tortured for nearly two years, drugged repeatedly, held in a full body cast, then either thrown from a helicopter or dismembered. He was but one of 200,000 Guatemalans who met with similar fates. As the UN Truth Commission reported, the military engaged in genocide and bears responsibility for 93% of the atrocities which occurred, including 200,000 murders and 660 massacres. The United States was found complicit, based upon its role in the violent 1954 coup, the continuation of military aid despite the repression, and the close collaboration with intelligence death squads. So much for Mr. Ward's fine contributions to humanity.
For what, precisely, is this man being honored?
VIGIL FOR THE DEAD AT THE CIA, MARCH 23, 2000
We are planning a funeral mass and silent vigil for the dead in front of CIA headquarters on March 23, the date of the award. We will get back to everyone soon about the precise time of the ceremony. The event will be non-violent and dignified, in order to properly honor the victims. We are asking that everyone bring the old symbols of our work in Central America...photos of the dead, flowers, funeral wreathes, and crosses. These items identify our work as well as the issues better than any words. We will have a quiet mass for the dead, then a one hour silent vigil in their memories. This will take place on the roadside in front of the CIA. A map and detailed instructions will be coming soon.
Several people have been asking about civil disobedience. We are currently researching the legal restrictions, and we will respond to everyone this week. If we do decide to go forward with this CD, we would ask those volunteers to simply move forwards, very slowly, one by one with a funeral bouquet, past the guard post. He or she would then lay the bouquet on the ground and utter the name or names of a victim...repeating "Presente". At that point the person would be arrested for trespass, a misdemeanor. Please watch for our next notice on the legal parameters. Given that this is a commemoration, we ask that there be no violence or destruction of any kind.
NATIONAL CALL IN DAY, MARCH 23
We are asking everyone to call the White House on March 23 to demand action to curb this form of CIA backsliding on human rights issues. Please help us get out the word. 202-456-1111
--- -----
PICKET for TRUTH MARCH for JUSTICE
Demonstration for Yugoslavia March 24th
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 07:51:11 -0800 (PST)
The war is not over. On the 1st anniversary of the criminal US/NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, demonstrate to demand:
U.S./NATO OUT OF KOSOVO * No New Bombing of Yugoslavia * Stop fascist KLA terror against all peoples of Kosovo and Yugoslavia.
Friday, March 24th @ 4pm Gather for a "PICKET for TRUTH" at the National Press Club, 14th and 'F' Streets NW
MARCH for JUSTICE at 5pm Past the Washington Post and on to the White House for a candle light vigil.
Tens of thousands of US and NATO (KFOR) troops occupy Kosovo today. What is the result? Over 250,000 Serbs, Roma people, Turks, Egyptians, Albanians and others have been driven from Kosovo by methods of KKK-style vigilante violence carried out by the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
KFOR solders turn a blind eye to the destruction and desecration of all cultural and religious sites in Kosovo that is daily being done by right-wing Kosovo Albanians, mostly KLA members unsuccessfully transformed to the so-called KPF.
The Pentagon is constructing a huge military base in Kosovo, and is now attempting to transform the Ukraine, the second largest republic in the former Soviet Union, into a NATO satellite to threaten Russia and secure the oil riches of the Caspian Sea.
One year ago, the US and NATO began a massive bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, dropping 23,000 bombs and missiles which killed thousands of innocent civilians, all in the name of protecting "ethnic minorities." This is the same government which let the killers of Amadou Diallo walk free.
Today, the threat of a new US/NATO attack on Yugoslavia looms, as General Wesley Clark accuses the Yugoslav government of rebuilding its military forces. While the US gives the KLA free rein to attack Serbian and Albanian civilians in Mitrovica and southern Serbia, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright accuses Yugoslavia of "interfering" in its own internal affairs.
Join us on March 24th to "Picket for Truth" at the National Press Club. Let's send a message to the mass media in this country: STOP THE LIES!! Then, "March for Justice" to the White House to demand the indictment of the war criminals Clinton, Albright, Clark, Cohen and the others.
Sponsored by the International Action Center, for more information: Phone: 202-588-1205 email: npcdc@mnsinc.com
-------
Let's get something straight... If you don't think that the C.I.A. is involved in Drugs, please read THEIR OWN REPORT
http://www.copvcia.com/
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/cocaine2/index.html
ALLEGATIONS OF CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CIA AND THE CONTRAS IN COCAINE TRAFFICKING TO THE UNITED STATES (96-0143-IG)
Volume II: The Contra Story
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/cocaine2/contents.html
October 8, 1998
Errata
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/cocaine2/errata.html
------- war crimes
Serb General Goes on Trial For Massacre At Srebrenica Officer Is Highest-Ranking To Face War Crimes Charges
By Charles Trueheart
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, March 14, 2000; Page A12
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-03/14/065l-031400-idx.html
PARIS, March 13-Bosnian Serb Gen. Radislav Krstic went on trial today, charged with planning and ordering the 1995 slaughter of thousands of Muslims in Srebrenica in the largest mass killing of civilians in Europe since World War II.
Krstic, 52, is the highest-ranking military officer to face war crimes charges at the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
His immediate superior, former Gen. Ratko Mladic, and the wartime Bosnian Serb political leader, Radovan Karadzic, have been indicted on similar charges in connection with the massacre in Srebrenica, a "safe haven" the United Nations had pledged to protect. Mladic and Karadzic remain at large.
Prosecutor Mark Harmon said the cold-blooded killing of thousands of unarmed civilians, allegedly organized under Krstic's command during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, was "the story of the triumph of evil."
Krstic has pleaded not guilty.
In mid-July 1995, as the Bosnian Serb army advanced on Srebrenica, 20,000 to 30,000 Muslims from surrounding areas sought safety in an enclave thinly protected by 150 Dutch soldiers under U.N. command. The Dutch contingent, unable to secure reinforcements because of U.N. inaction, were no match for Krstic's Drina Corps, which overran the town.
Hundreds of Muslims who fled were shot down in their tracks and their corpses were left to rot. Others were captured, loaded on more than 50 buses and shipped to outlying areas, bound, blindfolded, shot at close range and hastily buried. Many of the victims were later reburied in an apparent effort to hide their remains from tribunal investigators.
It's not known how many people were killed, but U.N. tribunal teams have exhumed more than 2,000 bodies, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead, Harmon said. It is estimated that at least 7,500 people were killed.
"The manner in which these people perished is incomprehensible by all standards known to mankind," he said. "These people were liquidated as part of a genocidal plan."
Krstic, who was arrested by U.S. NATO troops in December 1998, faces two charges of genocide, five charges of crimes against humanity, and one charge of war crimes. Genocide--systematic and widespread murder on the basis of nationality, religion or ethnic origin--is the toughest charge to prove, and the tribunal in seven years has failed to do so against anyone who has stood trial.
The prosecution is expected to lay out its case over the next four weeks, with the defense to follow. A verdict is expected in the fall, a prosecution source said today. If convicted on all charges, Krstic could face a maximum life sentence; the U.N. tribunal is not empowered to impose the death penalty.
NATO Secretary General George Robertson, on a visit to the Bosnian capital Sarajevo today, said NATO-led troops monitoring the peace in the former war zone were still hunting for "those with a guilty conscience and those who have been indicted" by the tribunal but not yet arrested. "There won't be a lasting peace until all of those who have been indicted have been brought to justice," he said.