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-------- activists
Environmental impact statement for U.S. nuclear forces?
From: "Steven Starr" shadesahoy@socket.net
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 01:49:21 -0500
Dear Abolitionists,
Is there any possiblity of forcing the U.S. government to issue an environmental impact statement on the effects of the 2,000 or so nuclear warheads they keep on high-alert status? Although these weapons are targeted at Russia, they would have an enormous impact on the Northern Hemisphere.
These are all weapons with 100 to 550 kiloton yields and many are aimed at "hard" targets which will be groundburst explosions. Each groundburst will generate 100,000 to 250,000 tonnes of incredibly radioactive fallout (this figure comes from nuclear winter research by Carl Sagan, et al), much of which will reach stratospheric levels and thus generate global nuclear fallout. Also, the 3,000 100 kiloton warheads carried by U.S. Trident subs are targeted at "urban-industrial" targets (this comes from a quote by a Bulletin of Atomic Scientists article discussing the upcoming "improvements" to these warheads which will eventually give them all "hard target" kill capabilities); the nuclear winter studies by Sagan, et al,specified that 1,000 warheads of this yield targeted at 100 large urban centers would create a Class Three Nuclear winter.
This is a direct quote from Sagan and Turco's 1990 book, "A Path No Man Thought": "Class III. "Nominal" nuclear winter: "It carries in its wake significant cooling and darkening, drought, massive quantities of pyrotoxins generated, widespread radioactive fallout, and other atmospheric perturbations. Average land temperature drops would be about 10 degrees C. At noon, the Sun would have about one-third its usual brightness. Months later, sunlight would return to more than its usual intensity, enhanced in the ultraviolet by depletion of the high-altitude ozone layer. Collapse of agriculture, and famine, could be widespread. Within the warring nations, these effects might generate casualties approaching those from the prompt effects of the war. Crop failure--from lowered temperatures, failure of the monsoons, and other causes--are expected in many noncombatant nations in the first growing season following the conflict. The most likely such failures would be in India, China, some African nations, and perhaps Japan. Worldwide, as many as 1 to 2 billion people could be placed in jeopardy of starvation."
In other words, we already have an environmental impact statement on nuclear war-- research which was done not only by Sagan, but SCOPE (Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment of the International Council of Scientific Unions), the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the World Meteorlogical Organization, etc., etc. If we can somehow force the U.S. government to recognize the scientific validity of these studies, it will completely undermine the "legitimacy" of maintaining these nuclear arsenals.
Furthermore, I don't understand why the subject of nuclear winter has been completely forgotten by us. Even with the proposed START III levels of warheads, a Class III nuclear winter is all but guaranteed. Why don't we bring this subject up for debate in this context?
Best wishes, Steven Starr
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SOA VOTE WEDNESDAY MAY 17
CALL the Capitol NOW!
COME TO D.C. Monday and Tuesday to LOBBY! Do Not Delay or It Will Be too Late! Don't Let the Pentagon Get Away With Their Deception
On Wednesday, the Pentagon will ask the House to Close the School of the Americas and immediately reopen a new school under a different name. The "new" school will still be located at Ft. Benning, will still train Latin American soldiers, and will still teach commando tactics, military intelligence, psychological operations, and combat skills. Even SOA supporter, Sen. Paul Coverdell (GA) calls the name change "cosmetic " -- a way to allow the SOA to "continue its purpose." Rep. Joe Moakley (MA) says it's "like pouring perfume on a toxic dump."
BOTH the House and the Senate will vote on the Pentagon's counterfeit proposal as part of the Defense Authorization Bill this month.
PLEASE CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AND 2 SENATORS NOW! Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or the Defense Policy Aide. Or look up your members of the House on the Internet: www.house.gov Capitol Switchboard: 202-225-3121
URGE YOUR REP & SENATORS TO:
1. REJECT the Pentagon SOA proposal in the Defense Authorizations Bill
2. Vote FOR the Moakley Amendment in the House to the Defense Authorizations Bill, which will CLOSE THE SOA and not reopen it under any name.
COME TO D.C. for a LOBBY BLITZ! Let's Flood Congress and let them know that we won't stand for the Pentagon's deceptive proposal. Come to Washington Monday May 15 and Tuesday May 16! Last year 230 U.S. Representatives voted to cut SOA funds. If they vote with us again this year, WE CAN WIN THE HOUSE VOTE TO CLOSE THE SOA! With your help we will visit each of our past supporters before the Wednesday vote and let them know the truth cannot be silenced! The truth is the Pentagon's "SOA Clone" is nothing more than a weak PR attempt to silence critics of the SOA. The truth is that under any name the SOA is still a School of Assassins.
Please come to Washington and lobby Monday and Tuesday. Meet in the lobby of the Methodist Building 110 Maryland Ave, Entrance.
If you can come, please call Carol Richardson 202-745-0485,
or Fr. Roy Bourgeois 706-682-5369
FOR MORE INFO CHECK OUT www.soaw.org Materials available --A comparison between the current SOA and the SOA Clone --SOAW Press Release --talking points
James C. Bridgman Research & Resource Coordinator Peace Action Education Fund mailto:jbridgman@peace-action.org http://www.peace-action.org 202.862.9740x3041 fax: 202.862.9762 1819 H St., NW, #425 Washington, DC 20006
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2000 by 2000
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 11:37:53 EDT Subject: [abolition-caucus]
Dear Friends and Activists,
I am happy to announce that there are now 2011 organizations and municipalities in more than 94 countries that have endorsed Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons. I think this is a great example of how we can achieve a goal if we work together.
On Friday, Abolition 2000 will make an announcement at the WILPF press conference being held at the NPT Review Conference at the UN to tell the world that while the nuclear weapons states have failed in their obligations to negotiate a nuclear weapons convention, Abolition 2000 has more than 2000 members and will not give up until our ultimate goal of nuclear weapons abolition is achieved.
Thank you to everyone who helped achieve this goal. I look forward to realizing our full potential as a truly Global Network in creating a more just and secure world, free of nuclear weapons.
In peace and solidarity, Carah Ong - Abolition2000@aol.com
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USA Today
05/18/00
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm
Tennessee
Knoxville - Two peace activists who spent two days atop the 195-foot-tall Sunsphere tower climbed down and were immediately arrested. The Earth First! protesters had unfurled a "Stop the Bombs" banner from the Sunsphere, the symbol of the 1982 World's Fair, and had refused to come down until a United Nations Nonproliferation Treaty review conference in New York ended Tuesday. Dane Kuppinger and Chris Irwin were charged with aggravated criminal trespassing.
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USA Today
05/18/00
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm
North Carolina
Camden - Two farm employees secretly filmed beating injured hogs were fined and sentenced in a rare animal cruelty case against livestock handlers. One pleaded no contest and the other pleaded guilty to misdemeanor animal cruelty charges. A member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filmed the men beating an injured hog with a metal pipe and beating, skinning and cutting the leg off a hog while it was alive. The men were charged under a 1999 law that makes some animal cruelty cases felonies.
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USA Today
05/18/00
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm
Minnesota Minneapolis - An animal rights protester who had to be rescued last fall from his perch outside the 18th floor at a University of Minnesota building pleaded guilty to trespassing. Matt Bullard had rigged up a pup-tent sling that hung for five days from the 19-story Moos Tower to protest drug addiction research on primates. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail with 44 days stayed if he stays away from university animal research and medical facilities.
-------- china
VFW Urges Congress Against PNTR With China
US Newswire
05/17/00
http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/Current_Releases/0517-129.html
Contact: Bill Smith of The Veterans of Foreign Wars 202-543-2239;
Web site: http://www.vfwdc.org
WASHINGTON, May 16 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States today urged Congress not to grant Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China.
Citing the need for a change in China's human rights standards, the 1.9-million member VFW said, "The United States should maintain its current annual congressional review of China's trade status until such time as China changes it's policy and demonstrates that it is ready to treat its people according to the basic human rights standards of other modern industrial nations."
In a letter to all members of Congress, VFW Commander in Chief John W. Smart said, "A vote against Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China will send a clear message that the United States does not tolerate China's persistent human rights violations, and will not agree with it's proliferation of missile technology and weapons of mass destruction, it's military threats against the United States and other countries in the Pacific region including repeated threats made against Taiwan.
"Passage of the China Trade Bill, essentially rewards China for mistreating its citizens, violating its current trade agreements, threatening its neighbors and the United States with military action, proliferating weapons of mass destruction, stealing nuclear, military and industrial secrets from the United States, increasing espionage against the U.S., and practicing religious oppression. We believe this bill sends the wrong message to China and the rest of the world," Smart said.
------ The VFW was founded in 1899. As an organization of former servicemen and women, the VFW remains committed to a strong national security and the well being of those serving on active duty, in the National Guard and the Reserves.
-0- /U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ 05/17 13:31
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China Says Taiwan Facing 'Abyss of Disaster'
May 17, 2000
By Reuters
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-china-t.html
BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Wednesday Taiwan's people faced the ``abyss of disaster'' if its new leadership failed to acknowledge Taiwan was part of ``one China.''
The remarks, in an official commentary carried by the Xinhua news agency, were made ahead of the inauguration of Chen Shui-bian as Taiwan president on Saturday.
Chen, whose party openly espouses independence, has already said he is prepared to discuss ``one China'' with Beijing but that he will not accept it as a basis for talks.
Beijing will be listening intently for concessions in Chen's inaugural speech, but Xinhua made clear nice words would not be enough.
``Not acknowledging and accepting the 'one China' principle while only saying some mild words to improve the atmosphere of current cross-strait relations is without meaning,'' it said.
``In the end, this can only harm people and harm oneself and lead the Taiwan people to the abyss of disaster.''
Chen, who has distanced himself from his party's independence line, has said his speech would touch on ''important and sensitive'' issues with Beijing and an end to a decades-old ban on direct trade, transport and postal links with China was inevitable.
Ties between Beijing and Taipei have been tense since Chen won a presidential election in March to end more than five decades of Nationalist rule.
China has threatened to invade Taiwan if the island declared independence or drags its feet on reunification talks.
TAIWAN DISMISSES BLOCKADE REPORT
Taiwan's defense ministry dismissed on Wednesday an Australian newspaper report saying China planned to blockade the island's major port of Kaohsiung in September.
The Sydney Morning Herald said U.S. intelligence forecasts, shared with Australia, suggested plans were under way for a blockade to force Taiwan to open talks on reunification.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry offered no direct rebuttal of the report in response to questions from Reuters.
``China never promises to give up using force,'' it said in a statement.
``We hope the Taiwan new leader has a clear understanding of the situation and will not do things that will hurt the fundamental interests of people across the Taiwan Strait and destroy the stability of the Taiwan Strait and the Asia-Pacific region.''
The Xinhua commentary said there were ``some people'' in Taiwan who aimed to involve ``foreign powers'' in the issue.
``Counting on these people to stabilize and develop cross-strait relations is like climbing a tree to catch fish,'' it said.
The commentary did not name the foreign powers, but politicians expected to be part of Chen's administration have urged the United States to help the two sides return to the negotiating table.
China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said on Tuesday Beijing had no interest in asking the United States or anyone else to mediate a solution.
Washington said it was not seeking such a role.
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Trade Bill Advances in Congress
May 17, 2000
By ERIC SCHMITT
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/world/17china-senate2.html
The House Ways and Means Committee decisively approved legislation this afternoon that would extend permanent trading benefits to China, sending it to a bitterly divided House for a do-or-die vote next week.
The House panel acted just a few hours after its Senate counterpart, the Finance Committee, voted 18 to 1 in favor of the bill. But since approval by the full Senate is considered a virtual certainty, developments in the House, where the issue is still too close to call, have been watched with far more interest.
The 34-to-4 vote in the House Ways and Means Committee was deemed most important because it indicated growing support for the trade legislation, as several previously undecided Democrats voted in favor of the bill.
The White House and Congressional vote counters have said in recent days that they were 10 to 15 votes shy of passage. But Capitol Hill counters said today's vote showed that the gap may have narrowed to single digits.
To shore up Democratic support for the bill, House Republican leaders said they would support side legislation that would create a United States commission to monitor human rights in China and strengthen safeguards against import surges from China.
Each year since the United States established normal diplomatic relations with China in 1979, Congress has reviewed China's trade status, approving trade with restrictions, because of that country's human rights record.
Many American labor unions still oppose full, normal trade relations with China, on human rights grounds and because they fear that a flood of cheap imports would lead to the loss of American jobs. But many business groups favor open trade with China and, economic considerations aside, some Republican lawmakers have asserted that exporting American values as well as goods to China would help the people of that country.
Passage of the bill would be a prelude to China's entry into the World Trade Organization, the Geneva-based body that regulates global commerce.
Representative Richard Gephardt of Missouri is the most prominent House Democrat to oppose normal trade status. Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois and Representative Tom DeLay of Texas -- one of President Clinton's main antagonists during the impeachment struggle -- are among the Republicans who favor the trade bill.
In the Senate Finance Committee, only James Jeffords, Republican of Vermont, voted against the bill today.
-------- depleted uranium
Why deadly depleted uranium is the tank buster's weapon of choice
GUARDIAN (London)
Thursday May 18, 2000
By David Hambling
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 16:29:17 +0100
The use of depleted uranium weapons is again causing concern. The people of Kosovo have been alarmed to discover that the conflict there has left radioactive contamination, just as it did in Kuwait nine years ago.
Why do the United States and Britain continue to use a waste product of the nuclear industry in their weapons? Some commentators allege that it is a conspiracy between the military and the nuclear industry to dispose of dangerous waste in hostile countries. The real reasons are more complex.
Metallic uranium occurs naturally in tiny quantities. In its native state it is a mixture of highly radioactive uranium-235 and less active U-238. U-235 is used in reactors and atomic weapons; once it is extracted, the rest is depleted uranium (DU). It is a poisonous heavy metal like lead or mercury, but only slightly radioactive.
To understand why DU makes a good anti-tank weapon you have to enter the Alice In Wonderland world of high-energy collisions. When metal meets metal at five times the speed of sound, hardened steel shatters like glass. Metal flows like putty, or simply vaporises. A faster shell does not necessarily go through more armour, but, like a pebble thrown into a pond, it makes a bigger splash.
Armour penetration is increased by concentrating the force of a shell into as small an area as possible, so the projectiles tend to look like giant darts. The denser the projectile, the harder the impact for a given size. DU is almost twice as dense as lead, making it highly suitable. The other metal used for anti-tank rounds is tungsten, which is also very hard and dense. When a tungsten rod strikes armour, it deforms and mushrooms, making it progressively blunter. Uranium is "pyrophoric": at the point of impact it burns away into vapour, so the projectile stays sharp. When it breaks through, the burning DU turns the inside of a vehicle into an inferno of white-hot gas and sparks.
Normal uranium is not as hard as tungsten. But a classified technique allows it to be hardened. This is believed to involve alloying it with titanium and cooling it so that it forms a single large metallic crystal rather than a chaotic mass of tiny crystals. This structure is very strong and produces an improvement similar to the difference between a brittle pencil lead and a carbon-fibre tennis racquet. The final advantage of uranium is cost. Machined tungsten is expensive, but governments supply DU more or less free.
As with most weapons, depleted uranium is not as deadly as its proponents - or its critics - claim. One tank was hit four times with no casualties. Twenty US vehicles took penetrating hits from DU weapons during the Gulf war. Thirteen crew members were killed, but 113 others - almost 90% - survived. The long-term health effects are not known.
It is likely that DU will be phased out eventually, not for health reasons but for military ones. It was introduced to solve the problem of breaking through heavy armour. But tank armour is concentrated mainly at the front, facing the main threat; it is thinner on the sides, and thinner still on top. If the entire vehicle were clad in thick armour it would be too heavy to move. Instead of brute force, the clever approach would be to attack the weakest point.
After decades of development a new generation of anti-armour weapons is being fielded. These "brilliant" weapons find their own targets, unlike mere smart bombs, which have to be directed. One example is Sadarm (Seek And Destroy Armour). It is fired like a normal artillery shell into the target area, where it ejects two submunitions that descend by parachute. As they fall, Sadarm scans the ground with radar and infrared sensors. Targets are identified, and the most important are selected - a Scud launcher in preference to a tank, a tank rather than a truck.
Sadarm fires a slug of molten metal at the selected target. The slug takes on an aerodynamic shape as it travels through the air, ideal for piercing armour. Though less powerful than a DU shell, it can break through the top armour of any tank.
Engagements between tanks are fought face-to-face, at a maximum distance of about 4km. Sadarm can be lobbed at an enemy 20km away. Missiles carrying brilliant munitions can range out to 100km or more.
Sadarm and other brilliant weapons use tantalum, an exotic heavy metal for which little data is available. But it appears to be highly toxic, especially when vaporised. We will probably discover its full effects only after the next hi-tech war.
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The infamous Los Alamos memorandum
From: Doug Rokke drokke@jsucc.jsu.edu
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 09:47:44 -0500
This web site ( http://www.homepage.jefnet.com/gwvrl/contents.htm ) will take you to the infamous Los Alamos memorandum which was sent to me during March 1991 while I was in Saudi Arabia assigned as the 3rd U.S. Army Materiel Command Depleted Uranium Assessment Team health physicist with responsibilities to clean up the DU (uranium 238) contamination mess. Anyway with a directive like this coming from an individual who is still working at Los Alamos, does anyone think that the truth regarding any contamination that was or may have been released during the ongoing fires will be acknowledged and confirmed by any DOE/ LANL officials? It was and still is very clear that health and environmental hazards of uranium releases and consequent exposures shall not be acknowledged! So with this verified attitude and demonstrated action to previously squash actual information and the known existance of what is called "Legacy Contamination" in and around Los Alamos, I can only wonder what the real hazards are and if DOE will acknowledge those hazards. I pray they just don't right off everyone "downwind" of the possible releases. It has now been over 9 years since we raised the warnings, DU is still being used, and many are sick, and some are dead because of the censorhip advocated and implemented by this memorandum from Los Alamos. I have attached a list of possible contaminants at LANL that may pose problems.
The issue of monitoring individuals is very important. As a consequence of the Los Alamos memo bioassays for uranium exposures during the Persian Gulf War, Kosovo, Serbia, Vieques, Okinawa, and testing deliberate uses of uranium munitions are still incomplete SO WHAT CAN WE EXPECT NOW? DOE has been finally forced to admit what has occurred to employees and this includes downwinders, but, any more accountability for possible or verified exposures must be prevented.
as always, For God and the Citizens of the world. dr. doug rokke
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Blowing in the Wind
Lost Alamos
Village Voice
Published May 17 - 23, 2000
MONDO WASHINGTON
BY JAMES RIDGEWAY
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0020/ridgeway.shtml
A key problem in fire-ravaged Los Alamos is the fear that depleted uranium and toxic nuclear lab may have worked their way into the atmosphere and become part of the huge plume that has been floating over eastern Colorado, across the Oklahoma panhandle, and into Texas.
No one knows for sure what has happened. But in recent years, a lot of testing of high explosives has been done at the plant. It's as a test site for these explosives that various toxic metals may have come into play. Explosives are sometimes bonded with depleted uranium. Los Alamos also manufactures bomb triggers: grapefruit-sized objects sheathed in stainless steel, aluminum, or vanadium. The Los Alamos laboratory has disposed of at least 17.5 million cubic feet of hazardous and radioactive waste in 24 areas on the site since 1944, according to the Los Alamos Study Group, an antinuclear outfit. The list of contaminants includes lead, beryllium, arsenic, thorium, uranium, plutonium, PCBs, and barium.
Controlled burning in the area in May is unusual since the forests are especially dry and winds are often gusty. Normally, burning is done in early spring or fall. Among federal workers, the National Park Service-which runs Bandelier National Monument, where the fire that led to the conflagration was lit-is viewed as sloppy when it comes to safety.
http://www.lanl.gov/worldview/
http://www.lasg.org/
-------- imf / world bank
World Bank to consider Iran loan
USA Today
05/17/00- Updated 09:11 AM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/nw1.htm#sierra
WASHINGTON - The World Bank's 24 executive directors are scheduled Thursday to consider a delayed proposal to lend $231 million to Iran. The loans for two projects were delayed in April, and the United States will seek another postponement, a U.S. official said. Canada and France are understood to be aligned with the United States in opposition to the loans. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has telephoned several foreign ministers to urge a postponement, according to another U.S. official. Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman, R-N.Y., chairman of the House International Relations Committee, questioned ''whether Iran should be permitted to borrow from the Bank in view of their continued support for terrorism and their failure to take concrete steps to reform their economy.''
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Trading up to freedom
Washington Times
May 17, 2000
Richard K. Armey
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/commentary-2000517164032.htm
On the left and right, opponents of China trade are giving human rights and national security concerns as their reasons. Because the Beijing government persecutes its people and threatens our allies, they say, we should keep China out of the world marketplace and deny it permanent normal trade relations (PNTR).
The concerns are completely correct - but the conclusion is 100 percent wrong. In fact, human rights and national security are the best reasons to support having normal trade with China.
The dictators in Beijing may not know it yet, but open trade with the outside world may do to them what glasnost did to the Soviets. By creating an opening for freedom, it will undermine their strong arm rule, encourage democratic reform, and make China comparatively peaceful and free.
From my economists' perspective, I put the argument this way: China's desire to win PNTR and join the World Trade Organization is part of a bid to join the vast, new world market. That market, like any market, is nothing but a system for transmitting information - about resources and scarcities, needs and desires, everything that makes voluntary transactions among people possible. Information is the market's lifeblood.
That means that if the Chinese are going to open themselves to the world market, the leadership will have no choice but to allow wide information-sharing among China's people. And while information may be the lifeblood of a market, it is deadly poison to a dictatorship.
Consider. To be part of the world economy, the Chinese will need a domestic stock market. But, as Thomas Friedman and others point out, how can you have a stock market without also having a free press? Imagine in this country if every source of financial news suddenly shut down - CNBC, the Motley Fools web site, Schwab.com, everything. The only information anyone had was a government official - picture Gene Sperling - assuring us that "the economy is fundamentally sound." The result? Instant stock market crash as investors realized they were flying blind. If no real disaster happened, stocks might soar again as fast as they fell. But so long as the screens stayed dark and there were no solid sources of independent information, the stock market would be buffeted up and down by every whisper and rumor until it ceased to function at all.
It is inevitable. The Chinese will discover that to have a real economy, they will need an objective financial press - and that means a press free of government control.
It is equally true, of course, that the Chinese cannot expect to play in the world economy without free access to the Internet. Chinese manufacturers are going to be facing cutthroat competition from all over the developing world. If factory managers in India, or Thailand, or Brazil can get on line and instantly identify hundreds of potential customers and suppliers across the planet, while the Chinese cannot, who will win the business? The Internet is the highest octane form of information available. Any Chinese firm ignoring it will doom itself. Receiving orders by "snail mail" or even telephone won't cut it when the competition is making deals on the Internet at the speed of light.
Sure, the Chinese government will try to control this, but its efforts will be futile. The Beijing authorities tried to regulate Chinese web sites in January, but Chinese web surfers quickly found cyber portals through which the government gumshoes could never follow. The Internet, we should remember, was first designed as a system flexible enough to survive a nuclear war. It will always defy any government attempt to control it (which is one reason I am practically an anarchist when it comes to Internet regulation efforts here).
Internet access is today spreading like wildfire through China. Almost 10 million Chinese have already logged on and 20 million are expected to be on-line before the end of 2001. Pure economic survival - as well as the nature of the web itself - will demand that the Chinese roam free in cyberspace.
China's leaders may think that entering the world market is solely away to make China a powerful nation - just as the last generation of Soviets saw greater "openness" as a way to revive their economy. But when that market brings with it a relatively free press and the Internet, they will find it very hard to run their dictatorship. The Chinese people will use those tools to spread information, organize politically, protect themselves from the government, and ultimately demand a voice in their own affairs.
Deep in the reptilian brain of the Chinese government - the military, security forces and state-owned industries - they seem to dimly sense this. That accounts for China's schizophrenic behavior as we approach the vote (asking for WTO entry one day, threatening to rain missiles on people the next). The bad elements in Beijing are trying to scuttle PNTR and the WTO deal because they fear it could mean the end of their brutish behavior - and they are right.
We should not be overly optimistic. The change coming to China may take unexpected - and unpleasant - forms. It could lead to some sort of reactionary backlash or even a violent revolution. But on balance, free and open trade with China offers the best hope of turning China into a free and open society. To close the Chinese out of our trading system now would do nothing but turn China into a giant North Korea - suspicious, isolated, impoverished and irrevocably hostile to the United States and our allies.
My guess is that even China's pro-WTO leaders have no clue of the threat joining the world economy poses to their tyrannical ways. Like Mikhail Gorbachev, they'll probably move into a befuddled retirement one day without ever understanding the forces of freedom they unwittingly helped unleash. But here in information age America we understand them. And that's why our hopes for a better China require us to approve PNTR.
Richard K. Armey is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas.
-------- kosovo
Albright Warns of Kosovo Future
May 17, 2000
By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Kosovo-Congress.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- As the Senate prepared to consider forcing U.S. troops to quit Kosovo next year, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright warned the legislators they were ``playing with fire.''
In a tough speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today, Albright said the proposal would be interpreted in the Balkans as a symptom of weakness and that, she said, ``attracts vultures.''
Albright and Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers pleaded for Congress to change its budget-slashing mood and to approve permanent trade privileges for China, sparing it high duties on exports to the United States.
Summers said ``no threat is more serious than the temptation to turn inwards during good times.''
These pleas have gone unheeded. The Senate is considering an appropriations bill that would cut $1.7 billion from the Clinton administration's request for foreign spending.
It is moving to reduce funds for the destruction of nuclear warheads in Russia and it has cut 35 percent from a U.S. program to help provide North Korea with energy in an exchange for freezing its nuclear weapons program.
``We are the richest nation on the globe,'' Albright said. ``Now is the time to advance, not retreat.''
On Kosovo, where the Clinton administration forced Yugoslavia to end a fierce crackdown on secession-minded ethnic Albanians, the Senate was considering a July 2001 deadline for withdrawing U.S. troops from the Serbian province.
The probable Republican presidential nominee, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, has opposed the plan as ``legislative overreach'' and that is likely to kill the proposal, said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.
The measure, which initially appeared to be picking up growing GOP support, would cut funds for the 5,900 U.S. troops in Kosovo beyond July 1, 2001, unless President Clinton or his successor first obtained express congressional approval for keeping them there.
Albright said the U.S. role in the Balkans was pivotal while the vast majority of peacekeeping costs are being borne by U.S. allies.
By trying to force the ``premature'' withdrawal of U.S. forces from Kosovo, Albright said, some in Congress are ``playing with fire. In the Balkans signs of impatience can be misinterpreted as symptoms of weakness. We cannot afford that in a region where weakness attracts vultures.''
--------
G.O.P. Step on Kosovo Draws Fire From Bush
May 17, 2000
By ERIC SCHMITT
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/europe/051700kosovo-us.html
WASHINGTON, May 16 -- Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, today sharply criticized a bill backed by Senate Republicans that would set a deadline for withdrawing American ground troops from Kosovo. Mr. Bush called the bill a "legislative overreach" that would tie his hands if he becomes president.
But the Senate majority leader, Trent Lott of Mississippi, along with the bill's chief Republican sponsor, John W. Warner of Virginia, said they would push ahead with the measure. That sets up the first major foreign policy clash between Mr. Bush and congressional Republicans.
Until today, momentum seemed to be building among most Senate Republicans for the measure, which would cut off funds for the 5,900 United States forces in Kosovo by July 1, 2001, forcing their withdrawal, unless Congress authorizes an extension.
Many Republicans said they assumed that Mr. Bush endorsed the measure, which may be voted on as early as Wednesday.
But last weekend, opponents of the measure, including at least five Republican senators, warned Mr. Bush's top aides of the potential conflict. In response, the Bush campaign issued its statement.
"The Clinton-Gore administration has failed to instill trust in Congress and the American people when it comes to our military and deployment of troops overseas, but the governor does not believe this provision is the way to resolve the lack of presidential leadership," Scott McClellan, a spokesman for Mr. Bush, said.
"Governor Bush views it as a legislative overreach on powers of the presidency."
Top aides to President Clinton have recommended that he veto an $8.6 billion military construction bill if the Senate language is attached. The bill includes $4.7 billion for American military operations in Kosovo, anti-drug efforts in Colombia and other defense spending.
Defense Secretary William S. Cohen warned today that passage of the measure would send a dangerous signal. "If the United States were to mandate an artificial deadline for our departure, then I suspect that other members of NATO will do the same," he said. And that would lead to "the return to the kind of conflict we witnessed last year."
After Mr. Bush's views were made known today, splits quickly formed in the party line, and Republicans were casting about tonight to figure a graceful way out of the showdown.
"I agree with the governor," said Senator Thad Cochran, a Mississippi Republican. "He would need the flexibility of a newly elected president to make decisions with his own advisers."
Senator Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, said, "We're putting that new president in a very difficult position, with no flexibility and no latitude on a very, very complicated issue in the Balkans."
Such opposition would likely kill the proposal, said Senator Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican who heads the Appropriations Committee, and who supports the measure.
But Mr. Lott said he still supported the measure.
Mr. Warner agreed, but said the floor vote would be close.
"Presidents are very protective of their prerogative, but what I'd say to him is that Congress has its own prerogative and it's the power of the purse," Mr. Warner said in an interview.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican, said she would recommend pushing back the deadline to give the next president more time to work with the Congress.
-------- russia
Brookings Briefing on Clinton Trip to Europe, Russia
US Newswire
05/17/00
http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/Current_Releases/0517-157.html
To: National and International desks, Daybook Editor
Contact: Brookings Institution Office of Communications, 202-797-6105; e-mail: communications@brookings.edu
News Advisory:
Event: The Brookings Institution will hold a press briefing on President Clinton's trip to Europe and Russia
When: Thursday, May 25, 2 - 3 p.m.
Where: The Brookings Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C.
Details: President Clinton leaves just after Memorial Day for Portugal, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine. The centerpiece of the journey is Moscow, the venue of the first (and possibly the only) formal summit meeting between President Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin. In Lisbon, President Clinton will attend the U.S.-European Union Summit.
These and other Clinton meetings will take place against the backdrop of multiple questions involving some of the most critical issues at the heart of post-Cold War international relations and American foreign policy, including:
-- What can be done to harmonize U.S.-European positions on European defense, trade, Kosovo, and missile defense?
-- What do we know about Vladimir Putin? What can we expect?
-- How much should the brutal conflict in Chechnya affect U.S. relations with Russia?
-- What is the state of the Russian economy? What should the West do to promote growth?
-- Is a U.S.-Russian deal on missile defense and nuclear weapons possible? Or desirable?
-- How should the United States relate to Ukraine and other countries around Russia that were once part of the USSR?
Discussing these and other issues are:
-- CLIFFORD G. GADDY, fellow, Foreign Policy Studies, The Brookings Institution; Co-author of forthcoming Russia's Virtual Economy and author of The Price of the Past: Russia's Struggle with the Legacy of a Militarized Economy
-- PHILIP H. GORDON, senior fellow, Foreign Policy Studies, and Director, Center on the United States and France, The Brookings Institution; Former Director for European Affairs, National Security Council
-- RICHARD N. HAASS, vice president and director, Foreign Policy Studies, The Brookings Institution; Author of The Reluctant Sheriff: The U.S. After the Cold War and Intervention: The Use of American Military Force in the Post-Cold War World; editor of Economic Sanctions and American Diplomacy
-- FIONA HILL, director of strategic planning, The Eurasia Foundation; Author of Russia's Tinderbox: Conflict in the North Caucasus and Its Implications for the Future of the Russian Federation and co-author of Back in the USSR: Russia's Intervention in the Internal Affairs of the Former Soviet Republics and the Implications for United States Policy toward Russia
--------
Russia sends cruise missiles to China for new warships
Washington Times
May 19, 2000
By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://208.246.212.80/national/default-2000519231533.htm
Russia recently delivered the first shipment of supersonic cruise missiles to China for a new missile destroyer and more of the weapons will be sent later this year, Pentagon officials said Thursday.
The deployment of the 24 SSN-22 anti-ship cruise missiles on a Chinese Sovremenny-class destroyer is the most significant recent weapons development by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) naval forces, according to Navy officials.
The missile shipment was sent by a manufacturer from the Pacific port of Vladivostok to China within the past several weeks, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The missiles will be deployed on China's new Sovremenny-class guided-missile destroyer, the first of two advanced warships bought by the PLA navy. The first guided-missile destroyer sailed to China earlier this year without the sea-skimming anti-ship missiles.
A second delivery of the high-speed missiles is expected in the next several months, the officials said.
Naval officials told The Washington Times the cruise-missile destroyer represents a major boost in Chinese surface warship firepower.
"The Sovremenny arrival is obviously the big issue that really did change the capability of the surface force," one official said.
The arrival of the first missiles, known as Sunburns, was reported to senior officials in intelligence reports Thursday. Details were disclosed by two Russian news agencies on Monday and Tuesday.
The missile delivery comes at an awkward time for the Clinton administration as it seeks to lobby Congress for passage of a trade bill to help China. The president has said improving trade relations with China will boost U.S. national security.
The administration last month also refused to authorize the sale to Taiwan of four Aegis radar-equipped missile destroyers and high-speed anti-radiation missiles that could be used by Taiwan's forces to counter the new warships.
Taiwan arms sales have been blocked by pro-China officials at the White House and State Department who fear U.S. transfers will upset Beijing.
Russian weapons designers originally built the SSN-22 for the Soviet Navy to use against U.S. warships during the Cold War. The missile has a range of between 80 and 85 miles. Its supersonic speed is what makes the missile a major threat.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican and sponsor of a bill to punish Russia for the missile transfers, said the anti-ship missiles could be used against Americans in the future.
"The Chinese communists now have the ability to sink American aircraft carriers and kill thousands of Americans," Mr. Rohrabacher said in an interview. "If they ever decide to use these weapons, the American people have a right to ask who's to blame. But maybe we should ask that question before Americans start dying."
A bill sponsored by Mr. Rohrabacher passed the House International Relations Committee two weeks ago that would block any U.S. debt relief for the Russian government if future Sunburn missile sales are not stopped. The full House could vote on the measure in the next several weeks.
Richard Fisher, a specialist on the Chinese military with the Jamestown Foundation, said Russia's delivery of the missile weeks after the Clinton administration's rejection of guided missile ships to Taiwan is "a humiliation on top of a retreat."
"From Eisenhower to Bush, the operative American policy was to promote deterrence on the Taiwan Strait by selling Taiwan's military a technical edge over the PRC," Mr. Fisher said. "In the year 2000, the Clinton administration has abandoned this long-standing U.S. policy and has decreased deterrence for the foreseeable future."
Mr. Fisher said Taiwan's navy currently is defenseless against the supersonic cruise missile deployed on the new Chinese warship. "It has no defensive system that can take out this missile besides a pre-emptive attack on the destroyer itself, which increases instability on the Taiwan Strait," he said.
As for U.S. ships, any Navy ships operating outside the protection of aircraft carrier battle groups or Aegis ships "are dead meat for the Sunburn."
The Navy officials said the purchase of Russian warships and advanced missiles is part of a buildup of naval forces by Beijing in case it decides to use force against Taiwan, which the communist government views as a Chinese province.
"I don't think the Chinese military is in a big hurry to deal with Taiwan militarily," one official said.
However, if a conflict erupts, China's military leaders "recognize that if called on, they will go, they have to go, and the systems they are getting will have some capability to do that," the official said.
China also has four advanced Kilo submarines and has purchased Su-27 fighter-bombers from Moscow.
The weapons purchases are part of a growing strategic partnership between Moscow and Beijing, an alliance based in part on opposition to the United States.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to visit Beijing in July as a sign of the developing alliance.
According to the Navy officials, China's short-term military goal is to develop or buy the forces needed for fighting Taiwan. The longer-term objective is to build better command, control and communications systems that will assist their war-fighting capabilities, they said.
"They are focused on the Taiwan scenario, and all their efforts have been recently on systems that are important for Taiwan," the official said.
Capt. Craig Quigley, a Pentagon spokesman, recently sought to play down the Russian warship sale as not a new development.
---
Kasyanov Approved as Russian Prime Minister
May 17, 2000
By MICHAEL WINES
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/late/17cnd-russia-pm.html
MOSCOW, May 17 -- Mikhail M. Kasyanov overwhelmingly won confirmation as Russia's new prime minister today, capturing four- fifths of legislators' votes after a speech advocating reforms in every part of the economy and the government.
The 325-to-55 vote in Russia's fractious lower house of parliament, the Duma, was the most sweeping show of support for a new prime minister in the nation's brief history. It suggests that President Vladimir V. Putin -- who received 233 votes when the Duma confirmed him as prime minister last August -- will have a base of legislative support for the still-murky package of economic and legal changes he plans to send to the parliament in June.
The package, seen by many as Russia's best chance to escape its current slough, is being prepared by a team of liberal, market-oriented advisers. Among other things, it is said to include overhauls of the tax code and the banking and pension systems.
Mr. Kasyanov, who as Mr. Putin's finance minister earned a liberal reputation among Westerners, seemed to endorse all that and more in his speech today. His list of urgently needed reforms ran from welfare to agriculture; from weapons sales to communications; from education to the civil service to transportation to the courts.
"We should by no means allow a slowdown in the pace of transformations, because then we would be marking time and will be hopelessly mired in stagnation," he said. "Reform should be more energetic and consistent and balanced."
That said, the biggest question among some experts after today's vote was whether Mr. Kasyanov as prime minister will fight for sweeping and quick reforms of the kind liberals support, or call for a less dramatic and more gradual plan.
A battle over that very issue is said to be unfolding within Mr. Putin's administration now. Mr. Kasyanov will have a substantial say in how it is settled.
The fact that he won the backing today of many Communists -- and lost some votes among Western-oriented legislators -- was seen by some as a sign that he has turned toward more moderate viewpoints.
Mr. Kasyanov gave few specifics in his speech or during a question-and-answer session which followed it. But he seemed to hint at a desire to go slowly when he took a broad swipe at the liberal economic "shock therapy" of the early 1990's, which helped plunge Russia into hyperinflation, depression and poverty.
"We simply have no right to consign the population again to suffering for the sake of a bright future," he said. "It makes no sense to implement measures that will be rejected by unprepared social institutions and, as a result, will acquire perverted forms which do not merely discredit transformations but dangerously distort their substance."
German Gref, the liberal economist charged by Mr. Putin with devising an economic strategy, said recently that Mr. Kasyanov already has changed some of the plan's budgetary assumptions, but that it "is absolutely wrong" to say that he opposes the plan.
"It is true that Kasyanov makes many remarks," he said, but added that "the most constructive work is done with Kasyanov."
Mr. Kasyanov, a 42-year-old career bureaucrat, gained his landslide victory in part by being vague enough about his leanings to avoid offending either the right or the left.
"Half the population thinks he's going to increase state participation in the economy, and half thinks exactly the opposite," said Masha Lipman, the deputy editor of the weekly newsmagazine Itogi. "It's not that people are stupid. It's that he's said both. He's been sending conflicting signals and leaving everyone to believe what they want."
Perhaps that befits a man who moved seamlessly from the U.S.S.R. State Economic Planning Committee in the 1980's to the top of the market-oriented economic team that served Mr. Yeltsin during the 1990's. When Mr. Putin became president last January, he retained Mr. Kasyanov as his finance minister and chief foreign-debt negotiator. But he also made him first deputy prime minister, a post in which he essentially ran the government day-to-day while Mr. Putin campaigned for a full term.
In today's vote, the Duma's Communist faction split almost down the middle: 28 moderate-leaning legislators voted for the nomination, including the Duma chairman Gennady Seleznyov, while 36 hard-liners opposed it, including the Communist Party's more radical chairman, Gennady Zyuganov. On the right, the Yeltsin-era liberals who head the Union of Right Forces faction mostly lined up behind Mr. Kasyanov.
But many in the Western-oriented Yabloko faction opposed him, arguing that he gave no guarantees of press freedom or of a limited government role in business and industry. In the center-left, meanwhile, the Otechestvo party backed Mr. Kasyanov precisely because its members believed that he would reassert the government's control over business.
"He said that state interference, state regulation and state control are needed during the transition to market relations, particularly for overcoming a long and deep crisis," the party leader and former prime minister Yevgeny M. Primakov said.
But Mr. Zyuganov, whose party wants the government to retake control of industries and print more money to solve its economic woes, angrily attacked Mr. Kasyanov's proposals.
"It's an act of some courage to agree to head the government in a country which has territory but has no state; where the laws do not act beyond the Garden Ring" -- a 12-lane highway that encircles central Moscow and the government bureaucracy -- "where 50 million people cannot feed themselves and 20 million have no job and 10 million have become refugees and vagabonds," he said. "Your government has worked for one month, and many of its steps don't inspire us at all."
-------- serbia
Serb Government Seizes Main Opposition Broadcast Stations
May 17, 2000
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/world/17yugo-media2.html
BELGRADE -- Serbia's government tightened its clampdown on opposition media Wednesday, taking control of an influential television station that it accused of calling for the violent overthrow of authorities.
The station, Studio B, is considered the most important opposition television outlet in Serbia, although its broadcasts have frequently been jammed. The seizure was the most severe action yet against nongovernment media, after a series of recent fines and lawsuits over their reporting.
Studio B Editor in Chief Dragan Kojadinovic said that B2-92 radio and another independent radio station, both with premises in Studio B's Belgrade building, were also closed.
The independent daily Blic, based in the same building, was also affected. Its journalists said they were unable to enter.
Studio B was run by Belgrade City Hall, currently controlled by the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), the largest opposition party in Serbia and led by Vuk Draskovic -- a prominent foe of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
"This act is aimed basically at destroying all independent media in Serbia," said Freimut Duve, media representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna.
The opposition, which united earlier this year in a bid to oust Milosevic at the ballot box, accused authorities of introducing a state of emergency and open dictatorship.
It called on people to show civic disobedience, including blocking roads, and street protests, and said it would hold a rally at 7 p.m. (3 p.m. EDT) outside Belgrade City Hall.
Kojadinovic said that hundreds of police moved into the building about 2 a.m. local time.
"I can say that this has no legal or realistic foundations. Studio B has not called for any toppling of legally elected authorities," said Kojadinovic, who is also Studio B director. "It only reported on political and other events."
In an early protest, about 100 opposition supporters gathered outside the Studio B building in central Belgrade, blocking traffic.
The official statement read on Studio B said the station would continue to operate under new management.
The statement said, "Several times Studio B called for the violent overthrow of the legitimate authorities."
Addressing about 25,000 people at an anti-government rally in Belgrade Monday, Draskovic said, "We have to rebel against the killers and the terrorists who are ruling Serbia today."
Studio B aired music videos and news from state television after the takeover, the Beta news agency said. A B2-92 editor, Sanda Savic, said the radio station reinforced its Internet site and was broadcasting via satellite.
Analysts say that fines imposed on nongovernment media over the past few months appear to be a crackdown against Milosevic's foes in preparation for elections due later this year.
The European Union voiced deep concern earlier this month over what it said was mounting government repression of the opposition and independent news organizations.
"Milosevic is in the process of going from a covert dictatorship to an overt dictatorship," analyst James Lyon of the International Crisis Group think tank told Reuters. "This is just one more indication of that."
Taking a similar line, former Yugoslav Prime Minister Milan Panic said the move represented the "entry to full dictatorship" by Milosevic, indicted last year by a U.N. court for war crimes in Kosovo.
In London, the International Press Institute attacked the Serbian government, demanding it stop "its unceasing harassment of independent media."
In a statement, the global network of editors and journalists said, "(This clampdown is) only the latest in a long series of attempts by the Serbian government to silence the critical voice of the country's independent and opposition media."
--------
Allied Action on Yugoslavia Sought
May 17, 2000
By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-US-Yugoslavia.html
WASHINGTON (AP)-- Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will consult with the European allies next week on the possibility of joint action in response to a Yugoslav government crackdown on the independent media, the State Department said Wednesday.
The crackdown involved the police seizure of several media outlets critical of President Slobodan Milosevic and his government.
Spokesman Richard Boucher said the crackdown represents ``a major step in efforts to preserve Milosevic's dictatorship. This nighttime police raid smacks of desperate Bolshevik-style oppression.''
Albright will raise the issue at a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Italy.
Boucher said the State Department plans to add six judges and prosecutors to its list of Yugoslav citizens who are not eligible for visas. He said all have taken repressive actions against the media.
``We will also immediately add family members of several top officials to the regime to our visa ban list,'' Boucher said.
European countries are being asked to take similar action, he added.
--------
Clashes Reported During Serb Opposition Rally
May 17, 2000
By Reuters
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-yugosla.html
BELGRADE (Reuters) - Up to 30,000 people gathered in central Belgrade on Wednesday to vent their anger after the government seized an influential opposition television station.
In the harshest crackdown on independent media to date, Serbian authorities accused Studio B of calling for the violent overthrow of the government.
Two independent radio stations were also closed and a third was taken off the air as the rally got under way. Newspaper journalists said they were unable to get to work at independent daily Blic, housed in the same building as Studio B.
``It is almost impossible to comprehend that a European state at the beginning of the 21st century can act in such a totalitarian way,'' said Freimut Duve, freedom of the media representative at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is based in Vienna.
``This act is aimed basically at destroying all independent media in Serbia,'' he said.
Studio B, the most important opposition television outlet, was run by Belgrade city hall. The council is controlled by the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), the largest opposition party in Serbia and led by Vuk Draskovic -- a prominent political foe of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
CLASHES ON FRINGES OF RALLY
The rally started peacefully on Wednesday evening. But Belgrade media reported two separate clashes with riot police at nearby locations. A doctor at a Belgrade clinic said it had treated six wounded people, some with head and chest injuries.
The independent B2-92 radio station said police in riot gear started beating a group of Red Star Belgrade soccer fans who were trying to join the protest. It said the fans, numbering several hundred, had thrown stones and bottles at the police.
The opposition said the police used teargas.
The independent Beta news agency earlier reported another clash between demonstrators and police. It said police charged with batons when protesters threw stones at a cordon. A Reuters cameraman said two reporters were beaten.
Garbage containers were turned over and set on fire.
Two explosions were heard in the city center, but it was unclear what had caused the blasts. The rally ended at around 10 p.m., but a crowd of around 1,000 stayed nearby, some of them blocking a street with trash cans and other objects.
The opposition accused the authorities of leading the country into a state of emergency and dictatorship. It called for acts of civil disobedience ``to show the regime disagreement with its acts and defend the remaining independent media.''
WESTERN CONDEMNATION
The takeover of Studio B drew strong condemnation abroad.
In Washington, the United States called the crackdown an act of ``desperate Bolshevik-style oppression.''
``The Belgrade regime's move to silence Serbia's independent media represents a major step in efforts to preserve Milosevic's dictatorship,'' said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
In Brussels, European Union External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten said Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic would ultimately lose his battle with the independent media.
``Only a state which is terrified of the truth resorts to sending men in masks into television and radio studios; only a regime determined to try to cut Serbia off completely from the rest of Europe could conceive of behaving in this way.''
The seizure followed a series of recent fines and lawsuits over the independent media's reporting.
In Wednesday's clampdown, B2-92 radio and another independent station, both with premises in Studio B's building, were closed, Studio B editor-in-chief Dragan Kojadinovic said.
Later in the day, another non-government station, Radio Pancevo, said it had been taken off the air as it began broadcasting coverage of the protest rally.
``Our transmitter, located in Belgrade's Visnjica district, was cut off at 1905 when we started a live broadcast of the Belgrade rally to protest closure of Studio B,'' Dragan Vukasinovic, the radio's deputy editor-in-chief, told Reuters.
Ruling parties hailed the seizure of Studio B.
The ultra-nationalist Radicals described it as a ``good, just and courageous decision freeing the citizens of Belgrade and Serbia from the terror of that media house.''
In a statement, the party accused Studio B of broadcasting open calls for a violent overthrow of constitutional order and inciting rebellion against the people and state.
-------- ukraine
Malfunction at Chernobyl Nuke Site
May 17, 2000
http://news.excite.com/news/ap/000517/15/news-chernobyl
WASHINGTON (AP) - A malfunction in a steam pipeline has forced officials at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine to cut power back 50 percent, even as forest fires spread the remnants of radiation from a 1986 disaster at the plant, a U.S. official said Wednesday. The new malfunction caused the turbo generator in the reactor, the only one in operation, to switch off. Repairs are expected to take until Saturday to complete, the official said.
There is no evidence of radiation as a result of the malfunction, the official told The Associated Press.
But, at the same time, the official said, forest fires in the area had caused the circulation into the air of remnants of radiation in roots and stems of plants, with the result that the radiation level in Kiev was elevated slightly,
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, called the malfunction a glitch that disabled the sixth turbo generator in the reactor, the only one still functioning in Chernobyl. As a result, the reactor was powered down to by about 50 percent, the official said.
President Clinton is due to visit Kiev June 6 after summit talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A White House official said there were no radiation concerns at this point.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was no reason for Clinton to change plans.
It's not a big crisis, the official said, adding: It does not appear to be serious.
----
Radiation's Long Reach
Chernobyl's Legacy
Village Voice
Published May 17 - 23, 2000
MONDO WASHINGTON
BY JAMES RIDGEWAY
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0020/ridgeway.shtml
An alarming new report in the British science journal Nature says that radioactive pollution released from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine in 1986 will continue to contaminate British sheep for at least 15 more years. Already, 230,000 sheep in the upland regions of Wales, Cumbria, and Scotland are restricted from being sold for meat because of higher than normal levels of radiocaesium in their blood.
Scientists had originally thought the fallout wouldn't last long because it would bind to the clay matrix of the soil, preventing further uptake. But a recent study suggests they miscalculated. Of the 389 farms involved, tests on three show that some sheep have levels of radiocaesium that are nearly twice the limit deemed safe for human consumption. As bad as the problem is in parts of Britain, it is far worse in Belarus and western Russia, where livestock restrictions are likely to remain in place for another 50 years.
---
Malfunction at Chernobyl Nuke Site
May 17, 2000
By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Chernobyl.html
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- Officials at the Chernobyl nuclear plant said Wednesday its only operating reactor was working normally after a malfunction in a turbo generator forced them to halve power.
``The reactor is working in a normal regime,'' said Chernobyl duty officer Andriy Bilyk.
The plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986, reported the malfunction Monday.
U.S. officials reported details of the power cut Wednesday in Washington. Bilyk said the report did not reveal anything the plant had not already reported.
Chernobyl and the U.S. official said no radiation was released.
When the incident was reported on Monday, plant officials said a turbo-alternator at the plant's only working reactor No. 3 failed before dawn and was shut down for repairs until evening.
Later Wednesday, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker gave a similar account, calling the malfunction a leak.
Reeker said forest fires in Belarus and northern Ukraine had spread radiated debris from the 1986 disaster and caused a slight elevation of radiation levels in Minsk, the Belarus capital.
Reeker said U.S. medical authorities had found no reason ``to take any specific measures.''
Ukraine emergency officials have reported fires in the region, but said they were well outside the 18-mile isolation zone surrounding Chernobyl.
President Clinton is due to visit Kiev on June 6 after summit talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A White House official said there was no reason for Clinton to change plans.
Most nuclear plants in the former Soviet Union, including Chernobyl, experience frequent malfunctions that force a reduction or stoppage of electric production. Most of the incidents do not result in the release of radiation and repairs are generally made quickly.
Ukraine has promised to close Chernobyl down in 2000.
----
Ukraine fires boost radiation in Belarus - U.S.
5/17/00, Magnu96196@aol.com
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Wild fires in Ukraine have stirred up radioactive elements remaining in the environment from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and raised radiation levels downwind in Belarus, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.
``They've detected increased levels of radiation, but not high enough to warrant precautionary measures,'' the U.S. official told Reuters. He said his comments were based on information from U.S., Belarus and Ukrainian officials.
But in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, the duty officer at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant said on Wednesday there were no serious problems there.
``Everything is operating normally,'' the duty officer who declined to be named told Reuters, adding that the plant had announced a 50 percent power output cut on Monday for repairs to its steam-powered turbine.
Another duty officer at the Emergencies Ministry confirmed the plant had cut power by 50 percent since Monday and said the purpose was preventative maintenance which should last until Saturday. He said there was no danger involved whatsoever.
The U.S. official also confirmed that the remaining working reactor at Chernobyl had been reduced by 50 percent in order to fix a malfunction in a steam line that caused a hydrogen leak. He said there was no radioactive release from the leak.
Chernobyl was the site of the world's worst nuclear accident when a reactor caught fire and exploded in 1986, spewing a cloud of radioactive dust over Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and parts of western Europe.
Ukraine has promised to shut Chernobyl's single functioning reactor later this year. It has frequently seen power cuts and temporary shut-downs for maintenance and repairs.
--
Re: Ukraine fires boost radiation in Belarus - U.S.
From: Peter Rickards nifty@cyberhighway.net
When the wild fires raged at INEEL, we were assured that none of the hot spots were engulfed in the flames. It sure is nice to know the DOE is in control. If only the wind knew DOE was in control, everything would be as fine as their press releases. I keep hearing the Midnight Oil song..."How can you sleep when your beds are burning?" If you think about Paula's and other's having to fight the DOE 's intentional burn of waste fields in Colorado, I have to wonder if Denver is going to wake up in time...Peter magnu96196@aol.com wrote:
-------- un
U.S. Calls for an Overhaul on Peacekeeping at U.N.
May 17, 2000
By BARBARA CROSSETTE
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/051700un-peacekeeping.html
UNITED NATIONS, May 16 -- Richard C. Holbrooke, just back from an extended peace mission in Africa, called today for a sweeping overhaul of the United Nations peacekeeping operations and for more money from member nations to make the operations effective.
"Peacekeeping must be fixed in order to be saved," Mr. Holbrooke, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, said at a meeting on the organization's budget.
The debate on the cost and future of United Nations peacekeeping opened at a critical moment. The United Nations is on the defensive for its performance under fire in Sierra Leone, and is and in the midst of a painful self-examination -- and some trading of accusations -- about what went wrong and why.
United Nations peacekeeping is stretched almost beyond capacity, with substantial military and administrative operations in East Timor, Kosovo and Sierra Leone, where a renegade rebel, Foday Sankoh, and his Revolutionary United Front took about 500 peacekeepers hostage.
A risky mission is about to be sent to Congo and, by July, the Security Council will be faced with a call for a large force on the Lebanese-Israeli border to move in after the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Today Mr. Holbrooke recommended expanding the peacekeeping department significantly and allowing Secretary General Kofi Annan more flexibility in staffing it. That matter is a constant battle here, where staff allocations of all kinds are micromanaged by the General Assembly.
Mr. Holbrooke also asked countries that have been given discounts on peacekeeping bills for more than a quarter of a century to offer to pay more as their economies grow. All the organization's member states pay a proportion of the total peacekeeping costs.
For the first time, five nations answered the appeal and said they would pay more: Cyprus, Estonia, Israel, Hungary and the Philippines. Mr. Holbrooke said in an interview that he hoped to see at least four or five more on the list.
In his speech, Mr. Holbrooke announced that a high-level review over how to contribute better to peacekeeping was under way in the Clinton Administration, which many diplomats and officials here say badly let down the United Nations in Sierra Leone. Mr. Holbrooke backed the establishment of a rapid-deployment unit at United Nations headquarters to work with a roster of available military, police and civilian experts to be called on as needed.
Most diplomats here, stung by humiliation in Sierra Leone, would not fault the conclusion that peacekeeping needs to be rethought.
But not all are happy to let the United States take the lead, saying that decisions in Washington, including a vote by Congress to lower American peacekeeping assessments in violation of international agreements, have caused much of the problem.
Ambassador Michael Powles of New Zealand, speaking today for his country as well as Australia and Canada, told the budget assembly that "some countries have been presenting the problems associated with peacekeeping financing as if they were solely the making of the United Nations and attributable to the fact that the peacekeeping scale has not been revised since it was created in 1973."
"This is not the whole story," he said, making a direct reference to the United States position. He blamed debt defaulters instead. The United States owes more than $1 billion.
In Sierra Leone, attacks on peacekeepers began when they were being deployed in rebel strongholds, especially diamond-mining areas. The attacks and abductions changed the character of the United Nations operation overnight.
What happened in Sierra Leone provokes debate -- and some name-calling -- at several levels.
On the ground in Freetown, the United Nations has had problems with both its military commander, Maj. Gen. Vijay Kumar Jetley of India, and the Secretary General's special envoy, Oluyemi Adeniji, a retired Nigerian diplomat.
General Jetley, who has commanded the peacekeeping force since it was sent to Sierra Leone, is popular with civilian United Nations officials there, and his Indian troops when fully deployed will make up a third of the total force.
A vanguard of 150 Indian troops arrived in Freetown today, with a full battalion of 1,000 soldiers expected in the next few days. The reinforcement raises the United Nations peacekeeping force to 9,150 members.
General Jetley has been criticized by leaders of several contingents from other nations taking part in the peacekeeping mission, among them the Zambians and Kenyans. They describe him as high-handed and uncooperative, and there are serious discussions about replacing him, some officials say.
Mr. Adeniji has also created problems by running his own show without keeping officials, including Mr. Annan, informed. Little useful analysis of what was happening in rebel-held areas was ever collected or forwarded to New York, officials complain, although relief organizations say they knew a great deal.
On Sunday, Mr. Adeniji went to Monrovia, Liberia, to negotiate with President Charles Taylor for the release of more than 130 hostages, since the Liberian president continues to influence at least a part of Mr. Sankoh's rebel force, the Revolutionary United Front. But he did not tell Mr. Annan or other officials here of his freelance mission. United Nations headquarters found out through an African-based journalist who got a tip about a hostage release.
Replacing either man, however, would not be easy. India has already taken umbrage at official criticism of its commander, and has threatened to abandon the mission.
Nigeria, which had its own forces in Sierra Leone under a West African regional operation before pulling most of them in recent weeks, appears to have an interest in having a free hand in the affairs of Sierra Leone. The Nigerians had put pressure on the Secretary General to name a Nigerian as special representative.
A more fundamental problem for the United Nations is that it was never party to the Lome agreement last year that created the now-sabotaged peace deal in Sierra Leone.
"In the Lome agreement the U.N. were not supposed to be the peacekeeping force," said Bernard Miyet, the undersecretary general for peacekeeping, who briefed the Security Council on Monday after returning from Sierra Leone. "We were supposed at the beginning to have a few dozen military observers."
U.S. Team in Sierra Leone
WASHINGTON, May 16 -- Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen said that an Air Force team arrived in Sierra Leone today to assess the security of the airport outside the capital, Freetown.
Mr. Annan has criticized Washington for refusing to send American peacekeepers into Sierra Leone. But Mr. Cohen said the United States is continuing to work with Nigeria to figure out how to help that country if it sends in peacekeepers.
"We have in fact been in contact with the Nigerians to see how and if they can participate in a very active role and what will be required to support their efforts," Mr. Cohen said today at a Pentagon briefing.
The United States may provide some equipment to the Nigerians, as well as transportation, according to Kenneth Bacon, the Pentagon spokesman.
"The problem isn't people willing to be part of the United Nations or regional forces," said Mr. Bacon. "The issue is to get them to be effective."
-------- us military
Recruiting in Texas
by Sgt. Kap Kim,
May 17, 2000
Army Link
http://www.dtic.mil/armylink/news/May2000/a20000517hoodvisit.html
FORT HOOD, Texas (Army News Service, May 17, 2000) -- Tankers from Fort Hood's, "Ironhorse" 4th Division were the tour guides on a trip to the virtual battlefield for a group of Texas middle schoolers late last month.
Approximately 330 students from Belton (Texas) Intermediate Middle School visited the Close Combat Tactical Trainer with soldiers of 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment.
At the CCTC, the students sat in the turret of the simulator and sent imaginary rounds down range. The soldiers then showed them the real thing at the 3-66 motorpool.
As the children received a rare opportunity to negotiate the virtual terrain as a tank driver, load rounds as the loader and shoot rounds within the CCTT's database as the gunner, 12-year-old Stephanie Collins thought that sitting in the Abrams' gunner's seat was nothing short of "cool."
"I shot up and it was like ... 'boom!'" she explained. " ... Just like a video game."
Sgt. Shawn A. Kline, a Company C, 3/66 tanker, said for safety reasons he thinks bringing the children into the CCTT is a lot better than taking them out to an actual tank range, and the CCTT still provides them a realistic tank.
"This is great," Kline added. "It gives kids a better understanding of what the military's about. If you introduce the Army to them at a younger age, the better they'll accept it."
In fact, 12-year-old Kerri Humphrey learned that the Army isn't all about blood and guts during her visit to the CCTT. "I never knew the Army had simulators. I always thought they just went out with all their stuff and started shooting real stuff."
For 12-year-old Kyle Hubik, vicariously being tank crewman was exciting. "I got to run over the enemy, and I got to take him out, and I'm the only person who got into a wreck," Hubik bragged. "It was really fun."
Spc. David L. Cox, a Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3/66, mortarman, saw the CCTT and motorpool tour as a recruiting tool for the group of sixth graders. "I was recruited as a kid," Cox said. "My father, who was in the Navy, talked to me when I was a kid about service to country - about my obligation to my country. These are the things you can only pick up as a kid.
"I hope these kids leave here with a small sense of curiosity of a noncivilian life, a little bit of pride in their country and to know that this is their Army - that this belongs to them."
Ava Bartek, a sixth-grade science teacher, said that being able to visit Fort Hood gave the students a "hands-on" experience to history, and to maybe see what it was like.
"Fort Hood is such an integral part of this entire area. A lot of the kids, even though they live here, never get to see it. I want to say thanks, it's been well organized, and the people here have been great," Bartek said.
Spc. John C. Kinder, a Co. C, 3/66 tanker, who helped the children with the Meals Ready to Eat during lunch, said hanging around with the children was enjoyable for him.
"It just felt good to hear some of them say that they wanted to grow up to be tankers," Kinder said.
According to Lt. Col. John Hadjis, 3/66's commander, because soldiers are constantly in the field and deployed around the world, sometimes the only reason the community knows that the Army is here is because they see soldiers eating in their restaurants.
"This is a part of that whole 'staying-joined-with-the-community thing,'" he said. "I think it's important that the Army stays connected with society. I think the initiative with the schools and volunteering keep us connected with the people we defend. It helps tell the Army story to the community."
(Editor's note: Sgt. Kap Kim is assigned to the 4th Division Public Affairs Office.)
----
Could women sink U.S. submarines?
USA Today
05/17/00
By Tracy Moran,
http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/columnists/tmoran/tm5.htm
As a woman, I love watching women do well professionally. I love the fact that the U.S. women's soccer team is more successful than the men's team. I love the fact that Elizabeth Dole jumped into the 2000 presidential race, and I love it when I see women in uniform, serving our country and facing challenges that would make many men crumble.
Women are working in nearly every military field. But there's still a glass ceiling of sorts for female sailors - in the form of a steel hatch, restricting them from serving in the U.S. submarine force.
For much of the 100-year history of U.S. submarines, the idea of having women serve alongside men wasn't an issue. But after women secured spots on surface vessels and combat ships in 1994, a debate has emerged on whether the military should have female submariners.
Women should be free to pursue the careers of their choice, and, in theory, I support the idea of women serving on submarines, and in Special Forces, and in ground combat (other all-male clubs). But, then again, a lot of things look good on paper.
A Pentagon civilian advisory panel recently recommended that military leaders allow women to serve on submarines. The Navy is still awaiting the official recommendation, and it will review and report on the panel's findings later this year, but the recommendation is not legally binding and no changes are imminent.
The panel recommended that the Navy start by allowing female officers to serve on Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, sometimes referred to as Trident submarines or "boomers." The Navy has 18 of these submarines in service, and they are the largest in the fleet.
The panel also recommended that the Navy redesign its new Virginia-class attack submarines to accommodate women. The first one won't be commissioned until 2006, so conversions are possible. But the cost for reconfiguring these vessels is estimated at $4 million to $5 million each.
This begs the question of why the new submarines weren't designed with women in mind. According to Cmdr. Brian Cullin, press secretary to Navy Secretary Richard Danzig, there were two reasons: "It would compromise an already pretty tight habitability situation for the men on board. Two... any increase to accommodations would cut into the war-fighting capability of the platform." In other words, such a design "would have a negative impact on operational capability."
In general, the idea of converting submarines to accommodate coed crews has raised two primary concerns. Chief among them is privacy. Submarine crews of 130 to 140 men share the space equivalent to that of a medium-sized home, with few bathrooms and showers and little or no privacy. To sleep, men slip into racks that are stacked three or four high. They change clothes next to their beds, and they sometimes "hotbunk" or share their racks with others on alternating shifts.
The second concern deals with cost. Throwing female enlisted sailors into the mix would require building female berthing areas, and with shrinking defense budgets, that would mean taking money from other vital areas to cover the conversions. To military leaders, that's simply not practical.
So it appears that the restriction of women is based on practicalities, rather than bias. After all, no one is questioning a woman's ability to get the job done. "[Submariners] have no doubt that women could succeed and do the job in the submarine force," Cullin said.
It seems that the Navy should have done more to work women into the design of the Virginia-class submarines. But the high cost of reconfiguring these vessels is impractical.
Allowing female officers to serve on the boomers, as the panel recommended, would be a mistake at this point. What on earth would these officers do in the future with no clear career track for women within the submarine force? Instead, let the Navy first develop vessels that can accommodate coed crews, and let them develop a career path for women. This may take many years, but doing it correctly will be worth the wait.
I know it doesn't seem fair, and women should be able to pursue any job they desire - now. But this isn't just any job. All-male submarine crews have been protecting this nation for a century, and until we can find a way to create a coed "Silent Service" without affecting its ability to protect the United States, equality will just have to wait.
Tracy Moran is the opinion editor for USATODAY.com. To talk back to Tracy Moran, click here.
mailto:tmoran@usatoday.com
---
Clinton supports military retiree benefits
USA Today
05/16/00- Updated 10:56 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncstue07.htm
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton supports legislation to extend prescription drug coverage to all military retirees, the White House said Tuesday.
Clinton was appearing in the Rose Garden to announce support for a bipartisan House defense committee plan to include the coverage for the approximately 1.4 million retirees over age 65 who are not already covered. Retirees under 65 already get the benefit, which helps subsidize the cost of prescription medication.
''It's an effort to spur some action on broader reform in Medicare to provide prescription drug coverage,'' said White House spokesman Jake Siewert.
Clinton has been pressing the GOP-led Congress to pass universal prescription drug coverage, arguing that the cost of drugs is far too high for many elderly people on fixed incomes.
Uninsured elderly buy a third less drugs than those whose purchases are reimbursed, but pay nearly twice as much out of pocket, the White House said.
Republicans in Congress favor a more limited drug benefit that would help only the neediest elderly.
The House Armed Services Committee recommended extending coverage as part of the defense spending bill sent to the House last week. The House is scheduled to vote Wednesday.
''I am particularly pleased with the committee's comprehensive package of military health care reforms that will lead to significant improvements in access to quality health care by all military beneficiaries, including over-65 military retirees,'' committee Chairman Floyd Spence, R-S.C., said in a statement last week.
The House bill would allow retirees to purchase drugs through a mail-order program run by the Pentagon. Retirees over age 65 would pay $8 toward a 90-day prescription, as younger Defense Department retirees already do.
The provision also would allow all Medicare-eligible retirees to buy drugs at local pharmacies. Retirees would pay 20% of the cost of drugs at a Pentagon-affiliated pharmacy, or 25 at an unaffiliated store.
-------- us nuc facilities
Congressional Hearing on DOE Whistleblowers
5/17/00 5:03:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time, tomc@whistleblower.org writes:
The U.S. House Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on Tuesday, May 23 at 9:30 a.m. to focus on the Department of Energy's whistleblower program, entitled, "Is There Really 'Zero Tolerance' for Contractor Reprisal?" Featured at the hearing will be the testimony of whistleblowers from the Lawrence Livermore National Lab and the Hanford Site, as well as a representative from the Government Accountability Project on one panel, with DOE's General Counsel Mary Ann Sullivan and Assistant Secretary David Michaels on another, and a third panel with contractor representatives.
From the Commerce Committee Chairman letter to Secy Bill Richardson, dated March 30:
"With respect to this matter, I am disappointed that you and Ms. Sullivan continue to refuse to take the basic steps to ensure a workplace in which employee concerns about safety can be expressed without fear of reprisal. DOE's inaction over the past two years with respect to Mr. Lappa's situation demonstrates a lack of concern for ensuring a safe workplace, and sends a chillingly clear message to employees at LLNL and throughout the complex that whistleblowers are not wanted."
-and, from later on in the same letter -
"In the past several weeks, the Committee has been contacted by several whistleblowers who have described acts of retaliation and discrimination, many of whom are employees at facilities operated by the UC system. As the Committee reviews these matters, I am certain that I will have additional questions for you. There seems to be a much larger problem than you and Ms. Sullivan are willing to recognize. DOE's lack of response to Mr. Lappa's situation -- responding only after repeated requests for action from this Committee -- indicate not only that DOE is unwilling to actively enforce your zero tolerance policy, but that your lack of attention to these matters may have already created a chilling effect at LLNL and throughout the DOE complex, making employees afraid to raise legitimate safety concerns."
For more information, contact the House Commerce Committee, Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, at 202-226-2424.
Tom Carpenter Government Accountability Project 1402 3rd Avenue, Suite 1215 Seattle, WA 98101 (206) 292-2850 (206) 292-0610 fax www.whistleblower.org
----
Aid Pledged to Sick Workers
by Marylia Kelley - marylia@earthlink.net
from Tri-Valley CAREs' May 2000 newsletter, Citizen's Watch
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson pledged his Department would reverse over 50 years of denial that it caused injury, illness and death amongst its employees in U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories and factories.
"Justice for nuclear weapons workers is finally happening. The government is, for a change, on their side," Richardson proclaimed in an April 12th press conference to announce his support for a new initiative to provide compensation to some current and former workers exposed to toxic and radioactive contaminants on the job.
Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety and Health, Dr. David Michaels said workers at Livermore Lab suffered exposures to plutonium, tritium, beryllium and other deadly materials. These workers will be eligible to file claims, he said.
Admitting responsibility is an historic first step in the long journey of reparation, but there are serious limitations to the DOE compensation plan. Justice for workers and others made sick by the bomb-building enterprise remains a still-elusive glimmer.
The DOE proposes to grant only a small number of claims nationwide. Michaels estimated that 3,000 workers would be eligible. He said there are perhaps 1,500 workers with radiation-induced cancers, 750 cases of beryllium disease and 750 workers with other illnesses caused by their employment.
Despite pronouncements by Richardson and Michaels that their agency would no longer battle and belittle the workers' claims, it is worth noting that most of the injured will have to prove exposure to be eligible for compensation. That will present a difficult if not impossible hurdle for many.
In some cases the workers' medical records are missing, in others their files were altered after they became ill, leaving them without recourse to even the state-run workers compensation programs. A number of Livermore workers have spoken to us over the years about the "black holes" in the official records, where information about exposure goes in - but nothing comes out. We believe the problem to be widespread.
We also know of cases at Livermore and elsewhere where the workers were too intimidated to report the exposure to their supervisors. One contractor who experienced "flu-like symptoms" after becoming enveloped in toxic gas told us he was afraid of losing his job. If they become ill as a result of their exposures, these workers will likely not be able to get help.
DOE knows that this is a problem. Michaels said that the agency would take a sick worker's job description into account, but for most workers the burden of proof still falls heavily on their shoulders.
Even in cases where exposure was severe and demonstrable, the worker's eligibility hinges on whether he or she suffered the specific illness on the DOE list for that contaminant. For example, a worker exposed to beryllium dust who develops lung disease may be eligible, but the worker standing next to him suffering the same exposure will not receive any compensation if he becomes ill with cancer. While there is a strong correlation between beryllium exposure and cancer, that disease is not on the DOE list for that contaminant.
Moreover, the DOE initiative does not acknowledge or help the plight of nuclear plant neighbors, some of whom suffered exposures as high as the employees.
In Washington they call it the "Hanford mile," and many of its neighbors have developed cancers and other rare diseases. In Livermore, a study by the California state Department of Health Services found Lab workers suffered a 400% increased incidence of malignant melanoma, a potentially fatal form of skin cancer. The study correlated the increases in cancer with five workplace factors. In 1995, the state completed a thirty-year study of Livermore's young - and found that children who were born here suffered a 640% increase in malignant melanoma. Children who were merely moved here while young had a 240% increase. And the list goes on.
Under the Energy Department's plan, eligible workers, or their survivors, could receive a lump-sum payment of $100,000. In other cases, sick workers could get medical costs and lost wages, a package that could potentially exceed $100,000.
DOE estimated it would need $120 million annually for the first three years and then about $80 million a year after that. It is unclear as yet whether Congress will appropriate those modest dollars.
The good news is that some who were made sick may receive aid. As one ill worker, retired from Livermore Lab told us, "I'm dying. I want to know that my wife will have enough money to pay off my bills and to live."
The bad news is it is not enough. Not nearly enough.
If you or a family member may have a DOE job-related illness, you can call a new toll-free number set up by the Department at (877) 447-9756. We at Tri-Valley CAREs are compiling a data base of residents and workers who believe their illnesses could be Lab related. Please call us at (925) 443-7148.
Marylia Kelley Executive Director, Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA 94550 Phone: 1-925-443-7148 Fax: 1-925-443-0177 Web site: http://www.igc.org/tvc
-------- colorado
State seeks new fund to deal with Flats taint
Denver Post
05/17/00
By Julia C. Martinez Denver Post Staff Writer
http://www.denverpost.com/news/news0517l.htm May 17 - State Attorney General Ken Salazar has asked two Colorado congressmen to make additions to their proposals for the cleanup of the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons factory to avoid future lawsuits over environmental damage.
In a letter to Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., and Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., Salazar recommended that the two Washington lawmakers include in their proposed legislation the creation of a fund to pay for damages incurred by Colorado due to contamination from the site.
"It's my view that we can work with the congressional delegation so we can get a head start on the resolution of damages," Salazar said.
Money from the "mitigation fund" would be used for environmental restoration and preservation of the site where plutonium triggers for thermonuclear weapons were once made. Plutonium is a highly toxic, radioactive material.
The money also could be used to purchase privately owned mineral rights at Rocky Flats and adjacent uncontaminated mountain lands to integrate into a broader open space plan, Salazar said.
Salazar said he wants to avoid another Rocky Mountain Arsenal, where lawsuits against the federal government over natural resource contamination have been ongoing for 17 years.
Allard and Udall have led the effort in Congress to ensure a protective cleanup and preservation of the 6,000-acre site's ecological, scenic and historic significance, sponsoring the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Act and the Rocky Flats Open Space Act.
The congressmen could not be reached late in the day, but Salazar said he had spoken with both lawmakers and thought they were receptive to the idea.
If the state's natural resource damage claims are not addressed in the legislation, Salazar said in the letter released Tuesday that his office would "vigorously pursue" a lawsuit against the Department of Energy and other responsible parties for recovery of damages.
"These damages may include damages to wildlife, air, water and groundwater," he said. The cleanup of Rocky Flats is expected to be completed by 2006 at a cost of $7.7 billion.
Salazar said the Department of Energy estimates that former nuclear weapons plants have contaminated more than 1.7 trillion gallons of groundwater and more than 40 million cubic yards of soil nationwide that will require remediation. Salazar said the use of those lands will have to be restricted for centuries "because there is simply no technology to abate the radioactive hazard at these sites."
"By combining state, federal and local resources, we can bequeath to our descendants a crown jewel of open space, rich with ecological and historical significance that will be treasured for decades to come," Salazar wrote.
Salazar said the state needs to move quickly if it is going to begin acquisition of privately held land. He said federal help is needed.
-------- new mexico
Los Alamos hot zones studied; fire still on move
Wednesday, May 17, 2000
POST-INTELLIGENCER NEWS SERVICES
http://www.seattlep-i.com:80/national/wfir17.shtml
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. -- Environmental experts have begun overlaying maps of burned sections of Los Alamos National Laboratory property atop maps showing the location of lab sites that are environmentally contaminated -- hoping the two will help them find pollution hot spots that need to be protected from erosion.
"With the monsoon (season) coming, you'll have some tremendous erosion," said Lab Director John Browne.
The 46,000-acre wildfire, 35 percent contained, was moving northeast yesterday, away from Los Alamos and toward unburned forestland yesterday, said David Seesholtz, a fire information spokesman.
A Forest Service spokesman, Jim Paxon, called it the largest fire in the state's history.
In the wake of the fire, which burned about 7,700 acres at the lab site, officials said they are concerned about the potential for denuded hillsides and canyons to be rapidly eroded, which would flush chemical or radioactive contaminates into streams and creeks that feed into the Rio Grande.
"The No. 1 concern, as far as the public goes, is to assure people that we can and are taking steps to ensure that that contamination does not move off-site and remains on lab property," said Browne.
Meantime, thousands of people streamed back into the fire-devastated town of Los Alamos yesterday. They found smoke lingering in the air and most stores closed or without such staples as meat and vegetables.
The fire left 405 families homeless; 20 percent of the town remained off-limits to residents. Large pockets of the town remained without gas or electricity.
With New Mexico in the midst of a serious drought -- a key factor in the rapid spread of the fire -- officials at the national laboratory are worried that a heavy downpour could rapidly run off the land and strip lab sites of top soil, dragging surface contaminants along in the torrent.
Browne said some ground areas of the lab are covered with 6 inches of soot, a contaminant itself that can adversely affect stream ecology and water quality.
The lab uses substantial quantities of hazardous chemicals and radioactive elements in its research programs, including radioactive plutonium and uranium -- items used to produce thermonuclear bombs.
The lab remained closed yesterday as managers and safety experts began what is expected to be an arduous assessment of each facility so it can be safely restarted and employees allowed back to work.
The fire started outside of town on National Park Service land on May 4, at Bandelier Monument, when a controlled burn meant to clear away dry brush and prevent future wildfires was pushed out of control by high winds.
In Washington, Republicans called for the reversal of a 10-year-old policy of using controlled fires instead of timber harvesting to control growth in forests.
Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, chairman of the Senate Energy subcommittee on forests and public lands, said federal policies relying on controlled fires in Western states don't provide sufficient protection to nearby communities, and often cause greater environmental damage than timber harvesting.
Also yesterday, the House passed a non-binding resolution urging the federal government to pay millions in compensation for lost property because the fire was started by the National Park Service.
----
Los Alamos hot zones studied; fire still on move
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Wednesday, May 17, 2000
POST-INTELLIGENCER NEWS SERVICES
http://www.seattlep-i.com/national/wfir17.shtml
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. -- Environmental experts have begun overlaying maps of burned sections of Los Alamos National Laboratory property atop maps showing the location of lab sites that are environmentally contaminated -- hoping the two will help them find pollution hot spots that need to be protected from erosion.
"With the monsoon (season) coming, you'll have some tremendous erosion," said Lab Director John Browne.
The 46,000-acre wildfire, 35 percent contained, was moving northeast yesterday, away from Los Alamos and toward unburned forestland yesterday, said David Seesholtz, a fire information spokesman.
A Forest Service spokesman, Jim Paxon, called it the largest fire in the state's history.
In the wake of the fire, which burned about 7,700 acres at the lab site, officials said they are concerned about the potential for denuded hillsides and canyons to be rapidly eroded, which would flush chemical or radioactive contaminates into streams and creeks that feed into the Rio Grande.
"The No. 1 concern, as far as the public goes, is to assure people that we can and are taking steps to ensure that that contamination does not move off-site and remains on lab property," said Browne.
Meantime, thousands of people streamed back into the fire-devastated town of Los Alamos yesterday. They found smoke lingering in the air and most stores closed or without such staples as meat and vegetables.
The fire left 405 families homeless; 20 percent of the town remained off-limits to residents. Large pockets of the town remained without gas or electricity.
With New Mexico in the midst of a serious drought -- a key factor in the rapid spread of the fire -- officials at the national laboratory are worried that a heavy downpour could rapidly run off the land and strip lab sites of top soil, dragging surface contaminants along in the torrent.
Browne said some ground areas of the lab are covered with 6 inches of soot, a contaminant itself that can adversely affect stream ecology and water quality.
The lab uses substantial quantities of hazardous chemicals and radioactive elements in its research programs, including radioactive plutonium and uranium -- items used to produce thermonuclear bombs.
The lab remained closed yesterday as managers and safety experts began what is expected to be an arduous assessment of each facility so it can be safely restarted and employees allowed back to work.
The fire started outside of town on National Park Service land on May 4, at Bandelier Monument, when a controlled burn meant to clear away dry brush and prevent future wildfires was pushed out of control by high winds.
In Washington, Republicans called for the reversal of a 10-year-old policy of using controlled fires instead of timber harvesting to control growth in forests.
Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, chairman of the Senate Energy subcommittee on forests and public lands, said federal policies relying on controlled fires in Western states don't provide sufficient protection to nearby communities, and often cause greater environmental damage than timber harvesting.
Also yesterday, the House passed a non-binding resolution urging the federal government to pay millions in compensation for lost property because the fire was started by the National Park Service.
---
Fire underscores safety issues
USA Today
By Alcestis "Cooky" Oberg
http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/ncguest2.htm
When U.S. officials assured the public last weekend that no radioactive materials were burned in the Los Alamos, N.M., fire, the truth of that statement depended on what one defines as "radioactive materials."
The "radioactive materials" stored in reinforced concrete bunkers were OK, perhaps. But the "radioactive materials" in various dumps and waste sites - not to mention the radioactivity absorbed into the water and vegetation during the 60 years of Los Alamos National Laboratory's involvement with nuclear material - was another matter.
Millions of cubic feet of waste containing remnants of uranium, plutonium and tritium are estimated to be within the grounds of the huge nuclear weapons complex. The high winds of a flash fire could send bursts of radiation into the air both from burned brush that had absorbed radioactive materials from the soil and from the soil itself.
As the feds finally admitted, the fire's fierceness had prevented them from determining exactly which waste sites may or may not have burned. An independent monitoring system in and around the lab area that should have given the public instant data suddenly went silent during the fire. Accurate, independent information was inaccessible to the public for two critical days of the fire. Meanwhile, the smoke cloud from the fire, containing who knows what, blew across several states and over millions of people.
A slow response
On Monday, federal and state officials finally did what they should have done when the fire first got out of hand: expanded air sampling and pooled resources to do a thorough evaluation of the effect on air quality. Now, radioactive data will be available in two hours instead of several days, and the results of chemical tests for 100 different substances can be known in three days rather than a week.
An early lesson of this fire is that officials need a system that provides a much more focused and intense monitoring effort than we saw in the first days of this fire. It probably would be too costly to keep intense monitoring efforts permanently in place at all U.S. nuclear storage sites, but an interagency quick-response team should be created that could be in place within hours after the start of such an emergency.
The team's monitors should measure toxic metals and hydrocarbons as well as radioactivity in order to determine the nature and magnitude of an emerging public health hazard. An effort should be made to make all data instantly available by satellite, because the emergency itself - a fire such as this one or an explosion of nuclear material - could knock out the very sensors and data lines set up to monitor the situation.
Enlist citizen-scientists
As we learned from Chernobyl, dangerous radiation can be carried on the wind and brought down to Earth by rain, creating radioactive hot spots hundreds of miles away and endangering a nation's food chain. Networks of citizen-scientists could be trained to do remote sampling of soil and air and to measure what dangers, if any, are posed to populations far away from the emergency site.
Public information on such an emergency has to be honest and constant. It is disingenuous for a public official to say there's no health risk when one cannot even access potentially dangerous sites or measure such hazards with factual certainty.
The public health emergency will not be over when the fire goes out in New Mexico. The fire's destruction of tons of vegetation may create a health emergency when summer rains flush layers of buried radioactive and toxic soils into the state's rivers and streams.
Citizens should remember: When a government official says the public is safe, be certain to ask that person what his or her definition of "safe" is.
Alcestis "Cooky" Oberg, a freelance science and technology writer in Houston, is a member of USA TODAY's board of contributors.
-------- new york
This just in from the Corps. Nothing like a little customer service.
Regards,
Greg
"Ruckle, John T HQ02" wrote:
Mr. Wingard:
Thanks for your message. Since I am a general point of contact for the whole of the USACE presence on the web, I try to get our customers closer to a point of contact who knows the relevant topic best.
I am forwarding this message to our Office of Public Affairs.
I hope this helps.
Tim Ruckle HQUSACE
-- From: greg wingard [mailto:gwingard@earthlink.net]
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 5:27 PM
To: Ruckle, John T
Subject: Tonawonda cleanup, or lack thereof
Dear Mr. Ruckle:
I am very concerned about the Army Corps apparent disregard for life and well being in regard to the totally inadequate cleanup being pursued by your agency in Tonawanda, NY, at the Paxair/Linde site.
To set standard orders of magnitude higher than any other related site in the country, is a threat to us, not just in New York, but all across the country.
How the Army Corps could even suggest such an approach is beyond me. Perhaps you are all in bunkers some where ignoring breaking news, like for instance, the recent radiation health study conducted among workers at federal radioactive materials facilities across the country. If you could pass the information along to the rest of the wonks making the apparent stupid decisions, it would be appreciated. In short, the study found that workers exposed over their working life time to 5 rems of radiation were at a 325% increased risk of dying from multiple myloma. As it is legal to expose workers to 5 rems per year, and that exposure level is supposed to have a safety margin built in, a number of conclusions are obvious. The present levels of protection for workers not only do not have a safety margin built in, but are responsible for actually killing a lot of workers. As the standards for protecting the general population are based on the same information as that which is used to derive the occupational standards, the current standards, obviously, do not protect the public. This, of course, also applies to the standards used for soil cleanup, as they are based on pathway assumptions, that rely on human exposure assumption for setting the appropriate cleanup standard. That means the current standards for cleanup are, based on government health studies, way too high. In this context, along comes the Corps of Engineers and unilaterally, with no basis in law, regulation, or precedent, raises the contamination cleanup standards for FUSRAP sites by orders of magnitude.
From the outside, the only apparent explanation, is that those in charge of the decision making are either on the take, or brain dead.
Please make sure that this message gets to the right person in your organization to formulate a response, which specifically states how the Corps of Engineers intends to fix this mess.
I understand the Federal Bureau of Investigation is currently looking into possible criminal violations in connection with the site mentioned above. It is my hope that as many people as possible are jailed. Perhaps that will finally get the attention of the people making these irresponsible, and deadly decisions, that will effect us and generations to come.
I look forward to your response.
Greg Wingard, Executive Director Waste Action Project PO Box 4832 Seattle, WA 98104-0832
-------- tennessee
First part of K-25 probe completed
May 17, 2000
By Frank Munger
News-Sentinel staff writer
http://www.knoxnews.com/editorsview/munger/fm05172000.shtml
A U.S. Department of Energy team from Washington last week wrapped up the historical phase of its investigation of health and safety issues at the K-25 Site and plans to return in June to evaluate current activities at the Oak Ridge plant. A report on the Oak Ridge investigation is due in mid-September.
More than 150 people have been interviewed so far, according to Pat Worthington, team leader on the project, and David Stadler, DOE's deputy assistant secretary for environmental oversight.
The two DOE officials did not disclose any of their findings to date but said the information gathered will be fed into a number of studies, including ones that may help decide how -- and how many -- workers are compensated for illnesses related to the Cold War nuclear workplace.
During individual interviews with former workers, the DOE investigators reportedly tried to determine who worked in hazardous areas of the Oak Ridge plant, what jobs were most at risk, what were the worst hazards and what types of training and protection were made available to K-25 workers at the time.
The uranium-enrichment operation at K-25 was shut down in 1985, but the workforce at Oak Ridge shares many concerns with similar facilities still operating at Paducah, Ky., and Portsmouth, Ohio.
DOE investigators already have made stops at the Kentucky and Ohio plants, where they heard stories of employees working in toxic environments without full knowledge of the hazards or adequate protection.
One big difference among the three plants is that K-25 began operations during the World War II Manhattan Project, a decade before the Paducah and Portsmouth plants took shape.
Generally speaking, the processes and standards applied to the Paducah and Portsmouth facilities were tested first at K-25's gaseous diffusion system, which concentrated the U-235 isotope of uranium for use in weapons or nuclear reactors.
Some critics have suggested the current investigations are a waste of time and simply DOE's belated response to litigation against government contractors at the three sites.
Others have argued that nothing will be accomplished until an independent group takes over regulation of the DOE facilities and reviews the situation without constraint.
Stadler, however, said progress is being made, citing an investigation at K-25 that he headed a couple of years ago.
As a result of that probe, Stadler said, some deteriorated facilities were torn down to eliminate the danger to employees, and other changes were recommended to reduce the risk to workers in contaminated facilities.
"We went back a few months later, and those things were pretty much corrected," Stadler said.
HEPA TROUBLE: The Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge has always had a long, close relationship with Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
It began during the Manhattan Project, when Y-12 produced small quantities of enriched uranium that Los Alamos formulated into the first atomic bomb.
In the decades since then, Y-12 has manufactured parts for many atomic bombs and warheads designed at Los Alamos.
Not surprisingly, when recent forest fires in New Mexico destroyed much of the community around Los Alamos and charred many of the lab's high-security research facilities, the Oak Ridge plant tried to help.
An emergency load of HEPA (high-efficiency particulate) filters was sent to Los Alamos last week to replace those used in overworked ventilation systems at the weapons lab.
A Department of Energy airplane transported more than 200 HEPA filters borrowed from the inventories at Y-12 and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
"We sent as many as we thought we could spare," a Y-12 spokesman said.
The DOE plane reportedly was parked at the Knoxville airport waiting to take some officials visiting Oak Ridge back to New Mexico.
In this case, however, the filters were a bigger priority for the Thursday flight, and the human passengers had to wait an extra day for their return West.
Meanwhile, DOE's Oak Ridge contractors -- Lockheed Martin, UT-Battelle and Bechtel Jacobs -- are leading a fund-raising effort to help counterparts in Los Alamos dislocated from their homes because of the raging fires.
The money will be sent to the Red Cross chapter in Albuquerque, N.M.
----
Nickel Powder/Nuclear Weapons, The Untold Story
http://che-or.8m.com/Nickel03-28-00.htm
By Cliff Honicker, M. A., Director, American Environmental Health Studies Project, Inc., with assistance from Jackie Kittrell, Esq., AEHSP; Sandra Reid, R.N., Romance Carrier, Oak Ridge Health Liaison; Cheryll Dyer, Coalition for a Healthy Environment; [CHE] George Kennedy-White, Esq., AEHSP; Janet Michel, CHE, Mike Knapp, SOCM and Kathryn Swain, M.A., CHE
This paper is dedicated to Ann and Mack Orick, the members of the Coalition for a Healthy Environment and the countless workers at K-25 who came into contact with nickel powder.
[The paper is not included here because of the strong message at the beginning and end. But you can read it yourself at http://che-or.8m.com/Nickel03-28-00.htm. The author concludes that the DOE "created a Health study with a predetermined conclusion." The author accuses DOE of manipulating the cohort base and excluding two-thirds of the people that they acknowledged were potentially exposed to nickel: women and blacks.}
----
First part of K-25 probe completed
Knoxville News-Sentinel
May 17, 2000
By Frank Munger News-Sentinel staff writer
http://www.knoxnews.com/editorsview/munger/fm05172000.shtml
A U.S. Department of Energy team from Washington last week wrapped up the historical phase of its investigation of health and safety issues at the K-25 Site and plans to return in June to evaluate current activities at the Oak Ridge plant.
A report on the Oak Ridge investigation is due in mid-September.
More than 150 people have been interviewed so far, according to Pat Worthington, team leader on the project, and David Stadler, DOE's deputy assistant secretary for environmental oversight.
The two DOE officials did not disclose any of their findings to date but said the information gathered will be fed into a number of studies, including ones that may help decide how -- and how many -- workers are compensated for illnesses related to the Cold War nuclear workplace.
During individual interviews with former workers, the DOE investigators reportedly tried to determine who worked in hazardous areas of the Oak Ridge plant, what jobs were most at risk, what were the worst hazards and what types of training and protection were made available to K-25 workers at the time.
The uranium-enrichment operation at K-25 was shut down in 1985, but the workforce at Oak Ridge shares many concerns with similar facilities still operating at Paducah, Ky., and Portsmouth, Ohio.
DOE investigators already have made stops at the Kentucky and Ohio plants, where they heard stories of employees working in toxic environments without full knowledge of the hazards or adequate protection.
One big difference among the three plants is that K-25 began operations during the World War II Manhattan Project, a decade before the Paducah and Portsmouth plants took shape.
Generally speaking, the processes and standards applied to the Paducah and Portsmouth facilities were tested first at K-25's gaseous diffusion system, which concentrated the U-235 isotope of uranium for use in weapons or nuclear reactors.
Some critics have suggested the current investigations are a waste of time and simply DOE's belated response to litigation against government contractors at the three sites.
Others have argued that nothing will be accomplished until an independent group takes over regulation of the DOE facilities and reviews the situation without constraint.
Stadler, however, said progress is being made, citing an investigation at K-25 that he headed a couple of years ago.
As a result of that probe, Stadler said, some deteriorated facilities were torn down to eliminate the danger to employees, and other changes were recommended to reduce the risk to workers in contaminated facilities.
"We went back a few months later, and those things were pretty much corrected," Stadler said.
*HEPA TROUBLE: The Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge has always had a long, close relationship with Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
It began during the Manhattan Project, when Y-12 produced small quantities of enriched uranium that Los Alamos formulated into the first atomic bomb.
In the decades since then, Y-12 has manufactured parts for many atomic bombs and warheads designed at Los Alamos.
Not surprisingly, when recent forest fires in New Mexico destroyed much of the community around Los Alamos and charred many of the lab's high-security research facilities, the Oak Ridge plant tried to help.
An emergency load of HEPA (high-efficiency particulate) filters was sent to Los Alamos last week to replace those used in overworked ventilation systems at the weapons lab.
A Department of Energy airplane transported more than 200 HEPA filters borrowed from the inventories at Y-12 and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
"We sent as many as we thought we could spare," a Y-12 spokesman said.
The DOE plane reportedly was parked at the Knoxville airport waiting to take some officials visiting Oak Ridge back to New Mexico.
In this case, however, the filters were a bigger priority for the Thursday flight, and the human passengers had to wait an extra day for their return West.
Meanwhile, DOE's Oak Ridge contractors -- Lockheed Martin, UT-Battelle and Bechtel Jacobs -- are leading a fund-raising effort to help counterparts in Los Alamos dislocated from their homes because of the raging fires.
The money will be sent to the Red Cross chapter in Albuquerque, N.M.
Frank Munger covers the Department of Energy for the News-Sentinel. He can be reached at 423-482-9213 or at twig1@knoxnews.infi.net. This column is also available on the Web at www.knoxnews.com/editorsview/munger/
-------- us nuc weapons
Key House vote on nuclear weapons policy as soon as TOMORROW;
Senate vote as soon as NEXT WEEK
May 17, 2000
TO: supporters of nuclear weapons reductions and de-alerting
FR: Daryl Kimball and Stephen Young
As soon as TOMORROW, the House may debate an amendment offered by to the fiscal 2001 Defense Authorization bill that would allow the President to reduce U.S. strategic nuclear force levels below START I levels (approx. 6000) and take weapons off combat status (i.e. de-alert). Under current law (http://www.clw.org/coalition/xcutfy99.htm), such actions are prohibited until and unless START II is implemented -- an unlikely near-term prospect.
IF the House rules committee allows it, an amendment sponsored by Allen (D-ME), McGovern (D-MA) and Gendjenson (D-CT), could be voted on as soon as TOMORROW. It would allow the President the flexibility to reduce the U.S. arsenal below START I levels as long as the "... reductions in the strategic nuclear delivery systems of the United States are to be carried out in a verifiable, symmetrical, and reciprocal manner with Russia to ensure that the level of strategic nuclear delivery systems deployed by the United States does not fall below the lev