NucNews - November 5, 2005 -------- NUCLEAR -------- canada N.B. on list for national waste site By SHANNON HAGERMAN dgleg@nb.aibn.com Daily Gleaner November 5, 2005 http://www.canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051105/DGEBRIEF/311050076/-1/FRONTPAGE Premier Bernard Lord did not rule out the possibility of storing Canada's nuclear waste in New Brunswick but added there's more nuclear reactors in central Canada where spent fuel will need storage facilities. Lord said political leaders shouldn't jump to a "not-in-my-backyard" stance when it comes to storing Canada's nuclear waste, saying the decision should be based on science. "I could do like everybody else and say, 'No, we don't want it here.' No one would jump and say bring it here," the premier told reporters in Saint John on Friday. "(But) I think the decision has to be based on science and scientific data. What is the safest for Canadians will make more sense and what is cost effective." He said there are more nuclear waste reactors in central Canada than there are in New Brunswick. "It will probably make more sense to do it somewhere else, but we will take the time. I think there has to be a real, reasoned discussion on this and not just a knee-jerk reaction." A federally appointed panel said New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Quebec are potential locations for a long-term nuclear waste facility. Three out of the four provinces operate nuclear reactors, while Saskatchewan is the country's largest uranium producer. Political leaders in Ontario and Saskatchewan are already rejecting the idea of nuclear waste dumps within their borders. Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert slammed the door shut on the idea earlier this week. "Under my leadership in this province there will not be in Saskatchewan a nuclear waste disposal facility," he said. "The people of Saskatchewan have said to me in my conversations with them, it's not something they want to pursue, it's not something my government wants to pursue." The final report of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization was given to the federal government Thursday. Noting that Canada is running out of storage room at its nuclear power stations, the report said the disposal site would be chosen in about 30 years. "This decision-making process will take place over a very lengthy period of time," said organization president Elizabeth Dowdeswell in an interview from Toronto. "As we actually see examples of such sites in operation there are people who become more engaged in the conversation." Dowdeswell said any community that agrees to be the site of a waste disposal facility would have to be willing. Nuclear waste produced by NB Power's Point Lepreau reactor is already stored in New Brunswick in concrete cylinders and vaults, said Pamela McKay, a spokesperson for the utility. The waste is stored on site at the nuclear plant but the utility acknowledges a long-term storage solution must be found. -------- china China flays Indo-US N-deal Saturday November 5, 2005 India News Central Chronicle http://www.centralchronicle.com/20051105/0511195.htm Beijing, Nov 4 Risking the hard-won forward movement in India-China relations, the Chinese official media has attacked the Indo-US nuclear energy cooperation agreement insisting that the bilateral deal will inflict a "hard blow" to the global non-proliferation regime and trigger a domino effect. "This would be a hard blow on America's leading role in the global proliferation prevention system as well as the system itself," the Renmin Ribao (People's Daily), the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party of China said in an editorial against the Bush Administration for being soft on India and undercutting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). "This will bring about a series of negative impacts," the leading Chinese political newspaper said. "Now that the United States buys another country in with nuclear technologies in defiance of international treaty, other nuclear suppliers also have their own partners of interest as well as good reasons to copy what the United States did," it said. "A domino effect of nuclear proliferation, once turned into reality, will definitely lead to global nuclear proliferation and competition," the paper warned. "Always calling itself a 'guard' for nuclear proliferation prevention, the US often condemns other countries for irresponsible transfers but this time, it hesitates not a bit in revising laws, taking the lead in 'making an exception' (in the case of India)," the editorial noted. -------- treaties Putin ratifies spent nuclear fuel convention 05/ 11/ 2005 (RIA Novosti) http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051105/41999199.html MOSCOW, November 5 - Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law to ratify the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Management, the Kremlin press service said Saturday. The law was adopted by the lower house of the Russian parliament on October 21 and approved by the upper house October 26. ---- Fix nuke-weapons treaty Alexander Hart November 5, 2005 Orlando Sentinel http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-newvoices05b05nov05,0,176143.story?coll=orl-opinion-headlines Nuclear weapons find no rival in sheer destructive power. Most world leaders claim to support nuclear disarmament, but if the disarmament regime is to prevail, we must re-examine its keystone, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Although it is the most widely accepted nuclear treaty, debilitating structural flaws prevent it from advancing global disarmament. Under the NPT, nuclear-weapons states are defined as having "manufactured and exploded a nuclear weapon or other nuclear explosive device prior to January 1, 1967." Where do India, Pakistan, Israel and possibly Iran and North Korea stand under this definition? Allowing them to participate as non-nuclear states would be a mockery of the NPT. We need to subject them to all relevant international safeguards and inspections, which can be accomplished only by bringing them into the treaty. The treaty's definition of a nuclear-weapons state is too restrictive to represent modern political reality and must be modified if the NPT is to be effective. The NPT guarantees the "inalienable right to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination." This clause protects the right to civil nuclear power. It also allows countries to stockpile enriched uranium under the guise of fueling their nuclear submarines. Nations can legally produce weapons-grade plutonium while claiming that it is just a byproduct of their nuclear reactors. They can even conduct nuclear-weapons research as long as they don't actually test a bomb. They can do all of this while still fulfilling their obligations under the NPT. After providing three months' notice to withdraw from the treaty, the nation can legally produce nuclear weapons. The only way to prevent nuclear materials from ending up in weapons would be to ban nuclear power. But nuclear power is not inherently evil and should not be banned. Still, the potential for abuse under the current NPT is wholly unacceptable. A modified treaty should include stronger inspection and enforcement measures. The guaranteed consequence of strong economic sanctions against any nation cloaking a nuclear-weapons program in the robe of the NPT should dissuade most nations from doing so. But worst, the NPT's flaws are difficult to correct. After gaining the support of a majority of the non-nuclear-weapons states and the unanimous consent of the nuclear-weapons states, an amendment must survive the veto powers of at least 25 nations to take effect. If the NPT is to be useful, it must be responsive to change and modernism, adaptable to situations unforeseen by its architects. Instead of the complex veto system currently in place, amendments should require only a simple majority of nations be party to the treaty. This method is in keeping with the democratic spirit of the United Nations but will not be impossible. We can rescue the NPT. And we must. As long as nuclear weapons exist, we face the threat of nuclear war and uncountable loss of life. For everyone's sake, let's fix the treaty and get back on the road to disarmament. -------- u.s. nuc facilities -------- california Diablo grade falls on clerical mistakes Federal regulators are unhappy that three recent drills were identified as actual emergencies By David Sneed The San Luis Obispo Tribune Sat, Nov. 05, 2005 http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/13089541.htm Federal watchdogs have downgraded a key safety rating at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant after operators misidentified three recent drills as actual emergencies in their paperwork. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday lowered Diablo Canyon's performance rating in the area of emergency exercises. This is one of 15 aspects of plant operation that the agency evaluates. Diablo was given satisfactory grades in the other 14 performance areas. The evaluations are based heavily on forms plant operators submit. "We place great importance on the accuracy of the reports we receive from our licensees," said Victor Dricks, NRC spokesman. "It's significant because it reflects a declining trend." In response, plant owner Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has arranged additional training for plant operators to make sure they are filling out their NRC documentation correctly, said Jeff Lewis, plant spokesman. The plant's managers hope to have the problem corrected by the end of the year. Lewis stressed that the paperwork errors did not pose a public safety threat. "This means that we've got an area we need to focus on," he said. "These errors didn't prevent us from making the correct safety decisions." Plants operating without safety issues in any of the 15 areas the NRC inspects are given a green color coding. Areas with problems are given white ratings. Diablo Canyon's drill performance rating dropped from green to white Friday. Almost all of the nation's 103 operating nuclear reactors, including the two at Diablo Canyon, typically have green ratings in all 15 areas of performance with ratings occasionally dropping temporarily into white until problems are corrected. Diablo Canyon typically operates in the 95th percentile in its drill performance rating, Lewis said. The incorrectly completed forms caused both reactors to slip below the 90th percentile into the white category. The percentile ratings are based on the number and seriousness of the mistakes made. -------- connecticut Yankee, Bechtel Gird For Court Nuclear Plant, Firm Trade Barbs By GARY LIBOW Staff Writer November 5, 2005 Hartford Courant http://fox61.trb.com/news/local/hc-nukelawsuit1105.artnov05,0,1799526.story?coll=hc-headlines-local I HAVE A CALL in to Gary to clarify the wording in -- HADDAM - The Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co. and Bechtel Power Co. - two nuclear industry Goliaths whose relationship has soured - will go to trial this spring, with the extent of groundwater contamination at the Connecticut Yankee nuclear power plant likely to be in the spotlight. Bechtel has sued Connecticut Yankee, charging that it failed to disclose serious groundwater contamination until after it had committed to a fixed price and schedule for the decommissioning of CY's Haddam Neck nuclear power plant. In 1999, Connecticut Yankee hired Bechtel to decommission the plant, which produced 110 billion kilowatt hours of electricity over 28 years. The trial is scheduled to begin in May in Superior Court in Hartford. Groundwater contamination has come into the spotlight this week with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's announcement that contaminated water had leaked from a pool at the plant that contained spent nuclear fuel for an undetermined period. An NRC inspector is scheduled to conduct tests and take concrete samples from the spent nuclear fuel pool building on Monday. Bechtel filed a breach of contract complaint against Connecticut Yankee in mid-2003, less than a week after the plant owners said it was poised to fire Bechtel for allegedly shoddy performance. Bechtel charges that Connecticut Yankee mismanaged the decommissioning. The owner's failure to disclose problems from years of poor operation delayed cleanup work nearly three years and increased costs, Bechtel alleges. Bechtel claims Connecticut Yankee's refusal to approve a prompt assessment of the presence of Strontium 90 and other groundwater contaminants significantly delayed the work. The presence of contaminants made it difficult to adhere to the decommissioning schedule, Bechtel argues. Connecticut Yankee terminated Bechtel's contract, effective July 13, 2003. Connecticut Yankee filed a lawsuit weeks later, charging Bechtel with poor performance that forced delays in decommissioning work. "CY terminated Bechtel in the summer of 2003 for defaulting on its decommissioning contract obligations," Connecticut Yankee spokeswoman Kelley Smith said Friday. "Since the termination, CY had taken over the project and is successfully completing decommissioning, including building demolition and site and groundwater cleanup." According to Connecticut Yankee's legal action, Bechtel demonstrated an extensive, long-standing pattern of deficient performance and project mismanagement. Connecticut Yankee, in its lawsuit, stated that Bechtel conducted site inspections and had full access to its records - including site characterization reports, test and fuel data and groundwater monitoring data. Connecticut Yankee stated that Bechtel understood the scope of groundwater contamination at the plant site and vowed to provide all its resources during a 54-month decommissioning schedule. -------- florida Nuclear power plant offline for fueling By Times Staff Writer Published November 5, 2005 http://www.sptimes.com/2005/11/05/Citrus/Nuclear_power_plant_o.shtml CRYSTAL RIVER - As scheduled, the nuclear unit at Progress Energy's Crystal River energy complex has shut down temporarily so crews can replace fuel and perform maintenance on the 838-megawatt generating plant. Extra workers have come to Crystal River to help replace one-third of the nuclear fuel in the reactor and perform major maintenance on the unit, the company said in a news release. Nuclear power plants are shut down every two years or so to replace fuel and perform maintenance. The nuclear unit is one of five electric generating plants at Crystal River; the other four are fueled by coal. These and other Florida generating plants will provide electric power for customers while the nuclear plant is out of service. -------- new jersey NRC to increase oversight of Oyster Creek By MICHELLE PERRY Staff Writer November 5, 2005, Ocean County Observer http://www.ocobserver.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051105/NEWS/511050321 LACEY — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will temporarily increase its oversight of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, after an inspection found that the plant did not properly follow procedures when sea grass blocked a plant water intake structure on Aug. 6, officials said yesterday. Neil Sheehan, public affairs officer for the NRC, said that during the Aug. 6 incident, plant operators did not declare an alert within 15 minutes after sea grass became trapped against one of its water intake screens, as required. "During that event, there was sea grass intrusion on the north side of the plant's water-intake structure," Sheehan said. "The operators did not declare an alert quickly enough." The NRC is classifying the Aug. 6 alert as a "white" safety incident. The NRC's color classification system for performance indicators and inspection findings ranges from a very low safety issue (green) to a high safety issue (red). White represents a low to moderate safety issue, Sheehan explained. Since this was the plant's second "white" finding this year — the first was for an administrative error in March 2005 — the NRC will increase its oversight of the plant, officials said. The increased oversight will include an extensive NRC team inspection of the station's Emergency Preparedness program and related corrective actions. Oyster Creek officials accepted the NRC's findings, which they said stemmed from Oyster Creek having a "more conservative" alert requirement than the industry. "Most importantly, at no time was there a risk to the employee or public safety," said Bud Swenson, Oyster Creek vice president. According to the inspection by the NRC, the plant didn't declare the alert until 45 minutes after the water level in one intake structure decreased below the alert level, instead of the required 15 minutes. AmerGen is working to align their procedures with the industry norm, and said that the increased oversight should only be for a "short time." "This performance does not meet AmerGen's high standards for its operators," said Swenson. "As a result, we have taken immediate actions to ensure our operators clearly understand this issue and meet all expectations and requirements for strict procedural adherence." An alert is the second lowest of four levels of emergency classification, Sheehan explained. Unusual event is first and the most minor, followed by an alert, a site area emergency and a general emergency. According to AmerGen, safety margins were maintained because the plant has two water intakes and only one became clogged. The plant's requirement for an alert declaration in this situation is more conservative than the industry norm, according to a press release issued by the company. In an NRC follow-up inspection report, A. Randolph Blough, the director to the division of reactor safety, acknowledged that "although the shift crew took actions to mitigate the event and the actual consequences of this event were minimal, the performance problems that caused the failure to classify, if uncorrected, could result in inadequate protection of public health and safety under different circumstances." The NRC follow-up inspection report said that, "your (Oyster Creek's) staff implemented immediate corrective actions, including providing additional guidance to operators and operator training on implementation of the E-plan (Emergency Plan). Therefore, the finding does not present an immediate safety concern. We understand that long-term corrective and preventative measures are being developed." If the finding is finalized it will move the plant from the regulatory response column and place it in the degraded cornerstone column of the NRC's action matrix. This means that the plant would receive additional NRC oversight of its emergency planning program. This will include additional NRC oversight in a team inspection sometime next year. According to AmerGen, the station does intend to accept this preliminary white finding by the NRC. This means that, in time, Oyster Creek will officially move into the degraded cornerstone column of the NRC's action matrix. Performance indicators, like unplanned shutdowns, and inspection findings are two things that help paint a picture for the NRC of how the plant is performing, Sheehan explained. These columns represent that picture. Moving into the degraded cornerstone column means "the plant will have more engagement with us," Sheehan simplified. Meanwhile, the NRC also announced yesterday that it has assigned a new senior resident inspector to the Lacey facility. Marc S. Ferdas replaces Robert Summers, who was reassigned to the NRC Regional Office in King of Prussia, Pa. Federas previously was a resident inspector at the Hope Creek power plant in Hancock's Bridge. -------- tennessee More dangerous material shipped to Oak Ridge November 5, 2005 (WVLT) http://www.volunteertv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4073714 Oak Ridge, Anderson County - The federal government has finished moving its most sensitive weapons-grade nuclear material from a Los Alamos National Lab to more secure sites, including ones in Oak Ridge. The weapons-grade plutonium and highly enriched uranium were moved after recent security lapses were uncovered at the New Mexico site. Now the dangerous stuff is at the Nevada test site and our Y-12 plant. -------- utah Women plan to blockade Entergy offices November 5, 2005 By Susan Smallheer, Rutland Herald Staff http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051105/NEWS/51104007/1003/NEWS02 BRATTLEBORO - A group of women plan to block the office doors of Entergy Nuclear on Monday to protest a proposed power increase at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. "We are a small group of women who feel we're being used as guinea pigs," said Sally Shaw of nearby Gill, Mass. "We've exhausted all possible means of participating in the official process." "We are worried Vermont Yankee will shake itself apart when you ramp it up." On Thursday, the NRC staff released a draft safety evaluation permit concluding that the power boost won't pose a health or safety risk to people living near the plant. Shaw said she couldn't believe the results of the NRC review, noting that the NRC had had numerous and lengthy questions about Entergy's plans. Shaw said at least six or seven women will block the doors of Entergy's corporate offices on Ferry Road in Brattleboro for as long as possible. Shaw said the group deliberately chose a work day. "This is our work as mothers and grandmothers," she said. "We are willing to sacrifice our usual schedules to make a strong and much-needed statement. We have had enough of the subtle pretense of democracy and biased NRC oversight." ---- Officials seeking input on Utah nuke processing White Mesa: The plant continues to receive foreign ore shipments, which roll through Moab By Judy Fahys 11/05/2005 Salt Lake Tribune http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3185673 Recent Coverage # Japan sending trainloads of toxins to Utah, (10-05-04) MOAB - About 250 tons of ore from Japan has rolled through here on trucks bound for the White Mesa uranium mill, about an hour down the highway. The ore may have arrived tidy, contained in plastic bags and packed metal containers, but state regulators acknowledged Friday the public relations around the ore has been rather messy, often leaving people concerned and confused. Department of Environmental Quality Director Dianne Nielson said she has asked regulators overseeing the White Mesa mill to do more to inform Utahns about future plans to recycle uranium at the site. The move was welcomed by Radiation Control Board members, some of whom also felt a bit left out of the loop on the Japan ore. "I think the more people know about it and feel included, the better they feel about it," said Karen Langley, chairman of the radiation board, which had its meeting in Moab this month. Nielson noted that the state could improve public involvement through the license amendment process, which International Uranium Corp. (IUC) must go through every time it wants to put "alternate feed" through the White Mesa mill. Alternate feed is basically milling leftovers called tailing that are recycled at White Mesa, one of only two operating uranium mills in the United States. IUC has used nothing but alternate feed at its plant for six years. Until recently, uranium prices have been so low, there has been no demand for milling. But that appears to be changing as the price rises from under $9 several years ago to around $34 today. Nielson said regulators will: l Make it routine to provide updates on any license amendments. l Keep a full record of amendment-related materials at libraries in Grand and San Juan counties. l Include a hearing in the public review period for license amendments. These moves would not have helped in the Japan flap. Under its state license, IUC needs special permission to process alternate feed - but not ore - and the 500 tons coming from Japan is ore. Castle Valley resident Bob Lippman urged the board to undertake a broader look at the issue of radioactive material in Utah. He called the potential hazards of radioactive material "the big elephant in the room" that everyone seems to ignore. Even before the U.S. Energy Department has removed a shovelful of contaminated uranium waste from the Atlas Corp. site north of Moab, people are talking about a "nuclear renaissance," he noted. Meanwhile, the legacy of the past two booms includes more than a billion dollars worth of cleanups, thousands of sick uranium workers and energy and security policies that fall short. These factors tell us "we have a lot of homework to do and a much larger spectrum of concerns to address," he said. fahys@sltrib.com -------- washington Vit plant budget cut $100 million Published Saturday, November 5th, 2005 By Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald staff writer http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/local/story/7171673p-7081121c.html A congressional conference committee has decided to cut $100 million from this year's budget for Hanford's vitrification plant, but would restore about $50 million for other cleanup work at the nuclear reservation. Although the Senate and House Energy and Water Conference Committee has not voted on the Hanford budget, an agreement has been reached, said aides of U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. "This is the toughest, thinnest budget year I've ever seen," Hastings said in a prepared statement. The Hanford budget would be considerably lower than in fiscal year 2005, which ended in September. The budget would cut about $315 million from the nearly $2.1 billion 2005 budget, with about half of the reduction coming from work at the vitrification plant. The nuclear reservation is heavily contaminated from the past production of plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program. The $100 million cut for the vitrification plant would be on top of the $64 million cut for the plant proposed by the Bush administration in February. The $50 million restored to other programs includes about $27 million to retrieve radioactive waste from Hanford's oldest underground tanks. The Bush administration proposed cutting Hanford's total budget by $267 million when it announced DOE's budget needs last winter. Hastings convinced the House to restore $200 million of that cut, including full funding for the vitrification plant, and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., convinced the Senate to restore $34 million, all of it for work in the tank farms. But before a joint conference committee could reconcile the House and Senate versions of the budget, Hurricane Katrina blew through the Gulf and put more pressure on a federal budget already squeezed by the war in Iraq and other programs. "I'm grateful we did this well considering the pressures to tighten spending and pay for the hurricanes," Hastings said. Murray's staff was more cautious, saying any discussion of Hanford budget numbers would be premature until the conference committee, which includes Murray, votes. However, Murray criticized the Bush administration at the end of October for not making a strong case to the conference committee about the importance of retaining money to build the vitrification plant. DOE did not advocate for the plant when the committee asked about the effects of cutting $100 million or $200 million from the plant's budget, she said. Days later, the White House proposed using $100 million from the vitrification plant project to pay for hurricane relief. "In today's budget climate, it's impossible to convince appropriators to provide a dollar more for the vit plant than DOE says it can spend," Hastings said. The vitrification plant, planned to turn some of Hanford's worst wastes into a stable glass form for disposal, has had technical problems in the past year. They included a study that indicated the design for key parts of the plant might not withstand a severe earthquake. About 1,000 plant workers were laid off in fiscal year 2005, because of the technical problems. The budget for the plant in 2005 was $690 million, and the 2006 budget announced by Hastings would be about $526 million. "I'm concerned we could be losing more highly trained Hanford workers and the cleanup process could be delayed," said Pam Larsen, executive director of the Hanford Communities. About 450 workers have been laid off from other Hanford projects as contractors prepared for a reduced 2006 budget and switched workers among projects. The budget would restore about $50 million in cuts of about $203 million proposed by the administration to Hanford projects other than the vitrification plant. The restoration includes about $23 million for unspecified projects at the Richland Operations Office, which contracts work to Fluor Hanford and Washington Closure Hanford, the new river corridor contractor. The tank waste program would have $27 million of proposed cuts restored with the intent of allowing more retrieval of the radioactive salt cake and sludge left in Hanford's leak-prone single-shell tanks. However, the Washington congressional delegation said when the administration announced its proposed cuts in February that $70 million needed to be restored to the tank program. The money in the budget announced Friday by Hastings still is less than the amount in either the House and Senate budgets approved for Hanford earlier this year. The budget also is expected to include $7.5 million for the Volpentest HAMMER training center at Hanford. Although the overall cut to Hanford from 2005 to 2006 is expected to be $315 million, the cut to cleanup work is greater, said Gerald Pollet, executive director of Heart of America Northwest, when the expected budget was announced Friday at a Hanford Advisory Board meeting in Seattle. Because some cleanup money will be diverted for security at the nuclear reservation, the real cut to cleanup money would be about $340 million, he said. The budget announced by Hastings, "if approved by Congress, will help us continue our important cleanup work at Hanford," said Mike Waldron, a spokesman for DOE in Washington, D.C. With no vote on the Hanford budget yet, DOE officials declined to say more. The increases for work other than the vitrification plant will help sustain the progress being made in Hanford cleanup, Hastings said. But DOE needs to provide answers about its plans at the vitrification plant, Hastings said. Construction has slowed because of technical problems on key parts of the plant, and DOE has released little information as it works on a new cost and schedule for the project. The $5.8 billion cost of the plant could increase by up to $4 billion and its 2011 opening to meet a legal deadline could be delayed four years, say some congressional leaders. "Without answers, advancing the vit plant in Congress only becomes more difficult," Hastings said. "DOE leaders have repeatedly stated their commitment to building the vit plant, but answers are needed or building it is only going to get harder." -------- MILITARY -------- iraq US, Iraq forces launch border assault Saturday 05 November 2005 Aljazeera http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4827163B-A44B-43FE-9F70-857370226BC6.htm US and Iraqi forces have launched a joint offensive along the border with Syria involving about 3500 soldiers, the US military has said. The goal of Operation Steel Curtain is "to restore security along the Iraqi-Syrian border and destroy the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist network operating throughout Husaybah, located on the Iraqi-Syrian border", the military said on Saturday. The offensive, near the border town of al-Qaim and about 320km west of Baghdad, involves about 1000 Iraqi army soldiers as well as 2500 US marines, sailors and soldiers. "Operation Steel Curtain marks the first large-scale employment of multiple battalion-sized units of Iraqi army forces in combined operations" with US-led forces, the military said. The US military has long held that the most serious attacks in Iraq are being carried out by foreign al-Qaida operatives, most of whom cross from Syria via the Euphrates valley. Poor town In al-Qaim, a witness said the offensive in Husaybah began by about dawn with four loud explosions, apparently caused by US warplanes or helicopters. The witness said the telephone service to the town was cut. He spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for his safety. Husaybah is a poor Sunni Arab town of about 30,000 people. It is located near the Euphrates river and surrounded by bleak hills and desert terrain. Most residents live in small brick and concrete homes, and many may have fled during another US offensive in the area last month. US soldier killed Elsewhere, a US army soldier working with Task Force Baghdad was killed by small-arms fire south of the capital on Friday, the military said. The death raised to 2043 the number of members of the US military who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. Combat operations by Task Force Baghdad soldiers also found and destroyed stockpiles of weapons and munitions from fighters in and around the capital on Thursday and Friday, including rockets, homemade bombs, mortars, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, grenades and ammunition, the US command said. Threat to diplomats Al-Qaida in Iraq, which is led by the Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, warned this past week that foreign diplomats should leave Iraq or face attacks. The group also said it would kill two kidnapped Moroccan Embassy employees. The Moroccans, driver Abderrahim Boualam and embassy staff member Abdelkrim el-Mouhafidi, disappeared on 20 October while driving to Baghdad from Jordan. The authenticity of the two al-Qaida in Iraq statements could not be independently confirmed. Cross-border smuggling Steel Curtain follows two earlier operations, Iron Fist and River Gate, also in the western Sunni Arab province of al-Anbar. The area along the 600km border with Syria is renowned for illegal trade, with cross-border smuggling a way of life for many of the local tribes. The smuggling routes are also open to foreign fighters, mainly from other Arab countries, albeit crossing in small numbers, Marine Colonel Stephen Davis told AFP earlier. "They do not bring battalions, they bring the leadership, the financial man, the demolition expert," he said. Davis said the marines patrolling the border "have intercepted mass ammunition supplies" and even anti-aircraft weapons. -------- israel / palestine Clinton: Rabin assassination foiled Mideast peace deal By Lily Galili and Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service 05/11/2005 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/641715.html Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said he believes the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin prevented the Israelis and the Palestinians from eventually reaching a final settlement. In an interview with Channel 2 broadcast on Friday, Clinton said the Middle East would be a far different place if Rabin was still alive. "I believe if he would not have been assassinated there would have been a comprehensive peace deal, both Israelis and Palestinians would have been working together," Clinton told Channel 2 television. "By this time, we would have been in a different Middle East, more prosperity and less violence." Clinton is expected to attend the central public commemoration ceremony to be held on November 12 in Rabin Square, sponsored by the Yitzhak Rabin Center. The ceremony, with the participation of performers, is expected to draw a crowd of thousands. The Yitzak Rabin Center will be inaugurated on November 14 in Tel Aviv, in the presence of Clinton, his wife Senator Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and so far 17 delegations from around the world, including several foreign ministers. As Israel marked the tenth anniversary of the assassination, a former head of the Shin Bet security service on Friday blasted the Rabin family for hijacking the identity of the slain premier. Speaking during a ceremony in the square in which Rabin was shot dead by a right-wing extremist at a peace rally on November 4, 1995, Ami Ayalon said that the family had commandeered the memory of a public figure and kept him as a private persona, and warned that without a state foundation for Rabin in Israel, most of the public were alienated from the slain leader and his memory. Meanwhile, Rabin's sister, Rachel Ya'akov, said Friday that 10 years after the assassination of her brother, Israeli society was much worse off than it was before his death. "We didn't learn any lessons," she told Haaretz during a graveside ceremony Friday attended by friends, family and Labor Party politicians. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw paid tribute to Rabin on Friday, saying that today's peace efforts are a continuation of a process begun by Rabin. "As Prime Minister, [Rabin] made difficult and courageous decisions in his search for peace and was undaunted by the many obstacles he faced," Straw said in a statement. "Although Yitzhak Rabin was prevented from seeing his efforts bear fruit, he set in motion a process which, despite setbacks, continues today." "We must all continue our efforts to build on the opportunities which we now have, and work towards the internationally shared goal of an Israeli state and a viable and democratic Palestinian state living side by side in peace," said Straw. To read about the impact Rabin's assassination has had on Israel, click here. Retired Supreme Court justice Eliahu Mazza said Friday that, despite a plethora of conspiracy theories, there is no doubt that Yigal Amir was Rabin's killer. "I am aware of all the various and sundry conspiracy theories but I don't know how this reduces the burden of guilt carried by Amir that - in my opinion - is clear and well proven," Mazza said. Mazza is of the opinion that rabbis authorized Amir to carry out the assassination of Rabin. "During his interrogation by the Shin Bet, Amir quite clearly said that 'without religious rulings applying to Rabin, I would have had difficulties murdering. Such a murder needs to be backed up. If I didn't have support and if large numbers of people were not backing me up, I would not have acted,'" Mazza quoted Amir as saying. President Moshe Katsav vowed Thursday that he would never grant a pardon to Amir. He was speaking at a ceremony opening the commemoration of Rabin's death, which began with the lighting of the memorial "Yitzhak Candle" at the president's residence in Jerusalem. "I will not commute [Amir's] punishment and I will recommend that those who succeed me also deny him pardon," Katsav said. "Amir is a villain. He shall not be pardoned; there is no cause for compassion or pity." Rabin's family members attended the ceremony, as did Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin and Supreme Court President Aharon Barak. An exhibit of posters in memory of Rabin by students at the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design also opened Thursday. The Gesher association organized a meeting in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv of Orthodox and secular high school students to discuss the tensions in Israeli society. The square was also the scene of an exhibit of 1,000 black balloons that formed the number 10. Hundreds of students from Tel Aviv's A.D. Gordon high school marked the anniversary for the third consecutive year with a march Thursday night from Atarim Square to Rabin Square. Other events will be held later in the month. Beginning on November 15, the Hankin Campus of the Holon Theater will host the opening of a permanent exhibit by artist Dan Kadar, including 12 paintings with political, religious and technological motifs. Israel Prize laureate and educator Lova Eliav and Holon Mayor Motti Sasson are expected to attend the opening. -------- ACTIVISTS Vets gather at GOP fundraiser to highlight problems Matt McNair Arkansas Weekly Vista Staff Writer, November 5, 2005 http://www.nwanews.com/weeklyvista/newilliamsprotest225l.php A local veteran participated in a real-life civics lesson last month, leading what he called an "informal gathering" of veterans outside a hotel in Rogers. Bill Williams, Bella Vista Property Owners Association board member and co-owner of the Inn at Bella Vista, joined two other veterans outside the Embassy Suites in Rogers at the Benton County Republican Party's biggest annual fundraiser. The dinner, themed "Let Freedom Reign," featured United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson. It seemed to Williams and his supporters a good time to air some of their concerns about the state of veterans' affairs in America. The trio of activists had four specific points of interest for local Republicans and the VA secretary: * Depleted uranium: Depleted uranium, or "DU," is a component in many military-grade munitions. According to literature shared by Williams, government studies indicate that the "inhalation, ingestion or implantation" of DU compounds can be linked to "long-term health effects including cancers and birth defects," yet the military continues to use weapons that contain DU; * The current military trend of giving the National Guard a large role in overseas combat; * A massive review of veterans' disability payments in cases of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD; * The Bush Administration's likely veto of a defense appropriations bill that contains language banning the inhumane treatment of enemy combatants in American custody. The bill, with the "anti-torture" rider intact, was sponsored by ex-POW and U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) and approved by the Senate 90-9. Williams said the above issues constitute a great disservice to the fighting men and women of the United States by an administration ostensibly pro-military. "I believe that many of my neighbors, who are Republicans, don't necessarily agree with the Republican Party," he said in a telephone interview. Ret Miles, Chairman of the Benton County Republican Committee, did not agree with Williams, but said the demonstration was civil and Williams and his fellow vets had certainly erned the right to protest. "Generally speaking, we go with the party line," said Miles during a telephone interview. On the question of the so-called "torture rider," Miles asserted that captives taken during the war on terror are generally better treated by American forces than "before by (the terrorists') governments," even with allegations of torture and inhumane treatment. Of Williams' assertion that many local Republicans would, upon close inspection, have moral qualms with the current administration's policies, Miles concluded that "most Republicans in Benton County trust what É President (Bush) is doing." In complicated matters of policy, "I don't think most people in Benton County are very knowledgeable, including the protesters," he added. Williams, for his part, insists the GOP fundraiser was a target because it represents the party in power, and his and his comrades' ire is not reserved for the ruling party alone. "In my mind," he said, noting that protest and activism is about people, not parties, "both national parties are often interested in their agendas, and don't care about the people they serve." ---- Grandchildren of the revolution By Richard Neville November 5, 2005 The Age http://www.theage.com.au/news/arts/grandchildren-of-the-revolution/2005/11/03/1130823343020.html?page=2 The '60s and early '70s were a time of heated rebellion. Sixties counter-culture had a point, it was an act of rebellion. Forty years on, the need is just as great. THREE things lured me to London in the mid-'60s: the pursuit of love, a thirst for fun and a contempt for Australia's rulers. The love was squandered, the thirst was slaked and the contempt has been reborn. Back then, British pop was buzzing on magazine covers, LP sleeves, fashion, in the playful works of Richard Hamilton and David Hockney. In brooding alcoves, theoreticians were pushing to widen the brief of art, to engage it in direct social and political action. In September 1966, when I landed on my sister's Notting Hill doorstep smelling of Afghan camel dung, the week-long Destruction of Art Symposium was in full swing. This was an attempt to link theoretical issues of destruction with actual destruction taking place in society, according to the Tate Britain catalogue, British Art & the '60s, now showing at the National Gallery of Victoria. A list of the symposium's issues included atmospheric pollution, planned obsolescence, popular media, urban sprawl and the Vietnam War. In his performance piece, 21st Action, the Viennese artist Hermann Nitsch crucified a lamb and carved it up, while projected images depicted a cow's brains rubbing against a young man's penis. The London bobbies swooped. All this passed me by as I reunited with my long-lost girlfriend and combed the clubs and coffee shops of King's Road and Carnaby Street for a floral shirt and Swinging London. Too late. According to my artist friend, Martin Sharp, who had arrived at my sister's place several months ahead of me, London had already swung. True, the streets did seem a bit drab, the mood sombre, the food daggy. Even the BBC, despite Beatlemania, was largely deaf to the music of youth. Tom Picton's photo of the Destruction of Art Symposium reveals a packed house of hot heads in sportscoats, sweaters and slacks, the odd bald spot and an absence of women. In those early months, as I learned to penetrate the city's Dickensian boroughs on the London Underground, my nostalgia for the Bondi bus made it seem like a Yellow Submarine. Gradually I discovered another London underground, the seeds of which had been sown in 1965, when 7000 enthusiasts packed the Albert Hall for an International Poetry Incarnation, featuring scores of noted versifiers and a ringing manifesto co-authored by beat superhero Allen Ginsberg, famous for his poem Howl. In London he made the world declaration of a hot peace shower. Tate Britain cites this event as a beacon identifying an emergent underground. But not emergent enough. Surely there was more to youth culture than transients in bed-sits twiddling a dial in search of a burst of the Rolling Stones from a pirate radio ship? A new generation was taking off but the bureaucrats were still running the city like a war veterans' nursing home, lights out at 9.30pm. A new prime minister had appeared, Labour's laid-back Harold Wilson, after toppling the Tories in the wake of the Christine Keeler sex scandal, so the wind was shifting. Satire crackled from the BBC and the pages of Private Eye, the aroma of pot wafted across dinner parties. It dawned on me that a London Oz could be launched in this subversive undercurrent, rendering the emergent urgent. The original Oz sprung from middle-class discontent with 1963 Australia, when a group of undergraduates found a way to mock the politicians who wanted to wind back the culture clock. Literature and cinema was routinely censored. Unorthodox voices were silenced, whether in a risque pop song or a pungent live performance, as in the case of the visiting US comedian Lenny Bruce, who was hounded out of the country. This moribund and dead-souled era had already served to inspire the waspish sensibilities of Robert Hughes, Barry Humphries and Germaine Greer, driving them to foreign shores. For three years, Sydney Oz magazine and its founders, Richard Walsh, Martin Sharp and myself, were put through a series of ridiculous trials for allegedly publishing an obscene magazine. Among the many generous talents corralled into court to claim that Oz possessed literary and/or artistic merit, was the already esteemed painter, John Olsen. The magistrate quizzed him about a Martin Sharp cartoon which satirised the folk singer, Joan Baez. What did the artist think of the caption? "I believe it is a colloquial saying among musicians," replied Olsen. "To get folked?" "Yes - meaning, let's go and play some folk music." "Oh, so musicians say - 'Let's all go and get folked'?" The artist shifted uneasily. "Yes, yes. Something like that." "Do you mix with folk singers?" "No. But I have heard them talk like that ... just before they go off and play their music." "What? After they've said: 'let's all go and get folked'?" "Yes. I've heard them. They go right off and ..." This went on for hours but through all the appeals, it seemed like years. Anyway, in 1966, after putting together an Oz that campaigned in support of Joern Utzon's vision for the Sydney Opera House, then under political fire, and seeing our obscenity convictions quashed, Martin Sharp and I headed west on the backpackers' trail. An edition of London Oz hit the streets the following year. No business plan, no market research, no registering of a trademark. Through my sister Jill, a long-time habitue of London's Bohemia, there was easy access to a network of articulate malcontents. Part of the Ozmix was a yearning for the sun, the beach, the bright colours and a resentment of signs on the edges of parks prohibiting the making of music and the playing of games. To the dowdy politics of protest, Oz added a dash of fairy dust impudence and classy design. The images of Martin Sharp bloomed from the rooftops, the earthy prose of Germaine Greer blew the underwear off Oxbridge dons. Two UK pop artists, Michael English and Nigel Weymouth, arrived at the editorial door with a golden gatefold of a hippie couple in a Kamasutric embrace. "All our ideas come from trips," they told me, and I thought they meant to India. The police raided a country house party and arrested Mick Jagger and Keith Richard for possessing marijuana. The Times, sensing heavy-handedness, warned against "those who would break a butterfly on a wheel". A planned Hyde Park "love-in" was converted into a Legalise Pot Rally, for which Martin Sharp produced a gold foil poster, The Gathering of the Heads. Sitting cross-legged under a tree in saffron robes and torturing a tabla was Allen Ginsberg, chanting in Sanskrit. It was less than a year since the Destruction artists had furiously invoked the aesthetics of the dung heap as the weapon against conformity, materialism and stupidity but this was another mood shift. The Howl had become an Om. In Hyde Park, the metaphoric butterflies, so far from being broken, had metamorphosed into a field of fluorescent flower children; dancing, hugging and swapping gigantic joints. The new Oz, shimmering in its Kamasutra gatefold and celebrating free love and mystic alternatives, matched the moment and sold like hash cookies. A new generation with a new explanation, perhaps, but what? By 1968, the strands converged. The Vietcong launched the Tet offensive, a simultaneous wave of attacks throughout South Vietnam. What the hell is going on?, demanded US celebrity newsman Walter Cronkite, I thought we were winning this war. A photo from Saigon flashed around the world - the gun-to-the-temple execution of a Vietcong suspect. Sharp splattered this image with bright red ink, put it on our cover and penned the line: THE GREAT SOCIETY BLOWS ANOTHER MIND. Richie Walsh used it for Sydney Oz. His issues had not gone psychedelic but the content was acid. Walsh broke a sensational story about the Archbishop of Sydney, Hugh Gough, who had relentlessly reminded his flock that youth wallowed in a mire of immorality. Well - we did our best. Archbishop Gough, as it happened, was caught wallowing in a mire of adultery - on a cruise ship, no less - and sent back to Britain in disgrace. The Sydney media suppressed the story, until maverick Anglican Francis James, now promoted to Oz religious correspondent, blew the archbishop out of the water. Perhaps some readers are sensing what I've been sensing, that the parallels between Australia then and Australia today are inescapable, a point to which we will return. 1968 was a flashpoint for the counter culture. Anti-war kids rioted in a string of global capitals. Psychedelia started to fuse with European Situationism, a critique of hyper-consumption that prophesised a Western descent into the society of the spectacle, unless there was a revolution of everyday life. Madness was in the air. Lawyers and accountants threw off their flannels and fled to Marrakesh. Marxists squatted in mansions. Schoolkids went on strike. Live on the BBC, as a piece of performance art, the yippies invaded the David Frost Show. A new underground paper was born each week. Wherever you were, posturing like a peacock in King's Road or storming the barricades, one thing was sure: close on your heels were bloody Australians, jocularly known as the down-underground. In 1969, I joined the ranks of expats outside Australia House for an anti-war demo. The two stocky men marching beside us in wraparound sunglasses, shiny blue suits and well-polished black shoes, seemed out of place. As the streets resounded to the chant of . . . Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh . . . one of the marshalls squeezed behind the suspicious couple and held a placard above their heads: WE ARE POLICE SPIES. At first there was laughter, then jeers. The ASIO suits slunk from the scene. Today, they're regrouping. Let's get this clear. I am often shocked, flashing back, at the extent of my selfishness, sexism and self-indulgence. And boy, did I spout some rubbish. Yes, come the mutterings, he still does. A London columnist once likened my soapbox rants to "being button-holed outside a lav". All the high and mighty moralising on the deceptions of government did not deter our shifty behaviour in the bedroom. Overall, I should have listened less to Bob Dylan and done more for Amnesty International. Maybe so many of us spun out because our parents were on the other side of the world, locked in Fortress Australia (from which London Oz was banned). Or was it devilish cunning? The pig-headedness of our politicians made us complicit in war crimes, so that outrage was an obligation. As Vietnam dragged on, the protests intensified and so did the hitback. Round-the-clock B52s, even at Christmas, even over Cambodia and today Henry Kissinger is at large. The actions of our political masters escalated to the point of insanity. Could it be, that on an unconscious level, a generation sensed that the only way to break the spell was to enter a deeper realm of madness, to become so crazy as to shock the old farts into rediscovering their own humanity? In the end, it did the trick. Living in Sydney at the dawn of this new millennium, and hosting a party to celebrate a friend's 50th and the start of the Sydney Olympics, it felt fine to be a harassed father of two in a vibrant culture, regardless of its current political hue, bracing myself for a late middle-aged decline into respectability. From the moment the stockwhips cracked I felt a burst of pride at being an Aussie, a sentiment later confirmed while mingling at the boxing venues: the good-natured piss-taking, the sense of fair play, the barracking for the underdog. But all that seems long ago and in another country. What's behind this resurgence of alienation? In the '60s, we sent troops to a foreign land to kill those who had done us no harm. Now it is to two foreign lands. Back then it was the My Lai massacre (one of many), now it is the razing of Falluja, the bombing of Ramadi, Tal Afar, wedding parties, hospitals, anything. Then we had torture, now we have porno torture. Then we had napalm, now we have napalm, cluster bombs and depleted uranium. Then we had the Geneva Convention, now we don't. Back then we counted the enemy dead, now we count none but our own. In Iraq, we are up to our necks in the shedding of innocent blood, while the nation's focus is on interest rates, sport and stopping terror. Funny that, as Australia's response to 9/11 has served to inflame terror, quench freedom and stifle debate. Some quick examples: Appeasement. The White House falsified evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction to trick its own people and its allies into supporting a war but you won't hear a peep of protest from Canberra. (In 1964, the US also "deliberately distorted critical intelligence" to justify its assault on Vietman, as confirmed this week.) For the next 25 years, the functionality of our defence system is dependent on its total integration with US infrastructure, so our moral enslavement will persist. Major O'Kane, the Australian officer formerly based at the Pentagon, who tried to keep the lid on the Abu Ghraib horrors, probably didn't have a choice. The world's only attorney general to commend Guantanamo Bay justice is our own Phillip Ruddock, who seems to regard the Spanish Inquisition as a high point in jurisprudence. We're even appeasers in the culture wars. Unlike 148 nations at a recent UN forum, Australia failed to affirm its right to protect its artistic traditions from the depredations of globalisation. Mustn't upset Uncle Sam. Repression of liberties. Fearing a terrorist attack on our soil, we suffer a panic attack in the Houses of Parliament. Habeas Corpus is a corpse. The proposed ASIO laws will subject Australians to incarceration on a whim, in secret and without a trial. If released, it will be unlawful to tell the truth about what happened. No other democracy in the world has sunk so low. Stifling free speech. Who would have thought, huh? A US activist, Scott Parkin, is deported for teaching the non-violent protest techniques of Mahatma Gandhi. Fiery Islamic leaflets are to be banned, though not the war-mongering hate speak of "Murdoch­World". The fostering of ill-will will be counted as a crime of sedition, instead of a personality disorder. A recent UK Ministry of Defence poll found that millions of Iraqis - 65 per cent - are in favour of suicide attacks against coalition invaders and fewer than one in a hundred regard our presence as helpful to national security. Under the forthcoming terror laws, it will be illegal for an Australian citizen to concur with this view. Endemic deception. In the beginning was the lie, they threw their children overboard, and now it is a festival of lying. The bombings in Bali and London are unrelated to our presence in Iraq. The PM claims that the draft ASIO bill is modelled on the British laws, which is nonsense. Of all the lies uttered by John Howard, a personal favourite is the tale of the human shredding machine whirring around the clock in Saddam Hussein's jails, that alone justified an invasion. Only it didn't exist. Vindictiveness. The Federal Government withdraws its financial support from charities and NGOs that engage in advocacy, thus excluding them from the policy-making process. When an East Timor group, Forum Tau Matan, chastised Australia for its bullying during negotiations on maritime boundaries, it was stripped of its funding. A spokesman for AUSAID confirmed this decision was related to the criticism, thus discouraging others from speaking their minds. Anti-intellectualism. In the short term, this is a win-win strategy for Howard, because restive minds don't matter at the ballot box. Besides, their voices muddy the Government's message. Today, it is the shock jocks who set the tone. Over the long term, this is disastrous for Australia's future and for Howard's legacy. Intellectuals were right about global warming, right about the bloody quagmire in Iraq, right to condemn the impact of market fundamentalism on poverty and social values, right to call Howard to account for the flouting of international treaties and human rights obligations. (Australia even withdrew support for a 1997 UN resolution criticising China's human rights violations). After condemnation of its own failures in areas of indigenous rights and its treatment of asylum seekers, Australia is further backing away from its international obligations. In 2000, when asked by four treaty committees to report on the progress of its rights implement­ations, as legally bound, Howard complained that Australia was being told what to do by outsiders. This churlishness stems from a virus picked up in Washington: except­ionalism. This decrees that our inherent moral superiority (demo­crats, good sports, rich) exempts us from rules applying to lesser nations. Meanwhile, the brass bands play on, and on, the enforced "functioning flagpoles" thrust from public school playgrounds, as we retreat from egalitarianism, threaten our neighbours with pre-emptive strikes and turn a deaf ear to the truth. The Leader of the Opposition looks on from the wings, cheering "Me too, me too". What is missing in Australia today is a vigorous, widespread participation in public life. When this is absent, as Plato pointed out, we end up with the kind of leaders who are much worse than ourselves. Looking back to the 1966 Destruction of Art Symposium, we are still haunted by similar issues: pollution, planned obsolescence, mass-media consolidation, urban sprawl and perpetual war. When it comes down to it, our governments are today's destruction artists, bequeathing a trail of cynicism, depleted social capital, a scorched earth. How to respond? Living through a climate change may well induce a change of consciousness. Being involved in the deaths of up to 100,000 Iraqis could compel us to re-assess our worth. For the first time in history, the future can no longer be taken for granted. The '60s, for all its druggy self-indulgence, jolted our values, revived idealism and shook up the status quo. The challenges ahead will mobilise a new generation, one that will make its own music, its own mistakes, its own masterpieces. The result will be peace on earth, or the earth in pieces.