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From: nukeresister@igc.org (Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa) Subject: (abolition-usa) Support for Vanunu Needed NOW Date: 01 Dec 1999 01:01:43 -0700 From the International Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu December 1, 1999 International Prisoners for Peace Day ***LETTERS, EMAILS AND FAXES FROM AROUND THE WORLD NEEDED NOW, CALLING FOR MORDECHAI VANUNU'S IMMEDIATE, UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE FROM PRISON*** PLEASE POST AND SHARE WITH OTHERS On November 24, Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot published parts of the trial protocols and investigation material in the case of nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, following the release for publication of more than 1,200 pages of material by the Jerusalem District Court. This material has been secret for the past 13 years, since Vanunu was kidnapped and tried in camera. The published articles include details of his kidnapping, testimony of Shin-Beit interrogators, and much more information related to the case. As a result of the publication of this information, public discussion has been raised in Israel about Israel's policy of secrecy on nuclear issues in general , and about the Vanunu case in particular. SOMETIME - PROBABLY IN THE NEXT WEEK OR TWO - VANUNU WILL HAVE A PAROLE BOARD HEARING. THE EXACT DATE IS NOT YET KNOWN. HE HAS ALREADY SERVED OVER TWO-THIRDS OF HIS 18 YEAR SENTENCE, AND SO IS ELIGIBLE FOR PAROLE. PLEASE SEND LETTERS, FAXES AND EMAILS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO THE FOLLOWING OFFICIALS, ASKING FOR HIS UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE FROM PRISON. Prime Minister Ehud Barak 3 Kaplan St. Hakirya, Jerusalem 91007 Fax: + 972 2 566 4838 Email: pm@pmo.gov.il and/or rohm@pmo.gov.il Yossi Beilin Minister of Justice 29 Salah al-Din Jerusalem 91010 Fax : + 972 2 628 5438 Email: sar@justice.gov.il Shlomo Ben-Ami Minister of Public Security P.O. Box 18182 Jerusalem Fax: + 972 2 581 1832 Thanks to people with the Israeli campaign to free Vanunu for translating the Yediot Ahronot articles into English. Translated articles can be found at the following website: http://www. nonviolence.org/vanunu Background information on the Vanunu case can also be found there and at http://www.vanunu.freeserve.co.uk ***As new light is shed on the case of Mordechai Vanunu and demands for his release are intensifying in Israel and abroad, please remember to send Mordechai Christmas and New Year cards. If these are mailed now, they might reach him in time for the holidays. His address: Mordechai Vanunu Hashikma Prison PO Box 17 Ashkelon Israel - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Esther Pank" <esther.p@erols.com> Subject: (abolition-usa) Messages Date: 02 Dec 1999 21:57:50 -0500 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_001C_01BF3D10.46ED6F80 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I have not received any e-mail from this list for several weeks. = Perhaps my new address has not been changed. It is esther.p@erols.com. ------=_NextPart_000_001C_01BF3D10.46ED6F80 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" = http-equiv=3DContent-Type> <META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2314.1000" name=3DGENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>I have not received any e-mail from = this list for=20 several weeks. Perhaps my new address has not been changed. = It is=20 esther.p@erols.com.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML> ------=_NextPart_000_001C_01BF3D10.46ED6F80-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Crockett Williams" <gear2000@lightspeed.net> Subject: (abolition-usa) Legislative Action Center -- WorldNetDaily (http://congress.nw.dc.us/wnd/) Date: 03 Dec 1999 16:22:17 -0800 This looks like a very useful website address to include in various progressive issue appeals for folks to be able to easily access their congresspeople, state legislators, and local and national news media. http://congress.nw.dc.us/wnd/ Write to Congress Get Info Send Message Enter your ZIP Code and click "Search". * Put our Write to Congress sticker on your site, click here. * Guide to Congress Search Congress by name, state, committee, or leadership directory. Guide to States Complete guide to state legislators and governors in all 50 states. Guide to the Media Enter your ZIP Code and click "Search" to find contact information for media organizations in your area, or view our complete Media Guide. Issues and Legislation Important issues - recent votes, current bills and more. click headline or scroll with arrows - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) 27 DAYS TO GO AND STILL 5,600 WARHEADS ON ALERT - PLEASE FAX FOR Date: 04 Dec 1999 17:51:19 +1000 27 DAYS TO GO AND STILL 5,600 WARHEADS ON ALERT - PLEASE FAX FOR DE-ALERTING Dear All who are concerned about the safety of our planet, How you react to this email really makes a difference to the safety of this planet on Dec 31. As December 31 draws closer you'll get a lot more of these. PLEASE don't just delete or write back asking me to take you off the list - this really is important and it really is something on which you can make a difference. Please distribute this as far and wide as you can! Get all your friends to do it! At only 27 days from the Y2K rollover, the largest, oldest, and poitentially least Y2K compliant computer systems in the world are still those that control the 2000US warheads and the 3,600 Russian warheads in land- based silos, that are kept on 24 hour a day hairtrigger alert. So far there has been no indication that they will be removed from alert. However there are many little indications that your faxes to Cohen, Clinton, and Yeltsin are having an effect, and that people in the pentagon are noticing. The Canberra Commission, the Tokyo Forum, four resolutions in the United Nations General Assembly (two last year two this year), two motions in the Australian Senate, and a resolution carried on Thursday 18th Nov by the European Parliament have all called for them to be taken off alert. Please write to US defence secretary William Cohen, President Clinton, and to Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev, asking them to take nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert at least over the Y2K 'rollover' period. Defence Secretary Cohen's fax number is +1-703-695-1149 President Clintons fax number is +1-202-456-2461 Yeltsin/Sergeyev's fax number is +7-095-205-4330. Faxing a single A4 page should not cost you more than a dollar. You can fax for free on http://www.fax4free.com *If you are an organisation* and want to sign a large sign- on letter, please sign the letter to Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton that is being periodicaly faxed to them on http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html Sample letters to Cohen/Clinton and to Sergeyev are below. Do please customise and abbreviate. 1)SAMPLE LETTER TO COHEN/CLINTON (This is for individuals to sent to Us Secretary for Defence Cohen and President Clinton. You can also post it to The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC.) TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period. As you will be aware, the European Parliament recently voted to ask you and President Yeltsin to do as the UK has already done, and de-alert nuclear weapons. It is particularly disturbing that Secretary Cohen has been reported as having stated in Moscow some time ago that de-alerting of nuclear forces is 'off the table' as a stability building measure. You have also been quoted as saying that 'The better course is reduction, limiting the number of weapons, and establishing shared early warning centers'. The recent Europarliament vote clearly puts de- alerting back on the table. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkley has asked for it. These measures are not in competition with each other. All of them - reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting - are vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. The very nature of the Y2K problem makes it impossible to be sure everything has been fixed until well into the new year. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. This system seems to include additional ways in which Y2K failure might lead to an accidental launch. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one. However, it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as we the public are aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The Y2K vulnerabilities recently discovered in six of the seven hotlines on which US/Russian communications depends, are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. In taking De-alerting 'off the table', the United States is making a serious error. Failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low, but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. (SIGNED) etc. 2)SAMPLE LETTER TO YELTSIN/DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV THIS SAMPLE LETTER IS FOR YOU PERSONALLY TO FAX, CUSTOMIZED AS YOU FEEL BEST, TO YELTSIN AND DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV. PLEASE DO FAX IT AND SEND IT NOW. You can also post it to Boris Yeltsin, C/O The Kremlin, Moscow - but its really too slow. A single A4 page fax will cost you about a dollar. PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, IGOR SERGEYEV, RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, +7-095-205-4330, 'Dear Defence Minister Sergeyev and President Yeltsin, I am writing to convey my deep concern that Y2K-related computer failures in the command and control systems for nuclear weapons may lead to an accidental nuclear war. I am aware that both Russia and the US have taken this problem seriously enough to establish a joint strategic stability center in Colorado. However, I am very much concerned that this facility will come into operation only by 27th December 1999, so that a delay of just four days will make it useless. I am also very much concerned that Y2K problems have been found recently in six out of seven of the 'hotlines' that would be used if a crisis of any sort arose over the Y2K rollover period. I am aware that there have been a number of occasions when either the US or Russia have mistakenly believed that the other nation was in the process of launching a nuclear attack. With 3,600 Russian warheads on 700 missiles and 2,000 US warheads on 500 missiles, with each side capable to launch within roughly 20 minutes, this must never be allowed to happen, either over the Y2K 'rollover', or at any other time. The use of 5,600 warheads would certainly mean the end of what we call civilization, would likely mean the end of the human race and could possibly mean the end of all life. I therefore urge both you and the United States, to place all your nuclear forces in a status in which at least days not minutes, would be required to launch . The United Kingdom has, I understand, already done this. The European Parliament has recently called on both the US and Russia to de-alert nuclear weapons and to place them in a state similar to that in which the UK has placed its weapons. The recent Europarliament vote clearly puts de- alerting back on the table. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkley has asked for it. The immediate stakes are so high and the potential for global catastrophe is so great, that mutually verified de-alerting of nuclear forces in the face of the Y2K computer problem must take precedence over all other considerations of political and national security.' (Signed) etc. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) Y2K and Nuclear Weapons de-Alerting Date: 07 Dec 1999 12:55:18 +1000 Dear Mr Kirsch, Let me make one thing clear at the outset - No-one on our side of the de- alerting 'debate' (because there should be no debate - de-alerting is simply commonsense) - has ever stated nor would we ever state, that missiles can launch themselves. There are are number of other points you should bear in mind. De- alerting has been pressed for not merely because of the Y2K problem, which offers a particularly concentrated 'window' of possible computer glitches, but because there have been over the years a series of hair- raising near misses and false alerts, none of them obviously, Y2K- based. You will recall that there was an incident in 1980, and incidents in Russia in 1983 and 1995, that could well have resulted in accidental launches of all or a large part of their arsenal. Y2K merely presents an opportunity for more of these computer glitches. Of course, complete system blackout such as I understand occurred when your system was first tested in 1995, would be, paradoxically, perfectly safe. Nothing would work. What is of far more concern is the possibility of corrupted data or false alerts, possibly leading to what your senate has called 'unintended deadly consequences'. BASIC makes it perfectly clear that while much has been done in Y2K remediation in the US, much less has been done in Russia, and that even in the US it is in the very nature of the Y2K problem that one cannot be absolutely sure that everything will work perfectly, and concerns have been expressed over the possibility of blank screens, communications blackouts, corrupted data and false alerts. The creation of the Y2K strategic stability centre in Colorado is certainly a good, and indeed an essential, move. The centre should have started well before the late date of 27 Dec, (at least end of Nov), and should preferably be made permanent. I gather that there are plans for a centre in Moscow and this is good. However there is simply no getting around the fact that as long as there are 3,600Russian warheads and 2000 US warheads in land - based ICBMs ready for immediate launch, (not counting SLBMs and other warheads), the possibility exists, however small, for the ultimate catastrophe. This is so with or without Y2K. Y2K merely provides a specific period when we can recognise that this possibility is greater than at other times. And it is for that reason that de - alerting has been called for by the Canberra Commission of 1996, by the Tokyo Forum, by two resolutions in the United Nations general Asembly last year, by the same two resolutions this year (both passed by massive majorities), by the Australian Senate, (2 resolutions passed unanimously and 'without dissent') by the Markey Resolution (H.Con.Res 177), and by the European Parliament in a resolution that was passed unanimously. It's also for that reason that more that 460 NGOs worldwide have now signed a letter to the Presidents of Russia and the US and their respective secretaries/ministers for defence, asking for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert. It is worth your noting that the Canberra Commission stated quite clearly that in the event that one side was willing to de- alert and the other was not or in the event that it was not possible to negotiate adequate or timely verification proceedures, de- alerting SHOULD BE ACCOMPLISHED UNILATERALLY. The Canberra Commission, while it was clear that verification and mutuality was preferable, still considered a unilateral and non- verified de- alert to be preferable to not de- alerting. This in effect is what has been accomplished by the UK's change in the 'notice to fire' for its nuclear weapons from minutes to days. Others should do as the UK has done. I would like to point out that your statements re the 'Perimiter' system are not correct. Analyst Bruce Blair has described the system in some detail, and there is no doubt as to its existence, though there have been differeng accounts over its precise mode of operation. The November 1999 BASIC report also describes Perimiter in some detail. I am sending you in a separate email in case you don't have already a dozen versios of it, the current BASIC report. As you will see your paraphrase is not accurate. I urge you to read the BASIC report carefully, and to ask yourself honestly, why so many people and so many bodies ranging from Berkley Council through the Australian senate to the European Parliament to the Unted Nations General Assembly, think that de- alerting in general is a good idea and that it is an especially good idea over the Y2K rollover. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) FSB/ex-KGB THREATENS ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS AGAIN Date: 07 Dec 1999 14:59:04 +1000 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.71.1712.3 Sender: owner-x-ussr-nukenews@cci.glasnet.ru Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "Vladimir Slivyak" <ecodefense@glasnet.ru> X-Rcpt-To: nonukes@foesyd.org.au URGENT! HELP NEEDED! FSB/ex-KGB THREATENS ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS AGAIN Moscow, December 6 The efforts of the FSB to pin recent terrorist acts on environmentalists (anti-nuclear activists) have not ceased. Today, Dec. 6, the deputy director of the Anti-Nuclear Campaign of the Socio-Ecological Union, also campaigner for ECODEFENSE!, Elena (Alisa) Nikoulina, received a summons from FSB investigator Andreyev. The "date" is tomorrow at 5 p.m.. (2 pm GMT) Of course, at the Anti-Nuclear Campaign, hopes are still alive that all these "misunderstandings" with the FSB will end and these more than absurd suspicions will be dropped once and for all. The Anti-Nuclear Campaign always promoted only nonviolent forms of protest. Its workers have often appeared in the press and given lectures to that effect. Unfortunately, all hopes that "this, too, shall pass" are almost dead, mostly due to several months of provocational acts directed at environmentalists by the the special services, including directly against the workers of the Antinuclear Campaign in Moscow and Voronezh. It is interesting that in Moscow and Voronezh, as well as in Yekaterinburg, where local activists have also been victims, the special services have behaved identically - using investigation of terrorist acts as a pretext, they have questioned activists about foreign sources of financing and protest actions. What is more, everyone concerned practices nonviolence as a basic principle of environmental activity. It cannot be ruled out that a new provocation could be carried out in the form of Nikoulina's detainment. We would like to hope that this will not happen. I would like to ask everyone who realizeds the danger threatening the movement if the FSB builds up cases against environmentalists and calls them terrorists, and everyone who would simply like to help, to follow this case. Your support can have great influence. WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW: Find out tomorrow whether Nikoulina comes back from Lubyanka, the FSB headquarters. Keep in touch with Anti-nuclear campaign through e-mail: ecodefense@glasnet.ru The phone number of the Anti-Nuclear Campaign in Moscow, where Alisa can be found, is +7 095 278 46 42. If no one answers, try 278 47 89 and ask for Nina Viktorovna (if you speak Russian). If the worst happens, call the FSB and send letters of protest, copying them to members of the media. The FSB Center for Public Relations can be reached at 224-4689, 224-5097 or fax 975-2470. Phone number of the FSB officer Dmitry Vadimovich Andreev, who ordered Alisa to come - 224-4340. Show them in any way possible that the public is following Nikoulina's case and it will not passed unnoticed. Publicity and our combined efforts still frighten the secret services. We won't last long alone. If it happens that you talk to FSB please use full name - Elena Leonidovna Nikoulina, otherwise they will tell you they never asked her to come and don't know who she is. For further information call our telephones (if you speak Russian) or write to: ecodefense@glasnet.ru. Thanks in advance, keep in touch. Vladimir Slivyak, on behalf of ECODEFENSE! and The SEU Anti-Nuclear Campaign http://www.ecoline.ru/antinuclear - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: marylia@earthlink.net (marylia) Subject: (abolition-usa) NIF: Latest Problems for Nuclear Weapons Megalaser Date: 06 Dec 1999 22:01:02 -0800 (PST) Megalaser's Technical Problems are Coming to Light by Marylia Kelley from Tri-Valley CAREs' December 1999 newsletter, Citizen's Watch "I look forward to...advice on how to put this project back on track," declared Department of Energy Secretary Bill Richardson in a Nov. 10, 1999 press release announcing the formation of a task force charged with reviewing the National Ignition Facility. The group will report directly to Richardson. The problem? For starters, NIF is a train wreck. All the hoists and pulleys at DOE's disposal cannot put it "back on track." Following a late August shake up in NIF management, Tri-Valley CAREs conducted interviews with scientists and others at the three key nuclear weapons labs, Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia. As we reported in the September 1999 Citizen's Watch, NIF is not merely off-track, it is beset by serious, unresolved technical difficulties, particularly in the areas of optics (glass), target fabrication (radioactive pellets) and diagnostics As it became public that NIF is at least $300 million over budget and over a year behind schedule, three official investigations were launched into NIF problems. The General Accounting Office is conducting an investigation, likely to be the most comprehensive of the three, and expected to conclude around March. The University of California, which manages the Lab for DOE, published a cursory look at NIF's management issues (copies available on request), and, most recently, Richardson appointed a NIF task force. NIF Limited to Half-Energy Unresolved problems in the final optics mean that NIF will be able to run at only half its design energy, Edward Moses, the newly appointed NIF manager, admitted to the NIF task force. "We can run 4 to 5 joules per square centimeter," he told the DOE panel. "This is 50% of NIF's rating." In essence, as each of the laser's beams travels toward the radioactive fuel pellet -- at the key point where it must be converted to ultraviolet (called the third harmonic) -- the beam will cause damage spots on the optics to grow. This, in turn, will cause the lenses to shatter on very short order. Called "damage propagation," employees have been telling us of this problem for some time. This is the first time, however, that NIF management has openly acknowledged it. NIF Glass Fails to Meet Specs Another serious hurdle is with the manufacture of NIF's laser glass. The Lab has already spent an undisclosed amount of money building full-scale production facilities at 2 companies, Hoya and Schott. The NIF plan calls for them to make the glass via a "continuous pour" method, unlike the technique used for earlier lasers, wherein glass was produced in small batches. Scientists and vendors have said privately that NIF laser glass was supposed to have been delivered in January and June. To date, only a small portion of the order has been delivered, and it did not meet specifications. The glass slabs, intended for NIF's amplifiers, contain unacceptable stresses which make them "pop." The underlying problems are twofold: too much water in the finished product and a lack of "homogeneity," meaning there are serious imperfections at random locations inside the glass. The NIF's design calls for over 3,000 glass slabs with a combined weight of around 150 tons. Therefore, the Lab cannot resolve the problem by going back to the "tried and true" method used in the past to produce small quantities of laser glass. The simple truth is that no one knows how to make enough glass for NIF, and do it in a way that will meet the purity and other necessary specs. Our investigations have turned up many additional problems, from anti-reflection coatings to beam alignment inadequacies, to silver coating failures on the flashlamp mirrors, to target manufacture and loading uncertainties -- and the list goes on. NIF is Costly Aid Program for Weaponeers In essence, the key parts needed to make NIF run are still in a research and development mode, long after that phase was to have been completed. The NIF project has gobbled up close to $1 billion dollars so far. Researchers tell us that the acknowledged $300 million cost overrun is only the tip of the iceberg. NIF's costs could ultimately double, from $5 billion to ten, they say. And, the schedule delay may stretch from two to five years (to more). The Lab refuses to release its new "baseline" report for NIF, but it is believed to contain a proposal to cut NIF in half, reducing it from 192 to 96 beams. Such a move will not resolve the serious technical difficulties. It will, however, forego any pretense at reaching ignition, even if all other problems can be solved. Bigger than a football stadium, NIF is designed to train multiple laser beams on a radioactive fuel target sitting inside a reactor vessel. The scientific goal is to compress the target and initiate a thermonuclear, or fusion, explosion. The weaponeers' goal is to use it as a tool to advance nuclear weapons physics. This latter aim does not require ignition, and is the only purpose that will be served by building NIF. Like the Livermore Lab's "Star Wars" project before it, NIF runs counter to disarmament goals, is being over-hyped to Congress in order to obtain funding -- and won't work, to boot. Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 <http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bob Tiller <btiller@psr.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Change of venue Date: 07 Dec 1999 16:27:04 -0500 Friends, It is with sadness that I will leave the PSR staff at the end of this year. I have enjoyed these three years, and I have appreciated working with you. Though there have been some setbacks, we have made valuable progress toward a world free of the scourge of nuclear weapons. Thank you for your commitment, your diligence and your friendship. I hope that our paths will cross again. Shalom, Bob Tiller - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Pamela S. Meidell" <pmeidell@igc.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) y2k nuclear power action alert Date: 07 Dec 1999 14:43:42 -0800 >From: PDSLaurie@aol.com >Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 13:28:37 EST >Subject: y2k nuclear power action alert >To: can@shaysnet.com, ctrepal@earthdaycoalition.org, pmeidell@igc.org, > prop1@prop1.org, redwood.alliance@homepower.com, swv1@ctaz.com, > wendyt@jps.net, davidlaurie@earthlink.net >X-Mailer: AOL for Macintosh sub 189 > >please send today: > >Y2K & NUCLEAR POWER > >URGENT=20 >ACTION ALERT: >for December 8th & 9th > >CALL: President Clinton (202) 456-1111 > Christopher Dodd (202) 224-5224 > (Senate Y2K committee) > John Koskinen (202) 456-7171 > (Chair Council on Year 2000) > > >TELL THEM: > > To support Y2K WASH (World Atomic Safety Holiday) > =95Temporarily shut down all US nuclear reactors in a phased procedure by =20 >December 30. > =95Ensure there are reliable backup generators and adequate fuel= supplies=20 >for=20 > 60 days > =95De-alert nuclear weapons systems=20 > =95Encourage other world leaders to undertake these initiatives > >FOR MORE INFORMATION CHECK OUT Y2K WASH WEBSITE: >www.y2kwash.org > >Please call (415) 868-1900 for more information. Thanks for your help. We= =20 >have 23 more days! > >=20 > Pamela S. Meidell Director The Atomic Mirror P.O. Box 220 Port Hueneme, California USA 93044 Tel: 805/985 5073 Fax: 805/985 7563 Email: pmeidell@igc.org The Atomic Mirror is part of Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Helen Caldicott" <hcaldic@ibm.net> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Change of venue Date: 08 Dec 1999 12:37:14 +1100 Bob, Your'e the only one I can relate to! I'd love to know really why you are leaving, good luck and thanks for all your excellent work, I have enjoyed working with you, Helen Caldicott ----- Original Message ----- Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 1999 8:27 AM > Friends, > > It is with sadness that I will leave the PSR staff at the end of this > year. I have enjoyed these three years, and I have appreciated working > with you. Though there have been some setbacks, we have made valuable > progress toward a world free of the scourge of nuclear weapons. Thank > you for your commitment, your diligence and your friendship. I hope > that our paths will cross again. > > Shalom, > Bob Tiller > > > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. > - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY - 22 DAYS AND GOING DOWN: 5,600 WARHEADS Date: 09 Dec 1999 15:00:12 +1000 22 DAYS AND GOING DOWN: STILL 5,600 WARHEADS ON ALERT - PLEASE FAX FOR DE-ALERTING TODAY PLEASE SEND THIS EMAIL ON TO AS MANY OTHERS AS YOU CAN - Distribute far and Wide. Dear All who are concerned about the safety of our planet, As December 31 draws closer you'll get more of these. Time is getting short. As we move toward the crucial date of Dec31/Jan1, 2000, some 5,600 nuclear warheads controlled by the oldest and largest computer complexes in the world are on hairtrigger alert. We are asking people to write to US Defence Secretary Cohen, Clinton, and Russian defence minister Sergeyev, asking them to take these weapons off alert before Dec30. In particular, if you live in the US, if it is at all possible you should try to fax or ring the white house or defence secy Cohen at the Pantagon TODAY (Dec 9th). Cohen-Fax +1-703-695-1149, Ph(Clinton) (202) 456-1111 fax 456-2461. If you live in Europe (esp eastern europe), please send a fax to Russian defence minister Igor Sergeyev first, and then to US defence secy Cohen and Clinton. (+7-095-205-4330. Russian Govt General Fax) PLEASE don't just delete or write back asking me to take you off the list - this really is important and it really is something on which you can make a difference. If you have already sent a fax, then congratulations. You don't need to do any more - unless you'd like to distribute this email to as many other people as possible. If you faxed to Cohen or Clinton however, you might consider faxing Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev. There are indications that your faxes *may* be making an impact on the Pentagon. We need to keep the momentum up! The Canberra Commission, the Tokyo Forum, four resolutions in the United Nations General Assembly (two last year two this year), two motions in the Australian Senate, and a resolution carried on Thursday 18th Nov by the European Parliament have all called for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert. Please write to US defence secretary William Cohen, President Clinton, and to Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev, asking them to take nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert at least over the Y2K 'rollover' period. Defence Secretary Cohen's fax number is +1-703-695-1149 President Clintons fax number is +1-202-456-2461 Yeltsin/Sergeyev's fax number is +7-095-205-4330. Faxing a single A4 page should not cost you more than a dollar. You can fax for free on http://www.fax4free.com (But the best fax is HANDWRITTEN). *If you are an organisation* and want to sign a large sign- on letter, please sign the letter to Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton that is being periodicaly faxed to them on http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html Sample letters to Cohen/Clinton and to Sergeyev are below. Do please customise and abbreviate. And have fun while saving the planet from (possibly) the apocalypse! 1)SAMPLE LETTER TO COHEN/CLINTON (This is for individuals to sent to Us Secretary for Defence Cohen and President Clinton. You can also post it to The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC.) TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period. As you will be aware, the European Parliament recently voted to ask you and President Yeltsin to do as the UK has already done, and de-alert nuclear weapons. It is particularly disturbing that Secretary Cohen has been reported as having stated in Moscow some time ago that de-alerting of nuclear forces is 'off the table' as a stability building measure. You have also been quoted as saying that 'The better course is reduction, limiting the number of weapons, and establishing shared early warning centers'. The recent Europarliament vote clearly puts de- alerting back on the table. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkley has asked for it. These measures are not in competition with each other. All of them - reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting - are vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. The very nature of the Y2K problem makes it impossible to be sure everything has been fixed until well into the new year. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. This system seems to include additional ways in which Y2K failure might lead to an accidental launch. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one. However, it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as we the public are aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The Y2K vulnerabilities recently discovered in six of the seven hotlines on which US/Russian communications depends, are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. In taking De-alerting 'off the table', the United States is making a serious error. Failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low, but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. (SIGNED) etc. 2)SAMPLE LETTER TO YELTSIN/DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV THIS SAMPLE LETTER IS FOR YOU PERSONALLY TO FAX, CUSTOMIZED AS YOU FEEL BEST, TO YELTSIN AND DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV. PLEASE DO FAX IT AND SEND IT NOW. You can also post it to Boris Yeltsin, C/O The Kremlin, Moscow - but its really too slow. A single A4 page fax will cost you about a dollar. PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, IGOR SERGEYEV, RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, +7-095-205-4330, 'Dear Defence Minister Sergeyev and President Yeltsin, I am writing to convey my deep concern that Y2K-related computer failures in the command and control systems for nuclear weapons may lead to an accidental nuclear war. I am aware that both Russia and the US have taken this problem seriously enough to establish a joint strategic stability center in Colorado. However, I am very much concerned that this facility will come into operation only by 27th December 1999, so that a delay of just four days will make it useless. I am also very much concerned that Y2K problems have been found recently in six out of seven of the 'hotlines' that would be used if a crisis of any sort arose over the Y2K rollover period. I am aware that there have been a number of occasions when either the US or Russia have mistakenly believed that the other nation was in the process of launching a nuclear attack. With 3,600 Russian warheads on 700 missiles and 2,000 US warheads on 500 missiles, with each side capable to launch within roughly 20 minutes, this must never be allowed to happen, either over the Y2K 'rollover', or at any other time. The use of 5,600 warheads would certainly mean the end of what we call civilization, would likely mean the end of the human race and could possibly mean the end of all life. I therefore urge both you and the United States, to place all your nuclear forces in a status in which at least days not minutes, would be required to launch . The United Kingdom has, I understand, already done this. The European Parliament has recently called on both the US and Russia to de-alert nuclear weapons and to place them in a state similar to that in which the UK has placed its weapons. The recent Europarliament vote clearly puts de- alerting back on the table. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkley has asked for it. The immediate stakes are so high and the potential for global catastrophe is so great, that mutually verified de-alerting of nuclear forces in the face of the Y2K computer problem must take precedence over all other considerations of political and national security.' (Signed) etc. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Crockett Williams" <gear2000@lightspeed.net> Subject: (abolition-usa) Nuclear Waste Remediation Date: 09 Dec 1999 11:27:40 -0800 Latest efforts to gain acceptance for new process to neutralize radioacti= ve wastes onsite rather than ship them across country and bury them, ie, antidote to "Mobile Chernobyl" plans. <Undisclosed.Recipients@skylink.skylink.net> Hello Everybody! Last night the Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a hearing here in Henderson, Nevada on safety issues involved with transporting on trucks highly radioactive waste nuclear fuel rods inside casks. The casks are extremely heavy dumb-bell shaped containers built to withstand falls, fire, collisions at 60 mph, etc. They have a layer of water all around to provide neutron shielding, stainless steel to shield against gamma rays, thick rigid steel shells, etc. Below is a copy of my testimony. A. Roy MacMillan is a good friend of mine who I met last year. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the World Bank during the early 1970's. He is actively pursuing several other innovative widely beneficial projects besides a new cask design and the truck-mounted portable nuclear fuel neutralizer that I mentioned in my testimony. I did some networking among the NRC officials and attendees from the public. I focused on promoting the theme that geologic storage of radioactive nuclear fuel has been made obsolete by the development of low-energy nuclear transmutation by Hal Fox and his associates of Trenergy, Inc., Salt Lake City. As a marketing prop, so to speak, I would show them a color printout of the flake of copper from http://web.gcis.net/cincygrp/ which used to be radioactive thorium. And if they still don't believe that transmuting radioactive fuel to non-radioactive isotopes can be done, I would tell them to go to Trenergy's lab so they can see for themselves a demonstration of transmuting radioactive thorium into non-radioactive copper, etc so that the radioactivity drops by 90% in one hour or so. More than one NRC official told me that all NRC does is regulate. For research funding, go talk to the DOE. I would then tell them that the Salt Lake City people have been talking to the DOE for at least a couple of years. Yet Trenergy still hasn't been able to secure the research funding that they deserve. I was introduced to Patricia Eng who is some kind of a chief of the NRC section on casks. She said she knows of Roy MacMillan's Containment Systems company I mentioned in my testimony. She also has for a while posted in her office a printout of the same copper flake downloaded from http://web.gcis.net/cincygrp/. She is a good example of why a better Web site on low-energy nuclear transmutation would help sell the technology. I tried to explain to one NRC official in simple terms how low-energy nuclear transmutation neutralizes radioactive materials. My explanation was essentially the paragraph below in my testimony about the difference between 9,000,000 volts versus less than 5,000 volts. He admitted I was going over his head. I didn't think of it at the time, but I could have then tried on him my analogy using ping pong balls for electrons and bowling balls for protons. I had the same difficulty with someone else involved with a private company in the cask business. My guess is if they don't understand what is a volt, they can't begin to comprehend even in simple terms the theory of low-energy nuclear transmutation. My actual testimony was much shorter and without the theatrics I wrote in the letter below. I have mixed feelings about publicly accusin= g the DOE and NRC of possible corruption with respect to Yucca Mountain. After talking with the NRC officials last night, while admittedly a statistically insignificant sample, I am leaning more towards just plain technical incompetence and lazy bureaucratic thinking and inertia among DOE people as to why they have ignored low-energy nuclear transmutation as a demonstrable alternative to geologic storage of waste nuclear fuel. Gary (Below is the text of my testimony that was submitted in WRITTEN form. I passed out 20 copies of my testimony.) Gary C. Vesperman 3123 Trueno Road Henderson, NV 89014-3142 (702) 435-7947 vman@skylink.net December 8, 1999 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Spent Fuel Project Office Washington, DC 20555-0001 To whom it may concern: Please include the following comments in the record of the December 8, 19= 99 public meeting at the Henderson Convention Center on transportation of sp= ent nuclear fuel safety: Roy MacMillan is the President of Containment Systems, Inc. His company h= as developed a new type of cask for transporting high-level radioactive wast= e which is much cheaper yet stronger and safer than casks currently being used. When I first met Mr. MacMillan last year, his company also had the engineering nearly completed for a portable truck-mounted spent nuclear f= uel neutralizer. The spent nuclear fuel rods would be processed so that their radioactivity would be eliminated. However, the company did not have the technology for actually transmuting the radioactive waste. Since then I h= ave brought to his attention one proven method of transmuting radioactive substances so that they would be no longer radioactive. Earlier this year I asked Mr. MacMillan when he expects to have the servi= ce for neutralizing radioactive fuel. He told me no more than five years. Si= nce we already have a proven method of neutralizing radioactivity on site at nuclear power plants, we can immediately abandon Yucca Mountain as a radioactive waste dump. There will not be any waste nuclear fuel to transport and store. The proven method of transmuting radioactive waste is low-energy nuclear transmutation. A new design has also been developed which is believed to = be at least one million times more powerful than low-energy nuclear transmutation. This is a drawing of a reactor which you can buy right now for $2,500 for demonstrating low-energy nuclear transmutation. Inside the reactor are a pair of electrodes which are positively and negatively charged. Protons require 9,000,000 volts to be accelerated to a velocity high enough to penetrate nuclei. Within this reactor, protons are embedded in high-densi= ty clusters of electrons. Protons have 1836 times the mass of electrons. 9,000,000 volts divided by 1836 is a little less than 5,000 volts. So therefore, in order to penetrate nuclei and to transmute elements, only a little less than 5,000 volts is required to accelerate protons to the sam= e high enough velocity as 9,000,000 volts. That is the reason for the term =93low-energy nuclear transmutation=94. This is a photograph of a flake of non-radioactive copper that used to be radioactive thorium. Look at that copper flake. This photograph is visual proof that low-energy nuclear transmutation of radioactive waste can be done. (See http://web.gcis.net/cincygrp/.) If you still don=92t believe me, you can see for yourself in Salt Lake Ci= ty demonstrations of reducing radioactive thorium by 90% in an hour. The record shows so far that the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have not been paying any attention to eliminating radioactivity using low-energy nuclear transmutation. I think the DOE and the NRC have fallen short in their responsibilities t= o Congress and the public about the need for a Yucca Mountain repository. T= hey know that there are alternatives to Yucca Mountain. Yet the DOE and the N= RC have been adamant about not spending any money investigating low-energy nuclear transmutation. I have heard it suggested that these two agencies = and their contractors just don=92t want to give up on over one hundred billio= n dollars of profitable contracts involved in reprocessing, transporting, a= nd geologic storage of radioactive waste. I have even heard it suggested tha= t there must be corruption somewhere within the DOE and NRC which would explain why they have not shown any interest in cheap and safe low-energy nuclear transmutation of radioactive waste. I ask the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to stop wasting money on studying Yucca Mountain for dumping radioactive waste and such auxiliary topics as transportation safety issues. Neutralization of waste nuclear fuel on-sit= e at nuclear power plants is a proven technology which can be demonstrated = up in Salt Lake City. I also ask the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to finance and stage here in Henderson a public demonstration of neutralizing radioactive materials us= ing low-energy nuclear transmutation. Those in the audience who want to see t= he demonstration, would you all please stand up? The DOE has projected the life-cycle cost of Yucca Mountain to be $150 billion. Look again at this copper flake which used to be radioactive thorium. Radioactivity can be eliminated. Do you really think it is necessary to squander $150 billion = on Yucca Mountain? I want to hear from the audience a loud NO! Thank you, Gary C. Vesperman =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D Above new science and related discoveries of new energy technologies to replace nuclear and fossil fuel power as per Hal Fox and others http://www.pakrak.com/ine http://www.infinite-energy.com will be carried= by Global Peace Walk 2000 from San Francisco (Jan15) to Washington DC to the United Nations for its 55th anniversary October 24, 2000. Hal Fox has agreed to be available for a presentation on LENT and these new energy technologies in Las Vegas NV during third week in February after the walk passes through Ward Valley and by the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. Anyone interested in helping with this project can contact: gear2000@lightspeed.net David Crockett Williams 661-822-3309 Global Emergency Alert Response http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000 Global Peace Walk 2000 http://www.globalpeacenow.org http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/gpw.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) Join 460 Groups! -Ask Yeltsin/Clinton, to take N-Weapons Off Date: 10 Dec 1999 17:34:40 +1000 THIS EMAIL IS A SIGN ON LETTER FOR GROUPS. IF YOUR GROUP HAS ALREADY SIGNED IT YOU NEED DO NO MORE. HOWEVER IT WOULD BE DESIRABLE IF YOU WOULD PASS IT ON TO OTHERS WHO MIGHT SIGN IT. You could also ask your members to send to US Defence Secy Cohen Clinton, and Yeltsin, the sample letters posted yesterday and today. Dear Non-Governmental Organisation, Parliamentarian or Religious group, The European Parliament passed a resolution on Nov 18th, calling on the US and Russia to take 5,600 nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert before December 31, for the Y2K 'Rollover'. Mounting concern is being expressed over the possibility of accidental nuclear war due to Y2K related computer failures in the vast interconnected computer complexes that control nuclear weapons. De-alerting has also been incorporated in two recent resolutions passed by the United Nations General Assembly and two similar ones passed last year, as well as two resolutions passed recently by the Australian senate. It has been reccommended by the Canberra Commission of 1996 and by the Tokyo =46orum. The letter below, which I hope you will sign, has already been signed by 22 Australian MPs, 10members of the European Parliament, 9 NZ parliamentarians and 4 Canadian parliamentarians as well as three congresspeople. Altogether it has been signed by over 460 NGOs, including Friends of the Earth International, (and FOE-UK), Greenpeace International, the British American Security Information Council and the Centre for Defence Information in Washington. I hope you can sign it. John Hallam, Letter Coordinator. PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, KRASNOPRESENSKAYA-2, MOSCOW, RUSSIA, +7-095-205-4219, +7-095-206-5173 +7-095-205-4330, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, BILL RICHARDSON, US SECRETARY OF ENERGY, +1-202-586-9987. IGOR SERGEYEV, DEFENCE MINISTER OF RUSSIA, Znamenka-19, 103160, Moscow, Russia, +7-095-293-33-13, 247-2795, 247-2722, 293-3323. =46OREIGN MINISTER OF RUSSIA, +7-095-244-3276, +7-095-244-2203, CC ALL HEADS OF STATE (BY EMAIL) ALL UN MISSIONS (BY EMAIL) Dear Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton, Defence Ministers and Defence Secretaries, Heads of State and UN Missions, The organisations above, representing millions of people worldwide, are writing to convey their extreme concern over the possibility that Year 2000 (Y2K)-related computer failures in nuclear weapons systems may lead to an unacceptable risk of nuclear war by accident or miscalculation. In the current political situation this is most especially the case. According to Alexandr Arbatov, of the Defence Committee of the Russian State Duma, US-Russian relations are at 'the worst, most acute, most dangerous juncture since the US-Soviet Berlin and Cuban missile crises.' The danger during the Y2K rollover lies primarily in the possibility that spurious data may induce commanders, even at the highest levels, to mistakenly authorise the launches of nuclear weapons. Events similar to this have already occurred. For example: In the US in 1980, a malfunctioning computer chip sent spurious alert signals; In 1983 in Russia, satellites mistook glare off the tops of clouds for a US missile launch, (and disaster was averted by the refusal of the local commander to believe the warnings were real); In 1995, a Norwegian research rocket prompted a full-scale Russian alert. If Y2K breakdowns produce inaccurate early warning data, or if communications and command channels are compromised, the combination of hair-trigger force postures and Y2K failures could be disastrous. There should therefore be a 'safety first ' approach to Y2K and nuclear arsenals. Because none of the nuclear weapons states can guarantee that their nuclear- related computer systems are Y2K compliant, the only responsible solution is for them all to stand down nuclear operations. This approach should include taking nuclear weapons off alert status and decoupling nuclear warheads from delivery vehicles. The stakes involved in any nuclear exchange between Russia and the US are such that they dwarf any other considerations. The future of life itself on earth could be in doubt. In light of this, we strongly urge that you remove all strategic and tactical nuclear weapons from 'hair trigger' alert, and place them in a status in which at least hours and preferably days would be required to launch them. The Canberra Commission in August 1996, noted that terminating nuclear alert status would: --Reduce dramatically the chances of accidental or unauthorised nuclear missile launch. --Help set the stage for intensified cooperation on a more far- reaching disarmament agenda --Have a very positive influence on the political climate between nuclear weapon states. This last is especially relevant in the current tension between Russia and NATO, which has prompted Russia to withdraw from cooperation with the US on Y2K problems. According to the Canberra Commission, "Taking nuclear forces off alert could be verified by national technical means and nuclear weapon state inspection arrangements. in the first instance, reduction in alert status could be adopted by the nuclear weapon states unilaterally" If both sides are verifiably de-alerted, it will not be possible for either to launch a disarming first strike. The immediate stakes are so high, and the potential for global catastrophe so clear, that mutually verified de-alerting in the face of the Y2K computer problem must take precedence over all other considerations of politics and national security. Signed Kevin Dunion, Chairperson, Friends of the Earth International, John Hallam, Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Australia, Wendy Johnson, Friends of the Earth New Zealand, Dr Patrick Green, Senior Energy, Nuclear and Climate Campaigner, Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland, Ricardo Navarro, Friends of the Earth El Salvador, Nnimmo Bassey, Friends of the Earth Nigeria (Environmental Rights Action), Benin City, Nigeria, Viktor Khazan, Friends of the Earth Ukraine, Manana Kochladze, Friends of the Earth Georgia, Tbilsi, Georgia. Jan Kunnas, Friends of the Earth Finland, Bo Stroem, Friends of the Earth Denmark, Tonu Oja, Chairperson, Friends of the Earth Estonia, Tartu, Estonia. Amis de la Terre, Paris, France, Loukia Pavlidou, President, Friends of the Earth Cyprus, Oleg Svistunov, Friends of the Earth Japan Siberia Program, Corine Viellers, Global-2000(Friends of the Earth Austria) Daniela Stojanova, General Secretary, Friends of the Earth Macedonia, Maria Minkova, Deputy Chair, Friends of the Earth Bulgaria/Ecoglasnost, Sofi= a, Prof. Vladimir V. Kokylukhin, Chair, Friends of the Earth Belarus, Brest, Belarus, Petra Maier, Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND), Peter Garrrett, President, Australian Conservation Foundation, Helen Caldicott, MD, Founding President, PSR, Irene Gale, Australian Peace Committee, SA Branch, Denis Doherty, Secretary, Pax Christi NSW, REV. John Mavor, President, Uniting Church of Australia Debra A. Brown, Uniting Church Social Responsibility and Justice Agency, Rev. Ray Richmond, Wayside Chapel, Uniting Church in Australia, Pitt Street Uniting Church, Pitt St, Sydney, Rev. John Stanley, St Johns Anglican Church, Darlinghurst, Sydney, Julie Marlow, Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Committee, Babs Fuller-Quinn, Australian Peace Committee, National Committee, Susan Wareham, President, Medical Association for the Prevention of War, IPPNW Regional Vice-President, Aust., Dr. John Ward, Health Professionals for Global Responsibility, Pauline Mitchell, Campaign for International Cooperation and Disarmament, Peter Jones, War Resisters International, Australia., Alec Marr, National Campaign Director, The Wilderness Society, Mark Wakeham, Environment Centre of the Northern Territory, Deborah Metters, Arid Lands Environment Centre, Alice Springs, NT., Rowena Skinner, Environment Centre of W.A., Robin Chapple, Anti-Uranium Coalition of W.A., Cherie Hoyle, Centre for Urban Ecology, SA., Graham Daniell, People for Nuclear Disarmament, Western Australia., Zohl D' Ishtar, Pacific Connections, Richard Goode, 2 Billion Voices for Peace Project, Geoff Holland, Institute for Global Futures Research, Earlville, Queensland, Ian Dixon, Big Scrub Environment Centre, Lismore, Isabelle Whyte, Everyone for a Nuclear-free Future, Lismore, Robin Taubenfeld, Everyone for a Nuclear-Free Future, Gold Coast, Jonivar Skullerud, ENUFF, Adelaide, Chris White, Secretary, United Trades and Labour Council, SA, Paul Martinella, State Secretary, CFMEU, SA, Trevor Smith, National Secretary, CFMEU, Forests and Forests Products Division, SA, Stephen Smith, Secretary, CFMEU, Furnishing trade Division, SA, Jacob Grech, Earthworker, All-Union Green Caucus, Mick Doyle, United Firefighters Union of SA, Paul Noak, Secy, A.M.W.U. SA Office. Martin O' Malley, Secy, CFMEU, SA Branch. Stephen Spence, Secretary, Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, SA., Leonie Ebert, Graham F. Smith Peace Trust, SA., P.T. Muldoon, General Manager, Richmond River Shire Council, Craig Barrass, Administrator, (for Mayor), Uralla Shire Council, Anna Guiliani, City of Darebin, Vic, Councillor Kris Kruden, Mayor, City of Leichhardt, NSW., Councillor Yvonne Caddy, Mayor, Mitcham City Council, S.A., Tony Zappia, Mayor, Salisbury City Council, SA., Senator Lyn Allison, Democrat Senator for Victoria, Senator Meg Lees, Democrat Senator for South Australia, Leader of the Australian Democrats, Senator Vicky Bourne, Democrat Senator for NSW., Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja, Deputy Leader, Australian Democrats, Senator Andrew Bartlett, Democrat Senator for Queensland, Senator Bob Brown, Green Senator for Tasmania, Senator Dee Margetts, Green Senator for Western Australia, Senator George Campbell, ALP Senator for NSW., Senator Margaret Reynolds, ALP, NSW, Senator Jim Mc Kiernan, ALP, W.A., Anthony Albanese. ALP, Federal member for Grayndler, Tanya Plibersek, ALP, Federal member for Sydney, Jann Mc Farlane, Federal member for Stirling, W.A., Jill Hall, M.P., Federal member for Shortland, NSW, Cheryl Davenport MLC., W.A., Ian Cohen, MLC, Greens, NSW, Lee Rhiannon, MLC, Greens, NSW, Sandra Kanck, MLC,Democrats, S.A., Ian Gilfillan, MLC, Democrats, SA, Carolyn Pickles MLC, SA., Robyn Geraghty MP, Member for Torrens, SA., =46rances Bedford, ALP State MP for Florey, S.A., Jim Scott, WA Greens, Legislative Council, W.A., Dr Louise Crossley, National Convenor, Greens, Australia, Hannah Middleton, President, Communist Party of Australia. Commander Robert Green RN (Ret'd), Chair, World Court Project UK, =46elicity Hill, Womens International League for Peace and Freedom, Geneva/N= Y Martin Butcher, British-American Security Information Centre, US/UK, Stephanie Mills, Greenpeace International Nuclear and Disarmament Campaign, Bernice Boermans, Executive Director, International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, (IALANA), The Hague, Neth., Rear-Admiral Eugene J. Carroll, USN (retd), Deputy Director, Centre for Defence Information, Washington, USA, Colin Archer, International Peace Bureau, Geneva, Switzerland, Dave Knight, Chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, U.K., Janet Bloomfield, Former Chair CND, Abolition U.K, Saffron Walden Group Against Nuclear Weapons, Bruce Kent, Vice-President, CND, Jenny Maxwell, West Midlands CND, Birmingham, U.K, Tigger Mc Gregor, Youth and Student CND, U.K., Dave Webb, Yorkshire CND., U.K., Anni Rainbow and Lindis Percy, Campaign for Accountability of American Bases, U.K., Gillian Reeve, Director, MEDACT (IPPNW U.K), Jane Tallents, Trident-Ploughshares 2000, Norwich, Norfolk, U.K., Di Mc Donald, Network Information Project, Southampton, U.K, Catherine Euler, Menwith Hill Womens Peace Camp, Yorkshire, U.K., Catherine Euler, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, Sue Claydon, Anglican Pacifist Fellowship, Milton Keynes, U.K., Monica King, St Bartholemews Justice and Peace Group, St Albans, U.K., Calderdale Green Party, Yorkshire, U.K., Alan Francis, Chair, Green Party of England and Wales, Alan Watson, Partner, Public Interest Consultants, Swansea, Wales, U.K., Nigel Chamberlain, Cumbria and North Lancashire Peace Groups U.K., Paul Swann, National Coordinator, Y2K Community Action Network, U.K., Tom Roche, Just Forests, Ireland, Jeanette Fitzsimmons, MP, NZ Greens, Brian Donelly, MP, Harry Duynhoven, MP, NZ Labour, Lianna Dalziel, MP, NZ Labour, Judy Keall, MP, NZ Labour, Peter Dunne, MP, NZ Independent, Sandra Lee, Deputy leader, Alliance, Laila Harre, MP, Alliance, NZ., Matt Robson, MP, Alliance, NZ., Dr Kate Dewes, Disarmament and Security Centre, Marion Hancock, Aoteoroa/NZ Peace Foundation, Auckland, NZ., Gerry Coates, Engineers for Social Responsibility, NZ, Keith Locke, Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, NZ Greens, Llelwyn Richards, National Consultative Committee on Disarmament, NZ, Barbara Frame, Peace Action Dunedin, NZ., John Urlich, Peace Council of New Zealand, Rev. John Murray/Dame Laurie Salas/Robin Halliday, Abolition-2000, New Zeala= nd, Ian Prior, IPPNW New Zealand, Chris King, Veterans for Peace New Zealand, Derek Wilson, Architects Against Nuclear War, NZ, Robert E. White, Director, Centre for Peace Studies, University of Auckland, NZ., John Gallagher, New Zealand Nuclear-Free Peacemaking Association, Aotearoa/N= Z., WILPF Aoteoroa, Pat Duncan-Taylor, Waiheke Island Community Awareness of Pesticides, Houraki Gulf, NZ., Hans Gruber, Green Society New Zealand, Rev. Alan Leadley, Chartwell Parish, Hamilton, NZ., Jim Holdom, CORSO, Aotearoa/NZ., Richard N. Salvador, Pacific Islands Association of NGOs, Belau, Tom Mbeke-Ekarem, Chair, Coalition of Petroleum-Producing States of Nigeria, Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organisation, Kenya, Ron Mc Coy, Malaysian Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, Yumi Kukuchi, Y2K WASH Campaign, Sendai, Japan/USA, Aileen Mioko Smith, Director, Green Action Kyoto, Japan., Mitsuhiro Yamazaki, ASEED-Japan, Kanechiyo Narumi, Secretary General, Country Life Association, Tokyo, Japan, Masanao Tanaka, Human Survival Research Group, Tokyo, Japan, Akinori Itoh, Founder, Chikyu-Oendan, (Earth-Assist), Tokyo, Japan, Hiroshi Taka, Assistant Secretary, Japan Council Against A and H-Bombs (Gensuikyo), S.P. Udayakumar, South Asian Community Centre for Education and Research, Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, South India, Thomas Matthew, Director, SEEDS-India, Bunker Roy, Barefoot College, Tilonia, Rajasthan, M.E. Deenadayalan, The Other Media, M.E. Deenadayalan, Samarthan, Ashish Kothari, Kalpavriksh Environmental Group, Pune, India, Mr Tapan K. Bose, Pakistan/India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy, Asif Rasheed Leghari, Awami Committee for Development, Multan, Pakistan, Dr. M.A. Bari, Integrated Child Health Organisation, Bangladesh, Nana Suhartana, Indonesian National Network Forum Anti-Nuclear Society, Enry Soekoer, Architects Against Nuclear, Indonesia, Arief Wickasono, KEMALA, Indonesia, Denny Boy Mochran, PUTER, Indonesia, Maricor V. Talaroc, SEED- Lugait, Baguio City, Phillipines., Bisan Singh, Sustainable Development Network, Malaysia, Mohamad Lokman Mohd Nor, Students Environmental Protection Ambassadors Scheme, Malaysia, Pipob Udomittipong, Alternative Energy Project for Sustainability, Thailand, Lorenzo Muelas, Movimiento Autoridades Indigenas de Colombia, Paula Caballero, Andean Centre for Sustainable Development, Bogota, Colombia= , Prof Eduardo Voila, Dept. International Relations, University of Brasilia, Brasil, Sergio Dealetachi, Coordinator, Instituto Ecoar Para a Cidania, Brasil, Antonio Ruiz, Fundacion Del Rio, Nicaragua, Julie Noriega, Centro de Calidad Ambiental, ITESM, Monterrey, Mexico, Carlos Romero, (Prof), Environmental Management, ITESM, Monterrey, Mexico, Haim Ruttner, Israel Electric Corporation R&D, Israel, Charles Lenchner, Green Action Israel, Tel-Aviv, Israel, Yoram Getzler, Association for Jewish Renewal in Israel, Jerusalem, Israel, Vladimir Sliviak, Ecodefense, Russia, Galina Raghouzhina, World Information Service on Energy (WISE) Kaliningrad, Alexandra Koroleva, Educational Committee, Kaliningrad Regional Duma, Mikhail Trofimov, Ecodefence! International, Kaliningrad, Alisa Nikoulina, Antinuclear Campaign of Social-Ecological Union, Moscow, Pavel Malyshev, Platan Youth Group, Kaliningrad, Oleg Bodrov, Green World, Sosnovy Bor, St Petersburg, Russia, Vera Brovkina, St Petersburg Peace Council, St Petersburg, Russia, Lydia Popova, Centre for Nuclear Ecology and Energy Policy, Russia, Marina Rikhmanova, Baikal Environmental Wave, Baikal, Russia, Konstantin Lebedev, Chair, Ecological Rights Centre, City of Tomsk, Russia, Galina Orlova/Sergei Nikitin, Friends House Moscow, Ludmila Ignatenko, 'Aleksam' Community, Kamchatka, Russia, Elchin Sultanov, PhD, Chairman, Azerbaijan Ornithological Society, Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences, Rubina Stepanyan, Sustainable Development Organisation of Armenia, Alla Shevchuck, Chairwoman, Social-Ecological Union, Ukraine, Ilya Trombitsky MP, Parliament of Moldova, Chishinau, Moldova, Cezara Haheu, Youth For Change, Moldova, Piotr Gorbonenko, BIOTICA Ecological Society, Chishinau, Moldova, George Razvan Marcu, Ecosens, Romania, Cornel Radu-Loghin, AER-PUR, Romania, Ivan Ivanov, Initiative for Sustainable Development, Kazanlak, Bulgaria, Doncho Donchev, Ecoglasnost Kazanlak, Bulgaria, Malla Kantola, Committee of 100, Helsinki, Finland, Laura Lodenius, Peace Union of Finland, Helsinki, Finland, Ulla Lehtinen, Chairperson, First Peoples, Finland, Pepe Mardiste, Student Nature Protection Group, Tartu, Estonia, Gunnar Westberg, MD., SLMK (IPPNW), Swedish Physicians Against Nuclear Weapo= ns, Jens Pettersson, Secretary General, Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, =46redrick S. Heffermehl, President, Norwegian Peace Alliance, =46rederick S. Heffermehl, Norwegian Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, =46rederick S. Heffermehl, International Peace Bureau, Oslo, Susan H=D8vik, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, Norway, Sven Gunnar Simonsen, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, Norway, Nancy Spinks, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, Norway, Prof. Kirsten Osen (Med) University of Oslo, Bjorn Hilt, Chair, Norwegian Physicians Against Nuclear War, (IPPNW) Poul Eck S=F8rensen, Peace Movement of Esbjerg, Denmark, Arne Hansen, War Resisters International, Fredrikshavn, Denmark, Majken Jul S=F8rensen, Aldrig Mere Krig, (AMK) Denmark, Anja Johansen, Militaernaegterforeningen, (Danish Association of Conscientious Objectors) Daniel Durand, Secretary, Mouvement de La Paix, France, Solange Fernex, Womens International League for Peace and Freedom, France, Chrystoph Wyss, International Albert Schwietzer Foundation, France/Switz, Chrystoph Wyss, Dr Schweitzer Hospital Fund, Switzerland, Dr Roland Schutzbach, Global Initiative for Immediate Disarmament, Switzerla= nd, Martin Schwander, Swiss Peace Movement, Switzerland, Xanthe Hall, Assistant Director, IPPNW Germany, Berlin, Regina Hagen, Darmstaedter Friedensforum, Germany, Claus Biegert, Nuclear-Free Award, Germany, Horst Hohmier, Anti-Atom Plenum, Bochum, Germany, Ilona Joerden, Citizens Initiative for Environmental Protection, Luechow-Danneburg, Germany, Dr. Herbert Richter-Peill, IPPNW Hamburg, Germany, Reinhard Behrend, Rettett den Regenwald, Hamburg, Germany, Matthias Reichl, Centre for Encounters and Active Non-Violence, Bad Ischl, Austria, Dr Klaus Renoldner, President, IPPNW Austria, Claudia and Margit, Anti-Atom International, Claudia and Margit, Coordination Office of Austrian Environment Organisation= s, Heinz Stockinger, Independent Salzburg Platform Against Nuclear Dangers,(PLAGE), Salzburg, Austria, Josef Puehringer, Platform Gegen Atomgefahr, Austria, Josef Puehringer, Centrum Energie, Czech Republic, Josef Puehringer, Burgerinitiative Umweltschutz, Budweis, Czech Republic, Josef Puehringer, Energie Zukunft Mohtviertel, Austria., Pol D'Huyvetter, For Mother Earth International, Ghent, Belgium, Peer de Rijk, WISE- Amsterdam, Netherlands, Ophelia Cowell, MDB Energy Project, Netherlands, Marjan Willemsen, For Mother Earth Netherlands, Ak Malten, Global Anti-Nuclear Alliance, Netherlands, Kamil Koster, Working Group Eurobomb, AMOK, Netherlands Pieter Van Der Gaag, Deputy International Coordinator, ANPED, Northern Alliance for Sustainability, David Boerma, Both-ENDS, Amsterdam, Netherlands, =46rank Van Schaik, Transport Coordinator, ASEED-Europe, STROHALM, Utrecht, Netherlands, Kaj Leers, Journalist, Netherlands, David Boerma, Coordinator, Pacific Region, Centre for Indigenous Peoples, Netherlands., Bessie Schadee, Global Action Plan For The Earth International, Neth., Giorgio Nebbia, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Economics, University of Bari, Italy, Dr Joachim Lau, Italian Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, Toni Dell Olio, Pax Christi Italy, Christopher Clark, Associao Amazonia, Italy, Dr Roberto Romizi, International Society of Doctors for the Environment, (ISDE) Arezzo, Italy, Dr Josep Puig, Scientists and Technicians for a Non- Nuclear Future, Barcelona, Catalonia, Stefanos L. Kouniados, Irini Aggeloppoulos, Ecological Movement of Kalamata, Greece, Mariya Ilioska Kedioska, Manager, Macedonia Association for Information, Training, and Sustainable Development, Dusan Vasilevic, Green Table, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Maj-Britt Theorin, MEP, Sweden, Elizabeth Schroedter, MEP, Germany, Ernst Gulcher, MEP, Green Group, Germany, Heidi Hautala, MEP, Green Group, Finland, Glyn Ford, MEP, Labour, SW England, Caroline Lucas MEP Jean Lambert MEP Ozan Keyhun, MEP, Germany, Per Gahrton, MEP, Greens, Sweden., Inger Sch=F6rling, MEP, Congressman Edward J. Markey, (D-Mass), Capitol Hill, Washington, DC. Congresswoman Cynthia Mc Kinney, (D-GA) Capitol Hill, Washington, DC., Alice Slater, Global Resource Action Centre for the Environment, NY., USA., Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CARES, Livermore, California, US. Mary Olson, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, US., Kevin Sanders, Special Projects Director, War and Peace Foundation, N.Y., US= A., Arjun Makhijani, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, Tacoma Park, Md, USA. Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director, Western States Legal Foundation, US., Grace Thorpe, National Environmental Coalition of Native Americans, Carter Camp, Chair, American-Indian Movement of Oklahoma, US, Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network, USA, Bill Smirnow, Nuclear-Free New York, US, Molly Johnson, Coordinator, Save Ward Valley, Calif, USA., William F. Santelmann, Metro-Boston Committee to De-Alert Nuclear Weapons USA., David Krieger, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Santa Barbara, Calif, USA., Robert W. Tiller, Physicians for Social Responsibility, USA., Bob Gould, Physicians for Social Responsibility, San Fran/Bay Area Chapter, USA., Dr Lachlan Forrow, Past Chair, IPPNW, Jonathan Mark, Action Site to Stop Cassini Flyby, Sherry Larsen-Beville, Livermore Conversion Project, Oakland, Calif, USA. Ellen Thomas, Proposition-1 Committee, Washington DC, US., Paula Palmer, Executive Director, Global Response, Boulder, Colo, USA., Bruce A, Drew, Prairie Island Coalition, Diana Roose, Peace Education Director, American Friends Service Committee, Patricia Watson, Peacework, American Friends Service Committee, Mary H. Miller, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Washington, US., Robert Kinsey, Peace and Justice Task Force, Uniting Church of Christ, Rocky Mountains Conference, Rachel Keeler, Executive Director, Pax Christi, New York, Nancy Small, National Coordinator, Pax Christi, USA, =46rank Dworak, Pax Christi, Morris County, NJ, USA., Adam Eidinger, Pax Christi Washington Action Group, U.S., Joyce Hall, Pax Christi Texas, Paul Villavisanis, Pax Christi, St Augustine, Fl, Betty Obol, SL, The Loretto Community, U.S., Phil Mc Manus, Chair, Fellowship of Reconciliation Task Force on Latin America and the Carribean, U.S., Heidi Cooper, All Souls Unitarian Church, Colorado Springs, US., Howard W. Hallman, Methodists United for Peace with Justice, Washington, USA= =2E, Guy Templeton Black, Quest Ministries, Ohio, U.S., Bill Kelly, Executive Director, Centre for Mission Education, Denver, Colorado, USA., Bill Morton, Columban Mission, US/Mexico Border, Jennifer Olaranna Viereck, Coordinator, Healing Global Wounds, Tecopa, CA, USA., Karen Talbot, Director, International Centre for Peace and Justice, San =46rancisco, California, US., Le Roy Moore, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Centre, USA., Chris Ney, War Resisters League, NY, USA., Jasmina Arsova, War Resisters League,, NY. USA., Holly-Poole Kavana, New York Student Environmental Action Coalition, Carol Jahnkow, Peace Resource Centre of San Diego, Calif, US., Janette Michelle Cuevas, Executive Director, Promoting Enduring Peace, NY., Patrick J. Mc Entegart, President, Fortview Foundation, Tarrytown, N.Y., USA= =2E, Babette Lindfield, Professional Network for Social Responsibility, NY, U.S., Susan Lee Solar and Maria Mendez, Grandmothers and Mothers Alliance for the =46uture, Susan Shaer, Executive Director, Womens Action for New Directions, Peter Bergel, President, Centre for Energy Research, Salem, Oregon, USA., Harvey Wasserman, Citizens Protecting Ohio, USA., Sarah Ogdahl, Toledo Area Director, Ohio Citizen Action, Vina Colley, Portsmouth/Piketon Residents for Environmental Safety and Sanit= y, Jay Coghlan, Concerned Citizens For Nuclear Safety, New Mexico, USA., Gordon S. Clark, Executive Director, Peace Action USA., Diane R Swords, Peace Action Central New York, =46ran Teplitz, Peace Action, Peace Action Education Fund, USA., Sonya Ostrom, Metro New York Peace Action Council, Judith H. Johnsrud, Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power, Pennsylvania, U.S, Judith H. Johnsrud, Central Pennsylvania Citizens for Survival, U.S., Scott D. Portzline, Three Mile Island Alert, Pennsylvania, U.S., Vivek Ananthan, Volunteers for International Solidarity, Philadelphia, US., Erik Van Lennepp, Arctic to Amazonia Alliance, Virginia, USA., Deb Katz, Citizens Awareness Network, Tara Thornton, Military Toxics Project, USA., Pamela Meidell, Atomic Mirror, Calif, U.S., Tom Keirans, National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund, Shiela Baker, Pedals for Peace, San Luis Obispo, Calif, U.S., Inga Olson, Sacramento Valley Citizens Along The Roads and Tracks, Marc M. Blaise-Page, Nevada Desert Experience, USA, Cindy Pile, Director, Nevada Desert Exprience, USA, Earth-Savers, Syracuse, U.S., Barbara Weidener, Grandmothers for Peace International, Calif, U.S., Lyn Miles, Tai Mei Peace Action, San Gabriel, U.S., Alan Moore, Butterfly Gardeners Association, Berkley, Calif, Don Moniak, Program Director, Serious Texans Against Nuclear Dumping, Amarillo, Tex, U.S, Andrew Nixon, Students For A Sustainable Earth, W. Michigan University, U.S.= , Jack and Felice Cohen-Joppa, The Nuclear Resister, Marion Pack, Alliance for Survival, Costa-Mesa, California, USA., Peggy Jacobs, Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives, U.S., Esther Park, Peace Links, USA., Peg Ryglisyn & Michael Albrizio, Connecticut Opposed to Waste, Broad Brook, Conn, USA., Jennifer Almquist, Silent Oceans Project, Litchfield, Connecticut, Paige-Knight, Hanford-Watch, Portland, Oregon, Oregon Peaceworks, Howard Schapiro, Performing and Fine Artists for World Peace, Hawaii, Gary Gumz, Appalacian Sustainable Agriculture Project, Mary Beth Branagan, Nuclear Democracy Network, USA., Jane Grossman/Laurie Grossman, Bay Area Chapter, Y2K WASH Campaign, (World Atomic Safety Holiday), USA/JAPAN, Encore, Southeast Texas Y2K Preparedness Workgroup, Senator Doug Roche, Canadian Parliament, Bill Blaikie MP, House Leader, New Democratic Party of Canada, Svend Robinson MP, House of Representatives,Canada, Judy Waslycia-Leis, MP, Winnipeg, Canada, Joan Russow, National Leader, Canadian Green Party, David J. Parker, Alberta Green Party, Gordon Edwards President, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, Montreal, Canada, Dr David Morgan, President, Veterans Against Nuclear Arms, Vancouver, Canada, Dr Barbara Birkett, President, Physicians for Global Survival, Ottawa, Canad= a., Dr. Mary-Wynne-Ashford, IPPNW Canada, Dr Ross Wilcock, Physicians for Global Survival, Canada, Dave Greenfield, New Green Alliance, Saskatoon, Canada, Patti Willis, Pacific Campaign for Disarmament and Security, B.C., Canada, Prof Eric Fawcett, Physics Dept, University of Toronto, Canada, Prof. L. Terrell Gardner, Science for Peace, University of Toronto, Canada. Dr Jennifer Allen Simons, The Simons Foundation, Vancouver, B.C., Sally Hodges, Chair, Ploughshares, Calgary, Canada, O.P.I.R.G., Peterborough, Canada, Christa Rossner, No Nukes, Canada, Genivieve Talbot, United Nations Association of Canada, Snezana Vitorovich, Association of Serbian Women, Canada, Priscilla Settee, Indigenous Womens Network, Canada/USA., Jacques Boucher, Volet Desarment et Paix, Centre de Ressources sur la Non-Violence, Montreal Canada. Jo Hayward-Haines, Victoria Peace Project, Ontario, Canada, Joyce Lydiard, Secretary, WILPF British Columbia, Canada, Dr. Geraldine Schwartz, Institute for Ethical Leadership, Vancouver, Canada, Joyce A.Kovelmann, The Millenium Project, Chatsworth, Canada, John Hallam =46riends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, =46ax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.htm - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY: Fax To Take Warheads Off Alert - 21 Date: 10 Dec 1999 17:53:24 +1000 21 DAYS AND GOING DOWN: STILL 5,600 WARHEADS ON ALERT - PLEASE FAX FOR DE-ALERTING TODAY PLEASE SEND THIS EMAIL ON TO AS MANY OTHERS AS YOU CAN - Distribute far and Wide. Dear All who are concerned about the safety of our planet, As December 31 draws closer you'll get more of these. Time is getting short. As we move toward the crucial date of Dec31/Jan1, 2000, some 5,600 nuclear warheads controlled by the oldest and largest computer complexes in the world are on hairtrigger alert. We are asking people to write to US Defence Secretary Cohen, Clinton, and Russian defence minister Sergeyev, asking them to take these weapons off alert before Dec30. In particular, if you live in the US, if it is at all possible you should try to fax or ring the white house or defence secy Cohen at the Pantagon TODAY (Dec 9th). Cohen-Fax +1-703-695-1149, Ph(Clinton) (202) 456-1111 fax 456-2461. If you live in Europe (esp eastern europe), please send a fax to Russian defence minister Igor Sergeyev first, and then to US defence secy Cohen and Clinton. (+7-095-205-4330. Russian Govt General Fax) PLEASE don't just delete or write back asking me to take you off the list - this really is important and it really is something on which you can make a difference. If you have already sent a fax, then congratulations. You don't need to do any more - unless you'd like to distribute this email to as many other people as possible. If you faxed to Cohen or Clinton however, you might consider faxing Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev. There are indications that your faxes *may* be making an impact on the Pentagon. We need to keep the momentum up! The Canberra Commission, the Tokyo Forum, four resolutions in the United Nations General Assembly (two last year two this year), two motions in the Australian Senate, and a resolution carried on Thursday 18th Nov by the European Parliament have all called for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert. Please write to US defence secretary William Cohen, President Clinton, and to Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev, asking them to take nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert at least over the Y2K 'rollover' period. Defence Secretary Cohen's fax number is +1-703-695-1149 President Clintons fax number is +1-202-456-2461 Yeltsin/Sergeyev's fax number is +7-095-205-4330. Faxing a single A4 page should not cost you more than a dollar. You can fax for free on http://www.fax4free.com (But the best fax is HANDWRITTEN). *If you are an organisation* and want to sign a large sign- on letter, please sign the letter to Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton that is being periodicaly faxed to them on http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html Sample letters to Cohen/Clinton and to Sergeyev are below. Do please customise and abbreviate. And have fun while saving the planet from (possibly) the apocalypse! 1)SAMPLE LETTER TO COHEN/CLINTON (This is for individuals to sent to Us Secretary for Defence Cohen and President Clinton. You can also post it to The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC.) TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period. As you will be aware, the European Parliament recently voted to ask you and President Yeltsin to do as the UK has already done, and de-alert nuclear weapons. It is particularly disturbing that Secretary Cohen has been reported as having stated in Moscow some time ago that de-alerting of nuclear forces is 'off the table' as a stability building measure. You have also been quoted as saying that 'The better course is reduction, limiting the number of weapons, and establishing shared early warning centers'. The recent Europarliament vote clearly puts de- alerting back on the table. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkley has asked for it. These measures are not in competition with each other. All of them - reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting - are vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. The very nature of the Y2K problem makes it impossible to be sure everything has been fixed until well into the new year. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. This system seems to include additional ways in which Y2K failure might lead to an accidental launch. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one. However, it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as we the public are aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The Y2K vulnerabilities recently discovered in six of the seven hotlines on which US/Russian communications depends, are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. In taking De-alerting 'off the table', the United States is making a serious error. Failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low, but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. (SIGNED) etc. 2)SAMPLE LETTER TO YELTSIN/DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV THIS SAMPLE LETTER IS FOR YOU PERSONALLY TO FAX, CUSTOMIZED AS YOU FEEL BEST, TO YELTSIN AND DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV. PLEASE DO FAX IT AND SEND IT NOW. You can also post it to Boris Yeltsin, C/O The Kremlin, Moscow - but its really too slow. A single A4 page fax will cost you about a dollar. PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, IGOR SERGEYEV, RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, +7-095-205-4330, 'Dear Defence Minister Sergeyev and President Yeltsin, I am writing to convey my deep concern that Y2K-related computer failures in the command and control systems for nuclear weapons may lead to an accidental nuclear war. I am aware that both Russia and the US have taken this problem seriously enough to establish a joint strategic stability center in Colorado. However, I am very much concerned that this facility will come into operation only by 27th December 1999, so that a delay of just four days will make it useless. I am also very much concerned that Y2K problems have been found recently in six out of seven of the 'hotlines' that would be used if a crisis of any sort arose over the Y2K rollover period. I am aware that there have been a number of occasions when either the US or Russia have mistakenly believed that the other nation was in the process of launching a nuclear attack. With 3,600 Russian warheads on 700 missiles and 2,000 US warheads on 500 missiles, with each side capable to launch within roughly 20 minutes, this must never be allowed to happen, either over the Y2K 'rollover', or at any other time. The use of 5,600 warheads would certainly mean the end of what we call civilization, would likely mean the end of the human race and could possibly mean the end of all life. I therefore urge both you and the United States, to place all your nuclear forces in a status in which at least days not minutes, would be required to launch . The United Kingdom has, I understand, already done this. The European Parliament has recently called on both the US and Russia to de-alert nuclear weapons and to place them in a state similar to that in which the UK has placed its weapons. The recent Europarliament vote clearly puts de- alerting back on the table. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkley has asked for it. The immediate stakes are so high and the potential for global catastrophe is so great, that mutually verified de-alerting of nuclear forces in the face of the Y2K computer problem must take precedence over all other considerations of political and national security.' (Signed) etc. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) Join 460 Groups! -Ask Yeltsin/Clinton, to take N-Weapons Off Date: 10 Dec 1999 17:34:40 +1000 THIS EMAIL IS A SIGN ON LETTER FOR GROUPS. IF YOUR GROUP HAS ALREADY SIGNED IT YOU NEED DO NO MORE. HOWEVER IT WOULD BE DESIRABLE IF YOU WOULD PASS IT ON TO OTHERS WHO MIGHT SIGN IT. You could also ask your members to send to US Defence Secy Cohen Clinton, and Yeltsin, the sample letters posted yesterday and today. Dear Non-Governmental Organisation, Parliamentarian or Religious group, The European Parliament passed a resolution on Nov 18th, calling on the US and Russia to take 5,600 nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert before December 31, for the Y2K 'Rollover'. Mounting concern is being expressed over the possibility of accidental nuclear war due to Y2K related computer failures in the vast interconnected computer complexes that control nuclear weapons. De-alerting has also been incorporated in two recent resolutions passed by the United Nations General Assembly and two similar ones passed last year, as well as two resolutions passed recently by the Australian senate. It has been reccommended by the Canberra Commission of 1996 and by the Tokyo Forum. The letter below, which I hope you will sign, has already been signed by 22 Australian MPs, 10members of the European Parliament, 9 NZ parliamentarians and 4 Canadian parliamentarians as well as three congresspeople. Altogether it has been signed by over 460 NGOs, including Friends of the Earth International, (and FOE-UK), Greenpeace International, the British American Security Information Council and the Centre for Defence Information in Washington. I hope you can sign it. John Hallam, Letter Coordinator. PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, KRASNOPRESENSKAYA-2, MOSCOW, RUSSIA, +7-095-205-4219, +7-095-206-5173 +7-095-205-4330, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, BILL RICHARDSON, US SECRETARY OF ENERGY, +1-202-586-9987. IGOR SERGEYEV, DEFENCE MINISTER OF RUSSIA, Znamenka-19, 103160, Moscow, Russia, +7-095-293-33-13, 247-2795, 247-2722, 293-3323. FOREIGN MINISTER OF RUSSIA, +7-095-244-3276, +7-095-244-2203, CC ALL HEADS OF STATE (BY EMAIL) ALL UN MISSIONS (BY EMAIL) Dear Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton, Defence Ministers and Defence Secretaries, Heads of State and UN Missions, The organisations above, representing millions of people worldwide, are writing to convey their extreme concern over the possibility that Year 2000 (Y2K)-related computer failures in nuclear weapons systems may lead to an unacceptable risk of nuclear war by accident or miscalculation. In the current political situation this is most especially the case. According to Alexandr Arbatov, of the Defence Committee of the Russian State Duma, US-Russian relations are at 'the worst, most acute, most dangerous juncture since the US-Soviet Berlin and Cuban missile crises.' The danger during the Y2K rollover lies primarily in the possibility that spurious data may induce commanders, even at the highest levels, to mistakenly authorise the launches of nuclear weapons. Events similar to this have already occurred. For example: In the US in 1980, a malfunctioning computer chip sent spurious alert signals; In 1983 in Russia, satellites mistook glare off the tops of clouds for a US missile launch, (and disaster was averted by the refusal of the local commander to believe the warnings were real); In 1995, a Norwegian research rocket prompted a full-scale Russian alert. If Y2K breakdowns produce inaccurate early warning data, or if communications and command channels are compromised, the combination of hair-trigger force postures and Y2K failures could be disastrous. There should therefore be a 'safety first ' approach to Y2K and nuclear arsenals. Because none of the nuclear weapons states can guarantee that their nuclear- related computer systems are Y2K compliant, the only responsible solution is for them all to stand down nuclear operations. This approach should include taking nuclear weapons off alert status and decoupling nuclear warheads from delivery vehicles. The stakes involved in any nuclear exchange between Russia and the US are such that they dwarf any other considerations. The future of life itself on earth could be in doubt. In light of this, we strongly urge that you remove all strategic and tactical nuclear weapons from 'hair trigger' alert, and place them in a status in which at least hours and preferably days would be required to launch them. The Canberra Commission in August 1996, noted that terminating nuclear alert status would: --Reduce dramatically the chances of accidental or unauthorised nuclear missile launch. --Help set the stage for intensified cooperation on a more far- reaching disarmament agenda --Have a very positive influence on the political climate between nuclear weapon states. This last is especially relevant in the current tension between Russia and NATO, which has prompted Russia to withdraw from cooperation with the US on Y2K problems. According to the Canberra Commission, "Taking nuclear forces off alert could be verified by national technical means and nuclear weapon state inspection arrangements. in the first instance, reduction in alert status could be adopted by the nuclear weapon states unilaterally" If both sides are verifiably de-alerted, it will not be possible for either to launch a disarming first strike. The immediate stakes are so high, and the potential for global catastrophe so clear, that mutually verified de-alerting in the face of the Y2K computer problem must take precedence over all other considerations of politics and national security. Signed Kevin Dunion, Chairperson, Friends of the Earth International, John Hallam, Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Australia, Wendy Johnson, Friends of the Earth New Zealand, Dr Patrick Green, Senior Energy, Nuclear and Climate Campaigner, Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland, Ricardo Navarro, Friends of the Earth El Salvador, Nnimmo Bassey, Friends of the Earth Nigeria (Environmental Rights Action), Benin City, Nigeria, Viktor Khazan, Friends of the Earth Ukraine, Manana Kochladze, Friends of the Earth Georgia, Tbilsi, Georgia. Jan Kunnas, Friends of the Earth Finland, Bo Stroem, Friends of the Earth Denmark, Tonu Oja, Chairperson, Friends of the Earth Estonia, Tartu, Estonia. Amis de la Terre, Paris, France, Loukia Pavlidou, President, Friends of the Earth Cyprus, Oleg Svistunov, Friends of the Earth Japan Siberia Program, Corine Viellers, Global-2000(Friends of the Earth Austria) Daniela Stojanova, General Secretary, Friends of the Earth Macedonia, Maria Minkova, Deputy Chair, Friends of the Earth Bulgaria/Ecoglasnost, Sofia, Prof. Vladimir V. Kokylukhin, Chair, Friends of the Earth Belarus, Brest, Belarus, Petra Maier, Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND), Peter Garrrett, President, Australian Conservation Foundation, Helen Caldicott, MD, Founding President, PSR, Irene Gale, Australian Peace Committee, SA Branch, Denis Doherty, Secretary, Pax Christi NSW, REV. John Mavor, President, Uniting Church of Australia Debra A. Brown, Uniting Church Social Responsibility and Justice Agency, Rev. Ray Richmond, Wayside Chapel, Uniting Church in Australia, Pitt Street Uniting Church, Pitt St, Sydney, Rev. John Stanley, St Johns Anglican Church, Darlinghurst, Sydney, Julie Marlow, Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Committee, Babs Fuller-Quinn, Australian Peace Committee, National Committee, Susan Wareham, President, Medical Association for the Prevention of War, IPPNW Regional Vice-President, Aust., Dr. John Ward, Health Professionals for Global Responsibility, Pauline Mitchell, Campaign for International Cooperation and Disarmament, Peter Jones, War Resisters International, Australia., Alec Marr, National Campaign Director, The Wilderness Society, Mark Wakeham, Environment Centre of the Northern Territory, Deborah Metters, Arid Lands Environment Centre, Alice Springs, NT., Rowena Skinner, Environment Centre of W.A., Robin Chapple, Anti-Uranium Coalition of W.A., Cherie Hoyle, Centre for Urban Ecology, SA., Graham Daniell, People for Nuclear Disarmament, Western Australia., Zohl D' Ishtar, Pacific Connections, Richard Goode, 2 Billion Voices for Peace Project, Geoff Holland, Institute for Global Futures Research, Earlville, Queensland, Ian Dixon, Big Scrub Environment Centre, Lismore, Isabelle Whyte, Everyone for a Nuclear-free Future, Lismore, Robin Taubenfeld, Everyone for a Nuclear-Free Future, Gold Coast, Jonivar Skullerud, ENUFF, Adelaide, Chris White, Secretary, United Trades and Labour Council, SA, Paul Martinella, State Secretary, CFMEU, SA, Trevor Smith, National Secretary, CFMEU, Forests and Forests Products Division, SA, Stephen Smith, Secretary, CFMEU, Furnishing trade Division, SA, Jacob Grech, Earthworker, All-Union Green Caucus, Mick Doyle, United Firefighters Union of SA, Paul Noak, Secy, A.M.W.U. SA Office. Martin O' Malley, Secy, CFMEU, SA Branch. Stephen Spence, Secretary, Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, SA., Leonie Ebert, Graham F. Smith Peace Trust, SA., P.T. Muldoon, General Manager, Richmond River Shire Council, Craig Barrass, Administrator, (for Mayor), Uralla Shire Council, Anna Guiliani, City of Darebin, Vic, Councillor Kris Kruden, Mayor, City of Leichhardt, NSW., Councillor Yvonne Caddy, Mayor, Mitcham City Council, S.A., Tony Zappia, Mayor, Salisbury City Council, SA., Senator Lyn Allison, Democrat Senator for Victoria, Senator Meg Lees, Democrat Senator for South Australia, Leader of the Australian Democrats, Senator Vicky Bourne, Democrat Senator for NSW., Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja, Deputy Leader, Australian Democrats, Senator Andrew Bartlett, Democrat Senator for Queensland, Senator Bob Brown, Green Senator for Tasmania, Senator Dee Margetts, Green Senator for Western Australia, Senator George Campbell, ALP Senator for NSW., Senator Margaret Reynolds, ALP, NSW, Senator Jim Mc Kiernan, ALP, W.A., Anthony Albanese. ALP, Federal member for Grayndler, Tanya Plibersek, ALP, Federal member for Sydney, Jann Mc Farlane, Federal member for Stirling, W.A., Jill Hall, M.P., Federal member for Shortland, NSW, Cheryl Davenport MLC., W.A., Ian Cohen, MLC, Greens, NSW, Lee Rhiannon, MLC, Greens, NSW, Sandra Kanck, MLC,Democrats, S.A., Ian Gilfillan, MLC, Democrats, SA, Carolyn Pickles MLC, SA., Robyn Geraghty MP, Member for Torrens, SA., Frances Bedford, ALP State MP for Florey, S.A., Jim Scott, WA Greens, Legislative Council, W.A., Dr Louise Crossley, National Convenor, Greens, Australia, Hannah Middleton, President, Communist Party of Australia. Commander Robert Green RN (Ret'd), Chair, World Court Project UK, Felicity Hill, Womens International League for Peace and Freedom, Geneva/NY Martin Butcher, British-American Security Information Centre, US/UK, Stephanie Mills, Greenpeace International Nuclear and Disarmament Campaign, Bernice Boermans, Executive Director, International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, (IALANA), The Hague, Neth., Rear-Admiral Eugene J. Carroll, USN (retd), Deputy Director, Centre for Defence Information, Washington, USA, Colin Archer, International Peace Bureau, Geneva, Switzerland, Dave Knight, Chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, U.K., Janet Bloomfield, Former Chair CND, Abolition U.K, Saffron Walden Group Against Nuclear Weapons, Bruce Kent, Vice-President, CND, Jenny Maxwell, West Midlands CND, Birmingham, U.K, Tigger Mc Gregor, Youth and Student CND, U.K., Dave Webb, Yorkshire CND., U.K., Anni Rainbow and Lindis Percy, Campaign for Accountability of American Bases, U.K., Gillian Reeve, Director, MEDACT (IPPNW U.K), Jane Tallents, Trident-Ploughshares 2000, Norwich, Norfolk, U.K., Di Mc Donald, Network Information Project, Southampton, U.K, Catherine Euler, Menwith Hill Womens Peace Camp, Yorkshire, U.K., Catherine Euler, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, Sue Claydon, Anglican Pacifist Fellowship, Milton Keynes, U.K., Monica King, St Bartholemews Justice and Peace Group, St Albans, U.K., Calderdale Green Party, Yorkshire, U.K., Alan Francis, Chair, Green Party of England and Wales, Alan Watson, Partner, Public Interest Consultants, Swansea, Wales, U.K., Nigel Chamberlain, Cumbria and North Lancashire Peace Groups U.K., Paul Swann, National Coordinator, Y2K Community Action Network, U.K., Tom Roche, Just Forests, Ireland, Jeanette Fitzsimmons, MP, NZ Greens, Brian Donelly, MP, Harry Duynhoven, MP, NZ Labour, Lianna Dalziel, MP, NZ Labour, Judy Keall, MP, NZ Labour, Peter Dunne, MP, NZ Independent, Sandra Lee, Deputy leader, Alliance, Laila Harre, MP, Alliance, NZ., Matt Robson, MP, Alliance, NZ., Dr Kate Dewes, Disarmament and Security Centre, Marion Hancock, Aoteoroa/NZ Peace Foundation, Auckland, NZ., Gerry Coates, Engineers for Social Responsibility, NZ, Keith Locke, Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, NZ Greens, Llelwyn Richards, National Consultative Committee on Disarmament, NZ, Barbara Frame, Peace Action Dunedin, NZ., John Urlich, Peace Council of New Zealand, Rev. John Murray/Dame Laurie Salas/Robin Halliday, Abolition-2000, New Zealand, Ian Prior, IPPNW New Zealand, Chris King, Veterans for Peace New Zealand, Derek Wilson, Architects Against Nuclear War, NZ, Robert E. White, Director, Centre for Peace Studies, University of Auckland, NZ., John Gallagher, New Zealand Nuclear-Free Peacemaking Association, Aotearoa/NZ., WILPF Aoteoroa, Pat Duncan-Taylor, Waiheke Island Community Awareness of Pesticides, Houraki Gulf, NZ., Hans Gruber, Green Society New Zealand, Rev. Alan Leadley, Chartwell Parish, Hamilton, NZ., Jim Holdom, CORSO, Aotearoa/NZ., Richard N. Salvador, Pacific Islands Association of NGOs, Belau, Tom Mbeke-Ekarem, Chair, Coalition of Petroleum-Producing States of Nigeria, Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organisation, Kenya, Ron Mc Coy, Malaysian Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, Yumi Kukuchi, Y2K WASH Campaign, Sendai, Japan/USA, Aileen Mioko Smith, Director, Green Action Kyoto, Japan., Mitsuhiro Yamazaki, ASEED-Japan, Kanechiyo Narumi, Secretary General, Country Life Association, Tokyo, Japan, Masanao Tanaka, Human Survival Research Group, Tokyo, Japan, Akinori Itoh, Founder, Chikyu-Oendan, (Earth-Assist), Tokyo, Japan, Hiroshi Taka, Assistant Secretary, Japan Council Against A and H-Bombs (Gensuikyo), S.P. Udayakumar, South Asian Community Centre for Education and Research, Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, South India, Thomas Matthew, Director, SEEDS-India, Bunker Roy, Barefoot College, Tilonia, Rajasthan, M.E. Deenadayalan, The Other Media, M.E. Deenadayalan, Samarthan, Ashish Kothari, Kalpavriksh Environmental Group, Pune, India, Mr Tapan K. Bose, Pakistan/India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy, Asif Rasheed Leghari, Awami Committee for Development, Multan, Pakistan, Dr. M.A. Bari, Integrated Child Health Organisation, Bangladesh, Nana Suhartana, Indonesian National Network Forum Anti-Nuclear Society, Enry Soekoer, Architects Against Nuclear, Indonesia, Arief Wickasono, KEMALA, Indonesia, Denny Boy Mochran, PUTER, Indonesia, Maricor V. Talaroc, SEED- Lugait, Baguio City, Phillipines., Bisan Singh, Sustainable Development Network, Malaysia, Mohamad Lokman Mohd Nor, Students Environmental Protection Ambassadors Scheme, Malaysia, Pipob Udomittipong, Alternative Energy Project for Sustainability, Thailand, Lorenzo Muelas, Movimiento Autoridades Indigenas de Colombia, Paula Caballero, Andean Centre for Sustainable Development, Bogota, Colombia, Prof Eduardo Voila, Dept. International Relations, University of Brasilia, Brasil, Sergio Dealetachi, Coordinator, Instituto Ecoar Para a Cidania, Brasil, Antonio Ruiz, Fundacion Del Rio, Nicaragua, Julie Noriega, Centro de Calidad Ambiental, ITESM, Monterrey, Mexico, Carlos Romero, (Prof), Environmental Management, ITESM, Monterrey, Mexico, Haim Ruttner, Israel Electric Corporation R&D, Israel, Charles Lenchner, Green Action Israel, Tel-Aviv, Israel, Yoram Getzler, Association for Jewish Renewal in Israel, Jerusalem, Israel, Vladimir Sliviak, Ecodefense, Russia, Galina Raghouzhina, World Information Service on Energy (WISE) Kaliningrad, Alexandra Koroleva, Educational Committee, Kaliningrad Regional Duma, Mikhail Trofimov, Ecodefence! International, Kaliningrad, Alisa Nikoulina, Antinuclear Campaign of Social-Ecological Union, Moscow, Pavel Malyshev, Platan Youth Group, Kaliningrad, Oleg Bodrov, Green World, Sosnovy Bor, St Petersburg, Russia, Vera Brovkina, St Petersburg Peace Council, St Petersburg, Russia, Lydia Popova, Centre for Nuclear Ecology and Energy Policy, Russia, Marina Rikhmanova, Baikal Environmental Wave, Baikal, Russia, Konstantin Lebedev, Chair, Ecological Rights Centre, City of Tomsk, Russia, Galina Orlova/Sergei Nikitin, Friends House Moscow, Ludmila Ignatenko, 'Aleksam' Community, Kamchatka, Russia, Elchin Sultanov, PhD, Chairman, Azerbaijan Ornithological Society, Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences, Rubina Stepanyan, Sustainable Development Organisation of Armenia, Alla Shevchuck, Chairwoman, Social-Ecological Union, Ukraine, Ilya Trombitsky MP, Parliament of Moldova, Chishinau, Moldova, Cezara Haheu, Youth For Change, Moldova, Piotr Gorbonenko, BIOTICA Ecological Society, Chishinau, Moldova, George Razvan Marcu, Ecosens, Romania, Cornel Radu-Loghin, AER-PUR, Romania, Ivan Ivanov, Initiative for Sustainable Development, Kazanlak, Bulgaria, Doncho Donchev, Ecoglasnost Kazanlak, Bulgaria, Malla Kantola, Committee of 100, Helsinki, Finland, Laura Lodenius, Peace Union of Finland, Helsinki, Finland, Ulla Lehtinen, Chairperson, First Peoples, Finland, Pepe Mardiste, Student Nature Protection Group, Tartu, Estonia, Gunnar Westberg, MD., SLMK (IPPNW), Swedish Physicians Against Nuclear Weapons, Jens Pettersson, Secretary General, Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, Fredrick S. Heffermehl, President, Norwegian Peace Alliance, Frederick S. Heffermehl, Norwegian Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, Frederick S. Heffermehl, International Peace Bureau, Oslo, Susan H╪vik, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, Norway, Sven Gunnar Simonsen, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, Norway, Nancy Spinks, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, Norway, Prof. Kirsten Osen (Med) University of Oslo, Bjorn Hilt, Chair, Norwegian Physicians Against Nuclear War, (IPPNW) Poul Eck S°rensen, Peace Movement of Esbjerg, Denmark, Arne Hansen, War Resisters International, Fredrikshavn, Denmark, Majken Jul S°rensen, Aldrig Mere Krig, (AMK) Denmark, Anja Johansen, Militaernaegterforeningen, (Danish Association of Conscientious Objectors) Daniel Durand, Secretary, Mouvement de La Paix, France, Solange Fernex, Womens International League for Peace and Freedom, France, Chrystoph Wyss, International Albert Schwietzer Foundation, France/Switz, Chrystoph Wyss, Dr Schweitzer Hospital Fund, Switzerland, Dr Roland Schutzbach, Global Initiative for Immediate Disarmament, Switzerland, Martin Schwander, Swiss Peace Movement, Switzerland, Xanthe Hall, Assistant Director, IPPNW Germany, Berlin, Regina Hagen, Darmstaedter Friedensforum, Germany, Claus Biegert, Nuclear-Free Award, Germany, Horst Hohmier, Anti-Atom Plenum, Bochum, Germany, Ilona Joerden, Citizens Initiative for Environmental Protection, Luechow-Danneburg, Germany, Dr. Herbert Richter-Peill, IPPNW Hamburg, Germany, Reinhard Behrend, Rettett den Regenwald, Hamburg, Germany, Matthias Reichl, Centre for Encounters and Active Non-Violence, Bad Ischl, Austria, Dr Klaus Renoldner, President, IPPNW Austria, Claudia and Margit, Anti-Atom International, Claudia and Margit, Coordination Office of Austrian Environment Organisations, Heinz Stockinger, Independent Salzburg Platform Against Nuclear Dangers,(PLAGE), Salzburg, Austria, Josef Puehringer, Platform Gegen Atomgefahr, Austria, Josef Puehringer, Centrum Energie, Czech Republic, Josef Puehringer, Burgerinitiative Umweltschutz, Budweis, Czech Republic, Josef Puehringer, Energie Zukunft Mohtviertel, Austria., Pol D'Huyvetter, For Mother Earth International, Ghent, Belgium, Peer de Rijk, WISE- Amsterdam, Netherlands, Ophelia Cowell, MDB Energy Project, Netherlands, Marjan Willemsen, For Mother Earth Netherlands, Ak Malten, Global Anti-Nuclear Alliance, Netherlands, Kamil Koster, Working Group Eurobomb, AMOK, Netherlands Pieter Van Der Gaag, Deputy International Coordinator, ANPED, Northern Alliance for Sustainability, David Boerma, Both-ENDS, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Frank Van Schaik, Transport Coordinator, ASEED-Europe, STROHALM, Utrecht, Netherlands, Kaj Leers, Journalist, Netherlands, David Boerma, Coordinator, Pacific Region, Centre for Indigenous Peoples, Netherlands., Bessie Schadee, Global Action Plan For The Earth International, Neth., Giorgio Nebbia, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Economics, University of Bari, Italy, Dr Joachim Lau, Italian Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, Toni Dell Olio, Pax Christi Italy, Christopher Clark, Associao Amazonia, Italy, Dr Roberto Romizi, International Society of Doctors for the Environment, (ISDE) Arezzo, Italy, Dr Josep Puig, Scientists and Technicians for a Non- Nuclear Future, Barcelona, Catalonia, Stefanos L. Kouniados, Irini Aggeloppoulos, Ecological Movement of Kalamata, Greece, Mariya Ilioska Kedioska, Manager, Macedonia Association for Information, Training, and Sustainable Development, Dusan Vasilevic, Green Table, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Maj-Britt Theorin, MEP, Sweden, Elizabeth Schroedter, MEP, Germany, Ernst Gulcher, MEP, Green Group, Germany, Heidi Hautala, MEP, Green Group, Finland, Glyn Ford, MEP, Labour, SW England, Caroline Lucas MEP Jean Lambert MEP Ozan Keyhun, MEP, Germany, Per Gahrton, MEP, Greens, Sweden., Inger Sch÷rling, MEP, Congressman Edward J. Markey, (D-Mass), Capitol Hill, Washington, DC. Congresswoman Cynthia Mc Kinney, (D-GA) Capitol Hill, Washington, DC., Alice Slater, Global Resource Action Centre for the Environment, NY., USA., Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CARES, Livermore, California, US. Mary Olson, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, US., Kevin Sanders, Special Projects Director, War and Peace Foundation, N.Y., USA., Arjun Makhijani, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, Tacoma Park, Md, USA. Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director, Western States Legal Foundation, US., Grace Thorpe, National Environmental Coalition of Native Americans, Carter Camp, Chair, American-Indian Movement of Oklahoma, US, Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network, USA, Bill Smirnow, Nuclear-Free New York, US, Molly Johnson, Coordinator, Save Ward Valley, Calif, USA., William F. Santelmann, Metro-Boston Committee to De-Alert Nuclear Weapons USA., David Krieger, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Santa Barbara, Calif, USA., Robert W. Tiller, Physicians for Social Responsibility, USA., Bob Gould, Physicians for Social Responsibility, San Fran/Bay Area Chapter, USA., Dr Lachlan Forrow, Past Chair, IPPNW, Jonathan Mark, Action Site to Stop Cassini Flyby, Sherry Larsen-Beville, Livermore Conversion Project, Oakland, Calif, USA. Ellen Thomas, Proposition-1 Committee, Washington DC, US., Paula Palmer, Executive Director, Global Response, Boulder, Colo, USA., Bruce A, Drew, Prairie Island Coalition, Diana Roose, Peace Education Director, American Friends Service Committee, Patricia Watson, Peacework, American Friends Service Committee, Mary H. Miller, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Washington, US., Robert Kinsey, Peace and Justice Task Force, Uniting Church of Christ, Rocky Mountains Conference, Rachel Keeler, Executive Director, Pax Christi, New York, Nancy Small, National Coordinator, Pax Christi, USA, Frank Dworak, Pax Christi, Morris County, NJ, USA., Adam Eidinger, Pax Christi Washington Action Group, U.S., Joyce Hall, Pax Christi Texas, Paul Villavisanis, Pax Christi, St Augustine, Fl, Betty Obol, SL, The Loretto Community, U.S., Phil Mc Manus, Chair, Fellowship of Reconciliation Task Force on Latin America and the Carribean, U.S., Heidi Cooper, All Souls Unitarian Church, Colorado Springs, US., Howard W. Hallman, Methodists United for Peace with Justice, Washington, USA., Guy Templeton Black, Quest Ministries, Ohio, U.S., Bill Kelly, Executive Director, Centre for Mission Education, Denver, Colorado, USA., Bill Morton, Columban Mission, US/Mexico Border, Jennifer Olaranna Viereck, Coordinator, Healing Global Wounds, Tecopa, CA, USA., Karen Talbot, Director, International Centre for Peace and Justice, San Francisco, California, US., Le Roy Moore, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Centre, USA., Chris Ney, War Resisters League, NY, USA., Jasmina Arsova, War Resisters League,, NY. USA., Holly-Poole Kavana, New York Student Environmental Action Coalition, Carol Jahnkow, Peace Resource Centre of San Diego, Calif, US., Janette Michelle Cuevas, Executive Director, Promoting Enduring Peace, NY., Patrick J. Mc Entegart, President, Fortview Foundation, Tarrytown, N.Y., USA., Babette Lindfield, Professional Network for Social Responsibility, NY, U.S., Susan Lee Solar and Maria Mendez, Grandmothers and Mothers Alliance for the Future, Susan Shaer, Executive Director, Womens Action for New Directions, Peter Bergel, President, Centre for Energy Research, Salem, Oregon, USA., Harvey Wasserman, Citizens Protecting Ohio, USA., Sarah Ogdahl, Toledo Area Director, Ohio Citizen Action, Vina Colley, Portsmouth/Piketon Residents for Environmental Safety and Sanity, Jay Coghlan, Concerned Citizens For Nuclear Safety, New Mexico, USA., Gordon S. Clark, Executive Director, Peace Action USA., Diane R Swords, Peace Action Central New York, Fran Teplitz, Peace Action, Peace Action Education Fund, USA., Sonya Ostrom, Metro New York Peace Action Council, Judith H. Johnsrud, Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power, Pennsylvania, U.S, Judith H. Johnsrud, Central Pennsylvania Citizens for Survival, U.S., Scott D. Portzline, Three Mile Island Alert, Pennsylvania, U.S., Vivek Ananthan, Volunteers for International Solidarity, Philadelphia, US., Erik Van Lennepp, Arctic to Amazonia Alliance, Virginia, USA., Deb Katz, Citizens Awareness Network, Tara Thornton, Military Toxics Project, USA., Pamela Meidell, Atomic Mirror, Calif, U.S., Tom Keirans, National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund, Shiela Baker, Pedals for Peace, San Luis Obispo, Calif, U.S., Inga Olson, Sacramento Valley Citizens Along The Roads and Tracks, Marc M. Blaise-Page, Nevada Desert Experience, USA, Cindy Pile, Director, Nevada Desert Exprience, USA, Earth-Savers, Syracuse, U.S., Barbara Weidener, Grandmothers for Peace International, Calif, U.S., Lyn Miles, Tai Mei Peace Action, San Gabriel, U.S., Alan Moore, Butterfly Gardeners Association, Berkley, Calif, Don Moniak, Program Director, Serious Texans Against Nuclear Dumping, Amarillo, Tex, U.S, Andrew Nixon, Students For A Sustainable Earth, W. Michigan University, U.S., Jack and Felice Cohen-Joppa, The Nuclear Resister, Marion Pack, Alliance for Survival, Costa-Mesa, California, USA., Peggy Jacobs, Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives, U.S., Esther Park, Peace Links, USA., Peg Ryglisyn & Michael Albrizio, Connecticut Opposed to Waste, Broad Brook, Conn, USA., Jennifer Almquist, Silent Oceans Project, Litchfield, Connecticut, Paige-Knight, Hanford-Watch, Portland, Oregon, Oregon Peaceworks, Howard Schapiro, Performing and Fine Artists for World Peace, Hawaii, Gary Gumz, Appalacian Sustainable Agriculture Project, Mary Beth Branagan, Nuclear Democracy Network, USA., Jane Grossman/Laurie Grossman, Bay Area Chapter, Y2K WASH Campaign, (World Atomic Safety Holiday), USA/JAPAN, Encore, Southeast Texas Y2K Preparedness Workgroup, Senator Doug Roche, Canadian Parliament, Bill Blaikie MP, House Leader, New Democratic Party of Canada, Svend Robinson MP, House of Representatives,Canada, Judy Waslycia-Leis, MP, Winnipeg, Canada, Joan Russow, National Leader, Canadian Green Party, David J. Parker, Alberta Green Party, Gordon Edwards President, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, Montreal, Canada, Dr David Morgan, President, Veterans Against Nuclear Arms, Vancouver, Canada, Dr Barbara Birkett, President, Physicians for Global Survival, Ottawa, Canada., Dr. Mary-Wynne-Ashford, IPPNW Canada, Dr Ross Wilcock, Physicians for Global Survival, Canada, Dave Greenfield, New Green Alliance, Saskatoon, Canada, Patti Willis, Pacific Campaign for Disarmament and Security, B.C., Canada, Prof Eric Fawcett, Physics Dept, University of Toronto, Canada, Prof. L. Terrell Gardner, Science for Peace, University of Toronto, Canada. Dr Jennifer Allen Simons, The Simons Foundation, Vancouver, B.C., Sally Hodges, Chair, Ploughshares, Calgary, Canada, O.P.I.R.G., Peterborough, Canada, Christa Rossner, No Nukes, Canada, Genivieve Talbot, United Nations Association of Canada, Snezana Vitorovich, Association of Serbian Women, Canada, Priscilla Settee, Indigenous Womens Network, Canada/USA., Jacques Boucher, Volet Desarment et Paix, Centre de Ressources sur la Non-Violence, Montreal Canada. Jo Hayward-Haines, Victoria Peace Project, Ontario, Canada, Joyce Lydiard, Secretary, WILPF British Columbia, Canada, Dr. Geraldine Schwartz, Institute for Ethical Leadership, Vancouver, Canada, Joyce A.Kovelmann, The Millenium Project, Chatsworth, Canada, John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.htm - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ellen Thomas <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Change of venue Date: 10 Dec 1999 12:36:43 -0500 --=====================_7789219==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Bob, I'm sorry to hear you're leaving. Hope you'll keep in touch. We really appreciated your help with Norton's bill in July. What will you be doing now? Love, Ellen Thomas Proposition One Committee PO Box 27217, Washington DC 20038 202-462-0757 -- fax 202-265-5389 prop1@prop1.org -- http://prop1.org *** BAN AND BURY ALL RADIOACTIVE BOMBS * depleted uranium, fission, neutron * About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm --=====================_7789219==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" <html><div>Bob, I'm sorry to hear you're leaving. Hope you'll keep in touch. We really appreciated your help with Norton's bill in July. What will you be doing now?</div> <br> <div>Love,</div> <br> Ellen Thomas<br> Proposition One Committee <br> PO Box 27217, Washington DC 20038<br> 202-462-0757 -- fax 202-265-5389<br> prop1@prop1.org -- <a href="http://prop1.org/" eudora="autourl">http://prop1.org</a><br> <br> <font face="Courier, Courier"> ***<br> <br> </font> BAN AND BURY ALL RADIOACTIVE BOMBS<br> * depleted uranium, fission, neutron *<br> <font size=2>About NucNews: </font><a href="http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm" eudora="autourl">http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm</a><br> </html> --=====================_7789219==_.ALT-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Esther Pank" <esther.p@erols.com> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Change of venue Date: 11 Dec 1999 02:14:26 -0500 Your reasonableness, humor, good advice and expertise will be sorely missed. God speed. Esther Pank ----- Original Message ----- Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 1999 4:27 PM > Friends, > > It is with sadness that I will leave the PSR staff at the end of this > year. I have enjoyed these three years, and I have appreciated working > with you. Though there have been some setbacks, we have made valuable > progress toward a world free of the scourge of nuclear weapons. Thank > you for your commitment, your diligence and your friendship. I hope > that our paths will cross again. > > Shalom, > Bob Tiller > > > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Crockett Williams" <gear2000@lightspeed.net> Subject: (abolition-usa) SF hospitality African Peacewalkers Date: 10 Dec 1999 12:21:11 -0800 Please let me know if you can help with hospitality and networking arrangements for two peacewalkers coming from Africa (representing a peac= e, environment, and social justice NGO called ONG Daruis, in Togo) to San Francisco area during the two weeks before they will join the Global Peac= e Walk 2000 departing SF January 15th. We have faxed an invitation letter to them for visas to the US and they would like to arrive on December 29th so there is a great opportunity dur= ing those 17days to offer a global perspective on related issues by their meetings with activists and groups in the Bay area to share information, messages and global fellowship. If you or your group would like to host them for all or part of this time and/or invite them to speak and meet with your interested associates, mor= e details on them and their work are below. Please let me know directly a= t gear2000@lightspeed.net if you can help with this so we can soon confirm = to them invitations for this arrival date. Dear David, Can you arrange the invitation letter,shelter for our organization?The delegation is me and the program coordinator: -CODJIE Kodzo Dodzi the president -Mr.TOURE RUFAI Mouroutala program coordinator Peace, CODJIE Kodzo Dodzi Dear DAVID Thank you to communicating with us.We are looking forward to collaboratin= g and to know how we transform and live on the earth each other.See the information below about the human-right. Peace CODJIE Kodzo Dodzi The human rights organization Amnesty International has launched a blistering account of extra judicial killings by Togo=92s security forces= over the past eight years. It comes in response to an earlier annoucement by t= he Togolese Government that it intends to sue the human rights lobby group = for slander and libel. The reaction of most countries to reports by Amnesty International of alleged human rights abueses, is either to keep quiet or to issue blanket denials. Togo=92s Government, led by the longest serving President in Africa, has tried this tactic. But it has also gone on the offensive, taking the high= ly unusual step of employing a top French lawyer to sue Amnesty over allegations that hundreds of people were killed in a wave of repression b= y the security forces during last year=92s elections. Now Amnesty has gone on the counter-offensive against the threat to sue, saying the plan confirms that the regime of President Gnassingbe Eyadema appears unwilling to prosecute people for odious crimes including torture and extra-judicial killings. In its report released on Tuesday, Amnesty does not go into further detai= ls about last year=92s alleged extra-judicial executions. It merely re-state= s that hundred of people were killed by the security forces during this period. The Togolese Government appears to think that it can plausibly deny these particular killings - hence the threat to sue the human rights organisati= on. But Amnesty also has a long and detailed list of other human rights abuse= s allegedly committed by the regime since 1991. This list includes the kill= ing of almost 150 people by the security forces. Amnesty International has called on FrenchPresident Jacques Chirac, who i= s due to visit Togo last week, to put pressure on the Togolese Goverment to bring the alleged killers to justice, and to allow a United Nations investigation in the Human rights watch-dog Amnesty International has accused the President Eyadema administration of killing opponents and dumping their bodies in the sea from planes. Yours Sincerely, The President NGO DARUIS CODJIE Kodzo Dodzi 65, rue des Filaos Prolong=E9e Tokoin-Habitat P.O Box 54 Phone / Fax number 00228-21-16-61 Lom=E9 - Togo. ______________________________________________________ Dear David, Thank you for your message my name is CODJIE Kodzo Dodzi(President) and o= ur organization is ONG DARUIS(Peace,environment and social justice)from West-Africa.The Republic of TOGO is a brutal military regime,undemocratic and non respect of Human right,people suffer(poverty). We would like to attending and work as volunteer and we need an invitation,shelter to comi= ng at U.S. My best wishes to you in our common endeavor is to create more peaceful a= nd just world. I speak french fluently than english. Best Regards CODJIE Kodzo Dodzi ______________________________________________________ Dear Colleagues Our organization is 0351 C status with the TOGO government tax exempt.The goals is to promote social welfare;to eliminate the causes of violent conflict,nuclear weapons, and in working to create a culture o= f peace for the new century;organizing on the local;regional and international levels;safe environment for anti-war and coordinated effort to raise concerns on political prisoners throughout the world. I am really looking forward to working with all of you. Yours sincerely the president NGO DARUIS P.0. Box 54 65;rue des filaos prolongee Tokion-Habitat Tel/Fax 00 228 21 16 61 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D THANK YOU VERY MUCH, David Crockett Williams gear2000@lightspeed.net Global Emergency Alert Response http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000 Global Peace Walk 2000 http://www.globalpeacenow.org http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/gpw.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) 20 DAYS TO GO: TIME RUNNING OUT - 5,600 WARHEADS ON ALERT, FAX Date: 11 Dec 1999 12:23:32 +1000 20 DAYS TO GO : 5,600 WARHEADS ON ALERT - FAX FOR DE-ALERTING TODAY PLEASE SEND THIS EMAIL ON TO AS MANY OTHERS AS YOU CAN - Distribute far and Wide. Dear All who are concerned about the safety of our planet, With only 20 days to go before the Y2K rollover, time is getting short. However, there are some signs that the global de- alert campaign is making an impact. As we move toward the crucial date of Dec31/Jan1, 2000, some 5,600 nuclear warheads controlled by the oldest and largest computer complexes in the world are on hairtrigger alert. We are asking people to write to US Defence Secretary Cohen, Clinton, and Russian defence minister Sergeyev, asking them to take these weapons off alert before Dec30. In particular, if you live in the US, if it is at all possible you should try to fax or ring the white house or Defence Secy Cohen at the Pantagon TODAY Cohen-Fax +1-703-695-1149, Ph(Clinton) (202) 456-1111 fax 456-2461. Here's a quick link for writing Congress and media urging dealerting: <http://congress.nw.dc.us/wnd/>http://congress.nw.dc.us/wnd/ If you live in Europe (esp eastern europe), please send a fax to Russian defence minister Igor Sergeyev first, and then to US defence secy Cohen and Clinton. (+7-095-205-4330. Russian Govt General Fax) PLEASE don't just delete or write back asking me to take you off the list - this really is important and it really is something on which you can make a difference. If you have already sent a fax, then congratulations. You don't need to do any more - unless you'd like to distribute this email to as many other people as possible. If you faxed to Cohen or Clinton however, you might consider faxing Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev. There are indications that your faxes *may* be making an impact on the Pentagon. We need to keep the momentum up! The Canberra Commission, the Tokyo Forum, four resolutions in the United Nations General Assembly (two last year two this year), two motions in the Australian Senate, and a resolution carried on Thursday 18th Nov by the European Parliament have all called for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert. Please write to US defence secretary William Cohen, President Clinton, and to Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev, asking them to take nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert at least over the Y2K 'rollover' period. Defence Secretary Cohen's fax number is +1-703-695-1149 President Clintons fax number is +1-202-456-2461 Yeltsin/Sergeyev's fax number is +7-095-205-4330. Faxing a single A4 page should not cost you more than a dollar. You can fax for free on http://www.fax4free.com (But the best fax is HANDWRITTEN). *If you are an organisation* and want to sign a large sign- on letter, please sign the letter to Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton that is being periodicaly faxed to them on http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html Sample letters to Cohen/Clinton and to Sergeyev are below. Do please customise and abbreviate. And have fun while saving the planet from (possibly) the apocalypse! 1)SAMPLE LETTER TO COHEN/CLINTON (This is for individuals to sent to Us Secretary for Defence Cohen and President Clinton. You can also post it to The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC.) TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period. As you will be aware, the European Parliament recently voted to ask you and President Yeltsin to do as the UK has already done, and de-alert nuclear weapons. It is particularly disturbing that Secretary Cohen has been reported as having stated in Moscow some time ago that de-alerting of nuclear forces is 'off the table' as a stability building measure. You have also been quoted as saying that 'The better course is reduction, limiting the number of weapons, and establishing shared early warning centers'. The recent Europarliament vote clearly puts de- alerting back on the table. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkley has asked for it. These measures are not in competition with each other. All of them - reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting - are vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. The very nature of the Y2K problem makes it impossible to be sure everything has been fixed until well into the new year. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. This system seems to include additional ways in which Y2K failure might lead to an accidental launch. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one. However, it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as we the public are aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The Y2K vulnerabilities recently discovered in six of the seven hotlines on which US/Russian communications depends, are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. In taking De-alerting 'off the table', the United States is making a serious error. Failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low, but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. (SIGNED) etc. 2)SAMPLE LETTER TO YELTSIN/DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV THIS SAMPLE LETTER IS FOR YOU PERSONALLY TO FAX, CUSTOMIZED AS YOU FEEL BEST, TO YELTSIN AND DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV. PLEASE DO FAX IT AND SEND IT NOW. You can also post it to Boris Yeltsin, C/O The Kremlin, Moscow - but its really too slow. A single A4 page fax will cost you about a dollar. PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, IGOR SERGEYEV, RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, +7-095-205-4330, 'Dear Defence Minister Sergeyev and President Yeltsin, I am writing to convey my deep concern that Y2K-related computer failures in the command and control systems for nuclear weapons may lead to an accidental nuclear war. I am aware that both Russia and the US have taken this problem seriously enough to establish a joint strategic stability center in Colorado. However, I am very much concerned that this facility will come into operation only by 27th December 1999, so that a delay of just four days will make it useless. I am also very much concerned that Y2K problems have been found recently in six out of seven of the 'hotlines' that would be used if a crisis of any sort arose over the Y2K rollover period. I am aware that there have been a number of occasions when either the US or Russia have mistakenly believed that the other nation was in the process of launching a nuclear attack. With 3,600 Russian warheads on 700 missiles and 2,000 US warheads on 500 missiles, with each side capable to launch within roughly 20 minutes, this must never be allowed to happen, either over the Y2K 'rollover', or at any other time. The use of 5,600 warheads would certainly mean the end of what we call civilization, would likely mean the end of the human race and could possibly mean the end of all life. I therefore urge both you and the United States, to place all your nuclear forces in a status in which at least days not minutes, would be required to launch . The United Kingdom has, I understand, already done this. The European Parliament has recently called on both the US and Russia to de-alert nuclear weapons and to place them in a state similar to that in which the UK has placed its weapons. The recent Europarliament vote clearly puts de- alerting back on the table. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkley has asked for it. The immediate stakes are so high and the potential for global catastrophe is so great, that mutually verified de-alerting of nuclear forces in the face of the Y2K computer problem must take precedence over all other considerations of political and national security.' (Signed) etc. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Crockett Williams" <gear2000@lightspeed.net> Subject: (abolition-usa) NRC hearing Yucca Mountain Date: 10 Dec 1999 19:51:48 -0800 <Undisclosed.Recipients@skylink.skylink.net> FYI For a copy of a Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper report on the NRC hearing on cask safety issues, see http://12.9.217.5/plweb-cgi/fastweb?state_id=3D944879623&view=3Drjsearch&= docrank =3D65&numhitsfound=3D68&query_rule=3D%28%28$query%29%29%20AND%20%28%23dat= e%28$quer y1%29%29%3ADATE%20AND%20%28%28$query4%29%29%3AHEADLINE&query1=3D12%2F9%2F= 99&do cid=3D21761&docdb=3D1999&dbname=3D1999&starthit=3D50&TemplateName=3Dpredo= c.tmpl&setCoo kie=3D1 If clicking on the lengthy address doesn't work, try control-C to copy. T= hen paste into the address with control-V. If all fails, click on www.lvrj.com and enter the date 12/9/99 in the appropriate place. (The reporter, Keith Rogers, is on my list of e-mail correspondents.) Gary The text of the article is below: Thursday, December 09, 1999 Copyright =A9 Las Vegas Review-Journal Experts stress shipping risks State officials call for extensive tests of casks planned for transportin= g radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain. By Keith Rogers Review-Journal Nevada's experts in radioactive waste and transportation called on Wednesday for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to conduct expensive, full-scale tests of casks the government intends to use for shipping potentially deadly wastes to Yucca Mountain. They said current information about the risks of the casks breachin= g and releasing highly radioactive contaminants is outdated and cannot be u= sed to validate computer models the federal agency is considering for assessi= ng the risks. "Just kicking a cask out of an airplane isn't really full-scale testing," said Steve Frishman, a geologist and full-time consultant for t= he State Nuclear Projects Agency. "We've been telling them for 10 years they should be taking a hard look at transportation safety," he said during a break in an NRC panel discussion at the Henderson Convention Center. Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site = the government is studying for entombing 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste. Most of it, 90 percent, is in the form of solid fuel pellets encas= ed in metal rods and in storage at reactor sites across the country. The remaining 10 percent is military waste that must be solidified into glass logs for disposal in the mountain, a ridge of volcanic rock. Susan Shankman, deputy director for licensing and inspection at the NRC's Spent Fuel Project Office, said that more testing is needed to validate the computer models for future highway and rail conditions thoug= h models from 1987 indicate the casks would be safe in severe accidents. "We agree we will have to do some degree of physical testing. We ma= y have to build a special cask and test that," she said. "I'm confident the commission will support us in this study." The NRC is spending $150,000 through 2000 to gather information abo= ut accident risks from hauling spent fuel casks on highways and railroads. Another $1.5 million has been set aside for the next phase to mesh cask t= est data with computer models of accident scenarios, said NRC nuclear enginee= r Rob Lewis, the project manager for performance studies. But money in the NRC's budget will fall short of what state officia= ls estimate it will cost to do adequate testing. Robert Halstead, transportation consultant for the State Nuclear Projects Agency, estimates full-scale testing will cost between $8 millio= n and $15 million for 30-ton truck casks and up to $25 million for 125-ton rail casks. He noted the costs are relatively small when compared with the cost= of transportation activities for a repository -- $9.2 billion -- or what scientists in 1986 estimated it would cost, $620 million, to clean up a severe accident involving a rail cask that releases a tiny fraction of it= s radionuclides. Halstead said he is concerned about catastrophic accidents that cou= ld involve casks and military explosives. "The issue of live munitions colliding into a shipment, that's a re= al issue in Nevada with the flight corridors" of Nellis Air Force Range, he told the 22-member panel of nuclear waste transportation officials representing federal, state and local agencies and industry groups. Halstead cited the Energy Department's risk estimate for a terroris= t attack with explosives on a truck cask of spent fuel that would result in= 15 latent cancer fatalities. "We believe it would be 10 times that," he said. According to Clark County's estimates, the chances for accidents involving shipping casks is great considering nearly 38,000 shipments wou= ld be made over several decades. A federal Department of Transportation official, health physicist Richard Swedberg, said stiff regulations on transporting spent fuel casks could be used to prevent accidents. Judy Treichel of a watchdog group, the Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force, stressed that rules requiring inspections of equipment on jetliner= s, for example, have been violated in the past, resulting deadly crashes. Meeting the requirements of regulations does not necessarily mean t= he public will have confidence in the safety of transporting nuclear waste, = she said. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., expressed her concerns in a statement and said that the data are outdated, funding for full-scale testing "is grossly inadequate, and the possible accident scenarios have not yet been considered and accounted." =1D - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) 20 DAYS TO GO: TIME RUNNING OUT - 5,600 WARHEADS ON ALERT, FAX Date: 11 Dec 1999 12:23:32 +1000 20 DAYS TO GO : 5,600 WARHEADS ON ALERT - FAX FOR DE-ALERTING TODAY PLEASE SEND THIS EMAIL ON TO AS MANY OTHERS AS YOU CAN - Distribute far and Wide. Dear All who are concerned about the safety of our planet, With only 20 days to go before the Y2K rollover, time is getting short. However, there are some signs that the global de- alert campaign is making an impact. As we move toward the crucial date of Dec31/Jan1, 2000, some 5,600 nuclear warheads controlled by the oldest and largest computer complexes in the world are on hairtrigger alert. We are asking people to write to US Defence Secretary Cohen, Clinton, and Russian defence minister Sergeyev, asking them to take these weapons off alert before Dec30. In particular, if you live in the US, if it is at all possible you should try to fax or ring the white house or Defence Secy Cohen at the Pantagon TODAY Cohen-Fax +1-703-695-1149, Ph(Clinton) (202) 456-1111 fax 456-2461. Here's a quick link for writing Congress and media urging dealerting: <http://congress.nw.dc.us/wnd/>http://congress.nw.dc.us/wnd/ If you live in Europe (esp eastern europe), please send a fax to Russian defence minister Igor Sergeyev first, and then to US defence secy Cohen and Clinton. (+7-095-205-4330. Russian Govt General Fax) PLEASE don't just delete or write back asking me to take you off the list - this really is important and it really is something on which you can make a difference. If you have already sent a fax, then congratulations. You don't need to do any more - unless you'd like to distribute this email to as many other people as possible. If you faxed to Cohen or Clinton however, you might consider faxing Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev. There are indications that your faxes *may* be making an impact on the Pentagon. We need to keep the momentum up! The Canberra Commission, the Tokyo Forum, four resolutions in the United Nations General Assembly (two last year two this year), two motions in the Australian Senate, and a resolution carried on Thursday 18th Nov by the European Parliament have all called for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert. Please write to US defence secretary William Cohen, President Clinton, and to Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev, asking them to take nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert at least over the Y2K 'rollover' period. Defence Secretary Cohen's fax number is +1-703-695-1149 President Clintons fax number is +1-202-456-2461 Yeltsin/Sergeyev's fax number is +7-095-205-4330. Faxing a single A4 page should not cost you more than a dollar. You can fax for free on http://www.fax4free.com (But the best fax is HANDWRITTEN). *If you are an organisation* and want to sign a large sign- on letter, please sign the letter to Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton that is being periodicaly faxed to them on http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html Sample letters to Cohen/Clinton and to Sergeyev are below. Do please customise and abbreviate. And have fun while saving the planet from (possibly) the apocalypse! 1)SAMPLE LETTER TO COHEN/CLINTON (This is for individuals to sent to Us Secretary for Defence Cohen and President Clinton. You can also post it to The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC.) TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period. As you will be aware, the European Parliament recently voted to ask you and President Yeltsin to do as the UK has already done, and de-alert nuclear weapons. It is particularly disturbing that Secretary Cohen has been reported as having stated in Moscow some time ago that de-alerting of nuclear forces is 'off the table' as a stability building measure. You have also been quoted as saying that 'The better course is reduction, limiting the number of weapons, and establishing shared early warning centers'. The recent Europarliament vote clearly puts de- alerting back on the table. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkley has asked for it. These measures are not in competition with each other. All of them - reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting - are vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. The very nature of the Y2K problem makes it impossible to be sure everything has been fixed until well into the new year. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. This system seems to include additional ways in which Y2K failure might lead to an accidental launch. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one. However, it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as we the public are aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The Y2K vulnerabilities recently discovered in six of the seven hotlines on which US/Russian communications depends, are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. In taking De-alerting 'off the table', the United States is making a serious error. Failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low, but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. (SIGNED) etc. 2)SAMPLE LETTER TO YELTSIN/DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV THIS SAMPLE LETTER IS FOR YOU PERSONALLY TO FAX, CUSTOMIZED AS YOU FEEL BEST, TO YELTSIN AND DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV. PLEASE DO FAX IT AND SEND IT NOW. You can also post it to Boris Yeltsin, C/O The Kremlin, Moscow - but its really too slow. A single A4 page fax will cost you about a dollar. PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, IGOR SERGEYEV, RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, +7-095-205-4330, 'Dear Defence Minister Sergeyev and President Yeltsin, I am writing to convey my deep concern that Y2K-related computer failures in the command and control systems for nuclear weapons may lead to an accidental nuclear war. I am aware that both Russia and the US have taken this problem seriously enough to establish a joint strategic stability center in Colorado. However, I am very much concerned that this facility will come into operation only by 27th December 1999, so that a delay of just four days will make it useless. I am also very much concerned that Y2K problems have been found recently in six out of seven of the 'hotlines' that would be used if a crisis of any sort arose over the Y2K rollover period. I am aware that there have been a number of occasions when either the US or Russia have mistakenly believed that the other nation was in the process of launching a nuclear attack. With 3,600 Russian warheads on 700 missiles and 2,000 US warheads on 500 missiles, with each side capable to launch within roughly 20 minutes, this must never be allowed to happen, either over the Y2K 'rollover', or at any other time. The use of 5,600 warheads would certainly mean the end of what we call civilization, would likely mean the end of the human race and could possibly mean the end of all life. I therefore urge both you and the United States, to place all your nuclear forces in a status in which at least days not minutes, would be required to launch . The United Kingdom has, I understand, already done this. The European Parliament has recently called on both the US and Russia to de-alert nuclear weapons and to place them in a state similar to that in which the UK has placed its weapons. The recent Europarliament vote clearly puts de- alerting back on the table. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkley has asked for it. The immediate stakes are so high and the potential for global catastrophe is so great, that mutually verified de-alerting of nuclear forces in the face of the Y2K computer problem must take precedence over all other considerations of political and national security.' (Signed) etc. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: marylia@earthlink.net (marylia) Subject: (abolition-usa) DOE wants BIGGER nuke program Date: 11 Dec 1999 09:12:33 -0800 (PST) Dear Peace and Enviro advocates: Here is an article from today's Tri-Valley Herald about DOE's new report on its "Stockpile Stewardship" program. I have the half-dozen page executive summary DOE put out, and the document is available on the web at www.dp.doe.gov/dp_web/news_f.htm In sum, this is very dangerous, particularly as this DOE deadly wish list from Uncle Santa is backed by a VERY REAL effort to increase Stockpile Stewardship funding by $500 million extra dollars in the next budget. DOE is very serious about ramping up the nuclear weapons complex ever-more -- and we must mobilize to stop this, no matter how busy or overworked we already are! Peace, Marylia Please read the article... [Image] Saturday, December 11, 1999 DOE commits to refurbish aging nuclear weapons Revival of some phased-out research recommended FROM STAFF REPORTS LIVERMORE — Nuclear bombs aren't aging as well as the Energy De partment thought they would. "The number of weapons facing re furbishing is substantially larger than was expected," Energy Undersecretary Ernest Moniz said Friday after the re- lease of an annual report on the nation's Stockpile Stewardship Program. "These refurbishment campaigns, in the next decade, are very consider able," Moniz said. Under current U.S. policy, the En ergy Department no longer builds new warheads; it repairs and maintains the old ones. At the same time, the govern ment is stepping up supercomputer re search for improved virtual detonations of bombs so that weapon eers can keep their skills sharp. The Energy Department recom mends some nuclear weapons research programs be revived after having been phased out. Officials did not provide details. "The nation is restoring its capacity to produce nuclear weapons components in the enduring nuclear stock pile," according to a government statement. Each year for the past four years, the Energy Department has conducted a review and certified the stockpile "safe and reliable." Troubles with the construction of the National Ignition Facility laser complex at Lawrence Livermore Lab; a project that lab and Energy Department managers have called a keystone of this stewardship program likely will not cause a major disruption in the program, officials said =46riday. Marylia Kelley, a frequent lab critic and executive director of the Livermore-based Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, said she viewed the plan as a recipe for a return to the Cold War. "It's an outline for reconstituting the size and style of the Cold War nuclear weapons complex," she said. "It is a plan that says the Cold War is back on track, and it's going to cost the American taxpayer one hell of a lot." Ordered by Energy Secretary Bill Richardson in October, the review recommends 15 Energy Department actions. Moniz served as chairman for a panel of experts who assisted with the review. Assembling a work force that can in crease production of nuclear weapons materials, recruiting top researchers, revisiting its weapons refurbishment program and developing a plutonium manufacturing and testing strategy are among the recommendations outlined in the review. Developing a long-term budget plan for the U.S. nuclear weapons complex and seeking "to restore programs at the laboratories that support weapons related research" are also recommended goals. The report said the Stockpile Stew ardship Program is effective, and for the fourth year in a row the active nu clear weapons arsenal will be certified as reliable. ------------------------------------------------------------- =A9 1999 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 <http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: marylia@earthlink.net (marylia) Subject: (abolition-usa) Addendum to DOE wants BIGGER nuke program Date: 11 Dec 1999 09:31:36 -0800 (PST) Hi -- just a note to highlight that the Tri-Valley Herald article I sent you earlier says, "Under current U.S. policy, the Energy Deptartment no longer builds new warheads; it repairs and maintains the old ones." I would refute this statement (and will when I call the reporter on Monday). The definition of "new" is mighty, mighty fluid these days. Most of you receiving this note already know this. However, I didn't want my transmission of the article as a whole to be misunderstood as an endorsement of every phrase in it. Thanks, Peace, Marylia Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 <http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space <globenet@afn.org> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Addendum to DOE wants BIGGER nuke program Date: 12 Dec 1999 18:28:06 -0500 (EST) Please note that the Global Network now has a new e-mail address at: globalnet@mindspring.com Bruce K. Gagnon Coordinator Global Network PO Box 90083, Gainesville, Fl 32607 Web site: http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk/ (352) 337-9274 On Sat, 11 Dec 1999, marylia wrote: > Hi -- just a note to highlight that the Tri-Valley Herald article I sent > you earlier says, "Under current U.S. policy, the Energy Deptartment no > longer builds new warheads; it repairs and maintains the old ones." I would > refute this statement (and will when I call the reporter on Monday). The > definition of "new" is mighty, mighty fluid these days. Most of you > receiving this note already know this. However, I didn't want my > transmission of the article as a whole to be misunderstood as an > endorsement of every phrase in it. Thanks, Peace, Marylia > > Marylia Kelley > Tri-Valley CAREs > (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) > 2582 Old First Street > Livermore, CA USA 94550 > > <http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there! > > (925) 443-7148 - is our phone > (925) 443-0177 - is our fax > > Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley > CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear > Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the > international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear > weapons. > > > > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. > - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) Worst Possible News Date: 13 Dec 1999 16:19:06 +1000 [The Express] 11 December, 1999 Yeltsin puts missiles on red alert =46rom Will Stewart in Moscow Boris Yeltsin put his most powerful nuclear missiles on full alert last night in what was seen as a dramatic warning to the West over Chechnya. The Kremlin deployed ten new Topol-M missiles - its newest, most sophisticated and deadliest weapons - in a state of combat readiness. The move coincided with President Yeltsin's return to Russia after a trip to China, during which he hit back at criticism of his campaign in Chechnya and warned the West to keep its nose out. "Russia is a great power that possesses a full nuclear arsenal," he thundered in Beijing. "It is us who will dictate." The West was told in advance of Russia's deployment, as dictated by nuclear treaty commitments. But the timing and the rarity of such a move amounts to a dramatic show of force designed to back Yeltsin's message. The intercontinental missiles - with a 6,200 mile range and capable of striking Britain or America - were put in readiness in the Saratov region, 400 miles south-east of Moscow. Russia publicly portrayed the move as a scheduled test of a new weapon, which replaces its SS-19 missiles, dating to the 1970s. But observers last night said the provocative timing could only be linked to the Chechen crisis - and Yeltsin's anger at the West's hostile reaction to his bloody military purge in the troubled region. Many Russian politicians and analysts say Yeltsin is too ill to rule Russia and have his finger on the trigger of the world's second largest nuclear power. In televised comments yesterday, even his wife Naina admitted that he had "never been in such a bad state as he is now" after a bout of pneumonia which followed a succession of health problems, including heart trouble. While putting Russia's missiles on alert is seen as posturing bluster, Britain's foremost independent nuclear expert, John Large, warned it was a foolish manoeuvre, particularly in relation to the millennium bug, for which it is feared Russia is still ill-prepared. "There was an unwritten agreement for both Russia and the US not to deploy nuclear weapons before the Y2K period," he said. "Even if the weapons themselves are OK - which I very much doubt since their testing system has been effectively down and out for three years - they would have to work within the strategic defence system there which is full of Y2K glitches. There is no real need for it - it is a risk they don't need to take. "I am not suggesting that these nuclear bombs will go off on their own, but we do expect to see the defence systems playing up a bit." The Topol-M missile is relatively small and can be transported on a mobile launch pad, meaning it would be hard to locate and take out in the first strike of a nuclear confrontation. "Of the five nuclear powers, none of the others will match these weapons in the next few years," bragged Colonel-General Vladimir Yakovlev, Russian forces commander. "Topol-M is able to breach any anti-missile system that exists in the world and any which will be built in the near future." The deployment came 24 hours ahead of today's deadline - set by Russia a few days ago - for people in the Chechen capital Grozny to "flee or perish". Moscow yesterday appeared to have extended the deadline for residents to get out of the ruined city. But the Kremlin immediately stung the West by implying a new ultimatum to wipe out Grozny was on the way. The missile manoeuvre also came as Europe's leaders gathered for an EU summit in Helsinki. They were last night preparing to fire off a salvo of condemnation for the Russian offensive in Chechnya, which has seen thousands of civilians killed and tens of thousands of refugees spilling across the borders into neighbouring Ingushetia. "It can't be business as usual while Russia continues with these actions in Chechnya," a British source said at the Helsinki summit. "I imagine there will be some words of condemnation." But little hard action was expected to back up the words. The West is aware that, in practical terms, there is little it can do to halt the Russian offensive, though the EU is likely to shelve a science and technology agreement and a =A31.5 billion aid package to Russia in protest over the action in Chechnya. The nuclear deterrent on both sides of the old Iron Curtain is credited with maintaining peace since the end of the Second World War. But in recent months the post-Cold War nuclear consensus has collapsed and Russia and the US seem on the verge of a new arms race. =A9 Express Newspapers, 1999 - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) ARE WE ABOUT TO TAKE THE DEADLIEST GAMBLE IN HISTORY? Date: 13 Dec 1999 14:26:47 +1000 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ARE WE NOW AN ENDANGERED SPECIES ABOUT TO TAKE THE DEADLIEST GAMBLE IN HISTORY? HOW MANY OF US CAN ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS? 1) DUE TO Y2K UNCERTAINTIES, IS IT PROBABLE THAT THERE WILL BE AN ACCIDENTAL LAUNCH OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS AS THE NEW YEAR BEGINS? Nobody knows! In January 1995, Russia came within minutes of launching its nuclear missiles in retaliation to what it believed to be an incoming American missile aimed at Moscow. "Y2K is a unique event whose threat cannot be calculated", according to Dr. Bruce Blair, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC and a leading American authority on the danger of accidental nuclear war. Featured on PBS Frontline's "Russian Roulette" in 1998, Blair warned "How close Russia has slipped to the edge of a failure -- a serious catastrophic failure of command and control -- is really not possible to calculate but we know that the trends are adverse." He believes that nuclear weapons are an accident waiting to happen. 2) IF AN ACCIDENT DOES HAPPEN, HOW MIGHT IT AFFECT US? According to the New England Journal of Medicine, 1998, "An accidental launch of the weapons from one Russian submarine on eight American cities would result in approximately 6 million deaths outright, followed by a comparable number from fallout and after-effects." Such a launch by Russia or the USA could trigger all-out nuclear war. "In the event of a nuclear war where many nuclear bombs would be exploded, no help would come to the survivors, ever. It would be the end of civilization in the countries concerned, and perhaps over the whole world.... Radioactive fallout would leave whole continents radioactive for centuries." Alan F. Phillips, M.D., F.R.C.P.(C), Physicians for Global Survival, Canada. 3) WHAT CAN BE DONE BEFORE Y2K TO PREVENT SUCH TRAGEDIES? The 5000 Russian and American nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert can be taken off their alert status so that they are no longer set for "launch-on-warning." That does not require "verification" or a legal agreement, which would take more time than is available. The Joint Early Warning Center in Colorado, so praised by the American military, does not completely defuse the potentially dangerous situation -- it is a palliative measure, but not a cure. 4) IF NUCLEAR-ARMED NATIONS REFUSE TO TAKE THEIR WEAPONS OFF ALERT BUT GOOD FORTUNE PREVAILS AND NO TRAGEDY OCCURS, WILL WE UNDERSTAND THE IMPLICATIONS? a) That the two major powers, with the ability to destroy the planet in a matter of hours, were and still are willing to risk unnecessarily all our lives and those of all future generations. The risk will be ongoing and will have to be addressed by de-alerting, de-coupling, and the elimination of nuclear arms. b) That we, citizens of the world, were not sufficiently informed of the risks and therefore unknowingly condoned this gamble. c) That many who did understand nevertheless believed that there was nothing they could do and thus remained silent. d) That our silence gave a green light to the nuclear nations to continue their dangerous policies: * flouting many nuclear weapons treaties they have signed; * ignoring the World Court ruling that violating humanitarian law by the threat or use of nuclear weapons is illegal; * sending a message to other nations that nuclear weapons are the road to status and power; * further igniting the fear and suspicion that is already fueling a renewed Cold War; * diverting the world's much needed wealth, resources and talents to the production of ever more weapons of mass destruction. Already almost $10 trillion have been spent on these weapons. "We cannot at once hold sacred the miracle of existence and hold sacrosanct the capacity to destroy it. Deterrence...at best is a gamble no mortal should pretend to make. At worst it invokes death on a scale rivaling the power of the creator." General Lee Butler, Commander, American Nuclear Forces, 1991-94. Shortly after the bomb fell on Hiroshima, Albert Einstein warned that if the bomb were developed further, and ever used 'all-out', the human race could be exterminated. His warning is echoed today by General Butler: "We survived the Cold War by a combination of skill, luck and divine intervention." (More...) AGENCIES in Beijing and Gekhi-Chu, Russia Russian leader Boris Yeltsin warned US President Bill Clinton yesterday his country still has nuclear weapons and will not bow to US pressure over its military offensive in Chechnya. "Yesterday, Clinton took the liberty of putting pressure on Russia. It seems he has forgotten for a few seconds, a minute or half a minute, what Russia represents, and that Russia has at its disposal a full nuclear arsenal," Mr Yeltsin said after an informal summit with President Jiang Zemin in Beijing. "It's never been the case, and it will never be the case, that he can dictate how the whole world should live, work, and play. No, and once again, no. A multi-polar world, that's the basis of everything. "That means that as agreed with Chinese President Jiang Zemin, it's us who will dictate how the world should behave and not him alone." Mr Yeltsin made the statements just before meeting National People's Congress chairman Li Peng at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. He earlier met Mr Jiang and Premier Zhu Rongji at the guesthouse. The comments came as - less than 48 hours before a deadline for the besieged Chechen breakaway capital's residents to flee or face death - reconnaissance units entered Grozny, Russian officers said. In Washington Mr Clinton played down Mr Yeltsin's remarks. "We can't get too serious about that," he said. "Let's not talk about what the leaders are saying and all these words of criticism. "I'll say again what I said yesterday. I don't think what they're doing will help them to achieve their goals . . . I don't think displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians" will help Moscow achieve its goal of stopping attacks by Chechen terrorists. In a 40-minute meeting Mr Jiang stressed Beijing's position that Chechnya was an internal Russian affair and brooked no interference from outside forces, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said. "Jiang Zemin completely understands and fully supports Russia's actions in combatting terrorism and extremism in Chechnya and in the northern Caucasus," he said. "The Chinese side understands and supports the efforts made by Russia in safeguarding national unity and territorial integrity," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue. "We have also taken note of the fact that in their action in Chechnya, the Russian side has tried to avoid civilian losses," she said. Russia has been subjected to a torrent of Western criticism of its military drive in Chechnya, especially since it told civilians to leave Grozny by tomorrow. Military officials said it was a warning, not an ultimatum. THERE IS STILL TIME FOR US TO ACT! IF WE DON'T ACT NOW, WHAT WILL WE TELL OUR CHILDREN WHEN THEY ASK WHAT WE DID TO KEEP THEM SAFE? Please write to US defence secretary William Cohen, President Clinton, and to Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev, asking them to take nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert at least over the Y2K 'rollover' period. Defence Secretary Cohen's fax number is +1-703-695-1149 President Clintons fax number is +1-202-456-2461 Yeltsin/Sergeyev's fax number is +7-095-205-4330. Faxing a single A4 page should not cost you more than a dollar. You can fax for free on http://www.fax4free.com (But the best fax is HANDWRITTEN). *If you are an organisation* and want to sign a large sign- on letter, please sign the letter to Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton that is being periodicaly faxed to them on http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html to sign it email me on nonukes@forsyd.org.au Sample letters to Cohen/Clinton and to Sergeyev are below. Do please customise and abbreviate. And have fun while saving the planet from (possibly) the apocalypse! Sample Letters are Below. Please customise and use your own words as much as possible. 1)SAMPLE LETTER TO COHEN/CLINTON (This is for individuals to sent to Us Secretary for Defence Cohen and President Clinton. You can also post it to The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC.) TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period. As you will be aware, the European Parliament recently voted to ask you and President Yeltsin to do as the UK has already done, and de-alert nuclear weapons. It is particularly disturbing that Secretary Cohen has been reported as having stated in Moscow some time ago that de-alerting of nuclear forces is 'off the table' as a stability building measure. You have also been quoted as saying that 'The better course is reduction, limiting the number of weapons, and establishing shared early warning centers'. The recent Europarliament vote clearly puts de- alerting back on the table. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkley has asked for it. These measures are not in competition with each other. All of them - reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting - are vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. The very nature of the Y2K problem makes it impossible to be sure everything has been fixed until well into the new year. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. This system seems to include additional ways in which Y2K failure might lead to an accidental launch. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one. However, it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as we the public are aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The Y2K vulnerabilities recently discovered in six of the seven hotlines on which US/Russian communications depends, are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. In taking De-alerting 'off the table', the United States is making a serious error. Failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low, but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. (SIGNED) etc. 2)SAMPLE LETTER TO YELTSIN/DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV THIS SAMPLE LETTER IS FOR YOU PERSONALLY TO FAX, CUSTOMIZED AS YOU FEEL BEST, TO YELTSIN AND DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV. PLEASE DO FAX IT AND SEND IT NOW. You can also post it to Boris Yeltsin, C/O The Kremlin, Moscow - but its really too slow. A single A4 page fax will cost you about a dollar. PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, IGOR SERGEYEV, RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, +7-095-205-4330, 'Dear Defence Minister Sergeyev and President Yeltsin, I am writing to convey my deep concern that Y2K-related computer failures in the command and control systems for nuclear weapons may lead to an accidental nuclear war. I am aware that both Russia and the US have taken this problem seriously enough to establish a joint strategic stability center in Colorado. However, I am very much concerned that this facility will come into operation only by 27th December 1999, so that a delay of just four days will make it useless. I am also very much concerned that Y2K problems have been found recently in six out of seven of the 'hotlines' that would be used if a crisis of any sort arose over the Y2K rollover period. I am aware that there have been a number of occasions when either the US or Russia have mistakenly believed that the other nation was in the process of launching a nuclear attack. With 3,600 Russian warheads on 700 missiles and 2,000 US warheads on 500 missiles, with each side capable to launch within roughly 20 minutes, this must never be allowed to happen, either over the Y2K 'rollover', or at any other time. The use of 5,600 warheads would certainly mean the end of what we call civilization, would likely mean the end of the human race and could possibly mean the end of all life. I therefore urge both you and the United States, to place all your nuclear forces in a status in which at least days not minutes, would be required to launch . The United Kingdom has, I understand, already done this. The European Parliament has recently called on both the US and Russia to de-alert nuclear weapons and to place them in a state similar to that in which the UK has placed its weapons. The recent Europarliament vote clearly puts de- alerting back on the table. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkley has asked for it. The immediate stakes are so high and the potential for global catastrophe is so great, that mutually verified de-alerting of nuclear forces in the face of the Y2K computer problem must take precedence over all other considerations of political and national security.' (Signed) etc. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ellen Thomas <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) DOE wants BIGGER nuke program Date: 13 Dec 1999 05:27:24 -0500 --=====================_58021209==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Thanks, Marylia, for sending this important information. If you could remember to include the URL for the article you copy/paste into your message, it's helpful for me in doing NucNews, where I try to give full reference to the author/publisher, including website, so people can doublecheck. Sometimes Reuters and AP stories have been cut down by various papers, and it's useful to know which site you get them from. Thanks again... Ellen Thomas >Peace, Marylia Please read the article... > >[Image] > > Saturday, December 11, 1999 > > DOE commits to refurbish aging nuclear > weapons > > Revival of some phased-out research > recommended > > FROM STAFF REPORTS > > LIVERMORE — Nuclear bombs aren't aging as well as > the Energy De partment thought they would. ___________________________________________________ Today's Newspapers: http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm Subscribe NucNews: mailto:prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Subscribe) NucNews Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm Submit URL/Article: mailto:prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Editor) About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm Distributed without payment for research and educational purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107. --=====================_58021209==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" <html><div>Thanks, Marylia, for sending this important information. If you could remember to include the URL for the article you copy/paste into your message, it's helpful for me in doing NucNews, where I try to give full reference to the author/publisher, including website, so people can doublecheck. Sometimes Reuters and AP stories have been cut down by various papers, and it's useful to know which site you get them from.</div> <br> <div>Thanks again...</div> <br> <div>Ellen Thomas</div> <br> <div>>Peace, Marylia Please read the article...</div> <div>></div> <div>>[Image]</div> <div>></div> <div>> Saturday, December 11, 1999</div> <div>></div> <div>> DOE commits to refurbish aging nuclear</div> <div>> weapons</div> <div>></div> <div>> Revival of some phased-out research</div> <div>> recommended</div> <div>></div> <div>> FROM STAFF REPORTS</div> <div>></div> <div>> LIVERMORE — Nuclear bombs aren't aging as well as</div> <div>> the Energy De partment thought they would.</div> <br> ___________________________________________________<br> <br> Today's Newspapers: <a href="http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm" eudora="autourl">http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm</a><br> Subscribe NucNews: <a href="mailto:prop1@prop1.org" eudora="autourl">mailto:prop1@prop1.org</a> (NucNews-Subscribe)<br> NucNews Archives: <a href="http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm" eudora="autourl">http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm</a><br> Submit URL/Article: <a href="mailto:prop1@prop1.org" eudora="autourl">mailto:prop1@prop1.org</a> (NucNews-Editor)<br> <font size=2> About NucNews: </font><a href="http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm" eudora="autourl">http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm</a><br> <br> Distributed without payment for research and educational <br> purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107.<br> <br> <br> </html> --=====================_58021209==_.ALT-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Boyle, Francis" <FBOYLE@LAW.UIUC.EDU> Subject: (abolition-usa) FW: BBC News | SCOTLAND | Petition challenge to Trident legality Date: 13 Dec 1999 08:40:23 -0600 This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. ------_=_NextPart_000_01BF4578.00A2AC5A Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable =20 low graphics version | feedback | help=20 =20 You are in: UK: Scotland =20 Front Page=20 World=20 =20 UK =20 =20 Northern Ireland=20 Scotland=20 Wales=20 =20 UK Politics=20 Business=20 Sci/Tech=20 Health=20 Education=20 Sport=20 Entertainment=20 Talking Point=20 In Depth=20 AudioVideo=20 =20 Saturday, 11 December, 1999, 10:14 GMT=20 Petition challenge to Trident legality=20 Three protesters were acquitted in October =20 The Scottish Parliament's public petitions committee is to consider the legality of nuclear weapons.=20 Three challenges to Trident from members of the public will be made to = the committee when it meets next week.=20 It follows the decision in October by a sheriff to acquit members of a = peace group who damaged a floating Trident laboratory platform.=20 Three CND activists walked free from Greenock Sheriff Court after = facing charges that they maliciously damaged equipment at the Faslane nuclear submarine base.=20 Trident has been targeted by activists =20 The three women, Angela Zelter, 48, Ellen Moxley, 45, and Bodil Ulla = Roder, 45, were accused of having caused damage worth =A380,000 to a research = lab.=20 Sheriff Margaret Gimblett said she accepted the argument put forward by defence advocate John Mayer, who said Trident was illegal under international law and the women were acting simply to prevent a crime.=20 Mr Mayer said an opinion expressed by the International Court of = Justice in 1996 made Trident and all nuclear weapons illegal.=20 This meant the women had committed a crime but were acting to prevent = other crimes taking place and so in Scots law should be acquitted, he told = the court.=20 The sheriff's acceptance of that provoked outrage among opposition = parties.=20 Scotland's most senior law officer is expected to appeal against the = ruling. The Lord Advocate Lord Hardie is understood to have demanded a full = report into Sheriff Gimblett's decision.=20 Search BBC News Online =20 =20 =20 Advanced search options=20 BBC ONE TV NEWS=20 =20 WORLD NEWS SUMMARY=20 =20 See also:=20 =20 15 Feb 99 | UK =20 Arrests at anti-nuclear protest =20 =20 18 Aug 98 | UK =20 Protesters arrested at Faslane =20 =20 16 Aug 98 | UK =20 Peace protesters arrested at subs base =20 =20 22 Oct 99 | Scotland =20 Sheriff dubs nuclear programme illegal =20 =20 =20 Internet links:=20 =20 Trident Ploughshares 2000 =20 =20 Ministry of Defence =20 =20 Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament =20 =20 Faslane Peace Camp =20 =20 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites=20 =20 Links to other Scotland stories are at the foot of the page.=20 =20 =20 Links to other Scotland stories In this section Police in festive 'whistle-blowers' plea Scotland's 'millennium wheel' rolled out Bug squashes Nicol's final hopes Nurse's attacker asks for retrial Hampden rescue deal on table Homeless 'abused = by public' Ex-media boss to drive transport policy Hospital review = findings revealed Concrete covering for beach bombs Union slams patient = re-housing plan Fears grow for missing walker Hampden to host Euro final LIVE PROGRAMMES ON THE INTERNET BBC Scotland - On Air NEWS AND POLITICS IN = BRIEF Queen's swans killed Churchmen oppose section 28 abolition =20 =20 ---- ---- =20 ^^ Back to top News Front Page | World | UK | UK Politics | Business | Sci/Tech | = Health | Education | Sport | Entertainment | In-Depth | Talking Point | = Audio/Video =20 -----Original Message----- Sent: Sunday, December 12, 1999 2:13 PM http://news2.thls.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/scotland/newsid_559000/559553.= stm ------_=_NextPart_000_01BF4578.00A2AC5A Content-Type: text/html; name="559553.stm" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="559553.stm" Content-Base: http://news2.thls.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/u 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alt=3D"Nuclear protest" border=3D0 width=3D"300" height=3D"180" = src=3D"/olmedia/480000/images/_481725_nuclearprotest300.jpg"> =09 Three protesters were acquitted in October<BR> </TD></TR> =09 =09 =09 </TABLE><DIV CLASS=3D"bodytext"> <BR> <BR> =20 The Scottish Parliament's public petitions committee is to consider = the legality of nuclear weapons. <BR><BR> Three challenges to Trident from members of the public will be made to = the committee when it meets next week. <BR><BR> It follows the decision in October by a sheriff to acquit members of a = peace group who damaged a floating Trident laboratory platform. <BR><BR> Three CND activists walked free from Greenock Sheriff Court after = facing charges that they maliciously damaged equipment at the Faslane = nuclear submarine base. <BR><BR> </DIV><BR CLEAR=3D"all"> <TABLE CELLSPACING=3D"2" ALIGN=3D"RIGHT" WIDTH=3D"154" BORDER=3D"0" = CELLPADDING=3D"2"><TR><TD CLASS=3D"piccaption"> <IMG alt=3D"A submarine" border=3D0 width=3D"150" height=3D"180" = src=3D"/olmedia/480000/images/_482294_sub150.jpg"> =09 Trident has been targeted by activists<BR> </TD></TR> =09 =09 =09 </TABLE><DIV CLASS=3D"bodytext"> The three women, Angela Zelter, 48, Ellen Moxley, 45, and Bodil Ulla = Roder, 45, were accused of having caused damage worth =A380,000 to a = research lab. <BR><BR> Sheriff Margaret Gimblett said she accepted the argument put forward by = defence advocate John Mayer, who said Trident was illegal under = international law and the women were acting simply to prevent a crime.=20 <BR><BR> Mr Mayer said an opinion expressed by the International Court of = Justice in 1996 made Trident and all nuclear weapons illegal.=20 <BR><BR> This meant the women had committed a crime but were acting to prevent = other crimes taking place and so in Scots law should be acquitted, he = told the court.=20 <BR><BR> The sheriff's acceptance of that provoked outrage among opposition = parties. <BR><BR> Scotland's most senior law officer is expected to appeal against the = ruling. <BR><BR> The Lord Advocate Lord Hardie is understood to have demanded a full = report into Sheriff Gimblett's decision. <BR><BR> </DIV> </TD> <TD><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D10 HEIGHT=3D1></TD> <TD VALIGN=3DTOP> <TABLE BORDER=3D0 CELLPADDING=3D0 CELLSPACING=3D0 WIDTH=3D170 = BGCOLOR=3D"#FFFFCC"> <TR> <TD><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D2 HEIGHT=3D1></TD>=20 <TD COLSPAN=3D2><B CLASS=3D"search">Search BBC News Online</B><BR = CLEAR=3DALL><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D1 = HEIGHT=3D3></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D2 HEIGHT=3D1></TD>=20 <TD><FORM ACTION=3D"/scripts/query.idq" METHOD=3DGET> <SPAN CLASS=3D"piccaption"><INPUT SIZE=3D9 NAME=3D"CiRestriction" = TYPE=3D"TEXT"></SPAN> <INPUT VALUE=3D32 NAME=3D"CiMaxRecordsPerPage" TYPE=3D"HIDDEN"> </TD> <TD><INPUT TYPE=3DIMAGE SRC=3D"/furniture/go_button_tiny.gif" = WIDTH=3D23 HEIGHT=3D19 ALT=3D"Go!" 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WIDTH=3D12 HEIGHT=3D9 = BORDER=3D0><A CLASS=3D"videonewsbox" = HREF=3D"http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/summary.ram"> WORLD = NEWS SUMMARY</A></TD> </TR> </TABLE> =09  =09 <TABLE BORDER=3D"0" CELLPADDING=3D"0" CELLSPACING=3D"0" = WIDTH=3D"170"> <TR> <TD><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D10 HEIGHT=3D2></TD> <TD><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D160 HEIGHT=3D2></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD CLASS=3D"seealso" COLSPAN=3D2><BR><B>See also:</B></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD ALIGN=3DLEFT VALIGN=3DMIDDLE HEIGHT=3D10 COLSPAN=3D2><IMG = SRC=3D"/furniture/grey_pixel.gif" WIDTH=3D170 HEIGHT=3D1></TD> </TR> =09 <TR> <TD VALIGN=3DTOP> <IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/blue_arrow.gif" WIDTH=3D10 HEIGHT=3D12></TD> <TD CLASS=3D"seealsodate"> 15 Feb 99 | UK </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D1 HEIGHT=3D1></TD> <TD CLASS=3D"seealsohead"> <A HREF=3D"/hi/english/uk/newsid_280000/280121.stm" = CLASS=3D"heavy"> Arrests at anti-nuclear protest </A> </TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=3D2><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D1 = HEIGHT=3D7></TD></TR> =09 <TR> <TD VALIGN=3DTOP> <IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/blue_arrow.gif" WIDTH=3D10 HEIGHT=3D12></TD> <TD CLASS=3D"seealsodate"> 18 Aug 98 | UK </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D1 HEIGHT=3D1></TD> <TD CLASS=3D"seealsohead"> <A HREF=3D"/hi/english/uk/newsid_153000/153197.stm" = CLASS=3D"heavy"> Protesters arrested at Faslane </A> </TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=3D2><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D1 = HEIGHT=3D7></TD></TR> =09 <TR> <TD VALIGN=3DTOP> <IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/blue_arrow.gif" WIDTH=3D10 HEIGHT=3D12></TD> <TD CLASS=3D"seealsodate"> 16 Aug 98 | UK </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D1 HEIGHT=3D1></TD> <TD CLASS=3D"seealsohead"> <A HREF=3D"/hi/english/uk/newsid_151000/151522.stm" = CLASS=3D"heavy"> Peace protesters arrested at subs base </A> </TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=3D2><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D1 = HEIGHT=3D7></TD></TR> =09 <TR> <TD VALIGN=3DTOP> <IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/blue_arrow.gif" WIDTH=3D10 HEIGHT=3D12></TD> <TD CLASS=3D"seealsodate"> 22 Oct 99 | Scotland </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D1 HEIGHT=3D1></TD> <TD CLASS=3D"seealsohead"> <A HREF=3D"/hi/english/uk/scotland/newsid_481000/481385.stm" = CLASS=3D"heavy"> Sheriff dubs nuclear programme illegal </A> </TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=3D2><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D1 = HEIGHT=3D7></TD></TR> =09 </TABLE> =09 <TABLE BORDER=3D"0" CELLPADDING=3D"0" CELLSPACING=3D"0" WIDTH=3D"175"> <TR> <TD><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D10 HEIGHT=3D2></TD> <TD><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D165 HEIGHT=3D2></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD CLASS=3D"internetlinkshead" COLSPAN=3D2><BR><B>Internet = links:</B></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD ALIGN=3DLEFT VALIGN=3DMIDDLE HEIGHT=3D10 COLSPAN=3D2><IMG = SRC=3D"/furniture/grey_pixel.gif" WIDTH=3D175 HEIGHT=3D1></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD HEIGHT=3D15 ALIGN=3DLEFT VALIGN=3DTOP> <IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/blue_arrow.gif" WIDTH=3D10 HEIGHT=3D12></TD> <TD CLASS=3D"internetlinks"> <A href=3D"http://www.gn.apc.org/tp2000/" CLASS=3D"heavy"> Trident Ploughshares 2000 </A> </TD> </TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=3D2><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D1 = HEIGHT=3D4></TD></TR> <TR> <TD HEIGHT=3D15 ALIGN=3DLEFT VALIGN=3DTOP> <IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/blue_arrow.gif" WIDTH=3D10 HEIGHT=3D12></TD> <TD CLASS=3D"internetlinks"> <A href=3D"http://www.mod.uk/" CLASS=3D"heavy"> Ministry of Defence </A> </TD> </TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=3D2><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D1 = HEIGHT=3D4></TD></TR> <TR> <TD HEIGHT=3D15 ALIGN=3DLEFT VALIGN=3DTOP> <IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/blue_arrow.gif" WIDTH=3D10 HEIGHT=3D12></TD> <TD CLASS=3D"internetlinks"> <A href=3D"http://www.cnduk.org/welcome.htm" CLASS=3D"heavy"> Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament </A> </TD> </TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=3D2><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D1 = HEIGHT=3D4></TD></TR> <TR> <TD HEIGHT=3D15 ALIGN=3DLEFT VALIGN=3DTOP> <IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/blue_arrow.gif" WIDTH=3D10 HEIGHT=3D12></TD> <TD CLASS=3D"internetlinks"> <A href=3D"http://ds.dial.pipex.com/cndscot/camp/index.htm" = CLASS=3D"heavy"> Faslane Peace Camp </A> </TD> </TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=3D2><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D1 = HEIGHT=3D4></TD></TR> <TR> <TD CLASS=3D"disclaimer" COLSPAN=3D2><BR>The BBC is not responsible for = the=20 content of external internet sites</TD> </TR> </TABLE>  <IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/grey_pixel.gif" WIDTH=3D170 HEIGHT=3D1 = BORDER=3D0> <DIV CLASS=3D"promotextbold">Links to other Scotland stories are at the = foot of the page. <BR><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/grey_pixel.gif" WIDTH=3D170 HEIGHT=3D1 = BORDER=3D0 VSPACE=3D4><BR> </DIV> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> <TABLE BORDER=3D"0" CELLPADDING=3D"0" CELLSPACING=3D"0"> <TR> <TD WIDTH=3D105><IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/nothing.gif" WIDTH=3D105 = HEIGHT=3D1></TD> <TD ALIGN=3DLEFT>  <BR CLEAR=3D"ALL"> <IMG SRC=3D"/furniture/black_pixel.gif" WIDTH=3D315 HEIGHT=3D1 = BORDER=3D0><P> <B 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------_=_NextPart_000_01BF4578.00A2AC5A-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: marylia@earthlink.net (marylia) Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) DOE wants BIGGER nuke program Date: 13 Dec 1999 11:01:01 -0800 (PST) Thanks. This one is herald-ang.com. Peace, Marylia >Thanks, Marylia, for sending this important information. If you could remember >to include the URL for the article you copy/paste into your message, it's >helpful for me in doing NucNews, where I try to give full reference to the >author/publisher, including website, so people can doublecheck. Sometimes >Reuters and AP stories have been cut down by various papers, and it's useful to >know which site you get them from. > >Thanks again... > >Ellen Thomas > >>Peace, Marylia Please read the article... >> >>[Image] >> >> Saturday, December 11, 1999 >> >> DOE commits to refurbish aging nuclear >> weapons >> >> Revival of some phased-out research >> recommended >> >> FROM STAFF REPORTS >> >> LIVERMORE — Nuclear bombs aren't aging as well as >> the Energy De partment thought they would. > > ___________________________________________________ > > Today's Newspapers: http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm > Subscribe NucNews: mailto:prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Subscribe) > NucNews Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm > Submit URL/Article: mailto:prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Editor) > About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm > > Distributed without payment for research and educational > purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107. > > > ><html><div>Thanks, Marylia, for sending this important information. >If you could remember to include the URL for the article you copy/paste >into your message, it's helpful for me in doing NucNews, where I try to >give full reference to the author/publisher, including website, so people >can doublecheck. Sometimes Reuters and AP stories have been cut >down by various papers, and it's useful to know which site you get them >from.</div> ><br> ><div>Thanks again...</div> ><br> ><div>Ellen Thomas</div> ><br> ><div>>Peace, >Marylia &n >bsp; >Please read the article...</div> ><div>></div> ><div>>[Image]</div> ><div>></div> ><div>> Saturday, December 11, 1999</div> ><div>></div> ><div>> > >DOE commits to refurbish aging nuclear</div> ><div>> > >weapons</div> ><div>></div> ><div>> > >Revival of some phased-out research</div> ><div>> > >recommended</div> ><div>></div> ><div>> > >FROM STAFF REPORTS</div> ><div>></div> ><div>> > >LIVERMORE — Nuclear bombs aren't aging as well as</div> ><div>> > >the Energy De partment thought they would.</div> ><br> > > >___________________________________________________<br> ><br> > Today's Newspapers: ><a href="http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm" >eudora="autourl">http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm</a><br> > Subscribe NucNews: ><a href="mailto:prop1@prop1.org" eudora="autourl">mailto:prop1@prop1.org</a> >(NucNews-Subscribe)<br> > NucNews Archives: <a >href="http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm" >eudora="autourl">http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm</a><br> > Submit URL/Article: <a >href="mailto:prop1@prop1.org" eudora="autourl">mailto:prop1@prop1.org</a> >(NucNews-Editor)<br> ><font >size=2> &n >bsp; About NucNews: </font><a href="http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm" >eudora="autourl">http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm</a><br> ><br> > Distributed without payment for research >and educational <br> > purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107.<br> ><br> ><br> ></html> Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 <http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Crockett Williams" <gear2000@lightspeed.net> Subject: (abolition-usa) On The Vision of Paradise on Earth [http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/vision.html] December 13, 1999 Date: 13 Dec 1999 15:13:55 -0800 "The Vision of Paradise on Earth", by David Crockett Williams http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/vision.html This fairly long article was written at the request of Ms. Mayumi Mori, President of a Global University for Peace in Japan for her translation and publication in the Japanese language for an upcoming conference there. It represents a summary of my last 25 years of work as a global peace, environment, social justice activist, and as a scientist (specializing in the theoretical chemical physics of human consciousness) and spiritual practitioner. This document outlines my reasoning and comprehensive plan for the creation of true peace, harmony among all life and free natural abundance as paradise on Earth. It has been posted as this December 13, 1999, version which may be updated at above website from time to time, so after your first visit to this site please update your browser each subsequent visit to get the latest updated version whose date will corrected above. "We are approaching the sunrise of a new dawn of human thinking in harmony with nature and the natural law that describes the oneness of all life, the relationship of humankind to all life, the "All My Relations" of our family of life whereby all matter and energy and mind are understood as related by the operation of consciousness itself." David Crockett Williams gear2000@lightspeed.net The Vision of Paradise on Earth http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/vision.html Global Emergency Alert Response http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000 Global Peace Walk 2000 http://www.globalpeacenow.org http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/gpw.html Urge your Congressperson to support H.R. 2545 Global Nuclear Disarmament & Economic Conversion Act Details at http://www.prop1.org Sample Letter at http://prop1.org/prop1/letter.htm Easy indexed site to email Congresspeople & Media http://congress.nw.dc.us/wnd (copy and paste your letter to media and congress) - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: marylia@earthlink.net (marylia) Subject: (abolition-usa) TVC's website. NEW INFO! Date: 13 Dec 1999 20:03:11 -0800 (PST) Dear peace and environmental advocates: Tri-Valley CAREs' web site has important new information just in time for your holiday "surfing." And, we promise you an E-commerce Free Zone! Just the facts, nothing to purchase. Check it out at -- http://www.igc.org/tvc -- and you will find: (1) Our December newsletter, Citizen's Watch, with info regarding: * The National Ignition Facility's serious technical problems. A great read! * NIF undergoes a public hearing and comment period (through December 20). Find out how you can write or email your comments and help us stop this nuclear weapons project. * The debut of the nationwide "Back From the Brink" campaign to take nuclear weapons off alert -- with information about how you can help to achieve this worthy objective. * Print Bites on subcritical nuclear tests, Gofman, Vanunu, WIPP and much, much more. (2) Our latest press releases, our links and other web features. We are updating (and upgrading) the site regularly. Your feedback is welcome! Peace, Marylia Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 <http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "bob kinsey" <bkinsey@peacemission.org> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) SF hospitality African Peacewalkers Date: 13 Dec 1999 19:32:07 -0700 Is this walk coming through Denver? or anyplace in Colorado. whaat do = we have to do to prepare for it??? ************************************************* Bob Kinsey Peace and Justice Task Force Rocky Mountain Conference, United Church of Christ bkinsey@peacemission .org 6555 Ward Road, Arvada, Colorado, 80004 "Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God" -- Jesus of Nazareth ----- Original Message ----- BayAreaActivistList <bay_area_activist@onelist.com>; Activist Mailing Lis= t <Activist_List@listbot.com>; Abolition Caucus <abolition-caucus@eGroups.com>; Abolition 2000 USA <abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com>; a RainbowList agr <gathering@cygnus.com>; FoodNotBombs List <fnb-l@lists.tao.ca>; SEAC Announce <seac-announce@earthsystems.org> Sent: Friday, December 10, 1999 1:21 PM > Please let me know if you can help with hospitality and networking > arrangements for two peacewalkers coming from Africa (representing a peace, > environment, and social justice NGO called ONG Daruis, in Togo) to San > Francisco area during the two weeks before they will join the Global Pe= ace > Walk 2000 departing SF January 15th. > > We have faxed an invitation letter to them for visas to the US and they > would like to arrive on December 29th so there is a great opportunity during > those 17days to offer a global perspective on related issues by their > meetings with activists and groups in the Bay area to share information= , > messages and global fellowship. > > If you or your group would like to host them for all or part of this ti= me > and/or invite them to speak and meet with your interested associates, m= ore > details on them and their work are below. Please let me know directly= at > gear2000@lightspeed.net if you can help with this so we can soon confir= m to > them invitations for this arrival date. > > From: ONG Daruis <ongdaruis@hotmail.com> > To: gear2000@lightspeed.net <gear2000@lightspeed.net> > Subject: Walk at 15 Jan 2000 > Date: Thursday, December 09, 1999 4:02 AM > > Dear David, > > Can you arrange the invitation letter,shelter for our organization?The > delegation is me and the program coordinator: > > -CODJIE Kodzo Dodzi > the president > > -Mr.TOURE RUFAI Mouroutala > program coordinator > > Peace, > CODJIE Kodzo Dodzi > > > From: ONG Daruis <ongdaruis@hotmail.com> > To: gear2000@lightspeed.net <gear2000@lightspeed.net> > Subject: Walk at 15 Jan 2000 > Date: Saturday, December 04, 1999 9:36 AM > > Dear DAVID > > Thank you to communicating with us.We are looking forward to collaborat= ing > and to know how we transform and live on the earth each other.See the > information below about the human-right. > Peace > CODJIE Kodzo Dodzi > > > The human rights organization Amnesty International has launched a > blistering account of extra judicial killings by Togo's security forces over > the past eight years. It comes in response to an earlier annoucement by the > Togolese Government that it intends to sue the human rights lobby grou= p for > slander and libel. > > The reaction of most countries to reports by Amnesty International of > alleged human rights abueses, is either to keep quiet or to issue blank= et > denials. > > Togo's Government, led by the longest serving President in Africa, has > tried this tactic. But it has also gone on the offensive, taking the highly > unusual step of employing a top French lawyer to sue Amnesty over > allegations that hundreds of people were killed in a wave of repression= by > the security forces during last year's elections. > > Now Amnesty has gone on the counter-offensive against the threat to sue= , > saying the plan confirms that the regime of President Gnassingbe Eyadem= a > appears unwilling to prosecute people for odious crimes including tortu= re > and extra-judicial killings. > > In its report released on Tuesday, Amnesty does not go into further details > about last year's alleged extra-judicial executions. It merely re-state= s > that hundred of people were killed by the security forces during this > period. > > The Togolese Government appears to think that it can plausibly deny the= se > particular killings - hence the threat to sue the human rights organisation. > But Amnesty also has a long and detailed list of other human rights abu= ses > allegedly committed by the regime since 1991. This list includes the killing > of almost 150 people by the security forces. > > Amnesty International has called on FrenchPresident Jacques Chirac, who= is > due to visit Togo last week, to put pressure on the Togolese Goverment = to > bring the alleged killers to justice, and to allow a United Nations > investigation in the Human rights watch-dog Amnesty International has > accused the President Eyadema administration of killing opponents and > dumping their bodies in the sea from planes. > > Yours Sincerely, > > The President > NGO DARUIS > CODJIE Kodzo Dodzi > 65, rue des Filaos Prolong=E9e > Tokoin-Habitat > P.O Box 54 > Phone / Fax number 00228-21-16-61 > Lom=E9 - Togo. > > ______________________________________________________ > > From: ONG Daruis <ongdaruis@hotmail.com> > To: gear2000@lightspeed.net <gear2000@lightspeed.net> > Subject: Walk at 15 Jan 2000 > Date: Wednesday, December 01, 1999 7:12 AM > > Dear David, > > Thank you for your message my name is CODJIE Kodzo Dodzi(President) and our > organization is ONG DARUIS(Peace,environment and social justice)from > West-Africa.The Republic of TOGO is a brutal military regime,undemocrat= ic > and non respect of Human right,people suffer(poverty). We would like to > attending and work as volunteer and we need an invitation,shelter to coming > at U.S. > > My best wishes to you in our common endeavor is to create more peaceful and > just world. I speak french fluently than english. > > Best Regards > CODJIE Kodzo Dodzi > ______________________________________________________ > > From: ONG Daruis <ongdaruis@hotmail.com> > To: Gear2000@lightspeed.net <Gear2000@lightspeed.net> > Subject: collaborating with you > Date: Monday, November 29, 1999 9:26 AM > > Dear Colleagues > > Our organization is 0351 C status with the TOGO government tax > exempt.The goals is to promote social welfare;to eliminate the causes > of violent conflict,nuclear weapons, and in working to create a culture= of > peace for > the new century;organizing on the local;regional and international > levels;safe environment for anti-war and coordinated effort to raise > concerns on political prisoners throughout the world. > > I am really looking forward to working with all of you. > > Yours sincerely > the president > NGO DARUIS > P.0. Box 54 > 65;rue des filaos prolongee > Tokion-Habitat > Tel/Fax 00 228 21 16 61 > =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D > > THANK YOU VERY MUCH, > > David Crockett Williams gear2000@lightspeed.net > Global Emergency Alert Response > http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000 > > Global Peace Walk 2000 > http://www.globalpeacenow.org > http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/gpw.html > > > > > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. > - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) Perhaps not quite the end of the word but bad 'nuff anyway - Date: 15 Dec 1999 17:16:15 +1000 CONTAINS: EXPRESS 'RED - ALERT' ITEM DETAIL OF TOPOL-M FROM FAS WEBSITE Dear All, If you read this item, posted by me yesterday without comment, carefully you will observe that it does NOT in fact say that Russia has gone to the equivalent of DEFCON-4, or whatever would precede a full scale nuclear exchange. We are NOT about to experience a missile crisis. Not immediately anyway. The deployment of these missiles is in fact well behind scedule and in any other situation would be seen as routine. That said, Yeltsin has chosen the worst possible moment to deploy these agents of destruction, especially in combination with his recent remarks. (Note that according to TASS, Prime Minister Putin was present at the inauguration of these new toys, and presented the missile control officers present with nice new watches.) Things are not yet terminal, and we have a way to go before they get to that stage. But they don't look too good. We are getting together a letter which specifically adresses his recent remarks, and which will with luck, be given in hard copy to Ivanov thursday. In the meantime, I suggest strongly that you keep the faxes to both Yeltsin (+7-095-205-4330) to US Defence secy Cohen (1-703-695-1149) and to Clinton (1-202-456-2461). This is terribly important, so if you haven't faxed anyone please do, if you've faxed the US but not Ruussia please fax Russia and if you've faxed Russia but not the US do please fax the US. Get your friends to do it. Remember, HANDWRITTEN is best. And it doesn't have to be anywhere near as long as the sample letters. Immediately after this item is detail of the capabilities of the TOPOL-M, from the FAS website. [The Express] 11 December, 1999 Yeltsin puts missiles on red alert =46rom Will Stewart in Moscow [Discuss] Boris Yeltsin put his most powerful nuclear missiles on full alert last night in what was seen as a dramatic warning to the West over Chechnya. The Kremlin deployed ten new Topol-M missiles - its newest, most sophisticated and deadliest weapons - in a state of combat readiness. The move coincided with President Yeltsin's return to Russia after a trip to China, during which he hit back at criticism of his campaign in Chechnya and warned the West to keep its nose out. "Russia is a great power that possesses a full nuclear arsenal," he thundered in Beijing. "It is us who will dictate." The West was told in advance of Russia's deployment, as dictated by nuclear treaty commitments. But the timing and the rarity of such a move amounts to a dramatic show of force designed to back Yeltsin's message. The intercontinental missiles - with a 6,200 mile range and capable of striking Britain or America - were put in readiness in the Saratov region, 400 miles south-east of Moscow. Russia publicly portrayed the move as a scheduled test of a new weapon, which replaces its SS-19 missiles, dating to the 1970s. But observers last night said the provocative timing could only be linked to the Chechen crisis - and Yeltsin's anger at the West's hostile reaction to his bloody military purge in the troubled region. Many Russian politicians and analysts say Yeltsin is too ill to rule Russia and have his finger on the trigger of the world's second largest nuclear power. In televised comments yesterday, even his wife Naina admitted that he had "never been in such a bad state as he is now" after a bout of pneumonia which followed a succession of health problems, including heart trouble. While putting Russia's missiles on alert is seen as posturing bluster, Britain's foremost independent nuclear expert, John Large, warned it was a foolish manoeuvre, particularly in relation to the millennium bug, for which it is feared Russia is still ill-prepared. "There was an unwritten agreement for both Russia and the US not to deploy nuclear weapons before the Y2K period," he said. "Even if the weapons themselves are OK - which I very much doubt since their testing system has been effectively down and out for three years - they would have to work within the strategic defence system there which is full of Y2K glitches. There is no real need for it - it is a risk they don't need to take. "I am not suggesting that these nuclear bombs will go off on their own, but we do expect to see the defence systems playing up a bit." The Topol-M missile is relatively small and can be transported on a mobile launch pad, meaning it would be hard to locate and take out in the first strike of a nuclear confrontation. "Of the five nuclear powers, none of the others will match these weapons in the next few years," bragged Colonel-General Vladimir Yakovlev, Russian forces commander. "Topol-M is able to breach any anti-missile system that exists in the world and any which will be built in the near future." The deployment came 24 hours ahead of today's deadline - set by Russia a few days ago - for people in the Chechen capital Grozny to "flee or perish". Moscow yesterday appeared to have extended the deadline for residents to get out of the ruined city. But the Kremlin immediately stung the West by implying a new ultimatum to wipe out Grozny was on the way. The missile manoeuvre also came as Europe's leaders gathered for an EU summit in Helsinki. They were last night preparing to fire off a salvo of condemnation for the Russian offensive in Chechnya, which has seen thousands of civilians killed and tens of thousands of refugees spilling across the borders into neighbouring Ingushetia. "It can't be business as usual while Russia continues with these actions in Chechnya," a British source said at the Helsinki summit. "I imagine there will be some words of condemnation." But little hard action was expected to back up the words. The West is aware that, in practical terms, there is little it can do to halt the Russian offensive, though the EU is likely to shelve a science and technology agreement and a =A31.5 billion aid package to Russia in protest over the action in Chechnya. The nuclear deterrent on both sides of the old Iron Curtain is credited with maintaining peace since the end of the Second World War. But in recent months the post-Cold War nuclear consensus has collapsed and Russia and the US seem on the verge of a new arms race. =A9 Express Newspapers, 1999 RT-2PMU? - Topol-M SS-27 The single-warhead Topol-M is an advanced version of the silo-based and mobile Topol intercontinental ballistic missile. The SS-25 Topol is generally similar to the American Minuteman-2, while the more sophisticated SS-27 Topol-M is comparable to the American Minuteman-3. The solid-propellant three- stage Topol-M missile complex, with a standardized (silo and mobile) missile, is to become the foundation of the Russian strategic nuclear forces in the 21st century. It is planned to accommodate Topol-M both on self-propelled launchers as well as in silos. High survivability of the mobile complex is achieved by the capability of offroad movement, of a continuous change in location and of a missile launch from any point along the movement route. The Moscow Institute of Heat Engineering (MIT) State Enterprise is the only plant in Russia building such missiles today. The modernized 45-ton Topol-M is the first strategic missile to be built by Russia without the participation of Ukraine and CIS countries. The flight and design testing of the Topol-M was successfully completed in 1995, and joint flight-testing is continuing, leading to a decision to commence series production. All the launches have been a success, but large-scale serial production has not started due to a shortage of funds. On 08 July 1997 the fourth launch of a Topol-M ICBM was successfully made from the Strategic Missile Forces' Plesetsk State Test Site within the framework of joint flight-testing. The eighth test of the Topol-M missile was conducted on 03 September 1999. The missile was launched from Plesetsk, north of Moscow, and landed thousands of kilometers east at the Kura testing site on Kamchatka. Work on the new Topol-M ICBM is lagging seriously behind the initial timetable. Defense state order financing for the next decade provides that by 2003 there will be on the order of 250-300 Topol-M missiles in service. A total of 1.5 trillion [old] rubles were included in the 1997 budget for the development of the Topol-M missile complex. The Russian Missile Troops are permitted to have 300 Topol RS-12M mobile missiles under the START II Treaty, and the RVSN must acquire two Topol-M regiments annually up to 2001, which will cost 3.7 billion new rubles. A total of R700 billion would be required to place 450 Topol-M missiles in service by 2005 to maintain parity under START II. But the present 55 percent funding will permit production of at the very most 10-15 missiles at this facility each year year. As a result the Strategic Missile Troops would have a total of approximately 350-400 ICBM warheads, not the 800-900 which are permited within the framework of the START II Treaty. On 15 April 1998 Acting Prime Minister Sergey Kiriyenko approved a schedule of monthly budget appropriations for the Topol-M, which he noted would make up the core of Russia's strategic nuclear forces. In December 1997, the first two Topol-M systems were put on alert for a trial period with the Taman Division at Tatischevo in the Saratov region. As of late July 1998 two more Topol-M launch sites were completed and were awaiting acceptance trials. Russia put a regiment of 10 Topol-M missiles on duty in 1998, with plans for a second regiment by December 1999. The Topol-M missile system is being commissioned in the Russian strategic nuclear forces' grouping regardless of whether heavy missiles are stood down from combat alert duty or not. It is intended that the Topol-M ICBM grouping will comprise an equal number of mobile and silo-launched missiles. Some 90 of the 360 launch silos vacated by the RS-20 ICBM's, which are being stood down from combat alert duty, need to be converted for the latter. Apart from Saratov Oblast the Topol-M systems will be deployed in Valday, the southern Urals, and the Altay. Although deployed with a single warhead, the Topol-M could be converted into a multiple-warhead missile, which was prohibited by the un-ratified START II treaty. Topol-M could carry at least three and perhaps as many as six warheads. The Topol-M missiles could be transformed into missiles with multiple reentry vehicles [MIRV's], since their throw weight allows accommodating 3-4 warheads on a missile. The warheads could be taken from some of those ground-based and naval missiles which will be withdrawn from the order of battle in coming years. The Topol-M can carry a maneuverable warhead, which was tested in the summer of 1998. Topol-M also has a shorter engine-burn time, to minimize satellite detection on launch. Sources and Resources * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ =46AS | Nuke | Guide | Russia | ICBM |||| Index | Search | Join FAS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/icbm/rt-2pmu.htm Maintained by John Pike Updated Monday, November 22, 1999 7:02:59 AM - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) LETTER RESPONSE TO YELTSIN COMMENTS PLS SIGN IN NEXT 24 HOURS Date: 15 Dec 1999 19:55:35 +1000 LETTER RESPONSE TO YELTSIN COMMENTS PLS SIGN IN NEXT 24 HOURS Dear All, A copy of this letter is to be given to Russian foreign minister Ivanov in the next 24 hours. It is adressed to Ivanov and Sergeyev rather than Yeltsin himself, as those individuals are more likely to be in control and may be more reasonable. It is now open to organisations signatures. (Individuals, please send your own faxes direct to US defence secy Cohen and Sergeyev and Clinton on +1-703-695-1149 (Cohen) +7-095-205-4330 (Sergeyev) +1-202-456-2461 (Clinton)) It's been revised in accordance with comments from a number of people and the text is now frozen unless someone picks up some absolutely egregious error. Please do sign both this and if you have not already done so, the large 'Bill and Boris' sign on which now has 460+ organisations signed on to it. That letters text can be found on http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html Y2K WORLD ATOMIC SAFETY HOLIDAY INTERNATIONAL Y2K WORLD ATOMIC SAFETY HOLIDAY TOKYO Y2K CITIZENS NETWORK JAPAN WORLD COURT PROJECT, U.K., INTERNATIONAL PEACE BUREAU, GENEVA WOMEN FOR PEACE, BERLIN, GERMANY, GLOBAL ANTI-NUCLEAR ALLIANCE, NETH., WORLD ATOMIC SAFETY HOLIDAY NEW YORK, NUCLEAR- FREE NEW YORK, NUCLEAR INFORMATION AND RESOURCE SERVICE (NIRS) USA, TRI - VALLEY CARES, LIVERMORE, CALIF, USA, Y2K WORLD ATOMIC SAFETY HOLIDAY USA, PHYSICIANS FOR GLOBAL SURVIVAL CANADA, SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL UNION, MOSCOW, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN PEACE COMMITTEE, C.I.C.D., MELBOURNE, ANTI-BASES CAMPAIGN COALITION, SYDNEY, DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY CENTRE, NZ., ATTN IGOR SERGEYEV, DEFENCE MINISTER OF RUSSIA, 7-095-247-2722, 7-095-293-3323 IVAN IVANOV, FOREIGN MINISTER OF RUSSIA, 7-095-244-3276, 7-095-244-2203, cc WILLIAM S. COHEN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY FOR DEFENCE +1-703-695-1149 PRESIDENT CLINTON +1-202-456-2461 Dear Igor Sergeyev and Ivan Ivanov, We are writing to you as co-organisers of the international campaign to take nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert before the Dec. 31/Jan 1 Y2K 'rollover', and as co-organizers of the large letter, now signed by over 460 organizations, which has been faxed to you many times, asking for nuclear weapons to be taken off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K period. We read with considerable alarm, statements by President Yeltsin recently that the US should remember that 'Russia is a great power that possesses a full nuclear arsenal', combined with a deployment of ten new Topol-M missiles. It is especially alarming to read that these new missiles are being put on full alert status, when the world is demanding that nuclear weapons be taken off alert status especially over the Y2K period. There is, we think, no doubt in anyone's mind as to the capability of either Russia or the US to wreak irreparable destruction to the life systems of the entire planet. The use of all or a portion of the 5,600 warheads in land - based ICBM systems in the US and Russia will in all probability mean the complete annihilation of both sides of the exchange and the end of human civilization. No conceivable political or military purpose would be served by such catastrophic destruction. Neither Russia nor the US is threatened in any fundamental way. However, any nuclear exchange, accidental or otherwise, would bring about the prompt and complete destruction of both parties and the rest of the world. In addition, the International Court of Justice in 1996 declared that the use or threat of nuclear weapons is contrary to international law. It is arguable that under international law, even the imminent destruction of a nation cannot justify recourse to nuclear weapons. There is nothing in current US/Russian relations that cannot be solved by a willingness to talk and to make mutual accommodations in good faith. With the approach of the Y2K rollover, the chances of an accidental nuclear war, due to Y2K related computer problems in command and control systems, are greater than ever. We note that Russia and the US have established a joint Y2K strategic stability centre, but it is also essential that both sides refrain from provocative statements and actions over this sensitive period. The strategic stability centre, while absolutely essential, is inadequate by itself to ensure strategic stability. That can only be done by nuclear weapons systems being placed in a status such that immediate launch, or launch on warning, is no longer possible. This move has been termed "de-alerting" and has been called for now by two resolutions last year in the United Nations General Assembly, two resolutions this year in the UN, by the Australian Senate and by the European Parliament last Nov. 18th. The safety and stability of the world depends on Russia and the US taking the necessary technical measures to ensure prevention of a nuclear launch. We are well aware that recent moves by NATO and the US, especially with regard to the ABM treaty may be viewed as provocative, but no political goal and no strategic interest is important enough to risk the possibility of ending human civilization and possibly all human life. We call on you therefore to place your nuclear forces in a de-alerted configuration in which immediate launch or launch on warning is impossible. We ask that you make the year 2000, already designated by the UN as the International Year of the Culture of Peace, the first year of a millennium free from the threat of nuclear destruction. Yours Sincerely, Yumi Kikuchi, World Atomic safety Holiday International, Gen Morita, Y2K Citizens Network, Kamogawa, Commander Robert Green, RN (retd.), Chair, World Court Project, UK, Colin Archer, International Peace Bureau, Geneva, Eva Quistorp,(former MEP) Women for Peace, Berlin, Germany, Ak Malten, Global Anti-Nuclear Alliance, The Hague, Netherlands. Bill Smirnow, Nuclear-Free New York, World Atomic Safety Holiday, NY., Mary Olson, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Y2K-WASH, USA, Mary Beth Branagan/James Heddle, Y2K WASH, USA, Sally Light, Tri-Valley CARES, Livermore, USA, Alan F. Phillips, MD, Physicians for Global Survival Canada, Vladimir Slivyak, International Nuclear Campaigner, Social-Ecological Union, Moscow, Kate Dewes, Director, Disarmament and Security Centre, Christchurch, NZ., Irene Gale AM, Australian Peace Committee Pauline Mitchell, Campaign for International Cooperation and Development, Melb, Australia, Dennis Doherty, Sydney Anti-Bases Campaign Committee, John Hallam, Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation <a2000@silcom.com> Subject: (abolition-usa) Abolition 2000 Grassroots Newsletter December 1999 Date: 15 Dec 1999 22:02:24 -0800 (apolopies for any mutiple postings due to crossovers on lists) Abolition 2000 Grassroots Newsletter December 1999 Vol. I Number VI ************************ In This Edition... ************************ I. Introduction II. New Organizations III. Articles IV. Commentary V. Actions You Can Take VI. Calendar Events VII. Resources VIII. Letter from the Editor ************************ Introduction ************************ Organizational endorsements continue to arrive daily via mail and email. Currently, the Network is comprised of 1,415 organizations in 90 countries and 239 Municipalities have endorsed the Abolition 2000 Municipal Resolution. We are seeking your support to help us reach our goal. Please join me in wishing a warm welcome to the following organizations and municipalities which have recently endorsed the Abolition 2000 statement and joined the network. I urge you to support those within the network and continue building relationships with like-minded individuals and organizations. Please set a goal of enrolling at least one new organization during the month of January. Thank you for your continued support. ************************ New Organizations ************************ Activist San Diego, La Jolla/California American Women's Work, Seattle/Washington Bill Motto VFW Post 5888, Santa Cruz/California California Physician Alliance, Sun Valley/California Christchurch Episcopal, Franktown/Colorado Citizens for Overt Action, Seattle/Washington Community Centered School Facilitation, New York/New York Fellowship of Reconciliation, Seattle Chapter/Washington First Mennonite Church of San Francisco, San Francisco/California Fundacion Solar, Guatemala City/Guatemala International Club for Peace Research, Yaounde/Africa International Association of Educators for World Peace, Tanzania Invest in Kids, Walnut Creek/California Just 1 World, Toronto/Canada New York Gray Panthers, New York New York Women of Vision and Action, New York/New York Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Methodist Federation for Social Action, Bellingham/Washington Pathways to Peace, San Rafael/California Rainforest Action Network, San Francisco/California Save Heritage and Rehabilitate the Environment (SHARE), Sierra Leone Sisters of the Holy Names, Iowa Sisters of the Holy Names, Santa Clara/California Spira Grace Project, Lititz/Pensylvania Summit Monthly Meeting, North Plainfield/New Jersey Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, Seattle/Washington ************** Articles ************** Oppose Nuclear Reactor Construction in Tamil, India! Friends of the Tender Earth in Tamil, India is fighting against a proposed nuclear reactor at Koodankulam in Tamilnadu. The reactor will be supplied by the Russian government and construction is expected to be complete by the year 2001 . The land for the reactor was acquired by a nuclear power corporation in September of 1999. The reactor will require 1 cubic foot of water per second for cooling and other operations, but no such source exists in Koodankulam. The nuclear power corporation plans to pump water from the Patchiparai Dam in the neighboring Kanyakumari district. Using water from the dam will divert the precious resource from many farmers. In addition, the nuclear power corporation plans to dump the nuclear waste in the Bay of Bengal (also called the Gulf of Mannar). The waste will harm the delicate balance of the coastal ecosystem which houses a variety of coral reefs and abundant arrays of fish. This sensitive coastal area is the livelihood of many fisherman and their families and they export marine food to many "developed" nations. Even though the Atomic Energy Regulation Board has not given any permission to build the reactor, project development has continued. The nuclear power corporation which is sponsoring the construction is also known for its many failures around the world. Please join the Friends of the Tender Earth in Tamil in their opposition to the construction of the reactor. For more information and to send a message of solidarity, please contact: S.M. Prithiviraj at prithvi14@yahoo.com Abolition 2000 Working Group on Corporate Issues Co-Hosts Successful Forum on the World Trade Organization The forum sponsored by the Abolition 2000 Working Group on Corporate Issues, Pacific Northwest Disarmament Coalition (US) and End the Arms Race (Canada) was a success! The public forum was held in conjunction with the civil society events surrounding the World Trade Organization on November 28, 1999. The discussion examined the links between globalization and militarism. Among other speakers, Steve Staples, convenor of the Abolition 2000 Working Group on Corporate Issues and Chair of the International Network on Disarmament and Globalization, discussed how the WTO promotes war economies by protecting military spending and the arms industry, creating a global war system to be used as the "invisible fist behind the so-called invisible hand of the free market." He also noted the ability of corporations to use the "rules" of the WTO to dispute panels and block peace-building economic strategies. Alice Slater, a member of the Abolition 2000 Coordinating Committee and director of GRACE, spoke on how nuclear weapons are defending US corporate interests. She also highlighted the US Space Command vision to control and dominate outerspace in order to defend US interests and investments. The full text of the speech can be viewed at the Abolition 2000 website at Http://www.abolition2000.org. For more information: End the Arms Race: Http://www.peacewire.org Project Ploughshares: Http://www.ploughshares.ca Center for Defense Information: Http://www.cdi.org International Network on Disarmament and Globalization: Http://www.indg.org Back from the Brink De-Alerting Campaign Launched Despite the end of the Cold War more than ten years ago, more than 4,400 nuclear weapons in the US and Russian arsenals remain in "launch-on warning" posture. It is essential to de-alert nuclear weapons in order lessen the risk of an accidental missile launch due to human error or miscalculation. De-alerting can also be carried out in conjunction with disarmament initiatives. Back from the Brink, launched its national campaign to de-alert nuclear weapons at a national press conference in Washington, DC on Thursday, December 9, 1999. The campaign is sponsored by Former Senator Dale Bumpers, Director of the Center for Defense Information; Representative Edward J. Markey; Dr. Bruce Blair, Brookings Institution and former US missile launch officer; Beatrice Brailsford, Program Director, Snake River Alliance; and Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. As part of a nation-wide effort to de-alert US nuclear weapons, Back from the Brink has released a fifteen minute video on de-alerting, along with a toll-free phone number and a website. To obtain more information about de-alerting or the Back from the Brink campaign, please visit the website at: Http://www.dealert.org or call toll free 1-877-55-BESAFE Peace Delegation Summons NATO Defense Ministers On December 2, 1999, a delegation of twenty peace campaigners handed summons to NATO defense ministers as they entered a ministerial meeting. The summons condemned the illegal nuclear policy used by NATO. To the peace campaigners' dismay, the non-violent demonstration was almost immediately stopped by a Brussels police force. The summons handed to the Defense Ministers noted the illegality of NATO to retain its option to use nuclear weapons first in future conflicts. The summons also condemned the resistance of NATO member nuclear weapons states to pursue negotiations leading to the global elimination of nuclear weapons. In addition, NATO States violate Articles I and II of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) because the US maintains nuclear weapons in European NATO countries and trains European citizens for their delivery. Mala Spotted Eagle, a Shoshone Native American who joined the peace movement delegation in Brussels stated, "The Western Shoshone Nation has been suffering for a long time now of the effects of over 900 US and British nuclear tests on our treaty lands in Nevada (USA). Today however all life on our Mother Earth is suffering from the consequences of the nuclear tests. It makes no sense to continue to threaten the world populations with such immoral and monstrous weapons." For more information, please contact: For Mother Earth International/Voor Moeder Aarde vzw, Gents Ecologisch Centrum Maria-Hendrikaplein 5-6 9000 Gent, Belgium Tel: +32-9-242 87 52 Fax +32-9-242 87 51 E-mail: pol@motherearth.org URL: Http://www.motherearth.org/ *************** Commentary *************** Below is an excerpt from "The Strengths of Unanimity and Good Faith" by Harold Evans, LL.M., Q.S.O., a member of the Abolition 2000 committee in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The paper was a proposal and Parliamentary Initiative in Aotearoa/New Zealand to appeal to member states of the United Nations and especially Nuclear Weapons States, to join Aotearoa/New Zealand in accepting and "in fulfilling the obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control." The Parliamentary document was entitled "Nuclear Disarmament and Abolition 2000" and was used as a means to gain support from the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control. To obtain information about the status of the document or to become actively involved in the Abolition 2000 Wellington Committee, please contact: Chris King Abolition 2000 c/o Department of Public Health Wellington School of Medicine P.O. Box 7343 Wellington South, Aotearoa/New Zealand Tel: (04) 385-5999 ext. 6050 Fax: (04) 389-5319 "The Strengths of Unanimity and Good Faith" by Harold Evans, LL.M., Q.S.O. "And yet the case for their [nuclear weapons] total elimination, even if classed as a dream is firmly based on human need. The safety, security, health and well-being of all people are dependent upon the dream becoming a reality. To this the law of Rome added its own vision. Looking to the same human needs and using the inclusive word 'salus', Cicero (106-44 BC) declared that it was the chief duty of the law to safeguard them: 'Salus populi suprema est lex.' Moreover the most basic instincts of Homo Sapiens - self-preservation, coupled nowadays with the protectiveness felt towards Planet Earth and all life pertaining to it, are in themselves a case for elimination of these horrendous weapons... All in all, therefore, the men and women of 'Abolition 2000', in starting along the road towards nuclear disarmament, total and universal, have surely done right. They know the journey will entail the long and formidable task of persuading the nations of the world into an agreement for the elimination of nuclear weapons. In this task they will need all the help they can get from international and humanitarian law and enlightened leadership everywhere. And the point here and now to be made is that such help has become available, help of a very specific kind." ************************ Action You Can Take ************************ Abolition 2000 Needs Your Support! Now, more than ever, your action and support are needed to make a difference. As the year 2000 quickly approaches, we must unite in our common endeavors to create a more peaceful and just world, free from the threat of nuclear weapons. Although our different organizations are unique and have a variety of priorities and agendas, we all are striving for the same end...nuclear abolition. Here are three things you can do to unite and strengthen the Network: 1. Enroll Commit to enrolling at least one other organization in the month of December. 2. Circulate the Abolition 2000 International Petition among your friends, family and in your community and introduce the Municipal Resolution to your local government. 3. Donate Please commit to making a donation, however large or small to forward our common work and goals for this upcoming critical year. Global Peace Now! The Year 2000 Global Peace Walk will begin on January 15, 2000 at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in San Francisco, California. Peace Walkers will embark on a nine month journey across the US, carrying petitions and messages of peace. Among other survival issues, the Global Peace Walk has agreed to carry the Abolition 2000 message and petition. The journey will conclude in Washington, DC on October 8, 2000 (Indigenous People's Day) and the various petitions and messages will be delivered to governmental leaders. Support from Abolition 2000 members is needed to help carry the message of disarmament to various communities. If you are interested hosting activities surrounding the Year 2000 Global Peace Walk in your city or in becoming a financial or moral supporter, please contact: Global Peace Walk P.O. Box 170245 San Francisco, CA 94117-0245 Tel: (415) 863-2084 E-Fax: (413) 895-8588 Email: GPZONE2000@aol.com or Gear2000@lightspeed.net URL: Http://www.globalpeacenow.org Fax a Letter to De-Alert Nuclear Weapons! Continue faxing letters to US President Bill Clinton and US Secretary of Defense William Cohen asking them to take nuclear weapons off "hair-trigger" alert to prevent a global nuclear catastrophe. Fax numbers: President William Clinton FAX (202)456-2461 or (202)456-2883. US Secretary of Defense William Cohen FAX (703)695-1149. Sample letters and background information can be found at the Abolition 2000 website at Http://www.abolition2000.org. Free internet faxing is available at Http://www.fax4free.com. ************************ Calendar of Events ************************ December 23 A Dedication to Nonviolence and Candlelight Vigil, sponsored by the Brandywine Peace Community, will take place at 5 p.m. across the 30th Street Bridge at Market Street in Philadelphia, PA. For more information, please contact the Brandywine Peace Community at: P.O. Box 81 Swarthmore, PA 19081 Tel: (610) 544-1818 Email: brandywine@juno.com Http://www.craftech.com/~dcpledge/brandywine 30-January 2 The Nevada Desert Experience is announces "Walking the Ways of Peace", a non-violent demonstration that will be held at Bishop Gormon High School, Las Vegas and the Nevada Test site. Join a candlelight procession onto the Test Site at midnight on December 31st. For more information, please contact the Nevada Desert Experience at: Telephone: (702) 646-4814 Email: nde@igc.apc.org URL: http://www.shundahai.org/nde 31 Join peace & justice advocates from around the Southeastern US in a historic and memorable Millennium - New Year's 2000 observance. "Peacemaking in the 21st Century" will be held at Crooked River State Park and will celebrate the past, envision the future and build community. For more information, please contact John & Martina Linnehan of the Metanoia Community at: 12230 Flynn Woods Road Jacksonville, FL 32223 Tel: 904-262-5071 Email metanoia@juno.com January 15-October 8 Year 2000 Global Peace Walk will journey from San Francisco to Washington, DC, carrying petitions and messages of peace. For more information visit: Http://www.globalpeacenow.org 17 Resist Lockheed Martin on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by participating in a nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience sponsored by the Brandywine Peace Community. The event will take place at noon at Lockheed Martin on Mall Blvd. For more information, please contact Brandywine Peace Community at: P.O. Box 81 Swarthmore, PA 19081 Tel: (610) 544-1818 Email: brandywine@juno.com Http://www.craftech.com/~dcpledge/brandywine 31 A protest vigil sponsored by the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space will be held from 10 am to 1 pm in front of the Hyatt Regency in New Mexico during the 17th Annual Symposium on Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion. For more information visit: Http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk/ April '00 13 The UK and Irish Local Authorities announce the third annual conference on nuclear hazards. Themes for the conference include: - "Getting to Zero: Implementation of the OSPAR agreement to cut radioactive discharges from nuclear plants to the marine environment" - "Polluter or Remediator?: Can the Sellafield nuclear complex convert to clean up?" - "Protecting the Public: Controlling the circulation of radioactive scrap and preventing its incorporation into consumer goods." - "Managing Nuclear Waste: Review of progress with the rundown of highly active liquid wastes at Sellafield and the outlook for UK policy." For detailed information about the conference, please contact the Nuclear Free Local Authorities Secretariat at: Town Hall Manchester, M60 2LA, UK Email: nfznsc@gn.apc.org URL: Http://www.gn.apc.org/nfzns/ 24-28 Auckland, New Zealand College of Humanities and Social Sciences Massey University (at Albany) is holding a conference entitled "Enhancing the prospect of peace within pluralistic societies and the pluralistic global body, across the realms of Community, Nationality, International Relations, and Individuality". For further information on conference themes and registration, please visit the website at: http://www.massey.ac.nz/~wwsocial/homepage.htm or contact: Dr. Warwick Tie (conference convenor), School of Sociology and Women's Studies Massey University, Private Bag & Helli, North Shore Mail Centre, New Zealand. Fax +64 09 443 9716 Email: W.J.Tie@massey.ac.nz 24-May 19 Mark your Calendars! The 2000 NPT Review Conference will be held at the UN in New York. Stay tuned for forthcoming information on action you can take to demand disarmament from the nuclear weapons states. May 7-13 Shoshone Walk and Run for the Damaged Land, Warm Springs to Mercury. Please call Johnnie Bobb of the Western Shoshone Nation, Yomba Tribe at (775) 964-2210 22-26 The Millennium Forum at the UN will be an important opportunity for Abolition 2000 organizations to interact with the rest of the NGO community. The Millennium Forum is part of the preparations for the Millennium Summit of the UN General Assembly that will take place in September 2000. For more information, visit: Http://www.millenniumforum.org or www.un.org/millennium June 14-18 International Network of Engineers and Scientists (INES) announces an International Conference entitled "Challenges for Science and Engineering in the 21st Century" in Stockholm, Sweden. For more information, contact the INES 2000 Conference Secretariat at: Gutenbergstr. 31,44139 Dortmund, Germany Tel: +49 231 575218, Fax: +49 231 575210, E-mail: INES2000@t-online.de URL: Http://www.ines2000.org ************************ Resources ************************ Books South Asia on a Short Fuse: Nuclear Politics and the Future of Global Disarmament, published by Oxford University Press, Delhi, is now available. The book is the first full-length analysis of the causes and consequences of the crossing of the nuclear threshold by India and Pakistan. South Asia on a Short Fuse: Nuclear Politics and the Future of Global Disarmament is approximately 400 pages and is available for 595 Rupees. The book is available in major bookstores in most Indian cities. This edition is for South Asia. The American edition is expected to be published soon under the title, New Nukes: India, Pakistan and Global Nuclear Disarmament by Interlink Publishing, Northampton, Mass, USA and differs slightly from the OUP volume in editing style and number of appendices. You can order South Asia on a Short Fuse: India, Pakistan and Global Nuclear Disarmament from any of OUP's regional offices. Their addresses in metropolitan cities are: Delhi: 2/11 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi 110 002 Tel: (+11) 327.3841/42 / Fax: (+11) 327.7812 Mumbai: Oxford House, Apollo Bunder, Mumbai 400 001 Tel: (+22) 202.1029/1198 | Fax: (+22) 204.1268 Calcutta: Plot No. A1-5, Block GP, Sector V, Salt Lake Electronics Complex, Calcutta 700 091 Tel: (+33) 357.3739/40/41 | Fax: (+33) 357.3738 For more information on South Asia on a Short Fuse: India, Pakistan and Global Nuclear Disarmament, please contact: Bumper Stickers The bumper sticker that says it all is now available from the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action. The bright blue blackround and the yellow and gold sunflower in the center concisely and aesthetically represent the simple message, "Abolish Nuclear Weapons." The stickers can be purchased for .25 cents each or 50 stickers for $10 USD + shipping and handling. To order for yourself or for your organization, send your request to: Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action 16159 Clear Creek Rd. NW Poulsbo, WA 98370 Tel: 360-377-2586 Email: info@gzcenter.org Video The WTO and the Global War System -- Now available on the Internet in Real Video! The video highlights the public forum on globalization and militarism, held during the civil society events surrounding the Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle on November 28th, 1999. Part 1: Http://www.tappedintotheearth.com/ram/globalwar1.ram Martin Fleck, Physicians for Social Responsibility (Moderator) Susan George, Transnational Institute Mark Ritchie, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Alice Slater, GRACE and Abolition 2000 Part 2 : Http://www.tappedintotheearth.com/ram/globalwar2.ram Steve Staples, International Network on Disarmament and Globalization Followed by the discussion Period. **************************** Letter from the Editor **************************** December 15, 1999 Dear Friends and Activists, As 1999 comes to an end and a new year quickly approaches, I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you. I am very thankful for this opportunity to be apart of a very important movement and caring community that strives to create a more peaceful and just world. We may not be the majority, but our message is clear and salient. Now, more than ever, our efforts to achieve a nuclear free world are needed to encourage each other to continue our work with zeal and determination, to influence policy makers, to advocate change and to educate others. We must let the world know that the resolve of the nuclear weapons states to maintain their arsenals is unacceptable and we will not stand for it. We must act now to hold our governments responsible for the destruction, degradation and human suffering that they have caused in failing to reduce the nuclear danger by refusing to implement arms control and disarmament measures. If we do nothing, the devastation will affect us all. Now is not the time to be despondent or downcast. We must mobilize ourselves and others and press forward. I hope that you will join me in a commitment to further the goals of Abolition 2000 and to continue striving for a world free from the nuclear threat. Thank you for your support and endurance in our common endeavor to create a better world for our generation and future generations to come. I look forward to keeping in touch and working with each one of you in this coming year. Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions, comments or concerns. Yours In Peace, Carah Carah Lynn Ong Coordinator, Abolition 2000 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 Santa Barbara CA 93108 Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 Email: A2000@silcom.com Website http://www.abolition2000.org Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly receive updates about the Abolition movement. Both caucus' also provide a forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition. To subscribe to the Abolition Global Caucus, please do one of the following: 1. Send a message to the list moderator at A2000@silcom.com 2. Visit the Abolition-caucus website at: Http://www.egroups.com/list/abolition-caucus/ and submit a membership form. 3. Visit the Abolition 2000 website and submit a membership form. 4. Send an e-mail to: abolition-caucus-subscribe@egroups.com (leave the subject line and body of the message blank). To post a message to the Abolition Global Caucus, send your message to: abolition-caucus@egroups.com To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no subject) to: abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) LETTER RESPONSE TO YELTSIN COMMENTS PLS SIGN IN NEXT 24 HOURS Date: 15 Dec 1999 19:55:35 +1000 LETTER RESPONSE TO YELTSIN COMMENTS PLS SIGN IN NEXT 24 HOURS Dear All, A copy of this letter is to be given to Russian foreign minister Ivanov in the next 24 hours. It is adressed to Ivanov and Sergeyev rather than Yeltsin himself, as those individuals are more likely to be in control and may be more reasonable. It is now open to organisations signatures. (Individuals, please send your own faxes direct to US defence secy Cohen and Sergeyev and Clinton on +1-703-695-1149 (Cohen) +7-095-205-4330 (Sergeyev) +1-202-456-2461 (Clinton)) It's been revised in accordance with comments from a number of people and the text is now frozen unless someone picks up some absolutely egregious error. Please do sign both this and if you have not already done so, the large 'Bill and Boris' sign on which now has 460+ organisations signed on to it. That letters text can be found on http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html Y2K WORLD ATOMIC SAFETY HOLIDAY INTERNATIONAL Y2K WORLD ATOMIC SAFETY HOLIDAY TOKYO Y2K CITIZENS NETWORK JAPAN WORLD COURT PROJECT, U.K., INTERNATIONAL PEACE BUREAU, GENEVA WOMEN FOR PEACE, BERLIN, GERMANY, GLOBAL ANTI-NUCLEAR ALLIANCE, NETH., WORLD ATOMIC SAFETY HOLIDAY NEW YORK, NUCLEAR- FREE NEW YORK, NUCLEAR INFORMATION AND RESOURCE SERVICE (NIRS) USA, TRI - VALLEY CARES, LIVERMORE, CALIF, USA, Y2K WORLD ATOMIC SAFETY HOLIDAY USA, PHYSICIANS FOR GLOBAL SURVIVAL CANADA, SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL UNION, MOSCOW, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN PEACE COMMITTEE, C.I.C.D., MELBOURNE, ANTI-BASES CAMPAIGN COALITION, SYDNEY, DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY CENTRE, NZ., ATTN IGOR SERGEYEV, DEFENCE MINISTER OF RUSSIA, 7-095-247-2722, 7-095-293-3323 IVAN IVANOV, FOREIGN MINISTER OF RUSSIA, 7-095-244-3276, 7-095-244-2203, cc WILLIAM S. COHEN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY FOR DEFENCE +1-703-695-1149 PRESIDENT CLINTON +1-202-456-2461 Dear Igor Sergeyev and Ivan Ivanov, We are writing to you as co-organisers of the international campaign to take nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert before the Dec. 31/Jan 1 Y2K 'rollover', and as co-organizers of the large letter, now signed by over 460 organizations, which has been faxed to you many times, asking for nuclear weapons to be taken off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K period. We read with considerable alarm, statements by President Yeltsin recently that the US should remember that 'Russia is a great power that possesses a full nuclear arsenal', combined with a deployment of ten new Topol-M missiles. It is especially alarming to read that these new missiles are being put on full alert status, when the world is demanding that nuclear weapons be taken off alert status especially over the Y2K period. There is, we think, no doubt in anyone's mind as to the capability of either Russia or the US to wreak irreparable destruction to the life systems of the entire planet. The use of all or a portion of the 5,600 warheads in land - based ICBM systems in the US and Russia will in all probability mean the complete annihilation of both sides of the exchange and the end of human civilization. No conceivable political or military purpose would be served by such catastrophic destruction. Neither Russia nor the US is threatened in any fundamental way. However, any nuclear exchange, accidental or otherwise, would bring about the prompt and complete destruction of both parties and the rest of the world. In addition, the International Court of Justice in 1996 declared that the use or threat of nuclear weapons is contrary to international law. It is arguable that under international law, even the imminent destruction of a nation cannot justify recourse to nuclear weapons. There is nothing in current US/Russian relations that cannot be solved by a willingness to talk and to make mutual accommodations in good faith. With the approach of the Y2K rollover, the chances of an accidental nuclear war, due to Y2K related computer problems in command and control systems, are greater than ever. We note that Russia and the US have established a joint Y2K strategic stability centre, but it is also essential that both sides refrain from provocative statements and actions over this sensitive period. The strategic stability centre, while absolutely essential, is inadequate by itself to ensure strategic stability. That can only be done by nuclear weapons systems being placed in a status such that immediate launch, or launch on warning, is no longer possible. This move has been termed "de-alerting" and has been called for now by two resolutions last year in the United Nations General Assembly, two resolutions this year in the UN, by the Australian Senate and by the European Parliament last Nov. 18th. The safety and stability of the world depends on Russia and the US taking the necessary technical measures to ensure prevention of a nuclear launch. We are well aware that recent moves by NATO and the US, especially with regard to the ABM treaty may be viewed as provocative, but no political goal and no strategic interest is important enough to risk the possibility of ending human civilization and possibly all human life. We call on you therefore to place your nuclear forces in a de-alerted configuration in which immediate launch or launch on warning is impossible. We ask that you make the year 2000, already designated by the UN as the International Year of the Culture of Peace, the first year of a millennium free from the threat of nuclear destruction. Yours Sincerely, Yumi Kikuchi, World Atomic safety Holiday International, Gen Morita, Y2K Citizens Network, Kamogawa, Commander Robert Green, RN (retd.), Chair, World Court Project, UK, Colin Archer, International Peace Bureau, Geneva, Eva Quistorp,(former MEP) Women for Peace, Berlin, Germany, Ak Malten, Global Anti-Nuclear Alliance, The Hague, Netherlands. Bill Smirnow, Nuclear-Free New York, World Atomic Safety Holiday, NY., Mary Olson, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Y2K-WASH, USA, Mary Beth Branagan/James Heddle, Y2K WASH, USA, Sally Light, Tri-Valley CARES, Livermore, USA, Alan F. Phillips, MD, Physicians for Global Survival Canada, Vladimir Slivyak, International Nuclear Campaigner, Social-Ecological Union, Moscow, Kate Dewes, Director, Disarmament and Security Centre, Christchurch, NZ., Irene Gale AM, Australian Peace Committee Pauline Mitchell, Campaign for International Cooperation and Development, Melb, Australia, Dennis Doherty, Sydney Anti-Bases Campaign Committee, John Hallam, Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) Russian Nukes Date: 16 Dec 1999 20:37:20 +1000 Thursday, 16 Dec 1999 at 05:32am; Category: Overseas News; High priority; Story No. 0650. Commander: Russia could only use nukes if attacked Russia Nuclear MOSCOW, Dec 15 AP - Russia would only consider using its nuclear weapons if it is attacked and the existence of the country becomes at risk, a top commander said today. "Nuclear arms can only be used if an armed aggression is launched against Russia," first deputy chief of the General Staff, Gen Valery Manilov, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "Nuclear arms can only be used if a question arises whether the state can continue to exist or not." Riled by Western criticism of the Russian offensive in the rebel republic of Chechnya, officials in Moscow have been reminding the world of Russia's nuclear arsenal in tough speeches in recent days. Russia "will not allow (Western) reprimands and will use all diplomatic and military-political levers in its disposal," Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said while attending a test-firing of a Topol-M strategic missile Tuesday. Putin's warning followed last week's statement from President Boris Yeltsin, who reminded US President Bill Clinton that "Russia is a great power that possesses a nuclear arsenal." Yeltsin was reacting to US criticism over the Chechnya campaign. Manilov said Russia's new military doctrine includes "no crucial changes" in the sections regarding Russia's position on nuclear arms, Manilov said. Russia's conventional forces are in serious decay because of financial troubles since the Soviet collapse. But analysts say Russia could not use its nuclear forces without incurring total annihilation from retaliatory strikes. Manilov also rejected worries about possible malfunctions in computer systems controlling Russia's strategic missile forces during the year 2000 changeover. "All systems have been checked and double-checked," he said. "The systems guarantee 100 per cent reliability." AP bdm 16-12 0532 Thursday, 16 Dec 1999 at 09:18am; Category: Overseas News; Low priority; Story No. 0860. CIS:EU ready to give 400 million euros to Chernobyl replacement Ukraine nuclear ( KIEV) The European Union is ready to put $A650 million towards two new reactors to replace Ukraine's notorious Chernobyl nuclear power station. Chernobyl's reactor number four went into meltdown in 1986, spreading a radioactive cloud over much of Europe and killing between 3,000 and 12,000 people. An EU envoy says the money is conditional on Ukraine and other donors finding the other $A1.3 billion needed for the reactors. ANDRE VANHAEVERBEKE, the European Commission's representative in Ukraine, says Ukraine must also boost safety in its power stations and include members of the Green party in the government. Ukraine promised in 1995 to close Chernobyl in 2000 in return for $A5 billion in international aid. But the deal has been held up by the reluctance of several European countries to finance Ukraine's shaky nuclear sector. AFP RTV wjf/rt n 16-12 0918 - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) The Most Important Issue of the next 15 days: But then, nothing Date: 16 Dec 1999 21:26:16 +1000 At the end of the next 15 days, the largest, oldest, most complex, most deeply interconnected, and previously least Y2K - compliant computer command and control systems in the world will experience Y2K. These are of course, the systems that perform command, control, communications, and monitoring for nuclear weapons systems. There are some 2,000 warheads in 500 land-based minuteman ICBMs in the US, and some 3,600 warheads in land- based ICBMs in Russia, on permanent 24 hour hairtrigger alert, with gyros spinning ready for launch at a moments notice. That doesn't count warheads in SLBMs or bombers. The launch of all 5,600 warheads could end all human life, and certainly would end civilisation, and would do irreperable and very profound damage to the entire web of life on earth. The Pentagon has spent over $4 billion and it says it is totally confident its systems will cope. The Russians say their control systems for their nuclear weapons do not utilise the date and will cope. Privately however, US officers worry about blank screens, false data, and communications blackouts. The Canberra Commission reccommended as far back as 1996 that as a first step toward nuclear abolition, nuclear weapons be taken off hairtrigger alert. The Tokyo Forum has also called for this to be done. Two UN resolutions passed this year and another two passed this year have called for de-alerting. Two resolutions of the Australian Senate and a resolution passed unanimously by the European Parliament have called for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert over the Y2k rollover. Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin and their secretaries of defence have been the recipients of a very large number of letters from NGOs all round the world calling for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert. So far there is no indication that they will do this. Instead, Yeltsin has threatened the US, saying they should remember that Russia has a large nuclear arsenal and has deployed ten of the latest Topol-M missiles. Nontheless, there are indications that the campaign has at least been noticed. And what will actually happen on the night of the rollover has implications that are about as ultimate as they could be. Hopefully nothing at all will happen. However, what will determine the future of us all and of all life is exactly how a possible false alert will be dealt with. That is why it is essential for the Pentagon and the Kremlin to hear our voices over the next 15 days. That is why I am asking everybody I can to place the Y2K de- alert campaign at the top of their priority lists for the next 15 (or more realistically the next 10) days. There are lots of campaigns that are important. There are lots of campaigns that have much more profound long term implications than this one. But we have to get through the Dec31/Jan1 rollover at the very least. Its all a bit pointless if we accidentally make the planet uninhabitable by a simple and utterly mindless computer glitch. And of course it has been pointed out to me that there may be Y2K - related glitches in command and control systems for months or even years afterwards. The danger from all of this would disappear almost completely of course if the 5.600 weapons now on 24 hour hairtrigger alert in the US and Russia (land - based ICBMs only) were taken off alert. With luck all this will prove to have been without foundation. We'll turn out to have been a lot of nervous nellies and paranoid doom -mongers, and there will really have been nothing to worry about. Realistically, what we are dealing with is a classic 'High-Consequence, low- probability' event. But there is nothing to lose. A massive manifestation of global concern, focussed on the Kremlin and the Pentagon is the best shot we have at giving the world the best chance of getting through the new year. And with luck nothing whatsoever will happen, and we'll all be wrong - till the next hairraising near miss. I'll be posting a proper alert with updated sample letters tomorrow. Seriously, I am asking everyone to consider whether the possible risk and the possible stakes over the rollover even if the risk turns out to be very small indeed, don't warrant your concerted effort for at least the next week, so that we are sure we will be around for those high- priority, long - term, deeper implication, campaigns. Think about it. But not for too long. In the meantime, The fax number of US Defence Secy William Cohen is +1-703-695-1149 Bill Clinton's fax is +1-202-456-2461 The Kremlin fax is +7-095-205-4330 Igor Sergeyev, the Russuan defence minister is on +7-095-247-2722 (but you may need to try quite a few times). The cost of a single page A4 fax to Russia, as counted on a telephone bill from Australia is $1.00-$1.50, but public fax agencies charge an arm and a leg just to dial the number. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) Russian Nukes Date: 16 Dec 1999 20:37:20 +1000 Thursday, 16 Dec 1999 at 05:32am; Category: Overseas News; High priority; Story No. 0650. Commander: Russia could only use nukes if attacked Russia Nuclear MOSCOW, Dec 15 AP - Russia would only consider using its nuclear weapons if it is attacked and the existence of the country becomes at risk, a top commander said today. "Nuclear arms can only be used if an armed aggression is launched against Russia," first deputy chief of the General Staff, Gen Valery Manilov, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "Nuclear arms can only be used if a question arises whether the state can continue to exist or not." Riled by Western criticism of the Russian offensive in the rebel republic of Chechnya, officials in Moscow have been reminding the world of Russia's nuclear arsenal in tough speeches in recent days. Russia "will not allow (Western) reprimands and will use all diplomatic and military-political levers in its disposal," Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said while attending a test-firing of a Topol-M strategic missile Tuesday. Putin's warning followed last week's statement from President Boris Yeltsin, who reminded US President Bill Clinton that "Russia is a great power that possesses a nuclear arsenal." Yeltsin was reacting to US criticism over the Chechnya campaign. Manilov said Russia's new military doctrine includes "no crucial changes" in the sections regarding Russia's position on nuclear arms, Manilov said. Russia's conventional forces are in serious decay because of financial troubles since the Soviet collapse. But analysts say Russia could not use its nuclear forces without incurring total annihilation from retaliatory strikes. Manilov also rejected worries about possible malfunctions in computer systems controlling Russia's strategic missile forces during the year 2000 changeover. "All systems have been checked and double-checked," he said. "The systems guarantee 100 per cent reliability." AP bdm 16-12 0532 Thursday, 16 Dec 1999 at 09:18am; Category: Overseas News; Low priority; Story No. 0860. CIS:EU ready to give 400 million euros to Chernobyl replacement Ukraine nuclear ( KIEV) The European Union is ready to put $A650 million towards two new reactors to replace Ukraine's notorious Chernobyl nuclear power station. Chernobyl's reactor number four went into meltdown in 1986, spreading a radioactive cloud over much of Europe and killing between 3,000 and 12,000 people. An EU envoy says the money is conditional on Ukraine and other donors finding the other $A1.3 billion needed for the reactors. ANDRE VANHAEVERBEKE, the European Commission's representative in Ukraine, says Ukraine must also boost safety in its power stations and include members of the Green party in the government. Ukraine promised in 1995 to close Chernobyl in 2000 in return for $A5 billion in international aid. But the deal has been held up by the reluctance of several European countries to finance Ukraine's shaky nuclear sector. AFP RTV wjf/rt n 16-12 0918 - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) The Most Important Issue of the next 15 days: But then, nothing Date: 16 Dec 1999 21:26:16 +1000 At the end of the next 15 days, the largest, oldest, most complex, most deeply interconnected, and previously least Y2K - compliant computer command and control systems in the world will experience Y2K. These are of course, the systems that perform command, control, communications, and monitoring for nuclear weapons systems. There are some 2,000 warheads in 500 land-based minuteman ICBMs in the US, and some 3,600 warheads in land- based ICBMs in Russia, on permanent 24 hour hairtrigger alert, with gyros spinning ready for launch at a moments notice. That doesn't count warheads in SLBMs or bombers. The launch of all 5,600 warheads could end all human life, and certainly would end civilisation, and would do irreperable and very profound damage to the entire web of life on earth. The Pentagon has spent over $4 billion and it says it is totally confident its systems will cope. The Russians say their control systems for their nuclear weapons do not utilise the date and will cope. Privately however, US officers worry about blank screens, false data, and communications blackouts. The Canberra Commission reccommended as far back as 1996 that as a first step toward nuclear abolition, nuclear weapons be taken off hairtrigger alert. The Tokyo Forum has also called for this to be done. Two UN resolutions passed this year and another two passed this year have called for de-alerting. Two resolutions of the Australian Senate and a resolution passed unanimously by the European Parliament have called for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert over the Y2k rollover. Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin and their secretaries of defence have been the recipients of a very large number of letters from NGOs all round the world calling for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert. So far there is no indication that they will do this. Instead, Yeltsin has threatened the US, saying they should remember that Russia has a large nuclear arsenal and has deployed ten of the latest Topol-M missiles. Nontheless, there are indications that the campaign has at least been noticed. And what will actually happen on the night of the rollover has implications that are about as ultimate as they could be. Hopefully nothing at all will happen. However, what will determine the future of us all and of all life is exactly how a possible false alert will be dealt with. That is why it is essential for the Pentagon and the Kremlin to hear our voices over the next 15 days. That is why I am asking everybody I can to place the Y2K de- alert campaign at the top of their priority lists for the next 15 (or more realistically the next 10) days. There are lots of campaigns that are important. There are lots of campaigns that have much more profound long term implications than this one. But we have to get through the Dec31/Jan1 rollover at the very least. Its all a bit pointless if we accidentally make the planet uninhabitable by a simple and utterly mindless computer glitch. And of course it has been pointed out to me that there may be Y2K - related glitches in command and control systems for months or even years afterwards. The danger from all of this would disappear almost completely of course if the 5.600 weapons now on 24 hour hairtrigger alert in the US and Russia (land - based ICBMs only) were taken off alert. With luck all this will prove to have been without foundation. We'll turn out to have been a lot of nervous nellies and paranoid doom -mongers, and there will really have been nothing to worry about. Realistically, what we are dealing with is a classic 'High-Consequence, low- probability' event. But there is nothing to lose. A massive manifestation of global concern, focussed on the Kremlin and the Pentagon is the best shot we have at giving the world the best chance of getting through the new year. And with luck nothing whatsoever will happen, and we'll all be wrong - till the next hairraising near miss. I'll be posting a proper alert with updated sample letters tomorrow. Seriously, I am asking everyone to consider whether the possible risk and the possible stakes over the rollover even if the risk turns out to be very small indeed, don't warrant your concerted effort for at least the next week, so that we are sure we will be around for those high- priority, long - term, deeper implication, campaigns. Think about it. But not for too long. In the meantime, The fax number of US Defence Secy William Cohen is +1-703-695-1149 Bill Clinton's fax is +1-202-456-2461 The Kremlin fax is +7-095-205-4330 Igor Sergeyev, the Russuan defence minister is on +7-095-247-2722 (but you may need to try quite a few times). The cost of a single page A4 fax to Russia, as counted on a telephone bill from Australia is $1.00-$1.50, but public fax agencies charge an arm and a leg just to dial the number. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jan Harwood <jahn@cruzio.com> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Abolition 2000 Grassroots Newsletter December Date: 16 Dec 1999 11:42:23 -0800 Just to thank you again, Carah, for your meticulous and vital good work, with the newsletter and so many other aspects of the Abolition movement. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Crockett Williams" <gear2000@lightspeed.net> Subject: (abolition-usa) Russian Nukes to Red Alert: Yeltsin Date: 16 Dec 1999 12:48:29 -0800 Activist Mailing List - http://get.to/activist C'est en anglais, mais c'est important. Amiti=E9s. Bernard Blanc. It's in english, sorry for the french readers, but it's essential. Best regards. [DOEWatch] Yeltsin puts missiles on red alert Date: Sun, 12 Dec 1999 20:50:39 EST From: Magnu96196@aol.com To: doewatch@onelist.com Source: <A HREF=3D"http://www.lineone.net/autonomy/cgi-bin/relatedlinks.cgi?/express= /99/1 2/ 11/news/n0400yeltsin-d.html+d-1+n6+h">http://www.lineone.net/express/99/1= 2/1 1/ news/n0400yeltsin-d.html</A> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D 11 December, 1999 Yeltsin puts missiles on red alert >From Will Stewart in Moscow Boris Yeltsin put his most powerful nuclear missiles on full alert last night in what was seen as a dramatic warning to the West over Chechnya. The Kremlin deployed ten new Topol-M missiles - its newest, most sophisticated and deadliest weapons - in a state of combat readiness. The move coincided with President Yeltsin's return to Russia after a trip to China, during which he hit back at criticism of his campaign in Chechnya and warned the West to keep its nose out. "Russia is a great power that possesses a full nuclear arsenal," he thundered in Beijing. "It is us who will dictate." The West was told in advance of Russia's deployment, as dictated by nuclear treaty commitments. But the timing and the rarity of such a move amounts to a dramatic show of force designed to back Yeltsin's message. The intercontinental missiles - with a 6,200 mile range and capable of striking Britain or America - were put in readiness in the Saratov region, 400 miles south-east of Moscow. Russia publicly portrayed the move as a scheduled test of a new weapon, which replaces its SS-19 missiles, dating to the 1970s. But observers last night said the provocative timing could only be linked to the Chechen crisis - and Yeltsin's anger at the West's hostile reaction to his bloody military purge in the troubled region. Many Russian politicians and analysts say Yeltsin is too ill to rule Russia and have his finger on the trigger of the world's second largest nuclear power. In televised comments yesterday, even his wife Naina admitted that he had "never been in such a bad state as he is now" after a bout of pneumonia which followed a succession of health problems, including heart trouble. While putting Russia's missiles on alert is seen as posturing bluster, Britain's foremost independent nuclear expert, John Large, warned it was a foolish manoeuvre, particularly in relation to the millennium bug, for which it is feared Russia is still ill-prepared. "There was an unwritten agreement for both Russia and the US not to deploy nuclear weapons before the Y2K period," he said. "Even if the weapons themselves are OK - which I very much doubt since their testing system has been effectively down and out for three years - they would have to work within the strategic defence system there which is full of Y2K glitches. There is no real need for it - it is a risk they don't need to take. "I am not suggesting that these nuclear bombs will go off on their own, but we do expect to see the defence systems playing up a bit." The Topol-M missile is relatively small and can be transported on a mobile launch pad, meaning it would be hard to locate and take out in the first strike of a nuclear confrontation. "Of the five nuclear powers, none of the others will match these weapons in the next few years," bragged Colonel-General Vladimir Yakovlev, Russian forces commander. "Topol-M is able to breach any anti-missile system that exists in the world and any which will be built in the near future." The deployment came 24 hours ahead of today's deadline - set by Russia a few days ago - for people in the Chechen capital Grozny to "flee or perish". Moscow yesterday appeared to have extended the deadline for residents to get out of the ruined city. But the Kremlin immediately stung the West by implying a new ultimatum to wipe out Grozny was on the way. The missile manoeuvre also came as Europe's leaders gathered for an EU summit in Helsinki. They were last night preparing to fire off a salvo of condemnation for the Russian offensive in Chechnya, which has seen thousands of civilians killed and tens of thousands of refugees spilling across the borders into neighbouring Ingushetia. "It can't be business as usual while Russia continues with these actions in Chechnya," a British source said at the Helsinki summit. "I imagine there will be some words of condemnation." But little hard action was expected to back up the words. The West is aware that, in practical terms, there is little it can do to halt the Russian offensive, though the EU is likely to shelve a science and technology agreement and a =A31.5 billion aid package to Russia in protest over the action in Chechnya. The nuclear deterrent on both sides of the old Iron Curtain is credited with maintaining peace since the end of the Second World War. But in recent months the post-Cold War nuclear consensus has collapsed and Russia and the US seem on the verge of a new arms race. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- GRAB THE GATOR! FREE SOFTWARE DOES ALL THE TYPING FOR YOU! Tired of filling out forms and remembering passwords? Gator fills in forms and passwords with just one click! Comes with $50 in free coupons! <a href=3D" http://clickme.onelist.com/ad/gator4 ">Click Here</a> DOEWatch List ----A Magnum-Opus Project --- The real Natl. Sec. Directive Subscribe online: http://www.onelist.com -based near the cryptic named X-10 [god and ten commandments] and Y-12 [yahweh and disciples] nuke weapons plants of the nuclear tabernacle of Oak Ridge. "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky That would be like the splendor of the Mighty one... I am become Death, The shatterer of Worlds." -Oppenheimer July 16, 45 at Trinity from 5,000 year old Bhagavad-Gita "We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire destruction prophesized in the Euphrates Valley Era, after Noah and his fabulous Ark. Anyway we think we have found the way to cause the disintegration of the atom." -Quote from Truman's diary July 25, 45 after Pottsdam and the "baby was born" and grew into "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" and the hydrogen bomb delivered by bomber named "Dave's Dream." Enola Gay's pilot, after Hiroshima, enters "My God' in the log. "The Doctor of the future will give No Medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease." -Attributed to Thomas Alva Edison "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act" -George Orwell DOEWatch page: http://members.aol.com/doewatch ______________________________________________________________________ forwarded by: David Crockett Williams gear2000@lightspeed.net GLOBAL EMERGENCY ALERT RESPONSE http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000 The Vision of Paradise on Earth http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/vision.html Global Peace Walk 2000 http://www.globalpeacenow.org http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/gpw.html Urge your Congressperson to support H.R. 2545 Global Nuclear Disarmament & Economic Conversion Act Details & Sample Email: http://prop1.org/prop1/letter.htm Easy indexed site to email Congresspeople & Media http://congress.nw.dc.us/wnd (copy & paste email letters to media and Congress) An Agenda for Peace http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/agenda.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: marylia@earthlink.net (marylia) Subject: (abolition-usa) De-alerting-U.S. Campaign/AP story Date: 16 Dec 1999 18:42:10 -0800 (PST) Dear peace and enviro advocates: In case you haven't seen it yet, here is the Associated Press story on the debut of the "Back From the Brink" Campaign to Take Nuclear Weapons Off Alert. If you wish to participate by showing the new (free!) video or by getting and using the (free!) organizer's packet -- or both -- just let the campaign know via email or by calling us at 1-877-55-BeSafe. Read on... ALLIANCE DEMANDS NUCLEAR STAND DOWN Associated Press National Wire December 9, 1999 by David Briscoe WASHINGTON (AP) -- Worried that the world could be blasted into a nuclear disaster within minutes, a new alliance is trying to persuade the U.S. government to take 5,000 nuclear weapons off ``hair-trigger alert'' to prompt a similar step by Moscow. ``Many of our citizens believe we already have done this,'' said Bruce Blair, a nuclear control expert who joined politicians, former military control officers and other antinuclear experts to announce a campaign Thursday to get U.S. nuclear weapons off alert status. Despite a 1994 pact by President Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin not to aim nuclear missiles at each other's cities, 5,000 warheads on each side ``remain loaded for wartime targets that can be activated in seconds,'' Blair said. A launch order would take only about 2 minutes to execute, he said. The alliance is taking no position on a proposed national missile defense system, focusing instead on trying to prevent accidental or unauthorized launch from Russia or a U.S. launch facilitated by a dangerously mechanized system. The campaign, dubbed ``Back from the Brink,'' includes a Web site -- www.dealert.org -- a video describing a near-launch of Russian missiles in 1995, and grassroots organizing to expose the issue and try to inject it into the 2000 presidential campaign. Blair, a former Air Force missile control officer and now a defense analyst at Brookings Institution, proposed that President Clinton unilaterally de-alert all U.S. missiles, including those aboard submarines that are on 15-minute notice to fire. Then, Clinton and Yeltsin could work out a full-scale de-alerting of all nuclear missiles with a verification regime and guarantees from China, Britain and France to follow suit, Blair suggested. Despite the end of the Cold War and progress in disarmament, ``we're still allowing ourselves 15 to 20 minutes to determine whether or not the planet Earth will be extinct,'' said former Democratic Sen. Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, an alliance leader. ``It's like walking along a cliff performing for your girlfriend and saying, 'Look how close I can get to the edge and not fall off,''' Bumpers said. The alliance also includes Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and representatives of several antinuclear, peace and human rights groups. end P.S. Please note that many of the groups involved in the Back From the Brink Campaign have a position on BMD. --MK end Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 <http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) Lord Jenkins of Putney on the Apocalypse (this is really good) Date: 17 Dec 1999 12:57:39 +1000 (this was originally posted by Paul Swann. I am passing it on. John Hallam) http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199697/ldhansrd/pdvn/lds9 9/text/91118-04.htm House of Lords, November 18, 1999 Column 48 Lord Jenkins of Putney: The debate takes place on a gracious Speech that deliberately ignores the basic position of the world as it is today. I sought to raise that matter at Question Time on Wednesday of last week. Instead of repeating what I said, perhaps I may quote the words of the noble Lord, Lord Peyton of Yeovil. The subject was the existence of massive reasons for fear. The following point has not been mentioned in the debate. In the past few years mankind has, for the first time, been in a position where it can destroy itself and civilisation. This is a new position. Can we continue to ignore the possibility that we may exercise that new power? If, as I venture to suggest, we are on the way to the end of our civilisation, much of the debate today will have the relevance of the saloon bar chat in the "Titanic" immediately before it hit the iceberg. The noble Lord, Lord Peyton, asked my noble friend Lady Scotland whether she agreed that it was, "high time that one or more of those who aspire to be described as 'leaders of the world' should depart from their stupefying silence on the question of nuclear warheads, 40,000 of which are stockpiled around the world and threaten not merely the peace of the world but the existence of the planet".--[Official Report, 10/11/99; col. 1344.] That is the context in which this debate takes place. Neither in the gracious Speech nor in the debate so far has anyone ventured to touch on the fact that we are in that position. For that reason, I am particularly glad to hear the noble Lord, Lord Chalfont, echo my belief that NATO is wrong to try to take over the role of the United Nations and decide what international law is because that is the general position of NATO. We must ensure that we do not seek to take away that responsibility from the United Nations and place it upon an organisation which is basically within the power of the developed world and which, for that reason, ignores the interests of the third world. Another question on which the Government have done an amount of work is whether we are in peril from an accidental occurrence as a result of the millennium bug. Again, why do we ignore the possibility of such a nuclear accident? As the noble Lord, Lord Peyton, has agreed, it could be completely disastrous. I am not sure about destroying the planet. However, general opinion is that such a conflagration of nuclear and other weapons could at least threaten the existence of life on earth and certainly that of humanity. In those circumstances, it seems wrong that we ignore the situation and refuse to attempt to deal with it. That is not the only manifestation of that refusal. This is the third or fourth year of the Geneva disarmament discussions. This year there has been no effective discussion on the subject. Instead there has been continual discussion on matters of procedure: how shall the nations attack their work? One cannot avoid the conclusion that it is a deliberate means of refusing to tackle the real problem by the nations involving themselves in procedural matters about which they can talk forever. In replying to the Question, my noble friend said that we have done our best to break through this barrier and discuss the question of international peace. I believe that we could do so if our heart were in it, and we were prepared to consider nuclear disarmament as an absolute necessity. But at present we still involve ourselves and the other nations in the procedural issue which prevents us discussing the specific problem. Although I have been critical of some of the things my Government have done, I would not wish anyone to think that I believe that the Government have done no good. Most of the programme in the gracious Speech involves good policies and important proposals which need to be carried out. However, they need to be carried out with due consciousness of our situation. That is where the Opposition amendment breaks down totally. If I am critical in any way of the Queen's Speech, I am far more critical of the Opposition amendment to it. I sincerely hope that the noble Lord the Leader of the Opposition will consider whether he puts the matter to the vote. I hope that he will not do so. If he does so, I hope that noble Lords, not only on this side of the House, will tell him clearly that we do not need such an amendment at the conclusion of a debate of this kind. The Duke of Norfolk: My Lords, before the noble Lord sits down perhaps I may ask him this question, with all the respect that I have for his views on disarmament. Are we not in a wonderful position with NATO, and in particular with the power of the nuclear weapons of the United States underwriting decisions of the United Nations? Are we not lucky that we have NATO with its nuclear weapons, and the United States in particular, supporting the decisions of the United Nations? Lord Jenkin of Putney: My Lords, if that is what the noble Duke believes, he is entitled to do so. But he would not feel that way if he were a member of almost any other nation in the world. The noble Duke would speak in vain if he sought to convince most of the peoples of the world that, because the United States is powerful and Europe is beginning to say, "We, too, want to be equally powerful", that resolves any dispute, or is a cause for gladness. [Upon which Lord Jenkins' noble colleagues promptly changed the subject] - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) Lord Jenkins of Putney on the Apocalypse (this is really good) Date: 17 Dec 1999 12:57:39 +1000 (this was originally posted by Paul Swann. I am passing it on. John Hallam) http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199697/ldhansrd/pdvn/lds9 9/text/91118-04.htm House of Lords, November 18, 1999 Column 48 Lord Jenkins of Putney: The debate takes place on a gracious Speech that deliberately ignores the basic position of the world as it is today. I sought to raise that matter at Question Time on Wednesday of last week. Instead of repeating what I said, perhaps I may quote the words of the noble Lord, Lord Peyton of Yeovil. The subject was the existence of massive reasons for fear. The following point has not been mentioned in the debate. In the past few years mankind has, for the first time, been in a position where it can destroy itself and civilisation. This is a new position. Can we continue to ignore the possibility that we may exercise that new power? If, as I venture to suggest, we are on the way to the end of our civilisation, much of the debate today will have the relevance of the saloon bar chat in the "Titanic" immediately before it hit the iceberg. The noble Lord, Lord Peyton, asked my noble friend Lady Scotland whether she agreed that it was, "high time that one or more of those who aspire to be described as 'leaders of the world' should depart from their stupefying silence on the question of nuclear warheads, 40,000 of which are stockpiled around the world and threaten not merely the peace of the world but the existence of the planet".--[Official Report, 10/11/99; col. 1344.] That is the context in which this debate takes place. Neither in the gracious Speech nor in the debate so far has anyone ventured to touch on the fact that we are in that position. For that reason, I am particularly glad to hear the noble Lord, Lord Chalfont, echo my belief that NATO is wrong to try to take over the role of the United Nations and decide what international law is because that is the general position of NATO. We must ensure that we do not seek to take away that responsibility from the United Nations and place it upon an organisation which is basically within the power of the developed world and which, for that reason, ignores the interests of the third world. Another question on which the Government have done an amount of work is whether we are in peril from an accidental occurrence as a result of the millennium bug. Again, why do we ignore the possibility of such a nuclear accident? As the noble Lord, Lord Peyton, has agreed, it could be completely disastrous. I am not sure about destroying the planet. However, general opinion is that such a conflagration of nuclear and other weapons could at least threaten the existence of life on earth and certainly that of humanity. In those circumstances, it seems wrong that we ignore the situation and refuse to attempt to deal with it. That is not the only manifestation of that refusal. This is the third or fourth year of the Geneva disarmament discussions. This year there has been no effective discussion on the subject. Instead there has been continual discussion on matters of procedure: how shall the nations attack their work? One cannot avoid the conclusion that it is a deliberate means of refusing to tackle the real problem by the nations involving themselves in procedural matters about which they can talk forever. In replying to the Question, my noble friend said that we have done our best to break through this barrier and discuss the question of international peace. I believe that we could do so if our heart were in it, and we were prepared to consider nuclear disarmament as an absolute necessity. But at present we still involve ourselves and the other nations in the procedural issue which prevents us discussing the specific problem. Although I have been critical of some of the things my Government have done, I would not wish anyone to think that I believe that the Government have done no good. Most of the programme in the gracious Speech involves good policies and important proposals which need to be carried out. However, they need to be carried out with due consciousness of our situation. That is where the Opposition amendment breaks down totally. If I am critical in any way of the Queen's Speech, I am far more critical of the Opposition amendment to it. I sincerely hope that the noble Lord the Leader of the Opposition will consider whether he puts the matter to the vote. I hope that he will not do so. If he does so, I hope that noble Lords, not only on this side of the House, will tell him clearly that we do not need such an amendment at the conclusion of a debate of this kind. The Duke of Norfolk: My Lords, before the noble Lord sits down perhaps I may ask him this question, with all the respect that I have for his views on disarmament. Are we not in a wonderful position with NATO, and in particular with the power of the nuclear weapons of the United States underwriting decisions of the United Nations? Are we not lucky that we have NATO with its nuclear weapons, and the United States in particular, supporting the decisions of the United Nations? Lord Jenkin of Putney: My Lords, if that is what the noble Duke believes, he is entitled to do so. But he would not feel that way if he were a member of almost any other nation in the world. The noble Duke would speak in vain if he sought to convince most of the peoples of the world that, because the United States is powerful and Europe is beginning to say, "We, too, want to be equally powerful", that resolves any dispute, or is a cause for gladness. [Upon which Lord Jenkins' noble colleagues promptly changed the subject] - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) Will We survive Y2K? The Most Important issue for the next 14 Date: 17 Dec 1999 20:32:43 +1000 Will We survive Y2K? The Most Important issue for the next 14 days: You can help! Many of you are already working on a variety of environmental, wantinuclear, and weapons issues. You may react to this by saying 'I'm already doing my bit for the panet'. You may even be working on something that is much more important in the long run. This will only occupy your attention for the next 14(10 really) days. But it is possibly the single most important short term issue we could possibly face. What you do over the next 10 days or so could possibly affect whether we will around to campaign on anything else. But if there turns out to have been no problem what you do will still be very helpful. At the end of the next 14 days, the largest, oldest, most complex, most deeply interconnected, and previously least Y2K - compliant computer command and control systems in the world will experience Y2K. These are of course, the systems that perform command, control, communications, and monitoring for nuclear weapons systems. There are some 2,000 warheads in 500 land-based minuteman ICBMs in the US, and some 3,600 warheads in land- based ICBMs in Russia, on permanent 24 hour hairtrigger alert, with gyros spinning ready for launch at a moments notice. That doesn't count warheads in SLBMs or bombers. The launch of all 5,600 warheads could end all human life, would certainly end civilisation, and would do irreperable and very profound damage to the entire web of life on earth. The Pentagon has spent over $4 billion and it says it is totally confident its systems will cope. The Russians say their control systems for their nuclear weapons do not utilise the date and will cope. Privately however, US officers worry about blank screens, false data, and communications blackouts. The Canberra Commission reccommended as far back as 1996 that as a first step toward nuclear abolition, nuclear weapons be taken off hairtrigger alert. The Tokyo Forum has also called for this to be done. Two UN resolutions passed this year and another two passed this year have called for de-alerting. Two resolutions of the Australian Senate and a resolution passed unanimously by the European Parliament have called for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert over the Y2k rollover. Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin and their Secretaries of Defence have been the recipients of a very large number of letters from NGOs all round the world calling for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert. So far there is no indication that they will do this. Instead, Yeltsin has threatened the US, saying they should remember that Russia has a large nuclear arsenal and has deployed ten of the latest Topol-M missiles on full alert. Nontheless, there are indications that the campaign has at least been noticed. And what will actually happen on the night of the rollover has implications that are about as ultimate as they could be. Hopefully nothing at all will happen. If nothing happens we will still be here. However, what will determine the future of us all and of all life is exactly how a possible false alert will be dealt with. That is why it is essential for the Pentagon and the Kremlin to hear our voices over the next 15 days. *That is why I am asking everybody I can to place the Y2K de- alert campaign at the top of their priority lists for the next 14 (or more realistically the next 10) days.* There are lots of campaigns that are important. There are lots of campaigns that have much more profound long term implications than this one. But we have to get through the Dec31/Jan1 rollover at the very least. Its all a bit pointless if we accidentally make the planet uninhabitable by a simple and utterly mindless computer glitch. And of course it has been pointed out to me that there may be Y2K - related glitches in command and control systems for months or even years afterwards. The danger from all of this would disappear almost completely of course if the 5.600 weapons now on 24 hour hairtrigger alert in the US and Russia (land - based ICBMs only) were taken off alert. With luck all this will prove to have been without foundation. But even without Y2K, there have been a series of hair- raising near- misses. What we are dealing with is a classic 'High-Consequence, low- probability' event. But there is nothing to lose. A massive manifestation of global concern, focussed on the Kremlin and the Pentagon is the best shot we have at giving the world the best chance of getting through the new year. And whatever happens on 31/1, this campaign puts 'de- alerting' on the map as an all- round good idea. And with luck nothing whatsoever will happen, and we'll all be wrong - till the next hairraising near miss. I am asking everyone to consider whether the possible risk and the possible stakes over the rollover, even if the risk turns out to be very small indeed, don't warrant your concerted effort for at least the next week, so that we are sure we will be around for those high- priority, long - term, deeper implication, campaigns. Think about it. But not for too long. There are only 14 days and you need to act as soon as possible. Tell Cohen, Clinton, and the Kremlin that we do not need to have 5,600 warheads on 24 hour a day ready- to launch status. Tell them we want to know every time there is a false alarm or a near miss. Ask them to extend the operational period of the joint Y2K strategic stability centre at least through May, and preferably indefinitely. The fax number of US Defence Secy William Cohen is +1-703-695-1149 Bill Clinton's fax is +1-202-456-2461 The Kremlin fax is +7-095-205-4330 The cost of a single page A4 fax to Russia, as counted on a telephone bill from Australia is $1.00-$1.50, but public fax agencies charge an arm and a leg just to dial the number. You can fax for free on http://www.fax4free.com (But the best fax is HANDWRITTEN). *If you are an organisation* and want to sign a large sign- on letter, please sign the letter to Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton that is being periodicaly faxed to them on http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html Sample letters to Cohen/Clinton and to Sergeyev are below. Do please customise and abbreviate. And have fun while saving the planet from (possibly) the apocalypse! I wish us all luck, and that nothing happens. 1)SAMPLE LETTER TO COHEN/CLINTON (Please customise and shorten) TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period, to ask that any false alarms or 'near misses' over the Y2K rollover and at any other time be reported publicly, and to ask that the Y2K strategic stability centre's operations be extended preferably indefinitely but at least till May. There is little time to act, and an immediate decision to place nuclear weapons in a status in which immediate launch is impossible is essential to ensure global stability. As you will be aware, the European Parliament recently voted to ask you and President Yeltsin to do as the UK has already done, and de-alert nuclear weapons. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkley has asked for it. De-Alerting and the establishment of the Y2K strategic stability centre are not in competition with each other. Indeed, we urge strongly that the strategic stability centres operations be extended indefinitely. Reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting are all vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. The very nature of the Y2K problem makes it impossible to be sure everything has been fixed until well into the new year. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. This system seems to include additional ways in which Y2K failure might lead to an accidental launch. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one, but it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as we the public are aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The Y2K vulnerabilities recently discovered in six of the seven hotlines on which US/Russian communications depends, are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has already been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. The United States is making a serious error in failing to consider de-alerting. Failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low, but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. This will continue to be so after the immmediate y2k 'rollover' period. In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. (SIGNED) etc. 2)SAMPLE LETTER TO YELTSIN/DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV (Please customise and shorten) PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, IGOR SERGEYEV, RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, +7-095-205-4330, Dear Defence Minister Sergeyev and President Yeltsin, I am writing to convey my deep concern that Y2K-related computer failures in the command and control systems for nuclear weapons may lead to an accidental nuclear war. I am aware that both Russia and the US have taken this problem seriously enough to establish a joint strategic stability center in Colorado. However, I am very much concerned that this facility will come into operation only by 27th December 1999, so that a delay of just four days will make it useless. This facility is however, essential to the security of the world, and should continue to operate indefinitely. I am also very much concerned that Y2K problems have been found recently in six out of seven of the 'hotlines' that would be used if a crisis of any sort arose over the Y2K rollover period. I am aware that there have been a number of occasions when either the US or Russia have mistakenly believed that the other nation was in the process of launching a nuclear attack. With 3,600 Russian warheads on 700 missiles and 2,000 US warheads on 500 missiles, with each side capable to launch within roughly 20 minutes, this must never be allowed to happen, either over the Y2K 'rollover', or at any other time. The use of 5,600 warheads would certainly mean the end of what we call civilization, would likely mean the end of the human race and could possibly mean the end of all life. I therefore urge both you and the United States, to place all your nuclear forces in a status in which at least days not minutes, would be required to launch . The United Kingdom has, I understand, already done this. The European Parliament has recently called on both the US and Russia to de-alert nuclear weapons and to place them in a state similar to that in which the UK has placed its weapons. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkley has asked for it. In this context I am particularly concerned that statements have been made in which the threat of nuclear weapons has been raised, and that new missiles have been deployed and placed on alert status. As what is at stake is potentially the survival of the entire planet, no considerations, even the highest considerations of national security, can take priority. The immediate stakes are so high and the potential for global catastrophe is so great, that de-alerting of nuclear forces in the face of the Y2K computer problem and the long - term possibility of false alerts must take precedence over all other considerations of political and national security.' (Signed) etc. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) Will We survive Y2K? The Most Important issue for the next 14 Date: 17 Dec 1999 20:32:43 +1000 Will We survive Y2K? The Most Important issue for the next 14 days: You can help! Many of you are already working on a variety of environmental, wantinuclear, and weapons issues. You may react to this by saying 'I'm already doing my bit for the panet'. You may even be working on something that is much more important in the long run. This will only occupy your attention for the next 14(10 really) days. But it is possibly the single most important short term issue we could possibly face. What you do over the next 10 days or so could possibly affect whether we will around to campaign on anything else. But if there turns out to have been no problem what you do will still be very helpful. At the end of the next 14 days, the largest, oldest, most complex, most deeply interconnected, and previously least Y2K - compliant computer command and control systems in the world will experience Y2K. These are of course, the systems that perform command, control, communications, and monitoring for nuclear weapons systems. There are some 2,000 warheads in 500 land-based minuteman ICBMs in the US, and some 3,600 warheads in land- based ICBMs in Russia, on permanent 24 hour hairtrigger alert, with gyros spinning ready for launch at a moments notice. That doesn't count warheads in SLBMs or bombers. The launch of all 5,600 warheads could end all human life, would certainly end civilisation, and would do irreperable and very profound damage to the entire web of life on earth. The Pentagon has spent over $4 billion and it says it is totally confident its systems will cope. The Russians say their control systems for their nuclear weapons do not utilise the date and will cope. Privately however, US officers worry about blank screens, false data, and communications blackouts. The Canberra Commission reccommended as far back as 1996 that as a first step toward nuclear abolition, nuclear weapons be taken off hairtrigger alert. The Tokyo Forum has also called for this to be done. Two UN resolutions passed this year and another two passed this year have called for de-alerting. Two resolutions of the Australian Senate and a resolution passed unanimously by the European Parliament have called for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert over the Y2k rollover. Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin and their Secretaries of Defence have been the recipients of a very large number of letters from NGOs all round the world calling for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert. So far there is no indication that they will do this. Instead, Yeltsin has threatened the US, saying they should remember that Russia has a large nuclear arsenal and has deployed ten of the latest Topol-M missiles on full alert. Nontheless, there are indications that the campaign has at least been noticed. And what will actually happen on the night of the rollover has implications that are about as ultimate as they could be. Hopefully nothing at all will happen. If nothing happens we will still be here. However, what will determine the future of us all and of all life is exactly how a possible false alert will be dealt with. That is why it is essential for the Pentagon and the Kremlin to hear our voices over the next 15 days. *That is why I am asking everybody I can to place the Y2K de- alert campaign at the top of their priority lists for the next 14 (or more realistically the next 10) days.* There are lots of campaigns that are important. There are lots of campaigns that have much more profound long term implications than this one. But we have to get through the Dec31/Jan1 rollover at the very least. Its all a bit pointless if we accidentally make the planet uninhabitable by a simple and utterly mindless computer glitch. And of course it has been pointed out to me that there may be Y2K - related glitches in command and control systems for months or even years afterwards. The danger from all of this would disappear almost completely of course if the 5.600 weapons now on 24 hour hairtrigger alert in the US and Russia (land - based ICBMs only) were taken off alert. With luck all this will prove to have been without foundation. But even without Y2K, there have been a series of hair- raising near- misses. What we are dealing with is a classic 'High-Consequence, low- probability' event. But there is nothing to lose. A massive manifestation of global concern, focussed on the Kremlin and the Pentagon is the best shot we have at giving the world the best chance of getting through the new year. And whatever happens on 31/1, this campaign puts 'de- alerting' on the map as an all- round good idea. And with luck nothing whatsoever will happen, and we'll all be wrong - till the next hairraising near miss. I am asking everyone to consider whether the possible risk and the possible stakes over the rollover, even if the risk turns out to be very small indeed, don't warrant your concerted effort for at least the next week, so that we are sure we will be around for those high- priority, long - term, deeper implication, campaigns. Think about it. But not for too long. There are only 14 days and you need to act as soon as possible. Tell Cohen, Clinton, and the Kremlin that we do not need to have 5,600 warheads on 24 hour a day ready- to launch status. Tell them we want to know every time there is a false alarm or a near miss. Ask them to extend the operational period of the joint Y2K strategic stability centre at least through May, and preferably indefinitely. The fax number of US Defence Secy William Cohen is +1-703-695-1149 Bill Clinton's fax is +1-202-456-2461 The Kremlin fax is +7-095-205-4330 The cost of a single page A4 fax to Russia, as counted on a telephone bill from Australia is $1.00-$1.50, but public fax agencies charge an arm and a leg just to dial the number. You can fax for free on http://www.fax4free.com (But the best fax is HANDWRITTEN). *If you are an organisation* and want to sign a large sign- on letter, please sign the letter to Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton that is being periodicaly faxed to them on http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html Sample letters to Cohen/Clinton and to Sergeyev are below. Do please customise and abbreviate. And have fun while saving the planet from (possibly) the apocalypse! I wish us all luck, and that nothing happens. 1)SAMPLE LETTER TO COHEN/CLINTON (Please customise and shorten) TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period, to ask that any false alarms or 'near misses' over the Y2K rollover and at any other time be reported publicly, and to ask that the Y2K strategic stability centre's operations be extended preferably indefinitely but at least till May. There is little time to act, and an immediate decision to place nuclear weapons in a status in which immediate launch is impossible is essential to ensure global stability. As you will be aware, the European Parliament recently voted to ask you and President Yeltsin to do as the UK has already done, and de-alert nuclear weapons. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkley has asked for it. De-Alerting and the establishment of the Y2K strategic stability centre are not in competition with each other. Indeed, we urge strongly that the strategic stability centres operations be extended indefinitely. Reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting are all vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. The very nature of the Y2K problem makes it impossible to be sure everything has been fixed until well into the new year. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. This system seems to include additional ways in which Y2K failure might lead to an accidental launch. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one, but it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as we the public are aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The Y2K vulnerabilities recently discovered in six of the seven hotlines on which US/Russian communications depends, are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has already been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. The United States is making a serious error in failing to consider de-alerting. Failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low, but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. This will continue to be so after the immmediate y2k 'rollover' period. In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. (SIGNED) etc. 2)SAMPLE LETTER TO YELTSIN/DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV (Please customise and shorten) PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, IGOR SERGEYEV, RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, +7-095-205-4330, Dear Defence Minister Sergeyev and President Yeltsin, I am writing to convey my deep concern that Y2K-related computer failures in the command and control systems for nuclear weapons may lead to an accidental nuclear war. I am aware that both Russia and the US have taken this problem seriously enough to establish a joint strategic stability center in Colorado. However, I am very much concerned that this facility will come into operation only by 27th December 1999, so that a delay of just four days will make it useless. This facility is however, essential to the security of the world, and should continue to operate indefinitely. I am also very much concerned that Y2K problems have been found recently in six out of seven of the 'hotlines' that would be used if a crisis of any sort arose over the Y2K rollover period. I am aware that there have been a number of occasions when either the US or Russia have mistakenly believed that the other nation was in the process of launching a nuclear attack. With 3,600 Russian warheads on 700 missiles and 2,000 US warheads on 500 missiles, with each side capable to launch within roughly 20 minutes, this must never be allowed to happen, either over the Y2K 'rollover', or at any other time. The use of 5,600 warheads would certainly mean the end of what we call civilization, would likely mean the end of the human race and could possibly mean the end of all life. I therefore urge both you and the United States, to place all your nuclear forces in a status in which at least days not minutes, would be required to launch . The United Kingdom has, I understand, already done this. The European Parliament has recently called on both the US and Russia to de-alert nuclear weapons and to place them in a state similar to that in which the UK has placed its weapons. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkley has asked for it. In this context I am particularly concerned that statements have been made in which the threat of nuclear weapons has been raised, and that new missiles have been deployed and placed on alert status. As what is at stake is potentially the survival of the entire planet, no considerations, even the highest considerations of national security, can take priority. The immediate stakes are so high and the potential for global catastrophe is so great, that de-alerting of nuclear forces in the face of the Y2K computer problem and the long - term possibility of false alerts must take precedence over all other considerations of political and national security.' (Signed) etc. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: LCNP@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) A2000 submission to Millennium Forum Date: 20 Dec 1999 09:51:49 EST Dear friends, Below is a submission made on behalf of the Abolition 2000 network by the coordinating committee in an early stage of the development of the Millennium Forum's positions and also in an attempt to influence Kofi Annan's March 2000 report concerning the agenda for the next century. The Millennium Forum is a civil society process culminating in a meeting to be held in New York at the United Nations, hosted by UN Department of Public Information and NGOs, 22-26 May 2000. This in turn is intended to influence the Millennium Summit of heads of state to be held in New York September 6-9, 2000, as well as the Millennium session of the General Assembly in autumn 2000. Those interested in participating should look at www.millenniumforum.org and also www.un.org/millennium. Note that the number of civil society groups participating will be limited by the space available to 1400 persons from around the world. There's an at least tentative 1 February 2000 deadline for applying. See separate message for more info re registering/applying. The below document reflects, we believe, already established Abolition 2000 positions and views. It is not intended to be comparable to the 1995 statement, the Moorea Declaration, and other declarations and resolutions adopted at Abolition 2000 meetings. But, it may be helpful in thinking about what analysis, rhetoric, and programmatic positions Abolition 2000 should present at the NPT Review Conference, and in developing any documents that we wish to release next year in connection with the Conference or other events. We were not seeking to set forth a comprehensive set of demands, only a select few of high priority. ABOLITION 2000 CONTRIBUTION to PEACE, SECURITY, AND DISARMAMENT SUBCOMMITTEE OF MILLENNIUM FORUM 14 December 1999 Our vision is a world free of nuclear weapons and the intolerable threat that they pose to humankind, the environment and all living creatures. It is a vision the United Nations General Assembly recognized in its very first resolution, which sought to address "the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction." It is a vision reaffirmed in numerous resolutions of the General Assembly throughout the past five decades. Our vision is a world in which the obligations of Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are adhered to by all states. Our vision is a world in which the obligation to achieve nuclear disarmament "in all its aspects" set forth in the 1996 opinion of the International Court of Justice is acted upon by all states. Our vision is a world in which no nation's security rests upon threatening the "ultimate evil" of murdering tens of millions of innocent people by means of nuclear annihilation. The obstacles to achieving this vision have been created by the nuclear weapons states, which have continued to rely upon nuclear deterrence as the cornerstone of their defense policies and have actively resisted all pleas to meet their obligations under international law as well as their moral obligations to humanity and the earth. A decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the danger of intentional or accidental use of nuclear weapons remains very real. Nuclear tests in South Asia, wars in the Balkans and Chechnya, and plans for theater and national missile defense systems have introduced new nuclear tensions. In 1995, citizens' organizations at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review and Extension Conference released a statement calling for the implementation of NPT disarmament obligations through the commencement of negotiations leading to the conclusion by the year 2000 of a nuclear weapons abolition convention setting out a binding schedule for the elimination of nuclear arsenals. Over 1400 organizations have endorsed this statement, and comprise the Abolition 2000 Global Network. In 1999, the abolition of nuclear weapons was adopted as a core program of the Hague Appeal for Peace, a multi-issue, international civil society initiative. Public opinion polls show over 80% support for a nuclear weapons convention in most NATO countries and nuclear weapon states, including the United States and United Kingdom. The General Assembly and the European Parliament have both adopted resolutions calling for a nuclear weapons convention. A Model Nuclear Weapons Convention, demonstrating the feasibility of nuclear abolition, has been circulated within the United Nations. Nonetheless, the states possessing nuclear weapons show few signs of willingness to relinquish their nuclear arsenals. Instead, they are continuing with deployment of nuclear weapons and deterrence policies including massive retaliation and, for most, an option of first-use. They also spend vast amounts on infrastructure to enable the indefinite maintenance of their arsenals, and continue to research and develop new nuclear weapons and to test them through a variety of means. Most refuse the commencement of multilateral negotiations on nuclear disarmament. To end reliance on nuclear weapons, the doctrine of deterrence must be squarely rejected as a viable basis for international security. It instead must be recognized as illegal, immoral, and irresponsible. True security can only be found in abolition of nuclear weapons, global demilitarization, and strengthening of the war prevention and dispute resolution capabilities of the United Nations and other international institutions. At the dawn of the new millennium, the world's governments must move rapidly to fulfill the promise of complete nuclear disarmament expressed by the first General Assembly resolution. Urgent actions include: 1. Immediate commencement of multilateral negotiations leading towards the early conclusion of a nuclear weapons convention that requires the phased elimination of all nuclear weapons within a timebound framework, with provisions for effective verification and enforcement. Such negotiations could take place in the Conference on Disarmament, or in a special conference convened by NPT parties, the General Assembly, or interested states. 2. Achievement of global zero alert through the withdrawal of all nuclear weapons from foreign soil and international waters and de-alerting, de-mating, and disabling of nuclear forces. 3. Cessation of further design, development and testing of nuclear weapons by any means, closure of all nuclear test sites, and cessation of the further nuclearization and militarization of space. 4. Commitments to non-use of nuclear weapons and declarations recognizing the illegality, immorality, and irresponsibility of doctrines of nuclear deterrence. 5. Reallocation of resources to ensure a sustainable global future and to redress the environmental devastation and human suffering caused by nuclear weapons production and testing, which have been disproportionately borne by the worldÆs indigenous peoples. - Submitted by the Coordinating Committee on behalf of the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons (Janet Bloomfield,* UK, Jacqueline Cabasso,* USA, Pol D'Huyvetter, Belgium, David Krieger,* USA, Richard Salvador, Belau, Alice Slater,* USA, Hiro Umebayashi, Japan, Alyn Ware,* New Zealand (alternate, John Burroughs,* New York), Ross Wilcock, Canada) * = drafter John Burroughs Executive Director Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy New York - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: LCNP@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) Registering for Millennium Forum Date: 20 Dec 1999 09:54:22 EST To register and apply to participate for the Millennium Forum, go to http://www.millenniumforum.org/html/Mfreg.html There you will find a link to a printable registration form. In the materials handed out at the consultation this week at the UN in NY, it is stated that applications should be submitted as soon as possible and no later than 1 February 2000. The number of civil society groups participating will be limited by the space available to 1400 persons from around the world. Materials from the consultation say there are the following tentative quotas: Africa 250 persons; Asia and the Pacific 200; Europe and North America 250; West Asia 100; Latin America and the Caribbean 200; international and regional NGOs 250. I understand an effort will be made to help fund participants from the "South" (might include some groups in North America); however, the Millennium Forum has virtually no money right now, so that remains to be seen. The Millennium Forum is a civil society process culminating in a meeting to be held in New York at the United Nations, hosted by UN Department of Public Information and NGOs, 22-26 May 2000. This in turn is intended to influence the Millennium Summit of heads of state to be held in New York September 6-9, 2000, as well as the Millennium session of the General Assembly in autumn 2000. Those interested in participating should look at www.millenniumforum.org and also www.un.org/millennium John Burroughs, Executive Director Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy 211 E. 43d St., Suite 1204 New York, New York 10017 USA tel: +1 212 818 1861 fax: 818 1857 e-mail: johnburroughs@earthlink.net website: www.lcnp.org Part of the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation <a2000@silcom.com> Subject: (abolition-usa) Countdown to the NPT Date: 20 Dec 1999 19:02:43 -0800 Dear Friends and Activists, Only 126 days remain until the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review and Extension Conference, which begins on April 24, 2000. At the Hague Appeal for Peace, we set a goal of having 2000 organizations by the time of the NPT. Currently, the Network is comprised of 1,415 organizations in 90 countries and 239 Municipalities have endorsed the Abolition 2000 Municipal Resolution. We are seeking your support to help us reach our goal. Please join me in a committment to enroll as many organizations as possible between now and the NPT Conference Thank you for your continued support of Abolition 2000 and a world free from the threat of Nuclear Weapons. Yours In Peace, Carah Carah Lynn Ong Coordinator, Abolition 2000 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 Santa Barbara CA 93108 Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 Email: A2000@silcom.com Website http://www.abolition2000.org Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly receive updates about the Abolition movement. Both caucus' also provide a forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition. To subscribe to the Abolition Global Caucus, please do one of the following: 1. Send a message to the list moderator at A2000@silcom.com 2. Visit the Abolition-caucus website at: Http://www.egroups.com/list/abolition-caucus/ and submit a membership form. 3. Visit the Abolition 2000 website and submit a membership form. 4. Send an e-mail to: abolition-caucus-subscribe@egroups.com (leave the subject line and body of the message blank). To post a message to the Abolition Global Caucus, send your message to: abolition-caucus@egroups.com To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no subject) to: abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) 10 DAYS TO MAYBE/MAYBE NOT THE DEADLIEST GAMBLE IN HISTORY - YOU Date: 21 Dec 1999 16:36:29 +1000 PLEASE READ & DO WHAT YOU CAN TO HELP, PASS ON, etc. If you need to shorten or customise this, just do so. PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE YOU CAN! The Most Important issue for the next 10 days: You can help! The next ten days will see what may or may not turn out to have been the deadliest gamble in history as 5,600 nuclear warheads on 1200 missiles with gyros spinning ready to be launched in minutes experience the Y2K rollover. A sufficiently serious misunderstanding will mean, basically, the end of the world. On the other hand, with luck, nothing at all may happen. Many of you are already working on a variety of environmental, antinuclear, and weapons issues. You may react to this by saying 'I'm already doing my bit for the planet'. You may even be working on something that is much more important in the long run. This will only occupy your attention for the next 10 (5 really,) days. But it is possibly the single most important short term issue we could possibly face. There's just a chance that if the worst happens, there won't BE any long run. What you do over the next 7 days or so could possibly affect whether we will be around to campaign on anything else. But if there turns out to have been no problem what you do will still be very helpful. It will have suceeded to make taking nuke weapons systems off alert into a much bigger issue. At the end of the next 10 days, the largest, oldest, most complex, most deeply interconnected, and previously least Y2K-compliant computer command and control systems in the world will experience Y2K. These are of course, the systems that perform command, control, communications, and monitoring for nuclear weapons systems. There are some 2,000 warheads in 500 land-based minuteman ICBMs in the US, and some 3,600 warheads in 700 land- based ICBMs in Russia, on permanent 24 hour hairtrigger alert, with gyros spinning ready for launch at a moments notice. That doesn't count warheads in SLBMs or bombers. The launch of all 5,600 warheads could end all human life, would certainly end civilisation, and would do irreparable and very profound damage to the entire web of life on earth. It could send us back to the proterozoic, depending whose estimates you believe. The Pentagon has spent over $3.6 billion and it says it is totally confident its systems will cope. The Russians say their control systems for their nuclear weapons do not utilise the date and will cope. Privately however, US officers worry about blank screens, false data, and communications blackouts. The Canberra Commission reccommended as far back as 1996 that as a first step toward nuclear abolition, nuclear weapons be taken off hairtrigger alert. The Tokyo Forum has also called for this to be done. Two UN resolutions passed this year and another two passed this year have called for de-alerting. Two resolutions of the Australian Senate and a resolution passed unanimously by the European Parliament have called for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert over the Y2K rollover. Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin and their Secretaries of Defence have been the recipients of a very large number of letters from NGOs all round the world calling for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert. So far there is no indication that they will do this. Instead, Yeltsin has threatened the US, saying they should remember that Russia has a large nuclear arsenal and has deployed ten of the latest Topol-M missiles on full alert. Nonetheless, there are indications that the campaign has been noticed. And what will actually happen on the night of the rollover has implications that are about as ultimate as they could be. Hopefully nothing at all will happen. If nothing happens we will still be here. However, what will determine the future of us all and of all life is exactly how a possible false alert will be dealt with. That is why it is essential for the Pentagon and the Kremlin to hear our voices over the next 11 days. *That is why I am asking everybody I can to place the Y2K de-alert campaign at the top of their priority lists for the next 10 (or more realistically the next 7) days.* There are lots of campaigns that are important. There are lots of campaigns that have much more profound long term implications than this one. But we have to get through the Dec 31/Jan 1 rollover at the very least. Its all a bit pointless if we accidentally make the planet uninhabitable by a simple and utterly mindless computer glitch. And of course it has been pointed out to me that there may be Y2K-related glitches in command and control systems for months or even years afterwards. The danger from all of this would disappear almost completely of course if the 5.600 weapons now on 24 hour hairtrigger alert in the US and Russia (land - based ICBMs only) were taken off alert. With luck all this will prove to have been without foundation. But even without Y2K, there have been a series of hair-raising near-misses. What we are dealing with is a classic 'high-consequence, low-probability' event. But there is nothing to lose. A massive manifestation of global concern, focused on the Kremlin and the Pentagon is the best shot we have at giving the world the best chance of getting through the new year. And whatever happens on 31/12, this campaign puts 'de-alerting' on the map as an all-round good idea. And with luck nothing whatsoever will happen, and we'll all be wrong - till the next hair-raising near miss. I am asking everyone to consider whether the possible risk and the possible stakes over the rollover, even if the risk turns out to be very small indeed, don't warrant your concerted effort for at least the next week, so that we are sure we will be around for those high- priority, long - term, deeper implication, campaigns. Think about it. But not for too long. There are only 11 days and you need to act as soon as possible. Tell US Defence Secretary Cohen, President Clinton, and the Kremlin that we do not need to have 5,600 warheads on 24 hour a day ready-to launch status. Tell them we want to know every time there is a false alarm or a near miss. Ask them to extend the operational period of the joint Y2K strategic stability centre at least through May, and preferably indefinitely. The fax number of US Defence Secretary William Cohen is +1-703-695-1149 Bill Clinton's fax is +1-202-456-2461 The Kremlin fax is +7-095-205-4330 The cost of a single page A4 fax to Russia, as counted on a telephone bill from Australia is $1.00-$1.50, but public fax agencies charge an arm and a leg just to dial the number. You can fax for free on http://www.fax4free.com (But the best fax is HANDWRITTEN). *If you are an organisation* and want to sign a large sign-on letter, please sign the letter to Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton that is being periodicaly faxed to them on http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html Sample letters to Cohen/Clinton and to Russian Defence Minister Sergeyev are below. Please customise and abbreviate. And have fun while saving the planet from (possibly) the apocalypse! I wish us all luck, and that nothing happens. 1) SAMPLE LETTER TO COHEN/CLINTON (Please customise and shorten) TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period, to ask that any false alarms or 'near misses' over the Y2K rollover and at any other time be reported publicly, and to ask that the Y2K strategic stability centre's operations be extended preferably indefinitely but at least till May. There is little time to act, and an immediate decision to place nuclear weapons in a status in which immediate launch is impossible is essential to ensure global stability. As you will be aware, the European Parliament recently voted to ask you and President Yeltsin to do as the UK has already done, and de-alert nuclear weapons. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20 September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkeley has asked for it. De-Alerting and the establishment of the Y2K strategic stability centre are not in competition with each other. Indeed, we urge strongly that the strategic stability centres operations be extended indefinitely. Reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting are all vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. The very nature of the Y2K problem makes it impossible to be sure everything has been fixed until well into the new year. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. This system seems to include additional ways in which Y2K failure might lead to an accidental launch. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one, but it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as we the public are aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The Y2K vulnerabilities recently discovered in six of the seven hotlines on which US/Russian communications depends, are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has already been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. The United States is making a serious error in failing to consider de-alerting. Failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low, but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. This will continue to be so after the immmediate Y2K 'rollover' period. In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. (SIGNED) etc. 2) SAMPLE LETTER TO YELTSIN/DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV (Please customise and shorten) PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, IGOR SERGEYEV, RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, +7-095-205-4330, Dear Defence Minister Sergeyev and President Yeltsin, I am writing to convey my deep concern that Y2K-related computer failures in the command and control systems for nuclear weapons may lead to an accidental nuclear war. I am aware that both Russia and the US have taken this problem seriously enough to establish a joint strategic stability center in Colorado. However, I am very much concerned that this facility will come into operation only by 27th December 1999, so that a delay of just four days will make it useless. This facility is however, essential to the security of the world, and should continue to operate indefinitely. I am also very much concerned that Y2K problems have been found recently in six out of seven of the 'hotlines' that would be used if a crisis of any sort arose over the Y2K rollover period. I am aware that there have been a number of occasions when either the US or Russia have mistakenly believed that the other nation was in the process of launching a nuclear attack. With 3,600 Russian warheads on 700 missiles and 2,000 US warheads on 500 missiles, with each side capable to launch within roughly 20 minutes, this must never be allowed to happen, either over the Y2K 'rollover', or at any other time. The use of 5,600 warheads would certainly mean the end of what we call civilization, would likely mean the end of the human race and could possibly mean the end of all life. I therefore urge both you and the United States, to place all your nuclear forces in a status in which at least days not minutes, would be required to launch. The United Kingdom has, I understand, already done this. The European Parliament has recently called on both the US and Russia to de-alert nuclear weapons and to place them in a state similar to that in which the UK has placed its weapons. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been recommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20 September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkeley has asked for it. In this context I am particularly concerned that statements have been made in which the threat of nuclear weapons has been raised, and that new missiles have been deployed and placed on alert status. As what is at stake is potentially the survival of the entire planet, no considerations, even the highest considerations of national security, can take priority. The immediate stakes are so high and the potential for global catastrophe is so great, that de-alerting of nuclear forces in the face of the Y2K computer problem and the long-term possibility of false alerts must take precedence over all other considerations of political and national security. (Signed) etc. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042 Fax (61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) 10 DAYS TO MAYBE/MAYBE NOT THE DEADLIEST GAMBLE IN HISTORY - YOU Date: 21 Dec 1999 16:36:29 +1000 PLEASE READ & DO WHAT YOU CAN TO HELP, PASS ON, etc. If you need to shorten or customise this, just do so. PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE YOU CAN! The Most Important issue for the next 10 days: You can help! The next ten days will see what may or may not turn out to have been the deadliest gamble in history as 5,600 nuclear warheads on 1200 missiles with gyros spinning ready to be launched in minutes experience the Y2K rollover. A sufficiently serious misunderstanding will mean, basically, the end of the world. On the other hand, with luck, nothing at all may happen. Many of you are already working on a variety of environmental, antinuclear, and weapons issues. You may react to this by saying 'I'm already doing my bit for the planet'. You may even be working on something that is much more important in the long run. This will only occupy your attention for the next 10 (5 really,) days. But it is possibly the single most important short term issue we could possibly face. There's just a chance that if the worst happens, there won't BE any long run. What you do over the next 7 days or so could possibly affect whether we will be around to campaign on anything else. But if there turns out to have been no problem what you do will still be very helpful. It will have suceeded to make taking nuke weapons systems off alert into a much bigger issue. At the end of the next 10 days, the largest, oldest, most complex, most deeply interconnected, and previously least Y2K-compliant computer command and control systems in the world will experience Y2K. These are of course, the systems that perform command, control, communications, and monitoring for nuclear weapons systems. There are some 2,000 warheads in 500 land-based minuteman ICBMs in the US, and some 3,600 warheads in 700 land- based ICBMs in Russia, on permanent 24 hour hairtrigger alert, with gyros spinning ready for launch at a moments notice. That doesn't count warheads in SLBMs or bombers. The launch of all 5,600 warheads could end all human life, would certainly end civilisation, and would do irreparable and very profound damage to the entire web of life on earth. It could send us back to the proterozoic, depending whose estimates you believe. The Pentagon has spent over $3.6 billion and it says it is totally confident its systems will cope. The Russians say their control systems for their nuclear weapons do not utilise the date and will cope. Privately however, US officers worry about blank screens, false data, and communications blackouts. The Canberra Commission reccommended as far back as 1996 that as a first step toward nuclear abolition, nuclear weapons be taken off hairtrigger alert. The Tokyo Forum has also called for this to be done. Two UN resolutions passed this year and another two passed this year have called for de-alerting. Two resolutions of the Australian Senate and a resolution passed unanimously by the European Parliament have called for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert over the Y2K rollover. Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin and their Secretaries of Defence have been the recipients of a very large number of letters from NGOs all round the world calling for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert. So far there is no indication that they will do this. Instead, Yeltsin has threatened the US, saying they should remember that Russia has a large nuclear arsenal and has deployed ten of the latest Topol-M missiles on full alert. Nonetheless, there are indications that the campaign has been noticed. And what will actually happen on the night of the rollover has implications that are about as ultimate as they could be. Hopefully nothing at all will happen. If nothing happens we will still be here. However, what will determine the future of us all and of all life is exactly how a possible false alert will be dealt with. That is why it is essential for the Pentagon and the Kremlin to hear our voices over the next 11 days. *That is why I am asking everybody I can to place the Y2K de-alert campaign at the top of their priority lists for the next 10 (or more realistically the next 7) days.* There are lots of campaigns that are important. There are lots of campaigns that have much more profound long term implications than this one. But we have to get through the Dec 31/Jan 1 rollover at the very least. Its all a bit pointless if we accidentally make the planet uninhabitable by a simple and utterly mindless computer glitch. And of course it has been pointed out to me that there may be Y2K-related glitches in command and control systems for months or even years afterwards. The danger from all of this would disappear almost completely of course if the 5.600 weapons now on 24 hour hairtrigger alert in the US and Russia (land - based ICBMs only) were taken off alert. With luck all this will prove to have been without foundation. But even without Y2K, there have been a series of hair-raising near-misses. What we are dealing with is a classic 'high-consequence, low-probability' event. But there is nothing to lose. A massive manifestation of global concern, focused on the Kremlin and the Pentagon is the best shot we have at giving the world the best chance of getting through the new year. And whatever happens on 31/12, this campaign puts 'de-alerting' on the map as an all-round good idea. And with luck nothing whatsoever will happen, and we'll all be wrong - till the next hair-raising near miss. I am asking everyone to consider whether the possible risk and the possible stakes over the rollover, even if the risk turns out to be very small indeed, don't warrant your concerted effort for at least the next week, so that we are sure we will be around for those high- priority, long - term, deeper implication, campaigns. Think about it. But not for too long. There are only 11 days and you need to act as soon as possible. Tell US Defence Secretary Cohen, President Clinton, and the Kremlin that we do not need to have 5,600 warheads on 24 hour a day ready-to launch status. Tell them we want to know every time there is a false alarm or a near miss. Ask them to extend the operational period of the joint Y2K strategic stability centre at least through May, and preferably indefinitely. The fax number of US Defence Secretary William Cohen is +1-703-695-1149 Bill Clinton's fax is +1-202-456-2461 The Kremlin fax is +7-095-205-4330 The cost of a single page A4 fax to Russia, as counted on a telephone bill from Australia is $1.00-$1.50, but public fax agencies charge an arm and a leg just to dial the number. You can fax for free on http://www.fax4free.com (But the best fax is HANDWRITTEN). *If you are an organisation* and want to sign a large sign-on letter, please sign the letter to Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton that is being periodicaly faxed to them on http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html Sample letters to Cohen/Clinton and to Russian Defence Minister Sergeyev are below. Please customise and abbreviate. And have fun while saving the planet from (possibly) the apocalypse! I wish us all luck, and that nothing happens. 1) SAMPLE LETTER TO COHEN/CLINTON (Please customise and shorten) TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period, to ask that any false alarms or 'near misses' over the Y2K rollover and at any other time be reported publicly, and to ask that the Y2K strategic stability centre's operations be extended preferably indefinitely but at least till May. There is little time to act, and an immediate decision to place nuclear weapons in a status in which immediate launch is impossible is essential to ensure global stability. As you will be aware, the European Parliament recently voted to ask you and President Yeltsin to do as the UK has already done, and de-alert nuclear weapons. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20 September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkeley has asked for it. De-Alerting and the establishment of the Y2K strategic stability centre are not in competition with each other. Indeed, we urge strongly that the strategic stability centres operations be extended indefinitely. Reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting are all vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. The very nature of the Y2K problem makes it impossible to be sure everything has been fixed until well into the new year. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. This system seems to include additional ways in which Y2K failure might lead to an accidental launch. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one, but it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as we the public are aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The Y2K vulnerabilities recently discovered in six of the seven hotlines on which US/Russian communications depends, are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has already been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. The United States is making a serious error in failing to consider de-alerting. Failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low, but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. This will continue to be so after the immmediate Y2K 'rollover' period. In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. (SIGNED) etc. 2) SAMPLE LETTER TO YELTSIN/DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV (Please customise and shorten) PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, IGOR SERGEYEV, RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, +7-095-205-4330, Dear Defence Minister Sergeyev and President Yeltsin, I am writing to convey my deep concern that Y2K-related computer failures in the command and control systems for nuclear weapons may lead to an accidental nuclear war. I am aware that both Russia and the US have taken this problem seriously enough to establish a joint strategic stability center in Colorado. However, I am very much concerned that this facility will come into operation only by 27th December 1999, so that a delay of just four days will make it useless. This facility is however, essential to the security of the world, and should continue to operate indefinitely. I am also very much concerned that Y2K problems have been found recently in six out of seven of the 'hotlines' that would be used if a crisis of any sort arose over the Y2K rollover period. I am aware that there have been a number of occasions when either the US or Russia have mistakenly believed that the other nation was in the process of launching a nuclear attack. With 3,600 Russian warheads on 700 missiles and 2,000 US warheads on 500 missiles, with each side capable to launch within roughly 20 minutes, this must never be allowed to happen, either over the Y2K 'rollover', or at any other time. The use of 5,600 warheads would certainly mean the end of what we call civilization, would likely mean the end of the human race and could possibly mean the end of all life. I therefore urge both you and the United States, to place all your nuclear forces in a status in which at least days not minutes, would be required to launch. The United Kingdom has, I understand, already done this. The European Parliament has recently called on both the US and Russia to de-alert nuclear weapons and to place them in a state similar to that in which the UK has placed its weapons. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been recommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20 September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkeley has asked for it. In this context I am particularly concerned that statements have been made in which the threat of nuclear weapons has been raised, and that new missiles have been deployed and placed on alert status. As what is at stake is potentially the survival of the entire planet, no considerations, even the highest considerations of national security, can take priority. The immediate stakes are so high and the potential for global catastrophe is so great, that de-alerting of nuclear forces in the face of the Y2K computer problem and the long-term possibility of false alerts must take precedence over all other considerations of political and national security. (Signed) etc. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042 Fax (61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) 2000 by 2000 Date: 21 Dec 1999 11:09:49 -0500 Dear Friends, I am writing in support of Carah's request for your participation in the 2000 by 2000 Campaign. At our annual Abolition 2000 Meeting in the Hague, we agreed to work hard for 2000 enrollees by the NPT in order to answer the question: "Abolition 2000, don't you think you should change your name since you didn't get your treaty negotiated by the year 2000?" (a goal we set in 1995 when we adopted the Abolition Statement at the 1995 NPT Extension Conference.) We hope to answer that we are now 2000 strong and WHERE'S OUR TREATY?!? But to do that we need your help. If every reader on this Abolition list serve would enroll only one more organization we'd almost be there. Please print out enrollment forms from www.abolition2000.org and take them with you to meetings, church, school. JOIN OUR 2000 BY 2000 CAMPAIGN IN A MEANINGFUL WAY. Let us know of your enrollment successes. Let's inspire each other. At the WTO meeting I enrolled 14 organizations--one from as far away as Guatemala. Wherever you live, wherever you work, wherever you play, help us to maintain the integrity of the name of our Network. Just because the nukeheads didn't negotiate a treaty for us is no reason to surrender our name!! Many thanks for your help. Alice Slater At 09:02 PM 12/20/1999 -0500, a2000@silcom.com wrote: >Dear Friends and Activists, > >Only 126 days remain until the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review and >Extension Conference, which begins on April 24, 2000. At the Hague Appeal >for Peace, we set a goal of having 2000 organizations by the time of the >NPT. Currently, the Network is comprised of 1,415 organizations in 90 >countries and 239 Municipalities have endorsed the Abolition 2000 Municipal >Resolution. We are seeking your support to help us reach our goal. Please >join me in a committment to enroll as many organizations as possible >between now and the NPT Conference Thank you for your continued support >of Abolition 2000 and a world free from the threat of Nuclear Weapons. > >Yours In Peace, >Carah > > >Carah Lynn Ong >Coordinator, Abolition 2000 >1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 >Santa Barbara CA 93108 > >Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 >Email: A2000@silcom.com >Website http://www.abolition2000.org > > >Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly >receive updates about the Abolition movement. Both caucus' also provide a >forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used >to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition. > > > >To subscribe to the Abolition Global Caucus, please do one of the >following: > >1. Send a message to the list moderator at A2000@silcom.com > >2. Visit the Abolition-caucus website at: >Http://www.egroups.com/list/abolition-caucus/ and submit a membership form. > >3. Visit the Abolition 2000 website and submit a membership form. > >4. Send an e-mail to: abolition-caucus-subscribe@egroups.com (leave the >subject line and body of the message blank). > > >To post a message to the Abolition Global Caucus, send your message to: > >abolition-caucus@egroups.com > > >To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no >subject) to: >abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com >In the body of the message, write: >"subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks) > >To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to: > abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com > > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >To subscribe to the Abolition Global Caucus, send an email from the >account you wish to be subscribed to: >"abolition-caucus-subscribe@egroups.com" > > >Do not include a subject line or any text in the body of the message. > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >For the fastest and easiest way to backup your files and, access them from > >anywhere. Try @backup Free for 30 days. Click here for a chance to win a > >digital camera. >http://click.egroups.com/1/337/1/_/91925/_/945744874 > >-- Check out your group's private Chat room >-- http://www.egroups.com/ChatPage?listName=abolition-caucus&m=1 > Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: BetseyMJ@aol.com Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Countdown to the NPT Date: 21 Dec 1999 12:09:56 EST Thank you for the information. Please change your email listing for me to "chadamherst@aol.com". - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: BetseyMJ@aol.com Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) 10 DAYS TO MAYBE/MAYBE NOT THE DEADLIEST GAMBLE Date: 21 Dec 1999 12:11:48 EST Thank you for the information. Please change your email listing for me to "chadamherst@aol.com". - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Boyle, Francis" <FBOYLE@LAW.UIUC.EDU> Subject: (abolition-usa) FW: U.S. judge opens way for plutonium shipment to Canada Date: 21 Dec 1999 15:13:42 -0600 it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings. fab. -----Original Message----- Sent: Monday, December 20, 1999 10:34 PM USA: December 20, 1999 KALAMAZOO, Mich. - A federal judge cleared the way for the shipment of plutonium from Los Alamos, New Mexico, to Canada by refusing to grant an injunction to groups who say the move would break U.S. law. The order from U.S. District Judge Richard Alan Enslen in the Western District of Michigan also vacates a temporary restraining order that he issued on Dec. 7. The restraining order expires on Friday at 5:30 p.m. (2230 GMT) The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) plans to truck nine fuel rods containing 119 grams of plutonium some 3,300 miles (5,280 km) through several states to an experimental reactor in Chalk River, Canada. The plutonium is at the centre of the Parallex Project, an experimental programme between the United States and Russia to dispose of fuel from dismantled nuclear weapons. The U.S. plutonium will be combined with nine rods from Russia and converted into nuclear reactor fuel. In a lawsuit filed Dec. 6 in federal court in Kalamazoo, Michigan, opponents of the effort said the Energy Department's plans violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and did not fully consider the environmental risks. The programme has also met resistance in Canada, where opponents fear their country will be turned into a dumping ground for nuclear waste. In addition to environmentalists, police and firefighters' associations have protested the shipment and Native American groups have threatened nonviolent actions to block the route. Alice Hirt, a Holland, Michigan, resident and one of the plaintiffs in the Michigan lawsuit, said on Friday that the opponents' attorneys were reviewing their options following Enslen's ruling. "For (DOE) to move ahead at this point flies in the face of the nonproliferation policy in this country, which has been in place for decades," she said. In his ruling, Enslen said opponents are likely to win on their NEPA violation claims. But he noted that the Parallex Project came out of talks between President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin and that courts should avoid interfering with U.S. foreign policy. "In the absence of overwhelming evidence by the plaintiffs demonstrating that the executive's foreign policy assessment is not credible or mistaken, the court must conclude that American nonproliferation interests would be harmed if the court were to issue an injunction," Enslen said. DOE officials said they were pleased by the decision, which will "allow the Energy Department to proceed with this important nonproliferation initiative." A spokeswoman said in response to concerns expressed by lawmakers, the DOE has taken additional safety steps including using specially designed vehicles. It was unclear when the plutonium will be transported. Hirt said DOE officials have said their deadline is Friday for starting the trip. DOE officials said Friday a date has not been set. Officials also refused to disclose the exact route for security reasons. Previous documents from the DOE indicated the shipment could pass through Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana before reaching Michigan. Once in Michigan, the fuel would cross the Mackinac Bridge into Michigan's Upper Peninsula, then enter Canada at Sault Ste. Marie. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) URGENT:Radioactive Metals "Recycling" Dec22 NRC deadline for Date: 21 Dec 1999 19:21:38 -0500 >Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 17:43:59 -0500 >Subject: LAST CALL:Radioactive"Recycling" Dec22 NRC ddln for comments on scoping >To: nirsnet@nirs.org >From: nirsnet@nirs.org (nirsnet@nirs.org) > >BY MIDNITE DEC 22 >Zip a note to NRC on what you want them to consider in making a rule on >radioactive release into consumer products. >How radioactive should they allow regular products, building materials, >our homes, schools, vehicles, workplaces, etc to be? >NIRS is demanding 1) prohibition on radioactive releases in US and >internationally; 2) reporting and recapture of already-released wastes >and materials. >For more info see www.nirs.org and www.citizen.org/cmep/ > >SEND COMMENTS ASAP to NRC >re: scoping of NRC proposed rule for RADIOACTIVE "RELEASE" and >"RECYCLING" into the marketplace, regular landfills, incinerators, etc. >64 FR 35090, 6/30/99 >ATTN: NRC Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff > >Comment to NRC by DECEMBER 22, 1999 by one of the following methods: > >1) Mail to: US NRC/ Attn: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff/ >Washington, DC 20555 > >2) by E-MAIL to: secy@nrc.gov > >(NRC requests that email comments be followed up with either mail or >fax, but it is not essential) > >3) by FAX to the Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff: 301-415-1101 > >4) NRC website:Submit electronically through the NRC's website: >http://ruleforum.llnl.gov/cgi-bin/uploader/SM_RSC_public > >In order to submit comments through the website, you must save your >comments in your files and remember the file name. Go to the NRC >website. Fill out all of the fields they request. Hit the BROWSE button >on the NRC website and find your file. Attach it. > Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Boyle, Francis" <FBOYLE@LAW.UIUC.EDU> Subject: (abolition-usa) RE: U.S. judge opens way for plutonium shipment to Canada Date: 22 Dec 1999 09:57:17 -0600 my apologies for the sexist comment. yesterday i had a lengthy consultation with one of the attorneys of record on this case. serious consideration is being given to further legal action to block this shipment. fab. -----Original Message----- Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 1999 3:14 PM 'NUKENET@envirolink.org'; 'TP2000'; 'Scottish CND'; 'a-days@motherearth.org' it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings. fab. -----Original Message----- Sent: Monday, December 20, 1999 10:34 PM USA: December 20, 1999 KALAMAZOO, Mich. - A federal judge cleared the way for the shipment of plutonium from Los Alamos, New Mexico, to Canada by refusing to grant an injunction to groups who say the move would break U.S. law. The order from U.S. District Judge Richard Alan Enslen in the Western District of Michigan also vacates a temporary restraining order that he issued on Dec. 7. The restraining order expires on Friday at 5:30 p.m. (2230 GMT) The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) plans to truck nine fuel rods containing 119 grams of plutonium some 3,300 miles (5,280 km) through several states to an experimental reactor in Chalk River, Canada. The plutonium is at the centre of the Parallex Project, an experimental programme between the United States and Russia to dispose of fuel from dismantled nuclear weapons. The U.S. plutonium will be combined with nine rods from Russia and converted into nuclear reactor fuel. In a lawsuit filed Dec. 6 in federal court in Kalamazoo, Michigan, opponents of the effort said the Energy Department's plans violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and did not fully consider the environmental risks. The programme has also met resistance in Canada, where opponents fear their country will be turned into a dumping ground for nuclear waste. In addition to environmentalists, police and firefighters' associations have protested the shipment and Native American groups have threatened nonviolent actions to block the route. Alice Hirt, a Holland, Michigan, resident and one of the plaintiffs in the Michigan lawsuit, said on Friday that the opponents' attorneys were reviewing their options following Enslen's ruling. "For (DOE) to move ahead at this point flies in the face of the nonproliferation policy in this country, which has been in place for decades," she said. In his ruling, Enslen said opponents are likely to win on their NEPA violation claims. But he noted that the Parallex Project came out of talks between President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin and that courts should avoid interfering with U.S. foreign policy. "In the absence of overwhelming evidence by the plaintiffs demonstrating that the executive's foreign policy assessment is not credible or mistaken, the court must conclude that American nonproliferation interests would be harmed if the court were to issue an injunction," Enslen said. DOE officials said they were pleased by the decision, which will "allow the Energy Department to proceed with this important nonproliferation initiative." A spokeswoman said in response to concerns expressed by lawmakers, the DOE has taken additional safety steps including using specially designed vehicles. It was unclear when the plutonium will be transported. Hirt said DOE officials have said their deadline is Friday for starting the trip. DOE officials said Friday a date has not been set. Officials also refused to disclose the exact route for security reasons. Previous documents from the DOE indicated the shipment could pass through Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana before reaching Michigan. Once in Michigan, the fuel would cross the Mackinac Bridge into Michigan's Upper Peninsula, then enter Canada at Sault Ste. Marie. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: [y2k-nuclear] [Fwd: Y2K WASH ON NATIONAL NEWS! KEEP Date: 22 Dec 1999 11:07:11 -0500 >Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1999 09:49:30 -0500 >Subject: [y2k-nuclear] [Fwd: Y2K WASH ON NATIONAL NEWS! KEEP CALLING CLINTON!] >Priority: non-urgent >X-FC-MachineGenerated: true >To: y2k-nukes@envirolink.org, y2k-nuclear@egroups.com >From: maryo@nirs.org (maryo@nirs.org) > > > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >Want to send money instantly to anyone, anywhere, anytime? > >You can today at X.com - and we'll give you $20 to try it! Sign=20 > >up today at X.com. It's quick, free, & there's no obligation! >http://click.egroups.com/1/332/5/_/28220/_/945877841 > >-- Create a poll/survey for your group! >-- http://www.egroups.com/vote?listname=3Dy2k-nuclear&m=3D1 > >Dear friends, > I am delighted to report that the Y2K World Atomic Safety Holiday >press briefing, held this morning, Tues. 12/21 at the National Press Club >in Washington, DC, appeared on C-SPAN2 and the Jim Lehrer News Hour! You >can view the first half-hour of the briefing on the web at www.c-span.org. >(You can get RealPlayer at www.real.com for free.) It was also carried on >ABC radio in the Washington area. Also today, well-known physicist Dr. >Michio Kaku called for shutting down nuclear plants and de-alerting nuclear >weapons on his Pacifica radio show, Explorations, and repeated his concerns >on Dennis Bernstein's Flashpoints on KPFA. Wired magazine and a number of >print reporters were also present at the briefing and we will look for >their stories tomorrow. Please let us know (reply to me or >y2kwash@y2kwash.org) if a story turns up in your local papers. > THIS IS A TIME TO REDOUBLE OUR EFFORTS TO GET CLINTON TO SHUT DOWN >THE NUKES!!! The Safety Holiday is now on the national agenda-we have >reports that it is being discussed at high levels of the Clinton >Administration. > Please keep calling and faxing President Clinton and your >Congressmembers and Senators, right up to the rollover. Call the media too, >thank them for covering the story, if they have, or ask when they're going >to cover it. YOUR EFFORTS ARE HAVING AN IMPACT! > Numbers and a fact sheet are below. > > Y 2 K W O R L D A T O M I C S A F E T Y H O L I D A Y > > website: www.y2kwash.org hotline: 415-789-8032 > >=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =3D=3D=3D > > President Bill Clinton: (tel) 202-456-1111, (fax) 202-456-2461 > > John Koskinen, President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion: > (tel) 202-456-7171 > (fax) 202-456-7172 > > Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT) & Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), > Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem: > (tel) 202-224-5224 > >If you can do more, phone your own Representatives and Senators (they are >home in their districts now - numbers are in your phone book), tell them >how you feel and ask them to call the White House too. And by all means, be >creative! > >SAMPLE LETTER >------------- > >Dear President Clinton, > >We respectfully request that you issue an executive order to: > >1) Temporarily shut down all U.S. nuclear reactors in a phased procedure to >be completed by no later than noon, December 30th; and allow a phased >restart after January 1st only when normal functions of electrical >transmission, communications and water systems have been restored and >validated, and nuclear plants have been independently verified Y2K >compliant; > >2) Ensure that there are reliable backup generators and sixty days' fuel >supplies for reactor cooling systems and other nuclear facilities that rely >on cooling, particularly for ALL spent fuel pools; > >3) Close all other nuclear facilities and suspend nuclear shipments for the >New Year's weekend; > >4) Protect communities by practicing emergency drills; > >5) Provide government subsidies for the cost of backup generators and fuel >and for nuclear workers' lost pay and utilities' lost revenues during the >temporary shutdown; > >6) De-alert nuclear weapons systems and implement trust-building measures >among nuclear nations; > >7) Renew these measures for February 29, 2000 and December 31, 2000-January >1, 2001; and > >8) Encourage other world leaders to undertake these initiatives as a joint >international effort so that the financial status of a nation is not an >impediment to a WORLD ATOMIC SAFETY HOLIDAY. > > Sincerely, > >=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =3D=3D=3D >BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Nuclear Y2K > >LET'S NOT RISK NUCLEAR MELTDOWNS! > > The October accident at the nuclear processing plant in >Tokaimura, Japan, is a reminder of the destructive power of radioactive >technology. The result of simple human error and lax regulation=97both part >of >the Y2K mix=97it could foreshadow nuclear accidents which may occur less= than >25 days from now=97unless we act now to prevent catastrophe. > >Computer malfunctions may confuse operators with faulty data. >------------------------------------------------------------ > A Y2K test in February, 1999 at the Peach Bottom reactor in >Pennsylvania caused a day-long crash of the plant's primary and backup >monitoring computers. With blank screens, operators could not view >conditions inside the reactor. Could this be an ominous preview of >conditions at nuclear reactors all over the world because of the Year 2000 >computer bug (Y2K)? Let=92s remember that it was bad data, human error and >lax >regulations which triggered disasters at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and >Tokaimura. > >The cooling systems of nuclear power plants need constant power=97 >for FIVE YEARS, even after the plants have been shut down! >---------------------------------------------------------------------------= - >--- Without constant cooling, a reactor core can melt within two >hours. U.S. government reports admit that Y2K-related electricity grid >failures are a possibility, especially in rural areas. While most reactors >have two diesel generators to provide backup power in case the electric >grid >fails, their reliability record is poor: 48% have reported problems since >January 1999=97and they stock only 7 days' fuel. A reactor core can melt= down >within two hours of loss of coolant. > >Many U.S. spent (used) fuel pools have no backup generators. >------------------------------------------------------------ > Spent fuel pools contain 3-5 times more radioactive fuel than >reactors. The fuel gradually cools, but refueling scheduled by 22 reactors >this fall will add intensely hot fuel rods to their storage pools. In the >absence of power for pumping water, these pools could boil in 24 hours and >the fuel rods could begin to melt. > >The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is not protecting the public. >-------------------------------------------------------------------- > It's protecting short-term nuclear industry profits instead. >Congress' General Accounting Office (GAO) says: "NRC's regulations...do not >define, for either a licensee or the public, the conditions necessary for a >plant's safety" in Y2K. The NRC allowed the industry to self-report >readiness, with no independent verification=97and plans to suspend nuclear >safety requirements for the New Year in order to keep reactors running! > >Nuclear power is not needed at New Year's. >----------------------------------------- > Electricity use is down nearly 50% in winter, so the energy >provided >by nuclear power will not be needed. Nuclear plants should shut down to >protect the public, like other hazardous industries. Five major pipeline >companies =97 including Arco, Explorer and Colonial =97 have said they'll= be >turning off their pipelines prior to and during the rollover. And four >chemical companies =97 Rhone-Poulenc, DuPont, Monsanto and Ashland Chemical= =97 >have said they will idle some North American plants prior to 1/1/2000. > >The bug's in the bomb, too. >--------------------------- > The British American Security Information Council reports the >possibility that the nuclear weapons states "will experience faulty or >blocked communications, erroneous early-warning readings, [and] blacked-out >computer screens" from Y2K, resulting in explosions or accidental launch of >nuclear missiles. (www.basicint.org) > >The Y2K World Atomic Safety Holiday Campaign calls for: > >=B7 Stand by for rollover: shut down nuclear reactors and nuclear= processing >facilities > >=B7 Beef up the backup: have a 60-day supply of fuel available to all= reactor >sites > >=B7 De-alert and de-couple nuclear weapons: take nuclear weapons off= "launch >on warning" status >=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =3D=3D=3D > =20 Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty= to eliminate nuclear weapons. =20 - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: First Nations vow to continue fight to halt MOX fuel Date: 22 Dec 1999 19:28:28 -0500 >Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1999 17:41:30 -0500 >Subject: First Nations vow to continue fight to halt MOX fuel shipment >Priority: non-urgent >X-FC-MachineGenerated: true >To: bananas@lists.speakeasy.org >From: jcumbow@greatlakes.net (jcumbow@greatlakes.net) > >PUBLICATION The Sault Star DATE Tue 21 Dec 1999 EDITION FINAL >SECTION/CATEGORY City PAGE NUMBER B1 / Front BYLINE Elaine >Della-Mattia The Sault Star STORY LENGTH 637 > > > >First Nations vow to continue fight to halt MOX fuel shipment > > > >First Nations territories will be even more vigilant watching for >transports carrying plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons now >that a Michigan judge has removed the last legal hurdle, paving the >way for the shipment to occur. > >Michigan Chief Judge Richard Enslen late last week rejected a request >by environmentalists for a preliminary injunction that would have >blocked the transport. > >The judge ruled that although the plaintiffs' contentions that the >U.S. government violates the law appeared to have merit, the >Department of Energy's assertions that an injunction would hurt >nuclear-disarmament talks were more important. > >Garden River First Nations Chief Lyle Sayers said that means >residents and friends on both sides of the International Bridge are >going to have to be more vigilant and watch for the shipment of the >MOX fuel. > >``We have said that we are going to stop the shipment through our >First Nation territory and if we know when the shipment is coming >through, that's what we still intend to do,'' Sayers said. > >``But I have to thank our American friends for at least attempting to >get an injunction so that an environment assessment could be >completed. Unfortunately, the U.S. government didn't agree,'' he said. > >Since word of the transportation route of the shipment was released, >environmental groups and First Nations along the shipment route have >raised concerns about the long-term effects of the shipment. > >``The end result is the long-term effects to the land and the people, >and our people have told us that they don't want nuclear waste in >Canada,'' Sayers said. > >Kathy Brosemer, a spokesperson for Northwatch, a regional coalition >of environmental groups in Northern Ontario, said that the ruling >doesn't surprise her. > >``Basically it leaves us where we were before,'' Brosemer said. > >``People should still be writing to the government, to Lloyd >Axworthy, to voice their concern,'' she said. > >Brosemer said that although both the Canadian and American >governments have said that they're not going to tell people when the >shipment leaves New Mexico and heads towards its final destination, >Chalk River, Ont., ``if anybody knows when it's going, we'll know.'' > >She said environmental groups and First Nations along the >transportation route have banded together to keep watch on the >shipment. > >Chris McCormick, spokesperson for the Association of Iroquois and >Allied Indians, said it is now time for the Ontario government to >make its position and plans about the shipment known to its citizens. > >``It's time Mike Harris takes a stand on this and tells us what his >plans are,'' McCormick said. ``I don't think the politicians are >living up to their responsibility to the citizens of Ontario,'' he >said. > >The Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians has written letters to >Ontario Premier Harris and several of his ministers asking them to >make their position on the shipment known and reveal plans to ensure >that Ontario citizens are safe. > >The transport is part of a joint U.S.-Russian experiment to determine >whether commercial nuclear reactors in Canada can use material from >decommissioned Russian nuclear weapons as fuel. > >As part of the experiment, the U.S. is shipping a 119-gram sample of >mixed plutonium and uranium oxides from New Mexico to Chalk River, >Ont. > >A second sample from Russia is to travel along the St. Lawrence >Seaway to Cornwall, Ont. and then to Chalk River. The U.S. government >says the shipment is a one-time occurrence to allow for the >experiment but citizens in Ontario and Michigan believe that if the >experiment is successful, more MOX will be shipped along the route >for eventual destruction. > >They fear that an accident may occur, causing long-term environmental >effects. > >---- > Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) THE WORLDS BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT Date: 23 Dec 1999 19:05:59 +1000 It's nearly Christmas Eve here in Sydney. Unlike the northern hemisphere, down here it is warm and sunny in spite of recent rain. People are likely to spend Christmas, (with the exception of strange folk like myself who spend it in front of a computer warning of a possible perhaps-maybe-who-knows, apocalpse, and asking people to do utterly absurd things like fax Clinton and Yeltsin about it, ) - with their families or friends at a back - yard barbequeue, or at the beach. But whether you have had a warm to hot downunder Christmas or a US or European white Christmas, it would be much more of a pleasure if you knew that there were not those 5,600 land- based ICBM warheads plus submarine and bomber based warheads, on 24 hour a day immmediate, launch-on-warning status. That could ruin your entire new year, especially knowing that the oldest, largest, most complex, and previously least Y2K compliant computer systems in the world perform command, communications, control, and intelligence for nuclear weapons systems. Sure, the Pentagon say they have spent $3.6billion to make their nuclear combat command, communication, and control systems Y2K compliant. Sure, the US and Russia have established a joint Y2K 'Strategic Stability Centre' next to the Cheyyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado. And it is important - indeed crucial - that they have done this. However, we hope they have by now managed to fix the hotlines set up during the cold war, and discovered to be non Y2K compliant in September. If nuclear weapons could not be immediately launched, then not only over the nervous Y2K rollover period, when US and Russian officers are going to EXPECT false alerts, blank screens, and communication blackouts, but at any other time when also false alerts have happened, decision makers would never be forced into the situation in which they have to decide whether to blow up the world in five minutes, perhaps at 3am in the morning when very much the worse for wear after new years drinkies. The best Christmas gift Clinton or Yeltsin can give the world is to do as two resolutions passed by the United Nations General Assembly a year ago with massive majorities, and another two passed this year with massive majorities, two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate and one resolution passed unanimously by the European Parliament have reccommended - to take nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert and place them in a status in which launch on warning is no longer possible. A letter signed by 500 global environmental organisations, arms control groups, religious bodies, NGOs, and Parliamentarians asking for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert for the new year was faxed to Yeltsin and Clinton yesterday. Ask President Clinton, President Yeltsin, and their secretaries and ministers for defence to do this. If you have access to a fax machine, a single page A4 fax even to the Kremlin should cost you round a dollar. (public fax facilities charge an arm and a leg so don't bother with them). The best fax is handwritten not typed. Do it now - It's Christmas Eve tomorrow (or it is here in Sydney). You can fax for free on: http://www.fax4free.com You can fax Clinton on +1-202-456-2461 You can fax US defence secy Cohen on 1-703-695-1149 You can fax Yeltsin on +7-095-205-4330. There are sample letters below, but they you should shorten them and use your own words. You don't need to write anything near as long as this. Use what you want of these sample letters in your own way. 1) SAMPLE LETTER TO COHEN/CLINTON (Please customise and shorten) TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period, to ask that any false alarms or 'near misses' over the Y2K rollover and at any other time be reported publicly, and to ask that the Y2K strategic stability centre's operations be extended preferably indefinitely but at least till May. There is little time to act, and an immediate decision to place nuclear weapons in a status in which immediate launch is impossible is essential to ensure global stability. As you will be aware, the European Parliament recently voted to ask you and President Yeltsin to do as the UK has already done, and de-alert nuclear weapons. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20 September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkeley has asked for it. De-Alerting and the establishment of the Y2K strategic stability centre are not in competition with each other. Indeed, we urge strongly that the strategic stability centres operations be extended indefinitely. Reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting are all vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. The very nature of the Y2K problem makes it impossible to be sure everything has been fixed until well into the new year. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. This system seems to include additional ways in which Y2K failure might lead to an accidental launch. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one, but it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as we the public are aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The Y2K vulnerabilities recently discovered in six of the seven hotlines on which US/Russian communications depends, are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has already been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. The United States is making a serious error in failing to consider de-alerting. Failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low, but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. This will continue to be so after the immmediate Y2K 'rollover' period. In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. (SIGNED) etc. 2) SAMPLE LETTER TO YELTSIN/DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV (Please customise and shorten) PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, IGOR SERGEYEV, RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, +7-095-205-4330, Dear Defence Minister Sergeyev and President Yeltsin, I am writing to convey my deep concern that Y2K-related computer failures in the command and control systems for nuclear weapons may lead to an accidental nuclear war. I am aware that both Russia and the US have taken this problem seriously enough to establish a joint strategic stability center in Colorado. However, I am very much concerned that this facility will come into operation only by 27th December 1999, so that a delay of just four days will make it useless. This facility is however, essential to the security of the world, and should continue to operate indefinitely. I am also very much concerned that Y2K problems have been found recently in six out of seven of the 'hotlines' that would be used if a crisis of any sort arose over the Y2K rollover period. I am aware that there have been a number of occasions when either the US or Russia have mistakenly believed that the other nation was in the process of launching a nuclear attack. With 3,600 Russian warheads on 700 missiles and 2,000 US warheads on 500 missiles, with each side capable to launch within roughly 20 minutes, this must never be allowed to happen, either over the Y2K 'rollover', or at any other time. The use of 5,600 warheads would certainly mean the end of what we call civilization, would likely mean the end of the human race and could possibly mean the end of all life. I therefore urge both you and the United States, to place all your nuclear forces in a status in which at least days not minutes, would be required to launch. The United Kingdom has, I understand, already done this. The European Parliament has recently called on both the US and Russia to de-alert nuclear weapons and to place them in a state similar to that in which the UK has placed its weapons. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been recommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20 September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkeley has asked for it. In this context I am particularly concerned that statements have been made in which the threat of nuclear weapons has been raised, and that new missiles have been deployed and placed on alert status. As what is at stake is potentially the survival of the entire planet, no considerations, even the highest considerations of national security, can take priority. The immediate stakes are so high and the potential for global catastrophe is so great, that de-alerting of nuclear forces in the face of the Y2K computer problem and the long-term possibility of false alerts must take precedence over all other considerations of political and national security. (Signed) etc. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042 Fax (61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jackie Cabasso <wslf@earthlink.net> Subject: (abolition-usa) LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST LIVERMORE LAB Date: 23 Dec 1999 17:25:00 -0800 --=====================_28501760==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by hawk.prod.itd.earthlink.net id RAA13819 Tri-Valley CAREs Western States Legal Foundation Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibility Environmental Update =20 December 1999 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DECEMBER 23, 1999 CONTACT: Sally Light, Tri-Valley CAREs (510) 527-2057 =20 Robert Gould, M.D., Physicians for Social Responsibility = (415) 864-6758=20 Phyllis Olin, Esq., Western States Legal Foundation (510) 5267217 ENVIRONMENTALISTS AND DOCTORS SUE CAL EPA, UC, AND DOE OVER NUCLEAR WEAPO= NS LAB PERMIT; CITE CHRONIC HAZARDOUS WASTE PROBLEMS AND VIOLATIONS OF CALIFORNI= A ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT OAKLAND, CA -- TriValley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environ= ment), Western States Legal Foundation (WSLF), and the San Francisco Bay Area Ch= apter of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) today filed suit in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland against the Department of Toxic Substanc= es Control (DTSC, a Department of the State of California Environmental Prot= ection Agency), the Regents of the University of California (UC) and the United = States Department of Energy (DOE). The groups claim that a final permit issued by DTSC earlier this = year for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to treat hazardous wastes, including the construction and operation of new facilities, viola= tes the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). CEQA requires preparati= on of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) when a project may cause significant impacts to the environment and surrounding community. According to Phyll= is Olin, an attorney with Western States Legal Foundation: =93DTSC=92s issua= nce of a Negative Declaration for such a complex project as a hazardous waste trea= tment facility at a nuclear weapons laboratory was inappropriate since such activities have the potential to cause significant environmental impacts.= =94 The final permit makes permanent, interim status documents under which LLNL h= as operated since 1983. LLNL, operated by the DOE and managed by UC, is one of the nation= =92s two primary nuclear weapons research and development centers. According to D= OE documents, in 1997, LLNL generated 2,769,600 pounds of hazardous waste (including liquids), and 243,200 pounds of mixed hazardous and radioactiv= e wastes. LLNL discharges hundreds of thousands of gallons of wastewater e= ach year into the Livermore municipal sewer system. LLNL operations and FOR=20 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DECEMBER 23, 1999 CONTACT: Sally Light, Tri-Valley CAREs (510) 527-2057 =20 Robert Gould, M.D., Physicians for Social Responsibility = (415) 864-6758=20 Phyllis Olin, Esq., Western States Legal Foundation (510) 5267217 ENVIRONMENTALISTS AND DOCTORS SUE CAL EPA, UC, . . . (continued) hazardous waste management activities have resulted in releases of hazard= ous and radioactive materials into the air, soil and groundwater. Employees = at LLNL have been contaminated with radioactive and hazardous materials. Th= e areas affected by the Lab=92s hazardous waste treatment operations includ= e wetlands and an arroyo. Species believed to be situated in the project vicinity include the California Red-Legged Frog, White-Tailed Kite, and Burrowing Owl. =20 TriValley CAREs, a Livermorebased group, Oakland=92s Western Stat= es Legal Foundation, and the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of Physicians for Soci= al Responsibility have monitored nuclear weapons activities at LLNL and rais= ed concerns about the environmental impacts of those activities and their potential effects on public and worker health and safety since the mid-19= 80's. The three groups have gone on record since 1997 opposing the final permit= for hazardous waste operations at LLNL, and have testified at public hearings= and submitted written comments. Earlier this year, they filed an administrat= ive appeal with DTSC asking that the decision to issue the permit be revoked= .=20 DTSC recently denied the appeal. =20 =93We are extremely upset that the DTSC has issued a final permit= and ignored our repeated requests for an Environmental Impact Report, as requ= ired under CEQA.=94 said Marylia Kelley, executive director of Tri-Valley CARE= s. =93It is unconscionable that DTSC, a state agency mandated to ensure public and environmental safety, has cut corners to grant a permit to the Livermore = Lab, especially since DTSC is aware of the Lab=92s long history of toxic and radioactive accidents, spills and releases.=94=20 Dr. Robert Gould, President of the San Francisco Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibility, added: =93We are concerned that activities at the = Lab=92s hazardous waste treatment facilities may pose serious health risks to emp= loyees and the surrounding communities.=94 The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Michael Veiluva, of A= lborg, Veiluva and Cannata, Phyllis Olin of Western States Legal Foundation, and= Alan Ramo and Anne Eng of the Environmental Law and Justice Clinic Golden Gate University School= of Law. =20 # # # ****************************************************** Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION 1440 Broadway, Suite 500 Oakland, California USA 94612 Tel: +(510)839-5877 Fax: +(510)839-5397 E-mail: wslf@earthlink.net ****************************************************** Western States Legal Foundation is part of ABOLITION 2000 A GLOBAL NETWORK TO ELIMINATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS --=====================_28501760==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by hawk.prod.itd.earthlink.net id RAA13819 <html> <font size=3D6><b><i><div align=3D"center"> Tri-Valley CAREs Western States Legal Foundation</font></b></i><br> Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibility</b></i><br> <font size=3D4></div> Environmental Update</b></i> <x-tab> </x-tab> &nbs= p; <x-tab> </x-tab><b><i> &nbs= p; = ; = December 1999<br> </font></i><font face=3D"Arial, Helvetica" size=3D4>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> &n= bsp; </x-tab><x-tab> = </x-tab><x-tab> &nbs= p;</x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>= DECEMBER 23, 1999<br> <br> CONTACT:</b> <x-tab> </x-tab>Sally Light, Tri-Valley CAREs (510) 527-2057 <br> <x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab>&nb= sp; </x-tab>Robert Gould, M.D., Physicians for Social Responsibility (415) 864-6758 <br> <x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab>&nb= sp; </x-tab>Phyllis Olin, Esq., Western States Legal Foundation (510) 5267217<br> <br> </font><font face=3D"Arial, Helvetica" size=3D5><b><div align=3D"center"> ENVIRONMENTALISTS AND DOCTORS SUE CAL EPA, UC, AND DOE OVER NUCLEAR WEAPONS LAB PERMIT; CITE CHRONIC HAZARDOUS WASTE PROBLEMS AND VIOLATIONS OF CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT<br> <br> </font><font face=3D"Arial, Helvetica" size=3D4></div> OAKLAND, CA</b> -- TriValley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment), Western States Legal Foundation (WSLF), and the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) today filed suit in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland against the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC, a Department of the State of California Environmental Protection Agency), the Regents of the University of California (UC) and the United States Department of Energy (DOE).<br> <br> <x-tab> </x-tab>The groups claim that a final permit issued by DTSC earlier this year for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to treat hazardous wastes, including the construction and operation of new facilities, violates the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). CEQA requires preparation of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) when a project may cause significant impacts to the environment and surrounding community. According to Phyllis Olin, an attorney with Western States Legal Foundation: =93DTSC=92s issuance of a Negative Declaration f= or such a complex project as a hazardous waste treatment facility at a nuclear weapons laboratory was inappropriate since such activities have the potential to cause significant environmental impacts.=94 The fin= al permit makes permanent, interim status documents under which LLNL has operated since 1983.<br> <br> <x-tab> </x-tab>LLNL, operated by the DOE and managed by UC, is one of the nation=92s two prima= ry nuclear weapons research and development centers. According to DOE documents, in 1997, LLNL generated 2,769,600 pounds of hazardous waste (including liquids), and 243,200 pounds of mixed hazardous and radioactive wastes. LLNL discharges hundreds of thousands of gallons of wastewater each year into the Livermore municipal sewer system. LLNL operations and <b>FOR <br> <br> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> &n= bsp; </x-tab><x-tab> = </x-tab><x-tab> &nbs= p;</x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>= DECEMBER 23, 1999<br> <br> CONTACT:</b> <x-tab> </x-tab>Sally Light, Tri-Valley CAREs (510) 527-2057 <br> <x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab>&nb= sp; </x-tab>Robert Gould, M.D., Physicians for Social Responsibility (415) 864-6758 <br> <x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab>&nb= sp; </x-tab>Phyllis Olin, Esq., Western States Legal Foundation (510) 5267217<br> <br> </font><font face=3D"Arial, Helvetica" size=3D5><b><div align=3D"center"> ENVIRONMENTALISTS AND DOCTORS SUE CAL EPA, UC, . . .<br> <br> </font></b><font face=3D"Arial, Helvetica" size=3D4><i>(continued)<br> <br> <br> </i></div> hazardous waste management activities have resulted in releases of hazardous and radioactive materials into the air, soil and groundwater. Employees at LLNL have been contaminated with radioactive and hazardous materials. The areas affected by the Lab=92s hazardous waste treatment operations include wetlands and an arroyo. Species believed to be situated in the project vicinity include the California Red-Legged Frog, White-Tailed Kite, and Burrowing Owl.<br> <x-tab> </x-tab><br> <x-tab> </x-tab>TriValley CAREs, a Livermorebased group, Oakland=92s Western States Legal Foundatio= n, and the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility have monitored nuclear weapons activities at LLNL and raised concerns about the environmental impacts of those activities and their potential effects on public and worker health and safety since the mid-1980's. <x-tab> </x-tab>The three groups have gone on record since 1997 opposing the final permit for hazardous waste operations at LLNL, and have testified at public hearings and submitted written comments. Earlier this year, they filed an administrative appeal with DTSC asking that the decision to issue the permit be revoked. DTSC recently denied the appeal. <br> <br> <x-tab> </x-tab>=93We are extremely upset that the DTSC has issued a final permit and ignored our repeated requests for an Environmental Impact Report, as required under CEQA.=94 said Marylia Kelley, executive director of Tri-Valley CAREs. =93= It is unconscionable that DTSC, a state agency mandated to ensure public and environmental safety, has cut corners to grant a permit to the Livermore Lab, especially since DTSC is aware of the Lab=92s long history of toxic and radioactive accidents, spills and releases.=94 <br> <br> <x-tab> </x-tab>Dr. Robert Gould, President of the San Francisco Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibility, added: =93We are concerned that activities at the Lab=92s hazardous waste treatment facilities may pose serious health risks to employees and the surrounding communities.=94<br> <br> <x-tab> </x-tab>The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Michael Veiluva, of Alborg, Veiluva and Cannata, Phyllis Olin of Western States Legal Foundation, and Alan Ramo and Anne Eng<br> of the Environmental Law and Justice Clinic Golden Gate University School of Law. <br> <br> <br> <br> <div align=3D"center"> # # #</font><br> <div align=3D"center"> ******************************************************<br> Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director<br> WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION<br> 1440 Broadway, Suite 500<br> Oakland, California USA 94612<br> Tel: +(510)839-5877<br> Fax: +(510)839-5397<br> E-mail: wslf@earthlink.net<br> ******************************************************<br> Western States Legal Foundation is part of ABOLITION 2000<br> A GLOBAL NETWORK TO ELIMINATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS</html> --=====================_28501760==_.ALT-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) THE WORLDS BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT Date: 23 Dec 1999 19:05:59 +1000 It's nearly Christmas Eve here in Sydney. Unlike the northern hemisphere, down here it is warm and sunny in spite of recent rain. People are likely to spend Christmas, (with the exception of strange folk like myself who spend it in front of a computer warning of a possible perhaps-maybe-who-knows, apocalpse, and asking people to do utterly absurd things like fax Clinton and Yeltsin about it, ) - with their families or friends at a back - yard barbequeue, or at the beach. But whether you have had a warm to hot downunder Christmas or a US or European white Christmas, it would be much more of a pleasure if you knew that there were not those 5,600 land- based ICBM warheads plus submarine and bomber based warheads, on 24 hour a day immmediate, launch-on-warning status. That could ruin your entire new year, especially knowing that the oldest, largest, most complex, and previously least Y2K compliant computer systems in the world perform command, communications, control, and intelligence for nuclear weapons systems. Sure, the Pentagon say they have spent $3.6billion to make their nuclear combat command, communication, and control systems Y2K compliant. Sure, the US and Russia have established a joint Y2K 'Strategic Stability Centre' next to the Cheyyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado. And it is important - indeed crucial - that they have done this. However, we hope they have by now managed to fix the hotlines set up during the cold war, and discovered to be non Y2K compliant in September. If nuclear weapons could not be immediately launched, then not only over the nervous Y2K rollover period, when US and Russian officers are going to EXPECT false alerts, blank screens, and communication blackouts, but at any other time when also false alerts have happened, decision makers would never be forced into the situation in which they have to decide whether to blow up the world in five minutes, perhaps at 3am in the morning when very much the worse for wear after new years drinkies. The best Christmas gift Clinton or Yeltsin can give the world is to do as two resolutions passed by the United Nations General Assembly a year ago with massive majorities, and another two passed this year with massive majorities, two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate and one resolution passed unanimously by the European Parliament have reccommended - to take nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert and place them in a status in which launch on warning is no longer possible. A letter signed by 500 global environmental organisations, arms control groups, religious bodies, NGOs, and Parliamentarians asking for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert for the new year was faxed to Yeltsin and Clinton yesterday. Ask President Clinton, President Yeltsin, and their secretaries and ministers for defence to do this. If you have access to a fax machine, a single page A4 fax even to the Kremlin should cost you round a dollar. (public fax facilities charge an arm and a leg so don't bother with them). The best fax is handwritten not typed. Do it now - It's Christmas Eve tomorrow (or it is here in Sydney). You can fax for free on: http://www.fax4free.com You can fax Clinton on +1-202-456-2461 You can fax US defence secy Cohen on 1-703-695-1149 You can fax Yeltsin on +7-095-205-4330. There are sample letters below, but they you should shorten them and use your own words. You don't need to write anything near as long as this. Use what you want of these sample letters in your own way. 1) SAMPLE LETTER TO COHEN/CLINTON (Please customise and shorten) TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period, to ask that any false alarms or 'near misses' over the Y2K rollover and at any other time be reported publicly, and to ask that the Y2K strategic stability centre's operations be extended preferably indefinitely but at least till May. There is little time to act, and an immediate decision to place nuclear weapons in a status in which immediate launch is impossible is essential to ensure global stability. As you will be aware, the European Parliament recently voted to ask you and President Yeltsin to do as the UK has already done, and de-alert nuclear weapons. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20 September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkeley has asked for it. De-Alerting and the establishment of the Y2K strategic stability centre are not in competition with each other. Indeed, we urge strongly that the strategic stability centres operations be extended indefinitely. Reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting are all vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. The very nature of the Y2K problem makes it impossible to be sure everything has been fixed until well into the new year. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. This system seems to include additional ways in which Y2K failure might lead to an accidental launch. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one, but it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as we the public are aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The Y2K vulnerabilities recently discovered in six of the seven hotlines on which US/Russian communications depends, are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has already been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. The United States is making a serious error in failing to consider de-alerting. Failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low, but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. This will continue to be so after the immmediate Y2K 'rollover' period. In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. (SIGNED) etc. 2) SAMPLE LETTER TO YELTSIN/DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV (Please customise and shorten) PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, IGOR SERGEYEV, RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, +7-095-205-4330, Dear Defence Minister Sergeyev and President Yeltsin, I am writing to convey my deep concern that Y2K-related computer failures in the command and control systems for nuclear weapons may lead to an accidental nuclear war. I am aware that both Russia and the US have taken this problem seriously enough to establish a joint strategic stability center in Colorado. However, I am very much concerned that this facility will come into operation only by 27th December 1999, so that a delay of just four days will make it useless. This facility is however, essential to the security of the world, and should continue to operate indefinitely. I am also very much concerned that Y2K problems have been found recently in six out of seven of the 'hotlines' that would be used if a crisis of any sort arose over the Y2K rollover period. I am aware that there have been a number of occasions when either the US or Russia have mistakenly believed that the other nation was in the process of launching a nuclear attack. With 3,600 Russian warheads on 700 missiles and 2,000 US warheads on 500 missiles, with each side capable to launch within roughly 20 minutes, this must never be allowed to happen, either over the Y2K 'rollover', or at any other time. The use of 5,600 warheads would certainly mean the end of what we call civilization, would likely mean the end of the human race and could possibly mean the end of all life. I therefore urge both you and the United States, to place all your nuclear forces in a status in which at least days not minutes, would be required to launch. The United Kingdom has, I understand, already done this. The European Parliament has recently called on both the US and Russia to de-alert nuclear weapons and to place them in a state similar to that in which the UK has placed its weapons. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been recommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20 September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkeley has asked for it. In this context I am particularly concerned that statements have been made in which the threat of nuclear weapons has been raised, and that new missiles have been deployed and placed on alert status. As what is at stake is potentially the survival of the entire planet, no considerations, even the highest considerations of national security, can take priority. The immediate stakes are so high and the potential for global catastrophe is so great, that de-alerting of nuclear forces in the face of the Y2K computer problem and the long-term possibility of false alerts must take precedence over all other considerations of political and national security. (Signed) etc. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042 Fax (61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Helen Caldicott" <hcaldic@ibm.net> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST LIVERMORE LAB Date: 24 Dec 1999 16:09:28 +1100 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_01B4_01BF4E29.417B79A0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Excellent work people, congratulations! If I can help in any way do let = me know Helen Caldicott ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Jackie Cabasso=20 To: abolition-caucus@igc.org ; abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com=20 Sent: Friday, December 24, 1999 12:25 PM Subject: (abolition-usa) LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST LIVERMORE LAB Tri-Valley CAREs Western States Legal Foundation Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibility Environmental Update = December 1999 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DECEMBER 23, = 1999 CONTACT: Sally Light, Tri-Valley CAREs (510) 527-2057 =20 Robert Gould, M.D., Physicians for Social = Responsibility (415) 864-6758=20 Phyllis Olin, Esq., Western States Legal Foundation = (510) 5267217 ENVIRONMENTALISTS AND DOCTORS SUE CAL EPA, UC, AND DOE OVER NUCLEAR = WEAPONS LAB PERMIT; CITE CHRONIC HAZARDOUS WASTE PROBLEMS AND VIOLATIONS = OF CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT OAKLAND, CA -- TriValley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive = Environment), Western States Legal Foundation (WSLF), and the San = Francisco Bay Area Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) = today filed suit in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland against the = Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC, a Department of the State = of California Environmental Protection Agency), the Regents of the = University of California (UC) and the United States Department of Energy = (DOE). The groups claim that a final permit issued by DTSC earlier = this year for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to treat = hazardous wastes, including the construction and operation of new = facilities, violates the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). = CEQA requires preparation of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) when a = project may cause significant impacts to the environment and surrounding = community. According to Phyllis Olin, an attorney with Western States = Legal Foundation: "DTSC's issuance of a Negative Declaration for such a = complex project as a hazardous waste treatment facility at a nuclear = weapons laboratory was inappropriate since such activities have the = potential to cause significant environmental impacts." The final permit = makes permanent, interim status documents under which LLNL has operated = since 1983. LLNL, operated by the DOE and managed by UC, is one of the = nation's two primary nuclear weapons research and development centers. = According to DOE documents, in 1997, LLNL generated 2,769,600 pounds of = hazardous waste (including liquids), and 243,200 pounds of mixed = hazardous and radioactive wastes. LLNL discharges hundreds of thousands = of gallons of wastewater each year into the Livermore municipal sewer = system. LLNL operations and FOR=20 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DECEMBER 23, = 1999 CONTACT: Sally Light, Tri-Valley CAREs (510) 527-2057 =20 Robert Gould, M.D., Physicians for Social = Responsibility (415) 864-6758=20 Phyllis Olin, Esq., Western States Legal Foundation = (510) 5267217 ENVIRONMENTALISTS AND DOCTORS SUE CAL EPA, UC, . . . (continued) hazardous waste management activities have resulted in releases of = hazardous and radioactive materials into the air, soil and groundwater. = Employees at LLNL have been contaminated with radioactive and hazardous = materials. The areas affected by the Lab's hazardous waste treatment = operations include wetlands and an arroyo. Species believed to be = situated in the project vicinity include the California Red-Legged Frog, = White-Tailed Kite, and Burrowing Owl. =20 TriValley CAREs, a Livermorebased group, Oakland's Western = States Legal Foundation, and the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of = Physicians for Social Responsibility have monitored nuclear weapons = activities at LLNL and raised concerns about the environmental impacts = of those activities and their potential effects on public and worker = health and safety since the mid-1980's. The three groups have gone on = record since 1997 opposing the final permit for hazardous waste = operations at LLNL, and have testified at public hearings and submitted = written comments. Earlier this year, they filed an administrative = appeal with DTSC asking that the decision to issue the permit be = revoked. DTSC recently denied the appeal. =20 "We are extremely upset that the DTSC has issued a final = permit and ignored our repeated requests for an Environmental Impact = Report, as required under CEQA." said Marylia Kelley, executive director = of Tri-Valley CAREs. "It is unconscionable that DTSC, a state agency = mandated to ensure public and environmental safety, has cut corners to = grant a permit to the Livermore Lab, especially since DTSC is aware of = the Lab's long history of toxic and radioactive accidents, spills and = releases."=20 Dr. Robert Gould, President of the San Francisco Bay Area = Physicians for Social Responsibility, added: "We are concerned that = activities at the Lab's hazardous waste treatment facilities may pose = serious health risks to employees and the surrounding communities." The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Michael Veiluva, = of Alborg, Veiluva and Cannata, Phyllis Olin of Western States Legal = Foundation, and Alan Ramo and Anne Eng of the Environmental Law and Justice Clinic Golden Gate University = School of Law. =20 # # # ****************************************************** Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION 1440 Broadway, Suite 500 Oakland, California USA 94612 Tel: +(510)839-5877 Fax: +(510)839-5397 E-mail: wslf@earthlink.net ****************************************************** Western States Legal Foundation is part of ABOLITION 2000 A GLOBAL NETWORK TO ELIMINATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS=20 ------=_NextPart_000_01B4_01BF4E29.417B79A0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" = http-equiv=3DContent-Type> <META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2014.210" name=3DGENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Excellent work people, congratulations! = If I can=20 help in any way do let me know Helen Caldicott</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE=20 style=3D"BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: = 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV=20 style=3D"BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B>=20 <A href=3D"mailto:wslf@earthlink.net" = title=3Dwslf@earthlink.net>Jackie=20 Cabasso</A> </DIV> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A=20 href=3D"mailto:abolition-caucus@igc.org"=20 title=3Dabolition-caucus@igc.org>abolition-caucus@igc.org</A> ; <A=20 href=3D"mailto:abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com"=20 = title=3Dabolition-usa@lists.xmission.com>abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com= </A>=20 </DIV> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, December 24, 1999 = 12:25=20 PM</DIV> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> (abolition-usa) = LAWSUIT FILED=20 AGAINST LIVERMORE LAB</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><FONT size=3D6><B><I> <DIV align=3Dcenter>Tri-Valley CAREs Western States Legal=20 Foundation</FONT></B></I><BR>Bay Area Physicians for Social=20 Responsibility</B></I><BR><FONT = size=3D4></DIV> =20 Environmental Update</B></I> =20 = <X-TAB> </X-TAB> &nbs= p; =20 = <X-TAB> </X-TAB><B><I> &nbs= p; = ; = = December 1999<BR></FONT></I><FONT face=3D"Arial, Helvetica" = size=3D4>FOR IMMEDIATE=20 = RELEASE<X-TAB> </X-TAB><X-TAB> &n= bsp; </X-TAB><X-TAB> = </X-TAB><X-TAB> &nbs= p;</X-TAB><X-TAB> </X-TAB>= DECEMBER=20 23, 1999<BR><BR>CONTACT:</B>=20 <X-TAB> </X-TAB>Sally Light,=20 Tri-Valley CAREs (510) 527-2057 =20 = <BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB><X-TAB= > </X-TAB>Robert=20 Gould, M.D., Physicians for Social Responsibility (415) 864-6758=20 = <BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB><X-TAB= > </X-TAB>Phyllis=20 Olin, Esq., Western States Legal Foundation (510) = 5267217<BR><BR></FONT><FONT=20 face=3D"Arial, Helvetica" size=3D5><B> <DIV align=3Dcenter>ENVIRONMENTALISTS AND DOCTORS SUE CAL EPA, UC, AND = DOE OVER=20 NUCLEAR WEAPONS LAB PERMIT; CITE CHRONIC HAZARDOUS WASTE PROBLEMS AND=20 VIOLATIONS OF CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT<BR><BR></FONT><FONT = face=3D"Arial, Helvetica" size=3D4></DIV>OAKLAND, CA</B> -- TriValley = CAREs=20 (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment), Western States Legal=20 Foundation (WSLF), and the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of = Physicians for=20 Social Responsibility (PSR) today filed suit in Alameda County = Superior Court=20 in Oakland against the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC, a = Department of the State of California Environmental Protection = Agency), the=20 Regents of the University of California (UC) and the United States = Department=20 of Energy=20 = (DOE).<BR><BR><X-TAB> </X-= TAB>The=20 groups claim that a final permit issued by DTSC earlier this year for = the=20 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to treat hazardous = wastes,=20 including the construction and operation of new facilities, violates = the=20 California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). CEQA requires = preparation=20 of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) when a project may cause = significant=20 impacts to the environment and surrounding community. According = to=20 Phyllis Olin, an attorney with Western States Legal Foundation: = “DTSC’s=20 issuance of a Negative Declaration for such a complex project as a = hazardous=20 waste treatment facility at a nuclear weapons laboratory was =20 inappropriate since such activities have the potential to cause = significant=20 environmental impacts.” The final permit makes permanent, = interim status=20 documents under which LLNL has operated since=20 = 1983.<BR><BR><X-TAB> </X-T= AB>LLNL,=20 operated by the DOE and managed by UC, is one of the nation’s = two primary=20 nuclear weapons research and development centers. According to = DOE=20 documents, in 1997, LLNL generated 2,769,600 pounds of hazardous waste = (including liquids), and 243,200 pounds of mixed hazardous and = radioactive=20 wastes. LLNL discharges hundreds of thousands of gallons of = wastewater=20 each year into the Livermore municipal sewer system. LLNL = operations and=20 <B>FOR <BR><BR>FOR IMMEDIATE=20 = RELEASE<X-TAB> </X-TAB><X-TAB> &n= bsp; </X-TAB><X-TAB> = </X-TAB><X-TAB> &nbs= p;</X-TAB><X-TAB> </X-TAB>= DECEMBER=20 23, 1999<BR><BR>CONTACT:</B>=20 <X-TAB> </X-TAB>Sally Light,=20 Tri-Valley CAREs (510) 527-2057 =20 = <BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB><X-TAB= > </X-TAB>Robert=20 Gould, M.D., Physicians for Social Responsibility (415) 864-6758=20 = <BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB><X-TAB= > </X-TAB>Phyllis=20 Olin, Esq., Western States Legal Foundation (510) = 5267217<BR><BR></FONT><FONT=20 face=3D"Arial, Helvetica" size=3D5><B> <DIV align=3Dcenter>ENVIRONMENTALISTS AND DOCTORS SUE CAL EPA, UC, . . = .<BR><BR></FONT></B><FONT face=3D"Arial, Helvetica"=20 size=3D4><I>(continued)<BR><BR><BR></I></DIV>hazardous waste = management=20 activities have resulted in releases of hazardous and radioactive = materials=20 into the air, soil and groundwater. Employees at LLNL have been=20 contaminated with radioactive and hazardous materials. The areas = affected by the Lab’s hazardous waste treatment operations = include wetlands=20 and an arroyo. Species believed to be situated in the project = vicinity=20 include the California Red-Legged Frog, White-Tailed Kite, and = Burrowing=20 = Owl.<BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB><B= R><X-TAB> </X-TAB>TriValle= y=20 CAREs, a Livermorebased group, Oakland’s Western States Legal = Foundation, and=20 the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of Physicians for Social = Responsibility=20 have monitored nuclear weapons activities at LLNL and raised concerns = about=20 the environmental impacts of those activities and their potential = effects on=20 public and worker health and safety since the mid-1980's.=20 <X-TAB> </X-TAB>The three groups have gone on record since = 1997=20 opposing the final permit for hazardous waste operations at LLNL, and = have=20 testified at public hearings and submitted written comments. = Earlier=20 this year, they filed an administrative appeal with DTSC asking = that the=20 decision to issue the permit be revoked. DTSC recently denied = the=20 appeal. =20 = <BR><BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB>&#= 8220;We are=20 extremely upset that the DTSC has issued a final permit and ignored = our=20 repeated requests for an Environmental Impact Report, as required = under CEQA.”=20 said Marylia Kelley, executive director of Tri-Valley CAREs. “It = is=20 unconscionable that DTSC, a state agency mandated to ensure public and = environmental safety, has cut corners to grant a permit to the = Livermore Lab,=20 especially since DTSC is aware of the Lab’s long history of = toxic and=20 radioactive accidents, spills and releases.”=20 = <BR><BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB>Dr= .=20 Robert Gould, President of the San Francisco Bay Area Physicians for = Social=20 Responsibility, added: “We are concerned that activities at the = Lab’s=20 hazardous waste treatment facilities may pose serious health risks to=20 employees and the surrounding=20 = communities.”<BR><BR><X-TAB> &nb= sp; </X-TAB>The=20 plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Michael Veiluva, of Alborg, = Veiluva=20 and Cannata, Phyllis Olin of Western States Legal Foundation, and Alan = Ramo=20 and Anne Eng<BR>of the Environmental Law and Justice Clinic Golden = Gate=20 University School of Law. <BR><BR><BR><BR> <DIV align=3Dcenter># # #</FONT><BR> <DIV=20 = align=3Dcenter>******************************************************<BR>= Jacqueline=20 Cabasso, Executive Director<BR>WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION<BR>1440 = Broadway, Suite 500<BR>Oakland, California USA 94612<BR>Tel:=20 +(510)839-5877<BR>Fax: +(510)839-5397<BR>E-mail:=20 = wslf@earthlink.net<BR>***************************************************= ***<BR>Western=20 States Legal Foundation is part of ABOLITION 2000<BR>A GLOBAL = NETWORK TO=20 ELIMINATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS </DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML> ------=_NextPart_000_01B4_01BF4E29.417B79A0-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) New Year in Sydney - The Best New Years Present (or anytime Date: 27 Dec 1999 16:58:54 +1000 New Year in Sydney - The Best New Years Present (or anytime really) IT'S the day past boxing day here in Sydney - Still a public holiday, with buses on sunday timetable. The whole of Sydney is in holiday mode. Unlike the northern hemisphere, down here it is warm and sunny though it rains on and off today. People are likely to spend new year with their families or friends at a back - yard barbequeue, or at the beach. Right now there's a lot of people taking their leisure in the city. There are massive millenium celebrations planned for Christmas, and most folk are cautiously confident that in Australia at least, the Y2K 'bug' has been fixed. In fact barely more than essential infrasrructure has been fixed, with most business untouched but that's still better than most of the rest of the world! But whether you have had a warm to hot downunder new year or a US or European snowy one, it would be much more of a pleasure if you knew that there were not those 5,600 land- based ICBM warheads plus submarine and bomber based warheads, on 24 hour a day immmediate, launch-on-warning status. That could ruin your entire new year, especially knowing that the oldest, largest, most complex, and previously least Y2K compliant computer systems in the world perform command, communications, control, and intelligence for nuclear weapons systems. These systems will only experience the rollover some 9-18 hours after Australia does. So new years day could be nervous, at least for those of us who think of such things. Sure, the Pentagon say they have spent $3.6billion to make their nuclear combat command, communication, and control systems Y2K compliant. Sure, the US and Russia have established a joint Y2K 'Strategic Stability Centre' next to the Cheyyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado. And it is important - indeed crucial - that they have done this. However, we hope they have by now managed to fix the hotlines set up during the cold war, and discovered to be non Y2K compliant in September. If nuclear weapons could not be immediately launched, then not only over the nervous Y2K rollover period, when US and Russian officers are going to EXPECT false alerts, blank screens, and communication blackouts, but at any other time when also false alerts have happened, decision makers would never be forced into the situation in which they have to decide whether to blow up the world in five minutes, perhaps at 3am in the morning when very much the worse for wear after new years drinkies. The best gift Clinton or Yeltsin can give the world is to do as two resolutions passed by the United Nations General Assembly a year ago with massive majorities, and another two passed this year with massive majorities, two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate and one resolution passed unanimously by the European Parliament have reccommended - to take nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert and place them in a status in which launch on warning is no longer possible. A letter signed by 500 global environmental organisations, arms control groups, religious bodies, NGOs, and Parliamentarians asking for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert for the new year was faxed to Yeltsin and Clinton some days ago. It will be faxed again on 29th or 30th. Clinton, Cohen, and Yeltsin have now been recieving an awful lot of faxes and phonecalls asking them to take missiles off alert. Ask President Clinton, President Yeltsin, and their secretaries and ministers for defence (Cohen and Sergeyev) to do this. If you have access to a fax machine, a single page A4 fax even to the Kremlin should cost you round a dollar. (public fax facilities charge an arm and a leg so don't bother with them). The best fax is handwritten, not typed. Do it now - It's Christmas Eve tomorrow (or it is here in Sydney). You can fax for free on: http://www.fax4free.com You can fax Clinton on +1-202-456-2461 You can fax US defence secy Cohen on 1-703-695-1149 You can fax Yeltsin and Sergeyev on +7-095-205-4330. There are sample letters below. You should shorten them and use your own words. You don't need to write anything near as long as this. Use what you want of these sample letters in your own way, and preferably, handwrite don't type. 1) SAMPLE LETTER TO COHEN/CLINTON (Please customise and shorten) TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period, to ask that any false alarms or 'near misses' over the Y2K rollover and at any other time be reported publicly, and to ask that the Y2K strategic stability centre's operations be extended preferably indefinitely but at least till May. There is little time to act, and an immediate decision to place nuclear weapons in a status in which immediate launch is impossible is essential to ensure global stability. As you will be aware, the European Parliament recently voted to ask you and President Yeltsin to do as the UK has already done, and de-alert nuclear weapons. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20 September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkeley has asked for it. De-Alerting and the establishment of the Y2K strategic stability centre are not in competition with each other. Indeed, we urge strongly that the strategic stability centres operations be extended indefinitely. Reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting are all vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. The very nature of the Y2K problem makes it impossible to be sure everything has been fixed until well into the new year. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. This system seems to include additional ways in which Y2K failure might lead to an accidental launch. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one, but it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as we the public are aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The Y2K vulnerabilities recently discovered in six of the seven hotlines on which US/Russian communications depends, are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has already been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. The United States is making a serious error in failing to consider de-alerting. Failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low, but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. This will continue to be so after the immmediate Y2K 'rollover' period. In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. (SIGNED) etc. 2) SAMPLE LETTER TO YELTSIN/DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV (Please customise and shorten) PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, IGOR SERGEYEV, RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, +7-095-205-4330, Dear Defence Minister Sergeyev and President Yeltsin, I am writing to convey my deep concern that Y2K-related computer failures in the command and control systems for nuclear weapons may lead to an accidental nuclear war. I am aware that both Russia and the US have taken this problem seriously enough to establish a joint strategic stability center in Colorado. However, I am very much concerned that this facility will come into operation only by 27th December 1999, so that a delay of just four days will make it useless. This facility is however, essential to the security of the world, and should continue to operate indefinitely. I am also very much concerned that Y2K problems have been found recently in six out of seven of the 'hotlines' that would be used if a crisis of any sort arose over the Y2K rollover period. I am aware that there have been a number of occasions when either the US or Russia have mistakenly believed that the other nation was in the process of launching a nuclear attack. With 3,600 Russian warheads on 700 missiles and 2,000 US warheads on 500 missiles, with each side capable to launch within roughly 20 minutes, this must never be allowed to happen, either over the Y2K 'rollover', or at any other time. The use of 5,600 warheads would certainly mean the end of what we call civilization, would likely mean the end of the human race and could possibly mean the end of all life. I therefore urge both you and the United States, to place all your nuclear forces in a status in which at least days not minutes, would be required to launch. The United Kingdom has, I understand, already done this. The European Parliament has recently called on both the US and Russia to de-alert nuclear weapons and to place them in a state similar to that in which the UK has placed its weapons. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been recommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20 September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkeley has asked for it. In this context I am particularly concerned that statements have been made in which the threat of nuclear weapons has been raised, and that new missiles have been deployed and placed on alert status. As what is at stake is potentially the survival of the entire planet, no considerations, even the highest considerations of national security, can take priority. The immediate stakes are so high and the potential for global catastrophe is so great, that de-alerting of nuclear forces in the face of the Y2K computer problem and the long-term possibility of false alerts must take precedence over all other considerations of political and national security. (Signed) etc. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042 Fax (61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: Inviting NPT speakers Date: 27 Dec 1999 12:56:56 -0500 Dear All, Just for the record, I presented the proposal to the Board of the NGO Committee on Disarmament on December 14th (about 15 members were there) after receiving the support of the Abolition 2000 Coordinating Committee and after it had been circulated to the Abolition Global Council. The proposal was first made at the Hague Appeal for Peace, at an INESAP panel and can be seen in the INESAP Bulletin of August 1999. We discussed it in Russia at the Abolition 2000 Meeting in St. Petersburg in June. I also discussed it in Vancouver at the Simons Foundation Strategy Conference and received positive feedback. Rebecca Johnson of Acronym thought it was "brilliant" and Sharon Riggles of CSED thought I should try to go ahead with it too when I spoke to them about it this fall during Disarmament Week. Cora Weiss said she would help with her contacts through the Hague Appeal for Peace. GRACE has a fund to make this happen and I thought it would be a good use of our resources to bring the NPT to the attention of the US public, where nuclear disarmament is most stuck, by making it a mediagenic event. Rebecca suggested, in light of the process that had been established by the NGO Committee on Disarmament, that NGOs be invited to do briefing papers for the public figures in order to maintain the high quality of their involvement and participation that had been established in the prepcom process over the past 3 years. With all the positive feedback I received, I brought the proposal to the NGO Committee on Disarmament where it was discussed and voted on. The proposal was approved without dissent, to send a letter from the NGO Committee inviting prominent speakers among NGOs and to invite briefing papers from NGOs who had participated in the past. It was agreed that the letter had to go out before the New Year as it was already rather late to schedule some of our prospective invitees. On December 15th I delivered a draft letter to the Chair of the Committee, Vernon Nichols, and left it under his door. I also communicated by email with the subcommittee who had volunteered to whittle down the list of prospective invitees. The subcommittee was Dorrie Weiss, Myrna Pena, Ann Lakhdir and myself. I shared by email the draft letter and all communications I had received about the proposal with the sub-committee--having posted a second request to the abolition caucus for suggested speakers, after Roger Smith posted his report of what had transpired on December 14. I don't think the idea is, as Ann suggests, "unrealistic". What was unrealistic was to believe that after the NGO Board voted on something, they would actually stick to it. It's still a good idea and I hope someone can make it happen. I urge you to reflect on Ann Lakhdir comment that "I have already talked with some people in the UN, who are far from enthusiastic about invitations to Gorbachev and Carter." Does the UN have a say on who NGOs can invite to speak at their NGO sessions? Who at the UN? Carter and Gorbachev were two names on the list to which no one raised objection since last May when they were first proposed at the Hague. (I am re-posting the proposed speakers, amended with suggestions from the caucus.) On the evening of the 15th, I became aware of the possibility raised by Ann as a reason to delay action, that the date for the speakers might change and spoke with Stephanie Fraser, Felicity Hill and Cora Weiss about couching the letter from the NGO Committee in more general terms but giving the speakers a heads up about the approximate time the NGO session would occur. We also discussed doing more individualized follow-up letters from personal contacts of the invitees. The undertainty of the date is not an obstacle to beginning the invitation process. I also spoke to Tamara Malenova who works for the Disarmament Secretariat who said a decision could possibly be made in January. She asked me to write a letter to the Secretariat informing them of our plans which I told her should come not from me but from the NGO Committee on Disarmament. But alas, the next thing I knew there was backtracking on the vote that took place, and Ann informed me we would have to wait for next month's NGO Board meeting to see whether the proposal would move forward. If we wait until after next month's NGO Board meeting, we will not be able to forward our letter to the Disarmament Secretariat before they meet with the new Chair of the NPT from Algeria. As I wrote in August, for the INESAP Bulletin, "During the 2000 Review we must put the spotlight on the review conference. We should begin now to invite the most renowned world figures to stand for abolition before the delegates in 2000....The 2000 Review should be a mass media event." With the saber rattling from Russia, the US attempt to abrogate the ABM treaty, two new announced nuclear powers on the scene since the 95 Review, and the defeat of the CTBT in the US Senate, bold measures are called for. Expert NGOs now know the ropes around the UN. They know how to get their materials in to the delegates early. A number of us believe that there's no need for them to present their material orally to the delegates, as was done at the last three PrepComs. GRACE has offered to provide mailing labels to any NGO who wishes to mail to the UN missions. The critical need this year is to alert US public opinion that the NPT is happening and create a groundswell for nuclear disarmament. In other words, NPT should become a household word like WTO. By organizing a session of world leaders, public figures, filling in with moving downwinders, hibakusha, eloquent indigenous leaders and other victims of the toxic legacy of the nuclear age we could focus world attention on the precarious state of the NPT and the need for the nuclear weapons states to fulfill their Article VI obligations and begin negotiations on a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. In response to Oliver Meier's posting, it's not the credibility of the NGOs that s at stake here, but the credibility of the nuclear weapons states who continue to cling to the rusty cold war doctrine of deterrence. I don't know how what process we can use to arrive at a consensus on this process as Roger Smith suggests is needed, other than the vote that was already taken at the NGO Committee. The NGOs described as having a "stake in the process" are laced with "arms controllers" supporting the hegemony of the nuclear weapons states and the "ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons." Their goal appears to be non-proliferation, not abolition. In any event, upon reconsideration, if a consensus does develop on the need to make the NPT newsworthy by using world leaders, public figures and eloquent downwinders (taking a leaf from the land mines campaign which moved the world by showing the human face of suffering)to draw attention to the precarious state of the world and the NPT itself, and should a consensus develop with adequate time to notify prominent speakers, and prepare a proper public relations campaign in favor of nuclear abolition, GRACE would revisit its offer to provide funds to make it happen. Let's all think about this for the New Year. If we don't get blown up by nuclear power plants or mixed messages from computers tracking nuclear weapons on hair trigger alert, maybe we can give profound thanks to God that we still have what might be our last chance to save the world from nuclear disaster and the beginning of a new nuclear arms race on earth and in the heavens. With all best wishes and hopes for a better Century than the one we've almost just come through. Peace, Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: Inviting NPT speakers Date: 27 Dec 1999 13:11:51 -0500 Dear Friends, Here's the list of proposed invitees, collected by email, meetings, etc. John Burroughs pointed out that elected officials and royalty should not be eligible to represent civil society and if you agree, that would help us to whittle the list down. There are seven people in that category: Clark, Roche, Woolsey, Markey, Noor, Talal, Charles. Hope we can develop a process for decision making--but in any event you now have all the info that I have. Peace, Alice Slater Oscar Arias Archbishop Tutu Jose Ramos Horta Mikhail Gorbachev Thich Nhat Hanh Nelson Mandela Graciela Machel Mairead Corrigan Maguire Grace Thorpe Oren Lyons Joseph Rotblat Ted Taylor Jimmy Carter Arundhati Roy Helen Caldicott Prince Charles Paul Newman Michael Douglas Joanne Woodward Martin Sheen Warren Beatty Susan Sarandon Meryl Streep Lee Butler Admiral Ramdas Robert McNamara Queen Noor Judge Weermanty Jonathan Schell Lech Walesca Jodi Williams Marianne Willianson Alan Cranston Oprah Winfrey Barbara Streisand Walter Cronkite Ted Turner Pierce Brosnahan Maya Angelou Lynne Woolsey Ed Markey Stanisfield Turner The Baldwin Family Mayor of Hiroshima Mayor of Nagasaki Amartya Sen Douglas Roche Helen Clark Rob Green Jacqui Katona Winona la Duke Seamus Heaney Wole Solinka Miyoko Matsubara Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: WAND <shaer@wand.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: Inviting NPT speakers etc Date: 27 Dec 1999 14:18:25 -0500 I forwarded your message, etc. to our NGO delegate, Sayre Sheldon. Happy New Year, Alice, and thank you for all that you do! Susan <paraindent><param>left,left,left,left,left,left</param>***************************************** </paraindent> Susan Shaer, Executive Director WAND, Women's Action for New Directions 691 Massachusetts Avenue Arlington, MA 02476 781-643-6740 fax 781-643-6744 <<http://www.wand.org> <italic>Mission: To empower women to act politically to reduce militarism and violence and to redirect excessive military spending to human and environmental needs. WAND is the only national peace organization linking women legislators across the country with local women activists as well as women in Congress in order to address issues of militarism, violence, and human needs.</italic> - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Re: Inviting NPT speakers etc Date: 27 Dec 1999 15:15:06 -0500 Thanks Susan--Happy New Millenium to you too. Love, Alice At 01:18 PM 12/27/1999 -0500, you wrote: >I forwarded your message, etc. to our NGO delegate, Sayre Sheldon. >Happy New Year, Alice, and thank you for all that you do! > >Susan > > > > > >***************************************** > > >Susan Shaer, Executive Director >WAND, Women's Action for New Directions >691 Massachusetts Avenue >Arlington, MA 02476 >781-643-6740 >fax 781-643-6744 ><http://www.wand.org> > >Mission: To empower women to act politically to reduce militarism and >violence and to redirect excessive military spending to human and >environmental needs. > >WAND is the only national peace organization linking women legislators >across the country with local women activists as well as women in Congress >in order to address issues of militarism, violence, and human needs. >- To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to >"majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of >the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old >messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your >message. > Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) Rocket experts fear false signal from Kremlin Date: 28 Dec 1999 18:21:57 +1000 December 27, 1999 Rocket experts fear false signal from Kremlin By Rowan Scarborough THE WASHINGTON TIMES (front page) As the century changes on Dec. 31, a computer-generated false signal could send rocketeers on quickly paced launch procedures for Russia's 756 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Russia's deteriorating nuclear force is causing some experts to worry that a year-2000 computer glitch could spawn a false signal from early warning radars or satellites that the country is under attack. Bruce Blair, a Brookings Institution analyst and leading authority on Russia's sprawling atomic arsenal, said the Strategic Rocket Force operates on a hair-trigger "launch on warning" doctrine. As the century changes on Dec. 31, a computer-generated false signal could send rocketeers on quickly paced launch procedures for Russia's 756 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). "They have about 2,000 weapons they can fire at the United States on a moment's notice, and the main option for firing them is 'launch on warning' at a time when their early warning network is deteriorating badly and at a time when they're suspicious of the West," said Mr. Blair, who as an Air Force officer in the 1970s manned a U.S. Minuteman missile silo. Asked the odds of a false signal triggering an ICBM launch, Mr. Blair said, "It's clear that the likelihood of such an event is higher as a result of Y2K than it would otherwise. . . . [But] this should in all likelihood be a case of fail safe and not fail deadly." The Pentagon, however, says there is no chance for a deadly miscalculation. The department has gone to extraordinary lengths diplomatically and financially to make sure New Year's Eve does not turn into a real-life "The Day After." Its most visible guard against a calamity is the Center for Year 2000 Strategic Stability at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. There, beginning Dec. 30, Russian and American officers will sit side by side at computer screens 24-hours a day. Their job: Monitor data from U.S. Space Command sensors, primarily long-range radars and satellites that detect the heat of a rocket blastoff. "We really do not worry about Russia, missiles going off, or early-warning systems getting false reports or anything like that," said Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre. "We're confident that will not be the case." Added Peter Verga, a Pentagon policy-maker, "If an early warning radar in Russia fails, we think it would be because the power went out, which is a local time-zone problem, and not because there's a fundamental problem within the system." The department, which has spent $3.6 billion on year-2000 compliance, has invested $10 million in Russian weapons computers to ensure they don't misread the date rollover to 2000. Technicians also ridded the Moscow-Washington "hot line" of any potential bugs and installed backup telephone connections. At Peterson, a missile launch anywhere in the world will be picked up by Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites and then tracked by radars. Inside the Peterson center, officers will know the launch location and time, whether the rocket is an ICBM or space vehicle, the "threat fan" of potential targets and projected impact point. The center has communications links to Moscow's warning center so Russian officers in the United States can verify any launch activity detected back home. Space Command believes that by 4 p.m. (ET) Dec. 31 =97 the millennium rollover in Moscow =97 officials will know if Russia's warning system is glitch-free. U.S. military forces are on Greenwich Mean Time and will enter the new century at 7 p.m. (ET). "Once we get through the Moscow rollover, we'll have a very good indication of how Moscow has gotten through the rollover," said Maj. Perry Nouis, a spokesman for the U.S. Space Command. "We think it's going to be a quiet night for everybody. That's what our hope is." Steven Zaloga, an expert on Russian strategic weapons and an aerospace consultant, said Moscow lost a large share of its ICBM-tracking radars with the breakaway of old Soviet republics. For example, Latvia recently shut down the radar on its soil. Russia's other mechanism for monitoring U.S. missiles, the system of orbiting Oko infrared satellites, has wide gaps in coverage because Moscow lacks the money to replace them. "Their early warning system has so many gaps and problems with it, one would hope they have the sense to appreciate that they may get some kind of false readings," Mr. Zaloga said. "Their command-and-control network is in very, very bad shape," he added. "They don't have reliable missile early warning, which is really a critical element of command and control. The problem I see with the Russian government, it has a very unsophisticated and naive view of nuclear forces. The Russian military over the years has held a monopoly on distribution of information on nuclear forces." Still, Mr. Zaloga concluded that the Russians exercise sufficient human control in Moscow to head off any rash decisions on New Year's Eve. He said that in the early 1980s, shortly after the first Oko went into space, a satellite sent back a false-positive based on a heat signature from the sun appearing on the horizon. Fortunately, he said, a Russian officer dismissed the signal as bogus and did not initiate alert procedures. "These missiles don't go off automatically," Mr. Zaloga said. "There is a human element in the Russian command-and-control system." One thing is clear. Moscow and Washington approach the date switch amid worsening relations and mistrust. Russia is particularly jittery over three developments: NATO expansion to its old Soviet borders; the air war on Serbia that showed the power and reach of American strategic bombers; and the U.S. intention to build a national defense against ballistic missiles. Meanwhile, Washington has protested Russia's brutal military crackdown in Chechnya and is growing concerned over Moscow's increasingly bellicose statements on nuclear weapons. In Beijing earlier this month, Russian President Boris Yeltsin said President Clinton "has forgotten Russia is a great power that possesses a nuclear arsenal." Last week, Col. Gen. Vladimir Yakovlev, chief of the country's Strategic Rocket Force, was quoted as saying, "Russia, for objective reasons, is forced to lower the threshold for using nuclear weapons. . . . " Mr. Blair sees the acid atmosphere as possibly leading to nuclear miscalculation. He also sees shortfalls in Pentagon planning. =46or example, at the Peterson year-2000 center, Russian officers will not see the raw data that pours into the top-secret national warning center at Cheyenne Mountain 12 miles away. Instead, they will view processed signals. The arrangement raises a dicey scenario. If Moscow's system says it is under attack, who do the Russians believe? Their own data or assurances from an American air base? "The sole point of contact between the two militaries will be here at Peterson to make sure that no one in either country operates in a vacuum," Maj. Nouis said. Said Mr. Blair, "As far as I can tell, we have fixed the Y2K problems with our nuclear forces. The Russians have not. They have admitted they are behind schedule. . . . This Y2K center is just a Band-Aid that diverts attention from the deeper problem of deterioration of Russian control over their nuclear arsenal" Peter Pry's book, "War Scare: Russia and America on the Nuclear Brink," documents the poor state of the old Soviet arsenal. One would expect him to sound the alarm over the looming 2000 date change. But he's not. "A lot of people on the left and right have really hyped the Y2K thing for different ulterior motives," Mr. Pry said. "I think it's been much exaggerated, the dangers of an electronic glitch, something going radically wrong with their computer system . . . It's hard for me to imagine a false attack happening." Mr. Pry, a staffer on the House Armed Services Committee, said one prospect does worry him: how will the Russian generals react if an early-warning radar blacks out? "That could be dangerous," he said. "Then you have the general staff wondering, why did it black out. 'Is this the first wave of attack?' " Mr. Pry said year-2000 pessimists point to a 1995 incident as evidence of how Russia's weakening nuclear control could produce a fatal mistake. In January of that year, Russian nuclear forces went on alert after the launch of a Norwegian weather rocket. Some Russians initially misinterpreted the flight as a U.S. submarine ballistic missile fired as the first stage of an all-out attack. But rather than viewing the incident as a precursor to year-2000, Mr. Pry said it is a better indication of Russian mistrust toward the West. "There was no mechanical failure or computer failure," said the ex-CIA analyst. "It was a human failure." - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au> Subject: (abolition-usa) Will there still be 5000 warheads on alert after Dec 31? Date: 28 Dec 1999 18:42:27 +1000 If you read the item on the front page of the Washington Post, recently posted to the various lists, you will surely want to let US Secretary of Defence Willam S. Cohen, and Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton know how you feel about having 5000 nuclear weapons on hairtrigger alert over the Y2K rollover. And if as is to be hoped, nothing at all happens over the year end rollover, there will STILL be 5000 nuclear warheads on hairtrigger alert. The oldest, largest, most complex, and previously least Y2K compliant computer systems in the world perform command, communications, control, and intelligence for nuclear weapons systems, and even without Y2K there have been a series of frightening near- misses. These systems will only experience the rollover some 9-18 hours after Australia does. So new years day could be nervous, at least for those of us who think of such things. Sure, the Pentagon say they have spent $3.6billion to make their nuclear combat command, communication, and control systems Y2K compliant. Sure, the US and Russia have established a joint Y2K 'Strategic Stability Centre' next to the Cheyyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado. And it is important - indeed crucial - that they have done this. However, we hope they have by now managed to fix the hotlines set up during the cold war, and discovered to be non Y2K compliant in September. If nuclear weapons could not be immediately launched, then not only over the nervous Y2K rollover period, when US and Russian officers are going to EXPECT false alerts, blank screens, and communication blackouts, but at any other time when also false alerts have happened, decision makers would never be forced into the situation in which they have to decide whether to blow up the world in five minutes, perhaps at 3am in the morning when very much the worse for wear after new years drinkies. The best gift Clinton or Yeltsin can give the world is to do as two resolutions passed by the United Nations General Assembly a year ago with massive majorities, and another two passed this year with massive majorities, two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate and one resolution passed unanimously by the European Parliament have reccommended - to take nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert and place them in a status in which launch on warning is no longer possible. A letter signed by 500 global environmental organisations, arms control groups, religious bodies, NGOs, and Parliamentarians asking for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert for the new year was faxed to Yeltsin and Clinton some days ago. It will be faxed again on 29th or 30th. Clinton, Cohen, and Yeltsin have now been recieving an awful lot of faxes and phonecalls asking them to take missiles off alert. Ask President Clinton, President Yeltsin, and their secretaries and ministers for defence (Cohen and Sergeyev) to do this. If you have access to a fax machine, a single page A4 fax even to the Kremlin should cost you round a dollar. (public fax facilities charge an arm and a leg so don't bother with them). The best fax is handwritten, not typed. Do it now - It's Christmas Eve tomorrow (or it is here in Sydney). You can fax for free on: http://www.fax4free.com You can fax Clinton on +1-202-456-2461 You can fax US defence secy Cohen on 1-703-695-1149 You can fax Yeltsin and Sergeyev on +7-095-205-4330. There are sample letters below. You should shorten them and use your own words. You don't need to write anything near as long as this. Use what you want of these sample letters in your own way, and preferably, handwrite don't type. 1) SAMPLE LETTER TO COHEN/CLINTON (Please customise and shorten) TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period, to ask that any false alarms or 'near misses' over the Y2K rollover and at any other time be reported publicly, and to ask that the Y2K strategic stability centre's operations be extended preferably indefinitely but at least till May. There is little time to act, and an immediate decision to place nuclear weapons in a status in which immediate launch is impossible is essential to ensure global stability. As you will be aware, the European Parliament recently voted to ask you and President Yeltsin to do as the UK has already done, and de-alert nuclear weapons. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been reccommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20 September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkeley has asked for it. De-Alerting and the establishment of the Y2K strategic stability centre are not in competition with each other. Indeed, we urge strongly that the strategic stability centres operations be extended indefinitely. Reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting are all vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. The very nature of the Y2K problem makes it impossible to be sure everything has been fixed until well into the new year. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. This system seems to include additional ways in which Y2K failure might lead to an accidental launch. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one, but it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as we the public are aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The Y2K vulnerabilities recently discovered in six of the seven hotlines on which US/Russian communications depends, are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has already been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. The United States is making a serious error in failing to consider de-alerting. Failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low, but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. This will continue to be so after the immmediate Y2K 'rollover' period. In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. (SIGNED) etc. 2) SAMPLE LETTER TO YELTSIN/DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEYEV (Please customise and shorten) PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, IGOR SERGEYEV, RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, +7-095-205-4330, Dear Defence Minister Sergeyev and President Yeltsin, I am writing to convey my deep concern that Y2K-related computer failures in the command and control systems for nuclear weapons may lead to an accidental nuclear war. I am aware that both Russia and the US have taken this problem seriously enough to establish a joint strategic stability center in Colorado. However, I am very much concerned that this facility will come into operation only by 27th December 1999, so that a delay of just four days will make it useless. This facility is however, essential to the security of the world, and should continue to operate indefinitely. I am also very much concerned that Y2K problems have been found recently in six out of seven of the 'hotlines' that would be used if a crisis of any sort arose over the Y2K rollover period. I am aware that there have been a number of occasions when either the US or Russia have mistakenly believed that the other nation was in the process of launching a nuclear attack. With 3,600 Russian warheads on 700 missiles and 2,000 US warheads on 500 missiles, with each side capable to launch within roughly 20 minutes, this must never be allowed to happen, either over the Y2K 'rollover', or at any other time. The use of 5,600 warheads would certainly mean the end of what we call civilization, would likely mean the end of the human race and could possibly mean the end of all life. I therefore urge both you and the United States, to place all your nuclear forces in a status in which at least days not minutes, would be required to launch. The United Kingdom has, I understand, already done this. The European Parliament has recently called on both the US and Russia to de-alert nuclear weapons and to place them in a state similar to that in which the UK has placed its weapons. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 and then by the Tokyo Forum, as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. It has also been recommended by a resolution specifically on the subject passed by last years General Assembly and by this years First Committee on Reduction of Nuclear Dangers. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20 September, and finally it has been clearly requested by the European Parliament. It is also the subject of congressional resolution H.Con Res177 put by Edward Markey, and most recently, the City of Berkeley has asked for it. In this context I am particularly concerned that statements have been made in which the threat of nuclear weapons has been raised, and that new missiles have been deployed and placed on alert status. As what is at stake is potentially the survival of the entire planet, no considerations, even the highest considerations of national security, can take priority. The immediate stakes are so high and the potential for global catastrophe is so great, that de-alerting of nuclear forces in the face of the Y2K computer problem and the long-term possibility of false alerts must take precedence over all other considerations of political and national security. (Signed) etc. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042 Fax (61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Abolition2000 Pacific Region" <abolition2000@hotmail.com> Subject: (abolition-usa) [Indigenous Peoples' Organizing for 2000 NPT] Re: Inviting NPT speakers Date: 28 Dec 1999 11:30:08 PST CC: Gabriel Tetiarahi, French-Occupied Polynesia; Henry Vira, Coordinator, PIANGO Secretariat, Vanuatu; Pacific Concerns Resource Centre, Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Movement, Fiji; Tina Takashy, Federated States of Micronesia NGOs; Marie Maddison, Marshall Islands; Kilali Alailima, Samoa; Priscilla Settee, Cree, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada; Terry Keko'olani-Raymond, Ohana Koa-Hawai`i; Lori Goodman, Navajo RECA Reform Working Group, USA; Kanaka Maoli Allies Group, Hawai`i, Pacific Islands, Americas. * FYI: This is an early attempt to coordinate the participation of Indigenous peoples and the presentations of their issues and concerns at the NPT Formal Review in 2000 at UN headquarters in New York City. If you have not read Alice Slater's proposal, please contact her directly or myself. Alice's email address appears below. Please share your ideas on strategies, funding, etc. Also, can you please distribute this message to Indigenous Peoples' groups working on nuclear disarmament, uranium mining, and nuclear testing impact issues? Mahalo anui loa (thanks) and Aloha from Hawai`i). Richard Salvador abolition2000@hotmail.com salvador@hawaii.edu --- CC: Tom Goldtooth <ien@igc.apc.org>, greg@shundahai.org, ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org>, salvador@hawaii.eduA Dear Michelle, Mateo, Corbin, Greg and others at Shundahai, and Tom Goldtooth, and various others, As you may have seen, Alice Slater's proposal (from her posting today to the Abolition caucus list), is a well thought-out and powerful one. I propose that while the larger global Abolition 2000 community work the details out of the NGO presentations at the 2000 NPT Review Process, we start at once to think about what we can organize about Indigenous peoples' issues and concerns. I quote directly below Alice Slater's note of urgency expressing the need for the entire nuclear abolition network to organize and galvanize worldwide civil society support for abolition of nuclear weapons during the 2000 NPT Review Process: "The critical need this year is to alert US public opinion that the NPT is happening and create a groundswell for nuclear disarmament. In other words, NPT should become a household word like WTO. By organizing a session of world leaders, public figures, filling in with moving downwinders, hibakusha, eloquent indigenous leaders and other victims of the toxic legacy of the nuclear age we could focus world attention on the precarious state of the NPT and the need for the nuclear weapons states to fulfill their Article VI obligations and begin negotiations on a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons" (A. Slater, 12/27/99 email). Personally, I feel that the list of potential speakers that Alice has proposed is diverse and therefore representative of Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices. We have Jose Ramos-Horta and Jacqui Katona representing the Pacific region, Winona La Duke, Oren Lyons (and Grace Thorpe?) representing the Americas, and a number of individuals representing various regions of the world. Because of its diversity, I suggest that we get onto this matter early on and support it within Indigenous communities worldwide. I appreciated the way that you Michelle, Sally Light, Tom and others worded the USA Abolition Campaign Indigenous Peoples' Working Group Statement, incorporating the Principles of Environmental Justice and Working Group Notes from Ann Arbor. I think we should use these to immediately start rallying for support and consensus-building within our Indigenous communities worldwide. Apart from the speaking engagements which Alice's potential speakers will be participating in at the UN, we need to organize a series of panels in and around the United Nations, feeding into all previous and future ideas we can generate on the topic of Indigenous Peoples and the Nuclear Age. We have a powerful message to tell the world, but we need to coordinate the voices so that we can share our message informed by the experiences of all Indigenous peoples have been exposed to the deadly touch of nuclear weapons and energy production. Alice Slater's list may or may not need additions or deletions, but the panels we can organize throughout the NPT Review Process, hopefully, with each group highlighting the uniqueness of their experiences will, if we can find the resources to do it, need to be representative. On this matter, we will need to rely on Alice Slater and or some of our allies and friends in New York City to request time slots for additional Indigenous panels within the UN. We have done well throughout the past three NPT prepcomms to raise awareness and keep the pressure on. What can we do differently next year to elevate the quality of presentations and or to suggest practical steps (environmental restoration, support for health care for Indigenous victims of uranium mining and nuclear testings, etc). These are things we must continue to lobby for at local, regional, and international levels. However, we must always combine these demands together with the call to abolish once and for all nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction. To Alice Slater [and others on and off the Ab2000 global caucus listserv]: can you suggest other ideas, strategies that we might consider in our efforts to organize Indigenous peoples? Thank you, and thanks to everyone. Let's start working on this. Hope your Christmas was great. Have a Happy New Year! Richard Salvador Pacific Islands Association of NGOs (Honolulu, Hawai`i) [Previous Convenor for Indigenous Peoples' participation during NPT Preparatory Committees: 1997, 1999] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Dear Friends, Here's the list of proposed invitees, collected by email, meetings, etc. John Burroughs pointed out that elected officials and royalty should not be eligible to represent civil society and if you agree, that would help us to whittle the list down. There are seven people in that category: Clark, Roche, Woolsey, Markey, Noor, Talal, Charles. Hope we can develop a process for decision making--but in any event you now have all the info that I have. Peace, Alice Slater Oscar Arias Archbishop Tutu Jose Ramos Horta Mikhail Gorbachev Thich Nhat Hanh Nelson Mandela Graciela Machel Mairead Corrigan Maguire Grace Thorpe Oren Lyons Joseph Rotblat Ted Taylor Jimmy Carter Arundhati Roy Helen Caldicott Prince Charles Paul Newman Michael Douglas Joanne Woodward Martin Sheen Warren Beatty Susan Sarandon Meryl Streep Lee Butler Admiral Ramdas Robert McNamara Queen Noor Judge Weermanty Jonathan Schell Lech Walesca Jodi Williams Marianne Willianson Alan Cranston Oprah Winfrey Barbara Streisand Walter Cronkite Ted Turner Pierce Brosnan Maya Angelou Lynne Woolsey Ed Markey Stanisfield Turner The Baldwin Family Mayor of Hiroshima Mayor of Nagasaki Amartya Sen Douglas Roche Helen Clark Rob Green Jacqui Katona Winona la Duke Seamus Heaney Wole Soyinka Miyoko Matsubara Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "John Krehbiel, Jr." <krehbiel@one.net> Subject: (abolition-usa) NPT speakers, NGO's, & abolition Date: 28 Dec 1999 14:51:52 -0500 December 26, 1999 disarmament From John Krehbiel, Jr. NPT Speakers list discussion THANK YOU ....Especially for you patience, persistence, and peacefulnes= s while engaging fully in this disarming process. THANK YOU as well for taking time to meet and to write about your meetings, so that far-flung interested people might be brought up-to-date and included in your discussions. At times, it seems so awesome and overwhelming that we ar= e able to bridge such distances so quickly that I still need to remember to take time to breathe slowly and allow my mind time to slowly process what you all are saying...and there are so many voices. Thank you to WILPF for the effort that is a part of reaching critical will. Your effort is very important out here in the rural area of Northern Kentucky where one could feel isolated from discussions regarding the NPT, NGO=92S, and disarmament. One could hesitate to speak about nuclear weapons abolition to such a sophisticated group of professional people. Assuming for a moment that hesitation is inappropriate considering the dangers inherent in the existence of nuclear weapons, please, may I ask for some clarification ...Regarding the point that =93the government delegates have become familiar with NGO views over three successive years but have taken no concerted action for disarmament=94. One...when we refer to the government delegates ... I am wondering if there are sets or subsets of these delegates that are ready to take concerted action for disarmament. Two...(perhaps a corollary to one) are there identifiable sets or subsets that are strongly inhibiting concerted action for disarmament? Three... do you believe the reason the government delegates that are not enabling concerted action for disarmament has to do with what spokes people familiarize them with NGO views? Though the answers may seem obvious to those of you who have been working with these people over the years ... maybe it is still relevant to when, where, and to whom various NGO=92s, =93prominent or famous peo= ple, the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki eloquent indigenous leaders and victims of the nuclear age (Hibakusha, Marshall Islanders, downwinders, etc.)=94 speak. Given that we seem to be in a process of reaching critical will ..perhaps we might be better heard if we strive for a process of inclusion whether or not that is the paradigm modeled by government delegates in the NPT Review process. The motions that would potentially make the views of hardworking NGO=92= s available to as wide an audience as possible may be helpful far beyond = a three hour time in a small space with relatively few people. I have much to learn. Having lived in the only nuclear-weapons-state that has used nuclear weapons admittedly as weapons (i.e. in addition t= o =93tests=94), it is difficult for me to expect that a three hour time s= lot with such a government delegate (as distinct from a delegate of informe= d consenting/consensing people) is the best place to focus NGO energy. =20 At this outpost in the frontier it seems that further development of th= e community represented by the governments/people who are ready to abolish nuclear weapons and the abolitionist people subject to those governments whose actions manifest a continuing willingness to commit crimes against humanity and peace is of paramount importance. Perhaps, I am naive but I had been hoping that NGO=92s did not have to play by t= he rules dictated by criminal states. I know that does not sound very diplomatic and that we hope to gently persuade but the reality of apparent willingness to threaten people with mass indiscriminate destruction and a long term poisoned earth, air, and water is extremely repugnant. The abolitionists of slave times did not play by the heinou= s and unjust rules of those invested in the master/slave state of being.=20 Would it not also be =93outrageous for obvious reasons=94 to hand over = the abolition of nuclear weapons to a process whose rules are dictated by those manifesting a willingness to strike first with nuclear weapons ..= . and consider whether silencing any abolitionist voice from whatever wal= k of life also =93outrageous for obvious reasons=94. Someone who has done marvelous work for nuclear weapons abolition raises the issue of credibility. Please, with all the great respect that your concern is heard and you may be very right, please, also consider that perhaps the reason the issue of credibility is appropriat= e is because it has arisen in the context of a discussion regarding inviting indigenous people to speak at a treaty review. May one assume that WE understand why there would be a credibility issue with regard t= o treaties with nuclear-weapons states and indigenous peoples especially as we may recall so many outrages by dominant military powers, broken treaties, and incredible notions such as =93an inalienable right to nuclear power=94. The credibility of these delegates who speak with su= ch tongues is of grave concern. One might also raise the concern whether delegates, who represent governments engaged in a continuing crime against humanity and peace and without the informed consent of its people, have legitimate authority in a treaty process. One might also wonder if we will ever attain just treaties if the delegates do not behave as equals with full respect for themselves and all. I have been hoping that NGO=92s would speak for/about people who live= in nuclear weapon states who happen to have government delegates that don=92= t legitimately represent them. Do those people who wish to Fulfill their Nuremberg Obligations and wish to stop being systematically coerced int= o paying (i.e. taxed) for nuclear weapons have a voice... or better yet, = a developing global civic community that can enable them to be free of an= y and all enforced complicity in a continuing crime of genocide against indigenous peoples, a continuing crime against humanity, and a continuing crime against peace. I hope and suspect that those seemingly isolated people are a vast number and that if we could develo= p our beloved disarming community to empower each and all to choose non-complicity we could expose the illegitimate representation of the government delegates that are not enabling concerted action for disarmament ...and the voices of humanity crying out for peace would be heard and heeded by delegates who could never allow the threat of mass indiscriminate destruction to continue another moment. Please, consider that those manifesting an aspect of non-complicity with nuclear-weapon states are people living below the so-called povert= y line and below taxable income levels. Is it coincidence many of these people are homeless in the wealthiest nuclear-weapon state on earth?!=20 It is my understanding that judicial systems theoretically strive to make justices/judges immune from political whims and popular pressures so even unpopular but just decisions may be made. Yet when Greenock Sheriff Margaret Gimblett recently made her decision which acknowledges the illegality of Trident=92s possession, use, deployment, and first strike willingness, she also is reported to have stated, =93I am rather worried about my job after this.=94 The vast majority of humanity has nowhere near the job security of a judge. There are significant connections to be made about those who speak and those who are jobless and so we are aptly concerned about free speech, freedom of assembly,=20 and human rights (especially, as it is connected with nuclear weapons states). I hope that what I have written here is understood to come from a plac= e of deep respect for all and that if I have inadvertently been offensive= , please, feel free to counsel with me. In Peace, John Krehbiel, Jr. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation <a2000@silcom.com> Subject: (abolition-usa) Support for Abolition 2000 Date: 28 Dec 1999 17:20:42 -0800 Dear Friends and Activists, Many of you remember the 1995 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review and Extension Conference where, frustrated by the resolve of the nuclear weapons states to maintain their arsenals, a few activists and concerned individuals had a vision. That vision of a more secure and livable world, free from the threat of nuclear weapons, was the foundation for the international movement that became known as the Abolition 2000 Network. Now, more than ever before, the work of Abolition 2000 is vital to ensure a more secure and livable world for our children, grandchildren and all future generations. We cannot succeed without your help. Please give generously to help meet our shared goal of nuclear disarmament. At the May 1999 Annual General Meeting, we agreed that the year 2000 poses a critical challenge. To preserve the integrity of the Abolition 2000 name and to continue the vital work of the Global network, members have committed to increasing Network membership to at least 2000 organizations by the start of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Conference in April. We will also make Abolition 2000 attendance and presence known at the NPT conference. Since the birth of the Abolition 2000 Network, more than 1,400 organizations in 90 countries have endorsed the Abolition 2000 Statement. Help make the number of supporting groups climb to over 2,000! I hope that you will join me in an increased financial commitment to further the goals of the Abolition 2000 Network by sending a contribution, which will be used to continue efforts to create a more peaceful and just world. Please accept my sincere thanks for your valuable support and assistance in our united vision and common endeavor to create a better world. Sincerely, Carah Lynn Ong Carah Lynn Ong Coordinator, Abolition 2000 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 Santa Barbara CA 93108 Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 Email: A2000@silcom.com Website http://www.abolition2000.org Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly receive updates about the Abolition movement. Both caucus' also provide a forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition. To subscribe to the Abolition Global Caucus, please do one of the following: 1. Send a message to the list moderator at A2000@silcom.com 2. Visit the Abolition-caucus website at: Http://www.egroups.com/list/abolition-caucus/ and submit a membership form. 3. Visit the Abolition 2000 website and submit a membership form. 4. Send an e-mail to: abolition-caucus-subscribe@egroups.com (leave the subject line and body of the message blank). To post a message to the Abolition Global Caucus, send your message to: abolition-caucus@egroups.com To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no subject) to: abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Abolition2000 Pacific Region" <abolition2000@hotmail.com> Subject: (abolition-usa) [To the Abolition 2000 Network] Re: Inviting NPT speakers Date: 28 Dec 1999 17:16:25 PST Dear Abolition 2000 friends and allies, I am not unaware of the difficulty of the tasks before us as we all prepare for the NPT Review Process and understand that we are still exploring ideas and strategies about how best to productively utilize NGO input at the NPT. This process of exploration should be opened up for all to participate in and discuss what the most productive strategies should be. My earlier message about Indigenous peoples' participation both sought to solicit ideas from the larger network community as well as to motivate Indigenous communities to think of ways we could more usefully engage in the larger international nuclear abolition community generally, and in NGO preparations for the NPT in particular. Whatever the outcome of the discussions on NGO presentations at the NPT, we, from Indigenous communities, shall eventually accept and live with the outcome. If there is ever any doubts as to whether the inclusion of Indigenous peoples would raise an issue of credibility or whether there is strategic value of it in the hope of influencing policy changes, that is fine. No one doubts the seriousness and extent of the effects of the nuclear age on Indigenous communities. In that, we are perhaps fortunate in that the impacts of nuclear policies are all visible to all. But we should be interested in finding ways in which to make our voices heard and for them to have some lasting impact, whether inside or outside of the United Nations. We have all been disappointed in the status of the NPT; if it is purely a matter of getting the depressing facts of nuclear impacts down, then those who are experts who can speak to the technical aspects of the nuclear dangers should be given all the time need to argue their case. If it is a matter of getting all the technical, economic, political, and moral reasons down, then an expanded, inclusive process should allow that to take place. Good luck to the discussions in the meantime. Thank you very much to all of you for your work. Thank you and Happy New Year. Richard Salvador Pacific Islands Association of NGOs Honolulu, Hawai`i ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Crockett Williams" <gear2000@lightspeed.net> Subject: (abolition-usa) Join Jan15 start Global Peace Walk 2000 Date: 28 Dec 1999 17:28:30 -0800 Please forward this invitation for you and your associates who can to come and join the sendoff opening ceremony of Global Peace Walk 2000 in San Francisco, Saturday, January 15th, and the beginning of its journey to Washington DC and the United Nations, ie, "Walk a mile for Global Peace Now!". Following is text of the opening day flyer. For a downloadable typeset efax version of this flyer you can copy and help distribute see http://www.egroups.com/group/global-peace-walk/188.html For printable typeset efax version of main walk flyer see http://www.egroups.com/group/global-peace-walk/187.html ----------- Jan15th flyer text: United Nations 55th Anniversary Future Generations Prayer We are concerned about our future and our human life. Global Peace Walk Develop Spiritual United Nations {logo, includes: Global Peace Walk Global Peace Now Global Peace Zone 2000} San Francisco -- St. Louis --Washington DC -- New York / U.N. 1/15/2000 8/6/2000 10/9/2000 10/24/2000 Participate in the Opening Ceremonies on the first Day of this Historic Peace Walk January 15th, 2000 -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday 9:00 AM -- War Memorial Building (Van Ness across from City Hall) San Francisco Bring Your Banners & Your Message No Drugs... No Alcohol... No Violence Bring New Consciousness... Humanity must live a Peaceful Way of Life 415-863-2084 -- PO Box 170245 -- San Francisco, CA 94117-0245 www.globalpeacenow.org GPZONE@aol.com --------------------end flyer text Check Global Peace Walk egroup for other printable flyers for GPW2000 events en route listed by subject at http://www.egroups.com/group/global-peace-walk Please subscribe to this list at that website address if you can help as a local or outreach coordinator. Thanks very much, David Crockett Williams gear2000@lightspeed.net Tehachapi CA local coordinator Global Peace Walk 2000 http://www.globalpeacenow.org http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/gpw.html GLOBAL EMERGENCY ALERT RESPONSE http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000 The Vision of Paradise on Earth http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/vision.html Urge your Congressperson to support H.R. 2545 Global Nuclear Disarmament & Economic Conversion Act Details & Sample Email: http://prop1.org/prop1/letter.htm Easy indexed site to email Congresspeople & Media http://congress.nw.dc.us/wnd (copy & paste email letters to media and Congress) An Agenda for Peace http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/agenda.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Crockett Williams" <gear2000@lightspeed.net> Subject: (abolition-usa) SLO GPW2000 Jan27 Events Date: 29 Dec 1999 10:54:38 -0800 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0076_01BF51EB.242A9C80 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Please forward this invitation for you and your associates who can take part in special Global Peace Walk 2000 events in the San Luis Obispo CA area January 27-28, 2000. Below is the text of the SLO local events flyer which is attached in WordPad typeset format that can be copied and distributed. This message with attached typeset flyer is also posted at http://www.egroups.com/group/global-peace-walk/190.html (open flyer attachment from bar at bottom of page) Subscribe to GPW2000 local coordinators email list at http://www.egroups.com/group/global-peace-walk ---------------------San Luis Obispo area flyer text: United Nations 55th Anniversary Future Generations Prayer We are concerned about our future and our human life. San Luis Obispo Area Schedule Global Peace Walk 2000 Develop Spiritual United Nations Bring Your Banners & Your Message Thursday, January 27th 9AM Gate of Camp San Luis (CA National Guard HQ on Hwy1 about 4-1/2mi north of SLO) Walking South on Hwy1 to Foothill Blvd. to California ~10:30-11:15AM Rally Cal Poly SLO Quad then walk Grand Avenue to right on Monterey to NOON Gathering County Government Center (Afternoon Run to Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant Gate) Friday, January 28th, Spiritual Unity Relay Run Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant Gate to Noon Rally, main gate, Vandenberg Air Force Base On The Alert due to February 1, 2000, Big Mountain Relocation Deadline Uniting Survival Issue Messages in "Global Peace Now!" universal human resolve Walk & Run for a Global Peace Zone 2000 San Francisco Jan15th, St. Louis August 6th, Washington DC October 9th, New York City - U.N. October 24, 2000 415-863-2084 -- PO Box 170245, San Francisco, CA 94117-0245 http://www.globalpeacenow.org GPZone2000@aol.com ----------------------end flyer text Thanks very much for whatever you can do to help, David Crockett Williams gear2000@lightspeed.net Tehachapi CA local coordinator Global Peace Walk 2000 http://www.globalpeacenow.org http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/gpw.html GLOBAL EMERGENCY ALERT RESPONSE http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000 The Vision of Paradise on Earth http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/vision.html Urge your Congressperson to support H.R. 2545 Global Nuclear Disarmament & Economic Conversion Act Details & Sample Email: http://prop1.org/prop1/letter.htm Easy indexed site to email Congresspeople & Media http://congress.nw.dc.us/wnd (copy & paste email letters to media and Congress) An Agenda for Peace http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/agenda.html ------=_NextPart_000_0076_01BF51EB.242A9C80 Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name="San Luis 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For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: USDA legalizes meat irradiation Date: 29 Dec 1999 16:18:20 -0500 Dear Friends, Here's another nuclear horror story. Phone calls and letters are needed to Senators, Congresspeople and Donna Shalala at Health and Human Services to stop the initiation of a whole new nuclear industry, with more waste, more worker and community exposure to cesium and cobalt-60 and the adulteration of our food supply. (see contact info below.) Thanks for your help. Alice Slater >Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 14:42:33 -0500 >Subject: USDA legalizes meat irradiation >To: aslater@gracelinks.org >From: WHAUTER@citizen.org (WHAUTER@citizen.org) > >Consumers Beware: USDA Approves Nuked Meat! > >Under pressure from the meat industry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture >(USDA) announced on December 14, 1999 that refrigerated or frozen raw >beef, pork, lamb, as well as meat products can be treated with radiation >to kill microorganisms that cause disease. USDA also weakened its existing >regulations for poultry, including no longer requiring that poultry be >irradiated in the package in which it is sold. This means that irradiated >poultry products can be used as ingredients in further processed products, >such as TV dinners. > >Unfortunately, rather than cleaning up the filthy conditions at large, >corporate farms and industrial slaughterhouses, the meat industry and >their allies in the U.S. government are promoting food irradiation as a >way to prevent food-borne illness. Food irradiation will not solve the >problems associated with the unsanitary conditions at huge factory sized >farms from which feces-covered animals are transported to >industrialized-size slaughtering facilities. Workers at these facilities >are required to speed-up work, for instance, "processing" as many as 300 >cows an hour, and too few USDA inspectors are on hand to insure that >procedures to prevent contamination are followed. > >USDA's Retail Labeling Requirements for Meat > >While the new USDA rule does include a requirement for labeling irradiated >meat and poultry products sold at retail, meat served in facilities like >restaurants, hospitals or school cafeterias does not have to be labeled. >This means that consumer's will have no way of insuring they the meat they >eat in these establishments is not irradiated. Consumers of fast food >burgers should be especially concerned, since hamburger patties are a >prime candidate for irradiation. > >Moreover, if the FDA does not continue to require labeling, the USDA is >unlikely to require labeling. USDA is "harmonizing" all of their food >regulations with the FDA. Requirements are as follows: > >1) Packaged meat products irradiated in their entirety must bear the >international radura symbol. Unfortunately, the symbol, which contains >simple petals in a broken circle is benevolent looking and its meaning is >not widely recognized. Additionally, products must either include the word >"irradiated" as part of the product name or must bear a statement such as >"Treated with radiation" or "Treated by irradiation." The radura must be >placed in conjunction with the required statement, if the statement is >used. The statement is not required to be more prominent than the >declaration of ingredients and it can be anywhere on the package. > >2) Unpackaged meat products irradiated in their entirety are required to >have the radura symbol and a statement "prominently and conspicuously" >displayed to purchasers either through labeling on a bulk container or >"some other appropriate device." The agency does not define what this >"other appropriate device" could be. > >3) USDA is also allowing labeling statements and claims regarding the >"beneficial effects" and the purpose of irradiation. > >4) Multi-ingredient products, which include an irradiated meat product, >must only reflect its inclusion in the ingredient statement on the >finished product's label. > >5) USDA eliminated two labeling requirements for poultry. The requirements >that "letters used for the qualifying statement shall be no less than >one-third the size of the largest letter in the product name" and second, >that the radura logo on irradiated poultry product labels be colored green >have been eliminated. > >USDA Weakens Food Additive Law > >USDA also ended their requirement for the use of food additives >(irradiation is considered an additive). In the future, the Food and Drug >Administration (FDA) will be the sole agency regulating food additives. >USDA says in its materials about the rule that they will "discuss" with >FDA their concerns about additives used in meat and poultry. The new rule >is the latest in a series of so-called "reforms," which make it easier for >the food industry to get regulatory approval, but decrease the protections >for consumers. The new rule will shorten the approval process for >additives from two to five years. > >USDA Approves Meat Irradiation Without Proof of its Safety > >The legalization of food irradiation is based on a house of cards. No >studies have been done to show that a long-term diet of irradiated foods >is safe. In legalizing the irradiation of raw meat, the USDA relied upon >the FDA's determination that food irradiation is safe. Unfortunately, the >FDA based their legalization of food irradiation on shaky scientific >evidence. > >A special task force of the FDA reviewed a large body of scientific >literature on the toxicological testing of irradiated food, however, they >based their approval of food irradiation on only five studies. The FDA >task force reviewed over 2000 studies, over four hundred of which met a >high enough standard that they could potentially have been reviewed >Obviously, since the FDA used such a small sample, the potential for bias >is great. Furthermore, because they were unable to provide definitive >evidence of the safety of irradiated food, the FDA eventually based their >legalization of food irradiation on a theoretical model about how many new >chemicals (potential carcinogens) are formed in the food products by >irradiation. > >Take Action Now! > >Write or call your member of Congress and voice your concerns about food >irradiation! > >If you need information about your elected representative, call Public >Citizen at 202-546-4996 or email us at the web site below. Ask your >Representatives and Senators to write to Health and Human Services >Secretary, Donna Shalala, about the FDA potentially removing the >requirement that irradiated foods be labeled. > >The Honorable Donna Shalala, US Dept. of Health and Human Services, 200 >Independence Ave., SW. Washington, DC 20201 (For more info: > > > > > > > > >Wenonah Hauter >Director >Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project >202-454-5150 >Visit our Web Site: www.citizen.org/cmep > Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) ACTION ALERT - NPT Review Date: 30 Dec 1999 17:11:27 -0500 Dear Friends, In Rebecca Johnson's latest posting of Disarmament Diplomacy, N41, she makes an excellent recommendation which our Abolition 2000 Network can support. She suggests that the States Parties should be represented by their Heads of States of Foreign Ministers at during the opening days of the conference which begins on April 24th to indicate the need for "high level political will" for nuclear disarmament. We can begin now to write letters to our heads of states urging them to demonstrate their commitment to Article VI and its promise of nuclear disarmament by showing up at the NPT Review in New York and calling for immediate negotiations on a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. If our Network is able to generate the letters, calls, visits, and special contacts to Heads of State calling on them not to pass up this once in a millenium chance to call for negotiations in New York to ban the bomb, we would be keeping the faith with our original vision of a treaty to be negotiated by the year 2000. It's still not too late!! PLEASE POST TO OUR CAUCUS YOUR PROGRESS IN HAVING YOUR HEAD OF STATE ATTEND THE NPT. LET'S INSPIRE EACH OTHER!! Peace, Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. To subscribe to the Abolition Global Caucus, send an email from the account you wish to be subscribed to: "abolition-caucus-subscribe@egroups.com" Do not include a subject line or any text in the body of the message. GET $100 IN COUPONS FOR TRYING GATOR! Grab the Gator! Free software does all the typing for you! Gator fills in forms and remembers passwords with NO TYPING at over 100,000 web sites! http://click.egroups.com/1/341/1/_/91925/_/946577218 eGroups.com Home: http://www.egroups.com/group/abolition-caucus/ http://www.egroups.com - Simplifying group communications Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) NPT: letter to head of state Date: 30 Dec 1999 17:12:44 -0500 Dear Friends, Here's my letter to my head of state urging him to personally represent the US at the NPT. Hope we can get these out all over the world. Peace, Alice Slater December 30, 1999 President Bill Clinton BY FAX: 202-456-2461 Dear President Clinton, On April 24, 1999, the Non-Proliferation Treaty 2000 Review Conference will begin its four week meeting in New York at the United Nations. I urge you to attend and represent our country at this critical crossroads in the new millenium for the safety and well being of humanity. This may be our last opportunity to end the toxic legacy of the nuclear age before the whole treaty unravels. The United States, together with Russia, France, UK and China, promised in 1968 when the NPT was negotiated, that it would make good faith efforts for nuclear disarmament. Yet today, more than 30 years after the treaty entered into force, there are still over 30,000 nuclear weapons on the planet, with more than 10,000 in our own country. Two new countries, India and Pakistan, have announced their nuclear weapons status. Instead of fulfilling our legal obligations we are contributing to the following disturbing developments: the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was defeated in the Senate, and our weapons labs continue to design and test new nuclear weapons in computer-simulated virtual reality with the help of underground ôsub-criticalö tests at the Nevada test site. You are now considering a decision to employ a missile defense system which would violate the ABM Treaty. Russia and China have threatened to become more reliant on their nuclear arsenals because of our willingness to abrogate a treaty which was able to stop the build up of nuclear arms for two decades. The US Space Command brazenly trumpets its intention for ôdominating the space dimension of military operations to protect US interests and investment.ö The Article VI provision in the NPT that non-nuclear weapons states would forego the acquisition of nuclear weapons in return for our promise to eliminate our nuclear arsenals is being questioned by many nations around the world given the lack of progress for its fulfillment. Despite a recent World Court ruling that there is an international obligation to conclude negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention, our country has blocked efforts in various international fora to even discuss nuclear disarmament. I urge you to lend your personal attention and whatever talents you can bring to bear on the issue at the NPT in April to work with other governments to begin negotiations on a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. The US public, when polled by Celinda Lake, answered that 87% of us want a treaty to ban the bomb just as we have done for chemical and biological weapons. And 84% said they would feel safer if no country had nuclear weapons including our own. The fate of the earth is in your hands. Please do not miss this millenium opportunity to go down in history as one who dared to do the right thing and make the world safe for our children, grandchildren, and future generations. Sincerely, Alice Slater Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. To subscribe to the Abolition Global Caucus, send an email from the account you wish to be subscribed to: "abolition-caucus-subscribe@egroups.com" Do not include a subject line or any text in the body of the message. At Esurance.com you can buy customized insurance online. Call 1-800-926-6012 and complete a quote today to start saving money tomorrow or just go to http://click.egroups.com/1/611/1/_/91925/_/946580956 -- Easily schedule meetings and events using the group calendar! -- http://www.egroups.com/cal?listname=abolition-caucus&m=1 Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Abolition2000 Pacific Region" <abolition2000@hotmail.com> Subject: (abolition-usa) Micronesia has Welcomed the Dawn of the New Millennium! Date: 31 Dec 1999 02:27:56 PST Dear Nuclear Abolitionists, We welcomed the millennium just less than two hours ago! I hope we can keep this Kiribati "torch of hope" brightly lit! The following are brief excerpts from the New York Times (December 31, 1999) about the celebrations about an hour ago on Millennium Island in the Republic of Kiribati (pronounced: Kiribas)! The entire story is found at the URL below. Happy New Year to all of you. Best wishes. Mahalo. Richard Salvador Honolulu, Hawaii --- The New York Times Millennium Island To Greet New Era http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-MIL-Millennium-Arrives.html A group of Pacific islanders (I-Kiribati) gathered today on Kiribati's Millennium Island less than an hour ago to welcome the New Millennium!! Their celebration was highlighted by dancers in woven grass skirts and headdresses, welcoming the millennium with a shout of congratulations and good luck after chanting farewell to the pain of the past and heralding a new era of unity. ``Let all the world be joined with us to greet the new millennium,'' they sang in rehearsals this week on a tropical beach in their Micronesian language, Kiribati. ``Let us put aside all divisions -- let us unite in love and peace.'' The president of Kiribati, Teburoro Tito (sic), was to take a burning torch from an elderly man and hand it to a young boy in a ceremonial passing of time to a new generation. ``Take this torch of hope and peace from Kiribati so that it may light up the whole world,'' Tito says. The millennial bashes on the islands were a showcase of the region's culture and heritage: a ritual fish catch and feast on Fiji; indigenous Moriori dances on the Chathams; a performance of Handel's ``Messiah'' for 300,000 people in Auckland, New Zealand. The millennium's first dawn over land was to break near Dibble Glacier in Antarctica at 12:08 local time (10:08 a.m. EST). Kiribati was to be the first country to witness the sunrise of the new millennium at 5:43 a.m. local time (10:43 a.m. EST), followed six minutes later by New Zealand's Pitt Island. As the largest -- and the richest -- nation in the group, New Zealand planned the most elaborate celebrations in the area: fireworks, concerts, and several Maori ``haka'' war dances -- including one with a cast of 2,000. The celebrations follow a fierce race in the region to clinch a millennial ``first'' -- and worldwide publicity. -- ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Lachlan Forrow" <lforrow@igc.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) RE: [abolition-caucus] Dr Bruce Blair, DOD Deputy Secretary Hamre Discuss Y2K/Accidental Nuke War on Jim Lehrer's News Hour Tonight Date: 31 Dec 1999 10:52:38 -0500 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0009_01BF537D.2863A6A0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The full text is available at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec99/y2k_12-30.html --LF -----Original Message----- From: Bill Smirnow [mailto:smirnowb@ix.netcom.com] Sent: Thursday, December 30, 1999 6:43 PM To: Y2K Nuclear Weapons/Power ; Nukenet; Abolition-Europe; Abolition-Caucus; Abolition-USA Subject: [abolition-caucus] Dr Bruce Blair, DOD Deputy Secretary Hamre Discuss Y2K/Accidental Nuke War on Jim Lehrer's News Hour Tonight Jim Lehrer's News Hour will have Dr. Bruce Blair of the Brookings Institute and Dept. Secretary of DOD John Hamre on tonight, Thursday December 30 discussing Y2K and accidental nuclear war. The segment airs in the first half hour. -Bill ------=_NextPart_000_0009_01BF537D.2863A6A0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; = charset=3Diso-8859-1"> <META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2314.1000" name=3DGENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN class=3D790005215-31121999>The full text is = available at=20 <A=20 href=3D"http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec99/y2k_12-30.html= ">http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec99/y2k_12-30.html</A></= SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN = class=3D790005215-31121999></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN = class=3D790005215-31121999>--LF</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE=20 style=3D"BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: = 5px"> <DIV align=3Dleft class=3DOutlookMessageHeader dir=3Dltr><FONT = face=3DTahoma=20 size=3D2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Bill Smirnow=20 [mailto:smirnowb@ix.netcom.com]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, December 30, = 1999=20 6:43 PM<BR><B>To:</B> Y2K Nuclear Weapons/Power ; Nukenet; = Abolition-Europe;=20 Abolition-Caucus; Abolition-USA<BR><B>Subject:</B> [abolition-caucus] = Dr Bruce=20 Blair, DOD Deputy Secretary Hamre Discuss Y2K/Accidental Nuke War on = Jim=20 Lehrer's News Hour Tonight<BR><BR></DIV></FONT> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2> Jim Lehrer's News Hour will have Dr. = Bruce=20 Blair of the Brookings Institute and Dept. Secretary of DOD John Hamre = on=20 tonight, Thursday December 30 discussing Y2K and accidental nuclear = war. The=20 segment airs in the first half hour.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2> -Bill = </FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML> ------=_NextPart_000_0009_01BF537D.2863A6A0-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Timothy Bruening <tsbrueni@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us> Subject: (abolition-usa) Jan 25: Anniversary Of Nearly Accidental Nuke War Date: 31 Dec 1999 22:11:04 -0800 (PST) January 25 is the 5th anniversary of the day Russia nearly launched a nuclear war in response to a Norwegian satellite launch. How are we planning to commemorate the anniversary? - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.