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abolition-usa-digest    Monday, September 13 1999    Volume 01 : Number 181




----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 14:11:03 +1000
From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) VARIOUS Y2K ITEMS

>=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
>http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-09/11/094l-091199-idx.h=
tml
>
>U.S., Russia Agree to Establish Y2K Center
>Team Will Watch For False Alarms
>
>By Stephen Barr
>Washington Post Staff Writer
>Saturday, September 11, 1999; Page A09
>
>U.S. and Russian defense officials have agreed to set up a joint center
>in
>Colorado to watch for any false alarms of missile attacks caused by Year
>
>2000 computer problems, the Defense Department said yesterday.
>
>Defense Secretary William S. Cohen and his Russian counterpart, Defense
>Minister Igor Sergeyev, will sign an agreement establishing the center
>during Cohen's visit to Moscow next week, a senior defense official told
>
>reporters.
>
>For the last year, U.S. officials have said the Year 2000 computer
>glitch,
>known as Y2K, will not cause nuclear missiles to launch. They have
>portrayed the joint center as a prudent step to avoid confusion in the
>event
>early-warning systems or launch detection equipment malfunctioned.
>
>Yesterday, the official, who spoke on condition that he not be
>identified,
>said the Pentagon wanted to be clear that neither side was "teetering on
>the
>edge of a potential false launch or anything of the sort. We just think
>it is a
>very useful thing to extend our cooperation in areas of this nature. . .
>.
>
>"And at this time of Y2K transition, were there to be some sort of
>problem, it would certainly be useful to have our people in direct
>contact
>and direct communications with one another," the official said.
>
>The official said up to 20 Russian military officers would be assigned
>to the
>Center for Strategic Stability and Y2K, at the U.S. Space Command
>headquarters in Colorado Springs, during late December and early
>January.
>
>Discussions to set up the center began last year but broke off after
>NATO
>bombed Serbia, a Russian ally. The Pentagon official said the talks
>resumed last month.
>
>Cohen and Sergeyev also will discuss creating a permanent missile early
>warning system center in Moscow--an idea supported by Presidents
>Clinton and Boris Yeltsin.
>
>The Year 2000 problem stems from the use in many computer systems of
>two-digit date fields, which may cause some software and microchip
>systems to interpret "00" as 1900, not 2000. The confusion could cause
>the computers to malfunction or stop.
>
>Shortly before the Pentagon announcement, members of Congress who
>have studied the Y2K problem held a news conference urging the federal
>government, states and localities to step up the pace of computer fixes
>and
>tests.
>
>They also suggested that international air travel could face disruptions
>
>because of Y2K problems. "I have no fear of flying on January 1 within
>the
>United States. But I think the safety of air travel abroad has yet to be
>
>determined," Rep. Jim Turner (D-Tex.) said. Rep. Constance A. Morella
>(R-Md.) said she has "grave concerns about what's happening outside of
>the United States."
>
>At the urging of Rep. Stephen Horn (R-Calif.), the Transportation
>Department released a list of 35 nations who had not responded as of
>Thursday to a survey by the International Civil Aviation Organization
>(ICAO). The international aviation group had requested nations to submit
>
>Year 2000 computer assessments by July 1.
>
>The nations not responding to the ICAO survey were: Albania, Angola,
>Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Burundi, Cambodia, Comoros,
>Cook Islands, Democratic Republic of Congo, Fiji, Guinea, Iraq,
>Kiribati,
>Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Libya, Micronesia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nauru,
>Nicaragua, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Russia, Samoa, San
>Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Solomon
>Islands, Tajikistan, Tonga and Vanuatu.
>
>Dave Smallen, the U.S. Transportation Department Y2K spokesman, said:
>"This is simply a list of countries that did not respond to the ICAO
>survey.
>I don't think that you can read anything specific into the fact that any
>
>country didn't respond."
>
>Smallen said the Transportation Department and the Defense Department
>were conducting a review of Y2K readiness and would post information
>on Transportation's Web site (www.dot.-gov/fly2k) by the end of this
>month.
>
>=A9 Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company


Two items on 9/9/99 from Friday's Guardian, followed by a copy of my letter
to the editor - unlikely to be published as there are much more pressing
issues to cover such as (today) missing sparrows and plastic wine bottle
corks.

Paul


http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,80980,00.html

Germans fluff their date with destiny

Jill Treanor and John Cassy
The Guardian
=46riday September 10, 1999


Technical problems at the German futures and options exchange yesterday
fuelled fears in City dealing rooms that the markets could face crisis
as a result of the millennium computer bug.

The computer glitches, which prevented some firms from trading and
running the risk of potential losses, took place yesterday - numerically
written 9.9.99. Market regulators and computer experts had seen
yesterday, while not quite a dry run for the turn of the year, as a test
for systems ahead of the real millennium bug.

Yesterday was significant because the date - 9.9.99 - was used in old
computer conventions to indiciate to programs that they should stop
performing certain tasks.

Any hiccups which emerge after yesterday's trading will send severe
warnings to the markets about the potential for meltdown in trading
early in the new year if computers fail to recognise the last two digits
of the year 2000.

Dealers fear that if computers stop working they will not be able to
trade, which might leave them exposed to enormous losses.

The rumours of problems were not confined to the German exchange. The
internal message board at one leading investment bank in London warned
of problems with price information received from Simex, the Singapore
futures exchange. The message, posted as a warning by the bank's traders
in Singapore, said that the problems were caused by 9/9/99 glitches.

The Eurex exchange in Frankfurt insisted that problems incurred by its
clients first thing yesterday morning were not connected to the 9/9/99
computer problem. However, brokers claimed that in response to their
initial inquiries, the exchange had blamed the date problem.

Some users of the electronic German exchange had been forced to re-start
their computers yesterday because they had stalled overnight. A
spokesman for Eurex said: "The problems which occurred were not related
to Y2K or the 9/9/99 problem."

Eurex said the problem, quickly resolved, was caused by the failure of
some computers to receive a signal, which could have happened on any day
of the week.

One source in London insisted yesterday: "Eurex admitted to members
early on that it was having 9/9/99 problems."

The City regulator, the Finanial Services Authority, had asked the firms
it regulates to alert it to any problems encountered, but had not been
told of any.

Guardian Unlimited =A9 Guardian Newspapers Limited 1999

_____________________________________________________


http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,80967,00.html

Maybe it's time to head for the hills

Alex Brummer, Financial Editor
The Guardian
=46riday September 10, 1999

The ninth day of the ninth month of 1999 was another of those landmarks
along the way to Y2K. If the old soothsayer Nostradamus had known about
microcircuitry, he would almost certainly have labelled it an end of the
world day. It was not quite like that on the financial markets yesterday
but there were enough strange happening to put down some markers for the
end of the year.

London traders checking prices on the Simex, the Singapore futures
exchange immortalised by Nick Leeson, arrived at their screens to find
there was no prices feed as a result of the 9/9/99 problem. Unimportant,
one might think, except in global markets where dealers trade in real
time, being blindsided on a prices range could mean lost arbitrage
options or even potential open positions with unknown counterparties.
When one considers it was Singapore trades which brought down Barings
Bank in 1995, one starts to realise how no systems glitch can be
ignored.

There was some satisfaction in the City that Eurex, the Frankfurt-based
futures market which has been giving the UK's Liffe a run for its money,
was also having trading difficulties. The claim in Germany was that
systems problems were nothing to do with the date, which brought a
sceptical response in London.

The cost/opportunity cost of such systems glitches is almost impossible
to quantify. But these problems, together with those seen in the euro
switchover, do post a warning. We now know that the far simpler
changeover to the euro resulted in large bank payments going astray and
a serious liquidity problem in the Euroland money markets, which
required large injections of cash. The tendency is to believe that Y2K
is a great deal of hype, but one only has to look at UK computer
glitches - from the Passport Office to the social security payments
system - to realise the potential for difficulties in a global financial
system driven by computer software. At a meeting this year of the White
House economic committee set up by President Clinton to help smooth the
transition to Y2K, each of the members was polled on where they would
prefer to be as the clocks ticked towards 2000. Most opted to be in
their survivalist cottages in the hills, as far away from
computer-driven civilisation as possible.

snip

Guardian Unlimited =A9 Guardian Newspapers Limited 1999
_____________________________________________________


Paul Swann
Y2K-Nuclear Citizens Action Network
14 Beacon Hill
London
N7 9LY

Tel/fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]


Sir,

Commenting on the 9/9/99 computer glitches, Alex Brummer notes "the
potential for difficulties in a global financial system driven by computer
software" (Maybe its time to head for the hills, September 10).  Nuclear
reactors, reprocessing plants and weapons systems are also driven by
computer software, as are the power and telecommunications systems on which
their safety depends.

In the interests of global security, public safety and environmental
protection, the government must insist at the forthcoming G8 Special
Conference  on Y2K Contingency Planning in Berlin that (1) the nuclear
states take their  weapons systems off hair-trigger alert, and (2) extra
back-up generators are  installed with an adequate supply of fuel at all
nuclear facilities.

The public have been lulled into a false sense of security about the
millennium bug. There is still time for the government to start telling the
truth and to advise the public to make sensible preparations for the
potentially  serious consequences. In a nuclear world, heading for the
hills is not much of  an option.

Sincerely,

Paul Swann
Y2K-Nuclear Citizens Action Network


Hardly conducive to a positive outcome to the US-Russia Y2K discussions
planned for Monday...


http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,81205,00.html

US bid to alter arms treaty alarms Russia's military

Jonathan Steele in Moscow
The Guardian
Saturday September 11, 1999


As the US stepped up its attempts to get President Boris Yeltsin to
agree to amendments to its anti-ballistic missile agreement with Moscow,
the Russian military this week has been sending clear signs it considers
the move unacceptable.

While Strobe Talbott, the US deputy secretary of state, left Moscow on
Thursday declaring he was "satisfied" with disarmament talks, it is
clear that there is now a greater threat of nuclear escalation than at
any time since the cold war ended a decade ago.

The US wants Moscow to accept an American exemption from part of the
anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty of 1972, and to that end the Clinton
administration has begun to pile pressure on Mr Yeltsin's beleaguered
regime.

Mr Clinton's hour-long phone call with Mr Yeltsin on Wednesday was part
of the plan, saying in effect "We will support you in spite of the
money-laundering scandal, if you give us what we want on ABM".

Next week, William Cohen, the US defence secretary, visits the Russian
capital in the hope of brow-beating the Russian military. Further
pressure will be applied when Mr Clinton meets Vladimir Putin, the
Russian prime minister, at an Asia-Pacific summit next week.

But the Russian military, along with politicians from a variety of
parties, are not falling for the American blandishments, although there
are fears that Mr Yeltsin may. "With the present weakness of the regime,
there is a danger of unjustified concessions," Sergei Karaganov,
director of the Council for Defence and Foreign Policy Studies, said.

Colonel-General Vladimir Yakovlev, the commander of Russia's strategic
rocket forces, was quoted in Thursday's newspaper Izvestiya as saying
that if the Americans abandoned the ABM treaty "Russia has worked out
asymmetric measures, including the option of giving the intercontinental
Topol-M missiles independently targetable warheads". These warheads were
expressly forbidden by the Start-2 treaty. It has never been ratified by
the Russian parliament.

Timed to coincide with General Yakovlev's warning was an interview in
another Russian paper with Yuri Solomonov, the head of the rocket team
which is making the Topol-M.

"We have a number of technical options for breaking through the
prospective American ABM system," he said. "These include making the
missile manoeuvrable during the active part of its flight."

Beyond mere words, the air force literally fired a shot across Mr
Talbott's bows. Four days before he reached Moscow, it launched the
latest Topol-M model, hitting its target in the Russian Far East "with a
high degree of accuracy", General Yakovlev said.

Mr Talbott, as had other American officials before him, was trying to
convince Moscow that its aim in "modifying" the ABM treaty was to build
a national missile defence only against "rogue' states such as North
Korea, Iran or Iraq. The US says the system is not intended to be
sophisticated enough to be able to shoot Russian missiles down.

One proposal is to move the main battle-management radar system from
North Dakota to Alaska. The ABM treaty forbids such radars from being
sited on the edge of either signatory.

Pavel Podvig, Russia's top civilian expert on ABM systems, said this
week that the Russian military feared the new system "could be the basis
for a more robust missile defence scheme later". "The US could link this
Alaska-based radar with just a few interceptor rockets for use against
North Korea, but then quickly add hundreds of interceptors."

It takes five to 10 years to build a large phased-array radar
installation, allowing time for the other side to build better missiles
to counteract it, Mr Podvig explained. "If the US scheme goes ahead as
though it is just a regional defence, then Russia loses the lead-time."

The Russian military was not, however, seriously worried that its
missiles would lose their deterrent power, Mr Podvig said, since no ABM
system could ever give the US a guarantee of hitting Russia without
having to worry about successful retaliation. "The worry is partly
finanical. It will force Russia to keep upgrading its missile systems.

"It is also conceptual. The ABM treaty helps to bring about a reduction
in offensive weapons. As the Clinton administration used to say, it is
the cornerstone of nuclear arms reduction."


Guardian Unlimited =A9 Guardian Newspapers Limited 1999

Russia, U.S. confront Y2K nuclear risks
September 11, 1999

BY LISA HOFFMAN SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON--U.S. and Russian nuclear-weapons
officers will ring in the New Year together in
Colorado Springs to make sure any Y2K computer
glitches don't trigger Armageddon, the
Pentagon said Friday.
Between 10 and 20 Russians will set up shop at
Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs in late December.

No one thinks "we're teetering on the edge of
a potential false launch," a U.S. official
said Friday, discussing plans for the Y2K
Center for Strategic Stability. However, if
there were some sort of problem, both sides
feel it would be useful to have people in
direct contact with each other, said the
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Y2K problem involves computer programs
that might fail Jan. 1 because they would
misread the digits "00" as 1900 instead of 2000.

Although applauding the U.S.-Russian accord,
two senators who have been most vocal in their
concerns about possible nuclear-related Y2K
glitches--Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and
Robert Bennett (R-Utah)--are calling for China
and other nuclear nations to be invited to
participate as well.

But Pentagon officials said none of the other
countries with the bomb have an early-warning
system and don't pose the same threat.

The nightmare scenario is that if Russia's
early-warning missile-launch computer systems
crash or otherwise malfunction because of the
"millennium bug," its nuclear-weapons command
 might think an American attack is under way
 and order a counterstrike.

    U.S., RUSSIA TO ASSIGN Y2K MISSILE MONITORS

Reuters

September 11, 1999

WASHINGTON The United States and Russia will sign
an agreement next week for their military officers
to jointly staff a center in Colorado as the new
year dawns to watch for false warnings of missile
attacks sparked by year 2000 computer bugs, the
Pentagon said Friday.
     --------
Defense Secretary William Cohen and Russian
Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev will sign the
agreement to set up the temporary center Monday
during talks in Moscow to improve military
cooperation, a senior Pentagon official told reporters.

The official said up to 20 Russian officers would
be assigned to the "Center for Strategic Stability
and Y2K" between late December and early January
at U.S. Space Command headquarters at Colorado Springs.

The confidence-building operation will use U.S.
early-warning satellites and advanced computers,
and could reassure Moscow if Y2K computer problems
in Russia mistakenly signaled a missile launch somewhere in the world.

Both Russia and the United States have thousands
of long-range nuclear missiles and officials on
both sides are eager to avoid an unlikely but
potentially disastrous mistake.

The official, who briefed reporters on Cohen's
two-day visit to Russia Monday and Tuesday,
cautioned that neither side felt that "we are
teetering on the edge of a potential false launch
or anything of the sort," but that the step was a
sign of cooperation.

=46ormal agreement for the center was reached
quietly in late August as U.S.-Russian relations
improved following strains over Moscow's strong
opposition to NATO bombing of Serbia, the official said.


Y2K Concerns Continue to Bug Utilities, Nuclear Plants

WASHINGTON, DC, September 9, 1999 (ENS) - U.S. utilities
survived the date changeover to 9/9/99, seen as a test of
computer readiness for the Year 2000 (Y2K) computer bug ,
but Energy Secretary Bill Richardson says there are still
eight major electric utility providers that are not yet
Y2K ready. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says all U.S.
nuclear power plants are now Y2K ready, but critics say
serious safety problems remain.

After extensive testing, utilities nationwide had
considered it unlikely that their computer systems would
mistake the string of nines in today=D5s date with a stop
program command, as some computer experts had feared.
Utilities used the occasion for a nationwide drill,
coordinated by the North American Electric Reliability
Council (NERC), to test backup systems for the January 1,
2000 rollover.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson (Photo       [richardson]
courtesy DOE)

Utilities simulated electric outages to test
communications under emergency circumstances, and iron out
procedures for utilities and federal and state agencies to
follow. Extra computer experts and safety staff were on
hand at the 200 utilities participating in the drill, but
no glitches occurred.

But Richardson expressed concern yesterday about the
number of electric utilities that are not Y2K ready, or
have exceptions to their preparations. Eight major
electric utility providers are not ready, or have limited
exceptions, and an additional 16 municipal utilities and
rural cooperatives have not reported their progress to the
American Public Power Association and the National Rural
Electric Cooperative Association. There are about 3,000 utilities in North
America.

"With just over 100 days until the year 2000, those
suppliers that haven't yet stepped up to the plate need to
be especially aggressive to prepare for the rollover,"
Richardson said. "All power providers, regardless of their
level of preparedness, must continue to test all their
systems to ensure consumers that their lights will stay on into the next
millennium."

Chairman Gregory Nesbitt and president David
Eppler of the Central Louisiana Electric Company,
one of eight utilities that says it is not Y2K ready
 (Photo courtesy CLECO)

A full list of all utilities with continued Y2K problems
can be found at:
http://home.doe.gov/news/releases99/seppr/pr99235.htm

Richardson has directed the DOE to conduct an additional
20 reviews of randomly selected electric utilities over
the coming months to augment audits of 36 such utilities
already undertaken by the department. The DOE says the
audits completed to date generally confirm the information
received through the industry survey process.

On Tuesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
announced that it has confirmed through onsite reviews
that there are no Y2K related problems which affect the
performance of systems needed to safely shut down any of
the 103 U.S. nuclear power plants.

The results are outlined in a report, "Year 2000 Readiness
in U.S. Nuclear Power Plants," that integrates the results
of NRC's onsite reviews with utilities' July 1 reports of
Y2K readiness. The report is available on NRC's Y2K
website at: www.nrc.gov/NRC/NEWS/year2000.html.

While all plants report Y2K readiness for safety systems
used for shutdown, some plants are still completing Y2K
readiness activities for systems not required to safely
shut down the plants.

The Comanche Peak Unit #1 nuclear plant in      [comanche]
Texas is scheduled to be Y2K ready by November
30, 1999 (Photo courtesy NRC)

Among the systems that may not be ready are those that
provide backup power in case primary systems fail. Diesel
generators provide backup at many power plants, yet these
systems are notoriously unreliable. In addition, some fear
that the seven day fuel supply required for the generators
might not be sufficient in cases of significant computer breakdowns.

"Nuclear reactors depend on another source of electricity
to insure that vital monitoring and cooling systems
operate," says Paul Gunter, director of the Nuclear
Information Resource Service (NIRS) Nuclear Reactor Watch
Dog Project. "These systems are essential, even if the reactor is off line."

"Our research shows that back up diesel generators are not
as reliable as people have a right to expect, given that
Y2K failures may cause local and regional power outages,"
Gunter continues. "Diesel generators have mechanical
failures, fuel problems, are prone to overheating, and in
some cases, vulnerable to the Y2K bug itself!"

NIRS, a coalition of nuclear energy and environmental
activists, petitioned the NRC last December asking the
agency to require that nuclear facilities have a 60 day
fuel supply to provide backup power during the Y2K
transition, and have alternate renewable means of backup
power available. The NRC denied this petition saying
current regulations require sufficient redundant backup
power sources of onsite emergency power.

"The NRC considers the current seven day fuel supply on
site at nuclear power plants to be sufficient to handle
operation of diesel generators in the event that offsite
power is lost," responded the NRC. "As part of Y2K
preparations, licensees are putting arrangements in place
to replenish the fuel supply, if needed. However, Y2K
problems are not expected to prolong the duration of a
loss of offsite power for longer than that assumed in the
licensee's normal emergency plans."

The Citizens Nuclear Summit, a coalition of environmental
and nuclear activist groups, has launched a World Atomic
Safety Holiday (WASH) campaign, calling for all nuclear
reactors to be taken offline on December 1, 1999, as a
safety precaution. Reactors should not be restarted until
after January 1, 2000, and each facility must show it
meets Y2K compliance criteria with testing and
verification before restart, the campaign asserts.

WASH warns that systems used to cool pools of water used
to store used reactor fuel have no backup power generators
at all. WARN says these pools contain, on average, five
times as much radiation as the reactor core and have no
containment systems. If the water in these pools is not
cooled, the fuel rods could boil the water off, causing a
radioactive steam plume. The rods could even, potentially,
reach critical meltdown temperatures if left uncooled for
long enough.

The reactors were originally designed thinking that the
used fuel rods would be removed from the site and
reprocessed. Hazards associated with that procedure caused
the nuclear industry to abandon reprocessing, so most of
the used fuel rods remain in cooling pools awaiting the
opening of a permanent high level nuclear waste
repository. Such a repository has been proposed for Yucca
Mountain in Nevada, but safety questions have delayed
approval of the storage site.

=A9 Environment News Service (ENS) 1999. All Rights Reserved. [ ]
[E-Wire]
Environmental Press Releases

News Story
Nuke Plants Need Y2K Fixes
By: David McGuire, Newsbytes
September 13, 1999
URL: http://www.currents.net/newstoday/99/09/13/news1.html

All of the nation's 103 nuclear power plants are prepared to operate safely
during the Jan. 1 date rollover, but a number of plants still require Y2K
fixes to their administrative and operational support systems, according to
the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) latest Y2K report.

Of the 28 plants reporting that they are not yet Y2K-compliant, all but
three say that they will complete Y2K-remediation efforts before November.
All of the plants will be 100 percent Y2K compliant before year's end,
according to the NRC.

Alabama's Farley 2 plant is the only nuclear power facility that has set a
December date for completing its Y2K remediation efforts.

Today's findings echo last month's comments by NRC Chair Greta Dicus. The
date rollover, "will not adversely effect the continued safe operation, or
if necessary, the safe shut down, of nuclear power (plants)," she said at an
August press conference.

As early as July, the NRC was reporting that all nuclear plant safety
systems were fully Y2K-compliant.

In recent public appearances, John Koskinen, chair of the President's
Council on Year 2000 Conversion, has expressed growing optimism that the
nation's nuclear power facilities - and its electric power systems in
general - will be more than ready to face the date rollover.

The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) reported in August
that if the year 2000 date rollover happened tomorrow, the nation's power
companies would be ready for the change, and could provide uninterrupted
service to substantially all of the nation's citizens.

More than 99 percent of the nation's roughly 3,000 power companies are
actively participating in the NERC's Y2K readiness efforts, and nearly all
participating firms have completed Y2K remediation efforts on their mission
critical systems, according to a recent NERC report.

Starting at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Dec. 31, the NERC and the nation's
power companies will be in a full state of alert. While no outages are
anticipated by the NERC, power stations will be staffed with additional
personnel and reserve generators will be up-and-running to guard against any
unforeseen glitches.

Power authorities will also observe heightened readiness on Jan. 3, 2000 -
the first business day of the New Year, and Feb. 29, 2000 - the leap year
day.

As an added safeguard, some nuclear plants may ratchet down their energy
outputs around the time of the rollover.

A full list of Nuclear power plants and their expected Y2K-remediation dates
is located on the NRC's Website at
http://www.nrc.gov/OPA/gmo/nrarcv/99-191.htm .




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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 09:08:06 -0400
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: [y2k-nuclear] US bid to alter arms treaty alarms Russia's military

>Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 19:19:01 -0400
>Subject: [y2k-nuclear] US bid to alter arms treaty alarms Russia's military
>To: [e-mail]
>Cc: [e-mail]
>X-FC-Forwarded-From:=20
> y2k-nuclear-return-402-aslater=[e-mail]
>From: [e-mail] ([e-mail])
>
>Hardly conducive to a positive outcome to the US-Russia Y2K discussions
>planned for Monday...
>
>
>http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,81205,00.html
>
>US bid to alter arms treaty alarms Russia's military
>
>Jonathan Steele in Moscow
>The Guardian
>Saturday September 11, 1999
>
>
>As the US stepped up its attempts to get President Boris Yeltsin to
>agree to amendments to its anti-ballistic missile agreement with Moscow,
>the Russian military this week has been sending clear signs it considers
>the move unacceptable.
>
>While Strobe Talbott, the US deputy secretary of state, left Moscow on
>Thursday declaring he was "satisfied" with disarmament talks, it is
>clear that there is now a greater threat of nuclear escalation than at
>any time since the cold war ended a decade ago.
>
>The US wants Moscow to accept an American exemption from part of the
>anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty of 1972, and to that end the Clinton
>administration has begun to pile pressure on Mr Yeltsin's beleaguered
>regime.
>
>Mr Clinton's hour-long phone call with Mr Yeltsin on Wednesday was part
>of the plan, saying in effect "We will support you in spite of the
>money-laundering scandal, if you give us what we want on ABM".
>
>Next week, William Cohen, the US defence secretary, visits the Russian
>capital in the hope of brow-beating the Russian military. Further
>pressure will be applied when Mr Clinton meets Vladimir Putin, the
>Russian prime minister, at an Asia-Pacific summit next week.
>
>But the Russian military, along with politicians from a variety of
>parties, are not falling for the American blandishments, although there
>are fears that Mr Yeltsin may. "With the present weakness of the regime,
>there is a danger of unjustified concessions," Sergei Karaganov,
>director of the Council for Defence and Foreign Policy Studies, said.
>
>Colonel-General Vladimir Yakovlev, the commander of Russia's strategic
>rocket forces, was quoted in Thursday's newspaper Izvestiya as saying
>that if the Americans abandoned the ABM treaty "Russia has worked out
>asymmetric measures, including the option of giving the intercontinental
>Topol-M missiles independently targetable warheads". These warheads were
>expressly forbidden by the Start-2 treaty. It has never been ratified by
>the Russian parliament.
>
>Timed to coincide with General Yakovlev's warning was an interview in
>another Russian paper with Yuri Solomonov, the head of the rocket team
>which is making the Topol-M.
>
>"We have a number of technical options for breaking through the
>prospective American ABM system," he said. "These include making the
>missile manoeuvrable during the active part of its flight."
>
>Beyond mere words, the air force literally fired a shot across Mr
>Talbott's bows. Four days before he reached Moscow, it launched the
>latest Topol-M model, hitting its target in the Russian Far East "with a
>high degree of accuracy", General Yakovlev said.
>
>Mr Talbott, as had other American officials before him, was trying to
>convince Moscow that its aim in "modifying" the ABM treaty was to build
>a national missile defence only against "rogue' states such as North
>Korea, Iran or Iraq. The US says the system is not intended to be
>sophisticated enough to be able to shoot Russian missiles down.
>
>One proposal is to move the main battle-management radar system from
>North Dakota to Alaska. The ABM treaty forbids such radars from being
>sited on the edge of either signatory.
>
>Pavel Podvig, Russia's top civilian expert on ABM systems, said this
>week that the Russian military feared the new system "could be the basis
>for a more robust missile defence scheme later". "The US could link this
>Alaska-based radar with just a few interceptor rockets for use against
>North Korea, but then quickly add hundreds of interceptors."
>
>It takes five to 10 years to build a large phased-array radar
>installation, allowing time for the other side to build better missiles
>to counteract it, Mr Podvig explained. "If the US scheme goes ahead as
>though it is just a regional defence, then Russia loses the lead-time."
>
>The Russian military was not, however, seriously worried that its
>missiles would lose their deterrent power, Mr Podvig said, since no ABM
>system could ever give the US a guarantee of hitting Russia without
>having to worry about successful retaliation. "The worry is partly
>finanical. It will force Russia to keep upgrading its missile systems.
>
>"It is also conceptual. The ABM treaty helps to bring about a reduction
>in offensive weapons. As the Clinton administration used to say, it is
>the cornerstone of nuclear arms reduction."
>=20
>
>Guardian Unlimited =A9 Guardian Newspapers Limited 1999
>
>
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>MyPoints-Free Rewards When You're Online.=20
>Start with up to 150 Points for joining!
>http://clickhere.egroups.com/click/805
>
>
>eGroups.com home: http://www.egroups.com/group/y2k-nuclear
>http://www.egroups.com - Simplifying group communications
> =20
Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty
to eliminate nuclear weapons.

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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 12:30:55 +1000
From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) RUSSIAN NUKE CAMPAIGNER THREATENED WITH ARREST  PLEASE SIGN PROTEST LETTER

Dear People,

VLADIMIR Sliviak, Russias most prominent antinuclear campaigner is being
threatened with blackmail and arrest by the Moscow police, working for the
FSB.  He needs your support urgently. (See Vladimirs press release below).

I would like to fax this within the next 48 hours.

If you could all sign it for Vladimir that would be most helpful.

TO:
MINISTRY OF POLICE RUSSIA, 7-095-239-08-62
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE RUSSIA, 7-095-916-2903
MOSCOW CHIEF OF POLICE 7-095-200-93-05
F.S.B, MOSCOW, 7-095-975-24-70
cc
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
Laurie Brereton, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs
Alexander Downer Minister for Foreign Affairs
Joschka Fischer, German Minister for Foreign Affairs
Maj-Britt Theorin, European Parliament
Ernst Gulcher, European Parliament
U.S. State Department, Russia Desk

Dear Minister of Police, Minister for Justice, FSB, and Chief of Police Moscow,
We are
writing out of deep concern for a friend and colleague, Vladimir
Sliviak, Director of the antinuclear campaign of Ecodefense,  who
we
understand was temporarily arrested and released recently outside his
Moscow home and who appears to be the object of police harassment.

Mr. Sliviak's beliefs and actions concerning nuclear energy and other
policies of the Russian government may not be to the liking of some elements in
your government but his beliefs and commitment are widely shared around the
world.

We understand that he was stopped outside his home on September 6, by
members of the Moscow police, (MUR) who said they were investigating an
explosion of August 31, 1999. It seems that Vladimir was shown marijuana,
and told
that if he did not cooperate it would be placed in his bag and he would
then be arrested and jailed for three years. He was released after 1.5
hours.

We also understand another colleague of his, Mr. Kozlov, was similarly
threatened.

Vladimir Sliviak is well known to the environmental community worldwide,
and respected. There is no way that he could be involved in activities of
the type with which the police seem to wish to associate him.

The right to protest and to question and oppose government policies,  is
enshrined in the democratic tradition and is an integral part of civil
society. It is also enshrined in a number of United Nations conventions. It
is not a luxury, to be dispensed with in times of difficulty.

The environmental movement in the U.S., Australia, and Europe is held in high
respect even by those it opposes. Green political parties have prominent
representation in many European parliaments and in the European Parliament,
and the German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer is from the Green Party.
Other political parties have largely adopted parts of the environment
movements agenda.

 You may be sure that the activities of the Moscow police and authorities
with respect to
 Mr. Sliviak are being very well observed by a large and sympathetic
 worldwide community.

 We trust that these incidents were in error and will not be
repeated, that the law will be respected and enforced above all by those
whose duty it is to do so.

John Hallam,
Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Sydney.

Michael Mariotte
Executive Director
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Washington, DC

Reply-To: "Vladimir Slivyak" <[e-mail]>

For immediate release
Moscow

EXPLOSION DETAILS
While all newspapers and TV channels discuss "Chechen", "Dagestan" and
"revolutionary writers" versions of the explosion at Manezh square, provided
by intelligence services, these services themselves persecute ecologists and
look for whom to blame among the witnesses of another notorious political
process.

People from Moscow Criminal Investigation Department (MUR) captured Vladimir
Slivyak, Director of Antinuclear campaign of Socio-Ecological Union (SEU).
The formal reason for the arrest was documents control, while the real
reasons were investigation actions within Manezh square explosion suit.

People in civilian stopped the activist of environmental movement when he
was going out of his house; they refused to introduce themselves and to
explain the reason of the arrest. After documents control and numerous
questions about Slivyak's job, environmental organizations and environmental
movement in general, senior lieutenant of MUR 6th department A.S. Kosterov
(the only person whose documents were possible to look at) stated that he
"deals with terrorists" including investigation of circumstances of the
explosion at Manezh square. At the place of detention Kosterov took a
package with marijuana and threatened to "find it in the bag" of the
Director of Antinuclear campaign if he does not facilitate actively enough
"the course of the investigation". It appeared that MUR staff is interested
in Kochkarev Yakov Vladimirovich who must appear here in the nearest future
according to intercepted phone call.

REFERENCE: Y.V. Kochkarev is a witness for the defense in so called
"Krasnodar suit", notorious political process in the beginning of which it
was repeatedly stated about "prevention of murderous assault at Krasnodar
kray governor Nikolay Kondratenko". In the course of investigation of this
suit searches and interrogations of witnesses were performed with numerous
violations of Criminal and Judicial Procedure Code of RF. However the suit
broke up and the inquest failed to prove the accusation in political
terrorism.

Obviously intelligence services were not satisfied with the results
achieved. In the "conversation" with the detained Director of Antinuclear
campaign and then with other persons of this organization arrived to the
place of the event, senior lieutenant Kosterov stated that he personally
deals with "Krasnodar suit" from its very beginning and is absolutely
confident in the relationship between this suit and recent explosion at
Manezh, as well as that "all traces lead to environmental organizations".
Kosterov also stated that he knows for sure who committed this act of
terrorism.

Obviously the scandal "Krasnodar suit" is early to consider finished. There
is direct evidence of its transition to probably even more notorious
"terrorist trial". Apparently its main canvas has not been "knitted" yet -
that is why the method of shaking marijuana packages before one's face and
"conversations" without proceedings are again applied: the information
obtained in this way can be later filed there in the way the most suitable
for the inquest.

During "Krasnodar suit" "criminal group" was searched among informal groups
with radical views, but nothing serious came out of it, except that someone
lost
laurels of the main fighter with terrorists. Probably bodies investigating
explosion at Manezh believe that ecologists are more serious people and thus
can be accused of more serious plot? Apparently working out of this scenario
took place during "Krasnodar suit", already then they tried to have up many
ecologists as witnesses.

LATEST NEWS:
September 7th FSB people contacted via phone A.Yu. Kozlov, representative of
Voronezh division of SEU Antinuclear Campaign. They demanded him to come for
"informal conversation" on the topic of antinuclear camp took place in
September in vicinity of Novovoronezh nuclear power plant. As an argument
for his coming they stated: "Your Moscow colleagues have problems, you do no
want the same, do you?". Obviously the "problems" meant marijuana package in
hands of MUR officer Kosterov, because official accusations to the Director
of Antinuclear campaign have never been brought. Only at parting MUR
officers said to him: "If we do not capture Kochkarev, consider yourself
arrested".

Information on activities of Antinuclear campaign and about the camp near
Novovoronezh nuclear power plantcan be found
in the Internet:
www.ecoline.ru/antinuclear

About "Krasnodar suit":
www.ecoline.ru/actions/bomba
www.ipclub.ru/identity/pres/

John Hallam
Friends of the Earth Sydney,
17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia,
Fax[phone] ph (61)(2)9517-3903
[e-mail]    http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd
http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html





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------------------------------

End of abolition-usa-digest V1 #181
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