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abolition-usa-digest   Saturday, September 18 1999   Volume 01 : Number 185




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

Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 17:59:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: [e-mail] (marylia)
Subject: (abolition-usa) NEW! ON THE WEB! FROM TRI-VALLEY CAREs

New! On the Web! From Tri-Valley CAREs! Make a bookmark --
http://www.igc.org/tvc

* Test your knowledge of the Dept. of Energy's Livermore Lab (hint: things
are worse than you think).
Take our pop quiz and get the lowdown. Click on to access the
underlying facts.

* See our September Citizen's Watch newsletter and:

                * Learn about DOE plans to increase nuclear weapons
activities at Livermore, Los Alamos,                              Sandia
and the Nevada Test Site.

                * Read what Livermore Lab and DOE are trying to cover up.
Serious, unresolved technical difficulties are the real reason the National
Ignition Facility is $300 million over budget and at least one year behind
schedule.

                * Join us. Participate in actions -- Protest the next
"subcritical" nuclear test, support efforts to take all nuclear weapons
off-hair trigger alert and more. It's all in the Sept. newsletter and up on
on our web site.

* Fact sheets, back issues of the newsletter, action alerts -- we have it!
Plus, we will be upgrading our site and adding things over the next few
weeks. Visit us in cyberspace soon. No shirt or shoes required.

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!

[phone] - is our phone
[phone] - 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.



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

Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 12:37:54 +1000
From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) PLEASE STOP FORWARDING EMAILS TO THE BEASTIE BOYS [e-mail]

Somebody or something on this list is forwarding my emails about nukes to
[e-mail]
It's the email for the beastie boys' whoever the hell they are (I really
don't want to know).

WHOEVER IS RELAYING STUFF ON TO THE BEASTIE BOYS FOR CHRISTS SAKE STOP
DOING IT!

Their responses are very limited, and they dont understand that emails
ometimes get to places they are not supposed to.

They are the last people I want to email and the last people I want to hear
from.



- -
 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
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------------------------------

Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 20:16:31 +1000
From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) LETTER FAXED TO RUSSIAN POLICE, FSB, AMNESTY, MEPS, RE HARRASSMENT OF VLADIMIR SLIVIAK

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


The following has been faxed just now (over the period 5.45-7.45pm Sydney
time) to the numbers below.

It failed to go to the Moscow chief of police, whose number didn't seem to
have a fax machine attatched to it. I'll try again.

I do not have a number for the Russia desk of the  US State Department.

I'LLalso email it to the European Parliament.

There are about 130 signatures including two members of the European
Parliament (Elizabeth Schroedter and Joost Lagendijk), and one Australian
senator. Greenpeace International has signed via Tobias Muenchenmeyer and
Ben Pearson, and Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland
via Rachel Western.

I've tried to get it out as soon as possible, it's been quite a job.

A colleague is also taking it up with Amnesty in London.

I hope it does the trick!

Good luck Vlad and look after yourself.

Very best wishes,
John Hallam.




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 Australia, 9217-7677
Amnesty International London, 44-171-956-1157
Human Rights Watch,
Heinrich Boell Foundation, 49-30-285-34-309,
Laurie Brereton, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, 61-2-6277-8502
Alexander Downer Minister for Foreign Affairs, 61-2-6273-4112,
Joschka Fischer, German Minister for Foreign Affairs,-49-228-16-8-6662
Maj-Britt Theorin, European Parliament, 33-3-8817-9661, 32-2-284-9661.
Heidi Hautala, European Parliament, 32-2-284-9446, 33-3-8817-9446
Elizabeth Schroedter,European Parliament, 33-3-8817-9234,  284-9234
Joost Lagendijk, 33-3-8817-9176, 32-2-284-9176
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 Australia.
Michael Marriott Executive Director, NIRS, Washington DC,
Katell Gelebart, ASEED-Europe, Amsterdam,
Rosalie Bertell, President, International Institute of Concern for Public
Health, Toronto, Canada,
Tobias Muenchenmeyer/Ben Pearson, Greenpeace International, Amsterdam,
Senator Lyn Alison, Australian Democrats, Canberra/Melbourne Australia,
Elizabeth Schroedter, MEP, Green Group, Brussels/Strasbourg,(Germany)
Joost Lagendijk, MEP, Green Group, Brussels/Strasbourg (Neth)
Dr. Rachel Western, Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland,

Ulla Lehtinen, First Peoples, Finland,
Ann Vikkelso, OVE-Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark,
Gunnar Boye Olesen, INFORSE- Europe, Hjortsoj, Denmark,
Niels I. Meyer, Professor of Physics, Technical University of Denmark,
Lyngby, Denmark,
Viljalmer Neilsen, Research Assistant professor, Technical University of
Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark,
Miles Goldstick, Nordnet, Stockholm, Sweden,
Dr. Alfred Koerblien, Umwelt Institut, Muenchen, eV, Germany,
Albert Caspari, Chair, INFOBALT, Bremen, Germany,
Heike Drillisch, World Ecology, Economy and Development, Bonn, Germany,
Erdmuth Arnold, Journalist, Frankfurt-Am Main, Germany,
Bernd Damish, Working Circle Indians Today, Germany,
Patricia Lorenz, Global 2000, Vienna, Austria,
Matthias Reichl, Centre for Encounter and Active Non-Violence, Bad Ischl,
Austria,
Mathilde Halla, 'Platform', Austria,
Marcus Drake, European Youth For Action, Amsterdam, Neth,
The Zhaba Collective, Amsterdam, Netherlands,
Heather Banner, Plowshares Alliance,
Steven Strange, Faslane Peace Camp,
Rev. Stewart Denis, Milton Keynes, UK.,
Nick Drake, Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Southampton, UK.,
Donald Matheson, Joint Action Against the M-74, Glasgow, Scotland,
Pascal Braud, Reseau Sortir Du Nucleaire, France,
Agoston Nagy, Goncol Alliance, Vac, Hungary,
Matus Bakyta, Slobodna Alternativa, Bratislava, Slovakia,
Juraj Krivosik, Society for Sustainable Living in Slovakia, Bratislava,
Slovakia,
Za Zemiata, Sofia, Bulgaria (30 signatures)
Aungiira Aurel Duta, For Mother Earth Rumania/Mama Terra, Bucharest,
Valdis Felsbergs, Green Party of Latvia, Riga, Latvia,
Ieva Zalete, Zielone Brygady, Latvia,
Iloana Bobana,  Ecological Movement of Moldova, Chishinau, Moldova,
Olexi Pasyuk, TACIS Environmental Awareness, Kiev, Ukraine,
Yury Urbansky, National Ecological Centre of Ukraine, Kiev,
Oleg Bodrov, Sergey Kharitonov, Green World, Kiev, Ukraine,
Sergey M. Fedorynchyk, Green World, Sosnovy Bor, St Petersburg, Russia,
Dr Larisa Skuratovskaya, Md, PhD, IPPNW-Russia,
Hakob Sanasaryan, Greens Union of Armenia, Yerevan,
Ira Lobko, For Mother Earth Belarus, Minsk, Belarus,

Yuko Yano, Writer, Toyama City, Japan,
Mika Obayashi, Citizens Nuclear Information Centre, Tokyo, Japan,

Dave Greenfield, New Green Alliance, Saskatoon, Sask, Canada,
Robert Silvermann, Le Monde A Bicyclette, Montreal, Canada,
Walter Robbins, Stop Trafficking Plutonium, Ontario, Canada,
Michael J. Keegan, Coalition for a Nuclear-free Great Lakes,

Susan Cutting, Northern Eurasia Environmental Assistance Project,
Petersham, Mass, USA
Alice Slater, Global Resource and Action Centre, New York, USA
Mark Wakeham, Environment Centre of the Northern Territory, Darwin,Aust,
Rowena, Environment Centre of W.A.,
Bill Smirnow, Nuclear-Free New York, NY, USA,
Robin Kossef, BAN-Waste Coalition, San Francisco, Calif, USA.,
Shannon O'Leary, Assistant Professor of Geology, Illinois State University,
Illinois, USA,
Mary Byrd Davis, Uranium Enrichment Project, Earth Island Institute,
Timothea Howard, At Home in the World, Washington DC.,
David N. Pyles, New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution, Vermont, USA,
James P. Riccio, Staff Attorney, Critical Mass Project, Wash, USA,
Alexander Kuzma, Director of Development, Children of Chernobyl Relief
Fund, Short Hills, NJ, USA,
Michael Welch, Redwood Alliance, Arcata, Calif, USA,
Dave Rappaport, Vermont Public Interest Research Group,
Francis U Macy, Director, Centre for Safe Energy, Berkeley, Calif,
Molly Johnson, Save Ward Valley, Needles, California,
Heather Ripley, People Against Power Abuse,
Judith H. Johnsrud, Environmental Coalition Against Nuclear Power,
Deb Katz, Citizens Awareness Network, Mass, USA,
Harvey Wasserman, Citizens Protecting Ohio, Bexley Ohio, USA,
Russell D. Hoffman, Stop Cassini Newsletter,
Chuck Johnson, Director, Centre for Energy Research, Salem Oregon, USA,
Ann P. Harris, Executive Director, Alliance for Public Health And Safety,
Ten Mile, Tennessee, USA,
Wendy Tanowitz, Y2K-WASH, San Anselmo, California, USA.,
The Hon. John Tuthill, New Hampshire State Rep, USA,
Mayer Segal, HOPE Coalition, Arcata, Humboldt Co, Calif, USA.,
Mary Beth Branagan/James Heddle, Coordinators, San Francisco Y2K-WASH,
Jack and Felice Cohen-Joppa, The Nuclear Resister, Tucson, Arizona, USA.,
Roger Herried, Abalone Alliance, San Francisco, California, USA.,
Maureen Eldridge, Program Director, Alliance for Nuclear Accountability,
Judi Friedman, Peoples Action for Clean Energy, CT, USA.,
Leroy Moore, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Centre, Boulder, Colorado, USA.,
Roger Voelker, Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, Indianapolis, USA.,
Michele Boyd, Global Outreach Coordinator, IEER, Tacoma Park, Md, USA.,
George M. Lewis, Professor of Mathematics, California Polytechnic State
University, USA.,
Bill Pfieffer, Sacred Earth Network, Petersham Mass, USA.,
Patricia Birnie, Chair, GE Stockholders Alliance, Tucson, Ariz., USA.,
Betty Schroeder, Chair, Arizona Safe Energy Coalition, Tucson, Ariz.,
Pat Birnie, Chair, Environment Committee WILPF, Tucson, Ariz.,
Jennifer Olaranna Viereck, Healing Global Wounds, USA.,
Susan Shaer, Executive Director, Womens Action for New Directions (WAND) USA.,
Pat Ortmeyer, WAND, Nuclear Waste Issues,
Gawain Kripke, FOE-USA, Washington, USA.,
Scott D. Portzline, Three Mile Island Alert,
Gordon Thompson, Institute for Energy and Security Studies, Cambridge Mass,
USA.,
Tim Judson, Citizens Awareness Network NY, USA.,
Barbara Weidener, Grandmothers for Peace International,
Judy Triechel, Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force, Nevada, USA.,
Mary Lampert, Massachusetts Citizens for Safe Energy,
David Ellison, Green Party of Ohio, Cleveland Ohio, USA.,
Amy Wilson, Russia Program, Initiative for Social Action and Renewal in
Eurasia,
Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CARES, Livermore, Calif, USA.,
Erik Van Lenepp, Arctic to Amazonia Alliance,
Alice Hirt, Don't Waste Michigan, Mich, USA.,
Buffalo Bruce, Western Nebraska Resources Council, Nebraska, USA.,
Barbara Hickernell, Alliance To Close Indian Point, Ossinning, NY., USA.,
David mc Reynolds, Former Chair, War Resisters International,
Shundhai Network, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.,
Jay M. Gould, Radiation and Public Health Project,
Nicholas Lenssen, Worldwatch, Boulder Colorado, USA.,
David Roodman, Worldwatch Institute, Washington DC., USA.,
Greg Wingard, Executive Director, Waste Action Project, Seattle, USA.,
Action for Community and Ecology in the Rainforests of Central America,
Vermont, USA.,
Native Forest Network, Vermont, USA.,
Blaine Metcalf/Shiela Baker, War Resisters League, San Luis Obispo,Calif, USA,
Susan Gordon, Director, Alliance for Nuclear Accountability,
Kaitlin Backlund, Executive Director, Citizen Alert, Reno, Nevada, USA.,
Joe Mirabile, Director, Eco-Bridge, San Francisco, USA.,
Bob Kinsey, Peace and Justice Task Force, Rocky Mountain Conference, United
Church of Christ,
Marion Pack, Alliance for Survival, Costa-Mesa, Calif,
Dr. Thomas B.Cochran, National Resources Defence Council, (NRDC) Washington
DC, USA.,
Michael J. Keegan, Don't Waste Michigan,
Tom Seery/Julie Enslow, Peace Action, Wisconsin, USA.,
Judy Triechel, Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.,
Andrew Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation, Calif, USA.,
Ernst Gotein, Californians for Radioactive Safeguards,
Lisa Guido, Peace Council of Central New York,




















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

Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 21:07:38 +1000
From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) FAXED AND EMAILED TO AUST PARLIAMENT, RE DE-ALERTING RESOLUTION MONDAY

DEAR Parliamentarians,

A supplementary Y2K motion, asking that the government adopt the
reccommendations of the Canberra Commision on De-Alerting nuclear weapons
will be before the Senate on on Monday.

You are urged to vote for it.

This email contains a letter from the Australian Peace Committee and
Friends of the Earth to Laurie Brereton,  Alexander Downer and the Prime
Minster, concerning the de-alerting of nuclear weapons.

Following that is a letter from the American medical Association to
President Clinton, asking for nuclear weapons to be taken off alert.

AUSTRALIAN PEACE COMMITTEE
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH

LAURIE BRERETON, 02-6277-8502 9349-8089,
ALEXANDER DOWNER, 02-6273-4112 08-8370-8166
JOHN HOWARD, 02-6273-4100 9251-5454
KIM BEAZLEY, 02-6277-8495
SENATOR KATE LUNDY 02-6277-3884,
cc
SENATOR CHRIS SCHACHT 08-8344-9355 02-6277-3121
SENATOR GEORGE CAMPBELL 02-6277-3958
SENATOR BOB BROWN 02-6277-3185
SENATOR LYN ALLISON 02-6277-3087. 03-9417-1690
SENATOR STOTT-DESPOJA 02-6277-3235
SENATOR NICK BOLKUS 02-6277-3062

RE: SENATE RESOLUTION ON N-WEAPONS AND Y2K TABLED FOR MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20TH
1999

Dear Laurie Brereton, Alexander Downer, John Howard, Kim Beazley and Kate
Lundy,

We are writing to you because Senator Bob Brown has tabled a Senate
resolution on nuclear weapons and Y2K, which supplements the resolution
carried unanimously on Aug. 12th.

We urge your strong support for that resolution, and hope that it is
possible for that resolution also to achieve unanimous support.

We note that resolutions are also under consideration in the US Congress,
the Canadian Senate and the European Parliament.

You will recall that the taking of nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert
was a key recommendation of the Canberra Commission on the Abolition of
nuclear weapons, which reported to the United Nations in 1996. It was also
called for in a number of subsequent UNGA resolutions, notably the  New
Agenda resolution.

The resolution welcomes the recent decision of the UK to move its 'notice
to fire' on nuclear submarine-launched missiles from minutes to days, and
asks that the government adopt as policy the recommendations of the
Canberra Commission with  respect to de-alerting.

It asks that the Australian government make specific efforts to push the US
and Russia to stand down nuclear forces over the Y2K rollover period.

Australia has a special responsibility with respect to the effects of Y2K
on nuclear forces in the US, as one of the most crucial parts of the US
early warning and monitoring system is the large complex at Pine Gap. Pine
Gap will experience the effects of Y2K some 15 hours before the continental
US does.

A number of respected nuclear strategic analysts have concluded that there
is a significant and unacceptable even if small, risk of accidental nuclear
war over the Y2K rollover period if nuclear weapons are not taken off
hairtrigger alert.

As things now stand, Russia has roughly 3,600 warheads on 750 missiles in
land-based silos, and the US has roughly 2000 warheads on 500 missiles,
which can be launched at a moment's notice.  (This does not count bombers,
submarines, or tactical weapons.)

These weapons are controlled and monitored by the largest, oldest, and
hence least Y2K-compliant computer complexes in the world. Massive efforts
have been made to achieve Y2K compliance in the US, but there is no
guarantee that this has been achieved and many Y2K fixes are scheduled for
very close to the rollover.  Some systems are not considered to be
remediable. In Russia, very little attempt has been made until very
recently to fix Y2K problems, whose very existence has been denied.

Current warfighting strategies are now based on 'launch on warning', which
means that commanders faced with data indicating an incoming attack have
minutes in which to order retaliation - or to discover that they are the
victims of a computer malfunction.

A mild foretaste of what may be expected came when on 22 Aug., the global
positioning systems aboard 14 of our Fremantle class patrol boats failed
over the GPS 'rollover'. On 22 August, the global positioning systems
aboard 14 of the Australian Navy's Fremantle class patrol boats failed
when the internal clock controlling the 24 satellites of the Global
Positioning System was reset.  This was one of the preview
kick-in dates for the Y2K problem, and a mild foretaste of what can be
expected.  A question has been asked to Senator Alston by Senator
Natasha-Stott-Despoja on this matter.

The recent agreement between the US and Russia to operate a Y2K 'strategic
stability centre' in Colorado is a positive move, but will not by itself
completely remove all risk. A worrying aspect of this is that the centre is
not planned to become operational until December 27. A four-day delay would
of course render it valueless.

The very fact of this agreement also demonstrates that military experts
within the two governments do take the issue of strategic stability over
the Y2K rollover period very seriously.

We understand that the governments position is that the risk is relatively
low, and that without verification, De-Alerting would cause more rather
than less uncertainty over the Y2K rollover period.

It is frankly difficult to see how this could possibly be so. Rather, it
would seem to be the case that even without positive verification, nuclear
forces that have been taken off alert will be a security plus. With
verification, De-Alerting will be even more of a plus. To suggest that
because the current UK force posture or the force posture of the Chinese,
is not verifiable that we'd all be better off if they were on high alert
and able to fire at a moment's notice is nonsensical not do say downright
perverse.

In any case, given the US and Russia's willingness to operate a joint
strategic stability centre, albeit after uncertainty due to Kossovo and
other issues, it should not be impossible to arrange for mutual
verification of De-Alerting. However, the failure or inability to do this
should in no way count as an argument not to proceed with this essential
and commonsense measure.

We put it to you,  that no arguments against taking nuclear forces off
hairtrigger alert withstand serious scrutiny, that De-Alerting or standing
down of nuclear forces is a measure that does not entail either costs or
downside risks, or if there are risks, that they are insignificant as
compared to the risk of global catastrophe that 5,500 nuclear warheads
would certainly inflict if ever used.

An accidental launch  if it occurred, would in all probability, not be of a
single missile, but would be a full- scale retaliation for an attack that
existed only as the result of a Y2K induced computer fault. In other words
it would be likely to involve all or a large proportion of the land-based
ICBM arsenal of the country concerned. The use of all or a large proportion
of 5,500 warheads would be to so damage the biosphere that the continuation
of life itself could be in doubt.

Even if the risks are not quite on this scale, it is a risk to which the
planet as a whole should not be subject.

Standing down nuclear forces would effectively eliminate this risk.

Because of our role in hosting possibly the most important US strategic
nuclear installation outside the US itself, at Pine Gap as well as the
submarine communications system at North West Cape, Australia has a special
responsibility to use its influence as host to those installations and as a
valued ally to place the maximum of pressure on the US to adopt the
Canberra Commission recommendations, and stand down nuclear forces.

The issues posed by the interaction of Y2K and strategic nuclear weapons
are so grave that no other considerations of national interest nor indeed
of credibility weigh at all in the balance in comparison. On the other
hand, should it be proven at some later stage that there had been no risk
at all over the Y2K rollover period,(most unlikely) a standing down of
nuclear forces would still be a measure that would considerably improve
both strategic stability and mutual trust between the two nuclear powers.

We urge you to support this resolution.

John Hallam, Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth,
Irene Gale, A. M., Australian Peace Committee


SUPPLEMENTARY DRAFT SENATE RESOLUTION ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND Y2K
(The resolution as on the notice paper may have been changed from this
first draft)

1)That the Senate, recalling its motion of the 12 August on the same topic,
and in particular recalling (a)(iii) of that resolution, further urges that
the government, taking note of (a)(iii), adopt as official government
policy the reccommendations of the Canberra Commission on the Elimination
of Nuclear weapons of 1996 and of various subsequent resolutions of the
United Nations General Assembly, that nuclear weapons be taken off
hairtrigger alert.

2)That the Senate urges the government to press the United States and
Russia to take their weapons off hairtrigger alert before the Y2K rollover
period.

3)That the Senate welcomes the recent initiative of the UK government to
move the 'notice to fire' for its submarine fleet from minutes to days.


The following letter was sent last week to President Clinton:

September 7, 1999

The Honorable William J. Clinton
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr President,

At our recent annual meeting in Chicago, the American Medical Association
House of Delegates, citing our conviction that "the threat that existent
nuclear weapons represent is truly an urgent public health issue," voted to
ask that you, "urgently develop policies with other countries to minimize
the accidental deployment of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass
destruction."

As you know, nearly 10 years after the end of the Cold War, there remain in
the arsenals of the world some 35,000 nuclear weapons.  2500 of these, on
missiles in the Russian arsenal, are on hair-trigger alert.  They can be
fired in 15 minutes, and reach their target cities in less than 30 minutes,
destroying the world as we know it.  They are,arguably, the greatest threat
to the health and safety of the American people existing today.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in April 1998
estimated that an accidental launch from  a single Russian Delta IV
submarine, even if it did not lead to a wider nuclear war,  could kill
6,838,000 people from the direct effects of blast and firestorm, with
another six to twelve million people dying from radiation sickness over the
following two months.  Such an accident would be a disaster without parallel
in human history.

This is not simply a theoretical danger.  As you are aware, on the morning
of January 25, 1995, a US weather rocket launched from Norway was initially
interpreted by the Russian military as a possible attack on the Russian
Federation.  President Yeltsin and his advisors were given minutes to decide
whether to launch a retaliatory attack on the United States. We were
extemely lucky that morning.  We can not rely on luck to prevent a future
catastrophe.

At a similar moment of great nuclear danger, just before the break up of the
Soviet Union in 1989, your predecessor, President Bush, acted decisively to
lessen the peril of nuclear war.  He unilateraly removed a small number of
tactical nuclear weapons from the US arsenal, and, when President Gorbachev
reciprocated, he quickly reached an agreement with the Soviets to withdraw
the vast majority of these weapons on both sides.

The present danger demands similar visionary leadership today.  Your former
commander of all strategic nuclear forces, General Georege Lee Butler, has
called for the US and Russia to remove all of their nuclear missiles from
hair-trigger alert as the single most important step to prevent an
accidental nuclear war.

As physicians charged with the protection of public health, we call on you
to take the lead in developing such policies to minmimize the danger of a
nuclear catastrophe. Thank you for your consideration of this important
matter.

Sincerely,


E Ratcliffe Anderson, Jr., MD
Exective Vice President, CEO
American Medical Association


****************
Lachlan Forrow, MD
President
The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship
Promoting Reverence for Life in Action
         since 1940
www.schweitzerfellowship.org
617-667-5111; 617-667-7989 (fax)

"Nuclear weapons are against international law and they have to be
abolished...All negotiations regarding the abolition of nuclear weapons
remain without success because no international public exists which demands
this abolition."

 --Dr. Albert Schweitzer

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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Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 21:19:45 +1000
From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) ADVISORY RE DE-ALERTING MOTION IN SENATE OF CANADA

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Subject: Advisory re De-Alerting Motion in Senate of Canada
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ADVISORY RE DE-ALERTING MOTION IN SENATE OF CANADA

    On September 18th, the Parliament of Canada was prorogued to set the
stage for a new Session of Parliament starting October 12, 1999.  The
effect of prorogation is to wipe the slate clean of all business
currently before both the House of Commons and the Senate.  In turn,
this means that the De-Alerting Motion introduced in the Senate on
September 7th has been suspended and will have to be re-introduced by
Senator Roche in the new Session of Parliament.

    On September 14th, Senator Roche opened the debate on the Motion, and
the debate was then adjourned.

    Senator Roche's speech follows:

*          *           *

Nuclear Arms
Motion to Urge Nuclear Weapons States to Take Weapons Off Alert
Status-Debate Adjourned
Hon. Douglas Roche, pursuant to notice of September 7, 1999, moved:
That the Senate recommends that the Government of Canada urge the
nuclear weapons states plus India, Pakistan and Israel to take all of
their nuclear forces off alert status as soon as possible.
He said: Honourable senators, the prestigious journal Scientific
American recently reported that on January 25, 1995 military technicians
at a handful of radar stations across northern Russia saw a troubling
blip suddenly appear on their screens. A rocket, launched from somewhere
off the coast of Norway, was rising rapidly through the night sky. Well
aware that a single missile from a U.S. submarine plying those waters
could scatter eight nuclear bombs over Moscow within 15 minutes, the
radar operators immediately alerted their superiors.

The message passed swiftly from Russian military authorities to
President Boris Yeltsin, who, holding the electronic case that could
order the firing of nuclear missiles in response, hurriedly conferred by
telephone with his top advisors. For the first time ever, that nuclear
briefcase was activated for emergency use.

For a few tense minutes, the trajectory of the mysterious rocket
remained unknown to the worried Russian officials. Anxiety mounted when
the separation of multiple rocket stages created an impression of a
possible attack by several missiles. However, the radar crews continued
to track their targets. After about eight minutes, senior military
officers determined that the rocket was headed far out to sea and posed
no threat to Russia.

The unidentified rocket in this case turned out to be a U.S. scientific
probe, sent up to investigate the northern lights. Weeks earlier, the
Norwegians had duly informed Russian authorities of the planned launch
from the offshore island of Andoya, but somehow word of the high
altitude experiment had not reached the right ears. That frightening
incident, according to Scientific American, aptly demonstrates the
danger of maintaining nuclear arsenals in a state of hair-trigger alert.
Doing so heightens the possibility that one day someone will mistakenly
launch nuclear missiles, either because of a technical failure or a
human error. A mistake made, perhaps, in the rush to respond to false
indications of an attack.

The Norway incident was not an isolated one. The U.S.-based Centre for
Defense Information reported this month that in the years 1977 to 1984,
a total of 20,784 false warning nuclear indications, most of them minor,
were processed.

Last March, appearing before a joint meeting of Senate and House of
Commons Foreign Affairs Committees, General Lee Butler, former
commander-in-chief of the U.S. strategic command, said that upon
receiving confirmation of an impending attack, the U.S. president would
have only 12 minutes to decide whether to retaliate.

Both the U.S. and Russian military have long instituted procedures to
prevent an accident from happening. However, their equipment is not
foolproof. Russia's early-warning and nuclear command systems are
deteriorating. The safety of all other nuclear weapons systems, in
particular, those of India and Pakistan, is even less reliable. All
told, there are 5,000 nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert status,
meaning they could be fired within minutes. The fate of humanity must
not hang by such a slender thread.

Thus, a movement is building up around the world to de-alert all nuclear
weapons. This would be done by the physical separation of the warheads
from the delivery vehicles. That is the intent of the motion I
respectfully submit to the Senate. It reads:
That the Senate recommends that the Government of Canada urge the
nuclear weapons states plus India, Pakistan and Israel to take all of
their nuclear forces off alert status as soon as possible.

Honourable senators will recognize that the motion is narrowly drawn.
The subject of nuclear weapons is huge and complex. The abolition of
nuclear weapons, for which I stand, entails a lengthy debate, but
de-alerting is precise and sharply focused and can be done immediately
under conditions of mutual verifiability. It must be done in order to
prevent a calamity occurring through human error, system failure,
irrational acts, or by the simple working of the laws of chance.
Some may interpret this motion as connected to the famous Y2K problem,
which deals with the ability of computers to properly interpret the
correct date change when the year 2000 arrives. It is true that the
failure of computers to recognize the year 2000 could infect the
command, control, communication and intelligence systems of nuclear
forces. There may or may not be a problem on New Year's Eve, at
midnight.

However, Russia and the U.S. are sufficiently concerned about this that
they intend to establish a joint centre in the United States which would
seat a handful of U.S. and Russian officers side-by-side for a few days
during the 2000 date switch to monitor blips on nuclear screens. The
officers would be in direct touch with their respective national command
authorities to alleviate any concern about blips that may occur on the
date change. Key United States senators have called for the inclusion of
China, India and Pakistan in this early warning centre, so concerned are
they that ill-prepared computers may malfunction.

This response to a potential problem is clearly inadequate. The year
2000 date change merely highlights the existing danger to the world
because of the alert status of nuclear forces. The world needs the
safety that de-alerting would ensure, not just on New Year's Eve but
throughout every day of every year.

Honourable senators, in short, the argument as put forth by the Canberra
commission of international experts is that the practice of maintaining
nuclear-tipped missiles on alert must be ended because: It is a highly
regrettable perpetuation of Cold War attitudes and assumptions; it
needlessly sustains the risk of hair-trigger postures; it retards the
critical process of normalizing U.S.-Russian relations; it sends the
unmistakable and, from an arms control perspective, severely damaging
message that nuclear weapons serve a vital security role; it is entirely
inappropriate to the extraordinary transformation in the international
security environment.

Honourable senators, terminating nuclear alert would do the following:
reduce dramatically the chance of an accidental or unauthorized nuclear
weapons launch; have a positive influence on the political climate among
the nuclear weapons states; and it would help set the stage for
intensified cooperation.

The Canberra commission concluded that taking nuclear forces off alert
could be verified by national technical means and nuclear weapon state
inspection arrangements. De-alerting has a wide basis of support. The
Government of Canada is in favour, and has expressed its support in a
formal response to the report on nuclear weapons of the Standing
Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Therefore, this
motion falls within government policy.

The U.K. government recently relaxed a notice to fire its nuclear
weapons from minutes to days. Resolutions of the UN General Assembly
have urged de-alerting.

The chairman's report of the three-year preparatory process for the 2000
review of the non-proliferation treaty calls for de-alerting to prevent
accidental or unauthorized launches.

Friends of the Earth, in Sydney, Australia, have obtained the support of
380 organizations around the world for de-alerting.

Honourable senators, a few years ago I went back to Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, the two cities in Japan that suffered atomic bomb attack. I
have seen these sites several times. Each time, it is a profound
experience in understanding the destructive power of nuclear weapons.
Accidental nuclear war remains an immense treat to humanity today. We
can help to lessen that threat. I commend this motion, honourable
senators, for your consideration.

Hon. John. B. Stewart: Honourable senators, I should like to ask Senator
Roche a question.

He has made a persuasive speech and my question is: Given the
plausibility of the argument he advances, why is it that the nuclear
weapons states plus India, Pakistan and Israel, have not already taken
their nuclear forces off alert status? Is there some argument, or is it
recalcitrance among one or more of the states?

Senator Roche: I thank the Honourable Senator Stewart for that question.
The main reason that the principal nuclear weapons states, led by the
United States and Russia, along with the U.K., France and China, have
not de-alerted is that nuclear weapons fit into the strategy of nuclear
deterrence. It is argued by some that, by de-alerting, they are taking
away or diminishing the constant status of nuclear deterrence. That
argument has been rebutted. After all, in the case of an emergency or
some crisis happening in international affairs, nuclear weapons could be
reactivated.

Therefore, it is for the safety of the major areas of the world that the
de-alerting process, campaign or movement has grown. It is held by
proponents of de-alerting that it is a more important consideration for
the safety of humanity to take weapons off alert status than to preserve
nuclear deterrence as we have known it through the Cold War years.
On motion of Senator Carstairs, debate adjourned.
Adjournment



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