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abolition-usa-digest       Tuesday, June 6 2000       Volume 01 : Number 316




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

Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 09:48:47 -0500
From: Kevin Martin <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Los Angeles Times op-ed by Alan Cranston and Tad Daley

Dear Friends,

You'll want to read this superb op-ed on Star Wars and nuclear abolition
from yesterday's LA Times by Sen. Alan Cranston and Tad Daley of the
Global Security Institute:
http://www.latimes.com/print/opinion/20000604/t000052769.html

Letters to the Times in support of the arguments they make couldn't
hurt.  One of the many hats Sen. Cranston wears is co-chair of Project
Abolition.

Peace,

Kevin Martin
Director, Project Abolition




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

Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 18:58:15 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (abolition-usa) Op-eds re NPT outcome and Bush proposals

Here are two recent op-eds that address the NPT outcome as well as Bush's
proposals.

1) San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego, California, May 30, 2000, p. B-7
Contradictory actions on nuclear weapons
By John Burroughs and Jacqueline Cabasso

George W. Bush's new proposals for unilateral cuts in America's nuclear
arsenal while pursuing missile defense and space-based weapons are one
illustration among others that the United States suffers from a kind of
schizophrenia regarding the future of its nuclear arms.

One side of the American policy brain seems wired for the idea that huge
stocks of nuclear weapons are, as Bush said, "expensive relics of dead
conflicts," and we should use this moment in history to pursue arms
reductions and defuse the nuclear threat. The other is wired for continued
reliance on fewer but fancier nuclear weapons, and missile shields that
presuppose nuclear weapons will exist indefinitely.

Bush's rhetoric of rejecting the "Cold-War mentality" is indicative of
welcome re-evaluation of nuclear policy thinking. But the contradictory idea
of proceeding with missile defense while at the same time convincing the
Russians to reduce the numbers
and alert status of nuclear warheads is out of touch with reality.

The Clinton administration suffers from the same sort of split personality.
In international negotiations such as the just concluded review of the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty at the United Nations, the United States
talks disarmament and opposes the spread of nuclear weapons, while in
Washington policies are still openly based on fielding threats of nuclear
annihilation.

On May 20, the NPT review ended with the United States and other nuclear
weapons states agreeing to an historic consensus statement affirming their
"unequivocal undertaking . . . to accomplish the total elimination of their
nuclear arsenals." For the first time in the NPT's 30-year history they
dropped weasel words such as "ultimate goal" regarding their treaty
obligation to pursue nuclear disarmament.

Back in Washington, by contrast, authoritative Defense Department annual
reports plan for maintenance of large nuclear forces and the policy of
nuclear deterrence for the "foreseeable future." A 1997 presidential
directive affirms that the United States will continue to rely on nuclear
arms as a cornerstone of its national security for the "indefinite future."
A March 2000 Energy Department document obtained by the Los Alamos Study
Group identifies the requirements for keeping nuclear weapons viable
"forever."

At the NPT conference the United States also committed itself to "concrete
agreed measures to reduce the operational status of nuclear weapons." This
means we promise to work with Russia to take nuclear forces off hair-trigger
alert, so that missiles are no longer ready to fly within minutes of an
order to do so. Candidate Bush also says "the United States should remove as
many weapons as possible "from high-alert, hair-trigger status" because that
status "may create unacceptable risks of accidental or unauthorized launch."

But diplomatic "talking points" recently obtained by The Bulletin of Atomic
Scientists revealed that U.S. negotiators actually advised Russia that
keeping its nuclear forces on alert would be a good idea. Under "any
possible future arms control agreement," the talking points say, Russia
(like the United States) could maintain on "constant" alert a "large,
diversified, viable arsenal," sufficient to mount an "annihilating
counterattack" in response to a U.S. first strike. This astonishing
suggestion was supposed to reassure Russia that it could overwhelm the
limited U.S. national missile defense system the Clinton administration
seems bent on deploying.

And Bush calls for an even more elaborate missile defense system, possibly
including space-based weapons, even though he must know what the U.S.
talking points make clear: that it would force Russia to refuse de-alerting
and reduction in nuclear arsenals.

At the NPT conference the United States also committed to "a diminishing
role for nuclear weapons in security policies to minimize the risk that
these weapons ever be used and to facilitate the process of their total
elimination." Yet Defense Secretary William Cohen, in his February 2000
Report to the President and Congress, described an expanded role for nuclear
weapons, "to deter any potential adversary from using or threatening to use
nuclear, chemical, or biological (NBC) weapons against the United States or
its allies, and as a hedge against defeat of U.S. conventional forces in
defense of vital interests."

At the NPT conference the United States additionally agreed that a
no-backtracking "principle of irreversibility" applies to nuclear
disarmament. Yet U.S. laboratories are being funded for nuclear weapons
maintenance, research, design and development at inflation-adjusted levels
higher than the average Cold War year. Among many new programs, the labs are
planning by 2020 to be able to produce annually, at a new facility, 450
plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads - a number comparable to or
exceeding the size of the individual arsenals of China, France, the United
Kingdom and Israel.

The U.S. government needs to start speaking with one voice, its disarmament
voice, and to act accordingly. The imminent Clinton-Putin summit in Moscow
in June is the place to start. The United States should stop pursuing
national missile defense schemes that block arms reductions and threaten to
spur new arms races, seek and accept sweeping reductions in both strategic
(long-range) and tactical (short-range) weapons, and together with Russia
take all weapons off hair-trigger alert so that Armageddon is no longer the
push of a button away.

Finally, the United States should initiate multilateral negotiations on the
framework for a nuclear-weapon-free world. These would be good first steps
toward nuclear sanity and real global security.

Burroughs is the executive director of the New York-based Lawyers' Committee
on Nuclear Policy. Cabasso is the executive director of the Western States
Legal Foundation in Oakland.

Copyright 2000 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.

[A much shorter op-ed we did covering some of the same themes that appeared
in The Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ, on June 2, included a paragraph referring to
the Kerrey amendment as follows:  "Sens. Robert Torricelli and Frank
Lautenberg can help as early as next week by supporting Nebraska Sen. Bob
Kerrey's amendment to the 2001 Defense Authorization Act. This makes clear
that the president has authority to reduce and de-alert nuclear forces in a
verifiable and reciprocal manner below the level set by 1994's START 1, the
most recent arms agreement fully approved by Russia and the United States.
Both senators supported a similar amendment last year."]

2) The Morning Journal, Lorain, Ohio, June 5, 2000, p. A4
U.S. must keep its word on nuclear weapons
By Peter Weiss

Presidential candidate George W. Bush said recently that he would be willing
to reduce America's nuclear arsenal to the "lowest possible number
consistent with our national security."

These are welcome words, but they demonstrate Bush's ignorance of the terms
of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The treaty points to a better
way.

The result of the treaty's recent five-year review, reached May 20 at the
United Nations, surprised almost everyone. The surprise lay in the fact that
the five official nuclear powers - the United States, Russia, Great Britain,
France and China - pledged to make "an unequivocal undertaking ... to
accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals."

This was greeted by the world press as a major breakthrough. Well, yes and no.

The five major powers have never disavowed their obligation to get rid of
their nukes.  But in the past, they have always defined this as an
"ultimate" or "eventual' goal. When measured against the words of their
military people, who are fond of speaking of their reliance on nukes
"forever" or "for the foreseeable future" or "until there is a more stable
security environment," this has sounded like a program for the next century,
if not millennium.

Now the weasel words are gone. But the chances of turning the words of the
May 20th pledge into action are not overwhelming. There is no effective
enforcement mechanism for the pledge and no deadline. The major nuclear
powers have a history of foot-dragging on this issue.

Plus, there's the influence of strong lobbies in each of these countries
arguing for the retention of nuclear weapons. Current U.S. policy on this
issue is not encouraging. The Pentagon has already decided that when
President Clinton meets President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in June, the
United States will not agree to the Russian proposal to cut nuclear arsenals
to 1,500 for each country.

And the United States, in an effort to lessen Russian opposition to our
plans for a ballistic missile defense (better known as "Star Wars"), has
assured the Russians that they will have 2,000 to 2,500 nukes to use in the
case of a nuclear attack. Therefore, they do not have to worry about a few
missile defense sites in Alaska aimed at a mere handful of North Korean or
Libyan missiles.

In other words, MAD - the doctrine of mutual assured destruction - still
lives in the minds of our "security" experts. At its ratification 30 years
ago, the Non-Proliferation Treaty was a Faustian bargain between the five
countries that then possessed nuclear weapons and the rest of the world.

Every state today except India, Pakistan, Israel and Cuba has promised, in
accordance with the treaty, not to develop or acquire nuclear weapons. In
return, the countries that already had nuclear weapons in 1968 agreed in
Article VI of the treaty, "to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective
measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race ... and to nuclear
disarmament."

In 1996, the International Court of Justice, at the request of the U.N.
General Assembly, ruled unanimously that this constituted a general
obligation not only to pursue but to bring to a conclusion negotiations for
nuclear disarmament "in all its aspects."

Nuclear weapons are morally abhorrent, militarily useless and illegal under
international law. A single bomb would destroy hundreds of thousands of
lives. Small steps like those taken at the United Nations on May 20 will
have to lead to big results: not ultimately, not eventually, but very soon.

Peter Weiss is president of the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy in New
York.

            John Burroughs, Executive Director
            Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy
            211 E. 43d St., Suite 1204
            New York, New York 10017 USA
            tel: [phone] fax: [phone]
            e-mail: [e-mail]
            website: www.lcnp.org
            Part of the Abolition 2000 Global
            Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons

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

Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 18:06:02 -0700
From: "David Crockett Williams" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Global Peace Walk 2000 mid-point vision to East Coast and for Our Future

- ----------begin forwarded post-------

From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Global Peace Walk 2000 mid-point vision to East Coast and for Our
Future
Date: Sunday, June 04, 2000 10:44 AM

Dear Friends,

We are sending out this message calling for people to give focus to the
Global Peace Walk 2000 as we are about to begin a significant new phase.  We
are asking please for you to take up this message and spread it through all
channels.  Right now, we are the smallest the walk has been with 14 walkers
and 5 support vehicles.  We began walking on MLK's birthday January 15th
from
the San Francisco War Memorial Building and we go until the United Nations
Headquarters by the 55th Anniversary of the UN's beginning of charter on
October 24th, 2000.  We are concerned about our future, we are concerned
about our human life.

On Monday June 5th at 9am we are beginning to walk from the Ponca City, OK
City Hall toward Leavenworth, KA.  From July 1st to July 4th, close to the
Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, we will make Global Peace Fasting for
Mother Earth and Leonard Peltier, Symbol of between Land and Life.  On July
4th, there is a Leonard Peltier Global Peace Walk Benefit Concert at Ft.
Leavenworth where Red Thunder and Blackfire will perform, and also many
punk,
hip-hop, and rock bands.

Our major date St. Louis, MO has been moved to August 12th.  We are going to
Sun Dance in South Dakota until the 9th of August and so on the 12th, we
will
reconvene at the St. Louis Zoo (where the walk will reach around July 23rd),
and walk together 6 miles to the Gateway Arch, symbolic gateway to the
East/West.  We will hold ceremony there and in the afternoon, there will be
a
benefit concert to raise funds to bring traditional elders to the United
Nations.  This is the gathering point for all people to walk together to
Washington, DC and New York.  We have 50 days to walk 900 miles through
Indianpolis, IN, Columbus, OH, Pittsburg, PA, and into the Capitol by the
October 4th.  On October 7th, we will join our prayer with the Global
Network
Against Nuclear Weapons and Power in Space in the LaFayette Park by the
White
House.  On October 9th, we will make a Millenium of Peace Ceremony at the
Washington National Monument and ask President Clinton to pray together as
humble human beings to claim the United States as a "Global Peace Zone."
The
original symbolic center of the Nation was to be where the Jefferson Stone
stands today, a couple hundred of feet from the Washington Monument.  Since
1994, a number of indigenous elders have made ceremony there to pray for a
rededication of the sacred symbol of the center of the Nation to be founded
upon a culture of peace.  We would like to encourage this movement and also
during this time we would like to encourage the World 13 moon calendar peace
change movement.  There will also be a concert.  We are carrying many
different peoples' prayers and concerns on this walk and during this time in
Washington, we will deliver their messages to our political leadership.

From Washington, the walk will then up toward the United Nations in New York
City passing through Baltimore and Philadelphia.  Our prayer is a Future
Generations' Prayer for "Global Peace Now!" and to develop a Spiritually
United Nations on the 55th Anniversary of the United Nations original
charter.  At this time, we would like to hold a Spiritual Environmental
Summit with indigenous elders speaking upfront about stewardship of our
Mother Earth and how to adjust our lives to reestablish a spiritual balance
between the human being and the elements of earth, water, air, and fire.  If
transportation and the venue space were available, many traditional elders
could be present.  We would like to invite environmental, peace, and
spiritual activist organizations to participate and, together, to quickly
find common sustainable ground to Protect our Land and Life for Future
Generations.

We need spiritual and material help.  Fundamentally, just let's walk
together!  Please join us at any time, just be prepared to camp and survive.
Then we need to arrange food and shelter for everybody involved.  We need to
cover gas money for the support vehicles and pay for phone, copies, etc.  We
need to find a conference room in New York in order to create the Summit.
We
need to provide transportation and lodging for the elders to come to
Washington, D.C. and New York.  If people would convert their frequent flyer
miles into travel vouchers for the elders' plane tickets this could happen.
Please consider using your network to spread this message and request.  If
you have a website, maybe it would be possible to link it to
www.globalpeacenow.org.

We need to prepare for our future.  Global Emergency Reasons.

The Global Peace Walk 2000 asks for your prayer and spiritual practice to
bring back a knowledge of mind and a symbol of peace to bring a new
consciousness and so encouraging an universal human resovlve for "Global
Peace Now."  Spirituality is the highest form of politics.

Living on the Globe with All our Friends,
Wonderful Blessing and a Beautiful Relationship.

All our relations,
Global Peace Walkers

voicemail 1888 Excite2, ext Peacezones
updates 415 267 1877
cell 1888 285 8865, ext 61389
www.globalpeacenow.org

- ---------end forwarded post---------


- --dcw

David Crockett Williams [e-mail]
Offering "The Legal Revolution"
http://www.prepaidlegal.com/go/dcwilliams

General Agency Services  [e-mail]
http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/genagency.html

Global Peace Walk 2000
http://www.globalpeacenow.org
Updates/Voicemail 415-267-1877

Global Emergency Alert Response
http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000

USCampaign  [e-mail]
D C Williams for President, Leonard Peltier for VP
http://www.egroups.com/group/williams-peltier

Science & Technology in Society & Public Policy List
http://www.egroups.com/group/dcwilliams

The Vision of Paradise on Earth, DCWilliams
http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/vision.html

Nuclear Disarmament & Economic Conversion Act
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/prop1/petition.html

Easy way to Email Media and Government
http://congress.nw.dc.us/wnd

"An Agenda for Peace", one Global Peace Walk support letter
http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/agenda.html


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

Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 19:03:30 -0700
From: "David Crockett Williams" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fw: "Stop the Helicopters" : National Call-In Day on Colombia,TOMORROW

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "David Borden (by way of Peter Fraterdeus)" <[e-mail]>
To: <list:;>
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2000 4:48 PM
Subject: "Stop the Helicopters" : National Call-In Day on Colombia,TOMORROW


> Please make a point of calling your Senators tomorrow:
>
> In Illinois:
>
> Sen Durbin 202 224 2152 / fax [phone]
> Sen Fiztgerald 202 224 2854 / fax [phone]
>
> Support the Wellstone Amendment to de-militarize the drug 'problem'
>
> Stop the War!
>
> Thanks for your consideration and support of this important action!
>
> PF
>
> PS if you use Working Assets Long Distance [www.workingassets.com], you
get discounted 'Citzenship' rates on calls to these numbers, as well as
supporting progressive not-for-profits with every call)
>
>
> --------------------------------
>
>
>                                                      6/5/00
>
> Dear friend of drug policy reform and peace in Colombia:
>
>     Recently you visited our online write-to-Congress form,
> probably via the "Stop the Helicopters" web site at
> <http://www.drcnet.org/stopthehelicopters>, to send a letter
> to Congress opposing the escalation of military aid for
> Colombia's drug war.  A vote in the Senate is imminent, and
> organizations concerned with peace and human rights in Latin
> America, as well as organizations dealing with drug policy
> reform and others, have joined forces on a National Call-In
> Day, tomorrow June 6, 2000.
>
>     Because of the great importance of this vote -- our side
> actually has a chance to win, for a change -- we are asking
> you to do a little more this time than just sending send an
> e-mail.  We are asking you to call your two Senators on the
> phone and ask them to oppose military aid to Colombia, to
> support the Wellstone amendment, which would shift the funds
> into domestic prevention and treatment, and to insist that
> human rights protections on drug war funding remain intact
> or be strengthened.
>
>     You can reach your Senators via the Congressional
> Switchboard at [phone], or you can find their web
> sites, which include direct phone numbers and usually include
> numbers local to your state, by visiting
> <http://www.senate.gov>.  You can also visit
> http://www.drcnet.org/stopthehelicopters/ and type in your
> name and address -- as you did previously -- and get their
> Washington, DC phone numbers from our system.  Please also use
> the tell-a-friend form on our site to help bring in new and
> greater support for the cause.
>
>     If you're not currently subscribed to DRCNet, please visit
> our home page at http://www.drcnet.org to find our more about
> what we do.  And lastly, please write to alert-
> [e-mail] (mailto:[e-mail]) and let
> us know that you've taken action.  It's important to our
> planning and fundraising efforts to know what kind of impact
> we are making.
>
>     Again, please join the National Call-In Day on Colombia and
> call your two Senators TOMORROW (6/6/00).  If you get this
> bulletin too late or can't call tomorrow, call as soon as you
> can -- it will still make a difference.  And tell your friends
> about http://www.drcnet.org/stopthehelicopters/ and send them
> this alert to spread the word!  Thank you for taking a stand.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To subscribe to DRCNet's weekly newsletter and action alert
> list, visit http://www.drcnet.org and enter your name, e-mail
> address and state in the "quick-signup form to the right.  To
> unsubscribe from DRCNet, send e-mail to [e-mail]
> with the words signoff drc-natl as the message (not the
> subject), or e-mail [e-mail] for assistance.
>
> DRCNet needs your support!  Please visit our registration
> form at http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html to make a donation
> on our encryption-secured credit card form or enter your
> name, address and pledge amount to print out and send in with
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> credit card info in to [phone].
>


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

Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 15:20:09 +1000
From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) De-Alerting/START Amendment Tomorrow in US Senate

I. Kerrey Amendment Up As Soon As TOMORROW

As of today (June 5), the Senate is expected to begin debate on the FY 2001
Defense Authorization bill on the floor tomorrow at 2:30pm. If it remains
on the floor, the Kerrey amendment could come up that afternoon or on
Wednesday.

The Kerrey amendment would allow cuts in strategic nuclear arsenals below
START I levels, as long as those reductions would parallel cuts in Russia's
arsenal. In the current Defense Authorization bill, the U.S. is prohibited
from making cuts below 6,000 strategic warheads until START II enters into
force. That will not happen until the Senate ratifies a protocol to the
treaty, which is extremely unlikely to happen this year.

Below is a letter individuals can email or fax to their Senators in support
of the Kerrey amendment. Please note the Republicans can be strongly
encouraged to support the amendment given the recent speech by George W.
Bush in which he supported unilateral cuts in U.S. nuclear forces and
de-alerting (both of which are prohibited by the Defense Authorization
bill). For Republicans, a vote against this amendment is a vote against
their presidential candidate.

This point was covered in an article by Walter Pincus in the Washington
Post yesterday, which is immediately below the Dear Senator letter.

It is also possible the bill could come up tomorrow, and then be postponed.
However, Kerrey's office would like to have their amendment considered
sooner rather than later.

Important Senators to contact on this amendment include:

Lugar

Dems voting wrong in '99 or needing reinforcing:
Bayh
Byrd
Graham
Lincoln

Republicans likely to support, need reinforcing:
Chafee - A. Millar
Jeffords - D. Kimball

"Getable" Republicans:
Lugar
Snowe
Collins
Hagel
Domenici
Warner
Fitzgerald
McCain
Specter


For additional background, please see the Coalition's Issue Brief: "Stuck
at First START" at http://www.clw.org/coaltion/briefv4n6.htm

+ + + + +

DRAFT LETTER ON KERREY AMENDMENT

Dear Senator:

I am writing you to urge your vote in favor of an amendment to S. 2549 (the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001) that would allow
the President to reduce U.S. strategic nuclear force levels below START I
levels.

Current law prohibits the U.S. from reducing nuclear force levels below the
nearly decade-old START I treaty.  The existing law micromanages the
nation's nuclear arsenal and forces the Pentagon to keep planes,
submarines, and missiles it no longer wants or needs.

Approval of the amendment proposed by Senator Robert Kerrey would increase
national security by allowing the military to determine the appropriate
levels for our nuclear forces.  Gen. Shelton, chair of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, has already indicated his opposition to the restriction in the bill:
"I would definitely oppose inclusion of any language that mandates specific
force levels."

Moreover, approval could also save taxpayers $670 million the first year
after adoption, and up to $11 billion over the next ten years, according to
an estimate prepared by the Congressional Budget Office in March 2000.

Governor George W. Bush, the expected Republican presidential nominee,
recently wrote an editorial claiming "It should be possible to reduce the
number of American nuclear weapons significantly beyond what has already
been agreed to under START II, without compromising our security in any way."

Please support the Kerrey amendment to S. 2549 allowing the President
flexibility to reduce U.S. strategic nuclear force levels below START I
that are verifiable, symmetrical, reciprocal, and do not interfere with
U.S. deterrence.   This would enable the Pentagon to do its job of
protecting the U.S. and it could save taxpayers billions of dollars.

Sincerely,


+ + + + +

"Bush Nuclear Plans Could Face Hurdle," WPost, 06/04/00, by Walter Pincus

Two of Texas Gov. George W. Bush's arms control proposals are not just
controversial but would violate existing law put in place by his own party.

In a May 23 speech at the National Press Club, the Republican presidential
candidate called for removing some U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles
from "hair-trigger status" and said he would make deep cuts in America's
nuclear arsenal, unilaterally if necessary.

Since 1995, however, the House and the Senate have passed legislation to
prevent the Clinton administration from taking such steps. Under Republican
amendments to the Defense Authorization Act, the president is prohibited
from removing any more U.S. ICBMs from constant alert or from unilaterally
reducing the U.S. arsenal below the 6,000-warhead level set by the first
strategic arms reduction treaty, START.

The prohibitions could be removed, of course, if Bush wins the election and
Congress wishes to free his hand. But they highlight the consternation that
his proposals have caused within his own party, the difficulty he might
face in persuading the next Congress to adopt his plan, and the continuing
partisanship of arms control.

Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said the governor is aware of the existing
legislation and would work with Congress to shift away from the Cold War
thinking that produced gigantic arsenals and a nuclear balance of terror.
"The president proposes and the Congress disposes," Fleischer said.

Calling Bush's arms control proposals illegal "is like saying our proposal
to end the death tax is illegal because there is a death tax now," he
added, referring to the governor's desire to eliminate estate taxes.

So far, Republican congressional leaders on arms control issues have
avoided public disagreements with the GOP's presumptive nominee by asking
for clarifications of Bush's speech rather than condemning it. A few have
expressed willingness to reconsider their positions.

"I don't think we ought to unilaterally reduce nuclear weapons unless there
are verifiable and bilateral reductions" with Russia, said Sen. Wayne
Allard (R-Colo.), a member of the Armed Services Committee. But, he added,
"I need to look at de-alerting" warheads, which he has opposed in the past.

One of the authors of the current prohibitions, Sen. Robert C. Smith
(R-N.H.), also a member of the Armed Services Committee, has been a strong
opponent of both unilateral reductions and "de-alerting"--Pentagon jargon
for removing warheads from constant readiness to be launched within
minutes. But he wants to talk with Bush before commenting on the
candidate's proposals, according to Smith's press secretary, Lisa Harrison.
"There are some things he wants clarified," Harrison said.

At an Armed Services hearing May 23, the same day as Bush's speech,
Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.) questioned whether unilateral reductions
are effective. He pointed out that in 1991, President Bush unilaterally cut
the number of U.S. tactical warheads in hopes that Moscow would take
reciprocal action and reduce its short-range nuclear weapons. But, Warner
said, "the Russians have retained theirs, to the point where we dropped
from 10,000 to maybe 1,500 in inventory . . . [and] they still have upwards
of 10,000 to 12,000 of these [short-range] weapons."

In his arms control speech, the Texas governor defended his father's
unilateral reductions as "a precedent that proves the power of leadership."
Huge reductions in tactical warheads "were achieved in a matter of months,
making the world much safer more quickly," he said.

In an interview last week, Warner praised the GOP presidential candidate
for having said that he would request a thorough assessment of the U.S.
arsenal from his defense secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff before
making any unilateral reductions. "He would move carefully and only after
consultations, because these are far-reaching moves," Warner said. He added
that he supports Bush's "innovations" of "removing the hair triggers"--or
taking more warheads off alert--and "building down numbers," or further
reducing the size of the U.S. arsenal, "but only after consultation" with
the Pentagon.

Since the end of the Cold War, Russia and the United States have slashed
the number of nuclear warheads deployed on ICBMs, submarines and long-range
bombers from more than 10,000 on each side to 6,750 U.S. strategic warheads
and 5,400 Russian ones, according to the independent Center for Defense
Information. Under START, each side must be at or below 6,000 by the end of
next year.

The restrictions built into current law by congressional Republicans,
however, prevent the president from reducing America's strategic arsenal
below 6,000 warheads until START II goes into effect, which will lower the
limit to between 3,000 and 3,500 warheads on each side.

The Russian parliament finally ratified START II this year, four years
after the Senate did. But the Senate has yet to ratify various protocols,
and therefore the treaty has not gone into force.

Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) attempted a year ago to eliminate the prohibition
against cutting the U.S. arsenal before START II formally takes effect. He
lost, 56 to 44, with all but three Republicans voting with the majority.

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) opposed Kerrey's amendment. But he said last week
that he would back unilateral reductions if Bush won the election. "I
wouldn't trust this Clinton administration, but a Bush presidency would be
different," he said.
Kerrey plans to bring up his amendment again this year, when the fiscal
2001 Defense Authorization Bill comes to the Senate floor after the present
recess. But an aide indicated that Senate Democrats might flip positions
now, pushing for language requiring all nuclear weapons reductions to be
reciprocal.

"Given George W. Bush's statement, we are deciding whether to try to repeal
the current law, or to make reductions possible only if the Russians do so
also, given that there won't be formal ratification of START II in the next
seven months," Kerrey's aide said.

In his May 23 speech, Bush also proposed a much larger missile defense
system than the Clinton administration has been considering. His concept,
which has encountered broad support among congressional Republicans,
appears to be nearly identical to the missile shield proposed by his father
in his 1991 State of the Union address.

President Reagan's "Star Wars" plan, formally known as the Strategic
Defense Initiative, was aimed at defeating a full-scale Soviet attack
involving hundreds of missiles. The elder Bush's 1991 proposal was for a
more modest system to defend against an accidental Russian launch or a
small volley of missiles fired by some other country. It became known at
the Pentagon as GPALS, for "global protection against limited strikes."

Warner, Allard and Kyl all said they approve of George W. Bush's current
proposal for a global system that would protect not just the United States
but also Israel, Taiwan and European allies from missile attack. "We have
to benefit our allies as well as ourselves," Allard said, "because we are
all threatened by rogue states."

William Schneider, a senior Pentagon and State Department official in the
Reagan and Bush administrations, said consultations on GPALS had begun in
1991 with European allies, Japan and Russia, but the project was quickly
dropped when the Clinton administration came into office in 1992.

GPALS envisioned 750 ground-based interceptors deployed at six areas in the
United States, plus 1,000 space-based interceptors using "brilliant
pebbles" technology, which would fire thousands of pieces of metal at an
incoming warhead, like buckshot in space.

By contrast, the Clinton administration's proposal is for a system of 100
to 250 ground-based interceptors with silos to be built in just one or two
sites--Alaska and possibly North Dakota--at a cost estimated at $12.6
billion to $60 billion.

A January 1992 General Accounting Office study of GPALS put its price tag
in 1992 dollars at $63 billion. Democratic critics, such as Rep. John
Conyers Jr. (Mich.), then-chairman of the House Government Operations
Committee, charged at the time that the Bush administration was planning to
spend more than $100 billion on "imaginary technology."

+ + + + +



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

Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 19:01:50 +1000
From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) AUSTRALIA CHOOSES ARGENTINE RESEARCH REACTOR

John Hallam
=46riends of the Earth Sydney,
17 Lord Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042
=46ax (61)(2)9517-3902  ph (61)(2)9517-3903
[e-mail]
http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd



http://www.abc.net.au/news/newslink/nat/newsnat-6jun2000-47.htm

This Bulletin: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 13:09 AEST

BREAKING STORIES

Argentinian firm to build nuclear research reactor

An Argentinian company will build a new nuclear research reactor in
Sydney's Lucas Heights.

The Federal Government has chosen the company, INVAP, as its preferred
tenderer to design and build the reactor.

The project will cost about $280 million and the reactor is expected to be
commissioned in 2005.

Industry, Science and Resources Minister Nick Minchin says INVAP will work
with two Australian companies on the project.

"The INVAP bid together with its Australian partners did offer the best
combination of high performance...and the best building layout," he said.

"I'd also point out that the INVAP bid offered the highest value-added
local content at 53 per cent."


=A9 2000 Australian Broadcasting Corporation




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

Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2000 08:29:13 -0400
From: Ellen Thomas <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews 00/06/06

- --=====================_48657299==_.ALT
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Daybook, June 6, 2000 - Washington Times and FIND/Agence France Presse
http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-200066214937.htm

    Russia seminar =97 8:30 a.m. =97 The Hudson Institute holds a seminar on
"Russia: Its Place in the 21st Century and the Implications for the United
States" with James Woolsey, former director of the CIA. Location: Senate
Governmental Affairs Committee Hearing Room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office
Building. Contact: 202/224-2420.

      9:30 a.m. =97 Senate Joint Economic Committee conducts high technology
summit "Removing Barriers to the New Economy." Witnesses include Andy Grove,
Intel Corporation chairman, and Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp. chairman and=
 chief
software architect. Location: 216 Hart Senate Office Building. Contact:
202/224-5171.

    Turkey briefing =97 10 a.m. =97 The Commission on Security and=
 Cooperation in
Europe hosts a briefing on the political atmosphere in Turkey. The=
 participants
include mayors Emrullah Cin of Viransebir, Turkey, and Sahabettin Ozaslener=
 of
Van, Turkey. Location: 2255 Rayburn House Office Building. Contact:
202/225-1901.

    King Abdullah visit =97 3 p.m. =97 King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of=
 Jordan
visit Congress.
      Highlights =97 4:45 p.m. =97 House International Relations Committee=
 meeting,
Capitol, Room H-130, U.S. Capitol
     5:30 p.m. =97 Meeting with House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Illinois
Republican, Capitol, Room H-230. Contact: 202/225-5021 or 202/225-0600.

Presidential Candidates:

George W. Bush  -- Augusta, Georgia.=20
12:25 p.m. - Hero's Overlook Memorial=20
Augusta Riverwalk 10th and Reynolds St., Augusta, GA=20

- -----

Action Alert:

Fm: Daryl Kimball and Stephen Young

* U.S.-Russian agreement on Pu disposition=20
http://www.clw.org/coalition/summit050400pu.htm

Tell The White House & Congress NO PLUTONIUM BURNING IN COMMERCIAL NUCLEAR
POWER PLANTS!!! Isolate it, guard it, STOP MAKING IT! The=20
Utility-Military-Industrial Cancer Machine Has Killed Enough of Us Already
[http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/victims.html &=20
http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/probability.html].

Call The White House at: 202-456-1414
Fax The White House at: 202-456-2461 & 202-456-2883
Call BOTH Your Senators & Your Rep at: 202-224-3121
Alert the media if you live "close" [however you want to define that] to a
commercial nuclear power plant and tell them NO PLUTONIUM=20
BURNING HERE. Show them these web sites & ask them to print and broadcast=
 them:

1. http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/probability.html NRC Admits To 45%
Chance Of Core Melt Before Congress
2. http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/rickover.html Commercial Nuke=
 Industry
Would End IF The Facts Were Made Public
3. http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/crac.html See What "Your" Nuke=
 Power
Plant Can Do To Your City, State, Region Of The Country
4 http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/infant.html Infants Killed By=
 Nuclear
Power Plants=20



     ___________________________________________________

       Today's Newspapers: http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm
           NucNews Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm
     Subscribe to NucNews:  [e-mail] (NucNews-Subscribe)
           Submit URL/Article: [e-mail] (NucNews-Editor)
                    About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm
        NucNews - E-Mailed: http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews

Excellent e-mail news resources:

DOE Watch - [e-mail] - http://members.aol.com/doewatch=20
Downwinders - [e-mail] - http://www.downwinders.org/=20
EnviroNews - [e-mail] -=
 http://www.envirolink.org/environews=20
Planet Ark/Reuters - [e-mail] - http://www.planetark.org/news/
Radbull (Radiation Bulletin) [e-mail]=20

Quick Route to U.S. Congress:

http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm (Senators' Websites)
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html (Representatives' Websites)
http://thomas.loc.gov/  (Pending Legislation - Search)


      Distributed without payment for research and educational=20
   purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107.



- --=====================_48657299==_.ALT
Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<html>
Daybook, June 6, 2000 - Washington Times and FIND/Agence France
Presse<br>
<a href=3D"http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-200066214937.htm"=
 eudora=3D"autourl">http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-200066214937.h=
tm</a><br>
<br>
    Russia seminar =97 8:30 a.m. =97 The Hudson Institute
holds a seminar on "Russia: Its Place in the 21st Century and the
Implications for the United States" with James Woolsey, former
director of the CIA. Location: Senate Governmental Affairs Committee
Hearing Room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building. Contact:
202/224-2420.<br>
<br>
      9:30 a.m. =97 Senate Joint Economic
Committee conducts high technology summit "Removing Barriers to the
New Economy." Witnesses include Andy Grove, Intel Corporation
chairman, and Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp. chairman and chief software
architect. Location: 216 Hart Senate Office Building. Contact:
202/224-5171.<br>
<br>
    Turkey briefing =97 10 a.m. =97 The Commission on Securit=
y
and Cooperation in Europe hosts a briefing on the political atmosphere in
Turkey. The participants include mayors Emrullah Cin of Viransebir,
Turkey, and Sahabettin Ozaslener of Van, Turkey. Location: 2255 Rayburn
House Office Building. Contact: 202/225-1901.<br>
<br>
    King Abdullah visit =97 3 p.m. =97 King Abdullah II and
Queen Rania of Jordan visit Congress.<br>
      Highlights =97 4:45 p.m. =97 House
International Relations Committee meeting, Capitol, Room H-130, U.S.
Capitol<br>
     5:30 p.m. =97 Meeting with House Speaker J. Dennis
Hastert, Illinois Republican, Capitol, Room H-230. Contact: 202/225-5021
or 202/225-0600.<br>
<br>
Presidential Candidates:<br>
<br>
George W. Bush  -- Augusta, Georgia. <br>
12:25 p.m. - Hero's Overlook Memorial <br>
Augusta Riverwalk 10th and Reynolds St., Augusta, GA <br>
<br>
- -----<br>
<br>
Action Alert:<br>
<br>
Fm: Daryl Kimball and Stephen Young<br>
<br>
* U.S.-Russian agreement on Pu disposition <br>
<font color=3D"#0000FF"><u><a=
 href=3D"http://www.clw.org/coalition/summit050400pu.htm"=
 eudora=3D"autourl">http://www.clw.org/coalition/summit050400pu.htm<br>
<br>
</a></font></u>Tell The White House & Congress NO PLUTONIUM BURNING
IN COMMERCIAL NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS!!! Isolate it, guard it, STOP MAKING
IT! The <br>
Utility-Military-Industrial Cancer Machine Has Killed Enough of Us
Already
[<a href=3D"http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/victims.html"=
 eudora=3D"autourl"><font color=3D"#0000FF"><u>http://www.geocities.com/moth=
ersalert/victims.html</a></font></u>
& <br>
<font color=3D"#0000FF"><u><a=
 href=3D"http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/probability.html"=
 eudora=3D"autourl">http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/probability.html</=
a></font></u>].<br>
<br>
Call The White House at: 202-456-1414<br>
Fax The White House at: 202-456-2461 & 202-456-2883<br>
Call BOTH Your Senators & Your Rep at: 202-224-3121<br>
Alert the media if you live "close" [however you want to define
that] to a commercial nuclear power plant and tell them NO PLUTONIUM
<br>
BURNING HERE. Show them these web sites & ask them to print and
broadcast them:<br>
<br>
1.
<a href=3D"http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/probability.html"=
 eudora=3D"autourl"><font color=3D"#0000FF"><u>http://www.geocities.com/moth=
ersalert/probability.html</a></font></u>
NRC Admits To 45% Chance Of Core Melt Before Congress<br>
2. <a href=3D"http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/rickover.html"=
 eudora=3D"autourl"><font=
 color=3D"#0000FF"><u>http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/rickover.html</a=
></font></u> Commercial Nuke Industry Would End IF The Facts Were Made=
 Public<br>
3. <a href=3D"http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/crac.html"=
 eudora=3D"autourl"><font=
 color=3D"#0000FF"><u>http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/crac.html</a></f=
ont></u> See What "Your" Nuke Power Plant Can Do To Your City,=
 State, Region Of The Country<br>
4 <a href=3D"http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/infant.html"=
 eudora=3D"autourl"><font=
 color=3D"#0000FF"><u>http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/infant.html</a><=
/font></u> Infants Killed By Nuclear Power Plants <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>

    =
 ___________________________________________________<br>
<br>
       Today's Newspapers: <a=
 href=3D"http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm"=
 eudora=3D"autourl">http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm</a><br>
           NucNews=
 Archives: <a href=3D"http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm"=
 eudora=3D"autourl">http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm</a><br>
     Subscribe to NucNews:  [e-mail]=
 (NucNews-Subscribe)<br>
           Submit=
 URL/Article: [e-mail] (NucNews-Editor)<br>
<font=
 size=3D2>           =
         About NucNews: </font><a=
 href=3D"http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm"=
 eudora=3D"autourl">http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm</a><br>
        NucNews - E-Mailed: <a=
 href=3D"http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews"=
 eudora=3D"autourl">http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews</a><br>
<br>
Excellent e-mail news resources:<br>
<br>
DOE Watch - <font color=3D"#0000FF"><u>[e-mail]</font></u> - <a=
 href=3D"http://members.aol.com/doewatch" eudora=3D"autourl"><font=
 color=3D"#0000FF"><u>http://members.aol.com/doewatch</a></font></u> <br>
Downwinders - <font color=3D"#0000FF"><u>[e-mail]</font></u>=
 - <a href=3D"http://www.downwinders.org/" eudora=3D"autourl"><font=
 color=3D"#0000FF"><u>http://www.downwinders.org/</a></font></u> <br>
EnviroNews - <font color=3D"#0000FF"><u>[e-mail]</font></u>=
 - <a href=3D"http://www.envirolink.org/environews" eudora=3D"autourl"><font=
 color=3D"#0000FF"><u>http://www.envirolink.org/environews</a></font></u>=
 <br>
Planet Ark/Reuters - [e-mail] - <a=
 href=3D"http://www.planetark.org/news/" eudora=3D"autourl"><font=
 color=3D"#0000FF"><u>http://www.planetark.org/news/</a><br>
</font></u>Radbull (Radiation Bulletin) <font=
 color=3D"#0000FF"><u>[e-mail]</font></u> <br>
<br>
Quick Route to U.S. Congress:<br>
<br>
<a href=3D"http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm"=
 eudora=3D"autourl">http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm</a> (Senators'=
 Websites)<br>
<a href=3D"http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html"=
 eudora=3D"autourl">http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html</a>=
 (Representatives' Websites)<br>
<a href=3D"http://thomas.loc.gov/"=
 eudora=3D"autourl">http://thomas.loc.gov/</a>  (Pending Legislation -=
 Search)<br>
<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>

- --=====================_48657299==_.ALT--


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

End of abolition-usa-digest V1 #316
***********************************

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