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- Path: sparky!uunet!paladin.american.edu!darwin.sura.net!ukma!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!rich
- From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
- Subject: Notes of Interest
- Message-ID: <1992Aug28.082324.18992@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
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- Organization: PACH
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- Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 08:23:24 GMT
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- Lines: 125
-
- /** gen.newsletter: 122.8 **/
- ** Written 12:59 pm Aug 12, 1992 by sbrackman in cdp:gen.newsletter **
- War and Peace Digest - Vol 2, No. 3 Aug.1992
-
- The War and Peace Digest is a bimonthly international newsletter on issues of
- disarmament, government secrecy, media accountability, the nuclear threat (from
- both civilian power plants and the military weapons complex), ecological
- destruction, and peaceful conflict resolution through the structures of the
- United Nations. If you would like to be placed on our mailing list or
- receive a copy of our new information packet on nuclear power, contact
- Matthew Freedman at 32 Union Square East, New York, NY 10003-3295
- (Tel: 212-777-6626).
-
- Contributions are always welcome.
- All materials may be reproduced without permission.
- ---------------
- Notes of Interest
-
- Burma Turned Into "A Backwater Hell"
-
- The Burmese military junta has "turned Burma into a backwater hell
- and disguised it all as a pantomime of charming touristic
- folklore" (Nation, Bangkok, 6/18/92) said Marcus Einfeld, an
- Australian Federal judge who recently investigated the plight of
- Burmese refugees in Bangladesh and on the Thai-Burma border.
- According to Einfeld, despite international outrage, the military
- junta continues to commit mass atrocities and human rights
- violation which are turning the country into a poverty-stricken
- concentration camp.
- In addition to the sufferings inflicted as a result of the
- brutal military oppression, the people of Burma now face a new
- catastrophe. A terror of the AIDS epidemic has spilled over from
- neighboring Thailand. With a genocidal mind similar to that of Ne
- Win who once said that he would not mind ruling Burma without the
- people, the military government now has a policy of eradicating
- the disease by exterminating AIDS victims with cyanide injections.
- This monstrous policy dramatically manifests yet another demonic
- characteristic of the fascist regime.
- Unprecedented in the history of Burma, the ruling party
- has introduced slavery and forced labor. People in cities and
- towns have been abducted from city streets and public places, and
- in villages people have been dragged from their homes and rice
- fields. They are used as porters in place of mules to carry heavy
- loads of arms and ammunitions through mountainous terrain to the
- frontier war zones. The women porters are reportedly raped
- repeatedly every night and fed almost nothing.
- For more information about the horror in Burma, contact
- the Democratic Council Burma at 220 East 65th Street, New York, NY
- 10021.
-
- Conspiracy Catalogue Offers Crucial Documents
-
- A new 1992 catalogue issued by Prevailing Winds Research offers a
- wealth of information on conspiracy and cover-ups at the highest
- levels of the American government. Available items include
- source documents and audio cassettes from prominent authorities on
- the October Surprise, American and international fascism,
- assassinations (JFK, RFK and others), the CIA and its connections
- to the continuing S&L scandal along with many other shocking
- pieces involving the best (worst?) of the Reagan-Bush cast of
- characters. The catalogue can be ordered by sending one dollar to
- Prevailing Winds Research, P.O. Box 23511, Santa Barbara, CA 93121
- (Tel: 805-566-8016).
-
- French Population Opposed to Nuclear Energy
-
- Though often viewed internationally as a model for safety and
- public acceptance, the French nuclear power program (which
- produces 75% of all electricity in the country) is not so well
- received at home. According to a new poll released by the French
- nuclear industry, 69.1% of the population is Rvery or extremely
- concernedS by the risks from nuclear power plants and 63.8% oppose
- it as a power source. In addition, 87% were Rextremely concernedS
- about the risks of nuclear wastes and 94.4% would object to living
- near a waste site. This does not bode well for the future of
- nuclear energy in France, where overcapacity and financial
- mismanagement have raised doubts about the wisdom of continuing on
- the course that turned the nation into the top producer of nuclear
- electricity per capita in the world.
-
- Earth Council to be Located in Costa Rica
-
- The UNCED/Rio conference agreed to establish a Planet Earth
- Council to track natural resources around the globe and propose
- solutions to continuing threats to the planetUs ecology. The
- newly formed council will be based in Costa Rica, where
- Recological conservation enjoys a long tradition and solid
- prestigeS according to Herman Bravo, Minister of Natural
- Resources. Composed of twenty-eight internationally recognized
- scientists, the council will operate with support from the
- University for Peace and its Chancellor, former United Nations
- Assistant Secretary-General Dr. Robert Muller. Local
- environmental groups support the decision to locate the
- organization in Costa Rica, but criticize the national government
- for being slow to respond to environmental threats within the
- country. Naomi Canet, president of the Association for the
- Conservation of Nature, expressed concern that the Costa Rican
- government has managed to create an international reputation for
- conservation despite the fact that Rironically, we have the
- highest rate of deforestation in the world.S
-
- DOE Management Criticized in GAO study
-
- An April, 1992 report from the General Accounting Office found
- that the Department of Energy management practices are Rvulnerable
- to waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement.S The study criticized
- DOEUs failure to oversee contractors actions and points out a
- number of troubling incidents regarding the nuclear weapons
- complex. In one example, the nuclear weapons laboratories Rwere
- not accurately reporting the quantities of nuclear materials they
- had - inaccuracies ranged from 52 to 88 percent of the items
- reviewed. As such, nuclear materials were routinely being
- reported as Tin useU when they were actually TexcessU.S Another
- incident involved the inability of the Lawrence Livermore
- Laboratories staff to locate 10,000 secret classified documents
- pertaining to nuclear weapons and laser technology along with the
- disappearance of $45 million of government property. The report
- concludes that the problems Rstem from the contract management
- approach that has dominated DOE - an approach that has too
- frequently embodied the concepts of least interference in
- contractor activities and routine indemnification of contractor
- costs.S To obtain a complete listing of GAO publications (copies
- are free), write to: U.S. General Accounting Office, P.O. Box
- 6015, Gaithersburg, MD 20877 (Tel: 202-275-6241).
- ** End of text from cdp:gen.newsletter **
-