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WHAT'S NEW IN INES? |
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No.26/2003 |
Dateline: 2003 |
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This is the weekly electronic information service of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility
Dear WNII readers, Due to very strange technical problems at my server, WNII has not been mailed to you for at least two months. I do not want to bother you with the details which I do not understand, anyway. You'll receive now the missing issues but not in the original version because a lot of items are either outdated or were subject to certain substantial changes. Hence, I re-edited all these WNII issues in the following way:
-- in this issue (No 26), the WNII section "Membership + Projects' News" is covered
-- the WNII section "Nuclear Weapons", including other weapons of mass destruction, is covered in No 27 and so on.
Some of the coming issues might cover more than one WNII section; also, I cannot exactly foresee the number of the WNII issue which with I'll resume the regular way of publishing because I am still checking thousands of emails (one of the results of the technical failure referred to above). However, you will now get most of the missing items/WNII issues within a week or so.
I feel very sorry for this, but I could not do anything about it. Yours, Tobias Damjanov
Editor: Tobias Damjanov, e-mail:
WNII is archived at: http://inesglobal.org/archive.htm
INES homepages: http://inesglobal.org http://www.inesglobal.com/
INES International Office
INES Chair: Prof. Armin Tenner [Please note that the first "1" in q18 is the number one, while the last "l" is an "L"]
CONTENTS of WNII No. 26/2003
MEMBERSHIP AND PROJECTS' NEWS
"INES Newsletter" No. 42
The "INES Newsletter" No. 42/September 2003 carries the following:
The "INES Newsletter" is edited by Armin Tenner: <> A pure ASCII version is available for distribution by e-mail. Ask the "INES Newsletter" editor to put you on his distribution list. The "INES Newsletter" is also available at: http://inesglobal.org Previous issues are archived at: http://inesglobal.org/ines2.htm
New Zealand: Engineers for Social Responsibility (ESR) Newsletter August 2003 (Vol. 19/No. 3) http://www.esr.org.nz
The latest ESR Newsletter carries the following main articles:
Newsletter Editor: Neil Mander <>
UK: Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) encourages scientists at the BA Festival of Science to take an ethical career path
At the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA) Festival of Science (*) in early September, SGR has encouraged scientists and engineers to choose an ethical career path, with the help of their highly popular publications, 'Thinking about an ethical career in science and technology'.
SGR has produced an introductory booklet and the first three of a series of in-depth briefings intended to give scientists and engineers a deeper understanding of the wider ethical dimensions of various careers in science and technology. Topics covered in these publications include military science, environmental issues and genetics. To date over 3000 copies of the introductory booklet have been distributed since its launch in September 2001, while over 2000 copies of the three briefings, launched in March this year, have been distributed.
SGR's Director, Dr. Stuart Parkinson, said "The high demand for our ethical careers publications shows that young scientists and engineers are indeed concerned about making sure science and technology is used in positive ways."
The BA Festival of Science is one of the UK's biggest science festivals. The festival attracts 400 of the best scientists and science communicators from home and abroad who reveal the latest developments in research to a general audience. The theme for the BA Festival of Science 2003 was 'Sustainable science', spanning all aspects of how and whether science is sustainable, how science is working towards sustainability (in all its forms) and how science and technology can help us gain and maintain a high standard of living.
(*)More at: http://www.britassoc.org.uk
USA: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Articles by Dr David Krieger (NOTE that all articles listed below are available from the WNII Editor as rtf-formatted email attachments.)
International Law and the Quest for Security
This is a new brochure edited by Richard Falk and David Krieger. It has the following three parts:
To view the publication online go to: http://www.wagingpeace.org/pdfs/thequest.pdf
"The Sunflower", September 2003, No. 76
The September 2003 issue of "The Sunflower" covers the following:
"The Sunflower", October 2003, No. 77
The October 2003 issue of "The Sunflower" covers the following:
USA: Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER): "NATO and Nuclear Disarmament"
"NATO and Nuclear Disarmament" is the title of a new analysis issued on 7 October by the IEER
The report comes amidst growing controversies between the United States and Europe on a number of issues, including the U.S. pre-emptive war strategy in Iraq. The report reveals that the European Union draft security strategy calls for "pre-emptive engagement" to promote justice and the rule of law.
"The contrast between U.S. policy with its emphasis on pre-emptive war and the emerging European consensus on the rule of law and pre-emptive engagement is striking, " said Dr. Arjun Makhijani, principal author of the report and president of IEER.
The report analyzes the nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament obligations of the NATO allies of the United States, all of whom have ratified both the NPT and CTBT, focusing on its non-nuclear NATO allies. U.S. policy is now in violation of the commitments that it made to the other parties to the NPT in 1995 and 2000 at the review conferences of that treaty, according to the report. Specifically, U.S. policies of developing usable nuclear weapons such as "bunker busters" and "mini-nukes" and U.S. plans to maintain a readiness to test nuclear weapons are in conflict with those commitments.
The report recommends that the NATO allies formally inform the United States that the conflict between NATO membership and NPT obligations would become severe if the United States tests a nuclear weapon.
The report recommends further that the NATO allies of the United States:
1. Formally and immediately inform the United States that a nuclear test would put their obligations under the NPT and CTBT in conflict with their NATO membership. This communication should stress the need to make the nuclear test moratorium permanent and for the U.S. to ratify the CTBT to help stem the slide toward proliferation and nuclear chaos.
2. Make a binding and formal commitment that NATO will not use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear NPT parties and express this commitment as part of an explicit and unconditional no first use nuclear weapons policy for NATO.
3. Work for a de-nuclearization of NATO including withdrawal of U.S. nuclear weapons now stationed in six non-nuclear member states of NATO and Britain, and for an end to the nuclear sharing arrangements, which are of dubious legality at best under the NPT.
The report and press statements are posted on the IEER website: http://www.ieer.org/
Jirí Matoušek on the 53rd Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs (Prof. Matoušek is a member of the INES Executive Committee)
“Advancing Human Security: The Role of Technology and Politics” took place at the Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 14 – 22 July 2003.
As usually, the Conference consisted of plenary sessions, while the main agenda items proceeded in 6 Working Groups (WG 1 - Nuclear Weapons, WG 2 - Weaponisation of Space and Missile Defence, WG 3 - International Cooperation and Human Security, WG 4 - Terrorism, WG 5 - New Technology for Human Development and Security and WG 6 – Mitigation of Global Environmental Change. Student and young pugwashites (ISYP) met in a special Working Group dealing with the same issues like other 6 WGs.).
Closed plenary sessions were devoted to the Pugwash issues, while some others, open to broad public dealt with contemporary urgent issues. After the welcoming address by Chair of Canadian Pugwash Senator Douglas Roche, participants were acquainted with the Report of Pugwash Secretary General Paolo Cotta-Rasmusino. Hon. Susan Whelan, Canadian Minister of International Cooperation held the keynote “Promoting Human Security after Conflict”. At the open sessions, several very interesting topics were on the agenda. One cluster was devoted to Human Security and the Middle East with main speakers: Galia Golan (Israel), Riad Malki (Palestine) and Mohammed Kadry Said (Egypt). The other one, dealing with Eliminating the Threat of Nuclear Weapons had three speakers: Miguel Marin-Bosch (Mexico), Pan Zhenquiang (China) and John Holdren (USA). To other open plenary sessions belonged one devoted to Cooperative Security and the Future of Multinational Organisations With speeches given by Bob Lawson (Canada), Jayntha Dhanapala (Srí Lanka) , Vladimir Baranovsky (Russia) and Steven Miller (USA) and another , where Jayntha Dhanapala, former UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament (Srí Lanka) gave the Dorothy Hodgkin Lecture. Beside the routine programme, two remarkable events were organised. The first was Public Forum with the main speaker Sir Josef Rotblat followed with long vivid discussion. The other was visit to the Thinkers´ Lodge in Pugwash, small village, the summer residence of Cyrus Eaton, who invited the first group of 22 eminent scientists (mainly nuclear physicists) to the first gathering in his house in 1957. The first Pugwash Conference, inspired by the Einstein – Russell Manifesto gave impetus to further development of the Pugwash Movement. Very impressive speeches on the past and present history by the only two living participants of the First Pugwash Conference in 1957, Sir Josef Rotblat (Nobel Peace Laureate, 1995) and Ruth Adams (former editor, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists) were accepted with certain emotions by all participants.
The Conference was concluded by reports of all Working Groups and Presidential Lecture by Prof. M. S. Swaminathan (India) and final remarks by Secretary General Paolo Cotta-Rasmusino and Executive Director Jeffrey Boutwell. The 53rd Pugwash Conference, due to perfect organisation and hospitality by the Canadian Pugwash Group and also due to the opportunity to “return to the roots of Pugwash,” visiting the site of the 1st Pugwash Conference was a marked success.
All important materials, especially main plenary lectures can be found on the Pugwash homepage: http://www.pugwash.org
Russia: Socio-Ecological Union: "The SEU TIMES" No 13 (47), September 9, 2003
Issue No 13 (47) of "The SEU Times" focuses on one subject: Danube Biosphere Reserve – Ukrainian Government takes the green mask off
New e-Bulletin from the International Peace Bureau (IPB)
The IPB has started to publish a new e-Bulletin, in addition to its quarterly newsletter IPB News, to increase awareness, via its website:
http://www.ipb.org/, of the IPB work and some current activities and issues of the peace movement, as well as to make contact with existing members more frequent.
No new or changed email or web addresses in this issue. All INES e-mail addresses and homepages are available upon request from:
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