+++++++++++++++++++ WHAT'S NEW IN INES? +++++++++++++++++++
No. 10/1997 ---------------------------------------------------------
Dateline: 12 Oct 1997
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Dear members and friends of INES,
With this WNII issue - the tenth one already - I'd like to introduce a change concerning the INES Web- and email section: there were some complaints about the length of WNII which is why only changes of email and homepage addresses - and, of course, new ones - will be listed here from now on. If you need the list in full, just send a mail to . Naturally, this refers very much to new recipients of WNII.
Hope this helps to make WNII a bit more readable.
Best regards,
Tobias Damjanov
Editor
Kreutzkamp 33, D-21465 Reinbek, Germany
phone:
e-mail:
INES homepage: http://www.mindspring.com/~us016262/ines.html
Proofreading by Kate Maloney, SGR UK
(in this issue except some minor stop-press parts)
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++++++ INES MEMBERSHIP UPDATE ++++++
=== > Stop Press: 1997 Nobel Peace Prize goes to Anti-Landmine Campaign
The International Peace Bureau (IPB) which itself won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910 released a press communique on 10 October which we quote here (INES is a member of the IPB):
The International Peace Bureau vigorously applauds the Norwegian Nobel Committee for its decision announced today to award the 1997 Peace Prize to Jody Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
"This Nobel Peace Prize honours an emerging international democracy", said IPB's Oslo-based Vice-President Fredrik Heffermehl. "A group of governments have played a necessary role in the development of a ban against landmines, but we in the citizens' peace movement are particularly delighted and proud that the award goes to the organisations of citizens that took the initiative and determinedly moved the governments forward. It should encourage everyone to see that great and rapid steps towards disarmament can be achieved by a civil society initiative. The model, cited by the Nobel Committee, of NGOs working with governments - and not waiting for the approval of the most powerful nations - has for example already brought about important changes in the efforts to ban nuclear weapons, notably last year's landmark ruling by the International Court of Justice and other positive moves in the UN."
The timing of this announcement is especially fortunate, given the forthcoming signing in Ottawa of the Convention to Ban Landmines. The challenge issued by the Committee to the big powers who still refuse to join the ban could not be clearer.
Today's decision is a powerful blow against the military-commercial interests who put profit and military advantage above solidarity with civilian victims. The award gives encouragement to all of us in the campaign who have worked to inform public opinion and to offer creative opportunities to express public outrage against these barbaric instruments of carnage. For the first time it could be said that the Nobel Committee is indirectly honouring the efforts of millions of individuals.
(The IPB is a member of the International Campaign Against Landmines)
=== > News from the Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR), UK
The latest SGR Newsletter (No. 16/August 1997) carries the following main articles:
--- Global Warming - What Are The Risks?
--- Our Journey by Train and Boat to the UN Climate Convention in Kyoto (details available at: http://www.uea.uk/~e256/kyoto/journey.html)
--- Four Months to Kyoto - What's the State of Play? (see also the web page of the Global Commons Institute: http://www.gn.apc.org/gci)
--- The Risks of "Climate Engineering" Research (see also: http://www.gn.apc.org/sgr/climeng.html)
--- Air Transport and Global Warming
--- Another Perspective on Climate Change
--- Going to Zero - A Nuclear Weapons Free World in the Next Century !INFO! SGR, Unit 3, Down House, The Business Village, Broomhill Road, London SW18 4JQ, UK; === > News from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF), USA
<> Recently, NAPF has distributed an Action Alert Info concerning the Cassini space launch. For details contact NAPF at !NOTE! INES member Prof. Eric Fawcett, University of Toronto, has recently disseminated two articles about the Cassini problem via INESnet. You can get in touch with Prof. Fawcett via the following email address:
<> "The Sunflower" is NAPF's free electronic monthly newsletter. The latest issue - No. 5/Oct 1997 - contains the following main articles:
--- Cassini Update
--- US does not sign landmine ban
--- "Holog" - the second subcritical nuclear test
--- Russia's missing nuclear devices and materials
--- Mobil Chernobyl up for vote
!INFO! To subscribe to "The Sunflower", please send a message
--- To:
--- Subject: [leave empty]
--- subscribe sunflower-napf [your email address here]
=== > Challenges and Opportunities for a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World
INESAP 1997 Conference Report
Third Conference of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation
Fudan University, Shanghai, 8-10 Sep 1997
The Third International Conference of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation (INESAP) was the first conference specifically dealing with nuclear weapons and delivery systems in China. It was hosted by the Center for American Studies at the Fudan University in Shanghai. Prof. Dingli Shen, Deputy Director of the Center and member of the INESAP Coordinating Committee together with his staff cared very efficiently for the local organisation and created a very pleasant and productive working atmosphere. International invitations and the program were managed by Dr. Martin Kalinowski and his colleagues at the research group IANUS of the Darmstadt University of Technology. The conference was made possible by fundings from the W. Alton Jones Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the State of Hesse.
The main topical interest of the INESAP 1997 Conference focused on challenges and opportunities for a nuclear-weapon-free world. The central goals of this conference were to foster the international network of engineers and scientists who engage in nuclear disarmament issues, to plan future INESAP activities and to provide an extensive opportunity for Chinese and international disarmament experts to meet with each other and exchange views. 19 analysts from China were attending, many of them working with various governmental institutions. The 28 international participants came from 13 countries.
The welcome speeches in the opening session of the conference were given by Prof. Yang Fujia, President of the Fudan University, Shanghai, Prof. Xie Xide, Director of the Center for American Studies, a former President of the Fudan University, Shanghai. Dr. David Krieger, the Deputy Chair of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility (INES) introduced the topic of the conference and called on scientists to act responsibly with regard to international peace and natural resources.
During the course of the conference a total of 50 presentations were given on the following major topical areas: The Nuclear Weapons Convention, consequences of the advisory opinion of the World Court of Justice, rethinking nuclear non-proliferation, how to draw further states into the nuclear disarmament process, next steps for nuclear disarmament and their verification, nuclear weapons free zones, ending nuclear weapons research and development, No-First- Use-Treaty, relations to arms control of conventional weapons, nuclear energy and non-proliferation in Asia, ballistic missile defence, counterproliferation and the future of the ABM treaty as well as future perspectives for the cut-off agreement.
In the opening plenary session Rebecca Johnson discussed the prospects for negotiations on nuclear disarmament and she pointed out that there is a new trend towards qualitative rather than the classical quantitative disarmament approach which reduces the number of deployed nuclear weapons. Steps like a No-First-Use Treaty, dealerting of nuclear weapons, ending the deployment on foreign territory, sequestration of warheads, and extending the area of nuclear weapons free zones in the world establish a qualitative disarmament which may lead to the marginalization of nuclear weapons. J rgen Scheffran discussed the difference between an incremental and a comprehensive approach to negotiations on a Nuclear Weapons Convention and he presented a scheme that demonstrated that both approaches do not necessarily exclude each other. Merav Datan gave an introduction to the content of the Model Nuclear Weapons Convention as well as to the historic process which led to the drafting of the Model by an international group of disarmament experts and diplomats. The drafting process was managed by the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy (LCNP) and scientific- technical input was provided by INESAP. Wu Jun made clear that China always supported the complete elimination of nuclear weapons and actually supported the Nuclear Weapons Convention.
During the conference there was a discussion about the fact that the United States is preparing to conduct its second "subcritical" nuclear test, code-named Holog, later in September, underground at the Nevada Test Site. According to a public statement by a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) official, Holog was "important for understanding performance" of nuclear weapons. Fifteen conference participants sent a letter to President Bill Clinton expressing their deep concern that the subcritical tests and the huge "Stockpile Stewardship" program of which they are part, are making it possible for the U.S. to continue modernizing its nuclear arsenal, even under a CTBT. They believe that subcritical tests are acts of bad faith, provocative to other States, that jeopardise prospects for the global entry into force of the CTBT.
All participants of the INESAP 1997 Conference in Shanghai sent their warmest greetings to the distinguished delegates to the International Conference on "Central Asia - Nuclear Weapon Free Zone", being held in Tashkent, September 14-16, 1997. They fully supported and endorsed the efforts of the people and governments of Kazakstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to create a nuclear weapons free zone in Central Asia.
Owen Greene and Juergen Scheffran facilitated a special session on future activities of INESAP. Reiner Braun, the executive manager of INES gave an inspiring talk on actions and activities of NGOs towards the abolition of nuclear weapons. He put special emphasis on the international network "Abolition 2000". The next focus for common activities will be the second Preparatory Committee meeting for the NPT Review Conference in the year 2000 which will take place from April 27 to May 8 in Geneva. INESAP plans to contribute with a number of activities and at least 9 participants of this conference will meet again there.
It was agreed that in 1998 INESAP will conduct a project that concentrates on security in the Middle East and prospects for a Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone in that region. As a central element to this project, in September 1998 the fourth INESAP Conference will be hosted by the Center for Research in Arms Control and Security in Amman, Jordan. Another element will be a workshop on ballistic missile defence at Tel-Aviv University, Israel. The Egyptian Scientists Against Proliferation (ESAP) and the Coordinating Center for Arabic Peace Organizations will conduct regional activities including networking among scientists and engineers in the Middle East and educating them and the public. IANUS will coordinate research work on technical issues with regard to the goal of a Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone. This includes questions of transparancy and verification.
A main point of the future work of INESAP will continue to be the Model Nuclear Weapons Convention. In cooperation with the Lawyers Committe on Nuclear Policy (LCNP) the drafting process will continue, a seminar with delegates to the Conference on Disarmament will be held in Geneva in February 1998. At this stage, it is important to develop a strategy to bring the Model Nuclear Weapons Convention into the political process in order to support progress towards global elimination of nuclear weapons.
The delivery systems working group continued its work and is planning a workshop in Israel (see above) and the publication of a book. The cut-off project "Breaking the deadlock - How can negotiations get started on effective international control of nuclear-weapon-usable materials?" is under preparation in cooperation with IANUS and UNIDIR. Seven persons of the core group of liaisons in a dozen of countries were in Shanghai and gave their reflections on the current draft of the proposal.
It is of special interest for INESAP to further develop regional activities. It is hoped that this conference will trigger further activities in China. The Middle East will be in the focus of next years activities of INESAP. The connections of INESAP to France and Russia need to be improved. Within the regional activities Nuclear Weapon Free Zones (NWFZ) will play a major role. A group was formed in Shanghai that will organize a workshop on this topic in early 1999.
The INESAP Information Bulletin will remain the main medium of INESAP for international communication. The next issues will have a special emphasis on verification of a Nuclear Weapons Free World, the next but one will probably put a focus on NWFZs. The distribution of the INESAP Information Bulletin should be broadened. Selected articles will be translated into German, Arabic as well as Indian native languages like Hindi and Maradi. Brochures with selected articles of the INESAP Information Bulletin will be printed and distributed to interested people.
INES has just started a project on NATO expansion. INESAP suggests to broadening its scope to create a comprehensive picture of NATO activities in different regions of the world like in the Middle East and of their impact on security perceptions in neighboring countries.
INESAP will continue to reflect responsibility of scientists and engineers. They should not get involved in nuclear weapons related research. Conference participants took a position against academic support for nuclear weapons. CalTech's grant of 250 mio US$ for the Strategic Computing Initiative as part of the Stockpile Stewartship and Management Program can serve as an example.
The conference lasted for three days and ended with a sightseeing tour to the fast developing "technology park" of the Pudong Area in the east part of Shanghai and to the center of downtown in the west part of the city.
The meeting of 47 experts from 14 countries was an opportunity to learn from each other across the cultures and to make friends. International participants acknowledged that the presentations and discussions helped them to get a better understanding of the people in China and especially of their position on nuclear disarmament related issues. 19 Chinese participants from 12 different institutions had the opportunity to hear foreign political positions and to argue with those who put them forward. The goal of a nuclear weapons free world was shared by all participants. Differences appeared with respect to specific ideas about how to arrive there. The experience of harmony was very encouraging for the future common work. It is hoped that this kind of work will continue.
Proceedings of this conference are under preparation and will appear as number 3 in the INESAP proceedings series by end of 1997.
Dr. Martin Kalinowski
!INFO! Further information can be obtained from the following address:
INESAP (International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation)
Further information available in addition to this conference report can soon be found on the INESAP homepage:
http://www.th-darmstadt.de/ze/ianus/inesap.htm
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++++++ ABOLITION 2000 NEWS ++++++
=== > New website of the International Court of Justice
http://www.law.cornell.edu/icj/home.htm
=== > IPB 1997 Triennial Assembly Nuclear Abolition Resolution
Following is text of the resolution on Nuclear Weapons Abolition adopted unanimously at the Triennial Assembly of the International Peace Bureau, Moscow, September 27, 1997:
BEARING in mind the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, the report of the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, the Statement by the International Group of Former Generals and Admirals, and the UNGA 51/45 Resolution calling for negotiations to begin in 1997 dealing with the elimination of nuclear weapons;
RECOGNIZING the danger to the continued viability of the Non-Proliferation Treaty by the refusal of some Nuclear Weapons States to make an unequivocal commitment to enter negotiations leading to the elimination of nuclear weapons;
IMPLORING the Russian Federation to ratify START II, thus removing any impediment to beginning negotiations for START III, which should provide drastic reductions in U.S. and Russian strategic stockpiles;
URGING the United Kingdom, France and China to join a multilateral process with the U.S. and the Russian Federation to give assurance to the world that all NWS are unequivocally committed to reductions on a step-by-step basis to zero nuclear weapons;
THEREFORE, the International Peace Bureau:
URGES a coalition of like-minded Non-Nuclear Weapon States in all regions of the world be formed to jointly press the NWS to accept their responsibility to world humanity to make an unequivocal commitment now to enter into negotiations on a program to eliminate all nuclear weapons;
SUGGESTS that this resolution be drawn to the attention of the middle-power governments that have a special relationship and access to the United States, which itself is in a unique leadership role in the world;
RECOMMENDS that all IPB affiliates urge their governments to support the forthcoming resolution at UNGA 52, which repeats the call for negotiations leading to the conclusion of a Nuclear Weapons Convention;
COMMITS the IPB to use its good offices to obtain the active support of members and supporters around the world to press this resolution on their national governments, and to make this resolution known to other international disarmament organizations.
(Note: INES is a member of the IPB)
=== > Abolition 2000 and the South Pacific Forum
The South Pacific Forum which was held on the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands in September has adopted a Communique which, in its paragraphs 29 to 38, has relevance to the nuclear abolition movement worldwide. This document is been published in the Pacific Islands Report at the following URL:
http://pidp.ewc.hawaii.edu/PIReport/September%201997/09-22-16.html
Also, a Parallel NGO Forum was held which prduced a communique ot its own going beyond the positions taken by the Pacific Island Governments.
!INFO! For more details, you can contact one of the participants: Richard Salvador, University of Hawai'i at Manoa; e-mail:
=== > Open Letter to leaders of the nuclear weapon states
Dear Abolitionists,
The following letter has been sent, personally addressed, to the leaders of the eight nuclear weapons states. I ask your help in assuring that these leaders are met by sunflowers when they make public appearances. I believe that this can be a very strong way of constantly reminding these leaders of their responsibility to achieve a nuclear weapons free world. It is also an important way to send a message to the public to enlist them in the effort for nuclear weapons abolition.
David Krieger
OPEN LETTER TO LEADERS OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS STATES
--- When Ukraine, which inherited nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union, became a nuclear weapons free state in 1996, the Defense Ministers of the United States, Russia, and Ukraine celebrated the occasion by planting sunflowers and scattering sunflower seeds on a former Ukrainian missile base. Former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry said, "Sunflowers instead of missiles in the soil would ensure peace for future generations."
--- The sunflower has since become the international symbol of a nuclear weapons free world. When sunflowers are held up before you or presented to you, please understand that this is a message to invoke your active efforts to fulfill your responsibility to eliminate all nuclear weapons from the world.
--- Nuclear weapons are instruments of genocide. They are the ultimate threat to human rights, to the environment, and to life on Earth. They are, in fact, "the ultimate evil"--as they have been described by Mohammed Bedjaoui, President of the World Court.
--- No state has the legal or moral right to threaten or use biological, chemical or nuclear weapons. The World Court reached the unanimous conclusion that all states have an obligation to complete good faith negotiations for nuclear disarmament "in all its aspects." As the leader of a nuclear weapons state, the responsibility to fulfill this mandate falls to you.
--- Let us build a new world order on the hope of sunflowers instead of the threat and despair of nuclear-armed missiles. Sunflowers are bright, beautiful, and natural. They grow from the Earth. Nuclear-armed missiles are instruments that threaten mass annihilation, even of our entire species. --- The people choose sunflowers. They choose life. They choose a safer and saner future for their children and grandchildren. The sunflower is the symbol they present to you in silent eloquence of the desire for a nuclear weapons free world.
--- You are asked to end the nuclear threat by taking nuclear forces off alert status, by making a commitment to "no first use" of nuclear weapons, and by removing all nuclear weapons from foreign soil and international waters.
--- You are asked to sign a Nuclear Weapons Convention to eliminate nuclear weapons within a timebound framework and to prohibit their development production, acquisition, possession, testing, threat or use.
--- You are asked to reallocate resources from these instruments of genocide to positive measures for alleviating poverty and suffering in the world, and for fulfilling basic human needs.
--- You are asked to make a new commitment for a new century--a commitment to end the nuclear weapons era. Sunflowers instead of missiles. --- There is no security in the threat and counter-threat of nuclear annihilation. The people speak to you with sunflowers, sending the powerful message of life. They ask you to choose life. They ask you to enter the 21st Century with a treaty in place committing all nations of the world to eliminate their nuclear arsenals within a reasonable period of time.
--- The message of the sunflower is that the future is in our hands, and you are called upon to act now for a nuclear weapons free future.
Sincerely,
David Krieger
President, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
=== > Interesting web pages on some selected nuclear issues
<> Pakistan, tells Clinton to move away from nuclear issue:
http://www.10mb.com/paktoday/nawzc1.htm
<> Russian Mob, Drug Cartels Joining Forces [weapons discussed submarines, anti-aircraft missiles]:
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-09/29/109l-092997-idx.html
<> Children of the Prospekt Disturbed and Destitute, Thousands of Youths Take to Russia's Streets [Head Start for young criminals in a nuclear superpower]
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-09/22/086l-092297-idx.html
<> Russia Crime Crisis is Threat to West - Report [Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report; danger of Russia losing control of its nuclear arsenal]
http://guide-p.infoseek.com/Content?arn=a2568LBY154reulb-19970929&qt=Russia+Crime&col=NX&nh=25&kt=A&ak=allnews
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++++++ NEW PUBLICATIONS ++++++
=== > Barnard, Ted/Young, Jora: The Ecology of Hope: Communities Collaborate for Sustainability
New Society Publishers: 1997 (***)
=== > International Peace Bureau (ed.): Chernobyl: Environmental, Health and Human Rights Implications
The book documents brain dysfunction in persons exposed to Chernobyl radiation and provides a useful bibliography.
e-mail:
!NOTE! The 13-page Judgement by the 1996 Permanent Peoples' Tribunal on Chernobyl (pages 205-231 of this book) is also available at:
http://www.pgs.ca/pages/ppt96.htm
=== > Roelofs, Joan: Greening Cities: Building Just and Sustainable Communities
Bootstrap Press (***)
=== > Swan, James/Swan, Roberta: Dialogues With The Living Earth: New ideas on the Spirit of Place from Designers, Architects and Innovators
Quest Books: 1996 (***)
=== > Wackernagel,Mathis/Rees, William: Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth
New Society Publishers: 1996 (***)
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++++++ CONFERENCES - MEETINGS - SEMINARS ++++++
NOTE: Events listed here are being published only once due to limited space. Changes, however, will be taken into account - they will be marked with "!CHANGE [reference to the issue of "What's New In INES?" in which they were mentioned first]!"
=== > Russia and its Western Neighbours
11th ISODARCO Winter Course on the Problems of European Security in the Light of Recent Events in NATO and in the Countries of the Former Warsaw Treaty Organization
Andalo (Trento), Italy, 25 Jan - 1 Feb 1998
ISODARCO (International School on Disarmament and Research on Conflicts) has been organizing residential courses on disarmament and arms control since 1966, and has already held eighteen summer courses and ten winter courses. The courses are intended for people already having a professional interest in the problems of disarmament and conflicts, or for those who would like to play a more active and technically competent role in this field. The courses have an interdisciplinary nature, and their subject matters extend from the technical and scientific side of the problems to their sociological and political implications.
Internet:
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++++++ INES WEB- AND EMAIL SERVICE ++++++
!NOTE!
To reduce the length of "What's New In INES?" issues, only changes of email addresses and homepages as well as new ones will be listed here regularly. A full list of e-mail addresses and homepages of INES member organisations and the INES Executive Committee members is available upon request. Simply send an email to .
=== > Please do not forget to inform us about changes of your email address or your homepage!.
!NEW! Japan-based INES WWW mirror page:
e-mail: ,
homepage: http://www.agr.hokudai.ac.jp/bioorg/friede/friede.htm)
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