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WHAT'S NEW IN INES? |
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No.18/2001 |
Dateline: May 5, 2001 |
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This is the weekly electronic information service of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility
Editor: Tobias Damjanov, e-mail:
INES homepage: http://inesglobal.org
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 a "L"]
CONTENTS of WNII No.18/2001
INESAP Annual Report 2000
The International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation (INESAP) has just released its Annual Report for 2000. For a copy, please contact INESAP Coordinator Regina Hagen: < >
"The SEU TIMES": Two special issues
"The SEU TIMES" is the electronic newsletter of the "Socio-Ecological Union", one of the Russian INES member organisations.
SEU Times Editor: Sviatoslav Zabelin < > Previous issues of "The SEU Times" may be found at "The Online Gadfly": http://www.igc.org/gadfly
UK: Make Space for Cooperation. A Statement by Scientists for Global Responsibility (from Alan Cottey < > )
The Summary reads "As an organisation of scientists committed to the ethical use of science and technology, SGR calls for continued vigilance in protecting existing treaties and norms which defend space from selfish and warlike exploitation in the (misconceived) interests of special sections of humanity. Existing worldwide cooperative agreements should be extended, not rolled back.
Some recent proposals, if put into effect, would increase conflict between nations, and between rich and poor. Efforts to dominate the world, either commercially or militarily, by means of a monopoly of near-earth space, are in no-one's real interest. Those who seek such domination need to understand that, in a world that is tight-knit - economically, militarily, culturally and morally - such efforts will be counterproductive."
The statement has brief sections on - US National Missile Defence Programme; Nuclear-powered Spacecraft; Pu238; The Current Trend of Ever Greater Militarisation and Commercialisation of Space; Ethics and Space.
The full text can be seen at: http://www.sgr.org.uk/space_for_cooperation.html
SPECIAL SECTION: ON THE US MISSILE DEFENCE POLICY
On the US National Missile Defence Policy after the Bush Speech of 1 May
I have produced a quite comprehensive compilation of articles and statements with regard to the May 1 speech of US President Bush on NMD, the future of the ABM Treaty etc. The file is available as an rtf-formatted email attachment (size: ~ 212 Kb), and carries the following:
T. Damjanov, WNII Editor
Denmark, Greenland, and the US Missile Defence Plans
This compilation by the WNII Editor is available as an rtf-formatted email attachment (size: ~ 122 Kb). It has the following contents:
European Missile Defence: New Emphasis, New Roles
This is the title of a new BASIC (British American Security Information Council) Paper written by BASIC's London-based analyst Mark Bromley (published in May this year). It is available as an rtf-formatted email attachment (size: ~ 108 Kb) from the WNII Editor.
Trappings of Empire: The Escalating Costs of Space Control
Written by Loring Wirbel, Citizens for Peace in Space, this paper is available either from: http://www.peacevision.org.uk/papers/wirbel.html
or as an rtf-formatted email attachment (size: ~ 43 Kb) from the WNII Editor.
Friends of the Earth: Save the Climate Treaty! Flood George Bush with Your E-mails! http://www.foeeurope.org/climate
Stop President Bush from betraying the UN climate change treaty!
Last year the US blocked progress at negotiations in The Netherlands, now Texas oil-man President George W. Bush wants to destroy the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Friends of the Earth asks people around the world to electronically flood the White House with protest E-mails. Let's give President Bush a taste of what climate change means and how much people are concerned about it. Please cut and paste the message below into a new E-mail and send it to: President Bush: Please CC to: < > or go to: http://www.foeeurope.org/climate
Dear President Bush,
I call on you as President of the USA not to betray the Kyoto Protocol.
The United States must live up to its commitment to the UN negotiations to prevent global warming. Sabotaging the Kyoto Protocol puts the USA into a position of environmental isolationism and makes it responsible for climate catastrophe.
The US has the highest per capita CO2 emissions in the world. People around the world already faced with the first signs of climate change, suffering from floods and hurricanes, expect your country to be in the forefront of tackling climate change.
An enormous potential of creativity, innovation and efficiency is there to be harvested once we have decided to really reduce CO2 emission. If you fail to reverse your decision to kill the Kyoto Protocol, future generations will not forgive you.
President Bush, the science is proven and the international political will is there to tackle climate change. The US must join the world in tackling climate change.
Sincerely, X
World Summit on Sustainable Development: New e-mail list
The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) has created a new e-mail list for news and announcements for the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Any subscriber to 2002SUMMIT-L can post to this list and postings will be distributed to all other subscribers. This is a great way to let others know about your plans for the Johannesburg Summit and to keep up with developments between now and September 2002.
This is a moderated list and only news and announcements relevant to the World Summit on Sustainable Development will be distributed to the list. We promise to keep the list focused.
To subscribe to this list, send an e-mail to: < > with the message: subscribe 2002SUMMIT-L or go to http://iisd.ca/scripts/lyris.pl and choose 2002SUMMIT-L from the list of IISD's e-mail lists.
If you have any problems subscribing to this list or would like to subscribe multiple e-mail addresses in your organization, please contact our On-Line Assistant Diego Noguera at: < >
U.S. ousted from U.N. Human Rights Commission (from csdgen listserve, 3 May 2001; abridged)
In what amounts to a stinging rebuke, the United States has been voted off the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva. This marks the first time the United States will not be represented on the commission since its inception in 1947. The commission investigates human-rights abuses around the world. (&)
France, Austria and Sweden were chosen for the three seats allocated to Western countries that were up for election, Reuters reported. The vote was conducted among 53 nations in the Economic and Social Council, the umbrella group for the commission, U.N. officials said.
One diplomat speculated that U.S. policies on the Middle East might have swung some countries to reject its candidacy. But according to Reuters, some diplomats said they believed the Bush administration's opposition to the Kyoto climate change treaty as well as its insistence on a missile defense contributed to the loss.
Joanna Weschler, the U.N. representative of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said both Western and developing countries bore grudges against the United States. "Washington should have seen it coming because there has been a growing resentment towards the United States and ... votes on key human-rights standards, including opposition to a treaty to abolish land mines and to the International Criminal Court and making AIDS drugs available to everyone," she said in a Reuters report. (&)
Weschler also said the 53-member commission was turning into an "abuser solidarity" group with more and more countries with questionable human-rights records gaining election and then voting as a bloc not to single out individual nations for human rights abuses. In the Reuters report, she cited Libya, Syria and Sudan among those given seats in the commission during the past two years.
James Cunningham, the acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called the move "very disappointing." He said the decision "won't affect our commitment to human rights."
The Human Rights Commission includes 53 countries. Every year, one-third of the members come up for re-election. (&) It was established in 1947 and the United States, Russia and India had served on the rights body ever since.
NEW: Second INES homepage launched
A second INES homepage can now be found at: http://www.inesglobal.com/ which is in parts still under construction.
PLEASE NOTE the difference of the ending of the two *inesglobal* homepages: *org and *com
Among other things, the new homepage contains:
< < < < < end of No.18/2001 what's new in ines < < < < <