WNII is an electronic information service of INES,
the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility

Editor: Tobias Damjanov, e-mail: < >
INES homepage: http://www.mindspring.com/~us016262/ines.html
INES International Office < >
INES Chair Prof. Armin Tenner < >

INES Newsletter No 23/October 1998 out now

Web reference: http://www.mindspring.com/~us016262/newsletter23.htm

The latest INES Newsletter has the following contents:

[_] The date palm: The princess of a sustainable future (by Hamed El-Mously)

[_] Apartheids Dr Strangeloves (by Michael Schaaf)

[_] Regional INES Contacts

[_] Building a broader INES (by Ulrike Otto and Tasseli McKay)

[_] New individual members

[_] News from the INES Council (by Hartwig Spitzer)

[_] Impressions of the INES Council (by Branka Jovanovic)

[_] Impressions of the INES Council (by Reiner Braun)

[_] The ethical crisis of science (by Hans-Jürgen Fischbeck)

Member Organisations' + Project Groups' News

Germany: Network for Sustainable Policy established

The German INES member ''Scientists' Initiative Responsibility for Peace and Sustainability'', together with six other organisations, has established a Network for Sustainable Policy. Based on a joint Statement of Concern entitled ''This Country Needs a New Policy'', the Network is aiming at working for a major change of policy after the government has changed as a result of the recent general elections: the Network members feel concerned that the new government would not fulfill the promises made before the elections. The Statement outlines the fields of future Network activities which are all related to the idea of sustainable development in German politics.

For the time being, you can contact the Network through the Scientists' Initiative.

!!! mailto

On Saturday 21 November 1998, the SGR will hold its 1998 Annual General Meeting together with a conference on ''Ethics and Genetics''. Keynote speakers are

[_] Professor Derek Burke, Former Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Process, on ''Biotechnology - A Former Regulator's View''

and

[_] Dr Mae-Wan Ho, Open University, on ''Biotechnology - Who Takes Responsibility?''

The following three workshops are planned:

[_] Genetic Engineering

[_] Transport and Climate Change

[_] Getting SGR Better Known - 2000 Members by 2000?

For details, !!! mailto Kate Maloney < >

International Peace Bureau (IPB)

INES Ethics Committee

The next meeting of the INES Ethics Committee will be held at the Evangelical Academy, Mülheim, Germany, in January 1999 (no exact data available).

For details, please contact:

Hans-Jürgen Fischbeck < >

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

!!! Abolition 2000 homepage: http://www.napf.org/abolition2000/

Nuclear disarmament at the 1998 UN General Assembly

A number of documents with regard to nuclear disarmament issued tabled at the current UN General Assembly have recently been distributed via various mailing lists etc. The following is a selected list of corresponding references:

[_] Draft UN Resolution by Malaysia on the World Court Opinion and Nuclear Weapons Convention; Sent by the US Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy < >

[_] Kofi Annan Stresses Link between Disarmament And Development (statement to the opening meeting of the First Committee ''Disarmament and International Security''); Sent by Women' International League for Peace and Freedom < >

[_] Statement by the USA and others (summary) to the First Committee; Sent by < >

[_] Fourth Committee begins consideration of effects of atomic radiation; Sent by < >

[_] Towards a Nuclear Weapon Free World: The Need for a New Agenda; (Draft Resolution, 20 Oct 1998); Sent by Edith Ballantyne (WILPF) < >

[Editor's Note: You can get all these items also directly from me]

''The Nation'' nuclear abolition web site

http://www.thenation.com/disarmament/home_txt.htm

On this site you will find excerpts from our February 2/9, 1998 double issue containing the 45,000 word article by Jonathan Schell, The Gift of Time: The Case for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons. The excerpts include interviews with former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and former Soviet Premier Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, who share Schell's vision of a nuclear-free world.

Through this site you can also access a special Nation Forum in which you can register your reactions to the piece and discuss nuclear abolition issues.

The Nation's Nuclear Abolition Forum will operate for the next several weeks. You are invited to share your reactions to "The Gift of Time" and to offer thoughts on related topics. Jonathan Schell will stop in regularly to comment on postings.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Web reference: Sustainable Livelihoods unit at UNDP: http://www.undp.org/undp/sl/

Naresh Singh, and the Sustainable Livelihoods unit at UNDP are working on very interesting approaches to sustainable development looking closely at the issue of entitlements, as well as what development beneficiaries can offer (and not only their needs). The above-mentioned URL is their homepage, and it contains some documents on the subject.

WHISTLEBLOWERS

Reporting the Nikitin Trial http://www.bellona.no/e/russia/nikitin/

On 20 October, the trial against Alexandr Nikitin started in Moscow. The Bellona Foundation has published and is publishing Daily Reports which are all the more important, since international observers and media have been expelled from the courtroom. [These reports have also been distributed via INESnet and the INESAPlist.] When this WNII issue went to press, it was still unclear how long the trial would take. So far, four Daily Reports were issued.

For more (or to get the Daily Reports directly): !!! mailto < >

Additional web sources:

[Editor's Note: If you do not have web access, you can get all the articles listed below directly from me by email.]

[_] Free Speech At Issue in Russian Trial (article by Daniel Williams, Washington Post Foreign Service, Wednesday, October 21, 1998; Page A21): http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-10/21/063l-102198-idx.html

[_] International Helsinki Federation Voices Concern over Ecologist's Trial: http://www.russiatoday.com/rtoday/news/05.html http://www.ihf-hr.org/appeals/981020.htm

[_] Russian captain in the dock for blowing nuclear whistle (by James Meek, Dawn/The Guardian News Service, 22 October 1998): http://dawn.com/daily/text/int8.htm

[_] Echoes of an awful past resound in trial for treason (The Irish Times, 22 October 1998):

http://www.irish-times.com/irish-times/paper/1998/1022/wor11.html

BRIEFINGS

Web information on Kosovo: http://www.cdi.org/issues/europe/kosovo.html

The US-based ''Center for Defense Information (CDI)'' has set up this special web site dedicated to the Kosovo crisis. It carries the latest developments and CDI's fact sheets and analysis of the situation.

MAI: "Globaphobia Debate" now on the Internet: http://www.preamble.org

A transcript of the Preamble Center sponsored debate -- "Globaphobia: Irrational Fear or Common Sense?" -- featuring Robert Litan of Brookings, Catherine Mann of the Institute for International Economics, Dean Baker of the Economic Policy Institute, and Mark Weisbrot of the Preamble Center is now available in its entirety on Preamble's website indicated above. To access the debate proceedings, scroll down to the section entitled "Debate Proceedings" and click on "Globapahobia."

For more information or to get a printed version: !!! mailto Neil Watkins < >

Re: Depleted Uranium

The US-based Military Toxics Project (MTP) has recently set up a Listserve for depleted uranium. Anyone wishing to subscribe to the DU listserve type in the TO: and in the body of the text write: "subscribe" (no ""). You should receive a message to confirm.

If there are any problems contact MTP at < >.

CONFERENCES - MEETINGS - SEMINARS

!!! NOTE: Events listed here are being published only once due to limited space. Changes, however, will be taken into account (marked with ''UPDATE'')

The Threat of Nuclear Proliferation (547th Wilton Park Conference)

[_] Date: 14-18 December 1998

[_] Venue: Steyning/West Sussex, UK

[_] Organiser: Wilton Park Conferences

A wide range of sub-items will be discussed, including studies on a number of countries and world regions, as well as on defence planning issues. Speakers are well-known experts and diplomats from a number of countries and international institutions such as UN agencies.

For more details, !!! mailto Mrs. Heather Ingrey: < >

1999 INES Council Meeting

[_] Date: 23-27 September 1999 (tentative schedule)

[_] Venue: near Vienna, Austria

1999 World Civil Society Conference (WOCSOC)

[_] Date: 8-10 December 1999

[_] Venue: Montreal, Canada

[_] Organized by a UN University-initiated participatory research project

Entitled ''Building Global Governance Partnerships'', this is a conference of civil society networks to prepare, inter alia, input to all the Year 2000 events (notably a Millennium Civil Society Forum 2000), working with the UN to build global governance partnerships.

For more details, !!! C. Ritchie, Chairman, Steering Committee: Fax: (41-22) 734 7082 [no email indicated]

A full list of all INES e-mail addresses and homepages is available upon request.
!!! mailto < >

No new or changed email or web addresses.

================ end of No. 21/1998 what's new in ines ================