This is a 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   

CONTENTS of WNII No. 24/2000

• Member Organisations' and Project Groups' News:
  • INES and the "Kursk" disaster
    • Centre for Arms Control, Energy and Environmental Studies, Russia
    • "Kursk" A Death Notice
  • Article from NYTimes.com by Alla Yaroshinskaya
  • USA: International exhibition of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
  • B. Nassar: The First TMD already Built by US in Israel
• Nuclear Weapons:
  • Research project about miniaturized nuclear weapons
  • Draft Paper for the Anti-Nuclear National Convention in India
  • More on the Independent Commission on the Verifiability of the CTBT
• Briefings:
  • International Ethics Survey for Scientists and Engineers
• Conferences, Meetings, Seminars:
  • Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones: Crucial Steps Towards a Nuclear Free World
• INES Web- and Email Service

MEMBER ORGANISATIONS' AND PROJECT GROUPS' NEWS

INES and the "Kursk" disaster

Centre for Arms Control, Energy and Environmental Studies, Russia

The Russian INES member organisation Centre for Arms Control, Energy and Environmental Studies, in its "START Web Site News" (*) issue of August 28, writes the following: (*) http://www.armscontrol.ru/start/  

Russian nuclear submarine accident became a major news for the period of last two weeks. Press continues discussing possible reasons for "Kursk" sinking. There are still many questions and controversial points in official information about the accident, which create a wide area for speculations. Eugene Miasnikov < > START Web Site editor, said, in an interview to Bergens Tidende, that existing facts suggest that the accident began in fact on Friday, August 11, when the submarine sank for some unidentified reasons; and explosions, detected in Norway the next day, became the finale of the tragedy ("Kursk" probably had an accident Friday, by Inge Sellevag, Bergens Tidende, August 23, 2000). Various versions of the accident are also discussed by experts:

• Those Who Alive Need To Know This! Submariners, who Survived the Accidents Speak, - in Russian, (by Sergei Ivanov, Sovetskaya Rossiya, August 25, 2000)
• An Attempt to Sink the Submarine Once More. Who Does Not Not Benefit by Telling the Truth About the "Kursk" Death?, - in Russian, (by Viktor Litovkin, Obschaya Gazeta, August 24, 2000)
• The Worst Did Not Happen. Our Fleet Did Not Respond. Though It Could, - in Russian, (by Vadim Chetverikov, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, August 23, 2000)
• There Is No Shortage In Versions, - in Russian, (by Vladimir Yermolin, Izvestiya, August 23, 2000)
• Who Rammed the "Kursk" Nuclear Submarine? - in Russian, (by Nickolay Cherkashin, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, August 22, 2000)
• Believing and Rescuing Until the Last Minute, (by Andrey Gavrilenko and Vladimir Gundarov, Krasnaya Zvezda, August 22, 2000)
• An interview with the Minister of Defense Marshal Sergeyev, - in Russian, "Vremya," Russian Public Television, August 21, 2000 (video)
• Vladimir Simonov: "Mobile Telephone" Would Not Help the Submariners, (by Vladimir Yermolin, Izvestiya, August 19, 2000)
• There Is Still A Hope, - in Russian, (by Valeri Aleksin, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, August 18, 2000) - an interview with Oleg Yerofeyev, former Commander of the Northern Fleet
• From the First Minutes "Kursk" Found Itself In A Disastrous Conditions, - in Russian, (by Tatyana Romanenkova, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, August 18, 2000) - an interview with Admiral Edward Baltin, former Commander of the Baltic Fleet
• Save Their Souls - in Russian, an opinion of Captain Second Rank, Kirill Bekasov

Eugene Miasnikov's version is also supported by the fact that the Norwegian research vessel "Marjata" which was present 15 nautical miles from the place "Kursk" went down observed a rescue operation taking place midday Saturday. See also the pictures taken by "Marjata" on Monday, August 14-th.

"Kursk" accident emphasizes the importance of limiting covert anti-submarine activity near submarine bases:

• Cold War Games, Dangerously Old, (by Joshua Handler, The Washington Post, Friday, August 25, 2000; Page A31)
• Atavism Of the Cold War, (Boris Usvyazov, Krasnaya Zvezda, August 23, 2000)

See also the special section on submarine collisions (via:  http://www.armscontrol.ru/start/ )

Preparations for salvage of "Kursk" is going to take years, and it will require participation of other countries as well. Officials and experts state that there is no danger for radiation pollution of the Barents Sea, however environmentalists already raise alarms:

• «Opposition on Barents», - in Russian, (by Stanislav Tarasov, Wek, August 25, 2000)
• For Now, Experts Discount Radiation Peril From Sub, (by Kenneth Chang, The New York Times, August 25, 2000)
• Will There Be A Nuclear Disaster? Is "Kursk" Going to Be an Underwater Chernobyl? - in Russian, (by Alexander Kondrashov, Argumenty i Fakty, August 23, 2000)
• Three Scenarios for Kursk Reactors, (by Nils Bohmer, Bellona press release, August 21, 2000)

Rescue operation of "Kursk" clearly demonstrated the fact that the search and rescue service of the Russian Navy did not have appropriate technical means. However, this was not surprise at all for experts. Attached articles give some retrospective and explain existing capabilities to rescue a submarine and its crew (all papers are in Russian).

• Underwater Rescue Vehicles Of the Soviet and Russian Navies, (by Yu. Samko, Typhoon, 3 (15) 1999)
• On Rescue Equipment of Submariners, (by N. Kuryanik, Morskoi Sbornik, April, 1998)
• "Peculiarities" of the National Ship-Raising, (by A. Loskutov, Morskoi Sbornik, December, 1999)
• Project 940 Rescue Submarine, (by A. Postnov, Morskoi Sbornik, August, 1997)
• "Lenok" - Rescuer Of Submarines, (by V. Gundarov, Krasnaya Zvezda, October 20, 1995)
• Dying Submarine, (by A. Gavrilenko, Krasnaya Zvezda, December 19, 1995)

The detailed updates on "Kursk" accident were published by Komsomol'skaya Pravda, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Izvestiya, Moskovskii Komsomolets, Novaya Gazeta and Russia Today. See also materials at the FAS and Center for Non-proliferation Studies web sites.

The accident with "Kursk" raises concerns about security of the Russian nuclear arsenal. President Vladimir Putin ordered higher pay on Friday for workers in Russia's struggling nuclear sector in his latest handout to the military since the Kursk submarine disaster.

• A Syndrome of Guilt. Kremlin confesses to the Russian nuclear workers, - in Russian, (by Larisa Kallioma, Izvestiya, August 26, 2000, p. 3)
• Putin ups Nuclear Sector Money After Sub Tragedy, (by Reuters, Russia Today, August 23, 2000)
• A Decree of the Russian Federation President of August 23, 2000, N 1563, on urgent measures for social support of specialists of the nuclear complex of the Russian Federation (in Russian)
• Russia's Insecurity Complex, (by Andrew Kuchins, The Washington Post, Monday, August 21, 2000; Page A21)

"Kursk" A Death Notice

The INES International Office, together with the German INES member organisation "Scientists' Initiative Responsibility for Peace and Sustainability," has released the following Death Notice to be published in the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung," one of the major German dailies:

We have not known each other Young seamen, officers, civilians of the Russian submarine Kursk. You and the relatives have our deepest sympathy. Also the disapproval of all lies holds us together.   There remains: Mourning - and to enable the truth to break through What is on board, have there been nuclear weapons? Why did any kind of help come so late?

(Please feel free to use this text for your own activities)

Article from NYTimes.com by Alla Yaroshinskaya

Entitled "A Putin Supporter Recants," INES Executive Committee member Alla Yaroshinskaya, previously a member of Boris Yeltsin's Presidential Council, has published an article in The New York Times on the Web on 24 August which provides her most recent view of Vladimir Putin.

To obtain the article, you can contact Alla Yaroshinskaya through: < >

USA: International exhibition of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation presents an international travelling exhibition from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Memorial Museums in Japan. This seminal event is being hosted in Santa Barbara by the Reynolds Gallery, Westmont College, 1-26 September this year.

The exhibit, "A Message of Peace," includes photographic panels and artifacts from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many other community-wide exhibits and events will be held concurrently throughout the month of September.

For programme details and a calendar of events, contact: < >

B. Nassar: The First TMD already Built by US in Israel (TMD = Theater Missile Defense)

Egyptian INESAP member Bahig Nassar, who also happens to serve as the coordinator of the Cairo-based Arab Coordination Center of NGOs, wrote this statement in response to an article disseminated by the "Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space."  Entitled "Sen. Biden Promotes TMD and Instability," this original article dealt with the particular position of US Senator Biden.

You can obtain these two articles from the WNII editor.

If you would like to contact Bahig Nassar: < >

The "Global Network &" can be contacted through: < >

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Abolition 2000 homepage: http://www.abolition2000.org  Grassroots News: http://www.napf.org/abolition2000/news/  

Research project about miniaturized nuclear weapons

The chairperson of the Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Commission, Arcata, California, USA, Michael W. Stowell, informs that he is beginning a research project about miniaturized nuclear weapons. It's not about the "mini-nuke" warheads that recently have come to light; he is interested in the "suitcase nukes" that have been and are being developed.

Please send him any articles or web addresses with pertinent information: < > http://www.arcatacityhall.org/nukefree/ 

NOTE in addition that the US-based "Proposition One Committee" is offering quite a few selected topical articles which appeared between December 1990 and January 2000. The corresponding URL reads:

http://prop1.org/2000/suitcase.htm  

Furthermore, you also could visit the Mini-Nuke Web Page of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), USA:

http://www.fcnl.org/issues/arm/minnukeindx.htm  

Draft Paper for the Anti-Nuclear National Convention in India

In the course of preparing for the Anti-Nuclear National Convention, to be held in New Delhi, 11-13 November this year, a Draft of Concept Paper entitled "A Nuclear Disarmament Movement in India" has been made public. While it should serve as a basis for discussion, the participating organisations and people are aware that there can be certain differences of perspective, or disputes over details, or disagreements over precise formulation, as Achin Vanaik on behalf of the National Convention Preparatory Committee points out.

More details on this National Convention, and the Draft Paper are available from the Movement in India for Nuclear Disarmament (MIND): < >

More on the Independent Commission on the Verifiability of the CTBT (see also: WNII 21/00)

The Independent Commission on the Verifiability of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) has now been formally established. At its website http://www.ctbtcommission.org 

You can find more details, including a list of the Commissioners, as well as further information about the work of the Commission whose secretariat is the London-based Verification Research, Training and Information Centre (VERTIC). The Commission Secretary is Dr Oliver Meier.

For further information contact: Ellen Peacock, Information Officer, VERTIC: < >

BRIEFINGS

International Ethics Survey for Scientists and Engineers

An international Web-based survey of scientists and engineers being conducted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and UNESCO's World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST). The survey seeks to identify the ethical issues that advances in science and technology are likely to raise in the 21st century. Whatever your discipline or stage of your career, your participation will help COMEST and AAAS develop programs and activities that address these issues.

The core of the survey consists of the following four questions:

• Briefly describe the ethical issues you believe your discipline faces because of emerging areas of research or technology.
• What advances in communication and information technologies do you believe will pose the greatest ethical challenges for scientists, engineers and society at large?
• If ethics were to be taught as part of the formal curriculum in your discipline, which issues would it be essential to cover?
• In your opinion, what specific actions could be taken to improve the ethics education and training of scientists and engineers?

Survey results will be reported later this year on the Next Wave Web site.
To complete the survey, please visit: http://www.nextwave.org  

Mark S. Frankel Director, AAAS Scientific Freedom, Responsibility and Law Program

CONFERENCES, MEETINGS, SEMINARS

Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones: Crucial Steps Towards a Nuclear Free World

• Date: 1-4 September 2000
• Venue: Uppsala, Sweden
• Organized by INESAP, Dag Hammerskjoeld Foundation, TNI, Gensuikin, Peace Depot
• Main speaker at the Opening and Keynote Presentation: The Vital Relevance of NWFZs: Jayantha Dhanapala, Undersecretary-General, United Nations
• Other main topics/speakers:
  • State of Play in Nuclear Weapons-States and Multilateral Negotiations (Rebecca Johnson)
  • New Norms. NAC, CTBT, Model Nuclear Weapons Abolition Convention etc. (Merav Datan)
  • Existing Zones: History, Relevance and Lessons, including legal aspects and verification (Jan Prawitz)
  • Central Asian NWFZ: Next in line? (Scott Parrish)
  • Transformation towards Disarmament and Doctrinal Change (Masa Takubo)
  • Verification Challenges (dismantling: Middle East, South Asia; withdrawal: Central Europe) (Martin Kalinowski)
  • Organisational Challenges (Enrique Román-Morey)
  • Northeast Asia The Political and Security Context: Nuclear Umbrella and TMD (Lee Sam-sung)
  • The Zone Proposal (Hiro Umebayashi)
  • South Asia. The Political and Security Context: the Short Fuse (Achin Vanaik)
  • The Zone Proposal (Abdul Nayyar)
  • Middle East. The Political and Security Context: the Relevance of all WMDs (Azmi Bishara)
  • The Zone Proposal (Fawzy Hammad)
  • Central Europe
  • The Political and Security Context: NATO Enlargement and Doctrinal Revision (Otfried Nassauer)
  • The Zone Proposal (Virginia Rosa)
• Group Discussions on Prospective Zones (Nature and set-up of the zones; existing initiatives as transitional demands; obstacles; lobbying, advocacy and campaigns; links to other movements such as trade unions, environment, health and other mass movements: relevant civil society initiatives; linking up with supportive/proactive governments; awareness raising and production/dissemination of information material)
• Drafting of Uppsala Declaration
• Parallel Workshops on Follow-up Activities

For more details, mailto:  

[Unfortunately, I got this conference information too late to be included in the last WNII issue; the ed.]

INES WEB AND E-MAIL SERVICE

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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