This is the weekly electronic information service of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility

Editor: Tobias Damjanov, e-mail:   
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 a "L"]

CONTENTS of WNII No. 25/2001

• Membership and Projects' News:
  • UK: Open Science Proposal
  • "The SEU TIMES" No 4 (19) - June 2001
• Special Section: On the US Missile Defence Policy
  • USA: Democrats Criticize Missile Defense
  • New Asian Forum Against U.S. Defense Plan
• Nuclear Weapons:
  • Middle Powers Initiative (MPI): New webpage
• Sustainable Development:
  • 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development: Regional preparations
• Conferences, Meetings, Seminars:
  • Dangers, Doctrines and Deterrence: The challenges of missile defense, militarization of space and nuclear disarmament
  • Conference to launch the European Network for Peace and Human Rights
• INES Web- and Email Service

MEMBERSHIP AND PROJECTS' NEWS"

UK: Open Science Proposal From: Alan Cottey, Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) UK < >

Open Science: the case for doing some scientific projects in a radically open manner, supported by an Open Science Protocol. Open Science is a programme of ideas being developed by Alan Cottey and SGR colleagues. A recently updated report may be seen at: http://www.sgr.org.uk/OS.html  

Summary

The Open Science Proposal is that it would be useful for the scientific community to have a widely recognised Protocol of Openness, applying to individual scientific projects. Only a small fraction of all scientific projects would be done according to the required standard of radical openness, but those projects could claim a 'gold standard' of openness. Such projects would permit detailed scrutiny and criticism, and so furnish an efficient route to socially established reliable knowledge. Not all science is open, or even nearly open, nor is there any prospect of this. Four levels of openness are identified. If these four levels were borne in mind, controversial truth claims in science could be debated with more light and less heat.

"The SEU TIMES" No 4 (19) - June 2001

"The SEU TIMES" is the electronic newsletter of the "Socio-Ecological Union", one of the Russian INES member organsiations. The latest edition has the following contents:

• Russia sold on nuclear market
• Wetlands under attack
• Environmental Policy the Russian Government way See: "The Main Orientations of the Russian Federation Government Socio-Economical Policy in the Long-Term Perspective": http://www.economy.gov.ru/program/soderzanie.html
• Dark future for green media?

Editor: Sviatoslav Zabelin < > Previous issues of "The SEU Times" may be found at "The Online Gadfly": http://www.igc.org/gadfly 

SPECIAL SECTION
ON THE US MISSILE DEFENCE POLICY

USA: Democrats Criticize Missile Defense [Source: Nuclear Policy Project Flash, Volume 3, Number 24, June 18, 2001]

Seven Democrats from the US House of Representatives joined several anti-missile defense activist groups at a news conference to oppose Bush's proposal as ineffective, too expensive and a threat to national security. While lawmakers often mute their criticisms of a president when he is abroad, they hoped to influence the US allies Bush is trying to convince to support the anti-missile system development.

New Asian Forum Against U.S. Defense Plan (Source: Associated Press, 15 June 2001) http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010615/wl/china_shanghai_summit_8.html  

At the inauguration of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a new six-nation Asian forum, defense ministers of China, Russia and four Central Asian republics criticized U.S. missile-defense plans Friday as harmful to world security.

The group will foster "world multi-polarization, " said Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Kyrgyzstan President Askar Akayev said it would nurture the "establishment of a fair and reasonable international order." Other members of the group are Uzbekistan, Kazakstan and Tajikistan. It replaces the Shanghai Five, a forum created in 1996 to resolve border disputes and fight rising Islamic militancy.

The defense ministers singled out Washington for criticism, saying its proposed missile defense would have a "negative impact on world security," according to Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Deguang. Zhang said the new group was not a military alliance aimed at the United States. He also stated that the governments want stability and security in Central Asia, but not by "seeking military confrontation or establishing a military alliance, which was a feature of the Cold War era."

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

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

Middle Powers Initiative (MPI): New webpage

This is to inform you that the Middle Powers Initiative (MPI) has launched a new webpage: http://www.middlepowers.org  

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development: Regional preparations

• Asia Region - The subregional prepcom for Northeast Asia will be held at Beijing, PR China, from 25-27 July 2001. Inquiries on this particular sub-regional prepcom and other regional activities in Asia should be directed to Mr. Surendra Shresta, Director, UNEP Regional Resource Center for Asia Pacific: < >
• Europe and North American Regional Roundtable report - In the course of regional preparations for the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, a Europe and North American Regional Roundtable was held in Vail, Colorado/USA, from 6-8 June 2001.  Among other things, the meeting highlighted the following:
  • making sustainable development understandable and meaningful to the public
  • involving civil society at the Summit and during its preparatory process
  • including civil society, business, local authorities, trade unions, indigenous people and other stakeholders as genuine partners
  • developing a worldwide marketing plan to mobilize citizens' support for global change and to promote awareness of the Johannesburg Summit. The report of this Roundatable is available online at: http://www.johannesburgsummit.org   [follow the links for "regional preparations"] or from the WNII Editor as an rtf-formatted email attachment.  Also NOTE the following web site which contains useful information on the Regional prepcom including contacts for further inquiries by NGOs and other Major groups: http://www.unece.org/env/rio+10/welcome.html  
• Latin America and the Caribbean Region - The following two individuals have been identified as NGO focal points in ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) and UNEP Regional Office:
  • NGO Focal Point in ECLAC: Mr. Gerardo Mendoza < >
  • NGO Focal Point in UNEP Regional Office in Mexico: Ms. Myriam Urzua < >

CONFERENCES, MEETINGS, SEMINARS

Dangers, Doctrines and Deterrence: The challenges of missile defense, militarization of space and nuclear disarmament

• Date: 15-16 November 2001
• Venue: Geneva, Switzerland
• Organized by the NGO Committee for Disarmament
• Audience: NGOs, diplomats, researchers, journalists
• Draft Programme: Note: The state of play in the Conference on Disarmament and the General Assembly will be addressed in all sessions.
  • Thursday Nov 15: (1) Opening presentation(s): A global overview of the challenges facing the disarmament community (2) NPT: looking back to the 2000 commitments and forward to the 2002 PrepComm
  • Friday Nov 16 (3) Missile defense and outer space: the scope of the problems (4) Missile defense and outer space: the diplomatic chessgame (5) Civil society responses - the path ahead; ways to influence the international debate.
• The conference will be followed on the Saturday by a business meeting of the NGO Committee for Disarmament.
• More details will be published in the next few months.

For more details, contact Colin Archer, Secretary, NGO Committee for Disarmament: < >

Conference to launch the European Network for Peace and Human Rights

• Date: 31 January 1 February 2002
• Venue: Brussels (European Parliament), Belgium
• Organized by the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation
• The organizer has prepared a short paper about the issues and questions for the Conference agenda, in an effort to summarise the suggestions received. It is available from the WNII Editor as an rtf-formatted email attachment. Further suggestions and proposals for the Conference are most welcome. Please feel free to send them in, together with any paper, or proposals for a paper, which you wish to submit for consideration at the Conference when it meets.
• All relevant documentation appears at: http://www.russfound.org 

For more details, mailto:  

INES WEB AND E-MAIL SERVICE

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