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

Editor: Tobias Damjanov, e-mail: 
WNII is archived at: http://inesglobal.org/archive.htm    
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 an "L"]

CONTENTS of WNII No. 3/2003

• Membership + Projects' News:
  • French version of the INES Appeal To Resist War
  • "The SEU TIMES" No 5 (39) – February 2003
  • "Hope in a Dark Time"
• The US Policy on Iraq (Special Section):
  • Global demonstrations against a possible war on Iraq on 15 February
  • US Senator Robert Byrd: Reckless Administration May Reap Disastrous Consequences
  • Iraq and the Failures of Democracy
  • Iran, Libya and Syria – next in a row? 
  • UNICEF material elaborating on the extreme vulnerability of children in Iraq
  • US 'virtual march' over Iraq 
  • New campaigning proposals
    • Impeach Bush et al
    • Consumers boycott of the US
  • Defending the Charter. The United Nations is not above the Law
  • Useful reference page: UN Arms Inspections in Iraq
• Special Section on the US Missile Defense Policy:
  • European Governments’ Official Positions on Missile Defence
• Nuclear Weapons:
  • USA moves forward towards new nuclear weapons generation
  • Global nuclear stockpiles, 1945-2002
  • This year's Abolition 2000 General Meeting
• Briefings:
  • US President Bush Releases National Strategy for Combating Terrorism
  • News from the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
• Conferences, Meetings, Seminars:
  • Europe in a World of Permanently Sustainable Peace
  • Building the Information Commonwealth: Information Technologies and Building Prospects for the Development of Civil Society Institutions in the CIS Countries
• INES Web- and Email Service

MEMBERSHIP AND PROJECTS' NEWS

French version of the INES Appeal To Resist War (see WNII 1/2003)

Thanks to French INES member Marc Ollivier, a French translation of the INES Appeal to the International Academic Community is now available. It was already distributed through INESNet. For those who are not subscribers to INESNet, this French version is available from the WNII Editor as an rtf-formatted email attachment.

"The SEU TIMES" No 5 (39) – February 2003

"The SEU TIMES" is the electronic newsletter of the "Socio-Ecological Union", one of the Russian INES member organsiations.

The February 18, 2003 edition is devoted to the International Sea Mammal Protection Day and carries the following:

• Internet for the Protection of Gray Whales: Write a Letter to President Putin – Save the Gray Whales
• Seal Slaughtery Impends to be resumed in Murmansk Region

NOTE in addition that Current Forest News from SEU Territory are now available at: http://www.forest.ru/eng/news 

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

"Hope in a Dark Time"

"Hope in a Dark Time. Reflections on Humanity's Future" is a new book edited by David Krieger. Forwarded by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the publication is an anthology featuring an extraordinary group of visionaries exploring their hopes for humanity amid perilous times. The book presents timely essays about the need to achieve peace and the future that can be ours if we commit ourselves to action. “This book,” writes David Krieger in his Introduction, “Is an invitation to hope and to action. It is an invitation to set aside the obstacles to action, to choose peace and to wage peace. It is an invitation to help shape humanity’s future.”

Among the visionaries included in the book are Queen Noor of Jordan, the Dalai Lama, Daisaku Ikeda, Sir Joseph Rotblat, Elise Boulding, Douglas Roche, Robert Muller, Joanna Macy, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Richard Falk, Frank K. Kelly, Gene Knudsen Hoffman, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Hafsat Abiola, Craig Kielburger and Georgianna Moore.

Copies of the book, which retails for US$17.95, may be ordered from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

THE US POLICY ON IRAQ 
(SPECIAL SECTION)

Global demonstrations against a possible war on Iraq on 15 February (Source: "Courrier de Genève", 17 February 03; posted by the International Peace Bureau)

At the weekend of 15-16 February, more than 10 million people marched against the war in some 600 cities. Here is a little glimpse of the main events recorded. The numbers are media estimates, either from police or organisers' figures. [Other sources came out with considerably higher estimates, at least for some of the marches listed above; the ed.]

• Rome: 2,5 million 
• London: 2 million 
• Barcelona: 1,3-1,5 million
• Madrid: 660 000-1,5 million
• New York: 500 000
• Berlin: 500 000 
• Valence: 200 000-500 000
• Sydney: 200 000-500 000 (sunday)
• Zaragoza: 200 000-400 000
• Seville: 100 000-250 000
• Paris: 100 000-300 000
• Melbourne: 200 000 (Friday)
• Damascus: 200 000
• Bilbao: 200 000
• Athens: 100 000-200 000 
• Oviedo: 100 000-200 000 
• Montreal: 100 000-150 000
• Dublin: 100 000
• Brussels: 40 000-100 000
• Lisbon: 80 000-100 000 
• Cadiz: 50 000-100 000
• Las Palmas: 30 000-100 000
• Amsterdam: 70 000-80 000 
• Toronto: 75 000-100 000
• Stockholm: 80 000
• Los Angeles: 30 000-80 000
• Glasgow: 60 000-80 000
• Valladolid: 50 000-70 000
• Oslo: 60 000
• Seattle: 50 000
• Montevideo: 50 000
• Stuttgart: 50 000
• Adelaide: 50 000 (Sunday)
• Brisbane: 50 000 (Sunday) 
• Thessaloniki: 40 000
• Copenhagen: 40 000
• Berne: 40 000

Between 10 000 and 30 000 demonstrators: 

• Gothenburg – Helsinki – Trondheim – Budapest – Belfast – Zagreb – Luxemburg – Vienna – Nice – Lyon – Toulouse – Marseille – Montpellier – Bordeaux – Gerona – Alicante – Castellon – Jaen – Irun – Elche – Tarragona - Buenos Aires – Rio de Janeiro - Sao Paulo – Mexico City – Kolkata – Johannesburg – Minneapolis - Vancouver - San Diego – Philadelphia – Edmonton – Bangkok – Beirut – Tokyo – Perth – Canberra – Newcastle - Auckland

It is worth noting that, in addition to these numbers, several marches were quite simply prohibited, like in Istanbul, where 5000 persons nevertheless gathered for a "mass press conference", or in Ceuta on the Spanish territory in Africa. More positively: we should mention the thousands of Jews and Muslims who marched together side by side in Israel.

See also the following web references:

• Guide to hundreds of Feb 15 demonstrations and links to organising groups: http://www.zmag.org/feb_15demos.htm 
• International Guide to antiwar websites, from "The Guardian", UK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/antiwar/subsection/0,12809,884056,00.html
• Photos of Feb 15th Demonstrations: http://people.cornellcollege.edu/a-free/feb15.htm
• Article about the media coverage: ZNet Commentary of 21 February: http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2003-02/21sargent.cfm

US Senator Robert Byrd: Reckless Administration May Reap Disastrous Consequences

INES Deputy Chair Dr. David Krieger draws attention to a Senate Floor Speech (12 February 2003) by Senator Robert Byrd who criticized the silence and passivity of the US Senate, the "dismal" record of the Bush administration, and examines the serious consequences of a US-led war against Iraq. "Frankly," said Senator Byrd, "many of the pronouncements made by this Administration are outrageous. There is no other word." To David Krieger, Senator Byrd's speech supports the view of Nelson Mandela, who recently described Bush as "a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly...."

The speech is available from the WNII Editor as an rtf-formatted email attachment.

Iraq and the Failures of Democracy

This is the title of an article written by Richard Falk, chair of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, and David Krieger, president of the same organisation and INES Deputy Chair. It is either available from the WNII Editor as an rtf-formatted email attachment or from David Krieger via < >

Iran, Libya and Syria – next in a row? (Source: Ha'aretz (Israeli daily), 19 February 03)

On 18 February, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was quoted as saying that Iran, Libya and Syria should be stripped of weapons of mass destruction after Iraq. "These are irresponsible states, which must be disarmed of weapons mass destruction, and a successful American move in Iraq as a model will make that easier to achieve," Sharon said to a visiting delegation of American congressmen.

In a meeting with U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton, in charge with arms control and international security, Sharon said that Israel was concerned about the security threat posed by Iran, and stressed that it was important to deal with Iran even while American attention was focused on Iraq. Bolton said in meetings with Israeli officials that he had no doubt America would attack Iraq, and that it would be necessary thereafter to deal with threats from Syria, Iran and North Korea. Bolton also said Syria would get a chance to prove it was behaving in a way worthy of the international community and that dealing with North Korea had not been pushed aside, but postponed.

UNICEF material elaborating on the extreme vulnerability of children in Iraq (Source: Posting of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq, UK, 17 February 03)

• UNICEF, "Donor Update", 14 January 2003: http://www.unicef.org/emerg/Country/Iraq/030114.pdf
• UNICEF, "Nutritional Status Under-5s in South/Centre Iraq", 21 November 2002: http://www.unicef.org/media/publications/malnutritionnov2002.doc
• UNICEF, press release, "Malnutrition down by half among Iraqi children", 21 November 2002: http://www.unicef.org/newsline/02pr63iraq.htm 

 "No War on Iraq!" Action Guide

The International Peace Bureau has compiled this international action guide which contains "plans, ideas, contacts, websites" on nine pages (print version). The unique assistance - easy to copy and distribute – follows the questions What shall we do now? What is already planned? You will find here a survey of upcoming anti-war actions: including key dates in March and some of the many dimensions of our very diverse movement.

The Guide is available at: http://www.ipb.org or from the WNII Editor as an rtf-formatted email attachment.

US 'virtual march' over Iraq (Source: BBC, 26 February 03; posted by the International Peace Bureau)

On 26 February, thousands of anti-war activists have been bombarding the White House and senators with phone calls and e-mails in a virtual protest over the Iraq crisis. Backed by a number of celebrities, volunteers jammed switchboards in Washington DC in an effort to force US politicians to think again over the prospect of war in the Gulf.

Organisers online democracy group MoveOn say more than 250,000 people signed up to take part in the protest and that many more joined in during the day.

As well as organising the virtual march, MoveOn has paid for a US television advert suggesting that the end result of war in Iraq could be nuclear war.

New campaigning proposals 

Impeach Bush et al

The International Peace Bureau informs that former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark has set up a website with a petition addressed to U.S. congressmen asking them to vote for the impeachment of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and John Ashcroft: http://www.votetoimpeach.org 

Consumers boycott of the US

Belgian "For Mother Earth" member Pol D'Huyvetter has raised this idea. In a message dated 21 February, he writes, among other things: "As we all know the US is using an amazing amount of economic pressure to get a green light for a war on Iraq (cfr. billions US dollars for Turkey and economical threats for France, Belgium, Germany). We all know this is a very effective tool to get dissidents to line up.

"Shouldn't the global peace movement mobilise for a consumers boycott of the US? By buying US products and services we do also finance the US war economy. Today we have the advantage that many millions might pick up such a call immediately.

"I believe we should in the first place boycott - US oil products - stop traveling to US by plane (…) "Through such a boycott we should call US citizens to rise up and mobilise against their government war policies which are going against the world opinion which wants a peaceful solution of the Iraqi crisis. And we should also ask US citizens to demand immediate disarmament of all US weapons of mass destruction (…)

"Any feedback is welcome.

"I also agree that we need to make people aware of the economical interests of i.e. France in the Middle East. We all know that Chirac's position is not given in by noble intentions or pacifism. (…)"

Pol D'Huyvetter < >

Meanwhile, a corresponding website has been established which contains a call for boycott and a list of products: http://www.motherearth.org/USboycott/ 

Defending the Charter. The United Nations is not above the Law

The UK-based Institute for Law and Peace has just produced a dossier under the above title. This is a collection of papers on the legality of actions by the United Nations, principally the Security Council, and the principles that should govern those actions.

The dossier is available at:  http://www.war.inquiry.freeuk.com/ 

Useful reference page: UN Arms Inspections in Iraq

http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocusRel.asp?infocusID=50&Body=Iraq&Body1=inspect 

(Thanks to the Australian IPPNW branch which made this reference public.)

SPECIAL SECTION ON THE US MISSILE DEFENSE POLICY

European Governments’ Official Positions on Missile Defence

This is the title of a BASIC paper (Occasional Papers on International Security Policy, No 42, February 2003) which you can find at: http://www.basicint.org/pubs/Papers/BP42.htm 

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

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

USA moves forward towards new nuclear weapons generation (Sources: Oakland Tribune + San Francisco Chronicle, 15 February 03)

Policymakers in the Department of Defense, the armed services and the nuclear weapons design labs are moving forward rapidly in planning for the possible production of a new generation of smaller nuclear bombs and a resumption of nuclear testing, a leaked Bush administration document shows.

In talks at the Pentagon last month, federal defense executives and weapons scientists set the stage for a debate over "selecting first 'small builds'," or choosing tailor-made weapons for limited production runs.

"What's clear is, in this administration, the brakes are off in nuclear development and the push for nuclear testing," said Greg Mello, head of the Los Alamos Study Group (*), an arms-control group in New Mexico that obtained minutes to a meeting on 10 January of top nuclear-weapons advisers titled "Stockpile Stewardship Conference Planning Meeting Minutes." The internal memo outlines the planning for a conference tentatively scheduled for "the week of August 4" -- i.e. the week including the anniversary of Hiroshima -- at which panels of experts would address questions relating to how the country would design new types of nuclear weapons and possibly test them. The conference would also address questions about how the new nuclear policies would be sold to the public and to political leaders.

The revelations are the latest herald of a potential sea change in U.S. nuclear policy:

- On 13 February, House Republicans touted an aggressive new nuclear-weapons policy calling for scientists at Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos labs to begin studying "advanced concepts" for new weapons for the first time since 1994. GOP lawmakers say they also are thinking of repealing a 1993 ban on research into low-yield nuclear weapons, or those with an explosive yield at or below a third of the Hiroshima bomb.

- President Bush's new budget asks for $21 million for design of new or modified nuclear weapons in 2004 which includes $15 million for scientists at Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos national labs to compete for design of a "bunker-buster" bomb called the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator for attacking deeply buried, hardened concrete bunkers. The president also is asking for $6 million for "additional and exploratory studies" of advanced weapons designs.

- White House pronouncements since September lay out a new defense policy giving greater prominence to pre-emptive strikes on foreign weapons of mass destruction. Pentagon war planners already are drawing up contingency plans for a nuclear strike in Iraq, to pre-empt or retaliate for a chemical or biological attack, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

- Nuclear Weapons Council Chairman and Assistant Defense Secretary E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr. asked weapons scientists in October "to assess the potential benefits that could be obtained from a return to nuclear testing." Meanwhile, Assistant Defense Secretary for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Weapons Dale Klein has said the nation will have to test within five to 10 years.

Greg Mello finds especially disturbing a portion of the document in which top defense executives and weaponeers ask themselves "what should the policy and practice be for granting authority to adapt and build small quantities?"

Traditionally, only the president may authorize the production of a nuclear weapon. The conversation to Mello suggests lax oversight and control of the nation's key nuclear weapons agencies at the Defense and Energy departments. "That you would even talk about that would suggest the democratic governance of these institutions is already very, very weak. Every member of Congress should sit up and take notice that we are losing congressional oversight of the nuclear weapons program of the United States."

(*)The original documents are at the homepage of the Los Alamos Study Group: http://www.lasg.org 

See also a new page on the Western States Legal Foundation web site which has links to other U.S. government documents concerning efforts to develop nuclear weapons with new capabilities, and related research on nuclear weapons effects: http://www.wslfweb.org/nukes/ssmeetexc.htm 

INES member Alice Slater, USA, informs that the Independent Media Center in New York City has put together a poster map of the US showing nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons sites on it (along with lots of other information): http://nyc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=43796&group=webcast 

Global nuclear stockpiles, 1945-2002

This is a timely article in "The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists", Vol. 58, November/December 2002, "Nuclear Notebook" section. You can find it at: http://www.thebulletin.org/issues/nukenotes/nd02nukenote.html 

This year's Abolition 2000 General Meeting

It is planned to have the Abolition 2000 General Meeting on May 3, 2003 in Geneva during the NPT PrepCom.

For further details, please contact Maryna Harrison, Outreach and Development Coordinator, Abolition 2000: < >

BRIEFINGS

US President Bush Releases National Strategy for Combating Terrorism

(Source: The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, 14 February 03)

On 14 February, US President Bush announced the issuing of the National Strategy for Combating Terrorism. According to Bush, "This strategy outlines the effort our nation is making to win the war against global terror. The strategy complements important elements of the National Security Strategy, as well as our National Strategies for: Homeland Security, to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Secure Cyberspace, for the Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets, and the National Drug Control Strategy."

The National Strategy for Combating Terrorism can be found at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/02/counter_terrorism/counter_terrorism_strategy.pdf 

News from the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)

• UNIDIR has established a new website: http://www.unidir.org  
• UNIDIR disarmament forum/2002; Children and Security" is the main theme of last year's third disarmament forum issue. It contains the following contributions: 
  • Protecting children in armed conflict: from commitment to compliance (Anatole Ayissi) 
  • Child soldiers, displacement and human security (Lisa Alfredson) 
  • Juvenile justice, counter-terrorism and children (Rachel Brett) 
  • The impact of conflict on children – the role of small arms (Julia Fredson) 
  • Education for children during armed conflicts and post-conflict reconstruction (Isabelle Roger) 
  • Selected On-line Resources [a very helpful compilation of different websites related to children and security; th.ed.]
• UNIDIR "disarmament forum" four/2002  The last issue of last year is dealing with "The CWC Review Conference" containing the following:
  • The first CWC Review Conference: taking stock and paving the way ahead (Alexander Kelle) 
  • Evaluating the CWC verification system (Daniel Feakes) 
  • The Chemical Weapons Convention and universality: A question of quality over quantity? (Jean Pascal Zanders) 
  • Scientific and technological change and the future of the CWC: the problem of non-lethal weapons (Malcolm Dando)
  • Organizational culture of the OPWC Secretariat (Maurizio Barbeschi) 
  • Tactical nuclear weapons in South Asia: the need to disavow development and deployment (Gaurav Rajen) 
  • Selected Online Resources
• UNIDIR project on Tactical Nuclear Weapons (TNWs)
  To support efforts to address and curb the problem of TNWs, UNIDIR has launched a long-term project that includes a series of seminars and publications as well as attempts to raise the problem of TNWs in the eyes of the wider public through the international media. Various aspects of this project are carried out in cooperation with the Monterey Institute of International Studies and the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt.  For more information, please contact Nicolas Gérard, Programme Manager:  
Selected UNIDIR publications Orders can be made via the UN Publications Sales and Marketing Section: in Geneva: < > or in New York: < >
• "Coming to Terms with Security: A Lexicon for Arms Control, Disarmament and Confidence-Building"; by Steve Tulliu and Thomas Schmalberger [ISBN 92-9045-135-1; Sales number GV.E.00.0.12]
• "Tactical Nuclear Weapons: Options for Control"; by Harald Müller, Annette Schaper, William C. Potter and Nikolai Sokov [Sales number GV.E.00.0.21]
• "Tactical Nuclear Weapons: A Perspective from Ukraine"; by A. Shevtsov, A. Yizhak, A. Gavrish and A. Chumakov
• "Peacekeeping in Africa: Capabilities und Culpabilities"; by Eric Berman and Katie Sams [ISBN 92-9045-133-5; Sales number GV.E.00.0.4] 
• "Small Arms Control: Old Weapons, New Issues" by Jayantha Dhanapala, Mitsuro Donowaki, Swadesh Rana and Lora Lumpe (Editors) [UNIDIR/Ashgate publication; ISBN 0-7546-2076-X] 
• "Fissile Material Stocks: Characteristics, Measures and Policy Options"; by William Walker and Frans Berkhout [ISBN 92-9045-131-9; Sales number GV.E.99.0.15] 
• "Sensors for Peace"; by Jürgen Altmann, Horst Fischer and Henny J. van der Graaf (Editors) [ISBN 92-9045-130-0; Sales number GV.E.98.0.28] 
• "Non-Offensive Defence in the Middle East?"; by Bjørn Møller, Gustav Däniker, Shmuel Limone and Ioannis A. Stivachtis [ISBN 92-9045-129-7; Sales number GV.E.98.0.27]

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CONFERENCES, MEETINGS, SEMINARS

• Date: 22-23 March 2003 
• Venue: Prague, Czech Republic 
• Organized by Ceská Mírová Spolecnost (Czech Peace Society)

Dear friends of peace, It is a sad reality that many thousands of innocent citizens are being killed in wars and thus robbed of their fundamental human right - right to life. The cruelty of wars has been stepped up continuously. In the past it was men in uniforms who were dieing in wars and killed civilians were an exception. At present it is the innocent civilians, including women and children, who are dieing and killed soldiers have become an exception. In the past always part of the human society survived. Now for the first time in the history of mankind real danger exists that when existing weapons of mass destruction used, human society shall not survive. The need to survive concerns us all. We are living now in a situation of militarization of politics by one world power resulting in alarming extent of threat of wars. This nonhuman direction of development has to be stopped. The alternative is "Europe in a World of Permanently Sustainable Peace".

• Focal points: 
  • I. What are the causes of the present situation ?
  • II. How Europe of permanently sustainable peace should look like ? 
    • 1. In field of economy - 
    • 2. In field of ecology - 
    • 3. In political field - 
    • 4. In social field - 
    • 5. In field of education - 
    • 6. In field of health care - 
    • 7. In field of culture -
    • 8. In field of information - 
    • 9. In military field - 
    • 10. In international relations 
  • III. How to establish Europe of permanently sustainable peace ?
• Discussion groups: 
  • Group 1: Economy and ecology fields 
  • Group 2: Political, social and health care fields 
  • Group 3: Culture, education and information fields 
  • Group 4: International relations and military fields

For more details, mailto:  

Building the Information Commonwealth: Information Technologies and Building Prospects for the Development of Civil Society Institutions in the CIS Countries http://www.communities.org.ru/conference 

• Date: 22-24 April 2003 
• Venue: St. Petersburg, Russia 
• Organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States (IPA), the Institute of Research on Problems of Nonprofits in the Newly Independent States (IRPN), and the Centre of Community Networking and Informational Policy Studies (CCNS)
• Themes of the Conference
   The Conference will be organized with an alternation of plenary sessions and panels following 12 main directions: 
  • Civil society and information society in the CIS countries: identifying the problem area 
  • e-governance and participation of local citizens in the decision-making at the local, regional and national levels 
  • local communities in the CIS countries: typology, myths and realities 
  • new information infrastructure at local level: creation and ownership of Community Information 
  • participation of the countries of the region in international projects and programs directed towards ICT usage for the development of the civil sector 
  • using ICTs for not-for-profit and civil society purposes in the CIS countries 
  • connectivity and software 
  • civil society/communities and digital economies 
  • Social, Psychological and Cultural Barriers to access
  • model legislation concerning information policy for the CIS countries and national programs 
  • formation of the information society in the CIS and problems of Global Security 
  • how do ICTs influence local, national, and regional development?

For more details, please contact the Organizing Committee: < >

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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