|
WHAT'S NEW IN INES? |
||||
|
No.49/2001 |
Dateline: December 15, 2001 |
|||
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. 49/2001
MEMBERSHIP AND PROJECTS' NEWS
Nobel Peace Laureates Centennial Appeal (from the International Peace Bureau; note that two of the Appeal signatures – the IPB and Joseph Rotblat – are linked to INES)
We, the undersigned Nobel Peace Laureates gathered for the centennial of the Nobel Prizes, express our joy at this year's award to the United Nations and its Secretary General, Kofi Annan.
We hope that our message of peace and justice will reach the hearts and minds of those in and out of government who have the power to make a better world.
We look forward to a world in which we the peoples, working in cooperation with governments, with full respect for international law, will enable the UN to fulfill its mission to save this and succeeding generations from the scourge of war.
We call for the prompt establishment of the International Criminal Court and full implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including economic, social, and cultural as well as civil and political rights.
We offer our support for the unrelenting, patient, and non-violent pursuit of peace wherever conflicts may rage today or tomorrow, such as the Middle East, Colombia, or the Great Lakes of Africa.
We commit ourselves to work for the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction and the reduction and control of small arms and other conventional weapons.
We call on the human family to address the root causes of violence and build a culture of peace and hope. We know that another world is possible, a world of justice and peace. Together we can make it a reality.
Oslo, December 10, 2001
Signed by:
SPECIAL SECTION ON US MISSILE DEFENCE POLICY
U.S. Withdraws From ABM Treaty
Due to the significant importance of the issue, I have decided to publish here in full an Associated Press article of 13 December 2001. The Editor
WASHINGTON (AP) - In a historic break with Russia, President Bush served formal notice Thursday that the United States is withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, a move effective in six months.
„I have concluded the ABM treaty hinders our government's ability to develop ways to protect our people from future terrorist or rogue-state missile attacks,“ Bush said.
„Defending the American people is my highest priority as commander in chief and I cannot and will not allow the United States to remain in a treaty that prevents us from developing effective defenses,“ Bush said.
Bush emerged from a meeting with his National Security Council to make the announcement in the Rose Garden, with Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice at his side.
„The Cold War is long gone,“ Bush said. „Today we leave behind one of its last vestiges. But this is not a day for looking back. This is a day for looking forward with hope of greater prosperity and peace.
„We're moving to replace mutually assured destruction with mutual cooperation,“ Bush said.
Bush said he and his top advisers, before making the decision public, had gone over the same issues he had discussed with the Russian president - „my friend President Vladimir Putin,“ Bush called him - over several meetings this year.
„President Putin and I have also agreed that my decision to withdraw from the treaty will not in any way undermine our new relationship or Russian security,“ Bush said.
The U.S. ambassador to Moscow delivered formal notice of Bush's decision to Russian officials at 4:30 a.m. EST, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The brief legal document invokes Article 15 of the 29-year-old treaty to give Russia six months' notice of Bush's intentions. The official said Bush has, in effect, pulled out of the treaty with the notification, though the United States cannot conduct missile tests barred by the treaty for six months.
At 9 a.m. EST, formal notice was given to Ukraine, Kazakstan and Belarus, former Soviet states that signed memoranda of understanding tying them to the pact under the Clinton administration.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said the decision was regrettable because it undermined global strategic balances - but he was not concerned about Russia's security.
„Russia can be unconcerned with its defense systems,“ said Kasyanov, who was in Brazil for a two-day visit. „Maybe other nations should be concerned if the United States chooses to abandon the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.“
Bush, who campaigned last year on building the kind of missile defense shield banned by the treaty, said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks made his cause more urgent.
„Today, the events of Sept. 11 made all too clear the greatest threats to both our countries come not from each other or other big powers in the world but from terrorist attacks who strike without warning or rogue states who seek weapons of mass destruction,“ Bush said.
The president emphasized his appreciation of Russia's help in the U.S.-led war on terrorism and he reiterated his pledge to reduce America's nuclear arsenal, a commitment Putin had sought and won when the two presidents met last month in Washington.
Putin cautioned last winter that jettisoning the treaty could lead to the unraveling of three decades of arms control accords. China has warned a new arms race could ensue.
But according to Bush administration officials, Putin assured Bush during their October talks in Washington and Crawford, Texas, that U.S.-Russian relations would not suffer even if Bush pulled out of the treaty.
Bush tried to strike a deal with Putin that would allow the United States to move to a new phase of testing in the U.S. missile defense program. Putin had sought authority to sign off on U.S. missile tests, but the request was rejected, administration officials said.
The next scheduled step is the beginning of construction next spring of silos and a testing command center near Fairbanks, Alaska.
The Bush administration intends to cooperate with Russia at least to the extent of informing Moscow of steps being taken to advance the missile-shield program.
That's not likely to stop Russia from taking retaliatory steps. A senior Russian lawmaker predicted Russia will pull out of the Start I and Start II arms reduction treaties.
„We believe that offensive and defensive tools of nuclear deterrence must be linked,“ said Dmitry Rogozin, chairman of the Duma's international affairs committee, according to Interfax news agency.
Such a spiral of withdrawals would be dangerous - and predictable, said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
„Unilateral withdrawal will likely lead to an action-reaction cycle in offensive and defensive technologies, including countermeasures,“ he said. „That kind of arms race would not make us more secure.“
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also said quitting the treaty could lead to a new arms race.
„About eight months ago they were taking about weaponizing space,“ Biden said Wednesday. „God help us when that moment comes.“
Bush has condemned the treaty as an impediment to mounting a U.S. defense against missile attack now that the Cold War is over. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has been deferring tests that might violate the treaty.
The treaty, negotiated during Cold War tensions between the United States and the old Soviet Union, prohibits the development, testing and deployment of strategic missile defense systems and components that are based in the air, at sea or in space.
It is based on the proposition that stripping a nuclear power of a tough missile defense would inhibit it from launching an attack because the retaliation would be deadly.
Moving Beyond Missile Defense: Website Update http://www.mbmd.org
(From Carah Lynn Ong, Director of Research and Publications, The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation)
The MBMD website has been updated to include the conclusions of the Shanghai workshop. There is also a new section entitled "In the News..." (*) with information and articles relevant to missile defense news. I added statements and responses from the US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to email me.
(*) http://www.mbmd.org/Inthenews/index.html
Carah Lynn Ong < >
2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development: Global Conference on Oceans and Coasts at Rio+10
The Global Conference on Oceans and Coasts at Rio+10: Toward the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg took place from 3-7 December 2001 at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The Conference, which was originally initiated by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), was co-organized by UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and the University of Delaware's Center for the Study of Marine Policy (CSMP), with the support of numerous international and national organizations with an interest in oceans. The Conference was attended by more than 400 participants from over 60 countries, including 13 ministers and vice-ministers and ocean experts from governments, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), NGOs, academic and scientific institutions, and industry.
Conference participants sought to: provide an overall assessment of progress achieved on oceans and coasts in the ten years since the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED); identify new and continuing challenges; examine cross-cutting issues among various ocean and coastal sectors; consider options for concerted action on outstanding cross-sectoral issues; and provide recommendations for the oceans and coasts agenda of the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
A comprehensive Summary Report of this Conference has been published in "Sustainable Developments" (Vol. 68 No. 01, 10 December 01), a publication of the International Institute for Sustainable Development which is available from the WNII Editor as an rtf-formatted email attachment. Alternately, a conference coverage is available at:
http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/sd/ocrio+10/
Also NOTE: Seventh International Coastal Symposium -- Date: 25-29 March 2002 -- Venue: Templepatrick, Northern Ireland
This multi-disciplinary event will seek to promote discussion among scientists, engineers and managers on the latest advances in scientific understanding and engineering, and on environmental issues related to coastal processes.
For more details, contact: < > http://www.science.ulst.ac.uk/ics2002/
CONFERENCES, MEETINGS, SEMINARS
Third World Water Forum http://www.worldwaterforum.org
The Forum will provide an opportunity for technical and regional organizations and major stakeholders that are actively involved with water problems to present their perspectives.
For more details, contact: < >
Update: ISODARCO 2002 Summer Course "Cyberwar, Netwar and the Revolution in Military Affairs - Real Threats and Virtual Myths"
Purpose of the Course:
This will be the second time an ISODARCO summer course will focus on information technologies and their relation to war and international relations.
A course on "Computers, Networks and Prospects for European and World Security" was held in 1999. The 2002 course will be less broad in scope than the first one and, in particular, it will be focused on Cyberwar (CW), Netwar (NW), the current Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) and related issues.
Even though there are no unique definitions for CW, NW and RMA yet, a lively discussion on their nature, the threats they bring, the possible counter-measures to be undertaken by nation states, as well as other organizations, is taking place in political and military circles as well as academia.
Issues of major importance in such a discussion are: the relation between computers and regional defense; the threat of "cyberterrorism" as well as "cyberwar"; new forms of group organization like "networks" and how information technology supports them; the impact of information technology developments on military doctrine and organization of military forces.
Without any doubt, some of the above issues are connected to real threats, but the dimension of such threats is far from being fully assessed and understood. Thus, as it often happens when new scenarios are elaborated, a proliferation of myths related to CW, NW and RMA is also taking place; and it brings with it a possible real threat of widespread global surveillance. Ironically enough, information technology is itself supporting also such a proliferation by providing a "virtual space" where a great deal of the ongoing discussion on the above issues is taking place.
For more details, visit: http://www.roma2.infn.it/isodarco/trento02.html
No new or changed email or web addresses in this issue. All INES e-mail addresses and homepages are available upon request from:
< < < < < end of No. 49/2001 what's new in ines < < < < <