Subject: NucNews 99/10/20 Briefs Story-Date: 05:32 p.m. PST Wednesday, October 20, 1999 Sender: owner-nukenet@envirolink.org X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.2.07 -- ListProc(tm) by CREN Please address replies to articles to the original publisher. Please send NucNews copies? Refuting false information appreciated! ------------------------------------------------ 1) U.S.-CTBT 2) US-DOE 3) P.R.-Vieques 4) U.S- Nuke Plants-Paducah 5) North Korea 6) Pakistan 7) Chechnya 8) Bin-Ladin 9) Gulf War-Syndrome 10) Japan [Editor's Note: All articles/links are from Oct 19 1999 unless otherwise noted. We are resuming our newsletter with 2 new enthusiastic volunteers. In the subsequent issues there may be some format variations as our staff explores various production techniques (a.k.a. learning from mistakes). Feedback is welcomed. We want the newsletter to be a valuable asset for our readers. Let us know what you like and what you don't like (we have thick enough skins to withstand most barbs) and we will do our very best to incorporate your suggestions. We can be reached at: (NucNews) prop1@prop1.org. Place "NucNews" in the subject line when writing or forwarding articles. As always we appreciate readers sending us articles to be printed/linked in the newsletter. Articles collected and processed by Guin and Todd NucNews volunteers who'll appreciate your positive comments. et] 1) US-CTBT Neither Isolationists Nor Fools By RICHARD PERLE http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/oped/19perl.html Isolationism" and "partisanship" were the names reckless and "dangerous" the characterizations with which a stunned Clinton Administration and much of the press greeted the Senate's rejection last week of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Albright: US Will Honor Nuke Treaty By William C. Mann Associated Press Writer http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991018/aponline013847_000.htm The Senate's rejection of a treaty to ban nuclear testing has "hurt us internationally" and cost the United States its leadership in the movement to stop nuclear proliferation Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says. Fumble on the Test Ban Treaty By Richard Burt http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-10/18/012l-101899-idx.html The rejection of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is indeed a debacle for American foreign policy but the blame lies with the Clinton administration rather than with the Republican-led Senate. When 62 Senators Aren't Enough By E. J. Dionne Jr. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-10/19/013l-101999-idx.html The dispiriting thing about the Senate's rejection of the nuclear test ban treaty on Thursday is that the overwhelming majority of the Senate knew that holding the vote at all was a terrible idea. News and political dispatches from around the nation By Greg Pierce THE WASHINGTON TIMES http://www.washtimes.com/politics/inside.html The Senate had no choice but to reject the [Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty] explicitly and unquestionably, Sen. Jesse Helms North Carolina Republican and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee writes in the Wall Street Journal. GOP wary of shutdown scenarios By Bill Sammon http://www.washtimes.com/news/news3.html#link I don't think it's any secret that Clinton is really [angry] about the failureof the test-ban treaty last week, Mr. Scanlon said. "And I don't think there's any secret that because of his anger he wants to take it out on anybody he possibly can including us and on any subject under the sun." Politics of arms control By Tod Lindberg http://www.washtimes.com/opinion/lindberg.html American foreign policy since the end of the Cold War has been characterized by substantial bipartisan agreement on the basics overlaid with sharp partisan quarreling at the margins. 2) U.S.-DOE DOE Plan Riles Senate GOP Choice of Richardson to Run New Bomb Agency Spurs Pay Threat By Walter Pincus http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-10/19/031l-101999-idx.html Senate Republicans may attempt to cut off the of top officials in the Department of Energy if the department undermines the establishment of a separate agency to run nuclear weapons programs a Senate aide warned yesterday. 3)P.R.- Vieques Panel Backs Firing Exercises in Puerto Rico By ELIZABETH BECKER http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/puerto-military.html WASHINGTON -- A Presidential panel recommended Monday that the United States military be allowed to resume live firing exercises on Navy property in Puerto Rico but that the range be shut down in five years despite demands from the territory's governor that it be closed immediately and all bombing halted. Related Article Puerto Ricans Protest Navy Firing Range on Nearby Island (July 10 1999) http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/early/071099puertorico-firing-range.html First Lady Urges End to Vieques Bomb Range as Panel Backs Phaseout http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-10/19/043l-101999-idx.html KINGSTON N.Y. Oct. 18Hillary Rodham Clinton called today for an immediate and permanent end to the use of a Puerto Rican island as a Navy target range. Bombed away Puerto Rico powerless to stop Navy exercises By Pedro Rossells http://www.washtimes.com/opinion/op1.html Imagine that your home state contains an insular community where the Navy has been conducting training exercises ever since World War II. 4) U.S. Nuke Plants- Paducah Human cost of nuclear power Joe Harding: Kentucky's nuclear whistleblower By Stephen Sackur in Kentucky http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_479000/479083.stm Joe Harding died 19 years ago but his tape-recordedvoice still haunts the Paducah nuclear plant. 5) North Korea Kim sees progress in North Korea By Wesley Pruden Washington Times October 19 1999 http://www.washtimes.com/news/news1.html#link President Kim Dae-jung sees evidence that North Korea -- armed belligerent starving isolated and once described as "the most dangerous place on earth" -- is changing for the better under pressure from the United States and its allies. 6) Pakistan Lesson From Pakistan http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/letters/l19pak.html It appears that ordinary Pakistanis are indifferent to the demise of democracy underthe heel of the military. That's not hard to understand. The civilian Government wasn't responsive to the needs of ordinary Pakistanis because it had no real influence. Related Articles Coup Leader Restructures Pakistan's Government (Oct. 19 1999) http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/101899pakistan-rdp.html Pakistan's Military Temptation http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/19tue2.html In Pakistan a corrupt and incompetent democratic government has been replaced by a military dictator who now pledges bold and necessary reforms. NEWS ANALYSIS http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/101999pakistan-assess.html Fixing What Ails Pakistan: Can the Coup Leader Deliver on His Promises? By CELIA W. DUGGER Pakistan's new dictator Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf essentially told the nation Sunday that he had to destroy democracy temporarily to save it. Pakistanis cheer military regime http://usatoday.com/news/world/nw1.htm Many Pakistanis say they support their new military leader and his promise to restore order but there were concerns over his failure to say when he would restore democracy to this South Asian nation. Commonwealth Group Penalizes Pakistan From Staff Reports and News Services http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-10/19/041l-101999-idx.html Commonwealth foreign ministers suspended Pakistan from the organization's councils today and said they will send a mission to Islamabad to press the new military regime to restore civilian rule. Pakistan's Coup Leader: Strongman or Statesman? Which Is the Real Musharraf Nation Asks By Pamela Constable and Kamran Khan Washington Post Foreign Service http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-10/19/047l-101999-idx.html The first image of Pakistan's new ruler to flash before the world after Tuesday's military coup was ominous -- a film clip of a stocky general in fatigues cigarette clenched in a corner of his mouth fiddling with an automatic pistol. Pakistan 'regrets' suspension BBC October 19 1999 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/newsid_478000/478528.stm 'The new administration will be primarily civilian in character' Pakistan has said it regrets the decision by the Commonwealth's move to suspend the country. Embassy Row By James Morrison Washington Times October 19 1999 http://www.washtimes.com/internatl/embassy.html Pakistan's new ambassador has become an early diplomatic casualty of the military coup that overthrew a government that was elected but as opponents charged hardly democratic. 7) Chechnya Chechen rebels fight back http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_479000/479162.stm Chechen fighters patrol the streets of the capital Chechen forces say they have launched a counter-offensive near the capital Grozny and pushed Russian soldiers back from a village they captured on Monday. 8) Bin-Laden U.S. Steps Up Pressure on Taliban to Deliver Osama bin Laden http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/101999afghan-un.html With the Islamic Taliban movement of Afghanistan under a threat of U.N. sanctions if it does not turn over a Saudi-born militant for trial in the United States a Clinton administration envoy met with a Taliban representative Monday in New York to press for action. 9) Terrorism Senator calls for terrorism czar http://usatoday.com/news/digest/nd1.htm Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for a review of the federal response to the recent outbreak of West Nile-like virus that killed six people and infected 55 others saying the U.S. government should appoint a terrorism czar. Although the CIA concluded the outbreak was not the work of terrorists Schumer asserted in a letter to the U.S. General Accounting Office that the outbreak provides an opportunity to assess the federal government's ability to respond to a potentially catastrophic biological attack. 10) Torture 1/3 in U.S. say it's OK to torture POWs http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/u/991019/02/international-survey Some 32 percent of Americans believe it is acceptable to torture prisoners of war to obtain important military information according to a survey commissioned by the International Committee of the Red Cross. 11) Gulf War Syndrome Survey Links Gulf War Syndrome to Nerve-Gas Antidote http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/washpol/gulfwar-syndrome.html A scientific survey underwritten by the Pentagon has concluded that an experimental drug given to American troops during the Persian Gulf war to protect against a nerve gas may be responsible for the chronic illnesses afflicting tens of thousands of veterans. Related Articles Study Links Chemicals to Sick Veterans (June 15 1997) http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/061597chem-weapons.html U.S. Decision to Give Drug to Gulf Force Is Criticized (May 9 1997) http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/050997drug-gulfwar.html Many Gulf War Veterans Tell of Iraqi Chemical Attack (Sept. 20 1996) http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/iraq-chemical-weapons.html Related Web Sites Persian Gulf Veteran's Illness from the Department of Veterans Affairs http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/washpol/gulfwar-syndrome.html#1 National Gulf War Resource Center Home Page http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/washpol/gulfwar-syndrome.html#1 'Gulf War Syndrome' Study Looks at Nerve Gas Protection By David Brown Washington Post Staff Writer http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-10/19/035l-101999-idx.html The use of the drug pyridostigmine bromide (PB) by 250 000 soldiers during the Persian Gulf War "cannot be ruled out" as a cause of lingering illnesses in some veterans according to a new report prepared for the Defense Department. 10)Japan Co. Sorry for Japan Nuke Accident The Associated Press http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991019/aponline062018_000.htm The head of the company responsible for Japan's worst-ever nuclear accident apologized to lawmakers at a parliamentary hearing today. ___________________________________________________ Today's Newspapers: http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm Subscribe NucNews: mailto:prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Subscribe) Submit URL/Article: mailto:prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Editor) About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm Distributed without payment for research and educational purposes only in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107.