Friday, October 17, 2003

The Nuclear Lullaby TODAY'S FEATURED ARTICLES - A message from Peter Coyote entitled, "Nukes have not gone away" - "The Second Nuclear Age", By David Krieger - "Preemptive War: A Fundamental Challenge to World Peace", By Kofi Annan, - The Active Opposition: "The Nuclear Lullaby - What We Are Not Being Told" QUOTE OF THE DAY "The world has entered a new nuclear age, a second nuclear age. The danger is rising that nuclear weapons will be used against the United States. Just as bad, the danger is rising that the United States will use nuclear weapons against others…." - - Jonathan Schell KNOW YOUR HISTORY - OCTOBER 1966 -- San Francisco collective "The Diggers," holds its 1st free street feed. 1979 -- Mother Teresa awarded Nobel Peace Prize. RHINO HERE: Today's initial offerings were forwarded from Peter Coyote, concerning what is undeniably the thing we have to fear most in this age; the continuing threat of nuclear weapons. Peter's warning & call to action, I believe, deserves our consideration & ongoing response. I've made today's RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE some excerpts from the web page describing an episode of the TV series, "The Active Opposition" which Peter produces and hosts. Entitled, "The Nuclear Lullaby - What We Are Not Being Told", and featuring Peter in conversation with Congressman Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma); Jonathan Schell, Fellow, The Nation Institute; Jonathan Granoff, ESQ,- President, Global Security Institute; Arjun Makhijani, President of the Institute for Energy and  Desert Storm Veteran, Dan Fahey , the program will air nationally 4 times this coming weekend on WorldLink TV: Sat, 10/18, 7:00 PM Pacific/ 10PM Eastern Sun, 10/19, 1:00 AM, Pacific/ 4AM Eastern Sun, 10/ 19, 7:00 AM Pacific/ 10AM Eastern Sun, 10/19, 1:00 PM, Pacific/ 4PM Eastern If you're not getting WorldLink TV, Rhino highly suggests getting a Dish Network satellite system which will provide both WorldLink and the excellent Free Speech TV network too. For more info on WorldLink TV go to: http://www.worldlinktv.com From: "Peter Coyote" Subject: Nukes have not gone away Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 09:21:10 -0700 Friends, A reminder that while we are distracted by terrorism, and even the ghastly possibility of losing an American city to a nuclear device, we are, collectively ignoring a pending death sentence, possibly by accident, over the entire biosphere. There are still, between Russia and America alone, 8,000 nuclear devices on hair-trigger alert. Not so long ago a Norwegian rocket carrying a weather satellite was mistaken by the Russians for an incoming American ICBM. While the Russian military pondered returning fire with their own missiles, the clock ticked down to the last 15 seconds before a decision was required. At that point the Norwegian missile veered off course and the crisis was resolved. That is the only reason that I am here to write this and you to read it today. While there are numerous vital and valid single-issues confronting us, there is no other, save the entire nuclear fuel cycle and production of nuclear weapons which encompasses all life under its umbrella of threat. Given the right accident (less than a 1,000 weapons are required to produce a catastrophic nuclear winter, ending all photosynthesis on earth) there will be no environment, women's right, civil liberties, or endangered species to struggle for. Unless we collectively elevate this subject to the top of our political agendas, the chances of a catastrophic accident, somewhere, sometime among the rapidly proliferating nuclear states, will, I'm afraid render our care and concerns for other moot. Let me suggest as a starting point of education, three sites:   1) The Sunflower The Newsletter of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation The Sunflower is a monthly e-newsletter providing educational information on nuclear weapons abolition and other issues relating to global security. Back issues are available at: http://www.wagingpeace.org/sf/backissues.html @) Helen Caldicott's Nuclear Policy Research Institute (which is designed to make this a front-page issue): http://www.nuclearpolicy.org 3) The Global Security Institute, founded by the late Senator Alan Cranston, aims to build support among leaders, within the US and internationally, to reduce the nuclear danger and move towards the universal and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons. http://www.gsinstitute.org < http://www.gsinstitute.org/ > The Second Nuclear Age By David Krieger, 23 September 2003 It would be a great shame if Americans only awakened to the dangers of the second Nuclear Age with the detonation of one or more nuclear weapons somewhere in the world. Given the increased threats associated with terrorism and the dangers that nuclear weapons or bomb-grade nuclear materials could fall into the hands of terrorists, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the next detonation of a nuclear weapon or other weapon of mass destruction could take place in a city in the United States. It is of critical importance that Americans be made aware of these dangers and reverse our policies before we are confronted by such tragedy. The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has set forth a series of needed steps that have been widely endorsed by prominent leaders, including 38 Nobel Laureates, in its Appeal to End the Nuclear Weapons Threat to Humanity and All Life. These steps include de-alerting all nuclear weapons, reaffirming commitments to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, commencing good faith negotiations on a treaty to eliminate all nuclear weapons, declaring a policy of No First Use of nuclear weapons and reallocating resources from nuclear arsenals to improving human health, education and welfare throughout the world. Our challenge is to translate this program into action.... For full text, go to: http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/03.09/0923krieger_second-nuclear.htm   Preemptive War: A Fundamental Challenge to World Peace By Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, 23 September 2003 Since this Organization was founded, States have generally sought to deal with threats to the peace through containment and deterrence, by a system based on collective security and the United Nations Charter. Article 51 of the Charter prescribes that all States, if attacked, retain the inherent right of self-defence. But until now it has been understood that when States go beyond that, and decide to use force to deal with broader threats to international peace and security, they need the unique legitimacy provided by the United Nations. Now, some say this understanding is no longer tenable, since an armed attack with weapons of mass destruction could be launched at any time, without warning, or by a clandestine group. Rather than wait for that to happen, they argue, States have the right and obligation to use force preemptively, even on the territory of other States, and even while weapons systems that might be used to attack them are still being developed. According to this argument, States are not obliged to wait until there is agreement in the Security Council. Instead, they reserve the right to act unilaterally, or in ad hoc coalitions. This logic represents a fundamental challenge to the principles on which, however imperfectly, world peace and stability have rested for the last 58 years... For full text, go to: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003/sgsm8891.doc.htm 7:34:11 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - What We Are Not Being Told The Active Opposition: The Nuclear Lullaby - What We Are Not Being Told Host Peter Coyote and studio guests discuss the nuclear threat in the post-Cold War age. Who is the greatest nuclear threat in the world? Is it North Korea, Iran, Pakistan, Israel or perhaps the United States itself? After decades of cold-war, superpower parity and carefully constructed nuclear arms agreements, the Bush administration has now again begun thinking the unthinkable: the development and use of nuclear weapons as a viable means of warfare and counter-terrorism assaults. Meanwhile critics at home and around the world fear this may increase the possibility of nuclear war by sending a green-light signal to nuclear weapon-states that the use of "tactical" nuclear weapons is acceptable. THE NUCLEAR LULLABY presents information which the US government has not divulged on Nuclear Proliferation, the use of Depleted Uranium, and the storage hazards and "disposal" of nuclear waste. The program will the explore the legacy of nuclear radiation, from the "downwinders" of nuclear testing, to the American servicemen and women contaminated by depleted uranium in Iraq. Also discussed are both the domestic and international facets of the nuclear threat, including nuclear terrorism, the realities of a "Hindu" and "Islamic" nuclear bomb, the resurgence in building of plutonium pits, the contamination of the environment and the consequences of passing the unsolved burden of nuclear waste on to future generations. Guests include: FOR MORE ON THE SHOW & AN IN DEPTH LIST OF RELEVANT LINKS, GO TO: http://www.worldlinktv.com/programming/programDescription.php4?tz=3&;code=active_nuclear "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. Tell a friend about Rhino's Blog 7:01:54 AM    comment

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