Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik August 2003
Version 3.0
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08/01/2003
Det er nu 3 måneder siden, at USAs præsident Bush
erklærede krigen i Irak for vundet.
08/01/2003
Nobel Cause link
Economists who win the Nobel Prize aren't known for being
outspoken. Hence our surprise to read that 2001 laureate George
Akerlof thinks Americans should protest the Bush
Administration's "irresponsible" policies. In a recent interview in
Der Spiegel on U.S. economic policy, he criticizes the
administration for "throwing money away" and projects a deficit of
over $6 trillion in 10 years that will force massive cuts in
services for the elderly. He praises Bush, Sr., for taking the
political risky step of raising taxes to control the deficit, and
bashes Bush, Jr., with this zinger: "I think this is the worst
government the U.S. has ever had in its more than 200 years of
history. It has engaged in extraordinarily irresponsible policies
not only in foreign and economic but also in social and
environmental policy. This is not normal government policy. Now is
the time for people to engage in civil disobedience."
Source: http://www.spiegel.de/
08/03/2003
Andrew Gumbel: US anti-war activists hit by secret airport
ban
After more than a year of complaints by some US anti-war activists
that they were being unfairly targeted by airport security,
Washington has admitted the existence of a list, possibly hundreds
or even thousands of names long, of people it deems worthy of
special scrutiny at airports.
The list had been kept secret until its disclosure last week by the
new US agency in charge of aviation safety, the Transportation
Security Administration (TSA). And it is entirely separate from the
relatively well-publicised "no-fly" list, which covers about 1,000
people believed to have criminal or terrorist ties that could
endanger the safety of their fellow passengers.
The strong suspicion of such groups as the American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU), which is suing the government to try to learn more,
is that the second list has been used to target political activists
who challenge the government in entirely legal ways. The TSA
acknowledged the existence of the list in response to a Freedom of
Information Act request concerning two anti-war activists from San
Francisco who were stopped and briefly detained at the airport last
autumn and told they were on an FBI no-fly list.
The activists, Rebecca Gordon and Jan Adams, work for
a small pacifist magazine called War Times and say they have
never been arrested, let alone have criminal records. Others who
have filed complaints with the ACLU include a left-wing
constitutional lawyer who has been strip-searched repeatedly when
travelling through US airports, and a 71-year-old nun from
Milwaukee who was prevented from flying to Washington to join an
anti-government protest.
Source: Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
08/05/2003
Israelske fredsaktivister arresteres
[We have been celebrating too early when we thought that the home
of Hani and Munira Amer and their six children would be spared
encirclement by The Wall ... ]
With bulldozers less than 10 meters away from the threatened house
at Mes'ha, the army is right now arresting the 40 international and
Israeli peace activists who spent the night there - among them
Oren Medicks of Gush Shalom, and CO Dror Boymel and five
other Israelis. Other activists are from the US, Britain, France,
Italy, Germany Sweden and Japan. The activists who sit in a circle
singing are dragged one by one.
An effort is under way to organize a new group to go there, writes
Gush Shalom.
08/05/2003
Los Alamos cited for safety
violation
The U.S. Department of Energy cited the University of California
for safety violations at Los Alamos National Laboratory for an
incident in which two workers inhaled plutonium.
The workers were conducting an inventory of cans of plutonium
residue on Aug. 5, 2003, at the main plutonium processing facility
when an alarm sounded, the lab said.
The workers evacuated the room, but medical exams showed skin
contamination with the radioactive metal and evidence that both had
inhaled plutonium, writes Oakland Tribune (CA) 07/02/2004.
08/08/2003
Den forventede danske projekteksport til Irak forsinkes af ustabil
sikkerhed og varme, skriver Ingeniøren.
08/08/2003
Amerikanske soldater anvendte napalmlignende brandbomber under
krigen mod Irak, noterer Berlingske Tidende.
Ulla Røder løsladt
Trident Ploughshares activist, Ulla Roder, was released
from prison last night after the Crown Prosecution Service was
denied an extension on Ulla's remand period, at Edinburgh High
Court. This was due to a legal technicality.
Ulla Roder has been on remand since 10th March, when she was arrested after
disarming a Tornado jet, preventing its use in the war against
Iraq.
Free Ulla Campaigner, Joss Garman, explained, "Ulla has been
overwhelmed with support whilst in prison. However, Ulla's case
continues, and we look forward to proving her innocence."
The next pre-trial review for Ulla will be on Tuesday 12th at
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, near Edinburgh. Her trial is scheduled for
25th August, writes Trident Ploughshares.
08/11/2003
USA anvendte napalm i krigen mod Irak, skriver Information.
08/14/2003
FNs sikkerhedsråd vedtager resolution som hilser Iraks
regerende råd velkommen.
08/14/2003
Trafikminister Flemming Hansen indvier målestation i
Grønland
Danmarks Meteorologiske Institut, Trafikministeriet
Under overværelse af trafikminister Flemming Hansen og
direktør Lars Prahm fra Danmarks Meteorologiske Institut har
CTBTO (Kommissionen for Overholdelse af det Altomfattende Forbud
mod Atomprøvesprængninger) under FN og Danmarks
Meteorologiske Institut idriftsat en såkaldt
infralydsmålestation i Qaanaaq nord for Thule. Stationen er
nummer 18 af i alt 60 infralydsstationer, der alle kommer til at
indgå i et verdensomspændende netværk af i alt
321 målestationer.
Disse stationer skal tilsammen overvåge, om FN-traktaten om
forbud mod atomprøvesprængninger overholdes. Når
netværket er fuldt udbygget, vil data fra samtlige stationer
løbende blive sendt til et internationalt datacenter i Wien,
hvor man øjeblikkeligt kan detektere og stedfæste
såvel atmosfæriske som underjordiske
atomvåbenforsøg. Der er i øjeblikket 169 lande,
der har tilsluttet sig traktaten om forbud mod
atomprøvesprængninger. Da der er tale om en
særlig retningsbestemt atmosfæremåling af
lufttryk, er DMI udvalgt til at drive målestationen i
Qaanaaq. Selve stationen består af store stjerneformede
systemer af rør, der ligger hen over jordoverfladen. Der er
i alt otte af disse systemer, der hver især er tilsluttet en
målebrønd, hvor et måleapparat registrerer
lavfrekvente, ikke-hørbare trykbølger i
atmosfæren. Målesystemet fylder lidt over fem hektar,
og der er brugt over to km rør til konstruktionen.
Rørsystemerne er udformet sådan, at
støjsignaler undertrykkes, samtidig med at retningen til
signalkilden kan bestemmes. Ved at sammenligne signalerne fra mange
stationer verden over kan et eventuelt kerneforsøg
lokaliseres.
Qaanaaq Kommune i Nordgrønland har velvilligt stillet areal
til rådighed.
Danmarks Meteorologiske Institut driver anlægget for CTBTO og
har det daglige ansvar for, at datakvaliteten er tilfredsstillende.
Teknikere fra DMI og CTBTO har sammen gennemført et langt
måleprogram, der skal sikre, at stationen leverer data af god
kvalitet, og at sikkerhedssystemerne virker, således at der
ikke kan manipuleres med data hverken på stationen eller
på dataenes vej til Wien. Efter en prøveperiode vil
stationen få CTBTO’s blå stempel og indgå
officielt i målenetværket. Datatransmissionen
foregår på det offentlige Internet, hvor der er
etableret et såkaldt VPN (Virtual Private Network), der skal
sikre, at data når uberørte frem til modtageren. Alle
udgifter til driften af stationen afholdes af CTBTO.
Foruden infralydsstationen i Qaanaaq huser Grønland
også en seismisk station i Kangerlussuaq; denne drives af
Kort- og Matrikelstyrelsen.
Sektionsleder Alberto Veloso fra Kommissionen for Overholdelse af
det Altomfattende forbud mod Atomprøvesprængninger
udtaler:
”Etablering af infralydsstationen i Qaanaaq kun 1383 km fra
Nordpolen var en udfordring hvad angår både logistik og
byggeteknik. Nu er byggeriet imidlertid afsluttet, og stationen
virker som tiltænkt. Vi er nu i gang med certificeringen af
den.”
”Dette projekt, som har været fire år undervejs,
er udført i tæt samarbejde med DMI, som også vil
få ansvaret for driften af stationen.”
”Det har været en fornøjelse at samarbejde med
DMI i denne første fase af projektet, og vi
værdsætter meget den danske regerings positive
indstilling over for forbudet mod
atomprøvesprængninger.”
Trafikminister Flemming Hansen udtaler:
”Det er glædeligt, at DMI’s faciliteter og
personale i Nordgrønland kan medvirke til løsning af
denne vigtige opgave. De fleste af DMI’s aktiviteter er
sikkerhedstjeneste, der har til formål at beskytte liv og
værdier. Vi håber, at dette system vil medvirke
effektivt til overholdelse af stoppet for
atomprøvesprængninger og glæder os til at
deltage i årene fremover.”
Billeder af installationen:
Pressemeddelelsens tekst, links samt grafik kan hentes
på:
http://www.dmi.dk/dmi/publ/pressemed/ctbto.html
Flere oplysninger på Internettet:
http://www.ctbto.org/
http://untreaty.un.org/ENGLISH/bible/englishinternetbible/partI/chapterXXVI/treaty8.asp
Kontakt:
Divisionschef Erik Bødtker på telefon: 2332 1054 eller
mail ebo@dmi.dk.
08/14/2003
Strømsvigt i Canada og det nordvestlige USA starter.
Kilde: Wittrup, Sanne: Årsagen til USAs
værste blackout efterforskes stadig. I:
Ingeniøren, 2003:34.
08/15/2003
United States Department
of Defense : Missile Defense Radar Site Chosen
August 15, 2003
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced today that it has
selected Adak, Alaska, as the Primary Support Base (PSB) for the
Sea-Based X-Band (SBX) radar. The PSB includes a mooring site and
minimum logistics support for the SBX. The SBX is a part of the
Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, a missile defense
system designed to intercept and destroy long-range ballistic
missiles aimed at the U.S. homeland.
The selection of Adak is contained in the Record of Decision signed
by MDA director Lt. Gen. Ronald T. Kadish, as part of the recently
completed GMD extended test range final environmental impact
statement (FEIS). The FEIS analyzed the impacts of the proposed
action and alternatives to establish an extended test range
capability to provide more realistic flight-testing of the GMD
system. The FEIS examined development of the capability for single
and dual launches of interceptor and target missiles and supporting
infrastructure at various locations in the Pacific.
Besides Adak, five other locations were considered: Naval Base
Ventura County, Calif.; Naval Station Everett, Wash.; Reagan Test
Site, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands; Port of
Valdez, Alaska and Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The
selection of Adak was the result of extensive analysis of numerous
factors relating to operations, support and sustainability,
including easy access to potential operating areas and available
support infrastructure.
The SBX vessel, a self-propelled semi-submersible modified
oil-drilling platform, will be modified and payloads installed at
shipyards in Brownsville and Corpus Christi, Texas, and is
scheduled to begin supporting GMD operations in 2005. The SBX will
provide detailed ballistic missile tracking information to the GMD
system, as well as advanced target and countermeasures
discrimination capability for the GMD interceptor missiles. The
ability of the SBX to deploy to operating locations under its own
power allows it to support actual GMD operations as well as
realistic testing. The SBX is approximately 390 feet long and 250
feet high, and has a displacement of 50,000 tons.
During the last months some Alaskan towns have been actively
campaigning for, and others against, receipt of the base [Missing
in the Press Release from Pentagon, but quoted in
http://www.missilethreat.com/systems/sbx_usa.html .
08/17/2003
Venligsindet ild
Hærens Operative Kommando meddeler, at en dansk soldat er død i Irak. Samtidig dræbes to
Irakere af de danske soldater. Forsvarskommandoen afleder
efterfølgende bevist den efterfølgende mediestorm
på forsvarsministeren.
Kilde: Jørgensen, Anders: Forsvarets leg med
medierne. I: Information, 04/20/2004.
08/26/2003
Kosiak, Steven: Cost Growth in Defense Plans-Occupation in Iraq
and War on Terror Could Add Nearly 1.1 Trillion to Projected
Deficits
The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments
August 26, 2003
http://www.csbaonline.org/4Publications/Archive/B.20030826.Cost_Growth_in_Def/B.20030826.Cost_Growth_in_Def.htm
In July, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a new
report, The Long-Term Implications of Current Defense Plans:
Summary Update for Fiscal Year 2004.1 The report provides a concise
description of the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s)
plans through fiscal year (FY) 2022, and rough high- and low-end
estimates of their likely costs. The plans analyzed in the report
represent those included in DoD’s most recent budget
proposal, submitted in February of this year.
The cost estimates provided by CBO in this report (and in past
reports) raise serious questions about the long-term affordability
of the Bush Administration’s defense plans. In particular,
CSBA finds that based on its own analysis of data contained in the
July CBO report:
-- The administration’s defense budget projections may
understate the cost of the current defense plan (including military
operations) by some $170 to $880 billion over the coming decade (FY
2004-13).
-- These funding (i.e., appropriations) increases would generate
outlay (i.e., actual spending) increases of some $147 billion to
$838 billion over the next 10 years.
-- If these additional outlays were not offset by a tax increase,
or cuts in entitlements or domestic spending, they would increase
the size of the federal debt. In turn, they would increase debt
service-related outlays by a total of $52 billion to $248
billion.
Altogether, if the additional spending outlined in this analysis is
needed to execute DoD’s long-term defense plans, the size of
the federal deficit would increase by some $199 billion ($147
billion in program costs plus $52 billion in related interest
costs) to $1.081 trillion ($833 billion in program costs plus $248
billion in related interest costs) above the levels projected in
the administration’s most recent budget documents over the FY
2004-13 period.
08/26/2003
Forsvarsministeriet udsender pressemeddelelse om den døde
danske soldat. Samtidig mener Hærens Konstabel- og
Korporalforening, at Forsvarets audiørkorps, skal erstattes
af en civil ordning, således, at det ikke er den
militære anklagemyndighed, der efterforsker forbrydelser
begået af danske soldater, skriver Berlingske Tidende.
08/27/2003
Forsvarets leg med medierne
Forsvarskommandoe beslutter at offentliggøre sit oplæg
om fremtidens forsvar.
08/29/2003
Campaign to Stop the War Profiteers
The folks at the Institute for Southern Studies have launched an
ambitious and important "Campaign to Stop the War
Profiteers". Newly-launched Campaign to Stop the War Profiteers
says recent revelations of secrecy, ballooning tax-payer funded
contracts underscores need for action. The Campaign, launched by
the Institute earlier this month, has quickly galvanized veteran,
peace, and other public interest groups across the country.
Veterans for Peace, New York Labor Against the War, Peace Action,
and other leading organizations have signed on to the campaign, as
well as national progressive luminaries Noam Chomsky, Bill
Fletcher, Jim Hightower, Noami Klein, and Howard Zinn.
Yesterday's reports concerning Halliburton (Washington Post) and
Bechtel (Wall Street Journal) revealed vital new information about
the scope of insider deals and war profiteering, including:
- The Washington Post reports that "As much as one-third of the
monthly $3.9 billion cost of keeping U.S. troops in Iraq" is being
handed out to for-profit, big business contractors, led by
Halliburton and Bechtel - both major contributors to and allies of
the Bush Administration.
- Halliburton, including its subsidiary Brown and Root, has been
handed "contracts worth more than $1.7 billion - and stands to make
hundreds of millions more," mostly under contracts in which other
companies were not allowed to bid. At least one contract had "not
previously publicly acknowledged" by the Pentagon. (Washington
Post).
- According to the Wall Street Journal, Bechtel's Iraq contract was
increased by $350 million - "more than 50%" - on top of the $680
million already given to the company in a "secret, no-bid
contract." Bechtel has former board members, former and current VPs
and Presidents, the current CEO, and "friends" with seats in the
President's Export Council, the Defense Policy Board, Committee for
the Liberation of Iraq, USAID, the CIA, and several other
government agencies.
"Ever since Halliburton received a secret, unlimited contract for
logistical support operations in 2001 for the 'war on terror,' it's
been clear that Bush-connected corporations have had an inside
track," said Chris Kromm, director of the Institute and a
coordinator with the campaign.
"When Halliburton reports that the company's profits jumped $26
million in the second quarter of 2003 while the rest of the economy
is stalling, it's also clear they're making a killing off the
business of war," Kromm added, writes The Arms Trade Resource
Center, New York.
08/29/2003
Borgerkrigen i Peru 1980-2000 kostede ifølge den peruvianske
sanhedskommission over 75.000 mennesker livet, skriver
MetroXpress.
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