Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 29. december 2005 / Time Line December 29, 2005
Version 3.528. December 2005, 30. December 2005
12/29/2005
Initiativtageen til
Kvinder for Fred, Bodil Graae, fylder 80
år.
12/29/2005
Call for elimination of nuclear weapons by 2020 receives strong
support by fast growing number of Mayors in Luxembourg and
Belgium
By: Abolition 2000 Europe - part of the global network for the
elimination of nuclear weapons
www.abolition2000europe.org
Brussels -Luxembourg, December 29th 2005 - Forty-seven mayors of
Luxembourg have recently joined the emergency call for action
launched by the Mayor of Hiroshima to eliminate all nuclear weapons
by 2020. Following the failure of the latest NPT Review Conference
a growing number of mayors seem receptive to the problem of nuclear
proliferation linked with the lack of progress towards complete
disarmament. The success of the membership drive in Luxembourg came
as the peace campaigners Claude Simon and Nicole Jemming from
"Friddensinitiativ" joined the Abolition 2000 Europe network and
were inspired by the successful Belgian Mayors for Peace campaign
co-ordinated by For Mother Earth, the Flemish member of Friends of
the Earth International.
Following a visit to Brussels in early 2005 by Mr. Akiba Tadatoshi,
the mayor of Hiroshima, a diverse and multi-partisan group of six
Belgian mayors -amongst whom Brussels' mayor Freddy Thielemans and
mayor Jean-Luc Dehaene, Prime Minister from 1991to 1999 - invited
by mail all their 589 colleagues to sign up to the 2020 vision. In
just a couple of months Belgian membership rose from only 6 to 250
today. One of the results is that 3 city run Mayor for Peace
secretariats were established in the country's three regions:
bi-lingual Brussels, dutch spoken Flanders and french spoken
Wallonia.
In Luxembourg the peace campaigners invited the mayors of
Luxembourg's two largest cities to address a letter to all their
colleagues. During a very well-attended newsconference at the
Luxembourg City Hall on July 20th Mr. Paul Helminger, Mayor of the
capital city of Luxembourg, and Ms. Lydia Mutsch, Mayor of
Esch-sur-Alzette, both also members of parliament, signed the
membership form of the Mayors for Peace, while making a public
appeal to all their colleagues to do the same. The response was
overwhelmingly positive as almost half of the 118 Luxembourg mayors
signed up to the 2020 Vision.
Luxembourg is member of the EU and NATO. It does not store any
nuclear weapons on its territory but is a member of the Nuclear
Planning Group of NATO. Neighboring Belgium hosts an estimated 20
U.S nuclear bombs at the NATO air force base of Kleine Brogel.
Belgium is also the host country for both NATO and SHAPE
headquarters.
The success of the Mayors for Peace campaign is very encouraging
for the peace campaigners. Plans are now being developed to involve
the mayors actively in communicating the 2020 Vision to the public.
Mayors are also be involved in lobbying the government and in
informing the public of the dangers of nuclear proliferation on one
hand, while also reminding us of the NPT Article VI disarmament
obligations of all the state parties to the Non Proliferation
Treaty. The growing support for the 2020 Vision helped to move both
the Belgian Senate on April 21st 2005 and the House on July 13th
2005 to adopt resolutions calling for non-proliferation and
disarmament initiatives including the withdrawal of an estimated of
480 U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe.
12/29/2005
US No Longer Promoting Landmine Abolition
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1228-09.htm
By Haider Rizvi
UNITED NATIONS - In 1994, the United States was the first nation to
call for the elimination of landmines that killed and maimed
hundreds of thousands of innocent people around the world.
But that was then. Today, Washington not only stands in opposition
to an international treaty that bans the use and production of
antipersonnel landmines, but intends to make new ones too.
Spider
Spider is an advanced, man-in-the-loop, area denial munition. It
will protect the warfighter by laying down either a lethal or
non-lethal field of fire yet puts complete command and control in
the hands of the soldier. Spider offers remotely controlled force
protection while enhancing the operational and tactical flexibility
of forces in the field. Spider is being developed by ATK with its
joint venture partner Textron.
In reversal of its earlier policy, the U.S. is reportedly planning
to produce a new generation of landmines called "Spider" by March
2007, a move that has alarmed civil society groups campaigning for
a global ban on the use and production of landmines for years.
"We are concerned about this," says Alison Bock, president and
founder of Landmines Blow!, a U.S.-based independent group. "This
would erase many of the positive steps the U.S. has taken in the
past."
Landmines Blow! has joined a number of other groups in urging the
Bush administration to drop its plans for Spider production and
instead support the goals of the Mine Ban Treaty.
The 1997 treaty, which has been endorsed by nearly 150 countries,
calls for a ban on the production, stockpiling, and use of
antipersonnel landmines.
Major powers among the 40 nations who have not signed the treaty
are the United States, Russia, and China.
Last month, more than 100 countries sent delegates to an
international meeting on landmines in Croatia, but the United
States did not.
Bock thinks it was wrong on part of the United states to stay away
from the meeting. "We believe the U.S. should engage in global
discussions on the landmine issue."
Ironically, the United States was at the forefront of international
efforts to adopt the landmine treaty in the 1990s. It had not used
antipersonnel landmines since the 1991 Gulf War and had not
exported them to other countries since 1992.
The United States would "seek a worldwide agreement as soon as
possible to end the use of antipersonnel mines," President Bill
Clinton said at the start of his second term in the White
House.
But the Bush administration reversed that promise last February
with the Department of State declaring that landmines still have "a
valid and essential role" in protecting U.S. forces in military
operations.
"No other weapon currently exists that provides all the
capabilities provided by landmines," the official statement
added.
Disappointed with the administration's stance, supporters of the
treaty fear that the new policy on landmines might set a bad
precedent for other nations who are still outside the fold of the
treaty.
"It's a step backward for the United States," says Stephen Goose,
an arms expert with U.S.-based Human Rights Watch.
"While the rest of the world is rushing to embrace an immediate and
comprehensive ban, the Bush administration has decided to cling to
the weapons in perpetuity," he adds.
Goose and others note that the administration often does not use
the word landmines while referring to new weapons, such as Spiders,
which are designed to blow up automatically after a certain period
of time.
"These are not safe mines," Goose contends. "They still pose real
dangers for civilians."
Between 15,000 and 20,000 people are killed or maimed by mines each
year--most civilians and most in countries now at peace--according
to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), an
independent umbrella organization.
Landmines are especially heinous weapons of war, the group says,
because they are indiscriminate--unable to distinguish between
soldiers, civilians, peacekeepers, aid workers, or others--and
inhumane--designed to maim rather than kill but frequently killing
nonetheless.
The also deprive people of land and infrastructure in some of the
poorest countries in the world, hamper reconstruction and the
delivery of aid, deprive communities and families of breadwinners,
and kill livestock and wild animals, according to the group.
ICBL released a report last week suggesting that despite the fact
that "immense challenges" remained to be dealt with, the worldwide
use of landmines and the number of related casualties were going
down.
Last month, in a report on landmines, the group, however, suggested
that some positive changes must still be forthcoming.
"Although we are making great strides in our work to rid the world
of this weapon, we need to do more," says ICBL leader Jody
Williams, who won the Noble Peace Prize for her work in 1997.
That's exactly what's on the minds of anti-mines activists like
Bock and Goose, who believe that the world cannot achieve much
unless the United States decides to reverse its policy.
Many groups are now reaching out to U.S. lawmakers in an attempt to
prevent the administration from pursuing its retrogressive policy
on landmines. It appears they have succeeded in gaining support
from some of them.
"I believe that more can and must be done to stop this crisis,"
Senator Barack
Obama, (D-IL) told Bock in a letter, while assuring his support
in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"I will be working with my colleagues in Congress and with the Bush
administration on this issue."
Whether lawmakers like Obama will succeed in their efforts remains
to be seen.
12/29/2005
Acting Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England has relinquished his
post as Navy secretary, Pentagon officials announced.
Details will follow shortly from the American Forces Press
Service.
12/29/2005
Katrina Survivors to Rally in Washington, D.C.
Feb. 9th Actions Will Demand ‘Right to Return and Funds to
Rebuild’
WASHINGTON - December 29 - Survivors of Hurricane Katrina and their
supporters from around the country will converge on the
nation’s capitol on February 8th and 9th to demand more help
from lawmakers in the recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans and
the Gulf Coast.
The ACORN Katrina Survivors Association is organizing the caravan
and events to demand “the right to return and the funds to
rebuild.” Several hundred participants will march, rally, and
meet with lawmakers and officials to press for an immediate,
comprehensive and inclusive rebuilding plan and a voice for
low and moderate income hurricane survivors in the process.
“We are going to Washington to let the world people know how
the U.S. government has turned their back on us the ordinary
people of New Orleans who have worked hard all our lives,”
said Dorothy Stukes, spokesperson for the ACORN Katrina Survivors
Association. “Every Katrina survivor: get on board and
let’s fight for the help we need, and deserve, to return and
rebuild our homes and communities.”
Buses to the rally will depart from Baton Rouge, New Orleans, San
Antonio, Little Rock, and other cities housing displaced survivors,
arriving in Washington late in the day on February 8th. The rally
and other events will take place on February 9th and will be
co-sponsored by a variety of labor, faith and community allies.
Any Katrina survivor can take part in the trip for $50; other
fundraisers are being planned to help cover the remaining costs.
Anyone who wishes to participate should call the ACORN Hurricane
Hotline at 1-800-790-2290, email katrinarelief@acorn.org or contact
their local ACORN office. Visit www.acorn.org for more
information.
12/29/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded on Dec. 22, 2005, an
$11,378,124 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for the
Tube-Launched Optically-Tracked Wire-Guided Missile Bunker Busters.
Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be
completed by Nov. 31, 2008. Contract funds will not expire at the
end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract
initiated on July 15, 2002. The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile
Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity
(W31P4Q-04-C-0061).
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