Arpansa and "delay tactic" - HAARP-a weapons system which disrupts the climate - The grand chief Woableza tragedy - Fast for Freedom in Mental Health - GM Potato = Malnutrition - Mystery illness kills Missouri soldier - Bush: I'm responsible for using bad spy data - Army Of One - Greeks accuse Blair of war crimes in Iraq - Scientists still deny Iraqi arms programs - Voting fraud made easy - Progressives Must Join Forces For Victory In 2004
ARPANSA AND "DELAY TACTIC" IN FORMULATING RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
--------------------------------------------------------------
Would assist researchers in formulating research hypotheses
1. "Health complaints register" should be done 10 years before the introduction of the mobile telephone.
"ARPANSA written complaint" is the alleged investigation that should be done 10 years before to sell to the mass public "microwave emitter".
2. Wrong "Delay tactic" with more than 1,000,000,000,- mobile phone users.
Formal complaint presented in Luxembourg (24.2.2003):
We are not in time 10 years before, we are 10 years after the introduction of mobile telephony and with more than 1,000,000,000 users as guinea pigs.
3. First objective of the "Delay tactic"? Is not to protect user’s health: Is just to "study hypothesis" and will not be limited to telecommunications equipment
"would assist researchers in formulating research hypotheses"
"to help identify future areas of research into the effects of electromagnetic fields on people and the environment".
"in measures being adopted to minimise health risks associated with EMR."
SUMMARY "FORMULATING RESEARCH HYPOTHESES"
"Members of the public who believe they have suffered ill-effects as a result of exposure to EMR can now lodge a written complaint with a national database administered by ARPANSA.
1. Therefore, it is important to note that the register will not be limited to telecommunications equipment like mobile phones and broadcasting transmitters but will also include sources such as powerlines, induction heaters, microwave ovens and other personal, industrial and scientific EMR producing equipment."
2. to help identify future areas of research into the effects of electromagnetic fields on people and the environment.
3. would assist researchers in formulating research hypotheses ( in the range of 0-300 GHz)
Don’t gamble with our health!
Message from Dr Miguel Muntané
--------
Dear Klaus Rudolph,
I see you received the information I sent you. The letter from my school nurse is missing. I have now enclosed that information.
I am working on getting all WI schools checked for this problem. My superintendent is very happy with the results he is seeing with staff and students. He is also a person who answers all questions and encourages others to follow in the process.
Best wishes,
Angela Olstad
CHANGES NOTED SINCE FILTERS INSTALLED
-------------------------------------
In the years previous to the filters being installed, several children required inhalation treatments for their asthma in the spring and in the fall. Many of them required nebulizer treatments once or twice a day while at school. I have not had to administer one nebulizer treatment this past year and of the 37 students with inhalers, only three of them use the inhaler for their exercise-induced asthma before Phy Ed.
Teachers are stating they are less fatigued and tired. The sense of smell has come back for me. I lost it for three years and the doctors said it was my allergies.
The students seem to have more energy and appear and seem less tired.
Several staff who doctored regularly for allergies have not had to take medication or see their doctor because they are having less problems.
Students whom have been diagnosed with migraine headaches have had their headaches reduced no headaches at all.
I feel that our faculty and students have had improved health overall since the filters have been installed.
Char Sbraggia R.N.
District Nurse
--------
Sprint is coming to town; Berkeley, California
----------------------------------------------
Dear Fellows:
Perhaps by now, you know about the ongoing battle of Berkeley (California) residents with Sprint. This battle has been going on for the past nine months.
Today, neighbors in Berkeley have received letters saying that Sprint is coming to town to hold an info session for the public.
Well, they should have done this last November, not now.
We would like to seek your advice. What should we do? Should we go to the meeting? And in the meeting what questions should we raise?
If you are familiar with such info sessions by wireless providers, please let us know.
Thank you,
Radi
--------
HAARP - a weapons system which disrupts the climate
----------------------------------------------------
On 5 February 1998 Parliament's Subcommittee on Security and Disarmament held a hearing the subject of which included HAARP. NATO and the US had been invited to send representatives, but chose not to do so. The Committee regrets the failure of the USA to send a representative to answer questions, or to use the opportunity to comment on the material submitted.(21)
HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Project) is run jointly by the US Air Force and Navy, in conjunction with the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Similar experiments are also being conducted in Norway, probably in the Antarctic, as well as in the former Soviet Union.(22) HAARP is a research project using a ground based apparatus, an array of antennae each powered by its own transmitter, to heat up portions of ionosphere with powerful radio beams.(23) The energy generated heats up parts of the ionosphere; this results in holes in the ionosphere and produces artificial 'lenses'.
HAARP can be used for many purposes. Enormous quantities of energy can be
controlled by manipulating the electrical characteristics of the atmosphere. If used as a military weapon this can have a devastating impact on an enemy. HAARP can deliver millions of times more energy to a given area than any other conventional transmitter. The energy can also be aimed at a moving target which should constitute a potential anti-missile system.
The project would also allow better communications with submarines and
manipulation of global weather patterns, but it is also possible to do the reverse, to disrupt communications. By manipulating the ionosphere one could block global communications while transmitting one's own. Another application is earth-penetrating, tomography, x-raying the earth several kilometres deep, to detect oil and gas fields, or underground military facilities. Over-the-horizon radar is another application, looking round the curvature of the earth for in-coming objects.
From the 1950s the USA conducted explosions of nuclear material in the Van Allen Belts(24) to investigate the effect of the electro-magnetic pulse generated by nuclear weapon explosions at these heights on radio communications and the operation of radar. This created new magnetic radiation belts which covered nearly the whole earth. The electrons travelled along magnetic lines of force and created an artificial Aurora Borealis above the North Pole. These military tests are liable to disrupt the Van Allen belt for a long period. The earth's magnetic field could be disrupted over large areas, which would obstruct radio communications. According to US scientists it could take hundreds of years for the Van Allen belt to return to normal. HAARP could result in changes in weather patterns. It could also influence whole ecosystems, especially in the sensitive Antarctic regions.
Another damaging consequence of HAARP is the occurrence of holes in the
ionosphere caused by the powerful radio beams. The ionosphere protects us from incoming cosmic radiation. The hope is that the holes will fill again, but our experience of change in the ozone layer points in the other direction. This means substantial holes in the ionosphere that protects us.
With its far-reaching impact on the environment HAARP is a matter of global concern and we have to ask whether its advantages really outweigh the risks.
The environmental impact and the ethical aspect must be closely examined before any further research and testing takes place. HAARP is a project of which the public is almost completely unaware, and this needs to be remedied.
HAARP has links with 50 years of intensive space research for military
purposes, including the Star Wars project, to control the upper atmosphere and communications. This kind of research has to be regarded as a serious threat to the environment, with an incalculable impact on human life. Even now nobody knows what impact HAARP may have. We have to beat down the wall of secrecy around military research, and set up the right to openness and democratic scrutiny of military research projects, and parliamentary control.
A series of international treaties and conventions (the Convention on the
prohibition of military or any other hostile use of environmental modification techniques, the Antarctic Treaty, the Treaty on principles governing the activities of states in the exploration and use of outer space including the moon and other celestial bodies, and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea) casts considerable doubt on HAARP on legal as well as humanitarian and political grounds. The Antarctic Treaty lays down that the Antarctic may be used exclusively for peaceful purposes.(25) This would mean that HAARP is a breach of international law. All the implications of the new weapons systems should be examined by independent international bodies. Further international agreements should be sought to protect the environment from unnecessary destruction in war.
Impact of military activities on the environment
Not only military weapons systems but, by and large, all military activities, including peace-time exercises, have some form of environmental impact. However, when environmental destruction has been discussed, the role of the military has not in general been touched upon, only the impact of civilian society on the environment has been criticised. There are at least two explanations for this.(26) Owing to its secrecy, military activity is more difficult to discuss and it is difficult to set the nation's top priority - its security and defence - against the environment. At the present time, however, when environmental and natural disasters constitute a serious threat to security, these arguments are more dubious. The armed forces endeavour to prepare themselves in peace time for operations in war in as realistic conditions as possible. They therefore carry out their exercises under warlike conditions, which involves subjecting the environment to great stress. This is illustrated, for instance, by the withdrawal of Soviet troops and the abandoned military bases in Eastern and Central Europe which have left deep scars on the local environment. Military exercises entail widespread damage to the landscape and animal life. Troop exercises subject large tracts of land to extensive environmental destruction. Test sites for artillery and tactical missiles tend to require larger surfaces for military purposes. Likewise, production of munitions and the industry that manufactures military equipment cause widespread environmental problems.
The military is responsible for emissions of several gases affecting the climate, primarily carbon dioxide, but also incineration of fossil fuels and emissions of freons, which results in the depletion of the ozone layer.(27) Consumption of aviation fuel is a major source of emissions of acidifying substances such as nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxide. The armed forces account for much of all consumption of aviation fuel and are responsible for a very large proportion of all aviation emissions.(28) High-flying planes and rockets have a particularly damaging impact on the environment, both in the form of noise and fuel emissions. All rockets using solid fuel emit large quantities of hydrochloric acid in their exhaust emissions and every flight of a space shuttle injects around 75 tonnes of ozone-destroying chlorine. Likewise, noise from military exercises using heavy calibre ammunition may bring about environmental disruption.
Metal pollution is dispersed into the environment through shooting practice; often large quantities of small calibre ammunition containing lead is used and large quantities of lead are dispersed into the environment. Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive information about consumption of metals.
Consequences in the form of environmental problems caused by disarmament is only a recently observed phenomenon. Every year, large quantities of explosive substances are destroyed, mostly through industrial processes. Some ammunition cannot be destroyed in this way for various reasons but must be detonated. Obviously, scaling down is a necessary and positive process but it must be carried out in environmentally acceptable ways. Environmentally sound technology must be developed for the purpose of destroying weapons.
Several nations have already begun to exploit the opportunities for using
military-related resources to restore the environment destroyed by the armed forces. All other sectors in society have to take responsibility for the environment and the military sector should also do so. As in other sectors of society, environmental issues must form an integral part of the armed forces' activities and be incorporated in the decision-making and budgetary processes.
In May 1993, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) took a decision - 'application of environmental norms to military establishments' - to encourage national governments to enact national laws for the military sector. Finland, for example, has drawn up a green paper to regulate the impact of military activities on the environment. Sweden has followed suit.(29) In June 1996 Sweden, in conjunction with the USA, also drew up environmental guidelines for military activities.(30) The military should establish environmental targets and proposals for measures to help reduce the impact on the environment in accordance with Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration.(31) They should also submit reports identifying factors affecting the environment within the armed forces. Environmental impact assessments must be drawn up before new projects commence and when procuring material for civilian and military use.
Every government should take stock of its environmental requirements and identify the military resources which are available for environmental purposes, draw up national environment plans and report their experience to an appropriate body within the European Union and the United Nations.
All military personnel, including conscripts, should receive basic training in environmental matters. The US armed forces are considered to be quite advanced in this respect, particularly in terms of equipment, but also in regard to training. The European Union should cooperate and exchange experience in this sector with the USA to a greater extent.
Strategies for using military resources for environment-enhancing purposes
Prevention of environmental crises requires infrastructure, organisation and increased resources. These are available in the armed forces. Many resources within the military sector could be used to protect, improve and restore the environment. Essentially, this would be based on two stages: a stocktaking stage to assess the suitability of the military resources and a political action plan to guarantee their availability.
Obviously, military-related resources vary a great deal from one country to another but they comprise skilled personnel, engineers, sophisticated hi-tech equipment, organisational ability and military research and development. In many ways, the military sector is in a unique position to strengthen international civilian capacity to implement environmental strategies. Military personnel are wellequipped to intervene in the event of disasters. As distinct from civilian forces, the military are trained to carry out missions under extreme conditions. They can also be called out in the event of environmental accidents and to clear up and destroy high-grade toxic, radioactive and other hazardous substances.
The armed forces also possess a great quantity of information which can help in detecting changes in the atmosphere, the sea and in the earth's surface and thereby provide an early warning and forestall environmental disasters. Military satellites, aeroplanes, surface vessels and submarines are capable of collecting further information on climate changes and on currents and temperature changes in the sea. Radar, which was developed for military purposes, can be used for environmental objectives. Infrared radar can detect temperature changes in the earth's surface. For example, American military satellites have been used to establish the number of whales, classify them and save them.
Environmental problems are global in nature and international cooperation is therefore crucial to prevent future environmental disasters. Joint international work can also serve a 'dual' purpose; it can build confidence for the very reason that it is carried out jointly - countries assist each other. It can also enable countries to shoulder a reasonable amount of responsibility for the environment in proportion to their strength.(32) Some important areas for joint undertakings might be technology transfer, joint training and education.
Environmental strategies might comprise monitoring the earth's environment, evaluating the data collected, coordinating scientific work and disseminating information. As a special form of international aid, national resources should be made available to the EU and the UN so that they may be used on request by a country stricken by an environmental disaster. Environmental strategies must also include a global stocktaking of resources suitable for environmental protection.
A disaster force composed of both civilian and military personnel could be set up for deployment in emergency situations. Taking part in international peace-keeping and humanitarian missions is already an important task for the military. However, a distinction must be made between such missions within national boundaries and within another state's jurisdiction. Lessons can be learned from UN experiences in this respect and, clearly, exercises or deployment on the territory of another nation must take place in accordance with international laws. We should consider which resources can be made available to the UN or the European Union, temporarily, long-term or on a standby basis as instruments for joint cooperation in the event of environmental disasters and environmental crises.
Military bilateral and multilateral cooperation has increased tremendously. Within NATO, a DanishGerman-Polish force is being developed which it will also be possible to use for civilian disaster aid, in addition to having traditional tasks. It is expected to be operational by spring 1999.
http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2?SAME_LEVEL=1&LEVEL=4&NAV=X&PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A4-1999-0005+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN
Informant: Bernd Schreiner
--------
THE GRAND CHIEF WOABLEZA TRAGEDY
--------------------------------
READ ABOUT THE BRUTAL BEATING OF SIOUX SPIRITUAL LEADER ROBERT WOABLEZA LABATTE http://www.manataka.org/page200.html
--------
Fast for Freedom in Mental Health 8/16
--------------------------------------
NEWS RELEASE - 1 August 2003
More info pre-fast - David Oaks ph: 541-345-9106
During fast - Mickey Weinberg ph: 626-795-5525
http://www.MindFreedom.org ** please forward **
A Fast for Human Rights and Choice in Mental Health Begins 16 August 2003
Hunger Strikers Encourage Supporters to Contact American Psychiatric Association, National Alliance for Mentally Ill & Surgeon General
PASADENA, CALIF: On Sat., 16 August 2003 five former mental patients and a dissident social worker from throughout the United States will arrive in Pasadena, Calif. to begin a hunger strike to press for human rights and choice in Psychiatry: Fast for Freedom in Mental Health.
They charge that the pharmaceutical industry and psychiatry are medicalizing an ever-widening spectrum of human emotion and behavior for financial gain and self-interest, and are willing to deceive the public while they too frequently stigmatize, humiliate, and harm their clients in the process.
"The government gives virtually total support to a quick-fix, pill-pushing model of mental health at the expense of alternative, less invasive ways of helping people in emotional distress," asserts David Oaks, hunger striker and Executive Director of MindFreedom Support Coalition International.
The hunger strikers will subsist on a liquid only diet until the American Psychiatric Association (APA), The Surgeon General, and the National
Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) respond to seven challenges sent to them concurrent with this news release.
GO TO http://www.MindFreedom.org for the Fast for Freedom in Mental Health Statement, photos, cover letter, bios, announcement and more news.
Fourteen mental health academics and practitioners stand ready to review and reply to responses to the strikers' challenge. One, Loren Mosher, MD, former head of schizophrenia studies at the National Institute of Mental Health said, "What we are dealing with here is fashion, politics, and money... I want no part of a psychiatry of oppression and social control."
"The targets of our fast have muddied the waters of mental health for too long," said Mickey Weinberg, hunger striker and MindFreedom board member. "It's time they come clean. They claim science is on their side. We're just saying, 'prove it.'"
http://www.mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/hungerstrike.shtml
--------
GM Potato = Malnutrition
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GMPEM.php
--------
Mystery illness kills Missouri soldier
http://www.news-leader.com/today/0716-Mysteryill-108625.html
Army Of One
http://www.takebackthemedia.com/onearmy.html
Greeks accuse Blair of war crimes in Iraq
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1007837,00.html
Informant: George Paxinos
--------
Bush: I'm responsible for using bad spy data
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-07-30-bush_x.htm
Scientists still deny Iraqi arms programs
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5497-2003Jul30.html
Strange reactions
http://reese.king-online.com/Reese_20030801/index.php
Voting fraud made easy
http://www.libertyforall.net/2003/archive/aug2/voting.html
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
--------
Progressives Must Join Forces For Victory In 2004
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0723-01.htm
Informant: Carol Wolman
--------
Playing Make-Believe For War:Not the First Time
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/newsArticle.asp?id=927
--------------------------------------------------------------
Would assist researchers in formulating research hypotheses
1. "Health complaints register" should be done 10 years before the introduction of the mobile telephone.
"ARPANSA written complaint" is the alleged investigation that should be done 10 years before to sell to the mass public "microwave emitter".
2. Wrong "Delay tactic" with more than 1,000,000,000,- mobile phone users.
Formal complaint presented in Luxembourg (24.2.2003):
We are not in time 10 years before, we are 10 years after the introduction of mobile telephony and with more than 1,000,000,000 users as guinea pigs.
3. First objective of the "Delay tactic"? Is not to protect user’s health: Is just to "study hypothesis" and will not be limited to telecommunications equipment
"would assist researchers in formulating research hypotheses"
"to help identify future areas of research into the effects of electromagnetic fields on people and the environment".
"in measures being adopted to minimise health risks associated with EMR."
SUMMARY "FORMULATING RESEARCH HYPOTHESES"
"Members of the public who believe they have suffered ill-effects as a result of exposure to EMR can now lodge a written complaint with a national database administered by ARPANSA.
1. Therefore, it is important to note that the register will not be limited to telecommunications equipment like mobile phones and broadcasting transmitters but will also include sources such as powerlines, induction heaters, microwave ovens and other personal, industrial and scientific EMR producing equipment."
2. to help identify future areas of research into the effects of electromagnetic fields on people and the environment.
3. would assist researchers in formulating research hypotheses ( in the range of 0-300 GHz)
Don’t gamble with our health!
Message from Dr Miguel Muntané
--------
Dear Klaus Rudolph,
I see you received the information I sent you. The letter from my school nurse is missing. I have now enclosed that information.
I am working on getting all WI schools checked for this problem. My superintendent is very happy with the results he is seeing with staff and students. He is also a person who answers all questions and encourages others to follow in the process.
Best wishes,
Angela Olstad
CHANGES NOTED SINCE FILTERS INSTALLED
-------------------------------------
In the years previous to the filters being installed, several children required inhalation treatments for their asthma in the spring and in the fall. Many of them required nebulizer treatments once or twice a day while at school. I have not had to administer one nebulizer treatment this past year and of the 37 students with inhalers, only three of them use the inhaler for their exercise-induced asthma before Phy Ed.
Teachers are stating they are less fatigued and tired. The sense of smell has come back for me. I lost it for three years and the doctors said it was my allergies.
The students seem to have more energy and appear and seem less tired.
Several staff who doctored regularly for allergies have not had to take medication or see their doctor because they are having less problems.
Students whom have been diagnosed with migraine headaches have had their headaches reduced no headaches at all.
I feel that our faculty and students have had improved health overall since the filters have been installed.
Char Sbraggia R.N.
District Nurse
--------
Sprint is coming to town; Berkeley, California
----------------------------------------------
Dear Fellows:
Perhaps by now, you know about the ongoing battle of Berkeley (California) residents with Sprint. This battle has been going on for the past nine months.
Today, neighbors in Berkeley have received letters saying that Sprint is coming to town to hold an info session for the public.
Well, they should have done this last November, not now.
We would like to seek your advice. What should we do? Should we go to the meeting? And in the meeting what questions should we raise?
If you are familiar with such info sessions by wireless providers, please let us know.
Thank you,
Radi
--------
HAARP - a weapons system which disrupts the climate
----------------------------------------------------
On 5 February 1998 Parliament's Subcommittee on Security and Disarmament held a hearing the subject of which included HAARP. NATO and the US had been invited to send representatives, but chose not to do so. The Committee regrets the failure of the USA to send a representative to answer questions, or to use the opportunity to comment on the material submitted.(21)
HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Project) is run jointly by the US Air Force and Navy, in conjunction with the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Similar experiments are also being conducted in Norway, probably in the Antarctic, as well as in the former Soviet Union.(22) HAARP is a research project using a ground based apparatus, an array of antennae each powered by its own transmitter, to heat up portions of ionosphere with powerful radio beams.(23) The energy generated heats up parts of the ionosphere; this results in holes in the ionosphere and produces artificial 'lenses'.
HAARP can be used for many purposes. Enormous quantities of energy can be
controlled by manipulating the electrical characteristics of the atmosphere. If used as a military weapon this can have a devastating impact on an enemy. HAARP can deliver millions of times more energy to a given area than any other conventional transmitter. The energy can also be aimed at a moving target which should constitute a potential anti-missile system.
The project would also allow better communications with submarines and
manipulation of global weather patterns, but it is also possible to do the reverse, to disrupt communications. By manipulating the ionosphere one could block global communications while transmitting one's own. Another application is earth-penetrating, tomography, x-raying the earth several kilometres deep, to detect oil and gas fields, or underground military facilities. Over-the-horizon radar is another application, looking round the curvature of the earth for in-coming objects.
From the 1950s the USA conducted explosions of nuclear material in the Van Allen Belts(24) to investigate the effect of the electro-magnetic pulse generated by nuclear weapon explosions at these heights on radio communications and the operation of radar. This created new magnetic radiation belts which covered nearly the whole earth. The electrons travelled along magnetic lines of force and created an artificial Aurora Borealis above the North Pole. These military tests are liable to disrupt the Van Allen belt for a long period. The earth's magnetic field could be disrupted over large areas, which would obstruct radio communications. According to US scientists it could take hundreds of years for the Van Allen belt to return to normal. HAARP could result in changes in weather patterns. It could also influence whole ecosystems, especially in the sensitive Antarctic regions.
Another damaging consequence of HAARP is the occurrence of holes in the
ionosphere caused by the powerful radio beams. The ionosphere protects us from incoming cosmic radiation. The hope is that the holes will fill again, but our experience of change in the ozone layer points in the other direction. This means substantial holes in the ionosphere that protects us.
With its far-reaching impact on the environment HAARP is a matter of global concern and we have to ask whether its advantages really outweigh the risks.
The environmental impact and the ethical aspect must be closely examined before any further research and testing takes place. HAARP is a project of which the public is almost completely unaware, and this needs to be remedied.
HAARP has links with 50 years of intensive space research for military
purposes, including the Star Wars project, to control the upper atmosphere and communications. This kind of research has to be regarded as a serious threat to the environment, with an incalculable impact on human life. Even now nobody knows what impact HAARP may have. We have to beat down the wall of secrecy around military research, and set up the right to openness and democratic scrutiny of military research projects, and parliamentary control.
A series of international treaties and conventions (the Convention on the
prohibition of military or any other hostile use of environmental modification techniques, the Antarctic Treaty, the Treaty on principles governing the activities of states in the exploration and use of outer space including the moon and other celestial bodies, and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea) casts considerable doubt on HAARP on legal as well as humanitarian and political grounds. The Antarctic Treaty lays down that the Antarctic may be used exclusively for peaceful purposes.(25) This would mean that HAARP is a breach of international law. All the implications of the new weapons systems should be examined by independent international bodies. Further international agreements should be sought to protect the environment from unnecessary destruction in war.
Impact of military activities on the environment
Not only military weapons systems but, by and large, all military activities, including peace-time exercises, have some form of environmental impact. However, when environmental destruction has been discussed, the role of the military has not in general been touched upon, only the impact of civilian society on the environment has been criticised. There are at least two explanations for this.(26) Owing to its secrecy, military activity is more difficult to discuss and it is difficult to set the nation's top priority - its security and defence - against the environment. At the present time, however, when environmental and natural disasters constitute a serious threat to security, these arguments are more dubious. The armed forces endeavour to prepare themselves in peace time for operations in war in as realistic conditions as possible. They therefore carry out their exercises under warlike conditions, which involves subjecting the environment to great stress. This is illustrated, for instance, by the withdrawal of Soviet troops and the abandoned military bases in Eastern and Central Europe which have left deep scars on the local environment. Military exercises entail widespread damage to the landscape and animal life. Troop exercises subject large tracts of land to extensive environmental destruction. Test sites for artillery and tactical missiles tend to require larger surfaces for military purposes. Likewise, production of munitions and the industry that manufactures military equipment cause widespread environmental problems.
The military is responsible for emissions of several gases affecting the climate, primarily carbon dioxide, but also incineration of fossil fuels and emissions of freons, which results in the depletion of the ozone layer.(27) Consumption of aviation fuel is a major source of emissions of acidifying substances such as nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxide. The armed forces account for much of all consumption of aviation fuel and are responsible for a very large proportion of all aviation emissions.(28) High-flying planes and rockets have a particularly damaging impact on the environment, both in the form of noise and fuel emissions. All rockets using solid fuel emit large quantities of hydrochloric acid in their exhaust emissions and every flight of a space shuttle injects around 75 tonnes of ozone-destroying chlorine. Likewise, noise from military exercises using heavy calibre ammunition may bring about environmental disruption.
Metal pollution is dispersed into the environment through shooting practice; often large quantities of small calibre ammunition containing lead is used and large quantities of lead are dispersed into the environment. Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive information about consumption of metals.
Consequences in the form of environmental problems caused by disarmament is only a recently observed phenomenon. Every year, large quantities of explosive substances are destroyed, mostly through industrial processes. Some ammunition cannot be destroyed in this way for various reasons but must be detonated. Obviously, scaling down is a necessary and positive process but it must be carried out in environmentally acceptable ways. Environmentally sound technology must be developed for the purpose of destroying weapons.
Several nations have already begun to exploit the opportunities for using
military-related resources to restore the environment destroyed by the armed forces. All other sectors in society have to take responsibility for the environment and the military sector should also do so. As in other sectors of society, environmental issues must form an integral part of the armed forces' activities and be incorporated in the decision-making and budgetary processes.
In May 1993, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) took a decision - 'application of environmental norms to military establishments' - to encourage national governments to enact national laws for the military sector. Finland, for example, has drawn up a green paper to regulate the impact of military activities on the environment. Sweden has followed suit.(29) In June 1996 Sweden, in conjunction with the USA, also drew up environmental guidelines for military activities.(30) The military should establish environmental targets and proposals for measures to help reduce the impact on the environment in accordance with Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration.(31) They should also submit reports identifying factors affecting the environment within the armed forces. Environmental impact assessments must be drawn up before new projects commence and when procuring material for civilian and military use.
Every government should take stock of its environmental requirements and identify the military resources which are available for environmental purposes, draw up national environment plans and report their experience to an appropriate body within the European Union and the United Nations.
All military personnel, including conscripts, should receive basic training in environmental matters. The US armed forces are considered to be quite advanced in this respect, particularly in terms of equipment, but also in regard to training. The European Union should cooperate and exchange experience in this sector with the USA to a greater extent.
Strategies for using military resources for environment-enhancing purposes
Prevention of environmental crises requires infrastructure, organisation and increased resources. These are available in the armed forces. Many resources within the military sector could be used to protect, improve and restore the environment. Essentially, this would be based on two stages: a stocktaking stage to assess the suitability of the military resources and a political action plan to guarantee their availability.
Obviously, military-related resources vary a great deal from one country to another but they comprise skilled personnel, engineers, sophisticated hi-tech equipment, organisational ability and military research and development. In many ways, the military sector is in a unique position to strengthen international civilian capacity to implement environmental strategies. Military personnel are wellequipped to intervene in the event of disasters. As distinct from civilian forces, the military are trained to carry out missions under extreme conditions. They can also be called out in the event of environmental accidents and to clear up and destroy high-grade toxic, radioactive and other hazardous substances.
The armed forces also possess a great quantity of information which can help in detecting changes in the atmosphere, the sea and in the earth's surface and thereby provide an early warning and forestall environmental disasters. Military satellites, aeroplanes, surface vessels and submarines are capable of collecting further information on climate changes and on currents and temperature changes in the sea. Radar, which was developed for military purposes, can be used for environmental objectives. Infrared radar can detect temperature changes in the earth's surface. For example, American military satellites have been used to establish the number of whales, classify them and save them.
Environmental problems are global in nature and international cooperation is therefore crucial to prevent future environmental disasters. Joint international work can also serve a 'dual' purpose; it can build confidence for the very reason that it is carried out jointly - countries assist each other. It can also enable countries to shoulder a reasonable amount of responsibility for the environment in proportion to their strength.(32) Some important areas for joint undertakings might be technology transfer, joint training and education.
Environmental strategies might comprise monitoring the earth's environment, evaluating the data collected, coordinating scientific work and disseminating information. As a special form of international aid, national resources should be made available to the EU and the UN so that they may be used on request by a country stricken by an environmental disaster. Environmental strategies must also include a global stocktaking of resources suitable for environmental protection.
A disaster force composed of both civilian and military personnel could be set up for deployment in emergency situations. Taking part in international peace-keeping and humanitarian missions is already an important task for the military. However, a distinction must be made between such missions within national boundaries and within another state's jurisdiction. Lessons can be learned from UN experiences in this respect and, clearly, exercises or deployment on the territory of another nation must take place in accordance with international laws. We should consider which resources can be made available to the UN or the European Union, temporarily, long-term or on a standby basis as instruments for joint cooperation in the event of environmental disasters and environmental crises.
Military bilateral and multilateral cooperation has increased tremendously. Within NATO, a DanishGerman-Polish force is being developed which it will also be possible to use for civilian disaster aid, in addition to having traditional tasks. It is expected to be operational by spring 1999.
http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2?SAME_LEVEL=1&LEVEL=4&NAV=X&PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A4-1999-0005+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN Informant: Bernd Schreiner
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THE GRAND CHIEF WOABLEZA TRAGEDY
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READ ABOUT THE BRUTAL BEATING OF SIOUX SPIRITUAL LEADER ROBERT WOABLEZA LABATTE
http://www.manataka.org/page200.html --------
Fast for Freedom in Mental Health 8/16
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NEWS RELEASE - 1 August 2003
More info pre-fast - David Oaks ph: 541-345-9106
During fast - Mickey Weinberg ph: 626-795-5525
http://www.MindFreedom.org ** please forward ** A Fast for Human Rights and Choice in Mental Health Begins 16 August 2003
Hunger Strikers Encourage Supporters to Contact American Psychiatric Association, National Alliance for Mentally Ill & Surgeon General
PASADENA, CALIF: On Sat., 16 August 2003 five former mental patients and a dissident social worker from throughout the United States will arrive in Pasadena, Calif. to begin a hunger strike to press for human rights and choice in Psychiatry: Fast for Freedom in Mental Health.
They charge that the pharmaceutical industry and psychiatry are medicalizing an ever-widening spectrum of human emotion and behavior for financial gain and self-interest, and are willing to deceive the public while they too frequently stigmatize, humiliate, and harm their clients in the process.
"The government gives virtually total support to a quick-fix, pill-pushing model of mental health at the expense of alternative, less invasive ways of helping people in emotional distress," asserts David Oaks, hunger striker and Executive Director of MindFreedom Support Coalition International.
The hunger strikers will subsist on a liquid only diet until the American Psychiatric Association (APA), The Surgeon General, and the National
Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) respond to seven challenges sent to them concurrent with this news release.
GO TO
http://www.MindFreedom.org for the Fast for Freedom in Mental Health Statement, photos, cover letter, bios, announcement and more news. Fourteen mental health academics and practitioners stand ready to review and reply to responses to the strikers' challenge. One, Loren Mosher, MD, former head of schizophrenia studies at the National Institute of Mental Health said, "What we are dealing with here is fashion, politics, and money... I want no part of a psychiatry of oppression and social control."
"The targets of our fast have muddied the waters of mental health for too long," said Mickey Weinberg, hunger striker and MindFreedom board member. "It's time they come clean. They claim science is on their side. We're just saying, 'prove it.'"
http://www.mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/hungerstrike.shtml --------
GM Potato = Malnutrition
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GMPEM.php --------
Mystery illness kills Missouri soldier
http://www.news-leader.com/today/0716-Mysteryill-108625.html Army Of One
http://www.takebackthemedia.com/onearmy.html Greeks accuse Blair of war crimes in Iraq
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1007837,00.html Informant: George Paxinos
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Bush: I'm responsible for using bad spy data
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-07-30-bush_x.htm Scientists still deny Iraqi arms programs
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5497-2003Jul30.html Strange reactions
http://reese.king-online.com/Reese_20030801/index.php Voting fraud made easy
http://www.libertyforall.net/2003/archive/aug2/voting.html Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
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Progressives Must Join Forces For Victory In 2004
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0723-01.htm Informant: Carol Wolman
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Playing Make-Believe For War:Not the First Time
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/newsArticle.asp?id=927 
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