Nexus - 0105 - New Times Magazine-pages

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ewarvrtd r : All The News That Fits "White Imprisoned Rose' An Anti-Nuclear 'Monkey-Wrencher' is Denied International Law Precedents A US. woman has been imprisoned for | microchips over the floor before dancing single-handedly destroying an experi- | all over them. She emptied fire mental global nuclear missile station. extinguishers into equipment before Katya Komisaruk, 29, was sentenced | turning it on to complete her two-hour to 5 years jail and US$500,000 “restitu- | rampage. tion” in January on charges of sabotage | Still no-one came. “Finally I got bored and destruction of government property. | and wastired,so I went to the bathroom, Early on the morning of June 2nd | fixed my hair, washed my face and then 1987, the Detroit business graduate hiked | packed my tools and left,” she said. through hills to thethree-metre chain link Turned Herself In barbed wire fence surrounding Vanden- berg Air Force Base in Southern Califor- Katya hitchhiked home and rang the air nia. Carrying her teddy bear, Judas Mac- | force base to confess a few hours later, cabaeus, and a backpackcontaining tools, | after blowing her whistlein triumph. She padlock, spray-paints, maps, box of bis- | was arrested by the FBI at a press confer- >. cuits, whistle and bouquet of flowers, she | ence the next day at which she stated, She called her action the White Rose approached the top-secret floodlit com- “NAVSTAR is a very dangerous aspect | Action after a group of German univer- munications centre of NAVSTAR (Navi- | of our first-strike policy. It’s better to destroy sity students who protested against gation System Time & Ranging)-acrucial | 4 few machines than let those machines help Hitler, who were caught and executed. murder millions of people. I feel really con- guidence system duesta) begin) hull |) a ngd about the (ersibsesinllarity Belween Defenceless operation in 1991, the state of my government now and the state : ; . Unguarded Secrets of Germany during the Third Reich.” She However, ina disturbing turn of events had become frustrated with attending | her judge ruled that Katya couldn’t ex- rallies and writing letters with no appar- | plain her motivestothe jury as part of her ent result. defence - nor describe the function of the ” 1 “Since I’ve been a little girl I’ve planned | FIRST-STRIKE equipment she had de- Thave no gun, you must have lots. Let’s |. navea child. But what good iaitif my child | stroyed - nor explain why she believed not be hasty, no cheap shots. Have a | ; " ish i 1 ? 7 - ‘ : + | is going to perish in a nuclear blast... destroying the mainframe was valid cookie and a nice day.” Padlocking the 4 decided that the thing to do to prepare | ji nder international law gates behind her, she hoped “they would | for the child, to be responsible, was to make She has b: f id Reh Sid Svar be delayed defusing the cookie box.” areally strong statement for peace and physi- getline 4 oe ane wails Following clearly-marked signs reading | Cally disarm some of the system so the world foranappeal to be heard, which may take NAVSTAR, she broke into the main | Would be a bit safer and I could raise my | 10 months. child with a clear conscience.” “I am frightened,” she said, “not so Released on $10,000 bail, she hoped to | much about being hurt physically in base her defence on the Nuremberg Prin- | prison, but afraid of becoming less trust- ciple - initiated by the US against the | ing, less warm, less open, just in order to NAZIs in WWII - which states that aciti- | survive.” Finding the main gates of the Air Force’s third-largest base open and unguarded, she left the biscuit box and a note which read; computer building past notices reading “Electronic alarm system in operation”, Katya climbed a tower to the main radar dish and antennae and destroyed them with drill and hammer. Sheclimbed down, still seeing no-one, and, after zen has the duty to interfere with their For info or support contact the Katya spraying international law slogans on the goverment Fit is/preparing toraiwarot | pmisarel Defence Goieatioa, 1716 Kelton Sein B aggression or crime against humanity. St, San Francisco Ca 94134. walls, spilled hundreds of computer The New Hot Line US-Soviet relations have thawed re- | that accidental launches, unauthorized markably in the wake of the recent sum- | launches by deranged individuals, mis- mits -anewcomputerlink,thebrainchild | sile accidents and nuclear terrorism area of Democratic Senator Sam Nunn, con- | greater nuclear danger than deliberate nects Washington and Moscow, replac- | attack. The first task of the Nuclear Risk ing the old Hot Line set up in 1963. Reduction Centre in Washington will be Computer messages are sent daily be- | to exchange information crucial to carry- tween the State Department and the | ingouttheINF treaty. Data willbesenton Kremlin. Thisisajointeffort by thesuper- | exact numbers and locations of missiles, powers to prevent miscalculation and | as well as details of on-site verification misinterpretation of data that might acci- | visits by Russians inspecting American dentally trigger a nuclear confrontation. | sites and vice versa - this makes mass de- Many war strategy experts believe | nuclearisation a real possibility. NEXUS New Times Five - Winter 1988 ae