Nexus - 0601 - New Times Magazine-pages

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... GLOBAL NEWS ... NEWS Clinton's intervention has outraged British MPs and environmentalists who accuse the US President of intruding in a sensitive domestic matter. The Clinton administration has close links with Monsanto, the powerful biotech- nology conglomerate which develops seeds for GM crops. Monsanto, which made a profit of almost US$300 million (£177 million) in 1997, is one of five companies spearhead- ing Clinton's welfare-to-work program, and the President singled out the biotech company for praise during his 1997 State of the Nation address. During the 1996 election, Monsanto was among those donating thousands of dollars in 'soft money’ (legal funds which are not included in the ban on corporate dona- tions) to the Clinton camp. Meanwhile, in a package of measures designed to leave the door open to the powerful biotechnology industry and at the same time reassure consumers, the British Government announced in late October that no commercial growing of GM crops would be allowed before autumn 1999. This is far short of the three-year mora- torium called for by environment, health and consumer groups. The government will allow six farms to grow GM crops on a commercial basis under strict ecological monitoring to establish the effects of wide- scale planting. However, the government is to ban commercial growing of insect- resistant crops for three years. (Sources: The Independent on Sunday, London, 6 September 1998; The Guardian Weekly, w/e 1 November 1998) acknowledge Echelon's existence. But since 1988, investigative journalists and privacy watchdogs have uncovered details of a secret, powerful system that can allegedly intercept any and all communica- tions within Europe. The Green Party believes the resolution to defer its decision on Echelon, pending further investigation, was influenced by pressure from the US Government which has tried to keep the system secret. Echelon is said to be principally operat- ed by the US National Security Agency and its UK equivalent, the Government Communications Headquarters. It report- edly also relies on cooperation with other intelligence agencies in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. (Source: by Niall McKay, Wired News, www.wired.com, 10 October 1998) copter into the smouldering rubble and car- rying off debris in unmarked trucks. Police videotapes were erased before investigators had a chance to review them, and vital details of the cargo's hazardous contents were kept secret for years, until recently. The investigation of the disaster, which took at least 43 lives on the ground and four more aboard the Boeing 747 jet, now looks to be either a monumental bungle or a textbook cover-up. But if Israeli or Dutch officials con- spired to hide the full extent of the risks to which those in the crash area were exposed, they overlooked an important source of evidence: the survivors. Six years after the crash in the densely populated Bijlmermeer district, at least 1,200 residents and rescue workers are complaining of physical and psychological ailments they fear were caused by some- thing carried in the El Al cargo hold. With the disclosure this month that the jet carried sarin components, passions have flared among sick residents and their baf- fled doctors. A Dutch parliamentary inquiry has been ordered to try to discover the truth about the disaster. (Sources: The Guardian Weekly, London, w/e II October 1998; Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com, 13 October 1998) CRASHED ISRAELI JET CARRIED TOXIC CARGO mong the substances now known to ave burned in the inferno of the Israeli El Al cargo jet, which crashed into an Amsterdam apartment block in 1992, were 800 pounds of depleted uranium and three of the four chemicals needed to make sarin, including about 50 gallons of dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP). As sirens wailed and flashing lights swept the fiery wreck- age of the 12- storey block, the ‘black box' A cockpit voice recorder dis- 4 Ko appeared from the evidence bin where -_ firefighters insist they put it. Five hours into the rescue effort, after Dutch security police had cleared the Q crash site of 7 oN EU DROPS INVESTIGATION INTO 'ECHELON' SPY NETWORK Ihe European Parliament has swept aside concerns about alleged surveil- lance and spying activities conducted in the region by the US Government, accord- ing to a Green Party representative of the body quoted on Monday (5 October). Specifically, the EU allegedly scuttled parliamentary debate late last September concerning the Echelon surveillance sys- tem. Echelon is a near-mythical intelli- gence network operated in part by the National Security Agency. "The whole discussion was completely brushed over," said Patricia McKenna, a Green Party member of the European Parliament. The US Government has refused even to emergency workers and press, men in white hooded firesuits were seen jumping from a heli- NEXUS -7 DECEMBER 1998 - JANUARY 1999