Nexus - 0704 - New Times Magazine-pages

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8. Planned "Star Wars" Weapons in Space Violate International Treaty The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 bans the deployment of space weapons of mass destruction. Recently, US Congress ignored the further need for such a treaty and approved the development of the US Military's Space Command Weapons program. This sud- den shift of viewpoint coincides with the complete absence of any foreign government competition, and with the increase in the abil- ity of the US to use satellite surveillance effectively in military campaigns. The proposed system is designed to extend control of space far beyond the outer boundaries of the Earth's atmosphere. To prevent deployment of any adversarial country's satellites, the Pentagon is well along in its research and development of an anti- satellite weapons program. The re-emergence of a "Star Wars" weapon system is echoed in the words of General Joseph Ashly, Commander-in-Chief of the US Space Command: "It's politically sensitive but it's going to happen...we are going to fight from space and we are going to fight into space." Concerned with the possibility of nuclear contamination of the atmosphere from satellite break-up, the European Space Agency has urged the US to utilise solar power to fuel military space command modules. Sources: Karl Grossman (kgrossman@ hamptons.com), "US Violates World Law to Militarize Space", Earth Island Journal, Winter/Spring 1999; Bruce K. Gagnon (globalnet@mindspring. com), "Pyramids to the Heavens", Toward Freedom, September/ October 1999. 10. The US and NATO Deliberately Started the War with Yugoslavia The US and NATO pushed for war with Yugoslavia by demanding full military occupation of the entire country as a con- dition of not bombing. Belgrade could not accept the US-drafted two-part Rambouillet ultimatum, not only because it was a thinly veiled plan to detach Kosovo from Serbia, but also because it con- tained provisions even worse than loss of that historic province— provisions no sovereign country in the world could possibly accept. Unreported in the mainstream media was the fact that when Serbia rejected the treaty it also passed a resolution declar- ing its willingness to negotiate Kosovo's self-management. For months, the Serbian Government offered to negotiate. High-level government teams made many trips to Pristina to hold talks with Ibrahim Rugova and other non-violent ethnic Albanians. The Albanians refused to negotiate, for fear of going against the rising rebel movement, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which was hostile to any compromise and ready to assassinate "traitors" who dealt with Serbs. Sources: Jason Vest (ashenden6@aol.com), "The Real Rambouillet", The Village Voice, 18 May 1999; Seth Ackerman, "Redefining Diplomacy", Extra, July/August 1999 and "What Was the War For?", In These Times, 8 August 1999; Diana Johnstone (107764.116@compuserve.com), "Hawks and Eagles: 'Greater NATO' flies to Aid of 'Greater Albania’, Covert Action Quarterly, Spring-Summer 1999; Amy Goodman (host), Democracy Now, Pacifica Radio Network, 23 April 1999, www.Pacifica.org. 11. America’s Largest Nuclear Test Exposed Thousands Thirty years ago, Amchitka, Alaska, was the site of three large underground nuclear tests, including the most powerful nuclear explosion ever detonated by the United States. Despite claims by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Pentagon that the test sites would safely contain the radiation released by the blasts for thousands of years, independent research by Greenpeace and newly released documents from the Department of Energy (DoE) show that the Amchitka tests began to leak almost immediately. The blast ruptured the crust of the earth, sucking a creek into a brand new aquifer—a radioactive one. Highly radioactive ele- ments and gases poured out of the collapsed test shafts, leached into the groundwater and worked their way into ponds, creeks and the Bering Sea. 9. Louisiana Promotes Toxic Racism Contained within the boundaries of a 100-mile [161-km] stretch of land between Baton Rouge and New Orleans are seven oil refineries and 175 heavy industrial plants. The area is locally called "Cancer Alley". The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that the majority of the 23 million pounds of toxic waste released into the air are in two zip-code areas, primarily inhabited by African-Americans. A 1992 National Law Journal investigation found that even when the government enforces the environmental regulations against companies in violation, the fines levied in these areas are significantly lower than those levied in white communities. Prompted by an increase in public awareness, President Clinton signed an executive order in 1993 to open an investigation into the impact of the petrochemical industry's prac- tices in these communities of colour. Despite the rhetoric, little has changed amongst the targeted commu- nities. On the contrary, the State of Louisiana has run full-page promo- tional ads in the Wall Street Journal, promising significant incentives for large corporate industries to relocate to the state, and touting the state's pas- sage of tort reform legislation that limits the liability of companies which lose negligence suits and restricts the ability of citizens to file claims against "these protected companies". Source: Ron Nixon (ronn@ roanoke.com), "Toxic Gumbo", Southern Exposure, Summer/Fall 1998. fe JUNE — JULY 2000 NEXUS - 19