Military - new material (36)
01 March 2001
Fit for intervention? - Die neuen sicherheitspolitische und militaerische Strukturen der EU
[The EU's new security and military structures]. AMI February 2001, pp49?53.
Die Rote Hilfe. no 1/2001, C 2778 F, pp30, 3,5DM.
This newsletter is published by the German defence and solidarity organisation Rote Hilfe, which campaigns against politically motivated prosecutions and follows legal developments in civil liberties issues. It covers recent developments in the use of the German Terrorist Act (para 129a StGB) against anti-racist and anti-fascist activists and this issues further focuses on militarism and the prosecution of conscientious objectors. It also includes a regular section on prisons and the criminalisation of the Kurdish community in Germany. Available from: Rote Hilfe Redaktion, Postfach 3255, 37022 Göttingen, Tel: 0049(0)174-477-9610, Fax: 0049(0)551-770-8009, redaktion@rote-hilfe.de, www.rote-hilfe.de.
“I didn't join the UN to kill kids”, Denis J Halliday. Red Pepper No 82 (April) 2001, pp18-19.
Halliday resigned from his position as United Nations assistant secretary-general and head of the UN's “oil-for-food” programme in Iraq in 1998 because he was “overseeing a policy of genocide.” He writes: “The reality is that the UN and the USA/UK pact are responsible for punishing the people, the children, of Iraq because they cannot find a means to punish the leadership in Baghdad.” Halliday has been campaigning against the policy ever since and in this article he spells out alternatives. Red Pepper, 1b Waterlow Road, London N19 5NJ; redpepper@redpepper.org.uk
The people zapper: this secret weapon doesn't kill, but it sure does burn, C Mark Brinkley. Marine Corps News 5.3.01.
Article on the US Marine corps' Vehicle-Mounted Active Denial System, a “non-lethal” weapon that fires “directed energy” at human targets to “stop them in their tracks”. Marine Colonel George Fenton says that “the energy, which falls near microwaves on the electromagnetic spectrum, causes the moisture in a person's skin to heat up rapidly, creating a burning sensation similar to a hot light bulb pressed against one's flesh.” If it is used “as directed”, he added, “the weapon causes no long-term problems”. The amount of time the weapon must be trained on an individual to cause permanent damage remains classified.
Alternative anti-personnel mines: the next generations. Landmine Action & German Initiative to Ban Landmines (March) 2001, pp80 (£8.50).
The report notes that, since the 1997 Ottowa Treaty banned the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of anti-personnel mines, NATO governments “are investing in alternative mines that could be just as dangerous and are continuing to manufacture and use others that act like anti-personnel mines.” It contains chapters on “Anti-vehicle mines with anti-personnel capabilities” and “Future alternative anti-personnel mines” and makes a number of recommendations. Landmine Action, 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP, UK; German Initiative to Ban Landmines, Rykestrasse 13, 10405 Berlin, Germany.
Privates on parade, Jim Carey. Red Pepper No 82 (April) 2001, pp22-23 & 34.
This article considers the “over £1 billion worth of private involvement in the British military” and the role of Halliburton, “a huge US-based transnational corporation whose tenticular involvement in UK services, both civilian and military, have reached sizeable proportions.” Halliburton's chief executive officer and chairman was Dick Cheney, until he stepped down last August to become US vice-president.
A new agenda for NATO, George Farebrother. The Blackaby Papers no 2 (Abolition 2000) 2001, pp16.
Considers the implications for the UK and NATO following the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review conference in New York last year. It raises 11 issues that “UK and NATO ministers and officials should address...” Available from Abolition 2000, 601 Holloway Road, London N19 4DY.
Parliamentary debate
C