Puppeteering the NPT
Young Canadian activist Ray Acheson went to Vienna for a Nuclear Proliferation Treaty PrepCom session. Despite the rigidity of the agenda, and the reluctance of state delegations to listen to one another, she was heartened to find that some delegates actually did want to listen to civil society voices.
Urgent Need for New Thinking on Regulating Nuclear Energy
Like it or not, a nuclear power renaissance is underway, notes Adele Buckley. International bodies have a responsibility to deal not just with proliferation risks but also with waste disposal and the exhaustion of existing uranium reserves. She sees the IAEA as a good agency for regulating the safety of nuclear power plants, which may be with us a long time to come.
Genes, Global Warming, and Bread
M. S. Swaminathan, President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, is renowned as the "father of India's green revolution." He talks with Peace editor Metta Spencer about genetics, Gandhi's principles, India's organic farming future, ethanol, global warming, the collapse of the Doha Round and its implication for Third World farmers.
The Global Issues Project
A Science for Peace group is testing strategies which might make global collapse avoidable. Derek Paul describes the workings of the Global Systems Simulator.
Technology for Peacekeeping
War-fighting armies have access to cutting-edge technology for communications, intelligence-gathering, and rapid response. These technologies are sparsely used in UN peacekeeping missions, although they are often a perfect fit in terms of cost-efficiency, force protection, and confidence-building measures, argues Walter Dorn.
Pugwash and the Bomb
Pugwash began because of concern about nuclear weaponry, writes Metta Spencer, and that is still the major topic of its conferences, a major "back-channel" for discussions among scientists who could influence arms control negotiations and new thinking about disarmament, especially in Gorbachev's day.
Peace and Humor
Have you heard the one about the senator who serenaded Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams? Or the one about Gorbachev's 100 economic advisers? Dietrich Fischer writes on the use of jokes and stories to cut tension and force antagonists to take a new look at their conflicts.
The Tragedy of Child Soldiers
Forcibly conscripted at a young age, child soldiers often face discrimination when they return to their homes. George Bryjak surveys the abuse of child fighters by state and non-state armies alike.
Reviews : Mark Kurlansky, Nonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea, reviewed by James Young; Michael Nickerson, Life, Money & Illusion: Living on Earth as if We Want to Stay, reviewed by John Bacher; Freeman Dyson, The Scientist as Rebel, reviewed by Melville Watkins.
Newsworthy: Department of Peace proposed; Aung San Suu Kyi's House Arrest Extended; Ulanbaatar meet wants NWFZ in northeast Asia; Lawsuit against US Navy for harming whales
The Peace Crossword (in Litsoft .puz format)
