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On March 25, the Bipartisan Task Force on Non-Proliferation of the US Congress will host a panel on The Biological Weapons Convention: Relevance for International and National Security.
The Bipartisan Security Group (a program of the Global Security Institute) has organized this panel, which includes:
Ambassador Jim Leonard, former head of the US delegation to and lead negotiator of the creation of the BWC;
Professor Barry Kellman of Depaul University who is also Director of the International Weapons Control Center; and
Suzanne Spaulding, chairperson of the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security and former executive director of the National Commission on Terrorism and of the US Commission to Assess the Organization of the Federal Government to Combat the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
For further information, contact BSG Director Ambassador Robert T. Grey Jr. at 202-543-9017.
Posted by zack_allen
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March 21, 2003
2002 Annual Report
During this time of war, we must “refuse to accept the cynicism and despair that crushes hope and vision.” I invite you to join the Nobel Peace Laureates, who at a recent gathering in Rome affirmed strongly “our common humanity and capacity to work cooperatively, informed by compassion and inspired by love. Our humanity demands this.”
In today’s world, there is no substitute for cooperation, democracy, law, moral principles, and diplomacy. These principles, at a minimum, require the fulfillment of treaty obligations, particularly in the area of nonproliferation. Yet, even though billions of people are urging this rational course, government policies are contemplating the unthinkable — the use of nuclear weapons.
The utter unacceptability of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction must be ensured. Help us change the policies that threaten the use of these horrific devices; such threats only stimulate their proliferation, fostering rather than quelling the various crises in which we are enmeshed.
We at GSI have redoubled our efforts in response to these threats: with our expanded team of leaders our capacity for practical and effective advocacy has dramatically increased. Enclosed please find a report on our programs and activities in 2002. May this report be a source of inspiration and hope to you.
GSI has the ability, the track record, and the access to world leaders required to make a significant contribution. We make a difference. Our practical advocacy is effective. Let the sound of the guns of war strengthen our resolve to work together.
We invite you to join us. Your support is crucial to this effort.
Very truly yours,
Jonathan Granoff
President
Posted by zack_allen
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March 10, 2003
GSI Press Conference at UN: Former U.S. Diplomats Deeply Concerned
Photo: Amb. W. vanden Heuvel (U.S. ret.), J. Leonard (U.S. ret.), R. Grey (US ret.); J. Granoff (GSI)
United Nations — Former senior U.S. diplomats discussed the Iraq crisis and U.S. policy yesterday at UN headquarters here in New York at a press conference organized by the Global Security Institute (GSI) and the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA). More than 40 reporters from the New York Times, The Washington Post, the Associated Press, Reuters and other domestic and international media outlets attended.
The focus of the press conference was the importance of multilateral cooperation in achieving security globally and with particular reference to Iraq and the extreme hazards created by unilateralism.
“The case has not been made that the U.S. should take action alone [against Iraq],” said director of GSI’s Bipartisan Security Group Ambassador Robert Grey Jr. and former U.S. Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, who as part of a distinguished foreign service career, was intimately involved in creating the multilateral coalition that prosecuted the first Gulf War. “What’s at stake here is the system that we so patiently built up over the past 60 years. We are looking at long-term damage to treaties, damage far greater than Saddam.”
Ambassador James Leonard, former Deputy U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN, emphasized the need for effective diplomacy. “Although in the end Saddam has got to go, strengthened diplomacy must first be pursued through the Security Council.” As part of enhanced restraints on Iraq, he suggested that the Security Council endorse and extend no-fly zones in Iraq and reduce permitted range of missiles in Iraq below the current 150 kilometers.
Ambassador William J. vanden Heuvel, former Deputy Permanent Representative of the U.S. to the UN and former U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, dismissed the President’s recent statement about the UN risking making itself irrelevant as “demagoguery.” As the Associated Press reported: “For those in the United Nations who refuse to support force,” vanden Heuvel said, “we still have the option of going immediately to the General Assembly and putting it to a vote of the world.” He was referring to the uniting for peace resolution, passed in 1950 to stop North Korean Communist troops from invading South Korea, which allows the General Assembly to meet in emergency session and vote on a course of action if the Security Council is unable to establish peace and security.
GSI President Jonathan Granoff, who was moderator of the discussion, asked, “how does the U.S. Administration plan to obtain the necessary cooperation needed to address environmental degradation, gender equity, global warming or the struggle against terrorism, if the U.S. doesn’t build stronger international cooperation? Will we solve these crises alone?”
Let us not forget, he said, “President Bush is bound by the U.S. Constitution (Article 6, Clause 2) to act in accordance with ratified treaties, and the rules governing use of force, the constraints of the UN system, thus apply to U.S. conduct.”
“Iraq is essentially about disarmament of weapons of mass destruction,” Granoff said. “The U.S. is actually threatening to use nuclear weapons in response should Iraq use chemical weapons. According to the CIA, the likelihood of such use is heightened by a U.S. unilateral use of force. What kind of logic has led us to threaten to kill millions of innocent civilians — 50% of whom are children — in an effort to liberate them from the mafiocracy of Saddam Hussein? We should be working to eliminate not increase nuclear threats.”
Vanden Heuvel pointed out that much of the “policy-making relating to the American position in the UN has been made by people who are fundamentally hostile to multilateral treaties and to the United Nations.”
The event was extensively covered by international media.
Reported by Nadine Kjellberg.
Posted by zack_allen