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From
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wash <wash@ecn.org>
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Date
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Mon, 20 Dec 1999 23:42:13 +0100
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Subject
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globe_l: [Fwd: Yeltsin puts missiles on red alert]
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Comite Tchetchenie a Ècrit :
> >From: bernard blanc <berblanc@club-internet.fr>
> >Reply-To: berblanc@club-internet.fr
>
> >C'est en anglais, mais c'est important. AmitiÈs. Bernard Blanc.
> >It's in english, sorry for the french readers, but it's essential. Best
> > >regards.
> >
> >Subject:
> > [DOEWatch] Yeltsin puts missiles on red alert
> > Date:
> > Sun, 12 Dec 1999 20:50:39 EST
> > From:
> > Magnu96196@aol.com
> > To:
> > doewatch@onelist.com
> >
> >
> >From: Magnu96196@aol.com
> >
> >Source:
> ><A
> >HREF="http://www.lineone.net/autonomy/cgi-bin/relatedlinks.cgi?/express/99/12/
> >11/news/n0400yeltsin-d.html+d-1+n6+h">http://www.lineone.net/express/99/12/11/
> >news/n0400yeltsin-d.html</A>
> >=======================================================
> >11 December, 1999
> >
> >Yeltsin puts missiles on red alert
> > >From Will Stewart in Moscow
> >
> >Boris Yeltsin put his most powerful nuclear missiles on full alert last
> >night
> >in what was seen as a dramatic warning to the West over Chechnya.
> >
> >The Kremlin deployed ten new Topol-M missiles - its newest, most
> >sophisticated and deadliest weapons - in a state of combat readiness.
> >
> >The move coincided with President Yeltsin's return to Russia after a
> >trip to
> >China, during which he hit back at criticism of his campaign in Chechnya
> >and
> >warned the West to keep its nose out. "Russia is a great power that
> >possesses
> >a full nuclear arsenal," he thundered in Beijing. "It is us who will
> >dictate."
> >
> >The West was told in advance of Russia's deployment, as dictated by
> >nuclear
> >treaty commitments. But the timing and the rarity of such a move amounts
> >to a
> >dramatic show of force designed to back Yeltsin's message.
> >
> >The intercontinental missiles - with a 6,200 mile range and capable of
> >striking Britain or America - were put in readiness in the Saratov
> >region,
> >400 miles south-east of Moscow.
> >
> >Russia publicly portrayed the move as a scheduled test of a new weapon,
> >which
> >replaces its SS-19 missiles, dating to the 1970s.
> >
> >But observers last night said the provocative timing could only be
> >linked to
> >the Chechen crisis - and Yeltsin's anger at the West's hostile reaction
> >to
> >his bloody military purge in the troubled region. Many Russian
> >politicians
> >and analysts say Yeltsin is too ill to rule Russia and have his finger
> >on the
> >trigger of the world's second largest nuclear power.
> >
> >In televised comments yesterday, even his wife Naina admitted that he
> >had
> >"never been in such a bad state as he is now" after a bout of pneumonia
> >which
> >followed a succession of health problems, including heart trouble.
> >
> >While putting Russia's missiles on alert is seen as posturing bluster,
> >Britain's foremost independent nuclear expert, John Large, warned it was
> >a
> >foolish manoeuvre, particularly in relation to the millennium bug, for
> >which
> >it is feared Russia is still ill-prepared.
> >
> >"There was an unwritten agreement for both Russia and the US not to
> >deploy
> >nuclear weapons before the Y2K period," he said.
> >
> >"Even if the weapons themselves are OK - which I very much doubt since
> >their
> >testing system has been effectively down and out for three years - they
> >would
> >have to work within the strategic defence system there which is full of
> >Y2K
> >glitches. There is no real need for it - it is a risk they don't need to
> >take.
> >
> >"I am not suggesting that these nuclear bombs will go off on their own,
> >but
> >we do expect to see the defence systems playing up a bit."
> >
> >The Topol-M missile is relatively small and can be transported on a
> >mobile
> >launch pad, meaning it would be hard to locate and take out in the first
> >strike of a nuclear confrontation.
> >
> >"Of the five nuclear powers, none of the others will match these weapons
> >in
> >the next few years," bragged Colonel-General Vladimir Yakovlev, Russian
> >forces commander. "Topol-M is able to breach any anti-missile system
> >that
> >exists in the world and any which will be built in the near future."
> >
> >The deployment came 24 hours ahead of today's deadline - set by Russia a
> >few
> >days ago - for people in the Chechen capital Grozny to "flee or perish".
> >
> >Moscow yesterday appeared to have extended the deadline for residents to
> >get
> >out of the ruined city. But the Kremlin immediately stung the West by
> >implying a new ultimatum to wipe out Grozny was on the way.
> >
> >The missile manoeuvre also came as Europe's leaders gathered for an EU
> >summit
> >in Helsinki.
> >
> >They were last night preparing to fire off a salvo of condemnation for
> >the
> >Russian offensive in Chechnya, which has seen thousands of civilians
> >killed
> >and tens of thousands of refugees spilling across the borders into
> >neighbouring Ingushetia.
> >
> >"It can't be business as usual while Russia continues with these actions
> >in
> >Chechnya," a British source said at the Helsinki summit. "I imagine
> >there
> >will be some words of condemnation."
> >
> >But little hard action was expected to back up the words. The West is
> >aware
> >that, in practical terms, there is little it can do to halt the Russian
> >offensive, though the EU is likely to shelve a science and technology
> >agreement and a £1.5 billion aid package to Russia in protest over the
> >action
> >in Chechnya.
> >
> >The nuclear deterrent on both sides of the old Iron Curtain is credited
> >with
> >maintaining peace since the end of the Second World War.
> >
> >But in recent months the post-Cold War nuclear consensus has collapsed
> >and
> >Russia and the US seem on the verge of a new arms race.
> >
> >=======================================================
> >
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> >-based near the cryptic named X-10 [god and ten commandments] and Y-12
> >[yahweh and disciples]
> >nuke weapons plants of the nuclear tabernacle of Oak Ridge.
> >
> >"If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky
> >That would be like the splendor of the Mighty one...
> >I am become Death, The shatterer of Worlds."
> >-Oppenheimer July 16, 45 at Trinity from 5,000 year old Bhagavad-Gita
> >
> >"We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world.
> >It may be the fire
> >destruction prophesized in the Euphrates Valley Era, after Noah and his
> >fabulous Ark. Anyway we
> >think we have found the way to cause the disintegration of the atom."
> > -Quote from Truman's diary July 25, 45 after Pottsdam and the "baby was
> >born" and grew into
> >"Little Boy" and "Fat Man" and the hydrogen bomb delivered by bomber
> >named "Dave's Dream."
> >Enola Gay's pilot, after Hiroshima, enters "My God' in the log.
> >
> >"The Doctor of the future will give No Medicine, but will interest his
> >patients in the care of
> >the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease."
> >-Attributed to Thomas Alva Edison
> >
> >"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary
> >act"
> >-George Orwell
> >
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>
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