Democracy Now! June 3, 2002

Program Title:
Democracy Now! June 3, 2002
Series Title:
PRA Archive #: 
PZ0450.176
Description: 

AS INDIA AND PAKISTAN POISE FOR WAR, A LOOK AT THE LEVEL OF DESTRUCTION A NUCLEAR BLAST COULD CAUSE

9:00-9:01 Billboard: As India and Pakistan poise for war, well talk about the level of destruction a nuclear blast could cause. Then, as Israel sweeps across the west bank, the US begins to take tips from Israel on tightening security And, fighting for a free media in Palestine: an interview with Palestinian journalist Daoud Kuttab. All that and more coming up. 9:01-9:06 Headlines: 9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break6: GOOD FOR THE WORLD - HARP w/Jeff Langley A Time to Sing (Appleseed CD www.appleseedrec.com) 20: WAR - Edwin Starr The Very Best of ... (Motown CD) 40: SUPERIMPOSITION/KAFI - Paranoise ISHQ (Ancient Records CD) End: SUPERIMPOSITION/KAFI - Paranoise 9:07-9:20 THE SUM OF ALL FEARS: AS INDIA AND PAKISTAN POISE FOR WAR, A LOOK AT THE LEVEL OF DESTRUCTION A NUCLEAR BLAST COULD CAUSE Russian President Vladimir Putin is heading international efforts to arrange a face-to-face meeting between the leaders of India and Pakistan at a regional security conference in Kazakhstan. Russia is a major supplier of arms to India. Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf says he wants dialogue, but India has flatly ruled out talks at any level until Pakistan stops incursions into the Indian-controlled Kashmir. In one hopeful sign, a senior Indian government official is quoted in todays press as saying India has intercepted communications from militant groups which suggest they have received an order from Pakistan to halt infiltration into Kashmir. But India's war secretary said over the weekend that his army has a "moral and legal right" to attack Pakistan. He said the Indian government is actively considering so-called "surgical strikes" and said the army could strike at three hours' notice. The Bush administration urged the 60,000 Americans now in India to leave immediately. Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, Belgium, Israel and South Korea have also issued similar warning, and the United Nations is evacuating the families of its staff. Guest: Dr. Mary-Wynne Ashford, MD. Ph.D., Co-President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW). Dr. Ashford took on an active role in nuclear disarmament in 1984 and became President of IPPNW's Canadian affiliate in the late 1980s. She has written and spoken extensively on disarmament issues in North America, Europe, the former Soviet Union, Japan, Australia, India, and Pakistan. She is the recipient of the Governor General's Medal for the 125 Anniversary of Canadian Confederation and the Simon Fraser University Gandhi Award. Fears of a nuclear attack are also rising here in the US. War Secretary Donald Rumsfeld helped set off panic when he warned recently that terrorists will soon obtain nuclear weapons and use them against the U.S. Three days later, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a warning, telling more than 100 nuclear power plants to 'be alert' for 'possible terrorist attacks' by small planes. Then came The Sum of All Fears, a Hollywood blockbuster in which neo-Nazi terrorists detonate a nuclear bomb during the super bowl. The bomb comes from the buried wreckage of an Israeli fighter jet, shot down in 1973. Nomadic Bedouin discover the bomb in the desert nearly three decades later. They sell the bomb to the neo-Nazis who arrange to smuggle it into Baltimore Harbor in a cigarette vending machine. The blast decimates Baltimore and sets in motion a misunderstanding between the US and Russia that builds towards nuclear war. It is up to one man to clear up the confusion before the two sides hurdle into World War III. The movie debuted at number one this weekend. Tape: The Sum of All Fears movie trailer Guest: Jonathan Parfry, executive director, Physicians for Social Responsibility. He also co-chairs the Southern California Environmental Executives Roundtable Contact: www.psr.org 9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break 9:21-9:40 AS ISRAEL SWEEPS ACROSS THE WEST BANK, THE US BEGINS TO TAKE TIPS FROM ISRAEL ON TIGHTENING SECURITY Israeli troops raided a West Bank refugee camp today and arrested hundreds of Palestinians. Tanks surrounded the Ain Beit Ilma refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, as jeeps and armored personnel carriers drove through the main street. Troops using loudspeakers called on all males between the ages of 15 and 50 to come out of their homes. Troops smashed their way through the walls of houses, and barred foreign journalists from entering. The Washington Post is reporting some 400 men were taken away in buses. Israeli-style security may come to the U.S. Two weeks ago, Israel's Shin Bet security service instructed a delegation from the New York Police Department on how to deal with suicide bombings. Law enforcement officials from Georgia and California have traveled to Israel over the last several weeks for seminars on security and to study an Israeli paramilitary border police unit. Israel plans to host a convention of US police commissioners sometime later this year. But while Israel's security forces are widely reputed to be among the best in the world, not everyone in Israel agrees that the country offers a model of how to reconcile security with democracy. Today we are joined by two people Shlomo Dror has been spokesman for the Israeli defense ministry and spokesman for an Israeli government agency responsible for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He joined the Shin Bet, Israels security force, 23 years ago and has been in charge of security for embassies and El Al airline on three continents. Shortly after September 11th, Dror joined with US partners with experience in the Marines and CIA to form New World Security, a New York-based company that offers advice on securing buildings and air travel. Guest: Shlomo Dror, Israeli security specialist and founder of the new US-based home security company, New World Security. Guest: Hashem Mahameed, member of the Israeli Knesset for the left-leaning Hadesh party Contact: www.knesset.gov.il 9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break 9:41-9:58 FIGHTING FOR A FREE MEDIA IN PALESTINE: AN INTERVIEW WITH PALESTINIAN JOURNALIST DAOUD KUTTAB The new director of the Israel Broadcasting Authority Yosef Barel banned the use of the term "settlers" from the airwaves late last week. The instructions to editors came after the Environmental Affairs Minister told Barel he should put an end to the frequent use of the term 'settler' in the IBAs radio and television broadcasts. Meanwhile, the Washington Post is reporting that Israel has laid the foundations for some 40 new settlements in the past few months alone. Today we are going to talk to Daoud Kuttab, a Palestinian journalist who has spent his life fighting for a free media in Palestine. Kuttab has a long history of fighting censorship by the Israeli authorities. He was the first Palestinian to conduct interviews with Israeli leaders like Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, while reporting for the Arabic-language daily, Al-Quds in the early nineties. Kuttab was repeatedly arrested and searched by the Israeli authorities for participation in public demonstrations against Israeli press censorship. In 1994 Yasser Arafat ordered Al-Quds to stop publishing Kuttabs columns after he led independent journalists in a protest against the banning of Al-Nahar, Jerusalems only other Arabic-language daily at the time. Al-Quds gave in, and fired Kuttab. But he refused to be silenced. Kuttab continued to write critical pieces for the international press, including the New York Times and the Washington Post. But the censorship is an ongoing pattern. During the occupation of Ramallah in April, Israeli forces took over Al Quds Educational Television, a project of Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University in Jerusalem, where Kuttab is the director. They took the station off the air and destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment before they left. Guest: Daoud Kuttab, Palestinian journalist and director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University in Jerusalem. IN STUDIO Contact: www.alquds.edu 9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits

Date Recorded on: 
June 3, 2002
Date Broadcast on: 
June 3, 2002
Item duration: 
59 min.
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Distributor: 
WPFW; Amy Goodman, host. June 3, 2002
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