Interesting development
January 4/99 Japan's Justice Minister blasts U.S. economic practices TOKYO (AP) - Japan's outspoken justice minister today accused the United States of relying on military threats to protect its economic market, Kyodo news agency reported. ``America's free-market economy, is not free,'' Justice Minister Shozaburo Nakamura was quoted as saying in a New Year's greeting to ministry officials and prosecutors. ``It is the kind of freedom that can let loose atomic bombs and missiles when another country looks to be winning.'' Ministry officials were not available for comment late today. Nakamura, 64, also criticized the United States for ``threatening'' countries with trade laws that allow Washington to impose sanctions on trading partners whose practices it deems unfair. Tokyo has long been under pressure from Washington to open up its markets and trim its trade surplus with the United States. For October 1998, the U.S. trade deficit with Japan shot up by 17.8 percent to $6 billion, the biggest gap since March 1995. Nakamura is a former businessman who has been elected seven times to Japan's lower house. He has been a member of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's Cabinet since July. Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
RE: Double postings from yours truly?
All postings seem to elicit the reply found by Mike. 'achablittclarck' seems to not exist anymore yet we seem unable to remove that name from the FW list. So please accept this little idiosyncrasy of FW. Out there in the ether is achbilttclarck and this message will come back to all who post. Disregard it. All it means is that the FW server has got your message and is sending it out to the list. arthur cordell -- From: Mike Hollinshead To: Cordell, Arthur: DPP Subject: RE: Double postings from yours truly? Date: Saturday, January 02, 1999 5:56PM Arthur, I double posted recently because the first time I posted I received this message saying it was undeliverable Status: U Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 15:19:05 -0500 Subject: NDN: Krugman and the Austrians X-FC-Icon-ID: 2031 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Mailer-Daemon) MIME-Version: 1.0 Sorry. Your message could not be delivered to: achablittclark,TEdNet (The name was not found at the remote site. Check that the name has been entered correctly.). Maybe other people were double posting for the same reason. Mike Yes. Just in the last few days. We'll check it out. thanx -- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Double postings from yours truly? Date: Thursday, December 31, 1998 3:43PM I'm getting double postings back of stuff I put up onto this list - are they coming up to anyone else as double postings? Let me know, please. Malcolm
Re: Interesting development
- Original Message - From: Cordell, Arthur: DPP [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Futurework [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, January 04, 1999 5:57 AM Subject: Interesting development January 4/99 Japan's Justice Minister blasts U.S. economic practices TOKYO (AP) - Japan's outspoken justice minister today accused the United States of relying on military threats to protect its economic market, Kyodo news agency reported. People are sick of the Back to the Cold War: --- Global Intelligence Update Red Alert January 4, 1999 1999 Annual Forecast: A New and Dangerous World SUMMARY * Russia will begin the process of recreating old Soviet empire in 1999. The most important question of 1999: will Ukraine follow Belarus into federation with Russia? * Russia and China will be moving into a closer, primarily anti- American alliance in 1999. * Asian economies will not recover in 1999. Japan will see further deterioration. So will China. Singapore and South Korea will show the strongest tendency toward recovery. * China will try to contain discontent over economic policies by increasing repression not only on dissidents, but the urban unemployed and unhappy small business people. Tensions will rise. * Asia will attempt to protect itself from U.S. economic and political pressures. Asian economic institutions, like an Asian Monetary Fund, will emerge in 1999. * The Serbs, supported by the Russians, will test the United States in Kosovo. There is increasing danger of a simultaneous challenge from Serbia and Iraq, straining U.S. military capabilities dramatically. * The main question in Europe will be Germany's reaction to the new Russia. The Germans will try to avoid answering that question for most of the year. * Latin America appears ready to resume its economic expansion, beginning late in 1999. FORECAST The Post-Cold War world quietly ended in 1998. A new era will emerge in 1999. It will appear, for a time, to be not too dissimilar to what came before it, but looks can be deceiving. In fact, we have entered an era with a fundamentally different global dynamic than the previous era. We should not think of the period 1989-1998 as an era. It was an interregnum, a pause between two eras. 1999 will see a more conventional, natural world, in which other great powers in the world will unite to try to block American power. In 1998 the United States worried about Serbia, Iraq and North Korea. In 1999, the United States will be much more concerned with Russia, China, France and Japan. The world will not yet be a truly dangerous place, but it will begin the long descent toward the inevitable struggle between great powers. Two forces are converging to create this world. The first is the recoil of Russia from its experiment in liberalism. The other is the descent of Asia into an ongoing and insoluble malaise that will last for a generation and reshape the internal and external politics of the region. In a broader sense, this means that the Eurasian heartland is undergoing terrific stress. This will increase tensions within the region. It will also draw Eurasian powers together into a coalition designed to resist the overwhelming power of the world's only superpower, the Untied States. Put differently, if the United States is currently the center of gravity of the international system, then other nations, seeking increased control over their own destinies, will join together to resist the United States. Russia will pose the first challenge. Asia will pose the most powerful one. Russia Begins its Quest to Recover Great Power Status The die has been cast in Russia. We wrote in our 1998 Forecast http://www.stratfor.com/services/giu/1998.asp: "Whether or not Yeltsin survives politically or personally is immaterial. The promise of 1991 has become an untenable nightmare for the mass of Russians. The fall of Communism ushered in a massive depression in the Russian economy while simultaneously robbing it of its global influence." In 1998 we saw the consequences of this. The reformers in Russia were systematically forced out of power. Power seeped out of Yeltsin's hands. Finally, a new Prime Minister was selected -- the former head of the KGB's international espionage apparatus. A restoration of sorts is well under way in Russia. Personalities are unimportant. What is important is that in 1998, the massive failure of the reformers resulted in their being forced from power. The West, which had invested in Russia, realized that it would never recover those investments nor many of the loans they made. As a result, investment and credit ceased flowing into Russia and, therefore, Western influence plummeted. There was no reason to appease the West if no further money was forthcoming. The Russian love affair with the West came to an abrupt halt. As so many times before in
Re: Interesting development
People are sick of the Back to the Cold War: This message went off too soon. It should have been: "People are sick of the "free market" lie, it's back to the Cold War." Jay
FW Monthly Reminder
*FUTUREWORK LISTS MONTHLY REMINDER* FUTUREWORK: Redesigning Work, Income Distribution, Education FUTUREWORK is an international e-mail forum for discussion of how to deal with the new realities created by economic globalization and technological change. Basic changes are occurring in the nature of work in all industrialized countries. Information technology has hastened the advent of the global economic village. Jobs that workers at all skill levels in developed countries once held are now filled by smart machines and/or in low-wage countries. Contemporary rhetoric proclaims the need for ever-escalating competition, leaner and meaner ways of doing business, a totally *flexible* workforce, jobless growth. What would a large permanent reduction in the number of secure, adequately-waged jobs mean for communities, families and individuals? This is not being adequately discussed, nor are the implications for income distribution and education. Even less adequately addressed are questions of how to take back control of these events, how to turn technological change into the opportunity for a richer life rather than the recipe for a bladerunner society. Our objective in creating this list is to involve as many people as possible in redesigning for the new realities. We hope that this list will help to move these issues to a prominent place on public and political agendas worldwide. The FUTUREWORK lists are hosted by the Faculty of Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo. To subscribe to FUTUREWORK (unmoderated) and/or FW-L (moderated) send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] saying subscribe futurework YourE-MailAddress subscribe FW-L YourE-MailAddress NOTE: To get the digest (batch) form of either list, subscribe to futurework-digest or fw-l-digest. To post directly to the lists (once you are subscribed), send your message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please include 'FW' or 'FW-L'in the subject line of your message, so that subscribers know the mail is from someone on the list. FUTUREWORK, the unmoderated list, is for discussion and debate. Subscribers often add a topic/thread identifier on the subject line (e.g. 'FW downward mobility') to focus discussion--a very good idea--but this is essentially an open list. FW-L, the moderated list, serves as a bulletin-board to post notices about recommended books, articles, other documents, other Net sites, conferences, even job openings, etc. relevant to the future of work and to the roles of education, community and other factors in that future. It serves subscribers as a calmer place to post andbrowse. Sally Lerner and Arthur Cordell serve as co-moderators for FW-L. Normally, posts to this moderated list should be limited to one screen. Archives for both lists are/will be available via the FW WWW Home Page (under construction) at the URL/location http://www.fes.uwaterloo.ca/Research/FW If you ever want to remove yourself from one of these mailing lists, you can send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following command in the body of your email message: unsubscribe futurework (or other list name) YourE-mailAddress If you ever need to get in contact with the owner of the list, (if you have trouble unsubscribing, or have questions about the list itself) send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] This is the general rule for most mailing lists when you need to contact a human. We look foward to meeting you on the FUTUREWORK and FW-L lists. Sally LernerArthur Cordell [EMAIL PROTECTED][EMAIL PROTECTED]
CITIZENS' PUBLIC TRUST TREATY
Dear Friends, Here is the official release of our CITIZENS' PUBLIC TRUST TREATY. It is being circulated world wide in English, Spanish, and French, for signature. Please circulate it and post it anywhere you have not yet seen it. Caspar Davis THE CALL: We call upon the nations of the world to ensure the rights of present and future generations to genuine peace, social justice and ecological integrity by implementing the principles of this Citizens' Public Trust Treaty. We urge you to support the Treaty by adding your name to the petition, by passing it on, and by sending copies to heads of states and legislators. January 1st, 1999 _ WE, THE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD, DETERMINED * to create a world based on true participatory democracy within a framework of public trust principles; * to accept the inherent limits to the Earth's resources and to promote the peaceful coexistence of all nations, races, and species; * to develop a stable and peaceful international society founded on the rule of law; * to prevent the damaging consequences of unprincipled economic growth; * to ensure that the economy conforms to the limitations of the ecosystem; RECOGNIZING the interdependence of Peace Building, Human Rights, Environmental Protection, and Advocacy for Social Justice; NOTING that through more than 50 years of concerted effort, the member states of the United Nations have created international Public Trust obligations, commitments and expectations: 1. to Promote and fully guarantee respect for human rights including labour rights, the right to adequate food, shelter and health care, and social justice; 2. to Enable socially equitable and environmentally sound development; 3. to Achieve a state of peace, justice and security; 4. to Create a global structure that respects the rule of law; and 5. to Ensure the preservation and protection of the environment, respect the inherent worth of nature beyond human purpose, reduce the ecological footprint and move away from the current model of over-consumptive development; AFFIRMING that the freedom from fear and want can be achieved only if conditions are created whereby everyone is able to enjoy economic, social and cultural rights, as well as civil and political rights (Universal Declaration of Human Rights); AWARE that the rule of law and the good-faith implementation of international legal principles are the foundation for peace, security, and co-operation amongst States (Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in Accordance with the Charter of the UN [General Assembly Resolution 2625 (XXV)]); RECALLING the obligations of States under the Charter of the United Nations to guarantee respect for human rights as set out in the International Bill of Rights, and to "prevent the scourge of war"; * the expectations created through the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), now accepted as part of customary international law, to guarantee "the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family"; * the obligation undertaken by States in various multilateral treaties on human rights, that there must be no discrimination on the following grounds: - race, tribe, or culture; - colour, ethnicity, national ethnic or social origin, or language; - nationality, place of birth, or nature of residence (refugee or - immigrant, migrant worker); - gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or - form of family; - disability or age; - religion or conviction, political or other opinion, or - class, economic position, or other status; (1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, among others); * the obligations of States to ensure full employment and enjoyment of just and favourable conditions of work (1966 Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights); * the expectation, created by the adoption of the precautionary principle as part of customary international law, that where there is a a threat of serious environmental damage or of harm to human health, the lack of full scientific certainty will not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent that threat; * the expectation, created by the adoption of the principle of intergenerational equity, that the rights of future generations to an ecological heritage will be respected (Convention on the Preservation of Cultural and Natural Heritage, 1972); * that the potential irreversibility of environmental harm gives rise to special responsibility to prevent such harm (1994 Draft Declaration of Principles of Human Rights and the Environment); * that respect for human rights, environmental integrity, socially equitable and environmentally sound development,
currency speculation
This explains a lot in a short space. Caspar Davis * FORWARDED MESSAGE * Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1999 20:29:40 +0900 From: Hendrik Subject: currency speculation Hi... for your information: here is an intersting article - source unknown... ttyl: Hendrik -- forwarded article: -- December 29, 1998 Currency devaluations around the world are causing an exchange rate- precipitated trade flood, as goods from countries with devalued currencies easily undercut the prices of competitors in countries with strong currencies. This is not the way the global finance system was designed to operate. In theory, trade competitiveness is grounded in corporate competency -- a company's ability to produce something more efficiently than its competitors -- not in shifts in currency values. In fact, Georgetown University business professor Michael Czinkota says, trade is supposed to be driving currency values, not the other way around. Mr. Czinkota says floating exchange rates were established in the 1970's to create a system in which currency values changed in response to trade flows. "If a country has a trade surplus -- that means it sells more than it busy -- that in turn means that other countries have to demand that country's currency more than that country requires other currencies. As a result, that country's currency goes up in value. As it goes up in value, exports become more expensive. That means the trade surplus gradually will decline. That is how the system of floating exchange rates was designed -- with trade triggering the price of currency." But, Mr. Czinkota syas, financial markets have been deregulated in recent years and technological innovations have increased the speed at which both market information and money can travel around the world. As a result, he says, currency trading has taken on a life of its own, with currency flows today 100-times greater than trade flows. Trade no longer drives currency, Mr. Czinkota says. Today currencies drive trade, with dire consequences. "It has skewed the established trade patterns in a significant way and has put a lot of pressure on quite successful and competitive U.S. industries, simply because all of a sudden a lot of new imports are coming in and some export markets are closed because of the currency changes." What is needed, Mr. Czinkota says, is a new global regime to replace the one that has been rendered obsolete by changing times, a system that considers trade and finance together and seeks ways to prevent one from having an adverse impact on the other. He says until one is developed expect trade pressures to rise, and with them trade complaints and government restraints. -- * END of FORWARDED MESSAGE *
Canada 'haven for terrorists'
Since I'm planning to move northward, this certainly raised my eyebrows! Steve -- Canada 'haven for terrorists' BY STANLEY OZIEWICZ South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), January 4, 1999 Canada's spy chief shed the service's legendary tight-lipped posture recently with a public bombshell. Canada was becoming the world's premier haven for international terrorists, he said. "We, uniquely among developed countries, exist alongside the United States, one of the world's pre-eminent terrorist targets," Ward Elcock said. "While distance from conflict and moderation in our policies may make us less likely than others to be a target, we also, for the same reasons, can be seen as a haven that might be safer than others." Nobody knows whether Mr Elcock's statement was made to justify a bigger budget for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service but it made a big impact. David Harris, a former high-ranking service officer who is now a security and intelligence consultant, called his statement an extraordinary revelation. And Wesley Wark, a University of Toronto history professor specialising in spy issues, said: "Ward Elcock is not a man . . . who is inclined to make alarmist statements. There's got to be a good deal of fire to this smoke." To those outside Canada inclined to think of it as a large, rich but boring backwater peopled by conservative and polite people who place great value on moderation and order, Mr Elcock's remarks may be shocking. These are some of the things Mr Elcock said, first to a secret meeting of a parliamentary committee, then on the service's Web site: With the possible exception of the US, there are more international terrorist groups active in Canada than anywhere in the world; The service's counter-terrorism branch is investigating more than 50 organisational targets and about 350 individual terrorist targets; Among these groups are Hezbollah and other Shi'ite Islamic terrorist fronts, several Sunni Islamic extremist groups - including Palestinian Hamas - with ties to Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Lebanon and Iran, the IRA, the Tamil Tigers, Turkish Kurd separatists of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and all main Sikh terrorist groups; Individuals and groups in Canada have been directly or indirectly linked to the World Trade Centre bombing in New York, suicide bombings in Israel, assassinations in India, the murder of tourists in Egypt, the 1996 bombing of US soldiers at the Khobar Towers barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and the IRA bombing campaign. The activities of those under investigation included providing logistical support for acts of foreign terrorism, fund-raising, recruitment among ethnic communities and providing temporary succour and transit to and from other countries, particularly the United States. Mr Elcock said Canada's open immigration and refugee system made it vulnerable to terrorist influence and activities. Canada has been accepting well over 200,000 immigrants a year for years and is projecting it will take in a further million over the next five years. "While the vast majority of those immigrants and refugees have no greater priority than to be productive participants in a peaceful and prosperous society, there are those very few who slip through, bent on using Canada as a safe haven from which to support terrorist activities," he said. He did not name any specific individuals. However, among those to have surfaced in recent court cases were: * Mansour Ahani, an Iranian government assassin; * Iqbal Singh, a member of Babbar Khalsa International, which the Canadian spy service describes as an internationally active Sikh terrorist organisation advocating a means to establish an independent Sikh homeland in India; * Hani Abd Rahim Sayegh, a Saudi national who was wanted in connection with the Dhahran bombing that killed 19 Americans; * Manickavasagam Suresh, a fund-raiser for the Tamil Tigers. EDITOR'S NOTE: A story on the above matter was included in an Oct. 19 CISNEWS posting, but Mr. Elcock's comments were not then available on line. They are now, at: http://www.csis-scrs.gc.ca/eng/press/kellye.html
Re: Canada 'haven for terrorists'
I wouldn't worry too much about it, Steve. Canadian Military Intelligence also investigated the Raging Grannies, a group of senior citizens who sing at protest events. -Original Message- From: Steve Kurtz [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: futurework [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: January 04, 1999 8:30 PM Subject: Canada 'haven for terrorists' Since I'm planning to move northward, this certainly raised my eyebrows! Steve -- Canada 'haven for terrorists' BY STANLEY OZIEWICZ South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), January 4, 1999 Canada's spy chief shed the service's legendary tight-lipped posture recently with a public bombshell. Canada was becoming the world's premier haven for international terrorists, he said. "We, uniquely among developed countries, exist alongside the United States, one of the world's pre-eminent terrorist targets," Ward Elcock said. "While distance from conflict and moderation in our policies may make us less likely than others to be a target, we also, for the same reasons, can be seen as a haven that might be safer than others." Nobody knows whether Mr Elcock's statement was made to justify a bigger budget for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service but it made a big impact. David Harris, a former high-ranking service officer who is now a security and intelligence consultant, called his statement an extraordinary revelation. And Wesley Wark, a University of Toronto history professor specialising in spy issues, said: "Ward Elcock is not a man . . . who is inclined to make alarmist statements. There's got to be a good deal of fire to this smoke." To those outside Canada inclined to think of it as a large, rich but boring backwater peopled by conservative and polite people who place great value on moderation and order, Mr Elcock's remarks may be shocking. These are some of the things Mr Elcock said, first to a secret meeting of a parliamentary committee, then on the service's Web site: With the possible exception of the US, there are more international terrorist groups active in Canada than anywhere in the world; The service's counter-terrorism branch is investigating more than 50 organisational targets and about 350 individual terrorist targets; Among these groups are Hezbollah and other Shi'ite Islamic terrorist fronts, several Sunni Islamic extremist groups - including Palestinian Hamas - with ties to Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Lebanon and Iran, the IRA, the Tamil Tigers, Turkish Kurd separatists of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and all main Sikh terrorist groups; Individuals and groups in Canada have been directly or indirectly linked to the World Trade Centre bombing in New York, suicide bombings in Israel, assassinations in India, the murder of tourists in Egypt, the 1996 bombing of US soldiers at the Khobar Towers barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and the IRA bombing campaign. The activities of those under investigation included providing logistical support for acts of foreign terrorism, fund-raising, recruitment among ethnic communities and providing temporary succour and transit to and from other countries, particularly the United States. Mr Elcock said Canada's open immigration and refugee system made it vulnerable to terrorist influence and activities. Canada has been accepting well over 200,000 immigrants a year for years and is projecting it will take in a further million over the next five years. "While the vast majority of those immigrants and refugees have no greater priority than to be productive participants in a peaceful and prosperous society, there are those very few who slip through, bent on using Canada as a safe haven from which to support terrorist activities," he said. He did not name any specific individuals. However, among those to have surfaced in recent court cases were: * Mansour Ahani, an Iranian government assassin; * Iqbal Singh, a member of Babbar Khalsa International, which the Canadian spy service describes as an internationally active Sikh terrorist organisation advocating a means to establish an independent Sikh homeland in India; * Hani Abd Rahim Sayegh, a Saudi national who was wanted in connection with the Dhahran bombing that killed 19 Americans; * Manickavasagam Suresh, a fund-raiser for the Tamil Tigers. EDITOR'S NOTE: A story on the above matter was included in an Oct. 19 CISNEWS posting, but Mr. Elcock's comments were not then available on line. They are now, at: http://www.csis-scrs.gc.ca/eng/press/kellye.html
Water Wars Forecast If Solutions Not Found (fwd)
-- Forwarded message -- Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1999 16:57:59 -0500 From: Doug Hunt [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Water Wars Forecast If Solutions Not Found apologies for x-postings Water Wars Forecast If Solutions Not Found NAIROBI, Kenya, January 1, 1999 (ENS) - A future war over water is a real possibility, according to Klaus Toepfer, director-general of the United Nations Environment Programme. Toepfer made his prediction during an interview that appears in the January 1 issue of the scientific journal Environmental Science Technology, published by the American Chemical Society. Klaus Toepfer Echoing a view he says is shared by former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali, Toepfer is "completely convinced" there will be a conflict over natural resources, particularly water. Toepfer, who assumed his current position with the U.N. in February 1998, is a former minister of the environment for Germany. "Everybody knows that we have an increase in population, but we do not have a corresponding increase in drinking water, so the result in the regional dimension is conflict," Toepfer says. Toepfer advocates monitoring worldwide reserves of drinking water and establishing cooperative agreements for the use of bodies of water, including groundwater. He calls for "economic instruments to stimulate use of new technologies" to promote water conservation. Predicting dramatic global population growth in the future, Toepfer cites the need for an "efficiency revolution." Any solution for addressing this growth must be linked with "new technologies that concentrate more on efficient use of limited natural resources," he says. These technologies must be available, "on preferential terms, to developing countries," Toepfer says. This view is also shared by French President Jacques Chirac who warned of future water wars last spring. At the international conference on Water and Sustainable Development hosted by the French government at UNESCO Headquarters, the Organizations Director-General Federico Mayor and Chirac, warned that, without international co-operation, dwindling water resources could threaten development and world peace. Speaking to government ministers from 80 countries, officials from international, local and non-governmental organisations, business leaders and scientists, Mayor cautioned that over-use, due to population growth, waste and pollution are turning water into a scarce resource. "As it becomes increasingly rare, it becomes coveted, capable of unleashing conflicts. More than petrol or land, it is over water that the most bitter conflicts of the near future may be fought," the UNESCO leader said. A stern water warning was also voiced at the conference by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, now president of the environmental watchdog group Green Cross International. "Based on population projections alone, some 33 countries are expected to have chronic water shortages by 2025," Gorbachev said. "Moreover, such projections do not take into account the possibility that climate change could eventually further exacerbate water shortages. Seawater Reverse Osmosis Plant Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia Gorbachev will be one of the keynote speakers at a Middle East regional water forum scheduled for March 10 and 11, 1999 in Amman, Jordan. The geographic focus will be on solutions that will provide adequate fresh drinking water for the arid region encompassing Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Areas of West Bank and Gaza. Other speakers addressing the water problems of the dry region include the conference host H.R.H. The Crown Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan; Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority; Shimon Peres, president of the Peres Center for Peace; Ariel Sharon, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel; and James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank. The forum will attempt to identify viable strategies to increase the effective regional supply, including development of new supplies from seawater desalination. Many regions and countries are expected to expand their seawater desalination capacity in the near future. Nuclear energy to power seawater desalination is a growing interest among water-scarce nations according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). IAEA studies have shown that nuclear energy would be competitive with fossil energy for desalination
