================================================
01 Arcade workers in France on strike for 7 months - call for solidarity
von: "www.no-racism.net" <illegalisiert@t0.or.at>
================================================

Contact:
arcadesolidarite@hotmail.com
ADC, 35-37 av. de la Resistance, F93100 Montreuil, France

We call all militant, political, unionist, associative groups and networks to
demonstrate together their solidarity with the workers of Arcade on strike for
7 months.

The strikers are a group of some thirty African women who work in various
hotels of ACCOR corporation (hotels Ibis, Novotel, Sofitel, Mercure; Frantour,
Formule 1 and a few others) in the region of Paris. Their boss is Arcade a
subcontractor to ACCOR. They protest against the very hard working conditions
which are imposed on them and especially against the arbitrarily decided rythm
of work which has as consequences many unpaid extra-hours and often serious
health problems. Moreover they ask the rejection of the firing and other
penalties for their action during the strike of which several of them are
victims.

It is because a wide solidarity organized around them, first in the framework
of SUD (the union of which they are members), then in a supporting comittee
which extends beyond the limits of unions. Actions on the ACCOR hotels in Paris
have taken place during the whole summer. Negociations are under way but have
led to nothing so far. It seems that there are discussions now within ACCOR
between those who want to get rid of the conflict and those who think that
nothing should be conceded. That is why we think that it becomes necessary to
increase the pressure on ACCOR by extending the solidarity actions to all of
France, and beyond if possible.
It is in view of this that we call on you to take part in a

national initiative of action against ACCOR corporation during the week of
October 2Oth to 27th

As you know, there are many reasons to expose ACCOR corporation:
- a part of the Ibis hotel of the Roissy airport has been rented by the French
state as a "zone d'attente" where foreigners are locked up pending their
deportation; other ACCOR hotels in Orly and near Lyon still serve the same
purpose;
- a subsidiary of ACCOR built the new "zone d'attente" ZAPI 3 in Roissy;
- another subsidiary, Carlson Wagons-Lits makes the reservations for foreigners
to be deported and the cops who accompany them;
- it organizes in its hotels the congresses of the extreme right parties FN and
MNR.

But these outrageous practices should not make us forget the day to day reality
of the working relations: behind the showcase of a "clean" enterprise which it
tries to promote, ACCOR corporation imposes everyday, through subcontracting,
very hard working conditions to immigrant workers whose need to work at any
cost it exploits. It is a way to transport the Third World here when you cannot
delocalize your enterprise to the Third World.

If the charwomen of Arcade, who have had the courage to resist for so long a
time, see their demands fulfilled, this will not only benefit to the 800
employees of Arcade who work in ACCOR hotels, it will have positive results for
all the workers of the cleaning industry. Moreover, an important mark will be
recorded against the practice of subcontracting which allows everywhere the
corporations which use it to impose lower wages and a worsening of working
conditions while getting themselves out of any responsibiity with respect to
the law and dividing into many small groups the collectivity of the workers. So
in this struggle is also at stake the battle against this modern weapon which
the bosses use more and more frequently and more and more widely to break the
workers' resistance.

What to do during these action days?

Leaflet in front of or in the hotels, unroll banners, inform the clients and
goers by about the reasons of the strike, call to boycott ACCOR desorganize the
reservation service of the hotels (technical details to follow), ask people to
sign postcards or petitions to support the strike. Every sort of action which
is able to make the strike known and expose the practices of the corporation
are useful. It is up to you to see the concrete possibilities in view of the
place where you are and the force you can rely on. The Parisian solidarity
collective will organize one or several actions in the Paris region.

We can give you more informations, leaflets in several languages, a press
record, postcards of protest, a petition, to be asked for at one of the
following addresses:

arcadesolidarite@hotmail.com
ADC, 35-37 av. de la Resistance, F93100 Montreuil, France

Keep us informed of the initiatives you plan and then of the result. We'll try
to make an evaluation on the basis of what you have sent us.

Relying on your solidarity.

================================================
02 Überstundenstreik der LokführerInnen - GUG: Volle Unterstützung,
Aktionen müssen ausgeweitet werden
von: GUG - Gruene EisenbahnerInnen <gruene-eisenbahnerInnen@gmx.at>
================================================

Grüne und Unabhängige EisenbahnerInnen:
*** Volle Unterstützung für Kampfmaßnahmen der LokführerInnen
*** Protestmaßnahmen schleunigst ausweiten!
*** Gegen Kaputtsparen der ÖBB auf Kosten von Sicherheit und Gesundheit

Die Grünen und Unabhängigen EisenbahnerInnen unterstützen die aktive
Weigerung der LokführerInnen und anderer TraktionsmitarbeiterInnen, weiterhin
Überstunden zu leisten. Seit Jahren wurde auf den herrschenden Personalengpass
hingewiesen. Immer weniger LokführerInnen mussten immer mehr Überstunden
leisten, auf Kosten von Sicherheit, Lebensqualität und Gesundheit.
Damit ist jetzt Schluss!

Da der ÖBB-Vorstand zu keinerlei Zugeständnissen bereit war, ist der
Überstundenstreik der LokführerInnen mehr als nur berechtigt.

Während es in der vergangenen Woche nur vereinzelt zu Ausfällen im
Güterverkehr kam, stehen heute bereits erstmals auch Züge des Personen-
verkehrs still - aus Mangel an TriebfahrzeugführerInnen. Bis Montag ist mit
einer weiteren Zuspitzung zu rechnen.

Überlastungen und Überstundenwahnsinn gibt es aber auch in anderen
Bereichen der ÖBB.
Die Grünen und Unabhängigen EisenbahnerInnen fordern daher, die
berechtigten Maßnahmen gegen die Kaputtsparpolitik von Regierung und
ÖBB-Vorstand schleunigst auf die anderen Geschäftsbereiche der ÖBB
auszuweiten.

Bereits am 24. Juli wurde ÖBB-Generaldirektor Vorm Walde von Grünen und
Unabhängigen EisenbahnerInnen in einem Gespräch damit konfrontiert, dass
die Arbeitsstituation bei den ÖBB bereits unerträglich geworden ist. Der
Aufforderung, Abhilfe zu schaffen, kam Vorm Walde bislang aber in keinster
Weise nach.

http://www.gug.or.at
E-Mail: gruene-eisenbahnerInnen@gmx.at

================================================

><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><
AKTIONEN UND ANKÜNDIGUNGEN
><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><

================================================
03 "Bitte, nehmen Sie es zurück !" - Neuwahldiskussion (15.10.)
von: "Transdanubien gegen Schwarzblau" <transdanubien@gegenschwarzblau.net>
================================================

Liebe TransdanubierInnen und FreundInnen !

Es sieht danach, als wäre Schwarzblau, zumindest vorläufig, am Ende.
Doch welche Alternativen können andere Parteien bieten?
Welche Maßnahmen der verblichenen Bundesregierung würden sie
zurücknehmen? Welche beibehalten?

Zu diesem Thema eingeladen sind VertreterInnen von KPÖ, LIF, Grünen und
SPÖ.

beim monatlichen Treffen von
"Transdanubien gegen Schwarzblau"
am 15.10.2002 ab 19 Uhr im Chinarestaurant "Sun", Donaufelderstr. 229,
1. Stock

Auf zahlreiches Erscheinen freut sich

Stefan

Für

Transdanubien gegen Schwarzblau

================================================
04 Auftaktveranstaltung der KPÖ zur NR-Wahl
von: <zach@kpoe.at>
================================================

AVISO: 15. Oktober - Auftaktveranstaltung der KPÖ zur NR-Wahl

Utl.: Präsentation der Ergebnisse eines öffentlichen Plakatwettbewerbs

Wien -11.10.02, (KPÖ-PD): Am Dienstag, 15. Oktober, findet in Wien die
Auftaktveranstaltung der KPÖ zur NR-Wahl statt. KPÖ-Vorsitzender Walter Baier:
"Wir haben Freunde, SympathisantInnen und Mitglieder, Werbeprofis und
Amateure aufgerufen, Vorschläge für ein Wahlplakat der KPÖ vorzulegen.
Die Resonanz war weit über unseren Erwartungen. Nun laden wir alle am
Wettbewerb beteiligten Personen und die Presse zur Präsentation des
Siegerplakats ein."

Eine Kommission konnte aus über 120 anonymisierten Plakatideen auswählen.
KPÖ-Pressesprecher Zach: "Teils wurden fantastisch ausgeführte Ideen
dargelegt, teils haben Einsender und Einsenderinnen auch nur erläutert, welche
inhaltlichen Punkte die KPÖ in den Vordergrund der Wahlauseinandersetzung
stellen sollte. Wir waren von vielen Vorschlägen so begeistert, dass wir
entschieden haben, nunmehr auf der KPÖ-Website auch noch einen mit
200 EURO dotierten Publikumspreis auszuschreiben."

Wahlkampfauftakt der KPÖ am 15. Oktober, Café 7stern,
Siebensterng. 31, 1070, Beginn: 20 Uhr

Rückfragen an: 0676/ 69 69 002
e-mail: bundesvorstand@kpoe.at
Internet: www.kpoe.at

================================================
05 "Open House" im HOSI-Zentrum mit Grüne Leopoldstadt
von: Grüne Andersrum <andersrum.wien@gruene.at>
================================================

Sa., 19. 10., 20-24 Uhr

open house
HOSI-Zentrum, Novaragasse 40

Unter dem Motto "Was ich schon immer wissen wollte, aber die Lesben und
Schwulen noch nie zu fragen getraute" veranstalten die Grünen Leopoldstadt
und die Homosexuelle Initiative (HOSI) ein Open House-Fest, zu dem wir alle,
aber auch wirklich ALLE LeopoldstädterInnen herzlich einladen. Und alle
anderen WienerInnen selbstverständlich auch.

mit NRAbg Ulrike Lunacek, außenpolitische Sprecherin, einzig offen lesbische
Politikerin im Nationalrat

Buffet, Dj(ane)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Die superüberdrübergrüne LesBiSchwule- & TransGender-Organisation
http://wien.gruene.at/andersrum/
-----------------------------------------------------------------

================================================
06 Veranstaltung mit Sem Karoba zu Westpapua verschoben
von: <westpapua@gmx.net>
================================================

Die Veranstaltungen mit Sem Karoba "Westpapua zwischen militärischer
Besatzung und Unabhängigkeit", am Mittwoch, 16. Oktober 20.00h Grünes Haus
(Lindengasse 40, 1070 Wien) und am Donnerstag, 17. Oktober 19.00h
Universität Wien,
Neues Institutsgebäude (NIG), Universitätsstraße 7, Hörsaal II, müssen aufgrund
von Visumsproblemen des Referenten leider auf unbestimmte Zeit verschoben
werden. Wir werden versuchen die Veranstaltungen nachzuholen, sobald dies
möglich ist.
Aktuelle Infos zu Westpapua gibt es weiterhin unter:
www.westpapua.tk

--
Westpapua Solidarität Wien

Website: www.westpapua.tk
e-mail: westpapua@gmx.net

================================================
07 contextXXI-radio
von: Heide Hammer <a9204056@unet.univie.ac.at>
================================================

Aus aktuellem Anlass sendet Context XXI-Radio am 28. Okt. auf Orange 94,0:
"Kritik der Nation. Stephan Grigat über Antisemitismus und Rassismus als
Basiskategorien nationaler Vergesellschaftung. Eine Sendung von Café
Critique".
Passend dazu eine Veranstaltung von Café Critique und STRV Politikwissenschaft
unterstützt von der Fachschaft Informatik

(S. Beitrag Nr.08 - Anm. d. Red.)

Der 2. Teil der Sendung 1936/39 Spanischer Bürgerkrieg wird demnach auf
04. bzw. 06. Nov. verschoben.

lg die redaktion

================================================
08 Veranstaltung: Psyche der Nation
von: Café Critique <cafe.critique@gmx.net>
================================================

Die Psyche der Nation
Autoritäre und nationalistische Bewegungen in Europa und
Adornos Theorie des narzisstischen Charakters

Vortrag und Diskussion mit Jan Weyand
Moderation: Florian Markl

Donnerstag, 24. Oktober 2002, 19.30 Uhr

Technische Universität
Karlsplatz 13, 1040 Wien
Hauptgebäude, Hörsaal 16
(Haupteingang, Stiege I, dritter Stock)

Autoritäre und nationalistische politische Bewegungen sind in vielen Staaten
Europas auf dem Vormarsch. Gemeinsam ist diesen Bewegungen eine
ethnozentrische Weltanschauung und die Fixierung auf charismatische
Führungspersonen. Im Kern ethnozentrischer Vorstellungen stehen
personalisierte Machtphantasien. Empirische Studien zur Struktur dieser
Weltanschauung zeigen, dass sie nach den gleichen Prinzipien aufgebaut ist,
nach denen auch Reden und Texte im frühen Faschismus und im
Nationalsozialismus aufgebaut waren.
Eine sozialpsychologische Erklärung der Attraktivität autoritärer und
nationalistischer politischer Bewegungen muß an Strukturprinzipien der
modernen Gesellschaft ansetzen. Der Vortrag wird in einem ersten Schritt
anhand eines aktuellen Beispiels die semantische Struktur autoritärer und
nationalistischer Machtphantasien entwickeln. In einem zweiten Schritt wird
vor dem Hintergrund des Konzepts des narzisstischen Charakters, wie es von
Theodor W. Adorno entwickelt wurde, diskutiert, ob und wie eine Emanzipation
von Staat und Kapital trotz eines verallgemeinerten Nationalismus und
Autoritarismus möglich ist.

Von Jan Weyand ist zuletzt das Buch "Adornos Kritische Theorie des
Subjekts" im zu Klampen-Verlag erschienen.

eine Veranstaltung von Café Critique und STRV Politikwissenschaft
unterstützt von der Fachschaft Informatik

================================================
09 Peace Vigil Next Thursday
von: Stefan [mailto:stef@fish.co.uk]
================================================

Dear friends,

Vigil for Peace

War is not the Solution in Iraq

Thursday 17th October

12 noon-1pm

Outside Manchester University Students Union

A group of students at Manchester University are arranging a Vigil
for Peace outside their student union. We believe that the
implications of a pre-emptive strike against Iraq will plunge the
Middle East into deeper conflict with the effect of worsening the
condition of the Iraqi people.

We wish to be fully united in our message of 'Yes to Peace - No to
War' and are therefore requesting that all those who join us just
stand together with us, 'shoulder to shoulder' and use the
publicity material provided on the day.

The vigil will be conducted in a solemn manner, and we hope that
many people join us so that we make our presence felt outside the
student union.

please circulate this message as widely as possible

If there are any questions, or information that you may require
please do not hesitate to contact the organisers.

Yours Sincerely

Stefan Skrimshire (07816 596766)

Sukaina Jaffer (07946 580708)

================================================
10 Vernissage!
von: "Fellner" <helmut.fellner@chello.at>
================================================

Vernissage

"Die Grüne Grenze"

Collagen und Objekte von Amir P. Peyman.

Freitag, 18. Oktober 2002
20:00 Uhr

7 Stern
Kulturzentrum 7 Stern
Siebensterngasse 31
1070 Wien

Eintritt Frei!

================================================
11 Das Depot-Programm in der Woche von 14. bis 20. Oktober
von: <depot-news-admin@depot.or.at>
================================================

Liebe FreundInnen des Depot,
sehr geehrte PartnerInnen,

anbei das Programm des Depot in der kommenden Woche. An deren Ende
steht ein Beginn: Mit der Gesprächsserie "Was wurde aus dem Haus der
Toleranz", die am Freitag startet und in der Woche darauf fortgesetzt wird,
greifen wir zentrale Aspekte in der Diskussion um ein nationales
Geschichtsmuseum auf.

Auf einen Besuch freut sich das

Depot-Team

>> Montag, 14. Oktober, 19.00
»Forum Architektur«

Die IG Architektur ist eine Impulsplattform, ein Netzwerk und eine
Solidargemeinschaft zur Auseinandersetzung mit Fragen zur Architektur
und Urbanität. Sie unterstützt österreichweit die Vernetzung von
Architekturschaffenden und eine Verbesserung ihrer beruflichen
Rahmenbedingungen. Die IG Architektur nimmt zu aktuellen Fragen Stellung
und will aktiv zur Meinungsbildung der Architektur im sozialen und politischen
Kontext beitragen. Jede/r Architekturinteressierte kann Mitglied werden.

www.ig-architektur.at

>> Dienstag, 15. Oktober, 19.00
> republicart Launch <
mit Deutschbauer / Spring

"Künstler Julius Deutschbauer und Künstler Gerhard Spring eröffnen die
Öffentlichkeit." Das Europäische Institut für progressive Kulturpolitik/eipcp
feiert mit ihnen die Eröffnung des dreijährigen transnationalen Projekts
republicart zur Untersuchung und Entwicklung von partizipatorischen,
interventionistischen und aktivistischen Kunstpraxen. In zwölf exemplarischen
Kunstprojekten und zwölf diskursiven Veranstaltungen sowie einem
umfassenden Gefüge von Begleitmaßnahmen (multilinguales Web-journal,
Database, Mailing-list, Pilotstudie, formative Evaluation, etc.) soll
republicart
europaweit den politischen Diskurs der Public Art verstärken.

www.republicart.net

>> Mittwoch, 16. Oktober, 19.00
»MUND nach dem Ende der Wende?«

Der MUND (Medienunabhängiger Nachrichtendienst) entstand im Februar 2000
spontan aus dem Bedürfnis, die Fülle der über die schwarzblaue
Regierungsbildung
empörten Mail-Meldungen zu kanalisieren und einen übergreifenden Diskurs- und
Vernetzungsraum zu schaffen. Nun steht der MUND vor der entscheidenden Zäsur.
Die MUND-Redaktion will gemeinsam mit den MUND-NutzerInnen die Frage
diskutieren: Weshalb und wie sollte es mit dem MUND weitergehen?

MUND-Redaktion

>> Donnerstag, 17. Oktober, 19.00
»Frauen an Universitäten«
Diskussion

Die Reform an Österreichs Hochschulen scheint keine Reform zu werden, die
die Leistungen von Frauen in der Wissenschaft konsequenter verankern will.
Die am Gesetzesentwurf kritisierte Schwächung des Mittelbaus stellt die hier
bisher geleistete Arbeit zur Disposition. Überproportional sind im Bereich der
freien LektorInnen und AssistentInnen Frauen beschäftigt; sie sind es auch,
die - auf einem in Zukunft noch wackeligeren Fundament - Inhalte feministischer
Forschung in die Hochschulbildung integrieren. Vor dem Hintergrund der
geplanten strukturellen Veränderungen könnten die methodischen Werkzeuge
der Frauenförderung - wie Gender Mainstreaming oder jetzt auch Evaluierung
- zu kurz greifen. Damit steht möglicherweise auch eine Marginalisierung
feministischer Lehrinhalte bevor.

Elisabeth Holzleithner, Inst. f. Rechtsphilosophie u. Rechtstheorie, Uni Wien.
Sabine Kock, Wien.
Anita Weinberger, ÖH-Vorsitzende, Wien.
Moderation: Pia Feichtenschlager, dieStandard.

>> Freitag, 18. Oktober, bis Mittwoch, 23. Oktober, jeweils 19.00
»Was wurde aus dem Haus der Toleranz?«

1998 begann die öffentliche Debatte zur Errichtung eines nationalen
Geschichtsmuseums. Leon Zelman (Jewish Welcome Service) schlug ein
Haus der Toleranz im Palais Epstein vor. Noch im selben Jahr veröffentlichte
der Historiker Stefan Karner im Rahmen der ÖVP-Denkwerkstatt ein Konzept
für ein "Haus der Zeitgeschichte". Verschiedene Ideen und Vorschläge für ein
"Haus der Republik" und ein "Haus der Geschichte" folgten. Selbstverständlich
verbargen sich hinter all den Vorschlägen und Namen auch unterschiedliche
Vorstellungen über eine historische Aufarbeitung des 20. Jahrhunderts.

1999 verabschiedete das Parlament mit den Stimmen aller Parteien einen
Entschließungsantrag; ein Ideenwettbewerb zum Thema sollte ausgeschrieben
werden. Doch dazu ist es nie gekommen. Dafür gibt es mittlerweile zwei Studien
und eine Projektgruppe. Was ist nun mit der Musealisierung österreichischer
Geschichte?

> Freitag, 18. Oktober, 19.00
Einleitung: Gottfried Fliedl
Anton Pelinka, Univ.-Prof. für Politikwissenschaften, Uni Innsbruck
Christa Zöchling, Profil, Wien
Albert Müller, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Uni Wien

> Montag, 21. Oktober, 19.00
Moritz Csáky, Univ.-Prof. für Österreichische Geschichte, Uni Graz
Lorenz Mikoletzky, Generaldirektor des Österr. Staatsarchivs, Wien
Helene Maimann, Historikerin und Journalistin, Wien

> Dienstag, 22. Oktober, 19.00
Siegfried Mattl, Co-Leiter des Ludwig Boltzmann Instituts für
Geschichte und Gesellschaft
Leon Zelman, Jewish WElcome Service, Wien
Eva Blimlinger, Österreichische Historikerkommission, Wien.

> Mittwoch, 23. Oktober, 19.00
Manfried Rauchensteiner, Direktor des Heeresgeschichtlichen Museums, Wien
Heidemarie Uhl, Forschungsprogramm "Orte des Gedächtnisses", ÖAW, Wien
Barbara Coudenhove-Kalergi, Journalistin, Wien

--
Depot
Breitegasse 3
1070 Wien

T: 01/522 76 13
F: 01/522 66 42

www.depot.or.at

================================================
12 TRD - release party
von: edition selene <selene@t0.or.at>
================================================

> Einladung <

> Konrad Becker spielt Supermario
> anläßlich des book releases von "Tactical Reality Dictionary"
> am Dienstag, 15. Oktober 2002, 23:00 Uhr
> im Flex, Donaukanal/Schottenring, 1010 Wien

"All knowledge all discoveries belong to everybody. .
All knowledge all discoveries belong to you by right.
It is time to demand what belongs to you."
(William S. Burroughs)

Konrad Becker legt mit seinem "Tactical Reality Dictionary" ein Handbuch
der 72 wichtigsten Begriffe zu den Mitteln kulturpsychologischer Politik -
Cultural Intelligence and Social Control - vor. In der trügerischen Ordnung
eines Wörterbuches finden sich knappe Abhandlungen zu alphabetisch
gereihten Stichworten aus der Fachsprache der Cyber-Soziologie: Ambigous
Information, Belief Networks, Consistant Illusions .
Recherchiert anhand von authentischen nachrichtendienstlichen Quellen,
vermittelt dieses einzigartige Dokument schockierende psychozivilisatorische
Zusammenhänge und läßt Kultur und Medien in einem völlig neuen Licht
erscheinen.
Das Individuum - schon lange nicht mehr in der Lage, aus der Vielfalt der
Informationen zu wählen - ist Propaganda und Manipulation hilflos ausgesetzt.
Das aus Angst resultierende Bedürfnis nach persönlicher Sicherheit und
lückenloser Überwachung steht im Gegensatz zur Idee der individuellen
Autonomie. Die neuesten Security-Technologien erhalten aber nicht nur
Zugang in die Privatsphäre sondern dringen bis in die intimsten Bereiche des
Individuums vor: "Ein Leviathan-Szenario, in dem der Mensch dazu gebracht
wird, sein Recht auf Selbstbestimmung für persönliche Sicherheit aufzugeben."

Aber dieses Dictionary kann auch anders genutzt werden: "Konrad Becker like a
modern Bruno offers us a "Memory Palace" (a dictionary no less!) of knowledge
about consciousness and its control, whether by self or others, in
the age of the
post-organic. For fucks sake don't leave home without it." (Hakim Bey )

Der New Yorker Verlag "autonomedia" hat sich aufgrund dieses Potentials und
wegen etlicher Einschüchterungsversuche gegen Autoren und Publizisten die sich
mit den Hintergründen des 11. Septembers beschäftigen oder sich
seither kritisch
gegenüber Staat und System äußerten, entschlossen, dieses Handbuch nicht in
New York zu verlegen, sondern in einem neutralen Land erscheinen zu lassen.
Die edition selene hat es auf sich genommen, dieses kontroversielle
Buch - trotz
seines subversiven und terroristischen Potentials - zu publizieren.
Um das zivil-
und strafrechtliche Risiko einzugrenzen, kann das Buch in Österreich
daher nicht
verkauft werden (wobei nicht ausgeschlossen werden kann, daß, durch die
internationalen Bestellmöglichkeiten, auch ein Buch in der einen oder anderen
Buchhandlung landen kann). Offiziell wird das Buch von "autonomedia"
vertrieben.

Aus Sicherheitsgründen fand die erstmalige und einzige Präsentation des Buches
in Österreich ausschließlich vor geladenen Gästen statt.

"Be afraid, be very afraid! Counterintelligence operator Konrad
Becker guides us
through circles of Hell unimagined by Dante: the circles of
totalizing control, even
unto consciousness-control, nerve-control, face-control, soul-control.
This "Tactical Reality Dictionary" transforms paranoiacs into visionaries and
truth-tellers. But know that counterintelligence agents are busy
everywhere crafting
hidden networks of autonomous becoming and unsealing the sluice gates
of revolt."
(subRosa )

"Be prepared to revise all that you once thought to be a series of unlikely
conspiracies propagated by fringe thinkers and kooky paranoids. This dictionary
transforms conspiracy into normative reality, and disbelief into the
condition of truth."
(Critical Art Ensemble)

"The realm of oppression, we now indicate by "media"-advertizing, propaganda,
mind control PR, spin management, et. - was analyzed by Renaissance magi like
Giordano Bruno as "magic". As this realm is englobed by Cyberspace, technique
itself becomes ever more occult. Whether we wish to beat a tactical
or even strategic
retreat from this terminal Enclosure, or else stand contend with it,
we need to recover
the "secrets" of hermetic critic and hieroglyphic theory. Konrad
Becker like a modern
Bruno offers us a "Memory Palace" (a dictionary no less!) of knowledge about
consciousness and its control, whether by self or others, in the age
of the post-
organic. For fucks sake don't leave home without it." (Hakim Bey)

"An injunction to wrest lexical dominion from the powers that be,
Konrad Becker's
"Tactical Reality Dictionary" is not so much the final word on words
as a prototype
for (hyper)active reading in the age of consolidated information control. Since
Adbusters' 'Journal for the Mental Environment' only ever did half
the job, and one
shrink was never enough to understand our paranoid reality, why not take a leaf
out of his book and write one of your own?" (Pauline van Mourik Broekman,
Mute Magazine)

>> Der Autor
Konrad Becker ist in der Hypermedia-Forschung und -Entwicklung tätig und
arbeitet als interdisziplinärer Event- und Contentdesigner. Er ist
Vorsitzender des
"Institutes für neue Kulturen und Technologien" und Leiter von
"Public Netbase/t0",
einer Kulturschnittstelle für neue Kommunikationstechnologien und
"World-Information.Org", einem Cultural Intelligence Provider.
Im Herbst 2002 erscheint das Buch "Die Politik der Infosphäre,
World-Information.Org"
in Zusammenarbeit mit der Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung, Berlin.

> Hintergrundinformation zu "Tactical Reality - Cultural Intelligence
>and Social Control"
> gibt es auch am Sonntag, dem 20. Oktober 2002, ab 21.00 Uhr, in der
Radiosendung "Im Sumpf" auf FM 4.

Für weitere Fragen wenden Sie sich bitte an
edition selene, Körnergasse 7/1, A-1020 Wien
Tel.: +43-1-218 37 35, Fax: +43-1-218 37 36,
E-mail: selene@t0.or.at, www.selene.at

================================================

><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><
MELDUNGEN UND KOMMENTARE
><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><

================================================
13 An die Teetrinker
von: Günther Rusznak <rusznak@religionsfreiheit.at>
================================================

Asylanten stehen auf der Straße. Ihre Not schreit zum Himmel. Und bei sehr
vielen dieser bedauernswerten Menschen wird der Schrei islamisch formuliert,
denn sie sind häufig Muslime aus den verschiedensten Ländern. Die hier
ansässigen Muslime hören und handeln. Gott sei Dank! Moscheen und
Gebetsstätten der verschiedensten, privaten Vereine werden geöffnet, die Leute
werden aufgenommen und beherbergt. Und das ist gut so, das ist islamisch.
Doch vor einigen Tagen sind im Raum Linz alle diese Plätze nicht nur einfach,
nein sie sind zweifach und dreifach belegt gewesen. Einzig die Gemeindemoschee
der Islamischen Glaubensgemeinschaft ist leer geblieben. Zuerst war der Imam
nicht erreichbar, dann gab es keine Schlüssel (!) und dann keine Genehmigung
aus Wien. Wie weit das auch für andere Moscheen der Glaubensgemeinschaft
Gültigkeit hatte, weiß ich nicht, kann es mir aber leider nur zu gut
vorstellen.
Der verdammte Fatalismus und die ständig daraus resultierende Untätigkeit der
glaubensgemeinschaftlichen Teetrinker, feierte wieder einmal
fröhliche Urstände.
Toleranzgesäusel, fromme Worte, liebe Sprüche nützen den Leuten auf der
Straße im Augenblick herzlich wenig. Alles zu seiner Zeit! Jetzt sind Taten
gefordert, meine lieben Brüder und Schwestern im Glauben. Bruder Al Rawi
(Glaubensgemeinschaft, Initiative musl. Österreicher, Landtagsabgeordneter
uvam.), auf zu den Parteikollegen! Sofort die Wahlkampf - Container beim
Burgtheater für Asylanten öffnen! Dank an die KPÖ für diesen Vorschlag! Wenn
das aber nicht mehr möglich sein sollte (Wahlkampf geht ja für manche vor),
die erst geplanten Wahl - Container in den Bezirken zur Verfügung stellen!
Bruder Schakfeh (Präsident der Islamischen Glaubensgemeinschaft), die
Gemeindemoscheen sofort aufsperren! Geldmittel zur Verfügung stellen!
Gasthöfe, Pensionen anmieten! Ein oder mehrer Notunterkunftszelte (unser
Bundesheer hat so etwas) auf dem Gelände der großen Moschee aufstellen!
Und, und, und....... Handeln, helfen! Und nachher trinken wir wieder
unseren Tee.
Nachher!

Günther Ahmed Rusznak

Moslem und Schriftsteller

10. Oktober 2002

================================================
14 KPÖ Wien reicht Kandidatur ein
von: KPOE WIEN <wien@kpoe.at>
================================================

Wien: 89 in Bewegungen, Gewerkschaften und parteipolitisch engagierte
Menschen kandidieren in Wien für die KPÖ.

Die für die Kandidatur notwendigen Unterstützungserklärungen konnten
bereits eine Woche vor Einreichfrist erbracht werden. Waltraud
Stiefsohn, Vorsitzende der KPÖ Wien und Spitzenkandidatin auf der Wiener
Landesliste, dankt allen demokratiebewußten WienerInnen, "die uns mit
ihrer Unterschrift die Kandidatur ermöglicht haben. Nach dieser
demokratiefeindlichen bürokratischen Hürde können wir uns nun endlich
der Vorstellung unserer Inhalte und KandidatInnen widmen."

Im Wahlvorschlag spiegelt sich die Breite der politischen Felder, in
denen sich die KPÖ Wien engagiert. Kurz: vertreten sind viele junge
Menschen, gleich viele Frauen wie Männer, MigrantInnen aus europäischen,
lateinamerikanischen und afrikanischen Ländern,
GewerkschaftsaktivistInnen und PersonalvertreterInnen mehrerer
Berufgruppen sowie AktivistInnen der globalisierungskritischen Bewegung.

Dass die KPÖ Wien seit Jahren vehement gegen Privatisierungen,
Ausgliederungen und die Verschlechterung der öffentlichen
Dienstleistungen in Wien auftritt, hat Betriebsräte und
PersonalvertreterInnen der Post, der Bahn, aus dem Spital und von
Privatangestellten öffentlich getragener Vereine zur Kandidatur mit der
KPÖ bewogen. Sie sehen in keiner der anderen Parteien einen Garanten für
ihre Interessen, der der Zerschlagung und dem Ausverkauf der
öffentlichen Grundversorgung glaubhaft entgegen tritt.

Einem Kandidaten werden auch bei dieser Wahl seine demokratischen
Rechte von den Behörden verweigert werden: Demir Musa, türkischer
Staatsbürger, der seit langem in Österreich lebt, arbeitet und sich
politsch engagiert, wird seit 8 Jahren die österreichische
Staatsbürgerschaft nicht zuerkannt - aufgrund seines politischen, also
staatsbürgerlichen Engagements!

Neben Demir treten für die KPÖ Wien zwei ehemalige jugoslawische
StaatsbürgerInnen an. Wir sehen darin auch ein Zeichen für die vielen
MitbürgerInnen, die die Wiener SPÖ mit ihrem Spitzenkandidaten vor den
Kopf stößt, war doch Wolfgang Petritsch für die desaströse
österreichische und europäische Jugoslawienpolitik, für die Kriege am
Balkan und das NATO-Bombardement mitverantwortlich.

"Der Wahlvorschlag der KPÖ Wien zeigt unser Politikverständnis:
Interessensvertretung braucht globale und internationalistische
Bezugspunkte, Kommunalpolitik einen konsequent sozialen Standpunkt,
Opposition die Rückbindung an Gewerkschaften und Bewegungen", resümiert
Waltraud Stiefsohn, "wir gehen nun selbstbewusst in einen kurzen und
intensiven Wahlkampf. Wir sind die sozial- und demokratiepolitisch
konsequente Alternative zu den vier Parlamentsparteien. Wer ihre oder
seine Stimme nicht im inhaltsleeren Koalitionspoker verspielen möchte,
sollte auf die KPÖ als einzige linke Oppositionsstimme - und eine Stimme
mit Zukunft - setzen."

Rückfragehinweis:
KPÖ Wien
Tel: 0676 / 542 16 38
mailto:wien@kpoe.at
http://www.wien.kpoe.at

================================================
15 RAWNEWS - on Iraq
von: "RAWNEWS" <rawnews@btopenworld.com>
================================================

1) Turkey warns Iraqi Kurds against independence bid - Reuters
2) Military puts war preparations in high gear - National Journal
3) US "disappointed" with India-Pakistan missile tests - Agence France-Presse
4) Bulgaria offers air base for strikes on Iraq - Times Of India
5) Romania offers bases for U.S. strikes on Iraq - REUTERS
5) Quiet U.S. military buildup in gulf - Newsday

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Turkey warns Iraqi Kurds against independence bid <
Sunday, October 6, 2002

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Reuters) -- Turkey warned Iraq's Kurds on Saturday not
to use U.S. support for their newly-reopened regional parliament as a licence
to declare a separate state.
The Iraqi Kurds reopened their parliament on Friday, aiming to put years of
feuding behind them and stake a claim for autonomy if the United States ousts
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, allegedly for seeking weapons of mass
destruction.
Turkey, a close U.S. ally, sees a separate Kurdish state in Iraq as a disaster
that would threaten its borders and encourage its own estimated 12 million
Kurds to make a bid for independence.
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit of Turkey, a NATO member with troops already
based inside northern Iraq, said his country was watching for signs that the
Kurds wanted to breakaway from Iraq.
"We will never allow it (the parliament) to give the image of the
parliament of a
state," Ecevit said in televised remarks.
"We are continually watching. If it goes further down that road,
Turkey will take
the necessary measures," he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell sent a message of support to the
parliament.
The United States has protected the Kurds of northern Iraq with air
patrols based
in Turkey since they revolted against Baghdad after the 1991 Gulf War.
Washington has also devoted years of diplomacy to overcoming internal Kurdish
fighting and making the rugged Kurdish enclave a united bulwark against the
Iraqi government.
Ecevit said Powell's message should not be seen as U.S. approval of a separate
Kurdish state.
"I don't know what the aim of sending such a message was. But if it was to set
up a separate state we would not welcome it or see it as a friendly
gesture. But I
doubt it had that aim."
The two Kurdish parties that run northern Iraq have proposed a draft
constitution
for a post-Saddam era that sees their region having wide autonomy under a
federal system.
They also envisage the oil-rich city of Kirkuk -- currently run by
the Iraqi government
-- as the capital of their region.
Ecevit said such moves alarmed Turkey, which fears the assembly wants to be
"not the parliament of a local authority but the parliament of a state."
Kurds live in a swathe of territory encompassing parts of Turkey,
Syria, Iraq and
Iran and have never had their own state. Uprisings against their governments
often end in bloody failure.
"The establishment of an independent state right next to our border is not
something we can accept. But we will announce the measures that we may have
to take on this clearly when the time comes," Ecevit said.
Turkey has fought separatist Kurdish rebels since 1984 in a conflict
that has killed
more than 30,000 people, most of them guerrillas.
The Turkish military already garrisons troops inside northern Iraq,
mainly to crack
down on rebels that use the region as a base.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

> Military puts war preparations in high gear <
National Journal October 4, 2002
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.,

"In a sense, we've had a 10-year buildup."

The Marines land in Kuwait. The Air Force bombs Saddam Hussein's
command posts. Covert teams slip into Iraq. Army tanks rehearse
crossing the Euphrates River. Navy crews race to ready their warships
for sea. Transport vessels laden with supplies steam unheralded
toward the Persian Gulf. Factories churn out precision weapons at an
ever-accelerating pace.

The world may not be ready to accept a war on Iraq. Washington may
not be, either. Even many in the Pentagon have doubts. But the
military buildup is well under way. The armed services of the United
States have put a formidable amount of force into position just since
September 11, 2001. And in truth, they have been preparing for this
fight since the end, 11 years ago, of what we may soon have to call
the First Gulf War.

The Persian Gulf is where the post-Cold War world began. Hurried
deployments to unfamiliar lands; precision air strikes, like
lightning from clear skies; the professionalism of the all-volunteer
force; the need for an endless U.S. presence afterwards-all these
recurring motifs of the past decade were first seen in the war
against Iraq. Since then, U.S. forces have been to Somalia, to
Bosnia, to Kosovo, even unto the ends of the Earth in Afghanistan.
Now they have come full circle: the same place, the same enemy, even
some of the same Americans who fought last time. But the forces have
changed.

In 1990, the U.S. military was still blinking at the collapse of its
50-year foe, the Soviet Union. The Army and the Air Force, in
particular, were geared for a stand-up fight in Central Europe, close
to major bases, lavish stockpiles of supplies, and well-established
U.S. garrisons. To deploy a half-million troops halfway around the
world was a tremendous stretch, mentally and physically. Transport
ships set sail only to break down in midocean. Overworked cargo jets
literally started showing cracks. Without clear manifests of what had
been shipped, logistics officers had to stage scavenger hunts through
thousands of containers of supplies-and many supplies were sent back
unused, after the war. Building up sufficient forces to attack took
six sometimes-nerve-racking months.

Since then, "there's been a massive improvement," said retired Gen.
Charles Krulak, former commandant of the Marine Corps. "We have
aircraft that can carry more people and equipment further and faster
than we had in 1990. We have ships that are far more capable, [and]
weaponry has gained even greater lethality, so the amount you need to
transport has been cut down.... But the most important thing is a
mind-set that has you agile enough to respond when the whistle
blows."

What follows is a look at how far the military has come since the
first Gulf War, in getting ready for a possible second.

Prepositioning

The race is not always to the swift. Sometimes the way to win is
through the art of guessing where the battle will be, and the science
of warehousing enough matériel there in advance. The military calls
this "prepositioning."

The U.S. military had actually been stockpiling supplies, quietly, in
Saudi Arabia and its neighbors for some years before Saddam invaded
Kuwait in August 1990. But the vast bulk of the Pentagon's overseas
war stores were in Europe, awaiting World War III. Since 1991, the
focus, and much of the equipment, has shifted to the Gulf.

And even more has moved since 9/11. It is difficult to get an exact
tally of what has been moved to the Gulf region, because the Pentagon
has essentially been playing an intercontinental shell game,
involving chartered commercial ships, the military's own sealift
ships, and ports in the United States, Europe, the Gulf, and the
British-owned island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. "They are
definitely doing what they can to obscure exactly what is where,"
said analyst John Pike, head of GlobalSecurity.org, a research group
in Alexandria, Va. But by Pike's count, the Army's stockpiles in the
region are being doubled-and those hard by the Iraqi border in Kuwait
may triple by year's end.

Army prepositioning dates back decades. The Cold War military
maintained not only hundreds of thousands of troops in Europe, but
supplies and equipment for tens of thousands more: beans, bullets,
missiles, trucks, even entire battalions of tanks parked in
warehouses and waiting to go. The stockpiles held everything a unit
needed except its men, the lightest part of a modern army. It took
just days to fly the troops in from the states for the
annual "Reforger" exercises in Europe, when they would break out
their stored gear for war games. The problem was that "Reforger"
stood for "Return of Forces to Germany." And in 1990, the military
needed those warehouses to be a thousand miles to the southeast, in
the Persian Gulf.

The Marine Corps, by contrast, had come up with the idea of a
floating warehouse. Focused even during the Cold War on responding to
brushfires around the world, the Marines had stationed cargo ships
(what they call the "Maritime Prepositioning Force") in the
Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, and the western Pacific. Each of the
three squadrons held enough weapons, vehicles, and other equipment to
outfit a Marine Air-Ground Task Force of about 15,000 riflemen,
pilots, and support personnel apiece. In addition, the other armed
services maintained several ships full of fuel, ammunition, and other
supplies (although not weapons and vehicles as with the Marines). In
1990, all of these vessels could converge on the Gulf in a few weeks.

After the war, the Marines lobbied successfully for more floating
stockpiles. The Maritime Prepositioning Force has expanded from 13
ships then to 15 today, and a 16th is planned for 2003.

The Army, meanwhile, both borrowed a page from the Marine Corps
manual and updated its own Cold War playbook. On land in the Persian
Gulf, the Army has been steadily acquiring more warehouse space in
Qatar and Kuwait. Three times a year since 1996, a couple of thousand
Army troops have flown to Kuwait, driven their armored vehicles out
of the warehouses, and practiced in the desert, sometimes less than
30 miles from Iraq. And they stay in place until the next practice
battalion flies in to relieve them-in a kind of perpetual rotating
Reforger. In the past few months, this rotating force has been
tripled to brigade size-about 6,000 troops.

The stranger change since 1991 is that the Army now has a navy, in
the form of a dozen ships. The bulk of the Army fleet is seven Watson-
class LMSRs-Large Medium-Speed Roll-On/Roll-Off ships-anchored off
the British territory of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, a few
days' sail from Iraq. An eighth LMSR, finished this September, is due
at the island in February. Each 1,000-foot-long ship has decks
reinforced to hold 70-ton tanks and includes ramps to let them drive
right off without laborious unloading by longshoremen with cranes.
All told, these ships carry equipment and supplies for an armored
brigade, plus an array of supporting units: according to one official
memo, some 10,000 troops.

And more matériel is on the way. Months before 9/11, the Army was
already planning to move its remaining prepositioned stocks from
Germany into the Gulf. "One of those brigade sets, I believe, showed
up at Diego Garcia this past spring," said Pike, who has been
tracking published reports of commercial vessels chartered by the
military. Another appears to be headed for Kuwait, where a huge new
warehouse complex, Camp Arifjan, was finished this summer. And the
Army has publicly acknowledged transferring equipment from its Qatar
stockpile to Kuwait, closer to Iraq. "At the beginning of this year,"
said Pike, "the Army had one heavy division of equipment in theater.
And I think it's entirely possible that that they either have or very
soon will have an additional heavy division."

Two armored divisions would comprise nearly 40,000 troops. The three
Marine task forces whose equipment is prepositioned at sea would add
50,000 more. The total, it so happens, would be comfortably in the
middle range of estimates for how many ground troops it would take to
invade Iraq.

Lift

For all the Pentagon's far-flung stockpiles and bases, the United
States homeland remains the chief arsenal of democracy. Most U.S.
forces are here (indeed, a larger percentage than in the Cold War),
as is America's arms industry. Any sustained combat overseas requires
a steady stream of reinforcements and supplies from home.
The "pipeline" that pumped power from the United States to the Gulf
in 1990-91 was staggering: At its peak, a ship was sailing every 50
miles across the ocean, while a flying bridge of transport planes
outdelivered the record 65-week Berlin airlift of 1948-49-and did so
in the first six weeks of Desert Shield. Since then, the military's
capacity has only increased-and in ways that make possible new and
more daring operations, as shown in Afghanistan after 9/11.

Airplanes may be faster and more glamorous than seagoing vessels, but
even a large plane carries only about 1 percent of the cargo of a
single big ship. So the most efficient way to supply a war is still
what it was in World War II-by sea. The good news is that there are
no more submarines lurking in ambush for our transports. The bad news
is that there is not much of a Merchant Marine left, either. So as
the commercial shipping industry has shifted overseas-and has come to
rely increasingly on standardized containers that cannot accommodate
bulky items such as tanks or helicopters-the U.S. government has had
to build up its own fleet.

In 1990, the military had a reserve of moored cargo ships and part-
time civilian crews on standby, able to set sail for any destination
as soon as four days after getting the order. The Gulf War was the
fleet's first test. It passed, but not with flying colors. Some
transports were creaky geriatrics: "I loaded on a ship that looked
like it came out of a Humphrey Bogart movie," recalled Patrick
Sweeney, a Gulf War veteran who now teaches at the Naval War College.
And even newer ships had problems. Eight "Fast Sealift Ships"
acquired in the 1980s could travel at a staggering 30 knots, faster
than any civilian transport-but engine problems stranded one
ignominiously in the mid-Atlantic during the buildup for Desert
Storm.

Since 1991, the military has tightened standards for its standby
fleet, which now numbers 70 vessels ranging from fuel tankers to
troopships. The civilian Maritime Administration, which oversees the
fleet in peacetime, has stepped up inspections-especially in recent
months, say analysts at Stratfor (for "strategic forecasting"), a
private, Washington-based provider of intelligence. And since the
Gulf War, brags the military's Transportation Command, during 147 no-
notice drills only two ships sailed behind schedule, and then by less
than 10 hours.

The fleet is not only readier, but larger. The focus has been
on "roll-on/roll-off" ships ("Ro/Ros" in Pentagonspeak), a kind of
giant seagoing ferry that has grown ever rarer in commercial
shipping, but which is prized because it enables military vehicles to
drive straight on and off, without having to be loaded and unloaded
by crane. The 1980s-vintage Fast Sealift Ships, still in service, are
of this type. And since the Gulf War, the reserve fleet has acquired
10 new Large Medium-Speed Roll-On/Roll-Off ships-slightly smaller
versions of the seven LMSRs prepositioned at Diego Garcia-and 14
smaller Ro/Ro transports. All are kept on four days' notice to sail.

Still, the swiftest ship cannot catch a plane. Even where the
military has prepositioned whole warehouses of equipment, it has to
rely on aircraft to quickly bring in the personnel necessary to
operate the equipment. And as shown in Afghanistan, the United States
now has so many cargo planes that it can sustain a fair-sized war in
a landlocked, all-but-roadless country, halfway round the world, by
airlift alone.

In 1990, by contrast, an airlift to the Mideast was considered nearly
a worst-case scenario because it would have to carry nearly the same
tonnage of supplies as for a war in Europe but would have to take it
on much longer flights. One expedient was to call up commercial
jetliners, the first-ever use of a program called the Civil Reserve
Air Fleet (which still exists). But most of the burden in the Gulf
War rested on the military's own aircraft. The Air Force had and
still has hundreds of propeller-driven C-130s, able to land on short,
rough airstrips, but these were smallish aircraft with a rather short
range. The giant C-5 Galaxies, by contrast, could carry two 70-ton
tanks apiece and fly a longer distance, but they required a
correspondingly enormous runway, and lavish maintenance to match, and
so had to land mostly at major airbases far from the front. In
between these extremes were the C-141 Starlifters, the workhorses of
the Gulf War airlift. But these 1960s-vintage planes were flown so
hard that they simply wore out. In 1990, the Air Force had 234
Starlifters in service; only 76 remain.

Their replacement is the C-17. In its early years it was an
extraordinarily troubled program, even by Pentagon standards, but the
C-17 has become a favorite of the military and Congress alike, with
91 built and 89 more on order. It can fly as far as a C-141 with
twice the cargo and needs only 60 percent as much airstrip. Unlike
older transports, it can also jam or decoy the enemy missiles that
just may be aiming for it as it arrives at forward bases. In
Afghanistan, according to Transportation Command's Col. Curt
Ross, "the self-defense system on the C-17 allowed us to go into
places that we probably couldn't have taken a C-141, certainly in the
early stages of the war."

And the C-17's recent performance in Afghanistan suggests daring new
possibilities in Iraq. There are repeated reports that U.S. engineers
are already in Iraq, upgrading airfields in the Kurdish-controlled
north. Such primitive frontline landing strips would be inadequate
for U.S. attack aircraft, but they could help greatly with the
airlift. Now, an airlift alone cannot sustain an all-out ground
attack on Iraq. But the Pentagon could use these small, forward
fields to deploy substantial Special Operations units that would
direct air strikes and stiffen Kurdish resistance against Saddam, or
even-with the C-17-deploy a small armored force to attack the Iraqi
military's flank.

Air Bases

Airpower has inspired an almost religious terror ever since the first
fighters sputtered aloft in World War I. The uncanny precision of
modern weapons has only added to that aura. But in fact the U.S. Air
Force is mostly earthbound. Every knight of the air requires scores
of grease-stained squires on the ground to refuel, rearm, and repair
the planes; radars and command centers to direct their flight; and
thousands of yards of smooth, hard runway to land on and take off
from in the first place.

In the Gulf of 1990, most of this had to be made from scratch, or
rather sand. Since then the Air Force has built up more than a
decade's worth of infrastructure and experience in the region. And
since 9/11, its bases in the region have been getting bigger, and its
air strikes have become larger and heavier in the two no-fly zones
that U.S. aircraft patrol in Iraq.

When Saddam invaded Kuwait in 1990, Saudi Arabia and its neighbors
had already been constructing major airfields with U.S. help. But
when Desert Shield dawned, these were mostly incomplete, some of them
little more than landing strips cutting through bare desert.
Everything else that makes a base-the machine shops, the weapons
stores, the quarters for personnel-had yet to be constructed. "In the
Gulf War, we had to literally create cities in the sand," said
retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Scales. "That won't be necessary this
time around."

The reason is that once the Air Force set up for Gulf War I, it never
entirely left. The no-fly zones meant to prevent Saddam from strafing
rebel villages in Iraq's north and south have kept U.S. (and British)
aircraft in the region for the past 11 years. Although reluctant
Middle East allies often restricted U.S. operations against Iraq from
their airfields during the 1990s, they also permitted the steady
upgrading of those bases, especially in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. And
some Gulf states have outright vied with their neighbors to build the
most lavish facilities for the Americans. After 9/11, Saudi qualms
over attacking Iraq raised the threat that the United States could
not use its Arabian bases, including an elaborate command center just
completed in 2001. But Qatar, a small peninsular country that juts
out from Saudi Arabia into the Persian Gulf, let the Air Force shift
equipment to an alternative site at Al Udeid, where a huge new base
boasts the longest runway in the region. The war on Afghanistan also
saw unprecedented U.S. access to airfields in the Gulf state of Oman-
where reports hint that a proposed airfield at Musnana'h is closer to
completion than the official public schedule says.

The flip side of these physical improvements has been an equally
important shift in mind-set. In the Gulf region, U.S. pilots have
been on patrol continuously, and in combat repeatedly, over Iraq for
more than a decade. The weight of this burden has reshaped Air Force
culture. After decades of dependence on well-established garrisons in
the United States and Europe, where personnel would live with their
families for years, the Air Force learned to cycle units-including
Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard squadrons-in and out of
countries constantly and quickly. Those airmen who did not quit in
exhaustion accumulated practical experience that their Cold War
predecessors never had. And starting in 1999, most squadrons were put
on a planned and scheduled rotation so they knew when they had to be
ready for the next deployment; this "Air Expeditionary Force" system
was designed in part for the recurrent flare-ups over Iraq.

Those flare-ups have also worn down Iraqi air defenses. The air
strikes peaked in 1999. But since 9/11, the bombing has picked up
again-and shifted focus. In August, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
explicitly ordered that retaliation for Iraqi threats to U.S.
aircraft should fall, not on the anti-aircraft gun or missile
batteries themselves, but on their command and communications
centers. There has even been at least one strike against Iraqi anti-
ship cruise missiles-which are no threat to airplanes overhead, but a
real worry for ships unloading supplies in Kuwait, or for Marine
amphibious ships landing in Iraq.

This fall's stepped-up air strikes do not approach the aerial
onslaught of 1991. But the increased use of smart bombs makes today's
limited attacks hit harder than much larger raids a decade ago. For
all the awe that they inspired, precision weapons made up just 7
percent of the U.S. bombardment in the Gulf War-and almost all of
that was dropped by the Air Force; the Navy had only a few aircraft
with the electronic gear necessary to launch smart bombs. In
Afghanistan, the percentage of precision weapons surpassed 60 percent-
and every Navy fighter could drop them. More precision means more
damage from fewer raids, which use up not only fewer bombs, but also
a lot less fuel en route to the targets. And that efficiency, in
turn, dramatically reduces the sheer tonnage that U.S. logisticians
must put in place for war. Army veteran Scales noted, "The two
greatest bulk items for strategic deployment are not men and
equipment: They're munitions and fuel."

Command And Plans

Modern warfare is a matter of mass. Since 1991, the American military
has done much to reduce the mass it must move into the Gulf for war.
It has built up infrastructure, prepositioned equipment, and
smartened up its bombs with precision guidance so it takes fewer to
destroy the targets. And the Pentagon has increased its ability to
haul what still needs hauling, with a larger and more capable
inventory of sea and air transports.

But logistics is also about information-and in this intangible realm,
the United States has also made real strides. In 1990-91, the
pipeline pumping supplies overseas was massive, unceasing, and
opaque: Nobody knew exactly what was in it. The Pentagon's unified
Transportation Command, intended to reduce the overlap between Army,
Navy, and Air Force transport assets, was only three years old back
then. Transcom, as it is known, had barely begun to bring order to a
Cold War array of mutually incompatible tracking systems, which had
fallen far behind the standards of commercial shippers such as FedEx.
Shipments hauled across the ocean got stuck just short of the front
line because the combat units did not know the goods had been
delivered. Many containers did not even have clear printed manifests.
Recalled retired Col. Scott Feil (now with the Association of the
United States Army), the attitude among logisticians inevitably
became, "I don't know whether it got there, so I'd better send
another one." Piled on top of a worst-case estimate of how long the
war would take, this inefficiency led to vast desert stockpiles that
ultimately had to be shipped back.

"There were a lot of stories after the war of acres on acres of
unopened containers," said Transcom's Ross. "There were also stories
of people who ordered parts and ordered them again and again." But
since the Gulf War, the military has been working on new processes,
and new computer networks, that help supply front-line forces with
what they need, instead of piling three of everything in the rear.
Getting Army, Navy, Marine, and Air Force logisticians to enter the
same data in the same electronic formats is still problematic. But
now they can track every transport, sea and air, and have a decent
idea of what's inside it.

Transcom is not the only headquarters that has grown up. In 1990, the
Pentagon's Central Command, which oversees the Middle East theater,
did have a detailed plan for fighting a Gulf War-but the conflict
envisioned was in Iran, and against invading Soviets. The parts about
pouring friendly forces into Saudi Arabia still held good when the
enemy became Iraq; everything else had to be thrown out. Since then,
a new war against Saddam has become the standard planning scenario,
not just for Central Command, but for the entire Pentagon as it works
out its budget, force structure, and global strategy.

Indeed, military reformers have often said that all the attention
lavished on preparing for another big tank battle in the Gulf has
drained energy from more-innovative planning. In recent years,
however, the example of an all-airpower war over Kosovo has shaken up
the Pentagon. So has the Special Operations-dominated fighting in
Afghanistan.

And the Afghan war has not only changed the way U.S. planners think,
it has changed where they are. Central Command's naval component, the
U.S. 5th Fleet, has been based on Bahrain, an island state near
Qatar, since the Gulf War. But the corresponding Marine Corps command
had stayed in the Pacific-until its top general and much of his staff
moved to Bahrain in January. The month before, the U.S. Third Army
headquarters moved from Fort MacPherson, Ga., to Kuwait to be closer
to ongoing ground operations in Afghanistan. The Air Force now has
two alternative command posts in the region, one in Saudi Arabia and
the other, in case of Saudi jitters, in Qatar. The Central Command
itself remains at its headquarters in Tampa, Fla. But 600 of its
staff will deploy to Qatar in November as an exercise. No one expects
them home right away.

Considering these relocations, the increased air strikes, the
prepositioning of supplies, repeated stories of covert operations
inside Iraq, and intense war games from Kuwait to Texas, the invasion
may seem imminent. But these moves can be overhyped. This summer, a
minor media storm erupted over a State Department solicitation to
humanitarian groups for $6.6 million of aid work in Iraq-including
regions still under Saddam's control. Some analysts said the contract
showed that Washington was already preparing for the aftermath of an
invasion. But officials hastily emphasized that the program was aimed
at displaced Kurds in the rebel-held north. And $6.6 million would
hardly be even a down payment on rebuilding a post-Saddam Iraq.

"These small things that are happening, [such as] two thousand
Marines doing an exercise in Kuwait,... look less like the vanguard
of a deployment than the prudent preparation of a defense" of our
bases in the Gulf lest Saddam try a pre-emptive strike of his own,
said Michael O'Hanlon, an analyst at the Brookings Institution. To
deploy forces for a full-scale invasion, which O'Hanlon estimates
would require more than 100,000 troops, would take about two months.

Even GlobalSecurity.org's Pike, who suspects that an invasion might
take as few as 50,000 troops deployed in just 10 days, agreed that
such troop movements would produce telltale signs we have not yet
seen: "There's no way you can deploy that number of troops, and that
number of aircraft, without it being obvious."

But it is well worth noting that even O'Hanlon's conservative
estimate still presumes a much smaller force, and a much quicker time
line, than in the Gulf War. The consensus of experts, military and
civilian alike, is that a second Desert Storm would blow in far
faster than the first. "It's not going to be a six-month buildup,"
said Army Lt. Col. Robert Boyko, recently retired from Transcom. "In
a sense, we've had a 10-year buildup."

http://globalsecurity.org/org/news/2002/021004-iraq3.htm

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/021005/1/33gb2.html

> US "disappointed" with India-Pakistan missile tests <
Agence France-Presse - Saturday October 5, 14:14 PM

The United States said that it was "disappointed" at rival missile tests by
India and Pakistan and singled out Islamabad's military government, a key
US anti-terror ally, for an extra ticking off.
"We're disappointed that ballistic missile tests are occurring in the region,"
said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
"There is a charged atmosphere in the region and these tests can contribute to
that atmosphere, and make it harder to prevent a costly and
destabilizing nuclear
and missile arms race."
India earlier on Friday tested a medium-range surface-to-air missile nine hours
after Pakistan tested its own nuclear-capable medium-range ballistic missile.
The tests came after a resurgence of tensions over Kashmir, the Himalayan
region both sides claim, and less than a week before elections in Pakistan.
"Our primary concern is with weapons that can deliver weapons of mass
destruction, which surface-to-air missiles cannot," said Boucher,
heaping criticism
on Pakistan.
"In broader terms however, we look to India and Pakistan to not take steps that
increase tensions in the region."
The United States stepped into the simmering South Asian dispute several times
this year when rocketing tensions sparked fears of the world's first
nuclear war.
Added to the terrible toll such a conflict would inflict, Washington
is concerned a
Pakistan-India confrontration would seriously detract from its
anti-terror campaign
in the region, which is focusing mainly on Afghanistan.
Pakistan first test fired its home-grown Hatf-IV or Shaheen missile,
with a range of
up to 800 kilometres (500 miles), at 8:30 am (0230 GMT).
India then tested its Akash missile, capable of travelling 25
kilometers (15 miles),
off its east coast at 4:30 pm (1100 GMT), calling it a "routine" exercise.
Britain also expressed regret for the missile tests, with Junior Foreign Office
Minister Mike O'Brien saying "restraint is in the long-term interests" of both
sides.
Tensions between Pakistan and India have been on a knife edge since the deadly
attack on India's parliament in December last year, an assault blamed on the
Pakistan-based Islamic militant groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
In May, with Kashmir again a flashpoint, Pakistan test-fired three
missiles in quick
succession, including two short-range missiles named Abdali and Hatf III
(Ghaznavi), which can respectively travel 180 to 290 kilometres (110
to 180 miles).
It also fired the medium-range Hatf-V (Ghauri II) missile, which can fly up to
1,500 kilometres (940 miles) and strike deep inside India.
India and Pakistan both carried out tit-for-tat nuclear tests in May of 1998.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articleshow?artid=24135109

> Bulgaria offers air base for strikes on Iraq <
The Times Of India - October 4, 2002

SOFIA (AFP): Bulgaria, a NATO candidate nation, is prepared to open
its air space
and provide an air base for a future attack against Iraq, Defence Minister
Nikolai Svinarov said.

"We make clear our willingness to respond to certain requests if they are put
to Bulgaria," notably concerning "Bulgarian air space and eventually Sarafovo
airport," the national BTA agency quoted the minister as saying on Thursday.
He stressed that thus far no such request had been received.

However Bulgaria, "will take no position on Iraq until there is a
clear (UN) Security
Council resolution on Iraq and clarity within the international
community; the UN,
NATO, and America and its partners," the minister added.

Last November, during the Afghan operation, US supply planes used the Sarafovo
airport, north of Bourgas on the Black Sea, while some 200 US troops used the
nearby military base.

Bulgaria has agreements for transit and provisional stay of NATO and US forces.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20021001-0627-iraq-romania.html

> Romania offers bases for U.S. strikes on Iraq <
REUTERS - October 1, 2002

BUCHAREST, Romania - NATO hopeful Romania has offered its airbases and
Black Sea ports to the United States to use in the event of an attack against
Iraq, a senior official said Tuesday.

Eager to impress Washington, the deciding voice in inviting new members at a
NATO summit in Prague in November, this is Romania's third offer for logistical
support after participating in the campaigns in Kosovo and Afghanistan.

"Air corridors, airbases and ports are offered by Romania if the U.S.
asks for it.
They can count on our facilities," a senior Foreign Ministry official
told Reuters.

Romania is now offering to help U.S. warplanes refuel and transport troops and
equipment, he said.

President Ion Iliescu signaled last week Romania would give logistics to
Washington but not combat troops.
Defense Minister Mircea Pascu also said on a recent visit to Washington
Romania would grant overflights to U.S. fighter jets.

The United States has warned Iraq to disarm or face a possible military strike
because it considers President Saddam Hussein's weapons programs a threat.

Romaini is offering the Kogalniceanu airbase near the Black Sea port
of Constanta
and some 1,250 miles northwest of Baghdad. Sheltering Soviet-built MiG planes,
once ready to defend the country from any attack from NATO-member Turkey,
it can now be used by NATO's warplanes, the official said.

A military analyst said such bases alone could not support an attack against
Baghdad, but could "add to the existing U.S. strongholds in Turkey and Saudi
Arabia."

"In the new, expanded NATO, each member seeks to bring into light and take
advantage of its own strong points," Romanian military expert Cornel Codita
told Reuters. "Romania could be excellent in providing logistics."

Romania, which along with its ex Soviet-block neighbor Bulgaria form a
natural bridge linking the core of NATO with east Mediterranean members
Greece and Turkey, have seen their alliance entry chances improve since
the September 11 attacks.

With an eye to NATO membership, the country has signed a bilateral deal
with the United States agreeing not to hand over any U.S. citizen to the
International Criminal Court, drawing EU criticism.

Barring any surprises, Romania and Bulgaria are expected to get the coveted
invitations in Prague.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

> Quiet U.S. military buildup in gulf <
Newsday (New York, NY) October 04, 2002
By Craig Gordon

Washington - Under the cover of training exercises and other routine
activities, the Pentagon is quietly fortifying troops and equipment
already in the Persian Gulf region that could be shifted quickly to
an Iraqi invasion, cutting from months to weeks the time needed to
launch an attack, military analysts say.

The U.S. moves have come with little fanfare amid delicate
negotiations to win world support for a possible invasion. In recent
months alone, the United States has doubled its war supplies in
Kuwait and begun rotating several thousand soldiers and Marines into
it for exercises and deployments. Kuwait, a tiny nation on Iraq's
southeastern border, would be an all-but-certain launch pad for any
attack. The U.S. Central Command is preparing to move 600 war
planners to the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar next month to test
setting up a command post. Originally billed as a weeklong test,
military officials now say the Qatar exercise is likely to result in
creation of a forward headquarters in the region, one that could be
used to run an Iraqi war.

U.S. officials have asked Britain for permission to base a half dozen
stealthy B-2 bombers on the island of Diego Garcia, in close striking
range of Iraq, a move that has been under consideration for several
years. Three shipments of tons of military hardware also were
contracted recently, two to support undisclosed exercises in Jordan
and one for the soldiers in Kuwait.

Military officials have dubbed the various moves long-planned
deployments or regularly scheduled exercises to bone up on skills,
not a build-up signaling an imminent invasion of Iraq. At the same
time, they acknowledge that deployed units could be kept in place
longer than planned or shifted into a wartime footing should the need
arise.

"Anytime there are troops in the region for an exercise, they could
transition in a crisis mode. That's just the facts," said one
Pentagon official.

Military analysts say the moves, combined with previous efforts to
stockpile equipment throughout the gulf, mean the United States has
supplies in place, or nearby, to support as many as 35,000 troops.
That would dramatically shorten the time needed to act on a
presidential order to invade, perhaps to as little as three weeks
under scenarios calling for a small, lightning-quick force designed
to take Baghdad and topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime.

"How long is it going to take to get 50,000 guys ready to roll in
Kuwait? Not very long. Most of the heavy hardware is either already
there or near at hand," said John Pike, a military analyst at
Globalsecurity.org who tracks deployments.

A second analyst, Anthony Cordesman, believes the Qatar exercise,
plus other so-far-unannounced exercises expected by year's end, would
put the United States in position to strike Iraq by sometime in
December. After that, "the United States and Britain could go to war
at virtually any time," said Cordesman, an analyst at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Some military officials have suggested January or February would be
the best time, so soldiers wearing chemical-protection suits could
avoid summer's searing heat.

Any war mobilization this time would be faster than the six-month run-
up preceding Desert Storm, thanks largely to stocks put in place
after the Persian Gulf War in Kuwait, Qatar and Diego Garcia. In
addition, Central Command already has about 55,000 troops stationed
in the region, with a little less than half in close proximity to
Iraq.

A brigade of about 4,000 soldiers from Fort Stewart, Ga., is being
rotated into Kuwait for exercises to defend that nation, replacing
another unit leaving by December. Meanwhile, 2,200 Marines from the
11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., have
begun a monthlong amphibious assault exercise in Kuwait.

U.S. officials would not say what war scenario would be tested in
Qatar at Central Command's biennial command-post exercise, dubbed
Internal Look '03. In the summer of 1990, then-Gen. Norman
Schwarzkopf used Internal Look to test a new strategy designed to
turn back an attack by Iraq, which invaded Kuwait even before the
exercise concluded.

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LINKS / VERWEISE / HINWEISE
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16 RIFONDAZIONE COMUNISTA IN WIEN
von: "Stefano D'Incecco" <stefanodincecco.pn@libero.it>
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Wir versuchen zur Zeit eine Sektion der Rifondazione Comunista in Wien
aufzubauen und haben begonnen folgende Internetseite zu konstruieren:
http://www.rifcomvienna.too.it oder
http://crea.html.it/sito/rifcomvienna oder
http://crea.html.it/websites/rifcomvienna

Liebe Gruesse

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