Dear Friends:
Congratulations are in order to our friend Mary Becker who is the Executive Producer of the short film B is for BOMB, which won the 2006 Cannes Online Film Competition. The work is based upon her 2004 film Original Child Bomb, which is an outstanding example of art, advocacy and education on the threats posed by nuclear weapons. We recommend sharing Ms. Becker’s important work with others as well.
GSI Experts to Work with WMD Commission and Nobel Peace Laureates, and MPI to Conduct High-Level Delegation to Canadian Government
June promises to be an exciting and productive month for the Global Security Institute (GSI) and its programs. In the coming weeks, GSI experts will work closely with a number of high-level politicians, Nobel Peace Laureates, and civil society representatives.
The following report summarizes GSI’s upcoming contributions to a safer, saner world free of the threat from nuclear weapons.
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President Gorbachev,
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GSI Experts to Work Closely with WMD Commission
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Dr. Hans Blix, Rep. Curt Weldon, Rep. Ed Markey, Mr. Granoff (Photo: United Nations, 2005) |
GSI experts will be privileged to work with the WMD Commission on two upcoming events for the month of June. On June 2, GSI President Jonathan Granoff will moderate an evening discussion at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia featuring Dr. Hans Blix, Chair of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC), and renowned security expert Dr. Craig Eisendrath, Chair of the Professionals Project for Nuclear Awareness (PPNA). Entitled Meeting the Greatest Challenge of History: Weapons of Mass Destruction, the event is being presented by PPNA, a coalition in which GSI is a founding member, and will follow the release of the WMD Commission Report Weapons of Terror: Freeing the World of Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Arms, which was presented on June 1 to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Jan Eliasson, United Nations General Assembly President and Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs.
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Amb. Thomas Graham, Jr. (Photo: Washington, DC, 2003) |
On June 7, Dr. Hans Blix will speak in Washington, D.C., on the topic of WMD Dangers and Solutions. The event will be held at the Choate Room of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and is being organized by the Arms Control Association and sponsored by the American Bar Association Section of International Law & Practice’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Non-Proliferation, which is co-Chaired by Mr. Granoff and Amb. Thomas Graham, Chair of the Bipartisan Security Group (BSG), a program of GSI. The same day, both Dr. Blix and Mr. Granoff will engage in private meetings with high-level US government officials.
Middle Powers Initiative to Conduct High-Level Delegation to Canada
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Hon. Douglas Roche and
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As part of its regular mission of sending high-level delegations to the middle power governments, the Middle Powers Initiative (MPI), a program of GSI, has on four occasions (1998, 1999, 2001, 2002) sent delegations to the Government of Canada. From June 12-13, MPI will send another high-level delegation to Ottawa, calling on Canada to re-commit itself to multilateral diplomacy in furthering nuclear disarmament.
Led by the Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell, former Prime Minister and Former Defense Minister of Canada, the delegation will also include former Canadian Senator Douglas Roche, O. C., Chair of MPI, BSG Chair Amb. Thomas Graham (ret.), and Jonathan Granoff. During the course of the delegation, MPI delegates will:
- Meet with Canada’s Foreign Minister and Minister of Defense
- Testify before the Senate and House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committees
- Hold a special NGO briefing on the threat of nuclear proliferation and Canada’s role in promoting a nuclear weapons-free world
GSI Experts Represent International Peace Bureau at Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in South Korea
Jonathan Granoff and Alyn Ware, International Coordinator of the Parliamentary Network for Nuclear Disarmament (PNND), will represent the International Peace Bureau (IPB) at the Nobel Peace Laureates Summit to be held June 15-17, 2006 in Gwangju, Republic of Korea under the theme, “May 18 Democratic Uprising and Peace on the Korean Peninsula.” As a featured speaker, Mr. Granoff will address the subject of “Ending War, Pursuing Peace.”
The 2006 Gwangju Nobel Peace Laureates Summit for Democracy and Peace is being organized by the Gorbachev Foundation and co-chaired by former Soviet President and Nobel Peace Laureate H.E. Mikhail Gorbachev, and former President of the Republic of Korea H.E. Kim Dae-Jung. GSI’s founder, the late Sen. Alan Cranston, was a close friend and staunch supporter of Dae-Jung during a time when the leader was considered a dissident. Other speakers will include His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
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Mr. Granoff, President Lech Walesa, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, President Mikhail Gorbachev, and President Oscar Arias
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Mr. Granoff has represented the IPB at the Nobel Peace Summit for the last four years in Rome, Italy and will represent the IPB for the fifth time in South Korea. More information on the upcoming summit is available from the city of Gwangju’s website by clicking here.
Information on previous summits of Nobel Peace Laureates can be found here.
To read GSI’s reports from previous summits, click on the following links:
» 2003 – Report from the 4th Summit
» 2003 – GSI President’s Presentation at 4th Summit, titled “Peace and Security-Multilateral and Disarmament Imperatives”
» 2004 – Final Statement of the 5th Summit
» 2004 – GSI President’s Presentation at 5th Summit, titled “Terrorism and Other Threats to Humanity”
» 2004 – Presentation by PNND Global Coordinator at 5th Summit, “Lifting Up the World: Building a Culture of Peace”
