Weapons of Mass Destruction
PUBLIC OUTREACH AND INFORMATION CENTERS IN RUSSIA
With a population of 17,000, Pochep is the capital of the Pochep Rayon region (48,000 inhabitants). The Pochep Chemical Weapons Stockpile is the largest and most modern chemical weapons stockpile with 18.8% of the original Russian stockpile. The 7,498 tons are composed of differing nerve agents: VX, sarin, and soman.
POIO ACTIVITIES:
- Holds informational meetings for rural, village, and municipal candidates, elected officials, administrators, and staff
- Corresponds with, briefs, and organizes informal meetings with the media
- Lectures on chemical weapons destruction and environmental questions to school children and summer camp participants
- Participates in and presents at local evacuation trainings
- Participates in the National Chemical Dialogue, the National Nuclear Dialogue, and other local and regional conferences
Legacy News
U.S. Boosts Funding for Last Two CW Disposal Sites
Global Security Newswire. Nov 6, 2008. By Chris Schneidmiller
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department has received its highest-ever budget for preparing two chemical weapons disposal sites that hold the key to meeting the congressional demand to eliminate the entire U.S. stockpile by 2017.
The $427.5 million provided to the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program for fiscal 2009 is a step in the right direction toward providing the money that will be needed to meet the deadline, one longtime observer said.
Paul Walker, security and sustainability program head for Global Green USA, estimated that the Army’s side of chemical weapons elimination is more likely to be finished in 2013 to 2014. Learn More
South Korea Completes Destruction of Its Chemical Weapons Stockpile
Environmental News Service. October 17, 2008.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - In a step towards the global elimination of chemical weapons, South Korea has become the second country to destroy its declared chemical weapons stockpile. The country beat its December 31, 2008 deadline by at least three months.
The accomplishment, which took place since June, has not been announced publicly because South Korea has requested full confidentiality under the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty that requires the destruction of all chemical weapons stockpiles worldwide.
Dr. Paul Walker, director of Global Green USA's Security and Sustainability Program, has been following this issue.
"The elimination of several thousand tons of deadly nerve agents in South Korea marks a major historic initiative in global abolition of chemical weapons, in implementation of the international Chemical Weapons Convention, and in demilitarizing the Korean Peninsula," he said today.
"South Korea deserves our sincere congratulations in destroying its entire chemical weapons arsenal and making the Korean Peninsula a more stable and peaceful region," said Walker. Learn More
Abolishing Chemical Weapons Globally: Successes and Challenges - An NGO Perspective
OPCW. September 24, 2008. By: Dr Paul F. Walker, Legacy Program Director, Global Green USA
The successful, verified elimination of some 40% of the six declared chemical weapons stockpiles in the first 11 years of the Chemical Weapons Convention represents a major achievement for the treaty regime and its implementing body, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The primary goal of the Convention – the total elimination of existing chemical weapons stockpiles – is well on the way to being met in the foreseeable future. Learn More
What I've Learned: Mikhail Gorbachev
ESQUIRE. Sept 10, 2008. By Cal Fussman
That Louis Vuitton ad? The proceeds go to Green Cross International and its American counterpart, Global Green. Also, I travel a lot, and a good bag comes in handy.
Look at what happened in New Orleans. Look at how big the blow was and how difficult the consequences are in dealing with such a blow. Imagine what would happen in a situation where nuclear weapons were used. Imagine the effect of the radiation. It's been years since the Chernobyl accident, and there are towns and villages where people do not live. The towns are still there. They haven't been torn down, but not a single person lives there. So this is a very serious matter--more than serious. Learn More
Hopeful Gorbachev receives Liberty Medal
Philadelphia Daily News, Sept. 19, 2008. By Stephanie Farr
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev accepted the 2008 Liberty Medal last night at the National Constitution Center after delivering a sharp rebuttal to remarks made earlier in the day by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Nobel Peace Prize winner, Gorbachev was honored with the 20th Liberty Medal for his role in ending the Cold War and bringing "glasnost," or political openness, to the former Soviet Union.
"He knew it was up to him to lead this revolution," Mayor Nutter said. Learn More
Russia opens 4th chemical weapons destruction plant
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE. June 17, 2008.
Russia opened a fourth plant Tuesday to destroy its chemical weapons stockpiles, which are the largest in the world.
The destruction facility, located near the site of one of Russia's seven major chemical weapons arsenals, will help accelerate an ambitious effort to fully eliminate the stockpiles in less than four years.
The plant near Leonidovka in the Penza Oblast holds 7,600 tons (6,885 metric tons) of VX, sarin, and soman nerve agents, about 17 percent of Russia's declared chemical weapons stockpile, according to Global Green USA, the Washington-based affiliate of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's Green Cross International environmental organization. Learn More
Spring Valley Weapons Search to Continue
WASHINGTON POST. May 30, 2008.
The cleanup of World War I chemical weapons buried under the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest Washington could last three more years, as crews search for more shells and remove tainted soil, officials said yesterday.
The Spring Valley cleanup began in 1993, after a construction crew uncovered buried shells from a former testing ground for chemical weapons near American University.
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Publications
2009 National Security and Nonproliferation Briefing Book
Ploughshares Fund's Peace and Security Initiative has just released its 2009 National Security and Non-Proliferation Briefing Book. This resource offers President-elect Obama and his administration expertise and advice from some of the best minds -- including 22 Ploughshares Fund grantees, former government officials and other experts -- on the most important and pressing proliferation and national security challenges they will face upon taking office. Issues covered range from "Moving To A World Free of Nuclear Weapons" to "The Iraq War" and "U.S. Homeland Security. Dr. Paul Walker, Security and Sustainability Program Director at Global Green USA, contributed to two chapters on US-Russian Relations (page 45) and Chemical and Biological Weapons (page 77).
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Evolving Nuclear Realities and US-Russian Relations
This is a summary of the second Nuclear National DIalogue organized by Global Green USA/ Green Cross in April 2008 in St. Petersburg Russia. The event was organized in partnership with the Stanely Foundation who provided this summary of the conference. Proceedings of this unique event have been published in Russian and will soon be avaliable in English in December 2008, in both hard copy and electronic versions.
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