19. U.S. CONGRESS IGNORES SOVIET PLEA FOR NUCLEAR TEST BAN

Last September, representatives of northern California peace groups met with the San Francisco Soviet Consul General.

They were given a copy of an appeal made by the USSR Supreme Soviet to the U.S. Congress. It was released through TOSS and datelined Moscow, August 1.

In the appeal, the Soviets declared the "USSR's readiness to proclaim on any day and at any hour, on a reciprocal basis, a moratorium on all nuclear explosions, which could be a prologue to concluding a verified agreement on a comprehensive nuclear test ban."

The Soviet communique said further that the "task of strengthening the international nonproliferation regime, effectively blocking the nuclear arms race channels and removing de facto the threat of a nuclear war is more urgent than ever before."

According to an article on the Soviet offer in the November 1989 Newsletter of Women for Peace, East Bay, "the appeal has not been reported in the U.S. press, and Congress did not respond"

In light of the public posturing the Bush administration and Congress are doing in the name of encouraging communist moves toward democratic ideals, the apparently blunt refusal of the U.S. Congress to publicly respond to the Soviet test ban offer smacks of a double standard. The administration has consistently demonstrated its unwillingness to publicize Soviet peace initiatives.

A check of major newspaper and magazine reports since August, 1989, reveals that, indeed, there has been virtually nothing written on the Soviet appeal to Congress for a ban on all nuclear tests.

SSU CENSORED RESEARCHER: TERRIL SHORE

SOURCE: WOMEN FOR PEACE -- EAST BAY NEWSLETTER 2303 Elsworth Street, Berkeley, CA 94704
DATE: November 1989
TITLE: "A TALE OF TWO MEETINGS"
AUTHOR: LILLIAN NURMELA

SOURCE: CONSULATE GENERAL, USSR, SAN FRANCISCO 2790 Green Street, San Francisco, CA 94123
DATE: 8/1/89
TITLE: "NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE USSR, TASS"

COMMENTS: Last August, before the cold war was "officially" ended, the USSR Supreme Soviet appealed to the U.S. Congress for a nuclear test ban. Congress ignored the appeal and the U.S. media didn't bother to tell the American people about it. Lillian Nurmela, member of a northern California peace group, discovered the offer when she and other representatives met with the San Francisco Soviet Consul General. She was disturbed when she discovered that the Soviet offer wasn't reported in the American press and she submitted the story to Project Censored. Despite the lessening of tensions, she feels the issue of nuclear weapons testing still deserves media attention. "Although it is generally agreed that the cold war has ended," Nurmela said, "the Bush administration proceeds with plans to expand nuclear weapons testing and hence the continued development of 'improved' nuclear weapons. On March 22 of this year, the Las Vegas Sun reported that a new $73.6 million 'bomb factory' to assemble nuclear weapons at the Nevada Test Site was scheduled to open around October 1991. This story was not picked up by the major news services or national television." Nurmela concludes "As long as there is no public awareness about the events and issues involved in nuclear tests, our old enemy, the military-industrial complex, is free to pursue its aims without being subject to (as the Depart-ment of Energy put it) `the crucible of public debate'."