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Svalbard Satellite Station in Norway helps serve US war fighting operations thus violating the Treaty of Svalbard | | |
For Immediate Release
Concerned activists and writers from around the world will gather in
Kiruna, Sweden on June 27-29 to discuss how the ‘High North’ of
Sweden has become one of the largest training places (called NEAT) for NATO war
exercises and advanced weapons testing.
The High North also hosts ground stations for military
satellites and tests drones that are increasingly being used in the US-NATO war
in Afghanistan.
Indigenous Samic people will be present at the conference to
talk about the impact of these military operations on their lives.
Swedish Peace
Council Vice-Chair Agneta Norberg stated:
“US-NATO wants to control Russia and eventually get a hold of the
enormous resources under the Arctic ice cap that is now melting due to climate
change. To make Russia obedient the US-NATO is surrounding Russia with missile
defense interceptors – key elements in their first strike system. For this
purpose huge radars are installed in Vardö, Norway, close to Russian border, and
on Thule base in Greenland. Norway and the US have established satellite
stations on the Island of Svalbard which violate the Treaty of Svalbard that
forbids the deployment of any war making technology.”
Global Network
board convener Dave Webb (Chair of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the UK)
said: “Not
many people know that the satellite receiving stations in Sweden and Norway
fulfill an important role for NATO and the US military. Space technology is
vital to the military’s global reach and we really need to support and stand
with those campaigning for alternatives to war in their protest against these
installations spread around the world.”
The three days of events are being sponsored by the Global
Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space (GN), Women for Peace, and
the Folke Bernadotte Academy. People will be coming to the conference from
Japan, Germany, England, Russia, France, United States, Norway, Finland and
Sweden.
2013 marks the 21st annual meeting of the Global
Network. Each year the organization
holds a space organizing conference in a different country. In 2012 the group met on Jeju Island, South
Korea where villagers are protesting the construction of a Navy base for US
warships.
The GN was founded in 1992 to stop the nuclearization and
weaponization of space. Today the GN has 150 affiliate groups located on all
continents of the world.
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