Governments and Billionaire Turner, Pledge Troops And Dollars to the United Nations to Ward off Nuclear War

GOVERNMENTS AND BILLIONAIRE TURNER,
PLEDGE TROOPS AND DOLLARS TO THE U.N.
TO WARD OFF NUCLEAR WAR.

CANADA PLEDGES TROOPS TO UN STANDING ARMY WITHOUT PUBLIC INPUT

LifeSite.net -Jan 9,2001 -- On January 5, 2001, Canada signed an agreement with the United Nations to put Canadian troops and equipment on standby for UN interventions. The move is controversial since conservative critics suggest that it is the first step in the creation of a UN army. Notably, the United States has not agreed to participate in the venture which was commenced by the UN in 1994. Canada is the 34th country to sign a memorandum of understanding under the UN Standby Arrangements System agreeing to place ships, equipped military personnel and aircraft on standby for use by the UN within 30 days.

There was no public debate on the issue in Canada prior to the agreement.

The other countries that have signed the memorandum are: Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Chad, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kyrgyz Republic, Lithuania,
Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Zimbabwe.

CHINA PLEDGES FIVE CHINESE POLICE OFFICERS

Nando Times/AP Fri Jan 5,2001 -- Five Chinese police officers will join a U.N. peacekeeping operation in Bosnia, the first time Beijing has deployed civilian peacekeepers outside Asia, the official China Daily reported Friday.

ENVOY: U.S. NEAR PAYMENT DEAL TO UN - TED TURNER OFFERS TO HELP UNITED NATIONS

(AP) - Media mogul Ted Turner is offering to give the United Nations $34 million to break a budget impasse between the United States and 188 other countries, sources close to the deal said Thursday. Turner, who stunned the United Nations with a $1 billion gift three years ago, approached the Clinton administration recently with his new offer, the sources said. If accepted by U.N. members, the offer could help resolve a dispute over U.S. payments to the organization that has had U.N. negotiators wrangling for
months. The United States currently pays 25% of the U.N. administrative budget and says its share should be reduced to 22% But that would leave other countries to make up the shortfall, and many have objected. Now Turner has offered to pay the $34 million shortfall for 2001, anonymous sources said. The years after that
aren't addressed by his offer, though, and it wasn't immediately clear if the gesture would be enough to persuade 188 reluctant countries to accept the U.S.

[Source: Full article at: http://www.infobeat.com/fullArticle?article=405489301 ]

TED TURNER PLEDGES $1 BILLION TO THE UNITED NATIONS TO AVERT NUCLEAR WAR

Ted Turner to form anti-nuclear group - Fri Jan 5,2001 -- Billionaire Ted Turner has decided to create a charitable group dedicated to reducing the threat posed by nuclear weapons and other means of mass destruction, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Friday. The newspaper said Turner will supply "significant resources" to finance the organization.

Former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia, former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, will serve as the organization's chief executive officer and Turner will be a co-chairman, the newspaper said. In an interview last year, Nunn said that while the threat of an all-out nuclear war has diminished during the past decade, the risk that nuclear weapons could be used "in terrorist groups or in irresponsible nations" has increased. Turner, whose Turner Foundation has donated more than $1 billion to the United Nations for projects around the world, said in an interview last March that he was concerned about the nuclear threat.

"It turns out that the United States and Russia have 6,000 warheads on hair-trigger alerts pointed at each other around the clock all the time, and it's a very dangerous situation," Turner said. "There could be an accident or
somebody could go mad and push a button somewhere and annihilate us all.
You know, just when we thought it was safe to come out of our bomb shelters," said Turner, the founder of CNN and a vice chairman of Time Warner. (Source: NewsMax.com Weekend News Today )

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