MORE AWESOME THAN NUCLEAR: II ENVIRONMENTAL WARFARE IN RELATION TO CALL FOR BAN

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33883, 1 July 1975, Page 16

MORE AWESOME THAN NUCLEAR: II ENVIRONMENTAL WARFARE IN RELATION TO CALL FOR BAN

(By

VICTOR ZORZAI

At first sight, the possibility of environmental warfare may seem “completely fantastic,” says a Soviet journal, but its use in some form or another “cannot be excluded.” It says that United States research shows that the electricity in the atmosphere could be used "to suppress the mental activity” of large groups of people in target areas.

A sonic generator tuned to an infrasound frequency could induce “feelings of depression, fear, panic, terror, and despair,’ and could even kill. “Work is in progress to find ways to change the nature of lightning.” to increase its power and “to direct electric charges of tremendous power against specified targets.”

The banning of these and many other science fiction weapons was demanded in a draft convention presented to the United Nations by the Soviet Union last September. No-one paid much attention; then, but Mr Brezhnev’s new call for international agreements to ban the creation of new weapons, "even more awesome” than nuclear arms, suggests that the Kremlin may soon demand more attention for its proposal. Mr Brezhnev did not say that he had environmental warefare in mind, but these are the only weapons developments now conceivable which seem to qualify for “more awesome” category.

“International Life,” the Moscow journal in which the article on environmental warfare appeared, is the most serious and author-

itative Soviet monthly deal-| ing with foreign affairs. "Krasnaya Zvevda” "(Red Star),” the main Army daily, also had an article on “the! exception danger to the] whole world” posed by the modification of the environment “for destructive mili-' tary purposes.” In Soviet discussions of the subject, the "special dan- ; ger” of environmental warfare is seen in the possi-i bility that "it may be waged by the aggressor secretly for many years,” with his victim being unaware of it and. therefore unable to take ac-i tion to counter it. Hurricanes, floods, droughts, and earthquakes occur quite! frequently in some areas,, says “international Life,”! and it would be difficult. to; indentify any of these that; might be artificially induced. Nuclear tests

The Soviet articles say that nuclear tests were used in Nevada to experiment with artificially-induced earthquakes, and that other methods were used for the same pupose in Colorado. The Soviet Union admits only to rainmaking and rain suppression efforts, and toj hail and fog dispersal, but it I concedes that such programmes could also be used for “destructive military ends.”

The Pentagon, which also concedes as much, is spending about two million dollars a year on weather research. Pentagon officials; say that this is necessary both for peaceful purposes, and for the development of weapons in case a potential enemy does so. There is a distinction be-

i tween weather modification on the one hand and climate and environment modification on the other. The i rains which the United ' States Air Force caused over ■ Vietnam to wash out parts of the Ho Chi Minh Trail 1 had little military effect and no lasting environmental effect, even though in some | areas the rainfall was increased by 30 per cent over ; average levels. But the damage caused in Vietnam by herbicides and defoliants could, according to the , United States National i Academy of Sciences, take 20 years to repair in some areas.

I No-one admits to any i work on the modification of ] the climate and the enviI ronment for military pur- ; poses. Both the Soviet Union [ and the United States ! agreed, during the last I Nixon-Brezhnev summit, to I work to avert any such dan ger, and officials of both i countries have since met a Inumber of times to discuss | the issue. Melting ice | Among the dangers dis- ] cussed in the Soviet press is ] the possible melting of the I Arctic ice which could be I brought about by a small nuclear explosion, causing I tidal waves which would roll ! over coastal cities and re- ] gions. Tidal waves might 'also be caused by explosions on the edge of the continental shelf. The Soviet draft con- : vention calls for a specific ban on these and many other such activities. Among them are modification of the climate which might create desert areas, and the deliberate destruction of the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere.

A localised “window” in the ozone layer would, it is said, let through the ultraviolet rays which would burn up all living things underneath. What the Soviet press does not say is how such a window could be kept localised. There is, indeed, good reason to say that none of the dangers foreseen by it, and specified in the Soviet draft convention, are becoming “more acute and urgent with every day,” to use Mr Brezhnev’s phrase, except in the general sense that today is closer to tomorrow than yesterday. Why, then, the sudden sense of urgency and of dire danger which Mr Brezhnev now seeks to communicate? Dr Kissinger has made it clear that there would not be much point to the projected Ford-Brezhnev summit in the autumn unless the S.A.L.T II agreement was ready for signing. Mr Brezhnev badly needs the summit meeting as part of his preparations for the new party congress, but neither side seems inclined to make the concessions now needed for a S.A.L.T. agreement.

An agreement to ban environmental warfare might be easier to reach. It might give Mr Brezhnev a pretext for a summit visit to Washington — if the White House is prepared to play his game — and for claiming a momentous victory in the cause of peace and the security of future generations. — (Copyright 1975, Victor Zorza.)