November 4, 1987
40°
Vol. 50, No. 41
:

BGRIC
rip-off
shows lie
of ‘people’s
corporation’

CUPE convention
targets free t

rade

— see page 12

Symbol of the Russian October Revo- —

lution, the battleship Aurora is towed
to the spot on the River Neva where,
on Nov. 7, 1917, (Oct. 25 on the old

calendar) crewmen fired the shot that

signalled the assault on the Winter

Palace in what was then Petrograd
_and ushered in the first socialist state.
_ Thousands of residents of Leningrad
_ crowded the banks of the river to

watch the cruiser being returned to its

moorage on the river after a major §
_re-fit which took three years to com- —

plete. The towing of the ship from

-Zhdanov Shipyard involved hundreds

of people and extensive preparations,
including disconnecting bridges and
timing movements to. avoid changes
in the weather. At right, veteran crew

. member, Sergei Turin, who joined the
crew of the cruiser in 1924, displaysa _

photo of himself taken during that
ae

New
cruise
technology
suspected

By PAUL OGRESKO

TORONTO — the Mulroney
government kicked off United Nat-
ions Disarmament week by allowing
a cruise missile test over Canadian
territory on Oct. 27. And there is
evidence this “‘captive carry” may
have been more than just another
cruise missile test and in fact marked
the first stage in the testing of a new,
more deadly model of cruise missile.

According to Steve Shallhorn,a
co-ordinator with Greenpeace Can-
ada, last week’s test may have been a
baptism for the AGM 129, a new
breed of stealth missile. The AGM
129, which according to the Pentag-
on’s budget is to be ready by fiscal
year 1988, employs advanced design,
materials and radar-jamming devi-
ces. It has a longer range than its
predecessor, flies faster, is meant to
be undetectable to Soviet radar and
is virtually invisible to interceptor
fighters.

While the Tories have denied a
new cruise is being tested, evidence
points to the contrary. In April 1986,
according to sources close to the
government, Defence Minister Per-
rin Beatty received a project prop-
osal for captive carry tests of the
AGM 129. This would indicate that
the testing of the AGM 129 has now
become a concrete part of the cruise
missile agreement between the U.S.
and Canada.

Adding to the speculation that
this test is significantly different
from previous ones is that it was
done outside the original U.S.-
Canada agreement which allows for
six free flights between Jan.1 and
March 3] of each year. The last cap-
tive carry took place in 1985. While
technically the “captive carries” are
not part of the cruise agreement, the
fact the government had only 48
hours notice of the test has fuelled
suspicions in the peace movement.

The free flights have not fared as
well as the captive carries. One cruise
took a nose dive on to the ice pack of
the Beaufort Sea after being released
from its bomber, another “went
wild” after running out of fuel in the

see PEACE page 11