[mobglob-discuss] Security Even Tighter [...] Hosting G8 Summit.

[Macdonald Stainsby]

AP. 1 June 2002. After Sept. 11, Security Even Tighter at Isolated
Canadian Resort Hosting G-8 Summit.

KANANASKIS -- Legend says Kananaskis was named for a Cree Indian who
survived an ax blow to the head.

A summit of the world's industrial powers in late June could be another
legendary headache for this Rocky Mountain hiking and skiing haven
renowned for exquisite vistas.

It will be the first meeting of the Group of 8 leaders - from the United
States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia -
since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

That means even tighter security than the initial plans for dealing with
anti-globalization demonstrations like those at last year's G-8 summit
in Genoa, Italy, where one protester died in clashes with police.

Preventing a terrorist attack, as well as fending off protesters, will
mean disrupting some of the serenity and isolation of Kananaskis -
pronounced kan-an-AS-kis - in southern Alberta.

Even before Sept. 11, Prime Minister Jean Chretien had chosen Kananaskis
- which is accessible by only one paved road - to restore the relaxed,
private atmosphere of the original annual summits that began in 1975 in
Rambouillet, France.

That means minimum ceremony and insulating the guests from disruptive
demonstrations and news media glare.

Robert Fowler, Chretien's advance man for the summit, noted it would be
the ninth attended by his boss as prime minister, including one he was
host to in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1995.

"He wanted a place where leaders could schmooze and meet ... and not
spend lots of time going through ceremonial departures and arrivals and
getting in corteges and parading through the streets," said Fowler, who
also is Canada's ambassador to Italy. "He wanted a kind of intimate
atmosphere where they could just get down to basics."

Major changes from recent summits include the remote setting and smaller
delegations from each country. The Kananaskis hotels will be lodging 450
people, less than the size of one nation's delegation last summer in
Genoa.

The gathering also will last only 30 hours instead of the usual three
days, and media access will be limited. Journalists will stay in
Calgary, an hour to the east, and coverage in Kananaskis will be limited
to media pools brought to the resort.

"It's a different kind of summit," Fowler said in an interview in his
Ottawa office. There won't be "legions of bureaucrats and advisers
storming about."

Security agents from the participating countries and the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police have brought unprecedented scrutiny to a resort area of
less than 500 residents that didn't get its own postal code until 1987.

The skies above will be closed to air traffic and patrolled by jet
fighters. On the ground, the RCMP, backed by military forces, will
create a security zone almost eight miles in diameter around the
Kananaskis resort, with checkpoints along Highway 40, the lone paved
road to the site.

Residents and workers will be accredited to enter, but others will
require a police escort, RCMP Cpl. Jamie Johnston said.

Services such as water supply are being checked for vulnerability to
sabotage. A notice from the TransAlta power company posted at the small
shopping center warns residents that low-flying helicopters will be
checking power lines before the summit.

Special inspectors will examine the meals served the eight world leaders
and freeze samples for testing in case anyone gets sick, said Jeff
O'Neill, the resort's executive chef.

The mountain wilderness is rugged and inhabited by grizzly bears, but
police will keep watch all the same in case protesters try to sneak in,
Johnston said.

He and Fowler said there are no plans to allow any demonstrators - even
a small delegation - to get within miles of the meeting for any reason.

Fowler noted the organizing committees and government officials had
solicited public comments about topics on the summit's agenda, saying
that was more inclusive than in the past.

"The reality of our world is not everybody can participate directly in 
decision-making," he said.

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Macdonald Stainsby
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
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In the contradiction lies the hope.
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