December 1998

LONDON – Writing in 1751 Voltaire described Europe as “a kind of great republic, divided into several states, some monarchical, the others mixed but all corresponding with one another. They have all the same religious foundation, even if divided into several confessions. They all have the same principles of public law and politics unknown in other parts of the world.” At 11.30 pm. Central European Time, on December 31st, European Union central bankers will send their currency rates versus the dollar to the central bank of Belgium. The “Big Bang” of currency union can then be set underway as midnight strikes. In a way that Charlemagne, Voltaire, William Penn and Gladstone, the early advocates of European unity, could only dream, a united Europe becomes an almighty reality. A single currency is the most dramatic of the steps taken so far towards what surely one day will be a single political entity....

“This is yet another publication from TFF – ‘Violence,Postwar Reconstruction and Civil Society – Theory andYugoslavia.’ It’s main focus is civil society in war andpeace. It relates this concept to the economicglobalisation, to international conflict-management and tothe case of Yugoslavia and the Dayton agreement,” says JanOberg, TFF director and author of the study. It reflects the fact that everything TFF does is based ontriple-thinking: We have three types of activities –academic analyses, field work and advocacy. We do threethings in conflict regions – conflict analysis/earlywarning, conflict-mitigation and peace and reconciliationeducation. We offer three perspectives – analyses, criticismand constructive alternatives. We believe that conflictsdeserve three steps – diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.And we work with three conflict regions – former Yugoslavia,Georgia in the Caucasus and one more conflict,” saysOberg. The first chapter deals with civil society andviolence-prevention; the second discusses various conceptsof ‘civil society’ and relates it to various types of power.It...

Nyligen antog FN på bl a Sveriges initiativ en Deklaration på väg mot en kärnvapenfri värld. Men USA, Ryssland och NATO-länderna, också Danmark, röstade mot. Viktiga frågor som dessa kan Sverige driva precis därför att det inte är NATO-medlem  Klyftan mellan kärnvapen och mänskliga rättigheter är avgrundsdjup. 50-årsjubileet av FN:s mänskliga rättigheter har nyligen firats, men i det sammanhanget nämndes aldrig kärnvapnen. Rätten till utveckling är väsentlig, rätten till liv är fundamental. I dag styr Västvärlden en enda globaliserad ekonomi, som systematiskt undergräver hundratals miljoner människors grundläggande rättigheter, som rätten att fritt söka och välja arbete. Militarismen och kärnvapenstrategin kostar ofantliga summor som kunde användas bättre. Mänsklighetens själva existens hotas härigenom, liksom folkgrupper runtom i världen. Alla säkerhetsrådets fem permanenta medlemmar alla kärnvapen. Och tillsammans kontrollerar dessa stater 85 procent av all vapenhandel. Världens mäktigaste stat USA leder både korståget för (västliga) fri- och människorättigheter ˆ och det ekonomiska och...

in Kosovo-Albanian “ZËRI” in Pristina by Blerim Shala 1. DR. OBERG, HOW DO YOU EVALUATE THE PRESENT SITUATION IN KOSOVA, ESPECIALLY REGARDING THE OSCE OBSERVER MISSION WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO BE ESTABLISHED IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS? Compared with one or five years ago, the present situation is worse for all parties. Innocent civilians – about 10% of the Kosovo-Albanians and 10% of the Kosovo-Serbs – have lost their home, belongings, human rights and safety. No politician ever asked them and I am sure they did not want this to achieve any political goal. Second, Serbia/FRY has lost important parts of its control and sovereignty and it has more international interference than ever – what all Serbia was directed out to vote against just a few months ago. And the Albanians in Kosovo are worse off too – they no longer obtain the sympathy, solidarity and admiration for their nonviolent policies from...

“There cannot be just one way to describe the problem with Iraq. Or one way to handle it. However professional CNN is, it exposes the American foreign policy and security establishment to an extent that borders on monopolising“truth.” We need more than American media to cover the bombings of Iraq. We need more than bomb coverage, we need an understanding of that the underlying conflict is about. War and violence IS not the same as the conflict but the result of conflicts mismanaged by the parties and the so-called international community,” says Dr. Jan Oberg. “In situations like this it is essential to gather manyand varied facts and interpret the issues through otherlenses than those of the mainstream media. Internet permitsyou to combine many sources and perspectives, find the lesswell-known facts and construct your independent opinion. Idon’t believe we can know what is really happening and whyby watching CNN alone...

To Finding Solutions Denis Halliday says destruction is not the way to deal with Iraq. A peaceful solution can come from recognising the roots of problems The Irish TimesDecember 19, 1998 Question: So, apart from speaking out and taking a moral stand, what do we do? That is a question I am asked frequently. Of course, there is no simple answer. However, we could start by controlling arms sales and build-up everywhere, including in the Middle East and in Iraq. I would support that 100 per cent. Meanwhile, drop the sanctions that are so devastating to the Iraqi people. For the longer term, we could recognise some of the root causes of the conflict between Kuwait and Iraq. Maybe we could acknowledge that Kuwait had been an integral part of Iraq for 3,000 years before some British cartographer carved it out for geopolitical reasons in the 1890s. We might recognise some...

Vi får stadigt større enheder, mere komplekse problemer og kortere tid til at tage beslutninger, hvis konsekvenser tenderer at vokse mod uoverskuelighed. Når det går sådan mister vi opmærksomheden på og følelsen af sammenhæng. Noget vitalt afvikles under “udviklingen,” verdensbilleder krakellerer. Der hersker en afgrundsdyb modsætning mellem kærnevåbnene på den ene side og menneskerettighederne på den anden, men vi ser den ikke. 50-året for FN’s Universale Erklæring om Menneskerettigheder er netop blevet fejret, men hverken medier, regeringer, skoler, folkelige bevægelser, debattører eller humanister påpegede deres modsigelsestyngede sammenhæng. Retten til udvikling er essentiel, retten til liv fundamental. Der er bare to ting, der står i vejen herfor, nemlig a) den omstændighed at Vestverden styrer og er afhængig af én eneste “globaliserende” økonomi, der systematisk undergraver hundreder af millioners helt grundlæggende rettigheder, f.eks. retten til frit at søge og vælge et arbejde. Og b) militarisme og især nuklearisme, kærnevåbnene og mange andre...

Der er ret bred enighed om at sikkerhedpolitik idag handler om andet og mere end militær. Almindelige mennesker véd det, eksperter og statsmænd taler om menneskelig og social sikkerhed, om betydningen af at forebygge og håndtere konflikter. Vi ser i medierne at sikkerhed drejer sig om miljøet, om den globale økonomiske krise, om flygtninge og fremmedhad. Vi ser at våbenhandlere, krigsherrer og maffiosi bidrager til krige, der handler om historie, identitet og etnisk rensning. Og vi véd at kærnevåben udgør en trussel, særligt dér hvor politikere er ansvarløse nok til at true med dem og dér hvor der savnes penge til at vedligeholde systemerne. Vi véd også at stadigt flere fattige, arbejdsløse og tilsidesatte på vor jord skaber bitterhed, fundamentalisme, kort sagt usikkerhed. Og selvfølgelig véd alle, der har deres sunde fornuft i behold, at danske tanks eller F16-fly ikke kan være løsningen på sådanne problemer. Men den danske regering...

Under den kolde krig handlede sikkerheds- og forsvarspolitik ikke om at løse konflikter eller forebygge vold. Konflikten mellem Øst- og Vestblokkene blev bevaret gennem at balancere, afskrække og forberede sig for det tilfælde at krig skulle blive en realitet. I næsten 50 år betragtede politikere, intellektuelle, diplomater og medier derfor konfliktanalyse, mægling, konflikthåndtering og -løsning, voldsforebyggelse og emner som forsoning og tilgivelse som stort set irrelevante. Ikkevoldelige, civile indsatser derfor en beskeden rolle. Øst-Vestkonflikten blev da heller ikke løst; hvad der skete var at Østblokken gik i opløsning. Nu er det anderledes. Der er ikke to blokke og et sæt veldefinerede spilleregler; der er sammenbrud i en række stater, opløsning af spillleregler og udvikling af paramilitære hære og private krigsherrer. Der er én supermagt, USA. Der er alt andet end orden. Vi har oplevet krig i Europa og Danmark er med langt fremme i udviklingen af det ekspansive, såkaldt nye...

Er danskerne mon klare over at den nye forsvarskommissions rapport lægger op til en politik, der indebærer voksende risici for Danmark og for danske soldater – og at den ikke behandler disse risici? Kommissionens resonnement ser sådan ud: Det er ikke muligt at få øje på en direkte militær trussel mod dansk territorium, vor direkte sikkerhed. Vi skal derfor bruge flere resourcer på den indirekte sikkerhed, nemlig deltagelse i internationale fredsstøttende operation, som de kaldes. Det ligger heri at Danmarks egen sikkerhed er summen af hvad vi stiller op mod såvel den direkte som den indirekte sikkerheds udfordringer. Selvom vi skal deltage i internationale operationer, så skal vi fortsat være forberedte på en turbulente udvikling i Rusland, der – siges det – kunne have neo-imperiale hensigter. Hermed sikrer man naturligtvis det danske militærs mere eller mindre uforandrede eksistens samtidig med at man kan ekspandere med de nye opgaver og nyt...

By Robert Fisk The Independent WE ARE now in the endgame, the final bankruptcy of Western policy towards Iraq, the very last throw of the dice. We fire 200 cruise missiles into Iraq and what do we expect? Is a chastened Saddam Hussein going to emerge from his bunker to explain to us how sorry he is? Will he tell us how much he wants those nice UN inspectors to return to Baghdad to find his “weapons of mass destruction”? Is that what we think? Is that what the Anglo-American bombardment is all about? And if so, what happens afterwards? What happens when the missile attacks end – just before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, because, of course, we really are very sensitive about Iraqi religious feelings – and Saddam Hussein tells us that the UN inspectors will never be allowed to return? As the cruise missiles were launched,...

LONDON–One of the greatest ironies of our fin de siecle age is that arms control in the post Cold War dispensation has been much more frozen than it was during the superpower permafrost itself. Then there was SALT and START, the acronyms of nuclear arms limits and cuts and, arguably most important of all, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. But since START 2 was signed in 1993 the only positive element working towards pushing forward the frontiers of arms control has been H20* and O2*– in common parlance rust. Russian missiles are literally rusting in their silos with the unforeseen result that even the Pentagon’s top brass are becoming uneasy that this gives the U.S. such superiority in the (workable) missile count that to spend even more money on renewing and modernising the U.S. arsenal to maintain the numbers allowed under START 2 is to throw money away. Rust has achieved...