December 2023

Photo – Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash ”It is difficult to make predictions, particularly about the future.”Unknown but wise person’s statement. I do not pretend my predictions below are scientific or based on a sophisticated social science methodology. They are merely intuitive and hypothetical and based on some of my accumulated knowledge and experience about international affairs over more than four decades. You may say they grow out of a Wright Mills-like sociological – and peace research – imagination. I regret I can’t mobilise more optimism at this point in world history. I hope, therefore, that many of these predictions will turn out to be wrong. But keep or archive them. Time will tell. (1) The war on Gaza will continue, probably for months or years, and the worldwide anger directed at Israel will increase exponentially. Israel will be more and more isolated and attacked in various ways. (2) The genocide...

Becomes a TFF Associate in December 2023 Ali Akbar Alikhani was born in Iran in 1968 and serves as a Professor at the Faculty of World Studies at the University of Tehran, in the field of Islamic political thought, peace studies, ethics and justice. A part of Dr. Alikhani’s scholarly works is dedicated to the field of “peace and negation of violence”. He established the permanent secretariat of the annual international conferences on “Peace and Conflict Resolution” at the University of Tehran in 2017. So far, he has managed to organise four of these conferences. The first conference was held on April 29–30, 2019, and the second one on November 23 – 24, 2020. The third and fourth conferences were held October 18-20, 2021, and May 29-30, 2023, at the University of Tehran. The Fifth Conference on Peace and Conflict Resolution will be held on May 27 – 28, 2024....

Published here on the birthday of Mao Zedong (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976) Last October, we had two important anniversary messages. One came through loud and clear in the Western media: the anniversary of the triumph of the Chinese Revolution, guided by Mao, restoring China to its own people, violently, on October 1. The other message was considerably more subdued: the anniversary of the birth of Gandhi, the Father of the Indian nation, restoring India to its own people, nonviolently, on October 2. Of course, the West focused on China, its military parades, its display of glittering affluence after decades of growth, true to its fascination with violence and economic growth.  Of course, India is also a BRIC country–Brazil-Russia-India-China–to be taken seriously because of its high growth and “muscle”. But this obsession with military and economic power makes the West lose the essence of the two anniversaries, the...

How much longer can Danes snore while their security and democracy are being stripped away and Danish politics increase the risk of World War III? Jan Oberg December 19, 2023 It’s a damn good thing we have Washington to inform the Danes about what’s coming, right before Christmas when people are thinking about everything else. The procedure is completely obscene: An agreement is first signed (as with Norway, Finland and Sweden), and then it must (possibly) be approved by the Danish parliament: How on earth would it be possible for Denmark to withdraw and say that “thanks to our democracy, we unfortunately have to cancel the agreement again”? It’s not going to happen. Public debate until later this week?? The Danish historically uniquely authoritarian government wants no debate – can’t tolerate it intellectually or morally. Two to four decades ago, this fundamental Danish security policy issue would have been the...

One of the enigmatic aspects of international politics is that big and militarily superior countries have systematically lost wars in smaller countries – the last 50 years, from Vietnam to Ukraine. ’Losing’ here means military defeat, being forced out, losing the struggle for the hearts and minds of the people, and facing fiasco when it comes to achieving the presumed noble motives like introducing human rights, democracy, freedom or liberating women. And given the tremendous human costs, particularly in the Middle East, the US’s Global War On Terror since September 11, 2001, is also an intellectual and moral disaster. The United States – the world’s by far largest military spender, interventionist, warrior, occupier, global base-builder with the most militarised foreign policy – is in a class of its own. In losing wars too. It is now rapidly losing legitimacy, relevance and credibility in the eyes of most of the world...

TFF Associates Lund, Sweden – December 17, 2023 As the brutal slaughtering in Gaza unfolds in increasingly horrific proportions, we, as an experienced research foundation for peaceful conflict resolution and peace-making since 1986, feel the urge to contribute our analytical points, sentiments and constructive conflict-resolution ideas. TFF also wants to be on record with this Statement so that when historians look back on this moral calamity, they will see who stood with whom and who advocated peace instead of ongoing genocide. The killing has to stop, and we call, together with the UN and so many others, for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. The horrific attack of Hamas on October 7, 2023, with the death of over 1100 people, is indefensible. There is no excuse for the killing of absolutely innocent people. While there is a painful history of 75 years of brutal occupation and apartheid regime against the Palestinian...

Discuss problems and improvements as part of the celebrations I was asked by American-French Michèle de Gastyne, who runs Musique Universelle Arc-En-Ciel in Paris, to do a short video about human rights for a seminar she also organises on the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Declaration. Michèle works with a strong inspiration from the Japan-based lay Buddhist organisation, Soka-Gakkai and in the spirit of President Daisaku Ikeda, who has also been a TFF Associate since 1995. Daisaku Ikeda (1928-2023) was a Buddhist philosopher, peacebuilder, educator, author and poet who dedicated his life to promoting peace through dialogue and spearheaded the development of the Soka Gakkai as a community-based Buddhist organization of over 12 million members worldwide. Mr. Ikeda passed away peacefully on November 15, 2023, at the age of 95. I accepted this invitation with honour but also with a particular joy because or our mutual relationship with...

December 9, 2023 If you do not know of Chris Hedges, one of today’s finest reporters, read Wikipedia here. Consult his Chris Hedges Report on the Real News Network. And here is his Substack page and Hedges’ homepage. With this and the video below – one of the best and most touching lectures on the Gaza Genocide given on December 6, 2023 – you’ll understand that Hedges is an extraordinary media personality – of course, with no access to the Western militarist mainstream media anymore.

Today, Ivana Nikolic Hughes, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, NAPF, sent us this message: Our determination to carry on David’s legacy through NAPF and beyond is even stronger. For me personally, it will be impossible to ever fill his shoes, but deeply meaningful to at least try to do so.  The family has written a beautiful obituary that you can read here.  Also, as a reminder of David’s many, many, many accomplishments, contributions, and more, please see here.   In the coming months, there will be opportunities to celebrate David’s life and example, and we will keep you posted on them. In sympathy, Ivana Ivana Nikolić Hughes, Ph.D.President, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation David – one of the world’s leading nuclear abolition advocates – was with TFF since 1992 – you can see most of his writings for TFF here. In addition to my gratitude for several personal encounters, including...

As soon as possible, we shall stop working with PayPal and shall soon ask our supporters to switch to another money transfer service. Here is the story. The Transnational Foundation, TFF is exclusively people-financed. Our supporters send their sums via PayPal. These payments are existentially necessary for TFF. Over several years, it has worked fine. PayPal has many positive features and generally works well. However, my experience with one aspect is so negative that I find it reasonable and justified to share it with people who may be in or run into the same situation. This is also to explain to TFF supporters why they got a message from PayPal that we do not receive their donations for the time being and why, in 2024, we shall leave PayPal behind. Further, we consumers and clients often come out small and powerless in our struggles with huge corporative bureaucracies – their...

Without being a NATO member, Sweden enters into an extremely far-reaching agreement with the United States, which completely undermines the country’s ability to conduct an independent security policy. Decisions are made without debate and behind the backs of the Swedish people. The official threat perception is fake: Russia will not attack the island of Gotland, but Russian missiles will now quite naturally be aimed at Sweden and be the first to be fired – if! Sweden might as well shut down the Ministry of Defence and let the Pentagon and State do the rest. Sweden has just signed a so-called defence agreement with the US. It gives the US access to no less than 17 military bases all over Sweden – and it does not exclude nuclear weapons on Swedish soil. It is now absolutely certain to be dragged immediately into a US war – the country that has fought...

The Occident is heading for an Accident: Some predictions Introduction – the boomerangs from supporting Israel’s genocide I published the article below on TFF Substack on October 22, 2023. I had been waiting for someone to intervene and tell Israel to stop its immoral, illegal and barbaric – as well as intentional – genocide of the Palestinian people. But no Western power exerted any pressure; tragically, instead, most silently or openly, passively or actively supported Israel – no matter Israel’s policies and behaviour. Hamas’ attack on October 7 on Israel can only be condemned. But what is not clear is what actually happened. How was it possible that the Israeli and US intelligence missed all the indicators of what must have taken months for Hamas to prepare? Is it true that Egyptian military authorities warned Israel and PM Netanyahu personally – but in vain? Did Israel know about it and...