The Transnational W I R E - February 4, 2000

Links to Facts & Views

You want to find interesting analyses, reports, articles and papers on peace and conflict issues from around the world?

Now we do the job for you. This page provides links to a selection of the best critical and constructive materials – the essential stuff we benefit from ourselves and want to share.

Just click below at what catches your interest – read, download or send on to a friend.

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Peace & nonviolence

• Can war be fought for humanitarian reasons?
Kevin Kelly reports on two very different views in the Utne Reader.

• Manifesto 2000 for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence
The Manifesto 2000 for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence was written by the Nobel Prize Peace Laureats, in order to create a sense of responsibility starting on a personal level; it is not an appeal or petition addressed to a higher authority. It is the responsibilty of each and every individual to put into practice the values, attitudes and forms of behaviour which inspire the culture of peace. YOU can sign here! Other UNESCO links to culture of peace...

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Armament and the new Cold War

• US secret exercises – central to US foreign policy
The public has no way of knowing what these operations entail or with whom the U.S. military is collaborating. One wonders how many of these exercises are cementing covert ties to governments and elites who may prove to be on the wrong side of democratic forces and change in the future – writes Bill Arkin in Washington Post.

• Japan moved to increased militarism
The Japanese Parliament announced Jan. 21 that it will begin a formal, five-year review of its constitution. The document, penned under the auspices of U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur after Japan’s defeat in World War II, renounces the use of force to resolve international disputes – from Stratfor.com.

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Globalisation

• The Economist on multinationals and NGOs
It seems to tell us that governments are bad, multinationals good and NGOs somewhere in between. The latter may be right – particularly when they increasingly become Near-Governmental Organisations…

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Kosovo/a –

• The use of depleted uranium there and in Iraq
The US used rounds of depleted uranium shells and refused arrogantly to tell UN investigators the location of its atacks.

• Why Kosovo is also not talked about in Davos
The Balkans is not a place where problems have been solved. The international community — and international forces — are likely to remain engaged in the region for years. Those attending Davos will be discussing the questions raised by that sad, corrugated, peninsula for years. At least, they should…

• The UN in Kosovo up against 3-4 government structures
Here is one more dimension of the quagmire the international community has created in Kosovo/a – and will remain unable to get out of in the foreseeable time.

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Militarism versus development

• Madeleine Albright writes in Annals of Internal MedicineWhat does the Secreatary of State do there? She defends sanctions…

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What was the truth then? Today?

• Talking point about Iraq
Frequently Asked Questions on Iraq. Here’s an initial, quick set of answers. Not comprehensive, even in terms of the questions, but some of the FAQs. The times are very grim. There were too many dying children even before the bombing began. By Phyllis Bennis.

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Development

• Food as an aspect of global violenceSome eat too little, some too much – and it wouldn’t cost much to change the sorry state of world food affairs.

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EU and the world

• Iranian – EU relations – and an Iranian view on NATO
The attention on the NATO charter and NATO’s actions is at the very heart of Iran’s foreign policy – from Stratfor.com.

• European military force to head KFOR in Kosovo
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) announced Jan. 22 that Eurocorps, a five-nation European military organization, will head the Kosovo International Security Force (KFOR) for a six-month period. Although Eurocorps officials in Strasbourg, France, were quick to point out that Eurocorps has always been available for NATO missions, this is the first instance in which a non-NATO entity has been selected to lead a NATO operation. The prize for achieving European military autonomy could be inheriting the Kosovo quagmire – writes Stratefor.com.

• EU militarization continues –
This is the same story told by CNN. The unexperienced Europcorps to use Kosovo as a training ground…

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Trouble spots

• US plans huge aid package to Columbia
The training of the Colombian military immediately raises red flags for human rights workers and many Members of Congress. Legislation sponsored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) cut off training of the Colombian military two years ago because of evidence of systematic human rights abuses. Now, the United States must carefully screen each individual for involvement in past human rights abuses. Critics of the plan worry that the increase in training will cause the screening process to become less effective and perhaps allow ineligible troops to participate — perhaps causing additional human rights abuses.

• Big money and oil – from Kosovo to ChechnyaAs the Russian army tightens its grip around the Chechen capital of Grozny and Moscow becomes increasingly assertive, analysts stress that manoeuvring over huge oil-transit deals is the real issue of the Chechen war. So, why are we told ithey are ethnic conflicts?

• Russia and US/NATO compete for Georgia’s loyaltyGeorgia cannot maintain its balancing act indefinitely. As long as it does, both Russia and the United States will apply pressure, urging Georgia to choose a side. Unfortunately for Georgia, it is unlikely that this increasing pressure will bring it any substantial benefits – says Stratfor.com. 

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Watch out!

• How NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia undermined international law
Professor Robert Hayden, Director, Center for Russian & East European Studies,University of Pittsburgh writes one of the best critical analyses of the humanitarian hypocrisy. “The war supposedly in defense of human rights has produced war crimes by NATO, and a civilian casualty rate that is at least three time higher than the casualty rate of the “intolerable” violations of human rights that NATO was supposedly acting to correct. This article argues that this perversion of humanitarianism is the logical result of NATO’s action, and that humanitarian catastrophes are likely to be inevitable when the excuse of “humanitarian intervention” is used to justify aggression.”