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Peace & nonviolence – positive thoughts and events
East and West – the reach of reason Amartya Sen philsophizes in the recent issue of the New York Review of Books on the basis of Jonathan Glover’s book “Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century.”
The Great Turning Joanna Macy, writer and Buddhist scholar, took time out from the WTO protests to speak with YES! editor Sarah Ruth van Gelder. Their conversation took place the day following the massive blockade of the WTO and the labor-led march through Seattle.
The World Peace Portal Peace Portal is an interactive, multimedia Peace project dedicated to the construction of a global based social & economic platform developed “for the people…”, and updated “…by the people…” Through a unique mix of New Media & Internet technologies, members will be empowered to share their causes, stories and products with a growing network of supporters and sponsors of World Peace. Our prayer is that this work results in a tangible global dialogue dedicated to personal and planetary Peace, supporting present global community building efforts.
“Pact against Violence” signed by Albanian and Serb leaders in Kosovo Kosovo Serbs and ethnic Albanians ended with both sides declaring a “Pact against Violence,” the US State Department and the private US Institute of Peace said Monday. The first intensive face-to-face discussions between ethnic Albanian and Serb Kosovars facilitated by the institute were aimed at getting the two sides working toward a multi-ethnic society in Kosovo, still torn by ethnic violence.
This sounds like good news from Somalia..the 13th peace agreement, will it hold?? Hope is indeed growing that the chaos might soon come to an end. For the past three months, more than 2,000 Somalis have been meeting in neighboring Djibouti, trying to thrash out a deal that will put an end to the most miserable decade of Somalia’s long history. In a rare spirit of unity and compromise, delegates agreed on a draft charter last month that allows for the establishment of a new 225-member Transitional National Assembly. As soon as the new charter was read aloud, the conference crowd erupted into jubilant cheers, belting out excited strains of the national anthem. But joyful optimism alone can’t make an agreement stick.
Armament and the new Cold War
The Weekly Defense Monitor – from Center for Defense Information (CDI). Short informative analyses of e.g. the Ballistic Missile debate, why the Feira EU meeting took EU militarization a further step and spells problems with NATO and the US, on child soldiers and on peacekeeping and rogue states. And read all about the National Missile Defence there, too.
Britain still selling arms to violatros in world hotspots Two of the biggest buyers of British arms are Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, both with poor human rights records. The two account for 25% of British arms sales. Meanwhile it emerged on Monday that the Government broke its own and the European Union’s arms sales rules by granting seven licences for the sale of Hawk aircraft spares to Zimbabwe in February…
Vietnam wants Clinton but not his missile plans Vietnam’s foreign minister praised President Clinton Sunday and said he was welcome to make a historic visit to the country, but added that Hanoi opposed Washington’s missile defense plans. Nguyen Dy Nien told a news conference after returning from meetings on regional security and other issues in Bangkok that Clinton had made “great efforts” toward normalization of relations between the former Vietnam War enemies.
Russia targets Norwegian radar allegedly being part of the US “Starwars” project The controversial Vardo X-band radar site in Norway has been targeted by Russian nuclear missiles, Norwegian press reported this week, quoting Russian sources. Moscow has previously alleged that the radar is a part of the U.S.-proposed national missile defense (NMD) system, and as such violates the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. In response, Norway’s Defense Minister Sigur Frisvold suggested that Norway be included in a U.S. missile defense program, ostensibly to protect against threats from “terrorist nations.” However, the timing of the request a day after the Russian threat to target Vardo with nuclear missiles makes it abundantly clear that Norway desires protection from a possible Russian nuclear strike against the Vardo radar.
Globalization – imperialism
The debt trap Billions of people in the world’s poorest countries are held captive by debts that can never be repaid. Year after year their governments struggle to pay back millions of pounds – with little hope of ever clearing their debts. See what the world development movement does to help solve the debt problem.
The G8 Okuinawa Summit Watch Last year, almost one million people took to the streets to demand debt cancellation. Their actions ranged from a massive rally in London, from human chains in Lima and Kampala, to church services and public meetings throughout Canada. This year those people are ready to show their anger at the failure of the G7 leaders to live up to their promises on debt. In the countdown to the summit of the G7 leaders in Okinawa on July 21-23, more people than ever around the world will be holding events to tell the world’s leaders about their concern and anger that the richest nations are still taking money from the poorest people.
The Japan Times Summit Watch All aspects, government and NGO, speeches etc – including President Clinton’s in which he made no promises to reduce the extremely heavy military presence on Okinawa. Also many links that will give you the immensely interesting history of Okinawa.
Nigeria’s leader Obasanjo frustrated with G8 inaction Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo expressed frustration Thursday over the lack of concrete action by the Group of Eight major nations to cancel the debts of developing countries. “We are satisfied with the words that are coming from them (the G-8 leaders),” Obasanjo told a news conference in Tokyo after the first-ever meeting between the G-8 leaders and leaders from developing countries. “But . . . what we want to make sure happens is that those words are matched by action.” Obasanjo was speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 nations, a U.N. lobbying group of 133 nations that he currently heads. Apart from Obasanjo, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and Algerian President Abdelaziz Boutef met with the G-8 leaders and their proxies.
The Balkans and Kosovo/a – and Corsica….
The US weighs strategy to get rid of Milosevic US officials would consider supporting a shadow government in Serbia in one of the latest scenarios to oust Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. In theory, a shadow government could try to convene a legislative council and provide some public services. It could be funded by the West. But winning public support for the idea would hinge on the anti-Milosevic opposition doing well in coming elections.
Kosovo – NATO’s occupation and reign of terror “This “new” Kosovo is the face of what Noam Chomsky has termed the “new military humanism”. Wasn’t the world told by President Clinton that the bombing and occupation of Kosovo were about stopping ethnic cleansing? The terror there today is carried out not under the watch of Slobodan Milosevic, but that of the US and its European allies. Every child that is gunned down, every person that is expelled, every church that is blown up, is a cry for an end to NATO’s “humanitarian interventions” – writes Jeremy Scahill is a reporter for Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now!
Compare French policies in Corsica with Yugoslavia’s in Kosovo In a risky move to end nearly a quarter century of nationalist violence, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin announced an agreement that is already ricocheting through Europe’s other independence-minded enclaves – further weakening European nation-states. Some, led by Interior Minister Mr. Chevènement, say the reforms will lead to the end of the French state as it now exists and say Corsica is about the worst place imaginable to carry out such an experiment. In short, the Corsicans are about to get what the Albanians got in 1974…
Voice of Russia on Kosovo The Russian agency’s stories and comments day by day since NATO’s bombs started falling.
Justice – a foreign term in Kosovo The day after one of Kosovo’s first war-crimes trials has begun, Judge Christer Karphammar feels close to quitting, and not for the first time. Mr. Karphammar, a dapper Swede, is one of six foreign judges brought to Kosovo to help restore confidence in a judicial system that has floundered since the province of Serbia came under United Nations administration a year ago, following 11 weeks of NATO bombing.
What was the truth then? What is it today? The role of the media
The media’s own Kosovo crisisThe new possibilities suggested by the Internet point up the sclerosis of the old system. Even the most well-staffed newspapers seem unable to respond quickly enough to the regional crises that flare so often in the world today. The problem is not new. Back in the late seventies, for instance, when Central America erupted in revolution, few papers had correspondents in the region; most had to scramble even to find someone who spoke Spanish. Going back further, the war in Vietnam was initially entrusted to young, unseasoned correspondents plopped down in an alien and complex world. The Halberstams and Sheehans eventually became quite adept, but not before the Unite States had a massive ground force in the country.
Visit John Pilger’s website A fascinating site with texts and interactive materials on Vietnam, East Timor, Burma, Iraq, the media and forums. And you can talk to Pilger on July 31…
The US as a world order problem
The U.S. Military Online A Directory for Internet Access to the Department of Defense William Arkin’s guide about which he says: The U.S. Military Online is not a how-to guide about accessing or using the Internet nor an exhaustive listing of its resources. It is instead a decoding of the U.S. military and its information assets as represented by the websites of the hundreds of bases, commands and activities, presented, it is hoped, in easily accessible form–by organization, subject matter, and geographic location. Because I believe that the Internet does not spell the end of the printed word, a variety of means are presented for contacting military establishments, whether by good old-fashioned telephone and postal service, or via E-mail. The Guide is thus also a general directory of the U.S. military that will be useful to any scholarly researcher, journalist, librarian, or active citizen hoping to make heads or tails of America’s most influential institution.
Drug Control Or Biowarfare Against Colombia? President Clinton signed a $1.6 billion military aid bill for Colombia, allegedly to be used in the so called war on drugs. This aid package comes at a time when numerous massacres committed by forces linked to the U.S.-backed Colombian military, are being uncovered. It’s interesting that The New York Times ran a front page article on one of these massacres that took place in February. The piece ran a day after Clinton signed the aid package.
Human rights and military aid for Columbia The US government professes to struggle for human rights and practises its own version of humanitarian inteervention in Columbia. On Tuesday, June 20th, the U.S. Senate voted by a margin of 89 to 11 to reject an amendment from Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone that would have removed $225 million of military aid for Colombia and redirected that money toward drug treatment and prevention programs in the United States. Later the Senate voted 79 to 19 to reject an amendment from Washington Senator Slade Gorton that would have reduced the Colombia package from $1 billion to $200 million. The lopsided votes against these amendments clearly demonstrated that the majority of Senators in both parties had decided to back massive military aid.
Ever heard of Vieques? Well, Okinawa hosts US military facilities. So does Vieques – and the locals don’t like it.
The US Congress’ unrequested spending for Pentagon: 3,7 billion US$ !! As part of its work on the Fiscal Year 2001 budget, Congress funded a number of military programs not included in the Clinton Administration’s request for the Pentagon. Here you find a partial list of programs added by either the House or Senate and approved by Congress as part of the Fiscal Year 2001 Appropriations Act for which the Pentagon had not requested funding.
Scott Ritter back in Baghdad – the US doesn’t like THAT Former U.N. arms inspector Scott Ritter, once accused by Iraq of spying for the United States, returned on Saturday to film a documentary about weapons sites and the impact of U.N. sanctions, an Iraqi official said. “Ritter arrived in Iraq to film a documentary on the impact of the unjust embargo on the Iraqi people and (show) that Iraq has no more weapons of mass destruction,” Hussam Mohammed Amin, head of the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate, told Reuters.
Time to see the truth about ourselves in Iraq “All of us that live in the silent democracies are responsible for sustained genocide in Iraq. Today the prime minister, Tony Blair, is on the defensive on a range of largely domestic issues. He does not appear to be on the defensive over genocide. His unending endorsement of the Clinton/Albright programme for killing the children of Iraq is seldom mentioned. Have decision-makers learned nothing from the Pinochet humiliation? Or do they still feel immune under international law for crimes against humanity?” – asks Dennis Haliday in The Guardian.
Humanism, human rights and “humanitarian” intervention
The WHO World Health Report – aims to stimulate a vigorous debate about better ways of measuring health system performance and thus finding a successful new direction for health systems to follow. By shedding new light on what makes health systems behave in certain ways, WHO also hopes to help policy-makers weigh the many complex issues involved, examine their options, and make wise choices.
Death Watch – the belated global response to AIDS in Africa Ten years ago Interagency Intelligence Memorandum 91-10005, distributed in classified channels the following July, foretold one of the deadliest calamities in human experience. Titled simply, “The Global AIDS Disaster,” the report projected 45 million infections by 2000–inexorably fatal, the great majority in Africa. The number beggared comparison. There were not that many combatants killed in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam combined.
Europe’s gypises lobby for status as non-territorial nation The main body representing Europe’s 12m Gypsies wants the Roma people to be given recognition as a non-territorial nation, and says it will back this up with its own “floating” parliament and embassies in various countries. It is the first time that the International Union Romani has made such a demand for international recognition since it was founded in London three decades ago.
What is the UN Secretary-General really saying? Recent events in Sierra Leone’s and the Congo, have persuaded him that ”the time has come for us to base our planning on worst-case scenarios: to be surprised by cooperation, if we get it. And to go in prepared for all eventualities, including full combat, if we don’t.” This would be a major philosophical turn for a political body built on good intentions, not on coercive power. But Mr. Annan says the UN peacekeeper will become an endangered species if the transformation does not come – weites Jim Hoagland in International Herald Tribune, August 3, 2000.
World future, sustainability and strategy
The communication initiative A site to improve strategic communication thinking on development issues. Search for Programmes, Impact Data, Communication Trends, Interviews, Planning Models, Change Theories, Consultant Info, Strategic Thinking, etc. Search The Communication Initiative site or this site PLUS many other sites – all in one process!
Chomsky on unsustainable nondevelopment “In fact, if you look across the board, what’s being instituted is a regime which will prevent the kind of development that has taken place in the countries that today are rich, industrial countries&emdash;not the best kind of development we can imagine, to be sure, but at least development of a sort. If you go back from England to the United States, to Germany, France, Japan, Korea–every one of these countries developed by radically violating the principles that are now being built into the World Trade Organization. These principles are methods of undermining growth and development and ensuring concentration of power.”
Digital divide deepens rich-poor gap South Asia has emerged as the most promising region for sourcing information technology (IT) expertise, but this is an achievement that is of use only to the rich nations, say critics. The so-called digital divide between industrialised and developing nations is being replicated within the region, widening the already big gulf between the majority poor and an English language-speaking, Internet-savvy elite, they point out. On average, less than one out of every 10 of the 1.3 billion people in the subcontinent have access to computers and only a small fraction of these use the Internet.
Coalition says global compact threatens UN mission and integrity An international coalition of human rights and environmental groups denounced a new UN-corporate collaboration as “threatening the mission and integrity of the United Nations.” The coalition sent a letter to Secretary General Kofi Annan today urging him to re-evaluate his partnership with the private sector. The letter was released as the top executives of some of the world’s most powerful (and destructive) corporations prepared to converge on the UN for the first Global Compact partners meeting.
Af Svenska Irakkommittén mot de Ekonomiska Sanktionerna (SIES) 13 september 2002 FN:s ekonomiska sanktioner mot Irak har nu pågått i tolv år och drabbat det irakiska folket med svåra lidanden. Enligt FN:s egna siffror har mer än 1,5 miljoner människor, varav ca 600 000 barn, dött som en direkt följd av sanktionerna. Dessutom har ett lågintensivt bombkrig mot landet pågått under dessa år. Av all denna förödelse- orsakad huvudsakligen av amerikansk och brittisk politik- har Saddam Husseins brutala och diktatoriska regim snarast stärkts än försvagats. Nu förbereder USA under president Bushs ledning ett storskaligt bombkrig mot Irak som kommer att innebära ett ännu större lidande för civilbefolkningen. Ett sådant krig kommer dessutom att ytterligare undergräva freden och säkerheten i världen. Att upprätta en demokratisk regim i Irak är det irakiska folkets angelägenhet och får enligt folkrätten inte ske med krigshandlingar utifrån. Folkrätten och FN:s stadgar måste respekteras. Vi vädjar till...
LONDON – So far so good, at least on the wider level. While internally Iraq seems on the edge of chaos, the much heralded clash of civilizations between the Muslim and Judaeo-Christian worlds has yet to become apparent. We have anger and despair aplenty in the Arab and Muslim worlds. But very little rushing to the standard and there was no great pilgrimage of warriors to join the fight, as happened when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan twenty years ago, and then, having driven the Red Army out, were left to ferment in that mountainous redoubt. With the armaments supplied by the CIA the mujahidin were transformed into Al Qaeda that became, for a relatively brief moment as these things go, ‘the greatest threat to the homeland that America has ever known.’ Nevertheless a ‘Cold War’ between much of the Muslim world and the West is certainly in full swing. Winston...
Af Svenska Irakkommittén mot de Ekonomiska Sanktionerna (SIES) 13 september 2002 FN:s ekonomiska sanktioner mot Irak har nu pågått i tolv år och drabbat det irakiska folket med svåra lidanden. Enligt FN:s egna siffror har mer än 1,5 miljoner människor, varav ca 600 000 barn, dött som en direkt följd av sanktionerna. Dessutom har ett lågintensivt bombkrig mot landet pågått under dessa år. Av all denna förödelse- orsakad huvudsakligen av amerikansk och brittisk politik- har Saddam Husseins brutala och diktatoriska regim snarast stärkts än försvagats. Nu förbereder USA under president Bushs ledning ett storskaligt bombkrig mot Irak som kommer att innebära ett ännu större lidande för civilbefolkningen. Ett sådant krig kommer dessutom att ytterligare undergräva freden och säkerheten i världen. Att upprätta en demokratisk regim i Irak är det irakiska folkets angelägenhet och får enligt folkrätten inte ske med krigshandlingar utifrån. Folkrätten och FN:s stadgar måste respekteras. Vi vädjar till...
Peace will not result from any “peace” plan circulated to date. Neither will it emerge from warfare – as the elites of NATO, EU, Russia, and Ukraine seem to finally recognise after avoidable, unspeakable losses of people, trust and physical, socio-economic destruction. And horse-trading based on military ‘security’ guarantees reveals only peace and conflict illiteracy. TFF is critical of the widespread and severe misuse of the word peace – as if it did not require any knowledge. But we do not engage in geopolitical-military commentarism or dismissive criticism of present-day Realpolitik and its militarist mindset. Indeed, we do not believe that mainstream political and media elites are aware that they know woefully little about peace and peace-making or see it as a professional field. Thus, we do not expect they would acquaint themselves with a portfolio like this. TFF concentrates on constructive, visionary thinking grounded in the science and art of peace and in our 40 years...
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Discover more from TFF Transnational Foundation & Jan Oberg.
Af Svenska Irakkommittén mot de Ekonomiska Sanktionerna (SIES) 13 september 2002 FN:s ekonomiska sanktioner mot Irak har nu pågått i tolv år och drabbat det irakiska folket med svåra lidanden. Enligt FN:s egna siffror har mer än 1,5 miljoner människor, varav ca 600 000 barn, dött som en direkt följd av sanktionerna. Dessutom har ett lågintensivt bombkrig mot landet pågått under dessa år. Av all denna förödelse- orsakad huvudsakligen av amerikansk och brittisk politik- har Saddam Husseins brutala och diktatoriska regim snarast stärkts än försvagats. Nu förbereder USA under president Bushs ledning ett storskaligt bombkrig mot Irak som kommer att innebära ett ännu större lidande för civilbefolkningen. Ett sådant krig kommer dessutom att ytterligare undergräva freden och säkerheten i världen. Att upprätta en demokratisk regim i Irak är det irakiska folkets angelägenhet och får enligt folkrätten inte ske med krigshandlingar utifrån. Folkrätten och FN:s stadgar måste respekteras. Vi vädjar till...
Peace will not result from any “peace” plan circulated to date. Neither will it emerge from warfare – as the elites of NATO, EU, Russia, and Ukraine seem to finally recognise after avoidable, unspeakable losses of people, trust and physical, socio-economic destruction. And horse-trading based on military ‘security’ guarantees reveals only peace and conflict illiteracy. TFF is critical of the widespread and severe misuse of the word peace – as if it did not require any knowledge. But we do not engage in geopolitical-military commentarism or dismissive criticism of present-day Realpolitik and its militarist mindset. Indeed, we do not believe that mainstream political and media elites are aware that they know woefully little about peace and peace-making or see it as a professional field. Thus, we do not expect they would acquaint themselves with a portfolio like this. TFF concentrates on constructive, visionary thinking grounded in the science and art of peace and in our 40 years...
Af Svenska Irakkommittén mot de Ekonomiska Sanktionerna (SIES) 13 september 2002 FN:s ekonomiska sanktioner mot Irak har nu pågått i tolv år och drabbat det irakiska folket med svåra lidanden. Enligt FN:s egna siffror har mer än 1,5 miljoner människor, varav ca 600 000 barn, dött som en direkt följd av sanktionerna. Dessutom har ett lågintensivt bombkrig mot landet pågått under dessa år. Av all denna förödelse- orsakad huvudsakligen av amerikansk och brittisk politik- har Saddam Husseins brutala och diktatoriska regim snarast stärkts än försvagats. Nu förbereder USA under president Bushs ledning ett storskaligt bombkrig mot Irak som kommer att innebära ett ännu större lidande för civilbefolkningen. Ett sådant krig kommer dessutom att ytterligare undergräva freden och säkerheten i världen. Att upprätta en demokratisk regim i Irak är det irakiska folkets angelägenhet och får enligt folkrätten inte ske med krigshandlingar utifrån. Folkrätten och FN:s stadgar måste respekteras. Vi vädjar till...
Peace will not result from any “peace” plan circulated to date. Neither will it emerge from warfare – as the elites of NATO, EU, Russia, and Ukraine seem to finally recognise after avoidable, unspeakable losses of people, trust and physical, socio-economic destruction. And horse-trading based on military ‘security’ guarantees reveals only peace and conflict illiteracy. TFF is critical of the widespread and severe misuse of the word peace – as if it did not require any knowledge. But we do not engage in geopolitical-military commentarism or dismissive criticism of present-day Realpolitik and its militarist mindset. Indeed, we do not believe that mainstream political and media elites are aware that they know woefully little about peace and peace-making or see it as a professional field. Thus, we do not expect they would acquaint themselves with a portfolio like this. TFF concentrates on constructive, visionary thinking grounded in the science and art of peace and in our 40 years...
OK, Trump did not get it. But he got a full endorsement of a possible future US regime change in Venezuela. And that is what Ms Machado has advocated. On October 10, 2025, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded its Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition figure María Corina Machado. The citation praised her “tireless work promoting democratic rights.” But Ms Machado has openly called for U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, stating on CBS: “The only way to stop the suppression is by force—U.S. force.” She or her party has received funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a U.S. government-backed body known as a CIA front organisation and for supporting regime-change operations worldwide. And in 2018, she sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, asking him to use “force and influence” to help dismantle Venezuela’s government—citing alleged ties to terrorism, Iran and narcotrafficking. This year’s NATO Norwegian prize...
PRESS RELEASE – 6 OCTOBER 2025 LAY DOWN YOUR ARMSPEACE PRIZE FOR 2025 is awarded Francesca Albanese The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories – as the person who, in accordance with Alfred Nobel’s will, has “done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations and for the abolition or reduction of standing armies as well as for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” Francesca Albanese has forcefully and unwaveringly worked against Israel’s full-scale war on the occupied Palestinian territories, in particular Israel´s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. She has confronted Israel’s systematic war crimes and crimes against humanity in a truly global outreach. Further, she has brought governments, international organisations and people’s groups together to underline the responsibility of the world at large to act and to stop arming, enabling, and profiting from Israel’s ongoing criminal actions. But first of all, Albanese...
Officially, the drones were not identified. By simply thinking critically – which journalists and selected experts no longer do – there may be a good reason for that. And this article will never be mentioned in Denmark… Drones over Denmark. No damage. No trace. No answers. Yet the headlines scream “Russian threat,” and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks with a certainty that defies logic: “We don’t know they were Russian—but we know Russia is the biggest threat to Europe.” It could be nobody else – unless you make an interest analysis which I did two days ago. This is not security policy. It’s theatre. And the audience is being played. Let’s rewind. These drones—unphotographed, untracked, unclaimed—appear and vanish like ghosts. Airports shut down. Panic spreads. Military budgets swell. And the narrative hardens: Russia is behind it. But what if that’s not just wrong but deliberately misleading? Here’s a hypothesis for...
