Archive 1986 – 2017

Everyone driving must turn around at the bus and cab station. Dharamsala is actually car-free, peaceful, chaotic and characterised by an astounding pioneering spirit. The street scene is dominated by monks in wine-red clothes and a remarkably great number of beggars with leprousy. On this dangerous, Himalayan slope, fantastic architectural constructions, often hotels, are being built. But they are said to collapse quicker than they have been built, when heavy rains or glacier-melt water come down in torrents. Everything is beautiful around here, except the trees. It is forbidden to cut down their very trunk, but everywhere people have climbed up and chopped off all their limbs. After all, they need firewood. Power cuts happen on a daily basis and, of course, electricity is rationed – except when the governor of the federal state of Himachal Pradesh, to which Dharamsala belongs, descends on his subjects for an official visit. At...

Travelling is living, as H. C. Andersen has said. Travelling in India is like living another kind of life. Actually, the only way to do it successfully is to leave Swedish life at home and not think anymore about it. India is infinitely large, mysterious, wonderful and disgusting. It is poor and rich; it is sublime, meditative and infernally noisy. It has a dazzling beauty but it is about to die because of the pollution. It is nice and friendly; yet I haven’t seen any other place in the world where there are so many tiresome, nagging, obtrusive and indeed insolent people, according to the Swedish norms that is. It is perfectly impossible to make sweeping general statements about India, other than that it makes generalizations impossible. Travelling in India is experiencing a constant interplay of love and hate. And of positive surprises about life. A challenge, to say the...

Since the beginning of the violence in Republic of Macedonia there has been an imposed “peace process” by the President of Republic of Macedonia and the “international community”. Now, when the framework Agreement for Solution of the Political and Security Crises is in its final draft, it is likely that the violence will not stop. The reasons are not solely the Agreement or the “players” who reached it. It has become obvious that the “President’s peace plan” and all the actions in the “peace process,” no matter if by the Government, the President or others, had been set on the wrong foot from the beginning. The aim of this article is to highlight some of the facts that speak about the premises and proposed solutions in the “peace process” rather than perpetuates the popular “picture” and the international image-making. That is why the concrete proposals of the peace plan are...

The plunging airliners, commandeered by terrorists, ripped gaping holes in more than the towers of the World Trade Center. They ripped away the veneer of security that we believed surrounded us. We in America can never again feel secure in the same way.  We were vulnerable before the hurtling planes crashed into the World Trade Center, but we never stopped to think that this could happen to us. Now we understand our vulnerability, and our lives will never be the same.  What madmen seek to kill us? Are the plans for the next attacks already set in motion? Are there more suicidal phantoms, coiled like cobras, in our midst? We remain apprehensive with good reason.  Some Americans are calling for vengeance. But we are fighting phantoms, and our military power is not sufficient to assure an end to future threats. It will not be so easy to find these terrorists...

In the world of nuclear deterrence theory, beliefs are everything. What the leaders of a country perceive and believe is far more important than the reality. Nuclear deterrence is a seemingly simple proposition: Country A tells country B that if B does X, A will attack it with nuclear weapons. The theory is that country B will be deterred from doing X by fear of nuclear attack by country A. For deterrence to work, the leaders of country B must also believe that country A has nuclear weapons and will use them. Nuclear deterrence theory holds that even if country A might not have nuclear weapons, so long as the leaders of country B believed that it did they would be deterred. The theory goes on to hold that country A can generally rely upon nuclear deterrence with any country except one that also has nuclear weapons or one that...

framfart och resenärer Introduktion Globalisering är ett ord som nämns allt oftare i tidningar, på TV och av gemene man. Trots detta är det inte många som vet vad termen globalisering egentligen innebär och vad den verkligen syftar till. Det är inte underligt då sökandet efter den rätta definitionen är i full gång och åsikterna går isär om hur en sådan ska se ut. Det finns heller ingen konsensus om vilka konsekvenser globaliseringen genererar. Vissa talar om homogenisering och andra om fragmentering. Några betonar ekonomiska faktorer som framväxten av transnationella företag och en världsmarknad, medan somliga fokuserar på teknologiska framsteg och ökad kommunikation. Det råder ovisshet och osäkerhet om vad som egentligen händer och i vilken riktning vi är på väg. Vad innebär dagens utveckling för individer, samhällen och nationalstater? Detta är enligt vår mening en viktig och spännande fråga till vilken det dock inte finns något enkelt och tillgängligt...

What people around the world wrote to and about TFF 1136 letters, comments and signature by September 12 – and more come in every day! From people of all walks of life in 62 countries. We did not know that we had SO MANY friends. More than one-third chose to not only write their name in support of TFF but also add very warm, sometimes strong, appreciaiton of our work. You may find your own words here. We are overwhelmed. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. All messages were copied and sent on September 14 to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, HE Anna Lindh and to the Ministry’s preparatory committee which recommends which organisations to give organisztional support. Please see also the analysis of the worldwide constituencies and our analysis in Swedish of the Ministry’s decision. The Swedish government shoul be proud to support TFF and its efforts to a...

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Åbent brev til statsministerAnders Fogh Rasmussen Kære Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Snart skal du holde din nytårstale til den danske befolkning. Vi vil opfordre dig til at se ud over dagen og vejen og fokusere på den store verden, som ligger uden for Danmark og EU. Her giver den uretfærdige fattigdom og de store sociale uligheder grobund for terrorisme, selvom forbindelsen ikke er entydig. USA’s krig mod terrorismen, som din regering har tilsluttet sig, truer både retssikkerhed og humanisme, fordi den bekæmper enkelte terrorister, men ikke terrorisme og dens rødder. Hvis demokratiske rettigheder, menneskerettigheder og medmenneskelighed kan tilsidesættes ved henvisning til, at “vi bekæmper terrorist-trusler”, så vil det lukke dét åbne samfund, der ellers kendetegner de vestlige demokratier. Krigen i Irak har gjort landet til en rede for terrorister. I et spind af uvidenhed, usandhed og politisk manipulation er Danmark blevet indrulleret i en ulovlig og moralsk uforsvarlig krig i Irak,...

Lund, Sverige & Nagoya, Japan Under Folketingets åbningsdebat krævede Mogens Lykketoft (S) at statsministeren skal sige undskyld for at han tog fejl vedrørende Irak og at grundlaget for krigen ikke holdt. Når amerikanerne selv siger det, så tør vi – og FE – skam også at indrømme det, der har stået klart i årevis. Det er 8 år siden inspektørerne meddelte at 95-98% af alt hvad Saddam havde var fundet og destrueret. Forholdet mellem Saddams militærudgifter og USAs plus Englands var 1:332 – ifølge CIAs egen hjemmeside. Så nogen trussel var han heller ikke. Der er således ikke tale om en fejltagelse. Det er en bevidst politik, der er ført hvis grundlag var helt igennem konstrueret, ikke fejlagtigt. Colin Powells over 70 minutter lange indlæg i Sikkerhedsrådet forud for krigen var ét stort teaterstykke med dårlige rekvisiter. Ingen med det mindste kendskab til efterretningsvæsen og -teknologi kan have troet ham....