PressInfo 2003

PressInfo # 192, 30 oktober, 2003 – på danskEt tiår for sent: forhandlinger om Kosovo PressInfo # 192, 21 oktober, 2003 – svenskaEtt decennium för sent – Samtal om Kosovo PressInfo # 192, October 14, 2003A decade too late: Kosovo Talks Begin PressInfo # 191, October 3, 2003The Second Nuclear Age PressInfo # 190, October 3, 2003Dealing with the Hydra? Proliferation and Full Spectrum Dominance PressInfo # 186, 26 september 2003, på svenska11 saker att komma ihåg den 11 september Av Jan Öberg. PressInfo # 189, September 18, 2003Neo-Cons, Fundies, Feddies, and Con-Artists By Francis A. Boyle. PressInfo # 188, 18.september 2003, på danskDet er en udfordring at skabe fred Af Daisaku Ikeda. PressInfo # 186, 18.september 2003, på dansk11 punkter at huske om den 11.september Af Jan Øberg. PressInfo # 183, 28 mai 2003, på danskVil du vide, hvem de amerikanere er, som styrer Irak? PressInfo # 182, 21 maj 2003, på svenskaHamburgarfilosofi...

Den 14. oktober mødtes kosovo-albanere og serbere fra Beograd på højt niveau i Wien. Det var et historisk møde i mere end en forstand. Det åbner mulighed for at reflektere over filosofien, metoderne og politikken for tidens konflikthåndtering. Gjorde det såkaldte internationale samfund det rette ? Har man lært tilstrækkeligt på institutions- og organisationsniveau ? Er der paralleller mellem Kosovo, Afghanistan og Irak som vi skulle diskutere selvkritisk i stedet for simpelthen at skyde skylden på parterne ? Det er godt med dialog, men bombningen i 1999 har gjort alles synspunkter og holdninger mere kompromisløse og uforsonlige end de var før. Det er første gang siden NATO’s krig mod Jugoslavien i 1999 at serbere og albanere har mødtes på denne måde. Faktisk er det med få undtagelser det første forsøg på reelle forhandlinger siden det hele begyndte i de sene 1980ere. På næsten samme måde som vi har set det...

Högt uppsatta Kosovo-albaner och Serber från Belgrad möttes ansikte till ansikte 14. oktober 2003 i Wien. Det var ett historiskt möte i mer än en betydelse. För alla som är engagerade i konflikthantering och fredsbyggande innebär det en möjlighet att reflektera över mötets filosofi, metoder och politik. Gjorde det såkallade internationella samhället rätt? Har institutionerna lärt sig det man borde? Finns det paralleller mellan Kosovo, Afghanistan och Irak som vi bör diskustera självkritiskt, snarare än att helt enkelt lägga skulden på parterna? Dialog är bra, men bombningarna 1999 har förhärdat alla. Det är första gången sedan NATO:s krig mot Jugoslavien i 1999 att serber och albaner möts på detta sätt. Visserligen är detta, med några få undantag, det första försöket till regelrätta förhandlingar sedan allt började i slutet av 1980-talet. Som i Irak, hindrades de viktigaste parter från att träffas. Med tiden har hökarna tagit över scenen och nu finns...

The recognition of the work of women and human rights activists in Islam The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Ms Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian judge, lawyer and political activist, was as inspired as it was unexpected. The granting of that prestigious prize to the first Muslim woman, especially from a country where women have had to put up with the medieval status forced on them by the mullahs, sends a number of powerful messages to a whole variety of different audiences. The first message of this award is clearly to Iranian reformers and political activists, especially those who work for equal rights for women. Short background The 1962 “Family Protection Law” passed by the Iranian parliament under the shah was one of the most enlightened documents on the rights of women in the entire Middle East and the Islamic world as a whole. That law granted women votes,...

On October 14, 2003, in Vienna, high-level Kosovo-Albanians and Serbs from Belgrade met face-to-face. It was a historical meeting in more than one sense. It provides an opportunity for anyone concerned about conflict-management and peace-building to reflect on its philosophy, methods and politics. Did the international so-called community do the right thing? Is there adequate institutional learning? Are there parallels between Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq that we should discuss self-critically rather than simply blame the parties? Dialogue is fine but the 1999 bombing hardened everybody It is the first time since NATO’s war on Yugoslavia in 1999 that Serbs and Albanians meet this way. Indeed, with a few exceptions, it’s the first attempt at real negotiations since it all began in the late 1980s. Like in Iraq, the main parties were prevented from meeting. As time has passed hard-liners have taken over the scene and now they won’t really talk....

Den irakiske fiasko åbner for en historisk chanse for at gennemføre en længe savnet, bredt støttet reform, som FN behøver for at kunne sikre sin uafhængighed og sin vitale rolle i dette nye århundrede. Sammenbruddet i Sikkerhedsrådet på grund af USA’s krig mod Irak, giver et godt billede af de forældede rutiner. En overleveret arv fra efterkrigstiden (de fem stående medlemmer: USA, Stor Britanien, Frankrig, Kina og Rusland med hver deres vetoret) viser til syvende og sidst alle de ubrugelige aspekter i en nøddeskal. De fleste reformivrere er enige om Sikkerhedsrådets uundværlighed – og også om hvilken form og retning forbedringerne skal have. Rådet må definitivt gøre en ende på vetoretten – et relikie der i sin tid blev givet til vinderne af Den 2.Verdenskrig. Så der skal møbleres om på de permanente stole så der kan blive plads til vigtige nye medsiddere ved det globale bord, deriblandt Indien, Brasilien,...

 “The world has entered a new nuclear age, a second nuclear age. The danger is rising that nuclear weapons will be used against the United States. Just as bad, the danger is rising that the United States will use nuclear weapons against others.” With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union, many Americans gave a deep sigh of relief and pronounced the nuclear threat at an end. It was a heady time. I can remember being asked, “What will the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation do now that the nuclear threat is gone?” My response was that the nuclear threat was still with us despite these momentous changes in the geopolitical landscape. It was far too soon to pronounce the Nuclear Age dead. In retrospect, from a vantage point of more than 12 years after these tectonic shifts in geopolitics, we can see that the...

Proliferation and Full Spectrum Dominance “The horror scenarios of the Cold War have disappeared, but the threat of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons has not.  Like the monstrous Hydra of Greek mythology, modern weapons of mass destruction are sprouting new heads faster than anybody can cut them off.” So wrote Anna Lindh and Erkki Tuomioja, the Foreign Ministers of Sweden and Finland respectively, in an article in The International Herald Tribune, whose title gives their answer to the threat:  “Slaying the Hydra – together”.  As they conclude: “Even Hercules could not kill the many headed monster alone.  Only by acting together will we safeguard the security of all.” In spite of strenuous combined efforts, the hydra of proliferation remains very much with us, and it has certainly not been caged by the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).  The most recent NPT preparatory conference, held in Geneva, between April 28th and May 9th 2003,...

Sätt klackarna i backen. Propagandaångvälten för minnet av den 11 september är tillbaka igen för att kväsa oppositionen mot USA:s krigs- och imperiepolitik. Här några punkter som hjälper dig att fortsatt hålla kursen stadig. Vi lägger fram dem i djup respekt för de oskyldiga som dog den 11 september och de lika oskyldiga som dog i anfallen mot Afghanistan och Irak under kriget mot terrorismen. Utnyttja dessa punkter – särskilt om du är lärare, journalist eller annars en medborgare som bryr dig. Lär och minns 11-07-20 Innan dessa punkter radas upp, är det några saker som bör nämnas. Under hundratales föredrag, tal och intervjuer har jag frågat åhörare i många länder om de vet vad den 11 september är för något. Naturligtvis gör de det och några kanske också nämner den av USA understödda omstörtningen av den folkvalda regeringen Salvador Allende i Chile 1973 för 30 år sedan. Som av...

Originally posted on the ‘AALS Section on Minority Grps. mailing list’ It is now a matter of public record that immediately after the terrible tragedy of 11 September 2001, U.S. Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld and his pro-Israeli “Neoconservative” Deputy Paul Wolfowitz began to plot, plan, scheme and conspire to wage a war of aggression against Iraq by manipulating the tragic events of September 11th in order to provide a pretext for doing so.(1) Of course Iraq had nothing at all to do with September 11th or supporting Al-Qaeda. But that made no difference to Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, their Undersecretary of War Douglas Feith, Undersecretary of State John Bolton, and the numerous other pro-Israeli Neo-Cons inhabiting the Bush Jr. administration. These pro-Israeli Neo-Cons had been schooled in the Machiavellian/Nietzschean theories of Professor Leo Strauss who taught political philosophy at the University of Chicago in its Department of Political Science. The best...

Originally posted on the ‘AALS Section on Minority Grps. mailing list’ It is now a matter of public record that immediately after the terrible tragedy of 11 September 2001, U.S. Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld and his pro-Israeli “Neoconservative” Deputy Paul Wolfowitz began to plot, plan, scheme and conspire to wage a war of aggression against Iraq by manipulating the tragic events of September 11th in order to provide a pretext for doing so.(1) Of course Iraq had nothing at all to do with September 11th or supporting Al-Qaeda. But that made no difference to Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, their Undersecretary of War Douglas Feith, Undersecretary of State John Bolton, and the numerous other pro-Israeli Neo-Cons inhabiting the Bush Jr. administration. These pro-Israeli Neo-Cons had been schooled in the Machiavellian/Nietzschean theories of Professor Leo Strauss who taught political philosophy at the University of Chicago in its Department of Political Science. The best...

På toårsdagen for terrorangrebet i USA, den 11. september 2003, bragte Japan Times en artikel af SGIs præsident Daisaku Ikeda. Japan Times er et stort og indflydelsesrigt, internationalt dagblad, og det vakte derfor opsigt og stor glæde blandt de japanske Soka Gakkai medlemmer at Ikeda Sensei kunne få sine meninger bragt ud til en stor offentlighed. The Japan Times: 11. september 2003Eksklusivt for Japan Times “På toppen af den pyramide som vi kalder civilisation, befinder krigens virkelighed sig stadig. Vi kan ikke kalde os fuldt civiliserede mennesker sålænge muligheden for krig eksisterer og oveni købet tages for givet.” Disse stærke ord stammer fra John Kenneth Galbraith som var vidne til det 20. århundredes krige og vold. Professor Galbraith og jeg har en dialog kørende hvori vi bl.a. åbenhjertigt udveksler synspunkter angående den 11. september 2001. Vi er alle direkte eller indirekte blevet påvirket af denne rædselsvækkende forbrydelse og dens eftervirkninger....