Thinking

Jan Oberg, TFF director April 28, 2026 In this third TFF Peace Pulse, I make the important distinction between the violence and the conflict that violence is a symptom of. If you want peace, focus on the underlying conflict because that is the key to resolution, peacemaking, and a better future for the parties. The West is obsessed with violence, just look around you – and 90+ per cent of the public debate is about military issues and other violence – totally wasted for peace. These Peace Pulses will only be published here a few times. You will also not find them on YouTube and Vimeo because both platforms have blocked TFF and me; you know, peace is dangerous these days. Most TFF’s videos since 2007 are now on Rumble.

In contrast to most, we’ll bring alternatives, solutions, hope and strategies for a better future. Times are dangerous, yes, but that only intensifies the need for constructive thinking and action! Jan Oberg, TFF director April 13, 2026 The new TFF Peace Pulse uses video messages in a new way: Max 3-5-minute-long comments, ideas or perhaps mini-lectures, all about peace – positive peace. We launch them today on April 13, 2026 with a carefully crafted visual aesthetic fitting the content. We hope to publish them regularly from now on. We launch Peace Pulse (PP) – for a number of reasons. The world is in chaos, and there are countless reasons to feel concerned, frustrated, even angry. The atmosphere is saturated with doom and gloom, with negative energy and rear‑mirror thinking, while vision, imagination, alternatives, strategies and genuine future‑mindedness remain in short supply. And without them, we simply can’t save the world. Looking at problems from a hundred angles will...

Jan Oberg, TFF director April 9, 2026 I was recently invited to have a good, long talk about the world – and, of course, about peace too – with Boris Malagurski on his Weight of Chains Channel on YouTube. It was a real joy and seems to have been greatly appreciated by the viewers too. Mr Malagurski and I shall of course be grateful if you share this conversation in your circles – of course, only if you like what you see and hear  And remember that this one – like hundreds of others with TFF Associates – can be enjoyed at our TFF Video Collection.

Farhang Jahanpour TFF Associate, former Board member February 11, 2026 Oxford (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Today, 11 February, marks the 47th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and coincidentally, it also marks the 15th anniversary of the ousting of Hosni Mubarak after 30 years of oppressive rule. There were some other uprisings during what came to be known as the Arab Spring, which resulted in the ousting of ruling dictators. Undeterred, Iranian leaders, after the terrible carnage in January this year, are making big plans to celebrate the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Many people optimistically assume that massive popular revolutions against dictators will automatically result in the establishment of democratic governments. Unfortunately, the aftermath of the Iranian revolution and the massive uprisings by Arab masses during the so-called Arab Spring have led to the establishment of even worse regimes. Far from resulting in...

To celebrate TFF’s 40th Anniversary, we have re-published – on TFF Substack – two earlier articles that were published here on The Transnational. They are: TFF at 40 #1 – Peace research at Lund University closed down in 1989: Why and how?And why I lived happily ever after. This is a piece of Nordic academic history deserving to be shared – from 2017. TFF at 40 #2 – TFF’s first few years – from 2017. This is the third ◆ Christina Spännar & Jan Oberg Founders December 31, 2025 One measure of good social science is its ability to anticipate the consequences of policies, trends and events. It is not unlike the work of a good doctor: diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment must be grounded in careful observation. If the diagnosis is flawed, the prognosis falters — and the patient’s chances of recovery diminish. Over the past forty years, TFF’s board, founders,...

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...

The fact that the outlandish and quackish Trump “peace” plan for the genocided Gaza was passed by the UN Security Council defines the end of every understanding of true peace. Jan Oberg November 18, 2025 The UN Security Council adopted a U.S.-drafted resolution on November 17, 2025, endorsing Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan. It authorised an International Stabilisation Force (ISF), backed a transitional governing body called the “Board of Peace”, and declared that conditions may now exist for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and eventual statehood. The vote passed 13–0, with Russia and China abstaining. This is UN SC Resolution 2803. This goes against everything the UN stands for. Of course, China and Russia wisely abstained. They want no involvement and co-responsibility with this fake peace plan and are smart enough to see that it will never lead to true peace. I ask myself – did the Trump Regime give the UN its death knell yesterday? It...

The World Is a Sphere, But It Needs Zones of Peace Biljana Vankovska Professor emerita, TFF Board member November 13, 2025 As members of a global intellectual public, concerned not merely with knowledge but with humanity’s survival, we hunger for debates that are as rigorous as transformative, i.e. debates capable of imagining a fundamentally different world order. The latest exchange between two most distinguished US professors, Jeffrey Sachs and John Mearsheimer, has proven highly attractive and necessary. Yet, in my opinion, it does not transcend existing paradigms (despite the introduction of the concept of “spheres of security”) and offers no solutions for the structural and deep-rooted problems. As promised, albeit with some delay, here I am, stepping into the arena of intellectual giants in international relations and political economy. My intention is not to challenge their brilliance or integrity but to advocate for a pluralization of voices and perspectives. The small states and postcolonial...

TFF board member If we’re being honest, with few exceptions, most of us have stopped counting the days since the genocide in Gaza began. We’ve also lost track of the death toll—especially the number of children. We can offer excuses: being overwhelmed with our personal and professional lives, the sheer intensity and frequency of global crises (Ukraine, trade wars, or the unbearable ease with which Trump is reshaping the world in his own image). But the truth is, sporadic mass protests in some Western cities, citizen petitions, intellectuals’ appeals, and podcast appearances do little to change the reality—or rather, the nightmare—of the people in Palestine. You’ll often read a post saying that eight billion people condemn the genocide that keeps going and going, seemingly with no end in sight. We blame ourselves for our helplessness, our despair, and our rage—at least those of us who refuse to forget the images...

A new, innovative, and visionary anthology about the world that is unfolding behind the doom and gloom that the media and politicians try to foist on you. It’s edited by Bijana Vankovska, Richard Sakwa, Weiwei Zhang and Toni Mileski and obviously provocative in the eyes of some (lesser minds). Preface “This volume is the outcome of what might seem, at first glance, to be an ordinary academic conference. Cooperative Multipolar System: In Quest of a New World Order was held on October 3–4, 2024, organized by the Global Changes Center (GCC), the youngest research center at the Faculty of Philosophy. Тhe Chamber of Emigrants from Macedonia eventually joined as a supporting institution, following a formal agreement with the Faculty. Yet, this gathering was far from conventional. It was designed as an intellectual intervention to engage with the evolving global order and challenge the one-dimensional narratives that dominate academic and political...

1.  Definitions and Hypotheses: An Overview Definition: An empire is a transboundary Center-Periphery system, in macro-space and in macro-time, with a culture legitimizing a structure of unequal exchange between center and periphery: Empires have different profiles.  The US Empire has a complete configuration, articulated in a statement by a Pentagon planner: “The de facto role of the United States Armed Forces will be to keep the world safe for our economy and open to our cultural assault.  To those ends, we will do a fair amount of killing”.[1] In other words, direct violence to protect structural violence legitimized by cultural violence.[2]  The Center is continental USA and the Periphery much of the world.  Like any system it has a life-cycle reminiscent of an organism, with conception, gestation, birth, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, senescence and death.  Seeded by the British Empire, the maturing colonies honed their imperial skills on indigenous populations,...

Every few days, I was on TV in Russia and China – Russia TV1 and CCTV – the latter as part of a much longer studio discussion and documentary about Ukraine, Russa and the EU. February 14, 2025 – about half an hour on Russia’s leading TV Channel – 1TV – a kind of portrait with lots of views on current affairs. And many more videos with other TFF Associates and a series of world issues. It’s a great way to learn new angles from some of the most experienced people of our time. And the best part – new videos are selected and uploaded almost every day. Do not miss!! Enjoy and, if you like, share!