November 1998

Remembering the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights LONDON – In captivity Augusto Pinochet should perhaps find time to read Mahatma Gandhi who used to say that one could assess a civilization by the manner with which it dealt with minorities and those that disagreed with it. Ralf Dahrendorf, the eminence grise of European education, made a similar point in an address before that remarkable campaigning power-house, the Minority Rights Group. “Defense of minority rights is the litmus test of liberty and the rule of law”, Professor Dahrendorf said and went on wryly to note, “ruling interests and beliefs need no protection: power protects, though it may corrupt as well.” A Martian arriving today could be pardoned for thinking earthlings had never confronted minority rights issues until Yugoslavia exploded, so bewitched and bewildered they still appear to be by the experience. The Cold War was a frozen...

Den ny, grønne tyske udenrigsminister Joschka Fischer, der selv er “realos” er allerede blevet belært om de højere realiteter hér i verden. Han har stillet det helt rimelige forslag, at NATO burde afsige sig retten til at være først til at bruge kærnevåben. Det amerikanske – naturligvis – svar på hele alliancens vegne kom prompte: Glem det! Fischer vidste sikkert godt, at man kan ikke være udenrigsminister i dagens uni-polære verden og bevare ret mange grønne idealer. Men hvis han inderst inde har grønne idealer er han en imponerende modig mand, som NGOer i Europa – og den danske regering – bør støtte varmt. For det er hvad NATO burde have gjort for længe siden, altså i 1980erne hvor Sovjetunionen afsagde sig denne ret. Til sagen hører at Rusland efter Warszawa-pagtens opløsning og på grund af sin økonomisk uformåen at opretholde omfattende konventionelle styrker har opgraderet kærnevåbnene og i lyset...

Den nye, gröne tyska utrikesministern, Joschka Fischer, som själv är ‘realos’ har redan blivit uppläxad i de högre realiteterna i vår värld. Han har ställt det helt rimliga förslaget att NATO borde avsäga sig rätten att vara den första att använda kärnvapen. Det amerikanska – naturligtvis – svaret kom blixtsnabbt: Glöm det! Fischer visste säkert mycket väl att man inte kan vara utrikesminister i dagens uni-polära värld och samtidigt bevara särskilt många gröna ideal. Om han innerst inne fortfarande har gröna ideal är han en imponerande modig man, som folkliga rörelser – och den svenska regeringen – borde ge sitt varma stöd. För detta är ju vad NATO borde ha gjort för många år sedan, redan på 1980-talet när Sovjetuionen avsade sig rätten till “first use.” Till saken hör tyvärr att Ryssland efter Warszawapaktens upplösning och till följd av sin ekonomiska oförmåga att upprätthålla omfattande konventionella styrkor har uppgraderat kärnvapnens...

“The law on information, on theuniversities and the prepared law on NGOs should be stronglyopposed by all international organisations, governments andNGOs.” Jiri Dienstbier, Special Rapporteur of theU.N. Commission on Human Rights “Serbian authorities commit gross human rightsviolations through new draconian laws that will furtherundermine free media, education and civil society in Serbia.Given its seriousness, we have heard deplorably few andlow-voiced protests from top diplomats, politicians, fellowintellectuals and media people in the Europe and the US.Dienstbier’s is an important exception” says TFF’s directorJan Oberg. The situation is appalling. After media and education,NGOs will probably be targeted. People in Serbia are in adouble cage – that constructed by their own authorities andthat constructed by the international community since 1991.Just look at how the Kosovo conflict is now “managed”through the Milosevic-Holbrooke agreement and you’ll see howthe two cages reinforce each other. The losers? Ordinarycitizens – like in Bosnia under Dayton. All citizens of...

LONDON – When the United Nations pulled its troops out of the Congo in June 1964 Secretary General U Thant reported “The UN cannot permanently protect the Congo from internal tensions and disturbances created by its own organic growth towards unity and nationhood”. That was some kind of relief after a peacekeeping operation that nearly tore apart the UN and claimed the life of U Thant’s predecessor, Dag Hammerskjold. Yet the UN did bring a measure of peace to the Congo in the sense that it ended a civil war fought over the succession of the mineral rich province of Katanga and provided an alternative to what was in danger of becoming an East-West grab for influence that threatened to turn the Congo into a major Cold War battleground. Once again the Congo has become a maelstrom. Susan Rice, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Africa, warns that the fighting...

LONDON–Joschka Fischer, the Green foreign minister of Germany, visited Washington this week for talks with the U.S. government. It raises the interesting question of how the world might look if President Bill Clinton could be persuaded to adopt a foreign policy that would satisfy the rank and file members of Germany’s Green Party. The cynics and hard realpoliticians would say, we already have pretty well got that with Clinton. What they want is a policy, talking of Germany, more like the Kaiser and his court. Using that extra margin of power the defeat and vanquishing of the enemy has brought to impose America’s will far and wide–establishing a “benevolent global hegemony” as argue William Kristol and Robert Kagan, editors of the conservative Weekly Standard. But Clinton’s foreign policy has not been what these gentlemen infer, a “green” policy of military disengagement. It has been a mishmash of hot and cold....