May 2003

LONDON – “It is a maddening circle of suspicion and fear,” editorializes the New York Times. But this is how it has always been since the days of the Balfour Declaration in 1917 when the British government gave the official nod to the Zionists who wanted to re-create a biblical homeland on what for 700 years, until the break-up of the Ottoman empire in the wake of Turkey’s defeat in World War 1, had been Muslim territory. In all the intervening years not once have the two parties been at a common point of compromise at the same time. The Balfour Declaration was a misguided attempt to meet the vision of what were then a relatively few Jewish idealists who wished to turn back the historical clock. If every ethnic group in the world asserted so vigorously ancient yearnings the world would become totally chaotic in a very short time, and...

Each year the future of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Regime becomes more uncertain. In the past year alone: The NPT regime obligations are having less and less success in restraining the irresponsible behavior of nations, especially the treaty’s NWS, and the United States in particular. As NWS move further away from their obligations under the treaty, they are simultaneously weakening incentives for non-nuclear weapon state parties to the treaty to remain within the NPT regime. If such regressions continue, they will inevitably lead to an abandonment of disarmament goals and the gradual lack of interest by non-nuclear weapons states parties to remain within the regime’s boundaries. It is time for members of the NPT regime to issue a clear statement outlining how the treaty is being undermined and by whom.   The NPT 13 Practical Steps Towards Disarmament Ignored When the United States ambassador stated at the 2002 NPT Review...

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” These revolutionary words from the Declaration of Independence are worth reflecting upon in light of the current struggle for economic justice in America. The government of the United States, the richest and most powerful country in the world, is perpetuating...

LONDON – Why does the United Nations so often shoot itself in the foot? Just as the World Health Organization is basking in accolades at its annual assembly this week and next for its part in the battle to overcome the spread of SARS another story has begun to emerge – of  political ineptitude and moral cowardice that should bring shame not honour on its departing director-general, Gro Harlem Brundtland. It is the way the UN agency has dealt with Taiwan, now the country outside China with the fastest growing number of cases, despite it having a national health service, according to a year 2000 report of the Economist Intelligence Unit, only second in the world to Sweden’s. This suggests that if Taiwan doesn’t get on top of the disease no one will, for all the self-serving reports put out by the WHO this past weekend that it appeared that the...

Är irakier som bakterier som måste utrotas??Fredsforskaren Jan Öberg skäms för västmediernas hållning och utgår särskilt från rapporteringen från gripandet av Hoda Ammash, som presenterades som “Fru Mjältbrand”. Hoda Ammash arresterades i Bagdad på krigets 48:e dag, den 5 maj. Låt mig använda hennes mänskliga drama till att diskutera rasismen i medierna och politiken. CNN presenterade henne som “Dr Bakterie” och senare som “Fru Mjältbrand. Den enda bilden av henne, som använts om och om igen, visar henne i grön uniform. Hon kliver på en amerikansk och en israelisk flagga, medan hon med knuten näve hälsar på en stor skara av Baathungdomar. Hoda Ammash har inte befunnits skyldig till något brott. Ändå demoniserades hon också av våra medier, som sällan vågar motstå det amerikanska psykologiska kriget. Vidare nämndes att hon tagit sin doktorsexamen i USA och att hon kunde vara användbar då det gällde att finna de massförstörelsevapen man hävdat...

Grundlæggende er der tre krige eller stridigheder involveret i Irakkonflikten. Der er krigen som medierne udkæmper for at indtage folks hjerner og hjerter. Så er der den militære krig med den lovede afsættelse af det irakiske regime. Og sidst er der krigen om at kontrollere og lede Irak efter krigen samt at leve op til de officielle motiver om at bringe frihed, demokrati, velfærd og fremgang til landets 24 millioner indbyggere. Krig 1: Media- og propagandakrigen Påvirkning af medier og ren propaganda er i måneer blevet brugt i kampen om at vinde alverdens menneskers hjerner og hjerter og hjerter. Den søger at demonisere regimet i Bagdad ved at fremhæve kontrasten til de noble og altruistiske mål, der er opsat for krigen. Statschefer, der gik ind for den, har promoveret disse målsætninger gennem propagenda, mediekampagner, psykologisk krigsførelse etc. i håb om at budskabet skal gå hjem hos publikum i Vest, i...

Irakkonflikten består I grunden av tre krig eller kamper. Det första är kriget som media utkämpar om människors hjärtan och sinnen. Det andra är det militära kriget och det utlovade avlägsnandet av den irakiska regimen. Och det tredje är kriget för att kontrollera och leda efterkrigets Irak och för att leva upp till de offentliga målsättningarna att bringa frihet, demokrati, välstånd och blomstring till Iraks 24 miljoner medborgare. Krig # 1: PR-kriget PR-kriget är riktat mot människors själ och hjärta världen runt. Man försöker demonisera Bagdad-regimen genom att sätta den i kontrast med de nobla, altruistiska mål som kriget ska uppnå. Statsöverhuvuden och regeringar som är för krig har förespråkat dessa mål med hjälp av propaganda, PR-kampanjer, psykologisk krigföring osv., i ett försök att sälja kriget till publik i väst, i arabvärlden – inklusive Iraks medborgare – och till andra aktörer världen runt, inklusive FN. Det är uppenbart att detta...

There are basically three wars or struggles in the Iraq conflict. There is the war the media is waging for the hearts and minds of people. Second, there is the military war and the promised removal of the Iraqi regime. And, third, there is the war to control and run post-war Iraq and live up to the official motives of bringing freedom, democracy, welfare and prosperity to its 24 million citizens. War # 1: The public relations war The public relations war is aimed at the hearts and minds of people around the globe. It attempts to demonise the Baghdad regime while contrasting it with the noble, altruistic goals to be achieved by the war. Heads of state and governments that were in favour of war have promoted these aims through propaganda, public relations campaigns, psychological warfare, etc, in an effort to sell the war to audiences in the West,...

21 maj 2003 Den delade ön Cypern är inte sig lik. Sedan en tid strömmar grek- och turkcyprioter över gränsen mellan den turkcypriotiska norra och grekcypriotiska södra delen av ön, en gräns som sedan 1974 varit i det närmaste hermetiskt sluten. Det är nu möjligt för var och en att besöka platser som varit utom räckhåll i nära tre decennier. Den 21 april meddelade den turkcypriotiska regeringen överraskande att man beslutat tillåta fri passage i båda riktningarna. Turkcyprioter skulle inte längre behöva tillstånd från sina egna myndigheter för att besöka den södra delen av ön. Grekcyprioter, som endast kunnat passera gränsen undantagsvis och under hårt kontrollerade former, skulle nu till och med kunna ta bilen över för ett besök i norr. Besöken tidsbegränsades dock i båda riktningarna: grekcyprioterna tillåts stanna i tre dagar medan turkcyprioterna måste vända åter innan midnatt. Redan två dagar senare trädde de nya reglerna i kraft...

Comments about Operation Iraqi Freedom and about the mediaBy TFF’s Iraq Conflict-Mitigation team & Associates “It is enough that a lie is believed for three days – it has then served its purpose.”Marie de Medici, 1573-1642, queen consort and queen regent of France  # 3 April 28 till now. Start at bottom   # 1 March 27 – April 8 # 2 April 9 – April 27 54. Kill the looters, says Ambassador Bremer and echoes the colonial mantra: Exterminate all the brutes… Day 57 – May 15, 2003 – Day 57 – May 15, 2003 – Contrary to all the propaganda, a rule can now be established: war criminals and other “bad guys” are not found and brought to justice for two reasons. First, they could tell embarrassing things about the US and other Western governments. Second, they are needed as symbols of the terrible threat against which we must permanently...

There are always lessons to be learned after a war. Often governments and pundits focus only on lessons having to do with military strategies and tactics, such as troop deployments, engagement in battles, bombing targets and the effectiveness of different weapons systems. There are, of course, far bigger lessons to be learned, and here are some of the principal ones from the Iraq War. 1. In the eyes of the Bush administration, the relevance of international organizations such as the United Nations depends primarily upon their willingness to rubberstamp US policy, legal or illegal, moral or immoral. 2. The Bush Doctrine of Preemptive War may be employed against threats that have no basis in fact.  3. The American people appear to take little notice of the ìbait and switchî tactic of initiating a war to prevent use of weapons of mass destruction and then celebrating regime change when no such...

Continued from Part 2.  ORHA, the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance L. Paul Bremer and General Jay Garner and a team of some 300 retired military men, diplomats and functionaries from numerous government agencies have been “recruited” or “appointed” by the Bush administration and, especially, by the Pentagon to administer postwar Iraq through the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance that comes under Pentagon. Here are the backgrounds and profiles about some of them. Interestingly, there are very few questions asked in the free press about this completely undemocratic, ambiguous method to take over a country and shape its future. JAY GARNER Governor – Co-ordinatorRetired US general, pro-Israel from the defence industry, with a past job in Northern Iraq, supposed to be the highest authority Sometimes called the new “viceroy” of Iraq, Retired Lieutenant General Jay Garner is the man in charge of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance. Here is how the New York Times presents...