PressInfo #169 – VIL BUSH FREMTURE ELLER LYTTE OG TÆNKE?

Vil Bush-regimet fremture og gå i krig? Eller vil de lytte til borgerne – og ikke så få regeringer – rundt om i verden, og tænke? (De 114 lande i den Alliancefrie Bevægelse har netop vedtaget at være modstandere til en krig mod Irak, se her.

Kan man forestille sig at President Bush projicerer sin egen underbevidsthed og angst, når han fortæller Saddam at “the game is over” (spillet er ude)? Kunne det være at han, og de tilsyneladende desperate folk omkring ham, begynder at føle at deres visionsløse spil – ikke med, men mod verden – måske vil fremrykke afslutningen på deres regime og USAs imperium?

Politisk fundamentalism

Bush-regimet er politiskt fundamentalistisk: “Vi har al ret, de har alle fejl.” Den er baseret på den skæve formodning om at man kan føre sin politik ved a) at diktere venner som fjender at de “enten er med os eller mod os”, og b) at ignorere enhver form for lytten til, konsultation og konsensus fra retteligt interesserede parter, inklusive dens nærmeste venner.

Altså, sørgeligt som det er sagt, er det Bush-regimets politik – ikke Saddam Husseins – der splitter Vesten og nu ryster institutioner som FN, EU og NATO.

Og vi taler ikke om hændelser og udtalelser fra de sidste ugers tid. Borgere i så godt som alle vestlige lande, og tillige i de arabiske og andre, ligesom et voksende antal regeringer, har akkumuleret deres frygt og vrede over adskillige år.

Den overvældende protest fra millioner af alverdens borgere den 15.februar, viser en dyb forbitrelse og følelse af at blive hånet af magthaverne. Folk føler at de har fået nok efter årene med Bush-regimets ufølsomhed, arrogance og krigeriske retorik.

Bush-regimets destruktivitet over tid

Her følger nogle af de destruktive resultater af Bush-regimets enegangshandlinger:

1) Forveksling af de kriminelle handlinger 11.september 2001 med krig. Derefter opbygge en verdensomfattende “Krig mod Terror”, ude af proportioner med problemet, som vil bidrage til mere, ikke mindre, terrorisme. (År 2000 dræbte terrorisme 400 personer over hele kloden – mange liv, ja, men ikke ligefrem verdens største problem).

2) Laden hånt om borgerrettigheder i USA og andre steder (Guantánamo) i kampen mod denne terrorisme. Yderligere “Orwellisk” lovgivning er under forberedelse af Højesteretsdommer John Ashcroft: Patriot Act ll.

3) Underminere internationelle love ved at trække sig ud af vigtige aftaler, grundlæggende principper og normer i FN-Chartret, og nægte at deltage i topmøder hvor menneskehedens fælles problemer bliver behandlet (ofte problemer som især amerikansk livsstil og forbrugervaner har forårsaget.) Disse politiske forhandlinger er forbundet med fundamentalt vigtige spørgsmål som Kyoto-aftalen, den internationale domstol, ICC, verdenstopmødet i Johannesburg og beslutningen at stoppe den amerikanske støtte til FNs Befolkningsfond ligesom ved at manøvrere ledere ud af internationelle organisationer og missioner, f.eks. Mary Robinson.

4) Glemme at forhøre sig, efter 11. september, om de ærligt velvillige europæeres synspunkter. De havde aktiveret artikkel 5 i NATO-pagten men alligevel angreb USA Afganistan så godt som egenhændigt.

5) Ødelægge Afganistan og dræbe 5- til 10,000 uskyldige mennesker i dette land, hvis befolkningstal er på omkring en tiendedel af USAs. Kort sagt, gengælde fuldstændig ude af proportion med den skade de led den 11. september. (Og der bombes stadig, endog med dansk hjælp!).

6) Bombe Afganistan og siden bidrage alt for lidt til blot det minimum, der forventes i humanitær og økonomisk støtte. Og så styrte sig over Irak og Korea (og Saudiarabien, Iran, og…?)

7) Tale om “Ondskabens Akse,” noget der grunder sig på et forenklet og paranoidt verdenssyn, der tillægger Bush rollen som en slags Messias og USA som “Gud udvalgte folk”, udvalgt til at rense verden for ondskab.

8) Sætte de to Korea’er, nord og syd, op mod hinanden, og blæse “solskinspolitiken” af bordet uden hensyn til de løfter der blev aflagt i 1994-aftalerne med Nordkorea.

9) Promovere udvidelse af NATO og derefter underminere det, fordi de allierede ikke blindt og lydigt vil acceptere at et af medlemmerne bruges i et USA-ledet angreb. Tyrkiet, hvis befolkning til 90% er imod krig, bliver afpresset til at tjene som militært springbræt for et angreb på Irak og derved drages hele alliancen ud i en katastrofe.

10) Gå imod Rusland, Indien og Kina i et antal spørgsmål, og således åbne for en vej der muliggør en ny “Kold Krig”.

11) Introducere en pro-atomar holdning, et misilbaseret forsvar og en strategi for “preventiv krigsføring”. Bushregeringen nægter at indse at det er flagrante brud på international lovgivning og gængse normer, opbygget med møje og besvær og forstærket gennem fem årtier. Disse strategier har også en effektivt forebyggende virkning på FNs mulighed til at udøve moralsk lederskab hen imod en fredeligere verden.

12) Og i denne proces, skabe krampetrækninger i hele verdensøkonomien, bringe dollaren i konstant fald, mens oliepriserne går den modsatte vej. Tænk bare på hvad de meget højere priser på olie vil betyde for millioner af mennesker i de olieproducerende lande.

13) Bringe tusinder af amerikansle liv i fare: a) ved at sende soldater i kamp, og b) ved løbende at øge risikoen for fremtidige hævngerrige terrorangreb mod USA.

14) Planlægge at føre atomkrig mod Irak “hvis det viser sig nødvendigt” – noget bare en følelseskold, skruppelløs og fuldstændig uansvarlig person ville kunne finde på for at fremme sine egne interesser. Dertil fuldstændigt overse at Mellemøsten, i følge FNs Sikkerhedsråds resolution 687 fra 1991, skal være en zone fri for masseødelæggelsesvåben og at, således, Israel må underlægges inspektioner, må lystre, samarbejde og lade sig afvæbne, lige som Irak.

15) Underminere FN og skabe forudsætningerne for en dyb splittelse i Sikkerhedsrådet ved at ensidigt gennemtvinge sin vilje i verdensorganisationen.

16) Smart nok starte en politisk krig mod “det gamle Europa” og EU, (skønt EU selv vitterligt har har gjort unionens planer om fælles udenrigs- og forsvarspolitik til grin). USA vil straffe Tyskland for dets “forrædderi”. Se The Guardian.

17) Skabe et kæmpemæssigt demokratiunderskud i Vestlandene: a) George W. Bush, verdens mægtigste leder, blev ikke valgt, han blev udvalgt, b) ifølge meningsmålinger er en overvældende majoritet af verdens borgere imod en krig, mens en række “demokratiske” regeringer støtter krigen. Bushregimet har handlet så uprofessionelt, at det aldrig forberedte en politisk bæredygtig “exit-strategi”, i tilfælle af at dets insisteren på krig skulle vise sig uholdbar.

18) Udvikle et imperium, der ikke hviler på visioner, velvillighed eller økonomisk styrke, men på militærmagt (halvdelen af de globale militære udgifter), økonomisk udbytning af millioner rundt om i verden, storhedsvanvid, arrogance og simpel foragt for enhver der ikke er “med os”.

Der er intet konstruktivt i Bush-regimets politik; den er destruktiv, såvel politiskt som på det civile plan. Hvornår har du sidst mødt nogen, for hvem George W. Bush fremstod som en mand, der førte rationel politik eller havde en tiltalende fremtidsvision for vores verden? Mange havde det syn på f.eks. Kennedy, Carter eller Reagan. I dag ryster man i hele verden resigneret på hovedet, eller man føler at George W. Bush, hans klike, hans meninger, begynder at ligne en alvorlig fare for verden. Dette er ikke “anti-amerikanisme”. Men det er “anti-Bushisme”.

Intellektuel og moralsk magt versus militær – en dødsensfarlig ubalance

Aldrig har gabet mellem intellektuel og moralsk magt på den ene side og den teknologiske og militære magt på den anden været dybere. Der er ikke længere noget at grine af her, hvis der ellers nogensinde var det.

Kan vi forestille os den slags tænkning, en sådan politik og sådanne tendenser extrapoleret ud i fremtiden – 2, 5, 10 år. Kan det gå godt? Hvor lang tid vil der gå før det internationale samfund, som vi kender det, vil falde sammen i kaos og, måske, verdenskrig? Hvor meget længere kan menneskehedens egentlige problemer vente på en løsning, mens Bushregimet spilder verdens resurser, afleder vores opmærksomhed og forbruger vores energi i tåbelige kampe mod imaginære og selvskabte fjender.

Præsident Bush’s spil må slutte før vi alle glider ind i uhelbredelig forfald. Han er langt mere farlig for verdenssamfundet end Saddam Hussein. De er begge to politiske fundamentalister, men bare Bush har tilsyneladende den mentalitet, det (svage) intellekt og den voldsomme militærmagt, der kan omstyrte verden og føre os ud i helt uoverskuelige situationer hvor kun kaos og destruktion råder.

Måske er det bedste vi kan håbe på, ved dette vejskel, en eller anden form for skadebegrænsning. Men én af flere ting som virkelig behøves, set i perspektivet af en verdensorden, er frie, ikke-kommercielle og internationelt kontrollerede valg, der kan lede til et fredeligt regimeskifte i Washington.

Demokratiering af USA gennem global deltagelse

På grund af det amerikanske imperiums omfang i dag, må vi begynde at udvikle måder hvorpå verdens borgere, ikke bare amerikanere, kan være med til at påvirke valget af fremtidens USA-ledere og retningen af deres globale politik. Den 15. februar kan ses som et fingerpeg mod noget nyt: De der er under den amerikanske politiks påvirkning bruger deres demokratiske ret til at påvirke den amerikanske politik.

En global demokratiseringsproces må nødvendigvis gennemgå en ikke-voldelig konfrontation med Bush-regimet i samarbejde med hver eneste amerikaner, der bare er halvt så bange som os andre. Den 15. februar 2003 var den største verdensomspændende før-krigsprotest nogensinde, og den bød på et mægtigt håb for medmenneskelighed og anstændighed.

Krigsherrer lader sig næppe afskrække af nogle millioners protest

Men vi må ikke lade os berolige med det nu. Kampen for en fredelig løsning på den irakiske og andre konflikter, for ikke at nævne ophævelsen af krig som en accepteret social institution, kræver vedholdende fredsdebatter og aktivisme – i uger, måneder og år fremover. Vi kan ikke tage det for givet at de store krigsherrer, der åbenbart ikke er bange for at ryste jordens skæbne med deres atomvåben, vil føle sig truet til at bakke i deres bestræbelser, bare fordi en hel del millioner mennesker protesterer.

© TFF 2003

Peace & future researcher + ‌Art Photographer

Related Posts

The agreement is catastrophic both because of what it says and what it doesn’t mention. It reduces further the major asset of security policies: Freedom of action. Jan Oberg TFF director September 25, 2026 A couple of hours before the agreement was signed on September 22, 2026, I published the following 13 hypotheses about what it would most likely contain on TFF Substack (in English). I was wrong on only the first point. Contrary to what Trump had written on his Truth Social platform, it does not appear to come into force immediately. In fact, it turned out to be worse than even I had anticipated. After these hypotheses now come a number of reflections in light of what the agreement actually contains, and does not contain, as well as the way in which it has generally been presented by major media outlets and by the public-service broadcaster DR. My...
Below are TFF-related media mentions, comments, videos and social media posts published elsewhere but not on this homepage. We happen to catch and list only a fraction. Regarding video comments and debates, we recommend that you go to the TFF Video Channel on Substack where many of them are reproduced. Jan Oberg is a contributor to China Daily – 52 million daily clicks – and Global Times, CGTN and CCTV (the national television), China Investment, Xinhua News Agency and several others. Articles and videos on these media very often multiply into countless Chinese (and Western media) that re-post them from these main media. Thanks to The China Academy, his analyses, interviews and comments are frequently posted on YouTube channels such as Thinkers Forum and Wave Media. These videos are often re-posted on Bilibili (China’s YouTube), the China Content Center on TikTok, and on the Chinese edition of TikTok, Douyin.com. This means reaching hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide over a year. While there are too many to catch on all these...
Jan Oberg May 15, 2026 Go to this Fox News page and scroll the whole way down: President Donald Trump tells the world that his meeting with President Xi Jinping yielded a lot of very concrete political and economic results – of course, only where the Chinese side, according to him, agreed with him. He does not mention the Taiwan issue, but Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, says that it did not feature prominently in their talks and that the US policy on Taiwan has not changed. Then go to China Daily – or Global Times – and you will see that for the Chinese it is framework, principles, structure of cooperation etc. that matters – all embedded in the overall idea of “constructive bilateral relationship of strategic stability.” Nowhere is any concrete agreement or deal – all that Trump refers to – mentioned. At the general level, this gives you insights into the very different social...

Recent Articles

Tony Robinson October 4, 2026 Violence is easy to recognise when someone is being beaten, shot or killed. It becomes more difficult when nobody is holding a weapon. Poverty, discrimination, exploitation and repression can restrict a human life just as effectively, although they do so in very different ways and with very different consequences. Simply adding more categories to an ever-growing list of forms of violence does not really solve the problem. The more interesting question is what all these different situations have in common and why it makes sense to describe them using the same word. Human beings do not simply react to what happens around them. They remember the past, imagine things that do not yet exist, make plans and undertake projects. Workers organise because they imagine different working conditions; people migrate because they imagine another life somewhere else; social movements emerge because people refuse to accept the...
It’s a matter of principles, courage, vision and pulling together – while the militarist world is falling apart… Peter Langille October 3, 2026 “Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?”The Bertrand Russell—Albert Einstein Manifesto, July 9, 1955 ⁕ The forecast for what’s ahead is worrisome. The sharp rise in armed conflicts over the past three years is adding to what was already the highest level in over seventy years. Genocides, which should be prevented are supported. A shared climate emergency that jeopardises survival is ignored. Diverse polls now suggest that people are war-weary, worried and interested in a more effective United Nations. And, there are viable policy options for a more secure world! Yet governments are doubling-down, betting on more war and investing heavily. If current trends persist,...
Johan Galtung 1930-2024October 2015 Published here on October 3, 2026 Let us focus on Civilization for conflict analysis and remedies. Major forms of disorder use violence; war is state organized violence. The most belligerent states are the United States of America and Israel, both with civilization roots. National Evangelism, the US Protestant Christian civilization– more national than evangelical–justifies US warfare as exceptionalism of a people chosen by God, with a manifest destiny to run the world. Orthodox Judaism justifies Israeli warfare to conquer and expand from Nile to Euphrates as a religious right and duty to the Eternal One. The third most belligerent country, the UK, no longer believes it is God-chosen but chosen by the USA; not quite the same but something. But the root cause of global disorder lies in the Occident–with Islam–seeing itself as the single, universal civilization valid for all at all times, all others being...

TFF on Substack

Discover and subscribe to more peace materials on TFF Substack

Most Popular

Tony Robinson October 4, 2026 Violence is easy to recognise when someone is being beaten, shot or killed. It becomes more difficult when nobody is holding a weapon. Poverty, discrimination, exploitation and repression can restrict a human life just as effectively, although they do so in very different ways and with very different consequences. Simply adding more categories to an ever-growing list of forms of violence does not really solve the problem. The more interesting question is what all these different situations have in common and why it makes sense to describe them using the same word. Human beings do not simply react to what happens around them. They remember the past, imagine things that do not yet exist, make plans and undertake projects. Workers organise because they imagine different working conditions; people migrate because they imagine another life somewhere else; social movements emerge because people refuse to accept the...
It’s a matter of principles, courage, vision and pulling together – while the militarist world is falling apart… Peter Langille October 3, 2026 “Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?”The Bertrand Russell—Albert Einstein Manifesto, July 9, 1955 ⁕ The forecast for what’s ahead is worrisome. The sharp rise in armed conflicts over the past three years is adding to what was already the highest level in over seventy years. Genocides, which should be prevented are supported. A shared climate emergency that jeopardises survival is ignored. Diverse polls now suggest that people are war-weary, worried and interested in a more effective United Nations. And, there are viable policy options for a more secure world! Yet governments are doubling-down, betting on more war and investing heavily. If current trends persist,...
Johan Galtung 1930-2024October 2015 Published here on October 3, 2026 Let us focus on Civilization for conflict analysis and remedies. Major forms of disorder use violence; war is state organized violence. The most belligerent states are the United States of America and Israel, both with civilization roots. National Evangelism, the US Protestant Christian civilization– more national than evangelical–justifies US warfare as exceptionalism of a people chosen by God, with a manifest destiny to run the world. Orthodox Judaism justifies Israeli warfare to conquer and expand from Nile to Euphrates as a religious right and duty to the Eternal One. The third most belligerent country, the UK, no longer believes it is God-chosen but chosen by the USA; not quite the same but something. But the root cause of global disorder lies in the Occident–with Islam–seeing itself as the single, universal civilization valid for all at all times, all others being...
Read More
Living-Peace-Sign-Budapest-copy
Tony Robinson October 4, 2026 Violence is easy to recognise when someone is being beaten, shot or killed. It becomes more difficult when nobody is holding a weapon. Poverty, discrimination, exploitation and repression can restrict a human life just as effectively, although they do so in very different ways and with very different consequences. Simply adding more categories to an ever-growing list of forms of violence does not really solve the problem. The more interesting question is what all these different situations have in common and why it makes sense to describe them using the same word. Human beings do not simply react to what happens around them. They remember the past, imagine things that do not yet exist, make plans and undertake projects. Workers organise because they imagine different working conditions; people migrate because they imagine another life somewhere else; social movements emerge because people refuse to accept the...
b54a1f10-8c65-4f0b-9dd5-4abc0a7d04cc_2659x2659
It’s a matter of principles, courage, vision and pulling together – while the militarist world is falling apart… Peter Langille October 3, 2026 “Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?”The Bertrand Russell—Albert Einstein Manifesto, July 9, 1955 ⁕ The forecast for what’s ahead is worrisome. The sharp rise in armed conflicts over the past three years is adding to what was already the highest level in over seventy years. Genocides, which should be prevented are supported. A shared climate emergency that jeopardises survival is ignored. Diverse polls now suggest that people are war-weary, worried and interested in a more effective United Nations. And, there are viable policy options for a more secure world! Yet governments are doubling-down, betting on more war and investing heavily. If current trends persist,...
010
Johan Galtung 1930-2024October 2015 Published here on October 3, 2026 Let us focus on Civilization for conflict analysis and remedies. Major forms of disorder use violence; war is state organized violence. The most belligerent states are the United States of America and Israel, both with civilization roots. National Evangelism, the US Protestant Christian civilization– more national than evangelical–justifies US warfare as exceptionalism of a people chosen by God, with a manifest destiny to run the world. Orthodox Judaism justifies Israeli warfare to conquer and expand from Nile to Euphrates as a religious right and duty to the Eternal One. The third most belligerent country, the UK, no longer believes it is God-chosen but chosen by the USA; not quite the same but something. But the root cause of global disorder lies in the Occident–with Islam–seeing itself as the single, universal civilization valid for all at all times, all others being...
Screenshot 2026-10-02 011738
Jan ObergPhD, director, The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, TFFLund, Sweden October 2, 2026 This is my full original manuscript. The Chinese Academy of Social Science, CASS, makes two publications out if it. 1. China’s Five-year plan emphasized the capabilities of basic research and original innovation. It is regarded as the goal of the future social development, which, as required, should be significantly enhanced. Can you comment on the importance of original innovation in research and academic study? I believe it is easier to define “original innovation” in the natural sciences than in social sciences. The breaking points of what constitutes something new, or innovative, are not quite as sharp in the latter. But in both fields it is about opening up something that was closed, unseen, unexplored before – making manifest what was earlier latent. Innovations come in many forms and shapes – naming something that was not...
arctic-circle-map
The agreement is catastrophic both because of what it says and what it doesn’t mention. It reduces further the major asset of security policies: Freedom of action. Jan Oberg TFF director September 25, 2026 A couple of hours before the agreement was signed on September 22, 2026, I published the following 13 hypotheses about what it would most likely contain on TFF Substack (in English). I was wrong on only the first point. Contrary to what Trump had written on his Truth Social platform, it does not appear to come into force immediately. In fact, it turned out to be worse than even I had anticipated. After these hypotheses now come a number of reflections in light of what the agreement actually contains, and does not contain, as well as the way in which it has generally been presented by major media outlets and by the public-service broadcaster DR. My...
girl-5894831_1280
Below are TFF-related media mentions, comments, videos and social media posts published elsewhere but not on this homepage. We happen to catch and list only a fraction. Regarding video comments and debates, we recommend that you go to the TFF Video Channel on Substack where many of them are reproduced. Jan Oberg is a contributor to China Daily – 52 million daily clicks – and Global Times, CGTN and CCTV (the national television), China Investment, Xinhua News Agency and several others. Articles and videos on these media very often multiply into countless Chinese (and Western media) that re-post them from these main media. Thanks to The China Academy, his analyses, interviews and comments are frequently posted on YouTube channels such as Thinkers Forum and Wave Media. These videos are often re-posted on Bilibili (China’s YouTube), the China Content Center on TikTok, and on the Chinese edition of TikTok, Douyin.com. This means reaching hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide over a year. While there are too many to catch on all these...