Archive 1986 – 2017

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Peace Antenna Interview with Sabine Lichtenfels, Director of the Institute for Global Peace Work – Institutes für Globale Friedensarbeit (IGF) – Co-founder of the Tamera peace village, and nominated as one of the 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005.  In 2005, Sabine Lichtenfels – a theologian and political activist -was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as one of the 1000 Women for Peace – a project aimed at gaining public recognition of the relentless efforts made by women across the globe to promote sustainable peace and social justice. Sabine Lichtenfels is a political activist and peace worker dedicated to bringing peace to the Middle East and to teaching young people to “think and act responsibly and with commitment”. She is the director of the Institute for Global Peace Work (IGF) and is the co-founder of the Tamera peace village, Portugal, a model settlement dedicated to researching the concept of non-violent,...

LONDON – Perhaps one needs to be a medieval theologian to understand the shifting nuances of Taiwan’s relationship with mainland China. Not one of Taiwan’s reigning, recent or likely future leaders is consistent for long. China’s leaders have long blown hot and cold. It would not matter if Taiwan were simply a small island of 23 million people. But since it is the largest single investor in mainland China, the present principal source of China’s technological revolution and is claimed by Beijing as being part of China, it is probably the world’s most dangerous potential flashpoint. If Taipei and Beijing spark each off, as they did in 1996 when the U.S. sent two carrier battle groups into the Taiwan Strait, then the U.S. could be drawn into a war with China. Washington is irrevocably committed to Taiwan’s autonomy, as long as that is what its people want. China, as its...

Af Uffe Geertsen 6. april, 2006 Tre korte artikler af Uffe Geertsen, den første bragt i tidsskriftet SALT nr. 1, februar 2006. De er skrevet over nogle måneder og indeholder enkelte gentagelser når de læses i forlængelse af hinanden, men vi synes de er uhyre vigtige. Den danske regerings og de danske mediers demokratiske og etiske svigt må, som Geertsen så klart siger det, aldrig gå i glemmebogen. 1 • Danmark i krig – på forfalsket grundlag Kan en regeringsleder fritages for et retsligt efterspil, når han som grundlag for en angrebskrig groft har ført Folketing og befolkning bag lyset? Den danske deltagelse i den folkeretsstridige (og formentlig grundlovsstridige) angrebskrig mod Irak er af gennemgribende betydning for dansk indenrigs- og udenrigspolitik. Tilmed blev beslutningen om krigsdeltagelsen taget på et forfalsket grundlag. Vel en af de største forfalskninger i dansk politisk historie. Det rejser en række spørgsmål, som må fastholdes. Hvad...

LONDON – If the debate in Taiwan about its political future has descended to the level of birds and animals it must have some meaning. Perhaps it is nothing more than an expression of impotence, although an unnecessary one. This country, threatened and claimed by China, corralled into submissive behaviour by the United States, is forced to make its main point by any means at hand – that it should be free to exert its own will. “Taiwan has stood up,” said President Chen Shui-bian on the day of his first inauguration six years ago and most people here believe that, even as they differ as to how to put it into practice. But how you fight this struggle perhaps needs more nuance and restraint than Chen gives it. Two days ago the government announced that it was refusing the gift of two pandas offered by Beijing in a peace-making...

LONDON – The much-heralded council of war between President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair begins at Bush’s Texas ranch on Friday. Whatever else is in the headlines on that day, the tight focus of the discussion will be on whether or not to go to war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. This must be the most complicated, multifaceted, decision that any Western political leader has made since Truman’s decision to go to war against North Korea. Yet, even if one concedes the ultimate right of any country to take preventive action against another, which might use nuclear weapons against it, the argument for a new war does not stand up. Despite America’s overwhelming military might, it could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Until now the U.S, by its bold and resolute, if misconceived, war in Afghanistan has proved the doubters wrong on one important point. The...

Muhammad (1) Freedom of Suppression Muhammad (2) But there is a context ! Muhammad (3) We must learn to see our own cultural blindness If something leads to the worst political crisis since 1945 in an otherwise stable, democratic country such as Denmark, it should be worth asking some deeper questions: What is this about? Can those leading and living in Denmark learn something from it both as Danes and as Westerners? Can other Westerners? And can we do things differently in the future? If we ask such questions, we also invite those who have burned Danish flags and embassies to reflect on whether there could be better methods to show their legitimate disagreement. As things stand today, extremists on both sides do nothing but confirm the worst images of “the other” and thus an uncontrolled spiral of hate and monologue threatens civilisation. Worst images lead to worst case scenarios,...

Hvis en begivenhed udvikler sig til den værste politiske krise siden 1945 i et ellers stabilt og demokratisk land som Danmark, turde det være på sin plads at stille nogle mere grundlæggende spørgsmål: Hvad handler det hér om? Kan de der leder og lever i Danmark lære noget af det både som danskere og som vesterlændinge? Kan andre i Vesten? Og kan vi gøre tingene bedre i fremtiden? Hvis vi selv stiller sådanne spørgsmål inviterer vi også andre, inklusive dem der brænder flag og ambassader, til at tænke over om der måske findes bedre metoder til at udtrykke deres nok så legitime uenighed. Som tingene står nu gør ekstremister på begge sider intet andet end at bekræfte de værste billeder af “den anden” og således kan der skabes en ukontrolleret spiral af had og monologer, der truer vores fælles civilisation. Der er nok af negativ energi på vores jord. Men...

Muhammad (1) Freedom of Suppression Muhammad (2) But there is a context ! Muhammad (3) We must learn to see our own cultural blindness Denne artikel på dansk Om något leder till den värsta politiska krisen sedan 1945 i ett annars stabilt, demokratiskt land som Danmark, borde det föranleda att man ställer en del djupare frågor. Vad handlar detta om? Kan de som leder och lever i Danmark lära sig något av det, både som danskar och västerlänningar? Kan andra västerlänningar? Och kan vi göra någonting annorlunda i fortsättningen? Om vi ställer frågor sådana som dessa, inbjuder vi också dem som brände danska flaggor och ambassader till att reflektera över om det kan finnas bättre metoder att visa sitt legitima missnöje. Som saken står i dag, bekräftar extremister på bägge sidor bara de värsta bilderna av “den andre” och civilisationen hotas så av en okontrollerad spiral av hat och monolog....

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India, Iran and U.S. nuclear hypocrisy   PressInfo # 238  March 29, 2006 By David Krieger, TFF Associate*   The Bush administration has approached nuclear nonproliferation with Iran and India by two very different measures. Iran, a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, has been threatened with sanctions, if not actual violence, for its pursuit of uranium enrichment, although there is no clear evidence that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. India, on the other hand, has now been offered U.S. nuclear technology, although India is not a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, is known to have tested nuclear weapons and is thought to possess a nuclear weapons arsenal of 60 to 100 weapons. The Non-Proliferation Treaty, which entered into force in 1970, is at the heart of worldwide nuclear nonproliferation efforts. The United States was one of the original signers of the treaty and was one of the major...

Also posted by JUSTInternational Movement for a Just WorldVol. 6, # 2, 2006 See Associate David Krieger’s TFF PressInfo 236 – a different angle on the same issues  There is a dangerous game underway in the Middle East that could erupt at any point in the form of a devastating regional war if urgent diplomatic steps to head it off are not taken immediately. There are growing signs that Israel is pushing the United States to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities partly by threatening (or bluffing) to attack itself and partly by using its leverage in Washington to pressure the U.S. Government to harden their stance on Iran’s nuclear program. Among the warning signs are dramatic public statements by Israeli military and political leaders, including Sharon, the Defense Minister, Shaul Mofaz, the Chief of Staff, Daniel Halutz, all to the effect that Iran poses an intolerable threat to Israeli security that cannot...