Archive 1986 – 2017

LONDON – We were standing in Hiroshima looking at a stonewall. All there was to see was a shadow of a man. It had been etched into the wall at the moment of his obliteration by the blinding light of the first atomic bomb. Olof Palme, prime minister of Sweden, stared hard at it. An hour later he had to give a speech as head of the Independent Commission on Disarmament of which I was a member. “My fear”, he remarked, “is that mankind itself will end up as nothing more than a shadow on a wall.” Charles de Gaulle once observed, “After a nuclear war the two sides would have neither powers, nor laws, nor cities, nor cultures, nor cradles, nor tombs.” Nikita Khrushchev, who presided over the Soviet Union in the days of the Cuban missile crisis, later wrote, “When I learned all the facts about nuclear power...

LONDON – Didn’t somebody once say that it’s not over until the fat lady sings? Never was this more apposite than when applied to Northern Ireland. Despite their recent pledge to renounce the armed struggle the IRA is not going to just fade away. Neither will the protestant militias. And certainly not, despite ill health, will the rabid, protestant preacher, Ian Paisley, of whom it was recently said, “He is no more representative of Christianity than Osama bin Laden is of Islam”. He has his son in waiting, just as the IRA will still have access to fertiliser, just as soon as they feel they are not getting their due. The extremists are doing better than they have ever done at the polls, and the province, once the safest place in Europe to bring up a teenage daughter, now appears to have an unfailing ability to produce a steady supply...

2005 PressInfo 231, December 9, 2005Is the European Union pro-peace?Read the Constitution/Treaty text and you are in for a surprise! Contrary to what you have heard repeatedly, there is no hope for real conflict-resolution and peace there. In this field, the EU is more in need of reform than the United Nations. This PressInfo also includes information about TFF’s work concerning the EU, not the least Johan Galtung’s analysis and Erni & Ola Friholt’s constructive re-formulations of the Treaty. By Jan Oberg. PressInfo 230, December 4, 2005Ending the war on IraqThe solutions proposed in the American political mainstream are not convincing: wait until the Iraq military can bring stability to the country seems like waiting for Godot. We should have learned better from our Vietnam experience. Mobilise the U.S. anti-war opinion, help Iraqi reconciliation and consider the 8 balanced steps that must be taken now to get us out and...

Fredsforsker efterlyser læren fra Hiroshima Eftertanken efter atombomberne over Japan for 60 år siden er udeblevet, siger fredsforskeren Jan Øberg Af ELSE MARIE NYGAARDnygaard@kristeligt-dagblad.dk I morgen vil verden mindes 60-året for atombomben over den japanske by Hiro-shima. Men ifølge fredsforskeren sociolog Jan Øberg er eftertanken efter atombomberne over Japan, der kostede over 210.000 mennesker livet, udeblevet. – Vores måde at tænke på er uændret, og atomvåben er nu nærmest blevet indpasset i moderne, amerikansk, strategisk tækning, som var de konventionelle våben. Vi har rationaliseret atomvåbnene og kommet dem ind i teorier om, at de kun var til for at afskrække fra krig. Men de skal faktisk bruges under visse omstændigheder, siger han og fortsætter: – Hvis vi havde forstået følgerne af 6. og 9. august 1945, ville vi i Vesten have nedrustet. I dag er der ingen i vores del af verden, som vil forsvare kannibalisme eller slaveri, for det...

Lille bog fra Ny Agenda Kommentarer direkte tiltff@transnational.live Lund, Sverige, 5. august 2005 Originalversionen, der er mere detaljeret end den version NyAgenda har udgivet, downloades her. NyAgendas trykte, kortere, version. ANMELDELSER & OMTALE Poul Smidt i Information 5. september 2005 Staffan Dahllöf i Notat 19. august 2005 Resumé af udredningens hovedkonklusioner Denne enmands-udredning indeholder en makroanalyse af områderne forsvar, sikkerhed, udenrigspolitik, konflikthåndtering og fred i EU’s politik og i forslaget til forfatning. Den går bevidst ikke i detaljer med enkelte lande eller enkeltstående problemområder, men ser på begreber, værdier og målsætninger på det overordnede plan. Den opstiller først et teori og analyseapparat. Derefter analyserer den hvad der faktisk siges og gøres i EU-regi og kritiserer det ud fra et antal eksplicitte kriterier. Den gennemgår tillige hvad der ikke står men kunne have stået i forfatningsforslaget. Udredningen arbejder på EU’s egne præmisser i den forstand at den tage tre vigtige fakta om EU...

 Af Drude Dahlerup, Stockholms Universitet& Tænketanken Ny Agenda Lund, Sverige – 1. august, 2005 Miniseminar 4.august 2005 i København Fremmer EU freden? I anledning af udgivelsen af Tænketanken NyAgendas rapport “Fremmer EU freden?” afholdes et miniseminar for særlig indbudte påRestauant Kap HornNyhavn, 1.salTorsdag d. 4.august kl.14-16.30. Rapportens forfatter, den dansk-svenske fredsforsker Jan Øberg, der direktør for Den Transnationale Stiftelse, TFF, i Lund præsenterer rapportens hovedkonklusioner. Om rapporten EU betegnes ofte som et fredsprojekt, men hvad menes i EU egentlig med fred? I denne rapport analyserer Jan Øberg EUs politik, herunder forfatningsforslaget, når det gælder forsvar, sikkerhed, udenrigspolitik, konflikthåndtering og fred. Rapporten viser, at forfatningsforslaget og andre centrale EU-dokumenter giver udtryk for en fredsforståelse, hvor vægten lægges ensidigt på en militært baseret og domineret sikkerhedspolitik. I den forståelse findes der således ‘god vold’, der skal balancere eller udrydde ‘ond vold’. Derimod spiller konflikthåndtering og problematisering af volden som sådan stort set ingen reel rolle. Jan...

The collection marks the 100th anniversary of Dag Hammarskjölds birthday on July 29, 1905. Vicky Rossi, TFF Peace Antenna, July 29, 2005World problems need world order reformsVicky Rossi interviews Mr James Ranney who is chair of the Philadelphia Chapter of Citizens for Global Solutions. Interview about federalism, a world constitution, the EU, nuclear abolition, a UN People’s Assembly, and more – with references to Dag Hammarskjöld and Albert Einstein. The interview marks the 100th anniversary of Dag Hammarskjölds birthday on July 29, 1905. Richard Falk and Andrew Strauss (TFF 1997)For a Global Peoples’ AssemblyWe need a popularly elected Global Peoples’ Assembly, which would provide the world’s citizens for the first time with a forum to express their planetary aspirations and grievances outside the traditional nation-state context. Richard Falk (TFF 2002)The UN system: Prospects for UN Renewal“For the next fifty years the challenge will be to incorporate non-state actors. The UN...

with references to Dag Hammarskjöld and Albert Einstein. The interview marks the 100th anniversary of Hammarskjölds birthday on July 29, 1905 TFF’s Vicky Rossi interviews Mr James Ranney who is chair of the Philadelphia Chapter of Citizens for Global Solutions. It is organizing a four-day Global Constitution Forum to be held in Philadelphia on 14-17 September 2006 (with a preliminary, preparatory session in September 2005). Participants at this conference will focus on issues surrounding the creation of a Constitution for Earth. Given the current controversy surrounding ratification of the European Constitution, I thought it would be a timely opportunity to request an interview with Mr Ranney.* Vicky Rossi: There is currently a great deal of controversy in the European Union with regards the proposed European Constitution. What similarities and differences do you see between what is being proposed by the EU and the concepts underlying the idea of a global constitution?...

Denna PressInfo finns också på engelska och danska – svenska versionen är lätt förkortad. Allt fler talar om bojkott av amerikanska produkter. Särskilt i Tyskland och Frankrike förefaller många vara mycket mindre intresserade av att köpa amerikanska produkter efter USA:s illegala invasion av Irak. Bakgrunden är de framgångsrika bojkotterna av den sydafrikanska apartheidregimen, av Deutsche Shell i Nordsjön och mot franska kärnvapenprov i Polynesien. Det finns nu skäl för att återuppliva metoden. Några faktorer att överväga En total bojkott skulle gälla alla amerikanska konsumtionsvaror, från filmer, Coca-Cola och Mc Donald till bilar och bränsle, kapitalvaror av alla slag och särskilt militära produkter. Den skulle också innebära att man inte använder dollar utan hellre t ex Euro, att man undviker amerikanska kreditkortföretag och inte köper amerikanska värdepapper. Krav ställs på regimer och företag att undvika amerikanska företag, särskilt de mest kritiserade. En partiell bojkott kan fokusera på någondera av ovanstående. En bojkott kan rikta sig...

Denne PressInfo på engelsk og svensk Over hele verden tales der meget om boykot af amerikanske produkter. Specielt i Tyskland og Frankrig synes folk efter den ulovlige invasion af Irak at være meget mindre tilbøjelige til at købe amerikanske produkter. Det er interessant, at der ikke tales om at boykotte engelske eller britiske produkter, men der tales meget om Israel. Baggrunden er den vellykkede aktion mod apartheid regimet i Sydafrika, mod Deutsche Shell i Nordsøen og mod den franske atomprøvesprængning i Polynesien; alle som del af den politiske scene i 1990erne. Der er nu mulighed for en genoplivning ! Nogle af de mange faktorer og forhold, der skal overvejes En komplet boykot ville omfatte amerikanske forbrugsvarer, fra film, Coca Cola, McDonalds til biler og brændsel, kapitalvarer af enhver slags, især militært udstyr, finansvarer som dollars, ved i stedet at bruge Euro og Yen etc. til at sætte priser, indgå kontrakter, til turismen og...

LONDON – The critics of President George W.Bush’s new nuclear deal with India have got it back to front. They appear to have no understanding of the history of U.S.-Indian nuclear relations. They draw their pessimistic and sanctimonious conclusions about how this new policy of relaxing the supply of advanced nuclear materials to India will further undermine the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as if no water had ever flowed under the bridge. Let’s go back to the head of that river. The first mistake in dealing with India was for President Richard Nixon to make it unambiguously clear in the early days of his opening-to-China policy that a major reason for taking China seriously was China’s possession of the bomb. The second mistake was the famous Nixon-Kissinger “tilt” towards Pakistan during the India-Pakistan war of 1971. It was at that time that the Indian prime minister, Indira Gandhi, gave the go...

 Denne PressInfo også på dansk og svensk There is much talk of boycott of US products all over the world, and, particularly in Germany and France, people seem much less inclined to buy US products after the illegal invasion of Iraq. Interestingly, there is no talk about boycotting English or British products, but much talk about Israel. The backdrop is the successful action against the apartheid regime in South Africa, against Deutsche Shell in the North Sea, and against the French nuclear testing in Polynesia; all as parts of the political scene of the 1990s. There is space for revival! Some of the many factors and dimensions to consider A complete boycott would cover US consumer goods, from movies, Coca Cola-McDonald to cars and fuel, capital goods of all kinds particularly military hardware, finance goods like dollars, using Euros, Yen etc. to denominate prices, for contracts, for tourism, also avoiding US credit card companies, and divesting from US bonds and stocks, demanding that governments do not buy and that corporations divest from US firms, starting...