Archive 1986 – 2017

Today is a bleak day for America, and for all Americans. Congress, in its fear and conformity, has voted to grant authority to the President to conduct a preemptive war against another nation. Congress has joined the President in assuming an imperial mantle, granting powers above and beyond our obligations under international and domestic law. Would that Congress had heeded its wiser and saner voices, such as Senator Robert Byrd, who cautioned restraint and warned that the vote to authorize the rush to war undermined our Constitution. Only Congress has the power to declare war under the US Constitution. It cannot legally give this power over to the president. We are at the gravest of moments,î Senator Byrd told his colleagues. Members of Congress must not simply walk away from their Constitutional responsibilities. We are the directly elected representatives of the American people, and the American people expect us to...

By Patti M. Marxsen of the Boston Research Center for the 21st CenturyandNur Yalman, Nur Yalman is Professor of Social Anthropology and of Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. He has published numerous books and articles, from his first entitled Under the Bo Tree: Studies of Caste, Kinship, and Marriage in the Interior of Ceylon (University of California Press, 1967) to recent essays on the role of science in international conflicts and the relationship between terror and cultural diversity. Since September 11, 2001, Professor Yalman has been a compassionate critic of the U.S. military response to global terrorism. In the Fall of 2001, his course entitled Thought and Change in the Contemporary Middle East was overwhelmingly popular among students. Patti Marxsen, BRC publications manager, spoke with Professor Yalman as the first anniversary of September 11th approached. —————— PM: I’d like to start by just asking you about your own journey. Could share with...

Helsingborgs DagbladIrak 2 Såhär kan det se ut om man en slumpmässig kväll zappar på en TV i Baghdad. TV 1 har en engelsk-amerikansk action film med yxmord. TV 2 fotboll live. En annan kanal har en intervju med en brittisk aktivist som tagit med medicin till Irak och talar om hur viktigt det är att informera människor hemma. Det försiggår på engelska utan översättning och jag förstår det som en del av Iraq Highlight, det ena av två program jag ser med internationell profil. Här får tittarna ta del av vad som hänt under dagen; olika ledares möten med diplomater, regimens politiska fokus och, naturligtvis, vem Saddam Hussein har träffat i dag, skrivit till eller fått brev ifrån. En kväll prisar han således flygvapnets heroiska kamp och beredskap mot aggression. På Iraq Satellite Channel visas det kring midnatt Press Review. Den berättar vad tidningar i utlandet, speciellt i väst,...

Irak 2Helsingborgs Dagblad Sådan kan det se ud, hvis man en tilfældig aften zapper på fjernsynet i Baghdad. TV 1 har en engelsk-amerikansk action film med øksemord. TV 2 har fodbold i direktsending. En anden kanal har et interview med en brittisk aktivist, som har taget medicin med til Irak og taler om, hvor vigtigt det er at informere mennesker derhjemme. Det foregår på engelsk uden oversættelse; såvidt jeg opfatter er det en del af Iraq Highlight, det ene af de to programmer jeg ser, som har international profil. Her bliver seerne oplyst om, hvad der er sket i løbet af dagen; forskellige lederes møde med diplomater, regimets politiske fokus, og, naturligvis, hvem Saddam Hussein har truffet i dag, skrevet til eller fået brev fra. En aften lovpriser han flyvevåbnets heroiske kamp og beredskab mod aggressioner. På Iraq Satelite Channel vises der ved midnatstid Press Review. Her fortælles hvad aviser...

Danmark som så många andra allierade till USA måste börja revidera sin utrikes- och säkerhetspolitik och omorientera sig bort från sitt USA-beroende. USA s chockartade fall ifrån att ha varit en förtroendeingivande supermakt innebär att många länder nu står utan en fadersfigur i världspolitiken. George W. Bush’ regim representerar en mycket farlig kombination av en historiskt överväldigande fysisk makt, intellektuell fattigdom och en minskande legitimitet i världens ögon. Ansvarsfulla makter, stora som små, ser nu förgäves mot Washington efter ledarskap och visioner. Nu måste de lära sig att stå på egna ben. Med kalla krigets slut, uppkom en mängd möjligheter för att skapa ett fredligt och enat Europa, lösa konflikter utan våldsmedel, och för att stoppa användning av kärnvapen. Sovjetunionens fall och Warszawa-paktens upplösning innebar att Natos “raison d’etre” eliminerades; det hade varit naturligt att upplösa alliansen och det hade i sin tur kunnat stimulera ett helt nytt säkerhetstänkande. Men...

Denmark, like many traditional allies of the United States, will have to rethink and reorient its foreign and security policies away from dependence upon the United States. For countries that have held the United States as their role model and authority in security affairs – and as a sort of protective father figure – the rapid demise of the United States as a responsible and respected super power is so shocking that it is likely to be denied. The regime of George W. Bush represents a very dangerous combination of historically overwhelming physical power, intellectual poverty, and decreasing legitimacy in the eyes of the rest of the world. Responsible powers, big or small, look in vain to Washington for leadership or vision. They must begin to learn to stand on their own feet. At the end of the old cold war, a wealth of new possibilities arose to create a...

Skrevet på den af FN erklærede international Fredsdag, 21. september 2002. Forfatteren var medlem af den danske regerings Sikkerheds- og Nedrustningspolitiske Udvalg (SNU) fra 1981 til 1994, var generalsekretær for Fredsfonden, 1985 – 1987 og skrev sin doktordisputats om Danmarks sikkerhedspolitik efter 1945 i et globalt perspektiv med titlen “Myter om vor sikkerhed”, 1981. Fortsættelse af PressInfo 159. På grund af den indflydelse det amerikanske paradigme og en føjelig forskningstradition har haft, har der været en underprioritering af vigtige forskningsemner i Danmark og i resten af Skandinavien igennem de sidste få tiår. For eksempel: 1. En systematisk forskning i det amerikanske samfund og dets internationale rolle. Samtidig har de norske lande eksperter, som kender hvert land i Europa, Afrika og Asien. USA, vennen og lederen, har været opfattet som let at forstå, sympatisere med og som uproblematisk. 2. Studier af ikke-voldelig konfliktløsning blev opfattet som irrelevante i den kolde krigs...

Danmark må som mange andre af USAs traditionelle allierede omtænke og reorientere sin udenrigs- og sikkerhedspolitik væk fra afhængigheden af USA. For lande, der har haft USA som rollemodel og autoritet i sikkerhedsanliggender – og som en slags beskyttende faderfigur – er det hurtige fald af USA som ansvarlig og respekteret supermagt så chokerende, at det vil have en tendens til at blive benægtet. George W Bush’s regime udgør en meget farlig kombination af historisk set helt overvældende magt, intellektuel fattigdom og faldende legitimitet i resten af verdens øjne. Ansvarlige magter, store såvel som små, ser forgæves til Washington for lederskab eller visioner. Men de må nok begynde at lære at stå på egne ben.  Ved den kolde krigs afslutning opstod en mængde nye muligheder for at skabe et fredeligt forenet Europa, for at løse konflikter med et minimum af vold og for at afskaffe kernevåbnene. Med opløsningen af Sovjetunionen...

LONDON – There used to be a joke told in Moscow: There are two ways out of the Russian economic crisis: the natural and the miraculous. The natural way is that the Archangel Michael and his cohorts of angels descend to earth and work 24 hours a day to save the Russian economy. The miraculous way is that the Russians do it themselves. Perhaps it is too early to talk of miracles, but like Poland before it (where this joke also went the rounds in a Polish form) Russian has climbed magnificently out of the abyss. No doubt it will stumble again, but the indications are that the fundamentals of future success are now being laid and that the Russian economy can be said to have safely weathered the storms of its transition from command economy straitjacket to capitalist economy free spirit. Just last week the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and...

The author was a member of the Danish government’s Commission on Security and Disarmament Affairs (SNU) from 1981 to 1994, served as Secretary-General of the Danish Peace Foundation 1985-1987 and wrote his PhD on Denmark’s post-1945 security policy in a global perspective, entitled Myth of Our Security (1981). Continued from PressInfo 159 Due to the influence of the American paradigm and an acquiescing research orientation, important scholarly themes have been under-prioritised in Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia in the last few decades. For instance: 1) Systematic research of American society and its international role. At the same time, the Nordic countries have experts who know about every country in Europe, Africa and Asia. The US, friend and leader, was seen as easy to understand, sympathise with and as unproblematic. 2) Studies of non-violent conflict-resolution were perceived as irrelevant in the world of the old cold war and are seen...

Machiavelli Redux When George Bush, Jr. came to power in January of 2001, he proceeded to implement foreign affairs and defense policies that were every bit as radical, extreme and excessive as the Reagan/Bush administrations had starting in January of 1981. To be sure, Bush Jr. had no popular mandate to do anything. Indeed, a majority of the American electorate had voted for his corporate-cloned opponent. Upon his installation, Bush Jr.’s “compassionate conservatism” quickly revealed itself to be nothing more than reactionary Machiavellianism–as if there had been any real doubt about this during the presidential election campaign. Fascism with a friendly face. Even the Bush Jr. cast of Machiavellian characters were pretty much the same as the original Reagan/Bush foreign affairs and defense “experts,” many of whom were called back into service and given promotions for international crimes they had committed anywhere from ten to twenty years ago. It was...

An East-West German Perspective Since NATO redefined its mission in April 1999 and the Western powers started projecting their military superiority on a global scale, most European countries must have had at least one parliamentary election. To me it was agonizing to watch that these dramatic and dangerous developments seemed barely an issue in the electoral campaigns. Even in Spain, Italy and other Southern European countries, where according to opinion polls large majorities had vigorously opposed the bombing of Yugoslavia, only small parties even raised the issue and were quickly relegated to the “lunatic fringe” by published opinion. Of course, this is exactly what the foreign policy establishment wants to achieve, namely to keep international policy out of the “populist” electoral debate, since there are supposedly no respectable alternatives to the European consensus anyhow. We are told that these complicated matters are best kept in the hands of the seasoned...