Archive 1986 – 2017

(Den oprindelige tekst blev skrevet før bombningen af Afghanistan begyndte). Denne PressInfo giver konkrete eksempler på, hvordan den svenske regering vælger at føje sig efter USAs og EUs politik snarere end at forsvare de små staters interesser og FNs norm om fred med fredelige midler. Sveriges statsminister, Göran Persson, sendte et kondolencetelegram straks efter terrorangrebet den 11. september og Sverige deltog i EU-udtalelsen. Og så udsendte statsministeren den 22. september følgende udtalelse (i uddrag): “Terroristangrebet på USA var en brud mod den internationale fred og sikkerhed. EUs medlemsstater står forenede i deres anerkendelse af USAs ret til at forsvare sig. EU har også erklæret sin vilje til at samarbejde med USA i kampen mod terrorismen,” sagde statsminister Göran Persson i en udtalelse efter det extraordinære uformelle møde i det Europæiske Råd i Bruxelles fredag. “USAs ret til at forsvare sig, om nødvendigt med militære midler, er i overensstemmelse med FNs...

LONDON – As the bombing progresses the crater America has dug for itself gets ever bigger. It is not so much that the bombing has stirred up a hornets’ nest in neighbouring Pakistan where militant fundamentalist allies of the Taliban and Qaida itch to get control of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, it is that it has destabilised America’s carefully nurtured tight relationship with the main pillars of the Islamic world – Saudi Arabia with its massive oil wealth and holy sites, and Egypt, with its large population and inbred sense of historical destiny. If these long-lasting, diplomatically and militarily tight relationships become undone, then the whole script of the Middle East story will have to be re-written. There will be no reliable fixer of the world oil price; there will be no trustworthy Arab interlocutor with the Palestinians; Israel will be totally surrounded by enemies who have lost all patience with...

There is all reason to rejoice at the fact that the United Nations and Secretary-General Kofi Annan have been awarded the centenary Nobel Peace Prize. It is the right choice. Though one would wish it had happened before, the award comes at a critical moment when governments around the world need to be reminded of the fundamental importance of the UN and its norms. It is the only government organisation that truly represents “the international community.” It is the leading one symbolising humanity’s struggle to abolish war and seek peace by peaceful means. It does a lot of good and much less harm than most self-appointed peacemakers like NATO. And its budget is still about 3% of what its governments waste on weapons and wars. Kofi Annan The Nobel Committee correctly emphasises that Kofi Annan has brought new life to the organisation. He is a soft-spoken man with inner calm,...

Svensk utgåva av denna Once upon a time, there was a Sweden that was different and wanted to make a difference in the world. Over the last few years it has become an acquiescing, commonplace Sweden that has almost abandoned its creativity and independent foreign policy. Now it follows the flock and the leader(s) of the flock. A country of only 8 million people, Sweden used to base its welfare on heavy industry and science, on Scandinavian welfare thinking, equality and a strong civil society filled with active NGOs. There is even a term for that quality: “folkrörelses-Sverige,” the “peoples’ movement Sweden.” As a foreign policy actor, Sweden made a difference by vigorously promoting goals such as international solidarity, non-alignment, nuclear disarmament, common security, confidence-building and peace-keeping through a policy of active neutrality. It was a staunch believer in and supporter of the United Nations. It took a stand when...

LONDON – When George Bush senior went to war over Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait he secured a mandate from the UN Security Council. Bill Clinton didn’t bother with such a resolution when he decided to bomb Belgrade, and now America, although easily winning a vote at the Security Council condemning the attacks on New York and Washington, has decided not to ask for a resolution authorising its bombing of Afghanistan. It suggests that America has not changed its spots. Commentators the world over have been hailing the end of American isolationism. But peel off the outer skin and the same old America of the last decade is there – doing what it thinks is right, the way it wants, interpreting the laws of the world community as it sees fit and then having the gall to say, which at least it didn’t before this crisis, “if you are not with...

 12 oktober, 2001  Der var en gang et Sverige, som var anderledes og som ønskede at gøre en forskel i verden. Igennem de sidste få år, er det blevet det tilpassede Sverige, som har afviklet sin kreativitet og sin uafhængige udenrigspolitik. Som et land med kun 8 millioner indbyggere byggede Sverige sin velfærd på tung industri, videnskab, skandinavisk velfærdstænkning, lighed og på et stærkt civilsamfund fyldt med aktive folkelige bevægelser. Man talte faktisk om “Folkrörelses-Sverige”. Som udenrigspolitisk aktør gjorde Sverige en forskel ved kraftigt at fremme mål som international solidaritet, alliancefrihed, kernevåbenafrustning, fælles sikkerhed, tillidsskabelse og fredsbevarelse gennem en aktiv neutralitetspolitik. Det var en sikker støtte for FN. Det tog et standpunkt, når små nationer blev angrebet, og regeringen fremmede folkebevægelser som Den store Fredsrejse og Folkerigsdagen for Nedrustning i 1980erne. Sveriges udenrigspolitik baseredes på offentlig debat og engagement og var således i betragtelig grad forankret i folkelig støtte. Det...

Meine Eingangsstatements als Teilnehmer am „Politischen Gespräch” des Ortsverbandes Harrislee der SPD am 8.10.2001 im Gasthaus Isabella, Harrislee, Süderstraße zum Thema “Terror &endash; Herausforderung des Friedens. “Gesprächsteilnehmer: Dirk Peddinghaus (BMVg), Klaus Peter Heldt (BGS), Wilhelm Nolte (draft), Leitung: Dr. Susanne Staemmler. Militärische Wahrnehmungen und Aussichten Für viele hat sich die Welt seit dem 11.9.2001, seit den Terrorakten in den USA, grundlegend geändert. Seit gestern sieht die Welt auch für mich anders aus. Bis gestern konnte man warnen, appellieren, fordern, besser wissen, Optimismen pflegen. Seit gestern müssen wir von Krieg reden, – der am 11. September 2001 begann. Mit Clausewitz &endash; und wenige Streitkräfte schätzen Clausewitz so sehr wie die US-Streitkräfte – beginnt Krieg mit der Verteidigung. Auch die Hamburger Kriegsursachenforschung spricht von Krieg erst dann, wenn wenigstens zwei Parteien &endash; ein Angreifer und ein Verteidiger &endash; gegeneinander kämpfen. Vor dem Gestern hatte der Gegner der USA nicht erkennbar militärisch operiert,...

What I’m concerned about are those people – of whom I think there are still pretty many – who say: “Yes, war would be terrible. Yes, the Iraqi people have suffered enough. Yes, we ought to do something else. But what can be done instead of war?” I shall address the little nagging feeling: what if this “bad guy” over there actually presents us, in five years or so, with a fait accompli, and he has some weapons with which he can threaten us? It doesn’t matter whether I think he wants to or will be able to, or not. Intellectuals have a duty to also the legitimate concerns of citizens. In addition, let me emphasise that it is never enough to say ‘No to war.! We must also be constructive and answer the question: If not war, then what? We must do so, because there is a problem and...

Artikel tryckt i Ordfront Inte behövs det en högerregering för att driva in Sverige i EU:s egen armé och in i ett Europas Förenta Stater. Det sköter den socialdemokratiska regeringen på egen hand utan debatt vare sig i partiet eller samhället i övrigt. Smygande förändras en tvåhundraårig freds- och neutralitetspolitik. Därtill helt ogenomtänkt! Var finns analysen av konsekvenserna? Var går gränsen för vårt deltagande i vad som i Sverige kallas civil krishantering men som i EU kallas “gemensam utrikes- och försvarspolitik”? Finns det överhuvudtaget någon gräns för svenska soldaters deltagande? Skall de strida för EU:s intressen i Mellersta Östern, Kaukasien eller Afrika? ÖB:s fråga om vad som gäller när krisen övergår i krig, är i högsta grad relevant. Dagens och morgondagens konflikter är i första hand etniska, religiösa och sociala. De kan aldrig lösas med varken stridsvagn 90 eller JAS-plan. I stället för att koncentrera sig på att söka upptäcka och...

LONDON – The dust has begun to settle in more ways than one. At last America is beginning to open up to a serious debate on the complexities of defeating terrorism. Even Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld spells out the difficulties of simply going to war. It reminds me of the great novel of the Portuguese Nobel literature laureate, Jose Saramago. In “Blindness” he describes how the inhabitants of a whole city become blind one by one. There is a universal emptiness of being, with everyone moving around like lost hungry dogs squelching through layers of excrement and refuse. “Blindness” wakes the reader up to the subtleties of everyday life- how we depend on a myriad of normal interactions everyday where we can see what we do and with whom we deal. For a couple of weeks it seemed that the American people, blind with righteous anger, led on by...

On September 12, the lives of the innocent and their place in the world came to an abrupt end through violence, and because this was terrorism, most of the victims did not have the opportunity to even know why. As a Muslim and a researcher in the fields of peace and non-violence, I find the taking of innocent lives such as this morally unacceptable on the religious grounds which teach Muslims that “whoever killed a human being… should be looked upon as though he had killed all humankind”. (Koran, V: 32). It also is unwise politically and probably will result in further consequences beyond common imagination as already evident in the beginning exodus of old and young Afghans from Kabul, and the attacks on and vandalism against Muslims around the world. This article is an attempt to suggest a way to deal with the terrorist acts already committed from the...

LONDON – Menachem Begin, the rightist Israeli politician, wrote in his account of the Jewish Irgun movement, active in Palestine against the British colonial power during the 1930s and 1940s: “Our enemies called us terrorists. People who were neither friends nor enemies, like the correspondents of the New York Herald Tribune, also used this Latin name, either under the influence of British propaganda or out of habit. Our friends, like the Irishman O’Reilly, preferred, as he wrote in a letter to “get ahead of history” and called us by a simpler, though also Latin name: “patriots”.” Yesterday’s terrorists can become today’s freedom fighters – – and in the Israeli case- today’s imperial oppressors. The very word fills us with dread yet it is replete with its own contradictions. The Russian czar killers were the first to bring the word into common political usage. But, ironically, although they claimed that political murder...