Archive 1986 – 2017

Vi skriver fredag den 19. januar. For få dage siden kom jeg hjem fra små tre uger i Skopje, Beograd og Kosovo. Min analyse og min intuition siger mig dét, jeg ikke vil høre: bombningerne nærmer sig. Det var 34. besøg siden 1991. Jeg er delvist uddannet i Dubrovnik, fra 1974. Jeg kan ikke slippe det. Det er altså også mit land, der atter trues af den kulturkreds, jeg tilhører. Radmila og Peca i Beograd, venner siden 1974, intellektuelle der har valgt ikke at forlade landet og netop har sagt nej til et ophold i udlandet. Datteren Anja på 9 skal vokse op hér. “Jeg rejste ned nu,” siger jeg, “fordi der enten ville falde bomber eller blive en eller anden slags ‘forhandling’ og jeg vil være hér hvis I blir bombet, for jeg skammer mig over hvad Danmark og andre lande gør.” Hun får tårer i øjnene. En diplomat...

“What happens now in Rambouillet has little to do withcreating peace for the suffering citizens in the Yugoslavprovince of Kosovo/a. Disguised as “negotiations” about a“peace” plan, the international so-called community promotesless noble values and long-term goals in the region and usethe Serbs and Albanians as supernumeraries in its drama.It’s time we ask what the self-proclaimed “conflictmanagers” are actually up to. If peace in Kosovo or thewider Balkans had been the real aim, we would have witnesseda completely different approach leading up to Rambouillet.We come closer to the truth about Rambouillet if we usewords such as globalisation, strategic expansion, Caspianoil, Greater NATO, containment policy and imperialismdisguised as conflict-management and peace-making,” says Dr.Jan Oberg upon returning from the 34th TFF mission to theregion since 1992, this time to Skopje, Belgrade and Kosovo. “If PEACE was their profession, the governments of theinternational community would – around 1992 – have putenough diplomatic and other...

Feb. 17, 1999 LONDON- Two weeks on, the sentiments of the moment somewhat subsided, it’s now very clear that the death of King Hussein of Jordan ushered in a new and perhaps painful era in the Middle East. Fifty heads of government may have made the pilgrimage to the funeral in Amman out of respect, but more likely the real compulsion–and in President Boris Yeltsin’s case, a sheer act of will power–was a worry, verging on paranoia, that if the present dispensation of military and dynastic strongmen in the Arab Middle East disappears before a full peace is made with Israel there will be chaos, war– and who knows what that may bring? Everybody there knew that King Hussein’s efforts to introduce a larger role for an elected parliament foundered on rank and file hostility to making peace with Israel. When King Hussein’s coffin entered the ground, all that was left...

LONDON- The nineteenth century’s “Great Game” was the rivalry between Russia and Britain over access to the riches of India. But even then it was fueled in part by the competition for Caspian Oil. The Caucasus and Central Asia were not only the route to India but a prize worth fighting for itself. Today a new Great Game is being played in the very same region, between Russia and America. One century on, the pawns in the middle are the new post- Soviet states of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, all of whom are desperate to use the energy potential of the Caspian basin to strengthen their independence. Some idea of the high rolling stakes being bet can be gained from the statement earlier this month by the chief foreign affairs adviser to the president of Azerbaijan, Vafa Guluzade. He told a number of newspapers that Azerbaijan wants a U.S....

LONDON- The nuclear reprocessing issue is not going to disappear off the political map even though German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder last week overrode his environment minister and postponed legislation that would have led to a quick ending of the shipping of nuclear waste to reprocessing plants in Britain and France and also a fairly rapid closing of the country’s 19 nuclear power plants. The nuclear industry is a big and powerful lobby and, as the debate over compensation for broken contracts demonstrates, vast sums are at stake. But as the unanswered questions mount on both the issues of health and military security it can be only a matter of time before all rational governments introduce the kind of radical steps the German government initially announced. Indeed, Schroeder, despite his intervention on the side of delay, is committed to end the export of radioactive waste and the subsequent reprocessing within a handful...

BETÄNKANDE med Europarlamentets förslag till rekommendation till rådet om inrättandet av en europeisk civil fredskårUtskottet för utrikes-, säkerhets- och försvarsfrågor28 januari 1999 A4-0047/99 PROTOKOLLSIDA Vid plenarsammanträdet den 17 juli 1998 meddelade parlamentets ordförande att han hade hänvisat förslaget till rekommendation till rådet från Spencer och 38 andra ledamöter om inrättandet av en europeisk civil fredskår (B4-0791/98) till utskottet för utrikes-, säkerhets- och försvarsfrågor. Vid utskottssammanträdet den 24 september 1998 behandlade utskottet förslaget till rekommendation och beslutade att utarbeta ett förslag till betänkande. Vid utskottssammanträdet den 24 september 1998 utsåg utskottet Gahrton till föredragande. Vid sammanträdena den 1 december 1998, den 7 januari och den 22 januari 1999 behandlade utskottet förslaget till rekommendation, som hade utarbetats av utskottets ordförande, och godkände detta enhälligt. Följande deltog i omröstningen: Cushnahan (tredje vice ordförande och ordförande för sammanträdet), Gahrton (föredragande), Aelvoet, Bernard-Reymond, Burenstam Linder, Caligaris (suppleant för Bertens), Cars, Frischenschlager (suppleant för La Malfa),...

LONDON – The UN has now decided to give up on peace-keeping in Angola, the site of Africa’s second longest-running civil war in a continent where it’s difficult to measure the worst. It certainly proves what Clausewitz wrote, that everything in war is simple, but the simplest thing is difficult. An Angolan peace was arbitrated as long ago as 1991. It couldn’t have been more straightforward–giving both sides a share in running the country. Yet human malevolence and personal greed is now so out of control that the antagonists don’t want peace. They want the spoils of war, in this case diamonds and oil, and they want it all. Again, to paraphrase Clausewitz, war is not just an act of senseless passion. Belligerents often calculate the relative costs of continuing the conflict versus reaching some kind of compromise agreement. We know very little about how to make peace. Compared with the...

By Colonel David H. Hackworth, US Army-Retired* 26 January 1999 Troopers from U. S. Army units in Europe are sharpening their bayonets; U.S.Navy ships, on station in the Adriatic Sea, are prepping their Tomahawk missiles; and U.S. jet-jockeys in Europe are doing their pre-strike drills. Will Serbia’s Kosovo province be Bill Clinton’s next military quagmire? Will this primitive land which has nothing to do with America’s national securitybe our next Vietnam? Bosnia — just one of Clinton’s current tar pits — was supposed to be an in-and-out-and-over one-year commitment. Instead, we’re going on four. The Bosnian swamp’s already cost over 12 billion bucks and almost ruined three of our best heavy Army divisions, and there’s no end in sight. On the human side, there have been more than 100 U.S. casualties, from arms ripped off to broken bones and more than a dozen body bags filled. Kosovo promises to be...

Den internationella så kallade “gemenskapen” är på plats som fredsskapare i så gott som varje konflikt och krig med sina diplomater, soldater, återuppbyggnadshjälpare, monitorer, jurister, ambassadörer, fredsbevarare, medlare, poliser, experter, förhandlare – och med agenter, satelliter, hangarfartyg och kampflygplan i högsta beredskap. Fredsstörande fraktioner skall bringas till det berömda förhandlingsbordet kring vilket de under det internationella samfundets tryck skall säga ja till fredsplaner. Denna generella, tidstypiska mediebevakning av politiska konflikter och krig befäster mer eller mindre medvetet två djupt missvisande, men funktionella uppfattningar. (A) Konflikter handlar om goda versus mindre goda aktörer och konfliktlösning är följaktligen en fråga om att bestraffa de onda och belöna de goda, offren. (B) Världen är uppdelad i två parter, ja det finns två världar: Å ena sidan har vi “fredsförstörarna” – skurkstater, hitleristiska diktatorer, förfelade stater, primitiva och onda aktörer, terrorister, folk som bara förstår stora bokstäver eller bomber – kriminella som inte efterlever...

Det internationale såkaldte “samfund” er tilstede som fredsskabere i snart sagt hver eneste konflikt og krig med sine diplomater, soldater, genopbygningshjælp, monitorer, jurister, ambassadører, fredsbevarere, mæglere, politi, eksperter, forhandlere og med agenter, satelliter, hangarfartøjer og kampfly på alert. Fredsforstyrrende fraktioner skal bringes til det berømte forhandlingsbord omkring hvilket de under det internationale samfunds pres skal sige ja til fredsplaner, Den generelle, tidstypiske mediedækning af politiske konflikter og krige befæster mere eller mindre bevidst to dybt misvisende, men funktionelle, opfattelser. (A) Konflikter handler om gode versus mindre gode aktører og konfliktløsning er følgelig et spørgsmål om at straffe de onde og belønne de gode, ofrene. (B) Verden er opdelt i to parter, ja der er to verdener: På den ene side er der “fredsforstyrrerne” – slyngelstater, hitleristiske diktatorer, forfejlede stater, primitive og onde aktører, terrorister, folk der ikke forstår andet end store bogstaver og bomber – kriminelle, der ikke efterlever folkeretten,...

LONDON- “The arm of the moral universe is long it bends towards justice”. So said Martin Luther King. And indeed, since Nuremberg and the first international court for war crimes to try Nazi leaders, the development of international human rights law has steadily improved. Justice, even if it’s often two steps forward, one step back, is by the decade reaching further. The case of ex-dictator General Augusto Pinochet is now back before the law lords in London and the betting here is that they will confirm their earlier ruling that he does not have sovereign immunity. But even if the decision goes the other way it will have pushed the British and other governments to clarify the standing of international law–the treaties on genocide, torture, hostage-taking and the supression of terrorism in particular–in domestic law. In any event the ruling ought to be overshadowed by the debate now coming to a...

Boston Research Center for the 21st Century* Be the heart of a network of global citizens. * Be a bridge for dialogue between civilizations. * Be a beacon lighting the way to a century of life. Boston Research Center (BRC) is an international peace institute founded in 1993 by Daisaku Ikeda, a Buddhist peace activist and President of Soka Gakkai International (SGI), a religious association with members in 128 countries. Aiming toward the goal of a twenty-first century free of war, the Center fosters dialogue among scholars and activists on common values across religions and cultures. Human rights, nonviolence, ecological harmony, and economic security are focal points of the Center’s work. THE EARTH CHARTERDuring the BRC’s recently completed Religion & Ecology conference series, Steven Rockefeller, Professor of Religion at Middlebury College, presented an early draft of the Earth Charter&emdash;a kind of “people’s treaty” that sets forth principles on environmental conservation and...