Archive 1986 – 2017

Der er ret bred enighed om at sikkerhedpolitik idag handler om andet og mere end militær. Almindelige mennesker véd det, eksperter og statsmænd taler om menneskelig og social sikkerhed, om betydningen af at forebygge og håndtere konflikter. Vi ser i medierne at sikkerhed drejer sig om miljøet, om den globale økonomiske krise, om flygtninge og fremmedhad. Vi ser at våbenhandlere, krigsherrer og maffiosi bidrager til krige, der handler om historie, identitet og etnisk rensning. Og vi véd at kærnevåben udgør en trussel, særligt dér hvor politikere er ansvarløse nok til at true med dem og dér hvor der savnes penge til at vedligeholde systemerne. Vi véd også at stadigt flere fattige, arbejdsløse og tilsidesatte på vor jord skaber bitterhed, fundamentalisme, kort sagt usikkerhed. Og selvfølgelig véd alle, der har deres sunde fornuft i behold, at danske tanks eller F16-fly ikke kan være løsningen på sådanne problemer. Men den danske regering...

Under den kolde krig handlede sikkerheds- og forsvarspolitik ikke om at løse konflikter eller forebygge vold. Konflikten mellem Øst- og Vestblokkene blev bevaret gennem at balancere, afskrække og forberede sig for det tilfælde at krig skulle blive en realitet. I næsten 50 år betragtede politikere, intellektuelle, diplomater og medier derfor konfliktanalyse, mægling, konflikthåndtering og -løsning, voldsforebyggelse og emner som forsoning og tilgivelse som stort set irrelevante. Ikkevoldelige, civile indsatser derfor en beskeden rolle. Øst-Vestkonflikten blev da heller ikke løst; hvad der skete var at Østblokken gik i opløsning. Nu er det anderledes. Der er ikke to blokke og et sæt veldefinerede spilleregler; der er sammenbrud i en række stater, opløsning af spillleregler og udvikling af paramilitære hære og private krigsherrer. Der er én supermagt, USA. Der er alt andet end orden. Vi har oplevet krig i Europa og Danmark er med langt fremme i udviklingen af det ekspansive, såkaldt nye...

By Robert Fisk The Independent WE ARE now in the endgame, the final bankruptcy of Western policy towards Iraq, the very last throw of the dice. We fire 200 cruise missiles into Iraq and what do we expect? Is a chastened Saddam Hussein going to emerge from his bunker to explain to us how sorry he is? Will he tell us how much he wants those nice UN inspectors to return to Baghdad to find his “weapons of mass destruction”? Is that what we think? Is that what the Anglo-American bombardment is all about? And if so, what happens afterwards? What happens when the missile attacks end – just before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, because, of course, we really are very sensitive about Iraqi religious feelings – and Saddam Hussein tells us that the UN inspectors will never be allowed to return? As the cruise missiles were launched,...

LONDON–One of the greatest ironies of our fin de siecle age is that arms control in the post Cold War dispensation has been much more frozen than it was during the superpower permafrost itself. Then there was SALT and START, the acronyms of nuclear arms limits and cuts and, arguably most important of all, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. But since START 2 was signed in 1993 the only positive element working towards pushing forward the frontiers of arms control has been H20* and O2*– in common parlance rust. Russian missiles are literally rusting in their silos with the unforeseen result that even the Pentagon’s top brass are becoming uneasy that this gives the U.S. such superiority in the (workable) missile count that to spend even more money on renewing and modernising the U.S. arsenal to maintain the numbers allowed under START 2 is to throw money away. Rust has achieved...

By Dana Priest THE WASHINGTON POSTMonday, December 14, 1998 Trencin, Slovakia — When the Slovak army wanted to create an elite rapid deployment battalion last year, an officer on the general staff walked down the stairs of the Soviet-era military headquarters here and into the office of three U.S. military advisers. Yes, the Americans said, they would arrange for soldiers from the United States to show Slovak field commanders how to organize the unit. No, they said, they would not equip it with U.S. sniper rifles. Although U.S. foreign policymakers kept the Slovak government at arm’s length for several years to show displeasure with the slow pace of democratic reforms, the U.S. military has been intimately involved in remaking the 42,000-strong Slovak army. In twos and threes, hundreds of American officers have come each year to help the Soviet-trained force shrink to an affordable size, decentralize decision-making, accept a rational budget...

By Majid Tehranian Director Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research December 12, 1998 In their Persian Gulf policies, the time has come for the United States and its allies to do what in diplomatic circles is politely called “an agonizing reappraisal.” The failure of “dual containment” policies of the last few years have now become apparent to everyone except the most obstinate. Iran and Iraq have not been contained. On the contrary, both countries have taken advantage of the emerging rivalries of the post-Cold War era to develop economic and political ties to subvert those policies. Russia, France, and China as well as the U. S. Arab allies are opposing any military action against a recalticerant Iraq, while revolutionary Iran under President Mohammad Khatami is entering into a rapproachment with Europe and the conservative regional powers, notably Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Why is the United States being isolated in...

LONDON–The continuing detention of the Kurdish guerrilla leader, Abdullah Ocalan, head of the violent Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) remains the biggest issue on the new Italian, ex-communist led, government’s plate. There is no easy way of resolving it. Which ever way the courts and government rule on Turkey’s request for his extradition the decision will ensure ongoing problems of enormous and far reaching magnitude. Turkey, to boot, doesn’t have a fully functioning government and it remains an open question whether the veteran centre-left leader, prime minister-designate Bulent Ecevit, can pull even a temporary one together. Even if both governments were utterly stable and secure it would take enormous political effort to find a passage through rocks such as this case throws in their path (as the British and Irish governments are now finding as they face the most difficult stumbling block of the Ulster peace negociations thus far–when should the...

Remembering the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights LONDON – In captivity Augusto Pinochet should perhaps find time to read Mahatma Gandhi who used to say that one could assess a civilization by the manner with which it dealt with minorities and those that disagreed with it. Ralf Dahrendorf, the eminence grise of European education, made a similar point in an address before that remarkable campaigning power-house, the Minority Rights Group. “Defense of minority rights is the litmus test of liberty and the rule of law”, Professor Dahrendorf said and went on wryly to note, “ruling interests and beliefs need no protection: power protects, though it may corrupt as well.” A Martian arriving today could be pardoned for thinking earthlings had never confronted minority rights issues until Yugoslavia exploded, so bewitched and bewildered they still appear to be by the experience. The Cold War was a frozen...

Den ny, grønne tyske udenrigsminister Joschka Fischer, der selv er “realos” er allerede blevet belært om de højere realiteter hér i verden. Han har stillet det helt rimelige forslag, at NATO burde afsige sig retten til at være først til at bruge kærnevåben. Det amerikanske – naturligvis – svar på hele alliancens vegne kom prompte: Glem det! Fischer vidste sikkert godt, at man kan ikke være udenrigsminister i dagens uni-polære verden og bevare ret mange grønne idealer. Men hvis han inderst inde har grønne idealer er han en imponerende modig mand, som NGOer i Europa – og den danske regering – bør støtte varmt. For det er hvad NATO burde have gjort for længe siden, altså i 1980erne hvor Sovjetunionen afsagde sig denne ret. Til sagen hører at Rusland efter Warszawa-pagtens opløsning og på grund af sin økonomisk uformåen at opretholde omfattende konventionelle styrker har opgraderet kærnevåbnene og i lyset...

Den nye, gröne tyska utrikesministern, Joschka Fischer, som själv är ‘realos’ har redan blivit uppläxad i de högre realiteterna i vår värld. Han har ställt det helt rimliga förslaget att NATO borde avsäga sig rätten att vara den första att använda kärnvapen. Det amerikanska – naturligtvis – svaret kom blixtsnabbt: Glöm det! Fischer visste säkert mycket väl att man inte kan vara utrikesminister i dagens uni-polära värld och samtidigt bevara särskilt många gröna ideal. Om han innerst inne fortfarande har gröna ideal är han en imponerande modig man, som folkliga rörelser – och den svenska regeringen – borde ge sitt varma stöd. För detta är ju vad NATO borde ha gjort för många år sedan, redan på 1980-talet när Sovjetuionen avsade sig rätten till “first use.” Till saken hör tyvärr att Ryssland efter Warszawapaktens upplösning och till följd av sin ekonomiska oförmåga att upprätthålla omfattande konventionella styrkor har uppgraderat kärnvapnens...

“The law on information, on theuniversities and the prepared law on NGOs should be stronglyopposed by all international organisations, governments andNGOs.” Jiri Dienstbier, Special Rapporteur of theU.N. Commission on Human Rights “Serbian authorities commit gross human rightsviolations through new draconian laws that will furtherundermine free media, education and civil society in Serbia.Given its seriousness, we have heard deplorably few andlow-voiced protests from top diplomats, politicians, fellowintellectuals and media people in the Europe and the US.Dienstbier’s is an important exception” says TFF’s directorJan Oberg. The situation is appalling. After media and education,NGOs will probably be targeted. People in Serbia are in adouble cage – that constructed by their own authorities andthat constructed by the international community since 1991.Just look at how the Kosovo conflict is now “managed”through the Milosevic-Holbrooke agreement and you’ll see howthe two cages reinforce each other. The losers? Ordinarycitizens – like in Bosnia under Dayton. All citizens of...

LONDON – When the United Nations pulled its troops out of the Congo in June 1964 Secretary General U Thant reported “The UN cannot permanently protect the Congo from internal tensions and disturbances created by its own organic growth towards unity and nationhood”. That was some kind of relief after a peacekeeping operation that nearly tore apart the UN and claimed the life of U Thant’s predecessor, Dag Hammerskjold. Yet the UN did bring a measure of peace to the Congo in the sense that it ended a civil war fought over the succession of the mineral rich province of Katanga and provided an alternative to what was in danger of becoming an East-West grab for influence that threatened to turn the Congo into a major Cold War battleground. Once again the Congo has become a maelstrom. Susan Rice, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Africa, warns that the fighting...