Conflict – violence and war

June 29, 2020 Intro by Tom Engelhart to article by Andrew Bacevich Today, in the context of the Black Lives Matter protests, TomDispatch regular Andrew Bacevich considers the all-American version of “extreme materialism” that Martin Luther King called out more than half a century ago. And when it comes to the overwhelming urge to get one’s hands on the goods, among the looters of this moment two groups are almost never mentioned: the Pentagon and the police. Yet, in 1997, the Department of Defense set up the 1033 program as part of the National Defense Authorization Act to provide thousands of domestic police forces with “surplus” equipment of almost every imaginable militarized kind. Since then, thanks to your tax dollars, it has given away $7.4 billion of such equipment, some of it directly off the battlefields of this country’s forlorn “forever wars.” For items like grenade launchers, mine-resistant armored vehicles,...

Pulling down statues may make us feel good but will not eliminate the root causes of racism and discrimination Farhang JahanpourTFF Associate June 23, 2020 Part Two – Part 1 here The protests to the cruel killing of George Floyd and many others before him and even some after him have not remained confined to the United States or among black people alone, but have given rise to a global movement for change and an end to racism and discrimination. Many protestors in the United States have called for the toppling of the statues of Confederate generals and for the names of places and institutions named after them to be changed, while in many European countries demonstrators have called for the toppling of statues of those who are symbols of racism, imperialism and white supremacy. Clearly, toppling a few statues may give temporary satisfaction to those who have been the...

June 10, 2020 Jan Oberg The horrific police murder of the black American George Floyd is, of course, not the first, neither will it be the last. Fortunately, it has set in motion significant protests not only in the United States but around the world – on top of the Corona Crisis. And it has created an opportunity for people to do symbolic acts such as taking a knee, criticising President Trump’s Bible Show after he had – classical dictatorship-style – used violence on peaceful demonstrators, etc. And people posted black images on Instagram. These are individual protests in response to an individual being killed in a single event. They are very human, noble and understandable, indeed, necessary – as markers that enough is enough. But where will it go from that first reaction? The comprehensive perspective To approach and answer, read carefully this statement by Martin Luther King, Jr.:...

Part 4 Part 1 and 2 were introductory and then made the diagnosis. Part 3 analysed the fraudulent threat analysis that fuels militarism.This 4th part focus on some theories and concepts about human security and how that concept differs fundamentally from the state-anchored, military policies that have dominated so far. Part 1 of this series • Part 2 of this series • Part 3 Jan Oberg May 28, 2020 As pointed out in earlier parts of this series, the obsolete security concept was about national security – national military-first security. A new concept must take its departure elsewhere, namely in individual security, humanity’s security and – thereby, implicitly – the security of the environment. That is, individual and global human security and the security of the environment. It’s a much-needed holistic way of looking at it – also in the sense that human life cannot be secured if the environment...

May 19, 2020 Lawrence Wilkerson, US Army Colonel This is a stunning piece of documentary and a clear and sharp analysis of the moral and intellectual decay of the foreign interventionist policy of the United States. By a man who obviously knows. Retired U.S. Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as Secretary of State Colin Powell’s chief of staff from 2002 to 2005, says the escalation of tensions between the U.S. and Iran today is a continuation of two decades of U.S. policy disasters in the Middle East, starting with the 2003 run-up to war with Iraq under the Bush administration. “America exists today to make war. How else do we interpret 19 straight years of war and no end in sight? It’s part of who we are. It’s part of what the American Empire is,” says Wilkerson. “We are going to cheat and steal to do whatever it is...

Photo: Pepe Escobar The coming decade could see the US take on Russia, China and Iran over the New Silk Road connection May 18, 2020 Pepe Escobar The Raging Twenties started with a bang with the targeted assassination of Iran’s General Qasem Soleimani. Yet a bigger bang awaits us throughout the decade: the myriad declinations of the New Great Game in Eurasia, which pits the US against Russia, China and Iran, the three major nodes of Eurasia integration. Every game-changing act in geopolitics and geoeconomics in the coming decade will have to be analyzed in connection to this epic clash. The Deep State and crucial sectors of the US ruling class are absolutely terrified that China is already outpacing the “indispensable nation” economically and that Russia has outpaced it militarily. The Pentagon officially designates the three Eurasian nodes as “threats.” Originally published by AsiaTimes on January 16, 2020 Hybrid War techniques...

On March 21 this year, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) published an article headlined Coronavirus in Russia: How Putin’s disinformation efforts could backfire at home and written by Judy Twigg, professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University. Take a look and get a sense of its quality, balance and bias. Having read it, I submitted the following comment underneath: I’m dismayed by this article. While there is no doubt that Russia is (mis)using information, this sort of thing must be seen as a tool, or weapon, in a conflict – a conflict Russia has with the 29-member NATO alliance. It is normal praxis for such high-ranking, respected and reliable media as yours to not talk about “the other” side’s weapons but looking at armament dynamics on both (or all) sides of a conflict formation. Just pointing fingers at one and keep quiet about the other side risks to...

The author in front of a part of his photo-based, multi-media installation, “Silk Peace Art Road – SPAR” which was exhibited at the Venice Biennale 2019 and will be shown in China 2020. Yesterday, The Necessary Teacher Training College, DNS, in Denmark held its annual conference on peace and justice. As a couple of times before, I had the honour of being invited to be the keynote speaker. Because of the Coronavirus, it was online and not onsite – and I had produced the lecture in advance and then there was a Q&A session in the afternoon via Zoom. The two-part lecture is now on TFF’s Vimeo Channel here: Part 1 Part 2 The discussion that followed after group work If you found this lecture interesting or useful, please help us do more in the future. Remember, TFF is 100% people-financed and therefore completely independent of the government and corporate...

Richard Falk May 16, 2020 Prefatory Note Republication of opinion piece published in Al Jazeera English on May 13, 2020. The published AJE text has been slightly modified. Annexation foreplay These are the strangest of times. On this almost everyone will agree. Lives all over the planet are being torn apart either by COVID-19 or as a result of its devastating social and economic dislocations. In such a moment, it is hardly surprising that the best and worst of humanity is being showcased. Yet what seems worse beyond even these forebodings is the persistence of gangster geopolitics in its various manifestations. Intensifying U.S. sanctions in the midst of the health crisis on already deeply afflicted societies and suffering populations such as Iran and Venezuela is one striking example. This display of the primacy of geopolitics is highlighted by its rejections of numerous high profile humanitarian appeals for the suspension of...

Jan Oberg April 30, 2020 Last year, the Danish artist Gudrun Steen-Andersen created a multimedia installation under the theme: “Perpetuum Mobile – What Would Happen If Migration Was Free Worldwide?” Naturally, it is a thought experiment – not the least in these times of multi-crisis where nationalism, xenophobia, populism and the building of walls seem to have emerged as just another – political – virus way before the Coronavirus. The Danish-language version was made in 2019 and in March this year, we repeated – more or less, that is – the video lectures in English. It was about the time when the Coronavirus had just begun its race to the top of the global agenda. You’ll find them all the videos here or click on this: Steen-Andersen’s heuristic intention – somewhat in the tradition of the great future-thinker Robert Jungk’s future workshop – was realized through her own amazing installation...

Med udenrigsminister Jeppe Kofod i spidsen er Danmark nu på vej ud i sin største udenrigspolitiske skandale – det siger en del – siden besættelsen af Irak. Ifølge denne artikel på DR.dk er hverken Udenrigspolitisk Nævn eller Grønlandsudvalget blevet orienteret om USA’s “offer you can’t refuse” til Grønland – som fremstillet af den amerikanske ambassadør i København, Carla Sands, på Altinget.* © Jan Oberg Folketingsmedlemmer fra både SF og Dansk Folkeparti kalder USA’s udmelding “forkastelig” og “uhørt.” Tidligere udenrigsminister, Martin Lidegaard, siger at han ikke er blevet orienteret om det. Regeringen er altså enten blevet informeret af USA men har holdt forhandlingerne hemmelig eller også er USA nu i færd med at købe Grønland bag ryggen på Danmark. Udenrigsministerens måde at svare på i ovenstående artikels video lugter langt væk af at der er noget, der slet ikke stemmer. Og det han citeres for viser, at han ikke har forstået...

Remember this? It seems that God is saying: “America, you are too arrogant and I will break the backbone of your power!” – Martin Luther King, Jr. Listen! MLK’s strong prophecy came to me today when I read this article in TIME magazine today – “Begging for Thermometers, Body Bags, and Gowns: U.S. Health Care Workers Are Dangerously Ill-Equipped to Fight COVID-19.” TIME – April 20, 2020 The health care workers have to beg – and people have to die – because their mal-developed country lacks the most basic. It’s a country which, at least since 1945, has created human history’s largest military machine, sees itself as “the policeman of the whole world” – a country that conducted wars virtually every day, built 600+ bases in 130+ countries, deploys its CIA and Special forces virtually everywhere, destroyed societies and killed millions of people around the world in warfare and economic...