Conflict – violence and war

Jan Oberg May 12, 2022 Here’s what the West is intellectually unable – in the midst of its boundlessly self-righteous, militarist mood to see: NATO’s expansion policy created – and is responsible for – the conflict. Russia created – and is responsible for – the war. There exists no violence which is not rooted in underlying conflicts. Conflict and peace literate people, therefore, talk about both. And if they want peace, they do not increase the symptoms – the war – they address the real cause, the conflict and ask the conflicting parties to tell what they fear and what they want and then move, step-by-step towards a sustainable solution. But neither the mainstream media nor politicians have the civil courage to address the conflict. It’s only about the war and only about Russia/Putin who must be punished, no matter the price to be paid by future generations. If we...

Cold War Against Russia – Without Debate A prophetic conversation from 2006 with professor Stephen F. Cohen (1938-2020) Read also, carefully Cold War Against Russia – Without Debate (2014)By Katrina vanden Heuvel & Stephen F. Cohen The Obama administration’s decision to isolate Russia, in a new version of “containment,” has met with virtually unanimous support from the political and media establishment. And then ask yourself why Western mainstream media and politicians start their history on February 24, 2022, and insist that everything is the fault of Russia and Putin, the latter having gone mad on February 23. My conclusion is based on this and lots of conflicts being reported in these media the last 20+ years: • You are being deceived. • There is a purpose behind that. • It serves Western self-righteousness and to cover up the Himalayan Western mistake to a) break all promises to Russia (Gorbachev at...

Shubham Dhage on Unsplash Jan Oberg March 4, 2022 The first draft of this article was written in mid-February, ten days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine but while the NATO-Russia conflict centred upon Ukraine was building up. Little could I know that virtually all the examples of conflict and peace illiteracy that I list below should be illustrated so vividly, so quickly and so tragically. Conflict-resolution and peace-making has no relevance if the parties want war. But if th parties want some kind of peace and cooperation and trust – then, perhaps they just don’t know how to get there. And may not even know that there is something they don’t know? Deeply convinced that all this could have been avoided if some little conflict and peace professionalism had been applied, I offer a series of constructive alternatives below. My focus is on ways of thinking and principles and...

Jan Oberg March 3, 2022 I am happy to inform you about my latest column in China’s leading Global Times – with the title above. Read it here and when you are anyhow there, look around: Many different subjects from the Western media and many different angles from a country we all need to know more about. Not the least now when the pluralism and scope have been reduced ad absurdum in the Western mainstream media (MSM). The illustration is, in my view, spot-on – and thus matches my spot-on points 😜

No, these three themes are not directly related to each other, except that they were suggested to me /” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Schiller Institute in Denmark when she kindly invited me to participate in a longer interview. If you prefer, you may also listen to it as podcast and read it here.

March 1, 2022 This is a recorded lecture from 2015 by Professor John Mearsheimer. In the perspective of what has just happened with and in Ukraine, this is simply prophetic. Here is a rather complex set of intertwined arguments that makes an incredibly clear-headed analysis – and warning. No decision-makers listened and thus, we are where we are today. Mearsheimer is in many ways a classical Realist thinker. It’s indeed deplorable that that approach – combined with tremendous knowledge and great skills at conveying it all in a delightfully pedagogical manner – has become so rare and that those who operate US/NATO/EU politics these very days would hardly be able to understand what he is saying – and much less, take in his analysis. Because, as he also hints somewhere – “we” know better and “we” never did anything wrong! And, so: Why listen to knowledge-based critics? Now sit down....

This documentary by John Pilger hardly needs any introduction. It is eminently useful for public education about the history and the events in and around China that has fuelled containment for decades – elements of an understanding of the present Cold War on China that the US or NATO mainstream media will never convey to you. February 8, 2022 John Pilger – one of the most important journalists in international affairs – does not seem to have changed the settings for this documentary on Vimeo to permit embedding it, so go here to see it on Vimeo. Much more interesting materials on John Pilger’s homepage here.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO’s chief Jens Stoltenberg January 13, 2022 Jan Oberg To deceive, telling half-truths, or a complete lie is nothing new in politics, particularly security in politics. But until some 20-30 years ago, I would – perhaps naively – see it as an exception. Tragically – and perhaps to many readers’ surprise – it is now the rule. At least in U.S. and NATO circles, and that is particularly regrettably since The West professes to be a democratic system with specific values and even a moral leader to The Rest. Lying systematically about facts – historical facts – and other countries and cultures should be incompatible with The West’s perception of itself. But, today, it isn’t. Lies are widespread in so-called security politics when some militarist project doesn’t make any (common) sense to intelligent people, when the real motives have to be covered up and...

Collage © Jan Oberg 2021 Fredrik Heffermehl December 9, 2021 The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize honoured press freedom and – no surprise – was welcomed by the world press. As I listened to the announcement, on October 8, an old story from the Cold War kept coming back to me: A Soviet official had been travelling in the US for a couple of weeks. As he left, he remarked to his hosts, in puzzled bewilderment “How can it be that you have such perfect control, even with a completely free press?” He was right. Society makes one huge exception from democracy and press freedom: national security. The Military-Industrial Complex is in control, thoroughly disciplined media see it as a sacred duty to keep their own nation strong and united behind the flag and the forces. Nations are governed by fear that any doubt or deviation from military orthodoxy would harm...

Jan Oberg December 7, 2021 Imagine that the Nobel Prize in Literature is given to a book publisher or papermaker and the official motivation is that publishers or papermakers are preconditions for the writer writing and being read. Roughly, this is how the Nobel Peace Committee, reasons – unreasonably. Here’s how it legitimates that its 2021 prize goes to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov way outside the letter and spirit of Alfred Nobel’s will: “Without freedom of expression and freedom of the press, it will be difficult to successfully promote fraternity between nations, disarmament and a better world order to succeed in our time. This year’s award of the Nobel Peace Prize is therefore firmly anchored in the provisions of Alfred Nobel’s will.” See? – “without papermakers and publishers, it will be difficult to successfully write good literature and be read…” I believe my readers easily grasp just how far-fetched...

I’m old enough to remember when you couldn’t do a speaking event related to war and peace without being asked numerous reasonable and not so reasonable questions about 9/11 (each accompanied by a stack of DVDs and flyers presented to you as a revelation from on high). There was a long period when you could count on the inevitable question about “peak oil.” Originally published at Worldbeyondwar.org I’ve been around enough to know that you can’t talk to peace-oriented people without a question about creating a Department of Peace, or to non-peace-oriented people without a question about good humanitarian wars against irrational foreigners who can’t be reasoned with, or to any group at all in the United States and some other countries without “What about Hitler?,” or to any self-selected audience at a peace-related event without the question about why the other people in the room are disproportionately old, white,...

November 8, 2021 Cyrus Janssen is an American expat who has lived in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Vancouver over the past 14 years. He is passionate about showing a true insight into China and loves sharing his travels around the world. He is a very knowledgeable and competent communicator of complex issues and Janssen’s Youtube Channel has no less than 171 000 subscribers at the moment – i.e. it’s much bigger than many local newspapers around the world. It’s one of many examples of why you are wasting your time if you spend all of it on mainstream, public service or prime time news – because there is so much more interesting and truly independent information and knowledge available in places such as Janssen’s. I recommend his Channel very warmly because you will really learn something important about China – and the US – when you spend a little time...