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LONDON – The trillion dollar lawsuit filed in America against Saudi citizens by relatives of the September 11th attack is but the latest manifestation of a sharply deteriorating relationship with America’s 35 year old Middle East ally, a downward path that at best will end in tears for an already weakening dollar and, at worst, a re-alignment of the major Arab regimes, once friendly to Washington, to something more akin to an adversary position. The timing of the lawsuit could not have been worse coming as it does only days after a high-level Pentagon discussion paper was leaked that accused Saudi Arabia of being “the kernel of evil” and counselled the Administration to countenance the seizing of Saudi financial assets. Although the White House later sought to distance itself from the paper it was not until after Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, questioned by the press, refused to take the opportunity...

LONDON – Europeans are beginning to experience the same sensations of impotence that Muslims long have. Whatever they think or say, it is tossed in the wastepaper basket by their American friends. In the last week or so it has become evident that the Bush Administration is hell bent on implementing a new law, part of the recent anti-terrorist legislation, that sets out in no uncertain terms to undermine the new International Criminal Court, the pride and joy of a lot of countries but of the Europeans in particular, who see it as an effective tool for deterring would-be war criminals. The State Department has made it clear to all foreign countries that their military aid will be cut off unless – like Romania and Israel last week – they sign a pledge to protect Americans serving in their countries from the Court’s reach. Brave Norway has told the Americans “no”,...

LONDON – Twenty years ago when Luiz Inacio da Silva, “Lula” as everyone calls him, first started to make a splash in Brazilian politics both the West German chancellor Helmut Schmidt and the Spanish prime minister Adolfo Suarez took time out on one of their Latin American trips to seek out the young trade union leader and talk over his political philosophy and how he saw the future of Brazil. They made it clear to journalists that they were impressed. So was I. I spent four hours in face to face conversation with Lula and we ranged far and wide. Uneducated in a formal sense, his facility for answering a difficult question well was awe-inspiring. “I think it is better just go forward one millimetre”, he told me, “but one down to earth millimetre, knowing that we won’t have to go two millimetres backwards later on”. That was two decades ago...

Ground Zero is a place of profound sadness and heart breaking sorrow. Its earth is filled with the blood of thousands who lost their lives. For what did these people die? Their deaths seem so meaningless. Could we, the living, give their deaths meaning, even if only postmortem? What would the dead want us, the living, to build on their graves? What would they reply, if they could speak? Would they want us to leave Ground Zero empty, literally “zero”? Or would they want us, the living, build a memorial for the unspeakable tragedy that happened? I believe the dead would want to offer life, they would be delighted by symbols of liveliness and joy, and not be willing to invest in past sufferings. The dead would wish to dedicate their deaths to be the seeds for future peace, not for future divisions. To die for peace provides ultimate sublime...

LONDON – What Europe finds difficult to realize is that it is already a superpower and is able on most of the things that count to say “no” to America if it chooses. There does not have to be a “United States of Europe” for a powerful Europe to exist – the common market culminating in the final step towards the creation of the Eurocurrency on January1st has seen to that. It may not, and will not ever, have the hardware to compete in the military stakes, but its economic and political muscle already give it the power to determine what goes on in large parts of the world, even if it means flying in the face of Washington. Yet there seems a crisis of confidence that inhibits Europe from taking the next steps forward. Indeed if anything it is losing position. Two months ago George Bush went to Moscow and...

Few would deny that September 11 unleashed a fearsome sequence of reactions, and none so far worse than the anguishing fury of this latest cycle of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Surely the United States is not primarily responsible for this horrifying spectacle of bloodshed and suffering, but there is a gathering sense here and overseas that the US government has badly mishandled its crucial role for a long, long time, and especially since the World Trade Center attack. As the situation continues to deteriorate for both peoples, there is a rising chorus of criticism that paradoxically blames the United States both for doing too much on behalf of Israel and not enough to bring about a durable peace. Both lines of criticism seem justified. There is little doubt that part of the recent escalation can be traced back to President Bush’s overplaying of the antiterrorist card since Day One of the response...

These are difficult times for peace. Since the Bush administration assumed power in the United States, there has been a steady beating on the drums of war accompanied by a systematic undermining of the foundations of international law. The September 11th terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon bolstered the Bush administration’s plans to secure US global military dominance through increased military budgets, deployment of missile defenses, development of more usable nuclear weapons and the weaponization of space. Congress has largely acquiesced in supporting these plans. The United States has always held to a double standard with regard to nuclear weapons. This double standard was given legal form in the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), in which five countries were designated as nuclear weapons states (United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, France and China), and the rest were designated as non-nuclear weapons states. The latter agreed in...

The opportunity to participate in the Peace through Art Program with the International Child Art Foundation (ICAF) and the Fulbright Commission in order to promote peace in Cyprus’ future sets an amazing example of the work that the non-profit sector can do in the tenacious search for peace. With tremendous energy and an open and agile way of organizing volunteer expertise, ICAF staff created a unique opportunity to combine art with a conflict prevention framework. This took place in Washington, DC and the participants were 10 Turkish Cypriots and 10 Greek Cypriots aged between 14-16. The sui generis character of Cyprus is not based on a current war; however the present territorial divide of the island poses difficult challenges to the people living there as they are not able to travel freely, and do not have the opportunity to meet or get to know one another. This setting can potentially...

LONDON – The world is still going forward, but only just. After September 11th, after Enron, after the stock market crash, after the Israeli invasion of Palestine, after the war talk about Iraq that continuously hovers in the air above us like some putrid cloud, and after the latest reports that say that AIDS is the biggest plague in the history of humanity, we can still argue the world on the whole is getting better. Economic growth is picking up in Africa and the share of the world’s people living in extreme poverty is slowly but steadily declining. Primary school enrolments have risen worldwide. Since 1990, 800 million people have gained access to improved water supplies and improved sanitation. On the political and civil liberties front there has also been enormous progress. Since 1980 some eighty countries have taken significant steps towards democratisation, and the number of people being killed by...

I det mörkaste Peru 6Reflexioner från en resa Detta är den sjätte och avslutande artikeln i serien. Är förändring möjlig? Kan just jag göra något? Under två år på 80-talet arbetade Margareta Gustafsson från Helsingborg med utvecklingsstörda barn i Lima. Hon var utsänd som volontär och satsade sitt arbete på att hjälpa en grupp av de allra mest utsatta. I Peru har det inte funnits insatser för utvecklingsstörda. Regeln har varit att föräldrarna svarade för vården av sitt eget barn och att något syskon tog över den dag föräldrarna inte orkade eller dog. För föräldralösa utvecklingsstörda barn fanns bara ett alternativ, mentalsjukhusets inspärrning. Det stora mentalsjukhuset i Lima är en sluten värld bakom kilometerlånga murar. Det var där Margareta arbetade. Hon minns hur något av barnen, som var autistiskt, bara stod tröstlöst vaggande i en korridor dag efter dag. Femton år senare är allt förändrat. När Margareta kom tillbaka till Sverige...

I det mörkaste Peru 5Reflexioner från en resa Mitt i natten vaknar jag på hotellrummet i kuststaden Pisco. Jag väcks inte av ett ljud utan av en frän doft. Det stinker i kudden &endash; eller vad det nu är. Nästa morgon förstår jag att det inte är något fel på Posada Hispaña. Hela Pisco stinker. Men det är en intressant stank, förstår jag snart. Utanför Perus kust går den kalla Humboldtströmmen, som i havet gett ett rikt fiskliv och på land skapat en torr kustöken. Fåglar som lever på fiskarna lämnade så mycket spillning eller guano, att det på 1800-talet blev Perus viktigaste exportprodukt. Frånvaron av regn gjorde att guanon inte sköljdes bort från klipporna. Samma fiskrikedom skapar i dag förutsättningen för väldiga fiskmjölsfabriker vid kusten invid Pisco. Det är från dem stanken kommer. Guanon bröts av indianer under vidriga förhållanden, många blev blinda av ammoniaken. Den såldes till goda priser som...

I det mörkaste Peru 4Reflexioner från en resa Inkastaden Machu Picchu tillhör självklart Världskulturarvet, men ingick länge också i det Hotade Världskulturarvet, då peruanska myndigheternas hade planer på att bygga en linbana för att ta hit än fler turister. Platsen ligger numera också i dollarzonen. På tåget från Cuzco till Machu Picchu (enda sättet att komma dit) beställer en amerikan en flaska mineralvatten och betalar med en tiodollarsedel, som om Peru vore en amerikansk provins. Järnvägen är ett mirakel. Första biten från Cuzco är så brant att tåget måste fara i zick-zack flera gånger, först upp en bit, sen baklänges på nytt spår. Det är den märkligaste tågresa jag gjort. Sista biten går mellan höga berg i en djup ravin längs Urubambafloden, dessvärre så förorenad att det inte går att fiska i den. Efter fyra timmars resa kommer jag till en by med varma källor, Aguas Caliente, “De varma vattnen”, vid...