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LONDON – Live or die, the Cubans of Miami seem to have put the champagne on ice. Just to be reminded of Fidel’s mortality is apparently enough. Nearly all are convinced that the erstwhile guerrilla of the Sierra Maestra, scourge of John F. Kennedy, tail wager of the Soviet Union, unregretful catalyst for a barely avoided superpower nuclear war, sower of discontent from one Andean peak to another, and the last surviving caudillo of Latin America, is finally in sight of his comeuppance. No man is an island, not even in the lush and potentially self-sufficient Caribbean. Cuba, during its first difficult decades after the revolution would not have survived without a political mentor and a military protector in Moscow. But then it could not have survived without a tolerant Europe that always refused to sign up for the American embargo. Even among moderate opinion in Europe, Fidel was more...

The unspeakable tragedy unfolding in this sixth Israel-Arab war should force us to focus on what peace might look like. The building blocs are clear, but they are threatened particularly by those who stop thinking when it is needed most. The building blocs are: [1] The UN Security Council Resolutions 194 and 242, demanding the return of Palestinians, and the withdrawal of Israel to the 1967 (meaning before the June war) borders. [2] The resolution by the Palestine National Council of 15 November1988, accepting a two state solution. [3] The proposal by Saudi Arabia in 2002 that Israel withdraws to the1967 borders in exchange for recognition by all Arab states. Putting the building blocs in place we get two states side by side with East Jerusalem and most of the West Bank reverting to Palestine (Israel has already withdrawn from Gaza), the Golan Heights to Syria, and some minor border...

LONDON – So once again a conservative American government, with a history of being anti the organisation, is running to the UN to find a way out of the quagmire in Lebanon. Ronald Reagan’s Administration did the same in 1983 in cahoots with General Ariel Sharon, then the chief of the Israeli army, who decided to agree to sharp reductions in the Israeli forces in Lebanon on condition that the UN forces be deployed between them and the Syrians in the Bekaa valley. Yet a year before, the UN forces, attempting to contain the dangerous situation between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (which was then based in the Lebanon), had been brutally pushed aside by the Israeli invasion. At first President Reagan had thought that with French and Italian help the U.S. could do the job itself. But Hizbollah engineered an attack that led to the killing of over...

Project Summary A common project conducted by the municipality of Eslöv – a small town in Southern Sweden – Eslöv Apartments Inc., the Police in Eslöv, the Swedish Church, the Social Insurance Office, the Transnational Foundation (TFF), ERF – The European Refugee Fund (through the Swedish Integration Board and the Swedish Migration Board). Project director: Christina Spännar from TFF. The aims The aim is to develop a model that can help mitigate the integration process for refugees, asylum seekers and other immigrants who knock on the door to Eslöv. The model shall be developed through partners in a network, i.e. an information and communication structure. On the one hand, there are the actors and authorities who receive the immigrants in a variety of functions; on the other, we will work with refugees who – through their experiences of the encounter with Swedish society – are able to give us images of what...

LONDON – It is fair to say that the world economy in the round has never done as well as it’s doing now, even as oil prices continue to rise. As it chugs upward a lot of old shibboleths have to be thrown out of the window. Serious recessions that used to plague the industrialized economies with the regularity of the business cycle seem to be a thing of the past, as is the rapid inflation and sometimes stagflation that accompanied them. America’s Clinton boom did run out of steam just as he left office but the Bush Administration’s tax cuts appear to have made the U.S. slowdown extraordinarily short, although that is still no excuse for weighing them so heavily towards the rich. Countries as diverse as Sweden, Denmark, Britain, Spain and Ireland have backed up America’s argument that freeing up markets and burdensome controls and regulations produces good...

Israeli moves toward all out war in Gaza and Lebanon seem linked to wider dangers of a regional war with severe global consequences. By interpreting these wider dangers it is not meant to minimize the human suffering and regressive political effects of current carnage in these two long tormented war zones. Looking at this bigger picture is crucial for its own sake, but also helps us understand the immediate crises more fully than if as officially presented by Israel, and unfortunately echoed by many governments around the world. Whatever else, this outbreak of major two-front violence is not about Israel’s right to defend its against an enemy that is seriously threatening its territorial integrity or political independence, the only grounds for justifiable war. To treat border incidents, involving initially a few military casualties and the abduction of a single Israeli soldier by a Gazan militia and two by Hizbollah in...

In a shocking display of disregard for the restraints of international law and morality, Israel has been resorting to a massive, flagrant, and cruel display of collective punishment inflicted on the essentially helpless and captive 1.2 million population of Gaza. Almost as shocking has been the silence of the world community in the face of these criminal violations of the Geneva Conventions, which contain the fundamental rules of international humanitarian warfare. The alleged justification for this behavior was the seizure of a single Israeli soldier and the killing of two other members of the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) in a raid carried out by an armed Palestinian group that is apparently independent of Hamas that is in political control of Gaza as a result of its decisive electoral victory in January. To punish the entire Gaza population, already enduring incredible hardships as a result of Israeli refusal to allow economic...

LONDON – It is time overdue for the U.S. to hand back Guantánamo to Cuba, for Britain to hand back Gibraltar to Spain, for Spain to return its African enclaves to Morocco, for India to accept the Pakistan compromise on Kashmir and Russia to renounce its claim to the four southern Kuril islands. With a few step like this we could have a lot more peace and less threats of war, more trade, more economic growth, and we’d all be happier all round. This month two countries in different continents have shown the way – Nigeria in Africa with its dispute with neighbouring Cameroon over ownership of the oil-rich Bakassi peninsular and Argentina over its neighbour Uruguay’s decision to build two big pulp mills on the banks of the Uruguay river which divides them. Both countries decided to forgo hostilities, even war in Nigeria’s case, and go to the International...

LONDON – Memories are short, and perspectives even more so. None of the tourists I spoke to visiting the Valley of the Kings remembered that only nine years ago 55 Swiss tourists were murdered here in a savage attack by the oldest of Egypt’s proliferating terrorist groups. The event pushed the tourist-dependent economy into a severe recession and has been seen by many as a prelude to September 11th, four years later. Doubtless it is good for Egypt that the tourists were not frightened away for long, but there is more good in the story than that. The heartland of militant violence-prone Islamic fundamentalism has long been Egypt. What happens in Egypt is often a bell weather for what will happen elsewhere. This is arguably even more true than it was, now that the Egyptian inspired off-shoot, Al Qaeda, is to all intents and purposes directionless, broken up by the...

LONDON – Nearly everyone here who keeps themselves informed agrees that the sands are shifting in Egypt. The unanswered question is where to? For decades foreign correspondents have reported that economically Egypt is in a terrible mess and is much too vulnerable politically to survive as it is much longer. But it does survive and under Hosni Mubarak who took over 25 years ago when President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by an Islamic militant it has, in its own idiosyncratic way, gradually stabilised. But progressed? It seems not much. Mubarak inherited a political and economic system fashioned in two contradictory ways by his predecessors, Sadat and Gamal Abdel Nasser. Nasser nationalised half the economy. The very poo r were given a safety net and an imaginative land reform was enacted. Before long, although the liberated peasants began to thrive, the urban economy became encrusted and barnacled. Sadat turned the ship...

Keynote, International Peace Research Association, Calgary 1/7/2006 Johan Galtung On professionalization in general Generally, the sociology of professions identifies three characteristics of a profession: [1] There is a range of SKILLS with which a range of professionals will handle a range of problems for a range of clients, with proven competence. The clients have an idea of what to expect from the professional, and the professional of what to expect from a client. [2] There is a professional CODE OF CONDUCT, defining the relation of a professional to the clients, other professionals and others. The code of conduct may be supported by an oath. [3] There is a pattern of ACCOUNTABILITY of the professional to the clients, to other professionals, and to others. Professionalization of peace work moves us beyond peace research and studies, both indispensable for skills. The purpose of peace research is to produce intersubjectively communicable and verifiable...

The issue of women’s right is a matter of universal concern, given that they constitute about half of the entire population of the world. The status of women in most Islamic countries, which adhere to old-fashioned patriarchal principles, is under international scrutiny. Most Muslim governments that wish to cover up for their own male-dominated views of women hide behind Islam, alleging that they wish to bring about sexual equality but they are forbidden from doing so on the basis of Islamic teachings. This is a deeply flawed argument, because Islam like any other religion has many interpretations. The best proof of this is that some Islamic countries have been able to bring about sexual equality without compromising their Islamic principles. Some Muslim countries, such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Turkey have already had female presidents or prime ministers. In fact, it could be argued that Islam has done more for...