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Some have argued that we can never disinvent nuclear weapons and thus will have to live with them as long as civilization exists. But nobody has disinvented cannibalism either, we simply abhor it. We must now learn to abhor equally the thought of incinerating entire cities with nuclear weapons. The abolition of nuclear weapons with thorough verification is a totally realistic goal – we already have treaties banning biological and chemica weapons – and is necessary for human survival. Why ballistic missile defence is not the answer Reagan’s defence secretary Caspar Weinberger, arguing for ballistic missile defence (BMD), inadvertently provided a strong argument against it, saying, “If the Soviet Union got such a system first, we would face a grave danger, because they could launch their missiles without fear of retaliation.” The same, of course, is true in reverse. It is doubtful that such a system would ever work reliably,...

Bussen går – kanske – ifrån Delhi vid 17-tiden. Passagerarna är av två slag: tibetanska munkar och västliga backpackers. Vägen norrut ifrån Delhi är ett totalt trafikkaos. Tretton timmar senare är jag framme i Dharamsala på 1300 meters höjd i Himalaya, religiöst, politiskt och kulturellt centrum för ett par hundra tusen exiltibetaner spridda över Indien. Det är hur mörkt som helst. Jag sveper in mig i en enorm khadi-filt, inköpt på ett Gandhi-museum med tanke på kylan på dessa höjder. Bergsvägen är smal utan gatuljus och med igenbommade skjul. En sjal-silhuett dukar omärkligt upp och frågar var jag ska. Kashmir House, svarar jag, och fem minuter senare tar en minitaxi mig dit. Det är här jag tillsammans med mina vänner ifrån danska Center for Konfliktløsning ska undervisa unga exiltibetaner i konfliktförståelse och i hur den stora världen – som de har god grund att känna sig svikna av – fungerar....

LONDON – Bill Clinton sprang a surprise, but Ehud Barak sprang an even bigger one when, as the light was just about to be turned off at year’s end, both announced that their governments were signing the treaty creating a permanent International Criminal Court. It had been the stand against the treaty by the world’s superpower and the state founded by victims of the worst crime against humanity that had done the most to undermine the Court before its work had begun. That China and India and assorted other malcontents such as Libya and Iraq had not voted for the treaty in Rome at the founding diplomatic conference in 1998 was less significant. 120 other nations had. But the U.S. and the Israeli vote against seemed to many to have stripped it, on the one hand, of a true global reach, and, on the other, of unblemished moral purpose. This was...

Att EU så småningom skulle militariseras var förutsägbart. Det ligger inte i stor- eller superstat/makters natur eller kreativitet att se storheten i ickevåld, i dialog, tolerans, eller andliga världen. I EU &endash; vars viktigaste aktörer är f d kolonialmakter, kärnvapenmakter och/eller kulturellt våldsliga &endash; började militariseringen för ungefär tio år sedan med t ex det fransk-tyska militära samarbetet. Under tio år gjorde ingen i västvärlden någonting för att rädda Kosovo-frågan undan krigets helvete. Inte i någon annan konflikt fanns det så många tidiga varningar och så lite tidigt lyssnande och tidig handling. Vare sig Sverige, övriga Norden, EU, NATO och USA gjorde någonting för att åstadkomma en fredlig lösning genom förhandling &endash; som man gör i t ex Mellanöstern och Nordirland. Man missade varje chans till våldsförebyggande diplomati i en sådan grad och under tio år att man kunde få tanken att någon önskade ett krig. I strid med FN:s...

The TRANSCEND perspective is an alternative THE FLAWED PROCESS [1] Extremists excluded, meaning Hamas and Likud/Orthodox, the agreement being between PLO and Labor/Secular-Modern; probably related to Norwegian social democrat “reason is in the middle”. This works in moderate Norway, but not when more than 50% may feel excluded. They also have peace concepts, and they will announce themselves (like killing Rabin, like suicide bombs). [2] Peace actors/movements both sides excluded, Intifadah, Peace Now, not even acknowledged; yet their action was indispensable. [3] USA is not a signatory, even if it is a major actor on the Israeli side, posing as “third party”. Was Oslo acting for USA? [4] A general underestimation of polarization inside Palestine and Israel; overestimation of whether the accords are binding. [5] An unnecessary amount of secrecy, no dialogue with public. The outcome, structure [6] Lack of symmetry: the agreement does not define two states, but a state and an “autonomy” which in...

LONDON – George Bush, the victor of an imperfect presidential election, looks out on a world that has become increasingly democratic the last decade and shows all the characteristics of becoming more so. But the less than straightforward way that Bush won and, in particular, how obvious it became that U.S. courts were political creatures, raises the profound worry that this will rub off on many parts of the world, which may now be democratic but which are immaturely so. We won’t know the answer to that for some while but, meanwhile, reported recently in a new study published by Freedom House, an American organization that monitors trends in democracy, is some heartening evidence that we are in the midst of an era of historic progress. First, it has become apparent that ethnic warfare, a major impediment since the demise of the Cold War to the further spread of democracy, is...

LONDON – President Bill Clinton who has just arrived in Northern Ireland likes to think the Good Friday peace agreement of 1998 was one of his great accomplishments. Apart from the fact that he was but one pivotal actor among many, the truth is it is far too early to boast. The silencing of the guns and the creation of an Assembly in which sit militant Catholic Republicans who wish the north to be joined with independent Eire to the south, and equally passionate Protestants who want to ensure that the north is forever wedded to the United Kingdom, is an undoubted accomplishment. But it has all been done on a fudge. At bottom the positions of both sides are irreconcilable and the stresses and strains that have made ribbons of previous understandings can re-surface at any moment. Clinton can use his charisma to push things along an inch or two,...

LONDON – Al Gore, facing political defeat in an election that appears to have been stolen, certainly knows what unhappiness is. George W. Bush and his mother clearly know the contrary feeling. “Gosh,” Barbara Bush told CBS television, “It was great to be the mother of the president for 30 minutes”. Unlike the rest of her tough-blooded brood she is known as a modest woman. Perhaps that was sufficient for her. After all every sensible person knows that moments of peak happiness don’t last for much longer than half an hour anyway. Yet high moments aside do we know what happiness is? Is the world becoming a happier place? Are we happier than our parent’s or grandparent’s generation? What could give us a little more happiness? I recall twenty-five years ago an article on the subject published by Geraldine Norman, the art saleroom correspondent of the London Times. I haven’t seen...

1. Introduction – PATRIR A vital new initiative is being launched to promote peacebuilding and peaceful conflict transformation in Romania and Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. The Peace Action, Training and Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR), is due to begin work in January, 2001. Already, however, a great deal is being done to lay the foundations for this new Institute. In order to make this effort successful, we are asking for your support, and are inviting you, as individuals and through your organisations, to cooperate together with PATRIR in ways that will help to strengthen the work of the Institute. Below you will find a complete outline and description of the Institute, including its structure, vision, and methodology. If you would like to receive more information, or to explore ways in which we could cooperate together, please feel free to write to us at icl@c2i.net 2. PATRIR Outline PATRIR: Peace Action,...

the need for a massive aid program for Africa LONDON – Surely a massive infusion of aid into Africa would be to pour money down a rat hole? Isn’t this the mistake that was made in the past – enormous generosity by the rich countries only to see it wasted on misconceived projects, bad economic management and, at its worst, siphoned away into war and corruption, as is so evident in say Zimbabwe right now? But a call for more aid is the essence of a remarkable interview given to the Financial Times on Tuesday by South Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki. The rat hole is one way to look at it. But another, equally plausible, is to say enough African countries have turned off the low, downward, road and are walking a more straight and narrow path of fiscal responsibility. They have good macro economic management and low inflation rates and...

to wind back military spending LONDON – The world goes on, even as Al Gore and George W. Bush compete for the title of head honcho of the world’s only superpower. Powerful one of them will be, and mighty the U.S. will remain for the foreseeable future. Yet it is not the only well-built actor on the stage. Indeed, some argue, quite understandably after the missed opportunities of the Clinton years, that there is a lot to be said for trying to ignore the U.S. as much as possible or, at least go round it. Just let the U.S. pay as little as it wants to the UN and rely on the rest of the rich countries to make up the difference. This will clear the air in the UN, take its mind of the perennial struggle with Washington over arrears, and allow its energies to be better concentrated to how...

EU:s militarisering – för försvar eller anfall? EU:s högste utrikeschef Javier Solana är, förklarade han vid en utfrågning i EU-parlamentet den 22/11, mycket nöjd med de senaste dagarnas beslut om snabb uppbyggnad av EU:s militära kapacitet, som tagits med helhjärtat stöd av det “neutrala” Sverige. Regeringen försvarar sig med att det inte handlar “om ett gemensamt territorialförsvar med ömsesidiga försvarsgarantier”, som det hette häromdagen på regeringens webplats i ett upprört genmäle på forskaren Gunnar Jervas varning för att Sverige håller på att avveckla alliansfriheten genom att ställa trupper till EU:s förfogande. Regeringen har rätt. EU har inte blivit en försvarspakt. EU har blivit en anfallspakt. EU ska kunna “sätta in en styrka om upp till en armékår (60.000 man eller 15 brigader) samt nödvändiga sjö- och flygstridskrafter inom 60 dagar och kunna stanna minst ett år” (enligt PM från regeringskansliet 2000-11-13). Sveriges bidrag består av 50 stabsofficerare, en mekaniserad bataljon,...