Peace

  John Pilger 26 september, 2018 The death of Robert Parry earlier this year felt like a farewell to the age of the reporter. Parry was “a trailblazer for independent journalism”, wrote Seymour Hersh, with whom he shared much in common. Hersh revealed the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and the secret bombing of Cambodia, Parry exposed Iran-Contra, a drugs and gun-running conspiracy that led to the White House. In 2016, they separately produced compelling evidence that the Assad government in Syria had not used chemical weapons. They were not forgiven. Originally published at johnpilger.com Driven from the “mainstream”, Hersh must publish his work outside the United States. Parry set up his own independent news website Consortium News, where, in a final piece following a stroke, he referred to journalism’s veneration of “approved opinions” while “unapproved evidence is brushed aside or disparaged regardless of its quality.” Although journalism was always...

September 21, 2018 – Peace Day  “Home To Gaia” – An illustrated storybook about finding peace and love inside to share it outside – Age 3 and up Can we work for peace in the world when being conflict-ridden inside? Are we collectively responsible for the conflicts and violence in the world? These are questions and conversations we’ve had many times with professionals in the peacebuilding field. Going for both/and as well as the link between inner and outer realities is a good start when we become aware that everything we are, think and act upon influences our whole environment and the collective consciousness. Political peace is not just about envisioning with the heart but also about putting forward reasonable possibilities to actually create harmony inside out. Fair chances to co-create together wonderful visions for all humankind may appear when we are secure about our own worthiness to be loved...

In examining the future, we must look to the past. As we watch the media today, we are spoon fed more and more propaganda and fear of the unknown, that we should be afraid of the unknown and have full faith that our government is keeping us safe from the unknown. But by looking at media today, those of us who are old enough will be reminded of the era of Cold War news articles, the hysteria of how the Russians would invade and how we should duck and cover under tables in our kitchens for the ensuing nuclear war. Under this mass hysteria, all Western governments were convinced that we should join Western allies to fight the unknown evil that lies to the east. Later through my travels in Russia during the height of the Cold War with a peace delegation, we were shocked by the poverty of the...

The Belt and Road Initiative has turned 5 years. On September 7, 2013, at the Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan, President Xi Jinping of China launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This initiative – which has attracted a lot of attention from all over the world – was launched to “promote the economic prosperity of the countries, strengthen mutual learning between different civilizations and promoting world peace and development.” The historical roots, of course, is the ancient Silk Road from China through Eurasia to Europe and Africa. At the time of the mentioned speech, 60+ countries were on the list. Now, 5 years later and as the initiative gains momentum, there are more than 100 countries involved in various ways and roles. And the “Silk Roads” now points in all directions, including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, even the USA. The BRI has become a global force – a civilian...

By David Krieger Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, NAPF August 2018 Nuclear weapons pose a grave threat to the future of civilization. As long as we allow these weapons to exist, we flirt with the catastrophe that they will be used, whether intentionally or accidentally. Meanwhile, nuclear weapons skew social priorities, create imbalances of power, and heighten geopolitical tension. Diplomacy has brought some noteworthy steps in curbing risks and proliferation, but progress has been uneven and tenuous. The ultimate aim of abolishing these weapons from the face of the earth—the “zero option”—faces formidable challenges of ignorance, apathy, and fatigue. Yet, the total abolition of nuclear weapons is essential for a Great Transition to a future rooted in respect for life, global solidarity, and ecological resilience. This will require an emboldened disarmament movement working synergistically with kindred movements, such as those fighting for peace, environmental sustainability, and economic justice, in pursuit of...

By David Swanson TFF Associate David Swanson delivers, in his usual crystal clear and well-documented manner, the arguments against higher U.S. military spending and illustrates how much better it would be for the U.S. itself and for the world to reduce the military expenditures and allocate even just a fraction of these incomprehensibly huge sums to constructive purposes. TFF is proud to inform you that David has been awarded the US Peace Memorial Foundation’s 2018 Peace Prize. Congratulations, David! So well deserved.

  August 14, 2018 By Robert J. Burrowes Given the overwhelming evidence that activist efforts are failing to halt the accelerating rush to extinction precipitated and maintained by dysfunctional human behavior, it is worth reflecting on why this is happening. Of course, you might say that the rush to extinction is being slowed. But is it? Even according to BP’s chief economist: ‘despite the extraordinary growth in renewables in recent years, and the huge policy efforts to encourage a shift away from coal into cleaner, lower carbon fuels, there has been almost no improvement in the power sector fuel mix over the past 20 years. The share of coal in the power sector in 1998 was 38% – exactly the same as in 2017…. this is one area where at the global level we haven’t even taken one step forward, we have stood still: perfectly still for the past 20 years....

By Farhang Jahanpour, TFF Board member August 13, 2018   In an interview with Tehran Times, professor Farhang Jahanpour, part-time tutor on Middle Eastern affairs in the Department of Continuing Education, University of Oxford, and a member of Kellogg College says that he does not believe that Arab NATO is “a viable military alliance.” Former Senior Research Scholar at Harvard adds that “Many earlier U.S. attempts to develop a formal alliance with Arab monarchies have failed and, at the moment, there is even less unity among various PGCC members than ever before.” Professor Jahanpour suggests that President Trump should be invited to Iran to see the destruction wrought on her people thanks to Saddam Hussein’s Western-supported invasion of Iran and then he should visit all the other places the US has helped destroy and meet the victims there. Following is the full text of the interview which was published by...

  On the occasion of the Summit in NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Outdated/Obsolete. Here the 8 main arguments. Please share if you like! The Western media will not raise these critical questions, the rest of us must… Here the original link at Facebook Live with all comments and viewer statistics      

    Comment “We deeply regret the re-imposition of sanctions by the US, due to the latter’s withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)” – say High Representative Federica Mogherini and Foreign Ministers of E3 (Jean-Yves Le Drian of France, Heiko Maas of Germany, Jeremy Hunt of the United Kingdom). That’s an important statement. But more is needed. While the EU needs to protect its member states against US attempts to bully and punish everyone who from today deals with Iran, it needs to step up all kinds of co-operation with Iran and be ready to endure whatever conflicts with the U.S. this may entail. The future of the EU is at stake. No less. Also – says Oberg – it is peculiar that the US has chosen August 6, Hiroshima Day, to re-impose its sanctions on Iran in the wake of its decision to withdraw from the...

A personal pledge provoked by the debates about Syria   By Jan Oberg   Summary About 95% of all debates about conflicts and war that we see in politics, mainstream media, the Internet and social media focus on the violence, who uses more or less of it and who is, therefore, the evil party. This approach places direct violence – such as human rights violations, killings, bombings etc. – in the centre of the attention and that is unfortunate because violence is always only a symptom. I call this the simplifying or reductionist approach; invariably it has populist connotations too and usually ends up in mud-slinging. I argue in this analysis that this reductionist approach is counterproductive and that – because of the defining characteristics of these debates – the underlying conflicts/problems that cause the violence are never in focus and that no international complex conflict can be explained even...

Video interview with Miko Peled of July 20, 2018 We strongly recommend that you go to Peled’s excellent blog, see his articles and video and read about his now classical book, “The General’s Son. Journey of an Israeli in Palestine.” You’ll also find an interesting one on his recent visit to Iran and how people react to his going to Iran. And why not subscribe to his blog? Here is civil courage, analytical mind, passion and truth in one, a man who knows – compare that with the mainstream media’s coverage of the issue that are his.