TFF Blog

Johan Galtung – over 50 years my dear friend, collaborator and one of my two peace research mentors – died this morning. He was 93. He was, beyond any doubt, one of the greatest and most innovative social scientists of our time and one of the early pioneers of the academic field of peace and conflict research. He was a controversial intellectual to some extent – the envy, of course, by others – but kept true to his Gandhian-inspired nonviolent values where many succumbed to ‘security’ with weapons. He was also a TFF Associate since 1986 and we remained in contact – last, just a few days ago. You’ll find hundreds of articles by his hand on TFF’s present and earlier archive sites. I smile when I think of the countless hours we spent together exploring the world and coming up with new ideas. I owe him more than words...

Photo: Ash Hayes on Unsplash Tending the fronts of conflict Kristin ChristmanTFF Associate February 15, 2024 On Wednesday, October 25, 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, “Our war against Hamas is a test for all of humanity. It is a fight between the Iran-Hezbollah-Hamas axis of evil and the forces of freedom and progress. . . We are the people of the light, they are the people of darkness. Light will triumph over darkness.”[1] Now where have we heard those lines before? The axis of evil, the forces of light and freedom, the forces of darkness: these prejudiced phrases are so stale they’ve grown moldy. The war in Ukraine, we’re to believe, is against dark, evil Russia. Biden’s National Security Strategy 2022 speaks of the “darker vision” of US adversaries. The Cold War was against the “Evil Empire.” In every single US war for the past two and a half centuries,...

, I had the great pleasure of being Ania K’s guest on her YouTube Channel. Here is a link to it – and I want you to use the link to access it on YouTube and not here. The amusing thing is that it’s been viewed by 11,000 people in a few days, and less than a week later, there are 160 comments, 99,99 % positive about the whole thing. I note a frequent comment from Ania’s viewers: Where have you been hiding, Jan? How come I did not hear about him before and that sort of “we never heard about him…” comments. This is striking after having been the co-founder and director of the Transnational Foundation since 1986 – and quite active in doing research, on-the-ground conflict mitigation work and having written thousands of articles, book chapters and comments. But I’ve heard it before and here are some reasons: One,...

Saudis Contradict Blinken: Want Actual Palestinian State now, not a Vague ‘Peace Process’ Farhang Jahanpour TFF Associate February 10, 2024 On Tuesday afternoon (6 February 2024), U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken took part in a joint press conference with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha. The press conference was mainly about the war in Gaza and the possibility of a new pause in the fighting and exchange of hostages and prisoners. However, Blinken was also asked about his recent meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the possibility of normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Blinken said (as quoted by the US Department of State): “But with regard specifically to normalization, the crown prince reiterated Saudi Arabia’s strong interest in pursuing that. But he also made clear what he had said to me before, which...

Jan Oberg February 9, 2024 Quite as could be expected politically, Sweden’s Public Prosecutor announced on February 7, 2024, that Sweden had closed down the investigation of how Nord Stream was destroyed and by whom – and of whether there were any Swedes involved in the affair. The main, actually only, argument he gave was that Sweden does not have jurisdiction over the area despite the fact that the pipelines run through Sweden’s Exclusive Economic Zone, EEZ. The other remarkable fact was that the Prosecutor did not hold a press conference but only issued a statement and emphasised at the end of it that he had no further comments. I reflect a bit on this here – in four small but important points: I was also asked to comment on China’s national TV Channel, CCTV: And on RT – Russia Today. Thanks to the West’s violation of the human right...

Jan Oberg February 6, 2024 Regrettably, the world’s allegedly most prestigious prize has been awarded to many who did not qualify according to the will of Alfred Nobel. I want to direct your attention to the most important book written about the peace deception called the Nobel Peace Prize. In his last meticulously researched book, “The Real Nobel Peace Prize. A Squandered Opportunity to Abolish War,” my friend and TFF Associate Fredrik Heffermehl (1938-2023) showed that only 36 out of 134 awards would qualify according to Nobel’s clearly anti-militarist intentions. Here is how Nobel himself formulated, in his will, that this prize should go “to the person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses” and that this prize for the “champions of peace” should be awarded “by a committee of...

TFF Associate Since the end of the Cold War and increasingly in recent years, US officials followed as usual by their European allies, have coined a new phrase which they use instead of international law, namely ‘rules-based international order’ (RBO). Leiden Journal of International Law has published an online book (published by Cambridge University Press) that explores the ramifications of this new term. It asks: “What is this creature, the ‘rules-based international order’, that American political leaders have increasingly invoked since the end of the Cold War instead of international law? Is it a harmless synonym for international law, as suggested by European leaders? Or is it something else, a system meant to replace international law which has governed the behaviour of states for over 500 years?” It argues that the RBO is the United States’ alternative to international law, an order that encapsulates international law as interpreted by the...

8,”sizeSlug”:”large”,”linkDestination”:”none”} –> I’m grateful to be given the opportunity to think back on the dissolution conflicts and wars of the 1990s and reflect on what it was NATO illegal bombings in the spring of 1999 – when I was there under the bombs – turned out later to have set in motion into the Second Cold War. Also, it was indeed an honour to participate in this world-renowned daily’s 120th anniversary. It’s the oldest daily in the Balkans. I shall participate in a commemorative conference in Belgrade in March 2024 when it is 25 years ago, NATO committed its crimes and began its out-of-area – and out-of-Treaty – activities, from which there is a straight line to the foolish NATO expansion and attempts to get NATO into Ukraine and Ukraine into NATO. I’d like to direct the reader’s attention toward TFF’s study – 2000+ A4 equivalent and probably the largest...

Action Committee For Call to Conscience About Gaza February 5, 2024 To be updated As mentioned earlier here on The Transnational, the “Emergency London Conference of Global Intellectuals of Conscience Concerning the Genocide in Gaza”, arranged by Turkey’s former PM and former foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu and Richard Falk, professor emeritus at Princeton University and TFF Associate since 1986 was held January 27-28, 2024. It was based on this Declaration created prior to the conference. The conclusions and planned actions from the London conference “Supporters of the Declaration of Conscience and Concerns to stop genocide in Gaza met in London on January 27, 2024. Participants came from more than 25 countries. The emergency conference was responding to the genocidal catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, and the recent interim order of the International Court of Justice. The Conference was convened by former Prime Minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu, and Queen Mary...

Interview on CGTN’s “First Voice.” CGTN is China’s main global TV network. At present, CGTN Digital has over 150 million followers across the globe. Instead of embedding the video here, we offer the direct link so you can see the comments that it elicited and also comment yourself if you like. And when there, browse CGTN as an absolutely leading global news outlet. And then… Please support TFF, which continues to deliver truthful, pro-peace public education based on decades of research. So press that red button for peace!

You know the TFF Statement on the Gaza Genocide – if not, read it here. This Declaration was initiated by professor Richard Falk – TFF Associate since 1986 – and the former Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu – a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey and Leader of the Justice and Development Party from 2014 to 2016. Read this Declaration today. We urge you to sign it – the sooner, the better. This must not continue!

WP logo to the left by Norebbo 2020 Jan Oberg January 11, 2024 WordPress – WP – is huge. One source states that it’s the world’s most popular and widely used content management system that now powers 42.7% of all websites on the internet. TFFs, my PhotoGraphics and my personal online home, plus 12 more I am responsible for, are all on WordPress. I love WordPress and have used it almost since it was established in 2003. It is very reliable, stable and logical to build sites on, and the variety of themes, plugins, etc – all you need – is amazing. And there exists no better support department than WP’s. For very good reasons, they call themselves Happiness Engineers. I could go on, but – there is a simultaneous thing to report: My first really bad experience with WP concerning its boost/promotion mechanism, Blaze. Here on The Transnational, we...