TFF global posts 2019

This is how Dr. Vankovska, TFF Associate for over 20 years, succinctly has responded to an inquiry by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.  And on this very day, Macedonia signed its accession protocol to NATO. Let’s make clear a few things: first, the so-called Prespa process, in which the Republic of Macedonia had to change its name and the constitution, had primarily been inspired by wider geopolitical reasons and run by Western power centers. In my view, the collateral damage of this – alleged Nobel Peace Prize worthy – success is the internal political situation and stability. Second, if the NATO enlargement process teaches us anything it is that the political will of the member-states has dominance over the declared criteria for admission to the Alliance. It seems that everything is set now (unlike 2008) so there is no doubt that Macedonia’s accession to NATO is certain. Objectively speaking, the country finds...

Or just how unreasonable US policies against Iran are President Trump doesn’t accept the view of Iran and its behaviour that is stated in the report from the National Intelligence Office. He characterizes his intellligence people as “extremely passive and naive” and says – “Be careful of Iran. Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!” here quoted from Newsweek: “The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They are wrong!” So now you know it: Donald Trump has better intelligence than the rest of the US. Here Robert Kelley, former inspector at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna and Jan Oberg, TFF, discuss the general issues of inspections, sanctions and US foreign policy against Iran in spite of Iran’s 100% compliance with the 2015 JCPOA – Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – which is one of the most...

The number of nuclear weapons possessed by the US and Russia is a fraction of what it was during the height of the Cold War. Successive presidents on both sides, since the time of John F.  Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, have feared their destructive power. Their supposed value, so called Mutually Assured Destruction, known by its capitals, MAD, is in fact valueless. They cannot be used, and nearly everyone accepts that. Yet they continue to exist and, as President Mikhail Gorbachev and his ally in nuclear arms control, President Ronald Reagan, both said, there  is the fear of a false alarm or two errant officers in the silo entering simultaneously their keys which allows the firing  of the rocket. Yet here we are in 2019 with a new American nuclear initiative just announced last weekend. (I doubt that president Donald Trump is in the clutches of Russia. Otherwise, why would...

Press Release at the bottom An Open Letter on the INF & START treaties, nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament measures to preserve peace and achieve sustainable securityAdopted in Basel, Switzerland on January 15, 2019. To: Donald Trump, President of the United StatesVladimir Putin, President of the Russian FederationJens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General of NATOMiroslav Lajčák, Chair of the OSCEFederica Mogherini, EU High Representative for Security and Foreign AffairsEliot Engel, Chair of the US House Foreign Affairs CommitteeAdam Smith, Chair of the House Armed Services CommitteeJames Inhofe, Chair of the US Senate Armed Services CommitteeJames Risch, Chair of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Leonid Slutsky, Chair of the Russian Duma Committee on Foreign AffairsVladimir Shamanov, Chair of the Russian Duma Committee on DefenceKonstantin Kosachev, Chair of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Viktor Bondarev, Chair of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Defence and Security CC: Xi Jinping, President of ChinaTheresa May, Prime...

By Dragana Maksimovic January 28, 2019 The author, MA student at University of Belgrade, become a TFF Associate in 2018. More here. There is one thing about which many peace researchers disagree and constantly debate: Are we really living in the most peaceful era ever, or are we facing a dangerous era of conflicts and struggles for global supremacy – very often masked as a fight for human rights but which can lead to a global war? There are those who agree with Steven Pinker when he claims that “today we are living in a most peaceful time in our species’ existence” (1) or with Barack Obama, the 44th president of The United States, who wanted to highlight how “worth it is reminding ourselves of how lucky we are to be living in the most peaceful, most prosperous, most progressive era in human history.’’ (2) Trying to validate his claims,...

The Algerian philosopher and revolutionary writer, Frantz Fanon, wrote, “Africa is shaped like a gun, and Congo is its trigger. If that explosive trigger bursts, the whole of Africa will explode”.  The Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa’s largest country, is now caught up in the aftermath of its first proper election since independence from Belgium in 1960. Towards the end of last year one could say, after years of non-stop wars and massive carnage, the country was 90% bereft of fighting. The authoritarian regime of President Joseph Kabila was still in power but at last it had been pressured to call an election by the African Union, the Western aid-givers, some of the big Western businesses that mine in the mineral-rich country and, not least, the Catholic Church. At first the election held on December 30th seemed to be peaceful and reasonably well organized, but then as the ballots were counted...

Af Jan Øberg 31. december 2018 Præsident Trump har hér i de sidste uger af 2018 sendt nogle signaler om en fredeligere verden. Og han kom til det Hvide Hus med den helt fornuftige idé om at få et bedre forhold til Rusland. Han har sagt at han synes at de militære udgifter er alt alt for høje og at han vil diskutere med Rusland og Kina hvordan man kan få dem ned. Og han har sagt at USA skal forlade Syrien fordi USA har vundet krigen mod ISIS og ikke længere gider at hjælpe fjenden al-Assad med dét! Publiceret i Arbejderen den 15. januar 2019 her Fra alle politiske sider har man kastet sig over ham. Nogle mener at han derved giver Rusland, Iran og altså Syriens Assad en gave. Her mødes højre og venstre – og de sidstnævnte mener desuden at det er forkasteligt at USA forlader Syrien...

– Martin Luther King Day Since The Transnational is also a public education site, we believe a handy, comprehensive guide to materials about Martin Luther King, Jr. should be found here: For his indisputable greatness as a human being, thinker and activist and for you to see just how far today’s United States of America is from its basic ideals, ideals that he stated so clearly and convincingly. Such ideals must never be allowed to die, neither be turned into lifeless traditions over time that are only paid lip service to at memorial occasions. Martin Luther King, Jr. has a series of messages for today’s world – and inspires anyone who wants to bring about change towards peace. We are particularly fascinated by his elaborations of the concept of The Beloved Community. And we’ve published two other guides earlier: Michel Chossudovsky, TFF Associate, Global Research Guide to Martin Luther King,...

Many know about Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat in Budapest, who led his embassy in a successful attempt to issue “protective passports” to at least 6,000 Hungarian Jews so they could escape the Nazi occupiers and travel to Sweden. He also helped forestall a planned massacre. He became the second person to be given honorary US citizenship.  Many also know about the magnificent effort by the occupied Danes to use small boats to enable around 7,000 Jews to cross the water that separates Denmark and Sweden to get them to neutral Sweden.  And about the German businessman, Oskar Schindler, who later became the star of Stephen Spielberg’s masterpiece film, Schindler’s List, that showed how he used his business in Poland as a means of sheltering a thousand Jews. But how many know about Count Folke Bernadotte, the Swedish aristocrat, who arguably did the most to save people from the concentration...

Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif and the EU Foreign Policy chief Frederica Mogherini UPI writes that the European Union issues sanctions on Iran over assassination plots on January 8, 2019. And US Secretary of State, Pompeo, fully supports them. The move puts the Iranian individuals and intelligence unit on the EU terrorist list – freezing their financial assets. It’s a brilliant example of Matthew 7:3-6: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” Which, it seems, is now a standard operating policy by the Western world. Or, one may say, an example of psycho-political projection of the West’s own dark sides onto this enemy today and that enemy tomorrow. Here some arguments in support of that – perhaps to some – provocative statement: 1) It should be clear from contemporary history’s records that countries...

Dr Jake Lynch, former BBC newsreader, political correspondent for Sky News and Sydney correspondent for the Independent, is the director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney and one of the most published authors in the field of Peace Journalism. His debut novel, Blood on the Stone: An Oxford Detective Story of the 17th Century, is published by Unbound Books. Jake has spent 20 years developing and researching Peace Journalism, in theory and practice. He is the author of seven books and over 50 refereed articles and book chapters. His work in this field was recognised with the award of the 2017 Luxembourg Peace Prize, by the Schengen Peace Foundation. He served for two years as Secretary General of the International Peace Research Association, having organised its biennial global conference in Sydney, in 2010. Before taking up an academic post, Jake enjoyed a 17-year...

New networking by NGOs and individuals Three main challenges to humanity’s survival We are handing to the new generations three overriding dangers to the health and maybe survival of the entire human population: 1. Nuclear war. 2. Climate changes, and 3. Increasing class differences. This last danger, the consequences of the increasing economic differences, is a subject too political for this presentation, but I am of the opinion that if we do not stop the increasing social injustice it will be even more difficult to save the planet. Working against nuclear war “Nuclear war is the greatest danger to the health and survival of mankind”, according to the World Health Organization. Since 1981 I have worked with the organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, IPPNW. We believed that if we could just make people understand the consequences of nuclear war, understand that nuclear war might be the...