Will confronting Iran lead to war or peace?

Will confronting Iran lead to war or peace?

By Richard Falk October 3, 2019 Prefatory Note: The post below is a slightly modified version of an interview published in The Nation on September 25th, following the September 14th attack on Saudi oil facilities. It follows a pattern with respect to Iran of accusations, denials, and public uncertainties. This combination of elements, given the leadership in Washington […]

What if the government abolished the military?

What if the government abolished the military?

October 29, 2019 By Jorgen Johansen and Brian Martin As entrenched as the military is in our society and minds, a new book shows that civilians can defend a society without using violence. Imagine that government leaders make an announcement: “We’re going to abdicate responsibility for defense. Over the next few years, our military forces […]

Time to end the West’s break with Russia

Time to end the West’s break with Russia

By Jonathan Power October 25, 2019 It’s time overdue for the West to make up with Russia. The contretemps over Ukraine, now played out over five years, is too long. As the world goes it doesn’t deserve so much attention. Ukraine in landmass may be a big country but it’s population is only 44 million […]

The EU pulled the rug from under the Kurds

The EU pulled the rug from under the Kurds

By Jonathan Power October 17, 2019 Insurgencies may not die, but at least, like old soldiers, they usually fade away. Well, that seemed to be the case with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK. For the best part of five years between 2000 and 2005 there was a truce in Turkey’s bitter and savage civil […]

Revisiting the Earth Charter

Revisiting the Earth Charter

By Richard Falk October 13, 2019 Prefatory Note: The following essay will appear as a chapter in Peter Burden & Klaus Bosselmann, eds., The Future of Global Ethics (Edward Elgar, 2018),  with the title: Revisiting the Earth Charter 20 Years Later: A Response to Ron Engel Ron Engel has articulated an insider review of the Earth […]

Nuclear disarmament is more important than tackling global warming

Nuclear disarmament is more important than tackling global warming

By Jonathan Power October 8, 2019 There’s a lot of end-of-the-world hyperbole around on climate change. So there should be. But it blankets out other important causes that are even more imminently important – wiping out malaria and sleeping sickness and introducing pure water supplies, sewerage systems and education for girls – all of which […]

Dark Clouds and the Human Condition: Youth to the Rescue!

Dark Clouds and the Human Condition: Youth to the Rescue!

By Richard Falk October 1, 2019 Prefatory Note: The post below of my remarks at the opening session of the Maker Majlis Conference, College of Islamic Studies, Hamed Bin Khalif University (HBKU) in Doha, Qatar on 22 Sept 2019. The theme of the three-day conference was on the role of youth in furthering the UN […]

A great soul’s 150th birthday

A great soul’s 150th birthday

By Jan Oberg Lund, Sweden – October 2, 2019 This is what TFF sent out as TFF PressInfo 532 today. It gives you an impression of what you will get if you have not already subscribed to this, one of the oldest peace mail services. Just fill in the form to your right. Above Gandhi’s […]

How Yemen’s Houthis are bringing down a Goliath

How Yemen’s Houthis are bringing down a Goliath

By Pepe Escobar October 1, 2019 “It is clear to us that Iran bears responsibility for this attack. There is no other plausible explanation. We support ongoing investigations to establish further details.” Originally posted on in the Asia Times on September 25, 2019 here The statement above was not written by Franz Kafka. In fact, it was […]

New revelations on Obama Muslim Brotherhood and Erdogan ISIS co-strategies

New revelations on Obama Muslim Brotherhood and Erdogan ISIS co-strategies

By Gordon M. Hahn October 1, 2019 Five or six years ago, when I was still working most intensively on issues related to jihadism in Russia and globally, I warned of the Caucasus Emirate-tied network running from Russia’s North Caucasus to ISIS in Syria and Iraq through Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia (with Tbilisi’s connivance) (see […]