TFF PressInfo

Jan Oberg December 9, 2023 Today, Ivana Nikolic Hughes, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, NAPF, sent us this message: “It is with a profound sense of loss that I write to inform you that David Krieger, co-founder and our beloved President Emeritus, passed away peacefully at his home on December 7, 2023.  Our determination to carry on David’s legacy through NAPF and beyond is even stronger. For me personally, it will be impossible to ever fill his shoes, but deeply meaningful to at least try to do so.  The family has written a beautiful obituary that you can read here.  Also, as a reminder of David’s many, many, many accomplishments, contributions, and more, please see here.   In the coming months, there will be opportunities to celebrate David’s life and example, and we will keep you posted on them. In sympathy, Ivana Ivana Nikolić Hughes, Ph.D.President, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation...

Jan Oberg 7 December, 2023 Without being a NATO member, Sweden enters into an extremely far-reaching agreement with the United States, which completely undermines the country’s ability to conduct an independent security policy. Decisions are made without debate and behind the backs of the Swedish people. The official threat perception is fake: Russia will not attack the island of Gotland, but Russian missiles will now quite naturally be aimed at Sweden and be the first to be fired – if! Sweden might as well shut down the Ministry of Defence and let the Pentagon and State do the rest. Sweden has just signed a so-called defence agreement with the US. It gives the US access to no less than 17 military bases all over Sweden – and it does not exclude nuclear weapons on Swedish soil. It is now absolutely certain to be dragged immediately into a US war –...

The Occident is heading for an Accident: Some predictions Introduction – the boomerangs from supporting Israel’s genocide I published the article below on TFF Substack on October 22, 2023. I had been waiting for someone to intervene and tell Israel to stop its immoral, illegal and barbaric – as well as intentional – genocide of the Palestinian people. But no Western power exerted any pressure; tragically, instead, most silently or openly, passively or actively supported Israel – no matter Israel’s policies and behaviour. Hamas’ attack on October 7 on Israel can only be condemned. But what is not clear is what actually happened. How was it possible that the Israeli and US intelligence missed all the indicators of what must have taken months for Hamas to prepare? Is it true that Egyptian military authorities warned Israel and PM Netanyahu personally – but in vain? Did Israel know about it and...

In 2020, I wrote an impressionistic article, ”Could everyday micro malfunctions be signs of a coming macro breakdown?” It was inspired by the brilliant sociologist C. Wright Mill’s concept of the sociological imagination. Out of many more, I selected 14 examples of everyday things that I had experienced simply did not work, from lost luggage and flight delays to bank cards that prevent payment, postal services that do not bring out parcels and letters on time, and French pay road toll that prevents you from paying, etc. To quote one example from the article: ”A little story about the decay in my town: I arrive in Lund where I live, after 6 weeks travelling around entirely on my own in China. Everything has worked perfectly there – trains, flights, ticket reservations, no queues anywhere, my WeChat app, ATMs, etc – although English is still a problem for an ignorant person...

5a”},”elements”:{“link”:{“color”:{“text”:”#42945a”}}}}} –> CGTN – “The Point” with Liu Xin Go to the video too, and see the very positive comments there. People around the world are most receptive to thoughts on peace when they get a chance to listen to them – which they don’t anymore in the Western mainstream-militarist media. CGTN is one of the largest and most important global media. If you want to learn more and follow CGTN, you can go to the CGTN homepage here and to CGTN on Facebook here – 121 million followers. It was a delight to work with Liu Xin and her wonderful, kind and professional team in the studio in Beijing. Here is a little memory with her, my wife and TFF co-founder, Christina Spannar and myself. Please support TFF’s work for peace through research and public education. We are all-volunteer, people-financed and do not accept money from governments or corporations....

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 22 Sep 2008. Israel and Palestine met for peace this weekend or, rather, so did positive parts of their civil societies, under the good auspices not of Italy’s government but of the Regione Toscana, in Pisa, where a tower is leaning but still standing. The theme was the European Union as a mediator. With the Israeli government in a permanent coma, the Palestinian house split against itself, the US and Israel sharing the bad karma of being built on stolen land, pushing the inhabitants into bantustans or worse, with Annapolis, the naval base, of course, failing to navigate the waters. Washington’s voice was absent in Pisa. There were other voices, of hope and future, with wonderful joint projects. But peacebuilding is not sufficient. We need also peacemaking – a political solution – and peacekeeping. And here the EU enters: not...

“Mops And More” © Jan Oberg 2023 Jan Oberg October 20, 2023 I assume that most readers here know me as a peace and conflict researcher and as co-founder and director of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, TFF. However, since 2009, I’ve also worked as an art photographer, done projects, and arranged almost 30 exhibitions in my studio here in Lund, Sweden. See more on Oberg PhotoGraphics. I grew up with contemporary art; it’s always been an essential, joyful interest of mine. And in 2002-2003, I found out that I could reach people not only with texts but also with images. Back then, I went on fact-finding in Iraq and interviewed some 160 people at all levels and also took photos with an early digital low-resolution camera – of people, cafées, nature, streets, children, cultural places, museums and… life in general, nothing special. It was merely snapshots...

Palestinians search the rubble of destroyed buildings following an Israeli strike, as battles between Israel and the Hamas movement continue for the sixth consecutive day in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 12, 2023.© Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images Jan Oberg October 12, 2023 This is the text of TFF PressInfo 723 sent out earlier today. I suggest that you subscribe to our free about-weekly newsletter here. In civilisational terms, war is a backward, primitive thing; it solves no conflicts and creates no security – only hate, which fuels more war. It’s a system or structural evil – much more than a human evil.   Equally primitive and uncultured is, of course, the type of black-and-white, simplified narrative: there is only one evil party – the Palestinians and Hamas. The war has only one cause, and we need neither history nor conflict analysis to understand anything....

A discussion with Oksana Boyko about violence and war where the focus is on principles, ideas, concepts and ways of thinking. A delightful exchange of views that would be difficult, if not impossible, to have in similar leading media in the NATO/EU countries. For once, actually, the focus is on how to think about peace… October 12, 2023 Published on RT on October 3, 2023

Deeply moving and concise statement by Yanis Varoufakis October 8, 2023 The Nobel “Peace” Committee should have rewarded Julian Assange for his long service in fighting wars – by revealing how they are master-minded and fought with no connection to official explanations and narratives. It would then also have done something for the freedom of expression and human rights – including this hero’s right to live in freedom. But the NATO Norway Committee consists – in violation of the wish of Alfred Nobel – of former parliamentarians (and not of experts in peace as he mentioned) and has, therefore, no wish or ability to reward dissidents in the West or people who devote their lives to fight also US/NATO wars – as did Daniel Ellsberg. Shame upon the Committee! And thanks from our hearts to both Julian and Yanis. Jan ObergTFF director and editor of The Transnational

Jan Oberg Originally published by Global Times, Beijing, on September 5, 2023 September 28, 2023 A couple of years ago, The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, TFF, in Sweden, of which I am the director, published ”Behind The Smokescreen. An Analysis of the West’s Destructive China Cold War Agenda And Why It Must Stop” (130 pages). Among several perspectives of the U.S./Western accusation industry, we looked into the medialised stories about genocide in Xinjiang, forced labour, and Taiwan and nine mainstream media manipulation methods that aim to manufacture a systematically negative image of China in the Western mind. We found that the Cold War happens by attempts to influence the ’free’ press – also the Western state press – through three main mechanisms: a) Fake or fabricated stories, b) Omission – for instance, of every positive aspect of China’s developments, and c) Source Ignorance: using the same few...

© Jan Oberg “Biking Mom in Xian” Collage – 2023 Certainly, China has evolved continually and progressively, step by step. My expectations were high when I visited this autumn, my first trip post-pandemic. Between 2015 and 2020, I had visited this vast country almost 20 times. Each visit revealed positive changes and swift progress. Allow me to share some observations from my daily experiences there. Firstly, what remains unchanged is their absence of cheese (!). This tradition stems from their historical lack of cattle farming, prioritizing crops and vegetables. However, cows are now present, particularly in Hebei province’s highlands. They’ve even adapted to the sound of wind windmills, unlike the reindeer in Norway’s Sami-land. Another crucial observation is the deep integration of mobile phones into daily life. You can hardly catch a taxi without a mobile app, and ordering coffee from the highly successful chain, Luckin Coffee, also necessitates an...