TFF PressInfo

Jan Oberg July 8, 2022 There have been lots of reports about how G7 leaders snubbed dinner, photo-op, handshake, concerts, etc. since Russia’s foreign minister Lavrov would also be present during the G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia. Here is Lavrov’s comment to Tass: “This is how they understand protocol, politeness and code of conduct.” Here is another report. This is of course neither professional, good diplomacy nor statesmanship – but, worse, it is an indicator of how little knowledge these people have about how to make peace – an indicator of peace illiteracy – and without wanting to offend children: How childish international politics has become. Diplomatic skills are decreasing as military skills and rhetorics take top priority à la ‘We have overwhelming military power and we do not need to think about the future or show good manners.’ A kind of diplomatic decadence. I do not believe for a...

Jan Oberg May 31, 2022 It was the first visit to China by a UN human rights chief in 17 years. For years, governments and human rights organisations have accused China of many kinds of human rights violations – and a series of them calls what has happened in Xinjiang “genocide” in line, one could add, with former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s “determination” that that was the correct label to put on it while not publishing one word of documentation to back up that grave accusation against China and its president. After years of meticulous preparations, Mme Michelle Bachelet – a former President of Chile, a physician who has studied military strategy and who has served as both Health Minister and Defense Minister and has a significant personal experience with Pinochet’s reign of terror – sent an advance team, then went to China herself, had a zoom conversation...

Jan Oberg May 31, 2022 This is a deeply moving documentary produced by CGTN, China Global Television Network. You may of course avoid seeing it in the belief that China media are full of propaganda, deception and outright lies – and that Western mainstream media is all you need because they tell you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. What it illustrates is the societally deep-rooted, systematic and ongoing character of US militarism since the Vietnam war fifty years ago – and how you were lied to constantly. In all fairness, it also shows how the best among the American people are honest and tells you the truth about their own country’s barbarity. The West in general and the US/NATO countries, in particular, seem to suffer from a complex systemic disease composed of: 1) obsession with the military, weapons and warfare – or militarism that infects...

Gordon DumoulinTFF Associate May 24, 2022 Introduction Here we go again. On the same day, leading Western mainstream media – such as BBC, Politiken, Dagens Nyheter, Le Monde, etc – 14 media from 11 countries – publish a new accusation against China, ‘Xinjiang Police Files’: Exclusive documents reveal China’s machine of repression against the Uyghurs. They are produced by the extreme right Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in the United States. It appeared the day after President Biden had stated, in Tokyo, that the US would come to the rescue of Taiwan if China should attack it. And it coincided also with the UN Human Rights High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, started her fact-finding mission in Xinjiang. Perhaps it was a coincidence. Perhaps the material was put together and made ready by the foundation so it could be published at the right moment? Clearly, the untold purpose has been to undermine...

Jan Oberg May 19, 2022 This short article aims to merely illustrate – not prove – the difference between security political intellectualism and ignorance. It does not focus on peace – theories, ideas, concept or policies – simply because none of the personalities appearing below are in the business of peace. By means of some videos, I aim to illustrate the differences between security political intellectualism and the kind of populist rhetorics that has become so widespread. Weapons have been around for decades but mostly managed by elites who operated within some kind of intellectual framework – agreeing or not agreeing with its characteristics is not the point here. Most people who conducted security politics decades ago were well-educated and experienced compared with most of today’s security political decision-makers. This overall intellectual disarmament coupled to ever-higher levels of military armament and the recent talk about the use of nuclear weapons...

Sunday the 15th, 2022, I was asked to comment from a peace research point of view on Finland and Sweden’s moves to become full members of NATO. I gladly do so since it is a long time since I commented on anything on RT. For those who think that it is surprising or even wrong to speak with Russian media, my media policy can be found here. The denial of access by the EU and others to RT is an indisputable violation of human rights – but most people do not know it. I’m talking about the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 19 from 1966. If you want to get around that violation of your rights, download and pay for a proxy server such as PrivateVPN, set it to e.g. Finland and you will be able to access RT. Then you may also read my front...

Jan Oberg 14 maj, 2022 Engelska versionen av denna finns här Detta är vad västvärlden intellektuellt sett – mitt i sin gränslöst självrättfärdiga, militaristiska sinnesstämning – inte förmår att se: Natos expansionspolitik skapade – och är ansvarig för – konflikten. Ryssland skapade – och är ansvarigt för – kriget. Det finns inget våld som inte har sin grund i underliggande konflikter. Konflikt- och fredskunniga människor talar därför om båda. Och om de vill ha fred ökar de inte symptomen – kriget – utan de tar itu med den verkliga orsaken, konflikten, och ber de stridande parterna att berätta vad de fruktar och vad de vill och tar sig sedan steg för steg vidare mot en hållbar lösning. Men varken mainstream media eller politiker har civilkurage nog att ta itu med konflikten. Det handlar bara om kriget och bara om Ryssland/Putin som måste straffas, oavsett vilket pris kommande generationer ska betala....

Jan Oberg May 12, 2022 Here’s what the West is intellectually unable – in the midst of its boundlessly self-righteous, militarist mood to see: NATO’s expansion policy created – and is responsible for – the conflict. Russia created – and is responsible for – the war. There exists no violence which is not rooted in underlying conflicts. Conflict and peace literate people, therefore, talk about both. And if they want peace, they do not increase the symptoms – the war – they address the real cause, the conflict and ask the conflicting parties to tell what they fear and what they want and then move, step-by-step towards a sustainable solution. But neither the mainstream media nor politicians have the civil courage to address the conflict. It’s only about the war and only about Russia/Putin who must be punished, no matter the price to be paid by future generations. If we...

Gordon Dumoulin TFF Associate May 11, 2022 There is only one winner… Mind-boggling and horrifying as it is, the US House just passed a USD 40 billion military aid package yesterday to buttress Ukraine. USD 40 billion! Does anyone have an idea what humanity could do with such a huge amount of capital flowing into the Military-Industrial Complex this week? And by the way, $ 40 billion is “just 5%” of the total annual US military budget for 2022, USD 750-800 billion (not including many related budgets). In perspective, – The current $40 billion military aid package would easily erase the $35 billion in debts of the 74 poorest nations of the world. (1) – The EU spent $40 billion (€34 billion) in total on climate change mitigation in 2020. (2) – The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) mentions that it would cost $50 billion to vaccinate the whole world against COVID.(3) – The costs...

The time has come for civil society initiatives to counter the disastrous global confrontation that is now endangering the world, and indeed even species survival prospects, in the pursuit of geopolitical goals by the United States disguised somewhat with media complicity that continues to convey the impression that the Ukraine War is about the defence of Ukraine. I believe this is a basically false and potentially dangerous image, including for Ukraine, and even for the main disseminator of hostile geopolitical propaganda, the U.S. government and the North American people. Perhaps, it should not be a surprise that only the political extremes of right and left understand the Ukraine War as a human disaster that is already spilling across the borders of Ukraine, with far worse to come without even considering the growing nuclear dangers. Originally published by the Transcend Media Service, TMS, on May 2, 2022 In light of this...

Truth will out, as they say, and sometimes it in strange ways. On March 9, 2022, the former Danish Prime Minister and former NATO Secretary-General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, gave an interview to Danish Television 2. Here a 30 sec excerpt. In my view, it was deeply shocking for three reasons. First, what he actually says: “If we send planes, it’s to protect Ukrainian airspace, and then we have to be ready to shoot down Russian planes. That would undeniably mean war between NATO and Russia.” That doesn’t worry him. He does not say that the West/NATO should therefore refrain from doing so. See below how he thinks it will go. “I think if it’s going to deter Putin, we shouldn’t rule anything out. And I’m among those who say we should keep Putin in maximum uncertainty.” Not ruling out anything in NATO parlance indisputably means that the use of nuclear...

The NATO-Russia Conflict in Ukraine Prevents Progress at the China-EU Summit It’s amazing how the entire NATO/EU can watch the war in Ukraine and not reflect on issues -and learn lessons – like these: • Prioritising weapons over all other security tools create neither security nor sustainable peace; they create hubris, anti-intellectualism and militarism.• Alliances can only thrive if they appoint enemies.• Military deterrence doesn’t work but stimulates escalation. With confrontational policies and offensive weapons, there can never be common security, stability and peace.• Applying one set of rules for ”us” – e.g. the international rules-based order in contravention of the UN-based international law – and another for ”them” is moral fraud.• Creating hard borders with polarisation is unwise compared to sharing soft borders with neutrality and cooperation. Lacking empathy and a sense of history makes for counterproductive, self-destructive decisions.• And to make peace is about analysing the conflicts –...