Treasures – TFF Associates

When a country tests a nuclear weapon, it is sending a message. It is not always clear, however, what that message is. In the case of the recent nuclear test by North Korea, some commentators have argued that the North Koreans are sending a “pay attention to me” message to the international community and particularly the United States. Other commentators have argued that the nuclear test was carried out for domestic purposes, to inspire the country with a display of technological prowess. A short statement from North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency suggests that both international and domestic audiences were relevant to the bomb testing message. The North Korean announcement indicated that the test had several purposes, including to “bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defense”; “settle the scientific and technological problems arising in further increasing the power of nuclear weapons”; “inspiring the army and people of the DPRK”; “contribute...

Written before the April clashes After a dinner conversation in February 2010, with a colleague monitoring conflict in Nepal, the Czech Sinologist based in Hong Kong concurred with others that “the situation here is a big mess.”  Despite relative calm after the judgment day when the court verdict was delivered on February 26, many believe that the storm is brewing this week with the news about the impending red shirt’s determination to hold a large-scaled rally against the Abhisit government beginning on March 12, it would be another fateful moment testing the resilience of Thai society. Given the ways some media choose to report the protest and portray the protesters, I won’t be surprised if some diplomats would report back to their governments that the Thai government is quite nervous while contemplating the possibility of issuing a warning to their citizens against visiting Thailand at the moment. Some foreign companies...

A sort of global election and enthusiasm This historic victory by Barrack Obama is the first truly global election that has been celebrated by people around the world as if they had been voting participants. The reelection of George W. Bush in 2004 was also a national election with global reverberations, but it only aroused widespread feelings of fear and resentment around the world, and no sense of participation. What we are slowly learning is that the United States is the first global state, and as such, its elections become a global, as well as a national, event. From this perspective it is not surprising that peoples throughout the world follow American presidential campaigns and either cheer or lament their outcome. What may be still unappreciated is that for many societies these American elections seem to generate more interest and enthusiasm than do elections in their own country. Barrack Obama’s landslide victory...

The most important thing to understand about nuclear weapons is this: these weapons do not and cannot provide physical protection to their possessors.  Please let this thought sink in.  The second most important thing to understand about these weapons is that they are weapons of genocide writ large or, as the philosopher John Somerville has labeled them, weapons of omnicide, capable of the destruction of all.(1) These weapons put at risk the future of humankind and most life on earth.  Please also let this thought sink in. The third most important thing to understand about nuclear weapons is that they are in the hands of human beings with all their frailties and fallibilities, and, as such, these weapons are disasters waiting to occur.  Please let this thought sink in as well. How the new U.S. president understands the functions, limits and dangers of nuclear weapons will guide his approach to U.S. nuclear policy,...

Mr Chairperson, Foreign Ministers, Excellencies, Panelists! Gandhi was fighting the UK Empire, meaning UK invasion and occupation.  One invasion, Viceroy Richard Wellesley in 1798 against the Sultan of Mysore, was also clearly anti-Muslim. The same year Napoleon’s mission civilisatrice invaded Egypt to make himself Sultan el-kebir, Great Ruler, but were thrown out in 1801. The English came in 1807 and Egypt was a colony till 1922. Gandhi fought an evil empire as seen by how they reacted to the Sepoy mutiny 150 years ago or to the 1919 Amritsar massacre. Churchill not only referred to him as a semi-naked fakir, but sincerely hoped he would fast himself to death. But in 1947 it was all over: first went India, then the rest of the empire, mainly due to Gandhi’s nonviolence. Today they are both, India and England, blossoming, India with a brilliant linguistic federalism and phenomenal economic growth, England heading the same way but still...

Sydsvenska Dagbladets kultursida Amerikanska bombningar av Iran skulle sätta världen i brand, varnar fredsforskaren Jørgen Johansen. Det har spekulerats i om USA kommer att bomba Iran innan president Bush avgår nästa år. Senast häromveckan publicerade The Times en läcka från Pentagon om en plan för en intensiv tredagars bombning av 1_200 strategiska mål. Retoriken i Washington om ”Ondskans axel” har nu kryddats med ”kärnvapenutveckling”, stöd till terrorister och spridning av extremism. Det är skrämmande likt hur den katastrofala ockupationen av Irak förbereddes. Men ett angrepp på Iran skulle få konsekvenser som gör kriget i Irak till en detalj. Iran är observatör och snart medlem i den ganska lite omtalade, men desto viktigare Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Detta är en säkerhetspolitisk allians där Kina och Ryssland är dominerande medlemmar, men även Indien, Pakistan och fem centralasiatiska stater ingår. Det är länder med närmare tre miljarder invånare på ett territorium från Östersjön...

We at SGI’s HQ reported to President Ikeda that you had put his peace proposal up on the TFF website and your comments about his meeting with Wen Jiabao. He was very happy to hear from you and sent the following verbal message to you in response: “Thank you so much for once again sharing the contents of my annual peace proposal through your network and website. I am honored to be an Associate of TFF and wish you every success in your vital and tireless endeavors to communicate ways of building a peaceful world. Thank you also for your kind comments on my recent meeting with Wen Jiabao. With my warmest wishes to you and Christina.”

1:a juni, 2007 Konsult Göran Persson minskar chanserna för att Norge ska köpa Jas, skriver fredsforskaren Jørgen Johansen. I 54 år har Norge köpt amerikanska stridsflygplan. Nu ska de gamla bytas ut och kampen står mellan Jas 39 Gripen, Eurofighter och det amerikanska Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Den norska staten har redan satsat hundratals miljoner i utvecklingsarbete på var och en av de tre kandidaterna. Nu kan Göran Persson bli en viktig bricka i spelet om vem som får denna order. Hans nya arbetsgivare jobbar för amerikanska Lockheed Martin. Totalkostnaden blir långt över 25 miljarder kronor för 48 flygplan. Särskilt för den minsta av flygplansproducenterna, Jas, är detta stora pengar. Men det handlar också om så mycket annat.Många aktörer kämpar i dessa dagar för sina särintressen. Uppköp av militära flygplan är stora industriella samarbetsprojekt där många intressen vägs in. Militära, ekonomiska, politiska och teknologiska intressen är på banan för att...

Pankaj MishraBuddha i världenÖversättning och förord Zac O’YeahOrdfront 2007 Telefonen ringde i den lilla byn Mashobra i indiska Himalaya hemma hos författaren Pankaj Mishra. En vän i Calcutta hade sett förfärliga bilder på tv. Författaren, utan egen mottagare, knackade på hos sin värd herr Sharma, redaktör för en sanskrittidskrift. Men han ville inte bli störd i sin andaktsstund. Några dagar senare såg han på en flimrande svartvit tv hos en puckelryggig bonde i byn bilderna från attentatet mot World Trade Center. Den indiske författaren hade skaffat sig rummet hos herr Sharma redan 1992 efter avslutade universitetsstudier. För att studera och arbeta på en bok om Buddhas liv hade han sökt isolering i bergen. Arbetet med Buddhaboken skulle komma att ta tolv år. Andra böcker kom till under tiden och Mishra etablerade sig internationellt som författare och skribent i västerländska tidningar som The Guardian och London Review of Books. Men frågan...

The thoughtless who never doubtMeet the thoughtful who never act.Bertold Brecht, “In Praise of Doubt”We humanize what is going on in the world and in ourselvesonly by speaking of it,and in the course of speakingwe learn to be human.Hannah Arendt, Men in Dark Times, 1968 Thinking and Speaking in Dark Times These two inscriptions express the animating assumptions that express my views on responsible scholarship. The first assumption affirms the tension between unreflective certainty and paralyzing thoughtfulness. It recalls the famous Yeats’ line, “The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” Both poetic formulations capture the dominant mood in American university life during the early part of the 21st century. It is an atmosphere that does not encourage ‘responsible scholarship’ that is sensitive and responsive to the challenge of ‘dark times.’ Embarking on responsible scholarship would stimulate a posture of reflective action that might take...

Fred er at sikre udvikling og udvikle sikkerhed med ikkevold og mangfoldighed Individer så vel som samfund behøver mange ting men to er basale og universelle. Udvikling betyder en kontinuerlig modning, højere niveauer for at leve og være, tilfredsstillelse af mikro/basale behov (som f.eks. mad og vand), meso/højere behov (f.eks. fællesskab, værdighed, psyko-socialt helbred) og makro/højeste behov (ex. spiritualitet, kærlighed, selvudvikling og andre former for realisering, universelt fællesskab.) Nogle – som psykologen Abraham Maslow – argumenterer for at menneskelige og sociale behov er organiseret hierarkisk, altså at vi mennesker først må have de grundlæggende behov tilfredsstillet, før vi kan stige opad. Men mennesker i dyb krise har historien igennem leveret beviser på at højere ikke-materielle behov og niveauer af eksistens hjalp dem til at overleve, f.eks. troen på en Gud og håbet om medmenneskers solidaritet. Kunsthistorien er fyldt med personligheder hvis ’lavere’ behov ikke blev dækket, men de berigede alligevel verden med...

21. marts, 2007 Hans Jørgen BonnichsenHånden. En PET- og politikrønikePolitikens forlag, 2006256 sider, 249 dkr H.J.Bonnichsen siger et sted i sin bog, “Hånden”, at han er taknemmelig over at have været aktiv politimand, i den periode han var det. Det var en tid med mindre vold.Jeg har lige set en film fra 70-erne over en bog af André Brink, som jeg læste for mange år siden. Filmen var en påmindelse om hvor forfærdelig politivold- og overmagt kan være, – var i Sydafrika, er sikkert også i dag flere steder på kloden.Bonnichsen burde tilføje taknemmelighed over at være dansk. Hos os blev de værste undertrykkelsesmetoder afviklet for længe siden, gennem kamp og organisation nedefra. Bonnichsen kan altså være taknemmelig for at behovet oppefra for at holde masserne nede, i hans periode ikke var så aktuelt, idet danske love og forordninger bestemte at goder skulle fordeles nogenlunde rimeligt. (Det er så ved...