Treasures – TFF Associates

March 5, 2008 Richard Falk Written in mid-February 2008 It now seems all but certain that John McCain will be the Republican candidate for president of the United States, and will be likely opposed by Barack Obama or possibly by Hilary Clinton. At first glance such a contest poses a clear choice, especially as McCain is being driven further and further to the right by the ultra-conservative and evangelical right-wing of the Republican Party. McCain identifies closely with George W. Bush on most foreign policy issues, above all on Iraq policy, and does not devote much political energy to such major domestic agenda items as jobs and health care.  McCain is still somewhat engaged in a battle for the Republican nomination with Mike Huckabee, who although trailing badly in the delegate count, has mounted a surprisingly strong challenge with the ardent backing of both religious and secular social conservatives (that...

Tal i Umeå Statskyrka, 16 december 2006 – 4 januari 2007 Inför detta tal har jag funderat på vad som gör mig optimistisk inför framtiden och det som gör mig mer pessimistisk. Jag har också funderat på vilka steg jag tror vi måste ta för att få fred och en värld utan våld. Låt mig börja med det som gör mig optimisk. Detta utgörs normalt av de fantastiska människor jag har förmånen att träffa i mitt jobb. Denna höst har jag lärt känna Birgul Özbaris. Hon är en ung turkisk journalist. I Turkiet har hon skrivit flera artiklar om vapenvägran där hon har varit kritisk mot sitt land på grund av de hårda straff som man får om man vägrar göra militärtjänst. På grund av dessa artiklar har hon och hennes familj krakaserrats av myndigheterna och hon har flera rättsfall mot sig där hon riskerar att få över 20 år...

This April the US-American radio journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal will celebrate his 55th birthday – the 27th on death row. For 27 years he has been struggling to get the legal possibility to be able to prove his innocence.Amnesty International has dedicated one of their rare personal reports to his case in 2000, listing one hair-raising judical scandal after the next, and in consequence ending the repot with the strong demand for a new trial – a demand the organisation is emphazising to this day. The never-ending story is finally reaching the fringes of it’s end.As the very last legal possibility Abu-Jamal’s case is waiting at the US Supreme Court to be allowed to be heard. The prosecution, however, is not giving in and has demanded the re-installment of the death penalty, lifted in December 2001, and have Abu-Jamal executed without further legal examination. Please sign the new online petition to...

29 november, 2009 Replik till artikel om kriget i Afghanistan av Jens Orback, Generalsekreterare för Olof Palmes Internationella Center,Aftonbladet 11. november 2009 Efter massmordet den 11 september 2001 måste USA:s president (vem han än hade varit) för att överleva ta en fruktansvärd hämnd. De flesta av gärningsmännen, inklusive den förmodade ledaren, var saudiska och aktionen hade planerats i Tyskland, men inget av de länderna gick att bomba, så det blev Afghanistan som blev offret. USA utpekade Osama bin Laden som ledare och Afghanistan som hans tillhåll (dock utan att framlägga några bevis) och fick säkerhetsrådet med på en resolution som ställde krav på Afghanistan, men inte på någon resolution som bemyndigade krig. NATO:s medlemmar uttalade samstämmigt sitt stöd med hänvisning till NATO-stadgans paragraf 5 om att ett angrepp på en är ett angrepp på alla. USA hade två år tidigare vid angreppet på Jugoslavien lärt hur besvärligt det är att...

Om Saddam, sannings- och försoningsarbete De senaste 20 åren har 24 sannings- och försoningkommissioner upprättats runtom i världen. Men vad spelar “sanningen” för roll om den inte används politiskt? Sören Sommelius har läst senaste numret av Glänta – väsentliga texter om vår tids grundläggande frågor. TidskriftenGlänta 4/2006Tema Sanning och försoning Saddam Hussein avrättades årets näst sista dag för brott begångna för mer än 20 år sedan. Diktatorns ansvar för det ohyggliga kriget mot Iran och hans brott mot det kurdiska folket kommer därmed aldrig att rannsakas i domstol. Förre försvarsministern (och krigsförbrytaren, menar jag) Donald Rumsfeld kan sannolikt sova bättre när USA slipper rättslig granskning av amerikanernas mångåriga uppbackning av tyrannen. Också sanningen knäcktes i bödelns snara. En mobilfilm publicerades dagen efter avrättningen och visar en totalt kaotisk avrättning. Folk skriker och knuffas och Saddam rabblar trosbekännelsen tills luckan öppnas. Den officiella film som TV-bolagen världen över visade av avrättningen var däremot...

With regard to the latest US presidential elections, like many times before, we as a public remain introvert and autistic in Macedonia. The only matters that Macedonians care about consist of the “name issue” (the dispute between Macedonia and Greece over the name), partisan and ethnic divides as well as European integrations. That is where our interest for the rest of the world ends. The presidential elections were followed as far as they concerned the White House’s attitude towards Macedonia. Quite typically for a weak state that turns away from its responsibility to face the ugly truth about its being accomplice in the worst war crimes Bush left behind as his legacy, Iraq for instance. Thus it’s hardly surprising that Macedonia has been spared the wave of Obamamania and the faith in the “new dawn”, which is expected to bless this sad and ugly world. Unlike in the rest of...

December 15, 2010 Farhang Jahanpour The latest batches of WikiLeaks files do not reveal anything unexpected or exciting, or anything that most people who have an interest in international politics did no already know. All that they do is simply to confirm some open secrets. In her ground breaking 1963 work, Eichman in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil the late Hannah Arendt talked about the “banality of evil”. She showed that when you see the evil monsters who have committed untold atrocities in flesh and in the dock, not only do they not look very impressive and imposing; on the contrary, they look like a bunch of miserable and pitiful cowards. In the same way, the new documents reveal the banality of politics and of most politicians. Many people have a rather rosy and exaggerated view of their politicians, thinking that although they may not be honest, at least they are...

Jean BricmontHumanitär imperialismÖversättning Margareta NorlinKarneval Formuleringarna är hämtade ur ett tal som Mohamed Mahathir, Malaysias premiärminister mellan 1981 och 2003, höll vid en konferens om mänskliga rättigheter 2005. Mahathir citeras i ”Humanitär imperialism”, en ny bok av Jean Bricmont om hur mänskliga rättigheter gång på gång har åberopats för att sälja krig, till och med förebyggande krig. Bricmont är professor i teoretisk fysik i Belgien men också ideologikritiker och har gett ut böcker tillsammans med bland andra Régis Debray. I ”Humanitär imperialism” diskuterar Bricmont framförallt USA:s senaste krig, mot Jugoslavien, Afghanistan och Irak och granskar de argument som lanserats för att framställa krigen som rättfärdiga, maktens legitimeringsmekanismer. Vi lever i de ohumanitära ”humanitära” krigens tid. Bombningarna av Kosovo och Jugoslavien 1999 kallades allmänt för en ”humanitär intervention”. Det var ett effektivt sätt att sälja ett krig där den europeiska socialdemokratin mer eller mindre okritiskt accepterade argumenteringen. De humanitära bomberna mot...

The events of the past week in Iran after the disputed presidential election on 12th June have posed the greatest challenge to the Islamic Republic since its formation over 30 years ago. Although the outcome of these events is not yet clear, it is safe to say that the Islamic Republic will not be the same in the future. The authorities have either to resort to a massive crackdown and unprecedented repression, or they have to give in to the just demands of the reformist opposition, which would have enormous impact both on the domestic scene, as well on Iran’s foreign policy.A stolen election A great deal has been written about the nature of the election. However, there is little doubt that there has been massive fraud in the counting of the votes. All three opposition candidates have protested against what they consider the rigged election, but so far their...

Maj Britt Theorin, former Ambassador Lecture given at the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs  15/11 2010 To understand why there is such a strong critique in Sweden of the war in Afghanistan, one must look some decades – yes even some centuries back. Sweden has been out of war for 200 years now. Before 1809 and centuries back Sweden was a conqueror in Europe; fighting Russian, Polish, German, Danish and other people. When the Russian 1809 suddenly defeated Sweden the time of war was over. Sweden started to search for other solutions than war. In World War II Sweden declared itself neutral and non-aligned. When the attempt to create a Nordic Defense Alliance brook down after that war and Norway and Denmark joined NATO, Sweden remained neutral and non-aligned.But neutrality and non-alignment did not mean passivity. On the contrary Sweden was very active in the United Nations. The security...

Violence in Southern Thailand has hitherto claimed more than 3,000 lives of Buddhists and Muslims, ordinary people and government officials since early 2004. General Chavalit Yongchaiyuth, a former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, who was in charge of security affairs during the previous Thaksin government that governed Thailand in the early part of this decade, remarked on this violence that: “Our Muslim brothers (sisters) always greet one another with ‘peace be with you’, but at the same time killings have occurred among themselves which is evident of deviant (Islamic) teachings.” (1) In 2003, the PEW Research Center in Washington DC reported its attitude survey of Muslim respondents in Turkey, Pakistan, Morocco and Jordan about suicide bombings. It was found that 74 and 86 per cent of respondents in Morocco and Jordan supported the use of suicide bombings by Palestinians against Israelis. (2) But does this mean that most Muslims would...

July 2, 2009 Chaiwat Satha-Anand On June 4, Barack Hussein Obama, the American President, delivered an important speech at Cairo University. After laying the grounds for his speech which included his life experience with Muslim societies in three continents – Kenya in Africa, Indonesia in Asia and Chicago in North America, and the place of Muslims/ Islam in American history and society, he addressed 7 main issues of global significance: violent extremism, Israeli-Palestinian deadly conflict, nuclear weapon and Iran, democracy, freedom of religion, women’s rights, and economic development/opportunity. As expected, millions of people around the globe paid due attention to this historic speech.  It was reported that 200 million in India watched the speech live. An opinion poll indicated that more than 75% of respondents in Muslim countries viewed it positively while some Palestinian factions based in Syria viewed it as “an attempt to mislead people and create more illusions” to...