Burundi - few people around the world know anything about, probably not even roughly where it is on the map. But the 9 million people of Burundi should be known for their remarkable peace process after a genocide in the 1990s that took about 300.000 lives. That is, if the media and politicians had ever had any focus on this country and not only on Rwanda, their “darling” north of Burundi.
These very days and hours the risk is increasing that the world will hear about Burundi, not because of its…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on June 27, 2010 at 8:31am —
16 Comments
Published
as comment on AljazeeraThere is no defence possible for Israel's action or general policies. It's a rogue state, a nuclear weapons power, an occupier, an administrator of the largest prison ever and it is inspired by apartheid. Much of what it does is much worse than what others have been punished severely for - such as the Serbs in the Balkans.
That said, there is a t…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on June 3, 2010 at 5:00am —
7 Comments
What's that? Well, it is explained
here - about 5000 registered participants from 124 countries, 4.000 comments and ideas about the security of the future. Open for everyone who registered and logged in with their own identity between February 4 and 9, 2010.
The main convenor was the Security and Defence Agenda. Its
…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on February 11, 2010 at 5:30pm —
No Comments
Most likely, your image of Sweden is outdated by about 20 years. If you think this is somehow an unkind statement, it is not meant to be.
What I try to say below is that the world needs a reality check when it comes to Sweden. Please read the following and study the indicated website, and then get back to me or respond dirctly to that website.
We need your understanding and then your help.A very important initiative with inte…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on February 9, 2010 at 6:30pm —
1 Comment
- and the name of the dictator is MIMAC - the Military-Industrial-Media-Academic Complex.
This piece of
CNN news about Pentagon's new stratgey and budget is enough of a proof of the galloping perversity.
The world's 6,1 billion people should rise as one in protest and the U.S. be the object of sanctions if Pentagon's new world-threatening strategy and killing budget…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on February 1, 2010 at 11:00am —
2 Comments
Kyoto, Japan
December 17, 2009
Dear World Press Photo people
It goes without saying that
your exhibition this year too was marvellous. That more than 5.000 photographers of 124 nationalities submitted almost 100.000 images testifies to the intensity with which images, not only text, contribute to our awareness, knowledge and compassion for the world.
The proposal I want to put forward here is exclusively constructive. As a peace res…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on December 17, 2009 at 10:49am —
8 Comments
Reflections on the increasing impossibility of funding peace research that refuses to be intellectual ‘embedding’ in power.
By Jan Oberg
Summary
This analysis has come about for four reasons:
1) Over the last couple of decades, it has become virtually impossible to do research that is truly free. This applies particularly to smaller organizations which, if they do obtain money, seldom have the capacity to both conduct the product meaningfully and satisfy grant-makers’…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on December 14, 2009 at 12:04am —
4 Comments
Hi, I am Sarah, coordinator of TFF communication
As you are likely aware, the TFF website provides an amazing resource for quality and interesting information for peace enthusiasts all over the world.
But did you know about all the other new ways in which you can stay connected to TFF?
All you ever wanted to know about peace - up to date articles on issues that matter to you on TFF’s homepage, inspirational and informative videos on TFF YouTube Channel, “Worldaffairs” on TFF Twitter, a…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on October 31, 2009 at 4:30am —
No Comments
In his will, Alfred Nobel states the criteria for awarding the prize:
Two general expressions, for all the five prizes:
«during the preceding year»
«has conferred the greatest benefit on mankind»
and four expressions that apply particularly to the peace prize*:
- "brotherhood among nations"
- "abolition or reduction of standing armies"
- "for the holding and promotion of peace congresses"
- "champions of peace"
Even with a broad contemporary interpretation of Nobel's words from 1895, Pres…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on October 9, 2009 at 5:00am —
4 Comments
How often do we get enthusiastic when we read or listen to the words of public servants? How often do we find vision, humility and a deeply humanist perspective?
If your answer is "rarely" -
here is one of these rare experiences.
This Paul Jay interview on The REAL News offers a lot of insights on the inner - brutal - realities of the UN powerhouse in New Y…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on October 8, 2009 at 11:30pm —
No Comments
While the mainstream media help us all recover and move into the post-Michael Jackson phase of human history, let us remind ourselves that there
were a few things dwarfed by the drama of his death.
Among them were a couple of summits on issues of fundamental importance to the future of humankind.
A select few leaders of big countries mistakenly believe that they speak on behalf of the whole world. Worse, these summits proved they are not up to it when dealing the global crisis. At least…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on July 23, 2009 at 5:25am —
No Comments
TFF Associate Hazel Henderson has written a fascinating account of 30+ years of her own attempt and that of many other alternative economists to get the high priests of market economy and of politics to listen. They didn't, and thus we are where we are now. If you think it is indeed time to question economy as a science,
her piece is a good place to begin.
We in the richer parts of the world have lived beyond the…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on June 3, 2009 at 2:00pm —
No Comments
There are good reasons to be scared...
Given the serious situation developing around North Korea's nuclear test, TFF offers you 5 articles by two world experts on nuclear weapons and policies.
Gunnar Westberg, May 29, 2009
Questions about North Korea's nuclear weapons and the international response to it
David Krieger, May 29, 2009…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on June 3, 2009 at 12:30pm —
No Comments
May 9, 2009
It simply isn't right. It threatens humankind. It militates against pluralism, and the idea of public service.
The only thing your mainstream media are likely to tell you about nuclear weapons is related to, say, North Korea and Iran, i.e to the risk of proliferation to "irresponsible" states.
The very existence of nuclear weapons, nuclear possession, is not an issue. Mainstream media almost never highlight the terrorist nature of the weapons in the arsenals of the United States,…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on May 11, 2009 at 12:00pm —
No Comments
Happy News and Welcome !
This is to tell you that I have just opened a studio & gallery for photographic art.* There are pictures from places such as Burundi, Iraq and Japan and themes like meditations, portraits and mirrors.
They all reflect somehow my work for peace and I am keen on exploring the relations between photography and peace in a broad sense. And - should you worry: I am continuing my work in peace research unchanged - just a little less to get time to communicate throu…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on May 5, 2009 at 12:30pm —
No Comments
April 5, 2009
Lund, Sweden
Reality show for Real politicians? Part 1
Connecting the dots: G20 and C5
Within a few days, Europe is host to the G20 in London, NATO’s 60th Anniversary in Strasbourg-Kehl and the Alliance of Civilizations in Istanbul. What shall we make out of these frantic travels, meetings and meticulously edited press conference sound bites by world leaders? Here is the first of two dissident analyses.
By Jan Oberg
Dr.hc, peace and future researcher
Director of TFF,…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on April 5, 2009 at 5:42am —
No Comments
By Jan Oberg & Annette Schiffmann
March 20 marks the 6th anniversary of the US-led invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq - coming upon 12 years of the most cruel sanctions history has witnessed.
About 2 million innocent Iraqi citizens have died as a consequence of those Western policies. About 4 million out of 24 million are either displaced inside the country or refugees abroad. In a country where more than half the entire population is well under 20, hundreds of thousands are clinicall…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on March 21, 2009 at 8:00am —
No Comments
COMMENT PUBLISHED ON REUTERS' HOMEPAGE:
Dear Editors at Reuters
It is deeply disappointing to find that you are one of the very few international news sources that do not find it important to inform the world that a British and French nuclear-equipped submarine collided in the Atlantic Ocean on February 3 or 4, 2009. Do you find that serious accidents - as this one seems to have been - involving nuclear weapons and, potentially, threatening millions of innocent people's lives, just irrelevant?…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on February 16, 2009 at 11:30am —
2 Comments
Lund, Sweden
February 11, 2008
Last autumn I wrote two analyses from Croatia - a personal re-visiting tour to some of the places TFF's conflict-mitigation team and I worked intensely with from 1991. The
first one here, the
second one here.
I have now made a follow-up in the form of an interview with the lea…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on February 11, 2009 at 6:30pm —
No Comments
December 17, 2008
Lund, Sweden
B R E A K I N G . . .
Haaretz.com - December 15, 2008
Israel expels UN Human Rights Rapporteur and TFF Associate Richard Falk
(Notice how it says that Falk compared Israelis to Nazis. He never did. Notice how the Foreign Ministry's Simona Helprin's twisting of what she calls UN regulations goes unchallenged by the journalist).
And in the coming days, we immediately saw a worldwide outc…
Continue
Added by Jan Oberg on December 17, 2008 at 5:00pm —
No Comments