Here is a lecture I held at the World Peace Academy in Basel, Switzerland. I show here some pf my photos from my Iran trip, I outline why the present Western policies on Iran are counterproductive and, third, what must be done instead. It's only a hint - so much can be done to both prevent a looming war and to build trust.



I'd be happy to receive your comments and for your sharing it throughout your system.…

What you mostly hear in the Western mainstream media is extremely biased.



This newTFF PressInfo 1-2013 outlines why a) what you hear is basically one-sided, demonizing and missed the relevant factors and the wider regional apsects - and b) what should be done instead. Because, if the present US-EU-NATO policy is maintained for long, it is bound to lead to war - whether intended or not.…

Why? The EU is credited with making making peace in the Balkans while it made war in Bosnia unavoidable by prematurely recognizing Slovenia and Croatia out of old Yugoslavia. After that Bosnia could neither sit in Rest-Yugoslavia nor become independent without war.

EU countries are constantly involved in wars and interventions (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria). Two are nuclear weapons powers. The EU Treaty advocates military-industrial integration and stronger military defence;…

Dear friends

Here is 19 constructive proposals in the direction of war-prevention and long-term peace.

It contrasts sharply the present discourse which is dominated by intellectually lazy and anachronistic talk about war as an option. War on Iran is not an option!



It's been published by IPS - the Inte Press Service. You are welcome to use it but you must print the © of IPS and myself as author.

I look forward to your comments here on…

This is President Obama's most nasty, bellicose, one-sided and perversely power-arrogant speech ever. The Nobel Committee ought to revoke its Prize to him, but of course it won't.

This cynical man speaks about the goodness of even more "crippling" sanctions on a country of 75 million people of which 25 % are children under 14.

At every single aspect he touches upon, he takes the wrong path: towards making war irreversible. There is no excuse that it was for AIPAC. In contrast to…

By Jan Oberg & Ida Zidore

February 26, 2012

A new report by Media Tenor and the Institute for Economics and Peace shows that violence still outrules peace in the international TV media. Yet, certain aspects of the study are questionable – how to measure peace…

New on TFF's new blog...

I'm pleased to alert you to a new comment on what increasingly looks to me as a build-up to yet another terrible unnecessary war. I argue that the Iran issue is not about nuclear weapons, that is only stage-setting. There is a larger drama in the theatre that is about to take fire - and it is the giant global change of forces and the…

By Jan Oberg



If we do not care for single individuals, we care for nobody. I have met Aziz twice, 5 hours conversation in 2002 and 2003 during TFF's fact-finding missions.



He came across as a decent, very knowledgeable man. No matter what he may also have done, killing him will be a barbarian act shaming us all.



It is my firm belief that the US colonial "legal" process against him is nothing but revenge of the most inhuman, cruel type.…

Most media focus on the nervous reactions, that this event may trigger instability and perhaps foreign-directed "provocations" as ambassador Donald Gregg is saying here. Well, it's hard to know.

But while there could be a kind of successor problem or even a military takeover, one could also see Kim Jong-il's death as an opportunity for improving relations both regonally and with the West.

Statements…

Congratulations to the three staunch women! And then:

POSITIVE:

Women, non-violence, Africa and that the prize was not once again given to war-makers and -criminals. And  not, as rumoured, to the…

September 2, 2011

Jan Oberg, dr.hc., peace researcher


Director of TFF, The Transnational Foundation in Sweden


www.transnational.org

Manuscript finished on August 15, i.e. a few days before the Libyan rebels moved into Tripoli

Part III

Status 6 Months Later and Some - Hopefully Wrong - Predictions…

September 2, 2011

Jan Oberg, dr.hc., peace researcher


Director of TFF, The Transnational Foundation in Sweden


www.transnational.org

Manuscript finished on August 15, i.e. a few days before the Libyan rebels moved into Tripoli

Part II - What Should Have Been Done Before the NATO/US Decision to Bomb? 

The following is…

September 2, 2011

Jan Oberg, dr.hc., peace researcher


Director of TFF, The Transnational Foundation in Sweden


www.transnational.org

Manuscript finished on August 15, i.e. a few days before the Libyan rebels moved into Tripoli

Part I - Prologue: What we should have learned by now



It is a safe assumption that people in general neither like…

It is a safe assumption that people in general neither like nor love war. They prefer peace, and major organizations such as the United Nations and the European Union state that their highest aim is world peace. There are distinguished prizes for peace, and peace people like M. K. Gandhi, Luther King Jr., Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela to name a few are revered by everyone. There is nothing similar for those who bomb, kill and rape.

In consequence all wars and security and…

Here follows a telegram-style short list of contradictions, foolish assumptions and flawed humanism. An equally short conclusion with prediction follows the list. I am presently working on a short piece on what could and should have been done instead of these terrible and counterproductive bombings.



1.

We can’t meet, talk or negotiate with such a guy!


Scores of Western leaders have met him and seen him as an ally the last few…

Lund, Sweden, March 15, 2011

Dear friend

I am very happy to tell you that we have received a lot of positive responses to TFF's idea of a new type of pro-peace platform - "Imagine A Better World".

Our board has deliberated quite a lot on how best to utilise all the energy and all the suggestions and ideas people put in this idea. We want to make this highly participative even before it exists - to have YOU shape it and discuss with…

Main points

• TFF turns 25 on January 1, 2011.

• We plan to launch an entirely new pro-peace platform. We are tired of criticism, "anti", "against" and "down with" and "non-". We know a patient will not be cured without treatment.

• We are going to contribute to qualified hope and vision in a new way, combining peace research with all other peace expressions.

• We have the basic idea.…

At the death of U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke, there is no end to the praise. Obama, CNN and Wesley Clarke are out of all proportions. Tiny fact like these are left aside:

1) Holbrooke gave the green light for the Kwangju massacre on South Korean students 1980.

2) He undermined non-violent Dr. Rugova in Kosovo by helping the murky US -defined terrorists of the Kosovo Liberation Army to take over.

3) He was a prime mover in the expansion of NATO after the Cold…