Radio 4 den 11. marts 8:05, 2022 – en samtale om Ukraine, der vist overraskede intervieweren af og til Men det er skam en fin idé at man satser på den lidt længere samtale – til forskel fra de fleste andre af dagens twitter-fierede soundbite medier. Continue reading En samtale med Radio 4 om Ukraine, NATO’s “defensivitet” – og en del andet
Glad for at være i Kristeligt Dagblad i dag – den mest læste artikel den 9. marts. Fredsforsker: “Nato har uden grund ekspanderet helt op under Ruslands skørter” Fredsforsker Jan Øberg begræder Ruslands invasion af Ukraine, men fordømmer Vestens respons Laver i dag også interview med Kinas nationale TV, CCTV – omkring vel 1 milliard seere i Kina og rundt om i verden – og … Continue reading En almindelig travl dag for fred i mørke tider
I am happy to inform you about my latest column in China’s leading Global Times – with the title above. Read it here and when you are anyhow there, look around: Many different subjects from the Western media and many different angles from a country we all need to know more about. Not the least now when the pluralism and scope have been reduced ad … Continue reading Ukraine crisis: Time for some peace diplomacy, visions of a better future
Lektor Søren Riishøj og jeg talte med Ulla Rosenvold fra Arbejderen den 2. marts om det mere principielle, teoretiske og de værktøjer, man kunne have brugt for at undgå det helvede, der nu udfolder sig for vore øjne i Ukraine. Samtidig må jeg jo erkende at hverken Ruslands eller NATOs mål var fred. Nu spreder sig så en folkelig, ekstremt hadefuld, reaktion med fornægtlse af … Continue reading Eksperter i konfliktløsning: Mægling og diplomati er eneste vej til fred
Ruslands angreb på Ukraine var en uventet og tillige selvødelæggende over-reaktion, som jeg tager 100% afstand fra. Der var alternativer, men Moskva valgte den store hammer. Det blive meget dyrt for landet og folket. Og for os fordi: Reaktionen fra NATO/EU vil vise sig mere skæbnesvanger end invasionen. Vesten vil vinde tid og financiere Ukraines forsvar, få våben ind i Ukraine fra alle verdenshjørner og … Continue reading Ukraine: Aktion og reaktion men ingen tænker på fremtiden eller løsningerne
I går aftes blev jeg interviewet af Terje Alnes, som leder den norske Spartakus Kanal på YouTube. Det er ofte denne slags virkeligt frie, små ikke-kommersielle medie-initiativer, folk i dag må ty til for at få lidt bredere og dybere – og gennemgående langt mer sandfærdig – kundskab om verdens begivenheder end mainstream medier leverer. Disse ildsjæle bør vi være taknemmelig for. Jeg anbefaler dig … Continue reading Interview om Ukraine-konflikten i Spartakus
PressTV’s “Spotlight”, February 13, 2022 A conversation with Gloria La Riva in the United States, mediated by anchor Kaveh Taghvai. Continue reading US war hysteria over Ukraine
Mødets forløb på video Hér kan du se videon med dagens debat – først en introduktion ved Dansk Industris repræsentant i Shanghai, Peter Bøgh Hansen, DI/Sense China; derefter en diskussion ledt af Peter Thagesen, Dansk Industri med Lene Winther fra Berlingske Tidende, Jonas Parello-Plesner fra (Fogh) Rasmussen Global, Casper Wichmann fra Københavns Universitet og undertegnede. Se og lyt til samtalen og dan dig selv et … Continue reading Møde om Kina hos Dansk Industri & Sense China – en video med samtalen og en pikant afvisning af kildekritik.
January 19, 2022 While this is being written, tension builds up around the more comprehensive Ukraine conflict formation. If this blows up in real war – God forbid! – the main reason will be three serious lies disseminated by the NATO side. Lies are used in so-called security politics when some militarist project doesn’t make any (common) sense to intelligent people, when the real motives … Continue reading Ukraine: The West Has Paved the Road to War with Lies
Today is Martin Luther King Jr Day in the United States, the third Monday in January a public holiday. In the manifest absence of even the slightest reverence for King, let’s at least hope that this country – moving further and further away from MLK Jr. on a daily basis – does just a little less harm on this very day than on all the … Continue reading Martin Luther King Jr. 1929-1968
Udenrigsminister Jeppe Kofod besøgte i weekenden Ukraine – ved fronten så det ser modigt ud – og havde millioner med til landets militær. Danmark ejer åbenbart ikke længere kapacitet til diplomati, kun til militære løsninger. Udenrigsminister Jeppe Kofods militære besøg er mere end sædvanligt dumt med tanke på neo-fascismens indflydelse, tidl præsident Poroshenkos hjemvenden i dag mandag den 17. til en retssag, der kan udløse … Continue reading Hvad laver udenrigsminister Kofod ved fronten i Ukraine lige netop nu?
Jan Oberg Written on January 7, 2022, as Op-Ed for China Daily * One description of the contemporary world is more accurate and ominous than any other, namely that we live in the nuclear age or the age of nuclearism, i.e. the weapons plus the thinking and power structures that surround these doomsday weapons. In 1946, Albert Einstein stated that “the unleashed power of the … Continue reading Nuclear weapons abolition requires more than the five nuclear-weapon states’ recent joint statement
What I wrote a year ago about the decline of the West and most people’s denial of it, sadly, turned out to be true. It took a new hit only five days later at Capitol Hill in Washington. And according to a recent Harvard Youth Poll, over 50% of the young people in the US believe that US democracy is “in trouble” or has “already … Continue reading At New Year 2022
Men debat og kritik ønskes ikke Dagbladet Politiken kan næsten ikke få hænderne ned over Nobels fredspris 2021. Her er kronikredaktør Marcus Rubin med “De er journalistikkens og demokratiets sande helte, og de går på arbejde med livet som indsats. Årets fredspris er en hyldest til pressen og det frie ordd.” Hér er Anders Jerichow med “Fredspris til journalistik: Vaccine mod magtmisbrug, løgn og propaganda. … Continue reading Politikens fredsprishelte, der ikke har gjort noget for fred
Collage © Jan Oberg 2021 How it fits CIA and the US ‘democracy”s global media war December 9, 2021 The Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony took place in Oslo on Friday the 10th of December 2021. Here are two critical articles about that today: It is simply not for peace. Fredrik Heffermehl: The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize: Freedom for the Press or for the US? Jan … Continue reading The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize is a scandal – again!
On December 10 – which marks both the Nobel Peace Prize and Human Rights Day – the Transnational Foundation launched a campaign – perhaps unusual for a research outfit think tank rather than a movement. But we feel this is so urgent! Its main thrust is easy to grasp – indeed common sense. We argue that all countries in the world should – ASAP – … Continue reading The Global Conversion Campaign – Statement from The Transnational Foundation
The Global Press Coalition for Peace, GPCP, in Washington kindly turned to me and asked me to speak with them for a longer podcast. GPCP is a rather young but very innovative civil society organization that focuses on how the media deal with conflicts, war and peace – and how it can be done better. I warmly recommend that you visit and look around. Their … Continue reading Podcast – Oberg, peace and the media
23.oktober 2020 Den norske arkitekt og fredsforkæmper, Susanne Urban har forfattet en righoldig bog, som netop er udkommet for at markere at en af verdens absolut ledende samfundsforskere, Johan Galtung, fylder 90 den 24. oktober 2020. Han er matematiker, sociolog, freds- og fremtidsforsker med en utrolig produktion af foredrag, artikler, gæsteprofessorater og hederdoktorater bag sig – f.eks. medvirket i 170 bøger heraf som eneforfatter af … Continue reading 💐 Ny bog om Johan Galtung til 90 års dagen
We send out TFF PressInfo – alerts about new posts on The Transnational – once or twice a week – or when something urgently important happens in the world. They are in English and, of course, free and you can subscribe to them here or by sending an email to PressInfo@transnational.org Here’s a typical example – a short, pointed text that introduces the links to … Continue reading A typical PressInfo from The Transnational Foundation
22. juli 2020 Mens Danmark har mængder af velfinancierede institutter for militære studier samt et forsvarsakademi har det hverken et institut for fredsforskning eller et velfinancieret fredsakademi. Men Det Danske Fredsakademi findes – et højkvalificeret initiativ, som du formentlig aldrig har hørt om. Det er i årtier blevet drevet af en ildsjæl ved navn Holger Terp, der er uddannet bibliotekar men stærkt synshæmmet og producerer … Continue reading Det danske fredsakademi siger sandheden forud for Hiroshima og Nagasaki 75
December 30, 2019 Each and every problem humanity faces is rooted in violence. Why do so many continue believing in violence, the most counter-productive, unintelligent and expensive means of all? Violence invariably makes a problem between conflicting parties deeper and broader and every solution more difficult. It make the original problem ten times bigger. All problems in this world are tied to one thing: Violence … Continue reading A happier, less violent 2020
15 november 2019 På søndag den 17. november opnår jeg den store glæde og ære at få de danske Kunstnere for Freds Fredspris 2019. Det føles som en fornem anerkendelse af mit arbejde med TFF – som international forsker, underviser, mægler og folkeoplyser igennem mer end 40 år udi fredens mysterier – men også i henseende til at jeg de sidste 10 år har arbejdet, … Continue reading Kunstnere for Fred – fredspris og foredrag
By TFF & Jan Oberg Herunder en typisk meddelelse fra Den Transnationale Stiftelse for Freds- og Fremtidsforskning, TFF. Vi kalder dem TFF PressInfo og denne var nummer 533. Du kan få dem også og de er gratis – bare skriv til PressInfo@transnational.org så kommer du på listen. Lund, Sweden – October 2, 2019 This is what TFF sent out as TFF PressInfo 532 today. It … Continue reading A great soul’s 150th birthday
August 21, 2019 I have long wanted to produce something like a magazine – a daily, diverse drumbeat – that is also easy and fast to curate and edit. Because… I’ve been grappling with this: The world is to rich and diverse: Why are mainstream media so predictable/boring, narrowly focused, uniform – I mean, buy your country’s five largest newspapers one morning and see how … Continue reading TFF’s Transnational Peace Affairs – A new magazine
I read dozens of articles every day about various conflict zones, commentaries, war reports and – the few times it happens – possibilities of peace. I read about Syria in particular as I have since I visited Damascus and Aleppo in December 2016.
It’s important that one does not, over time, develop the disease called “psychic numbing” – an excellent concept developed by Robert Jay Lifton, a former TFF Associate.
Today I stumbled upon an article in the Omaha World Herald by Washington Post’s David Ignatius under the headline “The Star-Crossed History of CIA Paramilitary Action.”
I’m not going to discuss that article but would like to call your attention to this sentence – that Ignatius does not even dwell on:
One knowledgeable official estimates that the CIA-backed fighters may have killed or wounded 100,000 Syrian soldiers and their allies over the past four years.
I fail to understand it. I read it again. I’d urge you to do likewise.
“The Debate” with Jim Walsh, MIT and Jan Oberg, TFF Lund, Sweden – May 30, 2017 Last night “The Debate” on PressTV was devoted to the future of European-US relations in the wake of the NATO Summit, President Trump’s words and omissions and the – historic – words, in particular, of Chancellor Angela Merkel immediately after. Undoubtedly, we are at a turning point in these … Continue reading The future of U.S.-Europe relations
Just a thought… Continue reading What foreign policy if the US had no weapons?
TFF LiveApril 12, 2017 The secretaries of state, Tillerson and Lavrov meet today. We seem to enter a stage of what must appropriately be perceived as a frosty new Cold War. In the worst of cases this can lead to a new Cuban Missile Crisis. God forbid! Continue reading The US/NATO confrontation with Russia is dangerous
Here my 6th photo series from Aleppo – hashtag #keepfocusonaleppo.
Lund, Sweden – March 24, 2017
Can the almost total destruction of Eastern Aleppo be used constructively?
Only if we are willing to ask and dialogue about this:
• Why does the world go on investing US$ 2000 billion annually in warfare and US$ 30 in all the UN does – only to create destruction of people, places, past and future?
• How absurd, how meaningless – indeed how far must it go to destroy the West itself – before we learn to conflict intelligently?
•
I’ve see much destruction during my work in conflict zones the last 25 years. But nothingcompares with Aleppo and the destruction of Syria and its people.
Continue reading “The Meaninglessness of War: Aleppo”Videoinspelning av Jan Öbergs föredrag i Stockholm februari 2017 Inspelningen är uppdelad i två delar: Del 1: Vittnesrapport från Aleppo60 min. Del 2: Debatt och vägar till fred i Syrien45 min. Bakgrund10-14:e december 2016 vistades Jan Öberg i Aleppo. Med sin unika erfarenhet från staden ifrågasätter han den gängse massmediarapporteringen, argumenterar för ett nytt sätt att se på konflikter på och ger förslag till den … Continue reading “Vittnesrapport från Aleppo, en annorlunda konfliktanalys och vägar till fred i Syrien”
TFF PressInfo # 405 Lund, Sweden – February 24, 2017Failed conflict analysis To analyse a conflict is as necessary as the diagnosis for the doctor: You either get to a solution/treatment or you don’t. If the diagnosis is deficient, you don’t. You instead risk killing the patient. And it’s deficient of you stare only at “evil” cells and blame the patient for a life … Continue reading Keep focus on Aleppo and global dimensions of Syria
Commenting with David Swanson, leading and sharp peace intellectual, on the inauguration of Trump – also about the legacy of Barrack Obama. For Iran’s international PressTV. Posted on TFF’s blog. Continue reading From Obama to Trump
The third photo story from the days of the liberation of Aleppo in SyriaUnique photos with text from Aleppo’s Jibrin reception center for people finally liberated in Eastern Aleppo December 11-12, 2016.Documentation of the fact that it was the Syrian authorities, the Syrian Army, Russian doctors, the Syrian Red Crescent and volunteering Syrian youth who took care of these destitute internally displaced people.In short, the … Continue reading Aleppo’s evil humanitarians
New year’s night, January 1, 2017 This girl had come out of Eastern Aleppo after four dark years of occupation by Western-backed terrorists – too many to name. People who for no reason had destroyed her home, her part of that beautiful city. Perhaps half of her life living in fear, perhaps having lost family members. I do not know. I met her on December 14 … Continue reading The little girl from Eastern Aleppo
The old years went – in as little a time as it takes to turn around and see who is tapping you on your shoulder. And it is the new, the next year.
I hope it will pass too – in as little time as it takes for me to turn my head and look forward again – because the face of 2017 doesn’t look good or kind to me.
Neither do the next ten or so years.
Beyond that the world will become a better place. If, that is, if we survive and don’t destroy it all.
It is actually already becoming a better place!
The thing that has too pass – or pass away – is the United States Empire.
In a few years it will go the way Rome and all the rest plus the Ottoman, British and Soviet empires did. No empire lasts forever.
But before we go for it – a video from Beirut, December 2016:
Some indicators of Empire dissolution
The indicators, the cracks, in the Empire are there for all to see – the Americans and other Westernes will be the last and remain in denial for some time until the discrepancy between the self-image and the reality, the self-delusion, has grown too big. Like East Germany or Russia at in the early 1980s.
The rest of the world, the non-West sees some of these cracks quite clearly:
Continue reading “As we move into the new year – 2017”During the last two weeks I have received almost 800 friend requests on Facebook and about 1000 new followers. It’s overwhelming and warms my heart beyond words.
Many many thanks for your trust and support – and for not only thinking it but taking time to tell it.
I can only assume that it is all because of my visit to Damascus and Aleppo. Literally thousands have thanked me for my short texts and photos from there – and for taking the risk going there.
Lots of people go to difficult places, be they humanitarian workers, journalists, photographers, UN people, other diplomats or civil society organisations. But – regrettably, I would say – it is not often I’ve met other researchers in war zones.
Those of us who go, go because we feel we have a duty, because we are curious and must see for ourselves and because a visit opens doors to people, to the suffering and to natural human solidarity.
Media focus on all those with weapons in their hands – the warlords. I’ve always felt enriched and grateful to all the others one can meet, wonderful people who stand up and stand together, struggle, help their neighbours – and survive the other main type of people present, the murderers who get all the fame.
I’m no hero. Just that you know. Many (more) could do what I do.
But back to the social media boom, I’ve just experienced.
Continue reading “Thanks for the friends’ and followers’ boom”I’ve felt deeply touched by Johan Grimonprez’ brilliant and frightening documentary “Shadow World” which is based on Andrew Feinstein’s book with the same name. I want to share it with my readers and here is all about the book and the movie. It was shown in November 2016 by Swedish Television with Swedish text but is due to be taken down a couple of month later. It will … Continue reading “Shadow World” – on your tax money
Last night I had the opportunity to discuss nuclear weapons with an experienced, high-ranking security analyst who has been both a military, a scholar, an assistant secretary of defence, presidential adviser, a corporate man and now a think tank member, Lawrence J. Korb. We were discussing the issues touched upon in this and this article. I would assume that the debate – facilitated by Iran’s PressTV in … Continue reading U.S. nuclear policies – two world views
By Jan Oberg
The third article in the TFF series on The New Cold War
We are witnessing a remarkable increase in tension between the US/NATO and Russia these years – and it can not only be explained by whatever we choose to think happened in Ukraine and Crimea. We find a totally new effort on both sides to use social and other media to tell how dangerous “they” are to “us”. There is a clear tendency to “fearology” – to instill fear in the citizens on both sides about the capabilities and intentions of the other side.
We find deeply concerned articles about the possibility of war between the two parties – a quarter of a century after the Berlin Wall tumbled.
Why is the new tension rising in Europe between US/NATO and Russia so manifestly dangerous and – with the exception of the Cuban Missile Crisis worse than during the First Cold War?
On a series of indicators, the political Western world – US/NATO/EU and Christian (Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic with sects) – is becoming weak relative to other players in the global society.
The West has engaged in a series of wars that turned into very costly fiascos – from what followed from Sykes-Picot which turned 100 in May 2016 over Vietnam to the destruction of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria.
The West is still the largest economic bloc and the 28 NATO members cover about 70% of the world’s mind-boggling US $ 1700 billion military expenditures. Africa as a continent, BRICS countries – China in particular – are making progress, also in fields where the West has failed; for instance, China has lifted 400 million Chinese out of poverty in a couple of decades. The wealthy West has done nothing of the sort over centuries but produced a grotesquely, perversely unequal income distribution.
The West leaves, a multi-polar world comes Jan Øberg – Video lecture – Part 1/3 Continue reading “Peace, Conflict, Democracy”
For instance EU and other Western mainstream media. But we are getting out! The European Union is about to sign an agreement with non-EU Turkey to get rid of a large part of its refugees – by paying around € 6 bn to Turkey. Amnesty International and many others have pointed out – in strong words – that this agreement violates basic provisions of international … Continue reading If the EU becomes a criminal Union some don’t want you to know
Commenting on NATO S-G Jens Stoltenberg’s wish for dialogue with Russia – a bit odd after all the other provocative initiatives he has spearheaded the last good year or so. I felt like saying something more general about this outdated paradigm – and why it is dangerous for us all – referring also to the Russell-Einstein Manifesto of 1955. You may also see it as … Continue reading NATO outdated – Abolish war
It’s our wars, stupid!A short interview on Russia Today about Europe’s woefully inadequate understanding of why refugees come here.Towards a solution: Deal with conflicts early and by peaceful means, criminalise arms trade and abolish war and you’ve solved most of the world’s refugee problems!Interview on YouTube with RT International (700 million viewers worldwide and to be broadcast repeatedly on April 20, 2015). Continue reading The links between refugees and war
Iran says nuclear deal depends on lifting of sanctions | Reuters This is a timely reminder to those who believe the Iran nuclear deal can be reduced to and hinges upon the deal between Congress and Obama. Says Iranian President Rouhani: “We are in talks with the major powers and not with the Congress,” Rouhani said. I draw three conclusions: 1. If there will be … Continue reading If so, let the U.S. isolate itself
Israel’s defence minister Moshe Ya’alon writes in Washington Post under the headline “Current Iran framework will make war more likely”When I wrote my comment there were already more than 1100 comments – so here it is: “Israel’s defence minister is an echo of PM Netanyahu. Nothing new, Israel’s official views are well-known, beamed out a thousand times more effectively than Iran’s to the world, not … Continue reading Comment to Israel’s defence minister in Washington Post
Jan Oberg commenting on Iranian President Rouhani: “Tehran abides by commitments, if P5 1 fulfills promises” – YouTube/PressTV http://ow.ly/LbX3d In spite of the deal’s negative sides, Iran has chosen peace to the benefit of the world. In that perspective it is much more than a nuclear deal, it’s – potentially – a road to peace. Continue reading Iran nuclear deal – a road to peace