Peace &
nonviolence
•
The
New Civilization
Network
The New Civilization
Network (NCN) is a global network of people
visualizing a better world and working on building it.
A world of increased quality of life, freedom, fun and
inspiration for all. A world where the needs of all of
humanity are met. We work independently or in teams on
activities of our choice, and we coordinate and
cooperate amongst ourselves when
appropriate.
•
Practise
random kindness and senseless acts of
beauty
It's a crisp winter day in San Francisco. A woman in a
red Honda, Christmas presents piled in the back,
drives up to the Bay Bridge tollbooth. 'I'm paying for
myself, and for the six cars behind me,' she says with
a smile, handing over seven commuter tickets. One
after another, the next six drivers arrive at the
tollbooth, dollars in hand, only to be told, 'Some
lady up ahead already paid your fare. Have a nice
day.'
•
(Martin
Luther) King
Spin
He has been made a saint - and that's exactly the
problem, explains a new book.
Armament and the
new Cold War
•
Russia
increases its arms
exports
Russia's deputy prime
minister for military-industrial affairs said Jan. 31
that Russian arms manufacturers are expecting to
export arms valued at more than $4 billion in 2000.
This increase will reverse the stagnant trend of
Russian arms exports throughout the 1990s, since the
collapse of the Soviet Union. It will also fit well
into Russian moves to boost its economic situation and
expand its strategic relationships
abroad.
•
Russia's
- dangerous - response to Western
expansion
Throughout the Cold
War, the Soviet Union supported a number of weak,
corrupt states &endash; from Angola to North Korea
&endash; in order to offset the West. When the Cold
War ended, Russia no longer needed or wanted to
maintain its global confrontation with the West, and
it cut these allies loose. Now, however, after a
decade of diplomatic and economic silence between
Moscow and its former client states, Russia is
reactivating some of its old relationships. This will
ultimately help rewrite the rules of relations with
the West.
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Chinese
Army revises the art of war - with an eye to the
West
'Asymmetrical' warfare &endash; terrorism, computer
hacking, economic sabotage, assassination of U.S.
citizens &endash; is the Chinese military's strategy
to defeat the United States. Should U.S. financiers
whose trading adversely affects Chinese "red-chip"
companies be assassinated? China's People's Liberation
Army, or PLA, is discussing the concept. Should
Beijing covertly fund political-influence operations
in the United States? A new PLA book openly asks the
question.
•
Pentagon
finds China preparing for war with the United
States
Some 600 translations of internal Chinese writings by
200 authors reveal China's strategy to defeat a
superior foe, using both military and nonmilitary
means, such as propaganda, deception and covert
action. They also reveal the extreme distrust of the
United States by China's military and party leaders.
Chinese generals state that the United States
intentionally bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade,
Yugoslavia, last May as part of a long-term strategy
to prompt an arms race that will cause China's
collapse.
•
Clinton
plans to increase the US military budget even
further
President Bill Clinton's budget calls for new spending
on a wide array of military and foreign affairs
priorities, including military equipment, more pay for
soldiers, and special funding for a controversial new
missile defence programme. The new budget plan for
2000/2001 proposes to allocate $292.2bn to national
defence, up $11.3bn from the 2000 level.
•
China:
We are not
Yugoslavia
The mouthpiece of the People's Liberation Army,
furious over U.S. legislation to boost military ties
with Taiwan, warned the United States on Friday not to
mistake China for Yugoslavia. "China is not
Yugoslavia. And Taiwan is not Kosovo," the Liberation
Army Daily said in a commentary, referring to the
U.S.-led NATO bombing of Yugoslavia last year over
atrocities against ethnic Albanians in the southern
province of Kosovo.
Globalisation
•
NATO
killed at least 500 civilians in
Yugoslavia
The investigation
concluded that NATO committed violations of
international humanitarian law. Human Rights Watch
called on NATO governments to establish an independent
and impartial commission to investigate these
violations and issue its findings publicly. NATO
governments should also alter targeting and bombing
doctrine to ensure compliance with international
humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch said.
•
Galeano's
moving essay on media, culture and
globalization
Exaggerated though it may sound, I'm convinced the
mercantile despotism of the mass-media entertainment
industry is inflicting cultural damage on the world at
least as devastating as the ethnic cleansing of
Kosovo, invoked these days as justification for
bombing Yugoslavia. From the Media Channel.
Kosovo/a...Chaosovo
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The
U.S. in Kosovo: seeking an exit
strategy
With no end in sight
to the violence in Kosovo, the Pentagon has begun
efforts to relieve the pressure on US peacekeepers in
the breakaway province. Defense secretary Cohen: "This
is a responsibility of the international community,"
Cohen said about maintaining law and order in Kosovo.
"The Europeans must also bear a fair share of that
responsibility and they have yet to do so."
•
NATO
killed 500 civilians in
Yugoslavia
The investigation
concluded that NATO committed violations of
international humanitarian law. Human Rights Watch
called on NATO governments to establish an independent
and impartial commission to investigate these
violations and issue its findings publicly. NATO
governments should also alter targeting and bombing
doctrine to ensure compliance with international
humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch said.
•
Anarchy
& Madness in
Kosovo
Timothy Garton Ash's report on the chaos in Kosovo/a
tells the truth - and ends on a funny note about the
liberal, Western paradise the locals long to be part
of while forgetting that it was this order which did
nothing between 1989 and 1999 to help them...But what
do you do in a one-dimensional world where "there is
no choice". From the New York Review of
Books.
•
If
the West's peace-making in Kosovo is a 'victory', how
many can we afford in the
future?
Internationals working there speak out - anonymously -
to Jack kelly, the Post-Gazette. Here you always find
the views of James Bissett, Canada's ambassador to
Yugoslavia 1990-92.
•
Serbs
struggle through the stand-off with the West
A report with a
human touch by Washington Post's Edward
Cody.
Human rights -
humanism or imperialism?
•
Report
detailing weapons exports to human rights
abusers
The Council for a
Livable World Education Fund released its new report
detailing various weapons sold by the U.S. to selected
abusive governments around the world. Entitled "Human
Rights and Weapons: Records of Selected U.S. Arms
Clients," this study not only describes the type,
number, and dollar value of some of the weapons sold
to these countries by the U.S., but also in what kinds
of abusive practices the security forces of those
nations engage.
•
Human
rights
imperialism
U.S. interests are
not universal interests; its courts are not World
Courts; its law is not international law. But there
are indeed universal human rights that have emerged in
the global struggle to acknowledge our common
humanity. As Uwe-Jens Heuer and Gregor Schirmer argue,
they are those rights set out in international law by
the treaties and declarations that have obtained the
concurrence of the states of the world. We must fight
for the recognition in practice of these human rights
worldwide.
What was the truth
then? What is it today?
•
CIA
and the Cold War on culture and
deception
This book provides a
detailed account of the ways in which the CIA
penetrated and influenced a vast array of cultural
organizations, through its front groups and via
friendly philanthropic organizations like the Ford and
Rockefeller Foundations. The author, Frances Stonor
Saunders, details how and why the CIA ran cultural
congresses, mounted exhibits, and organized
concerts.
This piece took us
by surprise! How much do you think CIA and similar
organisations influence our understanding of today's
wold news, culture and changes?
EU
militarisation
•
If
so, what's the difference between the EU and
NATO?
European Commission President Romano Prodi
surprised his Latvian audience Feb. 10 by declaring
that "any attack or aggression against an EU
[European Union] member nation would be an
attack or aggression against the whole EU, this is the
highest guarantee." If implemented as stated, this
marks a quantum shift in EU policies, states
Stratfor.
WIRE Editor
Jan Oberg with TFF
Associates
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