There are many great
initiatives - also in the field of norm-setting - to
further a truly global democracy. Here is one of
them:
•
A
Charter for Global
Democracy
Our call for international accountability, justice,
sustainable development and democracy. In September 2000
the United Nations will hold a special Millennium
Assembly and Summit on the future of the world. This
Charter will be published as an open letter on worldwide
and other presented to UN Representatives. Please join
us.
NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia was also an experiment in
information or cyber warfare...
• The
Cyber Bomb in Yugoslavia
For specialists in this burgeoning
field of information warfare, Yugoslavia merely stands as
another demonstration that computer network attack will
eventually become an integral part of the way warfare is
waged, writes Bill Arkin in Washington
Post.
Bit by bit, the truth about the consequences of NATO's
irresponsible bombing comes out:
•
Environmental
effects of the bombing played down in NATO
countries
The rules of warfare
which resulted in the people of Serbia and Kosovo being
faced with life-threatening pollution should be reviewed.
Paul Brown of the Guardian has met the man behind
UNDP's study of the environmental aftermath.
Here is a rundown of the world's conflict trends and
arms trade as well as a spot on Africa as a host of ever
more resource-consuming complex, nasty conflicts. We may
ask ourselves what happened around the world when -
falsely - we were told that Kosovo was a
holocaust-in-the-making:
•
Escalating
civil wars, civilian bloodshed and western
inaction
The deadly cost of the new warfare are the
hallmarks of a 21st century conflict. Global conflict
trends should lead us to discuss what the real purposes
behind "humanitarian intervention" are.
Richard Norton-Taylor and Owen Bowcott report on the
latest IISS Report.
U.S. policies step-by-step
make the world a less safe place for us all - Canada
speaks out. What about the rest of NATO?
• Canada
blasts U.S. nuclear policy
"By far the greatest threat to our children -- indeed to
all humanity -- remains the spectre of nuclear
annihilation and the hazards posed by other weapons of
mass destruction," said Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd
Axworthy, blasting the United States for moving backward
on a series of nuclear issues, writes Jeff Sallott of
the Globe and Mail.
If nothing works politically or morally, try a military
"solution." U.S. policies against Iraq take a dangerous
and desperate turn:
• U.S.
to Aid Iraqi Opposition to Develop a Military
Cadre
There have been no
inspections of Iraq's reported nuclear, chemical and
biological weapons programs since the Government expelled
United Nations inspectors 15 months ago. While the
Administration says Hussein remains isolated, diplomatic
efforts to set up a new inspection system have foundered.
Now it tries "non-lethal" military training of Iraqis in
the U.S., writes the New York Times.
Moral corruption abounds. This is what Doctors Without
Borders did to be politically correct. One of its
founders, by the way, is Dr. Bernhard Kouchner - head of
the UN mission in Kosovo
• Doctors
without border expell Greek section - guess
why...
Isn't it interesting that the Nobel Peace prize winning
Medicins Sans Frontiers, MSF, has expelled its Greek
section from the international organization because it
worked in Serbia and not only in Kosovo during the
bombing.
We must not forget that the biggest conflict of all is
that between humankind and Nature. Here is a small piece
of news that could mean a lot for us all
•
Industrial
nations undermine the Kyoto
Protocol
159 countries, rich and poor, signed up to the Kyoto
protocol by which they agreed to reduce their gas
emissions by five percent. So far the protocol has only
been ratified by 15 developing nations...
Remember the U.S. was not involved in overthrowing
Allende in Chile? Remember CIA was not collecting data on
Iraq - and remember to remember that CIA was not in
Kosovo?
•
On
the U.S. involvement in Chile in
1973
While Chileans are learning about their dark history from
the U.S. documents, American citizens are learning almost
nothing about their own government's actions, writes
Peter Kornbluh in Washington Post.
Some make attempts for civilizational dialogue beyond
the everyday events, here is an American view on
relations with Japan - or is it also indicative of some
new Cold War structure?
• Challenges
for the Western-Asian/Japanese
future
The single most vexing problem for the region will be the
lack of energy supplies on the part of China, Japan and
Korea, and their consequent dependence on the nations of
the Middle East. China, whether weak or strong, will
remain the world's greatest challenge in the 21st
century.
WIRE Editor
Jan Oberg with TFF
Associates
