Nonviolence &
forgiveness
•
News about the World
Civil Society Conference in Montreal, December 1999
Building
Global Governance
Partnership
Leaders of civil society organizations from around the
world coming together at the turn of this century to
propose changes and take action for new global governance
partnerships and to create a wider support base for a
stronger United Nations. Hisatory, program, documents -
as they ask: Whose world is it anyway??
•
The concept of ahimsa - a
note on nonviolence philosophy
Nonviolence
and the Self in Early
Buddhism
In Buddhism, the principle of nonviolence (ahimsa)
projects an ideal of universal peace, which can be
expanded to include the notion of a peaceful mind. The
logic of Buddhist doctrine in fact places the mind
first...
•
There is a small but growing
body of research in forgiveness
Forgiveness
and self-respect
An article by Margaret Holmgren, featured at the
International Forgiveness Institute's website
"In fact I believe that if we truly respect ourselves,we
will work through a process of responding to the wrong,
and this process will lead to genuine forgiveness of the
offender. If we attempt to forgive the offender before we
do this work, our forgiveness may well be incompatible
with our self-respect."
Disarmament &
alternative defence
• Have
a look at The Nation's exciting site on The Gift of
Time
The
Case for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons
It contains Jonathan Schell's thought-provoking
essay.
•
Support
the "Back from the Brink Campaign
"It is simply too dangerous to leave these weapons poised
for a quick launch of massive retaliation. Political
realities don't justify this defense posture, and human
error is far too likely. We demand that the leadership of
the U.S. and of Russia move into the new millennium,
standing down our weapons of mass destruction. We support
the following petition statement: "It's time for the U.S.
and Russia to 'de-alert,' taking nuclear weapons off
their hair trigger."
Democracy
• Can
there be democracy and freedom under globalisation? Or
will we get statism and more right-wing swings?
Globalism
and our march right
"As Bowles pointed out, "The majority of people did
not want NAFTA and GATT or the World Trade Organization,
but got them, anyway. They did not want American troops
sent to Haiti, Somalia, Bosnia or Kosovo, but they were
sent, nevertheless." No one is saying that making a
better living is not a desirable thing. What is
happening, however, is that more people are beginning to
examine the cost of acquiring "better economic
conditions," and are coming to the conclusion that if it
ultimately costs them their country, it's not worth it. I
agree," says Jon E. Dougherty or the World NetDaily.
Militarization, New
Cold War - and the EU militarization
• The
U.S. wants Europeans to accept the Ballistic Missile
Defence or "Son of Star Wars" project:
Cohen
Warns Allies About Missiles
Cohen, armed with the latest U.S. intelligence, warned
the NATO allies Thursday about the increasing missile
threat from rogue states and outlined Washington's plans
for a defense system to combat it. Those plans, however,
worry not only the Russians, but some of America's allies
as well. ``I think it's very important for the allies to
understand that the threat is real,'' Cohen told
reporters after briefing defense ministers from the other
18 NATO nations.
• EU
readies for war without - and with... - the United
States
Leaders
meeting Friday in Helsinki are to approve a beyond- NATO
military force
Time after time this century, Europe has had to turn to
the United States to help fight its wars or keep its
peace. This week, European leaders will commit themselves
to coping on their own - at least with smaller crises -
next century. At a two-day summit that opens tomorrow in
Helsinki, Finland, European Union heads of state will put
their names to a plan for a 50,000-man rapid-reaction
force that could deal with flare-ups on their doorstep,
such as this year's Kosovo crisis.
•
China-US relations in mixed mood, increasing
instability in the Pacific
Military
aspects of US-Chinese relations
While the US and China have come to terms on
international trade, the two countries are still
struggling with security issues that are crucial for
stability in the Pacific region. A US delegation visiting
Beijing recently got a "lukewarm" reception when trying
to reestablish military-to-military relations, according
to a Pentagon official. And new rivalries are surfacing
over high-tech weapons systems.
• So,
what are intelligence organisations good for - if they
are?
At
DIA, Excess Is in the Details
We hardly ever get much of a peek into what our $28
billion- a-year spy agencies really know. Recently
though, a source provided me with a bibliography of
secret intelligence reports prepared over the past few
years by the Defense Intelligence Agency, DIA. See what
Bill Arkin's peep lead him to write.
Conflict-resolution -
Burundi
• Good
news from Burundi - and a background to the country's
problems
New
peace talks mediated by Nelson Mandela
Kosovo
•
OSCE releases a scatching report on ethnic violence,
earlier and today
Guardian
on OSCE's report from Kosovo/a
The west's post-war failure to stop the persecution of
minorities in the province comes under scrutiny. And here
is the 900-page report with summaries, at
OSCE's
site.
•
And here are some of the
desparate attempts to break the cycle of violence
Keeping
young Albanians from avenging
Serbs
While the behavior of their new charges has Western
officials outraged and embarrassed, relief workers on the
ground are scratching their heads, wondering what can be
done to break the cycle of violence. In particular, the
focus is on youths, who are blamed for most of the
killings.
•
And here is the Report
from the United Nations on
Srebrenica
•
NATO's S-G keeps on
trying to persuade the world about
What's
going right in
Kosovo
Are there limits to the propaganda, you may ask when
reading it...
Globalisation &
WTO
• What
the political trade war - WTO/globalization - is really
about. A good summary of the basic, even philosophical
issues:
Trade
war and capitalism
Thousands of demonstrators mobbed Seattle this week to
protest the Third Ministerial Conference of the World
Trade Organization. They argued that the WTO, a
135-nation club in which membership is voluntary but
"free trade" rules are mandatory, threatens to dissolve
human rights, labor laws, and health and environmental
protections in the acid of global capitalism.
• Jesse
Jackson is convinced that the Seattle demonstrators have
got it right:
World
Trade Disorganization
Will government protect the corporations from democracy
or the people from the corporations? This is the key
point in an ever more pointed global, structural
conflict.
Media in war and
peace
• In
space, on Earth, in the oceans - there is no place you
cannot fight a war anymore. Now:
The
Internet as war's newest battlefield
A recent article in the Chinese Liberation Army Daily
was direct in its assessment that integrating Web warfare
with combat on the ground will be essential to winning
future conflicts. Add to that a heightened effort by the
United States to protect crucial online infrastructure
and you have what one cyberwarfare expert calls the onset
of a "cool war."
Militarism versus
development
If you read only one, let
this be
it:
• This
is the reality about the rich countries 'humanitarian'
concerns..
The Reality of Aid 2000
provides the most up-to-date information on official aid,
examines how that aid is spent, assesses its impact and
analyses its shortcomings. An Independent Review of
Poverty Reduction and Development Assistance: Focus on
Basic Education Policy Implementation
"... the facts of global poverty in the year 2000 are
an indictment of the global political, economic and
social order. More than four households out of ten in the
whole of South Asia remain in absolute poverty...The
overall picture suggests that absolute poverty is likely
to have risen to 1.5 billion people - one quarter of the
world's population - by the end of 1999."
WIRE Editor
Jan Oberg with TFF
Associates
