ALGERIA IS EVEN WORSE THAN SYRIA

The killing of nonviolent demonstrators and civilian bystanders is escalating in Syria. Assad should resign immediately, a coalition government should be formed, and hundreds of mediators should hold dialogues with the many parties, to try and form a federation.

WHAT ARE THE CONCERNS IN DAVOS?

The self-appointed "World Economic Forum" will meet again in Davos, Switzerland, 25-29 January 2012. We can expect a new load of gratuitous advice to emanate from the meeting. Yet its invited participants were utterly unable to comprehend the September 2008 manifestation of the world economic crisis when they met three years ago. So, what are they going to talk about now?

THE THIRD ARAB REVOLT

The Arab spring is the third Arab revolt in less than a century.

SEVEN STEPS TO OVERCOME THE ECONOMIC CRISIS

There has been a growing wave of protests against the casino capitalism that brought us a series of economic crises and a growing gap between rich and poor, within and between countries. Inspired by the Arab spring, mass protests erupted in Israel, then the "Occupy Wall Street" movement began and is now spreading throughout the US, Europe, Japan, and Korea- so far only as protests without proposals.

OCTOBER 7, 2001: TEN YEARS WAR ON TERROR, TEN LOST YEARS FOR PEACE

On October 7, 2001, George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan, allegedly in retaliation for the terrorist attack of September 11 on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. This was the start of the "war on terror". The atrocious violence of 9/11 was totally unjustified, and the USA received much sympathy as a victim. Instead of uniting against the US government for its errors, people united against the attackers. But with its violent response, the USA has forfeited the world's initial good will. Both terrorism and state terrorism have demonstrated that violence is counterproductive and backfires.

WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR LIBYA?

According to NATO, the final chapter of Gaddafi's Libya is being written now. The scenario is very similar to the final chapter for Yugoslavia -Milosevic- for Afghanistan -Mullah Omar- Iraq -Saddam Hussein- and for the "War on Terror" -bin Laden: eliminate The Bad Guy. In the future chapters of this neo-crusade, orthodox Christians will also be targeted, just as they were in the crusades from 1095-1291.

THE ISLAMIC WORLD: STRENGTH THROUGH UNITY

Before Islam, Arabia lived for centuries under various forms of "asabiya", variously defined as Arabism, tribalism, or clanism, which led to many long wars. But in 610, Prophet Muhammad, at the age of 40, received the first verses of Al-Quran, challenging the traditional social and political order. Asabiya yielded to brotherhood-sisterhood in a community of values, the Umma, from Umm, mother. Arabs engaged with enthusiasm in this new social order based on the Islamic religion which held that "there is no difference between an Arab and a non-Arab, or between a white and a black, except in degree of piety". Distinctions based on race, ethnic group, colour, gender, etc., disappeared in favour of unity, freedom, justice, and above all rahma (true love).

NORWAY: WHAT CAN WE LEARN?

22 July 2011 will be engraved in Norwegian history like 9 April 1940, the German invasion. Words pale before this enormity. The center of Oslo, where the ministries are located, resembles a war-zone more than during the Second World War, when it was hit by some bombs from the resistance and from England. Even worse was the massacre at the Labor Party youth camp on Ut"ya Island near Oslo with 68 killed and many seriously wounded.

NORWAY: WHAT CAN WE LEARN?

22 July 2011 will be engraved in Norwegian history like 9 April 1940, the German invasion. Words pale before this enormity. The center of Oslo, where the ministries are located, resembles a war-zone more than during the Second World War, when it was hit by some bombs from the resistance and from England. Even worse was the massacre at the Labor Party youth camp on Ut"ya Island near Oslo with 68 killed and many seriously wounded.

NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE NONVIOLENCE

It is remarkable that two of the greatest evils of the 20th century -colonialism and the Cold War- were both overcome with nonviolence: Gandhi's nonviolent campaign against British colonialism which led to India's and Pakistan's Independence in 1947, paving the way for other countries' independence, and the nonviolent demonstrations, especially in Gdansk and Leipzig, which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of the Cold War.

WHAT IS GOOD ABOUT AMERICA

Whenever I praise something, my Japanese wife Fumiko asks, "And what is bad about it?" When I criticise something, she says, "Tell me something good about it." This is the Daoist "yin-yang" principle: in everything bright, there is also something dark, and vice versa, ad infinitum.

OBAMA AND OSAMA: VIOLENT OPPONENTS

There is no evidence that Osama bin Laden planned the attacks of September 11, 2001, just as there was no evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the pretext used for the 2003 US attack on Iraq. Osama applauded 9/11, but that falls under freedom of speech.

THE LIBYA WAR WAS LONG PLANNED

The attack on Libya was long in the works. Since 1969, when Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, then 28, seized power in a military coup, overthrowing King Idris and forcing the American military out of Libya, the US has been planning to overthrow him.

TWO CRISES CAUSED BY HUMANS: JAPAN AND LIBYA

Japan lies on and near known tectonic fault lines, but the earthquake of March 11, magnitude 9 on the Richter scale, was the strongest in recent Japanese history, 1000 times more powerful than the magnitude 7 earthquake in Haiti last year which killed more than 250,000 people. Earth tremors in Japan are not unexpected, but we still cannot predict the precise moment and location they will strike. Some animals seem to know, but with short warning time.

A VICTORIOUS DAY FOR PEOPLE POWER – WHAT NEXT?

After 18 days of massive nonviolent demonstrations, Egypt's president Mubarak finally stepped down. This historic achievement by a million heroes was inspired by Tunisia. It had no leaders, of course, because leaders are easy targets. Everybody united around one idea, the ouster of Mubarak--like of Ben Ali in Tunisia.

AUTOCRACIES CRUMBLING

For a long time, the US-Israel alliance (inspired by Isaiah 2:1- 5, "out of Zion shall go forth the law... and he shall judge among the nations...") has created --by force or bribes or both--"friendly governments", or "allies in the peace process" as US Vice President Joe Biden -Obama's foreign policy expert- says. This pattern is now unraveling before our eyes.

AUTOCRACIES CRUMBLING

For a long time, the US-Israel alliance (inspired by Isaiah 2:1- 5, "out of Zion shall go forth the law... and he shall judge among the nations...") has created --by force or bribes or both--"friendly governments", or "allies in the peace process" as US Vice President Joe Biden -Obama's foreign policy expert- says. This pattern is now unraveling before our eyes.

WIKIPROMISES

In 2010, Wikileaks caught the world's attention and contributed to greater openness. The new year is a traditional time to make wishes and promises. Here is a list of promises that I wish would be made -and kept!

WEEKLYLEAKS

The revelations contained in the wave of WikiLeak documents that have taken the world by storm are an indictment not only of US diplomacy but of today's diplomacy in general. What kind of ludicrous language is this, so focused on the pathology of mainline media discourse? It is negative and concentrated on individual actors, usually from the elites of elite countries. It is immature gossip, the kind of "analysis" of power typical of adolescents. Where is the analysis of culture and structure which is far more important than actors who come and go? Nowhere; they are incapable of it. Where are positive ideas? Where are the ideas about how to convert the challenges, such as climate change, into cooperation for mutual and equal benefit? Like water distillation projects using solar energy at Israel's borders with Lebanon and Palestine? Like positive US-Iran cooperation on alternative energy?

A SUMMIT FOR LIVING IN HARMONY WITH NATURE INTO THE FUTURE

At the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro held in June 1992, which witnessed the birth of the Convention on Biological Diversity, former Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa stated “Our joint endeavor to protect the global environment has just been launched. The real challenge is how we can translate our political will here in Rio into future actions to save the Earth. However steep the climb may be, we must move forward.” Eighteen years later, the need to translate political commitments into concrete action is just as pressing. As Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara stated at the High-Level Event on Biodiversity of the recent UN General Assembly, "for the future generations to inherit the benefits of nature, it is imperative that we specifically indicate collective actions over the next 10 years.”

A POLITICAL USE OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

In his testament, Alfred Nobel clearly stated that the Peace Prize should be given for the reduction of armies or for understanding among nations.