Articles by Rene Wadlow
We found 497 results.
Turkey-Syria-Kurds Violent Conflict: Action Needed
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Oct 2019
On 9 October, Turkish troops began a long-anticipated cross-border assault against the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led militia in northeastern Syria. The Turkish operation is code-named “Operation Peace Spring” but there is a real danger that the situation turns into “Operation Violent Winter”. Before the situation grows worse, clear and dynamic leadership from non-governmental organizations is required. As Turkish Troops Advance, Dangers Escalate
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Jayaprakash Narayan (11 Oct 1902 – 8 Oct 1979): Advocate of the Nonviolent Total Revolution
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Oct 2019
Jayaprakash Narayan was an Indian social reformer in the struggle for Indian independence led by Mahatma Gandhi and a social reformer after the independence of India. “The problem is to put man in touch with man, so that they may live together in meaningful, understandable, controllable relationships. In short, the problem is to recreate the human community.”
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Progress toward Ukraine, Donbas, Russia Conflict Resolution: Serious Negotiations still needed
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Oct 2019
3 Oct 2019 – There is a need for dialogue, trust-building, and reconciliation within Ukraine. The same issues as to what “self rule” means in practice is still the crucial issue. Ultimately, all conflicts can end only when there is an agreement about the shape of government and the rules of law under which people agree to live.
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U.N. General Assembly: Can It Provide the Needed Global Leadership?
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Sep 2019
27 Sep 2019 – The international relations specialist Stanley Hoffmann once quipped “Goals are easy to describe. What matters more is a strategy for reaching them.” This September the UNGA began with a “Climate Action Summit” to evaluate governmental efforts to meet the challenges of climate change. Government leaders set out what they have done, or plan to do, at the national level but they said relatively little on what they could do together.
→ read full articleGrowing Tensions on the Road to Persian Gulf Security
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Sep 2019
17 Sep 2019 – The 14 Sep drone attacks on oil installations in Saudi Arabia have dimmed hope for U.S. – Iranian discussions. Tensions have increased, and oil prices have risen. In fact, the aim of the attacks may have been to lessen the possibility of Iran – U.S. discussions which might have taken place during the start of the UNGA later in September. There is a need for non-governmental efforts today as the Persian Gulf and the wider Middle East are growing ever-more tense.
→ read full articlePreparing the U.N.’s 2020
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Sep 2019
Although it is likely that the 2020 U.S. presidential elections will get more media space, the United Nations is preparing a number of 2020 landmarks. Members of the TRANSCEND network may propose avenues of creative action, and we must prepare now, as negotiations on content are already underway. The UN is sensitive to anniversary dates to look back as to what has been done (or not done) and to look ahead at the new challenges and what can be done to meet them.
→ read full articleImmanuel Wallerstein: Ah, We were once both young and hopeful!
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Sep 2019
Immanuel Wallerstein (28 Sep 1930 – 31 Aug 2019) the political sociologist best known for his writings on the “world system” and I were friends in the mid 1950s; perhaps not friends but at least both student activists in the World Federalist-World Citizen Movement, especially in their international dimensions.
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Iran Crisis: Dangers and Opportunities
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Sep 2019
The Russian proposal for Collective Security for the Persian Gulf follows closely the procedures which led to the 1975 Helsinki Final Act and the creation of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Bogdanov stressed multilateralism as a mechanism for all involved in the assessment of situations, the decision-making process, and the implementation of decisions.
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(Português) Amazônia em Chamas
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2019
O Presidente brasileiro Jair Bolsonaro declarou que os incêndios são uma questão puramente doméstica e as atitudes do G7 representam uma política neocolonial do passado. Como Cidadãos do Mundo, acreditamos que a Amazônia, assim como outras grandes áreas florestais, fazem parte da herança comum da humanidade; a sua destruição afeta a todos nós.
→ read full articleWomen at the Peace Table: Building from the Grassroots to the Tree Tops
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2019
There is a need to study how to overcome the cultural barriers, the traditional patriarchal attitudes that prevent women from playing a full role in armed-conflict resolution and to strengthen the capacities of women-led initiatives.
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International Humanitarian Law, Constant Challenges, NGO Responses
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2019
12 August is the anniversary of the signing of the Geneva Conventions in 1949. The 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Protocols Additional are central instruments of International Humanitarian Law. The Geneva Conventions are also often called the Red Cross Conventions.
→ read full articlePeace Journalism: Signs and Trends
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Jul 2019
A task of Peace Journalism is to be able to discern trends and to detect signs of emerging political and social issues. One aspect is what I call “raising a storm warning flag”. This is to highlight growing tensions or inappropriate responses to situations which are not yet on the world security agenda–that is, neither being discussed at the United Nations Security Council nor leading to action in a regular way.
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James Cousins (22 Jul 1873 – 20 Feb 1956): An Effort of Synthesis
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Jul 2019
“From the total push and pressure of the Cosmos come the impulses of life that manifest themselves through desires (emotions) counsel (cognition) and works (action)…In other terms, the intuition flows through thoughts as truth, through feeling as beauty, through action as goodness.”
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Sahel Instability Spreads
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Jul 2019
28 Jun 2019 – Despite U.N. troops, French army troops, European Union military trainers, and national armies, instability is spreading in the Sahel five States: Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Chad–all former French colonies. The French government still plays a large role in the economic, political and security life of these Sahel 5 – what has been called “la Francafrique”.
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Hermann Hesse (2 Jul 1877 – 9 Aug 1962): Revolt and Enlightenment
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Jul 2019
Rebellion against established structures, the quest for personal values and a religious impulse are all elements in Siddhartha, published in 1922, perhaps his most widely-read book. It is not clear that Hesse found the harmony of enlightenment in his own life. In his last major work The Glass Bead Game (1943) he describes what might be an ideal Buddhist monastery devoted to the discovery, preservation and dissemination of knowledge.
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Giuseppe Garibaldi (4 Jul 1807 – 2 Jun 1882): Godfather of Transnational Democratic Politics
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Jul 2019
Giuseppe Garibaldi, born in Nice, now France, often called the hero of two worlds because of his efforts for independence in Latin America and then Europe, is in many ways inventor of transnational democratic politics.
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Antoine de Saint Exupéry (29 Jun 1900 – 31 Jul 1944): Solitude and Solidarity
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Jun 2019
Saint Ex for the style was influenced by Frederic Nietzche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra which he had read. However, the spirit is much closer to Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet. There is no indication that he had read Gibran in Saint Ex’s period in New York. It is more likely that both writers shared a common outlook on life.
→ read full articleDemocratic Republic of Congo: Need for Reconciliation Bridge-Builders
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Jun 2019
21 Jun 2019 -Felix Tshisekedi, son of the late, long-time opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, put an end to the 18-year rule of Joseph Kabila. However, in a number of provinces of the country, especially the east, armed violence continues between the army and different tribal-based militias. In some area, warlords battle among themselves.
→ read full articlePeace Journalism: The Sower, the Seed, the Harvest
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jun 2019
There is the New Testament symbol of the Sower and the Seed. The Sower has only one type of seed, which stands for the truth or at least that aspect of the truth appropriate for the period. He throws some of the seeds on ill-prepared hard ground. Some others are thrown on slightly prepared ground, but their roots do not go deep. Finally, some seeds are put into well-prepared ground, take root and in turn produce more seeds that can be used elsewhere.
→ read full articleAfter 30 Years of Stagnation, Incompetence and Repression, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan Is Pushed Out
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jun 2019
The Central government gave the Janjaweed guns, uniforms, equipment and indications where to attack by first bombing village–but no regular pay. Thus the bandit militias had to pay themselves by looting homes, crops, livestock, by taking slaves and raping women and girls. Village after village was destroyed; crops were burned, water wells filled with sand.
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William Butler Yeats (13 Jun 1865 – 28 Jan 1939): The Transition to Aquarius
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jun 2019
William Butler Yeats is the modern European poet most conscious of the transition within astrological cycles from the Piscean Period to the Age of Aquarius. The concept that humanity is at the end of a 2000-year cycle and about to start a new dispensation at a higher turn of the spiral – the gyre as Yeats called the historic spiral – was the framework within which he always worked.
→ read full article8 June–International Day of the Oceans: World Citizens Call for Renewed Efforts to Resolve Asian Maritime Delimitations Dispute
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jun 2019
Factions in both Japan and China are playing a “nationalist card” concerning the maritime delimitations disputes, no doubt for reasons which go beyond the specific aspects of the disputes. Although the Chinese “nationalist” focus is directed toward Japan, there is a vision among some Chinese that the USA is the cause of the continuing problems with Taiwan and Japan.
→ read full articleSri Lanka: Sectarian Violence and the Higher Self
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 May 2019
On 14 and 15 May 2019, revenge violence broke out in a number of towns in Sri Lanka against Muslim shopkeepers by Christians motivated by the Easter Sunday attacks on three Christian churches. As has been said, it is difficult to solve problems on the same level from which gave rise to the problem. While Christian-Muslim dialogue is necessary in Sri Lanka, as elsewhere, it is only as the individual person moves beyond their self-identification as Christians or Muslims that a true harmonious society can grow.
→ read full articleCameroon: Moving Fast When There Are Short Windows of Opportunity
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 May 2019
11 May 2019 – There are two separate and not directly related crisis areas in Cameroon. One is a spillover of instability and conflict in Nigeria and the Central African Republic. The second crisis area concerns the Anglophone area of Cameroon to the south and west on the frontier with Nigeria.
→ read full articleTripoli Reflects a Disintegrated Libya
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 May 2019
3 May 2019 – The current situation in Tripoli is a reflection of the past seven years of disintegration. The crucial question remains how to structure a country as diverse in terms of geography and tribal societies. It is not certain that the U.N.-led negotiations can be held in the near future although a good deal of preparatory work was undertaken. There may be some room for Track II-type efforts sponsored by non-governmental organizations.
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Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861 – 7 Aug 1941): The Local and the Universal
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 May 2019
In a period of rapid change as we face today, it is often difficult to find the right balance between the cultural contributions and needs of the local, the national, and the universal. One way of finding this balance is to look at the life and work of others, who earlier confronted the same challenges. One such person was the poet, writer and cultural reformer Rabindranath Tagore.
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Teilhard de Chardin (1 May 1881 – 10 Apr 1955): Evolution toward World Unity
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Apr 2019
Pierrre Teihard de Chardin, the French paleontologist, after a lifetime of study of the evolution of the human species concluded that humanity was entering a new age with a higher, peaceful and more responsible sense of the unity of the world community. Optimism and evolution are the two themes that Teilhard de Chardin leaves with us. He insisted at looking at the human population as one global family, developing a network of mutual support − recognizing the need of global solidarity.
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A Step Forward in the U.N.’s Efforts against Rape as a Weapon of War
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Apr 2019
On Tuesday, 23 April 2019, the United Nations Security Council voted resolution N° 2467 concerning the use of rape as a weapon in times of armed conflict. The new resolution introduced by Germany contained two new elements, both of which were eliminated in the intense negotiations in the four days prior to the vote of 13 in favor and two abstentions, those of Russia and China.
→ read full articleYemen and World Law: Building from Current Violations
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Apr 2019
The aggression against Yemen has created a moral vacuum, an area devoid of the most basic human values both within Yemen and in the countries attacking it.
→ read full articleAfter 30 Years of Stagnation, Incompetence and Repression Omar al-Bashir of Sudan is Pushed Out–Problems Remain
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Apr 2019
On 11 April 2019, the Defense Minister of Sudan, Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf, announced that the President Omar al-Bashir had been removed from office and was under house arrest along with a few members of his inner circle. General Ibn Auf proposed that a transitional body of military and technicians lead the country for a two-year period after which elections for president would be held. Some have called the events “a recycled coup”.
→ read full articlePeace Journalism
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Apr 2019
Peace Journalism has two primary tasks: to make creative proposals for the settlement of conflicts and to work for broad inclusion of parties for negotiations held in good faith. Thus Peace Journalists need to work so that all voices can be heard. Inclusiveness may not make negotiations easier.
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Dogon-Peul Conflict in Mali Draws U.N. Attention to Broader Settled Agriculturalist-Pastoralists Tensions in Africa
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Apr 2019
The degree of poor administration and the disintegration of the State of Mali became apparent in March 2012 when there were revolts led by the Twareg in northern Mali. The creation of a new state, Azawed, to be led by ethnic Twareg was proclaimed.
→ read full articleRocky Road to World Law: Need for a U.N.-led Conference on the Reaffirmation of Humanitarian Law
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Mar 2019
World law, as world citizens use the term, is more than current international law. World law has as its base universally recognized international law but also the human rights declarations and standards, the oft-repeated declarations of the United Nations General Assembly as well as the international legal bodies such as the World Court and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
→ read full articleSyria: Concerns Raised and Possible Next Steps
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Mar 2019
I think that it is important for us to look at why organizations that promote nonviolent action and conflict resolution in the US and Western Europe were not able to do more to aid those in Syria who tried to use nonviolence during the first months of 2011.
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The Spiritual and Socialist Start of International Women’s Day
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Mar 2019
8 March is the International Day of Women and thus a time to highlight the specific role of women in local, national and world society. International Women’s Day was first proposed by Clara Zetlin (1857-1933) at the Second International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen in 1911. Later, she served as a socialist-communist member of the German Parliament during the Wiemar Republic which existed from 1920 to 1933 when Hitler came to power. Zetlin went into exile in the Soviet Union shortly after Hitler came to power. She died there several months later in 1933.
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René Dumont (13 Mar 1904 – 18 Jun 2001): Focus of the Small-Scale Farmer and Social Justice
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Mar 2019
René Dumont highlighted the importance of small-scale peasant farmers in the world’s food production. Despite massive displacement of the peasantry toward cities, more than 70 percent of the world’s food is produced by small family-owned farms. René Dumont was an active world citizen and always stressed world citizenship in his justification for his studies of agriculture worldwide.
→ read full articleArt of the Deal Revisited while Waiting for the Next Summit
Donald Trump with René Wadlow, Ghostwriter – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Mar 2019
The Art of the Deal, part biography, part business advice, received wide readership and drew attention to Donald Trump beyond the New York milieu in which he worked. The book was largely written by his ghostwriter, journalist Tony Schwartz. In this spirit, here is a ghostwritten presentation of what Donald Trump should say in his next meeting with Kim Jong-Un which should also be held in Hanoi so that Kim can take a train.
→ read full articleThat Cooler Heads May Prevail
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2019
25 Feb 2019 – When the drums of war start beating, can cooler heads prevail and negotiations in good faith start? Vijay Mehta has written a useful overview of efforts to create a Department of Peace within governments so that there would be an institutionalized official voice proposing other avenues than war. Such proposals are not new.
→ read full articleThe Warsaw Process: Slow Start, Clear Focus
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Feb 2019
“This is a new era for the future and for prosperity for all the nations” Yusuf bin Alawi, Foreign Minister of Oman, said optimistically in Warsaw at the 13-14 February 2019 Ministerial Conference to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East. The Warsaw Conference may end up as only a “photo opportunity” and for Warsaw to be center stage for a short time, or we may work to have the Warsaw Process be the real start of a new era.
→ read full articleWarsaw Process toward a Conference on Security and Cooperation in the Middle East
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Feb 2019
On 13-14 February 2019, there is planned The Ministerial Conference to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East called jointly by the U.S.A. and Poland. Not all “players” of the Middle East drama are invited to Warsaw. Iran and Russia as governments were not invited. Non-State actors such as the Palestinians, the Kurds, the Islamic State and a host of armed militias – all of whom play a current role – will be officially absent.
→ read full articleReprisals on Human Rights Defenders: Need for NGO Action
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2019
Many human rights defenders are people working in isolated, remote areas far from the international networks of protection. These unsung defenders become a vulnerable target in areas where impunity prevails, and assailants operate with virtual no fear of having to account for their crimes. Nevertheless, international appeals with accuracy of information and speed of reaction can be helpful which the Association of World Citizens knows from direct experience.
→ read full articleRomain Rolland (29 Jan 1866 – 30 Dec 1944): The Cosmopolitan Spirit
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2019
It is as the popularizer and exponent of Gandhi’s thought that Rolland played a crucial role for nonviolent action. Gandhi was the embodiment of many of Rolland’s positions: a non-Leninist opposition to imperialism and a concern for movements of national independence. For Rolland, Gandhian nonviolence symbolized a universal hope and a political alternative to the pervasiveness of force in the West
→ read full articleFrance: Start of a Difficult but Vital National Dialogue
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2019
20 Jan 2019 – After two months of protests, discussions, and some physical violence beginning on 17 November 2018, the French President Emmanuel Macron has tried to organize a national dialogue from 15 January 2019 to 15 March. It is a difficult task as French political culture is one in which people easily talk but rarely listen.
→ read full articleStringfellow Barr (15 Jan 1897 – 3 Feb 1982): Joining the Human Race
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2019
Stringfellow Barr was a historian of the classic Greek and Roman period and an active world citizen. He served as president of the Foundation for World Government from 1948 to 1958 and of St. John’s College in Annapolis. The aim of St. John’s under Stringfellow was to turn out well-read liberals who would have studied a common set of “Great Books” starting with the Greeks such as Plato.
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Carl Rogers (8 Jan 1902 – 4 Feb 1987): Healing the Person and the State
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2019
Carl Ransom Rogers was a US psychologist and educator and a leading figure of what is often called “the third wave of psychology.” The first wave was Freud and Jung and their views of psychoanalysis. The second wave was the behaviorists symbolized by B.F. Skinner. The third wave, often called “humanist”, has Abraham Maslow, Rollo May, and Carl Rogers as its best known figures.
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Birth Anniversary of Woodrow Wilson
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Dec 2018
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born 28 December 1856 in Virginia. His father was his first teacher of writing style. “When you frame a sentence, shoot with a single bullet and hit that one thing alone”.
→ read full articleSteps toward Governance in Yemen
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Dec 2018
14 Dec 2018 – Two useful steps were taken on the long road toward relative peaceful governance in Yemen. The first need of the country is an end the Saudi-led aggression and the civil war conditions.
→ read full articleNorms, Analysis, Action: Our Tasks
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Dec 2018
9 December was the 70th anniversary of the 1948 Genocide Convention written in light of the events of WWII; the prevention of Genocide has become a world norm. 10 December is the 70th anniversary of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has also become a world norm. However, we know that many human rights norms are not being reached and in some cases are deliberately violated. Thus, our task today is to reflect on avenues of action.
→ read full articleOn Sea as on Land: New Russia-Ukraine Tensions Require Mediation and Negotiations in Good Faith
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Dec 2018
30 Nov 2018 – The tensions arise from fears rather than from structures. Russia fears that Ukraine will join NATO. Ukraine fears that its economy will be deeply harmed by Russian economic measures such as making it difficult for cargo ships to use Mariupol port. The times call for creative proposals and open discussions.
→ read full articleDonetsk-Luhansk-Ukraine-Russia: Another Round in a Frozen but Deadly Struggle
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2018
On 11 November, while French President Emmanuel Macron was warning the assembled heads of government in Paris on the dangers of the narrow nationalism which had led to the 1914-1918 war, people in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics of eastern Ukraine were voting in an effort to strengthen narrow nationalism. Since 2014, the eastern, largely Russian-speaking populations of eastern Ukraine have created two republics: Donetsk and Luhansk.
→ read full articleCentral African Republic: Continuing Collapse – Local Peace Building Needed
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Nov 2018
12 Nov 2018 – The continuing violence, refugee flows, internally displaced persons and the lack of government services is a good reminder of the difficulties of creating a functioning State with a top-down approach, especially one that begins by training a national army before there is a State to protect.
→ read full articlePakistan Blasphemy Death Sentence Overturned: A One-time Event or a Trend toward Justice?
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Nov 2018
1 Nov 2018 – On 29 October 2018, the Supreme Court of Pakistan reversed the decision of lower courts sentencing to death Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of four for blasphemy. After 3,422 days of imprisonment in solitary confinement, the Supreme Court reversed a 2010 lower court verdict. Asia Bibi is now in seclusion and will probably leave the country as some 60 persons in Pakistan have been murdered since 1990, accused of blasphemy. Her case had drawn attention in Pakistan.
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Eugene Victor Debs (5 Nov 1855 – 20 Oct 1926): An Early U.S. Socialist Voice
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Nov 2018
With the increasingly high profile of Senator Bernie Sanders in U.S. politics, the term “Democratic Socialist” has become increasingly used. Thus, it is useful to look at the first person on the U.S. political scene to represent the term.
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The Diplomacy of Women: Norms into Practice Needed
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Oct 2018
On 31 October 2002, the UN Security Council adopted unanimously a Resolution urging “Member States to ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.”
→ read full articleThe International Court of Justice Reaffirms the Protection of Humanitarian Goods in Times of Sanctions and Boycotts
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Oct 2018
17 Oct 2018 – The 15-member Court published its unanimous decision on 3 Oct 2018 stating that the U.S. “must remove” sanctions that could stop food, medical supplies, humanitarian products and products needed for civil aviation.
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Women’s Critical Role in the Food Chain
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Oct 2018
15 OCTOBER is the U.N. designated INTERNATIONAL DAY OF RURAL WOMEN. It is a day in which to highlight the need to increase food production, especially in those countries that face a persistent food deficit. There is a need to increase production, create better storage methods to prevent post-harvest loss, and improve distribution methods.
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America First and Alone
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Oct 2018
In his 25 Sep address to the UNGA, U.S. President Trump set out clearly, if not eloquently, the narrow nationalist framework for political policymaking: “We reject the ideology of globalism and accept the doctrine of patriotism.”
→ read full articleAssam: Preventive Diplomacy Needed to Protect Bengali-speaking Muslims
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Sep 2018
22 Sep 2018 – Potentially, the people of northeast India are sitting atop of a smoldering volcano to erupt into catastrophic suffering. The violence would target Bengali-speaking Muslims on the pattern of the Rohingya of Myanmar (Burma). Preventive diplomacy is not restricted to the UN or national government officials. Non-governmental organizations, academic institutions and the media can all play a role.
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Nikolai Kondratiev (4 Mar 1892 – 17 Sep 1938): The Long Economic Cycles
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Sep 2018
17 September marks the execution of Nikolai Kondratiev (also written as Kondratieff) in 1938 as part of Stalin’s “Great Purge” of those who disagreed with him.
→ read full articleThe Uneven Road to Negotiations in Good Faith to Resolve Armed Conflicts
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Sep 2018
10 Sep 2018 – World Citizen Diplomacy is still a new field. As with any new field, there is a process of presenting ideas, of drawing upon different fields of thought, and of distilling experiences. World Citizen Diplomats must learn from government policy-making procedures but must use them creatively, with more sympathy for the people of the country being analyzed and with a broader vision of the healing of the Planet rather than the national interest focus of government policy makers.
→ read full articleYemen: A New but Difficult Start to Conflict Resolution
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Sep 2018
31 Aug 2018 – Today, the choice–between an end to the armed conflict with negotiations for a renewal of a Yemeni State on the basis of the con-federal system proposed vs. continued fighting in the hope that one faction become a “winner-take-all”–is relatively clear. There is little of what can be called “civil society” in Yemen, but what little exists should have their voices heard in the negotiations.
→ read full articleImpact of Sanctions and Boycotts on Children
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Aug 2018
13 Aug 2018 – On the one hand, economic and trade sanctions is one of the few instruments short of war to enforce world law and to modify in a positive direction the behavior of a State. On the other hand, sanctions also can be a blunt weapon hitting the weak, sick and hungry who usually have had no or little influence on the policy being sanctioned.
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Enhancing Human Rights Globally: The Role of NGOs in the UN
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Aug 2018
3 Aug 2018 – Governments, that alone have the ability to vote UN resolutions, happily take credit for advances. Yet, progress was made by ideas coming from NGO representatives, helped by UN Secretariat civil servants who must keep a “low profile”, and the representatives of some governments where an issue touched them personally. I list 10 victories which seem to me to be real advances.
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Four Freedoms
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Jul 2018
Freedom from Fear: Still an Unmet Goal
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Buckminster Fuller (12 Jul 1895 – 1 Jul 1983): A World View on Doing More with Less
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Jul 2018
As all the male members of his family, he began university at Harvard but was expelled twice, being more interested in women than in diplomas. He never received a university degree but was self-taught in design, mathematics and architecture. He brought all his ideas together in what he called “The Law of Progressive Order.” Today, he is best known for his geodesic domes.
→ read full articleBetween Three Summits: Brussels, England, Helsinki
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Jul 2018
This TMS issue comes in the middle of three summit conferences of significance: a NATO summit held in Brussels, and two bilateral summits: US-UK and US-Russia.
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Yemen: Political Stalemate, Mercenaries Prosper, the Population Disintegrates, and Humanitarian Relief Blocked
Rene Wadlow | Foreign Policy News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jul 2018
29 Jun 2018 – The United Nations Security Council has been discussing the situation in both public and private meetings without any visible impact. Today, the choice between an end to the armed conflict with negotiations for a renewal of a Yemeni State on the basis of the con-federal system proposed and continued fighting in the hope that one faction become a “winner-take-all” is relatively clear.
→ read full article
Hermann Hesse (2 Jul 1877 – 9 Aug 1962): Revolt and Enlightenment
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jul 2018
Rebellion against established structures, the quest for personal values and a religious impulse are all elements in Siddhartha, published in 1922, perhaps his most widely-read book. It is not clear that Hesse found the harmony of enlightenment in his own life. In his last major work The Glass Bead Game (1943) he describes what might be an ideal Buddhist monastery devoted to the discovery, preservation and dissemination of knowledge.
→ read full articleGiuseppe Garibaldi (4 Jul 1807 – 2 Jun 1882): Godfather of Transnational Democratic Politics
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jul 2018
Giuseppe Garibaldi, born in Nice, now France, often called the hero of two worlds because of his efforts for independence in Latin America and then Europe, is in many ways inventor of transnational democratic politics.
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Norman Cousins (24 Jun 1915 – 30 Nov 1990): A Pioneer of Track II Diplomacy
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jun 2018
Track I is official government to government diplomacy among instructed representative of the State. Track II is a non-official effort, usually by a non-governmental organization or an academic institution. Track II talks are discussions held by non-officials of conflicting parties in an attempt to clarify outstanding disputes and to explore the options for resolving them in settings that are less public or less sensitive than those associated with official negotiations.
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Antoine de Saint Exupéry (29 Jun 1900 – 31 Jul 1944): Solitude and Solidarity
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jun 2018
Saint Ex for the style was influenced by Frederic Nietzche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra which he had read. However, the spirit is much closer to Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet. There is no indication that he had read Gibran in Saint Ex’s period in New York. It is more likely that both writers shared a common outlook on life.
→ read full articleKorea: A Significant Summit but There Are Still Many Valleys to Cross
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jun 2018
Such a Peace Treaty Conference should not be limited to government representatives. A Korean peace conference is one in which the voices of civil society are legitimate and should be heard.
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William Butler Yeats (13 Jun 1865 – 28 Jan 1939): The Transition to Aquarius
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jun 2018
William Butler Yeats, the Irish poet, and his close colleague George Russell, who published under the name of AE, are the modern European poets most conscious of the transition within astrological cycles from the Piscean Period to the Age of Aquarius.
→ read full articleShangri-La: Strategic Concerns Never Grow Old
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jun 2018
In 1933 James Hilton, a British novelist published Lost Horizons. In the novel, he set the scene in a lost valley on the frontier of Tibet, hidden away from the world where everyone was happy and never grew old. He gave the name Shangri-La to this valley. Shangri-La was a slight transformation of the more often-used name Shambhala of the Tibetan Buddhists and those in India and China who are in contact with Tibetan traditions.
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UN Peacekeeping: Are There Other Avenues for Armed Conflict Resolution?
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 May 2018
29 May 2018 is the 70th anniversary of UN peacekeeping. Today, some 100,000 UN peacekeepers are deployed in 14 peacekeeping missions. There are two major issues concerning UN peacekeeping forces.
→ read full articleUnited Nations: Looking toward 2020
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 May 2018
18 May 2018 – There are two major issues today that the League of Nations did not have to face. Thus when the League was reincarnated in 1945 as the United Nations, no one considered how to structure appropriate responses. The major political issue today is the disintegration of Member States. The second major issue is the ecological and social consequences of global warming.
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World Day for Cultural Diversity, Dialogue and Development
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 May 2018
In December 2002, the UN General Assembly declared that 21 May each year should be the World Day for Cultural Diversity, for Dialogue and Development. The Day was created as a response to the destruction of the Buddha statues of Bamiyam in Afghanistan in 2001.
→ read full articleRabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861 – 7 Aug 1941): The Local and the Universal
René Wadlow - TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 May 2018
In a period of rapid change as we face today, it is often difficult to find the right balance between the cultural contributions and needs of the local, the national, and the universal. One way of finding this balance is to look at the life and work of others, who earlier confronted the same challenges. One such person was the poet, writer and cultural reformer Rabindranath Tagore.
→ read full articleNuclear Arms Issues: Progress but Still a Rocky Road Ahead
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Apr 2018
NGOs active in conflict resolution and tension reduction efforts must build upon this new momentum to help deepening the positive atmosphere. A new “window of opportunity” has opened, and we must see how to move forward creatively. There are times when there are links among otherwise separate events and concerns. We need to take advantage of this convergence and work so that our voices are heard ever more clearly.
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Teilhard de Chardin (1 May 1881 – 10 Apr 1955): Evolution toward World Unity
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Apr 2018
For Teilhard, love was not an emotion or a sentiment but the basic primal and universal psychic energy. This is a concept drawn from Chinese culture. Teilhard lived in China from 1923 to 1946. The Chinese word jen, a term translated as love, benevolence or affection, is not only an emotional-moral term, but it is also a cosmic force − a compassionate quality that is the very structure of the earth.
→ read full articleA Day of Mother Earth: Living in Harmony with Nature
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Apr 2018
International Mother Earth Day on 22 April each year was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2009. Its aim is to promote living in harmony with Nature and to achieve a just balance among the economic, social and environmental needs of present and future generations.
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Charles Maurras (20 Apr 1868 – 16 Nov 1952): The Long Road from Cultural Regionalist to Narrow Nationalist
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Apr 2018
At a time when there is a growth in many parts of Europe of a narrow nationalism often linked to xenophobia and violence, it is useful to look at the life of Charles Maurrras and what he called “integral nationalism”. Maurras is in many ways the intellectual “godfather” of these narrow nationalist movements.
→ read full articleSyria: Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Apr 2018
13 Apr 2018 – There is the story of a man who lived in an apartment house with very thin floors and walls. He hears the man above him going to bed and dropping one shoe on the floor. Now he cannot sleep as he is waiting for the other shoe to drop. We are somewhat in the same position waiting for a US military response to the charges that chemical weapons were used in Syria.
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G.W. Russell (10 Apr 1867 – 17 Jun 1935): “The Highest Minds Building One upon Another”
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2018
George Warren Russell was an Irish poet, painter, mystic, and reformer of agriculture. He wrote under the initials A.E. and was a close friend and co-worker with William Butler Yeats. “Such was the play of Helen which made men realise that beauty was a divinity. Such was the play of Radha and Krishna which taught lovers how to evoke god and goddess in each other.” –A.E.
→ read full articleMultilateral Iran Nuclear Accord Needs Strong Active Support
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2018
2 Apr 2018 – The Multilateral nuclear accord with Iran, the Joint Comprehension Plan of Action, needs strong, active support especially within the US administration. The accord was negotiated among Iran and the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and coordinated by the European Union. The Accord was endorsed by the unanimous vote of the United Nations Security Council and went into force in 2016. Views on the importance of the continuing validity of the Accord should be shared widely among political representatives and foreign policy specialists.
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Navroz: Turkish Troops in Afrim – Renewal and Complexity
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2018
Navroz, usually celebrated on 21 March in Iran and Central Asia, is the “New Day”, the end of the old year with its hardships and deceptions and the start of the New Year to be filled with hope and optimism. Navroz was marked this year in the Syrian Kurdish area of Afrim by the arrival of Turkish troops and their Syrian allies.
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Jean Giono (30 Mar 1895 – 8 Oct 1970): The Energies of the Earth
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2018
Jean Giono was one of the most original French advocates of nonviolence. Giono, a pantheist philosopher, novelist of rural life, and in his later days, a moviemaker, had a fame in the wider public even among those who opposed his nonviolence.
→ read full article(Português) Kuan Yin: Ela que atende aos gritos do mundo e restaura o equilíbrio
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2018
8 de março, o Dia Internacional da Mulher, é um momento apropriado para se concentrar no impacto destrutivo da violência contra as mulheres. Tal violência é um ataque à sua integridade corporal e à sua dignidade. Precisamos enfatizar a universalidade desta violência, a multiplicidade de suas formas e as formas em que a violência, a discriminação contra as mulheres e o sistema de dominação mais amplo, baseado na subordinação e na desigualdade, estão inter-relacionados.
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New Fires Relight in Eastern Congo
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2018
7 Mar 2018 – The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights gave a cry of alarm of dangerous and worsening armed conflicts in which violations of human rights were an important factor. Along with Syria, Yemen, Myanmar, he cited the continued violence in the Kasai of the eastern Congo and the re-ignited armed conflict in the Ituri area, also in eastern RDC near Lake Albert, facing Uganda.
→ read full articleSyria: From a Ceasefire to Comprehensive Negotiations?
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2018
Mediation is the action taken by a third party to facilitate two (occasionally more) hostile parties coming together to negotiate. Mediation is not negotiation. Negotiation is the process of bargaining and compromise by which those directly in conflict can reach an agreement. The function of the mediator is to remove the obstacles to negotiation, in part by bringing the conflicting parties together for direct discussions.
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Rudolf Steiner (25 Feb 1861- 30 Mar 1925): The Laws of Nature
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Feb 2018
For Steiner karma – the fact that every action – and thought is an action – produces an impact and will have consequences. However, without training and close observation one does not see karma working. To see karma in operation requires an insight into the working of subtle energies. He outlines his views in his basic book: Knowledge of Higher Worlds. How is it attained?
→ read full articleSyria Conflicts Highlight Violations of Humanitarian International Law
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Feb 2018
21 Feb 2018 – A recent wave of fighting in Syria has highlighted the violations of humanitarian international law. Calls from U.N. officials for at least a month-long truce so that food and medical supplies could reach the civilian population have not been honored. The scale of the violations is such that they can be considered as a deliberate policy and not as events of “collateral damage.”
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World Day of Social Justice: The People’s Revolution Is on the March
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Feb 2018
The United Nations General Assembly in Resolution A/RES/62/10 proclaimed 20 February of each year as the World Day of Social Justice with an emphasis on the reduction of poverty in the spirit of the “People’s Revolution.”
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Wendell Willkie (18 Feb 1892 – 8 Oct 1944): One World
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Feb 2018
In order to show the unity of the American people, Republicans and Democrats, once the US had entered WW II, President Roosevelt asked Willkie to go on a “good will mission” to the Middle and Far East with a stop-over in the USSR to see Joseph Stalin. The result of the trip – a short one by today’s round-the-world standards – was the book One World.
→ read full articleKoreas’ Olympic Truce: Time for Concerted Non-Governmental Efforts
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Feb 2018
8 Feb 2018 – There is a need for a coming together of NGOs that are primarily focused on the resolution of armed conflicts with those groups concerned with the abolition of nuclear weapons. The current Korean tensions are based on the development of nuclear weapons and missile systems and the pressures and threats to prevent their development. The Olympic Truce period should be taken as an opportunity to advance “Track II” efforts.
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Gandhi’s Assassination: In the Midst of Death, Life Persists
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Jan 2018
On the anniversary of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, 30 January, we still try to find ways to resolve conflicts peacefully and to deal with violent religious movements and individuals. For Gandhi, the spiritual and political means were interdependent and could not be separated. Today, religious movements are often seen as promoting violence, Islam in the Middle East, Buddhism as an anti-Muslim current in Burma.
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(Italiano) Leadership cinese sulla riforma ONU
René Wadlow | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Jan 2018
12 gennaio 2018 – Una delle più complete proposte di riforma è appena stata emanata per la trattazione all’ONU dal governo della Cina in un documento di 27 pagine. (1) Molte delle proposte sono molto simili ai suggerimenti fatti dall’Associazione dei Cittadini de Mondo.
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Pitirim Aleksandrovich Sorokin (21 Jan 1889 – 10 Feb 1968): The Renewal of Humanity
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Jan 2018
Sorokin was especially interested in the processes by which societies change cultural orientations, particularly the violent societies he knew, the USSR and the USA. As he wrote renewal “demands a complete change of contemporary mentality, a fundamental transformation of our system of values and the profoundest modification of our conduct towards other men, cultural values and the world at large.
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Alexandre Marc (19 Jan 1904 – 22 Feb 2000): Con-federalism, Cultural Renewal and Trans-frontier Cooperation
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Jan 2018
Marc was a complex man, one of the bridges who helped younger persons to understand the debates which surrounded the Russian Revolution, the rise and decline of Fascism and Nazism, and the post-Second World War hopes for a united Europe.
→ read full articleThrough the Wall of Fire: Armenia-Iraq-Palestine – From Wrath to Reconciliation
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Jan 2018
Muriel Mirak-Weissbach in her new book Through the Wall of Fire uses a sequence from Dante’s Divine Comedy to stress the need within the wider Middle East for a fundamental revolution in thinking and a far-reaching shift in moral outlook leading from wrath to reconciliation.
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