End the sickness of war – NOW!

Who should we be listening to? While Nato’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg based on a fictional enemy, is pleading for continued increased founding for military and militarisation another General Secretary speaks of the importance to put disagreements aside so we all side by side can fight against a real threat to humanity – the corona virus.

On March, 23 United Nation’s Secretary General António Guterres held a speech where he asked for an immediate global cease fire in all corners of the world to give everyone a real chance to fight the corona virus.

He talked about the reality where the virus hit us all. It does not care neither about ethnicity or nationality nor faction or faith; “The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war.”

Around the world we see a severely cut healthcare system that is trying to deal with more and more people getting ill with COVID-19. Beds, equipment and personnel are missing to treat everyone. In this chaos, Guterres reminds us of something we must never forget; In war ravaged countries have the whole health systems collapsed and health professionals, already few in number, have often been targeted.

Recently, we have also started to hear warnings about what will happen when the corona virus takes an iron grip on overcrowded refugee camps around the world. Guterres states that refugees and others displaced by violent conflict are doubly vulnerable. He calls to;

“End the sickness of war… Pull back from hostilities. Put aside mistrust and animosity. Silence the guns; stop the artillery: end the airstrikes. This is crucial… To help create corridors for life saving aid. To open precious windows of diplomacy. To bring hope to places among the most vulnerable to COVID-19.”

We would like to add that also all preparations for war must be stopped immediately and we must start investing in the future of humanity..

We say

• Stop Defender 20, Aurora 20 and other large scale military exercises in Europe and elsewhere
• End rearmament and invest in peace, welfare, health and the environment

Activists for peace will every day choose the solidarity that the UN Secretary General raises by calling for an immediate global cease fire; “That is what our human family needs, now more than ever”.

If you agree, sign our call.

---

Antonio Guterres whole speech follows:

Our world faces a common enemy: COVID-19.

The virus does not care about nationality or ethnicity, faction or faith. It attacks all, relentlessly.

Meanwhile, armed conflict rages on around the world.

The most vulnerable — women and children, people with disabilities, the marginalized and the displaced — pay the highest price.

They are also at the highest risk of suffering devastating losses from COVID-19.

Let’s not forget that in war-ravaged countries, health systems have collapsed.

Health professionals, already few in number, have often been targeted.

Refugees and others displaced by violent conflict are doubly vulnerable.

The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war.

That is why today, I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world.

It is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives.

To warring parties, I say:

Pull back from hostilities.

Put aside mistrust and animosity.

Silence the guns; stop the artillery; end the airstrikes.

This is crucial…

To help create corridors for life-saving aid.

To open precious windows for diplomacy.

To bring hope to places among the most vulnerable to COVID-19.

Let us take inspiration from coalitions and dialogue slowly taking shape among rival parties in some parts to enable joint approaches to COVID-19. But we need much more.

End the sickness of war and fight the disease that is ravaging our world.

It starts by stopping the fighting everywhere. Now.

That is what our human family needs, now more than ever.

Source

Guterras, Antonio: “The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of the war”. March, 23 2020, United Nations Coronavirus Communications Team.

Listen to the call:

Advertisement

In the midst of coronavirus pandemic, they want money for games – Join over a thousand from all over the world to stop them

Our call to cancel all military exercises in Europe and the world after corona outbreak

A call to discontinue all large scale military exercise in Europe and the world after corona outbreak has collected over a thousand signatures. Signatories come from all over the world; Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. People from every continent have come together and speak up against the present policies with large scale exercises bringing together tens of thousands of soldiers from different countries as part of a drastic increase in military expenditure.

EUCOM’s statement on Defender Europe 20 from March, 16

Defender Europe 20 is downsized, but some exercises are unfortunately still on. For instance, EUCOM has expressed that “as part of a modified Allied Spirit exercise, they expect an armored brigade combat team already deployed to Europe to conduct gunnery and other combined training together with Allies”. In parallel, we also hear statements that they already have “exercised the Army’s ability to coordinate large scale movements with Allies and partner”. They try to tell a story of success as they, since January, have been moving soldiers and equipment from the United States and equipment from prepositioned stocks in Europe to fulfil the goal of Defender Europe 20; “to build strategic readiness by deploying a combat credible force to Europe in support of NATO and the U.S. National Defense Strategy”. In practice, soldiers and equipment are moved to the east, closer to the Russian border.

Frankfurter Allgemeine on March, 19

Nato’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has confirmed the readiness of the Alliance even though the corona virus tests the resilience of the allies “to the limit”; “our forces remains ready and our work continues”. This includes the multinational combat allies stationed in the Baltic States to conduct airspace surveillance and also the naval allies and all missions from Afghanistan to Kosovo. He also expressed that exercises had to be slowed down or shortened, especially the large maneuver Defender Europe 20, but not discontinued.

It is clear that neither EUCOM nor Nato has any intention to stop or even decrease their presence in Europe. EUCOM explicitly state that changes are anticipated to the deployment timelines of soldiers already in Europe and redeployment of equipment today stationed in the United States. Schedules for future troop rotations in support of Atlantic Resolve are also likely to be adjusted at the same time as efforts are put into “maximizing efforts to advance alliances and partnerships”. Nato’s Stoltenberg also speaks about exercises slowed down or shortened, not cancelled.

USNI News on March, 7

Regarding other large scale military exercise such as Aurora 20 in Sweden and RIMPAC in the Pacific, there are no reports that any changes have been made. These military exercises are planned to be larger and more complex than ever before and also include more participants.

In this context, Nato’s Stoltenberg has acknowledged his main concern. He is worried that member states should decrease their military budgets due to the current corona crisis which has “serious economic impacts” on state budgets. Stoltenberg expects that allies will stick to the goal of “investing more in security” in order to protect themselves in an unsecure world. He says that the military threat has not changed. He prefers fictitious enemies instead of real threats to Europe and the world such as coronavirus pandemic and climate change which destroys whole ecosystems.

We say

• Stop Defender 20, Aurora 20 and other large scale military exercises in Europe and elsewhere
• End rearmament and invest in peace, welfare, health and the environment

No more money should be given for games. The money should go to the people by investments in health, welfare, peace and the environment.

If you agree, join over a thousand from all over the world to end rearmament and invest in peace, welfare, health and the environment. Don’t forget to spread the word.

Activists for peace

---

References

• EUCOM: “Exercise Defender-Europe 20 Update (March 16)“. March, 16 2020. EUCOM.
• Gutschker, Thomas: NATO-CHEF STOLTENBERG: Coronavirus testet Widerstandskraft „bis an die Grenze“ (In German. Title in English: NATO CHIEF STOLTENBERG: Coronavirus tests resilience ”to the limit”). 19 March 2020, Frankfurter Allgemeine.
• Mahadzir, Dzirhan: PACFLEET Commander: RIMPAC 2020 Will Be More Complex, Feature More Countries. 6 March 2020 and lasted updated 7 March 2020, USNI News.
• Olsson, Jonas: Corona påverkar flera stora militärövningar i Europa (In Swedish. Title in English: Corona affects several large scale military exercies in Europe). Corona 12 March 2020 and last updated 13 March 2020, SVT Nyheter Utrikes.
• US Army Europe: “Exercise Defender-Europe 20 UPDATE“. March, 16 2020. US Army Europe.
• Vandiver, John: “Coronavirus fears force Pentagon to curtail large Defender-Europe 20 exercise“. March, 6 2020, Stars and Stripes.

 

This is how the military should be used – Cancel all military exercises and end rearmament to make use of the resources for humanity

Yesterday, March 17, German news reported that the German capital Berlin ”has approved plans ahead of a expected spike in corona or COVID-19 infections”. It is planned to make use of the large Berlin Messe trade fair exhibitions grounds in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district; a facility that every year, for instance, hosts the world’s largest farmer trade fair in late January. The plan is that the Berlin Messe will house up to 1 000 patients and both relatively minor corona virus cases as well as emergency respiratory patients will be treated.

Berlin Health Senator Dilek Kalayci said that ”This measure complements the well positioned Berlin hospital system to deal with possible bottlenecks” at the same time as existing hospitals in Berlin will expand their capacity to treat patients requiring ventilation in intensive care.

In parallel, hospitals in Berlin are beginning to postpone scheduled non acute surgeries in order to prepare the treatment of more patients tested positive for the corona virus.

Perhaps the most interesting part here is that German media further reports that the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, will be drafted to help create the desired facility. We are convinced that this is how the military can and should be used and especially during crises. This time it is definitely something that poses a threat to citizens´ lives. That is the lives that any armed forces are allocated to protect.

In a time when peoples’ movements are restricted, the same should also apply for the military. But, all resources including military resources should also be put to use for humanity without risk of harm to civil society. We are looking forward to learn how this is done as military exercises are discontinued in favour of dealing with a real threat.

We are already aware of further such examples in, for instance, Norway and Sweden, but also in the United States. We plan to publish updates on the subject.

Stay tuned. Don’t forget to support our call and ask others to do the same.

Background

On Tuesday, March 17, Berlin counted 332 of more than 7 500 cases of corona across Germany. The number of corona infected patients increased with 1 500 cases from the day before, Monday. So far 20 have not survived the pandemic virus infection and 500 are hospitalised.

During the next few months, German officials are expecting a much higher volume that will require hospital treatment after being tested positive for the corona virus. To, with the help of the German armed forces Bundeswehr, make use of the large exhibition hall in Berlin is one measure to try to contain the pandemic and ensure that the country’s health sector can cope.

Other measures includes that ”schools have been shut across most of the country, border controls have been tightened and new restrictions put on public and social spaces. Companies are being urged to offer employees remote work”.

However, some parts of the large-scale military exercise Defender Europe 20, i.e. the largest military exercise in 25 years in Europe, seems to still be on. Bundeswehr, which is responsible for host nation support during Defender Europe 20, on Monday, March, 16 said that they already had completed the major maneuvers and EUCOM expressed something similar in an update on Defender Europe 20. At the same time; Italy, a nation severely affected by the corona virus, officially withdrew their participation in the exercise. The United States has said that they are significantly reducing their participation after the Secretary of Defence’s travel bans for American soldiers and personnel went into force on Monday, but they also say “We anticipate the armored brigade combat team already deployed to Europe will conduct gunnery and other combined training events with Allies as part of a modified Allied Spirit exercise“.

Both American soldiers in Europe and senior military officials from at least two European countries who recently attended an annual NATO-meeting at an American military base in Wiesbaden, Germany as well as staff at the NATO headquarter in Brussels have been tested positive for the corona virus. In Europe, in the United states and around the world, cases of corona infected solders are reported. These soldiers and those they have spent time together with are put in quarantine, but some are still expected to conduct military exercises in Europe and elsewhere during the ongoing pandemic.

References

• Dolle, Andre: Wegen Corona: Bundeswehr beendet Nato-Übung Defender (In German). March, 16 2020, Braunschweiger Zeitung.
• Deutsche Welle: Berlin to build up 1,000 bed corona virus hospital. March, 17 2020,
• Deutsche Welle: Germany corona virus threat raised to “high” alert. March, 17 2020, Deutsche Welle.
• EUCOM: “Exercise Defender-Europe 20 Update (March 16)“. March, 16 2020. EUCOM.

Write to make a change – Join in to call for discontinuation for all military exercises

During last weekend, Activists for peace submitted a text where we call for discontinuation of all military exercises in Europe in the wake of the corona outbreak. It was sent to Swedish newspapers all over the country and today this text began to be published.

We do this since we want to alert people to what is going on and to create discussion, build opinion and initiate reactions. Of course, we also want to spread the word to get people to support our call.

This time the text was however written before we published our call where we also, completely reasonable, extended it to cover the whole world. We are working hard to keep us updated and to gather relevant information so that we are able to write more texts. We write texts to update here and to publish on both on our English blog, on our Swedish blog and on our Facebook-page. We are also writing more opinion pieces and letters to the editor.

You can do the same.

We read the comments to this call and we see a lot of potential.

We would like everyone to write a text and submit it for publication somewhere.

Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something.

If you decide to write a text, please send a copy to us. Send it to aktivisterforfred@gmail.com

You can also send us texts that you have already authored.

All texts can discuss and motivate why we need to discontinue all military exercises and stop rearmament wherever it occurs. They can also tell everyone why we should invest in peace, welfare, health and the environment.

We look forward to hear from you.

Activists for peace

---

 

Activists for peace’s text has so far (March, 16 2020) been published by:

Local newspaper Kinda-Posten – Vimmerby Tidning

Local newspaper Kristianstadsbladet

Local newspaper Västerviks Tidning

 

Defender Europe 20 reduced in size and scope, but much more is urgently needed

All resources are needed for humanity, not for war games. Remember to support our call to cancel all military exercises in Europe and the world in the wake of the corona virus outbreak. To sign, follow this link. Don’t forget to share the call.

 

EUCOM’s statement on Defender Europe 20 from March, 16.

Today March, 16 EUCOM (The United States European Command) announced that Defender Europe 20 is, due to the outbreak of the corona virus and recent guidelines by the Secretary of Defense, modified in size and scope.

Military exercises linked to Defender Europe 20 are discontinued and this includes Dynamic Front, Joint Warfighting Assessment, Saber Strike (the Baltic States) and Swift Response, which involved paratroops dropping into the Republic of Georgia and the Baltics.

EUCOM however also indicates that some exercises still are on. As part of a modified Allied Spirit exercise, they expect that an armor brigade combat team already deployed to Europe will conduct gunnery and other combined training together with Allies.

News on Defender Europe 20 from Pentagon’s Stars and Stripes.

From Friday March, 13 all movement of personnel and equipment from the United States to Europe ceased. EUCOM states that ”the health, safety and readiness of our military, civilians, and family members is our primary concern” and that ”forces already deployed to Europe for other linked exercises will return to the United States”.

The purpose of Defender Europe 2020 is expressed as ”to build strategic readiness by deploying a combat credible force to Europe in support of NATO and the U.S. National Defense Strategy”. All movement of soldiers and material from the United States to Europe and within Europe already conducted is in this context proclaimed to have ”exercised the Army’s ability to coordinate large scale movements with Allies and partners”. EUCOM state that changes are anticipated to the deployment timelines of soldiers already in Europe and redeployment of equipment today stationed in the United States. Schedules for future troops rotations in support of Atlantic Resolve are also likely to be adjusted at the same time as they are now ”maximizing their efforts to advance their alliances and partnerships”.

Our call to cancel all military exercises in Europe and the world after corona outbreak

We welcome the decision to reduce Defender Europe 20 since it includes discontinuation of related exercises. However, we see an urgent need for much more to be done.

Already deployed American soldiers are said to be on their way back to the United States at the same time as other American soldiers stationed in Europe as part of, for instance, Atlantic Resolve is not mentioned more than that their rotation is likely to be adjusted. Atlantic Resolve is explicit to have a purpose to “deter Russian aggression in Europe” and it’s obvious that the United States is planning to further militarize Europe.

This is not what is needed in these difficult times. As countries around the world appeal to their citizens to return to their home countries, the American soldiers which are deployed based on an imaginary threat as opposed to the corona virus is allowed to, together with certain other deployed soldiers, stay in Europe and they are also planned to increase in the future. Some of the deployed soldiers are even expected to conduct military training in the midst of the corona virus outbreak. This is incorrect use of resources.

In parallel, preparations for Aurora 20 is continuing according to plan. Aurora 20 – the largest military exercise in years which also means a debut for the American Patriot system in Sweden – is due to take place in Sweden May, 11 to June, 7. This military exercise is scheduled to start in less the two months and preparations already include transport of equipment and soldiers to Sweden. NATO has, for example, a large military base in Norway and even if Norway recently closed its border, the border is still open to both Sweden and Finland at the same time as Sweden’s borders are fully open.

In a time when people’s mobility is reduced, the military’s mobility should not be an exception. At the same time, all military resources should be put to work for humanity by combating the corona virus, not some imaginary enemy. The best way to achieve this is to discontinue all military exercises – both ongoing and planned ones – and allocate all resources for humanity.

That’s way we say:

• Stop Defender 20, Aurora 20 and other large scale military exercises in Europe and elsewhere
• End rearmament and invest in peace, welfare, health and the environment

If you agree, don’t forget to sign and share our call to cancel all military exercises in Europe and the world after corona outbreak. You find the call by following this link.

---

References

• Activists for peace: “Cancel all military exercises in Europe and the world after corona outbreak“. March, 14 2020. Call published on change.org.
• EUCOM: “Exercise Defender-Europe 20 Update (March 16)“. March, 16 2020. EUCOM.
• Hedlund, Calle: “Inrikesministern: Inte aktuellt att stänga svenska gränsen“. (In Swedish: Title in English: “Interior Minister: Not necessary to close the Swedish border“. March, 14 2020, SVT Nyheter.
• NATO: Nato’s official information about Defender Europe 2020.
• Sjödin, Simon: “Norge stänger gränserna mot Sverige – här är undantagen som släpps över“. (In Swedish. Title in English: “Norway closes borders with Sweden – here are the exceptions that are allowed to pass”. March, 15 2020. Östersundsposten
• Swedish Armed forces: Official information about Aurora20 from Swedish Armed forces
• Swedish Armed Forces: “Patriot debuterar under Aurora 20“. (In Swedish. Title in English Patriot debutes during Aurora 20P) February, 12 2020, Swedish Defence Forces.
  
• US Army Europe: “Atlantic Resolve Fact Sheet“. June, 6 2018, US Army Europe.
• US Army Europe: “Exercise Defender-Europe 20 UPDATE“. March, 16 2020. US Army Europe.
• Vandiver, John: 700 Marines arrive in Norway for six-month mission. September 27, 2019, Stars and Stripes.
• Vandiver, John: “Coronavirus fears force Pentagon to curtail large Defender-Europe 20 exercise“. March, 6 2020, Stars and Stripes.

Cancel all military exercises in Europe and the world – Now in Spanish

Our call to cancel all military exercises in Europe and the world in the wake of the corona outbreak is translated to Spanish. It is published under a title which says that there is no quarantine for Nato military.

Share the translated text to everyone who speaks Spanish so to they can read and sign the call.

You should not forget to sign yourself. 

We have published our call for discontinuation of all military exercises in Europe and around the world because we are convinced that this is the only correct decisions to make. These decisions should already have been taken.

Sign the call to show that you agree that we need all resources for humanity, not for war games.

Sign our call to cancel all military exercises in Europe and the world after the corona outbreak

Do you also want to sign our call to cancel all military exercises in Europe and the world after the corona outbreak?

Sign by following this link.

Share this post both in Sweden and elsewhere so as many as possible can help to:

• Stop Defender 20, Aurora 20 and other large scale military exercises in Europe and elsewhere
• End rearmament and invest in peace, welfare, health and the environment

Show that the present policies with increased military spendings are out of touch with today’s realities that we demand change.

—

In Swedish:

Vill du också skriva under vårt upprop om att ställa in alla militära övningar i Europa och på andra platser i världen i kölvattnet av coronakrisen?

Skriv under genom att klicka på denna länk.

Dela inlägget både inom och utanför Sverige så fler kan hjälpas åt att:

• Stoppa Defender Europe 2020, Aurora 20 och andra storskaliga militära övningar i Europa och på andra platser i världen
• Avbryt upprustningen och investera i fred, välfärd, hälsa och miljö

Visa att den nuvarande politiken med ökade militära utgifter inte har kontakt med dagens verklighet och att vi kräver förändring.

Cancel all military exercises in Europe and elsewhere

We call for cancellation of all large scale military exercises in Europe and elsewhere. To continue carrying out the largest combination of training of military in a war situation in 25 years is damaging our capacity of addressing the Corona crisis. From the Arctic Sea along the border of Russia all the way to Georgia this combination of simultaneous exercises under names as Defender 20 in Central in Eastern Europe and Aurora 20 in Sweden must be stopped together with military exercises elsewhere.

The exercise Cold Response 2020 in Norway with 14 000 soldiers from Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, UK and USA was cancelled March 11. It was announced by Lieutenant General Rune Jakobsen, Chief of the operational staff at the Joint Operative Headquarters, at a press conference were he stated: “What is new since yesterday is that the corona virus is out of control in society. We want to preserve the armed forces’ ability to fight so that we are able to support society in the complex period that will follow”. This response came late. When the exercise already had started, a soldier was tested positive for Coronavirus on March 5. Finland withdraw their soldiers already March 8.

On March 10, at least two top European military commanders tested positive for corona after they, together with other senior military representatives, attended a conference on an American military base in Germany. During the meeting it was discussed how to protect soldiers participating in Defender Europe 20 form the corona virus. No decisions were made.

Countries like China, Singapore and South Korea show that it is possible to stop the growth of number of people infected by the corona virus by acting fast and decisive. Unfortunately, Italy and some other countries did not. Today, not the European Union but China helps Italy by sending medical experts and offering 10 000 pulmonary ventilators, 2 million face masks, and 20 000 protective suits. The Italian foreign minister Luigi di Maio, after a conversation with his Chinese colleague Wang Yi, expressed that ”Chinese doctors were the first (to treat the virus) and they can bring their experience”. Yi said that “Although currently China itself still has great demand for medical materials, we will overcome the difficulties and offer material aid, including face masks, to Italy, and increase exports of materials and equipment to meet Italy’s urgent need”.

We call for a change in the way Europe and others worldwide address vulnerability. Rather than starting an arms race and foment enemy images we see the need of cooperation across borders. What we need is peace and welfare to address the common threats to our health, social security and global environment. Not as Western State leaders at the Munich security conferences make China and Russia their adversary.

The large scale exercises bringing together tens of thousands of soldiers from different countries as part of a drastic increase in military expenditure show how out of touch with today’s realities the present policies are. These exercises not only pose and immediate threat in terms of risk for disseminating the corona virus, they are also a misuse of our common resources for addressing the problems in the world today. What we need is not further escalation and polarization between West and East but addressing of social, health and environmental concerns of importance to all of humanity.

This is why we say:

• Stop Defender 20, Aurora 20 and other large scale military exercises in Europe and elsewhere
• End rearmament and invest in peace, welfare, health and the environment

If you want to join in on our call to cancel all military exercises in Europe and elsewhere, please follow this link.

Activists for peace

---

References and links

Activists for peace

Activists for peace blog in English

Activists for peace blog in Swedish

Activists for peace on Facebook

Our international cooperation partner Prague Spring 2 on Facebook

Defender Europe 20

Official Defender Europe 20 information

Nato’s official information about Defender Europe 2020

Criticism

Hudson, Kate: “US to practice invasion in Europe”. Campain for Nuclear Disarmament, 10 February 2020.

Wagner, Jürgen: “Großmanöver Defender 2020” (In German). IMI, 10 January 2020.

Positive tests for corona in relation to Defender Europe 20

AP: “US, European Military Commanders Possibly Exposed to Virus“, New York Times, 10 March 2020.

Aurora20

Official information about Aurora20 from Swedish Armed forces

Criticism

Görgü, Kemal, Nordlund, Harald and Sevéus Harald: “Krigsförberedelser eller fredspolitik?”. (In Swedish). Uppsala Nya Tidning – debatt, 23 February 2020

Cancelled Cold Response 2020

Finland pulls out of Cold Response

Woody, Christopher “Finland pulled troops from an Artic military exercise with the US and 8 other countries over coronavirus concerns”. Business Insider, 8 March 2020.

Cold Response 20 cancelled

Bakkemo Danilov, Peder: “Cold Response 2020 cancelled”. High North News, 11 March 2020.

Nielsen, Thomas: “Norway cancels Cold Response due to coronavirus outbreak”. The Barents Observer, 11 March 2020.

China helps Italy

Boffey, Daniel: “Italy criticises EU for being slow to help over coronavirus epidemic”. The Guardian, 11 March 2020.

CGTN “Italy Criticizes EU for not responding its call for help, ´only China responded bilaterally´“. CGTN, 12 March 2020.

Hume, Tim: “China Is Now Sending Doctors, Masks and Hazmat Suits to Help Italy With Its Coronavirus Outbreak”, Vice News, 11 march 2020.

Wu, Wendy: “China sends team of medical experts, gear to help Italy fight coronavirus”. South China Morning Post, 11 March 2020.

Swedish responses to Integrity Initiative and Atlantic Council

So far there have been four responses to Integrity Initiative and a new Atlantic Council report in Sweden. They are published by very diverging media. The first is a letter to the editor published in a regional daily Skånska Dagbladet aligned with the Center party, the second in the weekly Internationalen supporting the opposition against Assad in Syria, the third in the blog Hans lilla gröna, run by a Green party member and the fourth Global Politics with pro-Syrian anti-imperialist Anders Romelsjö as editor. In spite of their differences they all bring up empirical material and political background rather than speculating or summarizing the leaks. There is also no direct linkage between the four media platforms making it seemingly weak – or the opposite if each one can find allies and avoid disputes with each other on this specific point.

The authors also use the specific political position Sweden has as a non-member of NATO. This makes statements as NATO’s Trojan Horses having a stronger resonance than in countries that are formally members. They are also all personally addressing experience making it easier to understand that what happens is daily life experiences for people, not something going on in computers far away. Integrity Initiative and Atlantic Council are part of governmental efforts together with private actors influencing our daily lives targeting messages and people they do not agree with openly and in secret. This makes the public debate biased and can also threaten people not to express their opinion.

I and several known and unknown Swedes were named as Kremlin’s Agents

Carl Meurling writes in Skånska Dagbladet Opinion December 21, 2018.

Carl Meurling, an investor in Russia, writes December 21, 2018 in Skånska Dagbladet Opinion, a regional daily in the Southern province Scania:

“Two years ago my life changed. The Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI) then issued a report were I and several known and unknown Swedes were labeled Kremlin Agents… Since then, I have tried to understand why we were outed. My conclusion is that the Swedish foreign administration has partly been privatized by foreign special interests. It is unacceptable and a security risk for Sweden.”

Carl Meurling, December 21, 2018

Meurling also brings to light that according to the data leaks about the Integrity Initiative the person to be responsible for the Swedish part of the project would be UI’s Russia expert. He concludes: ”Thus, a tax-financed part of Sweden’s foreign administration has an employee who at the same time works for the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs to influence Swedish politics via an anonymous front organization!”

Emma Lundström writes in the weekly Internationalen December 21, 2018.

Nordic clusters are led by no less than Martin Kragh.

The journalist Emma Lundström writes December 21, 2018 more bluntly in the weekly Internationalen: ”Integrity Initiative’s Nordic clusters are led by no less than Martin Kragh… The fact that a Swedish academician serves as coordinator for the Nordic section of Integrity Initiative is quite startling. That it is Martin Kragh may not be equally surprising to those who have followed his actions for some time. He has the habit of blackening political opponents.”

NATO’s Trojan Horses

Hans Wåhlberg writes on his blog December 16, 2018.

The Green Blogger Hans Wåhlberg goes much further in a blog post from December 16, 2018. To him it is important to point at how different actors work closely together in cohort due to their privileged resources and access to media. He starts by looking into the report “The Kremlin’s Trojan Horses 3.0” with a chapter about Sweden entitled: “Sweden – Fertile Soil for Influence OPS?” published December 3, 2018. The chapter is written by one Henrik Sundbom, who is a “fellow” at the Swedish think tank Stockholm Free World Forum (In Swedish: FriVärld), who has close cooperation and exchange with the Atlantic Council.

The report does not only focus upon the normal suspects but also puts much emphasis on the Green party. Wåhlberg also quotes the report: “Support for the Kremlin is stronger in the independent green movement, which overlaps more with the Swedish peace movement than with the Green Party itself“.

After examining several details Wåhlberg describes the content as ”pure conspiracy theory or guilt by association, perhaps on the verge of libel in the case of names mentioned” and ends with: ”Atlantic Council says it wants to reveal to the world, and make it aware of Russian troll farms and Russian disinformation (fake news). They do this by producing their own fake news. The whole thing might be comical or in any case not worth noting if it were not for the power this think tank possesses.”  He finds it appropriate to name such an organization a Trojan Horse of NATO.

Who are they? Wåhlberg asks himself when looking into the Integrity Initiative program ”according to which they will form clusters of “friendly journalists” and key influencers in different European countries to fight against Russian propaganda and false news.”

He asks if ”possibly the above mentioned Sundbom is one of them?” in the Swedish cluster. Then he also asks if Martin Kragh, who in his article the previous year, raised much of what Sundbom speculates in the Atlantic Council report, also belongs to the cluster. ”Kragh’s article certainly failed as scientific work and drew strong criticism from both newspapers and colleagues, but it has not prevented Sundbom from spinning on the same material. Sundbom and Kragh have also worked together earlier and this year, among other things, published a report for The Swedish Institute of International Affairs (“Resilience Against Influence Operations in the Eastern Partnership Countries“).”

Wåhlberg concludes:

“There can be no other explanation than that it is part of a long-term campaign to discredit the peace movement with the aim of later turning the still NATO-negative Swedish public opinion. One way is then to describe NATO resistance only as a result of Kremlin’s propaganda or as something that is driven solely by the Kremlin’s agents.

Kragh admittedly recognized when he was pressured by Aftonbladet “the basic democratic right to have one’s own opinion on Swedish security policy”. But despite this, the campaign against the peace movement continues from new writers who appear in new forms. The nasty thing is that it also takes place in partially hidden forms where institutions with ties to the United States and NATO collect information about the opinions of individuals and produce material where they are discredited.”

Hans Wåhlberg, December 16, 2018

Thanks God they are rightly criticizing me.

Anders Romelsjö writes on the Global Politics blog December 9, 2018.

The antiimperialist blogger Anders Romelsjö:

“Atlantic Council is closely associated with individuals and agencies in the deep state of the United States, having good relations with the White House. It aims to strengthen the alliance between the United States and Europe, and is an important pillar of NATO. It has been involved in all US political and military war adventures over the past 50 years and has been working for decades to cover for CIA sponsored subversive operations, killings and political manipulations in all corners of the world. It is, of course, sponsored by powerful forces such as arms manufacturers, oil companies and other major business interests, as well as receiving funding from more than 25 US-friendly governments around the world.

Now Atlantic Council has drawn attention to me and the blog! Thanks God they are rightly criticizing me. Praise would have made me quit, and consider jumping into a lake.”

Anders Romelsjö, December 9, 2018

Anders Romelsjö also posted two articles on Integrity Initiative.

December 2, 2018 he wrote that Martin Kragh was ”a cluster coordinator” for Nordic Studies in the Integrity Initiative including reposting a longer critical analysis on Kragh’s article on Russian disinformation in Sweden.

December 3, 2018 he writes about Swedish names in the Integrity Initiative material based on an article published on the blog Moon of Alabama.

Activists for peace

Links:

• Lundström, Emma: Brittisk trollkvarn med svensk anknytning (Translation to English: British Troll Farm with Swedish connections), Internationalen, December 21, 2018.
• Meurling, Carl: Sveriges Rysslandspolitik styrs utifrån (Translation to English: Sweden’s Russian policy is controlled from outside the country), Skånska Dagbladet Opinion, December 21, 2018
• Romelsjö, Anders: Sverige deltar i Storbritanniens hemliga program för att svartmåla Ryssland. Vilka svenskar? (Translation to English: Sweden participates in the UK’s secret program to scandalize Russia. Which Swedes?),Global Politics blog, December 2, 2018.
• Romelsjö, Anders: Desinformation av rysk desinformation av Martin Kragh, samordnare i Integrity Initiative (Translation to English: Disinformation of Russian disinformation by Martin Kragh, coordinator in the Integrity Initiative), Global Politics blog, December 3, 2018.
• Romelsjö, Anders: Mäktigaste Nato-siten Atlantic Council uppmärksammar mig och min blogg. Smickrande? (Translation to English: The most powerful NATO site Atlantic Council pay attention to me and my blog. Flattering?) Global Politics blog, December 9, 2018.
• Wåhlberg, Hans: NATOS:s trojanska hästar (Translation to English: NATO’s Trojan Horses), Hans lilla gröna blog, December 16, 2018.

Make 2019 a year of peace!

Activists for peace (In Swedish: Aktivister för fred) can look back to two fruitful years. Together with our cooperation partners we can now move forward on several different initiatives:

1. Calling for international actions on the 5^th memorial day of the attack on the house of trade unions in Odessa, Ukraine, May 2, 2019.
   
2. Work against repression in Russia and Ukraine. A project initiated in a co-operation between Russia and Ukraine.
   Link will be posted.
3. Cooperate with other popular movements in the Nordic and other European countries towards and beyond the EU parliamentary elections in May. The chances are better than ever to be part of building alliances for conflict resolution and Yes to peace negotiations – no to war. More and more movements say Yes to common security – no to rearmament and strengthen peace demands by saying Yes to investments for social justice and the environment – no to austerity policies.
   
4. Be part of building stronger world-wide alliances – for peace on earth and peace with the earth.

We have together with the social forum network Prague Spring 2 against right wing extremism and populism (PS2) been able to contribute to take initiatives such as the Odessa solidarity action and work to stop repression in Russia and Ukraine. With PS2 we have closely followed Thematic World Social Forum on migration in Mexico City, Mexico, European Forum in Bilbao, Spain and been part of Europe in movement in Barcelona, Spain, Assembly of Resistance in Budapest, Hungary and Nordics in movement in Malmö, Sweden.

In 2017, Activists for peace initiated Dags för fred! (In English: Time for peace!) in Stockholm, Sweden and co-arranged Another Europe is possible in Gothenburg, Sweden. This have made it possible to start cooperation with a broad range of peace, migration, environmental, solidarity, no to EU and EU-critical movements.

This year, 2018, we have supported our two Ship to Gaza activists. Although we are not working politically on the Palestine issue – since we are mainly focused on Ukraine and criticism of how NATO advances closer to Russia in the Nordic region – we have supported Divina Levrini who went all the way from Sweden until getting hijacked by the Israeli military on international waters and Lars Drake, a Ship to Gaza veteran.

During the autumn; informing and support protests against NATO military excercise in Norway where also Sweden actively participated, has been a main task.

We also have participated in Naturbrukskonferensen (In English: Conference on Land management), a yearly meeting with small farmer, environmental and other organisations to promote food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture and forestry. Here we addressed the need to strengthen civil contingencies by raising food self sufficiency, reestablish food and other contingency storages and give small farmers a say in the planning of civil contingencies.

In early December 2018, Tord Björk from Activists for Peace was once more the target of a smear campaign. In a joint effort by Stockholm Free World Forum, an NGO paid by The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise to promote business interest in security affairs and Atlantic Council, the closer cooperation between environmental and peace movement and linkages to the Green Party was presented as a threat in the report Kremlin’s Trojan Horses 3.0. Tord Björk had written in an article in an environmental magazine that the referendum in Crimea in 2014 was a breach of international law but that a majority of the local population including the Ukrainians supports the outcome. The author of the report, Henrik Sundbom, a fellow at Stockholm Free World Forum, claimed that the article showed to much sympathy with the Russian Crimean narrative.

Last year a close cooperation partner to Sundbom, Martin Kragh, head of the Russia and Eurasian programme at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs and researcher at the Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University where he also is Research Director at the Uppsala Forum for Democracy, Peace, and Justice, together with the daily Expressen also started a smear campaign against Tord Björk and Ukrainabulletinen, the newsletter publicized by Activists for peace.

In late December 2018 Activists for peace started to inform on our blog about the smear campaigns and their connections in Sweden and internationally to Integrity Initiative and Atlantic Council. Activists for peace have compiled links to some 150 comments made in 24 countries and this is complemented with open source material presented in 100 links about the scandal last year. What was once a tragedy during the Cold war seems to have returned as a farce. You can read more here (link will be posted).

More links:

• Nordics in movement (In Swedish: Norden i rörelse)
  Norden i rörelse, a Nordic newsletter published by Activists for peace (pdf-file).
• Dags för fred! (In English: Time for peace!) in Stockholm, Sweden, May 20, 2017
  A report from Time for Peace! in Stockholm, Sweden published by Activists for peace (In Swedish).
• New faces of EU resistance
• Ship to Gaza and Freedom Flotilla, summer 2018
  Call for solidarity! Motor vessel with humanitarian aid highjacked – Who to contact to support the kidnapped crew. Act now! – An international call for solidarity published by Activists for peace during summer 2018.
• Another Europe is possible in Gothenburg, Sweden, November 17-18, 2017
  Another Europe is possible – Dave Webb participates at the alternative EU-summit in Gothenburg – A report published by Activists for Peace (In Swedish).

• NATO military exercise Trident Junction in Norway, where also Sweden participated, started October 25, 2018.
  No to Trident juncture and subsuming Sweden to NATO – A call in Swedish published by Activists for peace.
  
• Naturbrukskonferensen in Falun, Sweden, October 26-28, 2018.
  Homepage for the Conference on Land management.
• Thematic World Social Forum on migration in Mexico City, Mexico, November 2-4, 2018.
  World Social Forum on migration i Mexico City, Mexico.
• European Forum in Bilbao, Spain, November 9-11, 2018
  Invitation to European Forum in Bilbao, Spain.