USA

USA: The American mission looks at the interesting field of tension between patriotism and liberalism, between inclusion and exclusion, and internationally between what are seen as friends and enemies of freedom. An analysis of how political myths formed the basis for an understanding of US national identity and agency in international conflicts, and of the 'American century', which seems to be fading these years.

CONSPIRACY THEORY: When states, politicians and companies hide the facts and tell half-truths, conspiracy theories become the attempt of the powerless to understand the reality that conditions their lives – and if possible change it. Conspiracy as both a revolutionary and authoritarian tool, pandemics such as AIDS and covid19, post-truth mythologies, the US's military build-up, gold rush and deindustrialisation, al-Qaeda and UFOs are touched upon here.

PALESTINE/ISRAEL:What is it like to be the UN's special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories? After the launch of the Italian book J'accuse, we spoke to Francesca Albanese – about Israel's war against Gaza, genocide, anti-Semitism and impunity, based on her specialization in international law. She talks about political, legal, psychological and epistemic violence resulting from how Israel, with the consent of the West, has oppressed the Palestinians for decades. (And what about the Oslo agreement, see the sub-section.)

BORN: Instead of showing magnanimity to an adversary that no longer wanted to be an enemy, the US continued to exclude Russia and rejected any idea of ​​a common European security architecture.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS: The main message of Annie Jacobsen's book is to demonstrate how terrible a nuclear war would be. A nuclear war would destroy the indispensable anthropological basis for any form of high culture and technology.

HEGEMONY: Will the genocide continue until the Palestinians are exterminated or forced into Egypt – or indeed until America's global hegemony is defeated? No true friend of Palestine should therefore support this hegemony's arms deliveries to Ukraine.

GEOPOLITICS: In The Battle for World Power, Tunsjø is guilty of 'mirror imaging'. In recent decades, the United States has started a large number of wars and supported a large number of coup d'états, while in the same period China has actually built up trust in various states in the Third World.

CONFLICTS: Glenn Diesen believes it is time to look at the relationship with Russia and 'the others' – at least an attempt to observe the situation from their side. Meanwhile, the US defines 'democracy' as its 'rules-based order' – eagerly promoted with 800 US military aces around the world. A graveyard democracy, an illusion of peace.

LIBERALISM: Globally and in the West, liberalism is on the retreat. In the West, liberalism has been replaced by an intolerant hyperliberalism, where citizens have problems living side by side with those who think differently.

IRAQ: In Iraq, young people trust neither the politicians nor the parties. MODERN TIMES has met the director and producer of the film Baghdad on Fire, which deals with the mobilization of the youth fighting for change in the bad governance of the country's leaders. Karrar Al-Azzawi says the following about the US invasion in 2003: "They brought 'democracy', but we got only chaos and corruption – with politicians who only wanted to steal. The religious leaders were also involved in this."

WAR: Is man fundamentally violent? History does not show exactly that. We have several examples of large societies in prehistory showing few traces of war and authoritarian rule.

UKRAINE/RUSSIA: Talking about an "unprovoked Russian attack" is pure propaganda. The Minsk agreement with Ukraine in 2014 was supposed to ensure Ukraine's neutrality and integrity and give the Russian-speakers in Ukraine the right to practice their mother tongue. But in 2021/22, Kyiv and Washington canceled the agreement at the same time as the US built up militarily in Ukraine. Today, journalists and other commentators do not understand why Russia cannot afford to lose the war. How is it possible that the entire Norwegian, and much of the Anglo-American, media world could be bewitched by such propaganda?

ESSAY: Russia's war and the scare campaign that it will be extended to other countries turns out to be just a cover for a policy that, in the long term, intends to tie Sweden more strongly to the US's military geostrategy – primarily through NATO. We take a closer look at one of the people primarily responsible for this development – ​​Defense Minister Pål Jonson.

AVERAGE: What about Ukraine and the media? Here, as with Assange, the point is that we must be assured that the authorities manage the truth.

KENNEDY: He said in his speech in 1963: "Where ignorance too often abounds and truth too seldom prevails, the most important subject we have is: world peace." Was it possible, as he said, "to create conditions so that weapons can finally be abolished"? According to Kennedy, the struggle for disarmament had been a matter for US governments since the 1920s. This has not been the case for very many of his successors.

UNITED NATIONS: MODERN TIMES prints here Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's speech to the UN Security Council in New York on 20 September 2023. He emphasizes that the UN Charter is the cornerstone of today's international legislation – which has not been followed in terms of peace and security in Ukraine. Lavrov also points out that the Ukrainian constitution states that the state is obliged to respect the Russians and other ethnic minorities. In Lavrov's view, it is the Western countries that do not want to overcome the deep crisis that has arisen in international relations. Here you have the opportunity (and with ORIENTERING's several articles) to read and evaluate yourself.