*[Enwl-eng] pls sign for new OSCE summit
ENWLine
Dear friends of peace in the Nordic and all Baltic Sea countries
In 2025, it will be 50 years since the CSCE/OSCE Final Act was signed in Helsinki.
For this reason, the President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, has proposed to hold a new summit of major powers in the spirit of the CSCE. The President believes that a new summit could calm the growing tensions between the major powers.
Niinistö believes that in this situation Finland could have the capacity to act as a mediator because the country has a direct discussion relationship with all major powers.
The Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has expressed support for the proposal.
In January 2021, Sweden took over the chairmanship of the OSCE. Foreign Minister Ann Linde then stated that Sweden will during the year work to strengthen the organization's important role in contributing to security in the region.
We have compiled a letter in support of the holding of a new summit. (See below or attachment)
We will send it out to the governments and parliaments of Finland, Sweden, all other countries in the Baltic Sea region and to the media. The letter will also be sent to the leaders of the major powers and the OSCE.
If the summit project progresses, we hope to be able to organize some kind of shadow event for non-governmental organizations.
We sincerely hope that your organization will sign the letter of support before 25.5.2021 by notifying Ulla Klötzer (ullak...@yahoo.com)
- Name of the organization
- Contact person: name and email
We also hope that you via your networks will forward the invitation to sign the letter.
Lea Launokari, Women for Peace – Finland (lea.la...@nettilinja.fi)
Ulla Klötzer, Women Against Nuclear Power – Finland (ullak...@yahoo.com)
Susanne Gerstenberg, Women for Peace – Sweden (susanne.g...@telia.com)
Jan Strömdahl, The Peoples' Movement Against Nuclear Power And Weapons – Sweden (jfstr...@gmail.com)
A new summit in 2025 in CSCE spirit
We, (the number of organizations?) representatives of non-governmental organizations in the Nordic and Baltic Sea region, warmly welcome the extremely urgent proposal of the President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, to organize a new summit in CSCE spirit (Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe) between the major powers in connection with the 50th anniversary of OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe). The Final Act was signed in Helsinki in 1975. The President believes that a new summit could calm the growing tensions between the major powers.
According to President Niinistö, the international situation is not necessarily as bad as it seems. Behind the facade there are also attempts to find solutions. Niinistö believes that in this situation Finland could have the capacity to act as a mediator because the country has a direct discussion relationship with all major powers.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin expressed support for the proposal on Finnish television and stated that she shares the president's concerns about the tense situation between the major powers.
In January 2021, Sweden took over the chairmanship of the OSCE. Foreign Minister Ann Linde then stated that Sweden will during the year work to strengthen the important role of the OSCE in contributing to security in the region. "For Sweden and all other participating states, the commitments that underlie the OSCE are the cornerstones of our common security. ... Threats to international peace and security and the suffering that conflicts entail are unacceptable. That is why we must continue to keep the work for a solution to the conflicts in our region at the top of our agenda. "
In this very spirit, we assume that Sweden will give its full support to the proposal for a new OSCE summit in 2025.
In 190 countries, nearly 700 organizations and over 75,000 people have signed a pledge to commit to peace and to support non-violent activities to end all wars and preparations for war and to create a lasting and just peace. War and militarism kill, injure and traumatize adults, children and infants, destroy the environment, erode civil liberties and undermine countries' economies.
Countless appeals and letters have been published by former high-ranking politicians and NATO leaders, non-governmental organizations, groups of prominent people in various professions, peace researchers and others calling on world leaders to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Research groups and peace organizations around the world are calling for dialogue between the major powers instead of gun rattling and twisted threats and present proposals for how such a dialogue could be conducted and how trust could be built through open and inclusive cooperation. Humanitarian and peace-promoting organizations advocate demilitarization in favor of global sustainable and equal development.
Finland and Sweden have traditionally acted as initiators of peace and disarmament.
Former Finnish President Urho Kekkonen twice, in 1963 and 1978, proposed a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Nordic region. Sweden's former Prime Minister Olof Palme in his Piteå speech in 1974 presented the demand for a nuclear-weapon-free Europe. It was a life-affirming demand, which led to the work for a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Nordic region. In the Nordic Council demands have been made for such a zone. Unfortunately, no nuclear-weapon-free zone was established in the Nordic region or the Baltic Sea region.
Today, both countries have an increasingly close collaboration with NATO and the United States which has led to increased tensions in the Nordic and Baltic region.
Nuclear weapons are a key component of NATO's deterrence and defense policy and the United States has nuclear weapons deployed in Europe. Both USA and Russia are modernizing their nuclear arsenals.
The American corporation Lockheed Martin has been commissioned to manufacture a ground-launched intermediate-range hypersonic weapons system with a range of 500 -5 500 km. Such missiles, able to reach Moscow, will most likely be deployed in Poland or Romania.
Russia also builds hypersonic intermediate-range missiles but they would be launched from Russian territory and cannot reach Washington.
Such missiles were prohibited by the Treaty on Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) signed by Presidents Gorbachev and Reagan in 1987. The risks thus increase considerably that a nuclear war between USA and Russia could take place in Europe.
In a nuclear war, however, all are losers. It does not matter whether it takes place in Europe or elsewhere.
A new OSCE summit is not only welcome, it is crucial for the future of Europe and the planet.
The Baltic Sea region 25.5.2021
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