News Flash: John Hagelin Presents Four-Point Plan to Resolve Kosovo Crisis during Washington Press Conference

Dateline 4/12/99

John Hagelin Presents Four-Point Plan to Resolve Kosovo Crisis during Washington Press Conference

Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., last Friday before a packed audience of reporters, international government dignitaries, and local Natural Law Party supporters, NLP presidential candidate John Hagelin outlined his "four-point action plan for immediate resolution to the Kosovo crisis."

Dr. Hagelin presented published scientific research showing that a peace-keeping force of 7000 advanced meditators in the vicinity of Kosovo "would accomplish what the airstrikes have failed miserably to do--quickly calm the tensions, end the bloodshed, and create lasting peace in the region."

Dr. Haglelin called his offer "a proven, humane, cost-effective solution to the Bosnian conflict." He said that the force would eliminate the underlying cause of the conflict, which is high levels of stress and ethnic hatred and tensions. "With bombs you can destroy the people, you can destroy the land, but you cannot destroy the hatred that fuels these conflicts."

Hagelin said that the cost of his peace-keeping project, compared to the current military campaign, would be negligible. "Less than the cost of a wing and tail fin of a B-2 Bomber," he said.

Dr. Hagelin was joined at the conference by John Davies, Ph.D., Research Director of the Center of International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland.

Press coverage of the offer was excellent, and included reporters from Time, CBS, CNN, The Chicago Tribune, The Detroit News, and a national radio news service. International press included reporters from London's Financial Times, as well as from major newspapers in India, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Japan, and China. Dr. Hagelin's four-point plan includes:

Step 1. (30 days duration) Within 48 hours, establish a "coherence-creating group" in the geographic vicinity of Kosovo. This group would be composed of approximately 7000 civilian volunteers from Europe and throughout the world who are already experienced in advanced forms of meditation known to have a powerful peaceful influence in the social environment (e.g., the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program). This would produce an immediate, powerful calming influence throughout the region, and a rapid cessation of the hostilities towards the Kosovo Albanians, which are fueled by collective stress and deep-seated ethnic and religious tensions. Cost to NATO of housing and sustaining 7000 volunteers for one month: approximately $15 million.

Step 2. (simultaneous with step 1) Begin training a permanent group of 1000 Kosovar Albanians in the peace-keeping technologies of collective meditation. In addition to preserving the peace, the individual participants would directly benefit by increased autonomic stability, resistance to stress, and ability to recover from the ravages of the war. Cost to NATO for training and adequate follow-up: approximately $3 million.

Step 3. (60 days duration) During the second 60 days, the 7000 volunteers would be progressively supplanted by the Kosovar Albanians. Cost to NATO for housing and sustaining a decreasing number of outside volunteers: approximately $15 million.

Step 4. (ongoing) As a preventive strategy, and as a means to protect against violence, terrorism, and outside aggression, countries throughout the world are encouraged to establish their own coherence-creating groups, either within the military, among the youth, or among the unemployed.

Total cost to NATO for permanent peaceful resolution of Kosovo Crisis:$33 million
Total cost of a single B-2 Stealth Bomber: $750 million