All forms of conflict are ultimately fuelled by a fragmented state of human consciousness, reflected today in the breakdown of that which is collective. To finally end war and restore the planet's life-support systems, we need to reintegrate our awareness, recognise our common purpose and work towards universally held aspirations, argues Doug Griffin.
To believe that nuclear weapons are a generally positive contributor to establishing a just and peaceful world is an irresponsible view. It is unimaginable to reach any plateau of global justice
without acting with resolve to rid the world of nuclear weaponry, argues Richard Falk.
With growing competition over the world's increasingly scarce natural resources, governments
will only be able to avoid future military conflict by embracing
a policy of economic cooperation that prioritises resource conservation and
climate change mitigation, argues Richard
Heinberg.
We urgently need to
move beyond our limited concept of national security as being exclusively aligned to
military power. A larger vision of security must also include factors
that promote the internal resilience of the nation, such as public health, education
and environmental sustainability, explains David Orr.
Creating a more stable peace-based local economy demands shifting from military to civilian work in factories,
laboratories, and military bases. It is time for the peace movement to capture people's imagination with the concept of economic conversion, writes Mary Beth Sullivan.
The arms business is the most corrupt and deadly trade in the world, and also one of the least regulated. What will it take for governments to stand up to an industry with so much political clout? Andrew Feinstein and Dinyar Godrej discuss in the New Internationalist.
Some cheer the "Responsibility to Protect" as a breakthrough in international relations, but the dangers of another western intervention in a Muslim Arab country show the near impossibility of peacekeeping in times of war. By Pyllis Bennis.
