At a time when international cooperation provides the key to preventing a variety of global calamities -- including nuclear war, climate catastrophe, and massive starvation -- it's tragic that major nations, ruled by nationalist, rightwing parties, are on a collision course with the organizations that represent the international community. With the onset of World War II, most people finally realized that narrow nationalism had to give way to global cooperation. Let's hope that it won't take another world war or comparable catastrophe to convince people again.