For many years, a portion of the world public has sought to wall itself off from people abroad by hiding behind national borders. This nationalist approach runs counter to most of the world's great ethical and religious teachings and, also, fails to cope effectively with major problems that afflict the entire world, such as war, climate catastrophe, disease pandemics, resource scarcity, and widespread poverty. Fortunately, however, as the development of international social movements and institutions has shown us, people around the globe can work together in the interest of a brighter future for all.
Published Articles by Lawrence Wittner
In recent decades, the term "Red Lines" has been employed by individual governments -- and especially those of the major military powers -- to warn other nations not to impinge upon their self-proclaimed spheres of influence. This threatening behavior not only heightens international conflict, but flies in the face of the need to reconcile competing national priorities and enforce international agreements.
Given the Russian government's brutal repression of dissent, the level of Russian resistance to the Putin regime's war on Ukraine is quite remarkable. Defying the authorities, vast numbers of people have signed antiwar petitions, many thousands of Russians have participated in peace demonstrations, and approximately a million Russian citizens have fled abroad rather than serve in the armed forces or compromise, in other ways, with their government's military aggression.
By invading the sovereign nation of Ukraine and annexing large portions of its land, the Russian government has clearly violated international law. But, despite agreement among the world's nations on the principles of international law, the major entities providing global governance -- the United Nations and the International Court of Justice -- lack the power to enforce these principles.
The development and the deployment of nuclear weapons are usually based on the assumption that they enhance national security. But, in fact, as this powerful study of the Cuban missile crisis convincingly demonstrates, nuclear weapons move nations toward the brink of destruction.
Russia's war upon Ukraine should remind us that violent international conflicts not only persist, but constitute a plague upon the world. Even so, there are practical ways to reduce international violence, notably through bolstering institutions of global governance.
Although imperialist wars have raged throughout human history, during the past century some progress has been made toward bringing an end to territorial conquest and occupation. The Russian invasion and annexation of Ukraine is a clear throwback to the imperialist aggression of the past. But possibilities remain for creating a brighter future.
Even international alliances can unravel when nations confront the insanity of a nuclear holocaust. This is what happened recently when the Russian government threatened Ukraine and other nations with nuclear war, only to be rebuffed by its Chinese ally. Much the same thing happened in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when, ironically, the role of the two governments was reversed. These incidents demonstrate not only that nuclear deterrence is unstable, but that, while nuclear weapons exist, the world remains in peril.
Although, in recent decades, American conservatives have embraced what they call the "Right to Life," they have done a poor job of sustaining life in the United States. That's the conclusion of a recent scientific study of the relationship, over two decades, between mortality rates and conservative or liberal control of U.S. state governments.
Today, we're once more enmeshed in the dire situation so starkly revealed in August 1945, with the atomic bombing of Japan. While nuclear weapons exist, any war can turn into a nuclear holocaust. Unless the people of all nations, recognizing the peril of universal death, demand the establishment of an international organization capable of enforcing policies of disarmament and peace, then, sooner or later, the time will come to say "bye-bye world."