Tag Archive for: path
America Is Lost in a Dark Forest, But There’s a Path Out
Sadly, in these not-so-United States, we have found our way deep into a dark forest, and the question before us is how do we find the path out of this dangerous thicket into which we have wandered? Our dire internal divisions are quite extraordinary and worrisome. And here I’m talking to you wherever you are on the political spectrum from MSNBC to Fox News. If you get up in the morning watching Morning Joe and you wrap it up with Rachel Maddow at night; or you start on the white couch over at Fox and you finish up with Sean Hannity—wherever you are on that spectrum, you ought to be concerned about the plummeting nature of our discourse with each other.
That division is the dark forest into which we have wandered, and the real challenge is that the world is not going to wait for us while we figure out how to escape. The world does not see us standing coherently together and facing the challenges and turbulence that roil the globe. This weakens us dramatically.
Consider the challenges: an ongoing global pandemic, a broken withdrawal from Afghanistan, Vladimir Putin rattling the saber of nuclear weapons, failing cyber security, fierce competition with Beijing, Iran moving apace toward a nuclear weapon, Kim Jong-un taunting with ballistic missile launches, terrorism still smoldering in many places, a damaged environment, on and on. The dangers are real, and the world will not wait while we figure out how to face these challenges together as a nation.
We must find practical ways to think through these problems and challenges or face dire consequences both internationally and here at home.
If I’ve brought you this far, you’re probably asking, “Well what do you think, Admiral? What can we do to find a path out of this Dark Forest? What are the tools we need? What should we do?
Counterintuitively, we should start by taking stock of some good news, even as we appropriately wring our hands and worry about all these external challenges and above all about our internal divisions. It’s good from time to time to step back and…
Path to peace ‘forged by dialogue and cooperation’ Guterres tells Security Council |
Path to peace ‘forged by dialogue and cooperation’ Guterres tells Security Council
Recommit to “dialogue, diplomacy and mutual trust”, Secretary-General António Guterres urged ambassadors in the UN Security Council on Monday, describing them as “the eternal tools of peace”.
“The path to peace is forged by dialogue and cooperation,” and shaped by “a common understanding of the threats and challenges,” he said.
On the ground in Ukraine
Having just returned from Ukraine, Türkiye and Moldova, the UN chief recounted how he witnessed first-hand, the success so far of the Black Sea Initiative organized to ship grain and other vital food supplies for the rest of the world from Ukrainian ports, and noted another agreement for the unimpeded access of food and fertilizers from Russia, to global markets.
“This comprehensive plan is crucial for the world’s most vulnerable people and countries, who are desperately counting on these food supplies,” he said, adding that “it is a concrete example of how dialogue and cooperation can deliver hope, even in the midst of conflict”.
The top UN official called for “the same commitment to dialogue and results” at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, currently under Russian military control, reaffirming the UN’s logistics and security capacities to support a mission by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from Kyiv to Europe’s largest nuclear power facility.
Divides, conflicts, instability
From military coups to inter-State conflicts, invasions, and “wars that stretch on” for years, today’s collective security system is being “tested like never before,” Mr. Guterres spelled out.
He drew attention to lingering differences between the world’s great powers, including at the Council, which continue to limit a collective response; humanitarian assistance that is stretched to the breaking point; human rights under assault; and a lack of trust.
“Many of the systems established decades ago are now facing challenges that were unimaginable to our predecessors – cyberwarfare, terrorism, and lethal autonomous weapons,” observed the UN chief. “And the nuclear risk has…