Joining the Club
The 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons will be held in May 2010 at U.N. Headquarters in New York. Participants will wrestle with ways to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and push for nuclear disarmament.
European Union in Crisis
Two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Europe appears poised for another moment of pivotal historic change. European leaders recently met in Brussels to seek a way forward for the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. Their efforts were rewarded on Tuesday, November 3, 2009, when the lone holdout, Czech President, Vaclav Klaus signed the accord. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic two former European heads of state, now academics at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies, were also addressing the future of European unity.
From Globalization to Global Peace?
The idea that world peace can be achieved through world government has a long history. Though all previous efforts in that direction have failed, some are hoping that globalization—regulated by the emerging European style of governance—will lead humanity to its elusive goal.
Capitalism: Unknown Ideal?
On the heels of extensive government intervention in economies around the world, Ayn Rand is making a comeback. Vision looks at her philosophy and asks, Is that where our economic salvation lies?
Mortally Wounded? Global Finance and Banking Systems in Crisis
A review of the current financial crisis reveals that humanity has been here before. And we'll be here again, unless we start taking a fundamentally different approach.
Eyes on Gaza
People around the world, among them journalists, commentators, bloggers, scholars and government leaders have decried the Israeli attack on Gaza. What will it take to resolve this seemingly impossible impasse of brothers on the same land?
America's Central Bank: Fiscally Fit at 95?
The United States Federal Reserve System turns 95 this week. It has never been more active and visible—marching out a parade of stunningly ambitious initiatives in the last few months. Yet illiquidity persists and the capital crisis is dragging the global economy into a protracted recession.
Who Crippled Capitalism?
If capitalism isn’t dead, it is certainly badly injured. Who killed it, and why?Identity Theft: What's in a Name?
According to the FBI, identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States—it claims more than 10 million victims a year, and this number is expected to rise.
I.O.U. Mankind
Thursday August 21, 2008, I.O.U.S.A. opened in select theaters across the United States. Clearly, the economy is a major concern to American citizens. And with a national debt said to be 9 trillion dollars and growing, it should be.
Special Report: Israel's 60th Anniversary in Context
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel and the war that broke out as Arab armies attempted to destroy the UN-sanctioned Jewish state at birth. In this report, Vision publisher and Mid-East scholar David Hulme analyzes the events leading up to the 1948 war.
Special Report: In Pursuit of Peace
Is there hope for what seems the world's most intractable problem? Through a series of interviews with experts and key players on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict, David Hulme explores how identities and ideologies generate the passion to fuel this enduring struggle.
Russia’s Identity Crisis
Russia’s struggle for national identity sheds light on our own need to know who we are and what’s expected of us. How does one form a sense of identity, whether as a nation or as an individual?
Bigger Is Not Better
The Worldwatch Institute released its State of the World for 2008 today, and while it was very bleak in the current assessment of environmental and economic conditions it sounded some positive notes about changes in attitudes from business, industry and governmental institutions.
A Disappointing Lack of Style
Some feel that a lack of style is present in the newly signed treaty for the European Union. And serious questions and concerns about it have surfaced quickly after EU leaders signed the document in Lisbon on December 13, 2007.
Inside Out and Outside In: The United States and the Other Powers
Henry Nau, professor of political science and international economic affairs at George Washington University, believes what drives the differences in international affairs today revolves around U.S. national identity and the use of power. In a recent speech, he explained how some international relations theorists separate the various perspectives.
Book Review: The Incredible Shrinking World
The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman; Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph E. Stiglitz; In Defense of Globalization by Jagdish Bhagwati.
Power to the People
Democracy seems to be catching on around the world. Does that mean peace is just around the corner?
In the Depths of Darfur
The United Nations describes the ongoing tragedy in Darfur as one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world today. Secretary-General Kofi Annan calls it “little short of hell on earth.” Aid workers and analysts talk to Vision about the tragedy that’s been unfolding in Sudan.
Europe's State of Mind
Will the European Dream supplant the American Dream as the dominant social force shaping the world? Vision puts the question to noted author and social critic Jeremy Rifkin.
Jerusalem: Center of the Earth? Part 2: The Unforeseen Endgame
A look at Jerusalem’s centrality to geopolitics from the period of the Reformation to the modern era.
Beyond the Deadlock
Can a seemingly unrelated field of study point the way to a solution of the Arab-Israeli impasse?
City of Faiths, Part 2: The Palestinian Perspective
What is the basis to Arab and Palestinianan claims to Jerusalem?
The Tale of Two Cities
Vision interviews Afif Safieh, a leading PLO representative for a Palestinian perpsective on how Jerusalem can have peace.
Murky Media
Book Review: Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists by Joel Best; It Ain’t Necessarily So: How Media Make and Unmake the Scientific Picture of Reality by David Murray, Joel Schwartz,and S. Robert Lichter; Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News by Bernard Goldberg.
Jerusalem: The Fragile Mosaic
Historian Bernard Wasserstein offers a Jewish perspective on the importance of Jerusalem to the Jewish people and on the likelihood of a peaceful resolution of the Jerusalem Question.
City of Faiths, Part 1
First in a two-part series examining the political and religious complexities of Jerusalem.
The Bible and the British Throne
Is this unusual relationship, which has spanned nearly 500 years, outdated?
The Peace Puzzle
Solving puzzles often requires a change in perspective and thinking. The greatest puzzle facing humanity today is a case in point.
Troubled Waters
Oil isn’t the only resource that helps shape the peace and regulate the balance of power in the Middle East.
The Global Order
Book Review: The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas L. Friedman; On the Edge: Living With Global Capitalism by Will Hutton and Anthony Giddens (editors); No Logo by Naomi Klein; The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and the Death of Democracy by Noreena Hertz.
Islam: Putting the Pieces Together
Vision speaks with Malise Ruthven, a noted authority on Islam, about the events of September 11, 2001.
The End of Oil?
How soon the world oil supply will run out is debatable. But underlying that question is another, more serious issue.
Hope Held Captive
Just when South Africa thought its future looked bright, a new and ominous crisis emerged.
The New War
Preeminent military historian Sir John Keegan talks to Vision about the impact of September 11 and what it means for the future of war.
Pathways to Peace?
Book review of Wilson’s Ghost by Robert McNamara and James Blight and Does America Need a Foreign Policy? by Henry Kissinger.
Rights vs Responsibilities
In a world that clamors for ever more extensive rights, it seems we have forgotten about our responsibilities.
Technology's Tower
It seems that nothing is beyond our reach when it comes to conquering the physical world, but we’re at a loss to deal with moral questions.
Chernobyl: The Fallout Continues
The world’s most infamous nuclear power plant is finally closed. But that doesn't mean we can put the whole radioactive mess behind us.
Nuclear Dummies
Thanks to the MAD doctrine, the Cold War left its mark on two regions of the former Soviet Union.
City of Peace in Pieces
Both Palestinians and Israelis claim a right to the eternal city, but what makes the issue so contentious?
The Warrior Pope
Thanks to John Paul II, the papacy is once again a force to reckon with.
2000: A Space Odyssey?
Three astronauts are slated to board the International Space Station this fall. Will the ISS play a role in the human conquest of space? Or is there another route to the ends of the universe?
A New Moderation in the Middle East?
There is a new optimism that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict can be resolved. But can peace emerge from the thicket of thorny issues surrounding this age-old conflict?
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