International Law Needs International Enforcement

Donald Trump’s war of choice in the Middle East is but the latest indication that the system of international law―which provides guidelines for the behavior of nations in world affairs―is crumbling.

In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, after thousands of years of violent international conflict, efforts to establish global norms for nations in connection with war, diplomacy, economic relations, and human rights accelerated.  These efforts resulted in the founding of the United read more

On the Road to Nuclear War

On January 27, 2026, the editors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of their famous “Doomsday Clock” to 85 seconds to midnight―the closest setting, since the appearance of the clock in 1946, to nuclear annihilation.

This grim appraisal has impressive evidence to support it.

The New Start Treaty, the last of the major nuclear arms control and disarmament treaties between the United States and Russia, read more

Democrats and Republicans–the differences are enormous

Amid widespread revulsion at the behavior of the second Trump administration and its Republican loyalists, there is a curious tendency to blame Democrats for the slide of the United States toward fascism.  As one enraged commentator put it recently, “the Democrats” have “let us down day by day by day.”

But, in fact, “the Democrats”―at the grassroots and at the federal government level―have repeatedly displayed overwhelming opposition to the rightwing Republican onslaught.  By read more

It Could Be a Wonderful World

There is a widening gap today between global possibilities and global realities.

The possibilities are enormous, for―thanks to a variety of factors, ranging from increases in knowledge to advances in economic productivity―it’s finally feasible for all of humanity to lead decent and fulfilling lives.

No longer is poverty necessary, for the enormous global economy can produce adequate food, goods, and services for all the world’s people.

Human health and longevity can be improved substantially, read more

Great Power Imperialism or Democratic Global Governance?

Pundits frequently remark on the warm and friendly relationship between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.  In explanation, some suggest that Putin possesses compromising material on Trump.  Others point to their autocratic style and their rightwing agendas.

But another factor plays a role in the Putin-Trump bromance:  their embrace of great power imperialism.

For example, their aggressive policies toward Ukraine and Venezuela are remarkably similar.  Putin began his takeover of Ukraine by charging read more

Donald Trump, Union Buster

Although President Donald Trump has claimed that “every policy” of his administration was “designed to lift up the American worker,” he has acted consistently, since returning to office in January 2025, to undermine workers’ chosen representatives, America’s labor unions.

The most flagrant Trump action along these lines occurred in March 2025, when he issued an read more

A Bold Campaign to Confront Global Crises

Although the world is experiencing severe global crises, there are new efforts underway to create a more effective means of coping with them.

The crises are clear enough.  They include vast slaughter in horrific wars, worldwide climate catastrophe, massive population displacement, and deepening poverty.

Moreover, these disastrous situations are likely to worsen in coming years.  Modern wars are fought with increasingly devastating weapons, and preparations for nuclear war have escalated to the read more

Albert Einstein and the Problem of War

Although Albert Einstein is best-known as a theoretical physicist, he also spent much of his life grappling with the problem of war.

In 1914, shortly after he moved to Berlin to serve as director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics, Einstein was horrified by the onset of World War I.  “Europe, in her insanity, has started something unbelievable,” he told a friend.  “In such times one realizes to what a sad species of animal one belongs.”  Writing to the French author Romain Rolland, read more