Comments on: Win the peace.

By: RyanErwin.com » Countdown to Meltdown…

RyanErwin.com » Countdown to Meltdown… — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:21:08 +0000

[...] It’s an excellent read. Check it out. There’s also a great article called “Win the peace” with a speech from Thomas PM Barnett at the TedTalks. Watch it. [...]

By: Open Grove Claudia

Open Grove Claudia — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 17:56:09 +0000

Slick – I wish people would make that decision…. soon.

The CEO – Do you know the power points of the world? The Cold war and most of our foreign policy is based around control of the power points. Ironically, each of these points including Israel is an economic strong hold. For example, the land where Israel is located is one of the most important, if not the most important, economic points in the Middle East. I don’t think we can separate economics from politics, politics from power, power from control, control from economics.

The Chief – Yes, we must learn to manage (i.e., live with) war – and enhance the aftermath. Until war isn’t an option….

By: On A Limb with Claudia » Blog Archive » Thursday Thirteen - Creating Peace.

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 04:06:15 +0000

[...] Watch my language. Yesterday, I blogged on winning the peace. I never fight a verbal battle if I don’t think I can win the peace. This means that I only [...]

By: The Chief

The Chief — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 03:54:08 +0000

While people generally love him or hate him, Richard Nixon was a foreign relations genius and actually did become an elder statesman in his later years. Richard Nixon wrote many books in the years after his presidency and one was called “Real Peace.” In this book, Nixon gives a great definition of what “Real Peace” is and I have to say, it’s not one that will be readily accepted by idealists but it really is the most sound (to me, anyway) definition of what real peace is:

Peace is not an end to war; Peace is a means of living with the fact of war.

This does not mean that we have to accept war – it means we have to – within ourselves – accept that mankind will always wage war. To think that we can take away the human element and all it’s primal responses (of which war and conflict are a part) would drive the sanest person to madness.

Just some food for thought.

I like the site very much.

By: The CEO

The CEO — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 02:57:53 +0000

This is definitely the high octane group here. All this time, I tended to believe that war was economically based. I can hear you now saying that economics are directly equal to politics (I am greatly influenced by the Crankster who will say it for you if you want, and he’ll probably quote Sir John Maynard Keynes if you don’t). Keynes pointed out that countries needed to stop exporting their unemployment, his economic euphamism for saying that war was not a good way to end depressions and deep recessions, although it’s certainly effective.

To defend your position, either of you would naturally point to the Treaty of Versailles as an example of the ineffectual plan for peace, and how it led to another World War, even more vicious than the first, and I would point to the world-wide Depression that took place. And so on and so forth.

Your comments, please?

By: Slick

Slick — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 21:00:34 +0000

I’m so out of my league here….

You’ll have peace when people, collectively, decide they want peace.

By: Open Grove Claudia

Open Grove Claudia — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:42:57 +0000

Odat – My gf was a Federal Court Judge. I spent much of my childhood arguing about not starting wars with people who… let’s just say started wars. I realized that I cannot stop the wars. But I can make sure that peace is at least a part of the conversation. You want to go to war for peace? Show me the peace then let’s talk about the war.

Crankster – It’s unbelievable isn’t it? Peace is not even in the “should we stay or should we go” conversation. (rolling eyes)

Heart in SF – The problem is that peace through warfare actually works. That’s the problem. It doesn’t work well, but it does work. Even the non-violent turn overs were (South Africa, N. Ireland in particular) were fraught with violence and war. My question is how do we ensure the peace when war is so easy?

By: heart in san francisco

heart in san francisco — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:31:03 +0000

Most of the Native American tribes actually had peace chiefs and war chiefs to lead the people, depending upon which situation was going on, because they recognized that people had different abilities and that war and peace should never be confused with each other.

It seems that our dominant culture has always confused the two and continues to do so as we attempt to bring about peace through warfare. This can never work, which should be obvious by now. It is sheer lunacy to do something which has never worked with the expectation that next time, it will.

It is obscene that Leonard Peltier is still in prison for a crime he probably did not commit.

By: Crankster

Crankster — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:11:03 +0000

Thanks for a beautiful rumination on peace. I’ve often thought about America’s war rhetoric, but haven’t really considered the absence of peace in our official language!

By: odat

odat — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:53:02 +0000

Make love, not war….(to quote an old saying
(I’ll have to watch the video later, can’t get it to load;-(
Peace