海角大神

Will China use its military resources to give Russia an edge on the battlefield? Although the Ukraine war has propelled cooperation between Beijing and Moscow, China鈥檚 calculations in Eastern Europe have more to do with the United States.

How can the world be massively shifting toward renewables and boosting its overall carbon emissions at the same time? We parse the progress in a global transition that鈥檚 far from finished.

President Joe Biden鈥檚 recent shift on immigration policy shows the challenge of balancing order and compassion. It may also reflect concerns about a coming surge at the border, following the rollback of a pandemic-era measure.

Living situations can be difficult for seniors and for immigrants, due to loneliness and separation from society. One Swedish housing project is trying to help both groups by putting them together聽鈥� and it seems to be working.

What do people do when they encounter well-intentioned laws they disagree with? A pair of filmmaking brothers found a message about freedom in the story of the man who helped legalize pinball.

The world鈥檚 violent conflicts often end with top-down solutions, such as diplomatic agreements or a peace imposed by military might. Yet nearly half of post-conflict places return to violence within a decade. Often overlooked are local, bottom-up attempts at peacemaking, the kind that can collectively lay the groundwork for permanent peace. Two examples came this week from Israel and Libya.

After a Palestinian assailant killed two of her children, Orthodox Jew Dvori Paley asked a large group of Israeli women, 鈥淲hat can we do so that we don鈥檛 experience this anymore?鈥� The answer, arranged by a friend of hers, was to open the living rooms of 40 homes for women of all walks of life to do what Ms. Paley wished 鈥� expressions of gratitude for the good in daily life.

鈥淭he point is to show people that we are all part of something bigger,鈥� said Ayellet Ben Zaken, a literature teacher.

These gatherings for thankfulness have since spread beyond Israel, according to a news story by Media Line. 鈥淒vori quickly became a symbol for many, crossing boundaries that very often exist in society,鈥� it stated.

In strife-torn Libya, peace is being built in part through youthful creativity. At an event outside Tripoli this month, about 20 teams of young people from all social strata competed in their designs of robots. The high-tech contest, however, was not just about robots.

鈥淭hese young people also had to manage their relationships and work towards inclusion, unity, and peace,鈥� event coordinator Mohammed Zayed told Agence France-Presse.

As one participant, Youssef Jira, said, 鈥淲e want to send a message to the whole of society, because what we鈥檝e learned has changed us a lot.鈥�

These small platoons of local peacemakers usually don鈥檛 show up in today鈥檚 quantitative measurements of peace. The famed Global聽Peace Index, for example, looks at macro numbers, such as levels of military spending or crime levels. The Fragile States Index looks at indicators such as 鈥済roup grievance鈥� or 鈥渟tate legitimacy.鈥�

A couple of new peace quantifiers are taking a different approach. The nonprofit group Search for Common Ground is working on a 鈥減eace impact framework鈥� based on asking local people for their knowledge and experience from living in a conflict to determine indicators for peace. The new Community-Based Heritage Indicators for Peace relies on local people for 鈥渢heir own nuanced understanding of what lasting peace looks and feels like on-the-ground.鈥�

This listen-first approach rests on the assumption that peace can come from each person鈥檚 natural inclination for peace.

鈥淏eing in turbulent settings, many peace builders mention the need for an inner stillness,鈥� writes author Tobias Jones for Aeon journal, a process that requires making peace with oneself and only then with others. That can come from gratitude meet-ups or the shared rapture of a robot-making contest or any manner of local encounters that can help define authentic peaceful coexistence.