From the Editor

By Metta Spencer | 2021-07-01 00:00:00

Whew! It’s summer. Most of us have survived and now, on occasion, feel downright cheery. Today is one such occasion. Biden and Putin have just met and some of what they said makes sense. The best part of their joint announcement was this: “Today, we reaffirm the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.” So, yes, they stand with Reagan and Gorbachev, who issued that declaration a generation ago! However self-evident that statement sounds to peace workers, it is not believed universally. Many top military strategists regularly propose new rationales for using nuclear weapons, and the Permanent Five countries have not taken a collective position on the matter. So, let’s applaud the Russian and American leaders for their courage in stating the obvious.

And they went further. Already they had agreed to extend the New START Treaty, which Trump would have allowed to lapse. But though the New START Treaty was the best deal Obama could make, it imposed only moderate limits on nuclear weaponeers. Far more is needed! And today Putin and Biden agreed to launch a “structured strategic stability dialogue” which will include arms control and risk reduction. That may open the way toward real progress. Another favorable clue is their plan to preserve the Arctic as a “region of cooperation.”

And Peace Magazine has special reasons for our cheerful mood. See page 13 for the details. We’re expanding our “media empire” to offer a new, digital edition of the magazine that can reach peace workers everywhere in the world at an affordable price with a built-in translator to 30 languages.

Moreover, we have been making our website more user-friendly, so please visit tosavetheworld.ca to read, watch a video, download a podcast, and discuss issues with others.

Finally, we have created a “TV Channel” of our very own— YouTube.com/c/tosavetheworld—where activists worldwide can watch the 270 videos we’ve made so far. Each weekday (except holidays) we host a live discussion from 12:30 to 1:20 pm Eastern time with one or more experts on a serious global issue. Type in a question on Youtube’s chat box and the guest may answer it. Then we edit the zoom recording and post it on tosavetheworld.ca, Twitter, and Peace Mag’s Facebook page. The channel covers all six global threats. If your NGO has Zoom recordings, just ask us to rebroadcast them in a subsection of it.