PeaceQuest
  • Home
  • Projects
  • Blog
  • About Us
  • Donate
  • Email Us: sstaples@peacequest.ca
  • For teachers: WarandChildren.com
  • Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
PeaceQuest
  • Home
  • Projects
  • Blog
  • About Us
    • Welcome
  • Donate Now

    Scholarship fund studious poor children

    Notice: Test mode is enabled. While in test mode no live donations are processed.

    $
    Select Payment Method
    Personal Info

    Donation Total: $10

Could we be headed toward a new era of peace?

Homepage PeaceQuest Cape Breton Could we be headed toward a new era of peace?
PeaceQuest Cape Breton

Could we be headed toward a new era of peace?

12 December 2022
By Steven Staples
0 Comment
657 Views

In his latest essay, PeaceQuest Cape Breton’s Sean Howards wonders if the very dark period we find ourselves in may lead to a new international period of relative peace?

Sean looks back at the 1960s period of  “détente” or “the easing of hostility or strained relations, especially between countries” according to the dictionary.

He writes, “For six years after the invasion [in 1956 by the former Soviet Union] of Hungary, tensions between the Superpowers built to the breaking point of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, an intolerably close call concentrating diplomatic minds wonderfully and producing two important steps back from the brink: the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT), ending over 15 years of routinely massive atmospheric test explosions by the USSR, USA and UK; and the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a supposedly ‘grand bargain’ inextricably linking non-proliferation and disarmament.

Sean notes the crisis period pushed the idea, “Europe must never again descend into general war.” Instead, the notion of “Common Security” required “respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief,” and respect for the “equal rights and self-determination of peoples”.

  • Read “The Darkest Hour Before Detente?” by Sean Howard, published by the Cape Breton Spectator on December 7, 2022

(Cover: The Unisphere, symbol of the New York 1964-65 World’s Fair. Flushing Meadow Park, New York. Via Shutterstock)


Previous Story
Putin warns nuclear risk is rising, “but we are not mad”
Next Story
Why I Can’t Give Up – Join me in 2023 to Keep Hope Alive!

Related Articles

Silencing pacifists rather than guns in Ukraine

Anti-war organizers are being persecuted

The war that never ended: Korea +70 years

Sean Howard says our best hope may be citizen diplomacy

Categories

  • Action
  • Analysis
  • Commentary
  • Event
  • PeaceQuest Cape Breton
  • PeaceQuest Kingston
  • PeaceQuest Regina
  • Resource
  • Teachers

Contact

PeaceQuest Leadership and Education Initiative

c/o Steven Staples, Chairperson

225 Sumach Street W303

Toronto  ON M5A 0P8

Email: sstaples@peacequest.ca

Phone: m. 647-327-7187

PeaceQuest Info

  • Projects
  • Blog
  • About Us
  • Donate
  • Subscribe

Local Groups

  • Cape Breton
  • Kingston
  • Regina

 

 

Teachers

  • WarandChildren.com
Copyright ©2020 PeaceQuest Leadership and Education Initiative
SearchPostsLogin
Friday, 24, Nov
Will the ceasefire hold? Or will war resume
Friday, 24, Nov
IPB head shares challenges working for peace
Friday, 17, Nov
Is Hamas winning?
Friday, 17, Nov
Canadian peace activist confirmed killed in Hamas attack
Friday, 17, Nov
Invitation to meet and greet IPB Director Sean Conner in Toronto
Friday, 10, Nov
Readers’ thoughts on Remembrance Day 2023

Welcome back,