All The Monitor's View
- Why peace hopes endure in Colombia
A proposed peace deal with rebels failed at the polls, but the pact’s main supporters – victims of Colombia’s long war – know that forgiveness lies at the heart of peacemaking.
- Russia’s cyberattack: an opening for a pact
Now that the US has blamed Russia for hacking the Democratic Party, it should use the attack to build a consensus among nations for a code of conduct in the digital universe.
- Hospitality marks the next UN chief
The Security Council’s choice for the next UN secretary-general, António Guterres, is someone at the center of a global crisis: refugees. He has witnessed the generosity of host countries and is primed to further the caring of the uprooted.
- What breaks a cycle of high debt/low growth
The world’s over-indebtedness is a large reason for slow economic growth. Yet at least one nation, Jamaica, has shown how to swim out of its red ink. But it took unusual cooperation and openness.
- Why the tweet #prayfor has staying power
After major tragedies, social media lights up with calls for prayer. One reason, based on a new survey: A majority of Americans rely on prayer in the hope for healing, finding ‘God in that space.’
- The cool breezes on Asia’s hot spots
The latest India-Pakistan violence, along with tensions over aggressive moves by North Korea and China, might not escalate in the face of global trends that have set common values and norms of behavior.
- Why some cities thrive as economic engines
If the US election is about raising and broadening economic growth, then candidates must look at why certain cities thrive as innovators – and then help other cities do the same. One key: civic trust.
- Gambling’s hype
As the global gambling market grows to a predicted $1 trillion market, many operators are pushing ads with false promises of easy riches. Such deceit shows why governments must encourage living by talent, education, and hard work, not a belief in luck.
- Peres’s legacy of an expectant faith in peace
He was Israel’s driver of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, which offered a model for Colombia’s peace process. Can Colombia’s peace pact now be a model for Israel?
- Addressing fears of would-be migrants
Both the US and the EU are trying a new approach to mass migration: reducing the fear or desperation of people tempted to flee their country. For the US, the tactic may be working in Central America.
- Who can inspire civility in the presidential campaign?
As the Trump and Clinton campaigns heat up the rhetoric, those who have already occupied the White House set a higher tone by their mutual respect toward each other. Perhaps the current candidates can learn now what they may learn later.
- Jordan’s small light in a dark Mideast
Even as the region becomes more violent and despotic, an election in Jordan reveals progress for women and a shift by the Muslim Brotherhood toward inclusivity and secular rule.
- Company transparency on climate change
A global body will soon come up with a standard for how companies can reveal the risks of climate change on their business. For now, such ‘sustainability’ accounting rules should remain voluntary.
- Japan turns silver into gold
Faced with being the world’s most rapidly aging society, Japan has decided to see the demographic challenge as a ‘bonus’ rather than an ‘onus,’ forcing it to be more innovative and to view old folks in a new light.
- Can honesty be rewarded at banks?
One overlooked lesson from the Wells Fargo bank scandal needs more attention: Banks must hire, train, and encourage workers with high moral reasoning. In Wells Fargo, such workers were the real heroes.
- New York terrorist attacks: 'Ground Zeal' again
In light of the Sept. 17 terrorist bombings in New York and New Jersey, as well as the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we are republishing this 2002 Monitor editorial on the “forward step” needed after such attacks.
- The Outward Bound way to prevent police shootings
Long-time police reformer Bill Bratton called for empathy between Black Lives Matter and police advocates. In Baltimore, police and city youth are being taught just that – in trees.
- When foreign leaders praise US bipartisanship
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi is the latest foreign leader to thank both Democrats and Republicans for their long support. Such gratitude from abroad can help remind Americans of the value of bipartisanship in foreign policy – and perhaps on domestic issues, too.
- Syrian truce’s first goal: aiding civilians
A fragile truce in a brutal war was driven in large part by humanitarian concerns. That aim must remain, amid other motives, to help heal a broken Syria.
- Income up. Inequality down. But what of rural folk?
Median income in the US rose at its fastest rate last year while inequality shrank. Yet incomes outside metro areas fell. Rural Americans must be included in the ‘communities of thinkers’ that are the nation’s cities