Will President Trump’s “America First’ make America last in the world of trade? Hardly. But this week we began to see how other nations are adjusting relationships with each other, with ties to the US stressed.

When it comes to discerning the role of climate change in extreme weather, hurricanes generate a lot of controversy. This piece explores how an emerging field of science is starting to connect some dots.

We land next on Macedonia, which faces an unusual manifestation of a common issue in today’s world: Should a nation do what feels best, or what provides the best opportunity for its people?

When the Monitor's chief diplomatic correspondent encounters Donald Trump, it's often in the presence of diplomats and foreign press, giving him insight into how the president plays to others.

Since the dawn of storytelling, people have turned to fantasy as a respite from reality. But some fantastical tales, especially those that transcend borders and time, can tell us something about ourselves.

One reason for a decline of armed conflicts in recent decades has been the use of an important tool in peacemaking: buffer zones between militaries. They cool off hot spots. They replace fear with patience in working on a negotiated settlement. Most of the time, they maintain a temporary peace.

Turkey and Russia just agreed to a zone in Syria’s Idlib province. Under a new peace pact, once-warring Ethiopia and Eritrea are dismantling a zone set up in 2000. And over the past four years, a buffer zone in Ukraine has prevented war between Russia and NATO.

Of all the buffer zones in the world, the most famous may be the one that has divided the two Koreas since a “temporary” truce ended a 1950-53 war. The 160-mile-long demilitarized zone (DMZ) has been a constant scene of tension and occasional violence, filled with land mines and heavily armed guard posts. On either side of the 2-1/2-mile-wide zone is one of the world’s most heavily militarized frontiers, sustained by fears of invasion and threats of nuclear escalation.

Now, as the result of a Sept. 19 agreement between North and South Korea, the DMZ could be the starting point for finally achieving denuclearization of the peninsula.

The two sides agreed to dismantle several guard posts, start removing land mines and other weapons, halt military drills close to the zone, and take other steps by the end of 2018. The proposed moves could help reduce the risk of miscalculation and surprise attack. They reflect a shift from managing war toward managing peace, from strife toward respite.

The ultimate goal is to create confidence-building measures that will ensure enough cross-border trust for difficult negotiations on nuclear weapons. 

Suspicions of North Korea remain high after its scuttling of previous agreements about ending its nuclear program. Yet if its current leader, Kim Jong-un, is sincere about opening his closed nation for economic development, he has been given an opportunity by South Korean President Moon Jae-in to prove it. Good buffer zones can make for good neighbors.