In late 2025, the global diplomatic stage shifted toward Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where President Donald Trump hosted two of the world’s most pivotal leaders: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. These meetings, occurring back-to-back, highlighted a “deal-maker” approach to foreign policy that largely bypasses traditional international bureaucracies.
On December 29, 2025, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) launched “Justice Mission 2025,” a massive, live-fire military exercise encircling Taiwan. These maneuvers—the sixth major round of war games since 2022—simulated blockades of vital ports like Keelung and Kaohsiung, utilizing destroyers, bombers, and long-range missiles. While Beijing frames these actions as a “stern warning” against separatism, they represent a profound violation of the Taiwanese people’s fundamental right to peace of mind and expose a systemic failure in our current international order.
In the final days of 2025, the world remains caught in a paradoxical loop: as our technological capacity for destruction reaches new heights, our global mechanisms for preventing that destruction remain tethered to the mid-20th century. Recent events in Ukraine and Nigeria serve as stark reminders that the current international order is insufficient. To move beyond this cycle of violence, we must recognize that empowering the United Nations is not merely a political necessity; it is a profound expression of psychological and moral maturity.
The recent U.S. airstrikes in northwest Nigeria, conducted in December 2025, have reignited a critical debate regarding the unilateral use of military force in the global war on terror. While the United States cited the protection of persecuted communities and the elimination of ISIS-Sahel militants as the primary drivers for the strikes, the operation’s long-term effectiveness and international standing remain under scrutiny. To ensure that such interventions are viewed as legitimate by the global community, there is an urgent need for greater United Nations (UN) involvement and a shift toward a truly internationalized counterterrorism effort.
The recent decision by the Trump administration to suspend five major offshore wind projects along the East Coast marks a significant retreat from the pursuit of a sustainable energy future. Citing “national security risks” identified in classified reports, the administration has halted nearly completed projects like Vineyard Wind 1 and Revolution Wind. While the government emphasizes the potential for turbine interference with military radar, this justification appears to be a thin veil for a broader ideological preference for fossil fuels. By prioritizing opaque security concerns over clear environmental and economic benefits, this suspension undermines American energy independence, stifles job growth, and delays the urgent transition to clean energy.
Supporting the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is not merely an act of international charity; it is a strategic investment in the world’s most essential safety net. As the primary body responsible for synchronizing global disaster and conflict response, OCHA ensures that aid is not just delivered, but delivered effectively, fairly, and swiftly.
Today, December 16, marks the anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth in 1770. While the world rightfully celebrates him as a titan of Western classical music—the man who bridged the Classical and Romantic eras—his legacy extends far beyond the stave and the symphony. Remembering Beethoven is essential not only for the “superb” nature of his compositions but because he was a radical thinker whose progressive social views and vision of human brotherhood laid the spiritual groundwork for modern ideals of world peace and global cooperation.
Antisemitism, often referred to as “the longest hatred,” is not a relic of the past but a dangerous and dynamic force in the contemporary world. Despite the universal condemnation of the Holocaust, Jewish people and institutions globally face a disturbing resurgence of prejudice, harassment, and violent attacks. This essay will explore the profound dangers of modern antisemitism, emphatically distinguish legitimate criticism of the State of Israel from anti-Jewish hatred, and outline the urgent need for more robust involvement by the United Nations to ensure the safety and security of Jewish communities worldwide.
The phrase “the right side of history” is often dismissed as rhetorical flourish, but a rigorous analysis of human development suggests it describes a tangible phenomenon. History is not a series of random, cyclical events; it possesses a distinct directionality. That direction is an ascent toward higher levels of integration, cooperation, and collective well-being. Specifically, the trajectory of human civilization points toward International Socialism—defined here as a robust system of international law coupled with economic social democracy based on Keynesian principles. This evolution is not merely accidental; it is inevitable because this system possesses the highest utility value of any social arrangement, and it is the duty of education to accelerate our arrival at this destination.
The Labor Theory of Value, as articulated by Karl Marx, posits that the economic value of a good is objectively determined by the socially necessary labor time required for its production.1 While this theory provided a potent rhetorical tool for 19th-century industrial critiques, it fails to describe how value actually functions in a modern economy. The fundamental error lies in the assumption that value is an inherent property derived from production inputs rather than a subjective assessment made by consumers.2 This is most evident in the “transformation problem,” where Marx struggled to mathematically reconcile labor values with actual market prices.3 If labor were the sole source of value, capital-intensive industries would logically be less profitable than labor-intensive ones, yet in reality, profit rates tend to equalize across sectors regardless of their labor composition.