The answer is simple…

The world seems to be going through another phase of global political instability. We are having to be deeply concerned again about nuclear proliferation, and clearly the United Nations does not have enough power or authority to actually apply a solution to the problem. Unfortunately, it only takes one country which does not respect the others sufficiently, or one country which gambles unsuccessfully, to push things over the edge.

At the present time, some countries are building up their nuclear capacity. Other countries are claiming sovereignty over groups of tiny, uninhabited islands, way out at sea. There have been countries annexing territory from their neighbours; countries building up naval forces in the trouble zones; and countries installing new missile and anti-missile systems. Most worrying of all these problems is that once again we have a country which does not see the need to respect the decisions of the United Nations, and in which paranoia about its perceived enemies is the sole yardstick for its actions. Against this are other countries which see their power and hegemony as under threat. Long-range missiles are tested, and loaded bombers are patrolling the skies. Is this simply the recipe for another world war?

But there is a solution. This year is the Bicentenary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh, who proposed to the rulers of His time a universal peace conference: “The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realised. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of the world's Great Peace amongst men.” Bahá’u’lláh said that the goals of this conference should include: the settling of all the remaining boundary disputes; the creation of a permanent world peace treaty; and agreeing acceptable levels of armaments for keeping order inside each country. Part of this agreement would be the essential goal of setting up a mechanism for removing any rogue government which later breaks the treaty. For instance, if the government of any country starts to exceeds the level of armaments agreed by the entire world, then the world should arise to remove that government before it causes disaster. Likewise, if one country invades another: in Bahá’u’lláh’s words: “Should any king take up arms against another, all should unitedly arise and prevent him.”

Would the countries of the world participate in such a conference? Yes, of course they would. Every one of the countries involved in one of the trouble spots sees its enemies as the threat, and as the cause of the trouble. They would not dare be left out, and deprive themselves of the chance to put their case, and argue their corner. Since Bahá’u’lláh first suggested it, this idea of a world peace conference has been repeatedly put forward to the leaders of the world, particularly to the United Nations Organisation, and in the current crisis it seems that it should be implemented as a matter of urgency…