Elizabeth Graham had a Top-Secret CIA security clearance at the age of 16. She worked for an international corporation for 12 years, began to travel to the Soviet Union, and then became one of the very few Americans to move to Russia. She lived under Communism in the Soviet Union, then Russia, and Central Asia. Her most recent book, “From Democracy to Democrazy: A Warning to all Americans” reads like a cross between a John Grisham novel and the movie The Manchurian Candidate. She contends that Vladimir Putin hates America and is striving to weaken it as much as possible, utilizing tools, such as racism, violence, insurrection, cyberattacks, inflation, isolationism and possibly receiving help from Donald Trump. If Trump secures the presidency, he has threatened to dismantle NATO, the US’s administrative state, abolish the Constitution, install political hacks throughout the government, ignore legal governmental decisions, quash media outlets, imprison his political opponents and install a presidential dictatorship.

Kevin Cassidy, Director and Representative to the Bretton Woods and Multilateral Organizations of the United Nations International Labour Organization Office in Washington, DC, highlights the main goals of the ILO in advancing social justice and promoting decent work that was adopted as the social justice definition from the Declaration of Philadelphia Convention which declared that “all human beings, irrespective of race, creed or sex, have the right to pursue both their material well-being and their spiritual development in conditions of freedom and dignity, of economic security and equal opportunity.” ILO has four priority action programs: a transition from the informal to formal economy; a just transition towards an environmental and sustainable society; decent work outcomes in global supply chains; and decent work in crisis and post-crisis situations. Historically the ILO has largely focused its technical work on developing countries and emerging economies, however, it does engage in activities in developed economies.

Dr. Gregory O. Hall, Associate Professor, Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY., USA discusses his recent book: “Examining US-China-Russia Foreign Relations: Great Power Politics in a Post-Obama Era.” He proffers that, although the Russian military has been grossly overrated, the post-Soviet Russia is still a "great power." primarily because of its nuclear missiles and the fact it is one of the 5-Permanent Members, along with the US, UK, France and China, of the UN Security Council with the potential to veto any binding resolutions. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken are calling for a détente between the West and China, to avoid a misunderstanding and possible military conflict. From a positive standpoint, the US has re-joined WHO, the Paris Climate Accord and UNESCO, is repaying arrears at the UN and is working to renew the Iranian Nuclear Deal.

Dr. Frank Costigliola is a Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Connecticut. His most recent book is, “Kennan: A Life Between Worlds.” Although the 1940s were a period of optimism due to the end of WW2, creation of the United Nations and a commitment to re-building Europe and key Asian countries, storm clouds were looming with the advent of the Cold War. Kennan offered a third way to “contain” the former USSR. His "Long Telegram" to the State Department in 1946 and his article under the pseudonym "X," which was published in "Foreign Affairs" in 1947 laid out his “containment” approach. Kennan was opposed to the wars in Vietnam and Iraq and NATO expansion because they were counterproductive to American interests. Another ally over the years has been the United Nations by defusing tensions such as during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Claire Marie Regan, the 106th president of the Society of Professional Journalists (2022-2023), has more than 30 years of newsroom experience. She is the recently retired managing editor of her hometown paper the Staten Island Advance, New York, USA. The Society of Professional Journalists helps its members in a variety of areas, such as combatting attacks on democracy, promoting freedom of the press, defending against intimidation of journalists, encouraging DEI (Diversity, Equality and Inclusion), sharpening skill development for journalists, recruiting students from HBCUs and promoting the SPJ Code of Ethics. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been a paladin in defending freedom of the press worldwide. In general, journalism can be strengthened by inculcating the SPJ Code of Ethics and combatting misinformation, disinformation and lies, which are often disseminated by a variety of faux news outlets. SPJ has an online International Community that focuses on international issues.

William Shields, Executive Director for the American Society for Public Administration, explains how ASPA is the organization that brings together the academic scholarship and the front-line practitioners in all fields of public service. Public administration transcends international boundaries since Best Practices can be shared. ASPA has memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with counterparts in South Africa, France, Australia and the United Nations. A joint topic for several years has been the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The UN is an extension of public administrators in the international arena to combat diseases, battle climate change, provide public security and move aircraft, ships, mail and weather information worldwide. Nonpartisan public administrators are under attack for carrying out their jobs to provide services for the public good. “Meeting the Challenges on International Engagement” is an ASPA report that focuses on the notion of how international engagement is extremely important to bring together a broad section of public administration professionals to collaborate, coordinate and share information.

Paula DiPerna, author of “Pricing the Priceless: The Financial Transformation to Value the Planet, Solve the Climate Crisis, and Protect Our Most Precious Assets,” posits that we need to value the atmosphere, forests, oceans, natural resources and nature. The Forest Resilience Bond quantifies the economic benefits of a forest to all of the beneficiaries. Many groups have contributed to the discussion of climate change; however, the United Nations has been the critical player in promoting Sustainable Development so that humans could use the resources but not destroy them for future generations. For over 40-years, the UN has convened the countries of the world to confront these problems. To be successful, policymakers must utilize science, policy and capital. Although some media outlets deny the climate crisis, the legitimate media must play a more proactive role to inform the public about the environmental crisis. Clean energy will produce millions of new sustainable, high-paying jobs and create a cleaner, healthier environment.

Dr. Bob Flax, a psychologist, organization development consultant, educator and activist, is the former Executive Director of Citizens for Global Solutions, and an Advisor to The World Federalist Movement (WFM) - Institute for Global Policy. The WFM was founded in 1947 with the goal of creating a world federation to achieve world peace, human rights and preserve the environment. Three areas of interest were UN Reform, build global institutions and that world unity was necessary to deal with issues such as climate change, human trafficking or violations of human rights. This global institution would be more structured, have more authority and utilize binding international law as opposed to the loose amalgamation of current treaties and other international agreements. Today, the UN has a voluntary membership of 193 member states or countries that maintain their sovereignty. The WFM is an organization that advocates for a democratic world government of a world federalist system by expanding international organizations and moving towards a unified system of governance.

Craig Mokhiber, Director of the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights in New York, details how when the UN was established in 1945, the main goals were to eliminate the scourge of war, promote economic and social development and enhance human rights worldwide. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) defines the myriad of human rights and was adopted on December 10, 1948.  It included all political, cultural, economic, social and civil rights.  Eleanor Roosevelt, the US Constitution, the French Rights of Man and FDR’s Four Freedoms played a key role in developing the UDHR.  To guarantee that there is balance and impartiality in evaluating a country’s human rights progress, periodically all 193 countries in the UN participate the Universal Periodic Review which is an evaluation of their human rights record. Human rights are under pressure in many areas around the world, including in the US with attacks on democratic institutions. No country has a perfect human rights record.

Johanna Chao Kreilick is the president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a 501 c 3 scientific advocacy nonprofit based in the United States. She has represented the organization in lobbying Congress and business leaders to address climate change, attacks on democratic institutions and the threat of nuclear war. Regarding the number 1 challenge, climate change, the UN conferences and the UN IPCC have spearheaded the attack to combat this crisis. The UN is an important multinational organization that brings the countries of the world together to develop reports and products used by many expert agencies. The UN Paris Climate Accord is critical in challenging the world to hold to 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming. One reason that the US has been so successful as a world leader is due to its democratic institutions that have recently been under siege, especially since the January 6 insurrection to overthrow a free, fair and democratic election.   

Brenden Varma has served as a United Nations spokesperson and political affairs officer for over 20 years in New York, Baghdad, Jerusalem, Mogadishu and Pristina. He currently serves as the Deputy Director of the UN Information Center in Washington, DC. The UN Information Center works to inform, educate and update a wide range of groups, such as environmentalists, governmental agencies, businesses, DC based international institutions and the public. Public Opinion Polls over the decades show that Americans normally support the UN, depending on the issue, from 38%-84%. UN agencies assist in moving aircraft, mail, ships and weather information in international space, as well as working with Rotary International to eliminate the scourge of polio, assisting Ukrainians, empowering women, combatting climate change and human trafficking and promoting human rights. The UN’s budget is smaller than that of the New York Police Department’s.  All 8 billion people on the planet are positively affected daily by a myriad of UN agencies.

Jerry Glenn is a futurist who serves as the executive director of the Millennium Project.  He authors an annual publication, “State of the Future.” Previously, he was the executive director of the American Council for the United Nations University and the deputy director of Partnership for Productivity International. He was a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi. The Millennium Project is a global participatory think tank in 71 countries, called nodes, which identify major global and local issues. Most participants are from UN agencies, governments, NGOs, and an admixture of others. A few of the 15 Global Challenges include achieving sustainable development and balance climate change; provide clean water without conflict; preserve democracies against authoritarian regimes; empower women and girls; and productively utilize artificial intelligence (AI). Given the potential danger of AI, the UN Summit on the Future should include discussions for a UN Treaty on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)– not the current narrow AI definition.

Chuck Collins is the Director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, where he co-edits Inequality.org.

His 2021 book is titled, The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Spend Millions to Hide Trillions. His newest book is a novel, Altar to an Erupting Sun, which is a near-future story of one community facing climate disruption in the critical decade ahead. The protagonist, Rae, lays the primary responsibility on the doorstep of a small number of powerful people in the fossil fuel industries that have actively blocked meaningful responses.    Another related study to climate change and income inequality shows that private jet travel of the ultra-wealthy adds to the harmful emissions that contribute to global warming and the taxpayers are subsidizing that industry for many wealthy people who do not need financial assistance. A corollary of the jet subsidy study and the novel is that the income inequality gap is growing dramatically. For example, Over the past 50 years, the highest-earning 20% of U.S. households have steadily brought in a larger share of the country’s total income.  One percent owns 44% of the world’s wealth. Income inequality in the U.S. is the highest of all the G7 and OECD nations, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Many of the following actions help create greater income inequality: deregulation, decline of labor unions, AI and automation, PACs and dark money donated to politicians, subsidies to industries such as fossil fuels and offshore tax havens.

Steve Schlesinger, author of "Act of Creation: Founding of the United Nations," highlights how the UN has expanded to deal with problems such as diseases, regional conflicts, as well as moving aircraft, ships, mail and weather information worldwide. Since creating the UN, there has not been a WW3; although there were volatile conflicts such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, potential Cold War miscalculations and a weakening of the multilateral security system. Although it is an imperfect organization, the UN is critically necessary. If the UN did not exist today, it would have to be created tomorrow. The UN Security Council has been partially paralyzed; however, many UN agencies have been working on the ground to assist the Ukrainians, such as through the World Food Program, UNICEF, IAEA, UN Refugee Agency and the World Health Organization. The UN is not a one-world government, has no troops and is unable to tax to fund itself, yet its moral standing has an immense impact on promoting world peace and development.

Kerri Murray serves as President of the global disaster relief nonprofit, ShelterBox USA. Since 2000, ShelterBox has provided shelter and life-saving items to more than 2.5M displaced people following more than 300 disasters in nearly 100 countries. ShelterBox has responded to earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, hurricanes, cyclones, tsunamis, or conflict situations. It collaborates with local partners and individuals such as Rotary Clubs and United Nations agencies, to customize each response, which can include disaster relief tents, tarps, blankets, cook sets, water filtration systems, emergency lighting, stoves, and other tools for survival. ShelterBox is the official project partner of Rotary International in disaster relief. ShelterBox was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 and 2019 for its humanitarian work in the world’s worst conflict situations.  ShelterBox also currently has programs in Pakistan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. ShelterBox was founded in 2000 by a Rotary Club in Cornwall, England.

Mark Oettinger, Attorney and World Court of Human Rights Design Team Leader, discusses the concept of the World Court of Human Rights (WCHR). The concept was launched in 1947 when the UN was temporarily in Paris and was debating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which passed on December 10, 1948. The UDHR is often viewed as the “Constitution for the World,” having drawn upon concepts from the American “US Constitution” and the French “Rights of Man,” WCHR is viewed as the third leg of the Supranational Courts: ICC, ICJ and WCHR. The International Criminal Court, or ICC, was established by the UN, is not part of the UN System today and pursues criminal prosecution procedures against world leaders who have been charged with committing genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity It is intended to punish. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), one of the six organs of the UN, is a civil court which resolves disputes between and among nations when boundaries or treaties are contested, e.g., fishing rights between the US and Canada.  WCHR’s major purpose is to intercede when major violations of human rights occur, e.g., Russians in Ukraine, Rohingyas in Myanmar, or Uyghurs in China.  Funding for the WCHR is based on the percentage of wealth of an individual state, much as the funding arrangement at the UN today. Discussions are incubating at the UN as to how the WCHR would interact with the UN Human Rights Council, UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council.

Dr. Jack Sim, founder of the World Toilet Organization, is a leader in highlighting this sanitation issue. Generally, humans use the toilet 6 to 8 times a day, however, over 2 billion people of the Earth’s 8 billion population do not have access to safe or sufficient toilet facilities and openly defecate. Two million people die each year from diarrhea. Dr. Sim has collaborated with a wide range of professionals to shine the spotlight on this, at times, sensitive topic by working with Bill Gates, Rotary International and several United Nations agencies. The UN has declared November 19 as World Toilet Day. Goal number 6, of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals, has six outcome targets that include: Safe and affordable drinking water; end open defecation and provide access to sanitation, and hygiene, improve water quality, wastewater treatment and safe reuse, increase water-use efficiency and ensure freshwater supplies, implement IWRM, protect and restore water-related ecosystems.  

Steve Killelea, an Australian national, is the Founder and Executive Chairman of the Charitable Foundation and the Institute for Economics and Peace. He had a successful career as an IT innovator and global philanthropist.  In the pursuit of peace, he launched the Institute for Economics and Peace and the Global Terrorism Index. He has worked closely with Rotary International and the United Nations, two of the premier organizations striving for a more prosperous, equitable and peaceful world.  He maintains that peace is a hard-to-describe transformational concept that can be defined simply as an absence of violence and fear of violence. The economic cost of violence to GDPs around the world is estimated to be in the tens of trillions of dollars.

Examples of the most peaceful countries would include Iceland, some of the Nordic countries and New Zealand. The USA and China are ranked in the mid-range, whereas some of the most violent are Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

Jared Yates Sexton is an author whose recent book is: "THE MIDNIGHT KINGDOM: A History of Power, Paranoia, and the Coming Crisis.” Mr. Sexton is also the host of The Muckrake podcast. The “Midnight Kingdom” starts very early in Western history and delineates how anti-democratic forces blossom and perpetuate lies, myths and rhetoric that protect entrenched power in the West. One major concern is the growing extremism of America’s right-wing and anti-liberal democracy movements, as recently exemplified by the violent January 6, 2021 insurrection that allegedly was invited, incited and partially coordinated by Donald Trump. The cycle of “protecting Western civilization” has continued throughout history and is maintained through oppression by white supremacy and patriarchal control. Additional fuel to exacerbate the problem is provided by extremist so-called news outlets, such as Fox, Newsmax and OAN that are pushing misinformation about the bogus threats of Critical Race Theory and WOKE issues, which are actually benign and non-threatening.