Rachel Pittman serves as Executive Director of the United Nations Association of the USA (UNA-USA), a grassroots movement of more than 20,000 Americans in over 200 chapters across the U.S. who are dedicated to supporting the work of the United Nations in communities, on campuses, and on Capitol Hill.  Prior to joining UNA-USA, Rachel served on multiple leadership teams for several professional associations that represented lawyers, surgeons, regulators and engineers.  UNA-USA helps Americans develop a broader understanding of the United Nations. Not only does the UN Security Council strive to reduce dangerous conflicts, but there is a larger humanitarian operation that is absolutely critical such as working with over 80-million refugees, teaming with Rotary International to eliminate the scourge of polio and a myriad of other programs confronting climate change, hunger, poverty and empowering women. Other programs include assisting with the movement of aircraft, ships, mail and weather information in international space.

David Swanson, author, activist, journalist, and radio host, is executive director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. His latest book is: “NATO: What You Need to Know.” NATO, which is approaching its 75th Anniversary, is not the UN or a stand-alone nation. Swanson suggest that NATO  not pursue destructive arms races, an irrational fear of Russia and a democratic military force to abide by international treaties, work with the UN, reduce the arms race, and promote international understanding.    In the Israeli-Hamasa War, it is critical to stop providing unlimited numbers of weapons by the US and other participants.  The recent Biden proposal, which has been rejected by Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, will be futile until the flow of weapons is halted. The military-industrial-academic-Congressional-media complex is completely out of control and has taken over US society. Over $2 trillion is spent on the arms race internationally.

Professor Thomas Just serves as an Assistant Teaching Professor within the Future Security Initiative at Arizona State University. Professor Just served as Assistant to the Director of African and Middle Eastern Affairs within Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and is the author of “Combating Antisemitism in Germany and Poland: Strategies Since 1990.” Antisemitism is often defined as hostile acts against Jews based on religious, political, economic, and racial grounds. Two major programs to reduce antisemitism in Poland and Germany are through legal measures and public diplomacy. It is illegal in both countries to deny that the Holocaust existed. Conspiracy theories related to the Covid-19 pandemic have contributed to antisemitism in the USA. Unfortunately, social media outlets were critical to disseminating misinformation about Jews. Jewish people cannot be blamed for Netanyahu’s disastrous policies in Gaza, and a person is able to be pro- Palestinian, pro-Israeli and anti-Netanyahu’s’ prosecution of the war.

Charles Moxley is the principal of Moxley ADR, a law firm specializing in arbitration and mediation. He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Fordham Law School. His recent treatise on “Nuclear Weapons and International Law” highlights the major challenges with nuclear weapons. The UN’s Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty has kept the numbers down somewhat; however, some countries are looking at upgrading their aging nuclear stockpiles that will cost trillions of dollars. Years ago the US spent $150 million per day on maintaining the aging nuclear stockpile. 90% of the 13,000 nukes today are held by Russia and the USA. Media, educational system, and Members of Congress must be educated regarding the potential threat. Several Congresspeople and politicians put out misinformation that we could do a limited nuclear exchange. As an example, former president Donald Trump cavalierly said he would destroy North Korea with nuclear weapons, which displays his ignorance of the issue.

Paula Caballero is the Regional Managing Director for Latin America at The Nature Conservancy. Previously, Paula Caballero was Senior Director of the World Bank Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice, and she was the creator of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Her recent book is “Redefining Development: The Extraordinary Genesis of the Sustainable Development Goals.” Colombia created the concept of the SDGs which were adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015. The SDG concept was geared to a universal agenda because all countries have development issues and there are common global problems, such as climate and migration, that needed to be confronted. The SDGs were laudable in that the emphasis was to eradicate poverty, eliminate hunger, empower women and girls, combat climate change, and 13 additional goals. The corporate sector was very supportive because the SDGs were concrete proposals to confront problems from a macro-standpoint with systemic solutions.

Dr. Winston Langley is Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science and International Relations and Senior Fellow at McCormack Graduate School for Policy & Global Studies. He has written widely on the United Nations, disarmament, human rights and women’s rights in the US. His recent book is “Abolishing War.” A major problem is that we have a “Culture of War” that glorifies war and makes heroes of its participants; the Military, Industrial, Media, Academic Complex justify militarization and the media is complicit because they want to please advertisers, many of whom have a direct financial or political interest in launching a war. The UN could play a major role in abolishing war, but there must be some changes: UN Secretary-General would have a seven-year term, the World Court would accept charges by individuals; UN would establish a Court of Humans Rights; and, Security Council is expanded to include other key countries.

Dr. Margaret P. (Peggy) Karns is a Senior Fellow in the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security and Global Governance at the University of Massachusetts Boston and Professor Emerita of Political Science at the University of Dayton. She is coauthor of “International Organizations: The Politics and Processes of Global Governance (4th ed., 2024)” and “The United Nations in the 21st Century (6th ed., 2022).” She lived and taught in both China and Vietnam in the 1990s. Global Governance is not a one-world government, but it is a way to bring together the norms and institutions to recognize, understand and deal with the major challenges confronting them. The UN is the epicenter, while the states, other intergovernmental organizations, non-state actors/NGOS, are critically involved. The UN is a complex system that works to confront problems, such as climate crisis, wars, humanitarian relief, diseases, as well as helping move ships, aircraft, mail and weather information safely worldwide.

Kathleen Mogelgaard is President and CEO of the Population Institute, where she directs the organization’s advocacy and public education activities.  Population Institute advocates for gender equality and universal access to sexual and reproductive health services to improve lives, promote human rights, save the planet, and build a better tomorrow. In 2022, the world’s population surpassed 8 billion people, and according to demographers at the United Nations, global population may add another 2.4 billion before leveling off toward the end of this century. The Population Bomb, a 1968 book co-authored by Paul R. Ehrlich, predicted worldwide famines due to overpopulation, as well as other major societal upheavals, and advocated immediate action to limit population growth. A counterpart organization with the Population Institute is the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the global sexual and reproductive health agency that strives for a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.

Peter Yeo, President of the Better World Campaign and Senior Vice President at the United Nations Foundation, leads the Foundation’s strategic engagement with the U.S. Congress and Administrations to advance policy changes that support the UN’s work for global progress. Although there are many myths about the UN, recent polling shows that 52% of Americans have a favorability rating of the UN. The UN affects all inhabitants of the planet with its valuable programs to assist refugees, combat climate change, provide humanitarians assistance, control diseases, and help move aircraft, ships, mail and weather information in international space. When the UN Security Council was paralyzed re: Ukraine, several UN agencies worked on the front lines to provide food, medicines and other humanitarian needs. The UN is striving to improve its coordination, transparency and accountability to be more effective and efficient. If the UN did not exist, we would have to create it tomorrow. 

Laura Hagg, Director for Capacity Building and Governance with the International City County Management Association (ICMA), has a career of more than 30 years of experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors in the United States and internationally in the fields of local governance, economic development, public outreach, communications, and strategic policy efforts. Technical assistance programs are mutually beneficial to the US and the host country. Previously she worked in 16 cities in Ukraine to develop investment videos and encourage foreign investments. Given the massive amount of misinformation and disinformation, one of the greatest challenges is the anti-democratic phenomenon and the attacks on the Rule of Law, free speech and democratic elections, as opposed to an autocratic state that represses these freedoms. The media and educational systems have a responsibility to inform the public as to the opportunities of technical assistance programs, as well as beneficial organizations such as the United Nations.

Norman Solomon, American journalist, media critic, author and activist, discusses his latest book, “War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine.”  Mr. Solomon was actively involved in launching RootsAction and the Institute for Public Accuracy. His main contention is that the governments and media inundate the public with unrealistic and false propaganda regarding the horrific nature and devastation of wars. Examples include President Bush’s illegal invasion of Iraq, as well as the terrible situations in Ukraine and the Israeli-Hamas war. Often, news media encourage the public to choose up sides, blindly accept the misinformation and ignore the diplomatic option to promote peace.  To end these conflicts, the US should re-prioritize its support of Ukraine and Israel and abide by the Leahy Amendment. If the public learns about the horrors of war, we will exert more influence upon the media and policymakers, as well as have a better-informed public.

Dr. Dale C. Copeland is a professor of international relations with a focus on trade, war and economic interdependence. His recent book is “A World Safe for Commerce: American Foreign Policy from the Revolution to the Rise of China.” He discusses how trade dynamics have influenced America's approach to peace and conflict throughout history. By focusing on the current geopolitical landscape, particularly with regards to China, he reflects the historical tensions and opportunities of centuries of international trade and commerce. A major challenge is the delicate balance between expanding influence for resource access and avoiding trade disruptions that could lead to armed conflict. One suggestion is to improve the overall trade expectations as a means to foster long-term peace and stability between nations, as well as comprehending interactions of globalization. Throughout history, many countries have shifted from peaceful policies to coercion and force in the pursuit of trade interests.

Dr. Peter Layton is a Visiting Fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane Australia; a Royal United Services Institute Associate Fellow; London and a Fellow of the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group Canberra. He has extensive aviation and defense experience. His research interests include grand strategy, national security policies particularly relating to middle powers, defence force structure concepts and the impacts of emerging technology. He is the author of the book “Grand Strategy” and co-author of “Warfare in the Robotic Age.” Advances in robotics are profoundly reshaping the world but so are any other things and not all of them are technological. The character of warfare will be different in the robotic age but the nature of warfare remains Clausewitzian, that is war is waged for political objectives. Robots may be considered as machines able to perform four basic tasks: sense, think, act and communicate.

Jonathan Granoff, president of the Global Security Institute, highlights the need to focus on the Rule of Law rather than Rule of War. The United Nations, although it is not perfect, is the only international organization that brings together countries of the world to deal with nuclear proliferation, climate change, human trafficking, poverty, hunger, empowering women, and scores of other challenges. Currently, there are about 13,000 nukes controlled by 9-nuclar power states. Many countries are moving to expend trillions of dollars to modernize their nuclear stockpiles, which will add to the proliferation . Given that the US and Russia have withdrawn from several major international treaties, this creates an even more dangerous world. The danger is even more severe when the Russian president denies the sovereignty of Ukraine and the former U.S. president basically ignored or violated international laws and treaties. There is a lack of trust among the nations.

John Feffer, author of Splinterlands and current director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, summarizes how Donald Trump pursued illiberal internationalism versus liberal internationalism of Joe Biden. Trump was semi-isolationist, cavorted with authoritarian leaders, and wanted to militarize the border between the US and Mexico. Biden’s emphasis was to engage the US in the world through involvement in the UN, WTO and other multilateral institutions. The Israeli-Hamas War has resulted in over 30,000 deaths and reduced most of Gaza to rubble. Biden has pushed for a two-state solution, working with Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. It was alleged that 13 of the 13,000 employees of UNRWA collaborated with Hamas, which has prompted an automatic reaction of the US and some other funders to withdraw their financial support. On another front, Republican Speaker of the House Johnson has refused to bring up a bill funding assistance to Ukraine.

Dr. Augusto Lopez-Claros, Executive Director of the Global Governance Forum, highlights his recent book,, “Global Governance and the Emergence of Global Institutions for the 21st Century.” Global institutions, such as the United Nations, confront the world’s major problems, such as climate change, Israeli-Hamas War, Russian invasion of Ukraine, attacks on democracies, and nuclear proliferation. The United Nations has been the epicenter of confronting on these problems. Unfortunately, many national goals are not in conformance with international goals. Also, there is an unraveling of the nuclear arms treaties over the last 30-years. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for the “Summit of the Future Conference” in September to deal with many of these problems. To be more successful, the UN must begin to reform the institution, especially the Security Council, as well as to discuss overhauling the UN Charter. The main challenges are to protect democracy in the UN and worldwide and have a more carbon-free lifestyle.

David Betz is Professor of War in the Modern World in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, and is a Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Centre. His most recent book is “The Guarded Age: Fortification in the 21st Century.” A fortification can be defined as a piece of militarized architecture that focuses an enemy into doing something they normally would not do. Major examples of this might include the Great Wall of China and the border wall between Mexico and the USA. A wall can slow down a foe, but it will not stop individuals unless the wall is secured through another form, such as by human surveillance, drones, or cameras. If not guarded, the barrier will not be very effective. The Iron Curtain was a barrier designed to keep people from moving from the East to the West. Sophisticated surveillance can make physical walls more unnecessary.

Dr. Robert Farley has taught security and diplomacy courses at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce at the University of Kentucky since 2005. Dr. Farley is the author of Grounded: The Case for Abolishing the United States Air Force and Patents for Power: Intellectual Property Law and the Diffusion of Military Technology.

The Ukraine and Gaza conflicts are two of most intractable problems confronting leaders of the world today. The Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, ignited primarily due to the massacre by Hamas of mostly Israelis on October 7 has posed a major quandary for President Biden, given he is juggling U.S. support of Israel but still trying to moderate the Israeli military response, which has been criticized internationally as disproportionate. A small but vocal group of Republicans in the US Congress has temporarily derailed funding for Ukraine, which directly benefits Putin, and indirectly assists China and North Korea.

Kris Kimel is the Founder of Humanity in Deep Space, an initiative exploring the challenges and hard problems facing humans as we transition to deep spacefaring species. He is the Co-founder of the commercial space company Space Tango. His major focus is how humans can do deep space exploration physically, safely, and ethically. Legal, ethical and physiological concerns are some of the most challenging. Today, the United Nations’ 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which was the foundation of the discussions, was a far-reaching concept by UN member states to provide the framework as how we can explore and develop outer space, but to do so peacefully, safely and sustainably. Key questions: Who can own parts of outer space? How can outer space be utilized without militarizing it with nuclear weapons? How can we keep our humanity? The United Nations and UNESCO have some of the best research information on outer space.

Ward Wilson, founder and executive director of RealistRevolt, is widely acknowledged as one of the leading sources of innovative pragmatic arguments against nuclear weapons. The title of his recent book is “It Is Possible: A Future Without Nuclear Weapons.” Nuclear weapons, of which there are about 13,000, are some of the most devastating threats on Earth. The nine nuclear countries are: the USA, Russia, China, UK, France, North Korea, Israel, India and Pakistan. The main thrust of his book is that while damage and destruction of nukes is real, their utility and importance have been exaggerated. The United Nations has been in the forefront in promoting treaties, such as the Non-Proliferation Treaty, to limit or eliminate nuclear weapons. Izumi Nakamitsu, Under-Secretary General of UN Disarmament Affairs, leads the effort to forestall a new nuclear arms race. In 2017, the UN began a process on a treaty for the prohibition of nukes.