Aug. 16—In his opening address to the Tenth Moscow Conference on International Security, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the end of the unipolar world order led by the US and its replacement by a multipolar order based on international law and just relations among nations. “The situation in the world is changing dynamically and the outlines of a multipolar world order are taking shape,” Putin said, reported the Kremlin transcript. “An increasing number of countries and peoples are choosing a path of free and sovereign development based on their own distinct identity, traditions and values.”

Aug. 16—Long missing from world affairs has been the simple exercise of the uniquely human talent for dialogue, for thinking and making social the thought process. Recently, the Schiller Institute conferences have served as a model and a rallying point, showing the world that, aside from the unique content of actual solutions to strategic crises, the art of actual dialogue is possible. Further, it appears to be the unique ingredient to dislodge the world from a march to a thermonuclear end.

Even as the TransAtlantic world continues to plunge into a New Dark Age, there are unmistakable signs of a transition underway to a better, more just era.