There is nothing novel about change. The reality is that the only certainty is change. Some recent changes have created an atmosphere in which a worldwide war is the more likely to develop or, conversely, out of which the prospect for a better world order is being generated.

It is sometimes difficult to realize that a number of wars have actually taken place since World War II. Recently a magazine compiled a list of forty. Even then it excluded some border differences which might have been listed as wars. Not all of these were large-scale wars, but the number of serious conflicts remains impressive. These wars took place when it is generally accepted that an uneasy peace exists. Most of these, in a different era, could have precipitated a worldwide conflict. Why not since 1945?