Education is, quite simply, peace-building by another name. It is the most effective form of defense spending there is.

We need to ensure the poorest in the planet - who will be hardest hit by the financial crisis - are not forgotten.

After the end of the cold war, everybody thought, fantastic, finally the UN may be able to do what it was originally set up to do without big power divisions. It would be easy to get them to come together to resolve things. You will recall, on the first Gulf war, you almost got a unanimous resolution and a very solid coalition.

It may seem sometimes as if a culture of peace does not stand a chance against the culture of war, the culture of violence and the cultures of impunity and intolerance. Peace may indeed be a complex challenge, dependent on action in many fields and even a bit of luck from time to time. It may be a painfully slow process, and fragile and imperfect when it is achieved. But peace is in our hands. We can do it.

We can love what we are, without hating what, and who, we are not.

Poverty devastates families, communities and nations. It causes instability and political unrest and fuels conflict.

I observe a lot. I see a lot around me.