It seems that war is down. How about that? And on President Bush’s watch, too.
The chilling sights and sounds of war fill newspapers and television screens worldwide, but war itself is in decline, peace researchers report
In fact, the number killed in battle has fallen to its lowest point in the post-World War II period, dipping below 20,000 a year by one measure. Peacemaking missions, meantime, are growing in number.
The authoritative Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in a 2004 Yearbook report obtained by The Associated Press in advance of publication, says 19 major armed conflicts were under way worldwide in 2003, a sharp drop from 33 wars counted in 1991.
The Canadian organization Project Ploughshares, using broader criteria to define armed conflict, says in its new annual report that the number of conflicts declined to 36 in 2003, from a peak of 44 in 1995.
So peace is breaking out. Well, not really, but it is down. Good news.
“Not only are the numbers declining, but the intensity” — the bloodshed in each conflict — “is declining,” said Marshall, founder of a University of Maryland program studying political violence.
I would like to see that treand continue.
