Antonio Gramsci wrote that “The old world is dying, and the new world is struggling to be born. This is a time of monsters.” With the tectonic geopolitical shifts accompanying the end of the Post-Cold War era, great power struggles for primacy and regional spheres of influence have followed, including NATO expansion, the calamitous Ukraine War, the collapse of the nuclear arms control regime, and uncertainties over European security and its future. With references to history, Joseph will dissect recent developments and outline a Common Security path beyond the current U.S.-Russian military and nuclear confrontations.

Joseph Gerson is President of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security and Co-President of the International Peace Bureau. A long-time activist scholar, he helped to launch the Nuclear Weapons Freeze movement of the 1980s, was a member of the Nihon Hidankyo Nobel Peace Prize delegation, and has participated in a confidential U.S.-Russian-European track II process since before Moscow invaded Ukraine.