Will War Come Within Ten Years?

If the United Nations Organization cannot prevent the outbreak of war, will war come within ten years?

Dr. Philip Hitti

No, no, and again no. That is because the intellectual and emotional currents in the entire civilized world in these days have been, and still are, directed toward peaceful aims. Practical activity in Europe, America, and Asia has been and still is devoted to realizing these aims. The greatest proof of this is the birth and the origin of the organization called the United Nations. No weight should be given to the few black clouds that hang over the Russian–Anglo-Saxon atmosphere; it is plain that if there is any possibility of a war occurring, it would be between these two camps. And both of them, by the evidence of present indications, are unprepared, mentally or practically, to fling themselves into the fray of a new war that might well be the end of the present civilization, if not of the human family.

Mrs. Rose Shahfa

No third world war will break out within ten years, and for these reasons:

First — because the peoples have not forgotten, and will not forget within that time, the woes and horrors they have tasted, nor will they manage to restore their countries to what they were before; and this keeps them far from repeating the attempt.

Second — because the present excess of armament and conscription makes the states fear one another, so that none will throw itself into straits where it fears its strength may not suffice for victory.

Third — for fear of the atomic bomb.

Fourth — the victor in the last war is concerned to remain the victor, and the vanquished fears another tug of the rope.

Fifth — because woman does not want a third war, and what woman wants, God and the world want; and she will strive to spread this idea among her children and the rising generation and in the congresses, for all the grievous consequences of wars fall upon her shoulders — as mother, wife, and sister.

Mr. Subhi al-Mahmasani

The answer to this delicate question calls for one who knows the unseen, or a seasoned politician. Even so, I answer that I incline to optimism, and I do not believe a third world war will break out within ten years, for the following reasons:

First — the world today is in a period of convalescence and reconstruction that does not allow it the material preparation needed to wage a great world war.

Second — the atomic bomb is in the hands of states renowned for upholding democracy, or at least for shrinking from bearing the responsibility of kindling a war of aggression that might bring about the extinction of civilization.

Third — the impossibility of the bomb's manufacture becoming general within this period.

Fourth — the activity of the United Nations Organization and the growth of the idea of international solidarity, which has begun to command the attention of many men of politics and thought in the world.