To all of you – a healthy, flourishing, and meaningful 2026!
To the world – I am less sure where to begin, since 2025 was, politically and morally speaking, one of the worst years since long. Let’s hope for peace, definitely. Responsible leaders with sound morals. Positive tipping points in climate action. A decline of all that crypto/post/neo/full-blown fascist crap that spread like a virus in 2025 (and before – but it seems to have accelerated in 2025). And therefore, I hope that many more people will become more like (a good chunk of) the commentariat of this blog – progressive, politically well-informed, and also asking perhaps the most urgent question at this point in history: what should we do? And what does the answer to that question imply for what I should do?
More and more of my friends are explicitly asking that question, but we are often unsure of the answer. Although I have some thoughts (in fact, I’m hoping to write a book on it), it is not self-evident. But it helps to not think about this question by oneself, but to raise and discuss it with friends, in organisations, and online. And if the answers seem overwhelming, I find that a one-hour walk with a dear person in the fields and the woods does wonders.
Also – I’m glad you are still reading us (and joining the discussions) after all these years, thanks.
{ 7 comments }
D. S. Battistoli 01.02.26 at 1:46 am
Thank you, Ingrid. What a wonderful new year’s wish. An hourlong walk in the woods with its crooked timber does us all well as we emerge into this uncertain world.
KT2 01.03.26 at 10:23 pm
Ingid, a worthy hope… “Let’s hope for peace, definitely.”
Yet it seems after last night’s illegal unilateral aggression, war will outlast capitalism.
IR asks, “what should we do? And what does the answer to that question imply for what I should do?”
It seems like a second best option and a facile suggestion, yet a goal is to… “create conditions that make war less likely, and the instruments for preventing, limiting, and resolving war more capable.”.
Goal quote above from;
“Is world peace even possible? I study war and peace and here’s where I’d start”
Published: January 2, 2026
Alex Bellamy, The University of Queensland
…
War is a choice
“The idea that humans are naturally warlike is as facile as the claim that we are naturally peaceful. Anthropologists and biologists have demonstrated we are both.
“War is a social practice and like any social practice, is caused by human decisions.
Humans have agency and choice. Certainly, social structures, political ideas and economic pressures influence choices, but they do not determine them.
“This is not to say that “war is over, if we want it”.
“War occurs because people have serious disagreements about important questions and values – things they cherish so much they would rather fight than compromise.
“But peoples, governments and international organisations can create conditions that make war less likely, and the instruments for preventing, limiting, and resolving war more capable.
…
https://theconversation.com/is-world-peace-even-possible-i-study-war-and-peace-and-heres-where-id-start-270783
“World Peace
(And How We Can Achieve It)”
Alex J. Bellamy
• Boldly sets out the case for the possibility of world peace
• One of the first books on peace to take seriously the ideas and forces that sustain war, and examines and recognizes these forces rather than dismissing them
• Identifies the practical steps that can be taken to nudge the world towards peace
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/world-peace-9780198833529?cc=au&lang=en&
Gulp! Nudge! If Andrew Gelman is correct about the nudgelords, someone quick!… write the book called Peace Push!
Thanks as always, and peace in our time.
engels 01.03.26 at 11:21 pm
Happy new yeehaw
https://apnews.com/live/trump-us-venezuela-updates-01-03-2026
engels 01.04.26 at 10:58 am
Reaction to the kidnapping from Sir Human Rights KC (who is evidently a better imperialist now than Kamala Harris and Marine le Pen):
U.K.’s Starmer Welcomes Maduro’s Ouster
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/venezuela-strikes/card/starmer-welcomes-maduro-s-ouster-GUunPFv37fDTcynwuJpt
Ingrid Robeyns 01.04.26 at 4:30 pm
Yes, this is a depressing start of the year — imperial war for oil is still back in full force. What’s also very troubling is the lukewarm reaction of many European leaders – it shouldn’t be so difficult to state that Maduro was an illegitimate leader yet at the same time forcefully condemn what the US/Trump does (also, is there still any role for Congress in the US?).
So I did what I needed to do, and went for a long hike in the woods.
steven t johnson 01.04.26 at 4:57 pm
If Maduro is illegitimate, then it is sensible to use extraordinary means to bring him to justice. It seems to me very illogical to claim an illegitimate actor deserves the protections accorded legitimate leaders, so much so that it is a crime. In my opinion conceding Trump’s case against Maduro’s legitimacy—quite aside from abandoning any rational skepticism about what the US government says!—concedes his imperial right to sit in judgment. Isn’t that what the Roman term imperium meant, the power to sit in judgment, especially capital punishment. (If I remember my first ten books of Livy correctly, but I’ve forgotten where my copy is to check.)
engels 01.05.26 at 1:34 pm
At least some of us are beating the January blues
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/shares-of-chevron-jump-8-after-trump-s-military-intervention-in-venezuela/ar-AA1TAOAS
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