The Brilliant Art of Peace presents lectures delivered by seventeen of the world's most eminent thinkers, including several Nobel laureates, during Kofi Annan's tenure as secretary general of the United Nations.

Sun Tzu, author of 'The Art of War', believed that the acme of leadership consists in figuring out how to subdue the enemy with the least amount of fighting a fact that America's Founders also understood, and practiced with astonishing success. For it to work, however, a people must possess both the ability and the willingness to use all available instruments of power in peace as much as in war. US foreign policy has increasingly neglected the instruments of civilian power and become overly dependent on lethal solutions to conflict. The steep rise in unconventional conflict has increased the need for diplomatic and other non-hard power tools of statecraft. The United States can no longer afford to sit on the proverbial three-legged national security stool ("military, diplomacy, development"), where one leg is a lot longer than either of the other two, almost forgetting altogether the fourth leg information, especially strategic communication and public diplomacy. The United States isn't so much becoming militarized as DE civilianized. According to Sun Tzu, self-knowledge is as important as knowledge of one's enemy: "if you know neither yourself nor the enemy, you will succumb in every battle." Alarmingly, the United States is deficient on both counts. And though we can stand to lose a few battles, the stakes of losing the war itself in this age of nuclear proliferation are too high to contemplate.

In 1967, Sir David Khalili finished his military service in Iran and travelled to study in the United States with $750 - his remaining royalties from a book he wrote when he was just 14. Over the course of the next five decades he single-handedly, piece by piece, assembled eight of the finest art collections in their field, ultimately becoming one of the world's greatest collectors, about whom Queen Elizabeth II once said: 'It is scary how much this gentleman knows about art.' For the first time, Sir David shares his extraordinary journey: one that has taken him through the souks of North Africa, the auction houses of Europe and the United States, the bazaars of South Asia, and far beyond. Through a riveting collection of real-life adventures, he reveals his collecting strategy, business ethics and what motivates him to continuously collect, conserve, research, publish and exhibit the treasures in his collections. Through his story, Sir David questions how the undeniable power of art can be harnessed to foster greater peace and unity worldwide. No one is better placed to enlighten us.

The inspirational teachings in this collection show that the real way of the warrior is based on compassion, wisdom, fearlessness, and love of nature. The teachings are drawn from the talks and writings of Morihei Ueshiba, founder of the popular Japanese martial art of Aikido, a mind-body discipline he called the "Art of Peace," which offers a nonviolent way to victory in the face of conflict. Ueshiba believed that Aikido principles could be applied to all the challenges we face in life—in personal and business relationships, and in our interactions with society. This is an expanded version of the original miniature edition that appeared in the Shambhala Pocket Classics series. It features a new introduction by John Stevens, recently translated doka, didactic "poems of the Way," and Ueshiba's own calligraphy.

This unique volume looks at international peace treaties, at their results, effects and failures. It reflects the outcome of an international conference held in the Peace Palace (The Hague) on the occasion of the Centenary of this institution, which opened its doors on the eve of World War I. The volume offers the reflections of the leading experts attending the conference and the open debate which followed. The Treaty of Versailles of 1919, the mother of all peace treaties, is the first to be critically discussed. How should this treaty be viewed with the knowledge of today? What are the lessons learned in the light of historic developments? Subsequently, the Dayton Agreement, which sealed the end to the bloody conflict in the former Yugoslavia (1992-1995), and the Sudan Agreement, which came into being after lengthy negotiations in 2005, are analysed in the same way. Finally, the situations which arose in relation to the devastating wars between Iran and Iraq (1980-1988) and between Kuwait and Iraq are discussed. As these states could not reach a settlement themselves, the United Nations Security Council imposed the terms of the ceasefire and peaceful cooperation in important and innovative resolutions. The book offers additional perspective by looking at the role of judicial settlement by the International Court of Justice or the Permanent Court of Arbitration, vis-a-vis the instrument of political mediation between states with the help of a third party. Mediation can be very effective, but certain conditions are required for it to be successful, conditions which are not easy to bring about in today’s world. Dispute settlement under international law is and continues to be the core business in the Peace Palace.

Your self, aware presence, knows no resistance to any appearance and, as such, is happiness itself; like the empty space of a room, it cannot be disturbed and is, therefore, peace itself; like this page, it is intimately one with whatever appears on it and is thus love itself; and like water that is not affected by the shape of a wave, it is pure freedom. Causeless joy, imperturbable peace, love that knows no opposite, and freedom at the heart of all experience…this is your ever-present nature under all circumstances.

Your self, aware presence, knows no resistance to any appearance and, as such, is happiness itself; like the empty space of a room it cannot be disturbed and is, therefore, peace itself; like this page, it is intimately one with whatever appears on it and is thus love itself; and like water that is not affected by the shape of a wave, it is pure freedom. Causeless joy, imperturbable peace, love that knows no opposite and freedom at the heart of all experience....this is your ever-present nature under all circumstances. Rupert Spira Presence is a profound and luminous book with great power and is obviously the fruit of many years of contemplation. These two volumes together are a relentless and utterly thorough examination of the nature of experience, exploring every square centimeter of the territory with absolute excellence and ruthlessly precise analysis. Their astuteness and clarity will be extremely exciting to those readers who are ready for the next steps in lifting the veil of separation and I suspect it will become a spiritual classic that readers will savour slowly and return to again and again. Victoria Ritchie Former Manager of Watkins Bookshop and Editor for Eckhart Tolle