Peace, therefore, is dependent upon the power-play between capitalism, socialism, consumerism and communism -- and often they all overlap. The problem arises when domination rather diplomacy becomes a tactic of certain world powers. Rather than working with other nations at the expense of commercial or ideological interests, nations (like the U.S.) revert to underhanded scheming, acts of espionage, terrorism, and war, and militarism to undue rival nations' hegemony. The Middle East is a prime example for the way the West has gone about ending "terrorism" and restoring "peace." The idea that the U.S. is at all interested in peace is a complete farce. It is interested in nothing but profits.

Peace can be attained, however -- as Kennedy showed during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton all agree when they affirm that the best way to peace today is through negotiation and diplomacy. By putting peace as a viable alternative to war on the table -- rather than threats and sanctions (as the Obama administration...

Yet, the desire for peace has to be real on both sides: "Negotiations…can succeed only if there is a set of outcomes that each party prefers over reaching no agreement. Occasionally, participants in a dispute negotiate only to appear virtuous…the trick is to find a peaceful outcome that will be acceptable to all sides" (Fisher, et al. 71). In other words, suing for peace involves a process of give and take -- just like Kennedy showed when he gave in to the Soviet demand to remove bases from the nearby Soviet border in Europe.
Works Cited

Fisher, Roger, et al. "Getting to Yes." Approaches to Peace. [Barsh, David, ed.] UK:

Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.

Schweitzer, Christine, ed. Civilian Peacekeeping: A Barely Tapped Resource. Sozio-

Publishing, 2010. Print.

Shannon, Thomas. An Introduction to the World-System Perspective. Westview Press,

1992. Print.