Citizens for Global Solutions

In 1938, just before the Second World War, a Philadelphia gum manufacturer sold 100 million trading cards built around one idea: to know the horrors of war is to want peace. The final card in the set was called "The Frightful Cost of War."

Then the war it warned about arrived, and the message was forgotten.

In a new piece for CGS, historian Charles Howlett brings that lesson back. World War II cost the equivalent of $104 trillion today. The Iran war is now projected to exceed $1 trillion. Behind every figure are schools never built, treatments never funded, and families paying more for food and fuel right now.
His conclusion is direct. Saying "war is bad" over and over will not stop the next one. What will is building real alternatives: democratic institutions, grounded in justice and law.

Read the full piece: https://globalsolutions.org/updates/blog/the-frightful-cost-of-war-and-a-bubble-gum-card/

💙 We lost a friend of this movement when Daniel Ellsberg passed. He served on the CGS National Advisory Council, and his lifelong fight to pull the world back from nuclear catastrophe is part of who we are.

One year before he died, Ellsberg sat down with Oscar nominated director Judith Ehrlich for a new short film, "An Ordinary Insanity." In it he names the world's quiet acceptance of nuclear danger for what it is: an ordinary insanity, dangerous because so many of us have stopped noticing it.

🎬 Watch the free online premiere on Thursday, June 4 at 5 PM PT (8 PM ET), with a panel featuring Ehrlich, the Ellsberg family, and nuclear weapons experts, plus a Q&A.

The film is free to watch and free to host afterward for your own community, classroom, or living room.

Register at anordinaryinsanity.com. Watch with us.

Register now for the free June 4th online premiere: www.anordinaryinsanity.com

The 2026 V-Dem Democracy Report has officially reclassified the United States. We are no longer a liberal democracy.

In a single year, American democracy has fallen back to 1965 levels. That same scale of damage took Hungary's Viktor Orbán four years, and Serbia's Aleksandar Vučić eight.

In her new piece for CGS, Olivia Gauvin (Vice Chair of Democracy Without Borders USA) lays out what is happening, why Project 2025 is already 40 percent implemented, and what we can actually do about it. The short version: it is going to take more than the ballot box.

Read here: https://globalsolutions.org/updates/blog/democracy-disappearing-in-america/

🌍 A decade ago, the world solved the Iran nuclear question. Then we threw it away.

In 2015, the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany, and the EU sat down with Iran and built a deal: sanctions relief in exchange for strict limits on uranium enrichment and full access for international inspectors. The IAEA verified Iran was holding up its end.

✏️ In 2018, the Trump administration walked away. Allies tried to keep the agreement alive. It collapsed. Today the country is at war.

In his new piece for CGS, historian Lawrence Wittner asks the question that matters most: what do we learn from this?
The clearest lesson is that pressure from the community of nations works in ways that threats from a single country never can. The UN Security Council is the right venue for problems like these. And frameworks that treat all nations equally, like the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, hold up better than deals that get torn up with a change in administration.

🔗 Read Lawrence Wittner's full analysis: https://globalsolutions.org/updates/blog/losing-the-iran-nuclear-deal/

🏛 Want to take your advocacy for global governance straight to Capitol Hill?

The 2026 CGS Annual Meeting (May 15–17, DC) includes optional in-person lobbying sessions on Friday morning. You'll meet with Congressional offices alongside fellow CGS members to make the case for international cooperation.

First-timer? No problem — we'll make sure you're prepared.

Register by April 30. → https://globalsolutions.org/event/2026-cgs-annual-meeting/

🌍 Did you know there's no global treaty specifically addressing crimes against humanity? It's one of the most significant gaps in international law, and Professor Leila Nadya Sadat has led the effort to close it for nearly two decades.

📜 In 2008, she founded the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative at Washington University School of Law. In December 2024, the U.N. General Assembly adopted Resolution 79/122, launching formal negotiations toward a treaty expected to conclude by 2029. That's a remarkable arc from scholarship to real-world impact.

🎤 In the inaugural Norman Cousins Lecture, Professor Sadat will walk us through that journey, explain why addressing these crimes early can help prevent conflicts from escalating, and discuss how organizations like CGS and engaged citizens can support the push for global justice.

📌 Join us for a conversation you won't want to miss! Sign up here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Gahbccc9QL2QkUfOkaYvTw #/registration