"Men want power, women want peace."

Former British Ambassador to Sudan, Alan Goutly quoted this statement from a Sudanese woman in an answer to my question: How important is it to include women in the peace process between Sudan and South Sudan?  Such a simple statement sums up what international leaders are now recognizing as an essential element to the peace process: to include women's voices.

Yesterday the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace held a panel discussion with updates about the ongoing conflict between Sudan and South Sudan.  After decades of war, South Sudan became its own nation not even a year ago when the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in July 2011.  Ambassador Princeton Lyman of the United States, former Ambassador Alan Goulty of the United Kingdom, and Marina Ottaway of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, all gave a tremendous amount of insight into the current conflict and strategies that the United States and the international community can take to avoid an all out war.

November 11th is Veterans Day in America, marking the official end of "The War to End All Wars" was an unnecessary war created and fueled by the greed and power-hunger of all nations involved. "Never again" people said after it ended, however the treaty of Versailles laid the foundation of World War II, which was even more devastating than the first. It was a failure of the world community itself.