If important new studies of social and economic failure can be fused with awareness of environmental and security trends, the chances of progress will be multiplied.
The east-west dispute over Crimea is full of tensions within as well as between each side. Its drivers include the chance to refuel older geopolitical ambitions.
Many new paths to climate action are being taken, with the global south in the forefront. Even modest support and publicity from their northern counterparts can bring huge benefits.
The issue of civilian casualties from armed-drone strikes in Afghanistan and elsewhere needs transparency from Britain's military establishment. Both legal and civic pressures are rising.
A parliamentary report on the UK's use of armed-drones in Afghanistan is, in its language and its attitude to casualties, a study in closure.
Vladimir Putin's vision of Russia's destiny has parallels with George W Bush's of the United States in the aftermath of 9/11. This makes the existing crisis over Ukraine even more acute.
The retreat from Afghanistan is proving hard enough for the United States. But its military return to Iraq is much more serious.
The dangerous stand-off with Russia over Ukraine is also a display of the west's skewed perceptions and moral vanities.
A new political tone on climate change in Britain is matched by a breakthrough in understanding the retreat of tropical glaciers.
Two floods, two eras, two worlds. The contrast between 1953 and 2014 in southern England is a lesson both in class and climate change.
A cycle of military repression and violent jihadi resistance in Egypt threatens to eclipse the democratic hopes of the Arab awakening.
The Geneva conference offers little hope of a breakthrough to halt Syria's nightmare. This makes a different approach all the more urgent.
