Editorial

TWO MONTHS AGO, MOST OF THE PEOPLE who work (and play) at PEACE gathered for supper and our Annual General Meeting. There was a lot to celebrate. First, we're still in business, which is amazing. (Do you know any other magazine that got through 1988 with a cash outlay under $50,000? We love what we're doing, so we work as volunteers or even pay some of the bills. Want to join? Great! Call Jean, 533-7581.) Second, the odds for peace look good-because of the Soviets. Thanks, Mr. G.!

In fact, noting that peace seemed to be breaking out all over, we decided to run a special feature this time, reviewing the prospects for peace in the world's hot-spots. So that's the centrepiece of this issue. But we missed a few big conflicts (e.g. Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq), which we'll try to cover another time. And we found some ominous stories (e.g. in Somalia) besides the bright ones.

ALSO THIS TIME, we finally found someone (Peter Langille) who could tell us about an event that tried to happen but didn't: the withdrawal of Canadian troops from Europe, as ex-Defence Minister Erik Nielsen had planned. Gwynne Dyer broke the astonishing story last year, but officials still won't talk openly about it.

ELLEN GOULD, our prairies correspondent, suggests wisely that if groups will put local correspondents on their newsletter mailing lists, coverage will be easier and better.

MANY OF our articles are written by academics, who have been sacrificing unnecessarily when they contribute to PEACE. A professorial career depends on publishing in "peer reviewed journals." Fortunately, we have plenty of other academics on our board and as friends, who are now reviewing submissions from academics before they are published, thereby making PEACE articles count. But don't worry: The magazine's style won't turn into technical jargon. The best contribution most experts can make is to write for a general audience. PEACE is for everyone!