Wilson's Fourteen Points

Here are four of Wilson's Fourteen points and whether or not they exist today.

"I. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understandings of any kind but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view."
     The first of Wilson's points is essencially that no countries should make secret or dishonest treaties. I think that there are secret dealings in governments today, this point is not present in today's world. There have been plenty secret treaties between countries and dealigs which are questionable.

"IV. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety."
     Wilson's fourth point is to lower the amout of weapons a country has to the lowest possible amount without impeding domestic safey. This point is totally absent from today's world. Many countries have nuclear armaments and weapons beyond necessity. The Middle East is full of tension and thus, weapons. Today, I think we rely on having weapons in case of defense, so much so that it has become exessive.

"XIII. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant."
     Wilson was calling for Poland to be its own country. This point is actually present in the world today. Poland is its own independent nation. It has access to the sea, and political and economic independence from any other country, Russia and Germany included.

"XIV. A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike."
     Here Wilson was addressing creating the League of Nations. It does not exist today, but the United Nations does and is much like the League of Nations once was. The United Nations seeks to keep peace between nations and help peoples keep political independence.

Of the four points discussed here I think that the most effective in preventing war is the first point. Secret treaties and agreements between nations easily causes tension and conflict. This conflict can lead to fights and even wars. If nations are upfront and honest about their dealings than less people would be angered at a treaty. We are inclined to be slightly more accepting of things if we know about them first.