Nobel Laureate Jimmy Carter Urges Peace (washingtonpost.com)

In an address that touched upon many of the themes of his post-White House career, Carter urged respect for the United Nations and other international institutions, and he declared that the United States, as the world's sole superpower, has "not assumed that super strength guarantees super wisdom."

He bemoaned the "terrible absence of understanding or concern" in the industrialized world for those in the Third World "who are enduring lives of despair and hopelessness," and he said the growing gap between rich and poor remained "the most serious and universal problem."

"For powerful countries to adopt a principle of preventative war may well set an example that can have catastrophic consequences."

"In order for us human beings to commit ourselves personally to the inhumanity of war, we find it necessary first to dehumanize our opponents, which is in itself a violation of the beliefs of all religions," he said. "Once we characterize our adversaries as beyond the scope of God's mercy and grace, their lives lose all value."