The Meaning & Real World Value of The Truce
Opinion: What is the meaning of the Olympic “truce?”
by Hugh Dugan for Deseret News, March 5, 2026
There is an old, blunt line that surfaces whenever war planners glance at the Olympic calendar: you can’t bomb someone during the Olympics.
It’s said half as etiquette, half as indictment — an admission that, for a few weeks, violence becomes not only lethal but also visibly illegitimate. The world is watching. Cameras are trained on human excellence, not human ash. And so, if military activity against Iran surges during the Olympic season, the first problem is not strategic — it’s optical: the action collides with a global ritual designed to make rivalry look human… [more via headline link]
Opinion: The Olympic Truce reminds humanity that harmony is possible
The Olympics cannot resolve wars or redraw geopolitics. But they can interrupt cynicism and remind humanity that collaboration is still possible
by Hugh Dugan for Deseret News, February 11, 2026
The XXV Winter Games opened beneath a banner of “armonia” — a word Italy wears naturally, like a scarf tossed with effortless elegance. Harmony might seem an audacious theme for a world accustomed to discord, but the Olympics have always asked nations to attempt unlikely things: march together, applaud rivals and coexist for two symbolic weeks without filing diplomatic grievances. From the ceremony’s first notes, the night carried the feeling of a rare global exhale, the kind humanity produces only when optimism briefly overpowers habit… [more via headline link]
