Question

how has global understanding changed

Answer 1

Due to people travelling across the world more frequently now, than ever before, and trade barriers of individual countries being pulled down every day, the world has truly become a global village. With the Soviet Union breaking up into independent republics, Germany being reunified, countries in Eastern Europe adopting modernisation and China opening up its economy, differences among nation states are vanishing at a very fast pace. 
While it is true that nuclear power is no more a monopoly of the Western Powers, it is just as true that acquiring of nuclear weapons by a few rogue countries has brought the rest of the world together. I'm not a votary of nuclear technology being used for the development of weapons and am just as sure they will be disbanded or put under tight leash with regime changes, but isn't it true a few naughty boys have inspired the other boys in the class to come together?
Finally, I'd like to say that global understanding is bound to change for the even better as countries find more and more reasons to come together as trading partners.