Foreign Affairs Roundup

Christopher Herbert and Victoria Kataoka Rebuffet, 01.01.2010

Editors of Simple Intelligence

This Week's Top Stories in Foreign Affairs: Iran Rallies, Counter-Rallies, and a Deadline Passed This week saw the continuation of another wave of m...

Land Grabbing Leads to Imported Aid, Exported Crop

Craig and Marc Kielburger, 01.01.2010

Co-founders, Free The Children

As food aid stamped with the World Food Programme's logo is shipped to Sudan, thousands of tons of wheat and rice are shipped out -- to Riyadh, Beijing and Seoul.

China: The Harmony Express, Human Rights and Humiliating Obama

Nathan Gardels, 01.01.2010

Editor, NPQ, Global Services of Los Angeles Times Syndicate/Tribune Media

While the Harmony Express, the world's fastest train, streaked from Guangzhou to Wuhan in less than three hours, Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in prison for merely signing a petition.

The Earth's Decade

Glenn Hurowitz, 12.31.2009

Author of Fear and Courage in the Democratic Party, environmental advocate

This decade will be remembered and felt for its impact on Nature: the species that were saved and those that were lost; the heating of the planet; the forests cut down and those that continue to provide oxygen to our children's children.

China's Execution a Subtle Power Play

Ben Cohen, 12.31.2009

Editor of The Daily Banter.com

The execution of Akmal Shaikh was another use of indirect aggression, showing the West that China doesn't care what it thinks and will do what it wants.

New Year's Resolution: Sponsor an Overseas Child in 2010

Jim Luce, 12.31.2009

Thought Leaders and Global Citizens

Resolved to be more involved in the New Year? Have you considered sponsoring a child in an orphanage or children's project in the developing world? ...

Here's to the 2010s

Joseph Nye, 12.31.2009

Distinguished Service Professor at Harvard University and Author

The 1930s were once described as "a low dishonest decade," and we could apply the term to the past ten years.

Nine Ways Our World Changed During the '00s

Sarah van Gelder, 12.31.2009

Co-Founder and Executive Editor of YES! Magazine

What was the decade of the '00s about? The following nine trends are a snapshot of some of the driving forces we're dealing with now at the turn of the decade.

Reviving Confidence in the American Economy: China, Investment and the Deficit Hawks

Rob Johnson, 12.31.2009

Director of Economic Policy, Roosevelt Institute, NewDeal2.0

The retrenchment of the American consumer blows a chill wind over the sentiments of consumers and business investment. Only the Obama administration's fiscal stimulus resists the decline of demand.

Con Games: Bury My Avatar at Wounded Knee

Michael Conniff, 12.30.2009

"Con Games with Michael Conniff" on KNFO in Aspen and Vail

Avatar was much better than good. Cameron has now set the bar so high that Steven Spielberg and George Lucas will spend the rest of their careers trying to reach the planet Pandora.

Arab Countries Aim to Improve Journalism Education With UNESCO's "Model Curricula"

Magda Abu-Fadil, 12.30.2009

Director of Journalism Training Program at the American University of Beirut

Arab countries are making strides in trying to improve journalism curricula, but still face strictures, obstacles and challenges to press freedom as w...

Shaikh Case Illustrates Need for Sanctions

Sarah E. Jones, 12.30.2009

Freelance journalist based in Ohio

The execution of Akmal Shaikh, a heroin smuggler who suffered from bipolar disorder, raises questions about China's treatment of mentally ill prisoners.

Letter from Taiwan: 100 Million Manufacturing Employees Next Door

Gilbert B. Kaplan, 12.29.2009

Former Deputy Assistant and Acting Assistant Secretary of the U. S. Department of Commerce

It probably will not take 50 years for China to take over Taiwan, and China would probably not put up with the situation for that long.

Ring Them Bells

Jeffrey Abelson, 12.28.2009

Writer, Documentary Filmmaker, Civic Apathy Buster

A disturbing story out of China compels me to resolve that when critiquing the state of American democracy, I will always bear in mind how fortunate I am to have been born in the U.S.A.

Sri Lanka Tsunami: The Fifth Anniversary

Adele Barker, 12.28.2009

Kids squealed with delight just feet from impromptu graveyards erected just days after December 26, 2004. It is a mixture of heartbreak and hope, joy tempered on this island by the memory of a past much too recent to die.

Solar Made in China -- Opportunity (Not Crisis) for American Solar Industry

Mike A. Hall, 12.28.2009

CEO and board member, Borrego Solar Systems, Inc.

There is an incredible opportunity to create domestic jobs, lower carbon emissions and lessen our dependence on foreign energy by stimulating the solar industry. We have the financial and solar resources to make it happen.

A Buddhist Skateboarding Monk: A Contradiction Or A Product Of The Modern Age?

Deborah Jiang Stein, 12.28.2009

Chief Mutt Correspondent

Is the quiet meditative expectation for a monk really in contradiction to a skateboard ride? Maybe outsiders don't understand the life of a monk in our contemporary world.

Blaming China for Copenhagen Won't Help the Climate

Alex Pasternack, 12.31.2009

Journalist on China, environment, architecture, technology and culture

Forget how much we can trust the climate efforts of China and the rest of the developing world. How much can it trust ours?

The World's Worst: Five Years after the Asian Tsunami

Richard Walden, 12.28.2009

President, Operation USA

The charities' performances ran from reasonably effective in localized areas to downright scandalous in their opportunism to raise money around the tsunami.

This Emotional Life: My Life As A POW

Bob Shumaker, 12.28.2009

Bob Shumaker was born in New Castle, Pennsylvania where his parents, Alvah and Eleanor, were a lawye ...

During the Vietnam War I was imprisoned for eight years, three of which were spent in solitary confinement. I am often asked how I was able not only to survive, but go on to resume a normal life.

Catholic Relief Services: What We Learned from the Indian Ocean Tsunami

Catholic Relief Services, 12.28.2009

Read more at http://crs.org/ By Cecile Sorra Even though Catholic Relief Services is an agency seasoned with more than 65 years' experience respondi...