Climate Deal Flop Reveals Leadership Crisis

Sarah van Gelder, 12.19.2009

Co-Founder and Executive Editor of YES! Magazine, www.yesmagazine.org

The failure of world leaders in Copenhagen to come to terms with the climate crisis is provoking anger and disappointment. My colleague at YES! Magazi...

30 Years of Fighting Discrimination against Women - It's Time the U.S. Stepped Up

Lenora M. Lapidus, 12.18.2009

Today, the United Nations and the world celebrate 30 years of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), ...

U.N. Women's Treaty Can Not Wait for U.S. Senate

Linda Tarr-Whelan, 12.18.2009

Demos Distinguished Senior Fellow and author of "Women Lead the Way"

The path to ratifying CEDAW would be much easier if our Senate, like those of 23 other countries including Rwanda, Argentina, Angola, Costa Rica and much of Europe, had 30 percent women.

Human Rights Abuses in Plain Sight: Migrant Workers in the U.S.

Chandra Bhatnagar, 12.18.2009

Today is International Migrants Day, marking the anniversary of the passage of a United Nations resolution adopting the landmark International Convent...

Hoping in Copenhagen

Gillian Caldwell, 12.17.2009

Campaign Director for 1Sky

I hoped against hope that one man could pick up the pieces of these broken negotiations and make things right again. ...And then I woke up.

Improving Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism

George A. Lopez, 12.17.2009

In shifting from stonewalling to shared problem-solving, the US has indicated a willingness in recent months to listen and then lead in a manner the Security Council welcomes and the UN badly needs.

Copenhagen Climate Summit Already a Success

Steve Westly, 12.16.2009

Former CA State Controller and Managing Partner of The Westly Group

Even reasonable voices have been lukewarm on the Copenhagen summit, maintaining that no multilateral agreement will be formalized. Here's why their criticism misses the point.

UN Renovation: Fun Taken Out of East River Complex

Evelyn Leopold, 12.15.2009

Veteran reporter at the United Nations

The bustling corridors of the UN are quiet. There are no lines in the cafeteria as the campus is being steadily dismantled in the 39-floor high-rise glass tower on New York's East River.

The Obama Team is Taking Credit for a Bush Policy in North Korea

Richard Grenell, 12.15.2009

Fmr. director of comm. and public diplomacy for the US Representative to the UN

During the Bush years pressure on North Korea was greatly increased, not decreased, as the current White House and New York Times say. That the Obama team is taking credit now is a shame.

Politicians Can Count on Popular Despair After Copenhagen

Sanjay Khanna, 12.15.2009

Climate-change writer and journalist

The possibility that a climate agreement won't be reached is increasingly becoming a reality. For society, the failure could be much more dire than just melting ice caps.

Obama's Nobel Lecture: Speaking Truth From Power?

Joseph A. Palermo, 12.16.2009

Author/Associate Professor of History

Obama's Nobel lecture might have showed us that the US has reached a turning point: either the national security monster we've created is going to eat us alive by bankrupting the country or we're going to have to shift course.

Copenhagen, Methane Emissions, and the Arctic

Armond Cohen, 12.15.2009

Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Clean Air Task Force

Reducing methane emissions could bring quick results, because its warming lasts only 10 years, while CO2 warming already in place will continue for centuries.

HRW Report on Congo: Fetuses Ripped From Wombs and Children Burned

Georgianne Nienaber, 12.14.2009

Investigative journalist, searcher, and author

Breaking news... Merry Christmas. No Peace on Earth for DRC. In a year-end report published today and based upon 23 fact-finding missions in the ...

Obama Can Help the World's Women

Rahim Kanani, 12.11.2009

Research Associate, Hauser Center for Nonprofits, Harvard University

In accepting the Nobel, Obama must spearhead a bold and unprecedented initiative aimed at one of the most pervasive human rights violations of the 21st century: violence against women and girls worldwide.

Nuclear Energy - Answer to Global Warming or Status Symbol? (update)

Evelyn Leopold, 12.11.2009

Veteran reporter at the United Nations

In the search for "green" alternatives to oil or coal, nuclear energy is expected to make a comeback - mainly in Russia, China, India and developing n...

Waffle Wildly, and Carry A Big Speech: Obama's Meandering Nobel Road Trip

Josh Schrei, 12.11.2009

Marketing Director, Strategist, Producer, Writer, Critic, Activist

Theodore Roosevelt, a magnanimous, larger-than-life President who won a Nobel Peace Prize during wartime and spoke eloquently -- though not necessaril...

Only in America: Ambassador Sichan Siv - From the Killing Fields to the White House

Jim Luce, 12.12.2009

Thought Leaders and Global Citizens

I first met Ambassador Sichan Siv in 2004. He spoke on surviving Pol Pot's Killing Fields in Cambodia - and coming to America. He ended up working in the White House and then the United Nations.

Top 6 Obama Quotes: Guide to his Global, Nobel Journey

Richard M. Benjamin, 12.10.2009

Author, Searching for Whitopia

"If you can tell people, 'We have a president in the White House who still has a grandmother living in a hut on the shores of Lake Victoria and ha...

Chatting with UNICEF's Director Ann Veneman

Jim Luce, 12.14.2009

Thought Leaders and Global Citizens

I met UNICEF's executive director Ann M. Veneman recently at Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden's World Childhood Foundation luncheon at the United Na...

The School-to-Prison Pipeline

Robert Koehler, 12.10.2009

Syndicated writer, editor at Tribune Media Services

I hope the Dignity in Schools Campaign overflows its banks, spilling awareness into every corner of the country. "Millions of children and youth are...

Saboteurs at Copenhagen

William S. Becker, 12.10.2009

Executive Director, Presidential Climate Action Project

The Obama Administration must get serious about using its regulatory authority to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions well below the levels being considered on Capitol Hill.