We have all disagreed to agree, now what?

Xiu Min Li, 12.26.2009

China Program Co-Director, Pacific Environment

The Copenhagen Accord is weak and will not pressure countries to do more on climate change. There were too many competing national interests and not e...

Tsunami: Reflection and Progress Five Years Later

Ann M. Veneman, 12.26.2009

UNICEF Executive Director

Five years ago the world watched in horror as nearly 230,000 people, particularly women and children, perished in the tsunami that struck south Asia.

A Chinese Dissident's Conviction: Calibrating Western Response

Tom Doctoroff, 12.26.2009

North Asia Area Director of JWT advertising firm

I am a long-term resident of China, working in an industry -- advertising -- in which productivity is inextricably linked to robust self-expression. ...

Tsunami Anniversary: A Christmas Without War

Adele Barker, 12.25.2009

I returned to Sri Lanka for eight months after the tsunami to work on my book about the island Not Quite Paradise. I thought I had finished the book in 2004, but then the wave hit. And everything changed.

We Look Back with Sadness, But We Look Forward with Hope

Mahinda Rajapaksa, 12.24.2009

President of Sri Lanka

Five years on from the terrible tsunami of 2004 that ravished our island, now is truly an exciting time for Sri Lanka. We are creating a land of opportunity for all Sri Lankans and no one will be left behind.

China's Banks Copy Citigroup in Hiding Bad Loans Off Their Balance Sheets

James Jubak, 12.24.2009

Investor columnist, founder JubakPicks.com

The danger in China's off-balance sheet shell game is that a good percentage of the original loans have been made to companies with oodles of political clout but absolutely no chance of every repaying the loan.

The Copenhagen Accord: A Big Step Forward

David Doniger, 12.23.2009

Policy Director, NRDC Climate Center

Too many observers, in my view, are judging the Copenhagen Accord by the wrong yardsticks.

Typing Aloud About China's Climate

A. Siegel, 12.23.2009

Energy, environmental blogger, getenergysmartnow.com

China has been widely blamed for the failure of the Copenhagen climate talks. Is that fair?

Breathing in the Buddha

Peter Clothier, 12.23.2009

Author and Blogger, The Buddha Diaries

Documentary photographer Alan Brigish's Breathing in the Buddha is "a photographic exploration of Buddhist life in Indochina." The photographs are absolutely gorgeous.

Who's the Government? Who's the God?

Reverend Billy, 12.23.2009

Spiritual Leader of the Church of Life After Shopping

The secrecy and isolation of the Chinese/Obama meetings says it all. The rest of us are waiting outside with the rising seas and the fires and droughts and freak storms.

Baby 'Tsunami' turns 5 years old in Sri Lanka

World Vision, 12.23.2009

World Vision

Little Tsunami sits on a rock by the sea, watching the boats sail by in the distance. Every now and then, she pushes back the hair the evening sea breeze playfully pulls across her eyes.

Making His List, Checking It Twice

Bruce Kluger & David Slavin, 12.23.2009

Regular contributors to National Public Radio’s All Things Considered

Just when Barack Obama thought his toughest decisions were behind him--his Afghanistan strategy, tackling unemployment, what to say to Tiger Woods i...

Under Stimulated: Building Trains and Other Stuff We Need Rather Than What Wall Street Dictates

Joel Epstein, 12.25.2009

Corporate and philanthropic giving and strategic communications professional

I'm making real investment in fast trains that run where people live and want to go my wish for the New Year.

Copenhagen: A Theater of the Absurd

Sam Black, 12.22.2009

Research Associate at the Stimson Center

I think we owe it to the Copenhagen participants to recognize that, for these two weeks, they made the debate over health care seem reasonable by comparison.

Hyderabad, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, India: Crisis

Vamsee Juluri, 12.21.2009

Author and Professor of Media Studies, University of San Francisco

Hyderabad is the sort of city that makes poets out of ordinary men. It has a history of being home to different sorts of people, accepting them with an easy charm that only Hyderabad knows.

Key Countries Agreed to Copenhagen Accord to Address Global Warming

Jake Schmidt, 12.21.2009

International climate policy director, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

World leaders -- most notably President Obama -- took over these negotiations and used everything in their power to push forward an agreement in Copenhagen.

Beyond Fluoride: Pharmaceuticals, Drinking Water and the Public Health

Jacob M. Appel, 12.21.2009

Bioethicist and medical historian

If we are willing to ingest fluoride to prevent tooth decay, surely we can tolerate a trace of lithium to prevent suicides.

Let's Get Real About Copenhagen

Alexia Parks, 12.21.2009

Speaker, Author: "OM Money Money," "Rapid Evolution," and "An American GULAG"

Let's get real about Copenhagen. Until now, the biggest roadblock to signing the Kyoto agreement, and to making progress at

The Obama Doctrine: Pen, Sword and Soap Box

Michael B. Laskoff, 12.20.2009

"...content against obedience..." W.S.

For some people, the assent of the Obama Doctrine will be uncomfortable: it's designed for a world rendered in shades of gray, not the black and white of easy demagoguery. Nevertheless, subtle should not be confused with weak.

Greece and the Global Sixties

Tom Hayden, 12.20.2009

Former state senator and leader of Sixties peace, justice and environmental movements

It's important to write Greece into the history of the Sixties, and all the countries of the global South who have been neglected due to the media's preference to obsess over music, marijuana, long hair, lost bras, and the end of innocence.

Foreign Affairs Roundup

Christopher Herbert and Victoria Kataoka Rebuffet, 12.18.2009

Editors of Simple Intelligence

This Week's Top Stories in Foreign Affairs: End of START and A New Beginning for Disarmament SI Analysis: An agreement on a follow-up treaty to the 1...