Brazil is impressive to international observers for its economic growth, low inflation, and firmly established democratic institutions. But the question remains: what kind role in the world does Brazil want to play?
The charities' performances ran from reasonably effective in localized areas to downright scandalous in their opportunism to raise money around the tsunami.
The world will never dispatch a savior to Congo who, like the paraplegic Marine Jake in the James Cameron epic Avatar, will damn self-serving interests and decide to protect a unique world and complicated society.
The biggest news coming out of Copenhagen, but not covered by the American media, is that Obama hasn't been able to convince other countries to act even though he is the most popular head of state.
For historic reasons, the United Nations has been empowered to spearhead the efforts of the world to resolve the planet's climate change problems. It...
A major summit meeting In Istanbul among representatives from 65 countries culminated in the adoption of a declaration that calls for "worldwide efforts to achieve gender equality and empower women.
A 59-page UN inquiry determined that the junta leader of the West African nation of Guinea "had direct responsibility" for killings, rapes and other atrocities against peaceful protesters.
Likewise, in foreign policy. Let's say there are two diagnoses for Afghanistan -- one means it has a chance if we do things right. The other means that there's no hope whatever we do.
President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize nine days after he announced he would send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. His escalation of the war may not have been what the Nobel committee envisioned.
A deal of sort has been sealed in Copenhagen. At 3:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference officially came to a close.
The failure of world leaders to come to terms with the climate crisis provoked anger and disappointment. My colleague at YES! Magazine, Brooke Jarvis, reported on the early responses to the climate deal.
Today, the United Nations and the world celebrate 30 years of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), ...
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.
Today is International Migrants Day, marking the anniversary of the passage of a United Nations resolution adopting the landmark International Convent...
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.
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.
Obama has cobbled together some impressive-looking cards, including action in California. But he's nowhere near signing a Copenhagen Protocol, were one to emerge, which it will not.
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.
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.
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.
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.
