Twenty-Seven Million Slaves

Russell Simmons, 09.17.2009

Founder of Global Grind.com

An estimated 27 million human beings worldwide today are living lives of exploitation. They are objects of ownership, forgotten as children in need of love, nurturing and protection.

Chinese Digital Lives: A Parallel Universe of Ambitious Release

Tom Doctoroff, 09.17.2009

North Asia Area Director of JWT advertising firm

Cyber space is a chance to have a second life. It is a fantasy-driven virtual journey, albeit one that mirrors real world aspirations of "standing out while fitting in."

Obama and Al Qaeda: New Moves Show Success May Not Depend On Afghanistan

William Bradley, 09.17.2009

California-based Political Analyst NewWestNotes.com

Osama bin Laden's lame 9/11 message and Barack Obama's lethal approach in Somalia raise a central question: Are we not in fact much closer to achieving our central goal in Afghanistan than most imagine?

Why a Small Team of Amerians is Going to Spend October in Cambodia

Stephen Macfarlane, 09.17.2009

Operations Coordinator, The Vanderbilt Republic Foundation

A burgeoning international interest in the war crimes tribunal of Kaing Guek Eav (aka Duch, who ran Tuol Sleng and other camps like personal fiefdoms) forces attention back to the photographs.

Cutting Off the Honduran Coup's Air Supply

Laura Carlsen, 09.17.2009

Director, Americas Program, Center For International Policy

With grassroots challenges growing throughout the country and outside supplies being cut off, the question the world is asking is: How long can this last?

Ideological Kitsch [VIDEO]

Yoani Sanchez, 09.17.2009

Award-Winning Cuban Blogger

Israeli Government: Iran Not A Threat

MJ Rosenberg, 09.17.2009

Senior Fellow Media Matters Action Network

The AIPAC crowd is going to have a hard time with this. Israel's uber-hawk Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, says that an Iranian nuclear weapon would not pose an existential threat to Israel.

The "Hand of God" Haunts Ex-Superstar Maradona and Argentina's World Cup Hopes

Eric Ehrmann, 09.16.2009

Eric Ehrmann writes on sports and global issues from Brazil. He is a member of PEN.

In a nation where sports and politics cooperate to form a sense of national identity, the Argentine Football Association selected Maradona, who has been out of the game for a decade, over a group of more qualified candidates.

Lost Innocence and Hope Amid a Senseless War

Ann M. Veneman, 09.16.2009

UNICEF Executive Director

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I met a 12-year-old girl who told me her story of being attacked and raped. Last month when I returned to the DRC I asked to meet Hope again.

The Raj Who Branded Himself: A Savvy Indian Royal Reinvents Himself Without Changing His Iconic Message

Perry Garfinkel, 09.16.2009

Veteran journalist

Though democratic India has come a long way, baby, Brand India, as it is sometimes referred to, still has a long way to go, baba.

IMF Gives $164 Million to Coup Government in Honduras, Following Familiar Pattern

Mark Weisbrot, 09.16.2009

Co-director, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Washington, D.C.

Supporters argue that the IMF has changed. But after depositing a large amount of money in Honduras -- the site of a recent coup -- it's looking more and more like the same old IMF on steroids.

Can There Be Such a Thing as an Israeli Hero?

Bradley Burston, 09.16.2009

Bradley Burston is a columnist for Haaretz and Senior Editor, haaretz.com

There is a sense that the transgressions of Israelis are so grave that they have lost their right to grieve over their own very real tragedies.