In the long struggle against sex trafficking, we finally have a breakthrough!

If one is talking to a finance minister of a poor country, moral arguments tend not to get very far. But if you can argue that their country is going to grow 2 percent faster per year if they can just harness the power of the female half of the population more effectively, that is an argument they consider.

For most of history, genocide was just something governments did and nobody blinked.

Isn't it time to talk not only about weather, but also about climate?

Let me be clear: I'm a believer in a robust military, which is essential for backing up diplomacy. But the implication is that we need a balanced tool chest of diplomatic and military tools alike. Instead, we have a billionaire military and a pauper diplomacy. The U.S. military now has more people in its marching bands than the State Department has in its foreign service - and that's preposterous.

A few countries like Sri Lanka and Honduras have led the way in slashing maternal mortality.

Laws matter, but typically changing the law by itself accomplishes little.