China is emerging as the key deal-maker or deal-breaker as the UN climate talks head into ministerial discussions. If the EU and China can find a way forward, some observers here believe a package can be constructed that will satisfy the majority of participants.

For too long, Israel’s public diplomacy has pussy-footed around the question of Jewish refugees. Ron Prosor’s explicit mention of Jewish refugees from Arab countries represents a more pro-active approach by the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Mexican mariachi music, Chinese shadow puppetry and poetic duelling from Cyprus were among the cultural traditions which have been identified by the United Nations as in need of protection. Such "living" practices, which bind communities together and provide them with a sense of continuity, are in danger of being lost, some more than others

Abbas, perhaps remembering these history lessons, apparently came to the conclusion that the status quo needed to be shaken up. To his credit he did not chose a violent option for this action. Abbas’s goal of going to the UN was to peacefully shake things up.

Click here to watch Ban Ki-moon’s talk, “Using New Data to Understand Emerging Vulnerability in Real Time” scheduled at 2:45pm (EST).

...the outcome [Palestine's admittance to UNESCO] has obliged Washington, under U.S. law, to cut its $80 million annual financial contribution to Unesco, weakening an important vehicle of U.S. "soft power" influence through the projects supporting U.S. goals in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Monday's vote to admit Palestine as a full member of Unesco, the U.N. cultural arm, was a sharp reminder of just how limited Washington's influence -- hard, soft and smart -- has become in respect of the Middle East's most intractable conflict.

America's objections to the Palestinian move ring hollow across much of the world, and especially the strategically vital Middle East region. Its withholding of UN payments in response is nothing short of a combination of the absurd and the vindictive. As former Senator Tim Wirth has pointed out this will be sapping to America's soft power capacity.