As a nation and as a world, we must start thinking about the long-term impacts of our actions, rather than the short-term economic and energy benefits. Sustainable growth today will be more profitable in the future. Rejecting Keystone XL this spring is the right choice both for the nation and for the planet.

Despite these gloomy numbers, the American West's 49'er mentality of continual and aggressive resource consumption still persists. While the particular resource in this case is largely abundant (at least when compared to other natural resources) it is in no way infinite, much less renewable in the short-term. If it continues down this path, the West could be in serious trouble.

For now, Moscow has made no moves toward expanding its gains, and this hesitation likely indicates that the costs and risks of an air war against the Ukrainian military—as part of larger land operation or not—outweigh the benefits.

The crisis in Ukraine will end either with a humiliated West or a neutralized Russia: here's how either scenario could happen

The United States frequently tested nuclear weapons in the Pacific with the equivalent power of 1.6 Hiroshima's per day. The largest test, Castle Bravo, was 1000X more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima

The traditional balance of power of the entire region is shifting. Saudi Arabia’s authority is based solely on its robust oil exports to the US, and thus its power is beginning to wane in face of America’s shale oil revolution and Iran's rapidly-increasing oil exports

Columbia Students, from libertarians to socialists, debate the Citizens United ruling and campaign finance more generally.

"Afghanistan has been in a state of war since 1979. Outside powers have inflicted great chaos in an already lawless territory. Tribes have exploited gains with both anti-Taliban and Taliban forces. But I am fully assured that Afghanistan’s future has to rest with the Afghani people themselves."

The minimum wage is a tricky subject. As with so many debates involving economics, seemingly-sound, yet antithetical, arguments abound, at times making it nearly impossible to distinguish between right or wrong, good or bad.

But nowhere in Columbia's proxy voting guidelines does Columbia bother itself with the actual abstention from investments in fossil fuels, despite it simultaneous recognition of the moral irresponsibility of climate change. The hypocrisy!

There remains, however, a single and constant truth in the conflict; the West—in particular, the United States—has suffered one of the most dire strategic losses in its foreign policy over the past thirty years.

The Brazilian system is nearly-notorious for its arcane system of rules with many loopholes for defendants—as American University Professor Matthew Taylor puts it “the system is set up to leave things unresolved.”

The national government is not the only body at fault in this situation, however: American anti-gay groups and gay advocacy groups in Uganda have encouraged continued debate on homosexuality, carrying their proxy battle into the legislature and affecting the life of Uganda’s gay population.

We have already seen Al-Shabaab pull itself from the ashes once before, and it will continue to launch mass casualty events like the Westgate operation, especially after its recent ideological “return”, so to speak, to internationalist jihad...And without AMISOM, the current Somali government will very likely collapse, paving the way for Al-Shabaab’s resurgence.

As it now stands, the Republican Party has convinced a segment of the population that government is antithesis to the health of this nation. It has enabled a radical collection of far-right congressmen to eschew all compromise and centralized party direction. Tea Party politicians in Congress can afford, even relish, the political ramifications of a shutdown because, after forty years of anti-government rhetoric, these congressmen only need to re-affirm to their voters that government cannot function.