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Values are a uniting force around the globe, slowly replacing an era of industry and economics, and soft power is more enticing than hard power for a global audience. National leaders may try to set new conditions for universal standards of justice, known as the moral high ground, but they can anticipate a struggle in justifying extreme and unreasonable claims for informed citizens in their own nations and elsewhere. Increasingly, cities, states and other entities reject the foreign policy stances of their own governments to work with likeminded people overseas, explains author and economist Joergen Oerstroem Moeller.

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Sand is indispensable for construction, roads and oil recovery even as nations try to protect coasts and supplies.

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As the globe’s population swells from about 2 billion people a century ago to more than 7 billion today, migration numbers are on the rise, too, from about 173 million in 2000 to about 250 million today. Will Hickey, author and associate professor with the School of Government and Public Policy in Indonesia, analyzes the dilemma for countries in trying to separate refugees based on their motivation, economic or political. Refugees search for a better life, and the line between economic and political security is blurred and the stories from either side are equally heartbreaking.

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Disasters no longer seem like rare events with the internet and smartphones delivering instant, compelling stories for a global audience that is curious, observant and active on social media. Most odious are false reports drafted to misdirect responsibility and create an atmosphere of mistrust.