The Foreign Service Journal, January 2011

J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 11 Chinese firms at risk. On a more pos- itive note, the USCC observes that China is promoting “green energy” in order to increase its economic security, prevent environmental degradation and develop a globally competitive green energy industry. Congress established the USCC one decade ago, on Oct. 30, 2000, to monitor and report on the national se- curity implications of bilateral trade and the overall economic relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. The bipartisan body has 12 mem- bers, three each appointed by the House and Senate majority and minor- ity leaders, following consultation with the chair and ranking minority mem- bers of each house’s armed forces and finance committees. (There are no members from the executive branch.) To read the full report, visit www. uscc.gov . — Steven Alan Honley, Editor Very Little Rotten in the State of Denmark The results are in. The most cor- rupt country in the world, according to the 2010 Corruption Perceptions In- dex, is Somalia. Each year the CPI, a report com- piled by the respected nongovernmen- tal organization Transparency Interna- tional, offers an overview of global cor- ruption, country by country ( www. transparency.org ) . The group bases its findings on two primary resources: individual country data and expert analysis from inde- pendent sources like the World Bank and Freedom House, and evaluations by local business leaders in each coun- try. Scoring is on a 10-point scale, with 10 representing little or no corruption. With a score of 9.3, Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore are tied for the top spot of least-corrupt country in the world. Also noteworthy is the inclusion of Barbados in 17th place (tied with Japan) and Qatar in 19th; the two countries are the best performers in the Caribbean and Middle East re- gions, respectively. On a more pessimistic note, Trans- parency International reports that “three quarters of the 178 countries in the index score below five, [indicating] a serious corruption problem.” De- spite America’s nationbuilding efforts, Iraq and Afghanistan are considered among the most corrupt countries in the world, at 175th and 176th place, respectively. For the first time ever, the United States did not rank among the 20 least- corrupt nations; having fallen from 19th place in 2009 to 22nd, the U.S. is one of only seven countries whose standing worsened. Russia also drop- ped in the rankings, from 146th last year to a dismal 154th this year, despite President Dmitry Medvedev’s vocifer- ous attacks on what he termed Russia’s ‘most serious disease.’ —Mohammad Alhinnawi, Editorial Intern Deepening Ties to New Delhi Though it took place under the cloud of the U.S. midterm elections, President Barack Obama’s Nov. 6-9 visit marked a qualitative strengthening of the U.S.-India relationship. India was the first stop on a 10-day Asian so- C Y B E R N O T E S Site of the Month: www.thehungersite.com Looking for a New Year’s resolution you can actually keep all year long, one that makes a small but real difference in the world every day? Then bookmark The Hunger Site.com , which focuses the power of the Internet on a specific humanitarian need: the eradication of world hunger. Since its launch in June 1999, the site has established itself as a leader in online ac- tivism, helping to feed the world’s hungry as part of the Greater Good Network (www.greatergoodnetwork.com ). On average, over 220,000 individuals from around the world visit the site each day to click on the yellow “Click Here to Give — It’s Free” button. (Though you can only donate once a day from any single computer, you can access the site from home and work to double your contribution if you wish.) To date, some 300 million visitors have given more than 746 million cups of sta- ple food, paid for by site sponsors and distributed to those in need by Mercy Corps (www.mercycorps.org) ; Feeding America (www.feedingharvest.org ), formerly Amer- ica’s Second Harvest ; and Millennium Promise (www.millenniumpromise.org ). As the site notes, 100 percent of sponsor advertising fees goes to the site’s charitable partners to aid hungry people all over the world, including the United States. As a bonus, The Hunger Site acts as a portal to five sister sites, each of which gen- erates donations to fight breast cancer, promote child health and literacy, protect rain- forests or support animal rescue initiatives. (Icons for all six sites are prominently displayed at the top of each homepage.) Visitors can help even more by shopping for items displayed in the online store at each site. These all offer a wide array of fair-trade, handcrafted items from around the world. — Steven Alan Honley, Editor