No effort should be spared to ratchet that result up to the highest feasible level.

Tenth, any US unilateral military strike against Syria would ratchet up tensions between the US and Russia. This, in turn, would strengthen the Russia Iran alliance.

The path to an international agreement strong enough to keep global warming under two degrees will be fraught with obstacles. But, if citizens ratchet up the pressure on their leaders, and policymakers demonstrate vision and leadership, the route can be navigated.

The court ruled that a series of social programs should be expanded, in order to provide a basic nutritional floor for all. This activated a virtuous circle by strengthening the social movements rallying around the right to food, the Supreme Court s decision enabled them to ratchet up pressure on state governments to build an effective food security apparatus.

After the long and painful campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand every impulse to stay clear of the turmoil, to watch but not to intervene, to ratchet up language but not to engage in the hard, even harsh business of changing reality on the ground. But we have to understand the consequences of wringing our hands instead of putting them to work.

On global nonproliferation, the US should push for a role for India in next year s Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference in order to complete the country s transformation from being part of the problem to being part of the solution. In terms of counterterrorism, the tragic events in Mumbai present an opportunity to ratchet up intelligence sharing, joint response training, and personnel exchanges to defeat the defining threat of our times.