November 2009 - Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Morning Brief: North and South Korean navies exchange fire

North and South Korean navies exchange fire North and South Korean vessels exchanged fire for several minutes on the countries' disputed sea border, today. The South Korean ship was lightly damaged with no casualties, but reports indicate that the...

Published Tue, Nov 10 2009 6:04 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Educate boys, or they'll go to war

A World Bank research paper posted today finds that countries with a high proportion of young males with low levels of secondary education are significantly more conflict-prone. The combination of these "youth bulges" and low rates of secondary...

Published Mon, Nov 09 2009 2:23 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Africa, Foreign Aid, Education, Development, Economics

The Andes arms race

The Berlin Wall fell twenty years ago, and the Cold War itself ended soon after, but if you're feeling nostalgic, tune into the Cold War of the Andes : somewhat more farcical and definitely less likely to end in nuclear annihilation, but riveting...

Published Mon, Nov 09 2009 2:05 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Latin America, Military

Gingrich's overblown Berlin Wall argument

On first glance, New Gingrich's editorial describing Obama's decision not to attend the anniversary of the Berlin Wall a "tragedy" (more here ) seems like simple concern-trolling: The message of human dignity that led to the toppling...

Published Mon, Nov 09 2009 1:20 PM by FP Passport

How the Senate filibusters the world

Like many in Washington, I spent Saturday night at home watching C-SPAN as the House debated and ultimately passed a major healthcare reform bill. It was about as exciting as the legislative process gets: a special weekend session, with heated debate...

Published Mon, Nov 09 2009 11:59 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: North America, Global Warming, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Congress

Caijing editor resigns

The editor of China's most influential financial muckraking journal, Hu Shuli, has resigned . For several months, Hu had been under pressure to tone down the aggressive, investigative tone of the magazine from Caijing 's business partners, who...

Published Mon, Nov 09 2009 10:04 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Pacific

BNP copies Obama Web design

This could very well be the most ironic act of hopejacking yet. Some British bloggers have noticed a striking similarity between the Websites of the xenophobic British National Party , which banned nonwhites from joining until a court order this year...

Published Mon, Nov 09 2009 7:49 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Britain, Internet

Morning Brief: Chavez: Prepare for war with Colombia

Chavez: Prepare for war with Colombia Top story: Tensions between Venezuela and Colombia increased over the weekend as President Hugo Chavez urged his country to prepare for war. Chavez ordered 15,000 troops to the border last Thursday. "Let's...

Published Mon, Nov 09 2009 6:04 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Friday Photo: Snake in the House

George Horne, Deputy Executive Director of Operations & Maintenance Resources, rolls out a preserved Burmese Python which was captured in Miami-Dade County, Florida, during a hearing before the Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee...

Published Fri, Nov 06 2009 4:07 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Friday Photo

Lech Walesa: Tough interview

Journalists often like to start out an interview with a softball question to break the ice before moving on to controversial topics. This tactic clearly doesn't work on former Polish President and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa: SPIEGEL ONLINE: Are...

Published Fri, Nov 06 2009 11:25 AM by FP Passport

How important are Taliban headquarters?

The Pakistani military reported that they entered and largely cleared the "Taliban headquarters" in South Waziristan today. The reported success is part of a large-scale offensive in the region, which is a stronghold of Tehrik-i-Taliban, an...

Published Fri, Nov 06 2009 10:21 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East, Afghanistan, Taliban, Military

Berlin builds new wall for U2 concert

It was nice of the city of Berlin to organize a U2 concert as part of the celebrations for 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall, but putting up 2-meter wall to keep people out was an unfortunate decision: True, there were no minefields or watchtowers...

Published Fri, Nov 06 2009 9:43 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Culture

Dirty diamonds and dirtier politics in Zimbabwe

Before I write anything about Zimbabwe, I should put my biases out there: as my colleagues at FP can attest, I think Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is pretty great. In fact, after interviewing and meeting him, I am convinced he could be Zimbabwe's...

Published Fri, Nov 06 2009 9:18 AM by FP Passport

The problem with "historic breakthroughs"

The Obama administration, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in particular, seems to have developed a bit of a "mission accomplished" problem when it comes to diplomatic breakthroughs. Last week Clinton hailed Benjamin Netanyahu's "unprecedented"...

Published Fri, Nov 06 2009 9:15 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Diplomacy, Obama Administration

Fort Hood misinformation

Last night, the popular blog Gawker and a few other sources reported that Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, participated in a White House-affiliated George Washington university think-tank paper on homeland security. It turns out, it was all wrong...

Published Fri, Nov 06 2009 8:33 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Media