January 2010 - Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Mike Mullen: Relationship Guru

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 This is apparently the week of Mike Mullen's media blitz. Fresh off appearing on The Daily Show Wednesday night, I watched the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff deliver...

Published Fri, Jan 08 2010 8:37 AM by FP Passport

Giuliani: No domestic terror attacks under Bush

I see that my former mayor has some issues with the Obama administration's counterterrorism strategy: “What he [Obama] should be doing is following the right things that Bush did -- one of the right things he did was treat this as a war on terror...

Published Fri, Jan 08 2010 8:03 AM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: Pants bomber to appear in court today

Pants bomber to appear in court today Top news: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas day, is due to appear in Federal Court in Detroit today to be arraigned on six charges, including attempted murder and...

Published Fri, Jan 08 2010 5:52 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

The best part of Obama's speech today

I thought Obama really nailed his appearance today. This bit was right on: Here at home, we will strengthen our defenses, but we will not succumb to a siege mentality that sacrifices the open society and liberties and values that we cherish as Americans...

Published Thu, Jan 07 2010 4:38 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Security

Charles Murray's hanging curveball

Via Andrew Sullivan, I see that Bell Curve author Charles Murray is expressing shock and dismay at the number of "African blacks, Middle-Eastern types, and East Asians" in Paris these days. He adds: Mark Steyn and Christopher Caldwell have already...

Published Thu, Jan 07 2010 4:19 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, Islam

Oh, Europe's weather is frightful

As today's photo essay shows, winter is in full force across Europe, causing havoc with the lives of millions. Airports have shut down, roads are treacherous, and rail derailments are becoming a frequent occurence. But most of the temperatures Europeans...

Published Thu, Jan 07 2010 3:58 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, Environment

Strange "recidivism" numbers

In order to return to doing something, you needed to have been doing it before. That was the point made in the media scrum after the Pentagon reported last spring that 14 percent of released Guantanamo detainees went "back to the battlefield."...

Published Thu, Jan 07 2010 3:35 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, Taliban, U.S. Foreign Policy

Hillary, Hu and YouTube

What do Hillary Clinton and Hu Jintao have in common? Check your mobile phone for the answer. Yesterday Sec. Clinton laid out her vision for "Development in the 21st Century ," explaining the U.S. State Department's current efforts to equip...

Published Thu, Jan 07 2010 2:40 PM by FP Passport

White House: No major reorganization needed

There isn't a whole lot of news in the just-released White House Security Review on the Christmas bombing attempt. (Not sure what James Jones was so " shocked " by.) As President Obama basically said two days ago, the U.S.government "had...

Published Thu, Jan 07 2010 2:35 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, Security

Is Obama out of options on Cuba?

The tone of U.S.-Cuban relations have taken a number of turns for the worse in recent days. The largest of these may be the arrest of an American contractor for distributing laptops on the island. Christopher Sabatini explains the significance of this...

Published Thu, Jan 07 2010 12:20 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Latin America

Who should get fired for the Pants Bomber incident?

Since the Pants Bomber thankfully failed to blow up Nortwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day, the United States has taken a long, hard look at the security failures that allowed him onto the plane -- particularly given that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's...

Published Thu, Jan 07 2010 11:10 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, Drugs & Crime, Obama Administration, Intelligence

Is Nigeria's President still alive?

When I was working in Nigeria, I refused to dabble in conspiracy theories about the health of President Umaru Yar'Adua. All of his opponents told me that he was sick -- that he worked only four hours a day. His advisors told me the story was a load...

Published Thu, Jan 07 2010 9:24 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Africa

What would it cost for the U.S. to get Israel-level airport security?

A few years ago, the summer of the Lebanon War, I traveled to Israel. I flew back through Ben Gurion, as pristine, clean, empty, and beautiful an airport as I've ever been in. There were no lines anywhere and sightlines everywhere, giving it a bit...

Published Thu, Jan 07 2010 8:43 AM by FP Passport

Iranian TV says Neda's death was faked

A new documentary shown on Iranian state TV claims that the death of Neda Agha Soltan, who became an international icon of the Iranian opposition movement, was a hoax. Radio Free Europe's Golnaz Esfandiari reports : The program says that Neda threw...

Published Thu, Jan 07 2010 8:04 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Iran

Saudi Arabia and Iraq just can't get along

Saudi Arabia and post-Saddam Iraq have never gotten along -- the Saudis have never gotten over the fact that a Shiite government is now running the show in Baghdad. Via Nightwatch , I see that Al-Sharq al-Awsat is reporting that the religious aspect of...

Published Thu, Jan 07 2010 7:30 AM by FP Passport