February 2010 - Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Are the pirates and the Islamists in cahoots?

Somalia has two big scourges these days: Islamist milititas the run most of the country (and are linked to al Qaeda ) and piracy off the coast. (The combination yields a desperate humanitarian situation sandwiched in between.) But what if the two scourges...

Published Wed, Feb 03 2010 9:52 AM by FP Passport

A conversation with Anwar Ibrahim

Late last year, my colleague Blake Hounshell and I sat down with Anwar Ibrahim here in Washington, where he was attending a conference on inter-religious understanding. The Malaysian opposition leader (who is #32 one of our Top Global Thinkers of 2009...

Published Wed, Feb 03 2010 9:01 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: al Qaeda, Corruption, Human Rights, Law, Diplomacy, Culture, Elections, Islam, Religion, Development

North Koreans fighting back?

It seems that North Korea's "50-day battle" against illegal economic activity (read: economic activity) is not surprisingly causing further instability. From the Times : It was at the end of last November that the Government announced a...

Published Wed, Feb 03 2010 8:32 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: North Korea

Ghajar in the spotlight

The territorial issues surrounding the village of Ghajar are probably understood well by only a few hundred Americans -- and, truth be told, the village's history is not known all that much better in Lebanon. Nevertheless, there have been three stories...

Published Wed, Feb 03 2010 8:00 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East, Israel/Palestine, Lebanon

Morning Brief: U.S. soldiers and children killed in Pakistan school bombing

U.S. soldiers and children killed in Pakistan school bombing Top news: A bomb planted outside a girls' school in the Lower Dir district of Pakistan Northwest Frontier Province killed three U.S. soldiers, three children and a Pakistani soldier on Wednesday...

Published Wed, Feb 03 2010 5:59 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Still no "president of Europe"

A brand new round of "Obama is neglecting Europe" hand-wringing has been set off by the president's decision not to attend a planned U.S.-EU summit in Madrid in the spring. The decision seems understandable -- the president racked up a record...

Published Tue, Feb 02 2010 1:34 PM by FP Passport

Ehud Barak learns to stop worrying about the Iranian bomb

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressed his views in Tel Aviv today on Israeli security, and he certainly made them interesting : It must be understood that if between the Jordan [River] and the [Mediterranean Sea] there is only one political entity...

Published Tue, Feb 02 2010 12:28 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East, Israel/Palestine

Russia celebrates 20 years of Golden Arches.

Yes, this post is largely an excuse to feature the above photo of Comrade Stalin munching on his McFries, but today marks the 20th anniversary of the opening of the first Russian McDonalds. Lines famously stretched around the block at Moscow's Pushkin...

Published Tue, Feb 02 2010 11:41 AM by FP Passport

Which Tymoshenko do you get?

This morning at the Center for American Progress, a panel of veteran American Ukraine hands briefed a group of Ukrainian political leaders and think tankers via satellite on the implications of this Sunday's presidential election on U.S.-Ukrainian...

Published Tue, Feb 02 2010 9:49 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Eastern Europe, Elections

Morning Brief: Iran to execute more opposition activists

Iran to execute more opposition activists Top news: With major opposition protests planned for Feb. 11, Iran plans to execute nine more protesters for the crime of moharebeh, or waging war against god. Activists Arash Rahmanipour and Mohammad-Reza Ali...

Published Tue, Feb 02 2010 5:02 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Somali insurgents announce their allegiance to al Qaeda

Al Shabaab, the Islamist militia wreaking havoc in Somalia, has long been rumored to be harboring al Qaeda ties. Some of the group's main leaders -- including several killed by U.S. drone strikes -- probably trained with the organization abroad. And...

Published Mon, Feb 01 2010 2:19 PM by FP Passport

No, really, cancel Haiti's debt

Over at the Center for Global Development's blog, David Roodman argues that calls to cancel Haiti's debt (currently around $1.25 billion) are misguided. The question is whether to go further than debt service suspension, to drop Haiti's debt...

Published Mon, Feb 01 2010 1:35 PM by FP Passport

Al Shabaab's Alabaman jihadist

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Until recently counter-terrorism officials weren't worried about jihadi pundits having much of an influence in the United States itself, where they believed that a higher degree...

Published Mon, Feb 01 2010 1:34 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, North America, Africa, Middle East, Somalia

Welcome to Carbon Watchers!

Yesterday was deadline day: the date by which those countries that "noted" the non-binding Copenhagen climate accord were supposed to announce their national carbon-reduction targets. Reuters has tracked the pledges (below) . There aren't...

Published Mon, Feb 01 2010 1:29 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Environment

Haiti medevac flights were suspended because of Super Bowl preparations

As mentioned in this morning's brief, the U.S. has resumed medevac flights of injured Haitians to Florida hospitals. But I'm surprised little attention pro football's role in the story has gotten: The need to be ready for a mass emergency...

Published Mon, Feb 01 2010 11:54 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Sports, Haiti's Disaster