August 2012 - Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Yao Ming visits Africa, makes everything look tiny

Former NBA player and Chinese superstar Yao Ming has a new gig as a goodwill ambassador for the nonprofit organization WildAid , who recently brought him to Kenya to make all of our photo dreams come true "document the poaching crisis facing rhinos...

Published Tue, Aug 28 2012 12:30 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Africa, China, Culture, Cute, Photographs

Is 'Zero Dark Thirty' propaganda?

I had been willing to give the benefit of the doubt to Zero Dark Thirty , the upcoming film by director Kathryn Bigelow about the pursuit of Osama bin Laden that has been the target of scrutiny for some lawmakers because of the level of access given to...

Published Tue, Aug 28 2012 10:59 AM by FP Passport

American exceptionalism, and other key lines in the GOP platform

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) may not think highly of party platforms, but a new Pew Research Center poll released Monday suggests that the American public is, in fact, more interested in the GOP platform than in presumptive nominee Mitt Romney's...

Published Tue, Aug 28 2012 9:35 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Election 2012

Why did Mexican police shoot two U.S. government employees?

There's still a lot that's confusing about the shooting of two U.S. government employees by Mexican police last Friday: A Mexican judge ordered 12 federal police officers held for 40 days on Monday as prosecutors mull charges against them for...

Published Tue, Aug 28 2012 8:36 AM by FP Passport

The disturbing Army militia plot in Georgia

Granted, the convention in Tampa has been a massive media attention suck, but there's still be strikingly little coverage of the terrorist group composed partially of active-duty U.S. troops in Georgia that killed two people and whose plans included...

Published Tue, Aug 28 2012 7:58 AM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: Hollande urges recognition of shadow government in Syria

Hollande urges recognition of shadow government in Syria Top news: French President Francois Hollande urged the world to recognize a shadow Syrian government on Monday, becoming the first Western leader to do so. The formation and recognition of a "provisional...

Published Tue, Aug 28 2012 5:50 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Hollande: France would recognize provisional Syrian government

Criticized by some in recent weeks, including his predecessor , for foot-dragging on Syria, French President Francois Hollande suggested one way to raise the diplomatic stakes today: "France asks the Syrian opposition to form a provisional government...

Published Mon, Aug 27 2012 3:00 PM by FP Passport

Al-Shabab's rough week

It has been a particularly rough week for al-Shabab. The al Qaeda-affiliated Islamist militia that has been battling for control of Somalia for the past few years has suffered three major setbacks in the course of a few days. Just last month, prominent...

Published Mon, Aug 27 2012 1:41 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, al Qaeda, Africa, United Nations, Somalia

India gets special treatment in GOP platform

We've already taken a look at the 10 most divisive foreign-policy issues in the 2012 Republican platform, which will be publicly released shortly at the GOP convention in Tampa. But there's one passage that has flown under the radar so far. Take...

Published Mon, Aug 27 2012 12:40 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Election 2012

Sinister globalist plot opposed in GOP platform draft

Back in May, when the latest round of controversy over the Law of the Sea treaty was raging in Congress, I took a look at seven other seemingly harmless international agreements on which the U.S. was conspicuous by its absence, including the Convention...

Published Mon, Aug 27 2012 11:23 AM by FP Passport

Saudi Arabia's military shopping spree

Thom Shanker reports on a new Congressional Research Service reports which finds that U.S. arms sales reached a record high of $66.3 billion last year, more than three quarters of the total global arms market. About half of that comes from sales to Saudi...

Published Mon, Aug 27 2012 9:57 AM by FP Passport

Introducing Foreign Policy's expanded election coverage

With the Republican National Convention set to begin (at least a day late ), we'll be ramping up our coverage of the 2012 presidential race from now through November, delving deeper into what the candidates think about the world and what the world...

Published Mon, Aug 27 2012 8:56 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Election 2012, 2012 Election Poster 1

How many corruption scandals can Manmohan Singh survive?

On the eve of a trip to Iran for a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appeared before the lower house of parliament today to issue a rebuttal to charges of corruption in the scandal that has become known as "coalgate...

Published Mon, Aug 27 2012 8:53 AM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: Syrian opposition accuses government of another massacre

Syrian opposition accuses government of another massacre Top news: On Sunday, as fighting raged in the northern city of Aleppo and around the capital, opposition activists in Syria announced that they had discovered more than 300 bodies in houses and...

Published Mon, Aug 27 2012 5:39 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

The Election 2012 Weekly Report: Drumbeats of August

Obama and Romney spar on Afghanistan At a surprise appearance at the daily White House press conference on Monday, President Barack Obama addressed a number of foreign-policy issues, notably Syria and Afghanistan. On Syria, the president seemed to rule...

Published Fri, Aug 24 2012 3:16 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Election 2012, 2012 Report