August 2012 - Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

For only $315, you, too, can kill Osama bin Laden

Wish you could have been a part of the SEAL Team 6 raid that killed Osama bin Laden? Now's your chance. Former SEAL Larry Yatch has reconstructed the Abbottabad complex in a 10,000-square-foot studio in New Hope, Minnesota and for $315 a pop you can...

Published Tue, Aug 21 2012 2:21 PM by FP Passport

Ethiopia: What happens now?

Following weeks of speculation about the state of his health, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi died on August 21 at the age of 57. Although a government spokesperson claimed that the long-time leader of the country's authoritarian state apparatus...

Published Tue, Aug 21 2012 1:16 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Africa

Ecuador's other asylum controversy

While the Julian Assange situation continues to play out in Knightsbridge, RFE/RL reports on another asylum case involving the Ecuadorean government: According to various accounts, Barankou, 30, was a member of the Belarusian security forces who says...

Published Tue, Aug 21 2012 1:14 PM by FP Passport

Spanish politicians’ kids tweet the darndest things

While U.S. news outlets focus on Missouri Republican Todd Akin's explosive comments about rape victims, their Spanish counterparts are busy reporting on a decidedly more frivolous political gaffe. On Monday, a strange tweet appeared on the account...

Published Tue, Aug 21 2012 11:00 AM by FP Passport

Czechoslovakia lives... in the GOP platform

I thought it was a little petty when people were giving Romney campaign advisor Pierre Prosper a hard time for referring to "Czechoslovakia" back in April, as John McCain did several times during the 2008 election. People misspeak, especially...

Published Tue, Aug 21 2012 8:21 AM by FP Passport

The real reason the FBI was interested in the naked Galilee swim

Turns out, as I sort of suspected , that contrary to earlier reports , the FBI was not interested in why Rep. Kevin Yoder wasn't wearing a bathing suit during his unsuccessful attempt to follow in Jesus's footsteps on the Sea of Galilee, but in...

Published Tue, Aug 21 2012 7:57 AM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: Obama: Chemical weapons in Syria would "change my calculus"

Obama: Chemical weapons in Syria would "change my calculus" Top news: President Barack Obama warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that the use or preparation for use of chemical or biological weapons could provoke U.S. intervention in the...

Published Tue, Aug 21 2012 5:38 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

The world's No. 1 Failed State gets a government

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE For over two decades, Somalia has been touted as the paradigm of a failed state -- an ungovernable web of warring clans, militias and semi-autonomous statelets that have not seen centralized control since...

Published Mon, Aug 20 2012 3:23 PM by FP Passport

It's not just foreign policy that makes Americans unpopular in the Muslim world

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The United States doesn't get a lot of love from the Muslim world. Only eight percent of Pakistanis, for instance, view the U.S. as a partner, according to a Pew opinion poll...

Published Mon, Aug 20 2012 1:27 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Islam

A one-man Dream Act

Born with tumors that distorted one side of his face and abandoned by his parents at an orphanage when he was 15, Sopuruchi Chukwueke was brought from Nigeria to the United States by a missionary nun 11 years ago, has graduated from high school and college...

Published Mon, Aug 20 2012 11:35 AM by FP Passport

One somewhat interesting aspect of August's dumbest story

I'm with the Atlantic 's Connor Friedersdorf in thinking that the real scanda l in Politico 's "exclusive" on the FBI investigation into Kansas Rep. Kevin Yoder's nude swim in the Sea of Galilee (cue walking on water jokes) last...

Published Mon, Aug 20 2012 10:44 AM by FP Passport

Occupy London divided over Assange

The Guardian reports that Occupy London, which remains an activist group despite having been cleared from its encampment outside St. Paul's cathedral, is divided over whether to support Julian Assange in the stand-off at the Ecuadorean embassy: "Occupy...

Published Mon, Aug 20 2012 8:58 AM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: China's Gu Kailai receives suspended death sentence

China's Gu Kailai receives suspended death sentence Top news: A Chinese court in the eastern city of Hefei has sentenced Gu Kailai, the wife of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai, to death for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood but...

Published Mon, Aug 20 2012 5:34 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Duck, duck ... wolf

One thing that's been bugging me about the endless Washington parlor game "Will Israel attack Iran?" -- it's not a simple, binary question. It's actually a somewhat complicated series of interlocking questions, the answers to which...

Published Sat, Aug 18 2012 6:32 AM by FP Passport

The Election 2012 Weekly Report: Enter Ryan

The Life of Ryan Last Saturday, Mitt Romney ended weeks of speculation by naming Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate. With Ryan, Romney gets a potential VP who is popular with the GOP base and is seen as a leader on fiscal issues. He does...

Published Fri, Aug 17 2012 11:02 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Election 2012, 2012 Report