August 2012 - Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Missing Olympian total grows to eight

Cameroon's Olympic delegation has confirmed that seven of the African nation's 37 athletes have disappeared from the Olympic Village. Drusille Ngako, a reserve goalkeeper for the women's soccer team, is believed to have been the first to disappear...

Published Tue, Aug 07 2012 10:23 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Sports, Migration/Immigration, Olympics

Sri Lanka captures Chinese fishermen

After trouble in the South and East China Seas, Chinese fisherman have caused new waves in the Indian Ocean. On Aug. 5, Sri Lanka's Navy captured two Chinese fishing trawlers off the eastern coast of Arugambay in the Indian Ocean on charges of illegally...

Published Tue, Aug 07 2012 9:41 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: China, South Asia, India

Lessons in leadership from Bashar al-Assad

It turns out that when you threaten to kill someone when making a job offer, it's difficult to guarantee their loyalty. Syrian prime minister Riad Hijab announced his defection from the regime Monday and vowed to support the opposition. He probably...

Published Tue, Aug 07 2012 8:06 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Syria, Arab World

If we keep saying candidate trips abroad are a tradition, they will become one

In an article written around the time Mitt Romney departed for Europe, I noted that the media was treating his foreign sojourn in the midst of campaign season as a completely normal and expected thing for him to do, while it was considered bizarre and...

Published Tue, Aug 07 2012 7:32 AM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: Assad steps up offensive following high-level defection

Assad steps up offensive following high-level defection Top news: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has stepped up his bombardment of Aleppo, the country's commercial hub, following the defection of Prime Minister Riyad Hijab on Monday. Tanks have...

Published Tue, Aug 07 2012 6:09 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Could an argument over the House of Lords bring down the British government?

Britain's ruling coalition of David Cameron's Conservatives and Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats seems seems to be nearing the breaking point over the government's failure to make headway on the least likely of issues: reform of the House...

Published Mon, Aug 06 2012 3:06 PM by FP Passport

German rower kicked off Olympic team for dating neo-Nazi

Der Spiegel reports on an Olympic scandal of a different kind : Rower Nadja Drygalla left the German Olympic team on Friday after it became known that her boyfriend was a leading neo-Nazi in the northeastern city of Rostock. She denied having far-right...

Published Mon, Aug 06 2012 2:37 PM by FP Passport

Maybe poverty doesn't breed terrorism

One counterrorism strategy that both George W. Bush and Barack Obama agree on -- not to mention Desmond Tutu , Colin Powell , Kofi Annan and many more -- is that there's a link between extreme poverty and support for violent extremism. But some new...

Published Mon, Aug 06 2012 1:44 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Flash Points

Mikhail Khodorkovsky on *** Riot

Russia's most famous prisoner, Mikhail Khodorkovsk,y has released a statement on the trial of punk rock provocateurs *** Riot. The billionaire dissident recounts his own experience in the courtroom where the band members now sit: Segezha, 6 August...

Published Mon, Aug 06 2012 8:55 AM by FP Passport

What does a wider Panama Canal mean for you?

A new third lane in the canal will be a game-changer for the global shipping industry, McClatchy's Tim Johnson reports: [T]he Panama Canal was always constrained by the size of its locks, permitting no vessel longer than 965 feet, wider than 106 feet...

Published Mon, Aug 06 2012 8:25 AM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: Syrian prime minister defects

Syrian prime minister defects Top news: Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab has reportedly defected to the opposition after fleeing with his family to Jordan. Syrian state TV had reported that Hijab was fired but in a statement released by a spokesman in...

Published Mon, Aug 06 2012 5:24 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

The Election 2012 Weekly Report: Homecoming week

Culture war After last weekend's widely publicized, gaffe-filled trip to London, Mitt Romney caused another foreign policy controversy in Jerusalem with his suggestion that "culture" was the reason that Israel is more prosperous than the...

Published Fri, Aug 03 2012 12:39 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Election 2012, 2012 Report

Morning Brief: Syria rift grows at the U.N. as Annan steps aside

Syria rift grows at the U.N. as Annan steps aside Top News: Kofi Annan stepped down yesterday as the U.N. Special Envoy to Syria. The former secretary general and Nobel Peace Prize winner was first appointed in February. “Without serious, purposeful and...

Published Fri, Aug 03 2012 5:09 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Love my Paracels

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Ever wonder what a propaganda spectacular centered on the South China Sea would look like? Your wait is over: In late July, the Hainan Province Department of Propaganda staged a televised special titled,...

Published Thu, Aug 02 2012 11:52 AM by FP Passport

China cracks down on Ramadan in Xinjiang

The Chinese government has ordered restrictions on Ramadan observances in the northern province of Xinjiang, home to the majority of China's Muslim Uighur minority, leading Uighur leaders to warn of the potential for new violence in the restive region...

Published Thu, Aug 02 2012 9:57 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, China, Religion, Iran Watch

August 2012 - Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

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Missing Olympian total grows to eight

Sri Lanka captures Chinese fishermen

Lessons in leadership from Bashar al-Assad

If we keep saying candidate trips abroad are a tradition, they will become one

Morning Brief: Assad steps up offensive following high-level defection

Could an argument over the House of Lords bring down the British government?

German rower kicked off Olympic team for dating neo-Nazi

Maybe poverty doesn't breed terrorism

Mikhail Khodorkovsky on *** Riot

What does a wider Panama Canal mean for you?

Morning Brief: Syrian prime minister defects

The Election 2012 Weekly Report: Homecoming week

Morning Brief: Syria rift grows at the U.N. as Annan steps aside

Love my Paracels

China cracks down on Ramadan in Xinjiang