Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

A guide to the Russian officials on the U.S. Magnitsky list

On Friday, the State Department announced the names of Russian officials who will face travel bans and asset freezes under the Magnitsky Act, a law Congress passed last year that tasks the government with identifying Russian human rights abusers. The...

Published Fri, Apr 12 2013 5:00 PM by FP Passport

The missile tests you missed while watching North Korea

Two nuclear-armed countries conducted missile tests this past week -- and neither of them was North Korea. Instead, the missile launches came from nuclear rivals India and Pakistan. Last Sunday, India fired a medium-range, nuclear-capable Agni-II missile...

Published Fri, Apr 12 2013 4:40 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Security, Pakistan, South Asia, Nukes, India

News you might have missed: Iran considers annexing Azerbaijan (again)

Journalists have had their hands full this week with reports of Iran's fake time machine , not to mention the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that shook the country's south. But somehow, in all the excitement, an Iranian proposal to annex Azerbaijan...

Published Fri, Apr 12 2013 2:10 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Diplomacy, Media, History, Central Asia, Borders, Iran

North Korea can mount nuclear warheads on missiles? Where have we heard that before?

Today, the front page of the New York Times , the Los Angeles Times , the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post announced that North Korea has learned how to make nuclear weapons small enough to be delivered by a ballistic missile, according to...

Published Fri, Apr 12 2013 1:00 PM by FP Passport

The toilet paper theory of Chinese international development

In January 2012, Guo Shuqing, then head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, employed an unusual segue to discuss the internationalization of China's securities. Guo's powerful organization, roughly similar to the U.S. Securities and...

Published Fri, Apr 12 2013 11:45 AM by FP Passport

Boko Haram offers Nigerian government amnesty

Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group responsible for more than 2,000 deaths in northern Nigeria, is apparently not interested in amnesty . In rejecting an offer (before it was actually put on the table) by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, the group...

Published Fri, Apr 12 2013 10:45 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, Africa

The corporations profiting from North Korean belligerence

North Korean aggression is a drain on South Korea's economy, but it's a boon for the defense contractors looking to flood the peninsula with new weapons systems. As Seoul awaits a possible North Korean missile launch this week, the country is...

Published Fri, Apr 12 2013 9:30 AM by FP Passport

How to cover the Syrian war without leaving your home

The war in Syria has been documented unlike any conflict before. Every day, there is an electronic flood of information: Youtube videos, Facebook posts, and web forums all provide a ground-level view of events in the country. Particularly given journalists'...

Published Fri, Apr 12 2013 6:56 AM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: North Korea may have capacity to build nuclear missile

North Korea may have capacity to build nuclear missile Top news: A report issued last month by the Defense Intelligence Agency found, with "moderate confidence," that "North [Korea] currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic...

Published Fri, Apr 12 2013 5:46 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Iraqi blogger returns after six-year hiatus

This week's 10-year anniversary of the fall of Baghdad prompted plenty of reflections on the Iraq war from soldiers and strategists, columnists and analysts. But we've heard far less from Iraqis themselves . Here to close that gap is "Riverbend...

Published Thu, Apr 11 2013 4:50 PM by FP Passport

WikiLeaked: The Soviet space junk that became a Moroccan UFO

There aren't many surprises in the new WikiLeaks document dump -- the organization is calling the collection of 1.7 million documents dated from 1973 to 1976 "The Kissinger Cables" -- but there are a few interesting finds. For example, there's...

Published Thu, Apr 11 2013 4:00 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Science & Technology, History, Intelligence, International Relations, State Department, North Africa, WikiLeaks, Cool

The strangest thing about Putin's appearance on Finland's secret criminal blacklist

On Wednesday we received the bizarre news that Russian President Vladimir Putin's name had mistakenly ended up on a secret criminal blacklist compiled by Finnish police. Those placed on the list face automatic detainment at the Finnish border and...

Published Thu, Apr 11 2013 3:45 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Russia, Politics, Eastern Europe, International Relations

Meet Dom, the inadvertent spy on Iran

Iran, always leery when it comes to espionage, has taken a number of steps to fend off would-be spies. The latest came just yesterday, with the announcement of an "Islamic" alternative to Google Earth -- the ironically named Basir (spectator...

Published Thu, Apr 11 2013 3:10 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Science & Technology, Middle East, Fun Stuff

Fake fake news: The Iranian time machine

A good rule of thumb for news in the Internet age: If there's a "Ha, ha, silly foreigners" story circulating on the Internet, and if 90 percent of the people writing about it are citing the Telegraph , it's probably mostly fake, or at...

Published Thu, Apr 11 2013 2:30 PM by FP Passport

Indian officials fortify elephant-vulnerable polling stations

In India, elephants are revered as the living incarnation of the Hindu god Ganesh -- but that doesn't mean Indians want the huge animals showing up at voting booths. State elections are slated to take place across the country this year, and the Hindu...

Published Thu, Apr 11 2013 1:00 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Elections, South Asia, India