Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

It's Not About Morsy: The Muslim Brotherhood's Blueprint for Victory

"Of course we would love to be in Tahrir Square," Amr Darrag, a senior Muslim Brotherhood official and the former minister of planning and international cooperation, told me last week. "But we don't want to give the impression that...

Published Mon, Jul 22 2013 10:40 AM by FP Passport

Israel-Palestine: nothing works

For all the grief I gave Andrew Sullivan the other day, I have to admit: He's the unquestioned master of his medium. In the days since Leon Wieseltier's hit piece , Sully has curated a wide-ranging debate about himself and the thorny subject of...

Published Fri, Feb 12 2010 7:16 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Israel/Palestine

Taiwan plays Cupid with its single citizens

Single and ready to mingle in Taiwan? Then meet your new matchmaker: your government. With a 2009 birth rate falling below half the replacement rate, the island's conspicuous lack of baby-making threatens to devastate the economy -- and officials...

Published Mon, Jun 21 2010 1:34 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, Economics

The legacy of Ixtoc

I wouldn't say that Glenn Garvin's look back at the 1979 Ixtoc 1 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico makes one more optimistic about the current prospects for recovery, but it's at provides some useful perspective: Soto, who followed the fish...

Published Mon, Jun 14 2010 11:13 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Oil, Oil / Energy Disaster / Problem / Shennanigans

China's earthquake watcher

Independent analysis of government policy is rare and generally unwelcome in China; it's even rarer for such advice to be followed. But an exception that proves the rule is when the advice-giver has a direct line to decision-makers, and when there's...

Published Wed, May 12 2010 1:40 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Disasters, East Asia, China

Curious about other "might have been's"?

If this weekend's bungled car bombing in Times Square has got you thinking about other "might have been's," check out Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedmann's rundown of the most serious attempted terrorist attacks since 2004 from their...

Published Mon, May 03 2010 8:54 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism

South Lebanon, 10 years later

When contemplating the 10-year anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon, I keep coming back to an admission a Lebanese friend once made to me: In the aftermath of the withdrawal, he told me rather sheepishly, he had sported a t-shirt...

Published Mon, May 24 2010 10:44 AM by FP Passport

Does North Korea have a pirate problem?

At 7 a.m. on May 6, Yu Xuejun received a phone call from the captain of a fishing boat he owns. "I asked him what the problem was," Yu told state broadcaster China Central Television in an interview broadcast Monday, "and he said one of...

Published Mon, May 20 2013 1:53 PM by FP Passport

The NSA's PRISM slides get a makeover

When the Washington Post and the Guardian revealed the existence of the NSA intelligence-gathering program PRISM last week, they both relied on a set of horrifically bad slides reportedly prepared by the agency and presented to a group of senior analysts...

Published Tue, Jun 11 2013 8:09 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Intelligence

Mr. Bean hacks Spanish PM's website

The official website for Spain's European Union presidency was briefly hacked this morning by an unidentified hacker who posted a smiling picture of British comedian Rowan Atkinson's famous character Mr. Bean. Apparently the resemblance of Spanish...

Published Tue, Jan 05 2010 7:30 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, Internet, Fun Stuff

Why Sanjay Gupta did the right thing

Washington Post reporter Ian Shapira, referring to an incident where CNN medical expert Sanjay Gupta actually began treating patients in Haiti, asks , "Are reporters with backgrounds in medicine being show-offs when they simultaneously report on...

Published Wed, Jan 20 2010 3:26 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Disasters, Latin America, Media

Malawi accuses Madonna of emotional blackmail

Emotional blackmail. No, it's not Madonna's new hit single, but rather one of the accusations hurled at the pop star in a statement released by the Malawi State House on Thursday. Earlier this week, we wrote about the material girl's less...

Published Thu, Apr 11 2013 9:55 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Africa, Culture, Media

Obama's photo faux pas

Anyone recognize the gentleman whose face has been unceremoniously blocked out of this photo by the leader of the free world's hand? Read More...

Published Tue, Sep 20 2011 4:07 PM by FP Passport

Netanyahu's ice cream budget causes national uproar

Israelis are in an uproar over the recent news that their prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, spends a whopping $2,700 per year of public funds on ice cream. The story dominated Israeli headlines over the weekend, causing outrage in a country that has...

Published Tue, Feb 19 2013 9:25 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Politics, Middle East, Fun Stuff, Israel/Palestine

Mumbai police told to lose the paunch or lose their jobs

The classic American ‘donut-loving cop' stereotype is not so funny in India. Five overweight police officers collapsed during a short parade in Mumbai earlier this year due to an unfortunate heat and pot-belly combo. City commissioner Arup Patnaik...

Published Wed, Jul 20 2011 9:32 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: India, Health