Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Panetta surrenders to New Zealand in decades-old nuclear standoff!

As loyal Passport readers know, the United States and New Zealand have been locked in a bitter Cold War since 1985, when New Zealand denied port access to a U.S. destroyer because it could not determine whether the ship was armed with nuclear weapons...

Published Fri, Sep 21 2012 10:26 AM by FP Passport

Libyans march against militias

Streaming live video by Ustream It probably won't get as much coverage as the violence in Pakistan , but there's another notable demonstration today. According to the AP, around 30,000 people have come out in Benghazi to demand the disbanding...

Published Fri, Sep 21 2012 10:07 AM by FP Passport

Separatism in the eurocrisis era

In addition to Spain's spiraling debt crisis, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy faces a threat from within in the form of a renewed wave of Catalan nationalism. Thousands of nationalists rallied in Barcelona last week and more than half of the province's...

Published Fri, Sep 21 2012 9:51 AM by FP Passport

Romney campaign continues to struggle with Iran question

As my colleague Josh Rogin reports , Mitt Romney changed his tune about what he considers a "red line" for Iran's nuclear program in a conference call with American rabbis on Thursday, arguing that "it is unacceptable for Iran to have...

Published Fri, Sep 21 2012 9:17 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Election 2012, 2012 Election Poster 1, Mitt Romney

Apple's new mapping software has Senkakus for everyone!

Apple has promised that the much-derided mapping software on its new iOS6 mobile operating system will improve soon, the BBC reports : The BBC received a lot of complaints about Apple's maps, with users saying that some towns, such as Stratford Upon...

Published Fri, Sep 21 2012 7:15 AM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: Protests erupt in Pakistan over anti-Islam film

Protests erupt in Pakistan over anti-Islam film Top news: A day after Pakistani security forces prevented more than 2,000 protesters from reaching the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, demonstrators are again clashing with police -- this time on a "Day...

Published Fri, Sep 21 2012 4:33 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Obama's teflon on immigration

Don't let the numbers fool you. Barack Obama may be leading Mitt Romney by a two-to-one ratio in polls of Latino voters, and 58 percent of those voters may approve of the job the president is doing on immigration. But Obama's record on immigration...

Published Thu, Sep 20 2012 1:49 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Election 2012, Barack Obama

NCTC director: Al Qaeda magazine has fallen off

Back in May, I took a look at the first two issues o f Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's Inspire magazine to be released since the deaths of its best known contributor Anwar al-Awlaki, and its editor Samir Khan. It seemed to me that the quality...

Published Thu, Sep 20 2012 8:05 AM by FP Passport

Greece selling off diplomatic residences

It's not just islands , the Greek foreign ministry is holding a firesale of diplomatic property, reports the Guardian : On Wednesday, the nation learned the downsizing would also include diplomatic residences abroad – starting with the Victorian townhouse...

Published Thu, Sep 20 2012 7:46 AM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: Prophet cartoons in French paper stir controversy

Prophet cartoons in French paper stir controversy Top news: The French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, whose headquarters were firebombed last year after the weekly ran images of the Prophet Mohammed, stoked controversy again on Wednesday by publishing...

Published Thu, Sep 20 2012 5:08 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

An all-Europe army?

A report produced by a group of 11 E.U. foreign ministers this week on the future of Europe focused, understandably, on how greater integration - or "more Europe" - could help resolve the ongoing debt crises, through greater oversight of member...

Published Wed, Sep 19 2012 11:51 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, France, Britain, Germany

Why Obama's sagging foreign-policy support isn't as bad as it seems

Polling this week suggests that Barack Obama is pulling ahead of Mitt Romney in key swing states and erasing the Republican candidate's advantage on the economy. But the results include one piece of bad news: According to an NBC News/ Wall Street...

Published Wed, Sep 19 2012 11:00 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Election 2012, Mitt Romney, Barack Obama

Video: The euro crisis as rom-com

The lazy Greeks/hard-working Germans stereotype has been pretty much debunked , but this is still very well done: Via: @TimHarford Read More...

Published Wed, Sep 19 2012 10:33 AM by FP Passport

Governments paying for Wikipedia edits?

CNet's Violet Blue reports on a Wikipedia conflict-of-interest scandal : Roger Bamkin, trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation UK, whose LinkedIn page describes him as a high-return-earning PR consultant , appeared to be using Wikipedia's main page...

Published Wed, Sep 19 2012 10:19 AM by FP Passport

Russia may block YouTube over Mohammed video

When Russia passed a new internet law billed as a crackdown on online child pornography back in July, critics worried that the law was vague enough that it could be used as a pretext to block political speech. It looks like the first test case for the...

Published Wed, Sep 19 2012 8:09 AM by FP Passport