Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

FBI busts global Internet hosting service

One day after SOPA blackout day, the U.S. Justice Department has unveiled its latest high-profile piracy prosecution with charges against the operators of Hong Kong-based digital locker service MegaUpload. In one of the largest copyright cases in U.S...

Published Thu, Jan 19 2012 3:11 PM by FP Passport

When did the U.S. navy become the Iranian Coast Guard?

It's great to hear that a U.S. Navy missile destroyer was able to assist the crew of a sinking Iranian fishing vessel in the Gulf of Oman today, but it should be said that this seems to be happening an awful lot lately. On January 5, a U.S. destroyer...

Published Thu, Jan 19 2012 8:21 AM by FP Passport

Rick, we hardly knew ye

Rick Perry's presidential campaign, which is ending today , will almost certainly be remembered best years from now for the infamous "oops" moment , but he had some notable foreign-policy highlights as well. Here's a look back at the...

Published Thu, Jan 19 2012 7:40 AM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: Obama rejects Keystone pipeline

Obama rejects Keystone pipeline Top story: President Barack Obama's administration rejected a Canadian firm's proposal to build and operate an expansion to the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have linked Canada's oil sands to refineries...

Published Thu, Jan 19 2012 4:55 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

ABC: Romney keeps millions in Cayman Islands

If proven true, this seems pretty damaging: As one of the wealthiest candidates to run for president in recent times, Romney has used a variety of techniques to help minimize the taxes on his estimated $250 million fortune. In addition to paying the lower...

Published Wed, Jan 18 2012 2:26 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Election 2012, Mitt Romney

The *** truck driver who speaks for Sweden (this week)

Sweden's tourism board has launched a unique program where each week they turn the official @Sweden twitter feed over to a different citizen. Users have so far included a female priest, and advertising executive and an organic sheep farmer. The feed...

Published Wed, Jan 18 2012 12:43 PM by FP Passport

How to visit Cuba: First, find your purpose

The Washington Post reminds us this week that beginning on March 21, Island Travel & Tours will be operating direct charter flights from Baltimore's BWI Airport to Havana as part of the Obama administration's liberalization of travel to Cuba...

Published Wed, Jan 18 2012 11:47 AM by FP Passport

SOPA, China, and the World's Smallest Violin

To convince lawmakers to abandon the SOPA and PIPA, bills that threatened to put America " on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world " according to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, many prominent websites took to the, um, cyberstreets...

Published Wed, Jan 18 2012 11:28 AM by FP Passport

U.S. confirms that spy agencies worked with ex-warlord Charles Taylor

In response to a FOIA request from the Boston Globe , the U.S. government has confirmed that former Liberian President Charles Taylor, now on trial for war crimes at the Hague, received support from U.S. intelligence agencies during the 1980s: After a...

Published Wed, Jan 18 2012 10:56 AM by FP Passport

If it makes oil deals like a country, or jails journalists like a country, is it a country?

A pair of stories about Somalia's semi-autonomous regions -- Puntland and Somaliland -- make it fairly clear that companies and NGOs are treating these entities as if they are countries, even if governments aren't. First comes news that a Canadian...

Published Wed, Jan 18 2012 9:02 AM by FP Passport

Could Baby Doc make a comeback?

Last May, we asked if the election of Haitian President Michel Martelly would mean that former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier was off the hook for the corruption and human rights abuses of his regime. (Martelly's government is...

Published Wed, Jan 18 2012 8:24 AM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: Rescuers suspend Costa Concordia search

Rescuers suspend Costa Concordia search Top story: The Italian coast guard has suspended rescue efforts for the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship, which crashed into rocks on Friday off the Italian island of Giglio in the Mediterranean. The death toll...

Published Wed, Jan 18 2012 5:07 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

The oppo research on Romney’s foreign policy

My, isn't this awkward. Buzzfeed's Andrew Kaczynski stumbled across a copy of John McCain's 200-page opposition research file on Mitt Romney from the 2008 presidential campaign, which will now undoubtedly be pored over by President Barack...

Published Tue, Jan 17 2012 6:58 PM by FP Passport

Has Argentina launched a squid war

Over the weekend I had the chance to see the new Meryl Streep-as-Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady , which had too little about politics and too much about the Thatchers' frankly not-that-interesting marriage for my taste, but did have one fantastic...

Published Tue, Jan 17 2012 2:04 PM by FP Passport

Ron Paul invokes the ... Millard Fillmore doctrine?

Let's face it. When Millard Fillmore , the undistinguished, uninspiring 13th president of the United States, comes up in political conversation these days, it's usually as the butt of jokes. "When five of your six candidates could not be...

Published Tue, Jan 17 2012 9:38 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Election 2012, Ron Paul