Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Morning Brief: Pope Benedict XVI announces he will resign

Pope Benedict XVI announces he will resign Top news: Pointing to an ailing "mind and body," Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he would resign, the first leader of the Roman Catholic Church to do so since 1415. “In today’s world, subject...

Published Mon, Feb 11 2013 5:48 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Morning Brief: Obama lays out modest foreign policy vision

Obama lays out modest foreign policy vision Top news: President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that he will withdraw 34,000 troops from Afghanistan within a year, seek aggressive action to combat climate change, and negotiate a trade deal with Europe...

Published Wed, Feb 13 2013 6:08 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

How the Egyptian Opposition Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Its New Military Overlords

CAIRO -- It wasn't that long ago that Mohamed was protesting against Egypt's generals. Now he's welcoming their overthrow of the country's elected president. "They [the military] learned from their experience, and we need the military...

Published Wed, Jul 03 2013 5:10 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East, Egypt, Arab World

GQ gets the Wonkette treatment

I poked some fun last fall at GQ 's " 50 most powerful people in D.C. " list, which ranked various Washington poobahs who "truly have clout" in the U.S. capital. Today comes word that ex- Wonkette and longtime blogosphere fixture...

Published Thu, Feb 11 2010 3:26 PM by FP Passport

China's plane diplomacy

We've heard of ping-pong diplomacy and panda diplomacy ... and now there's plane diplomacy. Actually, the fact that state-run Chinese airlines make politically motivated decisions about whether to give contracts to Boeing or Airbus -- or to split...

Published Thu, Feb 11 2010 3:22 PM by FP Passport

Friday Photo: Up in the Air

WHISTLER OLYMPIC PARK, CANADA - FEBRUARY 12: (FRANCE OUT) Martin Schmitt of Germany during the Ski Jumping Individual NH Qualifications on Day 1 of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games on February 12, 2010 in Whistler Olympic Park, Canada. Read More...

Published Fri, Feb 12 2010 3:50 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Friday Photo, Olympics

The risky legal strategy behind Edward Snowden's flight to Hong Kong

With his decision to flee to Hong Kong , Edward Snowden, the whistleblower behind the bombshell leak that exposed a highly classified U.S. intelligence program, has taken a serious legal risk, one that may very well result in his extradition to the United...

Published Sun, Jun 09 2013 9:30 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: China, National Security

The New Cocaine War: Peru Overtakes Colombia as World's Top Coca Grower

With the declaration by the United Nations on Thursday that Colombia has reduced its coca crop by 25 percent, meaning Peru has likely passed the country as the world's largest cultivator of coca, Colombians can breathe a sigh of relief. Ravaged by...

Published Fri, Aug 09 2013 2:40 PM by FP Passport

Rising Water Levels Solve Another Geopolitical Problem

We all know climate change is supposed to create more human conflict , but what about the problems it's solving? Xinhua reports on an elegant solution to a long-simmering Sino-Russian border dispute: In the next 10 days, the water level around Heixiazi...

Published Wed, Aug 07 2013 8:46 AM by FP Passport

Covert Twitter Ops: Israel's Latest (Mis)Adventure in Digital Diplomacy

There's a new front in the social media wars: Israeli university campuses. In cooperation with Israel's national student union, Haaretz reported today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office is planning to create "covert units"...

Published Tue, Aug 13 2013 4:30 PM by FP Passport

Syrian opposition leader proposes peace deal

After more than 80,000 dead and millions driven from their homes, can Syria's opposition and President Bashar al-Assad's regime really negotiate a political settlement? At least one opposition leader is willing to give it a try. Former Syrian...

Published Thu, May 23 2013 8:50 AM by FP Passport

Green Alliance crams everything that's wrong with Russia into one image

Russia's Green Alliance - People's Party , which registered as a political party just one year ago, has turned to art to take a stab at the country's ruling United Russia party. Taking advantage of a contest to design an emblem for the greater...

Published Wed, May 22 2013 8:50 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Corruption, Russia, Politics, Eastern Europe

Bill Burns honored as Diplomat of the Year

Last night, Foreign Policy played host to ambassadors, think tankers, corporate executives, and State Department personnel for the magazine's annual Diplomat of the Year dinner, hosted at Washington's Ronald Reagan Building and emceed by FP CEO...

Published Wed, Jun 12 2013 2:38 PM by FP Passport

Is the NYT ignoring "Climategate"? Part II

Walter Russell Mead responds to yesterday's post about the IPCC's recent woes. And it seems we're more on the same page than I thought. Mead's bottom line: Let me say this again one last time: the story here is that the movement to stop...

Published Tue, Feb 16 2010 4:58 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Media, Global Warming

What other countries think of the United States

A few weeks ago, I blogged about what the United States thinks of other countries -- its rather cruel view of Afghanistan being one of the less fortunate things about that Pew Poll. Today, Andrew Kohut, the head of the fantastically useful Pew Research...

Published Thu, Mar 04 2010 2:20 PM by FP Passport