Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Is Pakistan's more important fight on the streets of Karachi?

Violence has engulfed Karachi since Oct. 16, with close to 90 dead across the city. An Oct. 17 special election to replace assassinated Muttahida Qaumi Movement ( MQM ) legislator Raza Haider boiled over long-held tensions between the MQM and the Awami...

Published Thu, Oct 21 2010 12:47 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Pakistan, South Asia

Morning Brief: WikiLeaks: Maliki rivals call for torture investigation

WikiLeaks: Maliki rivals call for torture investigation Top news : The release of 400,000 classified Iraq war documents by whistleblower site WikiLeaks, including graphic descriptions of torture by Iraqi forces, are further complicating Prime Minster...

Published Mon, Oct 25 2010 5:54 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

EU to launch new Cuba talks

EU High Representative Catherine Ashton is planning to contact the Cuban government for talks aimed at normalizing ties, following the recent release of dozens of poltical prisoners. The move also comes after the EU Parliament voted last week to award...

Published Mon, Oct 25 2010 11:27 AM by FP Passport

The latest Iran frenzy

The news gods have apparently decided that it's time for yet another round of Washington's favorite parlor game: "Will Israel attack Iran?" The latest round of speculation was kicked off by a mammoth New York Times magazine article by...

Published Thu, Feb 02 2012 8:15 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East, Iran

Anonymous leaks FBI-Scotland Yard conference call

Earlier this week, Ars Technica 's Nate Anderson profiled the online hacker collective Anonymous for FP, writing, "when the Anonymous hive gets prodded, the prodder usually finds himself covered with bee stings and begging for mercy." Today's...

Published Fri, Feb 03 2012 9:32 AM by FP Passport

Japocalypse Watch: Rise of the metrosexuals

Chico Harlan's long Washington Post trend piece on Japan's "herbivores" -- young men who prefer shopping and hanging out with friends to working 14 hour days before getting blackout drunk -- is the latest entry in the increasingly popular...

Published Tue, Oct 26 2010 8:16 AM by FP Passport

Falklands aren't the only islands Britain is going to have to fight for

Hopefully William Hague has been brushing up on his Spanish. In addition to rising tensions with Argentina over the Falklands, the British government may soon face a challenge from Spain over its claim to Gibraltar : Mariano Rajoy, Spain's new centre...

Published Thu, Feb 02 2012 9:56 AM by FP Passport

Want to spruce up your tired old concept? Put a 2.0 on it!

Today, Luke Bozier, a former Labour Party web guru who recently defected to the Tories, has an op-ed up at the Huffington Pos t recommending " intervention 2.0 " as an international strategy for responding to the bloodshed in Syria. Here's...

Published Tue, Feb 21 2012 9:42 AM by FP Passport

Bank of America shuts down Angolan embassy's checking account

This seems embarassing : The Angolan Embassy here canceled tonight's celebration planned to mark the country's 35th independence anniversary, following a decision by Bank of America to close the embassy's checking accounts. [...] The Angolan...

Published Thu, Nov 18 2010 1:46 PM by FP Passport

Putin praises Soviet-era spying

FP's newest contributor , Vladimir Putin, has made stregnthening Russia's defenses a ceterpiece of his reelection campaign. To that effect, during a recent interview, he praised Soviet-era spying in the United States: "You know, when the...

Published Wed, Feb 22 2012 3:20 PM by FP Passport

At Bush library, Condoleezza Rice to defend enhanced interrogation practices

Not sidestepping controversy, Condoleezza Rice will defend the Bush administration's enhanced interrogation and rendition program at the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on Thursday. The remarks will appear in a five...

Published Thu, Apr 25 2013 6:30 AM by FP Passport

Auschwitz's memory trap

President Obama recorded a video message today for the ceremony marking the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz: We have a sacred duty to remember the twisted thinking that led here—how a great society of culture and science succumbed to the...

Published Wed, Jan 27 2010 10:02 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Human Rights, History

How to cut inflation by 230 million percent

Nine months ago when the power-sharing government in Zimbabwe came into office, I must admit that I was pretty darn skeptical that they could meet their hyper-inflation-cutting goals. After a complete economic collapse, inflation last year about this...

Published Tue, Jan 26 2010 12:02 PM by FP Passport

What's the best way to detect chemical weapons?

If you're invested in the question of whether Syria has used chemical weapons on its own citizens, you've been exposed to a range of terms like "soil samples," "witness interviews," "dilated pupils," and "urine...

Published Tue, Apr 23 2013 12:30 PM by FP Passport

Syrian town offers Boston its sympathy

An unreal scene is unfolding in Boston right now: One suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing was killed after he and his accomplice robbed a 7-Eleven convenience store, shot and killed an MIT police officer, stole a Mercedes SUV, and then threw explosives...

Published Fri, Apr 19 2013 4:10 AM by FP Passport