Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Is James Comey really the civil liberties advocate he's being made out to be?

With the White House's decision to nominate James Comey as its next FBI director, the media has been stumbling over itself to recount a now-famous story in Washington about how Comey, while serving as the number-two official at the Justice Department...

Published Thu, May 30 2013 4:20 PM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: Russian media: Syria in talks over MiGs; anti-missile deliveries unlikely for months

Russian media: Syria in talks over MiGs; anti-missile deliveries unlikely for months Top news: Russian news agencies quoted the director of the MiG company as saying a delegation is currently in Syria to discuss a contract for the sale of "more than...

Published Fri, May 31 2013 6:02 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

There is a movie where Israel and Hezbollah ally to fight zombies

Dan Drezner , call your office. A new Israeli horror film, Cannon Fodder , depicts the tribulations of an IDF commando team that enters south Lebanon -- only to discover their problem isn't Hezbollah, but marauding zombie hordes. To make a not particularly...

Published Fri, May 31 2013 10:46 AM by FP Passport

Haiti medevac flights were suspended because of Super Bowl preparations

As mentioned in this morning's brief, the U.S. has resumed medevac flights of injured Haitians to Florida hospitals. But I'm surprised little attention pro football's role in the story has gotten: The need to be ready for a mass emergency...

Published Mon, Feb 01 2010 11:54 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Sports, Haiti's Disaster

Welcome to Carbon Watchers!

Yesterday was deadline day: the date by which those countries that "noted" the non-binding Copenhagen climate accord were supposed to announce their national carbon-reduction targets. Reuters has tracked the pledges (below) . There aren't...

Published Mon, Feb 01 2010 1:29 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Environment

State Department Downgrades China, Russia on Human Trafficking

China, Russia, and Uzbekistan are simply not committed to addressing human trafficking. That's the takeaway from the State Department's new 2013 Trafficking in Persons Report , out Wednesday afternoon. After nine years each for China and Russia...

Published Wed, Jun 19 2013 2:50 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Russia, Human Rights, East Asia, China, Eastern Europe, U.S. Foreign Policy, International Relations, U.S. Congress, Migration/Immigration

Why 'Ex-Gay' Group Exodus International Should Take Its Apology Overseas

Exodus International, the controversial evangelical Christian organization that since the 1970s has promoted "reparative therapy" as a cure for homosexuality, announced Wednesday that it is shutting down, with president Alan Chambers disavowing...

Published Thu, Jun 20 2013 9:00 AM by FP Passport

The Public Health Trends Behind the Supreme Court's PEPFAR Decision

In striking down a law Thursday that required organizations with funding from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to pledge opposition to prostitution, the Supreme Court ruled that the provision violated NGOs' First Amendment rights...

Published Thu, Jun 20 2013 5:35 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Law, AIDS, Health

WikiLeaks Airlines Is Now Boarding

WikiLeaks is determined to make itself a part of the Edward Snowden affair. So much so that the businessman who handles donations to the site now claims he has a chartered plane ready to fly the NSA leaker to Iceland, where he has said he would like to...

Published Fri, Jun 21 2013 2:09 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: WikiLeaks

Julian Assange Reclaims the Spotlight

Just like that, Julian Assange is back on the world stage. After Assange and his WikiLeaks colleagues helped mastermind Edward Snowden's escape from Hong Kong to Moscow on Sunday, the Australian, who has been cooped up in the Ecuadorean embassy in...

Published Mon, Jun 24 2013 4:20 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Obama Administration, WikiLeaks, National Security

Dear Edward Snowden: Welcome to Limbo

I don't envy Edward Snowden. Unless the Russian authorities have somehow taken him under their wing -- and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov seemed to disavow that with his comment that Snowden "has not crossed the Russian border" Read...

Published Tue, Jun 25 2013 9:55 AM by FP Passport

What the DOMA Decision Could Mean for Immigrants and Military Families

With a 5-4 decision today, the Supreme Court ruled that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act violates the Constitution's Equal Protection guarantee. The ruling means that married same-sex couples will now be entitled to the same federal benefits as opposite...

Published Wed, Jun 26 2013 8:19 AM by FP Passport

@hujintao gives up on tweeting

Chinese President Hu Jintao has mysteriously given up on micro-blogging before ever really getting started. China’s President startled the internet at the weekend by opening a micro-blog – the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. Fascinated netizens began signing...

Published Tue, Feb 23 2010 8:29 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: China, Internet

Does the U.S. need NATO in Afghanistan?

How much does it matter that the Netherlands and other European countries appear to have little interest in continuing the war in Afghanistan -- or fighting wars in general? Quite a bit , says Defense Secretary Robert Gates. “The demilitarization of Europe...

Published Wed, Feb 24 2010 8:43 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, Afghanistan, Military

Yar'Adua: back, but not in action

If there's one thing I'm sure of this morning it's this: the reason I was never a better reporter in Nigeria is because I slept "normal" hours. In Nigeria, big news always happens after midnight. That's what happened last night...

Published Wed, Feb 24 2010 10:44 AM by FP Passport