Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Vote in your pajamas in sunny Catalunya

For the past few months, a cynical observer might think, Washington has carried out a long piece of performance art detailing the many ways in which passing legislation is hard, even with the White House and Congress in one party's hands. There are...

Published Tue, Feb 09 2010 3:10 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, Law, Environment, Elections

Haiti death toll matches Asian Tsunami

With the Haitian government raising the death toll from last month's earthquake to 230,000, the count now matches the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Considering that the tsunami damage was spread out over eight countries as opposed to one country the...

Published Wed, Feb 10 2010 6:32 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Haiti's Disaster

Would better bonuses make better bankers?

Barack Obama is catching some heat for saying that he doesn't "begrudge" the bonuses paid to Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon ($9 and $17 million, respectively). I don't see what the fuss is all...

Published Wed, Feb 10 2010 8:33 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Finance

Oh, Canada!

The Gaggle blog over on our sister site Newsweek notes that Canada's parliament has shut down for two months (?!) for the winter Olympic games. For those of you who have gotten behind on your Canadian politics, here’s a basic rundown . Prime Minster...

Published Wed, Feb 10 2010 1:30 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: North America, Sports, Olympics, Canada

Profile in courage

Over at Enduring America , a good source for Iran protest news, Scott Lucas flags this photo of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a key swing player in Iranian politics, hanging out at a pro-regime rally: Read More...

Published Thu, Feb 11 2010 7:11 AM by FP Passport

Global warming advocates don't care enough about global warming

Back in my days as an editor at Washington Monthly , we were taught to report on something colleagues called the "culture of bureacracy." This may sound like a snoozer topic, but the point is that you can learn a lot about how an institution...

Published Thu, Feb 11 2010 10:48 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Environment

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

Chilean coins misspell Chile

A batch of 50-peso coins, each worth about a dime, have returned to cause a headache for the Chilean mint. The coins spell the country's name C-H-I-I-E -- a typo that has recently cost the the general manager of the mint his job. The most remarkable...

Published Fri, Feb 12 2010 7:45 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Fun Stuff, South America, Economics

The Akbar Zeb story: too good to be true

I wrote last week about Pakistan's High Commissioner to Canada Akbar Zeb's reported rejection as ambassador to Saudi Arabia due to the unfortunate Arabic translation of his name as "biggest ***." Alas, the story turns out to be false...

Published Fri, Feb 12 2010 11:23 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Diplomacy, Media, Fun Stuff, South Asia

Israel-Palestine: nothing works

For all the grief I gave Andrew Sullivan the other day, I have to admit: He's the unquestioned master of his medium. In the days since Leon Wieseltier's hit piece , Sully has curated a wide-ranging debate about himself and the thorny subject of...

Published Fri, Feb 12 2010 7:16 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Israel/Palestine

Sorry, but Delta Is Not Flying Direct to Tehran

Tehran might "welcome" direct flights between the United States and Iran, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen. On Wednesday, Iran's PressTV reported that the country's foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, had told reporters...

Published Thu, Jun 27 2013 3:40 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East, U.S. Foreign Policy, International Relations, Iran, Business

Photo of the Day: Ousted Australian Leader's Wax Figure Queues Up in Unemployment Line

Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is no stranger to controversy -- what with all the flying sandwiches she's dodged and gender battles she's waged. But apparently she can't even catch a break after ceding power to Kevin Rudd following...

Published Fri, Jun 28 2013 9:19 AM by FP Passport

Just How Effective Are the Federal Government's Background Checks?

Among the many mysteries of the Edward Snowden affair, one in particular stands out: How did the National Security Agency not know it had a leaker in its midst? Put aside the question of how Snowden allegedly downloaded top-secret files onto a thumb drive...

Published Fri, Jun 28 2013 3:30 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: National Security

Morning Brief: Massive Anti-Morsy Protests Grip Egypt

Massive Anti-Morsy Protests Grip Egypt Top news: Hundreds of thousands -- possibly millions -- of Egyptians poured into the streets on Sunday to protest the Islamist government of Mohamed Morsy, the country's first democratically elected president...

Published Mon, Jul 01 2013 5:54 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Morning Brief: Egypt's President Rejects Military Ultimatum

Egypt's President Rejects Military Ultimatum Top news: Egypt's military delivered an ultimatum to Islamist President Mohamed Morsy on Monday, saying he had 48 hours satisfy the public's demands or else it would impose its own "road map...

Published Tue, Jul 02 2013 5:46 AM by FP Passport