Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Morning Brief: Italy swears in unity government, 2 police shot outside PM's office

Italy swears in unity government, 2 police shot outside PM's office Top news: Two months of political gridlock in Italy came to an end Sunday with the swearing in of a grand coalition government headed by Prime Minister Enrico Letta, a member of the...

Published Mon, Apr 29 2013 5:43 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

In Nigeria, avoiding a shot could mean going to jail

As Bill Gates unveiled his plan this week to rid the world of polio, health officials in the northern Nigerian state of Kano announced their own assault on the disease. "The government will henceforth arrest and prosecute any parent that refuses...

Published Fri, Jul 29 2011 4:45 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Africa, Public Health

Did candidate Obama call world leaders in 2008?

Friday ushered in a surreal new chapter in the duel between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney over how to approach relations with Israel and Iran's nuclear program, as both candidates hopped on phone calls with Benjamin Netanyahu a day after the Israeli...

Published Fri, Sep 28 2012 3:30 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Election 2012, 2012 Election Poster 1, Mitt Romney, Barack Obama

How Did the Media Became Convinced Obama Would Strike Militants in Syria?

The Arab Spring ... from above

Scenes of protest and war from Bahrain to Libya have become more than familiar over the past six months. Still, these satellite images published today by Stratfor , a risk analysis and geopolitics website and publisher, are striking. The image above shows...

Published Wed, Jun 29 2011 1:04 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East, North Africa, Libya, Egypt

Great moments in U.N. prop use

There are two schools of thought emerging about Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bizarre stunt of drawing a literal "red line" through a cartoon bomb in this UNGA speech today. On the one hand, he may have "turned a serious...

Published Thu, Sep 27 2012 12:40 PM by FP Passport

Think you're smart? Test your global knowledge with the FP Quiz

In each issue of FOREIGN POLICY , we test our readers with a grueling examination that tends to flummox even the most careful observers of world events. Below is the FP Quiz from our latest issue, July/August 2007 , which just hit newsstands today. Answer...

Published Tue, Jun 26 2007 8:27 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Foreign Policy magazine

Ai Weiwei: 'I never think about' the Bird's Nest

Controversial Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who has been somewhat quiet since his release on bail last month, takes to the pages of Newsweek with a full-throated lament for what's happened to his hometown: I feel sorry to say I have no favorite place...

Published Mon, Aug 29 2011 11:56 AM by FP Passport

When crises erupt, should the U.S. turn first to its European partners?

An interesting debate arose during a panel discussion this morning with current and former heads of policy planning at the State Department. When a member of the audience asked why the panelists hadn't mentioned Europe and Latin America -- two regions...

Published Thu, Nov 29 2012 7:57 AM by FP Passport

*** Riot foes adopt its tactics

A group of Orthodox protesters attempted to give *** Riot supporters a taste of their own medicine , reports the Moscow Times : A group of Orthodox Christian activists accompanied by an NTV camera crew burst into a theater event about punk band *** Riot...

Published Tue, Aug 28 2012 1:59 PM by FP Passport

Europeans putting on a fighter plane demo in Libya?

If you thought it was cynical to suggest that Nicolas Sarkozy may have been aggresively pushing for military action with an eye on the 2012 election, that's nothing compared to the notion that the campaign is serving as an advertisement for the Dassault...

Published Tue, Mar 29 2011 10:25 AM by FP Passport

The Middle East's cutesy Internet censorship

The Open Net Initiative has a fascinating new report out about how Middle Eastern and North African dictatorships are using web-filtering technologies developed by American and Canadian companies to censor the Internet from their own citizens. At least...

Published Wed, Mar 30 2011 1:06 PM by FP Passport

'The Rock' Reps U.S. Army-Licensed Clothing Line

Military chic is so hot right now. It was only a matter of time before the actual military caught on. Last week, Elle informed its readers that military inspired style was making a comeback -- in the words of the magazine, "North Korea chic."...

Published Mon, Nov 25 2013 4:13 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: North America, Culture, Military

A Chen Guangcheng primer

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The blind, self-taught legal activist Chen Guangcheng has escaped from his village in Shandong province where he was kept a prisoner in his own home and fled to Beijing. The New...

Published Fri, Apr 27 2012 1:42 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, China

State of the Union: The Promises Obama Did(n't) Keep

If, like me, you sat down on Monday to read all of President Obama's State of the Union addresses delivered since he took office in early 2009, you'd be forgiven for thinking that foreign policy has served as something of a footnote during his...

Published Tue, Jan 28 2014 1:48 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: North America, Politics, Obama Administration, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Congress