Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

What Obama should be telling Karzai

Lots of stories , but very little real news on Barack Obama's surprise visit to Kabul, where we're told the U.S. president is currently meeting with Hamid Karzai, his Afghan counterpart. What little has emerged is that Obama's agenda included...

Published Sun, Mar 28 2010 10:23 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Afghanistan, Obama Administration

Lots of recess appointments, but one big one missing

Over the weekend, President Barack Obama made 15 recess appointments, using his Constitutionally granted right to name appointees directly into their positions when the Congress is in recess. They included a number relevant to foreign policy and economy...

Published Mon, Mar 29 2010 2:23 PM by FP Passport

Blair's gaffe

In a speech today at a Labour Party rally held in his old constituency of Sedgefield, former Prime Minister Tony Blair publicly threw his weight behind incumbent Prime Minister Gordon Brown. While some may have been surprised or even amused by Blair's...

Published Tue, Mar 30 2010 11:57 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Britain, Politics

Beware pundits ignoring chronology

Roger Cohen engages in some egregious rhetorical sleight of hand here : Already, there are shifts in Israeli attitudes as a result of the new American clarity. Last year, Netanyahu described Iran’s leaders as “a messianic apocalyptic cult,” which was...

Published Tue, Mar 30 2010 8:09 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East, Israel/Palestine, Obama Administration, Nukes, Iran

Morning Brief: UK Goes to Security Council for Syria Resolution

UK Goes to Security Council for Syria Resolution Top news: As Western nations grindingly move toward taking military action against Syria, Britain said it will present a resolution to the Security Council that would authorize "necessary measures...

Published Wed, Aug 28 2013 6:02 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

How I Smuggled 'Porn' Out of North Korea

On Wednesday, the occasionally reliable South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported that a dozen performers, including Kim Jong Un's ex-girlfriend, were executed for making sex tapes, some of which "have apparently gone on sale in China,"...

Published Thu, Aug 29 2013 10:40 AM by FP Passport

French Spies Provide New Details on Assad's Chemical Weapons Program

As Congress debates whether to authorize a military strike on Syria, the French government has released its declassified intelligence report on the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack in the eastern Damascus suburbs. France, the United States' only remaining...

Published Tue, Sep 03 2013 2:49 AM by FP Passport

Counting the Votes for Syria

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a resolution this afternoon to authorize the use of U.S. military force against Syria. The resolution will be voted on by the full Senate next week, but since before this afternoon's committee decision...

Published Wed, Sep 04 2013 3:59 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Britain, Politics, Middle East, Obama Administration, U.S. Foreign Policy, International Relations, U.S. Congress, Syria

Morning Brief: President Obama Faces Sharp Criticism on Syria Plan at G20 Summit

President Obama Faces Sharp Criticism on Syria Plan at G20 Summit Top News: President Obama was met with a skeptical crowd of world leaders as he made the case for military strikes in Syria at the meeting of the G20 yesterday in St. Petersburg, Russia...

Published Fri, Sep 06 2013 4:39 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Argentine courts to give Spain a taste of its own medicine

Spanish investigative judge Baltasar Garzon has made a name for himself by prosecuting human rights abusers around the world -- including former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet -- using universal jurisdiction to get around national amnesties. But Garzon...

Published Wed, Apr 14 2010 10:41 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, Law, History

Does the Nuclear Security Summit logo reveal Obama's Islamist plot?

In what may be the dumbest blogosphere meme since people on the Internet were saying that the U.S. missile defense logo looks like an Islamic crescent , some people the Internet are now saying that the Nuclear Security Summit logo looks like an Islamic...

Published Wed, Apr 14 2010 4:05 PM by FP Passport

How Africa's Most Successful Peace Treaty Fell Apart

Mozambique has been a country on the rise in recent years. In 1992, it concluded 17 years of civil war with the Rome General Peace Accords. And after a period of dependence on international aid, its economy has begun to come into its own, as the country...

Published Wed, Oct 23 2013 8:00 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Security, Africa, Diplomacy, Development

Hot Dogs, Red Bull, and the Latest Conspiracy Theories About Poland's Tragic Plane Crash

Three and a half years later, the debate over what caused a plane carrying top Polish officials to crash near an airport in western Russia, killing 96 people including the president and his wife, is still raging. Today, it's less a back-and-forth...

Published Thu, Oct 24 2013 9:00 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Russia

Why '2 Broke Girls' Is All the Rage in China

In China's battle between cupcakes and Communists , the cupcakes appear to be winning. While Chinese President Xi Jinping promotes the "Chinese Dream" of national rejuvenation with mixed success , the U.S. sitcom 2 Broke Girls has drawn...

Published Fri, Oct 25 2013 9:00 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, China, Fun Stuff, Economics

Maybe Saudi Men Shouldn't Be Driving

Saudi Arabia's ban on female drivers has prompted some pretty outrageous justifications -- and that was before this weekend's demonstrations, in which 60 women got behind the wheel in a rolling protest. One leading Saudi cleric argued that women...

Published Mon, Oct 28 2013 9:11 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East, Women, Saudi Arabia