Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

No, really, cancel Haiti's debt

Over at the Center for Global Development's blog, David Roodman argues that calls to cancel Haiti's debt (currently around $1.25 billion) are misguided. The question is whether to go further than debt service suspension, to drop Haiti's debt...

Published Mon, Feb 01 2010 1:35 PM by FP Passport

Al Shabaab's Alabaman jihadist

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Until recently counter-terrorism officials weren't worried about jihadi pundits having much of an influence in the United States itself, where they believed that a higher degree...

Published Mon, Feb 01 2010 1:34 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, North America, Africa, Middle East, Somalia

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

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

No, you can't just take children

It's a little bit hard to understand the mindset of people like the 10 U.S. missionaries arrested in Haiti on Friday, who don't see the problem with swooping into a disaster area and trying to transport 30 children out of a country without any...

Published Mon, Feb 01 2010 11:35 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Haiti's Disaster

The Oscars of Foreign Policy

There's no two ways about it: the last year of foreign policy has more drama than a Scorsese epic and enough thrills to put Avatar to shame. From the fearsome battle in the Afghan hills, to the U.S. and China's love-hate relationship, and from...

Published Mon, Feb 01 2010 11:26 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: al Qaeda, Britain, Culture, Politics, Afghanistan, Media, History, Fun Stuff, Celebs, Obama Administration, U.S. Foreign Policy, Iran

Morning Brief: China threatens sanctions over U.S.-Taiwan arms deal

China threatens sanctions over U.S.-Taiwan arms deal Top story: Reacting angrily to a planned U.S. arms sale to Taiwan, China has threatened to slap sanctions on U.S. companies participating in the deal. China has also suspended planned visits between...

Published Mon, Feb 01 2010 6:07 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

What wasn't on the agenda in Davos

I hadn't seen this earlier: John Pomfret relays word that Google's declaration that it would no longer comply with Chinese Internet censorship rules was a verboten subject in Davos this year. "At China's request, that topic was left off...

Published Sun, Jan 31 2010 12:01 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: China, Freedom, Internet, Business

Did Russia try to destroy the U.S. economy?

Via FP contributor Ashby Monk , here's an interesting story from Bloomberg News that hasn't gotten much attention. It seems that Russia tried to use its vast financial holdings and conspire with China to create "economic disruptions"...

Published Sat, Jan 30 2010 8:51 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Russia, China, Finance

China's growing arrogance

Remember how I said 2010 would be a rough year for U.S.-China relations ? The first shoe to drop was Google's announcement that the privacy of Chinese human rights activists using its email software had been violated, and that cyberattacks on its...

Published Sat, Jan 30 2010 8:25 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, China

Dr. Fadl's new book

Sayyid Imam "Dr. Fadl" al-Sharif, the al Qaeda co-founder and one-time mentor of Ayman al-Zawahri who has, in recent years, become the organization's most trenchant critic, lambasting its use of violence in his writings from an Egyptian...

Published Fri, Jan 29 2010 2:56 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism

Obama's Prime Minister's Questions

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was often magisterial during Prime Minister's Questions, when, as the head of the Labour Party, he would face off against a respectful...

Published Fri, Jan 29 2010 12:58 PM by FP Passport

Decision 2008: The Ukraine 2010 edition

The Financial Times takes a look at the high-profile Washington players brought in to advise Ukraine's presidential candidates, who are headed for a run-off on Feb. 7. There's an interesting partisan breakdown between the candidates: Paul Manafort...

Published Fri, Jan 29 2010 11:49 AM by FP Passport

Osama on climate change

It's hard to know what to make of an audiotape released today by Al Jazeera, purportedly recorded by Osama bin Laden. Rather than slamming the West for all the usual reasons, the al Qaeda leader branches into new territory: critiquing the global financial...

Published Fri, Jan 29 2010 10:14 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East

Morning Brief: Haitian hospitals running low on medical supplies

Haitian hospitals running low on medical supplies Top story: With around 200,000 people in need of post-surgical care and countless more still with untreated injuries, doctors say that basic medical supplies are running out in Haiti's hospitals. While...

Published Fri, Jan 29 2010 5:43 AM by FP Passport