Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Bill Gates Owns Silvio Berlusconi

Not every day does Bill Gates lay the smack down on a sitting premier, but that was the case when the Microsoft founder slammed Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's foreign aid policy. Berlusconi's stolen Italian headlines in the last week...

Published Thu, Jan 28 2010 2:27 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, Foreign Aid

Gaddafi's son blames Germany for supporting Israeli war crimes

Earlier this week, Saif al-Islam Alqadhafi, the son of Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi, sent a letter (excerpted below) to German Chancellor Angela Merkel regarding a recent gift from her country to Israel: We read with great surprise news reports indicating...

Published Thu, Jan 28 2010 2:04 PM by FP Passport

Are the Chinese Google and YouTube clones any good?

With Google threatening to pull out of China, immitation versions of the search engine and its video subsidiary YouTube have emerged to take their places on the Chinese internet: YouTubecn.com offers videos from the real YouTube, which is blocked in China...

Published Thu, Jan 28 2010 1:33 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia

Bernanke confirmed for second term as Fed chair

Ben Bernanke is just one easy vote away from winning a second term as the chairman of the Federal Reserve. (Meaning Janet Yellen doesn't need to pack her bags .) Opposition to Bernanke had been brewing since last spring, steeling in the last few weeks...

Published Thu, Jan 28 2010 1:09 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Obama Administration, Economics

96 percent of Haitian-Americans approve of Obama's Haiti response

That's the banner finding of this poll released today in the Miami Herald , via Ben Smith. The poll paints a picture of a devastated Haitian-American community, which numbers around 530,000 and is centered in Southern Florida. Other statistics: Three...

Published Thu, Jan 28 2010 12:36 PM by FP Passport

Quiz: How many people worldwide serve in the military?

For those of you who don't subscribe to the bimonthly print edition of Foreign Policy , you're missing a great feature: the FP Quiz. It has eight intriguing questions about how the world works. The question I'd like to highlight this week...

Published Thu, Jan 28 2010 9:54 AM by FP Passport

A war president's peacetime speech

As Dan Drezner , Josh Rogin and other have already noted, last night's State of the Union address was, as expected, remarkably light on foreign policy. Drezner argues that this is because a president focusing on events beyond U.S. borders will, by...

Published Thu, Jan 28 2010 8:44 AM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: Karzai sees foreign troops in Afghanistan for up to 15 years

Karzai sees foreign troops in Afghanistan for up to 15 years Top story: Representatives from more than 60 countries are holding talks in London today to discuss the way forward in Afghanistan. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is co-hosting the...

Published Thu, Jan 28 2010 5:52 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Alito's "You lie!" moment

Perhaps the most talked-about moment in Obama's speech in the hours and days to come is going to be his rejoinder to the Supreme Court's recent decision on campaign donations from corporations: With all due deference to separation of powers, last...

Published Wed, Jan 27 2010 9:13 PM by FP Passport

Surprises in Obama's speech

What limited foreign-policy-related moments there were in Obama's speech tonight weren't too surprising. He checked a few familiar boxes, such as terrorism, North Korea, Iran, and nuclear weapons. But a couple moments caught my eye, for instance...

Published Wed, Jan 27 2010 8:39 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Obama Administration

The other, other London conference

If you follow international affairs, you probably know that there are two important conferences in London this week -- one to coordinate the NATO effort in Afghanistan, and the other to develop a strategy to combat the resurgent terrorist threat in Yemen...

Published Wed, Jan 27 2010 4:42 PM by FP Passport

Bloomberg flip-flops on New York KSM trial

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has apparently joined the Khalid Sheikh Muhammed tria l NIMBY brigade: “It would be great if the federal government could find a site that didn’t cost a billion dollars, which using downtown will,” he told reporters on...

Published Wed, Jan 27 2010 2:06 PM by FP Passport

The ANC launches fashion line

Always wanted to dress like Jacob Zuma? ANC designed leather jackets, initially made popular by the South African president, are now on sale. They're, well, a bit garish -- and, not surprisingly, haven't been received well by South Africa's...

Published Wed, Jan 27 2010 1:12 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Africa, Culture

Play State of the Union Bingo with FP!

A quasi-annual tradition here on Passport is playing bingo during U.S. presidential State of the Union addresses. This year, bookies are already taking bets on everything from the length of the speech to the color of Barack Obama's tie. But you can...

Published Wed, Jan 27 2010 12:47 PM by FP Passport

For all the Davos junkies out there

Enjoy reading about global elites and their plans for saving and/or dominating the world? Check out FP blogger and Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer's insider dispatches from the hallways and impromptu salons of the World Economic Forum's annual...

Published Wed, Jan 27 2010 11:20 AM by FP Passport