Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

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

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

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

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

The Best of Bassem Youssef

It's been an exciting month for the funniest man in Egypt. Not only was Bassem Youssef, a heart surgeon-turned-satirical television host, briefly detained for "belittling" President Mohamed Morsy and "insulting" Islam, he was also...

Published Wed, Apr 24 2013 11:00 AM by FP Passport

Qatari prime minister: Bashar used chemical weapons

Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani on Wednesday accused the Syrian regime of using chemical weapons on its own people, joining Britain, France, and Israel in determining that Bashar al-Assad's forces had used deadly poison gas in violation...

Published Wed, Apr 24 2013 6:34 PM by FP Passport

Strategically, why would Syria have used chemical weapons on a 'small scale'?

The United States now says it has evidence that Syria used chemical weapons on a "small scale" -- an announcement that follows similar declarations by the French , British , Israelis , and Qataris . But the question no one has been able to answer...

Published Thu, Apr 25 2013 10:00 AM by FP Passport

What's Syria capable of doing with its sarin stockpile?

A flurry of questions followed Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's announcement Thursday that chemical weapons -- in particular, the nerve agent sarin -- were used in Syria. But since no one knows how the sarin was used or who exactly used it , let's...

Published Thu, Apr 25 2013 3:50 PM by FP Passport

London mayor Boris Johnson's Twitter Q&A is about as weird as you'd expect

London's garrulous mayor Boris Johnson (yes, the guy who got stuck on a zipline over Victoria Park last year), took to Twitter Friday to answer questions from his followers, sparking a discussion that ranged from the sex appeal of camels, to the Iliad...

Published Fri, Apr 26 2013 9:46 AM by FP Passport

Saudi Arabia launches first anti-domestic violence ad

Saudi Arabia has long been known as one of the worst places in the world to be a woman: Under the kingdom's legal system, women are treated as minors and are forbidden from traveling or working without the permission of their male guardians. According...

Published Mon, Apr 29 2013 12:45 PM by FP Passport

Would Americans stomach a war in Syria?

As President Barack Obama mulls what to do about evidence that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons against its own citizens, two new polls gauging Americans' attitudes toward intervention won't make his decision any easier. A Pew survey released...

Published Tue, Apr 30 2013 5:42 AM by FP Passport

Billionaire sheikh scrubs name from private island

Back in 2011, I wrote about a story that seemed way, way too good to be true: Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan -- a member of Abu Dhabi's ruling family famous for owning rainbow-colored cars, the world's largest truck, and a globe-shaped motor...

Published Tue, Apr 30 2013 9:35 AM by FP Passport

Rapping jihadist's tweets showcase al-Shabab's internal divisions

It's been more than a year since Omar Hammami, an American-born jihadist in Somalia who made a name for himself with lo-fi propaganda rap productions , posted a video telling viewers he feared for his life. The threat he felt came not from the Somali...

Published Tue, Apr 30 2013 4:15 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, al Qaeda, Security, Africa, Internet, Somalia

Why do China's globally ranked restaurants not serve Chinese food?

Restaurant magazine's 2013 list of the world's top 50 restaurants hasn't just made news this week for dropping Danish superstar Noma down a peg after its three-year reign at the top. It also features a restaurant from mainland China for the...

Published Wed, May 01 2013 10:40 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: China, Culture, Food/Agriculture

A guide to the Tsarnaev brothers' circle of associates

Did they act alone? How did they become radicalized? Those are the lingering questions surrounding Boston bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and investigators are zeroing in on their friends and associates for answers. The role of these...

Published Wed, May 01 2013 3:22 PM by FP Passport