Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

A presidential pat on the head for Uribe

Evidently, a congratulations from Hillary Clinton wasn't enough, and Alvaro Uribe is now getting presidential kudos for not trying to illegally seize power: President Barack Obama is applauding Colombian President Alvaro Uribe for accepting a court...

Published Thu, Mar 11 2010 11:57 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Latin America

Goodluck Jonathan promises credible elections in 2011

One of the great ironies of reporting overseas is that it's often much easier to hear a political leader speak candidly here in Washington than in an interview back home. Such was the case today, as Nigerian Acting President Goodluck Jonathan spoke...

Published Mon, Apr 12 2010 10:41 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Africa

Meet the new, less anti-Semitic Malaysia

Mohammed Najib Abdul Razak, the prime minister of Malaysia, is in town this week for Barack Obama's nuclear summit, and this afternoon the two leaders met to discuss nonproliferation A State Department readout of the meeting was nothing but gumdrops...

Published Mon, Apr 12 2010 3:53 PM by FP Passport

Michelle Obama: Americans getting too fat to fight

The first lady argues that the U.S. obesity epidemic is becoming a national security problem: “A recent study put the health care cost of obesity-related diseases at $147 billion a year,” Mrs. Obama said. “This epidemic also impacts the nation’s security...

Published Wed, Feb 10 2010 8:24 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Health

This is, hands down, the scariest part of the NSA revelations

Forget PRISM, the National Security Agency's system to help extract data from Google, Facebook, and the like. The more frightening secret program unearthed by the NSA leaks is the gathering and storing of millions of phone records and phone-location...

Published Mon, Jun 10 2013 4:20 AM by FP Passport

Video: Massive Fireball Rocks Homs

A huge fireball rises above the jagged, shelled-out skyline of Homs. The explosion looks almost too large to be real -- and when it began circulating across social media this morning, it drew skepticism -- but now, multiple videos are emerging and the...

Published Thu, Aug 01 2013 11:20 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East, Syria

Egypt's Islamists Turn Violent After Morsy's Fall

CAIRO - Rallies in support of Mohammed Morsy were smaller than they had been previously during the day today, perhaps because supporters of the deposed president stayed away out of fear of violence. But while the numbers may have been down, reports of...

Published Thu, Jul 04 2013 2:01 PM by FP Passport

Castro: swastika has become Israeli flag

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 In lieu of his famous and longwinded diatribes (his longest speech clocked in at 7 hours and 10 minutes), Castro -- or, more likely, a loyal ghostwriter -- now communes with the...

Published Mon, Jun 14 2010 9:49 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Latin America, Israel/Palestine

After bin Laden documentary premiere, CIA heroine remains elusive

The documentary promising to set the record straight on the mission to kill Osama bin Laden finally aired on Wednesday night, but the identity of the fabled female CIA officer at the center of the manhunt remains elusive. The documentary Manhunt , which...

Published Thu, May 02 2013 6:00 AM by FP Passport

What's it like to do 'hard labor' in North Korea?

On Thursday, North Korea sentenced U.S. citizen Kenneth Bae to 15 years of hard labor for committing "hostile acts" against the government. The severe punishment raises a pertinent question: What's it like to do "hard labor" in...

Published Thu, May 02 2013 11:30 AM by FP Passport

Thomas Friedman: I only deserve partial credit for coining the 'Chinese dream'

This week's Economist cover story is about Xi Jinping's catchphrase "Chinese dream," which symbolizes the aspirations of the Chinese people and nation. The magazine suggests, bizarrely but convincingly, that New York Times columnist...

Published Fri, May 03 2013 8:28 AM by FP Passport

Listen to the swaggering blues rock of America's latest ricin mailer suspect

When we read that J. Everett Dutschke, the martial arts instructor and former political candidate accused of mailing a ricin-laced letter to Barack Obama, was the "leader of a local rock band called Dusty and the RoboDrum ," we had to hear his...

Published Wed, May 01 2013 9:40 AM by FP Passport

Can Egypt's Islamist finance minister cut a deal with the IMF?

The big news in Cairo is that a long-awaited cabinet reshuffle has finally become a reality . President Mohamed Morsy swore in nine new ministers today in a move that increases the Muslim Brotherhood's representation in the government. The shakeup...

Published Tue, May 07 2013 8:08 AM by FP Passport

Haiti aid falling short -- and not in dollars

A fascinating new report released today by Refugees International on the Haiti aid effort is a striking indictment of the current efforts so far, particularly on the part of the United Nations. As FP 's Turtle Bay reported a few weeks back, the "cluster"...

Published Tue, Mar 02 2010 3:31 PM by FP Passport

Yanukovych shows signs of spine

Ukraine's new president, Viktor Yanukovych, appears to be sending signs this week that he won't just be toeing the Kremlin line. On Monday, he made Brussels, not Moscow, the destination for his first foreign trip and he's now indicating that...

Published Tue, Mar 02 2010 10:28 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Russia, Eastern Europe