Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Both British candidates hire Obama advisors for TV debate prep

Both sides in Britain's national elections are looking to capture a little bit of the Obama magic in a series of upcoming televised debates: David Cameron has hired two of President Obama’s former advisers to help him to prepare for the televised...

Published Mon, Mar 01 2010 10:21 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Britain, Elections, Media

This will not end well

Dubai's police chief, Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, probably had most of the world on his side when he first announced that he possessed evidence that a Mossad hit squad had killed Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. Mabhouh was a Hamas military commander, Israel...

Published Mon, Mar 01 2010 4:05 PM by FP Passport

'Act of Killing' Director: How Did We Forget 'One of the Biggest Massacres of the 20th Century?'

Anwar Congo wraps a piece of wire around a man's neck, explaining that you can kill someone this way "without spilling too much blood." A few moments later, Congo is dancing the cha-cha. Opening in the United States on Friday, the documentary...

Published Fri, Jul 19 2013 2:30 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Human Rights, Culture, Southeast Asia

How Much Do Israeli Checkpoints Cost the West Bank?

When economists and business leaders talk about barriers to trade, they are normally referring to red tape like tariffs, regulations, and import quotas that makes doing international business frustrating and more expensive. But sometimes barriers to trade...

Published Mon, Jul 22 2013 7:00 AM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: Pentagon Details Options for U.S. Military Action in Syria

Pentagon Details Options for U.S. Military Action in Syria Top news: America's highest-ranking military officer on Monday provided congress with the first detailed list of options for military intervention in Syria and their associated costs. In a...

Published Tue, Jul 23 2013 6:00 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Morning Brief: Egyptian Army Chief Calls for Protests

Egyptian Army Chief Calls for Protests Top news: Egypt's protest politics deepened on Wednesday after the country's army chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, called on protesters to hit the streets Friday and grant the military regime a stamp of...

Published Wed, Jul 24 2013 5:55 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Is the World’s Most Wanted Nazi War Criminal in Syria?

The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center launched a poster campaign in Germany this week in an attempt to track down the last surviving Nazi war criminals. "Late, but not too late," the posters read and encourage those with information...

Published Wed, Jul 24 2013 3:03 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe

Assassination and Protests Rock Tunisia

As Egypt braces for a day of rival protests tomorrow, Tunisia was also plunged into turmoil today with the assassination of secular politician Mohamed Brahmi, the head of the country's Constituent Assembly and the opposition Movement of the People...

Published Thu, Jul 25 2013 12:49 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, Politics, Middle East, North Africa, Democracy

Can Salafists Save Egypt?

I had a question for Nader Bakkar, the spokesman and co-founder of the Salafist Nour Party: How can Egypt avoid more of the bloodshed that has brought it to a crisis point since the military deposed Mohammed Morsy? There was a long silence. "It's...

Published Fri, Jul 26 2013 11:13 AM by FP Passport

Egypt's Death Toll Skyrockets

On Friday, protesters filled Tahrir Square in response to Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's call for a popular mandate to "confront terrorism." And in the early hours of Saturday, Egyptian security forces showed exactly what that meant:...

Published Sat, Jul 27 2013 2:34 PM by FP Passport

U.S. State Department apologizes to Qaddafi

This must have been humiliating. P.J. Crowley had to climb down today from his recent remarks about Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi, in which the State Department spokesman said that Qaddafi's speech before the U.N. General Assembly amounted to "lots...

Published Tue, Mar 09 2010 7:31 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Obama Administration, State Department, Libya

Lula: Machismo will be defeated

I think Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva may be promising a bit too much for his chosen successor, Dilma Roussef: Silva said he selected a woman as his successor because he believes that "we've won this stage of discrimination against...

Published Wed, Mar 10 2010 11:14 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Latin America

Pakistani officials refuse to submit to x-ray scan

U.S.-Pakistani relations tend to be defined by a certain set of core issues, which include the ISI's double-dealing with the CIA, the 2005 Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear agreement, and Pakistani nuclear security. While these issues are undoubtedly important...

Published Wed, Mar 10 2010 1:33 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, al Qaeda, Pakistan, Diplomacy, Taliban, State Department, Southeast Asia

Chinese journalists to get refresher course in Marxism

Chinese officials have evidently had enough reporters' increasingly freewheeling free-market attitude, and are planning to send them back to the woodshed for some old-school Marxist ideological training: China will toughen requirements for reporters...

Published Thu, Mar 11 2010 7:28 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: China, Media

Thaksin stirs the pot once again

Just for a to bring you up to speed on the recent antics of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, he was ousted in a 2006 military coup due to corruption and cronyism and was sentenced in absentia to two years in prison for a corrupt land deal...

Published Thu, Mar 11 2010 1:09 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Corruption, Politics, Southeast Asia