Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Paraguay VP: I'll shoot the president if he tries to run again

Well this is one way to get yourself dropped from the ticket in a hurry: Paraguay's vice president [left] is urging his boss not to seek re-election in the most forceful way: He says he'll personally shoot Fernando Lugo [center] down if he tries...

Published Fri, Apr 29 2011 1:57 PM by FP Passport

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

Morning Brief: North Korea readies rockets in response to U.S. bomber drill

North Korea readies rockets in response to U.S. bomber drill Top News: North Korea has readied its missile units targeting U.S. military bases in response to a U.S. bombing drill. On Thursday two nuclear-capable B-2 Spirit stealth bombers carried out...

Published Fri, Mar 29 2013 5:45 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Iran gains upper hand in ice cream cold war with United States

Iran may have just scored a massive, albeit largely symbolic, victory in its cold war with the United States. And it is a very cold war -- because the battle being waged is over ice cream. On Monday, the Iranian ice cream company Choopan appeared to unseat...

Published Tue, Apr 02 2013 10:50 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Politics, Middle East, Food/Agriculture, Iran, Cool

Do bags of cash ever help the CIA get what it wants?

On Monday, the New York Times revealed that the CIA has been funneling tens of millions of dollars to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The cash payments -- delivered to his office every month -- arrived in suitcases, backpacks, and plastic bags, and were...

Published Mon, Apr 29 2013 4:10 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Intelligence

Obama's 'red line' has become the international community's 'red line'

Clarifying his administration's "red line" policy, Barack Obama told reporters Tuesday that if Syria used chemical weapons against its citizens, it would represent a "game-changer not simply for the United States, but for the international...

Published Tue, Apr 30 2013 10:30 AM by FP Passport

Whatever Happened to Obama's Global Gay Rights Agenda?

On the heels of Wednesday's gay marriage rulings at the Supreme Court, a farcical piece of political theater played out on MSNBC. As the plaintiffs in the Prop 8 case were making an appearance on the cable network, Chad Griffin, the president of the...

Published Wed, Jun 26 2013 1:30 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Africa, Human Rights, Obama Administration, U.S. Foreign Policy

Morning Brief: Bradley Manning Convicted of Espionage, Acquitted of Aiding the Enemy

Bradley Manning Convicted of Espionage, Acquitted of Aiding the Enemy Top news: Army Private Bradley Manning was acquitted Tuesday of charges that he aided the enemy by providing WikiLeaks with a trove of classified government documents but was convicted...

Published Wed, Jul 31 2013 6:06 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Sorry, Obama, Soccer Balls Won't Bring Progress to Africa

President Barack Obama generated a feel-good photo-op on Tuesday in Tanzania when he took a few moments to play with the Soccket , an ingenious soccer ball that can power an LED light for three hours after you kick it around for 30 minutes. Simply play...

Published Tue, Jul 02 2013 9:50 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Science & Technology, Africa, Development

Egypt says it arrested ‘criminals' trying to sabotage its Internet

In an intriguing story developing out of North Africa, Egypt's military says it arrested members of a "criminal operation' attempting to cut an underwater cable that provides Internet to the country. Military officials tell Abram Online that...

Published Wed, Mar 27 2013 2:04 PM 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

Is Iran working with al Qaeda? And is there a Qatari connection?

The Treasury Department today named six alleged al Qaeda operatives that it said were members of a network that worked to facilitate the moving of "money, facilitators and operatives from across the Middle East to South Asia" in cooperation...

Published Thu, Jul 28 2011 11:58 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: al Qaeda

Kanye West doesn’t care about Iraqi people

Over the weekend, Marc Lynch explored how Jay-Z and Kanye West's rap alliance on their album Watch the Throne represents a blueprint for U.S. hegemony in a changing world. But left unexplored was the line from their recent album that most directly...

Published Mon, Aug 29 2011 11:28 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East

The best user reviews on Google’s new map of North Korea

The new user-generated Google Map of North Korea unveiled with some fanfare on the company''s blog Monday is a bit less than it initally seems. It isn't the most detailed publicly available map of North Korea. It's not even the most detailed...

Published Tue, Jan 29 2013 9:13 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Science & Technology, North Korea, East Asia, Just Kidding

Don't forget the storm's other victims

One certainly shouldn't downplay the damage wrought by Hurricane Sandy in the United States, where at least 33 people were killed and the property damage is likely in the tens of billions of dollars . But the storm's worst impact is likely still...

Published Wed, Oct 31 2012 7:46 AM by FP Passport