Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Morning Brief: Karzai promises to work with opponents

Karzai promises to work with opponents Top story: After being declared the winner of an election marred by electoral fraud, Afghan President Hamid Karzai promised today to root out corruption and work with his opponents. "Those who want to work with...

Published Tue, Nov 03 2009 6:06 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Klaus grudgingly signs Lisbon Treaty

The EU's long international nightmare seems to be over. Czech President Vaclav Klaus has signed the Lisbon Treaty treaty, nearly two years after the ratification process began. Klaus finally agreed to sign after the Czech constitutional court finally...

Published Tue, Nov 03 2009 10:26 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe

Are we talking enough about 1989?

Maybe it's just because we've been discussing upcoming Berlin Wall-related content here at the office, but I find Matt Welch's Reason cover essay , calling the 1989 defeat of communism in Europe, "the Unknown War" a little strange...

Published Tue, Nov 03 2009 2:45 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, Media, History

Boris Johnson: "Knight on a shining bicycle"

Does Boris Johnson have a superhero alter-ego? Buffoonish mayor of London by day, cycling vigilante by night? Environmentalist documentary maker Franny Armstrong would certainly argue that. Johnson swooped to her rescue yesterday, when she was pushed...

Published Wed, Nov 04 2009 9:11 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, Security

Saudi Arabia: Now Slightly Less Terrible for Women

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Here's what passes for progress for the Saudi Arabian women's rights movement: The country's passport office suspended a program that automatically notified via text...

Published Tue, Jan 14 2014 2:58 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Human Rights, Freedom, Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Arab World

In Bangkok, Sowing Chaos to Provoke a Coup

Don't be fooled by the tens of thousands of protesters in the streets. Massive demonstrations that have blossomed in the streets of Thailand this week have very little to do with democracy. Instead, those protesters hope to oust the current government...

Published Wed, Jan 15 2014 12:29 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, Politics, Democracy

Shoes, Jewels, and Monets: The Immense Ill-Gotten Wealth of Imelda Marcos

During their two-decade conjugal dictatorship, as it came to be known, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos pillaged up to $10 billion from Philippine coffers to finance their extravagant lifestyle. Nearly 20 years after their downfall, and in spite of an extensive...

Published Thu, Jan 16 2014 6:50 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Corruption, Human Rights, Politics, Southeast Asia

Watch Live: Obama's Speech on Intelligence Reform

On Friday, in a highly anticipated speech, President Obama is expected unveil reforms to the National Security Agency's intelligence gathering capabilities. Those reforms are the result of several months of political fallout from the revelations of...

Published Fri, Jan 17 2014 7:52 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: North America, Intelligence, U.S. Foreign Policy, International Organizations, National Security

The Nine Lives of 'Russia's Bin Laden'

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed president of Chechnya, used an unorthodox method of announcing the purported death of Russia's number one terrorist: Instagram, the popular photo-sharing service often used for celebrity selfies. Kadyrov, an Instagram...

Published Mon, Jan 20 2014 5:30 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, Russia, Islam, Caucasus

Davos Wants You to Know It Really, Really Cares About Inequality

Pope Francis would like the international business mandarins assembled at Davos for the annual meetings of the World Economic Forum to know that they really ought to be doing something about economic inequality in the world. In remarks read by an emissary...

Published Tue, Jan 21 2014 2:27 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, Financial crisis, Foreign Aid, Development, Economics, Finance

Gration and Power answer activists' questions on Sudan

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 A guest post from Foreign Policy contributor and human-rights activist Rebecca Hamilton. Last week, the State Department partnered with two U.S.-based advocacy organizations (Save...

Published Wed, Nov 11 2009 1:32 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Africa, Obama Administration, U.S. Foreign Policy, Guest Blogger

The Israeli-Palestinian doomsday scenario

In honor of Roland Emerich's apocalyptic "2012," let's parse out a Middle Eastern doomsday scenario: the dissolution of the Palestinian Authority and the revival of the Palestine Liberation Organization as the primary governing body...

Published Thu, Nov 12 2009 10:20 AM by FP Passport

What will happen at KSM's trial?

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is undoubtedly one of the most murderous people in U.S. custody today, a self-proclaimed terrorist "to the bone." He masterminded the 9/11 attacks and the 2002 Bali bombing. He has confessed to a number of crimes, and...

Published Fri, Nov 13 2009 1:03 PM by FP Passport

Is Pakistan's prime minister really so powerful?

The Pakistani newspaper Dawn is reporting that Forbes magazine has named Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, the Pakistani prime minister, the 38th most powerful man in the world. Forbes doesn't seem to have published its new list online yet, so I can't verify...

Published Mon, Nov 16 2009 5:26 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Pakistan, Media, South Asia

Following cultural conventions is not submission

The reptilian brain is human kind's link to our primitive ancestors. Millions of years of evolution helped us develop reasoning, shame, and verbal communication. But in the reptilian brain, fight-or-flight survival instincts survive. The reptilian...

Published Mon, Nov 16 2009 10:19 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, Culture, Obama Administration