Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Rick Sanchez wages flame war against Muslim Brotherhood Twitter feed

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo's Twitter feed disappeared for about an hour today following an online sparring match with a feed operated by the office of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy over Jon Stewart's impassioned defense of Egyptian satirist...

Published Wed, Apr 03 2013 5:30 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Science & Technology, Diplomacy, Freedom, Politics, Middle East, Media, Internet, Egypt

Canada Joins Bahrain, Saudi Arabia in Banning Masks -- but Only at Riots

The list of oppressive countries legislating the wearing of masks keeps growing: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and now ... Canada. Yes, Canada.[[BREAK]] Last month, we reported on Saudi Arabia banning the Guy Fawkes masks popularized...

Published Thu, Jun 20 2013 11:00 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: North America, Law, Politics, Canada

Even soccer can't escape the never-ending Persian/Arabian Gulf spat

What's in a name? When it comes to the body of water nestled between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula: a whole lot. For years, the Persian (to some) or Arabian (to others) Gulf has been a source of tension between Iran and its Arab neighbors. In 2010...

Published Wed, May 29 2013 1:50 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Culture, Politics, Middle East, History, Iran

About that deadly "My Way" karaoke

Over the weekend, the New York Times ran a great story on the "My Way" murders in the karaoke-obsessed Philippines. The Times story noted that over the past decade, at least half a dozen people have died just after (or while!) performing the...

Published Tue, Feb 09 2010 10:46 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Drugs & Crime, East Asia, Culture, globalization

What's keeping Gitmo detainees from going home?

Samir Naji al-Hasan Moqbel has been held at Guantánamo Bay for more than 11 years. For the past two months, he has been on a hunger strike, which he described in the editorial pages of the New York Times today: I could have been home years ago -- no one...

Published Mon, Apr 15 2013 6:45 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, al Qaeda, Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, National Security

Report highlights torture and execution of juvenile offenders in Yemen

As Yemen's National Dialogue approaches -- an ambitious effort to reconcile the country's many tribal, political, and sectarian factions as part of its transition from Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule -- Human Rights Watch has pushed a new...

Published Mon, Mar 04 2013 1:30 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Justice, Law, Middle East, Yemen

Palestine wins de facto statehood in U.N. General Assembly

The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a vote Thursday recognizing Palestine as a non-member observer state on the 65th anniversary of the U.N. resolution partitioning Palestine, which led to the establishment of Israel. Out of the...

Published Fri, Nov 30 2012 6:08 AM by The Middle East Channel

Filed under: Middle East, North Africa, Arab World, Mideast Brief

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist outs himself as an illegal immigrant

It isn't often that an undocumented immigrant in the United States outs himself to the world, risking the wrath of the justice system. And rarer too is it for that person to be an award-winning journalist. So Jose Antonio Vargas's compelling essay...

Published Wed, Jun 22 2011 2:41 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: North America

Why Is Macklemore Shouting Out the Philippines' Hard-Left Nationalists?

The rapper Macklemore's body may have been at the MTV European Music Awards on Sunday. But in the wake of supertyphoon Haiyan, his heart was evidently in the Philippines... or, at least, in "the Philippians." In an unfortunately misspelled...

Published Mon, Nov 11 2013 11:16 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Disasters, Culture, Politics, Southeast Asia, International Organizations

A lean to the far right in Greece?

With Greece's national parliamentary election set for May 6, the crisis-ridden country may have a new threat to worry about: the extremist fringe vote. Due to popular frustration with the country's current economic situation, it is " thought...

Published Fri, Apr 13 2012 12:00 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, France, Financial crisis, Eastern Europe, Economics, International Organizations, Democracy

Is it Time to Shred the 'Paper Tiger'?

At a press briefing at the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, a reporter asked a question that seems to come up whenever China attempts to do anything of global significance: Is China a paper tiger? His question pertained to China's controversial...

Published Fri, Nov 29 2013 7:37 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, China, Media

Now Venezuelans Are Taking Off Their Clothes to Protest

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro fancies himself something of a flower child. In an interview with the Guardian this week, the former bus driver and trade unionist denied accusations that he used excessive force to put down intense anti-government...

Published Wed, Apr 09 2014 4:05 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Latin America, Fun Stuff, Venezuela

Russian Paper Issues Front Page Apology to Netherlands for MH17

'Muscovite code' tells foreigners to blend in

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 As foreign moles in suburban America, the "Murphy's" of Montclair -- two of the recently exposed Russian "illegals" (read: spies with boring long-term assignments...

Published Thu, Jul 01 2010 10:26 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Russia, Law, Culture, Race/Ethnicity, Migration/Immigration

Graphic Novel Urges Western Muslim Youth to Join Jabhat al-Nusra

In the annals of jihadi groups, the story is an old one: A disaffected Muslim youth returns to Islam, reconnects with his faith, finds himself outraged at the injustices done to his brothers abroad, and travels to a conflict zone to wage jihad. Think...

Published Thu, Jul 18 2013 2:30 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, al Qaeda, Media, Islam, Syria