Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

There is a movie where Israel and Hezbollah ally to fight zombies

Dan Drezner , call your office. A new Israeli horror film, Cannon Fodder , depicts the tribulations of an IDF commando team that enters south Lebanon -- only to discover their problem isn't Hezbollah, but marauding zombie hordes. To make a not particularly...

Published Fri, May 31 2013 10:46 AM by FP Passport

Israel Accused of Suppressing Terror Evidence to Help Out New Pal China

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Israel is a country desperate for friends. Isolated in the Middle East and hated in large parts of the Arab world, it struggles to make alliances. The few it has, it guards fiercely...

Published Wed, Jul 24 2013 5:19 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, China, Israel/Palestine

Another hate speech controversy for ANC youth leader

Two weeks ago, Julius Malema, leader of the South African ANC's youth wing, was convicted of hate speech for speculating that the woman who had accused President Jacob Zuma of rape had actually had a "nice time" because she stayed for breakfast...

Published Wed, Mar 31 2010 10:53 AM by FP Passport

When monkeys attack

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Another side effect of summer heat? In August, according to CNNGo , Japanese monkeys "get most feisty." This year, at least 43 people in Shizuoka prefecture have been...

Published Mon, Aug 30 2010 3:43 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Japan, Pacific

Bad Metaphor Watch: Iranian Nuclear Deal Edition

In the war of words over the nuclear deal with Iran, any metaphor is fair game. Skeptics of the agreement hashed out in Geneva see parallels between this deal and, well, just about every bad, no good, awful, catastrophic moment in international politics...

Published Mon, Nov 25 2013 5:19 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East, Media, U.S. Foreign Policy, Nukes, Iran

Useless democracy promotion efforts? There's an app for that.

The Voice of America recently unveiled a new iPhone application that allows Iranian "citizen journalists" to send video and images directly to VOA's Persian News Network. The app, designed by the Washington D.C.-based company Intridea, is...

Published Thu, Dec 31 2009 2:21 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East

It Pays To Leave Russia

Crimeans may very well wish to be a part of the Russian Federation, but plenty of Russian citizens want out of it. The number of asylum seekers hailing from Russia quadrupled during 2013, reaching a record 39,800 individuals, according to a report released...

Published Thu, Mar 20 2014 3:42 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, North America, Russia, Human Rights, Middle East, Migration/Immigration, Syria

What Convicted Smugglers Tell Us About Iran's Proxy Wars

Yemen has sentenced eight sailors for smuggling arms to local rebels. The crew of the Jihan sailors received sentences ranging from one to six years in prison; the alleged mastermind of the operation, tried in absentia, received ten. No one in the Jihan...

Published Mon, Nov 18 2013 9:01 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Security, Politics, Middle East, Religion, Iran, Yemen

After 20 Years of Nothing, the WTO Finally Reaches a Deal...Sort of

The World Trade Organization lives to fight another day. Amid concern that last week's trade talks would end in failure and render the WTO obsolete after two decades of ineffectual negotiations, member countries finally reached a global trade reform...

Published Mon, Dec 09 2013 12:55 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Economics, Trade

It's not easy speaking for Qaddafi

The Telegraph 's correspondent in Libya, Damien McElroy, suggests that one reason for Moussa Kusa's defection may have been that he was growing tired of trying to spin his boss's bizarre pronouncements: He was notably uncomfortable in making...

Published Thu, Mar 31 2011 9:58 AM by FP Passport

This Is What 12 Years of Failed Drug Policy Looks Like in Afghanistan

Syria spins out of control

As the U.N. Security Council meets today to discuss how to halt Syria's descent into civil war, the available statistics show a country more violent than ever -- and increasingly defined by armed conflict. In mid-November, I charted the rising bloodshed...

Published Tue, Jan 31 2012 10:51 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East Editors Blog

Has China changed its "see no evil stance" on Darfur?

ELIZABETH GLASSANOS/FP Original Did Hollywood's campaign to link Darfur and the Beijing Olympics work? The New York Times treats China's envoy to Sudan with kid gloves : A senior Chinese official, Zhai Jun, traveled to Sudan to push the Sudanese...

Published Fri, Apr 13 2007 4:15 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Africa, Human Rights, East Asia, China, Sudan, FP Originals

The storm hasn't passed yet for Musharraf

AFP Angry protests over Pervez Musharraf's suspension of the chief justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court have ( mostly ) simmered down, but the move has clearly backfired against a regime that is now in damage control mode. Even assuming that President...

Published Fri, Apr 13 2007 1:09 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Pakistan, Politics, U.S. Foreign Policy, South Asia

Friday Conspiracy Fun: Return of the grassy knoll

Oliver Stone may need to rush to re-edit JFK to more directly implicate LBJ in the assassination. An article by Erik Hedegaard in the new Rolling Stone centers on the claim by E. Howard Hunt's son, Saint John, that his ailing father revealed on his...

Published Fri, Apr 13 2007 2:55 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: North America, Intelligence