The FP Twitterati 100
A who’s who of the foreign-policy Twitterverse in 2012.
In a year of economic and political upheaval, with China on the rise, Europe seemingly in meltdown, and the Middle East in flames — amid a pitched battle for the White House — here are the 100 Twitter feeds you need to follow to make sense of it all. To make it easy, we’ve even collected them for you in a handy, one-stop list.
ALL-AROUND NEWS AND VIEWS
David Frum (@davidfrum) — Canadian pundit and former speechwriter for George W. Bush; sort of coined the phrase “Axis of Evil.”
Neal Mann (@fieldproducer) — Social-media editor at the Wall Street Journal, formerly with Sky News. Avid climber.
Steve Inskeep (@NPRInskeep) — Globetrotting host of NPR’s Morning Edition.
Anup Kaphle (@AnupKaphle) — Digital editor for foreign and national security at the Washington Post; self-described Yeti expert.
Mark Knoller (@markknoller) — Longtime White House correspondent for CBS News; fount of obscure presidential trivia.
Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) — Crusading columnist for the New York Times; has traveled to every member of the Axis of Evil at least twice.
Jim Roberts (@nytjim) — Gentlemanly assistant managing editor of the New York Times; Grateful Dead fan.
Andrew Schwartz (@handrewschwartz) — Senior VP at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington and a great aggregator of national security news.
Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) — Lightning-fast editor of BuzzFeed; ringleader of the American political twittersphere.
Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) — BBC foreign editor and Middle East watcher.
Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) — Outspoken executive director of Human Rights Watch.
Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) — ABC News senior White House correspondent and master of snark. Breaks a ton of news, both domestic and foreign.
BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images
POLITICIANS AND DIPLOMATS
Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) — Swedish foreign minister and one of the most candid diplomats around. But he’s having a hard time keeping up with @sweden these days.
Hugo Chávez (@chavezcandanga) — With more than 3 million followers and a penchant for handing out free houses to tweeps, the Venezuelan strongman is a force to be reckoned with.
Paul Kagame (@PaulKagame) — President of Rwanda and Twitter fanatic.
U.S. Sen. John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) — Leader of the loyal opposition.
Michael McFaul (@McFaul) — Barack Obama’s ambassador to Russia, live and occasionally uncensored.
Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) — Most official Twitter feeds are unspeakably dull. But Obama’s U.N. envoy stands out for her passion and candor.
Ilves Toomas (@ilvestoomas) — The president of “E-stonia” posts regularly with thoughts on technology and economics, but really made headlines this year with a profanity-laced rant against New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.
Tom Watson (@tom_watson) — Garrulous member of the British parliament and scourge of NewsCorp.
ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/GettyImages
ECONOMICS
Chris Adams (@chrisadamsmkts) — Markets editor at the Financial Times.
Daniel Altman (@altmandaniel) — Adjunct associate professor of economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business and chief economist of Big Think.
Tyler Cowen (@tylercowen) — Professor of economics at George Mason University, author, ethnic food expert, and pioneering econoblogger.
William Easterly (@bill_easterly) — New York University economics professor and aid skeptic. Takes pride in being the 8th-most-famous person from Bowling Green, Ohio.
Fabrizio Goria (@fgoria) — Italian financial journalist and perhaps the essential follow for breaking news on Europe’s economic crisis.
Megan Greene (@economistmeg) — Frighteningly prescient economist at Roubini Global Economics, with a focus on the eurozone crisis.
Robert Peston (@Peston) — Business editor for the BBC.
Nouriel Roubini (@Nouriel) — NYU professor of economics and international business; prophet of doom.
Felix Salmon (@felixsalmon) — Eclectic finance blogger for Reuters.
Joseph Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) — Hyperactive deputy editor at Business Insider.
Zero Hedge (@zerohedge) — Shadowy and often hysterical, but always essential group feed on financial markets.
Tony Fratto (@TonyFratto) — Former U.S. Treasury and White House official, now at Hamilton Place strategies.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
EUROPE
Edward Lucas (@edwardlucas) — International editor for the Economist, with a focus on Eastern Europe.
J. Clive Matthews (@Nosemonkey) — Managing editor, MSN International, but tweets mainly about the European Union.
Nick Malkoutzis (@NickMalkoutzis) — Deputy editor of Kathimerini, Greece’s daily English-language newspaper and an essential source on the Greek economic crisis.
Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) — Economic editor at Newsnight and a must-follow on European debt-crisis news.
Doug Saunders (@DougSaunders) — Rangy Europe bureau chief for Canada’s Globe and Mail.
Peter Spiegel (@SpiegelPeter) — Brussels bureau chief for the Financial Times and stalwart summit-tweeter.
Matina Stevis (@MatinaStevis) — Brussels-based journalist for Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal; a key follow on the European crisis.
Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) — Moscow correspondent for the Independent.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
THE MIDDLE EAST
Issandr El Amrani (@arabist) — Writer and analyst based in Cairo.
Borzou Daragahi (@borzou) — Roving Middle East and North Africa correspondent for the Financial Times and a great aggregator of regional news.
Golnaz Esfandiari (@GEsfandiari) — Iran reporter and blogger for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, based in Washington, D.C.
Jeffrey Goldberg (@Goldberg3000) — Washington-based correspondent for the Atlantic; official therapist of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Hussein Ibish (@Ibishblog) — Blogger and senior research fellow for the American Task Force on Palestine.
Robin Mills (@robinenergy) — Dubai-based energy consultant and columnist.
Eman Al Nafjan (@Saudiwoman) — Saudi Arabia’s most prominent female blogger.
Ahmed Al Omran (@ahmed) — The original Saudi blogger; NPR social-media producer.
Prashant Rao (@prashantrao) — AFP’s Baghdad bureau chief and one of the few good feeds on Iraq.
Sultan Al Qassemi (@SultanAlQassemi) — Prominent Emirati columnist, investor, and art aficionado; go-to source for breaking news from the Arab world.
Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) — Diplomatic correspondent for Haaretz. Scoop machine.
Mahmoud Salem (@Sandmonkey) — Foul-mouthed Egyptian revolutionary blogger and son of a former ruling-party parliamentarian, based in Cairo.
Liz Sly (@LizSly) — Beirut-based correspondent for the Washington Post. Essential on Syria.
Brian Whitaker (@Brian_Whit) — Middle East editor for the Guardian and a keen analyst of regional politics and trends.
Mahir Zeynalov (@MahirZeynalov) — Istanbul-based journalist for Today’s Zaman.
ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/GettyImages
AFRICA
Africa Is a Country (@africaisacountry) — Opinionated group feed of various Africa hands.
Scott Baldauf (@baldaufji) — Africa bureau chief for the Christian Science Monitor.
Ian Birrell (@ianbirrell) — Former deputy editor at the Independent and David Cameron speechwriter; now a columnist and the co-founder of Africa Express music project.
Teju Cole (@Tejucole) — Nigerian-born novelist who hops between Lagos and Brooklyn.
Howard French (@hofrench) — Journalism professor; former New York Times correspondent in Africa and China.
Andrew Mwenda (@AndrewMwenda) — Managing editor of Uganda’s Independent magazine; aid critic.
Lydia Polgreen (@lpolgreen) — New York Times bureau chief in Johannesburg, formerly in New Delhi.
U.S. Embassy Pretoria (@usembpretoria) — America’s diplomatic mission to South Africa; puts out a surprisingly good all-purpose Africa feed.
Binyavanga Wainaina (@BinyavangaW) — Acid-tongued Kenyan author and director of the Chinua Achebe Center for African Writers and Artists at Bard College.
TONY KARUMBA/AFP/GettyImages
LATIN AMERICA
Randy Archibold (@rcarchiboldNYT) — New York Times correspondent in Central America.
Mariano Castillo (@marianoCNN) — CNN’s Latin America news desk editor. A good all-purpose feed.
Damien Cave (@damiencave) — New York Times correspondent in Mexico.
Gabriel Elizondo (@elizondogabriel) — Brazil correspondent for Al Jazeera English, based in São Paulo.
YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/GettyImages
ASIA
Ai Weiwei (@aiwwenglish) — The English-language feed of China’s most famous dissident artist.
Bill Bishop (@niubi) — Beijing-based investor, blogger, and all-around China watcher. (Not to be confused with @NiuB, another good feed for China news.)
Gady Epstein (@gadyepstein) — Wickedly funny Beijing correspondent for the Economist, formerly with Forbes.
Kim Jong Number Un (@KimJongNumberUn) — Cheeky fake feed of North Korea’s new leader.
Tom Lasseter (@TomLasseter) — McClatchy’s well-traveled Beijing bureau chief.
Jean Lee (@newsjean) — AP Korea bureau chief and the only journalist to tweet (semi-) regularly from Pyongyang.
Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) — Peripatetic Asia correspondent for Canada’s Globe and Mail.
Evan Osnos (@eosnos) — Staff writer for the New Yorker; former Beijing bureau chief and Middle East correspondent for the Chicago Tribune.
The Relevant Organs (@relevantorgans) — Hilarious fake feed satirizing the Chinese government.
Hiroko Tabuchi (@HirokoTabuchi) — Tokyo correspondent for the New York Times, tweeting on everything from high-tech to high art.
STRDEL/AFP/GettyImages
SOUTH ASIA
C. Christine Fair (@CChristineFair) — Georgetown University assistant professor, dog lover, and sharp-tongued South Asia expert.
Sadanand Dhume (@dhume01) — South Asia analyst at the American Enterprise Institute.
Arif Rafiq (@pakistanpolicy) — Pakistani-American analyst, consultant, and blogger based in New York.
Bilal Sarwary (@bsarwary) — BBC reporter based in Kabul. A go-to source for breaking news from Afghanistan.
Declan Walsh (@declanwalsh) — Pakistan correspondent for the New York Times.
Omar Waraich (@OmarWaraich) — Freelance journalist based in Islamabad.
WONKS
Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) — National security correspondent for Wired‘s Danger Room; tweets on everything from Afghanistan policy to punk rock to the New York Yankees.
J.M. Berger (@intelwire) — A high-volume, high-energy feed focused primarily on counterterrorism, from a Boston-based journalist.
Joe Cirincione (@Cirincione) — President of the Ploughshares Fund, expert on nonproliferation issues, and recovering Red Sox fan.
Michael Clemens (@m_clem) — Wide-ranging scholar at the Center for Global Development.
Andrew Exum (@abumuqawama) — Former Army Ranger, blogger, and counterinsurgency guru at the Center for a New American Security.
Joshua Foust (@joshuafoust) — Irascible former intelligence analyst, blogger, and expert on South and Central Asia; unforgiving media critic.
Will McCants (@will_mccants) — Former counterterrorism analyst at the State Department; now an expert at CNA.
Tom Murphy (@viewfromthecave) — A Boston-based aid consultant and blogger whose feed provides a useful clearinghouse for news and views on aid and international development.
Anne-Marie Slaughter (@SlaughterAM) — Professor at Princeton University and former head of Policy Planning at the State Department.
Micah Zenko (@MicahZenko) — Analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations; drone critic.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images
TURTLE BAY
Lou Charbonneau (@lou_reuters) — Reuters reporter at the United Nations.
Mark Leon Goldberg (@MarkLGoldberg) — Blogger for the United Nations Foundation’s UN Dispatch, which covers the inner workings of Turtle Bay and Foggy Bottom.
Matthew Lee (@innercitypress) — Eccentric but comprehensive U.N. coverage.
SEBASTIEN FEVAL/AFP/GettyImages
GEEKS
Mikko H. Hypponen (@mikko) — Finnish cybersecurity expert.
Zeynep Tufekci (@techsoc) — Turkish-born blogger and academic authority on social media.
Trevor Timm (@trevortimm) — Activist and blogger at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Ethan Zuckerman (@EthanZ) — Co-founder of the social media network Global Voices, now at MIT’s Media Lab.
EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/GettyImages
PLUS: FP’ERS WHO TWEET
Also available as a Twitter list
Foreign Policy (@FP_Magazine) — The official Foreign Policy feed.
AfPak Channel (@afpakchannel) — The latest on Afghanistan and Pakistan from the New America Foundation in partnership with Foreign Policy.
Democracy Lab (@Democracy_Lab) — Tracking the rise and fall of democracy around the world; a special project with the Legatum Institute.
FPElection2012 (@FPelection2012) — Our channel on foreign policy and the U.S. presidential election.
Middle East Channel (@MideastChannel) — The latest on the Middle East from Foreign Policy and the Project on Middle East Political Science.
P.J. Aroon (@pjaroonFP) — FP copy chief; tweets about women and typos.
David Bosco (@multilateralist) — FP contributing editor and blogger; U.N. expert and author of Five to Rule Them All.
Christian Caryl (@ccaryl) — Editor of FP’s Democracy Lab (@Democracy_Lab).
Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) — Fellow at the Century Foundation, author of Live from the Campaign Trail, and FP Election 2012 columnist.
Michael Dobbs (@michaeldobbs) — Award-winning journalist and U.S. Holocaust Museum fellow live-blogging for the trial of Ratko Mladic for ForeignPolicy.com.
Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) — Professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and writer of an eponymous blog.
Isaac Stone Fish (@isaacstonefish) — Associate editor with a focus on China.
Uri Friedman (@UriLF) — Associate editor.
David E. Hoffman (@thedeadhandbook) — Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former foreign editor of the Washington Post; Foreign Policy contributing editor and blogger.
Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) — Managing editor.
Joshua E. Keating (@joshuakeating) — Associate editor.
David Kenner (@DavidKenner) — Associate editor.
Charles Kenny (@charlesjkenny) — Former World Bank economist; now an FP columnist and fellow at the New America Foundation; author of Getting Better.
Christina Larson (@larsonchristina) — Contributing editor at Foreign Policy and freelance journalist based in China.
Steve LeVine (@stevelevine) — Author of The Oil and the Glory; blogs on the geopolitics of energy for Foreign Policy.
Colum Lynch (@columlynch) — Washington Post U.N. correspondent and Turtle Bay blogger.
Marc Lynch (@abuaardvark) — Associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University and Middle East blogger.
Rebecca MacKinnon (@rmack) — Former Beijing bureau chief for CNN focusing on global Internet policy; fellow at the New America Foundation and an FP columnist.
Benjamin Pauker (@BenPauker) — Senior editor.
Clyde Prestowitz (@clydeprestowitz) FP‘s resident trade blogger and president of the Economic Strategy Institute.
Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) — Staff writer and Cable blogger.
MARK RALSTON/AFP/GettyImages
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