Uncategorized

You may not have noticed it, but Africa is booming. Yet just when the world’s poorest continent is finally starting to see real economic growth, the resource curse threatens to snatch it all away.

With the world focused on Iraq, the standoff in the Taiwan Strait grows more explosive every day. Would the United States really go to war to protect Taiwan from China? Find out what top experts think about a clash between two nuclear superpowers in this first episode of FPTV.

Economics prides itself on being the most scientific of the social sciences. Yet the X and Y axes can’t always capture globalization’s unpredictable turns. In this week’s List, FP looks at five ways in which the world economy is pushing economists to think outside the box.

Former KGB general Oleg Kalugin spoke out against the Soviet regime in the late 1980s. Now a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, he again finds himself at odds with the government of his homeland. With tensions growing between Russia and the West, FP spoke with this dissident spy about Putin’s KGB past, the dangers of political activism, and the future of Russian democracy.

With Gaza under the sway of Hamas, Lebanon paralyzed, and Iraq near collapse, the Middle East has never looked more perilous. But if the United States doesn’t move to defuse the dangerous situation in Iraqi Kurdistan fast, Washington could find itself with yet another ticking time bomb.

With the explosion of Web 2.0, anyone can be a pundit or broadcast the minutiae of his or her life for the world to ogle. And politicians around the world—never a shy crowd—are less and less squeamish about joining the fray. In this week’s FP list, we’ve catalogued some noteworthy blogs of people in positions of power.

A growing number of prominent Republicans are speaking out about an Iraq war that most Americans no longer think is winnable. FP spoke with former top Bush political advisor Matthew Dowd about why a party once deeply loyal to U.S. President George W. Bush is now coming apart at the seams.

Hoping to sound tough on terror, U.S politicians and pundits of all political stripes are calling for a massive expansion of the U.S. military. But adding more troops has nothing to do with fighting terrorism, and would merely serve the same failed strategy that gave us Iraq.

No central authority controls doctrine in Islam, one of the world’s great religions. The result? A proliferation of bizarre religious edicts against targets ranging from Salman Rushdie to polio vaccinations. FP collects some of the worst examples here.

Is it possible to go for a whole year without buying any products made in China? One woman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, wanted to find out. FP spoke with author Sara Bongiorni about her new book, the hidden role China plays in our everyday lives, and what it’s like to be a mother of two without a coffee maker.

Iran’s radical president is sinking fast, and he knows it. Now, there’s only one man who can keep Mahmoud Ahmadinejad out of the unemployment line: George W. Bush.

Few new states have come into being since the fall of the Soviet Union. In this List, FP looks at six regions and territories that are craving international recognition. Each has its own government—even its own flag—but lacks independent status at the United Nations. Who will be next to win this coveted prize?