Foreign Policy: Your portal to global politics, economics, and ideas

Available now online
and on newsstands:
the November/December
issue of FP

At Passport, a Blog by the Editors of FP:

Zawahiri's Last Gasp

Terrorism analyst and Middle East expert Gilles Kepel tells Foreign Policy why al Qaeda’s racist attack on Barack Obama signals the death of jihad.

How We Will Die in 20 Years

Put down your tarot cards. Here’s a list of reasons why you should (and shouldn’t) fear the reaper in the coming decades. By David Kenner

Georgia Without the Spin

It’s time for the West to realize that Mikheil Saakashvili is no saint and that Georgia is not quite an innocent victim. By Charles King

Photo Essay: Gaza’s (Literal) Underground Economy

Since Hamas gained control of Gaza in June 2007, Israel has blockaded the flow of goods into and out of the territory. But when trade is closed above ground, the economy simply moves underground, in more ways than one. By Preeti Aroon

The Next U.S. President
Five Physics Lessons for Obama

In today’s high-tech world, many critical issues have more to do with electrons than politics or economics. Here are five short physics lessons for President-elect Obama from the author of Physics for Future Presidents. By Richard Muller

The Transition
The Dream Team
Obama will need his country’s brightest minds—not his party’s usual suspects. So, we asked 10 foreign-policy experts to name the team that can best guide No. 44 through the turbulent years ahead.

Related: Choose Your Own Dream Team

The Obama Fantasy

Kenya’s fixation with Barack Obama represents a form of escapism for an African country beset by political dysfunction. By G. Pascal Zachary

How to Close Gitmo

Closing Guantánamo sounds easy when you have support from, well, pretty much the entire world. But as former Pentagon insider Matthew Waxman tells FP, it’s not as simple as Barack Obama thinks.

The 2008 Global Cities Index
Cities bear the brunt of the world’s financial meltdowns, crime waves, and climate crises in ways national governments never will. Find out which towns come out on top, which are falling behind, and why there is no such thing as the perfect global city.

The Failed States Index 2008
Whether it is an unexpected food crisis or a devastating hurricane, the world’s weakest states are the most exposed when crisis strikes. In the fourth annual Failed States Index, Foreign Policy and The Fund for Peace rank the countries where state collapse may be just one disaster away.