Seven Questions

Holding Obama to His Word in the Middle East

Palestinian peace activist Mustafa Barghouti explains why statehood is devolving into apartheid.

INTERVIEW BY DAVID KENNER | MAY 7, 2010

Iran's Home Movies

Exiled Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi tells FP how he fell in love with cinema -- and why Iran needs its film industry now more than ever.

INTERVIEW BY KAYVAN FARZANEH | APRIL 20, 2010

Castros Forever

Ann Louise Bardach, the Western journalist who's probably spent more time with the Castro family members and friends than any other, sounds off on life under Raúl, Cuba's growing dependence on Venezuela, and why there's no end in sight to the Castro era.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | MARCH 10, 2010

Seven Questions with Rebiya Kadeer

The "voice of the Uighurs" speaks out against China's war and says now only the world can help them.

INTERVIEW BY ANNIE LOWREY | AUGUST 20, 2009

Seven Questions: Keith Hennessey

The Bush administration economic advisor who witnessed the U.S. economy’s crash critiques Obama’s performance.

INTERVIEW BY MICHAEL WILKERSON | AUGUST 5, 2009

Seven Questions: Jay Garner

The man who first led reconstruction efforts in Iraq says that Arab-Kurd tensions are overblown and that "soft partition" would have been a good idea.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | JULY 15, 2009

Seven Questions: José Ramos-Horta

East Timor's Nobel Prize-winning president asks, just who is the failed state here?

BY SIMON ROUGHNEEN | JULY 9, 2009

Seven Questions: Hans Blix

Why big weapons won't stop terror, Obama has it right on Iran, and nukes are so last century.

APRIL 29, 2009

Seven Questions: Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah

Why the U.N. secretary-general's representative in Somalia sees hope for the most dangerous place in the world.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | MARCH 12, 2009

Seven Questions: Fernando Henrique Cardoso

Brazil's former president explains why the U.S. war on drugs has only exacerbated instability and drug trafficking in Latin America.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | FEBRUARY 26, 2009

Seven Questions: Sidney Alford

A top explosives expert warns that missing Israeli bombs could soon turn into IEDs in the hands of Hamas in Gaza.

FEBRUARY 20, 2009

Seven Questions: Prosecuting Sudan

The international prosecutor who's coming after Sudan's Omar al-Bashir says that peace talks in Darfur might have to take a back seat -- justice must be served.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH ALLEN | FEBRUARY 12, 2009

Seven Questions: Gen. William "Kip" Ward

The general in charge of the U.S. military's new Africa Command says his mission is peace, achieved without war.

INTERVIEW BY JOHN PERRA | FEBRUARY 5, 2009

Seven Questions: Michael Gelles

A psychologist who helped design an interrogation model for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo says that legal, morally sound interrogations would have worked.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON, BLAKE HOUNSHELL | JANUARY 23, 2009

Seven Questions: Georgia's Special Relationship

Georgia's new foreign minister tells FP what his country needs from the United States.

INTERVIEW BY JOSHUA E. KEATING | JANUARY 9, 2009

Seven Questions: The United Nations Defends Its Role in Gaza

The U.N. Deputy High Commissioner on Human Rights says Israel is to blame.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | JANUARY 9, 2009

Seven Questions: Lt. Gen. Paul Van Riper on How to Kick Pirate Booty

The general who whipped U.S. forces in a famous war game tells FP how to crack down on Somali pirates. Ahoy!

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | DECEMBER 9, 2008

Seven Questions: James R. Locher III

A scathing new report on U.S. national security offers a sneak preview of how Gen. James L. Jones, Barack Obama's top foreign-policy advisor, might approach the difficult task before him.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | DECEMBER 2, 2008

Seven Questions: William H. Donaldson

A former SEC chairman sorts out where the bailout money is going and why some things are slipping through the cracks.

INTERVIEW BY JEROME CHEN | DECEMBER 2, 2008

Seven Questions: Gilles Kepel

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

INTERVIEW BY BLAKE HOUNSHELL | NOVEMBER 25, 2008

Seven Questions: 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.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | NOVEMBER 17, 2008

Seven Questions: Richard Perle's Advice for Barack Obama

The “Prince of Darkness” weighs in on Vladimir Putin, Bob Gates, and how the new U.S. president can avoid the Bush administration’s biggest blunders.

INTERVIEW BY DAVID KENNER | NOVEMBER 16, 2008

Seven Questions: Paul Martin

As world leaders gear up for a major financial summit in Washington, Former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin explains why his country has weathered the subprime tsunami better than most, how the G-20 can keep the sky from falling, and what Barack Obama needs to do to make globalization work again.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | NOVEMBER 11, 2008

Seven Questions: Kenneth Duberstein

A veteran White House insider tells Foreign Policy how the next president can hit the ground running.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | NOVEMBER 3, 2008

Seven Questions for Syrian Ambassador Imad Moustapha

Was last Sunday’s raid by U.S. forces on Syrian territory ”terrorist aggression,” electoral politics, or righteous punishment?

INTERVIEW BY DAVID KENNER | OCTOBER 31, 2008

Seven Questions for Larry Wilkerson

Colin Powell’s chief of staff shares some candid thoughts on why the former secretary of state endorsed Barack Obama -- and how the next U.S. president can get America back on track.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | OCTOBER 20, 2008

Seven Questions: Jeffrey Sachs

The global economy is in crisis, but there may be more hope for the poor than you think.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | OCTOBER 16, 2008

Seven Questions: Dexter Filkins on the Taliban's Long War

With the Taliban growing fiercer by the day, Dexter Filkins, a grizzled war correspondent for the New York Times and author of The Forever War, shares his tales from tribal Pakistan and explains why it may be too late to apply the lessons of Iraq.

OCTOBER 8, 2008

Seven Questions: How to Prepare for the Big Debate

U.S. voters have just over a month to decide on whether to put John McCain and Sarah Palin or Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the White House. With the polls tight, the remaining debates could be decisive. FP spoke with debate expert Alan Schroeder to find out how the candidates get ready -- and how they can avoid crippling mistakes.

OCTOBER 1, 2008

Seven Questions: The Russian Connection

What does Viktor Bout know? FP spoke with analyst and author Douglas Farah about the surprise arrest of the world’s most notorious arms dealer, his ties to everyone from Colombian narcoterrorists to the U.S. government, and how he might get off the hook—again.

MARCH 12, 2008