Corruption

The Serpent King

How a notorious Malaysian wildlife smuggler was brought to justice -- and what it tells us about stopping the world's most profitable black market.

BY BRYAN CHRISTY | DECEMBER 28, 2010

A Cup of Plenty?

Emerging countries deserve the World Cup, but FIFA needs to get its act together to make sure that the global showcase doesn't do more harm than good.

BY PARAG KHANNA, KARIM MAKDISI | DECEMBER 22, 2010

Publish or Perish

Private contractors cost taxpayers worldwide untold billions in corruption, inefficiency, and mismanagement. But the solution isn't getting rid of them -- it's showing the rest of us their paperwork.

BY CHARLES KENNY | DECEMBER 20, 2010

Greed Is Global

A world of corruption revealed by WikiLeaks.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON, JOSHUA E. KEATING | DECEMBER 18, 2010

WikiFailed States

What the cables reveal about the world’s toughest places.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | DECEMBER 14, 2010

The Fake Taliban and Other Great Diplo-Scams

The United States was just bamboozled by a con artist purporting to be a high-ranking Taliban official. Here are five other unbelievable and embarrassing historical diplomatic frauds.

BY DAVID KENNER | NOVEMBER 23, 2010

The Privateers of Yemen

Starved for revenue and riddled with corruption, the Yemeni navy and coast guard have adopted a novel fundraising strategy: guns for hire.

BY ELLEN KNICKMEYER | NOVEMBER 17, 2010

Havana's Man in Havana

Rogue CIA operative Philip Agee's personal papers were just released by New York University. But take it from this CIA veteran -- Agee wasn't an honest critic, but a traitor bought and paid for by America's enemies.

BY ROBERT BAER | NOVEMBER 9, 2010

Values Voters

How Malaysia's right-wing Islamist party became the country's best hope for political reform.

BY DUSTIN ROASA | OCTOBER 12, 2010

Chained in the Colombian Jungle

The FARC's most famous hostage, Ingrid Betancourt, tells FP what six-and-a-half years of captivity in the jungle felt like.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

Warlord TV

When Afghanistan's powerbrokers own the networks, they control what's on the air. The result: documentaries of Dostum chasing Taliban fighters across northern Afghanistan on horseback.

BY KATHERINE BROWN, TOM GLAISYER | SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Corrupt Democracy

Should the Barack Obama administration keep giving aid to the corrupt government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai? Kenyan whistle-blower John Githongo tells FP why pluralism and freedom will never thrive when everyone from officials to cab drivers are skimming off the top.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | SEPTEMBER 22, 2010

The Save-the-World Clock

Global leaders promised a decade ago to end poverty by 2015. With just five years left, the U.N. General Assembly -- including an estimated 140 heads of state -- will meet this week to assess progress. How much good has been done? Here's a hint: not enough.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

The Bordello State

Italy's descent under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

BY JAMES WALSTON | SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Cops, Robbers … and the Muslim Brotherhood?

Why the Egyptian government's propaganda version of CSI revealed more about its own paranoia than about its enemies.

BY ABDULLAH AL-ARIAN | SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

The Worst Job in Japan

Less than three months into his term, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is already fighting to hold onto his office. But what's crazier is that anyone wants to take it from him.

BY TOBIAS HARRIS | AUGUST 31, 2010

India's Hidden War

Inside the resource conflict you haven't heard about.

SEPT. / OCT. 2010

Bed, Bath & Bribes

IKEA's struggle to do business in Putin's Russia.

BY ALEXANDER OSIPOVICH | SEPT. / OCT. 2010

Fire in the Hole

How India's economic rise turned an obscure communist revolt into a raging resource war.

BY JASON MIKLIAN, SCOTT CARNEY | SEPT. / OCT. 2010

This Week at War: Is Mexico's Drug War Doomed?

Learning to live with drug cartels -- and killer robots.

BY ROBERT HADDICK | AUGUST 13, 2010

How WikiLeaks Could Use Its Power for Good

Targeted leaks work better than document dumps.

BY CHARLI CARPENTER | AUGUST 12, 2010

Zardari's Katrina

Why is Pakistan’s president junketing while his people drown?

BY FATIMA BHUTTO | AUGUST 4, 2010

The Sand Smugglers

Singapore's business-friendly climate has seen the country grow by leaps and bounds -- literally. But it's all based on a murky, billion-dollar illegal trade in sand.   

BY CHRIS MILTON | AUGUST 4, 2010

The Fastest to Die

A study reveals how deeply the wounds of conflict have cut the Central African Republic -- and not where you would expect.

BY PATRICK VINCK, PHUONG PHAM | AUGUST 3, 2010

For Natasha

Russia's human rights activists are bowed but not broken.

BY ANNA NEMTSOVA | JULY 26, 2010

The Truth About Africom

No, the U.S. military is not trying to take over Africa. Here's what we're actually doing.

BY ROBERT MOELLER | JULY 21, 2010

Papandreou’s Odyssey

The Greek prime minister has gone from leader of the socialist party to wielding the axe against entitlements -- and his long journey has just begun. In an exclusive interview, George Papandreou looks to the future and talks to FP about the Herculean tasks ahead.

INTERVIEW BY BENJAMIN PAUKER | JULY 19, 2010

Who Tried to Kill Fang Xuanchang?

A chilling attack on a controversial science journalist in Beijing bodes poorly for scientific progress.

BY SAM GEALL | JULY 6, 2010

Congo’s New Mobutu

As the Democratic Republic of the Congo turns 50 this month, its leader is taking a page from Mobutu Sese Seko’s playbook on repression. And the West is helping him.

BY JOE BAVIER | JUNE 29, 2010

COIN Toss

Is Hamid Karzai worth the fight in Afghanistan? We'd better learn the answer soon -- or give up the counterinsurgency game.

BY JAMES TRAUB | JUNE 29, 2010