Disasters

Mountain of Fire

Mount Merapi is active -- in a big, big way.

NOVEMBER 9, 2010

Delusion Points

Don't fall for the nostalgia -- George W. Bush's foreign policy really was that bad.

BY STEPHEN M. WALT | NOVEMBER 8, 2010

Why Democracies Don't Get Cholera

It's about a lot more than just clean water.

BY JOE AMON | OCTOBER 25, 2010

It's the Occupation, Stupid

Extensive research into the causes of suicide terrorism proves Islam isn't to blame -- the root of the problem is foreign military occupations.

BY ROBERT A. PAPE | OCTOBER 18, 2010

What Happens to a Place After It's Covered in Toxic Sludge?

Nothing good.

BY JOSHUA E. KEATING | OCTOBER 6, 2010

India's Catastrophe

As New Delhi prepares for the 2010 Commonwealth Games things are falling apart -- literally.

SEPTEMBER 22, 2010

What the Waters Washed Away

The rural, conservative refugees from Pakistan’s floods have not only lost their homes, but also their entire way of life.

BY RANIA ABOUZEID | SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

Hell and High Water

From Pakistan's floods to Russia's wildfires to the United States' oil spill, 2010 has been an unusually bad summer for disasters, natural and otherwise -- enough so that plenty of enormous catastrophes, or just plain weird ones, have had to fight for headlines. Here's FP's list of the disasters you missed.

BY SUZANNE MERKELSON | AUGUST 31, 2010

The Coming Food Crisis

Global food security is stretched to the breaking point, and Russia's fires and Pakistan's floods are only making a bad situation worse.

BY JOHN D. PODESTA, JAKE CALDWELL | AUGUST 26, 2010

Europe Gets It Right

The continent's surprising comeback.

BY KURT VOLKER, JUAN ZARATE | AUGUST 12, 2010

Red Dawn

Wildfires are raging across Russia and frantic efforts of thousands of volunteers have yet to quell the flames.

AUGUST 6, 2010

The Great Flood

Monsoons have caused the worst flooding in Pakistan's history. And the rains keep coming, taking some 1,400 lives to date and leveling tens of thousands of homes along the way.

AUGUST 4, 2010

Zardari's Katrina

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

BY FATIMA BHUTTO | 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

Déjà Haiti

Six months after the earthquake, the scene on the ground looks much the same. 

JULY 14, 2010

Le Scandal

The French soccer team's disaster in South Africa has exposed the superficiality of European racial integration -- and now only Germany can save France from tearing itself apart.

BY JOHN HOBERMAN | JULY 1, 2010

A Tremor for Haiti's Aid Industry

The earthquake was only the latest disaster to capsize the country's already fragile local aid economy. Now outside organizations are threatening to overwhelm it entirely.

BY POOJA BHATIA | JUNE 30, 2010

Reality Check: How Bad Are They?

Worlds apart in language, culture, and daily routine, the top failed states still share a quality of life that is at best difficult and at worst fatal for the majority of the population.

JULY/AUGUST 2010

The Known Unknowns

When U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld referred to the "known unknowns" that remained in Iraq in 2002, he was mocked endlessly -- and those mysterious black holes ended up confounding his administration's project there. Rumsfeld's not the only one to encounter this epistemological puzzle: Known unknowns are everywhere, waiting to trip us up. Here are a few of the most enigmatic.

BY JOSHUA E. KEATING | JULY/AUGUST 2010

The Dhaka Solution

While the rest of the world debates climate change, Bangladesh has started living the reality of a warmer, more volatile world.

BY SEBASTIAN STRANGIO | JUNE 7, 2010

Oil, Oil Everywhere

A month after a BP drilling operation began hemorrhaging crude into the Gulf of Mexico, company executives and White House officials are still volleying the blame and the responsibility for what will be the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

BY BRIAN FUNG | MAY 25, 2010

Sri Lanka Rejects War Crimes Accusations

Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris tells FP that an International Crisis Group report accusing his government of intentionally killing civilians is "nebulous" and shrouded in a "veil of secrecy."

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | MAY 25, 2010

Can Obama Take Over the Oil Spill Response?

You betcha.

BY JOSHUA E. KEATING | MAY 25, 2010

The Coal Miner's Burden

Gas explosions, flooding, and getting trapped leagues beneath the earth's surface -- images of the world's most hazardous occupation.

MAY 18, 2010

Waking Up to Genocide

The slow realization that everything is wrong, told by one of Rwanda's most promising young novelists.

BY GILBERT GATORE | MAY 7, 2010

What Happens to the Oil After an Oil Spill?

Depends how fast you get to it.

BY JOSHUA KEATING | APRIL 27, 2010

Skeptics of the World, Unite!

We're awash in conspiracy theories -- and that's not a good thing. A plea for a genuine culture of skepticism.

BY CHRISTIAN CARYL | APRIL 26, 2010

Can Russia and Poland Forget Centuries of Animosity in a Single Weekend?

Probably not. But at Lech Kaczynski's funeral, they're going to at least try.

BY MASHA LIPMAN | APRIL 16, 2010

Putin Sends His Condolences

Why is Putin gushing over Poland's loss? Not because he's suddenly sprouted a heart.

BY ALEXANDER OSIPOVICH | APRIL 12, 2010

Interview: Raymond A. Joseph

Haiti's ambassador on his hopes for the more than $5 billion pledged in aid at this week's donor conference -- and why Haiti can't be rebuilt as a republic of NGOs.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | APRIL 2, 2010