Foreign Policy January - February 2015

THE WORLD ENTERS 2015 much changed, in many ways, from one year ago: The Russian ruble is in crisis, and oil prices are at the bottom of their barrel, so to speak. The United States and Cuba are embarking on a historic rapprochement, while a Seth Rogen bro comedy has somehow redefined the notion of “international incident.” Here at Foreign Policy, we are committed to covering such change in ever-innovative, sharp, and agile ways. To that end, we have embarked on a major change ourselves—the product of which you hold in your hands. The January/February issue is newly, completely redesigned. Offering a vision of FP’s future, the issue is the outcome of months of intense collaboration among editors and designers. It also comes out of careful study of what FP has become…

On November 17, Foreign Policy unveiled its sixth annual special issue spotlighting FP’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers at a dinner honoring the exclusive members of the list. Attended by over 40 Global Thinkers from around the world, the event celebrated people who translated ideas into actions impacting millions worldwide. FP’s Global Thinkers Gala was generously underwritten by Chevron…

When Did Obama Give Up? Don’t be fooled by the recent flurry of executive action on immigration and Cuba or the hasty half-war against the Islamic State. Look closely at the U.S. president’s speeches of late, and you’ll see an unmistakable air of resignation. Read FP contributing editor James Traub’s masterful feature on the diminution of what was once a grand vision in the White House. The FP Twitterati 100 Ugh, @taylorswift13 is so last year. It’s 2015, and time to trim whom you’re following. Every pundit and D.C. junkie tweets breaking news like they invented it, but FP’s annual list of the most important—and interesting—people on Twitter has both the newsmakers and the intellectual heavyweights to keep you in the conversation from Jakarta to Jerusalem. CORRECTION The photo for Afghan graffiti artist Shamsia Hassani…

“While in Kiribati, I wanted to see the house where Ioane Teitiota had spent his last four years on the crowded capital island of Tarawa. I knew it was in the village of Abarao, and I had the name of a sister-in-law. I arrived just before sunset and started asking for her with the help of a translator. Villagers pointed to a small woman holding a young child in her arms. It was hot. Mosquitoes were beginning to swarm. She was wary of the strangers, but led me through a warren of thatch-roofed huts. The family home stood on the water’s edge, its back to the ocean; it was elevated by mounds of sand piled up against a shoulder-high sea wall. Waves lapped below. Living on a narrow strip of…

In May 2009, a truck rolled through the Sheikh Yasin camp in Mardan, Pakistan’s “city of hospitality,” where thousands of people had fled following one of the country’s military offensives against the Taliban. If water was a scarce commodity to this refugee community, ice was a luxury. And it was worth fighting for: A single block could refrigerate whatever perishables the displaced had secured for their families. Over the past 10 years, Hungarian photojournalist Balazs Gardi has explored how something as basic as water has become a source of global conflict. But his work focuses on more than just environmental catastrophes and humanitarian challenges; exposing corporate interests— the massive bottled-water industry and the plastic waste it creates— is another layer of his project. When it comes to water, he asks, “Who…

IN BERTRAND PICCARD’S family, there’s a tradition of being first. His grandfather, Auguste, was the first person to ride a balloon into the stratosphere. His father, Jacques, was the first to reach the Earth’s deepest point, the Pacific’s Mariana Trench. And in 1999, Bertrand completed the first nonstop, around-the-world balloon flight. That feat, plus an environmentally conscious approach to innovation, spurred the renowned Swiss adventurer to dream of circumnavigating the globe in a plane that uses no fuel. The result? Solar Impulse 2, an aircraft equipped with more than 17,000 solar cells. Thanks to lithium batteries that efficiently store energy reserves, it’s the first solar-powered plane that can fly through the night. “If we want to solve our pollution and energy problems,” says Piccard, a psychiatrist by training, “we need to…