EMAIL DETAILS

The Weekly GAB Friday, January 4, 2019
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=DFL4Sg-63its8XOk46G63Q

Who's in the News

THE HILL
Empower Women, Turbo-Charge the Global Economy

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=8ilMqa8oZsZF5B2wZ1SgFA

Michelle Nunn, President & CEO of CARE

In case you missed it amid the budget battle headlines, members of
both parties from the House and Senate voted to send the Women's
Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act (WEEE) to the
president's desk. It's a bipartisan bill that would
significantly boost global efforts to support more women to start or
grow businesses, enter the workforce, or otherwise advance
economically. If you really want to help lift entire communities out
of poverty for the long-term, the key is by empowering women and
girls. When women and girls are empowered, it helps entire communities
- including men and boys - become more prosperous, stable,
and resilient.

THE WASHINGTON POST

'America First' Is Only Making the World Worse.
Here's a Better Approach.

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=DTB--VUvTURmfK2jmH1gVw

Antony J. Blinken, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, and Robert
Kagan, Brookings Institution

Foreign policy was the last thing on voters' minds in the
midterm elections, but as we look toward 2020, one thing is clear:
President Trump's "America First" foreign policy
- or its progressive cousin, retrenchment - is broadly
popular in both parties. Trump's recent decision to withdraw all
troops from Syria and 7,000 from Afghanistan has been condemned by
Democrats and Republicans alike in Washington. But it is not at all
clear that Americans beyond the Beltway are equally outraged... Can we
find a foreign policy of responsible global engagement that most
Americans support, that draws the right lessons from our past
mistakes, that steers between the equally dangerous shoals of
confrontation and abdication, and that understands the difference
between self-interest and selfishness?

Development & Diplomacy

CHRISTIAN BROADCASTING NETWORK

A 'Privilege and Obligation': Faith Leaders Urge White House to Keep
Funding for Overseas Humanitarian Programs |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=ldbmmSj5z-m3_xGwxdV_bg

Abigail Robertson

More than 25 influential faith leaders sent a letter Friday
encouraging the Trump administration to continue funding humanitarian
foreign assistance programs they say will save lives, help strengthen
communities and ultimately protect our freedoms at home. Citing the
biblical principle in Luke where Jesus said, "from everyone who has
been given much, much will be demanded," the letter addressed to
President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and National
Security Advisor John Bolton states: "Our nation has been richly
blessed, and we have the privilege and obligation to share some of
those blessings with those in need around the world. We do this
through our private missionary, development, and humanitarian
programs. But our government also has an indispensable role to play in
diplomacy and in poverty-focused assistance programs."

THE BANGOR DAILY NEWS
Taking Away Foreign Aid Won't Stop Immigration |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=YTGkIZlifzc8hGXvG87W4A

Editorial Board

President Donald Trump confirmed Friday that he continues to ignore a
crucial lesson from his departing Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.
That lesson is that the United States remains strong by staying
engaged in the world, not by pulling back and focusing only on our own
interests... In a Friday morning tweet, the president said the U.S.
would be cutting off aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras,
because these central American countries aren't doing enough to
stop their people from coming to the U.S... If the U.S. wants to stop
this migration, it must continue to work to improve living and
economic conditions in countries such as Honduras, Guatemala and El
Salvador.

ABC NEWS

Trump Administration Border Chief Says US Needs 'to Invest in Central
America,' at Odds with President's Tweet Saying Aid to Countries Will
Be Cut Off |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=eg5geOxvxEVEyMf4Cbg3MQ

Kris Schneider and Quinn Scanlan

Speaking about the migration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, the
Trump administration's border chief said Sunday that the United States
needs to "invest in Central America," which was at odds with a tweet
from the president saying he would cut off aid to those countries...
"We also need to invest in Central America," he said Sunday.
"The State Department's announcement of an unprecedented increase in
aid, I think is a tremendous step forward. Our green shoots of
progress, both on security and the economic front in Central America,
we need to foster that and help improve the opportunities to stay at
home." On Friday, President Donald Trump said in a tweet that
Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador "are doing nothing for the United
States" and that the administration "will be cutting off all aid to
these [three] countries."

THE TENNESSEAN
Honduran Caravan Has Roots in Failed U.S. Policies
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=eLK4emLy_BKEFBZZdSd9hQ

Michael Franklin, Alabama Honduras Medical Educational Network

Whether the migrants are turned away at the U.S.-Mexico or even the
Guatemala-Mexico border is not the point of the protest. The point of
these mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, neighbors by blood
and history marching to Uncle Sam's gates is to challenge the
U.S.-Honduran oligarchy. For neither government is working to the
benefit of Honduras... However, what if the billions in foreign aid
and international loans were used to put the country to work on New
Deal style improvements across the nation? ... How much stronger and
more positive would our nation's relationship be with Honduras
if instead of cutting off aid to people already living in demoralizing
poverty the United States used its aid to support Honduras in
investing in national green energy initiatives like those which have
been so successful in Costa Rica?

AP NEWS
AP Investigation: Food Aid Stolen as Yemen Starves |
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=HWNjvNjEXKOsHSiYkGieqQ

Maggie Michael

Documents reviewed by The Associated Press and interviews with
al-Hakimi and other officials and aid workers show that thousands of
families in Taiz are not getting international food aid intended for
them - often because it has been seized by armed units that are
allied with the Saudi-led, American-backed military coalition fighting
in Yemen... Across Yemen, factions and militias on all sides of the
conflict have blocked food aid from going to groups suspected of
disloyalty, diverted it to front-line combat units or sold it for
profit on the black market, according to public records and
confidential documents obtained by the AP and interviews with more
than 70 aid workers, government officials and average citizens from
six different provinces.

CNN
Ebola Outbreak in Congo Surpasses 600 Cases Amid More Violence |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=HCYGXe3RPrgBtzsA5rnPeA

Susan Scutti

The Democratic Republic of Congo has reached a grim new milestone in
the Ebola outbreak that began August 1: The total number of probable
patients is 608 as of Wednesday, with 368 deaths, the Ministry of
Health said. An additional 29 people who doctors suspect may be sick
with Ebola are under investigation. The ministry also reported that
207 people have recovered from the life-threatening illness... The
outbreak is the second-deadliest and second-largest in history, topped
only by one in West Africa in 2014, when the disease killed more than
11,000 people, according to the World Health Organization.

FORBES
How the Power of SMS Is Solving Zambia's Malaria Epidemic |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=dZFj2hFkAuxzdwQ9ze0T5Q

Nicholas Fearn

One of the most common infectious diseases, Malaria is a grueling
challenge for many countries across the world. According to the World
Health Organization, there were 219 million cases in 2017 - 435,00 of
which were fatal. Zambia is just one country where risk for Malaria is
high, but its government has made a bold pledge to eliminate the
disease by 2021... As part of this ambitious initiative, Zambia has
enlisted the support of global non-profit PATH to explore ways that
technology can be used to solve the growing Malaria epidemic. In
particular, the organization is working to improve data quality and
analysis - providing a better insight into the disease.

Politics & Foreign Policy

AP NEWS
New Pentagon Leader Shanahan Makes Clear His Focus Is China |
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=2uFNmXSgpBNIk9NKvYAgUw

Robert Burns

On his first working day as acting defense secretary, Pat Shanahan
made clear that his focus is on China. The former Boeing executive,
who moved up from the No. 2 job after Pentagon chief Jim Mattis left
Monday, gathered civilian leaders of the military services and other
top civilian officials at the Defense Department on Wednesday before
going to the White House for a Cabinet meeting. A defense official
said Shanahan told the Pentagon gathering that he is focused on the
strategy as developed and put in place under Mattis... Shanahan said
the Pentagon leaders should remember, "China, China, China."

THE NEW YORK TIMES

White House Mulls Jim Webb, Ex-Democratic Senator, as Next Defense
Secretary |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=Kp8KrGxUHFq787dgmI5WVg

Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Maggie Haberman

The Trump administration is considering Jim Webb, a former Democratic
senator and Reagan-era secretary of the Navy, to be the next defense
secretary, according to three officials, potentially bypassing more
hawkish Republicans whose names have been floated to replace Jim
Mattis. Mr. Webb, an outspoken opponent of the Iraq war, is being
considered as President Trump seeks to carry out campaign promises to
withdraw American troops from Syria and Afghanistan... Representatives
for Vice President Mike Pence and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White
House chief of staff, have reached out to Mr. Webb, one of the three
officials said. Separately, a senior Defense Department official
confirmed that Mr. Webb's name had been circulating at the White
House.

THE FINANCIAL TIMES
Former Fox News Host Faces Questions Over UN Role |
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=W8DRNU4RIlT3IguRYab8Qg

Aime Williams

When Fox News presenter Heather Nauert joined the US state department
in 2017, she was hardly the first journalist to move into government
communications, nor the first employee of the right-leaning TV news
channel to take a post in Donald Trump's administration... Not
so for the new job Mr Trump has picked her to do. If she is confirmed
by Congress, Ms Nauert will be catapulted from chastising reporters
for their "fake news" in a windowless briefing room at the
Department of State to channelling Mr Trump's "America
First" worldview to foreign diplomats as US ambassador to the
UN... Both her critics and her advocates, including those currently
working at the state department, characterise her as a Trump loyalist
who intuitively understands the president's foreign policy
positions, and is close to secretary of state Mike Pompeo.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Kim Jong Un Extends Peace Overture to U.S. |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=B1FmUER1VPGiRJpUnqRoMw

Michael R. Gordon and Andrew Jeong

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offered a new peace overture in his
New Year's address, saying his country is refraining from
producing nuclear weapons, a gesture some experts interpreted as a
potential opening for resuming talks with President Trump. His address
comes at an important juncture in Washington's relations with
Pyongyang. While North Korea has refrained from nuclear testing and
missile launches since Mr. Trump's Singapore meeting with Mr.
Kim in June, no discernible progress has occurred since then... With
the two sides seemingly far apart about the pace of North
Korea's potential denuclearization efforts-and when
Pyongyang would get sanctions relief from the U.S. in return-no
date for a summit has been set.

BLOOMBERG

It's Crunch Time for Trump's 'America First'
Policy |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=9Iq0gKvDuM7_WtQccZz65A

Nick Wadhams

Donald Trump ended 2018 dramatically by ordering U.S. troops out of
Syria and accelerating his defense secretary's resignation by
two months. The first quarter of 2019 looks to be just as tumultuous.
From China to Iran, Trump has set a host of deadlines for action that
will help reveal if the president is really the global deal-maker he
professes to be or a leader who's leaving the U.S. diminished on
the world stage as he boasts of his "America First"
foreign policy... For now, at least, here are some of the most
important foreign-policy deadlines the president and his team have set
for the first few months of the year.

AP NEWS
Pompeo's Mideast Trip Comes on Heels of Trump Syria Decision |
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=vm_5GiOnFgIcbpGz5d7xKA

Matthew Lee

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to the Middle East next
week in an effort to shore up support from America's Arab
partners amid increasing tensions in the region. In his first Mideast
trip since President Donald Trump's recent announcement that he
intends to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria, Pompeo will visit eight
countries, starting with Jordan, the State Department said Friday. The
Syria decision, which led to the resignations of Defense Secretary Jim
Mattis and the U.S. special envoy for the anti-Islamic State
coalition, is expected to dominate Pompeo's agenda, along with
the Trump administration's hard line on Iran, the conflict in
Yemen and the situation in Iraq. In addition to Jordan, Pompeo plans
stops in Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, Oman and Kuwait.


The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition
1129 20th Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036

Manage Subscriptions: http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=rRLIAMZczfOX_sJkE7XLZg

Unsubscribe: http://action.usglc.org/site/CO?i=_ffy_cCNBAT7Sf3UUljmCvfNfEJgxvt3&cid=1202&action=FALSE&events=TRUE&news=TRUE&daily=FALSE&weekly=TRUE&email=hbiden@rosemontseneca.com

Not on our list yet? Subscribe Here: http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=BvOCs00jQOgkAbqgn05R