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The Weekly GAB - Friday, December 11, 2015
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org

Campaign 2016

DEVEX
Making Foreign Aid a Presidential Prerogative<https://www.devex.com/news/making-foreign-aid-a-presidential-prerogative-87453>
E. Wayne Holden, President of RTI International
As the presidential candidates progress into the height of the campaign, discussions about national security are moving to the forefront. While the candidates are debating some of the country's greatest national security threats - issues like the Islamic State group, cyber warfare and nuclear proliferation - I can't help but wonder if something is missing from the conversation. Since this presidential campaign season began, the issue of foreign aid has mostly been raised in the context of a budget line item that needs reducing. While foreign aid may not trump other national security concerns, it does offer solutions that intersect with our country's health and security needs, and our interests in enhanced global economic prosperity.

WASHINGTON POST
The GOP Candidates Should Address These Foreign Policy Topics in the Next Debate<https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2015/12/06/the-gop-candidates-should-address-these-foreign-policy-topics-in-the-next-debate/> | Jennifer Rubin
The events of this week - a possible terrorist attack on the U.S. homeland, a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency confirming Iran lied when it denied existence of its nuclear program and some contentious crossfire at the Republican Jewish Coalition presidential forum - suggest that if not the sole topic, foreign policy should take up the lion's share of the next GOP presidential debate.

POLITICO
Ben Carson Announces Africa Trip<http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/ben-carson-africa-216506> | Eliza Collins
Ben Carson is going to Africa. The retired neurosurgeon told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday that he's heading to Nigeria, Kenya and Zambia at the end of the month... Carson - who has seen his poll numbers drop amid greater scrutiny of his comments about foreign policy - said he's going to each place for a specific reason... The Republican candidate recently visited a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, which he said convinced him of his view that it's best to resettle those fleeing the violence in Syria within the Middle East, rather than in the United States.

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO
Cruz: Jobs Not Solution to Terrorism<http://www.npr.org/2015/12/09/458973053/cruz-wont-criticize-trump-but-offers-his-own-plan-to-bar-refugees>
Senator Ted Cruz, senior Senator from Texas
CRUZ: "No. And - and as I said afterwards, with all respect, that is utter nonsense. The solution to this problem isn't expanded Medicaid in Iraq. You know, the State Department spokesperson said the response to terrorism is we need to give them jobs. You know what? In the 1940s, FDR didn't stand up and say, 'The problem is the poverty in Germany, and we need to help the Germans not support the Nazis.'"

Who's in the News

THE NATIONAL INTEREST
Where Are America's Bold Foreign Policy Plans?<http://nationalinterest.org/feature/where-are-americas-bold-foreign-policy-plans-14571>
Michael Lind, Co-founder of New America
Like U.S. trade policy, U.S. foreign aid policy largely tracks national security objectives, rather than a civilian geoeconomic grand strategy. The five biggest recipients of the U.S. foreign aid budget of $35 billion in fiscal year 2014 were Israel, Egypt, Afghanistan, Jordan and Pakistan. Other civilian aid that the United States offers for development is often too small to be effective. For example, President Obama's Power Africa initiative, intended to double electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa, involves a mere $7 billion.

THE HUFFINGTON POST
An Unqualified U.S. Foreign Policy Success<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-pfeifle/an-unqualified-us-foreign-policy-success_b_8709050.html>
Mark Pfeifle, Former Deputy National Security Advisor
In one unique area of foreign policy -- the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -- the United States has shown that Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives can work together, save lives and enhance our security -- all by doing good. We cannot allow this vital and successful work to now fall victim to fiscal pressures... Because of PEPFAR, Secretary of State John Kerry was able to announce in 2013 that the one-millionth baby had been born HIV-free because of the program's prevention of mother-to-child transmissions.

POLITICO
Kerry Passes Clinton's State Dept. Total of Miles Traveled Abroad<http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/john-kerry-miles-traveled-secretary-state-216493> | Nick Gass
Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday officially passed Hillary Clinton's total for miles traveled abroad while secretary, with a little more than a year to spare in his time left in office. From his time as secretary that began on Feb. 1, 2013, Kerry has traveled 957,744 miles, most recently to France on Monday to participate in the climate talks in Paris, according to State Department data. In her four years as secretary from 2009 to 2013, Clinton traveled 956,733 miles... The overall record of travel distance, it should be noted, is still held by Condoleezza Rice, who racked up 1,006,846 miles as secretary from 2005 to 2009.

Development & Diplomacy

THE BOSTON GLOBE
Voice of America and the Value of Soft Power<http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/12/09/hks-policycast-voice-america-and-value-soft-power/REb077NN6OD1LNdixtKEbJ/story.html> | Matt Cadwallader
In the aftermath of Daesh-inspired attacks on Paris, London, and San Bernardino, the United States and Europe have been wrestling with how best to wield their military power to defeat the threat. But faced with an enemy that inspires others to violence through well-produced propaganda, we should also consider the role of soft power in combating that hateful ideology by emphasizing Western values like free expression. The concept of soft power was coined back in 1990 by Harvard Kennedy School Professor Joseph Nye to describe how a country can influence other nations, without coercion through military action or economic sanctions, but instead through the spread of values and culture.

HUMANOSPHERE
U.S. Wants to Send $1 Billion in Aid to Central America - But Where Would It Go?<http://www.humanosphere.org/human-rights/2015/12/the-u-s-is-sending-1-billion-to-central-america-but-where-is-it-going/> | Lisa Nikolau
President Obama requested $1 billion in aid to promote security, democracy and prosperity in Central America. The three countries to receive the aid package make up the so-called 'Northern Triangle' - Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador - the most violent, poverty-stricken countries in the Western Hemisphere. The purpose of the aid package is trifold: to stem violence, weed out corruption and attract international investment to the region. The money would mostly be invested in border security, law enforcement and economic development, as well as the U.N.'s new human rights initiatives in the region.

THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION
U.S. Doubles Climate Adaption Aid to Nearly $900 Million<http://sustainability.thomsonreuters.com/2015/12/09/u-s-doubles-climate-adaption-aid-to-nearly-900-million/> | Lesley Wroughton and Valerie Volcovici
The United States announced plans on Wednesday to double grant funding it provides to help developing countries adapt to climate change to around $860 million a year, a pledge that may help clinch a global climate pact this week. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the new financing pledge during a speech at the U.N. climate conference in Paris, where negotiators from 195 countries are working to reach an agreement by this weekend on curbing greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2020.

Politics & Foreign Policy

FIVE THIRTY EIGHT
Microloans Don't Solve Poverty<http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/microloans-dont-solve-poverty/> | Ben Casselman
"The takeaway is that there is not much of an effect," said Esther Duflo, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist who was a co-author of one of the studies. "It doesn't lead to the massive transformation in their quality of life. That's not to mean that it's useless, certainly not to mean that it's hurtful ... [but] it's not the life-changing tool that it was presented to be."

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO
'I Hope the Hospital Has Enough Diesel for their Generator'<http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/12/06/457269135/i-hope-the-hospital-has-enough-diesel-for-their-generator> | Donatella Lorch
Nepal relies almost entirely on fuel trucked in from India. For several months, this small Himalayan nation has been trying to function with about 10 percent of its daily standard consumption. For hospitals, fuel is life: it feeds the generators that take over during the long hours of daily power cuts, that in turn power the operating rooms, the incubators, the life-saving machines. No hospital is immune to the escalating humanitarian and health crisis gripping this country, already hard hit by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in April that killed 9,000 and left hundreds of thousands homeless... Every six hours in Nepal, according to USAID Nepal, a woman dies from postpartum hemorrhage or excessive bleeding, causes that are preventable or manageable. Nepal is also affected by the brain drain of doctors and nurses emigrating to work abroad.


REUTERS
In Ethiopia, Millions Face Weather-Related Food Shortages, Aid Group Says<http://www.reuters.com/article/ethiopia-drought-elnino-idUSL1N13W1FP20151207?feedType=RSS&feedName=nonCyclicalConsumerGoodsSector#Mrz0suHBqkvYdSkx.97> | Sebastien Malo
Roughly one in 10 people in Ethiopia, or more than 10 million people, will not have enough food to eat next year due to the effects of a crippling drought made worse by the El Nino weather phenomenon, Save the Children said on Monday. Fields growing sorghum, maze and teff, an important local grain, across much of the landlocked east African nation have dried up due to the successive failure of seasonal rains.

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