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The Weekly GAB Friday, June 30, 2017
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org
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Who's in the News

GATES NOTES
Giving Foreign Aid Helps America's Economy

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Bill Gates

I'm a big fan of America's investments in the health and
well-being of the world's poor. Unfortunately, not everyone
feels the same way. In fact, some in Washington D.C. have proposed
dramatic cuts in foreign assistance. That would be a terrible mistake.
Last month I wrote about how foreign aid helps keep Americans safe. In
this post, I want to show how smart health and development programs
promote America's economy, and how cutting back on these
investments could backfire on American workers. I start from the
simple premise that everyone is better off when there are more
middle-income countries in the world. And they can afford to buy more
products from other countries, including the United States.

THE WASHINGTON POST

Tillerson Wants to Merge the State Dept. and USAID. That's a Bad
Idea

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=vmgLem55bTObbl7Q166Mig

Andrew Natsios, former USAID Administrator

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has set in motion a plan to merge all
or parts of the U.S. Agency for International Development into the
State Department and close 40 percent of USAID missions abroad,
theoretically to "pursue greater efficiencies." While the
Trump administration's proposed 30 percent cuts to foreign aid
have been the focus of Washington debate, the misguided absorption of
USAID into State is a much graver danger to the effectiveness of the
U.S. government's aid program. Budget cuts can be quickly
restored, particularly in the face of new and unexpected crises. A
merger, however, could permanently diminish our ability to help and
save lives around the world.

THE HUFFINGTON POST
An Extraordinary Plea for U.S. Engagement from the UN's Chief

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Eric Schwartz, President, Refugees International

On Tuesday, UN Secretary General António Guterres will travel to
Washington, D.C. and will meet this week with members of Congress and
administration officials. He will be in Washington in the wake of an
extraordinary press conference he held at the United Nations in New
York on June 20, in which he urged the Trump Administration to stay
engaged on global issues. In particular, Guterres declared,
"it's possible to have [a] vacuum in nature but not in
international relations." He added that if the United States
disengaged from the world, others would take its place, and concluded
that this is not good for either the United States or the world.

THE HILL
To Stabilize Iraq After ISIS, Try a Method That Worked

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=AqHVBx-_CO8wI7ji8dpxlQ

Nancy Lindborg, President, U.S. Institute of Peace

The United States urgently needs a strategy to secure the significant
military gains against ISIS and prevent new cycles of violence that
would further destabilize Iraq and potentially lead to the next
generation of ISIS. No one wants to fight these battles a third time.
The good news is that a post-ISIS strategy need not be costly or led
by U.S. forces. The relative stability of Mahmoudiya, and similar,
recent successes by Iraqi peacemaking teams around the city of Tikrit
and in other areas, shows that Iraqis, with time and some support, can
solve their own conflicts at a local level. With this, they create
greater resilience to conflicts fueled by national and regional
divisions.

Development & Diplomacy

THE NEW YORK TIMES
White House Pushes Military Might Over Humanitarian Aid in Africa |

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Helene Cooper

Pentagon officials are themselves concerned that shifting to a
military-heavy presence in Africa will hurt American interests in the
long term by failing to stimulate development. An absence of schools
and jobs, they say, creates more openings for militant groups. The
American military leaders are among the first to sound alarms about
the proposed cuts in humanitarian funding, worrying that the
reductions could put in place conditions that lead to more conflict,
which might then mean more military intervention. In testimony
submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee this month, a long
list of retired American military officers, including Gen. Stanley
McChrystal, Gen. David H. Petraeus and Adm. Michael Mullen, said
foreign aid cuts hurt the Pentagon.

THE WASHINGTON POST

White House Frustration Grows With Tillerson Over Jobs for Trump
Allies |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=u0tTBEiIKAzm7ewVv66o5Q

Anne Gearan, Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker

The White House is becoming increasingly frustrated with Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson and a close-knit circle of aides over the slow
pace of hiring and a chokehold on information and access to Tillerson,
according to senior Trump administration officials and others familiar
with the rift. Tillerson...gets some of the blame from White House
officials and political advisers anxious to place Republican political
appointees in numerous vacant positions at the State Department. They
said Tillerson's deliberate approach to reviewing candidates and
his insistence on a detailed department management review and
reorganization, informed by his corporate background, has slowed down
an already slow process.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Where Trump Zigs, Tillerson Zags, Putting Him at Odds With White House
|

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David E. Sanger, Gardiner Harris, and Mark Landler

Some in the White House say that the discord in the Qatar dispute is
part of a broader struggle over who is in charge of Middle East policy
- Mr. Tillerson or Jared Kushner...Others say it is merely
symptomatic of a dysfunctional State Department that, under Mr.
Tillerson's uncertain leadership, does not yet have in place the
senior political appointees who make the wheels of diplomacy turn. In
a remarkable series of hearings this month, Senator Bob
Corker...declared Mr. Tillerson's proposal for a 30 percent cut
in the department's budget a "waste of time" that he
would not even review and he expressed disbelief that the
reorganization plan for the department would not be ready until the
end of the year, at the earliest.

CNN

White House Memo Suggests Moving Refugee Bureau from State Department
to DHS |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=bB2dqgsT4Wc2j_Ai_XXSQw

Jake Tapper, Ethan Cohen and Justin Backover

The White House is considering a proposal to move both the State
Department bureau of Consular Affairs and its bureau of Population,
Refugees, and Migration to the Department of Homeland Security, a
senior White House official tells CNN. The move, which the White House
official cautioned was far from becoming official policy, would likely
be controversial among diplomats and experts in State Department
matters. The proposals were written in a memo submitted to the White
House Office of Management and Budget from the White House Domestic
Policy Council as part of President Trump's March executive order
pushing for ideas for Government Reorganization.

REUTERS

Exclusive: White House Weighs Tightening U.S. Food Aid Shipping Rules
- Sources |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=F3noEVLlndV3z_yv-1GYCw

Lesley Wroughton and Patricia Zengerle

President Donald Trump's administration is preparing an executive
order that will require all U.S. food aid to be transported on
American ships, according to four sources with knowledge of the
deliberations. Currently, 50 percent of such aid must be transported
on U.S.-flagged vessels. The sources said Trump is considering going
as far as doubling that to 100 percent, a move likely to stir
opposition from both Republicans and Democrats. "An executive order is
being drafted by the White House," one source with knowledge of
discussions told Reuters, adding that it was being discussed among
government lawyers.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
U.S. Malaria Donations Saved Almost 2 Million African Children |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=dDEIZPP9wJGSeLwuXg4Q-Q

Donald G. McNeil, Jr.

Over the last decade, American donations to fight malaria in Africa
have saved the lives of nearly two million children, according to a
new analysis of mortality rates in 32 countries there. The study,
published by PLOS Medicine this month, looked at the long-term effects
of the President's Malaria Initiative, a program started by
President George W. Bush in 2005 that has spent over $500 million a
year since 2010. The results debunk one of the persistent myths of
foreign aid: that it has no effect because more children survive each
year anyway as economies improve.

REUTERS

Colombia's FARC Rebels Turn in Weapons, End Armed War With Government
|
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=uw9JtTeP2cgFgAsJzjMxcA

Luis Jaime Acosta

Colombia's Marxist FARC rebels concluded their disarmament on Tuesday,
handing in all but a few of their individual weapons to the United
Nations and ending their role in a half-century war that killed more
than 220,000 and displaced millions. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, known as FARC, turned in the remaining 40 percent of their
firearms in Mesetas, a mountainous area in southeastern Colombia. The
roughly 7,000 former fighters have pledged to continue their struggle
as a political movement. "Today doesn't end the existence of the FARC,
it ends our armed struggle," said Rodrigo Londono, the FARC's top
commander, who goes by his nom de guerre Timochenko. "Farewell to
arms, farewell to war, welcome to peace."

Politics & Foreign Policy

THE WASHINGTON POST
Poll Shows U.S. Tumbling in World's Regard Under Trump |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=wx_AkRqMdTwC6Aco04uGdA

Isaac Stanley-Becker and Scott Clement

President Trump has alarmed citizens of the nation's closest
allies and others worldwide, diminishing the standing of the United
States in their eyes, according to a wide-ranging international study
released Monday. But in the survey of 37 countries, Russia is a bright
spot for Trump. As beleaguered as the president is at home, a majority
of Russians say they have confidence in him. And Russians'
attitudes toward the United States have improved since Trump took
office. Elsewhere, though, and with remarkable speed, Trump's
presidency has taken a toll on the United States' image abroad.

TIME
Why Americans Should Fight Donald Trump's Isolationism
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=9_VaAcs9FI2AcGCI3Yo4eg

Ariana Berengaut of the Penn Biden Center and Edward Fishman of the
the Atlantic Council are both former State Department staffers

A Pew survey from last May confirmed America's world-weariness:
Only slightly more than a third of Americans felt the U.S. should help
other countries with their problems. The election of a President who
champions "America first" sentiments - and who wants
to slash diplomacy and development funding by a colossal 32% -
confirmed it as well. Even if the budget cut lands at a fraction of
that number, it will cause lasting damage to our credibility and
influence in the world. But Donald Trump did not cause
Americans' unease with the world; he is better viewed as a
symptom of it. While the American people enjoy immeasurable advantages
from U.S. global engagement, the costs - lives lost in war,
dreams deferred by recession - are more palpable than the
benefits.

THE NEW YORKER
How Can the Qatar Crisis Be Resolved? | |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=TW63bbdVXygc2ksQIcTTZw

Steve Coll

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and
Bahrain imposed a stunningly aggressive blockade on Qatar, the small
but wealthy Gulf emirate. Last week, after Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson urged the blockading coalition to be more specific about
what it wants, it compiled an implausibly ambitious list of thirteen
demands, a list that effectively requires Qatar to surrender its
sovereignty. On Monday, this latest coalition ultimatum expires; the
members have promised further pressure. There is not even a small
chance that Qatar will agree to the thirteen demands, certainly not as
presented...In alliance with the blockading coalition, the United
States is making sacrifices to fight some enemies of that coalition
while the coalition attacks an essential ally of the United States
- all with the apparent approval of President Trump, who has
encouraged the blockade of Qatar on Twitter.

REUTERS
Iraq Declares End of Caliphate After Capture of Mosul Mosque |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=KqhkMH2v7qz84-txHg8P0Q

Khaled al-Ramahi and Maher Chmaytelli

After eight months of grinding urban warfare, Iraqi government troops
on Thursday captured the ruined mosque at the heart of Islamic State's
de facto capital Mosul, and the prime minister declared the group's
self-styled caliphate at an end. Iraqi authorities expect the long
battle for Mosul to end in coming days as remaining Islamic State
fighters are bottled up in just a handful of neighborhoods of the Old
City. The seizure of the nearly 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri Mosque --
from where Islamic State proclaimed the caliphate nearly three years
ago to the day -- is a huge symbolic victory.


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