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The Weekly GAB Friday, May 12, 2017
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org
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USGLC in the News

THE WASHINGTON POST

Foreign Aid Advocates and Fiscal Hawks All Like Trump's Nominee
to Head USAID |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=3Z3ogskvMjDTTF9l5Q4oSw

Carol Morello

From across the ideological spectrum came effusive praise for the
Trump administration's announcement Wednesday that it will
nominate the former Republican congressman from Wisconsin and
ex-ambassador to Tanzania [Mark Green] to head the U.S. Agency for
International Development. "People are still anxious and
concerned," said Liz Schrayer, head of the U.S. Global
Leadership Coalition, a network of groups that urge investing in
development aid and diplomacy to complement military spending.
"As long as Ambassador Green is given a seat at the table, and
they listen to his voice, I think people will be relieved."

FOREIGN POLICY
Trump Taps Veteran Ambassador, Former Congressman to Head USAID |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=Ltpc0GwDk90BdB9JMrYsmw

Robbie Gramer

The international development community is breathing a yuge sigh of
relief after President Donald Trump tapped a widely-respected veteran
diplomat and former congressman, Mark Green, to helm the U.S. Agency
for International Development. "[Green] gets what it takes to
make foreign assistance work and why these programs are so vital to
our national security and economic interests," said Liz
Schrayer, President and CEO of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, a
Washington-based network of NGO's.

DEFENSE NEWS

Military Brass Defend State Department Against White House Budget Ax |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=wBt8YGbYTD65zCDY-WMwTA

Joe Gould

As the White House prepares to ask Congress for steep cuts to the U.S.
State Department and United States Agency for International
Development, the military's top commanders are telling lawmakers
that slashing diplomacy would undercut the military. Over the last two
months, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen.
Joseph Dunford and six combatant commanders...have given fodder to
lawmakers who argue that U.S. foreign policy cannot thrive on military
might alone and that a full State Department budget is vital to
national security. "The volume of top brass is getting even
louder around this issue," U.S. Global Leadership Coalition CEO
Liz Schrayer told Defense News. "This is a voice of power
speaking out, that civilian forces are complementary to the
military...We need the work of State and USAID."

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

Critics Say Trump's 'Skinny' Budget Starves U.S.
Diplomacy, Aid at Time of Heightened Need |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=bzy02oc5tcdM29k2dplFcA

Brendan L. Smith

The proposed budget cuts for the 2018 fiscal year would slash funding
for the State Department and foreign aid by 28 percent and eliminate
some critical programs and emergency reserve funding for refugee
assistance...The proposed budget cuts are "a dangerous direction
to go in," U.S. Global Leadership Coalition President and CEO
Liz Schrayer said. "I don't see this budget going further
at all," she told The Diplomat. "When I look at this
budget proposal, it feels to me like a relic of the Cold
War"...That's why in a letter released by the U.S. Global
Leadership Coalition in February, more than 120 retired generals and
admirals from all branches of the armed services called on leaders in
Congress to preserve international affairs funding in the 2018 budget.

Who's in the News

THE NEW YORK TIMES
A Better Way to Help the World

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

Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Chris Coons (D-DE)

The suffering today in northern Uganda and South Sudan should move
even the most hardhearted among us. As members of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, we often are confronted with the question of how
the United States should respond to such crises. We also have the
opportunity to visit countries near and far on behalf of the American
people to assess the effectiveness of programs. Yet in our travels
around the world, neither of us had experienced anything like we did
when we entered the Bidi Bidi refugee camp in Uganda last month.
Suffering of the scale and intensity that we saw is not just a stain
on our collective conscience - it can also be a driver of
violence and instability that can affect the rest of the world.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Why We Must Support Human Rights

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=tndZPpHGV2GXVvwehn5UwQ

Senator John McCain (R-AZ)

In a recent address to State Department employees, Secretary of State
Rex Tillerson said conditioning our foreign policy too heavily on
values creates obstacles to advance our national interests. With those
words, Secretary Tillerson sent a message to oppressed people
everywhere: Don't look to the United States for hope. We have
long believed moral concerns must be an essential part of our foreign
policy, not a departure from it. We are the chief architect and
defender of an international order governed by rules derived from our
political and economic values. We have grown vastly wealthier and more
powerful under those rules. More of humanity than ever before lives in
freedom and out of poverty because of those rules. Our values are our
strength and greatest treasure.

Development & Diplomacy

BROOKINGS
Once More Into the Breach: Does Foreign Aid Work? |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=JCRHLJzzFD6zHEITpB_x5w

Steve Radelet

The Trump administration's proposals to drastically cut foreign
aid have once again sparked debates about aid effectiveness. Right on
cue, some commentators have fallen back on the old and tired claim
that there is no evidence that aid works. There is lots of evidence
from independent research showing the positive impacts of aid on
development and raising living standards. As this evidence has grown
in recent years, a strong bipartisan consensus has emerged that aid is
an effective and important tool of U.S. foreign policy and national
security.

THE HILL
Faith-Based Aid Groups Are Grateful to Congress for Funding

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=WImDod1Vl2xZ-k0ReWMsfg

Jean Duff, Faith for International Assistance

All of us engaged in global health, development and humanitarian
assistance have waited with baited breath for the FY17 Congressional
budget. Now we want to take a moment to lift up our voices and say
thank you. We are grateful because, even though foreign assistance is
less than one percent of the federal budget, every dollar is vital. We
are on the front lines and we know that without U.S. government
funding, leadership and influence, our humanitarian work would greatly
suffer, as would the most vulnerable we serve.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Surviving Boko Haram, Only to Face Starvation |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=MjVuD-WPCRXl1R56VurMCA

The Editorial Board

For over seven years, the people of northeastern Nigeria have suffered
unspeakable horrors at the hands of the deadly Islamist group Boko
Haram. Thousands of people have been abducted, raped or slaughtered by
the group. The extremists have now been routed from much of their
former stronghold, but where they once held sway, another horror has
been revealed: More than five million people face acute food
shortages, and nearly 44,000 face famine...The group's campaign
of terror made it impossible for people in the territory they
controlled to farm, fish or trade. Many will die without immediate
food assistance. It's critical that other nations step up. It
would be unconscionable to allow people who survived Boko Haram to die
of starvation.

DEFENSE ONE
John Kelly Lays Out His Border Security Vision |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=o5-c5MOVwbPXgsS8Gy1WMA

Caroline Houck

The Trump's administration's approach to border security
starts 1,500 miles south of the U.S.-Mexican border, Homeland Security
Secretary John Kelly said Thursday. The former commander of U.S.
Southern Command said he told President Donald Trump that getting a
handle on undocumented immigration must begin long before a migrant
reaches the United States. "You may ask why is a four-star
Marine general, at the time, interested in economic development in
three countries in the northern tier [of Central America]?"
Kelly said. "The answer is because that's a solution to a
lot of things that plague them, that then cause them to leave their
country and move north."

REUTERS

Infant Mortality and Malaria Soar in Venezuela, According to
Government Data |
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=tqcnzZohbP-RUyOs-Hi6SQ

Alexandra Ulmer

Venezuela's infant mortality rose 30 percent last year, maternal
mortality shot up 65 percent and cases of malaria jumped 76 percent,
according to government data, sharp increases reflecting how the
country's deep economic crisis has hammered at citizens' health. The
statistics, issued on the ministry's website after nearly two years of
data silence from President Nicolas Maduro's leftist government, also
showed a jump in illnesses such as diphtheria and Zika. It was not
immediately clear when the ministry posted the data, although local
media reported on the statistics on Tuesday.

Politics & Foreign Policy

POLITICO EUROPE
5 Takeaways From Emmanuel Macron's Win in France |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=2qaFqvBAMywzin9ugXreNQ

Pierre Briancon

Emmanuel Macron, the not-yet-40 former economy minister and banker,
carried the French presidential election on Sunday, beating Marine Le
Pen by a wider-than-expected margin of 66 to 34. This French election,
more than any in recent memory, resonated throughout Europe and across
the Atlantic. In the wake of Brexit and Donald Trump's
unexpected victory last year, it offered a stark choice between a
liberal, establishment vision for France and Europe personified by
Macron and a nationalist, protectionist one offered by Le Pen.

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

First Overseas Foray for Trump Will Take Him to Sensitive Turf: Saudi
Arabia, Israel and the Vatican |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=zKufThwLx1XTagYmM92xbA

Tracy Wilkinson and Michael A. Memoli

For his first trip abroad as president, Donald Trump later this month
will venture into some highly sensitive geopolitical regions, taking
on an itinerary that might test even the most adroitly diplomatic of
leaders. He will start in the stridently conservative Sunni Islamic
kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where the most revered sites in Islam are
located. From there, he heads straight to Israel, still diplomatically
ostracized by much of the Arab world. In Israel and in the Palestinian
territories, he will have to deftly balance the conflicting interests
of both sides as he seeks to revive peace negotiations.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Moon Jae-in, Advocate for Closer Ties With North, Wins South Korean
Election |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=UZwazUAszEnE4IcwHibuYw

Jonathan Cheng

South Korean voters were poised to elect Moon Jae-in as the
country's next leader, ending nine years of conservative rule
and bringing to power a forceful advocate for closer ties with North
Korea. Mr. Moon's political record and campaign pledges suggest
that one of the most dramatic breaks with his predecessor will come in
his approach to North Korea, potentially throwing South Korea out of
alignment with the U.S. As the presidential chief of staff a decade
ago, Mr. Moon helped South Korea pursue a "Sunshine
Policy" that lavished humanitarian aid on the impoverished
North. As a candidate, he pledged to revive that policy by deepening
economic cooperation with Pyongyang at a time when the Trump
administration is pushing for diplomatic isolation.

THE WASHINGTON POST

As U.S. Retreats in Asia Pacific, China Fills the Void With an
Ambitious Global Plan |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=9E-ac2918a2q95ypwYi2IQ

Simon Denyer

When President Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade
deal in January, critics said he was leaving a vacuum at the heart of
the Asia Pacific, ceding the United States' role as regional
economic leader. On Sunday, China plans to show how it is filling that
vacuum. At a major set-piece event in Beijing, President Xi Jinping
will project himself as the leader of a new economic order and extol
an ambitious global trade and infrastructure development plan known as
the Belt and Road Initiative.


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