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The Daily GAB Friday, August 11, 2017
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org
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USGLC in the News

THE KANSAS CITY STAR
Foreign Aid Makes for a Stronger Missouri |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=nAcePLqE5AGp0OeJORTXcg

Bob Bennett, U.S. Army (Ret.)

Missouri shares a border with eight other U.S. states and no foreign
countries, but our economic well-being is intricately tied to foreign
trade and robust engagement with the world. As the U.S. State
Department and foreign assistance face funding cuts, it is important
for Missourians to appreciate that our state, like the rest of the
country, can't prosper on its own. In fact, some 827,000 jobs in
Missouri - or 23 percent of the total - are supported by
international trade, according to the U.S. Global Leadership
Coalition. More than 6,000 Missouri companies export goods to the rest
of the world, 85 percent of them small and medium enterprises.

Who's in the News

THE NEW YORK TIMES
It's Not Too Late on North Korea

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=mNpfj9c6q01nbwv-rsZATw

Susan E. Rice, National Security Adviser, 2013 - 2017

North Korea's substantial nuclear arsenal and improving
intercontinental ballistic missile capacity pose a growing threat to
America's security. But we need not face an immediate crisis if
we play our hand carefully. History shows that we can, if we must,
tolerate nuclear weapons in North Korea - the same way we
tolerated the far greater threat of thousands of Soviet nuclear
weapons during the Cold War. It will require being pragmatic.
Rational, steady American leadership can avoid a crisis and counter a
growing North Korean threat. It's past time that the United
States started exercising its power responsibly.

ALL AFRICA

Africa: How an American Business Brought Electricity to One of
Africa's Poorest Countries
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=AOeQXBojg-fCl6TvYjOvKw

Edward A. Burrier, Vice President, Office of External Affairs,
Overseas Private Investment Corporation

As Togo hosts the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum this
week to foster improved economic relations between the United States
and Africa, the country will also showcase what American ingenuity and
business can achieve in the developing world. Smaller than the state
of West Virginia, Togo is also the site of a major 100 megawatt
gas-fired power plant that was built by an American company and has
served to triple access to electricity in this once isolated country.
And because such an ambitious project was able to succeed in a place
that had little track record of successful project finance -- and
lacked even the roads to move equipment from the port to the site of
the plant -- the country today is a testament to the power of the
private sector in addressing some of the biggest development
challenges the world faces.

Development & Diplomacy

NPR
5 Quotes From the Head of USAID on His First Day on the Job |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=sFxnZvsnmLi2ESaRQC3PPg

Courtney Columbus

Mark Andrew Green, the new head of the U.S. Agency for International
Development, kicked off his first day on the job with a speech to
hundreds of employees. In his speech on Monday, he focused on what
they can expect from him and his vision for USAID. "I can't tell you
what an honor and a relief it is to finally be here with you," said
Green, a former Republican congressman from Wisconsin. "Let's get at
it. We got work to do." The Trump administration has proposed cutting
international aid by nearly a third - a move that "would be
really debilitating to the agency," Jeremy Konyndyk [former head of
USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance] told NPR's Jason
Beaubien in May. The challenge for Green: trimming programs without
gutting them, Konyndyk says.

LOBELOG

A Bevy of Good Ideas on Foreign Aid Reform....If Anyone's
Listening |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=pM9-_gnVP8hdv95Ea2duKQ

Diana Ohlbaum

There are lots of difficult problems with no good solutions. Foreign
aid isn't one of them. For starters, the system works, even if
it's not particularly efficient, or popular with the public. It
can be enhanced with small tweaks if a wholesale make-over proves
unrealizable. Beyond that, those who watch aid closely tend to have
similar ideas about how to improve it. Maintain a strong and
independent role for development, alongside other aid objectives.
Reduce fragmentation and inconsistency. Expand the use of data for
decision-making. Revise outdated rules, complicated procedures, and
unnecessary requirements. Provide adequate resources.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Diplomats Question Tactics of Tillerson, the Executive Turned
Secretary of State |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=5KcXOyvIaHPXPVu6uU6T0w

Gardiner Harris

Mr. Tillerson was supposed to know that leaders of large organizations
should quickly pick a trusted team, focus on big issues, delegate
small ones and ask for help from staff members when needed. He has
done none of those things, his critics contend. Instead, he has failed
to nominate anyone to most of the department's 38
highest-ranking jobs, leaving many critical departments without
direction, while working with a few personal aides reviewing many of
the ways the department has operated for decades rather than
developing a coherent foreign policy.

REUTERS

Senior U.S. Envoy Tries to Calm Fears Over State Department Re-Design
|
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=aYiSzHpwncMyU2K_ENZnIA

Yeganeh Torbati

The No. 2 U.S. diplomat on Tuesday sought to allay concerns among the
State Department's rank-and-file employees over possible layoffs and
perceptions of a lack of firm direction under the administration of
President Donald Trump. "Re-design is not a synonym for layoffs,"
Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan was quoted as saying by two
officials who listened to his remarks to around 450 employees at a
town hall-style event that was closed to journalists. Diplomats have
fretted over a hiring freeze that has hampered their ability to switch
jobs, the slow pace of appointments to senior positions, and a
proposed 28 percent cut in State Department funding.

FOREIGN POLICY
Don't Leave U.S. Support for Africa Hanging by a Thread |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=DAQPNlOFCby1JNsMVUqJIA

Rosa Whitaker and Gail Strickler

For well over a decade, it has been increasingly difficult to find
issues on which Republicans and Democrats can agree, but this is one:
Since 2000, there has been a strong bipartisan consensus - in
Congress and the White House - that increasing economic
engagement with Africa furthers our country's strategic,
financial, political and humanitarian objectives. Unfortunately, this
progress may be about to grind to a halt, and the catalyst will
probably surprise most people: it's the articles of used
clothing that millions of us donate annually to charitable
organizations, generally with the understanding that they will go to
needy Americans or be resold in second-hand stores around the United
States.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
When Foreign Companies Are Making, Not Killing, U.S. Jobs |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=Q57gt-WmRSO3mbagQI_Ejw

Patricia Harris

The American map is dotted with towns drained of jobs after homegrown
factories bolted to lower-wage countries. But for many spots
throughout the country, the same strategy of moving operations
overseas - when practiced by foreign companies - has
buoyed local fortunes. In Chattanooga and the surrounding region, for
example, more than two dozen companies from 20 countries have set up
shop, generating billions of dollars in investment, employing
thousands of workers and helping drive Tennessee's jobless rate
to 3.6 percent in June, a record low for the state.

Politics & Foreign Policy

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Trump Warns US 'Locked and Loaded' as North Readies
Missiles |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=M-F3WljpxPKUOMZGkn6IYw

Jonathan Lemire and Eric Talmadge

President Donald Trump tweeted Friday that the U.S. military is
"locked and loaded" if North Korea acts
"unwisely," escalating an exchange of threats between the
nuclear-armed nations. American and South Korean officials said they
would move forward with large-scale military exercises later this
month that North Korea claims are a rehearsal for war. Pyongyang has
laid out plans to strike near the U.S. territory of Guam. Trump
tweeted Friday: "Military solutions are now fully in place,
locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong
Un will find another path!" His tweet caps off a week of war
rhetoric that has alarmed international leaders.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Trump Praises Putin Instead of Critiquing Cuts to U.S. Embassy Staff
|

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=pwNATgcCXbeE7w8ZkXrwKA

Peter Baker

President Trump offered gratitude rather than outrage on Thursday for
Russia's decision to force the United States Embassy in Moscow
to slash its personnel by 755 people, despite bipartisan condemnation
from other American leaders who protested the Cold War-style move.
"I want to thank him because we're trying to cut down on
payroll, and as far as I'm concerned, I'm very thankful
that he let go of a large number of people, because now we have a
smaller payroll," Mr. Trump told
reporters..."There's no real reason for them to go back.
So I greatly appreciate the fact that we've been able to cut our
payroll of the United States. We'll save a lot of money."
Mr. Trump said it with a somewhat light tone, but it was not clear if
he was joking.

POLITICO MAGAZINE
Trump's Trade Pullout Roils Rural America |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=tZKNmvwjMy6QU4ud9EVyuQ

Adam Behsudi

For much of industrial America, the TPP was a suspect deal, the
successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement, which some argue
led to a massive offshoring of U.S. jobs to Mexico. But for the
already struggling agricultural sector, the sprawling 12-nation TPP,
covering 40 percent of the world's economy, was a lifeline. It
was a chance to erase punishing tariffs that restricted the United
States-the onetime "breadbasket of the
world"-from selling its meats, grains and dairy products
to massive importers of foodstuffs such as Japan and Vietnam.

CNN

Kenyan Challenger Claims Election Was Hacked, but John Kerry Disagrees
|
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=g2K48WvyBTboXu5hmb57rQ

Dominique van Heerden and Lauren Said-Moorhouse

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga said he refuses to accept the
results of the presidential election, even though the results haven't
been announced yet. With more than 98% of polling stations reporting,
Odinga trailed incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta in a 54%-45% split
Thursday. Odinga claims the election was rigged in favor of Kenyatta,
saying he doesn't "trust" the paper forms that could have been
"manipulated already." While the challenger claimed election fraud,
former US Secretary of State John Kerry tried to reassure Kenyan
voters their election wasn't rigged.

THE NEW YORKER

How Should the Trump Administration Respond to the Venezuelan Crisis?
|

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=f0hz1ASBXOp51j75Dyrunw

William Finnegan

What, if anything, should the United States do about the spiralling
Venezuela tragedy? The drive of Rubio and other conservatives is
toward a full-court press, the same type of policy that brought us the
Cuba trade embargo-and more than half a century now of
hostility, producing nothing but hardship. The most important
requirement of U.S. policy toward Venezuela, however, is that it be
multilateral. Sustained pressure from major Latin-American
countries...is indispensable to pushing Venezuela in a more democratic
direction, while ill-considered, bullying moves by the United States
are the surest way to shatter a pan-American alliance.


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