EMAIL DETAILS

The Daily GAB Friday, July 28, 2017
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=XWmuhHDYRuO-tHB2k70NSw

Who's in the News

THE HUFFINGTON POST

We've Made Great Strides in the Fight Against Global Hunger. So
Why Are Millions at Risk of Starvation?

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=9A4z4K6LVZ4Dthym_07ADw

Neal Keny-Guyer, CEO of Mercy Corps, and Abby Maxman, President, Oxfam
America

The United Nations has warned that millions of families could face
starvation in this lean period between growing seasons primarily in
Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan and that 1.4 million children
are severely malnourished and at imminent risk of death. With greater
resources, we can scale up our assistance and we can save more
lives...That's why our two organizations have banded together
with six others for the very first time in the U.S. The Global
Emergency Response Coalition is embarking on a campaign to cut through
the news...to raise much needed awareness and funds for the hunger
crisis.

DEVEX
Opinion: It's Time to Build a New US Agency for Global Development

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=U3PUr3FyotGGjsPxvc3zkg

George Ingram of the Brookings Institution, Tessie San-Martin, CEO of
Plan International USA, and Connie Veillette of The Lugar Center all
serve as Co-Chairs of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network

The Trump administration has a unique opportunity to rewrite the
development playbook to make our aid stronger, smarter and more driven
to achieve better results for the American people, as well as people
in developing countries. To seed that effort, we recently released a
proposal that streamlines U.S. aid architecture into two new agencies:
a consolidated aid agency and a development finance corporation. The
proposal addresses key obstacles to foreign aid effectiveness with
structural solutions. We hope it will spur a constructive conversation
on what smart structural reform entails.

Development & Diplomacy

BLOOMBERG
Senators Defend Foreign Aid in Fresh Pitch Against Trump's Cuts |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=pdJfyE-kjy4A_XcvejHPcQ

Nick Wadhams

A bipartisan task force of U.S. senators and former diplomats is
pushing back against the Trump administration's effort to cut
funding for foreign aid and development, urging instead that the
strategy for overseas assistance should be revamped. Far from reducing
the role of such "soft power" diplomacy, the task force
headed by Republican Senator Todd Young of Indiana and Democratic
Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire proposed giving the U.S.
Agency for International Development a seat on the White House's
National Security Council. In a report to be released on Monday, the
group also calls for a national diplomacy and development strategy to
set priorities for spending.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
The Desperation of Our Diplomats |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=ZtIetqys0VXfF5kJnxH3eA

Roger Cohen

The president signaled early on that military might, not diplomatic
deftness, was his thing. Soft power was for the birds. This worldview
(in essence no more than Trump's gut) has been expressed in a
proposed cut of about 30 percent in the State Department budget as
military spending soars; a push to eliminate some 2,300 jobs; the
vacancy of many senior posts, including 20 of the 22 assistant
secretary positions requiring Senate confirmation; unfilled
ambassadorships - roughly 30 percent of the total - from
Paris to New Delhi; and the brushoff of the department's input
in interagency debate and in pivotal decisions, like withdrawal from
the Paris climate accord.

REUTERS

Saudi-Led Coalition Stops Oil Tankers From Entering Yemen, U.N. Says
|
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=LA_V-PtOYIkCmpH3DMA4_w

Selam Gebrekidan and Jonathan Saul

A Saudi-led military coalition and the government of Yemen denied four
oil tankers access to a Yemeni port last week, a move that could hurt
the flow of aid and exacerbate a cholera outbreak in the country, a
United Nations agency said. More than 1,900 people have died from
cholera in Yemen and 400,000 cases have been reported since the start
of the outbreak in April. The disease spreads in polluted water, and
fuel is needed to run pumps for clean water and power generators in
hospitals, among other uses. The four ships were carrying just over
71,000 metric tons of fuel, which represents over 10 percent of
Yemen's total monthly fuel needs.

FOREIGN POLICY
The Next AIDS Pandemic |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=grEzaUv8h3YzW0UXG1WmrA

Laurie Garrett

But the world cannot treat its way out of AIDS, and without a
revolutionary breakthrough in either vaccines or the entire model of
HIV control, a massive second global wave of AIDS will come, perhaps
within the next 10 years. The entire world seems on tenterhooks,
awaiting the final decision on the 2018 U.S. government budget,
unlikely to be determined before late September. President Donald
Trump released his proposed budget in March, indicating enormous cuts
in all forms of foreign assistance were expected, including for PEPFAR
and global health programs. If the world isn't willing and able
to not merely stay the course, but expand support for treatment and
R&D, it is hard to imagine any way out of the grim pandemic scenario.

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

Rebuilding Mosul: The Daunting Mission to Bring the Demolished City
Back From the Dead |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=iNiYLBIzPx5Eabf8_2TyZg

Ann M. Simmons

The nine-month U.S.-backed offensive to expel Islamic State militants
from Mosul was a relentless and savage fight. Now that it has been
won, another daunting battle has begun: to bring Iraq's
second-largest city back from the dead. Thousands of buildings have
been reduced to rubble, more than 120 miles of roadways have been
damaged, and the city's airport, railway station and at least
one university are wrecked. "The destruction is massive,"
said Saroj Kumar Jha, who oversees Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon for
the World Bank. "It will be a very big reconstruction
effort."

CNN

US Foreign Aid Cuts Could Be a 'Death Sentence' to Women in Malawi |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=Np-dmIxaHb1zPXdYXEAGtw

David McKenzie and Brent Swails

Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump made public a budget
proposing zeroing out global family-planning assistance administered
chiefly through USAID. The proposal shocked many in the global health
and foreign aid world. The White House said that the proposed cuts to
family planning -- and foreign aid more broadly -- were a way to save
money for other budget areas like defense and to help realize Trump's
"America First Policy." In low-income countries like Malawi,
family-planning cuts could be devastating. "They are giving a death
sentence to our women in this part of the world," says Chisale Mhango,
an obstetrician at Blantyre's main referral hospital.

NPR

There's Great News - and Grim News - In The Fight Against
HIV/AIDS |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=n_vBLDVnonsY59Ukzepjmw

Natalie Jacewicz

As the International AIDS Conference took place in Paris this week,
UNAIDS issued a report with an encouraging statistic. For the first
time, more than half of the 36.7 million people with HIV have access
to treatment. That means most people with HIV are taking the
antiretroviral medicines needed to suppress the virus. The report
cited 53 percent, compared to roughly 27 percent in 2012. The news is
a reminder of how the HIV/AIDS epidemic is ever-changing. There are
promising trends. And there are setbacks as well.

Politics & Foreign Policy

THE WASHINGTON POST
State Department Head of Diplomatic Security Resigns |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=5P6BfgAUGVYsQYaB_ShpFw

Josh Rogin

The head of the State Department's diplomatic security bureau
has resigned and will leave his post on Thursday, leaving the two top
positions vacant for the foreseeable future in the bureau in charge of
embassy security around the world. Acting Assistant Secretary of State
for Diplomatic Security Bill Miller announced his resignation and
retirement from the State Department on July 19 in a note to staff,
which I obtained. His last day of service will be July 27. Miller has
been the top official in the Diplomatic Security Service since
January, when the Senate-confirmed assistant secretary Gregory Starr
was asked to resign.

USA TODAY

Trump Regularly Undercuts Secretary of State Tillerson - and It
Takes a Toll |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=xSC171PK9HOEbkpoZ3aDOA

Oren Dorell

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took several days off from a job in
which President Trump repeatedly has undercut him. Though he was back
at work Wednesday, earlier word of his absence spawned media reports
that the former ExxonMobil CEO is unhappy and might soon resign. He
certainly has plenty of reasons to feel frustrated serving as chief
diplomat for a president who regularly sets foreign policy by tweet or
speech that is at odds with Tillerson's advice. In his six months on
the job, Tillerson has clashed with Trump on issues ranging from
policies regarding Russia to climate change.

REUTERS
Unrest Bubbles Among Trump's Key Foreign Policy Aides: Sources |

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

John Walcott

Frustration is mounting among leading foreign policy officials in
President Donald Trump's administration as they chafe at some policy
and bureaucratic defeats and complain they lack independence to do
their jobs, officials say. The clash between internationalists urging
the traditional U.S. leadership role in the world and advocates of an
"America First" approach has worn down foreign policy and intelligence
professionals inside the government, according to the officials.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has told friends he will be lucky to
last a year in his job, according to a friend, while two officials
said national security adviser H.R. McMaster was frustrated by what he
sees as disorganization and indiscipline on key policy issues inside
the White House.

THE WASHINGTON POST

Cooperation With Russia Becomes Central to Trump Strategy in Syria |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=5QvkAKQ-BKpH9mxLEdtFwQ

Karen DeYoung

Cooperation with Russia is becoming a central part of the Trump
administration's counter-Islamic State strategy in Syria, with
U.S. military planners counting on Moscow to try to prevent Syrian
government forces and their allies on the ground from interfering in
coalition-backed operations against the militants. Some lawmakers and
White House officials have expressed concern that the strategy is
shortsighted, gives the long-term advantage in Syria to Russia, Iran
and Assad, and ultimately leaves the door open for a vanquished
Islamic State to reestablish itself.

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

Trump Administration Hits Venezuela With More Sanctions, Targeting
Civilian and Military Officials |
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=DFPZCxKTSftbIuO85jpqLQ

Tracy Wilkinson

The Trump administration hit Venezuela with a new round of economic
sanctions Wednesday in a bid to discourage President Nicolas Maduro
from rewriting his nation's constitution, which U.S. officials said
could doom the Latin American democracy. The sanctions target 13
current and former civilian and military officials, including the
heads of several police agencies and the electoral board. They
represent the third round of sanctions for Venezuela in the six months
of the Trump presidency in what one administration official called the
"steady drumbeat" of efforts to put pressure on Maduro.


The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition
1129 20th Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036
Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe | USGLC.org

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=Ds7FH63_2ddWnLIy6qu-Rg
http://action.usglc.org/site/CO?i=H1B0beRVp4dwl3_Y0SFMsmsn7HIXFKmm&cid=0
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=iWU72aQ_kjYuk-0sy93tWw

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=0We_PekLVgtERbHB029k8A