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The Weekly GAB Friday, February 9, 2018
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org
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Who's in the News

TIME
Our Troops Deserve Better Than Trump's Big Parade
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=rSQWl7cwu9r6Cx7DRcOnBw

Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander at NATO

I know this isn't an either/or situation, but I'd prefer
to see our Department of Defense, which is so well led by Jim Mattis,
focus on planning for war, pushing the VA to improve, funding military
families with good medical and childcare benefits, and honoring our
fallen with ceremonies as they are laid to rest. Those are the best
ways we can honor them. Let's leave the missiles in the silos
where they belong, and be quietly confident in the lethality,
professionalism, and integrity of our military - no parade
necessary.

Development & Diplomacy

DEVEX
Exclusive: New US DFI Expected to Get Strong White House Support |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=c9z36VLIDfFdRtciWDkF9g

Michael Igoe

A long-awaited, bipartisan bill in the United States calling for the
creation of a new development finance institution is expected to be
introduced as soon as next week in the Senate and House of
Representatives. Supporters are optimistic they will get strong
backing from the Trump administration to usher it into law, according
to people familiar with the effort. The new bill is expected to be
introduced soon by Republicans including Bob Corker in the Senate and
Ted Yoho in the House, and Democratic Senator Chris Coons.
"Development finance is the future of development policy," said
former OPIC CEO Elizabeth Littlefield.

POLITICO
Tillerson Scales Back State Department Restructuring Plan |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=M4w6iho2DliZmLpQX9Oc_A

Nahal Toosi

State Department officials say that talk of closing down entire wings
of the department has been replaced with narrower plans to upgrade
technology and improve training. Democratic and Republican leaders in
Congress have declared dead on arrival a Tillerson-supported White
House plan to cut State's budget by 30 percent. State Department
staffers expect to receive an update as early as this week on a new
phase in Tillerson's organizational plans...Out is the term
"redesign" - which spawned confusion, dissent and
leaks. The new stage is being called "The Impact
Initiative," which will implement changes that Tillerson has
deemed achievable priorities in the face of bureaucratic and
congressional hurdles.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Trump Wants to Aid Only 'America's Friends.' If Only
It Were That Easy |

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Steven Erlanger

President Trump's insistence in his State of the Union address
this past week that Congress pass laws to ensure that "American
foreign-assistance dollars always serve American interests, and only
go to America's friends" may not be as easy as it seems.
Whether or not Congress actually follows through, the
president's warning left the impression of a superpower
threatening to pick up its marbles and go home, they said. And they
said it may only succeed in stoking resentment abroad and diminishing
American influence in the world. "I'm sure Trump thinks
it's different, but in practical terms the U.S. has always been
giving aid based on U.S. interests and needs," said Xenia
Wickett, a former United States official who runs the Americas program
at Chatham House, the foreign affairs research institution.

CNN

Cuts to CDC Epidemic Programs Will Endanger Americans, Former Chief
Says |

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Wayne Drash

The former chief of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
says the decision to cut 80% of its epidemic prevention activities
overseas could pose a grave danger to the United States because it
"would significantly increase the chance an epidemic will spread
without our knowledge and endanger lives in our country and around the
world." The CDC informed personnel in the past two weeks that it was
discontinuing its work in 39 out of 49 countries where its Center for
Global Health helps prevent, detect and respond to dangerous
infectious disease threats, such as Ebola and the Zika virus. The
agency said it was forced to make the decision because it doesn't
expect any new funding for the programs.

REUTERS

U.S. Could Lift Aid Suspension If Pakistan Takes Steps: State
Department |

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Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel

The United States could consider ending a suspension of security
assistance to Pakistan, if Islamabad takes "decisive and
sustained" actions against militant groups in the country, the
State Department's No. 2 official said on Tuesday. "We may
consider lifting the suspension when we see decisive and sustained
actions to address our concerns, including targeting all terrorist
groups operating within its territory, without distinction,"
Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan told the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee.

THE HILL

House Republicans' Bill Would Redirect Pakistan Aid Money to US
Infrastructure |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=zlzRLAJhI9crIWYQgRWkQw

Mallory Shelbourne

Two House Republicans on Monday introduced a bill that would redirect
Pakistani aid funds to infrastructure projects in the U.S. The
legislation, introduced by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Mark
Sanford (R-S.C.), would reallocate United States Agency for
International Development and State Department funding to the
struggling Highway Trust Fund. "When the American people support
other nations, our generosity shouldn't be used to reward
terrorists with U.S. taxpayer dollars," Sanford said in a
statement. "Couple this with the fact that the Highway Trust
Fund will be $111 billion short by 2026, and it simply makes financial
sense to repurpose these funds for our infrastructure."

BLOOMBERG

At Tillerson's State Department, Seven of Nine Top Jobs Are
Empty |
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=fhdEdQ17cSo3tdRo_ABwNg

Bill Faries and Mira Rojanasakul

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has spent much of his first year
trying to manage crises with North Korea, Syria, Iran and Venezuela.
But he's largely alone at the highest levels of the State Department,
a problem exacerbated after the senior career diplomat, Tom Shannon,
announced on Thursday that he plans to leave for personal reasons.
With Shannon's departure, seven of the top nine jobs at the department
will be empty. Those vacant posts include positions overseeing the
agency's role in U.S. trade policy, stopping the spread of nuclear
weapons, refugee issues and efforts to counter human trafficking.

THE WASHINGTON POST
Give South Korea a Gold Medal |

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Fareed Zakaria

I would add one other major factor to explain South Korea's
success: the United States. It shielded and supported South Korea from
its infancy, when it was a basket-case economy and a fragile country
threatened by its neighbors. Americans went to war to defend this
small nation...and has maintained its defense commitment and troop
presence there for six decades. According to a South Korean think
tank, the United States poured $60 billion in aid and loans into South
Korea from 1946 to 1978, close to the amount it spent on the entire
continent of Africa during the same period. Americans on both sides of
the aisle are weary of engaging with the world, dubious about
maintaining troops in foreign countries and convinced that foreign aid
is a waste of money. Over the next few weeks, as they watch the
glittering games in PyeongChang, they might want to think about how
far South Korea has come - and take some small pride in having
helped it get there.

Politics & Foreign Policy

POLITICO
Shutdown Ends After Trump Signs Budget Deal |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=CLgk94Cqv_FJBGEAtRDVtg

Jennifer Bresnahan, Jennifer Scholtes, and Heather Caygle

After five and a half hours of a government shutdown, Congress passed
a sweeping budget deal early Friday morning that will keep the doors
open at federal agencies and lift stiff spending caps...In addition to
tens of billions of dollars in new funding for both the Pentagon and
domestic programs, the budget package will keep federal agencies open
until March 23. This will give time for the House and Senate
Appropriations panels to craft a massive $1.3 trillion omnibus
spending bill that will fund federal agencies until Sept. 30.

BLOOMBERG
State Department Calls Trump Drug-Interdiction Remarks Unhelpful |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=2WYEUb3UCiu1fRNL5YWung

Nick Wadhams

A senior State Department official said that President Donald
Trump's remarks about cutting aid to countries that allow drugs
into the U.S. was unhelpful, exposing anew the rift that's
emerged between the White House and Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson's agency. Trump made the comments Friday, the same day
that Tillerson was meeting with top Mexican officials and delivering a
message of greater cooperation in efforts to stem the flow of drugs
across the border. Trump has repeatedly threatened to cut off aid to
countries or organizations that have angered him. In his State of the
Union speech, Trump also said he would ask Congress to pass a law to
"ensure American foreign-assistance dollars always serve
American interests, and only go to America's friends."
Tillerson, meanwhile, has struck a more moderate tone.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
China, Elbows Out, Charges Ahead |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=GHIobMdmysMs0a7eG3v8sg

The Editorial Board

Not long ago, America and its democratic allies hoped to integrate a
rising China into the political and economic system they built after
the Cold War. Instead, China is creating its own institutions, or
reshaping existing institutions and norms, to suit its own needs.
Leaders in many of these countries are watching warily as China
encourages the notion that the Chinese model of central economic and
political direction could eventually supplant Western democracy and
its capitalist system. The Pentagon is so concerned that it named
China, along with Russia, America's top security threats for
seeking to "shape a world consistent with their authoritarian
model - gaining veto authority over other nations'
economic, diplomatic and security decisions."

CNN

As North Koreans Arrive at Olympics, Pence Points to Defectors to
Counter Regime |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=M7WlESAwfJ3QfgveD7H4Ng

Elise Labott

US Vice President Mike Pence worked to deny North Korea a propaganda
victory Friday, contrasting the growing excitement over Pyongyang's
participation at the Olympic Games with powerful reminders of what he
has called the most "tyrannical regime on the planet." As South
President Moon Jae-in prepared to host the North Korean delegation,
including Kim Jong Un's sister Kim Yo Jong, Pence and his wife Karen
met with four North Korean defectors who shared heartbreaking stories
of famine, torture and hardship.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
U.S. Imposes Arms Ban on South Sudan as Civil War Grinds On |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=BmkZTSnE9R894ZaV7u6E4w

Gardiner Harris

The United States banned the export of weapons and defense services to
South Sudan on Friday in a reflection of the Trump
administration's growing frustration over that nation's
grinding civil war. The ban has little practical effect, since the
United States does not sell weapons to the country. But the
announcement on Friday was the first step in a broader effort to cut
off weapons to a conflict that has put 1.5 million people on the brink
of starvation. Nikki R. Haley, the American ambassador to the United
Nations, called for an arms embargo last week. Ms. Haley visited South
Sudan in October, and the State Department is largely taking its cues
on the issue from her.

POLITICO
K.T. McFarland Withdraws as Ambassador Nominee |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=2DOfA0VrTJM8eXzNgDLiDQ

Louis Nelson

K.T. McFarland, a former White House deputy national security adviser,
withdrew herself from consideration to be the U.S. ambassador to
Singapore on Friday, a step for which President Donald Trump blamed
Democrats who "chose to play politics rather than move forward
with a qualified nominee." McFarland, previously an adviser to
Trump's transition team and a deputy to former White House
national security adviser Michael Flynn, was originally nominated to
be the U.S. ambassador to Singapore last May. The White House
resubmitted her nomination early last month after the Senate failed to
take it up before the end of 2017. Concern over McFarland related to
the ongoing Russian investigations had stalled her Senate confirmation
since last summer.


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