EMAIL DETAILS

The Weekly GAB Friday, January 19, 2017
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=SKINZ_VIcm1bxMU-zUlKIQ

Who's in the News

BLOOMBERG
OPIC President Washburne on 2018 Priorities and Investments |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=2Eh-hKfPxIDTYaX9RNTM_g

[Video]

Ray Washburne, President of the Overseas Private Investment
Corporation (OPIC), discusses the potential impact of President Donald
Trump's new budget and the challenges facing OPIC.

Development & Diplomacy

THE HILL
Foreign Aid Is Something That Makes America Great

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=GtGb9sMxrEceJipsjiND4w

Cindy Huang, Senior Policy Fellow, Center for Global Development

Despite being less than one percent of the federal budget, our
development and humanitarian investments play a critical role in
protecting U.S. national security, and promoting American interests.
Even if these twitter missives are more political theater than
administration foreign policy, these threats to withdraw foreign aid
in a tit-for-tat manner can have harmful consequences for the U.S.
While President Trump's blunt threats to cut foreign aid may
seem to only affect people overseas, the reality is that foreign aid
promotes American interests and values. The argument that cutting
foreign aid puts "America first" just doesn't add
up. These cuts would make us less safe, less influential, and less
prosperous.

BLOOMBERG

U.S. Withholding Added $45 Million in Palestinian Aid, Sources Say |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=zKeEx4ZWkyU424TRr8WprA

Nick Wadhams

The U.S. State Department is reneging on a pledge to contribute $45
million in food aid, health services and other relief it promised to
deliver to Palestinian refugees by this month, adding to cutbacks
announced earlier this week. After much delay, the administration
agreed this week to pay $60 million to the aid organization to cover
salaries and other administrative costs, while withholding an
additional $65 million normally paid all at once. The money that was
provided can't be used for any other purpose. The $45 million
now being withheld leaves Unrwa in the lurch because it went ahead and
purchased food aid and other supplies after it received the Dec. 17
pledge letter from the State Department.

CNN

UN Palestinian Aid Agency Says US Cuts Spark Worst-Ever Financial
Crisis |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=J9mmWJcdVYFHalHIghZQ9w

Tamara Qiblawi

The UN agency tasked with assisting Palestinian refugees says the
Trump administration's decision to cut funds to the organization has
sparked its largest-ever financial crisis. The decision drew
condemnation from Palestinians, praise from Israel, and expressions of
deep concern from UN officials and refugee groups. It came two weeks
after US President Donald Trump raised the prospect of cutting US aid
to Palestinians in a series of tweets. The United Nations Relief and
Works Agency (UNRWA) will launch a global fundraising campaign to fill
in budget gaps left behind by the US administration's decision to
withhold $65 million, roughly half of the amount it was due to receive
from the US this month.

FOREIGN POLICY
Pence Plan to Target Aid for Christians in Iraq Sparks Concern |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=IwYSjsrkXLHUvPygr6YsVg

Rhys Dubin and Dan De Luce

The Trump administration has decided to steer humanitarian aid funding
to Christian and other minority communities in Iraq, against the
advice of some officials at the State Department and others at the
United Nations, who initially feared the move could backfire. The
administration, prompted in part by Vice President Mike Pence's
strong links to Christian advocacy groups, recently clashed with the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) over how to spend aid
funds in Iraq, insisting more resources be channeled to Christian
communities and other minority groups in the Nineveh Plains. The
administration rejected UNDP's assessment - and that of
some officials at the State Department - that the aid should be
focused on more populated areas around the war-damaged city of Mosul.

CNN

Amid Nuclear Tensions, South Korea Tops Trump's Long List of Unfilled
Diplomatic Posts |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=mjLPbD2cmmUOoDbxAnmKOQ

Kevin Liptak and Nicole Gaouette

Key diplomatic posts remain unfilled a year into the Trump
administration, chief among them the US ambassador to South Korea. The
widely rumored nominee for that post, Victor Cha, was escorted through
the West Wing several months ago to meet people, including senior
staff, according to an official and a source familiar with the matter.
The administration sent Cha's name to Seoul in December, where he
received swift approval, another source familiar with the matter said.
That process -- almost always a quick, rubber-stamp affair -- only
happens after candidates have received security clearance and gotten
sign-off from the White House.

NPR
U.N. Head Lists His Top Global Concerns For 2018 |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=7RJNlhYVyovsp4zuIMOJXA

Malaka Gharib

On the first day as head of the United Nations - January 1, 2017
- Antonio Guterres pledged to make 2017 a year of peace. But the
year didn't turn out as he expected. In an informal address to member
states at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Guterres said "peace
remains elusive" - and "in fundamental ways, the world has gone
in reverse." In his speech, he shared his top priorities for the U.N.
in 2018 - many of which touch on themes we cover in our blog
about global health and development. His remarks have been edited for
length.

DEVEX

No Clear Path Ahead for Yemen Aid as 30-Day Lift of Blockade Expires |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=hapYvx32rGC_y5krDl3z1Q

Amy Lieberman

A temporary lifting of a blockade at one of Yemen's most
critical ports will end this week, pushing Yemen's deteriorating
humanitarian situation into an even more critical, uncertain state,
the Norwegian Refugee Council told Devex this week. More than 7
million people in Yemen - almost one-fourth of the country
- are now entirely dependent on aid. But recent temporary
blockades of the key Hudaydah Port have presented major operational
challenges for aid groups working to deliver emergency services. Now,
a 30-day period that eased this temporary commercial blockade over
Hudaydah Port will expire on Jan. 19, without a clear resolution in
sight.

VOICE OF AMERICA
Myanmar, Bangladesh to Begin Return of Rohingya Refugees

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=oY232KGuE_4Ysyu1oD79Qg

Myanmar and neighboring Bangladesh have completed an agreement to
repatriate scores of Rohingya Muslims who fled Myanmar to escape a
brutal military crackdown. Bangladesh issued a statement Tuesday
saying the repatriations will begin next week, with the goal of
completing the process within the next two years. The agreement calls
for Bangladesh to set up five transit camps that will move the
refugees into two reception areas in Myanmar's Rakhine state. But
international watchdog Amnesty International called the deal
"premature", saying that Rohingya, who allegedly were not consulted
for the deal, have no gaurantee of safety upon their return.

Politics & Foreign Policy

THE WASHINGTON POST

Government Shutdown Looms as Senate Democrats Dig in Against GOP
Spending Plan |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=NaJ2-ttR8u5vPD9YRGnFbA

Mike DeBonis, Ed O'Keefe, Erica Werner and Elise Viebeck

The federal government remained on a path toward a shutdown Friday as
the House prepared to adjourn and Senate Democrats rallied against a
short-term spending bill that does not offer protections for young
undocumented immigrants or address other priorities such as disaster
relief. With less than 18 hours before the midnight deadline, House
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said he would release his
members to leave Washington midday Friday after a series of unrelated
votes. The House passed the short-term bill Thursday evening by a vote
of 230-197.

POLITICO
Tillerson: U.S. 'Will Maintain a Military Presence in Syria' |

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

Carla Marinucci and Nahal Toosi

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday indicated that America
will maintain an indefinite military presence in Syria to fight
terrorist groups, stand up to Iran's growing influence and pave
the way for an end to the regime of Syrian leader Bashar Assad.
Tillerson's remarks were the clearest enunciation yet by a Trump
administration official of U.S. plans in Syria. They were especially
striking in their open-ended commitment given that President Donald
Trump campaigned on a desire to extricate the U.S. from messy wars in
the Muslim world.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
For Trump's Security Advisers, Tempering an Impetuous Boss |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=cma-xwTvZDiuy_qGWCXzYg

Josh Lederman and Matthew Lee

Rex Tillerson's mission was delicate but not unfamiliar as he
phoned President Donald Trump last week: Persuade the boss to curb his
own impulses on yet another potentially explosive national security
issue. Trump had stormed into the new year threatening on Twitter to
cut off aid to the Palestinians after little Mideast peace progress.
His U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, egged Trump on, pushing him to
suspend all of a planned $125 million payment to the U.N. agency for
Palestinian refugees. Tillerson's State Department and the
Pentagon sought to preserve the full amount, fearful about the
implications for millions of people and U.S. partner governments in
the Middle East.

VANITY FAIR
Tillerson Prints Out Trump's Tweets to Help Set Foreign Policy |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=RcuMPdYL-UR7lZv9xcP3-g

Abigail Tracy

Trump's impulsive, inflammatory tweets have created obvious
difficulties for Washington. According to Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson, however, they are a source of inspiration. While speaking
with his predecessor Condoleezza Rice at a Stanford University event
on Wednesday, Tillerson-who does not use social media
himself-said his aides print out every tweet his boss sends and
hand-deliver them to him. "The challenge is just getting caught
up because I don't even have a Twitter account that I can follow
what he is tweeting, so my staff usually has to print his tweets out
and hand them to me," Tillerson told Rice. Then the secretary
asks himself, "How do we take that and now use it?"

POLITICO

Poll: Under Trump, Global Approval of U.S. Leadership Hits Historical
Low |

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

Cristiano Lima

Other nations' approval of U.S. leadership under President
Donald Trump hit a historical low of 30 percent in 2017, according to
a Gallup poll released Thursday. The measure, the lowest since Gallup
began tracking it worldwide in 2007, signals an 18-point drop from a
year earlier, when 48 percent approved of the national influence under
former President Barack Obama. It is the single largest year-to-year
drop in approval of U.S. leadership - or of any country examined
- to date. The steep decline, researchers said, can be largely
attributed to the shift in leadership in the West Wing.

TIME
Trump Turns His Back on Pakistan, Giving China an Opportunity |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=zE1mSBDLrjz_c1I9V6Ck0Q

Ian Bremmer

China is already moving into the vacuum that the U.S. has left behind
[in Pakistan], spying a means to counterbalance India, gain access to
an Indian Ocean port and score a strategic win against Trump. Chinese
direct investment in Pakistan topped $837 million from July to
November 2017, compared with just $42.6 million from the U.S. Pakistan
still matters for the U.S. The war in next-door Afghanistan is not
getting better. Counterterrorism coordination will only become more
important as ISIS fighters from Syria and Iraq scatter around the
world. Pakistan has nuclear weapons, and its scientists have in the
past sold nuclear material to U.S. enemies. This country can become a
source of either regional stability or extreme political
instability...China will be only too glad to double down on its own
investment if Trump decides to cash out entirely on this inconstant
ally.


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=cFfnT5YNkP8UfPna5XCi3w
http://action.usglc.org/site/CO?i=tfFoaJs7fZebqKx8YsKohMN40FR8F2FG&cid=0
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=FBMO-Jo9tN1ApzpwTOUqwQ

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=eMoQbwk535kpqA3aE5P-Ng