Friday, January 31

Diplomacy

The GER covers diplomacy, international organizations, and meetings. Looking beyond our individual political systems we find people and organizations working to make life better for people in both conflict-ridden places as well as secure, developed countries. It is not enough to focus on the end results of international relations. It’s worth focusing on the day-to-day work of diplomacy. Often, that’s where breakthroughs occur.

‘America Is Back,’ Biden Says, Promising Renewed Global Ties
11Nov By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, Domestic Politics, Types of News: Brief, United States

‘America Is Back,’ Biden Says, Promising Renewed Global Ties

November 11, 2020--A week after the U.S. national election, Joe Biden, the presumptive president-elect, said he is beginning to renew U.S. ties with global partners and institutions and is confident he can work with a bipartisan Congress on achieving results. Biden won victories in a high enough number of states to reach the magic 270 electoral votes needed to make the election official in December. Since most media outlets named Biden the president-elect over the weekend, he has taken calls from at least six foreign leaders, including those representing the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Turkey. New Tone in Washington Biden said he is telling his counterparts the United States will reengage with the world under a Biden presidency. "First of all, I'm letting them kno...
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27Feb By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, Sanctions

U.S. Provides Sanctions Waiver for Humanitarian Aid to Iran

Feb. 27, 2020--The U.S. Treasury Department published a license granting exceptions to its sanctions regime against Iran for shippers of humanitarian supplies, such as food, medicine and medical equipment. The Swiss government launched the new payment channel late last month as a pilot program in cooperation with the U.S. government. Today's action provides the legal framework for that channel Medical shortages started in Iran after the United States pulled out of the nuclear deal and started new sanctions against Iran. Although the sanctions had exempted medical supplies, trade was disrupted due to concern by traders about getting caught up in the sanctions. According to AFP News Agency, "This in turn has worsened the acute shortage of medicines and led to skyrocketing prices, agai...
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Iran Reacts with Defiance to New U.S. Deterrence Strategy
17Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Middle East, Sanctions, Types of News: Analysis

Iran Reacts with Defiance to New U.S. Deterrence Strategy

Jan. 17, 2020-Immediate tensions between the United States and Iran subsided since the two country's attacks and counter-attacks in Iraq earlier this month. While war between the two countries appears less imminent, the path forward points to either inevitable conflict or backdoor diplomacy. Today, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei conducted a rare Friday speech in which he condemned the United States and defended his country's missile attacks against U.S. military bases in Iraq. The strikes inadvertently downed a Ukrainian passenger plane. The United States, meanwhile, intensified its sanctions against Iran, adding Iranian military and political officials and companies trading in Iran's metals industry to its already-large list of sanctioned individuals and entities. ...
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As Impeachment Trial Begins, Government Agency Says Withholding of Foreign Aid Was Illegal
16Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Foreign Aid, International Development, Types of News: Brief

As Impeachment Trial Begins, Government Agency Says Withholding of Foreign Aid Was Illegal

Jan. 16, 2020-As the impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump got underway with the swearing in of Chief Justice John Roberts and most of the 100 U.S. senators, a government agency issued a report today saying it was illegal for the Executive Branch to withold to Ukraine in 2019. "Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law," the legal decision by the Government Accountability Office said. The specific law in question is the Impoundment Control Act. The timing of the GAO decision is relevant because it gets to the heart of the impeachment trial now underway in the U.S. Senate. According to the GAO, Congress had appropriated $250 million in U.S. funds for Ukraine. The i...
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8Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Energy Policy, Oil & Gas, Sanctions, Types of News: Brief

‘We Do Not Need Middle East Oil,’ Trump Says

January 8, 2020-As he addressed the nation and the world at the height of an escalating crisis between Iran and the United States, President Donald Trump emphasized American strength in military capabilities, economic growth and natural resources in a sign he is not backing down from the possibility of war with archrival Iran. Trump called on signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran to abandon the agreement, asked the NATO alliance to take a stronger role in the Middle East, and announced new economic sanctions on Iran. Trump showed no sign of de-escalating the conflict with Iran. He said Iranians chanted "death to America" even as the United States signed onto the 2015 nuclear deal and fomented conflicts in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Furthermore, he reinforced his decisio...
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Former Amb. in Impeachment Proceedings Warns of ‘Hollowing Out’ of U.S. Diplomacy
15Nov By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, Sanctions

Former Amb. in Impeachment Proceedings Warns of ‘Hollowing Out’ of U.S. Diplomacy

November 15, 2019--In the second day of impeachment live televised hearings in the U.S. House of Representative, Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, warned of a "hollowing out of the State Department" that weakens U.S. diplomats abroad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvPeE-rSQZ4 Ms. Yovanovitch said she lost her position as the ambassador to Ukraine after foreign and private interests used "unofficial back channels" to convince President Trump to remove her. Ukraine: Caught Between Russia and the West Yovanovitch also said Ukraine is "a battleground for great power competition, with a hot war for the control of the territory and a hybrid war to control Ukraine's leadership."
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Senate Panel Focuses on Crime-Related Migration at US-Mexico Border
13Nov By Patti MohrNo Comments
Corruption, Bribes, Illicit Finance & Money Laundering, Human rights, Migration, Immigration, Borders, Types of News: Brief

Senate Panel Focuses on Crime-Related Migration at US-Mexico Border

October 13, 2019--A Senate committee examining migration at the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday focused largely on crimes, such as child exploitation, drug trafficking and human smuggling. With just under a million cases of immigrants entering the U.S. border in the fiscal year 2019, the U.S. justice system of processing and detaining immigrants is overwhelmed, U.S. officials reported. Child Pawns Of primary concern are children who are used as human pawns for individuals seeking to enter the United States illegally. According to Mark Morgan, the acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, human smugglers use children as a "money-making commodity" by selling or renting them to migrants. "We know children are being rented and recycled and presented as fake fa...
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Syrian Constitutional Committee Begins in Geneva
30Oct By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, Middle East, Political Systems, Domestic Politics, Types of News: Brief, UN Security Council

Syrian Constitutional Committee Begins in Geneva

October 30, 2019-As fighting again broke out in northern Syria, representatives the Syrian government, opposition forced and civil society met today in Geneva to negotiate a new constitution for the country plagued by eight years of civil war. "The task you are about to take is momentous," UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told the 150 delegates. "You are mandated to prepare and draft for popular approval a constitutional reform as a contribution to the political settlement in Syria." UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen said he knows it "is not easy" for members to be present next to one another. (See video.) The directive is part of Security Council Resolution 2254, adopted unanimously in 2015, which sets out goals for a political solution for a sovereign state of Syria. Th...
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Brazil, China Aim to Strengthen Economic Ties
28Oct By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, Types of News: Brief

Brazil, China Aim to Strengthen Economic Ties

October 28, 2019-Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and China's President Xi Jinping met in Beijing last Friday to bolster bilateral trade and investment between their two countries ahead of the APEC and BRICs summits next month. Bolsonaro, Brazil's new far-right leader, said the two leaders are meant to "were born to walk together" and that the two economies -- the second and ninth largest in the world -- are "completely aligned, in a way that reaches beyond our commercial and business relationship." The leaders established some common ground in trade and investment ahead the APEC Summit in Chile Nov. 11-17 and the BRICs Summit in Brazil Nov. 13-14. Strengthening Economic Ties Xi held a welcome ceremony for Bolsonaro and said he hoped to develop "strategic and long-term" relat...
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South Korea Opts Out of Special Trade Status for Developing Countries
28Oct By Patti MohrNo Comments
Foreign Aid, International Development, Global Trade, Organizations, IMF, WTO, G7, Types of News: Brief

South Korea Opts Out of Special Trade Status for Developing Countries

October 28, 2019-South Korea plans to give up a special status in the World Trade Organization. The status gives developing countries longer time periods to implement trade agreements and the ability to increase trade opportunities. South Korea Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki made the announcement late last week, saying it reflects his country's growing economy and external pressures. South Korea's economy is worth $1.5 trillion and is the 11th largest economy in the world. In July, U.S. President Donald Trump called on strong economies such as China to shed the special status. His July memorandum makes specific recommendations regarding the treatment of countries that he says should no longer be treated as developing economies. Singapore, Brazil, the UAE and Taiwan have also pledged...
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