Foreign Policy Update – USA Gov Policy

SUDAN

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, in a written statement, said that with the enactment of the Consolidated Appropriations Act on December 28, the way is clear for victims of the 1998 East African Embassy bombings, the 2000 attack on USS Cole, and the 2008 murder of USAID employee John Granville, to receive long-awaited compensation for their immeasurable losses. According to the State Department, achieving compensation for these victims of terrorism has been a top priority.

Pompeo said that the enactment of this legislation “represents a fundamental change in Sudan’s relationship with not only the United States but also the entire international community. It removes a major impediment to Sudan’s full reintegration into the global economy by reducing the risk of attachment of Sudan’s assets, opening the possibility for substantially increased trade and investment.”

BAHRAIN

Developments in the Middle East are continuing at a fast pace after the November presidential election. In December, the US launched the Bahrain Strategic Dialogue to broaden and elevate the US-Bahrain bilateral partnership. Its focus is on cross-cutting priority areas of cooperation to enhance prosperity through trade and investment, strengthen mutual security, and build understanding through people-to-people exchanges in education, culture, science, and environment. The two countries are working closely together to maximize opportunities to accelerate their mutual peace and security objectives, including combatting human trafficking, labor and human rights standards, and advancing women’s rights.

CHINA

The United States strongly condemned China’s “sham prosecution and conviction of citizen journalist Zhang Zhan” on December 28. Pompeo called on the PRC government to release her “immediately and unconditionally.” He said: “The Chinese Communist Party has shown once again it will do whatever it takes to silence those who question the Party’s official line, even regarding crucial public health information.” Pompeo said that “Her hasty trial, to which foreign observers were denied access, shows how fearful the CCP is of Chinese citizens who speak the truth.”

This enables levitra vs cialis a thorough cleanse, which in turn helps in blood cleanse. This restraint methodology reasons smooth muscle unwinding and inflow of blood to the levitra side effects corpus cavernosum. There are many factors that can contribute to purchase levitra online http://davidfraymusic.com/events/teatro-colon-buenos-aires/ sexual weakness in men. Their first destination was up course Goa as Germans likes the beaches the most. viagra cheap prescription

Referring to the Wuhan virus, Pompeo added that “lying is a feature,” not a bug of authoritarian regimes. The CCP restricted and manipulated information about the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan from the start and brutally silenced other brave truth-tellers, such as Dr. Li Wenliang, Chen Qiushi, and Fang Bin. In a written Statement this week Pompeo said that due to the “CCP’s gross malfeasance, the rest of the world relied heavily on uncensored reports from citizen journalists like Zhang to understand the true situation in Wuhan after the CCP-imposed strict media controls were enforced and a controllable outbreak turned into a deadly global pandemic.” China’s fear of transparency and its ongoing repression of fundamental freedoms. Pompeo pointed out, are a “sign of weakness, not strength, and a threat to all of us.”

RUSSIA-LIBYA

In December, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States of playing political games in the Mediterranean and stalling the appointment of a new UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Libya.  Pompeo said that it’s “unfortunate and unhelpful that Mr. Lavrov again gets the facts wrong and attempts to rewrite history.”

The United States is working actively with allies and partners in the Eastern Mediterranean to promote greater stability, security, and prosperity, according to the State Department. In Libya, Pompeo added, the United States “supports the formation of an inclusive government that can secure the country and meet the economic and humanitarian needs of the Libyan people.”

The overarching US goal remains to bring Libyan parties to a negotiated, inclusive UN-facilitated political solution through the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum.  The United States is urging the United Nations to help accomplish this goal. Pompeo said: “To this end, the United States worked with our partners on the UN Security Council to strengthen the UN system and create a UN Special Envoy position and a complementary UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Coordinator in UNSMIL’s 2020 mandate renewal.” Russia and China were the only UNSC members to abstain on the Security Council resolution renewing UNSMIL’s mandate.

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government. Each Saturday, she presents key updates on U.S. foreign policy from the State Department.

Illustration: Pixabay

Quick Analysis

Election Day is Only the Beginning

Election day is not an end, it is a beginning. What will the victor do for the next four years? The 2024 election is unusual, in that it is a battle, in many ways, of one incumbent against the other. There is a fairly clear picture of what both candidates will do if they win. It can reasonably be expected that both will follow the paths they established during their tenure in office. Speaking of his vice president, Biden stated that “…as vice president, there wasn’t a single thing that I did that she couldn’t do. And so I was able to delegate [to] her responsibility on everything from foreign policy to domestic policy.” The White House website concurs. “As President of the Senate, Vice President Harris set a new record for the most tie-breaking votes cast by a Vice President in history – surpassing a record that had stood for nearly 200 years. And her votes have been consequential. This includes casting the decisive vote to secure passage of the landmark Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment ever in tackling the climate crisis. She also presided over the unprecedented vote to confirm the first Black woman, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, to the Supreme Court while working alongside President Biden to achieve historic representation of women and people of color among nominees at all levels of the federal government.” Vice President Harris was, indeed, the crucial tie-breaking vote on the inflation reduction act. The House Oversight Committee notes that “Instead of lowering prices, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) hiked taxes on businesses, mandates price controls on drugs, devoted $80 billion to hire 87,000 new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents to target middle class Americans, and earmarked $300 billion to advance Democrats’ radical climate agenda. The IRA’s drug pricing scheme means higher prices, fewer cures, and less access to care for American patients. “Joel White, President of the Council for Affordable Health Coverage, discussed how the IRA will result in fewer cures during his opening testimony. “All of the experts – CBO, the CMS Actuary, and private academics – agree that the IRA will result in fewer therapies. They simply disagree on the extent of the damage.” “President Biden is willing to sacrifice our economic security to pursue his radical Green New Deal. “President Biden and Democrats have used the IRA to disguise radical Green New Deal policies that put China over the U.S. “New estimates project the actual cost of the IRA green energy will be double the projected amount. “Preston Brashers, PhD, and Senior Policy Analyst of Tax Policy at the Heritage Foundation said during his opening testimony, “The IRA is much more fiscally irresponsible than it appeared on paper. It uses gimmicky and questionable pay-fors and expirations, and some of the provisions are proving much more costly than forecasters expected – especially the bevy of tax credits for green energy, electric vehicles, carbon sequestration, and other things ostensibly connected to the climate agenda.” In stark contrast, inflation was comparatively tamed during the Trump years. Yahoo Finance reports that “ Trump oversaw a period of relatively low inflation, and Biden’s term so far has largely been defined by rapidly rising prices and the most painful inflation since the early 1980s.” On foreign affairs, the Biden-Harris record is worrisome. The House Oversight Committee also reports that “Meaghan Mobbs, Director of the Center for American Safety and Security: “The core duty of any government is to protect its people. Yet, over the last four years, the world has only grown more dangerous. Under the current administration, we have witnessed the largest attack on a European nation in 85 years and the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. Our enemies no longer view the United States as a nation ready to act with strength and resolve when confronted. Instead, they witnessed an administration more focused on diplomatic gestures and conciliatory measures, often at the expense of American security. The article concludes tomorrow Photo: White House web site