Foreign Policy Update – USA Gov Policy

IRAN

Iran continues its abnormal state behavior. Earlier this week it seized a United Arab Emirates (UAE) tanker ship and is continuing with a series of escalating actions leading up to the US destroying an Iranian drone threatening the USS Boxer and its crew. On July 19, an Iranian drone refused to comply with instructions was shot down as it approached within 1,000 yards of the ship traveling in international waters in the Strait of Hormuz.

Referring to the seizure of the UAE vessel, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said Washington is “following very closely what’s taking place more broadly even than just this tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. The President’s made pretty clear that this is an international obligation to keep these waterways open, and we’re working diligently to build out a maritime security initiative – a broad range of countries participating in that. The Iranians’ effort to deny transit for commercial vessels, crude oil vessels, and other vessels is something that – frankly, it’s consistent with 40 years of their history and it’s something that the United States is prepared to do our part to make sure that those waterways remain open.”

The Secretary added that no one should underestimate the broad range of responses available to the US and that Iran, in particular, should not misunderstand American efforts. He said: “The best solution here is for the Iranians to decide that the diplomatic path forward is the best one for the people inside of Iran, and we try to talk to them because the Iranian regime has clearly done things that are inconsistent with what the Iranian people want.” The Trump Administration continues to seek a diplomatic path forward which will deny Iran both a path to a nuclear weapon and the ability to build out its missile program through proliferation.

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Leaders from 114 nations gathered in Washington for a three-day Ministerial Conference to Advance Religious Freedom. Over 80% of the world lives in nations that restrict religion, according to Pompeo. When asked about talks with China concerning the abuse of the Uighur minority and other issues surrounding the persecution of Christians in China, the Secretary pointed out that religious freedom is a stabilizing force in nations where citizens are permitted to practice their faith. Pompeo added: “It doesn’t create risk, which is what I think some of the countries like China are concerned with when they exercise political repression against various religious faiths. That makes their country weaker. And we’ve made this argument, and we will continue to build that argument out and try and convince every country including China that it’s in their best interest to increase the religious freedom in their country.”

BURMA

The US Government remains deeply concerned about the persecution of the Rohingya people and other human rights atrocities being carried out by the Burmese government and its security forces. According to a senior State Department official in Washington, the Burmese military has made “no progress on holding accountable those responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims.”

The official added that to date, “the US has taken a number of actions to promote accountability for these atrocities, including the sanctioning of five Burmese generals and two military units for serious human rights abuses in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan states.”

This week Secretary Pompeo announced publicly that the commander-in-chief of the Burmese military, Min Aung Hlaing; the deputy commander-in-chief, Soe Win; and commanders of the 33rd and 99th Light Infantry Divisions, Than Oo and Aung Aung, and their immediate family members have been designated under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2019 for their involvement in gross violations of human rights, including extrajudicial killings, against Rohingya, particularly from August through September 2017.” Unfortunately, to date, sanctions have done little to change the behavior of the government.

Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Department during the Reagan Administration.

Illustration: Pixabay

Quick Analysis

Why the Electoral College is Vital

Proposals for radical alterations in the way Americans vote are dangerous concepts that would have dramatic consequences for the nation and its Constitution. Some, such as ranked choice voting, are an unblushing bid to prop up fringe, leftist candidates. Others. if adopted, would essentially disunite the nation and overturn its Constitution. As they consistently have after each election loss, Democrat spokespeople have flooded the airwaves with complaints about the Electoral College. Why, they ask, can’t we have a “popular vote,” and let it be done with. Since the Electoral College process is part of the original design of the U.S. Constitution, it would be necessary to pass a Constitutional amendment to change this system. The National Archives notes that over the past 200 years more than 700 proposals have been introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College. There have been more proposals for Constitutional amendments on changing the Electoral College than on any other subject. The answer is as simple as the name of the country: The United States of America. The incredibly successful nation created almost two and a half centuries ago was a union of separate states. Fresh off of dealing with a monarch, it was intentionally set up that way to both prevent the possibility of having an all-powerful dictator, and to prevent larger states from bullying smaller ones. Abolishing the electoral college would essentially disenfranchise smaller states from having any say in the presidency. Indeed, even less populated areas of large states would lose influence. A collection of large cities, (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, Austin, Jacksonville, etc.) would decide the outcome in who gets the White House. Considering how badly many of those urban centers are run, that would not bode well for the future of the country! Beyond the practical policy implications, it would alienate the populations of those not living in California, Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, who would, for the most part, be reduced to bystanders in the race for the only nationally-elected position. A Heritage study analyzed the concept of a “National Popular Vote” (NPV) this way: “The National Popular Vote (NPV) plan is the latest in a long line of schemes designed to replace the Electoral College. Imbued with the ideals of this nation’s Founders, the Electoral College has proved itself to be both effective in providing orderly elections for President and resilient in allowing a stable transfer of power of the leadership of the world’s greatest democracy. Therefore, while it would be a mistake to replace the Electoral College, replacing this system with the NPV would be a disaster. The NPV would devalue the minority interests that the Founders sought to protect, create electoral administrative problems, encourage voter fraud, and radicalize the U.S. political system. It also would likely violate the U.S. Constitution’s Compact Clause while directly contravening the Founders’ view of federalism and a representative republic. In an age of perceived political dysfunction, effective policies already in place—especially successful policies established by this nation’s Founders, such as the Electoral College—should be preserved.” Trent England, writing for the National Conference of State Legislatures outlined key reasons for the institution: “At the Constitutional Convention, the primary concern of delegates opposed to direct election was that big states would dominate presidential politics. By using a two-step election process, the Electoral College prevents one region, or a handful of major metropolitan areas, from controlling the White House. Support must be geographically distributed around the country in order to win enough states to capture an electoral vote majority. This was particularly important after the Civil War. The nation remained divided, and Democrats became dominant in the south. A combination of intense popularity with some voters and violent suppression of others allowed Democrats to receive the most popular votes in 1876 and 1888 even though they lost the Electoral College and thus those elections.” Eliminating the Electoral College would be a disaster for the United States/