Foreign Policy Update – USA Gov Policy

CHINA

State-sponsored repression against all religions continues to intensify in China. In the newly-released 2019 report on International Religious Freedom, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said the “Chinese Communist Party is now ordering religious organizations to obey CCP leadership and infuse communist dogma into their teachings and practice of their faith. The mass detentions of Uighurs in Xinjiang continues. So does the repression of Tibetans and Buddhists and Falun Gong and Christians.”

Pompeo released a statement earlier in the week calling China’s attempts to take advantage of the US domestic situation to press their political agenda “obscene.” He noted that there is no equivalence between the two forms of government. The United States uses rule of law; China does not. The US has free speech and embraces peaceful protest, he added, and China does not. “We defend religious freedom; as I just noted, China continues its decades-long war on faith,” according to Pompeo. Relations between the US and China have grown even more tense since the onset of the COVID-10 virus. It shows no signs of abating and there are indications it may escalate given China’s belligerent behavior.

HONG KONG

It appears likely the United States is going to impose a cost on the decisionmakers who denied this freedom to the people of Hong Kong, accord to Secretary Pompeo. He pointed out that Hong Kong is no longer a highly autonomous region. “That means that the behavior and the relationships that we have with Hong Kong will look more like the relationships we have with China,” he said. Previously, the preference set that was given to Hong Kong as a result of the Chinese commitment to freedom in Hong Kong and one country and two systems “will begin to look less and less like there are really two systems as a reflection of the fact that there aren’t,” Pompeo added.

In the coming weeks President Trump is expected to propose a range of responses that Washington will implement , so in cooperation with its international partners. The world, Pompeo said, has come to understand that a “commitment from the Chinese Communist Party is no longer something that they can rely upon, and that has real implications for how we ought to respond to what they’re doing in Hong Kong today.” The Secretary indicated that the Administration is very concerned that Hong Kong’s leadership will try to delay or cancel the upcoming September elections if the result appears uncertain or leaning againshe Secret Beijing. If the situation further deteriorates Pompeo said the US is looking at the possibility of welcoming the entrepreneurial people of Hong Kong into the United States.

The order generic cialis conclusion has been made with this statement that Kamagra works well by damaging the cancer cells. When cheapest cialis in australia taken correctly, these jellies work really well and let you heal erectile dysfunction in minutes. Erection enhancing meds like Kamagra, Levitr, cialis online pharmacy, Super P Force, Silagra are categorized simple and short way for recovery. So, lots of medicine producing companies can produce the medicine can produce it. generico levitra on line

IRAN

The continuing threat from the Islamic Republic of Iran remains, according to Pompeo, as it has continued to violate a number of its nuclear commitments that it signed up for under the JCPOA. The US campaign to hold Iran in check is ongoing and Washington is adding pressure on the regime.

The Secretary announced the end of the sanctions waiver covering all remaining JCPOA-originating nuclear projects in Iran – the Arak reactor conversion, the provision of enriched uranium for the Tehran Research Reactor, and the export of Iran’s spent and scrap research reactor fuel following a final, 60-day wind-down period allowing companies and entities involved in these activities to cease their operations. Pompeo said that the United States has “put resources in place to deter Iranian aggression on the ground.” He pointed to Washington’s diplomatic power in “uniting the world in a number of ways with respect to Iran’s terrorism.” Starting on October 18 the Russians will be able to sell equipment to Iran, and they appear to be preparing to do so. The Chinese also will be able to sell tanks to Iran. Pompeo added that Washington has “a plan that we believe will successfully prevent that from happening… It’s too dangerous to the world to allow Iran, after just what would be now five years of the agreement, to be able to again arm themselves, purchase high-end weapon systems from the Russians and the Iranians, making it even more difficult for us to stop them from building out their nuclear program.

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

Putin’s Saber Rattling

Earlier this week, President Biden reversed his 2022 decision, authorizing the provision of antipersonnel land mines to the Ukrainian government. It follows an earlier Administration authorization to allow the use of an advanced American missile system capable of striking as deep as 100 miles inside Russian territory. The US election season may be ending, but both Russia and the West show no indication of stepping down the conflict. Russian propaganda continues to swell as the Kremlin increases its threats to use nuclear weapons against the West. Last week Andrey Sushentsov, program director of the pro-Kremlin think tank Valdai Discussion Club (VDC), published an article on growing nuclear tensions in the region. Official Russian language in the last few years has been threatening. Since the US election, rhetoric like that in the Sushentsov article, has approached the level of nuclear blackmail. The VDC article’s main theme centers on Russia’s intent to directly confront the West militarily if the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) becomes involved in Russia’s conflict with Ukraine. “On the one hand, these threats are intended to frighten the West, but on the other, Russian propagandists themselves are starting to believe in the inevitability of escalation,” according to Ksenia Kirillova of the Jamestown Foundation. On November 11, Sushentsov wrote that “The conflict will reach a completely new level, with unpredictable consequences for Europe and the entire world.” Kirillova points out that Putin’s distorted image of the world is divorced from reality and is causing the Kremlin to issue demands that are impossible to fulfill. Financial and other Russian resources needed to support Putin’s war are growing scarcer at the same time. This week the Kremlin announced a reduction of payments to its soldiers. Recently North Korea acknowledged it was sending soldiers to fight in Ukraine as Putin is running out of bodies to use as cannon fire. The war is not going well for Russia. One question floating around the Washington intelligence community is whether Putin will act out of desperation before President-elect Trump assumes office. In recent months the Russian propaganda machine is spewing out materials from fairly reputable analytical platforms inside the country. Kirillova says that “Kremlin ‘experts’ do not conceal that such threats are only intended to break the West psychologically, as they themselves are not prepared for full-scale nuclear war.” Despite Russia’s lack of preparation for an all-out war with the West, the expanding nuclear rhetoric carries with it an increase in the threat of a full-scale war in multiple theaters of operation. In June 2023 a founder of the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, Sergey Karaganov, called for “delivering a pre-emptive strike of retaliation” on Poland to force the West to surrender. In the previous month, Dmitry Suslov, a direct of research programs at the policy center proposed organizing “a demonstration nuclear explosion” aimed at intimidating the West. In September, President Putin announced a reappraisal of Russian nuclear doctrine after speaking earlier in the year at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum and jokingly calling Suslov a “scary person.” Pavel Baev, writing in the European Daily Monitor, says “Putin intends his announcement to mark an escalation of nuclear brinkmanship and influence the proceedings of future Ukrainian peace efforts.” Putin is expanding the list of environmental conditions that are acceptable for using a nuclear weapon and incorporating it into Russian military doctrine. Baev adds that “The ups and downs of Russian brinkmanship are disconnected from the kinetic battles of the war, correlating instead with Ukrainian peace offensives, such as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s first peace summit in Bürgenstock, Switzerland.” Despite the increase in vitriolic language, in a You Tube video published a week before the US presidential election, Karaganov openly assured the West the primary goal of the escalation is to break the American spirit and that of the West, not outright nuclear war. By Election Day in the US, with political prognosticators predicting a win for former president Trump, Karaganov changed his tune and called for an increased role in nuclear deterrence. Kirillova points out that Western concessions to Russia are unlikely to reduce the risk of nuclear escalation. The distorted reality inside the Kremlin continues to push that President-elect Trump is an adherent of “world government,” that Ukraine will create a nuclear weapon, and Russia must prepare for a nuclear conflagration to achieve its ambitions for a new world order. President-elect Trump has indicated he will not agree to concessions that destabilize Europe, the Middle East or other regions. Going forward a strong US foreign policy may be the most stabilizing course the West can count on to restrain Putin and his intent to rebuild the Russian empire. Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept. Illustration: Pixabay

Our Latest Television Program

War, Diplomacy and Human Relations

Have humans become less or more “tribal” in recent years? What are the implications for war, peace, and diplomacy? Watch our discussion with Professor John M. Ellis, author of “A Short history of Relations Between Peoples.” The stay tuned for a fascinating debate on the Ukraine crisis with Douglas Ernest, author of The Spirit of a True Patriot: The Inspiring story of Ret. Captain Douglas Ernest.” If you missed the program on your local station, watch it here: https://rumble.com/v5reraw-the-american-political-zone-november-19-2024.html