Janet Sadik Khan – USA Gov Policy

We are increasingly disturbed by the irrationality and diminished quality of individuals holding elective and significant administrative posts.

The lack of intelligent decision making and in some instances, a frankly criminal bent on the part of key leaders has devastated major cities, and threatens to do the same on a national level.

As noted in a previous NY Analysis of Policy & Government report, the career of former Detroit mayor Kwame Malik Kilpatrick, widely known as the “Hip-Hop Mayor,” symbolizes this worrisome problem. Kilpatrick’s reign was brought to a close after convictions for perjury and obstruction of justice in 2010. Detroit was forced to endure municipal bankruptcy.

A similarly dismal record is shared by the former mayor of Washington, D.C., Marion Barry. Barry served as mayor from 1979 to 1991, and 1995 to 1999. He also served on the city council from 1992 to 1994. Barry’s second term as mayor came after being convicted of using crack cocaine. He has since been found guilty of misdemeanor IRS code violations, and has uttered racist statements about Asian Americans.

New York City has produced a number of elected and appointed leaders with highly questionable judgment, particularly in the past two mayoral administrations. Former Transportation Commissioner Janet Sadik Khan, appointed by Michael Bloomberg, chose to clear bike paths during a massive snowfall before plowing major roadways. Deaths resulted when ambulances couldn’t get to victims. She kept her job, despite the resulting fury.

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There is a key New York City connection to two vital current nation-wide issues. Al Sharpton, who has provoked race riots and who attempted to defraud the courts into believing that two white police officers sexually assaulted a black woman, has been named as a figure the Obama Administration will consult in choosing the next U.S. attorney general.

As the world endures the worst Ebola outbreak on record and America looks increasingly vulnerable to this crisis, it does not inspire confidence that the Director of the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is Thomas Frieden, who formerly served as the Director of New York City’s Department of Health under former Mayor Bloomberg. During his tenure, the nation’s largest city was widely criticized for its bizarre obsession with regulating the personal dietary choices of its residents, culminating with a mayoral ban on the sale of large sodas which was overturned in court.

Frieden’s strident approach to the alleged dangers of sugar and salt is absent in his approach to the looming Ebola danger. Americans were first informed that the deadly disease was unlikely to arrive on America’s shores, which turned out to be inaccurate. The administration he advises and serves has failed to take the reasonable precautions other nations have in terms of restricting travel, and has rejected protocols and plans for serious outbreaks of contagious diseases recommended by the prior administration. Despite the growing concern that Ebola could mutate into an airborne disease, Friedan has continued to inform the public not to be concerned.

We have gone beyond the era of Democrat vs. Republican, liberal vs. conservative. In this era of “progressive” dominance in the leadership of our nation and many of our cities, the debate now is between the rational and the irrational.

Quick Analysis

Ukraine’s Frozen Conflict

As we approach winter in the northern hemisphere, the war in Ukraine is beginning to resemble a “frozen conflict” from many perspectives. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently told the media he hopes the war will end faster once President-elect Trump takes over in January. Opinions in Moscow, however, differ from that of the Ukrainian leader. Russian President Vladimir Putin argues that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) needs to exclude Ukraine from joining in “exchange” for peace. If it does not, he says, then no end to the war is in sight. So far there is no Christmas solution. Several NATO countries, according to Vladimir Socor of the Jamestown Foundation, are tentatively considering “coalitions-of-the-willing” to provide security for Ukraine outside of the formal NATO framework. There is, however, no collective mechanism today under which such an arrangement is viable. According to the NATO Charter, while Ukraine is a NATO partner country, it may not join as a full member since it has not fulfilled the requirements for membership. That has not stopped NATO and allies from continuing “to provide Ukraine with unprecedented levels of support, helping to uphold its fundamental right to self-defence,” according to the organization. Socor says that keeping Ukraine out of NATO will not advance peace with Russia. Waiting for a peace settlement, he suggests, would only serve to encourage Moscow to continue the war indefinitely. Although the Biden Administration officially withdrew its support for Ukrainian membership in 2021, NATO maintains an “open door” policy toward membership-seeking countries. The current White House position led the way for European states to oppose Ukraine’s membership saying that a decision should be delayed until “conditions are met.” Biden pushed for changing “open door” to a “bridge” metaphor. It is not intended as an across-the-board NATO policy and has been implemented in the past on a case-by-case basis, says Socor. “The alliance’s open-door policy was not fully insulated from Russia’s non-statutory blocking power, and NATO-aspirant countries’ path toward membership was not always irreversible.” Russia has successfully blocked states like Georgia from joining, first in 2008 and again after the war in Ukraine began in 2014. Russia recognizes the value add of Ukraine to NATO is enormous and that Kyiv has a better case than some other nations. Putin’s invasion was, in part, intended to foreclose that option. By 2021, Moscow was pushing hard to maximize its war objectives, which included further annexations of Ukrainian territory. A main goal for Putin was, and is, to ensure there is no Ukraine left to join NATO. As President-elect Trump prepares to assume office in January, he is faced with the historical challenges presented by the war. Post-conflict security guarantees were the center of several proposals made during the 2023 military stalemate. The incoming Trump Administration has yet to outline how it intends to handle the Russia-Ukraine war. Analysts in Washington believe that the new Administration will expect its European allies to guarantee the majority of Ukraine’s security needs. As we approach 2025, several European nations have acknowledged that they do not view Ukraine as eligible for NATO membership as it would draw the organization into the middle of the conflict. Others want to wait until the war is over or pending a “peace” settlement before considering Ukrainian membership. Socor reports that some “influential voices” are suggesting that “Kyiv should join NATO after “freezing” the war along a stable armistice line, de facto accepting Ukraine’s partition, with NATO security guarantees applying de jure to the government-controlled territory only.” This would mean starting accession talks soon with the actual talks to commence only after a ceasefire is in place. Trump arrives in Washington at a time when Putin’s hybrid strategies of war in Ukraine have eviscerated commonly-held differences between war and peace. “Absent a political consensus in NATO over Ukrainian membership, certain European allies, including France’s President Emmanuel Macron, are holding informal consultations about post-conflict security guarantees to Kyiv by NATO members outside of NATO’s framework,” according to the Jamestown Foundation. The Biden Administration downplayed the discussions on possible forms of military assistance and defense industry cooperation by sending only an Assistant Secretary of State. For a European peace to hold the Trump Administration would need to formally extend the United States’ nuclear deterrence to Ukraine. Options under discussion in Europe include a “coalition of the resolute” to deploy forces to Ukraine as part of a possible armistice package, deterring further Russian attacks, says Secor. European officials are also debating, without any agreement, whether its military forces could perform non-combat logistical roles to free Ukrainian forces to fight. None of the possible courses of action has moved forward as all eyes are waiting on the incoming Trump Administration for clues about its intended level of support for a NATO framework and other non-NATO proposals. Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept.