FOREIGN AFFAIRS - page 10

A Congresswoman is pushing the State Department to answer questions about US support for high-ranking Honduran officials “linked to human rights abuses,” after the March 3 assassination of Berta Cáceres. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) this week asked Secretary of State John Kerry to respond to the pointed allegations, and to determine whether US aid to Honduras complies with the Leahy Law—a statute that, on paper, disqualifies repressive security forces from receiving assistance from Washington. “The level of intimidation and violence, including murder, perpetrated on peaceful Honduran activists and the… Keep Reading

Secretary of State John Kerry has been lobbying President Obama throughout the past year to bomb the Syrian government. Kerry has asked the President to attack “specific regime targets, under cover of night, ‘to send a message’ to the regime” of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to The Altantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg. The purpose of the sorties would be “not to overthrow Assad but to encourage him, and Iran and Russia, to negotiate peace.” Kerry also said that Washington “wouldn’t have to claim credit for the… Keep Reading

The head of the military’s Special Operations Command conceded Wednesday that it might not currently be possible for the United States’ allies in Syria to take back Raqqa from the Islamic State (ISIL). Gen. Joseph Votel told Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that he believes the Pentagon’s Syrian partners “are capable” of seizing the de facto capital of ISIL, but isn’t sure. He said there is not presently a plan to either take or hold the city. Votel also noted, again, in response to a question from… Keep Reading

Details of a new EU-US agreement that will legally allow American companies to shuttle Europeans’ data across the Atlantic were released Monday, along with assurances by the National Security Agency regarding bulk collection that aren’t sitting well with privacy activists. The “Privacy Shield” agreement aims to replace the Safe Harbor pact, which was struck down last year by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The high court found US companies couldn’t guarantee protection of their European customers’ data in the wake of NSA… Keep Reading

Secretary of State John Kerry rejected the idea that withholding US support for rebels in Syria would advance ongoing multilateral talks aimed at stopping the civil war there. Kerry claimed that fighting in Syria would continue, even if the US once again accepted the legitimacy of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “We didn’t create them out of whole cloth,” Kerry said of the rebels, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday. He was asked by Rand Paul (R-Ky.) if continued militant opposition to Assad would be… Keep Reading

A government watchdog that examines nation-building in Afghanistan told senators that the Pentagon may be concealing evidence of rampant Department of Defense waste and fraud in the country. John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) on Wednesday alleged that the department has not been forthright with his office about the activities of the now-shuttered Task Force on Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO). “The data provided is substantially inadequate,” he told a Senate Armed Services subcommittee. “That seems extraordinary for an organization that lasted for 5 years and employed… Keep Reading

Although prominent members of his own party have recently called for immigration bans based on religion, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) accused Democrats of “fear mongering” ahead of a vote on a bill that would impede the President’s plan to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees. McConnell urged lawmakers on Tuesday afternoon to vote for the delay and the additional layers of oversight, and especially implored “colleagues across the aisle to treat this issue with the seriousness it deserves.” “This debate should be driven by facts and… Keep Reading