FOREIGN AFFAIRS - page 16

One of the last Cold War-era battles officially came to an end on Monday morning in Washington at 10:30 local time, when the flag above the newly re-opened Cuban Embassy was raised for the first time since 1961. The honor guard ceremony marking the start of normalized relations between the United States and Cuba was greeted by demonstrations–both celebratory and critical–and a media circus that outnumbered both factions on an otherwise quiet part of 16th Street Northwest. Cries of “Cuba Si! Castro No!” were answered… Keep Reading

Lawmakers are pressuring the White House to intervene in a multilateral economic austerity program crushing a nation much closer to the shores of the United States than Greece. Five Democratic lawmakers implored the administration, in a letter sent this week, to call on international financial institutions to loosen the strict conditions attached to their assistance to Jamaica. “The time has come to revisit the terms of Jamaica’s IMF program,” the lawmakers said in their missive, referring to the International Monetary Fund—one of the central actors… Keep Reading

The top Democrat in the House has declared herself as chief booster for the Obama Administration’s nuclear deal with Iran, and vowed that the agreement will survive the coming onslaught from conservative legislators who oppose the diplomatic achievement. “It will have my strong support,” Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters Thursday, adding that she plans to personally lobby members of her caucus to support the agreement. “I think it’s really important that after all these negotiations, with all the engagement, the diplomacy, the wisdom,… Keep Reading

Yemeni officials last spring could not afford to pay $8,000 to cover a shipping fee for US taxpayer-funded military aid that has languished in storage in Virginia for more than half a decade. Defense Department officials had offered to cover the fee “using funds previously earmarked for Yemen” if the Yemenis fronted the money for it, but they did not pay by the May 1st deadline. “The embassy of Yemen indicated they did not have the funds available to pay due to the ongoing crisis in… Keep Reading

The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations committee said that Russia and China will not be able to veto inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities under the deal announced Tuesday. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) attempted to downplay the multilateral nature of the agreement on Wednesday morning, claiming that the US would retain significant authority over the compliance process. “As I understand, it does not go up to the United Nations Security Council,” he said on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” referring to inspections deliberations. “The process ends… Keep Reading

Lawmakers examining the future of the European Union were warned that the latest austerity package coming down the pike for Greece could lead to seismic disillusionment in the already-battered Mediterranean country. The cautioning came during a Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing Tuesday, one day before Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras must either jam neoliberal reforms through parliament, entertain the possibility of a “Grexit,” or step down. “He came in on a mandate of no austerity and yet in this agreement there is austerity,” Rep. Gregory Meeks… Keep Reading

More garrulous members of the House Foreign Affairs committee got ahead of Republican leaders on Tuesday morning by hitting out at specific aspects of the Iran nuclear deal that had been announced just hours earlier. Right-wing representatives on the panel launched into angry diatribes against the multilateral agreement, with special ire reserved for its verification provisions. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio), meawhile, at a press conference held just before the hearing, declined to get into details about his opposition to the historic accord. “Based… Keep Reading

The Department of Justice dialed back anti-corruption assistance it was providing to the government in Afghanistan after Kabul “blocked” efforts to advance prosecutions. The Obama administration decided on the move in 2010, according to an inspector general’s report published Thursday, after Afghan officials under then-President Hamid Karzai intervened “in specific cases.” The DOJ anti-corruption unit had only been established in August 2009. The Karzai administration’s meddling, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) report noted, included “securing the release of a high-level Afghan official… Keep Reading

Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter presented a dismal picture of the Pentagon’s train and equip mission in Syria, admitting that the department was only in the process of getting roughly a busload of moderate fighters ready to take on the Islamic State (ISIL). “As of July 3, we are currently training about 60 fighters,” Carter said in testimony Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “This number is much smaller than we hoped for at this point—partly because of the vetting standards.” The Defense Secretary… Keep Reading

GOP presidential hopeful, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said that the nation’s paper of record relied on the Castro government in reporting on his hardline Cuba policy—in a story written by a reporter with whom he cooperated. The accusations were leveled on Monday after the New York Times published a story on Sunday featuring the opinions of regular Cubans with a negative view of Rubio. “NYT follows up traffic tix & ‘luxury speedboat’ stories with expose of Castro regime’s propaganda on me. #nicetry” he tweeted on… Keep Reading

Hillary Clinton signaled that she will make opposition to a non-violent protest movement against the Israeli occupation of Palestine a part of her Presidential campaign. In a letter sent last week to a prominent Israeli-American supporter, businessman Haim Saban, the former Secretary of State said “we need to make countering BDS a priority”–a reference to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement that started in the Occupied Territories in 2005. “I am seeking your advice on how we can work together—across party lines and with a diverse array of… Keep Reading