Month: November 2013
More Righting the Balance
Sarah Saleeb’s writeup of the SAIS Foreign Policy Institute Righting the Balance event Thursday evening makes me acutely aware that I did not do a good enough job distinguishing between the State Department and AID as institutions and the people who staff them. My thought experiment concerns the institutions, not the people. I never intended to suggest we throw all of those babies out with the bath water. –DPS
Carla Freeman opened the discussion calling this a “timely and provocative book”.
Daniel Serwer, author of Righting the Balance: How You Can Help Protect America, opened his comments by expressing his respect for the work that the State Department does, particularly the Foreign Service officers who carry out that work. However, he sees two imbalance in the way the US carries out its foreign relations. The civilians do not have sufficient support. So the military has been making up for civilian deficiencies. In Iraq and Afghanistan there were many examples of the military stepping in for civilians. Unless the US is willing to fight endless wars, it needs civilians who can help prevent the collapse of states and promote reforms before the need for military intervention. This is something that the US failed to do in the Arab world.
Serwer outlined five major things that the State Department and USAID are lacking: Read more
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Vampire ground zero
Balkans fans may enjoy this from James Lyon, author of Kiss of the Butterfly, who for Halloween took ABC to ground zero for vampires:
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Root and branch
Last night’s terrific discussion of Righting the Balance here at SAIS’ Foreign Policy Institute with Tom Pickering and Kristin Lord commenting:
Key issues in the commentary and Q and A: Read more
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The end isn’t in sight
Today, much of the public conversation about the conflict in Syria is about the infighting, the jihadist opposition groups, and President Assad’s chemical weapons arsenal. But, Syria’s economic turmoil is an issue that has been largely cast aside. The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the UN Development Program (UNDP), and the Syrian Center for Policy Research have formed a partnership to examine the socio-economic consequences of the conflict. Alex Pollock, the Director of UNRWA’s Microfinance Program, spoke about their report at the New America Foundation on Wednesday. Read more
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People who don’t vote aren’t represented
Serbia today reportedly sought annulment of the November 3 municipal election in all of northern Kosovo. That did not happen. In a meeting of Prime Ministers Dacic and Thaci with EU mediator Katherine Ashton today, it was confirmed that polling will be repeated only in the three polling places in north Mitrovica where ballots were destroyed, as decided by the Kosovo electoral commission.
Low turnout in the other municipalities and early closure of the polls due to intimidation were not good reasons to repeat the election elsewhere. That would only have encouraged a repetition of the successful violent attack the first time around. Low turnout does not invalidate democratic elections. Read more
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TGBWFEABMC
That’s a “transitional governing body with full executive authority by mutual consent.” It’s the codeword Washington says you have to give in order to get invited to Geneva 2, the UN-mediated conference at which the US hopes to arrange a political end to the Syrian conflict. What it means is President Bashar al Asad has to step aside, if not down, and allow a transition to a democratic regime to begin.
He isn’t prepared to do that, and neither Iran nor Russia appears willing to make him do it. I don’t doubt their capacity. The alacrity with which Bashar agreed to the destruction of his chemical weapons capability showed Moscow’s clout. Withdrawal of Tehran’s support would quickly put him at serious risk on the battlefield, as Iranian revolutionary guards and Hizbollah forces fighting in Syria are vital to the regime. But why would Moscow or Tehran withdraw support? Read more
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