Tag: United States
Keep the aid and the influence
I expect flak for this, which was published last night by al-monitor.com under the heading “US should not cut aid for Egyptian military”:
The American reaction to the Egyptian coup (yes, it was a coup, no matter how popular) is schizophrenic.
The Obama administration, with significant support in Congress, accepts the new situation and is trying to make the best of it, pushing behind the scenes for the Egyptian army to re-establish civilian authority and move quickly to revise the Constitution and hold new elections, which have been promised within six months.
You’ll have to go to al-monitor.com for the rest, as they don’t allow me to publish the whole thing.
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China should concern us
With current events keeping the 24-hour news cycle focused elsewhere, one issue that doesn’t get enough attention these days is growing tension between the US and China. With an ongoing cyber-war , hostile actions in outer space , and increasingly confrontational military buildups and posturing, the military rivalry between the world’s two largest economies is worrisome.
Larry Wortzel, a respected China expert and retired US army colonel, spoke yesterday at the Heritage Foundation about his recently published The Dragon Extends its Reach: Chinese Military Power Goes Global. Describing China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Wortzel is skeptical about the future of US – Chinese relations. He dismisses those who view China’s economic and military growth as benign and believes that both the near and long-term future will be characterized by friction, competition, and potential for conflict. Read more
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US law on aid to Egypt
Delta Royalty Consulting President Jim Roy,* who left an informative comment on www.peacefare.net correcting some of my errors and omissions last week, offers:
Since the code of Hammurabi was carved in stone three thousand eight hundred and eight years ago, the presence of written law has distinguished civilized societies from barbarians. The tradition in the United States is that the Congress writes the law and the Administration implements the law. Separation of powers has protected Americans from the evils of dictatorships and police states.
Under US law, the coup d’etat in Egypt requires that US financial aid for military purposes be suspended, as well as financial aid for training of military and police. The coup does not require suspension of financial aid for economic assistance, but limits how such aid may be used. In particular, economic assistance may not be used to support police or security measures. The coup does not affect programs delivered directly by USAID. It also does not affect shipments of US-manufactured weapons that Egypt may acquire as a major non-NATO ally. Read more
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Afghanistan: why negotiate?
As global attention focuses on the uncertainty in Egypt, the seemingly-ceaseless conflict in Syria, and Edward Snowden’s world tour to seek asylum, another development has gone largely unnoticed – US efforts to negotiate with the Taliban. As predicted, it appears that these talks will proceed, despite the recent attempts by the Karzai government to derail them over a dispute about a Taliban office and flag in Qatar.
US and allied forces are set to withdraw from Afghanistan sometime in 2014. As relations with the Afghan government deteriorate, the withdrawal may come sooner than many expected. As a result, US policy makers have deemed it imperative for there to be some sort of a political process that will ensure the security and stability of both Afghanistan and the broader region. They have increasingly made overtures to Taliban leaders. On Monday, the New America Foundation hosted a panel on what can be expected from these developments and examined the broader context of trying to negotiate with the Afghan Taliban in a study titled, “Talking to the Taliban: Hope over History?” (the complete text of their study can be found here). Read more
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Peace Picks July 8-12
A computer crash delayed this week’s abundant edition, but here it is:
1. The Failed States Index 2013 Launch Event, The Fund for Peace, Tuesday, July 9 / 9:00am – 11:30am
Venue: University Club of Washington DC
1135 Sixteenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036
Speakers: John Agoglia, David Bosco, Edward T. Cope, Kate Thompson
The Failed States Index (FSI) is a leading index that annually highlights current trends in social, economic and political pressures that affect all states, but can strain some beyond their capacity to cope. Apart from the impact on their people, fragile and failed states present the international community with a variety of challenges. In today’s world, with its globalized economy, information systems and security challenges, pressures on one fragile state can have serious repercussions not only for that state and its people, but also for its neighbors and other states halfway across the globe.
Linking robust social science with modern technology, the FSI is unique in its integration of quantitative data with data produced using content-analysis software to process information from millions of publicly available documents. The result is an empirically-based, comprehensive ranking of the pressures experienced by 178 nations. The FSI is used by policy makers, civil society, academics, journalists and businesses around the world.
Register for the event here:
http://fsi2013.eventbrite.com/
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Snowden right and wrong
Let me first concede on the main factual point: the National Security Agency (NSA) has been doing what Edward Snowden alleges, and then some. I have long assumed that NSA collects all electronic communications in the US, as well as any they can manage to intercept abroad. I doubt this is limited to “meta” data. We’d all do best to assume that it includes everything you or I transmit by electronic means.
Of course the companies that transmit this data for us–your phone company or Google, for example–already have it all. But there is a big difference between government collection of this data and the companies’ presumably indifferent transmission, even if Google uses it to send me bespoke ads. Neither Google nor Verizon has any real incentive to use the stuff in order to limit my civil liberties, only my advertising. Nor do they have the means. Read more
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