Foreign Policy Update – USA Gov Policy

United Arab Emirates

The State Department announced this week the initiation of “The Strategic Dialogue,” which was developed to enhance bilateral ties and solidify the strategic partnership between the US and the UAE. The launch of the inaugural Strategic Dialogue demonstrates “Emirati and American resolve to advance efforts to promote regional stability and cooperation as partners in peace,” according to Department officials. It will cover a number of key areas, from political coordination and defense cooperation to economic and cultural exchange, with the broad aim of advancing mutual policy interests, solving regional issues, promoting tolerance, and countering extremism.

Myanmar

The United States announced nearly $200 million in additional humanitarian assistance provided in Fiscal Year 2020 for Rohingya refugees, host communities in Bangladesh and other countries in the region, and internally displaced Rohingya and other crisis-affected communities in Mayanmar, including those who fled ethnic cleansing in Rakhine State. The United States remains the most generous financial donor to the Rohingya crisis response to date.

China and Russia Cyber Challenges

“The emergence of a new era of great power competition has raised the stakes in the cyber arena,” according to Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Ashley Ford. Adding to the problems we already faced from cyber criminality, Ford said the US now also must address a “new layer of geopolitical threat from the revisionist powers of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia.” These are states that Ford pointed out as using cyber tools to steal technology to build up their military capabilities, to prepare for devastating attacks upon our critical infrastructure in the event of crisis or conflict, to carry out disruptive cyber attacks aimed at destabilizing our allies and partners, and to influence and manipulate our electoral processes.

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Last year Secretary of State Pompeo notified Congress of the Department’s intention to spend $20.8 million to create a new Bureau for Cyberspace Security and Emerging Technologies (CSET). Although the Department has staff working on cyber issues it still is waiting for Congress to approve the plan it submitted in May 2019.

Earlier this week the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced criminal charges against six officers of the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate’s (GRU) Military Unit 74455, once again highlighting Russia’s continuing disruptive, destructive, and destabilizing activities in cyberspace. The DOJ and FBI joint statement said: “this Russian military intelligence unit unleashed some of the most destructive malware the world has seen… and [has] caused billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.”

Human Trafficking

On Monday Secretary Pompeo led the third meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, which includes 20 agencies across the federal government.

This year’s Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons was presented to A21 North Carolina for its work to reduce vulnerability and provide essential aftercare services to survivors, and to the Navajo Nation for its leadership in preventing and combating human trafficking in Native communities. Covid-19 restrictions means that groups involved in stopping human trafficking have been restricted in their activities in 2020, making it harder to help. In the coming months, a new Department initiative in human trafficking will provide up to $3.5 million in foreign assistance funds to support organizations operating in rapidly changing environments and facing the short- and long-term impacts of COVID-19.

“The State Department’s largest anti-trafficking program – the Program to End Modern Slavery – is a step closer to helping us understand the magnitude of human trafficking” according to a statement from Secretary Pompeo. He added that the Department will continue to “strongly condemn the Chinese Communist Party’s egregious practice of forced labor, among other human rights abuses, as part of its campaign of repression against Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in the Xinjiang, and throughout China… This horrific crime cannot continue to threaten the safety of communities and individuals, and we will push forward in defeating it.”

Quick Analysis

Russia Expanding Aggression

President Putin is using more than one pathway to enter Europe and undermine the West. While most of the world watches the conflict he initiated in Ukraine, the Russian government is actively pursuing a second front in a little noticed campaign in Cyprus. Although the corrupt Cypriot government ended its issuance of “golden passports” in 2020, Russian intelligence is functioning quietly there to transform this EU country into a Russian beachhead of illicit economic activity aimed at penetrating the capitalist West, according to Paul Goble of the Jamestown Foundation. Cyprus is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nor does it receive as much attention as those countries who are member states. That adds to its allure as a prime location for Russia to attempt to gain a European foothold. Last week a NATO report, cited in the European Daily Monitor, noted that Russian intelligence agents have been plotting to destroy European infrastructure across the continent to disrupt states supporting Ukraine. It further suggests that Putin’s immediate goal is to lay the framework for a future move against the security organization’s members. Hungary, in particular, is another country garnering Moscow’s attention as it opposes the Western response to Russian aggression. Russia is focusing its intelligence efforts on other European, non-NATO member countries in addition to Cyprus, including Austria, Malta, and Ireland. The NATO report suggests that Moscow has had success in disseminating the Russian political narrative in these states to advance its campaign against the West. The island of Cyprus is proving to be a good target for Moscow as it is an ethnically divided island that is part of the EU since 2004. Northern Cyprus, officially called the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that is only recognized by Turkey. The division precludes it from joining NATO. As Goble suggests, “it offers Russia troubled waters in which to fish.” Over the last 20 years, he points out, Cyprus’ challenges have opened it to a massive influx of Russian citizens, who now comprise approximately 10 percent of the island state’s population. Over 2,900 residents are Russians who entered until the “golden passport” program that allowed wealthy or well-connected Russians to move to Cyprus. It also provided them with documentation to travel freely throughout Europe! Although less visible on the world’s radar than the war in Ukraine, Moscow is also being helped by Cyprus’ banks opposition to seizing Russian assets and its support in evading Western sanctions. Russia has placed tens of billions of US Dollars there for money laundering. It has been more than two years since a single Russian “diplomat” has been deported and, in fact, the Embassy has grown to over 300 staffers on this tiny island state of only 1.2 million people. The Russian embassy in Nicosia has advanced communications antennae on its roof and opened a consulate on the northern end of the island. Moscow’s Ambassador, Mura Zyazikov, is a lieutenant general in the FSB with no diplomatic experience. The FSB, SVR (Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service), and GRU are actively using the island as a base of operations against NATO Member states, Israel, and other Western allies. Moscow backs pro-Russian political parties who in turn influence Cypriot decisions on education, language, and other issues. “Dmitry Khmelnitsky of the Dossier Center says that its findings should be of concern not only to Cyprus but to the West as a whole. Those who ignore what Moscow is doing because Cyprus does not follow the EU sanctions regime are missing something critical,” says Goble. “Cyprus does not seek to get rid of Russian agents and does not interfere with their work,” Khmelnitsky concludes, “despite the fact that what the Kremlin is doing is so clearly visible.” This has an impact not only on the small island but on the EU, NATO, and the West in general. Earlier this year the Moscow Times reported that when the FBI became more interested in Russian business and oligarchs in Cyprus, at least 10 of the major Russian businesses operating there left. Despite the government of Cyprus’ vow to implement plans for new sanctions against Russia, it continues to ignore Putin’s atrocities in Ukraine and to shield the wealth of the 50,000 wealthy Russian citizens and oligarchs residing there. Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept. Illustration: Pixabay