Foreign Policy Update – USA Gov Policy

ISRAEL

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo recently returned from a visit to the Middle East in which he met with top Israeli political leaders, including the Mossad. In a Tuesday interview he stated that the US still had a lot of work to do in the Middle East to isolate the regime in Iran. Pompeo also said he hopes for new normalization agreements to be signed in the next month or two. But all is not peaceful in the region. On Friday Iranian State television announced that its top nuclear physicist General Mohsen Fakhrizadeh has been assassinated and it believed Israel was to blame.

TAIWAN

Last week Taiwanese represents flew to Washington and signed the Economic Prosperity Network agreement. It covered economic collaboration, from semiconductors to 5G to healthcare supply chains and represents and expansion of US-Taiwan relations.

Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach said he thinks we will “… see a continued partnership there with Taiwan… I can tell you that the single most unifying, bipartisan issue that I’ve seen on Capitol Hill is this whole issue with regard to the Chinese Communist Party and their economic aggression, as well as other types of aggression. We’ve seen it increase over the last couple of years. We really saw it increase during the time of the pandemic.” He also criticized China for its treatment of its Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses.

KUWAIT

On Tuesday Secretary of State Pompeo met with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah in Washington to discuss the US provision of food security aid to the country amid the pandemic. Pompeo noted that the US and Kuwait “fought together to defeat ISIS’s fraudulent caliphate” and that the US-Kuwaiti relationship is a “model of progress.”

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AFGHANISTAN

The US participated in the virtual 2020 Afghanistan Conference with participants from 66 countries and 32 international organizations. The State Department said that the event took place under extraordinary circumstances, at the “beginning of the final four-year cycle of the Transformation Decade, shortly after the start of the Afghanistan Peace Negotiations and during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Participants renewed their long-term commitment to support Afghanistan and an inclusive peace. The conference final document called for the participation of women, youth, ethnic, religious, and other minorities and affirmed that “any political settlement must protect the rights of all Afghans, including women, youth and minorities.”

CLEAN NETWORK IN LATIN AMERICA

Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach and Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Energy Resources Frank Fannon met with reports to discuss their recent travel to Latin America and the Caribbean to promote 5G security, expand the Clean Network in the Western Hemisphere, and to discuss regional growth in the critical mineral development sector and energy security. The Clean Network, according to Krach, has grown to 53 clean countries with the entry of Brazil, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic in the last week. He said this is a big change from six months ago when it looked like China was imposing successfully its 5G technology on these countries. The Clean Network today represents two-thirds of the world’s GDP. Krach pointed out that “Huawei’s vaunted 90 deals have dwindled to just 12 outside of China. It has proven China, Inc. is beatable and, in the process, exposed its biggest weakness, and that’s trust.”

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government. Each Saturday, she presents key updates on U.S. foreign policy from the State Department.

Illustration; Pixabay

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