Foreign Policy Update – USA Gov Policy

US HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

The US government often is criticized by unfriendly nations. This week there is little to criticize as the State Department and USAID stepped up, amid America’s own national health crisis, to deliver nearly $100 million in emergency health assistance from USAID’s Global Health Emergency Reserve Fund and $110 million in humanitarian assistance from USAID’s International Disaster Assistance account. With Secretary Pompeo’s announcement Thursday, it increases the US total to $274 million in funding.

This money is going to 64 of the most at-risk countries facing the threat of this global pandemic. Through the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) also will receive $64 million in humanitarian assistance to help address the threats posed by COVID-19 in existing humanitarian crisis situations for some of the world’s most vulnerable people. The United States is leading the world effort to combat the Covid-19 virus.

AFGHANISTAN

When asked if the deal with the Taliban is holding, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said that “…”like every effort at peace after now a couple decades of fighting, with Americans – 40 years all in all in Afghanistan – we knew it would be a rocky path. We’ve made some progress. It looks like there’s going to be the first prisoner release. That was a key part of getting the parties back to the negotiating table.”

Pompeo added that it is the US mission set to get the Afghans to resolve the conflict. “We need to reduce the risk, to protect American interests, make sure there’s not a attack on America from Afghanistan – that’s the mission the President has set out for us – and at the same time, to reduce the risk to our men and women there,” he pointed out.

IRAN

According to Pompeo, it is absolutely clear that the approach that the United States took to the Islamic Republic of Iran in “the previous administration set up America for risk, set up the world for a pathway to a nuclear weapon there.” He noted the way the regimes treats the Iranian people during the Covid-19 crisis. According to Pompeo, the leadership is continuing to spend money on weapons. He noted that Katusha rockets were fired inside of Iraq by militias trained, assisted, support provided, by the “rogue” Iranian regime.

VENEZUELA

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In countries like Venezuela the United States is doing its best to ensure that humanitarian assistance for the Covid-19 pandemic can make its way in. Pompeo pointed out that in some of these countries, when humanitarian assistance is offered they often reject it. “I think it’s indicative of these leaders who care so little about their people they execute plans that are corrupt. They take care of the leadership but don’t take care of their own people,” said Pompeo.

CHINA

There are many products that the United States sole sources from China. In some case the medicines are critical pharmaceuticals. In others, China forms a part of the supply chain that the US requires to complete technologically-driven products. In a recent interview the Secretary of State said that “President Trump, from the beginning of our administration, made clear that the trade relationship with China was fundamentally unfair, it wasn’t reciprocal. I think you can see that some of the supply chain challenges that we’ve had are a result of the fact that companies were operating their supply chains out of China but not here in the United States.” Pompeo said that after the Covid-19 crisis is over the United States is going to have to make some very important decisions about exactly how the US-China trade relationship is to be structured in the future.

He added that Washington wants the Chinese people to be successful. “But,” he said, “it’s fundamentally the case that we have to make sure that we do right by the American people, that we get this relationship not only with China but with every country right, so that we can ensure that we do right to protect and keep safe the American people the way President Trump committed to do.”

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