Foreign Policy

Recently, Congressman Kevin Brady (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Ways and Means trade subcommittee, called on the Obama Administration to “go big” on trade policy: "We need to go big. We need to go smart. But above all we need to go on trade.”  Big is good on trade policy, and arguably we have been going small for too long. Unfortunately, Brady's actual proposals are quite small, and underline the decline in ambition in U.S. trade policy, and the consequent damage to the cause of free trade.

Congressman Brady’s "big" agenda focuses on negotiations for trade agreements with the following regions or nations: the Asia Pacific, the EU, some unidentified Latin American countries, Egypt, Turkey, and Georgia. The trade agreements that would be pursued would presumably mirror the existing U.S. model for these agreements.

The presidential elections in the United States are watched with great interest and concern in every part of the world, including in the Islamic world. The results will have impact on countless international issues.

With President Obama’s re-election, we believe there is an opportunity to continue an unprecedented engagement with the Muslim world, which he began at the beginning of his first term. President Obama undertook a bold initiative in his first four years to engage with the Muslim world in June 2009 at the Cairo University, which demonstrated vision and leadership.

Four more years! Four more years! This was the chant the Obama faithful shouted as their man won victory earlier this month. However, as the celebrations continued long into the night, Iran analysts were wondering what impact four more years would bring to relations between Tehran and Washington.

Although a battle fought very much over the issues of economy, tax and other specifically national issues, Obama was lambasted by the Republicans over his international failures. In the end not a determining factor for this election, there is clear concern about the way the Obama Administration has handled relations with Tehran. Two specific examples continuously pointed to are the fact that this administration was weak in its support for uprisings inside Iran and has throughout the four years been walking on egg shells with the Iranian regime over its nuclear ambitions.

The announcement last week week that Ambassador Mark Dybul has been selected to serve as the next Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria marks the start of an exciting new chapter for the world’s largest health financier. Dr. Dybul, the former U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, comes aboard at a critical juncture: The world is within reach of an AIDS-free generation and other key health milestones, and the Global Fund is poised to do its most effective work yet.

Dr. Dybul is an outstanding choice to lead the Global Fund during this pivotal moment. During the Presidency of George W. Bush, Dr. Dybul was one of the key architects of the groundbreaking President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) — the largest health initiative ever undertaken to combat a single disease. Drawing on years of experience as a physician, researcher and administrator, he went on to spearhead its implementation, assuming the top job of Global AIDS Coordinator in 2007. Since its launch, PEPFAR has saved millions of lives around the world, often working hand-in-hand with the Global Fund.

Thanks to uneven oil prices and unusual unrest in the Middle East, the Saudi succession question is back en vogue; and once again, the stability and continuity of the Kingdom’s leadership will outlast the skeptics and doomsayers. In many cases, it will even surprise those who take a narrow view of Saudi Arabia’s evolving culture and long history.

Yes, Saudi Arabia’s leadership is old. During the last seven decades, this has been more often the case in this country than not. Having an experienced and steady hand has ensured a highly conservative culture and society has moved at its own pace towards liberalization. Moreover, the non-political outlook of the government’s oil policy has—and will—make certain Saudi Arabia’s resource serve to benefit the entire world community.

No matter who President Barack Obama winds up nominating as Hillary Clinton’s replacement as secretary of State, it’s certainly worth applauding him for defending Ambassador Susan Rice.
 
After Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham announced preemptively that they’re “dead set” against the nomination of Rice to lead the State Department after Rice’s ill-fated series of TV interviews five days after the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Obama was more than justified in pointing out that on issues like NATO’s initial intervention in Libya’s civil war and the ongoing conflict in Syria, Rice has represented “our interests in the United Nations with skill and professionalism.” He was also right to scold McCain and Graham for cravenly going after Rice simply if “they think she’s an easy target.”
 
That’s all anyone, including Rice, can ask from their boss.

North Korea and nuclear weapons are ever-present in the minds of South Koreans except when it comes to its own nuclear energy.
 
This may seem counterintuitive.
 
But there’s a distinct culture in South Korea in which its people and nuclear engineers don’t think of weapons (or aren’t allowed to) as Americans often do; rather “nuclear” is viewed as a source of energy to fuel its growing economy.
 
Washington and Seoul are negotiating the renewal of the 1974 civil nuclear cooperation agreement (Korean 123) expiring in March 2014. Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act requires U.S.-origin nuclear material and technology meet stringent nonproliferation criteria when transferred to a recipient country for nuclear energy uses.
 
With new U.S. appointments and confirmation hearings post-election, Seoul may not have a negotiating counterpart until next summer, and given the Congressional calendar, an agreement would realistically need to be submitted to Congress by June 2013.

Educating people is the first step towards a peaceful world. Education is the foundation for economic development, prosperity, self-determination and ultimately happiness.

Pakistan Prime Minister Rehman Malik called the October shooting of 14-year-old Malala Yousafza an act of cowardice, Minister of Education in Afghanistan, Farouq Wardak, arranged special prayers in all schools across the country and said that 9 million Afghan kids prayed for Malala and for girls’ education in Afghanistan.

Some of the recent developments in Afghanistan are rather disheartening. For one, the spike in the green-on-blue attacks this year alone seems to have created a never-ending rift between American and Afghan security forces. Although there are undoubtedly grave challenges ahead, some commentators have gone so far to claim that the Afghan government is most likely to collapse – now such views are misguided, to say the least.

It is not to discredit skeptics who rightly point to some foreseeable challenges along the road as foreign troops withdraw and Afghans get closer to elect a new leader. The deterioration of security situation will most probably escalate leading up to, and immediately following, the Afghan presidential election and the withdrawal of foreign combat troops by the end of 2014. That is, more targeted attacks are sure to increase.

Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of last Tuesday’s elections was the Fox News exit poll in Virginia declaring, “Veterans and active military split their support evenly between the two candidates”: Obama 49% to Romney 49%. After decades of being viewed as everything from “weak on defense” to “cheese-eating-surrender-monkeys” Democrats today — personified by President Obama — are viewed as at least as strong as their Republican counterparts, even within the military community.
 
Clearly this was a long journey. From the Vietnam War through the 1970s and 1980s, Democrats were seen as incapable of defending America. They were often depicted in American popular culture as having betrayed the military and prevented our troops from fighting-to-win in Vietnam.