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Thursday's global agenda: Naval warfare on the Potomac
Your morning global affairs speed-read
Both sides of the Law of the Sea Treaty are bringing their big guns to the Capitol on Thursday.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) has boasted of the star power of his first hearing on the issue, which will include a slew of four-star generals and admirals — 24 stars in all. Opponents countered by releasing a letter from retired commanders questioning the Obama administration's efforts to portray unified military support for joining the three-decade-old treaty.
“In your Foreign Relations Committee hearings to date, you have invited testimony from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and six other serving four-star commanders,” the letter reads. “We wish respectfully to challenge the perception that military personnel uniformly support this accord by expressing our strongly held belief that LOST’s ratification would prove inimical both to the national-security interests and sovereignty of the United States.”
In the afternoon, the panel will shift to a battle over President Ronald Reagan's legacy. Treaty advocates have invited former Reagan Deputy National Security Adviser John Negroponte to testify on behalf of the treaty, but Donald Rumsfeld — Reagan's emissary against the treaty back in 1982 — will argue against.
“Now that new technologies and changed conditions have made it cheaper and easier to access the potential wealth beneath the oceans, the business community simply cannot afford to have the U.S. remain on the sidelines,” they write. “Energy companies need the certainty the Convention provides in order to explore beyond 200 miles and to place experts on international bodies that will delineate claims in the Arctic.”
Iraq withdrawal: Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are urging President Obama to withdraw his nominee for ambassador to Iraq over questions about his experience and judgment. The panel is slated to vote on Brett McGurk's nomination next Tuesday. [Washington Free Beacon]
Easterly wind: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing on competitiveness and collaboration between the United States and China on clean energy.
In other news:
Russian helicopters provided to Syria might not have been new but rather had undergone repairs and refurbishment in Russia before being sent back, the Department of Defense said. [The New York Times]
The U.S. military is expanding its secret intelligence operations across Africa with a network of small air bases to spy on terrorist hideouts. [The Washington Post]
Israeli probe slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for deadly raid against Turkish flotilla to Gaza in 2010. [The Wall Street Journal]
What you might have missed on Global Affairs:
Weapons sales to Syria endanger US-Russia trade deal
Former defense chief Gates joins foreign-aid advocacy group
Rubio to help Obama on confirmation
