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NEWS FLASH

State Department Releases LGBT-Inclusive Annual Report On Human Rights | Today, the State Department released its annual report on human rights, which details how countries have been treating their citizens. According to the introduction, “In many countries there was an uptick in discrimination against members of racial and ethnic minorities; people with disabilities; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) people, all of whom were frequent targets of abuse, discrimination, and violence.” U.S. foreign and trade policy must take countries’ human rights performance under consideration.

Security

Senate Panel Votes To Cut Pakistan Aid In Response To Sentence Against Bin Laden Raid Ally

By Ali Gharib on May 24, 2012 at 3:15 pm

Dr. Shakeel Afridi

Yesterday, a tribal court in Pakistan handed down a 33-year prison term for treason to the doctor who helped the CIA locate Osama Bin Laden in a Pakistani army garrison town. The verdict drew widespread attention in Washington, but Congress and the State Department are having very different reactions.

After Capitol HIll collectively expressed considerable outrage, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted unanimously to cut $33 million from Pakistan’s foreign aid package — $1 million for each year of the sentence against the doctor, Shakeel Afridi. The reduction comes on top of the more than 50 percent of the aid a Senate panel cut earlier this week.

But the U.S. State Department didn’t ramp up its rhetoric so dramatically, maintaining its position that Afridi is detained without basis. A spokesperson said the U.S. will continue to let the Pakistani government know about that position. The softer line might reflect the possibility that Afridi’s verdict could easily be overturned.

Afridi, who ran a vaccination drive to collect data that the U.S. has credited with helping to find Bin Laden, was tried under a British colonial-era law that does not carry a death penalty, according to the New York Times. (The L.A. Times reported that “Afridi could have been given the death penalty.”) Having never approved of his detention, however, the U.S. still objected to the sentence. Asked about the issue yesterday, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said:

We will – we continue to see no basis for Dr. Afridi to be held….

I think we’ve said that we don’t see any basis for what’s happened here, and so we will continue to make those representations to the Government of Pakistan.

Watch the video:

In February, Clinton said of Afridi: “His work on behalf of the effort to take down Bin Laden was in Pakistan’s interests as well as in America’s.” On CBS’s 60 Minutes in January, Panetta was more outspoken on the matter, calling actions against Afridi a “real mistake on their part” and crediting his help and making a case similar to Clinton’s:

This was an individual who in fact helped provide intelligence that was very helpful with regards to this operation. He was not in any way treasonous towards Pakistan, he was not in any way doing anything that would have undermined Pakistan. As a matter of fact, Pakistan and the United States have a common cause here against terrorism.

A Pakistani lawyer speaking to CNN said it was likely the case could be overturned — something Nuland subtly alluded to in the briefing when she said the legal process wasn’t necessarily complete. The lawyer, Shahzad Akbar, said that the tribal court is not based in Abbottabad, the site of the bin Laden raid. He told CNN: “If this punishment is challenged by Dr. Afridi’s family in the Superior Court of Pakistan, there is a good possibility that the sentence will be turned around.“

NEWS FLASH

Congressmen seek to ‘legalize the use of propaganda on American audiences’ | BuzzFeed reports that Rep. Mark Thornberry (R-TX) and Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) have inserted a provision into the latest defense authorization bill that would “‘strike the current ban on domestic dissemination’ of propaganda material produced by the State Department and the Pentagon.” The proposal would “give sweeping powers to the State Department and Pentagon to push television, radio, newspaper, and social media onto the U.S. public.”

Security

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Urges West Bank Settlement Freeze Outside Existing Blocs

By Eli Clifton on May 10, 2012 at 2:40 pm

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor has emerged as a moderate voice in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet. Last month, he split with many of his Likud party colleagues, in arguing that “An attack on Iran wouldn’t add anything to [Israel's] security.” Today, in an interview published in the Times Of Israel, Meridor delivered harsh words to his colleagues who have overseen the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Meridor warned that the current calm in relations with the Palestinians might be producing “an illusion” among Israelis “that this is sustainable in the long term. It is not. It is an anomaly. We need to change it.”

The deputy prime minister urged the government to freeze further settlements “across the line of the [settlement] blocs or the fence or whatever you call it,” a reference to the Israeli West Bank barrier which is partially built along the 1949 armistice line, or “Green Line.”

Meridor emphasized that he was not advocating for a freeze in construction in East Jerusalem, but urged the Prime Minister’s office:

[D]on’t build all over the place, because this is the most damaging of all the things that we are doing to ourselves in the world. Because people say: ‘You offer the Palestinians a state. But if you build there in every place, you don’t really mean it.’

The views expressed in the interview are closer to the Obama administration’s policy of opposing all settlement construction and endorsing a negotiated border between Israel and a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders but with mutually agreed upon land swaps. Meridor said:

I think we are at the beginning of being able to do it. Because President Obama spoke of swaps, not of [an Israel withdrawn to the lines of] ’67… And Bush spoke of it… So we already see a basic understanding of the paradigm. The state won’t be along the ’67 lines. No way. It will be different, with some compensation. But if we build all over the place, we lose. Even if we don’t have an agreement [with the Palestinians], we need to have a rational policy.

Meridor criticized Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for not accepting the proposal offered by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert four years ago but acknowledged that global public opinion had turned against the Israeli government because of its continued approval of settlement constructions.

While some members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, such as Deputy PM Moshe Ya’alon, and right-wing pro-Israel advocates in Washington have suggested that Israel should not allow a Palestinian state, Meridor countered that such a policy could spell the end of Israeli democracy:

The whole land is Jewish historically… I am fully attached to this. There’s no rhetoric. It’s really what I think. But the reality now is that we can’t get all of it and stay a democratic state or a Jewish state, in terms of numbers and in terms of regime. And this is why we need to cut, and I’m ready to cut…

Despite admonitions from the State Department, Netanyahu’s government has continued to approve and/or legalize settlement constructions in Jerusalem and the West Bank following the expiration of a freeze on settlement construction in September, 2010.

NEWS FLASH

CNN: Chinese Dissident Says U.S. Let Him Down | The twisting tale of Chinese dissident and activist Chen Guangcheng’s refuge in the U.S. embassy in Beijing just keeps getting more complicated. Adding to the already divergent versions of events given by Chen and U.S. officials, Chen said, in CNN correspondent Stan Grant’s words, he “feels he’s been let down by the United States.” Chen reportedly said he didn’t get the full story from U.S. officials as to the events around his family, such as his wife being bound and interrogated by Chinese authorities in their home. Chen said, according to CNN, that he was “encouraged to leave without all the information, and now he wants to get out of China.” Separately, a Chinese-language website published what English-language Twitter users said were pictures of Chen’s supporters being arrested outside the hospital where he’s been since leaving the U.S. embassy. Watch the CNN report:

NEWS FLASH

State Department Disputes Latest Chinese Activist Account On Family Threats | Discrepancies between the accounts of the U.S. government and blind activist lawyer Chen Guangcheng as to the latter’s departure from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing grew wider when the State Department contradicted Chen’s account that threats against his family were relayed by U.S. officials. Foreign Policy reported that State spokeswoman Victoria Nuland disputed Chen’s account, reported by the AP, that the U.S. told him about threats made against his family by the Chinese government. Nuland said:

At no time did any US official speak to Chen about physical or legal threats to his wife and children. Nor did Chinese officials make any such threats to us. U.S. interlocutors did make clear that if Chen elected to stay in the Embassy, Chinese officials had indicated to us that his family would be returned to [their home in] Shandong, and they would lose their opportunity to negotiate for reunification.

NEWS FLASH

AP: Chinese Dissident Says He Left Embassy Because Of Threats Against Family | The tale of Chinese dissident and legal activist Chen Guangcheng’s stay at the U.S. embassy in Beijing seemed to be moving toward a tentative close just this morning. The blind activist left for medical care at a hospital with what the State Department said were U.S.-brokered guarantees for his safety in a deal that honored his desire to stay in China. But now Chen tells the AP he only left the embassy because of threats against his wife and family (relayed by U.S. officials), and that he wants to leave China — contradicting a statement from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Here are the AP’s breaking tweets:

Update

In a Washington Post article where fellow Chinese human rights activists expressed fears that the deal for Chen’s safety could quickly unravel, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell insisted Chen left the U.S. Embassy of his own volition. He said in a statement:

I was there. Chen made the decision to leave the Embassy after he knew his family was safe and at the hospital waiting for him, and after twice being asked by Ambassador Locke if he ready to go. He said, “Zou,” – let’s go. We were all there as witnesses to his decision, and he hugged and thanked us all.

John Sparks, U.K. Channel 4′s Asia correspondent, posted to his twitter account responses to interview questions with Chen that match up with answers given to the AP, adding that no one from the U.S. Embassy was at the hospital despite assurances and giving new details about the Chinese government’s harassment of and threats against Chen’s family. Channel 4 posted a full account of the interview.

Security

Retired Top Military Officers Slam Ryan Budget: Don’t Cut Non-Military Foreign Affairs Funding

By Ali Gharib on Mar 28, 2012 at 9:56 am

More than seventy retired military officers wrote a letter to Congress urging that the body not cut the budget for non-military means of executing U.S. foreign policy. The letter, written under the auspices of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s (USGLC) national security advisory group, spoke out against “disproportionate cuts” that would cut civilian programs while boosting military spending, calling on Congress to ensure that “civilian programs have the resources needed to maintain the hard-fought gains of our military.”

The letter (PDF) defending the so-called international affairs budget that covers non-military spending went on:

Development and diplomacy keep us safer by addressing threats in the most dangerous corners of the world and by preventing conflicts before they occur. The State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and other civilian-led programs are especially critical at a time when we are asking them to take on greater responsibilities in Iraq and Afghanistan. Addressing today’s challenges with civilian tools costs far less than it does to send in the military in dollars and, more importantly, in terms of the risks to the lives of our men and women in uniform. At just over one percent of federal spending, the International Affairs Budget is a strong return on our investment.

The letter comes just a week after Republican Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) released a budget that called for the international affairs spending to be slashed by 11 percent, or $6 billion, while boosting military spending by at least $8 billion. Ryan’s budget document took shots at the administration, noting in one section that Obama “has chosen to subordinate national security strategy to his other spending priorities.” Speaking to U.S. News and World Report, Russell Rumbaugh, a former senior Senate Budget Committee aide now with the Stimson Center, said:

This reflects more an ideological statement than any real discussion about what the international budget levels should be.

An Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran summed up the Republican plan: “They cut every tool in the president’s toolbox that isn’t a gun,” said Michael Breen, who works with the Truman National Security Project, recounting how it was a foreign language-enabled diplomat — not their own weapons — that once helped him and fellow soliders get out a jam.

The ostensible aspirations of the Ryan plan, meanwhile, are shared by the USGLC letter signatories, who wrote that they “recognize that we must reduce our nation’s debt.” Yet, with non-military spending such a relatively small piece of the pie and capable of a “strong return” on the investment, the ex-military leaders urged Congress to “support a strong and effective International Affairs Budget and oppose disproportionate cuts to this vital account.”

Security

U.S. ‘Condemns The Military Seizure Of Power’ In Mali

By Ali Gharib on Mar 22, 2012 at 1:20 pm

Coup leaders announcing seizure of power on television

Yesterday, a mutiny among the ranks of the Malian military seized power in the capitol, Bamako. Intially blockading the presidential palace and taking over the state broadcaster, and today closed the country’s borders in the face of international condemnation.

Once established at the broadcast center, the Malian troops, calling themselves the “CNRDR” or National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State, announced that they’d seized control and suspended the consitution.

Watch a video of the coup announcement:

Soldiers’ celebratory gunfire reportedly rang out in the capitol through this morning, apparently defying orders. Reports emerged of looting at the presidential palace. An initial report that the president, Amadou Toumani Touré, took refuge at the U.S. embassy is in dispute.

International condemnation came swiftly. The African Union condemned the coup, as did the European Union.

The U.S. State Department — whose websites’s Mali country profile lauds “excellent and expanding” relations “based on shared goals of strengthening democracy and reducing poverty” — released a statement condemning the military moves and calling for a swift return to constitutional rule:

The United States condemns the military seizure of power in Mali…. We call for calm and the restoration of the civilian government under constitutional rule without delay, so that elections can proceed as scheduled. We stand with the legitimately elected government of President Amadou Toumani Touré.

An American in Mali reports on his blog that the embassy there sent out warning SMS messages. The blogger, anthropologist Bruce Whitehouse, wrote:

Three SMS messages from the US Embassy just received: “continue to shelter in place,” and “please prepare for possible service outages: water, electricity, internet”. Another announces that the airport has been closed.

Touré was expected to step down before elections late next month. Tensions rose between the civilian government and the military over supply levels to battle the Touareg rebellion in the country’s north, and general management of that crisis and a protest movement in the south.

Blogger Alex Thurston, an Africa scholar, analyzed some initial reports, makes comparisons and puts the coup in context. “Looking forward,” he wrote, “the fate of the elections and the fate of the war in the north will be paramount concerns. How will the new leaders (or Toure, if he stays) shift the government’s political strategy in the north?”

LGBT

State Department Condemns Nobel Prize Winner’s Anti-Gay Remarks

By Igor Volsky on Mar 21, 2012 at 9:00 am

The State Department is speaking out against Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s recent remarks in favor of criminalizing homosexuality. During a press conference yesterday, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland reiterated Secretary Hillary Clinton’s contention that gay rights are human rights and promised to “express some surprise and concern” with Liberian officials over the President’s sentiments:

QUESTION: Okay. And then is this something – should – since you’re in the habit now of answering hypothetical questions, should they go ahead and approve these laws? Is that something – given the Secretary’s speech in Geneva, which was quite strong, is this something that could affect U.S. assistance?… I mean, in general, if countries go ahead – if countries take measures that discriminate against homosexuals, is that something that under this Administration could lead to a review or a suspension or anything of U.S. assistance?

MS. NULAND: I think if there were major pieces of legislation that discriminated against any group, we would have to take that into account in our relationship and it would be a cause for concern.

Watch it:

During a rather awkward interview with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Sirleaf — a Noble prize winner — reiterated her support for Liberia’s restrictions against homosexual behavior, adding, “We like ourselves just the way we are…We’ve got certain traditional values in our society that we’d like to preserve.” Last year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on nations around the world to treat gay rights as human rights, while the United Nations and the UK have similarly urged African countries to repeal their antiquated anti-gay laws.

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