Sec. of State Antony Blinken giving updates to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in March 2023.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked some leading questions by Democrats on the House Foreign Relations Committee, especially Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Virginia.
Watch. The answers are good. Biden inherited a foreign affairs mess from Trump. Biden, and Blincken, have been cleaning up the messes. Connolly and Blinken take down Republican arguments against President Biden’s foreign policies.
2 Comments | 
Afghanistan, foreign affairs, History, Iran, Joe Biden, U.S. Congress | Tagged: Afghanistan, Antony Blinken, foreign affairs, Iran, Rep. Gerry Connolly, U.S. House of Representatives | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
Sergei Magnitsky, the Russian lawyer for Bill Browder, whose murder in 2007 invited economic sanctions against Russia, and especially Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his money-moving colleagues. Those sanctions angered Putin so much, he worked to swing the 2016 presidential election against Hillary Clinton.
Campaign for human rights in Russia rolled through Canada yesterday.
Canada’s parliament passed a bill authorizing trade and other sanctions against Russia, partly over Russia’s actions in killing human rights acitivists in Russia.
U.S. businessman Bill Browder was the client of Sergei Magnitsky. Browder works tirelessly to see that Magnitsky’s murder is not forgotten. Browder, with a huge assist from Hillary Clinton’s State Department, put sanctions on money transactions for Vladimir Putin, suspected of being the person who ordered Magnitsky’s murder. Those sanctions worked, and crippled Putin’s ability to move and launder money, and the ability of his ally oligarchs in Russia. Stopping Clinton, and getting those sanctions lifted, is the chief reason Putin interfered in the U.S. presidential election in 2016 (and it explains all the meetings Trump campaign officials and administration officials have had with Russian officials and lobbyists and minions).
Contrary to complaints from President Donald Trump, there is a lot of dirt around Russian dealings and sanctions under the U.S. Magnitsky Act.
Yesterday, Canada agreed to support the memory of Sergei Magnitsky, and justice.
Watch those spaces.
Here’s a Twitter Moment with news of the new Canadian law.
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4 Comments | 2016 Elections, Canada, foreign affairs, History, Human Rights | Tagged: 2016 Elections, Bill Browder, foreign affairs, Human Rights, Magnitsky Act, Russia, Sanctions, Sergei Magnitsky, Trump-Russia | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Foreign ministers of several nations collaborated in Geneva, Switzerland, to get an agreement to stop proliferation of nuclear weapons to Iran; an agreement to lead to a larger agreement was struck Saturday, November 23, 2013. After the agreement was announced, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry embraced.
Obama, Iran, Kerry, Nuclear, sanctions
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Image and caption via CNN: Chief negotiator Catherine Ashton and Iran’s foreign minister announce agreement on Iran’s nuclear program early on Sunday, November 24 in Geneva. From left to right: British Foreign Secretary William Hague, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.
Leave a Comment » | foreign affairs, Nuclear Nonproliferation, Nuclear weapons, President Obama | Tagged: foreign affairs, Iran, Nuclear Nonproliferation, Nuclear weapons, President Obama | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Seven paragraphs, if one counts the cheery close.
Letter to the editor of the Financial Times of London, explaining who is who and who is whose enemy, in the Middle East. August 22, 2013, captured by Randy Prine
A woman named Randy Prine (@RandyPrine) Tweeted this photo, and said:
THIS is why we Voted for an analytical and not ‘shoot from the hip’ McCain or ‘How can I make money’ Romney.
Most of the ObamaH8ers I run into can be stopped on almost all Middle East issues simply by asking them whether the group they rant at, at that moment, is Sunni or Shiite. For some odd reason, they never know.
6 Comments | foreign affairs, History, Humor, Newspapers | Tagged: Arab Spring, foreign affairs, Gulf States, History, Humor, Middle East, Muslim Brotherhood, Newspaper | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Here’s the editorial cartoon that should win the Pulitzer for Pat Bagley of the Salt Lake Tribune, this year:
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, October 2012
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune
Perhaps Bagley has a few he could enter in the Ranan Lurie UN cartoon judging, too.
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1 Comment | Cartoons, Education, foreign affairs, Political cartoons, Politics, Religion, Terrorism | Tagged: Education, foreign affairs, Pat Bagley, Politics, Religion, Salt Lake Tribune, Terrorism, What terrifies the Taliban | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
From the Truman National Security Project, a video featuring testimony from veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan especially, questioning whether Mitt Romney has what it takes to be Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. armed forces:
This is rather the opposite of “swift boating,” isn’t it? An established organization active on national security issues, with a distinguished staff and board of directors, working on a shoe-string, with identified spokesmen.
The Truman Project’s blog lays out the case for President Obama’s election with respect to his initiatives on behalf of veterans. As much as I would prefer to see those positive achievements emphasized, campaigns don’t really allow much time for careful, thoughtful explanation.
Will there be any effect from this advertisement? What do you think?
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1 Comment | History, National Security, veterans, War on Education | Tagged: 2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, Commander-in-Chief, foreign affairs, History, Iraq, National Security, Politics, Truman National Security Project, veterans | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Burma (Myanmar) (dark green) / ASEAN (dark grey) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Economist carries the good news, with the sober warning that press freedom remains beyond the grasp of Myanmar journalists:
But as part of a wider reform programme introduced by President Thein Sein, the old media rules have gradually been relaxed. For several months many editors have no longer been required to submit articles for prepublication censorship on such subjects as the economy. The latest announcement removes the need to submit articles on more sensitive topics, such as politics or Myanmar’s ethnic conflicts.
The country’s journalists welcome the news, but they also give warning that this by no means ends restrictions on press freedom. These remain numerous and burdensome. In particular, two bits of repressive legislation remain: the Printers and Publishers Registration Act, dating from the start of military rule in 1962, and the 2004 Electronic Transactions Law. Under the first, publications can lose their licences if they supposedly harm the reputation of a government department, threaten peace and security, and much else. Under the second, a person can be imprisoned for up to 15 years for distributing via the internet information that the courts deem harmful to the state. Meanwhile, the censor board itself seems likely to remain in business, ready to punish reporters or editors who overstep the mark.
But, good news is good news, yes? See the entire article at The Economist.
Leave a Comment » | Asia, Censorship, foreign affairs, Free press, Freedom - Political | Tagged: Asia, Censorship, foreign affairs, freedom, Freedom of the Press, Journalism, Myanmar, The Economist | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
All that bellyaching about Obama’s out of control spending? Bunk.
All that ballyhoo about how the U.S. spends way too much on foreign aid? Dangerous anti-American propaganda; we don’t spend enough.
For evidence, look at the Congressional Budget Office‘s non-partisan analysis of the State Department reauthorization act for the coming year, Fiscal 2013. And please, get the facts before you start to complain.
Page 1 of CBO’s analysis:
H.R. 6018 would authorize appropriations for the Department of State and related agencies, the Peace Corps, and international broadcasting activities. CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost $15.8 billion over the 2013-2017 period, assuming appropriation of the specified and estimated amounts.
We’re talking actual outlays for the State Department, for all of our diplomatic efforts to prevent war, secure and strengthen peace, represent U.S. interests in trade and defense and culture, and manage the provision of about $37 billion in aid to other nations, of a total around $9.3 billion for FY 2013. (See page 2)
That’s a pittance.
Even if we include the $37 billion in foreign aid payouts, that’s less than $50 billion a year to manage and maintain our vital relationships in the world.
You can get the country-by-country breakdown of foreign aid, from the horse’s mouth, at this site.
Less than 1% of our national budget goes to foreign aid.
Less than 1 penny of every dollar you pay in taxes, goes to foreign aid.
How much would be enough? We could double foreign aid without any significant effect to the deficits, but with huge effects in good will and actual production of peace overseas.
Most people think a “fair” percentage of the budget to dedicate to foreign aid would be about 10%.
This is no time for austerity in federal spending.
What’s changed in this chart from 2010? Not much:
6 Comments | foreign affairs, Foreign Aid | Tagged: Congressional Budget Office, foreign affairs, Foreign Aid, FY 2013, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Jim Morin of the Miami Herald, via the National Journal. Here’s a near-real-time demonstration of why gasoline prices rise so dramatically.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Leave a Comment » | animation, Cartoons, Energy, Oil, Politics | Tagged: animation, Cartoons, Energy, foreign affairs, Gasoline Prices, Iran, Jim Morin, Miami Herald, National Journal, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc - Image via Wikipedia
Eric Koenig wondered, and wrote:
On December 17, 1989, Romanian security forces fired into a crowd in the city of Timişoara. Scarcely a week later, the Romanian revolution was over and Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife had been toppled and tried and summarily executed. Now thousands of people are protesting in Romania and calling for the ouster of their President (who has been in some political hot water himself, being “suspended” briefly and narrowly escaping impeachment in 2007, during his first term) and many of the protests started in the same city.
Is history repeating itself? Stay tuned …
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16570860
The story isn’t being followed by many US newspapers. Yet.
I think it’s not quite so simple, nor a repeat of 22 years ago. Romanians protest austerity cuts to their government-paid health plans, according to BBC:
Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc has called for dialogue and an end to violence after four days of protests against austerity cuts.
Dozens of people were hurt on Sunday, as demonstrators and riot police clashed for a second day running in the capital Bucharest.
The rallies began in support of an official who quit in protest against health care reforms.
But they have grown into a broader hostility towards government policies.
The alliance of opposition parties has called for early elections.
I think the economic grievances are not of the same kind as those in Africa and Arabia, nor are they so deep as the extreme discontent with Ceaușescu’s communist government 22 years ago.
But, who can tell what’s really going on? We have to depend on reports from Lebanese newspapers, and rewrites of those stories from the Associated Press?
Government change poses astonishing opportunities in the past year, especially these home-grown, nationalist liberation movements. New resources, cut back from a century ago, leave us without eyes and ears on the ground in too many foreign capitals.
Bucharest grave of former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu - Image via Wikipedia
Why aren’t we hearing more about the Romanian crisis in U.S. news media? Well, there’s the war in Afghanistan, the ending war in Iraq, and trouble in Nigeria. Then there is the South Carolina circus. For all I know, American Idol is in the news today, too.
It’s not like either you are, or I am, Marie, the Queen of Roumania, right? What could go wrong that might affect us?
Watch. U.S. papers will pick up the story in small snippets over the next week or so.
Could you find Romania on an unlabeled map?
Map of Romania, from GreenwichMeanTime.com
Location map of Romania, GreenwhichMeanTime.com
3 Comments | Europe, foreign affairs, History, Journalism, News, Revolution | Tagged: foreign affairs, History, Journalism, News, Revolution | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Clay Bennett of the Chattanooga Times-Free Press took the top prize and $10,000 in the 2011 UNCA and the United Nations Society of Writers and Artists Ranan Lurie Political Cartoon awards.
Clay Bennett, award-winning cartoonist for the Chattanooga Times-Free Press
Bennett earned honorable mentions before in this competition. His distinctive, almost simple style, and his sharp and incisive wit, make Bennett a great cartoonist, one of my favorites for a long time.
His 2011 Lurie Award winner depicted the breakdown in Palestinian/Israeli peace talks:
Clay Bennett's Lurie/UN Award winning cartoon, Chattanooga Times-Free Press; inspired by Escher, perhaps, it shows the difficulty in even getting started any talks on Mideast peace.
I especially like the ambidextrous feature: The cartoon works upside down, too.
Congratulations, Mr. Bennett, and all the winners in the 2011 Lurie/UN Cartoon Awards.
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Leave a Comment » | Cartoons, foreign affairs, History, Israel, Palestine, Political cartoons, United Nations | Tagged: Cartoons, Chattanooga Times-Free Press, Clay Bennett, foreign affairs, History, Israel, Palestine, Political cartoons, Ranan Lurie Cartoon Competition, United Nations | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Exponential growth’s potential to rapidly change the numbers of a situation tends to fall out of the thoughts of most people, who don’t see such things occur in daily life.
You should stop and think about this one for a minute: World population will tip to over 7 billion people soon, maybe in the next week, but most assuredly by next spring.
Seven billion people? Really? Are the concessions adequate? The restrooms?
Joel E. Cohen wrote about the event in Sunday’s New York Times:
ONE week from today, the United Nations estimates, the world’s population will reach seven billion. Because censuses are infrequent and incomplete, no one knows the precise date — the Census Bureau puts it somewhere next March — but there can be no doubt that humanity is approaching a milestone.
The first billion people accumulated over a leisurely interval, from the origins of humans hundreds of thousands of years ago to the early 1800s. Adding the second took another 120 or so years. Then, in the last 50 years, humanity more than doubled, surging from three billion in 1959 to four billion in 1974, five billion in 1987 and six billion in 1998. This rate of population increase has no historical precedent.
Can the earth support seven billion now, and the three billion people who are expected to be added by the end of this century? Are the enormous increases in households, cities, material consumption and waste compatible with dignity, health, environmental quality and freedom from poverty?
(Joel E. Cohen, a mathematical biologist and the head of the Laboratory of Populations at Rockefeller University and Columbia University, is the author of “How Many People Can the Earth Support?”)
We’re in for some dramatic shifts in concentrations of people, if not shifts in how we think of the world (thinking is always slower than reality).
While the bulge in younger people, if they are educated, presents a potential “demographic dividend” for countries like Bangladesh and Brazil, the shrinking proportion of working-age people elsewhere may place a strain on governments and lead them to raise retirement ages and to encourage alternative job opportunities for older workers.
Even in the United States, the proportion of the gross domestic product spent on Social Security and Medicare is projected to rise to 14.5 percent in 2050, from 8.4 percent this year.
The Population Reference Bureau said that by 2050, Russia and Japan would be bumped from the 10 most populous countries by Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I’m not ready, and neither are most other people, I’ll wager. How about you?
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98 Comments | Demographics, Economics, foreign affairs, Geography - Economic, Geography - Political, History, Population, Poverty | Tagged: 7 Billion, Demographics, Economics, environment, foreign affairs, geography, History, Population Growth, Poverty | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Some images may be shocking to young children. This is information you need to have.
Al Jazeera carried this report, an edited version of a report from Reuters, who somehow got video and interviews from inside North Korea, if we are to grant credence to the report.
In a hospital in Pyongyang, doctors monitor a group of weak infants, some of whom are already showing signs of malnutrition and sickness. They are the most vulnerable members of a population suffering from extreme food shortages.
According to the United Nations, one third of all children under the age of five in North Korea are malnourished, and other countries have become less interested in donating food as the “hermit kingdom” battles efforts to constrain its nuclear program.
The UN World Food Programme says public distributions are running extremely low, and they are only able to help half the people who need aid. Meanwhile, the countries rulers stage outsized military parades, and some wonder whether food donations are being siphoned off to them.
North Korea recently granted a Reuters news crew access to the country, and Al Jazeera’a Khadija Magardie reports on the plight they found.
The longer Reuters report can be viewed here (but I can’t figure out how to embed it at the Bathtub).
Climate-change aggravated severe weather adds to the serious nutrition shortages in North Korea, according to Reuters written reports.
Famine in North Korea is one more vital topic ignored by the presidential and Congressional campaigns, and conservatives in their rush to get Obama out of office.
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3 Comments | 2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, Asia, Communism, Famine, Food history, foreign affairs, Politics | Tagged: 2012 Campaign, Communism, Famine, Food history, foreign affairs, North Korea, Politics, Starvation | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
49 years ago, on June 26, 1962, in Berlin:
President John F. Kennedy addressing a crowd in Berlin, Germany, June 26, 1962 - image from NARA and/or Kennedy Library
From the Smithsonian Magazine site:
June 26, 1963: “Ich bin ein Berliner”
In West Berlin, President John F. Kennedy delivers the famous speech in which he declares, “Ich bin ein Berliner.” Meaning literally “I am a citizen of Berlin,” the statement shows U.S. solidarity with democratic West Berlin, surrounded by communist territory.
View a video of President Kennedy’s speech at American Rhetoric, Top 100 Speeches.
Audio of the famous line, from the National Archives:
Photos and complete audio, at The Sounds of History.com:
Text and transcript, and other materials, from the Kennedy Library and Museum:
Kennedy’s entire speech was good. It was well drafted and well delivered, taking advantage of the dramatic setting and the dramatic moment. John Kennedy well understood how to give a speech, too.
Below is most of the speech, nearly five minutes’ worth, from a YouTube file — another indication that schools need to open up their filters to allow at least some of the best YouTube material through:
Transcript, from the JFK Library:
I am proud to come to this city as the guest of your distinguished Mayor, who has symbolized throughout the world the fighting spirit of West Berlin. And I am proud to visit the Federal Republic with your distinguished Chancellor who for so many years has committed Germany to democracy and freedom and progress, and to come here in the company of my fellow American, General Clay, who has been in this city during its great moments of crisis and will come again if ever needed.
Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was “civis Romanus sum.” Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is “Ich bin ein Berliner.”
I appreciate my interpreter translating my German!
There are many people in the world who really don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass’ sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.
Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us. I want to say, on behalf of my countrymen, who live many miles away on the other side of the Atlantic, who are far distant from you, that they take the greatest pride that they have been able to share with you, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years. I know of no town, no city, that has been besieged for 18 years that still lives with the vitality and the force, and the hope and the determination of the city of West Berlin. While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system, for all the world to see, we take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as your Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.
What is true of this city is true of Germany–real, lasting peace in Europe can never be assured as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men, and that is to make a free choice. In 18 years of peace and good faith, this generation of Germans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite their families and their nation in lasting peace, with good will to all people. You live in a defended island of freedom, but your life is part of the main. So let me ask you as I close, to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today, to the hopes of tomorrow, beyond the freedom merely of this city of Berlin, or your country of Germany, to the advance of freedom everywhere, beyond the wall to the day of peace with justice, beyond yourselves and ourselves to all mankind.
Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.
All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words “Ich bin ein Berliner.”
You may also want to note these posts:
11 Comments | Berlin Wall, Cold War, Communism, Democracy, Famous quotes, Freedom - Economic, Freedom - Political, Geography - Political, Germany, History, Politics, Presidents, Quotes | Tagged: Berlin, Berlin Wall, Cold War, Communism, Famous quotes, famous speeches, foreign affairs, geography, History, Ich bin ein Berliner, John F. Kennedy, June 26 1962, Politics, Presidents | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Not only broadcast, but Tweeted, too. From Dave Does The Blog:
RT @mhegi: Uninstalling dictator COMPLETE – installing now: egypt 2.0: █░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ #egypt #jan25 #tahrir#
Hey, I’m not that tech savvy — I had to think about that for a minute myself. Quick: Can you define “hashtag” to your grandmother?
Shouldn’t it be more like “Egypt 10.0?”
Update: The actual Tweet:
Leave a Comment » | Capturing history, History, Humor, Technology, Twitter | Tagged: Capturing history, Current History, Egypt, foreign affairs, Humor, Politics, Technology, Twitter | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Ed Darrell on Texas's Colorado River
Come on in, the water's fine. Come often: Cleanliness is next to godliness.
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Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 