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1712. Defeating ISIL Requires US Leadership Now
- Author:
- Edward M. Gabriel
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Ambassador's Review
- Abstract:
- As a member of the Council of American Ambassadors, I have written before in CAA publications on Syria and radicalism in the Levant—once in September of 2013,1 and again in September of 2014.2 Nearly a year later, I am disheartened to see that US leadership continues to be timid in its struggle with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and Syria, in spite of our warnings and prediction that if the United States didn’t define and lead the effort in this fight, radical elements would take over against our interests. This didn’t have to be the case and doesn’t have to be in the future. However, the problem cannot simply be wished away and we can’t wait two long years for a new administration to take action.
- Topic:
- Political Violence, Islam, Religion, and Violent Extremism
- Political Geography:
- Iraq, Middle East, Arab Countries, and Syria
1713. Equatorial Guinea Plays a Leading Role in Combating Malaria
- Author:
- Mark L. Asquino
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Ambassador's Review
- Abstract:
- In August 2014, I attended a ceremony at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC that celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Bioko Island Malaria Control Project. Those speaking at the event included senior executives from Marathon Oil Corporation, Noble Energy Inc., and Atlantic Methanol Production Company, which are all US petroleum companies that operate in Equatorial Guinea. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea, also delivered remarks. All of the speakers were enthusiastic about a dynamic project that has had a transformative effect on the health of generations of Equatoguineans by reducing the morbidity and mortality of malaria infection. What follows is an overview of the project’s history as well as the commitment to US innovation and a shared audacity to tackle one of humankind’s most endemic and fatal diseases.
- Topic:
- Development, Health, Human Welfare, Infectious Diseases, and Health Care Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States and Equatorial Guinea
1714. On US and Haiti Relations: The Ties that Bind
- Author:
- Pamela A. White
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Ambassador's Review
- Abstract:
- Haiti is the last country I will serve as a United States diplomat abroad and it was one of the first places I served early in my career. My perspectives on US and Haitian relations have ripened over decades of observation and years of first-hand experience. The question I have been asked most is: “Why does the US Government care about Haiti? There are only about 11 million Haitians, the majority are poor, and they don’t even speak English.” And then the same people answer their own question: “Oh, I know, the United States doesn’t want 40,000 boat people landing on its shores—better to keep them in Haiti!”
- Topic:
- Development, Diplomacy, Bilateral Relations, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Haiti and United States of America
1715. Brazil and the United States: Renewed Momentum in a Natural Partnership
- Author:
- Liliana Ayalde
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Ambassador's Review
- Abstract:
- It is impossible to comprehend Brazil without understanding the dimensions of this continent-sized country, which occupies a land mass larger than that of the lower 48 of the United States. Brazil’s land border, which it shares with ten South American neighbors, is five times larger than the border between the United States and Mexico. Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world in terms of population. (For context, Indonesia is fourth.) It has abundant natural resources of every kind, including the world’s largest reserves of fresh water. It is home to two-thirds of the iconic Amazon, the globe’s largest tropical rainforest. It is the second largest economy in the Western Hemisphere and, depending on one’s calculus, the seventh or eighth largest economy in the world. The State of Sao Paulo alone has an economy larger than that of Argentina. Brazil has more cities with a population of over one million people than the United States. It is the world’s second largest exporter of agricultural goods after the United States. It derives 75 percent of its energy needs from hydro-electric sources—some of the cleanest energy platforms among large nations—and its current production of oil and gas make it among the top ten energy producers in the world. Brazil could become an even larger global producer with the development of its pre-salt oil reserves. With Embraer, Brazil has the world’s third largest aviation company after Boeing and Airbus, and in Gerdau, the top producer of long steel in the Americas. And this is just an illustrative sampling. One needs to keep in mind these basic facts about Brazil to help put surface events, including today’s headlines, in perspective.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Economics, Energy Policy, Oil, and Natural Resources
- Political Geography:
- United States and Brazil
1716. The Evaluation Revolution in Public Diplomacy
- Author:
- Carissa Gonzalez
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Ambassador's Review
- Abstract:
- Analytics. Metrics. Evaluation. Impact. All these terms are routinely bandied about, increasingly so in Washington, and yet Public Diplomacy (PD) professionals in the field (the ones most directly impacted by these concepts and trends in measurement) have been historically reluctant to discuss them for fear that admitting such loaded, mathematical terms into the equation of their work will undermine the relational, long-term, nuanced public outreach they do day in and day out.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, History, Governance, and Public Opinion
- Political Geography:
- United States
1717. ASEAN: Creating the Rules-Based Architecture in Asia
- Author:
- Nina Hachigan
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Ambassador's Review
- Abstract:
- In my second week on the job as the second United States Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), I headed to Naypyidaw, Burma to meet President Obama at the East Asia Summit. There I witnessed one of the many reasons the United States has increased its engagement with ASEAN: ASEAN convenes Asia. In 1967, leaders of five nations formed ASEAN, renouncing the violence that had characterized their relationships and dedicating themselves to furthering the prosperity of the region. Five more countries joined in the intervening decades and now ASEAN’s Member States, with a total population of some 625 million, are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. ASEAN has delivered well on its primary mission: to keep the peace among a group of member states with huge diversity in levels of economic development, political systems, cultures, religions, and size. This foundation of geopolitical stability has allowed the economies in Southeast Asia to take off and lift tens of millions out of poverty. As a whole, ASEAN has enjoyed the third highest growth rate in the world over the past decade.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Human Welfare, Poverty, and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Asia
1718. The Belt and Road initiative: connecting China and Central Europe
- Author:
- Xiao Fang
- Publication Date:
- 12-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- International Issues: Slovak Foreign Policy Affairs
- Institution:
- Slovak Foreign Policy Association
- Abstract:
- China and Central Europe have experienced similar transitions over time and have a constructive role to play in the international system, taking on responsibility for development. Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries is conducted via the “16+1” mechanism, the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st century maritime Silk Road, known as the “Belt and Road initiative.” Central European countries are EU member states and emerging economies. They are located at a geographically strategic juncture and form part of the East Asia–Transatlantic value chain. The 16+1 mechanism is helping China and Central European countries establish high level annual meetings and is encouraging the private sector, business, people-to-people exchanges. The Belt and Road initiative is providing new financing facilities, and a dialogue with the European Commission on investment plans is being launched. Studies and working groups are emerging to help set strategies, build mechanisms, allocate resources and implement policies. This article argues that the Chinese approach, i.e. the 16+1 mechanism and Belt and Road initiative, is platforms paving the way for China–Central Europe cooperation.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Politics, and Geopolitics
- Political Geography:
- China and Central Europe
1719. China’s engagement in Central and Eastern Europe: regional diplomacy in pursuit of China’s interests
- Author:
- Pleschova. Gabriela
- Publication Date:
- 12-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- International Issues: Slovak Foreign Policy Affairs
- Institution:
- Slovak Foreign Policy Association
- Abstract:
- The purpose of this study is to discuss the motivations and challenges associated with China’s enhanced cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It perceives China’s partnership with CEE as a product of the regional diplomacy approach China also uses in relations with the rest of the world. The study concludes that China is increasingly active in shaping the foreign relations of other countries and is a more influential actor in the international arena. Therefore, a platform which unites 16 CEE countries may prove too weak to advance these countries’ interests vis-à-vis China. A more effective solution would appear to be to replace the 16+China mechanism with the more powerful EU platform.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Regional Cooperation, and European Union
- Political Geography:
- China and Central Europe
1720. Future of trade relations within the 16+1 group: risks and opportunities
- Author:
- Vilem Semerak
- Publication Date:
- 12-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- International Issues: Slovak Foreign Policy Affairs
- Institution:
- Slovak Foreign Policy Association
- Abstract:
- The paper provides an overview of stylized facts on current trends in trade between the PRC and the 16 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The potential effects of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative are discussed as are policy recommendations for the CEE countries. Trade with China is seen as complementary to trade with the core of the EU (and with the mutual trade of the CEE region,) once the international fragmentation of value chains is taken into account. Multilateral and plurilateral (e.g. EU-based) approaches to relations with China are likely to generate fewer risks compared to isolated solutions based on national interest pursued individually by CEE countries.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, Politics, and Multilateral Relatons
- Political Geography:
- China, Eastern Europe, and Central Europe