Subject: The Weekly GAB - Friday, November 20, 2015
From: "USGLC GAB" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2015 18:12:00 -0500

The Weekly GAB - Friday, November 20, 2015
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org

Campaign 2016

POLITICO
GOP Field Takes New Shape After Paris Attacks<http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/paris-attacks-2016-republicans-215913> | Shane Golmacher
The disparity between candidates has been present and glaring for months, of course, but it took a backseat in a primary where experience has been akin to a dirty word, and early state voters haven't demanded great familiarity with world affairs. The question for 2016 now turns on whether foreign policy fluency and the seasoning of elected office somehow morphs into an asset, a development which could dislodge the two outsiders who are currently perched comfortably atop the polls - Donald Trump and Ben Carson - and reorder the race.

HUMANOSPHERE
Did You Know This Presidential Hopeful is a Foreign Aid Supporter?<http://www.humanosphere.org/world-politics/2015/11/know-presidential-hopeful-foreign-aid-supporter/> | Tom Murphy
Rubio recently joined on for the Global Food Security Act and the Reach Every Mother and Child Act. These are bipartisan bills introduced in both chambers of Congress that seek to improve U.S. development initiatives. The bills seem to align with the statement made by Rubio at the AIDS conference. Both also focus on efforts that would improve maternal and child health. The Global Food Security Act would do a few things with the U.S. agriculture and hunger programs. It provides long-lasting support for the Obama administration's Feed the Future initiative, and emphasizes the need for a comprehensive strategy to address hunger, ranging from farming to nutrition, without touching on the controversial issue of food aid reform.

UNION LEADER
Lindsey Graham's Other Race<http://www.unionleader.com/article/20151120/OPINION02/151129966/0/NEWS0301> | Kate Bailey
Sen. Lindsey Graham, who chairs the appropriations subcommittee that oversees global health budgets, has the power to get us back on the right track by restoring $300 million to PEPFAR in the inevitable spending deal... We in New Hampshire recognize that the future President needs to lead with pragmatic attention to programs that promote peace and stability and that are proven and effective. We are grateful for the support our own senators, Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte, have demonstrated for global health security.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Ben Carson is Struggling to Grasp Foreign Policy, Advisers Say<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/us/politics/ben-carson-is-struggling-to-grasp-foreign-policy-advisers-say.html?_r=0> | Trip Gabriel
Ben Carson's remarks on foreign policy have repeatedly raised questions about his grasp of the subject, but never more seriously than in the past week, when he wrongly asserted that China had intervened militarily in Syria and then failed, on national television, to name the countries he would call on to form a coalition to fight the Islamic State. Faced with increasing scrutiny about whether Mr. Carson, who leads in some Republican presidential polls, was capable of leading American foreign policy, two of his top advisers said in interviews that he had struggled to master the intricacies of the Middle East and national security and that intense tutoring was having little effect.

THE CITADEL
A U.S. Defense Policy for the 21st Century<https://jeb2016.com/full-remarks-us-defense-policy/>
Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida
"For generations, American-led alliances, American diplomacy, American military power, and American credibility defended the peace and deterred the violent. This is the way forward in our time as well... Bad things - and sometimes very bad things happen when America steps away from hard challenges. It is time for American leadership again, and that leadership requires a change in course."

COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
Outline Plan to Defeat ISIS and Global Terrorism, Clinton Says U.S. Must Choose Resolve Over Fear<https://www.hillaryclinton.com/p/briefing/statements/2015/11/19/outlining-plan-to-defeat-isis-and-global-terrorism-clinton-says-u.s.-must-choose-resolve-over-fear/>
Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State
"We have to use every pillar of American power - military might but also diplomacy, development aid, economic and cultural influence, technology, and the force of our values, that is smart power. You have to work with institutions and partners, like NATO, the EU, the Arab League, and the UN.  Strengthen alliances and never get tired of old-fashioned shoe-leather diplomacy."

Who's in the News

USA TODAY
14 Years of War and We Still Haven't Learned the Right Lesson<http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/11/18/paris-911-commission-kean-hamilton-islamic-extremist-ideology-column/75946054/?_cldee=amdsZW5uQHVzZ2xjLm9yZw%3d%3d&utm_source=ClickDimensions&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Project%20Update%20%7C%20Foreign%20Policy>
Former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean, and former Representative Lee Hamilton, 9/11 Commission chair and vice chair respectively and co-chairs. Both are members of the USGLC Advisory Council.
Military might must be combined with all the other elements of U.S. power - political, diplomatic, economic and informational - in a sustained strategy to target terrorism's ideological foundations. The fundamental strength and dynamism of pluralistic, innovative, liberal societies make us far stronger than our adversaries. Leveraging these strengths and harnessing our soft power will be critical to this ideological struggle.

THE HILL
Congress Must Speak Up for the World's Most Vulnerable<http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/260677-congress-must-speak-up-for-the-worlds-most-vulnerable>
Ann Vaughan, director of Policy and Advocacy for Mercy Corps
Across the Horn of Africa, it's predicted some 22 million people will need emergency food assistance as a result of this year's extreme El Niño. And, around the globe, nearly 800 million people do not have enough food to lead a healthy, active life.  Funding Feed the Future will ensure that our foreign aid dollars are proactively and strategically tackling food insecurity.  Robust Development Assistance and ESF funding levels of at least $3.3 billion and $4.7 billion will allow at least $1.1 billion for Feed the Future funding without cutting into education, economic development and other important sectors.

THE WASHINGTON POST
As New Speaker, Ryan Will be Quickly Tested on Foreign Policy<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/11/16/as-new-speaker-ryan-will-be-quickly-tested-on-foreign-policy/> | Karoun Demirjian
Ryan's first two-and-half weeks on the job were marked by deadly terrorist attacks in Paris and the passage of a defense authorization bill in Congress. He has been asked to address matters from the closure of Guantanamo Bay to a proposed new congressional mandate to battle ISIS. He didn't always give direct answers, and occasionally deferred to committee chiefs to flesh out his responses.

Development & Diplomacy

FORBES
Our Opportunity Where Health and National Security Converge<http://www.forbes.com/sites/billfrist/2015/11/13/our-opportunity-where-health-and-national-security-converge/2/>
Bill Frist, Former Senate Majority Leader
As we saw this past year with the Ebola epidemic, the United States is not insulated from overseas illnesses.  Going forward, instead of slashing our foreign affairs budget as some have advocated, we should invest in global public health as a strategic tool to improve well-being while potentially bolstering our own national security interests.  With the presidential campaign in full swing, we want to urge candidates from both parties to pledge to do more to fight diseases around the world.  Despite recent partisanship, Senator Daschle and I strongly believe that bipartisan consensus can happen again to build on PEPFAR's successes.

DEVEX
How to Make a Virus Disappear<https://www.devex.com/news/how-to-make-a-virus-disappear-87271>
Jay Wenger, Director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Polio eradication effort
For millennia, this species made its way into human communities around the world, seeking and finding hospitable places to live. But in 1988, its fortunes changed: a determined group of people decided to stop it in its tracks, and it began to die off. Today, it's nearly gone from the face of the earth. I'm not talking about endangered animals or plants. The species teetering on the verge of extinction is a debilitating and deadly virus: polio. In this case the extinction will be welcome, marking the end of a devastating disease that can permanently paralyze or kill the young children on which it most frequently preys.

Politics & Foreign Policy

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Senate Slates Vote to Confirm Nominee to Lead Aid Agency<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/8088d6d608ce44bf8abc9bf930cb2042/senate-slates-vote-confirm-nominee-lead-aid-agency> | Andrew Taylor
The Senate Wednesday set a Nov. 30 vote to confirm President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the U.S. international aid agency. A vote to confirm Gayle Smith to run the USAID comes amid the international migration crisis. Smith's nomination was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July, but has been held up for months by Republicans controlling the chamber. Democrats have been trying to up the pressure on GOP leaders to confirm almost two dozen nominees to national security-related posts.

INTER PRESS SERVICE
Refugee Crisis May Threaten Development Aid to World's Poor<http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/11/refugee-crisis-may-threaten-development-aid-to-worlds-poor/> | Thalif Deen
As the spreading refugee crisis threatens to destabilize national budgets of donor nations in Western Europe, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Wednesday appealed to the international community not to forsake its longstanding commitment for development assistance to the world's poorer nations. Ban's appeal comes two days after a UN pledging conference reported a "dramatic decline" in donor commitments: from 560 million dollars in 2014 to 77 million dollars in the most recent pledges, largely covering 2015.

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