Subject: The Weekly GAB - Friday, May 27, 2016
From: "The Weekly GAB" <[email-masked]>
To: "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 27 May 2016 15:08:00 -0500

The Weekly GAB  Friday, May 27, 2016
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=ib1uN8vyYx3PSVZ2J-ffpQ

USGLC in the News

THE ORLANDO SENTINEL
A Must for U.S. Leadership: Tools Without Triggers

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=bkJJwd2saPpX9JFC67AikA

David MacEwen and John Adams, members of USGLC's Veterans for Smart
Power

Our state is especially tuned in to worldwide events, with water on
three sides and an incredibly diverse population. Florida is the proud
home to MacDill Air Base and retired veterans are a strong voice in
every community. We know that what happens overseas absolutely affects
us here at home - and foreign aid is a vital component of our
national-security strategy. We call on all of the candidates to
strengthen America's role in an increasingly interconnected world
- and to embrace our nation's civilian tools. Neither of us
wants to see more friends and family members sent into combat unless
it is absolutely necessary for our nation's security. If we invest now
and continue to strengthen our international affairs programs, support
our diplomatic and development efforts, then we can reduce the need
for military interventions and unnecessary wars.

THE COLORADO STATESMAN
Presidential Candidates Should Follow Denver's Leadership Overseas

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=gByU4aCqmvZ4DhisKxjdzA

Douglas Jackson, President & CEO of Project C.U.R.E., and Jeff Wasden,
President of the Colorado Business Roundtable; both are members of the
Colorado Advisory Council of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition

The candidates should know that more than 710,000 jobs are supported
by trade statewide-more than one in five-and with close to
$8.4 billion in foreign exports last year, Colorado plays a central
role in the world economy. Nearly 5,000 small and medium-sized
Colorado businesses sold goods overseas, a number that is only likely
to increase in the future. As these companies can attest, America's
customers are no longer our traditional allies in Europe and North
America. In fact, over half of our exports now go to developing
countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. We're proud that
Denver-based organizations like Project C.U.R.E. and the DaVita
Village Trust not only provide humanitarian assistance overseas, but
also help promote development that opens doors for economic growth and
opportunity. Together with our U.S. government counterparts, like
USAID, the Peace Corps and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, we
help save lives and create stability overseas. As we confront growing
challenges overseas from ISIS to Russia to the Zika virus, these are
the civilian tools that our next president will need on their first
day in the Oval Office.

UTAH PUBLIC RADIO
Matheson to Lead Diplomacy Committee |
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=01JhgBhL67nUMD12yWdSAw

Evan Hall

Former Utah Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson joins former Gov. Jon
Huntsman, Jr., on the Utah Advisory Committee of the U.S. Global
Leadership Coalition. He said that the group's aims of fostering
diplomacy and encouraging economic cooperation helped convince him to
sign on. "When they came to me and talked to me about what the ideas
behind the organization of promoting strategic investment in diplomacy
and development around the world and the benefits of that to our state
and our country it seemed like something that I really supported and
believed in," Matheson said. "It was kind of an easy decision. Then,
they mentioned all the folks that they had attracted to be on the Utah
Advisory Committee. It's just such a great cross-section of the Utah
community that it really validated what a strong interest we have here
in our state to pursue this type of effort."

Campaign 2016

FOREIGN AFFAIRS
How Populism Will Change Foreign Policy |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=BQeQ_puEP0C4aECy1VHNjw

Richard Fontaine and Robert Kaplan

In signaling the rise of populism as a dominant strain in U.S.
politics, Trump and Sanders challenge the basic assumptions on which
decades of U.S. foreign and domestic policy have been built. Although
it is too early to determine the election's outcome, it is already
clear that the success of the next administration's global engagement
will turn on a correct reading of the mood at home.

POLITICKER NJ
Hillary Clinton Has the Right Stuff to be President

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=8yl9fqgqRZrygAY2QJTomg

Senator Bob Menendez, senior U.S. Senator from New Jersey

Donald Trump would be an unmitigated disaster. His foreign policy
views to the extent he has them are often invented on the spot. He has
a penchant for dismissing close allies like the United Kingdom when
they criticize him, and praising leaders like Putin when they flatter
him. Quite simply, he has shown no regard for the norms and
necessities that so much of our modern diplomatic and security efforts
depend upon. Only one person running to lead our nation has the
experience, the interest, and the demeanor to lead and protect our
nation: Hillary Clinton. Hillary understands the importance of
stability and consistency particularly as they impact our most
important allies... Over the course of my career as a Congressman,
Senator, and Chair of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations, I have been dedicated to protecting America's best
interests and preserving our essential alliances. To further this
commitment, I enthusiastically support Hillary Clinton as the next
President of the United States. She is the only candidate who can
achieve the kind of long-term peace and stability that our nation has
always pursued.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
A Split Over Israel Threatens the Democrats' Hopes for Unity |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=TnxTpAKw47J1GJU7QxcSAQ

Jason Horowitz and Maggie Haberman

Two of Sanders' appointees to the party's platform drafting committee,
Cornel West and James Zogby, on Wednesday denounced Israel's
occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and said they believed that
rank-and-file Democrats no longer hewed to the party's staunch support
of the Israeli government. They said they would try to get their views
incorporated into the platform, the party's statement of core beliefs,
at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July... Mr.
Sanders, who is Jewish, has himself criticized Israel's military
posture in the Palestinian territories, saying, among other things,
that it used disproportionate force in responding to rockets launched
from Hamas-controlled Gaza in 2014... As a candidate, Mrs. Clinton has
been less inclined to criticize Israel, emphasizing that it had a
right to defend itself. In a statement on Wednesday, Jake Sullivan,
Mrs. Clinton's chief foreign policy adviser, indicated that her
appointees to the platform committee would resist Mr. Sanders's
attempt to shift the center of gravity on the Israel debate.

ROLL CALL
Trump's Natural Senate Buddy? Corker Says Not So Fast. |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=Kdcb3EnNFKPPQ4UYNsHbPQ

David Hawkings

In fact, when asked twice whether he believed Trump was ready to be
the most powerful person on Earth, Corker demurred - offering a
blizzard of no-sound-bite-possible rhetoric about how the experiences
of campaigning can turn out to be adequate preparation for governing.
According to the senator, neither his own foreign policy views nor the
vice-presidency got broached. Nothing that was said led Corker to
believe the search to fill the ticket's second spot had begun. And
when it came to geopolitical challenges, Trump did all the talking. "I
had never met him before, so it was a good opportunity to get a much
better sense of who he is and his thought process relative to some
issues that are very important to me, and I was glad to be able to do
it and appreciated it very much," Corker said. "It's something that
helps me understand where he's going and helped us to know each other
a little bit better." If a partnership eventually forms between the
GOP's presumptive standard-bearer and its senior voices on the Hill,
in other words, it was not germinated this week in Trump Tower.

POLITICO
Trump: Overseas Trips Don't Register With Voters |
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=tTf05n1sACFRyYStZP2e_w

Nick Gass

Traveling to other countries this summer ahead of the general election
would not appear to be one of Donald Trump's top priorities, if his
comments to The Wall Street Journal published Monday are any
indication. "I don't think it registers with the voters to be honest
with you. What I really want to do is focus on our country and the
election, but I might," Trump remarked, in an interview with the
Journal on Sunday. "I've been invited by numerous countries to go."

Who's in the News

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Moving On in Vietnam, But Remembering Its Lessons

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=g03M_oNaObOAY1OhAqQaRQ

John Kerry, Secretary of State; John McCain, Chair of the Senate Armed
Services Committee; Bob Kerrey, former Democratic Senator from
Nebraska and chairman of the board of Fulbright University Vietnam

Nearly half a century ago, when we were serving in Vietnam, we would
never have imagined that our country would one day work with the
government in Hanoi to help save the Mekong River Delta by helping
create an initiative to manage its ecosystem and cope with the effects
of climate change. We could never have imagined that our two countries
would be partners in a landmark trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific
Partnership, which is intended to raise labor and environmental
standards while expanding prosperity in our country and all along the
Pacific Rim. It would have been even harder to imagine that the United
States and Vietnam would be cooperating on security issues. And yet
the United States has helped establish a new training center for
People's Army of Vietnam on the outskirts of Hanoi, where young
Vietnamese soldiers will prepare for service in United
Nations-sponsored peacekeeping missions... Looking to the future, we
know that mutual interests, above all else, will drive our partnership
with Vietnam. But it is strengthened, as well, by the natural
affinities between our societies. These include family ties, a
tendency toward optimism, a fierce desire for freedom and independence
and a hard-earned appreciation that peace is far, far preferable to
war.

THE GATES FOUNDATION
What If...

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=WdNCJzwZ_5fPLL7jEKGKVg

Sue Desmond-Hellman, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

One question unites those of us who work at the Gates Foundation: What
if? What if infectious diseases could no longer wreak havoc on poor
communities? What if women and girls everywhere were empowered to
transform their lives? What if all children especially the poorest had
an equal opportunity to reach their full potential? For more than 15
years, the Gates Foundation has been imagining what's possible. Our
belief that all lives have equal value guides everything we do to
eradicate poverty and increase opportunity for the people we serve.

THE WASHINGTON POST
Zika is Coming, But We're Far From Ready

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=uVhKSifl8_rJIiv5pNNdvA

Ronald Klain, White House Ebola response coordinator

Slowness in getting the response to Ebola moving had devastating
consequences in West Africa and led to panic and confusion here in the
United States. Now, congressional delays on Zika funding risk a human
cost of unknown dimensions. If it seems like the world is being
threatened by new infectious diseases with increasing frequency
- H1N1 in 2009-2010, MERS in 2012, Ebola in 2014, Zika in 2016,
yellow fever on the horizon for 2017 - that's because it is.
These are not random lightning strikes or a string of global bad luck.
This growing threat is a result of human activity: human populations
encroaching on, and having greater interaction with, habitats where
animals spread these viruses; humans living more densely in cities
where sickness spreads rapidly; humans traveling globally with
increasing reach and speed; humans changing our climate and bringing
disease-spreading insects to places where they have not lived
previously. From now on, dangerous epidemics are going to be a regular
fact of life. We can no longer accept surprise as an excuse for a
response that is slow out of the gate.

Development & Diplomacy

ABC NEWS

President Obama Announces the Peace Corps Coming to Vietnam for the
First Time |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=QrnMZUVP4Rfb84KfETPB_A

Arlette Saenz

In a press conference in Hanoi, President Obama announced that the
Vietnamese government approved the volunteer organization setting up
operations in the country. The group's main focus will be
teaching English to Vietnamese students. "I'm very pleased that for
the first time the Peace Corps will come to Vietnam," the president
said in a press conference alongside Vietnamese President Tran Dai
Quang. "Our Peace Corps volunteers will focus on teaching English and
the friendship that our people forged will bring us closer together
for decades to come."

REUTERS
World Leaders Meet in Istanbul to Fix 'Broken' Aid System |
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=xHxznCIu6WVgK5v-iE8S4Q

Ayla Jean Yackley and Humeyra Pamuk

Global leaders met in Istanbul on Monday to tackle a "broken"
humanitarian system that has left 130 million people in need of aid, a
near insurmountable task for a two-day summit that critics say risks
achieving little. Billed as the first of its kind, the United Nations
summit aims to develop a better response to what has called the worst
humanitarian crisis since World War Two, mobilise more funds and agree
to better care for displaced civilians. U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon called on governments, businesses and aid groups to commit to
halving the number of displaced civilians by 2030. "We need to improve
more direct funding to local communities and fix the persistent
humanitarian funding gap," he said in a speech.

THE HUFFINGTON POST
Humanitarian Aid Hits Record High, Still Doesn't Meet Growing Need |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=8Dr9dmqwtyntaEzi4RuP8g

Megan Rowling

International humanitarian assistance given last year totaled a record
$28 billion, new figures show in the run-up to the first World
Humanitarian Summit in Turkey next week. Independent UK-based research
organization Development Initiatives, which released the data on
Thursday, said 2015 saw the third consecutive annual rise in funding.
Yet despite the record amount given by governments and private donors,
needs have outpaced generosity around the world, leaving the U.N.-led
annual appeals with an unprecedented shortfall of 45 percent last
year. One key aim of the May 23-24 summit is to find ways to improve
the volumes and effectiveness of funding to help people in crises
caused by conflicts and natural disasters.

Politics & Foreign Policy

THE WASHINGTON POST

The Liberal International Order is Under Fire. The United States Must
Defend It. |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=mu6qFwkpfGrtM-M7vjrj-w

Editorial Board

No matter who takes the Oval Office, it will demand courage and
difficult decisions to save the liberal international order. As a new
report from the Center for a New American Security points out, this
order is worth saving, and it is worth reminding ourselves why: It
generated unprecedented global prosperity, lifting billions of people
out of poverty; democratic government, once rare, spread to more than
100 nations; and for seven decades there has been no cataclysmic war
among the great powers. No wonder U.S. engagement with the world
enjoyed a bipartisan consensus. These impressive accomplishments need
a renewed boost from the United States and Europe, yet the public
debate is running in the other direction. As authors of the report
point out, many around the world are worried about an American
retrenchment and yearn for more, not less, from the United States.

VOX
Ending Extreme Poverty is Possible, and This Chart Proves It |
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=G8s1jAw6nTKTOPFw6ERCKA

Dylan Matthews

Here's a startling fact: The amount of money it would take to
eliminate extreme poverty is now lower than the amount of money spent
on foreign aid every year... The actual global poverty gap in 2015 was
about $80 billion, far below its $300 billion level in 1980. Decades
of economic growth in middle- and low-income countries, particularly
China and India but also some parts of sub-Saharan Africa and
southeast Asia, have not only dramatically reduced the number of
people in extreme poverty - from about 2 billion in 1980 to 700
million in 2015 - but have brought people still living under the
poverty line closer to it, which cuts the poverty gap as well. The
result is a poverty gap that, while still intimidating, is less than
half as large as foreign aid transfers.

POLITIFACT

Refugee Aid Head: World's Poorest Increasingly Found in
Fragile/Conflict Nations |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=wNTWKydV76CWlB5uYGEuKA

Jon Greenberg

[David] Miliband said that the geography of poverty has fundamentally
changed in the past 15 years and is increasingly concentrated in
conflict and fragile states. Broadly speaking, the numbers back that
up -- because non-fragile states are doing a better job of raising
people out of poverty. The biggest cautionary note from experts is
that we lack consistent measures of fragility and the list can change
significantly from year to year. The statement is accurate, but one
has to apply it cautiously. We rate this claim Mostly True.

The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition
1129 20th Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036
Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe | USGLC.org

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=x_q8s8lA-ENwPO-Oeot1PQ
http://action.usglc.org/site/CO?i=1DIxHggv3z4lRqsKfo78bTUCd41_oyTn&cid=1181
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=OByfjTUVC3MXNFzTLiOK1Q

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=px_qdXQfo8_D6_jvm9iroA