Archives for December 2020

The Western Sahara Conflict is Upended By a Trump Tweet

On December 10th, Donald Trump upended over 30 years of US diplomacy with a tweet in which he declared American support for Morocco’s claims of sovereignty over Western Sahara.

Since the 1970s, Morocco and a local group called the Polisario Front have fought for control of Western Sahara. In the early 1990s the United States brokered a ceasefire agreement which called for the people of Western Sahara to vote in a referendum to determine their status as an independent country. A UN Peacekeeping mission was deployed to region to help maintain the ceasefire and prepare for the vote. 

Now, the United States has abandoned its previous support for self-determination of the Sahrawi people and simply affirmed that Western Sahara is part of Morocco. In exchange, Morocco has begun to establish formal diplomatic ties with Israel. 

On the line to help make sense of the significance of this move is Intissar Fakir, fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and editor of Sadaa, a publication that focuses on political, economic and social developments in the Middle East. We spend a good deal of time in this episode discussing the recent history of the Western Sahara conflict from the 1970s to today. We then discuss the implications of the United States’ sudden reversal of its long held diplomatic position. 

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A Global Health Agenda for the Biden Administration

The COVID-19 pandemic has made global health a top tier issue in Washington. In today’s episode we explore what opportunities might exist for the incoming Biden administration and Congress to advance a global health agenda premised on strengthening international cooperation to take on common health challenges Loyce Pace is President and CEO of the Global Health Council. We kick off discussing how the Trump administration’s approach to global health was something of departure from typical bi-partisan support for health and development around the world before discussing in depth how a Biden administration and new Congress may advance a global health agenda, including what a global response to COVID-19 might look like.

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Today’s episode is produced in partnership with the Better World Campaign as part of a series  examining the opportunities for strengthening multilateral engagement by the new Biden-Harris administration and the incoming 117th Congress. To learn more and access additional episodes in this series, please visit http://getusback.org/

Legendary US Diplomat Thomas Pickering Explains How the US Can Get Its Multilateral Groove Back

The United States Permanent Representative, Thomas R. Pickering, votes against permitting the observer for Palestine to participate in the Security Council discussion on the current situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Ambassador Thomas Pickering is a legendary retired US foreign service officer. He had a four decade career in diplomacy, including stints as United States ambassador to Russia, India, Israel, Nigeria, and El Salvador, among other key postings.

In 1989, President George H.W. Bush appointed him United States Ambassador to the United Nations where he played a critical role in marshaling broad international support against Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

The diplomacy that accompanied the international effort to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait in the early 1990s is considered to be a high water mark for US multilateral engagement.This is why I was curious to learn from Ambassador Pickering about what opportunities may exist for the incoming Biden administration to re-establish US global leadership and multilateral engagement?

We kick off discussing the Trump administration’s approach to multilateralism before having a broader conversation about the changing nature of the UN and ways the Biden administration can productively work with with allies and adversaries to advance American interests and the global good.

If you have 20 minutes and want to learn from one of America’s most decorated diplomats, have a listen.

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Today’s episode is produced in partnership with the Better World Campaign as part of a series  examining the opportunities for strengthening multilateral engagement by the new Biden-Harris administration and the incoming 117th Congress. To learn more and access additional episodes in this series, please visit http://getusback.org/

How Joe Biden Could Restore US Leadership at the United Nations in his First 100 Days

The first 100 days of any new presidential administration offers a key inflection point, signaling the policies that the new administration will prioritize and champion. It is during those first 100 days that the new administration gets the most leeway from congress, the media, and the general public to set their agenda.  

Setting that agenda often includes a mix of new executive actions, supporting specific pieces of legislation, and releasing a federal budget request to congress which demonstrates the new administration’s funding priorities. 

This is the opportunity for the Biden administration when it takes office on January 20. In today’s episode, we take a deep dive into what a Biden-Administration’s first 100-day agenda may look like when it comes to re-setting America’s relationship with the United Nations and other multilateral organizations.

Peter Yeo is the President of the Better World Campaign and Senior Vice President of the United Nations Foundation. He has had a long career in congress, the federal government and advocacy; and he explains the various executive actions and legislative priorities that the Biden administration will likely pursue to signal the United States’ renewed commitment to multilateralism. 

Today’s episode is produced in partnership with the Better World Campaign as part of a series  examining the opportunities for strengthening multilateral engagement by the new Biden-Harris administration and the incoming 117th Congress. To learn more and access additional episodes in this series, please visit http://getusback.org/

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