Monday, May 13, 2013
SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY MAKES REMARKS AT WORLD CULTURAL ECONOMIC FORUM
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
World Cultural Economic Forum
Remarks
Reta Jo Lewis
Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs
New Orleans, LA
May 2, 2013
Good morning and thank you for that kind introduction.
Governors, mayors, ministers, ambassadors, and other esteemed guests representing cities and countries around the world, it is a sincere privilege to be here with all of you. We are grateful that Ambassador Sergey Kislyak of the Russian Federation, with whom I have had the privilege to work, and the Ambassadors of Canada and Bangladesh have joined us today.
I would like to thank Mayor Landrieu and the City of New Orleans and the U.S. Conference of Mayors for hosting this dynamic program dedicated to driving the creation of vibrant cities. I am delighted to bring greetings from Secretary of State John F. Kerry to each of you as you gather to explore new ways to harness the power of culture as a force for economic and social change. What better city than New Orleans to host this event. Over the years, the people of New Orleans have demonstrated the resilience of the American spirit. We have witnessed New Orleans City leaders work tirelessly to build a stronger and more secure community.
During your time in New Orleans, you will have the chance to experience all that Louisiana has to offer – its art, music, cuisine, history, and more. I expect you will build new partnerships, meet like-minded leaders, and find new ways to cultivate the unique culture of your own city. And, hopefully, you will leave New Orleans with a deeper understanding of our shared history and the ties that bind our cities together.
As the Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs, I lead the U.S. Department of State’s efforts to collaborate with state and local leaders and their counterparts abroad to foster economic, cultural, and educational relationships. My office is charged with building strategic peer-to-peer relationships with U.S. state and local officials and their foreign counterparts around the world.
In this context, pragmatic global partnerships between mayors from cities around the world that focus on solutions are essential to solving global challenges, such as climate change, human trafficking, poverty, food security, governance, and transnational crime.
U.S. foreign policy traditionally will be focused on nation-to-nation relationships. But the scope of what defines nation-to-nation conversations are shifting in the modern, more global, and more flattened world – rendering city-to-city, and state-to-state dialogues just as critical to the larger context of executing, implementing, and achieving a nation’s overarching diplomatic goals.
We understand that building peer-to-peer relationships between state and local elected officials has a direct effect on foreign policy that often goes unrecognized. Building these relationships and encouraging these engagements at the subnational level has the potential to be a force multiplier, expanding the reach and effectiveness of soft power.
Peer-to-peer relationships provide state and local leaders around the globe with an intimate glance into the American way of life, and, more importantly, into our democratic institutions and system of governance. Even at a more basic but equally important level, these interactions develop trust – an attribute essential to developing strong bilateral ties.
Confronting some of the most difficult global challenges will require innovative approaches to complex problems. Subnational engagement promotes the interchange of ideas and the adoption of best practices across different spheres. These peer-to-peer relationships between local leaders are critical if we are going to address difficult issues like climate change and urbanization.
One of the most serious challenges that we face today is the economy. When I started this job three and a half years ago, I reached out to local leaders in the United States who were engaging internationally, and asked them how the U.S. Department of State could assist them. The number one answer was to promote economic growth within their communities. Mayors and governors lead foreign trade missions because it is in their interest to do so. It is in the interest of our national economy to help local officials succeed in promoting their city or state, and ultimately making connections that lead to trade flows and economic growth which benefit all of us.
We have come to know that subnational engagement utilizes our state and local leaders as an extraordinary source of innovation, talent, resources, and knowledge. After all, it is the state and cities that are the engines of growth at the ground level where the transition from policy to practice becomes most visible.
Twenty-first century global challenges require us to work with new partners to collaborate and innovate globally to address common challenges. This is a core principal of subnational engagement, a strategy for creating partnerships for achieving modern diplomatic goals by including and engaging all the elements of our national power and leveraging all forms of our strength.
When former Secretary of State Clinton created the Office of Global Intergovernmental Affairs in 2010, she emphasized the need to utilize local leaders as a key component in the much needed, widespread, and deep-rooted efforts to take on our world’s greatest challenges. A key part of that charge is empowering subnational officials to lead their states and cities to a stable and secure future.
My job is to connect what the Federal Government does best with what state and local governments are doing and can do globally.
To that end, the Office of Global Intergovernmental Affairs, in conjunction with U.S. Embassies and bureaus, has led the negotiations and secured collaboration frameworks confirming commitments to prioritize subnational engagement with: Brazil (U.S.-Brazil Memorandum of Understanding to Support State and Local Cooperation), China (Memorandum of Understanding Supporting U.S.-China Subnational Cooperation), India (U.S.-India Conversation Between Cities), and Russia (Joint Statement on Strengthening U.S.-Russian Interregional Cooperation). In addition, we work closely with the U.S.-Nigeria Binational Commission.
The establishment of these four historic agreements provides opportunities for state and local leaders to increase exports, foreign direct investment, tourism, and other economic activity to support job creation and global competitiveness. Additionally, these cooperative frameworks allow subnational leaders to form innovative partnerships for education and sustainability. Advancing global collaboration at the local level is a catalyst for positive economic impact in cities across the nation.
We also have facilitated opportunities for state and local participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum events in Kansas City, MO in 2010, and Cincinnati, OH in 2012. The AGOA events were attended by African ministers of trade, infrastructure, and energy, as well as African business leaders and entrepreneurs.
I am also in New Orleans this week to advance U.S.-Brazil subnational cooperation. My office and the State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security are co-hosting a two-day Symposium on Security for Major Sporting Events. We convened security officials from the Brazilian states which will host the 2014 World Cup games and officials from eight U.S. federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies responsible for the organization and support of Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans to share best practices on the coordination of the largest annual sporting event in the United States. The recent tragedy in Boston reminds us of the importance of effective collaboration with local officials on the security of major events. The experience underscored the importance of heightened U.S.-Brazil cooperation on security.
Over the past three and a half years, I have worked closely with U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Thomas A. Shannon Jr., Mission Brazil and the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs to expand relationships between U.S. mayors and governors and their counterparts in Brazil to encourage collaboration in areas of mutual interest, such as education, cultural and technical exchange, economic growth, sustainable development, democracy, social inclusion, and preparation for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
In April 2012, the United States and Brazil signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to Support State and Local Cooperation. This agreement affirms our mutual resolve to strengthen and expand cooperation and encourage peer-to-peer exchanges between subnational officials and local populations. These exchanges further enable local governments to bolster trade and investment, share ideas and best practices, and advance local priorities, while contributing to mutual understanding between our two countries.
In support of this agreement, I have traveled to Brazil and visited almost all of the host cities and states of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. My travels and direct contact with federal and local leaders have provided an excellent opportunity to bolster collaboration between local officials in Brazil and the United States. In addition, U.S.-Brazil cooperative efforts have focused on building economic opportunities for the U.S. private sector through Brazil’s unique position as host of these events.
At the request of Brazil’s Ministry of Sports, I traveled to Sao Paulo and Brasilia in November of last year with a dynamic delegation of sports and entertainment business leaders. The delegation’s collective and diverse experience enabled discussion on a variety of themes within the context of the mega-sporting events, including business opportunities, the creation of a positive legacy, the importance of community involvement, and racial and social inclusion. It also demonstrated the many possibilities for public and private sector engagement with the United States.
I returned to Brazil in March with a delegation of U.S. Government, private sector, and business leaders to further these discussions. We met with key interlocutors who are working actively to expand opportunities for partnerships between U.S. and Brazil state and local officials and the private sectors. Key meetings included discussions with: the Ministry of Foreign Relations; Agnelo Queiroz, Governor, Federal District of Brazil; the Minister of Justice, Special Secretariat for Security for Major Sporting Events; the Minister of Sports; and the leadership of the National Council of State Administration.
These meetings were a great opportunity to talk about the continued U.S. commitment to assisting Brazil in a wide range of areas which included the Brazilians’ interest in collaboration on security; youth development and training; women in sports; social and racial inclusion; accessibility; English language training; and cultural exchanges.
With approximately 400 days until the start of the World Cup, we are moving rapidly on several fronts to promote U.S.-Brazil cooperation to support the organization of mega-sporting events.
I will leave you today with a quote from John Kerry’s first foreign policy address as Secretary of State at the University of Virginia on February 20, 2013: "In today’s global world, there is no longer anything foreign about foreign policy."
Secretary Kerry believes that the everyday lives of the American people are more intertwined than ever before with the lives of citizens in countries throughout the world. No one nation can stand alone.
In the global challenges of diplomacy, development, economic security, and environmental security, we will feel our success or failure just as strongly as people in cities throughout the world who we will never meet.
We must understand and utilize the positive connection between culture, people, the economy, and diplomacy worldwide.
I thank you for your time today. I hope you take full advantage of this wonderful program and come away with a deeper understanding of the American people – and with enduring friendships that will strengthen the ties of our cities.
World Cultural Economic Forum
Remarks
Reta Jo Lewis
Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs
New Orleans, LA
May 2, 2013
Good morning and thank you for that kind introduction.
Governors, mayors, ministers, ambassadors, and other esteemed guests representing cities and countries around the world, it is a sincere privilege to be here with all of you. We are grateful that Ambassador Sergey Kislyak of the Russian Federation, with whom I have had the privilege to work, and the Ambassadors of Canada and Bangladesh have joined us today.
I would like to thank Mayor Landrieu and the City of New Orleans and the U.S. Conference of Mayors for hosting this dynamic program dedicated to driving the creation of vibrant cities. I am delighted to bring greetings from Secretary of State John F. Kerry to each of you as you gather to explore new ways to harness the power of culture as a force for economic and social change. What better city than New Orleans to host this event. Over the years, the people of New Orleans have demonstrated the resilience of the American spirit. We have witnessed New Orleans City leaders work tirelessly to build a stronger and more secure community.
During your time in New Orleans, you will have the chance to experience all that Louisiana has to offer – its art, music, cuisine, history, and more. I expect you will build new partnerships, meet like-minded leaders, and find new ways to cultivate the unique culture of your own city. And, hopefully, you will leave New Orleans with a deeper understanding of our shared history and the ties that bind our cities together.
As the Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs, I lead the U.S. Department of State’s efforts to collaborate with state and local leaders and their counterparts abroad to foster economic, cultural, and educational relationships. My office is charged with building strategic peer-to-peer relationships with U.S. state and local officials and their foreign counterparts around the world.
In this context, pragmatic global partnerships between mayors from cities around the world that focus on solutions are essential to solving global challenges, such as climate change, human trafficking, poverty, food security, governance, and transnational crime.
U.S. foreign policy traditionally will be focused on nation-to-nation relationships. But the scope of what defines nation-to-nation conversations are shifting in the modern, more global, and more flattened world – rendering city-to-city, and state-to-state dialogues just as critical to the larger context of executing, implementing, and achieving a nation’s overarching diplomatic goals.
We understand that building peer-to-peer relationships between state and local elected officials has a direct effect on foreign policy that often goes unrecognized. Building these relationships and encouraging these engagements at the subnational level has the potential to be a force multiplier, expanding the reach and effectiveness of soft power.
Peer-to-peer relationships provide state and local leaders around the globe with an intimate glance into the American way of life, and, more importantly, into our democratic institutions and system of governance. Even at a more basic but equally important level, these interactions develop trust – an attribute essential to developing strong bilateral ties.
Confronting some of the most difficult global challenges will require innovative approaches to complex problems. Subnational engagement promotes the interchange of ideas and the adoption of best practices across different spheres. These peer-to-peer relationships between local leaders are critical if we are going to address difficult issues like climate change and urbanization.
One of the most serious challenges that we face today is the economy. When I started this job three and a half years ago, I reached out to local leaders in the United States who were engaging internationally, and asked them how the U.S. Department of State could assist them. The number one answer was to promote economic growth within their communities. Mayors and governors lead foreign trade missions because it is in their interest to do so. It is in the interest of our national economy to help local officials succeed in promoting their city or state, and ultimately making connections that lead to trade flows and economic growth which benefit all of us.
We have come to know that subnational engagement utilizes our state and local leaders as an extraordinary source of innovation, talent, resources, and knowledge. After all, it is the state and cities that are the engines of growth at the ground level where the transition from policy to practice becomes most visible.
Twenty-first century global challenges require us to work with new partners to collaborate and innovate globally to address common challenges. This is a core principal of subnational engagement, a strategy for creating partnerships for achieving modern diplomatic goals by including and engaging all the elements of our national power and leveraging all forms of our strength.
When former Secretary of State Clinton created the Office of Global Intergovernmental Affairs in 2010, she emphasized the need to utilize local leaders as a key component in the much needed, widespread, and deep-rooted efforts to take on our world’s greatest challenges. A key part of that charge is empowering subnational officials to lead their states and cities to a stable and secure future.
My job is to connect what the Federal Government does best with what state and local governments are doing and can do globally.
To that end, the Office of Global Intergovernmental Affairs, in conjunction with U.S. Embassies and bureaus, has led the negotiations and secured collaboration frameworks confirming commitments to prioritize subnational engagement with: Brazil (U.S.-Brazil Memorandum of Understanding to Support State and Local Cooperation), China (Memorandum of Understanding Supporting U.S.-China Subnational Cooperation), India (U.S.-India Conversation Between Cities), and Russia (Joint Statement on Strengthening U.S.-Russian Interregional Cooperation). In addition, we work closely with the U.S.-Nigeria Binational Commission.
The establishment of these four historic agreements provides opportunities for state and local leaders to increase exports, foreign direct investment, tourism, and other economic activity to support job creation and global competitiveness. Additionally, these cooperative frameworks allow subnational leaders to form innovative partnerships for education and sustainability. Advancing global collaboration at the local level is a catalyst for positive economic impact in cities across the nation.
We also have facilitated opportunities for state and local participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum events in Kansas City, MO in 2010, and Cincinnati, OH in 2012. The AGOA events were attended by African ministers of trade, infrastructure, and energy, as well as African business leaders and entrepreneurs.
I am also in New Orleans this week to advance U.S.-Brazil subnational cooperation. My office and the State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security are co-hosting a two-day Symposium on Security for Major Sporting Events. We convened security officials from the Brazilian states which will host the 2014 World Cup games and officials from eight U.S. federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies responsible for the organization and support of Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans to share best practices on the coordination of the largest annual sporting event in the United States. The recent tragedy in Boston reminds us of the importance of effective collaboration with local officials on the security of major events. The experience underscored the importance of heightened U.S.-Brazil cooperation on security.
Over the past three and a half years, I have worked closely with U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Thomas A. Shannon Jr., Mission Brazil and the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs to expand relationships between U.S. mayors and governors and their counterparts in Brazil to encourage collaboration in areas of mutual interest, such as education, cultural and technical exchange, economic growth, sustainable development, democracy, social inclusion, and preparation for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
In April 2012, the United States and Brazil signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to Support State and Local Cooperation. This agreement affirms our mutual resolve to strengthen and expand cooperation and encourage peer-to-peer exchanges between subnational officials and local populations. These exchanges further enable local governments to bolster trade and investment, share ideas and best practices, and advance local priorities, while contributing to mutual understanding between our two countries.
In support of this agreement, I have traveled to Brazil and visited almost all of the host cities and states of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. My travels and direct contact with federal and local leaders have provided an excellent opportunity to bolster collaboration between local officials in Brazil and the United States. In addition, U.S.-Brazil cooperative efforts have focused on building economic opportunities for the U.S. private sector through Brazil’s unique position as host of these events.
At the request of Brazil’s Ministry of Sports, I traveled to Sao Paulo and Brasilia in November of last year with a dynamic delegation of sports and entertainment business leaders. The delegation’s collective and diverse experience enabled discussion on a variety of themes within the context of the mega-sporting events, including business opportunities, the creation of a positive legacy, the importance of community involvement, and racial and social inclusion. It also demonstrated the many possibilities for public and private sector engagement with the United States.
I returned to Brazil in March with a delegation of U.S. Government, private sector, and business leaders to further these discussions. We met with key interlocutors who are working actively to expand opportunities for partnerships between U.S. and Brazil state and local officials and the private sectors. Key meetings included discussions with: the Ministry of Foreign Relations; Agnelo Queiroz, Governor, Federal District of Brazil; the Minister of Justice, Special Secretariat for Security for Major Sporting Events; the Minister of Sports; and the leadership of the National Council of State Administration.
These meetings were a great opportunity to talk about the continued U.S. commitment to assisting Brazil in a wide range of areas which included the Brazilians’ interest in collaboration on security; youth development and training; women in sports; social and racial inclusion; accessibility; English language training; and cultural exchanges.
With approximately 400 days until the start of the World Cup, we are moving rapidly on several fronts to promote U.S.-Brazil cooperation to support the organization of mega-sporting events.
I will leave you today with a quote from John Kerry’s first foreign policy address as Secretary of State at the University of Virginia on February 20, 2013: "In today’s global world, there is no longer anything foreign about foreign policy."
Secretary Kerry believes that the everyday lives of the American people are more intertwined than ever before with the lives of citizens in countries throughout the world. No one nation can stand alone.
In the global challenges of diplomacy, development, economic security, and environmental security, we will feel our success or failure just as strongly as people in cities throughout the world who we will never meet.
We must understand and utilize the positive connection between culture, people, the economy, and diplomacy worldwide.
I thank you for your time today. I hope you take full advantage of this wonderful program and come away with a deeper understanding of the American people – and with enduring friendships that will strengthen the ties of our cities.
U.S. MARSHALS ANNOUNCES LARGEST PROPERTY SALE IN THEIR HISTORY
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
U.S. Marshals Announce Largest Real Property Sale in Marshals Service History
New York, NY – Joseph R. Guccione, the United States Marshal for the Southern District of New York, announced today the largest sale of real property in U.S. Marshals Service history. The 14-room, 5,130 square foot, pre-war luxury penthouse duplex apartment by renowned Italian-American architect Rosario Candela, located on Park Avenue, New York, NY belonging to Hassan Nemazee has been sold by Corcoran Group Real Estate. The U.S. Marshals Service, assisted by their national real property contractor, LPS Asset Management Solutions and Sotheby’s International Realty, announced that the property formerly owned by Hassan Nemazee has sold for $17,750,000. Nemazee was convicted for a $292 million fraud scheme and is currently serving 12 years in federal prison.
As part of the sentence, Nemazee was ordered to forfeit various real properties, corporate entities, hedge funds, securities accounts, and bank accounts, including his interests in an apartment in Rome, Italy; property in Puglia, Italy; a luxury yacht and private plane; various Manhattan apartments, including the one located on Park Avenue; a 22-acre estate in Katonah, New York; and various privately- and publicly-held companies.
"This marks the largest sale of a residential property obtained through ill-gotten gains in the U.S. Marshals Service’s 224-year history," said Guccione. "The Marshals Service has been able to compensate victims of this criminal enterprise by providing restitution payments in excess of $90 million. Depriving criminals of their ill-gotten gains sends out a strong and clear message."
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| The U.S. Marshals Service administers the Department of Justice's Asset Forfeiture Program by managing and disposing of properties seized and forfeited by federal law enforcement agencies and U.S. Attorneys nationwide. The program has become a key part of the federal government's efforts to combat major criminal activities. The Marshals Service currently manages approximately 23,000 assets with a value of more than $2.4 billion |
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
U.S. Marshals Announce Largest Real Property Sale in Marshals Service History
New York, NY – Joseph R. Guccione, the United States Marshal for the Southern District of New York, announced today the largest sale of real property in U.S. Marshals Service history. The 14-room, 5,130 square foot, pre-war luxury penthouse duplex apartment by renowned Italian-American architect Rosario Candela, located on Park Avenue, New York, NY belonging to Hassan Nemazee has been sold by Corcoran Group Real Estate. The U.S. Marshals Service, assisted by their national real property contractor, LPS Asset Management Solutions and Sotheby’s International Realty, announced that the property formerly owned by Hassan Nemazee has sold for $17,750,000. Nemazee was convicted for a $292 million fraud scheme and is currently serving 12 years in federal prison.
As part of the sentence, Nemazee was ordered to forfeit various real properties, corporate entities, hedge funds, securities accounts, and bank accounts, including his interests in an apartment in Rome, Italy; property in Puglia, Italy; a luxury yacht and private plane; various Manhattan apartments, including the one located on Park Avenue; a 22-acre estate in Katonah, New York; and various privately- and publicly-held companies.
"This marks the largest sale of a residential property obtained through ill-gotten gains in the U.S. Marshals Service’s 224-year history," said Guccione. "The Marshals Service has been able to compensate victims of this criminal enterprise by providing restitution payments in excess of $90 million. Depriving criminals of their ill-gotten gains sends out a strong and clear message."
THE LIGHTING CEREMONY AT THE 2013 WARRIOR GAMES
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| Paralympian gold medal winner Navy Lt. Bradley Snyder, with the help of Prince Harry and Olympian Missy Franklin, light the official torch to begin the 2013 Warrior Games at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., May 11, 2013. Photo by EJ Hersom |
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Lighting Ceremony Kicks-off 2013 Warrior Games
By Shannon Collins
Defense Media Activity
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., May 11, 2013 - The 2013 Warrior Games began today when Navy Lt. Bradley Snyder, with the help of Prince Harry and Olympian Missy Franklin, lit the official torch during the event's opening ceremonies at the U.S. Olympic Training Center here.
From May 11-16, more than 200 wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans from the U.S. Marines, Army, Air Force and Navy, as well as a team representing U.S. Special Operations Command and an international team representing the United Kingdom, will compete for the gold in track and field, shooting, swimming, cycling, archery, wheelchair basketball and sitting volleyball at the U.S. Olympic Training Center and U.S. Air Force Academy here.
The military service with the most medals will win the Chairman's Cup.
Snyder said he was honored to light the cauldron.
"I am humbled by the opportunity to still be a part of something very near and dear to my heart," he said. "The Warrior Games have already had an impact on so many lives, and I am truly honored to represent the U.S. Navy in broadening the event."
While serving in Afghanistan in 2011, Snyder lost his vision when an improvised explosive device detonated. He competed in the 2012 Warrior Games. Later that year, he went on to qualify in swimming for the London 2012 Paralympic Games, where he won two gold medals and one silver medal. Snyder won the men's 400-meter freestyle on the exact one-year anniversary of his injury.
Third-time Warrior Games attendee Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr. spoke during the event's opening ceremonies.
"Our nation's wounded, ill and injured are very special people to me and my wife, Mary, and they will continue to be special to us. This is the highlight of our year, every year," he said.
The admiral told the athletes they are the best of the best.
"You warriors are here because of your willingness to overcome great challenges, the challenges of illness and injury, both seen and unseen, coupled with the challenges that any superior athlete must overcome in achieving greatness," he said. "Your heroism and determination are an inspiration. Whenever I'm having a bad day or I'm facing a seemingly insurmountable challenge, I just think of you, and my day becomes a very nice day."
Winnefeld also recognized the athletes' family members who serve as caregivers.
"Mary and I extend our heartfelt thanks to the family members and friends of our athletes here today, especially those who unselfishly dropped everything else in their lives to become dedicated caregivers," he said. "It's very hard work, and it's often overlooked. They are very special people."
The admiral also extended congratulations to athletes like Snyder who now compete on the Paralympic team and win gold medals for the U.S. team.
The Warrior Games were created in 2010 as an introduction to adaptive sports and reconditioning activities for service members and veterans.
Adaptive sports and reconditioning are linked to a variety of benefits for wounded, ill, and injured service members across all branches of the military. Benefits include less stress, reduced dependency on pain and depression medication, fewer secondary medical conditions, higher achievement in education and employment, and increased independence, self-confidence, and mobility.
The fourth annual Warrior Games are hosted by the U.S. Olympic Committee and supported by the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the United Service Organizations, the Fisher House Foundation, the Semper Fi Fund, the Bob Woodruff Foundation and other corporate sponsors.
"We are proud to host the Warrior Games at the U.S. Olympic Training Center and the Air Force Academy," Charlie Huebner, the chief of Paralympics for the U.S. Olympics Committee, stated in a release.
"Paralympic sport has a tremendously positive impact on individuals with physical disabilities," Huebner added, "and the Warrior Games allow us to salute these fine young men and women who have served their countries honorably."
Admission to Warrior Games competitions is free and open to the public.
FEMA SAYS TO BEWARE THE MOLD AS THE TEMPERATURES RISE
FROM: U.S. FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
Mold Hazard After Flooding May Return as Weather Warms
WINDSOR, Conn. – The floodwaters may have receded months ago, but mold and mildew – dormant during the winter months -- may reappear in water-damaged homes as the weather warms.
Mold only grows in warm, wet conditions and may have been inactive and unnoticed during the winter months. It can lurk throughout a home, from the attic to the basement and crawl spaces.
State and federal disaster recovery officials warn that mold can cause serious, long-term health problems. The best defense is to thoroughly clean, disinfect, and dry areas where mold is found. Porous materials—things that absorb water—can trap mold forever and should be discarded.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone avoid unnecessary exposure to mold, especially anyone at high risk for infection.
Mold Hazard After Flooding May Return as Weather Warms
WINDSOR, Conn. – The floodwaters may have receded months ago, but mold and mildew – dormant during the winter months -- may reappear in water-damaged homes as the weather warms.
Mold only grows in warm, wet conditions and may have been inactive and unnoticed during the winter months. It can lurk throughout a home, from the attic to the basement and crawl spaces.
State and federal disaster recovery officials warn that mold can cause serious, long-term health problems. The best defense is to thoroughly clean, disinfect, and dry areas where mold is found. Porous materials—things that absorb water—can trap mold forever and should be discarded.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone avoid unnecessary exposure to mold, especially anyone at high risk for infection.
THE SPONGE AND THE CORAL REEF
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| Puff Sponge. Credit: Wikimedia. |
Life on a Coral Reef: Insult Is (Sometimes) Added to Injury
When is insult added to injury for a Caribbean coral reef?
When overfishing removes predatory fish that feed on sponges, according to results reported this week in the journal PLOS ONE.
Using the undersea habitat Aquarius--moored on Conch Reef off Key Largo, Florida--marine scientist Joseph Pawlik of the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) and colleagues found that these predator-fish are the same brightly colored angelfish and parrotfish that attract scuba divers and glass-bottom boat tourists.
Pawlik is first author of the PLOS ONE paper; co-authors, all from UNCW, are Tse-Lynn Loh, Steven McMurray and Christopher Finelli.
Chemical warfare beneath the waves
The fish prey on sponges without chemical defenses--sponges missing what might be called the "yuk factor."
"Sponges that manufacture metabolites that are distasteful to fish are largely left alone," says Pawlik.
"That being said, when overfishing by humans removes these predatory fish, reefs shift toward faster-growing sponges that can out-compete reef corals for space.
"That further hinders corals' chances of recovery."
Coral cover on Caribbean reefs is at historic lows due to disease, heat stress from warming waters and waves from storms.
Undersea garden of sponges
"Coral reefs, especially in the Caribbean, have undergone many changes in the past few decades," says David Garrison, program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research.
"With the decline of reef-building corals, sponges are becoming the main organisms on many reefs. These findings provide important information about interactions between sponges and predatory fish in coral reef communities."
Previous research showed that Caribbean sponge communities were primarily structured by the availability of plankton, or tiny floating plants and animals, rather than by predators.
But sponge growth experiments performed by Pawlik and colleagues--research that used cages to exclude predators--show the opposite.
"Overfished reefs that lack spongivores [sponge-eating fish] soon become dominated by faster-growing, chemically undefended sponge species, which better compete for space with reef-building corals," says Pawlik.
Endangered corals: threatened by 'new game in town'?
That has implications for fisheries management throughout the Caribbean.
"Some coral species are listed as critically endangered on the IUCN [International Union for Conservation of Nature] Red List, with four reef-building corals on the top ten list for risk of extinction."
Sponges are already overrunning certain coral reefs.
"As the effects of climate change and ocean acidification disrupt marine communities," says Pawlik, "it's likely that reef-building corals will suffer greater harm than sponges, which don't form at-risk limestone skeletons [as corals do]."
Hence, he believes, Caribbean reefs of the future are likely to be made up increasingly of sponges.
U.S. MILITARY FACILITIES IN NEW MEXICO GET VISITED BY NATO DELEGATION
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| Air Force Base, N.M. Sandia National Laboratories photo by Randy Montoya |
NATO Delegation Visits New Mexico Facilities
By Sheryl Hingorani
Sandia National Laboratories
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M., May 9, 2013 - A group of NATO officials are learning about work being done to support the extended nuclear deterrence mission and broader national security programs, ranging from homeland security to global nonproliferation efforts, during a three-day visit to Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.
The group is touring Sandia National Laboratories and other facilities on the base in a visit that began May 8 and ends tomorrow. It includes more than 50 representatives from 23 European countries, along with officials from the Departments of Defense and State, the National Nuclear Security Administration, and other U.S. government agencies. The visitors are accompanied by Andrew Weber, assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs, and by Elaine Bunn, deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear and missile defense policy.
The visit allows the delegation to see the research and technology required to implement U.S. policies that support the NATO alliance. The agenda for the visit includes an overview of national security and nuclear weapons programs at Sandia, Los Alamos, and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories and the National Nuclear Security Administration's nuclear weapons enterprise, as well as mission briefings by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center.
Sandia President and Laboratories Director Paul Hommert presented an overview of the laboratories' history from their beginnings in the Manhattan Project, which built the first atomic bombs during World War II, to the nuclear weapons manufacturing focus of the Z Division that gave birth to Sandia as a separate laboratory in 1949. Hommert outlined Sandia's sole focus on nuclear weapons through the 1950s and its subsequent evolution into broader national security research, including energy and Department of Defense work outside the sphere of weapons. He emphasized, however, that Sandia is focused on its core responsibility—nuclear weapons life extension programs.
"We are in full gear to execute this mission" with the NATO alliance in mind, Hommert said.
Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry welcomed the group May 8 at a working lunch at Sandia National Laboratories' International Programs Building. Berry told the delegates he considers the city "the cradle of defense" and cited Sandia's "profound importance for our world and security for our all citizens."
Sandia officials, supported by the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Air Force, also demonstrated various capabilities associated with the labs' pivotal role in supporting the nation's nuclear deterrence and non-proliferation efforts. The delegates took a windshield tour of Sandia's large-scale experimental test areas, saw demonstrations of nuclear accident response equipment, and viewed exhibits related to both homeland and global security programs. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency provided briefings on how they support nuclear surety and inspections, as well as the on-site inspection program activities which support treaty verification activities.
Five members of the delegation will participate in a national security speakers series panel tomorrow, which will be moderated by Bunn and will address U.S. allies' views of extended deterrence, the role of NATO member states in the nuclear deterrent, and arms control negotiations.
WINDS OVER THE MARSHAL ISLANDS OBSERVED
FROM: NASA
Red and white vapor clouds filled the skies over the Marshall Islands as part of NASA’s Equatorial Vortex Experiment (EVEX). The red cloud was formed by the release of lithium vapor and the white tracer clouds were formed by the release of trimethyl aluminum (TMA). These clouds allowed scientists on the ground from various locations in the Marshall Islands to observe the neutral winds in the ionosphere. The EVEX was successfully conducted during the early morning hours on May 7 from Roi Namur, Republic of the Marshall Islands. A NASA Terrier-Oriole sounding rocket was launched at 3:39 a.m. EDT and was followed by a launch of Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket 90 seconds later. Preliminary indications are that both rockets released their vapor clouds of lithium or trimethyl aluminum, which were observed from various locations in the area, and all science instruments on the rockets worked as planned. Image Credit: NASA/John Grant
Sunday, May 12, 2013
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE HAGEL SPEAKS AT 2013 SOREF SYMPOSIUM
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| Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy's 2013 Soref Symposium in Washington, D.C., May 9, 2013. DOD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo |
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Hagel Stresses Regional Cooperation on Middle East Issues
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 9, 2013 - The United States faces "astounding challenges" surrounding its strategic interests in the Middle East, but is working with allies and partners to comprehensively address the political, economic and security uncertainty, and the threats of extremism and proliferation, that beset the region, America's defense chief said today.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel traveled to Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates in late April. Tonight he offered an audience his views on the issues he discussed with those countries' leaders. During a speech at the 2013 Soref Symposium, an event hosted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Hagel said America's Middle East strategy is founded on and framed around its commitment to Israel.
"Israel is America's closest friend and ally in the Middle East," Hagel said, noting that he attended a series of meetings in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Moshe Yaalon.
During those meetings, "I conveyed our continued commitment to enhancing defense cooperation with Israel - which has reached unprecedented levels in recent years," Hagel said.
A core principle of U.S.-Israel security cooperation is America's commitment to or what Hagel called "its capacity to defeat any threat or combination of threats from state or non-state actors."
The Defense Department works closely with Isreal's Ministry of Defense to develop and field the versatile range of advanced capabilities Israel needs to defend its people and interests, Hagel said. The rocket and missile defense efforts Iron Dome, Arrow, and David's Sling demonstrate the department's involvement, he said, but DOD has also worked for more than a year to increase Israel's options against to a range of other threats.
"These efforts culminated in our announcement last month that the United States has agreed to release a package of advanced new capabilities, including anti-radiation missiles and more effective radars for [Israel's] fleet of fighter jets, KC-135 refueling aircraft and the V-22 Osprey," Hagel said. "Along with Israel's status as the only Mid-Eastern nation participating in the Joint Strike Fighter program, this new capabilities package will significantly upgrade their qualitative military edge."
Hagel noted Israel's security, like America's, also relies on strong U.S. partnerships with other regional countries from Jordan and Egypt to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In meeting with those countries' leaders, he said, he frequently discussed two other factors he termed central to current U.S. Middle East strategy: ongoing turmoil in Syria and Iran's destabilizing influence in the region.
"Syria's civil war is putting its stockpiles of chemical weapons and advanced conventional weapons at risk, and the escalation of violence threatens to spill across its borders," Hagel said.
Hagel said that while he was in Jordan, which borders Syria, "I reassured the Jordanians that the United States is committed to the stability of Jordan, and to deepening our close defense cooperation and joint contingency planning with the Jordanian military."
The civil war in Syria was a focus of his discussions in Amman, the secretary said. Hagel summarized U.S. involvement: organizing and applying sanctions against the Assad regime; providing humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, which now totals nearly $510 million; and giving non-lethal assistance to the Syrian opposition.
"We are also urging Russia and China to do more to help resolve this conflict, because it is also clearly in their interests to end the war," he said.
Hagel noted that Secretary of State John Kerry, in Moscow this week, announced along with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that "they will seek to convene an international conference, with representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition, to determine how to implement a political transition in Syria."
Using the full range of tools, he said, the United States will continue to work toward achieving its goal of ending the violence and helping the Syrian people transition to a post-Assad authority.
"This will help restore stability, peace, and hope for all Syrian people," he said. "That goal is shared by our allies in the region - not only those bordering Syria, but also our partners in the Gulf."
In Saudi Arabia and UAE, he said, "Concerns over Iran's support for the Assad regime, its destabilizing activities, and its nuclear program were at the top of the agenda."
The secretary noted President Barack Obama has stated U.S. policy is to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
"I stressed that point during my discussions in the Gulf," Hagel noted, adding that "building a cooperative defense network" is a key pillar of U.S. efforts against Iranian threats -- "raising the military capabilities of our partners in the Gulf who share our commitment to regional security and our concerns about Iran and violent extremism on the Arabian Peninsula."
Agreements finalized during his stops in Saudi Arabia and UAE will give those nations "access to significant new capabilities," Hagel noted: Saudi Arabia will buy 84 Boeing F-15SA fighter aircraft, and the UAE plans to purchase 25 F-16 Desert Falcons.
"Along with other common efforts with Gulf States in areas such as missile defense, this new arrangement ensures that we are coordinating effectively against Iran and other shared security challenges," Hagel said.
The secretary emphasized that U.S. strategy sees the Middle East as critical to its security interests, and a robust presence will remain.
"We have made a determined effort to position high-end air, missile defense, and naval assets to deter Iranian aggression and respond to other contingencies," he said, noting U.S. F-22 fighters, ballistic missile defense ships and sophisticated radars, mine countermeasure assets, and advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft are all part of the nation's regional presence.
"Even as we put our presence on a more sustainable long-term footing, our capabilities in the region will far exceed those that were in place September 11, 2001," he said. "Our defense relationships are also much stronger and far more robust."
The Middle East, made up of very different nations, faces a number of common challenges from Iran, Syria, and the continuing threat of al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, he said.
"These common challenges must be met through the force of coalitions of common interests, which include Israel and our other allies in the region," Hagel added. The most enduring and effective solutions to the challenges facing the region are political, not military, he said, and America's role is to influence and shape the course of events through diplomatic, economic, humanitarian, intelligence and security tools "in coordination with all of our allies."
During his travels in the region, Hagel said, "I thought about what's possible ... if these democratic transitions in the Middle East can succeed, and if a sustainable and comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians is ultimately achieved."
That would bring new possibilities to an old region, the secretary noted.
The best hope for Middle Eastern stability is for countries like Egypt, Libya and Syria to transition to democratic rule, supported by institutions and legal frameworks that respect human life and liberties, he said.
"To assist these nations in achieving these goals, the United States will remain engaged in helping shape the new order, but we must engage wisely," Hagel said. "This will require a clear understanding of our national interests, our limitations, and an appreciation for the complexities of this unpredictable, contradictory, yet hopeful region of the world."
DEFENSE OFFICIALS REQUEST BUDGET TO COVER MISSILE DEFENSE MODERNIZATION
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Officials Call for Continued Ballistic Missile Defense Modernization
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 9, 2013 - Senior defense officials underscored the importance of ballistic missile defense modernization efforts requested in the fiscal 2014 budget proposal during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee today.
The budget requests $9.2 billion in fiscal 2014 and $45.7 billion over future years to develop and deploy missile defense capabilities.
Madelyn Creedon, assistant secretary of defense for global strategic affairs, told the panel these capabilities will both protect the U.S. homeland and strengthen regional missile defenses.
Navy Vice Adm. J.D. Syring, director of the Missile Defense Agency, joined Creedon during the afternoon hearing in citing disturbing trends in Iran, North Korea, Syria and elsewhere around the globe.
"The threat continues to grow as our potential adversaries are acquiring a greater number of ballistic missiles, increasing their range and making them more complex, survivable, reliable and accurate," he reported. "The missile defense mission is becoming more challenging as potential adversaries incorporate [ballistic missile defense] countermeasures."
The administration remains committed to developing proven and cost-effective missile defense capabilities through the phased advance approach to regional missile defense, Creedon noted in her written statement.
"This approach puts emphasis on a flexible military toolkit with forces that are mobile and scalable," she said. As a result, "they underwrite deterrence in peacetime, but can be surged in crisis to meet defense requirements," she said.
Creeden reported on progress on three policy priorities: sustaining a strong homeland defense, strengthening regional missile defense and fostering increased international cooperation and participation.
She emphasized the importance of continually improving the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system in place to protect the U.S. homeland against potential limited intercontinental ballistic missile attacks.
The budget request, she said, supports this effort as well as enhancement of ground-based interceptors and deployment improved sensors, she said. The proposal also includes funding to implement regional missile defense approaches that Creedon said will be tailored to the unique deterrence and defense requirements of Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific regions.
Missile defense, she noted, is an integral part of a comprehensive U.S. effort to strengthen regional deterrence, and plays a central role in DOD's strategic guidance released in January 2012.
While promoting these efforts, the United States is striving to build stronger relationships with allies and partners to cooperatively address the ballistic missile threat, and to help build partner capacity to do so, she said.
Syring reported, for example, that the Missile Defense Agency "is engaged either bilaterally or multilaterally with nearly two dozen countries and international organizations," including NATO and the Gulf Cooperation Council. "We have made good progress in our work with our international partners, and I want to continue those important efforts," he said.
"We have had some very significant successes over the last several years, ... but we cannot afford to stand still," echoed Creedon. "To the contrary, we need to reevaluate the threat continually and adapt as necessary."
The fiscal 2014 budget request reflects DOD's goals of retaining the flexibility to adjust and to enhance its defenses as the threat and technologies evolve, she said.
"Our most vital security commitments – the defense of the United States and the protection of our allies and partners and our forces around the world – demand nothing less," she said.
Officials Call for Continued Ballistic Missile Defense Modernization
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 9, 2013 - Senior defense officials underscored the importance of ballistic missile defense modernization efforts requested in the fiscal 2014 budget proposal during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee today.
The budget requests $9.2 billion in fiscal 2014 and $45.7 billion over future years to develop and deploy missile defense capabilities.
Madelyn Creedon, assistant secretary of defense for global strategic affairs, told the panel these capabilities will both protect the U.S. homeland and strengthen regional missile defenses.
Navy Vice Adm. J.D. Syring, director of the Missile Defense Agency, joined Creedon during the afternoon hearing in citing disturbing trends in Iran, North Korea, Syria and elsewhere around the globe.
"The threat continues to grow as our potential adversaries are acquiring a greater number of ballistic missiles, increasing their range and making them more complex, survivable, reliable and accurate," he reported. "The missile defense mission is becoming more challenging as potential adversaries incorporate [ballistic missile defense] countermeasures."
The administration remains committed to developing proven and cost-effective missile defense capabilities through the phased advance approach to regional missile defense, Creedon noted in her written statement.
"This approach puts emphasis on a flexible military toolkit with forces that are mobile and scalable," she said. As a result, "they underwrite deterrence in peacetime, but can be surged in crisis to meet defense requirements," she said.
Creeden reported on progress on three policy priorities: sustaining a strong homeland defense, strengthening regional missile defense and fostering increased international cooperation and participation.
She emphasized the importance of continually improving the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system in place to protect the U.S. homeland against potential limited intercontinental ballistic missile attacks.
The budget request, she said, supports this effort as well as enhancement of ground-based interceptors and deployment improved sensors, she said. The proposal also includes funding to implement regional missile defense approaches that Creedon said will be tailored to the unique deterrence and defense requirements of Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific regions.
Missile defense, she noted, is an integral part of a comprehensive U.S. effort to strengthen regional deterrence, and plays a central role in DOD's strategic guidance released in January 2012.
While promoting these efforts, the United States is striving to build stronger relationships with allies and partners to cooperatively address the ballistic missile threat, and to help build partner capacity to do so, she said.
Syring reported, for example, that the Missile Defense Agency "is engaged either bilaterally or multilaterally with nearly two dozen countries and international organizations," including NATO and the Gulf Cooperation Council. "We have made good progress in our work with our international partners, and I want to continue those important efforts," he said.
"We have had some very significant successes over the last several years, ... but we cannot afford to stand still," echoed Creedon. "To the contrary, we need to reevaluate the threat continually and adapt as necessary."
The fiscal 2014 budget request reflects DOD's goals of retaining the flexibility to adjust and to enhance its defenses as the threat and technologies evolve, she said.
"Our most vital security commitments – the defense of the United States and the protection of our allies and partners and our forces around the world – demand nothing less," she said.
ARMY COOK FEEDS THE TROOPS AT WAREX 2013 EXERCISE
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Face of Defense: Army Cook Feeds Troops at Exercise
By Army Sgt. Tanya Van Buskirk
78th Training Division
FORT MCCOY, Wis., May 7, 2013 - Cooking for the force is no small undertaking, but Army Pfc. Xavier Vasquez is up to the challenge and says it is an honor for him to serve his fellow soldiers in the dining facility during Warrior Exercise 2013 on Forward Operating Base Liberty here.
Cooks with the 263rd Quartermaster Company, 620th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 96th Sustainment Brigade, from El Paso, Texas, are feeding nearly 500 soldiers during the exercise. Vasquez is part of a team of five cooks led by food service manager Staff Sgt. Kevin Hinson.
Hinson said his cooks are enjoying their training.
"I have a good crew," Hinson said. "These guys are from all over the country, and we worked well together right away. They are excited to be cooking at WAREX."
WAREX 2013 is being conducted this month at Fort McCoy, Wis. The 78th Training Division, an Army Reserve unit from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., is hosting the exercise.
The exercise provides Army Reserve troops with dynamic combat environment simulations and teaches the latest tactics to be used to ensure mission success anywhere in the world.
Vasquez, who's enrolled in college learning the culinary arts, said he is enjoying using his skills to cook for his fellow soldiers.
"I love cooking. No matter what [happens], I am here for my battle buddies -- whatever I can do," Vasquez said. "I like working with people, and being able to talk to [other soldiers] coming back from a hard day and enjoying a warm meal I help cook means a lot to me."
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| Army Reserve Pfc. Xavier Vasquez of the 263rd Quartermaster Company, 620th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 96th Sustainment Brigade, monitors the temperature of rations in the dining facility on Fort McCoy, Wis., May 5, 2013. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Tanya Van Buskirk |
Face of Defense: Army Cook Feeds Troops at Exercise
By Army Sgt. Tanya Van Buskirk
78th Training Division
FORT MCCOY, Wis., May 7, 2013 - Cooking for the force is no small undertaking, but Army Pfc. Xavier Vasquez is up to the challenge and says it is an honor for him to serve his fellow soldiers in the dining facility during Warrior Exercise 2013 on Forward Operating Base Liberty here.
Cooks with the 263rd Quartermaster Company, 620th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 96th Sustainment Brigade, from El Paso, Texas, are feeding nearly 500 soldiers during the exercise. Vasquez is part of a team of five cooks led by food service manager Staff Sgt. Kevin Hinson.
Hinson said his cooks are enjoying their training.
"I have a good crew," Hinson said. "These guys are from all over the country, and we worked well together right away. They are excited to be cooking at WAREX."
WAREX 2013 is being conducted this month at Fort McCoy, Wis. The 78th Training Division, an Army Reserve unit from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., is hosting the exercise.
The exercise provides Army Reserve troops with dynamic combat environment simulations and teaches the latest tactics to be used to ensure mission success anywhere in the world.
Vasquez, who's enrolled in college learning the culinary arts, said he is enjoying using his skills to cook for his fellow soldiers.
"I love cooking. No matter what [happens], I am here for my battle buddies -- whatever I can do," Vasquez said. "I like working with people, and being able to talk to [other soldiers] coming back from a hard day and enjoying a warm meal I help cook means a lot to me."
TREASURY IDENTIFIES FRONT COMPANY AND VESSELS ATTEMPTING TO CIRCUMVENT IRANIAN OIL SANCTIONS
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY
Action Identifies Front Company and Vessels Attempting to Obscure Iranian Oil Deals Using Ship-to-Ship Transfers and Designates Iranian Bank
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury is taking a number of actions today against Iranian attempts to circumvent international financial sanctions. As part of the Treasury Department’s continuing vigilance against Iran’s efforts to use front companies and deceptive business practices to sell their oil on the international market, today Treasury identified Sambouk Shipping FZC as subject to sanctions under Executive Order (E.O.) 13599, which, among other things, targets the Government of Iran (GOI) and persons acting for or on behalf of the GOI. Sambouk Shipping is tied to Dr. Dimitris Cambis who, along with a network of front companies, were sanctioned in March 2013 under E.O. 13599 and the Iran Threat Reduction Act and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (TRA) after the U.S. government uncovered Dr. Cambis’s scheme to evade international oil sanctions against Iran. In an attempt to continue his scheme, Dr. Cambis is using the recently formed Sambouk Shipping to manage eight of the vessels that he operates on behalf of the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC). These vessels have been used to execute ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian oil in the Persian Gulf. These transfers are intended to facilitate deceptive sales of Iranian oil by obscuring the origin of that oil.
Today, the Treasury Department also imposed sanctions against Iranian Venezuelan Bi-National Bank (IVBB). IVBB was designated pursuant to E.O. 13382, which targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their supporters, for engaging in financial transactions on behalf of the previously sanctioned Export Development Bank of Iran (EDBI).
"As Iran becomes increasingly isolated from the international financial system and energy markets, it is turning increasingly to convoluted schemes and shady actors to maintain its access to the global financial system," said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen. "As long as Iran tries to evade our sanctions, we will continue to expose their deceptive maneuvers."
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is also updating its list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List) entries today for eight vessels blocked due to the interest of National Iranian Tanker Company in the vessels. Since their original identification these vessels have been renamed and/or reflagged. Treasury is also identifying eight previously unidentified vessels as blocked property in which NITC has an interest. Including today’s additions, Treasury has identified 64 vessels as blocked property in which NITC has an interest.
U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with the entities listed today, and any assets those entities may have subject to U.S. jurisdiction are frozen.
The Iranian Venezuelan Bi-National Bank
The Iranian Venezuelan Bi-National Bank (IVBB) is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13382 for its activities on behalf of EDBI. EDBI was designated under E.O. 13382 on October 22, 2008, for providing financial services to Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL).
IVBB has been processing funds transfers on behalf of EDBI since at least January 2012. EDBI has used IVBB to act as a proxy to fund export activities and to transfer millions of dollars worth of funds from China’s Bank of Kunlun to EDBI. Additionally, senior EDBI staff is entitled to authorize transaction instructions to Bank of Kunlun on behalf of IVBB.
Bank of Kunlun was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department under Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (CISADA) on July 31, 2012, for providing financial services to more than six Iranian banks that were designated by the U.S. in connection with Iran’s WMD programs or its support for international terrorism. Prior to the sanctions imposed against it under the CISADA, Bank of Kunlun was engaged in a significant amount of direct of business with EDBI, handling the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars worth of funds for EDBI.
IVBB was originally established as a joint venture between Iran and Venezuela, and EDBI was the Iranian party tasked with creating the joint venture with Venezuela. However, there is no evidence Venezuela retains any ties to this bank.
Identifying Information
Name: Iranian-Venezuelan Bi-National Bank
Address: Tosee Building Ground Floor, Bokharest Street 44-46, Tehran, Iran
SWIFT/BIC: IVBBIRT1
Name: Sambouk Shipping FZC
Address: FITCO Building No. 3, Office 101, 1st Floor, P.O. Box 50044, Fujairah, United Arab Emirates
Alternate Address: Office 1202, Crystal Plaza, PO Box 50044, Buhaira Corniche, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Newly-Identified Vessels:
Name: Atlantis
Vessel Type: Crude Oil Tanker
Flag: Tanzania
IMO Number: 9569621
Name: Badr
Vessel Type: Utility Vessel
Flag: Iran
IMO Number: 8407345
Name: Demos
Vessel Type: Crude Oil Tanker
Flag: Tanzania
IMO Number: 9569683
Name: Infinity
Vessel Type: Crude Oil Tanker
Flag: Tanzania
IMO Number: 9569671
Name: Justice
Vessel Type: Crude Oil Tanker
Flag: None Identified
IMO Number: 9357729
Name: Sunrise
Vessel Type: LPG Tanker
Flag: None Identified
IMO Number: 9615092
Name: Skyline
Vessel Type: Crude Oil Tanker
Flag: Tanzania
IMO Number: 9569669
Name: Younes
Vessel Type: Platform Supply Ship
Flag: Iran
Action Identifies Front Company and Vessels Attempting to Obscure Iranian Oil Deals Using Ship-to-Ship Transfers and Designates Iranian Bank
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury is taking a number of actions today against Iranian attempts to circumvent international financial sanctions. As part of the Treasury Department’s continuing vigilance against Iran’s efforts to use front companies and deceptive business practices to sell their oil on the international market, today Treasury identified Sambouk Shipping FZC as subject to sanctions under Executive Order (E.O.) 13599, which, among other things, targets the Government of Iran (GOI) and persons acting for or on behalf of the GOI. Sambouk Shipping is tied to Dr. Dimitris Cambis who, along with a network of front companies, were sanctioned in March 2013 under E.O. 13599 and the Iran Threat Reduction Act and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (TRA) after the U.S. government uncovered Dr. Cambis’s scheme to evade international oil sanctions against Iran. In an attempt to continue his scheme, Dr. Cambis is using the recently formed Sambouk Shipping to manage eight of the vessels that he operates on behalf of the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC). These vessels have been used to execute ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian oil in the Persian Gulf. These transfers are intended to facilitate deceptive sales of Iranian oil by obscuring the origin of that oil.
Today, the Treasury Department also imposed sanctions against Iranian Venezuelan Bi-National Bank (IVBB). IVBB was designated pursuant to E.O. 13382, which targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their supporters, for engaging in financial transactions on behalf of the previously sanctioned Export Development Bank of Iran (EDBI).
"As Iran becomes increasingly isolated from the international financial system and energy markets, it is turning increasingly to convoluted schemes and shady actors to maintain its access to the global financial system," said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen. "As long as Iran tries to evade our sanctions, we will continue to expose their deceptive maneuvers."
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is also updating its list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List) entries today for eight vessels blocked due to the interest of National Iranian Tanker Company in the vessels. Since their original identification these vessels have been renamed and/or reflagged. Treasury is also identifying eight previously unidentified vessels as blocked property in which NITC has an interest. Including today’s additions, Treasury has identified 64 vessels as blocked property in which NITC has an interest.
U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with the entities listed today, and any assets those entities may have subject to U.S. jurisdiction are frozen.
The Iranian Venezuelan Bi-National Bank
The Iranian Venezuelan Bi-National Bank (IVBB) is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13382 for its activities on behalf of EDBI. EDBI was designated under E.O. 13382 on October 22, 2008, for providing financial services to Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL).
IVBB has been processing funds transfers on behalf of EDBI since at least January 2012. EDBI has used IVBB to act as a proxy to fund export activities and to transfer millions of dollars worth of funds from China’s Bank of Kunlun to EDBI. Additionally, senior EDBI staff is entitled to authorize transaction instructions to Bank of Kunlun on behalf of IVBB.
Bank of Kunlun was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department under Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (CISADA) on July 31, 2012, for providing financial services to more than six Iranian banks that were designated by the U.S. in connection with Iran’s WMD programs or its support for international terrorism. Prior to the sanctions imposed against it under the CISADA, Bank of Kunlun was engaged in a significant amount of direct of business with EDBI, handling the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars worth of funds for EDBI.
IVBB was originally established as a joint venture between Iran and Venezuela, and EDBI was the Iranian party tasked with creating the joint venture with Venezuela. However, there is no evidence Venezuela retains any ties to this bank.
Identifying Information
Name: Iranian-Venezuelan Bi-National Bank
Address: Tosee Building Ground Floor, Bokharest Street 44-46, Tehran, Iran
SWIFT/BIC: IVBBIRT1
Name: Sambouk Shipping FZC
Address: FITCO Building No. 3, Office 101, 1st Floor, P.O. Box 50044, Fujairah, United Arab Emirates
Alternate Address: Office 1202, Crystal Plaza, PO Box 50044, Buhaira Corniche, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Newly-Identified Vessels:
Name: Atlantis
Vessel Type: Crude Oil Tanker
Flag: Tanzania
IMO Number: 9569621
Name: Badr
Vessel Type: Utility Vessel
Flag: Iran
IMO Number: 8407345
Name: Demos
Vessel Type: Crude Oil Tanker
Flag: Tanzania
IMO Number: 9569683
Name: Infinity
Vessel Type: Crude Oil Tanker
Flag: Tanzania
IMO Number: 9569671
Name: Justice
Vessel Type: Crude Oil Tanker
Flag: None Identified
IMO Number: 9357729
Name: Sunrise
Vessel Type: LPG Tanker
Flag: None Identified
IMO Number: 9615092
Name: Skyline
Vessel Type: Crude Oil Tanker
Flag: Tanzania
IMO Number: 9569669
Name: Younes
Vessel Type: Platform Supply Ship
Flag: Iran
EPA ANNOUNCES $62.5 MILLION IN GRANTS FOR SELECTED RECIPIENTS
FROM: U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
EPA Announces Selected Recipients to Receive $62.5 Million to Clean Up Contaminated Sites, Protect Health and the Environment, and Revitalize Communities Nationwide
WASHINGTON – Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the selection of 240 recipients recommended to receive $62.5 million in grants to protect people’s health and the environment in local communities. These new investments, funded by EPA’s Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (ARC) grants, provide communities with funding necessary to assess, cleanup and redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and leverage jobs while protecting public health and the environment.
"Brownfields sites are community assets and a key component of the Obama Administration’s efforts to provide tools to sustainably revitalize communities and foster economic development," said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. "Through these grant resources local communities can continue to assess, cleanup and redevelop properties to meet local needs for jobs, housing and recreation while protecting people’s health and the local environment."
These Brownfields grants target under-served and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods – places where environmental cleanups and new jobs are most needed. Approximately $29.5 million are going to communities that have been impacted by auto plant closures. Other selected recipients include tribes and communities in 45 states across the country. Communities selected range in population from a few hundred, like City of St. Marks, Fla. to New York City, which is home to more than 8 million people. Specifically, 106 grants will support communities with populations greater than 100,000 and 134 grants will go to communities with fewer than 100,000 residents -- with 29 of these will go to communities of less than 10,000 people. Nearly half of the grantees this year are new recipients.
The InterRoyal Mill in Connecticut and a former Electroplater property in New York are just two examples of former industrial sites receiving assessment funding.In Rhode Island, cleanup funding will go toward cleaning up an abandoned former service station and other contaminated properties at the Uniroyal rubber plant site. Other types of sites selected for cleanup include a closed middle school, salvage yard, hospital and manufacturing properties. Future anticipated uses include neighborhood redevelopment, commercial revitalization, an arts center, business park, wellness center/clinic, community health center, theater, and office space.
There are an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated sites in the United States. More than 20,000 properties have been assessed, and more than 850 properties have been cleaned up through EPA’s Brownfields program. EPA’s Brownfields investments have also leveraged more than $19 billion in overall cleanup and redevelopment funding from public and private sources. On average $17.79 is leveraged for every EPA Brownfields grant dollar spent. These investments resulted in approximately 87,000 jobs nationwide. When Brownfields are addressed, nearby property values can increase 2-3 percent. A 2011 pilot study indicated Brownfields site redevelopment increases location efficiency, which means that residents live closer to where they work and play reducing their commute times and greenhouse gas emissions. EPA’s preliminary research has also shown that redeveloping Brownfield sites results in an efficient reuse of existing infrastructure and decreasing instances of stormwater runoff. These projects can have a positive impact on community revitalization by leveraging jobs, producing clean energy, and providing recreation opportunities for surrounding neighborhoods.
EPA Announces Selected Recipients to Receive $62.5 Million to Clean Up Contaminated Sites, Protect Health and the Environment, and Revitalize Communities Nationwide
WASHINGTON – Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the selection of 240 recipients recommended to receive $62.5 million in grants to protect people’s health and the environment in local communities. These new investments, funded by EPA’s Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (ARC) grants, provide communities with funding necessary to assess, cleanup and redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and leverage jobs while protecting public health and the environment.
"Brownfields sites are community assets and a key component of the Obama Administration’s efforts to provide tools to sustainably revitalize communities and foster economic development," said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. "Through these grant resources local communities can continue to assess, cleanup and redevelop properties to meet local needs for jobs, housing and recreation while protecting people’s health and the local environment."
These Brownfields grants target under-served and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods – places where environmental cleanups and new jobs are most needed. Approximately $29.5 million are going to communities that have been impacted by auto plant closures. Other selected recipients include tribes and communities in 45 states across the country. Communities selected range in population from a few hundred, like City of St. Marks, Fla. to New York City, which is home to more than 8 million people. Specifically, 106 grants will support communities with populations greater than 100,000 and 134 grants will go to communities with fewer than 100,000 residents -- with 29 of these will go to communities of less than 10,000 people. Nearly half of the grantees this year are new recipients.
The InterRoyal Mill in Connecticut and a former Electroplater property in New York are just two examples of former industrial sites receiving assessment funding.In Rhode Island, cleanup funding will go toward cleaning up an abandoned former service station and other contaminated properties at the Uniroyal rubber plant site. Other types of sites selected for cleanup include a closed middle school, salvage yard, hospital and manufacturing properties. Future anticipated uses include neighborhood redevelopment, commercial revitalization, an arts center, business park, wellness center/clinic, community health center, theater, and office space.
There are an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated sites in the United States. More than 20,000 properties have been assessed, and more than 850 properties have been cleaned up through EPA’s Brownfields program. EPA’s Brownfields investments have also leveraged more than $19 billion in overall cleanup and redevelopment funding from public and private sources. On average $17.79 is leveraged for every EPA Brownfields grant dollar spent. These investments resulted in approximately 87,000 jobs nationwide. When Brownfields are addressed, nearby property values can increase 2-3 percent. A 2011 pilot study indicated Brownfields site redevelopment increases location efficiency, which means that residents live closer to where they work and play reducing their commute times and greenhouse gas emissions. EPA’s preliminary research has also shown that redeveloping Brownfield sites results in an efficient reuse of existing infrastructure and decreasing instances of stormwater runoff. These projects can have a positive impact on community revitalization by leveraging jobs, producing clean energy, and providing recreation opportunities for surrounding neighborhoods.
WHAT TO DO IF 1.5 TON SATELLITE HEADS FOR YOU IN SPACE
FROM: NASA
The Day NASA's Fermi Dodged a 1.5-ton Bullet
On March 29, 2012, the science team for NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope learned that a defunct Cold-War spy satellite would pass too close for comfort on April 4. The two spacecraft were expected to occupy the same point in space within 30 milliseconds of each other, which meant that Fermi had to get out of the way. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Saturday, May 11, 2013
TROOP MORALE AND GUACAMOLE
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Face of Defense: NCO's Guacamole Boosts Troop Morale
U.S. Air Forces Central
SOUTHWEST ASIA, May 8, 2013 - La conversacion es la comida del alma: "Conversation is food for the soul." But what better way to start conversation than with food?
Master Sgt. John P. Garcia Jr., Air Forces Central Command vehicle fleet manager, is a native of Los Angeles currently on his eighth trip to this side of the world. And on each trip, he has made it his mission to bring a little bit of home to his fellow airmen.
"Over the years, I have learned to use my talent in the culinary world to teach others about my Mexican culture, while enjoying some authentic and sometimes secret recipes," Garcia said. "The conclusion is always the same; it pulls all of us together, as kind of an ice breaker, which ultimately increases morale."
Garcia's signature dish, guacamole, originated in the 16th century with the Aztecs, and since then it has been passed down through generations, each adding their own touch and flavor. When Garcia and his wife, Jenny, both rich in Mexican heritage, married seven years ago, it was no different with their family.
"The current recipe is a combination of my wife's family secrets and ours," Garcia said. "As for my mastering the art, I owe it all to Mom and Grandma Rosie, teaching me as a young bachelor how to represent."
Although Garcia has been making the dish for years, he acknowledged it is not without its challenges.
Finding the ingredients can be tricky, since grocery stores are not readily available in deployed locations.
"The first time I make guacamole at a new base, it is sometimes a struggle to find everything I need," Garcia said. "But, after the airmen taste it for the first time, the avocados start showing up on my desk. With a little networking, and the excitement of a traditional Mexican dish, there is always enough motivation to find a way to pull it all together."
But that isn't his only trick.
"Worst case scenario, if there is any ingredient that cannot be found in country, I'll grow it," he said. "I have a jalapeno plant growing now, and should have some nice and spicy chili by the end of May."
Garcia said the first time he grew jalapenos was in 1993 at a Mideast location, and he's been growing them ever since.
"There is nothing like the freshest ingredients," he added.
Once all the materials are assembled, the only obstacle is finding the time.
"Most Mexican recipes are very simple, but take a while," said Air Force Master Sgt. Jordi Sancho, AFCENT transportation manager, who sometimes helps Garcia with his signature dish.
Over the course of the past few months, Garcia has enlisted several airmen in addition to Sancho to help him make the dish. This, in turn, cuts down on the production time.
"At first, most see it as a chance to break up the monotony, but after the second or third time they begin to get involved and some even take over," Garcia said. "This brings peace to me, knowing something so simple makes such a big difference for so many folks. There has been multiple times where the tradition continues even after I'm long gone."
His deployment to the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, was one of them and it seems this assignment will be too.
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Mishal Crane, Combined Air and Space Operations Center noncommissioned officer in charge of commander support staff, is another helper and said she plans to use the recipe in deployments to come.
"It reminds me a lot of home," said Crane, who grew up in the same neighborhood as Garcia, and is of Hispanic descent. "If the ingredients are available, I will most definitely be carrying on this tradition."
Garcia said his recipe, containing one secret step, is only passed on to those who are willing to work alongside him and learn.
But whether the recipe and tradition are passed down or not, he said, just seeing the smiling faces of airmen enjoying his guacamole is all that matters.
 |
| Air Force Master Sgt. John P. Garcia Jr., Air Forces Central Command vehicle fleet manager, and Air Force Tech. Sgt. Mishal Crane, Combined Air and Space Operations Center noncommissioned officer in charge of commander support staff, prepare ingredients for guacamole at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia on May 3, 2013. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Rachelle Elsea |
Face of Defense: NCO's Guacamole Boosts Troop Morale
U.S. Air Forces Central
SOUTHWEST ASIA, May 8, 2013 - La conversacion es la comida del alma: "Conversation is food for the soul." But what better way to start conversation than with food?
Master Sgt. John P. Garcia Jr., Air Forces Central Command vehicle fleet manager, is a native of Los Angeles currently on his eighth trip to this side of the world. And on each trip, he has made it his mission to bring a little bit of home to his fellow airmen.
"Over the years, I have learned to use my talent in the culinary world to teach others about my Mexican culture, while enjoying some authentic and sometimes secret recipes," Garcia said. "The conclusion is always the same; it pulls all of us together, as kind of an ice breaker, which ultimately increases morale."
Garcia's signature dish, guacamole, originated in the 16th century with the Aztecs, and since then it has been passed down through generations, each adding their own touch and flavor. When Garcia and his wife, Jenny, both rich in Mexican heritage, married seven years ago, it was no different with their family.
"The current recipe is a combination of my wife's family secrets and ours," Garcia said. "As for my mastering the art, I owe it all to Mom and Grandma Rosie, teaching me as a young bachelor how to represent."
Although Garcia has been making the dish for years, he acknowledged it is not without its challenges.
Finding the ingredients can be tricky, since grocery stores are not readily available in deployed locations.
"The first time I make guacamole at a new base, it is sometimes a struggle to find everything I need," Garcia said. "But, after the airmen taste it for the first time, the avocados start showing up on my desk. With a little networking, and the excitement of a traditional Mexican dish, there is always enough motivation to find a way to pull it all together."
But that isn't his only trick.
"Worst case scenario, if there is any ingredient that cannot be found in country, I'll grow it," he said. "I have a jalapeno plant growing now, and should have some nice and spicy chili by the end of May."
Garcia said the first time he grew jalapenos was in 1993 at a Mideast location, and he's been growing them ever since.
"There is nothing like the freshest ingredients," he added.
Once all the materials are assembled, the only obstacle is finding the time.
"Most Mexican recipes are very simple, but take a while," said Air Force Master Sgt. Jordi Sancho, AFCENT transportation manager, who sometimes helps Garcia with his signature dish.
Over the course of the past few months, Garcia has enlisted several airmen in addition to Sancho to help him make the dish. This, in turn, cuts down on the production time.
"At first, most see it as a chance to break up the monotony, but after the second or third time they begin to get involved and some even take over," Garcia said. "This brings peace to me, knowing something so simple makes such a big difference for so many folks. There has been multiple times where the tradition continues even after I'm long gone."
His deployment to the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, was one of them and it seems this assignment will be too.
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Mishal Crane, Combined Air and Space Operations Center noncommissioned officer in charge of commander support staff, is another helper and said she plans to use the recipe in deployments to come.
"It reminds me a lot of home," said Crane, who grew up in the same neighborhood as Garcia, and is of Hispanic descent. "If the ingredients are available, I will most definitely be carrying on this tradition."
Garcia said his recipe, containing one secret step, is only passed on to those who are willing to work alongside him and learn.
But whether the recipe and tradition are passed down or not, he said, just seeing the smiling faces of airmen enjoying his guacamole is all that matters.
U.S. OFFICIAL'S REMARKS ON THE CHANGING MIDDLE EAST
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
America and a Changing Middle East
Remarks
William J. Burns
Deputy Secretary of State
Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey
May 6, 2013
Thank you, Dan. It’s an honor to be back at Princeton, and back at the Woodrow Wilson School, an institution whose commitment to public service I have long admired. It’s an honor to be among so many people whose service to our nation I respect so much -- from George Mitchell to Ryan Crocker. And it’s a particular honor to be introduced by my friend, Dan Kurtzer. There is, quite simply, no better model of skill and professionalism and decency in American diplomacy than Dan.
I’ve been asked this morning to offer a few reflections on American policy across a Middle East in the midst of profound and turbulent change. I promise to be brief, which is probably a healthy instinct at this hour on a Saturday morning.
I wish I could also promise to be uplifting, but that’s a little harder. The Middle East is a place where pessimists seldom lack for either company or validation, where skeptics hardly ever seem wrong. It is a place where American policymakers often learn humility the hard way … a place where you can most easily see the wisdom in Winston Churchill’s famous comment that what he liked most about Americans was that they usually did the right thing in the end; they just liked to exhaust all the alternatives first.
I’ve learned a few things about the Middle East during my own checkered thirty-one year career in the Foreign Service. I’ve learned that stability is not a static phenomenon, and that regimes which do not offer their citizens a sense of political dignity and economic possibility ultimately become brittle and break. I’ve learned that change in the Middle East is rarely neat or linear, but often messy and cruel, and deeply unpredictable in its second and third order consequences.
I’ve learned not to underestimate the depth of mistrust of American motives that animates so many people in the region, and I’ve learned that we often get far more credit than we deserve for complicated conspiracies. I’ve learned that, with all its stubborn dysfunction, the Middle East is a place where people and leaders are capable of great things … and that America diplomacy, with all of our own occasional dysfunction, can make a real and enduring difference.
So let me first talk briefly about why the Middle East still matters in American foreign policy and how the Middle East is changing, and then outline several elements of a positive American policy agenda -- what we can do to help shape, within the limits of our influence, the great generational struggle between moderation and extremism that is unfolding across the Middle East today.
Why the Middle East Still Matters and How It Is Changing
After a post 9/11 decade dominated by two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s not hard to see why Americans would seek to rebalance our priorities. We live in a rapidly changing world, in which American interests are pulled in many directions. I just returned from a long trip to Asia, and it’s obvious that the Asia-Pacific region is not only the most dynamic part of the global economy in the new century which lies ahead, but also a logical centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy. The transformation of the global energy market through the shale technology revolution is also affecting our views of the Middle East. With the U.S. likely to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading oil producer in the next five years or so, and with the prospect of genuine energy independence in the next twenty years or so, it’s natural to wonder if we really need to pay so much attention to the Middle East. And it is a truism that American’s chief foreign policy challenge is domestic renewal, strengthening our home-grown capacity to compete and promote our interests and values around the world.
Tempting though it may be, we do not have the luxury of pivoting away from the Middle East, which sometimes has a nasty way of reminding us of its relevance. We don’t have the luxury of pivoting away from a part of the world that holds some of our closest allies, and a very sizeable chunk of the world’s oil reserves, on which the global economy is still dependent even if we are headed towards self-sufficiency. And we don’t have the luxury of pivoting away from a part of the world that holds several of the world’s most poisonous regional conflicts, and violent extremists who feed on the region’s bitterness and alienation.
We cannot, in short, afford to neglect what’s at stake in a region going through its own awakening, at once promising and painful, and potentially every bit as consequential for international order as the changes which swept over Europe and Eurasia two decades ago.
It’s important to understand that the Arab Awakening is about several layers of change -- within, among and beyond Arab states. Within a number of states, the spark produced by a desperate Tunisian vendor, tired of too many indignities and too many lost hopes, proved highly combustible. Within months of that tragic self-immolation, a half-century old political order collapsed in several Arab states, including Egypt, the biggest of all. Societies that for far too long had known far too little freedom, far too little opportunity and far too little dignity began to erupt. But what also spilled out, in addition to the thirst of individual citizens for dignity, were all the demons of sectarian and communal tension that authoritarian rulers had forcefully contained.
That dynamic in turn helped set off new uncertainties and frictions among states in the region, as sectarian troubles and old Sunni-Shia passions spilled across borders still not firmly rooted nearly a century after their post-World War One formation.
Meanwhile, beyond Arab states, violent extremist groups were quick to try to fill emerging vacuums and take advantage of post-revolutionary chaos. Non-Arab regional powers like Turkey, Israel and Iran loomed larger as traditional Arab powers like Egypt turned inward, and major external players like China and India grew even more reliant on access to regional energy supplies. And across this whole shifting landscape, the Arab Awakening stirred up familiar debates about the role of religion in politics, gender equality, individual human rights and globalization.
What all of these layers of change add up to is the most significant transition in the Arab world since the revolutions of the 1950’s. And what they have laid bare is the long-term question of whether an "Arab center", as my friend and former Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher has described it, can eventually replace the old order … gradually establishing democratic institutions to manage sectarian differences and provide an outlet for individual dignity … or whether hardliners and extremists of one stripe or another will prove more resilient. The United States has a powerful stake in that very complex competition, and in shaping a careful, long-term strategy for enhancing the chances for a new, moderate order which best protects our interests and reflects our values.
Elements of a Positive American Agenda
If "rebalancing" has been a central feature of American foreign policy under President Obama more generally, it also applies in particular to how we’re approaching a rapidly changing Middle East. With the end of the war in Iraq, the U.S. military footprint in the region has become smaller, although it’s obvious that our security commitments remain enormously important. Diplomatic and economic tools get greater emphasis, as does the value of applying American leadership to build partnerships with key players inside and outside the region to support positive changes. We need to convey a clear sense of what we stand for, not just what we stand against -- an agenda that offers a powerful antidote to extremists, who are much better at tearing things down than building anything up.
It seems to me that a workable, long-term American strategy has three inter-connected elements: support for democratic change, economic opportunity, and regional peace and security. All three are crucial to our broader goal of enhancing the chances that moderates will shape the new regional order more than extremists. All three require us to look carefully at where the United States can uniquely make a difference, and at how best to mobilize other countries, inside and outside the region, in common cause. And all three require us to find a sensible course between self-defeating inaction and unsustainable unilateralism. We also have to be honest with ourselves: there will inevitably be some tough tradeoffs among these priorities at different moments, and times when it will be hard to weigh the long-term benefits of pushing democratic reforms against short-term security demands. But all three elements have to frame our broader agenda. Let me touch quickly on each.
Democratic reform can proceed in different ways and at different paces in different places in the region, but there won’t be a moderate outcome to the Arab Awakening over the next generation without it. Whether in countries in post-revolutionary transition, or countries trying to stay ahead of the wave of change through evolutionary reform, the United States consistently emphasizes a common set of principles: respect for the rule of law; peaceful and inclusive political processes; protecting the fundamental rights of all citizens -- including women and minorities and people of all faiths; and steady focus on building strong democratic institutions, real checks and balances, and vibrant civil societies.
We try to hold leaders and parties of every political shape to these standards. When it comes to building sustainable democracies, the most consequential distinction is not between Islamists and secularists, but between those who embrace pluralism based on rule of law, and those who seek to impose their own vision on others. All parties need to engage in the political process and not sit on the sidelines. Those in power have a special responsibility to make clear that force is no substitute for politics, and that a majority is no substitute for dialogue and consensus. And all must condemn and prevent violence, which truly poisons politics.
Whether in fragile, post-revolutionary states like Tunisia or Egypt … or in monarchies trying to keep pace with their people’s expectations, like Morocco or Jordan … sustainable democratic change depends upon the full participation of all citizens in political and economic life; the belief of all citizens that their peacefully-expressed views are heard and respected; and the conviction of all citizens that they share a stake in their country’s future.
No democratic transition can succeed without a sense of confidence in a better and more inclusive economic future. Unless the Arab Awakening is accompanied by an economic awakening, it will collapse. The hard truth is that most Arab societies have ducked serious economic reform for far too long; where economic liberalization has occurred, its benefits have often been limited to a privileged few. But serious reform cannot take place in a sustainable manner without basic political consensus on the rules of the game, lest it provoke chaos and instability. That’s why inclusive politics and inclusive economic change have to go hand in hand, and why the long term goal should be societies in which getting ahead depends less on who you know and more on what you know.
There is much more that we and other outsiders can do to support long-term economic reform. Even more than conventional assistance, we can use the promise of market access and open trading arrangements to encourage reform and create jobs. We can use initiatives like the new Enterprise Funds in Egypt and Tunisia to support small and medium-sized enterprises. And we can invest even more actively in helping to renovate educational systems and promoting scholarships and exchanges, so that the next generation is better-equipped to compete and succeed. Those are some of the very best investments in a moderate future for the region that I can imagine.
Finally, just as sustainable democratic reform and economic opportunity depend on one another, both depend on a more stable regional environment. I hardly need to tell any of you how hard it will be to make progress on the deepening crisis in Syria, or the Iranian nuclear issue, or the long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. But these are areas in which American diplomacy and influence can make a difference, and in which we have a profound stake. Our interests and credibility are at risk on each of them. While I realize that there are lots of other significant security priorities for American policy -- from the continuing importance of Iraq’s stable evolution, as Ryan Crocker has rightly emphasized recently, to getting ahead of growing terrorist threats in the Maghreb -- let me offer a few brief thoughts on Syria, Iran, and the Palestinian-Israeli issue, and I’d be glad to address other challenges in our discussion.
The scale and scope of the human tragedy in Syria today is staggering, and it is inexorably becoming a regional tragedy. More than 70,000 Syrians have died. According to the United Nations, one out of three Syrians will have been forced from their homes by the end of 2013. Jordan is overwhelmed by the burden of 500,000 Syrian refugees -- a number which could reach a million by the end of the year. The crisis in Syria has spilled over to seriously inflame politics in Iraq and Lebanon. State structures in Syria are crumbling, extremists are expanding their influence among the opposition, and the dangers of long-term sectarian conflict and fragmentation are growing rapidly. Apparent use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime is deeply troubling, and we continue to press for a comprehensive UN investigation to fully establish the facts, as we consider our options for responding.
The simple truth is that there can be no stability in Syria, no resolution of the crisis, without a transition to new leadership. The longer Asad clings to power, the greater the odds of state implosion, fragmentation, and regional spillover. President Obama and Secretary Kerry have made clear that our strong preference remains a negotiated transition. The Geneva framework of last summer offers a reasonable starting point, but Asad refuses to engage. Russia has been resistant, to put it mildly, to using its leverage on the Asad regime; Secretary Kerry’s visit to Moscow in a few days is an opportunity to test whether cooperation is possible.
We’re working intensively with a range of partners to strengthen the Syrian opposition and help shift the balance on the ground, which is essential to any chance of shifting Asad’s calculus. The Secretary announced last month that we’ve doubled non-lethal assistance to the opposition, and the Administration is actively considering our other options. There is a mounting urgency to this effort, as both the human and strategic costs grow.
I wish I could offer you a neat, new prescription this morning, but I cannot. All I can tell you is that we have to work even harder with our allies and the opposition to accelerate Asad’s exit, while there’s still a Syria left to save, and to prepare for what will inevitably be a very difficult day after -- more likely, very difficult years after.
Whatever decisions we make on further steps in Syria, it is crucial to mobilize as much regional and international support as we can -- leveraging our actions to help produce a stronger and more inclusive opposition coalition; and a stronger and more coordinated set of outside backers. That kind of "compact" has been the aim of Secretary Kerry’s very energetic diplomatic efforts over recent weeks. If we’ve learned anything from the experience of the last decade, it’s that on extraordinarily tough, complex Middle East problems like Syria, we want to build as much shared purpose and responsibility as we can -- we should want company on the take off, because we will all need it for the landing, in the huge challenge of post-Asad Syria.
On Iran, let me say simply that our concerns are profound, and they extend beyond the nuclear issue, across a range of dangerous Iranian behavior that threatens our interests and those of our friends in the region, and to the Iranian regime’s denial of the human rights of its citizens. The President has emphasized since his first days in office our readiness, along with our P5+1 partners, to seek a negotiated resolution of the Iranian nuclear problem. That shouldn’t be impossible -- if Iran is serious about meeting its international obligations and demonstrating through concrete steps the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear ambitions. Unfortunately, Iran has been stubbornly unwilling, so far, to seriously address international concerns, and has given rise to new ones with its steady, defiant expansion of its nuclear program, in direct violation of numerous UNSC resolutions and IAEA decisions. At recent meetings in Almaty, the P5+1 put a reasonable, reciprocal confidence building proposal on the table, aimed at beginning to create some sense of trust and allow time and space for negotiation of a more comprehensive arrangement. Unfortunately, Iran’s response gave no indication that it is willing to take meaningful steps to address international concerns.
There is still time for diplomacy, and we and our partners hope Iran will take advantage of it. But there is also increasing urgency on this issue too. The President has made very clear that he will do whatever it takes to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. We and our partners have put in place an unprecedented set of sanctions, which has had a significant and growing impact on Iran’s economy. I continue to hope that serious diplomacy is still possible; too many opportunities have been missed before, including the abortive fall 2009 deal on the Tehran Research Reactor, in which I played a direct part. It would be a huge miscalculation for Iran to miss this one too.
On the Palestinian issue, I’m convinced that the status quo between Palestinians and Israelis is as unsteady, unsustainable and combustible as the sclerotic political systems that have crumbled elsewhere in the region over the past couple years. I have never been a big believer in the notion that we have to let the conflict "ripen" to the point that resolution seems more likely. I’m afraid the more likely effect of that approach is to watch the prospects for a two-state solution -- which is so deeply in the interests of Israel’s long-term security as well as the interests of the Palestinians and the region -- wither and die on the vine.
President Obama underscored in Jerusalem earlier this spring his belief that progress towards Middle East peace is necessary, just and possible. In only a few months in office, Secretary Kerry has been tireless in his efforts to find a path back to serious negotiations -- a path that blends a renewed political horizon for a two-state outcome, with steps to create an encouraging economic horizon for Palestinians, and a renewed focus on the decade-old promise of the Arab Peace Initiative, which the Secretary discussed with a visiting group of Arab foreign ministers last Monday.
None of this will be easy. It never has been. Former Secretary of State Jim Baker, a proud Princeton graduate, keeps a whole wall of caustic newspaper cartoons outside his office in Houston, which reflected the skepticism surrounding his trips to the Middle East before the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991. But he proved his doubters wrong, and American diplomacy worked. The landscape today is in many ways much less promising, but as Secretary Kerry knows as well as anyone, that is not an argument against trying, given all that is at stake.
Final Note
I’ll close with a simple thought.
I’m not naïve about the Middle East or how little we really know about where this period of profound change will take the region and its people. The story that is unfolding is also very much a story of Arab peoples taking their own destiny in their own hands, which should provide a cautionary note about the degree to which we can help shape their futures. The Middle East can be very unforgiving for American policymakers and diplomats, and it would be foolish to assume the best.
We’ve had our share of recent tragedies, including the death of my friend, Chris Stevens, our Ambassador in Libya, who was killed trying to help Libyans realize the promise of their revolution, and not let it be hijacked by extremists. But we cannot afford to pull back from the region, whether because of security risks or rebalanced priorities or policy fatigue or domestic preoccupations. There’s too much at issue right now, and we can increase the odds that moderates across the region can succeed over the next decade or two if we engage actively and creatively on behalf of democratic change, economic opportunity, and regional peace and security.
We will not get every judgment right, or take every risk that we should, but we are far better off working persistently to help shape events, rather than wait for them to be shaped for us.
Thank you very much.
America and a Changing Middle East
Remarks
William J. Burns
Deputy Secretary of State
Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey
May 6, 2013
Thank you, Dan. It’s an honor to be back at Princeton, and back at the Woodrow Wilson School, an institution whose commitment to public service I have long admired. It’s an honor to be among so many people whose service to our nation I respect so much -- from George Mitchell to Ryan Crocker. And it’s a particular honor to be introduced by my friend, Dan Kurtzer. There is, quite simply, no better model of skill and professionalism and decency in American diplomacy than Dan.
I’ve been asked this morning to offer a few reflections on American policy across a Middle East in the midst of profound and turbulent change. I promise to be brief, which is probably a healthy instinct at this hour on a Saturday morning.
I wish I could also promise to be uplifting, but that’s a little harder. The Middle East is a place where pessimists seldom lack for either company or validation, where skeptics hardly ever seem wrong. It is a place where American policymakers often learn humility the hard way … a place where you can most easily see the wisdom in Winston Churchill’s famous comment that what he liked most about Americans was that they usually did the right thing in the end; they just liked to exhaust all the alternatives first.
I’ve learned a few things about the Middle East during my own checkered thirty-one year career in the Foreign Service. I’ve learned that stability is not a static phenomenon, and that regimes which do not offer their citizens a sense of political dignity and economic possibility ultimately become brittle and break. I’ve learned that change in the Middle East is rarely neat or linear, but often messy and cruel, and deeply unpredictable in its second and third order consequences.
I’ve learned not to underestimate the depth of mistrust of American motives that animates so many people in the region, and I’ve learned that we often get far more credit than we deserve for complicated conspiracies. I’ve learned that, with all its stubborn dysfunction, the Middle East is a place where people and leaders are capable of great things … and that America diplomacy, with all of our own occasional dysfunction, can make a real and enduring difference.
So let me first talk briefly about why the Middle East still matters in American foreign policy and how the Middle East is changing, and then outline several elements of a positive American policy agenda -- what we can do to help shape, within the limits of our influence, the great generational struggle between moderation and extremism that is unfolding across the Middle East today.
Why the Middle East Still Matters and How It Is Changing
After a post 9/11 decade dominated by two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s not hard to see why Americans would seek to rebalance our priorities. We live in a rapidly changing world, in which American interests are pulled in many directions. I just returned from a long trip to Asia, and it’s obvious that the Asia-Pacific region is not only the most dynamic part of the global economy in the new century which lies ahead, but also a logical centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy. The transformation of the global energy market through the shale technology revolution is also affecting our views of the Middle East. With the U.S. likely to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading oil producer in the next five years or so, and with the prospect of genuine energy independence in the next twenty years or so, it’s natural to wonder if we really need to pay so much attention to the Middle East. And it is a truism that American’s chief foreign policy challenge is domestic renewal, strengthening our home-grown capacity to compete and promote our interests and values around the world.
Tempting though it may be, we do not have the luxury of pivoting away from the Middle East, which sometimes has a nasty way of reminding us of its relevance. We don’t have the luxury of pivoting away from a part of the world that holds some of our closest allies, and a very sizeable chunk of the world’s oil reserves, on which the global economy is still dependent even if we are headed towards self-sufficiency. And we don’t have the luxury of pivoting away from a part of the world that holds several of the world’s most poisonous regional conflicts, and violent extremists who feed on the region’s bitterness and alienation.
We cannot, in short, afford to neglect what’s at stake in a region going through its own awakening, at once promising and painful, and potentially every bit as consequential for international order as the changes which swept over Europe and Eurasia two decades ago.
It’s important to understand that the Arab Awakening is about several layers of change -- within, among and beyond Arab states. Within a number of states, the spark produced by a desperate Tunisian vendor, tired of too many indignities and too many lost hopes, proved highly combustible. Within months of that tragic self-immolation, a half-century old political order collapsed in several Arab states, including Egypt, the biggest of all. Societies that for far too long had known far too little freedom, far too little opportunity and far too little dignity began to erupt. But what also spilled out, in addition to the thirst of individual citizens for dignity, were all the demons of sectarian and communal tension that authoritarian rulers had forcefully contained.
That dynamic in turn helped set off new uncertainties and frictions among states in the region, as sectarian troubles and old Sunni-Shia passions spilled across borders still not firmly rooted nearly a century after their post-World War One formation.
Meanwhile, beyond Arab states, violent extremist groups were quick to try to fill emerging vacuums and take advantage of post-revolutionary chaos. Non-Arab regional powers like Turkey, Israel and Iran loomed larger as traditional Arab powers like Egypt turned inward, and major external players like China and India grew even more reliant on access to regional energy supplies. And across this whole shifting landscape, the Arab Awakening stirred up familiar debates about the role of religion in politics, gender equality, individual human rights and globalization.
What all of these layers of change add up to is the most significant transition in the Arab world since the revolutions of the 1950’s. And what they have laid bare is the long-term question of whether an "Arab center", as my friend and former Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher has described it, can eventually replace the old order … gradually establishing democratic institutions to manage sectarian differences and provide an outlet for individual dignity … or whether hardliners and extremists of one stripe or another will prove more resilient. The United States has a powerful stake in that very complex competition, and in shaping a careful, long-term strategy for enhancing the chances for a new, moderate order which best protects our interests and reflects our values.
Elements of a Positive American Agenda
If "rebalancing" has been a central feature of American foreign policy under President Obama more generally, it also applies in particular to how we’re approaching a rapidly changing Middle East. With the end of the war in Iraq, the U.S. military footprint in the region has become smaller, although it’s obvious that our security commitments remain enormously important. Diplomatic and economic tools get greater emphasis, as does the value of applying American leadership to build partnerships with key players inside and outside the region to support positive changes. We need to convey a clear sense of what we stand for, not just what we stand against -- an agenda that offers a powerful antidote to extremists, who are much better at tearing things down than building anything up.
It seems to me that a workable, long-term American strategy has three inter-connected elements: support for democratic change, economic opportunity, and regional peace and security. All three are crucial to our broader goal of enhancing the chances that moderates will shape the new regional order more than extremists. All three require us to look carefully at where the United States can uniquely make a difference, and at how best to mobilize other countries, inside and outside the region, in common cause. And all three require us to find a sensible course between self-defeating inaction and unsustainable unilateralism. We also have to be honest with ourselves: there will inevitably be some tough tradeoffs among these priorities at different moments, and times when it will be hard to weigh the long-term benefits of pushing democratic reforms against short-term security demands. But all three elements have to frame our broader agenda. Let me touch quickly on each.
Democratic reform can proceed in different ways and at different paces in different places in the region, but there won’t be a moderate outcome to the Arab Awakening over the next generation without it. Whether in countries in post-revolutionary transition, or countries trying to stay ahead of the wave of change through evolutionary reform, the United States consistently emphasizes a common set of principles: respect for the rule of law; peaceful and inclusive political processes; protecting the fundamental rights of all citizens -- including women and minorities and people of all faiths; and steady focus on building strong democratic institutions, real checks and balances, and vibrant civil societies.
We try to hold leaders and parties of every political shape to these standards. When it comes to building sustainable democracies, the most consequential distinction is not between Islamists and secularists, but between those who embrace pluralism based on rule of law, and those who seek to impose their own vision on others. All parties need to engage in the political process and not sit on the sidelines. Those in power have a special responsibility to make clear that force is no substitute for politics, and that a majority is no substitute for dialogue and consensus. And all must condemn and prevent violence, which truly poisons politics.
Whether in fragile, post-revolutionary states like Tunisia or Egypt … or in monarchies trying to keep pace with their people’s expectations, like Morocco or Jordan … sustainable democratic change depends upon the full participation of all citizens in political and economic life; the belief of all citizens that their peacefully-expressed views are heard and respected; and the conviction of all citizens that they share a stake in their country’s future.
No democratic transition can succeed without a sense of confidence in a better and more inclusive economic future. Unless the Arab Awakening is accompanied by an economic awakening, it will collapse. The hard truth is that most Arab societies have ducked serious economic reform for far too long; where economic liberalization has occurred, its benefits have often been limited to a privileged few. But serious reform cannot take place in a sustainable manner without basic political consensus on the rules of the game, lest it provoke chaos and instability. That’s why inclusive politics and inclusive economic change have to go hand in hand, and why the long term goal should be societies in which getting ahead depends less on who you know and more on what you know.
There is much more that we and other outsiders can do to support long-term economic reform. Even more than conventional assistance, we can use the promise of market access and open trading arrangements to encourage reform and create jobs. We can use initiatives like the new Enterprise Funds in Egypt and Tunisia to support small and medium-sized enterprises. And we can invest even more actively in helping to renovate educational systems and promoting scholarships and exchanges, so that the next generation is better-equipped to compete and succeed. Those are some of the very best investments in a moderate future for the region that I can imagine.
Finally, just as sustainable democratic reform and economic opportunity depend on one another, both depend on a more stable regional environment. I hardly need to tell any of you how hard it will be to make progress on the deepening crisis in Syria, or the Iranian nuclear issue, or the long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. But these are areas in which American diplomacy and influence can make a difference, and in which we have a profound stake. Our interests and credibility are at risk on each of them. While I realize that there are lots of other significant security priorities for American policy -- from the continuing importance of Iraq’s stable evolution, as Ryan Crocker has rightly emphasized recently, to getting ahead of growing terrorist threats in the Maghreb -- let me offer a few brief thoughts on Syria, Iran, and the Palestinian-Israeli issue, and I’d be glad to address other challenges in our discussion.
The scale and scope of the human tragedy in Syria today is staggering, and it is inexorably becoming a regional tragedy. More than 70,000 Syrians have died. According to the United Nations, one out of three Syrians will have been forced from their homes by the end of 2013. Jordan is overwhelmed by the burden of 500,000 Syrian refugees -- a number which could reach a million by the end of the year. The crisis in Syria has spilled over to seriously inflame politics in Iraq and Lebanon. State structures in Syria are crumbling, extremists are expanding their influence among the opposition, and the dangers of long-term sectarian conflict and fragmentation are growing rapidly. Apparent use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime is deeply troubling, and we continue to press for a comprehensive UN investigation to fully establish the facts, as we consider our options for responding.
The simple truth is that there can be no stability in Syria, no resolution of the crisis, without a transition to new leadership. The longer Asad clings to power, the greater the odds of state implosion, fragmentation, and regional spillover. President Obama and Secretary Kerry have made clear that our strong preference remains a negotiated transition. The Geneva framework of last summer offers a reasonable starting point, but Asad refuses to engage. Russia has been resistant, to put it mildly, to using its leverage on the Asad regime; Secretary Kerry’s visit to Moscow in a few days is an opportunity to test whether cooperation is possible.
We’re working intensively with a range of partners to strengthen the Syrian opposition and help shift the balance on the ground, which is essential to any chance of shifting Asad’s calculus. The Secretary announced last month that we’ve doubled non-lethal assistance to the opposition, and the Administration is actively considering our other options. There is a mounting urgency to this effort, as both the human and strategic costs grow.
I wish I could offer you a neat, new prescription this morning, but I cannot. All I can tell you is that we have to work even harder with our allies and the opposition to accelerate Asad’s exit, while there’s still a Syria left to save, and to prepare for what will inevitably be a very difficult day after -- more likely, very difficult years after.
Whatever decisions we make on further steps in Syria, it is crucial to mobilize as much regional and international support as we can -- leveraging our actions to help produce a stronger and more inclusive opposition coalition; and a stronger and more coordinated set of outside backers. That kind of "compact" has been the aim of Secretary Kerry’s very energetic diplomatic efforts over recent weeks. If we’ve learned anything from the experience of the last decade, it’s that on extraordinarily tough, complex Middle East problems like Syria, we want to build as much shared purpose and responsibility as we can -- we should want company on the take off, because we will all need it for the landing, in the huge challenge of post-Asad Syria.
On Iran, let me say simply that our concerns are profound, and they extend beyond the nuclear issue, across a range of dangerous Iranian behavior that threatens our interests and those of our friends in the region, and to the Iranian regime’s denial of the human rights of its citizens. The President has emphasized since his first days in office our readiness, along with our P5+1 partners, to seek a negotiated resolution of the Iranian nuclear problem. That shouldn’t be impossible -- if Iran is serious about meeting its international obligations and demonstrating through concrete steps the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear ambitions. Unfortunately, Iran has been stubbornly unwilling, so far, to seriously address international concerns, and has given rise to new ones with its steady, defiant expansion of its nuclear program, in direct violation of numerous UNSC resolutions and IAEA decisions. At recent meetings in Almaty, the P5+1 put a reasonable, reciprocal confidence building proposal on the table, aimed at beginning to create some sense of trust and allow time and space for negotiation of a more comprehensive arrangement. Unfortunately, Iran’s response gave no indication that it is willing to take meaningful steps to address international concerns.
There is still time for diplomacy, and we and our partners hope Iran will take advantage of it. But there is also increasing urgency on this issue too. The President has made very clear that he will do whatever it takes to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. We and our partners have put in place an unprecedented set of sanctions, which has had a significant and growing impact on Iran’s economy. I continue to hope that serious diplomacy is still possible; too many opportunities have been missed before, including the abortive fall 2009 deal on the Tehran Research Reactor, in which I played a direct part. It would be a huge miscalculation for Iran to miss this one too.
On the Palestinian issue, I’m convinced that the status quo between Palestinians and Israelis is as unsteady, unsustainable and combustible as the sclerotic political systems that have crumbled elsewhere in the region over the past couple years. I have never been a big believer in the notion that we have to let the conflict "ripen" to the point that resolution seems more likely. I’m afraid the more likely effect of that approach is to watch the prospects for a two-state solution -- which is so deeply in the interests of Israel’s long-term security as well as the interests of the Palestinians and the region -- wither and die on the vine.
President Obama underscored in Jerusalem earlier this spring his belief that progress towards Middle East peace is necessary, just and possible. In only a few months in office, Secretary Kerry has been tireless in his efforts to find a path back to serious negotiations -- a path that blends a renewed political horizon for a two-state outcome, with steps to create an encouraging economic horizon for Palestinians, and a renewed focus on the decade-old promise of the Arab Peace Initiative, which the Secretary discussed with a visiting group of Arab foreign ministers last Monday.
None of this will be easy. It never has been. Former Secretary of State Jim Baker, a proud Princeton graduate, keeps a whole wall of caustic newspaper cartoons outside his office in Houston, which reflected the skepticism surrounding his trips to the Middle East before the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991. But he proved his doubters wrong, and American diplomacy worked. The landscape today is in many ways much less promising, but as Secretary Kerry knows as well as anyone, that is not an argument against trying, given all that is at stake.
Final Note
I’ll close with a simple thought.
I’m not naïve about the Middle East or how little we really know about where this period of profound change will take the region and its people. The story that is unfolding is also very much a story of Arab peoples taking their own destiny in their own hands, which should provide a cautionary note about the degree to which we can help shape their futures. The Middle East can be very unforgiving for American policymakers and diplomats, and it would be foolish to assume the best.
We’ve had our share of recent tragedies, including the death of my friend, Chris Stevens, our Ambassador in Libya, who was killed trying to help Libyans realize the promise of their revolution, and not let it be hijacked by extremists. But we cannot afford to pull back from the region, whether because of security risks or rebalanced priorities or policy fatigue or domestic preoccupations. There’s too much at issue right now, and we can increase the odds that moderates across the region can succeed over the next decade or two if we engage actively and creatively on behalf of democratic change, economic opportunity, and regional peace and security.
We will not get every judgment right, or take every risk that we should, but we are far better off working persistently to help shape events, rather than wait for them to be shaped for us.
Thank you very much.
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