Change(s) You Might Have Missed Posted by Heather Hurlburt

Three small -- to us -- but significant signals around the world came to my attention today.  Taken together they paint a picture of a foreign policy establishment in Capitol Hill and the White House that:

• understands that success in a multilateral world means showing genuine responsiveness to others' interests and concerns;
• understands that the world is not zero-sum, and that sometimes power shared is power amplified;
• is not afraid (or, is less afraid) of what Secretary Albright used to refer to as the "UN helicopters swooping low to steal your lawn furniture" crowd.

 1.  It's now possible to adhere to the International Criminal Court and receive US foreign aid, with the removal of the so-called "Nethercutt Amendment" from the foreign operations appropriations section of the Omnibus.  Mark Leon Goldberg explains:  ""In 2004 George Nethercutt (left), a Republican member of congress from Washington State, inserted a provision into the State Department/Foreign Operations appropriations bill stating that countries that cooperate with the International Criminal Court but do not sign so-called bi-lateral immunity agreements with the United States would not be eligible for U.S. foreign assistance funds. So, for example, if an ICC member like Peru declined to enter into one of these bi-lateral immunity agreements with the United States, then Peru would lose money earmarked for, say, efforts to reduce cocoa production and fight drug trafficking."  

2.  Congress's post-Somalia declaration that no funds could be disbursed for UN peacekeeping operations that place US troops under foreign command was rejected by Obama in the Omnibus signing statement today.  No wimpy 'permission-slip' rationale:  "This provision raises constitutional concerns by constraining my choice of particular persons to perform specific command functions in military missions, by conditioning the exercise of my authority as commander in chief on the recommendations of subordinates within the military chain of command, and by constraining my diplomatic negotiating authority.”

3.  Last, and perhaps least, but perhaps not, the Treasury Department announced regulations that will return family travel to Cuba to the once a year allowed prior to 2004.  That's not an entirely new policy on Cuba, but it's a start -- Steve Clemons calls it a "tippy-toe in the right direction." 

  

Comments

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What makes Obama's signing statements any more legitimate than Bush's? I agree with his position on this issue, but a signing statement is NOT the right method.

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One thing that really has not change that much is the power of the Israel Lobby. It appears that the Lobby's influence has made Chas Freeman resign from the nomination process, and has probably slowed down Obama's proposals to develop a two state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

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