by | Jul 26, 2024 | The Hill
Former President Trump on Friday claimed there will be a major war in the Middle East and potentially a “third world war” if he does not win November’s election.
Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, one day after Netanyahu met at the White House with President Biden and Vice President Harris.
“If we win, it’ll be very simple. It’s all going to work out and very quickly,” Trump told reporters at the start of the meeting. “If we don’t, you’re going to end up with major wars in the Middle East and maybe a third world war. You are closer to a third world war right now than at any time since the second world war. You’ve never been so close, because we have incompetent people running our country.”
The former president has previously remarked that the world is on the brink of another world war with the fighting in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Trump has also made dire predictions about what might happen if he does not win back the White House, including a claim that the stock market would crash.
His meeting with Netanyahu on Friday came amid upheaval in the presidential campaign. Biden announced Sunday he would not seek reelection in November and endorsed Harris as the nominee. Harris has quickly consolidated support among Democrats and is the likely nominee for the party in November.
Harris met with Netanyahu separate from Biden on Thursday, which she described as “frank and constructive.” She
after the discussion that Israel has a right to defend itself, but that she has “serious concern” about the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.
Trump has
at times of Netanyahu since the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel that killed more than 1,000 people and the subsequent fighting in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
But on Friday, he sought to underscore his support for Israel, citing his administration’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and impose sanctions.
“We’ve had a good relationship. I was very good to Israel, better than any president’s ever been,” Trump said.
The Biden administration has expressed optimism that a cease-fire deal and the release of hostages being held by Hamas is within reach.
Trump on Friday said it was “not an acceptable situation” and questioned the condition of those still being held.
“They have to be given back immediately because there can be no way they’re in good shape,” he said.
by | Jul 26, 2024 | The Hill
President Biden on Friday paid tribute to the veteran Middle East peace negotiator, Ambassador Martin Indyk, who died on Thursday from complications with cancer, as a “voice of clarity and conviction” in his commitment to peace.
Biden, as vice president in the Obama administration, worked closely with Indyk who served as Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations, but acknowledged the diplomat’s broad influence across Washington as a mentor to current administration officials and the broader community of academics on Middle East policy.
“Martin Indyk dedicated his life to the pursuit of peace,” the president said in a statement. “His legacy lives on in the many officials across my Administration who were mentored by Martin and learned firsthand from his vast knowledge, integrity, and heart. His unshakeable optimism and commitment to peace is as important today as it’s ever been.”
Indyk, who was born in Australia, cited living in Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur war as a formative experience in the decision to devote his life to helping resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.
“His commitment to peace was rooted in witnessing that conflict and realizing that Israel’s existence is fragile, peace is the only path to lasting security, and the United States must be a part of that endeavor,” Biden said.
“More recently, he has been a voice of clarity and conviction since the horrific October 7th attack by Hamas and during the war in Gaza.”
A two-time ambassador to Israel during the Clinton administration and negotiator for Israeli-Palestinian peace during the Obama administration, Indyk helped advance significant progress on Middle East peace even as a final settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remained out of reach.
Most recently, he criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as undermining U.S. support for Israel in its defense against Hamas and Iran’s proxies, and blamed Netanyahu’s refusal to accept the establishment of a Palestinian state for killing the opportunity to broker ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“Wednesday, May 22, 2024. I never thought I’d live to see this day when Israel’s government rejected a full-fledged offer of peace from Saudi Arabia, the leader of the Arab and Muslim worlds. Wake up Israel! Your government is leading you into ever greater isolation and ruin,” Indyk posted on X.
Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz paid tribute to Indyk, saying in a meeting they held earlier this year, “I was reminded of his deep commitment to Israel’s security and concern for Israel’s future, serving as testament not only to the strategic importance he assigned to Israeli-U.S. relations, but the personal importance they held to him.”
Indyk’s career in Washington began as the founding executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where his research and policy recommendations brought him to the attention of the Clinton administration, where he served as a senior official on Middle East policy and then as two-time ambassador to Israel.
He was America’s envoy in Israel when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, and Biden acknowledged Indyk’s rush to the hospital that night and personal consolation of Rabin’s wife Leah as “representing the American people’s empathy and grief at a pivotal moment.”
Biden’s message Friday came amid an outpouring of gratitude and appreciation from former President Clinton and prominent diplomats involved in Middle East policy.
“Martin Indyk was an extraordinarily skilled diplomat who, no matter the obstacles, never gave up on the prospect of peace,” Clinton said in a post on X. “I’ll always be deeply grateful for the important role he played in my Administration’s efforts to end the conflict in the Middle East. The world would be better off if there were a lot more people like him.”
“We shared a deep commitment to Arab-Israeli peacemaking. May his memory be a blessing and inspiration to all who share that dream,” Aaron David Miller, who served advised both Democratic and Republican secretaries of state, posted on X.
Likewise Dennis Ross, Indyk’s colleague at the Washington Institute and who served as Middle East peace negotiator during the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations, praised his friend as living “a life of meaning; he pursued peace-making between Israel and its neighbors with passion, skill and decency.”
Outside of government, Indyk was the founding director of the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, Brookings’ executive vice president and director of its foreign policy program, and then, most recently, as the Lowy Distinguished Fellow in U.S.-Middle East Diplomacy at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
He was also an author who published books on Henry Kissinger’s diplomacy, and a memoir of his public service, “Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East.” He co-authored a book on former President Obama’s foreign policy.
“From the Oslo process to the policy of ‘dual containment’ of Saddam’s Iraq and Islamic Iran, Martin left a deep and lasting imprint on the making and shaping of American Middle East policy,” said Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute and who succeeded Indyk at the helm of the research organization.
“In a region known for volatility, whatever progress America made to advance the cause of peace and security was due in no small measure to Martin’s enormous contributions.”
by | Jul 26, 2024 | The Hill
Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García, a co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, was arrested in Texas on Thursday after being lured onto a U.S.-bound plane by son of the infamous cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, according to
and news reports.
Joaquín Guzmán López, El Chapo’s son, made Zambada García believe he was stepping onto a private plane to look at some real estate, law enforcement officials told
.
Both Guzmán López and Zambada García turned themselves in to authorities upon arrival in El Paso, Texas, a Mexican federal official
.
“The Justice Department has taken into custody two additional alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
El Mayo is the co-founder of the cartel. Garland said they join a “growing list” of Sinaloa leaders that the DOJ is “holding accountable in the United States,” including El Chapo, one of his other sons, Ovidio Guzmán López, and the carte’s alleged lead sicario, Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, known as “El Nini.”
Both men arrested Thursday are facing multiple charges in the U.S. for leading the cartel’s criminal operations, including its fentanyl manufacturing and distribution.
“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associated responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable,” Garland said.
The DOJ was offering a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest of Zambada García, who has been evading law enforcement for decades, the AP said.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said Zambada García and Guzmán López oversaw the trafficking of “tens of thousands of pounds of drugs into the United States.”
Zambada García is one of the longest-surviving capos in Mexico and was considered the cartel’s strategist, as well as it’s most politically connected leader with a monthly budget for bribes of up to $1 million, per the New York Times. He has been charged in a number of U.S. cases, including in February where he was charged with conspiring to manufacture and distribute fentanyl.
In 2010, he spoke with a Mexican magazine where he said he would rather commit suicide than go to prison and he lived in constant fear of being arrested. Zambada García’s son was arrested and pleaded guilty in San Diego in 2021, the AP reported.
Guzmán López and his brother, who has
, were believed to led a more flamboyant operation than Zambada, called the “Chapitos” or little Chapos.
Mike Vigil, the former head of international operations for the Drug Enforcement Agency, told the AP that the arrests are important but unlikely going to have an impact on drugs coming to the U.S. because Guzmán López was the least influential of the “Chapitos.”
“This is a great blow for the rule of law, but is it going to have an impact on the cartel? I don’t think so,” he told the news outlet. “It’s not going to have a dent on the drug trade because somebody from within the cartel is going to replace him.”
El Chapo
to life in U.S. prison in 2019. Last December, a
his sentence appeal.
The Associated Press contributed.
by | Jul 26, 2024 | The Hill
Imagine a world where America’s complex challenges — from opioid addiction to job losses — could be solved by building a few factories and pointing an accusatory finger at China.
This is the deceptively simple vision that Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Republican vice presidential nominee and voice of the heartland, is selling to an anxious nation. But in an era where tweets can move markets and sound bites can shape foreign policy, Vance’s reductive
isn’t just misguided — it’s a dangerous example of populist scapegoating.
Describing Ohio
“forgotten by America’s ruling class in Washington,” Vance paints a picture of a state ravaged by unemployment and drugs, all traceable to the actions of “establishment politicians” and China.
His narrative is compelling in its simplicity:
“flooded with cheap Chinese goods, with cheap foreign labor and, in the decades to come, deadly Chinese fentanyl.”
It’s a story tailor-made for our polarized times, offering a clear villain and a straightforward solution. But like most simple answers to complex problems, it crumbles under scrutiny.
Take the fentanyl crisis, a tragedy that has torn through communities across America. While Chinese-sourced chemicals have indeed fueled this epidemic, its roots lie deep in domestic soil — in our fragmented healthcare system and economic despair and the over-prescription of opioids by American doctors.
Despite recent
in U.S.-China counternarcotics cooperation, overdose
remain at crisis levels. This grim reality points to the crucial role of domestic factors — from inadequate mental health resources to economic inequality.
Blaming China might make for a good sound bite, but it distracts from the complex domestic issues at the heart of the crisis.
Vance’s promise to revive domestic manufacturing by building more factories sounds appealing, especially in regions hard-hit by deindustrialization. But it ignores the seismic shifts in the global economy over the past few decades. While offshoring has certainly impacted American jobs, automation has been an even more significant factor.
A
by the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University found that about 85 percent of manufacturing job losses between 2000 and 2010 were due to technological change, primarily automation, rather than trade. The manufacturing jobs of the future are likely to require different skills than those of the past, necessitating a focus on education and retraining rather than just factory construction.
Moreover, Vance’s
“stop the Chinese Communist Party from building their middle class on the backs of American citizens” overlooks the deep economic ties between our two nations. China
more than $770.7 billion in U.S. Treasury securities, and American companies like Apple and Boeing derive significant portions of their revenue from Chinese markets.
A precipitous decoupling could lead to market instability, increased costs for American consumers and potential retaliation against U.S. businesses operating in China. In sectors like rare earth minerals, critical for many high-tech applications, China’s near-monopoly means that aggressive decoupling could severely disrupt American industries.
Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of Vance’s China-centric worldview is how it narrows our focus at a time when we face a multitude of global challenges.
Russian aggression continues to threaten European stability and democratic institutions worldwide. Climate change, arguably the most pressing global issue, requires unprecedented international cooperation — including with China, the
of greenhouse gases.
Emerging challenges like global pandemics, cybersecurity threats and the rise of artificial intelligence demand a diversified and flexible foreign policy approach that extends far beyond a single adversarial relationship.
In light of these complexities, Vance’s populist message blaming China falls short of providing a comprehensive strategy for addressing America’s domestic and international challenges. Instead of simplistic narratives of blame and protectionism, we need nuanced approaches that address the root causes of our problems.
So what would a more practical approach look like?
First, to tackle the opioid crisis, we need comprehensive healthcare reform that includes expanded access to mental health services and addiction treatment. We should also invest in economic revitalization programs for hard-hit communities, focusing on diversifying local economies rather than promising a return to past industries.
Second, instead of simply blaming China for job losses, we must invest heavily in education and workforce development. This means not only improving K-12 education but also expanding vocational training programs and partnerships with community colleges to prepare workers for the high-tech manufacturing jobs of the future.
Finally, on the international front, we need a balanced China policy that goes beyond populist rhetoric. This should include targeted measures to address unfair trade practices and intellectual property theft while maintaining beneficial economic ties and cooperation on global issues like climate change.
We should also reinvigorate our alliances in the Asia-Pacific region as a counterbalance to China’s influence, rather than pursuing an isolationist approach.
Vance’s rhetoric may win votes, but won’t solve America’s problems. The challenges facing Ohio and the nation as a whole are complex and interrelated, requiring thoughtful, nuanced solutions rather than enemies to fault.
As we navigate the intricacies of the 21st-century global economy and geopolitical landscape, we need leaders who can offer more than simplistic sound bites about a foreign boogeyman.
American leadership needs to learn to respect the intelligence of the American people enough to offer real solutions. Vance’s China gambit might play well in the short term, but in the long run, it’s a dangerous distraction from the real work that needs to be done to secure America’s future in an increasingly complex world.
The path forward lies not in populist finger-pointing, but in pragmatic policies that address our domestic challenges head-on while engaging thoughtfully with the global community.
Shaoyu Yuan is a Dean’s Dissertation Fellow at Rutgers Graduate School.
