WPR Articles May 12, 2014 - May 16, 2014

To Reduce Dependency on the U.S., Venezuela Cultivates China

By: Timothy Gill | Briefing

Since the 1998 election of former President Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan government has sought to bolster its state sovereignty and reduce its dependence on the U.S. As a petro-state, however, Venezuela remains heavily reliant upon its oil industry. If Venezuela is to ever reduce dependence on the U.S., it must diversify, and China is poised help it do so by replacing the U.S. as its main oil consumer.
 

House Defense Authorization Markup Reflects Unwillingness to Prioritize

By: Eric Auner | Trend Lines

Last week after hours of wrangling, the House Armed Services Committee authorized over $600 billion for the Department of Defense, including almost $80 billion in overseas contingency operations funds. The outcome reflected a determination on the part of outgoing chair Buck McKeon and others to block program cuts that the Pentagon says are necessary in the current fiscal environment.

Terrorist Designation Was Unhelpful Against Boko Haram

By: Kathy Gilsinan | Trend Lines

As the U.S. considers how to help Nigeria rescue its missing schoolgirls, domestic political attention is turning to the question of what the U.S. could have done ahead of time. In particular, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has come under fire for declining to add Boko Haram to the State Department’s list of designated foreign terrorist organizations, or FTO list.

Putin’s ‘New Cold War’ a Pale Shadow of the Original

By: Frida Ghitis | Column

Tensions between the U.S. and Russia are nothing new, but the growing level of animosity and around Ukraine has ended any remaining illusion that the two powers could develop a partnership, working together without rancor toward common goals on the global stage. But the question that looms even larger than Ukraine, from a geographic and historical standpoint, is whether we have entered a new Cold War.

Mujica’s U.S. Visit Underscores Uruguay’s Outsized Regional Importance

By: Eric Farnsworth | Briefing

Uruguayan President Jose Mujica’s meeting this week with President Barack Obama was an important step in the right direction for U.S. engagement with South America, reconfirming to a frequently skeptical region the importance the U.S. places on building relationships there. The U.S. can take a number of important steps to strengthen Uruguay’s position in the region, with positive implications for Washington.

More Helping Nigeria’s Girls Will Require More Than Just Selfies By: Heather Hurlburt | Column Now that we’ve all taken our #BringBackOurGirls pictures, we can spend some time examining what the appalling tragedy in Nigeria, and the attention paid to it, explains about some 21st-century realities. Doing so just might help other young women and communities, as well as our security. But first we might have to relinquish some tightly held ideas about who these girls are and what we can do for them. India Moves to Improve Security Coordination Against Militant Groups By: The Editors | Trend Lines This month, separatist rebels in northeastern India attacked Muslim villagers, killing 22 people in two days. In an email interview, Paul Staniland, assistant professor of political science at the University of Chicago and author of “Networks of Rebellion: Explaining Insurgent Cohesion and Collapse,” discussed India’s efforts to contain domestic security threats. U.S., India’s Goals Diverge in New Delhi’s Near Abroad By: Nilanthi Samaranayake | Briefing The U.S. has been active in its policies toward Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives. These policies reflect U.S. strategic interests and democratic principles, but India has not viewed all of them favorably. While there is certainly much convergence between U.S. and Indian aspirations in other realms, structural cleavages characterize both nations’ political and strategic approaches to smaller South Asian countries. West Joins China, Russia to Promote Nuke-Free Central Asia By: Richard Weitz | Column At a ceremony on the margins of last week’s Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty meeting, France, the U.K. and the U.S. reversed their long-standing opposition and joined China and Russia in signing the protocol to the Central Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Agreement. The signing demonstrates that even in moments of great power tensions, nuclear nonproliferation remains an issue of consensus and cooperation. France Digs in Across Region as Mali Security Deteriorates By: Celeste Hicks | Briefing France’s announcement that it will reorganize its deployment of thousands of troops across the Sahel region, including keeping 1,000 troops in Mali, came as a blow to early hopes that security could be swiftly restored in the country’s north after last year’s Operation Serval. Analysts warn that the security situation is deteriorating in Mali, despite the short-term stability won by France’s intervention. North and West Africa Seek to Jumpstart Regional Counterterrorism Cooperation By: Lesley Anne Warner | Briefing This past year has seen a cascade of African-led initiatives to increase security cooperation in the Sahel and Maghreb regions. While such initiatives are a function of the enduring imperative for states there to develop a more robust regional response to nonstate transnational threats, Sahel and Maghreb states may yet struggle to let go of the baggage that had impeded previous regional cooperation efforts. U.S. Can Help With Nigeria’s Conflict, but Cannot Own It By: Steven Metz | Column A year ago, as the violent jihadist group Boko Haram expanded its operations in Nigeria, I argued that the U.S. should avoid offering anything other than modest help, since the government has rejected the sort of deep and serious reform needed to undercut support for extremism. Since then, Nigeria’s security situation has eroded further. Is it time for the U.S. to reassess its approach and offer more help? Electoral Success Obscures Long-Term Dangers to South Africa’s ANC By: James Hamill | Briefing Given the commanding victory of South Africa’s long-dominant African National Congress in the May 7 elections, it is tempting to conclude that in South Africa the more things change, the more they stay the same. But the outcome of national and provincial polls reveals more subtle shifts and trends that cast the election in a different light and raise important questions about the ANC’s future as a dominant party. Ouster of Thai PM Complicates Key U.S. Partnership in Southeast Asia By: Eric Auner | Trend Lines Last week, Thailand’s constitutional court forced Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down. The decision, linked with her removal of the country’s security chief in 2011, has intensified the ongoing showdown that has gripped Thai politics and heightened uncertainty for the future of a key U.S. partnership in Southeast Asia. New U.S. Policies for China, Russia Must Be Backed by Action By: Nikolas Gvosdev | Column While Americans have been absorbed in the usual medley of celebrity scandals, the Obama administration has quietly hinted at two changes in its approach to U.S. foreign policy that, if followed to their logical conclusion, signal a major reorientation in how Washington plans to conduct international affairs. But, to be effective, the new policy statements on China and Russia must be backed by deeds.