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While all of these are important steps, they are long overdue, and much more can be done — like blocking arms sales to the Saudis — to hold the Kingdom accountable for its crimes. As the Saudi activists who remain behind bars can attest, the Saudi monarchy, particularly under the tyrannical rule of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is not an “indispensable” U.S. partner.
When innocents are killed by American bombs dropped from American-made planes that are kept in the air by American contractors, Yemeni civilians understandably associate the U.S with the carnage being imposed on them from above.
When countries who are party to a conflict receive U.S. arms, and the U.S. willingly approves those sales, it also tacitly approves the role of that country in conflict, even countries that violate human rights and bring about large numbers of civilian casualties.
The US needs to support human rights policies critical to fair elections: freedom of expression, freedom of political association, and participation and freedom of the press. Social media is essential and central to exercising many of these human rights in the lead up to elections.
Supporting democratic forces in Africa is an ideal way to improve election processes, but given the US’ own weaknesses with voter suppression and related issues, how can Washington help?
Despite the relative lack of attention it has received in recent years, the Balkan region is a critical strategic area for both the United States and Russia and increasingly for China, with the potential for competing interests to complicate a fragile stability.
Fahad Nazer, the spokesman for Saudi Arabia’s embassy in the U.S., was in the hot seat. After providing background on U.S.-Saudi ties during a Zoom panel last Friday, Nazer faced an uncomfortable question from the moderator: would the murder of Jamal Khashoggi damage bilateral relations?
President Biden must ask himself if he will stand with most of his constituents and a majority of countries worldwide to support mass production of vaccines—or uphold the profit motivations of big pharmaceutical companies.
Tomorrow marks the one-hundredth day of the Biden presidency, and there has been a flood of assessments of the administration’s performance thus far. Nowhere is such an assessment more urgent than on foreign policy.
What will be the nature of the security relationship between Washington and Kabul the day after America declares an end to one of its longest wars? The answer will shape Afghanistan, define local and regional dynamics, and determine the country’s prospects for peace.
