Month: April 2019

This story originated in VOA’s Serbian service.

WASHINGTON — Despite its “America First” policies and general drift toward disengagement from foreign commitments, the Trump administration appears to have found an international enterprise it likes.

Known as the Three Seas Initiative, the four-year-old effort aims to enhance energy and digital connectivity among a dozen Eastern European countries clustered among the Baltic, Black and Adriatic seas.

For the participants, who are just now beginning to put economic meat on the diplomatic bones of the concept, the goal is to boost everyone’s economic growth by making key resources more readily available.

For the Trump administration, the initiative offers an opportunity to help friendly nations reduce their dependence on Chinese and especially Russian money, natural gas and other resources.

​Major booster

The Washington-based Atlantic Council has been a major booster of the program. Its executive chairman emeritus, retired Gen. James L. Jones Jr., said the project represents an ideal point of collaboration for the U.S., EU and NATO.

“The future of NATO is not just a military future, it is about economic strength. It is about governance and rule of law,” Jones, a former Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said in recent testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“This is a plan that will significantly allow Central and Eastern Europe to gain parity with Russia and Europe over time, economically,” he said in an interview with VOA’s Serbian service. “Coupled with NATO, you have security, economic development, hopefully good government and the rule of law. Those three things working together will catapult Central and Eastern Europe into a new position of total strength beyond what they currently have.”

Warsaw meeting

At a 2017 meeting of the Three Seas Initiative in Warsaw, President Donald Trump said the U.S. would sign on to a gas supply deal “in 15 minutes” if it meant the initiative’s 12 member states — Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia — would no longer be “held hostage” to a single supplier.

Initially, the project drew some skepticism from Western European neighbors concerned that substantial U.S. involvement could undermine EU standing in the region.

At last year’s Three Seas Summit in Bucharest, however, the EU committed $28 billion for infrastructure projects in Central and Eastern Europe.

According to Bloomberg News, Warsaw-based Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, Poland’s state development bank, has narrowed its lists of potential asset managers to allocate the Warsaw bank’s nearly $6 billion fund.

One proposed component of the Three Seas Initiative, a north-south pipeline that links to a planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant off Croatia’s Adriatic coast, is of particular interest to Poland and Croatia, the initiative’s two founding member states.

Polish President Andrzej Duda has long called for stopping the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which, if developed, would expand the volume of gas currently transported from Russia to Germany along the floor of the Baltic Sea. The Nord Stream infrastructure, opened in 2011, was the first east-west pipeline to bypass land-based lines that run through Ukraine.

Trump has slammed the $11 billion, nearly 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) pipeline expansion linking Russia and Germany, arguing that would give Moscow greater geopolitical leverage over Europe at a time of heightened international tensions, an opinion in keeping with that of his immediate predecessors, former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, who opposed Nord Stream 1.

Last month, U.S. officials warned at an energy conference in Brussels that the Trump administration would take punitive action against European companies building Nord Stream 2.

Poland and Lithuania, who are among Nord Stream 2’s most vociferous European critics, have built LNG terminals that would stand to profit from an American-backed takeover of Europe’s LNG market.

Former Soviet satellite nations such as Ukraine, Latvia and Estonia have long warned that a growing reliance on Russian energy not only compromises European security but also rewards Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, the first forcible seizure of territory in Europe since World War II.

​NATO ties

In a Wednesday speech before Congress, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg extolled NATO’s role as a guarantor of post-World War II-era peace, concluding his address by emphasizing how the U.S. is politically, militarily and economically tied to its NATO allies.

“Our alliance has not lasted for 70 years out of a sense of nostalgia or of sentiment,” Stoltenberg said. “NATO lasts because it is in the national interest of each and every one of our countries. Together, we represent almost 1 billion people. We are half of the world’s economic might, and half of the world’s military might. When we stand together, we are stronger than any potential challenger — economically, politically and militarily.”

Stoltenberg received multiple standing ovations during his address from both Republicans and Democrats.
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 A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday faulted the Trump administration for failing so far to impose sanctions over China’s alleged human rights abuses against its Muslim minority and called for punitive measures against a senior Communist Party official and Chinese companies.

A letter to President Donald Trump’s top advisers signed by more than 40 lawmakers said China’s actions in its western region of Xinjiang “may constitute crimes against humanity” and urged tighter U.S. export controls to ensure that U.S. companies are not assisting the Chinese government’s crackdown there, either directly or indirectly.

It also asked the United States to strengthen financial disclosure requirements to alert American investors about the presence in U.S. capital markets of Chinese companies that are “complicit in human rights abuses.”

The letter specifically cited Hikvision and Dahua Technology, which produce audio-visual equipment that can be used for surveillance.

China faces growing condemnation from Western capitals and rights groups for setting up facilities that U.N. experts describe as mass detention centers holding more than 1 million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims.

Beijing has said its measures in Xinjiang, which are also reported to include widespread surveillance of the population, are aimed at stemming the threat of Islamist militancy. The facilities or camps that have opened are vocational training centers, the government has said.

The letter, which was sent to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, urged them to swiftly slap sanctions on Xinjiang’s Communist Party chief Chen Quanguo, a member of the Chinese leadership’s powerful politburo, and other Chinese officials “complicit in gross violations of human rights.”

The Trump administration has been weighing sanctions against Chinese officials, including Chen, since late last year, and though it has ramped up criticism it has held off on imposing the measures. China has warned that it would retaliate “in proportion” against any U.S. sanctions.

“We are disappointed with the administration’s failure so far to impose any sanctions related to the ongoing systemic and egregious human rights abuses in Xinjiang,” the lawmakers said. “While the strong rhetoric condemning the Chinese government’s actions (in Xinjiang) from Vice President Pence and others is certainly welcomed, words alone are not enough.”

The group of signatories was led by U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and U.S. Representative Chris Smith on the Republican side and Senator Bob Menendez and Representative James McGovern on the Democratic side.

They called on the Trump administration to apply sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act. The federal law allows the U.S. government to target human rights violators around the world with freezes on any U.S. assets, U.S. travel bans and prohibitions on Americans doing business with them. 
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A packaged-food entrepreneur from California became the first of the 33 parents charged in the college bribery scandal to agree to plead guilty, disclosing the deal Wednesday as Hollywood actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin appeared in court along with some of the other defendants.

 

Peter Jan Sartorio, 53, was accused of paying $15,000 in cash to have someone correct his daughter’s answers on the ACT college entrance exam. The exact charges to which he planned to plead were not immediately clear.

 

The two actresses and Loughlin’s fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, said little during the brief hearing in a packed Boston courtroom and were not asked to enter a plea. They remain free on bail. Several other parents were given similar hearings of a few minutes each.

 

The proceedings came three weeks after 50 people in all were charged with taking part in a scheme in which parents bribed coaches and helped rig test scores to get their children into some of the nation’s most selective universities, including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and the University of Southern California.

 

The case – the biggest college admissions scheme ever prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department – has roiled the world of higher education and amplified complaints the system is stacked in favor of the rich.

 

Loughlin, 54, who appeared in the 1980s and ’90s sitcom “Full House,” is accused along with Giannulli of paying $500,000 to get their daughters admitted as recruits to the USC crew team, even though neither is a rower. Authorities said the couple helped create fake athletic profiles for their daughters by having them pose for photos on rowing machines.

 

The Hallmark Channel, where Loughlin starred in popular holiday movies and the series “When Calls the Heart,” cut ties with her a day after her arrest.

 

Huffman, the 56-year-old former “Desperate Housewives” star, is charged with paying the admissions consultant at the center of the scheme $15,000 to have a proctor correct the answers on her daughter’s SAT.

 

Huffman, Loughlin and Giannulli have not publicly addressed the allegations.

 

They and others are charged with conspiracy and fraud, which carries up to 20 years in prison. But first-time offenders typically get only a fraction of that, and experts said some parents may avoid prison if they quickly agree to plead guilty.

 

Sartorio, the founder of an organic frozen-food company, did not appear in court Wednesday, and it was not clear when the Menlo Park, California, businessman would plead guilty. His lawyers did not immediately reply to an email for comment.

 

Other parents charged in the case include the former co-chairman of an international law firm and the former head of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.

 

Three people have pleaded guilty, including the admissions consultant, Rick Singer, and the former women’s soccer coach at Yale, Rudy Meredith.

 

The case set off a furor over the feverish competition to get into college and the lengths to which status-seeking parents will go. Many complained that the playing field has long been uneven, with wealthy students enjoying the advantages of private schools, tutors, test-preparation coaches, admissions consultants and big donations to colleges from their parents.

 

On Wednesday, Loughlin smiled as she walked out of the courthouse and climbed into a black SUV with her lawyers. A fan shouted, “I love you, Felicity!” as Huffman emerged from the courthouse with her brother.

 

 
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The United States will not send high-level officials to attend China’s second Belt and Road summit in Beijing this month, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday, citing concerns about financing practices for the project.

China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, said on Saturday that almost 40 foreign leaders would take part in the summit due to be held in Beijing in late April. He rejected criticisms of the project as “prejudiced.”

The first summit for the project, which envisions rebuilding the old Silk Road to connect China with Asia, Europe and beyond with massive infrastructure spending, was held in 2017 and was attended by Matt Pottinger, the senior White House official for Asia.

There are no such plans this year.

“We will not send high-level officials from the United States,” a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said in answer to a question from Reuters.

“We will continue to raise concerns about opaque financing practices, poor governance, and disregard for internationally accepted norms and standards, which undermine many of the standards and principles that we rely upon to promote sustainable, inclusive development, and to maintain stability and a rules-based order.

“We have repeatedly called on China to address these concerns,” the official added.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative has proven controversial in many Western capitals, particularly Washington, which views it as a means to spread Chinese influence abroad and saddle countries with unsustainable debt through non-transparent projects.

On Saturday, Yang called such criticisms “prejudiced,” saying China has never forced debt upon participants and the project was to promote joint development.

On Saturday, he did not name the 40 leaders he said would attend, but some of China’s closest allies have already confirmed they will be there, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

​The United States has been particularly critical of Italy’s decision to sign up to the plan this month, during a visit by Xi to Rome, the first for a G7 nation.

Washington sees China as major strategic rival and the Trump administration has engaged Beijing in a tit-for-tat tariff war. 

The world’s two biggest economies have levied tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of bilateral trade since July 2018, raising costs, disrupting supply chains and roiling global markets.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Tuesday said the countries “expect to make more headway” in trade talks this week, while the top U.S. business lobbying group said differences over an enforcement mechanism and the removal of U.S. tariffs were still obstacles to a deal.
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A decision by the U.S. government to cut aid to three Central American nations is “counterproductive,” likely to backfire and fuel rather than stem the flow of migrants north fleeing gang violence and dire poverty, charities said on Tuesday.

The U.S. State Department said on Saturday it would carry out President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to end foreign assistance to programs in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – known as the Northern Triangle.

Trump has criticized the three nations for doing little to stop the flow of migrants and asylum seekers, many of whom are seeking better lives in the United States.

Charities that receive funding from the U.S. government to promote economic and social development in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras say aid cuts not only will do little good but will make matters worse.

“The people who are really going to get hurt by this are the people who are the region’s most vulnerable, including small farmers and teenagers trying to avoid the pressures of joining gangs and escape violence,” said David Ray, vice president of policy and advocacy at global charity CARE.

“Poverty, violence and insecurity – those are exactly the drivers of migration. So to undercut those programs seems to be self-defeating,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The United States provides hundreds of millions of dollars every year for development projects in the Northern Triangle, including crime and gang violence prevention, efforts to strengthen agriculture and justice systems, anti-corruption programs and job skills training.

U.S. foreign aid to Central America dropped to $527.6 million this year from $655 million in 2017, according to the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a think-tank.

Trump’s idea to cut aid to the Northern Triangle could add to migration north as conditions at home worsen, experts said.

“He is concerned about border security,” said Robert Zachritz, vice president for advocacy and government relations at charity World Vision. “If you want to solve that problem, what he is proposing is counterproductive.”

World Vision relies on $127 million of U.S. government funding for Northern Triangle projects.

CARE would have to scale back in the Northern Triangle on efforts that include a project helping poor farmers in Guatemala grow sustainable crops.

“That program would be severely curtailed without the U.S. funding,” Ray said.

Fierce Battle Ahead

But cutting aid will likely face strong opposition in the U.S. Congress, which must approve Trump’s plan to change spending bills already passed.

To win Congressional approval, the Trump administration must provide a formal notice explaining its plans for reallocating the aid money.

“It is Congress that decides on how much foreign assistance the U.S. is going to provide,” said Adriana Beltran, head of WOLA’s Citizen Security Program and Central America expert.

“Congress has control of the purse, so it’s going to lead to a fierce battle,” she said.

Rick Jones, senior advisor for charity Catholic Relief Services, which last year planned projects in the Northern Triangle with the help of $34.4 million in U.S. government funds, also said aid cuts would fuel migration.

“Cutting off aid is morally wrong and is counterproductive,” Jones said. “It will undermine the gains that have been made in reducing violence and will spur more migration.”

One of its endangered projects provides training and jobs to more than 5,000 young people in poor and violence-torn communities in Honduras and El Salvador, he said.

“Cutting aid will provoke greater instability in Central America, provoking ever more migration,” said Vicki Gass, senior policy advisor at Oxfam, a British-based charitable confederation that does not receive U.S. aid. “We know that people are leaving because of the widespread violence, devastating climate change, endemic corruption, and structural economic inequality – not addressing these fundamental problems is not the answer.”
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Trucks delivering goods from Mexico to the United States are facing up to eight hours of gridlock, after a transfer of U.S. border agents to immigration duties slowed the flow of commercial traffic at several border crossings.

President Donald Trump took a step back on Tuesday from his threat to close the U.S. southern border to fight illegal immigration, amid pressure from companies worried that a shutdown would inflict chaos on supply chains. He had threatened on Friday to close the border this week unless Mexico acted to curb a surge of asylum seekers from countries in Central

America.

But the reshuffling of border agents, announced last week to process the record number of migrant families entering the United States from Mexico, prompted delays of up to eight hours for trucks crossing from Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez to El Paso, Texas, truckers told Reuters.

“Industry is most affected by this situation, due to the millions in fines they have to pay when deliveries arrive late to clients,” said Manuel Sotelo, head of the truckers union in Ciudad Juarez. He said the delays could even lead to the cancellation of contracts and layoffs.

Senior U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials said on Tuesday that the recent redeployment of some 750 officers on the border to deal with a surge in migrants — mostly Central American families turning themselves into border agents — led to the slowing of legal crossings and commerce at ports of entry.

Mexico’s foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, also noted that commercial traffic at the U.S.-Mexico border had slowed at several crossings due to the transfer of U.S. border agents.

Ebrard said the U.S. government has told Mexico that so far it is not going to shut down the border, but said his country will be prepared for that possibility if it comes to pass.
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