Nicole Gaouette
By Nicole Gaouette
Secretary of State John Kerry described his first overseas trip as the top US diplomat as a listening tour.
What he heard was disappointment from allies and others who pressed for the US to play a larger role in addressing the crises sweeping North Africa and the Middle East.
In London, the British foreign secretary spoke of a “burning need” for the US to revive dormant Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. In Rome, Syria’s opposition leader said he was “tired of” hearing that terrorism concerns prevent the US from sending weapons to opponents of President Bashar Al Assad.
In Cairo, opposition politicians faulted Kerry for not addressing more forcefully human rights issues under the new Egyptian leadership dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood. “They want a more robust US policy,” said David Schenker, head of the Arab politics programme at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “And they just don’t see it, notwithstanding the appointment of a new secretary of state.” Aaron David Miller, a vice president at the Wilson Center, a Washington policy group, said Kerry’s first foray suggests “that he’s going to be the manager in chief of problems, from Syria to Egypt to the Russians, that have no easy solutions and require loads of someone’s time — just not President Obama’s.”
Kerry returned to Washington on Wednesday from the 11-day trip that included stops in London, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Ankara, Cairo, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Doha.
“Kerry’s got to be pretty satisfied,” with his performance, Miller said in an email. “Nothing heroic, but no howlers or failures either.”
Kerry, in an interview with Bloomberg News, disputed claims that the US isn’t doing enough, citing Syria in particular.
“I understand the impatience of the Syrian opposition, I know it’s frustrating because they think that ‘plunk,’ you just have this weapon or that weapon and it’s over,” Kerry said. “But the fact is that the president believes that this has to be done in a way that doesn’t create more killing before it gives an opportunity to try to make a choice for a peaceful resolution.
“Maybe we need to do more to make sure people know what we’re doing, but we’re doing a lot,” Kerry said.
The frustration of the Syrian opposition and others in response to Kerry may also reflect the way President Obama has centralised foreign policy decisions, Schenker said.
“If you’re coming with a message that ‘we’re going to review the policy and I have to take this back to Washington,’ that’s not what they want to hear,” said Schenker, a former Pentagon policy official dealing with the Mideast during President George W Bush’s administration.
Obama’s approach to the Middle East is shaped by the desire to leave a lighter footprint than Bush did with the 2003 Iraq invasion, say analysts such as Michele Dunne, head of the Middle East center at the Atlantic Council, a Washington policy group.
When the CIA, Pentagon and State Department under then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the White House last year to arm Syria’s rebels, the president said no. The administration also hasn’t embraced other military options, including creating a protected aid corridor or a Libya-like no-fly zone to ground the Syrian air force.
In Rome, Kerry countered criticism that new US aid to Syrian fighters — medicine and ready-to-eat meals — is inadequate by arguing that the US contribution had to be seen in the context of all international aid going to the rebels.
The region’s stew of troubles has global implications. North Africa is becoming an incubator for terrorism, as seen by the recent attack by Islamist groups in Mali that drew French military intervention. The uncertain outcome of democratic movements in Yemen, Libya and Egypt could lead to further destabilisation across a region crucial to global oil supplies.
Political turmoil is intensifying economic strains in Egypt, the most populous Arab nation. Egypt’s foreign reserves are down more than 60 percent from before the 2011 uprising that ousted long-time President Hosni Mubarak. Political tensions and violence have kept away tourists and investors have had prolonged talks with the International Monetary Fund on a
$4.8bn loan.
In Egypt, where Kerry offered President Mohammed Mursi $190m in budget support and $60m for an Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund, Egyptians such as Emad Gad, deputy director of Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said Kerry should have spoken more strongly about human rights.
Gad, a former lawmaker in the now-dissolved Lower House of Parliament, said Egypt’s political opposition thinks the US is siding with the Muslim Brotherhood because it “got what it wants from the group: Israel’s security, preserving the peace agreement, mediation with Hamas and guaranteeing of US interests in the region.”
Kerry’s trip was publicly dominated by the two-year-old Syrian civil war, which has taken more than 70,000 lives and displaced more than 1 million people. Kerry said he wanted to hear from rebel officials at a February 28 international conference in Rome what they need.
WP-BLOOMBERG
By Nicole Gaouette
Secretary of State John Kerry described his first overseas trip as the top US diplomat as a listening tour.
What he heard was disappointment from allies and others who pressed for the US to play a larger role in addressing the crises sweeping North Africa and the Middle East.
In London, the British foreign secretary spoke of a “burning need” for the US to revive dormant Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. In Rome, Syria’s opposition leader said he was “tired of” hearing that terrorism concerns prevent the US from sending weapons to opponents of President Bashar Al Assad.
In Cairo, opposition politicians faulted Kerry for not addressing more forcefully human rights issues under the new Egyptian leadership dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood. “They want a more robust US policy,” said David Schenker, head of the Arab politics programme at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “And they just don’t see it, notwithstanding the appointment of a new secretary of state.” Aaron David Miller, a vice president at the Wilson Center, a Washington policy group, said Kerry’s first foray suggests “that he’s going to be the manager in chief of problems, from Syria to Egypt to the Russians, that have no easy solutions and require loads of someone’s time — just not President Obama’s.”
Kerry returned to Washington on Wednesday from the 11-day trip that included stops in London, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Ankara, Cairo, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Doha.
“Kerry’s got to be pretty satisfied,” with his performance, Miller said in an email. “Nothing heroic, but no howlers or failures either.”
Kerry, in an interview with Bloomberg News, disputed claims that the US isn’t doing enough, citing Syria in particular.
“I understand the impatience of the Syrian opposition, I know it’s frustrating because they think that ‘plunk,’ you just have this weapon or that weapon and it’s over,” Kerry said. “But the fact is that the president believes that this has to be done in a way that doesn’t create more killing before it gives an opportunity to try to make a choice for a peaceful resolution.
“Maybe we need to do more to make sure people know what we’re doing, but we’re doing a lot,” Kerry said.
The frustration of the Syrian opposition and others in response to Kerry may also reflect the way President Obama has centralised foreign policy decisions, Schenker said.
“If you’re coming with a message that ‘we’re going to review the policy and I have to take this back to Washington,’ that’s not what they want to hear,” said Schenker, a former Pentagon policy official dealing with the Mideast during President George W Bush’s administration.
Obama’s approach to the Middle East is shaped by the desire to leave a lighter footprint than Bush did with the 2003 Iraq invasion, say analysts such as Michele Dunne, head of the Middle East center at the Atlantic Council, a Washington policy group.
When the CIA, Pentagon and State Department under then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the White House last year to arm Syria’s rebels, the president said no. The administration also hasn’t embraced other military options, including creating a protected aid corridor or a Libya-like no-fly zone to ground the Syrian air force.
In Rome, Kerry countered criticism that new US aid to Syrian fighters — medicine and ready-to-eat meals — is inadequate by arguing that the US contribution had to be seen in the context of all international aid going to the rebels.
The region’s stew of troubles has global implications. North Africa is becoming an incubator for terrorism, as seen by the recent attack by Islamist groups in Mali that drew French military intervention. The uncertain outcome of democratic movements in Yemen, Libya and Egypt could lead to further destabilisation across a region crucial to global oil supplies.
Political turmoil is intensifying economic strains in Egypt, the most populous Arab nation. Egypt’s foreign reserves are down more than 60 percent from before the 2011 uprising that ousted long-time President Hosni Mubarak. Political tensions and violence have kept away tourists and investors have had prolonged talks with the International Monetary Fund on a
$4.8bn loan.
In Egypt, where Kerry offered President Mohammed Mursi $190m in budget support and $60m for an Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund, Egyptians such as Emad Gad, deputy director of Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said Kerry should have spoken more strongly about human rights.
Gad, a former lawmaker in the now-dissolved Lower House of Parliament, said Egypt’s political opposition thinks the US is siding with the Muslim Brotherhood because it “got what it wants from the group: Israel’s security, preserving the peace agreement, mediation with Hamas and guaranteeing of US interests in the region.”
Kerry’s trip was publicly dominated by the two-year-old Syrian civil war, which has taken more than 70,000 lives and displaced more than 1 million people. Kerry said he wanted to hear from rebel officials at a February 28 international conference in Rome what they need.
WP-BLOOMBERG
