U.S. Policy Archives - Page 9 of 12

AQ Slideshow: NYC Immigrants March for Reform on May Day

Immigrant and workers’ rights activists and union members gathered in New York City last week to celebrate International Workers’ Day on May 1—also known as May Day. Representatives from unions like Local 375 NYC Board of Education Employees (AFSCME) and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and immigrant rights groups like New Immigrant Community Empowerment … Read more

While Brazil Sambas with Cuba, the U.S. Dances Alone

Brazil is betting on an eventual opening in Cuba. The bet is more than economic; it’s linked directly to a larger geopolitical project intended to draw Cuba toward its own model of economic and political organization as Cuba wakes up from its 55-year slumber under the Castro regime. The process has already started with a … Read more

Policy Advocacy: U.S. Immigration Reform

Any meaningful comprehensive immigration reform in the United States must establish a pathway for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants to become eligible for legal residence and eventual citizenship. Getting unauthorized immigrants to some form of legal status, however, will require more than just legislative action; the nonprofit sector must mobilize and help them navigate … Read more

Monday Memo: Costa Rican Elections – U.S. Deportations – Venezuela-Spain Spat – FIFA Delays

Unchallenged Costa Rican Candidate Wins Presidency: Luis Guillermo Solís of the Partido Acción Ciudadana (Citizen Action Party—PAC) won Sunday’s presidential election in Costa Rica, claiming 78 percent of the vote. The challenging candidate, Johnny Araya of the Partido Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Party—PLN), dropped out of the running after a March 5 opinion poll ranked … Read more

United Nations Criticizes U.S. on Human Rights

A UN report that was released on Thursday criticizes the United States for a poor performance on 25 human rights issues, ranging from torture and National Security Agency spying, to life sentences for juvenile offenders and the death penalty. The report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was critical of … Read more

Diplomacy Isn’t a Tug of War

Diplomacy during the Cold War, wrote Sam Tanenhaus in last Sunday’s New York Times, may have been more of a high wire act than a chess match—but diplomacy, neither then nor now, is a tug of war. Unfortunately, that’s the way it’s being conducted in the U.S.’ delinked Cuba-Venezuela policies—hostages to age-old vendettas, anachronistic policies … Read more

Monday Memo: Nicaraguan Elections – Venezuelan protests – Colombian Peace Talks – Mapuche Leader – Chilean Visas

Support AQ! “Like” our Fall 2013 issue cover here: http://on.fb.me/1kNso1z Likely top stories this week: Nicaraguans vote in local elections; protests continue in Venezuela; the FARC says it will continue peace talks during elections; a Mapuche leader is sentenced to prison; Chileans no longer need visas to enter the United States. Nicaraguan Elections: Nicaraguans overwhelmingly … Read more

Second Member of the “Cuban Five” Freed

The United States released the second member of a group of five Cuban prisoners—known as the “Cuban Five”—from an Arizona prison on Thursday. Fernando González, 54, was convicted in 2001 of spying on military bases and Cuban exiles in South Florida, and is expected to be deported back to Cuba within days. René González, a … Read more

Changing U.S. Policy Toward Cuba: Another View

In a recent interview with The Washington Post, Florida sugar magnate Alfonso Fanjul said he is ready to do business with Cuba “under the right circumstances.” The questions are: “what are the right circumstances?” and “who benefits when American companies ‘do business’ with communist Cuba?” The Fanjul family left Cuba in 1959 when Fidel Castro … Read more

Cuba: Wait, Wait, Let Me Guess What Comes Next

I’m not a betting man, but if I were, this is what I’d bet. With a series of statements by leading Cuban-Americans, stories of change inside the island, and growing public pressure and attention to liberalize the U.S. embargo toward Cuba, I’d wager that soon the Cuban government will do something to halt the process. … Read more

Most Americans Support Normalizing Cuba Relations

A new poll by the Atlantic Council released yesterday found that a majority of Americans are now in favor of stabilizing U.S.-Cuba relations. Of those sampled nationwide, six out of 10 said they favor policy changes that would allow more business transactions between the two countries, as well as the lifting of restrictions that don’t … Read more

State Of The Union: Is this Obama’s Last Hurrah?

The State of the Union (SOTU) address can be considered an institutionalized “bully pulpit” for the President of the United States. It is delivered yearly on the last Tuesday in January. As expected, the President forcefully made his case for new proposals to Congress before a primetime television audience. President Obama’s speech was delivered in … Read more

Independent Watchdog Says NSA Program Is Illegal

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent federal privacy review board, has concluded that the National Security Agency (NSA)’s phone call record collection program is illegal and should be discontinued. The 238-page report published yesterday finds that the spying program “lacks viable foundation” under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, violates the First … Read more

The revelations have hurt U.S. diplomatic and economic interests.

Governments are supposed to protect their nations from foreign threats, and good intelligence is critical to that task. And while spying on enemies is not particularly controversial, things get more complicated when clandestine intelligence operations are directed at friends and partners. There has to be a careful balancing of benefits and potential for damage—especially if … Read more

Leaders’ reactions to the revelations are really about domestic politics. Everybody spies, even on allies.

The reported snooping by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) on world leaders is a rich teachable moment. It shows the underside of international relations. Spying on other governments—including friendly ones—is a pillar of modern foreign policy and a vital tool to protect against modern security threats like international crime, terrorism, cyber-attacks, drug trafficking, climate … Read more