On Wednesday, the Consensus For Development Reforms and Modernization Foreign Assistance Network hosted a discussion titled Palestine: the Bush Administration’ Legacy on Global Development: Lessons for the Next Decade and Beyond.  The panelists assessed the foreign assistance policy under President George W. Bush, the reform in this sector how it has impact the aid philosophy and policy. The discussion featured Ambassador John Danilovich, former CEO, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, Ambassador ...

Amnesty International released (Arabic) its annual report charting the surge in executions carried out internationally in 2011. According to Foreign Policy, a surge in executions can be attributed to the Middle East, which saw a 50% in confirmed executions for the year 2011, bringing the total number to 558. Iraq saw an estimated 68 executions, Saudi realized 82 deaths, and Iran, the top-placer in the report, saw 360. The U.S. ...

Questions have been raised as to whether Saudi Arabia’s status as top oil-producing country and trusted ally of the U.S. have kept the U.S. from condemning the overwhelmingly anti-democratic principles of Gulf kingdom. According to Le Monde Diplomatique (English), within the last year Saudi has “crushed democratic protests” in Bahrain, executed 76 people in 2011 (“including a woman accused of ‘sorcery’), threated to execute a blogger who engaged in an ...

U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Bob Casey (D-PA) collectively wrote a letter addressed to President Barack  Obama asking his administration to extended “temporary protect status” (TPS) to Syrian nationals currently living in the U.S. TPS status would allow Syrians to avoid being reverted back to their home country due to the instability and violence. The letter asked ...

Representatives Chris Murphy (D-CT) introduced a resolution with David Dreier (R-CA), Russ Carnahan (D-MO) and David Price (D-NC) applauding Tunisia's peaceful "Jasmine Revolution." The resolution praised Tunisia's peaceful "Jasmine Revolution" as "the first of several movements throughout the Middle East and North Africa and inspired democracy and human rights activist throughout the region and around the world." The elections on October 23, 2011 were considered "the first competitive, multi-party democratic election of the ...

Representatives Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Christopher S. Murphy (D-CT)  joined sixteen other cosponsors by signing on to H.J. Res. 80, which calls for “limiting the issuance of a letter of offer with respect to a certain proposed sale of defense articles and defense services to the Kingdom of Bahrain,” originally introduced by Rep. James McGovern (D-MA). The resolution limits the proposed arms sale, requiring the Secretary of State to “certify to the ...

On Tuesday, the Foreign Policy Initiative hosted a series of foreign policy discussions with prominent policymakers and leaders. The forum asked, “Will our leaders make the difficult choices needed to sustain America’s pivotal role in global affairs—or will we accept the grave danger of retreating from the world?” Participants included Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Representative Mike Rogers ...