A senior commander of the LRA turned himself in to U.S. forces; President Obama has pledged to continue supporting the government of Mexico despite calls to suspend military aid; Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan announced they will hold their first ever joint naval exercises on the Caspian Sea; and the United States has begun training and providing equipment to the the Iraqi military.
In January 2013, the Latin America Working Group called for 10 New Year's Resolutions for U.S. policy towards the region. Two years later, President Obama has made progress on several fronts -- despite resistance from Congress.
After years of backing for the country’s war effort and free trade deal, Obama administration officials, diplomats, U.S. Southern Command, and investors have deep contacts with some of Colombia’s most prominent peace skeptics. It’s time to encourage them, if not to embrace the process enthusiastically, then at least to recognize its inevitability and be pragmatic.
As the Obama Administration looks to engage with the winner of the upcoming presidential run-off election in Tunisia, which is between the current interim President Moncef Marzouki, a former dissident, and Beji Caid Essebsi, a former foreign minister, security sector reform in Tunisia will likely be a key future issue.
According to the U.S. government’s latest foreign military training report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013, the United States trained 29,784 military or police personnel from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), significantly more than any other region in the world. By contrast, the United States trained 12,157 personnel from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and 10,043 personnel from Latin America and the Caribbean in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 (see below chart).
The State Department’s annual report titled “...