Thanks to a near-broken confirmation process, the US does not have a U.S. Ambassador in:
- Israel
- Egypt
- Lebanon
- Oman
- Kuwait
- No confirmed top USAID official for the Middle East for nearly 3 years
-No State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism for nearly 2 years Senate aides tell me that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee could rush-order a hearing for Biden’s Israel ambassador nominee - Jack Lew - as soon as this week, though no official announcement made yet

NEW: Russia and Iran are closer than ever before, as Moscow relies on drones and arms from Iran to stave off more defeats in Ukraine

"For the first time, Russia is more dependent on Iran than it ever has been"

My story with @ak_mack
foreignpolicy.com/2023/01/05/ira… Russia and Iran have always been partners of convenience against the West when it suited them, but that relationship has always been tinged with unease and distrust.

Now, officials and experts say Moscow is going all in on upgrading its friendship with Iran but...

Consensus among US and European officials we've spoken to on the incident in Poland is: (1) still waiting for all the facts, (2) leaning toward a likely accident & (3) spotlights what a knife's edge NATO is on as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues foreignpolicy.com/2022/11/15/rus… As G20 leaders meet in Bali, NATO and G7 leaders have issued a joint statement condemning Russia's latest missile barrage on Ukraine and offering assistance to Poland

The statement is careful not to attribute blame for the incident, indicating they are waiting for more info

The UN Security Council voted on a draft resolution condemning Russia's annexation of 4 Ukrainian territories

Russia vetoed it, unsurprising

BUT China abstained rather than supporting Russia by vetoing it The UNSC vote was:

10 in favor: US, UK, France, Albania, Ghana, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Norway, UAE

4 abstained: China, Brazil, India, Gabon

1 against: Russia

Since Russia is one of the permanent 5 members it has veto power, so the resolution wasn't passed

Trump Under Investigation for Possible Violations of Espionage Act

Our story: foreignpolicy.com/2022/08/12/tru… Here is the full unsealed 7 page warrant if you would like to read it all: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

New story: Western allies are beginning to deliver armor & heavy weapons to Ukraine, in a shift from the early days of the war

•T-72 tanks
•RM-70 multiple launch rocket systems
•MI-17 helicopters
•M113 APCs
•Switchblade “kamikaze” drones & more

foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/15/tan… Delivering tanks is a lot more complicated than delivering small arms or single-use antitank weapons. It requires a long logistical tail with spare parts, mechanics, training, ammo etc.

So this is a bigger shift that one might think at first glance

NEW: even as Russia pulls back mercenaries and foreign fighters abroad to Ukraine, it is keeping a sizeable military footprint in Mali as European forces withdraw.

Our story on how Moscow is still angling to be a major player in the Sahel foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/14/rus… On the military front, diplomatic sources say Russia is still keeping ~1,000 boots on the ground in Mali (both advisers and mercenaries from the Wagner Group)

About ~200 Malian troops & police have been sent to Russia for training

In new emergency speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin announces he has ordered a “special military operation” on Ukraine Putin claims threats from NATO expansion and Ukrainian government support for neo-Nazis (a tired false claim that has been debunked many times over)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirms he's scrapping plans to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, after Russia deployed new troops to eastern Ukraine "We will not allow Russia to claim the pretense of diplomacy...while it marches down the path of conflict" Blinken says. Adds: "We, our partners, remain open to diplomacy, but Moscow needs to demonstrate that it’ is serious. The last 24 hours, it’s demonstrated just the opposite"

After months of impasse, the Senate finally confirmed ~3 dozen US ambassador nominees last night. It came after Sen. Ted Cruz agreed to lift his blanket hold on State nominees, centering on a feud with Biden on Biden’s policy over a Russian gas pipeline project, Nord Stream 2 Cruz agreed to lift the hold in a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has agreed to hold a vote on sanctions for Nord Stream 2 when Congress reconvenes in January.

The Senate just passed a State Department authorization bill for the first time since 2002. (It was as part of the NDAA)

The last time the Senate passed a State authorization bill, Barack Obama was an Illinois senator and less than 10% of the world had access to the Internet My teeming social life and I will be spending this evening kicking back, relaxing with some hot cocoa, and reading through the full text of the State auth bill. (What can I say I'm an adrenaline junkie.) I'll post updates about it here for anyone interested

White House announces new ambassador nominations:
-Mari Carmen Aponte (former Obama State Dept envoy) to Panama
-Douglas Hickey to Finland
-George Tsunis (former failed Norway ambassador) to Greece
-Joseph Donnelly (former Dem Indiana Senator) to the Vatican Tsunis became a symbol of the political “pay to play” ambassador system in which presidents nominate deep pocket campaign donors with no diplomatic experience to ambassador posts during the Obama administration… (cont’d)

New: We spoke to Afghans who helped the US military who adds left behind and in hiding, moving from safe house to safe house, and say their hope of evacuation is fading by the day foreignpolicy.com/2021/10/01/afg… “I cannot stay in one location very long, but I also cannot know how long I can keep us like this,” one Afghan SIV applicant told us. “Eventually, I feel I will be found.”

Quick history thread: Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement today on Pride Month and LGBTQ right.

The statement doesn't address a chapter of State Department history that's almost entirely overlooked virtually unknown called the "Lavender Scare"... During the 1950s and ’60s, buoyed by the so-called Red Scare and McCarthyism aimed at purging communists from the federal government, a group of senators and top State Department officials sought to force out all State employees on the basis of perceived sexual orientation

New: Biden admin submits Fiscal Year 2022 budget request to Congress, calling for $63.5 billion in international programs funding. This request is an increase of $6.8 billion, or 12%, from levels enacted in 2021 Within this total, the discretionary request includes $58.4 billion for the State Department and USAID, an increase of $5.4 billion or 10%, according to a new media note sent by the State Department

On the 10 year anniversary of the Libya intervention, here's a must-read deep-dive on how Libya’s unraveling has become a symbol for the limits of U.S. power and the folly of military intervention in distant countries foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/17/lib… from @columlynch Also a fascinating look inside how the US decision to intervene came about (with many familiar actors now in the Biden administration):
"You're not going to drag us into your shitty war" Rice told the French UN ambassador

GOP Rep. Liz Cheney just now on isolationism in US foreign policy: "These ideas are just as dangerous today as when they were in 1940, when isolationists launched the America First movement to appease Hitler and prevent America from aiding Britain in the fight against the Nazis" She's speaking on the future of US foreign policy with the Reagan Foundation. Watch here:

The Senate has voted to confirrm Biden's next ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, by a vote of 78-20

More on her here: foreignpolicy.com/2021/02/05/lin… A bit on her career trajectory:
-Born in Jim Crow-era Louisiana, attended segregated high school
-joined Foreign Service
-nearly killed in Rwanda during 1994 genocide while there on diplomatic assignment
-rose through ranks of Foreign Service to senior-most levels

SCOOP: There is a new dissent cable filed by scores of State Dept officials after Capitol Hill violence. They rebuke Pompeo for not condemning Trump & urge him to consider 25th amendment consultations. Largely unprecedented move in State's ~232 yr history foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/09/sta… New Democratic Chairman of House Foreign Affairs Committee Meeks tells us: "Secretary Pompeo should listen for once to the lawyers and experts in his own Department and take action himself to curb this threat—anything less is cowardice and complicity.”

Meanwhile, Biden announced a lot of his top National Security Council team this week. Here's a rundown of who they are and what it could mean for US foreign policy in the next 4 years, from @ak_mack @JackDetsch and me: foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/08/sta… A lot of veterans of the Obama administration State Department and NSC in here. Brett McGurk, who has served in the past 4 administrations and was Trump's envoy for counter-ISIS before resigning in protest, also joining as top NSC coordinator for Middle East and North Africa

The narrowest margin of Democratic control in the Senate means Biden nominees have a much better chance of clearing the Senate confirmation process.

https://twitter.com/josh_wingrove/status/1347230980344569861

Had the GOP retained control of the Senate, the nominees who would've faced the toughest confirmation process based on my conversations with GOP Senate aides would be Neera Tanden, OMB chief nominee, and Wendy Sherman, to be Deputy Secretary of State