Updates | The Week of July 17, 2017
Britany Riley // 6/25/17 //
President Trump will seek to impose new sanctions on Iran, though the country is technically in compliance with the nuclear deal (WaPo, WSJ, LA Times).
Should President Trump revoke the Iran nuclear deal, Iran may respond by building upon tactics used in the Iran-Iraq War, explain Ariane Tabatabai and Annie Tracy Samuel at Lawfare.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will majorly restructure the State Department (NYT).
- The office in charge of investigating war crimes will be closed (Foreign Policy).
- The Office of Global Criminal Justice should be saved from the chopping block, argues Beth Van Schaack at Just Security.
- Former diplomats and national security officials have written a letter supporting the maintenance of a separate refugee office (Guardian).
- Noting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s divergent public stance from that of President Trump, J. Dana Stuster summarizes recent developments in the Middle East conflicts on Lawfare.
- Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced plans to shut down the Office for the Coordination of Cyber Issues, which some view as an attempt to deemphasize the Department’s role in international cyber-security policy (The Hill; Ars Technica).
U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley recently boasted about major cuts to the UN peacekeeping budget, but the pare down will have significant impacts on humanitarian operations, argue Sarah Knuckey, Anjli Parrin, AbdoulAziz Sali, Lewis Alexis Mbolinani andBaptiste Martin atJust Security.
The Trump administration has announced its goals for the renegotiation of NAFTA (Politico, WaPo).
The Department of Homeland Security will end the ban on laptops in the cabins of international flights (LA Times).
President Trump will follow Obama’s approach and not push very hard for a release of Xiyue Wang, Reuel Marc Gerecht argues at the New York Times.