October 2009
The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition reports that yesterday afternoon, the Senate passed the Legislative Branch conference report, which includes a month-long continuing resolution (CR). The CR now goes to the President for signature and will fund the federal government through October 31 at non-emergency FY 2009 spending levels: $38.2 billion for the International Affairs Budget, which includes $538 million for State Department international exchange programs.
President Obama and Congress should drastically expand educational exchanges with Iraq, writes J.P. Schnapper-Casteras, founder of the Stanford-Iraq Student Exchange, in today’s Washington Post:
Negative international public opinion of the United States is nothing new, John R. Miller writes in the New York Times:
The United States’ share of the world’s college students has fallen from 29 per cent in 1970 to just 12 per cent in 2006, reports InsideHigherEd.com.
Recently approved by both the House and the Senate, legislation to triple nonmilitary aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year for the next five years (S. 1707) is being viewed warily by Pakistanis, reports the New York Times.
President Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize in a surprise announcement delivered early this morning. The Nobel award citation noted Obama’s “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” From his call for a rebooting of the United States’ image around the world, to his landmark speech to the Muslim world in Cairo, to his travels to Accra, Istanbul, Port of Spain, Moscow, and beyond, Obama has consistently sought a “fresh relationship” with counterparts around the world based on mutual understanding and respect. He has on several occasions made clear that people-to-people engagement through international exchange programs is a key component of achieving this goal.
“My view is the American toolbox should contain something other than hammers,” Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said during an interview and conversation with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at George Washington University on Monday night. Led by CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, the event was billed as a conversation on “American power and persuasion” and focused largely on the working relationship between Clinton and Gates (the Secretaries “spend a lot of time together,” Clinton said, whereas “most of my career, secretaries of state and defense weren’t speaking to one another,” Gates quipped), as well as the situations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Iran.
The United States still lacks a reliable system for verifying that foreign visitors have left the country, the New York Times reports. Highlighting the recent case of a Jordanian tourist who overstayed his visa and has since been accused of plotting to blow up a Dallas building, the article emphasizes the challenges faced by U.S. law enforcement and immigration authorities to ensure that foreigners who entered the country legally have left:
The number of U.S. student visas issued in India fell 25 per cent in the last year, from 34,510 to 25,860, The Economic Times, the , and all report. The Economic Times notes that the drop in visas is due to less financial aid being offered by institutions rather than any tougher standards on or problems with visas. The Times also notes:
The House of Representatives, with bipartisan support, passed the Travel Promotion Act of 2009 (H.R. 1035) on October 7. The House version of this bill still needs Senate approval before heading to President Obama’s desk for signature.
