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Though remembered positively by many, Albright's sanctions on Iraq killed thousands

Former President Bill Clintons Secretary of State Madeleine Albright passed away on March 23, 2022. Her death was met with a commemorative op-ed piece by Hillary Clinton in The New York Times. Former President George W. Bush made a commemorative post on his Instagram. President Joe Biden spoke in commemoration, calling her a force for goodness, grace and decency, and Bill Clinton, whose presidency she served under as ambassador to the U.N. and then as secretary of state, called her a passionate force for freedom, democracy and human rights.

A simple fact of politics is that political rhetoric has the tendency to simplify issues. When dealing with foreign policy, it has been noted enough times that freedom and democracy are used frequently as buzzwords to refer to American interests. Bush himself claimed that the central objective of intervention in Iraq was to free its people. However, when examining Albrights legacy it becomes clear that in her foreign policy objectives she did not symbolize these things. As secretary of state under the Clinton administration in the years leading up to the invasion of Iraq, Albright oversaw the implementation of severe sanctions against Iraq, preventing the import of any commodities into the country except for food and medical supplies. However, as the sanctions themselves were implemented, many citizens did find themselves without medical equipment, and children especially suffered malnutrition as a result of a food shortage. The exact death toll is heavily contested, but estimates put the death toll among Iraqi children alone as 567,000. The measures Albright oversaw are also cited as motivating factor in the Sept. 11 attacks on the twin towers.

The Iraq War happened in 2003 under the Bush presidency, causing between 186,176 and 209,391 violent civilian deaths to date. Though some dispute this, many believe that the destabilization of the region that occurred as a result created the power vacuum that allowed groups like ISIS to emerge. The devastation that resulted had been predicted U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) spoke out against the invasion before it happened, saying there were not yet any released estimates of the probable tens of thousands of deaths among Iraqi civilians. The possibility of a fraction of the actual fallout served as a deterrent enough for him.

In 1996, Albright was interviewed and asked about her thoughts on the impact of her sanctions. At the time, the estimated death toll for children was more than half a million. When confronted with this issue, Albright admitted that the choice to level sanctions was difficult, but said that the price is worth it. Iraq is now understood to have been a primarily economic conflict for the United States it cannot be denied that Saddam Hussein was a terrible leader, but our interest had more to do with oil than anything else. Albright clearly was fine with more than half a million Iraqi children dying to keep oil cheap. Like much of the rest of the American governmental apparatus, when push came to shove, she saw foreign lives as disposable.

At the beginning of the semester, I published an article about the role of American apathy in perpetuating the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Now, as Albrights name is circulated, I find the problem of apathy emerging once again. Albrights role in perpetuating this humanitarian crisis has long gone unnoticed. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012, and appeared in episodes of Gilmore Girls and Parks and Recreation. But apart from more progressive outlets like Democracy Now! and Al Jazeera, mainstream news has said little about this aspect of her legacy since her death. As American imperialism continues its destructive path through the Middle East, and as America condemns Russian President Vladimir Putin for committing atrocities not unlike our own, we collectively must reckon with the results of our interventionism. Even when we are justified in condemning other countries, our words do not carry the same weight if we ourselves are guilty of the same crimes. Albrights actions in Iraq helped radicalize people like Osama bin Laden. China also heavily condemned the war when it happened, providing a justification for their current global economic expansion.

The lives of foreign children are not worth less than those of American children, and Albright has died with the blood of many children on her hands. And even after all the death, the Bush administrations purported objective to end tyranny in this world was not met. People like Hillary Clinton and Biden, who supported the invasion in 2003, and Bush, who oversaw the war itself as president, are just as guilty of human rights violations as Albright. People like them wield a great amount of power not only in the political sphere but in the sphere of American ideology as well. When they refuse to even acknowledge the effect of their actions on the rest of the world, the American public is encouraged to be apathetic as well, to dismiss the lives of Iraqi or otherwise foreign citizens as, at the end of the day, irrelevant. The American public is kept complacent over foreign intervention. And, speaking practically, as long as there are people like them in power, there will never be peace in the Middle East.

As a high-ranking diplomat, and later as secretary of state, Albrights career consisted of more than sanctioning Iraq. However, the conditions she created in the Middle East have gone unrecognized in the mainstream, and as we continue on the same path in countries like Yemen, this is the aspect of her political career that we need to confront the most. We need to take a serious look at our own interventionism, and a serious anti-war movement needs to develop. We will not be able to reckon with the challenge of American imperialism until we are willing to criticize it harshly. As long as we are silent, as long as we are apathetic, as long as we honor those who are most guilty, we allow this cycle of death to continue.

Desmond Keuper is a sophomore majoring in philosophy.

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Madeline Albright's role in the Iraq War should be confronted - Binghamton University Pipe Dream

As Washington withdraws from the region, Beijing expands its influence.

Despite ongoing regional and global turmoil, China hasnt ceased its investments in the Middle East. A recent report from Fudan University in Shanghai revealed that Beijing secured a new construction deal in Iraq for around $10.5 billion in 2021 a sum constituting almost one-sixth of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) investments that year.

Iraq has emerged as Chinas number one trading partner in the region and third-largest oil supplier, right after Saudi Arabia and Russia. Its energy reserves and strategic location near the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz prove critical for the BRI. As Washington withdraws from the region, Beijing is poised to expand its influence; rising economic relations with Baghdad will likely translate to political influence over time. The US, Iran, and Trkiye, all actively and deeply connected to Iraq, are closely watching Chinas moves.

Geopolitical threat

China's growing presence in the Middle East under the BRI appears to stymie US regional strategy. While the US has been trying to disengage from the Middle East for over a decade, Washington is also concerned about the threat to its still-strong political, economic and military presence in the region. China's possible role in the reconstruction of Iraq and growingChina-Iran relations are accelerating Beijings presence in Iraq at the expense of the US.

China-Iraq energy cooperation has been the cornerstone of their bilateral relationship since 1981, when the China Petroleum Engineering and Construction Corporation started operations in the country. However, the raising of relations to a strategic partnership in 2015 was an alarming turning point for the US.

Iraq requires a massive $88 billion for its post-Daesh reconstructionneeds an ample opportunity for Beijing to increase its visibility through investment and construction. While bilateral tradetopped$30 billion in 2018, relations were enhanced under former Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, whodescribed the ties as poised for a quantum leap during Beijings 2019 visit. In the first half of 2021, trade volume between the two countriesexceeded$16 billion.

Contrary to the US hard power initiatives, China uses soft power strategies in Iraq, particularly economic investments and non-intervention politics. Beijing has recently been benefittingfrom post-conflict opportunities with mediation efforts and commercial commitment as opposed to military involvement and discourse elsewhere.

It has also already used its UNveto right many times, acting with Russia and against the Western bloc on the Syrian conflict. It is more active in major regional files like Afghanistan and will likely limit US political and military power in Iraq in the foreseeable future.

Iran's benefits

China's regional strategy aims to establish a geographical framework that will create a new balancing force against the West, led by China and Iran. In this respect, the US' downgraded military role in Iraq has opened the door to China globally and Iran regionally.

Having a wide range of political, military, and social influence over Iraq, Iran is in a strategic posture in the US-China quarrel. Strong bilateral relations between Iran and China exist in different fields, and Tehran is becoming more dependent on China due to its economic downturn.

Last March, China and Iransigned a 25-year cooperation agreement in which Beijing promised to invest $400 billion in Irans economy in exchange for oil supplies. This reality opens the door to strengthening China in areas where Iran is influential, particularly within Iraq and in the Middle East in general.

It is no secret that Iran has strong economic relations with Iraq, as well as its ability to intervene in the country's political scene and the existence of dozens of militias it supports. Tehran, which is troubled with the US presence in Iraq, indicates this discomfort with attacks on American assets through its proxies both in politics and in the field. It prefers Beijing as a regional partner. Iranian proxies also regularly threaten Trkiye and Turkish military bases in the north of Iraq.

What about Trkiye?

Iraq has geostrategic significance for the BRIs land route that will link the Middle East to Europe through Iran, Iraq, and Trkiye. At this point, Ankara gives specific attention to the project as it expects significant economic profits.

In 2014, China opened its consulate general in Erbil and announced several billion-dollarinvestments in the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), with which Trkiye also has close economic, military, and political relations.

Yet Chinas closeness to Iran and their alliance in Iraq will have negative repercussions on Trkiye's political and economic relations with Iraq. Notably, while Tehran seeks to exert China as a balancing factor against the US in Iraq, it may also want to use China's investment strategy as a balancing factor against Trkiye's influence in the KRG.

Taking Geng Shuangs, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, call last December for Ankara to "respect for sovereignty" regarding its military operations within Iraqi territory, it may mean that China's influence over Iraq goes beyond economic and geopolitical domination. It is quite clear that this situation is in Iran's favour. However, in the short term, it is unlikely that even a powerful actor like Beijing could affect the indispensability of Ankara, which is the key country in marketing the energy of the KRG to the world, and its gateway to the West.

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of TRT World.

We welcome all pitches and submissions to TRT World Opinion please send them via email, to opinion.editorial@trtworld.com

Source: TRT World

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Chinas Iraq investments and its growing foothold in the Middle East - TRT World

Faced with hundreds of thousands of refugees arriving in EU countries in 2015, policymakers from member states felt the pressure to show aquick reaction. Convening with the leaders of several African countries in the Maltese capital, Valletta, they decided to fill a pot of money. This money was not dedicated to helping integrate the thousands of people who had arrived in the European Union. Instead, the so-called EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) was supposed to "address the root causes of irregular migration" so that fewer Africans might try to make their often dangerous way to Europe.

Was this goal reached six years and 5 billion later? Together with partner newsrooms within the European Data Journalism Network, DW is taking stock of the EUTF. More than 250 projects were initiated through to the official end of the project assignment phase in December 2021, and many of them are still up and running, with the peak disbursement of EUTF funds in summer 2020. With the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) already set up as the next tool and with 8 billion ($9 billion) likely to be allocated to the migration management efforts it is worth looking at the data available.

The EUTF had several objectives that had been presented as equal in the initial documents: Addressing the root causes of irregular migration, preventing and fighting smuggling and trafficking, strengthening protection for people fleeing their homes, improving cooperation on return and reintegration, and advancing the possibilities for legal migration.

The money was not allocated equally toward those objectives. Though a state-of-play-document from February 2018 stated that the "bulk of its resources are dedicated to the creation of jobs and (e)conomic (d)evelopment" only 10% of the funds were allocated to this goal.

The objective of investing primarily in job creation changed only two months later, at an April 2018 meeting of the EUTF's Strategic Board. According to the official minutes, Chair Stefano Manservisi who at the time was head of the European Commission's Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development said a lack of resources had made it necessary to further prioritize existing proposals and focus on "return and reintegration," "refugees management," "securitization of documents and civil registry," "anti-trafficking," "essential stabilization efforts in Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and the Sahel if resources are available," and "migration dialogues."

So it comes as no surprise that almost a quarter of the funds the largest share went into migration management.

It is important to keep in mind that the majority of Africans who leave their homes voluntarily or forced seek to move to neighboring countries and regions within Africa. In 2020, for example, 80% of African migrants did not leave the continent, according to a policy brief by the Institute for Security Studies.

Despite the stated goal of of improving the conditions that cause Africans to migrate irregularly via dangerous routes, the EUTF "had to do more with Europe than with Africa, because for Austria to host 40,000 irregular migrants is more worrisome than for Uganda to host 1.3 million refugees," said Mehari Taddele Maru, a professor at the Migration Policy Centre and formerly the program coordinator for migration at the African Union Commission.

Several of the experts DW spoke with noted that the EU's focus on irregular migration would not necessarily be the most important aspect on the topic of migration for African policymakers.

"A large portion of movements in the past used to happen through legal pathways because of the colonial history so, for example, from Nigeria to the UK, or from Francophone countries to France or Belgium, or to the Middle East due to geographic proximity and religious rituals," Mehari said.

Though an initial stated intent of the EUTF was to also support more legal pathways for Africans to EU countries, the fund ultimately focused mainly on irregular migration. Instead of providing more legal visa opportunities, for example, the objective became to manage the flow of asylum-seekers, refugees, and people who don't have the necessary documents or permits to move or work in another country.

The EU border agency, Frontex, has registered fewer irregular border crossings by African nationals since the EUTF was established in 2015, and Africans have filed fewer applications for asylum in EU member states.

The observed decrease in crossings and applications by citizens of EUTF recipient countries tracked with similar drops in numbers for citizens of all African countries, implying that, overall, the EUTF did not have a measurable impact on migratory movements toward the European Union on this scale.

Though fewer Africans made their way to the European Union, people across the continent continued to leave their homes in increasingly larger numbers. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the number of Africans who left or fled their homes and became internally displaced or refugees in other African countries almost doubled from 2015 to 2020.

"The individual reasons for people moving differ, as do their specific motivations," said Ottilia Anna Maunganidze, who specializes in human security, international law and migration at the Institute for Security Studies and authored a 2021 policy brief on migration from Africa to Europe. "So dedicating any funds should always appreciate this and be tailored appropriately." Maunganidze said the EUTF rollout had done this in some cases, but not in all. In regions where the European Union has maintained a longer presence and relied on local expertise, the tailoring was more successful.

In the case of Niger, Maunganidze said, the EUTF's approach even reinforced what it intended to fight. "Niger is one of the poorer countries on the African continent," she said.

"It's also the youngest, with the median age of just about 14 years of age. When thinking about interventions within Niger, focus really should be on questions of early childhood development, on questions of education, integration and community involvement. But, across the Sahel, the approach has been almost an externalized border policy of the European Union. The focus was on the movement itself and not what are the opportunities that people are not getting at home that result in this desire to move. Now, when you impose a heavily securitized migration-management approach that is intended to contain movement and they impact a local economy and local trade, such that they unfortunately have that unintended consequence of limiting local opportunities pushing people out through irregular channels and dangerous migration routes."

People will still want to move, but, instead of being able to go through legal channels, they are forced to opt for being smuggled across the borders.

Migrants from Niger await boarding ahead of a repatriation flight from the airport of Libyan city Misrata back to their home country.

Maunganidze said the task went beyond taking different demographics into account. "A lot of the issues are structural and systemic and require a long-term engagement in the context to be able to address them," she said. "So it is not necessarily realistic to focus primarily on short-term wins. But, perhaps, if there's an adjustment in terms of implementation of projects, then maybe in the long term that could be realizable but not at the scale of funds that the EUTF has had."

There have been attempts to address the systemic and structural issues. The highest-funded EUTF project, for example, focuses on "state building" in Somalia. The government has been supported with 107 million to reinforce institutions and expand social services, with the primary objective of increasing the trust of other states, potential creditors and the population in the government. According to the project's website, actionable results are two "strategies, laws, policies and plans developed and/or directly supported," as well as four "planning, monitoring, learning, data-collection and analysis systems set up, implemented and/or strengthened" with the funding so far since project start in 2018.

Another example is a 54 million project in Sudan by the UN World Food Programme, which reportedly provided assistance related to nutrition and food security to 1.1 million people. For context: In 2020, a total of 9.6 million Sudanese people were experiencing severe food insecurity, according to the Food Security Information Network.

Young Ethiopians are scanning job offers posted in a display case in Addis Ababa

Then there was a 47.7 million project in Ethiopia directed at building resilience and economic opportunities, which reports creating almost 11,000 jobs with EUTF funding. An absence of paid work is a chronic issue in Ethiopia, where 1.1 million people aged 15 or older were unemployed in 2020, according to estimates by the International Labour Organization.

Because the EUTF was set up as an emergency tool to react to migration and assign projects quickly and flexibly, the fund was not necessarily envisioned as a long-term endeavor. Several observers told DW that the root causes of displacement and migration cannot adequately be addressed by an instrument designed to tackle problems in the short term.

"The EUTF went wrong with the root-causes approach, because of the narrative that it sets: this idea that, once we eradicate the root causes, people are going to stop moving," said Alia Fakhry, a migration researcher at the German Council for Foreign Relations. "Eradicating root causes is one thing, but conflicts and natural disaster will continue to push people away from their homes."

The NDICI, the follow-up to the EUTF, has a much wider scope. Ten percent of its budget is to be dedicated to migration, with a strict monitoring system in place, "but the idea of root causes seems kind of gone," Fakhry said. "Maybe that is where the attention and criticism the EUTF drew paid off."

Edited by: Milan Gagnon

This project is a collaboration among several media outlets in the European Data Journalism Network. While DW was project lead, Voxeurop, Openpolis and OBCT were contributing partners.

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How the EU spent billions to halt migration from Africa - DW (English)

The German companies issued a joint statement in which they say they support the European Commissions Fit for 55 plan but call for a level playing field for all stakeholders inside and outside the continent.

The Fit for 55 program is based on three essential measures to reduce environmental impact: introducing a tax on fossil fuels, tightening emissions trading, and increasing the proportion of sustainable aviation fuels in operations.

Both the Lufthansa Group and the companies that manage the airports in the German cities of Frankfurt and Munich agree that modifications to the project are necessary. If the current Fit for 55 plans were to be implemented without appropriate changes, it would result in a one-sided cost increase for airlines and hubs in the European network. Connectivity, value creation and employment in Europe would be significantly weakened, they claim.

That is why Lufthansa Group, Fraport and Munich Airport appeal to the EU Parliament and Council to improve the EU Commissions proposals and initiate a regulation that promotes effective climate protection while maintaining the competitiveness of European hubs and airlines. Equal treatment of airlines and airports within the EU and their competitors outside the EU is crucial. So far this has been lacking. Given that the proposed climate protection requirements are decidedly stricter for EU airlines and hubs than for non-EU competitors, corrective action is necessary, they sentenced in the statement.

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Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, noted that it cannot be in the interest of the EU and Europe to put European aviation at a disadvantage with Fit for 55 and thus weaken its international competitiveness. Carbon emissions from aviation would be changed and not reduced by the measures that are currently planned. As a result, Europe would become more dependent on third countries with respect to transport policy. This cannot be the intention of policymakers.

In this connection, Stefan Schulte, CEO of Fraport AG, emphasized: Yes, we need more effort and speed in climate protection! It is not a question of whether but of how to implement ambitious climate policies.

For his part, Jost Lammers, CEO of Flughafen Mnchen GmbH, added that we need a fair and effective climate policy that does not put European airlines in a worse position than their competitors. A mere kerosene tax does not save a single gram of CO2. However, emissions trading and the PEF blending mandate, properly implemented, are effective instruments for the desired decarbonization of aviation.

Based on this request, it remains to be seen how the European Commission will channel the companies claims, which are of great relevance in the European aviation market.

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Lufthansa, Fraport and Munich Airport call on the European Union for a fair and effective climate policy - Aviacionline

Britain and the European Union on Wednesday announced coordinated sanctions against pro-Russian separatists, as well as more oligarchs and their relatives.

The UK government said that, in coordination with the EU, it is sanctioning "178 Russian separatists" in eastern Ukraine, in addition to six more oligarchs and their families and employees.

"This comes after multiple reports last week that Russia was barbarically targeting civilians in those regions," Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement.

"In the wake of horrific rocket attacks on civilians in Eastern Ukraine, we are today sanctioning those who prop up the illegal breakaway regions and are complicit in atrocities against the Ukrainian people," said Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

"We will continue to target all those who aid and abet (President Vladimir) Putin's war."

Further oligarchs hit by sanctions include Vagit Alekperov, the head of Russian oil giant Lukoil, and Vladimir Ievtouchenkov, chairman of the Sistema conglomerate.

Britain is taking part in an international effort to punish Russia with asset freezes, travel bans and sanctions, after Putin ordered the assault on Ukraine on February 24.

Those sanctions have so far targeted Russian defence, trade and transport companies.

Truss said the latest package would include extending a UK import ban on Russian goods, to include iron and steel from Thursday.

"We will not rest in our mission to stop Putin's war machine in its tracks," Truss said.

London has sanctioned more than 1,400 individuals and businesses linked to Russia -- including more than 100 oligarchs and their family members -- since Moscow's military offensive began.

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Britain and European Union coordinate over more Russian sanctions - Economic Times