The National Interest Foundation Newsletter

Issue 22, December 5, 2019

Welcome to the latest edition of the NIF Newsletter. This week, we recap our recent event on Capitol Hill regarding U.S. policy and human rights in the Middle East.

In our domestic news headlines: President Trump makes a surprise visit to Afghanistan for Thanksgiving, and the Supreme Court takes up a case on gun rights for the first time in a decade. Meanwhile, around the world: the annual UN Climate Change Summit convenes in Madrid, and Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announces his plan to resign amid protests over a reporter’s death.

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NIF Event on Capitol Hill

The National Interest Foundation (NIF) hosted an event on November 21st, 2019 in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill that focused on U.S. foreign policy and human rights in the Middle East. A number of distinguished individuals spoke on panels and discussed the impact that Western powers could have on promoting freedom and democracy in the region. Panelists spoke on the conflicting interests of business and human rights in the Middle East, and the role that the United States’ government, in tandem with its Western allies, plays in this conundrum. Event attendees included staff from over 20 Congressional offices, think tank analysts, embassy officials, and diplomats.

The event began with opening remarks by Khaled Saffuri, President of the National Interest Foundation; Saul Anuzis, Senior Fellow at the National Interest Foundation; and U.S. Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), who sits on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. We then proceeded to the panel portion of the event, which was divided into two panels: the first focusing on human rights in Middle Eastern countries and the second on U.S. foreign policy and human rights. The first panel consisted of Areej Al Sadhan, Human Rights Activist; Abdullah Alaoudh, Georgetown University; Matthew Hedges, Durham University (UK); Amel Ahmed, Nala Films for HBO; and was moderated by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, Executive Editor at The American Conservative. The second panel featured Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch; Mohamed Soltan, The Freedom Initiative; Doug Bandow, Cato Institute; former Congressman Nick Rahall, D-WVA; and was moderated by Bruce Fein, Fein & DelValle PLLC – who was also the Associate Deputy Attorney General and General Counsel to the Federal Communications Commission under President Ronald Reagan.

Click here for a full recap of the event.

United States

Trump Visit to Afghanistan

President Trump Makes a Surprise Visit to Afghanistan for Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving eve, President Trump departed from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and flew to Bagram Air Field for a surprise Thanksgiving Day visit – his first to the country of Afghanistan. For security purposes, the trip was kept hidden and involved decoy planes as well as a false announcement from the White House regarding Trump’s whereabouts. The President spent approximately three hours in Afghanistan, where he made a speech, ate turkey with U.S. troops, and met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Reporters who accompanied the President on the trip were not allowed to report on the visit until minutes before boarding Air Force One to return to the United States.

 

SCOTUS Case on Gun Rights

SCOTUS Takes Up Case on Gun Rights for the First Time in a Decade

This week, the Supreme Court is hearing a case that pertains to the Second Amendment for the first time in nearly a decade. The previous case, District of Columbia v. Heller, saw the court rule that the Second Amendment guaranteed an individual’s right to possess firearms independent of service in a state militia, and to use firearms for lawful purposes, such as self-defense within one’s home. The case being heard this week, New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. City of New York, is in regard to a New York City law that allowed people to keep a gun in their home, but outlawed them from transporting the gun elsewhere, with the exception of seven approved New York City gun ranges.

 

Around the World

Spain

Annual UN Climate Change Summit Convenes in Madrid

The United Nations is hosting a Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change for the next two weeks in Madrid, Spain. The 25th Conference of the Parties (COP25) will address how governments can tackle climate change and get their countries to net zero emissions. This conference comes two months after the Climate Action Summit was called by the UN Secretary-General to focus attention on the climate emergency and find solutions to reverse climate change. The conference was due to be hosted in Santiago, Chile, but was moved to Madrid at the last minute due to civil unrest in the Chilean capital.

Malta

Maltese Prime Minister Announces His Plan to Resign

The Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat, has pledged to step down in January amid civil unrest over the unresolved murder of a journalist in 2017. Daphne Caruana Galizia was an investigative journalist and anti-corruption activist who was killed by a car bomb. Three people were arrested in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, but new information has surfaced that links real estate tycoon Yorgen Fenech as the principle architect behind it. Almost three years on from the murder, the government’s lack of urgency on finding the perpetrators has frustrated Maltese citizens who have organized demonstrations to demand accountability.