The National Interest Foundation Newsletter

Issue 39, April 2, 2020

Welcome to our NIF Newsletter. In this week’s headlines: the latest news on the COVID-19 outbreak here in the United States, a group of Democratic senators ask Secretary of State Pompeo to provide coronavirus aid to the Palestinian territories, Human Rights Watch publishes a report condemning the Saudi Arabian regime for abuses in Yemen, Haftar’s LNA forces clash with the Government of National Accord in Libya, reports indicate that China hid the real number of coronavirus cases, and the Taliban refuses to talk to new Afghan government negotiators.

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Latest Domestic News on Coronavirus

Latest Domestic Updates on the Coronavirus Outbreak

The impact of the coronavirus has continued to be felt across the United States, as confirmed cases and deaths from the virus mount. Across the country, only twelve states have not enforced a state-wide lockdown, meaning over 297 million people in 38 states are ordered to stay home and follow social distancing procedures. People are generally permitted to leave their homes for “essential” trips, such as going to the grocery store, the doctor, or to exercise. All non-essential businesses are also closed, with no definitive date to re-open. Correspondingly, 6.6 million people filed for unemployment last week, the highest level ever recorded and more than double what was projected. With people losing their jobs and therefore their insurance, President Trump floated an idea last month to open a special enrolment period for the Affordable Care Act. However, the administration has decided against that idea and will not be allowing uninsured Americans to purchase healthcare during the coronavirus pandemic. A $2 trillion stimulus package to jumpstart the economy was passed in Congress last week, and some lawmakers, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are pressing another piece of legislation to supplement that stimulus package.

Letter to Pompeo

Letter to Pompeo re: Coronavirus Aid to the Palestinian Territories

Earlier this week, a group of Democratic senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asking him to ensure that the Palestinian territories receive the necessary aid to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The signatories also asked for details on how the Trump administration is planning to help provide Palestinians with access to the required resources, as well as what steps the State Department is taking to coordinate relief efforts with U.N. agencies, foreign governments, and non-governmental organizations. The letter was spearheaded by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and was also signed by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Senator Tom Udall (D-NM), Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

HRW Report

Human Rights Watch Report

Human Rights Watch has released a report condemning the Saudi Arabian regime for human rights abuses committed in Yemen during the ongoing conflict there. In a report published late last week, Human Rights Watch accused Saudi and Saudi-backed forces in the eastern Yemeni province of al-Mahra of abuses including arbitrary detention, forced disappearance, and illegal prisoner transfer. The province of al-Mahra borders Saudi Arabia and Oman, and has avoided most of the serious fighting in Yemen’s five-year-long conflict. In 2017, Saudi forces occupied much of al-Mahra, and took control of the provincial airport, which they turned into a detention center. Residents in the province have repeatedly called on Saudi forces to leave the area, and consider Saudi Arabia’s presence to be an unlawful occupation.

Clashes in Libya

LNA Forces Clash with the Government of National Accord in Libya

Libyan National Army (LNA) forces loyal to General Khalifa Haftar have escalated their attacks on the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA). The LNA has laid siege on the Libyan capital since April 2019, as they attempt to capture the city from the GNA, the United Nations-backed and largely internationally-recognized government of the country. Recent clashes have broken out between the two sides despite increased international pressure to halt the violence over concerns about the growing coronavirus pandemic. Both U.S. President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan have expressed the need for a ceasefire in conflict-ridden nations such as Libya and Syria in the face of the ongoing global health crisis.

Number of Coronavirus Cases in China

Reports Indicate that China Has Been Underreporting Coronavirus Data

The American intelligence community submitted a classified document to the White House that confirmed China has been falsifying its statistics on the impact of the coronavirus in the country. The document, first reported by Bloomberg News, had testimony from three intelligence officials, and included proof that China was underreporting the number of cases of, and deaths caused by, COVID-19. China’s public reporting has been intentionally incomplete, and of the incomplete data, some of the numbers included were fake. China had publicly reported about 82,000 cases and 3,300 deaths, but both of those values are now thought to be much higher. The intelligence community’s report comes shortly after China ordered the departure of foreign journalists from the country after intentionally misconstruing a Wall Street Journal report on the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as racist.

Intra-Afghan Peace Talks

Taliban Refuses to Talk to New Afghan Government Negotiators

Afghanistan announced its negotiating team to participate in peace talks with the Taliban as part of the United States-brokered peace deal for Afghanistan. The 21-member group is led by Masoom Stanekazi, a former chief of Afghanistan’s security directorate and ally of President Ashraf Ghani. It was not immediately clear whether Ghani’s political rival, Abdullah Abdullah, would endorse the negotiating team as legitimate, but he said in a statement the team should not be rejected outright, and all sides in Afghanistan had a duty to seek peace. Late on Saturday evening, the Taliban surprised the Afghan government by saying it would not participate in talks with the chosen negotiating team, as it didn’t satisfactorily represent all areas and interests of Afghanistan. This stance was rejected by a spokeswoman for the Afghan ministry of peace affairs, who said the negotiating team had been chosen after “wide consultations” with Afghan society.