Topics in the News: Foreign Aid
John McCain on Foreign Policy
: Dec 9, 2007
Maintain Cuban embargo; indict Castro
Q: Cuban dictatorship has survived nine U.S. presidents. What would you do differently, that has not been done so far, to bring democracy to Cuba? A: Of course we need to keep our embargo up. Of course we cannot allow economic aid to flow to Cuba.
And if I were president of the United States, I would order an investigation of the shoot-down of those brave Cubans who were killed under the orders of Raul and Fidel Castro, and, if necessary, indict them.
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Source: 2007 Republican primary debate on Univision
Joe Biden on Foreign Policy
: Nov 15, 2007
Move from a Musharraf policy to a Pakistan policy
I do not think we should maintain the same aid we're giving. I have made it clear to Musharraf. If he did not take off his uniform, if he did not hold fair and free elections by the middle of January, I would on the floor of the Senate move to take away
the aid we're giving with regard to F-16s and P-3s, because that's the biggest leverage you have on him within his military. He is not a sole player. He has to keep his military happy as well. I would use that leverage. We should move from a Musharraf
policy to a Pakistan policy. Unlike anyone else, within 5 days of this happening, I laid out a detailed plan. You have to move from military aid to giving to the middle class there. The middle class is overwhelmingly the majority. They get no connection
with the US. We have to significantly increase our economic aid relative to education, relative to NGOs, relative to all those things that make a difference in the lives of ordinary people over there, and not be doing it through the military side.
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Source: 2007 Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
Bill Richardson on Foreign Policy
: Nov 15, 2007
Set conditions on foreign aid assistance to Musharraf
We say to Musharraf: Security is more important than human rights. If I'm president, it's the other way around -- democracy and human rights. I would condition the assistance to Musharraf. We give him $10 billion, 60% of that is to his military, if he
restores the constitution, holds elections in January, ends the state of emergency, allows Bhutto to run as a candidate, and puts the Supreme Court back. He is supposed to go after terrorists on his border, and has done a very weak job of doing that.
Pakistan and the politics of Pakistan, Islamic parties get maybe 15 percent of the vote. So this threat that revolutionary elements are going to overtake him, if he has a fair election, and you take his party and Bhutto's party, and you get the military.
I believe moderate forces can win. If we're on the side of democracy and human rights, and we're on the side of Musharraf having elections, then US interests are preserved, and the Pakistani people have a democracy.
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Source: 2007 Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
Bill Richardson on Foreign Policy
: Nov 11, 2007
No conditions on aid to Pakistan, but push for democracy
Q: Richardson says he would threaten to cut off all US aid. Would you?A: No, because if you play that last card and it doesn't work, then obviously you have no leverage whatsoever. Musharraf, by agreeing to the elections in February is a step forward.
I know Musharraf. I know the area. I've been to Waziristan. You've got to put this situation in the context of the last 20 years. Pakistan was a failed state under Benazir Bhutto. Musharraf came to power to replace a failed state. We should appreciate if
Pakistan collapses into a radical Islamic state, then our chances of building democracy and freedom in Afghanistan are in severe jeopardy. So this is a very delicate time. I would be doing intensive behind-the-scenes negotiations to convince
Musharraf that the best thing for him, as well as the future of Pakistan, is to move forward with the democratic process. But to issue ultimatums and threats right now that may result in damage to US national security I think is inappropriate.
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Source: Fox News Sunday: 2007 "Choosing the President" interviews
Bill Richardson on Foreign Policy
: Nov 11, 2007
Make $10B in aid to Pakistan conditional on democracy
Q: Pakistan's President Musharraf said that they will hold elections as scheduled in January, but the state of emergency won't be lifted. Can there be fair and free elections while the constitution there is suspended?A:
I'm very skeptical of this announcement. You can't have democracy halfway. I am extremely concerned that President Musharraf has not delivered, in my judgment, as much as he could on going after Al Qaeda, on disbanding some of the terrorist
headquarters that are on the Afghan-Pakistani border. And it's a failure of leadership on the part of the Bush administration. We should be saying to Musharraf very clearly, "We give you $10 billion since 9/11.
Unless you have free elections and return to democracy, unless you go after Al Qaeda in a determined and effective way, your conditional assistance may be terminated." That's what I would do. I think right now we have a failed nation state on our hands.
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Source: Fox News Sunday: 2007 "Choosing the President" interviews
Fred Thompson on Foreign Policy
: Nov 4, 2007
Play hardball with Musharraf, but don't cut off US aid
Q: President Musharraf has declared a state of emergency in Pakistan, suspended the constitution, closed down many TV networks. What would you, as president, be saying?A: I'd be saying learn as much as you can about the situation to all my people.
We've got two competing serious considerations there. One is the rule of law, which we've got to stand for, which he's going against right now. And the other is the fact that it's one of the most potentially dangerous situations in the world for us
right now. He is an ally. There're not many of them in that part of the world. Even parts of his own government do not have our interests at heart. There are radical Muslim elements there.
Q: We have provided Musharraf $10 billion in American aid since
2001. Should we suspend that aid?
A: Not now. I know that it's been mentioned by our people. He's been told that that's at risk if he did what he, in fact, did. Everything's going to be on the table. I think we've got to play hardball with him.
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Source: Meet the Press: 2007 "Meet the Candidates" series
Barack Obama on Foreign Policy
: Aug 26, 2007
$50B annually to strengthen weak states at risk of collapse
Barack Obama believes that strengthening weak states at risk of collapse, economic meltdown or public health crises strengthens America's security. Obama will double U.S. spending on foreign aid to $50 billion a year by 2012.
He will help developing countries invest in sustainable democracies and demand more accountability in return. Obama will establish a $2 billion Global Education Fund to eliminate the global education deficit.
He will reduce the debt of developing nations and better coordinate trade and development policies.
Obama also will reestablish U.S. moral leadership by respecting civil liberties; ending torture; restoring habeas corpus; making the
U.S. electoral processes fair and transparent and fighting corruption at home.
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Source: Campaign website, BarackObama.com, "Resource Flyers"
John Edwards on Foreign Policy
: Jul 12, 2007
Make primary school available to 100M kids in Africa
Q: What would you do to address the need for more aid and health care to go out to Africa and the Caribbean?A: I believe that America ought to lead an international effort to make primary school education available to every single one of the 100
million children in the world, largely in Africa, who have no education whatsoever. America should be leading the way on sanitation. Just clean drinking water would have on the health of families and children in Africa. America should be leading the way.
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Source: 2007 NAACP Presidential Primary Forum
Bill Richardson on Foreign Policy
: Jul 12, 2007
We always forget about Africa; I will care
Q: What would you do to address the need for more aid and health care to go out to Africa and the Caribbean?A: We always forget about Africa. I spent a lot of time on African issues as UN ambassador. In a recent trip to Darfur, where there's genocide,
a refugee who had lost her husband said, "When is America going to start helping?" So I pledge to you that in my foreign policy, I will care about Africa, about AIDS, malaria, refugees. I will care about a continent that has been ignored.
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Source: 2007 NAACP Presidential Primary Forum
Chris Dodd on Foreign Policy
: Jul 12, 2007
We neglect the Caribbean; I will pay attention
Q: What would you do to address the need for more aid and health care to go out to Africa and the Caribbean?A: I was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Caribbean back some 40 years ago and care deeply about what happens because too often we neglect what
happens in these small island countries that are so close to our own nation. And so I will pay particular attention, where the incidence of HIV/AIDS can be higher as a percentage of the population in some of these small countries that exist elsewhere.
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Source: 2007 NAACP Presidential Primary Forum
John Edwards on Foreign Policy
: Apr 26, 2007
Russia has moved from democracy to autocracy
Q: Do you regard Russia as a friend or a foe? A: What's happened in Russia is they've moved from being a democracy under Yeltsin to being a complete autocracy under Putin.
The government has been centralized. Any kind of democratic effort, any opposition party, any opposition voice has been squashed.
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Source: 2007 South Carolina Democratic primary debate, on MSNBC
Bill Richardson on Foreign Policy
: Apr 26, 2007
Strategic interests in Russia: loose nukes & Chechnya
Q: How would you do things differently with Russia? A: I would assess what our strategic interests are. What would I want from Russia?
- I want them to control some of the loose nuclear weapons in their domain.
-
I'd want them to be more humane in dealing with Chechnya.
- I'd want them to be a stable source of energy for this country.
- I would want them to promote more democracy in their own nation.
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Source: 2007 South Carolina Democratic primary debate, on MSNBC
Joe Biden on Foreign Policy
: Apr 26, 2007
Biggest threat to US is from North Korea, Iran, & Russia
Q: What three nations, other than Iraq, represent, to you, the biggest threat to the United States? A: The biggest threat to the US is, right now, North Korea. Iran not as big a threat, but a long-term threat.
And quite frankly, the tendency of Putin to move in a totalitarian direction, which would unhinge all that's going on positively in Europe.
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Source: 2007 South Carolina Democratic primary debate, on MSNBC
John Edwards on Foreign Policy
: Mar 3, 2004
Reorient US aid to support open societies
I will reorient U.S. assitance toward supporting open societies, giving more aid to nongovernmental bodies, and cutting assistance to dictators uninterested in democracy and upholding human rights.
Click for John Edwards on other issues.
Source: 2004 Presidential National Political Awareness Test
John Edwards on Foreign Policy
: Mar 3, 2004
More funds for AIDS prevention in Africa
I support greater funding for AIDS prevention in Africa, using the most effective means available.
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Source: 2004 Presidential National Political Awareness Test
Al Gore on Foreign Policy
: Oct 11, 2000
Rwandan genocide: no military, but more humanitarian aid
Q: What about Rwanda, where 600,000 people died in 1994. Was that a mistake not to intervene?GORE: We did actually send troops into Rwanda to help with the humanitarian relief measures. I think in retrospect, we were too late getting in there.
We could have saved more lives if we had acted earlier. But I do not think that it was an example of a conflict where we should have put our troops in to try to separate the parties for this reason. One of the criteria that I think is important
in deciding when and if we should ever get involved around the world is whether or not we can really make the difference with military force, [and] if we have allies. In the Balkans we had allies, NATO, ready, willing and able to go and carry a big part
of the burden. In Africa we did not. [Hence] I think it was the right thing not to jump in, as heartbreaking as it was. But I think we should have come in much quicker with the humanitarian mission.
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Source: Presidential Debate at Wake Forest University
Al Gore on Foreign Policy
: Oct 4, 2000
Russia: US’s abiding interest, but troubled by Putin
Q. On Russian president Vladimir Putin? A. I am very troubled by his apparent backtracking on press freedom for Russia in the postcommunist era. I am very troubled obviously by their conduct in Chechnya. We have to put first things first, and
recognize that the US has an abiding interest in continuing to manage the nuclear threat, and we should not ever forget that Russia has thousands of nuclear warheads and the delivery systems capable of targeting them on the US.
[But we have]
all kinds of leverage. We are very deeply involved in helping them construct the institutions of a free society, helping them write their basic contract law, helping them put in place basic accounting standards. We just completed an effort
on disaster assistance. The space station, of course, is one of the flagship cooperative efforts. So we certainly have leverage with them, there’s no question about that. And they do listen. They do listen to us. There are limits to the use of leverage.
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Source: Press Interview in Ohio
Al Gore on Foreign Policy
: Jun 4, 2000
Russia’s transition is accomplishment, if over-optimistic
Gore tried repeatedly to bring well-tested Western solutions--based on laws, rules and carefully ordered process--to a country hurtling through an extraordinarily tumultuous period. Often, Gore’s neat solutions were thwarted or overwhelmed by Russia’s
messy march toward a market democracy. Gore has said the major accomplishment of the administration is that “we have worked hard to help Russia make a transition to a market-based democracy.” He has also cited Russian acquiescence in NATO expansion,
cooperation with Russia in the Balkans and the creation of additional safeguards against nuclear materials theft.
But critics, including Bush, have charged that the administration was overly optimistic about what could be accomplished & that it turned
a blind eye to the underside of Russia’s economic transformation. When Gore recently called for “forward engagement” with Russia, one of Bush’s top foreign policy advisers countered that engagement has to be “in a realistic way, not a romantic one.”
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Source: David Hoffman, Washington Post, p. A1
Al Gore on Foreign Policy
: Jan 26, 2000
Chechnya: Keep aid that helps US; cut off aid that helps war
Q: Why is your administration not willing to do anything truly tough toward Russia despite the brutal war in Chechnya?A: As a matter of fact, we have. We have opposed new IMF
provisions. There has been no direct state-to-state aid for more than a year now. Now, particular programs that go toward dismantling nuclear warheads, you wouldn’t want to cancel
that. Particular cooperative ventures where no companies or the state agencies involved are implicated in any of the activity in Chechnya or in proliferation activities, that’s a separate
matter. But we have, in fact, enforced a real cutoff of a lot of forms of aid.
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Source: Democrat Debate in Manchester NH
John McCain on Foreign Policy
: Jan 10, 2000
Africa: Money for AIDS would be lost to corruption
Q: Should we appropriate $300 million out of the surplus to help fight AIDS in Africa?
A: I would do anything in my power to stop this terrible affliction. But we have corrupt governments; we have organizations that don’t treat the people. So before
I spent our taxpayers’ money on that, I would have to make sure that it would go to the recipients and those of these poor people who are afflicted with this terrible disease. Frankly, in a lot of parts of Africa today, I do not have that confidence.
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Source: GOP Debate in Michigan
John McCain on Foreign Policy
: Jan 4, 2000
Russia: Sanctions until Putin exits Chechnya
McCain says acting Russian President Vladimir Putin should be urged to end the conflict with Chechen militants under threat of sanctions, as issue he would talk about “every day” as president. “I’d state unequivocally that there would be no more US
Export-Import Bank loans, that the US would not support any furhter IMF funding until this thing is brought to some kind of reasonable conclusion,” he said.
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Source: Associated Press, in The Enterprise (Brockton MA), p. A9
John McCain on Foreign Policy
: Oct 5, 1999
IMF’s Russia policies bad, but agency is OK
A spokesman for John McCain saif the Senator “generally would not call” for eliminating the IMF but has criticized the agency’s work in Russia, where there are accusations that IMF loans were misused and that the government misled the IMF about its
finances.
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Source: Boston Globe, p. A14
Hillary Clinton on Foreign Policy
: Feb 3, 1997
Foreign aid spending is only 1%; lead by remaining engaged
I think many people are mistaken about how much money we spend on foreign aid. We spend 1%, and many believe we spend 25%. That 1% investment has made a difference in solving problems but also in helping America to be stronger by solving problems around
the world. We sometimes learn lessons we can bring home. I want us to continue to be a leader, and you don’t lead from behind walls. You don’t lead by walking away from the world. I think you lead by remaining engaged and trying to shape events.
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Source: Unique Voice, p.111-12
Dennis Kucinich on Foreign Policy
: Jul 2, 1996
Foreign aid for peace incentives, not conflict
Economic Aid should be used as an incentive to peaceful and fruitful relations, rather than costly and potentially life-threatening conflict. Foreign Aid should be used to protect our interests in terms of diplomacy,
human rights, isolation of disease, environmental destruction, and prevention of increased refugees to US.
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Source: 1996 Congressional National Political Awareness Test