Policymakers abroad: on Homeland Security
Donald Trump:
Would take info on opponents from foreigners, might call FBI
Q: If foreigners, if Russia, if China, if someone else offers you information on opponents, should they accept it or should they call the FBI?Trump: I think maybe you do both. I think you might want to listen.
There's nothing wrong with listening. If somebody called from a country, Norway, "We have information on your opponent."
Oh, I think I'd want to hear it. It's not an interference. They have information. I think I'd take it. If I thought there was something wrong,
I'd go maybe to the FBI. The FBI doesn't have enough agents to take care of it, but you go and talk honestly to congressmen. They all do it; they always have.
Source: ABC This Week 2019 interview on Foreign Influences
Jun 16, 2019
Vladimir Putin:
Russia returns to top 5 defense spending countries
Russia re-entered the world's top five defense spending nations in 2019 after briefly falling to sixth place the previous year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)'s latest annual report.
Russia now ranks fourth in the world for defense spending, with $65.1 billion in expenditures in 2019 compared to $61.4 billion the previous year.
Source: The Moscow Times on Foreign Influencers
Apr 27, 2020
Vladimir Putin:
Kremlin abandons plans to freeze defense spending
The Kremlin has decided to abandon plans to freeze defense spending, which were included in the three-year budget adopted last year. The total amount of military expenditures in the 2022-24 federal budget will increase by 15%, according to the
explanatory note to the draft budget, TASS reports. According to the latest updated list published by the Finance Ministry, 3.381 trillion rubles ($46 billion) will be allocated for military purposes this year - 73 billion ($1 billion) more than in 2020.
Source: UA Wire on Foreign Influencers
Sep 22, 2021
Vladimir Putin:
Ukraine and Georgia in NATO is threat to Russia
Ukraine isn't joining NATO anytime soon, and President Joe Biden has said as much. Still, NATO's open-door policy--the alliance's foundational principle that any qualified European country could join--cuts both ways. To the West, it's a statement of
autonomy; to Russia, it's a threat. The core of the NATO treaty is Article 5, a commitment that an attack on any country is treated as an attack on the entire alliance--meaning any Russian military engagement with a Ukraine as NATO member would
theoretically bring Moscow into conflict with the US and the 27 other NATO members.The prospect of Ukraine and Georgia joining NATO has antagonized Putin at least since President George W. Bush expressed support for the idea in 2008. "That was a real
mistake," said the ambassador to Ukraine under President Bill Clinton. "It drove the Russians nuts. It created expectations in Ukraine and Georgia, which then were never met. And so that just made that whole issue of enlargement a complicated one."
Source: Vox.com on Foreign Influences: "NATO expansion"
Jan 27, 2022
Vladimir Putin:
2013 Euromaidan protests: dangerous Ukraine nationalism
The central contention of Putin's speech [this week] is that Ukraine and Russia are, in historical terms, essentially inseparable. "Ukraine is not just a neighboring country for us. It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture and spiritual
space," he said. This illustrates what Putin means by "the virus of nationalism.""Radicals and nationalists, including and primarily those in Ukraine, are taking credit for having gained independence," he says. Russian control over Ukraine, he
argues, has been replaced by a different kind of foreign rule: that of the West. After the 2013 Euromaidan protests, which toppled pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovych, "Ukraine itself was placed under external control--a colony with a puppet regime."
A Western-backed government, Putin warns, threatens the very survival of the Russian state. He warns of Ukraine acquiring nuclear weapons with Western assistance, joining NATO, and ultimately serving as a launching pad for an American assault on Russia.
Source: Vox.com on Foreign Influences: "NATO expansion"
Feb 23, 2022
Xi Jinping:
Defend territorial sovereignty and land border security
China adopted a land border law, which will take effect on January 1, 2022, in an endeavor to strengthen its border control and protection. Through the enactment of this new law, Beijing appears to be signaling determination to resolve the border
disputes on its preferred terms. The law sets an overall tone of resolve upfront, stating that China will "resolutely defend territorial sovereignty and land border security" while continuing to seek to settle disputes through negotiations.To the
extent that Beijing sees a close link between reinforcing a "common identity of the Chinese nation" and consolidating control over China's ethnic minority-populated land frontier, modulation in Beijing's current policy toward these regions may not be
over the horizon. Beijing could invoke the law to close China's border to prevent the spillover of terrorism and extremism from Central Asia, an influx of refugees from North Korea, Myanmar, or Afghanistan, or the spread of a pandemic.
Source: Brookings Institution on Foreign Influences: "Border Law"
Nov 4, 2021
Liz Truss:
Increase UK's defense spending to 3% of GDP by 2030
POLICY: Increase defence spending to 3 percent of GDP by 2030DATE & PLATFORM: July 19, press release
SHE SAID WHAT? Liz Truss has today announced that she will increase the
UK's defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030 at the latest to ensure Britain is the leading force against authoritarian regimes, including Russia and China.
Source: Politico blog "Truss manifesto" on Foreign Influences
Sep 1, 2022
Rishi Sunak:
Hasn't committed to 3% increase in defense budget
Sunak also faces a potential budgetary showdown over defence spending. Despite assurances from both Boris Johnson & Liz Truss that, by 2030, the UK's defence budget would rise to 2.5% and 3% respectively, Rishi Sunak has so far avoided a 3% commitment.
Mr. Sunak referred to 3% as an "arbitrary target". Despite its symbolic nature, this figure carries political weight for members of Mr. Sunak's Cabinet, such as junior Defence Minister James Heappey, who threatened to quit should 3% be ditched.
Source: Wilson Center on Foreign Influences
Nov 2, 2022
Page last updated: Sep 29, 2024