News - WestExec Advisors

Danny Russel quoted in The Wall Street Journal: “Hopes for Resolving U.S.-China Trade Fight Hinge on Trump and Xi”

“'Any American who thinks they have great personal chemistry with the leader of a Leninist system hasn’t really been paying attention,' said Danny Russel, a former senior diplomat for Asia in the Obama administration and current vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute think tank. 'What it really all hinges around is Trump’s political calculus, and it’s not necessarily a static one.'” Read the full article here: Full Article

Rebecca Skoryanc2019-08-22T12:18:06-04:00June 26, 2019|News|

Ely Ratner quoted in The Financial Times: “Trump and Xi’s ‘Sidelines’ Meeting Set to Overshadow G20 Summit”

"Ely Ratner, a China expert at the Center for a New American Security, a bipartisan US think-tank, said the odds of a big breakthrough were 'low' and the meeting would be largely 'theatre', in which case the result would be further acceleration of 'the now inevitable reversal of decades of economic integration between the US and China.'" Read the full article here: Full Article

Rebecca Skoryanc2019-08-22T12:18:12-04:00June 26, 2019|News|

Bridge Colby cited in South China Morning Post: “What’s the difference between Indo Pacific and Asia-Pacific? Regional control for the U.S. or China”

"Elbridge Colby of the Washington-based Centre for a New American Security, however, maintained that the U.S. was not asking Southeast Asian nations to choose sides but was willing to help anyone who 'wants to defend their sovereignty' from Chinese economic coercion." Read the full article here: Full Article

Rebecca Skoryanc2019-08-22T12:18:39-04:00June 24, 2019|News|

Liz Rosenberg quoted in The Atlantic: “Trump Goes After Iran’s Supreme Leader”

"Will this set of sanctions finally be what gets Iran to give up its hostility to negotiating with the U.S.? Or will it at least make it appreciably harder to stage attacks? Elizabeth Rosenberg, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told me she doubted that Khamenei was using financial instruments that are exposed to U.S. jurisdiction anyway. Rosenberg, who worked on Iran sanctions during the Obama administration, said the sanctions are more symbolic than practical. 'Not [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2019-08-22T12:18:47-04:00June 24, 2019|News|

Liz Rosenberg quoted in The New Yorker: “Trump Sanctions Iran’s Supreme Leader, But To What End?”

“Ironically, the punitive new measure may not have major economic impact—at least not to the degree that the Administration advertised. ‘It’s a lot of hype, but it doesn’t mean much economically. It’s unlikely to have a damaging effect’ on Iran beyond the sanctions that have already been imposed, Elizabeth Rosenberg, a former Treasury sanctions specialist who is now at the Center for a New American Security, told me. ‘It’s in the realm of the symbolic.’ The sanctions are ‘a sideshow to [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2019-08-22T12:19:25-04:00June 24, 2019|News|

Dan Shapiro on NPR: “U.S. Mideast Plan Rejected By Palestinian Leaders, Panned By Former U.S. Envoys”

“There are plenty of good ideas in the economic plan. None of them are new. They have been proposed in previous economic plans. "But there are two big problems. First, the U.S. had aid programs to support all these goals, but the Trump administration canceled them. That kills our credibility in asking others for money. “Second, you can't get others to invest in this effort without knowing the political backdrop. And since the administration has not presented its political plan, I [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2019-08-22T12:19:17-04:00June 24, 2019|News|

Dennis Ross quoted in The National: “U.S. ‘Maximum Pressure’ Campaign Against Iran Faces Hurdles”

"Dennis Ross, a former aide to president Barack Obama, said the Trump administration 'seems to have few answers for the Iranian asymmetric responses to our pressure campaign.' "Writing in The Washington Post last week, Mr. Ross said the U.S. pursuit of deterrence against Tehran was compromised by the reluctance of European countries to blame Iran for the tanker attacks. "He said this was because they did not trust that Mr. Trump would not use their endorsement to launch a war. "Mr. [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2019-08-22T12:18:57-04:00June 23, 2019|News|

Bridge Colby quoted in The Atlantic article, “Trump Might Not Want War, but the Military Is Steering His Iran Policy”

"...It’s not clear yet, though, where the current buildup leaves the Defense Department’s longer-term objectives to focus on great-power competition. 'China is a much much more significant military challenge than Iran,' Elbridge Colby, a former defense official and one of the architects of the National Defense Strategy, told me. 'We absolutely must focus on China and to a lesser extent Russia, and figure out ways to deal with Iran in a more economical fashion. Some of the ideas being floated seem [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2019-08-22T12:19:51-04:00June 20, 2019|News|

Dennis Ross writes in Foreign Policy: “Don’t Dismiss the Bahrain Conference. It Can Help Palestinians.”

“What will happen with U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‘deal of the century’? It’s a question everyone in Israel is asking these days: Some want to know what’s in the Trump peace plan, others want to know if it will ever be unveiled, and still others are interested in whether it has any chance of success. “I make no claims to know what is in Trump advisors Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt’s plan, and given that Israelis are going back to the [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2019-08-22T12:19:44-04:00June 19, 2019|News|

Dennis Ross writes in The Washington Post: “Trump is a belligerent isolationist. But on Iran, he needs allies”

"President Trump is a belligerent isolationist. In keeping with what was historically a real, if fringe, strain of thinking about America’s approach to the world, Trump favors unilateralism over alliances that carry obligations and responsibilities. The paradox, of course, is that anyone who disclaims any interest in being the world’s policeman needs allies. "Nowhere is that more evident than in the escalating tensions with Iran. The Islamic republic is practicing its own version of “maximum pressure” on the United States and [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2019-08-22T12:19:36-04:00June 19, 2019|News|