Resource Author: Nancy Okail

Democracy = Justice plenary @ HFX Taipei

Center for International Policy’s Nancy Okail participates in the Democracy = Justice plenary discussion at the first forum in Asia organized by HFX, the hosts of the Halifax International Security Forum, alongside Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister Chen Ming-Chi, Jonas Parello-Plesner (Alliance of Democracies) and moderator Steven Chase (The Globe). The two-day in Taipei, Taiwan seeks to highlight key security and economic challenges in the Indo-Pacific.

“Everything the U.S. does affects the world. Trump’s suspension of anti-corruption laws doesn’t help businesses-it legitimizes bribery, empowers oligarchs, and weakens democracy everywhere.”

~ Nancy Okail, HFX Taipei

SPEAKERS

Chen Ming-chi, Deputy Foreign Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan)

Nancy Okail, President and CEO, Center for International Policy

Jonas Parello-Plesner, Executive Director for Alliance of Democracies

The moderator is Steven Chase, Senior Parliamentary Reporter at The Globe

More information at https://halifaxtheforum.org/

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Trump’s Suggested Gaza Takeover Would Be Crime Against Humanity

In response to comments by President Donald Trump on Gaza following his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Center for International Policy President and CEO Nancy Okail issued the following statement:

“President Trump’s comments proposing that the Gaza Strip’s population be permanently relocated and that the United States ‘take over’ the territory is nothing less than an open call for the commission of a crime against humanity. 

“It is unconscionable that a United States President would promote the forcible displacement of a population and acquisition of territory in the 21st century. These are ideas from the darkest chapters of history and an affront to human rights, the rule of law and basic decency.

“His comments proposing ethnic cleansing should be unequivocally rejected and condemned by world leaders and American lawmakers regardless of party. They should also serve as one of the most undeniable warnings yet that Donald Trump, if left unchecked, poses a catastrophic threat to international and human security.”

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[Video] What a Trump Administration Means for US Foreign Policy in the Middle East

On February 6, Northwestern University hosts Nancy Okail of the Center for International Policy and Shibley Telhami of the the University of Maryland and the Brookings Institution for a discussion of the incoming Trump presidential administration and possible implications for US foreign policy in the Middle East. Matt Duss of the Center for International Policy will moderate the discussion. RSVP here to join virtually.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

WHEN: Thursday, February 6, 2025
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM CT / 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM ET

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Nancy Okail is President and CEO of the Center for International Policy. Dr. Okail is a leading scholar, policy analyst, and advocate with more than 20 years of experience working on issues of human rights, democracy, and security in the Middle East and North Africa region. She previously served as a visiting scholar at the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) at Stanford University, and as Executive Director of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP), which under her leadership became an internationally renowned policy research organization. 

Shibley Telhami is the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development, Distinguished Scholar-Teacher, and the Director of the University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll. He is also Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Telhami is the author and editor of numerous books. He recently co-edited The One State Reality: What is Israel/Palestine? which was published in March 2023 with Cornell University Press. His current book project is Peace Derailed: Obama, Trump, Biden, and the Decline of Diplomacy on Israel/Palestine, 2011-2022 (co-authored). 

Matthew Duss is Executive Vice-President at the Center for International Policy. Before joining CIP, Duss was a visiting scholar in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From 2017-22, Duss was foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt). From 2014-17, Duss was the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. From 2008-14 Duss was a National Security and International Policy analyst at the Center for American Progress.

Learn more about the event and co-organizers here.

Add to Calendar

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Nancy Okail discusses ceasefire, view from the region

On January 20, Center for International Policy President & CEO Nancy Okail joined ABC News Australia to discuss the ceasefire deal that went into effect on Sunday.

Watch here.

Long-Overdue Ceasefire a Bitter Relief After Netanyahu’s Obstruction

In response to reports that a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release framework has been agreed between Israel and Hamas, the Center for International Policy’s President & CEO Nancy Okail issued the following statement from Jerusalem:

“It is a bitter relief that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has finally accepted a long-overdue phased Gaza ceasefire and hostage release framework that has been on the table and endorsed by the rest of the world for more than half a year. It is an outrage that he obstructed and delayed this agreement, first characterized by President Joe Biden as an Israeli proposal, while thousands of Palestinian civilians died and Israeli hostages held since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks were killed or remained in captivity.

“The fact that Netanyahu is finally accepting the deal mere days before his favored candidate in the recent U.S. presidential election will return to the Oval Office is confirmation of what Israeli, Arab and even some U.S. officials involved in negotiations have been saying for months – that Netanyahu obstructed and delayed a ceasefire and hostage release to further his own personal political interests. Netanyahu’s acquiescence to Donald Trump’s insistence that a ceasefire be in place when he takes office next week ironically shows how effective actual pressure can be in changing Israeli government behavior. 

“It will forever be part of the legacy of President Biden and his top foreign policy advisors that they not only provided diplomatic cover for and enabled Netanyahu’s prolonging of this horrific war, but continued to arm Israeli atrocities against civilians in Gaza in clear violation of international and U.S. law. Thanks largely to his role in sustaining the carnage in Gaza, Biden hands over to Trump a foreign policy landscape in which international norms and U.S. credibility have been further eroded rather than strengthened.

“All parties must now adhere to the terms of this agreement, which only provides for a temporary ceasefire that requires further negotiations to extend, and work in good faith to ensure it is made permanent to ensure a sustainable cessation of hostilities. A massive humanitarian relief effort and steps to provide for administration and reconstruction of the territory must also begin in earnest with the backing of generous international assistance, including from the United States. All parties must also work to prevent deadly escalation from resuming elsewhere in the region, including between Israel and Iran.”

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The Center for International Policy (CIP) is a woman-led, progressive, independent nonprofit center for research, education, and advocacy working to advance a more peaceful, just, and sustainable U.S. approach to foreign policy.

Statement on the Overthrow of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad

In response to the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Center for International Policy President and CEO Nancy Okail issued the following statement:

“Today belongs to the people of Syria. The astonishing speed at which the Assad regime has crumbled exposes once again the inherent fragility of seemingly ironclad dictatorships, and of all governments whose rule is based on repression and corruption. 

“The regime’s fast disintegration shows how autocracy, resistance to political transitions, and gross atrocities and the lack of accountability for committing them ultimately doomed Assad’s brutal rule. Ritualistic elections cannot replace legitimacy, which remains crucial for stability.

“True sovereignty cannot be attained under the influence of foreign powers that exploit nations as arenas for their own geopolitical competition. While Syria’s future is for its people to determine, the United States and its partners should take immediate steps to facilitate delivery of humanitarian and reconstruction aid, and help ensure that future is free and democratic, and the rights of all of its communities are protected.”

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New Foreign Affairs Essay Offers Bold Blueprint for U.S. Foreign Policy Reform

In a provocative new essay published by Foreign Affairs, Nancy Okail, President and CEO of the Center for International Policy, and Matt Duss, the organization’s Executive Vice President, present a sweeping critique of the entrenched U.S. foreign policy orthodoxy and lay out a bold blueprint for reform. The essay, “America Is Cursed by a Foreign Policy of Nostalgia,” challenges decades of militarism and neoliberal economic policies that have prioritized corporate and elite interests over the well-being of most Americans and people worldwide.

With the 2024 election confirming the collapse of Washington’s traditional foreign policy consensus, Okail and Duss argue that neither “America First” unilateralism nor liberal internationalism can address the urgent needs of a world grappling with climate change, economic inequality, and political instability. Instead, they call for a transformative foreign policy rooted in shared global challenges, equitable economic reform, and principled international cooperation.

“The United States must choose between advancing a genuinely equitable global order or clinging to an undemocratic and unsustainable quest for global primacy,” said Okail. “Our current trajectory not only fails to meet the needs of working Americans but also alienates nations and peoples worldwide that are calling for a more just and inclusive international system.”

Key recommendations in the essay include:

  • Ending Failed Militarism: Shifting from prioritizing global military hegemony at any cost to a foreign policy that prioritizes human security, accountability, conflict prevention, and consistent application of international laws and norms.
  • Breaking from Neoliberal Economics: Ensuring prosperity is more widely shared among US communities, while reducing global inequality and economic precarity through equitable trade, labor, and investment rules, including by reforming global institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to support low- and middle-income countries, enabling sustainable development and debt relief.
  • Redefining Relations with China: Moving beyond Great Power Competition and zero-sum strategic thinking to focus on collaborative solutions for climate change, public health, technological innovation, and a more inclusive global economic and political system.

“Decades of militarized foreign policy and economic systems designed to benefit corporations and the wealthy have left working-class Americans—and communities around the world—paying the price,” added Duss. “The 2024 election put a decisive stamp on what has long been clear: the Washington foreign policy consensus is not only intellectually bankrupt but also increasingly alienating to the American people. It’s time for a new approach that breaks from the false choice between ‘America First’ unilateralism and ‘America is Back’ nostalgia, focusing instead on the needs of everyday people and a future built on common good, human rights, and shared prosperity.”

This essay is a call to action for policymakers, thought leaders, and citizens who recognize that the challenges of the 21st century require a fundamentally new approach to U.S. leadership.

The full essay is available in Foreign Affairs and can be read here.

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The Center for International Policy (CIP) is a woman-led, progressive, independent nonprofit center for research, education, and advocacy working to advance a more peaceful, just, and sustainable U.S. approach to foreign policy.

CIP Statement on Lebanon Ceasefire Agreement

In response to the announcement of a permanent ceasefire agreement to be fully implemented over the course of 60 days in Lebanon, Center for International Policy president and CEO Nancy Okail issued the following statement:

“We welcome news of a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon and hope that it can be implemented and sustained to prevent further harm to civilians who have been under threat of attack or suffered other great loss during the fighting. 

“This agreement nonetheless comes too late. While Israel has the right to legitimate self-defense against Hezbollah, the Netanyahu government’s deliberate escalation of the conflict in September resulted in disproportionate harm to civilians, hundreds of whom have been wounded or killed, with hundreds of thousands more displaced. Mixed messages and prevaricating by the Biden administration on its position on Israel’s escalation and the need for a ceasefire has further prolonged the fighting and exacerbated the death and destruction it has brought.

“The U.S. and its partners must ensure that the terms of this agreement are fully honored so that civilians on both sides of the border can safely return to and rebuild their communities. What remains of the utmost urgency, however, is also ending the war in Gaza, where the U.S. arming of the Netanyahu government’s campaign of displacement, starvation, slaughter and – per the repeated vows of senior Israeli officials – settlement continues in violation of American and international law.”

Democracy Journal – Donald Trump Re-Meets the World

The upcoming second Trump term will not be a mere retread of his first, post-Obama and pre-pandemic administration. Instead, Trump will return to power in a changed landscape, with new billionaire backers like Elon Musk and new conflicts that will shape his terms and choices. As Nancy Okail explains in Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, this second Trump era will defined by new depths of corruption, Trump’s personal self-interest, a backdrop of “Great Power Competition” with Russia and China, and a global justice system on life support.

Writes Okail:

By eroding domestic institutions and bankrupting international ones—such as the World Health Organization and the World Food Program—Trump will undermine the very mechanisms that are vital for addressing global crises. Climate change, geopolitical instability, and pandemics do not—and will never—respect borders. It is impossible to safeguard Americans, not to mention people around the world, from these and other threats without international collaboration. While there are rightful critiques of our domestic and international institutions, destroying them without well-thought-out replacements will make life worse, not better, including for Trump’s own constituencies.

As international progressives, we must not be deterred, and there are four key areas on which we must focus to go beyond resistance and build a better world.

Read the full piece “Donald Trump Re-Meets the World” in Democracy Journal.

WSJ: Sinwar’s Bloody Gambit Changed the Middle East—but Not as He Imagined

The death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on October 17 closes a distinct chapter in the conflict between Hamas and Israel, even as the Palestinian people continue to suffer through the war and Israelis prepare for possible retaliation from Hezbollah and Iran, Hamas’ long-standing allies. In the Wall Street Journal, Yaroslav Trofimov explores how Sinwar’s death and the October 7th, 2023 attacks, Sinwar’s “bloody gambit,” has changed the politics of the region.

President and CEO of the Center for International Policy Nancy Okail tells Trofimov:

“Sinwar certainly achieved his goal of bringing the Palestinian issue to the center of geopolitics. […] But this came at a very high cost and in reality hasn’t moved the United States an inch in its support of Israel. And if the U.S. policy doesn’t change, the situation for Palestinians won’t change.”

Read the full piece at the Wall Street Journal.