Amelia Shister Graytock

“On average, the U.S. has experienced 100 more large wildfires per year since 2015, and the risk of large fires has doubled over the last two decades. At the same time, National Guard deployments to fight wildfires expanded more than tenfold. Even more concerningly, there has been growing usage of active-duty units as firefighters…Expanding security challenges abroad and intensifying wildfires at home demand that the United States craft a more sustainable strategy that will safeguard both military readiness and forests.” Read more from myself and Evan Cooper in The Hill: https://lnkd.in/ekh63Ekt

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👉Here's a shoutout to thank the U.S. Department of State for the declassification of thousands of documents from Strobe Talbott's State Department Papers in their Freedom of Information Act Virtual Reading Room - https://lnkd.in/ePFKt8Ww 👉I'm grateful to the National Security Archive George Washington University for submitting the Freedom of Information Act Request that brought the processing and the final release of Talbott’s State Department Papers starting in 2019 under FOIA Case F-2017-13804. 👉Since then, about 4000 documents have been made publicly available in the State Department’s Virtual Reading Room – and the collection is still growing as more evidence is being released on a monthly basis. 👉Here's how to use the FOIA search site: Go to the field "seach terms," type in "Talbott," and you obtain 4464 hits. You can then sort the documents chronologically in ascending or descending order or according to release date - and you have the option to refine your search and to use additional search terms such as "NATO" which bring 1024 hits for instance. You can download each document and save them on your computer to create your own archive. 👉The Talbott papes are unique in the way they shine new light on U.S. foreign policy in the post Cold War era. They give us an opportunity to see pivotal issues through Talbott's lens including NATO enlargement, the relationship between NATO and Russia and Ukraine in the 1990s, the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, NATO's peacekeeping efforts as well as Talbott's nuclear diplomacy toward India and Pakstian after both countries had tested nuclear weapons in the late 1990s. 👉The Talbott papers are a key source to teach post-Cold War history. They help us to get an archivally informed understanding about the historical origins of Russia's war against Ukraine and the current NATO-Russia confrontation. 👉More posts to come.

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H.R. 8038, the “21st Century Peace through Strength Act,” introduced by House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Michael McCaul, passed in the House by 360 votes. If passed by the Senate and signed into law, it would represent a significant stride in shaping U.S. policy to support the Iranian people's Resistance to end theocratic rule in Iran. Chairman McCaul should be commended for introducing H.R. 8038. Special thanks should go to representatives Michael Lawler, Jim Banks, Nathaniel Moran, and French Hill, who introduced the original Iran-related language in H.R. 8038 and have co-sponsored either H.Res. 100 and/or H.Res. 1148 in the 118th Congress, which “recognizes the rights of the Iranian people and their struggle to establish a democratic, secular, and nonnuclear Republic of Iran.” H.R. 8038 has 15 divisions, six directly opposing the Iranian regime. The goal of the ‘‘Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum Act’’ or the ‘‘SHIP Act’’ is to reduce the Iranian regime’s revenue from oil exports, which funds terrorism. The Fight and Combat Rampant Iranian Missile Exports Act, the "FIGHT CRIME Act," aims to hinder Tehran's development and proliferation of ballistic missiles and drones. The Mahsa Amini Human Rights and Security Accountability Act, the "MAHSA Act," highlights the role of Ebrahim Raisi as someone who “has supported the recent crackdown on protestors and is a rights violator himself, having served on a ‘death commission’ in 1988 that led to the execution of several thousand political prisoners in Iran.” This act aims to sanction Iranian regime officials for human rights abuses and support for terrorism, including Supreme Leader Khamenei and, its President Ebrahim Raisi. The "No Technology for Terror Act" makes permanent existing U.S. export control restrictions that prohibit the transfer of American-made technology to the Iranian regime to build weapons systems such as drones and missiles. The "Holding Iranian Leaders Accountable Act of 2024" aims to increase transparency regarding the Iran regime leaders’ finances. The "Iran-China Energy Sanctions Act of 2023" aims to limit the purchase of the Iranian regime’s petroleum or petroleum products.

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