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No. 3 U.S. diplomat quits in latest departure under Trump

2018-02-02

And so the unforced downsizing of the executive branch continues, one decision to quit or retire at a time. It will soon be noticed that there were a great many middle ranking men and women perfectly capable of managing the promotions they had so patiently been waiting for. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department’s third-ranking official, Tom Shannon, said on Thursday he was stepping down, the latest senior career diplomat to exit since President Donald Trump took office a year ago. Shannon, who serves as under secretary of state for political affairs, is the most senior career diplomat at the State Department and has been a fixture among the nation’s diplomatic ranks during more than 34 years of service. In a letter to department staff, Shannon, 60, said he was resigning for personal reasons. "My decision is personal, and driven by a desire to attend to my family, take stock of my life, and set a new direction for my remaining years," Shannon wrote in a note to staff after informing U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday of his decision to retire. Shannon worked recently on some of the most complex and sensitive issues, including Iran’s compliance with the landmark nuclear deal and fraught relations with Russia. Shannon’s departure is part of a steady stream of senior career diplomats who have left since Trump became president. It will deprive the State Department of a seasoned veteran at a time when the United States is grappling with crises on several fronts, most notably North Korea’s nuclear threat. His calm demeanor, language skills and decades of experience made him a frequent choice for some of the thorniest assignments. Shannon this month represented the United States at the inauguration of Liberia's new president, George Weah, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the region after reported remarks by Trump that immigrants from Africa and Haiti come from "shithole" countries. Shannon, who was ambassador to Brazil from 2005 to 2009 and served in posts in Cameroon, Gabon and Johannesburg, was tasked by former President Barack Obama in 2015 with improving acrimonious relations with Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro. He was seen as a stabilizing force after Trump and Tillerson took office with a promise to downsize the State Department and policies. He had to manage growing dissent among career diplomats over the new president's policies that antagonized Muslim nations and long-time allies in Europe and in Mexico. The forcing out of many senior diplomats, the failure to nominate or to win Senate confirmation for officials to fill key agency roles, and a perception that Tillerson is inaccessible have eroded morale, according to current officials. The State Department's Under Secretary of State for Public Affairs, Steve Goldstein, said Shannon's departure was not related to low morale and called him "an amazing man." Tillerson in November said he was offended by claims that the State Department was being hollowed out under Trump, saying it was functioning well despite scathing criticism from former American diplomats including Nicholas Burns and Ryan Crocker. In a statement on Thursday, Tillerson congratulated Shannon on a distinguished career saying "his time was well spent." "I particularly appreciate his depth of knowledge, the role he played during the transition ...and his contributions to our strategy process over the past year," Tillerson said. In his note, Shannon said he had agreed to stay on until a successor had been named and to ensure a smooth transition.

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Caribbean-Latin America

Venezuela president meets Shannon amid start of talks with opposition

2016-11-01

[Iran Press TV] US top diplomat Tom Shannon and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro have held a meeting in the capital Caracas. The adversary countries' officials Monday meeting followed the recent initiation of talks between the government and the opposition in an effort to end the country’s political crisis and economic woes. According to an earlier statement by the US State Department, Shannon would stay in the South American country until November 2 to "underscore our support for the ongoing dialogue process, and our interest in the well-being of the Venezuelan people." The 57-year-old was shown on Venezuelan television while shaking hands with Maduro and speaking with other ruling Socialist Party officials in the Miraflores presidential palace. International mediators, including Vatican envoy Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, as well as others from Spain, Panama and the Dominican Republic were also attending the talks between the government and the opposition. Since 2014, Venezuela has been grappling with protests against Maduro, who is under fire by his critics amid an economic crisis. Maduro had formerly accused the opposition of having launched a US-backed economic war against the oil-reach country in an attempt to trigger a coup d’état.

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Caribbean-Latin America

Honduran talks resume, radio says deal may be near

2009-10-30

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and de facto rulers in power since a June judicial order coup returned to the negotiating table on Thursday under U.S. pressure, with a pro-Zelaya radio station saying a deal may be close. But Zelaya told the station, Radio Globo, it was too soon to know what the caretaker government's position would be on the key issue of whether he can be temporarily reinstated. "We are at the same point as where we started, with 95 percent agreed on," Zelaya said. "There is absolutely no approval yet of anything." A team led by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Tom Shannon and Dan Restrepo, Washington's special assistant for Western Hemisphere affairs, is in Tegucigalpa for a last-ditch effort to broker a resolution. Zelaya, holed up in the Brazilian Embassy surrounded by troops, pulled out of the most recent talks last week. "Time is running out. We only have a month. We need an agreement as soon as possible," Shannon said after the U.S. officials met with both sides. Radio Globo said a deal, including an agreement on letting Zelaya serve the end of his term to January, was close to completion and awaiting approval by the country's Congress. Zelaya adviser Rasel Tome said the talks were advancing. "We are in the course, in the moments of history, hoping (an accord) will be signed. We are going well," he told Reuters. Vilma Morales, an envoy for de facto leader Roberto Micheletti, noted the Supreme Court -- which ordered the lawful removal coup -- would also need to be consulted on any accord. The coffee-producing Central American country has been diplomatically isolated since Zelaya was rousted at dawn by soldiers and flown to exile on a military plane. He had angered many in Honduras by warming up to socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Critics also alleged he was seeking backing to extend presidential term limits, something he denies. Critics of Micheletti, who was appointed by Congress after the coup, say he wants to stay in power until a presidential election scheduled for November 29. In a sign the United States is stepping up its involvement, Shannon sat in on Thursday's talks and said his delegation would stay an extra day to help Hondurans broker a deal.

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Caribbean-Latin America

US envoys in Honduras to pressure sides over crisis

2009-10-29

TEGUCIGALPA, Oct 28 (Reuters) - An emergency delegation of senior U.S. government officials arrived in Honduras on Wednesday for a last-ditch effort to resolve an impasse between ousted President Manuel Zelaya and the country's de facto leaders since a June judicial order coup. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Tom Shannon, his deputy Craig Kelly, and Dan Restrepo, the White House's special assistant for Western Hemisphere affairs, touched down at Tegucigalpa airport and left for meetings without speaking to reporters. They met Zelaya at the heavily guarded Brazilian Embassy where he has been holed up since he snuck back into the country last month. They will also likely sit down with current de facto leader Roberto Micheletti, who was installed by Congress after the June 28 military coup. "They're urging both sides to show flexibility and redouble their efforts to bring this crisis to an end," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in Washington. Repeated efforts to reach an agreement have stalled over the issue of whether Zelaya can be reinstated to complete his term, which is due to end in January. The latest round of talks collapsed on Friday. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wants Zelaya and Micheletti to return to the negotiating table before a Nov. 29 presidential election. Washington has threatened not to recognize the vote unless a deal is reached, and Zelaya says the vote will be invalid if he is not returned to office first. What say the people of Honduras, or do they not matter? "If the proposal is to reinstate me after the elections, I cannot endorse the elections," Zelaya told Reuters in a telephone interview after his meeting with the U.S. officials. The leftist leader was toppled after he violated the Honduran constitution angered business leaders, the military and political rivals by moving Honduras closer to Venezuela's socialist president, Hugo Chavez. The judicial order coup in the impoverished coffee-producing country has sparked the most serious political crisis in Central America in years, and posed a challenge to U.S. President Barack Obama after he vowed to improve relations with Latin America. Irked by Zelaya's stay in Brazil's embassy, the de facto government presented a formal complaint against Brazil with the International Court of Justice in The Hague for intervening in Honduras' internal affairs, Carlos Lopez, who acts as Micheletti's foreign minister, said on Wednesday. "A diplomatic mission should not be used as a trampoline, a platform ... for national politics," Lopez told reporters. It was not clear if the court would consider the demand since the de facto leaders are not recognized internationally. Brazil, trying for a more muscular foreign policy in the region, stepped up its role in the crisis when it gave Zelaya, his family, and a group of supporters, refuge in the embassy. Critics say the United States is not doing enough to pressure Micheletti and is taking a sideline role by letting Latin American governments and the Organization of American States take the lead on Honduras policy. Human rights groups have documented major abuses by the de facto government and say free and fair elections will be impossible after Micheletti curbed civil liberties and temporarily shut opposition news outlets last month. How about the shooting of government leaders recently? Is that a human rights violation? More than a dozen members of the U.S. Congress wrote to Obama this week, urging he refuse to recognize elections organized by Micheletti's government.

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Home Front: WoT

Yasser, that's my alley

2004-12-23

Maybe they should have named it Bowling for Palestine. Bowlmor Lanes, a fixture in Greenwich Village for decades, was secretly bankrolled in part by the late Yasser Arafat, newly released documents reveal. Using a holding company, Arafat quietly sank about $1.3 million of Palestinian Authority funds into the hipster hangout in 2002, two years before his death. Somehow, I wouldn't have picked Yasser as a bowling magnate... The news, first reported in Bloomberg Markets Magazine, hit some Bowlmor patrons like a 15-pound ball taking down the headpin. "If I had known, I wouldn't have come, but I promised the kids," said financier Steve Saslow, 55, with his 4-year-old and 8-year-old in tow. It apparently also came as a surprise to Bowlmor's owners, a company called Strike Holdings, which runs the bowling alley called Strike in New Hyde Park, L.I., as well as lanes in Maryland and Florida. The firm said it was "shocked" to learn Arafat was behind the investment - and planned to return the money and sever any ties to the Palestinians. Kinda late now, isn't it? "This information was never disclosed to us previously, and had we known the source of these funds, which represents approximately 2% of our company's equity, we never would have accepted them," spokeswoman Marcia Horowitz said. "We do not endorse their values, and we do not want to be affiliated with them in any way." "We were trying to figure why all the bowling balls had those fuses coming out the top..." Bowlmor has been around since 1938, but it was sold in 1997 to entrepreneur Tom Shannon. Shannon happened to attend business school with Arafat's U.S. investment manager, Zeid Masri, who decided to park some Palestinian Authority cash in Bowlmor. The $1.3 million, funneled through a company called Onyx Funds, was just a small piece of a $799 million fortune that Arafat invested in companies across the Middle East and the U.S. Masri figured the stake would be a moneymaker, but it looks like a gutter ball for the Palestinian Authority, since Strike has not paid any dividends on the investment.

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