Biden Administration Foreign Policy Tracker: November
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December 3, 2021 | FDD Tracker: November 3, 2021-December 3, 2021
Biden Administration Foreign Policy Tracker: November
David Adesnik
Senior Fellow and Director of Research
Trend Overview
Edited by David Adesnik
Welcome back to the Biden Administration Foreign Policy Tracker. Once a month, we ask FDD’s experts and scholars to assess the administration’s foreign policy. They provide trendlines of very positive, positive, neutral, negative, or very negative for the areas they watch. November, like October, proved to be a month in which the dividends of the administration’s “relentless diplomacy” remained elusive. Persuasion moved few adversaries to temper their demands, mitigate their threats, or moderate their oppression at home. In Vienna, nuclear negotiations with Iran resumed after a five-month break, with Iran demanding immediate sanctions relief while enriching uranium at a fortified underground facility. Determined to reach a deal, the Biden administration muted its criticism despite Tehran’s persistent stonewalling of UN inspections. In Qatar, U.S. diplomats negotiated with Taliban officials, who likewise called for the lifting of sanctions. Meanwhile, the Pentagon reported that China accelerated the buildup of its nuclear arsenal, although Chinese leader Xi Jinping sought to reduce tensions in a virtual meeting with President Joe Biden. The administration remained silent when the United Nations fired a whistleblower who revealed the Human Rights Council’s practice of sharing information about dissidents with Beijing. Russia gathered military forces near Ukraine, threatening a new offensive. Syria continued its emergence from diplomatic isolation, which began after the White House quietly signaled to Arab governments they could re-engage with Damascus. The Venezuelan and Nicaraguan regimes held rigged elections with little concern for U.S. or regional backlash. As the end of its first year approaches, the administration may want to reconsider the importance of leverage as a prerequisite of effective diplomacy.
Trending Positive
Cyber
By RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery and Annie Fixler
Defense
By Bradley Bowman
Europe
By John Hardie
Trending Neutral
China
By Craig Singleton
Gulf
By Hussain Abdul-Hussain
International Organizations
By Richard Goldberg
Israel
By David May
Korea
By David Maxwell
Russia
By John Hardie
Trending Negative
Arms Control and Nonproliferation
By Anthony Ruggiero and Andrea Stricker
Indo-Pacific
By Craig Singleton
Latin America
By Carrie Filipetti and Emanuele Ottolenghi
Sunni Jihadism
By Bill Roggio
Syria
By David Adesnik
Turkey
By Aykan Erdemir
Trending Very Negative
Iran
By Richard Goldberg and Behnam Ben Taleblu
Lebanon