Mexico, Colombia Meetings Show US Security Policy on Unsure Footing by Mimi Yagoub and Tristan Clavel, InSight Crime

A recent visit by top US officials to Mexico and a meeting between the presidents of Colombia and the United States in Washington, DC have provided further evidence that the US security strategy in Latin America under the new administration has yet to find its footing.

On May 18, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly met with Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray Caso and Interior Secretary Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong to discuss future collaboration against organized crime and drug trafficking.

The officials recognized the need to tackle the drug trade on both sides of their shared border, and for the United States to focus more heavily on reducing drug consumption within the country.

The United States "must also confront the reality that we are the market," Tillerson said.

"But for the seemingly endless demand by addicted users and the successful recruitment of young and vulnerable new users, there would be no market ... We Americans must own this problem. It is ours," he added.

However, Tillerson did not propose a domestic addiction treatment strategy. Rather, he proceeded to affirm that tackling drug violence and consumption required "stopping the cross-border flow of drugs" and "aggressively confronting the cartels operating in the United States and Mexico."…

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Trump Urges Muslim Leaders to Purge Their Societies of ‘Foot Soldiers of Evil’ by Peter Baker and Michael D. Shear, New York Times

President Trump planned in a centerpiece speech on Sunday to rally leaders from around the Muslim world in a renewed campaign against extremism, rejecting the idea that the fight is a battle between religions even as he has promised not to chastise them about human rights violations in their own countries.

Mr. Trump, who during last year’s presidential campaign said he thought that “Islam hates us” and proposed a ban on all Muslims entering the United States, will sound different themes, according to prepared text of the speech. While declaring terrorism to be a “battle between good and evil,” he planned to say that it should be fought by “decent people of all religions.”

The White House released advance excerpts from the speech on the second day of Mr. Trump’s inaugural trip overseas as president. His team intended the speech to be the centerpiece of his stop here in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, where he was meeting with Arab leaders and convening a larger gathering of Muslim leaders.

In effect, the speech was meant as a reset from the harsher tone and policies Mr. Trump adopted as a candidate last year and in the early days of his presidency…

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As Syria War Enters New Phase, US Looks To Expand Communications With Russia by Missy Ryan, Washington Post

The Pentagon has stepped up communication with the Russian military over Syria, a top official said Friday as the Trump administration lays plans for future operations likely to thrust U.S. forces closer to Russian and Syrian troops.

Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the United States had opened a new channel between senior U.S. and Russian military officials to discuss what Pentagon officials refer to as the “deconfliction” of ground and air operations within Syria.

The United States is now in the third year of its campaign against the Islamic State in Syria, where the application of Russian military might has strengthened the hand of President Bashar al-Assad.

“I’m confident that we’ve made progress in that regard over the last couple months,” Dunford told reporters at the Pentagon.

“My sense is that the Russians are as enthusiastic as we are to deconflict operations and ensure that we can continue to take the campaign to ISIS and ensure the safety of our personnel,” he said, using another name for the Islamic State.

The United States has sought mostly to limit its involvement in Syria to operations against the extremist group, hoping to avoid being pulled into the larger civil conflict. It has done so, in part, by focusing on areas such as Raqqa, the group’s de facto capital, where the Syrian government has little military presence…

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