At a meeting today sponsored by the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasia Affairs, spoke on the potential actions of the new Medvedev administration.

Dmitri Medvedev took office Wednesday as Russia’s third president. Medvedev officially elected Vladimir Putin as prime minister. Fried discussed the future actions of the United States in reference to the new administration and discussed what changes could occur.

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The House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity of the Committee on Financial Services held a hearing to assess the implementation of Community Development Block Grant funds for post-Hurricane Katrina reconstruction among the states impacted along the Gulf Coast.

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Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen briefed the press at the Pentagon. The made a brief opening statement about how May is Military Appreciation Month and then took questions.

Gates stressed that there is no plan to extend the tour of the 3,400 Marines currently in Afghanistan. He said that “no one has suggested even the possibility of extending that rotation and I’d be loath to do that.” Mullen followed up that further additions of Marines to Afghanistan are “very much tied to troop levels in Iraq.” Gates said that a transition for the Marines from Iraq to Afghanistan “should it occur would be very challenging.”

On Myanmar the Secretary said that the Essex Strike Group has been offloading helicopters in Thailand where drops of supplies could be available in Myanmar within hours. The rest of the naval assets in the region have begun to head toward Myanmar in the even that the U.S. military is granted access to give aid. Both the secretary and the admiral stressed that under no circumstances would the U.S. move in without the permission of the Myanmar government. “The tragedy is compounded by the fact that if you look at what our Navy was able to do both with the tsunami and the Pakistani earthquake there is an opportunity here to save a lot of lives and we are fully prepared to help and help right away, it would be a tragedy if these assets, people didn’t take advantage of them.” Gates emphasized that the U.S. offer to help is totally non-political.

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John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General For Humanitarian Affairs, discusses the current state of UN response teams in Myanmar. (o:54)

 

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John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General For Humanitarian Affairs, discusses the health hazards of human and animal corpses in Myanmar. (o:56)

 

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John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General For Humanitarian Affairs, reports that 40 metric tons of high energy biscuits are on their way to Myanmar. (1:02)

 

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John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General For Humanitarian Affairs on the current state of UN aid to Myanmar. (1:29)

 

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John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General For Humanitarian Affairs briefed the press for the second time this week regarding the on-going humanitarian crisis in Myanmar.  Holmes discussed the increased death toll, aid worker access to the country, and up-to-date relief efforts. (7:31)

Those interested in helping the relief effort should follow this link.

 

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In a briefing today on the global food crisis, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), award winning actor Danny Glover and other experts discussed the increasingly negative impact of malnutrition on children.

According to the World Bank, and estimated 100 million people have been pushed into poverty in recent years, largely due to the rising food costs. Many families are substituting nutrient rich foods like meat with starchy, cheaper foods with little nutritional value. This under nutrition has large and lasting effects on children all over the world and needs to be brought to global attention, said Jackson Lee.

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Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) expressed opposition today to supplemental funding for the Iraq war. Waters was supported by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) as well as the Progressive Democrats of America, who all stressed opposition to the supplemental funding and said they would not support it.

Waters and others stressed the fact that Congress needs to send a strong message to the President and the American people that they are serious about getting our troops out of Iraq and will not approve any legislation which gives one more dime to the Iraq war unless it is for the redeployment of American troops.

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