Kandie Stroud 3/27/25 Kandie Stroud 3/27/25

Senator Christopher Dodd: Reflections from a Friend on His Lifelong Service

By Kandie Stroud, Skytop Host and Contributor / March 26, 2025

Kandie Stroud was voted a top female political strategist by Business Insider in 2021. Stroud has over 40 years of experience in strategic communications, political campaigns and journalism. She has worked in nine presidential campaigns and provided advice and communications strategy for gubernatorial, senate and congressional candidates, corporations and law firms. She was the first woman to serve as the chief diplomatic correspondent for CNN and has worked as a correspondent and/or commentator for Capital Cities Broadcasting, WRC-TV, WTOP-TV, ABC and Talk Radio News Service,

She was the Director of Broadcast Communications for the Democratic National Committee for a decade and has managed the radio bookings for six Democratic National Conventions. Stroud served as a senior advisor and communications director for John Delaney’s presidential campaign during the 2020 election cycle. She served as Director of Media Relations for the Credit Union National Association (CUNA).

Stroud is a best-selling author of the political campaign book How Jimmy Won (William Morrow).

She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Boston College and is fluent in five languages.

Stroud served as board chairman of the Choral Arts Society of Washington and was a trustee for thirty years. She has performed with this symphonic chorus on concert stages around the world from South America to Russia, and from China to Europe.

T.S. Eliot wrote, “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” For Senator Christopher Dodd, the conclusion of his half century of public service marks the start of new beginnings.

On January 2nd, President Joe Biden awarded Senator Dodd the Presidential Citizens Medal for his lifetime of exemplary service. Biden praised Dodd for his service to America. A time for reflection, I recently sat with Chris—my friend and colleague—where he shares with us his behind-the-headlines thoughts on his career and where he drew a lifelong sense of purpose in serving others.

50 Years of Service to the American People

At age 30, Dodd entered Congress, and now at age 80, he celebrates half a century since he first took office as a freshman member of the United States Congress. He referred to the 75 freshmen members elected with him as the “Watergate Babies,” noting the significant changes they brought to the nation’s capital. “You could see change happening,” he says. “Traditions and institutions that existed throughout the 20th Century were about to disappear.” A new generation, with a new vision, was emerging.

As January came to a close and a new administration took office, Dodd submitted his resignation as President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy to the Americas. This region has been a passion of Dodd’s since he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic 58 years ago.

The Final Chapter

Economic prosperity in the Caribbean, Central and South America is a fundamental requirement in achieving our policy goal of reducing migration. This was and remains a core assumption that Chris lives by, pointing out that most individuals and families emigrate out of necessity, not desire. “Most people emigrate because they have no other alternative and they’re doing the most difficult thing in the world-- packing up and leaving the country of their birth, language, culture, their neighbors and their family. ...They want to come here because the United States represents hope, a brighter future, aspirations.”

In Senator Dodd's last political assignment, he served as the leader of the American Partnership for Economic Prosperity, bringing Latin American heads of state to Washington–a group of leaders from 14 countries, some of whom shared free trade agreements with the U.S. During the three-day program, hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), they presented investment opportunities to American CEOs and board directors. As a part of this initiative, he secured capital to support the IDB Invest Fund from 48 member countries.

As part of the annual conference, meetings were held at the Inter-American Development Bank, the Senate, the Atlantic Council, the Treasury Department, and the White House, where President Biden was presented with initiatives designed to expand economic cooperation between the U.S. and Central and South American countries.

Dodd admits, even when considering his role in the Dodd-Frank Act–a body of legislation that reshaped the policy landscape of Wall Street and one that is considered to be the most significant since the Securities Acts–that the highlights of his career have been his work in bringing the U.S. and Latin America together.

Beginning on His Path

Dodd's keen interest in Latin America began at 22 when he joined the Peace Corps, serving in Latin America. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural address, “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country,” he signed up as a Peace Corps volunteer, an experience that profoundly changed his life.

His assignment was to the Dominican Republic. There, he converted a building into a maternity hospital, restored a library, built a school, and improved local infrastructure while learning the importance of community in the creation of policy initiatives. “I became a local promoter. I made assessments of the problems and would ask ‘what do you think we need to be doing.’ I would work with the people and help them put together projects.”

Driven by a desire to explore and connect, Chris traveled throughout the region to Haiti, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Peru and Mexico.

Through his Peace Corps experience, Dodd became relatively fluent in Spanish and immersed himself in regional cultures. He learned the impact he could have on the lives of others through community organizing, learning how to effectively bring about change.

He points out, “They always say if you want to succeed in life, do something you love. Steve Jobs however said it’s better to “do something you’re good at.” That’s the advice I followed. I knew I liked working with people and liked public service, but I also said to myself, ‘I think I’m relatively good at this.”

Back to Latin America

In the Dodd household there is a family policy, strictly enforced by his wife, Jackie, that mandates never to pick up a phone call from an “unknown caller”. But in December 2021 he probably should have. This time, the caller was President of the United States, -President Biden. He left a voice message, one that Chris was delighted to receive.

The message left was an offer for Chris, his close friend and former Senate colleague, to help him organize a Summit on the Americas in Los Angeles the following June. Without hesitation, Dodd accepted the opportunity. He began by recruiting leaders of Latin countries to attend. Right away, he faced significant challenges.

He faced headwinds securing these leaders’ agreement to participate. President Bolsonaro of Brazil initially declined to participate. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador also declined to participate along with the Argentinean President Alberto Fernández. Lackluster interest was driven by the resident haze of the previous administration’s lack of attention to the region.

But Dodd’s supportive demeanor helped change their minds. His commitment was to inspire them to reconsider, adding, “My job was to convince people to attend. I spent a lot of time with various heads of state throughout the Americas.”

Bolstered by the prospect of Biden White House support, the leaders came to the summit which, says Dodd, was “a huge success.” Dodd helped secure their participation but also their agreement on a forward-looking agenda spanning economic cooperation, migration, health, human rights, food security and more.

Dodd speaks proudly of his last political assignment. The major effort was The American Partnership for Economic Prosperity, building on previous efforts of President Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy and President Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress.

Dodd emphasizes, “The key word is ‘partnership’. How do we work together to improve the lives of those who live in the Americas.” Dodd contends that it is “fundamental” to build economic prosperity in those countries so that people have good jobs. Decent paying jobs at home means people won’t feel the necessity to leave their country and emigrate.

Landmark Legislation

Twice elected to the House of Representatives and then to the Senate in 1980, Dodd became Connecticut's longest-serving Senator. He chaired several committees, including the Senate Banking Committee and the Senate Health and Education Committee.

For those of us who remember the financial crisis of 2008, the impact on global markets was devastating, resulting in the near meltdown of the world’s capital markets. Core to the government's response was a need for an overhaul of the legal and regulatory oversight of markets. The policy framework had not been updated in decades.

Chris organized and sponsored this overhaul, along with Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts, known as The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Today, this landmark legislation, often heralded as the basis for the longest period of economic growth and market performance, updated important aspects of capital markets oversight, including expanding the role of shareholders in the governance of publicly traded companies.

In addition, Chris sponsored The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a groundbreaking new set of benefits for families and their newborn children. Dodd served for three decades on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has been recognized by President Biden as “a gifted legislator.”

Dodd also served for three decades on the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Dodd remained a steadfast advocate for investment in Latin America, although he states that it was more common to ignore the Americas. “Few people had any interest in Latin America” He recounts the story of FDR’s Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, who invited a young diplomat to his office for a meeting. Hull asked him where he would like to serve as a foreign service officer. The young diplomat enthusiastically replied Latin America, to which Hull allegedly replied, “I thought you wanted a career in the State Department.”

Chris stresses that after decades of lackluster attention, Central and South America have finally come into focus as a powerhouse with growing geopolitical and economic clout.

Wisdom Shared with Next Generation Visionaries

Senator Dodd has regrets about leaving his present post but remains optimistic. He emphasizes the need for regional economic integration, highlighting the shared language and culture of the region but noting the lack of unified regional economic integration. He stresses the importance of supply chains and proximity in production, citing companies in Mexico and Haiti as examples. “Latin American countries are not enemies. They share a common language–with the exception of Brazil–and diverse yet interconnected culture. However, each country in Latin America is proud of its own identity. Latin Americans rarely identify themselves so broadly. They will refer to themselves as Brazilian, Venezuelan or Mexican, but rarely as Latin Americans. However, these nations need to understand the importance of regional economic integration. The economically diverse Americas offer such an opportunity for integration through their respective supply chains.”

Alliances with China

Dodd is concerned about Brazil’s expanding partnerships through BRICS, including the risk of de-dollarization. A chief concern is China's heavy investment in the region through “debt diplomacy”, pointing out that while China’s economic power is losing momentum in the region, it remains a threat to sustained regional growth and to U.S. national security.

Dodd argues that “China is showing up with plenty of capital and seemingly attractive terms. However, their terms do not necessarily stimulate economic development. For example, in numerous examples the terms China requires the sponsoring governments must use China-imported labor. Adding to this, “debt diplomacy” has become recognized as predatory in nature, placing sovereign nations in Latin America at risk of China owning or controlling a nation’s major infrastructure.”

“Many of these countries now realize what danger these relations with China pose.” However, Dodd points out that China is not as powerful as it was even a year ago. “China’s economy is struggling, but they’re still a threat.”

A major challenge to the U.S./Latin American partnership is the persistent force of transnational criminal organizations. Cartels are larger, more integrated networks, necessitating a cooperative approach to combat them. “Now these Cartels have formed networks. These Cartels are much larger, multinational syndicated operations. They have much more capital and they’re successful. With this we must have cooperation between the U.S. and Central and South American countries. This isn't just a Colombian problem or an Ecuadorian problem. If you’re going to deal with it, you’re going to have to consider a larger and more integrated approach.”

China, the U.S., and Latin America Partnerships

Dodd points to significant resources within Latin American countries, including fresh water, forests, and rare minerals that are important to economic development. As such, he stresses the investment opportunity and its high potential for success. Chris adds further, “We have half the fresh water and half the forests of the world in our hemisphere. We have almost unlimited deposits of the most important minerals, rare minerals that are in high demand. We need to continue to convince U.S., EU and some Asian companies that they ought to be looking at investment opportunities given that these minerals will become critically important in this century and the next. This includes sustainability investments that will support the survival of our planet.”

Last April, Senator Dodd attended the first-ever Cities Summit of the Americas in Denver, where 400 mayors from Canada, the U.S., Central and South America, and the Caribbean nations discussed urban challenges.

He noted the significant presence of female mayors and found the informal, practical discussions among mayors refreshing compared to organized presidential summits. “When there’s a presidential summit everything is organized ahead of time. Outcomes, declarations and statements are known in advance at the Summit of Americas. Mayors in Denver, they were all joined together, networking.” He highlighted the U.S. Treasury's invitation for the Dominican Republic to present an investment plan on how to bring clean energy to its country through a proposed financing idea. “I told them, we are stronger acting together than alone, and the potential of our Americas working together is limitless.”

Later, he led a delegation to Costa Rica to discuss job creation and economic competitiveness with President Rodrigo Chaves.

Dodd recognizes the region's preference aligning the U.S. and its leading companies, especially in mining rare earth minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel. Dodd is concerned about China's resource acquisition and port-building through its Belt and Road initiative, which poses potential national security threats. Chris reminds us that “When an outside country starts building ports you know they have more in mind than shipping trade.”

However, he remains optimistic about the region's future, praising leaders like Santiago Pena in Paraguay. Dodd also highlights the success of smaller nations like Uruguay and Costa Rica, noting Costa Rica's political stability and environmental sustainability achieved without a military. He envisions a future with regional economic integration akin to the EU for the Western Hemisphere.

Dodd underscores the need for unified leadership in Latin America. He believes that while local leaders can make good decisions, a broader, integrated approach is necessary for significant progress. “They all think they can do it themselves for their countries. While they’re making some good decisions regionally, they don’t amount to much. If you’re a country like Brazil, though, which the Amazon River flows, that’s great but other countries such as Peru and Colombia are also part of the Amazon as well. The point is Brazil must seek regional support.”

Senator Dodd Today

Although his time serving Latin America has ended, there is now a new beginning. Chris currently serves as a senior counsel at Arnold & Porter, where he advises clients on policy issues spanning across financial services, media, healthcare, and national security. Better understood through the experiences of his career, Dodd remains concerned about ongoing negative perceptions of the Americas. He believes they stem largely from a lack of knowledge. "Many don’t realize that by 2050, the Americas, from the Yukon to Tierra del Fuego, will represent about 1.5 billion people—about 12% of the world’s population."

Dodd continues his advocacy of the Americas. He supported the bipartisan bill, S.3878, The Americas Act. This legislation, co-sponsored by Representatives María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) in the House, and Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) in the Senate, addressed issues such as establishing a regional trade, investment, and partnership among Western Hemisphere countries, thus stimulating growth, creating jobs, and countering China's influence.

Dodd hopes the new administration will recognize the importance of comparable initiatives. "If we want a safe, secure, and prosperous America, this is the path we must follow," he asserts, and adds the imperative for the U.S. to continue fostering relationships with Central and South American leaders. As he looks to the future, Dodd remains engaged and hopeful.

Kandie Stroud 12/26/24 Kandie Stroud 12/26/24

Bagley on Brazil: An Ambassador’s Departing Reflections

By Kandie Stroud, Skytop Host and Contributor / December 26, 2024

Stroud is a best-selling author of the political campaign book How Jimmy Won (William Morrow).

She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Boston College and is fluent in five languages.

Bagley’s World

Elizabeth Bagley races back to her Georgetown house from a morning of unexpected meetings at the State Department and must return for more meetings later today-- part of a process of offboarding -- wrapping up her two-year term as U.S. Ambassador to Brazil. Life is hectic in Bagley’s world. Last night she attended the Kennedy Center Honors and tonight she will attend a Fulbright event at the Brazilian Embassy. At the end of this week, she flies back to Brasilia for the final month in her embassy. 

The house is humming. Her son, Conor Bagley, an award-winning Broadway producer and director, who has come down from New York to attend the Honors with his mother and sister, appears momentarily to retrieve his laptop, slipping in and out of the room so as not to disturb. Her phone buzzes incessantly and now the doorbell is ringing-- someone arriving to discuss a job with the Ambassador. But amid the chaos, she pauses for one hour of calm in her wood paneled library, relaxing in an armchair in front of a blazing fire to reminisce about her work in Brazil and the importance of U.S. investment in the world’s fifth largest country.

Why Brazil

For starters, we talk about why she chose Brazil as her final ambassadorial assignment. She could have had other significant posts. Bagley is a highly regarded diplomat with decades of experience who worked on the Panama Canal treaties, was the youngest Ambassador to Portugal under Bill Clinton, and served as senior advisor to multiple U.S. Secretaries of State, including Madeleine Albright, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Antony Blinken. Her foreign policy credentials, coupled with her prodigious fundraising for the Biden campaign, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the Democratic Party, made her a prime candidate for multiple plum assignments, including Paris, The Court of St. James, and, with her pure Irish lineage and decades of support for the Ireland Fund, the Emerald Isle.    

But Bagley chose Brazil. She says it was at the urging of her good friends, former Climate Czar John Kerry, U.S. Special Envoy to South America Chris Dodd, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The trio emphasized Brazil’s potential as well as its importance to the health of the planet. “It’s going to be very challenging. It’s huge. It’s diverse. It’s polarized. It’s undergone a major revolution and a change in government. Our January 6 was their January 8 where they stormed the Brazilian capitol, so we share a lot of similarities; but the most important thing is they have the Amazon which are the lungs of the earth, so they all told me, ‘You must do this’.”

Challenge Accepted

Immediately, Bagley put the Amazon at the top of her list of priorities. She understood its strategic importance, not just for stabilizing the climate, but also for its vast resources—everything from gold, diamonds and trees to rare earth minerals. The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest, spanning nine countries. But 60% of it is in Brazil. It produces 20% of global oxygen and fresh water and is the world’s richest and most varied biological reservoir, containing several million species of insects, birds, and plants as well as a wide variety of trees, including mahogany, rosewood and rubber trees.    

Bagley has made five trips there during her time as Ambassador, most recently with President Biden. She is proud to have played a role making him the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Amazon. “Every chance I had I encouraged him to go and November 18 just before the G-20 Summit in Rio he went.”

Also, because of Bagley’s lobbying the State Department and Congress to come up with money for the Amazon Fund, Biden announced in May that he would provide $500 million over five years, money that goes directly to Brazil’s National Development Bank for fighting deforestation, improving conservation and helping the indigenous population. “No other administration has done that, not even Obama,” she says. “But Biden has prioritized climate since his early days in the Senate when he passed Deforestation legislation. He’s spent fifty years on this. When he was in the Amazon as part of his speech in Manaus, he announced the U.S. has already contributed $103 million towards the pledge.”

Before Lula came back into power, the Amazon was under heavy assault. Bolsonaro stripped it of millions of trees to make room for cows, agriculture and mines. “It was decimated. He undid all the regulations and let farmers come in and take down trees so they could graze their cattle. The deforestation was a catastrophe, but under Lula, 60% of it is back. He has reinstated the regulations and is re-foresting trees helping it to flourish again.”

She wants climate action to remain a priority.   

U.S. Capital To Brazil 

Bagley is bullish on continued American business investment in Brazil.    

Brazil has been one of the world's economic success stories over the past decade. It is often said, “Brazil is the country of the future, and it always will be.” Says Bagley, “It has been a much better business environment under Lula than under Bolsonaro,” and she attributes Brazil’s burgeoning business investment to Lula’s successful passage of tax reform. Although inflation is up, the increasingly friendly tax laws and his limits on the heavy regulations have witnessed businesses coming in from abroad. “Now one out of every four dollars invested in Brazil is from the U.S. Last year our foreign direct investment (FDI) was $228 billion, which generates over 550,000 jobs, compared to only $30 billion from China, making the U.S. the largest single investor in Brazil. Our companies are very committed to more investment.”

U.S. companies are partnering with Brazilian companies largely on energy and critical minerals, with their funds flowing to the sectors of aerospace, automobiles, and mining. She mentions Boeing, GE, GM, Ford, electric vehicles, Boston Dynamics, Apex Brazil, Bravo, and Cloud. “We are also opening a lot of data centers in Minas Gerais. Some of our companies, like GE and GM, have been there 100 years and have CEOs who are Brazilian, so they bring in Brazilian workers. Also, in December of 2023 we relaunched the CEO Forum led by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Raimondo and Brazilian Vice President Alckmin, where 12 Brazilian and 12 U.S. CEOs met to see how they could work more closely together. That was a big success also.” 

Bagley points out that mining is one of Brazil’s biggest and most profitable industries.

Brazil, with its vast deposits of gold, diamonds, platinum, lithium, iron ore, tin and coal, is witnessing a growing demand for these minerals in a decarbonizing world. The country boasts the world’s third largest deposit of rare earth minerals, which are in demand for the transition to clean energy. During the G-20 Presidents Biden and Lula announced the Clean Energy Transition Partnership, which will promote and develop biofuels, critical minerals and supply chains, reflecting their significance in the technological and clean energy sectors and the need for stable supply chains in critical industries. Brazil is among the top five mineral producers in the world. In the last 3 years alone, the country’s mining revenue increased by 62%. “Brazil has 17 of the 35 critical minerals and 94% of the niobium on the planet.” Niobium is a metal used to make jet engines, airplane bodies, superconducting magnets, and bridges.

Brazil’s most valued commodities are iron ore, gold, copper, and aluminum, diamonds and emeralds. But Brazil’s vast mining areas are situated in the Amazon. As a result, miners face the problem of damaging the environment and bucking up against climate regulations, so the mines in Minas Gerais must operate as ecologically as possible. In November 2024, the Chinese bought Brazil’s largest uranium reserve, a multi-billion-dollar transaction that raises questions about whether Brazil is selling its future to the Asian powerhouse.

China in Brazil

Over the past few decades, China’s investment in Brazil’s Amazon region has significantly grown, particularly in areas like agriculture, infrastructure and energy. China is Brazil’s largest trading partner. In 2023, bilateral trade between the two nations totaled $157 billion, with Brazil’s exports to China reaching $104 billion.

Brazil’s 50-year relationship with China intensified with the formation of BRICS in 2009, a consortium of countries consisting of Brazil, China, Russia, India and South Africa. Brazil represents the first letter in the acronym, and China represents the C. Now Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE have become part of the group, which represents nearly half the world’s population, and they are de-dollarizing. But Bagley is not concerned that the business relationship between U.S. and Brazil will wane because of the growing influence of BRICS, nor is she worried that BRICS will adversely affect U.S. trade with Brazil. “Brazil needs the United States. We’re their biggest investor. They’re not going to change. BRICS is really a disparate group of countries. It’s not NATO, it’s not military. What I question is their ability to have a consensus because they don’t have anything in common.” 

Bagley admits that China is Brazil’s number one trading partner, but says its activities are mainly transactional. “They are buying iron ore for their industry and agricultural products to feed their population. But they don’t invest much in Brazil.” As she was winging her way back to Washington on Air Force One with Biden, China's President Xi Jinping, who had been in Brazil for the summit, attended a state dinner where he hoped Lula would announce that Brazil would join the Belt and Road Initiative.

“Lula decided not to do that. He didn’t see any reason to join because they already had good relations; Xi was annoyed because he wanted this announcement, and he didn’t get it. So, there’s friction but at the end of the day China will remain a key trading partner.”

Brazil's Horizon Line

The middle class in Brazil has continued to grow, with tens of millions rising out of poverty.

According to a recent World Bank report, the middle class has grown by 50% in Latin America, with the Brazilian middle class contributing more than 40% of the overall increase in the region. Today, their middle class comprises nearly a third of Brazil’s 190 million inhabitants, although many feel their upward mobility is still tenuous. Middle class per capita income is between $188.12 and $727.86 per month. And in spite of tax cuts, their tax burden is still high.

In addition, middle class consumer behavior is largely sustained by credit, and they only have access to low quality public services. Lula has been providing incentives like tax cuts for the middle class, but because he grew up in grinding poverty, he is more focused on helping the disadvantaged. “When I presented my credentials, one of the first things I told him was, “our societies are mirror images of each other...Your January 8 was our January 6. We both have polarized electorates and we both have to take over from leaders that are antithetical to our values.” Lula answered, “I brought 22 million people out of poverty. The problem is they all went back under Bolsonaro, so I’ve got to get them back again.”  He immediately did this by restoring his Bolsa Familia Initiative which provides unemployment relief as well as stipends for housing and education.

Agribusiness, she says “has been battered recently by severe droughts and wildfires, yet it is huge and growing.” Today, agribusiness represents 22% of Brazil’s GDP, one-third of all employment and almost 40% of exports. Brazil is the world’s largest producer and exporter of coffee, sugar, and orange juice, and is highly ranked in the production and export of soybean, corn, ethanol, pork, beef and poultry.

Bagley is proud that her many accomplishments as Ambassador have included establishment of a Task Force on Climate Change with John Kerry, The Clean Energy Transition Partnership, and the Partnership for Workers Rights, which established criteria on anti-discrimination, collective bargaining, stress relief in the work place and inclusion of these policies in the next G-20 Summit, which will be led by South Africa in 2025.

Bagley says she also raised $800,000 for Ancestral, her brainchild to bring together and celebrate Afro-American and Afro-Brazilian artists from slavery to present day. Fifty-eight percent of Brazilians identify as Afro-Brazilian. “It celebrated the relations between our two countries from the perspective of the African diaspora and how it is present in the visual arts. We held it at the Museum of Brazilian Art in Sao Paolo, with 132 works by great artists from both countries. Over 2,000 came to the opening. It was so successful that it will now go on tour throughout Brazil in 2025."

U.S. and Brazil Beyond Business

In addition to the G-20, 2024 marked the Bicentennial of Brazil’s independence. Two hundred years ago we saw the critical importance of Brazil’s immense riches and resources, and the U.S. was the first country to recognize its independence. We did it even before Portugal gave Brazil its independence, which is ironic,” says Bagley, the former Ambassador to Portugal.

“I wanted to celebrate this milestone by holding a significant event every month. For example, we brought the USS George Washington into the harbor in Rio with five other ships and had a big event with our two Navies to honor the 200 years of our military relationship. We also co-sponsored a conference on the history of U.S. - Brazilian relations with an exhibition in Brasilia that will move to the Museum of American Diplomacy in Washington which I started at the State Department. It will come here sometime next year." 

To increase cross cultural experiences, Bagley invited the NFL to come to Brazil. To convince them to come she wrote to Roger Goodell and explained that there were already thirty-eight million Brazilians who watched the NFL every year out of 210 million people, so the potential to create a much larger audience was exponential. They came. “We had the first NFL game ever in South America between the Eagles and the Green Bay Packers. We had 49,000 at the game in Sao Paolo. The game was amazing, and Roger Goodell was so thrilled with the enthusiastic response from the Brazilian fans that he has committed to bringing the NFL back next year. This year they played in Sao Paulo, but Rio has the iconic Maracana stadium, which holds 86,000 people, which might be a more popular choice given the high demand for the game. The tickets for Sao Paulo were so popular they sold out within ten minutes. Even the Embassy had a hard time buying tickets.”

Though sad to be leaving Brazil, Bagley is big on its future. She’s also grateful that the two years she spent were consequential, starting with the yearlong celebration of the Bicentennial and the G-20, which included over 100 Ministerial meetings, which her embassy facilitated and participated in, and the president’s historic visit to the Amazon and the Leaders’ Summit. “The G-20 was huge, but there’s a lot more ahead.” Brazil will have the presidency of BRICS next year. Brazil will host the BRICS summit as well as the 2025 COP Summit. For her part, Bagley is proud to have played a significant role in helping Brazil shine more brightly on the world stage.

Kandie Stroud 11/22/24 Kandie Stroud 11/22/24

Coffee with Prince Al-Faisal: Insights on the Middle East, the U.S. and Israel

By Kandie Stroud, Skytop Host and Contributor / November 22nd, 2024

Stroud is a best-selling author of the political campaign book How Jimmy Won (William Morrow).

She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Boston College and is fluent in five languages.

I had no sooner arrived at the McLean, Virginia home of Prince Turki Al-Faisal for our interview when I was ushered into the living room by Dr. Naila Al-Sowayel, Senior Advisor for Public Diplomacy to the current Ambassador from Saudi Arabia, Princess Reema Al-Saud, Turki’s niece, part of the ruling family of Saudi Arabia, and the first ever woman Ambassador from the Kingdom. I was about to sit down in a throne-like chair next to the couch. “That’s where he always sits,” she said, offering me the white couch instead. With that HRH swooped into the room.

He enters precisely on the stroke of noon. No time to waste. Turki is returning to Riyadh in a few hours after nearly a month in the US where he has been teaching at Columbia, Harvard and Princeton about the situation in the Middle East.

We are adjacent to Turki’s elegant wood-paneled office. The coffee table to my right is set with all manner of sweets and cookies. I take coffee—probably the best I have ever tasted. Is it Saudi coffee? “I brought the beans with me on the plane,” he says. The prince orders tea. The youngest son of King Faisal, who was assassinated in 1975, Prince Turki is soft spoken, charming, humble, and laughs easily. If you didn’t know he was royalty you’d think he was a nice guy that, as they say in politics, you’d like to have a beer with.

Before we launch into geopolitics, I ask what it was like to grow up as a prince in a kingdom. “I didn’t really grow up in Saudi Arabia,” he retorts. “I grew up most of my life in America.” Turki attended Lawrenceville, Princeton and Georgetown University, where he still maintains an office.

Turki was head of Saudi Arabia’s General Intelligence Directorate (GID), the equivalent of our CIA, for 24 years until 2001, and is considered by many to be one of the most experienced spies on the planet. Since then, he has been Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the UK, Ireland and the United States. He runs a think tank in Riyadh, the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, and travels the world giving lectures.

Today we are discussing his recent book, “The Afghanistan File”, a comprehensive record of his decades of effort trying to expel the Soviets from Afghanistan with the help of Pakistan and the Mujahadeen.

The Kingdom has played a significant role in Afghanistan since the Soviet invasion when Turki was Saudi Arabia’s chief intelligence officer and funded the Mujahideen. “The Soviet Union seemed to be expanding everywhere. In the mid 70’s many African countries were converting to Communism, starting with Ethiopia, Somalia, Mozambique, and Angola. In Latin America they had Nicaragua. Cuba was very much a tool of Soviet expansion. And in Asia, of course, with the American withdrawal from Vietnam, it seemed to be that the Soviets were on the march on a global scale.”

Turki continues “Afghanistan was a victim of that march, and the concern was they would be expanding into Pakistan. Saudi Arabia had good relations with Pakistan, so the Pakistanis came to us to ask for help and the Americans came and said why don’t we get together and help Pakistan.”

So indeed, Saudi Arabia, with the aid of the United States and Pakistan, played a crucial role in supporting and funding the Afghan’s Mujahideen. Although he confesses that working with the different factions of the Mujahideen was like herding cats, they succeeded in expelling the Soviets.

The Saudis continued good relations with Afghanistan under the first Taliban government, but the good will ended in 1990 when they refused to hand over Bin Laden. There was also a decade of close ties during the subsequent government, under Hamid Karzai, the elected President of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. However, with the return of the Taliban now in power, the Saudis closed their embassy in Kabul “because we suspect the Taliban still has links with the terrorists, especially Al-Qaeda. We told them if you want to have relations with us you must break off your relationships with all the terrorist groups that operate out of Afghanistan.”

They have not done that.

For now, the Kingdom does not have relationships with Afghanistan other than to continue to provide humanitarian aid through the international organizations. “We think they should implement what they said they would,” Al Faisal says. “They promised the Afghan people that they would have an inclusive government and that they would protect the rights of all citizens including women. We’ve been telling the rest of the world—that you should not recognize them until they live up to their promises.”

Al-Faisal minces no words about his displeasure with U.S. foreign policy.

He is unhappy with the way the Biden Administration precipitously exited Afghanistan. Military first. Civilians last. Does he agree with the time-honored rule that you never pull the military out first? He replies with a huff of disdain. “Indeed not! None of us understood the way it happened. I was very disappointed and shocked.”

Not to mention leaving behind $88 billion in tanks, rifles, ammunition, missiles, trucks and other war materiel. Was this a strategic mistake on the part of the Biden administration? “Yes, absolutely,” Faisal says, “but it started under Mr. Trump in the first term. He is the one who made the deal to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan. And that set the stage for the Biden administration to continue; but it’s the manner in which they withdrew that left a sour tase in everybody’s mouths, especially the friends of the United States.”

The key factor that led to the collapse, he says, was that the U.S. was talking directly to the Taliban behind the back of the Afghan government.

“The agreement that was reached with the Taliban was done without the government being involved. That was the nail in the coffin of the Afghan government because everybody, including Afghans, recognized the government was no longer responsible for their security and safety. That’s was the main reason why there was this collapse of the Afghan administrative system. There was no confidence anymore, not only in themselves, but in how others also see them. That led to the Taliban basically walking through whatever defenses the Afghan government had and, not finding any resistance, reached Kabul and took over.”

It appears the U.S. had decided well before the pullout that the Taliban would be the next system of government in Afghanistan.

“That was why they negotiated with the Taliban,” he says. “This was always a puzzle that they would do it that way. It reminded me of the time of the Vietnam withdrawal when America had the government in South Vietnam but negotiated with the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong without the government being involved.”

In like manner, when the Americans withdrew from Afghanistan, the government collapsed. “I have no idea why Biden did it in such a manner. We’ve seen the Congressional hearings on that and seen statements by his military at the time and they all said that basically that they didn’t want it done that way. They wanted to leave something behind to protect not just Afghanistan but also American interests in Afghanistan.”

“Biden, however, had other ideas”, expresses Al Faisal.

Was this catastrophic result due to weak leadership in Washington? “Absolutely. I think it’s one of the reasons why Mr. Putin went into the Ukraine. His attack on the Ukraine followed the conclusion that America was no longer considered capable of standing up to action like that.”

“As far as Ukraine is concerned, the Kingdom mediated the release of prisoners on both sides, provided humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees and all the conferences that have been held in the Kingdom about Ukraine, included Mr. Zelinsky coming to the Kingdom and engaging in these talks.”

He sees the world “…in a state of anarchy where there is no one responsible for leadership needed to preserve order in an otherwise broken world.”

New terrorist groups have sprouted, and existing ones have grown. Hezbollah has been operating in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Israel seems to be pursuing its Greater Israel plans and China has seen all of this chaos as an opportunity to flex its muscle in many of the Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia. “I don’t know if I would call it muscle. We haven’t seen military deployment by China in our part of the world-- not yet anyway, but definitely they have political and economic influence in the region. The Gulf states, all of them, have good relations with China, mostly economic. When Saudi Arabia and Iran decided to resume a relationship two and a half years ago, they did it in Bejing with China acting as host. And today Saudi Arabia is China’s largest trading partner.”

Iran has also taken a cue from the leadership vacuum in Washington and expanded in the region. “They’ve been boasting that they have control of four Arab countries, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, and through their militias in these countries they wield very strong influence on those countries. We’ve seen it in Lebanon for example where Hezbollah for 20 years has been the dominant political force. And the recent fighting between Hezbollah and Israel shows it was Hezbollah that was engaging in Israel, not the Lebanese army or the Lebanese political elite.”

In Yemen, the Houthis, who are allied with Iran, “have been interdicting commerce in the Red Sea and the Arab Sea, using Israel’s attack on Gaza and the Palestinians as justification. In Iraq where the Shia party is the most dominant in the government, during the past few years of Mr. Biden’s and Mr. Trumps time in office they have been launching drones and missiles at American forces. And now, Iran, besides making deals with the Gulf States, it is solidifying ties and patching up past differences with Afghanistan.”

The bad blood went back decades to the time Iran tested its might in Afghanistan by running an incursion with Afghans soldiers living in Iran. “But even though these fighters were native Afghans, they were slaughtered because they were seen as invaders.” Enmity over this massacre persisted until the fall of the Soviets, when the Bin Laden family and Bin Laden’s children sought refuge in Iran. Soon thereafter relationships began to strengthen. Now the two countries are working together again.

He refers to Gaza and the Palestinian Crisis as “the mother of all conflicts in the region. It is affecting everything and unless there is a ceasefire there the killing will continue, and we will not be able to reach a resolution. Whether it’s one state or two, whatever you think, something must be done in the form of a resolution. Otherwise, it will continue to be a source of uncertainty and bloodshed and destruction, not just in Palestine but everywhere. There will be no solution if U.S. policy is unduly beholden to Israel’s positions.”

The Kingdom is very much engaged in trying to get a ceasefire not just in Palestine but also in Lebanon. “Our goal is simply to stop the killing but the Israeli’s are continuing their eradication policy in Gaza and they’re also taking action in the West bank. They are actively destroying terrorist cells in the West Bank by going into the refugee camps and destroying whatever they can. In Lebanon they are using the same policy particularly in the South of Lebanon.”

In his mind’s eye, this again demonstrates, “how impotent the U.S. is as a great power responsible for preserving world peace and security and it is the bone of contention between the Arab world and the U.S. The perception of American involvement has caused suspicion and sown discord with Arabs and Muslims.” With no peace in sight, the war could be spilling over as a regional war. “This will be the future if no just solution is found.” He promises that the Kingdom, “will continue to support any issue that brings about a just resolution and a just solution to the plight of the Palestinian community.”

He is concerned about a wider war between Israel and Iran. At the moment Iran and Israel are “going through a pas de deux, a tango. They are lobbing missiles at each and telling each other where the missiles are going … matters can escalate out of control and that is something we’re seeing happening.”

There is a loud knock on the front door. The Prince’s next visitors have arrived. Time to wrap.

What lessons or message does he want his readers to learn from his book? “Two things are my message. One is that you cannot force upon a people a system of government unless they want it. The Soviets tried to make Afghanistan into a communist regime. The West and America wanted to make it a western style democracy by force. Both failed. Governance must come from within Afghanistan.”

“The second message is what happens in Afghanistan does not stay in Afghanistan. It affects all of us whether it is terrorists or drug traffickers. Afghanistan has become a center for opium, heroin—you name it—because of economic issues. The country is surrounded by others that want to take advantage of it.”

What does he see as the future of Afghanistan to which he devoted two decades of his life? Al Faisal does not see Taliban rule ending until the Afghan people rise up and say they’ve had enough. And that day is coming although no one can say when. “No regime like the Taliban with its restrictive policy on its own people can last for long. Something will have to give. The day will come when the Afghan people will simply rise up against the Taliban and force them-- if they want to remain in power-- to change their ways-- or they will change them completely.”

Prince Turki al-Faisal will fly to the Kingdom tonight and won’t return again until next October. The flight home is 12 hours but he says he does a lot of crossword puzzles to pass the time, so it will go quickly.

I thank him for a candid exchange and wish him a safe journey home.

Kandie Stroud 10/21/24 Kandie Stroud 10/21/24

A Century with Ethel Kennedy: Her Distinctively American Journey

By Kandie Stroud, Skytop Host and Contributor / October 21st, 2024

Stroud is a best-selling author of the political campaign book How Jimmy Won (William Morrow).

She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Boston College and is fluent in five languages.

How many funerals have you attended that featured three presidents, a presidential candidate, the former Speaker of the House, singers extraordinaire Stevie Wonder and Sting, the Governor of California, Senator John Kerry and the entire Kennedy family? The answer is probably zero.

And probably never again will that combination come together as it did yesterday in a star-studded congregation gathered to celebrate the formidable life of Ethel Kennedy in the majestic St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington where President John F Kennedy’s funeral mass was held.

The almost four hour event was rich with music, emotion and a hearty sprinkling of humor-- as Ethel, known for her quick wit, would have wanted it.

Each distinguished speaker began with the introduction: “Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President,” acknowledging the front row presence of former Chief Executives Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and President Joe Biden. Each POTUS separately extolled Robert F. Kennedy’s widow and mother of 11 as a model mom, devout Catholic, passionate activist and social justice warrior who, said Biden, “gave everything she had to make it a better world.” Biden, who received thunderous applause both as he took the podium and left it, gave a flawless eulogy, interrupted only by his own tears as he recounted Ethel Kennedy’s empathy and compassion when his wife and daughter were killed in a car accident shortly after he was elected as a Senator.

“She was there,” stated President Biden. Again, Ethel consoled him again when his son Beau died of cancer, reiterating “She was there”. he reiterated. On a lighter note, the President recalled one Valentine’s Day when he received a card featuring a picture of him with Ethel surrounded by a heart which was captioned: “I’m not Biden my time waiting for you.”

Biden said he had only two heroes - Robert F. Kennedy, whose bust he keeps in the Oval Office, and Martin Luther King (whose son spoke yesterday). President Obama remembered meeting Ethel Kennedy when he was first emerging on the political scene. “A little woman with bright blue eyes and a huge smile came up to me, held both my arms, looked me right in the eyes and said, ‘I like you! You’re going places!’” Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi lauded Ethel as “a national treasure” and characterized her as a woman of “deep faith.”

Ethel’s eldest child, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, contributed fun stories about her mother. “Most mothers bring their children to the park to swoosh down the slide and swing on the swing. My mom brought me and my brothers Bobby and Joe to the Senate Racket Committee Hearings on organized crime…Mummy wanted us to know what Daddy was doing.” RFK was chief counsel to the Senate Committee at the time and was cracking down on the mob. She also recounted how Ethel “thought stop signs were mere suggestions.”

President Clinton said Ethel had called him when he was leaving the White House at the end of his presidency when Hillary was Senator from New York. Ethel teased Clinton, “You’re now a senate spouse.” Daughter Kerry recalled phoning Ethel recently from Italy to ask her if there was “anything at all I can bring you?” Ethel quipped, “An Italian would do nicely.” Filmmaker Rory Kennedy, Ethel Kennedy’s eleventh and last child, called her mother, “my staunchest supporter” and “a woman who led a beautiful and impactful life.” During the troubles with apartheid in South Africa Rory recalled watching the arrests of protestors at the South African Embassy on TV. She informed her mother that she and her brother Doug wanted to go into DC to join the protesters and “get arrested for apartheid,” to which Ethel replied, “Great. I’ll drive.” Rory managed to get arrested and cuffed. As she was sitting in the squad car in front of the Embassy, Rory said Ethel was looking at her through the window with the biggest smile on her face.

A surprise for the packed assembly was singer Stevie Wonder, who performed, “Isn’t She Lovely,” as the audience clapped along. His rendition of The Lord’s Prayer left no dry eye in the house. Sting, the former songwriter and bassist for the band Police, sang “Fragile.” Country singer Kenny Chesney sang “You are My Sunshine”, and Nova Tate, a singer from St. Martin’s Choir, performed Ave Maria.

Ethel was remembered as a daily communicant, a devotee of the rosary, and a lover of guests who sometimes entertained 100 for lunch. (“Friends and friends of friends are welcome. Just not friends of friends of friends,” she instructed her children.)

She also collected animals. Ethel surrounded herself with dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, goats, turtles, hawks, an armadillo, and even a seal. “Not sure where they kept the seal,” said Obama. A winner of trophies, she was also an outstanding athlete who won sailing, riding and tennis tournaments, and an avid skier who sometimes got lost skiing off-piste.

Ethel was also an accomplished rider who loved horses--sometimes other peoples’ horses. Once as she and some of her children were riding in McLean, VA on old CIA trails she spotted a distressed, starving nag. Ethel dismounted and insisted they rescue the animal and take the emaciated horse home to feed it. The owner sued and the front pages of the newspapers screamed words to the effect “wife of Attorney General arrested as horse thief.”

Tears and laughter abounded as the amazing and beautiful service marks the end of a century long era through her distinctively American journey.

We’ll never see her likes again.