Diplomatic Connections May/June 2018

Diplomat c

A Business, Diplomacy & Foreign Policy Publication

MAY – JUNE 2018 • $7.95

The Premier Ambassador Magazine

BUSINESS • POLITICS • TRAVEL • ENTERTAINMENT • CONGRESS • MILITARY & DEFENSE

AMBASSADOR CHRISTOPH HEUSGEN GERMANY'S PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS

AMBASSADOR VLORA CITAKU EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOSOVO TO THE UNITED STATES

DR. EDWIN SCHLOSSBERG, AMBASSADOR CAROLINE KENNEDY, MRS. NOBUKO SASAE AND JAPANESE AMBASSADOR KENICHIRO SASAE

AMBASSADOR VALENTIN RYBAKOV BELARUS' PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS

THE OSCARS

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Medical Experts

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Dr. Cooke is Director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center’s Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) Program. Dr. Cooke is an internationally known BMT physician and a recognized expert in transplantrelated complications including graft-versus-host disease, non-infectious lung inflammation, and veno-occlusive disease. He has been successful in developing multi-center, translational research protocols in these areas. The program’s mission is simple: to ensure that every patient in need of a bone marrow transplant has a suitable donor, and to minimize the toxicity and maximize the efficacy of our transplant protocols. Ken’s passion for bringing laboratory insights back to the clinic in the form of novel strategies designed to prevent or treat lifethreatening complications after BMT represents one of his significant strengths. An award-winning scientist with more than 25 years of experience, his research has been recognized by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the American Society of Clinical Investigation. Taking care of transplant patients is one of the most complicated and yet rewarding areas of medicine, Dr. Cooke says: “BMT is not just a procedure – it’s a platform from which other forms of cancer therapy can be given. The procedure itself is rather straightforward, but the provision of post-transplant care in the days, weeks, months and years that follow absolutely requires a dedicated, well-trained group of practitioners.” The Pediatric BMT Program facilitates the transplantation of hematopoietic (or blood) stem cells derived from the bone marrow, peripheral blood and placenta as a curative therapy for a variety of acquired and congenital disorders of children and young adults.

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Medical Experts

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Nicholas Theodore, M.D. Dr. Theodore is the new director of the Johns Hopkins Neurosurgical Spine Center. He is a nationally recognized expert in brain and spinal cord injury, minimally invasive spine surgeries, and robotics. As an award-winning teacher and researcher, he has written or co-authored 30 book chapters and over 175 peer-reviewed articles. He is also a co-holder of numerous patents for medical devices and procedures. His research focuses on trauma, spinal cord injuries, robotics, and developing an understanding of the genetic and molecular basis of spinal disease.

Dr. Theodore treats patients with all types of spinal disorders, including trauma, Chiari malformations, spinal deformities, degenerative and congenital spine conditions, and spinal tumors.

He received his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine and completed his residency and fellowship at the Barrow Neurological Institute.

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He is a leader in developing minimally invasive techniques to enhance the safety and efficacy of selected pediatric neurosurgical procedures.

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MEDICAL • MEDICAL • MEDICAL • MEDICAL

Medical Experts

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Old School Meets Why Modern Technology & Old-Timey House Calls are a Perfect Match When you think of house call doctors, you may think of old movies, small or remote towns, or perhaps your own childhood.

House calls have been commonplace throughout history, their popularity peaking in the 19th and 20th centuries. These doctors did it all - they were general physicians, emergency responders, as well as midnight obstetricians. They arrived, prepared to treat any condition and they knew their patients personally. One doctor might even care for multiple generations of a family -- the key word there being care.

These house call doctors cared for their patients on a different level than today’s doctors. We’re not quite sure why things have changed but we’re trying to bring back the old ways of the house call.

Medical technology of the 21st century is advanced far beyond what house call doctors of the “olden days” had access to. We, at Doctors To You, feel extremely grateful to have access to cutting edge, portable technology that allows us to provide premium care for our patients without tying us down to a physical office location. Like the old house call doctors, we come prepared to treat any condition.

And like the old house call doctors, we treat multiple generations of families and care for them until they are better. No payment exchanges hands until the patient is well again.

Our service combines old-school courtesy and care with new-school tools and technology.

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Whether you’re sick, injured, in need of vaccinations, or due for an annual checkup, our providers come to you. We treat you from the comfort of your home, embassy, office, hotel, or dorm, when it is convenient for you. Language is never a barrier - we use both a translating service as well as our new Pilot Translating Earpiece which can translate live conversation between two parties (learn more in our “Tech Spotlight” below).

Our easy-to-use web-app makes requesting an appointment easy, simply log on to our secure site and request care - there’s no need to download anything!

Our goal is to make receiving care as easy and personable as it was in the old days while seamlessly incorporating top-of-the-line technology. You will not, however, find our providers glued to their technology. We use our technology only to enhance our patient’s experience.

You can learn more about the providers and technology of Doctors To You at www.doctorstoyou.com as well as on Facebook and Instagram.

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New School

The GE Vscan Portable Ultrasound The “Vscan ExtendTM is a handheld, pocket-sized ultrasound system that empowers healthcare professionals to make focused assessments and accelerate treatment decisions at the point of care. It fits in the palm of your hand and is easy to use like a smartphone, helping you take decisive action, refer patients quickly, optimize the course of treatment and reduce the overall cost of care.”

V S C A N FA M I LY - U LT R A S O U N D - P R O D U C T S , W W W. G E . C O M / .

TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT

“Using specially designed noise-canceling microphones, the Pilot earpiece recognizes speech and filters out ambient noise. The Pilot App then uses speech recognition, machine translation and speech synthesis to translate what was spoken. The second Pilot earpiece plays the newly translated speech for the other person.

The Pilot Speech Translator app allows users to translate between languages in two ways: speaking or texting, depending on the languages.”

WAV E R LY L A B S , W W W.W AV E R LY L A B S . C O M / .

Waverly Labs Pilot Translating Earpiece D I P L O M AT I C C O N N E C T I O N S B U S I N E S S E D I T I O N | M AY – J U N E 2 0 1 8

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Dawn Parker DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS OPERATIONS Lauren Peace BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Evan Strianese DESIGN & CREATIVE Watson Studios

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2018 LOOK FOR OUR INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMAT APPRECIATION RECEPTIONTM

CONTRIBUTING DESIGNER Larry Smith DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENTS and CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Roland Flamini, James Winship, PhD and Monica Frim

To contact an advertising executive CALL: 202.536.4810 EMAIL: info@diplomaticconnections.com DIPLOMATIC CONNECTIONS WEBSITE DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT IMS (Inquiry Management Systems) 304 Park Avenue South, 11th Floor New York, NY 10010 Marc Highbloom, Vice President marc@ims.ca Maria D’Urso, Project Manager Mariad@ims.ca CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHY Christophe Avril; Monica and John Frim, Aaron Webb, Embassy of Japan To order photos from the events go to:

WWW.DIPLOMATICCONNECTIONS.COM If your embassy, mission or consulate would like to host our next venue for the Diplomatic Connections International Diplomat Appreciation ReceptionTM please email us at: info@DiplomaticConnections.com

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www.diplomaticconnections.com Send any name or address changes in writing to: Diplomatic Connections 4410 Massachusetts Avenue / #200 Washington, DC 20016 Diplomatic Connections Business Edition is published bi-monthly.

Diplomatic Connections does not endorse any of the goods or services offered herein this publication.

Copyright 2018 by Diplomatic Connections All rights reserved.

Cover photo credits: H.E. Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, Germany, Christophe Avril, Diplomatic Connections; H.E. Ambassador Vlora Citaku, Kosovo, Christophe Avril, Diplomatic Connections; Jennifer Lawrence, Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images; Edwin Schlossberg, Caroline Kennedy, Noboku Sasae, Japanese Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae, Aaron Webb, Embassy of Japan; H.E. Ambassador Valentin Rybakov, Christophe Avril, Diplomatic Connections.

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D I P L O M AT I C C O N N E C T I O N S BUSINESS EDITION

M AY – J U N E 2 0 1 8

AMBASSADOR CHRISTOPH HEUSGEN GERMANY'S PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS

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AMBASSADOR VLORA CITAKU EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOSOVO TO THE UNITED STATES

Bozzuto – Residences of The Avenue . . . . . . 8 Bozzuto – The Hepburn . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Bozzuto – The Woodley . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 BRIDGESTREET.com/UN . . . . . . . . . . . .13 National Corporate Housing . . . . . . . . . .67 13|U Apartments, Washington, D.C. . . . . . . 92

AMBASSADOR VALENTIN RYBAKOV BELARUS' PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS

DR. EDWIN SCHLOSSBERG, AMBASSADOR CAROLINE KENNEDY, MRS. NOBUKO SASAE AND JAPANESE AMBASSADOR KENICHIRO SASAE

THE OSCARS

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FR OM B ERLIN TO TURTLE B AY:

CHANCELLOR MERKEL’S CLOSEST FOREIGN POLICY ADVISOR BECOMES GERMANY’S AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS JAMES A. WINSHIP, PH.D.

DR. CHRISTOPH HEUSGEN, Germany’s

Permanent Representative to the United Nations, comes to New York with vast experience as a career diplomat and after more than a decade as Foreign Policy and Security Advisor to Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Working at the Chancellor’s side since she assumed office in 2005, Heusgen has helped to shepherd German policy through a wide range of global security and economic issues.

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Ambassador Heusgen complements his long diplomatic career with deep awareness of the inner workings of German and European politics. As a result of his extensive multilateral work, he is well acquainted with the national leaders and personalities who shape the 21st century international security environments. That experience is tempered by intense behind-the-scenes involvement with the complex demands of the policymaking process. He is known for his intellectual insight, creative approach to problem solving, commitment to international institutions, dedication to a rules-based international order, and immense discretion.

A leading German news outlet has described Christoph Heusgen as a skilled diplomat possessed of great modesty, noting that he exercises “the power of silence.” This Ambassador has never sought the public stage for himself.

Though he is determined to “protect” national security while simultaneously “promoting” trade and economic growth, Heusgen has steadfastly avoided not only the spotlight but also the rhetorical excesses to which political egos at the center of power too often succumb.

Christoph Heusgen persistently engages foreign policy dilemmas with probing insight, quiet poise, incisive situational analysis, plus a keen awareness of personalities.

All of these traits are leavened with the remarkable patience needed to shape elegantly inventive responses to policy impasses. He navigates the nuances of diplomacy with delicate skill, yet brings to international negotiation the savvy of an experienced political operative who is equally willing to cajole or to pressure his negotiating partners as needed to gain their agreement.

H.E. AMBASSADOR DR. CHRISTOPH HEUSGEN GERMANY’S PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS

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Trained as an economist at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, Heusgen found himself torn between a career in international banking or the chance to enter Germany‘s foreign service. “We Germans are idealistic so I asked myself a question,” recalls Ambassador Heusgen: “Do I want to work for a company whose primary goal is to make large sums of money, or do I want to try to contribute to German diplomacy by encouraging at least small bits of change in foreign policy? I have not regretted that I took the second way.”

Christoph Heusgen’s education included substantial international perspective with studies in the United States and at the Sorbonne in Paris.

He fondly recalls spending a year of his secondary education in the United States at Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio. Later, he returned to the United States to study at Georgia Southern University as part of his undergraduate curriculum. His first foreign service posting was at the German Consulate in Chicago as a junior secretary dealing with press and economic affairs. “Experiences like these,” he points out, “provide an early exposure to international life.

You become interested in international questions and what moves various countries to take the actions they do.”

Ambassador Heusgen’s professional development followed a somewhat unusual course. Unlike most fledgling diplomats, he was not cycled back and forth between foreign assignments and postings at the Foreign Ministry. Instead, his career path focused on two closely related themes: European integration and the transatlantic alliance. He served as Deputy Head of the German delegation to the Coordinating

Deputy-Director General for European Affairs.

Subsequently, Ambassador Heusgen served for several years [1999-2005] as a top advisor to High Representative Javier Solana in the General Secretariat

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Guido Bergmann/Bundesregierung via Getty Images

Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) based in Paris during the waning days of the Cold War. Returning to the Foreign Ministry, Heusgen served in a variety of administrative posts: dealing with GermanFrench relations; helping to negotiate the Maastricht Treaty that would transform the European Community into the European Union; and eventually becoming

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are on their way from the West Balkans conference in Trieste to Paris in an airbus together with their then-consultants Christoph Heusgen and Philippe Etienne on July 13, 2017 in flight.

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of the Council of the European Union in Brussels. Upon the election of Chancellor Merkel in 2005, he returned to Berlin as Foreign Policy and Security Advisor to the Federal Chancellor. Now he is at the United Nations as the capstone of what will be four decades of international service.

Ambassador Heusgen was kind enough to sit down for an extended interview with us in his New York office, where he is currently leading Germany’s efforts to be elected to a Security Council seat for the 2019-2020 term.

Diplomatic Connections: The United Nations has been criticized as a massive bureaucracy over-burdened with procedure, paralyzed by political conflicts, under-funded and often times ineffectual. Recognizing that that description is a stereotype of the organization, what is the importance of the United Nations to Germany?

Ambassador Heusgen: If there were not the United Nations, it would have to be founded. For Germany, the United Nations is the key international organization. Germany puts a great deal of emphasis on the rule of law. We want an international order that is rules-based. At the center of these rules are the United Nations and the UN Charter as well as all the subsequent resolutions that have been adopted over the years. That means member states need to do everything to make the UN work.

Diplomatic Connections: You are very close to Chancellor Merkel having served as her foreign affairs advisor for many years. Why did you choose to leave that position and come to the United Nations?

Ambassador Heusgen: We want to strengthen the United Nations. Germany has also always been a promoter of reform within the structure and institutions of the United Nations. The UN Secretary-General, Mr. Guterres, is very adamant in his goal of

Diplomatic Connections: The German Mission here in New York is busy campaigning for election to the Security Council. What is campaigning for a Security Council seat like within the United Nations community?

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UN Photo/Kim Haughton

pushing reforms forward. Our government wishes to support him.

Christoph Heusgen, Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations, presents his credentials to Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on July 26, 2017.

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Ambassador Heusgen: For Germany to be a member state of the United Nations and, hopefully, once again a member of the Security Council is also to promote the questions we think the United Nations should be examining. A seat on the Security Council puts us at the center of the agenda setting and policy making process of the United Nations.

The goal is to advance our candidacy by underscoring Germany’s positions, not promoting Germany as a brand.

Our nation encourages a comprehensive view of security and the primary objective here is to bring before the Security Council a wide range of issues that our government sees as intimately related to international peace and regional security: climate and security, human rights and security, health and security, trade and security. Even issues like food and global population have a security dimension.

The United Nations cannot simply move from crisis to crisis. Instead, it is necessary to have a broader picture, a global picture. This is the approach Germany advocates. Our country has served as a non-permanent member of the Security Council on five previous occasions since Germany became a member of the United Nations in 1973, and we hope for the opportunity to serve again.

[NOTE: Following the end of World War II Germany was divided into four zones of occupation – American, British, French and Soviet. The Allied Occupation of defeated Germany came to an end in 1949 when the American, British and French zones were unified to form the Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany, and the Soviet zone gained sovereignty as the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany. The two German states joined the United Nations in 1973. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 a reunified German state was recognized by the United Nations.]

Diplomatic Connections: Israel is included for the first time in the “Europe and Other Countries” group when it comes to the allocation of non-permanent Security Council seats and the election of new members. Is that going to change the dynamics of the election process?

Ambassador Heusgen: Regrettably, there is not a so-called “clean slate” for the West European and Others Group in the upcoming Security Council elections. There are two places available and three candidates. Germany is not competing against Belgium and Israel. We are competing with them. We are not mounting a negative campaign in

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any way. Instead, our intention is to communicate clearly the positions that our government wishes to convince others to take, if Germany is selected for the Security Council.

Diplomatic Connections: You spoke of the Security Council, and you spoke of United Nations reform. If we might join those two things, what would the future of the Security Council look like from Germany’s point of view? Would you increase the number of permanent members? Would you retain the veto?

Ambassador Heusgen: Germany has been among those states promoting structural reform of the Security Council for many years. That is a difficult process, but my government believes that efforts to change the shape of the Security Council to acknowledge the realities of the 21st century world must not be abandoned. To be sure, there are countries opposed to Security Council reform, but that is no reason not to persist in the reform effort.

If a functioning, rules-based international order is to exist, then the UN must be representative and it must be legitimate. The composition of the Security Council today does not exemplify the balance of power, the economic development, or the demographic development of the globe over time. The world in 2018 is not the world that existed at the end of World War II when the United Nations was founded. Therefore, the United Nations and the Security Council must change.

For these reasons, Germany is seeking to enlarge the Security Council, both in terms of permanent and nonpermanent members. To advance this reform process we have joined forces with other countries of similar weight in the world – Brazil, India and Japan.

Diplomatic Connections: Let us close the circle on this discussion of reform. If you enlarge the number of permanent members, would you extend the veto to them or would you create a new category of permanent members without veto power?

Ambassador Heusgen: Germany is in favor of the present construction. That would mean extending the basic rules for both the permanent and non-permanent members.

Major changes are not going to happen tomorrow, but little steps can be taken. Our objective would be to move from just talking about reform toward a text based negotiation, putting forth the text of a reform proposal as a basis for discussion and negotiation.

UN Photo/Manuel Elias

in 2014 by invading Ukraine, a European country very close to the European Union. Germany has reacted, NATO has reacted, and the United States has reacted. And this has real meaning for us. Today there are more American troops on European soil than has been the case since the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Germany and Europe see and value this commitment from the United States.

Matthew Rycroft (speaking), Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the UN speaks to press, after the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, December 8, 2017.

He was joined in addressing reporters by (to his right) Christoph Heusgen, Permanent Representative of Germany. (from his L-R) François Delattre, Permanent Representative of France; Olof Skoog, Permanent Representative of Sweden; and Sebastiano Cardi, Permanent Representative of Italy.

Diplomatic Connections: You have been called “Germany’s last Atlanticist.” What do you think is the future of the Atlantic Community? Can common endeavors be sustained in the face of what seem to be reassertions of national sovereignty and threats of isolationism popping up all over Europe as well as in the United States?

Ambassador Heusgen: Germany would not be where it is today were it not for the United States. Look at the end of the Second World War and the Berlin Airlift, the support for sustaining West Berlin, the support for the reunification of Germany. The United States was absolutely critical to Germany’s post-war history. Look at what the United States has done for the security of Germany and of the NATO allies.

This transatlantic relationship is central from a security point of view. The world has witnessed what Russia did

Of course, as partners Europe and the United States sometimes experience “troubles” in their working relationship, but there remains always an unshakable commitment to critical strategic interests and the defense of Western values. This coordination must be continued, despite tendencies in the United States and Europe that assert more isolationist and inward looking points of view. And, all the member states must work harder to achieve a competitive and fully functional European Union.

Diplomatic Connections: That said, one of the criticisms that candidate Trump, now President Trump, has persistently posed to NATO partner countries is the largely unmet 2% of GDP spending guidelines for investment in national defense. How do you see the future unfolding in this regard? Will Germany make a greater percentage commitment to strengthening its national defense and its contribution to NATO? Ambassador Heusgen: The 2% guideline is an important objective, but it is critical to examine what the actual investment and the overall commitment to security is. Our country stands by the commitment that was decided upon at the NATO Summit in Wales in 2014. And, when you look at defense spending in Germany, it has been going up.

A new “structured cooperation” initiative has been undertaken by the European Union. It is designed to encourage closer collaboration at all levels of planning and training in order to make European security capabilities much more robust. Germany is among the leaders in

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working to bring the various national forces closer and closer together.

Diplomatic Connections: The issue of refugees flowing into Germany generated substantial political discord. Now the United Nations must confront the issue of refugee flows coming from the Middle East, from North Africa, as well as the Rohingya issue with refugees from Myanmar flooding into Bangladesh. How should the UN be responding?

Ambassador Heusgen: Refugees run from civil wars, run from internal conflict situations like Syria where there are constant threats to survival on several fronts. This was the situation that confronted Europe in 2015 when the refugees from Syria were stranded in the middle of nowhere. They were without food and water, starving, sick, and had no safe haven in which to take shelter. That was the moment when Chancellor Merkel insisted that Germany would stand by its values and act to protect human life.

These are principles that the international community must uphold, to which it must continue to adhere. Refugees running from dictators, from civil wars, from wars that are destroying communities must be sheltered, protected and offered new opportunities – whether in a new country or by returning home to help rebuild the country from which they came.

Diplomatic Connections: How then should the United Nations respond?

Ambassador Heusgen: One of the issues Germany encountered as it dealt with the refugee flow was that Germans were willing to accept the refugees from Syria who were fleeing crisis, but at the same time Germany also was receiving a large number of economic migrants.

German society, and especially the administrative system, was not really prepared for this large scale influx of people pouring into our country. It is impossible to sustain a situation where huge flows of economic migrants are flowing into Europe in a steady stream. This cannot work.

The United Nations must closely examine the root causes of migration flows. For instance, in Africa the international community must do something to respond to climate change. Simultaneously, it is crucial to expand development efforts and to assure a stable security environment. The UN institutions must also respond positively to requests from Africa and other continents that their people should have a possibility to migrate to another continent.

Germany has a demographic problem with its labor market because many areas are already at full employment. Our 26

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economy does need employees from other countries, but Germany cannot absorb unorganized migration flows.

Instead, the flow of migration must be shaped in ways that Germany is receiving people who are prepared, trained, have the needed skills and who can come to our country and integrate into German economic and social life relatively smoothly. This should be one of the bases for any larger migration compact.

Diplomatic Connections: May we return to the question of the Ukraine and the status of Crimea? Germany was very involved in bringing peace to the Balkans. Based on that experience, are there lessons that were learned in the Balkans that are in any way transferable to the virtual annexation of Crimea and the continuing infiltration/involvement in Ukraine by Russia?

Ambassador Heusgen: The parallels between the Balkans and Ukraine are not very strong. Still, the German Chancellor and the Foreign Ministry continue to look after the remaining problems in the Balkans because our American friends cannot be expected to do that for us.

Germany continues to be engaged in the Balkans even 20 years after the Dayton Accords were signed.

The Ukraine situation is totally different. Ukraine decided on independence in 1991 and conducted a referendum asking whether the Ukrainian people wanted to be independent or part of the new Russia. A majority said that they wished to have an independent Ukraine. The vote in Crimea also favored being part of an independent Ukraine. That is very often forgotten.

Diplomatic Connections: Does the present situation in Ukraine and Crimea also have implications for the nuclear nonproliferation regime?

Ambassador Heusgen: When the Soviet Union broke up, there remained Soviet era nuclear weapons in Kazakhstan, Ukraine and other areas. In 1994 Ukraine signed the socalled Budapest Memorandum wherein it gave up the nuclear weapons within its territory. In return, Ukraine got the signature of the Russians and others guaranteeing Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Apparently, President Putin wanted to ignite Russian nationalism for complex reasons of his own, perhaps to cover issues that otherwise threatened to undermine his control of the Russian government and the economy.

Russia’s invasion of Crimea and the Donbas was a huge setback for Ukraine. It was a huge setback also for nonproliferation, the effort to give up nuclear weapons and reduce arsenals. The growing perception was that if a state

gave up those weapons, as Ukraine had done, then it was without protection.

Diplomatic Connections: How should the United Nations respond to this challenge?

Ambassador Heusgen: The UN and the global community cannot allow Russia to get away with the annexation of Crimea and the constant pressure on the sovereignty and territory of Ukraine. Russia must be offered a face-saving way to extricate themselves from the conflicts they have fomented and fueled in this region.

What Germany has been negotiating, together with our French friends, the Ukrainians and the Russians is the so-called Minsk II process intended to secure a cease fire, stabilize the security environment and the economy, and restore full Ukrainian sovereignty. That negotiation began in 2015. Efforts at implementation continue to be pursued, but unfortunately not much progress is being made.

The goal is to return to and build on the situation of independence and burgeoning democracy that had been negotiated for Ukraine in the 1990s. Working together with the EU, Germany and France are trying to rebuild and strengthen the Ukraine government, reduce corruption, encourage economic development and train a new generation of civil servants committed to reform.

Diplomatic Connections: We cannot end this interview without asking you about the North Korean situation. How can the United Nations contribute to defusing this “edge of the precipice” confrontation between the United States and North Korea, between South Korea and North Korea, and between North Korea and its neighbors in China and Japan?

Ambassador Heusgen: Here at the UN, unlike Washington, there is a North Korean delegation present. People who want to talk to them can certainly do so. The item regarding the North Korean missile development and nuclear weapons programs is repeatedly on the agenda of the Security Council and the General Assembly. That does not mean that the issue is being solved, but it is not being swept under the rug.

There are possibilities to be explored regarding the future of the Korean Peninsula and the threats posed by North Korea’s nuclear program. Given the concerns of China and Russia as well as the United States, the Security Council does not face vetoes by permanent member states on the Korean question. Instead, there are a number of resolutions that demand action from North Korea to give up its missile development and nuclear weapons programs. The pressure on North Korea in the form of economic sanctions has become stronger and continues to be ratcheted up.

It is difficult to say right now where this will lead, but so far the worst has been prevented. A combination of sanctions and exit strategies can be explored in a more nuanced and inclusive way at the UN than is perhaps possible in the hothouse political atmosphere of Washington. I still see a possibility that there may be a path toward an agreed solution to the North Korean drama, one that can avoid the most disastrous consequences.

Diplomatic Connections: Under German law you must retire from the Foreign Service at age 65, a date that comes up in 2020 for you.

Imagine that you are now the senior German diplomat in charge of training a new generation of German diplomats. What lessons

Mikhail Palinchak\TASS via Getty Images

Normandy Format talks on the settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, October, 2016. (L-R) Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Russian Presidential Aide Vladislav Surkov, Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, Christoph Heusgen then-Foreign and Security Policy Adviser to the German Chancellor.

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would you take from your career that you would want to pass on to these fledgling diplomats?

Diplomatic Connections: Is there anything else you would like to touch on before we bring this interview to a close?

Ambassador Heusgen: First, it is vital to know your own country. Diplomats must recognize that their primary responsibility is to represent German interests.

Ambassador Heusgen: The role of women in the foreign service and at the United Nations must be strengthened.

When I started in the German foreign service I had 50 colleagues in my entering class, and three were women.

Today gender ratios are moving toward balance, but there are still many areas of international relations – the top ranks, the peacekeepers, the militaries – where men predominate. Continuous efforts must be made to increase the ranks of women in diplomacy. I worked for a woman Chancellor for twelve years, and I know what I’m talking about. I understand, based on experience, just how important the presence of women leaders is on the global and national stage.

Second, it is necessary to search for compromise. No agreement ever gives any party 100% of what was initially sought when negotiations began. Diplomats must learn how to get along with other people and how to listen to the concerns and objectives of other countries. Innate curiosity about everything and a willingness to learn are also essential traits.

Post-World War II Germany is totally different from what it was before. The lessons of history have been learned, and today Germany is a fervent defender of a rules-based international order. German diplomats should always promote this order and should always stand for the fundamental values stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 70th anniversary of which we look forward to celebrating in December this year.

The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany

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Diplomatic Connections: Ambassador Heusgen, thank you very much for talking with us and for being such a professional.

You dealt with questions informatively, candidly and discreetly at the same time. And that, it should be said, is a catalog of diplomatic desiderata.

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DIPLOMATIC CONNECTIONS

Standing Ovation at the conclusion of the Nobuko Forum (front row, L-R) Tamera Luzzatto, Jill Udall, Representative Doris Matsui, Mrs. Kasey Crowley, Representative Joe Crowley, Dr. Edwin Schlossberg (husband of Ambassador Kennedy), Dr. Susan Blumenthal, Lynda Webster, Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae, Didi Cutler, Alexandra de Borchgrave, Jan Smith, Anita McBride, Natalie Jones, Annie Totah.

Mrs. Nobuko Sasae and Ambassador Caroline Kennedy

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SAYS

farewell TO THE SASAES Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C.

F

or diplomats and their families, life is an accumulation of events experienced in one country and remembered in another. That’s because a diplomatic career is a movable feast that relocates on average about every four years. Then it’s back to facing the confusion of packing cases and travel arrangements interspersed with evenings of farewell dinners and receptions. Consider Nobuko Sasae, wife of Kenichiro Sasae, until recently Japan’s ambassador in Washington. Her winning smile and welcoming personality, along with her husband’s charm and sense of humor made the Sasaes a popular, high profile diplomatic couple. The Japanese residence was the venue for countless social events, including charity fundraises, and even a performance of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Nobuko also launched and monitored the Nobuko Forum, a periodic panel discussion program for female professionals in which prominent women shared their career path and keys to success.

The main speaker in what was the twelfth Forum in the series was Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy and until the end of 2016 U.S. ambassador to Japan. Her theme was “Being natural and true to yourself.”

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At the Japanese Ambassador’s Residence, flowers being given to Ambassador Caroline Kennedy as a thank you for being the main speaker of the twelfth Forum in the series created by Nobuko Sasae. Kennedy was the United States Ambassador to Japan from November, 2013 to January, 2017 under the Obama administration.

But in March, after an exceptionally long assignment of five years and four months, the Sasaes left for their return to Japan, and Nobuko’s personal farewell to Washington a few days before their departure, on February 28, was to host her Forum for the very last time.

The main speaker in what was the twelfth Forum in the series was Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy and until the end of 2016 U.S. ambassador to Japan. Her theme was “Being natural and true to yourself.” Nobuko thought Ambassador Kennedy was an appropriate choice as the closing

Ms. Kiyomi Buker saying farewell to Mrs. Sasae. Ms. Buker is the Social Secretary to the Ambassador in the Protocol Section of the Japanese embassy. She assisted the Nobuko Forum's leader, Mrs. Sasae, and was instrumental in facilitating its widely commendable endeavors.

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speaker because of her interest in women’s issues as the U.S. representative in Japan. “She was very active in promoting women in Japan, and left very good memories of her time there,” Nobuko said in an interview a few days before her departure.

“In the first three years of my stay in Washington I met some very interesting women and had occasion to listen to their personal stories,” Mrs. Sasae said, explaining how she came to launch the series. “It was a listening period. Then I wanted to share their experiences with a wider audience.” So in April 2016, she launched the Nobuko Forum at the Japanese residence on Nebraska Avenue in North West Washington, with the discussion followed by a buffet dinner.

The Forum’s original audience consisted mainly of Japanese women residing and working in Washington, D.C. in international institutions like the World Bank, think tanks, universities, NGOs, and various businesses. The Forum, in fact, reflected a cautious Japanese government effort to empower women in a traditionally conservative society. The guest speakers, however, were prominent Americans. “The speakers were my friends, and the discussion groups were very high quality, very focused, very to the point, thoughtful,” she recalled.

Guests throughout the series had included Carla Hills, former U.S. Trade Representative; Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress; Avril Haines, former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency; NBC foreign policy reporter Andrea Mitchell; and Capricia

Marshall, former United States chief of protocol. “We received a lot of wonderful advice,” Nobuko said.

In time, the Forum acquired a reputation and began to attract more American women. By its close, the original composition of 75 percent Japanese and 25 percent American attendees has shifted to about equal numbers.

Of great satisfaction to Nobuko was the fact that in the last two Forums, Japanese participants were beginning to find their voices. “Japanese women generally find it difficult to speak up, but as the series progressed they became more active and asked many questions,” furthermore explaining while emphasizing, “That required courage.”

In Japan, Ambassador Sasae will retire from the foreign service, but will probably find work in the foreign policy area: “It’s his passion. We don’t play music, and he doesn’t sing, so I’ve no idea what else he would do.”

An interpreter by profession, Nobuko continued to accept a number of high-level assignments while in

Washington, juggling them with her many obligations as an ambassador’s wife. She expects to continue her work as a linguist, and also talks of writing a book, perhaps in the form of a series of essays about women’s issues from her personal experience. And the Forum? “It was very transformational for me, I’d like to organize something similar in Japan.”

But first there’s the challenge of settling down after yet another move. “When you change locations you have to start from scratch,” Nobuko observed. Surely returning home is different? The challenge, she continued, is “how you manage your attachment to the past.” Her list of Washington memories is long, fond, and varied, including enjoyable walks in what she called “a walkable city,” and “time spent with friends in intimate settings, talking in a very relaxed manner. You have so many things you leave behind.”

You will be missed, Mrs. Nobuko.

(L-R) Dr. Edwin Arthur Schlossberg (husband of Ambassador Kennedy), Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, Mrs. Nobuko Sasae, and Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae

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“

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

”

IN THE WESTERN BALKANS

A conversation with Kosovo’s Ambassador Vlora Citaku

BY ROLAND FLAMINI

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his year, Kosovo celebrated the tenth anniversary of its secession from Serbia, to become the world’s youngest independent country. The small, western Balkan state (population 2 million) was born out of the savage conflict of the 1990s even as Yugoslavia exploded violently into its component ethnic parts. In breaking away, Kosovo’s majority population of Albanian Muslims had the strong support of the United States and its Western allies, which continues. But a decade later, Kosovo’s Ambassador Vlora Citaku is still having to use the term “unfinished business” more than she would like to in describing the jagged edges that still need to be smoothed out in Kosovo’s bid for sovereign statehood.

As Serbia’s patron, Russia continues to block Kosovo from becoming a member of the United Nations. Five European countries, including Spain and Cyprus, have withheld recognition of Kosovo in large part because of separatist issues of their own.

Kosovo sees membership of the European Union as its economic salvation, but Brussels has set reconciliation with Serbia as a precondition for membership of both countries (Ambassador Citaku told Diplomatic Connections that Pristina and Belgrade are working on it.) Albanian Kosovars make up 90 percent of the population, but the Serbian parliamentary minority continues to prevent Kosovo from voting to form its own army. Meanwhile, about 4,600 NATO troops, including 650 U.S. military based at Camp Bondsteel in Eastern Kosovo, are deployed in Kosovo as a tripwire against possible Serbian aggression, and – says the ambassador – as “a geo-strategic balance” against any Russian aggression.

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H.E. VLORA ÇITAKU AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOSOVO TO THE UNITED STATES D I P L O M AT I C C O N N E C T I O N S B U S I N E S S E D I T I O N | M AY – J U N E 2 0 1 8

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Erkin Keci/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci (R) meets European Commission Chief Jean-Claude Juncker (L) in Pristina, Kosovo on February 28, 2018.

Kosovars – at any rate the older generation – live with the dark memory of the ethnic cleansing of Kosovar Muslims by Serbian authorities, and Ambassador Citaku is no exception. A million Kosovo Albanians were deported during a period when the knocking on doors was the nightly drumroll announcing deportation and worse.

But while Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and his government clearly and justifiably bear the main responsibility for a tragic chapter in Balkan history, hardly anyone connected with the conflict emerges totally free from criticism. Last minute negotiations organized by the U.S. and Russia in Rambouillet, France, collapsed because of an apparent lack of will on anyone’s part to make any concessions whatsoever.

Some felt the Clinton administration used bullying tactics with the Serbs, and NATO’s 78 days of air strikes that finally forced Milosevic to withdraw his troops from Kosovo caused great devastation in Serbia. The Kosovo Liberation Army, the ethnic Albanian paramilitary organization, were said to have needed no lessons in brutality in retaliating against the Serbs.

The Kosovo government is only now coming around to helping repatriated war victims in an organized way through pensions and group therapy. Some observers feel 40

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there are today two Kosovos: the Kosovo of the post-war generation who look towards the European Union for the fulfilment of their hopes and dreams; and the other Kosovo in which ethnic hatred is held in check by a fragile peace that could break down any day. Complicating the situation, say these observers, is the more recent threat of spreading fundamentalism in the Islamic community, with young fighters being recruited for ISIS. Ambassador Citaku calls that a story of four years ago. She says a secular minded Islamic society has brought fundamentalism under control.

Diplomatic Connections: Ambassador, thank you for agreeing to this conversation with Diplomatic Connections. I’d like to start by asking you about your own career because you seem to be all over the place. You were five years in the Kosovar Assembly, in other words you were a parliamentarian Ambassador Citaku: Yes. Diplomatic Connections: And then you went to journalism school in the United States and in France Ambassador Citaku: I did that simultaneously with being in parliament – I did courses in the U.S. and in Paris specifically designed for young leaders from Kosovo.

Diplomatic Connections: And then you went into diplomacy. You were deputy foreign minister, and even foreign minister for a while. How did that come about?

Ambassador Citaku: My career course was exceptional because the circumstances were exceptional. For me being involved in our national movement for liberation and for freedom came very naturally, and I don’t think it was a choice. I used to dream of being an artist or a schoolteacher, but when you’re oppressed dreams are suspended. I was too young to fight, but joining the cause and then later being politically active was just a natural response to the situation. And I’m glad that the younger generation in Kosovo no longer have to do what I did.

Diplomatic Connections: You must have been the youngest foreign minister in Europe.

Ambassador Citaku: Until the Austrian foreign minister, yes. But my record has been broken (when Sebastian Kurz became Austria’s foreign minister in 2014 he was 28).

Prime Ministry of Bulgaria / Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Diplomatic Connections: And then you were minister for European integration, which meant what exactly, given that Kosovo is not a member of the European Union?

Ambassador Citaku: Precisely. We established institutional coordination in order to prepare the country for joining the European Union. My job back then was to make sure that any piece of legislation that was adopted in Kosovo was aligned with the European Union, and also every institution and every regulation was aligned with the ones in the European Union.

Ambassador Citaku: Exactly. Later on, I was the negotiator for establishing our association with the EU. Diplomatic Connections: So Kosovo is currently an associate of the EU, but with aspirations to membership.

Ambassador Citaku: Of course. The European Union has published its enlargement platform, and all the western Balkan countries are included, and this was a very positive sign from Brussels. We in the western Balkans have a lot of unfinished business between us, but if there’s one common desire throughout the region it’s the strong desire to join the European Union. Especially now that we see our part of the world has become a chess board between different competing powers. Russia is as aggressive and as

EU-Western Balkans Summit, Sofia, Bulgaria, March 1, 2018.

From left: Bosnia and Herzegovina Chairman Dragan Covic, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva, Macedonia Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, President Hashim Thaci of Kosovo, Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov of Bulgaria, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, EU Enlargement Negotiations Commissioner Johannes Hahn, President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia, Prime Minister Edi Rama of Albania and Minister of Bulgarian EU Presidency Lilyana Pavlova.

Diplomatic Connections: Sounds like a reverse Brexit.

Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images

The Prime Minister’s Press Conference at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Western Balkans Investment Summit in London on February 26, 2018.

From left: EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti, Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, Serbia’s Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, Montenegro’s Prime Minister Dusko Markovic, Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama, Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and Bosnia’s Prime Minister Denis Zvizdic.

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hope to achieve during your time in D.C.?

Ambassador Citaku: First of all, I hope to have preserved the special nature of the relationship between the United Diplomatic Connections: But it’s not just the European Union.

States and Kosovo. My first priority when I came here Kosovo also has American was to try and remind the backing. administration that Kosovo Ambassador Citaku: We are is their unfinished business. the most pro-American We’re still not a U.N. member, country on earth. I think we still have not concluded Kosovo is the only country our state infrastructure, and in the world where there’s this is not something we a Bill Clinton statue next to can do alone. This is not a George W. Bush boulevard something Brussels can do and that is a clear sign of the alone with us either. As we appreciation and gratitude know, the course of history we have for the United in our part of the world can States. The pro-American take a very dangerous turn.

President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European sentiment is not only a At a time of competing and Eurasian Affairs Dr. A. Wess Mitchell hold a joint press conference after their geo-political orientation, it’s a meeting in Pristina, Kosovo on March 12, 2018. priorities, from North Korea sentiment in the heart and mind of every Kosovar. to Iran – of course, I’m grateful that Kosovo is not a hot spot any more, but it’s still unfinished business, and if not Diplomatic Connections: To pick up on your career. After taken care of properly the record in the western Balkans laying the groundwork for Kosovo’s eventual entry into the shows that progress is easily reversible. Especially now European Union, you were consul general in New York, and when we see a very aggressive Russia. And we’re all interthen you came to Washington as ambassador. What do you

Erkin Keci/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

present as it has ever been, and Russia has become a very destructive force. So it’s very important to see a clear signal from Brussels.

Armend Nimani/AFP/Getty Images

From right: Kosovo’s Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci and Parliament speaker Kadri Veseli shake hands with Joseph Brandt the CEO of Contour Global during the signing ceremony for the Kosova e Re power plant in Pristina on December 20, 2017. Kosovo government reached an agreement with the USfounded ContourGlobal for the construction over a billion euro worth 500 megawatt coal-fired power plant that will provide energy independence for the country.

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Ales Beno/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The Western Balkans summit in Piazza Unita d’Italia in Trieste, northern Italy, on July 12, 2017.

(L to R) High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, Montenegro’s Prime Minister Dusko Markovic, Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Isa Mustafa, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Slovenia’s Prime Minister Miroslav Cerar, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Denis Zvizdic, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Prime Minister of Macedonia Zoran Zaev and Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

The EU-Kosovo Stabilization and Association Council at the European Council in Brussels, Belgium on November 17, 2017.

From right: High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Council Federica Mogherini, Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and EU European Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations Commissioner Johannes Hahn.

dependent: instability in one country can lead to instability in Kosovo as well. I had to try and capture the attention of the administration to say that, although peaceful, our part of the world was still unfinished. And I must say that, together with my colleagues from neighboring countries we have managed to bring Kosovo and the western Balkans to the attention of the State Department.

Diplomatic Connections: And in addition to that?

Ambassador Citaku: Secondly, for me, it’s very important that we establish the armed forces. We celebrated the

tenth anniversary of our independence, but we don’t have an army. That’s because the required constitutional change in our statute is blocked in parliament by the Serbian minority.

Diplomatic Connections: So what happens? Whenever legislation comes up to establish the army the Serbians vote against it?

Ambassador Citaku: They don’t vote.

Diplomatic Connections: And to amend the constitution you need a two-thirds majority?

Ambassador Citaku: We need more than that. We need the Albanian vote and the vote of the other minorities.

The Serbians in the Kosovo parliament don’t vote because that’s what they are instructed to do by Belgrade. The time has come for us to be more creative and look at other ways in which we can establish our armed forces. It’s a

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fundamental right of Kosovars. The time has come for Kosovo to contribute to our security.

Diplomatic Connections: You’re not members of NATO? Ambassador Citaku: No, we’re not. You can’t be members of NATO without an army. It doesn’t have to be a big army: it can be a small force, specialized in certain fields.

Diplomatic Connections: Can I just go over some of the basic information. There is still a NATO presence in Kosovo.

Ambassador Citaku: Yes there is. It’s small. Kosovo is now peaceful. Their main purpose is to protect Kosovo from any possible incursion.

Diplomatic Connections: Is there a time-frame around the NATO presence in Kosovo.

Ambassador Citaku: No, there isn’t. but I think NATO should continue to be present, not for peacekeeping but for geostrategic balance. Russia is building a base in southern Serbia. They call it a humanitarian response base, but then why are they asking for diplomatic immunity for its personnel? So we all know what it is. I believe it’s in the interest of the Atlantic Alliance to preserve a presence in the western Balkans, and they’re already in Kosovo.

Diplomatic Connections: Your parliament has one chamber?

Ambassador Citaku: Yes. One chamber. Twenty seats in the 120-member parliament are reserved for non-Albanian minorities. Over 90 percent of the population is Albanian.

However, there are Romas, Bosnians, Montenegrins, Serbs.

But as we were laying down the new constitution we made sure the minorities were represented. Ten seats are for Serbs, and ten for other minorities. By constitution, Serbs also have to be represented in the government.

Diplomatic Connections: As far as the army is concerned, there must be a lot of people with combat experience from the recent conflict. Is there at least a militia of some sort?

Ambassador Citaku: What we have is a security force. But their mandate is emergency response. They have been trained by NATO. What we need to do is to transform them to an army, and this is where we’ve been stuck for a decade.

Diplomatic Connections: In fact this year you are celebrating Kosovo’s tenth anniversary. You have a constitution, you’re building a nation, but in terms of Kosovo’s position in the international community what have you achieved?

Ambassador Citaku: Well, a lot. Unfortunately, we’re not where we would like to be. If someone would have told me in 2008 that ten years later we would still not be a 44

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member of the U.N., I would have been shocked. But here we are. On the other hand, Kosovo has been recognized by the overwhelming majority of nations of the world, and we are members of international organizations. Nonetheless because of the Russian veto Kosovo is not a member of the United Nations. A lot has been accomplished, but a lot needs to be done. These are not things that Kosovo will be able to accomplish alone – no matter what we do.

Diplomatic Connections: Russia doesn’t recognize Kosovo and nor does Serbia, but there are some other holdouts.

Ambassador Citaku: Yes, there are five EU countries that have not recognized Kosovo, but I need to say that this is not an anti-Kosovo bloc. They all have their reasons, and none of them has opposed Kosovo’s European aspirations.

They were there when the EU enlargement strategy was adopted, and none of them objected to Kosovo being included. When Kosovo declared its independence the Serbian government filed a challenge with the International Court of Justice, and the ruling of the court was as clear, as unambiguous as it could be. It clearly stated that Kosovo was within its rights in declaring its independence.

Diplomatic Connections: Why would Cyprus object to recognizing Kosovo?

Ambassador Citaku: They still have their unresolved situation, and I guess this is the reason.

Diplomatic Connections: Because if Cyprus recognizes Kosovo that weakens the case for not recognizing the island’s Turkish enclave [Cyprus was partitioned in 1974, with the Turkish Cypriots establishing an enclave in the northern part of the island, under mainland Turkey’s protection].

Ambassador Citaku: But there’s no analogy whatsoever.

The same with Spain and the dispute over Catalonian independence. Kosovo is not a product of a secessionist movement; our independence is the product of the conceptual dissolution of Yugoslavia. Kosovo had borders long before it declared independence. In international relations things don’t always go as planned, but the undeniable truth is that Kosovo’s independence has brought more peace and stability to the region. Although we disagree with Belgrade and we have a lot of open issues, we meet regularly in Brussels and we have established dialogue as a tool to settle the remaining differences. Our respective presidents met recently in Brussels and we hope that very soon there will be – as the European Union has requested – a legally binding agreement of mutual recognition; and that would lead to full normalization of

Ivica Dacic,’ First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, addresses the Security Council meeting on Kosovo.

UN Photo/Loey Felipe

UN Photo/Evan Schneider

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Ambassador Vlora Çitaku, Representative of the Kosovo authorities, addresses the Security Council concerning developments in Kosovo.

Zahir Tanin (on screen), Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), briefs the Security Council on February 7, 2018.

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stepped in, who acted, and who decided to tell (Serbian President Slobodan) Milosevic enough is enough.

Diplomatic Connections: There is now a generation growing up in Kosovo that didn’t experience any of this, true?

Ambassador Citaku: Well, a baby that was born after the war would be 19.

Diplomatic Connections: So you have a rising generation that looks towards Europe, and to whom this is history…

Ambassador Citaku: Yes, and this is how it should be. We have all been directly affected by the war, but young generations of Kosovars, they just want to excel, they want to move on, they want to build a better life. I’m happy that they don’t have to make the choices that I had to make.

They can dream on, and have full control of their life, without having someone knock on their door and tell them, “You have five minutes to leave.”

Diplomatic Connections: What percentage of the population is Muslim?

the situation, not only between Kosovo and Serbia, but will reflect positively throughout the region.

Diplomatic Connections: Isn’t such an internationally recognized agreement a precondition to your further advancement, and that of the Serbians, towards EU membership?

Ambassador Citaku: Yes, so it is in our mutual interest to find a peace solution, and ultimately it is in our interest regardless of the EU. We are neighbors. We will be living next to each other for the rest of history. We are there, and they will be there. So the sooner we close this dark chapter of the past, the better it will be. The day before yesterday marked the 19th anniversary of NATO’s intervention in former Yugoslavia. Every day we are reminded of the atrocities, of the crimes. One million people were deported from Kosovo, that’s over half the population. I was among those who were deported, and I consider myself lucky because I was not harmed, my parents survived, my sister survived and I made it back home. But this is not the experience of 20,000 women that were raped, thousands of children that were killed, and many more who lost everything they had. So a very steep price was paid for our freedom, and we are going to be forever thankful and grateful to the United States and other NATO allies who

Ambassador Citaku: Kosovo is a secular republic, though the overwhelming majority of the population is Muslim, but we also have a Roman Catholic community and an Orthodox community. What we’re very proud of as a young democracy is our inter-religious harmony, not only tolerance, harmony. In Kosovo we never identified ourselves by religion; we always identified ourselves by our ethnicity.

That is what defined us. And my American friends are surprised when I tell them that our national icon is Mother Teresa – she’s from Kosovo.

Diplomatic Connections: Has Islamic fundamentalism been a problem in the Islamic community?

Ambassador Citaku: Of course, Kosovo was infected by the global radicalization, but the majority of Kosovar Muslims are against radicalization. Many devout Muslims have stood up and fought against radical elements within their mosques. It was a problem at one point, but there was a swift response, not only from the institutions, but also from the community.

Diplomatic Connections: How long ago?

Ambassador Citaku: Three, four years ago.

Diplomatic Connections: With young people going Ambassador Citaku: To Syria, yes. There was a point, four, five years ago, when we had young Kosovars completely brainwashed, and going to Syria (to join ISIS), but the trend has stopped. continue to page 50

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Armend Nimani/AFP/Getty Images

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci (Foreground - R) and Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj (foreground L) pay their respects at a cemetery in Cacak during the 19th anniversary of the Racak massacre on January 15, 2018.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (C) walking next to Serbian Orthodox Bishop Teodosije (L) visits the Banjska Monastery in northern Mitrovica, Kosovo on a snowy January day in 2018.

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Pronoy, a handicapped Indian boy who lives at “Sishu Bhavan,� a home for destitute children founded by Nobel peace prize winner Mother Teresa, kisses a crucifix in Calcutta, India.

A memorial stone indicating the birth house of Mother Teresa is diplayed in Skopje, Kosovo. Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in 1910 in multi-cultural Skopje -- then part of the Ottoman Empire and now capital of the Republic of Macedonia -- Mother Teresa had an ethnic Albanian mother whose family came from Kosovo.

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Although, Mother Teresa was born in Kosovo, the many years of her selfless ministry were primarily spent in India.

Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP/Getty Images Robert Atanasovski/AFP/Getty Images

Jean-Claude Francolon/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Mother Teresa and the poor in Calcutta, India in October, 1979.

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Diplomatic Connections: How would you characterize Kosovo’s relationship with Albania? Do Kosovars regard Albania as the source of their culture and ethnic roots?

Ambassador Citaku: First of all, we don’t come from Albania.

Albanians live there, but we live in our land. Of course, we have a very special bond, and a very, very special relationship with Albania, but what unites us now is not only the shared language, culture, and history: what unites us now is our common aspiration to join the European Union.

Diplomatic Connections: Does Kosovo have a program or an institution for dealing with its immediate past?

Ambassador Citaku: I must say it took us a very long time to sit and reflect on what has happened because once free and independent we were caught between competing priorities. The country was completely devastated. We had roads to build, schools to construct, laws to adopt, and we never had time to reflect on what had happened.

It was just last year that the president established a commission for truth and reconciliation. We introduced the appropriate legislation to give pensions to the survivors of sexual violence. For almost twenty years these women were completely neglected, and what is more, they were stigmatized. We did nothing to help them, to support them.

I am happy that now there are platforms to help them.

Diplomatic Connections: What about bringing the perpetrators to justice?

Ambassador Citaku: I have spoken to so many victims of violence, not just sexual, but other crimes as well. I spoke to one woman who lost her husband and four children during the war, and what she wants is not only justice, but probably as much, she wants an apology. This is what these platforms are doing.

Diplomatic Connections: So are we talking about having aggressors meet their victims face-to-face?

Ambassador Citaku: We’re still not there. At this point the victims share their stories, and – Diplomatic Connections: As for the aggressors, what is the situation regarding the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), in the Hague?

Ambassador Citaku: I’m disappointed with the way the International Tribunal in the Hague has concluded its work. They’ve been very slow to convict the perpetrators.

Also because somehow the court tried to impose a moral parity between all the parties, and that’s not how you get reconciliation and justice. What I would love to see, though,

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is local courts in Belgrade and Kosovo do more to punish the perpetrators of the crimes committed in the war. When someone writes the history of the International Crimes Tribunal for Yugoslavia, it will not be a good one.

Diplomatic Connections: On the Kosovo side, what has happened with the members of the Kosovo Liberation Army?

There are grey areas concerning some of them, and the KLA is now in the government.

Ambassador Citaku: The KLA was disbanded at the end of the war. Some of them formed political parties. The ICTY has concluded its work as far as Kosovo is concerned and, as I said, there was not enough justice, and unfortunately there were not enough people actually brought to court.

And the main perpetrator, Slobodan Milosevic died in prison without being found guilty. The trial was taking too long.

The trial became a charade. Somehow, procedurally he managed to delay the process, and died in his cell without being convicted, which is disappointing not only for me but for everybody who was affected by his criminal action, be it in Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, or elsewhere.

Diplomatic Connections: As a female ambassador what are the challenges that you find in Washington?

Ambassador Citaku: For a diplomat, Washington is the place to be – especially if you’re from Kosovo. Of course, being the ambassador of a small country is challenging. You have five minutes to make your case, because after those five minutes, there’s a crisis somewhere else and the attention is no longer on you. Nevertheless, I must say that because of the nature of the relationship between Kosovo and the U.S., this has been one of the most fulfilling periods of my career. Also, there are around twenty women ambassadors and we work very well together. Although we are from very different parts of the world we share contacts and information, we coordinate. Being a woman in politics is more problematic than being a woman in diplomacy. In politics it’s a different battlefield.

Diplomatic Connections: Do Balkan ambassadors meet regularly as a group?

Ambassador Citaku: It’s very interesting. For example, when we go to receptions, somehow we always find one another. But we also meet very frequently. It’s not only about sitting around the same table, it’s also about doing things together.

Diplomatic Connections: Ambassador Citaku, thank you very much for this conversation.

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Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson shaking hands with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius flanked by Estonian Foreign Minister Sven Mikser (R) and Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics (L) ahead of a meeting at the State Department in Washington, D.C., March, 2018.

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BALTIC STATES SEEK U.S. REASSURANCE

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ith more than a nervous glance over their shoulders at their old nemesis, Russia, the foreign ministers of the three Baltic States met then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in March for assurances of continued U.S. support for the region. A statement afterwards by the foreign minister of Lithuania, Linas Linkevicius, quotes him as saying there was a “consensus of opinion on both strategic goals and tactical steps” with Washington on issues of importance to the Baltic States including security, defense cooperation, economic development and ways to strengthen transatlantic ties.

Moscow’s invasion and occupation of Ukrainian territory, and its security implications for the Baltic states loomed over a large part of the discussion. Linkeviius, along with his two counterparts, Edgars Rinkevics of Latvia, and Estonia’s Sven Mikser, stressed the importance of maintaining sanctions against Russia. “Through the sanctions we seek to encourage the Kremlin to change its aggressive policies,” Linkevicius declared.

But the meeting also focused on preparations for the U.S.-Baltic States Summit that took place on April 3 in Washington. It was opened by President Trump jointly with the presidents of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania.

Also discussed was the upcoming 2018 NATO summit in Brussels in July, an agenda that includes the Alliance’s so-called deterrence toolbox looking at issues of missile defense, conventional forces, and the development of more cybersecurity. NATO’S cybersecurity effort is directed from a headquarters in Tallinn, capital of Estonia.

A diplomatic reminder was expressed that Lithuania, like other Baltic states, annually allocated 2 percent of GDP to defense, a NATO requirement honored by very few Alliance members. The perceived shortfall in defense spending in Europe has been a sore point with President Trump who in the past appears to have made Article 5 in the NATO agreement dependent on compliance with NATO defense expenditure targets. Article 5 states that an attack on one member would be considered an attack on the Organization as a whole.

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. during a press conference on April 3, 2018.

From left: Raimonds Vejonis, Latvia's president; Kersti Kaljulaid, Estonia's president and Dalia Grybauskaite, Lithuania's president.

President Trump says the U.S. will expand exports of LNG to Baltic region and will hold a summit with the Baltic presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to discuss ways to expand economic opportunities.

H.E. VALENTIN RYBAKOV REPRESENTS THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS AT THE UNITED NATIONS JAMES A. WINSHIP, PH.D.

AMBASSADOR VALENTIN RYBAKOV Permanent Representative of Belarus at the United Nations in New York is a child of the Soviet Union and a diplomatic product of its break-up. Although he was born in the once “closed” Siberian city of Tomsk – home to major universities, critical industrial plants and secret nuclear facilities - in the depths of the Cold War, Rybakov’s family moved to the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR) when he was a young child. He was raised in the Soviet educational system and studied the history, culture and arts of Imperial Russia and its successor state, the Soviet Union.

“I ended up in Belarus when I was less than 2-years old,” Rybakov explains. “I grew up in Belarus. I graduated from high school in Belarus. I graduated from a linguistic university [Minsk State Pedagogical Institute for Foreign Languages] in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. I am an ethnic Russian, but I am a citizen of Belarus."

Byelorussia, along with Ukrainian SSR, the Transcaucasian SSR and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, was one of the founding members of the Soviet Union in 1922. The Soviet system, though made up of constituent republics, did not encourage regional identities and often actively discouraged the preservation of non-Russian cultural heritage. Following policies earlier adopted by Imperial Russia, Russification began at an early age by making Russian the language of instruction throughout the expansive Soviet Union.

As Ambassador Rybakov notes, “Belarus and Russia were one country for decades, even centuries. We did not know any borders within the former Soviet Union.

You could be in the same classroom with people, and you would not have any idea what their nationality, their ethnicity was. You would not know whether they were Russians or Belarussians or Ukrainians or people from the Baltic countries. It did not matter.”

Trained as a translator for both English and French, Rybakov began his international career as an English interpreter assigned to the Soviet Embassy in New Delhi, India. At the time, a decade before Belarus became a sovereign state, he had not even a dream of becoming a

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diplomat. “I was 21 when I came to New Delhi as head of the interpreters section,” he recalls. “I would never even have thought about the possibility of a diplomatic career.”

“Let me be absolutely frank,” Ambassador Rybakov offers, “if we had continued to live in the same country – the Soviet Union – I would probably never, ever have become a part of the diplomatic system. The diplomatic service in the Soviet Union was a very closely guarded institution. It was very difficult, if not impossible, to get into that service.”

Just as Byelorussia was part of the founding of the Soviet Union, so too, Belarus, following its formal declarations of sovereignty and independence, was a key

H.E. AMBASSADOR VALENTIN RYBAKOV PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF BELARUS TO THE UNITED NATIONS

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UN Photo/Kim Haughton

Ambassador Valentin Rybakov, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Belarus to the United Nations, during his credential presentation to Secretary-General António Guterres at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

player in the negotiations to determine the future of the rapidly disintegrating USSR. These negotiations between the Russian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR and the Ukrainian SSR in December 1991 resulted in the so-called Belvezha Accords dissolving the Soviet Union and replacing it with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Later that month most of the other former Soviet republics, with the exception of the Baltic states, would also approve the creation of the CIS. Subsequently, each of these newly sovereign states would accede to the United Nations Charter and initiate their own diplomatic representation in New York.

“When I was in my first posting in Washington, D.C.,” Rybakov recounts, “I was very often asked: ‘How did you feel when you realized that the Soviet Union was breaking apart?’ I would always reverse the question: ‘How would you feel if you woke up one fine morning and you discover that the United States has broken up into fifty independent countries? And, you are living in one of those newly independent states?’”

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necessary to build all of our new country’s institutions from scratch. That meant expanding our Foreign Service and opening new embassies. No longer would Belarus simply follow the foreign policy set by Soviet mentors.

Now the government of our newly sovereign nation-state would need to analyze international events, interpret their meaning and shape its own policy initiatives.”

In those moments, Ambassador Rybakov’s unimaginable career as a diplomat became a reality. “My entire life changed when I joined my country’s Foreign Service in 1993. At the time,” he reflects, “Belarus had virtually no experts in international affairs. The expanding Foreign Ministry was looking for people with the necessary qualifications, one of which was the ability to speak foreign languages. It was my language skills that opened the door to my diplomatic career.”

That diplomatic career began with an initial posting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Minsk. Ironically, however, Ambassador Rybakov’s most formal diplomatic training was in an intensive course for fledgling diplomats, many of them from the former Soviet bloc, offered at the Foreign Service Institute of the United States State Department.

He takes considerable delight in that. “I’m always proud to say,” Rybakov notes with a smile, “that my only formal diplomatic training was in the United States.”

Throughout his career, Ambassador Rybakov has been assigned repeatedly to his country’s embassy in Washington, D.C., where he has served as Third Secretary, First Secretary, Counsellor and Minister-Counsellor. He was also previously posted as Counsellor to the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Belarus at the United Nations in New York. Assignments at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Belarus have included heading the Department for International Security and Arms Control, heading the Department of American Affairs, and serving as Ambassador-at-large. From 2006 – 2013 Rybakov served as Assistant to the President of the Republic of Belarus.

Immediately prior to being named as Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Rybakov served as his country’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

We are grateful that Ambassador Rybakov was able to make time in his demanding schedule to speak at length with Diplomatic Connections not only about the work of the United Nations but also about the unique diplomatic space in which Belarus finds itself culturally, historically, economically and geopolitically – literally at the center of the European continent between East and West and yet with deep and abiding ties to Russia.

territory. The entire country was occupied by the Germans, and it was liberated only in 1944. Everything was destroyed – no industry and no agriculture.

Diplomatic Connections: Of all of the former Soviet Republics, it seems that Belarus has maintained the closest relationship to Russia. Why is that? What makes the relationship with Russia so key to the political and economic life of Belarus? One obvious answer is geography. But there must be more to it than that.

Ambassador Rybakov: Certainly history and geography are major parts of Belarus’ continuing relationship with Russia. On the political level, the economic level and the humanitarian level Belarus maintains a very special relationship with the Russian Federation. This is something that, hopefully, will never be destroyed.

Belarus was always known as the assembly shop of the Soviet Union. We received components from all over the Soviet Union, and the finished products would be assembled in Belarus. Integrated into the Soviet economy, our nation had a very well developed industrial base and highly productive agriculture. We have not only managed to preserve everything that we had in the Soviet Union, but we have pushed it to a more advanced level.

Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

Diplomatic Connections: Despite the fact that present day Belarus is a very young country, it was nevertheless as a Soviet republic, one of the original signers of the United Nations. How did that happen?

Ambassador Rybakov: When the United Nations was created the Soviet Union, Belarus and Ukraine occupied three separate seats in the United Nations. That meant that Belarus was one of the founding members of the United Nations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin talks to Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko during the Supreme State Council of Russia and Belarus at the Grand Kremlin Palace, in Moscow, Russia.

Some say that this was due to the talent or the diplomatic persistence of Stalin, who managed to push through this idea of three places at the United Nations for Soviet Republics. There may be some truth to that, but the more reasonable explanation is that the Russian FSR, Belarus and Ukraine were the three entities that suffered the most in World War II. Officially, we lost more than 30% of our population to the war. We lost large amounts of

Diplomatic Connections: Belarus, understandably, has its very close relationship with Russia, yet at the same time Belarus, as an independent country, has also begun to look in the other direction, to look toward Western Europe. What are the goals for the efforts Belarus is making to look West as well as East?

Ambassador Rybakov: This is a common misunderstanding.

It is not that Belarus has all of a sudden started looking

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West. This observation is always made with the implication that we are having some confrontation with the East, so we begin to look West. That is absolutely not the case. The foreign policy and the economic policy of Belarus can be described briefly by one word – diversification.

Belarus realizes that we are deeply integrated into the economy of the Russian Federation. For instance, we are practically 100% dependent on oil and gas supplies from Russia. We get oil from other countries, but long distance energy transport becomes expensive. For that reason, we will definitely continue this very close economic cooperation with the Russian Federation.

But, at the same time, Belarus seeks to diversify its foreign trade such that we would have one-third with the Russian Federation, one-third with our neighbors and the European Union, and one-third with countries in Africa, Asia, Australia and the Americas. It is not our intention to be dependent on just one country, even if we have excellent relations with that country.

Diplomatic Connections: Belarus has repeatedly been the target of economic sanctions based on alleged human rights violations, international security concerns and financial issues. But, Belarus has also been offered selective relief from those sanctions. What has been the impact of trade sanctions on the economy?

Ambassador Rybakov: Belarus has always tried to have normal relationships with all countries, especially with our neighbors. It has sometimes been difficult to maintain a normal relationship with the European countries because of the policy of economic intimidation, political and economic

Minsk BELARUS

Homyel

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sanctions, which was imposed by the United States and by the European countries on the Republic of Belarus.

We have sometimes been seen as complicit in the acts of others. Any sanctions, whether political or economic sanctions, represent a political weapon. Full stop. This issue has been over politicized.

More recently events in neighboring countries very close to us have led the United States and the European Union to look at Belarus in a different way. Sanctions have been completely withdrawn, cancelled or suspended at least.

Diplomatic Connections: Given your position that economic sanctions have been wrongly applied to your country, how do you believe the United Nations should approach questions of human rights violations or violations of international security agreements?

Ambassador Rybakov: There is a special mechanism under the United Nations Human Rights Council structure called “Universal Periodic Review” (UPR). Under this procedure each UN member state’s human rights record is reviewed and scrutinized by the members of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The last time we underwent that review, in 2015, I was the head of the Belarussian delegation as Deputy Foreign Minister. We heard many questions and received many recommendations. We accepted some of the recommendations, not all; nevertheless, all the questions have been responded to in due course. This is the process.

This is the place and the mechanism that should be used to deal with human rights issues.

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed (second left) participates in the Regional Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) Coordination Leaders Forum “Building a Partnership to Underpin National Sustainable Development Solutions” during her visit to Belarus. (L-R) Vladimir Makei, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus; Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed; Andrei V. Kobyakov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus; and Marianna Shchetkina, National Coordinator for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) in Belarus on February 21, 2018.

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed is welcomed by Andrei Dapkyunas, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, when arriving at the Minsk Airport for her visit to Belarus, February 20, 2018.

UN Photo/Egor Dubrovsky

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed meets with Andrei V. Kobyakov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus, during her visit to Belarus.

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed meets with Marianna Shchetkina, National Coordinator for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) in Minsk, Belarus, February 20, 2018.

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Secretary-General António Guterres meets with a cross-regional grouping of Middle Income Countries.

(L-R) Courtenay Rattray, Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the UN; Lisbeth Quiel Murcia, Deputy Permanent Representative of Panama; Jorge Skinner-Kleé Arenales, Permanent Representative of Guatemala; Cristián Barros Melet, Permanent Representative of Chile; Secretary-General António Guterres; Juan Carlos Mendoza García, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Costa Rica; Mary Elizabeth Flores, Permanent Representative of Honduras; Valentin Rybakov, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Belarus; and Rubén Armando Escalante Hasbún, Permanent Representative of the Republic of El Salvador.

Diplomatic Connections: How does Belarus’ experience with economic sanctions impact your country’s foreign policy?

and development. What lessons might Belarus have to share with other landlocked economies?

Ambassador Rybakov: We want to be able to normalize our relations with the rest of the world, especially our European neighbors, to the maximum extent possible. There is one principle which President Lukashenko has publicly stated many times: Belarus never makes friends with somebody against somebody.

Ambassador Rybakov: Provided that a country produces or manufactures products that can be exported, then it becomes possible to use the territory of your country to become a transportation and logistical hub for the surrounding area. Belarus is now, for instance, very actively involved with China because they are developing a New Silk Road that will provide an overland route between China and Europe. Basically our goal is to have as many transportation routes as possible going through Belarus. We are using this opportunity wisely in order to strengthen our country’s economic position.

As a position of principle, Belarus always votes against any country specific resolution, here in the United Nations and in other multinational institutions. We feel that these are the issues that should be resolved either between conflicting parties within a country or between conflicting countries.

Diplomatic Connections: Belarus is a landlocked country. How does that geographic reality impact your country’s economic development?

Ambassador Rybakov: I have always insisted that we have to call ourselves “land-linked” rather than landlocked. Of course, being landlocked gives you additional headaches and additional problems, but at the same time, it makes you work even more actively to develop your economic relationships with neighboring countries.

Diplomatic Connections: Belarus has actually been quite successful as a landlocked country in terms of economic growth

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Diplomatic Connections: It is not well known but in many ways, after Ukraine, Belarus is the country most victimized by the Chernobyl nuclear accident. What was the impact of radioactive fallout on your country? How does this continue to impact Belarus today?

Ambassador Rybakov: Most of the radioactive elements from the Chernobyl disaster fell on the territory of Belarus.

Officially, close to half of the territory of the Republic of Belarus was contaminated, to different degrees. The accident occurred in 1986, and those were the last years of the Soviet Union so everything was shrouded in secrecy.

After the break-up of the Soviet Union, Belarus was left on its own.

Our government estimates that the consequences of the Chernobyl accident have cost Belarus roughly $235 billion (USD) over the years, and that is a conservative assessment. We have learned to live with this. We have accumulated very rich scientific knowledge and experience, which we have happily shared with the global scientific community notably with the Japanese following their Fukushima nuclear meltdown.

obligated us to destroy huge stockpiles of conventional weaponry: the most advanced tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery systems and military aircraft. That process was very expensive and time consuming. And we did it largely at our own expense.

Diplomatic Connections: You have areas of your country that are still quarantined, do you not?

Diplomatic Connections: Belarus is moving ahead with what must have been a series of difficult decisions to develop nuclear power as a primary means of generating electricity for a modernizing, developing country that has worked very hard to become a middle income economy. What underlies that decision?

Ambassador Rybakov: There are territories where entrance is officially prohibited. We displaced nearly 140,000 people who were evacuated from their homes and will never be allowed to return. However, several thousand people who were evacuated were allowed to return, if they wished to do so. We still have a sizeable number of people who are living in contaminated areas.

We have had to deal with huge financial, economic and human problems. We had to resettle people. And, you have to keep in mind that most of the people who had to be evacuated and resettled were from the rural areas. They were evacuated to cities and towns, which meant that we had to provide jobs for those people, train them with the necessary skills and education to perform new jobs, build new schools and deal with huge medical problems – including many types of cancers.

Diplomatic Connections: May we return to the topic of issues surrounding the break-up of the old Soviet Union? Belarus was one of the territories on which nuclear weapons were emplaced and stored. Highly enriched uranium (HEU) stocks were also in place in Belarus. How were these weapons and materials dealt with at the time that the Soviet Union broke apart? What happened to that nuclear arsenal that was not yours but was stored on Belarus territory?

Ambassador Rybakov: Throughout the Cold War, Belarus had huge stockpiles of conventional and nuclear weapons.

When Belarus became independent, it declared itself a neutral country and announced that nuclear stockpiles on our territory would be returned to Russia. The last nuclear missiles were withdrawn from Belarus back to Russian territory in October 1996.

Diplomatic Connections: Did independence from the former Soviet Union have an impact on the presence of conventional weapons stockpiled in Belarus?

Ambassador Rybakov: Belarus is also a part of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty. That agreement

I think I am correct in saying that the United States was the only country that helped us financially in this task of disarmament.

Ambassador Rybakov: The memory of Chernobyl is deeply imprinted on people’s minds. We made this decision to “go nuclear” only after extensive study and years of patiently working with the population to persuade them that nuclear was the best way to move toward reducing our energy dependence and that the reactor facilities could be built and operated safely.

The first reactor is scheduled to go operational in 2019.

It is being built by Rosatom, a Russian company, and construction is being financed through loans offered by Russia. It is the same type of reactor that is already being set-up in several countries in the European Union by the same Russian company – Rosatom. They are in discussions to build plants in the Scandinavian countries, in Asia and in the Middle East. This is the most modern, safest and most secure type of reactor being built in the world today.

Diplomatic Connections: There is always a great deal of talk about Security Council reform at the United Nations, but Belarus has been very involved in pursuing General Assembly reform proposals. What would be Belarus’ vision of how the General Assembly could be more effective?

Ambassador Rybakov: Everybody is always talking about the reform of the Security Council, but the Security Council is just fifteen countries – five permanent members and ten non-permanent members – while the General Assembly is the body that is the United Nations, that should be the United Nations because it includes all member states. In our opinion, this should be the most important body of the United Nations.

The principle of “one country, one vote” which is enshrined in the General Assembly is very important because it is continue to page 64

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Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed visits the Republican Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Children, on her first day in Minsk, Belarus. At the Center, she was greeted by the Director of the Center and the Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection. Marianna Shchetkina, National Coordinator for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), accompanied Ms. Mohammed and during the tour of the various facilities they had an opportunity to interact with children, their parents and the Center’s health workers, February 20, 2018.

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Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed (first row center) meets with more than 200 staff members of United Nations offices in Belarus, during her visit to the country. The Deputy Secretary-General addressed staff on issues of system reform and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on a regional and local level.

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Belarussian honor guard soldiers take part in a ceremony at the monument to the victims of Chernobyl tragedy in Minsk.

Ukraine launched construction of a new shelter to permanently secure the stricken Chernobyl plant as it marked the 31st anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

the cornerstone of the United Nations. Can it be more efficient, more effective? Yes, of course. Belarus has made a number of proposals on how to improve the activities of the General Assembly. We have been introducing new ideas, new concepts. We will continue to do that, and hopefully we will make progress through small steps.

Our goal is to make the work of the General Assembly more effective, more efficient. We will definitely continue those efforts.

Diplomatic Connections: A final question. Imagine that you are in the last diplomatic slot of your career and charged with training the new generation of Belarusian diplomats. What lessons would you draw from your experience that you would want these beginners to know from the start of their careers?

Professional diplomats will definitely be posted in a foreign country. Even as a Third Secretary, it is necessary to know not only your own country but the history and culture of your host country. The task is to try to explain to other people what Belarus really means and what it stands for. The goal is to make it possible for others to see what the world looks like from Belarus’ point of view and to explain the nature of Belarus’ core interests.

Viktor Drachev/AFP/GettyImages

Ambassador Rybakov: Any diplomat must be active and interested in life. That means being interested in anything new that comes up, whether it is computers or foreign relations or the economy.

Foreign language ability is a must. So, too, is patience. A diplomat must be able to adapt to living in a wide variety of circumstances. To be sure, it is possible to be posted to places like New York, Geneva or London, but there will also be postings in less accommodating places in Africa or Asia. Nevertheless, it is critical to recognize that, in its own way, each posting is as important as the next. Bluntly, around the world diplomats face a whole new range of threats to their safety and health. Yet, being willing to take those risks is vitally important to the conduct of modern diplomacy.

Diplomatic Connections: Thank you, Ambassador Rybakov.

You have been exceptionally generous with your time. Our conversation has been fascinating, and we value the insights you have offered.

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Mykola Lazarenko/TASS via Getty Images

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko (C) and Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko (R-L) with son Nikolai light candles at the St. Michael Church in the village of Pyaskovichi to mark the 31st anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

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gulf

coast

BEYOND THE BEACH

BY M O NICA F R IM PHOTOG R AP HS BY J O HN AND M O NICA F R IM

There’s a lot more than the venerated sea, sun and sand south of the 31st parallel. Forests, lakes, rivers, marshes and swamps teem with wildlife, both above and below the water. The subtropical menagerie may sometimes seem overshadowed by a giant mouse in a Magic Kingdom, but if you travel along the Gulf of Mexico on Florida’s west side, you can get a taste of just about everything—minus the mouse— in one undulating swoop.

An emblematic collage of the Gulf Coast: palm fronds, quartz-crystal sand on a broad beach, and an anhinga with its wings half-fanned to dry.

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once de Leon named it the land of flowers in 1513. Now, some 500 years later, we call it the Sunshine State. It’s an all encompassing moniker, evocative of subtropical scenes of splashy flowers and sunbathed shores that either squeak with powdery white sand washed by clear aquamarine waters or heave with mangroves dropping tentacled roots into water the color of tea. Elsewhere knobby-kneed cypress trees stand kneedeep in swamps, black and shiny as oil slicks, and mossbearded live oaks stand sentinel like gargantuan garden gnomes along streets dotted with capacious mansions from a bygone era.

Florida’s western shore fluctuates with nibbles and bites from south to north before it curves west into the “Panhandle” and some of the whitest, squishiest sand on the continent. All along, ribbons of beaches alternate with woods and boscage, stretching like taffy past pastel-colored condos and RVs wedged tightly into parks like plates in a drain tray. Here and there, development gives way to deserted shorelines where soft, balmy breezes pucker the sand into sugary dunes studded with sea oats. Off-shore, a variety of gulf islands, some densely populated, others raw and uninhabited, are strewn like pearl necklaces across lagoons that are a paddler’s delight. Whether you lean toward noisy beaches thickset with towels and parasols, or secluded spots far from the condos, crowds and carnivals, there’s a sanctuary on the gulf that’s just what the doctor, or you, ordered.

Fort Myers in southwest Florida is a lovely gateway to the gulf. Here the Caloosahatchee River empties into the Gulf of Mexico and forms part of the Great Calusa Blueway, a paddling trail that meanders for 190 miles through coastal waters teeming with wildlife. Kayakers can sidle up to dolphins and manatees or see birds such as wood storks,

P

roseate spoonbills, herons, ibis, woodpeckers, anhingas and egrets. Hikers and walkers too, can venture into junglelike parks and eco-preserves such as the Six-Mile Slough where trails and viewing platforms provide sign-posted information on the flora and fauna that inhabit the swamps and wetlands. Bromeliads poke from the trunks of cypress trees, and ferns and palms shelter myriad birds, snakes, alligators, otters, wild pigs and turtles.

In Bowditch Point Regional Park, on the other side of the city, the protected gopher tortoise finds shelter among the foliage and sea grapes that line the walking trails.

The park is also a great place to see butterflies or watch dolphins following shrimp boats out in the gulf.

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The Gulf Coast’s many nature preserves are home to abundant wildlife, including (clockwise from left) crocodiles, turtles, ibis and herons. Paddling the inland waterways is one of the best ways to see them.

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THE EDISON & FORD WINTER ESTATES, FORT MYERS Remains of the Edison Pier, the first structure Edison built in order to receive the building materials for his estate.

Edison Guest House

Sculpture of Mina Edison sitting on a bench.

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To the west, a causeway links Fort Myers to Sanibel Island, famed as the best place for seashells in the western hemisphere, and third best in the world (after Africa and the Philippines). More than 400 varieties of shells wash ashore, many of them intact because there are no reefs offshore to break them.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh, who frequently stayed on adjoining Captiva Island, wrote, “There is refuge in a seashell.” Both casual collectors and serious conchologists validate the sentiment as they search for rare and illusive specimens like junonia and lion’s paw. Indeed, refuges of all sorts pervade the entire Floridian peninsula.

On the quiet lagoon side of Sanibel Island, walking trails and kayaking routes wind throughout the J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. More than 245 species of birds frequent the marshes along with mammals that range in size from the tiny Sanibel Island rice rat (found only on Sanibel Island) to bobcats, raccoons and river otters. Other visitors include snakes, crocodiles, tortoises, and manatees.

Back on the mainland, museums, theaters, galleries and historic homes serve as sophisticated refuges for the culturally inclined.

At the Edison and Ford Winter Estates visitors can pay homage to two of the most famous icons of the Gilded Age, inventor Thomas Edison and automobile magnate, Henry Ford. In the late 1800s, Edison bought 13 acres of land along the Caloosahatchee River and outfitted it with

buildings that included his home, Seminole Lodge, a laboratory and sweeping exotic gardens. In 1916, Edison’s friend Henry Ford purchased the Craftsman bungalow next door, known as The Mangoes.

The estate complex includes both Edison and Ford homes, the Edison Botanic Research Laboratory, and the Museum, which boasts interactive exhibits along with displays of artifacts and inventions. With his name on 1,093 patents, Edison was considered the most prolific patent holder in the United States. He forged a partnership with Harvey Firestone and Henry Ford in the Edison Botanic Research Corporation, and made it his quest to develop a source of rubber in the United States. Toward that end, he planted a variety of rubber producing trees in his gardens, which also featured exotic fare like giant bougainvillea, dwarf pandanus, royal palms, ylang-ylang and bamboo.

Next to the light bulb and the car, who doesn’t love a circus?

In Sarasota, Cà’d’Zan, (House of John in the Venetian dialect) may not be the Ringlings’ greatest show on earth but it’s likely Sarasota’s most extravagant. Its famous residents, John and Mabel Ringling, spared no expense in outfitting their refuge—a 36,000 square foot palazzo— with all the hallmarks of a Venetian palace: plush velvet curtains, gilded furnishings, precious art, and lavish collectibles that glow with the sheen of time and money.

The villa is part of The Ringling, a museum complex that

Cà’d’Zan at The Ringling, Sarasota

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Laid-back travellers can still find undeveloped beaches along the Gulf Coast.

includes the Museum of Art (officially Florida’s state art museum), the Circus Museum and Tibbals Learning Center with scale models of circus displays. The grounds include Mable Ringling’s Rose Garden, the Secret Garden and the gravesite of John and Mable Ringling. Also in the complex are the historic Asolo Theater, the Ringling Art Library and the FSU Center for the Performing Arts.

Sarasota is considered one of Florida’s classiest cities.

With a variety of cultural attractions, the city attracts a sophisticated clientele whose penchant for the performing arts draws them to ballet, opera and orchestral works.

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fare can be found at Sarasota Jungle Gardens where pink flamingos and performances by parrots and birds of prey bring out the playful spirit in kids and adults alike.

Beach lovers too will find their groove on any of the three nearby keys that stretch for 40 miles along the gulf.

The largest is Siesta Key, known for some of the whitest, brightest sand in the country. Its neighbor. Lido Key, is a high end vacation resort lush with blooming bushes, flowers and Australian pines, while Longboat Key bills itself as the “jewel of the keys”—a six-mile stretch of condos with a restrictive development code that has kept development at bay. Trees, shrubbery and flowers are incorporated into the architecture, and tropical flowers bloom all year long along the aptly named Avenue of Flowers, Longboat Key’s main shopping area. The island is popular but not overcrowded.

It’s even less crowded on Caladesi Island and Honeymoon Island, two undeveloped islands off the coast of Dunedin about 80 miles north of Sarasota. While Honeymoon Island is connected by causeway to the mainland, Caladesi is accessible only by ferry or kayak.

Both islands feature miles of sandy beaches gulf side along with virgin slash pines and mangrove-lined inlets lagoon side. Trails and elevated observation decks provide fantastic views of the native denizens in their natural habitats.

With so many barrier islands strung like multi-faceted beads between Fort Myers and Pensacola, there’s an isle for every taste. Access is usually from nearby coastal towns whose attractions developed according to the first settlers’ social standings and heritages. Tampa was once the home

of thousands of immigrant cigar workers who left their mark in the historic Ybor district. The streets are still paved with their original red bricks, but the former cigar factory is now a fashionable square with shops, restaurants and a recreated cigar worker’s cottage.

Across Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg is a mecca of museums, restaurants and beaches. It holds the Guinness World Record for the most consecutive days of sunshine (768 days) and an average of 361 days a year. No wonder it emerged as the state’s most coveted retirement community from the 1940s to 1970s. Today its demographics are more inclusive with attractions that appeal to people of all ages.

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One of the city’s most prominent cultural venues is the ultramodern Salvador Dali Museum. There’s an element of surrealism in the fact that this museum houses the most comprehensive collection of Dali’s works in the world.

The great Spanish surrealist artist himself never set foot in Florida.

About 30 miles north of St. Petersburg, Tarpon Springs bears the Aegean influences of the Greek sponge divers who settled here at the turn of the century. Today the sponges are a tourist draw, planted at strategic spots where visitors on tour boats can listen to narrations on the sponge industry and watch a helmeted sponge diver bring up a specimen. In 1940 a “red tide” disease destroyed most of the crop. The industry has recovered, but not quite to its former glory due to the popularity of artificial sponges.

Still the Greek spirit lives on in St. Nicholas Church and in the bouzouki music that trills out of restaurants that serve specialties such as dolmothakia, moussaka and baklava.

To many people Homossassa and the Crystal River are where the tourist Florida ends and the real Florida begins.

Here at the southern endpoint of Big Bend—the curve that joins the Panhandle to the peninsula—is one of the largest manatee populations in Florida. Manatees come to the warm, shallow spring-fed waters to escape the cold gulf waters in winter. Also known as sea cows, manatees are actually closer relatives of elephants. (They even have the same rough skin.) Visitors can swim and snorkel with manatees but are not allowed to touch them, as they are a protected species. Someone should have told the

Pelicans on the pier at Fort Myers Beach

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manatees. It seems that these calm and gentle creatures love nothing more than a belly rub and will sidle up to swimmers and roll over on their backs in anticipation. And so the rule is somewhat loose: you can touch with one hand—but only if the manatee touches you first.

As Big Bend arcs to its northern terminus at Perry, it gives up the sandy beaches and fancy resorts for unspoiled wilderness. Tiny salt-weathered fishing villages and homegrown towns with balconied cracker-style houses crop up like stray seeds among palmetto groves, seagrape hummocks and sabal palms. This is hunting, fishing and scalloping territory where the locals are friendly and visitors stop only to escape, renew and restore their energy.

You might find an occasional saloon but life among the reeds and fluttering fronds here is otherwise as simple as it gets—probably something like what the rest of Florida was like before pastel-colored condos, anthropomorphized mice and large-scale tourism took over.

One of the best places to get a whiff of the old Florida life is at Cedar Key, a place frozen in time at the end of Route 24. Here, beady-eyed pelicans strut among fishermen on piers, or perch on weathered posts, constantly on the lookout for treats. A stilt village of bars, restaurants and artsy shops drives a low-key tourist trade.

Viewed from the street, the shops are a kaleidoscope of hippy-era blues and purples, but seen from the gulf, the buildings’ salt-blasted rear walls are weathered gray as driftwood. It’s a collage of contrasts: a thriving modern arts scene pasted onto an old hurricane-pommelled

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coast. In the village, houses with gingerbread trim and second floor balconies look like something straight out of a Victorian romance novel. The 19th century Island Hotel fits seamlessly into this setting. Reputedly, it is haunted by at least 13 ghosts, none of which have kept it from being one of the most sought after B & Bs listed in the National Registry of Historic Places.

After The Bend, Tallahassee bursts through the foliage in knots and bulges of rolling hills that prove that not all of Florida is flat. Streets canopied with moss-draped oaks and lined with historic mansions dip and wind, suggestive of another time and place—perhaps in the Carolinas or Georgia. There is not a lot that’s Floridian about the city except that it’s the state capitol and has a Museum of Florida History that’s loaded with stories and exhibits from bygone times.

Free admission to both the Capitol Building and the museum prove that this is a place where you can get more than you pay for— especially if you park in the lot adjacent to the museum, which provides tokens for free parking to visitors.

While Tallahassee teems with visit-worthy museums and historic homes (including the only house in Florida

designed by Frank Lloyd Wright), there’s also abundant fare for outdoors enthusiasts. The Tallahassee area has more than 600 miles of trails that can be explored by bike or on foot. To see Florida’s prime meridian marker—the spot from which all land surveys in the state are based— visit Cascades Park. It’s one of the city’s prettiest green spaces with paths that meander between two ponds joined by a stream and a cascading waterfall.

Southwest of Tallahassee the land returns to beachy shores with jewel-green waters that wash onto vast and often empty stretches of squeaky white spun-sugar sand all the way to Alabama. This is the Panhandle, a ribbon of land and islets between the marshy lookouts of Wakulla Beach and the dune-driven beaches of Perdido Key. It’s a study in diversity: condos, beach homes, simple villages, millionaires’ enclaves, historic towns and leafy conservation areas form unlikely neighbors.

Unbelievably there are still swaths of white virgin sands where you might find yourself alone surrounded by miles of empty, glorious beach. For some, like this scribe, the Panhandle holds Florida’s best-kept secrets.

Stay tuned for the reveal.

Shops along the waterfront on Cedar Key.

Sign at a Fort Myers Beach pier shop.

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Oscar Statuette Š A.M.P.A.S. Edward Steichen/CondÊ Nast via Getty Images

Actor, Emil Jannings, wearing a herringbone tweed overcoat and a fedora hat, standing with his arm around his wife and actress, Auguste Marie Holl (aka Gussy Holl), with an embroidered cloche hat, circa 1929.

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Christopher Polk/Getty Images

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AND THEY ALSO GIVE OUT AWARDS HOW OSCAR NIGHT HAS TRANSFORMED

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hen the actor Emil Jannings (photo on page 80) won the first Academy Award for best actor in 1929, he made no reference to economics or politics in his acceptance speech. His studio wouldn’t have allowed it. At the time, stars were bound by contract to keep their political views to themselves. Oscar night then was essentially a victory lap for being judged best in the

Hollywood, more women directors, and greater ethnic diversity on the big and small screen.

The 2018 Oscar Night had its seasonal share of issues, notably pointed references to all the obvious political and sexual targets. In one of his better moments attempting to make the audience laugh, for example, the presenter Jimmy Kimmel, referring to the best picture, The Shape

industry by their peers.

The occasion has gone through many changes over the past 90 years. The professional accolades for individual performances and for the year’s best movies have with increasing frequency been overshadowed by intense displays of emotion, speeches about political and social issues, and the addition of a fashion parade.

When box office receipts declined, the televised ceremony began to lose viewers; and that was when fashion entered the picture as an essential part of the Oscar Night telecast. Some viewers tuned in to see who won the highly sought after trophy while others were more interested in watching the spectacular fashion show unfold on the red carpet. That’s when donning a gorgeous Hollywood outfit while walking to the famed auditorium inside the Dolby Theatre gained a greater significance and provided a platform to articulate their viewpoints.

Furthermore, those entrance interviews were considered, in some cases, a highly valued and welcomed opportunity for celebrities, both male and female alike, who perhaps had not been nominated for an Academy Award to get in on the action – often benefitting from it by establishing future business relationships.

As the award ceremony’s role has become increasingly used as a vehicle for the stars to express themselves,

of Water, said this was the year that “men screwed up so badly that women started dating fish.”

But there was a difference.

This year, the protest genie had popped out of the auditorium and settled on the red carpet. At the Golden Globes in January there was a movement to wear allblack to protest the explosion of harassment scandals in the show business community. At the Oscars, reported Robin Givhan, the Washington Post’s fashion editor, “In a subtle gesture of feminist solidarity, the actresses on this particular night seemed in agreement that, no matter how glamorous and costly the frock might have been it would not wear them.”

Nevertheless, against the backdrop of what seems to be an ever-changing stage, the illustrious fashion was noticed in a favorable way. Jennifer Lawrence was resplendent in Christian Dior, but it was left to the fashion house to tweet and send out news releases. Karolina Kurkova went to the Vanity Fair’s Oscar after party in a Viking outfit by Balmain. Halle Berry very nearly had on a Zuhair Murad mini with Aztec motifs. Greta Gerwig, the one nominated female director in Rodarte. Emily Ratajkowski wore Zak Posen. But on the red carpet women didn’t namecheck the designers behind the clothes as they had in the past.

“For years we’ve sold these award shows as women, with our gowns and color and beautiful faces, and our glamor,” declared Eva Longoria. Welcome to the New Red Carpet.

many other topics have gained celebrity advocacy or not, depending on the subject. President Bush’s Iraq War, the Trump administrations controversial refugee laws, gun control, the MeToo movement against the sexual abuse of women, rubbed elbows with equal pay for women in

Photos through page 91

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Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Christopher Polk/Getty Images

(L-R) Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke and Danai Gurira attend the 90th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on March 4, 2018 in Hollywood, California.

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