Diplomatic Connections Mar/Apr 2017

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

Copyright 2016 by Diplomatic Connections All rights reserved.

Cover photo credits: National Security Adviser McMaster, Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images; Vice-President Mike Pence and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at NATO, Emmanuel Dunand/ AFP/Getty Images; Swiss Consul General Emil Wyss in Los Angeles, Consulate General of Switzerland in Los Angeles; Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin's funeral, STR/AFP/Getty Images; Ambassador of Malta to the United States Pierre Clive Agius, Paula Morrison, Diplomatic Connections; Travel to Phoenix, Arizona, John Frim, Ph.D., Diplomatic Connections

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T

he Mediterranean island of Malta is the smallest member of the European Union and quite possibly its most prosperous – 5 percent growth last year and an unemployment rate of below 3 percent. Its main headache these days is its geographical position

because that makes it the number one landfall for desperate boat people from Syria, the Maghreb, and the deepest Africa – a burden it shares with Italy. Successive Maltese governments never miss an opportunity to remind the other European Union members of their collective obligation. So it’s no surprise that migration is high on Malta’s agenda now that it has assumed the rotating presidency of the European Council (made up of the heads of state and government of the EU member countries) from January 1.

EU’S

BY ROLAND FLAMINI

SMALLEST MEMBER HAS BIG ROLE

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W W W. D I P L O M AT I C C O N N E C T I O N S . C O M

AN INTERVIEW WITH MALTA’S AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES

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Malta joined the European Union in 2004, but this is the first time that it is taking on the six-month EU presidency.

Until June 30, Malta is responsible for planning and chairing all ministerial meetings in Brussels. Recently, in February, it also hosted a leadership summit of European heads of state and government, as well as a succession of meetings of senior EU officials.

Holding the EU presidency provides a member state with an opportunity to shape the EU agenda in line with its own particular concerns and goals, and to reach agreement on new legislation. In addition to migration, Malta’s priorities include security, the single market, social inclusion, maritime affairs, and stability in the Mediterranean region.

But Malta is still president in March, when the United Kingdom government wants to begin negotiating its divorce from the European Union. Which is a pity, says Malta’s ambassador to Washington, Pierre Clive Agius, because the Brexit talks are sure to dominate EU business, and will overshadow Malta’s agenda.

As Ambassador Agius pointed out in a recent interview, even though, for the sake of continuity, the presidency is supported by the two countries that previously had the same function, it’s no mean feat for his country. Even in far-flung Washington, the presidency means added work for the Malta embassy. And the embassy has a diplomatic staff of two.

As Ambassador Agius made clear in the interview, Malta is a small island with an oversize history reflecting its strategic position in the center of the Mediterranean.

Throughout the centuries, Malta has changed hands more times than a football in a series of passing plays – and the transition was usually forceful. In a brief time-line, the Carthaginians lost it to the Romans, and it was in Roman times that St. Paul was shipwrecked in Malta en route to Rome to stand trial. St. Paul converted the Maltese to Christianity. From Roman rule, it passed to the Arabs, who lost it to the Normans, who surrendered it to Castilian feudal lords, who handed it -- on papal instructions -- to the last of the Crusaders, the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, who ruled it for so long (over 250 years) that they became known as the Knights of Malta. The knights lost without a fight it to the French, who in turn were ejected by the British who gave Malta its independence in the 1960s.

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W W W. D I P L O M AT I C C O N N E C T I O N S . C O M

Diplomatic Connections: Yours is a small country with a diplomatic service to match, so how is Malta coping with a role that had previously been held by larger member states, such as France or Germany.

Ambassador Agius: It’s quite a challenge for a country with our resources. We’ve hosted European events in Malta, but this is a semi-permanent affair because it’s going to go on for six months. Undoubtedly we’ll be stretched and tested, but the fact that we are small plays in our favor because we go the table without a hidden agenda, as an honest broker, and in fact the maxim chosen for our six-month presidency is “Malta: A committed EU member state.” This is very indicative. We will be seeing all the European heads of state and government come to Malta. There are about seven formal ministerial meetings happening in Malta, besides many other committee meetings happening at EU level which rotate with the presidency.

Diplomatic Connections: So Malta becomes the epicenter of senior meetings, starting with a summit of the council of ministers and going all the way down.

Ambassador Agius: Indeed, this is exactly it. The presidency will be Brussels-based, so many things will be conducted

by Malta, but happening in Brussels. A good number of meetings – important meetings will be held in Malta. This obviously gives visibility to the country, but Malta also has an opportunity to give back to Europe.

Diplomatic Connections: You mentioned not having an agenda, however, is it not the practice of the presidential country to specify objectives, which it would like to achieve, and doesn’t Malta have a number of them?

Ambassador Agius: Yes, these are what we call the priorities of the presidency. First of all, we are part of a trio. Before us there was Slovakia, and before Slovakia there was the Netherlands, and our priorities are designed in conjunction with the trio, so there is an element of continuity. Malta has chosen issues closer to our heart and closer to our interests.

For the first time, these objectives are being accompanied by concrete proposals.

Diplomatic Connections: Could you mention a few of these proposals?

Ambassador Agius: There’s the European Neighbor objective.

Malta is the bridge between North Africa and Europe; therefore, what happens in North Africa is of direct interest to us. This is going to be one priority. Likewise, there is also the Eastern Neighborhood Priority – what happened in Ukraine and so on. Then there is migration, which remains a

istock/Getty Images

very hot issue on the European agenda.

Malta knows the subject very well.

Migration is a phenomenon which Malta has to deal with. There’s also other core European objectives, such as the European Single Market, which we consider the gem of the European Union, and there we have some really interesting projects – concluding on the waiver of telephone roaming charges across Europe. We’re also concerned about terrorism and what’s happening with terrorism in Europe, and Malta will continue on the work that’s being done and take it forward. Of course, there are the social issues, and one of them is to share our experiences in gender equality. Malta has been extremely successful here, and one of the issues we will be very eager to share with our partners is our success, and we will take this to the European table.

Diplomatic Connections: Can we develop the immigration aspect? You talk about migration, and not refugees. Are we talking about the same thing?

Ambassador Agius: No, these are two different things.

Refugees are those in difficulties who are escaping a conflict and if it can be proven, they have a right for asylum, protection. Malta, as part of the international community is obliged to offer protection to refugees.

Concurrently, there is the issue of migration. Migration is the flow of people which still needs to be defined: some will submit their asylum request and it will be studied, to see if they should be accorded asylum status and offered protection -- whether they are migrants and whether they are illegal. Therefore, they are two separate issues.

Diplomatic Connections: Isn’t the big problem that Malta and its Mediterranean EU neighbors face this exodus either from conflict

M A LTA

situations or from countries with serious economic problems.

Isn’t that a refugee crisis?

Ambassador Agius: It can be a refugee crisis. The number one problem we are now facing is the exodus of Syrians.

For the most part these are individuals with their families escaping conflict, running away to protect their lives.

Therefore, once they go through the process to see whether these are being persecuted, they will be granted asylum and will be defined as refugees with all that it brings.

Members of the international community have put their names to ratified conventions to respect and protect the human lives of refugees, and we are obliged to give them shelter. However, someone might say, I am from Syria, but may be what is called an economic refugee: he wants to migrate to the north of Europe to find a job and a better life. That is a completely different kind of situation.

The member states are not obliged to offer that kind of opportunity to come to their country and work illegally.

Diplomatic Connections: Either way, your prime minister has in the past objected to the fact that Malta and possibly Italy bear an unfair share of the burden.

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European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos (C) poses with EU Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs for a family photo during a Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting at the Grand Masters Palace in Valletta, Malta on January 26, 2017.

Diplomatic Connections: What proposals is your presidency putting forward in this regard?

Ambassador Agius: The European Council has worked a lot on this issue of migration, especially since last year when we’ve seen those episodes of tens of thousands of people crossing into Europe, into Germany. And there is a mechanism which has been agreed upon, and Malta has defined a way how to push forward the implementation which has been a bit weak. So Malta will be giving a lot of visibility to the implementation of this agreement. I have to say, however, that Malta is very sensitive to the history of migration. Malta has one of the world’s highest per capita asylum applications; it’s in the top fifteen. Malta is still prepared to take its share and express solidarity with 22

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Germany and other countries. We do this because we know what we passed through and are trying very hard to set an example. If the smallest member state can do it, then others should do it as well.

Diplomatic Connections: But in Malta’s case isn’t there a space problem – with a population of more than 400,000, and a small island, there has to be a quantitative limit to the number of people you can take in.

Ambassador Agius: Of course, Malta is the second most densely populated country in the world, and it’s a Mediterranean island the size of Washington, D.C. The population exceeds 450,000, and the infrastructure for what it is. So, definitely, Malta has many challenges at every level – hospitals, education, but also security. Nonetheless, we have been very clear that we will take our fair share, and we’ll do it as a matter of principle, and because we want to contribute. This is an element which you will see horizontally in our presidency, that Malta will apply principle to politics. Clearly, we cannot afford to take in thousands, but we will take our fair share.

Diplomatic Connections: The presidential agenda usually includes a cultural dimension. In this case, there is also the prospect that Valetta will be the cultural city of Europe in 2018.

So is there a cultural part to this Maltese presidency program?

Ambassador Agius: I think it was (Jean) Monnet, one of the founding fathers of Europe, who said, “If I were to start constructing Europe again, I would start from culture.” I believe that culture is the vehicle for politics. It is through

Matthew Mirabelli/AFP/Getty Images

Ambassador Agius: Absolutely. We are frontier EU countries.

So definitely we bear the brunt of it. Greece, Italy, Malta.

Now that they’ve discovered the eastern route, the land route. And we have been insisting for ten years on putting this issue of migration on the European agenda. Malta contributed a lot to bring it to the European table. As border countries we are at a disadvantage. Since we’re an island nation, and therefore our borders are maritime in contrast to what other countries may decide we cannot build fences on the sea. Actually, we have to do the opposite. If we get to know about a boat in distress we have to go out and save it because these are our obligations. So, in a way, our situation is even tougher. We’re both a frontier and a maritime country.

culture that we can talk and understand each other. For the presidency we’re bringing to Washington Maltese artists and Maltese exhibitions: one of the foremost cultural ambassadors of Malta, Simon Schembri, one of the best classical guitarists. He has a very eloquent repertoire, and I’m very excited about it. We will be doing other events.

Diplomatic Connections: How do you encapsulate Malta when Americans who have never heard of it ask you: What is Malta – and you only have half a minute because you’re in a hurry?

Diplomatic Connections: And those concerns include what’s going on in Libya?

Ambassador Agius: Our interest is to see a stable Libya, a Libya that is contributing to the international community, that is reaping the fruits of its investments, that is a stable democracy. We want to see Tunisia stable, with a vibrant democracy, and a flourishing economy. Again, the same with Egypt. It’s beneficial for all to see a peace process in the Middle East that is progressing. We believe these issues contribute to the stability of Europe. There can be no security in Europe unless there is security in the Mediterranean – and vice-versa.

Ambassador Agius: Malta’s role in history is much larger than its size. How do you explain it to the Americans? I tell them, think of Malta in terms of Hawaii. It’s off the American mainland; Malta is off mainland Europe. We Diplomatic Connections: For the Americans, the Libyan situation are insular by mentality is the one that causes most concern, in part because of because history is our its unstable political situation, organic border. In half a and also because now it has minute what do I explain? become a foothold for ISIS as Do I explain the geophysical it gets squeezed out of other position of Malta or that it areas. Presumably, the Maltese, was a stepping stone for by proximity and by business interests know a great deal every world power? When about what’s happening in Napoleon learned that the Libya – perhaps more than British had left Malta he almost anyone else: do you remarked, “I would have share this with the Americans? rather seen them on the Ambassador Agius: This is hills of Montmartre than in how close we are: if you Malta.” Or General Patton were to take a plane flight who in World War II planned from Malta to Tripoli it would the (Allied) counteroffensive take you about an hour and from Malta? Do I explain 20 minutes. If you were to about the Knights of Malta? take a plane from Malta It is one of the most difficult Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat attends a press conference on January 11, 2017 in to Rome it would take you subjects. In a way, it’s the Valletta, Malta, to mark the start of the Maltese EU presidency. an hour and 20 minutes. So British heritage; in another Malta is equidistant. We’re neighbors with all that implies way it’s Baroque, the Mediterranean lifestyle with Anglo– an organic flow of people, tourism, business, etc. It’s Saxon attitudes. These are the issues which I convey to unavoidable that we have access to their markets and they people. to our markets, and we contribute a lot in our way. We Diplomatic Connections: What is the state of bilateral relations have friends that are Libyans and maintain regular visits; with the United States? additionally, we contribute in any way possible. There is Ambassador Agius: Our bilateral relations are excellent. We an element of ISIS, but there has been a lot of progress have a lot of dialogue going on. Very recently we had a U.S. there. We have excellent relations with the U.S., excellent delegation in Malta. We regularly get senators in Malta, and cooperation, we get our military training in the United we share with them our concerns which converge with the States. This is part of our common thread. interests of the United States. And with the (EU) presidency Diplomatic Connections: But Malta is not actually a member of we also keep the Americans informed of Malta’s concerns. the coalition against ISIS.

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Ambassador Agius: No because Malta’s constitution is built around the concept of neutrality, and it’s stipulated that we can only participate in operations if they are United Nations Security Council mandated. This explains the reason why Malta is not included in the list of coalition countries. When there were operations in Libya, that was a different story: that was UN mandated and Malta could contribute and did so logistically, using Malta for transshipment of aid to the Libyans and more.

Diplomatic Connections: What would you like the incoming administration to do in relation to U.S.-Malta bilateral relations?

Ambassador Agius: The first American personality in history to urge independence for Malta was Abraham Lincoln; he was 100 years ahead of the Maltese thinking of independence for themselves. Our bilateral relations have a certain amount of momentum going on. We’re hearing a lot about this administration, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We have to give it time. No doubt that we will continue to build on the relationship, that we will have new projects both bilaterally and at the EU level. Europe and the U.S. share the same values and objectives, always supporting each other. We want human rights to be the beacon for everyone, to be enjoyed by everyone; we wish for prosperity: there is an organic convergence there.

Diplomatic Connections: On a personal note, you were previously Malta’s ambassador in Warsaw, and before that in Paris and in Brussels. Does the work change from heading a diplomatic mission in an important European country to heading one in the United States?

Ambassador Agius: It changes a lot. Take the presidency. My Maltese colleagues in other EU member states will have to coordinate monthly lunches, and briefings as presidents of the European Council. Here, it is the EU delegation that undertakes this coordination. And I’m extremely pleased, not only because they take the burden, but because the EU delegation is extremely competent. My colleague David O’Sullivan is a remarkable ambassador with a very good vision. This is the correct image of Europe. That already is a big difference between Europe and the posting in Washington, D.C. In other respects, work here never, never ends. First of all, we are six hours behind Europe, which means I have to deal with the requests of the day before from Malta, and by the time I’ve finished I’m dealing with work generated in Washington. So really, it’s around the clock. And it’s a different strategy completely. You have to keep your eyes on Congress, and the departments – the 24

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State Department, of course, so you’re really – you can never stop.

Diplomatic Connections: And presumably there’s a Maltese diaspora.

Ambassador Agius: There’s an interesting Maltese diaspora in several parts of the United States – in New York, Washington, Detroit, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Also, of course, Washington is not the whole of the United States, you have to reach out to other parts of the country: these are challenges you have to fit somehow on the agenda. It requires a lot of energy and travel. Furthermore because we also cover Canada from Washington, D.C. Diplomatic Connections: As the presidency extends to June, Malta will be in the hot seat for the Brexit negotiations, which are due to start in March. What did Brexit mean for Malta as both a former colony and a member of the European Union?

Ambassador Agius: Malta is a former British colony. English is an official language in Malta, but also the administration system, and our education system, and the court procedures owe a lot to English systems, so for Malta the United Kingdom is very important, economically important, socially -- there are many Maltese living in the UK and UK citizens living in Malta. We cooperate a lot economically.

Our legislation is very close to the British, our interests too. I suppose like all of the member states, seeing the United Kingdom wanting to leave its place at the table is painful. It appears as though the much debated Article 50 [the measure in the Lisbon Treaty that will begin the process of ending the United Kingdom’s EU membership] will be triggered during Malta’s presidency, and two things are likely to happen. Number one it will overshadow our presidency completely, all the good work that Malta hopes to accomplish, all the interesting, concrete projects will be overshadowed by Brexit.

Diplomatic Connections: And the second thing?

Ambassador Agius: The second thing is, we’re going to see – especially in the U.S. – a battering of the image of Europe.

In all honesty I think it’s unjustified because, if you look at Malta, the European Union is the best thing that ever happened to it. We’ve not only seen significant economic progress, we’ve seen progress which has changed the face of Malta: social changes, modernization of our political system, modernization of our political debate, a sense of Europe in Malta. Unfortunately, we keep on seeing those images of migrants wanting to cross into Europe. They say Europe is melting: Europe isn’t melting at all. There are a lot

Matthew Mirabelli/AFP/Getty Images

From L to R: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras; Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy; French President Francois Hollande; Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa; President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades; Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat; and Prime Minister of Italy Paolo Gentiloni leave at end of the family photo at the Southern EU Countries Summit on January 28, 2017 in Lisbon, Portugal. The summit, hosted by the Portuguese Government, was held to address EU challenges, from the refugee crisis to rising borrowing costs and low economic growth.

of projects going on and it’s very exciting. Of course, there are negatives. But this is how Europe works. This is why we have councils where every member comes and they have their own national identity, their own national interests, to try to get consensus and sometimes we don’t manage.

But this is work in progress. The standards of living in Europe are unparalleled, and we always forget what Europe brought. We tend to focus on negativity. We forget that the worst enemies ever have become the strongest friends, and that their economies are so intertwined that they have made sure that Europe will never go to war again.

Diplomatic Connections: How well has Malta recovered from the 2008 economic crash?

Ambassador Agius: Malta is the best performing economy not only in Eurozone, but also in Europe. We have effectively full employment: unemployment is below 3 percent, growth was around 5 percent last year, and this year we are confident that growth will continue to be significant. Malta is performing remarkably well by any standards. Today, we developed niche markets, which are state of the art. Currently, we have aeronautics engineering and research successfully continues.

Diplomatic Connections: The main support of the economy is what?

Ambassador Agius: Tourism is the important pillar, alongside financial services, and a multitude of services including education.

Diplomatic Connections: Does Malta seem attractive to companies seeking to remain in Europe after Brexit?

Ambassador Agius: I would not discount that. Malta is very competitive when it comes to attracting foreign investment, but competitive with principles. So when I meet people, I say, listen, you’re not coming to Malta because you’re not going to pay taxes, because you will pay taxes. You’ll come to Malta because it’s a good package. You have a good, very flexible workforce, which can compete with the German workforce in productivity. We’re in the Eurozone, we are anchored in Europe, which gives you access to the huge European market, English-speaking country, and a very down-to-earth Anglo-Saxon mentality. The lingua franca of business is English. This gives a very good presentation, but one has to look at the whole package. We have a very good investor, Crane Currency [of Boston] which is building a banknote printing facility in Malta. The construction of their facility will be concluded by the end of this year, and I think next year they will begin operating.

Diplomatic Connections: Thank you, Ambassador Agius. photos continue through to page 27

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Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images (al photos)

Migrants and refugees are transferred from the Topaz Responder ship run by Maltese NGO “MOAS” and the Italian Red Cross to the Vos Hestia ship run by NGO “Save the Children,” on November 4, 2016, a day after a rescue operation off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean Sea. Around 750 migrants were rescued across the Mediterranean that day by the Italian coast guard, a Frontex ship, a “Save the Children” vessel, German NGO Jugend Rettet's Iuventa and two boats run by the Malta-based “MOAS” (Migrant Offshore Aid Station).

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158 Migrants and refugees board the rescue ship Topaz Responder run by Maltese NGO “MOAS” and Italian Red Cross during an operation off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean Sea just a few months ago in November.

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ƒ U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis shakes hands with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-Koo during their meeting at the headquarters of the Defense Ministry on February 3, 2017 in Seoul, South Korea.

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Kim Min-Hee-Pool/Getty Images

 U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada shake hands after their inter-delegational meeting at the defense ministry in Tokyo, Japan on February 4, 2017.

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE MATTIS TARGETS NORTHEAST ASIA ON TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S FIRST OVERSSEAS DIPLOMATIC JOURNEY President Trump Follows Through with Summit Meeting at Mar-a-Lago with Japanese Prime Minister Abe and Telephone Call With China’s President Xi Jinping

The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images

JAMES A. WINSHIP, PH.D.

U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prior to their meeting at Abe's official residence on February 3, 2017 in Tokyo, Japan.

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SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, GENERAL JAMES MATTIS (USMC-RET), took on the role of reassurer-in-chief in his first high-level visit outside the United States. The Secretary’s four-day itinerary pointedly took him to South Korea and Japan, two critical regional allies of the United States whose national security depends heavily on mutual security treaty guarantees negotiated in the early days of the Cold War and sustained over more than six decades. Both countries see themselves as shielded under the “nuclear umbrella” repeatedly promised to them by the United States.

Trump Campaign Rhetoric Questioned Mutual Security and Trade Arrangements These long-held promises were called into question by remarks President Trump made regarding the strength of long-term alliances and U.S. nuclear guarantees during his 2016 presidential campaign. The alliances with South Korea and Japan, including the basing of American forces on the ground in each country, Trump suggested, were unduly burdensome on the United States. More of the cost, he insisted should be borne by the host countries. He further speculated that perhaps these two nations should consider 30

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developing their own nuclear weapons rather than relying on American guarantees.

Given the rise of Chinese diplomatic, economic and military presence in the region as well as the destabilizing threats presented by the North Korean regime and its push to develop both nuclear weapons as well as medium to long range missile systems capable of delivering those weapons against South Korea and Japan, Trump’s campaign remarks were perceived as alarming in these countries, threatening to destabilize the regional balance of power and encouraging China’s aspirations to replace the United States as the dominant voice and critical balancer in East Asia.

These security concerns were deepened when Trump made it clear that he believed multilateral trade deals such as NAFTA disadvantaged the United States by facilitating the movement of American industrial operations and jobs overseas. His deep concerns about unfair competition and the “bad” trade deals negotiated by previous American presidents, led Trump to question the usefulness of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that the Obama administration negotiated with several East Asian and Pacific countries, including not only Japan and South Korea but also major American allies such as Australia and New Zealand.

Following his Inauguration, President Trump moved quickly to withdraw the United States from the Trans-

Pacific Partnership agreement that had been signed in Auckland, New Zealand in 2016. The intent of TPP had been to establish an American-led trading bloc that would strengthen Asian and Pacific Rim economies and provide a counterweight to growing Chinese economic and diplomatic presence in the region. The decision to withdraw from TPP left many Asian leaders uncertain as to how to build a relationship with the new President of the United States and wondering aloud whether they should begin to devote more attention to building closer relationships with China.

Mattis Reaffirms United States Commitments in Northeast Asia Into this maelstrom of uncertainty and deep concern that American security commitments and resolve in the region might be weakening as the result of a new burst of nationalism that promised always to put “America First,” stepped the newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. What former President Obama’s national security team had referred to as a “pivot” toward Asia as American involvements in the Middle East and southwest Asia began to wind down is now referred to as an effort to “rebalance” security concerns in East Asia by bringing United States presence more energetically back into the region.

It was that renewed commitment that Secretary Mattis sought to underscore by his presence and his statements in South Korea and Japan. He made clear that, even in the face of the current political tumult in South Korea, the United States remains fully committed to their defense and to deterring the growing nuclear threat from the North Korean regime of Kim Jung Un. “We stand with our peace-loving Republic of Korea ally to maintain stability on the peninsula and in the region,” Secretary Mattis assured South Korean Defense Minister Han Min Koo. “America’s commitments to defending our allies and to upholding our extended deterrence guarantees remain ironclad: any attack on the United States, or our allies, will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons [by North Korea] would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming.”

As proof of this reaffirmation, Secretary Mattis sought to recommit the United States and South Korea to the previously agreed upon deployment of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD), a missile defense system, within the current year. “THAAD is for the defense of our ally’s people and of the American troops (28,500) committed to defend South Korea. Were it not for the

provocative behavior of North Korea, Mattis insisted, “we would have no need for THAAD out here.”

Mattis was effectively trying to reinforce the South Korean commitment to THAAD in the face of its current political upheaval. Defense Department documentation suggests that a THAAD battery could be installed in less than a week once full South Korean consent is obtained.

Though China has expressed strong objections to the THAAD emplacement, seeing THAAD’s powerful radar as capable of gathering intelligence about Chinese weapons systems, Mattis was insistent that THAAD was intended to send a strong signal to North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons systems program.

Arriving in Japan for meetings with defense officials and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Secretary Mattis pointedly underscored the commitment of the United States to the “Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between Japan and the United States (1960). “I want there to be no misunderstanding during the transition in Washington,” Mattis assured the Prime Minister, “that we stand firmly, 100 percent, shoulder to shoulder with you and the Japanese people.”

He reiterated in the strongest possible terms Article V of that treaty: “Each party recognizes that an armed attack against either Party in the territories under the administration of Japan would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common danger in accordance with its constitutional provisions and processes.”

“Due to some of the provocations out of North Korea and other challenges that we jointly face,” said Mattis, “I want to make certain that Article V of our mutual defense treaty is understood to be as real to us today as it was a year ago, five years ago, and as it will be a year and ten years from now.” Beyond this forceful reiteration of treaty obligations, however, in private conversations with Prime Minister Abe and Defense Minister Tomomi Inada, Secretary Mattis made clear that the U.S. defense commitment extends to all the territories under Japanese control, including those islands disputed by China.

The Thucydides Trap At issue in Northeast Asia is not simply the security and territorial integrity of individual countries. Instead, what is at stake is the regional balance of power as a rogue regime in North Korea seeks to offset the economic weakness of its authoritarian regime by acquiring nuclear weapons as

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Then China's Ambassador to the United States Li Daoyu (C-R) is joined by former U.S. secretaries of state (L-R) Cyrus Vance, Henry Kissinger and Alexander Haig at a meeting of the America-China Society and Council on Foreign Relations in New York in 1972. The meeting was held to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Shanghai Communique which marked the opening of U.S.-China relations.

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work their way toward a modus vivendi that will protect the sovereignty of major states like Japan and South Korea and allow functional cooperation between the two great powers?

The process will not be smooth as demonstrated

by President Trump’s attempts to reinvigorate U.S. ties with Taiwan and

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call into question the fragile balance of the “One China” policy so carefully nuanced by Henry Kissinger in the Shanghai Communiqué (1972).

The Mattis trip to South Korea and Japan was one piece of this complex and highly sensitive puzzle, a puzzle that was scrambled by President Trump’s rhetorical efforts to rethink the long-established alliance relationships the United States has maintained in the region. The Secretary’s task in South Korea and Japan was not just to reassure allies, though that was a critical mission in itself.

At its heart, the goal of the Mattis mission was to take a moment fraught with danger and turn it into a moment of opportunity.

President Trump moved swiftly to act on the opportunities the Mattis trip opened. By reaffirming the commitment of the United States to South Korea and Japan, Mattis – acting in the name of the Trump administration – made it clear that the United States intended to remain a major player in East Asia. This course correction allowed Trump a plausible way to open conversation with China’s Xi Jinping, at the cost of having to accept the notion that a “One China” policy is the price of admission to a less confrontational relationship with China.

Prime Minister Abe of Japan became Trump’s second official state visitor, and Trump was able to underscore presidential support for the promises Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Secretary Mattis made and U.S. President Donald Trump in Seoul and Tokyo. The attend a press conference after a North

The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images

Trump Reboots East Asia Policy – Strengthens Alliances and Opens Dialogue with China

Korea's missile launch at Mar-a-Lago on February 11, 2017 in Palm Beach, Florida.

renewed relationship between Japan and the Trump administration earned Prime Minister Abe a weekend golf date and mini-summit at what is becoming Trump’s substitute for the Camp David presidential retreat, his Florida resort of Mar-a-Lago.

The critical question is whether President Trump and his fragmented diplomacy can be successful at constructively aligning valuable alliances and regional balances of power.

Jon Levy/AFP/Getty Images

a “quick fix,” the threat of which might buy a measure of protection to sustain its insular ways. Both the promise of a THAAD deployment in South Korea and the recent successful test of an Aegis missile interceptor by the United States and Japan are intended as none too subtle warnings to Pyongyang.

More destabilizing still are the rapid economic growth and the dramatically increased military capabilities of China, a regime that harbors memories of past glories, dutifully remembers past slights, and nurtures aspirations of territorial dominance. Beijing aspires to define East Asia as a Chinese sphere of influence and makes sweeping claims to sovereignty over the South and East China Seas enlarging small islets claimed by other countries in the region in order to begin building forward bases and challenging freedom of navigation by militarizing areas astride critical shipping routes.

The so-called “Thucydides Trap” recalls growing conflict between ancient Sparta and the rising power of Athens, a conflict that resulted in a devastating war. Thucydides, the Greek historian who chronicled the conflict between Sparta and Athens saw that the root cause of the conflict was difficult to resolve tensions between a rising power that challenges a long-time ruling power. The same analytical framework can be used to understand World War I as a conflict between the established power of Britain and the rising power of industrial Germany. The “trap” is that such competition between states leads, more often than not, to conflict.

And so the question: Can the United States and China avoid major conflict in East Asia? Can the two great regional powers

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION MOUNTS FULL COURT PRESS to REAFFIRM U.S. COMMITMENTS to EUROPE

Andreas Gebert/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Vice-President Pence arrive at the 53rd Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, on Februrary 18, 2017. The annual event brings together government representatives and security experts from across the globe.

(L-R) U.S. Senator John McCain; President of Poland, Andrzej Duda; President of the Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko; Foreign Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson; Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Bert Koenders; and moderator Ian Bremmer take part at a panel discussion at the 53rd Munich Security Conference (MSC) at Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich, Germany, on Februrary 17, 2017.

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ust as the rhetoric of the 2016 presidential campaign raised questions about President Trump’s commitment to critical East Asian alliance structures, the campaign also raised questions and deep concerns about historic U.S. commitments in Europe.

commitments to Europe and to explain the nuances of Trump foreign policy.

Pence went on from Munich to Brussels to meet with the leadership of the NATO Alliance and with the leadership of the European Union.

Pence Leads Diplomatic Reassurance Efforts

“Be assured,” . . .“President Trump and the American people are fully devoted to our transatlantic union.” – Vice-President Pence

A substantial dose of reassurance was required, and the Trump administration mounted a major diplomatic initiative by sending Vice-President Pence, Secretary of Defense Mattis, Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly and Secretary of State Tillerson as well as Senator John McCain, Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee to the Munich Security Conference to reassert American

“Be assured,” Vice-President Pence told an anxious audience in Munich, “President Trump and the American people are fully devoted to our transatlantic union.” That said, he continued, “To confront the threats facing our

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Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

From Uncertainty to a New Level of Commitment?

The Trump White House has now mounted early, seemingly successful, diplomatic missions intended to reassure President of the Ukraine Petro Poroshenko (L) gives the thumbs up as he meets with Vice-President Mike Pence for bilateral talks at the 53rd Munich Security Conference (MSC) Munic, southern Germany, on February 18, 2017.

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Thomas Kienzle/AFP/Getty Images

Vice-President Pence (2nd L) and Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim (2nd R) take part in an inter-delegational meeting at the 53rd Munich Security Conference (MSC) on February 18, 2017.

alliance today, NATO must build upon its 20th century tactics and continue to evolve to confront the crises of today and tomorrow.” “But,” furthermore urging, “Europe’s defense requires your commitment as much as ours. The promise to share the burden of our defense has gone unfulfilled for too many for too long, and it erodes the very foundation of our alliance.”

In Brussels, Pence assured the European Union Council of continued cooperation and partnership. “The United States’ commitment to the European Union is steadfast and enduring,” the Vice President insisted. “We must stand strong in the defense of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations in Europe.” Before the NATO leadership, he reiterated that, “Under President Trump’s leadership, the United States is fully committed to NATO’s noble mission.”

Ali Balikci/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Vice-President Mike Pence (L) and EU Council President Donald Tusk (R) pose for photographers as Pence arrives at the European Council building in Brussels, Belgium on February 20, 2017.

Thomas Kienzle/AFP/Getty Images Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

puzzled allies and at the same time encourage critical thinking about the nature of the alliances themselves.

These efforts have sought to reshape the chaotic rhetoric of the 2016 presidential campaign and recast it as creative restructuring more in line with American interests and a changing world.

The unanswered question is whether the new administration can create a coherent foreign policy message or whether the Trump White House has succeeded in creating multiple centers of foreign policy initiative that frequently appear to contradict each other and work at cross-purposes?

Can the new administration build foreign policy on the model of presidential statements that challenge longstanding alliance structures followed by diplomatic missions that try to reassure allies who fear that they and the security structures they depend on are being abandoned?

Is this model a blueprint for disorder, or is it a blueprint designed to strengthen lasting alliance commitments and restructure those same alliances to respond to the new challenges of a rapidly changing global order – terrorism, Islamic extremism, cyber-warfare, renascent nationalism, nuclear proliferation – that threaten to undermine the hard-won yet inherently fragile structures of international security built following World War II and in the aftermath of the Cold War?

U.S. Vice-President Michael Richard Pence (R) and Iraq's Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi shake hands ahead of bilateral talks at the 53rd Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany, on February 18, 2017.

Vice-President Mike Pence and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg shake hands during a joint press conference following their meeting in Brussels, Belgium on February 20, 2017.

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SWITZERLAND'S MAN IN LOS ANGELES: CONSUL GENERAL EMIL WYSS JAMES A. WINSHIP, PH.D.

T

oo often the focus of diplomatic reporting rests in the world’s capitals or at the site of major international meetings. Often enough, however, high-level diplomacy depends upon the ground work of diplomats who work outside of national capitals in cities across the globe. One such diplomat is Switzerland’s Emil Wyss (Ay-meel Vees) whose career has reached from the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in Bern to early assignments in Prague and London, from Switzerland’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York and a specialized Science Consulate in Boston to the Swiss Consulate in Toronto, from the Persian Gulf to South Asia and now back to the West Coast of the United States.

From 2014-2016, Wyss was Switzerland’s Consul General in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and financial center and rapidly becoming one of the largest cities in the world. Today he serves as Switzerland’s Consul General in Los Angeles, these days the second city of the United States and home to much of the glitz and glamor of the arts and entertainment industry as well as a hub for global commerce, entrepreneurship, innovation, culture and higher education.

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These two cities are literally worlds apart. Yet, Emil Wyss is equally at home in each. “The beauty of the life of a diplomat,” he notes, “is that it offers the possibility to explore completely different cultures and to work across many different fields, everything from science and technology, to business and financial investment, to cultural life and the arts.”

Wyss immersed himself in the hustle and bustle of Karachi, reveling in its chaotic and creative diversity, relishing the cultural life of one of the world’s youngest – 60% of the population is under 25 – fastest growing and most colorful cities, and learning to appreciate the faith and accomplishments of its predominantly Muslim population.

Now that he is in Los Angeles, a city that he describes as “an international melting pot in its own right,” Consul General Wyss has adopted a unique strategy for exploring and understanding that sprawling city. That strategy reaches well beyond his rapid fire schedule of official meetings. Rejecting the need for an official car and driver Wyss has opted to move around greater LA using ridesharing services. “Instead of sitting in a bubble in the backseat of an official car,” he observes, “my drivers continued on page 44

EMIL WYSS CONSUL GENERAL CONSULATE GENERAL OF SWITZERLAND IN LOS ANGELES

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"The privilege of being in charming company at the Japanese Emperor’s birthday celebration."

Consulate General of Japan in Los Angeles, California

“Besides business and opinion leaders, I make it a trademark to include special people to our events. Whether blind, deaf, in a wheelchair or with other challenges, these valuable people are an integral part of society and deserve our special support. This young Make-a-Wish girl with an incurable Thalassemia condition expressed her wish to have a small computer for her family.”

"Charity and Charm at the Agha Khan Foundation Walk."

Los Angeles Clippers Cheerleaders

"Visiting my outstanding former team of the Foreign Interests Section in Tehran."

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"Special people, media, sponsors and colleagues come together and enjoy a moment of equal happiness."

Pakistan Wheelchair Cricket National Team at Swiss Consulate General in Karachi

"Stronger Together: diverse backgrounds + common goals = radiant smiles."

Agha Khan Foundation, Charity Walk for Education and Development, Santa Monica, California

"Once the guests are gone, it is time to huddle together with all team members and support staff, thanking them for going the extra mile!"

After farewell reception, Hotel Movenpick, Karachi, Pakistan. 1291 guests were in attendance.

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Diplomatic Connections: “Branding” is a term widely used not only in advertising but in diplomacy today. How would you describe Switzerland’s brand?

Consul General Wyss: Switzerland is a beautiful country in the heart of Europe. It is and has been a stable political confederation. It is a model of political integration and direct democracy. It is home to many United Nations agencies and international organizations. It hosts innumerable international meetings such as the World Economic Forum in Davos. It is in a leading position in innovation, competitiveness and quality of life.

represent an amazing cross-section of American life. I have been driven by housewives, students, artists, immigrants, entrepreneurs, and people working a second or third job. I don’t want to miss learning from these people. In the first three months alone, 300 different drivers representing 12,000 years of life experience offered me many valuable insights.”

His experiences in these dramatically different cities and cultures, as well as the variety of his earlier diplomatic experiences, have led Consul General Wyss to a deeper philosophical and ethical understanding of his diplomatic calling. He particularly cites a statement from the Preamble to the Swiss Federal Constitution: “The strength of a people is measured by the well-being of its weakest members.”

From that Wyss draws the conclusion that, “If you try to uplift the less fortunate, those most in need, you will lift the entire nation.”

In terms of diplomatic practice that translates into a simple, one word principle: RESPECT. Reflecting on his time in Pakistan, Wyss observes that, “Pakistanis are concerned because they know what we think about them. They know that when people in the West hear about Pakistan their immediate impulse is to associate Pakistan with terrorism.

They feel I respect them, and that is important for a country like Pakistan.” “If you give respect,” he recognizes, “you get full marks for that.”

Consul General Wyss was kind enough not only to look back over his career with us but to help us understand the unique nature of Switzerland and its approach to international diplomacy.

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Switzerland has mastered remarkable engineering techniques, values protection of the environment and has just completed the longest railway tunnel in the world.

Products like Swiss watches and chocolates are known all over the world for their exquisite quality. Switzerland rates high on a variety of quality of life indexes as well as those dealing with economic freedom, the business climate, innovation and the happiness of its people. Each year we count more than 10 million tourist arrivals from all over the world.

Combined, all of these provide a multi-faceted image of Switzerland’s brand, its global identity.

Diplomatic Connections: Early in your career you were posted as an Attaché to the Swiss Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. What did you learn from that early experience in the United States?

Consul General Wyss: New York is an amazing city and a melting pot of diverse cultures. It is a bit like the capital of the world. While in New York, I obtained a degree in international studies at NYU. I also ran in four New York Marathons where the training actually served as an intensive introduction to the incredible variety of New York’s boroughs and neighborhoods.

When I first went to New York, Switzerland was merely an observer and not a full member of the United Nations.

Switzerland only became a full member of the United Nations in September 2002 after a popular vote. Though there were early concerns about whether UN membership might be incompatible with Swiss neutrality, it became clear over time that the work and accomplishments of the United Nations were entirely compatible with Swiss values and our neutral status.

Diplomatic Connections: At one point in your career you headed the U.S. Interests Section at the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.

Switzerland’s neutrality means that it is often in a position to represent the interests of third countries in situations where diplomatic relations have been broken. That was the case between the United States and Iran. How does that sort of foreign interest representation function?

West Coast, the Department of Foreign Affairs decided to focus the traditional consular work in San Francisco. In Los Angeles, we connect the dots between Switzerland and Southern California, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico in the fields of culture and trade. We also support the many associations of Swiss citizens in our consular jurisdiction.

Consul General Wyss: Before Switzerland can become a “protecting power” and take over the task of representing foreign interests both countries have to agree that Swiss diplomats will be permitted to play this role. Even when countries have broken formal relations between them, they still need to be able to interact with each other on certain issues and in specific situations.

Switzerland insists on remaining totally neutral and impartial, otherwise we are unable to assume the role of protecting state or to facilitate negotiations. These so called “Good Offices” are a trademark of Switzerland’s foreign policy.

Diplomatic Connections: Given its location, does the Los Angeles consulate have a special liaison role with the entertainment industry?

In Tehran, for example, the Foreign Interest Section of the Swiss Embassy provides services to over 10,000 U.S. citizens, most of them dual nationals. In addition, Switzerland offered its “good offices” to facilitate and host nuclear negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran.

Consul General Wyss: Los Angeles is a world hub for the film industry. That has implications for the entire world because those movies shape perceptions of people and countries far beyond the borders of the United States.

Switzerland needs to be here because we want to go the extra mile in shaping the image of Switzerland as a forward looking country and reliable partner.

In 2017, over ten films from the Locarno Film Festival 2016 will be screened in Los Angeles as part of the newly established “Locarno Festival in Los Angeles.” It is the first time that a film festival from another country brings its event here, and we expect it to be a win-win situation for both Locarno and Los Angeles.

Diplomatic Connections: Given Switzerland’s neutrality, your country almost seems to seek out this “protecting power” role.

Are Swiss diplomats specially trained for this intermediary function?

Consul General Wyss: It is somehow in the DNA not only of Swiss diplomats but of Switzerland. The origins of Swiss neutrality go back five hundred years and we describe it as “self-imposed, permanent and armed.” It is a treasured part of our nation's identity. That status was formalized in the 1815 Treaty of Paris that brought an end to the Napoleonic Wars in Europe and was reaffirmed by the League of Nations following World War I.

This year we had five candidates for the Academy Award, and we received two nominations. “My Life as a Zucchini” was nominated in the Animated Feature Film category, and “La Femme on the TGV” was nominated in the Best Short Film – Live Action category. We try to support the young and very innovative Swiss film industry.

Diplomatic Connections: In your new post in Los Angeles you seem to have specialized functions. The traditional consular functions dealing with such things as passports, visas and various kinds of documentation have all been shifted to San Francisco. Why was this separation of functions established?

Diplomatic Connections: Inevitably there are stereotypes of countries in global perceptions. Would you unpack some of those stereotypes of Switzerland? We often hear the expression “the gnomes of Zurich” referring to Swiss banking. What would you want people to understand about that image?

Consul General Wyss: Switzerland realized very early that many of the traditional consular functions can now be done electronically. It really does not matter that much where certain services are physically located. Here on the

Consul General Wyss: Switzerland has a very strong and extremely well-established banking sector. Because of its long-term stability, international reputation and continued on page 48

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SWITZERLAND

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LUCERNE

discretion, people and organizations who invest their money in Switzerland know that their wealth is well taken care of.

Switzerland has made great efforts both to update its banking system and to engage with worldwide efforts to advance financial regulation and to expose wrongdoing.

Swiss banking is well in the forefront of trying to avoid money laundering as well as tax evasion. To that end, we have significantly expanded data sharing with international regulatory mechanisms.

critically necessary to the entire Swiss ecosystem because of the way they collect water in the winter months and release it throughout the year.

In many ways, the mountains are at the heart of the Swiss identity. Every people needs to know and value where it comes from in order to understand its cultural roots.

Diplomatic Connections: Earlier in our conversation when we talked about “branding” you mentioned the image of Switzerland’s epicurean delights – chocolate and cheese.

Consul General Wyss: Switzerland is proud of its mountains.

They are part of everything from our national security and defense strategy to our tourism industry and a whole range of products that our economy produces. The mountains are

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Diplomatic Connections: A very different image of Switzerland involves its Alpine geography, often stereotyped in the classic story of “Heidi.”

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Consul General Wyss: Chocolate and cheese create a feeling beyond their place in Swiss cuisine. They have become global trademarks for Swiss quality and excellence, not to mention the culinary pleasures they offer. They have become the basis for major transnational companies such as Nestlé, a global player in the food and nutrition industry. We might say something similar about the tradition of Swiss watchmaking and Swiss pharmaceuticals. Superior quality and dependability have become a part of our modern economy and our identity.

Diplomatic Connections: Another image of Switzerland is the image of being home to many international organizations and non-governmental organizations.

Consul General Wyss: Switzerland’s location in the heart of Europe, when coupled with its excellent transportation and communication links, promotes the idea of Switzerland as a hub of international activity. We have cultivated our traditions of neutrality in a manner that does not make us aloof but rather allows us to facilitate international dialogue precisely because we are seen as honest brokers.

Geneva is an important host city for the United Nations and many other international organizations. It can be called “Switzerland’s Window on the World.”

Diplomatic Connections: The other side of that image, especially in film, is one of Switzerland as a hotbed of international intrigue and espionage.

Consul General Wyss: [Laughter] There we have to distinguish between fact and fiction. In World War II, Switzerland was the only country, because of its neutrality, its geography and its economic role, which was not really touched by the war. In subsequent decades, we have come to see Switzerland as a center for international dialogue and peace.

Diplomatic Connections: As you look at your role in trade promotion what are the primary reasons that foreign investors are attracted to Switzerland? How do you encourage foreign investors to consider Switzerland as a place to do business?

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Consul General Wyss: It is quite easy and efficient for a business to invest in Switzerland. The regulatory burden is relatively light; there is not a lot of red tape. The process is quick and easy while simultaneously being transparent.

Switzerland’s business infrastructure is world-class and we are proud to offer a highly educated, well-trained and multilingual work force. Therefore, we are actively promoting Switzerland as an attractive place to invest and do business.

Diplomatic Connections: What are the attractions for Swiss companies investing in the United States?

Consul General Wyss: The most important thing is the long-term positive relationship between Switzerland and the United States. We trust in each other and are reliable partners in both directions.

The United States is a huge market with great purchasing power to which global companies want to have access.

There are hundreds of Swiss companies here in the United States, and I encourage more to come here. New investors can contact our Embassy and Consulates to speak with existing Swiss companies doing business in the United States and take from them the best practices of their experience dealing with the market structures here.

Diplomatic Connections: Based on your own rich diplomatic experience what insights might you offer to a new generation of Swiss diplomats or global diplomats entering the field in the age of the internet, social media and faced with a renewed emphasis on nationalism across the globe?

Consul General Wyss: Personal and direct contact will become even more important despite the realities of rapid fire electronic communication and social media. In order to have a lasting impact, you have to go to the people.

You have to look for opportunities to meet a wide range of people and to cultivate relations with people at every level in government, in business and all levels of society.

I think it is more and more important in an often artificial world to address what is real in people’s lives. We need to balance “High Tech with High Touch.”

Diplomatic Connections: Thank you very much, Consul General Wyss. You have brought us not only diplomatic insight but great personal warmth, and that has clearly been an important part of your professional life and the success of your public diplomacy.

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PICKING UP THE PIECES IN BRUSSELS

BY ROLAND FLAMINI

At the European Union leadership summit

prosperity launched with the Treaty of Rome,

in Malta in February, the 28 leaders became

which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year?

27 when British Prime Minister Theresa May left the conference while her EU colleagues discussed how to handle Brexit. The actual process of disengagement, however, will be more complex and more permanent than one summit participant temporarily quitting the room.

Once the British government formally applies for withdrawal in March or April under Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, negotiations are expected to take 15 months. And what then?

Can the EU pick up the pieces and move on?

Or will this be the beginning of the end for the ambitious, high minded political initiative designed to ensure Europe’s peace and 52

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The answer depends on how successfully the EU can craft its post-Brexit existence. Federica Mogherini, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, implied in Malta that Brexit has proved the catalyst to force the union to identify its faults and introduce badly needed reform in its institutions.

“People are very critical of the European Union as it works today -- or better, as it doesn’t work today,” Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister said at Chatham House recently. “And they are right. It doesn’t work – not concerning the immigration laws, not concerning the refugees, not geopolitically, and

Ben Birchall/AFP/Getty Images

British Prime Minister Theresa May (C) sits with colleagues British Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office Ben Gummer (L); British International Trade Secretary Liam Fox (2L); British Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood (3L); British Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Brexit Minister) David Davis (4R); British Wales Secretary Alun Cairns (3R); and British Scotland Secretary David Mundell (2R). May chairs a Joint Ministerial Committee at Cardiff City Hall in Cardiff on January 30, 2017, insisting the government's timetable is on track for Brexit.

THE LEADING NEGOTIATORS The British negotiating committee is led by Prime Minister May, and includes among others David Davis, a longtime Conservative parliamentarian who has been appointed Secretary of State for Exiting from Europe, a department specially set up to coordinate the talks, Liam Fox, the Secretary of State for International Trade, and the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson – all three leading Brexit supporters.

The “technocrats” include the British ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, and Oliver Robbins, a top bureaucrat with a background in both EU-UK relations and intelligence and security.

They will meet with the European Union’s 30-strong so-called Article 50 Task Force headed by Michel Barnier, a former French cabinet minister and one-time EU commissioner. The consensus is that Barnier will be a tough negotiator who is likely to take a hard line. The British media have said Barnier is no friend of the United Kingdom.

His deputy is Sabine Weyand, a senior EU trade official, who is from Germany. But Barnier’s team has a heavy French emphasis and includes one other former cabinet minister, Francois Arbault. The British popular press reacted with righteous indignation when it was reported that the Brexit negotiations would be conducted in French. But Barnier denied this saying both French and English would be spoken.

not concerning the fallout from the financial

Theresa May has made it reasonably clear

crisis.” Verhofstadt, who is the designated Euro

that the United Kingdom will be seeking a

parliamentarian negotiator at the forthcoming

hard exit rather than some form of partial

Brexit talks, said the EU needs to put forward “a

association with the EU. And that – say EU

vision of the world of tomorrow.”

officials – will form the basis of the talks:

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Matthew Mirabelli/AFP/Getty Images

Delegates from the EU Informal Summit gather for the family photo on February 3, 2017 in Valletta, Malta. Theresa May attends an informal summit of the 27 EU leaders to brief them on her recent meeting with President Trump. She has secured a guarantee from Trump that he is 100% supportive of NATO and she encourages the EU countries to contribute the agreed upon 2% of their GDP on defense.

the UK dropping out of the European Single Market, forsaking the European Court of Justice, and bidding farewell to the Schengen Agreement guaranteeing freedom of movement throughout the EU to all its 500 million citizens. Blocking East European immigrants from British shores struck a strong responsive chord among voters in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Getting 27 separate countries to agree on a common vision is the challenge facing any attempt to reform the European Union. But after the initial shock of the Brexit result, European officials are coming round to the view that picking up the pieces is more important to the EU than negotiating the UK’s exit.

Matteo Garavoglia, a Europe expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington, wrote recently that the EU should seize the opportunity to introduce changes the United Kingdom had successfully blocked over the years, including a European military, and shared European representation in international institutions, and measures towards what he calls “a dynamic, yet inclusive social-market economic model.” Thus the European Union would “achieve economies of scale, save money and resources on possible duplications, boost its global standing and income.”

But the Brexit negotiations will unfold against a background of key elections in several EU countries (notably Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Hungary) where populist nationalist parties campaign on the promise of reducing EU control, not increasing it, and restoring 54

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sovereignty lost to the EU as the price of membership, further raising the specter of referendum fever spreading to more countries.

Already, authoritarian, illiberal governments currently triumphing in Eastern Europe, for example, defy directives from Brussels and like to give the impression of having one foot out the door -- but in reality have economies that would find survival difficult, if not impossible, without the EU’s financial support. In western Europe, Euroskeptics inveigh against a Brussels bureaucracy run amok, a bureaucracy that is overbearing, overblown, and overpaid – never mind that the 33,000-strong EU civil service dealing with the soon-to-be 27 countries is, for example, a tenth of the size of the bureaucracy of the state of Texas (312,000).

On this side of the Atlantic some commentators see the sovereignty issue as fundamental in any EU reform. “The nation-state is here to stay, and national policies still have far more democratic legitimacy than those imposed by technocrats in Brussels or Frankfurt,” says Matthias Matthijs, a professor at Johns Hopkins University. (In fact, Brussels technocrats don’t impose policy. They may propose it, but the European Parliament has to debate and eventually enact it.)

Among the initiatives already put in place in advance of the Brexit negotiations, and the challenges in need of attention are the following: n MIGRANT CRISIS: At the Malta summit, frequently the first landfall for Mediterranean boat people, EU leaders

addressed the migrant crisis with some practical steps.

The EU will train, provide equipment to, and support the Libyan national coast guard to block refugees leaving the North African coast, and at the same time promised to crack down on the people smugglers. The EU also plans to enlarge its program for returning refugees to their original countries. n DEFENSE AND SECURITY: “Under pressure externally and undermined internally, EU leaders turned to defense to prove that European cooperation can still add value and deliver for its people,” wrote Bastian Giegerich, defense and military specialist at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London. Brexit deprives the European Union of its most militarily capable member at a time when Europe has to cope with an increasingly aggressive Russia, ISIS terrorism, and NATO ally Turkey adrift following an unsuccessful coup. Still, under a new agreement for closer cooperation European Union and NATO staff have worked together to produce 42 actions across the policy areas of hybrid threats, maritime security, cyber security, defense capabilities, defense industrial matters, better coordination on exercises, and defense and security capacity. At the same time, the European Commission was proposing a defense fund to set up a common defense force, is building up military transport, and a military research program opening the way for a European defense industry. n EURO ZONE: If the euro zone is to survive, the lingering euro crisis also needs to be addressed and solved, if for no other reason that it was never fully solved in the first place, merely shelved. At issue is the fragility of

“

an inter-connected system in which countries perform at different levels of prosperity and efficiency. Greece and Italy remain the economic basket cases, but the EU needs to look beyond the austere fiscal requirements imposed by Germany, and find ways to stimulate economic growth and build a more robust euro area that can cope with future shocks, and prevent countryspecific crises from turning into an epidemic. n TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS: The election of Donald Trump has shifted the United States from a reliable European ally to a problematic one. In the run-up to the Brexit referendum, President Obama publicly urged the British to vote for remaining in the European Union. President Trump has turned Washington’s view around, applauding the United Kingdom for Brexit and voicing his opposition to the European Union. Trump’s reversal spells the end of lengthy negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) designed to cut trade tariffs between the U.S. and the EU and remove investment barriers.

More important, it raises serious nagging doubts about America’s traditional role as the upholder of the liberal world order and the guarantor of Europe’s security.

As Brexit talks start the gradual exodus of British staffers from the EU headquarters and from the European Parliament and other institutions is underway. But one vestige of UK membership will remain even after the final break-up in 2019. English will remain in use for EU business– no longer as one of the official EU languages, but from sheer necessity. It is the indispensable common language among the 28 member states.

Getting 27 separate countries to agree on a common vision is the challenge facing any attempt to reform the European Union. But after the initial shock of the Brexit result, European officials are coming round to the view that picking up the pieces is more important to the EU than

”

negotiating the UK’s exit.

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Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

President Donald Trump announces U.S. Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster (L) as his national security advisor and Keith Kellogg (R) as McMaster's chief of staff at Mar-aLago in Palm Beach, Florida, on February 20, 2017.

McMASTER NAMED NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR AFTER EARLY RESIGNATION OF TRUMP’S ORIGINAL APPOINTEE

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resident Donald Trump has named Army Lt. General Herbert Raymond (“H.R.”) McMaster as his new Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. This position is more often referred to simply as the President’s National Security Advisor.

McMaster’s appointment does not require Senate confirmation. However, given his three-star rank, the Senate must reconfirm his military rank as he moves into his new position. The last time this situation occurred was when General Colin Powell, then a three-star Army General was named National Security Affairs Advisor in the last year of the Reagan administration.

At that time the Senate easily confirmed Powell’s third star, and Senate approval of McMaster’s retaining his third star appears equally likely. Nevertheless, the Senate reappointment process led by the Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by Senator John McCain, could open the door to deeper examination of Trump administration foreign policy directions

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“The 21st Century Army’s Pre-Eminent Warrior-Thinker” H.R. McMaster has been described by officers who have worked with him and under his command as “a force of nature,” simultaneously “passionate” and “ebullient.”

A 1984 West Point graduate with very substantial field command experience in the Persian Gulf War (Kuwait 1990-1991) and the second Iraq war (2005-2006) as well as experience in Afghanistan, McMaster went on to earn an MA and Ph.D. in American History from the University of North Carolina. He subsequently graduated from the Army’s Command and General Staff College in 1999.

McMaster’s military exploits as an Armored Cavalry officer have become almost legendary. As a young Captain in the Persian Gulf War, McMaster’s Eagle Troop, composed of nine Abrams tanks, met and defeated a substantially larger Iraqi tank force in the “Battle of 73 Easting.” The state-of-the-art Abrams tanks fielded by McMaster’s troops out maneuvered and out-gunned a much larger Iraqi force of outdated Soviet and Chinese tanks, destroying more than 80 tanks and vehicles with no American losses.

useful primer for McMaster’s latest promotion to key presidential assistant.

An Independent Voice in the National Security Structure?

The most critical question surrounding McMaster’s appointment as National Security Advisor is how he will function within the parallel universes of the Trump foreign policy apparatus. In theory, the role of the National Security Affairs Advisor is to bring together the threads of foreign policy thinking from around the government, evaluate policy concerns and shape them into an informed set of choices from which the President can select the options he wishes to pursue.

This process of winnowing the cacophony of foreign policy voices across the government falls to the National Security Advisor in the role of coordinator and gatekeeper of ideas and the voice with the most direct access to the President. But, the organization Trump has brought together in the White House seems designed to work at cross-purposes with the National Security Advisor’s role.

Craig F. Walker/The Denver Post via Getty Images

In Iraq, McMaster became the poster child for a renewed commitment to counter-insurgency warfare.

Charged with securing and pacifying the city of Tal Afar, he moved his troops out of their defensive redoubt and into forward positions that could provide security to the populace and allow McMaster’s forces to interact with the community leadership in ways that bridged cultural differences and reduced extremist attacks. Based on that experience, McMaster helped General David Petraeus write the Army’s new book on counterinsurgency tactics.

McMaster also wrote the book on the role of military advisors to the President. His Ph.D. dissertation on the command structures that advised President Johnson during the Vietnam War was turned into a book entitled “Dereliction of Duty.” That work explores the failures of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to provide insightful military advice to LBJ, deferring instead to a circle of presidential advisors whose viewpoints were skewed by political considerations.

Though the book is more retrospective critical analysis than “how to do it,” it just might provide a

LTC Gregory Reilly, right, outgoing commander of the 1st Squadron 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment inspects his troops on horseback during the Tiger Squadron Change of Command ceremony at Fort Carson, CO. He is joined by LTC Thomas Dorame, left, incoming commander, and COL H.R. McMaster, center, 3ACR Commander.

(Summary of above photo: Fort Carson, Colorado, 2006, The 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment bid farewell to Lieutenant Colonel Gregory Reilly, who help bring security to Tal Afar, Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom III. LTC Gregory Reilly, the commander of 1st Squadron and a veteran of Operation Iraq Freedom I, was featured in a CBS 60 Minutes special as one of the key leaders responsible for reestablishing security in the Western Ninewa Province and Tal Afar, Iraq. LTC Gregory Reilly's Squadron along with the Iraqi Border Police Battalion, was responsible for 278 kilometers of the Syrian/Iraqi border. LTC Gregory Reilly, received a Bronze Star with Valor, for his heroic actions on 31 August, 2005. LTC Riley, despite being under heavy enemy fire, retrieved the body of a wounded Iraqi Soldier from a water tower in Tal Afar, instantly earning the respect of the Iraqi Soldiers on the ground who witnessed LTC Riley risking his own life to save one of their fallen Soldiers. LTC Gregory Reilly will relinquish command to LTC Thomas Dorame. COL. H.R. McMaster was the then incoming Commander.

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Trump has created independent centers of power that report directly to him.

With the title Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon has been allowed to create his own shop, the Strategic Initiatives Group, which he co-chairs with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner. And, Bannon has been given a place in the Principals Committee of the National Security Council even as the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been distanced from that inner circle.

McMaster has built a military career out of being a successful battlefield commander and the iconoclast in the room, challenging conventional thinking, imposing substantial degrees of realism, probing beneath ideological stances, and bringing new ideas into play. Those traits almost cost him career advancement in the Army’s ranks when he was twice passed over for promotion from full Colonel to the rank of General. Yet, McMaster ran that gauntlet successfully with help from one of his mentors, General David Petraeus.

McMaster’s on-the-ground experience in the critical regions of conflict around the world and his nuanced understanding of cultural differences has earned him wide respect. But, can he now turn these assets into an advisor’s

Then Colonel H.R. McMaster (R), shown here in 2006, worked closely with the Mayor of Tal Afar, Najim Abadulllah Al-Jibouri (L) to pacify and secure the northern Iraqi city. It was here that McMaster deployed his counterinsurgency theory of Clear-Hold-Build to gain control of the city, reduce sectarian violence, and gain trust by rapidly reconstructing critical infrastructure and key areas of the city. While this strategy worked during the surge of American forces working closely with Iraqi security forces, in later years those Iraqi forces were unable to hold the city. Tal Afar fell to ISIS control in 2014 and now is being contested by Iraqi Shiite militia forces and Kurdish forces seeking to drive ISIS out of northern Iraq.

role that gains the ear of the President and holds sway among a gaggle of competing voices?

Like the cavalrymen of old, whose military traditions General McMaster inherits, he will now have to run the gauntlet again, not as a punishment but as his path through intellectual insight to policy influence.

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Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Churkin’s diplomatic career spanned an extraordinary series of changes, not only for his country but for the world. Within his diplomatic lifetime the Cold War came to an end; the Soviet Union collapsed; Russian governments evolved from the nascent democracy of Boris Yeltsin to the assertive nationalism of Vladimir Putin; the environment, terrorism, Islamic extremism and cybersecurity all emerged as critical international issues. Through it all Churkin remained a resolute defender of Russian national interest and foreign policy.

He did not hesitate to employ Russia’s Security Council veto, and his rapid fire speech and rapier wit were frequently deployed against

his critics.

And yet, in his own alternately curmudgeonly he Russian Federation’s Permanent Representative and charming way, Churkin was not just respected but to the United Nations, Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, beloved among the UN diplomatic community. He has died suddenly at his desk in New York as the been described as combative and pugnacious, yet he result of a heart attack in late February. He served as is also remembered as a wonderful character, gracious, Russia’s voice at the UN and on the Security Council for unflappable and full of humor. Former French Ambassador more than a decade and joined the diplomatic corps of the to the U.N. and now French Ambassador to the United former Soviet Union more than 40 years ago. Prior to his States, Gérard Araud, remembers Churkin as “abrasive, position at the United Nations Churkin earned a Ph.D. in funny and technically impeccable.” history from the USSR Diplomatic Long time NATO spokesman, Academy, held several positions in Jamie Shea, now NATO’s Deputy the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Assistant Secretary General for served as Ambassador to Belgium Emerging Security Challenges, and Canada. recalls how Churkin during his A spokesperson for the time as Russia’s Ambassador to Russian Permanent Mission Belgium and Liaison to NATO to the UN described Russia’s (1994-1998) “knew how to loss as “grave” and Churkin as build bridges and find common “irreplaceable.” “Ambassador ground to enable mutual A man sobs as he holds a grave cross ahead of a farewell ceremony for Churkin,” noted his deputy, understanding and to maintain Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin, Pyotr Iliichev, “remained at his real dialogue.” Those were skills at a memorial hall of the Central Clinical Hospital of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation. Churkin died of heart failure on honed during Churkin’s time as work post until the last minute.

February 20, 2017 in New York, at the age of 64.

He devoted his whole life to the Russian Federation’s Special defending Russian interests and was to be found on the Representative dealing with continuing conflicts in the very front lines and in the most stressful posts. He was a Former Yugoslavia, and they were skills that never left him. strong negotiator, a wonderful individual, and a teacher.”

Vitaly Churkin’s life was diplomacy, but there were marvelous back stories to be discovered in his past. He was

Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

DIPLOMATIC GIANT AND OUTSPOKEN DEFENDER OF RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY AMBASSADOR VITALY CHURKIN, DIES UNEXPECTEDLY

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Artyom Korotayev\TASS via Getty Images

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a child actor playing roles in several movies, and he trained as a competitive speed skater. Perhaps most important to his subsequent career, Churkin was an assiduous and accomplished student of English and among the most fluent English speakers in the Russian Foreign Ministry, so much so that he, as Second secretary to the Russian Embassy in Washington he was chosen by Russian Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin to testify before a Congressional committee of the U.S. House of Representatives on the subject of Chernobyl nuclear power station melt down.

During his long tenure as Russian Ambassador at the United Nations, Churkin interacted with several successive U.S. ambassadors, the last three of whom were women. His relationship with Ambassador Susan Rice was simultaneously challenging and respectful. Observers often noted that the two were like an old married couple engaging in repeated squabbles but always respectful of each other. Rice recalled Churkin as “smart, committed, highly effective, and very funny.”

Churkin once chided U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power for her impassioned defense of Syrian citizens against Russian collaboration with the regime of Bashar Assad reminding her of harmful American policies in Iraq and elsewhere and noting that she was hardly “Mother Teresa.”

And, yet, the two remained friendly outside of Security Council debate. Power and her husband, legal scholar Cass Sunstein, actually took Churkin to a performance of “Hamilton,” where Sunstein explained the finer points of American constitutional history. Power described Churkin as “a diplomatic maestro and a deeply caring man who did all he could to bridge U.S.-Russian differences.”

In her statement of condolence, current United States U.N. Ambassador, Nikki Haley, noted that: “In my short time at the United Nations, Ambassador Vitaly Churkin showed himself to be a gracious colleague. We did not always see things the same way, but he unquestionably advanced his country’s positions with great skill.”

In one of his last interviews with the state-funded Russia Today network just days before his death, Churkin reiterated his fundamental belief that, “The U.N. continues to be an indispensable mechanism. Without the U.N. we would be acting all on our own, without much coordination, and then we will be even less successful than we have been so far.”

That belief was second only to what Churkin insisted was the guiding principle of his diplomatic career: “Never underestimate a colleague.” Certainly, none of his colleagues ever underestimated Vitaly Churkin.

STR/AFP/Getty Images

Relatives lay flowers on the grave of Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin during the funeral ceremony at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery in Moscow on February 24, 2017.

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The city of Phoenix is nibbling at the desert’s edges and moving ever closer to the rust-colored mountains that encircle the Valley of the Sun. Within the city a new urbanism of locavore meals in trendy restaurants and museums co-exists with pockets of blooming prickly pears and barrel cacti. Here the most colorful desert on the planet caters to hikers, foodies and nature lovers in one fell sweep.

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GOING FOR CACTUS, CULTURE AND CUISINE

BY MONICA FRIM PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN FRIM

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n Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, Phoenix doesn’t rise like its heraldic namesake but sprawls in tune with its other moniker, Valley of the Sun. In one word, it’s big. More than two thirds of Arizona’s population lives in Metropolitan Phoenix, which is not really a single city but a fusion of converging communities surrounded by mountains and, uncommonly, for a desert destination, marbled with canals, lakes, canyons, farms and green urban hubs. With more than 300 days of sunshine a year, Phoenix has been attracting sun-starved travelers for decades to attractions both indoors and out.

Remnants of the Chihuly Glass Sculpture Exhibit mimic the natural vegetation at the entrance to the Desert Botanical Garden.

The saguaro is the largest cactus in the world and grows only in the Sonoran Desert.

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Natural wonders, cultural establishments and a culinary scene that’s as hip as it is healthy have turned the Valley into a spirited and spicy destination that’s hot not only in terms of its triple-digit summer temperatures, but also its food and attractions. Trendy restaurants, the likes of The Gladly, Postino’s and True Food Kitchen boast creative combinations of locally-grown organic foods that raise farm-to-table fare to artistic heights. And none more so than the award-winning Vincent on Camelback. After I sampled Chef Vincent Guerithault’s special-seven-course tasting menu that included items like frisée, arugula and prickly pear salad, mango ceviche, a ginger potato cake wrapped around a lobster claw in dill sauce, and a Grand Marnier soufflé, I didn’t need to wonder why I had gained weight.

A hike was definitely in order—especially since National Geographic rated Phoenix as one of America’s top cities for hiking.

Abundant in natural beauty, the Sonoran Desert is the most fertile and biodiverse desert in the world, crisscrossed with hiking trails and full of plants and animals that prick, poison, bite or sting. They have to be tough to survive in oven-hot temperatures on a scorched terrain that gets less than ten inches of rain a year. On the other hand,

desert critters are somewhat timid—more likely to hide in cracks and crevices than pounce on human trespassers.

I considered that a comforting thought as I followed our guide, who had introduced himself as Ranger B, along the well-marked trails in Usury Mountain Regional Park. The trails are easily navigable without a guide, but I appreciated having Ranger B along for his commentary on flora and fauna and practical tips on how to remove spines from cacti that attack—not that I expected to need that information.

While snakes, scorpions and boar-like javelinas do their best to avoid human contact, the fuzzy cholla cactus (aka teddy bear cactus or jumping cactus) is the nastiest cactus of the desert. It breaks off at the slightest touch, hooking its razor sharp barbs painfully into flesh or latching like Velcro onto shoes and clothes. A comb will easily remove the thorns from apparel, as Ranger B demonstrated when he ever so slightly touched a cholla with his shoe. But skin contact would be a nightmare: while the spines can be removed with tweezers, their microscopic barbs can stay embedded for days.

The leather-lipped javelina, on the other hand, would rather chow down on prickly pear and agave than hikers.

Coyotes, bobcats and jaguars prey on them—the javelinas, that is, not the hikers, whom they tend to avoid. Of course

Avid mountain bikers test their mettle on the rocky trails of the Phoenix Mountains Preserve.

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all bets are off if humans intervene, either by feeding wild animals (which is illegal in Arizona) or provoking them.

In every direction, bursts of greenery spring from a rust-colored gravel and rock-strewn desert floor. Palo verde trees cast lacy shadows, their brilliant chartreuse leaves and trunks standing in vivid contrast to the subtly nuanced greens of the surrounding cacti. Green and purple prickly pears, sausage-shaped chain fruit chollas, barrel cacti, and ground-hugging hedgehog cacti contrast with ocotillos (not a true cactus) reaching skywards like giant inverted squid. Here and there jojoba plants with flat, oval leaves stand like a Greek chorus along with sagebrush, mesquite and scented creosote bushes that turn acutely pungent after a rainstorm.

Looming like a sentinel, the cartoon-like saguaro cactus is the Sonoran Desert’s signature cactus because it grows nowhere else on earth. As the old man of the desert it can live more than 200 years and grow to a height of 40 feet, but takes a long time to mature, not acquiring its telltale arms until it reaches the age

The Arizona Biltmore Resort

of 70. Just like some people, a few never grow up. For some as yet inexplicable reason they never acquire arms but stand like telephone poles all their lives.

The desert truly is a constantly evolving work of live art complemented by a plethora of luxury resorts and hotels that integrate with the landscape. Indulgent spas, gardens and private facilities are designed to calm, pamper and soothe, especially after a long day’s hike. When William Wrigley of chewing gum fame opened the Biltmore Arizona, Phoenix’s first luxury hotel, to great celebrity fanfare in 1929, he established its reputation as a haven for the rich and famous.

Every American president from Herbert Hoover to George W. Bush has stayed there. The list of celebrity guests who have walked beneath its gold leaf ceiling is A Biltmore Sprite designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1914 for the now defunct Midway Gardens on Chicago’s Lakefront. Several sprites were restored, recast and donated to the Arizona Biltmore in 1985.

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Usery Mountain Regional park

Framework of a greenhouse at Agritopia, an urban farm community in the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert.

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positively encyclopedic. Suffice to say that the grand piano in the Wright Bar has been rendered famous by the hands of musical luminaries like Billy Joel, Elton John and Ray Charles.

With tourism a mainstay industry, there’s no longer much talk of the once famous 5 Cs (cattle, citrus, climate, copper, and cotton) that historically drove Arizona’s economy. Today the focus is more on canyons, canals, cactus, culture and cuisine. Even the hotels incorporate new Cs into their targeted clientele. For the centrally-located Biltmore it’s celebrity. For the landmark Wigwam in the Valley’s west end, it’s casual cowboy culture but with an aura of sophistication. Its elegant casitas and suites took The Wigwam Resort their cue from an early cotton ranch run by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. When the company officially opened the Wigwam as a guest ranch in 1929 it set the tone for expansions and refurbishments under various owners and name changes. In 2011,

walking distance of the Mesa Riverview shopping and entertainment complex, and next to the Chicago Club’s spring training facility, the Sheraton Mesa Hotel is also less than eight miles from the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Once an agricultural community overshadowed by the tonier suburb of Scottsdale, Mesa is coming into its own, thanks, in part, to a culinary initiative called the Fresh Foodie Trail.

More than a dozen establishments invite the public in for a look-see or taste of their goods.

My first stop on the Trail was at Agritopia,™ in nearby Gilbert, a farmfocused community of residential, commercial, and pedestrian-friendly spaces that has raised ecologically responsible urban farming into one of the most successful agrihoods in the movement. William Johnston, the grandson of the original owners, walked me through the property and its history. His grandparents purchased the farm in 1960 but when urban expansion encroached,

The Wigwam returned to its historic roots and original name in a multimillion dollar renovation Ikeda Theater in the Mesa Arts Center project that added new facilities and reinforced that timeworn adage, what’s old is new again.

While landmark resorts with high-end facilities and high prices attract a moneyed clientele, the Valley also offers plenty of brand hotels that are more in keeping with the average leisure traveler’s budget. Though many are clustered in the heart of Phoenix, the Sheraton recently branched into Mesa, a suburb that’s turned its agricultural roots toward tourism. Situated at Wrigleyville, within

the Johnston family found a way to repurpose the homestead and still preserve its history. They effectively turned the farm into a village of 452 homes (450 lots are still available as well as plans for apartments), an assisted living center and a primary school. The original homestead became a restaurant, the old quonset storage hut specialty shops, and the old tractor shed a coffee house.

The central farm grows organic crops, which it markets to residents, selling the overflow at farmers’ markets and to local restaurants.

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My other stop on the Fresh Foodie Trail was at Queen Creek Olive Mill, where the astounding array of olive oils and olive-based products was positively overwhelming. Coowner Perry Rea, a master blender and olive oil sommelier, is the driving force behind this venture. He mixes, matches and infuses the oils with a variety of flavorings for what he calls “short-cut oils” because the flavorings are already in the oils so you don’t have to add them. He also beefs balsamic vinegars up with flavorings such as mosto grape reduction and peach purée. I’m there to see, taste and learn a bit about the process.

I follow Perry’s lead and pick up a small container of oil, hold it to warm it slightly, note the color, take a tiny sip, and swish it around on my tongue before swallowing, paying close attention to the feeling at the back of my throat as it goes down. I start with a pure extra virgin and progress through oils flavored with lemon, fresh basil, crushed garlic and ending with a chile olive oil that, according to Perry, gives meats, vegetables and eggs a special southern kick. It does the same for inexperienced tasters.

Then after a brief tour of the production process and a sampling of open-faced sandwiches with ingredients like baby spinach, gorgonzola cheese, and fig tapenade it was time to move on. But first a quick chat with Perry’s wife and co-owner Brenda who developed a line of spa products— soaps, lotions, butters and lip balms—from olive oil.

If there’s another C that should be added to Valley of the Sun talk, it’s creativity. Nature, food and culture find common ground as galleries, museums and restaurants work together in complementary ways. The farm-to-table food movement has curiously caught on in museums, many of which feature locally grown ingredients in their restaurants and cafeterias. Conversely, restaurants and resorts have become repositories of art and historical

You can sample these and other locally sourced ingredients at The Heard Museum’s Courtyard Café. The indigenous food factor isn’t so unusual given the history museum’s emphasis on Native culture. Its collection includes more than 40,000 Native American artifacts as well as one of the most comprehensive displays of Hopi Kachina dolls in the world.

Traditionally, Phoenix has always played up its Southwestern roots, with themed museums that show outsiders insiders’ heirlooms and artifacts. But when The Museum of Musical Instruments (MIM) took a globetrotting leap into the world of music and acquired more than 16,000 musical instruments and artifacts—6,500 of them on display—it raised the cultural quotient of this desert oasis to unsurpassed international levels. This I had to see.

I had opportunity to bang on a gong or tap out a ditty on a xylophone in the Experience Gallery, where guests can try their hand at playing the instruments, except that my time was limited and I still had to hike through 200 countries, figuratively speaking. Reportedly, this is the largest museum of its kind in the world. In addition to seeing musical instruments from all corners of the world, you can also listen to them being played through headsets. The instruments are displayed within their cultural environments with maps of the countries of their origins, and exhibits of regional costumes, artifacts and video programs. In the Artist Gallery, you can see the instruments of luminaries such as Taylor Swift, John Lennon and Elvis Presley. This is more than a museum of music, it’s a celebration of diverse cultures and eras united by a universal language—music.

The museum is also a celebration of architecture with lines and materials that mimic the desert and mountains.

Elongated windows are spaced like giant piano keys in

artifacts as they incorporate sculptures and musical presentations into their gardens and other public spaces.

It’s a symbiotic relationship that’s constantly evolving, as cactus, culture and cuisine all take inspiration from each other as well as early American Indian civilizations.

The name Phoenix does, after all, stem from the mythical bird and refers to the rising of a new civilization from the ashes of the ancient Hohokam Indians, who mysteriously disappeared before the arrival of the Europeans. The miles of canals that crisscross the valley were actually the brainchild of this ancient civilization. Other native influences in agriculture are tepary beans, prickly pear cactus, and mesquite flour.

groups of threes and twos, and subtly patterned walls allude to Arizona’s cliffs and canyons as well as the rhythms of musical composition.

It seems that music and architecture go hand in hand in the Valley of the Sun. Buildings such as those that make up the Mesa Arts Center, a performing and visual arts complex that houses four theaters, five galleries and 14 classroom studios, also hearken to the landscape with jagged angles, canted walls and colors from the desert. So devoted were the locals to building themselves a world-class art center, that they voted a tax on themselves and payed all but $5 million of the $99 million building costs themselves. Now there’s a performance worthy of laud!

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The fact that great architecture and great performances find inspiration in the landscape is borne out by West Taliesin, the winter home of, arguably, America’s greatest architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. Nestled into the McDowell range in the suburb of Scottsdale, Taliesin represents organic architecture at its finest. Here the great architect carried his version of construction that blended with the landscape to such an extreme that, for ten years, he refused to install glass in the windows because they were not natural to the desert. He eventually caved under pressure from Mrs. Wright. On a tour of the premises I got a peek at some of his quirkiest design elements, like the holes he had cut into windowpanes to accommodate

vases that he refused to move even an inch from what he considered their perfect placement. Eighty per cent of the artwork in the home is original, including the piano, which visitors are encouraged to play. I almost did until someone with better musical skills beat me to the task. Instead, I sat on a replica origami chair and found it surprisingly comfortable—unlike his spindle-back chairs, which, in true FLW style, are designed to harmonize with the spaces around them, not the butts in them.

It’s said that beautiful places enkindle beautiful music.

If you listen closely to the sounds of the Sonoran Desert, you just might hear a Symphony in C.

Taliesin West, the winter home of renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

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DIPLOMATIC CONNECTIONS

THANKS THE FOLLOWING SPONSORS:

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Visit Mesa 120 N Center St Mesa, AZ 85201 PHONE: 480-827-4700; 800-283-6372

Diplomatic Connections Queen Creek Olive Mill 25062 S Meridian Rd. Queen Creek, AZ 85142 PHONE: 480-888-9290 www.queencreekolivemill.com

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Sheraton Mesa Hotel at Wrigleyville West 860 N Riverview Mesa, AZ 85201 PHONE: 480-664-1221 HOTEL RESERVATIONS: 866-716-8134 www.sheratonmesa.com

Arizona Biltmore, A Waldorf Astoria Resort 2400 E. Missouri Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85016 PHONE: 602-955-6600 RESERVATIONS: 800-950-0086 www.arizonabiltmore.com

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Mesa Arts Center 1 E Main St. Mesa, AZ 85201 PHONE: 480-644-6500 www.mesaartscenter.com

Phoenix Art Museum 1625 N Central Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85004 PHONE: 602-257-1222 www.phxart.org

Usery Mountain Regional Park 3939 N Usery Pass Rd. Mesa, AZ 85207 PHONE: 480-984-0032 http://www.maricopacountyparks.net/parklocator/usery-mountain-regional-park/

Musical Instrument Museum 4725 E Mayo Blvd.

Phoenix AZ 85050 PHONE: 480-478-6000 https://mim.org

Heard Museum 2301 North Central Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85004 PHONE: 602-252-8840

Taliesin West 12621 N Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd.

Scottsdale, AZ 85259 PHONE: 480-627-5340

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Located just off Dupont Circle, THE CONCORDIA is a LEED property that offers top-notch comfort and amenities for you to get your work done, shop, and see the sites in Washington, D.C. The warm hospitality of our multilingual staff and friendly sense of international community will make your stay memorable ■

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COOK T N E C C A

WITH AN

Christophe Avril of Diplomatic Connections with Swiss Residence

CHEF JOAO MARCOS BARBOZA

P

icture a warm and cozy little chalet in Switzerland, the table is set; a long wooden table, not far from the fireplace with a classic and skillfully handcrafted red and white table cloth. The light in the room has a soft yellow tone, which is accentuated by the wood walls of the chalet. The warm atmosphere is contrasting with the cold winter weather. It is dinner time. Salami and Viande des Grison are waiting on a plate. A Pinot noir or a Chasselas are served in a glass. The hazelnut ginger bread is diffusing its aroma next to a delicious soft loaf called Zopf. A cheese and onion tart tries to compete with a Zürcher Geschnetzeltes (veal liver and mushrooms, served with a cream sauce and Rösti). There is an abundance of cheeses, such as Appenzeller, Vacherin fribourgeois, Tilsiter, Emmental, and Gruyère. A few pastries lay about, in case you are still hungry. Bündnernusstorte (caramelized nut-filled pastry), an Aargauer Ruebli Torte (traditional Swiss carrot cake), and Swiss Cinnamon Crisps to accompany your coffee. And to finish, a Gentian schnapps or Kirsch served in a small glass. These are strong digestives, but trust me, after a typical Swiss meal, you will need it.

The Suisse Cuisine was in many ways influenced by its neighbors. Switzerland shares borders with France, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Italy. Four languages are spoken: French, German, Italian, and Romansh. Since 70% of the country consists of mountains, the winter is cold and long. This might explain why the country’s culinary tradition has a tendency to be invigorating and calorific. With 26 Canton, or counties, each part of the confederation has a different specialty to offer.

Switzerland is by far not the biggest country in Europe. It has a population a little over 8 million spread over an area of 15938.30 mi² (41280 km²). But with more than 800 cheeses, a large variety of salami and sausage, dried meats, pastries, 240 different grape varieties and, of course, its world famous chocolate, its culinary variety makes up for its size.

Among the most renown Swiss specialties we have the cheese Fondue, the Raclette, the Älplermagronen, the Rösti, and the milk Chocolate. The latter was invented by Daniel Peter in the year 1875 and perfected in 1879 by Rudolf Lindt with the development of the conching machine, which facilitated the mixing of cacao butter with chocolate. His name remains famous in the chocolate industry. Other familiar brands are also well-known worldwide: Kohler, Suchard, Cailler, and Tobler.

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ING The Swiss cuisine has a long and impressive history, and who better than the Swiss Ambassador in Washington, D.C. to tell us about it. Dr. Martin Dahinden earned a Ph.D. in Economics and he is not only a well-known and respected diplomat, he is also a fine gastronome and a history savant. So he combined his two passions and wrote a book, “Schweizer Küchengeheimnisse” or “Swiss Kitchen Secrets.” This book will tell you the history behind the traditional plates in great detail and with compelling passion. You will learn that Napoleon had a Swiss chef during his campaign. You will also know why and how the Kappel milk soup became a diplomatic symbol for peace.

Music, art and literature are the representation of a country, of its people. The Cuisine is also a big part of it.

This is why an Embassy, a consulate or a mission to the UN will put a lot of importance and effort in promoting is own cuisine. And for that, the Swiss Embassy has a secret weapon: Chef Joao Marcos Barboza.

Chef Marcos Barboza is from Brazil, not Switzerland, but he has great expertise in international cuisine. His family came from Italy and as a kid being involved in his parents' and grandparents’ kitchen was at the top of the list of favorite activities. Fast forward several years and the esteemed “L'Academie de Cuisine” in Gaithersburg,

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Maryland was a place he called home for a time; thereafter, moving on to attend the highly regarded “Hotel School of Sant Pol de Mar” in Barcelona, Spain to learn about the robust savory tastes of Mediterranean flavors. His studies then led him to Paris at “Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute” where it was a prerequisite to be properly educated on the discerning appetites of the French regional population.

Continuing his coveted culinary world tour, it was time to perfect his skills and knowledge on the Tuscan Palate, so he went to the “The Apicius Culinary Institute of Florence" in Italy. After mastering European Cuisine, expanding his food repertoire to include an authentic Chinese cooking style as well as Dim Sum making was essential to add to a growing global resume of gastronomy; thus, “Chopsticks Cooking Centre” in Kowloon, Hong Kong, China was the next delicious destination. Southeast Asia was an absolute must with their saporous seasonings and spices, the Chef entered into the “Saigon Cooking Class” in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to be schooled in traditional Vietnamese tasteful techniques that lead to mouthwatering menus.

Taking an extra excursion to Bangkok, Thailand, enrolling as a student into the “Art of preparing fine Thai Cuisine” at the Baipai Thai Cooking School was categorically on the itinerary. Completing an intercontinental enterprising expedition learning how to make every day meals leaving people feeling as if they actually visited each respective country, is what seems to most of us an insurmountable accomplishment, but for Chef Marcos, it's just another day in the kitchen.

Chef Marcos worked in the catering business for various embassies such as the Embassy

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of Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and Australia. A Brazilian restaurant in Washington, D.C. was lucky enough to call him their own official chef for two years. Afterwards, he was then the assistant to the renowned chef, Jeffrey Buden. The political arena in Washington has been a friend to Chef Marcos in catering many exclusive, prestigious events and, by my estimation, has legitimate bragging rights in this community. If all of the above achievements were not enough, Chef Marcos then worked for 8 years at the Residence of the European Union Ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C. Since November 2014 and currently, he is the chef at the Residence of the Swiss Ambassador in Washington, D.C. Chef Marcos gave us a menu and its recipes for 4 people. To start, a Waldorf salad that was originally created

by Oscar Tschirky, who was the maître d’hôtel more than 60 years ago in the main restaurant of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, New York. Then, Vol-Au-Vent à la Béchamel from the Chef Joseph Favre, who was known for his four-volume Dictionnaire universel de cuisine pratique, published in 1903. And to finish, Fraises à la Ritz recipe created by the Swiss “king of hoteliers, and hotelier to kings,” César Ritz; incidentally, it is said that the coined term “ritzy” has its origins in his last name. Chef Marcos has transformed these traditional recipes into modern dishes, but he always respects the original recipes by using all the original ingredients. You can see a video of Chef Marcos on how to prepare these delicious plates by going to our website, www.DiplomaticConnections.com. You can also get the full recipes by downloading the PDF files.

Enjoy, and bon appétit!

LIKE US ON

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CIPES, FOR THE RE GO TO: www. ns.com o i t c e n n o icC Diplomat

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Countries look at NYC as a safe haven to place their investment money. That is why they often do not castoff the opportunity of owning the crown jewel of real estate, as they are in it for the long haul. However, that safety net comes at a substantial price.

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condominium on 2nd Ave near the UN may pay an average

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the building, including the hallways, parking areas (a rare

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Building a home in a new country involves a variety of financial and logistical considerations. For each new assignment,

renting furniture from CORT alleviates any potential pressures and constraints while opening up a variety of options for housing.

For example, when a diplomat arrives to their assignment while furniture and household possessions are still in route, they can

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THE SITUATION

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With CORT, personnel and their family can view furnishings and make selections online prior to departure at Go.CORT.com/ Embassy. “The quality of service and product CORT offers is impressive,” said Ronnie Gitonga, diplomat, Embassy of Kenya and a CORT customer while in Washington, D.C. “The guidance

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Furniture rental alleviates the stress associated with managing,

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WELCOMES 2017 FULLY REVITALIZED

TRANSFORMATION OF THE FAIRMONT WASHINGTON, D.C. GEORGETOWN started with the renovation of the 413 beautifully appointed guest rooms and suites, and the addition of the Kennedy Junior Ballroom. The final touches of the project covered the redesign of the lobby, lounge and outdoor courtyard, which drew inspiration from the geometry of an aerial view of Washington, D.C. The color palette, also influenced by this aerial view of D.C., was intensified to add more drama and sophistication to the lobby and lounge. A variety of seating is available, allowing for a mix of social groups, intimate gatherings, business meetings or quiet contemplation with a laptop or book.

The outdoor courtyard oasis provides a great place for light bites or to enjoy locally inspired seasonal menus. Around the perimeter of the courtyard, under canopies of cherry trees, a new water feature adds to the visual and auditory backdrop.

Lounge furniture surrounds three different fire pits, providing a social environment to gather day or night.

GUEST ROOMS AND THE FAIRMONT GOLD EXPERIENCE Inspiration for the guest room decor comes from the city of Washington itself, conveying politics and power in the design.

Like the eclectic city, modern furnishings are mixed with classically detailed pieces, while the art collections reflect the city’s history and importance. Added features in the spacious guest rooms, starting at 400 sq. ft. (37 sq. m.), include multiple outlets for charging electronics along with bedside USB ports, a builtin luggage bench and enhanced lighting.

For the more discerning traveler, Fairmont Gold is the perfect option. The 58 rooms and suites enjoy special amenities such as private check-in and concierge service in the Fairmont Gold Lounge. Daily breakfast and evening hors d’oeuvres are also served, giving guests a sanctuary to relax beyond their guest room.

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NICOLE C. MAJORCZYK

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Ballroom at 2,990 sq. ft. (278 sq. m.). An additional 16 meeting and event rooms are also available, the most unique being the Colonnade. With a beautiful view of the courtyard and a glass-dome atrium, this room is a favored location for any social event of up to 300 people.

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