April 2014

■ LUXURY LIVING

A World of News and Perspective

AND TRAVEL & HOTELS SPECIAL SECTIONS INSIDE

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■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ WWW.WASHDIPLOMAT.COM

■ VOLUME 21, NUMBER 4

■ April 2014

■ APRIL 2014

UkRAINE

PEOPLE Of WORLD INfLUENCE

Failure of Diplomacy Revives East-West Cold War Hostilities

China Expert: U.S. Needs Sure­Footed Asia Pivot

From left, Hay-Adams sales manager Chinela Bertrand; hotel manager Colette Marquez; and concierge Franziska Boelke, Philip Theodosiadis, a food who previously worked in hotels and beverage management in Dresden, Germany, and London, trainee from Greece; stand in the lobby of the Hay-Adams in D.C.

Worldly F

by stephanie Kanowitz

As the escalating tug of war between the West and Russia over Ukraine threatens to pull it apart, experts say Russia’s brute reaction to the loss of a country that it views as inextricably linked to its identity, security and history should not have taken anyone by surprise and represented a failure of diplomacy. PAGE 7

ManageMent Local Hotels Recruit From Far

MYAnMAR’S

April 2014

Reluctant ambassadoR

Rwanda Solemnly Marks 20 Years Since Its Genocide

27

As President Obama embarks on his long­ planned (and twice­canceled) trip to Asia this month, Elizabeth Economy of the Council on Foreign Relations says the administra­ tion needs to stay on course with its Asia pivot to convince allies that its attention won’t be diverted elsewhere. PAGE 4

DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES

“Our country endured one of the worst horrors of the 20th century,” says Rwandan Ambassador Mathilde Mukan­ tabana as her country marks the 20th anniversary of a genocide that took the lives of an estimated 800,000 people in just 100 days. PAGE 10

Montenegro Couple Studies Up on Diplomacy

culture Kyaw Myo Htut makes no secret of it: He’s far more comfortable in a uniform than in a suit and tie. But the former military man is now Myanmar’s man in Washington, helping his onceisolated nation press ahead with its historic opening to the West. PAGE 15

The Francophonie Cultural Festival is the largest showcase of French­speaking nations in the world. PAGE 36

See RecRuits, page 29

The Washington Diplomat

AfRICA

It’s All French in D.C. Francophonie Festival

and Wide

TRAVEL & HOTELS

ranziska Boelke had been in the hotel industry for more than 15 years when she decided to give working abroad one last hurrah. She’d worked in hotels in her native Dresden, Germany, and downtown London, and she’d spent five years at Royal Caribbean International cruise line. But she felt something was missing.

She got in touch with HRC International, a hospitality industry placement firm headquartered in the Netherlands, which suggested she apply for the management trainee program at Washington’s historic Hay-Adams Hotel.

That was in July 2006. When it ended 18 months later, she’d learned the ins and outs of the front desk, housekeeping and night auditing — and that she didn’t have to job hunt again anytime soon.

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Aneta Spaic is an accomplished academic, author and lawyer who has waded into the world of diplomacy by dating Montenegro’s ambassador, Srdjan Darmanovic, himself a first­time diplomat. PAGE 37

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Page 2

The Washington Diplomat

April 2014

CONTENTS THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

April 2014

10

31

Rwandan genocide

[ news ] 4

7

CRiMEaN POwdER kEg While Russia and the West deny competing for influence on a post-Cold War geopolitical chessboard, Ukraine certainly resembles a pawn in a zero-sum game where each side is pulling the country apart.

10

DC Design House

“Dancing the Dream”

22

37

RwaNdaN gENOCidE

25

dEaTH PENalTy dividE Americans and Europeans share common bonds, but our values are not the same, and no issue better illustrates the continental divide than the death penalty.

15

27

18

28

[ luxury living ] 31

36

dREaMy daNCERS “Dancing the Dream” and “Yousuf Karsh: American Portraits” make for strange but fascinating companions at the National Portrait Gallery.

40

ExCESSivE ‘SPOONFul’ The Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Water by the Spoonful” at the Studio Theatre is a puzzling blend of narratives and digressions that ultimately doesn’t gel into a satisfying whole.

41

POSTwaR RESuRRECTiON The National Gallery of Art has brought Garry Winogrand’s eye for postwar American life into the present-day light of the 21st century.

42

diNiNg Back in 2011, a sprawling development project in Montgomery County, Md., became the suburban proving ground for a successful downtown D.C. concept restaurant.

44

FilM REviEwS “The Raid 2” is a lightening-fast martial arts masterpiece about a Jakarta cop who takes on a major crime syndicate.

45

FilM iNTERviEw Director Wes Anderson discusses working with Ralph Fiennes in his latest comedy-drama, “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”

46

CiNEMa liSTiNg

48

EvENTS liSTiNg

50

diPlOMaTiC SPOTligHT

FRaNCOPHilES REjOiCE!

53

wORld HOlidayS

Francophiles from around the world can speak the same language at the Francophonie Cultural Festival, the annual showcase of all things French in D.C.

54

ClaSSiFiEdS

55

REal ESTaTE ClaSSiFiEdS

[ culture ]

aRaB PluRaliSM

COvER: Photo taken at the Embassy of Myanmar by Lawrence Ruggeri.

dC dESigN HOuSE How do you make a dream house even dreamier?

Have some of the area’s best designers renovate every nook and cranny of a top property as part of the annual DC Design House fundraiser.

THE ROTuNda

Marwan Muasher says the uprisings that breathed new life into the Arab world in 2011 were inevitable, but achieving protesters’ goals is not.

BlOSSOMS aRE BaCk The cherry blossoms will be a welcome sight for winter-weary Washingtonians — and a prime opportunity for area hotels to welcome springtime visitors to D.C.

A flurry of developments in the long battle between Internet providers and content creators has thrust consumers on both sides of the Atlantic into the obscure issue of net neutrality.

20

iNTERNaTiONal MaNagEMENT Top hotels in D.C. regularly take in trainees from abroad to give their staff and their companies a bigger international footprint.

COvER PROFilE: MyaNMaR Kyaw Myo Htut is far more comfortable in a uniform than in a suit and tie. But the former military man is now Myanmar’s man in Washington, helping his once-isolated nation press ahead with its historic opening to the West.

39

MEdiCal

[ hotels & travel ]

diPlOMaTiC SPOuSES Aneta Spaic, an adjunct law professor, and Montenegrin Ambassador Srdjan Darmanovic, a former professor, share a passion for teaching that brought them together.

Women are used to hearing about their biological clocks, but new research is showing that a father’s age can also have an impact on a child’s future health.

This month, Rwanda marks 20 years since its genocide with a vow that history must not repeat itself.

12

BOOk REviEw Author Stephen Kinzer argues that the Dulles brothers, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and CIA Director Allen Dulles, waged a secret global war against communism that continues to fuel conflicts around the world today.

PEOPlE OF wORld iNFluENCE As President Obama embarks on his long-planned (and twice-canceled) trip to Asia this month, Elizabeth Economy of the Council on Foreign Relations tells us what the visit means for America’s much-hyped Asia pivot.

39

P.O. Box 1345 • Silver Spring, MD 20915-1345 • Phone: (301) 933-3552 • Fax: (301) 949-0065 • E-mail: news@washdiplomat.com • Web: www.washdiplomat.com Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Victor Shiblie director of Operations Fuad Shiblie Managing Editor Anna Gawel News Editor Larry Luxner Contributing writers Sarah Alaoui, Nicholas Clayton, Michael Coleman, Rachel Hunt, Stephanie Kanowitz, Luke Jerod Kummer, Marwan Muasher, Ky N. Nguyen, Gail Scott, Dave Seminara, Gina Shaw, John Shaw, Gary Tischler, Lisa Troshinsky Photographers Jessica Latos, Lawrence Ruggeri account Managers Rod Carrasco, Chris Smith graphic designer Cari Bambach The Washington Diplomat is published monthly by The Washington Diplomat, Inc. The newspaper is distributed free of charge at several locations throughout the Washington, D.C. area. We do offer subscriptions for home delivery. Subscription rates are $25 for 12 issues and $45 for 24 issues. Call Fuad Shiblie for past issues. If your organization employs many people from the international community you may qualify for free bulk delivery. To see if you qualify you must contact Fuad Shiblie.

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April 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page 3

PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE

Elizabeth Economy

China Expert Says U.S. Needs To Step Up Its Pivot in Asia

by Michael Coleman

A

s President Obama embarks on his longplanned — and twice-canceled — trip to Asia this month, Washington speculation is centered on just what his administration’s highly touted “pivot” from the Middle East to Asia will actually mean.

Plenty of U.S.-based foreign policy experts are weighing in, but few speak with as much authority as Elizabeth Economy, the director for Asia studies and C.V. Starr senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. In op-eds, news columns, blogs, books and numerous interviews, Economy consistently lends clarity to discussions of the complex, rapidly changing region.

An expert on China, Economy is the author of “The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenges to China’s Future” and co-author of “By All Means Necessary: How China’s Resource Quest is Changing the World,” in which she and Michael Levi explore the unrivaled expansion of the Chinese economy and the global effects of its meteoric rise.

“The top priority for the president’s trip should be fostering a more cooperative relationship between Japan and South Korea, perhaps by boosting a sense of trilateralism on critical issues such as North Korea, regional environmental concerns and the TransPacific Partnership [trade deal],” Economy told us. “A close second is ensuring that the United States is on the same page with the Philippines, Japan and even Malaysia on addressing China’s expanding interests and presence in the South and East China Seas.”

While China is not one of the stops on Obama’s itinerary, it is sure to be high on the agenda. China’s territorial ambitions and growing military might have aroused suspicion among many of its smaller neighbors, giving the United States a window to reassert itself as a Pacific power. On that note, experts say the Asian pivot is as much about improving relations with the area’s fastgrowing economies as it is an attempt to counter Chinese hegemony in the region.

China’s various maritime disputes are certain to loom large during Obama’s visit. China and Japan both claim control over a rocky outcropping of islands called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. Meanwhile, in the South China Sea, home to rich fishing, oil and mineral resources, China has competing claims of sovereignty with Southeast Asian nations including Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. Sporadic clashes have erupted over the years, and China recently declared a controversial air defense identification zone in the East China Sea demanding that commercial planes identify themselves to Chinese air traffic control.

China’s territorial claims snake deep into waters that extend past its continental shelf, and for the first time this past February, U.S. officials said that the so-called “nine-dash line” China uses to demarcate its rights over the South China Sea breaches international law because the territorial boundaries are not based on land features.

However, Washington insists it’s not taking sides on the sovereignty disputes and wants them settled peacefully in a multilateral setting, preferably by establishing a code of conduct. But Beijing would rather tackle them one by one, presumably to wield more clout in bilateral negotiations.

China also says the conflicts aren’t any of Washington’s business. The United States counters that retaining unfettered rights

Page 4

Photo: Council on Foreign Relations

“

One of the things that officials and scholars in the region and Asia constantly bemoan is the fact that the United States tends to enter and exit the region depending on the degree of attention it is paid…. They don’t feel as though they can count on the United States to be deeply engaged consistently over time.

— Elizabeth Economy

”

director for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations

to navigate the South China Sea, one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, is in its national interest.

“When necessary we need to push back,” Economy said of the maritime disputes. “If we don’t and we give China an inch they will definitely take a mile. That’s one of the things we need to be concerned about. At some point in time if China keeps pushing and pushing, if nobody pushes back, de facto they’ve asserted sovereignty. That’s a real challenge.

“We can’t allow that kind of incremental advancement in terms of their controlling the territory in the South China Sea,” Economy added. “We really have to be on alert for this incremen-

tal change they’re making or we’ll wake up one day and find out that they’ve basically managed to assert sovereignty over the entire nine-dash line.”

Economy’s warnings about the danger of complacency is a theme in her new book “By All Means Necessary,” which details how China has gobbled up raw materials around the world to feed its explosive economic growth. At the same time, she and Levi debunk theories that the resource race will invariably lead to conflict, social problems and environmental destruction, arguing that policymakers need to take a more nuanced view of China’s complex internal dynamics.

“Understanding Chinese behavior abroad requires understanding Chinese behavior at home,” the authors write. Economy points out that President Xi Jinping has been working to consolidate his political power, in part by cracking down on corruption, stifling dissent and courting neighbors with lucrative business deals.

Beijing’s economic courtship stands in stark contrast to its bellicose defense posturing. But Economy said she understands why China has been flexing its muscles in the region.

“There are a number of factors that play into China’s more assertive stance pushing out on its maritime claims,” she said. “It’s partly having to do with resources, partly having to do with nationalism and partly having to do with security — real security concerns.”

For one thing, Beijing worries that Obama’s Asian pivot is simply a thinly veiled military campaign to contain China’s influence.

“I see it largely as a means of China asserting its claims of what it believes is sovereign territory but … it’s never been comfortable

The Washington Diplomat

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Economy relying on the U.S. for its sea lane security,” Economy explained. “As China continues to develop its naval capacity and its other military capacity, it will continue to push out. The key at this point is for both the United States and the region, when necessary, to push back but also really push forward on trying to develop some of the rules of the road here.”

Getting other countries to cooperate with that strategy is another matter entirely. Near the top of Obama’s agenda are back-to-back meetings with the leaders of Japan and South Korea, key U.S. allies that are increasingly antagonistic toward each other.

Already rocky relations have deteriorated even more since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in December 2012. The two countries have butted heads over their own territorial dispute, and long-simmering hostilities heated up a notch after Abe visited a war shrine in Tokyo that is viewed by many Asian nations as an offensive symbol of Japan’s militaristic past. (Japan occupied South Korea for 35 years.)

Abe’s administration further exacerbated tensions by vowing to review evidence that led to Japan’s landmark 1993 apology to women, many of them Koreans, who were forced to work as sex slaves during World War II. Abe’s administration has since backed away from the move but said it will continue to examine the highly sensitive issue.

The widening rift is unsettling to U.S. leaders who view South Korea and Japan as the nation’s most important allies in the region — and the best hope for keeping China in check. The United States has more than 60,000 troops stationed across Japan and South Korea and consults with both nations regularly on the pariah state of North Korea, considered a wildly erratic nuclear threat.

“Japan and South Korea are not that interested in coming to the table together. It makes our life far more complicated,” Economy said. “They’re our allies in the region and to have them feuding certainly is not in our interest.

CREDIT: U.S. NAVY PHOTO BY MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST 3RD CLASS KENNETH ABBATE

the guided missile destroyers USS Kidd, USS Pinckney and USS Dewey sail behind the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis in the South China Sea, through which half the world’s commercial shipping passes.

“We partner with them on a whole range of issues,” she added. “They’ve indicated they’re not interested in having a poor relationship, but neither side is willing to give and because the issues are really, in some respects, historical issues that have been brought up to the contemporary time, it’s a little more difficult to deal with.”

Economy suggested that one party in the dispute, whether Japan or South Korea, must make some sort of conciliatory gesture before there can be a thaw in their relationship.

“Clearly, it’s not easy or it would have already been fixed,” she said. “One side has to rein in and do some of the public diplomacy.”

Speaking of diplomacy, Caroline Kennedy, the new U.S. ambassador to Japan, is taking a new approach to a bilateral relationship that has long been full of platitudes and niceties. After an initial honeymoon, Kennedy — the daughter of President John F. Kennedy — publicly expressed her chagrin at Japan’s practice of

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slaughtering dolphins that have been effectively corralled into coves.

“Deeply concerned by inhumaneness of drive hunt dolphin killing,” Kennedy tweeted in January after the annual ritual — one that Japanese officials insist is culturally important.

Economy said Kennedy, like any ambassador, needs to carefully balance the criticisms that she conveys publicly and privately.

“No country likes to be criticized by their foreign ambassadors, but she is our representative and when issues arise … it’s important that she represent Washington’s views — the president’s views,” Economy said. “There is an element of diplomacy that goes along with being an ambassador and you have to pick and choose your issues, when you want to make a very public statement and when you want to indicate displeasure in private.

“That may take a little bit of an adjustment, especially I think for ambassadors that are not career diplomats but private sector individuals,” she added. “You can’t come out and criticize on every issue because you’ll lose your voice.”

Obama’s Asia tour, expected in late April, comes on the heels of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s announcement in February that as part of mandatory spending cuts, the Pentagon plans to reduce the size of the U.S. Army to pre-World War II levels — at the same time that China has been steadily beefing up its own military budget. The announcement prompted some American hawks to complain that the military reduction undermines Obama’s previous claim that America would “pivot” its resources away from the Middle East to more pressing concerns in the Pacific. However, Washington has already shown some intent to put its money where its mouth is. The United States is now basing littoral ships in Singapore and rotating as many as 2,500 Marines through northern Australia, in addition to outfitting Japan with cutting-edge drones and radar systems.

Nevertheless, some in the military openly questioned Obama’s intentions when Hagel announced the Pentagon cuts.

“Right now, the pivot is being looked at again because, candidly, it can’t happen,” Katrina McFarland, assistant secretary of defense for acquisition, said at a defense conference in Washington in late February.

After a small uproar in the media, McFarland backed away from her statement somewhat, issuing a written one that aimed to put her remarks in context and stressed that the “rebalance to Asia can and will continue.”

Regardless of the clarification, Economy said McFarland’s comments were ill timed and likely played poorly in Asia.

“One of the things that officials and scholars in the region and Asia constantly bemoan is the fact that the United States tends to enter and exit the region depending on the degree of attention it is paid,” she said. “They don’t feel as though they can count on the United States to be deeply engaged consistently over time. So, to have an official in the Defense Department say we really just can’t afford it, and it’s basically not going to happen, obviously is not helpful to the credibility of the United States.

“People in Asia have come to expect that members

of Congress will speak with many different voices, but it is not useful to have members of the military, for example, offering different perspectives on our ability to fulfill the pivot or how we perceive China’s military action,” Economy continued. “Obviously, this resonates through the region, and it’s important not only for our allies but for countries like China [who might] begin to think that no, the United States isn’t going to be present and … we’re going to push even harder right now because the U.S. doesn’t really have the resources.”

She added: “It’s poor politics across the board.”

Politics, though, may get in the way of one of the most pressing issues on Obama’s agenda during his Asia trip: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The free trade pact involves a dozen Pacific Rim nations, mostly in Asia but also Latin America, that account for 40 percent of the world’s GDP. Notably absent from the roster is China, which has viewed the TPP as an American power play in the Pacific.

However, Obama’s biggest obstacle may be his own party. Democrats are opposed to Trade Promotion Authority, which allows the president to submit free trade agreements to Congress for an up-or-down vote, without giving lawmakers the ability to make changes — considered key to getting complex trade deals through Capitol Hill. Democrats and labor groups argue that such sweeping trade deals outsource millions of American jobs to low-wage countries and erode environmental protections, while Republicans and business interests say they stimulate economic growth (although quite a few Republicans are also wary of giving Obama free rein to negotiate trade pacts).

The political gridlock has added to the perception of the president’s impotence on the world stage. In fact, partisan sniping forced Obama to cancel his Asia trip late last year, when the government shut down.

Economy said the political pushback on TPP from members of Obama’s own party “undermines his authority” abroad and doesn’t bode well for the pact’s chances in Congress.

“We did not initiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations but we are a primary force driving them at this point,” she told The Diplomat. “This is the centerpiece of our entire economic effort in the region so it is not helpful, clearly, to make it appear as though our ducks are not in a row when it comes to these trade negotiations because it completely undermines [U.S. Trade Representative] Mike Froman’s credibility and our credibility broadly in the region. It’s very hard for different countries to make concessions when they’re looking at the United States and saying they might not get this through Congress themselves.”

Although China is not a party to the TPP, Economy suggested its opposition to the trade pact is evolving.

“Early on it seemed [to Beijing] almost entirely an effort to contain China and to compete with China’s push on its own regional comprehensive economic partnership,” she explained. “Now, there are substantial groups within China — within the Ministry of Finance and Commerce — that are quite interested in the TPP and follow the negotiations quite closely, and talk to a range of actors and really think about the TPP as a mechanism to help push domestic reform when they can sit down at the table as well.”

While some international observers have questioned Obama’s decision to skip China on this Asia jaunt, Economy doesn’t see it as a big deal, especially since his wife, Michelle, visited China in March.

“That’s very public diplomacy,” Economy said. “I don’t think it’s necessary for the president to visit China every time he goes to Asia. The time for the president to go to China really should be, at this point, when we have some major issues we can discuss and make progress on. Until that time, I think it’s better to send Cabinet secretaries and others to try to work through issues until we’re ready to have some breakthroughs.”

But there needs to be an overarching strategy that makes clear the pivot is here to stay, she adds. “I continue to think that the rebalance is an important, in fact essential, framework for our approach to Asia.

However, there needs to be someone of authority to oversee the messaging from Washington and to keep policy on track. It is useful to have senior officials travel frequently to the region, but the effort needs more coherence.”

Michael Coleman is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

April 2014

International Relations

Europe

Crimea: Failure of Diplomacy Becomes Russian Fait Accompli

by Nicholas Clayton

S

EVASTOPOL, Ukraine — For the past 10 years, professor Aleksandr Chemshit has been pleading in speeches, essays and interviews that Ukraine’s only chance to remain whole and stable was through reforms and smart diplomacy. Now, he said, that chance is gone.

As the director of the school of philology and social sciences at Sevastopol National Technical University in Crimea, Chemshit now has a front-row seat to witness the unraveling of Ukraine at the center of one the most dramatic standoffs between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War. On March 16, Crimean voters chose overwhelmingly to secede from Ukraine and join Russia in a referendum that international organizations denounced as unconstitutional and unfairly administered. Only Russia recognized the referendum as legitimate. The United States and European Union promptly slapped sanctions, including visa bans and asset freezes, on a group of Russian and Ukrainian officials they blame for ratcheting up tensions in the Black Sea peninsula.

It was the latest maneuver in an escalating tug of war between the West and Russia over Ukraine, a country of 46 million that Chemshit said was already “weak and divided” before the diplomatic wrangling over its foreign policy orientation.

“The entirety of Ukraine can’t ever belong to either the EU or Russia because one half of Ukraine is oriented to Europe and the other half is oriented toward Russia,” Chemshit said.

“But the EU and Russia fought for all of Ukraine anyway.”

And while the big powers deny the analogy of Ukraine as a geopolitical chessboard, locals say they feel like pawns in a zero-sum game where they get the losing end of the stick.

The crisis started last fall when Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych spurned an EU trade deal that had been years in the making. Russia, which lured Yanukovych with $15 billion in loans and discounted gas, had also been seeking to incorporate Ukraine into its trade block, the Customs Union.

Although many countries — including the United States — are part of multiple privileged trade organizations, both the EU and Russia made it clear that Ukraine would have to choose one or the other.

Polls showed Ukrainians were split on the issue, broadly along geographic and ethno-linguistic lines. Ethnic Ukrainians in the west generally favored integration into Euro-Atlantic structures, while residents of eastern and southern Ukraine, which contain large populations of ethnic Russians, generally preferred closer ties with Russia.

When the government stepped away from the EU offer, protests erupted in the country’s largely ethnic Ukrainian capital. In February, those protests culminated in bloody street fighting that left more than 100 protesters and police dead, and the Russian-leaning president fled the country.

Moscow responded by sending thousands of troops into the Ukrainian province of Crimea — a peninsula with a majority ethnic Russian population that also hosts Russia’s Black Sea fleet — and orchestrating the referendum that would fast track the region’s annexation.

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly insisted that Ukraine’s Russian-speaking population was threatened by

“

Photo: Nicholas Clayton

The West has its truth, we have ours.

”

— Aleksandra Shepilov Crimea resident

“ultranationalist radical” factions — claims Washington has tried to debunk (the State Department even went so far as to put out a fact sheet on “President Putin’s Fiction: 10 False Claims about Ukraine”).

Likewise, Western policymakers have been dismissive about the referendum results, in which a whopping 97 percent of voters opted to join Russia. While it’s true debate was muzzled in the hastily arranged ballot (which took place under the watchful eye of Russian security forces), the official denunciations belie the genuine support that Russia enjoys in Crimea — and the real concerns its 2 million people have about the creeping “Ukrainization” of their way of life, whether imagined or not. Indeed, the heated rhetoric coming out of Washington, Brussels, Moscow and Kiev seems to have drowned out the fact that the recent events were just the latest chapter in Crimea’s long pursuit of autonomy.

Chemshit said that many in Crimea did not view the new government in Kiev as legitimate and feared the chaos of remaining a part of the country. Therefore, he said, Russia’s move to absorb Crimea was “the right thing to do,” although “one cannot call it legal.”

Overall, he said, many Russians over the years have felt betrayed by international processes through organizations like the United Nations and OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) that seem to favor Western interests.

At a pro-Russian rally in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, Aleksandra Shepilov said that international norms were irrele-

April 2014

People in Crimea wave Russian flags at a rally in Sevastopol just before a hastily arranged March 16 referendum in which voters overwhelmingly chose to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. Only Moscow, though, has recognized Crimea’s declaration of independence.

vant to the Crimea situation because the referendum was aimed at righting the historical wrong of Crimea’s 1954 transfer from the Soviet Union to Ukraine. (Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gifted Crimea, which had been ruled by Russia for centuries, to Ukraine ostensibly to mark the 300th anniversary of the country’s merger with the Russian empire.)

“The West has its truth, we have ours,” Shepilov said. “We want to be with Belarus and Russia. We don’t need the EU.” Also present at the protest, Olga Timofeeva said the issue of the referendum was an example of Western double standards.

“For us it is strange that Obama doesn’t see the overthrow of the elected government in Kiev, but he considers our democratic referendum criminal,” she said, echoing a common refrain among pro-Russian protesters.

Indeed, resentment persists over the way that Yanukovych, Ukraine’s unpopular but democratically elected president, was ousted from power. On Feb. 21, Ukraine’s opposition signed an EU-brokered “truce” with Yanukovych that called for early elections (though not as early as protesters wanted), a rollback of presidential powers and a stand-down of police forces in Kiev.

However, extremist elements within the protest movement refused to accept the truce and protesters continued to expand their control of the capital city. Yanukovych and dozens of members of the ruling party fled the country.

Parliament (including many members of Yanukovych’s own party) then voted overwhelmingly to impeach the president

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April 2014

from page 7

Crimea and installed a new opposition-dominated interim government, although it lacked the required votes to make the impeachment constitutional.

Then, one of the newly constituted Parliament’s first moves was to repeal a 2010 law that gave the Russian language an official status alongside Ukrainian.

Although this action was later vetoed by the president, the move struck a chord among Ukraine’s Russianspeaking communities that were already fearing the direction of the new regime.

“When they repealed the language law, what did they think the reaction in Crimea would be?” asked Andrey, a 28-year-old boat captain, who declined to give his last name.

Speaking before the referendum, he said, “Since I was a kid, I’ve had to learn half in Ukrainian, half in Russian; half of the TV is in Ukrainian, all government documents are in Ukrainian, but everyone here in Sevastopol only speaks Russian. No one ever asked us what we wanted. Now, at least, we’ll have a choice.”

While Moscow has stoked fears of a Ukrainian takeover in Crimea for its own purposes (and so far the only acts of aggression seem to be coming from the Russian side), experts say Western policymakers also never sought to assuage those fears. Michael Hikari Cecire, an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said there was a chance for the international community to step into the Ukraine crisis that would have averted the dangerous standoff that is now unfolding.

“There may have been a brief window after Yanukovych fled Kiev for the new government, its partners in the West and Russia to come together to guarantee autonomy not only for Crimea but for other parts of the country where there is genuine fear — however unwarranted — that their language and cultural rights were under attack,” he said. “I don’t think there is any doubt that transitioning to enriched decentralization would have been far more preferable than the situation which is unfolding today: invasion, dismemberment and possible open war.”

But by the time Yanukovych had fled, Chemshit said, diplomacy had already failed in the eyes of eastern Ukraine.

Diplomacy also failed to predict Russia’s reaction to the loss of a country that it views as inextricably linked to its identity, security and history. Some experts say Russia’s naked power grab should not have surprised anyone. Contrary to speculation that President Putin has “lost touch with reality,” as German Chancellor Angela Merkel reportedly told President Obama, they say the longtime ruler is acting rather predictably based on Russia’s national interests, especially those on its periphery.

The port of Sevastopol is one of the only natural harbors on the Black Sea, whose deep waters and surrounding high hills make it ideal for docking large vessels and protecting them from high winds. Without

Photo: Nicholas Clayton

“

The entirety of Ukraine can’t ever belong to either the EU or Russia because one half of Ukraine is oriented to Europe and the other half is oriented toward Russia…. But the EU and Russia fought for all of Ukraine anyway.

”

— Aleksandr Chemshit

professor at Sevastopol National Technical University in Crimea

“

the Sevastopol harbor, Russia would have to drastically reduce the size of its Black Sea fleet and would need to spend billions of dollars to upgrade facilities at other ports.

Moscow views the Black Sea fleet as vital to protecting its significant interests in the region and beyond, using it to project naval power (and by extension influence) in the Mediterranean and Middle East. The importance of this base has led some commentators to compare Russia’s intervention in Crimea to the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, which was launched ostensibly to protect the lives of Americans but also to ensure continued control of the Panama Canal.

America’s own poor record on the legality of its military interventions has also undermined its preaching on the subject. The irony of Secretary of State John Kerry’s condemnation that in the 21st century, countries don’t just invade each other “on completely trumped-up pretext” was not lost on critics of the Iraq War and its phantom weapons of mass destruction.

Putin is also reportedly still smarting at how the 2011 Western-led intervention in Libya morphed

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from a limited humanitarian mission into an all-out campaign to remove Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, who wound up brutally killed by rebels.

Furthermore, Russian claims that the West was engineering the ouster of Yanukovych were bolstered when a leaked phone conversation revealed U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland debating which figures should make up the post-Yanukovych government. It reinforced the impression among many Russians that international law is malleable when it suits Western interests, with Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence often cited as an example.

Whether or not the EU and NATO see their eastward expansion as a zero-sum tool to limit Russian

“

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A Russian patrol boat in the Sevastopol harbor cruises in front of a sign that says “Glory to the Ukrainian Fleet.” The Crimean port is home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet but also the base of the Ukrainian Navy, whose two warships were blockaded by Russian vessels and pro-Russian ground forces.

influence in its neighborhood, this is the prevailing view among Moscow’s political elite. The country has seen its once vast empire shrink dramatically since the fall of the Soviet Union, and Putin has long complained of the humiliations he says Russians have suffered since losing their superpower status. “Millions of Russians went to bed in one country and woke up abroad” when the Soviet Union collapsed, he lamented in an address shortly after the referendum.

“Overnight, they were minorities in the former Soviet republics, and the Russian people became one of the biggest — if not the biggest — divided nation in the world.”

Ukraine, a key buffer with “sacred” ties to Russia, as Putin put it, apparently was the last straw. That may be why Moscow is calculating that the price of Western sanctions and international isolation outweighs the costs of losing Ukraine. It is also probably banking on the fact that the European Union, reliant on Russia for economic trade and natural gas, won’t press too hard on sanctions.

Now that Crimea’s annexation is a fait accompli, experts hope diplomacy can keep the situation from snowballing. Russia has proposed revisiting the Feb. 21 power-sharing agreement and drafting a new constitution that would create a federal system to give Ukraine’s regions greater autonomy. Moscow’s road map would also cement Ukraine’s political neutrality and make Russian the second official language. In an effort to defuse tensions, Ukraine’s new government has said it won’t seek NATO membership and that it is open to granting regions greater powers, but it’s also mobilizing thousands of reservists in an effort to beef up the country’s weak army and deter Russia from occupying any more territory.

Cecire said that in the long term, the opportunity is still there for both sides to hammer out a new governing structure with expansive federalist powers for provinces in Ukraine. Despite the cultural and linguistic divisions, he said he is optimistic a solution

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International Affairs

Rwanda

Twenty Years After Its Genocide, Rwanda Issues Plea: Never Again

by Larry Luxner

J

ason Nshimye will never forget the morning of April 16, 1994. Shortly after sunrise, his older brother warned him that their entire family — which had taken refuge inside a church complex in his village — would soon be slaughtered by Hutu tribesmen.

“That morning when he said goodbye, I was speechless. I looked in his face and I knew he was a strong man,” recalled Nshimye, who was then 15. “A few minutes later, the killers started coming from all directions. It didn’t take long before they started shooting and throwing grenades. That day, thousands of people died. Babies were left crying day and night, lying in the bush next to their dead mothers.”

The young man’s entire family was wiped out in Rwanda’s 100-day explosion of ethnic bloodshed by Hutus against their Tutsi neighbors — many of whom had gone to school together, shared meals and even intermarried among themselves.

Nshimye spoke Feb. 24 to a Washington auditorium packed with diplomats, dignitaries, students and representatives of human rights organizations. At one point, he held up a thick red book, each of whose 1,079 pages are inscribed with the names of Rwandans slaughtered during those three months of madness. All told, the book contains close to 60,000 names — and those are the victims in just one province of Rwanda.

“There are no words to express what happened,” he said.

“Six months ago, I went to visit a memorial site, and on my way back to Kigali, I stopped to talk to an old friend. ‘Why did you kill Tutsis?’ I asked him. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. Every day my kids ask me, ‘Where is grandpa? Where is grandma?’

I don’t have any answers. There’s nothing I can tell them about why they were killed. And I’ll never have the answer.”

Nshimye is an articulate eyewitness to one of the 20th century’s most horrific genocides. His account was clearly the most moving in a solemn day full of speeches, songs and poetry commemorating the 20th anniversary of that nightmare — and ensuring that history does not repeat itself.

The event was organized by Kwibuka20, in cooperation with the Embassy of Rwanda, the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation and other NGOs. “Grief is a necessary part of our life,” said Stephen Smith, executive director of the Shoah Foundation. “For those who failed — and that includes me — we have had a time of reckoning. For those who were murdered in cold blood and hatred, for those of you who are survivors, we are here to stand with you to remember them, because memory is a bedrock for us to move forward.”

Directly addressing Nshimye and other survivors of Rwanda’s atrocities, Smith said: “We do not share your pain, because we can’t understand what you lived through. But we can stand with you. In the wake of genocide, there should never be silence.”

Numerically speaking, Rwanda’s genocide pales in comparison to the 6 million Jews murdered by Nazis during the Holocaust, which lasted from 1933 to 1945. But the carnage in Rwanda spanned only 100 days, and during that short period, an estimated 800,000 people — perhaps up to threequarters of Rwanda’s Tutsi population — were killed, along

Page 10

Photo: Fanny Schertzer

“

There are no words to express what happened…. Every day my kids ask me, ‘Where is grandpa? Where is grandma?’

I don’t have any answers.

There’s nothing I can tell them about why they were killed. And I’ll never have the answer.

— Jason Nshimye

”

survivor of the 1994 Rwanda genocide

with tens of thousands of Hutus who opposed the butchering of their Tutsi brethren. Some 300,000 women were raped by men who infected many of them with HIV, and tens of thousands of children became orphans.

The unprecedented massacre was triggered when a plane carrying Rwanda’s Hutu president was shot down, galvanizing killing squads bent on retaliation and wiping out the Tutsi minority. It stopped only when the Rwandan Patriotic Front, a Tutsi-dominated rebel group, defeated the Hutu regime and rebel leader Paul Kagame took control. Kagame has been president since 2000.

“Our country endured one of the worst horrors of the 20th century, only 50 years after the Holocaust,” said Rwanda’s ambassador to the United States, Mathilde Mukantabana.

“People focus on the 100 days beginning April 7, 1994, but for decades before that, our political leaders had been pursuing the policies of dehumanization that laid the groundwork for this genocide.”

Mukantabana, who became Rwanda’s top envoy in

Skulls fill the Nyamata Memorial Site in Rwanda, a grim reminder of the country’s 1994 genocide that is estimated to have killed 800,000, although the true number will never be known.

Thousands of civilians sought safety in the Catholic Church in the town of Nyamata but were butchered by Hutu militias.

Washington last July, blames her own government, the police, the church and even families for instigating the violence that eventually consumed her country.

“Rwandans of Tutsi descent were somehow enemies within, somehow less than human, and to kill them was an act of patriotism,” said the ambassador. “For years, Tutsi children were denied entry into secondary school on the basis of their ethnicity. Quota systems shut their parents out of civil society jobs. Numerous outbreaks of violence and mass killings in 1959, 1962, 1968 and 1973 drove hundreds of thousands of survivors into exile in neighboring countries.”

But the hatred that boiled over in the 1990s in fact traces its roots to the 1880s, when Belgian colonists — steeped in the “divide and conquer” mentality — enthusiastically exploited existing ethnic rivalries between Hutu and Tutsi tribesmen. Belgians generally viewed the Tutsis as superior, helping them fill the ranks of the elite (Tutsi monarchs had also ruled the country for centuries). The majority Hutus rebelled following independence in 1962, killing thousands of Tutsis and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee to Uganda. The jockeying for power continued for decades.

Gregory Stanton, president of the nonprofit group Genocide Watch, lived in Rwanda from 1988 to 1989 and saw the dark clouds on Rwanda’s horizon even then.

“I discovered a society that was divided by imagined identities that had been inspired by Belgian identification cards,” he told his audience. “During a meeting with the president of Rwanda, I asked him to remove [ethnicity] from those ID cards, and an icy mask came over his face. He didn’t even answer me. I then told the president that within five years, he’d have a genocide here.”

Former Sen. Russell Feingold, now President Obama’s

The Washington Diplomat

April 2014

special envoy for the Great Lakes region of Africa, called the Rwandan nightmare that arrived five years later “humanity’s darkest hour” — and one that especially pains him as a Jew. “When I was growing up, my parents worked hard to make sure I understood the devastation and the loss of the Holocaust, which dramatically influences what it means to be a Jew in modern times,” said the Wisconsin Democrat. “This is part of my history. But my experience inevitably differed from theirs. My parents imparted to me the challenge to never forget, while never letting it define me. I am Jewish — a member of a group brutally subjected to genocide — but that does not define me.”

Likewise, Feingold said that this year, the 20th anniversary of Rwanda’s genocide, should be a turning point for this small Central African nation — “the year Rwanda defines itself not by genocide alone, but by what has yet to come.”

The longtime lawmaker said he was amazed by the “tremendous strides” Rwanda has made since his first visit there in 1999.

“The enormous challenges it faced after the genocide cannot be overstated. Nearly all economic activity came to a standstill. Agriculture was devastated,” Feingold said. “A tragedy of such magnitude could easily define or even cripple a country. But now Rwanda is one of the most stable, secure countries in Africa.”

Ambassador Mukantabana — who led her fellow speakers in the “Urumuri Rutazima” ceremony, lighting an eternal flame to kick off Kwibuka20’s twomonth-long U.S. campaign of hope, resilience and courage — also praised Rwanda’s extraordinary turnaround.

“No one knows better the pain of genocide than the survivors as society collapsed around them,” she said. “To top it off, the international community — under the guise of the United Nations — was ren-

Credit: UN Photo / John Isaac

Photo: Adam Jones, Ph.D.

Above, Rwandan children who lost their parents in the 1994 genocide rest at Ndosha camp in what was then Zaire. At right, photographs of the victims of Rwanda’s 100-day mass slaughter hang in the Genocide Memorial Center in Kigali.

inhabitants, Maryland-size Rwanda is already among Africa’s most densely populated countries and is set to grow even more crowded in the coming decades.

At least part of that increase is thanks to a drop in AIDS-related deaths. Rwanda’s adult HIV infection rate now stands at 2.9 percent, among the lowest in Africa.

“AIDS, once a death sentence, is now a treatable, manageable disease, and mother-to-child transmission has been effectively eradicated,” said the ambassador. “Life expectancy has risen by 20 years in the past two decades, something almost unprecedented

dered powerless. This was a genocide that took place in full view of everyone, in the era of global news, and yet no one stopped it. In the aftermath, what they discovered was a nation destroyed. Any observer would be forgiven for thinking Rwanda had become a permanently failed state.”

Yet exactly the opposite has happened.

“We found within ourselves the resilience and courage necessary to reject the politics of hate and to rebuild from the ashes,” said Mukantabana. She

noted that 3.5 million refugees have returned to Rwanda since 1995 and that 1 million Rwandans have lifted themselves out of poverty between 2006 and 2011. Child mortality rates have also been slashed while life expectancy rates have skyrocketed.

In addition, her country now enjoys economic growth of 8 percent a year, though per-capita income is roughly $1,500 a year (when adjusted for purchasing power parity) and 90 percent of its people still depend on small-scale farming. With 11 million

See rwanda, page 14

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International Relations

Capital Punishment

EU Withholds Lethal Drugs To Protest U.S. Death Penalty

by Dave Seminara

M

ore than 200 million Americans have European ancestors, and we share many traditions and values.

But as anyone who has spent time on both sides of the Atlantic can attest, we are not the same.

There are the cultural differences — Americans are into ice cubes, air conditioning and super-size everything, from coffee to cars. And there are political divides as well — Americans tend to prefer a more decentralized, smaller federal government that does less than what Europeans are used to. We share common bonds, but our values are not the same.

No issue better illustrates the continental divide than the death penalty, which is legal in 32 U.S. states but illegal in all 28 European Union member states. The normally fractious bloc has found rare unity on the issue.

Opposition to capital punishment is a bedrock principle of the EU; candidate countries must abolish the death penalty before they can join. The EU has long tried to advocate for the rights of death-row prisoners in the United States, particularly in cases involving European citizens, the mentally ill, persons with low IQs and others.

In recent years, the EU has ratcheted up its campaign by withholding the drugs necessary for lethal injections.

But whether European advocacy has helped soften American support for the death penalty is an open question.

According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, 55 percent of Americans support the death penalty, but that figure has declined steadily since the mid-1990s, when violent crime rates were much higher and support for capital punishment peaked at nearly 80 percent. In the last seven years, six states have abolished the death penalty: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, New Mexico, Maryland and Illinois, where 20 death-row inmates were exonerated before the state elected to formally ban capital punishment in 2011.

Later that same year, the European Commission imposed stringent controls on the export of drugs that are used to carry out lethal injections, like the sedative sodium thiopental or the barbiturate pentobarbital, which more than 30 U.S. states are required by law to provide as part of their execution procedure. The drug clampdown was part of a larger EU restriction on the export of goods used “for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” that was enacted in 2005. (U.S. manufacturers are also reticent about producing lethal injection drugs for various legal and ethical reasons.)

As it has become more difficult to source the drugs needed to carry out executions, states have sought new sedation methods and drug cocktails to get around the shortage. And in January, the Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill that would mandate electrocution in instances where a death penalty sentence couldn’t be carried out by lethal injection. Lawmakers in Wyoming and Missouri

Page 12

This replica shows the death chamber in Louisiana’s Red Hat Cell Block, which closed in the 1970s. A few states have proposed returning to earlier methods of execution, such as electrocution or firing squad, because of a shortage of lethal injection drugs — a direct consequence of Europe’s stiff opposition to the death penalty.

Photo: Lee Honeycutt

“

There is a general belief in Europe that ending someone’s life is an inappropriate role for government…. Europe is involved in a global effort to create a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, with the idea that this will ultimately lead to ending this practice around the world.

— Silvia Kofler head of press and public diplomacy for the European Union Delegation to the United States

have also recently floated the idea of introducing firing squads to ensure that their states can continue to carry out death sentences. Will the EU’s worldwide campaign to end the death penalty bear fruit in the United States or could it lead to some states using harsher, more dangerous execution methods?

“I think that the European efforts are having an effect,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit widely seen as opposing the death penalty. “Countries want to be perceived as modern and progressive. The times are changing and we are very aware of that.”

According to Amnesty International, the United States was one of only 21 countries that carried out executions — 43 in nine states — in 2012. In 2013, the figure declined to 34, with all but five of those inmates serving at least a decade in prison before being executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The United States has carried out more than 1,300 executions since 1976,

”

but that figure is dwarfed by China, which doesn’t release statistics on the number of executions it carries out but is widely believed to execute more prisoners each year than the rest of the world combined.

After China, the only other countries that executed more prisoners than the United States in 2012 were Iran (314+), Iraq (129+) and Saudi Arabia (79+), where public beheadings and stonings are still lawful means of execution. Most of the other countries on the list of countries who executed in 2012, save Japan, Taiwan and the UAE, are developing countries: Yemen, Sudan, Afghanistan, Gambia, North Korea, Somalia, the Palestinian Authority, South Sudan, Belarus, Botswana, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan round out the list; 37 other countries sentenced prisoners to death in 2012 but carried out no executions that year.

The death penalty has been formally abolished in 97 countries, including several like Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, Albania and Latvia that made the move

The Washington Diplomat

April 2014

at least in part because the EU requires it. Even for European countries that have no realistic hope of becoming an EU member state any time soon, abolishing capital punishment is seen as a way to be in lockstep with progressive European values.

Silvia Kofler, a spokeswoman and head of press and public diplomacy for the EU Delegation to the U.S. in Washington, said that the EU’s efforts to abolish the death penalty aren’t directed solely at the United States.

“This is not a divide between the United States and Europe,” said Kofler, a native of Italy who was a member of EU Delegations in Tokyo, Brussels and Moscow before taking up her post in Washington.

“Europe is involved in a global effort to create a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, with the idea that this will ultimately lead to ending this practice around the world.”

Kofler said that the EU has had a coordinated approach to its death penalty advocacy campaign since 1998, when German diplomats failed to convince Jane Dee Hull, then the governor of Arizona, to commute the death sentences of Walter and Karl LaGrand, German brothers who killed a man and severely injured a woman during a botched bank robbery. The case galvanized Europeans to coordinate their efforts because the LaGrand brothers weren’t notified that they had a right to consular access from the German Embassy, based on the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, an issue that had been a sticking point with other EU nations as well.

The subject of consular access has also drawn the ire of Mexican officials, who in recent years have lobbied Texas and other states to halt the executions of more than 50 Mexican nationals on the grounds they weren’t told of their right to legal assistance from the

Mexican Consulate at the time of their arrest. The State Department, too, has objected to the executions, arguing they could jeopardize the legal rights given to Americans arrested overseas.

Those pleas have largely fallen on deaf ears in Texas, which accounts for the majority of executions in the United States and says the matter is a local one. The Supreme Court largely agreed, ruling in 2008 that Texas did not have to abide by an International Court of Justice verdict, which said the U.S. had violated its treaty obligations, unless compelled by the federal government. The Supreme Court also denied an 11th-hour stay of execution for convicted murderer and Mexican national Edgar Tamayo earlier this year.

As part of its own diplomatic campaign, the EU has submitted amicus briefs before the Supreme Court in cases involving the death penalty, including the 2002 Atkins v. Virginia case, in which the court ruled that executing mentally retarded persons violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and it has engaged in direct diplomacy with states where capital punishment is legal. Kofler said the EU doesn’t get involved in every controversial death penalty case in the United States but typically takes action when an EU citizen is involved, or if the case involves another foreigner who was denied consular access or other special circumstances, such as when the defendants are minors or mentally ill.

The EU efforts could be perceived by supporters of capital punishment as meddling in the internal affairs of the United States, but Dieter says that Europeans have become more judicious and diplomatic in their outreach over the years.

“Their approach has matured,” he said. “It used to be more blunt force, like sending delegations to

Texas to tell them that they were bloodthirsty violators of human rights and so on. That type of confrontational approach never worked.”

In attempting to explain why Americans are generally more supportive of the death penalty than Europeans, experts point to the fact that U.S. cities tend to have higher rates of violent crime, and specifically murders, than most European cities.

While theft, assault and other crimes are common on both sides of the Atlantic, homicide rates vary greatly, especially when it comes to gun violence. In 2010, the United States recorded just over 16,000 homicides, including 11,000 caused by guns (out of a population of around 300 million). In contrast, that same year, there were 5,742 homicides in all 27 EU member states (population 500 million), according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, which says firearms account for about 20 percent of all homicides in Europe — compared to nearly 70 percent in America.

In general, the European justice systems seem to favor rehabilitation over jail time, as evidenced by the vastly different rates of incarceration in the United States (which has about 920 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants) versus the EU (which has 130 people behind bars for every 100,000).

Experts also theorize that Europeans, with a history of totalitarian regimes that abused human rights as recently as the fall of the Soviet Union, tend to be more progressive on a wide range of issues, from health care to social welfare programs to crime and punishment.

“There is a general belief in Europe that ending someone’s life is an inappropriate role for government,” Kofler said.

Michael Rushford, president and CEO of the Criminal Justice legal Foundation, a nonprofit group

that supports capital punishment, has another theory to explain the divide.

“One of the reasons we have the death penalty and the Europeans don’t is that our voters are allowed to choose,” he said. “We are much freer than the European countries in terms of the kinds of laws and the punishments for crimes we allow.”

Rushford acknowledges the continental split on the death penalty, but insists that Europeans are more open to the concept than most believe. As proof of this, he points to a 2011 public opinion survey in Great Britain in which 53 percent of Britons said they’d support the reintroduction of capital punishment in the United Kingdom, and the fact that an effort to reintroduce the death penalty in Poland was narrowly defeated in 2004.

Rushford said that just as harsh penalties for drunk driving have curbed that behavior, the death penalty also deters people from committing murder, especially in cases where the criminal is in the process of committing an armed robbery and faces a choice of how to deal with witnesses.

“Since the late ’90s, there have been more than a dozen studies by economists and the overwhelming majority of those have shown that you prevent two to 18 murders for each execution,” he said. “And the impact is even greater if you execute within five years, rather than the 20 or so that is common in California and other states.”

Kofler contends that the death penalty does not serve as a deterrent and points to the fact that some of the states where the death penalty is legal have higher rates of violent crime than neighboring states where capital punishment is banned.

“We don’t think it works as a tool to diminish

See Death Penalty, page 19

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April 2014

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from page 11

rwanda in history.”

While Rwanda may have overcome its tragic past, it hasn’t completely eradicated the seeds of conflict that fueled the 1994 killings, as longstanding divisions between Hutus and Tutsis still fester throughout the region. After Kagame took power, more than 2 million Hutus are thought to have fled into the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Rwanda led an invasion in 1996 that dislodged longtime Congolese dictator Mobutu Sese Seko from power but left a vacuum of competing rebel and militant CREDIT: UN PHOTO / ESKINDER DEBEBE groups. Millions have died in the country’s various conflicts since the 1960s. Today, Kagame is still South Sudan has been teetering on the brink of war suspected of backing a proxy war in Congo, in part ever since clashes broke out between its two main tribal clans. Meanwhile, Boko Haram Islamic to control the country’s vast mineral resources.

On that note, Kagame’s legacy, like the man him- extremists continue to slaughter thousands of self, is complicated. The president has been praised as Christians (and Muslims who don’t subscribe to a hero for single-handedly transforming the country their hard-line brand of Islam) in northern Nigeria. and derided as a dictator with blood on his hands. A Religious tensions between Christians and Muslims meticulous, shrewd businessman who has bowled recently exploded into all-out war in the Central over development experts, Kagame literally cleaned African Republic, and Mali is still recovering from a up Rwanda’s streets — Kigali is now one of the safest, 2012 Islamic uprising that split the country in two.

PHOTO: STEVERWANDA The ghosts of Rwanda’s genocide continue to best-maintained capitals in Africa. But the veteran warrior is also accused of ruthlessly cracking down on haunt Western policymakers as they grapple with rwandan President Paul kagame, seen above addressing a 2012 U.N. event on the Democratic Republic of Although everythese effort is made to assure is free in been spelling content is ultimately up to the customer humanitarian crises — notyour only ad in Africa butof mistakes opponents (and even some NOTE: Tutsi allies who have Congo, has widelyand credited with it Rwanda’s tremendous development gains since the 1994 genocide, as to makethethe final proof. crossed him) and supporting murderous, Tutsi-led elsewhere. The civil war in Syria has resurrected seen in the carefully maintained capital of Kigali, above. Yet Kagame has also been criticized as an authoritarian rebel campaigns that have recruited child soldiers, question first posed by Rwanda: When should the figure who brooks no dissention and has stirred chaos in nearby Congo.

The firstthetwo faxed changes will intervene be made no cost the Two advertiser, world to at prevent masstodeath? decades subsequent changes will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. raped women and destabilized nearby Congo. adsanswers. are considered approved. many people,” said Adama Dieng, the U.N. special people, and so many others, who have supported are no easy Only recently did the international community pres- after Rwanda’s bloodbath, thereSigned advisor on genocide prevention.

“Drawing hope to use this month’s somber anniversure Kagame to sever his ties with the M23 guerrillas But experts Please check this ad carefully. Mark any changes to your ad.from the Rwanda on its road to recovery. We should never lessons of Rwanda, we know that genocide is a pro- stand idly by and let this happen again.” accused of wreaking havoc in Congolese villages and sary to encourage a serious dialogue on genocide. avoided at any stage.”

“Today is a timely occasion to remind ourselves of cess that can beThe towns.

If the ad is correct sign and fax to: (301) 949-0065 needs changes Washington Diplomat (301) 933-3552 Dieng added: “No part of the world is immune to Larry Luxner is news editor of The Many of Rwanda’s other African neighbors also our collective failure to recognize the signs of deaths of_____________________________________________________________________ so atrocities. We recognize the efforts of the Rwandan Washington Diplomat. remain miredApproved in ethnic strife.

The new nation of impending violence, to prevent theChanges _____________________________________________

JFK IN THE SENATE: Pathway to the Presidency

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New book is a balanced and careful account of JFK’s political evolution A.E. Fletcher Photography

BEForE JoHN F. KENNEdy became the charismatic 35th president of the United States, and an enduring global

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The Washington Diplomat

April 2014

COVER PROFILE

Ambassador Kyaw Myo Htut

Former Military Man Becomes Myanmar’s Reluctant Ambassador

by Larry Luxner

K

yaw Myo Htut makes no secret of it: He’s far more comfortable in a uniform than in a suit and tie. If it were up to him, Myanmar’s 54-year-old ambassador to the United States would still be in the military, issuing commands from his army headquarters instead of sitting at a desk on Embassy Row.

Yet whether he likes it or not, this former soldier is now the official face of Myanmar in Washington — representing a nation of 55 million that until recently was one of the most isolated and shunned countries on Earth (one that’s still known to many by its former name of Burma).

In early March, Kyaw sat down with The Washington Diplomat for his first interview with any American media outlet since taking office nearly half a year ago. The awkwardness was palpable.

“I’m not a career diplomat. I came from a military background, so for me, this job is not in my nature. It’s quite hard, changing careers like this,” he told us, occasionally turning to his translator for help. “A military man only has to give and obey orders. But as a diplomat, you have to be very cautious when speaking about the policies of your country.”

Cautious is an understatement. In July 2011, Kyaw Win, the embassy’s deputy chief of mission, infuriated the military regime in Myanmar by defecting as a way of protesting its abysmal human rights record. Nine days later, the embassy’s fourth-ranking diplomat, first secretary Soe Aung, also quit and applied for political asylum (also see “Burma’s Kyaw Win Talks About Defecting, Starting Fresh in U.S.” in the September 2011 issue of The Washington Diplomat).

But all that seems like ancient history now, given the dramatic developments that have taken place in Myanmar over the past three years (also see “Myanmar’s Envoy Seizes Historic Opening with U.S.” in the July 2013 issue of The Diplomat).

A military dictatorship since 1962, the country held general elections in 2010 — the first in 20 years. A quasi-civilian government led by President Thein Sein, a former general, took power in March 2011 and helped to usher in one of the most stunning turnarounds in recent history. His administration released hundreds of political prisoners and instituted a raft of reforms, including greater freedom of the press, wider labor rights and ceasefire agreements with 12 of the country’s 13 major ethnic armed groups.

Banking restrictions were eased, sectors were opened to foreign investment, and inflation and government spending were reined in.

Notably, Aung San Suu Kyi, who won a landslide victory in the multiparty election of

1990 but was never allowed to govern, was released from house arrest — after having spent the better part of two decades confined to her lakeside home. Although the Nobel Peace Prize winner wasn’t able to participate in the 2010 vote, she did run in the parliamentary by-elections of April 2012, when her National League for Democracy (NLD) party won 43 of the 44 seats up for grabs, gaining roughly 11 percent representation in Myanmar’s Parliament.

Thein Sein’s political and economic reforms were rewarded with a groundbreaking visit in December 2011 by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who met both the president and Suu Kyi. The following year, President Obama nominated veteran Southeast Asia expert Derek Mitchell as U.S. ambassador to Myanmar — becoming the first diplomat to hold that rank since 1990.

In November 2012, Obama himself visited Myanmar for 24 hours, as part of a whirlwind tour that also included Thailand

“

Photo: Lawrence Ruggeri

We’ve been isolated for 50 years and now we’re opening up. Our country is going toward the process of democratization, which our president is leading.

We are on the right track now.

— Kyaw Myo Htut

”

ambassador of Myanmar to the United States

and Cambodia (Thein Sein in turn made a landmark visit to the White House in May 2013). Kurt Campbell, then U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, remembers Obama’s trip to Myanmar well.

“We all flew into Yangon [Rangoon] together on Air Force One,” the former diplomat recalled at a recent dinner hosted by the US-ASEAN Business Council. “As I’m running to my car, two Secret Service guys were running after me. They told me the president wanted me to ride with him in his limousine. You can’t imagine the sense of excitement. It was thrilling and wonderful to be driving down the main boulevard leading into Yangon with hundreds of thousands of people in the streets.”

That excitement has endured, with Ambassador Kyaw describing his country’s

ties with the United States today as “friendly and cordial.” He added that relations are “based on constructive engagement and the building of mutual trust and understanding.”

It’s also about building business ties with one of the world’s last largely untapped consumer markets. Now that sanctions have been eased, corporate America’s fascination with Myanmar should surprise no one.

Besides being home to some of the world’s cheapest labor, this Texas-size nation also offers enormous energy potential. Its natural resources — including an estimated 50 million barrels of proven oil reserves and 10 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves — have attracted scores of oil companies. Total, Chevron, Shell and Woodside Energy recently won bids to explore for oil and gas off the country’s western and south-

April 2014

ern coasts. Myanmar, a densely forested country, is also the world’s largest exporter of teak and a major source of jade, pearls, rubies and sapphires.

Anthony Nelson is director for Myanmar affairs at the US-ASEAN Business Council, an advocacy group that speaks for companies looking to invest in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which Myanmar joined in 1997. Shortly before Obama’s stopover in Yangon, the council’s president, Alexander Feldman — along with reps from Chevron and Caterpillar — led a 70-member delegation of senior executives from Fortune 500 companies to Myanmar that included Coca-Cola, General Electric and Procter & Gamble.

“In many ways, this is Myanmar’s moment,” Nelson said in an email.

“Myanmar is reconnecting with the global economy and the global diplomatic community. It is taking on key responsibilities like hosting ASEAN, and as a result, Myanmar has needed to expand the number and capability of its diplomats in Washington.

Ambassador U Than Swe got the process going, and Ambassador U Kyaw Myo Htut has been an extremely visible presence in his time here. He has engaged fully with the

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 15

Continued from previous page business community and makes himself a part of the conversation around key issues.”

Despite GDP growth of 6.8 percent last year, Myanmar’s annual per-capita income stands at $1,700, according to the CIA; roads, electricity and clean water are scarce; and its economy is still hobbled by rampant cronyism and corruption. Kyaw told us that he knows his nation needs outside financial help.

“We need investors to develop our country. We have resources but Myanmar is one of the least-developed countries in the world,” he said. Nevertheless, its GDP is expected to grow 8 percent this year. The management firm McKinsey & Company says that if current trends continue, Myanmar’s GDP could quadruple to $200 billion by 2030.

Last year, Myanmar received $3.2 billion in foreign direct investment, double the influx of FDI in 2012. In accordance with Myanmar’s newly revised foreign investment law, 655 projects from 33 countries worth a combined $45.3 billion have been approved in a dozen sectors, led by electricity, oil and gas, and manufacturing.

In addition, the government has established three “special economic zones” offering incentives to potential investors with the idea of creating thousands of jobs. Tourism is also booming, with more than 2 million foreigners visiting Myanmar last year to see the country’s wealth of Buddhist temples and unspoiled tropical beaches. Kyaw says his embassy is issuing around 300 visas per day — up from 100 a day in 2012 — requiring him to hire new employees. Eleven diplomats now work at Myanmar’s mission on S Street, just off Dupont Circle.

A

C

ITA P A

CREDIT: UN PHOTO / MARK GARTEN

Above, Myanmar’s Parliament, the Union Assembly, sits in Naypyidaw, which replaced Yangon as the country’s capital in 2005. Below, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, left, welcomes Myanmar’s president, Thein Sein, center, to his New York residence in September 2012. At left, President Obama signs a guest book at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon during his historic visit to Myanmar in November 2012.

CREDIT: WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BY PETE SOUzA

Meanwhile, what to call the country remains a bone of contention.

Until recently, U.S. news outlets generally referred to the former pariah state as Burma, even though its rulers changed the name to Myanmar in 1989. Most newspapers (including this one) have since switched to Myanmar. However, the State Department still calls the country Burma on its website — a policy that doesn’t sit well with Kyaw.

“Burma was named by the British colonialists because they couldn’t pronounce Myanmar,” he explained. “We have eight nationalities in Myanmar, the main one being Burman. So if you call it Burma, this only represents one nationality. That’s why we prefer Myanmar, which is our ancient name.”

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Kyaw spoke to us in a reception room adorned with a beautiful, handmade tapestry made of sequins and depicting a moat surrounding Mandalay Palace. There’s also a gold-framed letter from Burma’s King Mindon to President James Buchanan dating from February 1857 — near another gold-framed document listing the 28 ambassadors who have represented his country in Washington since 1947.

In fact, resource-rich Myanmar was a regional hub of learning and culture following its independence in 1948 — until the military junta took over in 1962 and the economy tanked. Despite that takeover, Burma’s relationship with the United States was generally good until Aug. 8, 1988 — a date commonly known as 8-8-88 — when police fired on Burmese university students, monks and other civilians taking part in a massive yet peaceful anti-government demonstration. Thousands were killed in the ensuing violence.

Soon after that, Washington withdrew its envoy from Yangon and downgraded relations. Burma’s generals reached out to China, which became their main supplier of weapons. Bertil Lintner, in the article “The Ex-Pariah,” wrote that it was frustration with being overly reliant on China that ultimately drove Myanmar’s military to turn to the West.

“As Chinese-made goods began to flood Myanmar markets, China imported timber, minerals and precious stones from the country while launching a number of hydroelectric power projects, which became hugely unpopular because of their devastating impact on the environment,” Lintner, a journalist living in Thailand who has authored seven books on Myanmar, wrote in the March/April 2014 issue of Politico Magazine.

“China was taking over Myanmar economically and exploiting the country’s rich natural resources — creating a ‘national emergency’ that threatens the country’s independence, as one Burmese lieutenant colonel wrote,” he said. “This — more than any highminded ideological epiphany — appears to be what led Myanmar to reach out to the West, and, especially, China’s main critic in the international community, the United States.”

Whether China was the driving force or not, the strategy quickly paid off. In July 2012, the Obama administration permitted new U.S. investment in the country for the first time in 15 years, and in 2013, it allowed the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act — which had banned the import of Burmese-origin goods into the United States — to expire.

“I have to be optimistic,” said Kyaw, whose previous postings include London, where he was ambassador to Great Britain, and Geneva, where he served as Myanmar’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations. “We’ve been isolated for 50 years and now we’re opening up. Our country is going toward the process of democratization, which our president is

CREDIT: UN PHOTO / EVAN SCHNEIDER

leading. We are on the right track now.”

Not everyone agrees, however. Observers say corruption remains rampant, with many of Myanmar’s key industries still controlled by the military — which remains a dominant force in Parliament as well.

Allegations that the army is involved in large-scale heroin trafficking persist, and the fact is that a vast majority of Myanmar’s people continues to live in poverty.

Making matters worse, a long-simmering ethnic feud between Buddhists, who comprise nearly 90 percent of the population, and a minority Muslim ethnic group known as the Rohingya has periodically erupted into violence, including a January attack in which about 50 Rohingya villagers were reportedly slaughtered in the western state of Rakhine, near Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh.

According to Human Rights Watch, more than a million Rohingya live in Myanmar, including 180,000 in squalid internal displacement camps, where they are subject to brutality and discrimination at the hands of mobs promulgating an extreme form of Buddhism and unchecked by local police. The United Nations has called the stateless Rohingya one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.

“This state-sponsored oppression must end,” the Los Angeles Times demanded in a March 9 op-ed.

“Myanmar needs to lift restrictions against the Rohingya and revamp its citizenship requirements.

Security forces under government control should be deployed to Rakhine to supplant or oversee local police, who are often too prejudiced against the Rohingya to do their jobs properly. The government should also allow humanitarian groups back into Rakhine to provide aid and monitor how the Rohingya are treated.”

But Kyaw’s response to such accusations is that they’re all lies and that the Rohingya refugees are in fact illegal immigrants from nearby Bangladesh.

“Allegations of state-sponsored persecution are nonsense and groundless,” says an embassy “fact sheet” denying every one of the charges made by human rights groups. The ambassador said the word Rohingya itself is offensive — and instead calls them Bengalis (they speak a dialect of Bengali).

“The people of Myanmar will never recognize this term, which has been maliciously used by a group of people with ulterior motives,” according to the fact April 2014

sheet. “It is the sovereign right of a country to formulate the criteria to preserve and promote its national interests and values. It is therefore crucial for the Bengali community to cooperate with the current population verification process since it is a starting point for resettlement, access to livelihoods, freedom of movement and citizenship.”

Kyaw denied reports that his government prohibits Rohingya Muslims from becoming citizens unless they can trace their lineage back well over a century ago — a near impossibility.

“We’re trying to clarify who was really born in Myanmar and who came from neighboring countries.

If they were really born in Myanmar, they must know who their mothers and fathers are,” he insisted, adding that the Rohingya are discouraged — but not officially restricted, as human rights groups say they are — from having more than two children.

“In Myanmar, we call them illegal migrants. They live in their own villages. It’s not like refugee camps, surrounded by barbed-wire fences. They have rights, but most of them don’t have registration cards because they are illegal.”

Being a military man, perhaps it’s no surprise that Myanmar’s ambassador is pretty matter-of-fact about the country’s history of jailing political dissidents, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds.

“The way we see it, they broke some laws,” he said.

“This was a military government, not a democracy, so we had restrictions. Look at Singapore. Even now, you’re not allowed to express yourself there, and you cannot assemble more than five people at a time. It’s still like that in Singapore. So as a military government, we had to have these kinds of restrictions to keep law and order.”

In the same vein, Kyaw said the regime confined Suu Kyi to her lakeside home all those years “for the sake of the country’s security, to maintain peace

Myanmar (Burma) at a Glance Independence: Jan. 4, 1948 (from United Kingdom) Location: Southeastern Asia, bordering the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Bangladesh and Thailand Capital: Naypyidaw Size: Slightly smaller than Texas Population: 55.7 million (July 2014 estimate) Life expectancy: 65.9 years Religions: Buddhist 89 percent, Christian 4 percent, Muslim 4 percent, Animist 1 percent, other 2 percent GDP (purchasing power parity): $111.1 billion (2013 estimate) GDP per-capita: $1,700 (2013 estimate) GDP growth: 5.2 percent (2013 estimate) Unemployment: 17.4 percent (2012 estimate) Population below poverty line: 32.7 percent (2007 estimate) Exports: Natural gas, wood products, pulses, beans, fish, rice, clothing, jade and gems Imports: Fabric, petroleum products, fertilizer, plastics, machinery, transport equipment; cement, construction materials, crude oil; food products, edible oil Source: CIA World Factbook

because we didn’t want to go back to the situation of 1988. That’s why we kept her under house arrest.”

But Suu Kyi hasn’t escaped criticism either. The Los Angeles Times says it’s “unconscionable” that the country’s most famous defender of human rights has not wielded her “considerable moral authority” to talk about abuses against Myanmar’s Rohingya minority.

The ambassador says he’s never met the Nobel

laureate and “has no feeling one way or another” about her. Indeed, one gets the distinct impression he doesn’t care for the famous democracy icon very much. “She’s just an ordinary person. I don’t see her as an activist or whatever,” Kyaw told us. “She’s nothing special, at least not to me.”

Suu Kyi wants to run for president in the 2015 elections but cannot under Article 59 of the 2008

constitution, which forbids anyone with foreign family members from assuming the presidency (she was married to a British citizen and her two sons have British passports).

Yet amending the constitution to remove that stipulation would need the support of more than 75 percent of Parliament members — a mathematical challenge because under that same constitution, 25 percent of all seats are reserved for the military. The only way it could happen is if at least one member of the military supports such an amendment.

The issue is viewed as a litmus test of whether Myanmar will continue on the path to democracy.

“The year 2015 stands to be a pivotal one for Myanmar’s transition that will likely usher in a new generation of leaders,” according to the report “Sustaining Myanmar’s Transition: Ten Critical Challenges” by the Asia Society. “Although the outcome of the 2015 election is difficult to predict at this point, one can anticipate that the process will be dramatically different from the heavily manipulated elections of 2010. Having demonstrated the ability to run largely free and fair by-elections in 2012, the government will be expected to repeat this performance in 2015.”

It’s not clear if Thein Sein will seek a second term.

And what does Kyaw think about the possible election of a President Suu Kyi come September 2015 if she’s allowed to run?

“It depends on the constitution,” he said. “If that happens, I don’t know if I’d be ambassador here or not. The president appoints ambassadors, and maybe she’d appoint someone else.”

For Kyaw, that might not be such a bad thing after all.

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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April 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page 17

The Rotunda

Foreign Affairs on Capitol Hill

Debate Over Net Neutrality Plays Out Across Atlantic

by Luke Jerod Kummer

A

mericans expect broadband Internet to function like the electricity in an apartment where utilities are included in the rent — plug in a lamp or a refrigerator and, no matter how much juice they drain, the cost is the same every month.

Similarly, when you connect a laptop to the Wi-Fi at home, you can view millions of videos of gamboling kittens on YouTube without paying your Internet service provider (ISP) by the minute or browsing by the byte.

By that same token, just as Frigidaire doesn’t owe money to the power company for providing the electrical current and infrastructure needed for its appliances to function, YouTube doesn’t fork over a slice of its revenues to Comcast or Verizon on account of its users watching videos over their ISP pipelines — at least not yet.

If this is an arrangement you enjoy, thank “net neutrality,” a regulatory principle the Federal Communications Commission embraced a decade ago and formally adopted in 2010. Its Open Internet Order says that ISPs must provide equal access and speed to all Internet traffic and they can’t charge customers more for visiting certain websites or for using services that eat lots of bandwidth. Nor can the ISPs make the bandwidth-hogging websites pony up.

But a recent decision by the D.C. Circuit’s U.S. Court of Appeals has curdled that status quo and, some say, thrown the Internet as we know it into jeopardy. The ruling favored Verizon in a complaint against the FCC and curtailed the agency’s powers, forbidding it from treating ISPs like phone companies unless it fundamentally changes how they are designated. The judge did leave open the possibility, however, that the FCC could still regulate the Internet under other reworked conditions, albeit with significantly less latitude than the agency had claimed.

Already, there’s been an outcry among net neutrality advocates over this and the pending merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable, the nation’s two biggest ISPs, as consumer advocates worry that the new company would be a sprawling monopoly that could gouge customers.

On top of that, after the court decision, reports grew that ISPs were throttling the bandwidth for Netflix videos, resulting in hiccups for users. Then, at the end of February, the world’s largest video-streaming service announced it had reached a deal to pay Comcast for faster transmissions.

For now, the FCC is working to fine-tune its regulations to comply with the ruling while keeping safeguards in place to prevent ISPs from favoring certain content providers that pay more (a cost that many worry will trickle down to consumers).

The goal is to preserve the Internet “as an open platform for innovation and expression,” as the FCC’s new chairman, Tom Wheeler, put it in a statement.

The flurry of developments in the longstanding legal fight has thrust the highly technical and once obscure issue of net neutrality before American consumers like never before.

Some contend that rich companies like Netflix, which reportedly accounts for one-third of all Internet traffic in North America, should have to pay extra because, after all, they are using the infrastructure and network capacity that ISPs have invested megabucks to build. But advocates of the so-called “open Internet” argue that if ISPs are allowed to extract a premium for better service from deep-pocketed outfits like YouTube and Netflix, then the nonprofit websites, news publications and

Page 18

Photo: shutterstock

The parallel efforts to deal with the issue of net neutrality offer an interesting comparison of U.S. and E.U. governance and regulatory culture. And the ultimate outcomes of each will shape the Internet around the globe for years to come, as ISPs, mobile operators and content creators all look ahead determine their business models. the little guy who runs an esoteric blog from his living room will be outspent and may suffer or even disappear. That, they say, will render many features of the Internet that we cherish and rely on unsustainable. It’s a slope they say we can’t afford to slip down, for the sake of the free flow of information, creativity and competition.

Just as this debate is roiling in the United States, net neutrality also has been grabbing headlines across the pond as a landmark package of regulations on telecommunications policy nears a vote in the European Union.

The parallel efforts to deal with the issue offer an interesting comparison of U.S. and E.U. governance and regulatory culture.

And the ultimate outcomes of each will shape the Internet around the globe for years to come, as ISPs, mobile operators and content creators all look ahead to determine their business models.

There are some key distinctions in how net neutrality is being addressed on each side of the Atlantic. For the most part, in the United States, net neutrality has been a distinct issue that is being judged on its own merits. In the European Union, how-

ever, it is sandwiched together with a broader desire among many citizens and politicians to reform the telecommunications markets of the 28 member states.

To that end, Neelie Kroes, the European Commission’s digital agenda chief, has pushed a “Connected Continent” single telecoms market that would to integrate the member states’ technologically, akin to how they have been drawn closer together economically and politically.

As is, each nation in the EU writes its own laws regarding net neutrality. In some countries, ISPs are allowed to boost revenue by cutting side deals with Google, for example, whereby YouTube’s parent company pays the ISP for its websites to load faster.

For many Europeans, however, the big thorn that telecom reform promises to remove is the costly, unpredictable and ubiquitous roaming charges they experience with their cell phones. Because the countries’ mobile networks are part of separate, national markets, customers can accrue international roaming charges for voice and data every time they cross a border with their devices. It can be a maddening experience for frequent business travelers, or someone living in Luxembourg, which is only 35 miles wide.

Last fall, Kroes, who hails from the Netherlands, introduced a sweeping package of legislation that sought to alleviate these irksome charges while also enshrining the principle of net neutrality across all member states. It would unify all the mobile providers and ISPs under one market, which could be regulated by a central EU authority.

“The European Commission proposes a single EU-wide law to give certainty to all stakeholders and that would ban all traffic discrimination and blocking,” Ryan Heath, a spokesman for Kroes, told The Diplomat in a statement. “Self-regulation is not working in the EU’s single market. Today 25 percent of users are lacking full and neutral Internet access. This is also bad news for content creators like app developers and other entrepreneurs.”

There are a few additional twists and turns in the path of passing regulations in the EU compared to what happens in the United States. One difference is that only someone from the government’s executive branch, such as Kroes, who is a vice president in the European Commission, can submit legislation.

The law then might be voted on by a series of relevant commit-

The Washington Diplomat

April 2014

tees before the full European Parliament weighs it.

Each committee has the opportunity to modify the law, much like the markup process in the U.S. House or Senate. After a plenary in the Parliament approves the law, it gets a vote in the legislative branch’s other chamber, the Council of the European Union.

In the case of this telecoms package, the regulations have already traveled through several committees, including the important Consumer Rights Committee.

While they have been tweaked along the way, Kroes’s goal of establishing net neutrality remains intact, despite pressure from ISPs and some conservative members of Parliament to amend the rules to allow more flexibility, such as the ability for ISPs to charge customers or websites extra fees in some circumstances.

A vote in the Industry Research and Energy Committee — the last hurdle before the law heads to the full Parliament — was scheduled for Feb. 24, but that date was postponed, ostensibly because of translation issues, although some observers questioned the timing.

As of press time, the committee vote is scheduled for March 18. While the final language of the legislation is unknown, it is expected to move forward to a plenary vote in the middle of April.

Back home in the United States, there is no legislation on the horizon that’s likely to clarify our policy on net neutrality. The judge who ruled that the FCC overstepped its bounds cited the Telecommunications Act of 1996, an aging bill of more than 250 pages that only uses the word “Internet” about a dozen times.

Nonetheless, the court cited this bill when it constrained the FCC’s ability to enforce net neutrality in January. The judge didn’t say that Chairman Wheeler could not set such limits, but he said that some other justification in the law would be required.

As the judge pointed out, the Telecommunications Act actually offers a couple of other means for the FCC to reassert its authority over ISPs. First, it could reclassify broadband services as “common carrier” utilities, which is how phone companies are regarded. Roughly speaking, the concept says that some industries, such as railroads, provide essential services to the public that require extensive infrastructure and cooperation from the government, and so therefore the companies involved may be granted de facto monopolies in exchange for being subjected to increased government regulation.

Instead, the FCC announced in late February that it planned to exercise the other option — to justify new net neutrality rules under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act, which orders the FCC to “encourage the deployment … of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans” and grants it the power to “intervene” in instances when companies fail to meet this goal. However, this is considered a much weaker leg for the FCC to stand on, and it will almost certainly have to scale back its net neutrality regulations. At some point, the agency may opt to designate Internet service as a common carrier, although that would likely bring new legal challenges.

In general, Wheeler is known to support the “open Internet,” although some critics have suggested that he may have an underlying pro-industry bias because of his work as a top lobbyist for the cable and telephone industries, which are the two largest providers of broadband Internet. But the ball is in Wheeler’s court now, because almost no one thinks Congress is going to pass new net neutrality legislation any time soon.

Craig Aaron, president and CEO of the public interest group Free Press, told The Diplomat that he doesn’t see “any serious movement happening on a telecoms act rewrite, barring a Democratic sweep in the next election, before a new president takes office.”

In early February, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who has been one of net neutrality’s biggest backers in Congress, did file the Open Internet Preservation Act, which would give the FCC more explicit power to prevent ISPs from giving preferential treatment to big companies that can cough up lots of dough. But most observers say don’t hold your breath.

“I think it would be difficult to pass a law,” Darrell West of the Brookings Institution told The Diplomat, “because of the court cases that have come down, and also the political environment will not be very favorable. There are many Republicans who do not support net neutrality.”

Even Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, seemed unoptimistic about the fate of the bill he cosponsored in the House.

“I think it’s important to put out a position for net neutrality, as we did,” Waxman told us. “But the FCC is working on it, and they’ve got the court opinion to review and figure out how to get it right.”

When pressed on whether it might be preferable for proponents of net neutrality, such as Waxman, to have explicit legislation on the topic instead of relying on the FCC and the courts to interpret an old law (which pre-dates Google), the congressman volleyed the responsibility back to the executive branch: “It would never hurt to have legislation to pin it down carefully, but if we don’t do that, at least the FCC we know has the ability to act, and they should.”

Waxman is undoubtedly aware that such a bill would have scant chance of getting out of the committee, which is chaired by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), a frequent critic of what he calls the administration’s overreach on the policy of net neutrality.

Katherine Maher, advocate director for Access Now, said there was an “inherent partisan bias” whereby many of the Republicans who control the House have often favored the ISPs in what has become a war of influence — with the tech companies and online content distributors such as Netflix on one side, and telecom and cable companies such as Verizon and Comcast on the other.

It should go without saying, however, that both sides throw lobbying dollars all over Capitol Hill, and that the span and scope of the conglomerates involved means that loyalties can become murky, such as with Comcast, which merged with NBCUniversal a few years back, or Google, which recently got into the game of providing Internet to customers through Fiber, a super-high-speed service that’s available in a few parts of the country.

For his part, Aaron of the Free Press said the 1996 Telecommunications Act, an accomplishment led by Markey when he was in the House, “is a good piece of legislation, if they would actually enforce it. The problem we’ve had is that since 1996, companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon have spent all of their lobbying and influence and energies trying to distort and water down that law.”

As such, Aaron hopes public pressure can sway Wheeler to reclassify broadband Internet as a common carrier so the FCC can exert more regulatory pressure in enforcing net neutrality.

While he is skeptical that there will be any quick movement, Aaron did add that he thinks the January court decision is the “first step toward a rewrite” of the nation’s telecommunications laws.

As the parallel debate around net neutrality unfolds in Europe, Maher of Access Now said these recent developments in the United States, including the agreement between Comcast and Netflix, might actually serve as a warning to members of the EU Parliament.

“The U.S. is a real indication of what can happen in Europe if the conservatives’ definition of specialized services is adopted,” she said, admonishing that such deals put the principle of net neutrality on thin ice and could leave the Internet resembling the gated, pruned and high-priced garden that is cable TV. On the day that a U.S. court invalidated the FCC restrictions, European Commission Vice President Kroes offered a more buoyant note, at least for how the ruling might benefit her home continent. She tweeted: “Watching US #netneutrality news. Maybe I [should] invite newly disadvantaged US startups to EU, so they have a fair chance.”

from page 13

Death Penalty crime,” she said. “Retribution does not work.”

But has the European Commission’s drug ban backfired? Some governors have bristled at taking orders from the EU, and Dieter says that states are experimenting with less-regulated compounding pharmacies to obtain the drugs they need for lethal injections.

“This source of drugs carries particular risk because the purity of the drugs produced may not be as high as drugs from a manufacturer, and the drugs may not act in the ways expected,” he said.

But Dieter doesn’t think that states will resort to harsher execution methods if they can’t procure the drugs needed to give lethal injections.

“It is possible, but not likely, that states will revert to older methods of executions such as electrocutions or the firing squad,” he said.

“These methods had their own problems and states abandoned them of their own volition, partly to make the death penalty more palatable to the public. If such executions were carried out on a regular basis, the public’s reservations about the death penalty would likely grow stronger.”

On that note, Dieter said that support for the death penalty is at a 40-year low.

“I don’t think we’ll ever have a moral revolution where 75 percent of the public decides

that the death penalty is a human rights violation,” he said. “But it is winding down because it’s not effective, it’s not fair, there is the risk of mistakes, and you can’t point to any clear benefit. I don’t think we want to be the last country in the world that has the death penalty.”

Rushford concedes that Americans have become somewhat “complacent” as violent crime rates have gone down, but he sees no end in sight for the death penalty.

“Crime is already starting to go back up in some places and I think as that happens, you’ll find people asking, ‘Why aren’t we still executing convicted murderers?’” he said.

While some predict that the death penalty could see its own demise in the coming decades, Rushford doesn’t buy it.

“Several states have added new categories for who is eligible for the death penalty, and several states are currently considering laws to speed the death penalty process, including California,” he said. “To say it will be dead in 20 years I think is wrong. It may actually be in more states and it might begin to be enforced much more quickly than it is now.”

Dave Seminara (@DaveSem) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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April 2014

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International Affairs

Book Excerpt

The Second Arab Awakening And the Battle for Pluralism

by Marwan Muasher

L

iberal revolutions have come to the Arab world before. Beginning in the mid-19th century, a “first” Arab awakening took the form of an intellectual revolution in which a number of Arab thinkers started questioning the control of distant Ottoman despots over their nations, and criticizing their own limited contact with the outside world.

Their calls for intellectual, economic and political change laid the groundwork for a new Arab world, eventually resulting in a wave of independence struggles in the 1940s and 1950s.

Ultimately, however, the first Arab Awakening fell short of the aspirations of many of those who inspired it.

In the end, colonial autocracies were replaced with domestic ones — often military-backed single parties that took advantage of their revolutionary legitimacy to cement their grip on power. New regimes paid little attention to developing political systems whose checks and balances guaranteed access for all. They saw pluralism as a potential threat.

Unrealized political as well as economic expectations and the failure to solve the Palestinian issue and provide good governance marked the post-independence era in the Arab world. For years, the only groups that contended with the ruling elites were those whose organizing principle was religion. Political Islam emerged as the only alternative to one-party rule. Abuses by government personnel, especially the security and intelligence services, and wealth concentrated in the hands of a few kept tensions seething just beneath the surface. Eventually, something had to give.

When a Tunisian peddler set himself on fire in December 2010, the Second Arab Awakening was launched, taking many by surprise.

It will take decades to build the foundations of political systems that actually defend democracy and preserve its basic tenets year after year. It is a process in which some countries will succeed, others will struggle, and yet others will fail.

The uprisings that breathed new life into the Arab world in 2011 were inevitable, but achieving the protesters’ goals is not. That eventual outcome lies in the hands of the people of the countries involved. Outsiders, however, including powerful Western governments, can affect events. And to do

Page 20

translate into permanent control. Their promise of better governance, which has helped attract support from many Arabs fed up with the status quo, is now being put to the test. As they enter the political fray, this time as decision-makers, their perceived “holiness” will be confronted with reality, and their ability to deliver will be called upon. The question will be whether the constitutional instruments that emerge from the transitional period allow Arab publics — which are conservative but not by and large supporters of theocratic states — to judge Islamists and secular forces alike based on performance, not ideology.

It will take decades to build the foundations of political systems that actually defend democracy and preserve its basic tenets year after year. It is a process in which some countries will succeed, others will struggle, and yet others will fail. It is not a process that can be seen through a two- or even five-year prism. It must take its due course.

What will help determine any country’s outcome is which elements of society will lead the transformation. The Arab world has long been dominated by two forces — an entrenched, unaccountable elite on the one hand and Islamists on the other. But neither of these groups — which often achieved an uneasy modus vivendi — has ever demonstrated a genuine commitment to pluralism.

Third forces are needed. Hope rests with so in a a new generation — the youth who started it con­­­­­­­structive fashion all in the streets — that is more committed to the requires clear thinking about Photos: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace principles of democracy than their elders. So far, this events and their root causes. revolutionary young generation has done a better job of But much Western thinking about the Awakening is mistaken — with the resulting danger that Western action defining what they are against than what they are for, and it may be misguided. In the span of two short years, the West will take years to establish the organizational capacity and lurched from calling this awakening an “Arab Spring”— a financial wherewithal to achieve a lasting break from the name that implied expectations of an immediate transition past.

If it is to succeed where the first Arab Awakening failed, from autocratic regimes to democratic ones — to seeing it this second Arab Awakening needs to be an now as some kind of an Arab inferno, because of assertion of universal values: democracy, pluralthe rise of Islamic parties with their implicit or ism, human rights. These are not ideals that can perceived threat to liberal democratic advances be imposed upon a region from outside, but and their potential flirtation with jihadi viothey can be encouraged to grow. This requires lence. patience and an accurate understanding of both Neither of these two scenarios need be permathe actual conditions and the kinds of actions nent or inevitable. And perhaps most important, that are likely to be effective. the profound transformations Arab countries are In the end, the battle is not solely against the undergoing will take time. Although some old powers — for new ones may be animated by Eastern European nations can be said to have Marwan Muasher the same drives. More importantly, it is a battle sped up the clock after the fall of the Soviet Union, revolutionary political transformation usually takes for pluralism. Only when societies and their elected leaders decades, not years. Western observers and policymakers truly embrace tolerance, diversity, the peaceful rotation of need to have strategic patience as they follow unfolding power and inclusive economic growth will the promise of a new Arab world be realized. events.

The rise of Islamist parties was also to be expected, and should neither surprise nor overly alarm anyone. They alone This article is the preface to “The Second Arab Awakenining had the pre-existing organizational capabilities required to and the Battle for Pluralism” (January 2014) by Marwan run nationwide campaigns, and that allowed them to score Muasher, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former foreign electoral victories far beyond their level of popular support.

But success in first-ever elections will not necessarily minister of Jordan.

The Washington Diplomat

April 2014

BeneďŹ ting the American Heart Association

April 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page 21

Book Review

Stephen Kinzer

Dulles Brothers: Puppet Masters Of America’s ‘Secret World War?’

by John Shaw

A

mericans tend to look back on the Cold War as a difficult but successful time during which the United States and its allies assembled a coherent grand strategy and followed it for more than four decades.

The Soviet empire ultimately unraveled without a catastrophic nuclear exchange between the two superpowers and the supremacy of democratic values seemed to be confirmed.

The Cold War, however, can be seen in a different light.

It can be viewed as a messy and divisive period within the United States when American political leaders made scores of difficult and complicated decisions, some of which have been validated by history while others now seem wrongheaded, even foolish.

“The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War” by Stephen Kinzer takes the second perspective. It considers American foreign policy during the 1950s by studying the careers of two powerful brothers. John Foster Dulles was President Dwight Eisenhower’s secretary of state and Allen Dulles was his director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Kinzer argues the Dulles brothers helped design and wage an aggressive campaign against “global communism” that had apparent successes but often undermined America’s reputation and damaged more than a half dozen nations.

The effects of their interventionist policies, the author says, can still be felt today, fueling the common refrain that America is an arrogant superpower, cavalierly dispatching governments that get in its way and forcing its values on other people, while worshipping the all-mighty corporate dollar.

The Dulles brothers, Kinzer argues, “set in motion many of the processes that shape today’s world.” Understanding who they were, and what they did “is a key to uncovering the obscured roots of upheaval in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.” He adds: “They may have believed that the countries in which they intervened would quickly become stable, prosperous, and free. More often, the opposite happened.

Some of the countries they targeted have never recovered.

Nor has the world.”

Kinzer is a former foreign correspondent for the New York Times who reported from more than 50 countries during his 20-year career. He was the paper’s bureau chief in Nicaragua during the 1980s and in Germany during the early 1990s. He opened the New York Times bureau in Istanbul in 1996. Kinzer has written several books, including “All The Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror,” “A Thousand Hills: Rwanda’s Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It,” “Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq,” and “Crescent & Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds.” He also writes essays for the New York Review of Books and a world affairs column for the Guardian.

In “The Brothers,” Kinzer deploys clear prose and nicely crafted stories to describe the careers of John Foster Dulles (1888-1959) and Allen Dulles (1893-1969), emphasizing

Page 22

and espionage. He worked for various American intelligence agencies that were the precursors of the Central Intelligence Agency. He then joined the CIA in 1951 and served in senior positions there for a decade, including eight years as the director.

The foreign policy views of the brothers were rooted in several core beliefs: American exceptionalism, missionary Christianity and a commitment to protect American-based multinational corporations. Yet they had very different personalities. Foster was a dour, preachy and socially awkward man. An expert in global finance and a frequent participant in international conferences, he often forgot the names of junior colleagues and was dismissive of those with whom he disagreed. The long silences between his sentences were, as Kinzer reports, both legendary and intimidating.

Winston Churchill famously described him as “the only bull with his own that China shop.” Another British prime they grew up minister, Harold MacMillan, was distinctly in a family steeped in interPhotos: Henry Holt unimpressed with him. “His speech was slow national affairs. Their grandfather, John but it easily kept pace with his thoughts,” Watson Foster, served as secretary of state for President MacMillan once wrote of Foster Dulles.

Benjamin Harrison while their uncle, Robert Lansing, held Allen Dulles was a fun, gregarious and socially polished the position under President Woodrow Wilson.

Both Dulles brothers graduated from Princeton University man who had scores of relationships with women who were but then took different career paths, which still propelled not his wife, including Clare Boothe Luce and Queen them in the same direction. Foster (for whom Dulles Frederika of Greece. Neither a disciplined nor a rigorous International Airport is named) went from Princeton to thinker, he was an indifferent and disorganized administraGeorge Washington University Law School and then joined tor. Usually amiable and charming, Allen also had an exploa prominent New York law firm, Sullivan & Cromwell. sive temper. “They made an ideal team,” Kinzer writes.

Except for a brief period as an appointed U.S. senator from “One brother was great fun and a gifted seducer, the other New York, he remained at this powerful law firm until he had uncanny skill in building fortunes.”

The professional careers of the Dulles brothers reached became secretary of state in 1953. He was an international lawyer who was both wealthy and well connected, especially their zenith during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower. in Republican circles. While he once was intrigued by the Eisenhower criticized the Democratic foreign policy record benefits of a global government, he later became a hard-line during his 1952 presidential campaign and vowed to take a conservative who attacked communism as worse than firmer approach in the struggle against communism. As Nazism and called on the United States and its allies to sup- president from 1953 to 1961, Eisenhower fashioned an American foreign policy with a smaller standing army, a port the “liberation” of Eastern Europe from Soviet control.

After college, Allen Dulles served as a diplomat in the robust nuclear deterrent and aggressive covert operations to State Department, traveling the world and also earning his destabilize unfriendly regimes and harass America’s perceived law degree from George Washington University at night and enemies.

After winning the presidency, Eisenhower named Foster on weekends. He later joined the Sullivan & Cromwell law firm, working mostly as a rainmaker who used his contacts Dulles, then 65, as his secretary of state, and Allen Dulles, to garner business for the firm. However, from his boyhood then 60, as his CIA director. “With the Dulles brothers as his through his adulthood, Allen’s real passion was intelligence right and left arms, he led the United States into a secret

The Washington Diplomat

April 2014

global conflict that raged throughout his presidency,” Kinzer writes of Eisenhower. “Never before had siblings directed the overt and covert sides of American foreign policy. It was an arrangement fraught with danger…. With a glance, a nod, and a few words, without consulting anyone other than the president, the brothers could mobilize the full power of the United states anywhere in the world.”

Kinzer argues the Dulles brothers tried to depose six international leaders whom they viewed as threats to American interests: Mohammad Mossadegh of Iran, Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala, Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam, Sukarno of Indonesia, Patrice Lumumba of the Congo and Fidel Castro of Cuba. “Six impassioned visionaries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America became the monsters they went abroad to destroy.

Their campaigns against these six were momentous battles in the global war the United States waged secretly during the 1950s. This war comprises a hidden chapter of American history. It shaped the world — and still does,” Kinzer writes.

The first target for the Dulles brothers was Mossadegh, the prime minister of Iran. They believed Mossadegh was too skeptical of the West and too inclined to alter lucrative business arrangements that benefited American and Western firms, especially in oil. They also feared Mossadegh would open the door for Soviet penetration of the Middle East. After a botched first attempt, the United States helped oust Mossadegh and replaced him with Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was far more sympathetic to the United States and the West. It would prove to be a disastrous decision: Widely seen as a puppet of the West, the Shah was ousted in the 1979 Revolution that ushered Iran’s hard-line Islamic clerics into power

“

They may have believed that the countries in which they intervened would quickly become stable, prosperous, and free. More often, the opposite happened. Some of the countries they targeted have never recovered. Nor has the world.

— Stephen Kinzer

”

author of “The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War”

and made Tehran and Washington the arch-nemeses they remain to this day.

After their fateful machinations in Iran, the Dulles brothers decided to go after Jacobo Arbenz, the president of Guatemala who supported sweeping land reforms and confronted United Fruit Co., the powerful Boston-based multinational company that both brothers had done work for. Arbenz was driven into exile and his country descended into chaos that continued for decades.

The third target the brothers confronted was Ho Chi Minh, the champion of Vietnamese independence. They dismissed the assessment of various world leaders who were convinced that Ho was more of a Vietnamese nationalist and an anti-colonialist than he was a dedicated communist loyal to the Soviet Union.

Their effort to dislodge Ho failed and helped propel the United States into a protracted, bloody and losing war in Vietnam.

Sukarno, a leader in Indonesia’s battle for indepen-

Friedman_WashingtonDiplomat_BW2.qxp_Layout 1 3/12/14 4:29 PM Page 1

dence and the country’s first president, was the fourth “monster” the brothers sought to eliminate, deeply distrusting his neutralist inclinations. Sukarno visited Washington in the spring of 1956 and was a sensation, telling Congress that nationalism, not communism, was the most powerful political force in the world.

“Fail to understand it, and no amount of thinking, no torrent of words and no Niagara of dollars will produce anything but bitterness and disillusionment,” he warned. After visiting the United States, Sukarno earned the enmity of the Dulles brothers by traveling to the Soviet Union and China. According to Kinzer, Washington’s anti-Sukarno operation was one of the most secret episodes of the Cold War. The Americans tried to foment a civil war in Indonesia but failed.

Patrice Lumumba, another independence leader and the first elected prime minister of the Congo, was the next target of the Eisenhower administration.

Kinzer accuses Eisenhower of tacitly ordering Allen Dulles in 1960 to have Lumumba assassinated. The

CIA worked with Belgian security officials and Joseph Mobutu, the leader of the Congolese army, to eliminate Lumumba. Lumumba’s murder stunned the world and triggered anti-Western reaction across Africa. Allen Dulles later acknowledged the United States probably overestimated the danger Lumumba posed to the West.

The sixth leader on the Dulles brothers’ hit list is still alive today: Fidel Castro of Cuba. Eisenhower made the overthrow of Castro the official, but secret, goal of the American government.

Eisenhower urged his successor, John F. Kennedy, to support a mission he began to oust Castro from power. Allen Dulles helped conceive of the operation that became the Bay of Pigs debacle. JFK fired Allen Dulles several months later, tacitly blaming him for the Cuban fiasco.

Kinzer depicts the Dulles brothers as committed Cold Warriors with a clear view of the world — which was often wrong. He criticizes them for failing to respond creatively to the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, for misunderstanding the genesis and allure of nationalism in the Third World, and for failing to grasp the long-term implications of their policies.

“Their lack of foresight led them to pursue reckless adventure that, over the course of decades, probably weakened American security,” he writes. “The passage of time, and the end of the Cold War, make it difficult to grasp the depth of fear that gripped many Americans during the 1950s. Foster and Allen were chief promoters of that fear. They did as much as anyone to shape America’s confrontation with the Soviet Union. Their

Continued on next page

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he Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty, named in honor of perhaps the greatest champion of liberty in the 20th century, is presented every other year to an individual who has made a significant contribution to advancing human freedom. The 2014 prize, a cash award of $250,000, will be presented at the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty’s Biennial Dinner, May 21, 2014, in New York City at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The name of the 2014 award recipient will be available at www.cato.org in the near future. The Keynote Address will be delivered by Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion, Russian pro-democracy leader, and global human-rights activist.

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Continued from previous page actions helped set off some of the world’s most profound long-term crises,” Kinzer charges.

“The Brothers” is an excellent book. It’s well written, informative, passionate and usually fair-minded.

For those interested in Cold War history and American diplomacy, the book is a great read. I have only a couple of criticisms.

Kinzer sometimes engages in hyperbole. For example, even if one accepts his argument that the Dulles brothers planned and implemented a hyperaggressive foreign policy with at least half a dozen overseas interventions, it’s not necessarily fair to say their policies constituted a “world war.” This overstates the facts and trivializes the concept of world war. But they clearly played central roles in hugely controversial operations that sullied America’s reputation, undermined its interests, and harmed millions of people in Iran, Guatemala, Congo, Indonesia, Vietnam and elsewhere.

Kinzer is sometimes vague about the relative roles played by Eisenhower and the two Dulles brothers in designing American foreign policy. For much of the book, Kinzer implies the Dulles brothers were almost co-navigators of American foreign policy with the president. However, near the end of the book he says Eisenhower actually called all the shots. So what then was the role of the Dulles brothers? Were they the front men or the architects?

I wish Kinzer had more clearly described the foreign policy-making process within the Eisenhower administration. He says that Eisenhower spoke with John Foster Dulles up to 10 times a day and sometimes invited his secretary of state over to the White House for an evening drink and more discussion.

Kinzer suggests that important decisions were made during these conversations and were then passed on to Allen Dulles to implement them. However, Eisenhower’s National Security Council is often praised as a critical policy review instrument for the administration. Historians have credited Eisenhower with developing a rigorous, disciplined process that examined policy options carefully. But Kinzer

describes a process that was far more informal, even chaotic, with little regard for long-term policy consequences.

Finally, I would have enjoyed learning more about how the Dulles brothers interacted with other American foreign policy figures of their era such as Dean Acheson, George Marshall, George Kennan and Arthur Vandenberg. These were important leaders whose careers overlapped with the Dulles brothers, and there must have been interesting tensions or collaborations between Foster and Allen and these men.

Kinzer argues the Dulles brothers perfectly reflected American society in the 1950s. “Foster and Allen exemplified the nation that produced them. A different leader would require a different kind of United States. The story of the Dulles brothers is the story of America…. They are us. We are them.”

I’m skeptical of this assertion. Kinzer describes the Dulles brothers as promoting a foreign policy that went outside the strictures that American leaders have generally adhered to, such as not ordering the assassination of foreign leaders. It’s difficult to imagine George Marshall or Dean Acheson supporting some of the policies that the Dulles brothers advanced. And I’m not certain the American people, even during the peak of the Cold War, would have approved these policies had they known about them.

Even with these reservations, “The Brothers” is a powerful and persuasive book that raises important questions about the costs of the Cold War — both for American foreign policy and especially for those nations that were victims of that policy.

John Shaw is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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The Washington Diplomat

April 2014

MEDICAL

Fertility

The Age of Men: Research Shows Father’s Biological Clock Matters

by Gina Shaw

W

hen I became pregnant with my son at the apparently decrepit age of 40, there was a note in my chart: “AMA.” It didn’t refer to the American Medical Association, or suggest that I was checking out of the hospital “against medical advice.” Nope, it referred to my “advanced maternal age.”

As unflattering as that term was, it still represented a massive improvement over the way the medical profession used to refer to over-35 pregnant women. If I had been pregnant for the first time in the mid-1970s instead of the 2000s, I would have been called — wait for it — an “elderly primigravida.”

“The elderly primigravida has always evoked a feeling of dread and foreboding in the careful obstetrician,” wrote a Minnesota ob-gyn in an article that appeared in Obstetrics & Gynecology in 1956.

But what about “elderly” fathers — men of “advanced paternal age?” You’re not likely to see the abbreviation “APA” in a pregnant woman’s chart any time soon. And yet, we’re learning more and more about the ways in which the age of a baby’s father at the time of conception can also affect pregnancy outcomes as well as long-term health risks for the child.

While female fertility declines sharply after age 35, and even more steeply past 40, it’s long been thought that male fertility is not nearly as affected by age. The oldest man to ever father a child was apparently 96-year-old Ramjeet Raghav, who apparently fathered a son in 2012 with his then 54-year-old wife. World records aside, it’s not uncommon to see older men fathering children with younger women. Actor Tony Randall had two children in his 70s; Strom Thurmond, Luciano Pavarotti and Rupert Murdoch all fathered children after age 65. Heck, my next-door neighbor had two kids with his second wife when he was in his mid-60s.

But that doesn’t mean that men have no biological clock at all. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine puts an upper limit of 40 on sperm donors, and medical research suggests that’s for a good reason: In 2013, a review of the literature published in the Journal of Andrology found that pregnancies are more likely to end in miscarriage or stillbirth when the father is over age 40. One large study of about 90,000 pregnancies found that the older the father is, the more likely a pregnant woman is to miscarry.

Women are born with all the eggs we’ll ever have, while men are constantly making new sperm. But both women’s eggs and male sperm deteriorate in quality with increasing age. There are some controllable environmental factors involved — smoking, recreational drug use and steroid use can all adversely affect sperm quality — but as with eggs, the main reason for declining sperm quality is simply the passage of time.

In some ways, the renewable resource that is male sperm

A large study published in February seems to confirm previous findings that advanced paternal age puts children at risk for psychiatric disorders later in life, including bipolar disorder, psychosis, substance abuse problems and suicide attempts. actually poses more of a problem for future children than do the limited number of eggs a woman has. Every time a man produces a new batch of sperm, the cell divisions involved have the possibility of introducing small but potentially significant genetic mistakes — known as de novo mutations — into the code that would be used to create a new life if that sperm combined with an egg.

So although the quality of her eggs may decline with age, the number of de novo mutations a woman passes on remains the same, because she’s not creating new eggs. Since male sperm-producing cells are constantly dividing, their de

novo mutations are also increasing with time.

That can have an impact beyond the pregnancy itself. Studies have found that babies of older fathers are at higher risk for chromosomal disorders, particularly certain rare conditions including Pfeiffer syndrome, Crouzon syndrome, Apert syndrome and forms of dwarfism. Recent research also indicates that Down syndrome may be more common among children of older fathers, particularly when the mother is also of “advanced” age.

And a large study published in February in JAMA Psychiatry seems to confirm previous findings that advanced paternal age also puts children at risk for psychiatric disorders later in life, including bipolar disorder, psychosis, substance abuse problems and suicide attempts, as well as increasingly common conditions such as autism and attention deficit disorder.

For example, children born to fathers who were 45 years of age and older had an almost 25-fold increased risk for bipolar disorder and a 13-fold increase for an attention deficit disorder, compared with those born to fathers ages 20 to 24, even after all factors shared by siblings were considered.

The size of the study — more than 2.6 million children born in Sweden between 1973 and 2001 — combined with the fact that the authors ruled out genetic and environmental factors shared by siblings make the findings particularly compelling.

This and other studies have also found that the risk of psychiatric Photo: Lasa / iStock disorders for kids of older dads isn’t static — it increases the older the fathers get. A 2012 paper found that the risk of autism and schizophrenia doubles with every 16.5 years of paternal age. There have also been links suggested between older fathers and attention deficit disorder, cleft lip and palate, and small decreases in IQ levels.

So what’s the take-home on this? Well, the fact that I was “AMA” and “high risk” for everything from miscarriage to preterm delivery to chromosomal anomalies didn’t deter me from having my son at age 40, or my daughter at 43. (None of the dire outcomes I was at increased risk for came to pass.)

These studies will probably also not deter older men from becoming fathers if they deeply want to. But it certainly changes the conversation.

For at least a decade if not longer, women have been advised to think seriously about whether we really want to delay childbearing until after we’ve built our careers. We’ve considered single motherhood if we’ve reached “a certain age” with no potential husband and father in the picture.

And as technology has advanced, we’ve had conversations with our doctors and our girlfriends about egg freezing.

Well, now it turns out that guys need to be having these conversations and considering these questions too. Welcome to the biological clock club, gentlemen!

Gina Shaw is the medical writer for The Washington Diplomat.

April 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page 25

from page 9

Crimea similar to the structure used in Canada might be possible.

But such an arrangement would also require assurances from outside forces not to push or pull the country into either the EU or Russia’s sphere of influence. And now, Chemshit said, the distrust between Moscow and the West is nearly absolute.

It also remains to be seen whether Ukraine’s current political conditions could support a more decentralized system, or if its problems with rampant corruption, fiscal mismanagement, kleptocracy and weak rule of law would worsen.

Endemic graft is also a bipartisan tradition in Ukraine. While Yanukovych was widely seen as an inept, crooked president, many of his rivals, including opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, don’t fare much better in the court of public opinion. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s economy is in shambles. The new government in Kiev says it needs $35 billion in assistance over the next two years to avoid default.

After its initial deal offered few immediate benefits, the European Union finally stepped in with a $15 billion aid package to plug Ukraine’s finances, but so far Kiev has resisted adopting the tough structural reforms that the International Monetary Fund says are needed to turn the economy around.

Chemshit said that Ukraine got to this point by taking all of the wrong political practices from the Soviet Union.

Ukraine, like the Soviet Union, he said, created an extremely centralized system and based the diverse country around a single foundational ethnicity — Ukrainians. This system has failed to address Ukraine’s fundamental problems while also not creating a true political class of the kind that might have emerged from the dozens of independently function-

ing provincial and local governments.

Instead, since independence, Ukrainian leaders and oligarchs have battled over their personal fiefdoms while the economy has stagnated.

After a long depression, Ukraine didn’t improve on the GDP mark it held in 1990 until 2005. Its economy lags behind every other member of the former Eastern Bloc; even Belarus is twice as wealthy on a per-capita basis. And in 2013, Ukraine ranked 144th out of 177 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.

Perhaps that’s why some Ukrainians are holding out little hope that this latest bout of political brinkmanship will change their fortunes.

Maksim sells month-old newspapers at the train station in Simferopol, Crimea’s capital. The latest editions are “too expensive” for him to acquire so he sells the dated — and likely used — issues for 10 cents each.

Photos: Nicholas Clayton

Asked whether the country would be better off without Yanukovych, he shrugged.

He then pulled out a pen and circled key paragraphs in a local newspaper article about a corruption scheme through which a Crimea-based shell company was reportedly given a $180 million government contract for reconstruction work at the Odessa airport, despite having no recorded construction experience or having bid on the tender.

“You see these games that are being played high above us?

The big people will always make their money off of it,” he said. “We’ll just get poorer or stay the same.”

Russians make up roughly 60 percent of the population in Crimea, a region con­trolled by Russians for centuries until it was given to Ukraine by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1954.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Crimea’s recent annexation was in part to right that historical injustice.

Nicholas Clayton (@ClaytonNicholas) is an Istanbul-based contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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HOTELS ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ April 2014

From left, Hay-Adams sales manager Chinela Bertrand; hotel manager Colette Marquez; Philip Theodosiadis, a food and beverage management trainee from Greece; and concierge Franziska Boelke, who previously worked in hotels in Dresden, Germany, and London, stand in the lobby of the Hay-Adams in D.C.

PHoTo: HAy-ADAmS HoTeL

Worldly F

by stephanie Kanowitz

ManageMent Local Hotels Recruit From Far and Wide

April 2014

TRAVEL & HOTELS

ranziska Boelke had been in the hotel industry for more than 15 years when she decided to give working abroad one last hurrah. She’d worked in hotels in her native Dresden, Germany, and downtown London, and she’d spent five years at Royal Caribbean International cruise line. But she felt something was missing.

She got in touch with HRC International, a hospitality industry placement firm headquartered in the Netherlands, which suggested she apply for the management trainee program at Washington’s historic Hay-Adams Hotel. That was in July 2006. When it ended 18 months later, she’d learned the ins and outs of the front desk, housekeeping and night auditing — and that she didn’t have to job hunt again anytime soon.

See RecRuits, page 29

The Washington Diplomat

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[ related story ]

Pink Power Return of Cherry Blossoms Heralds Start of Spring for Winter-Weary D.C.

by Anna Gawel

W

ashington, D.C., is fertile ground for international culture, but in the spring, one country’s influence rises above the rest. Japan’s fruitful gift of 3,000 cherry trees to the United States in 1912 has sparked more than a century of cultural goodwill and critical tourist dollars for the city.

This year’s National Cherry Blossom Festival runs from March 20 to April 13, with dozens of events celebrating the cherry blossoms that line the Tidal Basin. (Experts predict the trees will be in peak bloom between April 8 and 12.)

The spectacular burst of pink is certainly pretty to look at, but the blossoms are also big business for the area’s hotels, which roll out a slew of special packages, discounts and themed offerings to capitalize on the springtime extravaganza.

According to festival organizers, the delicate flowers provide a mighty economic boost to the city — estimated to be around $160 million. Organizers also predict this year’s festival will draw 1.6 million attendees.

That injection of money will be a welcome relief for local businesses after a punishing winter filled with snowstorms and polar vortex temperature plunges.

“After this winter, we’re all ready for spring,” said Elliott Ferguson, president and CEO of Destination DC, a nonprofit corporation of 850 businesses and organizations that supports the city’s travel and tourism sector.

Despite the frigid winter, the cherry blossoms are expected to bloom To usher in the warmer weather, Destination around the Tidal Basin in mid-April. The flowers can also be seen DC and its members have put together more than in the lobby of the Willard InterContinental Washington hotel, at left.

30 blossom-inspired hotel packages and getaways that showcase the grandeur of springtime in cially opens April 16 and offers sweeping views of the city.

Washington.

Over at the St. Regis bar, mixologists played on the festival’s The Beacon Hotel & Corporate Quarters and Japanese heritage to devise the “Yoshino 1935,” crafted with Hakushu St. Gregory Luxury Hotel & Suites are both par12 Japanese Single Malt Whiskey, Cherry Heering liquor, Dolin Sweet ticipating in the campaign. Hector J. Torres, vice Vermouth, orange juice, egg white and Scarppy’s aromatic bitters, all president of Capital Hotels & Suites, which owns garnished with branded cherry. both properties, says the blossoms are a boon to Meanwhile, at the Ritz-Carlton on 22nd Street, the smell of cherry area hotels. blossoms is in the air — literally — thanks to a signature scent custom“Our goal is always to complement the cherry made for the hotel. Sakura, which means cherry blossom in Japanese, blossom experience,” Torres told The Diplomat. features notes of bergamot, black currant, vanilla and white musk as “The hospitality industry dons their best every well as floral hints of jasmine, lily of the valley and of course cherry year — always thankful for a gift that keeps on blossoms. The scent will waft through the hotel in the form of candles, giving.” oil diffusers and room sprays.

PHoTo: WILLARD INTeRCoNTINeNTAL WASHINGToN But he adds that the blossoms are about more The Ritz is also offering cherry-themed drinks and dishes, along with than money. They are an intrinsic part of the city’s character — a breathtaking a “Cherry Blossom Give-a-Tree” package for $399 a night that includes a traditional sight that makes him thankful and proud to be a Washingtonian. (He says Japanese pastry, breakfast for two, overnight parking and the National Cherry he doesn’t even mind all the traffic they generate on his daily commute Blossom Give-A-Tree Card, showcasing the official artwork of the festival. The along the Tidal Basin.)

National Arbor Day Foundation will plant a tree in a national forest for every card “The Cherry Blossom Festival is and has been for decades the signature that is given. event of the year for Washington, D.C. [It] is literally synonymous with our But perhaps no other property in D.C. immerses itself in the blossom experience city, and no other branding for D.C. has ever taken such prominence,” quite like the Willard InterContinental Washington does, transforming its stately Torres said. “So many family traditions and memories have been built around lobby into a pink oasis of flowers. this event. Our city has welcomed millions upon millions of guests, and few The Willard, which hosted Japan’s first-ever delegation to the United States in events capture the imagination of so many Americans. It is an event that lends 1860, highlights that history with a stunning blossom display and a Cherry Blossom itself to creativity, and one we always take pride in participating.”

Afternoon Tea in the Peacock Alley. For $48 a person (or $59 with cherry To that end, both the Beacon and St. Gregory are offering a 2014 Cherry Blossom Champagne), guests can savor tea and sweets by pastry chef Gary O’Hanlon as well Package through April that ranges from $159 to $249 a night and includes full as Japanese-inspired savories by executive chef Luc Dendievel — accompanied by American breakfast for two, half off valet parking, a 15 percent dining discount and the soothing sounds of Koto, a traditional Japanese harp-like instrument. free welcome drink.

In addition, Willard guests can enjoy exclusive docent-led tours of the Arthur M. The blossoms inspire a variety of cocktails at hotels across town. The Beacon and Sackler Gallery for the exhibit “Chigusa and the Art of Tea,” which recreates the St. Gregory are featuring an entire menu of drinks, ranging from the “Spring Cherry Japanese practice of formalized tea presentation known as chanoyu.

Rickey” — made of Bulleit Bourbon and fresh sour cherry juice with a candied Curious about other customs, like how to wear a kimono or make sushi? The kumquat — to the decadent “Chocolate-Covered Cherries,” made with Godiva and Willard’s “Cherry Blossom In the Know Concierge” will be on hand to assist guests Effen Black Cherry Vodka. Guests can sip on the refreshing concoctions while soak- with Japan-related experiences. ing in the spring air at the Sky Bar Lounge atop the Beacon’s rooftop, which offiThe Willard is one of several hidden gems around town where you can admire the

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April 2014

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Recruits “Before concluding my traineeship, I was offered the position of assistant front desk manager. I gladly accepted,” Boelke said.

In January 2013, she joined the concierge team. “It’s one of those kind of positions that once you’re in it, you don’t ever leave because it really is sort of a calling being in concierge,” she said.

Most of the 65 trainees from 31 countries that the Hay-Adams program has brought in since it started in 2002 return to their home countries or go on to others to put their new skills to practice.

Trainees come to the program through the Leading Hotels of the World website, of which Hay-Adams is a part; word-of-mouth recommendations; hotel schools such as Les Roches International School of Hotel Management in Switzerland; and via two placement firms: HRC and Wise, headquartered in Chicago.

Participants have come from Australia, China, Finland, India, Jamaica, Spain, Togo and Zimbabwe, among other places.

The program accepts six to eight people each year. The first month is dedicated to orienting the trainees and giving an overview of the hotel. Then they spend four months working in the front office area, four months in housekeeping, two months in reservations and two in night auditing.

“I think it’s great to have a group of trainees from all over the world to bring languages, which is so important in this city because a lot of our guests are international,” said Colette Marquez, manager of the Hay-Adams who is from the Netherlands and went through a manager training program in Miami years ago.

“When we deal with delegations, there’s nothing greater than being able to say, ‘Well, so-andso is here and speaks your language and can really help you with anything you need.’”

For the trainees, Hay-Adams opens doors.

Philip Theodosiadis of Athens is coming to the end of his time in the food and beverage management program. He’s been in the hotel business for a decade and came here through HRC. “I traveled around the world, learned a lot of cultures and worked at a lot of hotels, resorts [and a ship], so the last option to get more experience was to come to the States,” he said.

“I’ve learned a lot and had opportunities to

move around.”

The program also creates a network, Marquez said. Graduates stay in touch personally and via a Facebook page dedicated to them. They share experiences, tips and job openings.

Although the J-1 visa requires trainees to leave the United States at the end of the program, Hay-Adams has brought quite a few — such as Boelke — back by hiring them to work full time.

Training for the Industry, not the Hotel It might seem strange to invest so much energy in training people to be a manager only to have them leave, but it’s common throughout the industry.

“It’s not just because it’s the right thing to do, but from a business perspective, it’s only intelligent to have integrated cultures — nationalities and cultures, not corporate cultures,” said Owen Earle Dorsey, executive vice president and chief administrative officer at Capella Hotel Group, which opened the Capella Washington, D.C., a year ago this month.

For global hotel brands like Capella, training managers means training them to work at any of the brand’s properties, not just the one where the training takes place.

“We don’t manufacture mattresses and we don’t make china and silver and linen. What we manufacture every day is service,” Dorsey said.

“In order to create that, you have to have the right input.”

That input comes through proper training, added Alex Obertop, general manager at the local Capella.

“We invest a lot of time and effort in training them and getting them ready and having them understand our philosophy, so then it would be a big waste if they were to leave and go to work for another hotel company,” he said.

Like the Hay-Adams and other area hotels, Capella brings trainees to U.S. locations on J-1 visas, which enable holders to study here for up to one year before they must return to their homelands or go work in another country. The hotel brand has used a third-party vendor partner since 1991 that vets candidates through a process that domestic and international employees alike must go through. The selection ratio averages between 12 and 14 candidates interviewed for every individual selected,

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blossoms away from the hoards of Monuments Men who saved tourists thronging the Tidal Basin. art treasures from the Nazis, According to Destination DC, to the Washington Nationals small clusters of trees can also be baseball team’s opening day, found along the National Mall, to the “World Stages” theater just northwest of the Lincoln festival at the Kennedy Memorial and around the Center.

“Walking beneath the Washington Monument. Other famous cherry blossoms off-the-radar blossom trees can be around the Tidal Basin is a found at the U.S. National bucket-list experience for Arboretum, Anacostia Park, many travelers, but there are Stanton Park and Oxon Run Park.

The pastel pink-and-white multitudes of only-in-D.C. flowers themselves are relatively experiences running concurPhoto: St. Regis fleeting — they’re at their peak rently with the festival that for only a few days — but the city The Yoshino 1935 cocktail make D.C. an ideal spring stretches out the festivities to at the St. Regis Bar is one break destination,” he said. make the most of their appear- of many cherry blossom“Visit a cache of European art ance. The festival features more inspired drinks on tap saved in World War II by the than three weeks of activities, at area hotels in April. division known as the many of them free and familyMonuments Men, take in friendly, including the Blossom Kite Festival some of the 20 plays during a major interna(March 29), the Southwest Waterfront Fireworks tional theater festival and indulge in a memoFestival (April 5) and the National Cherry rable meal on the patio of one of our fine resBlossom Festival Parade and Sakura Matsuri taurants. Finding a hotel room is key to having Japanese street fair (April 12). all these experiences on your doorstep, and But Ferguson of Destination DC urges visi- that’s easy.” tors to go beyond the blossoms and experience all that the city has to offer — from an exhibit at Anna Gawel is the managing editor of The Washington the National Gallery of Art on the real-life Diplomat.

April 2014

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“In our role we do deal with people and guests and customers coming from around the world, and it’s very important to have as much experience as you can in terms of how you cope with different cultural requests.”

Continued from previous page which is consistent with operating Capella hotels worldwide, Dorsey noted.

The Capella in D.C. has one trainee on the food and beverage track and one in the rooms division at a time.

The process starts with immersion into the work as a line employee before they assume supervisory roles, Obertop said. After that, the options are in the workers’ hands.

“It all depends on the individual how successful they are,” Obertop said. “The person who takes more responsibility and shows more initiative most likely will get an assistant manager position after the year or year and a half, either at our hotel or at some of our other hotels.”

Graduates can later apply to return to the Washington hotel and work here on an L visa. The local location has about 85 employees, hailing from 13 countries.

WillArD’S fuTure leADerS The Willard InterContinental Washington is part of the IHG InterContinental Hotels Group, which has properties worldwide. The InterContinental brand alone has locations in 60 countries, so international training is a must, said Kim Allen-Mills, director of human resources at the Willard.

Acceptance to a training program can come in two ways. One, the IHG personal development program, asks employees during their reviews to describe their goals.

When workers express interest in working as a manager in the United States, their managers send the plans to the corporate office. The company also has an online recruiting website for employees.

The other entry point is through IHG Future Leaders Graduate Program, which accepts trainees from universities that focus on hospitality training. The latter has been in practice for years in Europe but only came to the Americas recently. The Willard currently has one trainee on staff and two others are working and learning at other hotels in North America.

— OlivieR seRvAt, general manager of the W Washington, D.C. PHoTo: DANIeL SWARTz

The Willard had its own manager training program that saw six graduates in six years, but the hotel stopped that to adopt Future Leaders.

“That program is really to help somebody coming out of a hospitality program to have a really unique chance to work in every single area of a hotel to get a chance to see a 360 [degree] overview of what it takes to run a hotel and to be able to then focus on at the end of that manager-intraining whichever area they have found is their area of passion,” Allen-Mills said.

Applicants should have characteristics such as a positive attitude and a willingness to learn about everyone’s job, from dishwashers to senior managers.

The Willard has about 350 employees with 87 countries represented.

A gM’S PATh froM PAriS To D.C. Olivier Servat took another route to his job as general manager of the W Washington, D.C., where he started in September 2013. He’d been part of Starwood Hotels and Resorts since 2005, when it bought the Le Méridien brand while he was at one of its Paris locations. During his career, he’d worked abroad and after seven years in Paris leading the rebranding of the 1,125-room Méridien Etoile and opening the W Opéra, he wanted a change. He’d never worked at a U.S. property, so he told his superiors

TargeT Your MarkeTing

that he would work for two years at the W Opéra and then he wanted to be transferred.

Servat was offered three general manager options: two at New York City W hotels and one here. He decided to come to Washington, which he felt was more familyfriendly.

After an extensive interview process with Starwood vice presidents and owner representatives of the W (Starwood manages the hotels rather than owns them outright), Servat knew by the end of June 2013 that he and his family were D.C.-bound. His experience didn’t necessitate further training when he got here.

Starwood likes to recruit from properties around the world at the general manager level, Servat said. “In our role we do deal with people and guests and customers coming from around the world, and it’s very important to have as much experience as you can in terms of how you cope with different cultural requests,” he said. “The way the service is organized in Asia, the way the service is organized in Europe and the way we organize the service here in the U.S. is somehow different…. The definition of luxury might be different for everybody.”

He added: “The more you’ve been traveling, the more you have the experience of what the international profile is willing to experience, the better it is.”

Stephanie Kanowitz is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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April 2014

LIVING L U X U R Y

A ddream ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ April 2014

DeSigning De DeS S

by stephanie Kanowitz

Washington’s Seventh annual Home Makeover Builds on its Success ILLuSTRATIoN: VADIm GeoRGIeV / SHuTTeRSToCk

April 2014

H

ow do you make a dream house even dreamier? make it a DC Design House. As part of the seventh annual event, which raises money for Children’s National medical Center, some of the area’s best designers renovate every nook and cranny of some of Washington’s finest living spaces. This year’s makeover is being done on an almost 8,000-square-foot stone colonial from 1929 formerly owned by marshall B. Coyne, founder of the madison Hotel, which is now the Loews madison.

Continued on next page

LUXURY LIVING

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Second Level Family Room Designers Diane S. Taitt, top, and Dennese Guadeloupe-Rojas teamed up to redo the second-floor family room of this year’s DC Design House property at 4600 Linnean Ave., NW, using water and the ebb and flow of life as their inspiration.

Photos: DC Design House / Jesse Snyder

Continued from previous page “This year’s house had a great history, with 60 years in the same family, and how amazing it is to have the DC Design House at Marshall Coyne’s home … which was filled with his [art and history] collections,” said Susan Hayes Long, chairwoman and corporate board member for DC Design House. “We love a home with local history, mystery or something unique.”

The house (at 4600 Linnean Ave., NW, in Forest Hills) sits on two-thirds of an acre and has six bedrooms, five full bathrooms, two half-baths, a three-car garage and a swimming pool. It sold in 2012 for more than $2.5 million and was donated to DC Design House by Coyne’s granddaughter, Suzi Wilczynski, president of Dig It! Games, which develops educational games for children.

More than 30 designers have about a month to transform 28 spaces — from hallways to the kitchen to the master bedroom — that they were chosen to remodel by the event’s volunteer selection committee.

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April 2014

“This year’s house had a great history, with 60 years in the same family….

We love a home with local history, mystery or something unique.”

— Susan Hayes Long executive committee chairwoman of DC Design House

Joanne Fitzgerald, owner of Gatega Interior Design in Rockville, Md., is a newcomer to the event.

She’s taking a powder room from bland tan to shimmering chic.

“I love the intimate space a small bath offers,” Fitzgerald said. “I like to treat them like little jewel boxes, giving house guests an especially interesting, private experience.”

“For this home, in a nod to its classic styling yet from an era that was on the cusp of mainstream modernism, I chose as the focal point a very classic, British wallpaper, applied sparingly, yet front and center on the commode wall,” she added. “My objective was to straddle design styles to create a space that is at once elegant, playful and dramatic.”

She paired the jewel-toned wallpaper — from the Albemarle collection of Cole & Son — featuring Victorian peacocks on a shimmery, damask field, with iridescent wall tiles running vertically on the sink wall to visually elevate the room’s height. She also added an ornate Venetian glass mirror from the Wisteria home décor line. In contrast, she opted for sleek contem-

porary fixtures and an acrylic countertop.

Diane S. Taitt, founder and managing principal of De Space Designs on U Street and another Design House newcomer, teamed with Dennese Guadeloupe-Rojas, a show-house veteran who owns Interiors by Design in Silver Spring, Md., to redo the second-floor family room. Using water and the ebb and flow of life as their inspiration, the biggest change they made was adding a custom 3-D ceiling relief panel in rich purples and blues.

Using a palette of silvery textured beiges, blues and purples, they aim to take the room from mostly beige and boring to an inviting sitting room with cozy couches.

“The furniture elements, in simple, comfortable shapes and neutral shades, are grounded by a rug that reflects a water-inspired organic pattern in earthy grays and blues,” they said. “The ceiling relief, together with the organic rug, the accent wallpaper and the cool, crisp fabric colors, give a symbolic nod to the natural world.”

Continued on next page

Joanne Fitzgerald’s redesign of the powder room features jewel-toned wallpaper from the Albemarle collection of Cole & Son and an ornate Venetian glass mirror from the Wisteria home décor line.

Photos: DC Design House / Jesse Snyder

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Continued from previous page For the playroom, Katherine Vernot-Jonas of Katherine Vernot-Jonas Designs in D.C. drew on her 11-year-old daughter’s love for playing outside and how Washington’s unpredictable winters can get in her way. To do that, she is bringing elements of the outdoors in by hanging a ladder and rope on one wall and an outer-space-inspired climbing wall mural on another. In the middle of the room will be a rings-and-trapeze combo swing.

“My goal here is to convey the importance of a healthy and active lifestyle for children and their families, creating an environment of well being by promoting a break from technology, bringing the outside world in, while at the same time opening vistas and stimulating imagination,” VernotJonas explained. “As a designer, I feel a responsibility to lead the effort to create fun and innovative ways to foster wellDC Design ness by keeping our children runs from and their families engaged April 13 to and fit. It is my hope that May 11 (with a even small changes in our preview day on April 12). Tickets homes will promote physical fitness and help us minimize are $25. For information, visit childhood obesity, leading to a better quality of life.” www.dcdesignhouse.com.

DC Design House was established in 2008 by Skip and Debbie Singleton, principals of DC Living Real Estate, as a fundraiser for Children’s National Medical Center and a showcase for local design talent. Last year’s event was the biggest yet, attracting more than 5,000 visitors and raising $250,000 for the hospital (also see “Upscale Property

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The first two faxed changes will be made at no cost to the advertiser, subsequent changes For the playroom, designer katherine Vernot-Jonas is bringing elements will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved. of the outdoors in by hanging a ladder and rope on one wall and an outer-space-inspired climbing wall mural on another.

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Once a volunteer group chooses a house, designers come in to select the spaces they want to renovate. Then they present design boards with their Approved visions and__________________________________________________________ a selection committee chooses the designers who best fit each space. ___________________________________________________________ Changes

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LUXURY LIVING

April 2014

culture & arts

■ WWW.WASHDIPLOMAT.COM

entertainment

■ APRIL 2014

FESTIVALS

DIPLOMATIC SPOuSES

Learning the Ropes Aneta Spaic and Montenegrin Ambassador Srdjan Darmanovic share a passion for learning — and teaching, which is what brought them together seven years ago. PAGE 37

PHOTOgRAPHy

Intricate Dance Portraits of renowned Americans and famous dancers perform an intricate two-step together as they each speak to the nature of personality, fame and diversity. PAGE 39

THEATER

Messy ‘Spoonful’ “Water by the Spoonful” and its overly ambitious attempt to expose and tie together too many societal issues — drug addiction, war veterans, online support groups, poverty and death — is a lesson in fragmentation. PAGE 40

Oh Là Là!

The annual Francophonie Cultural Festival in D.C., now in its 14th year, is the largest Francophile showcase in the world, with more than six weeks of concerts, theater, film, literary salons, children’s activities and culinary tastings. And what a world it is, encompassing 220 million French speakers in dozens of nations throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas. PAGE 36

DININg

FILM REVIEWS

Founding Farmers has proved that its farm-totable formula can work as well in downtown D.C. as it can in sprawling suburbia. PAGE 42

The Indonesian action flick “The Raid 2” is a fight-filled fast ride about a Jakarta cop who tries to bring down a major crime syndicate. PAGE 44

[ festivals ]

It’s All French Francophonie Cultural Festival Brings Joie de Vivre to D.C.

by Sarah Alaoui

F

[

rancophiles of all breeds, do not fret — now is your time to shine. Once again, just as spring is slowly starting to grace D.C. with its presence, the annual Francophonie Cultural Festival will be held across the city. The event, now in its 14th year, is the largest Francophone festival in the world and includes more than six weeks’ worth of concerts, theater, film, literary salons, children’s activities and of course cuisine from the world’s French-speaking countries.

And it’s a big world, encompassing dozens of nations throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas. The International Organization of La Francophonie, which represents one of the largest linguistic zones on the planet, has 75 member states and governments that together represent a population of more than 890 million people, including 220 million French speakers. In fact, since 2001, more than 40 countries have collaborated each year to showcase their Francophone culture and language in the nation’s capital.

“The Francophonie is a certain vision of the world, one that brings together a universe that embodies the dialogue between cultures, the marriage between unity, and diversity in the context of respect for universal values and for linguistic and cultural pluralism,” said Catherine Albertini, cultural attaché at the French Embassy. “In this sense, the French language becomes the channel that enables different cultures to pass through.

The Francophonie is, at the same time, respectful of all identities and seeks to creates a transnational space for cultural exchange.”

An annual highlight of the festival is La Grande Fête de la Francophonie, a big bash that was held March 21 at the French Embassy and featured more than 35 embassies and organizations sharing the cuisine and cultural traditions of their respective Francophone homelands. Among the evening’s performers were La Femme, an eight-member hypnotic psyche-punk rock collective, and the band Jomion and the Uklos, whose music fuses the rhythms of Benin with an engaging bossa nova sound — two ensembles that reflect the diversity of performers on tap during the six-week festival.

The festival officially kicked off March 1, but there are still plenty of events lined up for April. Film lovers will get their fill with a variety of screenings, many from African nations such as Gabon and Côte d’Ivoire, whose embassy hosted this year’s formal launch reception. For those who remember the 1959 film “Hiroshima Mon Amour,” it is worth mentioning that the star of the film, legendary French actress Emmanuelle Riva, will be celebrated with a retrospective of her work. Screenings include “Liberté, la nuit,” “Léon Morin, Priest” and the Oscar-winning “Amour,” in which Riva portrays a wife who suffers a stroke that tests the strong bond between her 2014 Francophonie and her husband.

Cultural Festival Francophone music is another key component of the festival, with a concert by the French saxophone group Ellipsos Quartet March 1 to April 15 to celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of Adolphe Sax, the For more information, please visit Belgian man who invented the saxophone. www.francophoniedc.org.

An eclectic roster of musical genres from Francophone countries will also feature the sounds of Mali with Grammy-nominated musician Cheick Hamala Diabate; as well as Haitian singer-songwriter Bélo; Swiss jazz pianist Claude Diallo; and a special DJ series featuring Mettabbana, a Kosovo native, and Alex, a Paris native who was raised in Tokyo.

The literature series highlights a colorful array of writers and books, including Iranian author Nahal Tajadod, Luxembourg poet Jean Portante and Aimé Césaire, a founder of the négritude movement, which seeks unity in a common black identity in Francophone literature.

Little ones are not forgotten in the festival. Children’s activities include a “Francophone Culture Day” in D.C. Public Schools on March 18 and a family concert with Belgian singer and guitarist André Borbé, who has performed in more than 2,000 concerts across the globe. For the future film buff, Swiss director Samuel Guillaume will host an afternoon where children can explore how animated movies are made.

Of course, no festival is complete without food, and taste buds will not be disappointed at the Francophonie Festival. Notably, renowned French pastry chef Jacquy Pfeiffer will tickle palates with his presentation on “The Art of French Pastry,” featuring a documentary screening of “Kings of Pastry” followed by a book signing and, of course, a tasting.

Photo: Frederic Dupoux

Among the April musical performances in the Francophonie Cultural Festival are Haitian singer-songwriter Bélo (April 11), above, and Grammy-nominated Cheick Hamala Diabate from Mali (April 5).

]

Photos: Francophonie Cultural Festival 2014

La Femme, above, and the French saxophone group Ellipsos Quartet are among the various bands showcased by the Francophonie Cultural Festival, which features more than six weeks of concerts, theater, film, literary salons, children’s activities and culinary tastings from the world’s French-speaking countries.

Sarah Alaoui is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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April 2014

[ diplomatic spouses ]

Cerebral Pairing Montenegro Academics Take Studious Approach to Diplomacy

by Gail Scott

W

Aneta Spaic and Montenegrin Ambassador Srdjan ith a Ph.D. and a six-page Darmanovic have taken advantage of his D.C. posting resume, Aneta Spaic is an to travel around the United States to places such as impressive academic, author and Yellowstone National Park as part of the State lawyer. She has also waded into Department’s Experience America Program. the world of diplomacy by dating Montenegro’s ambassador, Srdjan and then an adjunct professor at Darmanovic, himself a first-time Washington and Lee University’s School diplomat who is also a professor, political of Law, where she teaches each spring. In scientist, author and chess champion. the fall, she returns to Podgorica as an The two share a passion for learning — adjunct professor at the University of and teaching, which is what brought them Montenegro, where she is a faculty memtogether seven years ago. ber of both the law and political science “In high school I was a nerd,” admitted departments.

Spaic. “I missed the parties. I had been the “Srdjan is, in fact, very supportive of my best student in our high school and the best teaching engagement in Montenegro. in physics.”

While I’m teaching in Montenegro, we are She won an invitation to attend the separated these four and a half months, United World College of the Adriatic in Italy, but Srdjan comes to Europe and which brings together students from around Montenegro at least once for that period, the world. “The best high school students and as for now there have been no probwere chosen from 70 countries. I had to lems,” Spaic told us. “In the beginning, change my way of thinking. I was used to when I was a teaching assistant, I was being the best in my class and here I was crazy-demanding, but after some years I with all these other students who were also have become softer. I want to motivate used to being the best. It was a different my students.” psychology, state of mind, for me.”

Spaic herself has plenty of motivation.

But in 1999, as war raged in the Balkans, Among her accolades, she was recognized NATO had begun its bombing campaign as the best student at the University of against Serb (and Montenegrin) forces in Montenegro and was a laureate of the response to the ethnic bloodletting in Montenegrin Academy of Science and Art. Kosovo. “Everything was very different,” She has also published a number of artiSpaic recalled. “The country was bombed cles and is the author of “Legal Aspects of with no way of escape. I was only 18 and I Mitigating Risks in Project Finance.” She is was so afraid.” currently working on another book — a By 2000, six years before Montenegro law encyclopedia on economic and comformally declared its independence, things mercial law in Montenegro — while at the were calm enough that Spaic could begin to In high school I was a nerd…. couple’s contemporary apartment in Northwest D.C. study law at the University of Montenegro in Podgorica, Why was this 32-year-old assistant law professor so now her country’s capital.

I missed the parties. I had been career-driven at such a young age? “My mom was 17 After graduating with top honors, she was invited to when she married — she didn’t have time to get fulstudy for her master’s degree in law at Kyushu the best student in our high school filled. She’s my best friend and I want to do it for her.

University in Japan. “That’s when I decided to study Plus, I am tough on myself; I am very critical.” international economic and business law,” said Spaic, and the best in physics.

Although much of her career has involved solitary who then worked on her doctoral in international sales research and study, Spaic says, “I have always liked to law back at the University of Montenegro between — Aneta Spaic be around people. It’s the consequence of growing up 2005 and 2009. adjunct professor at the University of Montenegro in a big family. I have two brothers and one sister and During that time, she also held various positions, we had our grandma with us. In a year my sister will among them interning in the Parliament and working for three different human rights organizations. She was also a teaching assistant at become a lawyer. My older brother, who is two years younger than I am, has a caférestaurant, and my younger brother is only 17 and in high school,” Spaic said. “My the Law School of the University of Montenegro.

More than a decade earlier, Darmanovic had been an MP in the Federal Parliament father is a businessman, doing import and export. I can always remember having of the former Yugoslavia. Afterward, he founded the Centre for Democracy and cheese and beer from Holland and coffee from Brazil.”

So does she want a large family too? “Three years ago I would have said that I Human Rights, an NGO, and he was an associate professor of comparative politics at the University of Montenegro, where he’d served as the founder and first dean of the didn’t want children,” she told us. “But everything is changing. Now I can imagine myself as a mom. I feel that I would not be complete without a child — one child.” university’s political science faculty.

For now, she is trying to be a better diplomat for Montenegro. “In a way, I lack Not surprisingly, the two met at the University of Montenegro. “We were in two different faculties, law and political science, but in the same building on different enough social intelligence. That’s not good for diplomacy. Maybe it’s not smart, but floors. We knew each other and would pass each other in the corridors. That was I always tell the truth to people. Sometimes it sounds harsh and I need to apologize and say, ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean that.’ But I believe my social intelligence is growing.” seven years ago,” said Spaic, who is 20 years younger than the ambassador.

In comparison, she said her longtime partner is a natural diplomat, even though “My family was worried about the 20-year difference in our ages — Srdjan is two this is Darmanovic’s first posting. years older than my mom! They are very conservative and traditional. Now, they love “He is a hard worker and does his homework. He takes a good analytical approach him so much,” she said.

Darmanovic was appointed Montenegro’s ambassador to the U.S. in late 2010 and Continued on next page after arriving in Washington, Spaic became a visiting scholar at American University

“

”

April 2014

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and is always doing something good for his country. He is very persuasive. He treats all people equally. That isn’t true of all of the ambassadors, especially of big countries,” Spaic said.

“Recently, he has organized the Montenegro Caucus in Congress. That is the best thing for Montenegro,” she added. “Having Americans with us will help us get full membership in NATO.” The ambassador possesses another skill set that no doubt helps him analyze a situation and plan a long-term strategy.

“He is a master chess player. He plays in a D.C. league for the Black Knights team,” said Spaic. “He has made many nice friendships here through his beloved hobby. I think he loves chess first and me second! I am so jealous,” she said, laughing.

Spaic herself enjoys taking time off from work to relax, shop and travel. “We call the U.S. paradise for shopping. Here you can get such excellent deals — discounts you would never find in my country,” she said. “Of course, it’s not only about shopping. This is a very cultural city with so many marvelous museums, theaters, bookstores, galleries and restaurants. It’s also a very international city — what I so much like.”

Spaic and the ambassador have also enjoyed traveling around the United States to places such as Miami, Yellowstone National Park, Los Angeles, Maine and Puerto Rico. Recently, they have also visited Israel, Jordan, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic.

Spaic also encourages Americans to visit her homeland, which was listed recently by American Airlines in its in-flight magazine as “The Jewel of the Adriatic.”

“It used to be a bargain,” she said of her young country.

Aneta Spaic, an adjunct professor, and Montenegrin Ambassador Srdjan Darmanovic — seen at left in Jordan and above at President Obama’s 2013 Inauguration — met at the University of Montenegro, where he was an associate professor and she studied law.

“Now, there are higher prices because of development, but we still have history, culture and many nice hotels.”

Montenegro, in fact, has fared relatively well since its independence less than a decade ago, with a per-capita income of nearly $12,000.

“We are the size of Connecticut and have 625,000 people — one-fourth of Walmart’s 2.2 million employees,” Spaic said.

But she added that her tiny country packs a big punch.

“We also have 73 beaches, ski resorts and beautiful national parks. Such a small country is a giant in some sports. We are former European champions in water polo, while our women are silver Olympic medalists and European champions in handball. I love my country.”

Gail Scott is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat and Diplomatic Pouch.

When you fill their cup, you don’t just fill their belly Fighting Hunger Worldwide

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The Washington Diplomat

You fill their mind and feed their future

April 2014

[ photography ]

Intricate Dance From World Leaders to Lady Gaga, a Portrait of People on the Move

by Gary tischler

Y

ou wouldn’t think that two photography exhibitions like “Yousuf Karsh: American Portraits” and “Dancing the Dream” even belong in the same building, but at the National Portrait Gallery, they graciously hold court together. The images, while screaming with individuality, speak to each other and say a lot about the nature of portraits, personality, lasting fame and American diversity.

Within that diversity lies a world of differences, as the faces of old Hollywood glamour and intimidating world leaders make for strange companions to the exuberant, almost flirty expressions on impresarios such as Liza Minnelli.

The contrast between the two exhibitions is of course a product of the subject matter.

Canadian-American photographer Yousuf Karsh was renowned for his portraits of statesmen, artists, musicians, authors, scientists and people of accomplishment. He became famous by photographing the famous. When we think of people like Winston Churchill or Ernest Hemingway, we often unconsciously think of them within the frames of their Karsh portraits.

“Dancing the Dream” depicts artists who’ve left their mark on the world of dance over the last 100 years, from Rudolph Valentino to Beyoncé.

Both shows have a distinctly American flair but are fundamentally different. There is something purposefully permanent about the Karsh portraits, as if they’re meant to be a definitive, final look at a particular subject. They’re the photographic equivalents of a lengthy biography, securely locked within the frame.

The photographs in “Dancing the Dream,” on the other hand, are elusive and kinetic, like the journeys of the dance icons they portray. They offer a fleeting glimpse into a world that is constantly and quite literally on the move.

“Dancing the Dream” features photographs of famous dancers over the last 100 years, such as liza Minnelli, left, while “Yousuf Karsh: American Portraits” showcases personalities such as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

PhoTo: nATionAl PorTrAiT GAllErY / EsTATE oF YousuF KArsh

[

Yet both exhibits share a sense of privilege: They allow viewers to peer into the lives of vibrant performers and outsize personalities frozen in time, a stillness captured by the camera that belies their action-packed lives.

That was part of Karsh’s gift, says Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery. “He not only had the uncanny ability to amplify a person’s character, but also offered everyday people the opportunity to glimpse into the private lives of the men and women who shaped the 20th century that feels both personal and real,” she said.

The Karsh exhibit itself is a gift: The photogPhoTo: nATionAl PorTrAiT GAllErY rapher’s wife, Estrellita Karsh, donated 100 portraits to the museum. The 27 images in the Dancing the Dream current installation will run through April 27 and another exhibition of 27 more iconic images will begin May 2 and through July 13 run through Nov. 14.

Yousuf Karsh: American portraits With the exception of a portrait of Karsh himself, through April 27 sternly checking out an image, and that of his wife Estrellita, the exhibition is a parade of who’s who in 20thnational portrait Gallery century America. The Armenian-born photographer 8th and F streets, nW moved to Canada as a teenager and eventually became a For more information, please call (202) 633-1000 or visit http://npg.si.edu.

]

Moving Collaboration Photographs of dancers inspired the real thing as part of a national Portrait Gallery collaboration with the Dana Tai soon Burgess Dance Company, a local gem that’s earned national acclaim.

Dana Tai soon Burgess, a new Mexico native who often dissects his Asian-American roots in his dances, has become the smithsonian’s first choreographer-in-residence and was commissioned by the Portrait Gallery to create a site-specific work in April in conjunction with the “Dancing the Dream” exhibit. “it is an honor to be the first resident choreographer at the national Portrait Gallery. My newest work will speak to where we are currently in the field of dance,” Burgess told us. last fall, he debuted the piece “homage” that

April 2014

featured a soundtrack of interviews and music associated with important figures in American dance such as John Travolta and shirley Temple Black, who recently passed away. on April 19, he’ll present a new piece inspired by early modern dance masters and contemporary movement trends. To get a sneak peek, visitors can check out the open rehearsals that will be held in the museum galleries on March 22, 29, April 5, 12 and 14. “i am looking forward to seeing our dance supporters at the national Portrait Gallery. it is a joy to have people watch our rehearsals and then see how the work evolves into a complete performance,” Burgess said, adding that the museum itself has shaped his work.

“The collection and space are quite an inspira-

“Homage” featured a soundtrack of interviews and music associated with important figures in American dance as part of the “Dancing the Dream” exhibit.

PhoTo: MArY noBlE ours

tion. i love being outside the traditional dance studio, up close to our audiences.”

“Dancing the Dream” — along with “Diaghilev and the Ballets russes, 1909-29: When Art Danced with Music,” an earlier exhibition of dance history at the national Gallery of Art — also inspired two new works that Dana Tai soon Burgess Dance Company presented at the Kennedy Center in February.

That performance delved into the cross-cultural influences and tensions that have been a hallmark of the company’s thought-provoking artistry. “leaving Pusan” traced the story of Burgess’s great-grandmother’s decision to leave Korea in 1903 to begin a new life on the plantations of hawaii, while “Khaybet” stemmed from the choreographer’s tour of northern Pakistan — one of many overseas visits Burgess has made (also see “All the World’s a stage for Burgess and Washington Ballet Dancers” in the october 2011 issue of The Washington Diplomat).

Burgess incorporates Eastern and Western elements in a style that melds contemporary dance,

see DAnCe, page 43

ballet lines, martial arts, gesture and visual arts.

The son of an irish-scottish-German-American father from upstate new York and a KoreanAmerican mother, Burgess has brought on board dancers with similarly eclectic backgrounds. he’s also served for 16 years as a state Department cultural ambassador, traveling with his company to Chile, Ecuador, Egypt, india, israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Korea, latvia, Mexico, Mongolia, Pakistan, Panama, Peru and venezuela, among other places. his passport is set to get a few more stamps.

Burgess is scheduled to tour the British virgin islands shortly and suriname in september on behalf of the state Department.

For more information on the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company, visit http://dtsbdc.org or www.npg.si.edu.

— Anna Gawel

The Washington Diplomat Page 39

[ theater ]

Spoon-Fed Too Much Scattered Plot Strands Don’t Gel in ‘Water by the Spoonful’

by Lisa troshinsky

T

he Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Water by the Spoonful” is a puzzling blend of narratives and digressions that ultimately doesn’t gel into a satisfying whole.

Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes’s overly ambitious attempt to expose and tie together too many societal issues — drug addiction, war veterans, problematic online support groups, poverty and death — is a lesson in fragmentation.

Granted, a play need not make perfect sense. There are scripts that brilliantly end with searing questions for the audience. But theater should be cohesive enough to steer the audience in the direction of one theme, or overriding message, without confusing it to distraction. “Spoonful” tap dances around a thesis but lacks a unifying thread, leaving any intended larger message unraveled.

Studio Artistic Director David Muse wrote that Hudes “was inspired by the large-canvas plays of writers like Tony Kushner [“Angels in America”] and Tracy Letts [“August: Osage County”], and set out to write something with a grander scope and scale than her previous work.” Kushner and Letts — who superbly merge simultaneous plots about dysfunctional families and societal woes into their works — are fine role models for Hudes, who in all fairPhoTos: TEDDY WolFF ness wrote “Spoonful” as part of a trilogy. As the middle play, it might make more sense if it the story of an iraq war veteran trying to readjust to life in Philadelphia had been performed in between its bookintersects with a web chat room for recovering cocaine addicts in Quiara marked scripts.

Alegría hudes’s Pulitzer-winning play “Water by the spoonful.”

The trilogy focuses on the character of Elliot, a second-generation Puerto Rican and a to serve as a hint to the audience: Enjoy the improviMarine discharged from Iraq who is trying to sational feel and discord in this script). assimilate back into life in north Philadelphia.

Plot switch: Hudes introduces four new characters The first play, “Elliot: A Soldier’s Fugue,” is set who have signed onto an online chat group for recovjust after he returns from combat and traces ering cocaine addicts. Here, lighting designer Michael the legacy of war through three familial genGiannitti cleverly creates an onscreen experience erations. “Spoonful” follows Elliot’s life six with projections of screen names and icons on the years after Iraq and explores his relationship From left, vincent J. Brown, Tim Getman and Gabriela Fernandezwall as members sign on and off. with his cousin, Yaz, a music professor. The Coffey are part of an eclectic online chat group for recovering The chat room moderator, user name “Haikumom” last installment, “The Happiest Song Plays cocaine addicts in “Water by the spoonful,” now at studio Theatre.

(Odessa) is overly zealous in her attempts to reform Last,” takes up the lives of Elliot and Yaz a few new members (foreshadowing her eventual fall from years after “Spoonful” ends. self-righteous grace), especially newcomer The trilogy is somewhat autobiographical in Water by the Spoonful “Fountainhead,” a rich, pretty white boy who spurns the that Hudes, half Puerto Rican and half Jewish, grew through April 13 wrath of other members for denying he’s an addict. Member up in west Philadelphia and studied music compoStudio theatre “Chutes&Ladders,” a cynical, apathetic middle-age African sition (like Yaz) at Yale before she decided to seriAmerican man bonds with “Orangutan,” an adopted, lonely, ously pursue writing as a career. Most of her char1501 14th st., nW hyperactive 20-something who’s taken a job teaching acters struggle with identity, as did Hudes, who Tickets are $39 to $75.

English in her native Japan. Most of this dialogue is heavyadmits that “being half Jewish and half Puerto For more information, please call (202) 332-3300 handed, too loud and delivered from superficial characters Rican, and also being much lighter than the rest of or visit www.studiotheatre.org. (maybe how they appear in a chat room?). my family, I was always shuffling between commuNot until the last moment of Act I is the audience nities.”

For all of the play’s faults, the second act is decidedly stronger than the first and informed how Elliot and Yaz’s world collides with those of the chat room, which attempts to pull the rambling pieces together, but clarity doesn’t come fast enough, results in a painfully long and confusing hour, but promises a more gratifying second act. and it is never absolute.

Although much of this production doesn’t flow, “Haikumom” is, in the end, the The audience’s first clue of confusion is Dan Conway’s cluttered backdrop for the action: an old bathtub, stacked metal chairs, glass-top table and dilapidated most captivating piece of the puzzle, because her character experiences the biggest ceiling. The scenery stays constant, no matter the plotline that is being acted out, transformation. The vulnerability that actress Gabriela Fernandez-Coffey brings to which is distracting and frenzied to say the least. (Why is that bathtub in the middle Haikumom’s conversion captures a subtle, quiet intensity her fellow actors aren’t able to achieve. of the floor? This doesn’t get answered until the play’s end.)

It is this type of sensitivity that the rest of the script needs in order to actualize Next up come the multiple storylines. Elliot, played by Arturo Soria, appears to suffer from war flashbacks while he struggles to make ends meet as a Subway Hudes’s apparent intention: to lend the full effect of how those afflicted with realemployee. He leans heavily on Yaz, played by Gisela Chípe, whose mother (the life struggles find answers through bonds — both familial and those self-selected aunt who raised him) is dying. Yaz is a music professor who profusely defends John families found in as transient a place as an Internet chat room.

Coltrane’s dissonant jazz (to an imaginary classroom) over more easily digestible compositions. (This last bit has nothing to do with the rest of the play other than Lisa Troshinsky is the theater reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

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April 2014

[ photography ]

Completing the Picture Winogrand Retrospective Fills in Blanks of Prolific Career

by Gary tischler

T

[

hey finally got him. Time, tastes and perhaps the aching need of his photographs just to be out there, on a wall and not inside a fusty vault, finally caught up with Garry Winogrand. The restless, somewhat secretive yet highly prolific photographer died suddenly in 1984 at the age of 56, leaving behind some 250,000 frames of undeveloped film, exposures and contact sheets.

The National Gallery of Art, in a dizzying retrospective of Winogrand’s photographs — the first of its kind in 25 years — has brought Winogrand’s eye for postwar American life into the present-day light of the 21st century. The 190 images span the 1950s to the time of his death, capturing the spirit of a country in the midst of both promise and tumult.

Many of the photographs have never before been exhibited or reproduced, offering a more complete look at an iconic artist who photographed everything from zoo animals to antiwar protesters to everyday street scenes.

Winogrand, in fact, was dubbed a New York City street photographer because he worked at street level, or eye level, wandering, moving around all of the time in a frenetic pace that seems contagious as you roam the halls of this exhibit.

But he was also an avid traveler who ventured across the United States, from San Francisco to Chicago to the open country of the Southwest. The visual results of these travels are reminiscent of fellow American photographers such as William Eggleston, who injected color, literally, into artistic photography, or Walker Evans, the master of what he termed the roving, “hungry” eye.

Winogrand, who grew up in a Jewish working-class area of the Bronx, started photographing for magazines in the 1950s like the defunct Collier’s, Life, Look and even Sports Illustrated (there is a startling shot here of welter-weight champ Carmen Basilio taking a shot in the face).

All of Winogrand’s photographs seem to be on move, Garry Winogrand regardless of whom they portray.

He liked to shoot women (lots of through June 8 them), posers and even storenational Gallery of Art front mannequins. He liked to on the national Mall between 3rd and 9th streets shoot at airports, train stations at Constitution Avenue, nW and bus stations, where people For more information, please call (202) 737-4215 mill around anxiously, getting or visit www.nga.gov. lost in the crowd. No iPads, phones or plugged-up ears here — just people roving, searching and being in the moment. He liked to shoot animals at the zoo, parades, circus clowns, the murkier corners of show business, high- and low-brow society, and countless politicians and political events.

For instance, we see Winogrand on assignment in the 1960s at the Democratic National Convention, where there’s a glimpse, just barely, of Robert Kennedy in a sea of tacticians and workers, as John F. Kennedy works the crowd.

At one point Winogrand shot rolls of film at Dealey Plaza the year after JFK’s assassination, but his work wasn’t necessarily about historic moments or history

April 2014

]

the national Gallery of Art presents an expansive retrospective of American photographer Garry Winogrand with 190 images, including, from clockwise top left: “John F. Kennedy, Democratic national Convention, los Angeles,” “Fort Worth,” “Metropolitan opera, new York City” and “Park Avenue, new York.”

PhoTos: ThE EsTATE oF GArrY WinoGrAnD, CourTEsY FrAEnKEl GAllErY, sAn FrAnCisCo

makers. He was able to frame both the heady postwar optimism of the time along with the pessimism of the post-Vietnam era by focusing more on the peripherals — everyday people on the move, lolling about on park benches, living it up at a party, participating in a campaign rally, or just maneuvering down a crowded sidewalk.

Winogrand snapped it all up. Restless is a good way to describe the thricemarried photographer who could be a playful joker and a disquieting observer of details and human nature, spotting, for example, a well-turned-out man stuck in a shirt that’s just a shade too small for him.

You can almost hear the soundtrack behind his images: the blustering wind on a desolate beach, the car horns punctuating the Manhattan air, the challenging chattering of a monkey, murmured voices on a park bench, the swish of a woman’s fur coat, the gaggle of young kids playing. Whether it’s a sleekly dressed couple among Central Park’s pillar of trees or a girl tying her shoes in front of an adult movie shop in Texas, the exhibit makes you feel as if you’ve been on a bus ride and time machine all at once.

It also makes you wonder about what’s still out there — the reams of undeveloped film and exposures that number in the thousands. Winogrand published five books, but they contain only a fraction of his oeuvre, and he largely postponed printing and editing his work, especially at the end of his life, which was cut short by gall bladder cancer. Fortunately, the National Gallery has stepped in to fill in some of the blanks and offer a more complete, nuanced picture of a man who captured the pulse of a nation.

Gary Tischler is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

The Washington Diplomat Page 41

[ dining ]

Suburban Sustainability Groundbreaking Founding Farmers Cultivates Loyal Following in Maryland

by Rachel G. Hunt

B

ack in 2011, the new Potomac Park development project just off Route 270 in Montgomery County, Md., became the suburban proving ground for a successful downtown D.C. concept restaurant that had been redefining high-volume dining since it opened in 2008.

Founding Farmers, the inspiration of the Vucurevich Simons Advisory Group, tapped into the growing fascination with local and seasonal ingredients and other eco-friendly practices that were increasingly driving high-end boutique restaurants in the area. Pairing sustainable sourcing with a focus on the farm and a down-home approach to cooking, Founding Farmers emphasizes classic comfort foods built entirely from scratch. While the idea was not new, the fact that it was done on a large scale and at a price point that made it widely accessible was. The success of its second location in a sprawling suburban complex overlooking the highway confirms the durability and transportability of the concept.

Befitting the suburbia way of life, everything about MoCo Founding Farmers is big: big concept, big space, big food. The 8,100-square-foot, two-story spot was designed by the notable D.C. architecture and design firm of Core to echo but not mirror the downtown location. The team created an airy space that evokes the feeling of a barn, right down to the little mouse hole on the stairway (complete with the mouse).

In planning the layout, the development team wanted to expand the sustainability ethos far beyond the food. The restaurant achieved LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification and features an impressive array of reclaimed and recycled materials — the bar was built with planks salvaged from shoe shipping crates, and wood from old barns is used throughout the space. It also incorporates energy-efficient lighting heating, and cooling; efficient plumbing; and low-fume paints. The downtown location was the first restaurant in the country to be granted LEED gold certification, and the Montgomery County branch has received the silver designation.

All of this is readily transparent to diners. What they experience is a comfortable space, bright with wood, glass and metal; interesting fabrics; appealing decorative flourishes, including a painted mosaic mural that resembles an aerial view of a big farm with fields planted in different crops; and lots of noise. One of the downsides of a popular restaurant catering to all ages is increasing volume as Founding Farmers the evening wears on during 12505 Park Potomac Ave., crowded nights (which most are at the MoCo location).

Potomac, Md. As with everything else at (301) 340-TRUE (8783) Founding Farmers, the menu is www.wearefoundingfarmers.com big, and so are the portions.

Executive chef Joe Goetze, a vetBreakfast: Mon. - Fri. 7 - 11 a.m. eran of the high-volume restauBrunch: Sat., Sun. 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. rant industry, highlights ingredients that (whenever possible) can Lunch and Dinner: Mon. - Wed. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.; be obtained from local farmers

Thu. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.; Fri. 11 a.m. - 12 a.m.; and producers. His approach is Sat. 2 p.m. - 12 a.m.; Sun. 2 p.m. - 10 p.m. based on the principle that you should always be able get a good Starters: $2 - $14 meal away from home. And good here is synonymous with the kinds Entrées: $9 - $28 of food you might eat at home, Desserts: $3-$10 only more so. Classics like pot roast, meatloaf, fried chicken, steaks, burgers, hot dogs and macaroni and cheese abound on the menu, making it suitable for all ages and particularly family friendly.

But the menu is not limited to simple fare, although in their preparation, even these humble dishes are elevated far above the mundane; a touch of cinnamon in the pot roast, for instance, gives it a whole new dimension. Pastas such as the black pepper gnocchi, prepared in an amaretto cream sauce with crumbled sausage, are as

[ ] want to

go?

Page 42

The Washington Diplomat

Founding Farmers in Montgomery County, Md., emphasizes classic comfort foods built entirely from scratch in an airy, 8,100-squarefoot space that evokes the feeling of a barn.

Photos: Jessica Latos

good as any you might experience in a sophisticated Italian restaurant, while the fresh seafood done in several different signature preparations rivals many of the top local fish houses. The ciabatta-based farm breads are a collection of intriguing, open-faced sandwich-type dishes (that can be grilled to order) with some truly fascinating combinations, such as prosciutto, fig and mascarpone; brie, onion jam and sliced apples; and our favorite, the herb goat cheese and cured salmon.

The desserts at Founding Farmers are just what you might guess: rich, sweet and plenty to go around. Some of the dishes are designed to be shared, such as the chocolate mousse for two, served in a deep glass mixing bowl topped with chocolate hazelnut crunch, caramel sauce and whipped cream. Others might as well be. The cake slices are huge — the Farmer Ellen’s Carrot Cake is so dense one slice easily serves four. Even the beignets are oversize. Served with a raspberry coulis, semi-sweet chocolate sauce and caramel sauce, the Uncle Buck’s Beignets are less dense than typical versions served in New Orleans. All of the desserts are made in the open dessert studio on the first floor so you can brush up on icing techniques while you wait.

Cocktails drinkers may want to make a separate trip to Founding Farmers just to sample the extensive and inventive drink menu. The trip alone might be worth it to April 2014

try the Potomac Park Swizzle, a true giant of a drink made with Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Kalani Coconut, passion fruit, lime juice, house-made falernum, bitters, lots of ice and a crown of fresh mint sprigs. Concoctions like this won chief mixologist and beverage director Jon Arroyo a RAMMY award for best beverage/mixology program from the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington in 2011.

The local farm-to-table concept also carries over into the beverage program, only in this case it’s by way of the still. Founding Farmers has collaborated with Copper Fox Distillery in Sperryville, Va., to develop its own brands: Founding Farmers Rye and the new Farm Gin, which you can sample in one of the excellent cocktails or on their own. If beer is your pleasure, there are rotating selections from small local and regional craft brewers as well as a sampling of imports. On the wine list, all choices on the international collection by the glass are biodynamic, sustainable or organic.

Implementing the farm-to-table philosophy in such a high-volume setting and across all aspects of the restaurant is a significant challenge, but one which the team has risen to admirably. If a visit to Founding Farmers sometimes feels a bit like a trip to the Cheesecake Factory of the slow-food movement, it might well be because some of the concept developers started out there. But with their sincere commitment to sustainability and environmental protection, that tiny taint can be forgiven.

Perhaps the most compelling argument for Founding Farmers as an advocate for the small farmer is not just the fact that it turns to these farmers for its ingredients, but also that it’s actually owned by farmers. One of the principle partners in the restaurants is the North Dakota Farmers Union, a 40,000-strong membership organization made of family farmers.

YOU SAY “I DO”...

WE DO THE REST.

PhoTo: JEssiCA lATos

Chefs Amanda Kiger, left, and Dan Dienneman pair local, sustainable ingredients with a downhome approach to cooking at Founding Farmers.

It is somewhat ironic, though, that MoCo Founding Farmers was built in a pricey development project on land that not too long ago was productive farmland.

But farmland in booming Montgomery County, one of the region’s wealthiest suburbs, is no longer easy to come by. Luxury condos and mixed-use communities have sprouted in its place. But traces of the land can still be found at Founding Farmers, an oasis of ambitious yet approachable cooking that’s made a home for itself in the heart of both suburbia and urban D.C. Rachel G. Hunt is the restaurant reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

Duncan and her own take on modern dance.

You see the emergence of a distinct American style of dance on prominent portraitist of Broadway, where Agnes world figures. Karsh de Mille revolutionized a worked in a manner that stage previously inhabitwas both studied and ed by chorus lines and spontaneous — exemplishow girls by injecting fied by his 1941 shot of choreographed numbers Winston Churchill that into the musical propelled Karsh’s career.

“Oklahoma.” You can In the picture, the British even see James Cagney prime minister, visiting as Broadway legend the Canadian House of George M. Cohan in Commons, looks stern, PhoTo: nATionAl PorTrAiT GAllErY / 1975 MAx WAlDMAn “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” indefatigable, an immovThere are newer faces able wall of a leader. Max Waldman’s photograph of as well, such as Lady Karsh reportedly wanted Mikhail Baryshnikov in “le Jeune Gaga clad in leather and that bulldog look, and he homme et la Mort” is among the Beyoncé draped in a got even more of it when images in “Dancing the Dream” bejeweled top that barehe asked Churchill to put at the national Portrait Gallery. ly covers what it needs away his cigar.

Also included are other luminaries to. But all of the images prompt a certain spanning the political and arts realms, admiration for the disciplined form and including Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, free spirit of dancers, as seen in Michael a smoking Tennessee Williams, and the Jackson’s gyrating, dramatic moves, Gregory Hines’ swift grace, Mikhail placidly beautiful Grace Kelly.

Martha Graham, the scion of American Baryshnikov’s lithe strength, the outramodern dance, does double duty here, geously sinuous Liza Minnelli, and the appearing in both the Karsh and dance pop culture mastery of Madonna.

They captivated us with their innovaexhibits. “Dancing the Dream” explores modern, classical and contemporary tion and sheer talent, just as the people in dance over the past century through Karsh’s portraits continue to fascinate us. nearly 70 photographs spread out over The National Portrait Gallery offers a six sections, including “Broadway and the moment to reflect on this dynamism, American Dream,” “The Rise of American which stood still just long enough for us Ballet,” “Choreography Goes Pop” and to admire today.

“Dance in the Media Age.” The halls are full of American originals, Gary Tischler is a contributing writer for The beginning with the legendary Isadora Washington Diplomat.

from page 39

Dance

April 2014

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The Washington Diplomat Page 43

[ film reviews ]

Nonstop ‘Raid’ Indonesian Martial Arts Machine Is Better Than Red Bull

by Ky N. Nguyen

A

[

workers while maintaining his commit­ t the 2014 South by Southwest ment to nonviolent change.

(SXSW) Film Festival, the Indo­ne­ Unfortunately, in many critical ways, sian action flick “The Raid 2” helmer Luna does not quite dodge the arrived with as much fanfare as sophomore slump with “Cesar Chavez.” any film selection, based on the Luna plays it too safe with such weighty excellent reputation of the material, failing to fully convey the power original “The Raid” as well as of Chavez’s civil disobedience. Under the loud buzz from the world premiere of Luna’s conservative direction, Chavez’s “The Raid 2” at Sundance that dazzled nascent movement never quite comes to audi­ences. A packed house at the Para­ life. Sophisticated filmgoers may walk out mount Theatre in Austin eagerly waited of “Cesar Chavez” with a nagging after­ for SXSW’s single screening of “The Raid taste, as if they have just seen a movie of 2,” a fight-filled ride about an undercover the week, even if it is better than your Jakarta cop who tries to bring down a average made-for-television biography. It major crime syndicate. falls into the category of films about Alas, the screening was abruptly can­ important subject matter that viewers are celed after the theater’s projectionist fig­ supposed to love en masse but may ured out that the digital cinema package merely respect and acknowledge.

Photo: Akhirwan Nurhaidir and Gumilar Triyoga / Sony Pictures Classics (DCP) print lacked English subtitles. As a The film does benefit from the heartfelt consolation prize for the disappointed “The Raid 2” is an action-filled ride about a stoic rookie on the Jakarta police force who tries to take performances by its ensemble cast, led by audience, Welsh director Gareth Evans down a major crime syndicate.

Peña’s sincere portrayal of the epony­ invited his actors Iko Uwais and Cecep mous lead role; Dawson’s powerful turn Arif Rahman on stage to perform a live martial arts demonstration. Fans learned more as Dolores Huerta, Chavez’s co-founder of the United Farm Workers; Ferrara as Chavez’s good news after SXSW added two replacement screenings of “The Raid 2.” outspoken wife Helen; and the always distinctive American icon John Malkovich as a stub­ Was it worth the wait? Yes, “The Raid 2” fulfills all the hype. Well, all is an extreme word, born grape grower who is Chavez’s primary nemesis. Yet none of the characters seems but you get the idea. The film’s innovative martial arts scenes are so well choreographed quite authentic, perhaps because they are lacking in full character development. that they rise to the category of dance. I left the theater feeling like a million bucks and The story is built from a serviceable but frequently awkward screenplay written by Keir quite energized, better than after drinking Red Pearson (“Hotel Rwanda”) and Timothy J. Sexton (“Children of Men”). The anecdotes Bull. The film’s lightning-speed action moves about Chavez’s personal life, such as his estrangement from his son who feels neglected The Raid 2 so quickly that engaging the while his father is crusading, often seem The Raid 2: Berandal brain to keep up acts as a clumsy at best. Like Chavez’s son, the (Indonesian with subtitles; 148 min.; scope) premium mental workout audience understands intellectually and attention booster. The what his father is fighting for, but its Angelika Mosaic film’s 148 minutes flies by importance does not resonate with us Opens Fri., April 4 in the blink of an eye. emotionally.

As “The Raid 2” opens, ★★★★★ police officer Rama (Uwais), Genocidal ‘Picture’ a stoic rookie on the Jakarta police force, has finally defeated an entire For some two and a half decades, building full of gangbangers in hand-to-hand combat, which he Rithy Panh, Cambodia’s leading film­ believes will finally open the door for his return to his regular life. Alas, maker who was trained in France as a his commanding officer informs Rama that he’s now on the radar of refugee, has created critically respected higher-ranking mobsters. To protect himself and his family, he has no but little-seen historical films. The col­ choice but to go undercover in prison, acting as Yuda, a nobody whose lection deals with the legacy of the only significance is his exceptional ability to fight as a thug. In actuality, Khmer Rouge’s brutal reign of terror, he is a plant to infiltrate a powerful organized crime family by befriend­ Photo: Pantelion Films 2013 led by dictator Pol Pot, over the people ing prodigal son Ucok (Arifin Putra), precipitating a strategy to take of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. down all the big fish in a long game.

Michael Peña stars in “Cesar Chavez” as the labor and civil rights Director-writer Panh’s latest film, “The Fans of “The Raid” series will be happy to hear that “The Raid 3” is activist who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association.

Missing Picture,” is his first that tells his in the works, picking up where “The Raid 2” left off. individual story, based on “The Elimination,” his 2012 autobiography. No doubt, Panh’s Cesar Chavez Flat ‘Chavez’ tale is mostly comprised of very dark moments, but they (English and Spanish with subtitles; 101 “Cesar Chavez,” an earnest biopic of the legendary Chicano labor and are somewhat balanced by lighter recollections of happier min.; scope) civil rights activist Cesar Chavez, picked a good place to make its North times before the Khmer Rouge.

American premiere at SXSW in Austin, deep in the heart of Texas, an over­ The entrancing result is a one-of-a-kind, mixed-media Angelika Mosaic size state with a large and growing Hispanic population. With open arms, visual essay that tells a highly personal story and simulta­ Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema the appreciative audience welcomed Mexican director-producer Diego neously exists as a critical historical document. Generally Luna (also an actor in “Y Tu Mamá También”), Mexican-American actor ★★★✩✩ classified as a documentary, “The Missing Picture” dis­ Michael Peña (“Crash”), American actress Rosario Dawson (“Alexander the plays clips from extant Cambodian archival film footage, Great”), Honduran-American actress America Ferrara (TV’s “Ugly Betty”) and American which primarily consists of Khmer Rouge propaganda. Panh and Christophe Bataille actor Gabriel Mann (“The Bourne Identity”). wrote the poignant narration representing Panh’s voice (read by actor Jean-Baptiste Director of photography Enrique Chediak’s glowing, hand-held cinematography was Phou). To represent pictures, people, animals and objects missing from his memory, Panh shot on location in northern Mexico, which stands in suitably for the sun-drenched dust employs scores of intricate, hand-carved clay figurines. bowl of the expansive California Central Valley. With steady pacing, “Cesar Chavez” straightforwardly outlines Chavez’s professional struggles in the 1960s to organize farm See film reviews, page 45

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Page 44

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The Washington Diplomat

April 2014

[ film interview ]

Grand Collaboration Anderson and Friends Create Mayhem in 1930s Budapest Hotel

by Ky N. Nguyen

O

M in the latest James Bond installment. Anderson said he took to the role of Gustave quickly. n March 10, during the 2014 South by “I don’t remember him having a lot of questions about the charac­ Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival, ter,” the director said. “I think his thing was the character was the kind the most desirable place to be in of character where someone could do a real turn with it, and he Austin was the 1,200-seat wanted to make him a real person. And that was what he was focused Paramount Theatre for the sole on.”

SXSW screening of American Anderson also strove for authenticity. “The whole movie was shot writer-director-producer Wes on location, really, in this town called Görlitz — that’s in Saxony,” he Anderson’s U.S.-German coproduc­ said. “Half the city’s in Germany, half in Poland — 20 minutes from the tion, “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” The big draw Czech Republic. We built sets on location…. We shot 75 percent of the was an extended Q&A with the quirky visionary, movie within 12 minutes of this little hotel where we lived.” a Houston native who attended the University of Fellow director Richard Linklater (“Boyhood,” “Before Sunrise”) Texas at Austin. moderated the SXSW discussion and was joined by Jason Schwartzman, It was definitely a homecoming of sorts for a frequent actor in Anderson’s films who is in “The Grand Budapest Anderson, who recalled that, “When Owen Hotel,” which also features Jeff Goldblum, Adrien Brody, Willem Wilson and I made our first film ‘Bottle Rocket’ Dafoe, Jude Law, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Bill Murray and other many years ago, before most of you were born, Photo: Martin Scali.

Anderson regulars. we had a special sneak preview here [at the “It was so wonderful being together,” Schwartzman recalled of the University of Texas], where I had once been a American writer-director-producer Wes Anderson shooting. “A lot of the actors don’t have scenes together. It was so projectionist. I had really secretly lived for a short is known for his distinctive, often quirky visual and wonderful the way Wes set it up so that all the actors lived together in time in an attic above the balcony, which was narrative style. a hotel. I didn’t work with Jeff Goldblum, but I got to spend a lot of filled with bats. After the sneak preview, we did a time with him. It felt like camp or Q&A…. It was awkward because we risked outnumbering the audience.”

Times have changed. The Oscar-nominated director has become renowned for his something…. You’d walk out of distinctive, often quirky visual and narrative style, as seen in films such as “Moonrise your room, walk down the steps, Kingdom,” “The Darjeeling Limited,” “The Royal Tenenbaums” and “Rushmore.” His turn the corner, and Jeff Goldblum latest comedy-drama ensemble stars Ralph Fiennes as Gustave, a legendary concierge is there. ‘Hi, what are you doing?’ at a European hotel in the 1930s. Against the backdrop of looming war, the theft of a ‘Nothing, what are you doing?’ priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune, Gustave ‘Let’s have a sandwich.’ And then must do what it takes to maintain the decorum and high standards for which his hotel eight hours later, I’m talking to him about acting. It’s a wonderful way is famous (even if means sleeping with every guest in town).

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” marked the first time that Anderson, known for to make a movie.

“The times that I’ve had with employing the same actors, worked with Fiennes, who the director said perfectly embodied the film’s resourceful, suave protagonist. “He’s English, and he’s not a Wes are the greatest of my life,” hotel concierge, but everything else is like … Ralph,” Anderson Schwartzman added. “You just can’t believe the company that said. “He talks that way, and it’s his personality.”

He added: “We wrote this part for him, and I’ve been dying to you’re in. Listening to stories, “The Grand Photo: Martin Scali / Fox Searchlight work with him. And I love Ralph. He can be funny, but he’s very watching Ralph Fiennes talk to Budapest Hotel” Ralph Fiennes, left, stars as a legendary concierge at a Jude Law….

The conversations, formidable. is now playing at area theaters, including the “I always pictured him as sort of a Shakespearean, and obvi­ they’re just wonderful to listen to famous European hotel while Tony Revolori plays his trainee AFI Silver Theatre, ously he’s done that and can do that. But I think the great and and overhear. You just get so much and trusted friend in “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”

Angelika Mosaic, Landmark’s exciting thing about working with him was that he’s really more great information — it’s amazing.”

Bethesda Row Cinema and “We don’t pay the actors, but we have a very good cook that we bring in,” Anderson like a method actor,” Anderson continued. “He really brings a real Landmark’s E Street Cinema. quipped. “And we all have grub together every night. That makes quite a significant charge to the set.”

He also brings a distinguished pedigree, with award-winning difference.” turns in films such as “Schindler’s List” and “The English Patient.” But Fiennes also boasts a diverse repertoire, playing Lord Voldemort in the “Harry Potter” series and Ky N. Nguyen is the film reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

wantto

go?

from page 44

Film Reviews In 1975, when Panh was 13, the Khmer Rouge began to implement its horrific ver­ sion of a communist state. He recalls his friends and family as well as the trauma they subsequently endured. He, his family and millions of other urban residents were mass relocated by force to rural labor camps. Except for a spoon, personal possessions were eliminated and banned.

All clothes were dyed black to excise color. Even names were forbidden (Pol

[

The Missing Picture L’image manquante (French and English with subtitles; 92 min.)

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Opens Fri., April 4

★★★★✩

]

Pot was known as “Brother No. 1”).

Everybody starved; many dying from mal­ nutrition. Others were tortured for con­ fessions and/or executed. The result was genocide.

“The Missing Picture” proves to be a more than deserving addition to Panh’s body of work and may become his most commercially successful movie yet. In this case, however, the definition of commer­ cial success is still negligible by Hollywood standards and does not imply big boxoffice returns. But “The Missing Picture” is enjoying a limited U.S. theatrical release

by Strand, a small but highly regarded specialty distributor with a lengthy tenure in the indie film business.

Ky N. Nguyen is the film reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

April 2014

Photo: Strand Releasing

Scores of intricate, hand-carved clay figurines represent people missing from the memory of Cambodian director Rithy Panh, whose film “The Missing Picture” recounts his experiences during the genocidal reign of the Khmer Rouge.

The Washington Diplomat Page 45

[ film ]

CINEMA LISTING Arabic

In this Nordic noir, police inspector Carl Mørck is put in charge of a department of cold cases and, joined only by his assistant, digs into a case about a disappeared woman (Danish, Swedish and Arabic).

Ladder to Damascus (Soullam ila Dimashk)

Dutch

*Unless specific times are listed, please check the theater for times. Theater locations are subject to change.

Filmfest DC

Directed by Mohamed Malas (Qatar/Lebanon/Syria, 2013, 95 min.)

Ghalia is haunted by the soul of a girl who drowned the day she was born and travels to Damascus to better understand her condition. There, she meets an aspiring filmmaker as the tumultuous events in Syria start unfolding around them.

Filmfest DC

Return to Homs Directed by Talal Derki (Syria/Germany, 2013, 87 min.)

Filmed over three years, this film follows two young Syrian men whose dreams of freedom changed as war erupted around them.

Filmfest DC

Bengali

Romantic Brasserie (Brasserie Romantiek) Directed by Joël Vanhoebrouck (Belgium, 2012, 104 min.)

Pascaline runs a stylish brasserie and on Valentine’s Day her old flame from 20 years ago suddenly reappears and asks her to leave right now for Rio.

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT Lost Son of Havana Directed by Jonathan Hock (U.S., 2009, 102 min.)

Former pitching great Luis Tiant returns to Cuba for the first time since leaving in 1961 at age 20 for a bittersweet reunion with his homeland and family members.

Directed by Sébastien Betbeder (France, 2013, 91 min.)

Directed by Lars von Trier (Denmark/Germany/France/Belgium/U.K., 2013, 110 min.)

A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating.

Only Lovers Left Alive Directed by Jim Jarmusch (U.K./Germany/France/Cyprus/U.S., 2013, 123 min.)

Two fragile and sensitive vampires who have been lovers for centuries are both cultured intellectuals who have evolved to a level where they no longer kill for sustenance, but still retain their innate wildness.

Act Zero

Filmfest DC

Angelika Mosaic Opens Fri., April 18

Directed by Goutam Ghose (India, 2013, 127 min.)

Anna Karenina

Particle Fever

A corporate high-flier is sent to the hinterland to clear tribal villages for a mining project. There, he meets an intrepid journalist and growing Maoist violence.

Filmfest DC

Czech Cosy Dens (Pelísky) Directed by Jan Hrebejk (Czech Republic, 1999, 116 min.)

In 1967, just months before Soviet tanks roll into Czechoslovakia, two families find themselves caught on different sides of the political spectrum in this coming-of-age story (Czech and Russian).

Bistro Bohem Thu., April 10, 7 p.m.

Directed by Julien Duvivier (U.K., 1948, 112 min.)

Vivien Leigh gives an edgy, emotional charge to her performance as Anna in Alexander Korda’s handsomely appointed postwar version of Tolstoy’s great tragedy.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., April 6, 11:30 a.m., Mon., April 7, 7:10 p.m.

Big Men Directed by Rachel Boynton (U.K./Denmark/U.S., 2013, 99 min.)

In 2007, U.S.-based Kosmos Energy discovers the first oil in the history of the West African republic of Ghana. What follows over the next five years is a twisting tale of greed and deception, which director Rachel Boynton films with razor-sharp journalistic skill.

Honeymoon (Líbánky)

Theater TBA

Directed by Jan Hrebejk (Czech Republic/Slovakia, 2013, 92 min.)

Directed by Wes Anderson (U.S./Germany, 2014, 100 min.)

During a wedding in a small Czech town, a bride and the groom get ready to exchange their vows when an uninvited guest arrives, carrying secrets that will test the new couple’s bond.

The Avalon Theatre Wed., April 9, 8 p.m.

The Grand Budapest Hotel Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend navigate a series of adventures in the midst of a changing continent (English and French).

Kawasaki’s Rose (Kawasakiho ruze)

AFI Silver Theatre Angelika Mosaic Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Directed by Jan Hrebejk (Czech Republic, 2009, 100 min.)

The Grand Seduction

A prestigious psychiatrist is set to receive a state honor for his courageous work as a dissident when it comes to light that at the beginning of the 1970s, the secret police coerced him into discrediting a former friend (part of the Visegrad V4 Film Series).

Embassy of the Czech Republic Tue., April 8, 7 p.m.

The Keeper of Lost Causes (Kvinden I buret) Directed by Mikkel Nørgaard

(Denmark/Germany/Sweden, 2013, 97 min.)

Six brilliant scientists mark the launch of the Large Hadron Collider, the start-up of the biggest and most expensive experiment in the history of the planet, pushing the edge of human innovation.

Directed by Philippe Godeau (France, 2013, 102 min.)

An armored security guard with an impeccable 10-year record vanishes with 11.6 million euro in the heist of the century.

Filmfest DC

Bright Days Ahead (Les beaux jours) Directed by Marion Vernoux (France, 2013, 98 min.)

Caroline, a married retired dentist, takes a class on computers and starts an affair with her significantly younger lecturer.

The Avalon Theatre

Directed by Daniel Cohen (France/Spain, 2012, 84 min.)

Directed by Raoul Walsh (U.S., 1928, 90 min.)

In this epic tale of the Russian Revolution, an open-minded grand duke falls for a revolution-minded peasant girl who dreams of becoming a dancer, while a peasant leader rises to the rank of general in the Red Army.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., April 5, 1:45 p.m.

Sugar Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (U.S./Dominican Republic, 2008, 114 min.)

Pitching prospect Miguel “Sugar” Santos makes journey from San Pedro de Macorís in the Dominican Republic to the smalltown farm team of the Kansas City Knights.

AFI Silver Theatre Tue., April 8, 7:10 p.m.

Le Week-End Directed by Roger Michell (U.K./France, 2013, 93 min.)

A long-married British couple revisits Paris for the first time since their honeymoon in an attempt to rekindle their relationship.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

A Maori healer faces a difficult ethical dilemma as she tries to help a European settler’s wife (English and Maori).

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

11.6

The Red Dance

Filmfest DC

This story traces Chilean cult film director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s ambitious but ultimately doomed film adaptation of the seminal science fiction novel “Dune” (English, French, German and Spanish).

Wed., April 16, 8 p.m.

Le Chef (Comme un chef)

White Lies

Jodorowsky’s Dune

Arman is 33 and ready to make a change, starting with a run in the park, where he literally bumps into the woman he believes is “the one,” while his best friend suffers a stroke and is relegated to the hospital, where he falls for his doting young physical therapist.

Avalon Theatre

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Residents of a quaint Newfoundland fishing village conspire to convince a big-city doctor into becoming the town’s physician.

Directed by Frank Pavich (U.S./France, 2013, 90 min.)

Danish

Page 46

Directed by Don McKellar (Canada, 2013, 115 min.)

Directed by Mark Levinson (U.S., 2013, 99 min.)

Directed by Dana Rotberg (New Zealand, 2013, 96 min.)

Filmfest DC

Farsi From Tehran to Heaven (Az Tehran Ta Behesht) Directed by Abolfazl Saffary (Iran/Germany, 2013, 75 min.)

(France, 2013, 113 min.)

Facing a failed relationship and a struggling restaurant, a woman hits the road for a trip with her grandson.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

French

Nymphomaniac: Volume I

English

An African American gospel choir is the Greek chorus for a Palestinian play on Martin Luther King Jr. that tours the West Bank, preaching nonviolence.

Filmfest DC

2 Autumns, 3 Winters (2 automnes 3 hivers)

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Directed by Connie Field (U.S./Palestine, 2012, 93 min.)

Strange things happen in a woman’s desperate search to find her husband after he was abducted.

AFI Silver Theatre Thu., April 10, 7:10 p.m.

Filmfest DC

Alhelm: Martin Luther King in Palestine

April 2014

A veteran chef faces off against his restaurant group’s new CEO, who wants to the establishment to lose a star from its rating in order to bring in a younger chef who specializes in molecular gastronomy (French, Spanish, Japanese and English).

Filmfest DC

Ernest and Celestine Directed by Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar and Benjamin Renner (France/Belgium/Luxembourg, 2012, 80 min.)

Unlike her fellow hard-working mice, Celestine is an artist and a dreamer — and when she nearly ends up as breakfast for Ernest the bear, the two form an unlikely bond (French and English dubbed).

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Gare Du Nord Directed by Claire Simon (France/Canada, 2013, 119 min.)

Rock the Casbah Directed by Laïla Marrakchi (France/Morocco, 2013, 100 min.)

In this bittersweet comedy that centers on a funeral, a Moroccan family gathers in the deceased’s villa to share the loss and memories of their dearly departed father and husband (French, Arabic and English).

Filmfest DC

German Generation War Part 1 and 2 Directed by Philipp Kadelbach (Part 1: Germany, 2013, 131 min.)

(Part 2: Germany, 2013, 148 min.)

Acclaimed as a German “Band of Brothers,” the blockbuster “Generation War” vividly depicts the lives of five young German friends forced to navigate the unconscionable moral compromises of life under Hitler.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

King Ordinary (König von Deutschland) Directed by David Dietl (Germany/France, 2013, 97 min.)

An average man is tracked by a company of marketing experts who interpret his preferences and opinions as spot-on for the majority of the whole country.

Filmfest DC

M: A Fritz Lang Film Directed by Fritz Lang (Germany, 1931, 99 min.)

In Fritz Lang’s classic crime melodrama set in 1931 Berlin, the police, anxious to capture an elusive child murderer, begin rounding up every criminal in town, so the underworld leaders decide to take the heat off their activities by catching the child killer themselves.

Goethe-Institut Thu., April 3, 7 p.m.

Hindi Lakshmi Directed by Nagesh Kukunoor (India, 2014, 115 min.)

A young victim takes a stand against human trafficking and child prostitution in rural parts of India.

Filmfest DC

Italian

In an iconic European train station lies a multicultural breeding ground of people who haven’t given up looking for something better (French, English and Italian).

Honey (Miele)

Filmfest DC

Irene has devoted herself to terminally ill people looking for help, trying to alleviate their suffering even when they make extreme decisions.

Just a Sigh (Le Temps de l’aventure) Directed by Jérôme Bonnell (France/Belgium/Ireland, 2013, 104 min.)

In the short break between performances in Calais, a stage actress makes a quick escape to Paris, where she meets a mysterious English stranger (French and English).

Directed by Valeria Golino (Italy/France, 2013, 96 min.)

West End Cinema

Viva la libertà Directed by Roberto Ando (Italy, 2013, 94 min.)

On My Way (Elle s’en va)

When an opposition party leader is depressed and leaves one night without a trace, party leadership turns to his twin brother to hold things together (Italian and French).

Directed by Emmanuelle Bercot

Filmfest DC

The Avalon Theatre

The Washington Diplomat

April 2014

Japanese Adrift in Tokyo (Tenten) Directed by Satoshi Miki (Japan, 2007, 110 min.)

In this brilliant ode to Tokyo’s street life and eccentric denizens, a slacker receives an unorthodox proposition from his debt collector: Accompany him on a walk across Tokyo and his debts will be cleared.

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., April 13, 2 p.m.

The Great Passage (Fune wo amu) Directed by Yûya Ishii (Japan, 2013, 134 min.)

An eccentric man with a canny ability with words helps to edit a new dictionary but finds himself distracted by his landlord’s beautiful granddaughter.

(Spain, 2013, 83 min.)

Filmfest DC Filmfest DC (April 17-27), the Washington DC International Film Festival, returns for its 28th year. Festival venues include AMC Mazza Gallerie, the Avalon Theatre, the Goethe-Institut, Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema and Landmark’s E Street Cinema.

The sidebar “Trust No One: Espionage and Thrillers” features “11.6” (France); “Act Zero” (India); “Cold Eyes” (South Korea); “From Tehran to Heaven” (Iran/Germany); and “The Keeper of Loss Causes” (Denmark).

“The Lighter Side” comedy series offers “The Grand Seduction” (Canada); “The Noble Family” (Mexico); “My Sweet Pepper Land” (France/Germany/Kurdistan); and “Viva la Liberta” (Italy).

The “Eat Good Things” program shows “Love and Lemons” (Sweden); “Le Chef” (France); “Romantic Brasserie” (Belgium); and “Paulette” (France).

The “Justice Matters” juried competition focuses on social justice with “Al Helm: Martin Luther King in Palestine,” “La Jaula de Oro” (Mexico) and “Lakshmi” (India).

Finally, the “World View” section includes “Bad Hair” (Venezuela); “King Ordinary” (Germany); “Gare Du Nord” (France); “Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia” (U.S.); “Rock the Casbah” (France/Morocco); “Something Necessary” (Kenya); “The Great Passage” (Japan); “Ilo Ilo” (Singapore); “Ladder to Damascus” (Syria/Lebanon/Qatar); and “White Lies (New Zealand).

Directed by Satoshi Miki (Japan, 2013, 119 min.)

J-Pop star Kazuya Kamenashi plays 33 different characters in this surreal, Kafkaesque comedy.

Freer Gallery of Art Fri., April 11, 7 p.m.

Korean Cold Eyes (Gam-si-ja-deul) Directed by Cho Ui-seok and Kim Byung-seo (South Korea, 2013, 119 min.)

A high-tech police surveillance team attempts to take down a gang of ruthless bank robbers.

Filmfest DC

Kurdish My Sweet Pepper Land Directed by Hiner Saleem (France/Germany/Kurdistan, 2013, 100 min.)

A Kurdish independence war hero is stationed near the lawless border between Iran and Turkey, at the heart of illegal drug, medication and alcohol trafficking, in this delightful take on a cowboy movie set in Iraq Kurdistan (Kurdish, Arabic and Turkish).

backdrop of the Asian recession (Mandarin, Tagalog, English and Hokkien).

Filmfest DC

A Touch of Sin (Tian zhu ding)

al Visegrad V4 Film Series).

Embassy of the Slovak Republic Tue., April 1, 7 p.m.

The misadventures of eight men on the verge of a nervous breakdown collide in this witty battle of the sexes from Catalan filmmaker Cesc Gay.

Spanish

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., April 4, 9:45 p.m.

15 Years and 1 Day (15 años y un día)

Directed by Jia Zhang-ke (China, 2013, 125 min.)

Four shocking (and true) acts of violence in China force the world’s fastest-growing economy into a period of self-examination.

Directed by Gracia Querejeta (Spain, 2013, 96 min.)

Freer Gallery of Art Sat., April 26, 2 p.m.

Margo sends her son, a rebellious and free-spirited teen, to live with his grandfather, a retired military officer with his own style of discipline.

Polish

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., April 5, 7:45 p.m.

The Mole (Kret)

Bad Hair (Pelo malo)

Directed by Rafael Lewandowski (Poland/France, 2011, 108 min.)

Directed by Mariana Rondón

A Polish man is shocked to discover his father’s photo on the cover of a Polish tabloid newspaper accusing him of being a secret informer called “the mole” by the communist regime (part of the Visegrad V4 Film Series).

Embassy of Poland Tue., April 15, 7 p.m.

(Venezuela/Peru/Argentina/Germany, 2013, 93 min.)

Nine-year-old Junior aches to straighten his luxurious dark curls to look like a longhaired singer, eliciting a tidal wave of homophobic panic in his hard-working mother.

Filmfest DC

Filmfest DC

Mosquitoes’ Tango (Tango s komármi)

Directed by Diego Quemada-Díez (Guatemala/Spain/Mexico, 2013, 102 min.)

Mandarin

Directed by Miroslav Luther (Slovakia/Czech Republic, 2009, 97 min.)

In Singapore in the late 1990s, the friendship between a maid and a young boy ignites his mother’s jealousy, against the

Directed by Jesús M. Santos (Peru/Spain, 2012, 70 min.)

Two famous chefs embark on a journey to explore the roots of the splendor of Peruvian cuisine and its potential to transform lives.

Unit 7 (Grupo 7)

The Golden Dream (La Jaula de Oro)

Directed by Anthony Chen (Singapore, 2013, 99 min.)

Peru Sabe. Cuisine as an Agent of Social Change (Perú Sabe. La cocina, arma social)

Sat., April 5, 6:10 p.m.

www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org

Slovak

Ilo Ilo

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., April 6, 7:45 p.m.

AFI Silver Theatre

(202) 234-FILM, www.filmfestdc.org

Filmfest DC

It’s Me, It’s Me (Ore Ore)

A series of bizarre, Buñuelian scenarios offer a cracked view of contemporary Spain in the wake of its economic crisis.

Two emigrants return for a brief visit to Slovakia after spending many years abroad. Karol needs to get divorced because he wants to remarry, while his well-to-do fiancée, afraid he might break his promise, hires a second-rate actor to keep an eye on him (part of the third annu-

Repertory Notes

Three teens run into harsh realities when they flee Guatemala for the U.S. in search of a better life (Spanish and English).

Filmfest DC

A Gun in Each Hand (Una pistola en cada mano) Directed by Cesc Gay (Spain, 2012, 95 min.)

Map (Mapa) Directed by León Siminiani (Spain/India, 2012, 85 min.)

After a young Spanish man gets fired from his job at a broadcasting company, he rediscovers his passion for making movies and travels to India in “search” of his first feature film.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., April 6, 9:30 p.m.

The Noble Family (Nosotros los Nobles) Directed by Gary Alazraki (Mexico, 2013, 108 min.)

Three spoiled children of a wealthy tycoon are cut off from their family fortune and forced to do the unthinkable — get a job.

Filmfest DC

Operation E (Operación E) Directed by Miguel Courtois (Spain/France, 2012, 109 min.)

The life of a poor cocaine farmer, living with his family in a Colombian jungle ruled

by FARC guerrillas, changes forever when the FARC demand he care for a sickly baby.

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., April 4, 7:30 p.m.

People in Places (Gente en sitios)

Directed by Alberto Rodríguez (Spain, 2012, 96 min.)

The drug problem in Seville is spiraling out of control as the city prepares to host the 1992 World Expo. With mounting pressure from the government to clean up the city, an overworked group of cops starts to write their own rules.

AFI Silver Theatre Thu., April 3, 7:30 p.m., Sat., April 5, 9:45 p.m.

Swahili Something Necessary Directed by Judy Kibinge (Germany/Kenya, 2013, 85 min.)

In the aftermath of the 2007 ethnic and political clashes in Kenya, a nurse and mother awakens from a coma to find that her once idyllic life will never be the same.

Filmfest DC

Swedish Love and Lemons (Små citroner gula) Directed by Teresa Fabik (Sweden, 2013, 99 min.)

After being fired from the luxurious restaurant where she worked and dumped by her boyfriend, Agnes follows her dream to open up a new restaurant.

Filmfest DC

For a complete list of films, please visit our Web site at www.washdiplomat.com.

Directed by Juan Cavestany

by Washington Diplomat film reviewer Ky N. Nguyen

Please see International Film Clips on next page for detailed listings available at press time.

American Film Institute (AFI) Silver Theatre The “Festival of New Spanish Cinema” (April 3-6) debuts with “Unit 7” (Thu., Apr. 3, 7:30 p.m.; Sat,. Apr. 5, 9:45 p.m.) on opening night with filmmaker Alberto Rodriguez in person, followed by a reception.

Continuing series include “Vivien Leigh 100th” (through April 17); “Action! The Films of Raoul Walsh, Part 1” (through April 16); “Play Ball!

Hollywood and the American Pastime” (through April 16); “Burt Lancaster, Part 1” (through April 17); and “Overdrive: L.A. Modern, 1960-2000” (through April 17).

(301) 495-6700, www.afi.com/silver

Freer Gallery of Art The “Meet the Filmmaker: Satoshi Miki” retrospective includes filmmaker Miki in person at all programs: “It’s Me, It’s Me” (Fri., April 11,

7 p.m.) and “Adrift in Tokyo” with actress Eri Fuse (Sun., April 13, 2 p.m.). At the pre-film talk “Kiyochika: Master of the Night” (Sun., April 13, 12 p.m.), Miki and Jim Ulak, curator of the exhibit “Kiyochika: Master of the Night,” compare the similarities of the view of Tokyo in Miki’s film “Adrift in Tokyo” with that of Kiyochika’s art some 150 years ago.

The program “Meet the Filmmaker: ‘A Touch of Sin’” (Sat., April 26, 2 p.m.) presents a screening followed by discussion with director Jia Zhang-ke and actress Zhao Tao..

taries “Max Beckmann – Departure” (Mon., April 7, 6:30 p.m.) and “Gerhard Richter Painting” (Mon., April 14, 6:30 p.m.).

The film program “Shorts-Courts-Kurz: An Afternoon of New International Short Films” (Sat., April 26, 2 p.m.) boasts two one-hour screenings of selections from French and German short film festivals. In between screenings, a call with festival directors will be moderated by independent producer William Gilcher.

The series “Film|Neu Presents” (April 28-July 7) kicks off with “Hanna’s Journey” (Mon., April 28, 6:30 p.m.).

(202) 357-2700, www.asia.si.edu/events/films.asp

(202) 289-1200, www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/kue/flm/enindex.htm

Goethe-Institut

West End Cinema

“‘M’: A Fritz Lang Film” (Thu., April 3, 7 p.m.) features a screening of Fritz Lang’s classic “M” followed by a speaker panel on German Express­ ionist cinema blending with Grand Guignol graphic horror theatricality.

TThe “Spring 2014 Opera and Ballet Series” (through May 17) continues with the Vienna State Opera production of Strauss’s “Capriccio” (Mon., April 7, 7 p.m.; Sat., April 12, 11 a.m.) starring Renée Fleming, as well as the Royal Swedish Ballet’s “Juliet and Romeo” (Mon., April 14, 7 p.m.; Sat., April 19, 11 a.m.)

The “German Expressionism” film series (through April 14), presented in conjunction with the National Gallery’s exhibit “Modern German Prints and Drawings from the Kainen Collection,” concludes with the documen-

April 2014

(202) 419-3456, www.westendcinema.com

The Washington Diplomat Page 47

[ around town ]

EVENTS LISTING **Admission is free unless otherwise noted. All information on event venues can be found on The Diplomat Web site at www.washdiplomat. com. Times and locations are subject to change.

Unless listed, please call venue for specific event times and hours of operation.

absurd poses that the viewer is left startled and puzzled. Now in its tenth year, “gute aussichten 2013/2014” presents a range of surprisingly diverse ideas, reflections and photography that not only depicts the current status quo but also inspires.

ART

Goethe-Institut

April 1 to May 1

Through April 26

Homeland

Swedish artist Ingalena Klenell’s work explores fragility and vulnerability, both in the material of glass and in life itself.

“Homeland” asks visitors to ponder the relationship between landscape and memory and how those two elements coincide to create a feeling of home.

House of Sweden April 1 to June 1

Double Mirror

Paintings, drawings, photography, reliefs, video projection and other installations by 30 Korean and Korean-American artists convey the complexity and richness of being a creative wanderer in the mainstream art world, while also exploring the challenges of being a minority in the United States.

American University Katzen Arts Center

April 3 to 16

Old Jewish Town Within Us

The Embassy of the Czech Republic, in collaboration with the Embassy of Israel, presents an exhibit by renowned artist Mark Podwal that explores the history and legends of Jewish Prague, followed by the lecture “Recreating the Golem: From the Talmud to Kafka” on opening day on April 3. To schedule a viewing, email czech_events@yahoo.com.

Embassy of the Czech Republic April 3 to July 7

Territories and Subjectivities: Contemporary Art from Argentina

This exhibition featuring 33 innovative artists presents a vigorous panorama of fresh trends from various regions of the country, examining the very notion of territory not as an inherent condition of the world that we share, but as something that humans define for themselves through subjective means.

OAS Art Museum of the Americas April 9 to Aug. 17

Visions from the Forests: The Art of Liberia and Sierra Leone

The exhibition features some 70 artworks from the collection of William Siegmann (1943–2011) — a former curator of African art at the Brooklyn Museum who lived and worked in Liberia for more than two decades — that survey the traditional arts of Liberia and Sierra Leone.

National Museum of African Art Through April 13

Judy Chicago: Circa ’75

The iconic body of work from the 1970s by Judy Chicago demonstrates the prominent feminist artist’s firm belief in the power of art to redress gender inequalities.

National Museum of Women in the Arts Through April 25

gute aussichten: new german photography 2013-2014

An espresso machine drowning in its own coffee, people scarred by their existence on the margins of society or staged in such

Page 48

Retrospective: Betty Murchison

Betty Murchison has spent her life examining intimate moments and relationships, specifically those between girls and women, with figurative renderings that are quiet yet intense.

International Visions Gallery April 26 to Aug. 17

An Opening of the Field: Jess, Robert Duncan, and Their Circle

Jess Collins and his partner, the poet Robert Duncan, merged their personal and artistic lives by exploring their mutual interest in cultural mythologies, transformative narrative and the appropriation of images.

American University Katzen Arts Center April 26 to Sept. 14

Meret Oppenheim: Tender Friendships

More than 20 artworks and archival papers

by Swiss surrealist Meret Oppenheim (1913-85) explore friendship as a source of support and inspiration, as seen through two 18th-century poets, Bettina von Brentano and Karoline von Günderode.

National Museum of Women in the Arts Through April 27

Workt by Hand: Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts

Over time, quilts have been revered as nostalgic emblems of the past, dismissed as women’s work, and hailed as examples of American ingenuity. This exhibition breaks new ground by examining quilts through the lens of contemporary feminist theory.

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT and tell the story of a dream-like trip between reality and imagination, as oceanic images combined with wildlife and human figures in urban settings become one.

Embassy of Italy Through May 23

Retrato en Voz Alta

Portraits of contemporary Mexican artists by photographer Allan Fis includes subjects such as revered Mexican visual artists Pedro Friedeberg and José Luis Cuevas in a resounding visual essay on those who have dedicated their lives to art.

OAS Art Museum of the Americas Through May 26

Damage Control: Art and Destruction Since 1950

The first in-depth exploration of the theme of destruction in international contemporary visual culture, this groundbreaking exhibition includes works by a diverse range of international artists working in painting, sculpture, photography, film, installation and performance.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Through June 8, 2014

Perspectives: Rina Banerjee

Born in India and based in New York City, artist Rina Banerjee draws on her background as a scientist and her experience as an immigrant in her richly textured works that complicate the role of objects as representations of cultures and invite viewers to share her fascination in materials.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through June 15

Gravity’s Edge

One of a series of exhibitions drawn from the collection of the Hirshhorn in celebration of the museum’s 40th anniversary, “Gravity’s Edge” offers an expanded view of Color Field painting, which spanned from 1959 to 1978.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Through May 4

Through June 15

In Focus: Ara Güler’s Anatolia

Rineke Dijkstra: The Krazyhouse

Ara Güler, the “Eye of Istanbul,” is famous for his iconic snapshots of the city in the 1950s and ’60s, but with an archive of more than 800,000 photographs, Güler’s body of work contains far more than these emblematic images — as seen in this exhibition of never-before-shown works by the legendary photographer.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through May 17

Man at the Crossroads: Diego Rivera’s Mural at Rockefeller Center

This exposition centers around the mural that Mexican artist Diego Rivera painted in New York City, reconstructing its history with unedited material, including reproduced letters, telegrams, contracts, sketches, and documents, following Rivera’s commission, subsequent tension and conflict, and finally, the mural’s destruction.

Mexican Cultural Institute Through May 22

Unanswered Prayers

The photographs of Anna Paola Pizzocaro, a renowned New York-based artist from Milan, carry traces of her collaborations with Luc Besson and David La Chappelle

“The Krazyhouse” is a four-channel video installation by Rineke Dijkstra created in 2009 at a popular dance club in Liverpool that presents a group of five young people in their teens and early 20s dancing and singing.

Corcoran Gallery of Art Through June 15

Shakespeare’s the Thing

Marking the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth, this exhibition presents a miscellany of treasures in the Folger collection from Shakespeare’s 1623 First Folio to modern fine art prints, revealing the Bard’s influence on performance, adaptation, scholarship, printing, fine art and even in mild obsession.

Folger Shakespeare Library

April 2014

Through June 29

Modern German Prints and Drawings from the Kainen Collection Ruth Kainen’s love of German expressionism, first displayed at the gallery in the 1985 exhibition “German Expressionist Prints from the Collection of Ruth and Jacob Kainen,” will be celebrated with 123 works recently donated to the gallery through her bequest, as well as with a few of her earlier gifts.

National Gallery of Art Through July 27

Chigusa and the Art of Tea

“Chigusa” tells the story of a 700-year-old ordinary tea jar that rose to become one of the most famous and revered objects in the Japanese “art of tea” — so much so that it was granted a name, luxurious accessories and a devoted following.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through July 27

Kiyochika: Master of the Night

On Sept. 3, 1868, the city called Edo ceased to exist. Renamed Tokyo by Japan’s new rulers, the city became the primary experiment in a national drive toward modernization. Kobayashi Kiyochika, a selftrained artist, set out to record his views of Tokyo in an ambitious and auspicious series of 100 prints.

DANCE Sat., April 5, 7 p.m.

Bhangra Blowout XXI

Now in its 21st year, Bhangra Blowout is an intercollegiate South Asian dance competition featuring a high-energy style of dance that is one of the largest South Asian events in the country. Tickets are $20 or $25.

GW Lisner Auditorium Fri., April 4, 8 p.m.

Moscow Festival Ballet: Swan Lake This enchanting fantasy ballet is one of the most magical and deeply emotional works in the classical ballet canon and a mustsee for lovers of great ballet in the grand Russian tradition. Tickets are $40 to $56.

George Mason University Hylton Performing Arts Center Sat., April 5, 8 p.m.

Sun., April 6, 4 p.m.

Moscow Festival Ballet: Romeo and Juliet & Chopiniana

This renowned company from Moscow stages two of the most romantic classical works — Shakespeare’s tragic love story and Chopin’s romantic reverie — in the grand tradition of Russian ballet. Tickets are $28 to $56.

George Mason University Center for the Arts

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through Aug. 24

Africa ReViewed: The Photographic Legacy of Eliot Elisofon

“Africa ReViewed” showcases the African photography of celebrated Life magazine photographer Eliot Elisofon and explores the intricate relationships between his photographic archives and art collection at the National Museum of African Art. Elisofon’s images had a huge impact in framing America’s perceptions of Africa and its diverse cultures during the 20th century.

National Museum of African Art Through Aug. 31

Made in the USA: American Masters from The Phillips Collection, 1850–1970

Following an acclaimed four-year world tour, the Phillips’s renowned collection of American masterworks returns to the museum to tell the story of American art from the late 19th-century to the mid-20th century, when it became a significant global force after World War II. The Phillips Collection Through Sept. 14

Bountiful Waters: Aquatic Life in Japanese Art

This exhibition features a selection of prints, paintings, illustrated books and ceramics that depict the Japanese appreciation for the beauty and variety of fish and other species.

Freer Gallery of Art Through Sept. 21

April 15 to 20

American Ballet Theatre

American Ballet Theatre offers a feast of choreographic fireworks with its spirited staging of “Don Quixote” (April 17-20) plus works by Michel Fokine, Sir Frederick Ashton and Marcelo Gomes (April 15 and 16). Tickets are $25 to $109.

Kennedy Center Opera House April 16 to 27

The Washington Ballet: Peter Pan

Take a high-flying adventure to Neverland with the Washington Ballet’s new production of Septime Webre’s dazzling “Peter Pan,” a swashbuckling coming of age tale that pits Peter and the Lost Boys against Captain Hook. Tickets are $25 to $125.

Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater April 30 to May 3

Urban Corps 2014: A Transatlantic Urban Dance Festival

The Alliance Française’s annual transatlantic urban dance festival comes back to D.C. for its third year with powerful performances from urban dancers, musicians and speakers whose distinct backgrounds in arts such as miming, acrobatics, DJ, video and American urban dance present an unrivaled vantage point on metropolitan culture and identity. For information, visit www.francedc.org.

Various locations

DISCUSSIONS Wed., April 2, 10:30 a.m.

U.S.-Taiwan Security Relations

Light Touch

Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence

The Cultural Service of the Embassy of France, in partnership with Maryland Art Place (MAP), features the work of five artists who explore aspects of the physical world through the lens of light as both a medium and a resource of value to our natural environment.

A community of women living and working together in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, has developed a new form of bead art — using black fabric as a canvas and different colored Czech glass beads as the medium of expression — to empower local women.

The Center for a New American Security hosts an expert panel discussion to evaluate U.S.-Taiwan security relations on the 35th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act, with Taiwanese Deputy Minister of National Defense Andrew Hsia giving the keynote speech, followed by a panel discussion with American experts. For information, visit www.cnas.org.

BWI Airport

The Anacostia Community Museum

JW Marriott

Through June 21

The Washington Diplomat

April 2014

Sat., April 5, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

A Roman Pilgrimage

In the 40 days leading up to Easter, Rome becomes the site of a citywide pilgrimage that follows a route and a liturgy established more than 1,500 years ago. Art historian Lisa Passaglia Bauman traces this journey to weave together Christian thought and Lenten practice with art history. Tickets are $130; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

S. Dillon Ripley Center Wed., April 9, 8 a.m.

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou

In this video conference, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou discusses several key issues in the U.S.-Taiwan relationship, with moderator Christopher K. Johnson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and CSIS President John Hamre. For information, visit www.csis.org.

CSIS Wed., April 9, 7 p.m.

Hear Now! The Culture Question: New Stories from Pakistan

NPR’s Bilal Qureshi shares excerpts of his recent reporting and personal travels through Pakistan, where artists and writers are becoming increasingly prominent on the international stage but must still reconcile their work with Pakistan’s enduring crises. Admission is free; RSVP at www. goetheinstitutwashington.eventbrite.com.

Goethe-Institut Thu., April 10, 4 p.m.

Real Realpolitik: A History

Dr. John Bew, the Henry A. Kissinger chair in foreign policy and international relations at the Library of Congress, argues why real realpolitik is ripe for excavation and rediscovery as it undergoes a renaissance in the English-speaking world.

Library of Congress John W. Kluge Center Room LJ-119 Sat., April 12, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The Making of Modern Iraq

Joseph Sassoon of Georgetown University provides a historical, cultural and socioeconomic context for Iraq’s emergence in the last century as one of the Middle East’s most politically charged nations. Tickets are $130; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

S. Dillon Ripley Center Tue., April 15, 6:45 p.m.

Vaudeville’s Melting Pot: Irish and African Americans on Stage

With support from the Irish Embassy, cultural historians Lenwood O. Sloan and Mick Moloney explore the vaudeville-era exchanges and rivalries between African Americans and Irish immigrants through the song, dance and comedy of the popular performances of the time. Tickets are $25; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

S. Dillon Ripley Center Wed., April 16, 6:45 p.m.

Mapping the Middle East

houses, and its diverse natural assets and cultural attractions make it a draw for visitors as well. Take an armchair tour of Taiwan’s beauties, customs and traditions with Pauline Frommer, co-president of Frommer Media, complemented by classical Taiwanese folk songs performed on the erhu, a traditional Chinese stringed instrument, by Juilliard graduate Wei-Yang Andy Lin and other musicians. A tasting of Taiwanese treats and bubble teas closes the journey. Tickets are $40; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

National Museum of Natural History Sat., April 26, 9:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.

Painters in Provence: From Van Gogh to Matisse

Refugees International 35th Anniversary Diner

Burma: The Next Vacation Hot Spot

Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium

S. Dillon Ripley Center

For travelers, Burma is the next Vietnam as the previously insular nation opens up to visitors and intrepid tourists. Donald Stadtner offers a virtual tour of Burma’s golden Buddhist temples, floating markets and lush landscapes previously seen by few from the Western world. Tickets are $42; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

S. Dillon Ripley Center

FOOD April 10 to 17

Thai Restaurant Week 2014

As people in Thailand celebrate the traditional Thai New Year known as Songkran, the Royal Thai Embassy brings the celebrations to Washington with Thai Restaurant Week 2014, featuring special noodle dishes from various participating Thai restaurants in D.C., Maryland and Virginia showcasing the vibrancy of Thai food. For information, visit http://www.thaiembdc.org/thairestaurantweek2014.

Various locations

GALAS Thu., April 10, 6:30 p.m.

Tango with the Stars

The contemporary ballet company Chamber Dance Project present an Argentine-themed gala that includes a seductive tango dance competition featuring D.C. celebrities partnered with professional tango dancers, an Argentinean dinner and a silent auction. Proceeds will benefit the dancers’ selected charities and Chamber Dance Project’s upcoming season at the Kennedy Center, sponsored by the Embassy of Argentina. Tickets are $250 to $500; for information, visit http://chamberdance.org/gala-tickets/.

One Metro Center Fri., April 25, 7 p.m.

S. Dillon Ripley Center

Sat., April 26, 6:30 p.m.

Taiwan is one of Asia’s industrial power-

Wed., April 30, 6:15 p.m.

Tue., April 29, 6:45 p.m.

Art historian Bonita Billman looks into the inspiration that places like Avignon, Arles, Aix-en-Provence, St. Remy, St. Tropez and Nice provided for the brilliantly colored works produced by 19th and early-20th century painters. Tickets are $130; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

Former U.S. Chief of Protocol Capricia Marshall serves as the honorary chair of the 59th annual Corcoran Ball, whose proceeds benefit Corcoran Access, a multiyear project to digitize the Corcoran’s renowned collection. Tickets begin at $600; tickets for the after-hours Club Corcoran are $95.

Time for Taiwan

Embassy of Italy

Refugees International (RI) will honor José Andrés, renowned chef and advocate for sustainable solutions to combat hunger worldwide, and Forest Whitaker, an Academy Award-winning actor and distinguished social activist, at RI’s 35th anniversary dinner, emceed by actor Matt Dillon with UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba serving as honorary diplomatic chair.

Tickets are $400. For information, visit http://refugeesinternational.org/ events/35th-anniversary-dinner.

An understanding of today’s Arab-Israeli world needs to be rooted in the knowledge of how the geography changed and developed over time. Using maps and documents, Ralph Nurnberger of Georgetown University highlights how the countries in this area have shifted boundaries over hundreds of years — and how those changes have affected their inhabitants’ views of their own histories. Tickets are $42; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

Wed., April 23, 7 p.m.

125th anniversary of the Washington Home & Community Hospices, whose health care services help aging, chronically and terminally ill patients, including those with cancer, Alzheimer’s and HIV/AIDS. The evening includes a cocktail party and elegant Italian market featuring upscale clothing, leather goods, jewelry, ceramics, perfumes and wines, as well as live band, living statues, opera singers and a Russian violinist.

For ticket information, visit WhatMattersToMe.org.

Corcoran Ball

Corcoran Gallery of Art

Celebrazione della Cura

Italian Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero serves as the honorary diplomatic host of “A Celebration of Caring” to benefit the

April 30 to May 3

Heart’s Delight Wine Tasting & Auction

Heart’s Delight, widely recognized as a premier destination event where master winemakers, culinary greats and distinguished guests gather to play and bid in the nation’s capital, features four days of exceptional food and wine with unique touches woven throughout, including a series of ambassador-hosted dinners and a Vintners Dinner at Mellon Auditorium. Over the past 14 years, Heart’s Delight has raised more than $12 million for the American Heart Association. For information, visit http://heartsdelightwineauction.org.

Various locations

MUSIC Fri., April 4, 7:30 p.m.

Selección Nacional de Tango from Argentina

Selección Nacional de Tango, which began in 2005 by selling out the Teatro Colón opera house in Buenos Aires, comes together in D.C. to form an all-star tango ensemble whose musicians alternate roles, playing instruments and directing.

Embassy of Argentina Sun., April 6, 7 p.m.

Buika

Buika’s infectious sound blends the heat of Africa, the soul of Spain and the lilt of the islands into a style that is all her own, incorporating flamenco, jazz and R&B. Tickets are $38 to $58.

Music Center at Strathmore Thu., April 10, 6:30 p.m.

Meta and the Cornerstones, Live Reggae

Fri., April 25, 7:30 p.m.

Mendelssohn Piano Trio

For the past 15 years, the Mendelssohn Piano Trio, the ensemble-in-residence of the Embassy Series, has been thrilling audiences in the U.S. and abroad with its rare combination of powerful individual talent and tight-knit collaboration that is the hallmark of a truly exceptional chamber music ensemble. Tickets are $90; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

Embassy of Slovenia Sun., April 27

The Choral Arts Society of Washington: Tango! Soul and Heart Tango! Soul and Heart begins with two spiritual pieces: Ginastera’s “Lamentations of Jeremiah” is a sacred a cappella motet by arguably the most important Argentine composer, while “Misa Tango” is a mass with tango rhythms and the iconic sounds of the bandoneón, an accordion-style instrument. Tickets are $15 to $75.

Kennedy Center Concert Hall

THEATER

New York’s inventive Fiasco Theater has established its reputation for bringing Shakespeare’s most whimsical and timeless tales to the stage. This dizzying romantic adventure is a comedy filled with bandits, mistaken identity and also the “sourest-natured” dog Crab. Tickets are $30 to $72.

Folger Shakespeare Library April 22 to June 1

The Threepenny Opera

The haves clash with the have-nots while MacHeath, the ultimate sneering antihero, perches in the middle of the storm in this futuristic dystopia set in London’s gritty underworld. Please call for ticket information.

Signature Theatre

Living Out

The seventh play in August Wilson’s acclaimed “Century Cycle,” “Two Trains Running” tells the story of African American life in the 1960s in an inspiring, humorous, potent portrait of ordinary people at a turning point in American history. Please call for ticket information.

Ana, a Salvadoran nanny and a mother of two, and Nancy, a lawyer challenged by fulfilling both personal and professional goals, are two working mothers who make difficult choices so they can provide a better life for their children. Please call for ticket information.

Round House Theatre Bethesda

GALA Hispanic Theatre

Through April 6

April 24 to May 18

Hamlet … the rest is silence

Tango Turco (Turkish Tango)

Synetic Theater remounts its original “silent Shakespeare” production, an iconic tale of a grief-stricken prince torn between duty, love, conscience and fear. Tickets start at $35.

Synetic Theater

In this comedy by Teatro de la Luna, two lovers and tango dancers from Argentina must escape after committing an uncertain and painful act, eventually teaming up with a Lebanese guitarist. Tickets are $25 or $35.

Gunston Arts Center – Theater Two

Through April 6

World Stages: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Visible Fictions

Last seen at the Kennedy Center with their wacky spin on “Jason and the Argonauts” using action figures, Scotland’s acclaimed theater company Visible Fictions returns with this inventive and humorous adaptation of the folk legend Robin Hood. Tickets are $20.

Kennedy Center Family Theater April 9 to May 4

Moth

Anime-obsessed Sebastian and emo-Wiccan Claryssa survive high school with a mix of imagination and belligerence, but then a horrific event sends Sebastian on an apocalyptic mission, changing their friendship forever. Tickets are $30 to $35.

Studio Theatre

April 26 and 27

Me and My Shadow

This new show from Australia’s renowned Patch Theatre Company uses a combination of light and shadow, paper and water, fantastical imagery, and intriguing sounds to reveal the perplexities and pleasures of friendship. Tickets are $20.

Kennedy Center Family Theater Through May 4

Camp David

Nestled in Catoctin Mountain Park lies the clandestine retreat known as Camp David, where for 13 tumultuous days, President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn host Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in an attempt to create the impossible: peace in the Middle East. Please call for ticket information.

Through April 12

Arena Stage

Doubt, A Parable Insurrection: Holding History

Through May 11

Georgetown University David Performing Arts Center

Folger Shakespeare Library

Fiasco Theater’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona

April 24 to May 18

April 11 to 13

The Folger Consort enters into an eastern tributary to the main stream of Renaissance music — the rarely heard, extraordinary musical art of what was then Europe’s largest kingdom. Tickets are $37.

April 17 to May 25

Two Trains Running

Inter-American Development Bank Enrique V. Iglesias Auditorium

A Polish Renaissance: Music of Poland’s Golden Age

The Shakespeare Lansburgh Theatre

April 2 to 27

A contemporary African American graduate student confronts the specter of his 189-year-old great-great grandfather in “Insurrection: Holding History,” which runs in repertory with “Doubt, A Parable,” a contemporary classic that takes place in a parochial school in the Bronx in 1964, on the cusp of radical social change. Tickets are $15 to $18.

Meta’s unforgettable vocals are complemented by the incomparable sounds of his band, the Cornerstones, which fuses reggae, Afro-pop, hip-hop, rock and soul music with passionate lyrics in English, French, Wolof and Fulani.

and projected film footage, taking audiences to a bygone age of romance and the silver screen. Tickets are $30 to $75.

Through April 13

Brief Encounter

Cornish theater company Kneehigh’s production of “Brief Encounter,” a new creation based on the iconic 1945 movie and Noël Coward’s one-act play “Still Life,” switches seamlessly between live theatre

April 2014

Tender Napalm

A pair of young lovers creates a fantastical, often violent world through an interweaving dialogue of increasing perplexity. At the heart of their fantasies lies an unimaginable tragedy that both bonds and breaks the two. Please call for ticket information.

Signature Theatre Through June 7

Henry IV, Part 1

A young prince must decide between tavern roughhousing and the burden of his father’s legacy in the coming-of-age story of heroism, corruption and war, directed by Shakespeare Theatre Artistic Director Michael Kahn and starring Stacy Keach.

Tickets start at $20.

Shakespeare Theatre Harman Hall

The Washington Diplomat Page 49

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

The Washington Diplomat

April 2014

Francophonie Launch

photos: gail scott

From left, Ambassador of Côte d’Ivoire and host Daouda Diabate, Ambassador of Monaco Maguy Maccario Doyle, and Ambassador of France François Delattre attend the opening of the Francophonie Cultural Festival, the largest showcase of French-speaking nations in the world.

From left, Ambassador of Niger Maman S. Sidikou, Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Congo Faida Mitifu, Ambassador of Benin Cyrille S. Oguin, and Ambassador of Senegal Cheikh Niang attend an opening reception for the Francophonie Cultural Festival.

From left, Somdy Soukhathivong, Ambassador of Laos Seng Soukhathivong, Special Assistant to the Cambodian Ambassador Peang Gafour, and Second Secretary at the Cambodian Embassy Lam Pachapor attend the opening reception for the Francophonie Cultural Festival in D.C. at the Embassy of Côte d’Ivoire, one of dozens of French-speaking nations participating in the annual festival.

Kuwaiti National Day

From left, Counselor at the Tunisian Embassy Amel Ben Younes Turki, left, and recently appointed Ambassador of Tunisia Mohamed Ezzine Chelaifa attend the opening of the Francophonie Cultural Festival, now in its 14th year, at the Embassy of Côte d’Ivoire.

Ambassador of Switzerland Manuel Sager, left, and Ambassador of Mauritius Somduth Soborun attend the opening of the Francophonie Cultural Festival, which features six weeks of events in D.C. showcasing the world’s French-speaking countries.

Lithuanian National Day From left, Ambassador of France François Delattre, Rima Al-Sabah, and Ambassador of Kuwait Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah attend the 53rd anniversary of Kuwait’s National Day at the Four Seasons Hotel. photos: gail scott

Ambassador of Lebanon Antoine Chedid, left, and Ambassador of Iraq Lukman Faily attend the 53rd Kuwaiti National Day reception at the Four Seasons.

From left, U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Lithuanian Minister of Economy Evaldas Gustas listen to Ambassador of Lithuania Žygimantas Pavilionis as he talks about his homeland, a member of the European Union and NATO and a strong ally of the U.S. Pavilionis concluded by saying, “Lithuania is open for business.”

From left, Ambassador of Montenegro Srdjan Darmanovic, Ambassador of Azerbaijan Elin Suleymanov, and Ambassador of Kazakhstan Kairat Umarov attend Lithuania’s National Day reception, which included a performance by Lithuania’s Kestutis Vaiginis Jazz Quartet.

From left, Ray and Shaista Mahmood join Lala Abdurahimova and Ambassador of Azerbaijan Elin Suleymanov at the 53rd Kuwaiti National Day reception.

Art in Embassies From left, National Society of Arts and Letters (NSAL) International Liaison Dorothy Nagle, NSAL D.C. Chapter President Katherine Kyle, wife of the Brunei ambassador Datin Mahani Abu Zar, and wife of the former Aambassador to South Africa photos: katherine kyle Barbara de Montille attend a presentation hosted by the D.C. NSAL Chapter at the Lyceum in Virginia on the work of the State Department’s Art in Embassies program.

National Society of Arts and Letters (NSAL) D.C. Chapter President Katherine Kyle, left, listened to Art in Embassies Senior Curator Robert Soppelsa talk about the State Department program, which places the works of American artists in embassies overseas. photos: Gail scott

Chris Adams of Southwest Advantage, left, and Ambassador of Estonia Marina Kaljurand attend Lithuania’s National Day reception held at the U.S. Chamber Commerce.

Lithuanian Asta Liutkute introduces her country’s famous tree cake and other sweets to the guests at Lithuania’s National Day reception held at the U.S. Chamber Commerce.

Ambassador of Lithuania Žygimantas Pavilionis and his wife Lina Pavilionienė celebrate the 96th anniversary of the restoration of Lithuania at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Waitangi Day

From left, Naval Attaché at the New Zealand Embassy Cmdr. Mat Williams, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for the U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Michelle J. Howard, and Deputy Chief of Mission of the New Zealand Embassy Anthony Smith attend the Waitangi Day reception at the New Zealand Embassy.

Page 50

From left, Chief of the Asia Pacific Branch for U.S. Army International Affairs Andrew W. Irwin, Assistant Military Attaché at the British Embassy Col. Richard Smith, and NATO Policy Officer with the State Department Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Erica T. Simon attend a Waitangi Day reception at the New Zealand Embassy.

Representing the U.S. military at New Zealand’s Waitangi Day commemoration were, from left, Robyn Ferguson, Kevin Wolfla and Joseph Smith.

Chief of the Pacific Division for U.S. Air Force International Affairs Col. Michael D. Reed, left, and Assistant Naval and Air Attaché at the Australian Embassy Wing Cmdr. Wayne Bradley attend the Waitangi Day reception at the New Zealand Embassy.

Staff at the New Zealand Embassy, led by Deputy Chief of Mission Anthony Smith, sing the national anthem at a reception marking Waitangi Day. In 1840, representatives of the British Crown and over 500 Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, often considered to be New Zealand’s founding document.

The Washington Diplomat

April 2014

Essential Verdi

From left, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Martha-Ann Alito, Patrick Gross and Benefit Chairman Jan Lodal attend the Washington Chorus’s Essential Verdi Gala held at the Italian Embassy, part of a weeklong celebration hosted by the Washington Chorus of the Italian composer 200 years after his birth.

From left, First Secretary of the Press and Public Affairs Office at the Italian Embassy Franco Impalà, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, and Ingrid Impalà attend the Essential Verdi Gala at the Italian Embassy to benefit the Washington Chorus, a Grammy-winning 180-voice chorus founded in 1961 and based at the Kennedy Center.

From left, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, National Public Radio’s Nina Totenberg, Knight Kiplinger and wife of the Italian ambassador Laura Denise Bisogniero attend the Essential Verdi Gala at the Italian Embassy, where Ginsburg talked to Totenberg about her love of opera.

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, left, and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Italian Embassy Luca Franchetti Pardo attend the Essential Verdi Gala hosted by the Washington Chorus.

Soloists Peter Volpe, left, and Stephen Salters performed at the Washington Chorus’s Essential Verdi Gala, part of a weeklong celebration of Giuseppe Verdi on the 200th anniversary of the Italian composer’s birth.

Brunei National Day

Bella Notte

Italian Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero, right, talks to brain tumor patients Sophia Posner-Brown and Lila Giroux at Bella Notte, an annual extravaganza hosted by the Italian Embassy that raised $130,000 for the fight against pediatric brain cancer.

photos: yi li

Michael DeMaio, a soon-to-be high school graduate and lifelong brain cancer patient, was master of ceremonies for Bella Notte, organized by Children’s National Health System and the National Brain Tumor Society.

Japanese Dinner

Dr. Roger J. Packer, director of the Center for Neuroscience Research at Children’s National Health System, right, shares the podium with brain tumor survivor Isaac Placeres, 13, at the Bella Notte fundraiser at the Italian Embassy.

Ambassador of Brunei Dato Paduka Haji Yusoff bin Haji Abdul Hamid and his wife Datin Mahani Abu Zar, second and third from left, welcome Ambassador of Laos Seng Soukhathivong, right, his wife Somdy and their son Sengfa to Brunei Darussalam’s 30th National Day reception at the embassy.

Director of Maritime Southeast Asian Affairs at the State Department Susan M. Sutton, left, and Ambassador of Brunei Dato Paduka Haji Yusoff bin Haji Abdul Hamid attend Brunei’s 30th National Day reception.

From left, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Ambassador of Japan Kenichiro Sasae, and Ambassador of Belgium Johan Verbeke attend a dinner for Ambassador Sasae hosted by Ina Ginsburg. photos: gail scott photos: KEVIN ALLEN / institute for education

Ina Ginsburg, center, hosts a dinner to honor Ambassador of Japan Kenichiro Sasae, left, and his wife Nobuko Sasae at her home.

From left, Senior Director of International Public Affairs of Alcatel-Lucent Marie Royce, Ambassador of Japan Kenichiro Sasae, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), recently appointed Ambassador of Belgium Johan Verbeke, hostess Ina Ginsburg, and founder and CEO of the Institute of Education Kathy Kemper attend a dinner for Ambassador Sasae.

From left, Greg Myre of National Public Radio, Jennifer Griffin, Pentagon correspondent for Fox News, and former FBI and CIA Director William Webster attend a dinner in honor of Japanese Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae.

Ambassador of Bangladesh Akramul Qader and his wife Rifat Sultana Akram attend Brunei’s 30th National Day reception.

Maryland Awards

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley welcomes guests to the 18th Annual Maryland International Business Leadership Awards hosted by the World Trade Center Institute (WTCI) of Baltimore at the Jim Rouse Visionary Center.

The honorees at the Maryland International Business Leadership Awards included, from left: Stuart FitzGibbon of American Sugar Refining, Inc.; Michael Brannick of Prometric; Dr. Claire Fraser of the Institute for Genome Sciences; a representative of Honest Tea accepting for Seth Goldman; Gov. Martin O’Malley; Dr. Bahija Jallal of MedImmune; Ron Peterson of Johns Hopkins International; Frank Vitéz of Phenix Technologies; and Len Moodispaw of KEYW.

photos: WTCI

From left, Christine Matthews of McCormick & Co.; World Trade Center Institute (WTCI) President Deborah Kielty; WTCI Board Chairman Harold Adams; and Vice President of Global Strategic Procurement for McCormick & Co. Brant Matthews attend the 18th Annual Maryland International Business Leadership Awards.

April 2014

Ronald Peterson, president of Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System, was presented with the coveted Governor’s Award at the Maryland International Business Leadership Awards for his lifechanging work with Johns Hopkins Hospital over the last 40 years.

Debbie Phelps, the mother of Olympic gold-winning swimmer Michael Phelps, talks to guests at the Maryland International Business Leadership Awards.

The Washington Diplomat Page 51

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

The Washington Diplomat

Mauritius National Day

Bulgarian Concert

From left, Ambassador of Lesotho Molapi Sebatane, Ambassador of Malawi Steve D. Matenje, Ambassador of Mauritius Somduth Soborun (with Ambassador of South Sudan Akec Khoc behind him), Ambassador of South Africa Ebrahim Rasool, and Ambassador of Nigeria Adebowale Ibidpo Adefuye celebrate Mauritius’s National Day at the residence of Ambassador Soborun.

Ambassador of Fiji Winston Thompson, left, and Ambassador of South Sudan Akec Khoc attend the Mauritius National Day reception, where Khoc, who is leaving to return to South Sudan, was given a farewell toast.

April 2014

Deputy Chief of Mission of the Mozambique Embassy Eduardo Zaque, left, and Ambassador of Tanzania Liberata Mulamula attend the Mauritius National Day reception at the ambassador’s residence.

From left, Ambassador of Senegal Cheikh Niang, Ambassador of Côte d’Ivoire, Pamela J. Balancy, and Ambassador of the Central African Republic Stanislas Moussa-Kembe attend the Mauritius National Day reception.

Obolokile Cynthia Sekga, legal counsel for the Botswana University of Science and Technology, left, and Ambassador of Botswana Tebelelo Mazile Seretse attend the Mauritius National Day reception.

From left, Ambassador of Côte d’Ivoire Daouda Diabate, Ambassador of Benin Cyrille S. Oguin, and Ambassador of Cameroon Joseph FoeAtangana attend the Mauritius National Day reception.

Ambassador of Kazakhstan Kairat Umarov attends an event at the Senate Russell Office Building hosted by the Kazakh Embassy and the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND) on “Ending the Terror of Nuclear Weapons.”

Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the United Nations Byrganym Aitimova attends a Capitol Hill discussion hosted by the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND), a global network of cross-party legislators collaborating to prevent nuclear proliferation and achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world.

From left, Jan Du Plain, Ambassador of South Africa Ebrahim Rasool and his wife Rosieda Shabodien attend the Mauritius National Day reception.

Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Congo Faida Mitifu, Ambassador of Lesotho Molapi Sebatane and his wife attend the Mauritius National Day reception.

From left, co-founder of the Washington International Piano Arts Council (WIPAC) John Gardecki, Ambassador of Bulgaria Elena Poptodorova, and WIPAC co-founder and board chair Chateau Gardecki attend a concert featuring Bulgarian pianist Tzvetan Konstantinov.

From left, concert committee chairs Tom and Sheila Switzer, pianist and music professor Tzvetan Konstantinov, and Second Secretary for Political Affairs at the Bulgarian Embassy Petyo Varbanov attend a concert

by Konstantinov hosted by the Bulgarian Embassy.

Hill Goes Nuclear

President of the Global Security Institute Jonathan Granoff, left, and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), co-president of the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND), host a nuclear nonproliferation event on Capitol Hill.

Belgian Farewell

From left, Dr. Hidde Ronde, Ambassador of Finland Ritva Koukku-Ronde, hostess Ina Ginsburg, and outgoing Ambassador of Belgium Jan Matthysen and his wife Agnes Aerts attend a farewell reception for the Belgian ambassador.

Page 52

photos: luke jerod kummer

Kenzo Fujisue, a member of the Japanese House of Councillors, left, shakes hands with Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who spoke about nuclear nonproliferation.

Photos: gail scott

Ambassador of Fiji Winston Thompson and his wife Queenie Thompson attend a concert featuring Bulgarian pianist Tzvetan Konstantinov.

From left, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Portuguese Embassy Rosa Batoreau, Kay Webber, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), and Ambassador of Finland Ritva Koukku-Ronde attend a farewell reception for the Belgian ambassador hosted by Ina Ginsburg.

Photos: kevin Allen

Ambassador of Russia Sergey Kislyak and his wife Natalia Kislyak attend a farewell reception for the Belgian ambassador.

From left, founder and CEO of the Institute of Education Kathy Kemper, Ambassador of the Netherlands Rudolf Bekink, and writer Mark Ginsburg attend a farewell reception for the Belgian ambassador hosted

by Ina Ginsburg.

photo: embassy of france

France-Virginia Ties Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, left, and Ambassador of France François Delattre attend a signing ceremony marking the scientific and economic partnership between France and the state of Virginia.

The Washington Diplomat

April 2014

AROUNDTHEWORLD

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

April 2014

HOLIDAYS AFGHANISTAN April 28: Victory of Mujahideen

April 21: Easter Monday BURKINA FASO April 20: Easter

ANDORRA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

CAMBODIA April 13-15: Cambodian New Year

ANGOLA April 24: Peace and National Reconciliation Day

CAMEROON April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

ANTIGUA and BARBUDA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday ARGENTINA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter ARMENIA April 24: Armenian Genocide Memorial Day AUSTRALIA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday April 25: ANZAC Day AUSTRIA April 21: Easter Monday BAHAMAS April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday BANGLADESH April 14: Bangla New Year BARBADOS April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday April 28: National Heroes’ Day

CANADA April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

FIJI April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday FINLAND April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday April 30: May Day Eve

JAPAN April 29: Greenery Day KENYA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

CHAD April 20: Easter

GABON April 20: Easter

LATVIA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

CHILE April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

GAMBIA April 20: Easter GEORGIA April 20: Easter

COLOMBIA April 17: Maundy Thursday April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

GERMANY April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter

COSTA RICA April 11: Juan Santamaria Day April 17 to 21: Holy Week

GHANA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

CÔTE D’IVOIRE April 21: Easter Monday

GRENADA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

CROATIA April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday CYPRUS April 1: Greek Cypriot National Day

BELIZE April 18: Good Friday April 19: Holy Saturday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

DENMARK April 13: Palm Sunday April 16: Queen’s Birthday April 17: Maundy Thursday April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday DOMINICAN REPUBLIC April 18: Good Friday ECUADOR April 18: Good Friday

GUATEMALA April 17: Holy Thursday April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter

LEBANON April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter LESOTHO April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday LIECHTENSTEIN April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday LITHUANIA April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday LUXEMBOURG April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday MACEDONIA April 20: Easter

HONDURAS April 14: Day of the Americas April 17-21: Easter Week

MADAGASCAR April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

HUNGARY April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

MALAWI April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

ICELAND April 17: Maundy Thursday April 18: First Day of Summer April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday INDIA April 18: Good Friday

BOTSWANA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

EL SALVADOR April 17 to 21: Holy Week

BRAZIL April 18: Good Friday April 21: Tiradentes’ Day

EQUATORIAL GUINEA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

IRELAND April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

BULGARIA April 20: Easter

ESTONIA April 20: Easter

ISRAEL April 14-22: Passover

April 2014

JAMAICA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

LAOS April 13-15: Lao New Year

CZECH REPUBLIC April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

BOLIVIA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter

ETHIOPIA April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

ITALY April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday April 25: Liberation Day

FRANCE April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

BELGIUM April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

BENIN April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

April 21: Easter Monday

INDONESIA April 18: Good Friday

MALTA April 18: Good Friday March 31: Freedom Day MOLDOVA April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday MOZAMBIQUE April 7: Women’s Day NAMIBIA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday April 22: Independence Day NETHERLANDS April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday April 30: Queen’s Day

NEW ZEALAND April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday April 25: ANZAC Day NICARAGUA April 17: Holy Thursday April 18: Good Friday NIGER April 20: Easter April 24: National Day NIGERIA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday NORWAY April 13: Palm Sunday April 17: Maundy Thursday April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday PANAMA April 18: Good Friday PAPUA NEW GUINEA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday PARAGUAY April 17: Holy Thursday April 18: Good Friday PERU March 28: Holy Thursday April 18: Good Friday

SENEGAL April 20: Easter April 24: Independence Day

PORTUGAL April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 25: Liberty Day

SWITZERLAND April 18: Good Friday March 30: Easter Saturday April 20: Easter

SEYCHELLES April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter

SYRIA April 17: Independence Day

SIERRA LEONE April 27: Independence Day SLOVAKIA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

TANZANIA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday April 26: Union Day (National Day)

THAILAND SLOVENIA April 6: Chakri Memorial April 20: Easter Day April 21: Easter Monday April 13-15: Songkran April 27: National Uprising 203526A01Festival Day Day SOUTH AFRICA April 18: Good Friday April 25: Family Day April 27: Freedom Day SPAIN April 17: Holy Thursday April 18: Good Friday SWEDEN April 18: Good Friday March 30: Easter Saturday April 20: Easter

PHILIPPINES April 9: Araw Ng Kagitingan April 17: Holy Thursday April 18: Good Friday POLAND April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

SWAZILAND April 19: King’s Birthday April 25: National Flag Day

April 20: Easter

TOGO April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday April 27: Independence Day TRINIDAD and TOBAGO April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday TUNISIA April 9: Martyrs’ Day

TURKEY April 23: Children’s Day UGANDA April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday UNITED KINGDOM April 18: Good Friday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday URUGUAY April 17-April 21: Holy Week VENEZUELA April 18: Good Friday April 19: Declaration of Independence April 20: Easter VIETNAM April 30: National Reunification Day ZAMBIA April 18: Good Friday April 19: Holy Saturday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday ZIMBABWE April 18: Good Friday April 18: Independence Day April 19: Public Holiday April 19: Holy Saturday April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday

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ROMANIA April 20: Easter April 21: Easter Monday RWANDA April 7: National Mourning Day ST. KITTS and NEVIS April 18: Good Friday April 19: Easter Saturday April 20: Easter ST. LUCIA April 18: Good Friday April 19: Easter Saturday April 20: Easter ST. VINCENT and THE GRENADINES March 14: National Heroes’ Day April 18: Good Friday April 19: Easter Saturday

Part of a campaign from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and The Advertising Council.

NOTE TO PUB: DO NOT PRINT INFO BELOW, FOR ID ONLY. NO ALTERING OF AD COUNCIL PSAs. Office of Homeland Security - Newspaper - B&W - OHS102-N-11024-A “Arm Yourself” 5 3/4 x 10 1/2 85 line screen film at Schawk: (212) 689-8585 Ref#:203526

The Washington Diplomat Page 53

will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved.

Please check this ad carefully. Mark any changes to your ad.

If the ad is correct sign and fax to: (301) 949-0065 The Washington Diplomat

needs changes

(301) 933-3552

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THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

To place an ad in the classified section, call (301) 933-3552 or email sales@washdiplomat.com.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Armored Car Rental in D.C.

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(301) 933-3552

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The Washington Diplomat

April 2014

REAL ESTATE

CLASSIFIED ADS

April 2014

To place an ad in the classified section, call (301) 933-3552 or email sales@washdiplomat.com

COMMERCIAL

COMMERCIAL

FOR RENT

FOR RENT

emBAssY ROw AReA —

COmmeRCiAl OFFiCe sAles/leAsiNG —

ROCK CReeK PARK —

NeAR mcleAN, vA —

embassy office Space – dc/nyc chancery Buildings / residential Buildings and land development Sites. leases and lease renegotiation Services. embassy row Area mansions with parking. ideal for embassies, law firms, foundations, etc. lease or Sale. Scr (202) 491-5300.

James connelly – the diplomats Agent

embassy chancery commercial office Sales/leasing

Absolutely stunning large, elegant custom built home 10 minutes from downtown dc, minutes from Georgetown, in beautiful area nestled in rock creek Park.

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Available April 15, 2014.

luxurious three-level spacious 7,000 sq. ft. estate home built (2002) for entertainment. main level hardwood floors, high ceilings, large living, dining and family room with fireplace. Granite counters, island kitchen, extra master Br with jacuzzi, large room lower level to entertain and butler’s kitchen with additional washer and dryer. 5 Br, 3.5 BA ,deck, .75 acre lot, detached 30car garage, circular driveway. langley schools, two miles from tyson’s corner, one mile to mclean downtown, walking distance to Silver line metro, eight miles from dc. rent: $5,995 per month. Available April/may. contact Gopala (202) 378-4900 or email: krishnahoy@gmail.com

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Rates: rates start at $20. classified ads are $20 for 25 words, 35¢ each additional word. Add photo for $20.

Policies: tear sheets are not sent for classified ads. if you would like a copy of the paper mailed to you, please add $2.00 to your payment.

Free Ads for Diplomats: Foreign diplomats are entitled to a 25 word ad (additional words are 35¢ each)

for merchandise only. offer limited to one ad per month and does not include real estate or business ads. must fax a copy of diplomatic identification card.

Very elegant, architecturally-unique mclean home: 3 Br, 3.5 BA, (4,200 sq. ft.) with hardwood floors throughout. recently installed - gourmet kitchen and cabinets, new pantry, and new butler’s pantry, granite counters, with all new gourmet appliances (1 month old for all). large, carpeted family room with 2nd kitchen (granite counters) suitable for 4th Br or mother-in-law suite. the home is 2 blocks from all mclean shops, stores and minutes from tysons corner. outstanding schools. $4,200 per month. Available may or June 2014. larry (703) 927-2400.

Deadline: the deadline for ads is the 15th of each month at the close of business.

Questions? call us at (301) 933-3552.

SOLD!

call today to place your classified ad in the next issue.

( 301) 933-3552 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES mONTGOmeRY COUNTY liFesTYle sPeCiAlisT — Honesty, Integrity and Experience with the International Community

Follow The Diplomat connect at www.washdiplomat.com.

sarah G. Thomas, w.c. & A.n. miller realtors A Long and Foster Company sarah.thomas@longandfoster.com (240) 330-9048.

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The Washington Diplomat

April 2014