April 2016 by The Washington Diplomat

Travel & Hotels and Luxury Living Special Sections Inside Luxury Living

A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

VOLUME 23, NUMBER 4

April 2016

APRIL 2016

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Eye of the Beholder

Bevy of International Products

Asia

North Korean Regime Reminds Everyone That It’s Still a Threat With Washington’s attention focused on trouble spots like Syria, Iran and Russia, perhaps North Korea was feeling a bit neglected. But as it conducted its fourth nuclear test, the hermit kingdom quickly reminded U.S. policymakers that it is as dangerous as ever. / PAGE 10

Expands Our Notions of

Beauty t BY STEPHANIE KANOWITZ

stroll through the makeup section of a department store the world. It’s obvious that products with foreign-soundincan feel like a mini trip around counter and shelf space. g names take up plenty There’s France’s Chanel, of Italy’s Dolce & Gabbana Israel’s Ahava, England’s — you get the idea — Burberry, all enticingly packaged transformation. And with promises of maybe transportation, too. “We consume more information on a daily basis than ever before, in turn exposing such as Sleep us to new and different beauty trends, in London Mask Tan by James Read ($43), which she found which has helped drive increased and now interest in international ucts as well as a curiosity prod- tional: It gives you sells in her stores. “I love that it’s multifuncto learn about new cultures, a glow and deeply hydrates ” said Malcolm Beck, co-founder your skin — and of Bluemercury, a fast-growingMarla best of all, it smells great,” she said. ury beauty product and luxRaen Round Soaps ($7) spa retail chain with 13 is another of her must-have local locations. “I love “In addition, there’s a mystery products. exploring how local ingredients to foreign-made products trigger our desire to travel are used in beauty prodthat ucts, and a good to faraway lands and see example is these beautiful translates to new cultures. how beauty in Istanbul, soaps I discovered ” ” Malcolm Beck said. “Th ey’re available in 33 scents, In her own travels, Malcolm Beck has discovered products 24

| 23

MIDDLE EAST With Syria disintegrating and the Islamic State entrenched in Iraq, the Kurds have stepped into the breach as one of the most capable fighting forces in the Middle East. Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the representative of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government in the U.S., says it’s also time for her

Medical

Zika Alarms Envoys From Nations Hit Hard by Outbreak Not since the AIDS outbreak of the early 1980s has a virus as mysterious as Zika frightened so many people throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. And like everyone else, the region’s envoys in Washington are struggling to get a grasp on an outbreak that is spreading throughout the Western Hemisphere. / PAGE 12

Culture

Seeing Richness Of Nature at Phillips A tech billionaire’s collection offers a glimpse of landscape masterworks in “Seeing Nature” at the Phillips Collection. / PAGE 32

people — often described as the world’s largest ethnic group without a state — to step up and determine their own destiny. / PAGE 15

KURDISH MOMENT People of World Influence

Diplomatic Spouses

Engel of NBC News Recalls ‘Hell of War’

Romanian Couple On Same Page

In an era when newsrooms are closing foreign bureaus, Richard Engel has managed to duck the budgetary chopping block — and occasional crossﬁre — while reporting on the Arab world as chief foreign correspondent for NBC News. / PAGE 5

Ambassador George Cristian Maior, a security expert, and his wife Anamaria, whose background is in literature and culture, are combining their skills to tout the strategic links between the U.S. and Romania. / PAGE 33

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Contents

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | April 2016

23 36

27 NEWS 5

People of World Influence Richard Engel of NBC News reflects on the hell of war and two decades of Mideast reporting.

Cold War Redux? The U.S. is upping defense spendinge to counter Russia and reassure nervous NATO allies.

Pyongyang Still a Pariah North Korea reminds the world that it’s still a rogue nation to be reckoned with.

12 Zika Puzzle As Zika spreads, envoys from the hardest-hit nations struggle to understand the virus.

21 Book review “The President and the Apprentice” details the symbiotic Eisenhower-Nixon dynamic.

LUXURY LIVING

Voyeuristic ‘Flick’ “The Flick” offers a cringe-worthy look inside the banality and beauty of everyday life.

23 Beautiful Diversity

Beyond War “Turquoise Mountain” elevates Afghanistan’s artistic heritage.

A bevy of international products are expanding our notions of beauty.

TRAVEL & HOTELS 27 National Day Race Hotels ramp it up to host not-so-typical national day receptions for embassies.

CULTURE

Dining Craft cocktail bars add an element of refinement to an old-fashioned drinking town.

REGULARS 39 Cinema Listing

Cover Profile: Kurdistan Iraq’s Kurds set their sights on the Islamic State — and independence.

32 Richness of ‘Nature’ A tech billionaire’s collection offers a window into landscape painting in “Seeing Nature.”

40 Events Listing

19 Op-ed: Cracking Capitol Hill A former staffer shares inside tips to help embassies navigate the halls of Congress.

Diplomatic Spouses A former intelligence director and his wife tout the links between the U.S. and Romania.

Appointments

World Holidays

46 Classifieds

Op-ed: Pivot Miss A congressman explains why the Senate is missing the boat on the Asia pivot.

Thought-Provoking ‘Mirages’ An Argentine artist’s “Mirages” transport viewers to a subjective realm.

42 Diplomatic Spotlight

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April 2016

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WD | People of World Influence

Hell and Back Richard Engel of NBC News Reflects on Two Decades of Mideast Reporting by Michael Coleman

ver the past two decades, few, if any, American war correspondents have covered as many miles or as many big stories as NBC’s Richard Engel. In an era when newsrooms are consolidating and closing foreign bureaus, Engel has managed to duck the budgetary chopping block — and occasional crossfire — while reporting on conflicts throughout the Arab world as chief foreign correspondent for NBC News. The major media platform gives Engel access to millions of American viewers and immense power to help shape domestic perceptions of the Middle East. By most accounts, Engel goes about his work fairly and responsibly, even if colleagues have at times described him as having a “cowboy” ethic that puts him at greater risk than sometimes necessary. Engel, who joined NBC News in 2003, has covered unrest throughout the region, from the U.S. invasion of Iraq to the Arab Spring revolutions in Egypt, Libya and, notably, Syria. In a Diplomat interview, Engel discussed the tumultuous landscape he has covered and the actors he has come across, from the Taliban to the Islamic State. He also writes about his high-profile career in a new book, “And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East.” In the book, Engel sizes up the current state of the region using specific anecdotes that bring a sometimes murky big picture to vivid and compelling life. The Stanford University graduate writes simply, with a reporter’s eye for detail and a war correspondent’s keen understanding of the conflicts he’s covering. Engel grew up comfortably in Manhattan as the son of an investment banker. But soon after graduating from Stanford in the mid-1990s, he dove headlong into foreign reporting, first in Egypt and then later across the Middle East. (While freelancing for Arab news outlets, he got a call that a busload of Italian tourists was massacred at a Cairo museum, offering him his first glimpse of the violence that would frame his career.) Along the way, Engel has reached some conclusions, which he lays out in his book. For example: “These days I no longer believe there ever are truly good guys and bad guys in war, at least in the Middle East,” Engel writes. “They’re generally shades of gray.” And this: “Although everyone in the Middle East tends to blame Washington for everything from car bombs to the weather, the United States isn’t responsible for the woes of the Middle

East. But like old houses that were barely standing, Washington’s actions and missteps pushed them off their foundations and exposed the rot within, unleashing the madness of the Iraq war, the bloodbath in Syria, Libya’s post-Gaddafi anarchy, and ISIS [the Islamic State].” Engel also recounts his harrowing five-day capture by militants after crossing into Syria in December 2012 and being abducted by masked men carrying AK-47 rifles. He initially reported that his abductors were pro-Assad shabiha, or Alawite groups of armed militia in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But the New York Times reported two years later that Engel’s captors had actually been part of a Sunni criminal gang linked to rebels opposing Assad. “It was a total shock, but in Syria, as in all wars, strange and murky alliances are not uncommon,” Engel writes of the Times revelation, adding that “when I look back now on the decision to take that trip, I see that we were far too confident.” The kidnapping did not stop Engel from returning to Syria to report on the war and the unremitting humanitarian crisis it has caused, but the experience did teach him important les-

“

Although everyone in the Middle East tends to blame Washington for everything from car bombs to the weather, the United States isn’t responsible for the woes of the Middle East. Richard Engel

Photo: Simon & Schuster

ily familiar to many Americans. Now you’ve written a book cataloguing your professional adventures and close calls as a bit of a recent history and travelogue of the Middle East. Why did you write “And Then All Hell Broke Loose?” Who is your audience?

”

NBC News chief foreign correspondent

sons about taking risks in pursuit of the truth. Engel, who recently married and had his first child, talked about the dangers of his job and of the region he has chronicled for over two decades. The Washington Diplomat: You’re one of the very few American war correspondents whose work is read-

Richard Engel: I didn’t dumb it down and try to make it what they call a mass or general audience book. It is information that I thought was important to put the region into a broad context with some specific details. The book talks about 20 years in the Middle East over 256 pages. It is not an in-depth academic study. It has some history of the Middle East. What it mostly has is a new way of looking at the Middle East. I try and paint it as a perspective … through my eyes and experiences. If they (readers) can walk away from the book with a different approach to thinking about the complex events that are happening in the Arab world, then I will be very happy. I hope that the book is for anyone who wants to pick it up. TWD: There has been a lot of handwringing about the decline of foreign reporting in the American media. You lament in your book that you had 70

seconds on the nightly news to relate the horrifying, heartbreaking story of when 953 people died following a stampede on the Al-Aaimmah bridge in 2005 near Baghdad. Does the U.S. media devote enough time and resources to helping us understand foreign affairs — globalization, or international trade agreements or the roots of Islamic terrorism, etc.? Engel: You will never hear me say we have enough foreign reporting. I want more and more of it. But the information about foreign policy and events in foreign countries — it’s all out there in a way that it has probably never been out there before. You have social media, people writing their own blogs, you have individuals self-publishing books. There is a lot of information out there. What is getting more difficult is finding the music amid all of the static, the patterns amid the chaos and noise. There is a lack of sometimes good information that is credible and honest. In the mass of social media and blogs and different kinds of news information, there are unsubstantiated rumors and there are deliberate plants. There are corporate-spun stories out there. I think the challenge now is not a lack of information about foreign affairs. It’s See Engel • page 6 THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016 | 5

tension, the Turkish-Kurdish tension and of all of these primordial conflicts. They were, of course, not our creation — the United States did not create the Sunni-Shia conflict. But it does bear some responsibility for unleashing it.

Engel CoNTiNuED • pAgE 5

knowing what is real and genuine. How do you know what’s real and what’s been deliberately planted … by a government official or a corporation?

TWD: How did Russia’s involvement in the Syrian civil war factor into that equation? ENGEL: Syria has been from the beginning a proxy war with so many different groups putting their hand in the conflict — Turkey, the Kurds, who have their own nationalist aspirations, Saudi Arabia, other Gulf States, Iran, the Syrian government obviously and now Russia is very much putting its hand on the steering wheel as well. It is just one more person pulling on what had already been a tug of war in every direction.

TWD: You earn a paycheck from one of the most powerful media organizations in the world. I’m sure you hear your share of skepticism about the corporate interests of NBC and Time Warner and how your reporting fits into that agenda, don’t you? ENGEL: I work for NBC, and that is kind of the mainstream media. I produce the content of my own stories. I go out and I report stories. I’m in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Turkey or Syria — or wherever — and I don’t have to call into the front office and say, “Hey I’m thinking about doing a story about this, that or the other.” They own the company but they don’t get into the weeds about what to write. They have other things to worry about. TWD: Let’s talk about the arc of events you’ve covered in the Middle East over the past 20 years, which is the crux of your book. As you know, back here in Washington, the Republicans like to blame what they describe as a disastrous foreign policy under President Obama, while Democrats still insist the blame for the region’s instability lies with George W. Bush. You had a front-row seat to all of this. How do you size up the past decade and a half? ENGEL: The Bush administration with eight

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TWD: Finally, after 20 years of reporting on the region, where do you think the Middle East is heading in the coming decade?

TWD: Having covered al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (also known as ISIS), what is ENGEL: I think what is coming is a series your view of the differences between the two? strong andofI think they will be em- and phoTo: SiMoN & SChuSTER NOTE: Although every effort is made to assure of your ad men is free mistakes in spelling braced. If you live in Syria right now and content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof. ENGEL: Their model is different. Mentality- you’re on the ground in Aleppo, it’s an years of direct military action destroyed the wise, there is not that much difference … unsustainable life. You can’t live like this. The firstand tworight faxed changes willget bealong madebyatthe no cost to theare advertiser, changes now they don’t status quo and unleashed a chain of events If people offering subsequent simple solutions will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved. that we are still dealing with today. The way. There are big rivalries and fights over and the price is to give up your personal Obama administration, for what is soon to leadership and who should be in charge. It’s freedoms, I think people will do that. We a-style family . Thad e diffcarefully. erence is in Mark Please checkstuff this any changes ad. be the last eight years, has had an inconsis- mafi can’t tell people what totodoyour but we have to tent policy in the Middle East: supporting their modus operandi. watch with caution because dictators don’t operated the revolution in Egypt, not supporting have all the answers. History of this past If theit ad isAl-Qaeda correct sign and like fax ato:secret (301)under949-0065 needs changes in Bahrain, supporting the revolution with ground organization. It was hard to join al- century has showed us that out of chaos Qaeda. You had to pass loyalty tests, 933-3552 go great fascist leaders emerge, and when fascist force in Libya, not supporting it with force The inWashington Diplomat (301) distances, you had to be recommended, par- leaders emerge out of poverty, desperation Syria, even while promising to do that. The combined impact of these eight years ticularly after their camps got destroyed in and chaos, they can do really bad things for __________________________________________________________ In the beginning it was a little the world. WD of military action and soon to be eightApproved years Afghanistan. bit easier, but after 9/11, it was hard to join of inconsistent action has destroyedChanges com___________________________________________________________ pletely the status quo and unleashed a___________________________________________________________________ lot of al-Qaeda. They were underground and small Michael Coleman (@michaelcoleman) demons, a lot of the pent-up frustration — in number, meeting in dark places to discuss is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat. the Sunni-Shia madness, the Persian-Arab secret plots.

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ISIS operates in the open. It has its own territory and presents itself as a state. It presents propaganda videos that clearly show where the acts and atrocities are taking place. It carries out attacks and then within minutes celebrates these attacks. It has a physical space it is thriving in. It has an economy. Al-Qaeda didn’t have an economy and oil industry. Al-Qaeda had to raise money in secret … through back channels. ISIS has checkpoints and raises money and collects taxes. It’s a very different model. Mentality-wise, I think they share some very similar goals. ISIS celebrates (Osama) bin Laden and consider him kind of a grandfather figure. But there is a physical difference in their space and there is a generational difference.

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WD | Europe

New Cold War? U.S. Defense Spending Surges to Counter Russia, Reassure Allies by Sean Lyngaas

uring the 2012 U.S. presidential election, President Obama mocked Republican Mitt Romney’s assertion that Russia is America’s chief geopolitical foe. “The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years,” Obama told Romney during a presidential debate. Four years later, Romney is likely feeling vindicated. Russia has annexed Crimea, and Moscow’s intervention in Syria put Russia at loggerheads with Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The Obama administration has, belatedly for some, reacted to Russia’s irredentist policies by requesting a quadrupling of defense spending in Central and Eastern Europe for fiscal 2017. The money would pay for weapons and equipment sent to NATO countries nervous about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s saber rattling. Critics of the move say it would perversely ratchet up Cold War-era tensions with Russia at a time when Putin, weakened by low oil prices and costly foreign interventions, is making overtures to the West. The Pentagon’s so-called European Reassurance Initiative (ERI) would boost military spending in the region to $3.4 billion — up from $789 million the previous fiscal year — and support an average of 5,100 U.S. military personnel at U.S. European Command. The initiative is meant to beef up U.S. deterrence measures against Russia, in part by using $130 million to keep U.S. Air Force personnel and aircraft in Europe. The spending surge in Europe is an effort “to deter Russian aggression, and we haven’t had to worry about this for 25 years,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a February speech. “While I wish it were otherwise, now we do.” The Kremlin, naturally, sees the U.S. weapons buildup and NATO reinforcements differently. “NATO’s policy toward Russia remains unfriendly and generally obdurate,” Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in February at the Munich Security Conference. “Speaking bluntly, we are rapidly rolling into a period of a new cold war.”

Reassurance or Provocation? As the U.S. ramps up spending in Europe, Russia has its hands full managing a reeling economy. Low oil and gas prices are expected to force a 10 percent cut in Russian defense procurement this year, according to the chief executive of Rostec, a stateowned weapons-maker. “I doubt [the ERI] will provoke any significant response from Russia, which has serious financial problems due to sanctions and low oil prices,” retired Adm. James Stavridis, former supreme allied commander of NATO, wrote in an email to The Diplomat. Regardless of Russia’s reaction, the big boost in funding for the ERI is the right call, he said. The Obama administration “is awakening to the reality that Europe and the Middle East will continue to matter deeply and require U.S. engagement and leadership,” wrote Stavridis, now dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. “NATO is the central security pillar for doing so.”

Photo: NATO

Estonian army scouts from the 1st Battalion practice defensive maneuvers during a NATO exercise in May 2015. Estonia and its fellow Baltic neighbors have been among the most vocal Eastern European nations calling for increased U.S. and NATO military support to fend off an assertive Russia.

Jorge Benitez, a senior fellow at the Atlantic tion of Crimea in 2014 and the Russo-Georgian war Council, said that despite the significant increase in in 2008, to interpret these events as some kind of military funding, the ERI program was insufficient Russian ‘resurgence’ is to grossly inflate the danger to support NATO allies in Eastern Europe. Russia poses to NATO and the United States,” they Adding a couple of U.S. brigades in Europe “is not wrote. “A NATO buildup of this magnitude also nea proportional response and does not restore deter- glects to take into account just how provocative such rence to Europe,” wrote Benitez, a former NATO a move would be; by concentrating troops on Rusadviser in the Office of the Secresia’s border, we are playing into tary of Defense, in an email to The Putin’s long-standing criticisms Diplomat. of NATO encirclement.” The ERI would have a limited They added: “Claims that any effect if it ends up being a unilatNATO member is at risk of Ruseral U.S. action, Benitez added. sian invasion is a flawed reading “There needs to be a proporof recent history. No matter what tional and visible European milione might think of Putin, the idea tary presence in the eastern allies that he would risk a war with to make sure Russia knows that NATO is ridiculous on its face.” NATO’s borders are not just proBut defense hawks in Congress tected by the Americans, but also say the notion is far from ridicuby our European allies,” he said. lous. Washington has long comThe Republican chairmen of plained that its European allies are the Senate and House Armed Gregory Treverton shirking their NATO responsibiliServices Committees, Sen. John chairman of the National ties — instead riding on America’s McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Mac Intelligence Council financial coattails. That’s precisely Thornberry (R-Texas), have both why some experts have criticized urged the Obama administration the recent surge in U.S. military spending, arguing to do more to confront Putin. Thornberry has called that European nations need to pony up their fair Russia “the only nation that continues to pose an share of money and resources. existential threat to the United States”; McCain has Critics also say increasing America’s military pres- blasted Obama for meeting with Putin and therefore ence near Russia’s border is an unnecessary provoca- bringing Russia’s strongman out of relative isolation, especially at a time when tensions in Ukraine tion. The ERI funding comes via the Overseas Contingenhave simmered down and Putin recently announced cy Operation (OCO) fund, a mechanism that has been a withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria. Lawrence J. Korb and Eric Goepel of the Center used to skirt spending caps during recent budgetary for American Progress, writing in Defense One in battles on Capitol Hill. The short-term nature of OCO February, say Washington is conjuring the specter of funding makes it a flawed means of sending a message a “Cold War boogeyman” to raise defense spending. “While there is no ignoring the Russian annexaSee cold war • page 9

“

How Putin is going to behave is presumably a mystery, and probably even a mystery to Putin.

”

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016 | 7

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Cold War Continued • page 7

of deterrence, Todd Harrison, director of defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told Defense News and other outlets last November. However, Harrison’s colleagues at CSIS, writing in a February brief, said the fact that the program was funded through OCO was only a minor obstacle, and that it represents a long-term commitment to the region. Lisa Sawyer Samp and Mark F. Cancian note that “with an expanding war in Iraq against ISIL [Islamic State] and longer-term commitments recently made in Afghanistan, OCO appears to have a long future. Further, ERI has strong bipartisan support, so it is unlikely that there will be an effort to eliminate or reduce it within the foreseeable future.”

Parsing Putin Anticipating Russia’s reaction to the U.S. move to fortify NATO’s Eastern European flank amounts to anticipating Putin’s reaction. And reading the intentions of Putin, a former KGB agent, has been befuddling for America’s spies. His surprise announcement in March that Russia was pulling out of Syria, for instance, caught most of the Washington establishment off guard. “How Putin is going to behave is presumably a mystery, and probably even a mystery to Putin,” said Gregory Treverton, chairman of the National Intelligence Council. “I take him to be strategic and therefore risk adverse in some sense, but I do worry about the possibility of blundering across an Article 5 boundary by accident or miscalculation, and that would take us into a very different world,” Treverton said in March at CSIS. Article 5 is the section of the NATO charter stating that an attack on one member is an attack on all. U.S. officials have to get a much better read on Putin if policy toward Russia is to improve, argues Fiona Hill, a se-

Photo: NATO

Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian Armed Forces, speaks at a NATO Chiefs of Defense Session with the NATO-Russia Council in January 2014. Russia argues that according to a 1997 pact, NATO is obliged to keep its distance from Russia’s borders. Russia’s Eastern European neighbors counter that because of Moscow’s meddling in Ukraine, that pact is void.

nior fellow focused on Russia at the Brookings Institution. “If the United States and its allies are not to be continually surprised, we will have to put more resources behind understanding what is happening inside Russia, as well as analyzing the complex of Russia’s interactions internationally,” Hill wrote in a recent essay. Putin has been in power for nearly 17 years, whether as president or prime minister, and his imprint on Russian policy will likely stretch further into the future. The Russian political elite share Putin’s craving for Russia’s recognition as a power on the world stage, according to Hill. “Any successor to Putin, no matter who this is, would be just as staunch a defender of what they see as Russian interests as Vladimir Putin is,” she told the House Armed Services Committee in February.

Whither NATO? Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, and its provocations

elsewhere, have put the spotlight on NATO’s efficacy as a security collective in the 21st century. Whether a second cold war or not, the standoff between Russia and the West is prompting serious questions about the future of the security bloc. While the ERI is set to bolster U.S. ground forces and infrastructure in Europe to deter a possible Russian attack, future threats aren’t limited to traditional warfare. Stavridis, the former NATO commander, says the alliance should think more creatively about adapting to cyberspace, which is increasingly a warring domain. Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia was preceded by cyberattacks on Georgian government websites; hackers recently knocked out a swathe of the Ukrainian power grid. NATO has updated its defense policy so that the Article 5 collective defense clause applies to cyberattacks. Regardless, Russia’s cyber capabilities are formidable and could be continually brought to bear on NATO countries. The Atlantic Council’s Benitez worries about NATO’s ability to stay abreast of technological change. “Most NATO leaders fail to understand the change in the technology of the threat,” he wrote. “The Russian military now has weapons of far greater range, precision and lethality than ever before.” Ahead of a NATO summit in Warsaw this summer, however, members will have to wrestle with an age-old question that has dogged the security bloc since its inception: Is everyone pulling their weight? While Central and Eastern Europe nations have beefed up their defense budgets, other nations such as France and Britain are more focused on the threat of illegal migration and Islamic terrorism than Russian expansionism. “Fair burden sharing between the United States and its European allies is a perennial challenge within NATO,” wrote CSIS’s Samp and Cancian. “To win commitments from the Europeans, the United States must make clear its expectation that allies be ready with some high-profile announcements of their own by the time of the Warsaw Summit in July.” WD Sean Lyngaas (snlyngaas) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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WD | Asia

Pariah Pain North Korea Continues to Bedevil U.S. Policymakers by Sean Lyngaas

he North Korean dictatorship has a habit of seizing the attention of American officials through provocative weapons tests after months of laying low. Such was the case when Pyongyang earned headlines after conducting its fourth nuclear test in January and launching a rocket into space in February. News of the Feb. 7 launch broke during a Republican presidential debate. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called for the United States to improve its missile defenses, while claiming that North Korea could detonate a nuclear bomb over the U.S., potentially killing millions. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said North Korea should be put back on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. Businessman and Republican frontrunner Donald Trump said he would use his dealings with Chinese nationals — presumably the same ones he threatened with a hefty 45 percent tariff on the campaign trail — to get Beijing to pressure North Korea into better behavior. North Korea’s emergence as a hot topic was both a Rorschach test for the candidates and a reminder that the hermit kingdom does not often command the same attention with U.S. politicians as Iran, the Islamic State or Vladimir Putin’s Russia. On the Democratic side of the presidential race, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has argued that North Korea is more dangerous than Russia or Iran. His campaigning nonetheless kept him from a Feb. 10 vote to impose more sanctions on North Korea. The episode underscored what has arguably always been true of U.S. policy toward North Korea: Time is on the reclusive regime’s side. “It’s a strategic disadvantage for democracies because leaders come and go by elections, whereas Kim Jong-un is a dictator for life, so he can take his time,” said Sung-Yoon Lee, assistant professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. In the first few years of his administration, President George W. Bush criticized Bill Clinton’s agreement to freeze and dismantle Pyongyang’s nuclear program, labeling North Korea among his famed “axis of evil.” In the last few years of his presidency, though, Bush tried to entice North Korea into curbing its nuclear program in part by sending food aid and removing Pyongyang from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. Neither move had a demonstrable effect on North Korea’s nuclear trajectory. Barack Obama took office in January 2009 intent on not repeating what he viewed as the mistakes of his predecessor. The resulting Obama policy has

10 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016

Credit: UN Photo / Rick Bajornas

Liu Jieyi, China’s permanent representative to the U.N., left, talks with Oh Joon, South Korea’s permanent representative, at a U.N. Security Council meeting in March that unanimously adopted resolution 2270, which imposed additional sanctions on North Korea in response to its continued pursuit of a nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program.

“

It’s a strategic disadvantage for democracies because leaders come and go by elections, whereas Kim Jong-un is a dictator for life, so he can take his time. Sung-Yoon Lee

”

assistant professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University

been dubbed one of “strategic patience.” It includes trying to convince China to exert more pressure on North Korea and tightening the screws on Pyongyang through sanctions and the interdiction of arms shipments. In March, the U.N. Security Council did just that, slapping tough new sanctions on North Korea following its nuclear test and missile launch, although implementation will largely depend on the cooperation of member states, most notably China. The U.S. said the goal of the sanctions is to bring the North back to the nuclear negotiating table. Shortly afterward, however, Kim announced that his government had successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead to mount on a ballistic missile. While experts remain skeptical of Kim’s latest nuclear claim, few doubt his determination to build a formidable nuclear deterrent. Seven years after Obama took office and two nuclear tests later, there is a familiar feeling among North Korea

watchers: The next U.S. president will inherit the dangerously intractable challenge of denuclearizing North Korea. Over two decades of U.S. negotiations with North Korea have yielded $1 billion in U.S. aid to Pyongyang, but nothing in the way of denuclearization.

Regional Calculations The South Korean government reacted forcefully to North Korea’s January and February weapons tests. President Park Geun-hye moved to close down an inter-Korean industrial project while conceding that wages meant to go to North Korean workers were funding the regime. She also opened talks with the United States over a missile defense system that China strongly opposes. At the same time, Park has invested heavily in building closer ties with China, which provides vital aid to North Korea’s anemic economy. In the aftermath of North Korea’s

recent weapons tests, South Korea has “shown that they’re all-in to see an international effort that would create a moment of choice for North Korea,” said Scott Snyder, a senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Perhaps the more crucial question, however, is how committed China is to the push by the U.S., South Korea and Japan to clamp down on North Korea. Despite Beijing’s frustrations with Kim’s unpredictable leadership, China remains North Korea’s most crucial ally. It continues to provide the North with food, money, weapons and energy in an effort to prop up the regime, fearing a collapse would lead to a reunified Korea (and a strong U.S. ally on China’s doorstep) and a flood of impoverished refugees across China’s 870-mile border with North Korea. Sharon Squassoni and Amelia Armitage, writing for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the latest round of U.N. sanctions reflects increasing Chinese impatience toward its client state. “For the first time, according to reports, the United States and China worked closely to negotiate the sanctions provisions,” they wrote. “China’s willingness to impose more stringent sanctions may signal waning tolerance of North Korea’s provocations, but only active compliance with the new measures will demonstrate real resolve.” Snyder, however, argues that the after-

math of North Korea’s previous nuclear test, in ington’s ability to solve the problem. “Five U.S. the country. 2013, was a better moment for U.S.-China co- administrations determined to prevent North “However, implementation of inspections operation on the issue. Since then, U.S.-China Korea from becoming a nuclear weapon state depends on voluntary cooperation of member tensions in the South China Sea have grown through various combinations of diplomacy, states, including China, and North Korea is and bilateral cooperation on North Korea is threats, ultimatums and sanctions all failed.” adept at using foreign-flagged vessels and oth“considerably more reluctant” and probably er forms of misdirection to obscure imports of “insufficient to push the ball over the line,” sensitive items,” wrote Snyder in a Council on ShARpENiNg SANCTioNS Snyder said. Foreign Relations brief. Faced with a recalcitrant North Korea, U.S. Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s North Korea financial links to China are anbrutal young dictator, has looked to tighten policymakers have again turned to sanctions, other major complicating factor, and analysts his grip on power. He has purged top offi- one of the few peaceful means at their disposal say China has been slow to implement a previto alterAlthough Pyongyang’s behavior. cials and pursued a dual track policy, knownNOTE: U.N. resolution. every effort is made to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spellingous and Once a content blunt instrument, U.S. sanctions as the “byungjin” line, that pairs economic “Blind faith in sanctions and pressure … are it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof. and nuclear development. The two goals have have grown more tailored and arguably more not a responsible approach for the future of become closely linked, and in March 2013, effective after the 9/11 terrorist attacks put ilthe Korean Peninsula,” Chinese Foreign MinThe first two faxed changes will be made at no cost to the advertiser, subsequent changes North Korea’s ruling party adopted them as licit financing on the world stage. ister Wang Yi warned recently. billed at Korea’s a rate Feb. of $75 per faxed After North 7 rocket launch,alteration. Signed ads are considered approved. official policy. Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons will be Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un will bide his time “are neither a political bargaining chip nor a Congress passed a long-stalled sanctions as the United States runs through another Please check this carefully. Mark any changes to your ad. election cycle. that Obama signed into ad law. Th e meathing for economic dealings,” Kim said at the package sure requires the president to investigate peotime, according to the state-run news agency. Snyder sees a willingness from Washington that might merit for That resolve to develop nuclear weaponsIfinthe ple to accept the status quo of a nuclearized North ad or is banks correct sign and fax sanctioning to: (301) 949-0065 needs changes tandem with the economy marked a policy their dealings with North Korea. The Fletcher Korea so long as it doesn’t accelerate its proSchool’s Lee called the new law “potentially shift for the North, from ambiguity to clargram and pose a direct threat to the United The Washington Diplomat (301) 933-3552 ity, according to Snyder. “That clarity of intent the most decisive or the most important factor States. greatly reduces the scope and space for diplo- in any improvement in North Korea policy.” “Either Kim Jong-un has to change his Approved __________________________________________________________ Most of the North Korean financial transacmacy,” he told The Diplomat. mind, or Kim Jong-un has to be changed,” he phoTo: By BJØRN ChRiSTiAN TØRRiSSEN hTTp://BJoRNFREE.CoM/KiM/, CC By-SA 3.0 viA WiKiMEDiA CoMMoNS tions___________________________________________________________ investigated by a United Nations panel Siegfried Hecker, a nuclear expert at Stansaid, adding that no one is arguing for the unChanges ford University who has visited North Korea, were made in U.S. dollars from foreign-based The Juche Tower in pyongyang is a monument told consequences of the latter scenario. WD ___________________________________________________________________ has made a similar point — that denucleariza- banks and transferred through banks in the to the North Korean ideology of self-reliance. Sean Lyngaas (snlyngaas) is a contributing tion becomes less likely as Pyongyang stocks United States. Lee argues that this gives the United States great — and hitherto largely not taken against North Korea — and the irony writer for The Washington Diplomat. up on bombs. “More bombs and better bombs matter,” untapped — leverage in pressuring North Ko- is that Iran does not have nuclear weapons.” wrote Hecker. “The progression from develop- rea. The oft-cited refrain that North Korea is The U.N. Security Council has since iming the nuclear weapon option, to having a few already “the most sanctioned country in the posed tougher sanctions on North Korea, but bombs, to fielding a nuclear arsenal has made world” and such penalties will have little effect proof will be in the implementation. Among Pyongyang increasingly reliant on its nuclear is a farce, Lee and other experts say. other things, the most recent U.N. resoluAs Evans Revere, former deputy chief of tion broadens the scope of previous sanctions weapons for regime survival and has dimmed Follow The Diplomat the prospect of a denuclearized Korean pen- mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, told the by targeting natural resource sales, freezing Connect at www.washdiplomat.com. Financial Times in January, “There are a whole North Korean assets, banning weapons trade insula.” The professor also took a dim view of Wash- range of measures taken against Iran that were and inspecting all cargo going in and out of

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WD | Medical

Curbing an Outbreak Spread of Zika Virus Alarms Ambassadors in Washington by Larry Luxner

ot since the AIDS outbreak of the early 1980s has a virus as mysterious and scary as Zika frightened so many people throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. In early February, the World Health Organization designated Zika a public health emergency of international concern after the mosquito-borne disease, first considered relatively benign, came to be implicated in the outbreak of microcephaly — the birth of babies with extremely small heads and undeveloped brains. It’s also been associated with other serious birth defects and Guillain-Barré syndrome, an immune system disorder that sometimes leads to a fatal form of paralysis. At last count, Zika had been reported in 31 countries and territories, most of them in the Western Hemisphere. In a particularly cruel twist of fate, three of the worst-affected jurisdictions are Brazil, already in the midst of a corruption scandal that threatens to topple President Dilma Rousseff; violence-plagued El Salvador, which has the world’s highest homicide rate; and Puerto Rico, where a $73 billion fiscal deficit is rapidly decimating the U.S. commonwealth’s public health system. “Zika is not a new Ebola,” declared Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, Brazil’s ambassador to the United States. “It is, of course, a matter of concern, given its association with microcephaly in newborn babies. More data and standardized protocols are needed before this link — first discovered by Brazilian doctors — between the virus and such cases can be fully clarified.” Figueiredo, in a Feb. 4 opinion piece for Americas Quarterly online, insisted that “at this point, there is no reason to cancel business or pleasure trips, but extra precautions must be taken by pregnant women, who should talk to a doctor before traveling to the most affected areas.” No doubt the ambassador is concerned — among other things — about the devastating economic impact Zika could have on tourist arrivals during this summer’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. When The Washington Diplomat interviewed him for our January 2016 cover profile, Zika barely registered on anyone’s radar. At that time, all the talk centered on Brazil’s plummeting GDP and a series of devastating political scandals that have shaken the reputation of Rousseff and her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. But only four months later, Brazil has nearly 5,000 suspected cases of microcephaly associated with Zika, of which 641 have been confirmed. The epidemic has alarmed governments throughout the hemisphere and was the subject of a March 15 Capitol Hill symposium co-sponsored by Washington’s Inter-American Dialogue and the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. “This is a major health incident in the history of Brazil. We face a very serious problem for which scientific knowledge is far from sufficient,” Wilson Savino, director of Rio’s Oswaldo Cruz Institute, recently told the Guardian, comparing widespread ignorance about Zika to that of HIV — the virus that causes AIDS — in the 1980s. “Back then, the scientific and medical community did not know what was going on until many people had died and considerable research had been under12 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016

Photo: James Gathany / CDC

A female Aedes aegypti mosquito acquires blood from her human host, biomedical photographer James Gathany of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Aedes mosquitoes spread dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever, as well as the Zika virus that is now ravaging the Western Hemisphere.

“

We’re taking this very seriously…. Very little is known about the life cycle of Zika, and we want to get on top of this early. Román Macaya

”

ambassador of Costa Rica to the United States

taken,” said Savino. “Then it turned out to be a global health issue. In Brazil, although we have identified the Zika virus, we don’t know much about it compared with dengue or yellow fever. The degree of ignorance is comparable to what we faced 32 years ago.” Like Ebola, which takes its name from the Congolese river near where a 1976 outbreak of that virus occurred, Zika is named after a forest in Uganda where the disease was identified in 1947. It is believed to have arrived in Brazil in 2014, possibly with visitors to the World Cup. An estimated 1.5 million people worldwide are now infected with Zika infection and the number is growing fast, though nobody knows how widespread the disease is because there are no symptoms in about 80 percent of cases. In the rest, symptoms are similar to other mosquito-borne infections such as dengue, and can include fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise and headache. For women of child-bearing age, however, the consequences can be potentially devastating, with a

recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine reporting that nearly 30 percent of women who tested positive for Zika and underwent ultrasound exams carried fetuses with “grave outcomes,” including fetal death. “We’re taking this very seriously,” said Román Macaya, Costa Rica’s ambassador in Washington, “even though the impact in our country has not been that severe compared to what’s been happening elsewhere.” Indeed, Costa Rica has reported only a dozen cases of Zika, eight of them locally transmitted. Yet Zika’s presence was severe enough for the Atlantabased Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to include Costa Rica — by far Central America’s most popular tourist destination — in an alert urging pregnant women not to travel there. “This is very recent, and since our tourism industry peaks from December to February, we don’t have statistics on how this might affect future travel plans,” Macaya, a chemist and biochemist by training, told The Diplomat, adding that, “we are not going to comment on their recommendations.” Because there is no treatment or vaccine for the virus, efforts to combat Zika have focused on stopping the spread of mosquitos. In mid-February, Macaya accompanied a four-member team from George Mason University’s Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases to Costa Rica, where they conducted research on vector-borne diseases in collaboration with local scientists. “Our Ministry of Health has been educating communities on how to control the risk of Zika, or at least mitigate it by eliminating breeding areas or any receptacles that have standing water, and by spraying larvicides,” the ambassador said. “Very little is known about the life cycle of Zika, and we want to get on top

of this early.” It’s a very different story in El Salvador, whose 6.4 million citizens — many of them impoverished — are squeezed into an area the size of Massachusetts. Complicating the problem is El Salvador’s total ban on abortion and the fact that it suffers from Latin America’s highest rates of teenage pregnancy and sexual violence. El Salvador also ranks as the world’s most violent country; in 2015, its homicide rate came to 104 per 100,000 inhabitants. In their initial response to the Zika outbreak, reported the Guardian, health officials simply advised women in this deeply Catholic country to delay getting pregnant until 2018. Francisco Altschul, El Salvador’s envoy to the United States, said that even though 178 of the 5,620 suspected cases of Zika in his country involve pregnant women, 35 of them have already given birth without complications. “There have also been 130 cases of Guillain-Barré, of which 70 percent are OK now, so in general, we could say that the tendency is going down,” he told us. “The first week of January, we had 1,094 cases reported, and the first week of March, we had only 99 cases. So we’re clearly seeing a downward trend.” “We have mobilized the population to control mosquitos, prioritizing 47 municipalities throughout the country in our first national campaign against the Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae,” the ambassador said, adding that a second campaign would begin April 5 and that nearly 300,000 people will benefit from the effort. “This structure of municipal committees has proven very effective, because you mobilize the population on the spot.” He said the embassy has not received calls from Salvadorans in the Washington, D.C., area worried about Zika.

Photo: Larry Luxner

Costa Rican Ambassador Román Macaya, right, speaks about the threat of Zika to Latin America and the Caribbean as part of a panel organized by the Inter-American Dialogue. At his side is Ana Ayala of Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute.

Photo: World Health Organization

“Right now, I think they’re more worried about the security issues,” he said. In Colombia, more than 20,000 Zika cases have been confirmed — about 2,100 of them in pregnant women. The disease is particularly rampant along the country’s tropical Caribbean coast, home to vast banana plantations and widespread poverty. “The health of our citizens is a top priority for the government, so Colombia’s health authorities are working hard around the clock to diminish the effects and control the spread of the Zika virus,” Juan Carlos Pinzón, Colombia’s ambassador to the United States, told The Diplomat in a prepared statement. “The ministry has reiterated the importance of personal protection, including the use of mosquito nets, insect repellant and clothes that cover the maximum area of skin possible, and they have also expressed

the importance of proper prenatal care for women who show signs of the virus as their pregnancies are considered high-risk.” Pinzón, formerly Colombia’s defense minister, said that during the February visit of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to Washington, he and top U.S. officials agreed to accelerate investigations into the range of health impacts of the Zika virus and on joint research into the development of diagnostics, vaccines and vector control tools to control the virus. But when it comes to Venezuela, Colombia’s neighbor to the east, cooperation with the United States amounts to zero. No diplomatic relations exist between Caracas and Washington, and Colombian Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria Uribe accuses Venezuela — which admits to nearly 17,000 cases — of hiding the full extent of its Zika epidemic.

That claim is echoed by Venezuelan opposition legislator Jose Manuel Olivares. “I hope that President [Nicolás] Maduro will not continue putting policy and ideology before the health and life of Venezuelans,” said Olivares, insisting that the Maduro government lacks the necessary supplies — from condoms to mosquito repellent — to effectively combat the outbreak and reduce unwanted pregnancies. Olivares, chair of the subcommittee on health in Venezuela’s National Assembly, estimates that between 400,000 and 500,000 Venezuelans have contracted Zika. In fact, Venezuela’s Ministry of Health stopped issuing weekly health bulletins over a year ago, Reuters recently reported, meaning there is no public historical data or geographic statistics for unusual fever outbreaks. “If the government doesn’t recognize the magnitude of the crisis, it won’t act on it,” warned Olivares, “and the number of Zika cases is going to increase.” WD Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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WD | Cover Profile

Independence at Last? Iraqi Kurds Battle Islamic State, Pursue Quixotic Campaign for Self-Determination by Larry Luxner

he pair of flags proudly displayed behind the desk of Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman says it all. One represents Iraq — a horizontal tricolor of red, white and black, with the Arabic inscription “Allahu akbar” (God is great) centered on the white stripe. The other is the flag of Kurdistan — a tricolor of red, white and green bands, with a blazing yellow sun disk of 21 rays at its center. In the ancient Kurdish religion of Yazdanism, 21 is a venerated number symbolizing rebirth and renaissance. But for Kurdistan — at least the part currently under Iraqi jurisdiction — rebranding the semiautonomous region as a truly independent, politically viable nation is going to take a lot more than flags and symbolism. Nobody here knows that better than Rahman, the first woman ever to represent Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the United States. Last month, as U.S.-led coalition forces were mapping out strategies to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State fanatics, she sat down with The Washington Diplomat to explain why the Kurds are key to defeating the terrorist group — and why her people have waited too long for independence. “I come from a very political family that has long been at the forefront of the Kurdish national movement in Iraq,” said Rahman, whose British accent belies her London upbringing. “My maternal grandfather didn’t have an official political position, but socially he was very prominent and was arrested many times by different Iraqi regimes and exiled to Turkey. My father was in the leadership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and my mother was a campaigner and activist. I grew up in this atmosphere, where the Kurdish national movement was a part of everyday life.” In 2004, her father, Sami Abdul Rahman, was killed alongside his elder son Salah and 96 others in a twin suicide bombing in the Kurdish de facto capital of Erbil. Since she was a 4-year-old — somewhere there’s a recording of Rahman singing nursery rhymes about the “heroic Peshmerga” Kurdish fighters with her older brother, then 7 — the future diplomat knew exactly where she came from. “You feel compelled to be aware of your identity because your culture and history is denied all the time,” she told us. “Our history has been written by our enemies over and over. Now, perhaps for the first time, we Kurds are telling our own story.” A journalist by profession, Rahman spent 17 years writing for several London-based newspapers. By the time the Financial Times sent her to Japan as a correspondent, however, the subject of Iraq wasn’t making front-page news anymore. “The Western media was not really interested any longer in Iraq. U.S. troops had withdrawn, and Iraq seemed to be muddling along. We had elections and had managed to form coalition governments. We were described as the ‘other Iraq,’ the oil capital of the world, but all of these stories had been told. Then ISIS changed all of that,” she said, referring to another term used to describe the Islamic State. “Whether politicians and diplomats in Washington choose to or not, Iraq has to be on their agenda, and so does Kurdistan.”

Seizing on Instability The prospect of an independent state for the Kurds

“

Photo: Lawrence Ruggeri of Ruggeriphoto.com

Our history has been written by our enemies over and over. Now, perhaps for the first time, we Kurds are telling our own story. ayan Sami Abdul Rahman representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government to the United States

”

— who often describe themselves as the world’s largest ethnic group without a state — is now definitely on the world’s agenda. With the disintegration of Syria and the omnipresent threat of the Islamic State in Iraq, the Kurds have stepped into the breach as one of the most capable fighting forces in the Middle East, using the chaos to solidify their hold on territory and power. The instability is not only redrawing battle lines, but muddying alliances. In Syria, Kurds have successfully clawed back territory from the Islamic State, making them a critical U.S. ally — and a threat to Turkey, which is fighting a longstanding Kurdish insurgency at home and views the main Syrian Kurdish militia as a terrorist group. Yet Ankara also maintains friendly relations with the Kurdish government in Iraq, bolstered by strong economic ties. “The Kurds have never been as influential in the Middle East as they are today. They hold the balance of power in Iraq and Syria, and are in the midst of an insurrection in Turkey,” wrote Henri J. Barkey in a Feb. 26 brief for the Wilson Center. “The U.S. finds itself reluctantly drawn into this Kurdish denouement; it needs the Kurds as much as

it needs the Turks in its efforts to defeat ISIS, the jihadi group. Yet America’s primary ally in Syria, the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), is being bombarded by its longstanding NATO ally, Turkey,” wrote Barkey, director of the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program. Meanwhile, “Iraqi Kurds, thanks to American intervention, have now established an internationally recognized autonomous federal zone in northern Iraq,” he added. “Ankara has excellent relations with the leadership of the Kurdistan Regional Government, KRG, and is its single-most important trading partner. The KRG remains an important, if incomplete, symbol of Kurdish self-determination.” Yet the Kurds’ growing clout has come at a steep price. Nearly two years of fighting in Iraq have drained the KRG’s coffers, as have tumbling oil prices, unresolved disputes with Baghdad and a refugee influx from neighboring Syria. The KRG argues that without outside help, it will soon find itself on the brink of financial collapse. And that’s bad news for the White House, warns John Hannah, a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, in Foreign Policy magazine. “The region’s 150,000 Peshmerga fighters are, in many ways, the poster children for President Obama’s strategy to defeat the Islamic State: a courageous and pro-American local force that, if backed by U.S. air power, is prepared to defeat the jihadists on the ground and then liberate and hold territory,” he wrote, adding that since the war’s start, Kurdish forces have reclaimed over 10,000 square miles of territory from the Islamic State. As we went to press, in fact, U.S. diplomats were confirming that the Pentagon-led coalition to recapture Mosul had begun. The focus started shifting to See Ku r dis tan • page 16 THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016 | 15

Kurdistan Continued • page 15

Mosul — an Islamic State stronghold and Iraq’s second-largest city — after coalition forces had seized Ramadi from the group in eastern Iraq. The Pentagon and its allies have already established an operations center in another Kurdish city, Makhmour, 44 miles from Mosul, where the 15th Iraqi military division, along with U.S. advisers, are now stationed. “It’s already started,” U.S. special envoy Brett McGurk said during a March 16 speech at the American University of Iraq in Sulaimani. “It’s a slow, steady squeeze.” Yet even as the battle for Mosul takes shape, the Kurdish Peshmerga forces are struggling to make ends meet. “Of course the United States has helped us with weapons and training, but the war’s financial burden is falling on the KRG. It costs us $200 million a month to maintain the frontline Peshmerga and security forces,” Rahman said. “We also have 1.8 million refugees from Syria, and displaced people from Iraq. That’s a huge jump in our population in addition to the 5 million we already have.”

‘Work Harder Than Other Embassies’ That leaves Rahman with the task of convincing the KRG’s American allies to pony up more resources for the war against the Islamic State (according to Hannah, the administration has proposed giving the KRG somewhere in the range of $50 million a month). The region Rahman represents is home to about 5.5 million inhabitants, but 40 to 45 percent of Greater Kurdistan — an area

Credit: U.S. Army photo by Spc. Tristan Bolden

A Peshmerga soldier loads ammunition into his magazine in preparation for squad-based training near Erbil on Oct. 14, 2015. As part of Operation Inherent Resolve, U.S. forces have teamed up with Iraqi Kurdish fighters to provide them with weapons and training to help repel the Islamic State.

roughly the size of France — falls outside the KRG’s borders. Rahman puts the world’s Kurdish population at anywhere between 25 million and 34 million. Many of these Kurds — who are not Arabs — live in countries where the KRG has offices, including Iran, Russia, Australia, Great Britain and the United States. In Washington, Rahman said she has a “respectful and cooperative relationship” with Iraqi Ambassador Lukman Faily, who, like her, also spent most of his years in exile in the United Kingdom while opposing the regime of Saddam Hussein. “We don’t interact on a day-to-day basis in terms of reporting to each other what we’re doing,” she said of Faily, “but the ambassador is always there if I ever need him, and we invite each other to receptions.”

As the representative of an autonomous jurisdiction within a country, however, Rahman’s diplomatic status is rather akin to that of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office only two blocks away; that mission displays both the flags of China and Hong Kong. “We have to work harder than the other embassies,” she said. “We don’t have their budgets or their staff size. Nor do we have the structures in place that their governments have. We’re a government in transition, and most of the KRG’s representatives were not diplomats. We come from various walks of life. I was a journalist. Our rep in Vienna is a doctor.” KRG representatives may not be diplomats, but they are savvy operators, enlisting friends on Capitol Hill, in think tanks, the

media and on K Street to plead their case. To that end, the KRG’s quasi-embassy off Dupont Circle spends generously on lobbyists. According to an October 2015 article in Foreign Policy, Rahman’s office shelled out $291,000 on three firms and has signed a contract with a fourth worth up to $200,000. Erbil’s main goal: to convince the White House to drop its policy of sending weapons only to Baghdad, which then distributes them to the Kurds and other militias. Instead, the Kurds want all guns, bombs, ammo and vehicles delivered directly to them. “To keep policymakers apprised of their progress on the battlefield, the KRG has a sophisticated network of lobbyists, which has included former congressional staffers, members, government officials and political strategists,” FP reported, noting that the KRG liaison office, set up as a nonprofit, had a $1.6 million budget in 2013 — the most recent year for which filings under the Foreign Agents Registration Act are available. Rahman wouldn’t tell us how much her Washington mission is spending this year, though she did say “we really appreciate the bipartisan support we have” on Capitol Hill. “Perhaps it’s because Americans like to help people who help themselves,” she noted, as two young men — Alex Ebsary, the KRG mission’s director of public affairs, and Ayal Frank of Qorvis Communications — took notes. “We have huge financial problems, but we also have get-up-and-go, and a vision for what we want. We see ourselves as friends and allies of the United States. You walk the streets of Kurdistan and people will tell you how much they love Americans.” Nevertheless, Rahman is clearly frustrated with the Obama administration. “The U.S. government is very much tied to the one-Iraq policy,” she said rather delicately, “and sometimes the way that is interpreted, from our perspective, is not very helpful.”

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Masters of Their Own Fate For its part, the U.S. most likely doesn’t view Kurdish moves toward independence as particularly helpful. Washington must tread carefully so as to avoid alienating its KRG allies on the one hand, while supporting the central government in Baghdad on the other. That balancing act will be tested if the Kurds press forward in their quixotic bid for nationhood. In early February, KRG President Masoud Barzani called for a referendum on self-determination to be held some time in 2016. “The time has come and the situation is now suitable for the Kurdish people to make a decision through a referendum on their fate,” Barzani said in a statement on his website. “That referendum does not mean proclaiming statehood, but rather to know the will and opinion of the Kurdish people about independence and for the Kurdish political leadership to execute the will of the people at the appropriate time and conditions.” Rahman reassured us that “it won’t be something that happens overnight. It could be a few years, a decade … or a few decades.” The point, she emphasized, is that the will of the Kurdish people can no longer be denied. “For the first time, Iraqi Kurds — and Kurds anywhere — will be given a choice to determine their future,” she said. “My guess is the vast majority will vote in favor of independence, and then the Kurdish leadership will have a mandate to negotiate with Baghdad and other countries on the where and when of achieving that. Our aim is to do it through peaceful negotiation. We’re not planning on a war of independence.” Such a referendum, said Rahman,

www.rma.edu

Signature Events Photo: State Department

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talks with Kurdistan Regional Government President Masoud Barzani after arriving at the KRG presidential compound in Erbil, Iraq, on June 24, 2014.

would be vaguely familiar to the one held in September 2014 on whether Scotland should break away from the United Kingdom (voters said no by a 55-45 margin). Another possible model, she said, is the 1993 “velvet divorce” that divided Czechoslovakia into separate Czech and Slovak republics. Yet redrawing the map of the volatile Middle East is fraught with danger. Dreams of Kurdish independence are a nightmare scenario for the countries that are home to large Kurdish populations, including Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran. In Syria, Kurdish parties recently floated the idea of declaring a federal region

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May 1-31 Friday, Saturday, May 6-7 Saturday, May 7 Saturday, May 14 Saturday, May 21 Wednesday, May 25

Around the World Embassy Tour Saturday, May 7, 2016—10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Partial List of Participating Embassies Azerbaijan Bahamas Bangladesh Barbados Botswana

Brazil Chile Guatemala Haiti Indonesia

Korea Kosovo Libya Mexico Peru

Saudi Arabia Sri Lanka Uruguay Venezuela (Committed as of March 15, 2016)

See K u r d i s ta n • page 18

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Kurdistan CoNTiNuED • pAgE 17

across the northern part of that war-ravaged country. The proposal is likely to be met with fierce resistance from Turkey but might be compatible with U.S. and Russian ideas to eventually carve Syria into autonomous zones. “The two global powers have backed Kurdish aspirations,” wrote Anne Barnard of the New York Times. “Russia has lately been advocating that Syrian Kurds have a greater role in the Geneva [peace] talks. The United States has supported Iraq’s Kurds for decades and has been arming and offering phoTo: By SARChiA KhuRShEED - oWN WoRK, CC By-SA 4.0 viA WiKiMEDiA CoMMoNS air support to Kurdish-led Syrian groups to old and new mix in the iraqi Kurdish capital of Erbil, fight against the Islamic State.” as seen in the Family Mall shopping and entertainPart of the problem, argues Steven A. ment center, above, and a qeyseri market bazaar. Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations, is that the Kurds are not a monolithic entity “in terms of worldview, political goals “I don’t think an independent Iraqi KurdandAlthough relationship to the states which state as a surprise to any- and NOTE: every effort is in made tothey assureish your adwould is freecome of mistakes in spelling live,” he wrote in an online post. “Are the body. We’ve been trumpeting it and talking content it is ultimately to the customer to make the final proof. Kurds terrorists, allies in the warupagainst about it, and we’re going to take slow, steady, the Islamic State, or a nation in need of a measured steps toward it. Turkey has come The first willofbe made at noacost the subsequent changes state?two Thefaxed answerchanges is yes to all these, which long to way in advertiser, its perspective on Iraqi Kurdwillmakes be billed at aextraordinarily rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are the considered approved.phoTo: By ADAM JoNES, ph.D. - oWN WoRK, CC By-SA 3.0 viA WiKiMEDiA CoMMoNS things diffi cult for istan as well. In 2008, Turkish military American policymakers.” was ready to invade Iraqi Kurdistan. Within For instance, the check U.S. agrees Ankara Mark a very any shortchanges time, alltoofyour that ad. changed, and hiSToRy oF MiSTRuST Please this with ad carefully. that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Turkey opened a consulate in Erbil,” she Like their brethren in Turkey, the Kurds a separatist in Turkey that has pointed out.needs “There changes is now a Kurdish politiIf the ad is correctmovement sign and fax to: (301) 949-0065 in Iraq have a long, complicated history waged a bloody, decades-long war for self- cal party, the HDP, represented in the Turkwith their central government. On March determination, is a terrorist group. But it ish Parliament. There have been remarkable 16, Rahman presided over a Washington The Washington Diplomat (301) 933-3552 disagrees with Turkish President Recep changes in Turkey. The Kurdish language ceremony to mark the 28th anniversary of Tayyip Erdogan that the Kurdish political has been decriminalized, and now private Saddam Hussein’s 1988 chemical attack on Approved party__________________________________________________________ in Syria is a terrorist offshoot of the schools are teaching Kurdish.” the town of Halabja and surrounding vilPKK. Erdogan had indeed made strides inteChanges ___________________________________________________________ lages that killed more than 5,000 people — In Iraq, Rahman said that a KRG referen- grating the country’s 14 million Kurds, but mostly women and children. ___________________________________________________________________ dum on independence should be seen out- ever since peace talks fell apart last year, terTens of thousands of people died during side the prism of Ankara’s domestic struggle rorist attacks have been on the rise as Ankathe Sunni strongman’s brutal suppression against its own restive Kurdish minority. ra launches an all-out assault on the PKK. of the Kurds. While things have certainly improved for the Kurds since the U.S.-led invasion, the KRG’s relations with the Shiite government in Baghdad remain strained as the two sides tussle over land and resources. “We hear sometimes from our friends in Baghdad that they just want to be rid of us, that we’re a thorn in the side. But you can’t deny a people their will forever. We’ve been denied that will since the creation of Iraq,” Rahman told us. “We’ve suffered repeated acts of genocide. Just a few days ago, chemical weapons were used again, this time by ISIS. And our economy has been completely neglected at best, and decimated at worst. * “Kurdistan’s economy is in dire straits,” she continued. “We can’t borrow easily on the international markets. The World Bank has given Iraq $1.2 billion, and under our agreement, Kurdistan is entitled to a 17.5 percent share of Iraq’s budget. Currently, we’re getting zero.” That’s because of an unresolved dispute over oil. Mohammed A. Salih, an Iraqi Kurdish journalist writing for the Middle East Institute, said in an analysis that when oil prices were at their peak in 2012 and 2013, the KRG was getting around $13 billion a year from Baghdad. But things started to change in November 2013, when the KRG signed a “strategic” deal with Turkey to export Kurdish oil and gas there for the Make sure the publication you spend next 50 years. Iraq’s then-prime minister, Nouri alyour advertising dollars in is audited. Maliki, retaliated by suspending the KRG’s budget share in February 2014. “We were in the middle of the election campaign, and bashing the Kurds got him some extra votes,” Rahman argued. “He was punishing us pre-emptively because we dared to think about exporting oil.” www.washdiplomat.com Salih, however, also blames the KRG for economic mismanagement and corruption. Now, Iraq’s Kurds are struggling to pay the * Based on a September 2013 audit by CVC. salaries of their bloated public sector. Salih

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says “there is little common ground upon which the KRG and Baghdad can re-establish” relations, whether or not Kurdish Iraq declares independence. “The Kurdish attitude toward Baghdad is shaped by a deep sense of mistrust and they are determined to maintain their current degree of autonomy, including full control over their energy resources,” he said. One key problem, Salih added, is the lack of incentives for either side to compromise. “For as long as oil prices are low, Baghdad has little incentive to take the KRG’s oil and pay it an amount that is more than the KRG’s oil output. However, if oil prices recover, the KRG will have little incentive to hand its precious oil to Baghdad because selling oil above $50 per barrel will be enough to cover the KRG’s costs. Whether or not they achieve formal independence, the Kurds will do their utmost to run their own affairs as independently from Baghdad as possible.” In the meantime, however, the Kurds’ most immediate concern is fending off the Islamic State — and, in the process, helping Baghdad kick the Islamist extremist group out of Iraq. That’s why the KRG has no intention of making the referendum a major issue. “Right now, the priority is ISIS — fighting it, defeating it and pushing it out of Iraq. But let’s say we are independent or in a confederation,” Rahman said. “We’re already having to think ahead. Now we can’t even buy weapons because end-user certificates issued by the KRG are often not recognized.” She said that while the Islamic State is “no longer able to launch those spectacular, massive attacks that it did at the beginning, when it rampaged through parts of Iraq and Kurdish areas like Sinjar, they still attack the Peshmerga. They mine everywhere they go. Everything is booby-trapped. A lot of our casualties have been from IEDs and mines.” Once the Islamic State is defeated and world oil prices go back up, however, Rahman said attention will again focus on Kurdistan’s ultimate political status. “The Iraqi binational state was created on the premise of a partnership between Kurds and Arabs, and we’ve always been on the losing end of that partnership,” she complained. “We face different paths ahead. One is complete independence. Another is for Iraqi Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq to be in a confederation,” she suggested. “The two would be sovereign states with parity, but they could have a military pact to defend each other and hold joint cabinet meetings.” As to the idea that eventual Kurdish independence would trigger the breakup of Iraq into three states — a Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish state — Rahman retorted that “Iraq is already broken” — but that the Kurds didn’t break it. “I don’t know what’ll happen with the Sunni part of Iraq. Some Sunnis want their part of Iraq to be identified as a region. Others don’t want that, and dream of going back to the old days. The problem is that the Sunnis are fragmented, and so far they haven’t really had a coherent, shared vision,” she said. “We have done our best to keep Iraq together, but Iraq is broken. So let’s deal with that.” WD Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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WD | Global Vantage Point

Cracking Capitol Hill Op-Ed: Former Staffer Shares Advice to Help Embassies Access Congress by Adam Sharon

or embassies navigating the Capitol Hill gauntlet, the experience can be byzantine and opaque. The congressional landscape is dotted by small and autonomous fiefdoms. Staff turnover is high. Institutional memories are low. Couple this with the reality that diplomats steadily rotate through Washington and the results are obvious. A chasm forms. Institutional barriers take hold. Relationships between Capitol Hill and many embassies are weak, even nonexistent. This unhelpful dynamic serves the interests of no one, yet it persists. I saw this reality play out firsthand. For the last four years, I worked as the communications director on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for ranking member Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and former Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), and previously on the House Foreign Affairs Committee for ranking member Eliot Engel (DN.Y.) and former Chairman Howard Berman (D-Calif.). Now that I have transitioned away from Capitol Hill to open the D.C. office of Prime Strategies, a national public affairs firm, I can share some observations about strengthening this relationship. Many embassies mistakenly view Capitol Hill as an afterthought, if a thought at all. Prized relationships are maintained with the administration, be it the State Department, Defense Department, National Security Council or other Executive Branch offices. This is a mistake. Senators, for instance, are hardly shrinking violets. They can be a country’s best friend or worst nightmare. A powerfully written letter or forceful speech can shake the State Department bureaucracy into action. These officials are tactile people armed with a Ph.D. in politics. They are substantive, possess long memories and are at ease shaking hands and slapping backs. Why wouldn’t an embassy make developing this relationship a priority? Offices may only hear from embassies during foreign aid appropriation season, perhaps when trade agreements are debated or when weapon sales are notified. That does not constitute an effective, two-way relationship. That mold must be broken and here are a series of recommendations: • Make the rounds: Meetings between ambassadors and congressional lead-

“

Offices may only hear from embassies during foreign aid appropriation season, perhaps when trade agreements are debated or when weapon sales are notified. That does not constitute an effective, two-way relationship.

ers serving on relevant committees are required and can prove immeasurably helpful down the road.

”

Acquaint yourself with both parties. Power inevitably switches hands.

• Don’t bristle when you are asked • Many friends are better than fewer tough questions about how foreign aid dollars or Foreign Milifriends: Don’t rely on developtary Financing funds are ing a few close friendships. A deployed. These are U.S. freshman in Congress could taxpayer dollars after all. It’s become a committee chairfair game for lawmakers to man in the future; a member inquire. of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee a secretary • Don’t overreact when a of state; a senate staffer an congressional member inassistant secretary of state or troduces a resolution about ambassador. Adam Sharon your nation that likely will • Tell your country’s story: Be proac- gain no traction. A resolution autive and tell your country’s story on thored by one elected official is not the Capitol Hill. If you don’t, others will policy of the U.S. government. do it for you. • Be social: Take senior staffers to • Your friends are Democrats and Re- lunch and develop a rapport with publicans: Foreign policy on the Hill them. The meal is one of the only exremains a relatively calm island of bi- ceptions to the gift rules. Don’t make partisanship in a sea of partisanship. it a two-hour affair though.

Adam Sharon, a former staffer on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee, moderates a press conference with 10 U.S. senators at the COP21 climate talks in Paris in December 2015.

• Be very social! Invite lawmakers and staff to the embassy. Receptions are a dime a dozen in Washington. A movie screening at the embassy for a spouse and children? That’s memorable. • Staff Delegation (STAFFDEL) trips are critical: Typically, a committee staffer will not participate in a STAFFDEL organized by an embassy; staffers working in a personal office, however, would attend. A substantive trip is a meaningful experience for an up-and-coming aide. • Be forthright: Don’t spin senior congressional staffers. They are seeking honest information, facts and analysis. Provide them with context. Be straightforward and your value will increase. Act dodgy and your value will decrease. • Diaspora communities and constituency mobilization matter: These voices are influential and passion counts in politics. But be warned: Don’t pursue a legislative agenda that can mess with someone’s reelection. See Congress • page 47 THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016 | 19

WD | Global Vantage Point

Pivoting to Firmer Ground Op-Ed: Ratifying Law of Sea Treaty Gives America Seat at the Table by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.)

s our foreign policy and national security efforts execute President Obama’s well-publicized “pivot to Asia,” force, diplomacy and politics in the Pacific have been at the forefront of the discussion. I wholeheartedly support Senate ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which is a critical piece of our focus on the Pacific. UNCLOS defines the rights and responsibilities of nations with respect to their use of the world’s oceans, establishing guidelines for everything from deep-sea mining to control over a country’s coastal waters, including a 200-mile “exclusive economic zone.” Over 160 nations have ratified the document, but the Senate has refused to approve the treaty for over 30 years, mostly due to conservative fears that UNCLOS would infringe on national sovereignty. This treaty, however, is of paramount importance to American national security interests and our political and economic interests in Asia as well. It offers the legitimacy of the rule of law to our actions, especially in areas that are contested. As retired Coast Guard Adm. Robert Papp succinctly stated, “Our legitimacy as a sovereign state and as a world leader … rests with the rule of law.” By signing UNCLOS, America will signify its position as a country that values, respects and upholds a rules-based international order. It reinforces our stance that a “force of arms should not be our only national security instrument” (to quote retired Army Gen. Martin Dempsey). It illustrates that we are willing to sit at the same table with our allies and those with whom we may disagree. It gives a mechanism beyond force to settle differences between sovereign states without infringing on sovereignty itself. More importantly, ratifying UNCLOS bolsters American legitimacy in international maritime affairs beyond what our unparalleled armed forces are able to secure. The U.S. Navy and our commercial partners have long adhered to the spirit and framework of UNCLOS, while simultaneously expecting other seafaring nations to do the same. Treaty law remains the strongest, binding legal foundation on which global politics and the international order rest. The U.S. has instead been operating under customary international law, which is easily undermined by the unilateral action of states. It should come as no surprise then that our allies are confused by our refusal to ratify a treaty that upholds a rules-based approach to maritime conflict while expecting other nations to be bound by those same rules. As Navy Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, said at a Feb. 24 House Armed Services Committee hearing on the Pacific theater, “I think that in the 21st century our moral standing is affected by the fact that we are not a signatory to UNCLOS.” As the world’s preeminent maritime power and the foremost champion of the rule of law, this reluctance to join UNCLOS undermines American economic and security interests. Ratifying UNCLOS will afford the U.S. a stron-

20 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016

Credit: Navy Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Kenneth Rodriguez Santiago

The USS John C. Stennis pulls up next to the fast combat support ship USNS Rainier during a replenishment in the South China Sea on March 4, 2016. The Stennis provides a ready force to support security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

“

We have shut ourselves out of an international rule of lawbased process that the U.S. military upholds around the world — a process that reinforces diplomacy and ensures the freedom of navigation we so passionately defend across the globe.

”

U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.)

ger position when critical maritime decisions are being debated and negotiated — such as the various territorial disputes between China and its neighbors. To quote my fellow Armed Services member Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), who said at the same House hearing: “[W]e’re allowing litigation to proceed where the consequences in terms of military strategy and resources of this country in the Asia Pacific could hinge on the outcome of that claim and we’re completely shut out…. We’ve done this to ourselves.” My colleague is exactly right. We have shut our-

selves out of an international rule of law-based process that the U.S. military upholds around the world — a process that reinforces diplomacy and ensures the freedom of navigation we so passionately defend across the globe. The fact that substantial amendments were made to the treaty in 1994 — at the behest of the United States and which immediately addressed American reservations — underscores how important it is for the U.S. to be a party to the international process of maritime dispute resolution, rather than being limited to observer status. It’s better to be a part of the conversation and at the table than to be sitting outside waiting in line. We have the opportunity to participate in a critical process that will serve as the basis of maritime law for years to come. Ratifying UNCLOS enables the U.S. to nominate members to the Law of the Sea Tribunal and the Continental Shelf Commission, both of which allow governments to defend their territorial claims, and confirms our standing to ensure that discussions on the freedom of navigation are consistent with American goals. UNCLOS also supports American businesses that are looking to invest in commercial shipping lanes in the Arctic, in deep-sea mining and telecommunications operations, as well as other forms of maritime commerce. The treaty will extend American interests in the seas and ocean floors beyond the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone. American businesses can develop and invest in maritime resources on the extended continental shelf and through the increasingly de-iced Arctic knowSee treaty • page 46

WD | Book Review

It’s Complicated ‘President and Apprentice’ Details Symbiotic Eisenhower-Nixon Dynamic by John Shaw

rwin F. Gellman’s “The President and the Apprentice: Eisenhower and Nixon, 1952-1961” is an ambitious book. It seeks to underscore President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s reputation as a highly successful president; demonstrate that Eisenhower’s vice president, Richard Nixon, was an important member of the administration; describe Nixon’s many activities as vice president; and suggest these experiences, especially regarding foreign policy, honed skills that Nixon later used in his career. Gellman clearly admires both Eisenhower and Nixon, but he is also a fair-minded scholar who is intent on examining the complex relationship between the two men and figuring out how the Eisenhower administration functioned. Gellman was most recently a history professor at Chapman University in Orange County, Calif., and is now an independent scholar. He is the author of four books, including “The Contender: Richard Nixon: The Congress Years, 1946-1952.” “The President and the Apprentice” directly challenges the notion that Nixon was a marginal figure in the Eisenhower administration and that Ike neither liked nor respected Nixon. “The reality is that the president and his apprentice respected and trusted each other. Nixon was deeply involved in far-reaching initiatives and emerged as one of the most important presidential advisers,” Gellman writes. He begins the book by emphasizing that Eisenhower’s reputation as president has improved dramatically from the modest regard that journalists and historians had for him when he left office in January 1961. Eisenhower was initially dismissed as a lackluster and disengaged president who delegated most of the responsibilities of governing to his chief of staff, Sherman Adams, for domestic issues and his secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, on foreign policy. But Gellman observes that as the years have passed and more documents have become available, scholarly regard for Ike has grown. He is now usually regarded as a highly successful president who skillfully led the United States and the West during a dangerous period of the Cold War. Most of “The President and the Apprentice” is devoted to telling the story of Nixon’s role in the Eisenhower administration. Gellman makes it clear that Eisenhower was the boss and Nixon was a diligent and talented assistant — the apprentice. “At first, they did not know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, but as Nixon became familiar with how Ike governed, he was better able to adapt the president’s ideas to practical proposals and make himself a trusted part of the administration,” he writes. When their collaboration began in the presidential campaign of 1952, Ike was already a national icon, the former five-star general who defeated Adolf Hitler in World War II, and Nixon was a 39year-old first-term senator from California. This stature gap between the two did not narrow during the eight years of Eisenhower’s presidency. “Eisenhower, the supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in World War II, the former chief of staff of the Army, the first supreme commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza-

Photos: Yale University Press

“

At first, they did not know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, but as Nixon became familiar with how Ike governed, he was better able to adapt the president’s ideas to practical proposals and make himself a trusted part of the administration. Irwin F. Gellman

”

author of ‘The President and the Apprentice: Eisenhower and Nixon, 1952-1961’

tion, did not have partners,” Gellman writes. “He led a team of subordinates, who were expected to go where Ike sent them, be his eyes and ears, provide intelligent and informed advice, deliver his messages, execute his decisions, and occasionally become casualties. Whether the battlefield was military or political, Ike often had his soldiers take the heat instead of himself.” Gellman argues that Ike was determined to keep Nixon involved in the administration’s initiatives and deliberations, in part because he saw how woe-

fully unprepared Vice President Harry Truman was when he took over the presidency after President Franklin D. Roosevelt died. Nixon attended Ike’s weekly Cabinet, National Security Council and legislative meetings and chaired meetings in the president’s absence. Nixon served as a liaison with Congress, met with dozens of foreign leaders when they visited Washington, traveled extensively as an envoy for the president and was the administration’s top spokesman during political campaigns. Gellman says that Nixon collaborated with Ike and Dulles on foreign policy, tried to rein in controversial Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy and worked on important issues such as civil rights. “Ike grew to have great confidence in his vice president and had Nixon express opinions during crucial meetings and summarize those of others. Nixon depended on the president to provide these opportunities, and he put forward his best effort to become a versatile utility player on Ike’s team. More than anyone else in the administration, he understood the president’s intentions on many different fronts and became an articulate spokesman for his policies. Because of Nixon’s desire to advance the president’s initiatives and because Eisenhower recognized his vice president’s talents, Nixon gradually assumed a more diverse set of duties than anyone else in the administration,” Gellman writes. Gellman believes that Nixon’s reputation as a beleaguered vice president began during the 1952 presidential campaign with the controversy over Nixon’s campaign funds, culminating in his socalled “Checkers” speech in which Nixon delivered a television address defending himself against allegations of fiscal impropriety. Gellman suggests that Eisenhower was impressed by Nixon’s response to the controversy, but Ike did not immediately come to Nixon’s defense or reaffirm his place on the Republican ticket after this dramatic speech on national television. Nixon resented Eisenhower’s reluctance to immediately retain him and this episode got the Eisenhower-Nixon relationship off to a shaky start. Four years later, as Eisenhower geared up to run for re-election in 1956, he suggested to Nixon that rather than remain as vice president, he take a senior job in the Cabinet such as secretary of defense. Ike said this would bolster Nixon’s administrative and management skills. Gellman believes Ike proposed this move as part of a job rotation practice that is common in the military, not as a career-shattering demotion of Nixon. Not surprisingly, Nixon saw the suggestion as a put-down and made it clear he had no interest in leaving the vice presidency. Ike ultimately asked Nixon to run on the ticket with him again in 1956 and they won handily. But Nixon’s political reputation was damaged by Eisenhower’s apparent willingness to reassign him. Eisenhower, probably inadvertently, badly damaged Nixon’s 1960 presidential campaign. Ike was asked by a reporter in the summer of 1960 to describe a key decision that Nixon participated in as vice president and the president quipped, “If you give me a week, I might think of one.” Eisenhower was apparently exasperated by repeated press quesSee Book Review • page 22 THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016 | 21

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tions on the topic, but his biting comment undercut Nixon’s claim that he was an important member of the administration. The Kennedy campaign used Eisenhower’s sound bite in highly effective TV ads against Nixon. Gellman believes Nixon was an important part of the Eisenhower team and argues that the president gave him critical duties, including extensive diplomatic missions to Africa, Asia and Latin America. “Eisenhower led the Republican national ticket twice, and he governed from the top. Although he listened intently to political advice, he never had political partners. He ran his team and made the vice president his major utility player. When the president needed someone to take on a difficult assignment, Nixon was often selected. The two men never shared equal billing and were never buddies. Ike was old enough to be Nixon’s father. Despite their age difference, however, they developed a close and cordial relationship and worked well together throughout Ike’s tenure in office,” Gellman writes. “The President and the Apprentice” is an essential resource for scholars of Eisenhower and Nixon; the book is a marvel of deep research and exhaustive study. Gellman has devoted several decades to tracking down documents related to this period and these men. He provides an exhaustive account of Nixon’s meetings, trips and projects as vice president and shows that Nixon made substantive contributions to the administration. These eight years were a critical time in Nixon’s political development and this book provides both a broad perspective and granu-

lar detail about Nixon’s tutelage under Ike. For those interested in these two political figures, Gellman’s bibliography and footnotes are both a treasure trove and a road map for further study. This book may be challenging for the general reader, given its extensive detail and methodical presentation of evidence. Additionally, Gellman frequently challenges other scholars on matters of both fact and interpretation regarding Nixon and Eisenhower. These passages are more interesting for scholars than the typical reader of non-fiction. Gellman makes a valiant effort to capture the complexity of the EisenhowerNixon relationship. Clearly, Ike had deeply ambivalent feelings about Nixon. Throughout his presidency, he made dozens of comments about Nixon that offered tepid praise. Ike frequently compiled lists of worthy Republican successors and Nixon was not always on these lists or when he was, he was almost never at the top of the list. Even during the early months of 1960 when Nixon was the unchallenged leader for the Republican presidential nomination, Ike was reluctant to endorse him and offered the most restrained praise of him. He did ultimately endorse Nixon for president both in 1960 and 1968. It’s unfair to fault Gellman for failing to fully explain a relationship that may have even puzzled Eisenhower and Nixon. WD John Shaw is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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In memory of

Galiya Umarova May 17, 1964 – January 4, 2016

Galiya Umarova, the wife of Kairat Umarov, Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to the United States, died Jan. 4, 2016. Married for 30 years, Galiya was a caring wife and a loving mother to their son, Gaini. Her infectious smile, joyful spirit, grace and love of her native Kazakhstan were inspiring. She was a shining beacon to her contemporaries and friends in the diplomatic corps and political circles. She was loved, respected and will be missed.

22 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016

Luxury Living a special section of the Washington Diplomat

•

April 2016

photo: da-kuk / iStoCk

Eye of the Beholder Bevy of International Products Expands Our Notions of Beauty •

By Stephanie kanowitZ

stroll through the makeup section of a department store can feel like a mini trip around the world. It’s obvious that products with foreign-sounding names take up plenty of counter and shelf space. There’s France’s Chanel, Israel’s Ahava, England’s Burberry, Italy’s Dolce & Gabbana — you get the idea — all enticingly packaged with promises of transformation. And maybe transportation, too.

Bluemercury sells various international products such as the Sleep Mask tan by James read, left, and Caolion Blackhead Steam pore pack. photoS: BlueMerCury

“We consume more information on a daily basis than ever before, in turn exposing us to new and different beauty trends, which has helped drive increased interest in international products as well as a curiosity to learn about new cultures,” said Marla Malcolm Beck, co-founder of Bluemercury, a fast-growing luxury beauty product and spa retail chain with 13 local locations. “In addition, there’s a mystery to foreign-made products that trigger our desire to travel to faraway lands and see how beauty translates to new cultures.” In her own travels, Malcolm Beck has discovered products

such as Sleep Mask Tan by James Read ($43), which she found in London and now sells in her stores. “I love that it’s multifunctional: It gives you a glow and deeply hydrates your skin — and best of all, it smells great,” she said. Raen Round Soaps ($7) is another of her must-have products. “I love exploring how local ingredients are used in beauty products, and a good example is these beautiful soaps I discovered in Istanbul,” Malcolm Beck said. “They’re available in 33 scents, See Beauty • page 24 THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APrIL 2016 | 23

Beauty Continued • page 23

“

We consume more information on a daily basis than ever before, in turn exposing us to new and different beauty trends, which has helped drive increased interest in international products as well as a curiosity to learn about new cultures.

”

based on ingredients you’d find at the local bazaar, like clove, rose and amber.” But consumers don’t have to travel to experience the beauty (products) of another country, thanks to the internet, she said. “We are increasingly influMarla Malcolm Beck co-founder of Bluemercury enced and inspired by beauty trends and routines across the globe and have a common ground to connect, no matter what pocket of the world you’re are going to be spot-on,” she said. “I recently got hooked on this charcoal from,” she said. “We’re seeing it every day on social media platforms.” mud mask, which exfoliates and hydrates skin while clearing out your American beauty and fashion magazines tout the benefits of pores. I use it once or twice a month or when I get a pimple.” globally produced products. Marie Claire, for example, runs South Korea exported more than $2.64 billion worth of Ka Foreign Beauty Report and last year published a list of beauty in 2015, according to the Korea Customs Service. the 10 best beauty products in the world. It included a France is the largest exporter of beauty products, bringing skincare product from Shiseido, which began producin $7.46 billion, according to the Observatory of Ecoing cosmetics in Japan in 1897. Also last year, Allure NOTE: Although every is made to assure your ad is free nomic effort Complexity, which creates visualizations outofofmistakes in spelling and magazine ran a piece on the “19 Australian Beauty content it is ultimately up toFor the customer to make the final proof. international trade data. context, the second-biggest Products We’re Currently Obsessed With” (paraexporter is the United States, with $4.28 billion. ben- and sulfate-free Mr. Smith Shampoo and Con“We’re captivated beauty Koditioner topped the list, by the way, with the writer The first two faxed changes will be by made at in nocountries cost tolike theSouth advertiser, subsequent changes andof France of the influence from theirads deeply citing their smell and packing among the reasons for will be billed at arearate $75because per faxed alteration. Signed are considered approved. rooted history and heritage,” Malcolm Beck told us. “For the obsession). example, French women have perfected the ‘effortless’ look In September, New York Magazine reported that Please check this ad carefully. Mark any changes to your ad. and see their skincare routine as a way of life — which is beauty products are becoming one of South Korea’s different from the U.S., where we’re all about maximum results biggest exports, and that the government is helping the If the ad is correct signtime. and South fax to:Korea (301) 949-0065 changes in minimal is also very different.needs Engrained growth along. America is one of the biggest markets for Photos: Bluemercury in their culture is a fascinating commitment to a highly disciso-called K-beauty. fromWashington Istanplined beauty routine,(301) where933-3552 their daily regimen may use as The Diplomat The reason for this, skincare magnate Peter Thomas Raen Round Soaps bul are available in 33 scents many as 10 different products. For Koreans, achieving healthy Roth told the magazine, is “Korean products, especially based on ingredients you’d skin is an ancient tradition, dating back to centuries ago where skin care, are seen as the most high-tech out there by pret- find at a traditional bazaar. Approved __________________________________________________________ the noble class never went outside in the sun and had porcety much every cosmetics expert — Lancôme even credited lain-like___________________________________________________________ complexions.” the country’s advancements in featherweight foundation when it launched Changes At Aura Spa, which has four D.C. locations, aestheticians use G.M. Collin its own Miracle Cushion foundation.” ___________________________________________________________________ Malcolm Beck named a Korean product — Caolion Blackhead Steam skincare, founded in France in 1957 and now based in Canada. Pore Pack ($23) — as one of her favorite foreign-made products. “Korean See Beau t y • page 26 women have flawless complexions, so you know their skin-care products

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Beauty Continued â&#x20AC;˘ page 24

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is very results-driven,â&#x20AC;? Elaine Perhach, director of Aura, said of the line. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Especially with the clinical facials, once you get off of the table, you will see immediate results.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Most customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; experience with European lines is that they do tend to be results-driven, so I think that is also part of the appeal,â&#x20AC;? added Carol Davidson, senior business development manager. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Most of our ingredients are from Europe.â&#x20AC;? Ingredients include ceramides, or waxy lipid molecules, and plant stem cells, which come from Switzerland. The G.M. Collin products found stateside may differ slightly from the ones found in Europe, however, Davidson said. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s because of different preferences in different cultures. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Europeans still like heavier, perfumed products. They like thicker, heavier textured products. So when we brought the product line to North America, we did make adjustments,â&#x20AC;? she explained. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We may have a moisturizer, for example, for dry skin or for dehydrated skin, but we have it in different textures.â&#x20AC;? Regardless of the subtleties, a simple association with a given country may be enough to garner interest. As a 2013 Glamour magazine piece stated, sometimes the allure of the exotic is all it takes: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the kitschy cuteness of mistranslated product descriptions, the adorable packaging and the fact that if you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t read the ingredients, it must be a really advanced, breakthrough formula that isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even legal in America yet â&#x20AC;Ś or something.â&#x20AC;? WD

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Hotels & Travel a special section of the Washington Diplomat

•

April 2016

National Day Competition Hotels Step Up Their Game to Attract Embassy Business • By Stephanie kanowitZ

hen King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands has a birthday, everyone gets to party. The country marks the day — April 27 — with several large events in the Washington, D.C., area that double as National Day celebrations.

“This year we will have three events on that day,” said Ilse van Overveld, public diplomacy, press and culture counselor at the Netherlands Embassy. “We will start with an official reception for our American counterparts, then a smaller reception for Dutch residents or Dutch people living in the metro area that we will invite to come over to the embassy and celebrate our National Day. That reception will evolve into a dance party.” The DC Dutch club organizes the dance party, hiring a DJ, and “of course we will bring Heineken,” van Overveld said, which is essentially the event’s official beverage. National Day, or King’s Day, events are traditionally held on the embassy grounds. The courtyard can hold about 500 guests, and an auditorium and reception hall indoors keep the festivities going. The guest list includes ambassadors, officials from the U.S. Departments of Commerce, State and Treasury in addition to representatives from nongovernmental organizations, think tanks and the cultural field. The theme of the party is orange and green — orange being the country’s national color and green being, well, the color of a Heineken beer bottle. On the menu are traditionally Dutch dishes such as herring and chopped onions and bitterballen, a snack of minced meat formed into balls and dipped into bread crumbs before being fried. “We like that with mustard,” van Overveld said. “Most of our American colleagues are not too fond of our herring, I have to admit.” Although the receptions are geared toward the adult crowd, children don’t get short shrift. The embassy works with the Dutch School in Bethesda, Md., to recre-

ate scenes that take place nationwide on National Day in the Netherlands. “Traditionally in the Netherlands we organize flea markets so kids — and their parents as well — can go into their house and find stuff they don’t really use any more and they’d like to sell,” van Overveld said. “The kids are on small blankets or in the streets of any city in the Netherlands, and we will do that at the Dutch School in Bethesda” on April 30. That event will also include games and musical performances. Children keep the money from items they sell. “We are known for our entrepreneurial spirit. I guess we teach them early how to go about it during our National Day,” van Overveld said. Years ago, the embassy held National Day events at the ambassador’s residence, but they grew too large for the space. It uses its own grounds for its National Day — rather than a hotel, as many other embassies do. “We really see our National Day as a way to highlight our cooperation with our American counterparts,” van Overveld said. “So, yes, we focus on the Netherlands and we sing our national anthem, but we also very much will pay attention to the strong cooperation between the Netherlands and America.”

hotelS work to entiCe eMBaSSieS By definition, a National Day is the date on which a country commemorates its founding, but really it’s a chance for any country to celebrate and share its culture through food, drink, entertainment and general merriment. But many embassies

don’t necessarily have the space or means to host celebrations on-site — and as a result, they frequently turn to hotels. While National Day receptions are often a point of pride for embassies, they are also, as one U.S. government oﬃcial told us, a dime a dozen in a city filled with premier events. Recognizing that the reception-hosting business is a competitive market, embassies have stepped up their game to make the experience more unique. To mark the 25th anniversary of the end of the Gulf War, for instance, the Kuwaiti Embassy recently held a commemoration and screening at the Newseum to mark the liberation of Kuwait. The unusual venue played host to VIPs such as See emBassies • page 28

photo: aBaCapreSS / BoB CoSCarelli / Sofitel waShington dC

photo: eMBaSSy row hotel

the Sofitel in d.C., whose lobby is seen in the top photo, is located a stone’s throw from the white house and has its own event planning service. above, the embassy row hotel recently underwent a $17 million renovation. THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APrIL 2016 | 27

Embassies Continued • page 27

former Secretary of State Colin Powell and recently appointed Saudi Ambassador Prince Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud. The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, for its National Day, held a lavish reception at the National Air and Space Museum, in part to tout the country’s own space program. “The trend from the last couple of years is that a lot of the embassies tend to want to do it in their own residence or their own space,” said Alexandra Byrne, the general manager of the Sofitel Washington DC Lafayette Square. “The space has been a little more eclectic than it’s been in the past. In the past, the hotel was a go-to place. Now I think embassies are getting a little more creative.” And hotels, in turn, are getting creative to attract National Day business back. Popular choices in the past include standbys such as the Willard InterContinental Washington and local Ritz-Carlton properties, but other options are emerging as fresh approaches to traditional festivities.

Sofitel Service Sofitel has had experience with National Day celebrations. It worked recently with the Embassy of Chad, for example. “We were able to do some research and find some specific recipes that would be special for the country that people were coming from, and we were able to cook those dishes according to the specs that they had given us as well. It was very successful that way,” said Byrne, who herself is somewhat of a novelty in the hospitality industry. Byrne was recently chosen to be the first female general

manager of the Sofitel in D.C., making her the only currently serving female GM of a luxury hotel in the nation’s capital. She’s got her sights set on attracting more diplomatic events through various means. For one, security is no issue. “We work very closely with the Secret Service. We understand their needs, what is specific about the group — arrival times, security, making sure we communicate the staff members’ names and all those good things to [ensure] security around the visit,” Byrne said. Then there’s the 237-room building itself. Situated a stone’s throw from the White House, it’s a prime luxury location. Event space is plentiful, with floor-to-ceiling windows in the ballroom and a separate entrance on H Street, enabling guests to bypass the main hotel entrance. The ballroom can hold up to 300 people for a reception or 140 for a sit-down meal. What’s more, the French-owned brand has its own event planning service called Sofitel Inspired Events, which promises “meticulous attention to detail and creative vision that extends beyond the details,” according to the hotel’s website. “A lot of the francophone countries really enjoy staying here … but we do have ambassadors in the hotel — we call our employees the ambassadors. We have them from all over the world and they can speak various languages, so we are able to cater to a lot of the embassies around the city as well,” Byrne said. But what really makes Sofitel attractive, she said, is the service. “What we’re well-known for in Washington is the service,” Byrne said. “Really at the end of the day, clients come to a hotel to get that service, that hospitality — the fact that you feel welcome, that you feel at home. We are able to provide all that and the customers know that.” See embassies • page 30

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for multiple embassies. We had Kimpton Additions over 1,500 people throughout the Last year, the Kimpton boutique hotel between our Station Kitchbrand added two hotels to its sizable en & Cocktails [a coffeehouse Continued â&#x20AC;˘ page 28 D.C. portfolio: the 198-room Carlyle at and restaurant] and our meeting Dupont Circle off of New Hampshire space.â&#x20AC;? Avenue, NW, and the 154-room Savoy The largest space there is the Two Embassy Namesakes Suites in Glover Park off Wisconsin Admiralâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ballroom, which is Avenue, NW, now known as the KimpWith a full renovation costing $10.5 million completed in 2,265 square feet. A rooftop ton Glover Park. 2014, the 198-suite Embassy Suites Hotel at the Chevy Chase space adds another 6,000 square The brand itself is the biggest draw Pavilion on Military Road, NW, is ready to show off its new feet and an outdoor bar lends for embassies looking to put a funky, look to embassies. Photo: Kimpton another 1,000, Brainard said. fresh spin on their National Day â&#x20AC;&#x153;In our renovation, we did all hardwood floorings, all new And all are up for grabs when it The Kimpton boutique brand recently added the 198events, said Ursula McNamara, difurnishings, so we went for a very downtown boutique hotel comes to embassy events. room Carlyle at Dupont Circle to its sizable D.C. portfolio. rector of sales and marketing for the style with an all-suite property,â&#x20AC;? said Jeff Brainard, area genâ&#x20AC;&#x153;The entire property is very eral manager for Destination Hotels. Other changes include a flexible,â&#x20AC;? Brainard said. Last year, â&#x20AC;&#x153;we did a combination of hotels. Kimpton takes a modern approach to travel, offering bigger lobby and the addition of a new bar and restaurant, the hors dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;oeuvres and then an appetizer upstairs and then more at-home amenities such as free coffee and tea in the morning, Atrio CafĂŠ. of an international station buffet in the main ballroom, with wine in the evening, yoga mats and bicycles. Plus, pets of all â&#x20AC;&#x153;That area is more than 7,000 square feet under one of drinks and bars set up throughout the lobby and the restau- sizes are welcome. In terms of catering, the Carlyle covers it through the highly D.C.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest glass atriums, so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a very rant.â&#x20AC;? unique, open space that can accommoAt either hotel, the defining fea- rated Riggsby restaurant, where chef Michael Schlow makes date over 400 people very easily,â&#x20AC;? Braiture is service, Brainard added. American cuisine with a European influence. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be able to nard said of the cafĂŠ. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s where we â&#x20AC;&#x153;One thing thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been lost in hos- cater the menu and customize it to â&#x20AC;Ś what the embassy is trylike to host the larger events.â&#x20AC;? pitality in my opinion is the ability ing to celebrate,â&#x20AC;? McNamara noted. The hotel has 2,700 square feet of meeting space that can hold Besides having access to the cafĂŠ chef, to listen. And when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re talking the hotel also has an agreement with to the different embassies, these 100 people for a reception or 70 to 80 for a seated, plated meal. Range, a restaurant owned by local celebevents are about celebrating cul- The Glover Park property, which is undergoing a multimillionrity chef Bryan Voltaggio. ture, and when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re celebrating dollar renovation, will have a ballroom that will measure about Additionally, the hotel has about 6,000 culture, you want to get the finer 1,800 square feet, and it will also have a restaurant space. square feet of meeting space divided into A major draw for international party planners is the hotelsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; points of whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important,â&#x20AC;? he said. five rooms. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For these events, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a dynamic diverse staff, McNamara said. Photo: Embassy Row Hotel The hotelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sister property, the Emâ&#x20AC;&#x153;One big thing is we have a multicultural staff that includes event. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s of national significance bassy Row Hotel on Massachusetts Av- Second from left, Wuiping Yap of the Asia Heritage and pride to the group weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re work- team members who can speak German, Spanish, French, Turkenue, NW, has worked in the past with Foundation poses with friends at last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Passing with. We have to commit our- ish, Amharic, Korean â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just to name a few â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and the embassies of Kuwait, South Africa port DC, whose Around the World Embassy Tour selves as a property and not just as it creates a personalized experience,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nice when was partially held at the Embassy Row Hotel. and Great Britain. a banquet team. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a catering guests arrive at the hotel to be able to welcome them in their â&#x20AC;&#x153;Last year was our first year hosting event. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a big group. This is a native language.â&#x20AC;? WD these programs,â&#x20AC;? Brainard said of the Embassy Row location. national event that the entire property needs to participate â&#x20AC;&#x153;We completely renovated that property, putting in over $17 in celebrating. So we are as much a participant as we are a Stephanie Kanowitz is a contributing writer million. year we hosted both daytime for The Washington Diplomat. 2 | THELast WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | 2015 and evening events host.â&#x20AC;?

Embassies

30 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | April 2016

Culture arts & entertainment art

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diplomatic spouses

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theater

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photography

DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES

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music

The Washington Diplomat

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history

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film

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April 2016 events

Edouard Manet’s “View in Venice: The Grand Canal”

Rooting for Romania As a college student at George Washington University, George Cristian Maior rooted for the hometown football team, the Redskins. Now, during his first posting as ambassador, Maior and his wife Anamaria root for their homeland of Romania. / PAGE 33

PHOTOGRAPHY

Argentine ‘Mirages’ Fragments of the familiar collide with realms of the unknown in “Mirages,” the latest offering in the Embassy of Argentina’s thriving roster of cultural events. / PAGE 34

THEATER

IMPRESSIVE

PHOTO: PAUL G. ALLEN FAMILY COLLECTION

Voyeuristic ‘Flick’ Watching “The Flick,” now at Signature Theatre, is akin to being a voyeur of the awkward, at-times forced, relationships among everyday people that are intriguing to witness, but painful to digest. / PAGE 35

DINING Bottoms up! We toast the new craft cocktail bars that are elevating the city’s drinking scene. / PAGE 37

ART

NATURE If you’ve ever wanted to see nature through the eyes of a tech billionaire art collector, the latest exhibition at the Phillips Collection delivers — and it does so beautifully.“Seeing Nature: Landscape Masterworks from the Paul G. Allen Family Collection” boasts an impressive array of 39 works spanning five centuries that trace the evolution of European and American landscape painting. / PAGE 32

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016 | 31

WD | Culture | Art

Richness of ‘Nature’ Billionaire’s Collection Showcases U.S., European Landscape Paintings •

BY MACKENZIE WEINGER

Seeing Nature: Landscape Masterworks from the Paul G. Allen Family Collection THROUGH MAY 8 PHILLIPS COLLECTION 1600 21ST ST., NW

(202) 387-2151 | WWW.PHILLIPSCOLLECTION.ORG

f you’ve ever wanted to see nature through the eyes of a tech billionaire art collector, the latest exhibition at the Phillips Collection delivers — and it does so beautifully. “Seeing Nature: Landscape Masterworks from the Paul G. Allen Family Collection” boasts an impressive array of 39 landscape paintings spanning five centuries. The show offers Washingtonians the chance to explore a small group of paintings on loan from Allen, a philanthropist and entrepreneur best known as the co-founder of Microsoft, along with Bill Gates, and as the owner of the Seattle Seahawks. This exhibition gives a rare glimpse into Allen’s massive private art collection as it traces the evolution of European and American landscape painting. “There’s a wonderful dialogue between European and American art in this exhibition, and a nice dialogue between older and younger artists,” said Klaus Ottmann, the Phillips’s deputy director for curatorial and academic affairs and the exhibition’s coordinating curator. “There’s an internationalism to this exhibition that plays well with our museum’s mission to be an international museum, and our commitment to cultural diplomacy.” Walking into the exhibition, visitors are greeted with a stunning, moody vision of Venice dotted with brilliant lights dancing across the water in Henri Le Sidaner’s “The Serenade, Venice.” It’s just one of the many paintings that depict Venice in the show, a recurring theme that could either enchant or lull viewers, depending on their take on the city. But there’s more than just the beauty of the Italian city on display, and for a change of scenery exhibition-goers can merely step inside another room. Jan Brueghel the Younger’s “The Five Senses” is staged magnificently, with the sumptuous images set against blazing red walls that highlight the dark, romantic vibrancy of each piece. The next room over, meanwhile, showcases not the sensuousness of the natural world, but its terror, as the bursts of light and fire in Chevalier Volaire’s “Eruption of Mount Vesuvius with the Ponte della Maddalena in the Distance” control the space. Overall, serenity reigns in “Seeing Nature.” But the moments of chaos make for a stark reminder that painting landscapes demands not just capturing beautiful, idyllic scenes, but the wild and terrible sights of our natural world as well. From Europe, viewers then travel to the American West, as showcased in the epic vistas of Thomas Moran’s “Grand Canyon of Arizona at Sunset” and Arthur Wesley Dow’s “Cosmic Cities, Grand Canyon of Arizona.” This corner is a particular highlight of the show, as Dow and Moran’s ambitious takes on one of America’s most impressive natural sights hang brilliantly alongside Paul Cézanne’s “Mont Sainte‐Victoire,” a vibrant depiction of the massive limestone ridge that obsessed the French artist. Nearby, one of the most delicately beautiful paintings of the show sits in the area playing videos that detail the process behind mounting the exhibition — a slight distraction, certainly, but not enough of an annoyance to detract from Claude Monet’s “En Paysage dans I’île Saint-Martin,” an exercise in envisioning the world only in strokes of vivid color. More overtly fantastical landscapes follow. Max Ernst’s nightmarish apparition in “Landscape with Lake and Chimeras” recalls the demonic horrors of war. Meanwhile, René Magritte’s “The Voice of Blood” revels in strange imaginings of what the natural world can hold as it portrays a massive tree with three separate compartments that hold a miniature house, a sphere and the next compartment, unknown, merely left slightly ajar. “It’s a very international exhibition, and that’s another thing that was very interesting to us,” Ottmann told The Washington Diplomat. “Duncan Phillips, when he opened this museum, he was very untraditional — he made no distinctions between European and American art, old art and young art, as a collector. “All of this seemed like really a great match for us, and as we are based on a private collection ourselves, we saw a lot of parallels with Paul Allen’s collecting and our collection,” he added.

32 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016

PHOTOS: PAUL G. ALLEN FAMILY COLLECTION

Among the nearly 40 landscape paintings in “Seeing Nature” are Claude Monet’s “En Paysage dans I’île Saint-Martin,” above, Max Ernst’s “Paysage avec lac et chimères,” below, and Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Black Iris VI.”

There’s also a family-friendly science component to the show aimed at exploring the connections between art and the brain — a feature of the exhibition Ottmann said was “very compelling” to the Phillips Collection. The final room of art features April Gornik’s vast, steely “Lake Light,” casting a wall of rain over a bucolic green landscape of three trees, and Ed Ruscha’s “Untitled” grayscale of the iconic Standard gas station, hinting at the world of film noir. These two works are subtle stunners next to the neon theatricality of David Hockney’s “The Grand Canyon.” “Seeing Nature” stunningly showcases the grandeur inherent in painting the natural world, as seemingly small sights like a layered, delicate Georgia O’Keeffe iris or Gustav Klimt’s quiet “Birch Forest” contrast and weave together effortlessly with the monstrous enormity of Mount Vesuvius and the Grand Canyon. WD Mackenzie Weinger (@mweinger) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

WD | Culture | Diplomatic Spouses

On the Same Page Romanian Couple Tout Strategic, Cultural Links with U.S. •

BY GAIL SCOTT

s a college student at the George Washington University, George Cristian Maior developed an affinity for football and rooted for the hometown team, the Redskins. Now, during his first posting as ambassador, Maior and his wife Anamaria tout the affinity that their countrymen have for the United States. “We have had a relationship with the United States for 135 years. And, even more, we now have a strong strategic partnership,” said Romania’s new envoy, who presented his credentials to the White House last September. Romania’s 20 million inhabitants have been members of NATO since 2004 and the European Union since 2007. Maior, the former director of the Romanian Intelligence Service, says his country is one of the most pro-American in the EU. “Eighty percent of Romanians think that America is our best friend. Our soldiers participate in Afghanistan, making us one of the largest contributors. A Romanian commander led U.S. troops.” Maior and his wife were both born in ClujNapoca, the unofficial capital of the Transylvania region that is known for its history and culture. “We always felt part of Europe,” Anamaria told us, “especially from the cultural point of view.” “Cluj is a vibrant city with important architecture and an 18th-century university,” said Anamaria, who is the daughter of Augustin Buzura, a respected novelist whose Romanian Ambassador George Cristian Maior, second from right, is joined by his works have been translated worldwide. Buzura headed the Romanian Cul- wife Anamaria, son Cristian and daughter Lara as he presents his credentials to tural Foundation (renamed the Romanian Cultural Institute) and promoted President Obama at the White House last September. Romanian culture abroad, a lifelong pursuit of Anamaria’s as well. Anamaria followed her passion for the written word inherited from her “We traveled here five years ago when the children were younger,” she addfather by majoring in philology (the study of languages) at Babeș-Bolyai Uni- ed. “It was summertime and we went to Utah and the West Coast. The Ameriversity in her hometown. can people were lovely — very kind and open and helpful with whatever we Anamaria and her husband met in Cluj, where needed.” they were introduced by friends. They married when The ambassador has deep ties to the United States. Maior became Romania’s deputy chief of mission in Before he met his wife, he came to D.C. as a graduate Ireland in 1997. student studying international and comparative law at “We established the embassy in Dublin,” Maior the George Washington University. said. “I lived in a Foggy Bottom apartment with other “And I started to organize cultural events for the students. We had to cook for ourselves,” he recalled. embassy,” his wife added. “I was very impressed with At that point, his wife smiled and noted that he is a the Irish. Although they were more reserved, they good cook, especially with Chinese and Romanian were very warm when you got to know them.” cuisine. “We worked hard and discovered friends While they were posted in Ireland, she received a and I learned about American culture,” he continmaster’s of philosophy degree in international peace ued. “That was the year the Redskins won the Super studies from Trinity College in Dublin. Anamaria Bowl. It was a fantastic atmosphere. I have wonderful also worked with Irish poet Aodh O Canainn to pubmemories. Washington is close to my heart and I have lish famed Romanian writer Marin Sorescu’s final come here many times since. work, “Poems of the End.” “I am in touch with my friends from university After two years in Ireland, they returned to Romahere and we often get together with them,” he added. nia, where in 2000 Maior became state secretary and “I like Georgetown and the small pubs.” head of the Department for Euro-Atlantic IntegraThe ambassador went on to get a Ph.D. in interGEORGE CRISTIAN MAIOR tion and Defense Policy in the Ministry of National national law from Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj. Defense. In that role, he was responsible for coordiHe also worked as a university professor and Ph.D. ambassador of Romania to the United States nating the strategic and military dimension of Romacoordinator at Bucharest’s National School of Politinia’s NATO accession process. Anamaria, meanwhile, cal Studies and Public Administration. “I enjoy being cared for their two small children and later became a senior consultant for the with students, writing. Academic life is part of my identity,” said Maior, who global insurance company MetLife. has published various articles and books covering human rights, public law, Now, she is helping the family settle in and adjust to life in Washington. “I international relations, strategic thinking, security and intelligence studies. am not alone; I have help with the children. My mother lives with us. Lara is a In addition to his university work, Maior has served in a number of governninth-grader and Cristian is a seventh-grader. The both go to public schools. ment posts based in Bucharest, including senator to the Romanian Parliament I still help with their homework, especially English,” she said. “It’s not easy for and, most recently, director of the Romanian Intelligence Service, which he them. helmed for eight years. “My most important job is the family. I am often waiting for the kids and “Diplomacy is a very noble profession,” he said, comparing academic and my husband, who works very long hours. We love to explore Washington together — the monuments and museums,” Anamaria said. SEE DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES • PAGE 38

“

We have had a relationship with the United States for 135 years. And, even more, we now have a strong strategic partnership…. Eighty percent of Romanians think that America is our best friend.

”

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016 | 33

WD | Culture | Photography

Subjective ‘Mirages’ Argentine Artist Seeks to Create Unknown Realms of Reality •

BY KATE OCZYPOK

Mirages THROUGH APRIL 29 EMBASSY OF ARGENTINA 1600 NEW HAMPSHIRE AVE., NW

(202) 238-6400 | WWW.EMBASSYOFARGENTINA.US

ragments of the familiar collide with realms of the unknown in “Mirages,” the latest offering in the Embassy of Argentina’s thriving roster of cultural

events. Artist Mache del Campo hopes visitors come to her exhibition with an open mind and use her photographs as a departure from their physical environs to a more imperceptible, intangible world. Traces of vaguely familiar surroundings punctuate del Campo’s work — the shimmering reflection of a bridge, a patch of ice, people gliding underwater — but the angles are often skewed and the context is missing. Del Campo captures single images without a backstory to leave the interpretation open to the viewer’s imagination. Del Campo said she aims to use her camera as a gateway to “personal dimensions beyond the realism of the photographic image.... My goal is to create, express and question through images.” When asked what Washingtonians can expect from the questions del Campo’s photography raises, she said she hopes her work inspires their fantasy and intuition to flow. “They can discover in their minds, in their imagination, other worlds and other dimensions,” she said. “This is unique because they will be the only spectators of their unique interpretation.” Some of del Campo’s photography was shot in her home country of Argentina, while others were taken during her extensive travels. “I would like people to know that there is a profusion of creativity and talent in our country,” del Campo said. “It would be wonderful if my photos kindle the viewer’s interest and curiosity about other talented Argentine photographers.” That’s the mission of the Argentine Embassy as well. Last year, it opened an Argentine Cultural Corner within the embassy, transforming a former library into a new cultural and meeting space that’s open to the public. The space houses a growing collection of more than 2,500 books, movies, CDs and digital resources reflecting different aspects of Argentina, including literature, science, food and wine, cinema, music and tourism, in addition to a special children’s section. In fact, the embassy is one of the most culturally active in town, regularly hosting or sponsoring events ranging from tango lessons and bimonthly exhibitions to concerts and films at local festivals. It has partnered with venues and organizations such as the Kennedy Center, National Gallery of Art, Washington Ballet and Washington Chorus. Minister Federico Barttfeld, head of cultural affairs at the embassy, said this focus on culture exposes American audiences to other facets of Argentina, including its natural beauty and diversity. “Every time we have an exhibition at the embassy that includes Argentine landscapes, we get many inquiries about tourism in Argentina,” he noted. The “Mirages” display has been highly successful so far, according to Alfredo Ratinoff, the embassy’s curator. The opening reception held in the embassy’s theater showcased the photography printed on metal along with a video montage of the artist’s work, perfect for a completely immersive experience. When Ratinoff first examined del Campo’s photographs, he discovered many different messages and layers in her enigmatic imagery. “In each of her works, there is a spiritual message that conveys the subtle connection between the spirit

34 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016

PHOTOS: EMBASSY OF ARGENTINA / COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Argentine artist Mache del Campo plays with reality in photographs such as, from clockwise top, “Time Tunnel,”“Stars Walking,”“Think Over” and “Confusion.”

and water, one of the primary elements,” he observed. “The combination of basic elements with human life in these works is done in such a way as to create a barrier between, and a symbiosis with both, leading us to question our relationships with each other as well as our connection to the world around us.” Ratinoff said he doesn’t have a favorite photo in the exhibit. When choosing artists to showcase at the embassy, he eschews individual pieces in favor of works that tell a cohesive story. In del Campo’s case, her body of work created an overall visual and personal impact. “However, one of my favorite aspects of this exhibition, as it is for every exhibition, is to be able to present an artist with his or her unique and Argentine perspective and see the impact this has on the viewer,” he said. The Embassy of Argentina has a full calendar of events over the next two years. Its next exhibit, “Translocation,” features contemporary frescoes by Argentine artist Jorge Caligiuri that incorporate surface repetition and division to create a simple but striking visual experience. WD Kate Oczypok (@OczyKate) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

WD | Culture | Theater

Cringe-Worthy Voyeurs ‘The Flick’ Elevates Banality of Everyday Existence •

BY LISA TROSHINSKY

The Flick THROUGH APRIL 24 SIGNATURE THEATRE 4200 CAMPBELL AVE., ARLINGTON, VA. TICKETS START AT $40.

(703) 820-9771 | WWW.SIGTHEATRE.ORG

atching “The Flick,” currently at Signature Theatre, is akin to experiencing the peaks and valleys of a love-hate relationship. The same factors that draw you to it are the very features that repel you. It’s like being attracted to someone’s blatant honesty and then wishing he’d keep his opinions to himself. Or like rejoicing in someone’s spontaneity and, after time, deeming her whims utterly irresponsible. Annie Baker’s script, for which she won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for drama, has been described by the New York Times as “wondrous” and also “a work of art so strange and fresh that it definitely freaks people out.” It is hard to watch, and yet difficult not to. It is a daring exploration of awkward, at-times forced, relationships that are intriguing to witness for voyeuristic reasons, but painful to digest, because observing gives us more than we want to know. Or, as the play’s millennial characters would say, TMI (too much information). The play’s premise is that we (the audience) are flies on the wall to what goes on behind the scenes for employees at a rundown movie theater. James Kronzer’s crafty set design has us staring at the back of a cramped, dilapidated theater in Massachusetts. In it are rows of red cushioned seats, recessed lighting, water stains on the tiled ceiling and a lit booth above that holds one of the state’s last 35-millimeter film projectors. The two male janitors’ and one female projectionist’s dreary minimum-wage world is our own, without an escape hatch. The set never changes, although it is sometimes vacant of characters, at which time the audience is compelled to stare at it in anticipation. We witness Sam, Avery and Rose — all misfits in their own way — come to work every day and try to maintain their dignity as they mop up spilled, sticky soda, wash off poop smeared on a bathroom wall, fight over promotions that never materialize and secretly siphon off pocket change from the owner’s earnings. We are privy to these two socially uneasy men and one brazen, sexually charged young woman who all dare to form trusting bonds with one another that far exceed what’s required for their jobs. We get a glimpse of what their lives must be like outside of work as they struggle with societal problems like classism and racism. The play is purposefully unnerving, both for the characters and its voyeurs (the audience). This is because of its oddball characters and grimy setting, but also because of the play’s unusual cadence. Baker has peppered the dialogue with an abundance of pregnant pauses. This makes it realistic, but as the play fills up almost three and a half hours, one wonders if there can be too much realism in what is, in fact, fiction. Regrettably, the pauses in action, small cast and spurts when no one is on stage have the effect, at times, of heightening the production’s imperfections, no matter their size. For example, Thaddeus McCants, who plays the agonizingly shy and insecure custodian trainee Avery, overplays his germ-phobic character’s social and physical clumsiness from the start, which grates against the script’s refrain of ultra-realism. McCants overwhelmingly redeems himself by the end of Act II, but his recovery is a long time coming. Evan Casey, who plays the theater’s veteran janitor Sam, also portrays an extreme personality, but his performance is more forgiving, possibly because he’s recognizable as the

Above from left, Thaddeus McCants, Laura C. Harris and Evan Casey portray three employees at a derelict movie theater in Annie Baker’s Pulitzer-winning “The Flick,” now playing at Signature Theatre.

caricatured reticent Bostonian. Still, it’s hard not to invest in these characters, no matter how uncomfortable it is to identify with their ineptitude. When Avery ironically asks Sam, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Sam replies, “I’m already grown up. That’s the most depressing thing anyone’s ever said to me.” There is nothing to do with this except both laugh and cringe. The stand-out performance that gels PHOTOS: MARGOT SCHULMAN the action is that of Laura C. Harris, who portrays wild, self-destructive Rose. Her character has an advantage in that she’s the only female — an unusually bold one — playing against the boys’ timidity. But Harris should be given much credit here for making her youthful self-absorption completely organic and natural — and, yes, realistic. She thrashes about the stage, speaking and acting before she thinks, but with a ferocious authenticity that is hard not to admire. Her relation to the boys adds ammunition to the script that eventually climaxes. On top of all the societal tensions among these characters is their intense relationship with the movies, which provides needed comedy. Sam and Avery devise a “Six Degrees of Separation” riddle game, which tests their vast knowledge of movie stars and film scripts, while Rose prides herself on her knowledge of how to play film reels on an obsolete machine. The script also plays around with the theme of what is real and what isn’t. The films they love so much are fiction, yet the livelihoods that are dependent on them are unfortunately not ideal, and all too real. Even their discussion of films going digital revolves around which art form is more realistic — frames or pixels? “I’m always faking it; everyone’s a stereotype,” muses Avery to Rose, who starts to realize that her public persona is merely a tough-guy act hiding a more vulnerable and authentic personality. Ultimately, mixing the philosophical with the mundane is Baker’s signature talent, and this play’s appeal. WD Lisa Troshinsky is the theater reviewer for The Washington Diplomat. THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016 | 35

WD | Culture | Arts and Crafts

Colorful Renaissance Turquoise Mountain Rebuilds Afghan Artisan Heritage •

BY SARAH ALAOUI

Turquoise Mountain: Artists Transforming Afghanistan THROUGH JAN. 29 ARTHUR M. SACKLER GALLERY 1050 INDEPENDENCE AVE., SW

(202) 633-1000 | WWW.ASIA.SI.EDU

e are used to seeing war measured by the number of body bags, the trails of the displaced, and the screams of men, women and children. Another casualty of war, less mentioned but with arguably comparable impact, is the loss of an embattled country’s cultural capital and heritage. “Turquoise Mountain: Artists Transforming Afghanistan” at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery reflects the cultural beauty that can be salvaged from decades of violence and loss. In preparation for the exhibition’s opening on March 5, the Smithsonian’s International Gallery was transformed into a diorama of a Kabul marketplace to showcase the unique artistic culture of Afghanistan — one that was shaped by the country’s ancient geographic position at the crossroads of influences from India, Persia and Central Asia. The reinvented space triggers a multisensory, immersive experience. Video projections, large-scale photographs and models featuring traditional Afghan artisan crafts — including jewelry making, woodworking, calligraphy, carpet weaving and ceramics — come together to tell the story of Murad Khani, a part of Kabul’s Old City that was once known for its rich cultural heritage. Turquoise Mountain, a British NGO founded in 2006 at the request of Prince Charles and then Afghan President Hamid Karzai, transformed the war-ridden area from a virtual landfill into a thriving cultural and economic hub that locals were able to look at with pride again. “The side of Afghanistan we show is one of rich human diversity — of beauty, creativity, resilience, humor, mutual support and respect,” said Tommy Wide, director of exhibitions at Turquoise Mountain. “We do that through showing the beautiful things that Afghans make, how those things are made, who makes them and why. We don’t pretend that Afghanistan doesn’t face many wrenching problems, but we do want to illustrate the richness and range of cultural resources at Afghans’ disposal, through which Afghans make sense, and beauty, out of their lives.” In its mission to revitalize Murad Khani, the Turquoise Mountain team quickly got to work removing 30,000 cubic meters of accumulated garbage that had earned the district its place on the World Monuments Fund Watch List of most endangered sites. They also rebuilt or restored more than 100 historic and local community buildings through traditional earth construction processes, along with restoring water, electricity and sanitation throughout Murad Khani. In addition, Turquoise Mountain opened a primary school, a medical clinic that serves 18,000 patients a year and the country’s premier institution for vocational arts training. “The projects we do … focus on Afghanistan’s time-honored artistic legacies [and] are very much with the grain of Afghan society,” Wide said when asked if Turquoise Mountain has received any backlash from the Afghan community. “[The projects] are not seen as ‘foreign’ imports forced upon a local population, but rather the revival or continuation of long-held practices. I think this has helped make it relatively uncontroversial amongst Afghans.” When The Washington Diplomat visited the exhibition, Wide was sitting at a table next to Sughra Hussainy, the first Turquoise Mountain artisan among 17 who will be visiting D.C. to showcase their craft techniques alongside the exhibition. While Wide welcomed visitors — including many Afghan-Americans whom he spoke to in fluent Dari and Pashto — Hussainy demonstrated her calligraphy prowess. She smiled widely while explaining that she made all the raw material she was using, including papers, pigments and brushes made of cat hair. In addition to Hussainy’s calligraphy, other featured work in the Turquoise Mountain exhibition includes stunning woodwork that smells as wonderful as it looks. Carved in a traditional style, slivers of wood are held together without any nails to form various geometric patterns, which are enhanced by the interplay of light shining through them. In the jewelry-making section, text panels tell the story 36 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016

PHOTOS: TURQUOISE MOUNTAIN

Part of the mission of Turquoise Mountain, a British NGO, is to provide a sustainable source of income for Afghanistan’s young women, above. Below left, Nasser Mansouri, who fled Afghanistan at the age of 11 following the Soviet invasion, returned in 2006 as a woodwork master. At left, Turquoise Mountain woodworkers often incorporate traditional styles and techniques, such as “jali” latticework and “nuristani” carving, into contemporary pieces for everyday use.

PHOTO: TINA HAGER

of one deaf Turquoise Mountain artisan who draws her inspiration from the rain, evidenced in the earrings she creates in the shape of water droplets. Another section features gorgeous Afghan rugs that were created specifically for the exhibition, highlighting how their colors are developed. Afghanistan is one of the last countries where carpets are made completely by hand with natural materials for dyes, including mallow for purple shades, madder roots for red and dried wildflowers for yellow hues. In front of the rugs, in the center of the exhibition space, is a caravanserai where visitors can sit for a moment and absorb the art. Traditionally, this was a structure used as a gathering and resting place for travelers who traded along the fabled Silk Road. The courtyard was recreated with more than three tons of hand-carved Himalayan cedar and is complemented by colorful, soft cushions that visitors can sit on while using the iPads provided by the museum to learn more about Turquoise Mountain and Afghan crafts. “This exhibition highlights the vitality of these new Afghan artisans and demonstrates the power of art and culture to tell the story of artistic creativity, resilience and hope,” said Julian Raby, the Dame Jillian Sackler director of the Sackler and Freer Gallery of Art. “This is a powerful moment meant to transcend the headlines of war and conflict.” WD Sarah Alaoui (@musingsdiffused) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

WD | Culture | Dining

Spirited Evolution Craft Cocktails Raise the Bar on D.C.’s Drinking Scene •

ashington has always been a drinking town. Liquor lubricates the city’s sometimes stiff social scene, while wine flows freely at countless dinners and events. Alcohol of all varieties plays a starring role at official functions from Capitol Hill to Foggy Bottom to Embassy Row. In fact, Washington typically ranks at or near the top of national surveys of the heaviest drinking cities in America. But in recent years, the nation’s capital has significantly refined its drinking culture with a slew of new craft cocktail bars that aim to simultaneously delight our palates and challenge our notions of what is possible behind a bar. No one has done more to propel the trend in recent years than Derek Brown. Brown is proprietor of several of the city’s newest and most exciting eateries and cocktail bars, including Eat the Rich, Southern Efficiency and the now-defunct Passenger, a beloved craft cocktail space that emanated a funky, anyone-iswelcome vibe. Sadly, Passenger closed last year when Douglas Development announced plans to turn the building into an office complex. But happily, Brown has resurrected one of Passenger’s most appealing features: a private drinking enclave called the Columbia Room near the rear of the old establishment. Brown recently reopened the rechristened Columbia Room in the suddenly sizzling hot Blagden Alley, just a few blocks from the site of the old Passenger near the Convention Center. The swank spot sits just above the Dabney, one of Washington’s most celebrated new restaurants. While the new-and-improved Columbia Room retains the friendly, laid-back spirit of its former home, it has definitely grown up and taken on a more noticeable whiff of sophistication. The warm space includes a curved burl bar in the eponymous tasting room and tufted leather armchairs in the 22-seat Spirits Library. A gorgeous Italian mosaic is a design showstopper. The cocktail bar offers standalone libations for about $12 apiece, or you can reserve a seasonal cocktail menu with three specialty drinks and accompanying small plates of food for $75. A champagne tasting menu is also available. Many of the Columbia Room’s bitters are made in-house and the menu offers an appealing selections of traditional cocktails and more modern-leaning creations. We recently sat down with Brown over inventive libations at the Columbia Room to discuss his latest venture and to learn more about Washington’s transition into a more sophisticated drinking town. Brown said the now ubiquitous “cocktail bar” is actually a throwback to a simpler time. “I definitely think it’s more than a trend,” Brown said, noting COLUMBIA ROOM that this cocktail culture “has always been part of the Ameri124 BLAGDEN ALLEY, NW can culinary world. Part of the resurgence is the popularity of (202) 316-9396 craft beer and wine, and a growing specificity [of preference] among those. The other part is this sort of growing awareness WWW.COLUMBIAROOMDC.COM of American culinary tradition. “Cocktails are American,” he continued. “There has become a recognition that we have this amazing cocktail culture, and it’s ours. If you go to Tokyo or Paris or Argentina, you can get cocktails and that’s part of what we did for the world.” We asked Brown about the so-called “mixologist,” which to some comes across as a pretentious term used by self-important drink slingers. Brown acknowledged that the word has a legitimate origin — it comes from the 1856 Knickerbocker magazine cartoon — but he frowns on its use. “The problem is it sort of became this abused word … and a lot of times over the past decade we’ve seen it become this kind of divisive thing,” he explained while conjuring an image of an imperious hipster mixologist with a ridiculous mustache and an insistence on serving a drink that you don’t want, that has 15 ingredients and will take 15 minutes to make. If you want a run-of-the-mill vodka tonic or even a domestic beer, Brown and his Columbia Room crew will serve it to you.

BY MICHAEL COLEMAN

PHOTO: PAUL WAGTOUICZ

PHOTO: DANIEL SWARTZ

Columbia Room, located in the trending enclave known as Blagden Alley, sits just above the Dabney, one of Washington’s most celebrated new restaurants. At left, Quarter+Glory offers some two dozen concoctions, including the Illegal Negroni, top.

“If somebody says, ‘I want a Jack and Coke,’ I’m going to make that for them and I’m not going to look at them sideways,” he said. “I won’t discourage them. In some cases, I might encourage them to try something different but that’s because I think we have a lot more to offer.” And with that our second drink arrived: sherry, dry vermouth, yellow chartreuse, orange chartreuse, celery bitters and a few drops of kelp water. The cocktail was light and refreshing and PHOTO: DANIEL SWARTZ absolutely unlike any we’d ever tasted. Brown said he envisions the Columbia Room as a place where people can experience high-quality liquors without guesswork and enjoy each other’s company in comfort. “We just want people to come in and lose themselves, have a conversation or fall in love or conduct some business, whatever they want to do,” Brown said. Oh, and if you’re a high-profile figure who prefers to keep a low profile when out for a night on the town, Brown assures us that the Columbia Room can keep QUARTER+GLORY a secret. 2017 14TH ST., NW “We’re not the type of people who talk a lot about WWW. QUARTERANDGLORY.COM what happens here,” Brown said. “Discretion is number one. We’ll never call the paper the next day and say INFO@QUARTERANDGLORY.COM guess who was here.” While Brown has been generating the most buzz on the local cocktail scene in recent months, his Columbia Room isn’t the only new player in the game. Among the city’s most recent craft cocktail arrivals is Quarter+Glory, which bills itself as a modern take on classic American watering holes. Quarter+Glory, which opened in January near 14th and U Streets, NW, is the first D.C. venture by New York-based hospitality management company Public House Collective. The name comes from a supposed literary society in New York founded by playwright Eugene O’Neill that ended its meetings with the chant, “Give me a quarter and glory.” Exposed brick walls and towering ceilings give the space a timeless feel, while the centerpiece is a 33-foot oak-topped bar. Quarter+Glory promises craft cocktails served on the fly during busy weekend hours and a more leisurely experience during the week. For now, the menu offers only drinks — about two dozen — but we’re SEE DINING • PAGE 38 THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016 | 37

WD | Culture | Dining

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told a food menu is on the way soon. While we’ve noted Washington’s newest boozy palaces, it’s only fitting that we also mention the Gibson, one of the first establishments to launch D.C.’s cocktail boom and a harbinger of the Prohibition-era speakeasy craze. Opened in 2009, the Gibson also sits at PHOTO: JEFF ELKINS 14th and U Streets — now arguably the most Columbia Room’s 22-seat Spirits Library features popular intersection in the city. On a recent tufted leather armchairs, open shelving and an visit we were reminded why we have always intimate floor plan. enjoyed this place so much. Dark and sexy, with several rooms and a orange bitters and served up THE GIBSON small patio, the Giblike a martini came on sweet son’s minimalist décor and finished strong. Well done. 2009 14TH ST., NW keeps the focus on We also sampled some bites (202) 232-2156 your company and the from the Gibson’s food menu, WWW. THEGIBSONDC.COM glass in front of you. which is a bit more extensive Gibson’s bartenders — than most craft cocktail bars. or mixologists, if you Those options come in handy prefer — obviously know their stuff. Asked because drinking more than one or two of our liquor preference, we mentioned bourbon these high-octane libations on an empty and, voila, were promptly served a delicious, stomach isn’t a good idea. dark, smoky-sweet concoction that wasn’t on If you haven’t eaten before you arrived, the menu but was unlike any we’ve ever had. consider the Devils on Horseback, dark dates If you’re a vodka fan, the Gibson gang may roasted a deep brown and wrapped in crisp, try to steer you away from the old standby thick-cut bacon and served with a dollop of toward something similar but with a more crème fraîche. The C.L.T. grilled cheese sanddistinct flavor profile. They might suggest the wich with dried coppa ham, marinated toAutomobile, featuring gin, lemon, raspberry, mato, arugula, provolone and cheddar wasn’t soda and egg white. Or maybe a Brunswick the most substantial sandwich in town for Sour — a delicious and intriguing combi- $13, but it had an appealing flavor. nation of rum, lime and sugar with a heavy In a city that loves its liquor, it’s nice to splash of red wine floating on top. have establishments that return the love. We also tested the Gibson’s traditional Here’s to drinking in style, Washington. WD skills, ordering up a classic Martinez, one of the oldest drinks in the oeuvre. Old Tom gin, Michael Coleman (@michaelcoleman) is sweet vermouth and maraschino mixed with a contributing writer for The Washington 38 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APRIL 2016

DIPLOMAT DINING GUIDE Call (301) 933-3552 to Advertise Your Restaurant in the Diplomat Dining Guide.

Diplomatic Spouses CONTINUED • PAGE 33

political life to that of the Foreign Service. “I really like diplomacy as a form of linking societies and countries.” And one of his primary duties in Washington will be improving bilateral economic ties. Maior noted that $3 billion has been invested in his country’s burgeoning IT sector. “Ford and Exxon are already there, as is Microsoft. One of the mandates for this ambassador in Washington is to increase trade, especially American investments. There is great potential,” he said. On the security front, Russia poses a thorny challenge. Maior said Russian meddling in Ukraine continues to be a major concern for the region. “It is a threat to our region. It is very worrisome, especially for some other countries like Poland or the Baltics.” On a lighter note, Maior and his wife also enjoy teaching Americans about the history and natural beauty of their homeland, especially the fabled Transylvania region in the Carpathian Mountains. Transylvania is not only where their hometown of Cluj is located, it is also the storied backdrop for “Dracula,” the 1897 Gothic horror novel penned by Irish author Bram Stoker. The vampire myth was inspired by the real-life ruler Vlad Dracula, posthumously dubbed Vlad the Impaler

Anamaria Maior and her husband George Cristian Maior are pictured with their daughter Lara.

for his murderous exploits. While the area is perhaps best known for its bloodthirsty lore, today Transylvania — with its cobblestone streets, charming villages and lush natural scenery — is a popular tourist haunt. The area is also known as a favorite summertime spot for a different prince — Britain’s Prince Charles, who is reportedly a distant descendent of Prince Vlad. The British monarch has two Saxon cottages in the pastoral villages of Viscri and Zalanpatak. He has also created a foundation to help preserve the heritage and traditions of this picturesque slice of Romanian life. WD Gail Scott is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

WD | Culture | Film

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

ARABIC The Midnight Orchestra Directed by Jerome Cohen Olivar (Morocco, 2015, 102 min.) Michael Abitbol, the son of a once famous Jewish musician, returns to Casablanca for the first time after leaving Morocco as a child amidst racial tensions spurred by the Yom Kippur War (Arabic, English and French). Washington DCJCC Tue., April 5, 7:30 p.m.

ENGLISH Fahrenheit 451 Directed by François Truﬀaut (U.K., 1966, 112 min.) This adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s scifi novel was a passion project François Truffaut spent years developing. Set in a future society where the printed word and reading are forbidden, Oskar Werner is employed as a “fireman” charged with bookburning. But when he encounters an underground organization known as the Bookmen — dedicated to preserving the great works, each member memorizing a book — his loyalties shift. AFI Silver Theatre Fri., April 8, 9:45 p.m., Mon., April 11, 9:20 p.m., Wed., April 13, 9:20 p.m.

From Up on Poppy Hill Directed by Goro Miyazaki (Japan, 2011, 91 min.) Set in 1963, the story centers on an innocent romance between two high school kids caught up in the changing times. While the children work together to save a dilapidated Meiji-era clubhouse from demolition, their tentative relationship begins to blossom. American Art Museum McEvoy Auditorium Sat., April 16, 3 p.m.

Images and Reflections: A Journey into Adoor’s Imagery Directed by Girish Kasaravalli (India, 2015, 88 min.) In this “conversation between two brilliant minds” (The Week), acclaimed Indian filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli explores the work of Adoor Gopalakrishnan, his equally esteemed contemporary and friend of four decades. American University Forman Theater Fri., April 8, 7 p.m.

Jason and the Argonauts Directed by Don Chaﬀey (U.K./U.S., 1963, 104 min.) This enduring cult classic is best remembered for its groundbreaking stop-motion animation and special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen’s work in bringing to life a menagerie of fantastic beasts and frightening monsters, most memorably the skeleton warriors.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., April 9, 10:30 p.m., Sun., April 10, 6:45 p.m., Tue., April 12, 9:20 p.m.

A Letter to Momo Directed by Hiroyuki Okiura (Japan, 2011, 120 min.) Moving with her mother to a remote Japanese island, Momo soon discovers in her attic three mischievous spirit creatures that only she can see and who create mayhem as she tries to keep them hidden. But these funny monsters have a serious side — and may hold the key to helping Momo discover what her deceased father had been trying to tell her. American Art Museum McEvoy Auditorium Sat., April 16, 5 p.m.

Project Itoh: Empire of Corpses (Shisha no teikoku) Directed by Ryôtarô Makihara (Japan, 2015, 120 min.) Director Ryôtarô Makihara delivers a highly stylized, hold-onto-theseat-of-your-pants modern anime adventure where corpse reanimation technology is so successful that it threatens to topple the living population. AFI Silver Theatre Tue., April 19, 7:15 p.m., Wed., April 20, 7:15 p.m.

Soft Vengeance Directed by Abby Ginzberg (U.S./South Africa, 2014, 84 min.) Albie Sachs’ story illustrates the challenges faced by South Africans in a society founded on principles of slavery and disempowerment. Washington DCJCC Tue., April 26, 7:30 p.m.

FRENCH April and the Extraordinary World (Avril et le monde truqué) Directed by Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci (France/Belgium/Canada, 2016, 105 min.) In this wildly imaginative sci-fi adventure set in an alternate steampunk universe, April’s scientist parents were on the brink of discovering a powerful longevity serum when they were mysteriously abducted. Ten years later, April lives alone with her beloved cat, Darwin (endowed with powers of speech thanks to one of her parents’ failed experiments), carrying on her family’s research in secret. Landmark’s E Street Cinema

The Bride Wore Black (La mariée était en noir) Directed by François Truﬀaut (France/Italy, 1968, 107 min.) In this exciting mix of taut suspense and terse black comedy, Jeanne Moreau tracks down and extracts vengeance on the five salauds who killed

her husband on their wedding day. AFI Silver Theatre Fri., April 8, 7:40 p.m., Thu., April 14, 9 p.m.

HEBREW Sabena Hijacking

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | April 2016 diminutive singing guardians, who have been kidnapped (Japanese, English and Indonesian). Landmark’s E Street Cinema Fri., April 1, 11:59 p.m., Sat., April 2, 11:59 p.m.

“The Clan” tells the true story of a middle-class family pulled into a world of kidnapping, ransom and murder by the family’s patriarch. Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Sat., April 9, 10:30 a.m., Sun., April 10, 10:30 a.m.

The Wind Rises (Kaze tachinu)

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (K aguyahime no monogatari)

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Japan, 2014, 126 min.) Nearsighted from a young age and unable to be a pilot, Jiro joins a major Japanese engineering company in 1927 and becomes one of the world’s most innovative and accomplished airplane designers (Japanese, German, Italian and French). Landmark’s E Street Cinema Sat., April 2, 1 p.m., Sun., April 3, 1 p.m.

TURKISH Baskin

Directed by Rani Sa’ar Directed by Can Evrenol (Israel, 2014, 100 min.) Directed by Isao Takahata (Turkey, 2015, 97 min.) On May 8, 1972, four hijackers from (Japan, 2013, 137 min.) What should be a routine night the Palestinian organization “Black Found inside a shining stalk of becomes a trip into the darkness September” took control of Sabena bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and of the mind and soul in this tourFlight 571. Masterfully blending his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into de-force feature debut from cinematic reenactment and archival an exquisite young lady. The mysteridirector Can Evrenol, who appears footage, this film tracks the 30 ous youngAlthough princess enthralls all who in person. nerve-wracking hours that followed, NOTE: every effort is made to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling and encounter her—but ultimately she with fascinating human, military and Freer Gallery Art proof. content it is ultimately up to the customer to make theoffinal must confront her fate, the punishMALAYALAM Tue., April 12, 7 p.m. political drama unfolding inside and ment for her crime. outside of the plane. The first two faxed be made at no cost to the advertiser, subsequent changes A Climate for Crime Landmark’s E Street Cinemachanges will Ivy Washington DCJCC will be 9,billed at a rate of $75Directed per faxed alteration. Sat., April 1 p.m., by Adoor GopalakrishnanSigned ads are considered approved. Tue., April 19, 7:30 p.m. Directed by Tolga Karaçelik Sun., April 10, 1 p.m. (India, 2008, 115 min.) (Turkey, 2015, min.)ad. Please check this ad carefully. Mark any changes to 104 your Set in British-ruled India in the 1940s, INDONESIAN Tolga Karaçelik, who visited the When Marnie Was There “A Climate for Crime” tells four stories Freer|Sackler with his film “Toll If the(Omoide ad is correct (301) 949-0065 needs changes of characters driven to misdeeds no Mânî)sign and fax to: The Raid: Redemption Booth” returns to Washington by the economic and social crises Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi to present “Ivy,” a slow-burning (Serbuan maut) brought on by World War II — from The (Japan, Washington Diplomat (301) 933-3552 2014, 103 min.) thriller set aboard a ship stranded petty theft to corruption to murder. Directed by Gareth Evans off the coast of Egypt. Forbidden Anna, a troubled, lonely 12-year-old American University Forman Theater (Indonesia/France/U.S., 2012, from going ashore or getting paid Approved __________________________________________________________ orphan, is sent from her foster home Wed., April 13, 7 p.m. 101 min.) until the vessel’s owner settles his in the city___________________________________________________________ one summer to a sleepy Changes One ruthless crime lord. Twenty elite debts, the skeleton crew comes town by the sea, where she is drawn cops. Thirty floors of chaos: A SWAT ___________________________________________________________________ SPANISH into potentially deadly conflict to a magnificent, apparently deserted team becomes trapped in a tenement mansion in the marshes. There, she as supplies run low and tensions The Clan run by a ruthless mobster and his encounters Marnie, a mysterious, outrise. army of killers and thugs. going blonde, and they become friends. Directed by Pablo Trapero Freer Gallery of Art Landmark’s E Street Cinema Landmark’s E Street Cinema Mon., April 11, 7 p.m. (Argentina/Spain, 2015, 110 min.) Fri., April 15, 11:59 p.m., Sat., April 16, 11:59 p.m.

JAPANESE Howl’s Moving Castle (Hauru no ugoku shiro) Directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Japan, 2005, 119 min.) Sophie, a teenage girl working in a hat shop, finds her life thrown into turmoil when she is swept off her feet by a handsome but mysterious wizard named Howl, and is subsequently turned into a 90-year-old woman by the Wicked Witch of the Waste. Landmark’s E Street Cinema Sat., April 2, 10:30 a.m., Sun., April 3, 10:30 a.m.

41% of our

readers have completed post-graduate

degrees.*

Miss Hokusai Directed by Keiichi Hara (Japan, 2015, 90 min.) Katsushika Hokusai is one of the most famous Japanese artists. Few people know, however, that Hokusai had a talented daughter, O-ei, who sometimes collaborated with him. She is at the center of this awardwinning film that tells the story of an eccentric family of artists, a troubled father-daughter relationship, and a free-spirited woman in early 19thcentury Japan. American Art Museum McEvoy Auditorium

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301.933.3552 Make sure the publication you spend your advertising dollars in is audited.

Mothra Directed by Ishirô Honda (Japan, 1962, 101 min.) A giant moth heads for Tokyo, driven by a primal instinct to save its two

* Based on a September 2013 audit by CVC.

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APrIL 2016 | 39

WD | Culture | Events

Events Listings *Unless specific times are listed, please check the venue for times. Venue locations are subject to change.

museums and popular brands. Former Residence of the Ambassador of Spain Through April 24

ART

Sports Stories from Finland

April 3 to July 24

Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art Since opening in 1941, the gallery has amassed an outstanding collection of American prints representing the history of American art from the early 18th century to the present. Timed to coincide with the gallery’s 75th anniversary, this first comprehensive exhibition of American prints to encompass three centuries will highlight some 160 works from the gallery’s collection National Gallery of Art April 4 to July 24

America’s Shakespeare “America’s Shakespeare” reveals how Americans have made Shakespeare our own using a fascinating selection of rare letters, costumes, books and more. Folger Shakespeare Library Through April 8

The Embassy of Finland joins forces with the Sports Museum of Finland to create this unique display that studies the relationship between Finnish athletes and U.S. sports. The story begins with the great long-distance runners of the early 1900s, continues to the Finnish national pastime of pesäpallo, which is heavily influenced by baseball, and concludes with modern-day NHL players and snowboarders. Embassy of Finland Through April 24

Postwar Germanic Expressions: Gifts from Michael Werner The Phillips presents recently acquired gifts of German and Danish art to the museum’s permanent collection, generously given by art collector Michael Werner. A selection from the 46 works are on view, painting, sculpture and works on paper by Georg Baselitz, Jörg Immendorff, Per Kirkeby, Markus Lüpertz and A.R. Penck. The Phillips Collection

Pan-American Art Exhibition: Kansas City Student Poster Contest

Through April 29

The Pan-American Association of Kansas City presents winning poster entries representing the 35 members of the Organization of American States created by high school students in Missouri. Art Museum of the Americas

Mache del Campo’s “Mirages” invites viewers to realms of unknown time and space where the mind departs from physical reality and is led to a subjective and intangible world. The photographer captures a single image, without a backstory or context, that leaves the viewer with the task of interpretation. In doing so, his camera becomes a gateway to personal dimensions beyond the realism of photography. Embassy of Argentina

Mirages: Photography by Mache del Campo

Through May 29

Rimer Cardillo: A Journey to Ombú Bellaumbra

Photo: Spain arts & culture

Paco Roca is among the artists featured in “Spanish Illustrators: The Color of Optimism.”

April 21 to June 26

Spanish Illustrators: The Color of Optimism This show highlights outstanding works of contemporary illustrators in Spain that are creating new trends. Curated by journalist Mario Suárez, the exhibition showcases a generation of talented creators who frequently contribute to national and international publications, galleries,

This exhibition features a diverse body of Uruguayan artist Rimer Cardillo’s work, including prints, photography, sculpture and installations. In addition to creating site-specific pieces that he refers to as cupí (the Guaraní word for anthill) and his collaborations in the fields of entomology and archaeology, Cardillo is also noted for his journalistic explorations of the Amazonian interior, rural estancias of northern Uruguay and southern Paraguay, and other remote regions of the South American continent. Art Museum of the Americas Through May 8

Seeing Nature: Landscape Masterworks from the Paul G. Allen Family Collection This major exhibition exploring the

40 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | April 2016

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | April 2016

HIGHLIGHT

Preserving the Past A

rt is a source of pride for a UNESCO World Heritage countries. It can also be a Center that is home to source of income for criminals. As monumental ruins and once part of the Italian presidency of stood at the crossroads of EUNIC (European Union National several great civilizations. Institutes for Culture), the Italian Images of Palmyra’s archeoEmbassy is launching a series logical treasures, threatened of events around the theme of by fighting between the “Protecting our Heritage” through Islamic State, rebels and Photo: Massimiliano Gatti / 2016. The initiative examthe Syrian regime, grace Italian Cultural Institute ines ways to safeguard and the walls of the Italian “Rovine Palmira #2” by preserve the cultural heritage Embassy as a reminder of Massimiliano Gatti is on display of humanity in the face of war, the vulnerability of the past at the Embassy of Italy. international terrorism, crime to modern-day forces. The syndicates, climate change and the simple passhow runs until April 6. sage of time. Other events explore the scourge of antiqui“We are the caretakers of the cultural legacy ties trafficking, a lucrative, multibillion-dollar inherited from past generations,” said Italy’s forglobal industry. Among the April highlights are mer ambassador, Claudio Bisogniero. “The aim “The Art of Conservation,” a conference on the of ‘Protecting our Heritage’ is to help bring the critical work of conservation and restoration international community together in an effort to to protect our rich cultural heritage, spanning save our shared and most beloved memories.” ancient times, to the medieval and renaissance For instance, Italian photographer Massimiliaeras, to the present day. The discussion will take no Gatti explores the toll that Syria’s civil war has place at Georgetown University on April 4 at wrought on the ancient desert city of Palmyra, 5:30 p.m. On April 7 at 6:30 at New York University on L Street, a panel of experts discusses “TraffickLEARN MORE: ing Cultural Materials” and the ransacking and For more information, visit trafficking of antiquities in the Middle East that www.iicwashington.esteri.it/iic_washington/en/ is taking place on an immense scale. or http://washington-dc.eunic-online.eu/. — Anna Gawel

Feast” as the centerpiece, this exhibit offers a new perspective on Konstantin Makovsky’s work and its popularity in Gilded Age America, where it satisfied the appetite for dramatic historical stories, exotic settings and costumes, and admiration of European art and culture. In a dramatically lit setting, exquisite objects and details from the painting will be brought to life through groupings of 17th-century objects of boyar life, such as intricately embroidered garments and pearl-studded kokoshniki (women’s headdresses). Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens Through July 31

Heart of an Empire: Herzfeld’s Discover of Pasargadae Located in southwestern Iran, Pasargadae was the first capital of the ancient Achaemenid Persian Empire (circa 540 B.C.) and the last resting place of Cyrus the Great. Impressed with its ruins, German archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld (1879–1948) briefly surveyed the site for the first time in 1905, returning to conduct more extensive excavations. Featuring selections from the Freer|Sackler Archives’ rich holdings of Herzfeld’s drawings, notes and photographs, this exhibition illuminates one of the most important sites of the ancient world. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through Sept. 18

Symbolic Cities: The World of Ahmed Mater evolution of American and European landscape painting features 39 masterpieces, spanning five centuries, on loan from the collection of philanthropist and entrepreneur Paul G. Allen. “Seeing Nature” showcases the development of landscape painting from intimate views of the world to artists’ personal experiences with their surroundings. The Phillips Collection Through May 15

Louise Bourgeois: No Exit Louise Bourgeois’s ties to surrealism and existentialism will be explored through 17 works on paper and four sculptures. National Gallery of Art Through May 22

Salon Style: French Portraits from the Collection Presenting works at the salon — an exhibition sponsored by the Royal Academy of Art in Paris — marked success for artists in 18th-century France. The famed artist Élisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun was among the first women to exhibit at the event, yet she was by no means the only one. Drawn from the museum’s rich collection, this focus exhibition visualizes the world of the art salon and reveals how French women

artists inspired each other as well as male artists who noted their great success. National Museum of Women in the Arts Through May 30

The Lost Symphony: Whistler and the Perfection of Art As part of “Peacock Room REMIX,” this exhibition reconstructs how Whistler’s unrealized quest for “the perfection of art” intersected with less-rarified concerns about patronage, payment, and professional reputation. Freer Gallery of Art

Through June 5

Perspectives: Lara Baladi Egyptian-Lebanese artist Lara Baladi experiments with the photographic medium, investigating its history and its role in shaping perceptions of the Middle East, particularly Egypt, where she is based. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through June 12

Konstantin Makovsky: The Tsar’s Painter With Hillwood’s “A Boyar Wedding

Born in 1979 in southern Saudi Arabia and trained as a medical doctor, Ahmed Mater has been a practicing artist since the early 1990s, creating works that offer an unparalleled perspective on contemporary Saudi Arabia. Now based in Jeddah, Mater has focused primarily on photography and video since 2010. From abandoned desert cities to the extraordinary transformation of Mecca, “Symbolic Cities” presents his visual and aural journeys observing economic and urban change in Saudi Arabia. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Through June 3

In the Library: The Intersection of Commerce and Instruction in Art The art we experience often depends as much upon the materials available to the artists who make it as it depends on the artists themselves. This exhibition looks at a variety of literature surrounding artists’ materials and instruction, and charts the ways in which the increasing commercialization of their production may have affected the practice of artists, especially following the industrial revolution. National Gallery of Art

Photo: Embassy of Finland

From long-distance running to baseball to ice hockey, the Finnish Embassy is showcasing its athletic connections to the United States in “Sports Stories from Finland.”

WD | Culture | Events

Through Jan. 29

Turquoise Mountain: Artists Transforming Afghanistan Decades of civil unrest nearly destroyed Afghanistan’s vital artistic heritage. Over the past decade, Turquoise Mountain, an organization founded in 2006 at the request of the prince of Wales and the president of Afghanistan, has transformed the Murad Khani district of Old Kabul from slum conditions into a vibrant cultural and economic center. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

DANCE Through April 3

Stephen Mills’ Hamlet Sleek and elegant with contemporary staging and performed to the spellbinding music of Philip Glass, Stephen Mills’s “Hamlet” redefines this tragic masterwork and the limits of dance in a modern production that presents Hamlet’s internal struggle over avenging his father’s murder in an innovative and riveting reinvention of this literary classic. Tickets are $32.25 to $130. Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater Sun., April 10, 7:30 p.m.

HIGHLIGHT

Decade of Innovation C

elebrating 10 years of tion of rape is broader in Sweden Swedish public diplomacy than elsewhere. The wide-ranging in the U.S., the House of Sweden display on the embassy’s glasspresents a slew of exhibitions enclosed first floor overlooking the and events that espouse the Potomac River examines such sericountry’s progressive dynamism. ous issues, along with more obscure A centerpiece of the spring topics such as male nannies. roster of displays is “Gender Downstairs, an exhibit called Equality: We’ve Come a Long “Next Level Craft – Cutting-Edge Way – Haven’t We?” (through Handicraft from Sweden” (through Dec. 4). Sweden’s achievements April 25) creates an otherworldly, Photo: Embassy of Sweden in gender equality are hailed cavernous experience filled with Otherworldly designs are as inspirational models for the eye-catching handicrafts. But these on display at the House of world — from its generous aren’t your typical arts and crafts. Sweden as part of “Next parental leave (for both men The pieces mix voguing, street art, Level Craft – Cutting-Edge and women) to equal represen- Handicraft from Sweden.” high fashion, pop culture and electation in government. But even tronic music with everything from Sweden admits it still has a long way to go. wool embroidery, weaving and felting, to root For example, Sweden has among the highest binding, wood turning and birch bark braiding. incidence of rape in the world, although that There’s also a family-friendly room for could simply be a byproduct of the fact that children with free art workshops through April, reporting is more widespread and the definiMay and June. Over the last decade, the Swedish Embassy has arranged more than 210 seminars, 110 LEARN MORE: concerts, 80 exhibitions and 35 family days exploring politics, culture, trade and research. For more information, visit visit www.swedenabroad.com/washington. — Anna Gawel

Ahmet Özhan Concert and the Mevlevi Sema Ceremony Presented by the Embassy of Turkey and the Republic of Turkey Promotion Fund, the Sema ceremony is a spectacular sight that is not to be missed. This concert will feature Ahmet Ozhan and the whirling dervishes. As part of the Sufi tradition of Islam, based on the teachings of the 13th-century mystic Rumi, the dancers perform as a form of worship in this delightful way to learn about Turkish traditions. Please call for ticket information. GW Lisner Auditorium April 13 to 17

The Washington Ballet: Orff’s Carmina Burana and Balanchine’s Theme and Variations “Carmina Burana” is a modern dance reinterpretation of Orff’s strong rhythmic and stylistic musical variations, while “Theme and Variations” is an intimate work celebrating classical ballet at its most magnificent. Tickets are $32.25 to $130. Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater Sat., April 16, 8 p.m.

Gotan Tango This show presents the best of Argentine tango, from its dark and steamy beginnings to the daring music of Astor Piazzolla. Tickets are $40 to $45. GW Lisner Auditorium

DISCUSSIONS Sat., April 16, 2:30 p.m.

To Euro or Not to Euro: The Czech Republic’s Dilemma The Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU), in collabora-

tion with the embassy, presents a lecture on the euro crisis featuring leading Czech-American economist Ondřej Schneider of the Institute of International Finance in D.C. This is the first lecture in a series designed to meet young professionals. Suggested donation to SVU is $10; RSVP by April 14 to www.czechdilemma. eventbrite.com. Embassy of the Czech Republic

FESTIVALS Through April 17

National Cherry Blossom Festival The nation’s largest springtime celebration is a four-week extravaganza that includes the Blossom Kite Festival (April 2); the Southwest Waterfront Fireworks Festival (April 9) and a nationally televised parade (April 16) followed by the Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival at the Capitol Riverfront. The annual festival, which celebrates the gift of cherry blossom trees from Japan, produces daily events featuring diverse and creative programming promoting traditional and contemporary arts and culture, natural beauty and community spirit. Events are primarily free and open to the public. For information, visit www. nationalcherryblossomfestival.org. Various locations

GALAS Fri., April 29, 6:30 p.m.

National Museum of Women in the Arts Annual Spring Gala Join NMWA patrons, honorary

chair Ambassador of Monaco Maguy Maccario Doyle and gala chair Shahin Mafi for a special night at the museum’s largest annual fundraising event. Upon arrival, guests will have the opportunity to view “She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World,” which explores themes of protest, war and identity. The annual black-tie gala will continue with cocktails in the galleries and an auction followed by dinner and dancing in the elegant Great Hall. The evening will be catered by Occasions and music will be provided by Big Ray and the Kool Kats. Tickets are $650. National Museum of Women in the Arts

MUSIC Sat., April 2, 7 p.m.

Ani Choying ‘The Buddhist Rockstar Nun’ Live in Concert Internationally acclaimed for her simply stunning interpretations of Buddhist mantras and songs, Ani Choying Drolma will present sublime blend of traditional Tibetan Buddhist chants and songs from the Himalayas, which will draw the complex mix of devotion, confidence and raw emotion to present a rare musical treat that is authentic and straight from the heart. Tickets are $35 to $100. GW Lisner Auditorium

a selection of music representative of both American and Italian traditions. AYPO Artistic Director Christopher Zimmermann will share the conductor’s dais with Italian Maestro Simone Tonin, joined by two outstanding sopranos, Cheryl Porter and Rosella Caporale. The concert will include original and noteworthy arrangements of gospel pieces, as strings replace the classic choral sections. To RSVP, visit www.iicwashington.esteri.it. Embassy of Italy Fri., April 8, 8 p.m.

Reza Sadeghi Live Iranian pop singer and songwriter Reza Sageghi — one of the most popular and respected singers in Iran, with over 400 songs is coming to Lisner Auditorium on his first U.S. tour. Tickets are $49 to $150. GW Lisner Auditorium Tue., April 12, 7:30 p.m.

Esterházy Trio

Orchestra (or Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks) and its Grammy Award-winning director Mariss Jansons — hailed by the Telegraph as “one of the greatest conductors of his generation” — return for a rare U.S. tour and present Mahler’s monumental work in a notto-be-missed performance. Tickets are $60 to $125. Kennedy Center Concert Hall Thu., April 14, 8 p.m.

Acoustic Africa: Habib Koite and Vusi Mahlasela After worldwide critical and commercial success, the fourth installment of Acoustic Africa’s exhilarating journey focuses on the richness of the African traditions of voice and song. A modern troubador with extraordinary appeal, Habib Koité’s musicianship, wit and wisdom translate across cultures. Vusi Mahlasela, simply known as “The Voice” in his homeland of South Africa, is celebrated for his distinct, powerful voice and his poetic, optimistic lyrics. Tickets are $35 to $45. GW Lisner Auditorium Sun., April 17, 1 p.m.

Washington Performing Arts: Zakir Hussain and Masters of Percussion Hailed for “virtuosity that is barely to be believed” (Washington Post) and his mastery of the tabla, Zakir Hussain is renowned as both a consummate performer of Indian classical music and an ever-questing pioneer of world music, bringing together traditions from around the globe. He is Joined by the Masters of Percussion, an audience-favorite recurring project now spanning two decades. Tickets are $25 to $65. Kennedy Center Concert Hall

THEATER April 1 to May 8

All the Way It’s not personal, it’s politics in this 2014 Tony Award-winning drama about President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s impassioned struggle to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Tickets are $40 to $90. Arena Stage April 4 to May 1

The Nether

The Esterházy Trio, directed by Michael Brüssing, has chosen its name from the famous Hungarian noble family. For more than 15 years, the group has specialized in music for Barytone (Viola di bordone) at the court of Esterházy and various period instruments throughout Europe. Tickets are $90 and include buffet reception; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org. Embassy of Hungary

In the imminent future, when Earth is a gray wasteland, how will humanity escape? Enter the Nether: an immersive wonderland offering users beauty, order, and the ability to satisfy their desires away from “real world” scrutiny. In a series of gripping interviews, a young detective launches her investigation into the dark heart of this new realm in which depraved dreams have become reality. Tickets start at $35. Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Two Countries, One Heart

Tue., April 12, 8 p.m.

April 7 to May 8

The American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras (AYPO) of the Washington area and the music conservatory Cesare Pollini of Padua, Italy, perform

Washington Performing Arts: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Crónica de una muerte anunciada)

The Bavarian Radio Symphony

Based on a true story, this tightly

Tue., April 5, 7 p.m.

woven tale of a small town in Colombia unfolds against a conspiracy of silence, revenge and strict moral codes that lead to tragedy. After marrying against her will, Angela is returned to her mother when the angry new husband discovers she is not a virgin. Forced to name who deflowered her, Angela’s brothers embark on a murderous mission. Tickets are $38 to $42. GALA Hispanic Theatre Through April 10

The Lion Writer/performer Benjamin Scheuer uses his guitar — actually, six guitars — in this wholly-original musical experience that tells a coming-of-age story that “lifts the spirit” (Time Out New York). Tickets are $40 to $70. Arena Stage Through April 10

Marjorie Prime From one of the country’s most adventurous young writers, Jordan Harrison, comes the tender and provocative story of Marjorie, 85 years old, who’s reinventing memories from the past with the help of Walter Prime — a hologram of her dead husband as he looked 50 years ago. Tickets are $38 to $65. Olney Theatre Center April 20 to May 8

C.S. Lewis Onstage: The Most Reluctant Convert For the first time, Max McLean takes audiences on a fascinating theatrical adventure as C.S. Lewis, tracing his journey from atheism to belief. Tickets are $36 to $96. The Shakespeare Lansburgh Theatre April 21 to May 8

The Reduced Shakespeare Company: William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged) Discovered in a treasure-filled parking lot in Leicester, England, an ancient manuscript proves to be the long-lost first play by none other than the young William Shakespeare. Using questionable scholarship and street-performer smarts, the three comic actors throw themselves into a fast, funny, and frenzied festival of physical finesse, witty wordplay, and plentiful (pitiful) punning. Tickets are $35 to $75. Folger Shakespeare Library

Tournaments May 6

12th Annual Embassy Golf Tournament Join The Washington Diplomat for the 12th Annual Embassy Golf Tournament on May 6th for a day of golf and networking, including lunch, reception, awards, prizes and more. Limited tickets available. To register or learn more, visit www.washdiplomat.com. Worthington Manor Golf Club

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | April 2016 | 41

WD | Culture | Spotlight

Diplomatic Spotlight

April 2016

Chairman of the WPA Board of Directors Reginald Van Lee of Booz Allen Hamilton, Ruth Sorenson and Peter Shields of Wiley Rein LLP.

WPA Gala As it approaches its 50th anniversary season, Washington Performing Arts (WPA) held its glittering annual gala and auction at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on March 5. The event honored President Emeritus Douglas Wheeler, who for 20 years built up the organization, and featured an array of surprise guests from across the performing arts spectrum, including renowned violinist Midori, who began working with Wheeler at the age of 15. Since 1965, WPA has connected the community with artists, in both education and performance, spanning classical music, jazz, gospel, contemporary dance and music, international music and other art forms.

Photo: David Claypool

Children of the Gospel Choir perform.

Photo: WPA

Ambassador of Kosovo Vlora Çitaku and Michael Olding of the GW Cosmetic Surgery Center.

Irfana Noorani of the 11th Street Bridge Park at THEARC, Joel Friedman and WPA President and CEO Jenny Bilfield.

Nina Damato, chef Nora Pouillon, David Wiseman and Jacqui Michel. Capital Hotels and Suites President Jay Haddock, Michael Cleary, Teri Galvez of the Latino National Republican Coalition, Joe Brach, Janet Farrell, Capital Hotels and Suites Vice President Hector Torres, D.C. Council Member David Grosso and Center for Health and Gender Equity President Serra Sippel.

Photo: WPA Photo: WPA

Guests dance to Doc Scantlin and His Imperial Palms Orchestra.

Master of Ceremonies Nina Totenberg of NPR, her husband physician David Reines and philanthropist Adrienne Arsht.

Ambassador of Sweden Björn Lyrvall and his wife Madeleine Lyrvall.

John Olson of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Gary Mather of Booz Allen Hamilton and Tina Mather.

Grant Clark of Al Jazeera America, filmmaker Jacquie Jones, Veronica Jones and Jake Jones of Daimler.

Tim Bork, Shigeko Bork, Irene Roth, Vicken Poochikian, Deborah Kalkstein and Carlos Kalkstein.

42 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | April 2016

Photo: David Claypool

Japanese-born American violinist Midori Gotō.

Photo: David Claypool

Guests bid during the live auction.

Photo: WPA

Former D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams and embassy liaison Jan Du Plain.

Ambassador of Costa Rica Roman Macaya Hayes, his wife Thais Gonzalez and Jacob Veverka of USAID.

Michael Landow, Dana Landow, Elizabeth Boe and Walt Sheffler.

Photo: WPA

Denise Grant, Ambassador of Sweden Björn Lyrvall, Janice Kim, Ambassador of Kosovo Vlora Çitaku and Michael Olding of the GW Cosmetic Surgery Center.

Roland Flamini, Diane Flamini of the Spanish Embassy and Ambassador of Luxembourg Jean-Louis Wolzfeld.

WD | Culture | Spotlight

Cuba Visit

PostClassical Ensemble at Indonesia PostClassical Ensemble, an experimental orchestral laboratory, presented Celebrating Lou Harrison: The Indonesian Connection” at the Indonesian Embassy on March 12. The performance featured violinist Tim Fain and pianist Michael Boriskin, who explored the art of 20th-century master Lou Harrison (19172003). Decades before it became fashionable, Harrison created a masterly fusion of Eastern and Western musical styles, based on the sounds and techniques of Indonesian gamelan.

Former U.S. Ambassador Alexander Watson, Ambassador of Indonesia Budi Bowoleksono and Judy Watson.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the Association of South East Asian Nations David Carden, Raymond Wiacek of Jones Day LLC and Tim Cullen. U.S. President Barack Obama, flanked by first lady Michelle Obama, their daughters Sasha and Malia, and Cuban President Raul Castro, bow for a moment of silence at the Estadio Latinoamericano in Havana as they and members of a U.S. delegation pay their respects to the victims of a terrorist attack in Belgium before an exhibition game on March 22.

Political Affairs Counselor at the Indonesian Embassy Ardian Wicaksono, Catherine Castillo and Jessica Southgate of the Advisory Board Co.

Photos: Kate Oczypok

Nancy O’Connell and psychologist Christie Platt.

Carol Hopkins, Karl Hopkins of Dentons Energy, Transport and Infrastructure, Nancy Goslin, David Goslin.

Secretary of State John Kerry speaks with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California at the Estadio Latinoamericano in Havana, Cuba, as they and other members of a U.S. delegation attend an exhibition game between the Cuban National Baseball Team and the Tampa Bay Rays.

Photos: State Department

Secretary of State John Kerry, watched by Cuban President Raul Castro, shakes hands with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parilla at the Gran Teatro in Havana.

Dr. Ismunandar, education and culture attaché at the Indonesian Embassy, and Dewi Justicia. Secretary of State John Kerry chats with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Small Business Administration Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet on the roof of the Iberostar Parque Central Hotel in Havana as they joined President Obama’s historic visit to the island nation.

Kristin Sinko of America’s Essential Hospitals and Patrick Smith.

Susan Crowley, Nancy Kopper and Chair of PostClassical Ensemble Chris Denby of the Advisory Board Co.

Dan Rogul of HireStrategy, June Rogul, Marvin Rogul and pianist Lura Johnson.

Secretary of State John Kerry speaks on his cell phone at the Gran Teatro in Havana before attending an address to the Cuban people and their leaders by President Obama.

Secretary of State John Kerry and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parilla, flanked by their respective delegations, sit together on March 21 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Havana.

Finnish Sports Finnish Ambassador Kirsti Kauppi, decked out in a Buffalo Sabres ice hockey jersey, welcomed guests to the embassy for “Sports Stories from Finland.” The exhibit examines the relationship Finnish athletes have with the U.S., from long-distance running to the national pastime of pesäpallo, which is influenced by American baseball. Finland emerged as one of the leading nations in athletics at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, where it took a record 13 medals in track and field, leading American sports journalists to coin the term “Flying Finns.”

Ambassador of Finland Kirsti Kauppi talks to Markus Halsti of the D.C. United soccer team.

Photos: Embassy of Finland

Finnish Embassy Cultural Counselor Keijo Karjalainen, Director of the Sports Museum of Finland Pekka Honkanen, Exhibitions Curator Kaisa Laitinen and Finnish soccer player Markus Halsti of D.C. United. THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | April 2016 | 43

WD | Culture | Spotlight

Diplomatic Spotlight

April 2016

Australian Art Debut

Kuwaiti Liberation

The Australian Embassy and its new ambassador, Joe Hockey, a former treasurer and parliamentarian back home, debuted their latest exhibit March 21. “Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia,” presented in conjunction with the Phillips Collection, showcases works by nine indigenous Australian women, drawn from the collection of Debra and Dennis Scholl.

Kuwaiti Ambassador Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber and his wife Rima Al-Sabah hosted a VIP-studded reception and screening at the Newseum celebrating the 25th anniversary of the liberation of Kuwait by a U.S.-led coalition following the invasion by Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. A panel discussion featuring former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell, CNN’s Bernard Shaw and two former U.S. ambassadors was followed by a documentary screening on the Gulf War.

Ben Truscello of Twitter and Alexandra Stuart of the US-ASEAN Business Council.

Andrew Lundquist of ConocoPhillips, Joanna Lundquist and recently appointed Ambassador of Australia Joe Hockey.

Secretary of State John Kerry, Rima Al-Sabah and Kuwaiti Ambassador Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Photos: Kate Oczypok

Former Australian Ambassador to Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela Peter Heyward and John Klein.

Curator Mary Anne Goley and Hannah Byers, vice president of museum services for Sotheby’s.

Australian Ambassador for Women and Girls Natasha Stott Despoja and Ian Smith.

General Manager of CityCenterDC Timothy Lowery and Michael Zingali of Naples Air Inc.

Claudia Henteleff, Tom Henteleff and Lizzie Temme of the Phillips Collection.

Art historian Jordana Pomeroy, Director of the Phillips Collection Dorothy Kosinski, artist Carol Brown-Goldberg and Klaudio Rodriguez of the Frost Art Museum at Florida International University.

Canada Visit Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his wife Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau and their children are greeted by students from W.B. Patterson Elementary in D.C.’s Ward 8, who are partnering with the Canadian Embassy as part of the Washington Performing Arts’s Embassy Adoption Program. Photo: Robyn Rivard / Embassy of Canada

44 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | April 2016

Marc Sobel of JM Zell and Margo Smith.

Recently appointed Saudi Ambassador Prince Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud.

Kuwaiti Ambassador Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber AlSabah; former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell; former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait Ryan Crocker; and former U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait and Jordan Edward Gnehm Jr.

United Arab Emirates Ambassador Yousef AlOtaiba and Maj. Gen. Marzouq Al-Bader, military attaché at the Kuwaiti Embassy.

Master of Ceremonies Bernard Shaw, former news anchor for CNN.

Nahla Reda and Egyptian Ambassador Yasser Reda.

Former National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, Alma Powell, Diana Negroponte and former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell.

Myanmar National Day

Photos: Larry Luxner

A traditional Burmese dancer performs at the Myanmar National Day reception.

From left, Kate Irvin, group director of government relations at Coca-Cola; Ambassador of Timor-Leste Domingos Alves and Ambassador Mohammad Ziauddin of Bangladesh attend the Myanmar National Day reception.

WD | April 2016

Around the World Holidays AFGHANISTAN

BARBADOS

HONDURAS

April 28: Victory of Mujahideen

April 28: National Heroes’ Day

April 14: Day of the Americas

ANGOLA

COSTA RICA

ICELAND

April 24: Peace and National Reconciliation Day

ARMENIA April 24: Armenian Genocide Memorial Day

AUSTRALIA

April 11: Juan Santamaria Day

CYPRUS April 1: Greek Cypriot National Day

DENMARK

April 25: ANZAC Day

April 16: Queen’s Birthday

BANGLADESH

FINLAND

April 14: Bangla New Year

April 30: May Day Eve

SENEGAL

Send Us Your Holidays & Appointments Fax to: The Washington diplomat at: (301) 949-0065

April 23: First Day of Summer

E-mail to: news@washdiplomat.com Mail to: P.O. Box 1345, Silver Spring, Md 20915-1345

ISRAEL

April 24: Independence Day

Birthday April 25: National Flag Day

SIERRA LEONE

SYRIA

April 27: Independence Day

TANZANIA

SLOVENIA

April 22-30: Passover

April 17: Independence Day April 26: Union Day (National Day)

Day

TUNISIA April 9: Martyrs’ Day

TURKEY April 23: Children’s Day

VENEZUELA

ITALY

Year

NEW ZEALAND

Kagitingan

April 25: Liberation Day

MOZAMBIQUE

April 25: ANZAC Day

April 27: National Uprising Day

PORTUGAL

SOUTH AFRICA April 25: Family Day April 27: Freedom Day

April 6: Chakri Memorial Day April 13-15: Songkran Festival Day

VIETNAM

NIGER

April 25: Liberty Day

SWAZILAND

TOGO

April 19: King’s

April 27: Independence

April 3: Independence Day

JAPAN April 29: Greenery Day

LAOS April 13-15: Lao New

April 7: Women’s Day

NETHERLANDS April 30: Queen’s Day

April 24: National Day

PHILIPPINES April 9: Araw Ng

RWANDA April 7: National Mourning Day

THAILAND

April 19: Declaration of Independence April 30: National Reunification Day

ZIMBABWE

Appointments Canada

tional building of the Council of Human Rights. He also served as president of David MacNaughton became the Francophone Ambassadors Group ambassador of Canada to the (2009) and was elected chairman of the United States on March 2, working group for the effective imple2016. In the 1980s, Ambassamentation of the Declaration and the dor MacNaughton, a seasoned Plan of Action of Durban for four consecentrepreneur and political utive years (2009-12). In this capacity, strategist, transformed the he participated in the high-level panel Ambassador public affairs industry by held in New York in September 2011 to David MacNaughton building an organization that re-mobilize the political will of states comprised of government to combat racism, leading the group’s work relations, public opinion research and public that that resulted in the program of action for relations. After selling his business in 1989, people of African descent. Ambassador Douale he became president of Canada’s largest was elected president of the Development and government and public relations firm and Intellectual Property Committee (PIAC) in 2012 subsequently North American president of and re-elected in 2013. He was also elected the world’s largest public relations firm. From chairman of the advisory committee of the 1995 to 2003, Ambassador MacNaughton was group for election of mandate holders for the president of Strathshore Financial and was an High Commissioner for Human Rights at the advisor to one of Canada’s leading investment 7th cycle, during three sessions of the Council banks. His public sector experience includes of Human Rights (2013). work at both the federal and provincial levels, including as advisor to the minister at Italy the Departments of Transport, Industry and Armando Varricchio Foreign Affairs. He was principal secretary to became ambassador the premier of Ontario from 2003 to 2005 and of Italy to the United chairman of StrategyCorp from 2005 until his States on March 2, 2016. current appointment. Active in community He previously served affairs, Ambassador MacNaughton has served as diplomatic advisor on the boards of the North York General Hospital, the Stratford Festival, the National Ski and G7/G20 sherpa for the Italian prime Academy, TV Ontario, the Toronto French School minister (2013); deputy Ambassador and the Toronto International Film Festival. He Armando Varricchio secretary-general of is married and has four daughters. the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2012-13); ambassador to Serbia (2009Djibouti 12); and minister plenipotentiary-deputy Mohamed Siad Douale became ambassador of diplomatic advisor to the Italian president Djibouti to the United States on Jan. 28, 2016, (2006-09). He also previously worked in having previously served as ambassador to the Washington, D.C., at the Italian Embassy as first United Nations, the World Trade Organization counselor and head of the Economic, Trade and and Switzerland. Prior to that, Ambassador Scientific Affairs Section (2002-06). Other posts Douale served as a special envoy to the Somali include diplomatic advisor to the president peace process as a member of the Facilitation of the European Commission and personal Committee of the Intergovernmental Authority representative at the G7/G8 summits in Okion Development (IGAD) countries. He also nawa, Genoa and Kananaskis (1999-2002); worked on behalf of the African Group as vice chief of staff to the minister for European chairman of the Council of Human Rights and affairs (1998-99); and counselor at the Prime as vice president of the Council of Trade and De- Minister’s Oﬃce and head of the Europe and velopment (UNCTAD) at the 54th session. Upon Asia Desk (1996-98). Ambassador Varricchio, his arrival in Switzerland in 2006, Ambassador who joined the civil service in 1986, also served Douale was involved in negotiations on institu- as first secretary at the Italian Mission to the

European Commission (1992-96) and second secretary at the Italian Embassy in Hungary (1986-92). Born in Venice on June 13, 1961, Ambassador Varricchio holds a master’s degree (summa cum laude) in international relations from the University of Padua. He is married to Micaela Barbagallo and has two sons, Federico and Umberto.

Malta Pierre Clive Agius became ambassador of Malta to the United States on March 2, 2016. A career diplomat, he previously served as Malta’s ambassador to Poland (2013-16), France and Monaco (2012-13). In 2008, he was appointed ambassador to Belgium and to Luxembourg in 2009, during which time he also served as ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In December 2007, he was appointed special envoy of Malta to the Slovenian presidency of the European Union in Ljubljana. Ambassador Agius joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993 as a first secretary and two years later served his first posting at the Maltese Embassy in Paris. In 1999, he was posted to Geneva at the Permanent Mission of Malta to the United Nations Oﬃce and other International Organizations. During this term, he served also as consul general of Malta with jurisdiction over the Swiss cantons of Bern, Fribourg, Vaud and Jura; in 2000, he became counselor. On his return to Valletta in 2002, Ambassador Agius became diplomatic counselor to the president of Malta until 2004, when he moved to the Embassy of Malta in Austria. There, he served as deputy head of mission at the Permanent Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the United Nations Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency and other international organizations. Born in Malta on Oct. 21, 1965, Ambassador Agius holds a master’s in diplomatic studies from the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies in Malta. He also obtained a post-graduate diploma in environmental management and graduated from the University of Malta with honors after completing his bachelor’s in education. Ambassador Agius is fluent in Maltese, English, Italian and French and proficient in Slovene and Arabic. He is married with two daughters. THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APrIL 2016 | 45

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Treaty CONTINUEd • PAGE 20

ing they are supported by the legal certainty and stability of treaty law. This will help protect critical environmental spaces and the interests of the American worker. It is impossible to ignore that UNCLOS unites interests across the spectrum — from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute; to leading environmental groups such as the National Resource Defense Council and World Wildlife Fund; to labor unions such as the AFLCIO and the Seafarers International Union of North America. Relying solely on American military power to guarantee our voice is heard and our interests are protected should not be our only geopolitical tool. To preserve our role as the guarantor of security in global commons, we need to

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embrace the benefits of legal certainty and stability guaranteed by international treaty law. By ratifying UNCLOS, the U.S. will demonstrate its commitment to the rule of law, freedom of navigation and diplomatic solutions in state-tostate maritime disputes. This is why I am proud to be an original cosponsor of the bipartisan House resolution reevaluating Congress’s position on the treaty. I’ll continue working with my House Armed Services Committee colleagues on both sides of the aisle to push for ratification. As we pivot to Asia, we must embrace the rule of law and other forms of soft power, in addition to hard power, to ensure American interests are protected today and well into the future. WD Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) sits on the House Armed Services and Judiciary Committees. He serves on the Armed Services’ Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee as well as the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee.

46 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APrIL 2016

CrEdIT: dOd PHOTO BY MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST 3rd CHrIS CAvAGNArO, U.S. NAvY

U.S. Navy Capt. Greg Fenton, commanding officer of the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carrier USS George Washington, walks across the ship’s flight deck after operations in the South China Sea on June 14, 2014. George Washington provides a combat-ready force that defends the collective maritime interests of the U.S. and its allies in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

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Congress CONTINUEd • PAGE 19

• Tactics and more tactics: – Pace yourself. Ask for a meeting a week, especially when no major issues are pressing, and your friends will grow tired of you. – Nobody appreciates getting multiple frantic phone calls from all corners

of an embassy. Coordinate among your various sections before reaching out. – Understand the ebbs and flows of Congress. Asking for information when a major foreign policy hearing is underway or hours before a congressional recess begins is unwise. • What is the ask? Most important, when meeting with a lawmaker or aide, be specific. Determine a priority or two, and clearly express it.

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Congress is a co-equal branch of government and it deserves the commensurate respect and attention of foreign governments. Embassies would be well-served engaging Congress, not ignoring it. Do it properly, and the dividends can be innumerable. Do it poorly, and small headaches will turn into migraines. WD Adam Sharon is a managing director of Prime Strategies. He was the Democratic communications director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Adam Sharon, left, shakes hands with vice President Biden outside the Senate Foreign relations Committee room in the U.S. Capitol. THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APrIL 2016 | 47

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REGISTER: WWW.WASHDIPLOMAT.COM Still reserving sponsorships. Call 301.933.3552 for more information. 48 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | APrIL 2016